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Friday, March 04, 2011

First Friday In March Week In Review

This has been a remarkably bizarre week in the news.  Ranging from the turmoil in Libya and subsequent oil prices, to Charlie Sheen showing that for some people, it just doesn't matter how much money you have...you're still wacko.

Huckabee:  This week, former Governor, Fox News show host and candidate for president launched against Natalie Portman for her perceived glamorization of single parenthood.  Being the good Baptist Minister Bass Player that he is, Huckabee just had to "go there" and make an issue of it (read the coverage here).  Appealing to the most base elements of the conservative pathos, Huckabee pulls out an old trump card from the GOP talking points - to get headlines, take a dump on Hollywood or someone in Hollywood who is getting headlines.  Of course, The Huckster made no mention of Bristol Palin and her upcoming memoir wherein she will no doubt sing her own praises, tell us how tough she has had it being a spoiled little rich kid, bemoan the life of a single mother searching for appropriate nannies and make a mint doing it. 

Supremes:  In a move that surprised a lot of people, the Supreme Court actually took the side of Westboro Baptist Church that has made a name for itself protesting fallen soldiers' funerals.  The ruling will impact Oklahoma laws and laws made across the nation to keep families of fallen soldiers from their protestations.  Not really sure how I feel about this one. 

City Council Shock:  The Tea Party was sure that the excitement Oklahomans had regarding a conservative movement was at hand, but it proved only to be temporary and short-lived.  Much like the media cycle in Oklahoma, Republicans apparently have the attention span of a pack of swarming gnats who have completely forgotten from whence they came.  The campaign slogans that energized the conservative base have served to be little more than cheers given on the sidelines of a junior high school football game.  The only real conservative on the Oklahoma City Council, Brian Walters, was defeated by establishment candidates who will rubber stamp virtually any program or idea that Mick "Taco Bell" Cornett has to offer.  And what was the Tea Party response?  Silence.  Welcome to the regime of the paper tigers.  Oklahoma City is moving forward - the rich are getting richer, the middle class is silent and the poor, well, they are looking for room at the proverbial Inn.  Let's see how donations to City Rescue Mission end up this year.

GOP Meets Life Church:  The new "Emerge 46" campaign from the Oklahoma GOP is creative, innovative and anything but unique.  If you follow the movement and growth of Oklahoma's Mega-Church Life Church, you will see very real similarities in marketing/public relations strategies.  The Democrats have dominated where college-aged voters are concerned and Matt Pinnell knows this.  He and his young bucks are beginning to see how the evangelical movement has seen success and they are emulating that with this new program.  This week, a gathering took place with Senator David Holt, Matt Pinnell, Lt. Governor Todd Lamb and a few others who are excited about this new media approach to getting young conservatives to come out of the closet.  Hoping to ride the establishment Republican tidal wave that has seem to overtake the conservative movement last year, the new "hip and happening" GOP wherein anyone over the age of 40 is cast aside (unless you're a donor), this new program will be exceptionally successful.

Sally Kern Writing A Book?   According to the Democratic Chatboard, Demookie.com, State Representative Sally Kern is authoring a book not yet available, but listed on Amazon.com entitled, "The Stoning of Sally Kern."  Bloggers have picked up on the news and the left-leaning blog sites have been all a-twitter about it.   Sally Kern has done a masterful job of keeping herself in the media and with the insurgence of the Baptist movement in Oklahoma, Sally stands to profit immensely from this book - her husband being a Baptist pastor doesn't hurt either and lest we forget, it was the Baptist denomination that helped former camp counselor James Lankford sail to Congress.  Kern is very much like Randy Terrill in that she will have that State House seat for as long as she wants it.  Her supporters are rabid supporters and her detractors have been marginally successful at dealing with Sally's rise to fame, which puts Kern in a very good position to run for higher office in the future.  If her book deal is true, expect another makeover of Sally in the very near future.

So, there you have it, kids.  Some food for thought.