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Wednesday, February 24. 2010
Walking Talking Spam
Families and the relationships that develop among them are wonderful things — for some of us. In my family anyway, la Familia Farkas.One of those relationships is with my nephew Dan. You can find a link to his blog, Eschew Obfuscation, at the top left of this page. All of my nieces and nephews are incredibly smart and that’s not just nepotistic bragging. They are seriously smart people. From Christopher right down to Emyli, and I will assume, little Bean too.
Daniel though, he’s not just smart, he’s a deep thinker, independent in many regards, fairly predictable in others, as many in his generation are, as any generation can be defined by its own idiosyncrasies.
Do I have a favorite niece or nephew? Nancy is pretty special. She joined the Navy and served as a corpsman with the Marines. That’s pretty damn special with me. My other nieces and nephews all have their personalities and they’re all pretty special. Christopher, for instance, is into hockey in a serious way and because of his tutelage on the subject, I sort of knew what the hell was happening when the U.S. hockey team beat the Canadian hockey team in the Olympics. Thanks Chris!
Back to Dan. A really nice guy, a decent bass player and now, as I’ve been informed, an upstanding, productive member of society! And still a deep thinker! In a Previous Blog Dan and I were discussing, through our comments on a particular rant, existentialism and nihilism, two philosophies that, because of societal misperception, get bad raps when often described or discussed in polite circles.
Of course we went pretty far a field of those two topics, as Dan and I often do when talking. After all, one thing always leads to another, and that discussion is a perfect example of the synchronicity of life. From the existential philosophy we get to a very cogent and consistent (with his overall philosophy) belief about aliens, the “not of this Earth” variety.
By the way Dan, Sagan was one of our most brilliant minds!
So, when Dan sends me an e-mail titled “Want Some Tea?” and the only message is this: “What is your take on Sarah Palin?” Then I know he has something in mind. The title of the e-mail alone speaks volumes.
Dan already knows my political leanings, has an idea of my general sentiments regarding the former governor, so he’s looking for something else, something a little deeper. We can listen to the pundits, both for and against Sarah Palin, and quite frankly, the analysis is often pretty spot-on, even those who are pro Palin, because their analysis often makes excuses for Palin’s many shortcomings as a national political figure.
Dan doesn’t need me to regurgitate any of that although, really, most of the criticism of the quittin’ governor is what we really need to know. Let’s face it: she quit her job as governor so she could take advantage of her 15 minutes of fame to make millions of dollars. Good for her, but it shows her true commitment (or lack thereof) to public service.
Sarah Palin is an opportunist at best. She knows when to flip-flop on issues to appeal to her constituency and, as mentioned, she knew that finishing her term as governor might keep her from making those millions of dollars she is now making with her book and speaking fees.
For instance, Palin got a nice six figures to be the keynote speaker at the Tea Bagger convention.
Quitting her job as governor may have been good for Alaska. Can any state, even one as below the radar as Alaska, afford a chief executive who often lies about her exploits, has a penchant for blaming others for her own gaffes and has exhibited such an ignorance of the core issues of our nation, it transcends embarrassment? Her knowledge of foreign affairs: she can see Russia from the western most island of Alaska. Well, if you go to Alaska’s border with The Yukon, she can see Canada as well, but apparently that slipped her mind.
Sarah Palin out does every other politician (in any party) in one regard: her flip-flopping on the issues. When she ran for governor in 2006 she was for the Gravina Island Bridge, the “Bridge to Nowhere” first proposed by former senator Ted Stevens and criticized so vociferously because it cost so much but serves such a small number of people.
But, when Palin was picked to be John McCain’s running mate, she was against the bridge. And then she back-pedaled a bit saying she was against the federal money tapped to build the bridge, not the bridge itself. But even that was inconsistent with her campaign rhetoric of 2006.
She flip-flopped on climate change — twice. First she didn’t believe the changing climate was due in large part to human activity, but when she became McCain’s running mate she changed that view, trying to tie her previous pronouncements to her campaign claims. Now that she’s a tea bagger darling, she’s back to claiming climate change has nothing to do with human activity.
And with the health care bill she truly made a giant flip-flop of gold medal-winning proportions. In 2008, before she was picked to be a vice presidential candidate, Governor Palin proclaimed, by official edict, “Healthcare Decisions Day” in which she and the state officially encouraged Alaska’s citizens to make living wills so relatives didn’t have to make awful choices when loved ones were at the ends of their lives.
In 2009, when health care became the national topic, Palin called those very same end of life decisions “Death Panels” and was firmly against it. What changed in those 12 months? She went from a virtually unknown politician (outside of Alaska) to a national figure with a small (but loud) following nationally and to appeal to that national following Sarah Palin couldn’t be for health care reform of any kind — even a reform she had previously endorsed and promoted.That, my young nephew, is my long(er) answer. Sarah Palin is walking-talking e-mail spam. She will spew whatever needs to be spewed to win over her constituency, like regurgitating the bullshit we often see in those chain e-mails that make their way into our inboxes.
Dan’s reply was not quite as cogent as usual. Instead, he let his emotions take over. If he wishes to share his sentiments here with a comment, then by all means. Dan proves that past events and worry about the present and future can stir up even an existentialist.
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