Palin Polls Fall 12 Points

Tom Toles of The Washington Post.

Sarah Palin's poll numbers have fallen 12 points since the Republican National Convention. One-third of registered voters planning to vote for McCain have switched to Obama because of Palin on the Republican ticket. The issues with voters tend to be her lack of knowledge and qualifications, experience, and an erosion of the trust factor.

At the same time, G.W. Bush's approval rating is now 21%. G.W. and Sarah certainly have one thing in common, the way they pronounce "nuclear". Director Oliver Stone calls G.W., "a most dangerous man," and today McCain pulled out of Michigan.

At a recent American Film Event, actor Jim Carrey said (paraphrased), "I am feeling really good about Sarah Palin because I used to live in Canada, and I could see Alaska from there. So I know everything there is to know about her."

If you don't know anything about Jim Carrey, you might interpret that remark as highly complimentary to Palin. If you have seen a Carrey movie, or watched an interview with him, you can assume Carrey really does know more about Palin than she thinks he does.

She watches simpleton sports movies, and can't remember the title of a single magazine or newspaper she read before John McCain tapped her on the shoulder.

The way Sarah Palin speaks: "Before we make a judgment we have got to see what happens a few days after tonight's debate ya betch'a, and hope eye-ran don't pull a nuke-u-ler attack in the meantime."

Well, that's the way she talks, folks - - few paragraphs, few periods, often improper grammar, and a limited vocabulary. I'll be back on the weekend after I check the political polls and financial currents.

Will Angry Clinton Supporters Accept Divorce?

Hopeful Hillary Clinton

Will American Women Vote Their Own Principles?

The question most often being asked by the hosts of the "talking heads" on the television / radio political shows is, "Will Senator Hillary Clinton's supporters vote for the Obama - Biden Democratic ticket?" The response was basically, "Let's wait to see what Hillary says in her speech at the National Democratic Convention on Tuesday night."

There are many organized groups of women who are damn angry about Senator Clinton's miss, and jump to place blame on anyone or anything they possibly can. You know what all this reminds me of? A group of divorced middle-aged hate-all-men-in-the-universe women screamers. I know the type because I have been there. Thankfully, I have passed that stage in my life. I accepted my divorce and moved on years ago, making my own and my children's future my utmost priority.

Psychologically, I think these women are bashing Obama because they can't accept the fact that he dumped Hillary for Joe, i.e., emotionally "divorced her." Come on, ladies. Get over it.

Also, I am one of those older middle-class women who lives in a rural area. Nationally, three out of five such women say they will move from the Democratic Party and vote for John McCain. I am not among them, even before Hillary speaks. I was born a Democrat and I shall die a Democrat. There. Now, you know from where I come.

One of my earliest dreams was to see a woman elected President of the United States in my lifetime. I hoped the bravery of Senator Clinton might make my dream come true. Unfortunately, that dream has been dashed, but I still have a dream, an immediate dream - - to see any and everyone associated with the Bush Administration out of Washington in January 2009!

I do not want them out simply because they are a Republican administration. It is because of the (insert your own expletive) mess they have gotten our country into. The only way to accomplish that dream is to elect as many Democrats (national, state and local) as possible in November, especially the two at the top of the ticket - - Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden. This is no time for sulking women to break ranks.

There are a number of Web sites and blogs where women are doing all they can to undermine the Democratic Party with anti-Obama rhetoric, so much so that many have been accused of Republican sponsorship. I checked one of those this morning, "Just Say No Deal," and the venom is still spewing as their representatives head to Denver. Their invitation to those who view their Web site is "Our readers - simply weave the copy: Just Say No Deal or No Deal into the body of your blogpost [sic] or title and submit to blogs@justsaynodeal.com."

Whoa! They just flunked English 101, and they call themselves capable of making decisions for the women of America? Not! Anyway, I shall send them the link to this post. I doubt they will post it.

