As you might’ve guessed, all of my writing energy has been devoted to “Real Time” during this Insane last seven days of politics. [I hope you enjoyed this week’s show and/or podcast]
But you can expend your energy here. I’ll be back soon. Leave a light on for me, and together we’ll strive to build a bridge to nowhere and deny it later.





133 comments
PK
September 3, 2008 at 5:51 am
1A voice from your past. I’m happy to see you doing well and all is well with you and yours. Maybe you can present some tips on “moose dressing” on the next show as I am looking for a few ideas because the “naked” moose in my apartment is an embarrassment for my friends and family. Sarah dresses Bullwinkle has a good ring to it.
Aunt Sam
September 3, 2008 at 6:25 am
2OK, I just remembered where I’d heard of Sarah Palin before last Friday. It was in all the e-mails I get from Defenders of Wildlife, asking me to plead with her to put an end to the aerial gunning of wolves.
Didn’t work.
In fact, she authorized the expense of ~$400,000 in propaganda ads to help the people of Alaska understand why it was good & important to hunt and shoot 14 female wolves from the air, and then pull the wolf cubs from their dens and shoot them too.
If anyone is interested, there’s a great place in Indiana called Wolf Park> www.wolfpark.org Their “Photos of the Day” are amazing. I would also recommend DoW www.defenders.org for more info.
Nice stewardship of God’s creation, Governor Palin.
I’m going to go be sick.
SeattleTammy
September 3, 2008 at 8:02 am
3Awwww, our newspaper comes late to the hinterlands, so I just noticed this!
http://tinyurl.com/56sa49
Adam, please give Amy a smooch and congrats from us next time you see her!
Chris Harlan
September 3, 2008 at 10:07 am
4Does everyone know what a honey pot is? In the network world, a system administrator sets up a false branch of the network with what appears to be faulty security attached. On that branch of the network, there are what appear to be particularly titillating or otherwise attractive files. Of course these files are virus or tracking devices or wrong information designed to destroy, identify, or mislead the hacker who gains access to them.
Now call me paranoid, but the Palin appointment seems like a honey pot to me. It could just be super bad vetting. Certainly that is possible. There is also super bad Internet security that really is just bad and not part of a trap. But the timing, and the organizational response seem oddly calculated to me. You see, I think the soap opera factor plays largely in Palin’s favor. I think it is very energizing non-issue to revive a stagnant party. To the faithful, she’s going to be seen as a victim that rises above and conquers. In the movie, she’d be played by Sally Field or Julia Roberts. My early–an very anecdotal– indicators suggest that she is being embraced with an exuberance not usual for Veep noms.
Bad vetting, but good, well-coordinated crisis management? Maybe. Though, it would be interesting to know the story of those far-flung blogs where anonymous posters first mentioned that Trig Palin was actually grandson and not son, among other postings about UFOs and Bigfoot; and then to further know the timeline that made it essential to rebut these far-flung rumors that barely anyone was hearing with “the truth” so as to put to rest the tormenting barbs of “liberal bloggers.” The truth can be stranger than fiction; I will always admit that. But I’m a veteran of numerous media campaigns, and this feels like the beginning of one to me.
Dee
September 3, 2008 at 12:29 pm
5Chris, it wasn’t those crazy rumors from the “liberal bloggers.” You’re right, barely anyone reads them. The reason they broke the news when they did is because the National Enquirer had the story and had contacted the campaign asking for a comment. Since a hell of a lot more people read the Enquirer (or at least see the headlines while waiting in line at the supermarket) they had no choice. But it gave them a nice chance to blame the Big Bad Liberals, as is their wont.
Chris Harlan
September 3, 2008 at 1:20 pm
6I wonder who leaked to the National Enquirer. Some disgruntled staff member or class mate? Very likely. But did the GOP/McCain Campaign not take that into consideration? Could be. I don’t believe, though, that they are that incompetent. I’m not saying they chose her for her problems, but I am saying that after she was vetted, they spent much time trying to figure out how to turn her weaknesses into strengths, and came up with what may be a winner. They were sure ready to respond when everything broke, and their responses seemed to me, pre-calculated. There is so much soap opera in her life, and folks love a good story, with a strong, goodly heroine who blunders forth, hesitant into the world, but ultimately triumphs over evil.
When the tales of trooper Wooten’s murderous threats come trickling out across the summer, this lady is going to become a “spunky” folk hero to very people in the GOP that despise McCain, and a large chunk of people are going to vote for her instead of McCain.
From the Washington Post:
The trouble between Wooten and the governor’s sister broke into the open after an alleged incident in February 2005. Palin told an internal affairs investigator that she overheard on a speakerphone [trooper Michael] Wooten arguing with her sister and threatening to kill their father. Fearful for her family members’ lives, Palin said she drove to her sister’s house and watched the argument through a window.
“Wooten’s words were, ‘I will kill him. He’ll eat a [expletive] lead bullet, I’ll shoot him,’ if our father got the attorney to help Molly,” Palin said in an e-mail she wrote in August 2005 to the chief of the state police. “I heard this death threat, my 16-year-old son heard it (Track Palin), Molly heard it, as did their small children. Wooten spoke with his Trooper gun on his hip in an extremely intimidating fashion, leaving no doubt he is serious about taking someone’s life who disagrees with him.”
It ain’t a disaster. It’s the October surprise in September.
SharonHussein
September 3, 2008 at 1:31 pm
7Chris, why wouldn’t Palin play herself in the movie?
Sarah Palin is no lightweight. I think the whole “aw shucks, I don’t know what the VP’s job is” is a spoof. She has been grooming/groomed for this for over a decade:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/politics/03wasilla.html
This isn’t about electing a woman, it’s a referendum on the separation of church and state, on might makes right, and on wealth and power as the fundamental organizing principles for government. The fact that Bristol Plain isn’t going to get a chance to go to college anytime soon will only endear the Palin family to the christofascists even more. (Levi doesn’t look like he’s going to be ready for college for a while.) They have been twitching to deal the death blow to representative democracy for for several decades, and the only thing that’s been holding them back (in their minds) is the ivory-tower, latte-sipping, educated “elites.” The Frat-Boy-in-Chief has demonstrated beyond a doubt that you don’t need to be edumacated to show up for brush-clearing, bicycle-riding, and murdering innocent civilians in order to keep the “American Way of Life”(*) humming along.
(*)That would be a wealthy upper class living behind locked gates, while the other 95% underclass tends their yards, cleans their toilets, and fights their wars so that their cheap-plastic-cr@p factories in Mexico and China can have a steady supply of raw materials and oil. (Do I sound a little bitter? I just had a long drive from Job #1 to Job #2 without the radio on, and I was forced to think about the downward spiral we are in. I also started reading Thurston Clarke’s “The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America” last night. It’s slow reading, because my vision keeps blurring. 8/28/08 was the first time I felt hope for this country in a very long time, and it’s painful seeing my balloon burst [again].)
Chris Harlan
September 3, 2008 at 3:49 pm
8SH asks: Chris, why wouldn’t Palin play herself in the movie?
I say: Cuz that would be a movie, and its so much more fun to play it in real life.
madbard
September 3, 2008 at 4:10 pm
9I keep wondering what would the “libural” media be making of this if Obama had nominated a 44 year old mother of five to be his VP?
SharonHussein
September 3, 2008 at 4:38 pm
10What would the librul media make of this if Michelle Obama had posed for the picture?
http://www.kunstler.com/Grunt_SarahPalin.jpg
What would the librul media be making of this if it were Obama’s 17-year-old daughter who was pregnant?
Steve
September 3, 2008 at 4:50 pm
11I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about Sarah Palin. She isn’t going to be Vice President and John McCain isn’t going to be President. Neither are Senators Biden and Obama (respectively).1
There’s going to be some sort of “incident” just before election day, disruptive enough for Bush and Cheney to “postpone” the election, dissolve Congress when the Dems protest, start really rounding up dissidents (a la Saint Paul), and, after the first of the year, declare themselves co-Presidents for Life.
Then it really gets ugly.
1I had a hard time even remembering who Obama’s running mate was and went to the Obama site to check. I was amused to note that in the logo, Biden’s name is almost invisible. I think that says all you need to know.
SeattleDan
September 3, 2008 at 5:04 pm
12Steve, I sure hope you are wrong. I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. But it is scary to imagine. If it does, remember this movie clip, via The General:
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2008/09/strange-telecast-interrupts-gop .html
Ann
September 3, 2008 at 5:12 pm
13SH, that’s a photoshop job, not Sarah Palin.
And if Obama had nominated a 44-year-old mother of five to be his VP, the liberal media would have asked the same question: In what way is she qualified?
