« Home | Special Palin Debate Resource » | Social Life » | Oy Gevalt! » | Post Turtle » | Debatable » | Suspended Animation » | What the F**K Edition » | Through the Looking Glass » | Long-hand Edition » | Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics »

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Palindrome

Betcha thought we'd never get here.... Yes, it's Thursday, and I am offering a Very Special Sarah Palin Salute to Schadenfreude.

But First, the News...
I have to crow. ElectoralVote.com this morning has Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in Obama' corner, PLUS Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico! AND McCain is losing ground in Indiana and Missouri! Even Georgia, Mississippi and TEXAS? Oh, baby...

Over at Real Clear Politics, the more conservative estimator, the news is even BETTER: If you go to the scenario with no toss-up states, they give 353 electoral votes to Obama.

The Princeton Election Consortium show Obama with a "safe" 273 electoral vote today, and Obama is retaining his 6-point lead at Gallup Daily tracking is holding.

I'm barely breathing.... I do hasten to remind everyone that Obama's been at this level before, over the summer. And we've seen this kind of lead take a dip. However, we are only 33 days out from the election, AND in sme states millions of people have been voting already by absentee ballot -- to avoid the problem of impossible lines at the polls on election day. Most people assumed this would be an advantage to McCain, but I'm not so sure...

Sittin' Here on Capitol Hill

Well, the Senate passed it. The bill -- the BILL. And they passed it with such little drama that you wondered if everyone. Here's the Roll Call. [Dusts off hands] Done. What? That's it. Just vote, pass, done? Where's my haranguing? My filibustering? I want my high-drama reality show! House Republicans? Over to you.

France figures, if American's are going to try it, maybe the Europeans might buy it too... "France heaped pressure on Gordon Brown last night by floating an ambitious plan for a 300 billion Euro (£237 billion) bailout fund to rescue crippled banks across Europe. As the world held its breath on the fate of America's $700 billion bank bailout plan, President Sarkozy was seeking the backing of European leaders for his own lifeboat...Amid the confusion and bickering between governments, France denied at first that it had put forward a proposal for a fund at all and then, after admitting that it had done so, denied that it would cost ¤300 billion. Paris said that the figure had come from the Dutch Government. Officials in The Hague said that they had no idea what the French were talking about."

setstats
Debatable, Part Deux

So McCain's new strategy is to discredit Gwen Ifill -- really? Gwen Ifill??? "On the eve of Thursday's vice-presidential debate in St. Louis, the McCain campaign is voicing confidence in moderator Gwen Ifill's professionalism while simultaneously sowing doubts about her ability to be fair after learning that she is working on a book about a new generation of black leaders called, 'Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.'" For her part Ifill responds somewhat slyly--maybe it's the painkillers for her broken ankle talking. "Ifill questions why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama. 'Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?' said Ifill, who is black. Asked if there were racial motives at play, she said, 'I don't know what it is. I find it curious.'"

================================

setstatsThe Long and Winding Road....

You know, I'm quite amazed when I think that a month ago we barely knew Sarah Palin. Now we know more than we could ever possibly want to know about Sarah Palin. Think of all those brain cells we've had to waste on her. I know I know, she shouldn't be the focus in this very important election, she should be beneath focus, but obsessing over her is like a good, juicy trash-novel-- I know I shouldn't waste the time, but it's a nasty, delicious indulgence. Talking Points Memo did a nice 5 minutes "Greatest Hits" video which is disturbing and I think has damaged my eyeballs.

I thought on this day, of all days, it might be fun to recall how much we've learned about Sarah Palin. A little trip down Memory Lane.

July, 31 2008: The Prologue

  • "As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" says Gov. Sarah Palin, in an interview with CNBC's "Kudlow & Co."
  • Draft Sarah Palin for VP. No...really, John, this person ISN'T your Vetting Team.
  • "When they were vetting her for this job, like three seconds ago, she said, quote, I'm not making this up, 'What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' Let me field that for you, Sarah. They start wars, they enrich their friends, they subvert the Constitution, and they shoot people in the face. That's what the vice president does." –Bill Maher

August 29: Who?

