Westmoreland Syndrome seems to be contagious:

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The leader of a statewide group of college Republicans has been forced to resign after posting racially insensitive comments about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on the Internet.

Adam LaDuca, 21, the former executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans, wrote on his Facebook page in late July that Obama has “a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami (and probably would.)”

LaDuca, who previously had called Martin Luther King Jr. a “pariah” and a “fraud,” also wrote: “And man, if sayin’ someone has large lips is a racial slur, then we’re ALL in trouble.”

The College Republicans asked LaDuca to resign after his remarks were publicized by the Pennsylvania Progressive, a blog written by a Democratic committeeman from Berks County. The group announced LaDuca’s resignation on its Web site Friday.

This is not your father’s ignorance-but it’s pretty close. The Republican Party, both young and old, seems bent on committing public suicide this year.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 09, 2008 09:44 AM

I think these people have just made themselves a huge target:

Moscow prosecutors began legal proceedings aimed at the cartoon series South Park today in a bid to kill Kenny in Russia.

Prosecutors took action against the 2x2 television channel for broadcasting an episode of the animated comedy show that featured Christmas songs including a medley duet performed by Santa Claus and Jesus Christ.

The Basmanny regional prosecutors office in Moscow has announced that the programme “bore signs of extremist activity”.

The episode in question called Mr Hankey’s Christmas Classics was aired in Moscow in January. It shows a number of regular and guest characters including Satan, Adolf Hitler and an anthropomorphised human faeces called Mr Hankey performing in a Christmas variety show. An accompanying CD is available to buy.

....

The Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith asked prosecutors to ban South Park last week after it said 20 experts had studied the show for its effect on young viewers.

Konstantin Bendas, a spokesman for the group, said “South Park is just one of many cartoons that need to be banned from open broadcast. . . as it insults the feelings of religious believers and incites religious and national hatred.

“It’s one thing if they are on cable TV and viewers pay money and make a conscious choice. But young children should not be able to turn on the TV after school and watch this. They need to be defended.

“Our complaint is against a lot of cartoons, but this one was from South Park season three, episode 15,” he said.

It seems they’ve learned a lot from our own conservative movement. I can’t wait to see how the South Park boys deal with them.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 09, 2008 06:21 AM

Morrissey has the series of youtubes of Palin’s interview on CNN earlier this year.  It’s somewhat dry, actually.  But I’m impressed by the way she handles the questions.  This is no empty-headed beauty queen; she’s a sharp well-prepared woman.

So why not turn her loose on the media?  Why hasn’t there been a Q&A session?  I repeat what I said last night.  I worry that she’s being trained to talk in safe sound bites.  If so, we’ll know the first time she handles a question.  And if so, it’s a pity.  She’s good on her feet.

Update:Yeah, um, please don’t respond to that last sentence with the obvious joke.

by Hal_10000

September 09, 2008 05:55 AM

Third-party politics may have its say on election day in at least two states. First up, Montana:

On September 5, the ballot-qualified Constitution Party of Montana submitted its presidential elector candidates to the Secretary of State. The party informed the Secretary of State that its electors are pledged to Ron Paul for president and Michael Peroutka for vice-president. Ron Paul was aware that the party planned to do this, and has said that as long as he can remain passive and silent about the development, and as long as he need not sign any declaration of candidacy, that he does not object.

Montana, like Alaska and some other Western states, has a reputation for being somewhat idiosyncratic in its politics. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but it does tend to allow the kooks to crawl out of the woodwork. And then there’s Bobby Jindal’s home state:

On September 4, a slate of presidential electors was filed at the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office, in person. The electors are pledged to Ron Paul for president, and former Congressman Barry Goldwater, Jr., for vice-president. The partisan label for this slate is “Louisiana Taxpayers Party.” The filing, and the $500 was accepted, but the Secretary of State did not commit to printing the slate on the ballot. However, there is no law that says presidential candidates at the November election must sign any declaration of candidacy.

What does this mean for John McCain? Probably not much. However much I might have agreed with Ron Paul on some issues, his Revolution has now become a largely symbolic protest vote, driven largely by the aforementioned disgruntled kooks. If this gains any traction at all, look for President Obama come November.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 09, 2008 05:53 AM

MSNBC: from aqua to turquoise A couple of weeks ago, my Obamaweek Newsweek magazine had a three page ad spread for MSNBC. The first page was all blue rectangles, with the subheading "Notjustliberalnews.com" followed by an all-red layout with "Notjustconservativenews.com." The last page suggested that MSNBC was the news channel with a "fuller spectrum of news" in a wide rainbow of colors.

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 09, 2008 02:41 AM

McCain cracks 50% USA Today: "Convention lifts McCain over Obama" The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an "enthusiasm gap" that has dogged the GOP all year. McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 09, 2008 02:32 AM

Free speech in the Bay State - Boston Globe: "Libel lawsuit filed against Cape blogger" Key quote: "From a crass commercial standpoint, I'm almost hoping the judge doesn't throw it out," said Walter Brooks, the editor and publisher. "Paul Revere must be spinning in his grave."

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 09, 2008 01:24 AM

Headline of the day - From the "What decade is this?" files: "Deadly Ike slams Cuba."

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 09, 2008 01:23 AM

The Eagleton option - I think it's time for all good members of the Party to come to the realization that the Vice Presidential pick has been a disaster. So the obvious question is: when will Barack Obama dump Joe Biden?

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 09, 2008 01:14 AM

Then she used her salad fork on the main entree, the rube Governor Sarah Palin made her first gaffe today, according to Huff Post. No wait, a "major" gaffe, when she mistakenly said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had gotten expensive to taxpayers. Because those lending institutions aren't funded by taxpayers, even though their debts are protected with taxpayer money. What a dolt. I urge the

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 09, 2008 01:00 AM

It seems Bill O’Reilly can dish it out but can’t take it:

On this peaceful, pleasant Atlanta Saturday morning, my colleague Cynthia Tucker, syndicated columnist and the AJC’s editorial page editor, was returning from a trip to the grocery store when she was “ambushed” on the sidewalk in front of her home by a three-person crew sent by Fox’s Bill O’Reilly.

Here’s a little background:

In a recent column, Tucker noted that Bill O’Reilly had skewered the parents of 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears after she became pregnant. “The blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl, who obviously have little control over her,” O’Reilly said. Yet as Tucker noted in her column, O’Reilly seemed to have a different set of standards for the parents of Bristol Palin.

