It smelled like a hoax from the beginning, unless you were drinking media Kool-Aid about Palin being stupid. My first impression of Sara Palin was watching an interview she did with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo a week before being picked as McCain’s running mate. I know she isn't stupid or lacking education. What we saw in her botched interviews was someone who tried to be a team player when the coaches were sending in bad plays. 

I expect this kind of blind assumption from MSNBC.  I was shocked that even O’Reilly and Carl Cameron had sipped enough media Kool-Aid to think that the Governor of Alaska was uneducated. The hoax plays into the sexism and urban elite disdain for all things rural. So deep is this prejudice, that Bill O’Reilly nodded like a bobble head doll as Carl Cameron reported on clearly ludicrous rumors about Palin’s lack of 2nd grade knowledge.

Any person using just a bit of deductive reasoning could have seen this coming. Like other hoaxes the pranksters put the clues before the faces of the gullible audience.

Let’s look at the reports:

Palin went on nationwide Neiman Marcus shopping sprees:   Greta Van Susteren who voiced her embarrassment at the FOX reports openly, spotted HOAX clue #1: Every public moment of Palin’s life for nine weeks was reported and photographed. Not one second of that was in Neiman Marcus or any other high-end department store.  Greta’s on-air observation must have sent Fox News into CYA mode as they realized they might have been played. Strangely, Cameron stopped doing live follow-ups on "his exclusive", the replays from the O’Reilly Factor the next morning transitioned into Bill O’Reilly questioning the report as his show opening just 24 hours after he clearly believed it all. Fox soon acted like it was a “media” story not their own “exclusive.” O’Reilly has even gone so far to say he defended Palin during the original report. But, the extent of that defense was saying that she could be “taught that stuff” referring to the report’s geographical fairytales. YouTube doesn’t lie; Bill believed the reports and got punked!!

Palin didn’t know what countries were in North America or NAFTA. How obvious does the prankster have to be? This is HOAX clue #2.  I am sure Palin needed some education on foreign affairs. It is common knowledge that Bill Clinton did too. Clinton even used the “National Guard Line” when people questioned his credentials as a Governor. But anyone that has seen Palin discuss issues like trade and energy, both which affect Alaska directly knows she is an expert. At best to avoid a “gotchya” she might ask if Central America had any participation, just to be sure “what you know, is what is in the fine print” But odds are she knows NAFTA better than any campaign aide, after all she did negotiate a gas pipeline with a Canadian company that will cross through Canada on its way to the lower 48.

Hoax Folds Back on Itself – Don’t Be Fooled Again

I welcome my next president, Barrack Obama, to the real United States of America where all things are possible for all people.

Zero Assumptions
Near Seattle, Washington

“Liberty for American citizens is tied their economic freedom to succeed and fail. America’s survival as a nation of free citizens is dependent to its ability to support, defend and sometimes establish free market democracies around the world.”

My score card so you know where I stand on some key issues as of November 4th, 2008.

Party Affiliation: For more than a decade I have considered myself an independent. I now again see myself as a Republican, because I saw hope for party integrity again in John McCain and even more in Sara Palin. It is silly to assume there will be a party or even a politician that agrees with me 100%, I just want honesty about where they stand and respect for those who disagree. This does not mean I will vote a party ticket.

The 2008 Election: I voted for McCain/Palin

President Elect Obama: Read the blog as I write it that is what it is about. I will say here, for me his acceptance speech in Chicago was a proud moment for this nation.

The Economy: A pox on many houses.
Republicans: for covering for overpaid CEOs who were paid even when incompetent.
Democrats: for creating and hiding the mess at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Wall Street: for selling and buying high risk mortgages in various forms like snake oil.
Citizens: There is a bit of citizen responsibility for signing mortgages on the hope they might afford them soon.

Iraq: We needed to go in a remove Saddam. He was an evil created by US foreign policy in the 80’s and his immoral carnage in Iraq was defended by US Jets enforcing the no fly zone and corrupt UN programs that knew “oil for food” was really “oil for palaces, weapons, and mass murder” BUT.. I blame Rumsfeld for mismanaging the liberation of Iraq and allowing Al Qaeda to light the powder keg. I blame Bush for allowing Rumsfeld to continue this error for years. However, President Elect Obama needs to learn to say “I was wrong.” The surge worked because of it we will be leaving Iraq soon and not in defeat.

Abortion: I am against it. However, before eleven weeks the fetus is the “potential for life” not a life from a purely scientific point of view, so I believe the people have a right to allow it, even if it feels wrong. The twelve week sonogram of my unborn daughter in 2003 forever changed my willingness to negotiate on abortions after this point. That is murder. 

Civil Gay Marriage: I support it. I will vote for it if given a chance. It is not an issue that overrides issues related to economic liberty in choosing a candidate. It must come from either a direct vote of the people or from their elected legislators. I do not support judicial fiat on this issue, because as we can see, it makes the social dialog fall apart. Why do I support it? The support in our legal system for stable family relationships is important. We are not a theocracy, and I cannot find a non-religious reason for preventing legal protection for relationships that exist now. Most of the rights that come from marriage are related to that union creating self-sufficiency within the unit. That said, the anti-religious bigotry that comes from many gay civil rights activists, sickens me, it needs to stop so there can be a dialog. Civil marriage is contract before the state. It is up to churches, using their constitutional freedom, to determine what they think is a marriage before God.

Freedom of the Press: What can I say. I support it even if some members of the press do not value their responsibility to be watch dogs for all politicians, not just the ones they don’t like (cough MSNBC cough). But for anyone that says this is not what the founders intended, get an education! It was even nastier in the years of this nation’s birth.

Right to Bear Arms: It is an individual right. The “Militia” of early America was a force of individuals that defended their rights from threats internal and external. It should come with some basic responsibility, I support licenses that indicate training and safety requirements have been met. I do not support registration of gun ownership into a database.

Democrats: The people are almost always good Americans who want the best for all Americans. The current party leadership is off track and too busy playing politics to have our best interest in mind.

Republicans: (See Democrats) with this exception: The future of the GOP is in people like Newt Gingrich who should mentor the next generation in what it is to be Americans, Statesmen and Effective. The next generation leadership is in Governors Palin and Jindal. They show enough hope that I am willing to take wear the label Republican again on that hope.