yay jim hightower

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/98380/sarah_palin%27s_faux_populism/

Not watching TV news, I was only dimly aware that some idiots were referring to Palin as a 'populist'. What is the point of having words at all? I think that Obama should begin to refer to himself as 'Conservative'. It's absolutely true. Look at Obama and Biden. They're pretty normal guys, hawking standard American positions. McCain and Palin are definitely a couple of freaks by comparison.

So, is Wasilla the meth capital of Alaska or not? I'm wondering about those buggy eyes.

I shouldn't say such things, but I do get offended when a Corporatist steals the word 'populist'. Hell, I don't even think Obama is a full populist. Russ Feingold and the late Paul Wellstone would be two examples, to me, of populists, and they made it as high as the Senate, but no higher. Has a populist ever been President? It's hard to say - perhaps Teddy Roosevelt. Perhaps FDR became one once in office. Abraham Lincoln might fall into that category as well. I don't think he was an abolitionist, really, though he wasn't pro-slavery either. I think he freed the slaves as a tactical move in the Civil War, but once he saw the affect that it had, he embraced the populism of it. And then he got shot shortly thereafter.

I don't think that McCain and Palin are particularly ideological about politics. Palin seems to be ideological about religion, but when it comes to policy, I think they're just the sort of politicians that are drawn to political 'status' positions like moths to a flame. They do seem to think that people with 'status' and/or money are inherently better, but it's not that they necessarily have evil intent. They just like getting into that power position and then they just let themselves be influenced by the big players. They like it. They really have no agenda and they're just happy to be there. And the big players loooove politicians like them. They're like empty vessels. They occasionally take a position or make a stand (McCain enjoys doing this once in a while, though he usually backs down), but for the most part they can be relied upon to do nothing to upset the powers that be.

Now, Clinton, he liked cozying up to the powers that be and having them sit at the table, and he loved to compromise with them, but he was a representative of the people at that table. I think Obama might be about the same, though many feel he does want to kick the powers that be out of the room. I hope that's true, but either way, I feel he has an interest in representing us. For both of them, though, deep down, they run and acheive positions because they have a desire to make the world a better place for people, and they want to leave their mark on the world that way. They may enjoy the process and the fame and the adulation, but deep down that populist desire exists. I don't think it does for McCain or Palin.