Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News News Sarah Palin Speaks ... too little too late?

Good point, logtroll.

I'm with Isso on this one. In fact, I often wonder if the militarization of America (our perpetual state of war, and the militarization of most police departments, the mushrooming of badge carrying agencies and people) haven't actually contributed to the problem.

I read an article not long ago talking about the fact that police in some cities send SWAT Teams to deliver warrants of any type. Why? Because once you have a SWAT Team you have to have something for it to do. Police now have APC's and all kinds of ordinance they rarely if ever use. Joe Arpaio, "Sheriff Joe" as he likes to be known, intended to purchase damn tank a few years back, until the county told him he was out of his mind.

In the horrible situation that happened last Saturday one of the men who tackled Loughner was openly carrying a 9 mm pistol. He reportedly has a CCW and is an experienced shooter. He said that he didn't draw his weapon because by the time he could take action it wasn't necessary. He was a smart fellow and apparently knew well when and when not to draw his pistol. I don't know that you'd want to have or need more firepower in the situation that happened, even if you had the time to respond. Why would it be necessary? I think most shooters would prefer to face that situation with a .40 or a .357, but a 9 mm would have been fine.

There were many people and it was chaotic. IMHO a .357 would have been maybe a more dangerous choice for that situation (as if a responder would have a choice). The idea is to stop the threat ASAP. In my opinion, others would disagree, I'd think a .45 while certainly more firepower, would be a bad choice. Cops could carry .45s, but you won't see many police departments doing it. There are reasons for that. You certainly wouldn't want nor would you need an AR-15 or a Mossberg 12 ga. in that situation.

One other thing, the background check obviously didn't work. That needs to be looked into. While I am not in favor of the right to carry concealed here without a permit in cases like this it would have made little difference. A bad guy intent on breaking the law and doing harm is going to conceal his weapon. A law saying that you cannot without a CCW is meaningless to a criminal.

A few things struck me about Ms Palin's video performance....

She was very noticeably using a telepromter

She was clearly reading words that someone else wrote for her.

Her performance was stilted... basically it was bad acting. I cannot think of a single sincere moment in the whole 7 minutes

I noticed her book being promoted along side the video... "America By Heart"... clearly a marketing title, What does it mean?

And, as previously pointed out, the flag was there... but apparently insufficiently prominent to let it just hang there, so someone "enhanced" its positioning to make it more prominent. But, when you actually look at the flag, it just clearly looks faked... but not well faked, not expertly faked, faked as a clumsy afterthought.

It all makes a person nostalgic for Ronald Reagan.... that guy was a professional through and through

Oh my, Churlpat,

I did finally get a chance to look at it again. You are so right. Not only is her phrasing totally wrong, but the smiles DO come at the wrong places. It is creepy.

I had the feeling that someone by the teleprompter was clowning, or she was smiling in recognition that she got the phrase almost right ... finally ... or something.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Perhaps, given the gravity of the recent events, many of the more reasonable folks who have been cutting Palin some slack will see her for what she is; a bad actor with aspirations of fame and power, backed up by poor character and low moraliity.

She did not appear "presidential", though I expect that was the image she had hoped to convey to us. Obama, in contrast, did get his mojo working again, delivering a powerful speech and finding a classy way to leverage this tragedy into a rather unassailable call for working on a more virtuous political level.

President Obama; "Let's honor this young girls' aspirations for a great country."
Ms Palin; "But what about me!?"
And Obama does know how to use a teleprompter.

No, I don't believe that local folks or law enforcement should be adversarial. I think there should be bridges to common ground and goals: safe neighborhoods, bad-guys being caught and put into thru the court system.

IMHO, police are to maintain law and order. My inner fascist speaking.

See above and I'll add, law enforcement's role should be maintaining a safe society.

Chicken/egg. I think law enforcement has had to catch-up to the bad guys at least make the fight even. The bad guys have always had more advanced weaponry before law enforcement. Law enforcement is always playing catch-up.

Drugs. It's all about drugs. The criminal element has armed itself to the teeth to protect its drug trafficking. Here in NC we have had to teach our cops how to recognize a meth lab:

As I was watching Sarah Palin's video, it occurred to me that it was as if she were speaking from an underground bunker. She is very careful not to interact with the American public in person. Her approval rating is very low, especially in her home state, and the last thing she wants is coverage of people's reactions to her.

She throws out a word like 'debate' with, apparently, no idea of what it means. Remember her 'debate' with Senator Biden? Her words, "I may not answer the questions the way you want me to." She seems to think unexplained and unexemplified one liners are debate.

She said she read everything, but couldn't name anything. She disagreed with Supreme Court decisions, but couldn't name one. Obama's health care was wrong, but she didn't explain in what way or suggest what would have been right. Her lack of depth is probably why she will never really debate anyone.

On a gossipy note ... I'll put it here because I don't think it merits its own thread. Ever wondered about the mysterious oldest son Track? I couldn't figure out why he was the invisible family member.

A young college instructor here in town went home to Alaska over winter break. He and his family are staunch Republicans, but detest Sarah Palin. He told me that he met Track at a friend's house while he was there. I immediately asked him what was wrong with Track ... why haven't we ever seen him? He laughed and said, "Because Track is a regular guy, not like the rest of them. You won't see HIM on Dancing with the Stars." And my friend said that Track's mother gives him no financial help, not even to keep his truck running. I guess this Momma Grizzly only protects some of her cubs.

Sure it wasn't a Track phony?

Pretty sure. My friend is very reliable. And the friend they have in common has known Track quite a while. No emperical evidence though ... hence the "gossipy" adjective.