Mystery Babylon...

...aka Sarah Palin

I'll admit it. Sarah Palin terrifies me. Well, it's not actually her that terrifies me, and it's not the cynical mindset that has produced the Governor and her mythology, it's the consequences of that mindset that terrifies me.

I was born in 1976, so I came to geo-political awareness in the '80's. The biggest pictures I have in my mind from those days are Ethiopia and HIV/AIDS. Those years, 1980-1992, represented famine and plague, so Reagan and Poppy Bush were the horsemen. The Bush/Cheney years are consumed by war and terror, so W is the third horseman. The fourth and final horseman is death, and you are forgiven for thinking that Old Man McCain is the horseman of Death. McCain is not Death, but he is Death's horse. Sarah Palin is Death.

I don't mean to get all religilous on you, as it's not really my intent. For a little while now, we've seen the Religious Right compare Obama to Hitler and the anti-Christ. We've heard the Greedy Old Plutocrats (and a great number of Hillary supporters) mock him as the "Messiah." So what do we do when so many so called conservatives are literally referring to Sarah Palin as "Saint Sarah" and "Sister Sarah?" Literally. They're calling her a gift from God, while missing the complete irony that they said the same thing about W, and we all know how well that's been going.

Pakistan's getting testy. Russia grows bold. China is ascendant. The Bush Administration has played the worst game of chess in all of political history. Cheney is the most powerful VP ever. McCain is a sickly, doddering old man. In this time of crisis, do we really want an incurious, Dominionist Christian, noob anywhere near the nuclear trigger?

Her supporters say yes. All the experience she needs is evidenced by the fact that she can see Russia from land in Alaska. This is why Sarah Palin is death. Ignorance and ambition is a powerful combination. Unfortunately, it's not a good powerful.

People who know better are trying to tell us that since most Americans don't know what the Bush Doctrine is, it's not important for Sarah Palin to know it. Other people have said it, so I'll echo the sentiment: I want my President to be demonstrably better than me. Someone who had the wisdom, judgement, and/or guidance to avoid life's many pitfalls. It's not OK for the President or VP to have a pregnant, unmarried teen daughter just because that's a situation many Americans deal with. It speaks to her leadership. If her own daughter doesn't respect the values that her mother teaches her, how can we expect a foreign leader to.

I've seen the diaries and blogs from Democrats that say that we shouldn't attack Sarah Palin, as Obama's not running against her. I say that people who follow that thought process are either naive or fools. Obama should not attack her. We should take every opportunity to spread the truth about her, her policies, and record.

I've also seen the blogs and diaries from Democrats saying that we shouldn't attack Palin, because the Freepers will get mad at the Netroots. Listen, the conservatives are going to attack DailyKos, HuffPo, etc. no matter what you do. Stop being cowards. You cave to extremists, and they haven't yet stopped beating you up. If you're going to go down, go down fighting.

There are certain people who don't want to debate you, they want to argue. There are people who don't want to fight you, they want to kill you. That's what Progressives just don't get. You do what they want, no matter how much you disagree, and they still call you godless traitors that deserve to be killed. Stop it. Man up, or woman up, or transgender up. Whatever you need to do to get some steel in your spine, you should do. We're in trouble, America is in trouble, and cowering everytime Sean Hannity raises his voice is not helping.

Sarah Palin brings the Irrationalists back to the party. She gives them open license to spit hate and spew venom. The lull in the culture wars is over, and if our side doesn't win this particular battle, then everything is lost. The only hope that John McCain has of winning this election is Sarah Palin. She is his sword and his aegis. Ignore her at your peril.