The Bush I-Clinton Roadshow Takes the Low Road in New Orleans at Guess Who’s Expense? (Hint: Women, of Course)(UPDATE 1X–FULL VIDEO)

On Tuesday night (January 27)  as I passed by the TV, I saw Greta Van Susteren introducing a segment near the end of the show  called ” The Best of the Rest.”

There they were, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton laughing it up on Monday in New Orleans at the National Association of Auto Dealers conference.  Greta has spent quite a lot of time featuring this duo; you can check out several videos at the “On the Record” site. However, the video I saw has not shown up on the site…buried, I guess.

First, here’s the only report that I can find on the event:

Bush, Clinton offer morale boost for auto dealers at New Orleans conference

by Jen DeGregorio, The Times-Picayune

Tuesday January 27, 2009, 7:18 AM

Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-PicayuneFormer Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton embrace during their address at the National Association of Auto Dealers conference in New Orleans on Monday.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, who were in New Orleans on Monday to speak to members of the National Automobile Dealers Association, tried to assure one of the nation’s most troubled industries that it would survive an economic maelstrom that has swallowed more than 2.5 million jobs in the past year.

But survival will not come without sacrifice, they said. Clinton and Bush evoked the image of Hurricane Katrina to describe the level of perseverance they said will be needed to carry the nation through a recession that has been widely compared with the Great Depression. Citizens must pitch in to help one another as they did after Katrina, when countless volunteers descended upon New Orleans to help rebuild and donated millions of dollars to a relief fund headed by Clinton and Bush, the former presidents said.

SNIP

While Bush and Clinton focused on the economy, they also made time for some banter and shared personal anecdotes about their time in the Oval Office.

Clinton and Bush sat down for a casual chat with outgoing association Chairwoman Annette Sykora, who quizzed them about their victories and regrets in office.

SNIP

Both men sang the praises of President Barack Obama, saying his administration already has set the right tone to weather the economic crisis by encouraging an era of responsibility.

“We are bound together, and divorce is not an option, ” Clinton said.

There’s something missing in this report…the bit that Greta showed.

Greta prefaced the video with a big grin and much enjoyment over what Bush said and added that Clinton had a great quip after that.

I didn’t even hear the Clinton quip because I as so ticked off at what George H. W. Bush decided to deliver to the audience.  I was fuming from Bush’s rendition of how he was confronted by women protesters over reproductive issues.

According to Bush, he was irritated when he was in his limo and some women got right up to it waving a sign saying “Stay Out of Our Wombs.”  He mused about he couldn’t understand how they even got that close…then wisecracked (sic) “Believe me, that’s one place I wouldn’t want to go”…

Well, the audience ERUPTED in UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER from the audience!  I’m assuming the majority of  the audience was men.  Clinton was laughing, too, and delivered his line. The camera didn’t catch the reaction of Chairwoman Sykora, who was off camera in the video.

As I mentioned, I have no idea what Clinton said, but Greta thought it was very funny and, in fact, thought the whole segment was a laugh riot. Which makes me wonder about Greta.  We’ve got a former President mocking women about their intense feelings about controlling their own bodies and she thinks that’s funny?

I guess I should be grateful that she showed it since the newspaper report from The Times-Picayune chose not to report on it. WHY didn’t they?

As for Clinton…I wish I knew what he said.  Then again, maybe I don’t want to go there…

Frankly, writing this at the end of a day when I learned that Barack Obama dumped money for birth control from his bilious “stimulus package” to please Republicans, that video makes me even angrier than when I saw the clip on Tuesday night.  It seems like a gratuitous slap in the face considering that the bill was going to pass anyway.

But “3-Card Monte” Obama seems set into his groove.  One minute he gives the OK for family planning groups working overseas to talk to women about abortion, the next he’s robbing access to low-cost birth control to women in need here in the U.S.   What does he really think of his own wife and daughters?  Apparently he’s willing to sell women cheap when it comes to “bringing us together.”

