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Last Updated: Oct 9, 2008 - 10:29:46 AM |
Last Saturday I went to Carson, California, to attend a rally for
Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For those who
aren't familiar with the city of Carson, it's approximately 19 miles
south of downtown Los Angeles. In the 2004 Presidential election,
Carson, which had a population of just under 90,000, donated three
times as much money to George W. Bush than to John Kerry. This year,
for the 2008 elections, residents of Carson have given slightly more to
Republican candidates than to Democrats by a slim margin of $3,000.
Thus the gap between Republicans and Democrats in Carson has narrowed.
The Palin rally, which you may have seen on youtube and TV, was held at
the Home Depot ADT Tennis Stadium. Because of the surprising popularity
of Mrs. Palin and easy access to free tickets, all 20,000 stadium
seats, plus an overflow area were filled. I got a handful of tickets,
recruited my friend Rebecca Tobias, Program Director of the Raoul
Wallenberg Institute of Ethics, and trekked on out to Carson. We scored
ground level seats in the stadium from which I watched, listened and
steadily bristled. When I could no longer stomach Palin's lies and
distortions, I jumped up, and at the top of my lungs, repeatedly called
Palin a L-I-A-R! I was shouted down in Palinese by her 20,000 admirers,
then escorted out by security. I took extra time as I climbed the steps
from the ground up to the top just to keep her admirers shouting. The
few minute reprieve from Palin's lies was to me a righteous diversion.
When I neared the top of the steps I turned back to Mrs. Palin and
continued to call her a L-I-A-R, until I was ushered out the door.
Thankfully my escorts showed me the utmost respect for they privately
shared my feelings. They're working folk. They see through Mrs.
Palin.But that's just the start of this story
You see, I'd gone to this event for a reason. Not to see Sarah Palin. I
already knew who she was. I went to see the Palinettes -- the
supporters of this unspectacular woman who had so readily been won
over. I wanted to meet them and speak with them and understand their
attachment to this lowest common denominator politician -- a woman so
unqualified for Vice President that her appointer running mate should
be imprisoned for treason. As a patriot and voter, I disagree
categorically with the choice of Sarah Palin. I seek knowledge,
experience, maturity, integrity, charity, clarity, humanity,
intellectual curiosity, and wisdom from the leaders I select. Since
Palin, in my opinion, exhibits none of these traits, I wanted to assess
her supporters' rationale (or rational-ity).
What I witnessed was thoroughly alarming!!
Among this raptured crowd of 20,000 was a frightening mix of Christian
zealots, anti-abortion fanatics, and mostly white suburban women and
men reconnecting with their high school mentality. Bright colored
pom-poms were everywhere -- as if Sarah Palin were head cheerleader,
the women were on her squad, and the men were the football heroes.
Sarah Palin, the quintessential 4ever-school-girl had revitalized their
youth and saved them from adulthood. Check out the red pom-pom "hair"
on the man behind Palin. If that isn't high school, what is??
Sarah Palin Carson CA 1 Photo by Linda Milazzo
Want further proof of pom-pom Palin? Try this as an experiment. Put on
an audio of a Sarah Palin speech. Close your eyes and listen. What
you'll hear is the high pitched voice of a teenage girl, speaking in
circular reasoning, incomplete sentences, and juvenile idioms. No
sophistication. No leadership. No wisdom. Just the sound of a snarky
school girl. Sarah Palin is America's greatest nightmare. Sarah Palin
is George W. Bush in a dress!Of course there are those who might say
that my own outburst toward Sarah Palin was juvenile -- to which I'd
respond with a resounding NO! It's never juvenile to speak truth to
ignorance. To say nothing would be derelict. Certainly, I'd be naive to
think that calling Palin a L-I-A-R would make her adorers believe me.
But to sit quietly while Palin accused Obama of being:
"someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect,
imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists [Bill Ayers]
who would target their own country"
would make me complicit in the group-think that promotes a lie to a
truth. I'd rather be thrown out for the truth than group-hugged for a
lie.
While Palin's peevishness is appalling, it pales in comparison to the
dangerous ideology that she and her followers share. By unleashing
Sarah Palin, John McCain has reinvigorated the
anti-choice/anti-woman/anti-reproductive rights fanatics, who not long
ago were at the forefront of domestic terror. Interesting that Palin
insinuates Obama when referring to:
"terrorists who would target their own country"
when it's those who share herideology who have committed heinous
domestic crimes. Let us not forget the health-care workers who were
murdered by anti-choice radicals who share Palin's no exceptions for
abortion beliefs. Let us not forget the women and family clinics that
were bombed. Let us not forget Eric Rudolph - the anti-abortion
terrorist who killed two people and injured 100 others during the
Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The same Eric Rudolph who bombed abortion
clinics that killed even more people. The same Eric Rudolph who
sadistically attacked a gay bar. Let us not forget that the Sarah Palin
wing of anti-choice fanaticism victimized America for years, committing
crime after heinous crime. What John McCain has unleashed on America
with his choice of Sarah Palin is an outright invitation to these cults
to wreak havoc all over again.
On Saturday I got a taste of this anti-choice fanaticism as Palin's
zealots shouted "baby killers" at the pro-Obama activists outside. I
saw it first hand with the anti-choice tirades looped again and again
by one Palin follower after another. This is their mission -- their
single issue cause -- and Sarah Palin has given it life. With the
economy spiraling downward, the world at war, the planet over-heating,
and continents dying from famine and disease, Sarah Palin's followers
are driven by one issue only -- the total end of abortion.
Yes, the silly Palin chatter of"she's one of us 'cause she talks like
us and is a regular person"was also spun at Saturday's event. As was
propaganda about Obama"getting paid undercover by some other
country"and "doubt that Obama was really born in Hawaii because his
birth certificate can't be found". Sadly this level of ignorance exists
-- even in Southern California. In fact, it was so illogically
mind-boggling that I audio-taped it as proof.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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