Personally, I like the theory proposed on the website I’ve linked to below, that putting Palin out there allows the Repubs to be “defensive” about questions of experience, rather than going on the attack.
http://cousinavi.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/the-palin-strategy-bait/
Samuel
September 3, 2008 at 5:14 pm
14I know how Adam feels when he comes to the plate and two times in a row - on the first swing - he slams the comedic ball right out of the park.
Number one for me was sliding in the suggestion of Sarah Palin for Veep. Number two was taking the opportunity six years ago to steal some stationery from the American Enterprise Institute. I’ve had it in an undisclosed location for all this time and I finally had a good enough reason to put it to use. I sent an invitation on this stationery to Mr. Tom DeLay for a private party here in Minneapolis to be held in conjunction with the Republican Convention. He actually came to the party, arriving in a gold minivan (that had to hurt!), and proceeded to get “liberally” lubricated at the bar. I tell you he was the hit of the party and at the end of the festivities, he was carried back to his minivan, tossed into the back, and lauded as a true American Hero. No shit.
Ha! What a bunch of weenies! Cheney certainly could have kept him out!
Zeke
September 3, 2008 at 5:24 pm
15Jesus, Steve, the #11 comment is a stellar and a most imaginative dissertation on this year’s Presidential election. (BTW, I’ll have a couple of lids of what you’re smoking. It’s got to be some buds from the 2004 Michoacan harvest, grown on a northern slope, before the rains. That shit makes me hallucinate, too.)
Roger
September 3, 2008 at 5:32 pm
16Ann, you’d think that if someone went to the trouble of photoshopping Gov. Palin onto a body double, they would have at least found one that was topless and holding a bigger gun. Graphic design goobers these days have absolutely no imagination.
David
September 3, 2008 at 5:37 pm
17Keeps coming up Obama around 50%, McCain around 5 points behind. Also, Obama ahead in Minnesota and Iowa.
Sarah Palin was a desperation gambit by a campaign that is, as it should be, losing. She was brought in to fire up the fundie base, apparently against McCain’s preference for Joe Lieberman, and in the intriguing imaginings of the McCain campaign, to attract women voters regardless of their position on issues affecting women. A simple, objective review of who Sarah Palin is and what she espouses, plus her membership in a separatist movement, is all that is required for the Obama campaign to have all the legitimate ammunition it needs. Kudos to Obama for handling so deftly and appropriately the issue of Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy.
Andy Borowitz is having a field day with the Republican convention. Go, Andy.
And hurry back, Adam.
Just Jay
September 3, 2008 at 5:43 pm
18I can’t help but wonder if Palin will get asked a 2008 version of the Kitty Dukakis death penalty question:
Ms. Palin you oppose all abortions, even to save the life of the mother. If your daughter’s doctor had told you that her pregnancy is highly dangerous and will result in potentially fatal complications, would you still advise her to carry the baby?
Wonder what the answer would be.
Jay
Boomer
September 3, 2008 at 5:50 pm
19Hi, gang. It’s great to be back from vacation and just in time for the quarterly inventory at work. Already, I need another vacation.
Have you seen the current Newsweek cover of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Guess who is not wearing his flag pin? Mr. War Hero himself. It must still be on his other black suit - the one at the cleaners. That’s probably it. Cindy really ought to buy him another flag pin. It’s not like she couldn’t afford it. Now he’s probably just lost the Patriot vote from Southerns with a eighth grade or less education.
Hot Tub Tommy
September 3, 2008 at 6:21 pm
20Christine, pleash put down the bullwhip. Quietly. I got one fuckuva headache.
D. Quayle
September 3, 2008 at 6:50 pm
21…Another reason is that Sarah Palin took campaign contributions from VECO, the same guys that will end up getting Ted Stevens and Don Young hung.
Squeaky clean and still has that boyish look - D. Quayle for Vice President 2008!
Sharon Hussein
September 3, 2008 at 6:51 pm
22“Then it really gets ugly.”
Aw, Steve, you’re just saying that to try to cheer me up.
Ann, I thought it might be, but my question stands.
Just Jay, Brilliant! That’s a question I’m sure we’ll never hear asked, but it feels good just to imagine it.
Sharon Hussein
September 3, 2008 at 7:10 pm
23“Kudos to Obama for handling so deftly and appropriately the issue of Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy.”
I read a relevant line today in “The Last Campaign,” which of course I can’t locate right now, but Bobby Kennedy said something to the effect that “you can’t run an immoral campaign and expect to run a moral administration.” Let’s hope the O-man sticks to his principles.
Just Jay
September 3, 2008 at 7:43 pm
24Thanks Sharon Hussein (#22)
You know, much as I admire Obama for taking the family off the table, I came up with more questions that the pregnancy story brings to mind. Like is it fair that the black kid in the south gets 10 years of hard time for a b*** **b, and the white kid in Alaska has to get married and postpone college? (Insert sexist joke about marriage being a life sentence here) If the father’s name was Jamaal instead of Levi would he still be walking around free? Would he still be able to walk?
On a more serious note, what would it say about the Democratic Clinton supporters if Palin draws a large number of them even though she stands diametrically opposed to just about everything Clinton stood for?
Cheers,
Jay
becca (and brian)
September 3, 2008 at 8:00 pm
25Interesting…I didn’t watch the speeches tonight. I was out, and even if I was in, my blood pressure couldn’t have handled it.
But anyway, I was skimming the comment section on the CNN article (which I normally don’t do as the comments tend to be beyond nutty) but I was struck by the 9:1 ratio of folks (both self-proclaimed dems and more noticeably, self-proclaimed republicans) stating how disgusted they were with her all the speeches in general and hers in particular for their lack of presenting any ideas or plans or positives and the sniping, sarcastic, mean tone of all the attacks.
So, who knows, maybe it’s the straw that breaks the camels back for some segment of moderate, objective republicans who also want to work togegther to fix the country and want to be told reasons why they should vote republican instead of just hearing sneering comments about the opposition
Thoughts from folks who actually saw it? Or talked to any republicans who saw it?
Steve
September 3, 2008 at 8:13 pm
26Zeke@11: Thanks but that was totally straight and I only smoke Guadalacaca Brown, picked by froggy little native boys. . .
But, seriously, tell me it can’t happen.
This administration is capable of anything.
Clinton Voters for McCain
September 3, 2008 at 8:48 pm
27“Leave a light on for me, and together we’ll strive to build a bridge to nowhere and deny it later.”
wow. That’s a pretty strong metaphor for Obama’s relationship with Rev Wright, but it’s perfect just the same!
Bravo Adam!
And Kudo’s to Gov. Palin! She knocked it out of the park.
If any women supporter’s of Hillary had any misgivings about voting against their party for the first time, Gov. Palin gave the right speech, at the right time, to salve the burns inflicted by their own party. I know it did for me.
For me, our party going after Palin’s daughter with that “Palin is the child’s grandmother” hoax was the last straw. Truly vile, lowbrow behavior. I was ashamed to call myself a democrat.
I, like many other democrats (especially those for Hillary) are going to vote for the country, this time. And tonight, I feel GREAT about it! Palin is truly the class act at least I’ve been waiting for.
Good show by Rudy, too. He did a great job.
PS becca, you’re the reason I’m ashamed of calling myself a democrat. you claim to care about who is the next president, and then you don’t even watch Palin’s speech. I’m so glad to be rid of being around the political likes of you.
SeattleDan
September 3, 2008 at 9:07 pm
28What a ray of sunshine you are, Clinton voter for McCain. Your particular brand of idiocy is just what this blog needed. I know becca, and she doesn’t need me to defend her, but you, sir or ma’am, offend me.
SallyHMutant
September 3, 2008 at 9:23 pm
29Awww, Adam, you know us so well, we will expend energy upon these Repug broadcasts.
“Expend energy” is such an Old and New Left expression to use regarding elections; as in “expend energy in a meaningless charade that drains the true revolutionary fervor of the People. . . ” (As in when we had a leftist left. And much of it was silly.) Will FanAp soon become your Neo-Trotskyite-Retro-Maoist tool?
Sorry, certain phrases just remind me of stuff, like when I accused you of channeling Woodrow Wilson/D.W. Griffin /”History writ in lightning.”
That tangent aside, I was unimpressed and pissed-off at the speech (the bits we could bear to un-mute-buttton) of that charmless failure of an abstinence-only advocate. And that whole implicit insult to our fightin’ Hillaristas, and all women, chafes worst. (She’s a woman–just like Margaret Thatcher and Phyllis Schlafly and Ann Coulter and Barbara Jordan and Ann Richards and Cyndi Lauper and Hillary–yay!)
I Love Sarah
September 3, 2008 at 9:43 pm
30Speaking on behalf of all men, Sarah is the perfect woman.
