ME's Political Rant: Post Turtle

Happy New Year! Now

Bail.

So no one likes the bailout. (Salient details are in this NYT graphic. Let's just say this proposal isn't 3 pages long.) House Republicans deadlocked the vote and rejected the bill this morning. How nice of them.

Hey, look at that, the Dow plunged 777 POINTS while you were "naying."

Yes'm, that would be the LARGEST one day drop for the Dow Jones um...EVER. It easily surpassed the previous record, 685 points, set on the first day of trading after September 11, 2001. But, no more voting today...everyone, "L'Shanah Tovah! Have a great Rosh Hashanah...Ramadan Mubarak, my Muslim brothers...We'll see you on Thursday!"

Look, honey-bunches, NO ONE likes this "Cash for Crap" plan. But as The Economist points out, global ripples are already on their way: "In the past week the financial crisis has erupted in even more dangerous forms globally. The interbank-funds market has seized up and even the most creditworthy corporate and financial firms are paying punitive rates. Last week Washington Mutual became the largest-ever American bank to fail. In Europe, three countries had to come to the rescue of Fortis, a Belgian banking group, and Britain did the same with a mortgage lender, Bradford & Bingley. And on Monday Citigroup agreed to buy most of the assets of Wachovia, another beleaguered American bank, in a deal brokered by regulators."

And while it is making some headlines here, let me just reiterate: European banks are feeling the punch-- although I think Americans aren't even noticing as they start to suffer from Failure Fatigue. "Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance giant Fortis NV was given a 11.2 billion euro ($16.4 billion) lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, officials said Sunday. Belgium's Prime Minister Yves Leterme said the bailout shows account holders and investors that Fortis will not be allowed to fall victim to the global credit crisis."

And hey, John McCain! Looks like your "Katrina-like help" really worked out well. "Reckless and corrupt mismanagement," says McCain in his response this afternoon. "Reckless." That's rich.

Post Turtle

Okay, we need some humor. Fast. Thanks to Cheryl for this joke -- which had Eric and me on the floor laughing. I understand it's been used for other politicians, but it so perfectly fits Sarah Palin.

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.' Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.

'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

We Strain in Vain to Find McPalin's Brain

Whoopsie. McCain appeared on George Stephanopoulos' show on Sunday on ABC, and um... had to retract the statement his esteemed running mate made the night before: "Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Palin was questioned by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. 'If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,' Palin said."

Hmmm, that sounds familiar... wait, what was it Barack Obama said during Friday night's debate? "If the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out." At that point, McCain, you might remember, said testily, "Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government."

McCain, um...gently corrected Palin's statements: "She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos of Palin. "In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's—that's a person's position… This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin."

Of course, this is the man who can't remember the name of the new Pakistani President (sending debate transcript typists into a confusion as to how to spell this mythical "Kardari" --Kaddari? Kidari? Qardari?). Hey, John, how about you just say, "Benazir Bhutto's husband" -- kinda like you're "Sarah Palin's running mate."

Palin is still PERKY [read, "adorably catty"] though, saying of Thursday's debate (9pm EDT, 6 pm PDT) with Biden. "I'm looking forward to meeting him, too. I've never met him before, but I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade.''

Oh, it's going to be a long way til Thursday, folks.

Joining in on the growing chorus of aghast conservatives, Ron Dreher, the Crunchy Conservative, says, "Palin is mediocre, again, regurgitating talking points mechanically, not thinking. Palin's just babbling. She makes George W. Bush sound like Cicero....I remember the morning I woke up in my college dorm room and went in to take my final exam in my Formal Logic class. I knew I was unready. Massively unready. And now I was going to be put to the ultimate test. I sat down in Dr. Sarkar's class and resolved to wing it. Of course I failed the exam and failed the class, because I had no idea what I was talking about. I wasn't a bad kid, or even a stupid kid. I was just badly unprepared, and in way over my head. Seeing the Palin interview on CBS, I thought of myself in Dr. Sarkar's exam. But see, I was a college undergraduate who had the chance to take the class again, which I did, and passed (barely). I wasn't running for vice president of the United States."

So, Palin is safely tucked away prepping for debate someplace in one of the McCains' three or four homes in Sedona, AZ out of the ten McCain homes (Oh, and check out the McCain BBQ-ing tips at the first link-- yeah, he ain't a cook either). In the Wall Street Journal they report that "the McCain campaign aims to halt what it sees as a perceived decline in the crispness and precision of Gov. Palin's latest remarks as well as a fall in recent polls." I guess that's the nicest way you could ever think to put that. "'It's time to let Palin be Palin -- and let it all hang out,' said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist." What a thought.

McCain' spokeswoman saying essentially that if Gwen Ifill comes up with questions that are 60% foreign policy and 40% economy that it's unfair to Palin. Jesus, Mary, Joseph....Okay:

A) Isn't it a little kindergarten/schoolyard to be whining that 10% more foreign policy discussion is SOOOO unfair.
B) This is a debate for VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FREAKIN USA, so, shouldn't she be able to answer foreign policy questions? ("I'd like to use one of my Lifelines, Katie... I'd like to 'Phone a Friend.'")
C) What makes you think she'll be able to answer DOMESTIC policy questions??

Mitt Romney joins in with a backhanded defense: "Look she wasn't selected by John McCain because she's an expert on foreign policy." [Yeah. We got that.] "John McCain's the expert on foreign policy..." [Um...he is? John, can you say "Ahmadinejad" one more time?]

By the way, everyone keeps fact-checking the Kissinger lines from Friday's Presidential debate. I guess only a few people out there even bother to ask anymore whether Kissinger should be everybody's favorite foreign policy guru.

