You know, it is still kind of crazy to me that Sarah Palin could be VP in just a few short months, and we really know nothing about what she thinks. That is why, by the way, we have reports like this which seem to sound much worse than they are (she appears to have notdone anything illegal with the per diem stuff)- people are just trying to figure out who and what she is and stands for.
And it is crazy. The folks who spent a year telling us Barack is not ready to be President are now extolling the virtues of being on the PTA. The folks who mocked Obama’s “celebrity” for six months are now buying Palin dolls because of one speech she read at a convention. The whole thing is just nuts.
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
crack
I think it’s sad that our standard for public officials is that they don’t break the law.
Mac G
I think they chose her because Pinocchio Palin can lie with the best of them.
mellowjohn
that’s a horribly sexist attack. you must really hate all women.
/snark over/
Seanly
What’s wrong with a little hypocrisy? It’s the lube that keeps the evil engine of the Republican party moving!
Please remove the PJTV banner on the left. I keep seeing the creepy Ron Silver as Inspector Gadget picture or the montage of shots of Fred Thompson and his wife/granddaughter Jeri.
4tehlulz
Obligatory CLINTON CLINTON CLINTON post.
kate r
Since we’re talking about celebrity (which means we’re all about celebrity egos) McCain as an egomaniac is a fun article by Eugene Robinson.
I guess because McC is not a strutting show-boat when he talks, he doesn’t come across as all about the me me me me. Yeah. A GOS link: http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/9/53942/74606/1012/591901
Brian J
I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch her speech to the RNC yet. It’s waiting on my DVR for me to watch, but I haven’t done it. From what I’ve seen, she looks to be a good speaker. Of course, if the people I work with and live with are any indication, that’s the only reason I like her, aside from some mistaken belief that she’s been an incredible governor who has reformed a lot. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t that the primary criticism against Obama up until very recently? Isn’t it still allegedly his only appealing quality according to some?
It’s kind of amazing to think, she hasn’t even been on the national stage for two weeks. We know almost nothing about her, aside from some scandals and some alleged accomplishments in reforming Alaskan politics. But we’re supposed to accept her as a vice president. Meanwhile, after spending many months cultivating a platform, Obama’s the one who’s up to the job.
I want to live in conservative fantasy land for a week.
Jeff
Heard a rumor that Sullivan may be fired for his McCain/Palin coverage? His site has been quiet for two days.
Brian J
Where did you hear that? And fill me in, was it that bad? I don’t read him, so I can’t say for sure, but was he acting that unprofessionally?
Napoleon
He did a post last night, although it was a picture of the day thing.
smiley
Got a chain email this morning that contains about 15 large photos of Palin doing various things as mayor and governor (and wife/mother). It was from the freerepublic I believe. The far right clearly has a huge crush on Sarah Palin. Their acting like a bunch of 7th graders.
jenniebee
I forget sometimes – this is your first election on the outside of the Republican machine, looking in.
This isn’t anything new. I remember just being dumbfounded four years ago that the swiftboat bs had legs, and that anybody would have the gall and the disrespect for the military to wear purple heart band-aids at the R convention. But the truth is, for a lot of people, their nearest and dearest principle is to always and in all cases, no matter what the cost, avenge their own persecution complexes. There’s a cottage industry in spreading the word that Democrats=New York Liberals=Wall Street is keeping down the good ol’ American people (most notably, by giving all the good jobs to teh skirry black mins and unnatural lesbian wimmins who abort their babies), and enough folks vote Republican to keep that all-powerful Democratic Wall Street presence down to win elections over and over again.
As long as they feel powerless, the Democrats must be running things somewhere. That’s why Mitt Romney’s speech about how liberals have really been running the show in DC wasn’t laughed right out of the convention.
So sit back and enjoy screaming at the TV. And you should probably budget for a new TV too, just in case (so this one time, about six years ago, my husband was cleaning his guns in the living room and watching Chris Matthews on TV at the same time…) Just always try to keep in mind, no matter how many times we lose the political wars, we always win the cultural ones.
cintibud
I think Obama should get one of those Sarah Palin dolls AND a GW Bush doll – in his flight suit no less – and move their arms into an upraised victory salute! It could be a pretty funny commercial at least – who’s the celebrity?
BTW – is there an Obama action figure yet?
zzyzx
I was wondering why Sullivan has been quiet.
