Talk About Drinking Kool-Aid …

I received a message from a Palin supporter in response to a funny web page, Palin As President,  that someone else had mentioned in a mass e-mail. It was rather depressing, actually. It always amazes me that apparently intelligent people still base critical decisions upon nothing more than propaganda. Every point that this woman touched upon could easily have been dismissed had she only spent about five minutes looking them up. But, of course, no one on the Right bothers with annoying little things like facts. Instead, they believe in “subjective reality,” meaning essentially that if you repeat a lie often enough, it somehow becomes a fact; that it becomes a fact because you’ve deluded yourself into believing it’s fact. Perception is everything.
Anyway, here’s what chica said.

Well, I am very excited to have Governor Sarah Palin for our Vice President.  I think she is going to be great.  She really speaks to everyone when she talks about putting government back in the hands of the people.  Don’t you think?  Do you really want higher taxes, more government and less freedoms?  Don’t you want to be able to own a firearm if you so choose to?  Have fun clicking, but get serious and stop drinking the BO koolaide or all of those things will be taken away from you.

One of the great things about living in the modern world is that we have access to something called “The Internet”, which makes it possible to easily check facts and find out what’s real and what’s perception. I’d like to think that most people have the capacity to utilize this resource. But if they do, they don’t seemed inclined to use it.
The one thought that immediately came to mind here about Sarah Palin was that if I was on an airplane flying from New York to Los Angeles, I would rather that the pilot not be someone who wanted to put the responsibility of flying the plane “back in the hands of the people”. I would prefer that the pilot be qualified for the job and not be in the pilot seat for no other reason than that she’s pretty and can regurgitate some nonsensical gooble-de-gook which sounds good to the uneducated.
Second, the “higher taxes” remark comes from the Republican lies that Barack Obama is going to raise everyone’s taxes. The truth is that if you are making less than $250,000 a year, you will get a tax cut, not a raise. Only people who are making more than $250,000 a year will get a tax hike, from 36% to 39%. It amazes me that cashiers at Wal-Mart and forklift drivers in warehouses who are barely making ends meet are upset that lawyers and doctors are going to pay 3% more in taxes, when they themselves are actually going to get a tax cut. You could only be upset by that if you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about (or, of course, you make over $250,000 a year – in which case, I’d like to say “aw, you’re breaking my heart … shut the fuck up”).
Thirdly, as to “more government” … I just have to say “are you kidding me?” Bush just invested $700 billion in a government takeover of the banking industry, and you think Barack Obama and the Democrats are going to create more government? Where have you been since 2000? The Republicans have expanded the government in every possible direction. You want to try to paint Obama as a socialist when your Republican president just engineered a government takeover of the nation’s banks? Do you even know what a socialist is? Give me a break. Under the Bush administration and the Republican controlled Congress, government has expanded deeply into every aspect of our lives.
Fourthly, what about that “less freedoms” remark? That’s unhinged. Under the Republicans our freedoms have been under assault since Bush got into office in 2000. Bush has used the Constitution of the United States as a doormat, including engineering a repeal of habeas corpus, that little writ which is one of the foundations of our judicial system and through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention of himself or another person. You know what that means? If your government, for whatever reason, decides that you’re no good, they can suspend your right to a trial as well as your right to protest your unlawful detention. And you think Barack Obama is a threat to your freedoms? You need to educate yourself about what the Republicans under Bush have been up to since 2000.
Fifthly, as to the last bit about “don’t you want to be able to own a firearm …”, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I assume you’re trotting out that tired old canard about how Democrats want to make guns illegal. To my knowledge, neither Barack Obama or the Democrats has made any statements even approaching the subject of banning guns. That’s a lie from the Right, and it’s just something else that Republicans use to frighten people with. I’m always amazed that the people who rant and rave about the right to bear arms are usually people who don’t own a gun. No one wants to ban firearms. But some people think they should be regulated, while other people think it’s entirely reasonable to allow Americans to own unregistered semi-automatic assault rifles. Not that we’ve had any problems with people with those kinds of weapons shooting up schools or anything.
I figure if someone wants to talk about drinking Kool-Aid, that person should first get a clue about what they’re talking about. Sarah Palin might be someone you think you’d like to carpool with, but that doesn’t mean she’s qualified to be vice-president or, more importantly, president. Every time they put a camera on the woman she says something stupid. And if you go and look at her actual record, there’s a list of scandals and abuses of power that are a mile long. The woman left a town of 9,000 people $23 million in debt. As governor of Alaska she put her friends and old high school buddies with no qualifications whatsoever into high-profile government positions. She used her office as mayor of Wasilla as well as her office as governor to pursue personal vendettas against people who dared disagree with her. And she billed the state of Alaska for personal trips for herself and her family. That’s the kind of person you want running the country?
Only a Palin Kool-Aid drinker could be excited about this woman. Sarah Palin is a former beauty queen who attended six colleges in six years, thinks Christian theology should be taught in schools, thinks Global Warming is a myth even as polar bears in Alaska are falling through the melting ice, believes in censoring books, believes pregnant women should be forced to have their babies even in cases of rape or incest, and is aligned with a religious movement that believes that human beings have a responsibility to help bring about the End Times. And did I mention that her husband is a member of a political party in Alaska that advocates Alaska breaking away from the United States?
If you’re one of those people who believes that Jesus won’t come back until our world is burning, then Sarah Palin is the candidate for you. But at least try to look past that arrogant smirk that she has and see clearly the demonic spawn that lives behind the makeup. It’s been inferred that Barack Obama, like every other opponent who has dared run against the Republican establishment, is the Anti-Christ. But if you look at what the Anti-Christ is supposed to be, you’ll realize that the Anti-Christ is one who is supposed to fool Christians with honeyed words and charisma. If you contend that all Democrats are atheists, Barack Obama can’t be the Anti-Christ because his supporters are supposedly god-less. The Anti-Christ will be the one who’s playing the proverbial flute while glassy-eyed Christians dance along behind her on their way to the Promised Land.
People like those who can look at Sarah Palin and earnestly say “I think she is going to be great”.

UPDATE

This post prompted a fiery e-mail response from a Right-Winger who sought to dress me down for my viewpoints (in typical over-wrought Right-Wing fashion). Since I consider this something of a personal exchange, rather than post it here and clutter up my blog with someone else’s rhetoric, I moved this lady’s reponse, as well as my follow-up to her reponse, to my “Letters From My Christian Friends” archive. You can find direct links below.
Are You An Attack Dog? by Cindy Daugherty
Re: Palin as President by Wicasta Lovelace