This guy seems to like playing with women, keeping them on a string, giving them a little bit, then taking it away. He’s shuffling around issues as we expected because he has no consistent core values.  Keeping an eye on all his moves will be difficult.  All I’m sure of  is that women will ultimately lose the game with this guy. The misogyny exhibited in the campaign in the form of demeaning gestures, the behavior of Jon Favreau with a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton, and the apparent comfort with the likes of Ludacris’ video support is now in firmly in place at the top of our government.

What a inspirational role model for all of us…NOT!

By the way, apparently Medicare drug plans stopped covering  “sexual performance” drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra back in 2007 except for treating certain medical conditions like pulmonary hypertension (saving a CBO projected $2 billion between 2006 and 2015) . Let’s see if the Obama crowd reinstates coverage and gives women ANOTHER insulting slap. Nothing would surprise me at this point…

UPDATE 1

Many thanks to Harold who found a video of the exchange…from his comments!!  I will try to embed the video when I get back later…

Clinton laughed and said something along the lines of “I cannot afford to make a joke like that. You know what people would say if *I* made a joke like that” and he continued a while like that, then made a pretty stupid joke himself which I forgot.

Harold, on January 29th, 2009 at 9:02 AM Said: Edit Comment

I found the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXuRlcUjoAE

Here is the video from the link provided above…but it’s from CNN, not Greta’s show.

So, the woman was “the ugliest” woman Bush I had ever seen… what a PIG he is…and Clinton just goes along for the ride.

PALIN LAUNCHES “SarahPAC”!! (Updated 1X–It’s Not Just the Alfalfa Club for Palin This Weekend)

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-UNQUALIFIED) has launched a political action committee…dubbed SarahPAC!

Here’s the link:  http://www.sarahpac.com/

From the site:

Sarah Palin’s Official PAC

Dedicated to building America’s future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation.

SarahPAC believes America’s best days are ahead. Our country, founded on conservative principles and the fight for freedom, must confront the challenges of the 21st century with integrity, innovation, and determination.

SarahPAC believes energy independence is a cornerstone of the economic security and progress that every American family wants and deserves.

SarahPAC believes the Republican Party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance that will build a better future for all. Health care, education, and reform of government are among our key goals. Join us today!

YOU GO, GIRL!!!  It will be interesting to see who receives help from SarahPAC in the future…

I don’t agree with everything in her political viewpoint…BUT, I give her high marks for GUTS in standing up to the shitty media, shitty Democrats, and shitty Republicans, not to mention shitty so-called “feminists” who have worked to demean her accomplishments as a sitting governor who has worked her way up the ladder.

Could she represent a better wing of the Republican Party?  Anybody is better than the slugs in D.C. right now…Republican AND Democrat!!

P.S.–Memo to Hillary Clinton: When you echo words like “clenched fist” exactly as Obama says them, you are disappointing.  You apparently very willingly got kicked upstairs as other people make big announcements about upcoming Obama foreign policy “events.”

Damned shame. Oh, and remember “always fighting for us?”  ……Not so much…

***

Repeating from prior post on the stimulus package vote:

Hat tip to Tennessee Guerilla Women….Obama Axes Birth Contol Funds to Please Republicans

So the F*cking SOB has begun demonstating his love and respect for women by trading our birth control for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. And won’t it especially hurt POOR women??   And when do we stop paying for VIAGRA????

If I hear one complaint against upfront Sarah Palin, who has NEVER overturned a law that secures the rights of women and gays, I will put another HEX on NARAL, NOW, Ms. Magazine, and Planned Parenthood.

UPDATE 1   6:30 PM MT, January 29, 2009

Looks like Palin will be real busy in D.C. and it won’t be just the Alfalfa Club dinner this weekend…From CNN:

Palin is slated to attend a dinner Friday night at the residence of Fred and Marlene Malek. Fred Malek is a businessman who served Republican presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush. High-profile guests from both political parties are expected to attend the function.

