On my first post that surreal morning when I awoke to the news of Sarah Palin’s unlikely choice as VP candidate, before I had even made a cup of coffee, or rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I said, “Didn’t McCain hire a fact checker?” Was she vetted….at all?
It’s been over 48 hours, and now….seriously…was she vetted at all? The possibility that the answer is no, is almost inconceivable. But we Alaskans have found out that background checks are sometimes optional when hiring important government officials. Just look at Palin’s unlikely and inappropriate choice of Chuck Koppto replace Dept. of Public Safety Chief, Walt Monegan, the center of the “Troopergate” controversy.
As soon as Kopp appeared before the public….literally on day one, something smelled fishy. The revelation of a previous sexual harassment charge and subsequent reprimand and reassignment reared its ugly head. And Alaskans were left asking ourselves, “Didn’t Palin vet this guy?” If she did, obviously not well enough. Kopp’s explanation, after his now iconic denial, “I am not a sex harasser!” was that no one had asked him, so he didn’t volunteer the information…figuring that everyone already knew.
So, is it possible that since no one askedSarah Palin if she was in the middle of an ongoing ethics investigation, she just didn’t feel obligated to volunteer that information? I mean, no one ASKed her if she was, or what the investigation might find, or if there were any other skeletons in her closet that might come out and start dancing in front of the national media. I mean all you’d have to do is read the Anchorage Daily News and there it all is. They obviously knew and it didn’t bother THEM…so….why mention it? And sitting in the private jet, flying out to accept the nomination, did she think “Oooo. It’ll sound really good if I said I stopped that Bridge to Nowhere! I’ll say THAT. No one will check, I bet.”
Because, now, a scant two days after the nomination, the “gates” are already starting to swing open: Troopergate, Bridgegate, and now Babygate. Babygate? I’ve stayed away from this one because, frankly, I don’t know anything for sure, and I don’t want to speculate about the smarmiest of ‘gates’ yet. I’ll leave that to the professionals at the National Enquirer. The rumors, though, say one of two things: either Sarah’s new baby is actually NOT her baby at all, but her 17-year old daughter Bristol’s baby, or the new baby is hers, but Bristol, a senior in high school is now pregnant. Ugh, either way.
If the first case is true, then the grandma governor has been perpetrating a blatant lie on her constituents, and now the world. If the second is true, then what 44-year old woman in her right mind would have travelled so late in her pregnancy and after her water broke and labor had begun, delivered a speech in Texas, boarded an Alaska Airlines flight with a stop-over in Seattle and bypassed the two main Anchorage Hospitals that are minutes from the airport to deliver in the local hospital near her home, almost an hour away by car. In either case, bad judgement.
But now the cleanup crew has started. Palin’s praise of the Obama energy plan that was on her website? Scrubbed. Photos on the website during the time period she was supposedly to have been pregnant? Allegedly scrubbed too. John McCain’s organized vetting team? Supposedly on their way to Alaska right now. (Note to McCain staffers: Vet FIRST…it works out better that way.) The National Enquirer? Supposedly all over this already. Photos of the pregnant (or not) Palin are circulating everywhere. One thing is certain, the rumor mill has started, and there’s no getting this toothpaste back in the tube.
And if it’s true that Palin did not undergo a vetting process, then what are we all to think of a presidential candidate, the oldest ever, with a history of cancer, choosing a running mate he had spoken to only once before offering her the nomination, and not even vetting this candidate? If this is true, then the choice was not ‘bold’ or ‘exciting’ or ‘a maverick choosing a maverick’. It demonstrates not just poor judgement, but recklessness.
Keep watching because the Palin onion is going to be peeled in the national media in the coming weeks, layer by agonizing layer. Welcome to Veepgate.
UPDATE: Press releases of Palin’s response to Obama’s energy plan still available HERE (Hat tip to Clever Else)
Mudflats 
Are we at the point now where we start making bets on how long before she withdraws her name from the VP slot?
You have absolutely no idea how glad I am that I found your blog.
And now I understand why people think that Trig is Bristol’s. If Sarah did all that after her water broke, she is INSANE. So much for Prolife. That could have easily killed her and the baby. If she’s not insane…. well, like I said, I understand the rumors now.
3llkcom….
Do you have something constructive to say or are you just going to post after every post you don’t like?
~~~
Say No to the Beauty and the Beast ticket!
Vote Obama/Biden 08/12!
If McBush’s campaign is taking this long to stop the rumors, which they could do EASILY, there must be some truth.
Everyday this goes on, is another Day Sarah Palin has LIED to the nation.
VeepGate!! I love your blog and am waiting and watching. It’s always more fun to hear about things from someone on the ground vs. the talking heads on the tube.
This could very easily turn in to an Eagleton situation and then what happens?
Does McDoofus run on his own- which I think he secretly wants to do anyway. Why else would he choose someone with zip experience? I know the political reasons why he choose her, but it’s just made it glaringly apparent that he does not want a Veep that would actually have the experience or brains to be a ‘partner’ of any sort.
The whole babygate thing is a creepy kind of sideline event that will blow up or die. Someone in the MSM is going to have to say something within the week…
Keep writing- your blog has gone viral.
As an independent from upstate NY (we’re not all Hillary lovers up here; just want to preclude the kool-aid comments), I have to say today has been so very depressing.
It appears to me that, with all due respect, Gov. Palin has none of the qualifications one would expect from a Vice President. Judgment. Experience. Educational Background. Wisdom. Decades of accomplishment.
A community college followed by a bachelor’s degree in journalism???? Mayor of a stripmall town??? Willing to risk her baby’s life on a 12-airplane ride after breaking water???
Wow. I am so discouraged by our political process. This is the best we can produce from America??? What a bummer of a weekend.
Andrew Sullivan has this (babygate) all over his website now. He’s widely read in political circles. Also, he says that the press corps themselves are talking about this. You know, looking at that picture of her daughter, Bristol, holding that down syndrome baby, and the way he is nestled into her, and how almost frightened she herself looks, it really breaks my heart to believe this to be true. Not enough to want to allow our country to be destroyed by letting this whacko one heart beat away…but my heart really breaks for the daughter and for the little baby boy. If this all shows to be true, then the pure heartlessness of a woman who would put her daughter in this position for personal gain, makes me ill.
I don’t know, emily – at this point we’re still at the, “internet rumor” stage – the “babygate” business is just over a day old – as far as McCain is concerned, there’s nothing to respond to – yet.
Sullivan picking up the story & asking the questions, though is a different matter – I think we can start the clock at the point of his first post around 6pm this evening. Like Sullivan, I think this is a legitimate question – whatever the outcome though, someone’s going to end up looking very bad. If this actually gets some traction, I feel very badly for her daughter – no matter what the truth is.
Well, I just have to say that watching the GOP make up lame excuses as to what qualifies this woman to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency is a laugh a minute. Here are a few of my favorites so far:
Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina: “Governor Palin took on Ted Stevens. If she can take him on, she can take on the Russians.” Stevens, a Republican senator, is facing corruption charges and running for re-election.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: “Palin is commander-in-chief of the Alaskan National Guard.” The state’s Guard has about 4,000 members.
“She has experience not only in politics but in life,” former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee said Sunday on CNN.
And my all time favorite:
From McCain’s wife, Cindy, came a geographic assessment of qualification: “Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.”
I have a feeling that this is just going to get better and better by the day.
You can’t make this stuff up.
And by the way, before some political op tells me that community colleges can be the beginning of a great education for those who aren’t born rich, I’ve taught at a CC for nearly 30 years. I have wonderful students. And not every politician needs to be from Harvard or Yale.
Just would be nice if we had leaders who actually believe in science.
This Palin-drone just keeps getting more interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if by next week Palin withdraws due to “family concerns”.
Bob Barr (yeah, that Bob Barr) made a very interesting observation about Palin on CNN tonight. He was asked if Pailin had been properly vetted and he smiled like the cat who swiped the cream and said words to the effect of, well, this could end up turning out like Sen. Eagleton.
Another great post. I am so glad that I hopped on this wagon from the first day. This is just getting better and better. Off to read Andrew Sullivan’s website.
I feel badly for the American people who really do deserve much better than this sad charade.
Maybe it won’t matter at all. Perhaps the computer program has been written, and enough voters disenfranchised that the actual voting process is just a bit of gilding on the lily.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm
Published on Friday, January 31, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
“If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines”
by Thom Hartmann
Maybe Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel honestly won two US Senate elections. Maybe it’s true that the citizens of Georgia simply decided that incumbent Democratic Senator Max Cleland, a wildly popular war veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam, was, as his successful Republican challenger suggested in his campaign ads, too unpatriotic to remain in the Senate. Maybe George W. Bush, Alabama’s new Republican governor Bob Riley, and a small but congressionally decisive handful of other long-shot Republican candidates really did win those states where conventional wisdom and straw polls showed them losing in the last few election cycles.
Perhaps, after a half-century of fine-tuning exit polling to such a science that it’s now sometimes used to verify how clean elections are in Third World countries, it really did suddenly become inaccurate in the United States in the past six years and just won’t work here anymore. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that the sudden rise of inaccurate exit polls happened around the same time corporate-programmed, computer-controlled, modem-capable voting machines began recording and tabulating ballots.