PK
It may not be illegal, but it should be and it sounds ridiculous coming from a so called reformer. Why is she charging the state anything when she is in her own home.
I will hand it to the republicans. I thought there was no way they could nominate someone worse than Bush-Cheney. But they outdid themselves. We have a corpse attached to a corrupt hockey mom (with a down’s poster baby and slutty daughter in tow) as nominee for the president and VP of the good old USA.
It makes me so proud to be a naturalized citizen.
Punchy
That’s becuase she’s a anti-abortion PTA member. Seriously, that all it takes to get their vote.
smiley
Forgot to mention but a couple of the photos in the email I got show Palin in what appears to be — a flight suit.
r€nato
Republicanism isn’t a political belief, it’s a cult.
Let’s hope we get the much-needed intervention this November.
r€nato
…and this is surprising… how?
r€nato
Are you sure? I hear it’s like being high all the time… only not quite so pleasant.
dewberry
I have no idea how it’s going to play out, but some of the smartest women I know who were lukewarm about Obama have revved it up thanks to Palin. Her extreme views do not play well with moderates.
OTOH, I think people who were probably not in the end going to vote for Obama now have cover.
But 55 days is a long time in media celebrity terms. I think that star will crash.
We’re tied, so I guess it’s who has the best closing game.
wasabi gasp
Thanks, but no thanks on that candidate from nowhere.
Chris Johnson
Does it make her dick look big too?
John Cole
I was wondering if they were going to go after Sullivan.
Stuck in the Fun House
I am assuming her home is in Wasilla. Therefore it would be totally appropriate for her to charge per diem while in Juneau or any other place away from home. But to get it while at her home in Wasilla doesn’t make sense, although in Alaska it apparently does.
Napoleon
I am not a big Sullivan fan, but swear to God if they muzzle him I am going to cancel my Atlantic subscription now and not even wait for it to expire next year.
Quackers
We spent 20 months wading through a huge field of candidates. We listened to endless debates and voted in the primaries in record numbers. FINALLY, we are down to the two best candidates. We vote. One heart attack later we are addressed by the President from the Wasilla Whitehouse: “My fellow Alaskans and the rest of you. I was briefed this morning that Russia has like totally invaded Georgia again. That aggression must not stand, so I have ordered our brave troops (“Hi Track, love ya!) to slay the Bear. If we turn a blind eye Florida could be next. Let us pray and give thanks to God for his infinite wisdom to put the right leaders in place to carry out his missions. Thanks.
dewberry
I think they are going after Sullivan. It’s all over some blogs that he was called into Atlantic HQ for a pow-wow and knuckle-rapping.
He definitely went way overboard with the rumor-that-shall-not-be-named. He just lost all sense of perspective. But, that’s why I read more than one blog. Because part of blogging is a personal point of view.
That said, I imagine he was driving traffic sky-high…what to do? what to do? Freedom of speech or being accused of the dreaded perceived liberal bias?
Why do I see a separate non-Atlantic website coming soon for Sullivan?
John Cole
Links, damnit.
NonyNony
He definitely went way overboard with the rumor-that-shall-not-be-named. He just lost all sense of perspective.
Sullivan? Lose perspective over a female candidate? My gods – this has never happened before in the history of the Internets.
If Sullivan loses his job over his paltry few days of rumormongering Palin after months of full-on losing his shit over Clinton, then I’ll know the jig is up for the Atlantic. Not that I think much of the place right now as it is, mind you, but if Sullivan was going to get his knuckles rapped about this stuff then he had it coming months ago.
Napoleon
The biggest problem I have with the Atlantic is that it definitely has a conservative bias, but tries to sell conservatism with a smile, and as part of it they sprinkle in the occasional liberal. Having said that I think Jim Fallows is one of the US’s best, perhaps best, journalist, and on top of it more on the left side of the isle, but like a Josh Marshall or Kevin Drum a reality based, moderate, thoughtful type of “left”.
Charlie Dodgson
… one speech that she read off a teleprompter, in which the word “nuclear” had to be written out phonetically… and Wolf Blitzer actually got on the tube afterward and praised her mastery of the difficult skill of teleprompter reading.
Which is good, but not as good as Paris Hilton, who famously proposed her energy policy without needing a teleprompter at all. (Particularly since, as one of my commenters pointed out, Palin actually has professional training in reading off teleprompters, from her time as a sportscaster.)
