Get Some Popcorn And A Comfy Chair - It's Going To Be A Great Show

The increasingly public war between a McCain faction and a Palin faction within the McCain/Palin campaign, let alone within the Republican party at large, should give hope to those of us who have been worrying about the effects the GOP's various voter suppression tactics may have this year.  Clearly the top levels of the Republican party - the people who would know these things - are convinced that their efforts to deny Americans their right to vote are not going to be enough to stem the tide.  They will continue to use every dirty trick at their disposal, of course, whether legal or not.  So Democrats need to continue their vigilance.  It's comforting, however, to be able to trust Democrats in general and the Obama campaign in particular to respond to this vigorously and effectively.

Side note:  This is a good time to publicly thank our own Sir Charles, who will be at the ready throughout this election to lend his considerable lawyering skills in the fight to protect Americans' right to vote.  I almost feel sorry for anyone fool enough to take him on with this issue.  Almost.

While we cannot be complacent, as Obama's newest iteration of his stump speech exhorts, we can start to have fun watching Republicans finally turn their vitriol upon each other as they wage a public civil war to determine who will be the face of the GOP after this election.

Happily there is mounting evidence that Sarah Palin really is as dumb and oblivious to reality as we've been thinking.  Speaking about the campaign's devolution into warring factions, a Palin partisan said

Her strategy was to be trustworthy and a team player during the convention and thereafter, but she felt completely mismanaged and mishandled and ill advised. . .Recently, she's gone from relying on McCain advisers who were assigned to her to relying on her own instincts.

That's USDA-inspected, Grade-A, 100% Angus delusion.  It's also proof that while the dolchstosslegende may have come to us from Weimar Germany, it's purest expression is found in contemporary right wing Americans.

The McCain faction isn't going down fighting, though, and they have their own stories of being stabbed in the back:

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

Is that McCain advisor talking about divas, or mavericks?  It's hard to tell sometimes. 

What's especially enjoyable about the Republican Civil War is that it will be fought out in the open.  Not only will everyone involved in the McCain campaign viciously fight to preserve their careers at the expense of each other, each of the party's factions will wage all-out war with each other to assign responsibility for their monumental failures this year.  McCain and Palin will serve as lightning rods, but the war is over much more than just the two of them.

McCain's national standing is of course destroyed.  He'll be able to win reelection as many times as he wants, but he'll fade into obscurity faster and farther than even Bob Dole.  Palin's future is much more interesting.  The extremist wing of the Republican party - by that I mean those who are extremists compared to the extremism of the party as a whole - will rally around her.  She'll have four years to get some coaching and do some studying, and she might even be able to win reelection in Alaska; I have no idea how stupid or not Alaskans are.

However, there is a difference between having the opportunity to be coached and to study, and actually following through on it.  The Palin faction has already settled on McCain's supposed unwillingness to let her intrinsic political skill come through - hindering her starburst-ability, as it were - as their explanation for Palin's unfavorable numbers and poor performances.  The available evidence suggests that no one believes this more than Palin herself.  It will be difficult for Palin's supporters to publicly claim that the election would have turned out differently if she had only been allowed to "be herself," while privately convincing her that she really wasn't ready and actually does need to work on presenting herself as a reasonable human being instead of a screaming barbarian from the frozen north.

All of this will be wasted money and time.  Every dollar and minute spent attacking one another and/or painstakingly remaking Palin's public image is one less dollar, one less minute spent attacking the Constitution and American citizens' ability to live civilized, decent lives. It's about time.

Comments

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

Yeah, a true team of mavericks.

[Toast]

I hope this all comes to pass. I'm not ready to pop the champagne yet, but the signs sure are looking good. I want to listen to these motherfuckers wail and gnash their teeth for a long goddamned time.

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

And further: Nobody wants to go into their last week of campaigning with this story.

[yoyo]

Mccain is barely beating obama in Arizona. Even if he doesn't buy the farm, he's toast if neopolitan runs.

