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Sarah Palin and Boston
By adamg on Sat, 10/04/2008 - 4:46pm
Despite what Sarah Palin was coached to say on Thursday seems to believe, Ronald Reagan did not come up with the idea of "the shining city on a hill."
Andrew J. Bacevich provides the history behind the phrase:
Basically, our own John Winthrop thundered it as the Puritans prepared to found Boston, and he probably would have sent Palin to the stocks (or worse) for suggesting his phrase meant to suggest "an America that is a beacon of democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights." Because Winthrop was a religious absolutist who brooked little dissent and was, in fact, warning his fellow Arbella voyagers in Boston Harbor that unless they held fast and created a theocracy doing as God told them to set an example for all mankind (i.e. a city upon a hill):
[T]he Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.
Via Jay Fitzgerald.
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Comments
Like stuffing a Turkey
Something tells me that Palin is incapable of coming up with this on her own:
How people applaud Palin's performance in the debate knowing that former Bush administration advisors filled her head with talking points (much in the same way one stuffs a turkey for Thanksgiving) and that Palin answered the question she wanted to answer not the ones asked, and that there were no follow-up questions... it's beyond me how people applaud Palin's performance. Who thinks she's ready for the job? Who thinks she ready to be President?
I'm far less worried about
I'm far less worried about whether a former mayor and current governor running for VP is ready to be president than I am that a far-left "community organizer" with ties to terrorists and racists is currently the front-runner for the top of the ticket.
The Wingnut Song
Talking points truthyness exaggeration and guilt by association! Repeat.
"truthyness" I hate to be
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but "The Daily Show"...
It's not the news.
Yeah, I suppose front-runner is a bit presumptive at this point.
a bit presumptive at this point
With the first set of
With the first set of tracking polls out to incorporate at least one full day of post-debate interviewing, there is no indication that John McCain and Sarah Palin have made progress in closing their gap with Barack Obama. In fact, Obama ticked upward in three of the four national tracking polls that published today, although he lost a point in Rasmussen. In addition, Ipsos/McClatchy has come out with a poll showing that the debate moved undecideds slightly toward the Obama ticket, confirming the results of most of the snap polling conducted on Thursday evening. link
[snip]
Anti-incumbent sentiment is as strong as it has been all year, and that is working to the benefit of the Democrats in our latest Senate projections link
Talking points truthyness
Desperation
Doncha know, the entire campaign strategy has shifted. In sum, the McCain/Palin Campaign has boiled it all down to a single and simple distilation.
To wit: (points at Obama) SCARY BLACK MAN! SCARY BLACK MAN! SCARY BLACK MAN!
(not my original thought ... my 12 year old son came up with that)
They're not done either.
They're not done either. McCain's campaign is full of gambits because they know its their only chance.
They'll hit the negative ads hard starting now and there will be one or two more gambits to change the conversation. One of them will be a big negative frame up of Obama, timed about two weeks before the election: Schmidt was trained by Rove was trained by Atwater.
They won't let Palin speak to the press, they'll keep her on a short leash between now and Nov. 4. Look at what she did by opening her mouth last week. She revealed herself as a woefully unprepared politician at the limits of her competence as Governor of Alaska and in well over her head as presumptive VP nominee.
Tell your friends to register by Oct 15 and vote! Tell you son I like the way he thinks. You must be proud of such a thoughtful young man.
Why are you all so racist?
The only injections of race seem to come from Obama and his supporters.
Palin: Obama has never explained his years of close personal and professional association with unrepentant (white) domestic terrorists
SwirlyGirl: Describing Republican campaign: (points at Obama) SCARY BLACK MAN! SCARY BLACK MAN! SCARY BLACK MAN!
Do you think nobody notices this pattern?
Only?
You're going to pick one quote from attack dog Palin and compare it to SwirlyGirl's characterization of the McCain campaign recent approach and declare she's a racist and the McCain campaign is not? Good try.
The McCain campaign is slinging mud because they're losing ground. Their mud slinging about the scary Barack Hussein Obama is certainly xenophobic if not racist.
SwirlyGirl's credibility exceeds Palin's by a long shot. Talking about long shots. Thank god Palin is one, a hail mary, whatever.
Where have McCain or Palin ever brought up race?
Ok, I'll bite. Where have McCain or Palin ever brought up race?
If they have, I've missed it. But I've seen you, and SwirlyGirl, bring up Obama's race, and it bothers me.
Obama is a mysterious figure who cannot be trusted
He went to a madrassa. (FALSE)
He is a muslim. (FALSE)
He has been “palling around” with former domestic terrorist William Ayers. (FALSE)
This is hilarious:
This is hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMocEINn-E8
Funny
She should be ready for the presidency as long as Putin isn't a cookie-poacher.
It's no less accurate to
It's no less accurate to refer to Reagan's use of "shining city..." than it is to mention Kennedy's famous "ask not..." quotation.