I am VERY proud to have been on the planet to watch a new era proceed with what amounts to a female teddy roosevelt riding shotgun into a new era. The dems are confused with how to deal with her because she’s actually a person who walks her talk, and takes responsibility for her actions.
Check out this video, taken long before the election.
You’ll never see dem wonks Hillary OR Obama doing this!
The troops LOVE her!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsx0rWGVkRY&feature=related
The… perfect… woman.
SallyHMutant
September 3, 2008 at 9:51 pm
31Oh, Clinton Voters for Mc Cain
Thanks for the reference. Until your comment, we hadn’t noticed that the charmless failure of an abstinence-only advocate paraphrased/ripped off a 90’s catchphrase from ads made by our own “Wai. . . Wai. . ‘”s Tom Bodett: Leave a light on for me. . .
Chris Harlan
September 3, 2008 at 11:55 pm
32Dear Palin shill (post 27), ain’t no way you’re a democrat who supported Hillary. I’m calling you a liar. Unless of course, you’re a prankish Dem having a laugh by pretending to be a blowhard shill, in which case, you’re still a liar. I can’t tell if you are just trying to tweak us, or if you really think that someone around here might actually think you actually have a point. Either way there isn’t anyone around here dumb enough to bite. Plus, leave ‘becca alone, shill boy. So there.
becca (and brian)
September 4, 2008 at 6:05 am
33wow, my first attack by a troll. I feel like I’ve achieved some rite of passage.
And thanks Chris and Dan.
I actually am interested though to hear what folks who were actually home and able to watch thought or saw. If it had been a good example of sharing their vision and making a case for their party I’d hunt it up on youtube or elswhere on the web. But if it’s just insults….I can pass
dee
September 4, 2008 at 6:22 am
34I watched…God help me, I watched. What I found most interesting is that a good deal of the speech was written last week, though it was revised to make it “less masculine.” I guess that means they took out the spitting and crotch adjusting.
And other than the personalized Hockey Mom schmaltz, it was a standard Republican repetition of Government = Bad, Business = Good.
Oh, and for some reason the new symbol of all that’s wrong with America is the Community Organizer. Lots of snickering by Guliani and Palin over that. I guess it’s not enough to take the jobs away and make health care inaccessible to people — you have to sneer at the folks who try to help the victims of your failed economic policies, too.
dee
September 4, 2008 at 6:23 am
35Oh, I forgot to add that we also learned that John McCain was a POW.
cooper
September 4, 2008 at 6:55 am
36Dee, I haven’t adjusted my crotch in public for years now.
Steve
September 4, 2008 at 7:13 am
37What I’ve seen of Palin says McCain picked well. While anyone who thinks the possession of either ovaries (or testes) is an important selection critereon for high office needs to have another organ examined, I suspect she will win over a fringe element of the Hillaristas who were only in it for the chromosomal advantage. This may be all McCain needs to push him over the top in what’s coming down to a close race.
Obama didn’t even get a “dead cat” bounce off the convention, partially because of the close timing of the RNC, partially because of the impending landfall of Gustav, and partially because of McCain’s audacious choice of a nobody from a state with more moose than people (but not for long if Governor Palin has anything to say about it).
I didn’t listen or watch the speech (or any of either convention — I don’t need to waste time learning what I already know) but I heard a couple of clips from the speech and she came off quite well. The line about not going to Washington to win the approval of the punditocracy but to serve the people (or something similar) was quite well crafted and extremely well delivered.
The Dems will serve themselves poorly (as usual) if they “misunderestimate” Governor Palin. Like “idiot” George Bush, she’ll use their own strengths against them and propel herself into Number One Observatory Circle (and probably, when McCain checks out midway through the term for “health reasons”, to 1600 Pennsylania Avenue).
That is, unless Bush declares martial law on election day and obviates the whole thing.
cousinavi
September 4, 2008 at 8:49 am
38Oooh. Yes! Someone noticed. A LINK! I love you guys, I really do. ohmigod…there are so many people I want to thank!
It’s not just the defensive play, which is a key element for sure…it’s more about controlling the narrative, the issues, the media attention.
No one is talking about the absolutely MONSTROUS degree of criminal, treasonous, Constitution shredding fuckwittery of the Republicans. Impeachment? ?!?!?! These Fuckers should be HUNG!
Eight years of shit that makes all the tsars and Pol Pot look mild. Toss in Suharto and Papa Doc while you’re at it. OK…maybe not Pol Pot…but, come on…
What’s the topic? Pregnant teen mothers. Drilling for oil. White, christian girl versus foreign, elite, Hussein, black man. Experience. I hope it doesn’t work, but the Palin Trap is brilliantly laid.
I mean, let’s be fair: It’s either a brilliantly laid trap to raise issues they want to play, or it’s the dumbest fucking veep nom ever.
If it’s a trap, and despite that plenty of people are pointing at it and saying “LOOK! TRAP!”, we simply cannot stay the hell out of it. All Palin, all the time.
It’s a swing state play, and a goddamn clever one. And it might fuckin work.
Imagine: Obama takes CA, NY, ILL, MA by HUGE margins. All other states close, some red, some blue. Well, except for Texas and the inbred states. Onward.
Swing states, gamed by the Palin Trap - experience, gender, race, foreign, black, white, liberal, conservative…HE WANTS TO TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY! BITTER BIBLE GUNS!
Remember when Gore supposedly won the pop. vote, but Bush got the electoral college with Florida? Imagine a MUCH wider margin, same electoral college result.
Watch for McCain to make strong ‘wants to talk to Iran’ plays - scare the Jews; ‘wants to talk to the Castros’ - scare the Cubans = Florida.
Rust belt. Guns. Hunting. Bible.
This election is NOT OVER. Wake up, sleepy Dems.
Ohio. Florida. Time to start throwing. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
They ASKED for it. Time to roll out the ads featuring Dubya saying, “I say, ‘Bring it on.’”
Ads of the stuttering McFuckwit eating cake with George as Katrina drowned New Orleans, crosscut with clips of McCain trying to appear presidential in anticipation of the storm that didn’t happen.
No quarter.
It’s time.
Aunt Sam
September 4, 2008 at 8:56 am
39I watched it too, in the interests of fair play.
I believe that she is well-spoken, with a talent for delivering her lines. The “Thanks, but no thanks” on the ‘bridge to nowhere’ was brilliant, since that is EXACTLY what she did- accepted it at first, then realized it made her look like a pig at the trough.
I can’t imagine the sarcasm & mockery directed at public service won’t backfire on her. I see the Tribune & Yahoo picked up on AP’s fact check article that was very critical of her speech.
And what is up with Rudy? There was a moment where I thought he was Rumsfeld, until I heard him make reference to 9/11.
Pollster.com shows Obama with 260 likely votes in the electoral college.
Gotta run. It’s the first day of school for my kids, and I’m going out for lunch with all the other PTA moms– or ‘community organizers’ as we like to think of ourselves….
Chris Harlan
September 4, 2008 at 9:26 am
40I watched, and I believe she is a very formidable opponent. She’s smart and quick, but folksy, and, with glasses, she comes across as everybody’s third grade teacher, yet she’s ballsy enough that you believe she’ll have no problem sending Kim Jong-Il to the corner. She will clearly energize the fundamentalist base of the GOP, who will go door to door for her, but not McCain. She is a bold invitation to continue believing in the fairy tales that have engulfed this country for the last eight years. The soap opera aspect to her personal life will continue to reflect well on her, reminding all who want to be reminded that she is the embodiment of the heart of “true America.” That members of her family are personally engaged in the military conflicts that she and McCain support will add serious credence to that side for those who are still on the fence about how to handle Iraq.
She is going to be very difficult to discredit, unless she does it herself; her voice is a bit grating in long doses, and she has a layer of edginess or vindictiveness that might turn people off if over-exposed to it. In general, I think a lot of exposure will dull her luster, but I’m betting the powers that be have taken this into consideration and are now pulling her back a bit. Personally, I hope not. If she’s out front enough, people will get bored, and see her for what she represents.
A VP debate will be bad news for Biden, I’m guessing, because his treatment of her will become a damned if you do/don’t.
Sarah Sarah Sarah
September 4, 2008 at 11:03 am
41“If she’s out front enough, people will get bored, and see her for what she represents.”
I don’t think she’ll make the same mistake that Obama has.
She will drive the national debate, while Obama will forced to react like a speed bag.
I don’t think anyone noticed, but her teleprompter actually went down for a few moments, and her delivery remained seamless.
Imagine if Obama’s teleprompter went down in the middle of one of his speeches!
I think the biggest coup for McCain is picking someone who, after people do their research, in her limited experience, has more qualifications to lead this country than Obama!
