Milk matters: Palin and Bachmann, sinking to new levels of idiocy, attack Michelle Obama for encouraging breast-feeding

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yes, yes, Palin keeps hinting at a possible presidential run, but that's all there ever is, a hint here and hint there, as if she's just trying to keep the speculation going, and I remain convinced, or almost convinced, that she won't end up running, not with so much at stake, not with so much to lose, including her status as Tea Party shadchan and party kingmaker.

But, honestly, attacking Michelle Obama for promoting breast-feeding?

Sarah Palin followed in Rep. Michele Bachmann's footsteps and took a swipe at Michelle Obama on Thursday, mocking her efforts to get mothers to breast-feed their children.

"No wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody, 'You'd better breast-feed your baby,'" she said at a Long Island appearance on Thursday, after slamming President Barack Obama for rising gas prices and other items -- like milk -- since he took office. "Yeah, you'd better, because the price of milk is so high right now."

The comments come two days after Bachmann accused the first lady of trying to implement a "nanny state."

"To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition."

Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican and tea party favorite, added that the first lady's agenda is "very consistent with where the hard left is coming from."

What a pair of ignorant, hyper-partisan morons.

How is Obama responsible for the price of milk? He certainly is more powerful than we all imagine if he can really influence consumer product costs so directly. (Palin must think he's some sort of god, pulling strings and controlling our lives.)

And what's wrong with breast-feeding? How is it inappropriate for the first lady -- who, by the way, is clearly not making policy or pushing legislation -- to promote something (and all first ladies promote things, that comes with the job) that is not just medically sensible but naturally human? How is that "the nanny state" run amok?

There's nothing wrong not just with the first lady but with the president or any other government official making suggestions and encouraging healthy choices (like exercising, not smoking, etc.). It's only the nanny state when government actually seeks to micro-regulate behaviour, prying into aspects of society that are better left private. (Which is precisely what theocratic social conservatives like Palin herself seek to do, not liberals like Obama and not even more left-wing progressives, who while advocating bigger government are nonetheless committed to civil liberties and individual choice.)

Oh, and how is preferring breast-feeding a "hard left" thing? It is because it takes profits away from the Big Baby Formula companies?

(Umm... wasn't it Nancy Reagan, wife of the supposedly greatest Republican ever, who had that whole "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign? Talk about the hard-left nanny state! Or how about Laura Bush and literacy? Another left-wing plot? Well, maybe, given how much the right hates book learnin'.)

Honestly, this is just pathetic, and it shows just how low the likes of Palin and Bachmann are willing to go in their non-stop efforts to score political points. I suppose their admirers on the right love this sort of thing, but it's hard to imagine this charge being taken seriously by anyone who deals with reality (and human nature) on a regular basis.

All these two do is continue to embarrass themselves. It's amusing, to a point, but also evidence of astounding idiocy. And it's telling that they're both such huge celebrities, especially Palin, in today's Republican Party.

Right-wing media blame Michelle Obama for rise in pedestrian deaths

By R.K. Barry and Michael J.W. Stickings

Tucker Carlson's web creation, The Daily Caller, had a dumb-ass little piece up yesterday suggesting that Michelle Obama's campaign to get people to exercise more may be responsible for a spike in pedestrian deaths. You know, if you walk more for your health, you might just get hit by a car.

Apparently someone by the name of Barbara Harsha, Executive Director of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), suggested if more people are getting out to exercise, they need to be mindful that steel and rubber objects traveling at significant speeds might run them over if they fail to keep their wits about them.

Sensible enough, I suppose.

Of course, by the time The Daily Caller got a hold of it, it read like this:

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Harsha said that while there are not yet definitive answers as to why there were more pedestrian deaths in 2010 than 2009, Obama's "get moving" movement could be at least partially to blame.

Okay, fine. Ridiculous, but I get your non-point.

Apparently pedestrian fatalities have increased significantly in the first part of 2010, though no one knows why.

Ms. Harsha claims, in a phone call with Derek Thompson of The Atlantic, to have been misquoted, though it appears more likely that she is credited with saying something she never said. That's not a misquote. That's a fabrication. There's a difference. (The piece at The Daily Caller has been updated to reflect Harsha's claim but still asserts that the GHSA blamed Michelle Obama.)

