Governor Sarah Palin reminds one of Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew. Like Agnew, Palin was only placed on the Republican ticket as a hatchet woman to attack and slander the opposition. She has no credentials for the job of Vice President, let alone President. She presents no policies other than "more of the same." She has no experience in national government or international affairs. Her main asset for the Republicans is her reputation as a self-righteous and fearless 'barracuda.'

Also like Spiro Agnew, who was convicted of falsifying his income tax in 1967 and forced to resign his Vice Presidency, Sarah Palin appears to have a closet full of skeletons.

MCCAIN'S AND PALIN'S UNDEMOCRATIC STRATEGIES,
AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM

McCain's and Palin's undemocratic strategies and tactics are simple, obvious and unfortunately quite effective.

The Republicans have no worthwhile substantive programs for change or for governing the United States, and they can't run on Bush's failed programs and highly unpopular record, so they simply refuse to answer or discuss tough questions.

Instead, they evade giving a direct answer and immediately switch to a barrage of pre-prepared spins, sound-bytes, storylines, platitudes, and phony promises designed to distract everyone from any real issues, but also designed to appeal to the needs and emotions of a specific audience.

Or they criticize the opposition's policies with wild, unfounded accusations, and slander the opposing candidates with pre-prepared half-truths, lies, political labels and mischaracterizations, all designed to create fear, uncertainty and confusion in the electorate or to reinforce their beliefs and prejudices.

The radical Republican right talk radio fear mongers are an important part of the overall Republican strategy, and they are particularly egregious. Radical Republican windbags like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Michael Reagan, Neal Boortz, and Bill O'Reilly preach nonstop hate, fear and lies against any group which does not strictly adhere to their warped ideas. Some of them even suggest assassinating particular people, like Michael Moore, or all liberals. These thugs violate and abuse the first amendment to our constitution (free speech), and the FCC licenses under which they operate, with impunity on a minute-by-minute basis.

If millions of American citizens did not believe and support this Nazi-style propaganda, such low-life creeps would not still be broadcasting. Powerful Republicans, like publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch and his Fox Network news, are more subtle. Nevertheless, the current American political landscape is not unlike that of Nazi Germany in the early 1930's.
The net result is no meaningful civil discussion of the real and important issues facing the U.S. and the world. Strangely enough, these undemocratic strategies and tactics worked twice for Bush, and now they seem to be working for McBush and Palin. In the process, the electorate never realizes that it is being manipulated and that the country is being taken for a ride.

The way to deal with and neutralize these destructive ploys was briefly discussed on the PBS programs, 'Bill Moyers Journal' and 'Now,' on their September 12, 2008 editions.

On the broader political scene, these radical right hate broadcasts, the control of the Republican Party, the control of the media and of the Christian Church, and the mischaracterization of themselves as 'conservatives,' is all part of the grand strategy of a relatively small group of 'neo-fascists' who want to take over and control American politics and the world's natural resources. Some of these neo-fascists call themselves 'neo-conservatives,' or 'neo-cons' for short, and their leaders include: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, Jeb Bush, Scooter Libby and William Kristol. They even have their own 80 page manifesto, which is intentionally misnamed: 'Rebuilding America's Defenses.' So far the Republican/Neo-Fascist grand strategy appears to be working. It looks like John 'Maverick' McSame and Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin may have joined this 'neo-con' conspiracy.

McCain is only belatedly trying to copy Obama's proposals for change. What we need is Leadership, not Followship or Copyship. The obvious problem is: If McSame, the Republican chameleon, becomes President he won't have Obama around to copy.

In her acceptance speech for the Republican nomination as vice President, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska described herself as a 'hockey mom,' and then she told a very funny riddle: "What is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?" Palin's answer: "lipstick." This means that Sarah Palin also thinks of herself as being a 'pit bull.'

Ever since then, Sarah Palin and the mounting issues surrounding her have been the center of attention for the entire national election process. Obama has called them 'silly distractions' from the serious issues that face our nation. McCain has reveled in such distractions, and McCain and Palin are now attempting to reverse their platform for a third Bush term and to steal Obama's thunder by claiming to be the candidates of change. In response to these attempted flip-flop efforts, Obama referred to the well-known analogy: "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." This prompted the Republicans to scream 'sexism' and shed crocodile tears of being hurt and abused. McCain, Palin and the Republicans have, in effect, turned the entire national election process into one big joke.

