Hunting Bulwinkle - Palin's Idea of Sport

Paul Theroux brought me Thoreau on hunting moose today here and I am now ashamed that on hearing about Palin's love of moose hunting, I didn't question the 'sport.' Where is the sport here?

All this talk about moose hunting! It is as though, because of the animal's enormous size and imposing antlers, bringing one down is a heroic feat of marksmanship. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Henry David Thoreau wrote in "The Maine Woods," killing these big, gentle, myopic creatures is more "like going out by night to some woodside pasture and shooting your neighbor's horses."

Thoreau's descriptions of the moose he saw in Maine are inspired and fanciful. "They made me think of great frightened rabbits," he wrote.

Theroux goes on to make a parallel between hunting style and political style. And when I understand how moose hunting involves no skill or bravery, but just brute force inflicted on something bigger yet peaceful, I fear Palin even more.

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Palin Budget Cutting-Folks-Off-At-The-Knees and Giving Herself the Keys to the Chevy

As reported in the New York Times, Palin's style of budget cutting has all the empathy of a Mafia don.

The mayor quickly fired the town’s museum director, John Cooper. Later, she sent an aide to the museum to talk to the three remaining employees. “He told us they only wanted two,” recalled Esther West, one of the three, “and we had to pick who was going to be laid off.” The three quit as one.

Budget problem solved.

But Slashin' Sara doesn't only cut costs. When it's important, she finds the funds for vital equipment like a new white Chevy Suburban for her own use.

Ms. Palin ordered city employees not to talk to the press. And she used city money to buy a white Suburban for the mayor’s use — employees sarcastically called it the mayor-mobile.

You have to admire such moxie. But you don't have to vote for it.

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Palin's Call to Embrace the Dark Side of Our Nature

Deepak Chopra wrote a column called Obama and the Palin Effect that explains the appeal of Palin. Instead of looking at the facts of the candidates or the role of the press, he looks at the unconscious emotional dynamics at play in the electorate. The press may be promoting the idea that the McCain Republican campaign is once again outfoxing the Democratic machine, but the real culprit is found in the American psyche and how people may wish for change in the abstract while being terrified about losing the little they have should change really happen. It is the call for change that is triggering this fear; the Republicans are simply fanning the flames and capitalizing on it.

In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:
--Small town values -- a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
--Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.
--Family values -- a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be heeded.
--Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
--Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.
--"Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Here lies the the key Bill Clinton's, and to a lesser degree, Hillary Clinton's success. They did not just inspire people to their cause; they simultaneously soothed the fears that their call for change evoked. Folksy and friendly, they reassured the populace that the changes that were coming would not ask anything of them and give everything to them.

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Palin Poor Judgement and Abuse of Power Evidence Keeps Comin'

Todd Palin Subpoenaed in Troopergate

Palin, cast at last week's Republican National Convention as a supportive husband, oil rig worker and championship snowmachine racer, has emerged in the days since as also a powerful figure in his wife's administration. Despite holding no government position, he attends official meetings and is copied on e-mails concerning state business. (italics mine)

Whatever the outcome of the Troopergate investigation, the fact that a governor gives an unelected spouse surrogate power in running the government reveals a Mafia mentality management style. How would you feel having your government job overseen not only by your boss but the boss' husband? I remember the public outcry over Hillary being in charge of the health care task force under Clinton which was at least above board and in her area of expertise. But this kind of shadow power given to family members in government is just creepy.

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