Joe Scarborough in FL compares Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan...speaks of her bright future.

[madfloridian]

Joe was speaking in at the Capital Tiger Bay Club's annual dinner in Florida.

Laugh if you want to, Joe Scarborough said Thursday night, but Sarah Palin has a bright political future.

The former Pensacola congressman, now host of the “Morning Joe” television show on MSNBC, also predicted that the Republican Party faces a rout of landslide proportions in Congress next Tuesday. He said the presidential race is tightening but that Sen. John McCain remains a severe underdog.

“Sarah Palin somehow captures the imagination of middle America,” Scarborough said at the Capital Tiger Bay Club’s annual banquet.

“I don’t know exactly what it is; maybe it’s like we just stand on the side of the road once in a while in Pensacola and wait for a runaway beer truck to zoom by -- maybe she’s a runaway beer truck, maybe she’s a train wreck waiting to happen, but I’m not so sure.”

Scarborough said he has never met the Alaska governor, but that the last leader who inspired such love and ridicule was Ronald Reagan. A lot of pundits scoffed at Reagan in 1976, Scarborough said, but four years later he was elected president.

“I’m not saying she’s Reagan,” he said. “For people who loathe her ... I think those people will be very surprised. There will be a second act in Sarah Palin’s political career."

He also used the terms "train wreck" and "runaway beer truck" in the same speech. }(

Actually I pretty much agree with him on all of his descriptions. I think she is going to be a force in the future, although a dangerous one. In my mind she is speaking for the just about half of the Republican party that I consider lying in wait to continue their control over the GOP....and as a result doing harm to our country with their narrow bigoted agenda.

American Prospect's Sarah Posner in the FundamentaList...describes Sarah Palin as one of the Daughters of the Religious Right Revolution.

Some elite Republicans are shocked, shocked, to discover the ugliness lurking in their party. Figures from Peggy Noonan to Colin Powell cannot believe it! The party of the shining city on the hill is turning vulgar!

The feigned surprise is laughable. After all, the only card left in the Republican deck is straight out of the religious right's 30 year-old battle plan, which the GOP has warmly embraced since Reagan. Since the mid-1970s, the Republican Party has validated the religious right's mythology of America's Christian nationhood, cowed to its authoritarian litmus tests, and made demagoguery not only fashionable but heroic.

Michele Bachmann's call for witch hunts and Sarah Palin's accusations of socialism may be anachronistic, but if you are familiar with the ideological underpinnings of the religious right, you recognize them as carefully calibrated to appeal to loyalists who have been schooled in the evils of "statism" -- the elevation of government over God. When Bachmann talks about Obama or other Democrats being "anti-American," it's a dog whistle to the base: It must be Satan trying to bring down America. When Palin calls Obama a socialist, she's really calling him godless, and therefore a danger to God's plan for America.

Elite Republicans' sudden hostility to that kind of slime, however, shows just how much they have turned a blind eye to the animating principle of the religious right, which is not at its core opposition to abortion or gay rights, but support for instituting an authoritarian, supposedly "biblical" law. The Council for National Policy -- the secretive brain trust of the conservative movement that meets quarterly to map out conservative movement (and GOP) strategy -- was based on this very idea. Since its founding in 1981, the CNP vets Republican candidates each election cycle, and, although the group never much cared for McCain, it very much approved of Palin.

Call it what you will. Joe is right. She is part Reagan revolution, part "train wreck", and part "runaway beer truck."

It would be funnier if she were just a danger to the GOP, but sadly she's not.

[billyoc]

1. She's going to Sing Sing with the rest of her fucking hillbilly mafia.

[codjh9]

16. We can only wish! n/t

[AnnieBW]

2. Ray-gun had Alzheimers

What's Palin's excuse for being an idiot?

[cliffordu]

10. Congenital syphilis

[George II]

57. Generations of in-breeding.

[FUCK_BUSH]

3. Joe Scarborough is POS.. I hate this ass-wipe .

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Even Reagan at his most senile never inspired as much ridicule as Palin.

He was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he'd been the governor of California (with a lot more to do than the governor of Alaska), and he could at least string a comprehensible sentence together. And even though the results of his policies were often horribly mean-spirited, he never *seemed* personally mean (though he probably was, deep down inside), while Palin comes across as a truly nasty person. She doesn't even try to hide her hatefulness. I did ridicule Reagan a lot at the time for his conservatism and his rather simple-minded approach to most things, but I don't recall that anyone ever accused him of being as completely and utterly unqualified and ignorant and witless as Palin. And no, I'm not trying to defend Reagan; I couldn't stand the guy. But Palin is even more ridiculous as a candidate. Scarborough is insane if he thinks Palin could ever reach even Reagan's low level of credibility and competence.