But if any of this is true, there’s not much of a paper trail from the voters’ hand to prove it.
You’d think in an open democracy that the government – answerable to all its citizens rather than a handful of corporate officers and stockholders – would program, repair, and control the voting machines. You’d think the computers that handle our cherished ballots would be open and their software and programming available for public scrutiny. You’d think there would be a paper trail of the vote, which could be followed and audited if a there was evidence of voting fraud or if exit polls disagreed with computerized vote counts.
You’d be wrong.
The respected Washington, DC publication The Hill (www.thehill.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx) has confirmed that former conservative radio talk-show host and now Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel was the head of, and continues to own part interest in, the company that owns the company that installed, programmed, and largely ran the voting machines that were used by most of the citizens of Nebraska.
Back when Hagel first ran there for the U.S. Senate in 1996, his company’s computer-controlled voting machines showed he’d won stunning upsets in both the primaries and the general election. The Washington Post (1/13/1997) said Hagel’s “Senate victory against an incumbent Democratic governor was the major Republican upset in the November election.” According to Bev Harris of http://www.blackboxvoting.org, Hagel won virtually every demographic group, including many largely Black communities that had never before voted Republican. Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska.
Six years later Hagel ran again, this time against Democrat Charlie Matulka in 2002, and won in a landslide. As his hagel.senate.gov website says, Hagel “was re-elected to his second term in the United States Senate on November 5, 2002 with 83% of the vote. That represents the biggest political victory in the history of Nebraska.”
What Hagel’s website fails to disclose is that about 80 percent of those votes were counted by computer-controlled voting machines put in place by the company affiliated with Hagel. Built by that company. Programmed by that company.
“This is a big story, bigger than Watergate ever was,” said Hagel’s Democratic opponent in the 2002 Senate race, Charlie Matulka (www.lancastercountydemocrats.org/matulka.htm). “They say Hagel shocked the world, but he didn’t shock me.” …
…Thom Hartmann is the author of “Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.” http://www.unequalprotection.com This article is copyright by Thom Hartmann, but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, or web media so long as this credit is attached.
[…] from Mudflat: …a scant two days after the nomination, the “gates” are already starting to swing open: […]
Lola,
Lindsay Graham’s comment about how she took on Ted Stevens is even more amusing considering the fact that he just gave her a glowing endorsement.
A friend of mine said weeks ago that he thought McCain really didn’t want to be POTUS. That he didn’t expect to win his nomination, and now that he had-he was just going through the motions and actually working to lose. I laughed at first, but definitely view the McCain campaign differently now. This is the only explanation that makes he actions sensible, other than the other obvious explanation–he’s completely out of his mind.
Bridge to Nowhere update:
You’re sick. Get help.
lol, CRFLATS…
Maybe it’s a subconcious thing.
Proof!!!! where is the proof?
They say the baby is 4 months old…anyone have pictures of her 6 months ago?
I am strongly Obama 08, but I need proof. I dont like false rumors and blatant lies, I think there’s enough ammo on her record (or lack thereof) to go on.
She IS The Deadliest Catch.
Expect a Harriet Meiers by week’s end.
AKM, “But now the cleanup crew has started. ”
Link by Link
Don’t Like Palin’s Wikipedia Story? Change It
By NOAM COHEN
Published: August 31, 2008
IN the 24 hours before the McCain campaign put the finishing touches on its surprise announcement Friday that Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska would be the Republican vice presidential candidate, one Wikipedia user was putting the finishing touches on her biography on the site…
[…] afternoon, Mudflats has also mentioned “babygate” as one of the issues now emerging among others which apparently were not vetted by the McCain campaign before the big surprise announcement the other […]
From the rust belt…thanks so much for posting…we were dumbfounded at the VP choice.
We do hope you will continue to keep us informed.
Hope you are able to handle all the web traffic coming your way.
Keep up the good work!
Clarence Thomas In whiteface.
In the UK press now
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4647965.ece
From The Times
September 1, 2008
Sarah Palin hit by internet rumours over fifth child
Tim Reid in St Paul
Teams of Democratic operatives and investigative journalists descended on Alaska yesterday to delve into the private and public life of Sarah Palin, the new and little-known Republican vice-presidential nominee, as fresh questions arose over whether she had been vetted properly by the John McCain campaign.
I love this blog!!! Hi-LAR-ious and so well written. I have learned so much in just 15 minutes of reading. Even the comments are awesome. So glad that my SIXTY-FIVE year old mother told me about it!
Obiden ’08!
Hey,
Great posts.
But where are the pictures of Wasilla you promised us!!
DocRon (18:44:13) Wrote :
“Just would be nice if we had leaders who actually believe in science.”
You mean that we should have leaders that believe the testing of a rational
hypothesis by emperical data is the only basis and means of scientific
discovery and knowledge? We have leaders who think otherwise? Palin?
Yikes!!!
Thanks for your insight. Down here in the lower 48 Palin is about as known as moose stew.
Vetting apparently was not done. I think the baby thing may be true since the McCain gang, if their are still employed, have said not one word.
So many of us are trying to find info on Palin, so I am starting an Alaskan section to my Blogroll. You will be added.
I would also like to cross post the above post on my blog as a guest blogger. Alaskans need to get all the information out on Palin.
BTY:What’s this I have been reading in some comments about Todd Palin’s “John Edwards problem”
Thanks.
Great Blog you have here! I discovered it accidentally while trying to find out more about Gov Palin after the announcement of her selection on Friday.
The “Babygate” story is out there, and has been (apparently) for a while; the MSM is just starting to pick up on it. This story has legs. Actually, Maddow and Olbermann started my quest for knowledge about this situation the other night when they mentioned how her water broke at the Governor’s Convention and she rushed home to Alaska rather than go immediately to a local hospital. I was curious: why would a 40 something woman do this when her child was going to be born prematurely? I’m a father of two, and I can assure you that if the same thing happened to my wife, we’d be at the nearest Emergency Room faster than lightning.
Then I started looking all over the net; photos turned up, articles from Alaskan newspapers of how shocked her staff were when she said she was pregnant. It was all starting to make more sense as I went along. My BA is in Journalism, and if I can do all of this and could figure all of this out myself, surely the McCain campaign could. They clearly did not vet the Governor…AT ALL. This will eventually end up as an embarrassment to not only the campaign, but to Palin’s family as well.
I agree with Catherine’s statement above. I really feel sorry for this poor teen, because this NEVER should have happened to her. If her mother forced this situation on her family, it is reprehensible. As a parent, I am disgusted at the very thought that this might me true, especially since my kids are both girls. Why couldn’t Palin just have supported her child as best as she could in the situation? That poor teen is being DENIED the RIGHT to be a MOTHER of HER child.
It’s bad enough that Palin’s candidacy is rapidly becoming an embarrassment, but the judgment exercised by her if this story is true does not bode well if (God forbid) McCain wins and she becomes the Accidental President, let alone the judgment of McCain who selected her in the first place.
We live in perilous times, indeed.
Another reader from the lower 48 (Oregon). Great Blog… glad that you now have national attention.
In case anyone wanted to see what Sarah Palin looked like when she was pregnant with another one of her children, just for comparison here it is:
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo/080831/480/529a19dfc6774f308117d4be16d30c8d/
Look quick before it disappears.
Hey I forgot, I will not take your post without your permission, so let me know.
[…] trooper, and baby) lighting up the Interwebs (I’m having a heckuva Sunday for traffic, tyvm), the McCain campaign is finally sending a team up to Alaska to find out what exactly it is they’ve purchased in Sarah Barracuda. But now the cleanup crew […]
This blog seems to cover Baby Gate really well….
http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/jnail/blog/&blogId=3422
If you find it informative, I’d say digg it up! I think it leaves a lot of unanswered questions once the timeline is put together!
From HuffPo:
The Deadliest Catch.
But, hey, she has a nice ass…
Here you might enjoy this. Chris Wallace interview the old one and even he can’t believe it.
WALLACE: Let me see if I’ve got the chronology straight…
MCCAIN: Sure.
WALLACE: … that people are submitting (ph). As I understand it, you met her for the first time at the governor’s conference in…
MCCAIN: We had breakfast.
WALLACE: … in February.
MCCAIN: Yes.
WALLACE: You talked to her on the phone last Sunday. And you met with her face to face — face to face for the first time to discuss the vice-presidential ticket Thursday morning, and then you offered her the job. Must have been a heck of a meeting.
BobbyG :
Hilarious video.
Your blog is a breath of fresh air. When I first heard about this woman, my Hillary-fan friends where yelling yay. I just couldn’t understand the excitement, and wondered if maybe I was just being unreasonably negative. To me, even before I read your blog, I thought the Palin sounded, well, not quite stable. Or maybe just extremely naive to think that such limited experience is enough preparation to be president. As you said, and others too, McCain would be the oldest president in history. He’s had 4 cases of Melanoma and I believe at least one case of pre-cancerous colon polyps. His health is a huge issue. That being the case, there are so many more qualified republican women who could rise to the occasion of president if need be. Why on earth didn’t he choose one of them?
I wasn’t going to vote for McCain, but I did like him and feel “safe” with the idea of him being elected president. Not anymore. I have lost all faith and respect for him having made such an ill-considered choice.
It is really, really comforting to know I’m not the only “average” American who feels this way.
