Regally
Imagine there is a politician, the best there has ever been – competent, intelligent and considered – unfortunately they are also unbelievably ugly. Not just ‘not good looking’ but actually physically repulsive… make children cry repulsive.
What are the chances of that politician being elected?
Now imagine another politician, photogenic, stylish and sophisticated (it doesn’t mean what you think), but it is their beliefs and policies that are undeniably ugly and crass.
They’ll beat the first politician every time.
Why is it that we are so overwhelmed by the packaging and not the contents? Maybe it’s like when you were a child. You’d get a Christmas present in a large box and spend most of the day playing with that instead of the toy it contained.
Take Sarah Palin… she’s all box and plastic and probably has a barcode somewhere you can’t see it. A glamour has been cast.
I must give credit to Brandy of Moue Magazine for showing me the short video below, in which Miss Palin’s beliefs, and therefore policies and actions, are discussed.
That’s some serious scary from a ‘Hockey mom’ – I thought you might like some milk and cookies with your impending Armageddon.
And that’s why I’m using what little influence I have as a non-US citizen that draws comics and doesn’t believe in god to ask everyone who can vote and disagrees with this to do just that – vote.
There’s a very strong possibility that this lady, and I use the term rather losely, could be a president. She could be the most powerful ruler in the world. We could all be screwed.
Right, I’m off to get ready for tonight’s debate. I need to gargle since I know I’ll be shouting at the television throughout.
Don’t let the packaging fool you.
I’m happy to have provided some inspiration even if it is the horrifying sort. Sarah Palin’s ties to Christian fundamentalism are scary. She’s only on the McCain ticket because the fundamentalist base of the Republican party wouldn’t approve of John McCain’s top picks because they were pro-choice. He was forced into choosing pro-life Palin at the last moment and therefore didn’t vet her properly, leading to the last month of total surrealism.
This woman terrifies me. She’s vastly unqualified and not particularly intelligent but ambitious enough for these things not to phase her. And she seems to think she’s doing God’s work. Even if I believed in God (I don’t), I would find that unsettling.
Well it’s obvious we don’t need to pay her… she should bill god.
And pro-life always seems anything but when these people speak about it. Life is a messy complicated sort of thing and yet they reduce it down to a simple rule that holds in all cases.
I just saw yesterday’s edition of The Daily Show (I think we get it the day after here, owing to time-zone and scheduling conflicts). Compared to the rampant British satire we have it normally seems quite tame to me… but that episode was fantastic. I think he made a point about being vice president and using the phrase ‘that just my opinion’… basically dropping all responsibility for what she would do.
It’d be funny if it wasn’t so scary.
The term “pro-life” is a bit of a joke with a lot of these people. I call it pro-lifeuntilitexitsthewomb. Once that baby takes its first breath of air, they stop caring about what happens to it. If their primary concern was that child, they would continue to care about its well being (food, health care, shelter, etc) until it was of an age that it could care for itself. The fact that they don’t hints there may be other motivations at play.
“The fact that they don’t hints there may be other motivations at play”
Extreme feminists, I take my hat off to them… they don’t like it though.
No, what I meant to say, rather than stealing an old joke from a friend, is that the republicans and the far-right Christian influence seems to all be about the control of women… and as such, the control of life.
I think it’s sourced from male jealousy at the inability to give birth.
Either that or it’s because they are self-serving idiots who would further their own career even at the expense of the people they are supposed to serve.
It is rather stating the obvious, but you are awesome.
I personally would tell people that I had a real regret that I couldn’t give birth – my wife understands this… but when she was pregnant, women I would tell this to would just look at me like I had two heads… like I honestly couldn’t understand “the pain” or the “responsibility” or something. So I can see that being a motive.
There’s something beyond the pain and responsibility (of eating well and not smoking, drinking extra during gestation period)….
I think a man could imagine and understand the implications of such a burden (literally). But, it’s the psychological ramifications of physiological transformation. The hormonal havoc that comes with ovulation is already too insufferable for some women. While it comes once every few weeks every month for decades, each occurrence is usually no more than a week.
The gestation period, however, one set of hormonal chaos, physical change, and mental vulnerability traded in for another. Nine months without having to make a trip down the feminine hygiene aisle is certainly conceptually attractive, but you’re still prisoner of or at the mercy of your own body’s demands (which also become your unborn child’s demands).
And then after the birthing process, the mother hardly has time to regain that control again over her body physically and mentally—she now has to think only about the livelihood of her descendant . I wonder if new mothers ever look in the mirror and either don’t recognize who they see (figuratively or literally), or if they experience a moment of life-flashing-before-the-eyes. A self-aware….”I’m a mother” akin to “I’m 50 years old now” or “I’m finally 18.”
My wife did. But she also had time to think afterward, cause I was helping her. : )
I’m ashamed to say it, but my country seems far more concerned with controlling how every individual can or cannot live their life, telling them how they should think and behave and believe, rather than letting them live healthily and happily.
