Sarah Palin's Media Mockery Tour

By Alan Caruba

Watching the mobs of media folk chasing Sarah Palin’s bus resembles paparazzi chasing Lindsay Lohan more than anything related to serious politics in America. But, hey, if we were truly serious about politics, would we have elected Obama and Biden, or any of the other Leftwing loonies in Congress?

Fox News anchorette, Greta Van Susteran, hitched a ride with Sarah on a huge bus whose exterior is illustrated to demonstrate it is NOT a campaign bus, but just your typical family recreation vehicle as the Palin clan arrived in Washington, D.C., just in time for the Rolling Thunder motorcycle tribute to the nation’s fallen heroes.

Reportedly, Palin has not provided the mainstream media with an itinerary of her trip although we are told that she will head to Gettysburg at some point; probably right after having dined with—are you ready for this—Donald Trump.

While in Washington, she took her family to the National Archives to view the “foundation” documents on display. Something, frankly, every parent should do. My Father took me to the nation’s capital when I was a boy and we toured all the sites from the Lincoln Memorial to the Smithsonian. It’s not something one is likely to forget.

Palin, however, is beginning to sound like some windup doll where you pull the string and it spouts the same message over and over again. There’s no doubt that many on the Right welcome it, but at the same time it tends to sound trite after the fiftieth iteration.

I am among those who think that Palin will not take a run at the presidency. I think this bus tour has layers of reasons that include demonstrating her political viability, her potential kingmaker status, her “brand” to sell future books, and to prove she can draw a crowd anywhere in ways that the current crop of candidates cannot.

It is no accident she will be in New Hampshire the same day Mitt Romney officially announces his candidacy and you can imagine how thrilled he is about that! It also demonstrates the early lack of enthusiasm for most of the Republican field of candidates. That is not unusual. Things don’t begin to heat up until the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

Palin, though, despite all she has been through since John McCain picked her from the anonymity of being Alaska’s Governor, still cannot handle even softball questions. She can deliver a speech to audiences eager to hear all that good stuff about the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and conservative values, but there is little indication, as Brit Hume, a Fox News analyst, recently observed, that she has “schooled” herself in the greater global issues of our times.

In the meantime, she has got the usual media mob trailing her bus around, intoxicated by the carbon monoxide fumes, and desperate to get a sound bite. It is Palin’s revenge for the way they normally savage her.

It is her Media Mockery Tour.

For my part, the notion of a President Palin borders on farce. It’s a lot like the Broadway myth, “You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!” The 2008 campaign made Palin an instant star.

Everything she has done and said since then has maintained that status, but it is a theatrical term, not a political one. The media, Left and Right, is fascinated with her and she has coined that fascination with bestselling books, a television travel series, and well-paid speaking engagements; nothing wrong with that.

But President? Get real.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

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Cartoon Round Up

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Cartoon Round Up

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Halfway Between Sanity and Bedlam

By Alan Caruba

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

To listen, watch, or read the news these days, one is struck by the sheer insanity of most of the activities sanctioned by the government and encouraged by the signs of sanity reflected by the outcome of the midterm elections.

The people have spoken! And they are still at risk of being ignored by the White House and the Democrats.

For example, the “enhanced” airport inspections complete with full-body scanners and “pat downs” that have managed to enrage air travelers. The Israelis don’t do this and they have never had an El Al flight hijacked or blown up. Meanwhile, al Qaeda is enjoying the way the Department of Homeland Security has vastly over-reacted to its threat. As many rational observers have pointed out, identifying ARABS and/or MUSLIMS for a closer look is a very good idea. There is no record of a Catholic nun having ever hijacked a commercial jet.

In March of this year close to a million Americans showed up near the Capitol steps to protest Obamacare. They were dismissed by David Axelrod, a White House advisor, who said, “They’re wrong.” This was followed by Speaker Pelosi telling Americans that Obamacare had to be passed first so everyone could know what was in it and that included the members of Congress who voted for it. That is a definition of crazy. Almost immediately, corporations and unions began to file for waivers for their employees and members. Laws are supposed to apply equally to all Americans. Obamacare does so by raising your health insurance premiums.

The Federal Reserve, charged with the responsibility of protecting the value of the dollar, hasn’t done that for decades. Since the dollar is not pegged to a commodity such as gold, it is merely a piece of paper that the government promises to honor. That is now in jeopardy as the Fed engages in yet another “quantitative easing”, buying U.S. debt with devalued U.S. dollars. Other nations watching this slight-of-hand are not fooled and at some point they will stop buying $50 billion in U.S. securities every day.

One sign of sanity were the midterm elections that returned power in the House to the Republicans and narrowed the power of Democrats in the Senate. Members of the Republican Party and Independents are waiting to see if its leadership has figured out that they do not want any compromise with the White House that has never shown any compromise during the last two disastrous years.

The Republicans have real depth in terms of whoever they might choose to run against Obama, but all the “buzz” remains focused on former Governor Sarah Palin who can be seen these days in a Discovery Channel series about her family and Alaska. I doubt Sarah will take us on a tour of the utterly barren Alaska National Wildlife Refuge under which lies millions of barrels of untapped AMERICAN oil. It is just insane to not tap the enormous reserves of oil that are known to exist throughout and offshore of AMERICA.

On November 20, General Motors held an initial public offering (IPO). You will recall that, instead of being allowed to go through the normal process of bankruptcy and restructuring, the Obama administration stepped in and made all Americans part owners. Isn’t that called Communism?

John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said this of the IPO: “What exactly is so remarkable about a company coming back to life after a $65 billion taxpayer bailout, additional billions in tax breaks not available to other companies, and even an amazing “sovereign immunity” exemption for this IPO from anti-fraud securities laws and lawsuits? With this massive infusion of government aid and favors, even a company selling ketchup Popsicles to women wearing white gloves would likely show a profitable quarter!”

If, by now, you have seen a pattern of public policy that has staggered back and forth between sanity and bedlam, you are not alone. The first two years of the Obama administration has systematically destroyed confidence in America from within and without.

The international slap-downs the President has encountered speak to an insane policy that includes adding trillions to the national debt; thus putting the United States on a par with member nations of the European Union that are in financial trouble.

Americans, usually known for their common sense, are in near rebellion.

They don’t want to be fondled on their way to a vacation or business flight.

They don’t want the government to tell them what they should eat.

They don’t want a million mandates about everything they purchase.

They don’t want their children brainwashed in schools and colleges to believe utter nonsense about “climate change” and all the absurd claims attached to it. Change is what the climate has done for 4.5 billion years on planet Earth.

They don’t want amnesty programs for people who entered the nation illegally.

They don’t like the fact that government workers, thanks to the largest union in America, earn far more than those in the private sector and receive outsized pension and health benefits.

Et cetera!

America lost its mind over a totally unknown Senator from Illinois in 2008. In 2010 it is struggling to regain its sanity and is demanding the same of those whom it has elected to protect the nation against him.

© Alan Caruba, 2010

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