The Love fest Continues: Sarah Palin on Africa, NAFTA and more

Seemingly intent on proving every last word of my recent rant (Fear and Loathing in The Heartland: Republicans' Love fest With Ignorance) to be true, senior aides to John McCain have been leaking details about Sarah Palin and man, are they ever doozies! If these reports are true, Palin is somehow even worse than she came off in those Katie Couric interviews.

I must say, I fully appreciate these McCain aides backing up my theory about Republicans being completely infatuated, if not downright in love with stupidity. However, I'm still a little confused by their motives.

Another Run?
In showing us that McCain was an absolute fool to choose Palin, are these aides attempting to establish McCain's complete lack of intellect in order to lay the groundwork for another run at the White House in 2012? Or, and this would be radical, is their some actual soul searching going on here that includes a realization that perhaps "I'm with stupid" may no longer be the best electoral strategy after eight years of Dubya?

Either way, stories are all over the media today--stories coming directly from the McCain camp--that Palin did not, in fact, realize that Africa was a continent and that she had no idea which countries are members of NAFTA.

Knowing that Canada, Mexico, and the United States are, indeed, the three countries that make up NAFTA could stump many a student from the Ronald Reagan/George W. Bush School of Politics, but I'm going to go way out on a limb here and guess that by the time they ran for elected office, even Reagan and Bush had some sort of idea that Africa was not, in fact, one big country.

Old-School Like Ike and Abe
Folksy, simplistic ignorance may have worked well in winning power for people like Reagan and Bush in the past. But perhaps the Republicans should now consider burying that whole approach and going back to the days of somewhat wise leaders like Abraham Lincoln, or even Dwight Eisenhower.

Of course, in the minds of modern-day Republicans, someone like Eisenhower would be considered an unrepentant liberal or even a socialist for his warnings about the "military-industrial complex". Worse, he'd most likely be accused of pallin' around with communists for all his meetings with Joseph Stalin during WWII. And, who knows, he may even, if he were alive today, be tagged an elitist for having worked his way up to the top of the U.S. military.

Palin in 2012
Nah, a lefty like that just wouldn't do. Looks like the Republicans will have to go with Palin in 2012 after all. Because, to be fair, when it comes to looking down with contempt on, y'know, all that liberal elite stuff like science and knowledge, Palin is really at the top of her class.

If the Republicans do rally around Palin or anyone else from the far right of their party, that'll be a beautiful gift for all those of us who hope they remain in the political wilderness for years to come.

What could be better than Palin vs. Obama in 2012?


Mike Cowie is a writer currently embarked on a book about his three-year trip across Asia with his wife, Sonoko. Read more of Mike’s views on his Web site.

Comments

3 Comments

sleepswithangels

Nov 7, 2008 at 1:29am

The fact that one idiot can relate to another doesn’t elevate idiocy to virtue. If you can’t be on the ball, know the material, have your own educated opinions, then satisfy your political aspirations with a run at a position that suits your level of expertise. Don’t assume that because hordes of uninformed reactionaries worship at your feet you should be able to control the fate of the world. That’s why people like Bush and Palin get elected . These masses of dumbed down propaganda victims can easily relate to the thick natures of their chosen rednecks and in this unbalanced, greed oriented society we've created, I believe that our collective karma is manifesting that which it deserves.....in Canada we get stuck with experienced, neocon, Republican lapdogs like Gordon Campbell and Steven Harper, and in the US, due to their failed public education system and their police/military state mentality, they get total dorksticks like Bush and Palin. Obviously the Republican braintrust has some seriously sharp cookies in charge....they just don't have any respect for their supporter's intelligence and they have been able to prosper by appealing to the worst in people.

sleepswithangels

Nov 10, 2008 at 5:34pm

The silly season for sister Sarah stretches and now she claims she was somehow taken out of context. More evidence that the constituency she is playing to are more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic...a descriptor that fits your typical xian like a Gucci glove.
I have no doubt she will have some strong numbers leading into the primaries in 4 years..the joy to be gleaned by yours truly will be watching the GOP braintrust working behind the scenes to spay this rabid and clueless pitbull masquerading as a member of our species.