A heartbeat away…
curtadams
If they’re going after Sullivan for the rumor-that-must-not-be-named, there’s got to be something to the rumor-that-must-not-be-named. Palin could blow it sky-high easily if it’s false and score a lot of political points in the process.
Rosali
I thought Sully went overboard in demanding that Palin release her medical records for Trig’s birth.
montysano
I’ve been feeling a bit of panic, but there’s this: one day soon, McCain has to stand on the same stage as Obama and make his case. Same with Palin and Biden. This should be….. should be….. a very bad day for the GOP. In a sane world, that would be the coup de grace.
If not, then we’re far gone down the rabbit hole, and we’ll get what we deserve in November.
The Thinking Man's Mel Torme
Why? He’s been yawping about seeing Biden’s records for weeks now, and that little turd Kaus has taken up the refrain.
The Moar You Know
Well, we’ve just found out Ms. Palin takes fiscal responsibility to the extreme.
mark
I love this metaphor: Sarah Palin: A Trojan Moose
croatoan
Looks like Governor Pailn was a big fan of Bonnie Bedelia in Die Hard.
Rosali
It seemed like he w
Stuck in the Fun House
Kerry crushed Bush in all three debates last time and lost, probably. Albeit Kerry was overall an awful candidate, winning debates is not what it used to be, especially with a chronic GOP fluffing media. If by some highly unlikely chance one of the gilded suits in the GE ivory tower is reading this, I would like to say Fuck You Very Much for letting down the American people.
dewberry
Okay, the Sullivan rumors mainly seem to linkie back to this blog:
http://www.mikefrancesa.com/wordpress/?p=1050Yes,
Do not know him. Do not know how credible. Sullivan may be taking the cat to the vet. On Ta-Nehisi Coates’ blog, people keep asking him for clarification (he’s one of the few who allows comments) but he says he doesn’t know.
Rob
No she didn’t do anything illegal in this regard but how many times have we heard, “I haven’t done anything outside the the law” by shady politicians or their surrogates before? More often than not, though not technically illegal, what they do is ethically shaky. I find that to be the case here. She and her husband have clearly been milking this per diem for as much as they can.
Besides, isn’t she supposed to be the ultra honest, super responsible, running-the state-budget-like-a-thrifty-housewife candidate? This, like so much else about her that the Republicans have been shoving down our throats about her, is a bunch of horse shit.
Mary
My current Visa statement includes the refund of the $40 they automatically charged me for my yearly subscription. It was a bit of a surprise to find out that they charged me in June for a renewal in October, and I made sure to phone them, complain, and cancel.
If they have canned Sullivan, who I think can be a real douche sometimes, that still pisses me off a lot. Yglesias is gone, Coates is doing a good job of holding down the fort, and Fallows is as whipsmart as ever, but compared to the volume put out by Ambinder, Douthat and McArdle, it isn’t enough.
boonagain
First, Matthews and Olbermann demoted.
Now, Sullivan might have lost his job. (Also, have you noticed the sniping between Yglesias and Ambinder>)
To quote my favorite band, Are we waiting for the clampdown?
Do they really have that much power?
It seems they are not going to relinquish power easily
tBone
Not helpful. Go after Palin for being a corrupt, hypocritical, extremist nutjob all you want, but leave her daughter out of it. Calling her “slutty” for getting pregnant is the kind of shit Republicans do – we’re supposed to be better than that, remember?
Rosali
Soory about the above. It looked like Sullivan was gearing up to go overboard on demanding Biden’s records too. Wanting your candidates to have a clean bill of health is one thing. Demanding to peruse their medical records for specific procedures is quite another.
Teak111
Absolutely incredible, isn’t it. Not Palin, but the GOP propaganda machine. From Fox to Limbaugh, they will say anything to sell their decrepit party. And even worse, half of fricking Amer was swollowed it hook, line and sinker.
Why the hell do I sit in this little cube all day working for Corp Amer all day when I could be out selling Jesus, apple pie, and hockey moms to 50% of Amer and make a handsome living.
Well, I hate working Sundays for one reason.
Kevin
He is peddling the Obama == secret Muslim bullshit, so I would take whatever that guy puts out as crap unless I see something from somewhere else.
Kali's Little Sister
As if the People magazine bit and the Faux Newz rave were not enough to know her favorite colors and what she has for breakfast! But now you information freaks have a chance to learn all she wants you to know through the delicate emceeing of the ever-so-deferential Charlie Gibson. Hurrah!
