Barack Obama waltzed into Bill O’Reilly’s studio for what guaranteed to be a cantankerous and difficult interview with the most arrogant commentator in the short and unfortunate history of cable news.
What are the odds that either McCain or Palin would consent to an hour long interview with Keith Olbermann, O’Reilly’s twin…in Bizarro World?
I voted for John McCain. Twice. I proudly voted for him in the New Hampshire primary in 2000. I also proudly wrote him in as my vote for President in 2000 after he was chased from the race by scurrilous rumors and Rovian tactics by the Bush campaign.
As a veteran, I understood and appreciated his sacrifices for America and I was humbled by them. As a person, I connected with his adherence to small government principles, a firm but respectful foreign policy, an understanding of the costs of war and his deep love of country.
The man that stands before us on that stage tonight bares little resemblance to that man for whom I once proudly voted. He is a man who has cowed to the new fundamentalist fervor which dominates the GOP and he has compromised himself on many of the issues that made him a “maverick”.
During his speech tonight, he needs to talk to the American people and outline his plan for the country. We know about his service and his sacrifice. We know what he thinks about Obama. He needs to tell the American people how he intends to address the challenges facing this nation. Not just about the war(s) we are currently embroiled in or the war(s) we face. He needs to talk about the economy, health care, energy and education.
I’ll keep a few notes as the evening progresses, you’ll probably note how conflicted this will come off as the evening rolls:
- I intended to watch Lindsay Graham and Tom Ridge, but baby issues got in the way. I’ll assume they were mediocre.
- Cindy McCain’s biography video just played. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much about her aside from her wealth and problems. Aside from the fact that her marital story left out the fact that John McCain cheated on his first wife with Cindy, it was well done. Sometimes, it’s nice to see these propaganda videos and realize that there is a real person behind the pictures and soundbites. She’s much more interesting and substantive than I assumed. Her speech was wanting, but not everyone has the gift of oratory, especially in front of 17,000 people and a jiggly teleprompter.
- John McCain’s video just played. His Mother is a pistol, eh? She has to be at least 95 years old and she looks younger than her son. A remarkable woman with great wit and character. Hey, did you know John McCain was a POW? Also, he’s a POW. Fun Fact, which of the candidates was a POW? If you guessed John McCain, you win a date with his unemployed daughter!
- A green screen? Why in the world is he in front of a green screen? It makes him look like an angry leprechaun. I thought they learned their lesson on this? They pulled the camera out to a wider angle and it appears he is standing in front of the lawn of one his seven houses.
- Laudatory words for Obama, gentlemanly even. Response from the crowd? <crickets> He struggles in front of crowds this large, he’s better in the town hall setup. What happened to that plan? A couple of Code Pink crazies infiltrated the crowd. Good for them and I thought he handled it well.
- Hey, he mentioned the fact that Republicans are responsible for the huge government expansion. That’s a surprise. I’m with him on everything but drilling when it comes to getting our energy policy straight.
- He seems trapped between the man he was and the man this crowd wants him to be. He’s lost between traditional conservative principles and the new conservatism of big government and religion. In the end, I think I pity him. His statement on hating war and wanting to avoid it falls a little flat with this crowd, but it’s a reminder of the man I supported eight years ago.
- Bringing Democrats and Independents into the administration? Transparency and accountability? They sit on their hands. They want the anger and smarm of Palin, not the integrity of this man.
- The solemnity of his Hanoi story just doesn’t fit with the mood of a convention. The people dont know when to appalud and when to nod with appreciation. It’s a beautiful and touching story, one that is intensely personal and moving.
- This speech seems to be an attempt to reach out to former supporters like me, but the recklessness of the Palin pick prevents that from happening. I can’t get onboard with the platform he has to adopt and the people he needs to please in order to win the office.
A good speech, with a theme of service before self and unity. Much different from the nastiness of last night, eh? Also, was it me or was he asking people to become community organizers there at the end? Heh.
When my wife came home last night from a night out with her family, she shared an anecdote with me. Evidently, the topic of politics came up with her two sisters and Mother. One of my sisters-in-law remarked that there was no way she would vote for Obama and was glad Palin was added to the ticket. When asked why she was opposed to Obama, her primary objections were that he “won’t salute the flag” and he is inconsistent on all issues.
