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"Here's the deal: Palin is the latest G.O.P. distraction," Bob Herbert wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday. "She's meant to shift attention away from the real issue of this campaign--the awful state of the nation after eight years of Republican rule. The Republicans are brilliant at distractions."
Herbert's right on target. Barack Obama honed in on that point in Denver too, "If you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things."
On cue, Sarah Palin attempted to paint an absurd caricature of Obama in her speech at the Republican Convention last night: "What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world."
More than anything, this election should be about the big issues of our time--ending a disastrous war, restoring America's reputation in the world and building an economy that works for more than just the very rich. The challenge for Democrats is to frame these issues in a way that connects with traditional American and progressive values, exposes Republican callousness and extremism, and in doing so trumps the GOP's political marketing which cynically and cleverly plays on symbolism. As George Lakoff wrote, "Just arguing the realities, the issues, the hard truths should be enough in times this bad, but the political mind and its response to symbolism cannot be ignored..... Democrats, in addition, need to call an extremist an extremist: to shine a light on the shared anti-democratic ideology of McCain and Palin, the same ideology shared by Bush and Cheney. They share values antithetical to our democracy."
In order to have a fighting chance after eight ruinous years of Bush, the Republicans need voters to lose sight of where we are as a nation and how Republican leadership got us there. We saw that with the GOP's politicization of Hurricane Gustav in an attempt to whitewash eight years of hostility to the notion of government's role as a force for public good. We see it with their hypocritical media-bashing. {Let's not forget, as Bloomberg News' Al Hunt told the New York Times, "Probably no one in American politics over the last twenty years has had a closer relationship with the national press than John McCain."} And we are seeing it again now. McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis admitted as much - as The Nation's Christopher Hayes noted --when he said, "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
That's exactly how Republicans win. Democrats can't let them get away with it. So it was good to see Obama and Joe Biden both calling the Republicans out for the lack of attention being paid to the economy at the Republican Convention in St. Paul on Tuesday.
"You did not hear a single world about the economy," Mr. Obama said. "Not once did they mention the hardships that people are going through."
Harold Meyerson also wrote about the Republicans' failure to address the economy at their convention in an op-ed in Wednesday's Washington Post: "I have combed the schedule of events here without finding a single forum... devoted to what John McCain and the Republican Party propose to do about America's short and long-term economic challenges.... For all these woes, McCain offers only a continuation of Bush's tax cuts for the rich and an ideological bias toward the very kind of deregulation that has wrecked the housing market.... If the election is about the economy, they're cooked - and their silence this week on nearly all things economic means that they know it."
If the Republicans succeed in making this election about something other than the big issues, they are likely to win. If it's about a likable woman governor who can shoot a gun and field dress a moose, or a churchgoing commander of the Alaskan National Guard, they are likely to win. Or if they pull off the feat of making the reactionary right-wing McCain-Palin ticket seem more "connected to the people" than Obama-Biden whose stance on the issues is in touch with millions of Americans who seek a more active government in these economically squeezed times, then they are likely to win.
If voters really want real change, rather than Reality Politics TV-style change [sponsored by the Republicans and that darn elitist corporate media], here are some important facts to consider: since 1948, the economy has grown faster on average under Democratic presidents than under Republicans; and income inequality trended "substantially upward under Republican presidents but slightly downward under Democrats," according to Princeton professor of political science, Larry M. Bartels, author of Unequal Democracy.
These historical trends have serious implications for today's challenges of increasing poverty, stagnating wages, and a greater concentration of wealth than anytime since 1928.
In these next sixty-one days until the election, small-d democrats who are committed to forming a more perfect union will need to do everything we can to stay focused on the big issues, expose Republican callousness and anti-democratic policies for what they are, and lay out the clear choice that lies before us.
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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Thoughts on politics, current affairs, riffs and reflections on what’s in the news and what’s not--but should be.
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I tell ya....
The last couple of years have been better..
With the democrats in charge of congress..
Yep...that 9% approval rating...
A little better than 1/3 of Bush's 25% approval...
(If 25% is "RUINOUS" what might we call 9%??)
Posted by bleedingheart at 09/04/2008 @ 12:36pm
What EXACTLY did David Corn say, HAPP?
Or don't you want to QUOTE him???
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 12:39pm
I want to thank all you Republicans for supporting Bush, Reagan and Bush again and McCain this time. In 20 years when you are minority because you are dying out the new generation will look very different. You have driven generations of people to a new view on politics and you generation is going away.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 09/04/2008 @ 1:03pm
I was just sick watching local gal, Sarah Palin, deliver the equivalent of the Olympic athlete sob story. If the voters eat this up we'll get another 4 yrs. of ruinous government.
She's a terrific communicator, but, an empty suit when it comes to governing. She takes credit for everything like an ambitious, greedy shark.
Honestly, she's no different than the usual political shark. She's just got better acting skills and lots of slap-happy fellow-travellers out here who are -ANTI-Union, ANTI-choice, ANTI-anything that has to do with real, critical thought and education not bound up in religion.
As the wife of the president of the local public state public employees union, I can say, many of these union folk have their heads stuck firmly in the sand! "We don't know anything about Obama!" And, by God, if you tell them the facts about his experience they want to know why they haven't ". . .heard it on AM radio!"
DO NOT underestimate this woman! ! Watch the debate clips from her gubernatorial campaign with Murkowski and Halcro. Masterful! Biden has his work cut out for him. Send Clinton after her instead.
If you want the truth about Palin please read the following by a Wasilla activist and a person who has known Palin a long time:
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate
I'm going to need more aspirin!
Brooke Heppinstall Palmer, Alaska - that well-organized, non-strip developed seat of the borough gov't. next door to Wasilla.
Posted by alaskadiva at 09/04/2008 @ 1:17pm
BLeah....make that 'State public employees' . ..gettin' pretty publican there. Apparently, I need more coffee with that aspirin.
Posted by alaskadiva at 09/04/2008 @ 1:19pm
Peggy Noonan called it right: "It's over."
Now, how about some Nation coverage of key senate & house races, where the real fights are.
Posted by sloper at 09/04/2008 @ 1:37pm
"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster."
FACTS - TRUTH '08
Please.
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/04/2008 @ 1:48pm
A note about framing:
Too many progressives have accepted the right-wing frame, and continue to fall into the trap of referring to the president as the "commander in chief".
That's fine for right wing cowboys and camo'd wanna-be's, but if you're tired of our incessant militarism, and resent the fact that those who "represent" us would advocate endless war in the service of their agendas, then you would be well served to remember that we need to elect a PRESIDENT; a leader and diplomat who would have the vision and skill to restore our once-great nation without constantly threatening to blow shit up.
Posted by drhammer at 09/04/2008 @ 1:49pm
Posted by bleedingheart at 09/04/2008 @ 12:36pm
With the democrats in charge of congress..
The tiny majorities the dems have in the House and Senate can hardly be called "being in charge."
Hopefully that will change in November, then you might see some legislative muscle being displayed without trepidation, that is to say, without the anticipation of a presidential veto on every bill that gets proposed in committee.
As for Palin, we have a long way to go before the election, and I assure you that the dems will do everything possible to neutralize her appeal and get the campaign refocused on the issues.
Posted by jackwells at 09/04/2008 @ 1:49pm
I wish that I had a really cogent comment here, but it has all been said eloquently. I do hope that we are in a generational shift.
Posted by lachatte at 09/04/2008 @ 1:50pm
ignore palin she is a corporate war machine pawn just like bush/mccain/cheney/rove
Posted by tskinner at 09/04/2008 @ 1:51pm
True enough..as the same happened to the dems who were in power for 40 years... Posted by JOMAMMA at 09/04/2008 @ 1:16pm
I think this is just the dying throws for a party that will be out of power for 20-30 years then they will cycle back in. Everything happens in cycles.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 09/04/2008 @ 1:53pm
This is classic Rove divide and distract politics.
Last time it was gay marriage, this time it is small town America versus big cities and their suburbs.
Posted by Metteyya at 09/04/2008 @ 2:01pm
In case you missed Kirsten Powers at The New York Post. Sarah Palin represented everything the feminist movement claims to strive for: a successful working woman with a happy family life and a husband who helps raise the children. Yet, rather than hailing her accomplishment, the feminist establishment has sat by silently as she's savaged for being a working mother. Turns out old feminism is really just a bunch of good 'ole girls telling you what to think. NOW put out a press release saying that Sarah Palin doesn't speak for women's rights. That's NOW's job. Except if a conservative woman is being smeared in the media with sexist attacks and held to a completely different standard than her male counterparts. Then NOW has nothing to say about women's rights.
Posted by Exton1 at 09/04/2008 @ 2:02pm
Hey Sarah -
Any idea who said this:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
or this:
"All politics is local."
Two human beings who understood community at a level far greater than yourself -
Margaret Mead and Tip O'Neill, respectively.
Posted by skeletonman at 09/04/2008 @ 2:07pm
Posted by Exton1 at 09/04/2008 @ 2:02pm
Basic question....is supporting a woman's right to choose on abortion and OPPOSING a woman's right to choose on abortion...
the same thing?
Or is it somehow "okay" if a woman opposes rights for women? Does that mean if we can find a black Republican to oppose integrated schools we can't criticize him?
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 2:20pm
and get the campaign refocused on the issues.
Posted by jackwells at 09/04/2008 @ 1:49pm
when was it focused on such?
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/04/2008 @ 2:33pm
Does that mean if we can find a black Republican to oppose integrated schools we can't criticize him?