Napoleon
I actually like him quite alot. He is a great addition, but still not enough to remove the stench of Douthat, Crook and McArdle.
John Cole
It may be true, but that blog sporting the rumor has been a hotbed of straight out racist bullshit since Obama entered the race.
Cris
It occurred to me last night (as I lay in bed not sleeping) that so far, the Palin gambit has paid off as well as the GOP could have hoped.
One of the first reactions I read upon her announcement was “the GOP has taken the ‘inexperienced’ argument off the table.” The thought was that if McCain believes a political newbie can be VP, then you can’t hold Obama’s short resume against him.
But it didn’t take the argument off the table — it baited liberals into putting the argument back on the table. We dutifully fell into the trap, attacking her lack of qualifications, exposing ourselves to the counter-attack. “If Palin isn’t qualified, neither is your guy!”
They had to have known we’d react that way. As Jon Schwartz said, the precious thing about our species is that we just can’t shut up.
Tsulagi
Welcome to America. 9/11 changed everything.
Gotta hand it to Karl Rove for whatever influence he had on McCain getting him to pick someone like Palin. Does Karl know his base or what? Pick an anti-choice creationist PTA mom who knows which end of a hockey stick or rifle to hold and his crowd goes wild.
This pick breathes life and enthusiasm back into the Rapture Seekers, and far more importantly into their GOTV efforts to counter Obama’s ground game. Hat tip, Karl.
Mary
Marc Ambinder says that Sullivan is OK.
I suspect a suspension but not a sacking. (Insert teabagging joke here).
Kali's Little Sister
Step 1: Crush dissent
Liberal media my ass! Of course the Republicans did not laugh the point out of the convention; it is their own imaginary talking point. Sure it is another shameless lie. But, you know it is OK to lie for Jesus. We need to lie for Jesus, so we can steal and kill for Jesus. And hasten End Times.
Heshe
If McPalin wins, it will prove without a doubt that this country is absolutely insane, again.
Still, it’s not over and it’s not hopeless. There’s enough juicy stuff out there about Palin’s radical ideas and policies. For example, one of the newest tidbits is that when she was mayor, they started charging rape victims for the evidence kits used by the police, kits that cost $400-1200 each! Can you imagine? Kind of anti-woman, wouldn’t you think. (Just trying to save the taxpayers money.)
cintibud
Anybody who reads Sullivan knows to call bullshit on Ambinder’s post. Sully always has someone to cover for him. “Taking a few days off” is because he was sent home.
Darkness
The whole thing is just nuts.
The whole thing is just hypocritical. A normally negative term that apparently gets the republican mojo workin’.
Seanly
Ahh, but the kicker is that Democratic voters got to vote on that. The primary is the public vetting of a candidate. If Palin had been part of the presidential campaign 10 months ago, the little scandals & her lack of experience would’ve put her below Fred “Jowls” Thompson in the votes. She’s new, she’s exciting, I suppose she can read a teleprompter okay though personally I found her flat delivery of that nasty speech very unmoving.
Things will even out in a couple of days.
Seanly
Ahh, but the kicker is that Democratic voters got to vote on that. The primary is the public vetting of a candidate. If Palin had been part of the presidential campaign 10 months ago, the little scandals & her lack of experience would’ve put her below Fred “Jowls” Thompson in the votes. She’s new, she’s exciting, I suppose she can read a teleprompter okay though personally I found her flat delivery of that nasty speech very unmoving.
Things will even out in a couple of days.
Education Guy
Is it because you think that the children of candidates are fair game now?
Also, please define “they” and “go after”.
SGEW
Ambinder says:
Also: Ta-Nehisi’s th’ best. Been reading him for about a year, and was very glad to see him fill Yglesias’ shoes.
SGEW
Oops. Beat me to it, Mary.
emma
Don’t count on it. Haven’t you heard? EVERYTHING is good for John McCain and now Palin by extention!
SGEW
And, of course, my first post is held for moderation, so my 2nd post makes no sense. Sigh.
Mary
Anne Kilkenny will be on the John Moore show on Toronto’s CFRB today. John’s a decent liberal/liberatarian sort, so this should be a good show. He’s on between 4 PM and 7 PM Eastern time, with Kilkenny most likely to be on after 5 PM (my prediction — don’t hold me to that.)
You can click the Listen Now link in the top left of the show page to stream the show live.