I, myself, cannot let any disappointment or anger about the Democratic Primary results dominate my judgment. I have always made my own decisions based upon what I know and not upon what someone tells me.

For the future of all Americans, I must trust America's women, especially mothers, to make their own decisions without succumbing to brainwashing by any group. For instance, I think Senator Obama's choice of Senator Joseph Biden (Delaware) for his V.P. could not have been surpassed by choosing Senator Clinton. I have watched, paid attention to, admired, and agreed with most of Senator Biden's policy decisions. I think that team in the White House is best for America.

Senator Clinton and her husband bring too much baggage to the race. In other words, too much negative ammunition for the Republican smear machine. It is a safe bet that Karl Rove is again involved in some way, and he is the propaganda Master of Mean.

Therefore, my decision is to MAKE THE DEAL. At every national election, I always think what President John F. Kennedy said at his inauguration, "Ask not what your Country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your Country."

This November 4th, our Country needs each of us more than ever. That's the AMERICAN way.

Mimi's Back!

Sorry for being away for over a month. I haven't actually been anywhere geographically, simply busy posting on my Mimi at the Movies blog, and a couple of my other movie pages. I'm usually not tardy from this blog during the height of the movie awards season, which really heats up after Christmas and climaxes with the Academy Awards®. This year everything was crowded together.

In addition, most of the political primaries were moved to earlier dates, and there was that big Super Tuesday. I voted, and pledged to myself that I was not going to post anything political until the candidates for both parties had been decided. So far, I have stuck to that. However, I am interested in following them, and that takes time, too.

The Democratic race will now probably go to the convention in June, unless either Senators Clinton or Obama get the required number of delegates to win the nomination outright. That doesn't seem likely without the votes from Michigan and Florida.

I hope the decision comes down to the convention. The TV ratings for the political conventions in both parties have been in consistent decline. It would be wonderful to have an old-time Democratic knock-down maneuvering convention like they used to be. What fun they were!

The Democrats must resolve the problem of the 300-plus votes in Michigan and Florida now lost to the candidates and the delegates lost to the Denver Convention. I think they will, but we may not know the final results of that debacle until the end of May.

There has been a lot happening in the world on which I wanted to comment, but I haven't had enough time to do it. I'll try to do better.

Senator Obama Hate Mail

Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (D - IL)(Official Government Page)
There is e-mail circulating that is hateful toward Senator Barack Obama. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not a member of Team Obama, but I received an e-mail this week with a seemingly harmless picture of him that was negatively interpreted by the sender. It appears that it is being forwarded into infinity.

I prepared this for posting last night, but decided to wait until tonight. Just before I was ready to post, I saw an article about this picture and the accompanying e-mail. According to Senator Obama the picture was taken in September during Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual Democratic fundraiser, and Obama says the national anthem was playing.

Senator Obama, Governor Richardson and Senator Clinton

The e-mail included the above picture. Obama is the only one who does not have his hand over his heart. The text under it indicated that Obama refused to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag at a political rally.

I hasten to state that putting ones hand over ones heart is not mandatory while the National Anthem is playing, nor for the Pledge. Putting ones hand over ones heart under those circumstances is a voluntary sign of respect. The last time I checked there are no "hand over heart" police in the U.S.A.

In the same e-mail, the sender immediately pointed out that, " . . . his full name is Barack Hussein Obama. Yes, Hussein." By associating Obama with that bad guy Saddam Hussein who used to live in Iraq, it implied that Obama is evil, although Obama was named for his father. Hence, the Jr., but the person so quick to misjudge him didn't know that.

The name Hussein is Arabic, it means good, small, handsome. Hussein is usually associated with a prominent person in Islam and can denote royalty in Jordan. Saddam Hussein was a prominent person in Islam and handsome when he was young, but he was neither small nor good. So much for the meaning of names.

Deriders also love to point out that Barack Obama's name sounds like Osama, as in Bin Laden, too. Making associations such as these name associations is a propaganda technique called "inference by association."