As Tucker stopped outside her house to pick up her mail, the Fox camera crew emerged out of a car parked across the street and advanced on her, yelling questions. At this point, I’ll turn it over to Tucker for the blow-by-blow account, as she recalls it:

O’Reilly guy: “Cynthia, in your column, were you comparing Bristol Palin to Jamie Lynn Spears?”

Cynthia: “In my column, I was criticizing Bill O”Reilly. And I stand by that.”

O’Reilly guy: “Bill pointed out that Jamie Lynn Spears was running around unsupervised. You know that. So you were saying that Bristol Palin was running around unsupervised.”

Cynthia: “If I said that, read that part. You’re holding the column (in your hand). Read where I said Bristol Palin was running around unsupervised.”

O’Reilly guy: “You inferred (sic) it.”

Cynthia: “I inferred O’Reilly is a hypocrite. And I stand by that. Good day, gentlemen. I’m going inside to finish my Saturday chores.”

(They ran behind me, shouting, “Why weren’t you in Minneapolis? You went to the Democratic Convention. Why didn’t you go to the Republican Convention?” I didn’t look back — just got in my car and drove into my driveway.)

For the record, the AJC sent reporters to both conventions. Tucker went to the Democratic Convention, while our more conservative colleague Jim Wooten went to the Republican Convention.

Now, “Bluster Bill” O’Reilly likes to try to intimidate people. But in this case, he didn’t have the courage to do it in person. He probably didn’t want to bite off more than he could chew — as Clint Eastwood once said, “A man has to know his limitations,” and apparently O’Reilly knows his.

I grew up in Atlanta, reading Cynthia Tucker’s columns on the pages of the AJC.  She’s very liberal and I disagree with her almost all the time.  But she was right.  And O’Reilly—apparently feeling more in his league attacking a B-string journalist than say Jon Stewart (who nailed him on this issue last week)—has once again revealed himself to be a first-class turd.

While we’re on the subject of Everyone’s Drunken Uncle, you might want to check out the preview of Obama’s appearance on the Factor.  I actually thought the Chosen One did pretty well for himself.  There was a toughness in his response that I hadn’t seen before.

(I’m curious to see who knows the origin of the title of this post.  My money’s on Lee.)

by Hal_10000

September 09, 2008 12:01 AM

Sully has his mainstream article up today about the Palin Pick.

There is one reason the job of vice-president exists. In a system with a single executive, you need someone to fill in if the president is incapacitated or dies. In war time this is especially important. More salient: McCain just turned 72 and would be the oldest first term president in American history with four cancer scares and the awful residue of Vietnamese torture in his bones.

Not true, which is why there is a line of succession and why one cabinet member is left behind when the President gives the State of the Union address.  The VP also, in theory, presides over the Senate and becomes the President’s right-hand man on some issues.  Neither Algore nor Cheney were just around in case the President croaked.  And Palin is more in that mold—McCain intends to place her in charge of energy policy.

In Joe Biden, Obama revealed his core temperamental conservatism. It was a safe choice of someone deeply versed in foreign policy, and with roots that connected to the working class white ethnics he needed. It wasn’t flashy; and was even a little underwhelming; but it was highly professional.

Also a career politician, a devoted Washington insider and a hard-core liberal.

What we have learned about John McCain from his selection of Sarah Palin is that he is as impulsive and reckless a decision-maker as George W. Bush. We know this not because of what we have learned about this Pentecostalist populist since she exploded on the scene last Friday morning (and God knows we have learned more than we ever wanted). We know it because of how McCain made the decision. He wanted his best friend, Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate for Al Gore. That pick would have been remarkable for its bipartisan nature, would have impressed independents, and signaled a centrist presidency centered on foreign policy. It would have been bold while not being rash.

We get to it at last, the core of Sully’s anger: John McCain did not pick a big-government nanny-state liberal whom Sullivan himself declared was reckless on foreign policy.  Remember this as you read the rest of the article—Sullivan was against Palin the second she was announced before he knew anything about her.  We now know why—he wanted Lieberman.

Look, there is a legitimate point here, as to whether McCain made a political decision and whether Palin has the knowledge, wisdom and temperament to take over should McCain croak.  But this very legitimate point is getting buried in six tons of bullshit.

So last week, McCain picked someone he had only met once before. I repeat: he picked someone he had only met once before. His vetting chief sat Palin down for a face-to-face interview the Wednesday before last. It’s very hard to overstate how nutty and irresponsible this is. Would any corporate chieftain pick a number two on those grounds and not be dismissed by his board for recklessness?

Actually, McCain met with her again the day before.  And we have little knowledge of what kind of vetting was going on before this.  She’d been on Team McCain’s radar for at least a month.  And what we’re hearing of the vetting process is coming from disgruntled McCain campaign members who—stop me if you’ve heard this—wanted Lieberman.

WIthin hours, the McCain campaign was under siege, as the vetting process the professionals didn’t do was done by thousands of bloggers and citizen journalists. Palin’s reality show family life, her vendetta against her ex brother-in-law, her endorsement of a mayoral candidate who ran against her own mother-in-law, her attempt to ban books in her local library, her friendship with one of her husband’s former business partners, and on and on: this was the first major campaign event that was covered by the underground media before it reached the mainstream. The American mainstream press spent a large part of last week wondering how much truth the public could bear to hear.

This “vendetta” was against a drunk-driving, child-tasering, death-threatening cop whom the investigators found had done all the things alleged and had given a five-day suspension.  The book ban, as I linked yesterday, is overblown.  Her friendship with her husband’s business partner was nothing, as The Smoking Gun showed Friday.  The underground media made hysterical claims about the Alaska Independence Party, her claims that Iraq was God’s will and the maternity of Trig Palin—all debunked now.  And this is ... McCain’s fault?  Because he wasn’t ready to respond to a thousand crackpot stories?

You know, Obama wasn’t able to produce his Hawaii birth certificate right away when crackpots claimed it was faked.  It takes time to respond to unexpected outlandish nonsense.

