I admit, I haven't been reading Salon as much as I used to. This Spring, it just seemed the online 'zine had gone soft. I felt that if they couldn't see the superiority of Obama, then it wasn't worth my time.
But today, Gary Kamiya pulled me back in, and used sex to do it. So much for going soft. He's pointing out how the GOP is using the MILFiness of Sarah Palin to keep this thing close, and to look Mavericky (not gimmicky, ironically).
God help me, I swear, this is not, I repeat not, a Palin diary. It sure looks like it, but really, it's not. Stick with me to the end, and you will see.
Click on that little link thingy just below this, and you can find out more...
So anyway, Kamiya does a good job in the top half, pointing out what's going on:
Republican strategists have made it clear that the GOP's only chance to win is by reframing the election as a battle of images. And right now, Palin is the pinup queen in that war. She's feisty, she's a mom, she's from a frontier state, she guns down wolves from the air, she's a devout Evangelical, she poses as a reformer, and she insults the Washington elites.
And large numbers of Americans think she's hot.
Gary Kamiya, I think you for acknowledging the elephant in the room.
What's that go to do with anything, you ask? How will that make any difference, you ask? Where did I leave my keys, you ask? Well, Gary goes on to point it out:
This latter point cannot be underestimated. Iraq may be a quagmire, a new cold war may be looming, the economy may be tanking and the world may be heading toward environmental doom, but the presidential race may be decided by the perceived doability of the governor of Alaska.
Looks have always played a major role in politics. Nixon lost the famous 1960 debate to JFK because he looked sweaty and devious and, well, like Nixon. John Kerry's resemblance to Lurch, the Addams family butler, probably did not help him. And Palin's perceived babaliciousness, as much as her considerable ability to wield a political hatchet, has brought a spark to the moribund Republican ticket.
So there we have it. Hottiness is the next chuggitty goodness, it's not which candidate you want to have a beer with, it's which candidate you want to have a bootknock with. Or a Dirty Sanchez, a reverse trombone, a Tijuana meat cleaver, a Brooklyn bicycle seat, or a roll in the hay (I did promise sex, didn't I?).
But I promised, this diary is not about Sarah Palin, and it's really not about sex, and it's not even about bumpugliosity.
Because see what Gary says next:
Never mind that Palin's absurdly ballyhooed speech at the convention was just a recitation of familiar GOP culture-war clichés, with a disgraceful swipe at "community organizers" thrown in. (Odd -- I thought "big government"-hating Republicans believed in altruism, individual initiative and charity. But apparently they believe in nothing except demonizing their opponents.) Never mind that she is grossly unprepared to be president and was obviously brought in to appeal to women who will supposedly vote gender over issues, and to wield a hatchet in the great veep tradition of Spiro Agnew. Never mind that her claim to be a reformer is about as convincing as the GOP's bogus assertion that she stopped the Bridge to Nowhere. (emphasis mine)
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! Nothing to see here, move along. These are not the droids you are looking for.
It's all a smoke-screen.
Of course, we all know that, but the GOP and their accomplice media don't want the American people to get that, and wreck their perfect post-apocalyptic dream. They try to make it confusing. And they are good at it. They tell the people it's hard to understand, and that it really is about image, and that flying a fighter plane and getting shot down does qualify one to be President. Really!
But Gary lays it out in five little letters. One word. It's that one that's set out in that last quote, you should see it there at the end.
Bogus.
If there were ever a single word to describe what the McCain campaign has become, it's "bogus." Not Mavericky, not reformist, not tough, not safe, not MILFy.
Bogus.
If I were a Democratic nominee, or the Campaign manager for one, or a field operative, or a media surrogate, or even a "community organizer" (whatever that may be, snark snark), I would stop at nothing to see that the voting public thought of one single word when considering John McCain.
Bogus.
I would shout it to the rooftops, use it in every sentence, every conversation, every recipe. I would slap it on the TV screen in big block letters in every ad. I would make it the entirety of every other paragraph.
Bogus.
I mean, it floats off the tongue so velvety-smooth, and it hangs in the air like a beautiful perfect smoke ring that is made from the steam off apple pies and unicorn fart, the kind that cures cancer instead of causing it. It looks soooo cooool. It means what it means, no ambiguity (because ambiguity would make it inauthentic, confusing, facetious) —you know:
Bogus.
So I encourage everyone, no matter what you're doing, no matter what you feel about Gallup or Rasmussen or Charlie Gibson or Steve Schmidt or George Bush or Sarah Palin, or any of the talking bobbleheads, just say it out loud, what you really think of them. Go ahead, you know you want to. You probably want to scream it at the top of your lungs, but you are at work or in class or just put the baby down for a nap, but when you get the chance...
BOGUS!!!!