Michele Bachmann's History Lesson

I was upset because Egpyt erupted into chaos and knocked off the State of the Union and the Republican and Tea Party rebuttals from the Sunday morning political shows. I wanted to hear Chris Matthews call Michele Bachmann a balloonhead again. And then there was Sarah Palin's sputnik moment when she conflated 30 years of history into one sweeping incident. Bachmann is really showing herself as an attention whore. She tried to get a major position in the Republican-led House. When they turned her down, she reached for another gambit--appointing herself head of the Tea Party and rewriter of American history.

The sad thing is the media is bypassing a perfectly legitimate concern of the Tea Party types--the deficit--and drowning it out by spending hours and hours concentrating on the fact that Bachmann looked into the wrong camera and gave a whacko interpretation of the last 300 years. I commented on it on the Huffington Post and some right-wing nut responded that the National Embarassment from Minnesota was technically right. Huh? In her speech in Iowa, Bachmann said the founding fathers worked tirelessly until slavery was eradicated. She specifically sited John Quincy Adams. First of all, JQ was not a Founding Father. His dad John Adams was. JQ was an anti-slavery advocate and did work to get slavery outlawed in the District of Columbia when he was a congressman, after losing his second term from President to Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson--I loved the musical.

Maybe she saw Amistad and got confused. That was that movie with Anthony Hopkins as JQ Adams where he defends the hot model who was playing a slave who rebelled. Or maybe when she was a little girl, she watched The Adams Chronicles on PBS with William Daniels who played JQ. The same actor played the father John Adams in the stage and movie version of the musical 1776 and they did try to outlaw slavery in that show, but the mean old Southern representatives put a stop to it. But somehoe I doubt Bachmann saw 1776 on Broadway; maybe she saw the movie on the local Minnesota channel on the fourth of July.

Anyway, she made it sound like all the Founding Fathers worked to end slavery. Sorry, but they didn't. Some were against it, but the institution didn't end until the Civil War, several generations later. The FFs kept it in the constitution and counting slaves as three-fifths of a person was NOT a meaure to start on the road to equality, but to get the Southern states bigger representation in the Congress. Glenn Beck actually ranted on Chris Matthews for calling Bachmann an idiot. Beck actually said he thought Bachmann could become president. Now I know he's nuts.

Shootings in Arizona

It's been a weird weekend. I took the train upstate through beautiful snowscapes on Friday night. On Saturday, my partner Jerry and I attended the HD broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera of Puccini's Girl of the Golden West with Deborah Voigt. We attended a different production a few summers ago at Glimmerglass which I found more intimate and moving. (Sidenote: did you know Andrew Lloyd Webber lifted one of his main themes of Phantom of the Opera from Puccini's score.) We saw the opera at Time and Space Limited, a neat small theatre in Hudson that shows really offbeat films in addition to HD broadcasts from the Met and the National Theatre of Great Britain.

After the opera, we heard on the radio about the shootings in Tuscon, Arizona where congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was wounded and six people were killed including a judge and a 9 year old little girl. It reminded of the late 1960s when I was about 10 and it seemed assassinations and violence were erupting every week. I remember I was watching Bewitched and they interupted it to announce that Martin Luther King had been killed.

It's only a day after the shootings and the political debate has already been launched. Did the violent rhetoric of the right--and yes, it's mostly--not ALL but mostly---coming from the right, I'm sorry but it is--create an atmosphere of rage to influence unbalanced individuals like the 22 year old nutjob who did the shooting? It's way too early to tell anything and I don't believe people like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, and Sharron Angle are purposely inciting violence. Well, I take that back about Sharron Angle. She did say discontented Tea Partiers should invoke "Second Amendment remedies" if things didn't turn out the way they wanted in the last midterm elections. But, I don't believe the rest really meant to incite violence. But when you use targets and crosshairs on images of people you disagree with, as Sarah Palin did on Giffords' congressional district in Arizona, you have to take responsibility for creating a dangerous climate.

Palin could have used less violent imagery to get across her point in the last election. We don't know if this crazy kid saw Palin's website and was inspired by it. We do know his ravings on the internet are incoherent and he may be just plain crazy and this would have happened with or without the media madness stirred up by Palin and her ilk. But people like Beck are invoking, even jokingly, violence and death against people like Michael Moore and Nancy Pelosi. I remember driving through Missouri a few years ago and listening to a local talk station. The host joked that he wanted to be fair, but then said "Michael Moore must hate this country." I just don't get that. Yes, you can disagree with Moore all you want, but must he hate this country just because he doesn't share your opinion on health care and gun control?

The sherriff of Tuscon said in a news conference yesterday that Arizona is becoming the capital of bigotry and inflamed rhetoric and that it's time for American media to tone it down. I believe all but a few fringe-lunatic Americans abhor violence, but too many in power both in the media and in politics have no problem using it to grab bigger ratings or more votes. And they have no conscience and sleep perfectly well when something like this happens because they don't make the connection. Sarah Palin and hubby Todd are getting a good night's sleep on their mattress stuffed with all their millions, and she is not responsible for yesterday's shootings. But she is responsible with her crosshairs imagery and scary talk of death panels in creating a climate of division and rancor.

Sarah Palin at Burger King

So I'm having dinner at Burger King on Monday night. I know it's bad for me but I was in a hurry. I had to make a 7 PM curtain to see Donny and Marie: A Broadway Christmas which I was reviewing (It will be posted on the Back Stage website by now.) Anyway, this BK on Broadway and about 40th Street, right by where they have the Fashion Walk of Fame, has a TV monitor where they show trivia questions and headlines with news photos. I'm sitting there munching on a Chicken Sandwich and some onion rings while reading a 1968 Superman comic book and who should appear on the TV screen but goddamn Sarah Palin, the bane of my existence.

