Patriotism, with Updates

Just where is the "real" America? Do you suppose any of these twits have the slightest idea?

Tristero has a post that ties together two stories that have been butting heads for a day or two. First, Sarah Palin via CNN:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told a fundraiser in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday night:

"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she said.

And of course, the inevitable "clarification":

It's all pro-America. I was just reinforcing the fact that there, where I was, there's good patriotic people there in these rallies, so excited about positive change and reform of government that's coming that they are so appreciative of hearing our message, hearing our plan.

Why do I not find this terribly convincing?

Question one: what plan? Question two: what about the ones who get thrown out of the rallies for wearing the wrong T-shirts?

(Footnote: the majority of America's population -- 54% -- lives in and around the major urban centers for the first time in history. Now, does Palin have a problem with geography, or is she living in a time warp? Yeah, I know -- Wasilla is the world.)

Update: Palin's "real" America seems to be whiter than average, which may or may not be germane. However, Dave Neiwert wrote a piece some while ago about Palin's association (there's that word again!) with the Patriot movement, which Neiwert quite simply calls "the latest step in the racist right's ongoing efforts to return to the mainstream of American discourse." That gives Palin's remark an ugly undertone.)

And another reason I'm sooo glad I live in Chicago -- I don't have to worry about morons like this representing me in Congress:



Dave Neiwert has a partial transcript at C&L.

Update: Those remarks were cited by Colin Powell as one reason he endorsed Obama; they also raised $620,000 in donations -- for her opponent.

But apparently, she never said it:



It must have been the Michelle Bachman action figure.

And Nancy Pfotenhauer, a McCain spokesman, on MSNBC:

I did say outside of north – well, I mean real Virginia, because northern Virginia is where I’ve always been, but real Virginia I take to be the – this part of the state that is more southern in nature, if you will. Northern Virginia is really metro D.C., as you're aware, Kevin.

Here's the video:



Update: Just to prove that idiots come in threes, Jake Tapper points out a little factoid:

One other thought about McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer's assertion Saturday that Northern Virginia isn't the "real" Virginia.

Um...isn't the Pentagon in Northern Virginia?

Didn't 184 people die there on 9/11 at the hands of terrorists?

What are these people thinking? You have to wonder if they really believe this shit or whether they're just Stepford politicians.

But there's the sticking point: they're politicians, so you have to wonder if they believe anything.