Hucka-Bite-Me

Mike Huckabee seemed like such a nice guy--for a rabid right-wing Republican that is. I was taken in by his gentle demeanor, I guess. Compared to other conservatives he appeared actually sane. And he defended Michele Obama for campaigning against obesity which was at least decent. But this week, he's totally lost it with his crazy talk about Natalie Portman's pregnancy and his inaccurate criticism of Obama's life history.

Let's take Portman first. First of all, she is getting married to the father of her child, the guy who choreographed Black Swan. Secondly, she's not holding herself up as a model to all young girls or saying hey, I'm having a baby and you can to. Thirdly, where was his righteous indignation when Bristol Palin got preggers--and that skank's STILL not married! Why didn't Mikie make some noise about Sarah and Todd being awful parents and how they should force Levi to do the right thing and get hitched to their little filly? Why pick on Natalie? I'll tell you why--because she just won an Oscar and Huck saw a chance to throw his base some red meat in the form of Hollywood-bashing. Natalie can support her child, what has that got to do with offering a bad example? He later said he never meant to criticize her and he really enjoyed that ballet movie. Right.

Then Huck went on some crazy radio show and said the Prez couldn't relate to average Americans because he was raised in Kenya where they don't have Boy Scouts and Little League. It also explained why he removed the bust of Winston Churchill because granddad Obama was part of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya which occured when Winnie was Prime Minister. WHAT? A spokesperson later clarified the remark by saying Mike has misspoke and meant Indonesia where Barack did spent five years of his youth--incidentally sources say young Barry was a Boy Scout in Jakarta, so there.

The "misspoke" gambit doesn't make sense because Huckabee said some very specific things about Obama's supposed Kenyan upbringing like being instilled with an anti-British anti-colonial mindset by his evil Kenyan rebellious relatives. Indonesia was a Dutch colony and had nothing to do with the Mau-Maus. And anyway, weren't George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams rebels like Obama's paternal grandfather? Didn't we rebel against British imperialism like the Kenyans? And do we know that the grandfather was involved in the uprising, that's not even clear.

I read that there were other lies and exaggerations in Huck's talking points. Like the fact that the Winston Churchill bust was not returned to the British but moved to another part of the White House to be replaced by a bust of Abraham Lincoln. Is Huckabee coming out against Lincoln now? I am appalled!

And speaking of Boy Scouts, did you know that Huckabee's son David was fired as a Boy Scouts camp counselor for torturing and killing a dog? And that Huckabee who was governor of Arkansas at the time hushed up the investigation? This was about 10 years ago, but the son was 18 at the time which is pretty old for excusing cruelty to animals as a youthful prank. Why doesn't someone ask Huckabee about his family values if he can raise an animal torturer? If any of Obama's kids did something like that, we'd never hear the end of it from Fox and Friends.

Huckabee seems to be testing the waters for a presidential run, but I doubt if he'll do it. He wants to finish building that house in Florida and his Fox salary is too high for him to give it up. But look for more lies and distortions and "misstatements" about Obama from Huck and his pals.

2012 GOPers A Panicked Herd of Elephants

The Republican field of 2012 presidential hopefuls continues to shift and reshape itself. Mike Huckabee appears to have met his Willie Horton for pardoning a convict while he was governor of Arkansas. The guy recently killed some police officers. Pope Billy O'Reilly has officially granted him clemency with a dispensation from on high: "It wasn't your fault, governor." I will say that at least Huckabee stands by his faith and isn't a mean-spirited, nasty sort like most of them--like the senators who remain silent on the gay-execution law in Uganda. (Rachel Maddow did a whole tihng on the connection between the Family on C Street and anti-AIDS money going to Uganda tonight, but I digress).

Mitt Romney--as some clever person called him on the Huffington Post--Guy Smiley (the mupper game show host on Sesame Street) continues to try to grab our attention with an editorial in USA Today advocating deregulating Wall Street because that worked out so well last time.

Lou Dobbs is apparently getting all soft on them foreigners and Dick Chaney just says forget it. Who's left? Oh yes, Sarah Palin. I came across a special magazine devoted to her at Wal Mart. She just wants low taxes, no government interference, and lots of military protection.

Why Are Republicans Eating Each Other Alive?

I hate to admit it but the GOP is in a fairly good position for 2010. There is growing dissatisfaction with Obama because he doesn't seem to be able to clean up the enormous pile of shit left behind by the previous administration with a wave of his magic wand. The economy hasn't been fixed and it's been almost a whole year. C'mon already, what are you waiting for, the impatient babies of the nation are whining. So the Repubs can take advantage of that by seizing the volatile independents in the middle who have no political convictions, they just want their meals on the table, cheap tickets to NASCAR and for their asses not to bet blown up.

But the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt seems to shooting itself in the collective foot--or rather the right foot is stomping on the left. But skewing to the extreme right with these tea bag nut jobs, they risk losing the center. You win elections by kissing up to the middle. Just ask Barack and Bill and both Bushes. Even Ronnie knew enough not get too Archie Bunker-ish.

The tea parties will definitely help them in the south, but it will kill them up north. Ironic isn't it since tea parties started in Boston.

So I am kinda worried about the midterms, but I still feel OK for 2012. How have they got to challenge Obama? Palin is a joke but a dangerous one that some take seriousky. Huckabee is even-tempered and presents a pleasant front, but is too religious. Romney is an insincere stiff and the evangelics think he's a heretic because he's a Mormon. Maybe someone will emerge we haven't even thought of yet. But Obama's saving grace may be that independents will think he's not so bad when you compare him to the crop of losers on the other side.

Palin Poops Out!

Why does this always happen on Friday of a holiday weekend. My partner Jerry and I are up here for the Fourth of July. We were driving back from the Price Chopper listening to NPR and Sarah Palin announces she’s not running for governor for a second term. Okay, fine. Wait a minute, not only is she not running for re-election, but she’s resigning altogether. WTF!! Just two and half years as governor and she steps down? I think she comes across as a quitter and more interested in her own career than what’s best for her state.

She is crazy! To me this dashes her hopes for becoming President in 2012. She may be thinking—hey, I can’t go around the country and give speeches like Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee. I gotta hang around this icebox and sign papers. What a waste of taxpayer money! Let somebody do it so I can do something really positive like appear at barbecues with Joe the Plumber.

Interesting that she does this the same week as that damaging Vanity Fair article comes out.

I’m watching her whole insane press conference on MSNBC. She’s making Mark Sanford sound like a model of coherence. (And BTW, why doesn't he resign and have his fling in Argentina which he obviously wanted to do.) Maybe she waited until she knew that Keith Olbermann was on vacation so he wouldn’t lay into her. (I think he’s on vacation.) In any event, I switched to Fox for a few seconds and the conservatives were posturing that she positioning herself

If she cares about Alaksa she would stay in office. It’s obvious she can't take the heat. This makes the GOP like even weaker.

Now there’s a crawl at the bottom stating Palin is out of politics for good according to sources speaking to Andrea Mitchell. Which is it? She seems to have left the door open for future higher office, but this is not the way to do it. She says, it's not politics as usual. It's not politics at all.

What a weird, strange career. Plucked from obscurity, pilloried by the media, the object of tabloid rumors, now she throws it all away--or does she? I think she has a huge enough ego to believe she can still be in the presidential game, but with this misguided decision, all she has left are her hard-core of supporters--right-wing, small-government Walmart shoppers, a shrinking group. She'll probably wind up as a talk-show hostess on Fox. Chuck Todd just said she may be doing it for money. If she's no longer governor, she can give speeches for money.