Palin pick an insult to our intelligence

[turbo]

She has repeatedly claimed that the Constitution gives the VP "flexibility" to assume more powers if he chooses. I haven't seen her constitution yet - must be the marked-up copy in Cheney's office.

 

[Astronuc]

I bet a year ago, if anyone had suggested the current line up for P/VP elections, they would have been labeled 'insane'.

This has to be the most surreal election in history, or perhaps each election seems surreal when one is involved with it.

I'm trying to avoid the commercials. The headlines are bad enough.

 

[turbo]

I'm trying to avoid the commercials. The headlines are bad enough.

I'm glad I only watch the TV to get news. The constant drumbeat of attack ads from McCain is nauseating. Unfortunately, I have to go out to my mailbox every day - more crap to throw away almost daily.

McCain must be going for a narrow electoral college victory. There is no other rational explanation for the ad-buys here other than the chance that he may be able to pull enough votes in the 2nd congressional district to get ONE of Maine's apportioned EC votes. That's a tall order, though. Most of the recent mill closings and loss of industrial jobs, including agriculture (wood harvesting) and trucking have been in the 2nd district. I expect some life-long Republicans might hand McCain a bit of a surprise in this region.

The economy is bleak and winter is coming. Food banks are tapped out and fuel-assistance programs either have to ration financial aid for all applicants, or concentrate on keeping the most at-risk alive - mostly elderly people with little or no income, whose food and medical bills take what little money they have. This bleak economic climate should make the GOP wonder whether they should expect solidarity or defections.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Reading Palin's statements on the role of the VP, it makes me wonder whether this is an election or a coup...

 

[LowlyPion]

Reading Palin's statements on the role of the VP, it makes me wonder whether this is an election or a coup...

I'm sure it wouldn't matter either way to McPalin as long as they get in by any means.

The Constitution seems an inconvenience to the Bush neo-cons.

 

[jal]

Does anyone mind that "carribou barbie" is preaching to "joe six-pack" while dressed up to the tune of $150,000?

 

[Amp1]

I wondered when you would catch on.

 

[Gokul43201]

Palin doesn't know what a precondition is, or a dictator?

WILLIAMS: Governor Palin, yesterday you tied this notion of an early test to the new president. Would this notion of precondition –

PALIN: Right.

WILLIAMS: — that you both have been hammering the Obama campaign on. What — first of all, what in your mind is a precondition?

PALIN: You have to have some diplomatic strategy going into a meeting with someone like Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong-il, one of these dictators that would seek to destroy America or her allies. It is so naive and so dangerous for a presidential candidate to just proclaim that they would be willing to sit down with a– a leader like Ahmadinejad and just talk about the problems, the issues that are facing them. So that — that’s — that’s some ill-preparedness right there.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/22/palin-preconditions/

4bWZ70SCucc[/youtube]

 

[Astronuc]

I wonder what McCain is thinking. He looks like he's praying for devine intervention that Palin doesn't screw up the response - or he's thinking he really screwed up by picking her.

 

[turbo]

"Naive and dangerous" to engage in diplomacy? I think we know who is naive and dangerous. She is so inexperienced that she frames diplomacy as it happens in a series of summit meetings, at which the leaders of the countries involved have face-to-face talks. Somebody please tell her that we have a diplomatic corps, as do our "enemies", and that diplomatic wrangling generally goes on behind the scenes until there is some sort of agreement or mutual understanding that can be announced publicly.

Maybe Kissinger would agree to explain to her slowly in easy-to-understand language why it might be necessary to talk to ones enemies, and how "preconditions" as minor as the proposed shape of the conference table can freeze progress on important issues. Probably a wasted effort, though.

 

[LowlyPion]

Palin doesn't know what a precondition is, or a dictator?

... that’s some ill-preparedness right there.

I think she was talking about herself and her own responses.

 

[LowlyPion]

Maybe Kissinger would agree to explain to her slowly in easy-to-understand language why it might be necessary to talk to ones enemies, and how "preconditions" as minor as the proposed shape of the conference table can freeze progress on important issues. Probably a wasted effort, though.

I think Kissinger must be appalled at the thought of such a walking disaster as this Palin woman involving her ignorant self in foreign matters.

Which makes one wonder just what the duo actually brings to National problems. McCain clueless on the economy, erratic in his actions, a loose cannon on the world stage and tagging along is his clueless sidekick Palin with her pom-poms and announcing she is at the ready to involve herself as Queen of the Senate.

 

[Evo]

I think Kissinger must be appalled at the thought of such a walking disaster as this Palin woman involving her ignorant self in foreign matters.

