Alaska legislators are preparing to issue subpoenas as part of an investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin’s handling of the “Troopergate” affair, but Palin herself won’t be hit with one.
State Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat who is managing the probe into Palin’s firing of her former public safety commissioner, said legislators decided not to subpoena Palin as a gesture to calm what has become a tense standoff between the Legislature and the newly minted Republican vice presidential nominee.
“We’re trying to de-escalate the situation. We just want the truth, clear the air,” French said.
However, legislators still want their investigator to interview Palin.
Hollis French, who was just interviewed on KUDO progressive talk radio in Anchorage said, “The governor says she will cooperate, and we have no reason to disbelieve her. She’s said it 6, 7, 8 times. She’s said it so many times, it seems illogical that she wouldn’t show up.” When asked what would happen if she did refuse to testify, he said, “We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.” (*Note to Senator French – Please…no bridge metaphors.)
French also expressed disgust at Frank Baily, the Palin staffer who refused to show up for his scheduled deposition, noting that he’s currently on paid administrative leave and is “making $78,000 a year while he sits home,” refusing to testify and winning the prize for most irritating use of government funds in the state of Alaska.
State Senator Johnny Ellis (well respected and bipartisan) also made an appearance on KUDO, and stated that he firmly believed that no vetting process had happened. He was in contact with anyone who’s anyone in Republican circles, and no one was contacted about anything. Only Palin’s lawyer has claimed to have been contacted by the McCain camp, but never specified whether it was before or after she was selected. He wrapped it up by saying that he felt if we asked ourselves the question in our heart of hearts, no matter how we may feel about Palin personally, she is definitely not qualified to be the commander in chief, and leader of the free world.
Mudflats 
Just released about 200 comments that got hijacked and flung into the spam queue. Fixed the problem. Sorry about that!
No. The most irritating use of state funds was the $10,000 paid to “cop a feel” Kopp for his two weeks in office (thats $1,000/day, on top of his salary). Didn’t he “quit”?
Sadly I see this going nowhere…
Ah, Kopp. That seems so long ago….
Yes, he “quit” 24 hours after he said he’d never quit, and after a get-together with Palin. The $10,000 severance package didn’t get revealed until later.
Are those 200 comments supposed to reappear under this blog entry? If so, they haven’t made it. If the comments are supposed to reappear but still do not after several attempts to have it so, you might want to send a request to the akismet folks. Ran into something with the Hillary crowd whereby scads of them autospammed my ip addy, which in turn caused all of my comments – even those on my own blog – to autospam and disappear.
As for the entry, above, excellent work. But we already knew she wasn’t vetted no matter what the McCain campaign claims otherwise.
For some comedy relief:
http://wonkette.com/402583/sarah-palin-always-breaking-the-law-in-typical-snowbilly-fashion#more-402583
akmuckraker –
You be a blog star, bro’. How ’bout ‘dat? Ya feel me? You diggin’ it?
BTW, I just had a record hits day on my policy blog.
http://bgladd.blogspot.com/2008/09/surge.html
You obviously get some of the credit.
a picture is worth a 1,000 words (see the graph)
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/palin_earmarks.html
If anything can move a person, this post by Chris Berry bears reading and sending everywhere: Dancing When the Towers Fell
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/dancing-after-the-towers-fell.php
It is a moving, masterful, and eloquent post. Please, please take the time to read it. And pass it along.
If French really believes Gov. Palin will testify without subpeona, I’d like to sell him this bridge for sale in Manhatten, CHEAP.
I’m listening to a rerun of the nomination speeches… Oh the torture…
Trying again:
This is why we’re working so hard folks. It’s a post from tpm that bears posting everywhere:
Dancing After the Towers Fell
By Chris Berry – September 5, 2008, 9:11PM
We must sometimes discuss the horrific, and I find that there was, during the final night of the Republican National Convention a moment so horrific that it bears discussion.
For those who missed it, for it aired well before prime time, the RNC chose to show graphic footage of 9/11/01 – the tower being struck, people jumping to their deaths, the towers falling. Immediately after this tragic footage aired, they had a short break while “Highway to the Danger Zone” was played.
I am serious – this was no tragic parody taken too far. This was real. And chilling. And filled with hate.
Many Republicans chose to dance to it. These few minutes were permanently etched into my mind as an example of why we must all fight to our last breaths to make sure these wretches never regain political office.
This, truly, must be the final act of a pitiful, ghoulish people without ideas or a soul – to resort to the basest in our natures rather than the best part of our spirits. I am dispirited and ashamed for these low men, these hollow men; ashamed *for* them because they have no shame themselves. Whatever evil urges inspired this senseless display of national tragedy and pain, I can probably never understand. I don’t want to understand it. I want to seek to forgive them for it.
I do not know if there is a forgiving God, an angry God, or a vacant nothingness between the stars, but I do know that morality surpasses creed. Is this act a forgivable act? Few seem to be discussing it, and it sorely bears discussion, for whoever approved such a desperate political tactic is unfit for leading a moral, righteous people: unfit because they do not share the basic values of their nation. Unfit, also, because to exalt this tragedy is to be the opposite of a patriot, for it dishonors the memories and ashes our honored dead. To exalt it for nothing more than political gain is unthinkable by a moral people.
It has been said that evil men can think of things that good men cannot. McCain has said he knows “the good and evil” in the world. Well, his party has certainly shown a passion for evil. If there is decency and goodness at all in his party, airing this footage has called it to question.
That his party can dance immediately after seeing such footage…well, that says more about them than anything I could write.
May God take pity on their souls.
Here’s the link: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/dancing-after-the-towers-fell.php
Honor system? Fat Chance!
Mudflats, how are you
keeping all the characters
straight? Charts? Photos?
And, like Bobby G,
a Haiku Diaries’ thanks
for the traffic bump.
http://thehaikudiaries.wordpress.com/
For a little comedy relief:
http://wonkette.com/402583/sarah-palin-always-breaking-the-law-in-typical-snowbilly-fashion#more-402583
Make sure you read the comments!
I was wondering what had happened, and why the comments all seemed to stop. For awhile I thought maybe you’d been taken captive by rogue hockey moms.
Does anyone know if this is the same Sarah Palin? If so here is yet another small lie, one of many. Also, the last line is a doozy.
“Ivana Trump, Perfume
Attract Alaskan Crowd,” Daily Sitka Sentinel, April 3, 1996, p. 3.
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Sarah
Palin, a commercial fisherman from
Wasilla, told her husband she was
driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco.
Instead, she headed straight for
Ivana.
Ivana Trump. . .came to Anchorage
Tuesday to push her line of perfume.
She sat Tuesday in the J. C. Penney
cosmetics department wearing a pink
pantsuit and pink fingernail polish.
Her blonde hair was coiffed in a bouffant
French twist. More than 500 people
waited as long as half an hour to
chat with her and receive an autographed
photo.
“We want to see Ivana, because we
are so desperate in Alaska for any
semblance of glamour and culture,”
said Palin.
I have this funny feeling that even if this goes somewhere, the GOP will defend her to the point where she’s the victim. By the time they’re done spinning this, SHE’LL be the one who almost got fired. Or tasered. Or both.
“They’re treating her like one of Michael Vick’s pitbulls!!!” I can hear it now.
If it weren’t for John Stewart & Stephen Colbert, I’d be packing my bags for the Great White North. But I won’t leave! That’s what these Republicans want. And anyhow, Canada won’t be immune to stupid US policy, unfortunately.
That “vetting” team that flew into Alaska a couple of days ago was probably a “fixit” team. I’d bet that there are at least 10 lawyers and another 10 Rove proteges sliming around on the mudflats at the moment.
Affairs, subpoenas, scandals, gates, possible babies throughout Alaska….. this is really getting so unreal.
No way will GranPa McCains camp will allow her to testify. They started the stonewall slowdown process the day of the announcement with the retention of her attorney.
Why isn’t corp media covering any of this. If I see one more “sunshine sarah” story from CNN & MSNBC about how everyone loves Sarah when that is clearly not the case, I will throw something dangerous. Or stomp my feet. Savannah Guthrie is the worst. She showcases the folks gathered at a bar to watch & cheer Sarah as if there are no other opinions…..Arghhh.
Best be careful about accurate charges against Sarah. The more we cry wolf, the more she’ll be immune to real charges.
BTW Did Sarah retreat up north yet?
I’m thinking of going up your way and I’m wondering if I’ll bump into her. ; )
And
Can you recommend a good gift shop in Anchorage ?
Don’t cry wolf in these parts, or you might get shot from a helicopter! No sign of Sarah
yet. My fave is http://www.museumsource.net
AKMuckraker
I’ve heard that McCain put Sarah on the ticket to put the “Count ” in Country First – you do the math
http://www.citizensforethics.org/taxonomy/term/1065 While you and I can be jailed for ignoring a subpoena, I am not sure it is a serious threat against government officials/friends of govt. officials these days. A precedent has been set with this group. I have been waiting to see Rove arrested for ignoring his but apparently Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten ignored subpoenas, too. DANG, I have got to start paying more attention here!!!
I will when I can back away from this blog site!!! I promise…
Dang, I keep catching the tail end of the blog, it seems. Wrote to you, BJA, at the end of that last stream…about what you said about talking to mothers…which I love.
“The governor says she will cooperate, and we have no reason to disbelieve her. She’s said it 6, 7, 8 times.”
He’s kidding! Right?
“She’s said it so many times, it seems illogical….”
The final last words of everyone that’s been duped by her.
Start emailing Coghill, McCain ( at his office, not the campaign) and French. Let them know that you have been asked to vote for her for VPPOTUS and, in order to make an informed decision, the investigation must proceed and be concluded as it is in process.
To interrupt the process is, truly, an admission of guilt, in my mind.
If malfeasance is determined, she could always claim ignorance of the law, passion of the moment, family loyalty…
I understand that Sarah is grateful for this lifeline being thrown to her, but even a drowning victim should check to see if “Titanic” is printed on it.
Here you go, friddles. It is apparently the same… http://www.eandppub.com/2008/09/when-sarah-pali.html
Well it looks like the rest of world is finally catching up with those of us who are reading the real news on this blog…at last!
Perhaps the McCain fixit (plumbers) boys will not be able to put this Sarah genie back in her bottle? I certainly hope so.
I’m almost certain it’s sexism if you ask a woman to testify in her own abuse-of-power investigation. It’s also sexism if you subpoena her. And it’s sexism if you ask any questions about it. So, stop it all you truth-seekers!
Just saw your note, Siege. Once my sister got over how mean I’d become, I gave her thorough “how-to” instructions. She’s taking the training wheels off tomorrow and going off on her own. Yes, I am a horrible person.
@BJA-
You rock.
707!
One other thing … does anyone else have the same exact feeling they had when Nixon was president? That was the last time I was this enraged about a candidate or politician. Yeah, I’m getting old.
Jon Stewart Hits Karl Rove, Bill O’Reilly, Dick Morris On Sarah Palin Hypocrisy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/jon-stewart-hits-karl-rov_n_123852.html
Great blog… Found you through Skippy.
Great stuff!
Hmm, I think Keith Olberman should put a counter up on his show that shows the # of days she’s refused to testify and put it as the sarah palin admission of guilt counter.
For some comedy relief:
http://wonkette.com/402583/sarah-palin-always-breaking-the-law-in-typical-snowbilly-fashion#more-402583
Read the comments!
Wow! Look at this “mavrick” move. As a perfect example of the McCain campaign bringing change to Washington and ending the Bush era, the following people have been hired to get Palin up to speed before she can take a question:
Mark Wallace, a former lawyer for the Bush 2000 campaign who served in a variety of administration jobs including chief counsel at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has been put in charge of “prep” for the debate against Biden.
Wallace’s wife, Nicolle Wallace, the former White House communications director, has taken over the same job for Palin.
Tucker Eskew, another senior Bush White House communications aide, is serving as senior counselor to Palin’s operation.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former chief economist at the Council of Economic Advisers who has been serving as top economics guru for the McCain campaign, has moved over to serve as Palin’s chief domestic-policy adviser.
Now that’s what I call change.
Dan,
I think they should put up a counter of the number of days she does not make herself available to the national press!
I understand that some of her supporters are incensed that Oprah will not have Palin as a guest until after the election.
Tim Russert must be rolling over in his grave.
I live in Alaska. Many of us are strong people. All of us have family. But how many get a threat of ‘EATING A BULLET?” As a person who took the oath to PROTECT AND SERVE, Trooper Wooten felt above the law in his uniform & got even more courageous when his union only slapped his hand for drinking in his State car he drove off duty. How many citizens would get “a ride home home” when a bartender called law enforcement about a drunk driver? He got pass after pass. He’s still drunk on his power. His union says Sarah “targeted” him because of personal issues. WOW.. how blind are they? It seems they are the ones that need a second look at!
Alaska folks!
This is outragious! You might look into getting someone in authority there to threaten a suit against the McCain campaign for obstruction of justice!
Team McCain and the Trooper
Nominee’s ally moves to curb probe of Palin
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157439
Ana, Tim and Molly Irvins. Betcha she could have gave us some skinny on SP’s speech in Dallas to the Energy Tzars.
I haven’t tuned in for a while, had to get a life, do some laundry, you know. I thought this might be interesting or inspirational for some. It’s the concluding quote from Thomas Frank’s new book about the present state of our socio-political landscape, ‘The Wrecking Crew:’ I remember well the ‘warm middle-class world’ of my grandparents, members of the Greatest Generation, and his phrasing brought it back perfectly.
“Looking back on what I have written, I see that it has also been, in some small way, the story of my generation–or, I should say, of the winners and losers of my generation. The ones who read ‘Target America’ and rode the paranoid wave have, for the last few decades, assembled in riotous celebration here in Washington, enjoying the good times in the capital city of the most powerful nation in history.
The rest of us have been left to mourn for another nation–that warm middle-class world that I was born into: a place where blue-collar workers owned boats and suburban homes, where government seemed at least interested in fairness, and where art and learning were respected as much as accumulation. The wreckage of that America lies all around us today. Conservatives pushed its pillars apart and sent it crashing to the ground.
It would be nice if electing Democrats was all that was required to resuscitate the America that the wingers flattened, but it will take far more than that: years of hard political work, a direct engagement with and repudiation of laissez-faire, and a reconstruction project of massive proportions. A wholesale renovation of the federal apparatus, for one thing, must come before there can be any return to the middle-class state. More basic still–and infinitely more difficult–is a revival of the social movements of the left that brought liberalism into being in the first place. At its core, liberalism is a philosophy of compromise, and without a force on the left to neutralize the tremendous magnetism exerted by money, liberalism will naturally be drawn ever further to the right.
At least we know where to begin: understanding conservatism’s cynicism for what it is, and for what it has done to our world. Until now, wingers have swaggered across the national stage wrecking and smashing with impunity, secure in the knowledge that a little bit of scoffing toward big government would always get them off the hook, save them to wreck again some other day. We can now say of that philosophy, which regards good government as a laughable impossibility, which elevates bullies and gangsters and CEOs above other humans, which tells us to get wise and stop expecting anything good from Washington–we can now say with finality that it has had its chance. Whenever there was a choice to be made between markets and free people–between money and the common good–the conservatives choose money. It’s time to make them answer for it.”
Anyone watching the interview with the guy from the National Guard, who is pouring praise on Palin. He thinks she walks on water.
Gloria- IF, IF all the charges are true, then his boss needs to deal with it. IF his boss didn’t deal with it, then HIS … and so on.
The troubling thing is NOT that Sarah Palin believed he should be fired, its that she denied her involvement in trying to get him fired.
I think that its the intervention, and the lie about it that is the ethical violation here.
I think that sums it up.
A MUST READ:
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%e2%80%9cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%e2%80%9d/
While it’s true that Palin isn’t qualified to lead the free world, I take offense at the implication that leading the USA means leading the free world.
gloria, that still doesn’t excuse ms. palin from cooperating with the investigation.
Gretta is inteviewing people on Fox…and everyone is telling her how amazing Palin is. They are all saying she is perfect.
I am really beginning to sweat this
We can’t lose this race because of a Woman with no substance other then men think she’s hot, helping McCaine win this..
Hillary could chew her up and spit her out and the more i think about it I am pissed at Obama for not picking her to be VP
It may be turn out to be his downfall…
You know, I have a growing concern.
I think Palin could easily become a major distraction to Obama supporters. It might be way more productive to spend time doing something positive to get Barack elected. If we get taken off our game with this soap opera, well, the results could be 4 more years of the last 8.
fyi from palincounter.blogspot.com
Time since press conference
Friday, September 5, 2008
Waiting for Sarah
On August 29, 2008 John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate. In all honesty, I’d never heard of her before, but from the little I heard as he introduced her, I figured this would make the race more interesting. My initial reaction to her resume was that it didn’t seem appropriate for a VP, especially for a 72 year old candidate.
BUT, I figured JM must know what he was doing, and I was looking forward to hearing her express her views. So, I watched as she addressed the Republican Convention, and she had a masterful delivery of her speech. However, there was a lot of info out there about the fact that she didn’t write any of it, so I continued to wait to actually hear her in a non-scripted environment. And waiting, and waiting…
Then today I saw the following on The Note (abcnews):
Obama is George Stephanopoulos’ exclusive headliner on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.
Biden does “Meet the Press.”
McCain does “Face the Nation.”
“And Palin is doing . . . something that doesn’t involve journalists and live television cameras,” writes Newsweek’s Andrew Romano.
Link to The Note
So, I decided to keep track of how long it takes before Sarah actually faces the press.
Posted by Jemez at 2:33 PM 4 comments
Me too, GiGi. Sometimes scared is appropriate. Hitler was elected, too.
I keep thinking that if Palin gets into office… they’ll never elect a woman again. Rather cynical of me…. But I don’t think Palin at all offers what American women can give to this country. It’s so mindboggling to think that our gender has gotten this far… and *that* got chosen as our representative.
Lies, manipulation, flipflopping, corruption, scandal after scandal after scandal.
Thanks a lot, John (Shithead) McCain.
I am way to old for this &%$# !!!!!!
David Gergen said tonight Palin could be a flash in the pan. He said it is very hard to maintain this kind of celebrity and in her case it might not last 60 days.
In Palin’s case, I think even the scandals are likely to get old in a week or two. How exciting is listening to the same canned speech over and over and over? If they keep on refusing to let the media near here, it may well just shrug its shoulders and move on t the next thing.
Even Brittany Spears got pretty tired after the first few scandals.
We should look forward to Palin fatigue in the near future.
“I understand that some of her supporters are incensed that Oprah will not have Palin as a guest until after the election.”
So you’re saying that Oprah is sexist too? Thank goodness the Republicans are finally shedding light on this previously unknown problem of “sexism”.
Some thoughts on why hockey:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/09/05/palin_the_hockey_mom_is_just_a.html
Hmm. Hitler’s party was elected and he was appointed into a position somewhat like our vice president. And then the person in the position similar to our president died…
Has this been discussed? Palin referring to the Iraq war as a “task from God.”
Now there are several articles on this, including in today’s New York Times.
Ada, See the post “Palin’s Preacher Problem”.
AKM
plwalsh: i am already experiencing “palin fatigue.” especially in hearing her same snarky lines over and over again.
I watched Hannity and Combes on the repeat show tonight. Heard a promo for Rush Limbaugh on the way to work (just vile). Listened to Glen Beck some too (frat boy journalism- absolutely vile too). Are we in a strange parallel Universe? The meme seems to be that the mean and vicious “liberal media” is bent on destroying Saracuda with every question they ask or every surfacing story they put on the air or into print.
Yet THIS BLOG is PROOF ON THE RECORD AS IT HAPPENED since Saturday morning that ALL these revelations came from the personal digging of the citizen Bloggerotti and citizen Posterotti trying to find out WHO THE F**K this woman is that most people had NEVER HEARD OF until last Friday (I did because I had seen the “60 Minutes” piece some months back but NEVER took her seriously because I thought absolutely NO THINKING PERSON would EVER put a person this frighteningly and profoundly inexperienced on a national ticket – I thought!) that could suddenly actually be the President of the United States.
Every person who has been watching John McCain deteriorate over the last year knows THIS MAN IS DYING. Can’t the right winger base see this? Their man is physically dying. It is absolutely clear something is wrong. Michael Dukakis mentioned this observation on Larry King late last night. Joe Biden mentioned actually lovingly that there is something going on with his friend. I certainly can see it plain as day.
It looks like I was the person here closest to Ground Zero on Mind Bending Astounding Friday where the DEBUT happened at Falconi Field (now Console Energy Park) in nearby Washington, PA. I was absolutely shocked at the appearance of Senator McCain in the local video that evening. Here is some of it. Look with your own eyes!
Just a week later at the Convention he looked even worse.
The man will NEVER last a four year term. He should be resting at his home with his children now for the rest of his days. It’s over. This job will kill the man. The Republican Party should have done an intervention on him long ago just as Heath Ledger’s friends should have too.
So what were we supposed to do? It would have helped if she had been known nationally for 20 months on the campaign trail. But we had never seen her. Now we are bad citizens for asking “who is Sarah Palin”.
The right wing talk radio machine that has grown up like poison mushrooms over the last 15-18 years must be neutralized now somehow. The strange saga of Sarah Palin may be the end of the narrative.
The clueless idiot that walked into a trap of her own clueless devising.
When I watch the current media, I feel like I need to take a shower. We know so much more on this Blog than people making big bucks on camera in their corporate media bubbles. Absolutely frightening.
But everyone rest up this weekend! It was a hard week of trying to sort it out. It will never be this hard again…I think…
Yes, yes, Ana Gama, and Arianna Huffington at Huff Post had an article to that effect today. That’s why I posted that long quote, because I keep thinking of all that needs to be done.
Good for Oprah! She doesn’t need our advice on that, I think she has her own calculus there. I guess Hillary hasn’t appeared on her show yet, though?
Also a great NYT article by Charles Blow, just up, about the stats behind teen pregnancy worldwide and how real sex ed works. Guess which country is at the top of the list, and not in a good way?
White Agate (21:07:09) Thanks for reminding me to buy Thomas Frank’s book, The Wrecking Crew.” I saw him on C-SPAN in between the DNC and the RNC. He’s a rock star in my book! Funny thing though, he was interviewed by “the enemy”…a lobbyist. Frank talked about how *President Obama* will fix the problems the Repubes have created.
Huffington Post is reporting from Newsweek that that Speaker Harris and other Palin mafiosi are shutting down the investigation. Period…
I’m freaked out about journalism – I just saw Megan Stapelton on Faux News praising Sarah – Has she no shame? Who can I trust? If I watch the local TV news – now I can’t trust anybody – Do I have to rely on the blogs to get my news? What about the people who don’t have a computer or did not find this site? I’m totally freaked out right now – I think they paid Megan to agree to appear on Faux news and say that shit. How can she call herself a journalist? Who can I trust? I am so freaked out. I guess money talks.
I just tried to post and it didn’t go up. Will try again. Thanks, gwbimpeached, his first book was very important to me, too. To draw on Macbeth again, a quote to ‘screw your courage to the sticking place.’ But in a good way.
Ana Gama, yes, I am concerned about that too. Arianna Huffington wrote about it in her post today at Huff Post. The trick is to roll up the sleeves while keeping an eye on everything else, I guess. Our local elections are looking pretty interesting, too, the area where I live has been very red and now it’s looking a little more purple.
Charles Blow has a good piece over at the NYT about the real stats on teenage pregnancy and sex ed. The US is at the top of the list, and not in a good way.
I saw this on the adn.come website under comments. Any idea what this guy is talking about???
