Read my entry in Katie Schwartz's contest -- an essay on the election with various takes on a naughty word. Yes, it's a rant, but one reader described it as poetic (!).
Vote for me by making a comment.
Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The truth: She didn't read anything
Here's a nice debating trick. When you have no answer for a question, attack the questioner for insulting you by implying you don't do what you, in fact, don't do:
Sunday, September 28, 2008
McCain: Don't Listen to Anything Palin Says, Unless It's Scripted For Her
Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Sarah Palin was asked by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. "If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," Palin said. "She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos of Palin. "In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's—that's a person's position… This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin." Excerpted from CNN report
"It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag"
Must-read Matt Taibbi's Rooling Stone article about Palin.
There's a lot of great ranting in the piece, but here's the sober "money quote":
Democracy doesn't require a whole lot of work of its citizens, but it requires some: It requires taking a good look outside once in a while, and considering the bad news and what it might mean, and making the occasional tough choice, and soberly taking stock of what your real interests are.Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Yeah, I'm sure that's all he said!
"I'm John McCain and I approve this message even though it's being put on You Tube while I'm still on stage. I guess those SNL guys had a point."
Where's Your Flag Pin, Senator McCain?
Oh, that's right. Only the black guy with the funny name needs one to prove he loves his country.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Must Read: Palin on Russia Proximity providing Foreign Policy Cred
Couric: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It's funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don't know, you know … reporters.
Couric: Mocked?
Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.
Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.
Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…
Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Confused, alright!
I don't know who authored this. I'm about the millionth person to post it, but in case you haven't seen it...
--------------------------
If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people,
then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now. Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Not Healthy
from today's New York Times:
Disputed characterizations are not uncommon on the trail. At a campaign stop this week in Missouri, Mr. McCain said that Mr. Obama’s plan would “force small businesses to cut jobs and reduce wages and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.” Jonathan B. Oberlander, who teaches health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that Mr. Obama’s plan would not force families into a government-run system. “I would say this is an inaccurate and false characterization of the Obama plan,” he said. “I don’t use those words lightly.”
I have different point than that McCain mischaracterizes Obama's plan:
If you want to understand how out of touch he is, think about your own health insurance. Is there not a bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor now? Sphere: Related Content
Palin the Doctrinairhead
Bob Herbert nails it in his piece about Palin today. The issue is not her relatively thin resume, per se, it's that there is no evidence she is knowledgeable about most of the issues -- especially regarding foreign policy -- she would have to deal with if she became president. Her interview with Charlie Gibson only proved this.
Ms. Palin’s problem is not that she was mayor of a small town or has only been in the Alaska governor’s office a short while. Her problem (and now ours) is that she is not well versed on the critical matters confronting the country at one of the most crucial turning points in its history.Some have said it was a "gotcha" when Gibson asked her about the Bush Doctrine, and that there are actually several Bush doctrines. Evidently there are several, but I knew what he was referring to, and in any case, she didn't reply "which one." It was evident she had never heard the term.
We need a lot more of the Powell Doctrine and a lot less of the Bush Doctrine. Sphere: Related Content
Friday, September 12, 2008
Say Again?
"I have had a strong and a long relationship on national security, I've been involved in every national crisis that this nation has faced since Beirut, I understand the issues, I understand and appreciate the enormity of the challenge we face from radical Islamic extremism. I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time."
- John McCain, October 2007
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Sarah Palin is a Dog
Hey, don't get mad, she compared herself to one, right?
And need a guide to Winning in the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game?
Why, look to former McCain advisor Torie Clarke. And what is the title of her book perchance?
Thanks to Chris Matthews
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Must Read Mullet
Swing voters are stupid << Nails it on the subject of people voting for people "just like them."
Sphere: Related ContentMonday, September 08, 2008
Econ 101 for Sarah
The problem with Freddie and Fannie was that they needed more regulation to assure they backed only well-qualified loans. Until now they haven't cost the taxpayer anything and it's not yet certain that they will.
Governor Palin evidently does not understand that Fannie and Freddie are not big, expensive government bureaucracies, but are the source of funding for the majority of mortgages in this country.
So when she says she'll make them smaller, does she intend to have less liquidity so mortgages are harder to get even for qualified borrowers?
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Small Town Values
The harangue about "small town values" at the Republican convention is offensive and does not ring true.
I've lived in Manhattan and I've lived in Gray, Maine, pop. 5000. In neither place was there a wall of agreement on "values."
Doncha love it that the former mayor of New York makes fun of Obama for being too cosmopolitan. And small town folks grieve over those New Yorkers who died in the World Trade Center while dismissing their friends and families by implying that "real people" are only found in small towns.
Here's a great take on the subject.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Palin's Sense of History
I've been wondering if Palin is a woman of substance with whom I happen to disagree, or a true lightweight.
Certainly, the quotes about not thinking much about the Iraq war (2007) and wondering what the vice president does (a month ago) raise questions.
But here she is on the Pledge of Allegiance in 2006:
Dear Sarah, the Pledge was written in the late 1800s. Sphere: Related ContentQ: Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?
PALIN: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance
How's that Abstinence-only Program Working for Ya, Sarah?
Q: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
PALIN : Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.
* * *
A spokesman for GOP presidential candidate John McCain tells The Brody File that he, “strongly opposes efforts by the Democratic-controlled Congress to eliminate abstinence-only sex education classes for school-aged children.”
-May 24, 2007
* * *
The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said Monday. Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
-Reuters, September 1, 2008 Sphere: Related Content
Hey, Teresa, pay attention!
As a participant in Frank Lutz's focus group, Teresa, a Hillary delegate to the DNC said:
"I always thought he was a moderate...You know, I change my mind almost every day, but right now I"m wondering where the John McCain I really liked in 2000 went, what happened to the moderate?"HELLO, Teresa! John McCain has always been a conservative, and he's always been upfront about it. He has NEVER been a moderate. Back in 2000, I was one who expressed admiration for him because he seemed like the real deal although I disagreed with him on nearly every issue.
It's time for these Hillary supporters who are uncertain about their vote to ask themselves what they really believe in. It's fine if you're worried about Obama's thin experience. But DO NOT blame him or the media for Clinton's loss. I'm not saying there wasn't sexism in the media coverage, or that there wasn't a level of fawning over Barack. But Clinton sunk her own boat by having a mismanaged, poorly run campaign.
Just as it's not productive to keep talking about Florida in 2000 because Gore would have won anyway if he had only carried his home state, Clinton had such an advantage going in that it's meaningless to talk about how close the primary campaign was. She should have won early and so handily that there would have been no contest by April.
So, Teresa, please try just a bit to get past personalities, and look at what the candidates will do if they get into office. It's all there on their web sites. Sphere: Related Content
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