@nytexan –
LOL! As Craig Ferguson would exclaim…”I know!!!”
Unreal.
Lola (18:44:02) :
Well, I just have to say that watching the GOP make up lame excuses as to what qualifies this woman to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency is a laugh a minute. Here are a few of my favorites so far:
Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina: “Governor Palin took on Ted Stevens. If she can take him on, she can take on the Russians.” Stevens, a Republican senator, is facing corruption charges and running for re-election.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: “Palin is commander-in-chief of the Alaskan National Guard.” The state’s Guard has about 4,000 members.
“She has experience not only in politics but in life,” former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee said Sunday on CNN.
And my all time favorite:
From McCain’s wife, Cindy, came a geographic assessment of qualification: “Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.”
I have a feeling that this is just going to get better and better by the day.
You can’t make this stuff up.
YOU MISSED THE BEST ONE:
WALLACE: But, Senator, you talked about her years of experience. Ten of those years were as a city councilwoman and mayor of a town of 9,800 people. And in terms of foreign policy, in March of 2007, after, two months after the surge had started, she was asked about it, and she said: “I’ve been focused on state government. I haven’t focused on the war in Iraq.” Understandable for a governor; not understandable for a vice president.
MCCAIN: Well, by the way, also she was a member of the PTA. I think it’s wonderful.
Loves fishin’
I’m still up here in the Valley and working on a super slow dial-up connection and can’t post photos. I got some GREAT shots, though. Some are pretty funny. I’ll be posting them tomorrow night when I get back home.
How do you throw a “barracuda” back without getting bit?
@akmuckraker
Lovin’ your blog, bro’.
And yet another … this one from California. I’ll be checking back every day or so. Keep up the good work!
Wow. Those Babygate stories (and pictures) are pretty compelling:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/31/145838/319/386/581332
nytexan,
Fine with me.
Thanks,
AKM
She’s not going to make it two weeks unless she comes out with some really SOLID splaining to do… Loooosey you got some splaining to do… I give her till weds to either drop out or clear it up.. but honestly I dont see how she’s gonna do it.
My take:
great great blog. thanks again.
I think this is irrefutably Palin pregnant in Dallas.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/31/234157/516/1017/581734
How they let her fly in her condition bets me.
My question is about the prenatal testing — was that mentioned as part of the pregnancy announcement before the baby was born or only afterwards?
Still nothing to go on though, since Down Syndrome can often be detected (or at least suspected) by sonogram measurements and then testing can take place.
Comparing Obama and Palin
Regarding the “equally thin resumes” canard:
OBAMA:
Undergrad degree in International Relations, Columbia University
Law Degree and Editor of the Law Review, Harvard University Law School
Worked for a year at the Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Law firm associate, Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, Chicago
Chicago community organizer
Taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years
Illinois State Senator
U.S. Senator
PALIN:
Undergrad degree in Journalism, PolySci minor, University of Idaho
Briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working in commercial fishing with her husband.
Wasilla AK City Council
Wasilla AK Mayor
AK Governor since 2006
No Contest. It is also worth noting that Obama has been vetted to date by millions of primary voters, however imperfectly we might view the vetting process. Palin was vetted by no one comparably. Mr. McCain summarily decided for the GOP voters she’s proper, absent any rational measures of relevant national experience. This is [1] an insult to women, [2] an insult to the intelligence of GOP voters in general, and [3] a dangerously expedient tactic transparently executed solely for the purpose of winning the Presidency — the public good be damned.
AKMuckracker- They didn’t scrub her press releases.
‘Palin pleased with Obama’s energy plan’ Press release dated 8.4.08 (from Project Vote Smart) text below:
http://www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=399654&keyword=&phrase=&contain=
____________________________________________________
Title: Palin Pleased with Obama’s Energy Plan
Date: 08/04/2008
Location: Fairbanks, AK
Press Release
Palin Pleased with Obama’s Energy Plan
Includes Alaska’s Natural Gas Reserves
Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy plan put forward by the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska’s natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs, Governor Palin said. The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs.
In a speech given in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama called for the completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline, stating, Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process.
Governor Palin also acknowledged the Senator’s proposal to offer $1,000 rebates to those struggling with the high cost of energy.
We in Alaska feel that crunch and are taking steps to address it right here at home, Governor Palin said. This is a tool that must be on the table to buy us time until our long-term energy plans can be put into place. We have already enjoyed the support of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and it is gratifying to see Senator Obama get on board.
The Governor did question the means to pay for Obama’s proposed rebate a windfall profits tax on oil companies. In Alaska, the state’s resource valuation system, ACES, provides strong incentives for companies to re-invest their profits in new production.
Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production. Without new supplies from American reserves, our dependency and addiction to foreign sources of oil will continue, Governor Palin said.
http://gov.state.ak.us/archive.php?id=1384&type=1
When I first saw the rumors about the faux pregnancy I thought it couldn’t be true. However, the more I try to prove it wrong the more it appears it could be true.
Also, it really seems like he did not vet her at all. I know McCain has run a bad campaign but this is beyond anything I could have imagined. Then again, he is trying to appease the evangelicals and logic isn’t really something they are interested in. They hear pro-life and 5 kids and they are hooked:)
Watching your blog closely. This is big. Thank you for the updates.
@Tiffani –
BTW, didja know “Life Begins at Conception”?
http://bgladd.blogspot.com/2008/04/diploid-dave-et-al.html
It’s a good thing (for her and/or McCain) that I will never get to question them.
Yeah, notice Gov Palin wouldn’t want big oil&gas to have to pay those pesky windfall profit taxes! Why, they might pass the cost on to consumers. Hah! Laughable.
What a maverick reformer that would make her look like. No wonder they scrubbed it.
I heard that Palin’s husband has a wondering eye, my friends daughter called her saying that someone she knows had been to parties with Palin in Alaska. Do not know if it is true – thought I would ask if anyone knew.
Is he going to stay home from his fishing business to raise the kids. I agree with Cynthia earlier – if you choice to have kids you had better be there to raise them not pretend they are going to be alright without out you or expect someone else to be their mother. And giving attention to 5 children takes (time) – does she have time to be VP and raise young children – this is what people have to ask themselves, whether you are a Dem or Rep – this is truly an indication of McCain’s inability to serve as President of one if not the most influential country in the world. Do I believe this women if need be can stand up to Putin – H—-no.
As a women her selection is an embarrassment, did the Rep pick her over Lieberman because there are not that many Jews as compared to Evanglical’s – as one said prior -McCain picked her out of trying to win the presidency by picking up votes based on religion – as a Christian – another embarrassment – not all Christians believe the world is 5000 years old etc.
akmuckraker:
Thanks. I’m taking it now as a guest post and will pingback.
Like many here I also am very glad I found this astounding blog on Saturday after I heard the incomprehensible McCain VP choice announcement on Friday and started searching for information. I was completely dumbfounded when I heard the news.
A poster named “MONGOBOO” posted this outstanding post on HuffingtonPost tonight. I think this is the best analysis of what is really going on that anyone has yet written. I am sending it to every person I can and crosslinking it everywhere I can. Please do the same.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/31/mccain-palin-is-a-soulmat_n_122849.html?show_comment_id=15168624#comment_15168624
MONGOOBO wrote:
“Actually Palin is a predictable choice based on John McCain’s residual PTSD behaviors. Which makes him totally unfit to serve as President. Here are the behaviors that I see that are consistent with long untreated PTSD.
From Wikipedia/PTSD search:
1) Inappropriate rage (well documented).
2) Memory Loss. Many video examples. (Do you remember his Iraq trip and corrections by Lieberman?)
3) Social impairment. Unable to communicate and read communication of others. Verified by his strange sense of humor an oblique statements like “Soulmate” for Palin.
4) Emotional isolation and poor social judgment- presented as a positive “Maverick” image by the “old” media making us all defacto co-dependents.
5) Addictive behaviors.- In McCain’s case, sexual addiction. Validated by his broken sexual boundaries after his return from captivity. His destructive behaviors and denial with his wrecking of his first marriage. And extensive reliance on sexualized women as rescuers. i.e. Cindy and now Ms. Palin.
6) Risk taking behaviors- Palin’s choice is very risky on many levels and we are expected to approve of his risk taking and accept it as normal by the media again making us co-dependents. In essence a political shock doctrine depriving the electorate of “rational footings” to judge from. Thank you Naomi!
This is a sad day for the media. It has sold out America.
McCain is an obviously unstable personality that exhibits many of the traits of impairment from PTSD.”
This is what I wrote as a followup comment:
“Excellent post mongoboo!
You have done us all here on HuffPo a very gracious favor by doing this analysis. I am going to send the permalink of your post to everyone I know. This man is impaired. Neither the top leadership of the now completely dysfunctional Republican Party nor the MSM will intervene. They made us all enablers of the psychopath GWB once already. I will NOT go through this again. I refuse it. We must ALL now as a nation of sane and rational human beings do a national intervention at the ballot box on November 4th, 2008 to COMPLETELY END THIS NOW for the future of our children and grandchildren. Every voter is now a psychiatrist. We must do a national intervention as citizens.”
gmf — you were prescient. Over at hubdub, they’re already taking bets on how long she’ll last. The question is asked
Will Sarah Palin step down as the VP nominee before the november election?
