Sarah Palin is the perfect exclamation point to the Bush years.
We’ve lived through nearly two terms of an administration that believed it could create its own reality:
“Deficits don’t matter.” “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job.” “Those weapons of mass destruction must be somewhere.”
Now comes Ms. Palin, a smiling, bubbly vice-presidential candidate who travels in an alternate language universe. For Ms. Palin, such things as context, syntax and the proximity of answers to questions have no meaning.
In her closing remarks at the vice-presidential debate Thursday night, Ms. Palin referred earnestly, if loosely, to a quote from Ronald Reagan. He had warned that if Americans weren’t vigilant in protecting their freedom, they would find themselves spending their “sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was like in America when men were free.”
What Ms. Palin didn’t say was that the menace to freedom that Reagan was talking about was Medicare. As the historian Robert Dallek has pointed out, Reagan “saw Medicare as the advance wave of socialism, which would ‘invade every area of freedom in this country.’ ”
Does Ms. Palin agree with that Looney Tunes notion? Or was this just another case of the aw-shucks, darn-right, I’m-just-a-hockey-mom governor of Alaska mouthing something completely devoid of meaning?
Here’s Ms. Palin during the debate: “Say it ain’t so, Joe! There you go pointing backwards again ... Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?”
If Governor Palin didn’t like a question, or didn’t know the answer, she responded as though some other question had been asked. She made no bones about this, saying early in the debate: “I may not answer the questions the way that either the moderator or you want to hear.”
The problem with Ms. Palin’s candidacy is that John McCain might actually win this election, and then if something terrible happened, the country could be left with little more than an exclamation point as president.
After Ms. Palin had woven one of her particularly impenetrable linguistic webs, Joe Biden turned to the debate’s moderator, Gwen Ifill, and said: “Gwen, I don’t know where to start.”
Of course he didn’t know where to start because Ms. Palin’s words don’t mean anything. She’s all punctuation.
This is such a serious moment in American history that it’s hard to believe that someone with Ms. Palin’s limited skills could possibly be playing a leadership role. On the day before the debate, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, made an urgent appeal for more troops, saying the additional “boots on the ground,” as well as more helicopters and other vital equipment, were “needed as quickly as possible.”
The morning after the debate, the Labor Department announced that the employment situation in the U.S. had deteriorated even more than experts had expected. The nation lost nearly 160,000 jobs in September, more than double the monthly losses in July and August.
Conditions are probably worse than even those numbers indicate because the government’s statistics do not yet reflect the response of employers to the credit crisis that has taken such a hold in the last few weeks.
Where is the evidence that Governor Palin even understands these complex and enormously challenging problems? During the debate she twice referred to General McKiernan as “McClellan.” Neither Ms. Ifill nor Senator Biden corrected her.
But after Senator Biden suggested that John McCain’s answer to the nation’s energy problems was to “drill, drill, drill,” Ms. Palin promptly pointed out, as if scoring a point, that “the chant is ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ ”
How’s that for perspective? The credit markets are frozen. Our top general in Afghanistan is dialing 911. Americans are losing jobs by the scores of thousands. And Sarah Palin is making sure we know that the chant is “drill, baby, drill!” not “drill, drill, drill.”
John McCain has spent most of his adult life speaking of his love for his country. Maybe he sees something in Sarah Palin that most Americans do not. Maybe he is aware of qualities that lead him to believe she’d be as steady as Franklin Roosevelt in guiding the U.S. through a prolonged economic downturn. Maybe she’d be as wise and prudent in a national emergency as John Kennedy was during the Cuban missile crisis.
Maybe Senator McCain has reason to believe that it would not be the most colossal of errors to put Ms. Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency.
He’s got just four weeks to share that insight with the rest of us.
Overall the speech was not that good. She took many more swipes at Obama than I thought she would---I guess she has to portray that fearless-I-am-a-powerful-woman thing. She told lots of lies. I haven't heard the media's response to it but generally I think it only served to to get the base that's already on board inspired.
As a woman, I think to myself okay, she's breaking the glass ceiling but how in hell does she become "one of us?" Women all over this country are facing challenging and additional stressors trying to be all things to the family and a full time employee. Now we're supposed to think we should be able to manage all that and maybe even give birth and walk straight into the oval office. I think she mitigates the importance and value of a person's role as a parent.
The pit bull with Lipstick is starting to play the sexism card like Hillary Clinton tried. Why did the the pit bull with Lipstick start a dog fight & cry foul? She is trying to control the debate.
One thing about the pit bulls in a dog fight -- the only reason why they cry foul is because they losing -- & It takes a lot for them to cry foul.
...or maybe a Limbaugh...
She came off as nasty, dishonest and small. Not a change agent or reformer at all, just a typical politician -- only meaner. Her speech didn't do anything for anyone except those who were going to vote Republican anyway. Maybe even drove away some moderate Repubs. She took the ticket even farther to the right.
I hope her supporters will see her as a role model, because if they start acting like her they certainly will drive away anyone but the most rabid fundies.