As I visted several customer sites this morning and went about my day, I asked several of the guys who I knew were politically minded and (scaling from mildly centrist or right leaning to full on evangelical Christian) what they thought of the speech last night and their thoughts on the general election.
I spoke with seven men, all college educated and in their late 30’s and each of them repeated the critique of Obama that he won’t salute the flag, will not say the pledge of allegiance, and he’s a muslim. Also, his wife hates America and they think he hates white people. With Obama as President, the blacks will be moved to the front of the line and the concerns of everyday folks like us will be put on the back burner. Also, he’s going to raise taxes and that he’s an elitist.
More interestingly, every single one of the remarked that until yesterday, they had no intention to vote for McCain and they either supported some other Republican or planned to sit it out. Now, with the choice of Sarah Palin, they’ll be voting for McCain and doing so proudly. This is the Palin Effect.
The GOP knew the base of the party was unenthused about McCain, that they were skeptical of his support of their beliefs, and thought he was too liberal. So, essentially, they leaned on John to not pick a VP of his choosing (Lieberman/Ridge) and instead choose this fundamentalist candidate. These people are really voting for Palin, not McCain, as she is the de facto lead of the ticket at this point. The GOP is framing the debate that this is a campaign between Palin and Obama as they keep driving the narrative of her executive experience and track record of reform.
Has this ever happened before? I mean, has a party ever nominated someone for the top of the ticket that they didn’t really like but instead nominated for VP someone who they wish was their Presidential nominee?
I don’t normally argue politics with people when I’m on the job as it’s bad for business. But, I did encourage them to look beyond the narrative the GOP was putting forth about Palin and to examine her record. Not her family, not her Mothering skills, not her personality…but, her record.
I laid out for them the following homework and I will lay out these talking points for you to use when someone tries to reframe the debate about Palin/McCain. Consider it a public service in fact checking, you know, things the “liberal media” should be doing instead of investing time in pointless drivel.
Republican Talking Point 1: Palin is on the side of families who are raising special needs children.
Fact: In the 2008 and 2009 budgets proposed by Sarah Palin, she recommended 62% cuts in special education funding as opposed to 2007, the year before she took office.
Republican Talking Point 2: She is opposed to wasteful government spending and earmarks. She’s fiscally responsible!
Fact: As Mayor of Wasilla, AK (Pop. 6700), she retained a lobbying firm who helped bring back $27MM in federal earmarks for her town. Also, when she became Mayor of Wasilla, it had a zero dollar balance on the debt side of the ledger. When she left? $20MM in the hole. As Governor in 2007, she requested 31 federal earmarks totalling $220MM. A real “fiscal watchdog” this one…
Republican Talking Point 3: She stood up to the good old boy network and is a Washington outsider.
Fact: Palin is actually quite a wily player in the Washington scene. She retained lobbyists who were formerly on staff of Sen. Ted Stevens to lobby Stevens and the Senate Appropriations Committee and donate tens of thousands of dollars ot his campaign and that of longtime Alaska Rep. Don Young. She testified on Capitol Hill numerous times to solicit funding for her town.
Fact: She also was a signatory to a 527 group established to defend corrupt Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Fact: In 2006, she supported the $230MM bridge to nowhere and then retracted her support after being elected. Also, she kept the bridge to nowhere money and spent it on other stuff. Here’s what the people of “Nowhereville, AK” had to say about Palin. Also, Congress’ requirement that funds be spent on that bridge were removed before Sarah Palin became governor, so she didn’t tell anyone what to do with that bridge. Ugh.
Republican Talking Point 4: She has commanded the Alaska National Guard!
Fact: Uh, no she didn’t. And she has never issued one single, solitary order to them.
If the Democrats stick to issues when it comes to Palin, they’ll do alright. When it comes to McCain, take it to him like they did last week.
It never ceases to amaze me that some of the best actual reporting on politics comes from guys who spend 90% of their time telling dick jokes. It’s nice to see someone do a little digging to highlight hypocrisy when it happens.