Yes… nail on the head there. Creepy woman. Did anyone see the movie Jesus Camp, the documentary about Christian summer camps brainwashing little kids?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_camp
Those people were Pentecostals too. It’s a scary branch of the church, what with this whole “warriors for God” idea that’s so prevalent in the more fundamentalist parts of it. I think the Quiverfull movement is also associated:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull
Seriously, these people freak me out.
I did, and it made me sad.
It seemed a little like child abuse… I’m no expert, but I don’t think god is down with that.
And the best quote from the Jesus Camp wikipedia entry is:
“She also does not think highly of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan”
…hmm, really? Just her and everyone else then.
If I remember correctly, the pastor of the AoG group that Jesus Camp spun off from has preached at Palin’s church in Wasilla.
they tried to get me once, with candy
Well I already knew Palin was a nutjob, that video just filled in some details about her nuttery. My mom is terrified of Sarah Palin, she claims she’s had nightmares about her. I can see where she’s coming from, the idea of that woman wielding any amount of authority gives me the willies. And I think people might just be dumb enough to let it happen. It’s the swing voters, you know. They’re mostly idiots.
You know how Clinton (Bill) characterised his campaign with the phrase, ‘It’s the economy stupid’?
Mr Joe has just characterised this one in a similarly succinct manner: ‘it’s the swing voters, you know. They’re mostly idiots’
The hat is off, and the t-shirts will be printed.
And you know what scares me? I’m on my third attempt to register to vote… they’ve effed up my name twice so far. is “VANDEGRIFT” really that hard to spell?
/Paranoia:Sub.Brand (1960–70s)
It’s no accident…
Statistical analysis shows that your surname has a high chance of belonging to a free-thinker, or heaven forbid, a hippy beatnik nae’r do well.
They’re messing with you so you can’t vote…
/end paranoia
BUT SHE’S SO CUTE!
Davey, you are a sick sick man.
There is help available tho.
Actually I’m more a fan of Tina Fey, I did chicks with scars.
dig* dig!!!! chicks with scars….
Gameshow rules apply here, and so we must take your first answer…
I guess the first answer is technically true, but not comepletely accurate, should be “am doing” and “chick” but that’s still revisionist so I CAN’T WIN!!!!
Thanks Alex.
Also, I appreciate your collective politeness… I’m sure you all noticed that the first line read ‘their’ instead of ‘there’… it’s corrected now, but thank you for allowing me some time to correct my own errors.
*thinks probably wouldn’t have got away with it if Franzy had seen it*
You know what else I noticed at the beginning?
“…probably has a barcode somewhere…”
And I thought “Gee, I wonder if we can scan it in for that book…?”
Going to need some heavy duty rubber gloves to collect that one.
We’re a well mannered Borg.
*imagines how much better the Borg would be if they were polite and well mannered… they’d be like the Danish*
You spelt Loosely wrong.
That puts you in the same camp as Palin herself….. :/
Also, I’d prefer if you didn’t mention Sarah Palin’s box again. I’ll think of that next time I am “at work”, and that is bad.
I really don’t think there will be too many issues, Palin is just not pretty enough to be so stupid.
Thanks Ben, I’ll sort that out.
As for Palin’s box, I’m glad someone spotted that. When I re-read the post after publishing it, that was my first thought. Sorry about that.
Is it weird that I *didn’t* notice?
I didn’t either and that’s the sort of thing I usually do notice.
Just noticed that I was linking to the wrong website with my name
One day you will master this whole “commenting” thing.
maybe the mayans are right. the world will end in 2012.
by the way, this ad campaign–reverse psychology–is it effective?
That ad is fantastic. I do hope it works.
I see they are playing on the six degrees of separation tactic (or is that strategy?)… good for them.
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Now here’s an interesting thing: Language Log (the University of Pennsylvania’s Linguistics Department’s blog) has done a bit of analysis from last nights VP debate that’s kind of cool:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=663
Telling? About the vocal style, definitely. Which brings us right back to the question of “Does how you talk reflect how you think?” Where is Carl Jung when we need him, eh?
That’s really cool, Roo. I’m not surprised by what the breakdown is but it is interesting to see it in text. She used more words than he did (and said less, which is telling) and spoke in that annoyingly “folksy” manner that avoided specifics. So it makes sense that her most used words are basically filler and his are actual talking points.
Yeah… Did you see the most recent SNL skit about her? It’s mentioned in one of the comments on the LL article, noted for poking some fun at her ‘folksy’ expressions. It’s worth watching, if you can find it on-line.
Was that the one with Katie Couric? I saw that and it was hilarious. Or it would be if it weren’t actually true.
Haha, yeah, that’s the one! Pretty darn awesome.
You know what I like about really crappy politicions (not taht it makes up for how crappy and scary they are) like Palin? They spawn many many funny things:
http://www.bigfatwhale.com/archives/bfw_375.htm