Technorati has a good description of what was said and what was not said. Here is what was said:

"There's an emphasis these days to getting fit, and I think people doing that are more exposed to risk [of getting hit by a vehicle]," said Harsha, who conceded to having no scientific evidence that the Let's Move campaign has led to an increase in walkers and runners, or deaths.

I guess that qualifies as a statement that Michelle Obama is responsible for the demise of innocent pedestrians.

Anyway, it just bothers me that this is so often the level of discourse in America at this moment in our history. Ms. Harsha's comments were clearly innocent enough, but innocent doesn't cut it these days, not when the right-wing media are hell-bent on repeating each others lies to fabricate a story. 

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

**********

UPDATE: TPM explains what happened. Basically, The Daily Caller and The Examiner, two conservative media outlets, blatantly misrepresented a GHSA report. That report simply noted that "[a] focus on liveable communities, or 'get moving' health and fitness programs may increase walking and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts."

"That makes it seems like we're blaming Michelle Obama's program," GHSA executive director Barbara Harsha told TPM. "That's ridiculous."

Indeed it is. And while The Daily Caller has added updates to its piece, the misrepresentation -- and the attempt to smear the First Lady, continues.

Consider the piece's "new" headline: "Highway safety spokesperson blames pedestrian deaths on Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign? 

Yes, that's right, a question mark has been added -- as if that makes such gross, partisan misrepresentation acceptable.

It would sort of be like me changing a post titled "Rational people can all agree that Tucker Carlson is a pompous douchebag" to "Rational people can all agree that Tucker Carlson is a pompous douchebag?"

And why would I ever do that?

-- MJWS

Elephant Dung #7: Huckabee calls out Palin over FLOTUS food flap

Tracking the GOP Civil War

By R.K. Barry

(For an explanation of this ongoing series, see here. For previous entries, see here.) 

You may have noticed that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee took a little shot at Sarah Palin for her bogus claim that Michelle Obama doesn't want Americans to eat dessert – or some such nonsense. All of this was in the context of the First Lady talking about combating childhood obesity in America and the need to encourage children to consider healthier eating choices.

This is what Huckabee had to say:

With all due respect to my colleague and friend Sarah Palin, I think she's misunderstood what Michelle Obama is trying to do. Michelle Obama's not trying to tell people what to eat or force government's desires on people. She's stating the obvious: that we have an obesity crisis in this country. 

Palin was doing what she always does, which is to fire up her base by pointing to what she would consider an instance of government telling people what to do. In contrast, Huckabee was presenting himself as the voice of reason in defending Ms. Obama who was only suggesting the obvious point that public education about healthier food choices for our children is a good idea.

Okay. But what I found interesting is that this little flare-up, such as it was, comes only a few weeks after new polling indicated that Huckabee would give Palin a run for her money for the Republican presidential nomination and would appeal potentially to much of the same constituency, but also perhaps to much-needed voters beyond the base.

A Quinnipac poll on November 22 showed Huckabee in a statistical dead heat with Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. In a Marist College poll on November 24, Huckabee and Palin were virtually tied in popularity among Republicans who were not college graduates. But Huckabee pulled ahead significantly -- 18 percent to Palin's nine percent -- among respondents with college degrees. Huckabee came in second to Romney, who registered 25 percent among college-educated Republicans.

According to Janine Parry, director of the Arkansas Poll at the University of Arkansas, Huckabee is in a good position to separate himself from the rest of the pack.

His unfavorable numbers are significantly lower, he's penetrated the mainstream culture without becoming clownish, and he's demonstrated a willingness – even eagerness – to be a practical, truly bipartisan leader. In this environment and in a general election at least, those seem like substantial assets. 

Maybe this dessert flap is nothing. But it could be an early attempt by Huckabee to stake out some territory that takes in not only the conservative base but also independent voters, while Palin continues to say and do stupid things that appeal only to the same narrow constituency. 

I noticed a particularly idiotic comment on the Fox Nation website by an unnamed poster in response to Huckabee's statement, which said it all for me. It read: 

Governor, with your inability to see through to the real motives of the Obama's agenda to destroy freedom and America, you have lost my vote. 

There you have it. Taking away our freedom one double-chocolate raspberry cheesecake at a time.

The smarter types in the Republican Party understand full well that the road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue does not go through Crazy Town.

Mike Huckabee seems to get this. Sarah Palin, and those who hang on her every word, not so much.