Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Rambling thoughts, what else is new?

So, I finished up my last day of work as a bedside RN on Monday, and have until the end of the month to relax before starting my new gig as an NP. I pretty much parked my ass on the couch from mid afternoon on and watched hockey and MSNBC between periods. I watched as much of Sarah Palin's endorsement speech as I could tolerate, an interview with Bernie, and subsequent bloviating on what Trump means to the Republican party. The Blackhawks set a new franchise record by winning their 12th straight game and though a correction is inevitable, they are hot to watch right now.



It struck me that Sarah Palin is a pretty striking representation of this character "Effie" from the hunger games. Except for the fact that Palin is kind of a hateful bitch. Both women seem to believe what they are saying to the cores of their being, both have kind of a shrill voice over a PA system, and both seem honored to carry the water of someone they deem a great leader. All candidates and supporters eventually make wise cracks about the others. When Palin speaks, and Trump for that matter, it is inevitable that some piece of the speech must be filled with insults and shit talking about other people. At one point in Palin's speech, she railed on "establishment" candidates and other alleged takers who are living at the trough, of course, she did not see an ounce of irony in that. Regardless of whether one believes what Palin believes or not, I think it's hard to deny that she is the epitome of the word gold digger.

In the interview with Bernie, he echoed something that Howard Dean had said awhile back, which is that Democrats must have a 50 state strategy. I fully agree. For a long time, Democrats have thumbed their nose at any state they don't have a chance of winning, or that doesn't hold much electoral power. There is a lot I don't understand about the South, but there is no denying that there are a lot of working poor people in the South who have been brutalized by our trade policies, signed by both parties, and by trickle down tax plans that have done nothing to better their lives. And that leads back to Trump.

On the end of the day shows, there was a discussion several guests, about Trump and about how Sarah Palin just openly gave the middle finger to the very people who made her what she is. It cannot be said that Republicans have not had a chance to do things their way. They got an entire decade of tax cuts, they got bi partisan support for war mongering, they got support for trade deals that totally destroyed the middle class, and they did not have to do a damn thing about the debt. The majority of people who supported them, IMO, got nothing. These people now equally hate both the Democrats and Republicans and believe that by electing a rich man who talks shit about everyone, they are finally going to get a person who hears their voice. To me, Trump has figured out what these people want to hear, and he is delivering it. Whether he really plans to do anything of value for them remains to be seen.

6 comments:

  1. Sarah Palin is the ultimate opportunist. She has become a conservative idol by being in the right place at the right time. Plus she has the teflon factor working, family brawls, son just arrested for domestic violence, quitting as Governor, daughter with out of wedlock children. Will she help or hurt Trump? I say help.

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    1. Trump seems to me like just the latest coat tail for her to ride on. I think Trump already had a lot of the vote that Palin appeals to. What I think she will do for him in the short term is that she will keep television camera's glued to her and Trump and subsequently NOT glued to anyone else, and that is helpful. I could see a way in which she hurts him though.

      To me, Palin is pretty establishment. She's a book seller, a former and future Fox show host, and she's a money grabber. She readily bites any hand that gives her a sandwich, especially McCain. Yet, she's trying to claim she's some kind of outsider. As I said on a previous post, I think that Trump has at one time or another said at least one thing that resonated with everyone. Trump's no dummy, he'll milk this for what it's worth because he isn't going to turn away free publicity. He may have already had the people in Palin's political sphere of crazy, but this kind of ensures for awhile they don't go to Cruz instead.

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    2. Do endorsements really matter??

      If a Hollywood type announces support for a candidate would it affect your vote?

      To the conservative base, does anything Palin or anyone else really matter?

      It's an interesting thought, who really bases their vote on an endorsement?

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    3. I'm admittedly biased on this subject because I love Sarah Palin. Not being a Trump supporter I will now give him another look because bringing her into the fold sheds more light on his deal making ability.

      Saturday night live can now regurgitate their Hillary - Palin skits and more exposure falls into The Donalds lap for free.

      Master of promotion that Donald Trump is.

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    4. William read all of the above. It didn't take any deal making on Trumps part to get an endorsement from Palin. Read above same appeal to voters with trash taking, character assassination babble, Opportunist Palin finding a ride on some popular coattails. What surprises me William is that you continue to support this hypocritical piece of garbage and still claim the moral high ground.

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    5. Lou, just look at Williams reply, I think that answers your second question. I still kinda believe like I said above that Palin preserves rather than brings new voters to Trump, voters that possibly would be headed toward Cruz. This is anecdotal, but an MSNBC reporter was asking people at a Trump rally what they thought about it. Some really dig others, but there were also those who openly called her an idiot and made it clear her endorsement does nothing for them.

      I could be wrong about this, and it's kind of a snap judgement, but I believe the endorsement factor is a lot more important on the Republican side. It's not that Democrats don't have their sirens they listen to blindly, but on the right, there is near worship of people like Palin, Levin, Limbaugh, Beck and so on. What these people say matters deeply to their audience.

      Bernie started a major kerfuffle yesterday by calling the Human Rights League, Planned Parenthood and Hillary establishment. They were majorly pissed. It was kind of funny that even Rachel Maddow said of the Human Rights League, "You might not want to highlight that you have been around for 30 years while you are claiming you aren't establishment"

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