Palin's Progress

Evidently Sarah Palin’s handlers are worried that some “independents” might have concerns about her foreign policy qualifications -- notwithstanding her minor in political science and her BA in broadcast journalism, earned over six years at (was it?) five colleges. So she got a crash course yesterday, posing for photo ops with Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, two reliable stooges who just can’t get enough U.S. military intervention and, oh yes, “aid.” With “bipartisan” support, Karzai is likely to be the beneficiary of the next American “surge.” Uribe is one of the last holdouts in the transformation of South America into an Axis of Hope. [As many have noted, the Cheney/Bush government’s predilection for spreading murder and mayhem in the Middle East has diminished the intensity of American domination over our “good neighbors” to the south, opening a space for popular movements to flourish.]

The big news, though, was that the McCain-Palin campaign excluded the press entirely – except for a photographer. Photo ops yes, embarrassing gaffes no way! But even our media revolted at that prospect, threatening to scuttle the photos. So the campaign relented, ever so slightly. When la Sarah was taken over to Park Avenue to see the old war criminal, Henry Kissinger, somebody got to ask her out it went. “Great,” she replied.

I found the video of that meeting of minds more newsworthy than the flap over her not taking questions. After all, it’s hardly news that a Cone of Silence has fallen over the “straight talk express,” or that the McCain/Palin campaign thinks it wise to keep Palin mum. But it is news, at least it was to me, that, in his dotage, Herr Kissinger, the shmartest man in da virld, has come to resemble the Graaf Zeppelin. Can he be long for this world? I hope he doesn’t eat himself to death. I’d like to see that miscreant hang on long enough to be brought to justice, like his friend Augusto Pinochet. He has a good chance; at least it’s clear from the photo op that he still has life in him. If nothing else, he certainly has that leer in his eye, worse even than John McCain. Lets hope that while he imparted wisdom upon her, the eager pupil didn’t pile an extra dollop of Schlag in his coffee!

It’s a wonder that Kissinger and fellow criminal Dick Cheney are not more pissed at John McCain. Having made the Vice Presidency the most powerful office in the “Free” World, McCain’s “from the gut” selection of a running mate threatens to undo all Cheney’s efforts, and to diss them thoroughly. As for Kissinger, after all, he did know Spiro Agnew and, for that matter, Jill St. John. Sarah is no Spiro Agnew and certainly no Jill St. John. Does he not have it in him to bemoan how far we have fallen?

It is heartening, though, that some pundits of the Right are finally getting around to pointing out how spectacularly unqualified Palin is. David Brooks has been on that page, more or less, for a while; now he’s joined by George Will! However, don’t expect the chorus to spread beyond the handful of right-wingers with intellectual pretensions. The useful idiots of the Christian Taliban have taken over the Republican helm and they’re just fine with a dim-witted ignoramus in way over her head; look how well they’ve done over the past eight years.

Then there’s Bill Clinton! As per his appearance on “The View” and also on the Letterman show, he’s back at evincing ambivalence about Obama. He’s for him, of course – how else to “remain viable within the system.” And he says he thinks Obama will win. But he’s eager too to say nice things about his doddering, war mongering, hundred eighty degree flip-flopping “friend” McCain and, yes, about Sarah Palin. No doubt, he’d like to date her, even if she isn’t quite trashy enough to be his type. Of course, he knows he could never get past the “first dude.” [How I would love to see them come to blows, as it were, in prison – where they both surely belong!] But you can’t blame the rascal for trying. Clinton is due to meet with the fantasy girl on Thursday in New York at his Global Initiative digs. Count on a mutual charm offensive – leading nowhere (from whence she came).

Sure, at one level, Clinton is only back to plotting for 2012. But one thing the Slickster seems to remember from the days when he wasn’t inhaling is that the personal is the political. Who can blame him if he wants it the other way round!