McCain’s entire campaign, moreover, was based on his superior experience to Obama, who was allegedly too unknown and risky for the Oval Office, and too jejune on foreign policy. And then McCain turned around and picked a total unknown who had been a mayor of a town in Alaska of a few thousand and then had only just got elected as governor of a very strange state with 700,000 people. More to the point, there is virtually no record anywhere of her views on foreign policy in the public record.

Again, legitimate points buried in bullshit.  McCain picked her because she was an outsider, because she wasn’t a Washington person, because she was an unknown.  Her lack of foreign policy knowledge is a concern (so was Obama’s once upon a time).  Can we talk about that?  And not in condescending notes about how she heard about the surge on the news?

Here’s the only really good part.

McCain’s major domestic issue in the election, moreover, is the economy and the rocky time many middle class Americans are having. All the polls show that he needs to offer something tangible to counter Obama’s reconstructed Clintonomics and universal healthcare. By his own admission, he has never been that interested in economic issues. And his vulnerability is the sense that he doesn’t get how distressed many Americans feel. So who does he pick? A governor whose state is essentially an oil company and whose major problem in the two mintes she has been in office has been what to do with a $5 billion oil surplus! She decided to send half a billion dollars’ worth of checks to every Alaskan this summer. And people wonder why she’s popular in her state.

This is a legitimate point.  Alaska’s tax revenues are based almost entirely on fossil fuels.  This is not necessarily useful experience when applied to a federal government dependent on income taxes and with tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities (including $2 trillion more today, thanks to the bank takeover).  This is one the reason why I was seeing more a Senate seat for Palin in the future—where she could get her feet wet in national politics before jumping to the head of the line.

Now here is the quote that really got my brain burning.

There are other obvious liabilities with Palin. To say the very least, her private life and family are colorful. The rumors about them do not stop coming

Because bloggers like you give credence to crackpot theories.

and the tabloid press has only just arrived in what can only be called Arkansas with penguins. Palin, moreover, currently has two ethics investigations into her conduct in the 18 months she has been in office - and one report is scheduled to go public days before the election.

An ethics investigation that Palin called on herself to end the speculation and rumors.  One that supposedly has been moved up weeks in the finish date so that it will be done before the election.

And Palin’s edcuation? Six colleges in five years ending in a degree in sports journalism from the University of Idaho. That’s the background of someone who could be president of the United States at any moment after next January.

OMG!  OMG!  Next you’ll be telling me that she went to a tiny liberal arts college!  She doesn’t have an Ivy League degree!

If you thought a president who went to war on flawed intelligence with no plan for the aftermath was reckless, then I have news for you. You haven’t seen anything yet. Imagine the kind of decision-making McCain has just demonstrated applied to ife-and-death decisions with respect to Iran and Russia.

Here’s the thing.  I don’t entirely disagree with this.  There is reason to believe that this pick wasn’t well thought out—however fortuitous it may turn out to be.  And I’m really puzzled as to why McCain—who has never been afraid to speak his mind—hasn’t come out swinging.  He could end this “was she vetted?” talk in eight seconds.  That he’s maintaining radio silence indicates either that (a) she wasn’t properly vetted; or (b) he’s buying into the worst tendency of the Bush Administration—never admitting that anyone else’s concerns are legitimate.

But you don’t make that point by having what amounts to a hissy fit because he didn’t pick your guy.  You don’t make that point by buying into every crackpot rumor and every screed by a political enemy.  You are patient.  You wait.  You let the truth come out, as it always does.

And then you freak out.

by Hal_10000

September 08, 2008 11:19 PM

And the abortion-centric faction of the GOP blunders right into it:

Joe Biden told Meet the Press yesterday that he was “prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at conception,” a strange statement with a number of implications — most of them ugly and a few monstrous.  Kate Phillips at the New York Times puts this in its proper perspective; Biden faces a suddenly popular foe in Sarah Palin, and has to find ways to curtail her advantage.  Biden understands that Palin’s own commitment to life makes it difficult to enter into an abortion debate with her, and perhaps wants to eliminate that as a topic:

...

However, if Biden believes it does, then what does that say about the value he places on human life?  Or for anything else other than Biden’s own self?  It strongly suggests that Biden values his political career much more.  In his record, he talks about subordinating this belief to his “political responsibilities”.  Well, ethics are a personal belief as well, and no one dies when they get bent or broken.  How much does he value his “political responsibilities” over those?

And Malkin of course:

And so, I wonder, is he also prepared to accept his culpability in perpetuating the mass destruction of millions of those unborn lives that began at the moment of conception?

I generally avoid the A-word in my posts.  Lee and I never talked about it, but I suspect he avoids it for the same reason I do—people are too entrenched and emotional on the subject.  But surely, we can acknowledge that someone can believe something as a matter of faith but not want to impose that belief on the nation?  Surely we can agree that one can personally oppose abortion while not wanting to outlaw it? That one could, for example, think drinking is a vile sin but not support prohibition? No?  I should have guessed not.  Much more fun to call someone a cold-blooded murderer, as Malkin does.

by Hal_10000

September 08, 2008 08:32 PM

Barack Obama isn't a Muslim; enough with that tired meme. However, he is a Socialist masquerading as a mainstream politician.

by D.C. Thornton on September 08, 2008 01:37 PM

By Harris R. Sherline -- Contemplating the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 Islamofascist attack on America has generated a torrent of thoughts and reactions in my mind. And, I can't help wondering why our nation is so divided about the War on Terrorism?

September 08, 2008 01:09 PM

By Henry Lamb -- Zoning is one thing; social engineering is quite another. Zoning in cities and metropolitan areas, while not really necessary, can be justified if the zoning decisions are made by locally elected officials who can be held accountable by the local community.

September 08, 2008 01:09 PM

By Doug Patton -- On the night of Thursday, October 2nd, first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will face off against six-term U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware in their only scheduled debate of this campaign season. The conventional wisdom says that Biden, while being careful not to appear mean or condescending toward Gov. Palin, must simply display the fruits of his 35 years of experience in Washington in order to hold his own. But as is so often the case, conventional wisdom fails to take into account how wrong Biden has been on almost everything over the years.

September 08, 2008 01:09 PM

By Bonnie Chernin Rogoff -- Feminists have shown their true colors in response to Gov. Sarah Palin. They demeaned her family and accomplishments. Any insult that would diminish her qualifications for vice president was fair game.