Current forecast: 24% chance
I’m surprised it’s that low. But I’m certain no one asked that question about Joe Biden.
Hamlet’s Mill- Wow. I’ve had my doubts about McCain’s memory and processing, but I was thinking it was age related (even though he’s only 72). I never considered PTSD. Thanks for that post.
This is really an excellent blog.
@DocRon –
I know she’s very busy right now, so I’ll draft her withdrawal speech for her, pro bono.
“…it has become clear by now that, although very unfairly, I have become a distraction, therefore….”
A Harriet Meiers (The Neatest Bestest White House Counsel Ever).
Perhaps as early as week’s end.
HamletsMill, thanks for the link to Huff Post. I have been out all day at a BBQ and am trying to catch up now. I have been posting all these great links on my blog and getting tons of hits on them. I will be putting your link through as well.
I just finished catching up on the Andrew Sullivan website. If the MSM doesn’t pick up on this now then I have lost all hope for them. Like you said, we must start from the bottom up and spread the word around. Just look what we have all done with this wonder blog since the first day.
Was Palin scheduled to return from Dallas that day, or did she change her return flight? I’m having trouble understanding why she’d say her water broke in Texas (this is all assuming suspicions are correct and she isn’t the mother) since it would open her up to charges of negligence/recklessness. I mean, if the pregnancy was made up, she could’ve said her water broke at any time she pleased. It only makes sense if it was used as an explanation for moving her flight up.
So glad I found your blog. I’m in New Mexico and keeping up with the Palin choice. I don’t do mainstream media and like to hear from real people on the ground. Keep this up-I am directing people to this site.
Obama/Biden ’08
from Maureen Dowd’s ‘s column:
“Then she takes off in her seaplane and lands on the White House lawn….”
NOTE TO READERS, Maureen can be forgiven for calling those planes in Alaska seaplanes, but actually Alaskanws call them FLOAT PLANES, or FLOATPLANES….only in Florida are they called SEAPLANES……
i am reposting.
this link shows her clearly pregnant. so there is enugh other stuff (and weirdness about her flying back) to continue saying the baby is not hers. Better leave it alone for the Enquirer. IMHO.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/31/234157/516/1017/581734
lfo: Her own staffers and the Alaskan media didn’t know she was pregnant at 7 months until she announced it; so at 8 months if she suddenly looked it (and thats the only picture been provided so far) then its still suspicious.
Plus, if its not true, its her story that’s getting criticized because she made bad decisions and was negligent with her child’s life. So continue to raise the issue….because her decisions need to be studied by the media and explained.
What is the scoop with Matanuska Maid Dairy? I’ve been hearing a buzz about it. Can you fill us in on Palin’s involvement and local thoughts?
I did find this on Matanuska Maid Dairy.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/08/dairygate-sarah-palin-and-myst.php
Combined troopergate, bridgegate and (IF true) “babygate” she will have lost the majority of voters trust. Accepting all 3 or discounting them is simply out of the question!
I cannot blame Palin for wanting to protect her daughter. That in and by itself is noble. However if she fabricated waiting 12 hours to give birth in Alaska, Palin will have will totally discredited herself. It matters a lot on the national level because no one likes to be taken for a fool. I hope it is not true only because her daughter will be put in the spotlight and embarrassed terribly. That is not fair!
Add in the fact Palin thinks the Founding Fathers wrote the Pledge of Allegiance and that “under God” were part of the original document is not a confidence builder!
For McCain not to vet the woman he will also have lost the confidence of the America public. The media plays it like taking a gamble is a “good” thing. Well its not! Furthermore it insults our intelligence. This also highlights McCain’s lack of concern for the nation and our security as well as his poor judgment!
I along with many others believe McCain just sunk his campaign.
Furthermore Palin’s far right ideology is not going to play well with the general electorate. Even some Evangelicals are unhappy — the ones who believe a woman’s place is in the home and women should never rule over men!
After 8 years of being mislead and lied to Americans have had more than enough. Government is supposed to be for the people and by the people. If the RNC, McCain and Palin believe voters will fall for this again they are surely mistaken.
Lastly instead of Sarah Palin, McCain and his surrogates hit the Sunday news shows which gives credence to the idea Palin is simply not ready for PrimeTime.
Did they think we would not notice!
OK All of you babygate kiddles- here’s the REAL truth.
Early today I spent a couple of hours looking for a MySpace member
of the right age in the Wasilla Community and found one. I messaged her
this morning an viola! I just this minute heard back. baby Trig is NOT
Bristols. But Bristol Palin is indeed pregant!!
I am not going to share this teenagers name but am copying my email to
her and her response. If you are press or Dem campaign related and interested you can email me for the details and we can talk by phone…
—————– Original Message —————–
From: ..Berta..
Date: 31 Aug 2008, 09:31 AM
There is a huge rumor running around the internet and elsewhere that Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin, is actualy the mother of the Governor’s new baby. Since you are local and around Bristol’s age I am wondering what your take on the story is? It’s also rumord that Bristol was out of high school most of last Spring and Winter? Is that true?
My friend is writing a story on this and any input from a local Wasillian would be great to have.
If you can help- great and if not- I understand.
Thanx
Berta
Respsonse:
Sep 1, 2008 12:15 AM Flag as Spam or Report Abuse [?]
RE: A Question
Body:
Umm noo.. The new baby is not Bristols baby, but Bristol is PREGNANT!! So im sure thats why she wasnt at school last year… Soo yep. Im really suprised that this story hasnt gottin big… it hasnt been on the news onces… Well theres the info that i will give u about her situation! have a nice day!
bewilder,
Someone that posted here, on a different thread said the same thing, that Bristol WAS pregnant NOW.
Look at the pictures of the Palin and McBush families on the new People magazine. She is wearing a black empire waist dress and she looks pregnant to me. Also, on Friday, she was covering herself with the baby and baby blanket the entire time.
Sounds believable, but sure contradicts her mothers message about no birth control.
I guess time will tell with this one. Poor girl. Now everyone in the entire world will know, not just the little town in Alaska.
Thanks for the great site — keep it coming. I’ve forwarded you to a number of friends, who are as puzzled as I about McCain’s pick. It seems the judgment issue and the experience issue should be put to bed. But tonite I was talking to someone who claimed that Palin’s AKNG experience made her resume stronger than Obama’s. They’re out there, and they vote! We can’t get complacent. I keep hoping that the lack of vetting will become increasingly obvious, and I’m taking bets that Palin won’t last the week. Wishful thinking?
Just in case anyone missed it, let me repost IFO’s link from above. At the end of the legislative session, Sarah Palin most certainly looked pregnant. Okay, perhaps she could have used a pillow… But the more likely interpretation is that she was just a complete fool in flying to Dallas and back 8+ montsh pregnant (back after her water broke).
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/31/234157/516/1017/581734
Hey, these rumors were circulating for months in Alaska news papers. This is her mother’s fault no matter what the story is. The primary focus is on her mother in the first place. All the potential scandals around the governor should have made her think about her career and her family and say no thanks John.
Now whats happening? Every single part of her life is being scrutinized.
Things even the Alaskan press ignored are being checked.
She was not ready for a national political career. Normally if you work your way up slowly, this stuff becomes Old News – but everything about her is being learned at once and she is being made the laughing stock of the country.
I don’t know who had the worse judgment…McCain for picking her, or Palin for saying yes.
You know what? My prediction is that it will be McCain that will resign from the nomination. That could be what this “delay” is about in St. Paul.
In that case, the new nominee would likely be Romney.
You heard it from me first.
This is really an excellent blog.
It is fast becoming more clear that it is McCains lack of good judgment and impulsiveness that will probably plunge this choice as VP into controversy as soon as the Gustav is out of the headlines. It appears the McCain camp in already in damage control regarding the removal of vast numbers of photos, birth records, press releases by Palin and even the school records of Bristol. Their “talking point” of the day was to turn the inexperience around on Obama. That is fast becoming obsolete as they will have to answer questions about ethics and abuse of power, being for “bridge to nowhere” before she was against it (&kept the money), accepting support from indicted Stevens in her campaign and word has it the Enquirer is on baby-gate.
From Josh Marshall TMP:
We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It’s called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired his boss. She first denied Monegan’s claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened.
These are, to put it mildly, not the traits or temperament you want in someone who could hold the executive power of the federal government.
I hope they actually nominate her in St. Paul before babygate gets picked by the MSM. It’s already on Andrew Sullivan and Drudge. But once she’s the VP nominee, it will be much messier to dump her from the ticket, and the damage will increase exponentially.
BTW, this terrific blog is beating the entire national press on this story. I’m noticing it quoted (along with the photo of the “Mug Shot Saloon” all over the place. In a way, it will be a shame when Palin is no longer a factor in the election.
ADN is on the case….finally
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/130178
I still maintain these GOP National guys couldn’t possibly be this stupid. Of course they knew all this stuff, but this guy doesn’t want to be POTUS. W left too big a mess. He.Doesn’t.Want.It. or I could be wrong…and they’re not only stupid, but irresponsible and perfectly willing to put party politics before Country. Now I am afraid. Very afraid.