Thoughts on watching the speeches at the RNC tonight as I put lipstick on my neighbor’s pit bull…
- We’ll start with good ‘ol Mitt Romney. It would seem that Romney dusted off the trusty “tax and spend liberal” speech given at previous RNC’s since oh, about 1960. As I watched him say that the change Washington needed was more Conservatives, I wondered if he was aware that we’ve had a Conservative Republican President for eight years and a Conservative Republican Congress for six of those eight years. Maybe one needs to be completely divorced from reality to give a speech at the RNC.
- We’ll move on to Mike Huckabee. All though I hold contempt for every policy position that he holds and disdain his desire for a more theocratic nation, he is a chummy sort, isn’t he? He retained the manner of a benevolent preacher and he seems to reach the base of the party on a visceral level. If he had been better funded, he would have won the nomination since he is the most authentic, folksy, anti-intellectual in the party. He was respectful of of Obama’s accomplishments while challenging his policies. Overall, a decent speech and much of what I expected. It even came with a pointless and overly emotional patriotic anecdote, Huckabee’s oratory signature.
- Rudy Giuliani. What an angry, mean spirited little man. It’s one thing to criticize the positions of the opponent, but to belittle him and show open disdain for the things he represents and his personal story is just open nastiness. Rudy’s speech reminded me of the speeches given at the 1996 RNC in which the viciousness reached epic proportions. During the DNC, shots were taken at McCain’s positions, record, and policies, but they never belittled the man. We should be better than this and to see an arena of people stand to cheer this nastiness was a defining moment of this election. He talked so long, they had to skip the Sarah Palin introduction video…
- Sarah Palin came out to a raucous ovation after the RNC moved the men from the front rows and replaced them with female delegates. Hey, the RNC even handed out hundreds of lookalike “homemade signs” to make it seem as if the regular folk were not content with the simple campaign signs and had to make their own. Political theater, gotta love it.
Palin spent the first 10 minutes of her speech introducing her family and discussing her love and dedication to her children. Alright, I’ll ask. Are families off limits or are they to be paraded and used as campaign fodder? If you’re going to make your family part of your platform and qualifications, expect the press to ask about it and bloggers to talk about it. We’ve now had footage of Cindy McCain, Willow Palin, Track Palin, Piper Palin, and Todd Palin holding Trig Palin and putting him up for the camera. Is this a political convention? Also, WIllow Palin just spent 30 seconds or so licking her hand and stroking Trig’s hair. That was a little gross.
She begins the culture war aspect of the speech and drops the favorite right wing buzzwords like elite, liberal media, and so on and so forth. She’s just like “every other Mom in America” and she’s not gonna let any Harvard educated smartypants tell her she doesn’t know from good government.
She is clearly the candidate for the anti-intellectual faith based voter. John McCain has worn religion like a fucking hairshirt for the past three years, you think he’s watching this thing backstage just cringing inside at how he has had to compromise himself to get this far? I do.
It’s incredible to me that they are just openly mocking Obama and his qualificiations. There’s a line in politics in how you address your opponent and these people tonight seem to be enjoying crossing it. Just incredible. What an incredibly negative tone.
She also touches on her stance against big government and federal earmarks. Yes, the Mayor who took office in Wasilla with no debt on the books and left it $22MM in the hole. The woman who requested millions of dollars in earmarks, retained lobbyists with ties to Jack Abramoff to pull federal monies into her small town as Mayor and again as Governor. She of the party who has lorded over the largest government expansion since FDR! They’re opposed to big government! Up is down! Black is white! Cats and dogs living together, it’s political anarchy! Are people really this disconnected from the reality that exists outside the walls of the arena?
How does drilling for oil in Alaska or off our coasts so Exxon can sell it to the highest bidder on the international market help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Just wondering. Is she proposing some legislation that would require US oil companies to sell oil pumped and refined in America to Americans?
It’s always amazed me that Republicans have convinced a sizable portion of American workers that corporate friendly legislation and free trade somehow benefits them.
This is wildly and nastily partisan. Talk of styrofoam pillars, self designed Presidential seals, condescension to his role as a community organizer, a disdain for his service as a State and US Senator. Total derision. For whatever you thought of the DNC proceedings, they was honorable…unlike this snark filled anger fest.
