Sarah Palin Does Good Shock

ZOMG.

Sarah Palin gets her talking points all in a row in her latest discussions with Katie Couric, and manages to sound coherent and statesmanlike on everything from abortion rights through evolution...



Some highlights:

"I'm a feminist who... believes in equal rights and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed, and to try to do it all, anyway. And I'm very, very thankful that I've been brought up in a family where gender hasn't been an issue."

"Oh no, [Joe Biden being 72] it's nothing negative at all. He's got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we've been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he's got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I'm the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he's got the experience. "

"I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it's real; we need to do something about it."

"I'm saying that, personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in. And, um, if you're asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an … abortion, absolutely not. That's nothing I would ever support. "

"I think it [evolution] should be taught as an accepted principle.... It should be taught in our schools. And I won't deny that I see the hand of God in this beautiful creation that is Earth. But that is not part of the state policy or a local curriculum in a school district. Science should be taught it science class."

So, the best coaching money can by seems to have paid off - and almost tragically (if you like schadenfreude) Thursday's debate looks like it's not going to be the car-crash it could have been.

So just why was Palin so woeful in her initial interviews? That, gentle readers, points a very scary way.

Palin is certainly charismatic, and she tells a homely anecdote as well as the best of them... But take her outside of her comfort zone and she freezes.

Palin can't talk about foreign policy because she's not interested in foreign policy. She can't name newspapers and magazines she reads because she doesn't read newspapers and magazines. (Being handed clippings is not the same thing). She can't name any Supreme Court decisions outside of Roe v Wade because she has no interest in the judicial process.

Palin undoubtedly comes from the Reagan / Bush II school of politics. Substance is irrelevant - dangerous even - because government is by definition a bad thing. A politician's role is to be a figurehead; to keep the populace happy and sedate; to speak to religion and social order; to not interfere while the invisible hand does its work.

There is one major problem with this concept. It is bullcrap. It leads to governance by unelected technocrats and shady business interests exactly of the type Eisenhower warned about when he spoke of the Military Industrial Complex.

These are the people who profited from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, through no-bid contract and arms sales; through long-term oil investments and all that goes with them. These are the people who will make millions and billions of dollars from the bail out of the financial industry - now vital to save the entirety of Capitalism and all the wealth of the 20th century from collapse... And even more money from it's delay. They are the ones who bought shares yesterday at their lowest value since Bush II came to power, and who will clean up as the market rises.

If all this doesn't make you sick, then wonder if you have a soul.

Sarah Palin has got her freak on. She's there to soothe the Christian Right, appeal to women voters, and clean up on the racist vote.

But she doesn't care about foreign policy or the economy. She doesn't care about proper governance or truth for it's own sake.

Be afraid of Sarah Palin. She represents mindless politics for a mindless age.

Just look into her eyes... Don't think - just feel...



All glory to the HypnoPalin!