“Please tell the audience about the relationship between Col Godfrey and the person who murderer him (or is that a private family matter).”
hopefully this info will make it to the mainstream….maybe we should all contact wall street journal, ny times, abc, nbc, cnn, cbs with emails that contain this story….all send the article above with headline PLEASE INVESTIGATE, PLEASE REPORT….we could credit mudflats.wordpress.com for keeping us informed… maybe mudflats could get some well deserved recognition…. this would only be okay with mudflats giving the go ahead…. apparently Palin was discovered by a blogger according to Corbert (sp?)
it’s smoke and mirrors with the republicans……we need to fight back….they could win….there’s so much info on the site…the kilkenny letter…all of it… how can we get the mainstream to take a look at this site?????
I am getting concerned. I am worried we are keeping Sarah Palin in the spotlight just a little too much. I think it would have been best to just ignore her, sweep under the rug, and let the Obama campaign go about its business. Of course, that is wishful thinking since the mainstream media is so fascinated.
But I am not sure us Obama supporters are doing ourselves any favors salivating, hoping that something bad comes about on Sarah Palin. I was hoping that Obama/Biden could just beat the McCain/Palin ticket straight up. I sure have counted on that. If anything comes on Sarah Palin that is negative, then that is icing.
But we need to get her out of the spotlight ASAP and get Obama back in it.
That said, we should of course attack the McCain/Palin ticket like crazy on policy issues, as well as debunk the many lies they told during the RNC.
I was thinking of starting a factcheck list on my blog, but I am hoping factcheck.org keeps good tallies of these things.
This may be off topic, but I just needed to ask is anyone but me wondering what else Biden had to say today…I mean really, I’ve heard all the McNut and the No Organizer Sarah speech and many, many, did I say many clips and repeats, and rehashings…lashings and bashings and all that, but as near as I can tell there’s only be a couple of not to flattering spinpits of Biden….
Ok, so Miss AK is new news, and he’s last week, oh no that was week before last weeks new, (has it been that long since the DNC) but couldn’t at least one of the super power stations give us a little bigger sound bite? Maybe I missed, in which case could one of you point me to the Utube site?
hey bas…you asked who you could trust. yourself…go to http://www.stopthinkvote.com and see for yourself what mccain is truly about then make your own decision. make sure you go through all the videos and everything else in the list on the left. i found it very informative
if you think it’s good, pass the website on
sorry, my eyesight is failing and my spell check is way over on the other side of the screen…hope you can read what I meant to say above…
And if the real thing don’t do the trick.
You better make up something quick.
You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick.
Oooooh Sarracuda, Sarracuda.
And just for a chuckle, I had to include this:
http://www.thatminoritything.com/?p=53193
It’s priceless, ‘The Conservative Palinguage Guide Vols. 1 and 2.’ How we use and twist our words. Here’s a sample:
Vol. 1
If you’re a minority and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “token hire.”
If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “game changer.”
If you live in an Urban area and you get a girl pregnant you’re a “baby daddy.”
If you’re the same in Alaska you’re a “teen father.” (Actually, according to your own MySpace page you’re an F’n redneck that don’t want any kids, but that’s too long a phrase for the evil liberal media to take out of context and flog morning noon and night).
Black teen pregnancies? A “crisis” in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A “blessed event.”
If you need some cheering up I have an exclusive Q&A with John McCain on the vetting process.
(satire. Also liberal.)
I say you hit them both with these stats: AZ and AK (mind you, we are doing their homework)link t Obama/Biden campaign
% on unemployment
% on foodstamps
Number not % on foreclosre (AZ is huge)–how many homes does he have again and not know about
Census breakdown
Cost of living
Cost of gas
Cost of home heating oil if approp-
Voice of First Peoples in both states
Examples of abuse of power. Documentation= more Bush
$ given to teen pregnancies or cut from states (both) budgets
$ given to head start from state budget
$specifically given to keep teen mothers in school if pregnant/daycare provided(yes, pro life but do you PROVIDE for life after born?)
Kids healthcare % amount
#Homeless Vets in EACH STATE–this is important
Keep adding to the list. We have 59 days.
HamletsMill (21:24:20) I took your advice and clicked on the first You Tube link and I’m exhausted. I feel like I can’t get the seven minutes and six seconds back. It was painful to watch. I need a shower now. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I’m so disgusted with Grampy McSane and Caribou Barbie-gate. BTW, how could you possibly listen to Hannity, Limbaugh, and co.? My advice, listen to: Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, Peter B. Collins. They’re like salve to the spirit in this topsy turvy world. Obama/Biden’08&’12!!!!!!!!!!
How about a blog page on this article. I guess she will have to distance herself from Kroon now huh?
Sep 5, 8:52 PM EDT
Palin church promotes converting gays
By RACHEL D’ORO
Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin’s church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.
“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.
Palin’s conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain’s candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.
Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the “Love Won Out” Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.
Palin, campaigning with McCain in the Midwest on Friday, has not publicly expressed a view on the so-called “pray away the gay” movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin’s church, was not available to discuss the matter Friday, said a church worker who declined to give her name.
Gay activists in Alaska said Palin has not worked actively against their interests, but early in her administration she supported a bill to overrule a court decision to block state benefits for gay partners of public employees. At the time, less than one-half of 1 percent of state employees had applied for the benefits, which were ordered by a 2005 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court.
Palin reversed her position and vetoed the bill after the state attorney general said it was unconstitutional. But her reluctant support didn’t win fans among Alaska’s gay population, said Scott Turner, a gay activist in Anchorage.
“Less than 1 percent of state employees would even apply for benefits, so why make a big deal out of such a small number?” he said.
“I think gay Republicans are going to run away” if Palin supports efforts like the prayers to convert gays, said Wayne Besen, founder of the New York-based Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group. Besen called on Palin to publicly express her views now that she’s a vice presidential nominee.
“People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House,” he said.
hey fixthebroken…i wouldn’t worry too much about palin..she’s a new toy who was put there to get ‘clinton women’…and like a new toy, people will quit being excited about her..just as soon as the debates start…she repeats the same speech which was written for her…not by her…she won’t have speech writiers and mccain covering her back when she gets into the debate with biden and mccain debating obama…he doesn’t have much to say except i was a pow…i know people on both sides getting tired of hearing that and besides although it’s no fun being a pow anywhere at least he served his sentence in the hanoi hilton…not out in the jungle somewhere in mud/muck like most pow’s
anway, think positive…cause i believe that when it comes to the debate and mccain or palin can’t read a speech, their true selves will come out
if you want to help give this website to as many people as you know who are undecided: http://www.stopthinkvote.com
Interesting piece on Palin and Jewish vote:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-r-stanley/palin-is-no-winner-with-t_b_123723.html
I hope that as much as Palin might resonate with evangelicals, base republicans, etc, she is a huge turnoff to other swing groups like Jewish people in South Florida!
The summer before my senior year in high school the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. During my freshman year in college the Watergate hearings were going on. The hearings opened in May. I was staying with a family who were dedicated Republicans. And each day after school I would sit in the living room with their grandmother and watch the hearings.
The hearings replaced the soap operas that were popular in those days. It seemed as if everyone watched the hearings, the entire country watched as the shame of the Republic party was exposed.
It would be years before we again felt good about our country. There was no flag waving, no patriotism, at least not for the younger generation. It was dismal.
In some ways, this reminds me of Watergate. Yet, this time the party includes a fundamental contingency that is marching forward, blithely trampling over personal rights, our constitutional rights and the truth. They do this in plain sight, when most of the voting populous has the means to discover the truth. And they claim to do this in the name of God.
This week I witnessed a Baptist Minister, a man who ran for the GOP nomination, stand up in front of the world and lie. A man of God told a blatant lie, and it didn’t seem to trouble anyone.
And it was a stupid lie. One about Palin getting more votes than Biden.
I am afraid if Palin gets into office, and becomes president, we will enter another dark era. It has been bad enough these last 8 years.
Perhaps this is the time to pray.
Mudflats………..I am almost out of kudos, but you do get what is left. I dont know how the heck I found the blog, but I have enjoyed every second of it for the past week and will be on for at least another 60 days.
four things:
1) my prediction: the race ended when sarah gave her “acceptance speech.” her sneering, nasty rejection of “community organizers” is going to follow her for the rest of her life. that little demographic includes a majority of americans in one way or another, directly or indirectly — if you weren’t/aren’t one, you know one (or more), you’ve been helped by one (or more), you have seen community organizing benefit your community, directly or indirectly. who can say their life has not been touched by a community organizer? and i’m not talking about the ones with famous names and reputations, i’m talking about everyday people who choose to be an asset to their community in one way or another.
2) i bet that sarah and todd are squirreled away and will decline to resume participation in the farce until they have “certain guarantees” (financial/political).
3) a joke, although you may have heard it already, to lighten the spirit:
what’s the difference between sarah palin and dick cheney?
lipstick
4) one of sarah palin’s statements in her speech the other night summed up, imho, the entire philosophy demonstrated by mccain, palin, the gop and much of what passes for the media: “My friends, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of “personal discovery.”
to me that is a depressingly frightening thing for someone running for vice president to say and, presumably, believe (especially where the presidential candidate is a man who could literally fall over dead while being sworn in, if not sooner) but i came across a video at youtube earlier this evening which i recommend people watch. it’s a show that was on BBC4, now on youtube, broken into 16 approx 10 min long pieces, called “if i” by a young man named demetri martin.
here’s the link to part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKnzPHtf9u4
White Agate, you’re keeping me up too late with your tidbits of info. The link to thatminoritything.com list of hypocracies made me laugh til I almost peed. Now stop it. Must. turn. off. computer. now. 🙂
I agree with Susan, these are politcians, many of them get into office as puppets and retire as puppets. Palin is a blow up doll. I don’t know what’s in her future but she’s just their path to oil and a cry for attention. Even if she actually won she’d no more run things than George Bush does. The outcome for the Supreme Court would be the same if McCain ran with Romney or fillinthblank. At least Palin pisses intelligent people off and might help Obamsa beat the party that’s ruled the US for over 30 years.
Thanks Susan in Dallas – I know – But here we watch Channel 2 and just assume they tell us the truth. And then you see Megan on Faux and think – is everything I saw on the local news bullshit? It’s too much for me to handle. But yes – I do filter the news thru my mind. I live in Wasilla and I am so freaked out about my family and friiends who are so PROUD that home girl did good that they don’t even think about how this is so much bigger than home girl – they are just so PROUD – I am so ashamed of my city and my state – I can’t even tell you. This blog is the only thing that keeps me sane – I am so happy I found it. It’s lonely here in Wasilla.
If I am a democrat, I am governed by a nation of laws. And, my civil liberties will be protected.
If I am a republican, I am governed by a nation of men. And all kinds of shit can break loose.
gwbimpeached (21:49:52) WROTE:
HamletsMill (21:24:20) I took your advice and clicked on the first You Tube link and I’m exhausted. I feel like I can’t get the seven minutes and six seconds back. It was painful to watch. I need a shower now. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I’m so disgusted with Grampy McSane and Caribou Barbie-gate. BTW, how could you possibly listen to Hannity, Limbaugh, and co.? My advice, listen to: Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, Peter B. Collins. They’re like salve to the spirit in this topsy turvy world. Obama/Biden’08&’12!!!!!!!!!!
———————————————–
I apologize for making you suffer! But it really is eye opening to see what we are up against. Tom Ridge’s speech made me ill also. We still love Lynne Swan here it is all starting to wear thin. But Dan Rooney, owner of the Steeler’s, Coach Tomlin, and Franco Harris have appeared locally with Obama.
I listened to Hannity and Beck as my duty just to see what the spin was after following every post on Mudflat’s incredible Blog for 7 days. Yes. It made me sick! I won’t be tuning in to that big FM station here for another few days. Limbaugh snuck in as a “promo commercial”. It was sneering and hateful. I truly despise that man.
As to liberal Talk Radio, get this: Out major long time liberal voice here in Pittsburgh got taken off the air after 10 years at her station when they SUDDENLY went to another format just as the Conventions Week(s) started!
I can’t get anyone else you mentioned. Thom Hartmen was taken off the air here too in that format change! We have nothing to listen to on either AM or FM!
So finding Mudflats has been my only lifeline in this badly written Pod Movie in 2008.
(yes – the subtext was McCarthyism in 1956
Or maybe John Carpenter got it right too in 1988 in the direct to VHS Classic:
So if you ever get out my way, Ill buy you dinner to try to make up for damaging your brain cells with footage from DAY ONE.
Now get some rest for tonight!
Everyone keep posting!
Why would anyone believe anything that Palin says? She has lied repeatedly, and Alaskans know it. This man believes she will cooperate–just on her say-so? Her own lawyer says she is not qualified to be VP; will he say so on CNN or any other MSM?
Oh my Lord. This is very, very bad. The McCain camp is taking a page from the Stalin playbook.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157439
Why is Palin hiding from the media? I just read in The New York Times that she won’t even let a spokesperson talk about her religious beliefs. Do they really intend to keep this woman sequestered from the media so she doesn’t have to answer tough questions until after election day. This is ridiculous. We should all rise up and force the media to do their jobs. If we do demand that she talk to the media–and not just People magazine and The View–she’s going to be forced to grant interviews or face the fallout of an American public who wants to know why she can’t. I ask every person on this board to write to the New York Times, Washington Post, 60 Minutes and other media outlets and force them to make an issue out of this. The American public deserves it.
I just need to share my paranoid thought re. the “vet” once again. As everyone in Alaska keeps saying, there was no vet. There was no vet.
I believe this was completely intentional.
I think the idea of an out of the blue pick is complete crap. No one is this lucky. And Republicans don’t believe in luck. They believe in fixing the odds. So, I think three people in the McCain camp figured out the effect that Sarah Palin would have on both the Republican and the Dems. They also figured out, just working through the basics of Sarah Palin and how politics are done in Alaska, that she would not survive a real vet. So they didn’t do one.
These guys are professionals. They may be arrogant, but they’re arrogant professionals, not arrogant amateurs.
They didn’t reach into a magic hat and pull out Sarah Palin. They built a magic hat around her. The only unknown was Bristol. But by then, without Sarah, they had nothing. So here we all are.
Good night to my new friends in Alaska.
She has more “gates” than all of Mc Cain’s houses. (and that’s alot)
Is there a list with a brief explaination?
HamletsMill, ya big sweetie! Thanks for the dinner date offer! I live in Northern CA where we used to have a progressive radio station, too. They changed the format to…get this…a…gospel…station…24/7. I now listen to my list of favorite progressive hosts on the internet. Google: Nova M Radio and click on listen live. The local station is 1480 AM in Phoenix, AZ. THE IRONY, huh? Oh, and if you have XM Radio, go to LEFT AMERICA…167? Not sure the exact number. I want XM for two reasons…Oprah, and Left America.
I agree we need to hold the media’s feet to the fire on this one! I keep seeing the similarity to the rise of Naziism when the people of Germany were kept “in the dark!” And, if the McCain campaign manages to derail this investigation, it will be absolute obstruction of justice. The sad part about it is that there is probably a lot of “hush money” changing hands in Alaska right now coming from D.C.
White Agate (21:07:09) : Thank you for the inspirational quote from “The Wrecking Crew” – I’ll send away for the book tomorrow. Like you, I too had to get away from my computer for a while today. I rode my horse, enjoyed the sunshine, and ate strawberry ice cream. I will not allow Sarah Palin’s nomination to throw me off course…which brings me to:
Ana Gama (21:13:53) : I share your concern, but I am determined not be be distracted. This election is simply too important for that. Instead, I hope to use my reaffirmation of McCain’s poor judgment as an “opportunity” to re-energize myself and WORK EVEN HARDER toward getting Obama and Biden elected in November.
~Proud mother of a soldier who has been sent into the “unnecessary” war zone WAY TOO MANY TIMES!
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1243705446?bclid=1201016315&bctid=1774272389
Some comic relief for you all. XD Enjoy!
Lurker: here’s a scandal rundwon for you
http://howinsaneisjohnmccain.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-scandals-complete-list.html
*attacks typo with Palin’s mouth*
bas
Here in Wasilla too.
I feel your pain and embarrassment. I’m lucky enough to have family and friends that were shocked and dismayed – not proud.
Keep strong. Vote twice if ya gotta!
Gloria from Alaska,
I agree that Wooten sounds like a major loser and a disgrace to the uniform. However, it is still not okay for a governor to use the power of the office to arrange a personal vendetta–no matter how justified. The alleged actions of the Palin’s (why is her husband involved in so many of her “official” activities, btw?) are reminiscent of petty dictatorships in less developed countries. I keep wondering if part of the problem is the “small town” thing where everyone knows everone else’s business and appropriate boundaries are blurred, because it’s hard to imagine a seasoned governor handling things in the ham-fisted manner Palin apparently did (hope Rove is teaching her about destroying tapes and stuff). Plus, Wooten is just one of her employee issues. Since when, in America, have people been forced to pledge their fealty to a politician in order to keep their jobs? Most states and the federal govt have had laws (since the late 70s) protecting civil servants from just the sort of ‘retaliation for not voting for me’ crap Palin was pulling. If it wasn’t so creepy, it would be laughably childish. She’s like the proverbial “mean girl” from Junior High. Do things her way, or you’re out of the club. Sad thing is her bad behavior keeps getting rewarded with more and more power. She’s clearly not interested in playing second fiddle to anyone. McCain is a fool and he better watch his back.
Oh! gwbimpeached (21:49:52) note:
The people in blue “T” shirts in the footage were PROTESTERS from a local service workers union present on DAY ONE!
Plus find my post on the “Vetting Sarah Palin Problem” thread about the Dylan Concert held at Falconi Field on August 20, 2008. Maybe some of those vibes are upon Saracuda and she just doesn’t know it yet. Where they spoke was just about where I was sitting when the Man From Minnesota – Mr. Bob Zimmerman ended with a full tilt rock version of “All Along The Watch Tower”.
Lize, wait, before you go to bed…I totally agree with you about the vett/no vett thing. Palin has been on the right-wing radar ever since she became mayor of Wasilla and hired a lobbyist and then proceeded to put her tiny little town into tens of millions of dollars in debt. Perfect play-book move. The Roves of the Repubes know that she’s pure self-interest and money-money-money. She appeals to the poor-white-trash vote in America and is the greatest *best-friend* to big money interests. She’s a pro. No offense to prostitutes. As far as the teen pregnancy being a surprise, I don’t think so. The Repubes knew it was just icing on the cake for PWT to relate to her. Sorry I sound so cynical. Can’t help it after enduring the Bush administration. It’s pretty clear how I feel seeing my username…it’s a headline I pray to see in the papers ASAP.
lize: I agree with you. McRove and crew probably read the Dem vet of Palin – the one we are reading and said, we don’t care. she is the ‘demographic’ we need and and she is superficially attractive so we will go with her. I really don’t think they expected as much crap as they got with her but I think in their arrogant minds they didn’t think it would matter and we see already the
McCainRove machine in action trying to squelch and circumvent the bipartisan investigation and calling for the Democrat in charge of the investigation.Of course inquiring minds have to ask, “what are they afraid of?”
Thanks, Mil!
You may take this for granted. Peeps OUTSIDE don’t.
Cont’d from above
avg home price 2005 and 2008
% kids on school lunch/ (breakfast)
% state budget for special needs kids(what does it entail? Was it cut? By how much? what did cut eliminate?)
#infant mortality
Average income? What job is that?
# Now enrolled in community colleges? (Since McCain proclaimed this to be answer …)
# of community colleges, tech schools, -$ fed /state aid–has it been cut=more of the same with McCain/Palin
Largest employer in each state? What is the job? Tax incentives/breaks?
% unwed teens who graduate from high schools
Veteran health care? Mental? Physical? # VA clinics?
Alaska: lions and tigers and bears! Well just wolves and bears really. What is that program to exterminate them actually? Why?
What is the ecosystem of sea Ice and why is it important to each species?
What is the difference in sea ice 5-10 years ago to now? Why is that significant.
Geological reports of oil and gas reserves and how long to extract? What kind of rock. Check your geology on that one.
Why did Palin give pipeline project to Canadian Company again? That is a biggie.
Can anyone tell me what Sarah Palin was doing between the time she lost the race for lieutenant gov in 2002, and when she ran for governor in 2006 ??
Re: Trooper-gate.
When one takes the oath of public office, they are “sacrificing” a certain part of their private life. It is their primary responsibility to follow the rule of law, and avoid abuses of power at all other costs. Abuse of power is the foundation of fascism.
Trooper Wooten certainly sounds and acts like a piece of shit, but I’m sure he’s not the first ex-brother-in-law to do so. Being a Trooper doesn’t make you a robot.
The Palin’s should have systematically taken him to a court of law, detailing his offenses and holding him accountable THERE instead of via emails and innuendo intended to cause him to lose his job. Sign affidavits detailing threats and get a restraining order.
In a divorce case – especially with custody issues – one’s job and income and ability to provide a home for their kids carries a very heavy weight. The Palin’s going after Wooten’s job was an attempt to undermine a custody case, not protect the ‘public good’.
If every single person who said nasty shit during a nasty divorce lost their job, we’d be in a depression instead of a recession right now.
They never asked him to be charged or jailed, they asked him to be fired, and that alone reeks of abuse of power – not a concern for the greater public safety.
JBDC
She worked on the Oil & Gas Commission here in Alaska for about a year, making roughly $121k.
Then she quit protesting the unethical behavior of Republican Party Chair Randy Reudrich who used State resources to do his party job.
When she was Mayor of Wasilla, she used City resources to run for Lt. Governor.
Palin gave the AGIA license to TransCanada because they drafted a proposal to her standards.
The proposal is to build a line to deliver natural gas to the oil sands of Alberta Canada.
The natural gas is used to extract (burn) the oil out of the sand. All accounts and estimates I’ve read indicate it would use massive amounts of natural gas and drive up the market price for natural gas instead of driving down the price of the (end product) gasoline derived from such a process.
I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Whenever I hear stories about politicans and subpoenas and how they don’t want to have to issue one to get someone to come forward and tell the truth, I always wonder why it is, exactly, that a politician (especially a Republican one, but they aren’t the only ones) would not want to have to answer questions under oath? I mean, if they want to tout “good Ol’ American values”, then is “Telling the Truth” not one of them? It always seems to be that members of the “Party of Personal Responsibility” never want to be held responsible for their actions. I have actually heard one Republican complain that if they were put under oath, their testimony would get twisted around and used against them in perjury charges. Except, I truly don’t believe that one would have to twist those Republicans’ testimonies in order to come up with a perjury charge.
I also believe this crap comes from their own mindset: “What would they do if they were on the other side? How could they make the witness look really bad?” And since they can think of ways to make themselves look bad (and not just by actually getting the truth to come out), they assume that their adversaries would do the same thing. But they’re forgetting something critical: Their adversaries are not Republicans like them. That probably comes from their dualistic approach to every single thing in life: Us vs. Them. With Us or Against Us. Total Victory or Total Defeat. You are my Friend or you are my Enemy. (Side note, I understand that in certain translations of the Bible, Jesus is quoted as saying, “He who is not my friend is my enemy.” While other, less hostile sources, say that it was actually, “He who is not my enemy is my friend.” There’s a world of difference between those two viewpoints, and Republicans prefer the former. So, if they don’t perceive you as a friend, they perceive you as an enemy.) But it always comes down to one choice or its extreme opposite. To Republicans, the answer never seems to be, “Well you’re both a little right and you’re both a little wrong.” No, it has to be one or the other, and if you don’t support them totally,you’re not only wrong, you’re with the enemy. It must be lonely to be a brain cell in a Republican’s head.