Her amazing talent at the podium is just gravy.
Aunt Sam
September 4, 2008 at 11:57 am
42Well, seeing as how Senator Obama writes his own speeches, I think he’d be fine.
Dee
September 4, 2008 at 12:17 pm
43I don’t think anyone noticed, but her teleprompter actually went down for a few moments, and her delivery remained seamless.
According to Jonathan Martin at Politico:
Perhaps there were moments where it scrolled slightly past her exact point in the speech. But I was sitting in the press section next to the stage, within easy eyeshot of the Teleprompter. I frequently looked up at the machine, and there was no serious malfunction. A top convention planner confirms this morning that there were no major problems.
(Emphasis mine)
Just like how the mayor who hired a lobbyist to get her town earmarks and supported the Bridge to Nowhere suddenly becomes the fiscal conservative and the candidate who took money from Ted Stevens and served on his 527 committee suddenly becomes the great reformer.
Republican Mythologists — Pulling Stuff Out Of Our Asses since 1960™
Chris Harlan
September 4, 2008 at 12:32 pm
44Dear SSS (Silly Sarah Shill), I can only hope she tries to drive the debate because when people really understand her I’m not sure they’ll want what she has to offer. Hope not, because I’ll bet she’ll out-Bush Bush.
On another note–or really the same note–has anyone else noticed (the real folks here, not the shills) that there are what appear to be many anonymous postings on various blogs from “Ex-dem,” and “SSS” and “Clinton voters for McCain” that have a strong faux quality about them. Many of the talking points are the same. Much of the reasoning is the same. None of them sound like people who have anguished over their votes. They basically read like they were written by a group of folks who have little or no inkling about what it means to be a Dem, or why one would want to be one in the first place, but have been paid to write faux-puma posts that make it sound like they are abandoning the party. I do know an actual puma, and believe me, his sincerity would not be in doubt, though I am constantly arguing with his judgement. I think the “liberal” Internet is experiencing a well coordinated but poorly executed shill shower. Shucks.
Aunt Sam
September 4, 2008 at 1:22 pm
45Chris, glad to see your cold is better.
Jake
September 4, 2008 at 1:43 pm
46According to MSNBC, Sarah’s speech was written last week by the usual gang of right wing hacks. It was re-jiggered to fit Gov. Palin after she was named. She practiced the speech over and over and over again from 1:00 until 6:00 yesterday afternoon. She had minimal to zero input into the speech. Of course she did demonstrate her reading skills in a way that puts her head and shoulders above our current leader. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that “My Pet Goat” probably would not hold her attention for 20 minutes after being told that the country is under attack. I will grant her that much credit anyway.
cousinavi
September 4, 2008 at 4:13 pm
47Yes, please. Show me a decent education, professor of Constuitutional law at a leading law school, state Senate, US Senate, Foreign Affairs Committee…
Please, oh please, show me your “research”, you pathetic yammering GOPSOP lipflap.
Dale
September 4, 2008 at 4:43 pm
48Has anyone ever seen Sarah Palin and Sue Scott from Prairie Home Companion together?
Jim (OJNTNJ)
September 4, 2008 at 4:50 pm
49Becca said: So, who knows, maybe it’s the straw that breaks the camels back for some segment of moderate, objective republicans who also want to work togegther to fix the country
I first read that as “maybe it’s the strawman that breaks the camel’s back. Thanks for the inadvertently appropriate analogy. I plan on using that one in the future.
SSS said: Obama will forced to react like a speed bag.
WTF?
gillian
September 4, 2008 at 5:20 pm
50I Love Sarah - “The troops LOVE her!!”
I’m sure that’s true. However, I wonder if you know that some of the troops that LOVE Sarah are female. I realize that probably makes your white Republican skin crawl, but you’ll have to trust me here.
Zee Man
September 4, 2008 at 6:01 pm
51Wow! As if the Republican Brain Trust hadn’t shafted Gov. Tim Pawlenty hard enough by giving him the bum’s rush off the VP short list…
http://www.indecision2008.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184088
If McCain wins, we’d better get used to these senior moments and hope to Hell they don’t get nukular missiles launched at us.
gregory
September 4, 2008 at 6:19 pm
52I sure hope that geezer, John McCain, doesn’t fall asleep in the middle of his speech tonight. I know I would, if I had to watch it. But I don’t. So Good Night all.
MeanTim
September 4, 2008 at 6:59 pm
53Is McCain really trying to top Fred Thompson?
MeanTim
September 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm
54I mean Fred all ready told us this story.
Sharon Hussein
September 4, 2008 at 7:20 pm
55Chris @44, I’ve not only noticed the shills, I have been struck by their use of nearly identical wording across several blogs. They’re either the same person, or they’re all cutting and pasting from the same Karl Rove script. Amazing!
Sharon Hussein
September 4, 2008 at 7:26 pm
56dee @34, … and also considering how one of the consistent Republican messages is that government is inherently evil and no one should ever depend on it, they’re also against communities taking care of their own? What do they want, a society of “every man for himself”? They put so much contempt into the expression “community organizer” that it sounds like one step above “crack dealer.” I wonder what they think of Mother Teresa?
Sharon Hussein
September 4, 2008 at 8:21 pm
57Great line-of-the-day from an Alaskan blogger called Mudflats: “Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.” Wouldn’t that look great on a t-shirt?
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
Fran
September 4, 2008 at 8:28 pm
58And did you all notice just how incredibly. . .pale. . .and chiseled *harumphAryanharumph* the audience was? It had a haunting, dare I say it?, German feel.
“Oh motherland, motherland. . .”
She’s playing the underdog card, and she’s playing it well, and Americans eat that stuff up. She’s dangerous on many different levels, is dear Sarah.
Chris Harlan
September 4, 2008 at 11:10 pm
59I watched McCain’s speech. I tried to clear my mind, just listen and react. I thought he was relatively honest and clear, and, to my amazement, he very politely listed for me all the reasons I don’t want him to be President.
We are at a crossroad. It really isn’t even about candidates. it is about the direction our country should head. And maybe crossroad is the wrong metaphor, because the difference between the two views isn’t 90 degrees; it’s 180. Maybe 175.
becca (and brian)
September 5, 2008 at 6:30 am
60So I’m reading all the headlines this morning and many lead with “McCain vows to end partisan rancor” or “McCain runs on bipartisanship pledge.” Can you really write/say that with a straight face after 4 days of some of the nastiest sniping and most divisive partisanshipness?
I mean…”pay no attention to what we’ve been saying/doing the past 4 days/4 months/4 years. Really, we can work across the aisle with these unpatriotic, cowardly scumbag ‘community organizers’ better than they can.” Sheesh.
jerry
September 5, 2008 at 6:57 am
61I think Chris @ #59 is correct. I believe the phrase he’s looking for is cul-de-sac. This country needs to turn around and go back in the direction from which we came into this clusterf*ck.
Steve
September 5, 2008 at 1:48 pm
62Face it, guys. McCain’s won. It’s all over but the balloting.
I say that with great disappointment, since I’ve favored Obama since the early days of his candidacy but the bloom is off the media rose. There’s a new media star, Governor Palin, and she’s about to suck all of the oxygen out of the room, leaving Senator Obama gasping for breath.
American elections are all about media supremacy and have been for a number of years. As I pointed out in an earlier posting in this blog, in general, the “coolest” of the candidates wins and in this election, it’s now Sarah Palin, not Barack Obama who holds that title.
Unless someone finds some photos, or better yet, a video of Ms Palin doing something unspeakable with a moose, she’s the new media darling. I mean, who even remembers who Obama’s running mate is? Oh, yeah, right, that old plagiarist guy (it doesn’t matter whether the charge is true or over blown [just ask Al Gore about “inventing the Internet” — I think even “Wait Wait” has made jokes about it] the media meme is in place and it’s not going to go away).
Rusty
September 5, 2008 at 2:53 pm
63I don’t agree, Steve (#62). Greetings everyone, btw. I haven’t been on here in a very long time.
No election has ever been won or lost over vice presidents, to my knowledge. Benson b-slapped Dan Quayle in personality, presence, intelligence, and debate. Didn’t help. Once the hype is over, Palin too shall pass and we will be left with Obama and McCain.
I used to like McCain as a candidate. I still find him likeable. Wish he had won eight years ago, but that is the point, isn’t it? He lost to George Bush. That is the bottom line. John McCain lost to the worst president we’ve ever had. I’m not losing any sleep over politics right now.
Dale
September 5, 2008 at 3:15 pm
64Are you 100% sure Steve? Because I have a great new job and new apartment and I’d sure hate to shoot myself now if it’s not absolutely necessary.
