Naomi Wolf Brings Us the Truth!

Naomi Wolf, lone voice in the wilderness, tells us about the coming Palin-Rove administration, umm, I mean dictatorship:

Under the coming Palin-Rove police state, you will witness the plans now underway to bring Iraqi troops to patrol the streets of our nation. This is not McCain's fantasy: it is Rove's and Cheney's.

Under the Palin-Rove police state, there will be no further true elections. Mark Crispin Miller has done sensational and under-reported investigating to establish that -- as I warned -- indeed the GOP staffers on the US Senate Judiciary Committee have been.

Yes, that last didn't make sense to me either. No doubt it was a secret message to the freedom fighters massing in their hidden bases to strike a blow against the evil Empire!

What's a good evil Empire, though, without the S&M? Of course, Palin/Rove have that angle covered, writes Wolf:

I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit --but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.

Who knew Sarah Palin was an "S and M" stateswoman? But wait! Where is John McCain in all this? Well, Wolf has braved unspeakable dangers to bring us the truth:

McCain doesn't matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future -- for a decade perhaps -- a puppet "president" for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.

I think Wolf meant to write "a war of choice and lies" in that last sentence, but I would not presume to amend her sacred words of warning.

Read her whole devastating expose at the Huffington Post. Where else?

Hat Tip: Jammie Wearing Fool

Ralph Peters on Palin

Ralph Peters is always the sort to shoot from the hip in his essays and let God sort it all out, and he doesn't disappoint in his essay on the appeal of Sarah Palin:

Sarah Palin's one of us. She actually represents the American people.

When The New York Times, CNN, the NBC basket of basket cases and all the barking blog dogs insult Palin, they're insulting us. When they smear her, they're smearing every American who actually works for a living, who doesn't expect a handout, who doesn't have a full-time accountant to parse the family taxes, who believes in the Pledge of Allegiance and who thinks a church is more than just a tedious stop on daughter Emily's 100K wedding day.

Later on, he writes,

For the first time since Ronald Reagan, our last great president, we, the people, see a chance that one of us might have a voice in governing our country.

Speaking of Reagan (Eureka College, Illinois), every chief executive we've had since the Gipper snapped his final salute as president has had the imprimatur of an Ivy League university. And we've gone from bad to worse:

* George Herbert Walker Bush: Yale.

* William Jefferson Clinton: Georgetown, Oxford, Yale Law.

* George W. Bush: Yale and Harvard Business School.

The first lacked the sense to finish the job in Desert Storm; the second lacked the guts to go after al Qaeda when it was just a startup - and the third, well, let's just say he disappointed our low expectations.

Now we have the Ivy League elite's "he's not only like us but he's a minority and we're so wonderful to support him" candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (Columbia and Harvard Law).

Our country can't afford another one of these clowns. Harvard isn't the answer - Harvard's the problem.

So here's the message Palin is sending on behalf of the rest of us (the down-market masses Dems love at election time and ignore once the voting's done): The rule of the snobs is over. It's time to give one of us a chance to lead.

Sen. John McCain's one of us, too. He raised hell at Annapolis (quadruple ugh: military!), and he'll raise the right kind of hell in Washington.

McCain's so dumb he really loves his country.

Sarah Palin's dumb that way, too. How terribly unfashionable.

Agree or disagree with the man, Peters always is bracing, unconventional, and calling 'em like he sees 'em. I happen to think he's on to something here.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

An Excellent Overview on Palin

The Corner points to an excellent overview of Sarah Palin's career in Alaska, placing in context how the various aspects of her life led her to this point, and what she has accomplished already.

Wasilla's population of 9,000 would be a small town in Britain, and even in most American states.

But Wasilla is the fifth-largest city in Alaska, which meant that Palin was an important player in state politics.

Her husband's status in the Yup'ik Eskimo tribe, of which he is a full, or "enrolled" member, connected her to another influential faction: the large and wealthy (because of their right to oil revenues) native tribes.

All of this gave her a base from which to launch her 2002 campaign for lieutenant (deputy) governor of Alaska.

She lost that, but collected a powerful enough following to be placated with a seat on, and subsequently the chairmanship of, the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which launched her into the politics of Alaska's energy industry.

Palin quickly realised that Alaska had the potential to become a much bigger player in global energy politics, a conviction that grew as the price of oil rose. Alaska had been in hock to oil companies since major production began in the mid-1970s.

As with most poor, distant places that suddenly receive great natural-resource wealth, the first generation of politicians were mesmerised by the magnificence of the crumbs falling from the table. Palin was the first of the next generation to realise that Alaska should have a place at that table.