September 08, 2008 01:09 PM

By Brent Bozell -- For months, the CW network has been pushing its reworking of the old teen soap "Beverly Hills 90210." When it finally debuted, Entertainment Weekly magazine joked: "'90210' is the Sarah Palin of TV shows -- it's new, it's pretty, few people have seen it in advance ...

September 08, 2008 01:09 PM

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- The Bush administration said Sunday it sees no wisdom now in ending an economic embargo against Cuba, a longtime demand the Havana government renewed as a way to speed aid after Hurricane Gustav swamped the island.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A Republican lawmaker wants the Democrat overseeing an investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's dismissal of her public safety commissioner removed because he seems intent on damaging her vice presidential candidacy.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has agreed to sit down with ABC's Charles Gibson later this week for her first television interview since John McCain chose her as his running mate more than a week ago.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Barack Obama isn't John McCain's only opponent. Sometimes McCain sounds like he's running almost as hard against President Bush and the Republican Party as he is against Obama, his Democratic rival for the White House.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican John McCain pledged if elected president to appoint Democrats to his Cabinet, saying there's nothing partisan about tackling the nation's toughest problems.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama said Saturday they will put aside partisan politics for a joint appearance at Ground Zero to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) -- Polishing off his strawberry-banana yogurt, Jacob Moore races to his keyboard with a whoop, picks his way through "Pop Goes the Weasel" and gives his mom a high five. This is the average stuff of childhood, and it has not come easily to the 8-year-old with Down syndrome.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House and Senate reconvene Monday after back-to-back political conventions, both parties eager to use the three-week session to show voters why their candidates are the ones to fix the economy and lower energy prices.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton marched for labor and stumped with Democrats on Saturday, but sidestepped questions about the woman who has taken her place as the nation's most-talked-about female leader.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Sunday that the historic federal government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is needed to keep them from failing, a risk he called "unacceptable" for an economy battered by housing and credit crises.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush says if Congress doesn't permit offshore drilling to increase U.S. oil supplies and possibly ease gasoline prices, lawmakers should not expect voters to support them in November.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Auto industry allies hope to secure up to $50 billion in government loans this month that would pay to modernize plants and help struggling car makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

September 08, 2008 01:08 PM

Why the Smears Won't Work



Another day another scandal. Actually they are coming faster than that. The latest Sarah Palin non-scandal has to do with a supposed affair she had with her husband's business partner and his efforts to have his divorce records sealed, but it has already been debunked (via Hot Air):

Nutcase bloggers will have to find another smear against Sarah Palin ... again. Did you hear that Todd Palin's former business partner tried to get his divorce records sealed? Conspiracy theorists immediately began speculating on line that Sarah Palin -- that vixen! -- must have had an affair and broken up the marriage. Why else would the partner suddenly act to seal his records?



As the Smoking Gun discovered, Scott Richter wanted them sealed -- to protect himself from conspiracy theorists...Isn't that an extra dollop of irony? Mr. Richter wants to protect his son from lunatics. What happens? The lunatics use that as "evidence" that Palin had an affair with Richter and descend on him to get the dirt.

If Obama's supporters have not figured it out yet, I'll give them a tip -- their scandal strategy isn't going to work. Here are a few reasons why:



1. Sympathy. They started off with a vile rumor that Palin faked the pregnancy of her fifth child, then turned it into an attack on her 17-year-old pregnant daughter. The fake pregnancy rumor was false. Not only were they shockingly nasty and vicious, they were also wrong. They lost their credibility and created sympathy for Palin in the process. Palin has shown she doesn't want or need anyone's sympathy, but she got it just the same, thanks to those who sought to destroy her.



2. Sarah Palin has connected with the American people. 37 million people heard her speak, in her own words, without interruption or editing from the Obamedia. It will be harder to make a scandal stick to someone America feels they know. Who ya gonna believe? The witty, down-to-earth straight talker with the beautiful family and the inspiring life story or the slimy rumor mongers who already tried to feed you a pack of lies?



3. People want someone to work to solve their problems. Are they going to be more likely to have a good opinion of a campaign that is addressing the problems they have or the campaign that appears to be obsessed with tearing their opponent apart?



4. The Obamedia has been exposed. Over the past year or more the media have fawned over Barack Obama. Over the past week the media have hit Sarah Palin with dozens of accusations based on little more than nutty leftwing hate site rumors. Recent polls show over 50 percent of the American public believe the media is trying to hurt Sarah Palin.



5. They just don't know how to do subtle. Instead of picking one or two really good scandals, they are throwing scores of them out there willy nilly, without fact checking or even, in some cases, bothering to read them in their entirety. One example is the list of books Palin supposedly banned -- the problem is that many of the books on the list were not even published yet when Palin supposedly banned them. Another accusation was that Palin cut funding for pregnant teens. Those circulating that one evidently were not so good at reading or at math. The document they presented as proof, actually showed an expansion of the program, but that did not keep the accusation from being reported by the Washington Post and the New York Times. Yet another accusation was that Palin cut funding for special needs children. Not true, and easily debunked in a matter of minutes with a Google search, yet it also was widely reported as fact and was even cited by Soledad O'Brien on CNN.



Some of the rumors mentioned above were repeated on television and on the front pages of some of the most respected newspapers in America. If the initial fake pregnancy rumor had not backfired so spectacularly, ensuring Sarah Palin the massive audience of 37 million, some of these other rumors reported in the MSM might have really hurt Palin. Even though they weren't true, voters would not likely learn that until they had already formed a negative opinion of Palin. Now that the public has gotten a good first impression of her, and they know that many of the rumors out there are turning out to be false, the scandals to come are likely to hurt Palin about as much as Bill Clinton's scandals hurt him.



Source (See the original for links)



****************************



Palin now greeted by 'Sarah! Sarah!'



The banners, buttons and signs say McCain-Palin, but the crowds say something else. "Sa-rah! Pa-lin!" came the chant at a Colorado Springs rally on Saturday moments before Republican nominee John McCain took the stage with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a woman who was virtually unknown to the nation just a week earlier. The day before, thousands screamed "Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!" at an amphitheater outside Detroit. "Real change with a real woman," read one sign at a Wisconsin rally. "Hurricane Sarah leaves liberals spinning," cried another.