Aunt Sam
September 5, 2008 at 3:38 pm
65What do y’all think about this idea that’s been put forth: that nearly, if not all, of the polling companies out there rely exclusively on land lines?
That would mean there’s a huge demographic that’s not being included in the information we see. It certainly seems that all my under-30 friends & relations ONLY have cell phones.
Sharon Hussein
September 5, 2008 at 3:58 pm
66Steve, I hope you and Sarah-cubed are getting paid for wasting your time shilling for McSame and McCandy.
Harold, Hillary Voter for Obama
September 5, 2008 at 4:05 pm
67OK, Obama was just here today, and DAMMIT! The rumored “free and open to the public” event quickly became a “closed event open to invited guests only.” Crap, is Karl Rove feeding advice to both campaigns? So much for getting out there and pressing the flesh.
I worry that Sarah Palin will come to Scranton. Scranton is Hillary Clinton territory, her father’s home region and burial place, and (not coincidentally, I believe) Joe Biden’s birthplace. Palin even mentioned Scranton by name in her anti-Obama diatribe on Wednesday. She can connect on a small-town level, and dammit, I’m worried that’s just what she’ll try to do.
Thank Lobster that Hillary is out there campaigning for Obama. She was in Florida today, but I hope she comes back to Northeastern PA in the next 59 days to get the troops back in line. We need to win this.
Jef Taylor
September 5, 2008 at 5:17 pm
68Did you write the dirty stuff too? I forgot what a (hilarious) potty mouth Maher is. You don’t hear the word MILF on “wait wait!”
Sorry to interrupt the political discussion. I’m just a fan.
hedera
September 5, 2008 at 5:18 pm
69Harold, isn’t this the second time the Obama campaign has done this in Pennsylvania? This concerns me. This pisses people off and not just you. I’m with you - we need to win this. If Obama can’t make himself more available to the voters he’s going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Sarah may play well in small towns, but I think - I hope - that when the vast undecided middle takes a good look at her positions, they will reject this Christian Taliban.
Jef Taylor
September 5, 2008 at 5:19 pm
70That last comment was directed toward Adam. Is that allowed?
David
September 5, 2008 at 5:21 pm
71I would not bother to run against Palin. Obama-Biden are running against Bush-McCain. I understand that Hillary is going after McCain, not Palin. Smart, very smart, and a winning strategy. Palin should be treated as the lightweight joke that she is. About the only thing of import is her views on issues, which are in the James Dobson camp, and the more people learn about James Dobson, the less they are going to like him. Wonder how her view that God led the United States to invade Iraq will play with anyone with any sense at all?
Sarah Palin is a sexy opportunist with no redeeming qualities for the well being of the country. John McCain is a shell of his former “maverick” self with no redeeming qualities for the well being of the country. Be really amusing if Palin winds up upstaging McCain because of her sex appeal and scripted speaking ability. Meanwhile, the electoral college favors Obama. Where does Palin take any electoral votes away from Obama? My conservative, Bible-literalist, retired preacher cousin, who has figured out we have no business invading sovereign countries, also suspects Obama will win going away.
Love the notion of the Dukakis moment for Women Aglow Palin. Wonder if Sarah is also an end-timer? She is definitely a “states rights” separatist, but that’s a different issue, and one I’m looking forward to hearing referenced in the vp debates.
Did not watch any of the Republican National Convention. Can live without the nausea.
Steve
September 5, 2008 at 5:53 pm
72Nothing I can say will convince anyone that I’m not a shill for Sarah Palin (I’d rather see a different Palin, if I had the choice).
I’m just facing facts.
I’m going to vote for Obama/Whatshisname and go to bed on November 4, fully expecting to wake up to a McSame/Palin victory. If not, then all that much the better, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
And Bush/Cheney can still declare martial law, right up to and including the morning of January 20, 2009. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if they do, especially if Obama wins.
Getting paid? Hardly. I’d pay good money to make things come out differently but it ain’t gonna happen.
As the great and insightful Tony Hendra put it in The Deteriorata
Aunt Sam
September 5, 2008 at 6:12 pm
73Jef, yes, you can speak to Adam directly. For now.
Steve, I love The Deteriorata! Here in the Chicago area, WXRT used to play it all the way through once or twice a year– that and “Alice’s Restaurant”. And they had a guy who would do a horoscope for the entire planet called ‘The Cosmic Muffin.’ “…and Venus is retrograde today, so don’t expect any lovin’….”
gregory
September 5, 2008 at 6:16 pm
74Steve, seriously, believe me, I know about depression - boy, do I! Maybe you should schedule a check-up, buddy. Really.
Harold, Hillary Voter for Obama
September 5, 2008 at 6:19 pm
75Hedera, I was going to point out that this was the second time that Obama did this “You Can’t Come Here” (Cartman/South Park reference) approach in NEPA - the first being back in March (St. Patrick’s Day, though NOT the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.). But then again, he did come back again for a public appearance in Wilkes-Barre a few weeks later, on April 1. So really, we’ve had an embarassment of riches with his visits, and I can’t complain too much. Still, it would be nice if more people actually had the opportunity to meet him.
Steve
September 5, 2008 at 7:05 pm
76All the chemicals are in more or less the proper order, last time I had them checked. Any more in order and I’d be checking into a Sane Asylum.
I’m not depressed. I get out of bed every morning, catch the train into work and carry on as if it all made a difference, which, of course, in the cosmic sense, it doesn’t. We’re just part of a long chain of chemical reactions and quantum fluctuations about the eternal zero that started at the Big Bang and will end up in the Big Entropy Sink.
It’s all just physics. Don’t kid yourself.
Riff on that for a while.
Life. Don’t talk to me about life.
I’m just realistic. I know enough about the workings of the world to realize that things are badly broken and history tells me that once broken, things don’t unbreak.
Maybe in a thousand years, if we manage to avoid a serious runaway albedo feedback cycle or a worldwide nuclear catastrophe or fatally glitch the ozone layer, our descendants (well, yours, since I don’t and won’t have any) will have picked up enough of the pieces to make another go of it. Or maybe they’ll like barbarism. It’s fun and fun’s where the fair’s at.
As I said above, Hendra nailed it. The world continues to deteriorate.
Ite missae est.
Deo gratias.
Chris Harlan
September 5, 2008 at 9:04 pm
77Steve, thank you for quoting Marvin the Paranoid Android. I couldn’t stop laughing. I was reading along, passed that line, then almost spit all over my computer as it caught up.
I hope we see lots of Palin, because the more we see of her the more annoying she is going to be. If they let her out to talk, she’ll talk herself out of a job. We do have a bit of time here, and she got me to do something I haven’t thought of doing for years–I went and volunteered at the local Dem HQ. See, she’s mobilizing the grass roots.
As to the phone polling–I too am cell phone only.
Sharon Hussein
September 5, 2008 at 9:20 pm
78“Love the notion of the Dukakis moment for Women Aglow Palin. Wonder if Sarah is also an end-timer? ”
David, we don’t know about her, but we know her preacher is:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122048406528596987-lMyQjAxMDI4Mj AwNDQwODQ0Wj.html
“At the Pentecostal church where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin worshipped for more than two decades, congregants speak in tongues and are part of a faith that believes humanity is in its “end times” — the days preceding a world-ending cataclysm bringing Christian redemption and the second coming of Jesus.
The Rev. Ed Kalnins, pastor of the Pentecostal church, Wasilla Assembly of God, says he has told church members that God put President George W. Bush in office and that America is locked in a “holy war” with terrorists.”
SallyHMutant
September 5, 2008 at 11:34 pm
79I stress out badly during presidential elections and all these comments astound and comfort with their FanAp goodness. FanAp is better than Huffpo. Well, that’s apples and oranges, but the writing’s better on FanAp.
Can someone do a neo-James Mongomery Flagg graphic of our Aunt Sam? She is such an on-the- mark patriot. I bet she looks nothing like silent film actor William S. Hart in the trad poster of Uncle Sam. That’s good. A FanApper in a stars & stripes hat with an urgent progressive finger point would be a timely update for the “I Want You. . .” posters.
Aunt Sam
September 6, 2008 at 6:07 am
80Why, Sally, I’m blushing. Could I also be like Columbia urging people to plant victory gardens?
Seriously, thank you for the compliment. I don’t like it when people defend their brand of patriotism as the only kind that matters.
I put my Obama magnet on my car a few days ago, but yesterday was the first time I felt like folks were really reacting to it. An older couple in a Buick glared at me while I was getting gas, but there was another blue minivan almost identical to mine with an Obama sticker on it, so I parked next to them. Then, as I was coming out of the store, a young family with an African-American dad, Asian mom & beautiful little boy were just getting out of their car. The dad couldn’t stop grinning at me and waving.
