Life Down the *Rabbit Hole

by Janet Crain
Imagine if Patrick Henry had said: "Give me taxes or give me death". I believe our side would have obliged him at the nearest oak tree.

Is Colin Powell going senile? In 1995 and 1996 he stated the exact opposite of this. Has he sucked down so much Obama-aide he can't think straight? Does he really believe he has a position in the Republican Party? Other than the facetious HOTRP position given to him by Rush Limbaugh?

"The Republican Party is in deep trouble," Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has changed, he said. "Americans do want to pay taxes for services," he said. "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

The Republican Party is in big trouble and needs to find a way to move back to the middle of the country, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday.

Powell said the GOP is "getting smaller and smaller" and "that's not good for the nation." He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right.

"The Republican Party is in deep trouble," Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has changed, he said. "Americans do want to pay taxes for services," he said. "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

Powell, secretary of State during the first term of former President George W. Bush, made waves last year when he came out for the Democratic presidential candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Powell described the 2008 GOP candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, as "a beloved friend" but said he told him last summer that the party had developed a reputation for being mean-spirited and driven more by social conservatism than the economic problems that Americans faced.

Powell also criticized other GOP leaders, for bowing too much to the right.

He blasted radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, saying he does not believe that Limbaugh or conservative icon Ann Coulter serve the party well. He said the party lacks a "positive" spokesperson. "I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without," Powell said.

He also said that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate last year, is "a very accomplished person" but became "a very polarizing figure." He said the polarization was created by Palin's advisers.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/print_friendly.php?ID=cda_20090505_8843

*Rabbit Hole

In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice follows a mysterious white rabbit into a rabbit hole to enter 'Wonderland', an absurd and improbable world inhabited by many strange characters.

© Janet Crain

Click here to view all recent Sarah Palin in 2012 posts

Brokaw: Take This, You Racist Rednecks!!!

Hat Tip: Chickaboomer

Tom Brokaw's Revenge? Calls Out 'Bigots and Rednecks' on Obama Inauguration Day: 'Take This!'

By Tim Graham
January 20, 2009 - 18:31 ET

Sitting in a Washington bar with the Morning Joe crew on MSNBC Tuesday morning, former NBC anchor grew emotional remembering the 1960s. "I get very emotional. It has been hard for me to walk through the streets. And I think that the day is going to be very emotional." Brokaw even grew bold enough to tell the "bigots and rednecks" he met in the Sixties "when we were evolving as a country" to suffer through the Obama inauguration: "Take this. You know?"

BROKAW: Comfortable in his own skin, to use that phrase, he had the self-confidence. It was not overbearing and could laugh at himself easily. He could hammer him and criticalof a quote. At one point he burst out laughing, I was in the middle of reading back one of these things. "Some people said nice things about me as well."

Listen, I just want to say one thing. Having been in the South in the '60s and Los Angeles, in Watts and northern urban areas, when we were evolving as a country, I'm thinking of all the bigots and rednecks and people I met along the way. I'm saying to them, "Take this." You know?

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I like that thought. I think you might be right.

A few minutes earlier, Brokaw talked it over with Mike Barnicle and Gen. Colin Powell:

BROKAW, with a quavering voice: I get very emotional. It has been hard for me to walk through the streets. And I think that the day is going to be very emotional. I think that's good for the country. It’s a reminder again of who we are and our inherent strengths. And the inherent strengths are, is that this is an immigrant nation. We have come from all over the world to build this country and this society. And now we have the son of an immigrant as president, first generation. And the rule of law is the underpinning for it. And we’re always at our best when we are more than the sum of our parts.



Barnicle added: "There’s nothing wrong with crying about this country, is there?" Powell agreed: "I’ve been crying left and right for the last few weeks."

I just hope there won't be a whole lot more crying!!! JC

© Janet Crain

Click here to view all recent Sarah Palin in 2012 posts

Country Mouse or City Mouse?

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist and a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Read his column here

Ruben Navarrette says Sarah Palin's critics challenged her because of prejudices about small-town values.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- During the presidential election, some Democrats demanded to know how I could defend Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Simply put, Palin is my people. She's small-town folk who wound up in the big leagues.
Because I grew up in a small town with a population of less than 15,000 people, I was disgusted by the insults and condescension coming from those who think of themselves as the enlightened elite. Meanwhile, in small towns, I detected great affection for Palin. People talked about how she was "a real person" who "reflected their values."
The most significant divide in America isn't Red State vs. Blue State, it's rural vs. urban. The country mouse and the city mouse are still slugging it out.
In 1982, New York Mayor Ed Koch ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York. Some say the deciding factor was when Koch described life in upstate New York as "sterile" and said he dreaded living in the "small town" of Albany, if elected. That didn't play well in rural areas.


Now comes Colin Powell. During a recent appearance on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Powell attempted an autopsy on the Republican Party's failed presidential bid. He went after Palin, accusing her of pushing the party so far to the right that it went over a cliff.

Cont. here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/24/navarrette.palin.smalltown/

© Janet Crain

Click here to view all recent Sarah Palin in 2012 posts