So, after watching this parade of anger and personal ugliness. I have a few recommendations for the Obama campaign.
1.) Pretend that Sarah Palin doesn’t even exist. Let her move forth as the mirror image of Middle American values voters and cede the ground. Not because she’s too tough to fight, but because the GOP wants you to attack her. McCain (as most military men are) is a subscriber to Sun Tzu tactics. Read Chapter Eight, Maneuvering. It preaches avoidance of direct conflict and distracting your enemies. Palin is a distraction and they needn’t take the bait.
2.) Make this election about the last eight years of Republican rule and the apparent contradictions in their opposition to big government while they have advocated policies and government expansion that are near unrivaled in American history.
3.) Talk about how the RNC was about division, identity politics, and the same old nastiness that has poisoned our nation for decades. Remind people that the Obama/Biden ticket and their convention was about unity and trying to identify things that we have in common. Sure, there was a dose of political rhetoric about McCain’s positions and policies, but that’s what elections are about. One campaign is trying to be positive about America’s future while the other is in denial about what America is today and the leadership role they have had in making it that way.
4.) Make sure Biden treads lightly in that debate with Sarah Palin. Biden is well known for being a terrible blowhard and could come across as a condescending bully. He needs to stay cool and let the records speak for themselves on serious issues. He might be baited into a Lloyd Bentsen moment, but remember…Bentsen won the debate but Bush and Quayle won the election.
John Edwards ran a Presidential campaign on the idea of there being “Two Americas“, one America for the wealthy and one for the rest of us. He was right in some respects that we do live in a segregated economic market, but I think he didn’t hit on the issue of what the wall between the “Two Americas” really is.
The wall that separates the Two Americas is God…and it has never been clearer than these past two weeks during the national political conventions.
On one side of the wall, we see people who place faith, values, and tradition before competence. On the other side of the wall, we see people who put a premium on logic and reason while disregarding as anachronistic things like faith and “traditional” American values.
When Barack Obama came upon the national stage, he wanted to bridge that wall. To reach out to people of faith and to those who prefer reason in order to define the commonalities of our experiences. We may all disagree on the methods to achieve goals, but in the end, we all want safe neighborhoods, access to affordable medical treatment, quality schools and things of that nature.
Unfortunately, his message was lost in the fury of several Jeremiah Wright speeches, which introduced wide swaths of America to the anger those who have been left behind by the “American Dream” hold and how they exorcise those feelings. He’s yet to recover and the constant drum beat of the Wright controversy by the right wing press and national news networks only served to distance Obama from any credibility on the issue of faith in the eyes of deeply religious people across America.
However, Obama proved during his convention speech that he would be able to reach the soft chewy center of America that is neither deeply religious nor married to a particular ideology on wedge issues like abortion, gay marriage, or creationism. These were the “independent voters” who were once counted on as major supporters of John McCain.
During the years leading up to this election season, McCain moved to the right, vacated his maverick position on many issues, and more closely aligned himself with the sitting President. This turned off the independent voters and only slightly endeared him to an unenergized base that was suspicious of McCain’s dedication to their causes.
McCain has long been the last of a dying breed. A politician who never really put his faith on display and instead stuck to the traditional Goldwater Republican ideologies. His nuanced positions on issues of faith, abortion, and other issues that appealed to the right wing base of his party pretty much guaranteed a loss in November.
As a last ditch effort to save this campaign, John McCain and the GOP quickly moved to the right in this election season and made a hasty and surprising choice of Sarah Palin as their Vice Presidential nominee.
Why? Why did they choose this little known Governor over more qualified and experienced contenders? Because experience doesn’t matter with the base of his party. Competence is not a criteria for elective office with the Republican base. What matter most are things like authenticity, values, unwavering dedication to ideology, and faith.
Sarah Palin is a choice that resonates with millions of evangelical voters. “She’s like me!” They perceive that she’s just an ordinary lady who deals with the same issues that many voters in Middle America deal with every day. She stands firm on abortion, creationism, the bible, family values, and all the things that resonate with the millions of people who gather in Assemblies of God, pentecostal, neo-pentecostal, baptist, southern baptist, and Christian churches every Sunday. It’s more important that she’s a mother to a Down Syndrome child than whether or not her political acumen or record matches the press release.