I decided I would take the happy family over the grumpy couple any day.
Zee Man
September 6, 2008 at 6:58 am
81Oh, they are keeping Sarah under wraps for a good reason, and it’s not just ignorance of foreign policy facts. I fear that there’s trouble brewing from previous deviousness. Or current religious zealotry. Perhaps she handles snakes. Perhaps there’s video of her biting off the head! I can see the headlines now - “Northern Exposure!” (I should have gone into advertising.)
Also, her son turns himself in for duty in Iraq on 911. Anyone else wonder if that date was finagled a bit to come up on such a patriotically significant day? Maybe I’ve just been in DC for too long.
Chris Harlan
September 6, 2008 at 9:06 am
82This would be a copy of that email floating about:
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.
She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She’s smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s
surplus, borrow for needs.
She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t
fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she
later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT
•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen
when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out
of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s
attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The
day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.
Anne Kilkenny
August 31, 2008
Chris Harlan
September 6, 2008 at 9:14 am
83PS that is all Anne Kilkenny and not me. If you want to see Sarah Barracuda talking to some of her fellow church folk, you can see that here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG1vPYbRB7k
hedera
September 6, 2008 at 9:36 am
84Chris, or Anne Kilkenny, or whoever: I read the “letter from Wasilla” on another forum I frequent, but not with your added comments, of course. Thanks for those; it’s always better to get information as close to the source as possible.
Make no mistake - I don’t underestimate Sarah Barracuda. She scares the liver out of me. The idea of an end-timer that close to the Big Red Button is terrifying; she could start WWIII just because she thinks God wants it.
I devoutly trust you are right that if they let her (how could they stop her?), she’ll talk herself out of a job.
Steve
September 6, 2008 at 10:12 am
85hedera sez:
As much as I dislike what Governor Palin apparently stands for, this strikes me as melodramatic, about as absurd as Senator Clinton’s (in)famous 3 AM Red Phone ad.
There’s no “big red button” on the President’s desk that launches the missiles. The process to launch a nuclear attack is actually fairly complicated and designed to be as fail-safe as it can be made. Given some of the screwups in the history of “The Football” (the briefcase containing a satcom phone and various attack orders), I’m actually more sanguine about this than most things involving a Palin administration.
The serious dangers relate to the continuing packing of the Supreme Court with reactionaries and knuckledraggers, the gutting of our regulatory structure, and further wrecking our country with needless and immoral wars.
But, other than that, the play was great. Why do you ask?
hedera
September 6, 2008 at 11:03 am
86Steve, the “Big Red Button” remark was intended as a satiric metaphor. I realize no single person without cooperation can start a war.
On the other hand, I ask you: if George W. Bush’s vice president had been anyone other than Dick Cheney, would we really have invaded Iraq?? From everything I’ve read, taking down Saddam Hussein was Cheney’s personal project and he pushed it beyond reason and evidence. If McCain is elected, Sarah Palin will be in Cheney’s seat.
On all your other points I agree entirely.
Steve
September 6, 2008 at 12:04 pm
87hedera: Dick Cheney is something of a special case in that without him, George W. Bush would have been as inept and ineffectual as his father, George H. W. Bush. Consider the fact that candidate Bush didn’t select Dick Cheney as Vice President, Dick Cheney selected Dick Cheney, mostly, one suspects, to assure the people who brought Mr Bush to power (or, at that time, the threshold thereof) that Mr Bush would stay on the PNAC “reservation”.
Saddam Hussein might have been a Cheney personal project, as you suggest, but Bush also has something to prove to his father, so I don’t think he needed much pushing.
It just struck me that President Bush is also an “end timer” and it might just be Cheney’s self-preservation instincts which have restrained the President from launching into something considerably more apocalyptic than just two endless ground wars in the Middle East. For that matter, I believe that Ronald Reagan also held similar views but after having narrowly missed being felled by an assassination attempt, became a strong proponent of disarmament and negotiation with the then Soviet Union (Nancy Reagan apparently held great sway with the President and sought to ameliorate some of his more bellicose tendencies — sad that equally apparently Laura Bush does not have such influence — all that Botox probably damages the compassion centers of the brain).
Jimmy, YtJ
September 6, 2008 at 6:57 pm
88gillian didn’t tell me they had Nor’easters down here. Fortunately Hurricane Hanna turned out to be a bust. A little wind, but tons of rain! Twelve hours later, the sun’s out, the tourists are back out on the beach and life goes on.
I never did run down gillian’s father on Parris Island - a career jarhead - now retired with no forwarding address. I did have a some beers with a few of his old buddies (I had to buy all around. and let me tell you, those Marines can fuggin’ put away the beer!) and they thought the ex-wife might have some relatives in a trailer park just outside of Yemassee. That sounds right - especially the trailer park part of it - so I’ll head that way tomorrow. At least the gas is cheaper down here.
After I recovered from the komikaze mosquito attack, I found a new BFF - DEET! It clashes with my after shave, but that’s the only way I can survive in this hostile environment. I wonder what percentage of South Carolina citizens are walking around with malaria. Maybe that’s their problem. That and pork BBQ with a disgusting mustard based sauce that’s consumed here like mother’s milk. gillian served it to me once in VT and I should have gotten a Tony for feigning delight with that delicacy.
Maybe, I’ll see her tomorrow. Better get some shut-eye.
just plain Hussein
September 7, 2008 at 5:01 am
89With the usual military efficiency ruling the day, I’m stuck in Kuwait, waiting for my paperwork to be found. It could be worse - I could have been snafued in Saudi, where the Wahabis and religious police have all the liquor licenses in locked away in a vault that would make Ft. Knox proud. At least you can get a beer in Kuwait City.
It looks like I have a relatively cushie assignment outside of Baghdad. Well, cushie as far as war zones go. That’s as much as I can tell you as far as deployment details go. So, not to worry.
Jimmy, I just want you to know that I feel your pain about native cuisine being presented to you as an special treat. Rafiq, our Iraqi translator, and I struck up a friendship during my first tour. He eventually invited me to dinner on the night his wife and son had butchered one of their goats. As the honored guest, I was presented with the prime cuts - the eyeballs and testicles - as an aperitif. As I put the eyeball into my mouth and bit down, I willed myself into an out of body experience that took me back to the white sandy beaches of the Bahamas, during our honeymoon. Those were pleasant, sunny days and I’ll always think fondly of that time. The testicles were actually rather good. I ate one of each and offered the other ones to my host, as is the custom. The rest of the meal was palatable enough.
I hear Sarah Palin was chosen to be John McCain’s running mate. Now there is a textbook example of shell-shock/PTSD and battle fatigue clouding our war hero’s judgment. It will eventually dawn on the electorate that McCain’s ship has already sailed and that Obama will be getting us out of this quagmire soon. It’s time for us to go anyway. I fear we’re wearing out our welcome in Iraq and on this planet.
Harold, Hillary Voter for Obama
September 7, 2008 at 12:54 pm
90David @71, I think it would be as much a mistake to try to disregard Palin as a lightweight distraction of no importance as it was for Kerry to disregard the ironically-named “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” back in 2004 until the damage had already been done.
A concerned Republican
September 7, 2008 at 1:12 pm
91I really worry about our candidate for president. I’m afraid we’ve made a terrible mistake in choosing him. While doing research for a tribute to John McCain, I found out he was fifth from the bottom in his graduating class at Annapolis. I guess that’s common knowledge. But I also found out that he wasn’t much of a pilot either. He had already crashed two jets and had carelessly clipped some electrical transmission wires with a third. He was shot down over Hanoi mainly because he turned off a missile alert warning in his cockpit before making his ill-fated bombing run on the capital. It was distracting him. Hmmm. In fairness though, these things happened when he was still young and stupid, decades before he got all his good experience. Maybe I’m just over-reacting.
Chris Harlan
September 7, 2008 at 2:34 pm
92I’m concerned about your candidate, too, but not for the reasons you mention. If you want to make yourself feel better about his flying, go to factcheck.org. As to his class standing: at least he graduated, and then went on to prove himself
with a distinguished military career. Here’s a link to the flying article:
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_mccain_crash_five_planes.htm l
Now, if you want a list of reasons to really not vote for him, I suggest you consider his economic positions, International positions, quality of life positions, and pretty much everything else he stands for.
If you are just looking for a airplane pilot, despite what you’ve heard, I think you’d be in pretty good hands.
Steve
September 7, 2008 at 3:02 pm
93So, he was a skilled killer after all. Bravo. Let’s all stand up and salute.
Feh.
