by Reluctant Junkie - November 5, 2008
I'm intrigued by Sarah Palin.
Not by Palin the person, of course, who most assuredly is not my type. (I would
be bored out of my mind after five minutes in the same room with that fatuous
ignoramus.) No, I'm talking about Palin the symbol – how her selection,
enthusiastic acceptance, and ongoing adulation by most of the Republican Party
faithful provides a window into the shriveled minds and spiteful little souls
of those sanctimonious culture warriors. (Recall that McCain referred to her as
his “soul mate” when introducing her to an incredulous nation and world.
Happily, there are now signs that he's experiencing a rather acute case of
politician's remorse.)
In my previous column I characterized
the far-right conservatism that dominates the Republican Party as a collective
mental disorder. In that quasi-medical sense, I submit that Palin's selection
and reception has powerful diagnostic significance that can help us reach a
clearer understanding of the complex of irrational beliefs, cynical practices,
and anti-democratic proclivities that characterize present-day conservatism.
(For abundant evidence, read a few of the numerous recent books that document
the treachery of the Bush administration.)
First, a very quick appraisal of
Palin the person – the Trojan Moose, as one inspired blogger put it. I
submit she has already provided ample evidence to support the following list of
negative generalizations. (And you know what? – I'm not even going to
take the time and space to document them, because anyone who has been following
the news since her nomination will be aware of multiple examples.) So here's
the list: ignorant, deceitful, vengeful, opportunistic, brazenly overconfident,
superstitious, and irrational. In other words, an ultra-right religious fanatic
with a hidden agenda.
www.slate.com/id/2203120/ Also www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/134
Of much greater importance than
her personal deficits and flaws is what her selection by McCain and his
advisors tells us about McCain himself and this latest incarnation of the
spooky Republican Party. From everything I have read, McCain knew almost
nothing about Palin until a day or two before he “proudly” selected her. It
seems likely that she was “forced” on him by the religious right. (Recall that
in 2000 McCain labeled the religious right “agents of intolerance,” only to
retract that accurate description when it became clear to him that his
political ambitions were hopeless without their support. I'm sure he still
thinks they're bozos to be exploited, just as Karl Rove does, but overweening
ambition will never allow him to admit it. And it remains an open question as
to who is exploiting whom. For now I'll just call it an unstable symbiosis.)
Of course that cannot be the
whole story: I doubt McCain and his advisors would have caved to pressure from
the religious right if they thought it would cost them the election. They must
have cynically calculated that her presence on the ticket could boost their
election chances. I leave it to those more knowledgeable than I to reveal their
motives. It has been suggested that they thought it would help them with women
who had supported Hillary Clinton, which seems ludicrous now that those women
have had the opportunity to hear Palin's ignorant and confused rants.
Outside of extreme right-wing
circles, a consensus formed rather quickly that Palin's selection raised
serious doubts about McCain's judgment as well as his carefully cultivated
“country first” image. Combined with some of his earlier actions, such as
actively seeking the endorsement of the toxic, bigoted preacher John Hagee,
Palin's selection caused political foes, supporters, and admirers to question
his once vaunted integrity, if not his mental capacity.
So much for McCain, the reformed
maverick, the self-proclaimed straight-talker, who is now arguably the most
cynical panderer and erratic flip-flopper in the history of U.S. presidential politics.
Let us now turn to the Republican Party, that coalition of strange bedfellows
that could well be disintegrating before our very eyes. Hey, hope springs
eternal.