In the short time since McCain spirited the 44-year-old first-term governor out of Alaska and onto a national stage as his running mate, Palin has become an instant celebrity. And since her speech at the Republican National Convention, watched by more than 40 million Americans, she is emerging as the main attraction for many voters at their campaign appearances. "She's the draw for a lot of people," said Marilyn Ryman, who came to see her at the Colorado rally inside an airport hangar. "The fact that she's someone new, not the old everything we've seen before."



McCain has sought to portray Palin as a bulldog who will help him "shake things up" on Capitol Hill. Washington, he said Saturday, is "going to get to know her, but I can't guarantee you they'll love her." "We do!" came a cry from the crowd.



"Colorado, it's going to be a hard-fought battle here," Palin said. As soon as she began speaking, a group of supporters interrupted her with a cheer of "Sa-rah! Sa-rah!"



More here



************************



ELSEWHERE



It looks like the Obama birth certificate controversy is not going away.



McCain 54 to 44 among likely voters: "Republican presidential candidate John McCain leads Democratic contender Barack Obama by 50 percent to 46 percent among registered voters, according to a weekend USA Today/Gallup Poll, USA Today reported. The surge in enthusiasm following the selection of McCain's running mate Sarah Palin marks a turnaround from the poll taken just before the Republican convention opened in St. Paul when he lagged by 7 percentage points, the newspaper reported. The new poll, taken Friday though Sunday, shows McCain leading Obama by 54 percent to 44 percent among people most likely to vote and was conducted among 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points for both samples, the newspaper said."



Another dishonest criticism of Sarah: "It is said that with five children, she has too many other obligations to take on the role of vice president. Give me a break. She can't vote in the senate when there is a tie? C'mon! This charge emanates from left-wing feminists, of course. Suppose Hillary were to have had five children the ages of Sarah's. Would the legions of her supporters be making this case with regard to Mrs. Clinton? To ask this is to answer it. In that case, Hillary's ascendency would only serve as evidence that "You can have it all." The hypocrisy of these "feminists" stinks to the high heavens. They do not support the idea of women breaking through the so-called glass ceiling. Rather, they favor left-wing socialist females being given positions of authority and responsibility. This is something very different. It is a rare occasion that these feminists have been caught with their contradictions so much in the public eye. All those sick and tired of these harridans ought to thank Sarah for this one boon alone."



Bill Kristol thanks the media for their role in boosting Sarah Palin: "The astounding (even to me, after all these years!) smugness and mean-spiritedness of so many in the media engendered not just interest in but sympathy for Palin. It allowed Palin to speak not just to conservatives but to the many Americans who are repulsed by the media's prurient interest in and adolescent snickering about her family. It allowed the McCain-Palin ticket to become the populist standard-bearer against an Obama-Media ticket that has disdain for Middle America."



For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and Paralipomena



List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here



****************************



The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)



****************************

by JR (noreply@blogger.com) on September 08, 2008 01:07 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the "constant partisan rancor" that grips Washington as he launched his fall campaign for the White House. "Change is coming," he promised the roaring Republican National Convention and a prime-time television audience.

September 08, 2008 12:52 PM

The Second Amendment is safe, so sayeth The One:

A woman in the crowd told Obama she had “heard a rumor” that he might be planning some sort of gun ban upon being elected president. Obama trotted out his standard policy stance, that he had a deep respect for the “traditions of gun ownership” but favored measures in big cities to keep guns out of the hands of “gang bangers and drug dealers’’ in big cities “who already have them and are shooting people.”

“If you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it,’’ Obama said. But the Illinois senator could still see skeptics in the crowd, particularly on the faces of several men at the back of the room.

So he tried again. “Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress,’’ he said. “This can’t be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I’m not going to take away your guns.’’

Well, I guess he’ll let them cling to their guns, after all.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 08, 2008 10:30 AM

Now this is weird, even for Mini-Me:

Is Kim Jong-il for real? The question has baffled foreign intelligence agencies for years but now a veteran Japanese expert on North Korea says the “dear leader” is actually dead – and his role is played by a double.

The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China have been negotiating with an impostor.

He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four lookalikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims, the actors are brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.

The author has been derided by rival analysts of the hermetic communist state. Yet so few facts are known about North Korea’s ruling dynasty that some of the strange things reported in Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura’s bestselling book cannot be readily explained.

It makes me wonder if some other world leaders are real. For example, Vladimir Putin could be an android and Hugo Chavez could be a Muppet. Oh, wait…

by West Virginia Rebel

September 08, 2008 10:22 AM

Glenn Reynolds, in responding to David Frum’s latest article on the Republican Party’s recent misfortunes, writes:

I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the role of broken promises: they ran as a small-government party of reform, and they—at least the GOP delegation in Congress—then acted as if they were trying to stuff their pockets as fast as they could, basically because they were trying to stuff their pockets as fast as they could. Dissatisfaction is a natural result. (That said, I eagerly await Mickey Kaus’s comments on what Frum says about immigration and middle-class wages.)

And it puts the country in a bad place. My ideal—at least in terms of potentially attainable scenarios --would probably be a centrist Democrat as President and a small-government Republican majority in Congress. The GOP delegation’s miserable behavior over the past decade or so has made that impossible, at least in the foreseeable future. A centrist Republican President and a center-leftish Democratic Congress looks like the closest we can come, and I suspect it will be considerably less useful in a small-government sense.

My own view is that Obama probably could be a Clintonian centrist, while McCain could bring some sense of libertarian, small-government conservatism back to the White House. But you won’t get either with a one-party system, which is basically what we had under the Republican-controlled Congress and White House. The biggest message of this election may be that a White House and a Congress that don’t get along can be a good thing.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 08, 2008 06:04 AM

This is beginning to look like whack-a-mole.  But slowly, the irrelevant if falling away and the relevant is coming to the fore.

by Hal_10000

September 08, 2008 05:13 AM

If Barack Obama really wants to show how post-partisan he is, he’ll call on Charles Rangel to resign.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) did not know that the Caribbean resort villa he purchased 20 years ago was financed with a no-interest mortgage from the developer and has generated $75,000 in income that he should have reported on tax and financial disclosure forms, his lawyer said yesterday.

Lanny Davis said the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees complex tax policy, was unaware until this week of the financial terms surrounding the Dominican Republic property because the developer of the Punta Cana Yacht Club did not regularly send annual financial statements to property owners.

The undisclosed income and favorable loan terms compounded the ethical controversies already enveloping the 38-year veteran of Congress.

