The Queen of All Wasilla channels Dick Nixon, circa 1962, after he lost the California governor's race...

ha ha

From The New Yorker, August 20, 2001:

What did George W. Bush say when a Philadelphia writer shook his hand at a Fourth of July block party and said, "Mr. President, I hope you only serve four years. I'm very disappointed in your work so far"?

(a) "I sincerely hope to change your mind about that."
(b) "Let me disappoint you a little more. I'm going to steal the next election, too."
(c) "What a set of cojones on you!"
(d) "Who cares what you think?"

And the answer is:

--Sarah Palin's resignation speech, quoting General Douglas MacArthur.

ha ha

My fellow TPMers, we enjoy another glorious Independence Day today...independence not from Great Britain, but from Sarah Palin. Nice ring to that. It is a sad day, however, for one of the favorite enjoyments of life: Pure comedy GOLD, baby!
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But something tells me Sarah's not going to fade away just yet...

Sarah Palin resigns.

Maybe she's crazy enough to change her mind before the next few days? Maybe North Korea will blow her away and make a martyr out of her? Maybe it's a plea bargain of some kind?

I think she needs more time to raise money for her PAC. Yep, that's it.

If this is true--this latest re-estimate of the cost of Obama's health care initiative--I simply find it incredible to believe. Back of the envelope math tells me this: 60 billion divided by 40 million equals one thousand five hundred. As in dollars per year. To insure someone medically.

That ain't much more than chump change, folks. $1500 a year to insure someone? How much do YOU spend on health care?

I already know that we spend too much on health care apiece in this country--something close to six thousand dollars a year. And that $1500 works in most countries, if not a bit more than that. But I remember the Medicare Drug Benefit debate only too well, and it turns out THAT was a pack of lies, too.

And if this IS true, it begs yet another question: Why the flying fuck did it take so long? What is WRONG with this country?

Besides FOX News and Republicans in general, of course. Purely a rhetorical question.

I am a movie buff. I'm a screenwriter and I've made a few short student films for classes I've taken. I'm searching for the word to describe how I feel about really well-made war films; admire comes to mind, but it's much more powerful than that. I also appreciate the best war films since they remind us all of what it's like to be in combat. Only a select few humans compared with the rest of us civilians ever face live firing rounds or incoming projectiles or IEDs.

My favorite war movie, for this reason, is probably Black Hawk Down. This movie shows SOME of the politics involved in the tug-of-war between Clinton detractors and supporters and warlord manipulation of the military. It's impossible to clearly assign blame for the fiasco in Mogadishu. It just told the stories as accurately as possible, massacres and rescues alike.

But my Yahoo! News headline tells me there is, presently, a huge maneuver in Afghanistan by our military.

U.S. Marines launch helicopter assault in southern Afghanistan

URL: http://www.yahoo.com/s/1094508

I can already see the scene from the movie about twenty years from now, or sooner: The flotilla of Hueys and other missile-armed jet copters, heading straight for the camera, long telescopic shot with the heat rays shimmering the air. Michael Bay, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer: Call your office.

But for some reason the only face I can guess that might star in this movie is Abigail Breslin...Everybody else will be too old. Because, as Kurt Vonnegut noted decades ago, mostly children fight wars; his masterpiece "Slaughterhouse-Five" was subtitled "The Children's Crusade", referring to World War II.

When most people read headlines, they see something they can look right past and onto the next headline. But when I read that headline, I saw disaster, death, destruction, more American ill-will, with one small difference: The President. Again, I say: Get out of Afghanistan. Bring these men and women home. They are not preventing the next 9-11, and they may just be the cause of it.

Sanford backs out of vow to release [financial] records to AP

URL:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090701/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_governor_records

Not lookin' good for the ole guv there.

Why is Mark Sanford treating us all to the inner secrets of his mind and soul?

As far as I'm concerned, the most important reason of all is this: It's a calculated attempt to curry as much empathy among Republicans, the Religious Right and other conservative-minded South Carolinians. And it just might work, despite the well-known scorn with which conservative Republicans view empathy.

I wonder if he ran this strategy by the architect of his political career first--Jenny. Something tells me that's not too likely.

I know, I know. You're thinking: C'mon, Daddy-O...tell me something I don't know.

I know your time is limited, and your patience might be thin. But...doesn't he?

Mark Sanford, Casanova of the Born Again Fundies.

Sanford, who also admitted meeting his lover more times than he had previously claimed, told The Associated Press in emotional interviews that he "crossed lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage.

But he said he never went as far as he did with Maria Belen Chapur, the woman at the center of the scandal that has derailed his once-promising political future.

Even with the latest revelations, Sanford maintains he is fit to govern and has no plans to resign. And he insisted his relationship with Chapur, whom he met at an open air dance spot in Uruguay eight years ago, was more than just sex.

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."

During more than three hours of interviews over two days at his Statehouse office, Sanford said he is trying to fall back in love with his wife even as he grapples with his deep feelings for Chapur.

Sanford detailed more encounters with his mistress than he had disclosed during a rambling, emotional press conference last week. The new revelations Tuesday led the state attorney general to launch an investigation of his travels, and some are calling for him to step down.

Among the encounters was what he described as a farewell meeting in New York this past winter, chaperoned by a spiritual adviser and sanctioned by his wife soon after she found out about the affair.

But he saw Chapur again, this time over Father's Day weekend and after his wife expressly told him not to, leaving the country without telling his staff and instead leading them to believe he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Anybody feel sorry for this guy? After he's lied about his story non-stop? What else DON'T we know about this that's pertinent?

Sanford said he is trying to fall back in love with his wife even as he grapples with his deep feelings for Chapur.

That's WAY more information than I needed, or asked for. The scent of pandering in a lame attempt to generate sympathy is strong. I think I need some air.

It was another olde-tyme religious politician who said it: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...won't get fooled agin.

Mission accomplished.

It was the will of Allah, or maybe someone else. Who wanted a Yemeni airliner to crash? What does Occam's Razor say?

I scour the Internets Tubes daily, and I've found it:

Case closed: Obama not literate enough to write his books
Jack Cashill -- author of "Gone With the Wind" -- thinks he's proved the case that Bill Ayers wrote Obama's memoir

ha ha