More about the picture. In today's world where digital photography is growing ever more sophisticated, anyone can manufacture a picture about anything. A picture may have been worth a thousand words years ago, but today a picture is not always what it seems to be.

Today, anyone can literally "make" a picture out of anything without ever "taking" a picture. It's called "photo schlocking". I considered that this picture might be photo schlock, but the senator says it is genuine.

Remember the picture of O.J. Simpson as the third Beltway sniper that flew around the Web? There are photo schlocks of Obama. One shows him with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The original black and white picture was made before Obama was born. Here is an example of a photo schlock someone made using Senator Obama:

The next e-mail I received stated that Obama is Muslim, going on to say, "I for one do not want a Muslim president." This is blatantly incorrect. Obama is a Christian and a member of the United Church of Christ. Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, to be specific. His name may be a common one among Muslim men, and his father was a Muslim, but Obama was raised by his Christian American mother.

Please, never believe any e-mail that someone forwards to you, especially if it comes from someone you do not know. If you receive e-mail that goes down the slippery slope towards ignorance, misinformation and possibly hatred, please analyze it carefully before reacting to it, and especially before forwarding it to someone else.

I definitely analyze such e-mail. Then, I fire right back to the person (sometimes everyone that forwarded the junk), dispute the accusations in the e-mail, and tell them that I do not wish to receive such junk, derogatory and/or hate mail. I do that even when I know the person who sent it to me. It's amazing how much less e-mail I now receive. Halleluiah!

ROVE, Part II, B -- COMPARING ROVE AND GOEBBELS

Rove and Bush -- Best Buds
NOTE: See below for previous posts about Karl Rove (PART I, and PART II, A)

Karl Christian Rove has been called "Bush's Brain." Joseph Goebbels is still called "The man behind Hitler". A comparison between these two men can be made.

Although no one knows for sure about anything connected to Rove, many incidents and his family connections are widely reported on the Internet. One is that in the 1990s when G.W. Bush was going to make a run at a gubernatorial race in Texas, he needed someone with a heart full of hate for Democrats to act out what G.W. wanted done without implicating himself. It's called transference. Transfer the bad thoughts and actions to someone else and keep thyself looking lily white. Richard Nixon was a master practitioner of transference and G.W. is as well. So, who best for G.W. to take onboard but lying, conniving Karl Rove?

When G.W. met Rove he had spent a little time working for the Democratic organization in Texas. Just enough time to steal documents from their office that would help the Republicans win elections -- think Watergate. Rove has never hidden his hatred of Democrats in general, as well as the then Texas Governor Ann Richards and those pesky Clintons of Arkansas in particular.

In 1942, Hitler said: "Dr. Goebbels was gifted with the two things without which the situation in Berlin [taking over Parliament and seizing complete power] could not have been mastered: verbal facility and intellect.

Hitler had good reason to praise his colleague, for it was Goebbels who had created the "führer myth," orchestrating a pseudo-religious worship of Hitler as the savior of Germany from Jews, profiteers, and Marxists. Hitler and Goebbels were best buds. Goebbels was always at Hitler's side. They practically lived together. Hu-u-u-um.

Now, let's do a transference of Goebbels to Rove the man, who in his role as chief spin doctor, created the 'God has chosen and blessed G.W. to be president of the United States myth,' orchestrating a pseudo-religious worship of G.W. as the savior of America from terrorists, abortionists, homosexuals, and Muslims. Hu-u-u-um.

Got the creeps yet? At any rate, you must admit that Rove is a master of "verbal facility". I am not so sure about the "intellect" part of this comparison, although Republicans are always touting how intelligent he is.

Joseph Goebbels was a short man, with one foot crippled from Polio. He walked with a limp and often used a cane [think Herr Flick on Allo' Allo']. Goebbels was a devout Roman Catholic consumed with hatred for Jews [think Mel Gibson], Marxists, and the then elected democratic Weimar Republic of Germany [think Francisco Franco of Spain].