In July, the Democrat from New York asked the House Ethics Committee to examine his fundraising entreaties to corporations and foundations on behalf of a university academic center that bears his name, and into his rental of several Harlem apartments at below-market rates.

I see.  His defense is that, as one of the men who crafts tax law, he didn’t know what his liabilities were.  Uh-huh.

One of the more disgusting aspects of the Democratic Party has been to watch their refusal to call Democrats like this to account.  Come on Barack, call for his resignation.  It’s not going to cost your party anything—they’ll put some other liberal idiot with seniority to his Ways and Means post and Rangel’s district will certainly elect another liberal Democrat to his seat.  Don’t pull a Kilpatrick here and wait until you’ve got wind that he’s quitting to issues your call.

by Hal_10000

September 07, 2008 11:34 PM

I guess it was inevitable:

MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes.

This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY.

Such classic adverts as the Diet Coke commercial featuring the bare-chested builder, or Wonderbra’s “Hello Boys” featuring model Eva Herzigova would have been banned.

The new rules come in a report by the EU’s women’s rights committee.

Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson urged Britain and other members to use existing equality, sexism and discrimination laws to control advertising.

She wants regulatory bodies set up to monitor ads and introduce a “zero-tolerance” policy against “sexist insults or degrading images”.

This is what happens your Constitution consists of a bunch of bureaucratic doublespeak instead of clear meaningful statements like “Congress shall make now law abridging the freedom of speech.” I knew people like this in college who thought that their particular prudish tastes should be encoded into the law.  They never really saw the irony of their alliance with the hardcore Religious Right.

by Hal_10000

September 07, 2008 11:27 PM

Unfortunately, The One lacks the ability to laugh at oneself through satire, and considers such attempts at humor to be an abomination. (h/t: Say Anything)

by D.C. Thornton on September 07, 2008 10:29 PM

Remember what I said earlier about Sarah Palin’s beliefs bothering me? Well, I’m now more bothered.

On July 20, 2008, the pastor of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s home church, Larry Kroon, delivered a sermon called “Sin Is Personal To God.” Kroon, the senior pastor of the non-denominational Wasilla Bible Church in Wasilla, Alaska, used the book of Zephanaiah as his reference point for discussing “that great day of the Lord when God will finally bring closure to human history… a day of wrath.” According to Kroon, “all things and all people” are going to bear the brunt of God’s “intense anger.” “There’s anger with God,” he proclaimed. “He takes sin personal.”

Kroon placed Zephaniah in a modern context, warning that the sinful habits of Americans would invite the wrath of God. “And if Zephaniah were here today,” Kroon bellowed, “he’d be saying, ‘Listen, [God] is gonna deal with all the inhabitants of the earth. He is gonna strike out His hand against, yes, Wasilla; and Alaska; and the United States of America. There’s no exceptions here — there’s none. It’s all.’”

....

Palin joined Wasilla Bible Church after leaving Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church where she delivered a controversial sermon asking her audience to pray that the war in Iraq is “God’s plan.” When she is working in Alaska’s capitol, she worships at the Juneau Christian Center, another Pentecostal church where charismatic displays like speaking in tongues and dancing in the spirit are encouraged. Palin describes herself as a “Bible-believing Christian.”

Palin’s presence at Wasilla Bible Church has not been confirmed for the days Kroon warned of God “striking out his hand against… the United States of America” and “rais[ing] up” an alliance of nations to ruin America.

So, should we be concerned that this woman could be one heart attack away from having her finger on the button? Look, I want to give her a fair shake. I think she’s likeable, and smart, and could grow into the role of potential commander-in-chief. But given the direction of the Republican Party over the last several years, I think it’s fair to ask if this is what it’s all come down to-a choice between Christian Socialism with an end-times vibe, or Democratic Socialism with a nannystating vibe. We’ve got two months to figure it out.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 07, 2008 01:00 PM

Sarah Palin: A woman of character



Chuck Sr [her father] was the high school cross-country and athletics coach. She ran on his teams and earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her fiercely competitive nature on the basketball court. On one memorable occasion she came on with a fractured ankle to score the winning shot for the Wasilla Warriors in the state championship.



"Headstrong" is how her coach, Don Teeguarden, described her: "She knew her own mind and was generally willing to express her opinion. She didn't agree just for the sake of agreement. At the time I thought those were positive attributes and I still do."



She had an unapologetic streak of stubbornness from early childhood. Sarah's siblings were astonished by her resolve in the face of a father whose decisions were the final word in their household. "She never lost an argument and would never, no matter what, back down when she knew she was right," Chuck Jr remembers. "Not just with me or other kids, but with Mom and Dad too." "The rest of the kids, I could force them to do something," Chuck Sr said. "But with Sarah there was no way. From a young age she had a mind of her own. Once she made up her mind she didn't change it."



Later on he would enlist the help of people she respected - especially coaches and teachers - to persuade her to see things his way. Yet he concedes Sarah was persuasive in her arguments and often correct. Later, when his daughter became governor, Chuck found it immensely amusing that acquaintances asked him to sway her on particular issues. He says he lost that leverage before she was two.



Like her siblings, Sarah was baptised in the Catholic church. When her mother discovered what she saw as a more meaningful path to faith, her family followed her to a different church - the Wasilla Assembly of God. Sally Heath bundled up the kids and took them to church every Sunday morning and evening and most Wednesdays, too. As a little girl, Sarah sat through services fidgeting. When she was 12, however, she asked to be baptised. She wanted to make a public statement of faith.



With Alaska's perpetual summer sunshine glittering off the chilly waters of Beaver Lake, Pastor Paul Riley immersed her. Her siblings and her mother were also baptised that day as friends and family watched from the shore. Sarah took the commitment she made to God seriously, becoming the leader of the high school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes.



She had a boyfriend, Todd Palin, who had come to Wasilla from Dillingham, a remote community in western Alaska where his Yup'ik Eskimo grandmother, Helena "Lena" Andree, was an important influence, teaching him the value of hard work and traditional native ways. He had fished with his grandparents from a young age, eventually taking over their commercial fishing operation. "He had a car and a truck and a job. He was a lot more grown-up than most of my friends," said Sarah. She and Todd lived five miles apart. In the evenings they sat on their porches talking on two-way radios that Todd used on his fishing boat.