Anyway, I also heard them say quite often during the whole warrantless wiretapping bill debate, “If you’ve done nothing wrong, then you’ve got nothing to worry about.” Well, the same thing is true about being under oath. if you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Gov Palin, you seem worried about having to testify under oath. Why? Have you done something wrong?
Great blog, and thanks for keeping the world informed about the extremely-unqualified-to-be-president-and-therefore-extremely-unqualified-to-be-vice-president Sarah Palin.
You’re welcome How Insane Is John McCain! It’s a good post. It’s in my informative favs arsenal for when I have to fend off condescending Republican relatives. XD
Help me out, Alaskans! Does anyone up your way care that your governor is above the law? The fix is in and McCain’s goons in the legislature, Speaker Harris et al, are pulling the plug on the whole investigation. Does that bother anyone, or is the Palin mafia that powerful, that much above the law, that everyone just looks the other way in Alaska?
Bill in Oregon
Wayne
I thought I was a Republican before my Governor was drafted to be the Vice President to John McCain.
I like Obama, I think he’s an intelligent, thinking person – I prefer those qualities above policy details.
What really bothers me is that the Republicans of today espouse “Personal Responsibility”.
Growing up I was taught that meant admitting when you were wrong, made a mistake or hurt someone and apologized for it. Doing those things is a sign of personal strength – it’s the most important lesson I feel I have to teach my children so that they may succeed in this world.
I must have missed the doublespeak definition where it says it means to avoid admissions, don’t answer questions and never ever apologize.
I consider the blame – shifting – refusal – to – apologize for anything stance that today’s Republicans have taken as the clearest sign of weakness.
All of us need to exploit this weakness and turn the page.
If you get a chance (or have the inclination) watch tonight’s “Bill Moyers Journal”. It airs again later. Kathleen Hall Jamieson was one of his guests. One might not agree with everything she says, but I find her to be insightful about the media, the workings of American politics and the major questions that remain to be answered by both parties. The transcript will also be posted at: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html
Thanks Mel.
My head is going to explode watching all the talking heads prase her
for nothing BS.
“she has international experance because her state is you know near
Russia” WTF and nobody calls them out.
someone said (Goully I think) “they have oil in AK so she knows alot
about energy more than anyone in Washington” Huh???
In her first “public” apperance on friday she spewed the exact lines
from her speech Wed only you could tell she was uneasy looking
down and reading her “script” and sounding like she was just reading.
Not nearly as smooth as before.
My guess is they get all the money the can out of the fundies before
they dump her. Right now she is their “cash cow with lipstick”
So hide her to get “trained” call the media “sexest and mean”
to rile up the fundies to send more money. Maybe they should
just have her stay at a “Holiday inn Express” before she talks to anyone.
ERRRRR
Accountability & responsibility, Wayne. I’m with you there.
After watching McCain’s speech last night, I was praying Stephen Colbert would issue a green screen challenge, and he did!!
http://www.colbertnation.com/index.php
I’m going to do this one! I have some ideas, but you guys are all so clever I thought some of you might come up with some great ones.
I think nowadays, for the Republican Party stance, “personal responsibility” means ‘no help’, ‘you’re on your own’, ‘trickle down economics’, and ‘as long as it doesn’t hurt me or the party’.
Rather rough, but that’s what I felt like it meant the other night.
~~
I’d like to see someone take on the fad of making everyone academically ‘equal’. (aka, no child left behind) *sigh* It sure sounds good. But it’s cheapened the educational system. No one ‘fails’ anymore. And if you can’t fail, how can you succeed? It feels like if you want to do anything you have to have at least a bachelors, and if you want to start getting somewhere good, a masters and beyond.
How is it helping us that people have to go tens of thousands into debt to get a job that 40 years before required a high school degree and on the job training?
I know that technology has improved as have methods. But what I’m saying is… if everyone needs a degree to do something… then it doesn’t mean much anymore. I’ve very proud of my degrees. I have an associates and a bachelors… but even though I worked hard for them, I know that I didn’t work as hard as I could have (due to the ‘equalization’ of standards) but then again, I also know that what I worked for didn’t really cover the effort I did put into it. And I don’t like the fact that the effort, and money, put into my education and that everyone else has put into their education, has come to mean so little.
Possibly, I’m rambling. It’s been a long long long day. But I still think that education is an issue that needs addressing. A lot of my generation are worried. Worried about how far we will have to go just to get a decent living. How far do we have to dig ourselves into debt before we can climb out again?
Right On All I Saw – If you refuse to see the truth when it’s right in front of you – you’re f’d for life and are setting yourself up for a miserable life.
All I Saw,
I should clarify, as you did, that I was referring to today’s Republicans, not the Republicans of a generation ago. Back then, they actually let liberals into the party. Now, the religious right and the balls-to-the-walls capitalists have driven the liberals out of the Republican party. They are destroying themselves with their lies and their flagrant disregard for the law. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a split in the Republican Party within a few years, possibly before the next presidential election, especially if they lose badly (both the WH and the Congress) this year. Then it will be fun to see who gets to claim the right to field candidates all all federal ballots without having to gather signatures. That’s what destroyed the Reform Party.
AnneinWa
While I’m reading this, husband is perusing http://factcheck.org/ that Kathleen Hall Jamieson oversees.
Smart lady. I like PBS in general, NOW has done bunch of stories on the corruption scandals in Alaska that delivered the Governor’s Mansion to Palin. I think they keep all the episodes online.
http://www.pbs.org/now/
Some of the most insightful pieces during the first year of the Iraq War were done by Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/beyond/
Especially the piece talking to local U.S. commanders complaining about all the money to fund local projects drying up. I think we can all guess where it went. We’re still paying $10 billion a month (that we know of) and still no one is really asking what it’s paying for.
That’s where I saw things going wrong personally, people who can’t even pick up garbage to feed their kids are capable of very desperate acts.
The one thing out of this whole soap opera that gives me hope is that I keep hearing from ‘educated’ / ‘elitist’ Republicans that there is no way in hell that they would vote for McCain / Palin now. They’re insulted and outraged at McCain for picking Palin. (One couple is threatening to move abroad if they do win.) If McCain only gets the evangelical base, that isn’t a particularly large proportion of the voting population. It helped Bush / Cheney in 2000 and 2004 largely b/c it boosted the number of votes he got on the right (‘educated’ Republicans + evangelicals). The more time that Governor Palin is sequestered from the press, the more harm this does McCain among the ‘educated’. He is old; she would be one breath from the Oval Office; and, people need to hear what her thoughts are. And not just in a debate. Her opinions via you tube and previous interviews are not endearing her to the non-Fox News only crowd. IMHO, they far exceed in number the Fox News cronies.
There’s also a bit of a buzz now on the more well-reasoned non-culture wars conservative blogs that McCain has lost integrity with his pick. That is, he wasn’t platforming / campaigning on the so-called family values issues, and in fact, in the past, has said it’s not a part of his larger political view. Now, by picking her, he’s pandering to that segment to get them ‘energised’. He needed to in a way; but, b/c of his pick, he’s now lost some of the less-conservative political base he lead amongst.
So, who knows? I just want it all to stop. I do wonder if they picked her precisely b/c she is such a paradox. And b/c there are so many skeletons to pick through. I can’t take much more of this for my mental health (speaking of which: did others notice the ‘mental health break on Andrew Sullivan’s blog yesterday?).
Stop the madness!
(NB: I’m not saying that evangelicals are in now way ‘educated’…There are at least two in my family who have, respectively, an MS and DDS degree…By using the phrase ‘educated’ / ‘elitist’, I’m borrowing from terms I’ve seen elsewhere to to imply those individuals who do not vote simply on the ‘family values’ / ‘culture war’ issues. No offense intended to anyone out there!)
Thanks to all here. This is what ‘community’ is all about!
oh, my aka in the post above should have been i.e., sorry about that. I need to go to bed, but I can’t lol.
thanks a lot you guys! i am gonna be a republican and pass the blame–i have insomnia and have resorted to hitting the vodka bottle. isn’t vodka what palin’s kid stole? at least i admit i am a hedonistic heathen. wonder what brand of vodka he stole? likely royal crown. i recommend skyy. no hangovers! plus, it is in a cool bottle and made in my hometown!
i am sure someone posted this, it is really dry (unlike me) but the headline is cool:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839190,00.html
ok–i better not miss that gig in gg park tomorrow! hah.
Partisanship Appears to Sway Opinions on Palin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090503932.html?hpid=topnews
Essentially her position on various issues, rather than her personal life is more significant. More women are concerned with her. However, more women are Democrats and wouldn’t ever support her on the issues.
The community organizer trash was bone headed. John Stewart got it perfectly. Trash the party who thinks that way.
Take a deep breath; go after McCain for making the choice (among a million other reasons); and say “Sarah who?” Disdain is a killer. Imagine the stories her VP candidate staff will have to tell. I expect in the mean time there will be considerable eye rolling.
You know, for most of the past 8 years I’ve said that the selection of/by Cheney as VP was the best insurance policy GWB could have. I’m wondering if SP and her ilk are the exact opposite. Think, folks, these are the same people who bomb clinics, murder doctors, and the like. I just hope that if, God forbid, McPain-Failin win this thing that the Secret Service keeps her far, far away from him and that he never allows himself the opportunity to taste her cupcakes. He’s bad enough, but she’s far worse. And just think, even if he survives his first term, she’ll be right there as the annointed one.
One of my sons (just what is it about Ohio????) made the observation that the OP seems to select POTUS nominees based on primogeniture… the old “last guy alive” bit. But can anyone think of an incumbent VP who didn’t get the nod? Scary in the extreme. This kid of mine has spent the last years overdosing on Kool-Aid, to the point where he compared torture to disciplining your kids! But even he isn’t thrilled with McCain. Even though Sweet Sarah, the pit bull in lipstick, is a fellow social conservative, she might be even too much for him to take. As I told my sister this a.m., you can take the lipstick off a pit bull, but what’s left is still a b****.
‘Night all. This is too many late nights for this old gal. Two more years of no insurance and I’m eligible for Medicare — assuming the OPs haven’t run it totally into the ground.
I too am going to bed, great blog with great posters.
Tootles!
All I Saw-thanks for the answer. That US companies were not given the job might tend to irritate some, as in wondering why a US state gives a bid to a non US company. The candidate surrogates and media read this blog, I do indeed know for a fact. Numbers and stats, appropriately sourced are indeed important, but then again, why should we do their work. But that info will be in the debates. Perhaps Ms. Paiin is at veep school, the Cliff notes versions anyway.
Night all/
Sweet non-political dreams all.
Alaskans…. Good luck, from Illinois.
*collapses on laptop*
I have been so ticked-off since I learned about Palin as McCain’s unvetted VP pick that I have WANTED to believe every negative thing I heard about her (and believe me, there’s plenty I don’t like!). But now that I am settling down a bit, and realizing that Rove’s game is divide and conquer, I want to be very cautious about picking my battles when I talk to my political adversaries.
I am a public school teacher, and I have read and heard that Sarah Palin cut funds for Special Education funding by 62%. However, after this claim was refuted by MANY seemingly unbiased “experts”, I did some research on my own. I started by comparing proposed budgets to the actuals from 2005 – 2008. On first (second, third) read, it appeared the funds had indeed been cut. Then I came across the following site that seems to support the fact that she actually increased funding and clarifies why the budgets are so drastically different.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2008/09/gov_palins_budget_for_special_1.html
Is there someone out there who knows more about this?
My name is Corie, and I’m a Mudflataholic.
I can’t resist. This is from Steven Braun, of the LA Times writing about Trooper Wooten’s illegal moose kill. “…shooting and killing a moose — a serious crime in Alaska, where the large beasts are venerated and roam fields and even city streets at will.” Do you think he means cows in India? No Steven, in Alaska moose are ventilated not venerated.
AK MUCKRAKER-
Any take on this? Smells really dirty.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×6959959
OBAMA/BIDEN ’08!!
Bristol Palin slide show from the RNC. Two things to ponder. Does Bristol look like a nursing mom. Breast a bit enlarged for a 17 year old. Look at the last photo of Levi, Bristol & Trig. Nice happy loving unit captured by the photographer. As a mom and registered nurse this baby story has bothered me from the beginning. The last picture is the only thing that makes sense.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/bristol-palin-photos-pict_n_123955.html
AK MUCHRAKER –
Any thoughts on this? Smells really dirty.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×6959959
Obama/Biden ’08
Smells dirty….
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×6959959
For those who were feeling low because the number of viewers McCain had was larger than Obama’s, take heart.
QUOTE
But wait.
If you add in PBS — which is tracked by Nielsen as meter-market projections, but not counted among its regular national ratings sample — Obama beat McCain.
PBS estimated that 2.7 million viewers tuned in last night [for McCain] and 3.5 million watched Obama. So if you include those viewers, Obama wins.
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/09/mccain-rating-1.html
Hiiiiii Corie!
I just came back from three hours of talking about this train wreck with fellow Alaskans and I couldn’t wait to get back on this blog and obsess a little more.
This was way up-thread, I know, but I wanted to register my nomination for the “most irritating use of government funds in the state of Alaska.” That would be paying Sarah Palin’s salary while she spends the next two months interviewing for a new job.
For all those libs who are up in arms… relax and enjoy. The chances that Palin’s going to pull strong for McCain are much less–MUCH LESS–than the chances that she’ll implode. And now I hear the swiftboat veterans (not the rightwinger who funded those anti-Kerry ads, though) are honing in on McCain. Wacky but true. They think he got special treatment and in exchange dropped the search for MIA’s as a Senator later on. Total rubbish, and he doesn’t deserve it just as Kerry didn’t. HBO series writers for Six Feet Under or Deadwood couldn’t have thought this shit up. It’s entertaining.
jbdc – to answer your question – from her loss at lt gov in 2002 til now: Sarah was appointed to the Oil and Gas Commission and had that job for 10 1/2 months before resigning (confusion over why she resigned. She sd compromised work place b/c of Randy R the Rep. Chair of AK’s party – she’d told others it was too hard on her kids since she had to commute to Anch). Next she filed for a business license to start a political consulting group. She served on a hospital board. But for like three years before starting as Gov in Dec of 06, she was unemployed. So, could be our next vp was unemployed as little as two years ago.
Now if we can just get all the animal activists on board! There are some pretty gruesome videos circulating on YouTube showing the aerial killing of wolves. They are tying her into it and mentioning it as one of the pet projects she has “championed”. Seems like a pretty chicken@$#! way to hunt, if you ask me. It even states that she put a $150 bounty for each rear leg they could bring her. You do need a strong stomach to watch, though. There’s some pretty graphic and gruesome scenes. Just a heads up! Geez, she’s like the bride of Freddie Krueger-the nightmare that won’t go away!!!
Just a footnote-why would she want the rear legs of the wolves? Don’t tell me she eats them too?
My God, it’s like somebody opened the gates of hell and she flew out!!!
Phil (00:54:11) :
Just a footnote-why would she want the rear legs of the wolves? Don’t tell me she eats them too?
The wolf foot (paw?) is of course a way of making sure that the wolf has actually been shot. It’s probably supposed to be a special foot (like the right rare one) too. And does Alaska really have such an enormous problem with wolfs? Considering the Alaskan population/area ratio it can hardly be a huge problem with wolfs attacking livestock.
Senator McCain, This is Walter Reed
It’s no wonder the 109th GOP Congress and Administration, in their rush to War with the Drums beating Louder and Louder, didn’t take Military Care and once again the Veterans Care, Wars Makes, into consideration and Pass Legislation and Funding, They Couldn’t Find The Facilities, and still don’t!!
*** Media Advisory for Saturday, September 6th @ 11AM EDT at Walter Reed Army Medical Center ***
This is a Snippet of a post I just placed at Vet Voice and Daily Kos
The Media Advisor comes from ‘Americans United for Change’ and has a short video along with McCains voting record on the Military and Veterans!
My two pence worth………it’s so frustrating watching this wreck go forth. Was just reading The Times (one of the respected national newspapers here), and a very positive article about Miss SP…basically repeating the talking points, 80% approval rating, reformer etc. Below a tiny sample of the comments:
…and we are loving every minute of it. Real Americans are who Sara Palin is and we are damn proud to have her out front and center. We are energized because we have been waiting for someone as special as she to articulate our ideals, the first since Ronald Reagan. Go Sara Go !!!!
Keith Kalish, Milford,CT, USA
It is sad to say that no single person in my country can write an article as good as this.
David Gathard , Divernon il., U.S.
Thank you Alaska for Palin and thank you McCain for picking her as your VP.
Johnny, Madison, USA
Thank you, Sara Palin. I served as a 19 yr. old usmc corporal in flight operations, RVN 1967, in an A4 skyhawk squadron, as John McCain did. The pilots I knew were the most outstanding group of men I have known. My heartfelt thanks that you have accepted. God Bless you.
Mike Wood, Santa Barbara, California, USA
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4677799.ece
MY FRIENDS…this election will NOT be won on the issues….I’ve been saying this for days. First of all, the media is so focussed on this circus that Obama’s message about what he will actually do for us is not getting through. Next, it’s much easier for people to connect with politicians emotionally than for them to try and understand where they stand on policy. Add to this the spin and media manipulation…who has the time to unpick the truth and how many people know about factchecker.com? And finally, as someone mentioned before on this blog….even if you don’t agree with Obama on policy issues, it’s much easier to deal with/reverse those in the long run…than to reverse the damage to the very fabric of the nation that a Mcpalin run will leave.
Can you imagine how DANGEROUS this world will be with Asif Ali Zadari as president of Pakistan, Beauty and the Beast over there revving the folks up to bomb bomb bomb eye-ran…..throw in the Russia/Georgia situation?
“Somewhere in Alsaka a village is missing its idiot”
@ jimstaro (01:54:41) :
Senator McCain, This is Walter Reed
Thank Jim will be sure to pass it on…
Please re-post every so often….
Hey Muckraker….what’s up with the comments, mine don’t’ seem to be going throughhh
@ Phil (00:51:08) :
Now if we can just get all the animal activists on board! There are some pretty gruesome videos circulating on YouTube showing the aerial killing of wolves. They are tying her into it and mentioning it as one of
Great idea Phil pass it on…
She has serious problems…someday she will want to be president…I would not put it pass the right-wings of McCain party to do (take him out – say he die of natural Cause)
This too scary to think about…
For those who were upset by cracks against community organizers and disdain for service other than of the the military sort, you can show support for the Peace Corps by visiting http://www.morepeacecorps.org and signing on.
Tonight they’re hosting house parties around the country-and the world. Find one and make some new friends!
How about “Humanity First?”
yourinfo:
Welcome, I also just posted at my site, if you wave across my name you can click and read there.
I’ll try and get back in and re-post in other threads, others may want to use the bills in whatever they write, but need to put together another on my posts of Honoring the Fallen for last month.
What is the penalty for abuse of power?
@ AnneinWA (23:39:52) :
I have been so ticked-off since I learned about Palin as McCain’s unvetted VP pick that I have WANTED to believe every negative thing I heard about her (and believe me, there’s plenty I don’t like!). But now that I am settling down a bit, and realizing that Rove’s game is divide and conquer, I want to be very cautious about picking my battles when I talk to my political adversaries.
This what you were looking for…
This is McCain and SP new name “Whopper Lier”
So here the first ———”Whopper Lying #1————–
Sarah Palin Slashed Funding for Special Needs Kidsmomocrats.typepad.com — In amongst all the other blatant falsehoods, Sarah Palin’s speech contained a heartwarming section about her youngest son and his special needs. She told special needs parents around the nation they’d have a friend in the White House if she was elected. With friends like this, they wouldn’t need enemies.
I will be posting regular “Whopper Lying #1 as I hunt them down on the internet, TV…she may be able hide from new media on TV but not us here at “mudflat family” … we will report everything..these too are good at lying
http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/2008/09/sarah-palin-sla.html
September 04, 2008
Sarah Palin Slashed Funding for Special Needs Kids 60% in One Year
Sarah Palin is proving to be the Mayor of Liarsville and Governor of the State of Deception. Her speech last night was so full of inaccuracies, falsehoods, misleads, and flat out untruths I’m surprised that she thinks the American public is that stupid and I sure hope the GOP is regertting their crazed applause and support of her speech last night.
Ada commented that Palin thinks the war in Iraq is a “task from God.”
According to today’s NY Times, she takes the Bible very literally:
“Among other things, she encouraged the group of young church leaders to pray that “God’s will” be done in bringing about the construction of a big pipeline in the state, and suggested her work as governor would be hampered “if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God.”
She also told the group that her eldest child, Track, would soon be deployed by the Army to Iraq, and that they should pray “that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.”
“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/us/politics/06church.html?hp”
On another subject, I heard last night that the Dems have raised a lot more money than the other party and that the party with the most money in its coffers usually wins. However, the commentator said that might not be the case this year. Oh, how I hope that is NOT true.
So let me get this straight, we can get the gay rights movement on hand with her “Love Won Out” support, and we can possibly get some assistance from PETA (even though I don’t agree with them on all their topics). Do you realize the power behind those two groups alone?
Those are some powerful groups with a lot of money. Obama may not even have to run the negative ads, they’ll do it for him.
Just read on Huff Po that the McCain camp is trying to derail the investigation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/05/mccain-allies-move-to-der_n_124424.html
We need to some “community organizing” on this and ensure the investigation goes forward – McCain says he stands for transparency, however if he would have had the vision and foresight by properly vetting her, then he wouldn’t have to derail anything.
When are we going to get through her being called a “reformer” for getting rid of her crooked predecessors what it really is: opportunistic politics by someone with unlimited ambition? She was lucky enough to be a politician in a state that seems to have an over-abundance of should-be felons in public office. She saw an opening to clear out those that stood in her way. Give her credit for getting them before they got her. Given what she has done since she came to office, this is the only logical interpretation of what she did to her fellow Republicans.
From Wikipedia:
“In 2002, term limits prevented Palin from running for a third term as mayor. Her stepmother-in-law, Faye Palin, ran for the office but lost the election to Dianne Keller after Sarah Palin endorsed Keller.”
“I’m not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she’s a woman and a conservative. Well, she’s a better speaker than McCain,” Faye Palin told the New York Daily News.
Hillary – call this idiot out – you and her – discussing “Women in America ” and the issues affecting them . Pay per View . Campbell Brown moderator . You can erase your debt and save America in one fell swoop. It would be the most watched show ever……never to be equaled !! Do I have a second ?
Word maven William Safire explains that “Maverick” was the name of a Texas rancher in the 1800s. Samuel Maverick, in fact.
“He refused to brand his cattle, and the reason he gave was he didn’t want to be cruel to animals,” Safire says. “But all his friends and neighbors said that wasn’t so — he was just going around trying to round up all the unbranded cattle and claim them for himself.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94312345
McCain picked her to try and round up the unbranded as for me I will proudly wear the Obama brand
I just read an article posted on MSNBC describing an ABC poll that showed her pick wasn’t gaining any votes for McCain. The republicans are all on board enthusiastically, the democrats think they’re all crazy and the independents haven’t been moved to McCain after his “brilliant” pick. And I believe that there are more of us than there are of them, so all we have to do is get out and VOTE!!!
Also, the four Luckovich cartoons he’s done in September are FABULOUS! Take a look:
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/opinion/luckovichsept08/
Where is everyone? Only 150 posts I’m experiencing Mudflats withdrawal symptoms.
Maybe McCain adopted the “Maverick” title from the old TV series with James Garner.