Dan
John you were a Republican, the only qualification is GOP membership and the only disqualification is Dem membership. This has been the number one rule since Clinton…
Bedlam UK
…until we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference.
from Rick Davis.McCain’s campaign manager regarding Palin.
Just wanted to point out that the definition of deference is “humble submission,” and “affected or ingratiating regard for another’s wishes”; also, “a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others.”
The thesaurus gives “obedience,” “capitulation,” acquiescence,” “surrender,” “docility,” “timidness,” and “complaisance” as suitable alternatives.
Pointed out by Nobodys Business
Rick Taylor
When they successfully elevated Thomas to the supreme court after failing with Bork, they demonstrated they could get very conservative people in power if they were green enough not to have a record that proved how extreme they were. Of course it is horrific they’d play a game like that with the supreme court, and now potentially the presidency, but it started back then.
I’ve been pretty cynical about conservatives, but this has pushed my cynicism to new levels. Most of them really do seem to have no principles, except it’s good if a Republican does it and bad if a Democrat does. Although I’ve only read a few sources out there. Are there some conservatives who are consistent in this case, who are horrified that McCain would choose someone who is so obviously unqualified to potentially become the most powerful person in the world?
rawshark
I know I’ve beaten the Orwell horse to death but it does explain a lot of what you see happening. As does this.
Notorious P.A.T.
“This is madness!”
“THIS–IS–AMERICAAAAAA!”
Ash Can
There’s (probably) nothing illegal about her and her daughter staying at a $700/night hotel in New York on the taxpayers’ dime either (from the same WaPo article). Nor is it expressly against Pentagon rules for her to address her son’s batallion on 9/11, since she is still the governor of AK. And it’s certainly not illegal for the AIP to feature a link to bin Laden’s buddies, the Chechen rebels, on its web site. (That second link is to an LA Times article, not the web site iself.)
However, all of this is just part of the drip, drip that’s eroding Palin’s image as a reformer, patriot, maverick, political whiz kid, whatever. The longer it goes on, the more it makes her supporters look like little more than suckers for a pretty face.
SGEW
Check this out. (h/t Sully)
bleh
I think the republicans decided some time ago that they could not win this year and decided instead to run a huge experiment to see just how bat shit crazy a campaign they could run before it would back fire on them. Sort of a calibration exercise to gauge exactly how stupid the electorate and press are so that next time they could stop just short of the mark.
To their surprise they are finding out the well is so deep it appears bottomless.
John Cole
Of course I don’t think the children of candidates are fair game, which is why I never trafficked in any of the damned rumors.
There are a number of people who HATE Sullivan. If there was a letter-writing campaign to get Sullivan in trouble, start there. I don’t read him anymore, but try Ace of Spades for a starting point on folks who hate Sullivan.
Sullivan’s problem is that “teh left” hate him as much as the rabid right for his fifth column stuff after 9/11.
liberal
dewberry wrote,
I don’t know which part of the story Sullivan obsessed on, but the story is still alive and kicking. (Whether it’s tactically wise to continue with it is another matter.)
That is, to me, it actually being her daughter’s baby speaks better of Sarah than if it’s really hers. Why? Because she supposedly took an extremely long plane ride (and then a nontrivial car ride, IIRC) after her water broke, in a high-risk pregnancy.
That’s just incredibly irresponsible.
The stuff about “who’s going to take care of the kids if she’s VP?” really is sexist: men (and women) have someone take care of infants all the time, and even if the little guy has health problems, I’m sure we can arrange it for the VP of the USA. But giving birth, that’s a responsibility that no man (and no woman other than the birth mother) can hold.
So, this crap about flying back to Alaska is either false, or she’s an extremely careless, reckless, selfish individual who’s not fit to be driving people around in a taxi, let alone hold the office of the VP.
Notorious P.A.T.
By the way, I was thinking that all of us who saw Rachel Maddow’s show and liked it should write in to MSNBC and tell them to keep it up:
[email protected]
SGEW
Watching it now on her site at MSNBC.
Yow. My li’l ol’ liberal Maddow-lovin’ heart’s goin’ flutter flutter.
Cris
Yep yep yep. Case in point: who’s going to take care of the boys if he’s elected to the Delaware Senate? And the answer was, “Joe is.” (Of course, the commute to Wilmington is more doable than the commute to Wasilla, but hey.)