A concerned Republican
September 7, 2008 at 4:24 pm
94But I’ve heard, Chris Harlan, that this election is not about issues, but about personality and perkiness. At least that’s what Rick Davis has said. And I’ve always suspected that since his granddaddy and daddy had both been Admirals, that the Navy probably burnished his career a bit and really played it up when he was released by the North Vietnamese. After all, they had a hero on their hands. A poster boy for honor and duty. It wouldn’t do for him to actually be a womanizer, a party-hardy heavy drinker and a fuck-up to boot. So they took off the rough edges, as it were.
Aunt Sam
September 7, 2008 at 4:44 pm
95I liked this suggestion for a Dem commercial from Eric Zorn in today’s Chicago Tribune:
“John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin finally gave Republicans a reason to vote for him– a reason that is, other than B. Hussein Obama.” Ann Coulter
“This is an inspired choice. This is absolutely fabulous.” Rush Limbaugh
A lot of people were praying, and I believe Sarah Palin is God’s answer.” James Dobson
“[McCain] picked somebody WE love.” Pat Buchanan
“We weren’t quite sure what McCain’s values were, but now he’s saying loud & clear this is what I want. And we’re delighted.” Pat Robertson
“People who were feeling down are excited again.” Phyllis Schlafly
Tagline: If you like these sorts of people, then Sarah Palin is the sort of candidate you’ll like.
Can I just let my inner snark out for a moment and say the image of an excited Phyllis Schlafly means I have to go boil my eyeballs now?
Zee Man
September 7, 2008 at 4:53 pm
96Rumors around the department for years have warned about McCain’s temper. Now you at home can learn about it, too.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/07/mcclatchy-wapo-and-romney-war n-about-mccains-out-of-control-temper/#more-32602
Chris Harlan
September 7, 2008 at 8:54 pm
97Oh, heavens Steve. I’m just sick of baseless rumors from both sides. Sometimes there is so much fake sh@t that you can’t tell what really stinks. And, if you don’t believe a military is necessary, then there’s something else we don’t agree on. So feh, back.
Aunt Sam, I love the commercial. After I finish the round of work I’m on, maybe I’ll make it for you. Can we have you say “I’m Aunt Sam, and I approved this message” at the end?
plus, ConRep: I should add that your potential pilot apparently swears a bit.
bye bye obama
September 7, 2008 at 9:29 pm
98Zee Man, rumors around washington for months have warned about Obama’s secret Muslim faith. Now you at home can learn about it, too.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-hi s-critics/
Gee! Obama is now 10 POINTS behind McCain in a recent poll. You can learn about it, too.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-07-poll_N.h tm
SallyHMutant
September 7, 2008 at 10:50 pm
99Hi, Just Plain Hussein. Thanks for checking in. We’ll be needing your updates. Best thoughts.
Hillary Supporter
September 8, 2008 at 12:08 am
100Can you say “freudian slip?”
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-hi s-critics/
We told you maniacs to go with Hillary. Now we have at least another 4 years of the republicans. Good job putting the party before yourselves, everyone!
I still can’t believe for the first time in my life, I’m voting republican–to support the democratic party!
Chris Harlan
September 8, 2008 at 1:56 am
101Dear “HilSupp”,
I’ve never ever ever met a Democrat who quotes the Rev. Moon’s Washington Times for any reason other than to make a joke, so I’m thinking that either the above is a joke, or you are not a Democrat. Actually, both are probably true. It is also probably true that you are a liar when claiming once upon a time to have been a Hillary Supporter.
I should probably have addressed this to “bye bye Obama” as well, since you are clearly the same person. May I suggest that you try reading a paper with a stronger factual base then the WT–say, The Onion–in the future.
Zee Man
September 8, 2008 at 2:55 am
102True words, Chris. I won’t even drive by the Washington Times building anymore. I’m afraid I might be abducted by Moonies and forced into one of Rev. Moon’s mass marriages. I know that sounds ridiculous but, really, why take the chance?
Aunt Sam
September 8, 2008 at 6:42 am
103Hey, Fanny ate my comment! That’s never happened to me before. Does this mean I’m one of the cool kids now?
Our old friend, Dave von Ebers, has a blog called Journal of the Plague Year over on blogspot. I recommend his current posting, entitled Sex, Lies & Video Tape: The Republicans Throw A Party.
becca (and brian)
September 8, 2008 at 7:52 am
104Hey JP Hussein-
“Cushy for a war zone”. I love it. Thanks for the update. Stay safe and know that we’re thinking about you and all your fellow troops over there.
All-
Since when did we become such a destination for trolls and other troublemakers?? To paraphrase Aunt Sam, does that mean we’ve become one of the cool web sites now? Sheesh.
SharonHussein
September 8, 2008 at 9:16 am
105becca (and brian), it’s a sure sign that the rethugs are running scared. If you fling enough poo-poo in enough places, some of it is sure to stick. As campaign manager Rick Davis said with his own mouth, this election is not about issues, it’s about The People’s perception of the candidates. I don’t believe that personally, but the rethugs believe it. It worked once, it worked twice, why wouldn’t it work again?
Steve
September 8, 2008 at 9:25 am
106Aunt Sam: Fanny apparently ate yours when she ate mine.
Chomp!
cooper
September 8, 2008 at 10:05 am
107Yeah, Aunt Sam. You have survived your right of passage into “with-it-ness. You are way cool now!
And thanks for the tip about Dave von Ebers.
SEAGOLFER
September 8, 2008 at 11:28 am
108Palin is a perfect candidate, they can say she is for anything that generates contributions and then do nothing on those issues, i.e. Bush II. Almost all of the comments on this thread are void of any true election issues. (a few snuck in here and there)
Let’s review the recent past and what it has meant for our conservative friends. Conservative congress for 12 years, check, conservative President 20 of 28 years, check, 7 of 9 Supreme Court justices appointed by Republicans, check. Total items of the conservative agenda completed, ZERO. Only more government intervention in heath care, education and social programs that were meant to be run by the states. So much for states rights.
The liberal press, Demos, the war, there is always a reason why the “Party” can’t deliver the goods. Conservative liberals (government intervention but for conservative topics) keep blind faith that the Republicans will actually do something for them. This generates money for Republican candidates. If they actually do anything then the money stops so it isn’t going to happen.
Let’s stick to the big issues that we want to talk about and run these clowns out of the building. It’s the economy, health care, war and the deficit that are important the rest will take care of itself if we make people talk about those things.
P.S. if Democrats are Tax and Spend, can we always refer to Republicans as Borrow and Spend More? Palin looks like she has that part down.
McCain LOVES Ya
September 8, 2008 at 11:54 am
109Obama self-destructing! His major pitchman just got neutered!
Lesson to learn for the dems: pitch a fit, and you’ll be taken out of the game.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008 090800008_pf.html
I can’t wait for Rev Wright’s biography due out any day now. That will close the deal.
Thanks for making the job easy, dems! Next time find a candidate who doesn’t feel the need to waste his resources running a campaign in Europe! Cuz guess what? German’s can’t vote for the president!
The Obama presidential seal was a nice touch too! I guess Obama stumbled across the line between cynical manipulation of liberal pseudo-intellectual pudunks, and outright arrogance.
Money well spent, Oprah! Better stick to giving away cars!
I know it’s rude to gloat, but I’m so proud of America, and President McCain right now!
Aunt Sam
September 8, 2008 at 12:24 pm
110President Bush called the Alaska governor “an inspired pick” by McCain.
“She’s had executive experience, and that’s what it takes to be a capable person in here in Washington, D.C., in the executive branch,” he said in a Fox News interview to be shown Tuesday.
Steve
September 8, 2008 at 1:43 pm
111. . . and now, for something completely different.
Wait Wait on the telly?
Please, Adam, Peter, et al, let this be a hoax.
David
September 8, 2008 at 4:27 pm
112Harold, I might have to defer to you on this one. I do hereby resign as a political prognosticator. I fear I fell into the trap of thinking the majority of voters had come to their senses. That S. Palin could prove a winning pick says things about Americans as voters that aren’t good.
Obama’s organization has one and only one job that matters, and that is bringing home the electoral college. Hard for me to see why that should suddenly escape us, but then I really couldn’t imagine Bush getting enough votes to steal ‘00 and finegle Ohio in ‘04.
As for the bungholery being offered by some brown collar trolls…
David
September 8, 2008 at 4:27 pm
113Harold, I might have to defer to you on this one. I do hereby resign as a political prognosticator. I fear I fell into the trap of thinking the majority of voters had come to their senses. That S. Palin could prove a winning pick says things about Americans as voters that aren’t good.
Obama’s organization has one and only one job that matters, and that is bringing home the electoral college. Hard for me to see why that should suddenly escape us, but then I really couldn’t imagine Bush getting enough votes to steal ‘00 and finegle Ohio in ‘04.
