Sarah Waters Down Her Tea, Rush Included, Iran Gets Blustery

Gerard Alexander

James Joyner
Steve Benen

"How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for you?" - Sarah Palin

"Shrill, Baby, Shrill......Shrill, Baby, Shrill......Shrill, Baby, Shrill" - johnjohn

"Shredded organic matter in a porous membrane at the end of a string controlled by others... A description of a tea bag... And of Sarah Palin." - Technic Ally

Here is a link to watch the video of Sarah Palin's speech. One of these days I will learn how to embed a video in my blog. I know it's simple but us grumpy old men are resistant to change... In reaction to her speech, NY Times reader robertm21 had this reaction:

Her Big Moment in the Sun...

1. she is for an expanded energy policy... so is obama
2. she is for war on terror...so is obama
3. she is for changing the culture of washington... so is obama
4. she is for taking care of special needs children... so is obama.
5. she is pro Constitutional law... so is Obama! (He taught it at Chicago Law School for 11 years)

Other things that were interesting

1. she is against repealing Dont ask Don't tell---Scott Brown is not
2. she is against Universsal Health care -Scott Brown is for it.
3. she is not Pro Choice-Scott Brown is.

And yet she discredits Obama's positions and takes credit for Scott Brown's victory...

Can some one from the Tea Bag movement specify what this movement is about.
Can someone detail why they like Palin? No one ever does.

I had mixed reactions to Sarah Palin's speech at the tea party convention before 600 paying fans. I took my glasses off and closed my eyes to really listen to what a $100,000 speech sounds like. Like most people my beliefs are a mixture of conservative and liberal thoughts. What I don't like is when one side dismisses the other, I end up having a war inside myself, often end up screaming at what a dumbass I am... And I was disappointed with Sarah's speech. I expected some dissing of Obama, which she did along with the whole Democratic agenda. She insisted that Republicans had tested ideas that really worked, but didn't go into specifics other than vaguely promoting a free-market system. The free-market system has been tested and proven that it doesn't work, even Alan Greenspan has said so. Your job loss is due to the meltdown of the free market system. Because when it comes down to it, you have to regulate human greed...

Her whole speech sounded more like Sarah Palin's greatest hits from the last presidential campaign, she made sure to reference everything that had made some controversy in the media about her family. The most interesting tidbit came when she revealed that her husband, Todd, never registered as a Republican. She tried for a folksy delivery, and when it faltered somewhat, made sure to reference Ronald Reagan to get an automatic standing ovation, kind of a cheap way to manipulate people's emotions. I could tell three times when her mind froze and she forgot the speech, her voice sounded nervous and anxious, paused, then calmed down and continued on.

I find it interesting that because she didn't bomb or mess up, CNN called her speech successful. She dealt in generalizations and worn phrases that have been used to press people's emotional buttons. Her foreign policy statements showed a lack of knowledge of what is currently being negotiated and indicated that she has no faith in diplomatic skills, wanting to go back to the Bush way of telling our allies what they should do instead of working with them. It's why we had allies pulling out of the wars, and had allied troops there that never took part in combat. In contrast, now we have more countries pledging support through NATO and the UN. The criticism of her not being very smart, I'm afraid, is true, and I think that she would be a lot scarier than George Bush ever was, if she were put in charge of the largest and most efficient military force on earth.


This morning Sarah gave an interview to Fox News, and one of the questions Chris Wallace asked was about Rush Limbaugh using the word "retard" after she had condemned and asked for Rahm Emanuel's resignation:(Huffington Post) "But the former governor went to great and sometimes awkward lengths to insist that when conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh used the same exact term to describe the same exact group, it was simply in the role of political humorist.


"They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh," she said, when read a quote of Limbaugh calling liberal groups "retards." "Rush Limbaugh was using satire ... . I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'f-ing retards,' and we did know that Rahm Emanuel, as has been reported, did say that. There is a big difference there."