So let's join them and ask some more funny questions:

Q. What do a hockey mom, a pit bull and a pig have in common?
A. You guessed it: lipstick.

Q. What do Sarah Palin and Spiro Agnew have in common?
A. They both were nominated by the Republicans for the primary purpose of distracting and attacking the opposition, they both had absolutely no credentials for the job, and they both had many skeletons in their closets.

Q. What is the difference between a Governor of Alaska and a Vice President of the U. S.?
A. Maybe a few crocodile tears.

Q. What is the fastest way to get from Alaska to Washington D.C.?
A. Build a bridge to nowhere.

Q. What is the fastest way for an employer to solve her family problems?
A. Get someone else to fire him

Q. What is the difference between a barracuda, a pit bull and a pig with lipstick?
A. One of them is running for Vice President.

Q. What do polar bears, wolves and brother-in-laws have in common?
A. They're all on Sarah Palin's endangered species hunting list.

Q. Why does Sarah Palin have so much foreign affairs experience?
A. Because every day she keeps an eye on Russia across the Bering Straits.

Q. What is Sarah Palin's plan for getting rid of George Bush's $9 trillion national debt?
A. Put it in a box, tie it with a ribbon, and drop it in the deep blue sea.

Q. What do Sarah Palin, John McSame, George W. Bush, and a pig with lipstick have in common?
A. None of them has the slightest clue for how to govern the United States.

Q. What is Sarah Palin's solution for Russia's invasion of Georgia?
A. Send in the Florida National Guard.

Q. What did Sarah Palin and Saddam Hussein have in common?
A. Neither one had the foggiest idea what George Bush's preemptive war doctrine was all about, until too late.

Q. How would Sarah 'The Pit Bull' Palin negotiate with Vladimir Putin?
A. From as far away as possible.

Q. What's the difference between the Mayor of Wasilla and the Governor of Alaska? A. A lot more earmarks for the Governor.

Q. What is the difference between selling your luxury jet on eBay and in a private sale?
A. About $100,000 down a rat hole.

Q. Why does Sarah Palin stay away from press interviews?
A. She doesn't want anyone to discover her secret solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Q. Why is Sarah Palin such a good wolf hunter?
A. She knows a guy with an airplane.

Q. What is Sarah Palin's secret solution to global warming?
A. Ignore it, and maybe it will go away.

Q. What is Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin's and John 'Maverick' McBush's secret strategy for change?
A. Dress up as janitors, sneak into Obama's office every night, rummage through his waste basket for an idea, and then call a press conference before they forget the idea.

Q. What happened after citizen Palin sent her state of Alaska per diem bills for sleeping in her own house for 312 nights?
A. Governor Palin paid them quickly.

Q. Why did Sarah Palin go to five different colleges?
A. Because the first four wouldn't let her major in cheerleading.

Q. What book did Sarah Palin want the Wasilla librarian to ban when she was mayor?
A. Something by a guy named Darwin.

Q. What's the difference between Sarah Palin and a pig with lipstick?
A. A pig with lipstick must have a sense of humor.

The fat cats of our current American society don't want to surrender any of their many privileges. They want their current unsustainable lifestyle to go on forever. I know, because I am one of them.

This reluctance to rationally compromise, or to even treat the 'under classes' fairly, ultimately led to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The American Empire is already in serious and rapid decline, despite almost ubiquitous denial to the contrary.

In order to avoid a similar fate as the Romans, we must obviously, immediately and radically change our short-sighted ways. For example, the idea of 'no new taxes' is very popular with the electorate. Unfortunately, elementary accounting 101 dictates that money must come from somewhere in order to support our lavish and wasteful lifestyle.

Germany's wildly inflationary economy in the early 1930s has taught us that we cannot just print as many dollars as we want to spend. On the other hand, President Reagan also taught us an easy way out of this dilemma. With voodoo economics we can just borrow ourselves into oblivion.

There is only one problem with Reagan's magical solution: the day of reckoning! The copycat voodoo economics of George W. Bush is one fundamental reason for the current financial crisis that is now facing the American fat cats and our mainly worthless politicians. What is their simple answer to this borrowing crisis: we'll just borrow our way out of it.

Since I am one of these fat cats, Senator Obama's proposal to lower taxes for the 95% of Americans who earn less than $250,000, and to raise taxes for the other 5% and corporations, is against my short term financial interest. But I certainly intend to vote for Obama anyway, for many reasons.

At the top of my list of reasons is the fact that my paying more taxes, a much fairer and more efficient American society, and the goal of a balanced budget, is absolutely necessary in order to preserve my long term financial interest: the survival of a realistically changed United States of America.