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 2:20pm
I think that you are speaking of Clarence Thomas?
Posted by skeletonman at 09/04/2008 @ 2:34pm
Speaking of Rovian politics. ..the national Rethugs are here in Alaska sticking their noses into our legislative processes and speaking for the local Republicans about Palin. Apparently, the only Alaskan R's allowed to speak on the issues are Ms. Palin and family.
Now the legislature will have to go full tilt on this trooper-gate investigation as the Palin administrators due to give depositions to the legislative investigator have been told not to. They've been told to wait until the 'jusrisdictional issue is cleared up.' Meaning, wait until after the election. Could Rove's fingerprints get any clearer?
Unfortunately, our Sen. Hollis French, Chairman of the Sen. Judiciary Committee, is a former prosecutor. While he's worked across the aisle with R's and the gov., they shouldn't underestimate his ability or zeal. What was going to be a small investigation will wind up a full-scale legislative investigation now.
Palin's playing the 'It's a personnel issue' game and trying to ignore the separation of powers. For some reason she doesn't think it's the job of the legislature to look into alleged wrongdoing by the executive branch. Or maybe she skipped her civics class in high school?
Former Anch. Police Chief Walt Monegan is everyone's ideal cop/trooper. He's honest, friendly, humble, Native Alaskan, and was doing a great job. The trooper involved should have been fired or given a desk job. But, it wasn't Monegan's call and it wasn't First Dude Todd's place to use the governor's office to pressure folks about this situation. But, then the Palin's think it's their due.
Posted by alaskadiva at 09/04/2008 @ 2:42pm
universe couldn't have aligned more perfectly...hurricanes to highlight GOP incompetency...stock market in shambles due to cover ups and mismanagement and fraud at the highest echelons of govt. bailing out rich friends...at the same time middle class americans are suffering in real life, we are supposed to be scared of some "fictional" resurgent al qaeda or some other boogey man when the worst enemy is occupying the white house at least the 1/3 of time he isn't on vacation...
if you think gop, mcbush, bush care about americans, keep in mind precott bush brother of hw bush is coowner of china's largest golf course, neil bush dubya's brother is a copartner in chinese software business with member of communist politburo standing committee, top nine member controlling all of china
meanwhile americans get the lies and smokescreen, palin vp candidate can illegally steal $50,000,000 from taxpayers for pet project while mayor of tiny town...and double standards abound...she is involved in criminal investigation involving illegal firings...media and GOP cover it up...meanwhile: kwame kilpatrick, The married mayor of detroit and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They're accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief. Palin says no to women's right to choose, no to education, but assumes disaffected HRC voters will flock to her.....Bullshit....pandering
POW POW POW POW POW POW (vagina)!!!!!!!
Posted by jrs112 at 09/04/2008 @ 2:49pm
I am so sick of conservative biased media and its' distortions....how about equal unbiased reporting, not "fair and balanced" fox reporting I mean really fair open transparent...or americans really will not know the truth about anything anymore and be even more apathetic, (if that is even possible).....gop lies lies lies......cover up...get rich quick, leave debt to middle and lower class.
ONLY OBAMA WILL MAKE TOP 1% PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!!!!!!!!!!!THAT IS THE FACT....
HE IS THE ONLY ONE WITH A REALISTIC BALANCED BUDGET WHILE PROMOTING SMART TRADE AND "GREEN" JOBS......AND A REALISTIC ENERGY POLICY........
that is "the situation on the ground"...as dubya would say.........
Posted by jrs112 at 09/04/2008 @ 2:52pm
when was it focused on such? Posted by frosty zoom at 09/04/2008 @ 2:33pm
FZ-
I thought Kerry, Gore, Clinton(s), Biden and Obama did a pretty good job outlining their agenda during the convention. Now the campaign needs to get down to specifics at the program level, and I am confident that it will in a big way. The Montana Gov. was pretty good too--plus entertaining!
I haven't watched the Repubs yet, but from what I've read in the papers (all five of them), the McCain people haven't talked much about programs, or anything else substantive.
I can tell you from personal experience, this country is hurting badly, and I believe many voters will be looking beyond ideology and impulsive patriotism this year (with the exception of the wingnut community that alway votes doctrinaire--god and country, right or wrong).
Call me naive. Perhaps I am imputing to voters more intelligence than is rightly deserved, based on past history. Just to clarify, I'm addressing the congressional races here more than the presidentials.
Posted by jackwells at 09/04/2008 @ 2:57pm
Posted by jrs112 at 09/04/2008 @ 2:52pm
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the blogs....
CONSHAME II!!!!!
heheh
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 3:14pm
1. Palin anti-abortion position is too extreme for America in that she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest and would FORCE this view on the rest of America.
2. Palin and her husband flirts with succession from the United States as "affiliates" of AIP party.
3. Palin attempts to ban library books she doesn't like and fire the city librarian if she doesn't go along.
4. Palin fires police chief of Wassila because he wants the bars to close at 2am rather than 5am and this upset Palin's bar owner campaign contributors.
5. Palin fires her chief public safety officer, the former police chief of Anchorage, because he doesn't want to be used in her family feud in firing the ex-husband of her sister.
6. Palin's car wash was "involuntarily" shut down after she skipped out of paying her taxes and fees, and failed to file required financial statements.
7. Palin's pastor of 30 years thinks political opponents of Bush won't go to heaven and that Jesus is some kind of war general that kills people that don't believe in him.
8. Palin stripped funds from Passage House, a group that helps teen moms, LIKE HER DAUGHTER, get skills and lead productive lives after pregnancy.
9. Palin hired an Abramoff lobbyist to get earmarks that even McCain objected to
10. Palin SUPPORTED Bridge-to-Nowhere, and only opposed it after public exposure.
11. Palin inflates her foreign policy experience by claiming a refueling stop as a "visit to Ireland".
Posted by Metteyya at 09/04/2008 @ 3:36pm
DISTRACTION.
The official Barack code for: THREAT TO BARACK.
Parroted by little kitty kat.
Ia stealing Bob Herbert's paranoia and lameness all the rage in The Hamptons this year, Kat?
Thanks for telling the little people how to think, now back on your polo pony precious.
Posted by ReverendWrithe at 09/04/2008 @ 3:38pm
Katrina, if Palin was a liberal and on the Democratic ticket, you would be celebrating her candidacy. A very talented, attractive, working mother who entered politics for the right reasons. Unlike Bush, she has no pedigree, fancy degrees, and an easy path to power in the Republican Party. Palin did it on her own unlike W and Hillary. On the issue of sexism, she has the right arguing for equal treatment between women and men. As Palin has changed the minds of those who traditionally oppose woman issues, she has done more in 5 days than progressives for many years. Now the right will have to treat a future Democratic woman candidate the same way they expect Palin to be treated.
Can the left oppose Palin's viewpoints and her candidacy but recognize Palin's accomplishment for woman today and in the future?
Posted by pacerdhs at 09/04/2008 @ 3:38pm
Why is the Corporate War machine giving more money to Obama than McCain?
Just a little question to make your tiny brains explode.
Pakistan?
Afghanistan?
Enjoy your cliches, comrades!
Posted by ReverendWrithe at 09/04/2008 @ 3:41pm
KvH
You just don't get it (ie "What's wrong with Kansas").
She is going to talk right over and through the elite intellectual rants of the left and connect squarely with undecided voters. (Compare Obama's lectures as opposed to real answers to questions).
Quote from Apollo 13: "We just lost the Moon".
Cut to Andrea Mitchell last night. She looked like a true believer that just finished a crying jag.
"We just lost PA"
Posted by EdMidwest at 09/04/2008 @ 3:51pm
The only thing that is saving me from total sickness over the McCain/Palin ticket is that, thankfully, others see right through their BS.
It is sad that some people buy into Palin because of the most superficial reasons. Where is the meat and potatoes from her on real issues?
I am tired of hearing about scary taxes and scary terrorists that only the repubs can save us from. Unfortunately so many are still buying this moldy BS sandwich.
Posted by askkeynes at 09/04/2008 @ 4:09pm
Hey Frank
Why is John McCain at the top of the Repub ticket?
Because Sarah Palin only knows how to screw up.
Posted by skeletonman at 09/04/2008 @ 4:12pm
This is the type of article that drove me from the Democrat Party. Illogical, defensive and misleading, this article doesn't move any discussion forward. The author appears to think that by constantly repeating her opinions as fact that she can convince voters to agree with her. That is a propaganda technique, not rational thought.
She quotes Bob Herbert that the Palin speech was meant to distract from the "real issues." I believe that Senator Obama's qualifications or lack if qualifications are a real issue.
Whatever Ms. Vanden Heuvel thinks, the size of government is a real issue. Here time would be better spent in explaining why it is a good thing and why it is worth its own downside.
She goes on to claim that McCain and Palins positions are antithetical to "our Democracy." I think that that is for the voters to decide and the author makes no case but states her opinion as fact not requiring support.
Her claims that the Republican's haven't discussed the economy are demonstrably false. Perhaps she only hears those who agree with her own opinions, but I've heard discussions of taxes, free trade, immigrations and other economic topics.
Finally she claims that if voters want a change, they will vote for her faction. She doesn't address what those changes are, whether they would be good or bad, and how they are worth their costs.
If this article represents Democrat thought, they are sure to lose this election. That may or not be a bad thing, but I can't tell from this or previous articles.