Click through to the article
Click through to the article and read it.
It's hard to take seriously anyone who would repeat a claim that Obama has ties to terrorists. I mean really.
The "huffington post"? I
The "huffington post"? I mean really.
Just exactly what would you call someone who built bombs to blow up government buildings and killed cops? A "community organizer"?
author Andrew Bacevich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bacevich
Bacevich graduated from West Point in 1969 and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, serving in Vietnam from the summer of 1970 to the summer of 1971. Afterwards he held posts in Germany, including the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the United States, and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of Colonel in the early 1990s. He holds a Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University, and taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins University prior to joining the faculty at Boston University in 1998.
On May 13, 2007, Bacevich's son, also named Andrew J. Bacevich, was killed in action in Iraq by a improvised explosive device south of Samarra in Salah Ad Din Province.[3] The younger Bacevich, 27, was a First Lieutenant.[4] He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.
Bacevich also has three daughters.[4]
Bacevich has described himself as a "Catholic conservative" and initially published writings in a number of traditionally conservative American political magazines. His recent writings have professed a dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and many of its intellectual supporters on matters of American foreign policy.
Well.... William Ayers?
Not to be contrary, but I want to point out that, in fact, Obama did associate very closely for years and years with Bill Ayers, a notably unrepentant former member of the Weathermen, a leftist domestic terrorist group who set off bombs in America.
Here are a couple of articles that cover the facts from a largely pro-Obama point of view, but still you have to admit to the basic facts at hand.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/0...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04...
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/04/finall...
If you prefer to think Obama
If you prefer to think Obama is a turbin-wearing terrorist-loving n*gger, be my guest. There's no separating a man from his ignorance.
Why are you so racist?
Why are you so racist?
Why It (Probably) Won't Work
With Sarah Palin's attack yesterday on Barack Obama's patriotism and his ties to former Weather Underground ringleader William Ayers, the McCain campaign has left little doubt about in which direction it intends to head over the final month of the campaign. Namely, they're going to drive their campaign into a ditch -- and hope they can find a way to take Obama along for the ride.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/why-it-prob...
Could you elaborate?
I wasn't aware of a primary source of the "ask not" quotation ... now I'm interested. Do you have a link?
Oh, and speaking of Kennedy, do you know what Palin's quoted source on "small town people" in her GOP convention speech had to say about what he thought should be done to RFK?
Kennedy used Winthrop's Words, Too
JFK used referenced Winthrop's city upon a hill speech long before Reagan in a speech he delivered at the State House just before he became president:
The Bacevich article argues
The Bacevich article argues that Palin misused and therefor misappropriated Winthrop's words.
Naturally, politicians will quote quotable quotes but if they misuse the quote then their lack of understanding of the material is the story.
Ted Sorensen wrote it
I believe. For JFK, that is, as he was his speechwriter, so, no, I also don't understand the point of bringing up that quote in this discussion.
Anyway, as Matt points out below, Kennedy used the Winthrop quote, and you can be sure he knew who said it first.
Whereas Sarah Palin's handlers were too stupid to bother to properly attribute it; or maybe they were smart because it enabled her to say "Reagan" and get right-leaning viewers to go "ooh" at home. Either way, if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't want to be up there like a turkey (I liked that one) stuffed full of thoughts & ideas I have only had 5 weeks to digest. I almost feel bad for her, but that doesn't excuse McCain, Rove, et al.
Whereas Sarah Palin's
I think McCain's advisers are a pretty shrewd group. No scruples but shrewd. They've resorted repeatedly to falsities in this campaign because they don't care about alienating people who know better: They're focused on the base and the slimmest margin beyond that to produce a majority.
The Wasilla Project
Sarah Palin: The rape kit controversy.
This is the first of 4 videos to be produced by http://www.wasillaproject.com
We are a group of independent filmmakers who came together to put this together and get this important information out. We look forward to your comments.
video here 4 mins.
Well done, Gregory
Thanks for bringing some facts to the table.
This isn't about rape kits
This isn't about rape kits in Wasilla but it'll blow your mind, especially if you haven't followed McCain's career closely. VIDEO
It tells about McCain's role in the last biggest US financial crises, the Lincoln Savings and Loan debacle in 1990 that cost the US government (taxpayers and citizens really) billions and billions in a bailout.
McCain met with bank regulators to keep them from doing their jobs at Charles Keating's S&L. Keating went to jail for his fraud.
McCain's political interference allowed Keating to use bank deposits at his S&L to make illegal investments which were lost and which caused a financial collapse.
It's narrated by a guy who was there at the time and did the investigation. He says:
I love weather underground
I use it all the time.
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/ge...
What are all you gray hairs talkin' bout?
Hopefully not voting for the coffin & baroness... I'd like to grow up and have kids without the cloud of death, war and failure that Bush's management has cast upon America.
Resume!