BTW, AKMuckraker. As a fellow Alaskan, I am wondering if you are female or male? It shouldn’t matter, but seems to be very important these days. This is the first blog I have ever followed or contributed to. I am so embarrassed by our politicians–always have been, but at least it was local. But to go global with our dirty laundry is mortifying. We need to let the world know we are not all out to lunch on what is happening here, just ineffectual in getting change. This state actually had real statesmen prior to oil. We were Blue before there was blue and red states. Oil turned us Red.
Lola-
Yes, so Sarah and Bristol will have children very close in age.
It’s not anything that I haven’t seen before but it’s gonna be a media
circus when the MSM finally says something and I feel extremely sorry
for Bristol. What on earth was her mother thinking!!?? And her father too,
he’s either dumb as a rock or under his wife’s ambition’s spell.
How could anyone do this knowing that the media would pick it up?
She has now told the whole world that her teeage daughter is pregnant.
They took her out of school to ‘hide’ it and now this?? It’s Insane and she and
McCain are apparently two of a kind- self before anything or anyone else.
Look I think maybe Sue was more on point. Maybe….. but..
1. the picture that they have posted of her that was supposed to be five days before she gave birth obviously has her looking pregnant.
2. the doctor stated that she didn’t look pregnant at the time of her birth.
3. The group photo from the convention showed no signs of pregnancy but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t.
4. In looking at the photos and scaling them in photoshop they were not taken in the same time frame, and date stamps are off, ( no way are they 5 days apart) that’s an older hairstyle and her features are super rounded.
so why post two pictures of SP pregnant (maybe with Piper) on Aug. 31 that are questoinably not from this year to support a supposed truth.
We must look crazy, but I now really wanna know what happened to Sue.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/31/234157/516/1017/581734
Okay, as long as we are in conspiracy mode…
If Sarah Palin did indeed pretend to deliver Bristol’s baby, then clearly wouldn’t she also make an effort to LOOK pregnant after announcing that she was pregnant?
Look at those flicker photos and compare to her earlier pregnancies (video as a sports reporter and very young woman, and looking very big in a photo with unknown child in the womb). She has NO weight gain in her face or hands. My wife weighed 95 lbs pre-pregnancy and gained very little weight. But her face, hands and feet were distorted beyond belief.
Finally, Palin’s camp is taking the “it is outrageous that we should have to prove anything” line when a birth certificate would clear this up in an instant.
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/130178
We still have no way of knowing the truth and I don’t think the Flicker photos showing her looking pregnant on April 15 prove much of anything one way or another.
Finally, let me just add that flying all the way back to Alaska after the membrane ruptured is the more irresponsible action in my mind.
PEOPLE!
Read my previous post. “Bwilder”
This is not ficiton and the girl I emailed with is a local Wasillian
who goes to the same high school as the Palin kids. Bristol is pregnant
NOW as Sue Williams wrote. Trig is in fact Sarah’s baby, but there will soon be another birth.
It’s disgusting that Sarah Palin would do this to her family. Take the girl out
of school in order to ‘hide’ a pregancy and then trott her out infront of the national media. What on earth is she thinking?
A few more random thoughts:
This story reminded me that, way back in Junior High (before abortion and birth control for teenagers was legal) when you said a girl was “out with mono” it was code for “she got pregnant.” This was in Maine that, in those days, had some things in common with Alaska (without the oil money).
When my mother delivered her fifth pregnancy, the entire process took about twenty minutes. My sister was born in a hallway in a hospital about ten minutes from our house. I remember my mother explaining to us that things went a lot faster after you had had that many babies.
I’ve been hearing all day from media commentators things like “McCain may wish he had vetted this better,” “This poor woman has no idea what it is like to be in the national spotlight,” and “Sarah Palin can look you in the eye and tell you black is white.” Also several references to Eagleton (as I recall, McGovern had already accepted the nomination before the Eagleton problems came up).
There may be reasons other than the hurricane why Bush AND Cheney are not going to St. Paul tomorrow.
Yes, the GOP CAN be this stupid. If you spend all your time denying reality, sooner or later it is going to turn around and have its way with you.
If this all turns to be true, thank GOD for the internet. It could just have saved us all.
Sadly, for some time, Alaska is going to be known as the land of Sarah Palin, the Bridge to Nowhere, and a lot of bad Republican politics. I say this as a citizen of the state that produced the second worst president.
Who knows what happens to the Republican Party after this? It could actually go the way of the Whigs.
A right wing minister was calling for his flock to pray for rain on the night of Obama’s speech. Oddly, this hurricane has rushed to the aid of John McCain and Sarah Palin by keeping the most bizarre political story in recent memory off the cable networks. There’s no way this thing can end without huge embarrassment to the two candidates and the GOP. If they pull her back, the bible folk will be enraged. If they don’t, serious Republicans will stay home. And the Hillary Pumas? This gal will drive them to Obama.
Ok … I don’t want to do anything that would create a stir, especially if it isn’t true, but I tell you one thing – I am having serious doubts about her being pregnant.
I stumbled across a blog where this woman claimed she met her. It’s date late April, like a week after she gave birth.
http://www.polartrec.com/node/3944
If you look at the picture taken by the woman, the Gov and Piper are hugged up wit her. If you look at the pic, she looks no different than she did before she got pregnant. What I really, really wanna see are pics of her at that Dallas function – to see if she’s showing at all.
I have watched my wife for two pregnancies, my mom for three – and my mom was a hella skinny and she put on weight, as did my wife. I’ve seen women at work gain some weight. Even after they have the baby, they’d come back to work, but it would take a minute to lose that baby fat. She doesn’t have any.
Mad, she was clearly “showing” at the end of the legislative session. See the posts above. Okay, maybe some kind of false pregnancy padding, but no doubt that she was showing.
I love it. Please don’t stop. If you really want to stop the Rethuglicans, you’ve gotta’ get mean. Don’t listen to any pris that tells you, you might alienate voters with wild conspiracy theories. Showing the voters how strongly you are acting in their interest will bring them around to your side. A little foam and spittle about the mouth is always a good effect that’ll have them begging to be let into the booth to pull the lever for your guy.
Holy cow! Vetted? Obama was never vetted. he has the worst background of anyone I have ever heard of running for the top job. I can’t believe these rumors and gossip. Remeber when people claimed McCain’s adopted daughter was his? That was a big lie. We conservative think Sarah is god’s gift to the world, not Obamanation. He has NO experience and he looks like a chimp holding pencils.
come ond you wingnuts! Not all woman turn into fat slobs when pregnant, you are wrong there. What a rumor! I think all of you have entirely too much time on your hands, get a hobby.
The “Trig is not Sarah’s baby” should be dropped.
Right-wing media is running with this already claiming gross accusations by this as well as many other dem-based sites.
No need to push this any further. Palin’s credibility, judgement, and apparent involvement in corruption carry much, much more weight than these baby claims.
@ Groundhog – I am not from Alaska and can’t find any picks of her right before she gave birth. I know she’s rather fit, but even then, women that are pregnant – their faces change, the breasts get bigger and even their hands and arms change.
@ DAR – gotta love the GOP damage control up in here. You should consider doing spin for Sony’s PlayStation 3. Just admit one thing – how in the WORLD do you pick a woman with to capture Hillary voters and supporters who doesn’t hold to any of her ideals, and snipped her from her speeches? Just play dead on this one – the GOP is going down like a cheap .10 whore.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that McCain may not “appear in person to accept the nomination” in St. Paul, even though that is usually “a politically important moment to speak to many voters who don’t normally hear his words.” Most of Monday’s program has been cancelled and the Republicans are not making definite plans for the rest of the convention. Meanwhile, McCain is traveling with Palin and two of his sons, who are rarely seen with him on the campaign trail.
I want to thank John McCain for totally ruining my Labor Day weekend, as I’ve been obsessed with finding info on Sarah Palin for the past two days. Glad I finally stumbled onto your blog, with its lovely writing and solid reporting.
For what it’s worth, the fellow who filmed the video of Palin hiking around town in high-heeled boots has weighed in:
http://alaskapodshow.com/index.php/2008/08/30/sarah-palin-pregnancy-scandal/
CRFLATS posted at (21:52:59):
“I still maintain these GOP National guys couldn’t possibly be this
stupid. Of course they knew all this stuff, but this guy doesn’t want to
be POTUS. W left too big a mess. He.Doesn’t.Want.It. or I could be
wrong…and they’re not only stupid, but irresponsible and perfectly
willing to put party politics before Country. Now I am afraid. Very
afraid.”
See my post: Sarah Palin’s Vetting Problem – HamletsMill (20:27:41)
CRFLATS: I say be afraid, be very afraid. And here’s why:
While on on the subject of depth psychology in my above post (Yes – I am
an avid lifelong student of G.G. Jung) I’d like to make another comment
this early morning having to get up again later today and deal with
living in what appears to be some kind of very bad dream.
The place where McCain introduced Governor Palin to the world on DAY ONE
on this past Friday, August 29th, 2008 is about 30 miles from where I live. When this event was announced in the media here about mid-week last week they kept talking about “Console Energy Park”. This totally confused me
because I have lived in this region most of my life and I had never heard of a “Console Energy Park” in Washington, PA. I had to work on Friday and had no desire to go either, but I figured I would keep an eye out on the media reports. When I saw the footage on local TV I realized the event was held at infamous Falconi Field! I researched and found out they had changed the name last year when it was sold to new investors. I know this place very well!
