01 October 2008

Palin - Biden Debate

Someone wrote me asking if I was going to "go after" Joe Biden with the same fervor as I do Sarah Palin. My response was, "Of course not. Palin is a nitwit, and Biden is a much respected, accomplished senator who sometimes embarrassingly displays a talent for over speaking". Sharing that trait, I sympathize--we brilliant people sometimes do that!

A nitwit, you ask. A bit strong and rather uncavalier, you might suggest. Well, I reply, don't just take my word for it. Even conservatives such as George Will and Kathleen Parker are publicly attacking the hapless woman as being dismally unqualified for being the vice-president of a man whose actuarial odds are a bit bleaker than most.

But, nitwit? Surely not. After all she's the governor of more than 600,000 people and that should count for something.

So what, I reply, my congressional district has more people than that and our congressman is a noted nitwit as is our governor--and we've got several cities in Texas with larger populations than the entire state of Alaska.

But, here is a woman, who when asked, can't name a single Supreme Court case other than Rove v. Wade. Or when asked to name a specific newspaper or magazine or other news source, which she turns to for information, stammers around, can't name a single one, and finally issues a dismissive, "oh I read all of them-you know".

Perhaps, we could be generous and forgive her the ignorance which drove her to pronounce that dinosaurs and humans once shared the earth. Certainly we've all read Alley Oop. Even I could forgive her that, since I have my doubts about the educational achievements of her generation. Yep, I'd overlook it, if it were not tied to her creationist, evolution-denying, God did it in six days 6,000 years ago, world view. No damn it, not seven...remember he rested that last day.

And certainly, we all, by now, are aware that she bases her foreign policy expertise on her state's "trade missions" to Russia and Canada. After all, she says, "If that old Putin ever rears his head to invade America, he'll do it in Alaskan air space".

So, I ask you, who am I to argue with the likes of Kathleen Parker and George Will? She is a nitwit!

Tomorrow night she will attempt to debate Joe Biden, and right now the right-wing spinners are bombing the interview shows and "Letters to the Editors" that Sarah's merely showing up and not swallowing her tongue and collapsing on stage will be a tremendous victory over that "old gaffe prone" Biden. They are setting the bar so low for her that a flatworm could not slide under it.

These things I predict: The moderator will bend over backwards to appear "fair and unbiased" toward Palin--particularly since she is African-American and has a pro-Obama book due for release. (Can't you already hear the outcry from the right) Palin will come across as the head cheer-leader campaigning for the Student Council. She will be well-coached and superficially responsive (pat and vague answers) to complicated questions of great complexity, import and depth. And, finally, more people will watch this debate than watched the presidential debate, which proves my point about the failure of education for my younger bothers and sisters.

And, after the debate, she will still be a nitwit, but more people will now know and acknowledge it.

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