The governor’s office also says Palin will attend a luncheon at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Saturday before heading over the to Alfafa Dinner.

There will be other “non-partisan” events as well.  The visit to the Center for Strategic and International Studies is VERY interesting, isn’t it?

Gossip columnist Cindy Adams over at the New York Post opines:

ASK not what Sarah Palin can do for your country, ask only what you can do for Sarah Palin. And the answer is, pay attention. Trust me, Alaska’s governor is moving faster than those glaciers.

Adams goes on to say that it’s really significant that Palin is attending since she  “may only leave the frozen tundra  two days a month.”

She adds:

Next month she addresses a Washington gathering of prominent conservatives. She’s going ahead with a book. Her Facebook page has 410,000 friends. She wants to influence policy knowing the nation must turn to Alaska as its energy resource. She’s planning to be president.

Well, I’d say this is “developing”….

Taking Our Power, Taking Our Lives: Women Under Threat (Updated 1X)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

The news about  Bettyjean’s tragedy, the assaults on her daughters Denise and Louisa at the hands of a violent man and a useless legal system, has made me reflect on some of the threats I’ve received and about how many other women have gone through similar experiences.  Most of my life, I never really felt threatened, until the last few years.   The threats I’ve had directed at me recently have been unprovoked anger and verbal that has taken me totally by surprise, because the circumstances would not normally trigger such violent responses. They were disturbing when they occurred and even more disturbing as I recall them tonight.

I’m just about the only one around here who walks my dogs, and being from the East and used to pooper scooper laws, I always pick up.  In these parts, there is no such law and sometimes a stray or an inconsiderate dog-walker will allow their dog to leave a mess on someone’s property.

A few years ago I peeked out of my front door window to see a neighbor opening my front gate, a man whom I had seen a few times but knew little about, except that he was an ex-Marine and was now working in some sort of dispatch job for the city.  I opened the door to a barrage of verbal abuse and accusations about how my dog had left a poop on his property. Totally taken aback, I informed this guy that “I picked up.” This didn’t stop him one bit–he called me a “bitch” and told me I shouldn’t walk on “his street.”  Of course, this made me angry…very angry. I stepped outdoors and stood nose-t0-nose with this ranting man. I went into Marine-mode.

“Listen, SIR, you have no right to accuse me of anything, SIR! SIR, it’s a public street, SIR, and I can walk anywhere I damned well please! You’ve got a damned nerve, SIR, talking to me like this…You may talk to your wife that way, SIR, but you can’t talk to ME like that!”

By this time he had turned and was hurrying away. I left him with this salvo: “You just throw your dogs into the backyard, SIR. You don’t even know how to take care of them!”

A few weeks later the dogs were gone and I found out he had separated from his wife. They’re back together now, but Grandma is around an awful lot keeping a watchful eye on the couple’s little girl.

Another altercation occurred while I was out with Slick one Saturday morning, looking at some things at a garage sale. Suddenly, a big white pitbull mix, which I had seen looking out the screen door of a nearby house quite often, suddenly sped out of the house, jumped me, then went after Slick.  No one at the sale moved a muscle, but the guy inside the house ran out as he heard me screaming to get his dog off Slick.  After getting his dog under control, he didn’t offer one word to see if me or Slick had been hurt. Instead, he laughed at me and mocked me for being upset!  When I told him he should watch that door, he immediately got defensive and nasty. The lack of common courtesy, at the very least, got me so ticked off that I called animal control to report the attack. If the guy had treated me like a neighbor and had expressed some concern about the welfare of me and Slick, I probably wouldn’t have picked up the phone. But it was his total disregard for the attack on me and Slick that really angered me.  Animal control went to the house, then told me that no one answered the door. They guy was HIDING and wouldn’t face up to what his dog had done.

