Wednesday, September 3, 2008
That's some spunky gal.
She just gave a great speech. Gotta hand it to her, she did a great job of delivering the speech that was written for her. Then again, she has been a media type in Alaska, and she knows how to handle a teleprompter.
But she strayed into territory that will come back to haunt her. Again, it's all about the Hanoi Hilton. And her assertion that she went against earmarks is not borne out by the record.
But she did what she needed to do tonight to save her candidacy. Now McCain is joined to her. Game on.
Of course, the end of her speech wasn't in time for the 11 o'clock news. So much for Republican precision.
Ok, here we go, Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy and somebody RIch. Cpwboy Troy is, I have to say it, a token African American on the stage. Sure are a lotta white folks in that hall. Hell, I had more minorities in my room at the hotel in the Democratic National Convention than most of the Republican state delegations have.
Oh lordy, they are still harping on the POW thing. That was 40 years ago, for cryin' out loud. Enough. What's he going to do in 2009?
Go back to the Senate, apparently...because he isn't likely to win.
But she strayed into territory that will come back to haunt her. Again, it's all about the Hanoi Hilton. And her assertion that she went against earmarks is not borne out by the record.
But she did what she needed to do tonight to save her candidacy. Now McCain is joined to her. Game on.
Of course, the end of her speech wasn't in time for the 11 o'clock news. So much for Republican precision.
Ok, here we go, Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy and somebody RIch. Cpwboy Troy is, I have to say it, a token African American on the stage. Sure are a lotta white folks in that hall. Hell, I had more minorities in my room at the hotel in the Democratic National Convention than most of the Republican state delegations have.
Oh lordy, they are still harping on the POW thing. That was 40 years ago, for cryin' out loud. Enough. What's he going to do in 2009?
Go back to the Senate, apparently...because he isn't likely to win.
Reagan's Speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, Declares "It's Over"
Many outlets are showing 2 Republicans in their own Jesse Jackson moment. Peggy Noonan and Republican flack Mike Murphy, discussing the pick of Sarah Palin, for VP, declared "It's over." Murphy called the pick "gimmicky". Noonan said "...they went for the narrative, which is, excuse me, political bullshit..."
Now that's what I call "Straight Talk"!
So Palin is going to attack the media and " Washington elite". Perfect. The media which was McCain's biggest ally is going to be their punching bag. That will turn a lot of votes their way.
No more Palin family matters. Just the facts of her record, ma'am, just the facts. Better yet, keep the focus on McCain and his policies and judgement.
I am watching portions of the RNC online. I am struck by how empty the hall is much of the time. Contrast that with the mob scenes inside the DNC last week.
Bring it on, Sarah. Bring it on.
Now that's what I call "Straight Talk"!
So Palin is going to attack the media and " Washington elite". Perfect. The media which was McCain's biggest ally is going to be their punching bag. That will turn a lot of votes their way.
No more Palin family matters. Just the facts of her record, ma'am, just the facts. Better yet, keep the focus on McCain and his policies and judgement.
I am watching portions of the RNC online. I am struck by how empty the hall is much of the time. Contrast that with the mob scenes inside the DNC last week.
Bring it on, Sarah. Bring it on.
Straight Talk Part Deux
oops, I almost forgot...
McMinions: She was against pork, as evidenced by her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" championed by Ted Stevens.
Anchorage Daily News, USAToday, Politifact.com: Bullsh*t.
ADN: Part of her platform in running for governor was "build the Bridge". She later used the money for other projects. USAToday: She backed federal funding of the bridge project, and as Mayor of Wasilla, hired one of Jack Abramoff's lobbyists to promote earmarks for Wasilla, to the tune of $8 million. Politifact: She turned it down only after the money for it had been canceled by Congress. Though she said on Friday in her introduction " If we wanted a bridge, we would have built it ourselves", she earlier had said "we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it's clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge..."