On display was a photo of Sister Sarah on her recent visit to Haiti for publicity and to gain legit cred for actually having visited a foreign country she can't see from her house. The caption reads: Sarah Palin visits Haiti and gains valuable foreign relations experience and humanitarian kudos. I almost spat out a hunk of onion ring! Who was writing these right-wing-leaning captions? "Valuable foreign relations experience? Humanitarian kudos?" What did she do bring them some caribou meat? BTW, I watched her dreadful reality show for maybe five minutes, it was all I could take.

I noticed a definite conservative bias in the news reporting at this Burger King. A few weeks ago while chowing down another Chicken sandwich and reading a Batman comic, there was a photo of Nancy Pelosi and the caption read something about the national deficit being this enormous, horrible number and it was due to the Democratic-controlled Congress. Who is running this newsfeed at BK? I'm almost tempted to ask the manager who gave them the programming for their flat screens. Most of it was innocuous trivia like which actor was never in a Harry Potter film or who won which Super Bowl? Anyway, if it happens again, I'm definitely asking.

Oh, and Donny made a joke about Bristol Palin during the show--Donny won Dancing with the Stars and Marie only came in third, like Bristol. Marie was saying she didn't do so badly and Donny teased her for being no better than Bristol. So he just went up in my estimation.

Palin Appeal

Quote from a Dec, 7, 2009 New Yorker article on Palin: "To an extent unmatched by any recent political figure, she offers the erasure of any distinction--in skill, experience, intellect--between the governing and the governed. As one supporter told Conroy and Walsh (authors of "Sarah from Alaska," a pro-Palin tome), "If she can run a home, she can run the government." Palin agrees: "There's no better training ground for politics than motherhood." Yes, except households don't go to war with other households and settling arguments with the kids over who gets to watch Spongebob is not quite the same as settling the Middle East crisis.

I understand Palin's appeal. She's the mom from next door you might meet at the Walmart. She's just like you. She ain't got no fancy degree (she went to four different colleges in five years!) She writes notes on her hand--some find that endearing. She doesn't remember all the founding fathers or even when the Korean War was. So what! You don't have to be a walking encyclopedia to run the the most powerful nation on earth. All you need is common sense, some lip gloss and a pair of waders.

Everybody lovers her--for different reasons. The left wants to keep her in the spotlight so they can say "This is the best the GOP has to offer? You're kidding, right? Obama wins in a walk." The Tea-baggers (and yes, I will call them tea-baggers despite their sensitive protests to be associated with a sexual practice) love her because she repeats back their slogans and makes 'em feel good and everything. The only ones who don't love her are the moderate Republicans who fear that she will drag down their chances to take back the White House in 2012.

McCain Tacks to the Right

John McCain showed his true red-state colors today. When discussing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, he's always said if a military leader said we should reconsider this shameful policy, then he would do so. But today he went back on those words. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in full uniform told the armed services committee, the policy was wrong and Mccain went out of his way to say--"Hold on a minute, the Congress decides these things, not you military guys. We need to study this thing for at least 25 years and then I'm not even sure it should ever change, cause you know us straight guys don't want no show-tune-singing nancy boys seeing our junk in the shower."

It was obvious why he said that (OK he didn't say exactly those words, but that was his subtext). He's facing a challenge for re-election in the Arizona Republican primary from a tea-bag type. If he appears the slightest bit moderate, they will jump on him--"He lost us the White House. His daughter just loves those gays! His wife posed for that ad in favor of gay marriage--and here we thought she was the perfect Stepford robot! He may as well be having a Cosmo at a piano bar. Damn, you cain't trust nobody these days! Brother Glenn Beck says he's more dangerous than Obama. He's brainwashed our Sister Sarah into endorsing him."

But the Joint Chiefs chairman basically said the policy was wrong and it should end. Oh and BTW, Colin Powell just said DADT should end as well. So that's two major military people on our side. More on Beck and Arianna Huffington and Roger Ailes at their set-to in a further post. It's very late.

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.

Piling On Palin

I just had to share this lovely conversation from Fox News via The Huffington Post. I will not sully my laptop with an actual link to Fox. Contributor Liz Trotta (I think she was the genius who used the adjective "terrorist" to describe the Obamas' fist bump) slams Sarah Palin as inarticulate and uneducated. It's obvious the host is trying to get her to agree with him that the liberal media is being unfair to Sarah. But Liz is standing her ground, asking what would William F. Buckley--obviously one of her heroes--think of this nitwit as the standardbearer of the conservative movement? She goes on to commit the heresy of saying Maureen Dowd has an actual case when criticizing the soon-to-be ex-governor. Liz also calls Palin flaky. The host prods Liz to tow the party line by saying these liberal elite types are going too far, calling the gov. crazy and unbalanced. But Liz doesn't budge. Good for her, Trotta is actually being fair and balanced, just like Fixed Noise's all-too-often-ignored motto.

On Countdown earlier in the evening, the guy who wrote the Vanity Fair article commented that she just "wasn't having fun anymore." Hey, my job isn't exactly a barrel of monkeys every minute, should I resign in the middle of a project? He went on to report Palin would get easily bored in staff meetings and when the topic veered from an issue she cared about or the mundane details of actual governing would creep in, her attention would wander. Plus, she was exhausted from all that commuting to Juneau. Poor thing! You're breaking my heart.

Now I'll have to buy that article.

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.