A few weeks later, I was walking quite far from his house, when the same dog came running down the hill toward me ready to jump me and Slick again!  The guy came running and this time, laughed at me and asked me why I was screaming again! Obviously, this guy had no empathy or respect for me or Slick, so I called animal control again.  A lot of older people stroll in the neighborhood and this sort of thing could wind up in someone seriously hurt. This time animal control left a notice. Since that event, the door seems to stay closed.  Apparently, the guy got fined and that got his attention, not an actual attack in action!  But once again, there was a complete lack of respect and concern from this man.

Last week, I had another confrontation as I walked by a house I usually pass on our short walks at night.   Tammy and her husband were out putting up Christmas decorations. I’ve known Tammy for quite awhile on a casual basis and have talked to her about our dogs quite a few times. (By the way, their German shepherd doesn’t get walked very much, either).  But, on this night when I walked by, her husband, in keeping with the season,  jumped up and charged at me, screaming about how my dog pooped on his front yard. No thought about a simple inquiry, no, this guy was fully ramped up. As he screamed at me, I whipped out a handful of plastic bags and told him “I pick up!” I had seen some old poop on his front grass, but it certainly wasn’t from me! He assumed it was ME, though, and told me he didn’t care about “my plastic bags.” He called me a bitch. I then found myself with my fistful of bags in front of his face, telling him that I came from the East where we had pooper scooper laws and I knew how to walk my dog. He said he didn’t care about the East, around here, it didn’t matter…and I shouldn’t walk up his block any more!  (Sound familiar??) I got so in the guy’s face that he started to back off, and warned me not to threaten him!  Well, I just told he had a damned nerve accusing me of something he had absolutely no proof I was guilty of, and that he was an idiot if he thought he could tell me I couldn’t walk on a public street!  I then asked him point blank if he was on drugs or if he was drunk.

At that point, I turned to Tammy and said, “You know me, you know I’ve always picked up!” and she turned away and said, “I’m not getting involved!” I was taken aback and really wondered why an adult woman couldn’t tell her husband that he was way out of bounds. I got the feeling that something was wrong in that relationship. Coincidentally, yesterday I found out from one of their close neighbors that the whole family was dysfunctional. Tammy’s father was an alcoholic and her sister, whom I had met several times, had nearly killed herself a few days ago by going on a drinking binge.  It seems that Tammy must have repeated the pattern and, judging from what he did to me,  she married a guy with the potential for some pretty violent behavior.

What ties all these stories together? Men with irrational anger, nasty language, demands for me to curtail my normal activities–in other words, abusive men who become hostile instead of approaching a problem with some degree of civility.  It’s more than being uncouth, it’s an attitude toward women they don’t even know that manifests in behavior that is completely off the wall. It’s as if they all thought that they had a perfect right to be abusive right from the start.  Sensitivity? Empathy? Simple politeness? Normal behavior? I think not…Not with these guys…all of whom backed down as soon as they were surprised by a woman, and an older woman at that,  who gave it right back to them.

What’s especially upsetting is that I’ve had to feel that I was FORCED to get so aggressive in return. But something told me that if I didn’t these guys would just be getting the reaction they wanted–a sense of power over me and a satisfaction that their macho behavior had intimidated me. At the time of the first incident I was really rather surprised at my own reaction…the sense of power I had when I challenged this guy who came onto MY property and verbally assaulted me.  Somewhere along the way to getting older and wiser, I had figured out it out…no more taking it from anyone anymore, least of all bullies who had something screwed up in their approach to women.

Women put up with an awful lot of this sort of thing and sometimes it really goes beyond verbal assault into the realm of a real threat to life. The so-called protections of marriage or committed relationships don’t seem to apply when things get violent.  What’s given a benign name of “domestic violence” is really just, plain VIOLENCE.  It galls me that there’s a sense of being diminished as a human being simply because a person is somehow “related” to the abuser.  How is this different than a an owner abusing an animal?