And for sheer crass entertainment value, I have to recommend the store at www.VPILF.com ( yeah, you read that right. Don't ask me to explain. It's one of those internets things.) A sample: photo of Palin with the caption "Babe-raham Lincoln!". Don't say I didn't warn you.
McMinions: She was against pork, as evidenced by her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" championed by Ted Stevens.
Anchorage Daily News, USAToday, Politifact.com: Bullsh*t.
ADN: Part of her platform in running for governor was "build the Bridge". She later used the money for other projects. USAToday: She backed federal funding of the bridge project, and as Mayor of Wasilla, hired one of Jack Abramoff's lobbyists to promote earmarks for Wasilla, to the tune of $8 million. Politifact: She turned it down only after the money for it had been canceled by Congress. Though she said on Friday in her introduction " If we wanted a bridge, we would have built it ourselves", she earlier had said "we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it's clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge..."
And for sheer crass entertainment value, I have to recommend the store at www.VPILF.com ( yeah, you read that right. Don't ask me to explain. It's one of those internets things.) A sample: photo of Palin with the caption "Babe-raham Lincoln!". Don't say I didn't warn you.
So much for the Straight Talk Express
McMinions: She was vetted by the FBI.
FBI. Huh? Not us. Never happened.
McMinons: She is fully qualified to be Vice President, and a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Alaska Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing: issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" ( Translation: the State of Alaska, Sarah Palin, Governor, is shutting your car wash down, Ms., I mean Governor, Palin.) Sarah Palin started a car wash in Wasilla as part-time mayor. So she has executive experience as a businesswoman, too. Except she didn't pay fees and file paperwork, and the state of Alaska sent her that notice, with her name on the LETTERHEAD, for crying out loud. ( Source: Washington and Fitzgerald, www.alternet.com)
She can't even run a car wash. ( See? Nothing to do with family. Whew. )
McMinions: She has experience from her travels abroad
Me: See previous post.
Tune in tonight, folks. Should be a helluva speech. She can read a teleprompter well, and apparently is a good debater, too. Seriously. No snark here. I just wish I could hear Patrick Buchanan respond to this speech.
Speaking of speeches, Carol Marin of suntimes.com, reports in St. Paul that at least a half dozen times she has been asked by Republican legislators questions along the lines of "Were you there? Was it amazing?", referring to Obama's Thursday speech at INVESCO field. Speech envy.
My friends, they have only to look to this Thursday, when John McCain will blow Obama off the rhetorical playing field. Ok, THAT is snark. Just testing.
FBI. Huh? Not us. Never happened.
McMinons: She is fully qualified to be Vice President, and a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Alaska Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing: issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" ( Translation: the State of Alaska, Sarah Palin, Governor, is shutting your car wash down, Ms., I mean Governor, Palin.) Sarah Palin started a car wash in Wasilla as part-time mayor. So she has executive experience as a businesswoman, too. Except she didn't pay fees and file paperwork, and the state of Alaska sent her that notice, with her name on the LETTERHEAD, for crying out loud. ( Source: Washington and Fitzgerald, www.alternet.com)
She can't even run a car wash. ( See? Nothing to do with family. Whew. )
McMinions: She has experience from her travels abroad
Me: See previous post.
Tune in tonight, folks. Should be a helluva speech. She can read a teleprompter well, and apparently is a good debater, too. Seriously. No snark here. I just wish I could hear Patrick Buchanan respond to this speech.
Speaking of speeches, Carol Marin of suntimes.com, reports in St. Paul that at least a half dozen times she has been asked by Republican legislators questions along the lines of "Were you there? Was it amazing?", referring to Obama's Thursday speech at INVESCO field. Speech envy.
My friends, they have only to look to this Thursday, when John McCain will blow Obama off the rhetorical playing field. Ok, THAT is snark. Just testing.
The Gift That Keeps On Giving
My, my, isn't this a fascinating time in which we live? The revelations about President Palin ( think about that for a moment...then move on) just get better and better...unless you think about the actual ramifications for our country, which John McCain always puts first. Unless Karl Rove tells him to do otherwise.
