On Saturday I went to Carson, California, to attend a rally for Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For those who aren't familiar with the city of Carson, it's approximately 19 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. In the 2004 Presidential election, Carson, which had a population of just under 90,000, donated three times as much money to George W. Bush than to John Kerry. This year, for the 2008 elections, residents of Carson have given slightly more to Republican candidates than to Democrats by a slim margin of $3,000. Thus the gap between Republicans and Democrats in Carson has narrowed.
The Palin rally, which you may have seen on youtube and TV, was held at the Home Depot ADT Tennis Stadium. Because of the surprising popularity of Mrs. Palin and easy access to free tickets, all 20,000 stadium seats, plus an overflow area were filled. I got a handful of tickets, recruited my friend Rebecca Tobias, Program Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics, and trekked on out to Carson. We scored ground level seats in the stadium from which I watched, listened and steadily bristled. When I could no longer stomach Palin's lies and distortions, I jumped up, and at the top of my lungs, repeatedly called Palin a L-I-A-R! I was shouted down in Palinese by her 20,000 admirers, then escorted out by security. I took extra time as I climbed the steps from the ground up to the top just to keep her admirers shouting. The few minute reprieve from Palin's lies was to me a righteous diversion.
When I neared the top of the steps I turned back to Mrs. Palin and continued to call her a L-I-A-R, until I was ushered out the door. Thankfully my escorts showed me the utmost respect for they privately shared my feelings. They're working folk. They see through Mrs. Palin. But that's just the start of this story...
You see, I'd gone to this event for a reason. Not to see Sarah Palin. I already knew who she was. I went to see the Palinettes - the supporters of this unspectacular woman who had so readily been won over. I wanted to meet them and speak with them and understand their attachment to this lowest common denominator politician - a woman so unqualified for Vice President that her appointer running mate should be imprisoned for treason. As a patriot and voter, I disagree categorically with the choice of Sarah Palin. I seek knowledge, experience, maturity, integrity, charity, clarity, humanity, intellectual curiosity, and wisdom from the leaders I select. Since Palin, in my opinion, exhibits none of these traits, I wanted to assess her supporters' rationale (or rational-ity).
What I witnessed was thoroughly alarming!!
Among this raptured crowd of 20,000 was a frightening mix of Christian zealots, anti-abortion fanatics, and mostly white suburban women and men reconnecting with their high school mentality. Bright colored pom-poms were everywhere - as if Sarah Palin were head cheerleader, the women were on her squad, and the men were the football heroes. Sarah Palin, the quintessential 4ever-school-girl had revitalized their youth and saved them from adulthood. Check out the red pom-pom "hair" on the man behind Palin. If that isn't high school, what is??
Photo by Linda Milazzo
Want further proof of pom-pom Palin? Try this as an experiment. Put on an audio of a Sarah Palin speech. Close your eyes and listen. What you'll hear is the high pitched voice of a teenage girl, speaking in circular reasoning, incomplete sentences, and juvenile idioms. No sophistication. No leadership. No wisdom. Just the sound of a snarky school girl. Sarah Palin is America's greatest nightmare. Sarah Palin is George W. Bush in a dress!
Of course there are those who might say that my own outburst toward Sarah Palin was juvenile - to which I'd respond with a resounding NO! It's never juvenile to speak truth to ignorance. To say nothing would be derelict. Certainly, I'd be naive to think that calling Palin a L-I-A-R would make her adorers believe me. But to sit quietly while Palin accused Obama of being:
"someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists [Bill Ayers] who would target their own country"
would make me complicit in the group-think that promotes a lie to a truth. I'd rather be thrown out for the truth than group-hugged for a lie.
While Palin's peevishness is appalling, it pales in comparison to the dangerous ideology that she and her followers share. By unleashing Sarah Palin, John McCain has reinvigorated the anti-choice/anti-woman/anti-reproductive rights fanatics, who not long ago were at the forefront of domestic terror. Interesting that Palin insinuates Obama when referring to:
"terrorists who would target their own country"
when it's those who share her ideology who have committed heinous domestic crimes. Let us not forget the health-care workers who were murdered by anti-choice radicals who share Palin's no exceptions for abortion beliefs. Let us not forget the women and family clinics that were bombed. Let us not forget Eric Rudolph - the anti-abortion terrorist who killed two people and injured 100 others during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The same Eric Rudolph who bombed abortion clinics that killed even more people. The same Eric Rudolph who sadistically attacked a gay bar. Let us not forget that the Sarah Palin wing of anti-choice fanaticism victimized America for years, committing crime after heinous crime. What John McCain has unleashed on America with his choice of Sarah Palin is an outright invitation to these cults to wreak havoc all over again.