Down here in “the Borderland” we have a lot of  animal abuse and “domestic violence.”  The two seem to go hand in hand.  But after what we’ve been through this year, with the misogyny ladled out to us with the help of the media, the Democratic Party, and their pre-ordained nominee, it’s clear that “women hate” is perfectly acceptable. Latest example? The fawning story in the Washington Post about Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau.

Now, he has transformed into what one friend called a “Washington political force” — a minor celebrity with a down payment on a Dupont Circle condo, whose silly Facebook photos with a Hillary Rodham Clinton cutout created what passes for controversy in Obama’s so far drama-free transition.

Yes, it’s all so silly. All so silly.

So now Bettyjean’s daughters suffer at the hands of a man whom they once thought they could trust. But, their trust has been cruelly betrayed this man AND the depraved indifference of “the system.”

As a child, I spent a lot of time in Lodi, NJ. It was my father’s hometown. His immigrant parents settled there and ran a mercantile. My father, his three brothers, sister and half-sister all grew up there. His sisters remained there all their lives. I recall visiting every Sunday. My Aunt Lucy lived in a building next to the old Lodi Modern Bakery on  Main Street, a short block from the old plant with the smokestacks that still stood there then. My Aunt Florence lived upstairs in the same building. The smells of the bakery permeated their apartments.  Aunt Lucy, as the oldest of all the children, was the matriarch of the family. We saw our uncles and cousins there when they came back to Lodi to visit. We would sit at the kitchen table and watch the adults play canasta and eat Aunt Lucy’s marvelous food.  Her stuffed artichokes were the best I have ever tasted. Aunt Florence always ate with Aunt Lucy and never cooked as far as I know. But she was the one who would stop by the Sorrento bakery and pick up the Italian pastries before hopping the bus to visit us.  We all went to the annual “Feast” and enjoyed being part of what was basically an Italian enclave of close families.

In my childhood memories, Lodi was a wonderful place. I haven’t been back in years, but it seems like it’s just like anyplace now…just like any other place in America and or anywhere in the world where violence against women – or the lurking threat of violence —  is part of our lives…

…We must take back our power and take back our lives…

***

UPDATE

Report on the arraignment of the attacker and his comments

Man in shotgun case barred from contacting ill wife

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The man who is accused of shooting his wife’s sister in the face with a shotgun told a judge this afternoon that he wanted to see his terminally ill wife “before she dies.”

But a judge ordered George Hartwig to make no contact with his estranged wife, the shooting victim or any family members.

“That sucks. I didn’t even point a gun at her,” Hartwig said, referring to his wife, Denise Richardson, who is dying of ovarian cancer.

Hartwig was formally charged at the hearing in Superior Court in Hackensack with the attempted murder of 41-year-old Louisa Rodas of Hackensack. She remained in critical condition this afternoon.

MORE

Did You See Sarah Palin Live with Greta? WOW!! In the Kitchen, Meal Prep and Policy…(UPDATE 1X–Video Up)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

UPDATE 1–The video of Part 1 of this 2 Part interview (Part 2 is tonight, 11/11) in up at FOX but I had to search for it!  (Maybe they’re burying this deliberately.) Here is the link to where I found it…Greta’s Inteview With Sarah Palin Greta has some pics of the Gov’s Office on her GretaWire blog right now.

9 PM  MT Time (7 PM Alaska Time)

I have to say this was an amazing thing put together by Greta van Susteren. Live from Alaska, an extensive interview with Sarah Palin. When the video goes up, WATCH!

I caught most of the filmed segment in the Governor’s Office where the discussion was about her being “handled” and her “feminism.”

Well, she was unapologetic about going off script…she wanted to talk more about the qualities of John McCain, the man, and she said she had no regrets when she did so.

As for the question about whether she was a feminist…She said she considered herself one, “whatever that means” and talked about all the things women who work and raise families have in common. Greta asked her if the flack from the left was about abortion, and Palin said most likely, but she said that the key thing was to work to lower the number of abortions through information, and all the other means at our disposal…She sounded pretty “Clintonian” to me on the subject. She clearly felt that if that was the “be end and end all,” then women were missing an opportunity to forge a stronger presence.