[Sir Charles]

Stephen,

I am looking forward to one last canvassing run tomorrow and then election day in Petersburg, Virginia -- yes part of Real Virginia in Real America except -- the electorate there is roughly 80% African American. So does that make it like a South African Bantustan, an island of unreal America in the midst of America. It's all so confusing.

I realized the other day that one of my clients lives just outside of Petersburg and that his hobby used to be extreme fighting. I may have his number on speed dial.

I was actually thinking about writing a post about Palin and what strikes me as her extraordinay narcissism. Then I saw the diva statements and knew I was on the right track, but kind of lost the need to write it.

I feel very good about our chances on election day, but like all of you, I plan on running through the finish line before even thinking about celebrating.

[Voice o' Reason]

Sir Charles,

Good luck on your last canvass. I phone-banked again today, and realized this most basic of truisms associated with the process: The more unpronounceable the name of the person you're calling, the higher the likelihood they will pick up, thereby forcing you to make an attempt at sounding out their name, invariably mangling it in the process.

That said, I'll be doing more phone-banking (and name-mangling) between now and election day. And I have acquired a posse of two with whom to drive to Norwalk tomorrow and vote in person. Tonight, while my next-door neighbor throws his annual Halloween blow-out (I just saw the empty boxes for a new video game system and two Rock Band faux-guitars, plus more than a dozen cases of beer, so it should be a doozy), I will be making my final decisions on how to vote on the props and minor offices.

I love being part of the political process.

[jacqueline]

coming down into the single-digits now:-)
i have been working six hours a day in our little headquarters
since it opened...
it is a hive of activity.
i have never before seen so many people energized in this way.
it has become a community gathering place.
people flowing in all day, asking how they can help...
people sitting on the floors doing phonebanking,
others in and out with bags of flyers...
merchandise selling like hotcakes....
people say they are hardly able to sleep, they are so nervous and excited.
.....imagine, if this grass roots effort continues,
if people stay bonded and engaged....working without borders
and with a sense of unity and passion and hope,
how transformational it will be.
dare we dream?
:-)

[Corvus]

I don't think that Palin is dumb and oblivious, nor is she simply a diva. Both of those views sell her short.

What Palin seems to be, to me, is that stock character from movies, the Evil Beauty Queen. I think Denise Richards plays one in Drop Dead Gorgeous. this is a character that, while kind of dumb, in some sense, very very smart. Behind the vacuity and empty smiles is an iron will and an amoral heart.

Palin probably doesn't give two shits about policy or laws or even doing her job. But I think the woman is possessed of an absurd share of cunning. Somehow, this women got to be mayor, then got to be governor. And of course, she did this by fucking over both her former allies and her enemies, or by treating her allies as enemies, since all she cares about is power, not policy.

So, while I don't think she has a chance in hell of the presidency, in the ratfucking rat universe that is the modern republican party, I think she has a very good chance of becoming its leader, because by the rules the GOP is operating under, she is the Queen.

[jacqueline]

i am not too good with posting links...
i hope this will take you to the intended place.

here is something beautiful for all of you,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bdivFHEIww

[karl]

Conservatives will keep blaming eachother and everyone else. Their main problem is what they want is not attainable, people will not stop having sex, they may even fraternize with dark people and no law is going to stop it. Some people may even choose not to believe in god and still live a happy life, in fact many atheists probably live a happier life becuase they don't think an invisible sky fairy is watching over them.

All this chaps the asses of conservatives but no amount of magical thinking will change the realities that conservatives hate.

It has to be someones fault that their lives suck.

[Joe Klein's conscience]

Corvus:
TPM has a post up saying she only comes in 3rd for possible 2012 contenders. Behind Mittens and Huckabee. That's not good. You have to remember, Palin might play well with the James Dobsons of the world, but what about the big money boys? You also have to remember one factor. Some of the more moderate states(Republican wise) are also some of the winner take all states in the primary(New York and New Jersey for starters). They are also some of the biggest delegate wise. I have a hard time believing Palin's act plays well with Republicans in those two states.

