Thursday, September 04, 2008

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty!

What a pretty speech Ms. Palin gave last night! Pretty Lady is veritably tongue-tied. She can't think of anything at all to say.

Her colleague Deborah can, though:
Sarah Palin delivered a speech last night that was as emotionally powerful as it was chockablock with lies. And I am not [talking] just garden-variety, Lied-To-Get-To-An-Emotional-Truth lies that have been a staple of politics forever. I am talking specific lies that matter in individual bottom lines all over this country. One example about taxes lifted from the AP:

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

Palin just straight-up lied to the American people about their taxes. And her speechwriter felt confident because in this case the lying is being done by someone who mispronounces the word "nuclear" and is otherwise able to flash "not elitist" cred.

First of all, this is a somewhat Baudrillardian confection. It's the substitution for the appearance of something for the thing itself. Instead of an actual, qualified politician, you have a person in glasses and a suit standing in front of a podium and giving a speech.

But it's more pernicious than a straightforward simulacra, because the whole point is that she's "not a politician," and "not elitist."

What Pretty Lady noticed, as she undertook to concentrate upon the flow of confident mendacities issuing forcefully from the podium, was the tone of the undertaking. Underlying the cheerleader enthusiasm, the wholesome hominess, and the lie upon lie upon filthy stinking unbelievable lie, was a palpable spite; a certain vicious malice, if you will. A snideness, exposing a facile, fatuous contempt for the persons and subjects she was so seamlessly lying about.

Pretty Lady has noticed this sort of thing before.

She has noticed that among persons of rigid habits of moral reasoning--those who adhere to the letter but not the spirit of the law--that such spite appears to be absolutely equated with morality. It is as if these persons are unable to access an internal compass of right and wrong without first determining what is Bad, and attacking it. Their sense of evil is an utterly external one; Evil is defined as What Is Over There, What Does Not Look Like Me, and righteously blown away.

Pretty Lady would just like to point out that nowhere in the Ten Commandments can she find the words, "Thou shalt be spiteful." Or even, "Thou shalt obviate compassion, empathy, and the sincere attempt at understanding in all thy worldly interactions, instead viciously assaulting any perceived enemy with jeers, contempt, and lie upon lie upon lie, in order to make thyself feel morally superior."

In fact, she finds the words, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

So tell me, darlings, what is this about? Pretty Lady really wants to know.





26 comments:

Desert Cat said...

It's a little disingenuous, don't you think, to cite figures that apply to one demographic and use them in attempt to refute a claim that applies to the burden on the entire economy?

Ironic, really, for an Obama supporter to be whining about alleged lies in the same week that a veritable storm surge of lies, filth and dirty smears have been heaped upon the Governor and VP nominee by every shill, mouthpiece and muckraker on the American Left.

I mean really dear. Turn your missive around and shine it upon the spectacle of the last week.

Barak said...

@ desert cat: Name two. (lies that the left has heaped upon the Governor).

I'll help you out. Lie number one: Trig is Sarah Palin's grandson.

Anonymous said...

May I help. Lie number two: She was a member of an Independence Party bent on secession.

Anonymous said...

Oh! How about lie number 3: She slashed funding for pregnant teens.
WaPo headline - "Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms". I'm going overboard aren't I.

Anonymous said...

Pretty Lady

“a palpable spite; a certain vicious malice, if you will. A snideness, exposing a facile, fatuous contempt”

This cannot be. You cannot have developed a thin skin ON BEHALF OF OBAMA

Were you as offended at Obama’s observation re Pennsylvania’s bitter hicks in the sticks. Let’s see: snide – yep, facile – check, fatuous contempt – double check. Yet not so much as a wag of the finger?

Anonymous said...

Baudrillardian! Baudrillardian! Mon Dieu!!! Comment trés ésotérique.

Pretty Lady said...

storm surge of lies, filth and dirty smears have been heaped upon the Governor and VP nominee by every shill, mouthpiece and muckraker on the American Left.

