Profiles in Steerage

Hagiography the Horrible.Title: Sarah Palin: Poised to Become America’s First Female President

Author: Recaldo Ochoa

Rank: 329,289

Blurb: “During the campaign, the media attacked her, as did her detractors from within and outside of the Republican Party. But Americans saw a tenacious political warrior who would not acquiesce in a male-dominated political battle.”

About the Author: “Recaldo Ochoa is a high school teacher who has taken over three hundred of his students to the halls of Congress and the White House to experience their federal government in action.”

Review: “I truly believe she won’t run in 2012 and knows Obama will be difficult to defeat and will probably get re-elected. But, in 2016, people will look for another dynamic leader who like Obama can draw crowds and lift their spirits. Palin showed that she fits that bill.”

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There's always something creepy about fanfic.

Footnote: Despite the book’s raves from Team Sarah, Palin is in a dynamic freefall right now, dropping from 86 percent approval by Alaskans a year ago to 54 percent today — well behind Senator Lisa Murkowski’s 76 percent.

Sarah Palin: Poised to Become America’s First Female President [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]

20 Comments

I have nothing to say.

I have tulips this year! And they’re beautiful. I always thought the deer ate them. Turns out it was the dachshund who died last year. She ate them. Now, I’d much rather that she were here than the tulips but if she can’t be here then they are a consolation.

Now I have to get to work.

Um, okay?

I think I understand this Sarah Palin phenomena (I suspect a lot of folks here already figured it out.)

To many folks, she represents them. She is the physical manifestation of the dreams and hopes of ill-educated incompetent folks who think they can be president/failed beauty queens in this country. Someone who is under/uneducated and who rose up through the ranks from the “base.” No need for a fancy schmancy edumakashun. No “affirmative” action. No real leadership skills. No technical skills. Not even competent. Nothing but a quick wink and a smile to get you one step away from the preznitsee.

She is the Willie (Willamina?) Loman of politics. Bush might have been if he came from a different family, but then again no one would ever elect him if he did. A psychological study on competence showed that incompetent people are ill equipped to recognize competence/incompetence in others and generally follow those who have the same skill level as they have ie: incompetent.

Barry should be better representative of the US American dream because I think he had the harder road to travel (child of divorce, not belonging anywhere, relatively humble background), but for a few “minor” things. Extremely intelligent, black (well half), edumakated (at those oh-la-la Ivy league skules), well spoken, well read, and a skilled political operator next to no one. To them, he is THAT ONE.

@Benedick:
Doxies and their digging. My mom fought to keep our doxie from digging up her garden. Each time our doxie would even think about the garden, it was met with a sharp glare from mom.

A five star review from Atlanta:
I really enjoyed Mr.Ochoa’s book,which was easy to read. The illustrations by his family were wonderful.

A book with short words and pretty pictures. Sounds perfect for the subject.

@Dave H: And I’m sure the spelling, grammar and syntax, and sentence construction are first rate. I was surprised to see that this was not published by Regnery – it’s the sort of tripe they regularly put out.

@Benedick: Oh, it’s like the tulips are a gift from your departed doxie. My rhodies and irises are starting to bloom. More weeding today.

@Mistress Cynica: If I want irises I go to the bodega on the corner. I don’t think I’ve seen a weed since 2001. You people have strange hobbies.

@blogenfreude: You have Cars and Sport, we have gardens. Gardening is the only thing that unfailingly gives me something to hope for and to look forward to. Sure, there are disappointments aplenty, but there’s always next year. Sometimes the only things that keep me going are my sacred duty to feed and care for my cats and the anticipation of the sweet peas and roses blooming.

I’d much rather talk about our back yard than some book about the governor. The buds on our rose bushes are ready to pop open any day. I’m hoping we get to enjoy the blossoms for a few days before the Japanese Beetles show up and turn the petals into Beetle Chow.

We’re also keeping a close surveillance on the Blue Spruce trees watching out for bagworms. I sincerely hate those nasty things.

@Mistress Cynica: No car for me – it’s Manhattan. But I did purchase a bag of fine cat litter for Lili this morning – only the best!

@Mistress Cynica: My daffodils were very beautiful this year. Lots of ’em, too. I’ve still got quite a lot of the late-season bloomers going strong. And the poeticas are just opening: I get beside myself at the thought that a flower is growing here that was a favorite of the Greeks. But the tulips have been a real surprise and delight. I planted a lot of species, some lovely pale yellow and creamy-white Darwins, and some with those drawn out petals that look like flames. I’ll take some pics today since it’s finally stopped raining. The lilac is out by the roadsides and my old white lilac is doing nicely. Poppies are well along, I have them blooming with aliums at the end of May. The iris will be out soon. I have a lot of species wildings that bloom in the subtlest, most surprising tints of mauve and blue and yellow. Then it’s peonies and daylillies. Woo hoo!