Pointing out the flaws of this woman as a politician or her failures as a Mother only serve to close ranks on the Republican side. They perceive questions from the “other side of the wall” as attacks not just on their candidate, but on the lives they lead and the choices they have made. It’s emotional and it’s unreasonable, but it’s now the America we live in.
We sit here on our blogs and forums and wonder why it is that people buy into this twisted pretzel of logic that this woman is qualified to be the Vice President and possible President. We point out with fury all the things that she has done wrong, how deluded people are in supporting this nonsense, and we extol the virtues of education, wise counsel, diplomacy, and “progressive values”. All of this serves as ammunition in the cultural war in which we find ourselves. All it does is stoke the fires of the religious right and motivates them to shove it back in our educated faces.
It’s the Two Americas of President Bush, it’s what he has wrought. It’s what we need to solve if we are ever to move forward as One America.
All Hat, No CattleWith night one of the RNC pretty much written off as a rainout due to Hurricane Gustav, tonight was the functional first night of the convention. Why not kick it off with a rousing speech from the least popular President in American history? Perhaps he could throw some crazy one liners out like comparing the left wing to the Viet Cong?
After that, the RNC decided rile up the base with speeches from two of the most unelectrifying politicians on the national stage, Retired Senator Fred “The Napper” Thompson and Sen. Joe “Lethargic” Lieberman.
A few thoughts from watching the speeches, cable news punditry, and interviews from the floor:
- Anti-intellectualism seems to have overtaken the Republican Party. When I was a young man and intrigued by Republican policies, it was the Goldwater arm of the party that held the most appeal. Respect for learned men and women who made important decisions, belief in limiting the scope of federal government, federalism, sound monetary policy, limited foreign involvement, diplomacy, etc. Today’s Republican Party bears little resemblance to the party of which I was once a proud member.
It is wholly owned by the anti-intellectual, fundamentalist Christian base. Big government by those who are not schooled in how to implement it, wide and vast pre-emptive war strategies, unsound fiscal policy, more respect for where someone attends Church service as opposed to where they went to school or their record of performance, and most importantly…divisive social wedge issues like abortion, gay rights, marriage, and flag burning.
- When John McCain bowed to the right wing of his party and passed over trusted advocates like Lieberman and Ridge to bring Sarah Palin on the ticket, I don’t think he truly knew what he was getting himself into.
McCain has never been “on the team” of the growing fundamentalist evangelical base. He’s been an outsider to this group as he long tried to maintain the old conservative standards of the party. In 2000, he ignored that base at his peril and began to move closer to them in order to prep for his eventual run for the White House. The selection of the traveling sisterhood of the continual scandal as Vice President and the celebration of the party base pretty much seals the deal on the death of traditional Republican conservatism as we once knew it as it is now a party for theocrats.
- The reporters on the floor of the convention and the pundits and hosts who sit at the roundtables seem to be focusing on the issue of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy in their discussions about Sarah Palin’s fitness for office. They seem to give a pass to the Republican talking points that Palin has experience as a “reformer”, has executive experience, has commanded military troops, and has taken on the interests of her own party. Can I get an example or two of what they mean when they say any of this? Why doesn’t Andrea Mitchell ask one of these surrogates to define three ways in which Palin has proven to be a maverick reformer? Why is the press so fucking impotent?
Perhaps instead of focusing on whether Palin inspires the evangelical base…of course she does! She eschews sex education, is virulently pro-life, loves guns, is for the teaching of creationism in schools, and all the other issues that define a good right winger. I want to know when they say she’s a “reformer” who has “taken on her own party” and is “opposed to wasteful spending”, I want specifics.
Was it when she established a 527 group to promote, protect, and defend corrupt career politician Sen. Ted Stevens?
Was it when she retained a lobbying firm to bring back $27MM in federal earmarks for her town of 6700 people?
Was it when she lended her support to an Alaskan Separatist party of which her husband was a member?
Was it when she demanded elected and appointed officials sign loyalty oaths and demanded their resignations as a show of loyalty?
Was it when she was opposed to the Bridge To Nowhere after she was for it?
Was it when the right wingers were proven wrong on the talking point that she commanded the Alaska National Guard?