Two years ago I had a business located just down the hill from this Minor League (actually Independent Semi-Pro League) Baseball Park. I had a business in the nearby Mall selling an expensive product that gives a
computer controlled accupressure thermal massage. Since then I am back to my previous job as a software engineer (a long story!) But during that time because of the nature of the product I consequently had many baseball players, trainers, and coaches from many of the teams in that semi-pro baseball league come in and demo use the product before they played in the
Stadium that night. Especially pitching staffs. I made many friends and
they told me all about the Stadium internals and what it was like playing there. There were many ways the Secret Service could have securely brought John McCain and Governor Palin into that Stadium through the interior corridors.
On August 20th, 2006 Bob Dylan played a concert there on his infamous
“Minor League Baseball Stadium Tour” that year. I had a band back in the
70’s and used to play a lot of Dylan. I once was in a local act here in
the early 80’s called the “Folk Brothers” that was a take off on the
“Blues Brothers”. Myself and my duo partner played a lot of Dylan. I had
seen Dylan in person once before back in the 80’s so consequently I did
not want to miss seeing him in person all these years later so nearby. I am single because my Lady passed away eight years ago. So I was going to go with my business partner and bought two tickets but she could not get back from Central America in time. I was going to sell the other ticket when my then 84 year old Mother found out I had the extra ticket and begged me to take her to see the Great Poet. So I did.
In her old age she is totally into rock and roll because she is totally into Keith Urban and has studied all the musical influences on him. She is now consequently into John Fogerty and Creedence and John Mellencamp. So
the chance to see Bob Dylan in person thrilled her. She was so excited
when we just happened to pull into the Stadium parking entrance road behind
Dylan’s tour bus at 5:30 PM that evening. Somehow the gate attendant got
confused and let us come in that way right behind Dylan’s bus. Right
after that they changed the parking lot gate routing. So we got into an
area very near the roped off entourage area near the main stage which
was in the outfield and parked there just beside the entourage area.
Since my Mother was 84 then (87 now!) I had brought water for her and we
took our time walking to the entrance gate still far around at the home
plate side of the Stadium. It was a festive crowd for the long five hour
show which featured four warm up bands before Dylan came on at 9PM. We
talked with many different people of all ages as we got into the ticket taker entrance line. When we finally got up to the front a guy came by and said
that you could not take a camera in! I had it around my neck. I was a bit
annoyed but as a former performer myself I could understand that the
flash of cameras could be annoying up on a stage at night. So I understood. I went to check the camera at a ticket window but decided against it and told my Mother I would take it back to the car because we had plenty of time before the outdoor concert was to start. She was comfortable with a bottle of water and sitting on a bench.
So I started back around the Stadium. I walked close to the chain link
fence to save time. Being a former rock and roller I was interested in
the logistics of Dylan’s tour and started to study the stage cabling, positional frame lighting, and general set up as I made my way around. I noticed how they had entered the outfield with their equipment and rigged the ramping of the equipment from the trailer trucks to the stage in right center field from the far asphalt parking lot. I studied the positioning of every gate and how they now had it secured with roadies and chains at every point. I locked the camera away in the car and studied everything again on that side of the Stadium as I made my way back. We went back into line, got
through the turnstiles, got to our seats, and it was pure bliss for four
hours. When Dylan came on he opened with “She Belongs to Me” in a full
tilt modern sound system rock version and I was back in 1965 thinking of
my first love.
“bow down to her on sunday salute her when her birthday comes”
Wow!
A good two hours later he closed with “All Along the Watch Tower” in a
full tilt rock version at 120 decibels. Just fabulous!
My Mother enjoyed it so much! She was in pure bliss. A week later she
borrowed all my Dylan CD’s to learn the words to “All Along the Watch
Tower” and others. It took me a year to get my collection back!
So what I am trying to tell everyone here is that through a series of circumstances I know this Stadium.
So I was very surprised when I saw the footage on local TV on Friday
night of the “BIG DEBUT”. I want to show you something that the MSM
would NEVER notice.
But first you will have to endure some of this just to get a taste of
what went down here on DAY ONE:
DAY ONE: McCAIN’S INTRO AT THE ***BIG DEBUT*** FRIDAY, AUGUST 29th, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYD0LeGFi0o
PALIN PART 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzT6pzqYxJs
PALIN PART 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPO8snlcR2U
McCAIN POSITIONED SOMEWHERE BEHIND HOME PLATE ALONG THE FIRST BASE SIDE
http://www.washingtonwildthings.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1220162024
NOTE THE STADIUM SEATING CHART (DYLAN’S STAGE WAS IN RIGHT CENTER FIELD)
http://www.washingtonwildthings.com/tix-seating.php
VIDEO FROM HOW KDKA PITTSBURGH HANDLED IT
http://kdka.com/video/?id=45621@kdka.dayport.com
I apologize for my fellow Western Pennsylvanians here (after all
Pennsylvania IS Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in between) but
I am trying to show you the stakes here. Be afraid, be very, very, very
afraid. These voters are out there. This woman could be elected Vice
President of the United States and when McCain checks out which I
believe he gives every indication he will, she will be PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES!
I do also apologize for Lynn Swann but we still love him here (and
rightfully so despite his politics). But in our defense along football
lines, Mr. Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, current Steeler
Coach Mike Tomlin, and Franco Harris are all publicly behind Barack Obama and Joe Biden and have met with them several times as they have passed
through.
Now back to this last video link.
Freeze frame at 1:23 and stare at this frame and think about what I just
told you.
http://kdka.com/video/?id=45625@kdka.dayport.com
Stay with me here and look at the implications of what you see.
There was ABSOLUTELY NO Secret Service reason to bring McCain and Governor Palin into the Stadium this way to run their bus down the first base line close to the stands in all the dramatic hubbub. They could have parked
that bus at the entrance gate in far right field where Dylan’s tour trucks parked to set up and rig the stage with their equipment. They all
could have simply parked the bus there on the asphalt parking lot and entered by walking in.
Think C.G. Jung here. Think Karen Horney. Think every system of depth psychology you have ever read. Look.
This was DAY ONE of the roll out of the FATEFUL Sarah Palin VP pick to the world. This was a profound psychological moment. Look at what you see. Look at it at a profound psychological level. He HAD to have the PROTECTIVE SHELL. The monster bus. The mobile solitary Hanoi Hilton Cell to protect him in the meeting with the first crowd with her in tow. He both fears the embarrassment of his choice and also PROFOUNDLY NEEDS HER. She is the disastrous choice which knows in his mind but he now also needs as the protective shell in his psyche. Ever more “Skeletor” Cindy is no longer enough of a fix (What is going on? Is she now on Crystal Meth?)
Remember MONGOOBO wrote in that post:
“5) Addictive behaviors.- In McCain’s case, sexual addiction. Validated
by his broken sexual boundaries after his return from captivity. His
destructive behaviors and denial with his wrecking of his first
marriage. And extensive reliance on sexualized women as rescuers. i.e.
Cindy and now Ms. Palin.”
Of course, it does not have to be literal now at his age. It is psychological. What better psychological ploy then have the 44 year old younger “sexualized
women as rescuer” as your VP choice. It is profound. And this completely un-vetted fateful impulsive choice will now all play out.
This man wants to lose. He wants rescued. He wants out of this. Watch
the days ahead. Just watch as this all plays out. He will sicken. The voters of the United States must do the intervention now in this tragic PTSD drama. There is no one else. Not the leadership of the Republican Party. Not the MSM. They are now all themselves equally addicted enablers of the psychological system. If this ticket is elected, this man is going to die, and Sarah Palin is going to be THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
OMG.
How could it have ever come to this? I am a veteran of the U.S. Army
from 1969-1971. My father served in the Pacific for 18 months in WWII.
He loaded the MASH units onto the ships at Tarawa in that terrible battle. To put the United States at risk like this is criminally insane. I am speechless. I feel ill. That is why I stayed up tonight to write this. I will sleep in today on Labor Day. I want to put this account out there to all of you in the world on
Mudflat’s amazing blog.
I will gladly be the correspondent for this region of the country on
Mudflat’s blog. Whoever is elected must take Ohio and Pennsylvania. All the candidates will be here many times over the next 62 days. I will keep you posted from what I see and hear.
Because my Father who passed away in 1992 was a small businessman, my
parents were life long small town Main Street Republicans which is understandable in years past. But not now. My Mother and all her Republican Bridge Club WWII now elderly widows think these people are insane. In 2004 my Mother stood in line for two and a half hours to vote for John Kerry in her town.
As we left Falconi Field that night after the wonderful Dylan Concert
she turned to me and said “Only the poets and the rockers can save us now.”
She is right.
But to that I would also add…the Internet Bloggers.
Everyone here keep posting!
Not that I don’t find the possibility of a faked pregnancy deliciously tantalizing, or, as Andrew Sullivan noted, think “hmmmm” when learning of her attenuated travel back to a local hospital to give birth, we should all recall that according to People Mag, she is still nursing. Her “put down the blackberry, pick up a breast pump” comment was in the intv for People, here:
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20222685,00.html
Dar- Speaking of McCain’s adopted daughter, who would like to bet that we never see her at all during the campaign? The Republicans will have to again secure the racist vote if they are to re-connect with their base. I predict she will stay out of sight unless they stop at the NAACP.
