The only good I can see coming from Sarah Palin's media march is that any possibility of her running for President in 2012 will, most likely, be shot to smithereens.

First, she's on Newsmax, calling Fox News comedian Glenn Beck "effective":

Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He's a hoot. He gets his message across in such a clever way. And he's so bold – I have to respect that. He calls it like he sees it, and he's very, very, very effective."

Of course you think he's a hoot - what he does is comedy! Well, unless it's a disgusting metaphor that he used incorrectly. Melissa over at Shakesville bravely decided to wade into Beck's world and create a transcript:

America has spoken clearly, consistently-we don't want [government-paid healthcare]. And for the first time in history, we don't think it's the government's place to give it to us. We're kind of reading this [holds up unidentified piece of paper] from time to time now. We are-excuse this analogy, but I feel like it's true-we're the young girl saying [puts on scared voice and crying face] "No, no-help me!" [back to regular voice] and the government is Roman Polanski. In the end, I think we're all gonna be cowering in France. [A few more moments of babbling about "unfunded liabilities" before the video cuts out.]

Melissa says: "Universal healthcare = rape. Awesome."

I say: Can this asshole even get a goddamn joke right? If the government is Roman Polanski, then they would be cowering in France, not us. And doesn't France have womb-to-tomb care, which is what we're apparently protesting against? Fail! Fail! Fail! If Jon Stewart kept botching jokes like this, Comedy Central would have fired his ass.

Palin's love of Beck's inane sputtering seems even more strange when you consider he just won the Anti-Defamation League's title of "Fearmonger-in-chief:"

The Influence of the Mainstream Media

Though much of the impetus for anti-government sentiment has come from a variety of grass-roots and extremist groups, segments of the mainstream media have played a surprisingly active role in generating such segment. Though a number of media figures and commentators have taken part, the media personality who has played the most active role has been radio and television host Glenn Beck, who along with many of his guests have made a habit of demonizing the Obama administration and promoting conspiracy theories about it. Beck has acted as a "fearmonger-in-chief," raising anxiety about and distrust towards the government.

Please note the headline the ADL gave Glenn Beck: Mainstream Media.

But back to Sarah.

The tragedy at Fort Hood on November 5, which resulted in the deaths of thirteen people and injuries to dozens of others, has been co-opted by those who would seek to further their own agendas. The Republicans are already on the move:

House and Senate Republicans, emerging from the most detailed briefings given to Congress since the Nov. 5 attack killed 13 at the central Texas Army post, said delaying investigations would put off legislative efforts to give military officials the tools to prevent similar tragedies in the future. They said such an effort would not interfere with the criminal investigation of shooting suspect Nidal M. Hasan, an Army major who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan.

"Congress also needs to move forward to make sure we do our work to get to the right conclusions," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee.

Catch that? We need to get to the right conclusions. Wonder what those would be?

Sarah Palin knows. Here's an assessment that she shared with the Weekly Standard yesterday:

She commented on the trail of evidence linking the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, to militant Islam. "There were such clear, obvious, massive warning signs that were missed," she said. "This terrorist, even having business cards" that identified him as an "SoA" or soldier of Allah. Palin blamed a culture of political correctness and other decisions that "prevented — I'm going to say it — profiling" of someone with Hasan's extremist ideology. "I say, profile away," Palin said. Such political correctness, she continued, "could be our downfall."

Interesting. Because obviously, racial profiling worked so well before. In fact, due to the government's racist actions in World War Two, many Japanese Americans lost their homes, their lives, everything they had - and for what? Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park fame) cut a track for his solo project that explored his family's history in the internment camps. A student on YouTube spliced the song with images and facts from the era:

The U.S. government ultimately paid close to $1.6 billion dollars in reparations for their insistence on profiling.

Now Palin and company want to repeat history, as those who don't learn from it so often do.

Palin-Beck 2012 [Politico]
Glenn Beck: Asshole [Shakesville]
Rage Grows in America: Anti‑Government Conspiracies [ADL]
Republicans criticize Obama's Call To Delay Hill Inquiries On Fort Hood [Washington Post]
Palin On Nidal Hasan: "Profile Away" [Weekly Standard]
Exploring Japanese American Internment [Asian American Media]
Official Site [Densho]

Related: Casting Out: Exploring the Racialization of Muslims [Racialicious]
The Greatest Cliché: The Unexamined Propaganda of "Political Correctness" [Zuky]

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• Does all this mean she's suicidal?? [The Sun]
  
• Jay-Z is leaving his post as President of Def Jam, where he signed Rihanna and if that's not considered a success the industry must just be in really bad shape...oh wait. He may open a hotel. [TMZ]
  
• A Scottish newspaper claims to have Will Smith on the record saying that Hitler wasn't such a bad guy. Smith's rep says this is "awful and disgusting." The Anti-Defamation League now wants Barack Obama to get in the middle of it. Doesn't he have real Holocaust deniers to worry about? [TMZ]
  
• Paris Hilton's 16-year-old brother Barron and girlfriend Skye Peters (daughter of producer/Barbra Streisand ex Jon Peters) were at the Bel Air Hotel on Friday, "holed up" in a room there something happened blah blah blah police were called. Details on the police tape to follow. As well as the inevitable sex tape? (Ooooh, will they name it "We Hope She's Barren"?) [Page Six]

• Madonna is planning on re-releasing all her singles as a means of celebrating her 50th birthday/pissing off her record label.
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• A woman who took a picture of R. Kelly with her cell phone inside a courtroom is already serving time in the slammer for the offense. Kelly, meanwhile, has yet to be even sentenced in his child porn case. Ah, the American justice system. [TMZ]
• A raccoon has eaten Steven Speilberg's koi fish. Spielberg is unhappy. The raccoon is no longer hungry. [Page Six]
• Hilary Swank: Still bitter about being fired from Beverly Hills 90210. [Page Six]
• French president Nicolas Sarkozy took really hot model/singer girlfriend Carla Bruni to Egypt for Christmas. [Daily Mail]