[BlueJazz]

7. Yep...She's in a (Low) Class all by herself

[skepticscott]

33. Reagan never seemed as mean

and he never seemed to have the blatent *F*ck you, I'm the president and I can do whatever I damn well please" disregard for the law that Bush does.

[PufPuf23]

59. Reagan was a tool of the ideology

and along for the ride.

[Life Long Dem]

5. Palin won't win in 2012 against Obama.

[immoderate]

50. Can she even get the nomination?

What will happen when a half dozen erstwhile Republican nominees gang up on her in a debate? Remember she's never run for anything outside of Alaska.

--IMM

[George II]

58. No, she won't...

In 2012 she'll be totally forgotten. By that time she will have been voted out of the governor's office and he lifestyle will have become such a public spectacle that she probably will just drop out of sight. She won't have her mentor, Ted Stevens, to help her out, either.

[immoderate]

69. That's plausible. She might also ride her celebrity somewhere.

Game show host is one avenue I hear frequently. You're right, she needs to be reelected, (or appoint herself to Steven's senate seat.) If she loses, she's through in politics. I don't think she could handle big time politics on her own. That's why I think she'd get chewed up in a primary.

--IMM

[chitty]

6. What the fuck is wrong with these people?

How can they go out there and spew this shit about a totally mindless, clueless, piece of trash in a nice suit?

Don't they worry about how friggin' stupid they sound.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Sarah Palin is just the type of woman that Joe likes.

Cold.

[crazy_vanilla]

9. oh, he's been in lust with Palin since the beginning

he is thinking with parts of his anatomy i shan't mention here

[steve2470]

11. Joe, did you take your medication today ? Just wondered nt

[madfloridian]

12. More from the FundamentaList: GOP hitched its wagon to fundamentalists

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_fundamentalist_102908

"The McPalin flameout isn't primarily a strategic problem for the GOP; it's an existential one. For 30 years the party has hitched itself to the wagon of a well-funded reactionary fringe of religious zealots, and this year that alliance is most certainly not paying off. It didn't pay off in the 1992 or 1996 presidential races, either, but the Republicans controlled Congress for most of those years and ran on the fuel of religious-right slime and scandal-mongering. It's harder to run a bogus investigation when you're in the minority, but they'll find a way to make some kind of noise -- they wouldn't waste all that fatuous opposition re-search, would they?

Even without a congressional majority or the White House there is a formidably organized religious-right fringe in this country with a lot of money and a lot of followers (about 10 percent of the population by most reckonings). Their zealousness, combined with their money, makes them a force, culturally and politically, and their activities are not limited to presidential politics. So no, they won't be dead, and, by the way, they won't be chastened, even in the face of evidence that they lost the race for McCain by demanding he pick a running mate like Palin. She's anointed, re-member, and the godless liberals brought her down, not the "real" Americans who really know Jesus."

[LuckyEmily25]

22. zealots

The far right wing will not fade soon, conservatives, the far right and the not so far right, vote for the same reason I vote Democrat, the difference is that they're view is not flexible. Or at this point not socially conscious. Wake up! The National Organization of Women back Obama. Let us stop Palin in her "tracks" and move foreword.

[Cha]

13. ronnie the raygun...yeah scarbrain

wishes Americans were that stupid again.

[madfloridian]

14. I wonder still how a legislator forced to step down...

ends up as a major tV anchor. But then I remember that Karl Rove and Tom Delay are still given credibility. :shrug:

[Cha]

15. Yes, it's our corruption of corporatemediawhore$$.

Who need to changed just as much as our takeover government does.

[ladym55]

53. You betcha!!!

Without the corporatemediawhore$$, Grampy and Vampy would be looking at maybe 10% of the vote. Corporate media has run with every Rethuglican talking point, no matter how lame or how false.

[LynnTheDem]

17. Hey Joe, maybe let the cow get through those other 3 ethics violation

charges agsinst her first huh?



Rightwingnuts; stupidest MFers on the planet.

[mitchum]

18. Not enough

[Ozma]

19. Joe is about the dumbest person ever to be elected to a House office

And anyone who thinks anything that comes out of his mouth is worth mentioning..........well.......they must be a closet Republican who thinks Sarah Palin is capable to be VP on day one.