Kevin
From Sullivan himself
Tsulagi
Don’t forget RedState! Lately he’s been a high face card in their evildoer deck. Leon is using this as his little blue pill today…
It would be irresponsible of him not to speculate.
BTW, the backend of your site needs that magical ham sandwich Terri never got.
Paul L.
MUST CREDIT Paul L.!!
Andrew Sullivan is working with Rachel Maddow to uncover the story that Sarah Palin is the cover identify for Barbara Olson.
In order to cover up the 9/11 missile strike on the Pentagon used to start the war in Iraq, the passengers of American Airlines Flight 77 were provided with cover identities and relocated to Wasilla, Alaska.
This story will finally bring about the downfall and impeachment of the Bush/Cheney/Mccain/
PalinOlson regime.SGEW
Oh, absolutely. But, here’s an interesting thing: if Joe Biden had an infant child with Down Syndrome I, personally, might have worried about his split attention as a V.P. possibility, and/or question his responsibility as an equal-parenting lifepartner (remember: there’s a big difference between the responsibilities of a Governor or a Senator and a POTUS during a time of national emergency (which we would probably be in, by default, if the V.P. had to ascend to the presidency)). When Sen. Obama announced his candidacy, I had a few minor doubts because of the age of his two children, but realized that they’ll probably be old enough by the time he would take office – and that Michelle can certainly take up the slack (can you say the same about “First Dude” Todd “I Love To Disappear Into The Wilderness For Months At A Time” Palin?).
However, I’ve been making sure to say nothing about Gov. Palin’s children . . . because it might be sexist.
Sigh. It’s hard to be a post-modern feminist.
Brachiator
What Palin thinks or her competence to become VP or President doesn’t really matter because she is the Bizarro-world Obama. Both are young, both are from the newest states to some degree (Hawaii, Alaska), both are different from the old white males that previously made up the head of the national tickets. But Palin makes it OK to put “Country First,” i.e., vote for a continued “whites only” stewardship of the country, with a dash of evangelical Christianity.
That she is on-the-surface fresh and pure makes her a younger version of Futurama’s Mom:
Sadly, this just emphasizes the ruthless cynicism of the Republicans. They claimed that it was bad that Obama was supposedly all image, but love Palin for exactly the same reason. And while a small core of voters believe the worst about Obama without regard to facts or reason or common sense, an equal and opposite core embrace Palin while rejecting any critical view of her candidacy.
The saving grace is that not all moderates and Independents seem to be willing to accept the GOP propaganda push that it is permissible for Palin to be pushed upon the nation as a Stealth candidate for VP without a more detailed consideration of her actual achievements and opinions.
PeterJ
If you add AIP to the equation, then Palin wanting to give birth in Alaska makes at least some sense.
And while she isn’t born in Alaska, her husband, the confired former AIP member is. And he might want all his children born there as well. (And while we’re at it, what’s up with Track having a tattoo of Alaska?)
This is worthy an investigation. The rumor isn’t.
Kevin
Opposite? I would say that they’re likely the same people.
dwightkschrute
John you really need to stop hanging around the comments section of Talk Left.
Brachiator
Yeah, you’re right. I was writing quickly to try to avoid getting WordPressed, and mangled the idea of the brazenly blind hypocrisy at play in the way that some voters view Obama and Palin.
DougJ
We’re fucked as a society. Completely fucked.
If I didn’t have so many friends who grew up in Eastern Europe before the fall of communism, I wouldn’t have so much idea of what to expect.
I have given up all hope in our political system. I think the best course of action would be for the west coast and northeast to secede.
I’m not kidding.
We are hopelessly, completely fucked. McCain will likely win and Palin will likely end up as president one way or another.
It’s all over.
SGEW
Dammit all, people! They’re the AKIP, not the American Institute of Physics!
Stop giving the Niels Bohr library a bad name!
tBone
Post of the Month.
On the plus side, court proceedings will be a lot more entertaining with Stephen Root presiding.
SGEW
Buck up, Doug. This country has gone through worse. Think about it: the USA has committed genocide, institutionalized slavery, had our capitol burned to the ground, gone through a Civil War, detained thousands of our own citizens without due process, and has almost had several armed revolutions.
Not to mention what we’ve done to people in other countries (Iraqi civilian casualties are horrendous, but we’re not talking about millions of Vietnamese).
Sure, this is bad. McCain could very well be worse. But, comparatively (just with our own history, never mind other countries’ woes), it just simply will not be as bad as things have been in the past.
