http://ristocrats.blogspot.com/2008/09/maguffin.html

Of course, she's a maguffin... the newscycles and blogosphere alike have fixated upon her like a slow-motion train wreck where we are all unwitting passengers... and the rest of the world is falling apart unnoticed.  Prime ministers dodge bullets, economies falter, nations invade each other... and we're looking at a narcissistic little redhot momma?

Remember the fixation upon Clinton's impeachment... what else was transpiring internationally, and totally ignored?  Missing white women and trapped toddlers in wells usually hold the newscycle for a few days, however, the Republicans need to distract attention for a couple of months.  That requires layers of scandal adding chum to already bloodied waters.  She's got it all: probable insurance fraud, imperialistic firing of staffers deemed not submissive enough, banned books, messy divorces, lies about anything and everything, multi-generational teen pregnancies, creationism, Secession, illegal bounty-hunting, treasonous giving of information to the enemy, massive corruption, selling off government property to cronies, eminent domain, and god-wants-this-war holy crusader zeal (off the top of my head, there's far more).  There are enough scandals to keep readers fixated for years and years... while Rove does what with the voting machines?  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

The air has been sucked out of political discussion.  What about the economy?  What about torture?  What about the illegal wars?  What about our Rights under the Constitution?  Habaeas corpus, anybody?  What about the national debt?  What about the environment?

Anybody???

They can hide Ms. Palin away while they program her like a Chatty Cathy doll (8 different talking points!), but they can't both hide.  I suggest demanding answers from McCain... and no cheating like he did at Saddleback!!!  We want more than talking points.  We want solutions.  We want accountability.

This isn't to say that we need to let up.  More scandals will fall out of the closet and help to bring that party down.  However, we do need to keep priorities straight.

We can establish our own frame for issues that matter!!!  It will be tough, but we can do it.  

Yes. We. Can.

Example: Why did she have time for a meeting with AIPAC, but not a single press conference or interview all week... when she ought to have introduced herself to as many viewers as possible?  If Israel is getting the US to wage yet another dirty war on its behalf, shouldn't that be more newsworthy than a babydaddy and his tattoo?  Endless neocon wargasms should be the focus, with her as merely the lead-in to the discussion of who is really controlling our foreign policy.  How many members of the Administration hold dual citizenship?!?!?

Example: Secessionists, confederates, rednecks... if Volker cursed America and the flag... and her husband and herself have been part of his Alaskan Independence movement (AKIP) for years and years... exactly what does she pledge allegiance to?  What does it mean to be American?  With the idiotically-labeled Patriot Act and the erosion of our Rights, perhaps the focus ought to be upon restoring the Constitution, not shredding it further.  Her little foray into land-grabbing for self-enrichment is the adjunct, but every country has speculators who try to take supreme power by rabble-rousing... what makes America different?  Is America a loose Confederation of Convenience (like an Italian or Pakistani Parliament) or a Union of States?  The Lincoln-Douglas debates concerned state's rights... and we saw the bloodshed a decade later.  Is that what she wants?

Example: education... why teach religion (creationism) when you have a population that is 67% below the poverty line?  Unless there is a job market for TV preachers, perhaps biology and chemistry would be better for college?  Is that ice hockey rink fiasco of hers a better use of funds than a high-tech vocational center?  The lack of sex ed and how many unwanted teen pregnancies (with Bristol losing 5-8 months of school)?  Alaska as the biggest welfare state in terms of handouts?  We can use her as the example of what not to do, without losing sight of the bigger issue of innovation, education, and a strong economic underpinning to survive globally.

Let's reframe the issues.  This is a start.

The Financial Times, UK

Mrs Underestimated

For once the comic Daily Show may not have been on the money. Outside the Republican convention hall this week it sported a billboard that said: "Welcome, rich, white oligarchs." Inside, rich and not so rich delegates alike were paying obeisance to their newest, and least expected, of stars - a 44-year-old mother of five, who hunts caribou and whose husband goes snowmobile racing at the weekends.

::: :::

The Wall Street Journal

Palin's Hockey Rink Leads
To Legal Trouble in Town She Led

WASILLA, Alaska -- The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.