Tfgray’s Weblog

Well, the busses have left DC, and it’s safe for Liberals to go out now. I noticed an interesting glich in the videos of Michelle Bachmann’s event yesterday. Never mind that John Boehner got his Constitution and Declaration of Independence mixed up…I noticed the rewriting of the Pledge of Allegiance to read “…one nation, UNDER GOD, [their emphasis] with liberty and justice for all.”

Perhaps you noticed that those ultra-America-lovers removed the phrase, “indivisible.” from the pledge. Interesting.

I also read a piece on Sarah Palin’s run-hard-to-the-Right strategy, wondering if she really “sees things that others can’t,” or is truly, deeply out of touch with reality. I thought about it, and realized that her “strategy” isn’t a strategy, at least not in the sense of being a logically thought-out series of steps. I believe that we’re looking at Palin’s Faith in action. I’m somewhat familiar with the teachings of her church, and her actions make perfect sense within that context.

On the rightward verges of Christian Fundamentalism, you see, you are the boss of God. You Decree what you want, and God provides it. So strategy, in the conventional sense, is not needed. “The Abundance of The Lord Descends upon the Righteous,” as one of my born-again friends used to tell me constantly, so paid invitations to blather in Hong Kong and Iowa are a sign of God’s approval. To the uninitiated, it may seem like crass opportunism, but, according to the theology of such groups, if you’re doing it for Jesus, it’s okay. Whatever it is. Presumably, if it wasn’t God’s will for you to want it, then you wouldn’t, so there you have it. Sanctifed all around.

I read that she’ll be speaking to a small group of anti-abortion activists soon, and has forbidden the Media, cellphones, and all recording devices. It reminded me that her initial support, back in Wasilla, came from the Alaska Independence Party,a secessionist group with ties to Right-wing and racist organizations. Any guesses as to her topic or why it’s so hush-hush?

I suppose she’s tired of the media being mean to her by quoting her words exactly, but (tinfoil hat warning) isn’t the anti-abortion movement the part of the Right with the strongest record of violence  in recent days?

Ah, to be a fly on that wall.

I’ll let you see this before I comment. Sessions is “Worst,” the third story in this segment.

There are some interesting things to think about here. Sessions has been around long enough to remember when the Taliban were those heroic Freedom Fighters led by that man among men, our good friend and anti-Communist ally Osama bin Laden.  Sessions has been around a while. I suppose we can forgive him forgetting that that world turned upside down on September 11, not that he and his friends have ever let us forget it. I’m not sure we can forgive him for making that comment the day after the head of the Arkansas State Medical Board was blown up in his driveway, Baghdad-style.

More troubling are the rumblings from the Right that their cause is so righteous that violence is justified. It’s not just Sessions. Not just David Duke. There’s Charles Colson, preaching this sermon in 1996. (“Only the Church collectively can decide at what point a government becomes sufficiently corrupt that a believer must resist it. But, with fear and trembling, I have begun to believe that, however Christians in America gather to reach their consensus, we are fast approaching this point. “) Although Colson, et al would beg to differ, this sounds like a call to theocratic revolution to me, you know, like the Taliban. Apparently is also sounded that way to billionaire heir Eric Prince, who founded Blackwater a month after Colson’s essay was published, now in possession of massive amounts of armament and combat choppers, thanks to its Iraq profits. 

It’s my husband’s dittohead co-workers talking about how “We’re going to have to fight the Government.”

One of them made that comment in my presence. I asked him, “What part of the government? The part that paves your street? The part that sends a lady over to watch your disabled girlfriend for free so you can go to work?”  He grinned and admitted that I had a point.

“You mean the Republican Party, don’t you?” I asked. “The part of the government that trashed the economy and got us into a land war in Asia.”

He thought about it.

He grinned. “Yeah,” he said.

If their recent statements and actions are any guide, the Republican Party cares only for its own power, and at present there are few willing to grant any to them. Their primary constituency has always been George Bush’s Base, not the Christian Right, but the “Got Mine’s and the Got More’s,” along with anyone they can bribe, cajole, or sucker into buying their agenda.

What is going on inside the Republican squirrel cage these days? The country club Republicans have fallen silent. Perhaps they have begun to realize that the economic policies they favored, while enriching them in the short run, have come perilously close to killing the golden goose called the American Economy. Perhaps they are too busy trying to save their own businesses and salvage their own portfolios. Perhaps, having got out in time,  they are looking for nice condos in Dubai, or, if not, sulking and sticking pins in their Bernie Madoff voodoo dolls.

This explains the apparent ascendancy of Limbaugh, the thoroughly corrupt mouthpiece; Palin, who will eventually face the same charges that brought down Ted Stevens, involving the free house she got from those contractor buddies who went on to build the massive Wasilla Sports Center on no-bid contracts at vast government expense, not to mention all the days she got paid extra to stay home from work; and Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurtzelbach, not a plumber, really, but he plays one on TV.

Right now there is a wide open playing field for the other side of the Republican Party, the shock troops, the true believers, the religious anti-abortion, anti-gay activists, the gun huggers.  The authoritarian followers who are conditioned to favor belief in authority over independent thought. Those who talk tough about self-defense and national defense, but who cling in panic to Big Brother’s trouser leg, selling off their Constitutional rights in exchange for alleged security while regarding the government whose newly-expanded powers they support as “too big” and “too powerful.”

