Don Floyd was the copy editor of the Charlotte Observer. He also was the executive managing editor of the Star-News in Pasadena, CA and the managing editor of The Macon Telegraph. He is the author of the book "The Captain and Thomasine."
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M:
There are many unexplainables concerning Sarah Palin, and I find myself trying to explain the unexplainable. A lot of what I say here is based on intuition, horse sense and perhaps a smidgen of paranoia.
When Palin was first introduced to the world scene by John McCain – the very act of which proved that McCain was unfit to be president – I thought: Sarah Who? Who is this woman? Then my liberal friends started wringing their hands over the prospect of a bimbo soaring to political heights. I pooh-poohed the notion, saying that Palin was a flash in the pan and would never go anywhere except maybe back to a trailer park someplace in the bleakest part of Alaska. I have never been more wrong – in all my years of political observation. Here’s where I made my mistake. I was relying upon conventional wisdom – my own conventional wisdom perhaps – and saw in Palin a laughing stock in the making. I was not fully aware at the time of a strange, fearful darkness that was covering the land we call America. Something truly frightening has moved in and is doing nothing less than threatening our national security.
I should have had a clue when the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Fox News started moving up in popularity. I should have had a clue when the Republicans chose John McCain, a known adulterer, as its nominee. You’ll recall that McCain’s extremely loyal first wife nursed him to health after he returned from his POW experience. Well, after McCain was doing well enough to start bed-hopping with women, his first wife was grotesquely injured in a car accident. At some point after that, McCain met Cindy, whose father had a similar POW experience, and it was love at first sight for Cindy’s entire family. They all loved John. And, of course, his newfound wealth helped ease his conscience as he made sure his first wife was taken care of with Cindy’s money. After an affair with a Southern Baptist (Cindy) that lasted about a year, McCain asked first wife for a divorce, which she dutifully granted. One or two of her own children by a previous marriage are even working for Cindy now.
This is way beyond kinky!!! It’s a sad allegorical commentary on the depths this nation has plunged morally. No complaints from the Moral Majority, however. They glory in the fact that McCain attends a Baptist church in Arizona about once every five years and have no problem with him calling himself a Baptist which he’s not. Never been baptized, and as far as I know never attends an Episcopal church where his real membership lies dormant. The Southern Baptist Convention, which normally rails against drinking alcohol, has no problem whatever with Cindy making her millions by distributing beer. I suppose she pays her tithes – and more – at the grateful Baptist church she is a member of. The Southern Baptists are smiling all the way to the bank.
But I digress. I was talking about Sarah Palin, another immoral basket case. To repeat, I had not seen the signs when Palin emerged from nowhere to become No. 2 on the Republican ticket. She had no accomplishments to speak of as Alaska’s governor, her main claim to fame being mayor of Wasilla. Oh, that, and possessing foreign relations experience by looking across the water and seeing Russia. Oh, that, and having the talent to tote babies – anybody’s baby. Evidence for any political ascendancy by Palin just wasn’t there at the time. Sadly, there were a lot of things I did not see or know at the time.
M:
There are many unexplainables concerning Sarah Palin, and I find myself trying to explain the unexplainable. A lot of what I say here is based on intuition, horse sense and perhaps a smidgen of paranoia.
When Palin was first introduced to the world scene by John McCain – the very act of which proved that McCain was unfit to be president – I thought: Sarah Who? Who is this woman? Then my liberal friends started wringing their hands over the prospect of a bimbo soaring to political heights. I pooh-poohed the notion, saying that Palin was a flash in the pan and would never go anywhere except maybe back to a trailer park someplace in the bleakest part of Alaska. I have never been more wrong – in all my years of political observation. Here’s where I made my mistake. I was relying upon conventional wisdom – my own conventional wisdom perhaps – and saw in Palin a laughing stock in the making. I was not fully aware at the time of a strange, fearful darkness that was covering the land we call America. Something truly frightening has moved in and is doing nothing less than threatening our national security.
I should have had a clue when the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Fox News started moving up in popularity. I should have had a clue when the Republicans chose John McCain, a known adulterer, as its nominee. You’ll recall that McCain’s extremely loyal first wife nursed him to health after he returned from his POW experience. Well, after McCain was doing well enough to start bed-hopping with women, his first wife was grotesquely injured in a car accident. At some point after that, McCain met Cindy, whose father had a similar POW experience, and it was love at first sight for Cindy’s entire family. They all loved John. And, of course, his newfound wealth helped ease his conscience as he made sure his first wife was taken care of with Cindy’s money. After an affair with a Southern Baptist (Cindy) that lasted about a year, McCain asked first wife for a divorce, which she dutifully granted. One or two of her own children by a previous marriage are even working for Cindy now.
