On the eve of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally, I thought I should take some time to explore what could possibly be the Republican Party ticket in 2012. For those of you who do not know, Mr. Beck and keynote speaker Sarah Palin are hosting this “rally”, which just so happens to coincide with the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”
As many who read the IC are aware, two of my first three columns have been critical of the Republican Party and the crazies that run it. Fortunately, they continue to be the gift that keeps on giving so I figured I should continue the narrative.
There is no doubt to any American that Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are the two most beloved figures on the right wing of this country. Day in and day out, Glenn Beck has the highest ratings of any entertainer on Fox Noise. His books are automatic best-sellers and he has (rightfully so) become a favorite punching bag of the late night comedy lineup.
Former half-term Governor Sarah Palin is in the same boat. She commands $100,000 per appearance to read speeches written on her hand (oh and do not forget the adjustable straws). This huge popularity is why I think the Republican Party will nominate these two clowns in two years.
The days of Republicans nominating sensible conservatives like Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and even George W. Bush seem to be in the distant past. Now the right wing craves for someone that believes: the President is a “racist”, a Muslim, “pals around with terrorists” or that Russia can be seen from Wasilla, Alaska. Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck fit that need.
Placing Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket would highlight the lack of intelligence in many Republican women. Not only did she have to attend five different universities to get a communications degree, but while she was preaching “family values” during the 2008 election, her sixteen-year-old daughter was in the process of getting knocked up.
Mrs. Palin opposes abortion even in the case of rape and incest, and proclaims with a straight face that Democrats want to “pull the plug on granny.” She has the star power that people like Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Mike Huckabee lack, which can be pivotal in the winner-take-all Republican primaries.
Glenn Beck as her running mate would create my all-time favorite moment in politics. This is a man who was very recently an alcoholic and a pot smoker, yet is beloved by the “moralistic” Republican Party. Mr. Beck believes that every American should own a gun, never have to pay any kind of taxes and that our President is a criminal controlled by labor unions and China.
The late Senator Ted Kennedy in 1987, while fighting against the nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, described the kind of America that most Republicans long for and one a Palin Presidency would bring about. He proclaimed that “In Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, and writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government.”
Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck represent the kind of America that sane citizens of this country do not want to return to. I have no doubt in my mind that Palin and Beck would have supported Jim Crow, lynchings, and a host of bad conservative policies.
As a proud liberal and vocal supporter of President Obama and the Democratic Party, I would love nothing more than for the Republicans to nominate one of these two. President Obama would win every state in this union, from California to the New York Island. Most Republican primary voters are just that ill-informed and angry enough at President Obama to vote their hearts and not their brains. If anyone at UT wants to join me in prayer for a “Palin-Beck 2012” ticket from now until the first Tuesday in November in 2012, then you are gladly welcome.
—Mark Carter is an IC Columnist and a senior majoring in political science.
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11 comments
Writing a piece, just to prove you can string some sentences together is meaningless. And, it proves that you have wasted your time paying money for an education that has been lost on partison politics and bitter insulting bigotry. You have shown to lack research skills, critical thinking skills and historical knowledge. You will make a hard core democrat party favorite punchline, but as for anything meaningful, you have wasted your parents money.