It seems that Rush can get away with saying whatever juvenile thing he wants, and every conservative on the planet has to suck up to him. Rush still thinks of himself as a satirist, but his sense of humor died when he abused the Oxycontin, leaving him to ramble on mean-spirited in the ether. Well, he has a lot of time to fill on the every day, and like most talk-show radio hosts, doesn't take time to read much when he's off the air, has a staff prepare most of the material from news sources.

"I used Harry Reid's words and Rahm Emanuel's words, not mine, to expose and punish their behavior. I used satire to wash their mouths out with soap and made an uncomfortable point because the State-Controlled Media would have run any Republican out of office, as in George Allen and Macaca." - Rush Limbaugh

Another question Chris asked Sarah, was is she considering running for president? “It would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country, I won’t close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future.” I look forward to her debates with Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Mit Romney, Haley Barbour, and anyone else that will be in the race, so that she has to use elite Washington sources to keep her informed...

the friendly skies...

The Transportation Security Administration is going to scale down their proposed security regulations for private planes and jets, because the industry is objecting: "TSA is preparing to scale back a controversial plan to expand aviation security rules for the first time to thousands of private planes. TSA officials said last week they expect to issue a revised plan this fall that will significantly reduce from 15,000 the number of U.S.-registered general-aviation aircraft subjected to tougher rules. Also, instead of mandating that all passengers aboard private planes be checked against terrorist watch lists, name checks in many cases could be left to the discretion of pilots, they said."


So, let me get this right. If you own a plane or your company owns a jet there is a good chance that you won't have to be checked out before you fly, or it can be left up to the pilot to check to see if any of the passengers are on the no-fly list? So, if you want to smuggle drugs or a planeload of terrorists, all that you need to do it own or lease a corporate level jet? Are we assuming that al-Qaeda types are too poor to do this? Because a lot of their funding come from incredibly rich sympathetic Muslims who don't even blink at losing a few million dollars. Once again, your tax dollars not at work, good intentions compromised by rich people lobbying because the rules should not apply to them...



iran...

"I am very optimistic about the future of Palestine and believe Israel is on the steep path of decline and deterioration, I am very optimistic about the future of Palestine and believe Israel is on the steep path of decline and deterioration. God willing, its destruction will be imminent," the Islamic republic's all-powerful leader said. "Continued resistance and hope for victory should be taken into consideration." - Iran Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Defense Secretary Robert Gates screwed things up when he mocked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestion that Iran would agree to the west's proposal of sending uranium to Russia for enrichment. Ahmadinejad was about the only official in Iran who saw it as a good way out of the dilemma, and was expressing his personal views. Instead of taking the hint, Robert Gates ridiculed him and doubted that Iran was serious. With good reason, but saving face is necessary when dealing with a thin-skinned dictator who became furious at the remarks.

In response,  a pissed -off Ahmadinejad instructed his nuclear agency to begin refining nuclear fuel at twenty percent, enough to scare the bejesus out of the west. He also unveiled two more missile plants, and the Ayatollah Khamenei began bragging to Arab news sources that the destruction of Israel is imminent. Even if China suddenly came around, I don't think sanctions will have much effect.

And trying to head off any more demonstrations on Feb 11, where all of Iran is supposed to celebrate the Islamic Revolution: "Iran on Sunday said it had arrested seven people accused of stoking unrest after last year's disputed election, including some who were hired by the US Central Intelligence Agency, the official Irna news agency reported. The arrests were reported ahead of possible new anti-government protests on February 11, when Iran marks the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah.


Also yesterday, Iran said its internet connections will remain slow this week due to technical problems."

Yep, you know how those CIA agents are everywhere and have masterminded the demonstrations so far, best to arrest innocent people now to show you mean business, you know, all that warring with god crap, I throw my shoes at you, you dogs... Slowing the Internet down allows the government to spy on what citizens are saying, in case anyone is using it to organize, it optimizes their capturing software...