By the way, when she was elected Mayor of Wasilla, there were about 3400 registered voters in the town; she got just over 900 votes. She proceeded to rack up about $22 million in debt -- about $4,400 per resident (if population of 5000 as I've seen reported). The National Debt is about 32,000 per capita in the US, so she did her constituents the nice favor of acquiring for them a hockey arena and a park, in exchange for raising their share of debt by over 13%.
If fact she reminds me of the Realtor that sold us our first house back in the 80's.
Just as we were about to sign the papers..."Oh... something I forgot to tell you about this loan.. "(wink, wink... I'm so charming)
I think her handlers have tried to get her to play her accent through the roof, and it's part of her personality politics. From changing soccer moms to hockey moms, selecting St. Paul for the RNC and having pawlenty on the short list, I think the Repubs are targeting the upper mid-west in a big way.
She may have an accent, but I think the person who we saw debate Biden was a hell of a lot more folksy and the accent was a lot thicker than it was in her gubernatorial debates.
To me, her personality came off being completely focus group built, and not at all genuine... Particularly with that set of talking points she kept going' with.
I hope the people they're targeting see this the way it looked to me. Like the Republicans see us as a bunch of bumpkins, who are easily conned by hokie-folksy, and don't care about answers to questions, or qualifications... Just identity politics.
I think they have encouraged her to become an unflattering caricature, in order to reel in some focus grouped target audience, and I don't think it was at all genuine.
Which party's convention made the stronger case for why its candidate should be elected to the White House?
Democrats 58% 86398
Republicans 33% 48782
Neither 9% 13346
Total Votes: 148526
Biden says he thinks Palin will be a strong debater and he would not be surprised if she outdoes him in the debates. I understand the idea of setting expectations low, but man, I think that is a bit absurd.
From fivethirtyeight.com:
"... on preparedness measures, Palin polls unusually poorly: by a 42-50 margin (-8), voters in the ABC poll did not think she has the right experience to serve effectively as President; Biden's rating is 66-21 (+43)."
I found this site entertaining and informative (mostly the former) regarding Palin: impalin.com
In particular, look for the campaign button:
"Attention Sarah Palin:
Jesus Christ was a community organizer.
Pontius Pilate was a governor."
I may not be a believer but I get that... I think it is pretty clever.
Be part of the Draft Gore '08 campaign!
The Barracuda
Palin’s Alternate Universe
By BOB HERBERT
Published: October 3, 2008
Sarah Palin is the perfect exclamation point to the Bush years.
We’ve lived through nearly two terms of an administration that believed it could create its own reality:
“Deficits don’t matter.” “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job.” “Those weapons of mass destruction must be somewhere.”
Now comes Ms. Palin, a smiling, bubbly vice-presidential candidate who travels in an alternate language universe. For Ms. Palin, such things as context, syntax and the proximity of answers to questions have no meaning.
In her closing remarks at the vice-presidential debate Thursday night, Ms. Palin referred earnestly, if loosely, to a quote from Ronald Reagan. He had warned that if Americans weren’t vigilant in protecting their freedom, they would find themselves spending their “sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was like in America when men were free.”
What Ms. Palin didn’t say was that the menace to freedom that Reagan was talking about was Medicare. As the historian Robert Dallek has pointed out, Reagan “saw Medicare as the advance wave of socialism, which would ‘invade every area of freedom in this country.’ ”
Does Ms. Palin agree with that Looney Tunes notion? Or was this just another case of the aw-shucks, darn-right, I’m-just-a-hockey-mom governor of Alaska mouthing something completely devoid of meaning?
Here’s Ms. Palin during the debate: “Say it ain’t so, Joe! There you go pointing backwards again ... Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?”
If Governor Palin didn’t like a question, or didn’t know the answer, she responded as though some other question had been asked. She made no bones about this, saying early in the debate: “I may not answer the questions the way that either the moderator or you want to hear.”
The problem with Ms. Palin’s candidacy is that John McCain might actually win this election, and then if something terrible happened, the country could be left with little more than an exclamation point as president.
After Ms. Palin had woven one of her particularly impenetrable linguistic webs, Joe Biden turned to the debate’s moderator, Gwen Ifill, and said: “Gwen, I don’t know where to start.”
Of course he didn’t know where to start because Ms. Palin’s words don’t mean anything. She’s all punctuation.
This is such a serious moment in American history that it’s hard to believe that someone with Ms. Palin’s limited skills could possibly be playing a leadership role. On the day before the debate, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, made an urgent appeal for more troops, saying the additional “boots on the ground,” as well as more helicopters and other vital equipment, were “needed as quickly as possible.”
The morning after the debate, the Labor Department announced that the employment situation in the U.S. had deteriorated even more than experts had expected. The nation lost nearly 160,000 jobs in September, more than double the monthly losses in July and August.
Conditions are probably worse than even those numbers indicate because the government’s statistics do not yet reflect the response of employers to the credit crisis that has taken such a hold in the last few weeks.
Where is the evidence that Governor Palin even understands these complex and enormously challenging problems? During the debate she twice referred to General McKiernan as “McClellan.” Neither Ms. Ifill nor Senator Biden corrected her.