Which makes one wonder just what the duo actually brings to National problems. McCain clueless on the economy, erratic in his actions, a loose cannon on the world stage and tagging along is his clueless sidekick Palin with her pom-poms and announcing she is at the ready to involve herself as Queen of the Senate.

What I can't understand is how millions of people are seemingly ok with, or completely ignorant of, this scenario.

 

[LowlyPion]

What I can't understand is how millions of people are seemingly ok with, or completely ignorant of, this scenario.

Of course millions aren't. And they will be voting for Obama.

The other millions are dreaming about some "real" America that doesn't apparently exist outside the fantasies of Pentecostal small town zealots that would have people live their way or hit the highway.

 

[turbo]

On Monday, James Dobson interviewed Palin by phone. If you have a strong stomach you can listen to this interview from 12:40 to 15:03 as Palin tap-dances around Dobson's question as to whether McCain would implement the GOP platform as written. It is apparent that she has not read the platform, nor the parts of it that are so precious to right-wing Christians, so she is reduced to enthusing over "our strong platform" and "the strong planks of our platform" and how you only had to to look at the "planks" in the platform to see how much better McCain-Palin would be for the country. If you are mean, you can cue up the interview and challenge a friend to chug a beer immediately every time he hears the word "plank" in this classic non-answer. My advice - stock up on beer and have a puke bucket ready.

http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/c4daily/2008-10-22-daily-c4_2.mp3

 

[turbo]

"Naive and dangerous" to engage in diplomacy? I think we know who is naive and dangerous. She is so inexperienced that she frames diplomacy as it happens in a series of summit meetings, at which the leaders of the countries involved have face-to-face talks. Somebody please tell her that we have a diplomatic corps, as do our "enemies", and that diplomatic wrangling generally goes on behind the scenes until there is some sort of agreement or mutual understanding that can be announced publicly.

Maybe Kissinger would agree to explain to her slowly in easy-to-understand language why it might be necessary to talk to ones enemies, and how "preconditions" as minor as the proposed shape of the conference table can freeze progress on important issues. Probably a wasted effort, though.

Oh Noes! Busch to 'gochy-ate wiv tourists! Runnn!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081023/wl_mcclatchy/3080999;_ylt=As6H227eVaWX7stVZAFZ8tes0NUE

 

[LowlyPion]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081023/wl_mcclatchy/3080999;_ylt=As6H227eVaWX7stVZAFZ8tes0NUE

You mean Bush will begin to normalize relations with that Ahmadinejad there who has said that he also wants to entirely wipe the stinking corpse of Israel there into the Sea and there also are no pre-conditions - whatever those things are there again?

Why that is just so irresponsible there again dontcha know.

 

[turbo]

You mean Bush will begin to normalize relations with that Ahmadinejad there who has said that he also wants to entirely wipe the stinking corpse of Israel there into the Sea and there also are no pre-conditions - whatever those things are there again?

Only if Palin let's him. She's running the show now. You betcha, doggon it!

 

[turbo]

That Busch is "naive and dangerous"! Not a Maverick!

 

[LowlyPion]

Some Maverick she has turned out to be.

Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska, records show
100-plus jobs went to campaign donors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications. Several donors got state-subsidized loans for business ventures of dubious public value.
By Charles Piller
October 24, 2008
Reporting from Anchorage -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, plucked from relative obscurity in part for her reform credentials, has been eager to tout them in her vice presidential campaign.

"I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau when I stood up to the special interests and the lobbyists and the big oil companies and the good old boys," Palin told the Republican National Convention in her acceptance speech. She said that as a new governor she "shook things up, and in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people."

... * More than 100 appointments to state posts -- nearly 1 in 4 -- went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.

* Palin filled 16 state offices with appointees from families that donated $2,000 to $5,600 and were among her top political patrons.

* Several of Palin's leading campaign donors received state-subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable public value.

* Palin picked a donor to replace the public safety commissioner she fired. But the new top cop had to resign days later under an ethics cloud. And Palin drew a formal ethics complaint still pending against her and several aides for allegedly helping another donor and fundraiser land a state job.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palinrecords24-2008oct24,0,3252868.story

 

[fourier jr]

who is Sarah Palin? I guess we're finding out!

 

[Astronuc]

Some Maverick she has turned out to be.

Kind of like one mafia syndicate replacing another mafia syndicate. Same song, different dance.

 

[LowlyPion]

She is no longer the most popular Governor in the US. Her approval last I heard was at 62% down from 80% and that was a month ago and an Ethics Report ago too.

I hear the McCain Campaign still spouting this lie. I wish the media would blast them between the eyes on that.

 

[LowlyPion]

I seriously doubt that she will be relevant in 2012. If the Pentecostals inherit the Party after this election, I think she and they will be marginalized.