Greta also asked her about 2012 and she was quite open to 4 years or 8 years if things like family circumstances, etc. were favorable. In other words, she sounded like she was very open to the idea of getting out there again, and spoke about how much she would like to do something for the country on a broader scale.

The other subjects of conversation that stood out was when she talked about her family and how her kids saw that offensive 4-letter word on a T-shirt as they drove through Philadelphia.

And I was really ticked off again about all that degradation of Palin, how she was an insult and inexperienced, when, in the course of the conversation, said she was used to the hardball of politics even at the local level and how it didn’t faze her because she had been at it since 1992. Where was Obama in 1992?? What has he done that makes him more experienced as a leader than someone who has worked there way up since 1992??

By far the best part of the interview was conducted in her home….LIVE…from the kitchen, as she prepared dinner. She was taking the skin off a pile of big franks and she worked steadily on stuffing them with extras.  All the while, she spoke clearly on energy and how she wanted to see a cleaner planet and energy independence. She talked about how Alaska has as much coastline as the rest of the U.S. and how there are so many resources that can be developed through technology that can then be exported to other countries…tidal power, wind power, geothermal.  She felt that there was an opportunity for bringing together environmentalists and “the development crowd” as she described her leanings into a synergy where “something could get done.”

What really got me was how she MULTI-TASKED–cooking dinner and talking about all sort of complicated issues at the same time.  When have you seen a candidate for VP do THAT?? But this is what women do everyday, without skipping a beat…and what makes Sarah Palin a real person to so many people,  not just another pre-fabbed politician.

So the question I thought of was –Could BARACK OBAMA do that as smoothly and naturally?  I doubt it!  He is so scripted and basically, phony, that he wouldn’t even deign to pick up a hot dog and discuss energy policy at the same time!!  The joke used to be that Gerry Ford couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time…Well, Sarah Palin doesn’t have THAT problem.

Tomorrow, there’s part 2 of the interview (Tuesday, 11/11)…I’ll be watching, for sure! (Moose chili on the menu…)  This interview tonight made it clear that Alaska is not hicktown…It looks like everwhere else in the US, for those who think Palin dropped in from another planet…(boy, what a great kitchen), which might be news to some of the “elite” who fester in DC.

After Greta, I happened to see a couple of minutes of Glenn Beck on O’Reilly. O’Reilly had opened with Palin’s discussion of the “jerks” out there and then Beck said an interesting thing: that she TOOK ON THE POWERFUL in the party…which lends credence to our suspicions about how they’re trying to do her in. He also said that she disagreed with McCain on a lot of things.  He said that she called him and told him that people weren’t booking her on shows, so she was going to do it herself. And she did…going on his show among others. More indication that she was getting a bum deal from her handlers…Nicolle Wallace, perhaps?  (See Sarah Palin, Nicolle Wallace, CBS, Katie Couric…Too Close for Comfort? (And What of George and Jeb?) O’Reilly said the media would “kill her” and my reaction was, “NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!”

All I can say is…GO SARAH!!!

Sarah, the Mooseburger Mom

~~By kenosha Marge

Our dear friends in my ex party simply cannot help themselves. Try as they might they cannot pretend to be anything but derisive about people that are not like them. Coddled in their own little world they strike out at the very people they pretend to care about. People that struggle on a daily basis to pay the bills and work towards a better life for their children. These are the people that my erstwhile party pretends to care about. And women. While calling us trailer trash and rednecks. How special.

Pardon me if I say baloney. Or don’t pardon me. I really don’t care. I don’t care because the blindfold is no longer on and I see that the party that claimed to be all about women’s rights and human rights and caring about the poor and the afflicted is lead by mountebanks. I am disgusted with myself for not seeing this before now. I am disgusted with myself for voting a straight Democratic ticket for over 40 years. I am disgusted that I believed that they would fight for women’s rights.

