Palin’s “Murderous Web of Death”

Greg Gutfeld pens an absolutely hilarious article in The Huffington Post mocking some of the more outrageous muckraking that some left-wing activists have been engaging in to discredit Sarah Palin.

One must wonder if George Orwell would have seen the irony in Palin winning the Miss Wasilla Pageant, for it happened, of course — in 1984, only a few miles from a local animal farm. Eerily, this is the same year that Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, claimed his first victim. Whether Palin was in contact with Ramirez at the time cannot be verified, but when Palin finished second runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, it is unlikely that the outcome sat well with either of them. Few experts know what drives serial killers to kill serially — but later, Palin winning the “Miss Congeniality” award, must have been icing on the cake.

A very deadly cake, one might add. With murderous frosting. Made of death.

And murder.

[Snip]

Ending her term as mayor of Wasilla in 2002, the town itself had about 6,300 residents. Now, according to 2008 statistics, there are 7,000 plus — a profoundly dramatic increase since Palin vacated the job. Where were these 700 people during her reign? No one knows – and to raise the possibility that these individuals were possibly “hidden,” perhaps because they were the products of a right wing Christian baby mill, seems a tad premature. Sure, you and I both know that Hipparchus is the father of trigonometry. Yet we still don’t know who the mother of Trig is.

And that math just doesn’t add up.

I hope nobody is dumb enough to take it seriously. Hello, Matt Damon!

Palin, M. (Silly Party) for President

If only…

Speaking of silly politicians, let’s see what London Mayor Boris Johnston is up to these days. Here, he describes the essential difference between the British and the French.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone like that in Canadian politics to relieve in insufferable dullness of it all?

The Real Harper

Cartoonist Ingrid Rice takes a gentle poke at the Dear Leader in the latest Tyee. Despite efforts at re-branding it’s not sure they’ve been entirely successful, as we’re reminded by Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams’ newly launched (and really butt-ugly) Anything But Conservative website.

Dawkins’ God

Taking a break from all of the election antics for a moment… here’s the last part (there are three others) of an interview with Richard Dawkins on TVO’s The Agenda in which Steve Paikin attempts to argue that religion deserves more respect and deference than Dawkins is willing to grant.

The interview was an addendum to a series on faith and religion that The Agenda ran after the producers were pressured to bring on some atheists for balance, the theme of the show being: “Can We Live By Reason Alone?” Following the interview with Dawkins, the program then brought on three believers to affirm the value of religion while contemptuously slagging Dawkins and misrepresenting his views.

Explaining the “Green Shift”

Ontario employment lawyer Paul McKeever attempts to demystify the Liberal proposed “Green Shift” carbon tax proposal.

McKeever concludes that “Either it’s not green, or it does not involve a shift. In other words: either it will not reduce CO2 emissions, or it will be a tax grab.” He suggests the latter, calling it not only a “bad plan” but a “very dangerous one.”

It would be interesting to hear the responses of those Libs who enthusiastically support this plan.

A New “Tory Dynasty”

Shorter Bob Plamondon: Stephen Harper has no conservative principles or scary ideological “hidden agenda” — it’s all just about getting and holding power for its own sake.

Gee, isn’t that what “Conservative” supporters used to bitterly criticize the Liberals for? I guess it’s another one of those instances where it’s different now…

The Dark Side

While the Conservatives have gone to great pains to re-cast Stephen Harper as a warm, avuncular, sweater-vest wearing, genuinely “human” guy, there are a few timely reminders in the papers this morning of the more obnoxious side of the Dear Leader and his fanatical party operatives.

Canwest’s Margaret Munro, describes the ridiculously “strict control” over the Harper government’s messaging that not only pre-approves all comments made by its ministers, but even revises remarks attributed to them with “new quotes” if they don’t conform to the party line.

Meanwhile, over at the London Free Press some quite revealing light is shed on the failed by-election campaign of Dianne Haskett and the involvement in it of Ryan Sparrow, the Conservative’s communications chief:

Driving a gus-guzzling SUV with Alberta plates, Sparrow went about his London assignment with vigour. He inserted himself between Haskett and reporters with whom she’d had an easy rapport during her time as mayor. He wanted to vet questions, brief the candidate and help craft her answers.

It was obvious Haskett chafed at the level of control that was placed on her. And it’s doubtful she ever knew of Sparrow’s highly partisan e-mails that went out to reporters behind the scenes slagging her rivals and their campaign teams. Haskett would never have approved of Sparrow’s bag of dirty tricks and smear tactics.

What a charming character. Sparrow may have been sidelined temporarily from the Conservatives’ campaign for his “puffin poop” antics last week, but reporter Chip Martin makes an important point noting that: “The incident last week tells much about Ryan Sparrow. But also about the people who gave him increasingly important responsibilities.”

Won’t it be a joy if the Conservatives win their expected majority (or so it seems at the moment) and such people are essentially running the government from the PCO?

Update: Case in point…

Just Crazy Enough to Make Sense?

I’m not sure if there’s an actual movement of any kind to dump Joe Biden in favour of Hillary Clinton, but it’s maybe something worth considering even though there would be an obvious backlash from the Republicans. But then who really cares? It’s not as if they aren’t already doing everything possible to absolutely destroy the man.

Dear Diary: Make It Stop Already!

Have you watched any of these execrable “campaign diary” videos that the Liberals are putting out? (I’m assuming not as it only shows that 75 people have done so.) Sorry to say but they’re absolutely awful and, quite frankly, make for intensely painful viewing. Are they meant to convey “momentum” or “excitement” or something? If that’s the intent, they’re failing badly — they just look like a chaotic mess.

There’s several more of them; all just as wretched, or even worse. Makes me pine for the days of Scott Feschuck and his hilarious accounts of life on the road with Paul Martin… Hard to think that whole unfortunate venture is starting to look superlative by comparison.

And here’s another dismal assessment of the campaign including dire predictions from a number of unnamed sources within the Liberal Party:

“Stephen Harper wants people to vote on who’s the best economic manager for these difficult economic times. And if they do, he’s going to kick ass,” Mr. Lyle said. Mr. Lyle said the NDP has also framed a ballot question, as boardroom tables versus kitchen tables: “Do you want a strong leader that cares about you?”

Mr. Dion, meanwhile, has struggled to define his choice for voters, and does not appear to have “his” ballot question, or even a consistent stump-speech line that says what the election is about, in his eyes. “Harper’s got one. Layton’s got one. There’s no line like that in Stéphane Dion’s speech,” Mr. Lyle said.

Several senior Liberals, speaking over the past few days on the condition they not be identified, have expressed serious concern about the state of their campaign. Some Liberals are already starting to raise the issue of rebuilding after election day. One Ontario Liberal suggested Mr. Dion may have to go sharply negative to ensure the Liberal brand and organization are not deeply damaged.

And several others – some working on the campaign and some former senior Liberals now on the sidelines or playing small roles – admit it had been a worrying start. For most, however, the tone is more resignation than panic.

Resignation indeed. I suspect that will quite shortly be a word used in connection with the next phase of Mr. Dion’s leadership.

Update: Speaking of online campaigning, there’s an interesting article in The Gazette this morning that tallies up the different parties’ efforts to leverage the web. Generally quite unimpressive, it seems. It’s noted in the piece that on the Conservatives’ site there’s “a feature called myCampaign gives supporters pre-written letters to the editor and provides talking points for those who wish to call their local talk radio.” Helpful I suppose for busy, on-the-go trolls unable to think for themselves…