I think Joe is about to lose his job January 20, 2009.

Do you think so, too?

[IndianaJohn]

20. My Palin prediction...

After this election upon her and McCain's probable defeat, she will quickly fade into obscurity. Once the dust of this election has settled and the vile filth that she has spewed is more fully realized, she won't matter and never will again. That's just my honest gut feeling about that.

I have a feeling by the middle of next week things will begin to seem better and brighter as the people of the world breathe a collective sigh of relief.

[2Design]

21. wow reagan must have been even worse than we thought if he is like

sarah palin - dumb as a doorknob - not a clue - no US government course credentials - never understood the government and only knew how to take from it.

[iiibbb]

23. Talkie talk. When was the last time a failed VP candidate made something of themselves?

[nichomachus]

42. Dick Nixon

OK -- he was a VP, then a failed presidential candidate -- and he even gave his famous "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more." speech. Then, he came back with a vengeance.

[JeffR]

24. She does have a bright future

as a beacon warning all rational Americans from ever straying so close to the shoals of abject stupidity again. Shine, Sarah, shine.

[1Hippiechick]

34. Unfortunately, the ones who need to heed such sage advice will never read it. Or, if they do, will

never heed it.

[Interceptor7]

25. the Terminatrix will be back

her frothing at the mouth base will undermine and lament an Obama presidency to the best of their ability.
The religious right wing will try to continue their control of the party until they are defeated.
Palin is ambitious and she will run again.
Hopefully, America will see the radical right's agenda for what it is by then.
We shall see.

[NotThisTime]

26. Joe's a right wing HACK

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Ronnie was many things but

one thing he was not was a second banana from a failed political team. Being a failed veep candidate is a Road to Nowhere, and the Bridge has not been built that crosses back to the world of sucess.

[Sebastian Doyle]

66. Actually, he was exactly that.

Reagan failed to get the Repuke nomination in 1976. He got the nomination in 1980, but then his campaign was completely hijacked by the Bush Crime Family. Poppy literally took over (all of the cabinet appointments were Bush flunkies with the exception of Don Regan and Ed Meese) and Ronnie became the second banana in his own administration.

But at least Reagan could act the part and deliver a decent speech. It was easy to listen to him, whether you agreed with what he was saying or not.

[Zambero]

28. Entrust the GOP's future with Palin?

By all means, YES!!!

Palin's runaway beer truck won't make it past the first hard right curve.

[TexasObserver]

29. Joe's first impression of Sarah was the right one. Then he got his RNC memo.

[DainBramaged]

30. Joe Schmo compare farts to fresh air, chokes.

[SuperTrouper]

31. LOL!! bright future!! Yeah, Sarah a fugitive with US Marshalls shining bright lights

on her delinquent face in the middle of a dark forest!!

[valerief]

32. Her bright future as opposed to his bleak one. nt

[Honeycombe8]

35. In other words he thinks she's stupid enuf for her to be manipulated by the neocons like Reagan was?

I don't think he's right. I think she will fade away, or maybe go into the U S Senate. But I can't imagine anyone else touching her on a presidential ticket again. She was a nightmare.

I think there will be others to take her place, though, who really ARE mavericks and rev up the base AND really know something.

[olegramps]

36. She will be the party's bright spot.

But the Republican Party will be representing 10% at most of the electorate and consists of racists and religious babblers.

[olegramps]

38. Regan was broke and washed up until GE salvaged him to be their candidate.

[workinclasszero]

37. Mooselini will be the queen of the deep south, racist, know-nothing party

The future rethug party IOW that won't be able to draw enough independents to win a national election for a generation!

[progressoid]

39. I hope she gets another try - she's a train wreck.

And she's splitting the repubs into moderates and extremists. Good for us.

[marew]

40. Joe has never been sharp and insightful.

For a very long time I have wondered how he got his own show. He is not exactly a deep thinker...to put it mildly. Yet he sees himself as so sharp. Unbelievable. And this was regarding a woman who said her First Amendment Rights were violated for criticism of her own criticism of Obama? She knows nothing and understands even less.

[rasputin1952]

41. Well, Reagan was a lying empyt shell of a human being...

taken in that context I acn see the relationship...:evilgrin:

[mojowork_n]

43. It's just Republican PR. The same tired drivel you get from

Limpballs and Heinou-ty and Savage/Wiener.