On Saturday I got a taste of this anti-choice fanaticism as Palin's zealots shouted "baby killers" at the pro-Obama activists outside. I saw it first hand with the anti-choice tirades looped again and again by one Palin follower after another. This is their mission - their single issue cause - and Sarah Palin has given it life. With the economy spiraling downward, the world at war, the planet over-heating, and continents dying from famine and disease, Sarah Palin's followers are driven by one issue only - the total end of abortion.
Yes, the silly Palin chatter of "she's one of us 'cause she talks like us and is a regular person" was also spun at Saturday's event. As was propaganda about Obama "getting paid undercover by some other country" and "doubt that Obama was really born in Hawaii because his birth certificate can't be found". Sadly this level of ignorance exists - even in Southern California. In fact, it was so illogically mind-boggling that I audio-taped it as proof.
The perilous stupidity that I witnessed on Saturday made me believe more than ever that under NO CIRCUMSTANCE can John McCain and Sarah Palin be elected. In fact, their election LOSS must be so severe that Sarah Palin can NEVER be resurrected for a future campaign. Furthermore, John McCain's blatant disregard for the safety and stability of this nation by choosing Sarah Palin should cost him his Arizona Senate seat and force him from office forever. He has dishonored his nation to such an extent that any reference to his heroism as a prisoner of war has been rendered permanently irrelevant.
Linda Milazzo is a Los Angeles based writer, educator and activist. Since 1974, she has divided her time between the entertainment industry, government organizations & community development projects and educational programs.
Linda began her writing career over 30 years ago, starting out in advertising and promotions. From 1976 to 1989, she operated an independent public relations service providing specialty writing for individual and corporate clients. For the past six years, Linda has focused on political writing. Her essays, letters and commentaries have appeared in domestic and international journals, newspapers and magazines. She's an educator and creator of a writers' program she's taught privately and in public schools. She currently facilitates an advocacy writing workshop and is developing an advocacy writing program to be implemented in public and private educational institutions and in community based organizations.
Linda is a senior editor at OEN, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and to other respected news and opinion websites. A political and social activist since the Vietnam War, Linda attributes her revitalized-fully-engaged-intense-head-on-non-stop-political activism to the UNFORTUNATE EXISTENCE OF GEORGE W. BUSH and her disgust with greed-ridden American imperialism, environmental atrocities, egregious war, nuclear proliferation, lying leaders, and global tyranny!
This is a wonderful piece about an appalling candidate!
It took courage to attend the Palin circus spectacle, and speaking truth to ignorance is of the highest priority today, as intellect and circumspect has been replaced with a virulent strain of willful ignorance conflated with breathtaking arrogance in today's society.
In earnest, I agree with every observation you put forth that Palin is a benighted moron. She is more incurious and less gifted than GW Bush is, if that is possible. Pentecostal Church witch doctors, dinosaurs and man living together 6,000 years ago, Creationism, attempts to ban books, et al. unquestionably proves she is a fanatical, zealot idiot, unquestionably unfit to EVER lead any nation or hold an office of high public trust.
We are in utter agreement about who Sarah Palin is as a person; she is stunningly uninformed and breathtakingly overconfident. Orwellian with an outward, Machiavellian patina is an apt description of Palin. However, her unconcealed, overt certitude is potentially the biggest problem of all. She has mastered the art of flowery platitudes and sneering contempt. All of which, to the low-information, Neanderthal voters you unfortunately witnessed first hand, combined with her tacky, sophomoric charm, actually makes her very attractive, in a very creepy kind of way, to a fringe fraction and faction of Americans – the visceral, not cerebral coterie that follows her with frightening credulity.
It is this set of beliefs that concern me the most. She is a glib, authoritarian person who has a Manichean mindset – she is a dualist – one who only sees the world as good or evil; no nuance, nothing abstract or vague. Moreover, after judiciously studying authoritarian personalities for over two years, I can tell you they are loose with facts but stridently persuasive. They are charming, disarming, almost irresistible, yet completely morally bankrupt and amoral.
The problem here is they are masters at using base intellect, not intelligence, to appeal to people's pathos – many past dictators were all "gifted" experts at this tactic. In essence, they are scheming, devious and capable of anything in order to subvert the will of other people in order to achieve their objectives. And their objectives are not inline or in step with a progressive, balanced America – they are wholly recalcitrant reactionaries.
Here, with Palin, we see the pathology and pattern of someone infatuated and fixated on one's identity to the exclusion of others – an inborn need for social dominance (often overlooked as merely being "spirited"), personal ambition bereft of circumspection, outrageously aggrandized bragging, arrogant immodesty, and total insensitivity. It is her sophistry skills and nefarious guile that disturbs me greatly.
All of these traits are markers identified in one of only two groups of maladaptive, narcissisticpersonalities – authoritarians and sociopaths.
Do I make these indictments lightly, no, but it has become increasingly clear that Sarah Palin's confrontational certitude is more than abenign personality tick; it is a deeper insight into how she would govern a nation in every respect: Unflinchingly autocratic.
