Baked Alaskan

I grew up in the Sixties, when women were not taken seriously in the workplace, and Lucy and Donna Reed served as role models on television. Toward the end of that decade, women rebelled because they felt they had something to offer outside of the kitchen and bedroom.

Several decades of intelligent, hard-working women persevered to open up a world of educational opportunities and career paths for women. Today, no one would question a woman’s ability to function outside of the home.

Sarah Palin: woman of vision?

Having grown up amid that revolution, I find the phenomenon of Sarah Palin extremely puzzling. Certainly, I can understand men finding her attractive, and appearances in politics, as in any public-facing endeavor, is a factor. However, nice marketing package aside, shouldn’t substance also follow? Don’t’ get me wrong, she seems like a nice enough lady, but when you compare her to the likes of Madeleine K. Albright, Margaret Mead, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ursula K. LeGuin, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Joyce Carol Oates—well….

This country must surely be filled with intelligent Republican women—why Sarah Palin?

This July, AMC Theatres is unveiling a documentary about Sarah Palin titled, “The Undefeated.” Sounds like a Clint Eastwood film, except this one is set in Alaska with a rifle-toting woman. The film has been described by Politico.com as a “flattering new documentary.” I saw a brief clip of it on the Internet, which showed a lot of talking heads discussing how land in Alaska leased by Exxon had been left undrilled and people were upset about it. I can only assume that Governor Sarah “drill-baby-drill” Palin eventually came to the rescue.

Palin may have her sites on the White House.

“The Undefeated” will be flickering in theaters in Dallas, Denver, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Atlanta, Orange County (not sure which state), Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis and Kansas City, according to the news release from the production company, Victory Film Group. Gee, not debuting in New York City or Los Angeles? Wonder why?

Also, as a publicity stunt, the filmmakers plan to take “The Undefeated” to the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina for one-night premieres. Writer-director, Steve Bannon, insists the film’s goal is to make money, not get Palin elected or anything. Hahahahahaha.

So Sara Palin may be running for president of the United States of America—one of the most powerful economic forces on the globe and possessor of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal—in 2012. Important decisions facing us in the 21st Century will lay trembling on the desk of our new president—job issues, energy policy, climate change, food shortages. And, if she runs, that new president could potentially be Sarah Palin. That’s right, Lucy in the White House. I can only conclude that perhaps the outlandish rumors I have been hearing of late must be true. Perhaps in 2012, the world, as we know it, will truly be coming to an end.

Trumped Up Logic

I never gave much thought to Donald Trump, pro or con. I knew he was a very rich guy from Queens, New York, who owned casinos and lent his name to buildings for a licensing fee. He married very attractive women, got bored with them and then moved on to the next. Occasionally, he teetered toward bankruptcy but always seemed to bounce back.

He has a reality television show that I have never watched. In keeping with the theme of our current economy, his show apparently involves him going around firing people. It wasn’t until he recently grabbed the news media by its lapels for a possible run for president that I took notice of this man with the comb-over hairdo. (Hey, Donald, you're not fooling anyone. We all know you’re balding.)

Donald Trump and his traveling bad-hair day.

These days, it's difficult to miss Donald. That’s because when he opens his mouth, really strange stuff begins coming out of it. He's the Salvador Dali of rhetoric. He starts off making sense then wanders away like a crazy homeless man badly in need of psychotropic medications. Let me explain.

Let’s start with the perennial nonissue of abortion:
"I'm totally pro-choice."—Interview with Fox News Sunday, October 1999
"I want to see the abortion issue removed from politics. I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors." —Remarks to reporters, December 1999
“No one is pro-abortion.” —CPAC conference, February 2011 (Okay. Fine. What does that mean?)

What are his views on healthcare?
"I'm very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care." —Interview with CNN's Larry King, October 1999
"The Canadian plan also helps Canadians live longer and healthier than Americans... We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan." —Writing in his book, The America We Deserve, January 2000
"They're all good men [the other Republican candidates], but you need somebody that is going to beat Barack Obama. You need somebody that's going to knock out Obamacare." —Fox News, March 17, 2011 (So, Donald, are you saying that Obama is not liberal enough for you?)

Then there’s his unflagging, long-standing loyalty to the Republican party:
"I probably identify more as Democrat." —Interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, March 2004
"I've been around for a long time. And it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans." —Interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, March 2004
"Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States." —Interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, March 2007
"I think he [Obama] has a chance to go down as a great president." —Interview with NY1, November 2008
"I heard he [Obama] was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?"—The Associated Press interview, 2011. (Huh?)

So why should we vote for this bastion of humility?
"Part of the beauty of me is that I'm very rich." —Fox News, March 17,2011 (Hubba, hubba)
“Show me someone without an ego, and I'll show you a loser.” —Writing in his book, How to Get Rich, 2004
“If I run and win, our country will be great again.” —February 2011 (It’s... just... that... easy!)

What does his special counsel have to say about Trump’s buckshot viewpoints?
“People change their positions all the time, the way they change their wives,’’ says Michael Cohen, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and, founder, ShouldTrumpRun.com.

Well, that certainly explains it all.