They don't have any ideas, any more, but they sure do have a lot of money to spread around, after having spent most of the last 30 years robbing from everybody.

[mojowork_n]

44. It's just Republican PR. The same tired drivel you get from

Limpballs and Heinou-ty and Savage/Wiener.

They don't have any ideas, any more, but they sure do have a lot of money to spread around, after having spent most of the last 30 years robbing from everybody.

[jasmeel]

45. We should all be vigilant against her for the next few years just

to make sure we can convince Scarborough and his ilk that she's as bad as we know she is. DO NOT let up once she's no longer the VP candidate (knock on wood-and votes)!

[AuntPatsy]

46. Joe scabface is a gop tool nothing more nothing less and hte mask keeps slipping..

[Joe Chi Minh]

47. t be perfectly honest with you, madfloridian, after that I hope no-one

considers his views sane enough to be worth referring to on here. He's obviously barking mad.

[rsweets]

48. And they paid him for this right...

Good luck Joe..
Sarah is your only chance to
collect a paycheck from here on out.
So bow and adore her ...

[QueenOfCalifornia]

49. That's quite

correct Joe- They are both dingbats who haven't got a clue.

Do they toss around the term elite enough?

[progressivebydesign]

51. to be fair, he also referred to her as a "runaway beer truck." n/t

[louis-t]

52. I'm going with "train wreck"

[WhiteTara]

54. good ole "Dead Intern" Joe

he is one nasty piece of work. He can kill someone, get away with it and then praise that loathsome creature. It makes my skin crawl.

[sundancekid]

55. the mo-fo OBVIOUSLY did not know that Reagan's chief of staff has just endorsed Obama

Joe the Forever Scar on our national dialogue and our national unity

[George II]

56. The only thing they have in common is that Reagan is physically dead, Palin is brain dead.

[VPStoltz]

60. Another closet elitist who talks out of both sides of her mouth.

Reagan raised taxes higher and more often than any other president.
Never served in the military but peppered his speeches with his "war-time experiences."
Raised the specter of communism every chance he got to instill fear into the public.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

[Ken Burch]

61. That's mostly true, but technically he sort of served in the military.

Bonzo made training films in an old studio outside Hollywood. He may not have saved us from fascism, but perhaps he save some of our boys from the clap.

:sarcasm:

[PatrynXX]

62. Missing 2 major items though.

1. Maybe Joe's getting a bit senile. I don't like to say it but Reagan brought the parties together. Palin is clearly driving them apart.
2. Reagan had experience in front of a camera. Knew how to handle an interview. Palin doesn't have that sort of experience.

and then there's a third... I never thought of Reagan in the extreme right. I don't think Palin and Reagan would get along. She'd likely order him around. Reagan was a hard core American. I would think he'd be smart enough not to have associated with someone who might be connected to a group that doesn't want to be part of America.

(None of this should be seen that I would support Reagan, however Palin is no Reagan. Frankly on star power alone, Paris Hilton has more qualifications and connections.)

[Jackpine Radical]

63. Psychiatrically speaking, this would be classified as a non-bizarre delusion.

Even though it's pretty fucking bizarre if you ask me.

[DFW]

64. “Sarah Palin somehow captures the imagination of middle America"

So did "SCREAM 3"

It's a tossup as to which has less redeeming social value.

[georgecolombo]

65. Says Everything You Need To Know About Scarborough

I know he thinks of himself as being a little "mavericky," but when the chips are down, he can't help reverting to his accustomed posture as a Republican hack.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

67. Sarah Palin raped a Hollywood actress, like Ronald Reagan was accused of doing?

Kitty Kelley's book about Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography had a passage describing the claims of actress Selene Walters that Ronald Reagan raped her in the early '50s in her apartment on her couch.

[merh]

68. face it, Joe is just supporting her because if someone as poorly

qualified and with the "checkered" past like her wins office, it means he still has a shot at it.

:freak:

[minnesota_liberal]

70. Scarborough confuses 'middle America' with 'brain dead America'

Sarah Palin attracts and inspires dullards who ignore issues and just want a leader they can relate to - by sharing their fundamentalist beliefs, favorite sports and/or general IQ range.

[Ozma]

71. Dead Intern Joe is delusional !!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[tooeyeten]

72. gosh darnit

He's dumber than he looks.

:wtf:

[Joe Chi Minh]

73. I honestly believe the "old money" Republicans would prefer Dennis

Kucinich, if it came to it. And I believe they still wield a lot of power in the background.