Was it when Wasilla hired a city administrator to handle the day to day operations of her city? Or when she increased city expenditures by 33%? The city which she inherited with zero debt but left with a $22MM deficit?
Jesus Tapdancing Christ, can someone in the evil “liberal media” deign to ask any tough questions of the hacks armed with talking points?
- This election is about a couple of things as the McCain campaign’s strategy for the next sixty five days becomes clear. Run an anti-intellectual campaign in which Barack Obama and all of his smart friends are called elitist, appeal to the fundies by making abortion and sanctity of life the primary issues in the campaign, talk about how the liberal media is destroying America, and oh by the way…counter every critical question about McCain with his POW status and every question about Palin’s credibility with her Down Syndrome Child. Good times.
- We’ve had it wrong from jump street on Palin. She wasn’t selected to appeal to former Hillary supporters, she was chosen to fire up the evangelical women in flyover country. The McCain campaign will set expectations low for her speech tomorrow night and as long as she doesn’t throw up on her shoes, it will be hailed as a triumph of the human spirit and a momentous occassion for Republicans.
Since John McCain announced that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was his choice as a Vice Presidential running mate, many Republican talking heads have touted Palin’s role as Commander-In-Chief of the Alaska National Guard as prima facie evidence that she is ready to serve as the United States Commander-In-Chief.
Certainly, her command of an actual military unit would supercede Obama’s experience as a leader, right?
I guess it would, if she was, ya know, actually the commander of the Alaskan National Guard…which she isn’t.
National Guard units are administratively managed by the Department of Defense. The Governor must give consent when the units stationed in their states are called to active duty or to quell invasion or otherwise made part of the National Guard of The United States. It is a matter of course that Governors simply rubber stamp such requests from the DoD.
Operationally, the Governor can activate the Guard unit only after that governor has declared a state of emergency.
So, unless she declared a state of emergency in Alaska during her time in office, Governor Plain had no role whatsoever in equipping or commanding the Alaska National Guard or Alaska Air National Guard.
However, there are 25 states that have separate military units from the National Guard and they are typically called State Defense Forces. Alaska happens to be one of those states and she is in fact, a Commander-In-Chief of that military force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_State_Defense_Force
The Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF) is the modern force which carries on the traditions inherited from the Alaska Territorial Guard founded during World War II. Although the original territorial guard was disbanded, the new State of Alaska enacted a militia statute and in 1984 the Alaska State Guard was formed, which was renamed in 1987 as the Alaska State Defense Force. In 2004 the name “49th Military Police Brigade (49th MP BDE)” was also adopted for it, but it is still officially known mainly as the Alaska State Defense Force. It is administered under the department of Veterans Affairs but headed by a commander who reports directly to the governor as its commander-in-chief.
Now, this role as Commander of the equivalent of the Civil Air Patrol could be used to demonstrate her experience, but the McCain campaign and their surrogates have been touting her role as Commander-In-Chief of the National Guard, not this ragtag unit of veterans.
The video of her visiting troops in Kuwait has been looping on news channels for four days now, without much of an examination by the media or explanation as to the Governor’s role in commanding the National Guard.
What will come of this is that many passerby voters will have picked up the talking point that this woman has control of a military unit and they will not do the research to discover it is simply not true.
‘Tis a shame the world we live in nowadays.
It’s been a pretty exciting weekend for political junkies like me. Especially when Sarah Palin turns out to be the fiery car crash of vice presidential nominees.
Since Monday night is a typically awful night of network TV, I flipped back and forth between the cable news talking heads tonight as they discussed the news of the day.
Evidently, we have the answer to whether Bristol or Sarah Palin gave birth to three month old Trig. How do we know? Well, the Palins released news today that Bristol couldn’t be Trig’s real Mother since, ya know, she’s about five months pregnant with another baby.
Sweet Jesus, this VP pick is like a neverending soap opera. So far, we have rumors that she faked a birth, traveled cross country on an eight hour flight while leaking amniotic fluid, her husband has a DUI in his past, was a member of a party that sought Alaskan secession from the US, that Palin has recently retained legal counsel in two state ethics investigations, that her good government credibility was strained when it was found that she retained a lobbying firm to secure $27MM in federal earmarks for her town of 6,700 people starting in 2000, that she was for the “Bridge To Nowhere” before she was against it and before she was for it and against it again, and that her underage, unmarried daughter is pregnant. That’s a helluva 72 hours for anyone! Who vetted this candidate, Michael Brown of FEMA?