So, as Governor of Alaska, President Palin slashed funding for a teenaged mothers program. Perfect. Now it appears she tried to get her daughter to get married right after the convention. Her people say the young couple planned to marry all along. So, umm, why didn't President Palin introduce her as " my engaged daughter"?
Scott Simon of NPR interviewed a Palin spokesperson over the weekend, asking about President Palin's foreign travel. The flack, whose name I can't recall, answered that she had traveled abroad and seen other countries besides Germany and Kuwait, where President Palin had visited Alaska National Guard troops. Initially evasive when pressed to say which other countries, the flack finally answered "She''s been to Ireland."
And indeed she has. In the airport. On the stopover to Germany. The sum of her overseas experience is an Irish airport, an Army base in Germany, and an Army base in Kuwait.
Hey, that's a thick enough foreign policy resume for ME...but what do *I* know?
President Palin's campaign people have said that her daughter and the young man she is going to marry, Levi Johnston, should be left alone and should have their privacy. Which is why President Palin's campaign is bringing Levi Johnston's family to the convention. To the Republican National Convention. Where there are, ohhh, I dunno, 14,853 journalists and photographers, news crews from around the world, ( even Ireland! Where President Palin has been!), and talking heads of every stripe. So they can get some privacy.
( I wonder if FOX News, they of the "fair and balanced", will refer to Bristol Palin as Levi johnston's "baby mama"? Wanna take a bet?)
My guess is, they are hoping that the media frenzy surrounding them will disgust people. Whether that will translate into votes for McCain is debateable.
But lawdy, ain't they cynical?
Now on to John McCain's family values. People Magazine has a cover story on the Palin and McCain families, with pictures of the families. Wait a second...what's wrong with this picture?
Where's Bridget?
You know, Bridget McCain, his daughter adopted from Bangladesh, the one Karl Rove and Steve Schmidt, McCain's campaign manager, called his "illegitimate black baby" in South Crolina in 2000?
Why isn't Bridget in the picture? More importantly, who made that decision to leave her out of the family portrait that would be prominently displayed in every supermarket aisle in America? Did Steve Schidt say "Senator, we can't have her in the picture. It just won't fly in middle America"? And McCain said yes? So McCain, the maverick, is getting told what to do by Steve Schmidt? Or McCain, the maverick, made the decision as a dad to leave his daughter out of the picture.
Either way, what a guy. As a father of a daughter by adoption, let me just say I am appalled.
Now, let's talk about families for a moment. Barack Obama is absolutely right that children should be off limits when we discuss the presidential race.
But as Barney Frank says today in the Boston Herald, they are the ones who brought up her family, and family values, as part of her qualifications for the Presidency. And the Republican party has for years presented themselves as the arbiter of American Family Values. Heck, even James Dobson, right wing religious fanatic, leads a group called Focus on the Family.
So, it's a conundrum. Is it legitimate to ask how effective abstinence only sex education is when the daughter of a vigorous proponent of abstinence, as in President Palin, gets pregnant out of wedlock? Is it fair to use her as an example?
Or should we leave them alone, and focus on the fact that a President McCain is likely to lead to a President Palin? And that their policies will just continue Bush's policies in education, energy, foreign policy, and tax policy?
I have to admit, it's always delicious to dish on Republican hypocrisy. But I am not sure it really gets us further down the road. So, I will attempt to avoid concentrating on the continuing President Palin Soap Opera.
But don't hate me for occasionally straying if it gets REALLY juicy. I'm only human.
So, as Governor of Alaska, President Palin slashed funding for a teenaged mothers program. Perfect. Now it appears she tried to get her daughter to get married right after the convention. Her people say the young couple planned to marry all along. So, umm, why didn't President Palin introduce her as " my engaged daughter"?
Scott Simon of NPR interviewed a Palin spokesperson over the weekend, asking about President Palin's foreign travel. The flack, whose name I can't recall, answered that she had traveled abroad and seen other countries besides Germany and Kuwait, where President Palin had visited Alaska National Guard troops. Initially evasive when pressed to say which other countries, the flack finally answered "She''s been to Ireland."