"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." - Adolf Hitler
Simply replace "Jew" with "liberal" and the uncanny paradigm resemblance is readily apparent.
Stop her, we must!
by
Frank J. Ranelli (66 articles, 143 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 383 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 3:51:02 AM
Well, Frank, while I cannot disagree with any of your eloquently written characterization of Sarah Palin (though I wouldn't go so far as to compare her with Hitler - Hitler was not only a figurehead, he had intelligence and he was not incurious about the world around himself), I think it's important to be accurate in regard to factual matters.
Palin did not attempt to ban books. She asked the head librarian if she would be willing to remove books from shelves (in other words, ban them). Many in the community were opposed to certain books being on library shelves and perhaps Palin would indeed have requested their removal from library shelves had the librarian been willing. Indeed, upon getting a negative response to her request by the librarian, it appears that she made some effort, unsuccessfully, to have that woman removed from her position. So your point is no less salient if you are strictly factual.
This may seem picky to you and, indeed, it is. But I would take it then as high praise nonetheless, that from all you said, only the most insignificant of detail can be criticized.
by
Terry (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 5:26:36 PM
I am glad your overall assessment (of my comment) is to your liking, but Palin, however you parse it, did make an attempt to ban books in Wasilla. Whether she was successful or not, rhetorical or not, neglects the fundamental issue. True, there are more nuances to the story – hard to expressive in a comment (a whole article would be needed to do so) – but it is the overarching ideology that drove her to even ask such a brazen, third rail question in the first place.
The heart of the matter is we do not ban books ever in this nation – that is censorship, plain and simple.
We are quarrelling over petty semantics and I believe a distinction without a difference.
Nevertheless, that said, the praise is welcome and appreciated!
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Frank J. Ranelli (66 articles, 143 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 383 comments)
on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 2:45:01 AM
"KILL HIM" someone in the crowd yelled, as McCain was asking what to do with Obama.................McCain displayed a bit of a reaction to that, but never "suspended" his talk to kick the person out of the rally.......which, in my opinion he should have done, or at least reprimanded the idiot. Obama would have done that if it were the other way around.
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Linda Bailey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 52 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 4:50:40 AM
why neither of the commenters and neither the author make any attempt to specify WHO does Palin work for? It becomes more and more obvious that she was PUT there for a reason, that she is on the mission and that mission is so important that she is sometimes more important than McCaine. I said it many times: she was put there as liason person by the Council for National Policy to watch over diverting the federal money to the so- called 'faith- based' institutions. Now, if that is true why neither Obama nor people on this site mention that?
You folks are great but I am the only person who knows how those people operate when the ARE in power. And I would advise you all the watch the ' V for Vendetta'
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Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 249 diaries, 3571 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 9:06:39 AM
Sarah Palin scares me to death! She blithely rattles off rumor, innuendo and outright lies about her opposition and the crowd eats it up. They seem to honestly believe everything she says, and when she closes with that little wink, they go wild. Disgusting.
It has been said of Gov. Palin that she is "W" in a dress. I find that a disservice to Mr Bush. He seems to be not the brightest bulb on the tree, but he still outshines Mrs P; not by much. But she is perkier.
I have been pondering the actions of our current President for quite some time and I find that I simply cannot make up my mind; is he just inept and stupid, is he simply the trained puppy of the evil corporate minions. or is he an artful con-man playing a role in the big sting? I really can't decide. Is he so without reason that he believes the things he says? Or is he a master manipulator who surrounded himself with an experienced and proficient gang in order to perpetrate the greatest rip-off in world history?
After watching Gov. Palin over the last few, very few, weeks, I know she is a master manipulator, and she actually believes the things she says, (has been told and/or confirmed by her handlers). Frightening. Her performance at the debate only goes to show how easily she is to train, handle, mold, and trot out to perform.
She is a full course of Bush politics, with gravy. God forbid that she ever gets near the White House.
And as a BTW, since when is flirting and winking proper conduct for a candidate running for high office. I find it not only not cute, but completely improper. I have a hard time believing that she has not been called on the carpet for it. But I guess it works, so what the hell. I don't know her personal history before entering politics, but I would bet that she has to have been a bar-maid at some point. You just don't master that kind of sauce in a committee meeting.
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Kathy Stuart (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 29 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 9:40:27 AM
I applaud Linda's activism, investigating a crowd with whom she disagrees to get another perspective, observe and learn. I also applaud her nerve in standing up and standing out to show people Palin has vigorous detractors outside of the GOP subterfuge.
