Painfully stupid. Yet somehow fascinating.

As part of that enjoyment I mentioned...

The Wife just forwarded this amazing video on to me of former Saturday Night Live comedienne Victoria Jackson explaining how Barack Obama is a Communist and how liberals actually control the country:

'I've done a lot of research. And I read the book 1984 by George Orwell twice.'

Astonishing.


But not quite as astonishing, somehow, as the comments by 'Joe the Plumber' on Fox News, defending the agreement he expressed with comments made by an audience member at a campaign event:

A McCain supporter asked if "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." JTP hardly batted an eye.

"I'll go ahead and agree with you on that," Wurzelbacher said.

On Fox News, Shepard Smith questions him on that. And, surprise, surprise, Joe talks nonsense. But it's nonsense of such sublime perfection that it's worth hearing in full.



Now, JT Plumber's views on these things might be meaningless and inconsequential.

However: it was the McCain-Palin campaign that made Joe one of their key figureheads.

It was also the campaign that -- as noted in the video -- issued a statement praising Joe's 'penetrating and clear analysis' after his thoughtful contribution to Middle East politics.

Last but far from least, during a radio interview on Friday, Sarah Palin added to the fun by making some entirely bizarre comments about the criticism she has received during the campaign.

As Glenn Greenwald notes, this is 'so dumb it hurts':

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Greenwald responds:

The First Amendment is actually not that complicated. It can be read from start to finish in about 10 seconds. It bars the Government from abridging free speech rights. It doesn't have anything to do with whether you're free to say things without being criticized, or whether you can comment on blogs without being edited, or whether people can bar you from their private planes because they don't like what you've said.

If anything, Palin has this exactly backwards, since one thing that the First Amendment does actually guarantee is a free press. Thus, when the press criticizes a political candidate and a Governor such as Palin, that is a classic example of First Amendment rights being exercised, not abridged.

This isn't only about profound ignorance regarding our basic liberties, though it is obviously that. Palin here is also giving voice to the standard right-wing grievance instinct: that it's inherently unfair when they're criticized. And now, apparently, it's even unconstitutional.

[...]

Is it even possible to imagine more breathtaking ignorance from someone holding high office and running for even higher office?

I'd have to admit that it is indeed difficult to imagine anything more ignorant.

But stay tuned, there are still a couple of days to go.

I'm sure the Republicans will come up with something.