Posted by SeekingRationalThought at 09/04/2008 @ 4:20pm
Rudy and Palin nailed it last night! Obama nas accomplished NOTHING, ZILCH, NADA. He hasn't run a township let alone a city. The "FORWARD" looking "CHANGE" candidate reached waaaaaaaay back and picked......Joe Biden? A textbook definition of washington insider, plus a standard white male. What vision! The emporer has no clothes.!
Posted by vinman at 09/04/2008 @ 4:27pm
Everything you say is correct and on target. So why is all that moot? Why are McCain and Sarah laughing? Because they both a dear friend. A friend who has proven his loyalty and expertise. A friend who has f*ed this nation before and then some. This friend has needed fixing more than anyone or anything in this nation. But this nation consists of many stupid people who pretend he doesn't need fixing. His name is Diebold.
Posted by mystic at 09/04/2008 @ 4:35pm
Seems to us one side has an empty suit coupled with a windbag while the other side has real Americans who have had very successful hands-on executive and legislative experience, both have the "right stuff", and neither is scared to death by anything or anyone. For the first time we six are all voting a straight republican ticket to hire the best and brightest.
Posted by tucanofulano at 09/04/2008 @ 4:42pm
Posted by ReverendWrithe at 09/04/2008 @ 3:41pm
Hey, Rev.....know who Reverand Ed Kalinin is?
and what he thinks is required to get into Heaven?
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 4:44pm
For the first time we six are all voting a straight republican ticket to hire the best and brightest.----Posted by tucanofulano at 09/04/2008 @ 4:42pm
"first time"?
So who did you vote for in 2000 and 2004 who was NOT "the best and brightest"?
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 4:46pm
After watching Obama's acceptance speech last week, listening to the litany of all the programs and promises he would do in office, my first reaction was, "Talk is cheap. But this sounds like the most expensive speech ever made."
Trillions of dollars.
Now, if he plans on giving tax breaks to 95% of all Americans and yet do all the things he promises, something's got to give. What a bunch of gobbledeygook! Wake up! If 38% of Americans don't pay taxes now, hold on to your wallets, people! He's all smoke and mirrors!
This guy's no new messiah. He's reverting to the typical candidate promising everyone everything under the sun.
For the good of the country, Obama better be grilled by O'Reilly tonite. Grill, Baby, Grill!! This guy's gotten a free pass by the media for the past year and a half. Let's hope the curtain covering the wizard is pulled back tonite. About time that he gets vetted!
Posted by Liner at 09/04/2008 @ 4:53pm
Dems have it wrong! This columnest has it wrong. The economy is not grown by government, but by business. As a business owner struggling to keep my great employees employed, I am stunned by the ignorance of the Dems. Raise taxes and I lose the incentive and ability to invest and create jobs. Raise taxes and I need to cut expenses to offset the higher government burden. When running a lean business the only (and last) place to cut expenses is to cut payroll and stop investing. I am devastated that I may have to cut employees. Dems need to understand that their ticket has no business experience and is truly dangerous to my future and the country's future. This column is deceiving and bitter and should be ignored. I expect that this columnest has never struggled to make payroll and pay rent.
McCain/Palin at least understand that low taxes and less regulation allow business owners to grow and keep the employees they love and appreciate employed.
Posted by bizman at 09/04/2008 @ 5:09pm
Isn't it amazing, Republicans who for weeks…months… almost a year, have been railing against Obama saying : "All he can do is give speeches, he has no plan, no details no substance. " Despite overwhelming evidence that Obama indeed has ; details, substance, and a plan. Just look at the staggering precise proposals on Obama's website's issues page. For years…fracking years, Obama has done hundreds of substantial, and probing interviews, with reporters, and world leading experts. Not once has anyone doubted Obama's brilliant analytical mind, even when they disagree with him. Definitely the man has a plan. For months, Republicans have been mocking Democrats saying in effect to Obama supporters ; "What a bunch of naďve, knee-jerk, Kool- Aid drinkers you are…all you need is empty rhetoric and your sold." Then…then…along comes little Miss Caribou Barbie…who despite overwhelming evidence that she is a bald-faced liar with zero…zero…thought-out policies (check out her issues page, before the McCain-Bush puppetmasters plucked her from obscurity), she had practically no opinions on record on anything (saveAbortion, Book banning, and Cheney-like abuses of power),these same Republicans, who by the way, after years of exposure to Obama, demanded that Obama perform the 12 political labors of Hercules to be even remotely taken seriously) ,now have the AUDACITY, to say with a straight…frracking face…Sarah Palin?...I saw ONE speech…I'm sold"!
And, then despite Sarah Palin's, crypto treasonous associations, they welcome her as the second coming of Roosevelt. Then despite their hilariously delusional claims that she is "ready on day one"…they insist, they must hide her for days, lest the media ask Palin questions for which they claim she is so prepared.
Un-fracking-believable.
Posted by athospaco at 09/04/2008 @ 5:12pm
I have been very perplexed and trying hard to figure this election out. Why is John McCain so willing to compromise with the religious right and small government libertarians? We know from McCain's record that he has not supported these groups through most of his political career. In fact, this dissonance is the source of his Maverick status.
In just the last few years, he called the religious right "agents of intolerance" and opposed Bush's tax cuts, immigration policy, etc. much to the ire of the "base" of his party. Now he has shifted on all of this. As has been much reported, his pick of social conservative Sarah Palin as VP has apparently satisfied the social conservatives. The Hillary Clinton voter was never going to buy this pick and McCain knows it. The "flip-flopping" on tax cuts pleases the corporations, tax cutters, progrowthers, small government types, and Harold Simmons' gang. Again, why?
It is not just his craven desire for political power, personal vanity or ambition. Rather, it is all about the longer game extending from the war in Iraq and the larger neo-conservative agenda.
Consider "bomb, bomb Iran" and his over the top rhetoric about the real enemy, Russia. He is willing to compromise because he knows it is the only way he'll be able to fight what he views as existential threats against the future of the U.S.. This is the reason he has gambled with a zero foreign policy VP and has conformed to the base.
This is the real smokescreen and we've seen it before.
Posted by Whatsthedeal at 09/04/2008 @ 5:21pm
Well the Demo's are in high dungeon mode. What is it about the so-called intellectual elite (you know, those who know so much more then us idiots and wish to guide us through our sad stupid unfortunate lifes.) You don't get it - we're not buying in to your leftist crap. Your the folks who passed over the best candidate (Hillary) because you wanted the socialist. You have gotten what you deserve. The only smokescreen is the one you created......
Posted by jimobr at 09/04/2008 @ 5:45pm
>>>Palin did it on her own unlike W and Hillary.
Posted by pacerdhs at 09/04/2008 @ 3:38pm<<<
What planet are you living on?
George W. had his "entire" way paved for him by daddy H.W., who was a former president.
Hillary would be a no name lawyer at some corporate law firm somewhere without Bill Clinton and "his" rise to the presidency.
McCain had his Naval Academy and Naval career paved for him by his daddy and grandfather who were both Admirals. He used this career to get into politics, and was bankrolled by convicted felon Charles Keating and Cindy McCain's father.
None of these people made it on their own!
Posted by Metteyya at 09/04/2008 @ 6:42pm
It is interesting that conservative pro-Republican right-wing (pick your description) bloggers make up about half the posts on The Nation's blogs, from my informal count taken over the past hour. Considering how progressive The Nation is, why are conservatives so active on The Nation's blogs?
It is also interesting that after nearly 8 years of national destruction waged by Bush/Cheney, at least half the voters in this country appear to be ready to vote for McCain/Palin. Do those of you who are ready to vote for McCain/Palin believe that the past 8 years have not been destructive? Or do you believe that McCain/Palin will rule in a significantly different way than Bush/Cheney?
Posted by guanabana at 09/04/2008 @ 6:46pm
Missing In Action
The following long term friends, asscociates, mentors and advisers have gone missing. Anyone having information as their whereabouts should contact the nearest MSM:
Reverend Jeremy Wright
Toney Rezko
William Ayers
Rashid Khalidi
Emil Jones
Father Michael Pfleger
Emil Jones
Jesse Jackson
Posted by sailcovershot at 09/04/2008 @ 6:47pm
Google: Black File 7001…"Speaking as an Italian Jew, there were and are Jews who worked for the Nazis against my tribe during the Jewish Holocaust and today recognizes Senator Joe Lieberman and Sarah Palin performing that same function within the Trojan Horse Republican Party. During 1991 while on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, I met a female German Jewish doctor who confessed that she had worked for the Nazi SS during "the final solution" in the death camps. While speaking in a mixture of broken English and German with smatterings of Yiddish, the sexual overtones from the princess of death became less and less Jewish until acquiring the same status as the Nazi SS war criminal that I had located living in the U.S. in October 1983. Back in the U.S., it was during this same time period in 1991 that CIA Chief William Casey was likely assassinated three days before he could testify under oath. The primary reason why Casey was subpoenaed by the New York Attorney General was to address the 1954 murder and staged suicide of CIA and U.S. Army scientist Dr. Frank Olson from the top secret laboratory at Fort Detrick, MD. This is the same facility where on Tuesday, July 29, 2008; Dr. Bruce E. Ivans allegedly committed suicide before he could testify in his own defense against charges that he was solely responsible for the 2001 Anthrax attacks. The Bush-McCain Republicans are attempting to bury the skull and bones of their treasonous attacks against America since September 11, 2001 beneath the pretty face of Sarah Palin while mirroring the scapegoating of the Jewish people by the Nazi SS during the Jewish Holocaust. George H.W. Bush replaced Chief William Casey at the CIA…" For pending press releases please e-mail: BlackFile7001@gmail.com
Posted by LeeVinBah at 09/04/2008 @ 6:58pm
Wow...The worshippers of "The ONE" hit Gov Palin with every low down nasty personal attack they could, just like they did with Hillary, but they couldn't make her cave, and she fought back with one of the best speeches at a political convention in history. She was honest, true to her convictions, patriotic, let us get to know her, a clearly loving mother. It was wonderful! A real champion of working Americans and Working Mothers! So the worshippers of "The ONE" seeing that their filth wasn't going to stick have changed tactics. She's no longer a hick and unfit mother, now she's a distraction. Well Katrina Vanden Heuval go pray at teh altar of the O'biden "Good Ol Boys Club" some more, and they may give you some better talking points before they send you to get their coffee! McCain/Palin 2008, Hillary 2012!