Her first target was an absurd bureaucratic tangle that for 30 years had kept the state from exporting its gas to the other 48 states. She set an agenda that centred on three mutually supportive objectives: cleaning up state politics, building a new gas pipeline, and increasing the state's share of energy revenues.

This agenda, pursued throughout Palin's commission tenure, culminated in her run for governor in 2006. By this time, she had already begun rooting out corruption and making enemies, but also establishing her bona fides as a reformer.

With this base, she surprised many by steamrollering first the Republican incumbent governor, and second, the Democratic former governor, in the election.

Far from being a reprise of Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Palin was a clear-eyed politician who, from the day she took office, knew exactly what she had to do and whose toes she would step on to do it.

The surprise is not that she has been in office for such a short time but that she has succeeded in each of her objectives. She has exposed corruption; given the state a bigger share in Alaska's energy wealth; and negotiated a deal involving big corporate players, the US and Canadian governments, Canadian provincial governments, and native tribes - the result of which was a £13 billion deal to launch the pipeline and increase the amount of domestic energy available to consumers. This deal makes the charge of having "no international experience" particularly absurd.

Read the whole thing, of course.

This puts a whole new perspective on things. It deepens her reform agenda, and McCain's, because it shows that Palin has really led nothing less than a revolution in the way things are done in Alaska. And an overwhelmingly successful and popular one, at that.

Palin helps McCain again in precisely inverting one of the common slams on the Bush Administration -- that they were the servants of Big Oil, through and through. Well, in Alaska, Palin made certain that Big Oil served the people of Alaska.

A similar thing has occurred, interestingly enough, in Iraq. Prior to our invasion, oil served to benefit only a small elite around Saddam. Now the oil wealth is widely dispersed, being given not only to Saddam's Sunni Arab base, but also to the Shi'ites and Kurds who actually live above Iraq's largest oil fields. But I digress.

McCain would do well to take his cues from this article and better articulate just how revolutionary Palin has been in Alaska, and that he and his running mate intend to do the very same in leading the United States, not merely with oil but in making sure all energy sources -- nuclear, solar, wind and geothermal -- are rapidly and efficiently put into service to the American people.

I think that would be yet another devastating blow to an Obama campaign which has no practical experience in these matters, and whose policy prescriptions, while admirable, are almost entirely in the realm of government subsidies and government-funded research.

Palin's Record Examined

Here are some good data points on Palin's record and views as Governor of Alaska:

1. Anchorage Daily News, Dec. 29, 2006, Same Sex Benefits Ban Gets Palin Veto:

In the first veto of an administration that isn't yet a month old, Palin said she rejected the bill despite her disagreement with a state Supreme Court order earlier this month that directed the state to offer benefits to same-sex partners of state employees.

Advice from her new attorney general said the bill passed by the Legislature was unconstitutional, she said.

"Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office," Palin said in a prepared statement released by her administration Thursday night.

2. Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2008, Palin has not pushed creation science as governor:

As a candidate for governor, Sarah Palin called for teaching creationism alongside evolution in public schools. But after Alaska voters elected her, Palin, now Republican John McCain's presidential running mate, kept her campaign pledge to not push the idea in the schools.

Also, from the same article:

Palin's children attend public schools and Palin has made no push to have creationism taught in them.

Neither have Palin's socially conservative personal views on issues like abortion and gay marriage been translated into policies during her 20 months as Alaska's chief executive. It reflects a hands-off attitude toward mixing government and religion by most Alaskans.

"She has basically ignored social issues, period," said Gregg Erickson, an economist and columnist for the Alaska Budget Report.

3. Anchorage Daily News, May 24, 2008, Palin's veto ax lops $268 million from budget:

Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday axed about 10 percent of the spending that state legislators approved for hometown projects.

This is the second year in a row Palin vetoed projects dear to legislators. She said lawmakers stuffed the $2.7 billion state capital budget too full.

"There were things like dealing with killer shrubs and Zamboni blades that are not the state's highest priority at the time," Palin said on Friday.

4. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, May 29, 2008, Palin cuts money for energy research:

A new energy research center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is looking for alternative funding after Gov. Sarah Palin last week vetoed a $1.5 million state and federal appropriation for the center.

The Alaska Center for Energy and Power formed in January and is focused on developing new technologies to lower the cost of energy in rural Alaska and attract energy-intensive industry with cheap renewable resources.

Lawmakers included $500,000 in state funding in the operating budget they approved last month, but Palin cut the funding.

Later, in the same article:

Palin recently signed into law HB 152, a bill setting up a fund for renewable energy projects, and she agreed to distribute $50 million in state funds for renewable energy projects this year.