21st Century America! Better than 19th Century America!
It’s at least a little solace, no?
Stuck in the Fun House
You forgot Britney’s flameout, Madonna with coned mammary parts and that fucker J.R. getting shot. It’ll be okay DougJ, President Palin will see to it every American carries a brand new shiny Bible, King James version of course.
Rome Again
Improved for accuracy.
McCain has had four bouts of melanoma already. Wanna take bets that he survives a fifth?
Rome Again
I see no reason to believe this is true about Sullivan, but, it does seem the media is scared of the temper of the Son of Cain, as evidenced in the KO and Tweety election coverage decision. Why does a presidential candidate get to set the rules of the media? I don’t get this.
Rome Again
Interesting, I was reading the birth charts of Obama and Mc(insert insult here) and there are some very vast differences between them. I was not surprised by what I read, but, it was interesting none-the-less.
Rome Again
Too bad I can’t get her to hand deliver it. I have some passages I’d like to sit down and discuss with her.
SGEW
That’s th’ stuff. Counter their bizarre nonrational prehistoric belief system with another!
What are Gov. Palin’s E-meter readings? Why will she not release her records? She must be hiding something.
t jasper parnell
Firefox with No Script lets you control what you see. It can be annoying a times having to allow stuff but it’s cool not seeing adds and etc.
QuickRob
I, for one, am not overly enamored with Palin. She seems cool, she’s hot in a mousy librarian kind of way, but whatever. She’s slightly more prepared to be President than is Barack Obama, a man who has to his credit little more than presiding over an as-of-yet unfinished campaign. And so what if she has her speeches written for her – that is par for the course and Dem’s and Rep’s do it regularly. The questioning of her abilities has been 75% because she is a woman, so these barely concealed sexist undertones are perhaps the most interesting part of it all.
Thing is, Palin is an unknown with at least some genuine executive experience (most Presidents lately do come from the governorship, after all…) and she is only running for the VP slot.
Obama, on the other hand, has some mysterious experience as an “organizer” in his community, followed by a relatively brief time in politics with very little in the way of meaningful accomplishments – and he’s running to be the President. Not just maybe become the President if the real one dies…but really be the President, real soon without any more practice!
And now, as some in the media and in the Republican Party fawn all over this virtual unknown – now suddenly the stupidity of it all hits home at balloonjuice.com, as they watch Palin get worshipped by starry-eyed “Wal-mart Moms” just like the way they felt about Obama just a few months prior, before he started turning.
Have you all discovered cynicism just now, so late in the campaign? Is all HOPE lost…?
Stuck in the Fun House
You know QRob, all this drivel you just posted might have some merit, except for the teeny tiny factoid that about 20 people have already voted for Obam to be a candidate for POtus. MS. Palin was appointed by wingnuts trying to stir their crazy ass religious WING to action. I guess that has worked to a degree, but something to be proud of, not so much IMHO. Of course having a good looking pathological lyer on the ticket is nothing new for republicans, who will always choose to win over whats best for their country.
Stuck in the Fun House
That be 20 million voted for Obama.
Rome Again
Call it whatever you want, we are all influenced by stars. It’s one of the oldest and most studied systems in the world, but, I’m not out to convert you.
SGEW
Sorry, Rome Again. I’m a little, uh, touchy about Astrology, and whatnot. I’ll keep a lid on my frothing skepticism, and try to respect our respective Nonoverlapping Magisteria. :)
Rome Again
That’s alright, I don’t ask that astrology (or any other creationist subject) be taught in science classes. ;)
Brachiator
This is just nonsense. Of course, Palin is not running for president. Just comparing her to almost every other VP candidate with the exception of Dan Quayle, she comes up woefully short in terms of any national bona fides. The problem is that practically everything that has been presented about Palin’s public record is either an outright lie or a distortion.
More nonsense. The phony charge of sexism had little to do with Hillary Clinton’s failings, nor do they have much to do with Palin’s lack of substance.
And it’s more than that she had her speech written for her. Most of it was written for “generic VP” candidate before she was selected. The larger issue is that the GOP is pushing the lie that the speech is all her, with the double lie that the teleprompter failed and she had to wing it.
Yep, other politicians have speech writers, but they have been around long enough in other venues that the public has an idea of who they are. This cannot be said of Palin.