Posted by valwayne at 09/04/2008 @ 7:19pm
Whew! The last 8 years? If it hadn't been for W., we might have had Gore or Kerry all these years. It would have been enough to make an atheist cry, "God help us!"
Whatever happened to the November, 2005 post election claim by Pelosi and Reid that things were gonna change? In the words of Rudy G. last night ---Nada! Zip! Zilch! You Dems gonna say, "erase the past two years. Let us start over in 2008."? Gonna attempt to get it right this time? Start by firing your Congressional leaders.
Posted by Liner at 09/04/2008 @ 7:25pm
I am a social worker with 16 years of experience working with children and adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
I empathize with Gov. Palin and know that raising a child with special needs is a life-changing experience and can be difficult and rewarding at the same time, as is with raising any child.
What I find disturbing, however, is the comment in her speech that she will be a voice and advocate for people with special needs. A voice and an advocate is fine, I work in this role as well. But people with special needs require more than a voice, they need services.
Services require money.
There have been millions of $$ of funding cuts over the past 8 years for people with special needs. Why, may you ask? Because the Bush administration has been so concerned with spending $10 million a month (or is it a week) in Iraq, and we can't take care of our own anymore. There are many other reasons as well but ending the war now would sure free up some money to help people who need it.
Gov. Palin states that a McCain administration won't raise taxes, so where will we find this magical funding to help people with special needs? Does she think that the private sector will help? Does she really have a plan here?
A McCain/Palin ticket will cut welfare services to those who need it most, those with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. We cannot go back to the days of large institutions. It has been shown that persons with MRDD who live in small group settings or in foster home settings have better overall health than those who live in nursing homes or institutional care. And, by the way, it is much more cost-effective.
For what it's worth-- Peace, Patti
Posted by patti2008 at 09/04/2008 @ 7:36pm
Jees. You'ld think this was all about a presidential election. Palin's job was to deliver the red meat (like Biden) and she did. I long for the days when they hand out alcohol and pistols on the convention floor. Talk about excitement.
But I think the dems need to be careful about a possible trap being set by the gops. If they can generate a debate about the qualifications of Obama at the top of the ticket versus those of Palin at the second spot, then that is to the gops advantage, for obvious reasons.
In the end, it was the dems that thought it was a good idea to select Obama (Biden was my 1st thru 4th choice), but it was McCain that selected Palin.
Posted by mzarowitz at 09/04/2008 @ 7:59pm
Grass-roots Democrats, aren't you tired of the old bait-and-switch routine every four years that leads to exactly the same outcome? You support someone who panders to your progressive impulses and then, following a thorough gaming of the primary system, takes you for granted in an ill-advised move toward a nonexistent center that costs the party the election.
I'm surprised at Caroline Kennedy. What was she thinking when she recommended Joe Biden, of all people, to be Obama's running mate? Is he the change we can believe in? Joe Biden? The guy who not only voted for the Iraq war resolution but pushed it through the Senate? And then Obama himself voting for the FISA act that gave telecoms immunity retroactively for violating privacy laws?
It's not only a question of experience. Already Obama's judgment has been called into question. Sarah Palin will run rings around both him and Biden. She runs to her pastor on Sundays, not from him. I don't care about such things, but a whole lot of voters do. Obama has yet to explain how he sat in Jeremiah Wright's church for decades without knowing what he stood for, and how his erstwhile friend did not know him either.
If only Sarah Palin were merely a smokescreen, the Democrats might pull it off in two months. But I fear the worst, that once again the Repubs will successfully change the subject and get enough people to vote against their best interests, even amid a disastrous economy and even more disastrous military entanglements. Speaking of which, Obama would only redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and even Pakistan and Iran if he felt it necessary. How that differs much from McCain's plans escapes me. The result is the same: billions of dollars of borrowed money spent on death and destruction for dubious ends.
Posted by ceejayay at 09/04/2008 @ 8:27pm
Unless Obama follows the Carville-Clinton (both Bill and Hill) script, with Biden, and becomes a relentless, fierce attacker of the Bush-McCain economy, lack of health care, etc., and relentlessly BLASTS the Republicans as the "fighter" for "the middle class," the guy is dead. Palin bowled 300 last night because her fascist handlers know that what really scores with the American mob is to channel their resentment and avenge them on the elites, by mocking the elites for "looking down their noses" at them, as Wallace used to say. Only by channeling the mob's anger over having been screwed by the Republican elites economically, and attacking Bush-McCain relentlessly, as Carville would, can Obama channel enough mob rage to eek out a majority. As Dr. Phil would rightly say here: Obama either gets it or he doesn't. If he doesn't, he and the Democrats are finished. He got his own Palin lift from ATTACKING and looking strong a a bit angry in Denver. Unless he relentlessly build on that attack, and the perception that he's "formidable," he's dead.
Posted by jeanrenoir at 09/04/2008 @ 8:33pm
Poor KvH! She tries so hard to spread the word of hate, mistrust & angst when in reality MOST Americans don't feel the same way. Sorry!! Your weird opinions of "freedom and democracy" do not resonate with average Americans. Most are just like Sarah Palin. Hard working people who ask for NOTHING from the government other than the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. Why do you always try to rewrite the book?? The only extremists around here are KvH and her band of poorly organized left-wing radicals that hate America and what it stands for. Your socialist extremist idealogy is going down and going down hard. Americans do not want a country full of hand-out takers who are too lazy or ignorant to provide for themselves. McCain was absolutely correct when he said that the economy wasn't in too bad of shape. There is less poverty today in America then ever before in history. Look it up. This is true even with the huge influx or low paid illegal and legal immigrants. You CANNOT give tax cuts to people who DO NOT pay taxes! Why should successful people and small business owners be disproportionately penalized by a tax system that was NOT designed to provide socialist/liberals a vehicle for using the false image of "fairness" to determine who pays and how much. Will you ever get it right? I doubt it!
Posted by MrNuance at 09/04/2008 @ 8:37pm
BTW, anybody else noted the EXTRAORDINARY amount of "newbies" posting on this thread...
most of whom are on the Right?!?!?!??
Where do these guys come from...and whence do they go (since they seem to disappear rapidly)????
And have they ever met Rove over at the canteen at lunch?
heheh
Posted by Maskdelta at 09/04/2008 @ 9:18pm
obama-palin comparisons will bring obama down. ignore palin she is a pawn. focus on obama and his policies and why he will make a better president than mccain/bush/palin/cheney
Posted by tskinner at 09/04/2008 @ 9:53pm
Katrina is so shrill. And her scholarship is so derrivative and her readership so thin.
Imagine how she could turn the world in its ear if she would only analyze in a thoughtful way the femisist alternative, Sarah Palin
Posted by pete kent at 09/04/2008 @ 9:55pm
Well the Demo's are in high dungeon mode. Posted by jimobr at 09/04/2008 @ 5:45pm | ignore this person | warn this person
you dumb ass, it's high dudgeon.
sincerely, one of the intellectual elite.
Posted by emile duBois at 09/04/2008 @ 9:56pm
Maskdelta,
You write: Where do these guys come from...and whence do they go (since they seem to disappear rapidly)????
Apparently we read articles of those we disagree with. We recognize that we don't know all and want to get the other side. When we read something we disagree with, we respond. Its known as discussion. You ought to try it.
As to where we go? I suppose we have lives and can't live on the net. <g>
Posted by SeekingRationalThought at 09/04/2008 @ 9:58pm
nuanced yer not. contrary to your ignorant rant, the folks who do not pay INCOME taxes pay plenty tax. they pay sales tax for one. social security taxes two.
Posted by emile duBois at 09/04/2008 @ 10:02pm
Posted by bizman at 09/04/2008 @ 5:09pm
"Dems have it wrong! This columnest has it wrong. The economy is not grown by government, but by business."
Actually, bizman, people like KVH think money grows in bank accounts of rich people, who steal big pieces of the pie from poor people. Understand that KVH never had to make a living, she was given a big chunk of change gratis from her father. That's the bankroll that keeps this place running. How could KVH even have an inkling of how the world really works? She never had a job in her life.
Posted by pontificus at 09/04/2008 @ 10:20pm
Katrina Vanden Heuvel says:
------ " So it was good to see Obama and Joe Biden both calling the Republicans out for the lack of attention being paid to the economy at the Republican Convention in St. Paul on Tuesday. "You did not hear a single world about the economy," Mr. Obama said. "Not once did they mention the hardships that people are going through." --------
Since the economy grew 3.3% last quarter (gee, where did the recession go?), I wonder what Ms. Vanden Heuvel OR Mr. Obama thinks about that?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26436824/
Posted by sjchermak at 09/04/2008 @ 10:28pm
Posted by sjchermak at 09/04/2008 @ 10:28pm
"Since the economy grew 3.3% last quarter (gee, where did the recession go?), I wonder what Ms. Vanden Heuvel OR Mr. Obama thinks about that?"
