Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

This just in from several sources: Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, failed vice-presidential candidate, political pundit and reality television star, is attempting to trademark herself . No, I am not kidding you. Reuters helpfully points out , "Legal experts said it is relatively unusual for politicians to formally trademark their names because they are generally not associated with commercially valuable products or services." That has to be the money quote for the day. Mainstream Republicans everywhere are probably heaving sighs of relief everywhere since this can be taken as a sign that Sarah Palin the former governor of Alaska has privately concluded she doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being the 2012 GOP presidential candidate, much less a shot at actually getting elected. Henceforth all speaking, campaigning, prophesying and general self-promotion should now be considered commercial activity, not political. While it's doubtful that S...

Sarah Palin has reportedly signed a multi-year contract with Fox News as a "contributor," according to Politico and other sources. Her wacky high-jinks, malaprops and (dog-gone it) weird takes on reality ought to provide hours of entertainment to viewers. The self-proclaimed hockey mom displayed her tongue-in-cheek sense of humor by quipping, "It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news." Fox went on to say the Divine Sarah will offer up her plan-speakin' commentary and analysis for Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FoxNews.com and other Fox owned outlets. This ought be funny as hell. Read more at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31364.html

Republican pinup Sarah Palin has decided to hang it up and has announced she'll be resigning as Alaska governor. Time will tell what fueled this latest bit of Wasilla wackiness. Given her competitive nature, perhaps she felt overshadowed by fellow Republican governor Mark Sanford's hi-jinks. "We've seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," said John Weaver, friend and confidant of John McCain. Even now McCain must be kicking himself again for choosing her as running mate in 2008. Given the suddeness of her decision and the fact she's leaving without serving even a full term, inquiring minds will be wondering if she's trying to outrun some soon-to-be breaking scandal. God willing, this will be the last time I write about this woman. But I doubt it.

Just when I thought it was safe to start talking about computers, my cat and other harmless trivial things, I hear about stuff like this: All I can say is, Oh my f**king God! From Governor Sarah's Frequently Asked Questions: Gov. Sarah Palin believes all Americans must work together for the future, regardless of their party affiliation. Gov. Palin is the honorary chair of SarahPac, and its supporters are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and those unaffiliated with any political party. Want to see her supporters?

One of my wife's guilty junk TV pleasures is TLC's What Not To Wear , in which our hosts Stacy and Clinton pick some poor fashion loser (nominated by the loser's friends/family) and give them a makeover: new hairdo, makeup and $5,000 worth of clothes. It's reality television at its finest. A plucky individual remakes themselves in the image of What's Hot and along the way sheds a few tears, gains some insight, and ditches all their old crappy stuff on someone else's nickel. How can it miss? The McCain campaign has picked up on this heart-warming concept. The Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 on Sarah Palin's wardrobe in the last two months, outfitting the Hockey Mom You Can Trust in threads from Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue . Tell me -- are those stores in Real America or Fake America ? When ungenerous commentators questioned this campaign largess, McCain flacks were quick to say Sarah's outfits would be donated to charity at some...

A photo that reveals more about the Republican Base than anything I could possibly say. Thanks to the Washington Post .

One of the interesting things to have happened as McCain slowly sheds supporters is that we have an opportunity to get a better look at the Republican Base, since everyone else is slowly creeping out of the tent. Thanks to the Embarracuda, the Base still flock to the rallies, where they scream "Terrorist!" and "Kill him" at the mention of Obama. The Base: Jesus lovin', God-fearin', flag-wavin', red-meat-eatin', gun-totin', cousin-marryin', anyone-different-than-them-hatin'. Oh they are something. Primarily intolerant and mean-spirited. John McCain has finally found his sense of shame, at least for the moment, and has tried to cool some of the more foaming-at-the mouth rhetoric of his supporters recently, and was booed by his own crowd . It remains to be seen how long the new civility lasts. The base doesn't really like McCain. Now Sarah Palin...that's another matter. Rumor has it the Powers That Be are already grooming her for 20...

This just in... To quote the New York Times : " A 236-page report released by lawmakers in Alaska on Friday, found that Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, had herself exerted pressure to get Trooper Michael Wooten dismissed, as well as allowed her husband and subordinates to press for his firing, as a result of a messy divorce between him and Ms. Palin’s sister. " Whoops! RealClearPolitics now has the Electoral College count at: Obama/Biden: 353 McCain/Palin: 185 I'm beginning to wonder just how much worst it can get for John McCain?