Smears? Googling a VP candidate that nothing is known about, and coming up with loads and loads of very well-documented evidence that she, for example, supported the "Bridge from Nowhere" until it was scrapped by Other People, then kept the money and claimed she was against it? That she attempted to fire a librarian who wouldn't let her BAN BOOKS, and that she DID fire the police chief for refusing to fire her ex brother-in-law? That she went into labor, gave a speech, got on a plane, flew 10 hours, then drove 45 minutes to a hospital with no newborn ICU and gave birth to the special needs baby that she chose to raise? Among many, many other examples of falsehood, abuse of power and questionable judgment?

I talked to a nurse this evening who told me that any woman who gave birth under those circumstances in her hospital would be sent for a psych evaluation and possible child abuse.

Shill, mouthpiece, muckraker? Yes, there are a few of those around. Calling every person who has honest questions about a person who could be a heartbeat from the Presidency a shill, mouthpiece or muckraker is going a Little Far.

You see, calling anyone who has a different political opinion from you a 'shill, mouthpiece or muckraker' is EXACTLY the sort of spiteful, bigoted behavior that I have observed, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER. I am FED UP with it. It's disgusting and contemptible.

And do you know what? Obama's 'bitter' comment was ABSOLUTELY TRUE. It was not the slightest bit exaggerated; people ARE bitter, as evidence by their chronic display of mindless malice and spite toward 'libTARDS, etc.;' they do cling to a very narrow view of the world that is bounded by things like guns and religion, and they point those guns and that religion at anyone who is the slightest bit different, without troubling to understand WHY those people MIGHT have VERY GOOD REASONS for being different, and they self-righteously ATTACK them. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

I have verified this fact, empirically and personally, over years of very earnest and sincere experimentation. Obama's remark was ONE quiet little aside which was blown up to hysterical proportions, dragged out and recycled until it wore through to the pavement.

While people whose entire world view is made up of jingoistic, bigoted, non-empathic, snide, cruel, stupid, malicious, vicious, petty assaults upon all that they do not trouble to examine or understand continue in their courses, ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON.

Yes, if you hadn't noticed, I'm still mad.

Pretty Lady said...

And her husband CERTAINLY WAS a documented member of the AIP. And she DID slash funding for pregnant teens.

Obviously, of course, George, you and DC APPROVE of such things. I don't know why you would even object to them as 'smears'--for you, they're POSITIVE reasons to vote for her.

Pretty Lady said...

ALLEGED LIES? ALLEGED???????

No. Outright, bald-faced, easily-verifiable lies.

Barak said...

a veritable storm surge of lies, filth and dirty smears have been heaped upon the Governor and VP nominee

Oh, that's too funny. She gave a speech at the AIP convention in 2006. "Country First" my ass! It is an untruth that is more true than the truth.

And for a statement to be a lie, first it has to be untrue. As PL points out, she did slash funding for pregnant teens, even though it was a cut in the increase voted in by the legislature, it was a cut.

This is the veritable storm surge of lies, filth and dirty smears [that] have been heaped upon the Governor and VP nominee?? Oh heavens. It is to laugh. Such smears! Such filth! My heart bleeds.

"She's a Muslim! She supports terrorists! She hates America! She defiles the flag!" Those would be smears and lies, but they were never leveled against Palin. But, oh yeah, Obama saw the brunt of them.

Anonymous said...

Pretty Lady

Where to begin? I am overwhelmed.

First, I have no reason to vote for Palin, as I vote for presidents – and I’m not voting for McCain.

Second, nothing wrong with Googling info on a candidate. The New York Times, however has the resources to do better than that. They went with the story of Palin’s AIP MEMBERSHIP – and have since retracted.

Third, is this a new math I'm not aware of? Palin INCREASES the budget for pregnant mums by 4 million and THATS A CUT? This boggles the mind – unless it’s meant to be a deliberate lie.

Fourth, the rubes are expected to try to understand why others are different. Elites, however, are excused from trying to understand the bitter, gun-toting bible thumpers. Perhaps they are tired of being over-taxed and having their lives over-regulated, and having their sons and daughters sent to war after war, and being made fun of whenever the entertainment industry decides to make a comedy.