Just like all economic statistics, KVH and Obama only have use for them when they fit the narrative. When the statistics are inconvenient, they either quibble with the methodology, or argue that their feelings trump mere numbers. FROSTY can give you a good primer on how this is done. Just ask, he'll tell you all about it.
Posted by pontificus at 09/04/2008 @ 10:41pm
"Since the economy grew 3.3% last quarter (gee, where did the recession go?), I wonder what Ms. Vanden Heuvel OR Mr. Obama thinks about that?"
With this government's assault on good old science, I bet that manipulating statistics can (and may) be totally possible.
But where is that growth that it doesn't trickle out (cons' words) to the big population of our country? Ask the retailers how are they doing. Ask the people that lost homes, the people that lost jobs, the people in the gas pumps, the people on welfare, the people that are no longer in the job market because they are tired of trying, the people that have been outsourced to China by Rep-loving companies, the people that lost their life savings in Republican like companies like ENRON, the broke people that had the disgrace of cancer visiting the family.....
But, yes, the 3.3% might be correct, as EXXON's President could say: "don't tell anyone, but the 3.3% is all ours". Or as someone would say in time of elections: "it is about the distribution of wealth, stupid..."
Posted by Frank42 at 09/04/2008 @ 10:59pm
Looks to me like McCain took your advice about discussing the economy tonite.
I think the DEMS are mostly pissed off b/c the REPS have found an attractive well spoken lady that has completely taken the wind out of Obama's sails. Proof of that was shown on O'Reilly tonite. The DEMS are on the heels.
Obama will reluctantly agree to a town hall meeting or two and he will stammer with "ums" and "ahs" while he racks his brain for the answer that best fits the climate of the day. McCain has stuck to his values and principles - popular or not.
How can you say Obama is fit to be President when he takes a pass by voting "present" over and over again instead of acutally taking a position? There's a reason the "present" button in the IL State Legislature is the color yellow. McCain has a record - like it or not - at least you know the man.
I'll tell you what we do know about Obama:
Rezko, Born Alive Infant Protection Act, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers...
Posted by NewKidBlue at 09/04/2008 @ 11:01pm
"Since the economy grew 3.3% last quarter (gee, where did the recession go?), I wonder what Ms. Vanden Heuvel OR Mr. Obama thinks about that?"
Maybe those hardships are Unemployment being 4.2% when Bush was sworn in and being 5.7% now. http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/ SurveyOutputServlet? data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LNS14000000
Family poverty rate being 8.7% in March 2001 and 9.8% in March 2008 http://www.census.gov/hhes /www/poverty/histpov/famindex.html
Median income adjusted for inflation is virtually unchanged sine March 2001 http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/ income/histinc/h06AR.html
The uninsured rate has gone from 13.7% to 15.8% from March 2001 to March 2007 http://www.census.gov/hhes/www /hlthins/historic/index.html
Knowing you, you'll probably say that the liberals are only telling people this.
Posted by brunowe at 09/04/2008 @ 11:03pm
McCain has stuck to his values and principles - popular or not.
No, he has flip-flopped on everything from taxes to evangelicals.
Posted by brunowe at 09/04/2008 @ 11:04pm
Wow. Amazing how mean-spirited so many of these posts sound. And we're all Americans. Hmm. Guess that shows how shattered, demoralized and, yes, frightened we've all become collectively these past few years -- enough to take out our anxieties on each other; enough to beat up The Other Guy/Gal at the podium, with character-shredding rhetoric and with few hard (Democratic) and no (GOP) solutions to any of the destruction caused by an illegal $2.7 trillion war that has destroyed our global standing, eroded our national and individual pride, even made us question each other (our own American FAMILY). Yikes. And we should reward the Grand Old Party that gave us all this? The very same Party that actually had the "courage" to rewind the tape tonight in all its horrific detail, showing the events of 9/11. Yes, events the GOP has been using to terrify us all ever since, events that happened on that very same Party's watch, while the Leader kept on reading about a bunny? C'mon, America! Let's get over all this vitriol and pettiness and meanness, and line up to vote not out of fear or "risk," but because you're in the same godawful mess as your neighbor and none of us can get out of this hell but you -- you who elected the Texas Train Wreck in the first place. So let's all just mind our manners, get back to being civilized Americans and VOTE. Now that the war-profiteering is almost over and ice shelves the size of Manhattan are falling into the ocean from global warming and we're all e-clubbing ourselves into pulp in the blogosphere over this election, anything has to be better than where we are today.
Posted by GvlJohn at 09/04/2008 @ 11:06pm
Knowing you, you'll probably say that the liberals are only telling people this.
Posted by brunowe at 09/04/2008 @ 11:03pm
i keep pointing this stuff out.
their minds are mush.
check out this little graph:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/recession-bar-chart.jpg
"Finally, we test whether Federal Reserve policy has exhibited a pattern of partisan bias in presidential election years, with results that suggest the presence of such bias, after controlling for the effects of inflation and unemployment."
"Finally, there is the claim that the Federal Reserve is apolitical. We examine the hypothesis of a presidential election cycle in the term structure of interest rates. We find compelling evidence that such a cycle existed in both sub-periods. Specifically, we find that in the year before presidential elections, the term structure deviates sharply from otherwise-normal values. When a Republican administration is in office, the term structure in the pre-election year tends to be steeper, by values estimated at up to 150 basis points, and monetary policy is accordingly more permissive. When a Democratic administration is in office, the term structure tends to be flatter, by values also estimated at up to 150 basis points--and monetary policy is more restrictive. These findings are robust across model specifications and across time, though the anti-Democrat effect is smaller after 1983. Taken together, they suggest the presence of a serious partisan bias, at the heart of the Federal Reserve's policymaking process."
HAVE A LITTLE READ, PLANTI. SEE IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT.
http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/papers/utip_42.pdf
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/04/2008 @ 11:19pm
Katrina lost her way on the feminist yellow brick road. A Real feminist would be celebrating the success of a fabulous female such as Sarah Palin. She would praise Gov Palins fights with the good ole boys and her defeat of a sitting male Governor. Somewhere Katrina you forgot what the fight was all about.
P.S The Dems have controlled House and Senate for 20 months. The defecit was gone from 178 Billion to almost 500 Billion. They lied.
Posted by Dencal26 at 09/05/2008 @ 12:05am
A note about framing:
Too many progressives have accepted the right-wing frame, and continue to fall into the trap of referring to the president as the "commander in chief".
HUH? Yes of course only a liberal was ignore history and claim right wingers invented the term Commander in Chief. Its been used by both parties for the President for decades.
Posted by Dencal26 at 09/05/2008 @ 12:09am
"Here's the deal: Palin is the latest G.O.P. distraction," Bob Herbert wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday.
Liberals don't just get their points and ideas from the Times any more, they now just repeat their articles.
Posted by theBSR at 09/05/2008 @ 12:18am
Liberals don't just get their points and ideas from the Times any more, they now just repeat their articles.
Posted by theBSR at 09/05/2008 @ 12:18am
you mean like invading iraq?
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/05/2008 @ 01:04am
The best person to bring out the issues is not Sen Obama or Biden. They have connections to big corporations and must temper what they say.
Only Ralph Nader is independent of such tethers, because he takes no money at all from such sources. All of his campaign funds come from individual voters, unassembled by bundlers, and who trust the judgment, integrity and steadfastness of Mr Nader.
Many are discouraged from voting for him because they do not believe he can win or because they fear the election of John McCain.
Very possibly Ralph Nader cannot win, but together we can show that the progressives have strength and will not support a corporate lackey. We can throw the election inton the House of Representatives, which has a majority of Democrats anyhow. They will not elect McCain.
Progressives need to demonstrate that they are formidable and may not be counted on by the Democratic Party, now or in the future.
Meanwhile, no matter who is elected, the war will continue and even expand in Afgh-stan. Too bad the left abandoned Ralph Nader in 2000 and 2004! If they had supported him, we might not have gone down the road that was taken for us.
Posted by goedel at 09/05/2008 @ 01:12am
Posted by Exton1 at 09/04/2008 @ 2:02pm: "Sarah Palin represented everything the feminist movement claims to strive for: a successful working woman with a happy family life and a husband who helps raise the children."
To that drivel, let me just say, that as a woman who has lived in a woman's skin all her life, this woman represents everything I've grown and learned to fight against (for the betterment of women's lives--my own two children, who happen to be daughters, included.)
The nomination of this mediocre extremist right-wing woman who is likely become our nation's leader if McBush/Cheney is elected, gives me severe heart-burn. It's reality TV splattered all over the screen of how low the bar of American education has sunk--confirmation (in screaming red). Unfortunately the voting blocks targeted by manipulative, racist, fear-mongering sound-bites--those who have been denied educational and health-care benefits, whose family income has shrunk, whose jobs have been out-sourced, and whose homes are being threatened due to deregulation of all government oversight (for profit to the rich), whose tax money has been squandered in the name of an illegal war so that crony war profiteers could bilk billions--are those who are suffering most from the policies enacted for years by the rich Republican elitist machine.
I hope and pray the planet's North-American continent is spawning young enlightened people to replace you and your fearful hate-mongering fellows who vote for those who are killing it (the planet.)