The experience thing is a red herring, and is little more than the Republicans attempting to set the terms of the debate. Some of the greatest presidents (and prime ministers) have had modest political experience. For others, the most significant thing about them is that they had to deal with some kind of failure in their lives.
And if being a governor was a requirement for running for president, McCain would be disqualified.
Your argument about experience fails for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is because you have to abandon it in order to push McCain.
Palin is an unknown. Why in the Hell should voters accept her as a plausible candidate, especially when what little is known about her suggests that she is not ready for prime time? It is not rational for Republicans to try to say both that she has been fully vetted and that you should vote for her on faith.
This is just too funny. And a lie. And a feint. You just can’t say that Palin is an unknown, but Obama is also an unknown, so Palin must be better. It is just not a logical argument.
But it’s Obama vs McCain. McCain is on record saying that he doesn’t know anything about the economy. What was he doing in the Congress all those years? He claims that he understands foreign policy, but comes across like an idiot if he doesn’t have Joe Lieberman whispering in his ear.
By any rational measure, McCain and Palin are either incompetent or empty.
SGEW
Brachiator says:
I see your problem right there, Brachiator. Logic and reason are not at play here.
By their laughably illogical arguments and totally irrational measures shall ye know them, and so shall ye know despair.
[Or, on the other hand, they just have their basic facts wrong. You can’t argue with someone who will not acknowledge new information.]
RH Potfry
Oh, is that all? Why didn’t you say so, John.
Roschelle
If America falls for this bologna…the Extreme right could never chant the battlecry Country first ever again!
QuickRob
That’s right. I’m dumb, Republicans are crazy and evil, Palin is a religious extremist, this is all part of the diabolical plot… blah blah blah.
If you keep trying to see your political opponents through some Harry Potter prism of as if the Republicans are Slytherin, the liberals will never get to steer their vision anywhere. It’s just a bad idea to spend all your time (and money, I see, you suckers and all your donations!) devoted to living in this black-and-white world.
I thought Bush had a problem devoting too much speech time talking about stark contrasts and good vs. evil, but at Balloonjuice.com it is non-stop demonization and playing the victim, 24/7.
Is this what this site is? A bunch of paranoid maniacs who are tossed about on the seas of misfortune because of the Republicans and their “dirty tricks”? There is no crying in baseball!!
I think Camille Paglia has an article in Salon.com today about just the kind of psychological problems, on exhibit here, that are the reason the Obama camp is making a hard run at handing the election to McCain. McCain makes what could turn out to be an uninformed choice of Palin as VP, but, RIGHT OFF THE BAT, the loony left popped out and acted to demented and delusional (so much talk about that poor baby, and her daughter!!!) that there is now, already, a solid wall of support behind Palin with the millions of conservatives and women who empathized with her during that time of media inquisition and liberal blogger mud-throwing. So, now, despite the fact that her resume might come off with more asterisks and question marks than originally assumed, the Obama camp has shot itself in the foot not by any action of its own, but by the guilty-by-association rule, once the loony tunes starting howling at the moon after the Palin announcement.
And, to repeat (since this is accurate) – Palin has more executive experience. Get a calendar and look for yourself, it’s simply, really. Im not about to argue with a bunch of hyper-partisans (that is YOU, after all, damn near all of you) about her experience. I am going to take it at face value just like I take Obama’s meager record at face value. His record sucks, he’s unreliable, and his past and his friends are sketchy. Palin is an unknown, even more than Obama, she wsn’t exactly instrumental in the Bridge to Nowhere thing (then again, no one cares), and she might have had some crazy corrupt cop fired for threatening to murder people while he was drunk-driving in his patrol car, or something like that (not exactly a big deal…and no one cares).
I mean, really, go read the comments in this post. Paranoia and delusion…all around.
:rolleyes:
To be honest, I have so much money in solar power stocks that an Obama win in November would be great for my wallet, so I don’t even totally oppose him. As the polls have turned these past few days, my portfolio is taking a real hit, but then again oil is also down…whatever.
I don’t even like McCain, at all. He’s full of shit and I like very few of his stated policies, at all.
You know who never gets elected President? The crybaby who whines when things don’t go his way. Who doesn’t get elected? The guy who has to tell his voters not to worry because he won’t let a woman bully him.
Stop being crazy, guys. When you have convinced yourself that your opposition is “evil”, you are officially a fucking moron and you aren’t to be trusted with power, and the guy you support is automatically suspect for having so many idiotic supporters….
think about that