Sept 1: Getting to know her... getting to know all about her...
Sept. 2: Family (De-)Values
  • Why is there disbelief and speculation about Trig Palin's parentage? Palin's own account of the birth: she says she sensed her water broke while she was in Texas the morning before an important speech. Although she was aware the baby had Down Syndrome and she was then only eight months pregnant, she gave her speech and then made a 12 hour trip from Houston, Texas to Wasilla, Alaska. With two flight connections. I suppose that's to show us how tough she is? Humorous Palin decision map.
  • Palin, seven months pregnant, in the photo at right... You tell me. (And no, I will not let this go.)
  • Sarah Palin announces that her 17-year old unmarried daughter is pregnant. "Bristol Palin is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. (UK Independent) 'Cause,see, that PROVES that Trig couldn't be Bristol's baby...
  • THIS is 7 months pregnant. To the right, Demi Moore --seven months pregnant-- in a Vanity Fair cover shot by Annie Lebovitz. (No, I will not let this go! )
  • McCain's aide says statement should refute internet speculation that four-month old baby Trig is actually Bristol Palin's child. (Daily Kos) Update: The Kos link has been scrubbed and is no more. Read Gawker for more.
  • Levi Johnston, aka Bristol Palin's fiance, to appear at GOP convention.
  • "Speaking of Sarah Palin, she said she's a life-long member of the National Rifle Association. Which may explain why she's in favor of shotgun weddings." --Conan O'Brien
setstats setstatsSept 3: Conventional
Sept 8: Gaffe-talk Express takes off
Sept 9: Have you seen the little piggies...?

Sept 12: Media Access
  • And speaking of the Palinista--SHE SPEAKS! Palin finally answers questions from what McCain was really, really, really hoping would be a sympathetic and softball Charlie Gibson on ABC. I know, Most of you don't even want to watch-- you can read the excerpts.
  • Was Charlie tough enough? Ehn, coulda been more. Did Sarah stumble? She made Charlie a little testy, it's true, but she also had her lines pretty well memorized. Still there were some obvious bumps in the road. She kinda declared war on Russia (calling the Georgian invasion unprovoked--um, those Georgians are nice and all, but....even I wouldn't say "unprovoked"), couldn't figure out what Bush's doctrine was, and yes, she STILL says "nukular."
  • Gloria Steinem compares the Palinista to Phyllis Schlafly. But she also reminds us "the culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine." (LAT)
  • If you watched TV last night, you know that Charlie Gibson did something John McCain has never done: interviewed Sarah Palin. --Jay Leno
Sept 13: TIna Fey Leads the Multimedia Goldrush
Sept 17: An EXPERT on Energy Policy
  • Heard at a town hall meeting, Grand Rapids, MI--from Sarah Palin's lips:"Oil and coal? Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first."
Sept 20: Speed Dating Diplomacy and Delusions/Illusions of Grandeur
Sept 23: Free Sarah Palin!
Sept 24: Mean Girl

  • setstatsAnd not that we didn't know this about Sarah Palin, but David Talbot at Salon recounts how Palin's mayoral election in Wasilla took on tones of nastiness that echo the current campaign. "According to some political observers in Alaska, this pattern -- exploiting 'old-boy' mentors and then turning against them for her own advantage -- defines Sarah Palin's rise to power. Again and again, Palin has charmed powerful political patrons, and then rejected them when it suited her purposes."
  • Oh, and in case you're not outraged enough about Palin's utter insensitivity as a human being, note that while Palin was mayor in Wasilla, the town began charging rape victims for the costs of their own rape kits.
  • Sarah Palin Troopergate Update: The Plank pointed out that even the AP newswire is getting snarky, putting out this lead in a story covering the investigation: "Less than a week after balking at the Alaska Legislature's investigation into her alleged abuse of power, Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday indicated she will cooperate with a separate probe run by people she can fire."
  • The National Enquirer, which we never believed, until they nailed the John Edwards story, releases the next "-gate" on Governor Family-Values: an affair with her husband's business partner.
  • Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic sticks to his guns on the Twelve Lies of Sarah Palin. "Just for the record, I asked an intern to go back and double fact-check the twelve documented lies that Sarah Palin has told on the public record. These are not hyperbolic claims or rhetorical excess. They are assertions of fact that are demonstrably untrue and remain uncorrected."
  • Craig Ferguson pointed out that it is very strange that Sarah Palin had a tanning bed installed in the governor's mansion, because the Republican Party is usually focused on making their candidate as white as possible.
Sept 25: Ow. Hurts Brain.
  • The BIG interview, with Katie Couric of CBS playing "Stump the Candidate." Particularly delicious is the moment when Couric asks Palin to cite "specific examples in [McCain's] 26 years [in the Senate] of pushing for more regulation."
  • More of Katie interviewing Sarah Palin: COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that? PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters-- COURIC: Mock? PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah. (HuffPo)
  • setstatsHere's the special irony: Alaska's governors DO often enjoy more contact with Russian officials because Anchorage is the base for the Northern Forum, an organization representing leaders and sub-leadership from countries around the Arctic Circle including Russia, Finland, Iceland and Canada, Japan, China and South Korea. The Seattle Times reports: "Yet under Palin, the state government — without consultation — reduced its annual financial support to the Northern Forum to $15,000 from $75,000, according to Priscilla Wohl, the group's executive director. That forced the forum's Anchorage office to go without pay for two months. Palin — unlike the previous administrations of Gov. Frank Murkowski and Gov. Tony Knowles — also stopped sending representatives to Northern Forum's annual meetings, including one last year for regional governors held in the heart of Russia's oil territory." Great. Twenty years of glasnost down the drain. Plus, she doesn't even have the brains to mention that this organization exists when the Russia question comes up.
  • The LA Times reports: "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.
  • Is Sarah Palin qualified?" poll on PBS NOW's website. I sent it out, and many of you have sent it to me. Well, the poll, which only ran a week in early September on PBS' homepage, became the single most viewed page on their entire site, even though nothing links to it now that the homepage link is gone. But it's remained so popular via email that PBS was moved to post this notice. As many people noticed, voting "da Chicago way" seemed to be entirely possible, and apparently was until yesterday, when they embedded cookies so you can only vote once per computer.
  • "Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has many views. She says she's opposed to same-sex marriage. Did you know that? Yeah, Palin says everyone knows marriage isn't for gay people; it's for pregnant teenagers." --Conan O'Brien
Sept. 26: Out of the Tank for Palin.