But that money can only go toward projects using proven technologies.

Here's my take -- clearly, she's a conservative all around, verging on libertarianism at times. Despite her religious beliefs, she effectively allowed same sex partner benefits to go forward by vetoing a legislative ban on it on constitutional grounds. I like that -- the constitutionality of the proposed law outweighed her own religious views on the matter!

The same holds true with her supposedly creationist views. She may believe in creationism, but she's making no moves to push it down the throats of public school students.

The other theme that jumps out is that she's a real fiscal hawk, one not scared to upset legislators by killing their pet projects. I would hope that both she and a President McCain would take that attitude to Washington if their ticket is elected.

The last item is the one that disturbs me the most, with her cutting the funds on alternative energy research. That one bothers me, as someone who believes we need to both drill off shore and aggressively move forward with solar, nuclear, and wind energy. The only ray of light I find in the News-Miner article is this: "In a written explanation of her vetoes, Palin noted that she would consider funding the research center in a future budget."

Read 'em all and see what you think.

The Wizard's Sense of Honor

I may be doing him no favors, but the Wizard just became my favorite Democratic blogger:

September 2nd, 2008. The 2008 Election ended this morning as a vast cadre of liberals, progressives, Democrats and like minded journalists lifted the white flag and surrendered.

We surrendered something a whole lot more valuable than our vote. We surrendered our principles. We surrendered our core values.

As a Democrat like this honorable gentleman, I am as appalled as he is as to what my party is up to. His candidate might be Obama and mine is McCain, but I applaud him for his exceptional honor and integrity. If only Andrew Sullivan had half his sense of honor.

Read the whole thing and see what I mean.

An Initial Observation re: Palin's Speech

The crowd loves her, absolutely loves her. That can't be faked.

If enough Americans who aren't delegates to the Republican Convention end up feeling the same way about Governor Palin, I suspect we are seeing a national political star being born here.

I'm still boggled

Well, I've been kind of quiet because I really try not to rant, and I haven't trusted myself not to.

I don't dig smears. I don't like personal attacks. And I have seen very little except hysterical smears and personal attacks on Governor Sarah Palin, especially since Saturday.

My initial impression is that I like the woman, and we'll see she if she shows herself worthy of McCain's faith in her over the next 60-odd days until the election.

But this sort of sewer politics turned my stomach when Republicans afflicted with Clinton Derangement Syndrome engaged in it, and it turns my stomach no less when Democrats afflicted with Palin Derangement Syndrome engage in it.

By all means, have at her with tough, probing questions about Governor Palin's policies, Governor Palin's ideas, Governor Palin's qualifications to be Vice President. But please leave the rest of her family out of it, especially her minor children, even Bristol.

More soon, after her speech. For what it's worth, I believe the expectations could not be lower for her speech, so I think she'll benefit from that and nail it. We'll see.

Palin for Vice President

In case you missed it, John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin to be his running mate.

I think this is an excellent pick, and I admit I didn't expect it -- the McCain campaign did a much better job of keeping their pick secret than did the Obama campaign, because nobody was counting her in the list of the final few candidates.

Here is where I think this choice makes an enormous difference: like McCain, Palin does reform, instead of just talking about it like Obama does.

Just contrast what Palin has done in a mere two years as Alaska's governor to Obama's singular lack of accomplishment as a Senator where his party had the majority! First she defeated the arguably corrupt Democratic governor, Tony Knowles, and since taking office has moved to sideline the corrupt Republican Congressman, Don Young, and his equally corrupt Republican colleage in the Senate, Ted Stevens, who is currently under federal indictment. She refused to accept the appropriations for the infamous bridge to nowhere that those men slipped into the budget via earmarks.

Further, she has worked hard to give oil contracts in Alaska on the merits, resulting in new contracts being awarded to new players and not just the same old companies, such as BP, who corruptly dominated the process for years.

Palin will thrill the pro-life crowd and the pro-gun rights folks who are important parts of the Republican Party with her staunch stance on both. As a Democrat, those stances are less important to me personally, but anything that helps unify the Republican base even more behind McCain is fine by me.

Finally, for all that the Obama campaign has already derided Palin for her lack of experience, her experience contrasts favorably to Obama's! Her career in Alaska politics, at roughly 16 years old, is just a bit longer than Obama's 12-year career in Illinois politics, and as a former Mayor and a current Governor she has lots more executive experience than Obama does, by far, and unlike him she has actually accomplished something with her position beyond pretty speech-making.

Oh yeah, and like most Alaskans she's for drilling off-shore and in ANWR, but as an environmentalist she wants to do it as respectfully of the environment as possible. What's not to like?