[karl]

The problem for repubs is that mittens act doesn't play well in the south at least among evangelicals. So they are kind of stuck they can make half their base happy with Palin or Huckabee or they can make the other half happy with someone like mittens.

[low-tech cyclist]

I think it'll be the Huckster next time.

For one thing, it's hard to believe Mittens is going to look any better, or run a better race, than he did last winter. He certainly won't be any more well-funded. :)

For another, Huck didn't do badly on a shoestring campaign last time. Next time, he'll probably start off with decent money.

Finally, he and Palin will duke it out for the evangelical vote. If Huck wins, then Palin's supporters will shift to him, and that'll be decisive.

[MR Bill]

I keep seein' Newt Gingrich peddling his worthless butt (last weeks ABC w/Stepanopolos, not a person was engaging the idiot things he was sayin' about Obama, Donna Bazile is just not up to smacking him down), and being floated as a contender. If that's what they are down to, that's pretty awsome. Newt, Huckabee, Mitts, La Palin...
I suspect a new class of little hustlers will shove some of these folks aside..

[MR Bill]

And maybe Bloomberg can buy the nomintation...Should go pretty cheap next time.

[yoyo]

I think the thing to learn from this cycle is it depends on which faction consolidates around a candidate. Huckabee had part of the theocons, huckabee the taxcutters, and mccain the neocons and ron paul the leftover crazies. But Houndog thompson sucked up some votes from both huckabee and romney as well as the generic southern white guy vote in the early states, while gui911i never really got off the ground - he probably takes neocon votes more than anything else. Add in the variability of primary schedule, and Mccain won. If palin and huckster split the theocon wing, romney could win.

[Corvus]

JK's c:
True. I don't think that Palin will necessarily get the nomination. I just don't one should write her off by saying she's a dumbass. I think it is entirely possible for her to backstab her way to the nomination, because she is good at that. She can definitely outthink Huckabee on this front. And i don't really know how much control the big money boys are going to have moving forward. There seems to be a populist revolt going on in the conservative ranks, and in that context, and in that sense I don't think that the BMB will get to decide the nominee. the base could very well reject Romney, and then it doesn't matter if they would prefer him. They might simply want to go with someone that they feel they can have more influence over of the people the base will accept. Between Huckabee and Palin, that's definitely Palin. Palin is an amoral monster in the blind pursuit of power, and will happily gladhand those assholes. Huckabee probably actually believes the things he says. So of those three, if the big money thinks it can get Romney the nom, they will start backing Palin (who, if she gets it, will almost certainly stab those guys in the back.)

On the other hand, it's quite likely that Palin's particular brand of viperism is simply not feasible on the national stage. It's too wide open for all that ratfucking to go unnoticed. Her mask can't help but slip. So she's done. The question is, will the base notice, or care?

[has_te]

Well I had to Wiki that lovely german word.
It finds the same sweet spot in which we put schadenfreude;
Both just do their jobs so well.

But it got me to thinking.
A precept to which I have long held is that;

The neurotic can be distinguished from the character defective in that s/he will always find themselves responsible -themself- for mishap, while the character defective always always blames either another or circumstances for the self-same difficulty

. It works, that thinking, almost everytime.

If Rob't Altemeyer is right (and folks...he is) then his RWA
-Right Wing Authoritarian- demographic is richly [over]endowed in the character-defective mind set and world view.
And so it makes perfect sense that in post WWI Germany or post Viet-Nam America...[and for our own post-Iraq".. contemporary right wing Americans" too];
the responsible parties will [do] employ.. and refuge in... the dolchstosslegende, their very own patented get-out-of-jail-free-card and technique.Every...frikkin'...time.

I would, for sure...if I could just warp myself into that way of thinking.