You think this story could be true, this guy is a jurnalist, but this is his blog…love to know what you Alaskan’s think?
http://thepoliticalcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/
Well done AKMuckracker for this informative blog.
Question….?
How are polls conducted in the States (I am in Oz)
Are mobile phones ‘polled’ ?
PS…Viva Obama
I just hope Palin
sinks herself with her words — her
deeds aren’t doing it.
I adored the PBS etymology lesson on “maverick.” Sometimes it helps to be a smartypants intellectual when you use language. I mean, “maverick” references TEXAS bigtime. It refers to a Maury Maverick who lied (he said Not Branding His Cattle was because he was against Cruelty to Animals but really it meant he could round up all strays without brands and call them his own. Everybody knew this.) And Maverick County, Texas is one of the wildest, wooliest, scariest counties in the west, especially if you try driving through it with a California license plate. To Texans, the word “maverick” has always meant a loner, someone who ignores the laws that don’t suit him/her, someone just this side of outlaw and not someone you could ever trust to fight or play fair. Kinda a narcissistic cowboy with a bit too much power and nobody willin’ to stand up to ’em.
I am so addicted to this…thanks Mudflats.
Many posters are right, we need to stick to the important issues, not the side show Palin is bringing. People will defend her personally if she’s attacked too much. But if we stick to the things that matter to people, gas prices, the war, losing jobs and houses, and that it was the Republicans that got us in this mess and Obama’s change has to be better than 4 more years of the same, people might stop and think logically.
The republicans are even stealing the change theme! Man they are so annoying!!
Is there truth to this story in the LA Progressive? That Palin’s response to Obama winning over Hillary was: “So Sambo beat the bitch!”
Here’s a link to the article:
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/#more-954
If this is true, then I simply cannot see how she would recover from it.
Fact Checking Palin/McCain’s visit to WI yesterday:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/the-truth-about-cedarburg-wi.php
TheraP
I just can’t see how she could have said something like that. It would be political suicide.
Zim: How are polls conducted in the States (I am in Oz)
Are mobile phones ‘polled’ ?
No, cell phones are not polled. Most polls are conducted using voting rolls from the last election, and only land-line phone numbers are called. That is one of the main reasons that the polls, and in particular, the daily national trends (like Gallup) can be so deceiving in this election. The large number of first-time voters, voters who have not voted in several years, and young voters with only a cell phone are not being sampled.
Zim, I think the pollsters use only land line phones, not wireless, but I could be wrong.
From a CNN article dated September 1:
“Men seemed most affected by McCain’s selection of Palin as VP — 17% of men said they’d be more likely to vote for McCain now versus just 10% of women. Michelle Obama apparently helped herself last week. In this poll, her favorables went from 28% fav/18% unfav/53% undecided in early August to 41% fav/21% unfav/38% undecided.
The CNN poll, with one of the lowest undecided numbers of any poll out there, showed the candidates tied a week earlier, 47%-47%.
With regard to McCain’s pick of Palin, men viewed her more favorably than women did — 41% of men had a favorable opinion; just 36% of women felt the same. Just 45% thought she was ready to president; 52% said she wasn’t. Those are the lowest confidence numbers for a VP since Dan Quayle.
And, interestingly, “Three quarters of all voters think McCain chose a female running mate specifically because he thought adding a woman to the Republican ticket would help him win in November.”
Another poll shows Obama with 327 electoral votes vs. McCain’s 206.
http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/
Here’s another polling site:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/
Ana Gama on the polls question, what if you are on the state and federal do not call list? Do they and can they still call you?
My head hurts…someone may have already mentioned this (my apologies if I missed it!)…but, could it be that Sarah was placed on the Honor System just to make her look worse (could it be worse…scary) for not showing up under such conditions?
They repeatedly stated that “we have no reason not to disbelieve her”. It sounds more like a calculated set-up to me (and good for them if it is!).
A subpoena just makes them look like they are bullying her – at least that is what the spin will be from her camp.
I’m a mother and probably a little right-of-center moderate who has voted Republican in the past…and the McCain/Palin ticket is frightening. Someone mentioned getting out there to talk to women (namely mothers) so I thought I’d pass around a new website devoted to just that demographic. I’d rather not be the only one there trying to get them to do some research before blindly supporting this ticket. Some solid information about Palin’s experience in office should get them thinking. They’ll find the other stuff on their own.
http://www.opmom.com
Hold those thoughts, i have to leave for a small town fest..maybe I can find out what real people are thinking.
Thanks Muck..
TheraP said: “If this is true, then I simply cannot see how she would recover from it.”
However, when she allegedly said it she didn’t know she was going to be the VP choice (not that that would have stopped her anyway from what I’ve read).
It just galls me that this woman who calls herself a Christian seems to be so mean and vindictive. I’m sure lots of the stuff going around about her is bulls***, but where there is smoke, there is fire. We need to get to the truth of who this woman is – Anne Kilkenny’s letter was a start, but more people who know the real Sarah Palin need to start talking. From what I’ve read, however, they are afraid of her if they live in Alaska and she has any power over them at all.
Has anyone noticed how mainstream media has become way more right wing? I was amazed during the last election that Kerry got “swift boated” & Bush rode the wave. Yes, you can blame the repubs for their dastardly ways, but they get a lot of help from mainstream media…Brokaw & Wilson included. Yesterday, I kept hearing how “popular” SP was…..even more “popular”, (as keeps delivering that same old tired speech she gave at the convention), than Obama or McCann. What’s going on here, I know the Dems don’t want to take the bait, but this is starting to looking all too depressingly familiar.
Thank you Ana Gama…. I just wondered…. as I do not feel that the polls are reflecting the tru picture…you just confirmed my ‘instinct’ in that I do not believe the ‘youngsters’ are being polled and as such the polls cannot be a tru reflection of a truly amazing American election.
America NEEDS Obama to restore it’s credibility. Good Luck.
Watching MSNBC now, like watching the Twilight Zone. They’re saying the Republicans are happy Palin created a stir, but want to stop discussing her and get back to discussing the issues.
So McCain figures he can drop Palin, a virtual unknown, into a national campaign then tell everyone to ignore her.
“Did you think I’d just accept you in blind faith? Sure, baby! Anything to please you!” — Tina Turner, “You Better Be Good To Me”
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5) If you are a member of a community powered by Ning.com, and they allow RSS feeds, add this RSS feed. Pickens Plan is on Ning and allows RSS feeds. Just click the RSS feed, and copy and paste the URL into the area of your profile
where you can add the feed: http://push.pickensplan.com
6) Start a Facebook profile, and join a community. Update your profile to showcase your blog entries and twitter entries.
7) Join Technorati.com and add become a fan of this blog. http://www.technorati.com
These are just some suggestions.
Of course, donating to Obama is a high impact strategy as well.
GJ, you asked what Biden has been doing. I guess he’s been talking to people.
This piece has a embed of Bidens response to the Republican convention:
http://themoderatevoice.com/at-tmv/newsweek-blogitics/22464/joe-bidens-take-on-the-republican-convention/
When I told my husband that the press wouldn’t be having access to Palin, he said “of course not, they don’t dare let her loose with the press to Talk!”
I also liked this piece on The Moderate Voice, about how “Sarah will Change Government” :
http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/change/22467/sarah-palin-will-change-the-way-government-does-business/
Tammy,
The Do Not Call list does not apply to pollsters.
Susan in Dallas,
Thanks for the reply. You know how paranoid I have become of the Republican party — well, I am seriously scared that they will cheat during the debates by having a wireless receiver in their ears and have people tell them how to answer the questions. That’s how low I think they have sunk with Karl Rove style politics.
It drives me crazy.
Great blog.
The Newsweek article by Isikoff just out on the McCain campaign efforts to shut down the AK leg’s investigation seems to indicate witness tampering and/ or obstruction of justice. I think that once people are named witnesses in a legal action, any attempts to prevent or alter their testimony is a felony. The sudden decision by all 7 witnesses to refuse to cooperate, coupled with the McCain team of lawyers who were dispatched last week looks bad. In addition, the effort to oust the dem legislator heading the investigation looks awful.
I am old enough to remember the hell that broke loose when Nixon fired Archibald Cox, and this has echoes of that. The press is covering this story, and while it may not be the quality of the press back in 1973, I think these actions are simply too blatant and hamfisted to be given a pass. The NYT, WaPost, and others are covering this mess.
Thanks Ana Gama.
I still do not know anybody that has been polled. Another thing I don’t like about polls in general is the number of people that respond to them. They are such a small number, compared to the population of the country.
Here is the link to an excellent article on polling and how it’s conducted. I got this from the Gallup site.
Click to access HowArePolls.pdf
I was just over at the monster (over 3000 comments and going strong) thread at Metafilter and was struck by this comment by marsha56 on Wasilla’s sales tax with the $12,50 limit:
“So, the affect of this is that hard-working Wasillians will be paying $2.50 for every $100 of groceries, but when Mrs John McCain comes to town to buy her next $200,000 pair of earrings, she’ll only be taxed $12.50 giving her the bargain tax rate of 0.00625% for luxury goods compared to the 2.5% paid by all the other poor working stiffs for their daily bread.”
Wow! Is this true? That would be the GOP orgasmic dream! Imagine if Palin could arrange this sales tax plan nationwide. Buy a yacht, pay only $12.50 in taxes!!! Nice.
@phoebe in calif (06:12:26):
Has anyone noticed how mainstream media has become way more right wing?
___________
The major MSM personalities — “correspondents” and anchors alike — have simply become wealthy entertainers in the new “studio system.” I call them “Court Composers,” wards of the wealthy rightist media owners (for whom it’s more about “class” than ideology per se). The days of dogged, analytical, independent gumshoe reporters have largely passed. We are now largely beholden to a monochromatic vertically integrated corporate infotainment megalith whose front men and women are far removed culturally and economically from ordinary people.
This is a principal reason why internet neutrality is so important. The suits would love to step on the airhose of grassroots citizen investigative journalism and asphyxiate the bothersome, insolent rabble.
Info from the National Do Not Call Registery FAQ:
Are calls from political organizations or calls soliciting for charities covered?
Political solicitations are not covered by the TSR at all, since they are not included in its definition of “telemarketing.” Charities are not covered by the requirements of the national registry. However, if a third-party telemarketer is calling on behalf of a charity, a consumer may ask not to receive any more calls from, or on behalf of, that specific charity. If a third-party telemarketer calls again on behalf of that charity, the telemarketer may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000.
What about telephone surveys?
If the call is really for the sole purpose of conducting a survey, it is not covered. Only telemarketing calls are covered — that is, calls that solicit sales of goods or services. Callers purporting to take a survey, but also offering to sell goods or services, must comply with the National Do Not Call Registry.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm
Friends, feel sorry for me.
The worst part about being a political junkie is the starvation you have to go through on the weekends when the daily pundit shows are off-air. I will get a good fix tomorrow with the 3/4 principals appearing on the Sunday shows. However, today is going to be a LONG day for me.
With nothing new to report, the biggest story from Friday afternoon sometimes gets replayed again and again and again. Here in Wisconsin the biggest story was Palin’s appearance in Cedarburg. They don’t even show McCain’s sound bites anymore, only hers. Our local stations aren’t even covering the Hurricanes (they don’t threaten us much up here).
It would be easy to suggest to me to turn off the TV, but we have to vote on Tuesday the 9th. There are quite a few local primaries on the ballot. We certainly don’t want anyone like Palin sneaking into some office that we assume is not important because it is so small it could possibly never come up. Those are exactly the type of possitions on Tuesday’s ballot.
You people have all been a great support to me. Thank you again Akmuckracker!
Ana Gama (06:22:13):
Tammy,
The Do Not Call list does not apply to pollsters.
________
And my wife, LOL, gets pissed at me every time I get one of those calls and give them a terse and rude pushback earful.
To paraphrase Neil Young, I see ‘Muck Never Sleeps’!
AKMuckraker, please ‘don’t burn out and fade away’ and stay safe!
Notes on Oprah:
This is a GOP planted story from Drudge. Oprah has a statement:
“The item in today’s Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.”
Comparisons to Hitler are over the top.
One comparison is worth noting–the economy. Hyper inflation of the German Mark in the 1920s, due to WWI reparations.
“The German currency, the mark, slipped drastically in value. It had been four marks to the U.S. dollar until the war reparations were announced. Then it became 75 to the dollar and in 1922 sank to 400 to the dollar. The German government asked for a postponement of payments. The French refused. The Germans defied them by defaulting on their payments. In response to this, in January 1923, the French Army occupied the industrial part of Germany known as the Ruhr.
The German mark fell to 18,000 to the dollar. By July 1923, it sank to 160,000. By August, 1,000,000. And by November 1923, it took 4,000,000,000 marks to obtain a dollar.
Germans lost their life savings. Salaries were paid in worthless money. Groceries cost billions. Hunger riots broke out.” http://www.historyplace.com/
Citizens demanded change from the government and fringe groups such as the Nazis recognized an opportunity.
Know any one that’s lost a job? Losing a home? Notice a massive national debt owned to foreign governments (China)? What’s the value of the dollar these days? Notice a few saber rattling countries (cough, Russia, cough) while the US is preoccupied with an election and losing war?
I swear the GOP has a minister of propaganda in a back room, somewhere.
The ridiculous right is now saying that the book banning never happened (or trying to claim that it didn’t):
Apparently the Alaskans are getting fed up that the press dares to ask questions about their beloved Sarah.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13199.html
I like the comment in the last paragraph.
Stopped outside Wasilla’s post office on a blustery afternoon this week, Cynthia Shoemaker said “people in Alaska want to give the national media a mouthful” for scrutinizing Palin’s background. “She answers to God, not reporters,” Shoemaker said.
This is heartening. “Sarah Palin Fails GOP Focus Group”
Stopping in to thank you for this blog, and I love all the comments…..Amazing how [polar]izing Palin is….no pun intended
Palin’s op-ed on Polar bears NYT
I have been reading and listening and watching for the last few days, and the way I see it is, Sarah Palin is not going to go away that easily. It occurs to me that she definitely has the moxie to stand up against this scrutiny, since this has apparently been the way that she has run her whole political career.
Granted, that this national scrutiny will be a lot more intense than the small potatos stuff that she is used to, but she ain’t giving up that easily.
What I think we need to do is just keep on top of the MSM and keep them aware of all the wonderful articles that people are posting here. Whenever we see something of value we should email… email…email the links to all the major news sites.
If we force them to responsibly report any news about her that is valid, and not just vicious rumor, then they have to act responsibly and report it.
“She answers to God, not reporters”
______
There you have it. Everyone can just STFU. She Is All That Is Good And Pure And Noble, and consequently utterly beyond pedestrian scrutiny. Enough of your impertinence!
On your knees, commoners!
The ridiculous right is now saying that the book banning never happened
Sydney, I think their argument will be that because they weren’t successful it “never happened”. It’s a popular tactic of the right. When someone accuses them of something horrible and they get one little detail wrong, they (falsely) claim “That’s not true.” And they probably justify that by pointing out that Clinton did it, too. Which he did (on occassion; that is, deny an entire story because one detail was false, but at least he knew he was equivocating. The right actually believes themselves.)
“She answers to God, not reporters”
Fine, we’ll be subpoening Him, too. Can you make Him available for questions, then? Hmmm? No? Why not?
If you’re going to use God as your alibi, your alibi better show up to verify your story.
tammy (06:26:28) :
Thanks Ana Gama.
I still do not know anybody that has been polled. Another thing I don’t like about polls in general is the number of people that respond to them. They are such a small number, compared to the population of the country.
This isn’t necessarily a problem. If you get a good representation among the respondents (regarding, age, gender, race, education, home etc) you can get accurate results with less than 2000 respondents regardless of how large the real population is.
MCCANE AND HIS WIFE WILL BE APPEARING ON “THE VIEW” ON SEPTEMBER 12 OR 16.
I went on to “the View” website to complain as to why Obama and his wife are not scheduled to appear on The View.
PLEASE GO THE “THE VIEW” WEBSITE AND LEAVE SIMILIAR COMMENTS.
Excerpt from that LAProgressive article:
As for being “ready on day one” to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she’s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, “she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.”
“Sambo Beat the Bitch” said Palin after Barack Obama won the Democratic primary.
“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, a**hole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.
“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.
“Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”
“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.
Am I the only one on this Blog that is switching my vote to Obama?
I am a Republican and has always vote for the Republican party
I too cannot recall how I found this blog, but I sure am glad I did.
Question? Sara Palin is a proponent of teaching Intelligent Design in the schools. Does she realize the Black GOLD TEXAS TEA spewing from beneath her state is a Fossil Fuel. FOSSIL? F-O-S-S-I-L LIKE AS IN PREHISTORIC CREATURES AND ORGANIC MATTER?
Alaskans: Be true patriots. Keep up the good work. Save us all, even the sheep.
On her answering to God, wasn’t that a court case one time where this guy did subpoena God? I forget how the case went but I want to say he was calling God as a character witness? Not for sure on this though.
MJC (07:06:39):
Am I the only one on this Blog that is switching my vote to Obama?
I am a Republican and has always vote for the Republican party
__________
I am a centrist independent who has split many tickets. I am working for and voting for Obama, but he’s gotta seriously ramp up his game. My latest concern:
http://bgladd.blogspot.com/2008/09/surge.html
The emperor has no clothes.
To MJC: Obama and his wife, Michelle, have both already appeared on “The View”, not together but separately.
Reminds me of the Beverly Hillbillies
On MSNBC the pundit being interviewed said Palin will probably have a press appearance once they identify a “controlled” environment, maybe even local media. I figure we’ll see her show up first on Fox news.
One thing that everyone has the power to do is vote. Please check to ensure that your identification that must be presented is accurate and up-to-date.
I am a suspecious person and feel the fiasco in the mortage industry was planned as a way to uproot millions of people and put them in flux.
So please, check your voting status…have you changed addresses, not voted in two election cycles, have not replied to letters regarding city ordinances, etc.
Think think think and for God sake pass this on. The one place you will get tripped up is when you walk into the polling places and begin the process…..find out your state requirements and take control of your own back yards!
Judy, they’re the Wasilla Hillbillies! It would make a great sitcom. Maybe they will do an animated show a la “Little Bush”.
I’m distressed that the MSM (with the exception of Rachel and Keith) are avoiding Palin stories and continue to show the video bites of her and the adoring crowds. As much as I love seeing some of the stories vetted out by citizen journalists making their way to Rachel and Keith and actually getting airtime, the problem is that Rachel and Keith are blatantly left, have a clear agenda and hardly fair and balanced. Same with stories appearing on the Daily Kos.
The stories need to get out there, the investigative journalism needs to happen fast and respected news organizations that conservatives trust need to be the ones to break those stories in order for there to be an impact on that swing demographic.
Someone added a great list of the major news orgs on one of these threads but Mudflats has become so popular that I fear I could spend all day trying to located it! Whoever posted that…could you post it again and I promise I’ll cut and paste to my own files! I plan to email each one and ask for a) investigative reporting on the issues raised here and b) to ask them to suspend coverage of the McCain/Palen campaign until Sarah consents to interviews.
Obama/Biden need to step up the attacks on the lack of attention by the opposition to their plans on the major issues such as the economy, health care, education, and even Iraq for that matter. They’re riding the high from the Palin pick which is effectively moving people away from the issues.
According to electionpools.com, among others, Obama already has 214 electoral votes strongly in his corner, and another 46 leaning his way, not counting PA, whose 21 electoral votes are still up for grabs, although Obama has been clearly leading there for some time.
214 + 46 = 269, which means Obama only needs to win 10 electoral votes from any of the following, still considered “swing states”:
FL- 27
OH – 20
MI – 17
NC – 15
VA – 13
IN – 11
WI – 10
CO – 9
IA – 7
NV – 5
NH – 4
AK – 3
SD – 3
MT – 3
ND – 3
8 of these 15 swing states are favoring Obama right now (including Alaska !), so that makes it roughly 327 – 206 in favor of Obama. A HUGE deficit for McCain to make up.
Ain’t gonna happen folks !
Allow me to introduce the next President of the United States – Mr. Barack Obama !
If I see another video clip of Palin whining the word ooooorganiiiiiizer I’m going to claw my eyes out.
Sorry , typo above – 214 +46 = 260
Fox Noise says they will have Palin one-on-one with Great VanSusteren sometime next week. Talk about a “controlled” environment ! You knew it was coming !
When I first discovered this blog a week or so ago, I was ecstatic to find that yes there are sane people in the world. Following the blogs vs the MSM since then now gives me a sense of foreboding. Palin isn’t going to leave the GOP ticket and there is a chance they can pull this off:
1. The Republicans don’t need to win to get elected. The Bush v. Gore decision in the 2000 election was a travesty as it’s inconceivable the framers of the Constitution intended that the will of the people be subordinated. A key part of American democracy died when the SCOTUS became an overtly political branch of government. In the 2004 election, the Republicans suppressed some 3 million votes and who can forget the infamous pledge by the then CEO of Diebold to deliver the election for Bush?
2. The American voter does not vote on the issues but on the image of the candidate. A great guy to have a beer with (even though the Guy is a drunk) or a hot looking chick (males) or a hockey mom (females) may be enough. Oh, and have you heard McSame was a POW?
3. The MSM has become nothing more than an establishment propaganda machine. Can you imagine anyone who relies of Fox news as there primary source of information making a rational decision?
4. There are many in the Bush administration who could end up in prison if the Dems take control. Do you think they will sit idly by and let this happen? This election will be all out political war.
5. McSame’s pick of Palin has mobilized their conservative base, the same base that helped get Bush elected. These people are fanatics and can not be underestimated.
The Democrats need to keep pounding home the theme that McSame = Bush over and over and over. Palin’s problems will be revealed now that the professionals from the National Enquirer are on her case but she shouldn’t be the focus of the Obama campaign. There is more than enough rope out there for her to hang herself.
The Dems MUST prevail or the American we want will be gone. Can you imagine the nature of the SCOTUS if McSame/Palin get to appoint 2-3 more justices? I am in my mid-50s and would not live long enough to see a liberal Court again if this happens. And you can be sure gestapo Palin will go after blogs like this….
Here’s another electoral college prediction:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
Has Obama ahead 301 – 224.
I was watching Larry King live last night, and Michael Moore was his guest. He stated he doesn’t be lieve accuracy of polls. If polls were correct, Hillary and Gulliani would have been the nominees. He also said he believes Obama’s lead is much larger, and didn’t believe white men and women with little to no college education wouldn’t vote for Obama. As he use to be in this Category and was having a Bowl for Obama event last night in Michigan. He stated the people there was exactly who the press was saying Obama had a problem relating to.
I don’t know of anyone in my family, friends that have been polled. So, I’m just not sure who they are polling?
fredrik Says:
This isn’t necessarily a problem. If you get a good representation among the respondents (regarding, age, gender, race, education, home etc) you can get accurate results with less than 2000 respondents regardless of how large the real population is.
With all due respect, fredrik, I do not believe that statistics are properly being applied in this way. While I admit that I do not know a lot about stastistics, I understand that the “margin of error” is not how far up or down you can make each number (and have the results be “correct”), but rather it is the probablility that the sample you took is not representative of the population as a whole (from which the samples came.) Therefore, a “3% margin of error” does not mean that Obama’s numbers or McCain’s numbers can be adjusted up or down three points, but that there is a 3% chance that the results cannot be trusted at all, that they are an abberation.