BabyGate: You’ve left out the Most Important, that if she actually is the mother.
Actually Two Points: McCain {read rove and company} in picking her apparently see nothing wrong in having a mother of a Special Needs Child, only a few months old, traveling all over the country from city to city town to town…………………., spending hours getting briefed on what she needs to know and the talking points, constant briefings leading to a VP debate, doing all that it would take to help this ticket, which is extensive.
Palin, as a mother of a Special Needs Child also must find nothing wrong with, read above, and add Padding her Resume on the National scene.
Questions are: Who is taking care of this child, and Who is Bonding, in the first months, with the child as a Mother, and add any other Family Value, Real, to this Extremely Indefensible situation.
I would also add, how serious is the childs condition, and if extremely serious, have the doctors given the possibilities of survival and for how long!
Think about that last as you think about Motherhood and Responsibility!!
Excellent blog! It has really given me an insight into the wonderful world of Sarah Palin and Alaskan politics.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mudflats! Thank you a million times over for your efforts!
You have MADE MY DAY!
Good piece in London
Times — getting some interest
internation’ly.
Love this blog! I’ve sent it to everyone I know. Keep writing – it’s important that Alaska bloggers are heard.
Vetting? But McCain was a POW, he doesn’t need to vet (pun intended).
A thought on babygate – find Bristol’s boyfriend.
[…] Mudflats: On my first post that surreal morning when I awoke to the news of Sarah Palin’s unlikely choice […]
VA Democrat,
Bristol’s boyfriend has been found (at least his MySpace page), but that has been locked, so the only thing that we know for sure is that Chris is “chillin like a villain”…which may or may not be the image one would like to present to the world as an almost member of America’s second family.
AKmuckraker,
Good stuff. How does it feel to be an internet star?
More foreign news outlets are covering the various rumors. I just saw something from Canada.
What is suspicious to me are the “official” statements from the two campaigns. The Obama campaign (which, unlike McCain, gets the internet and probably knew about the Palin rumors weeks ago) hasn’t said much at all about McCain’s VP. Hillary Clinton’s response was polite and actually quite cordial. A few surrogates have been complaining about lack of experience and the obviously inadequate vetting process, but even they haven’t mentioned the “bridge to nowhere” discrepancies, much less the pregnancy.
From the McCain campaign (which so far has been jumping on every little squeak as a “vicious, groundless attack from the extreme left”): nada, zip, nothing, on the Palin rumors.
It’s like everyone is waiting for the National Enquirer to pin down the dirt once again.
I have looked at a few of Palin’s old videos and I do have to say she is the most charming, disarming, sincere-seeming politician I have ever heard or laid eyes on.
Dar: “He has NO experience and he looks like a chimp holding pencils.”
Um, still have that membership in the KKK, don’t ya?
DAR (23:11:00) :
Holy cow! Vetted? Obama was never vetted.
_____________________________________
Excuse me, but Obama has been vetted by 18 million voters over the course of the primaries. He’s been out campaigning for almost 2 years. Get a clue.
Media friends tell me the rumor is something is up behind the scenes with the Republican honchos in St. Paul, like they are trying to get one or both of the “presumed nominees” to bow out.
So how old is Bristol Palin, anyway? In Sarah’s BIO in today’s New York Times, it says Bristol’s birth year is 1994. That would make her 14-15 years old today. In a photo from her mothers inauguration as governor on Dec. 4, 2006, the caption says Bristol is 16. What is Bristol’s correct birthday? Is the date in the New York Times a mis-print?
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/sarah_palin/index.html
News has it that the Palin husband and children are on their way back to Alaska.
So apparently there will be no ‘family moments’ on stage during what’s left of the convention. My mom and sister live in Minneapolis and are saying the protesters are coming in strong. I am so hopeful that this will be the big news
of the week, and a couple of pittiful empty speeches from McCain & Palin.
No bump in the polls would be a great thing.
Its official, BK is knocked up
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/palin-confirms-daughters-pregnancy-915378.html
looks like young Trig is gonna have a sibling…Irish twins!!!!
i betting it will be named cosine
PLAIN PALIN
atomic typo
http://kodiakkonfidential.blogspot.com/2008/08/so-is-this-taiwanese-paper-trying-to.html
Even the best spin on this one is horrible.
What sane woman would trot out her secretly five-months pregnant, teenaged, unmarried daughter to the entire world to promote her political career? It amounts to child abuse.
At the very least, Sarah Palin has horribly defective moral judgment. I can’t imagine she is going to stay on the ticket now.
This is really a tragedy beyond belief.
Bristol is currently pregnant – Announced Today!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/republican_race/2008/09/01/2008-09-01_john_mccain_running_mate_sarah_palin_say.html
Looks like Sue R. was the real deal based upon the uk paper link if legit. Not sure if this is a negative or positive for the right wingnuts. To me it shows no one is minding the shop at home. Feel bad for the girl though.
I’m sure you are aware that “The National Enquirer” and other tabloids, as well as Fox, are owned by Rupert Murdoch. In light of that, how good are the chances anything detrimental to the McCain campaign will actually be printed?
BREAKING NEWS ON FOX NEWS SEPT 1
BRISTOL PREGNANT
Sarah and Todd Palin say their 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant.The couple said in a statement released by John McCain’s presidential campaign that Bristol will keep her baby.
Sarah Palin is McCain’s vice presidential running mate.
The Alaska governor says Bristol intends to marry the father of her child.
She and the campaign also are asking that the media respect the family’s privacy
Forget Rupert Murdock. The McCain Campaign has already put out the Bristol pregnancy story in a press release. It is all over the place now.
If this isn’t the most insane thing the Republican Party has ever done to itself and the country, I don’t want to know what is.
BLOG OF THE YEAR!!!
FACTS ARE COMING IN AT USAIN BOLT LIKE SPEED
Gov. Palin lied to her spokesman Mcallister who lied to the ADN
What’s Palin’s in-state spokesman, Bill McAllister say?
That it’s not true. “The answer to that is no,” he said.
“But beyond that, I don’t know, why should we even have to say anything,” he said.
McAllister was an Anchorage TV reporter before working for Palin. He said Palin once approached him – before people knew she was pregnant – assuming he’d been hearing rumors.
“She said it’s not true about Bristol,” McAllister said.
At the time, the rumor would have been that Palin’s daughter was pregnant.
How does McAllister know it’s not true?
“The governor’s not a liar. That’s the main reason.
What happened to birth control? Oh, wait, Ms. Palin doesn’t believe in birth control, even for married couples. Also, if she is only 17, isn’t that a crime under AK law? Like statutory rape? Just askin’…
I nominate Todd and Sarah “Worst Parents of the Year”. My heart goes out to that poor 17 year old. Their statement issued this morning:
“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,” the statement said. “Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned.
“We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.
“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family,” the statement continued. “We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”
So she wants the media to give them privacy, but doesn’t see that she is the one who created this circus. That is blind ambition and her family could in no way ever be considered that they “mean everything to us”.
This is neglect at best. How could anyone vote for this “family values” candidate, knowing she could be a 72 year-old heatbeat away from the most powerful role in the country/world?
Please Sarah, go home and take care of your family! Please!
A.P.
Alaska statutory rape law:
“The age of consent is defined as 16 years old, according to Alaska statutory rape laws. If a person who is at least 18 years old engages in sexual activity with a person who is 16 years old or younger, he or she will be charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree. This charge is a felony in Alaska. And remember, it does not matter if you did not force or threaten the other person into performing this sexual act with you. It is still a crime under Alaska statutory rape laws.”
http://blog.laborlawtalk.com/2006/10/18/alaska-statutory-rape-laws/
According to Reuters and Drudge: To rebut blog chatter that she faked her own pregnancy last year to cover for her daughter’s pregnancy, Palin has released a statement that her 17 year old daughter Britol is NOW 5 months pregnant (and will marry the father — ?!) Also the McCain campaign says that McCain KNEW this when he picked her to be VP…!?!?
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2944356420080901?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Our Sarah will be just fine. Come on over to http://fuanglada.wordpress.com/ where I am busy compiling news about Sarah. I try to put a nice Alaska picture along with a short comment & link.. this seems to be a Dem oriented site so try something unusual. Listen to someone else.
This is just up on Reuters:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – It garnered big applause in her first speech as Republican John McCain’s vice presidential pick, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s assertion that she rejected Congressional funds for the so-called “bridge to nowhere” has upset many Alaskans.
During her first speech after being named as McCain’s surprise pick as a running mate, Palin said she had told Congress “‘thanks but no thanks’ on that bridge to nowhere.”
In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere,” political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska’s Congressional delegation during her run for governor.
The bridge, a span from the city to Gravina Island, home to only a few dozen people, secured a $223 million earmark in 2005. The pricey designation raised a furor and critics, including McCain, used the bridge as an example of wasteful federal spending on politicians’ pet projects.
When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she was insulted by the term “bridge to nowhere,” according to Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein, a Democrat, and Mike Elerding, a Republican who was Palin’s campaign coordinator in the southeast Alaska city.
“People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I’m for this’ … and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting,” Weinstein said.
Palin’s spokeswoman in Alaska was not immediately available to comment.