And indeed she has. In the airport. On the stopover to Germany. The sum of her overseas experience is an Irish airport, an Army base in Germany, and an Army base in Kuwait.
Hey, that's a thick enough foreign policy resume for ME...but what do *I* know?
President Palin's campaign people have said that her daughter and the young man she is going to marry, Levi Johnston, should be left alone and should have their privacy. Which is why President Palin's campaign is bringing Levi Johnston's family to the convention. To the Republican National Convention. Where there are, ohhh, I dunno, 14,853 journalists and photographers, news crews from around the world, ( even Ireland! Where President Palin has been!), and talking heads of every stripe. So they can get some privacy.
( I wonder if FOX News, they of the "fair and balanced", will refer to Bristol Palin as Levi johnston's "baby mama"? Wanna take a bet?)
My guess is, they are hoping that the media frenzy surrounding them will disgust people. Whether that will translate into votes for McCain is debateable.
But lawdy, ain't they cynical?
Now on to John McCain's family values. People Magazine has a cover story on the Palin and McCain families, with pictures of the families. Wait a second...what's wrong with this picture?
Where's Bridget?
You know, Bridget McCain, his daughter adopted from Bangladesh, the one Karl Rove and Steve Schmidt, McCain's campaign manager, called his "illegitimate black baby" in South Crolina in 2000?
Why isn't Bridget in the picture? More importantly, who made that decision to leave her out of the family portrait that would be prominently displayed in every supermarket aisle in America? Did Steve Schidt say "Senator, we can't have her in the picture. It just won't fly in middle America"? And McCain said yes? So McCain, the maverick, is getting told what to do by Steve Schmidt? Or McCain, the maverick, made the decision as a dad to leave his daughter out of the picture.
Either way, what a guy. As a father of a daughter by adoption, let me just say I am appalled.
Now, let's talk about families for a moment. Barack Obama is absolutely right that children should be off limits when we discuss the presidential race.
But as Barney Frank says today in the Boston Herald, they are the ones who brought up her family, and family values, as part of her qualifications for the Presidency. And the Republican party has for years presented themselves as the arbiter of American Family Values. Heck, even James Dobson, right wing religious fanatic, leads a group called Focus on the Family.
So, it's a conundrum. Is it legitimate to ask how effective abstinence only sex education is when the daughter of a vigorous proponent of abstinence, as in President Palin, gets pregnant out of wedlock? Is it fair to use her as an example?
Or should we leave them alone, and focus on the fact that a President McCain is likely to lead to a President Palin? And that their policies will just continue Bush's policies in education, energy, foreign policy, and tax policy?
I have to admit, it's always delicious to dish on Republican hypocrisy. But I am not sure it really gets us further down the road. So, I will attempt to avoid concentrating on the continuing President Palin Soap Opera.
But don't hate me for occasionally straying if it gets REALLY juicy. I'm only human.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Here We Go
Police in Minnesota invaded homes of suspected protesters, dressed in SWAT gear, arresting people who merely asked if they had a warrant, and bradishing automatic weapons. You can find the story on Salon.com.
This, folks, is merely practice. if they can pre-emptively raid otherwise peaceful and law abiding households, handcuff them, and take their computers and journals without showing a warrant, then they can pretty much do the same to me for writing this blog, and to you for reading it. I'll be amazed if we have an election on Nov. 4th.
Good news for New Orleans about Gustav. I'm waiting to see how Houma and environs fared.
More tonight, off to work.
This, folks, is merely practice. if they can pre-emptively raid otherwise peaceful and law abiding households, handcuff them, and take their computers and journals without showing a warrant, then they can pretty much do the same to me for writing this blog, and to you for reading it. I'll be amazed if we have an election on Nov. 4th.
Good news for New Orleans about Gustav. I'm waiting to see how Houma and environs fared.
More tonight, off to work.
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