Secondly, statistical analysis of a “population” assumes some commonality among that population so that any 900 or so samples could “reopresent” the entire population. But this is false. You cannot say that the American people are all “more or less” the same, and that you could ask questions of any 900 people and get a good idea of what the entire country is thinking, because you could easily be getting 900 different opinions to start with. This kind of analysis might work with events (such as car accidents or heart attacks), because those things either did or did not happen. But you cannot properly apply this rationale to analyzing how people think, because those thoughts do not necessairly stay static. They could change before the pollster finishes collecting the data.
Lastly, taking a poll of what is clearly an uninformed electorate is no way to determine public policy, or even what the public thinks. The only way polls can be considered valid is if it was known that everyone in the country knew all the facts before announcing their poinion/decision. For these reasons, I believe that political polls are nothing buit a waste of time and money.
Of course, there’s a nice little cottage industry for polling, and organizations like Gallup and Zogby (among others) have staked their reputations on claiming their polls are useful. If political polling was exposed for the fraudulent representations of public opinion that it logically must be, the TV talking heads wouldn’t know what to think or say. Much of their politial analysis and reporting is based on what pollsters tell them people think. For that reason, they will never give them up, nor will they teach people why they shouldn’t waste their time answering political polls.
Zogby told Jon Stewart that to get those 900 people, they have to call about 8,000 people; so they are only polling people willing to talk to pollsters, not Americans as a whole, which is another flaw in their thinking. I find no logical reason to believe that a random sampling of 900 people willing to talk to pollsters (about 10% of the population) can possibly tell you with any accuracy what a nation of 300,000,000 are thinking.
Now, I freely admit that I probably do not know what I am talking about, so I invite ANYONE trained in statistical analysis to tell me why I’m wrong. Explain how you can assume that American political opinion can be mapped to a bell curve from which you can apply the methodology pollsters use to make up the results they report. Maybe Mudflats knows someone who could help.
From TheCanadianPress:
Rocker Bon Jovi hosts Obama fundraiser
12 hours ago
MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Unlike his Republican opponent, Democrat Barack Obama is still raising money for his presidential campaign, and he turned Friday to rock legend Jon Bon Jovi for help.
Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, hosted more than 100 people for dinner on their mansion lawn by the Navesink River in Middletown, N.J. The price was $30,800 a person, to be divided between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
“When I look at Barack, I see an old man,” Bon Jovi said in introducing his guest. Obama is 47, Bon Jovi is 46.
Obama spoke for about eight minutes before greeting guests individually. He vowed to fight Republican attacks on his character and background more fiercely than John Kerry did in his losing campaign four years ago.
“We’re not going to be bullied, we’re not going to be smeared, we’re not going to be lied about,” Obama said. “I don’t believe in coming in second.”
Earlier in the evening, Obama attended a $2,300-per-person reception at the nearby home of veteran party fundraiser Phil Murphy. About 200 people, including the Bon Jovis and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, attended.
Republican nominee John McCain can raise no more campaign money because he accepted about $84 million in public funding and the restrictions that go with it. Obama turned down the public funding, figuring he can raise and spend more on his own.
More good news for Obama-Biden. This is from a brand new AP story on voter registration: “[Since 2006 Dems have added]more than 2 million Democrats to voter rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party affiliation. The Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters in the same states. The Democrats hope their voter registration efforts can boost Obama to victory in competitive states like Pennsylvania, Nevada and Florida and perhaps even give him a shot at winning traditional Republican states like Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.”
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iyCjg56QEYy3r8Gz2X09TnpaWOMwD9317JU00
A refreshing take on the Palin choice from a Christian: http://www.newsflavor.com/Opinions/McCain-Hijacks-Christianity-Via-Palin.240929
“She answers to God, not reporters”
If we are going to here this over and over. Then our immediate response should be:
“No, she answers to the taxpayers. John McCain said so, “COUNTRY FIRST”.”
@Wayne A. Schneider (07:30:29):
Yes, polling “error bounds” assume a binomial approximation to a Gaussian (normal) distribution, and you are correct to point up the problematic sampling bias liabilities of political polling. Moreover, we live in “Extremistan,” moreso than “Mediocristan.” (Google those words, along with “Taleb” for some great reading. He’s the “Fooled by Randomness” dude).
No surprise that her first iview would be with either Greta (who nauseatingly continues to gush over Palin….quick!…is there a missing teen out there that needs a story???….time to bring Natalie back!) or ‘One Note’ Sean. I actually think O’Reilly might be a bit too much for her to deal with. I’m waiting for him to start making that offer and pressing it as he’s done with others and making a big deal when it’s not forthcoming.
omg!!! did anyone watch Bill Maher!!!!
This is a good website for tracking trends. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com. It’s named after the total number of electoral votes, 538.
It’s run by a guy named Nate Silver. I saw him on Keith Olbermann once. He uses a methodology derived from his method for analyzing baseball statistics, called sabermetrics, which has been amazingly accurate in determining the measure of baseball skill answering questions like “which player on the Red Sox contributed the most to the team’s offense?” or “How many home runs will Ken Griffey, Jr. hit next year?” Sabermetrics is concerned both with determining the value of a player in past seasons and with trying to predict the value of a player in the future. While many areas of study are still in development, it has yielded a number of interesting insights into the game of baseball and in the area of performance measurement. The Oakland Athletics are using it to measure player skills and estimate their future performance and it has been very successful in approving the performance of the team.
fivethirtyeight.com’s method “balances out the polls with comparative demographic data” and “weighting each poll based on the pollster’s historical track record, sample size, and recentness of the poll.” FiveThirtyEight.com also uses computer models to simulate the election 10,000 times in order to provide an assessment of probability for electoral outcomes.
Hopefully the methodology is accurate. The current projections are Obama by 70.3% in electoral votes and 2.9% in popular vote.
Cynthia, TX (07:37:40):
omg!!! did anyone watch Bill Maher!!!!
_____
Here’s some.
Actually, Obama is 15 pts. ahead in Iowa according to most polls. That early campaigning there is paying off a second time.
Amazingly, even Nevada and North and South Dakota look competitive for Obama.
I think all along Obama’s campaign has been concentrating on what it needs to do to win the election: get the most electorial votes. McCain’s main strategy seems to have been to build up his base, most of it in states where he was going to win anyway. In the process of swinging right McCain has lost a lot of votes from independents and moderate Democrats.
So McCain has a huge deficit in electoral votes to make up in less than two months.
If you watch the media carefully, you actually hear people point this out. But the media focus is on tiny fluctuations in the popular vote polls which they say makes the race “neck and neck” even though McCain has NEVER been ahead since Obama clinched the nomination and is polling in the low 40s while Obama has lately been polling around 48-50%.
Most of these national popular vote polls also leave out the third parties, which supposedly are drawing mostly from McCain this year. I’ve also heard that they mostly miss the work Obama has been doing to register young and first-time voters. The Obama grassroots groundwork is what really won him the nomination— probably something you learn about as a community organizer.
So the gap in the popular vote may well be much larger than the polls (mostly based on “registered voters” and “likely voters”) are suggesting.
It is in the interests of both the media and the Obama campaign to go along with the idea that the campaign is still a cliff hanger. I’m not at all sure that is the reality, however.
LULU,
GA, NC and VA are the states they will use the race card in. It already started with the comment from Westmoreland about Obama being “uppity” so I would say watch for the robo calls, the ads and the flyers with racist content
Lulu…voter registration will be the story come election. Let’s hope people will take the time to double check their own voting status information…..
I am sure the GOP is counting on many many problems and fiascos in this process.
Thanks, BobbyG, for your help. Of course, I have no Earthly idea what you said, but it sounded like I was right to disbelieve polling. At least I know I’m not the only one who thinks we shouldn’t believe polls because they can’t possibly be right. 🙂
@Wayne A. Schneider (07:41:09):
I am a trained statistician, though not in polling, more in science, financial risk modeling, and health care. Here’s a link to one of my snarky short essays on probability distribution problems.
Click to access Probability-from-C-to-G.PDF
Interesting op-ed from Charles Krauthammer, conservative WaPo lackey.
http://tinyurl.com/67uapg
Good morning Mudflatians!
Here’s a good one to start your day! Maybe someone has already posted it? If so, sorry. But maybe a re-post is in order.
I got curious last night when Moyers put the unemployment figures into people, not just percentages. Saying 9.2 million people have lost their jobs means more than saying 6.1% unemployment. So I ran some numbers in my area (about half the population of Alaska) on the current results of the mortgage mess.
Our area, has two cities, plus some really small towns surrounding it. There are 4106 homes in the preforclosure stage, 2042 ready to go to auction, and 6496 that are bank owned, for a grand total of 12,644 families who have been affected. Include the smaller outlying towns and the number jumps to nearly 14,000 families. And neither figure counts the families that are hanging on by their fingernails or the bank-owned houses that have sold, mostly to investors at rock-bottom prices.
Plus there are scads of brand new houses that the builders can’t even sell. This area was sprouting houses like tumbleweeds before the bubble burst. Prices have dropped about 40%, and that affects people who’ve played by the rules and not gotten in over their heads. Another interesting fact: my house would cost over $125,000 MORE to rebuild than I could sell it and the lot for today, assuming I could sell it! It’ll be interesting to see if the number of major house fires increases among those pre-foreclosure or almost pre-foreclosure houses…
You might want to run the numbers in your area when you talk to people about the “benefits” on an unregulated market. Make it real. Don’t talk percentages. Talk numbers of people or numbers of families. Then ask if they think McCain really cares. Around here, some of those bank-owned places will most certainly be sold to investors for “Section 8” homes — a real hot-button issue here. Get McCain’s quote about “investment” houses and repeat that back to them, along with today’s report that Fannie and Freddie are about to be taken over and what that’s likely to cost us taxpayers. It’ll make Lincoln Savings’ $2 billion price tag look like chump change!
If you want to search your community or zip code for info to pass on to others as you try to communicate the magnitude of the problem, try http://www.realtytrac.com/.
I don’t figure it’ll matter much to the man who wrote the glowing letter to our local paper praising Palin for her speech (and she delivered it without a teleprompter, he burbled!) EGADS! YOU COULD SEE THE FRIGGING TELEPROMPTER!!!! The hottie factor at work.
I’m reminded of song written by Scottish singer Fish called State of Mind. It’s as relevant today as it was when he wrote it almost 20 years ago.
I don’t trust the government, I don’t trust alternatives.
It’s not that I’m paranoid, it’s just thats the way it is.
Every day I hear a little scream inside.
Every day I find it’s gettin louder.
I just want to reach out and touch someone,
‘Cause I find I need a friend in this dark hour.
We the people are gettin’ tired of your lies.
We the people now believe that it’s time.
We’re demanding our rights to the answers.
We’ll elect a president to a state of mind.
I trust in conspiracies, in the power of the military.
In this wilderness of mirrors here, not even my speech is free.
Every day I hear a little scream inside.
Everyday I find it’s gettin’ louder.
I just want to reach out and touch someone.
‘Cause I find I need a friend in this dark hour.
We the people want it straight for a change.
‘Cause we the people are gettin of your games.
If you insult us with cheap propaganda,
We’ll elect a president to a state of mind.
Every day I hear a little scream inside.
Every day I find it’s gettin louder.
I just want to reach out and touch someone,
‘Cause I find I need a friend in this dark hour.
When we the people have our backs to the wall,
do we the people then assume control?
When it’s too late to stop our own execution,
when we’re faced with the final solution,
You can’t elect a dream revolution
when you’ve a bullet in the back of your mind.
Cynthia: I love Maher, but I think he went too far last night. The first time he spoke about here on Aug 30 was much funnier. I was hoping he’d be more specific with his attacks on her record instead of on her sex and her family, but then again, that’s Maher for you. I didn’t care for the panel, either, though loved the fighting between Kerry Washington and Gov. Steele. Poor McClellan barely got a word in.
Last night’s show is here:
part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PKpu0o5rjA
part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaXJPSezMUM
part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnim36gH0eU
part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diKgN2IDXTo
new rules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIy5P4V7kiM
My understanding on the purpose of the surge was to decrease violence and to give the Iraqi government time to basically take control of their country. Violence did decrease. But you also have to factor in that the other sanctions or parties in the country did come together somewhat to help that. But the Iraqi government still has not taken control of the country.
@tammy (07:52:45):
Read this:
http://bgladd.blogspot.com/2008/09/surge.html
Sarah Palin’s record on environment is abysmal-Seattle PI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html
As a former athlete I can tell you it is never good to take your opponents lightly. When you look beyond them, you are done. That was happening until Palin. Now we the Sane are beginning yo wake from their hibernation out of fear and foreboding.
Fear and angst is a terrific motivator and mobilizer. We will bury them: The stiff and Eva then we turn our attention to putting GW, Dick, and Rove behind bars!
from fellow pow who also attended academy with McCain say he is not cut out to be the President of the United States
They should subpoena her – she’s slippier than a moose on a glacier.
Encouraging news about mixed evangelical reviews!!!
http://www.100differentthings.com/2008/09/06/evangelicals-against-palin/
I pulled this from a previous thread. Kudos to Kimbers for compiling this list and post. Make a difference and contact these folks…take your pick on what horrific Palin story for them to vet out and then pressure them with emails, etc to do what they need to be doing…..investigative reporting:
We need to start complaining to the MSM to start covering Palin’s other issues and totally get away from any more discussions of Palin’s daughter, the boyfriend and either baby.
The Republicans are driving this conversation and using it to cover up all Palins other issues. Did you notice last night and today if you have the radio or TV on, how all the Repubs are complaining that the Dems are out of line attacking the Palin family? It’s as if a memo went out for them all to make the same comment. It’s all they are saying! If they say it enough, it will be perceived to be true even if it isn’t, by the vast majority of people who only form opinions based on soundbites.
It’s a trap and we are all, myself included , are falling into it and it is keeping the focus off of bigger flaws in this VP candidate.
We need to get busy counteracting this now!! Make some noise! Hold the MSM’s feet to the fire!
Here is some contact info:
ABC News
77 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777
General e-mail: netaudr@abc.com
Nightline: nightline@abcnews.com
20/20: 2020@abc.com
CBS News
524 W. 57 St., New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-975-4321
Fax: 212-975-1893
CBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.com
The Early Show: earlyshow@cbs.com
60 Minutes II: 60minutes@cbsnews.com
48 Hours: 48hours@cbsnews.com
Face The Nation: ftn@cbsnews.com
CNBC
900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
Phone: (201) 735-2622
Fax: (201) 583-5453
Email: info@cnbc.com
CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1784
Fox News Channel
1211 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 301-3000
Fax: (212) 301-4229
comments@foxnews.com
List of Email addresses for all Fox News Channel programs
Special Report with Brit Hume: Special@foxnews.com
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com
The O’Reilly Factor: Oreilly@foxnews.com
Hannity & Colmes: Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com
On the Record with Greta: Ontherecord@foxnews.com
MSNBC/NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
Phone: (212) 664-4444
Fax: (212) 664-4426
List of Email addresses for all MSNBC/NBC news programs
Dateline NBC: dateline@nbc.com
Hardball with Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com
MSNBC Reports with Joe Scarborough: joe@msnbc.com
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: nightly@nbc.com
NBC News Today: today@nbc.com
PBS
2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington VA 22202
Phone: 703-739-5000
Fax: 703-739-8458
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: newshour@pbs.org
The Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 800-528-4637 or 213-237-5000
Fax: 213-237-4712
L.A. Times Contact Information by Department
Letters to the Editor: letters@latimes.com
Readers’ Representative: readers.rep@latimes.com
The New York Times
620 8th Ave., New York, NY 10018
Phone: 212-556-1234
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-862-0300
Fax: 212-556-3690
Letters to the Editor (for publication): letters@nytimes.com
Write to the news editors: news-tips@nytimes.com
Corrections: senioreditor@nytimes.com
USA Today
7950 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, VA 22108
Phone: 703-854-3400
Fax: 703-854-2078
Letters to the Editor: editor@usatoday.com
The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281
Phone: 212-416-2000
Fax: 212-416-2658
Letters to the Editor: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Comment on News Articles: wsjcontact@dowjones.com
The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW, Washington, DC 20071
Phone: 202-334-6000
Fax: 202-334-5269
Letters to the Editor: letters@washpost.com
Ombudsman: ombudsman@washpost.com
Newsweek
251 W 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-445-4000
Fax: 212-445-5068
Letters to the Editor: letters@newsweek.com
Time
Time & Life Bldg., Rockefeller Center, 1271 6th Ave., New York, NY 10020
Phone: 212-522-1212
Fax: 212-522-0003
Letters to the Editor letters@time.com
U.S. News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson St., Washington, DC 20007
Phone: 202-955-2000
Fax: 202-955-2049
Letters to the Editor letters@usnews.com
Associated Press
450 West 33rd St., New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-621-1500
Fax: 212-621-7523
General Questions and Comments: info@ap.org
Reuters
Three Times Square, New York, NY 10036
Telephone: 646-223-4000
United Press International
1133 19th Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-898-8000
FAX: 202-898-8048
Comments and Tips: tips@upi.com
Thanks GH for the poll tracking link. I was a little heartened by the fact that although Palin’s “favorable” numbers are higher than those of previous v.p. candidates, her “unfavorable” numbers are almost twice as high as Cheney’s was in 2000. No doubt about it. She’s a polarizing figure.
I wanted to float and idea about a way to get BO back in the spotlight and counter SP. What if Biden did attack personally, “I hope if elected VP she would manage the free world better than her personal life, has anyone seen this stuff, what a mess!” BO then true to his word fires his running mate and inserts HC. Of course drag it out a bit, get the media wondering and thinking, then Biden resigns and blammo back in business!
Hi DSS5,
Yes, I am aware that both Obama and his wife have previously appeared on The View, compared to John McCain’s 5 or 6 previous visits.
My thought is this: Since 3 of the 5 hosts tend to support Obama, it would be a great idea for he and Michelle to make another appearance before the elections. After all, the show is mostly viewed by women, and he really needs to do as much as he can to sway more women voters away from Palin.
You know what? I think David Gergen is right.
Palin will be old news in a week and everyone will be suffering from serious, serious Palin fatigue (I already am). Unless she gives a news conference and sets off a firestorm or gets pregnant again, every scandal will be out there and none of it will matter or make her look presidential.
Bottom line is that there just isn’t all that much to her.
wow- failure to issue a subpoena- in order to de-escalate the situation?
I thought subpoenas were issued in order to have someone give testimony under oath?
If Sarah’s testimony is needed, under oath, one should be issued, and nothing lese should matter.
It is starting to seem that Alaska is like the US Justice Dept. under Gonzalez-
Actually, I just read that the Palin family’s first press appearance will be on the Jerry Springer show.
Idea
Bad idea….the Repub’s will spin that for sure…saying it was stagged just to get Hillary on the ticket, in order to bring in the women vote.
Two things I want to present.
A secretive Right Wing picked Palin (yah think): http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/352178
And regarding women voters…here are some stats from the 2000 census..
ladies we have to get busy registering…
Female voting statistics
• Women make up 51 percent of the population and therefore are a majority.
• More than 70 million women are not registered.
• Twenty-two million eligible unmarried women did not vote in the last election.
• Unmarried women make up the largest non-voting block.
• 29.7 percent of eligible women are not registered to vote.
• Of the 70.9 percent of women who are registered to vote, only 60.7 percent actually vote.
Minority women voting statistics
• 29.7 percent of eligible African-American women are not registered to vote.
• Of the 70.3 percent of African-American women who are registered to vote, only 9.7
percent actually vote.
• 41 percent of eligible Hispanic women are not registered to vote
• Of the 59 percent of Hispanic women who are registered to vote, only 46.1 percent
actually vote.
From US Census Bureau 2000 and Women’s Voices. Women Vote.
Click to access LessonPlan-highschool.pdf
morning all! lol. did anybody mention how nuclear had to be phonetically spelled out on the palin teleprompter; “new-clar?” i guess a lot of people noticed she pronounced nuclear the way bush does!
plwalsh (07:39:35) :
“Most of these national popular vote polls also leave out the third parties, which supposedly are drawing mostly from McCain this year. I’ve also heard that they mostly miss the work Obama has been doing to register young and first-time voters. The Obama grassroots groundwork is what really won him the nomination— probably something you learn about as a community organizer.”
Your entire post was excellent. Yes. The ability yo organize voter registration at the community level could be the decisive factor. The youth of the nation have to come through this time. The RNC looked like an AARP convention with the camera crews on LSD. Just pathetic. But will that translate into a voter demographic disadvantage? I just don’t know. But you are right. It really is to the corporate media’s advantage as a business to keep the horse race meme going as long as possible. All the money we invest in the campaign will eventually go to them. The future, however, is the Internet and the Blogosphere which is much more lower cost to reach people. That effect is really starting to appear in this election as the concepts of Internet 2 kick in (Interactive Blogs like our now beloved Mudflats, citizen videos on YouTube like that link I just posted). Raising money via the Internet in rapid waves. The Internet will eventually change everything. I am so happy to work in the profession of software engineering and programming. The people writing code and making the software better and better for more and more improved planetary communication are the true radical revolutionaries of this time. Back in 1998-2000 myself and my work partner wrote the software on contract for the company where I was working that processed hiring 1,000 Viagra salespersons for Pfizer! So I guess that was my most “professional” contribution to society. I guess that ain’t too shabby, eh? But we both had to endure HORRIBLE one liners from friends, family, and colleagues during the several months it took to write it.
Anyway, everyone keep posting on the marvelous WordPress template here!
I love every one of you!
HamletsMill-Thank you for that posted video. One of the comments game me an idea.
And if ANYONE from Obama’s campaign is listening I have a suggestion.
Our country is definitely at a crossroads, and one thing that is perilously in danger is the preservation of our Bill of Rights. The last administration carelessly trampled those rights.
I want our next president to fully understand and KNOW what those rights are, and Obama is an expert on the subject.
Remind the American Public of Obama’s strengths in that area, and how he will preserve our rights as Americans.
Palin has already showed a shameful disregard to the Bill of Rights, considering her record with censorship and attempting to create a church state.
America needs to return to our basic principles. But we need someone who KNOWS what they are. We do not need an undereducated person who actually believes our forefathers wrote the pledge of allegiance.
Palin is attempting to lead by her Christian principles first, and discounting any Constitutional rights that don’t not jive with her views.
As citizens we have the right to put God first when we conduct our lives. But, when we are an elected official, we must first rule by the law of the Constitution. If you can’t deal with that fact, then perhaps you should not be running for office.
Lulu (07:31:23) :
Even more important than/in addition to registration will be turnout, especially first-time and seldom voters. Best thing for that is volunteering to help with phone call in the days before the election and driving people to the polls/helping with daycare, etc. BTW, the Obama campaign plans to text reminder messages the day before the election to all the millions of people who signed up for the VP Announcement.
Three things about the polls: First, most state polls were stopped during the convention period, so they are out of date and do not yet reflect any of that activity. Second, polls of “likely voters” are the ones that may be more error prone, because ‘likely’ is usually defined by recent prior voting activity so they don’t include any of the newly registered. Third, the internal campaign polling is usually highly accurate (they do it down to congressional district level). Unfortunately for all of us going crazy out here, these numbers are more tightly guarded than Fort Knox!
http://www.emilyslist.org/multimedia/palin_poll/
Emily’s list national polling on McCain Palin ticket.
Hi Bobby G.:
I checked out your website. I watched Obama’s appearance on Fox. I can’t stand the fact the Billo would not let Obama finish a sentence.
Yes, I agree that Obama needs to make his points more clear. However, I understand what he was attempting to say which is: Obama’s definition of the surge being a COMPLETE SUCCESS is when he sees the Iraqi government in full control and our troops are brought back home. None of which has happened yet. So, until then he cannot say 100% that the surge was completely succesful.