Posted by wise42j at 09/05/2008 @ 01:20am
Katrina, I just watched Larry King live with you, Mario Cuomo, and Arianna Huffington. The points that you made were important and accurate. The first one is that this may be the last election of the Republican party where they have an ethnic majority in America. With the change in population and ethnic make up of the country, the Republican message is living in the past with the same old message of trickle down economics. The problem with their economic approach is that corporation do no trickle down their profits to their hard working employees with benefits and financial compensation. The party is so off track with the changes of American culture and population that if they do not change as a party, they will hardpressed to win future elections. The second point that you made was important about Sarah Palin. I was offended by her statement that characterized community organizers and the work that the Obama's led after their college years as insignificant. It is obvious to me that Ms. Palin does not know very much about American history. The individuals that she demeaned come from a tradition of Americans who fought and died for her opportunity to run for public office. The founding of America consisted of a small group of individuals who fought against the powerful British government to gain their freedom. The great social movements in America, the civil rights movement,Migrant Latino led by Cesear Chavez , labor unions and other movements which consisted of hardworking individuals who risked their lives, and reputations so that American citizens could be treated with respect and dignity. The Republican party will be hardpressed to win this year because of the failures of the last 8 years Senator McCain mentioned in his speech.
Posted by Lamont1_ at 09/05/2008 @ 01:29am
Sorry Katrina,
You've engaged in a common liberal fantasy...that you are a mainstream american and folks like Sarah Palin are "extremists".
The opposite is actually true.
You are at odds with normal americans and have nothing in common with ordinary americans.
Sorry Katrina,
Your views are NOT those of ordinary americans! It is your views, rather than Sarah Palin's that are those of an extremist.
You're a wishful thinking woman.
Not an unusual stance for liberals.
You're the extremist Katrina, not Sarah Palin!
Frankly, you're a sick individual without morals of any type.
Sad...
Fortunately, Americans recognize that you are an amoral individual without any morals or traditional values.
You are a disgusting individual.
and a sad one....
Posted by shyster at 09/05/2008 @ 02:59am
I do not condemn Sarah Palin for:
1) Becoming pregnant at a late age, and not aborting a known Downs Syndrome fetus. That is her right as an American.
2) Continuing her job as Governor, and/or Running for Vice President. Her children appear to have been adequately cared for since infancy. Like many working Americans woman, she has successfully relied upon the help of a spouse, older children, friends, neighbors, other family members, and sitters. Nothing wrong or usual about that.
3) Raising her children with a religious philosophy that condemns abortion, anything but abstinence only sex education, an abhorrence to birth control, and a literal interpretation of the Bible. That is her Constitutional Right as an American.
4) That her 17 year old child is unmarried, pregnant, and intends to give birth and raise the child. It happens to over a million teenage American girls each and every year, and while not the best of all possible worlds, it is the frequen & understandable result of human sexual instinct.
However, and because we live in the great Constitutional Democracy known as American, I do condemn her for attempting to force her personal religious beliefs, and her narrowly construed philosophy regarding sex education, birth control, marriage, abortion, et al. upon the rest of us. While personal religious beliefs and family life should be "off limits" in the American political arena, when one specifically chooses those things as a "plank" of a political campaign, and wears them on a sleeve, the proverbial "barn door" has been irreversibly opened, and is subject to fair comment. .
Yes, Sarah, like the majority of Americans women, you are the proud mother of a typical, and beautiful family. Everything else about your (con't)
Posted by bobforer at 09/05/2008 @ 05:06am
(con't)
family is irrelevant, immaterial, and off limits... but nonetheless frightening in that, if you were Queen, all American's would be legally compelled to "Be like Sarah."
No thanks. Go away, and leave the rest of us be. We have Constitutional rights, too.
Posted by bobforer at 09/05/2008 @ 05:07am
It's just a case of disparate world views. It will be very difficult for us to ever agree. For instance, one side feels that abortion is the taking of a human life, the other feels that anti-abortion laws constitute the taking of human liberties. It may be easy to see the other side, but nearly impossible to adopt the opposite viewpoint.
I can say that Sarah Palin comes from a very different world than I do, as does McCain, and they see the world differently. My belief is that this election is not Obama's to lose, or McCain's to win, but rather it is up to each and every one of us to go vote. Of course, then we each need to trust that the voting machines don't deliver the election scurrilously to the other side.
Up to this point, Obama has certainly held the publicity field over McCain, who was struggling to stay afloat. I respect Palin's rise and ambition. But in this context, she is his Pro-Lifepreserver, designed to buoy him with social conservatives. And she can deliver a speech very well.
Let's also remember that for either side to claim something like "the real America is just like me" is just plain silly. We're split pretty evenly, in terms of votes. That's why the contests are so pointed and aggressive. If a landslide were guaranteed, would anyone bother to fight this hard? Would anyone bother to post on these blogs espousing their views in the hope of triggering a thought in an opponent's head, or pulling a swing voter his or her way? In a word, no.
Again, this is about viewpoints. To negate the opposite of your own is to disrespect their whole world view, and yourself in the process. We are all better than that, and can all take the integrity level up a notch or two. The validity of a viewpoint comes from within, not from arguing about it.
Posted by JohnPointer at 09/05/2008 @ 05:07am
tool/pawn '08
Posted by tskinner at 09/05/2008 @ 05:16am
Reference the post by Dencal26 at 09/05/2008 @ 12:09am:
My post was perfectly self-explanatory.
At no point did I claim that "right wingers invented the term Commander in Chief".
Learn how to read or go back under the bridge.
Posted by drhammer at 09/05/2008 @ 06:48am
I say lets just ignore Sarah Palin because as far as I am concerned she it not bringing any real value. can anyone list five initiatives she intends to bring to the table that will actually make the lives of ordinary americans better. I can't! If you are not adding value to the discussion then we shouldn't have to listen to you. but as noted above, the McCain campaign says issues don't matter here! That to me says the most about the state of disarray the repblican party is in. Democrats need to exploit that and show Americans that they at have their act together
Posted by lyndonray at 09/05/2008 @ 06:49am
''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
It would seem that a large number of desperate wingnuts have come here to do just that.
Posted by drhammer at 09/05/2008 @ 07:21am
Is Sarah a model here to sell cars, pitch ideologies, or just take off her lipstick and change from a hockey mom to a pit bull?
Speaking of pit bulls, has she run into the pantsuit gal from New York yet? You can bet she will.
Posted by geof01 at 09/05/2008 @ 09:14am
Fortunately, Americans recognize that you are an amoral individual without any morals or traditional values. You are a disgusting individual. and a sad one.... Posted by shyster at 09/05/2008 @ 02:59am
yep.
when i think evil,
i think KVH.
quick! to the no-fly list!
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/05/2008 @ 09:26am
can anyone list five initiatives she intends to bring to the table that will actually make the lives of ordinary americans better.
Posted by lyndonray at 09/05/2008 @ 06:49am
1 field dressing of islamofacists
2 drilling for oil up mr. lincoln's nose at mt. rushmore.
3 helicopter hunting of mexicans at the border.
4 family values t-shirts for everyone
5 return of the beehive.
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/05/2008 @ 09:31am
True enough..as the same happened to the dems who were in power for 40 years...
Posted by JOMAMMA at 09/04/2008 @ 1:16pm
How do you figure that one JM? Bush has been in charge for the last 8 years with a mostly republican congress until they were unseated with a thin majority two years ago. You may fill this thread with bullshit, but there's no hiding the fact that the mess we are presently in was made by two consecutive terms of republican power grabbing and corruption.
Even under the rethug light goverment we had in the 90's(that would be Bill Clinton) the nation prospered fairly well with a relatively even taxation. But that wasn't good enough for the neocons like you. YOu think the wealthy should get a free ride and our great great great grandchildren should pay for the free ride. No taxes, no military to threaten the world with. You can't have it both ways.
Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/05/2008 @ 10:47am
Katrina, Thank you for the great article. You are right, all of this Palin business is to distract people from the reality of what is presently going on. I just read an article this morning that said that the job market lost roughly another 80,000 jobs which was more than economists had predicted.
How many more Americans need to lose their jobs, homes, their dreams before this country wakes up and notices that we are in trouble? All of fake glitter and speeches from McIdiot can't cover the fact that he voted 90% of the time for the policies that are now destroying our economy. And for what? To line the pockets of a handful of people who don't need the money in the first place.
Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/05/2008 @ 11:09am
with 6.1% unemployment most since 91 recession, looming hurricanes to remind voters about GOP incompetence, GOP is trying hard to make this "about character, NOT issues"....
However, if there is ever to be any "straight talk" then let's tell it now:
Sen Obama, despite GOP lies, has proposed a permanent $500 per worker/$1000 per two worker family tax credit to offset payroll taxes; bottom line being more $$$ in our pockets.
Under sen mccain, despite GOP lies, there is a new tax on employer-provided health insurance plans together with a new tax credit that does not rise with the cost of health insurance.
Health insurance expenditures have been rising much more rapidly than overall inflation; therefore the tax increase to consumers under mccain, as health costs gets passed on to consumers, will rise much faster than proposed tax credits---resulting in a net loss for tens of millions of middle class workers in this country...
bottom line: GOP and mccain "do not get it"...it is all smoke and mirrors.....
any questions????
btw: there are 20,000 anti-war peace activists marching on GOP convention, despite the commie news network only talking about a hundred or so "violent" protesters arrested...NEUTRAL media please.....