Sarah Palin positions herself for 2012 race

Geoff Elliott, Denver, Colorado | October 24, 2008

IN between slamming Barack Obama and Democrats, Sarah Palin has distanced herself from John McCain on several occasions over the past week, prompting speculation the Republican vice-presidential candidate is eyeing a White House tilt in 2012.

Ms Palin's electric effect on the Republican base has conservative pundits and strategists contemplating the Alaska Governor as a possible presidential candidate in four years if the polls prove correct and Senator McCain loses on November 4.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24542565-2703,00.html

 

[Evo]

She is no longer the most popular Governor in the US. Her approval last I heard was at 62% down from 80% and that was a month ago and an Ethics Report ago too.

I hear the McCain Campaign still spouting this lie. I wish the media would blast them between the eyes on that.

They make it sound like she's was voted most popular by the entire US. No, it was a poll among Alaskans, that weren't all even sure who she was. Now that they're finding out who she is, her popularity is plummeting.

 

[LowlyPion]

They make it sound like she's was voted most popular by the entire US. No, it was a poll among Alaskans, that weren't all even sure who she was. Now that they're finding out who she is, her popularity is plummeting.

Someone pointed out on MSNBC that her $150,000 in clothes is more than Joe the Plumber paid for his house.

I saw too that her stylist was the highest paid consulting expense in the McCain campaign reported in October. ($22,000)

 

[Evo]

contemplating the Alaska Governor as a possible presidential candidate in four years

In who's crack dream was this?

I see Hillary Clinton as Queen of England before this happens.

 

[LowlyPion]

In who's crack dream was this?

I see Hillary Clinton as Queen of England before this happens.

Someone mentioned something about Oprah as Ambassador to England.

I had to wonder why she would give up Harpo and the TV bucks for a gig like that.

 

[turbo]

Someone mentioned something about Oprah as Ambassador to England.

I had to wonder why she would give up Harpo and the TV bucks for a gig like that.

Oprah is in show business, and because of that I have great deal of cynicism when she rolls out her "next big thing". Oprah should do a couple of millennia in Purgatory for Dr. Phil alone. He is by far the greatest pop-sci plague to hit the US in decades!

That said, she has the bully pulpit, and her heart seems to be in a good place most of the time. I share a very small cabin with a wife who loves watching Oprah, and unless the weather is good and I've got some stuff to do outside, I get second-hand exposure to O fairly often. Oprah should NEVER go into politics, even in a feel-good effort to tackle problems of women and children in war-torn parts of Africa. She should instead ramp back the money juggarnaught that is "O" and spend a large part of each show (maybe 20-30%) rallying women for women. Highlight genital mutilation, honor-killings, acid-disfigurations for women who want education and a choice in husbands, etc, etc, etc. 1/4 of each of her shows is a small tithe to pay back, and she can afford to do so. Probably ain't going to happen, but she could be a greater agent of progressive change for women (both foreign and domestic) if she would only make the connections and parallels that highlight the recent (historically) gains for womens' rights in the US with the rights of women in other countries that treat women as chattel and slaves.

 

[phoenixy]

Palin spent 150k on clothing for herself, her family, and soon-to-be son-in-law. So why not put some of that fund to good use? Well here is a start.

Donkey wrong: Sarah Palin wears 'Vote Democrat' scarf at Republican rally

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/us-election/donkey-wrong-sarah-palin-wears-vote-democrat-scarf-at-republican-rally-14011708.html

 

[wildman]

Palin spent 150k on clothing for herself, her family, and soon-to-be son-in-law. So why not put some of that fund to good use? Well here is a start.

Donkey wrong: Sarah Palin wears 'Vote Democrat' scarf at Republican rally

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/us-election/donkey-wrong-sarah-palin-wears-vote-democrat-scarf-at-republican-rally-14011708.html

This is obviously a photo shop job, but still funny.

 

[Evo]

AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids

AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids

Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.

And contrary to the ballyhoo, there's no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.

In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:

_Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, Palin slanted the terms away from an important group — the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.

_Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.

_The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team.

_Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million.

What the Palin administration didn't tell legislators — and neglected to mention in its announcement of Rutherford's appointment — was that in 2003, Rutherford left public service and worked for 10 months at the Anchorage-based Jade North lobbying firm. There she did $40,200 worth of work for Foothills Pipe Lines Alaska, Inc., a subsidiary of TransCanada.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081025/ap_on_el_pr/palin_pipeline

 

[Astronuc]

AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids

Hmmmm - racketeering and corruption.

 

[mgb_phys]

Hmmmm - racketeering and corruption.

And you peple doubted her experience and qualifications for high office!

 

[Astronuc]

And you peple doubted her experience and qualifications for high office!

Yeah - we forgot the malfeasance qualification.