HITLER FINDS OUT ABOUT PALIN RESIGNATION

A powerful film clip from "The Rise and Fall of the Republican Party."

LIVE FROM NEW YORK...

Angry Sarah Palin supporters calling for the resignation of David Letterman. What's wrong with these a-holes?

Letterman responds to the hullabaloo.

THE NEW FACE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

In case you missed Old Crankypants on Letterman the other night, here's a good clip. Dave gives him a swirly. The question remains, What is wrong with these Republicans? I mean, really?

BUH-BYE

We're still celebrating Obama's win, and, in the spirit of Barack's magnanimous victory speech, we're trying to avoid taking cheap potshots at Sarah Palin. We're trying hard. Really. After all the attention and ballyhoo of the presidential race, Palin will be returning empty-handed to the frozen tundra, and no, we won't miss her shrill, ill informed musings, but on a human level it's kind of sad. On the other hand, we're not getting carried away with grief since we know this won't be the last we'll see of this neo-con Barbie. This ambitious politician will probably get retooled and freshly-painted for another big run (64% of Republicans polled want Palin to run again in 2012) but until then...we'll say buh-bye, Sarah. This song is for you. I think you'd better go now...



Sorry, we can't stop! There are a number of reports surfacing about tension between Palin and the McCain camp. Aides are coming forward with all the gory details. They describe her as a difficult diva behind the scenes, and many say they were concerned she simply didn't know enough to be Vice President. We agree, of course, but this is coming from inside the McCain camp!

We knew she wasn't exactly brilliant, and certainly no cartographer, but it turns out she thought Africa was a single country and not a continent. Even worse, and closer to home, she couldn't name the countries in North America. (Palin-supporters, take note: the countries are Canada, Mexico, and the USA.) Oh, and the $150,000 worth of expensive clothes? It's turned out to be much more--with $40,000 for husband Todd alone--it's expensive to have the common touch and look like a real hockey mom. According to this story, a GOP lawyer was dispatched to Alaska to retrieve some of the clothing (story here).

This news report details the backstage rift at McCain headquarters. Watch Bill O'Reilly trying to put a good spin on it, but this is hopeless.

LIVING OUTSIDE THE NARROW AMERICA

Sarah Palin remarked that she loved visiting the "pro-America" parts of the country, and maybe the McCain camp will clarify her statement, but probably not. They're too busy putting out fires--and starting them--as they continue to "go negative" in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

With her statement, Palin implied that many of us live in an "anti-American" America, which is ludicrous, but maybe not to Palin. If by "pro-America," she means supporting her red-baiting, robo-calling, swift-boating, racially-overtoned, slanderous, Karl Rove-directed campaign, she might be right. In that case, her narrowly defined America--let's call it Narrow America--is rapidly shrinking and I'm not surprised she's sounding so desperate and shrill.

If by being "pro-America" she means shouting "Kill him!" when Obama's name is mentioned, or agreeing that Obama's tax plan is dangerous socialism, and that he "pals around with terrorists," then I live outside that Narrow America.

To Palin and Company, it seems that "pro-America" means anti-science, anti-feminist, anti-minority, anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-environment, and anti-intellectual.

If by "pro-America" she means waving a McCain placard, then most of the country wouldn't qualify. Obama is making serious inroads in the red states. The McCain camp is losing and feeling desperate, and if "pro-America" means running a campaign based on scare tactics and bald-faced lies, thank goodness we're not in that Narrow America.


If by "pro-America" she means supporting corporate profits over people, deregulation over consumer safety, racism over tolerance, superstition over science, and war over peace, I'm glad I don't live in Palin's Narrow America.

Outside Sarah Palin's narrowly-defined America, honesty is still important, and winning isn't the only thing, but winning fair and square. It may sound corny and naive, but throwing sand in your opponent's eyes isn't okay where I live. Outside Palin's Narrow America, the Constitution still carries some weight, and so does the Geneva Convention, even though they've both taken a beating these past eight years.