They are the other side of the Obama story. The one that says, “You don’t have to be born rich or connected, heck you don’t even have to be particularly smart, get your facts straight, or work hard. All you need to do is have the right belief system, and you will be raised up to prominence. They look at Sarah and Joe and say, “That could be me!” 

And they support politicians that systematically knock the pegs out from under the very programs that could help them advance.

Stimulus package? A lot of fatty-assed bureaucrats taking our hard earned money. Never mind the construction jobs. We’ll do better if the money’s in our own pockets.

When’s the last time your neighborhood took up a collection to get the potholes fixed? Add a room to the local school? Hire a new policeman or teacher?

What part of government are you planning on fighting?

Oh, um, not the part that runs the Lottery.

I stumbled into a WordPress blog the other day, where another blogger was being ripped for referring to Sarah Palin as “trailer trash.” The general tenor of the comments was that the other blogger was a liberal, a feminist, and therefore, basically didn’t know her you-know-what from a hole in the ground. What was pretty clear was that the commenters identified with Gov Palin as a fellow, “Real American,” as opposed to “elitists” like Blogger X.

Well, name-calling sucks, whether you like the target or not, but the set of posts and responses got me to thinking about the national nerve Palin’s candidacy has struck.

Looking at her rise to power, there are fairytale elements: Jimmy Stewart’s Mr. Smith going to Washington, humble Cinderella chosen by the Prince to be his bride. There’s a story there that has endless appeal: the obscure yet deserving one chosen by near-miraculous means. This narative is what makes would-be stars line up for hours for a chance to be on American Idol, inner-city kids shoot hoops until its too dark to see the backboard, suburban teens spend hours in Dad’s garage looking for the perfect set of chords to go with the lyrics they just wrote. (And yeah, it sells lottery tickets, too. ) Up and out.

All over America, rural, conservative, working-class women look at Sarah Palin and think, at some level, “That could be me.” Of course they’re insulted when people call her names. Some, but certainly not all, Palin supporters may have been called those names themselves, and even those who never have resent having a person they support insulted.

I thought about comparing Hillary Clinton’s and Sarah Palin’s paths to power. I realize it’s impossible for some people to leave aside their differing political philosophies while looking at them, but I’m going to ask you to humor me for a minute.

Hillary Clinton excelled academically. Sarah Palin did not.

Hillary started her career first, and at a high level–First Lady of a state and rising quickly to partner in a law firm–then bore a child. Sarah started her family first, then began her career at the local level.

HiIlary built her career in a more traditional fashion, meeting people, making connections, taking it one step at a time, running for president only after over 30 years experience. Sarah went from small-town mayor to governor to VP candidate relatively quickly. (Ten years in Wasilla on the city council and as mayor, less than two years as Governor with a stint on the Oil and Gas Board in between.)

So the two narratives contrast the two American stories: work hard, study hard, and persevere vs. the “Ordinary” Guy (or Gal) being chosen for their innate qualities, hard work being unnecessary. (This is the same appeal that George Bush used to such great advantage: the oldest son of a billionaire family, descended from President Franklin Pierce on his mother’s side, son of a president, grandson of a senator, and a distant cousin of the Queen of England being elected on the strength of his ordinary, folksy qualities. Barack Obama, on the other hand, son of a middle-class mother and a Kenyan goatherder who made it to Harvard on scholarship, who attended excellent schools based upon his hard work, hours of study, student loans, and scholarships, is supposedly an elitist.  Go figure.)

Wait! I hear you say: you’re saying that Palin didn’t work hard as Mayor and Governor?

Let’s look at the record:

As mayor, she gave herself a $4,000 annual raise (which she now refers to as a “pay cut.”) She hired a city administrator to handle those “actual responsibilities” that she mentioned in her acceptance speech. She did work hard at a couple of things: Hiring a lobbying firm to get $26 million in Federal earmarks for Wasilla, then a town of roughly 6,000. Building a sports complex on land that did not entirely belong to the town, and which cost the town an extra $1.5 million by the time the lawsuit with the owner was settled. Now the former landowner claims he has evidence that Palin pressured the appraiser to lower the valuation on the land. He’s going back to court, and Wasilla may well have to shell out more. In order to pay for the sports complex, she raised the city sales tax to 25%. She now campaigns as one who will end corruption and earmarks and lower taxes. Am I the only one who sees a contradiction here?

While all these funds have been lavished on the sports complex, the town still doesn’t have a sewage treatment plant. The Alaska legislature had to pass a state law mandating that all towns pay for rape kits for victims. Under Mayor Palin, Wasilla, alone of all Alaskan towns, made the victim pay for the kit herself. And yes, Alaska has the highest incidence of rape in the United States. Based on her record, Palin’s more Stepsister than Cinderella.

That bridge she said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to? She lobbied for it until it became a national joke, then said, “No thanks” to the bridge, but “Thanks!” to the money, which she used to build a road to the place where the bridge will eventually go. (She calls this “other infrastructure projects.”) Her aides are still planning the bridge, and how to get federal funding for it. 

You don’t have resort to insulting language to criticize Sarah Palin. You only need to look at her record. I’m just hoping we wake up from the fairy tale in time.