Finally, I can see that you are angry. I would never suggest to anyone that perhaps they invest too much of themselves in an election. Everyone believes and some believe more than others – fine. It wouldn’t hurt to remember though, that most of what you hear and see is boilerplate electioneering. Come election night, the loser will call and congratulate the winner – and life will go on.

Anonymous said...

Barak

"she did slash funding for pregnant teens, even though it was a cut in the increase voted in by the legislature, it was a cut."

Let's see. Palin says yes, I agree to INCREASE monies for pregnant teens. The INCREASE will be 4 mil instead of 5 mil.

Headline: Palin Cuts SPENDING For Teen Moms. (CAPS emphasis mine)

If this is not a lie, if this is not MEANT to be a lie, then the word has lost all meaning.

Pretty Lady said...

It's not meant to be a lie, George. The article I read declared that she used a line-item veto to cut spending for pregnant teens from 5 mil to 3.9 mil. End of story.

Part of the problem is that McCain's team seems not to have vetted her at all. Thus the media and the blogosphere are doing the vetting for him, in five days instead of over 19 months. A lot of the alleged 'smears' started out as questions, to which the answers were first incomplete, and misinterpreted.

Elites, however, are excused from trying to understand the bitter, gun-toting bible thumpers.

You may not realize, George, that DC and I have a bit of a history. DC has watched me engaging, over a very long period of time, with a group of extremist, bitter, gun-toting, bible-thumping, anti-feminist, anti-artist bigots. He has watched me let snide, malicious insult after snide, malicious personal attack pass by unacknowledged and uncountered, literally for years; he has watched me doing my level best to understand where that malice was coming from, reach deeper for the human beings behind it, and forgive it.

And now he accuses ME of being a 'shill, mouthpiece and muckraker' for finally hitting the wall, and calling these self-evident bigots for what they are. That's why I'm mad. The election is only an illustration of what I've gone through on a personal level.

And actually, the smears against Obama that Barak points out are smears that DC himself is personally responsible for repeating. The gall.

Pretty Lady said...

Elites, however, are excused from trying to understand the bitter, gun-toting bible thumpers.

It also never seems to occur to the extreme right wing that perhaps the 'elites' who support Obama are doing so in order to ALLEVIATE the burden upon people who don't make much money, who see their jobs going overseas, who can't get decent healthcare for themselves or their kids, whose teenagers can't afford to go to college unless they enlist in the military, only to be sent to fight in Iraq and come home dead or maimed. It never seems to occur to them that PERHAPS WE ACTUALLY CARE, and that's why we're supporting who and what we support. Since compassion is a closed book to them, they assume it must be so for everyone.

The same nurse I was talking to last night talked about driving through Appalachia, where there were clusters of trailers sporting Bush signs, and signs that said "No Death Tax!" These people had nothing to lose from the 'Death Tax,' they were dirt poor, living out of rented trailers. Inheritance taxes only kick in when the inheritance is over something like a quarter million dollars. Yet the fantasy that someday they'd win the lottery was so strong that they were more concerned about the inheritance tax than things like jobs, healthcare or education.

Anonymous said...

Righteous anger - it's a good thing. Testify, Pretty Lady!

Your fellow righteously angry citizen, O

Anonymous said...

Pretty Lady

I am flummoxed. I am on the brink of giving up hope.

Please, please, please. I will concede to every one of your points – but please give me this one point. Sarah Palin signed a bill INCREASING the amount of money to help teen moms. DNC house organs all over the place could have written:

Palin Signs Bill Increasing Funds For Teen Moms

That would have been completely true but would not have served the higher purpose – to damage Palin.

Pretty Please.

Anonymous said...

FYI The original barracudas don't want to be associated with Palin:

The group, Heart, has asked that the McCain campaign immediately cease using their song, Barracuda, as an intro for Sarah Palin. They do not endorse her nor do they appreciate their song being used without permission.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/05/mccain-palin-embrace-barracuda/

O

Pretty Lady said...

Sure, George, I'll concede that Sarah Palin personally cut the rate of increase in spending on pregnant teens, in a line-item veto, in a bill written and approved by the Alaska legislature. She did not personally write the bill; she did not personally sponsor spending on pregnant teens. She looked at the bill, grudgingly agreed to give the legislature 3.9/5ths of what it asked for, and took credit for cutting wasteful government spending.