Clearly, Sarah Palin is going to be anything but “just fine.”
20 questions with Sarah Palin:
3. 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?
SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.
More answers here:
http://eagleforumalaska.blogspot.com/2006/07/2006-gubernatorial-candidate.html
Thanks, Ana Gama. Depending on how old the daughter was, Gov. Palin (McCain’s minions, actually, the same ones who wrote Friday’s speech for her) may have to compose another press release. What a mess. Can you imagine the reation of nutcase radio if Gov. Palin had been a Democrat?
This press release still does not settle it for me. Something does not compute.
AKmuckraker–are you still out in the bush/dial-up land? We need to hear from you. Your blog has gone global in a big way. Dial in.
Do you think this video is for real?
http://watchingthewatchers.org/news/1445/alleged-palin-family-video-turns-up
The “coincidence” of Bristol being 5 months pregnant and Trig being only 4.5 months old makes my head ache from the obvious manipulations of the GOP.
How stupid do they think we are?
No Jeeb that YouTube video is NOT real.
OK. I’ve bounced around DKos and other sites, as well as this blog and have calmed down a little about the baby story–especially the switched baby part. The commentator above who contacted a Wasilla teenager is currently the most persuasive to me (but that could change quickly). If, as the quoted local teen believes, the 17-yr-old daughter is pregnant NOW, Trig can’t be hers. Kudos, then, to Sarah for looking even better with her 5th pregnancy than her 1st. Someone pls interview her for pregnancy fitness tips! If this is the situation, though, I’m back asking myself an intensified version of the question I had when I heard she had a new-born (breast-feeding) baby w/ Downs: what is she doing running for VP? Before you call me sexist, I would wonder the same thing about a man if he also had a pregnant unmarried 17-yr-old daughter. It seems to me that this household needs 2 parents at the helm.
[…] was McCain’s first decision as a presidential candidate and he fumbled it. As they asked at Mudflats, “It’s been over 48 hours, and now….seriously…was she vetted at all? The possibility […]
I think they’re sending a team to Alaska just so they can come back and say, “We looked at all the evidence, and we’re convinced that there is nothing to these allegations.” I think it’s all just for show.
But, my gosh, if there’s this much trouble on day three, then what will happen once people REALLY start digging……
Excellent reporting. Keep up the truth-seeking because time is short.
Gryphen, WHY is the YouTube video not real? I’m not asking with attitude, I really want to know, because my own Google-fu and WhoIs skills are far below par.
So what do you know?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/01/palin_was_a_director_of_embatt.html
Is this something you can expound on MudFlats?
This website is troubling
Bristol Palin and her “sister-in-law” ( I thought her and Levi werent married yet)
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=0&imageID=27149119#a=0&i=27149119
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=0&imageID=27602607
Sister in Law with a seemingly racist caption on her myspace picture
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=1088360&imageID=28881026
My best nig all growned up 😥 I love you Gabriel
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=1088360&imageID=28144756
Niggggggggggs
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=2279720&imageID=32721441
“Nigs Fo’ Life.”
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=2279720&imageID=32721441
This website is troubling
Bristol Palin and her “sister-in-law” ( I thought her and Levi werent married yet)
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=0&imageID=27149119#a=0&i=27149119
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=0&imageID=27602607
Sister in Law with a seemingly racist caption on her myspace picture
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=1088360&imageID=28881026
My best nig all growned up 😥 I love you Gabriel
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=1088360&imageID=28144756
Niggggggggggs
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=2279720&imageID=32721441
“Nigs Fo’ Life.”
Excuse me, but I want to know if it´s true
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/1/4231/18477/878/581881
Is/was Sarah Palin a member of Alaskan Independence Party?
what a great blog — I’m going to link you to my next post about Palin
I am flabbergasted that in three days we have learned so much shit about this woman. If Obama had picked someone this “un-vetted” and with SO MUCH BAGGAGE – corruption, etc., it would have SUNK his candidacy. We can only hope it helps sink McCain. I’m hoping he has to dump her from the ticket, because that really would end it for him.
I also love how the Republicans do nothing but smear others but when you start criticizing them, they freak out.
Keep up the good work on Palin! I love that your blog hit number 1!!!
[…] post she insinuates that Sarah Palin is John McCain’s latest “trophy girl.” In another, she rolls out all the labels she can contrive—”Trooper-Gate,” […]
Anything solid on this yet? I would think they HAVE to do this before they run out of hurricane postponements!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/31/mccain-camp-didnt-search_n_122823.html?show_comment_id=15201162#comment_15201162
McCain should be ripped for not getting in front of this one, but please don’t drag the kids into it. There is plenty of material out there for subjective criticism. Come on GOP…get your …. together and at least make it and interesting race.
[…] Here’s a good summary of the way I’m feeling: And if it’s true that Palin did not undergo a vetting process, then what are we all to think of a presidential candidate, the oldest ever, with a history of cancer, choosing a running mate he had spoken to only once before offering her the nomination, and not even vetting this candidate? If this is true, then the choice was not ‘bold’ or ‘exciting’ or ‘a maverick choosing a maverick’. It demonstrates not just poor judgement, but recklessness. […]
As Democrats we were once supposed to be the progressive party and the populist party, it is pretty shameful to see how sexists so many in the party are being and that currently the repubs are looking more open minded, I never thought I’d see the day that happened.
Democrats are so civil. I am proud of the democrats; always have been about making America better. Repubs. always wasting hard-earned tax dollars on probing democratics laundry. Read a blog where a Repub said “Leave the family out.” Leave the family out?! I’m thinking here… Let’s turn the tables for a sec. If the democrats (black or white) running for office had a pregnant teen, how would the media and the repubs play on “that”? They would eat it up. “Incompetant” would be the cry of every repub. regarding the nominee, president OR vice president. And what criticisms would “that” get? Funny, when its the Republicans, teenage prenancy is danced over as “awe… everyone gets pregnant, some earlier than others… at least she chose to keep it…” If her mother wasn’t in the government, wonder if the family’d be sending her off for welfare food stamps and diapers. Curiouser and curiouser.
Not dragging the kids into it, would be like not dragging Obama’s being 1/2 black into it. Hey, while we’re on the subject, what about Obama’s being 1/2 white. He’s black, he’s WHITE… so why can’t the Hillary supporters, who should be looking only to the tickets being “Democrat” anyway, consider the fact that Obama came from a WHITE woman, that should make you stop and think and be proud! Color is certainly an idiot thing to look at when it comes to one’s potential to lead a country.
YES McCain did vet her properly, she is perfect for his Rovian stratagem.
Here it is:
Phase 1 Announce the surprise choice of Sarah Palin. Right after the DNC afterglow. MSM is agog with Palin’s VP nomination and Palin revelations.
Phase 2 Fiorina and others on defense, sexism gone rife, Sarah a victim of bias, unfair media.
McCain’s team studied the division after the Primaries between Obama and Clinton supporters. Their aim to inject the same derision but to their advantage.
Phase 3 after victimhood Palin withdrawals, family commitments, stress etc but a lingering sense remains of an injustice.
Phase 4 McCain’s supporters are now galvanized. Sympathy votes pour forth.
Phase 5 McCain free to pick his first VP choice.
BE AWARE
Obama and Biden judgement and experience.
[…] Mudflats: insightful blog from Alaska. […]
Hey , great blog. I feel like a rubbernecker at a really horrific accident. But I look forward to the next installment of “Palin Place” it just keeps getting more interesting. I cannot understand the republicans thinking in this choice. They seem to have lost their collective minds.
Fantastic entry – I’m glad my friend passed this on to me. And congratulations for hitting the one spot.
A bit of news:
Yesterday, Max Blumenthal from The Nation was on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! and opined (which I am in complete agreement) that this pick was merely for the Christian right base vote. She is a pro-lifer with full support of this demographic-simply for that reason. One of the biggest leaders of this group, James Dobson, has not supported McCain up to this point, although he said he might. With 3.5 million people following his every word, this pick would bring McCain a lot closer to a win.
The best part of the interview is when Blumenthal talks about the secret meeting that occurred where some right-wingers decided that Palin would be the pick…
Read the transcript or see the video segment here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/2/report_secretive_right_wing_group_vetted
foxwoods casino
All I know is that a blind, deaf and dumb monkey would be a better choice for President than that socialist, communist, Islamic leaning, Chicago Democratic Machine made nut job!
dawgsday (16:24:53) :
All I know is that a blind, deaf and dumb monkey would be a better choice for President than that socialist, communist, Islamic leaning, Chicago Democratic Machine made nut job!
It must so horrible to be you. bitter. angry. mean-spirtited. bigoted.
Donate. Volunteer. Vote
http://www.Obama08.com
I am now going to make a donation in your name to the campaign.
$50 from me and dawgsday
[…] of Governor Palin, as the vice presidential nominee is an interesting case study. Read what Mudflats has to say, or any of the other blog writers, often as expert or more authoritative than any media commentary, […]
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[…] Seems they were leaning to the right for so long… I’m relieved that they’re reporting about McCain’s vetting process of Palin (or lack thereof), and the way he condones these racist attacks. This information needs to […]
I referenced this article in a blog post discussing how McCain did not use the vetting process to screen Palin.
http://chicagoinsider.us/