The light of truth began to shine through my Democratic Blindfold during the primaries when most of the media, the Democratic Party and the DNC slobbered relentlessly over Obama and derided, insulted, and dismissed Senator Clinton. I had expected the Clinton-hating media to attack Senator Clinton. I had expected the GOP to get their jollies by having a Clinton to kick around once again. But attacked by her party? Mind-boggling! Had I not all ready seen the error of my ways in believing that my erstwhile party was the party that most respected women along came Governor Sarah Palin the Mooseburger Mom and the excrement hit the fan. The Democratic Party proved that it is not only a party that does not respect women, they proved themselves a party that denigrates, derides, lies, and hyperventilates over the very idea that a woman would dare to run for Vice President of the United States. No sooner had they disabused their womenfolk of the notion than the damn Republicans had the audacity to put a female on their ticket. This, screeched the left, will never do.

The sight of so many prominent Democrats, male and female rushing to attack Governor Palin is repulsive. Men and women I had once admired hastened to cast the first stone at this woman from nowhere. They revealed themselves and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Democrats and media have thrown everything they could think of against this woman and still, at least for now, she’s the most popular of the 4 candidates. She even edges out Obama by a point. Oh the humanity!
What is there about her that drives reasonable people to lose all perspective?

Why the hate for Sarah Palin?

First and foremost there is the resurgence of Republican enthusiasm. Holy cow are they enthused! Just when Dems were doing victory laps because the Republican voters were moribund, along came Sarah.

Many Dems were sure that large numbers of Conservative voters would stay home. Most of the Pundidiots were predicting an Obama blowout. John McCain was once again declared dead. Oh what a difference an unknown female Governor from Alaska makes. Large numbers of voters now seem to be very robust Sarah Palin fans. Will that mean more votes for McCain? You betcha! Therein lies the tale of the loathing and hysteria.

Second, and this is admittedly just my opinion, I think the left fears the ordinariness of Sarah Palin. Not her good looks, although that doesn’t hurt. Not her intellect, which they try to deride by claiming she’s a female Dan Quayle. No it’s the ordinary life she, her husband and children live in spiteof the fact that she is a governor. A film clip I saw on Greta Van Susteren showed the Palin family around the kitchen table and there was a mayonnaise jar with a knife still sticking out of it. I remember seeing that many, many times in my own kitchen. Ordinary. Homey.

Sarah Palin is also, gasp, a hunter. Or is that huntress? In all events she takes a gun, goes out, kills a moose, field dresses it and said moose ends up in her freezer and ultimately on the dinner table. Oh the horror of it all.  She eats meat; meat that she killed! Oh yuck. Whereas the rest of the carnivorous people in the world eat meat that, what, died of old age? Those steaks on your plate were killed amongst the most horrendous circumstances you can imagine. Animals die in pain, fear and filth. Hunted animals die, usually, in their own environment quickly and with a minimum of fear and pain. But in the end, they are all just as dead.

Millions of Americans are hunters. Deriding Governor Palin for being a hunter is silly and stupid. FYI, I am not a hunter and the thought of killing animals and eating their flesh finally became so repulsive to me that I because a vegetarian a few years ago. See http://www.goveg.com/slaughterhouse.asp

We’ll all just have to wait and see what comes next. A day off of politicking for 9/11 may have given some people a chance to step back, take a deep breath and get over their hysteria. The Shrillosphere did not because it is not in their nature. And besides, Governor Sarah Palin is a woman. And we know how they love to hate women.

All in all this has been a most enlightening election cycle for me. I’ve learned about Fauxgressives and phony liberals and misogynistic Democrats and horrendously sexist media. I’ve learned that for some feminism isn’t really about women. Feminism is only for the “right” kind of women. Liberal women.

Who knew?

I’m still in the process of learning about Sarah The Mooseburger Mom. If nothing else, it should be entertaining.