So, what do you think he should have said?
http://politicalinquirer.com/2008/09/06/even-rednecks-have-standards/
Just wanted to drop some redneck love here. We in the Bitter Hinterlands write essays mainly bashing Democrats and Republicans at our blog, “Going Down Bitter in the Hinterlands” and more pointed essays at the collaborative “Political Inquirer” blog made of left, center and right writers.
The link above in the comment goes to our post this morning about how lots of rednecks really feel about Sarah Palin and it’s not in support. The other topic of the day is the plan for the Feds to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with taxpayer money. On our blog today is a short fiction story that deals with bad and good choices.
Lastly, wanted to give a big round of applause to Mudflats for having the courage to expose the truth about Palin when the MSM is a bunch of gutless cowards.
Bloggers rule!!!!!!!!!!
Count the days we wait for Palin to feel comfortable enough to talk to a reporter. Because whatever the number of days it takes, it will take twice that many for me to be comfortable enough to listen to her.
Do her handlers think we’ll fall over ourselves to catch every utterance from her golden lips? Palin needs tutoring in how to handle her handlers. Because while she listens to the handlers and not the (oh, gasp) voters, she loses the right to anything like a fair hearing.
Palin will be heard in the Alaska legislature ethics investigation. I expect it will be the _most_ comfortable questioning she’ll have for a very, very long time.
The “new car” smell of Palin has just about worn off. I think a good strategy until the vice presidential debate would be to basically ignore her, make her an insignificant part of this election (which she already is). She will self-destruct on her own, and Joe Biden can drive the final nail into her coffin at the debate. In his speech in PA yesterday, you could already see this happening, as he referred to her as “she” or “her”, not mentioning her name (best of my knowledge, I didn’t see the entire speech)
Just treat her as the inconsequential piece of the puzzle that she is, and the luster will quickly rub off.
Barack is well ahead where it matters, in the Electoral College department.
I’m actually surprised that the publicly released state polls are so vague and intermittent. I live in a swing state and none of the polls picked up the huge swing to the Democrats until the very end of the campaign. I remember the newscasters looking on in shock on election night.
I assume that the polls the Obama campaign are spot on. I must say I have never been more impressed by a political campaign on so many levels.
Hi Rhet o”rical: How about “eye-rack” ?
@ Tammy,
Your comments on the surge are right on. The MSM hasn’t connected the dots very well, but consider this as a measure of freedom:
1) sectarian violence/ethnic cleansing in Baghdad led to the elimination of many mixed neighborhods
2) many mixed families fled the city and country
3) high blast walls now separate neighborhoods (ask yourself if you’d feel free if you were living surrounded by 12′ walls)
4) the people who will be desparately needed to rebuilt the country (engineers, professors, doctors, etc.) have been murdered or forced to flee the country
5) basic services (water, electricity, etc.) are less reliable than under Sadaam (ask yourself if you’d think you were really better off just because you were no longer ruled by a dictator)
6) the once proud Iraqi hospital system has all but collapsed between the US imposed sanctions and the US invasion and occupation
7) there is more religious extremeism now than before
8) the number of suicide bombings is increasing again (just imagine what would happen should Sadr turn his forces loose again or the blood money going to the Awakening be reduced)
Now, look at Maslow’s hierarchy of need
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/maslow.html
and decide how important democracy or freedom would be to you. If a person’s physiological needs aren’t being met, they’re not able to focus on their safety needs, and so on through needs for love, affection, belongingness, needs for esteem, and finally needs for self-actualization. Freedom can be found on the upper reaches of the esteem layer; community on the love, affection, belongingness one. Hmmm, that would indicate that community organizers are more important in the grander scheme of things than even governors, wouldn’t it.
One blogger said: “Count the days we wait for Palin to feel comfortable enough to talk to a reporter”.
And when she does, you can bet she will have a wireless in her ear with someone (Rove?) feeding her answers. Watch closely, after a question, if you see a delay in her answer, you will know right away that she is waiting for the answer in her ear.
Same thing they do with Bush.
——–PLEASE HELP —- PLEASE HELP —-
—-PLEASE READ ALL OBAMA SUPPORTER —–VERY VERY IMPORTANT —
Hello, my name is Johnson
I was watching C-span Saturday morning at about 10:45 and a man by the name of Cliff Kincaid,
was on there sprewing lies about Obama being a communist and many other bad names..
Please investigate this information at the website :
http://www.usasurvival.org
or both
Click to access hawaii-obama.pdf
Please send a reply that you receive my important email. I will also
be checking Obama website for additional information.
The GOP is starting a swift-boat smear campaign and a attack on the new media…
I hope Obama/Biden will speak with strong voice …not softball responses
Please help me to find answer to this trouble information
Thank you
Please send a email to Obama at watchdog@barackobama.com
I have send him one email and I will keep sending it everyday at least 5-10 times a day until I get a reply…
You say Palin is on the “honor” system.
Does she have any. Newsweek has a story, just went up today, which says that her/McCain’s/Todd’s lawyers are trying to get rid of French. However, there is still the matter of the “independent investigator” and that isn’t Hollis French.
He wants to get the report out sooner, rather than later.
Palin (on the honor system) wants NO report between now and November 5th.
I can only say, for the sake of the country, and Alaska. Git er done.
It’s interesting that poll averages through 9/5 show Obama at +2.8%, almost exactly the popular vote margin projected by fivethirtyeight.com
I just read The Nation article posted above. A must read. That’s pretty damn scary. Thanks…I think.
I’ve been checking the deep poll data for individual states and there is something really weird going on.
Obama is competitive and even ahead in a number of states (e.g., ND) which Bush won with 60% or more of the vote in 2004. McCain seems to be competitive in NO states that were this solidly Democratic in 2004.
This means that if things tilt just a bit more towards Obama by election night he will win by an electorial landslide. And McCain basically needs a 9.4 earthquake to win.
GH (08:14:00) :
Actually, I just read that the Palin family’s first press appearance will be on the Jerry Springer show.
—————————————–
Truly an idea for SNL!
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/politics/candidates/mccain.shtml
New season starts NEXT Saturday! Gawd I would love to be writing for SNL for the next 60 days if Saracuda ACTUALLY stays on the ticket. Pay Tina Fey whatever she wants. Have many nice Styrofoam stunt baby props to pass around. But Amy Poehler could really nail Caribou Barbie’s whiny nasal voice I am sure.
Her brass knuckles speech has now empowered skit writers everywhere ti take the gloves off.
Welcome to the NFL babe. Welcome to the pros.
Go Joe: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/palin-and-mccai.html
yourinfo (08:41:09) :
Are you sure you want to draw attention to this wacko’s website? His and many other smear sites are out there.
I can’t subscribe to the “ignore Palin” strategy. McCain’s age makes Palin a very dangerous person to ignore. The USA already risked a Dan Quayle presidency. Can we get that lucky twice?
The Alaska ethics probe is a piece of the puzzle, but it is not by any means all that needs to be “vetted” about Palin. Whatever the outcome of the probe the spin will negate any difficult information about Palin.
I feel that many voters will never know or care about the ethics probe. My current strategy is to be pervasive. For example, I talk (to no one) on my cell phone while waiting at a checkout, discussing why my taxes go up under a Palin presidency. That’s usually an “in” for a chat with someone else in line about “tax and spend Palin”. And from there… “well, you know….. Palin is refusing to answer questions from _anyone_ until she is more comfortable…” , so how do we know what her economic and fiscal thinking is?
Doubt is the first step back to sanity.
Here’s an interesting one: in Montana, McCain is currently leading Obama by ONE percentage point (45-44). In 2004, Bush carried Montana by TWENTY percentage points (59-39).
Something strange is going on here…
Hi rphak:
The Republican “base” and the people who vote for Palin only care about one specific issue, which is the abortion issue, and yes they like her “appearance” and the idea that they can relate to everything about her. They think she is God’s gift to them, and they think Obama is the anti-christ.
I am a Republican, but in my opinion, the “base” has turned into a platform for the extreme right wing evangelicals and that has really turned me off. These extreme right wing group will probably never vote for a black man anyway, with or without Palin. She is the icing on the cake for them.
makeitgoaway (08:07:32) : …and kimbers too
Thanks for the list of media contact addresses. I agree. We all need to be proactive and hold the MSM accountable for reporting the facts.
MJC you might like this article from TIME
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839190,00.html?cnn=yes
plwash,
people are tired of the republican party.
it’s corrupt, over spend and shred the constitution
that’s not the America we know.
Looks like Mccain has a new ad out saying we’re NOT better off than we were 4 years ago. The link is from the HuffingtonPost.com
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-ad-were-worse-off-than-we-were-four-years-ago-2008-08-05.html
Perhaps if he didn’t vote with Bush policies 90% of the time, he wouldn’t have to say that. If I remember he said we were better off than we were on the campaign trail.
Biden’s on fire!!
(I really think they need to hit that Rick Davis comment every day….”This election is not about issues.”
Joe Biden on Fire
Harry Truman on ‘Give ’em Hell, Harry’
“I’m going to tell the the truth and they’re going to think its hell.”
You’ve got to see this Biden in Pennsylvania video:
It’s better than morning coffee.
Top of the morning to you, mudflat booters.
HIi KVW,
Thank You so much for posting that video on Joe Biden campaigning!!!!! It really lifted my spirit…I almost started crying. He is certainly on point. Now I’m really fired up again.
Oh wow, now everyones posting Joe Biden’s video 🙂
hey plwalsh: looks like MT, SD and IN are all similar scenarios. bush carried all of those states by 20 or so percentage points, and all 3 states (according to http://www.electoral-vote.com) show obama within 4 percentage points of mccain.
latest unemployment numbers should be a big issue, and shot in the arm for obama. it is all over the news. i think hearing the bad news about the economy, home forclosures, etc. will bring to light what stump speeches never can. it is time for CHANGE, and McCain is more of the SAME.
and it doesn’t help McCain that the White House has recently released statements that the economy is growing.
Yes, Cynthia, I think you are right.
In the entire country, I am finding only one state (TN) in which McCain is polling better than Bush’s vote in 2004. In some other states McCain is down double digits from 2004 and he’s down even in the most strongly Republican states (e.g., Wyoming).
Keep in mind at one point on election night in 2004 people thought Kerry had won. Even counting in possible vote fraud in 2004, McCain is down.
I did pick up a certain amount of dispirit and whistling in the dark among the Republican commentators at the Republican convention. Could be they know about those inside-the-campaign polls.
Hi raingod,
Give McCain a message for me:
In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, “Duhhhhh”!
I think Johnny Ellis is likely to get his tires slashed for saying that. It’s obvious a lot of Alaskans like Palin so it took a lot of guts for him to be so honest. If he’s running for re-election, I’ll send him a check just for his honesty. There’s an article in Newsweek implying the McCain is meddling with the investigation. I’m guessing if Palin and McCain win, Alaska will be enjoying tax payer funded pork projects like they have never seen.
There are a lot of similarities between Cheney and Palin in the way they operate–they are both secretive and it seems, vindictive. One difference is Dick’s feelings don’t get hurt very easily and he seems totally disinterested in his approval rating.
Most people who grew up around Casper know Dick or his family personally and most people in the state love him. However, nobody questioned whether he had the experience to be VP. He was our US Rep for a lot of years, then worked in the Bush I administration, then had a private sector job.
BARBARA BOXER PUTS THE SMACK-DOWN ON MCCAIN!
“Last night at the Republican National Convention, John McCain used the word “fight” more than 40 times in his speech.
In the 16 years that we have served together in the Senate, I have seen John McCain fight.
I have seen him fight against raising the federal minimum wage 14 times.
I have seen him fight against making sure that women earn equal pay for equal work.
I have seen him fight against a women’s right to choose so consistently that he received a zero percent vote rating from pro-choice organizations.
I have seen him fight against helping families gain access to birth control.
I have seen him fight against Social Security, even going so far as to call its current funding system “an absolute disgrace.”
And I saw him fight against the new GI Bill of Rights until it became politically untenable for him to do so.
John McCain voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time in 2007 and 100 percent of the time in 2008 — that’s no maverick.
We do have two real fighters for change in this election — their names are Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”
If there are any old women out there who endured an illegal abortion…………..now is the time to bring the skeletons out of the closet & tell the story!
The younger women are spoiled with their easy, available birth control methods.
Time for fear tactics. If the Repigs can use them so can we.
Hi Tammy,
Yes, I had seen that article. Unfortunately for me it only reinforced that my Republican Party has now been taken over by the extreme right wing evangelicals. 😦
The Biden video is spot on! He’s doing this as it should be done…let’s get back to the issues here..healthcare, economy, education. He’s saying it with conviction, not uttering rhetoric, passionate but not insane and no mention of Palin’s name. I’m encouraged to see this strategy.
My task today after getting my chores done here will be to contact those MSM contacts I listed earlier and remind them that its their responsibility to vet McCain’s choice since he didnt bother to do it himself.
Madbluedog,
Do you have a link for that article?
OMG that Biden video is FABULOUS!
I hope they made an ad out of that one!
here you go!
http://www.barbaraboxer.com/news/bulletins?id=0048
Makeitgoaway:
Can you put cleaning up my house on your chore list too? :)Since last Friday with Palin’s introduction, I have really lost my focus.
@ AnneinWA (09:00:02) :
yourinfo (08:41:09) :
Are you sure you want to draw attention to this wacko’s website? His and many other smear sites are out there.
—– MUDFLAT FAMILY —PLEASE DISREGARD MY LAST POST —–
AnneinWA…. you are so right … lack of sleep the last few days … is taking toll on me …
I will try to take a short break for fantasy football …. but I don’t know how I can…
McCain/SP are so crazy….thank you again…I will post this message everywhere….
LOL MJC! I am REALLY making an effort today. I’ve found it hard to focus on just about anything but since last Friday as well. If you do my floors, I’ll do your windows 🙂
ILLEGAL abortion?? I have a friend who almost died from a LEGAL abortion by a private doctor. The receptoinist told her to ‘go to the ER’, turned out he botched it. She was terrified her parents would find out she had one, she as over age so didn’t pursue anything. That was a LEGAL abortion ! Could you freaking imagine going to the ER and getting the womb Gestapo on your case???
making abortion illegal would serve to do two things.
1. line the pockets of unscrupulous “doctors” and other criminals
2. put women’s health/lives in danger
what it would NOT do is stop abortion
Polls, bounces, and what not: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/todays-polls-95.html
And go Barbara!!
I went to the store about an 1/2 hour ago. All I could think about was getting back to this blog to see what I’ve missed! I vowed, I would start doing the laundry and mop the floors….and now look…I am right back here on this site! Goodness Grief!!!
Now I know what a drug addict feels like. You want to do the right thing and take care of your responsibilities, but Mudflats just keep calling me….it’s in my brain, I wake up in the morning with this blog on my mind, I go to bed too late with this site on my mind!
I never knew a blog would have this much power over me….NOTHING for that matter!!!
This has probably already been posted but it is pretty interesting:
Friday, September 5, 2008
Today’s Polls, 9/5
You can all stop hyperventilating now.
After yesterday’s polls showed little sign of Republican momentum, today’s polls — which incorporate reaction to Sarah Palin’s speech for the first time — now show some bounce toward John McCain. You can fill out basically every square in the ‘B’ column of your bingo card with the national polls today: CBS now shows a tie; Rasmussen shows the race tightening to 2 points (down from 5 yesterday); the Economist shows it at 3 points, Gallup at 4 (down from 7), Democracy Corps at 5, and the brand-new, Diageo-Hotline tracking poll at 6.
I would not worry too much about any one of these individual results. The CBS poll, for instance, which had shown Obama 8 points ahead over the weekend, had a fairly small sample size and a fairly massive shift in party ID, as can sometimes happen when you’re ringing people up while the convention is on the tube. That doesn’t mean that its tied result is “wrong” any more than its 8-pointer for Obama is “right” (polls conducted over the weekend have their own problems). But it does mean that there’s probably some noise in there, rather than true movement (especially since this poll was conducted before the Palin speech).
Clearly, however, there has been some movement back toward McCain-Palin; it’s just a question of magnitude. From what best I can tell (and this is not an exact science) the one-night results from yesterday’s tracking polls showed something like a 1-2 point Obama lead. If — and this is a big if — that is the extent of the GOP bounce, this is a somewhat underwhelming result for them. Last night and tonight should be among the best individual nights of polling that the Republicans see all year. If the best they can do is close the race to a tie, or an Obama +1 on those nights, they are not going to win the race based on inertia alone.
What they need, rather, is actual momentum: enthusiasm, buzz, media cycles won, new narratives entrenched. And they might get it — Republican spirits certainly seem to be lifted, and McCain and Palin gave a terrific, energetic performance in Wisconsin today. On the other hand, I think they may be making a major mistake if they follow through on plans to take Palin off the campaign trail. She is their narrative, buzz, momentum at this point.
A couple of state polls are out today too. Alaska certainly no longer seems to be in play, as Ivan Moore shows McCain-Palin opening up a 19-point lead, and Ted Stevens getting some coattails in his senate race as well. In Indiana, on the other hand, Howey-Gauge shows just a 2-point lead for McCain, suggesting that it still has some potential as a swing state.
— Nate Silver at 7:30 PM
Thanks for the link to Biden’s speech. I was impressed by his fervor.
I do think it’s a little ironic that he is attacking the RNC attackers, but then again, I have heard his position on issues already, so I know his stance. Unlike some other candidates.
I rather liked the way he called the VP nominee “the governor”.
@ AnneinWA (09:00:02) :
yourinfo (08:41:09) :
Are you sure you want to draw attention to this wacko’s website? His and many other smear sites are out there.
—– MUDFLAT FAMILY —PLEASE DISREGARD MY LAST POST —–
AnneinWA…. you are so right … lack of sleep the last few days … is taking toll on me …
I will try to take a short break for fantasy football …. but I don’t know how I can…
McCain/SP are so crazy….thank you again…I will post this message everywhere….
This just up on Andrew Sullivan’s blog:
George W. Palin
06 Sep 2008 01:46 pm
Frum again:
George W. Bush had very slight executive experience before becoming president. His views were not well known. He won the nomination exactly in the same way that Palin has won the hearts of so many conservatives: by sending cultural cues to convince them that he was one of them, understood them, sympathized with them. So that made everything else irrelevant in 2000 – as it seems again to be doing in 2008. I do credit George W. Bush with great feats of leadership. In particular, I think his refusal to quit Iraq in 2005-2006 when everybody was urging him to, his insistence on fighting through to success, will be seen as a triumph of strength and conviction that saved the US from potential disaster. But he lacked other important aspects of leadership which is how we got into the mess from which he needed to rescue the country and himself…
I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It’s an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That’s all.
This decision is not worthy of a great power. Whatever skills Palin may turn out to have, however fabulous a person she may turn out to be, even if she becomes the Eva Peron of Christianism, McCain
had no idea when he picked her.
He winged this. That’s the critical, unavoidable, devastating point.
John McCain has demonstrated with this insane decision that he is unfit to be president of the United States. This was an act of near-criminal negligence. If he can behave this recklessly and impulsively with this decision, the idea of allowing him to become president of the United States is only a smidgen less terrifying than thinking of Palin in that position.
Whatever few doubts I may once have still had about this election, they are resolved now.
Obama has to win. The alternative is unthinkable.
Permalink :: TrackBacks (0)
Heh
I can’t wait until Monday when Hillary campaigns in Florida!!!!
I am pretty certain that where ever she goes, the media will be televising it. She will take the spot light off of Palin. Hillary is very good at speaking off the cuff, where as Palen is just repeating her same old speech and refusing to answer any questions.
riverside (09:13:40) WROTE:
Joe Biden on Fire
Harry Truman on ‘Give ‘em Hell, Harry’
“I’m going to tell the the truth and they’re going to think its hell.”
You’ve got to see this Biden in Pennsylvania video:
It’s better than morning coffee.
Top of the morning to you, mudflat booters.
———————————————
Wow! Thank you so much for posting that link. Fight’in Joe is telling it like it is! That is all he has to do in the VP debate. Speak the issues with fervor as to reality. We have the two best candidates we could have ever had! I firmly believe this. Palin cannot talk policy. She really has not ever thought anything out on the national or world stage. She is going to be ripped to shreds. Before her RNC attack speech national debut I never could have stomached it. I am just too kind hearted. I hate to see someone outclassed and outgunned. It makes me very uncomfortable. But after her hateful personal attack speech, I now say it is full tilt. Throw on her on every down all the way down the field. Make her know that her number is being targeted on every play in the coverage. (Yes – please forgive the sports analogies but I did play in Division 1A at the college level, and when under duress I revert to conditioned “on the field” thinking. Robo offensive attack mode.)
O’s story is so compelling that sometimes I just can’t help thinking of the great film “Invincible”. I love the Spanish dub of the ending because it shows “against all odds” stories cross all cultures and societies.
Yeah. Sure. The screenwriter (Brad Gann) took some liberties. Papale had 2 years experience in the now defunct USFL before the Eagle’s city wide tryous. But, man, that scene where he tore up that bitchy note form his ex-wife really worked! Guys LOVED that! “I’ll show HER!”. Works every time!
I can’t say it enough how much I love every one of you!
Everyone keep posting and thinking up what you can personally do in this battle!
Yes. We. Can.
Palin was going to be in Florida on Monday. But now they canceled it.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
Biden was great: “what do you talk about when you can not explain the last 8 years of failure?” He will kill Palin in a debate. Too bad we have to wait so long for one….Biden should challenge Palin to a debate NOW.
O.K. I just realized that it is almost 3 pm and the gym closed at 1 today so this I’m going to log off after this.
Here’s what I am learning about the events of the last week:
1. Palin really energized the conservative base of the Republican Party.
2. Palin really energized the liberal-left base of the Democratic Party.
3. Palin made the independents, center Democrats, moderate conservatives say “Who the hell is Sarah Palin?” and then “Who the hell is John McCain?”
4. Right now the Palin pick looks like McCain’s Katrina. The first day of the Republican Convention couldn’t have been more symbolic.
5. The National Enquirer’s circulation figures are going to go through the roof.
Bye for now.
yourinfo (09:44:38) :
Thanks for understanding the spirit in which my comment was made. I am fearful that these “hate sites”, rather than the ISSUES we deserve to have discussed, will end up in the MSM.
Carl Rove’s tactic is “divide and conquer”…and it has worked during the last 2 elections. Sarah Palin may was not well vetted, but I am certain what she REPRESENTS to the Republican radical right wing base is extremely well understood.
I just got the mail, and the new People Magazine was there, with the cover article on Palin.
I knew her dad was a teacher, yet I didn’t realize he was a science teacher. That is very interesting, considering her feelings on the environment.
The GOP will be thrilled with the article. It was very positive, and there didn’t seem to be any untruths.
BUT, the article was totally lacking any substance on her record. It was total fluff. A great PR piece for the GOP.
Damn.
Obama is on CNN! Taking McCain’s “change” to task!
Hamlets Mill,
You still keep up with college football?
Goooooooooooooo Georgia Bulldogs!!!!
Who let the dogs out? Woof, Woof, Woof!
Hey, how about this- Who let O’Biden out? woof, woof, woof!
O.K. I have Clearly lost my mind from mudflatitus.:)
Time for me to get some chores done too. See ya’ll later.
Thanks AG!
Barack hits Palin! LOL
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Barack Obama took his first direct swipe at Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday, criticizing her for supporting congressional earmarks before opposing them.
“I know the governor of Alaska has been, you know, saying she is change,” Obama said at a town hall meeting here. “And that is great. She is a skillful politician. But when you [have] been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person.