@blogenfreude: Gardening lets you experience time in a very tangible way. You see the year pass day by day as flowers open or die. You plan for next year by planting bulbs or perennials, and you measure the time gone by what’s bloomed already. I never could see myself becoming interested till I didn’t have much choice and now I resent any time away that makes me miss time here. I have to go to Florida at the end of the month for a couple of weeks and if I miss the Festiva Maxima I will be seriously pissed.

This year 8 apple trees are going in and a couple hundred daylillies – my favorite flower. I’m still trying to get my dick up about a vegetable garden but no luck so far. I’m not ready to commit to the amount of time it will take. trees and flowers are different. They take care of themselves – up to a point. As we get older and time contracts – so nojo tells me – it doesn’t seem so outlandish to plant something to be enjoyed in four or five or ten years. I find myself looking at the trees I’ve already planted speculating on how they will look after I’m no longer here; dead or in a home. Which is a surprisingly restful thought.

@ManchuCandidate: My dachshunds have never been diggers (covering the screen so no one gets any ideas). They ate the plants: tulips, as I’ve come to realize, and hostas. Don’t ask me why.

@Benedick: When I had a real house w/ a backyward in MD I grew vegetables. Toms, cucs, basil, thyme, other herbs, even onions. Pretty good stuff, even though who knows what was in the soil. If I still lived there, I’d probably still do it.

@Benedick: There are a couple of bulb farms here in the Valley, and the literal fields of daffodils and tulips, planted in wide swaths of color, have almost made me wreck the car twice this spring. My roses and peonies have buds, and the deep purple bearded iris opened today. There’s an enormous peony nursery/garden near Salem that I’m planning to visit in a couple of weeks. I need a couple more Festivas and perhaps a Duchess de Nemours. I lost several plants due to last year’s record snowfall, so I’m testing soil today to see if I can plant a lilac in one of the spots. However, with all the rhododendrons I have, I fear my soil will be way too acid.

@Mistress Cynica: OMFG! I have so planted both them paeonias, GF!! Hi 5!!11!

I am plotting roses. Climbers growing into trees. I know. Shhh.

Have you ever seen Black Narcissus? It’s a very good Brit film with the very young Jean Simmons playing a temple dancer in the Himalayas. It’s directed by that man everyone hated. Anyhoo, to replicate Tibet they shot scenes at the Rothschild estate near London which was famous for its rhododendrons. You see Ms. Simmons running through rhodo groves with enormous old plants all in bloom. It’s brief but lovely.

I must have tree peonies. I don’t care if the deer eat them. I must have them. Damn the expense. Even though I’ve already planned significant outlays of Monopoly money dollars for afore-mentioned apple trees and whatnot. Plus, I need – as in deeply desire in a way that robs me of sleep and almost of reason – to have a power pole (steady on, boys) taken down and moved and all the power cables to the house buried. K now I have to get back to work. We don’t all keep lawyer’s hours, bitchez.

And plus, thanks for the grammar book ref: enjoying it. Much of my insecurity comes from differences between the Queen’s English and Newt’s. Such as.

@Benedick: I am desperately trying to figure out where I can fit in a New Dawn rose. I hadn’t thought of the maple tree. hmmm. If I can’t have a lilac, I must have a Korean Spice viburnum. Heavenly scent.

@all: My lawn is easily two inches higher than I can possibly cut with a pushmower, and I refuse to get lard-ass on a rider. I put my tomatoes in about three weeks too early, and the damn rabbits have already eaten my lettuce down to nubs and got a start on one of my habanero plants. The peas and carrots I put in are overwhelmed by weeds, and I just know that our cherry tree is going to get decimated by jap beetles again this year unless I deploy the Toxins early and often.

Pox on you, suburbia!

@Nabisco: I just planted a bunch of Nasturtium because they are pretty edible flowers, hardy, and almost impossible to kill. The label said that they repel rabbits, so maybe you should plant some next to the lettuce.

@SanFranLefty: Thanks, I’ll look for it. I also heard a piece that said peppermint spray would keep the rabbits away, but it has been raining so damn much here I’m not sure it would stick.

We did lots of work in the yard this weekend, but the overgrown lawn and the creeping weeds seemed to be mocking my attempts at coaxing produce from the land. Plus, Jr’s team got bested by two runs on Saturday in the cruel world of little league baseball, although he stole a base then scored from second on a single up the middle.

@Nabisco: My bunnies love mint, so I’m not sure about that one. As someone who’s been trying to protect my couch and other furniture from nibbly rabbits, I’ve experimented a lot with deterents. I’ve read that you’re better off repelling them with strong odors rather than taste, and most rabbits loathe the scent of strong perfumes or automotive grease. Of course, you can’t very well put either of those on your lettuce and still want to eat it yourself!

@Nabisco: Marigolds and lefty’s nasturtiums have strong smells that may repel bunnies, given flippin’s advice. This is all reminding me why i grow veggies in containers, except for peas and beans, which are in raised beds. I’m trying out the hanging upside-down tomato planters because of last year’s vicious War on Slugs.

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