This is way beyond kinky!!! It’s a sad allegorical commentary on the depths this nation has plunged morally. No complaints from the Moral Majority, however. They glory in the fact that McCain attends a Baptist church in Arizona about once every five years and have no problem with him calling himself a Baptist which he’s not. Never been baptized, and as far as I know never attends an Episcopal church where his real membership lies dormant. The Southern Baptist Convention, which normally rails against drinking alcohol, has no problem whatever with Cindy making her millions by distributing beer. I suppose she pays her tithes – and more – at the grateful Baptist church she is a member of. The Southern Baptists are smiling all the way to the bank.But I digress. I was talking about Sarah Palin, another immoral basket case. To repeat, I had not seen the signs when Palin emerged from nowhere to become No. 2 on the Republican ticket. She had no accomplishments to speak of as Alaska’s governor, her main claim to fame being mayor of Wasilla. Oh, that, and possessing foreign relations experience by looking across the water and seeing Russia. Oh, that, and having the talent to tote babies – anybody’s baby. Evidence for any political ascendancy by Palin just wasn’t there at the time. Sadly, there were a lot of things I did not see or know at the time.
First, the news media found Palin to be good theater. Many people saw her as exciting, different, folksy, feisty, born again, and a real family woman. And the news media was happy to start earning a profit for a change thanks to Palin’s draw. You are aware that the news media operates on a narrative, which is drafted and modified daily – even hourly – for maximum suck-in power. If there is no tension, the news media creates tension. If there is no real race, the news media makes it the most exciting race in political history. And when there is real news – news that does not agree with the narrative – that news is left to languish.
The news media is at its lowest since William Randolph Hearst. But this is not yellow journalism. It’s reactionary journalism, a calculated choice for an ailing industry facing possible extinction because of the Internet.
The news media, you see, could not afford to bring down Palin because it would sorely cost them in the pocketbook. The news media and politicians are co-conspirators. The Republicans put out the lies and trash, and the news media reports the lies and trash virtually without challenge.
Let me modify that. Lies and trash also are fired away daily in emails, sent to gleeful believers who then forward them to their entire address book.
And that brings up another question in this Palin phenomenon. Who writes this email stuff? Is it somebody out there with nothing else better to do, or is it a serial killer who enjoys a hobby on the side? No, I believe Big Money is behind this endless array of lying emails, just as Big Money was behind those people screaming at the town hall meetings. The agenda is to halt a movement toward decency in government, because a return to decency in government would adversely affect Big Money’s big money. And if an email says what the reader wants it to say he believes it eagerly and completely. I don’t know when Big Money staged a political coup and took over America, but it is now fighting for its life, and I like to think it is desperate. The lying emails and Sarah Palin herself are good evidence of this desperation.
You mentioned Rupert Murdoch being in Alaska the same day Palin resigned as governor
The news media is at its lowest since William Randolph Hearst. But this is not yellow journalism. It’s reactionary journalism, a calculated choice for an ailing industry facing possible extinction because of the Internet.
The news media, you see, could not afford to bring down Palin because it would sorely cost them in the pocketbook. The news media and politicians are co-conspirators. The Republicans put out the lies and trash, and the news media reports the lies and trash virtually without challenge.
Let me modify that. Lies and trash also are fired away daily in emails, sent to gleeful believers who then forward them to their entire address book.
And that brings up another question in this Palin phenomenon. Who writes this email stuff? Is it somebody out there with nothing else better to do, or is it a serial killer who enjoys a hobby on the side? No, I believe Big Money is behind this endless array of lying emails, just as Big Money was behind those people screaming at the town hall meetings. The agenda is to halt a movement toward decency in government, because a return to decency in government would adversely affect Big Money’s big money. And if an email says what the reader wants it to say he believes it eagerly and completely. I don’t know when Big Money staged a political coup and took over America, but it is now fighting for its life, and I like to think it is desperate. The lying emails and Sarah Palin herself are good evidence of this desperation.
You mentioned Rupert Murdoch being in Alaska the same day Palin resigned as governor
(Note by Patrick: Rupert Murdoch's plane was seen in Juneau at the end of July in 2009, shortly after Palin's resignation
EDIT - Phil Munger from "Progressive Alaska" just told us the following: "I believe the plane was first observed at the Juneau airport in late June, 2009, not early July. IIRC, a cab driver called me about it during the last weekend in June.").