But after Senator Biden suggested that John McCain’s answer to the nation’s energy problems was to “drill, drill, drill,” Ms. Palin promptly pointed out, as if scoring a point, that “the chant is ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ ”
How’s that for perspective? The credit markets are frozen. Our top general in Afghanistan is dialing 911. Americans are losing jobs by the scores of thousands. And Sarah Palin is making sure we know that the chant is “drill, baby, drill!” not “drill, drill, drill.”
John McCain has spent most of his adult life speaking of his love for his country. Maybe he sees something in Sarah Palin that most Americans do not. Maybe he is aware of qualities that lead him to believe she’d be as steady as Franklin Roosevelt in guiding the U.S. through a prolonged economic downturn. Maybe she’d be as wise and prudent in a national emergency as John Kennedy was during the Cuban missile crisis.
Maybe Senator McCain has reason to believe that it would not be the most colossal of errors to put Ms. Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency.
He’s got just four weeks to share that insight with the rest of us.
I forgot... COLD!
I forgot... COLD!
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone
http://airamerica.com/blog/2008/sep/04/palins-wright-meet-larry-kroons-l...
pit BULL
that is.
Palin attacks
Overall the speech was not that good. She took many more swipes at Obama than I thought she would---I guess she has to portray that fearless-I-am-a-powerful-woman thing. She told lots of lies. I haven't heard the media's response to it but generally I think it only served to to get the base that's already on board inspired.
As a woman, I think to myself okay, she's breaking the glass ceiling but how in hell does she become "one of us?" Women all over this country are facing challenging and additional stressors trying to be all things to the family and a full time employee. Now we're supposed to think we should be able to manage all that and maybe even give birth and walk straight into the oval office. I think she mitigates the importance and value of a person's role as a parent.
The Pit Bull with Lipstick
The pit bull with Lipstick is starting to play the sexism card like Hillary Clinton tried. Why did the the pit bull with Lipstick start a dog fight & cry foul? She is trying to control the debate.
One thing about the pit bulls in a dog fight -- the only reason why they cry foul is because they losing -- & It takes a lot for them to cry foul.
Out on a Limb
...or maybe a Limbaugh...
She came off as nasty, dishonest and small. Not a change agent or reformer at all, just a typical politician -- only meaner. Her speech didn't do anything for anyone except those who were going to vote Republican anyway. Maybe even drove away some moderate Repubs. She took the ticket even farther to the right.
I hope her supporters will see her as a role model, because if they start acting like her they certainly will drive away anyone but the most rabid fundies.
By the way, when she was elected Mayor of Wasilla, there were about 3400 registered voters in the town; she got just over 900 votes. She proceeded to rack up about $22 million in debt -- about $4,400 per resident (if population of 5000 as I've seen reported). The National Debt is about 32,000 per capita in the US, so she did her constituents the nice favor of acquiring for them a hockey arena and a park, in exchange for raising their share of debt by over 13%.
What a record to run on.
I can't stand Palin.
To me she's more pitt bull than woman.
Palin Would Make A (Good) Realtor
If fact she reminds me of the Realtor that sold us our first house back in the 80's.
Just as we were about to sign the papers..."Oh... something I forgot to tell you about this loan.. "(wink, wink... I'm so charming)
Full of bull, she is
.lipstick on a pig
I agree. Not at all genuine
I think her handlers have tried to get her to play her accent through the roof, and it's part of her personality politics. From changing soccer moms to hockey moms, selecting St. Paul for the RNC and having pawlenty on the short list, I think the Repubs are targeting the upper mid-west in a big way.
She may have an accent, but I think the person who we saw debate Biden was a hell of a lot more folksy and the accent was a lot thicker than it was in her gubernatorial debates.
To me, her personality came off being completely focus group built, and not at all genuine... Particularly with that set of talking points she kept going' with.
I hope the people they're targeting see this the way it looked to me. Like the Republicans see us as a bunch of bumpkins, who are easily conned by hokie-folksy, and don't care about answers to questions, or qualifications... Just identity politics.
I think they have encouraged her to become an unflattering caricature, in order to reel in some focus grouped target audience, and I don't think it was at all genuine.
This was on the front page of the local paper today, but, as I say, she didn't sound that "MinnesOHtan" in her Gubernatorial debates.
MinnesOHtan? Palin just sounds like one
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/30454004.html?pag...
cnn.com poll
Which party's convention made the stronger case for why its candidate should be elected to the White House?
Democrats 58% 86398
Republicans 33% 48782
Neither 9% 13346
Total Votes: 148526
Biden is quaking :)
Biden says he thinks Palin will be a strong debater and he would not be surprised if she outdoes him in the debates. I understand the idea of setting expectations low, but man, I think that is a bit absurd.
From fivethirtyeight.com:
"... on preparedness measures, Palin polls unusually poorly: by a 42-50 margin (-8), voters in the ABC poll did not think she has the right experience to serve effectively as President; Biden's rating is 66-21 (+43)."
I found this site entertaining and informative (mostly the former) regarding Palin: impalin.com
In particular, look for the campaign button:
"Attention Sarah Palin:
Jesus Christ was a community organizer.
Pontius Pilate was a governor."
I may not be a believer but I get that... I think it is pretty clever.