September 05, 2008

the base is base

Sarah Palin: Book Banner, Liar.

Palin asked librarian Mary Ellin Baker to remove certain volumes due to objectionable language and when Baker balked, the mayor tried to get the librarian herself removed from her post. The Origin of Species was presumably on the list of offensive tomes, since Palin, a fierce sceptic vis-à-vis "the theory" of evolution, supports the teaching of creationism in the schools.

...

Whatever else she may be, Sarah Palin is an old-school fundamentalist Christian Republican who makes Mitt Romney look like a left-wing extremist, which is why the Republican right has finally come around to support McCain's candidacy. Whether her hockey-mom shtick can obscure the fact that her beliefs are far to the right of the swing voters McCain needs remains to be seen.

...

But anyone who hoped McCain's campaign would repudiate the kind of race baiting that has long been a staple of Republican politics had to wonder about the racial subtext of the now infamous "bimbo ad" which the McCain campaign ran after Obama's return from Europe. "He's the biggest celebrity in the world," a voiceover declares, alternating images of Obama being mobbed by fans with similar images of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Many felt that the juxtaposition of blond women with black man was entirely intentional.