After high school, much to her brother's amusement, Sarah entered the Miss Wasilla pageant and won. When he asked her why she would do such a thing: "She told me matter-of-factly, `It's going to help pay my way through college'." In Sarah's home there was an expectation that if you wanted something, you earned it. "We always worked," Heather, her elder sister, said. "We never had anything handed to us. We knew on a teacher's salary that we would all have to pay our own way through college. We knew we'd have to be independent."



At college in Idaho she studied journalism. Newspapers had been a passion since early childhood. During the summers she helped Todd to fish commercially in Bristol bay. They fished from a 26ft skiff with no cabin, a boat that could carry 10,000lb of salmon in eight holding bins below deck. It was the most physically demanding and dangerous work she had ever undertaken. "Sarah has toughed out many a cold night," Todd said. "Even with 100mph winds, you don't want to be the one that turns back just to find out later how good the fishing was." "Todd is a brutal boss," Sarah said. "He shows no mercy to anyone."



Sarah and her father sometimes fished without Todd while he worked at his oilfield job on Alaska's North Slope. Chuck Sr remembers Sarah driving the boat onto the trailer in dangerous surf when no one else was willing to attempt it. When she and Todd married and started a family, they named their first child Track, after the track and field season in which he was born. Sarah's father jokingly asked what they would have named their son if he had been born during the basketball season. Without hesitation Sarah answered: "Hoop."



Their first daughter, born in 1990, was named Bristol after the ocean bay where they fished. Willow was born in 1994, named after willow ptarmigan, Alaska's state bird. Their youngest daughter, Piper Indy, came in 2001. She was named after the Piper Cub that Todd flies and the Polaris Indy snowmobile he drove in the first of his four victories in the Iron Dog snowmobile race, a gruelling 2,000-mile run from Wasilla to Fairbanks.



Between babies, Sarah worked short stints at television stations and at a utility company - and began to take an interest in local politics. The Wasilla of her childhood had grown from about 400 residents to more than 4,000 in 20 years. Many new businesses had appeared in sprawling strip malls along the city's main thoroughfare. At the same time Wasilla was becoming a bedroom community for commuters who worked in Anchorage. A member of Wasilla city council, Nick Carney - the father of one her high school friends - invited her to run for a council seat.



Campaigning as a "new face, new voice", 28-year-old Sarah won easily. But after taking office she was dumbfounded by the inner workings of the city government. Coming from a small community, she knew everyone: the mayor, John Stein, had been in her aerobics class. "Right away I saw that it was a good old boys' network," she said. "Mayor Stein and Nick Carney told me, `You'll learn quick, just listen to us'. Well, they didn't know how I was wired."



She voted against a pay raise for the mayor. Then she crossed Carney. He owned the only garbage removal service in town and had proposed an ordinance requiring all Wasilla residents to pay for garbage to be picked up from their homes. "I said no and I voted no," Sarah said. "People should have the choice about whether or not to haul their garbage to the dump." She grew increasingly impatient with politics as usual. No matter what the issue, the entanglements of political cronyism were a frustration. Too much of government was being run for the benefit of those in office. "By my second term on the council, it was apparent that things weren't going to change unless there was a change in leadership," she said.



Promising fresh ideas, she challenged the mayor in a contentious and heated campaign. Stein felt the sharp edge of Sarah's competitive drive. Wasilla voters sided with her. On October 1, 1996, she defeated him, 651-440. Seizing her mandate for change, Sarah stormed city hall, not realising how hard it would be to make changes, especially in an administration that had become entrenched. "Nick Carney told Sarah to her face that he'd do anything he could to make things difficult," said Judy Patrick, a friend who had been elected to the Wasilla council. "There were some very cantankerous people on that council."



Stein's loss was a bitter one. Many of his supporters viewed the new young mayor as a kid playing a grown-up game. Police Chief Irl Stambaugh - another of her former aerobics classmates - was fired. Department heads were told to reapply for their positions. Jobs were cut.



Watching all this in the wings was Donald Moore, the regional "borough manager" (roughly equivalent to the chief executive of a British county council). Now retired, he observed that there is an "inverse relationship between the size of the community and the ease of management". In other words, a small town can be hell to govern. Everyone knows everyone and lots of people have axes to grind. "Sarah is a very gracious woman," Moore said. "But she does not suffer fools."



More here



************************



ELSEWHERE



Oprah Winfrey is copping a lot of flak from her listeners for having Obama on her show but refusing to have Governor Palin.



Snide antisemitism coming from Andrew Sullivan -- making the absurd claim that Sarah Palin is "being safely indoctrinated by Joe Lieberman and AIPAC". Ace comments at length. I doubt that ANYONE could "indoctrinate" Sarah Palin.



The astute Caroline Glick says that having the humility to accept his own limitations was behind McCain's choice of Sarah Palin and that he showed himself a master strategist by doing that.



Small-town residents boo the media: "Hundreds of angry people in this small town outside Milwaukee taunted reporters and TV crews traveling with Sen. John McCain on Friday, chanting "Be fair!" and pointing fingers at a pack of journalists as they booed loudly. On the first leg of the "McCain Street USA" tour -- which will take the Republican presidential nominee and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, to small towns across the heartland -- the 30 or so reporters and crew were walking back to their buses to join the McCain motorcade when hundreds of townspeople started yelling. "Stop lying! You are all liars! Tell the truth!" one woman yelled from the front of the pack. The crowd was not menacing or threatening, but was clearly angry. "You're telling lies! Stop the lies!" one man yelled. Asked why the crowd was so angry, Linda J. Green of Mequon, Wisc., said: "I'm thinking the press is very biased"



Zogby Poll: Republicans Hold Small Post-Convention Edge: "Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin left St. Paul, Minnesota, with a smallish bounce overall and some energy in key demographic groups, as the race for the presidency enters a key stage and voters begin to tune in to the contest, the latest Zogby Interactive poll finds. The McCain/Palin ticket wins 49.7% support, compared to 45.9% backing for the Obama/Biden ticket, this latest online survey shows. Another 4.4% either favored someone else or were unsure."



For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and Paralipomena



List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here



****************************



The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)



****************************

by JR (noreply@blogger.com) on September 07, 2008 12:36 PM

If true, this could cause problems for Team McCain:

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called “October surprise” that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.