“That is not change, come on,” Obama continued. “I mean, words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up. You can’t just make stuff up. We have a choice to make and the choice is clear.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13205.html
Why the hell is CNN covering all McCain Rally’s and not any Obama rally”s?
In the tradition of my Canadian friends…
I am going to write a letter right now !
This is bullshit.
The following blurb posted on TPM Cafe at http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/06/lawyers_troopergate_and_questi/
Lawyers, Troopergate, and Questions
By Reed Hundt – September 6, 2008, 7:05AM
“This week, seven key witnesses informed Mr. Branchflower through their attorneys that they would not provide depositions. Their depositions, which had been agreed to and scheduled earlier with Mr. Branchflower, were cancelled within the last 72 hours.”
So isn’t there anyone with investigatory power, or even just lawyerly or reportorial skills, who could inquire into exactly how all these witnesses to “troopergate” happened to obtain lawyers and then all follow the exact same tactic in the same 72 hours? Who are their lawyers; who is paying their lawyers? And many other questions that follow.
Obama was just on CNN…they are alternating between Obama and McCain.
This BITCH must be STOPPED.
She is really PISSING ME OFF.
She is a CRAZY AND DANGEROUS person.
America, wake the hell up!
Sambo beat the bitch.
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%25e2%2580%259cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%25e2%2580%259d/
They really do need to subpoena her if she refuses to show.
I also hope the Democrats publicize the fact that she said numerous times that she was cooperating fully with the investigation…until she became the VP candidate. Only after that did she stop cooperating. The Democrats need to point out how like the Bush Crime Family this kind of behavior is.
CNN have lost their fucking mind!!! I am trying to call them now, but obviously their phone is in overload!
That Biden speech brighten my late night viewing and kept me up another hour, so I still kind of blurry-eyed this morning. Let’s hit the MNM with the notion that we would like to see that speech repeated as often as yesterday’s new on McOldMan w/SaraCon
I’m a “hockey dad”. In hockey circles there is a saying, “Give Blood-Play Hockey”.
I say’ “Shed Blood-vote McCain/Palin. Did Sarah just say “victory in Irak? Please, someone in msm media please get some answers for us!
WOW – the Biden clip is fantastic! Thanks so much for the link – I’ve sent it on to several people.
One more post before I go. I think Obama should stick to the issues and let Biden be the attack dog. From what I saw, hell hath no furry than a riled up Joe Biden!!!
Here’s my new anthem for Biden-
Who let Joe Biden out? Woof, woof, woof!!!
Ya’ll get it? It’s a spin off of “who let the dogs out”.
It’s not just Palin that is not fit to serve. MCain is not fit to serve. Watch this:
Just listened to Palin on CNN..when she said “and I want to say this for McCain, since he won’t say it himself” followed by more POW stuff and how McCain has ACTUALLY fought for us, and Obama (that damn uppity overeducated guy) hasn’t.
Ohhh brother! Like all of America doesn’t know the speech writer McCain got her wrote the lines??
If America buys that crap, then maybe we are as stupid as the GOP thinks.
MJC (10:10:06) :
GO Dwags!!!
How’s that? Whatever it takes to keep unity here in Mudflatland!
I have to go and get stuff done now too before my house collapses on me.
Hey Th-WV,
No Palin said “eye-raackkkk”. 🙂
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/06/uselections2008.sarahpalin
Nice to see that we’re getting such good press around the world – NOT. Very good article in the Guardian (England)
Minnesota public radio just had a segment on Poker players vs. crap players. Obama played poker in Chicago. He is taking time to size Palin up . Mccain is hoping for everything to line up just right and for a lot of luck.
Joe Biden: Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans
Joe Biden spoke to an audience of veterans in Virginia Beach, VA on September 4, 2008.
And for the GOP as to Veterans
Purple Heart Bandages Last Time
This time the strong on National Defense GOP ‘Spit’ on a Veteran of Iraq using their False Patriotism Chants!
@ HamletsMill (09:54:00) :
riverside (09:13:40) WROTE:
Joe Biden on Fire
Harry Truman on ‘Give ‘em Hell, Harry’
“I’m going to tell the the truth and they’re going to think its hell.”
I really am happy to see they are responding more strong … and not with softball responses…
*stretch* Morning all. Well, Afternoon for me, lol. I’m happy that someone has reminded me that not all of the demographics are being represented in the polls.
As a recent college graduate, I can vouch for the fact that most people my age have cell phones, but almost never have landlines. And that all the 18-21 olds aren’t being asked what they think since they didn’t get to vote last go around.
That intel boosts my spirits.
While CNN had had the Bobsey Twins on, CNN Headline News channel was on debunking some of Saracuda’s past political greatness. Between this keyboard and my remote, I need some physical therapy!
I am adicted to this site… Thanks AKM! REALLY! Reading all the posts takes up most of my time… and I can’t get enough! From the intelligent to the humorous, it’s ALL good!
I posted a few days ago for the first time in the ‘PitBull’ segment, and am THRILLED to see my KISS system term ‘Saracuda’ still in use! I feel like SC and ‘truthiness’!
Keep telling ANYONE and EVERYONE about this site… get them to sit down and READ! Post a comment or not… just get this word OUT there!
AG…they are waiting on McCain/Palin in Colorado Springs on CNN. No Obama.
Earlier I posted the below, it was an announcement about a Press Conf. in front of Walter Reed today. I’m going to place just one link now, back to my site as I just put the text of two of the Vets in that post.
Senator McCain, This is Walter Reed
It’s no wonder the 109th GOP Congress and Administration, in their rush to War with the Drums beating Louder and Louder, didn’t take Military Care and once again the Veterans Care, Wars Makes, into consideration and Pass Legislation and Funding, They Couldn’t Find The Facilities, and still don’t!!
*** Media Advisory for Saturday, September 6th @ 11AM EDT at Walter Reed Army Medical Center ***
This is a Snippet of a post I just placed at My Site
The Media Advisor comes from ‘Americans United for Change’ and has a short video along with McCains voting record on the Military and Veterans!
**********
Now in the original it gives a Whole Host of Congressional Bill Numbers that McCain didn’t support and voted against, feel free to use whatever for your own site.
Chatter from the check out line at the market as we await Tropical Storm Hannah: a lot of women HATE Sarah Palin.
One woman told me that Palin was “entertaining”, but that was it. She would never vote for McCain.
We all hoped that she would be a flash in the pan.
But we all shared the fear that the rest of the country might be buying Palincrap.
And the women I spoke to knew all about the plane on E-Bay and had a good chuckle.
Thanks MJC,
I need to throw up and I need a break. Again, thank you mudflats. I’ll check back later.
rpahk (09:55:23) :
Biden was great: “what do you talk about when you can not explain the last 8 years of failure?” He will kill Palin in a debate. Too bad we have to wait so long for one…
Actually, I think Palin will be ok because it won’t be a real debate. If it is like the “debates” they had during the primaries, it will be a question and answer period. I’m fairly sure that Ms. Palin will have the questions beforehand too.
I would love to see a real debate between Biden and Palin, but I don’t think that will ever happen.
CNN – Happening Now….nice earrings…looks like a ear piece to me…
Now she is giving his speech for him…same ole lines…
heard that already….that poor CIA guy behind her needs to go back to school they are for sure going to can his ars for gum chewing on the job…where’s he looking….
It is rather chilling to think that as our country faces a major mortgage crisis, the GOPs pick is one of the Keating Five.
And no one is even discussing this.
This is truly bizarre.
BTW, I am a AZ resident.
She just repeated the ebay line! How stupid do they think people are. The way McCain just stands silently next to her looking uncomfortable it looks like she’s advertising him on ebay.
Ok, one more then I gotta go, I promise. She is already hiring relatives. Is the CIA guy behind her cusin Vinny, or uncle Buck? later
So the gap in the popular vote may well be much larger than the polls (mostly based on “registered voters” and “likely voters”) are suggesting.
It is in the interests of both the media and the Obama campaign to go along with the idea that the campaign is still a cliff hanger. I’m not at all sure that is the reality, however.
I believe that the pollsters are intentionally skewing the polls by who they choose to interview. It’s in their best interest to keep it close. Who is going to pay them weekly to take a poll if Obama is head by 10-15%?
One factor that will override polls is the fact that the Democrats outvoted the Republicans 4 to 1 in the primaries. There is no way that the polls can factor that in. If you were to factor it in, I’m betting Obama would be winning by 10-12%.
They’re still playing to the base – most people on here probably know this, but I’d like to remind people SP and JM are speaking in Dobson-ville (Colorado Springs). The pandering continues.
oh, I can’t listen….where’s my closed caption button…oh, that’s no better…help me please….I
Ok off topic, and minor point, but has anyone noticed that Sarah Palin pronounces nuclear – nuu klear – just like George W Bush – nukular?
I’ve been reviewing stories in the alternate reality called the MSM, and am pleased that they have started to do their jobs:
Newsweek Factchecked her speech.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157206
It be nice if they had gauge that ran from ‘complete bullshit’ to ‘totally true’ just to give people who read the article where Sarah speech ranked as a ratio lies to truths told.
Would someone PLEASE explain to this slow old man the meaning behind the John ‘S’ MCain? Like… is he being confused with some other JM?
OMG! How much did she pay for that watermelon outfit? 100K? 200K? I saw it at WalMart on the sale rack for $29.95!
He can’t wait to intro Saracuda to DC… what about the REST of us?
THANK GOD THEY CUT HIM OFF! Funny tho… Saracuda got it all in!
I took makeitogaways advice and just sent an email to about 20 news organizations. This is what I said, please send your own.
Vet the Veep
It’s time for the media to quit apologizing for reporting on the ‘real news’ about Sarah Palin. If McCain didn’t vet Palin, then the press is obligated to. Palin’s history didn’t just happen. Alaskans have been dealing with Palin’s mess for a long time, and her story can only be ‘reinvented’ by repetitive, clever sound bites from the press.
With all this un-vetted controversy coming out, she is looking more and more like a pinch-hitter puppet who will be replaced at the last minute by a real candidate, one who ‘can’ be a heart beat away from a 72 year old, possible president with a history of cancer. If elected, no doubt she will be rewarded with a job like Director of Homeland Security.
As I tell all my friends, do your research before passing on ‘un’ and ‘half’ truths. Political controversy and righteous double standards are news. Not covering this mess is covering it up. Is that what you stand for?
An Independent in South Carolina
Saw some refreshing poll numbers – Go Obama!!
http://www.100differentthings.com/2008/09/06/obama-winning-in-polls-palin-not-helping-mccain/
@ Kate Henry
Our local paper (I’m in an extremely RED part of LA County) has the following quote in an AP article about the latest unemployment numbers:
“… So far this year, a staggering 605,000 jobs have vanished — slightly less than the population of Alaska. The ecomonmy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs a month for the economy to remain stable.”
Nice comparison to the population of Alaska, don’t you think? Now, to go back and see what the losses were for the rest of 2008 to see how far behind we REALLY are. Anyone still think the fundamentals are strong and that we’re not in a recession?
misskae,
A good point about where McCain/Palin are speaking…they’re preaching to the choir right now. I had to turn off the TV…that voice was just getting to be a bit much.
One disturbing note on this particular stump stop is that it’s being reported that scads of flags that were passed out at Obama’s big speech were found in trash bags and that they rescued them and passed them out to the throngs in Colorado Springs. If true, that’s a major Dem gaff. I find it hard to believe that those at Obama;s big night would have abandoned their flags…I’d think people would have gladly carried them off as pretty special momentos of a historic occasion.
@ BahstinBoyo
It’s code to remind people of Obama’s middle name.
Alaska Criminal History Records, Case # 3DI-93-00249CR0001; Alaska Criminal History Records,
District-Dillingham.
Case # 3DI-93-00217CR000
“Palin Plead No Contest to Criminal Negligence Charge of Using a Drift Gillnet Without a Permit,
Had Charge of Fishing Without an ID Was Dismissed.”
1) What was the original charge that she plead down to ‘criminal negligence’ from.
2) Where in Bristol Bay did the illegal fishing occur?
http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/region2/finfish/salmon/maps/bb_all.php
3) Where there any incidents of illegal fishing activity involving any boat Sarah Palin was registered for as a crew member previous to this case, either in the Bristol Bay fisheries or any other?
4) What are the various levels of charges and consequent penalties associated with operating illegal drift nets?
This is no ‘parking ticket’ infraction as the McCain/Bush campaign would wish you to believe. Ask _any_ commercial fisherman from Maine to Alaska what an ‘unpermitted drift net’ means and and they will all respond with the same answer:
Poaching
Great email Vet The Veep! Let’s keep it going and remind them what journalism actually means.
re: Trashed Flags CNN just reported that Obama spokesman said it was not true at all (or lie). The flags had been bundled and wrapped to be distributed to non-profit organizations. The person who reported it to McCain was anonymous. We need to continue to straighten out the lies.
Clearly SP is out on the campaign stump again today, reading her canned speech, and not furtively whisked to the hinterlands to hide out and get tutored by the Bush team on what government really is. She is NOT however, giving media interviews yet. How long do they think that game is going to play?
People are not voting on fashion outfits and hairstyles this year. They seem a little more concerned about gas prices, the economy, climate change, the war and health insurance. Things that hit them where they live – not whether she looks good, or can hurl an insult like she can hurl a bullets at a moose.
A relief to know that Vet. I found the story a bit incredulous. Hope it doesnt grow legs as rumor sometimes have a tendency to do (on both sides)
Great site, and excellent comments and links. I haven’t been here before, but I’m really enjoying it.
MJC and others, I know what you mean about being addicted to this or other progressive sites. When I first started checking out the blogs, I would stay up half the night, feverishly reading, commenting, refreshing, commenting, reading linked articles, on and on. Okay, I still do it, but I have to restrain myself as much as possible on weeknights. My poor cats get ignored, my housework gets ignored (dust bunnies are taking over), even my vacuum is dusty, but at least my husband is sitting here doing the exact same thing on his computer!
Just wanted to acknowledge so many good posts here and say ‘hey’ and ‘thanks’ to all for actually thinking and questioning, unlike the sheep on the other side. Regardless of the day-to-day things that I’m ignoring, I like to consider it my patriotic duty to read as much on the blogs as I can. (Yeah, right, good excuse, eh?)
I’d better go do some, er, what’s the word?, oh, yeah, CLEANING now before the Mets game. Thanks again, and keep up the good work.
Thanks for posting the link to Joe Biden fighting the good fight!
Yes! This is the Biden I like seeing with relentless, fervent attacks against a McCain | Palin ticket using substantive arguments that target issues not snide sound bytes.
Go Biden! Keep at it!
We can do this MudFlat’ers!
[Clearly SP is out on the campaign stump again today, reading her canned speech]
Actually she’s getting better. She wasn’t reading in Colorado Springs. She’s finally been able to memorize the speech she’s been reading for the past week.
I have had a great excuse all week. Have had carpenters in to replace floors and doors. The only room that is habitable, once one makes one way in through all the piled up furniture, is my little internet cafe. Getting strange looks from the carpenters though as I laugh and swear while on this site. And yes it is totally addictive.
Banning of books –firing all those who disagree with her etc, etc, etc.—sooo unAmerican. This woman not only lives close to Russia, she appears to be influenced by the ways of such countries. May I suggest that she move to a country other than the USA?
GH…
Memorize? Did you miss the camera angles that shot her right THROUGH the teleprompters??
anonymous @09:00:52
You are brilliant!!
I took you suggestion to ‘talk (to no one) on my cell phone while waiting at a checkout, discussing why my taxes go up under a Palin presidency’ tweaked it a bit.
I am in Minneapolis and I called a friend across the river in St. Paul and we spent the morning in different grocery store lines, Target and Walmart aisles in our respective cities, calling each other and asking if we had heard the latest news about Gov. Palin, then we’d yadda yadda back and forth about the various things that the MSM is not doing the in depth reporting on and closed with ‘I can see why McCain is only letting her campaign at his side…gotta go… talk to you later…”
I can state without a doubt, people were listening in and in every store I was in someone then wanted to talk and find out more.
There were some folks that wanted to talk about Twig and who his father was, and I said that I had no idea and didn’t really feel comfortable discussing
Palin’s daughter, but I did have serious questions about a woman’s judgement who is carrying a special needs baby, flying for hours across the country after her water supposedly broke without going and getting checked by a doctor first….when asked how I knew that I could honestly say I read an interview with her on People online.
SNAP!!!
Grassroots political espionage with the truth.
Kate Henry, I am inclined to agree with you. I think the debates will end up being a farce where Palin will be able to squeak by.
Interesting, just now on CNN, Joe Biden is talking about the unemployment numbers and the economy, and Palin is rehashing the clever soundbites from her Hit Speech at the RNC. As Willy Fox News teaches, if you say lies and half truths in small enough bites and often enough people will believe it. McCain is standing next to her taking the credit for her appeal. Notice even CNN cut him off when he started talking.
In a way that’s not good because the viewers don’t see how lame he is without Caribou Barbie (love that name who ever first used it).
is this really the best you can come up with? Good Lord. Clinton had MUCH worse, but you all seemed to like him just fine. I don’t get it. Go stick with your Washington spend and do-nothing congress then.
@MJC,
I love it!!
Who let Joe Biden Out? Woof Woof Woof!
This is so good MJC. We have got to get this to catch on!
Can anyone get a viral video going with snippets of that song and Joe Biden fighting the good fight!?
Thanks so much again Mudflat community for getting that video out:
This is a video that can start turning the tide! We can do it!
I’m believing again. I got a little down the past couple days, but I’m back.
Biden is back! Yahoo!
kimbers, that could backfire though if you are not careful. Make sure when you are talking to “no one” that you are stating facts and not rumors. We want to make sure Obama looks good coming out of this.
John, remember it was a Republican spend and do-nothing Congress for 12 years from 1994 to 2006. So let’s call a spade a spade.
I was out and about at a school workday today and among the women there the topic of Sarah Palin came up. Most were happy at the idea of a woman being named to any significant position anywhere, but then ran up against her social/cultural views and her lack of executive experience coupled with John McCain’s age/health. A couple of people said to me, ‘Well, of course, it’s all about the oil.’ A light bulb went on for me.
Maybe AKMuckraker can comment about the oil issue…most of us know Alaska as an oil-producing state, first and foremost. And ANWR, of course, has gotten a lot of press in the past few years, and is obviously a political football and highly symbolic of the policy differences between Dems and Repubs. ‘Drill, drill, drill!’ being chanted at the convention this week just adds to that argument. In fact, I think I can go so far as to say that the left is associated with alternative/renewable energy and transition to it, and the right with status quo, regardless of climate change. That’s a big regardless.
The panic at the pump when gas hit $4/gallon this year made me realize that probably most people don’t feel they can do much one way or the other with regard to global warming/climate change without government help. Obviously many don’t believe in it, or downplay human beings’ role in it. But if gas starts to go up in price, or the cost of a barrel of oil hits $200, well, then our economy starts to have troubles. Didn’t Osama bin Laden predict this, for pete’s sake? We’ve had a taste of it this past year, and indications are that these may continue.
To me, the big elephant in the room during this election is the need to address this and to come to grips, at both policy and cultural levels, with the concept of Peak Oil and renewable transition. Yet you won’t find it discussed in depth in the MSM. On the web, and in quite a few books, there is tons of speculation about it. One web site I find interesting is The Oil Drum (link below).
We know that individual countries, such as our own, have reached their own oil peaks. It is hard to know when the whole world will, as data is confused and conflicted and hidden by various countries because of political interests. There’s a lot more on this topic, The Oil Drum has a presentation I will link below. Some say we have reached Peak Oil, some say in the next ten years. Either way, that will have a dramatic impact on the entire world. NSA documents I found a couple of years ago online paint a dramatic picture of worldwide death, famine, resource wars, and the breakdown of society, similar to and coupled with the effects of climate change. But of course, the government won’t say that in public. However, they have been making geopolitcal decisions regarding oil for some time now. The biggest has been Iraq, despite what people may contend. Sarah Palin from Alaska is part of that picture, too.
While we have been distracted by Palin, the Bush administration has extended aid and NATO membership potential to Georgia. Think it is out of the kindness of their hearts? No, Georgia is extremely strategic in regard to Russia, which like Iraq, is a huge oil producer/owner.
Since oil was discovered during the 1860’s, the US and the West have lived in a time of untold convenience and bounty while we have cheap oil. It permeates every area of our lives, and to live without it would change things dramatically, not the least of which would be ending the industrial food chain, something I think is killing us all anyway, but that’s just part of the picture.
I find it interesting how no one talks about this, and it is relegated to Internet conspiracy theorists and the left’s ‘communist leanings,’ even when you can see that it defines, sub rosa, both our foreign policy and our domestic agenda. I ask myself, ‘Why wouldn’t you try to conserve and develop alternative technologies to save what we can, mitigate climate change, and be at the forefront of the biggest technology transfer in our lifetimes? The latter at least fits to some degree with the runaway globalized capitalism we live in and around.
This is a lot of info but what do you folks think? I guess it just doesn’t fit the conservative narrative, which is endless consumption and endless growth, deregulation of industry, untrammeled Manifest Destiny. But we are running up against our lifeline, our planet. The McCain and Obama campaigns have their energy plans, but they don’t talk at all about how life will change if we enter into an era of Peak Oil. We will enter into an entirely new world for which the past 100 years gives us, and our children, little or no preparation and a significantly depleted planet. Think about it, what if your energy sources for living were cut off or changed over the next 10 years. What would you do?
Palin fits into this narrative as someone who is part of the traditional mindset, which is that energy comes from oil and gas companies. Where else does she fit in?
http://www.theoildrum.com/tag/overview
http://www.theoildrum.com/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080902.wvox0903/BNStory/energy/home
http://www.twilightinthedesert.com/
You may have heard of this book, ‘Twilight in the Desert,’ about where the Saudis really are with oil.
There are tons more books out there. The point is, this is a significant situation, about which there is enough data to know that the status quo won’t work for much longer, and that all of the renewables will still lead to a significant change in our lifestyles. Al Gore knows this, that’s why he’s proposing a technology transfer in 10 years, to address the ‘hydrocarbon twins,’ climate change and Peak Oil.
This is why, to me, this election is so important. I wish our political process could lead to an open conversation about this issue that doesn’t relegate to a deep green lefty conspiracy, communism, or the usual establishment criticisms. I have great hopes for the resilience of the world, but the political process we have does not give me great hope. Thoughts about McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden in this context are welcome.
good afternoon, all! whew, lots of posts to read…..
“Go stick with your Washington spend and do-nothing congress then.”
Um, it’s YOURS, John–who do you think had control of Congress since 1994, and which side is doing the stonewalling since January 2007? McCain’s been there, what, 26 years now, what on earth has he been doing all of this time?
(I guess I couldn’t stay away.)
Republicans hold Anti-Chocolate Rally in the Midwest!!!
http://faqnews.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/republicans-hold-anti-chocolate-rally-in-the-midwest/
palmdale….
i’m from La, also, and know your area well. everytime you post i visualize a satellite view of palmdale from several hundred feet up. in the middle of all the political red of your communtiy, i see one little glowing spark of blue… and that is you.
so know that i am near.
John, why don’t you check out this story, and let us know who is actually serious about wasteful spending: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/06/kyl-mccain-earmarks/#comment-5212742
Thank you, John Kyl, for finally admitting that all the ‘cutting wasteful government spending’ promises that McCain is making is a pack of lies.