THIS SAID, I also believe this was an opportunity to share and spread the views of Palin supporters with the world at large. Max Blumenthal is an example of a blogger who attends right wing events and goes around interviewing and recording attendees to then post online. He suspends his disagreement during the interviews to get folks to talk openly and get a record of their views online and made available to all. One great example of this was at Rev. Hagee's 2007 CUFI Summit and it was so damaging to Hagee that he banned press the following year and hired an army of lawyers to try to force YouTube to remove the video!
So as good as your efforts were on "getting the message out" this week, just think how much farther footage of these people speaking and revealing their motivations online would go.
According to Rob: "...once you've shown you produce articles reliably, we can provide you with press credentials to cover events, to get into conferences for free... and that gives you special access to leaders and celebrities."
Hearing Palin supporters speak and give the reasons she is qualified for the White House is pure gold, Linda, pure gold! Especially those wearing bozo wigs!
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Gustav Wynn (66 articles, 43 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 305 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 9:51:00 AM
I think we need people doing both those things: interviewing/filming and infiltration/disruption. It would be best if the two functions were done exclusive of one another by two different groups.
Or they should do it in waves: a group of 6 people could go together and at the beginning of the speech, 2 of them disrupt (like Linda's LIAR!), and the others keep filming. Two more in the middle, and then the last 2 stay until the end before they yell.
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JC Garrett (40 articles, 65 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 604 comments)
on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 4:58:30 AM
I have audio of Palin's supporters discussing their views of her. I will be posting it. I have to find the best way to post this audio. I've done it before with another application. This audio was recorded on my iphone using the "Recorder" app. I can send it in an email but the link is only active for 10 days. I usually use my ipod voice recorder for recordings but I tried out this new app. I'm investigating the "best quality" method to post it.
As you have rightly presumed, it is educational and worth hearing. I promise I'll work on mounting it in a cogent article as soon as I can.
Thanks,
Linda
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Linda Milazzo (114 articles, 0 quicklinks, 18 diaries, 162 comments)
on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 4:09:35 PM
These people have no independent thoughts of their own. They can only repeat what they've heard on Fox News or Moby in the morning radio show. It's a waste of time trying to show them the light. They have no idea that dual-citizen traitors control our nation from behind the scenes.
But SLOWLY the curtain is being lifted and the cockroaches are heading for the exits.
by
Roger Thomas (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 60 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 11:06:58 AM
It is interesting to note that Carson lies just a little ways north of Orange County, which is probably one of the most rabidly conservative areas in the entire country.
I can see how it would be easy to pull in 20,000+ of the faithful.
by
Geek_Gal (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 8 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 12:37:21 PM
Yes, but it's changing. Huntington Beach is my home town...I now live in the Pacific NW...so I check in on the OC Register frequently. You'd be surprised (I was surprised) at how many Obama supporters post online..I'd guess 2 to 1..on the political blogs. Very heartening.
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camanokat (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 60 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 3:46:24 PM
I use the word "intelligence" very hesitatingly in any connection with Madame Mooseburger. After the R's bite the dust this year, as a poli sci wonk and as a journalist, and as lasty a sort of hit or miss historian of such things, I would like to try at least to find out a step by step chronology of how this "selection" actually came about. I think Reverend (and again, I also use that term very hesitatingly) Dobson and a few of his buddies brokered some kind of deal to exchange their support for getting her McCain's affirmation. All along I had dreaded the choice of Pawlenty of Minnesota or even Romney of Massachusetts, and after the pick was made, I wondered Who the Hell is She? Then emails from my 600 Obama Email Groups started flooding in, almost 10,000 over that weekend. I picked the best ones and slammed together 10 articles as compilation at my blog site on mybarackobama.com, and that was only about two hours of trying to pick the best ones....
Anyway, Linda: A brilliant piece which I am very glad to see on OpEdNews, and would like to have also seen on the Editorial Page in the LA Times or at least the Long Beach Telegram. I would think there have to be a paper or two in LaLaLand that would eat your piece up, speaking as an alternative editor 1000 miles away in Nuevo Mexico!
I therefore am going to take some time this afternoon and send your article to the lists I am a member of in the battleground states, and I encourage other readers to do so also.
Just be glad you didn't get arrested. I admire your courage and of course your intelligence!
Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News
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Stephen Fox (79 articles, 2 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 440 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 1:10:57 PM
And please stop calling MADAME MOOSEBRAINS a pitbull!
I own two pitbulls, and I resent the comparison between MADAME MOOSEBRAINS (or, if that is too cerebral to describe Sarah Palin: MADAME MOOSEBURGER) and my gentle compassionate intelligent friendsly servile canine companions, 2 real pit bulls, both of which I got off of Dog's Death Row, where they had both been condemned by a municipality as "vicious," who like more than anything to sleep 20 hours a day....
by
Stephen Fox (79 articles, 2 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 440 comments)
on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 1:18:29 PM
I can't get the link in this comment. I don't know why. But if you go to my archive here or on the HuffPo, you'll find the article. Or just google it. It's called:
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