Posted by jrs112 at 09/05/2008 @ 11:28am
So let me think about this. From reading "progressive" blogs over many months, we really should have a Kucinich/McKinney ticket vs McCain/Palin. The assumption is that Obama, Clinton, and others are not really progressives but sell-out centrists or some such description. Do "progressives" really believe that a ticket with "true" progressives could actually win?
Posted by sntauri at 09/05/2008 @ 11:34am
27 Million in lobbied earmarks for Wasilla. 270 million for Alaska. $1.84 from Washington for every $1 in Alaskan taxes. This really separates her from the crowd.
She stood up to big oil, and thanked them for sponsoring her inauguration.
Posted by geof01 at 09/05/2008 @ 11:56am
Do "progressives" really believe that a ticket with "true" progressives could actually win?
Posted by sntauri at 09/05/2008 @ 11:34am
Are you kidding me? Obama has had to shift to the right to get the Hillary supporters. This country has become a reneck's paradise. Where being uneducated, stupid, and loud are considered American values.
If one tries to actually talk about issues such as the economy, education, health care, and the ever increasing defense budget, the talk gets shifted over to a second place beauty pagent contestant from a state with a population less than a million people.
That's the truth of the matter and the media is shoving this crap down our throats as bad as the McCain POW story.
Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/05/2008 @ 12:05pm
Posted by frosty zoom at 09/05/2008 @ 09:31am
you are in fine form today.....I was having lunch and ended up with a watermelon seed flying out of my nose.
In the end, Palin is GWB after a gender reassignment
Posted by leftofcenter at 09/05/2008 @ 12:12pm
"The Dems have controlled House and Senate for 20 months. The defecit was gone from 178 Billion to almost 500 Billion. They lied"(Dencal26)
That's because we are no longer a democracy. When will the stupid electorate get it? 34 states do not have verifiable paper trails on electronic voting machines. That means that we cannot trust the voting system and WILL have our third stolen election, probably with another Supreme Court handout.We never learn. Why didn't we raise hell about the machines? Why is everyone pretending it is not a factor? The election is theatre, a pretense at having a democracy and the dumbed down stupid Americans just don't get it. We may as well be living in Zimbabwe.
Posted by mystic at 09/05/2008 @ 12:15pm
"I am so sick of conservative biased media and its' distortions....how about equal unbiased reporting, not "fair and balanced"
Just remove Fox from your channel lineup..
Then you'll get liberal spin from CBS, ABC, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC....
Posted by bleedingheart at 09/05/2008 @ 12:21pm
That's the truth of the matter and the media is shoving this crap down our throats as bad as the McCain POW story.
Posted by Wolfgang1
Just remove Fox from your channel lineup..
Then you'll get liberal spin from CBS, ABC, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC....
Posted by bleedingheart
btw: there are 20,000 anti-war peace activists marching on GOP convention, despite the commie news network only talking about a hundred or so "violent" protesters arrested...NEUTRAL media please.....
Posted by jrs112
Looks like a Texas Two Step Line Dance. And it's the same as it ever was. You have to read three or more sources and make up your own mind about what's true.
The entire M$M is selling Annie Oakley or Caribou Barbie and the McCain POW story which happened 35 years ago. In ten minutes you and I know where Caribou Barbie stands on the issues, and by his own admission McCain wasn't treated that bad and sold out his country. As soon as the Vietnamese knew he was an Admiral's son he was treated as royalty.
It was a hard assignment to watch two nights of the RNC. But if I was doing it for a living I would have at least done my homework. I didn't even see Rachel Maddow come down hard on their nonsense and shes as liberal as it gets.
Posted by geof01 at 09/05/2008 @ 12:39pm
Now, how about some Nation coverage of key senate & house races, where the real fights are.
Posted by sloper at 09/04/2008 @ 1:37pm ------------------------------
Exactly! The Presidential race is lost -- the Republicans just won it with Klondike Britney -- and so the Democrats have to be able to thwart them at every turn in the legislative branch. Veto-proof control of Congress by a Democratic opposition is the only way to hinder the takeover by the fake Christians.
If I ran the D party, I'd forget the presidential race and focus everything on Congressional elections. As the dastardly Republicans showed during the Clinton years, Congress can keep the executive branch from getting things gone.
I hope Boss KvH is reading and considers your edit suggestion.
Posted by Citizen54 at 09/05/2008 @ 12:40pm
Exactly! The Presidential race is lost -- the Republicans just won it with Klondike Britney
what nonsense.
it's a long way to tipperary and it's a long way to the election.
Posted by emile duBois at 09/05/2008 @ 12:52pm
It is a long way to Tipperary! In fact, from Dallas, Texas it is 4404.95 miles!
Posted by sntauri at 09/05/2008 @ 1:07pm
"...the Republicans just won it with Klondike Britney."
(This is your keyboard on drugs...)
Posted by drhammer at 09/05/2008 @ 1:09pm
Posted by sntauri at 09/05/2008 @ 1:07pm | ignore this person | warn this person
you live in Dallas? I have good friends there. and guess what, they are members of the intellectual elite, known to us as a meritocracy.
we will need the best and the brightest to survive as a nation and as a country. and for the idea of America to survive.
throw the bums out
Posted by emile duBois at 09/05/2008 @ 1:50pm
mcsame/tool '08
Posted by tskinner at 09/05/2008 @ 1:52pm
Wow! There really are a bunch of new freepers and trolls on this site. Just to address a few of their points:
McCain's opposition to Big Gummint: The government under Bush is the largest, most intrusive of any in the history of the US. Rather than "tax and spend," this adminstration employs the "reduce taxes and spend" philosophy. The assault on civil liberties under BushCo. is unprecedented.
Palin as a feminist: I have no problem with a woman earning the money in the family, hunting, becoming successful, or competing in the world in any way. These issues, are, in fact, those I believe in. But Palin appears to be a hypocrite. She seems to have endangered her special needs child by waiting long after her water broke and then flying for several hours to Alaska. In addition, she opposed funding for special needs children, for unwed mothers, and for other social programs that assist families.
I wonder - does Palin's husband stay home with the new Down syndrome child and the other kids, or do they have a nanny?
This is the tip of the iceburg. I get the impression that Palin is, at heart, a real twisted sister.
Posted by LeeAnnG at 09/05/2008 @ 2:56pm
KVh,
Please, please, there is so much info from the readers here to substantiate the real Palin. Use the info from the readers to widely circulate in all forms of media, please. This is becoming dangerous.
Palin playing upto the gallery and all those brainless has beens catching and chewing like dogs the bones she was throwing at them.
What happened to sanity, she was so transparent in her theatrical speech, wherein she never discuss the ECONOMY the JOBS nor the HEALTHCARE. People should have walked out of the arena instead they were cheering and apploauding her to her meaningless speech which was to divert the attention from the Republicans disastrous administrative flaws "A SMOKE SCREEN". And even a guy like Wolf Blitzer of CNN affirms by proclaiming "A Star is Born". Wolf you fell from all time grace!
Posted by aleemsyed at 09/05/2008 @ 3:11pm
Thank you Ms duBios for pointed out the error of my ways. By the sounds of your scold, you're one of our very fine school teachers - aren't you. We ignorant ones are so fortunate to have such an understanding and kind group of educators such as yourself. Thank you again for your intellectal elite condescension.
Posted by jimobr at 09/05/2008 @ 3:30pm
The problem with Sarah Palin is that she is a hypocrite, just like any other politician. I thought she might be ok in the beginning but here she is saying abstinence only is a must but she has a pregnant teen daughter. Doesn't she understand that she FAILED to protect her childs health by not educating her? A true measure of a successful human is the success of your young, therefore she is a failure. She says we need to take care of our young and yet she's basically abandoned her Down's baby for the public eye. Feminism was never about promoting women leaders at the expense of society or men. It's about making sure women get the respect and rewards deserved for those who are responsible for raising children fit to contribute to and lead in society. I have no respect for a woman who lacks compassion, education and a true understanding of the human heart. Beauty queens never lose their focus on superficiality and focus on appearance rather than substance. If McCain wins, mark my words, we won't survive the year. I had the same gut feeling with Bush before he got popular and this is way worse.
Posted by shellbgood at 09/05/2008 @ 4:03pm
Here we go:
Palin's stall
Governor is stonewalling the Troopergate investigation
Last Modified: September 5th, 2008 03:03 AM
Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she's on the national stage.
Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature's attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules.
"Hold me accountable," she said.
The Legislature took her up on that offer. But this week, she basically told the Legislature, "Never mind."
Palin's lawyer has asked the Legislature to drop its investigation. He had the governor file an ethics complaint against herself, in a bid to turn the entire matter over to the state Personnel Board, which would hire an independent investigator.
This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin's accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.
Instead, Gov. Palin should honor her pledge to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, conducted by former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.
She could start by telling aide Frank Bailey he has to talk to the legislative investigator. She should fire him if he doesn't.
Bailey was caught on an audio recording of a phone conversation with a Public Safety Department official, in which Bailey pushed to get Wooten fired.
Bailey was put on paid leave, not fired. A spokeswoman for Palin said that while Bailey is on the state payroll, Palin can direct him to cooperate with the legislative investigation.
Posted by hsuBfools at 09/05/2008 @ 5:19pm
So why is Bailey still on the payroll, after he bailed on a scheduled interview with the legislative investigator Wednesday?
The Legislature hasn't given its investigator the power to subpoena, or compel, testimony of witnesses. Subpoenas appeared unnecessary, since it appeared the governor and administration would be cooperating.
