I was thinking, once again, about Sarah Palin this morning.  As, it seems, is most of the nation.  And a lightbulb virtually went off in my head.  Intentional or not, it seems the Republicans have achieved an important goal in nominating this good ol' gal for Vice President.

What have they accomplished, you ask?

They've changed the conversation.  It's the classic tactic of misdirection.

We're not talking right now about how John McCain is Dubya Redux.  How his policy proposals are nearly word for word what Bush proposed when he was running in 2000.  Tax cuts.  Drilling for oil.  A token nod here and there to alternative energy.  Cutting spending (something Bush promised but instead delivered the exact opposite).  An "aw-shucks, I'm just one of ya'll" attitude.  We're not focused on issues.

Instead, we're talking about Sarah Palin.  Her hair.  Her pregnant daughter.  Her appeal to the right wing (read religious right) base as an ultra-conservative.  We're debating whether or not she (the VP nominee) is more or less qualified than Obama (the Democrat's Presidential nominee).

This is just nuts!

And as long as we're talking about nonsense like that, as long as we allow Republicans to usurb Obama's message of change, to claim that his (very detailed) proposals lack substance, as long as we let them control the conversation and don't call them on their hypocrisy--well, we won't be talking about what needs to be done to fix our economy, to reduce and eventually eliminate our addiction to foreign oil, to return our country to its status as leader of the world rather than pariah.

In that spirit, I will make this the last of my Palin entries.  As far as I'm concerned, the race is between Obama and McCain.

However, I'm not so high-minded that I'm above including the clip below from the Daily Show.  It may be "fake news"...but it makes a real point about how the Republicans do like their spin.

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