The Palins' Imperfect Union -- re AIP

[Blue_In_AK]

Excellent analysis by Mudflats -- WITH VIDEO

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/the-palins-imperfect-union/


Sarah Palin has taken her position. She has shown her cards. She has stuck her flag in the ground. She has crossed her arms.

Palin likes the spotlight, she likes power, and she has decided she will do or say anything to get it. That much is obvious to anyone who has been watching her performance over the last week. Many Alaskans have watched, sickened, at Palin’s insinuations, before cheering crowds, that Senator Obama is a terrorist sympathizer. Others, have agreed. She stands in the glow of the lights, soaking up the energy from a crowd, whipped into a frenzy of hatred, engendering comparisons to a Nazi rally or a KKK meeting. Shouts of “Kill him!”, and “Terrorist!” referring to Senator Obama have been picked up on media microphones covering the McCain-Palin roadshow.

Hatred, like an iceberg, leaves 90% of its mass below the surface. The media has not picked up on comments that aren’t screamed at the camera - the conversations in living rooms, the knowing nods, and the dark thoughts that McCain and Palin have given people permission to think.

“He doesn’t think like we do,” she tells us. We love the country. We are patriotic. We are like us. We can’t turn our country over to THEM.

The Republican party has become very good at pointing fingers, both literally, and figuratively, at Obama. Last night, McCain pointed a finger at him during the dabate and referred to him as “that one.” The undercurrents of dehumanization, objectification, and scorn rose to the surface.

Attack Obama on his “lack of patriotism” and his “otherness”, and he’ll spend his time defending it. It’s never good when you have to defend your position. The attacker always has the greater position of power.

Strangely, in light of this new patriotic furor, the following video has not gained much traction in this election. It surfaced some time ago, and I’ve posted it here before, but its worthy of another look. This is a meeting of the Alaskan Independence Party. The speaker is Vice Chairman of the AIP, Dexter Clark. A partial transcript is below. It’s worth watching in full.

The Alaskan Independence Party believes that Alaska may have become a state against its will. Anyone in the party today, is likely there because they think Alaska would do just fine without the rest of the country being attached to it. The image, on most maps, of Alaska detached from the rest of the country in its own little box works for them just fine.

They don’t like the way the statehood vote was worded, and Clark explains why.

<VIDEO HERE> and much more ... http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/the-palins-imperfect-union/

[babylonsister]

1. "the dark thoughts that McCain and Palin have given people permission to think."

That says it all for me, which is why I find all of this so disturbing. :(