This is from yesterday's post.

That's right, you keep a focus on fact checking my posts - (errors were intentional to test the "forest for the trees" hypothesis) - and you keep walking right into the Right Wing trap.

Now, 3 questions:

1) what was the theme of my comment (hint: culture war by design)

2. What was Palin's them? (hint: all culture war all the time)

3) What is Gelnn's lede and them today? (hint: culture war)

Now, does that typo in point 2 really matter?

bring empirical evidence that is not from a conservative idea factory....

-- doloresflower

I have never found a conservative who can prove their economic theories work. The politicians know they don't work, but merely enrich the already wealthy. That's how they like it. They've suckered the little guy by pretending that they cut their taxes and engage in limited government spending.

Look what happens when you put the clear facts right in front of them? They counter with ad hominem attacks about the "liberal" institute which came up with the statistics. But, don't expect them to provide any data on their own. They can't.

that Americans hate Republican positions on the issues. Americans tend to be warlike and xenophobic. Americans would rather destroy the planet than give up their cars. I'm afraid we're going to get at least another four years of what we deserve.

I'd like to know who wrote Palin's speech last night. It was masterful.

Further, she gave it extremely well. She lit the Democrats up last night, and the GOP crowd ohhhhh'd and ahhhhh'd like they were watching the bombing of Bagdad all over again. Shock, Awe, Delight.

Palin showed last night that a female politician can lie to, mislead, and deceive the American people just as well as any man can. What a terrific step forward for gender equality.

There's an old aphorism that I don't know the origin of, but it goes something like this:

"It is a waste of time to mud-wrestle a pig. You cannot win, and the pig enjoys it."

That's the philosophy of the Obama campaign, as far as I can see.

The problem is, most Americans are pigs. We love to watch the stronger beat up on the weaker, as long as it isn't us taking the beating (and we love to dish it out). We equate aggression with strength, dominance with morality; and accommodation is weakness, compromise is submission.

Sarah Palin made a strong speech; it did not do a thing as far as improving her perception as a qualified person to lead the nation, but it demonstrated very clearly her "strength" and "character" and "will." That's all that matters, that the Leader be "strong" and not "weak." Palin is obviously a standard religious conservative rightwing asshat, who thinks nothing of misusing power for her own ends; but because she gives good attack she is "strong." Americans love a good personal attack.

What needs to happen, if the Obama campaign doesn't want to get in the mud and wrestle that pig, is to simply ignore and dismiss her as the lightweight she is. She's Dan Quayle in a dress. Biden didn't underplay her speech enough; it was good not to attack her directly, as that would lend her an air of having been able to make the Democrats see her as a real threat. She's not, she's Ann Coulter West who the Republicans managed to buy a governorship for in one of the smallest states (population-wise) in the nation. She's a hockey mom? Awesome metaphor: America, do you want a hockey mom running the country? Or would you rather have someone a little more qualified? (Patty Murray ran for the Senate as a "mom in tennis shoes," yes, but representing your State in Congress is different from being the VP of the entire nation).

Either ignore her completely, or go after her hammer and tongs. Don't worry about the "sexism" charges, those will happen regardless and after what happened to Hillary, have no weight. Hammer her inability to enforce abstinence on her own daughter; family values for thee but not for me, eh? Hammer her lying about the bridge to nowhere; she was for it before she was against it? Hammer her vindictive abuses of power, and compare troopergate to the US Attorney firings. Hammer that one HARD, because the parallels couldn't be more obvious. Hammer her mismanagement of the budget of a city of 9,000 people, racking up $22 million in debt; she can't even balance the budget of a tiny town, and you want this person a heartbeat away from managing the economy of 300 million? Hammer, hammer, hammer this utterly unqualified wingnut, take no prisoners. Do, or do not, as Yoda said. And once you've done that, hammer the judgment of the candidate who selected her as his running mate.

The use of advertising language is inherently corrupting to our politics and to the person using the language. Please stop it.

Jon Stewart has been in hog heaven this week in St. Paul. Last night he didn't really have to do anything. He just showed clips --

--clips of McCain's senior advisor mocking Hillary for claiming sexism, then another showing the same advisor claiming sexism against Palin.

--clips of Bill O'Reilly claiming the unwed pregnant daughter story is off limits, then another in which he calls the Spears parents "pinheads" because of their unwed pregnant daughter and questions their parenting skills.

--clips of Sarah Palin stating that women who claim sexism are weak and need to toughen up, after showing clips of her speech railing against the "unfair" media.

--and my favorite, a clip of Karl Rove defending Palin's record and pumping up her "executive experience" as mayor of the thriving metropolis of Wasilla, then another of Karl Rove contemptuously deriding Gov. Tim Kaine's longer tenure as Governor of Virginia and Mayor of Richmond, which only has about 200,000 residents.

Let the republicans dig their own grave. It will be fun to watch if it is done properly. The dems won't even have to get their hands dirty. The work has all been done for them.