Tina Dupuy

 This is cross posted at the Huffington Post.
“History has shown that in times of real trial, elected officials rise to the occasion.” -President George Bush’s address to the nation September 24, 2008.

John McCain suspended his campaign until an agreement can be reached in Congress about the proposed bailout of the financial system. He issued a statement saying,” We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever(sic) corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Great. Now the economy is getting the same treatment as Terry Schiavo.

Remember that spectacle? It was a matter of life and death in March of 2005. President Bush was bragging and swaggering about his ‘political capital’ after his re-election…as was the rest of the religious right. Terri Schiavo was a woman in a vegetative state induced by her own unfortunate bout with anorexia. Her husband wanted to let her die with dignity. She had already been in a coma for 15 years. Her parents wanted her to stay that way even longer. It was horrible. It was heartbreaking. It was sad. Then the US Government intervened! Then it was really horrible, heartbreaking and sad. The US Government…well, Republicans…more specifically Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senator Rick Santorum, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay held an emergency session of congress to keep this woman alive in the technical sense. In heroic posturing President George Bush flew from his home in Crawford, Texas to Washington DC to sign the bill. All for one poor woman. Months later thousands of poor people would die from lack of government intervention in Hurricane Katrina. But for Terri, government cared on this occasion. They were pro-this-one-life. It was a moment of unwavering buffoonery.

This is a great example of what happens when a group of ’same-thinks’ get too much power. They remind us why ’same-thinks’ should never have too much power. Because they inevitably become a hysterical mob.

Stupidity of that level and caliber doesn’t happen very often. Well… at least it hadn’t happened again (exactly) in the last three years.

But now John McCain is striving for greatness…in folly. He has to show that he’s serious. That he cares. Not that he’s knowledgeable, level-headed or leader-esque. But that he cares about theatrics and stunts. That he can call an emergency session of congress ‘for the good of the country’! That he can suspend his vacation and fly to Washington ‘for the good of the country’! That he can suspend his campaign, cancel the first presidential debate ‘for the good of the country’! Never mind that then sitting president Jimmy Carter and then Governor Ronald Regan debated five days into the Iran Hostage Crisis. Never mind that no crisis up to date has ever been important enough for a presidential candidate not have the time for an audience of millions to hear what they have to say. We live in a post-Terri Schiavo world! Less talk or thought – more action!

Barack Obama, the less experienced of the two candidates, the one ahead in the polls in regards to the economy, said in a press conference a few hours after McCain’s pronouncement, “Part of a president’s job is dealing with more than one thing at once.” Uh yeah. And part of a president’s job is not to be David Blaine constantly doing weird stunts. Where’s the dignity for the elderly statesman?

So lets all hope the economy doesn’t turn out like Terri Schiavo. Ahem. Cough. However, lets hope that for his sensational ploy the voters give John McCain the same treatment as they gave Bill Frist, Rick Santorum and Tom Delay; they were retired – for the good of the country.

This is cross posted at Huffington Post.

When I endure a really, really bad movie – I like to watch the director’s commentary on the DVD. I do. It’s my way of looking for an explanation of why total crap is made, marketed and landing in my DVD player. Call it morbid curiosity. In extreme cases – I look for an apology.  “I’m sorry I made this movie and I’m even sorrier that you watched it. Forgive me.”

This is how I watched the Republican National Convention. I sat there night after night looking for someone to say, “Wow. Did we ever leave some children behind or what?” Or, “Sorry about all the looting. Our bad.” Or “When we said ‘God’ was in the White House…yeah we really regret that.” Or “We did misunderestimate George Bush, sorry America.” Or even, “Look, it’s not our fault that Kerry was a dud. Okay? There are some things that are on us – that is not one of them.” Just a little contrition. Something.

Instead, I saw a bunch of white people dressed like bedazzled community cork boards chanting “Drill Baby Drill” reacting enthusiastically to speeches about ‘change’. No, “America is awesome. Everything is great. We’ve been in charge. Yippee” speeches. Change?! Barack Obama was talking about change. He is, after all in the opposing party. So, the Republicans decided that if speaking out against the last 8 years was getting some traction for the Democrats – Republicans should do that too.

The trick is –  talk about change but assume absolutely no responsibility for spurring it. That takes some maneuvering. Cue word play:

“ Change is coming.” McCain said to the sea of cheering supporters during his acceptance speech. The same sea that happily voted for George Bush twice. The same sea that happily had the most powerful executive branch in history. The same sea that’s endured few compromises these past years…which could account for why they are so happy.

Change is coming? Okay, they ruined the word change. Change is change. Changing the change. Not climate change (of course), but change. Sparring change. Sparing change. Change. They’ve muddied the meaning. They’ve run ‘change’ into the ground where it has now lost all significance. Like the surge of patriotism and unity after 9/11; Republicans have warped change. One person’s reformer is another person’s progressive – but still this is ridiculous. McCain used Obama’s exact buzzword?

