Give Palin a little credit (very little). She did see the niche market of "low IQ ass-hats".

[pampango]

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/fitzpatrick/tony-fitzpatrick-star-for-tucson1-14-11.asp

She then saw her opportunity with the Drool-Cases in the Tea Party -- this was a huge pool of disaffected, low IQ ass-hats who could be mined for votes. Give her credit for being able to read the God, Guns and Country zeitgeist. She saw them coming -- the Birthers, the Tea Party, and the Anti-Immigration crowd -- the newly minted Constitutionalists so infuriated by the idea of a President of color; they'd follow an ideological husk like Palin -- no matter how hollow. It was about then I started to think of the Tea Party and its ilk as something less innocuous. When one of their number brought a loaded handgun to one of our President's speeches, I came to the conclusion that these guys were essentially David Duke without the linen.

She used all of the amped up "lock and load" rhetoric -- the "Obama wants to kill your Grandpa" scare tactics about Medicaid and Social Security -- the ugly anti-immigration bigotry -- She used it so well, Rupert Murdoch made room for her on the FOX network, to help spoon feed the hatred to the yokels, shit-kickers and stump-jumpers.

These states (New Mexico and Arizona) were at the white-hot center of the debate on immigration. National xenophobe Lou Dobbs was frothing at the mouth about the threat of Illegal Aliens and the Minute-Men fools were "helping" the Border Patrol in what looked like vigilante squads comprised of bigots. Not long after this, Lou Dobbs' fat ass got canned and there seemed to be some rationality returning to this discussion. But everywhere we went in those states -- it was made clear to us that we were in their America -- was the culture of the gun. At a restaurant we stopped at in Tucson, there was a sign at the hostess stand that said, "Please check your Firearm before you are seated." I honestly thought they were kidding -- the waitress assured me they were not.

Jared Loughner chose Tucson. He chose Senator Giffords. And sadly, he chose 19 others as well. And the reason is that this discourse of fear and hatred is in the air in this state -- part of its language currency at this moment -- fueled by a very focused bigotry and a shitty economy -- the heated-up anti-government, anti-Obama, anti-immigrant speech took up residence in Mr. Loughner's tin-foil hat and it rattled around like a BB in a box-car until this fucked-up, pissed-off American decided to make somebody pay.

[Tuvok Obama]

1. Sorry. When a pig finds shit to roll in, I don't credit the pig's intelligence either

Palin is not capable of recognizing the intellectual strengths or weaknesses of anyone.

Palin was a pretty face, one that has been falling at a pace equal to her popularity. Give her about two more years, and not even the teabaggers will want to look at her.

[tavalon]

3. Good point. It's what pigs do

In both situations.

[ileus]

2. LOL great reading...nt

[justiceischeap]

4. You mean the PR people should get credit

Palin had nothing to do with the creation of this madhattery. She's just been used to stir the pot because she resonates with the "low IQ ass-hats" -- you know, like speaks to like and all.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Republicans found someone who would say anything they told her to say without question or thought

[HopeHoops]

6. Yeah, but the shrub had already been exploiting that market for 8 years.