Goebbels said in 1932, "We are entering the Reichstag [Parliament], in order that we may arm ourselves with the weapons of democracy from its arsenal. We shall become Reichstag deputies in order that the Weimar ideology should itself help us to destroy it." [Think neo-cons.]

The White House staff, along with other governmental agencies may have hidden many unsavory truths about Rove, because to reveal certain facts would curry the disfavor of Bush supporters. There are members of the American media who have gathered snippets about Rove's life, but all have failed to investigate the who, what, when, where and whys of Karl Rove. If they have unfavorable information about Rove, they, too, are not revealing it for the same reason as the White House. The media want those one-on-one interviews with the prez and are not about to risk any offense by tattling on Herr Rove.

Americans have been told relatively nothing about the man using the last name of Rove, which now is alleged not really to be his last name, because if his birth name is Rove, changed from the German Rover, Rovener, or Rovener when father Rove immigrated to the U.S., dear cherished Karl has direct genetic ties to a family in Germany who were not only Hitler supporters and built tanks and jeeps for his army, they were openly anti-Semitic, helping to build at least one concentration camp. Mission: Must get rid of that connection, so enter an unnamed man who deserted his family.

I have read that Rove has a dual citizenship with Germany, and I have read that his mother and "Rove" father did, too. What is the truth? When will it be revealed. Who is going to reveal it?

Again, mainly from the Internet, one will quickly surmise that there is nothing simple about Rove, nee Rover, nee Rovner, nee Rovener, or nee whatever the name of that new guy who has recently been revealed. New guy? Well, you see, the new guy is the last "father fact" to surface only a couple of years ago. Rove now says that the mysterious guy is his birth father. That's right. Rove is not Karl's birth name, according to this latest information.

He and his siblings were adopted by his mother's German-born second husband. There is a man, by an unrevealed name supposedly living in California, who is really Karl's birth father. Legally, Karl's last name is Rove.

Wikipedia [Okay, it's not the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and you can't quote it even in a first grade paper but, often as not, the information there is correct.] the son, Andrew Madison Rove was born in 1989 [same year Rove's mother committed suicide], has posted that Rove's biological father [name not given] abandoned the family early on and his mother remarried. The "name not given father" abandoned not only Rove's mother, Reba Wood, but an older brother Eric and younger sister Reba as well.

Rove's adoptive father [the one whose family has the Nazi past], Louis Claude Rove Jr., was a geologist and his mother, Reba Wood, was a gift shop manager. Karl's mother committed suicide in 1989 in Reno, Nevada. Gee, I can't imagine why.

As the soap opera continues to roll, Americans still don't known who Karl Rove REALLY is. [Think BOYS FROM BRAZIL].

More about Karl Rove (1), (2).

NEXT: PART III of III, Rove's Legal Problems and a not so fond final farewell [we can only hope about "final"].

GONZALES GONE

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general who served for a little over two years, announced his resignation this morning. This finally ends a nasty standoff between Gonzales and members of Congress over his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department.

Republicans and Democrats alike have demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation Friday. Bush was not by Gonzales' side when he made the formal announcement in D.C. this morning, as he was when Rove made his resignation statement.

Solicitor General Paul Clement will be acting attorney general until a replacement is found, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement. Rumors are that Bush has no idea what name he will put forth for a confirmed appointment.

As attorney general and earlier as White House counsel, Gonzales pushed for expanded presidential powers, including authority to eavesdrop on American citizens. He drafted controversial rules for military war tribunals and sought to limit the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay — prompting lawsuits by civil libertarians who said the government was violating the Constitution in its pursuit of terrorists.

Then, there is the continuing flap over the fired prosecutors that proved to be the final straw for Gonzales, whose truthfulness in testimony to Congress was questioned. Some lawmakers said the dismissals of the federal prosecutors appeared to be politically motivated.