John -- Just a quick note. The stock market fell ( plummeted, shreeked, plunged earthward with nausea-inducing abandon ) another 678 points yesterday. It's now below 9000 points. The financial markets are in near collapse. My 401k is worth 40% of what it was in January . And what do I hear you and the Embarracuda talking about: Bill Ayers, and whether Barack Obama is trustworthy about their "relationship." WHAT THE FUCK? Do we really know Barack Obama, you ask. This is rich coming from a campaign that refuses to give the media access to their running mate and won't let her appear in public without adult supervision. The biggest economic crisis in my lifetime and you, Senator McCain, are busily flinging turds.

Joe Klein over at Time magazine has done us a great service -- he's coined the ultimate nickname: Embarracuda . See? I don't even need to tell you who he's referring to. You know . Thanks to Mr. Klein, I shall henceforth adopt this term in all my references to Sarah Palin. His article by the same name peels away the perky exterior and casts a flinty eye at what he refers to as McCain's insult to your intelligence. As to her recent crack about Obama "palling around with terrorists," he points out the irony, given the fact that she's married to a member of a political party that wants Alaska to secede from the lower 48. Huh? He also contrasts her statement about Obama's former paster, Jeremiah Wright ("I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said.") with the fact that she sat through (not getting up and leaving) a sermon by the founder of Jews for Jesus who, as Klein rep...

Here we are less than a month from the 2008 election. You thought things were nasty before? Get ready--the shit's really going to start flying now. Despite his pledges to the contrary, McCain signaled early on he was more than willing to wade into the cesspool. Remember the stink over the "Celeb" ad? That was the tip of the iceberg. There's plenty more. Obama, to his credit, responded quickly and vigorously to these, having learned the lesson from John Kerry that unanswered attacks only encourage more of the same. McCain thought he'd run this election using the Bush "National Security" playbook ("the Surge worked," etc.), but a funny thing happened on the way to the polls: Wall Street had a meltdown. And it is a truism in politics that the economy trumps almost everything. Senator McCain has admitted in the past that economic issues are not his long suit. With the US teetering on the brink of a recession, suddenly voters are noticing McCain...

If there is any upside to financial meltdown of the last weeks or so, it is that we, the voting public, have been given a welcome respite from all things Sarah Palin. Tomorrow is the vice-presidential debates, which will probably not change any substantial number of votes, but has the potential for the guilty pleasure at watching someone make a fool of themselves. If Sarah's recent performances are any indicator, the evening promises much comic fodder. Tina Fey may actually look more presidential. Her handlers have been shielding her from any contact with a discerning public, with the not overly surprising effect that even her lukewarm supporters have begun to grow bored with her. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see her fade back in to obscurity, her brief moment of notoriety reduced to little more than a footnote in the history books and a few random subpoenas.

So now John McCain is full of righteous outrage over what he has announced were "offensive and disgraceful" remarks about Sarah "Pitbull" Palin by Barack Obama. The disgraceful quote? Said Obama, on McCain and Bush's policies: "You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years." Oh puh-leeze. The "lipstick on a pig" quip has been used by Republicans, including John McCain, referring to Hillary Clinton's health care proposals (see clip below). I don't seem to recall a great eruption of rage over perceived sexism then. In fact, Hillary was regularly excoriated by the GOP. Calling her a pig would have seemed mild. And so the Republicans and their designated slimemeisters carry on that twin tradition of the Big Lie and the Dirty Trick, The Big Lie: say something so brazenly untrue that people assume no one could make up something that un...

Well, I guess it's official: Sarah "the Barracuda" Palin, having been anointed last night as McCain's vice-presidential running mate, is now Red State America's sweetheart. Five minutes was about all I could take of her last night. The Daily Show had an amazing send up of her huffing and puffing supporters, proving once again they have what is arguably the best research team around anywhere. I can't improve on this -- watch it and ask why CNN and the networks have such piss-poor news teams in comparison.

John McCain is having a rough go of things lately. I mean the guy can't catch a break. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. First Hurricane Gustav forced a hasty scaling back of the Republican festivities in St. Paul, Minnesota. Then Hurricane Sarah created another storm. Governor Palin probably looked good on paper as the McCain team sketched out strategies in some dark room. But in harsh glare of reality, his decision looks rash and poorly thought out. He can't help but be having buyer's remorse right about now. His choice seems to be a naked attempt to appeal to disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. Except Sarah Palin is no Hillary. Who thought this fundamentalist right winger would appeal to Clinton's constituency? While she may shore up McCain's soft support amongst the Conservative Christian right, Palin will serve only to alarm moderate voters once they get a closer look. In addition, she brings several liabilities: an abuse of power investigation over all...