Does no one at the McCain camp own a thesaurus?!

They have also forever tarnished the word ‘maverick’. Maverick used to be a term for a rebel. For someone that didn’t fit in. Someone that bucked the system. A motherless calf. Madonna started a record label, Maverick records. Madonna is a maverick. Ron Paul is a maverick. Lyndon Larouche is a maverick. My cousin that can’t keep a job because he thinks ‘rules’ are ‘lame, dude’, is a freaking maverick…Man. McCain is a military man and career politician. His version of ‘maverick’ is everyone else’s version of total conformity and doing everything that you’re told.

But the Republicans love to say McCain and his veep choice Sarah Palin are mavericks. They’re mavericks because they said something against their own party. Ooh edgy. They’re critical of politicians. Oh stop you nonconformists. Next they’ll say the system that they’re offering to fix is broken. What won’t you rebel against?!

Besides, the Grand Old Party – the party of traditional marriage, traditional values and traditional skin tones embracing their nominated candidate as a maverick is bizarre anyway. You can’t denounce ‘extremists’ and tout ‘mavericks’. That’s akin to denouncing hoagies while endorsing po-boys. It makes you look nuts.

“We’re going to nominate this guy that we say doesn’t do what we say because we know he shares our values.” Blink.

The Republicans don’t want change. They want to remain in power. Which makes them say anything, including the word ‘change’.

This piece was also posted on The Huffington Post.

The Grand Old Party has been fervently defending Senator John McCain’s choice for Vice President, first-term Alaska governor Sarah Palin. The spokespeople have been synchronized. And the tactic is instead of answering questions — ask them. And when you ask them — throw in an ‘implication bomb.’

Example inquiry: What experience does she have to be the vice president? Example answer: What experience does Barack Obama have with not raising taxes or saying the national anthem?

I’ll translate: Our candidate is just as under qualified as we have said your candidate is.

Cindy McCain offered George Stephanopoulos on The Week that Palin’s international experience is that she lives close to Russia. “So she knows what’s at stake.” She said. A mighty sound argument that I will use next time someone asks me if I’m a surgeon.  “I live close to a hospital. I know what’s at stake.”

Conservative pundits, columnist Peggy Noonan and Adviser Mike Murphy have been touting McCain’s choice.  “I’m bumping into a lot of critics who do not buy the legitimacy of small town mayorship (Palin had two terms in Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,000 or so).” Wrote Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. “And executive as opposed to legislative experience. But executives, even of small towns, run something.” She offered.

Cheerful. Optimistic. So what if people younger than McCain can die of old age. His proposed replacement ran something. You have to admire someone that will so gleefully defend Sarah Palin. Mike Murphy called her fresh – an ‘anti-politician’. She’s running for something that she…isn’t. Great point.

Then on MSNBC with Chuck Todd it broke. Off camera with mikes still hot Todd asked,”Is she really the most qualified woman?” Without missing a beat Noonan said, “Most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives.”

“Yeah, they went to narratives.” Said Todd.

Then you can hear Murphy say,”I totally agree.”

My question has always been: do these flacks actually believe all the stuff they say? The answer: Why do you hate democracy and American values?

Then it was clear: these are the same people and tactics that sold the Iraq War. It’s was a combo of brow and drum beating that got us into this trillion dollar ‘vanity project’. “We have to invade them because they have weapons of mass destruction.” Was the basis.

I’m no military genius but you think that if they had weapons of mass destruction they would have used them on us when we invaded them. Not that I’m an expert. The Soviet Union actually had WMDs. They were close to Alaska, so they knew what was at stake (which may be another reason why our war with them was ‘cold’). You don’t invade countries that are heavily armed. That’s why countries get heavily armed – so they won’t get invaded.

This was the most ridiculous, scary, Machiavellian, Orwellian, Barry Levinsonian march to war in recent history. It was sold to the American public by talking heads and columnists that were put on the government payroll. Thousands of young people have died, many more injured and there’s no end in sight. The propaganda posing as talking points, platitudes and patriotic pandering was overwhelming. Through intimidation and repetition we went into a war that makes this nation hemorrhage resources.

And now that same strategy is being used by Steve Schmidt to sell us Sarah Palin, 20-month long governor of a state so small it has more senators than congressmen. He’s gone on the defensive to blame the ‘liberal media’. The same liberal media that McCain used to call his base. The same ‘liberal media’ that went along with anything President Bush wanted to do after 9/11. The same liberal media that is now sexist when it asks questions about Palin’s qualifications.

The question is: will it work? The answer: Do you hate working mothers and apple pie?