EDIT: Evidently, she also forced city managers to resign their positions in a test of loyalty to her as Mayor of Wasilla, AK.
Eleven days after taking office in 1996, she mailed letters to each of the city’s top managers requesting that they resign as a test of loyalty.
EDIT2: Evidently, this maverick who “took on her own party” in Alaska created a 527 group to support and defend corrupt Senator Ted Stevens.
Palin’s name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,” a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors.
Waaaaaaay back in 2007, Sen. John McCain was a vocal critic of such 527 groups…
The 527s need to be eliminated…527s are a disgrace and they have to be eliminated because they’re clearly in violation of the law.
Are there still Republicans out there who can tell me with a straight face that this was the cream of the crop of VP picks for McCain? That the selection of Palin was not a cynical ploy to capture the votes of disaffected Hillary supporters and soccer Moms in flyover country? That Sarah Palin is more qualified to be VP than Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Condoleezza Rice, Rob Portman, Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Bobby Jindal, Tom Ridge, Christine Todd Whitman, or any other Republican with a pulse?
This was a completely unserious pick for the ticket and tells me all I need to know about how John McCain makes decisions. It’s like he watched the DNC and decided on a whim that Palin was his choice. He had met her one time prior to choosing her and the vetting process appears to have been cursory, at best.
He (McCain) had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later. Advisers to Mr. Pawlenty and another of the finalists on Mr. McCain’s list described an intensive vetting process for those candidates that lasted one to two months.
“They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.”
Tempestuous decisions regardless of consequence do not bode well for a McCain Presidency. It seems like we’ve had enough of those types of hardheaded politics for the past eight years. Why do we want to sign up for four more? Because this woman is “authentic”?
Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate was completely unsexy and serious. Obama seems to understand that as a first term President with limited experience in foreign affairs, that he needs to surround himself with knowledgeable professionals who can speak truth to power and help a new President find his footing. I’d rather have a President who knows what he doesn’t know and looks for counsel and support from wise colleagues in order to make decisions.
Also, as I watched the cable news anchors tapdance around the issue of Palin’s daughter and whether or not her pregnancy should be a campaign issue, something occurred to me. Why should it NOT be an issue?
When a candidate stands in front of America and makes her family life a central plank in her fitness for office, how is it not alright to discuss when that family life appears to not be all it was cracked up to be? When you hold yourself up as a paragon of fundamentalist Christian virtue, well, expect to hear some backlash when your kids are doing the horizontal bop on a snowmobile in Moosetooth, AK.
Frankly, I don’t find it odd or upsetting that a teenager was engaging in pre-marital sex, it’s what they do…or at least what they want to be doing. The fact that she got pregnant, well, that happens when you are not given the skills or tools to engage in safe sex. It’s not about the pregnancy, it’s about the standards many fundamentalist Christians use to judge non-Christians but seem to ignore when it is their own family or friends who violate those standards. It’s a hypocrisy I don’t quite understand.
Of course, the Republican talking heads raced to Palin’s defense on the cable shows with Laura Ingraham, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, et al coming at us with the “everyone has flaws” defense.
Just a question…what do you think the reaction of the right would be be if Obama had an underage, unmarried daughter with child? Do you think we’d here them saying things like “Hey, it’s an American family! Shit happens” and “This type of stuff should not be a campaign issue, it’s a private family matter”
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
WNYM dispatched videographer Brian Zabka and photographer Sharyn Brunner to capture the 7th annual Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival. Once again, Wing King Drew Cerza put on a world class event which seems to grow in popularity each year. An estimated 78,000 people were in town to sample wings from local and national restaurants.
Here is Brian’s video. He checks in with the crowd and vendors and even gives us some footage of the Chicken Wing Eating contest. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas won the contest yet again after downing 155 wings in 12 minutes.
Sharyn Brunner was also on hand to get some excellent photos of the festival.