That is the complete truth.

BTW, she said in her speech that Obama had not sponsored a single piece of significant legislation or ethics reform. No doubt the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, the Congressional Ethics Enforcement Commission Act, the Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act, and the Curtailing Lobbyist Effectiveness through Advance Notification, Updates, and Posting Act (The CLEAN UP Act) escaped her attention.

Anonymous said...

Pretty Lady

No one has ever accused me of being dogged but I’ll risk my reputation with one final attempt. The minutiae of what Palin did are of no interest to me. The reporting of it was biased, unfair, a lie. By way of example:

Pretty Lady makes $1000 a month. She wants a raise – she wants $1200 a month. I say no, but offer $1100. Pretty Lady accepts. She then goes home and tells her friends that her mean SOB boss (me) cut her salary by $100 a month. It is a lie, a BIG lie, a bald-faced lie, and a lie expressed for no other conceivable reason than to make me a villain. I suspect that such behavior would be near impossible for Pretty Lady. That she would torture reason and common sense in defending others when they do it is disappointing.

And don't change the subject.

Barak said...

The legislature examines the needs for facilities and staffing for helping pregnant women and decides that this year, they need $5 million more than last year. Keep in mind that the figure included new buildings. Palin unilaterally decides that the legislatures analysts are wrong and cuts that figure.

I will concede that the headline is misleading but it is not a lie. Granted we're in "definition of 'is' is" territory. It is not however a heap of filthy smears.

Pretty Lady said...

What Barak said. And I didn't change the subject. The subject of the post was the myriad, direct, overt lies in Palin's speech. I just pointed out another one.

And I also repeat that the headline is not necessarily making Palin a villain when you consider that the basis of her campaign is that she 'cuts wasteful government spending,' which presumably includes spending on teens who are irresponsible enough to get pregnant without having rich families to support them.

Anonymous said...

Barak: "headline is misleading but it is not a lie"

Pretty Lady: "not necessariy (misleading?)"

Okay, I give up.

Anonymous said...

Both are lying, back to daddy Bushes, "Read my lips, no new taxes" We have a huge budge deficit, far beyond Regans, China practically owns us possessing the bonds to fund the deficit, and we cut taxes during a time of "war"? Immoral by all involved. We have the money, tax it, no new spending, get the national credit card corrected, then back to Clinton era taxes after the Bush tax cuts end in 2010.

And PL, why you pimpin russian hoes on yor site?

Art collegia delenda est

Anonymous said...

By the way Georgs, Baraks comment about the cross and guns was absolutely correct, HE simply should not have said it, especially to a group of "liberal elites" in San franciso, also known as flakes, fools and fairies. Oh, my bad, just described the contempoary art world. Have a nice weekend, off to painting and my REALLY hot wife. Her sister looks like Obamas wife, but she, the Tae Bo godess? More like a hottie on Soul Train, or a model with meat on her lovely bones.
Heres hoping Modern art makes a comeback, but dont have the talent in art anymore, its all gone elsewhere. Not smart enough to creat all those relationships and layers of meaning, into toys and cartoons, Taletns in design adn scienc, and sports. As a coach, believe me, far more intelligent kids there than art. Artistes are the losers and weirdos. The smart weirdos are techie boys and girls.
Bye!

ACDE!

Pretty Lady said...

The Russian ladies are PAYING me. In fact they paid my health insurance premium this month. Let's hear it for businesswomen.

And any individual who manages to get himself banned from EW--in under forty-eight hours, no less--is skating on VERY thin ice with me. Fair warning: behave. If you know how.

Anonymous said...

Besides, i wil post at my buddy Dions site at
ArtNewsBlog.com, and maybe myartspace, but just gave him the truth, see if he can handle it. Just a slow period at work, always this time of year, but gearintg up again. IF you can handle the truth, you know where to find me
dfimagery.com, but all work older than 12 years, been out
really doing things that matter, raising kids, mentoring, teaching. now back to my work, going bakc to basics, Amazing how badly everyone draws these days, will get my bathers up soon.

Have a nice day, baby

ACDE