That's over. It's time for the subpoenas.
The Legislature's investigation is supposed to be wrapped up by Oct. 31. That's obviously poor timing from the standpoint of the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, coming just a few days before the national election.
Instead of trying to delay the whole thing, Palin should take a cue from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who asked that his corruption trial be moved up so it would be completed well ahead of the November general election. Voters deserve to know the outcome of Sen. Stevens trial and the investigation into Palin.
When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin's response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.
Posted by hsuBfools at 09/05/2008 @ 5:22pm
BOTTOM LINE: Gov. Palin is stonewalling on Troopergate; the Legislature should issue subpoenas.
'Threat'?
Palin's lawyer tries to play Secret Service card
Gov. Sarah Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, made an absurd threat in his battle to get the Legislature to back off its ethics investigation of the governor and her staff.
Van Flein said legislative investigator Steve Branchflower tried to call First Gentleman Todd Palin directly on "a secure and confidential line. This represents a serious security breach that we may be obligated to report to the Secret Service."
Hello? Branchflower is acting on behalf of the Legislature. That's a security breach?
Lawyers are supposed to vigorously represent their clients, but claiming that a legislative investigator's phone call may be a security matter worthy of Secret Service attention is ridiculous.
Gov. Palin should keep her legal attack dog on a shorter leash.
BOTTOM LINE: More obstruction from Palin in Troopergate.
The Anchorage Daily News
http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/516641.html
Posted by hsuBfools at 09/05/2008 @ 5:24pm
So if McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS' campaign is running away from the hsuB/cHeney admin and GOP policies, that it supported 95% of the time this last year and the previous 7, rather than the image of a dog chasing its tail-- isn't it rather more akin to the tail chasing the dog!
Not too unlike the tekciT niaCcM/nilaP.
Posted by hsuBfools at 09/05/2008 @ 5:54pm
WAKE UP AMERICA
Posted by rauguste at 09/05/2008 @ 7:02pm
When is a Democrat when confronted with the "you're going to raise everyone's taxes" accusation going to respond with something like this: Republicans have had control of the White House for 20 of the last 28 years. Republicans have had control of Congress for 6 of the last 8 years, the other 2 they had a virtual majority. The most vibrant and prosperous period for our economy was during the 8 years they didn't control the White House or Congress. After all of this majority domination by their party exactly when are all of their fiscally responsible policies going to kick in and give us the rousing, robust, great for everyone, job creating economy they keep talking about?
Posted by aljstl at 09/06/2008 @ 01:43am
"If the Republicans succeed in making this election about something other than the big issues, they are likely to win. If it's about a likable woman governor who can shoot a gun and field dress a moose, or a churchgoing commander of the Alaskan National Guard, they are likely to win. Or if they pull off the feat of making the reactionary right-wing McCain-Palin ticket seem more "connected to the people"...etc.
(Following previous post content)
There's lots of LOLs in that, but the relevant underlying issue is her religio-existential stand on abortion ("STND UP! STAND UP! STAND UP AND FIGHT!)
The motivation, as consciously intended, is for the sake of the soul. The soul can be thought of as having its own brain (brain2) The anti-abortionist's soul- brain has been tricked into substituting "saving the unborn" for "sacrificing soldiers" -- in Iraq, this time around -- thus reversing guilt for actual taking of life into righteousnes for saving potential, fantasized life. This is a repetition of the mass psychology shift of national life-death discourse issues after Vietnam.
This is the deepest esoteric link of the psychohistorical narrative of American group process '68 - '08. The denoument imprinted into the brain functions is two fold: A. to gain symbolic rebirth through Sarah Palin's fantasy womb ('killer mommy' and 'poisonous placenta' rolled in a tortilla) B. save little Israel from Putin and Iranian nukes. The Vietnam war survivor-redeemer + the womb of the Dark side of the Great Mother => Esther and Zion? (what will happen to the Amelakites?)
Posted by jones at 09/06/2008 @ 08:08am
Posted by jimobr at 09/05/2008 @ 3:30pm | ignore this person | warn this person
you wear your ignorance as if it were a badge of distinction.
I'm not a teacher, nor have ever. by all evidence I'm just smarter than you.
Posted by emile duBois at 09/06/2008 @ 09:59am
Sarah Palin is the most absurd unqualified disaster the Republicans could have picked. She is a joke. She spews lies about her past as a reformer and speaks only falsehoods about Obama. How can people take this woman seriously? Oh yeah... they're called republicans.
Posted by shutchcroft at 09/06/2008 @ 11:25am
I don't in any way disavow the profession and calling of teacher. I believe it was one of the appellations with which the disciples greeted Jesus, not to mention Plato and Socrates.
I admit to the calling of teacher, it's just that I have earned my bread elsewhere. I work for universities, but I am not of them. I work for libraries, including the library of congress, but I am not a librarian. except at home where I am the steward of three large collections, of books, classical LPs, and videotapes. it is an unpaid position, and a royal pain.
Posted by emile duBois at 09/06/2008 @ 11:28am
Extremism is extremism period. Add religion and we've got a problem.
Consider Palin's talk at the Assembly of God church in Alaska:
"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gasline build. So pray for that. But I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things liking getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns and making sure our public schools are funded … but really none of that stuff really does any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with god. And that's going to be your job as I'm doing my job lets strike this deal. Your job is going to be to be out there reaching the people hurting people throughout Alaska and we can work together to make sure god's will be done here."
"Pray for our military. He [her son Track] is going to be deployed in September to Iraq. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country that our leaders our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from god. That's what we have to make sure we're praying for… that there is a plan and that that plan is god's plan."
The Constitution of the US is a secular document. We are governed under the principles "separation of church and state" as put forth by Thomas Jefferson. I equate hearing a government official claiming any government action as "a task from god"... I equate it with religious fundamentalism. According to the Taliban, they are also acting out of "god's will."
Separation of church and state... may its voice of reason continue in the US.
Posted by IEB at 09/06/2008 @ 3:31pm
Any tinkering with the Constitution opens the door for severe manipulation of our freedoms.
For instance: "The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004, introduced into both houses of Congress on February 11, 2004, "includes the acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law by an official in his capacity of executing his office." Katherine Yurica, author of the Yurica Report, reports on this bill that reveals the theocratic intentions of its sponsors including Rep. Robert Aderholt (Alabama), Rep. Michael Pence (Indiana), Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Sen. Zell Miller (Georgia), Sen. Sam Brownback (Kansas), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)."
I can very easily see Palin (solidly backed by Rove and his cohorts) "fighting" to get such reform through the halls of Congress.
The attempt to pass this bill was in 2004... that would be in the middle of GWBush's administration. The Patriot Act sadly was passed into law... passed by peddling fear and spouting propaganda to the american people. This has resulted in the erosion of our civil liberties. Preemptive raids are, ludicrously, becoming the norm. Innocent until proven guilty is under severe attack.
I don't see McCain or Palin protecting the integrity of the original Constitution but, rather, continuing to chip away at it for their own narrow purposes.
Posted by IEB at 09/06/2008 @ 4:02pm
Katrina Vanden Huevel:
You should be hounded for betraying our faithful readers and followers. But you have proven on fact beyond all doubt, and that is being a gatekeeper for the Democrats does have a price.
Our editorial statement that "The Nation will not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the American war in Iraq a major issue in his or her campaign"
Posted by POSEIDON at 09/07/2008 @ 03:59am
8Years of Republican ,War ,coruption,Dead Soldiers, and A BIG HOLE IN N Y.A hole in america pockets book. Now you want to sell pussy.
Posted by legion at 09/07/2008 @ 08:56am
So Palin building a pipeline in AK makes it a "mission from God" How F-ing "Blues Brothers" is that. Bwah-ha0-ha.... egad...you just can't make this kinda stuff up.
Am looking forward to the premier of SNL. (please bring back Tina Fey to play Palin)
Posted by leftofcenter at 09/07/2008 @ 2:32pm
Mind you, I do not think Mr. O is actually a Muslim, despite what he may say while being interviewed (perhaps it was a mistake for him to belatedly start talking to the press, even the Obamaphilic press). He may even be a Christian of some sort, probably a very poor sort. What is abundantly clear, however, is that he is not ready for prime time. Admittedly, Palin is certainly not either, but at least she is thankfully not at the top of the ticket. The pressure of impending failure is perhaps pushing Barky close to the breaking point, which is sad, but only adds further evidence to what has been clear all along--he's not presidential material yet and may never be, inshallah.
Posted by feinfein at 09/07/2008 @ 10:16pm
Palin is probably a terrible mother. After choosing to bring a severely disabled child into this world, she has now, with the acceptance of the candidature for vice-presidency, also chosen not to look after that child. I find that irresponsible indeed: children with Down's syndrome need an inordinate amount of love and attention if they are to achieve even a modicum of independence later in life. Is this woman ever at home to look after her family? Why is her 17-year-old pregnant - has she been left too much to her own devices? And why is Palin sending her son to fight/die in Iraq? Is she only to glad to be rid of him? Mien
Posted by mien at 09/08/2008 @ 11:17am
I know a lot of MCPAIN people ignore the truth. But he did essentially play pin the tail on the donkey when he picked her. Except instead of just the Dems it's EVERYONE who's being stuck in the butt. Haven't we had enough "Brownies" appointed to positions they weren't ready for? How will he pick his Cabinet...darts?
Posted by CanWeQuestionPalin? at 09/09/2008 @ 6:23pm