Thousands of documents released by the Justice Department show a White House plot, hatched shortly after the 2004 elections, to replace U.S. attorneys. At one point, senior White House officials, including Rove, suggested replacing all 93 prosecutors. In several House and Senate hearings into the firings, Gonzales and other Justice Department officials failed to fully explain the ousters without contradicting each other.

Gonzales, whom Bush once considered for appointment to the Supreme Court, is the fourth top-ranking administration official to leave since November 2006. Donald Rumsfeld, an architect of the failed Iraqi incursion, resigned as defense secretary one day after the November elections. Paul Wolfowitz, also a proponent of invading Iraq, agreed in May to step down as president of the World Bank after an ethics inquiry. Top Bush adviser Rove -- no doubt about where he came down about Iraq -- announced earlier this month that he was stepping down to spend more time with his family. Who among you believe that last one -- about the family, I mean?

Only Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remains untouched and is scheduled to remain until Bush boards Air Force One for the last time. I guess that's because she's such a damn good crossword puzzle player with Bush, or it could be because she's done so damn little as secretary of state that, unlike Rumsfeld, Rove and Gonzales, she's managed to not get Congress in a flutter. Anyway, Gonzalez and Rove will officially, and hopefully, physically leave D.C. in September. Back to Texas both of you! Hooray!!

Some information for this post taken from an Associated Press Article. Read the complete article, without my comments and edits, at the Associated Press Web site, and read the one from Reuters.

KARL ROVE BYE-BYE? Part I of III

Karl Rove, the chief neo-conservative (a.k.a., neo-con) choked back tears as he made his final speech on the White House lawn before boarding the presidential helicopter for a free ride back to Texas last week with his good buddy G.W. Bush. Rove was, as usual, freeloading at U.S. taxpayers' expense. That's what he has been doing for years. Never elected to an office. Never a Senate-confirmed appointee. Nah. He's simply a good ole buddy of his boss G.W. who needs him 24-7. Yeah. Right.

Rove said he was leaving the White House because of his family, especially his son. Who knew? Karl Rove has a family? A son? Whoa. What rock have they been hiding under and why is Rove acknowledging them now?

So, what could be the real reason Karl Rove is leaving. I posture two reasons that would cause him to leave now:

1. Rove is, to borrow the elder Bush's phrase, in "deep doo doo," and could face prosecution due to his role in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. It is best that he leave now and hope that if he is found guilty, a conviction that could carry the death penalty, G.W. will still be in office to give him a quick pardon before January 20, 2009. Can you say Scooter Libby?

2. Rove got full credit for G.W.'s elections as governor of Texas (twice) and as president of the United States (twice). However, Rove's despicable tactics of fostering hate and derision didn't work in 2006. Both the Democrats and many Americans (Democrats plus a few wise Republicans) finally got what he is about. Rove failed, and rather than acknowledge his defeat outright, he uses his family as an excuse to make a quick exit. Who will heap upon his head the blame he so rightly deserves for this failure? Obviously, not G.W.

Please ponder the above a couple of minutes before reading onward.

Tom Toles is an editorial cartoonist with The Washington Post. He is also Pulitzer Prize winner. From time to time, I post one of his cartoons on Tolerance's Page. I particularly like this one, and wish to share it with you:

WHO IS TOM TOLES?

NEXT in Karl Rove Bye-Bye. Part II, A: What is Rove's real last name? What does he have in common with the late Adolf Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, the late Joseph Goebbels. Does Rove have a dual citizenship U.S. and Germany? Why is Rove so filled with hate. Is it because Rove is secretly in love with Hillary Clinton and hates Bill because Bill has her and Karl never will? Perhaps, he also hates Hillary because she stands a good chance of being president of the U.S.A. in 2009, and Rove stands none, ever?

Will we see and hear more from Rove? You bet your biffy. The political soap opera continues . . . . .