Republicans could never win any
election at the national level without the strong support of two major,
overlapping constituencies – racists and the delusional, homophobic
religious right. Three other groups that figure prominently in this coalition
of power-hungry ideologues and opportunists are warmongering neocons, greedy
corporatists, and traditional Republicans, the latter a holdover from the good
old days of yore. A subset of the latter are a group I'll refer to as
“honorable Republicans.” I have argued for the past several years that this
dwindling group holds the balance of political power in this country, that they
need to come forward and repudiate the unconstitutional practices of the Bush
administration, certain to be continued and consolidated during a McCain
presidency. A few “honorables” have stepped up recently, most notably Colin
Powell and Scott McClellan, both of whom publicly support Obama. And of course
John Dean, a Goldwater conservative, has been there for several years writing
and speaking forcefully against the serial crimes of the Bush-Cheney cabal and
the general depravity of the Republican Party.
Anyway, today's Republicans make
for strange bedfellows indeed, especially when we include the support they
receive from millions of struggling men and women who are just scraping by in a
wealth-skewed economy. It is a tribute to the Machiavellian genius of people
like Lee Atwater and
Karl Rove that this election is even competitive, largely because these
citizens have been masterfully duped into voting against their interests on the
basis of cultural wedge issues and the relentless demonization of bogus
“liberals” and “Godless secular humanists.” Democrats, who still value robust
discussion and debate, are at a tremendous disadvantage against a well-financed
army of lock-step fanatics and rubber-stamp legislators.
I have long been dismayed by how
the print and broadcast media could even begin to take right-wing positions
seriously. (More recently they have gone far beyond that, establishing a
blatant double standard that exaggerates every Democratic foible while ignoring
or providing cover for egregious Republican failures, blunders, and crimes.)
From my perspective, what currently passes for conservatism is not a
legitimate, coherent political philosophy, but a well-coordinated, disciplined,
Madison Avenue-style propaganda war conducted by an army of ideologues, what
Hillary accurately called “the vast, right-wing conspiracy.” At its core,
conservatism is all smoke and mirrors, demagoguery, fear-mongering, and hate.
The media arch villains pushing vicious, right-wing memes are Rush Limbaugh,
Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, and their ilk – snarling
purveyors of hatred and misinformation who have infected at least two generations
of formerly sane Americans with their obscene lies and character assassination.
Their despicable tactics in the
current presidential campaign clearly demonstrate that the Republican Party has
been hijacked by an ultra-right cabal that will stop at nothing to attain their
goal of total political control. No one could have had a lower opinion of them
going into the last couple of months of this campaign, yet they have managed to
exceed even my lowest expectations. Comedian and political pundit Bill Maher
said it better than most: “Conservatives just make shit up.”
We have all seen over the past
eight years how inept Republicans are at actual governance, how loyalty to the
“Unitary Executive,” not competence and experience, has become the prime qualification
for appointments to Federal agencies. Pervasive incompetence and malfeasance
come as no surprise from a party that holds government in contempt, a party run
by fanatical extremists who are conducting a political and cultural war on all
fronts with the goal of imposing their unconstitutional, regressive agenda on
the country. They scare the hell out of me because they have come so close to
winning. A unitary executive named Palin would be the final nail in democracy's
coffin.
The Last Word
By the time this column appears,
the votes will be cast and counted and the election may be decided. Or maybe
not. One thing I know for sure is the uncertainty is making me crazy as I
contemplate the very real possibility that the election will be lost, or stolen,
again. A McCain-Palin victory will be the most devastating political
disappointment of my life, indeed one of the greatest disappointments I have
ever experienced. What's at stake in my heart and mind (and also in reality,
unless I'm as delusional as Palin) is just about everything I value about the
country I have lived in for 69 mostly excellent years. If the enemies of
Constitutional Democracy win this one, I fully expect the Christo-fascist
ideologues who are now ensconced at all levels of the Federal Government to
continue to dominate the Republican Party and to carry on with their insidious
destruction of our most basic rights and freedoms. Nothing good could come from
this. Just one more appointment to the Supreme Court and right-wing
conservative apparatchiks who place their politico-religious ideology above the
law will enable the extremists to override the Constitution and enact their
regressive agenda. The adverse effects on all areas of our lives are simply
incalculable. I'll have to remind myself to breathe for the next six days. 