In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska’s bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called “troopergate” investigation.

Coghill charged that the senator, Hollis French, had “politicized” the probe by making a number of public comments in recent days, including telling ABC News that Palin had a “credibility problem” and that the investigation into the firing of public safety commissioner Walter Monegan was “likely to be damaging to the administration” and could be an “October surprise.” Wrote Coghill: “The investigation appears to be lacking in fairness, neutrality and due process.”

The investigation, authorized by the Legislative Council last July, revolves around charges that Palin abused her power by embroiling the governor’s office in a bitter family feud involving her ex-brother in law, a state trooper named Mike Wooten. Specifically, the council is investigating whether Palin fired Monegan when he refused to dismiss Wooten (who at the time was involved in an ugly custody battle with Palin’s sister) after getting repeated complaints about him from the governor and her husband, Todd Palin. (Among the allegations that were raised against Wooten by Palin’s sister: he had Tasered his ten-year-old stepson and shot a moose without a permit.) Palin has denied wrongdoing; Monegan has said he believes his firing was connected to his refusal to fire Wooten.

French, the Democrat overseeing the probe, has hired a special counsel to determine, in effect, whether Palin “used her public office to settle a private score,” he recently said. He has also suggested that the probe may turn up evidence that state laws were violated by Palin’s aides because they pulled confidential personnel files on the trooper.

But Coghill, who told NEWSWEEK that he has the backing of Republican Speaker of the House John Harris in his effort to remove French, suggested Friday that the investigation into Palin’s firing of Monegan should be shut down entirely. “If this has been botched up the way it has, there’s a question as to whether it should continue,” Coghill told NEWSWEEK.

Regardless of whether or not Palin actually did anything wrong, it would seem to me that any attempts to stop the investigation just makes the McCain campaign look bad. Not good for the guy who’s promising us reform.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 07, 2008 06:03 AM

Harry Collins, on the decline of expertise in our society:

Current social studies of science has difficulty with the notion of expertise. The attitude that anyone’s opinion on any topic is equally valuable could spread, and there are some indications, such as widespread vaccine scares, that suggest it is happening. A world in which there is said to be no difference between those who know what they are talking about and those who don’t is not one that anyone who thinks about it wants. Such a society would be like one’s worst nightmare, exhibiting many of the characteristics of the most vile epochs of human history.

The dumbing down of education hasn’t helped. The Internet has also given the means for anyone to voice their own ignorant opinions. Politically correct attitudes towards knowledge-the idea that everyone’s opinion has value and should be considered-may be seen as egalitarian, but it obscures and ignores real facts, which, as in the case of climate change, tend to go against accepted orthodoxy. This willingness to give equal voice to all is what causes ignorance to spread. The only ones who benefit are those who exploit that ignorance.

by West Virginia Rebel

September 07, 2008 05:14 AM

And the jerkface of the week award goes to ... Lynn Westermoreland!:

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.



Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.



“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Other Democrats have charged that the Republican campaign to paint the Illinois senator as an “elitist” is racially charged, and accused them of using code words for “uppity” without using the word itself.

In August, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) told reporters, “When I hear the word ‘elitist’ linked with Barack Obama, to me, that is a code word for ‘uppity.’ I find it extremely offensive and John McCain should know better.”

Political consultant David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, said on ABC’s “This Week” that “As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, ‘The One,’ that’s code for, ‘He’s uppity, he ought to stay in his place.’ Everybody gets that who is from a Southern background.”

The Obama campaign, asked about the quote, did not note any racial context.

Second thing first.  Gergen and Berkley are full of shit.  ‘Elitist’ isn’t a code word for ‘uppity’.  I know.  I have my Handbook of Secret Republican Code Words right here and “elitist” isn’t in it.  Elitist is a dumb smear.  But they also applied to John Kerry, one of the whitest men on the planet, and Algore, an android from the future.

But there’s is no way a congressman from Georgia can say “uppity” and not understand the implication.  Maybe he didn’t intend to be racist, but perception counts for a lot.  And the Republican Party just can’t even give the appearance of race-baiting this year.

by Hal_10000

September 07, 2008 03:36 AM

My hope for the McCain begins to fade:

This morning, Republicans tell me that a worker at Invesco Field in Denver saved thousands of unused flags from the Democratic National Convention that were headed for the garbage. Guerrilla campaigning. They will use these flags at their own event today in Colorado Springs with John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Before McCain speaks today, veterans will haul these garbage bags filled with flags out onto the stage — with dramatic effect, no doubt — and tell the story.

“What you see in the picture I sent you is less than half of total flags,” a Republican official emailed. “We estimate the total number to be around 12,000 small flags and one full size 3×5 flag.”

I’m not sure what the DNC was supposed to do with unused hand-flags, frankly. But the Republicans are obviously questioning someone’s patriotism here.

Really?  We’re going there?  What were the Democrats supposed to do—ceremonially retire them?  Yeah, I can just hear the Right Wing Echosphere exploding when they found out the Democrats burned 12,000 flags.

On the other hand, the $740 million man is hitting Palin on earmarks.  So losing the election is still within anyone’s grasp.

by Hal_10000

September 07, 2008 03:28 AM

An Iraq veteran sends The One a "Dear John" letter.

by D.C. Thornton on September 07, 2008 02:36 AM

Thanks to Republican organizers, those words now have even greater meaning. This morning, Republicans tell me that a worker at Invesco Field in Denver saved thousands of unused flags from the Democratic National Convention that were headed for the garbage. Guerrilla campaigning. They will use these flags at their own event today in Colorado Springs with [...]

by D.C. Thornton on September 07, 2008 01:47 AM

Ending Social Security as we know it I want to dissect one paragraph from Barack Obama's address to the AARP and how he would "fix" Social Security's long-term funding problems: Right now, the Social Security payroll tax is capped. That means most middle-class families pay this tax on every dime they make, while millionaires and billionaires only pay it on a very small percentage of their

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 06, 2008 04:32 PM

Obama: working for you the Congo It seems that I raised some hackles over at Balloon Juice when I joined into their contest to define "elitist." I opined it was somebody who had no significant achievements in life but wrote two autobiographies. In retrospect, "no significant achievements" may have been harsh as FactCheck lists all of Obama's Senate legislation: An accurate comparison with the

by Eric (noreply@blogger.com) on September 06, 2008 03:33 PM