Speaking of edu-ma-cation, The LA Times reports this from the halls of Alaskan Education: "Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago -- about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct -- the teacher said."

That's TOTALLY true. I saw it on TV once.

Sarah Palin, going for the all-important Sleestack vote. It's paying off: McCain is now polling at 52% among Sleestacks likely to vote.

Bonus round: Spot the dinosaur on the ticket.

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Lookin' Presidential

Newsweek writes-- in another sort of cross between "opinion" and "reportage" that's becoming so popular these days, maybe call it opinion-tage, "The three tests of recent weeks—the vice presidential nominations, the conflict in Georgia and now the financial crisis—have raised, in a serious way not always evident in presidential politics, the key question: how would each man lead? Our view is that if you are among the 18 percent or so of undecided voters (the current figure in most national polls), we think you now have more than enough on which to decide. McCain and Obama see the world differently, and you can see how; they behave in their own skins differently, and you can see how. The drama of the autumn has served perhaps the noblest end we could hope for, shedding light on how each man would govern. McCain is passionate, sometimes impulsive and unpredictable; Obama is precise, occasionally withdrawn and methodical."

I also like the implicit metaphor they draw by recounting McCain's oft-cited war story with a slightly new twist: "In his most recent book, Hard Choices, McCain describes how, on his last bombing mission over Hanoi, he heard the warning tone of an enemy SAM missile locking on to his plane. Bravely, or rashly, McCain did not take evasive maneuvers but rather kept on flying straight in an attempt to deliver his bombs on target. The missile blew off his right wing, and he spent the next five years in captivity." Except that this time, it would be America that would spend four years being tortured.

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EDU-MA-CATION Policy

Since education is in the news--and who knows...it might come up in the VP Debate--I'd like to look at candidate positions on Education. Of course, this is always supposing that Palin will actually adhere to McCain's ideas on education...

PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer had a good summary in mid-September. Some of the important points are below:

The focus on education has been driven by Obama, who has been endorsed by both major teaching unions.

Obama:
proposes rewarding effective teachers and teachers in underserved areas with salary incentives as well as recruiting new talented teachers, as does McCain.
want to train 30,000 highly qualified teachers a year, and expand mentoring programs matching new teachers with successful experienced teachers.
puts an emphasis on teacher accountability, which has similarities to President George Bush's controversial No Child Left Behind education law, though Obama has proposed changes to that law and spoken out against the focus on teaching to standardized tests.
Obama proposes spending $19 billion in new education spending.
Much of that money would go to early education – before kids are 5 years old. Obama says it is important to reach children before they fall behind in school.
Obama has said new spending in education (funded in part by raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000) is necessary to fulfill the under-funded goals of No Child Left Behind and to provide teachers and students with the resources they need all the way through their education process.
Obama is opposed to vouchers and instead has proposed increasing funding for charter schools from $200 million a year to $400 million.

McCain:
has praised the underlying goals of No Child Left Behind to close achievement gaps between minority and white children and increase accountability, but he has also proposed additional reforms to the education system. "We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice," McCain said during his nomination acceptance speech on September 4. "Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have the choice, and their children will have that opportunity."
puts the idea of choice as central to his education policy, which contains fewer new ideas than Obama's policy platform.
supports vouchers, which would allow parents to use money they would have paid to taxes for public education to pay for a private school education instead. Vouchers are controversial because they take money out of the public school system and give it to private schools, including religious schools.
McCain lumps charter schools and private school vouchers together as two good options
McCain has also said that he wants to develop "virtual schools" and curriculums, allowing students to take more online courses.
McCain has suggested keeping spending at current levels. McCain's campaign argues there is enough money to fund increased achievement.
Both:
Both McCain and Obama support providing more money for college students and government efforts to fix student loan programs.
Both also support charter schools -- public schools that are free from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. Charter schools are free to students, but often have a particular focus such as science, arts or business, and students have to apply or enter a lottery to be able to attend.

On September 10 he delivered a major education policy speech in the key election state of Ohio-- well worth watching if you haven't seen it -- another example of Obama at his best.
More from the National Center for Policy Analysis on education.
And of course, more from Obama's website and McCain's website.

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So, let's go, on with the show! But as Betty points out, leave us not forget that it is JUST a show, and there are more important balls for us to keep our eyes on, as pointed out in this interesting article in HuffPo: "This election won't be won or lost at the debates. Nor will it be determined by the two campaigns' "ground games" -- their get-out-the-vote efforts. Nor, unfortunately, will its outcome even depend on how many Americans wake up on Election Day intending to vote for one candidate or the other. Instead, my fear is that the Electoral College results will hang on the swing state voting systems' vulnerability to sabotage." Note how many of these happen in swing states:

36 days to the election! Reminder again that time is running out--for many states, you must register to vote well in advance of the elections. RockTheVote's list of voter registration deadlines. Here are some upcoming dates--forward this on to your friends in the appropriate states (swing states in bold):

THIS Saturday Oct 4: Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington
NEXT Monday, Oct 6: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.
NEXT Tuesday, Oct 7: Illinois, New Mexico
NEXT Wednesday, Oct 8: Missouri

If you're voting absentee, you may have to get your ballot in weeks before the Nov 4th Election date. Declare Yourself has links to each state's voter information page where you can find out how to get your absentee ballot.

Please do feel free to forward this on to anyone you think will enjoy it -- and if they want to be added to the list, just let me know! And, if you're up late at night worrying, there's always procrastination on my political page.

ME:)

P.S. Because I like pretty graphs... Enjoy some of the fun below or on my site: