Sarah Palin Slams Northern Virginia

Resident village idiot of the Republican Party, Sarah Palin attacked Northern Virginia in one of her anti-government diatribes. In Palin's distorted world view, Northern Virginia represents the image of corrupt government lobbyists who suck off the teat of government programs. The problem, of course, is that Palin ignores the fact that many of the groups firmly based in Northern Virginia are some of the foulest far right/Christianist organization s which run the gamut of Chuck Colson's so-called prison ministry to the Arlington Group, to Mike Farris' lunatic Patrick Henry University, to others who make up the Who's Who of the Christian Right. And lest we forget, Northern Virginia is home to Republican extremists like Ken Cuccinelli and the always foul Del. Bob Marshall who wants to force LGBT citizens from Virginia. One can only assume that Palin - not that it's a surprise - has failed to do her homework before shooting off her mouth. Blue Virginia looks at Palin's verbal diarrhea. Here are some highlights:

It might be Labor Day. But Tim Kaine's campaign should be hard at work preparing for a press conference tomorrow, calling out George Allen and the VA GOP as to whether they agree with the 2008 Republican VP nominee's attack on the good people of Northern Virginia. Mrs Palin's belittling of the "permanent political class" got a lot of headlines over the weekend.

I went on her PAC's web site to get the text. As the headline stories reported, the former Alaska Governor did indeed deliver a scathing condemnation of the political class. That she happens to be one of the highest paid members of this posse - did she think we thought the FOX political gig was for free, not to mention her two political books and paid speeches - is of course amusing.

She took her Republican brand of criticism much farther however. This is what she said, the text taken from her PAC's web site, defining the "permanent political class" as opposed to the "rest of America" in a deep economic morass. No, they don't feel the same urgency that we do. But why should they? For them business is good: business is very good. Seven of the ten wealthiest suburbs are suburbs of Washington, D.C. Polls there actually - and usually I say polls, nah, they're for strippers and cross country skiers - but polls in those parts actually show that some people there believe that the economy has actually improved. See, there may not be a recession in Georgetown, but there is in the rest of America.

Palin is telling the GOP to lock and load against a bigger target, to run the class warfare attack against residents of Northern Virginia (Maryland commuters and Metro riders too), since it is easy to make them villains in the eyes of the rest of the country.

But the most troubling aspect of her Saturday speech is this: here we are, 48 hours later, and no Virginia Republican has stepped forward to call her out over this type of anti-Virginia demogoguery politics.

Does George Allen actually think he can win in NOVA by staying silent about this type of language? How does Governor McDonnell believe his remaining silent helps his hopes for getting on the GOP ticket? Cut to the 2012 bottom line: By remaining silent in the face of this latest Palinism, the VA GOP has given the VA Democratic Party a huge opening.

Sarah Palin lost Virginia in 2008 in part due to a big loss in NOVA. She is not the person the VA GOP wants to have to defend in NOVA. Bottom line: VA Democrats need to make the VA GOP take a clear and definitive position on the Palin attack of NOVA. Hello: We have some key state Senate races in NOVA in 60 days. Is anyone at DPVA paying attention?

In all candor, someone needs to call out Sarah Palin for her anti-Virginia comments. As note previously, some of the biggest hogs lined up at the government trough are Republicans and far right politicians, groups and "foundations." They condemn "big government" while they suck up every available penny of government largess - e.g., Marcus Bachmann sucking up Medicare funds for his "ex-gay" therapy or Michele Bachmann's family sucking up agricultural subsidies. These folks talk a good game until one looks at the real fact. Once you know the truth it soon becomes apparent that they are lying.

Do We Need a Third Political Party to Challenge the Dems andd the GOP?

Thomas Friedman has an op-ed in the New York Times that hits on a topic that seems to require serious consideration: a serious third political party that can challenge both the Democrats and the Republicans. The GOP has become a sectarian party controlled by those who want to bring back the days of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. Meanwhile, the Democrats have proven themselves incompetent to govern and usher in needed change even when controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress (Obama's spinelessness and pandering to members of the far right who'd as soon shoot him as look at him has made the problem even worse). Frankly, I find myself disliking BOTH of the two national political parties and wish there was a third option. The LGBT community has received largely nothing from either party nor our "fierce advocate" in the White House. Friedman thinks it could happen in the run up to 2012. In many ways, I hope he's right. Something needs to happen because otherwise the USA seems headed for a repeat of Rome's collapse - and the acceptance of homosexuality has nothing to do with it regardless of what Robert Knight and Tony Perkins would have the sheeple believe. (MEMO TO KNIGHT: some historians blame Christianity as one of the causes of Rome's collapse). Here are column highlights:
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[D]escribing Rome's decline: Everyone aimed at security: no one accepted responsibility. What was plainly lacking, long before the barbarian invasions had done their work, long before economic dislocations became serious, was an inner go. Rome’s life was now an imitation of life: a mere holding on. Security was the watchword — as if life knew any other stability than through constant change, or any form of security except through a constant willingness to take risks.”
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I continue to be astounded by the level of disgust with Washington, D.C., and our two-party system — so much so that I am ready to hazard a prediction: Barring a transformation of the Democratic and Republican Parties, there is going to be a serious third party candidate in 2012, with a serious political movement behind him or her — one definitely big enough to impact the election’s outcome.
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I know of at least two serious groups, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast, developing “third parties” to challenge our stagnating two-party duopoly that has been presiding over our nation’s steady incremental decline.
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The best our current two parties can produce today — in the wake of the worst existential crisis in our economy and environment in a century — is suboptimal, even when one party had a huge majority. . . . “We basically have two bankrupt parties bankrupting the country,” said the Stanford University political scientist Larry Diamond. Indeed, our two-party system is ossified; it lacks integrity and creativity and any sense of courage or high-aspiration in confronting our problems.
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We have to rip open this two-party duopoly and have it challenged by a serious third party that will talk about education reform, without worrying about offending unions; financial reform, without worrying about losing donations from Wall Street; corporate tax reductions to stimulate jobs, without worrying about offending the far left; energy and climate reform, without worrying about offending the far right and coal-state Democrats; and proper health care reform, without worrying about offending insurers and drug companies.
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We need a third party on the stage of the next presidential debate to look Americans in the eye and say: “These two parties are lying to you. They can’t tell you the truth because they are each trapped in decades of special interests. I am not going to tell you what you want to hear. I am going to tell you what you need to hear if we want to be the world’s leaders, not the new Romans.”

Republicans Increasingly Attack Each Other

I remain optimistic that Obama will pull off the election and save the country from four more years of the failed Bush/McCain economic plan. However, I will not relax until November 5th when I know the outcome for certain. In the interim, it is becoming increasingly entertaining watching conservative pundits and other members of the GOP attack one another and/or jump ship as it increasingly appears that the Party is going to founder after hitting the same iceberg as John McSenile and Bible Spice Palin. With numerous conservatives announcing that they intend to vote for a Democrat for the first time in their lives, the fruitcake lunatic Party base continues to engage in deranged prayers such as the following:

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I would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god — whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah — that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and election day.

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Somehow, I seriously doubt that God is finding much honor in the lies, racial bigotry and hate mongering that have become the principal hallmarks of the McCain/Palin campaign. Meanwhile, who served as political director for President Reagan, is tearing apart McCain's campaign. Here are some highlights from CNN (Note how Rollins links McCain to lobbying class even though McCain pretends that Obama is the one with such ties):

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A campaign at war with itself cannot fight its opponent effectively. We have seen two major campaigns this year that could be described as internally divided -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's losing primary campaign and now Sen. John McCain's general election effort. And while chaos and disarray reigned supreme in Sen. Barack Obama's opponents' campaigns, the steady, disciplined and strategically driven Obama campaign marches forward toward likely victory.

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In the end, it's not relevant who holds what title in the McCain operation, because it is not being run by campaign professionals, but by the Washington lobbying class. And no one seems to be in charge, least of all the candidate. The end result is a campaign suffering from "schizophrenia." John McCain is saying one thing on the stump, his running mate another. But the worst sin is that his advertising campaign is incoherent and putting out multiple and inconsistent messages. What McCain and his campaign need to understand is that whatever happened in the past is no longer relevant.

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Attacking Obama for his association with Bill Ayers . . . The problem is that few voters care about what happened 40 years ago when in the last few weeks they have seen their savings and retirements and possibly their jobs and homes going up in flames. If you don't talk to voters about their concerns they will not spend one minute listening to you in the closing days of a campaign. Government is not working. President Bush's leadership has failed the country and Congress has not done much better. How are you going to be better? That's the question voters want answered.

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Accept Obama's challenge issued last week: "The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country. They're looking for somebody who will lead this country." Tell us how you will lead this country through the greatest crisis we have faced in modern times. And Sen. McCain, remember your own words of last week about Obama: "He's a decent family man -- citizen -- that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues." Tell us what those disagreements are. Then, at least voters can make their final choices on things that matter to them now.