As for the bungholery being offered by some brown collar trolls…
David
September 8, 2008 at 5:06 pm
114I have no idea why it posted twice. Fanny either eats ‘em or spits ‘em out twice, it seems.
Harold, I should add that I do consider Palin an airhead, but not because she is either lacking in intelligence or cunning, but because once you get inside her head, you will play hell finding substantive insights or knowledge beyond her extremist religious beliefs or anything that has helped her climb her own personal ladder. George Bush apparently at some point recorded an iq of 125, which I have never thought was not a possibility. He is an anti-intellectual, incurious and ignorant by choice. But he is clever and he is cunning. He also fits my definition of an airhead.
gregory
September 8, 2008 at 5:31 pm
115Sarah Palin prays to God to build the gas companies a pipeline in Alaska? I guess for some people that doesn’t sound too weird.
gregory
September 8, 2008 at 5:34 pm
116By the way, David, Bush drank and snorted his way to buffoonery.
dead in the water
September 8, 2008 at 6:07 pm
117Good observation, Greg. I think you have a point there. That explains why Obama has lost control of his campaign for not much reason.
He did do a lot of blow back in the day. Maybe it creates some kind of brain damage that cannot be mitigated through time.
Perhaps Obama to the presidential campaign as Bush turned out to be in the Iraqi campaign.
He shouldn’t have gone there in the first place, and got as far as his did through lies.
Jake
September 8, 2008 at 6:18 pm
118I think a lot of the people voting for McCain are closet racists. They just cannot bring themselves to vote for a black man.
Karla
September 8, 2008 at 6:38 pm
119Let’s see, Sarah Palin has a pregnant unmarried teenage daughter, a four month old infant with Down’s Syndrome, and this is the time to step out of the family to run for Vice President? This is the caliber of person that makes the Republicans wet with desire? Hmmm….
David
September 8, 2008 at 6:48 pm
120dead in the water,
Your comment doesn’t really fit Obama, who is intellectually curious, articulate, a superb academician, and clearly a solid thinker. Any mistake he might make would be a result of the new world of presidential campaigns in an age in which the media delight in turning it into a freak show.
Jake,
There is likely too much truth in what you say. My sister has a close friend, a Hillary supporter who to everyone including her husband’s consternation is insisting she will vote for McCain because Hillary got a raw deal. My sister has heard a couple of racist-tinged remarks slip out. It looks like the real problem is her old-school southern objection to blacks as full-fledged equals. This problem is actually more intractable among old-school northern racists. Labor unions at one time were capable of some pretty intense racism. And Birmingham, Michigan was much more segregated (and I suspect racist, if closet so) than Birmingham, Alabama, which is now not particularly racist at all, at least likely no more so than the national norm.
We will see whether or not the Obama organization, which is pretty robust, can bring home 270+ electoral votes or not. That is all that matters at this point. What state Kerry carried is going to go for McCain? On the other hand, which states Bush carried are going to go for Obama? There is no other metric that matters.
Zeke
September 8, 2008 at 7:04 pm
121This is interesting. A video on YouTube showing John McCain blowing his stack, that was linked to by both Crooks and Liars and Digby today is no longer available for viewing from YouTube. How unusual. The post @ Digby is called Powder Keg, if you’d like to read it.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/powder-keg-by-digby-it-seems-to -me-that.html
David
September 8, 2008 at 7:07 pm
122From The Washington Note (Steve Clemons website):
“FiveThirtyEight.com notes that there is new polling in five key swing states and after sorting it out, the analyst notes that McCain has made some modest inroads but that Obama still wins if the election was held tomorrow. 298 to 240 electoral votes.”
Dead in what water?
jerry
September 8, 2008 at 7:26 pm
123Hey, this is fun linking to “This Modern World” each Monday. gillian, if you need a few more weeks with your boyfriend, it’s not a problem at all.
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/09/09/tomo/
SeattleDan
September 8, 2008 at 9:03 pm
124I love it when Adam post two short paragraphs, apologizing for being late, and we come up with 120+ comments. Albeit with some lame troll comments. My advice people, is to ignore them. They are meant to incite and make us feel little and dispirited.
To those jerk trolls, I say, $$$$ &&&!
dead in the water
September 8, 2008 at 9:25 pm
125David, if Obama is a “solid thinker” as you say, why did he adopt a black racialist as his spiritual mentor for a good 20 years, showering him with monetary donations to the tune of 20K annually, up to last year? If you think going to Harvard qualifies someone as a “solid thinker,” you must not know many people from Harvard, or maybe your thinking is suspect.
As long as we’re all linking, how about THIS link, from the Huffington Post’s political intellectual, Adam McKay? He took time off from writing his novel, in Morocco apparently, to fire off this ghostly wail about americans being out of touch, as well as his own prediction of this election’s outcome from the perspective of a committed democrat. From Morocco, no less! I wish I had the talent to assess typical american sensibilities all the way from a beach house in Morocco!He is the MAN!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-mckay/were-gonna-frickin-lose-t_b_1 24772.html
To Zeke… uh… I saw someone get testy. I didn’t see anyone blowing their stack on your recommended YouTube video.
I DO like how you linked to a devoted anti-McCain page, that tells independent thinking democrats which of his posts they should copy and mass email to other democrats. Very effective. Class act. And so relaxed, and smarmy. Perfect attitude for republicans on the fence. A winning strategy.
To Karla, yes a mother’s place is in the home. What a progressive democrat you are. Have any carrot-cutting advice?
Keep them coming, you intellectually independent democrats! You’re like the reader’s digest condensed version of the Huffington Post! I get twice the laughs in half the time!
Now that Olberman has been unceremoniously cast off in shame and humiliation, you guys are all I have left to brighten my day!
Aren’t you all glad you all supported his method of reporting? Yes, it may have been bad journalism, but his cause was just, so that makes it all good! Just like waterboarding isn’t the best method for interrogation, but our cause is just, and that makes it good too!
I’m glad we’re starting to converge a little. I thank you, and President McCain thanks you too!
Maybe Obama should take up snow machine racing. I’d root for him!
jerry
September 9, 2008 at 3:14 am
126Do I have this right? Sarah Palin’s first born son is being deployed to the war zone in 2 days and she is still out on the road w/ McCain parroting the same lame jokes she mouthed at the convention? Maybe she just needs a lot of attention from throngs of swooning sheep to make her day.
Boomer
September 9, 2008 at 3:50 am
127We all have different tastes, but personally I like my GYWO cartoons animated. How ’bout you?
http://www.236.com/video/2008/get_your_war_on_the_cross_8755.php
Steve
September 9, 2008 at 5:37 am
128This is really getting depressing.
Even on NPR, they’ve got Palinmania, or whatever you want to call it. This morning on Morning Edition they ran a story
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407512
on McPalin and their exciting “change” agenda, justaposed with another story on Obama’s economic policy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407515
which made Obama sound like a dull, boring, somewhat depressing policy wonk. (Note I’m not linking these <a href…> because the comments software does something strange with multiple links).
Listen to those items and tell me which campaign sounds like the agent of change.
Somebody please tell Obama’s handlers he’s got to stop sounding like Al Gore and more like Barack Obama or he’s going to lose. Big time.
It’s all about perception.
As much as I loathe Senator Clinton for her triangulating and conniving duplicity, she probably would have actually been a better choice for Veep and would have made McSame look like a “me too” candidate if/when he picked Palin.
septer
September 9, 2008 at 6:37 am
129Steve,
About Wait Wait! That’s some news! I always wondered how come the show has not yet migrated to TV…if it does everyone will talk about it and the loyal radio-day followers (i.e. I ) would not feel smug about knowing wacky news and knowing about this smart show many others don’t!
But glad for Wait Wait. Its about time those folks became greater celebrities.
hedera
September 10, 2008 at 10:49 am
130I sincerely hope the Wait Wait! rumor is false. If it goes to TV they’ll quit broadcasting the radio show (no matter what they say in the memo) and I’ll lose it. I. Do. Not. Watch. TV. Ever. Not even for Wait Wait!
Dave von Ebers
September 10, 2008 at 12:57 pm
131Thanks, Aunt Sam, for the boost. I appreciate it.
Haven’t made it over here for awhile. I didn’t realize there were so many trolls out there. Amazing how sensitive these McCain-iacs are, no?
becca (and brian)
September 10, 2008 at 1:24 pm
132DvE–
We’ve missed you! I check over at the Plague Year for regular doses of insight, but it’s not quite the same w/out your comments here
Dave von Ebers
September 10, 2008 at 1:32 pm
133Thanks B(and B) … I’m hoping things calm down a bit so’s I can get back in the swing of things. It’s been a crazy summer, to say the least. Never thought I’d be glad to see summer come to an end …