Sarah Palin did not know what the "Bush Doctrine" was. No surprise there. However, it is obvious that she and her running mate, John McCain, do understand one lesson from history:
If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.
While it turns out that Hitler is erroneously claimed to have said that (he was actually referring to his concept of "Jewish lies" in Mein Kampf), both he and Joseph Goebbels certainly utilized that basic propaganda technique.
More recently, the "Big lie" policy was used by the George Bush campaign in the 2000 Republican primary in South Carolina to spread a rumor that John McCain had a black child in that state. Of course, Bush and Karl Rove really went to town in the 2004 election with the help of the Swift Boat liars in attacking John Kerry's war record. Those lies were not only examples of the "big lie" policy but also the Rove concept that the opponent should be attacked where he is strongest.
So, now we have the same John McCain who was so shabbily treated in 2000 as the head of his party's Presidential ticket. Surely, McCain, who has promised "a clean campaign" would not stoop to that same destructive "big lie" policy, would he?
Hmm, let's look at the very recent past.
1. Probably the most disgusting lie that McCain/Palin have been telling and using as a television commercial is the one about Barrack Obama "sponsoring a sex-ed bill for kindergarten children in Illinois." The purpose of the bill which Obama backed was to warn young children of sexual predators, not to teach them sex-ed "before they can read." McCain continues to defend this ad.
2. Just last week, as Sarah Palin was seeing her son and his fellow soldiers off to Iraq, Mrs. Palin linked 9/11 to Iraq. Although Dick Chaney still spews this nonsense, that assertion has proven to be totally false. Big lie repeated over and over.
3. In what surely will rank as one of the silliest and most hypocritical lies of this or any other campaign, McCain recoiled in fake horror and claimed that Obama had just called Sarah Palin a pig. What a complete idiot this man is. The goofball senator from Arizona had used this same "lipstick on a pig" quote several times against Hillary Clinton. Obama was obviously not referring to Palin but to McCain's blind following of Bush policies with the economy, energy, education and Iraq. Big lie repeated over and over.
4. Minutes after McCain shocked the nation with his announcement that the totally unqualified governor from Alaska was going to be his running mate, Sarah Palin stood in front of America and claimed that "I stopped to the Bridge to Nowhere". She further lied then and later that she had fought against pork barrel projects in Wasilla and the state of Alaska.
What is astounding about the "Bridge to Nowhere" lie, is that after it has been proven to be a lie, Palin and McCain keep repeating it. The dynamic duo even put it in a television commercial. Palin only came out against the bridge after Congress killed it (she had previously stated publicly that she was for it) and the money stayed in Alaska anyway for another pork project.
As to "pork", Mrs. Palin could have been "Miss Pork Barrel" of Alaska. For her home town of 7000 or so folks, she hired a lobbyist who obtained over $26 million worth of pork for Wasilla. Since she has been governor, Alaska has received over $400 million in pork. More lies, bigger lies told over and over.
5. Perhaps the biggest and most absurd lie of all to come out of the McCain/Palin camp is their assertion that they will be the "Agents of Change". In a column by Jared Bernstein, he shows how insane this lie is:
"...the hypocrisy of their agenda--McCain/Palin's plans on the war and the economy are, if anything, Bush on steroids (more war, no timetables, far more tax cuts for the wealthiest."
6. Just today, (9/18/08) Mrs. Palin has come out with a new reason for firing the law enforcement Commissioner in Alaska. Remember, before, the story was that the commish wouldn't fire that "nasty, mean trooper who threatened Palin's family." Now, the Palin lie machine says that she fired the commissioner because he tried to obtain federal funds to fight the sexual assault problem in Alaska. She was against that money although Alaska has the highest per capita sexual assault and incest problem in the nation.
7. In Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican convention, she pointed out that she is a strong friend of children with special needs. Maybe some children. But, Palin vetoed $250.000 in funds which the Alaska legislature had voted for the Special Oympics. Guess those kids weren't special enough for the moosehunting Palin.
8. Both McCain and Palin keep repeating the lie (naturally) that Obama will raise taxes while they lower taxes. Several economists and independent research groups have pointed out that Obama's plan to reduce taxes for 95% of the population will lead to lower taxes than the McCain plan.
I could go on and on about the campaign being waged by McCain and Palin. Amazingly, even Karl Rove pointed out that their commercials have gone "too far". What is not only astounding, but very frightening, is that both Republican candidates now lie about virtually everything. Today, McCain suddenly is the "Regulator" of Wall Street and banks after a lifetime of being against regulations. I firmly believe that the lies that McCain and Palin have told are catching up with them. People are not as stupid as these two people seem to believe.
Palin, for example, is about as far away from being a feminist as is humanly possible. One example? She backed her sheriff's policy of charging the rape victims for the sexual assault kits that they used. For God's sake, the victims should pay after going through a rape?
Finally, I want to quote Mr. Bernstein again in what is the ultimate problem with liars in power. In pointing out the failures which lead to lying, Mr. Bernstein stated:
"They are telling lies, and liars make fatal leaders."
Think Hitler. Think Stalin. Think Mao. And, think about the lies which lead this country to war in Iraq.
It is time to show the liars that their way is the highway to nowhere. The Bridge to the future will be built by Senators Obama and Biden.
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2 comments:
It is amazing to see the tactics that McCain and his people find appropriate.
To draw contrast, if it were Obama who had crashed four planes BEFORE having his 5th shot down in combat, the McCain and Rove and his people would be talking about it every day; trying to find a way to use it against him.
Ah, the big lie. McCain probably thought: "It worked against me so well in 2000, so it'll work for me. Anything, anything to win."
Sadly, John, the lies and the protectionist strategy of keeping Palin from any kind of extemporaneous encounter will be a part of your undoing. The rest of your undoing will be due to the fact that, when you get angry, John, you do really stupid things. And say really stupid things.
Mike, thought you might get a jolt or two from this blog:
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
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