Vote.

DUELING PALINS

In case you worked the graveyard shift last night, or were up late studying Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, or had simply miscalculated the proper combination of drugs and alcohol and flamed out early, here is the much-ballyhooed Tina Fey and her dingy doppelganger Sarah Palin on SNL last night.

Once again the latte-drinking New York liberals practiced their godless comedy on good sport Sarah. Good sport, like aerial wolf-hunting. If there is a God, an all-powerful God who isn't just rolling dice and toying with us, may He (or She) bless our great nation and send Palin back tout de suite to her tiny world of pork barrel bridges and beauty pageants and small-town tundra corruption.

Somebody say Amen!

Tina Fey, as I know and love her

ROSANNE CASH BETTER VEEP THAN PALIN

Rosanne and her father, Johnny Cash

If you're like me, you love Johnny Cash--and the whole damn Cash family. If you think country music is all slick and heartless and commercial (Toby Keith leaps to mind) you should explore the classic country of the Cash family, along with the heartsick blues of Hank Williams, the sweet pop of Patsy Cline, and the tooled-leather ballads of Willie Nelson. These folks have soul, pure and simple.

And they're not all knee-jerk conservative dunderheads, either. Rosanne Cash just wrote a great piece for The Nation, entitled "Why I'd Be a Better VP than Sarah Palin." It's well worth reading, so click HERE.

Here is a clip of Rosanne Cash and another outlaw country liberal--Steve Earle--singing a juke-joint classic penned by Roseanne, "Seven Year Itch."

ALASKAN PANEL FINDS PALIN ABUSED POWER

"A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister, or by failing to prevent her husband Todd from doing so." - Anchorage Daily News, 10/10/08

"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor in pressing to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, an independent legislative investigation concluded today." -- Los Angeles Times, 10/10/08

"No matter your partisan leanings, it's hard to see this as a good headline for Palin with less than a month to go before the election." - Washington Post, 10/10/08

IN CASE YOU MISSED THE VEEP DEBATE

SARAH PALIN and REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY

Karl Rove and the Republicans really care about women, to hear them tell it. Ask Sarah Palin. In fact, they're downright feminists--when it's convenient, that is. For a group that stresses "values" every chance they get, these "ethics" seem pretty situational. Bullshit, in other words.

Have you ever walked in a cow pasture? Then you already know the smell, so you'll be ready when the Republicans tell you it's chocolate ice cream.

In this clip, funny man Jon Stewart holds their feet to the fire.

Political fantasy: propaganda guru Karl Rove gets what he deserves in a just world

For a real, old school, dyed-in-the-wool feminist perspective, Gloria Steinem wrote a great piece on Sarah Palin in the Los Angeles Times, "Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message." You can read it HERE.

ALASKAN WOMEN PROTEST PALIN

Good job, Alaska! Over a thousand Alaskans protested Sarah Palin in Anchorage, making us believe that not everyone in that far northern state is a dumb religious fundamentalist who thinks one women is interchangeable with the next. Sure, there are plenty of American Taliban types dragging their knuckles and slouching toward the voting booth, but it's nice to know not everyone in the Great White North is fooled by the faux-folksy Palin manipulation.

Read a report HERE.

Meanwhile, Alaska lawmakers voted Friday to subpoena Gov. Sarah Palin's husband, and several aides and phone records in their investigation into Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner, setting up what one senator called a "branch-versus-branch smackdown." Her husband is refusing to testify.

The McCain campaign is resorting to desperate measures to block the legislative inquiry, even though it predates Palin's veep selection. Predictibly, McCain says the charges are "politically motivated." Must be the damn liberals, I guess, and they must have access to a time machine.

How dumb are we?



Meanwhile, Jimi Hendrix plays live in a Stockholm television studio in 1967. I admit this has nothing to do with Sarah Palin, but it helps to get that horrible Republican aftertaste out of my mouth. Besides, it's my blog and I can be non-linear if I want to! Play on, Jimi!