Here are parts of the National Enquire on Palin:
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/
I’m being careful. Talking to a live person on the other end helps. We just stuck with her records in Alaska, the ethics investigation and the things anyone could look up and find, once their curiousity was awakened.
My only personal opinion was about Palin’s flight from Texas and since she herself told the story, I don’t feel bad at all commenting on it if someone brought it up to me.
As far as I’m concerned, the people who want to vote for McCain/Palin can go ahead and do so. That’s their choice here in this great land. I’m just hoping they don’t do it blindly.
As far as Obama, you are right. It is a fine line and I won’t cross it. I’m just trying to get the information out there that the MSM, isn’t.
But, now that you mention it, his name never came up, not once. Just some more people who are willing, I hope, to take a closer look at Palin before they vote in November.
It was kind of fun though.
@BahstinBoyo (11:13:16) : Memorize? Did you miss the camera angles that shot her right THROUGH the teleprompters??
—————————————————————
That was my first thought but I kept looking for a teleprompter and didn’t see it. Figures.
kimbers, I don’t care what anyone says that baby is not hers. It’s just that no one has come forward to verify it. I am not going to spred rumors about it because I don’t have any proof, but after having 3 children myself and knowing what I know and what is in the medical books…it’s not possible she is lying about something and the truth will come out. It’s just a matter of time.
The stealth ‘cell-phone in the grocery line approach’ is really brilliant. I must try that one myself.
Here’s my letter sent to Kimbers fine list of media:
A Public Trust
“….the American press enjoys its role as the “watchdog of government.” The power that comes from this largely self-appointed role has earned the press the honorific title “the fourth estate,” after the three official branches of government (legislative, judicial, and executive). It is also this role that prompted Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of American democracy, to say some 200 years ago that if he had to choose between government without newspapers or newspapers without government, he “should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” ~the Center for Foreign Journalists (1992)
It’s time for the media to take the initiative and do the vetting the RNC failed to do with the candidacy of Govenor Sarah Palin. Regurgitating the party spin, the clever soundbites but ignoring the wealth of information that citizen journalists have managed to vet on their own is a disservice to the American public and a disservice to the rich history of investigative journalism. Palin’s history didn’t just happen; Alaskans have been dealing with Palin’s mess for a while now but most Americans have only know the candidate for a week. There are 58 days left to give the public the information we’ve had access to and been able to digest about John McCain, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. I implore you to do what you know you can do best….inform the electorate and leave no stone unturned.
I think I’ve realized that Republicans who rely on the Bible as a political tool most of the time are the sorts of Bible-readers who pick and choose which parts of the Bible suit them best. Like a Bible Buffet. I.e., homosexuality is bad, but eating BBQ pork ribs is fine, even though in the Bible it says you should be stoned for doing so.
Their views on “Washington” (I love that delightfully generic word to describe politics because it allows them to say that as opposed to “GEORGE W. BUSH”), are much the same way. They hear what they want, which is about 10%, and conveniently forget the rest.
Bible Buffet, yummm.
Re; Joe Biden’s speech — Did you notice he did the WHOLE thing without a teleprompter ? Now somebody from the Repubs teach that to the vice presidential candidate.
Way to go Joe ! You are da man !!
I hope the barracuda has memorized her speech-I know I have cause it’s the same one over and over and over. God I keep trying to get it out of my head!! I now have my tv on mute.
Sarah…they can’t even follow the fundamentals of the bible. “The 10 Commandments.”
Thanks, fawnskin. I know I’m not the only blue spark here, but sometimes it feels pretty lonely. But, it’s not the first time I’ve felt lonely — I lived in Orange County for 17 years, too, including that “plastic paradise in 3 shades of beige” that is Irvine. I used to keep quiet. No longer. I regularly stir up trouble with letters to the editor. Tonite we’ll be having dinner with friends who are at least open to intelligent conversation, and then there’s the rational thinker group meetings on Wednesday nights. Gotta pass Mudflaps on to both groups! Several of each group are retired, so they’ll have time to get addicted. It’ll be most interesting tonite as I suspect the Palin pick will come up. If not, I bring it up. We’ll be having dinner out, so there’ll be other ears around, too. I promise to talk about how badly the obvious lack of vetting reflects on McCain’s judgment and executive decision-making process, and about how Palin’s just too far outside the mainstream of American values. Suspect climate change will come up, too, so there’s another topic. (Tip o’ the hat to White Agate.)
Besides the links Agate posted, the discussions on realclimate.org are good, too. Climate science for intelligent non-scientists. Unfortunately, I fear that there are lots of otherwise intelligent folks who don’t believe, don’t think we can do anything about it, or are willing to push it on to the next generation so they can keep on driving their SUVs.
Amazingly, there are actually more registered Dems here than Repubs. Go figure. Guess they’re all “Reagan Dems.” But I’m a native Californian, so remember well what he did to mental health facilities and the University of California system. Neither will likely ever recover.
AKMuckraker–Thanks again for this blog. I have always been disappointed by our “hometown” newspaper the ADN, but the Palin story has got to take the case. ADN has been scooped on every issue! Like every nook and cranny in Alaska, they have been co-opted by the oil business. They know if they actually dig too deep, they will find oil on everything, and they can’t afford to lose that ad revenue that they too are slathered in.
Obama’s pushing back.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
I’m repeating this question that I posted under another topic…
Does anyone have the video of last night’s Keith Oberman’s show (MSNBC )?–Sept. 5– Rachel Maddow had a very strong (blunt) accounting of Palin’s lies one by one. She is the only one courageous enough to call them “lies.” Most others are sayng “exaggerated” or “stretched.” I respect her intelligence, knowledge, and her fearless path to seek the truth. I went to MSNBC’s site, and it is not there. I hope someone recorded it.
I am getting sick and tired of people using McCain’s military service as response to any pro-Obama information. Obama was in the top of his class, McCain in the bottom. But hey, McCain was a war hero!
The fact is, in McCain’s day EVERY able bodied man had to go into the military, with limited exceptions.
It was common for men to choose to enlist in a certain branch of the service, it was a way they had some control over the situation. But the bottom line, one way or another he would have been forced into the military.
The draft ended in 1973, years before Obama would have been eligible for the military.
The real question, had there been no draft, would McCain (a man who was noted for being incredibly wild and selfish in his youth) have gone into the military????
None of us know the answer. But to give him brownie points for a circumstance that was out of his control is absurd.
Yes, I appreciate his service, and sympathize with his POW experience. But America, get over it! Our actions should dictate our characters, not what fate has given us.
And his actions? Bottom of his class academically, Crashed (4 or 5?) planes during his service, cheated on his wife and left her and 3 children, after she had waited for him during his years as a POW, the KEATING FIVE…. not to mention his unselfish choice for VP!
John this country is in an economic mess. Clinton didn’t leave it that way. Our mess is from every bad judgement the Bush admin has made. I do not want four more years of the same. If John McCain is elected and Sarah Palin is President of this country……well it ….it…makes me physically feel ill to thank about it. Clinton was not a puppet of the behind the scenes good old Repuglican boys holier than though, shoot em up, divide and conquer network. Thats way the Clintons were hated so much.
God Bless America is all I can say.
RachelMaddowFan, we have it here: http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/maddow-calls-out-gop-lies/#comment-79929
Let’s Get Real — I know, it’s absurd! I think maybe b/c the 10 Commandments are in the Old Testament, and most of these people only read the sequel. ;p
It’s like that Colbert interview with the guy from some district in Georgia who had tried to get the 10 Commandments put into all Gov’t public buildings, because he couldn’t think of one single other type of building where they SHOULD go instead. But then he couldn’t even name all 10, LOL.
And when asked what he would cut to save money, he said, “Department of Education.” Nice. This guy also admitted voting AGAINST aid to Katrina victims, and also said that he hadn’t introduced a single piece of legislation in his years in Congress because THAT WASN’T PART OF THE JOB DESCRIPTION. But remember, it’s only the LIBERAL senate that does nothing! Yay, Republicans!
Sarah, that ‘guy from some district in Georgia’, Rep. Chris Smith(R), not only couldn’t list the 10 Commandments, see what he had to say about religion in the classroom. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/06/smith-bible-classroom/#comment-5212938
What a maroon!
Thanks for whomever posted this link to another great Military against John McCain video up thread ( sorry I lost the post)
I have posted this on my blog. Please watch it and spread the news. I have posted the youtube link to this video as well.
S P R E A D T H E W O R D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.willpen.wordpress.com
Just found the site with Rachel Maddow’s interview on the “lies.” She only focuses on the issues, not all other “lies” floating around, but it is very strong.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#26567171
Sarah from CA, that was Lynn Westmoreland, Georgia Congressman. He also called Obama “uppity,” a fairly UNpolitically correct term these days. I watched him on the Colbert Report and he was abysmally robotic. He got 3 of the Ten Commandments, somewhat badly paraphrased at that.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/04/georgia_gop_congressman_calls.html
Sorry – I have not read the entire thread today……so much great information.
Here is an excellent site about voting….visit and make sure you have what you need come election day – so your vote gets counted!!!!
http://www.vote411.org
Dear God! He really didn’t say this, did he?
“I don’t see a chocolate face in the crowd” began McCain
Just when you think they can’t sink any lower……
http://faqnews.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/republicans-hold-anti-chocolate-rally-in-the-midwest/
hi all- thanks so much for the great posts, it takes hours to read them now and link-copy-paste-send…
kimbers list is awesome, i went very deep in my address books today and sent the list to everyone i know that is reasonable with a note re: since I met my mudflats folks on friday, just looking on the tubes for the answer to, “who the heck is sarah palin?” and that i have found out more than i ever want to know. the media isn’t telling the story, please check into this and help us keep the media on the facts and not on the spin.
on another note, i received a cousin’s kid’s wedding invitation today for november. i remembered some cracks about the french, and that they got sucked into that whole freedom fries iraq war nonsense. so i decided to call my cuz and feel her out, knowing if we don’t win i’ll be sick on nov. 8. nope, she decided that he’s too old to have made such a reckless and stupid choice. and yes, they had voted republican and they were fed up that not only did they not control spending, they made everything else worse.
so many great links here, thanks to you all, and cheers to our AKMuckrakin’ host.
To the commenter upset because of the threats made by the trooper:
The issue is Palin’s using her position for personal advantage, and then covering it up. As usual, the cover-up will prove to be worse than the offense.
The trooper was disciplined, and I’d have fired him for the alchohol incidents, because at least they’re verifiable. But not because the governor’s husband and staff were pressuring me.
The threats are unverifiable, and his claim that she herself ate some of the Illegal Moose, I don’t know. But she waited a suspiciously long time to file any complaints; I’d have done it right away! There are always funny timelines with her, have you noticed? (Yes, I think Trig’s her baby.)
Molly’s Mum, thanks for correcting me, Chris Smith is the (R) Rep from NJ. Sorry!
I am bleay eyed from reading all the good stuff on this blog and lots of the links. Geez, I know more than I ever wanted to know about Miss Sarah! I love Biden’s references to “her” and “she”. Seems a lot better to belittle her by not even honoring her with a name or honorific! And I did it my ownself, above! Hmpf! Dumb! Tried to e-mail all the MSM’s. Thanks for posting the addresses. Suspect it will do no good, though! Hell, they are as out of touch as the Republican Party and McShame. Did you notice that last night, he actually said, again, that the Alaskan Jet was “sold” on e-bay (and this after her aides even said it was brokered and had NOT sold on e-bay!) They just can’t give up on a good lie! Gotta do some chores and stop all this reading before I go blind and mind-numbness sets in! Love you all! P.S. Can blogs receive Pulitzers? Go Mudflat!
This may appear crass, but I have to share a conversation I had with my sister last night. Thank God my family’s all on the same page with this. I will block out some words, but you will be able to get the picture. We both came to the conclusion that the fear of more women coming over to Mc Cain/Palin may not really be that much of a concern. I agree with her, because I’ve noticed there are more and more moderate rupublican women that are really starting to wonder about her on the social issues and “experience” now that the dust is settling.
But, the concern is now about the “angry white republican men.” I think my sister hit the nail on the head when she said, “She’s got them cre%#&#g in their jeans and the whole Obama issue is nothing more than a severe case of black man pe%^s envy”. I think she is absolutely right! There is this fantasy, in their minds, that this white woman is gonna do some serious b^&l-busting to this black man, and it’s got them going crazy! I think racism and sexism are deplorable, but I think at the end of the day, unfortunately, they are everything that this election has turned into.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/05/cnbc-host-praises-palin-for-putting-a-skirt-on-i-want-her-laying-next-to-me-in-bed/ I’m speechless!
The truth can be spoken without reahearsal.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080906/ap_on_el_pr/portrait_of_palin_2
Very fair AP article just posted on the web. I think this is the rational representation of Palin that needs to be made.
By the way, fact check site has debunked the special education budget cut rumor. $ was just listed under new line item in 2008 budget. Actually increased 1 million or so. Can’t use that one.
We need to keep harping on earmarks issues and keep focus on McCain more than Palin.
H/T Phil, “But, the concern is now about the “angry white republican men.” I think my sister hit the nail on the head when she said, “She’s got them cre%#&#g in their jeans and the whole Obama issue is nothing more than a severe case of black man pe%^s envy”. I think she is absolutely right! There is this fantasy, in their minds, that this white woman is gonna do some serious b^&l-busting to this black man, and it’s got them going crazy! I think racism and sexism are deplorable, but I think at the end of the day, unfortunately, they are everything that this election has turned into.”
I bet she came up with the anti-chocolate idea! She strikes me as a terrible racist! Everything from her “community organizer slam” to the way she belittles Obama’s accomplishments smacks of racism!
http://faqnews.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/republicans-hold-anti-chocolate-rally-in-the-midwest/
Karen: reminds me of that line from Evita: “A fantasy of the bedroom … and a saint”.
Diva:
True! And it really is blatantly obvious!
Just catching up. Saw the video re: John McCain and war. 93,000 civilians dead. So sad, so scary. The sanctity of life, my ass.
Have you ever noticed that oil pices recede right before a tight election where it looks as if the Republican candidate might lose? If Obama wins, or for that matter McShame, how quickly do you think the prices will go up again?
The anti-chocolate thing can’t be real. Has to be a satire. They aren’t that stupid.
Karen, wasn’t that Donny Deutsch thing just amazingly crass and sexist? (Plus Erin Burnett’s comment?) The man should be fired, then committed for psychoanalysis. I had a few choice things to say to a troll who agreed with Deutsch–too bad TP has scrubbed the troll’s comments.
I posted on that site, Diva. That is just incredibly, appalling poor taste. I don’t know if my post will make it there. Here’s what I put up:
“This is appalling. Have the symbolic overtones of this approach never occurred to the McCain/Palin campaign ??? Good God. Vanilla/Chocolate?? How soon is it going to be before they are out and out using the N word? Or maybe it will be some cute variant, like Sambo and Buckwheat pancakes.
Talk about appealing to the lowest common subliminal denominator.”
Just horrifying.
Is it true that Palin once used federal earmark money for a community center?
If so, then what the hell with the disparaging of community organizers!!!!
TN FOR OBAMA (12:53:43) :
That’s the difference between the Democrats and Republicans. With the Democrats, when a talking point is proved wrong they drop it then the Repubs damn them for putting out lies and the MSM never mentions it again. When the Republicans come up with a talking point, whether it’s an outright lie, half-truth or error, they continue to repeat it over and over and over. Even if corrected, they plow ahead with the statement. They have no shame about telling a lie even when they know that everyone knows it’s a lie. (see ebay)
Guys….please stay focused on realty. The Anti-Chocolate article is obviously a satire, written by someone who wants to show how racist the GOP is appearing.
Oooops.
As my husband just pointed out to me, my brain has been fried. I didn’t recognize the above as satire. Time for a time out in the corner for me, I guess.
I was considering tossing a bucket of iced water on everyone!!
🙂
When I first glanced at the article I suspected it was a satire. I didn’t read it all, but looked for the same piece in any traditional venues. When I didn’t find one, I read the entire article, and then it was clearly obvious.
I think that anti-chocolate story is satire.
Was a clever satire!
Is there anyone in Alaska who could try to find the waitress wh o supposedly overheard the racist/sexist remark by Palin? If she could be tape recorded saying that or put on camera with her image and voice distorted if she is concerned about her identity, that would help to validate the comment.
Right now, it has to be dismissed because of anonymous sourcing …
So sorry, my bad!
Yes, I need a “time-out” myself!
This is sad, how easy it was for me to believe that was real….
Thanks again for all the blogging and posts!
I have a question: how do we access Hanson’s divorce records, now that the judge refused to seal them?
And I have a rhetorical question: Where the heck is Larry Flynt when you need him?
“This is sad, how easy it was for me to believe that was real….”
Considering everything else that the BushCain administration has done, said, etc., in the last eight years, who could blame anyone for believing it? I certainly never believed that I would hear an American President refer to the Constitution as “just a goddamned piece of paper”!
“McCain Plays the Cameron Card
According to a article just out from Huffington Post, the story about flags from the Democratic National Convention being thrown away is simply false. The story was jumped on and apparently authored by the McCain campaign. But the real tell is down in the Huffpo piece where it traces the story to none other than Fox News’ Carl Cameron.
Longtime readers of TPM will remember that back in October 2004 this site caught Cameron publishing a series of fabricated quotes attributed to John Kerry on the front page of the Fox News website.
After I placed a series of calls to Fox News inquiring about the story, the story was eventually pulled, and Fox was forced to issue an apology and retract the fabricated story. Fox spokesman Paul Schur told TPM: “Carl [Cameron] made a stupid mistake which he regrets. And he has been reprimanded for his lapse in judgment. It was a poor attempt at humor.”
Why anybody would believe anything this joker says is difficult to fathom. But he’s good enough for McCain.
–Josh Marshall”
I have to stop this. For my own sanity I have to stop reading these things and leave the house.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809050025
Carl Cameron’s wife was working on the Bush reelection campaign in 2004, but Carl still went ahead and had his cozy little “interview” with Bush, instead of having someone less partisan do it.
Is Cameron’s wife now working on the McCain campaign, I wonder?
Karen, get out while you can! 😀 We’ve got flash flood warnings and pouring rain (outskirts of Hurricane Hanna reaching us) so going out isn’t much of an option.
Good day for housecleaning here where Hanna is making herself known, petering out like an overblown SP. Time for me to get real, feed my family,
study for class, and watch Fawlty Towers with my hubby.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin’s church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.
“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.
Wonder if she’s praying for Rachel Maddow, an openly gay news-person, who ripped her a new one last night by listing all the lies the republicans have been caught in so far. And they’re STILL repeating those lies today !
Holy cow — this is sadly astonishing….
They were obviously not discarded since they were still rolled up nicely.
Wow, I am speechless at what Republicans would stoop to.
I got out of the house today, took my glasses to be repaired (I think watching the Republican Convention shattered them), shopped for my daughter’s birthday, and had lunch at a nice Indian curry restaurant with my husband. For two whole hours I didn’t even think about politics, which was refreshing.
Well, I’m back now. *lol* Just found this quote from Obama on Huff Post:
“Don’t be fooled,” Obama told the crowd surrounding him in a large barn. “John McCain’s party, with the help of John McCain, has been in charge” for nearly eight years.
“I know the governor of Alaska has been saying she’s change, and that’s great,” Obama said. “She’s a skillful politician. But, you know, when you’ve been taking all these earmarks when it’s convenient, and then suddenly you’re the champion anti-earmark person, that’s not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can’t just make stuff up.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/06/obama-takes-first-direct_n_124507.html
KaPOW! *GoBama!*
Thanks, Molly’s Mum, that was the guy! Douchebag. I’m sure if he knew what “uppity” actually meant to black people in the South…… he’d still have used it.
MJC – Go dawgs, indeed. haha! I think we’re up to UGA VXIIICXV?
Sydney, the the Georgia Bulldogs won their 2nd game today!
woohoo!
Listen to Obama and then McCain address the AARP 59th Anniversay Forum
(40 million members over the age of 50)
It was broadcast live on the internet and will be going out in the AARP mailers next month.
Obama http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/TopicAreas/Events/life-at-50/webstream/obama.html
Describes details on how he wants to work towards shoring up SS and providing helath care. Says he want all parties at the table even pharma and insurance corps- says they can have a seat at the table too, but only one and they won’t be able to buy them all !
McCain http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/TopicAreas/Events/life-at-50/webstream/mccainod.html
Notice the glaring lack of details but the promises, promises…..talks about having a government helping to solve the problems but never says how……ugh! It’s so bad that I feard I might die listening to him and not even need to worry about Social Security and Health Care Reform.
PS note how long the crowd cheers for Obama vs. McCain when they are each introduced 🙂 Obama got a standing O and McCain did not get much at all.
Listen to Obama and then McCain address the AARP 59th Anniversay Forum
(40 million members over the age of 50)
It was broadcast live on the internet and will be going out in the AARP mailers next month.
Obama http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/TopicAreas/Events/life-at-50/webstream/obama.html
Lists details on how he wants to work towards shoring up SS and providing helath care.
McCain http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/TopicAreas/Events/life-at-50/webstream/mccainod.html
Notice the glaring lack of details but the promises, promises…..talks about having a government helping to solve the problems but never says how……ugh!
PS note how long the crowd cheers for Obama vs. McCain when they are each introduced 🙂
Gloria,
I was wondering if someone would provide some insight into Wooten. Although many people are not entirely sure if Palin followed correct procedures, Wooten mostly likely is NO saint. However, there are laws and procedures that need to be followed, and Palin may have violated them by firing Monegan. Unless she had actual proof against Wooten, and they could build a case, it is an abuse of power. She can’t just ask someone to be fired on suspicions alone. She, as an elected official, has to set an example of proper procedures and upholding people’s civil rights (even if the are a….holes).
let’s face it –> if thinking of God as her special friend isn’t enough to get her locked away from the nuclear stockpile, sacking her brother-in-law won’t be either.
Someone earlier in the thread asked what the penalty for abuse of power is? Does anyone know? Is it a fine or jail time? Is it something like impeachment? Does it mean she loses the governorship?
Also: is it true that McCain has people getting the investigation dropped? Do they have the power to do so?
I’m asking from a position of neutrality, neither for nor against McCain-Palin…
Re: Money for nothing:
I’m from New Mexico and was a State Law Enforcement Officer(State Employee) for over twenty years. Just because Palin decided to stay home and work from her house does not constitute traveling on State Business. Per Deim is allowed as reimbursment for travel related expenses on assigned State Business, such as motel room, meals and any other travel related expenses. Staying at home as opposed to you (as Governer) electing not travel to your office, hardley constitutes state related travel expenses, though it must be nice to have this choice, what a luxury. These payments have to be requested and obtained by filing public vouchers. In my state Making or Permiting a False Public Voucher is a fourth degree felony, I don’t know about Alaska.
In theory she is assigned to the capital, Juneau, and working at home in the Anchorage area, but by her choice she has elected to work at home, not by state mandate, thus the extra payments become a subject of question, to say the least. Additionally I don’t recall the state allowing my family to travel on per deim, must be a special perk for the Governer?
It is also hard to comprehend that Palin has stayed at home 312 days during her term as Governer, approximately 55% of her tenure, and actually done any state related business. I’ve heard of “Taking Advantage”, but this is a little bit much.
“What a country!”
When I first read French’s comments about an “October surprise”, I knew that he was out of line and now the Repubs have a legitimate complaint. He should have been replaced so that the process can continue as planned without the Repubs crying foul. One brash, big-mouthed attorney has potentially ruined the chance to discredit Palin. I would not be surprised if the State bar were to investigate him.
Surely you need a greater margin than 2 percent to declare victory ?