Rupert Murdoch's plane in Juneau at the end of July 2009 - Click to enlarge
I do think this is good circumstantial evidence of a link between the two. Hell, Murdoch may have even orchestrated her resignation after doing a deal with the rest of Alaska, that deal being to get Palin the hell out of Alaska – and we don’t care how – and we won’t do any more investigating of wrongdoing and we certainly won’t prosecute. Alaska is already in lousy fiscal shape, thanks to Palin, and any long drawn-out investigation and prosecution would drain Alaska’s finances even more. You never know what Murdoch has up his sleeves. I don’t. Whatever it is, Palin is a key player. Why? Maybe he wants to be president after getting Palin elected. She’s too stupid to run anything, much less the U.S. government. I’m hoping that Murdoch is so desperate (Big Money desperate) that his judgment has been clouded. Also, has he taken into account that Palin is volatile, likes to scream a lot at people and throw canned goods at the first dude? Can she be controlled? How many more babies is she going to have? I can see the headlines now after another baby mysteriously appears long after the first dude is out of the way, being axe-murdered by Sarah: “Immaculate Conception the American Way.”
Don’t laugh. My headline fairly well sums up the arrogant attitude of about half of America’s population: We need to save the world for Jesus. We need Christianity and democracy in every country. We are, you know, highly favored by God. We can defeat any country in war. We are the best. And those Muslims should be interned just like the Japanese in World War II. On second thought, deport them.
Griffin has a highly respected doctor who is a Muslim. He was born a Muslim right here in Griffin. Should we get rid of him, just kick him out? This is how silly and frightening people are talking these days. I’d like to zap them, but as Richard Nixon said, that would be wrong.
I’m hoping the Tea Party ends up marginalizing the Republicans, who already have come close to suicide. Big Money is hedging its bets, supporting both the Tea Party and the Republicans, and that would seem to benefit the Democrats by splitting the reactionary vote. Again, let’s hope Big Money has become so desperate that its judgment has become too clouded to make rational decisions. You notice that I use the word “hope” a lot. Well, that’s about all we have now. Obama has taken on Big Money. He is at peril. But we can hope, just as he has hoped. Perhaps America can survive this horrific crisis. Yes, we can hope.
Don’t laugh. My headline fairly well sums up the arrogant attitude of about half of America’s population: We need to save the world for Jesus. We need Christianity and democracy in every country. We are, you know, highly favored by God. We can defeat any country in war. We are the best. And those Muslims should be interned just like the Japanese in World War II. On second thought, deport them.
Griffin has a highly respected doctor who is a Muslim. He was born a Muslim right here in Griffin. Should we get rid of him, just kick him out? This is how silly and frightening people are talking these days. I’d like to zap them, but as Richard Nixon said, that would be wrong.
I’m hoping the Tea Party ends up marginalizing the Republicans, who already have come close to suicide. Big Money is hedging its bets, supporting both the Tea Party and the Republicans, and that would seem to benefit the Democrats by splitting the reactionary vote. Again, let’s hope Big Money has become so desperate that its judgment has become too clouded to make rational decisions. You notice that I use the word “hope” a lot. Well, that’s about all we have now. Obama has taken on Big Money. He is at peril. But we can hope, just as he has hoped. Perhaps America can survive this horrific crisis. Yes, we can hope.
Now, on Palin’s baby mystery, I regret that I have not followed that closely. I’m certain, however, that Palin didn’t get extremely great with child in just a month or two. So she lied. This is sort of like perjury, which is much worse than what was lied about. But does the country care? Many don’t – perhaps as much as a half of the citizens don’t. They overlook things if the candidate is their kind of candidate. And the Palin supporters are overlooking a whole lot of stuff. I can’t keep count. The fact that the dark side of America likes Palin is truly scary.
I don’t think I’ve said everything that needs to be said about this mess, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what I think.
Don Floyd
I don’t think I’ve said everything that needs to be said about this mess, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what I think.
Don Floyd
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PLUS:
Sarah Palin's obsession with negative news reports is well known for a long time, and also well documented. After all, many of the emails published by MSNBC.COM which were obtained through a FOIA request deal with Palin's reaction to negative or critical media reports.
Examples:
Take the Newsminer off the press release list for a few days - they angered the Queen:
Former Palin speechwriter Glenn Biegel is officially "de-friended" by Sarah Palin because he had the audacity to criticize Palin on the Dan Fagan show - see also this post on Palingates:
Sarah Palin, who has to be the most thin-skinned politician in the world, now lashes out again - and calls Jonathan Martin from Politico a "punk" - and the story "BS." That's a real redneck politician for you! Presidential material, definitely, if you are keen to see World War III! "Damn, Putin, you dared to criticize me, now let's see who has the bigger nukes!" After she has nuked half of the Middle-East for being "irritating and potentially dangerous", of course.
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