Not since the days of the Merry Pranksters has such a colossal batch of Kool-Aid been stirred up and consumed by the masses of America. This new batch, as potent as any Ken Keesey or the Grateful Dead ever dreamed of, was not concocted by a bunch of hippies in California; rather this recipe is compliments of that grand ole party, the Republicans.
It's as if the entire nation was stunned by state trooper Mike Wooten's Taser when Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin was tapped as Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate.
This flavor of Kool-Aid seems to have had an especially acute affect on the national media - no stone is being left unturned by this band of journalists and their camera crews as they continue their assault upon the Great Land. Pardon me if I don't deem our presidential elections as divinely inspired as our anointed media prophets would have us believe.
It would seem even Alaskans have consumed copious amounts of this magical elixir as many nod their heads in agreement that this woman is no longer merely an Alaskan nor is she a governor or just another vice presidential candidate. She has been magically transformed into Sarah Palin, the rock star.
We have gained a great deal of insight the last few days as a result of the media gleaning through years of video, audio and document as they pine for all things Sarah.
For instance, Gov. Palin apparently was for the so-called bridge to nowhere before she made the now-famous quip when she was introduced to the world about saying to Congress, thanks, but no thanks. In Sarah's defense, when she was for the bridge it went somewhere but now apparently it doesn't.
Yes, we did receive money from Congress for the bridge, and no, we did not return it. But if memory serves me, it was only about $90 million, which isn't enough to build a bridge in Alaska to anywhere, let alone nowhere.
We have discovered that our governor has begun a $40 billion project to build a pipeline. Well, that is a bit of an embellishment on reality and possibly the appropriate moment to omit the word bridge and insert the word pipeline as an apropos substitute.
Our governor also balanced the budget and lowered taxes? In her current role, we are hard pressed to agree with the latter, and the former is the result of a new tax on the oil industry that is as stratospheric as the price of a barrel of oil. The jury is still out on whether our new tax structure will be as detrimental as some portend, but it is hard to find a silver lining in this cloud. Maybe the governor's answer to cloud seeding in Alaska?
Science is not to be left out. It seems a study was just published that proves without a doubt that hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike are indeed the result of human activity. The hot air that spawned the beginnings of these tropical storms apparently emanated from two recent large gatherings of political party members in Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
This week also brought forth the painful fact that being open and transparent - once deemed paramount by our governor - is not as essential if you are running on a national ticket.
This particular modicum of enlightenment is embodied in the form of an attorney from outside whose openness and transparency is apparently necessary and, therefore, his services have been engaged to protect our governor from the unfortunate trappings of an investigation into her dismissal of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
Perhaps most importantly our wise leader has decreed the degree of separation between an Alaska governor and a pit bull is found in a tube of lipstick.
Finally, one of the most glaring truths gained from all the media and political hubris is that politics do indeed make strange bedfellows. Yes, the last few days have been a long strange trip indeed, but don't turn that dial, more illumination follows at 6 p.m.