  • setstatsEven the National Review's Kathleen Parker, once "in the tank" for Sarah Palin, now says, "As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion."
  • Over on Leno, Wanda Sykes goes OFF on Sarah Palin. "They say, 'Oh, she's meeting with the world leaders.' But there's no reporters. I'm like, is she meeting with the world leaders, or did you take her to the Epcot Center? Let her drink around the world? You know, because I've done that. Maybe I should be Secretary of State..."
  • "Well, it's a very strange political campaign. I mean, out on the campaign trail, John McCain and Sarah Palin are talking about how they stood up to the Republican party, they fought the Republican establishment, and they battled Republicans. Their message: vote Republican." --Jay Leno
Sept 28: Point/Counterpoint
  • 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, 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."
  • Palin is still PERKY [read, "adorably catty"] saying of Thursday's debate 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.''
  • 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"
  • "Palin and McCain are a good pair. She's pro-life and he's clinging to life." - Jay Leno
Sept 29: Pre-Debate
Sept 30: She's An [Nearly Illiterate, Below-Average] American Girl (but she plays flute)
  • As part of their "media blitz" this week, Palin went on the radio telling America about how she's just average working class..."Todd and I, heck, we're going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don't like the idea of just an everyday working class American running for such an office.
  • As HuffPo notes, it was the bastion of conservativism, The Washington Times, that pointed out that Palin is hardly working class: "A check of financial records, though, shows the Palins live anything but a common life when compared with their fellow residents of their hometown of Wasilla. Their combined income of nearly a quarter-million dollars last year was five times the median household income for Wasilla's 7,000 residents. They own a single-engine plane, two boats, two personal watercraft and a half-million-dollar, custom-built home on a lake that is worth three times the average of other homes in town. For the future, they also have a 401(k) retirement account compliments of Todd Palin's years as an engineer with oil giant BP." Hmmm, that wasn't what I meant by "above average."
  • ANYway. Yes, it's true, just by reading my daily rant, YOU can become More Qualified to Be Vice President than Sarah Palin. From HuffPo: "Asked what newspapers and magazines she reads, Palin - a journalism major in college - could not name one publication. "I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media," she said at first. Couric responded, "What, specifically?" "Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years." "Can you name a few?" "I have a vast variety of source where we get our news," Palin said. "Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, 'wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?' Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America." Vast variety,eh? No, honey, _I_ have a vast variety of sources. You have People Magazine.
  • But with all the trash-talking about elitist media, Palin had a little problem embedded in that question (besides the obvious problem of being completely incurious about anything):
Oct 2: Gotcha.
Post Turtle
  • 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.'

====================================

Memories...hurt the corners of my mind...

Beyond the Palin

ABC's recent poll indicated that 60% of Americans think Palin does not have the experience needed for the job. 46% think she "understands complex issues," while 49 percent think she doesn't. Who--WHO are you, you 46% who thinks she understands complex issues???? Even in her home state, America's most popular governor is slipping, as everyone begins to figure out that she's ignorant AND obnoxious. "McClatchy reports today that her approval rating in her home state has tumbled to 68% -- still high but surely not the country's best. The poll by a local firm that works for both parties was taken Sept. 20-22."

One more time before we go... I just LOVE looking at that electoral map.

It occurs to me again, and with greater force how well Obama has picked his team and how poorly McCain has chosen his. In the last four weeks, Obama has sent his wife Michelle Obama to Allentown, PA with Jill Biden, to Saginaw and Clinton townships in Michigan, to Greensboro, NC. And of course, while he and Joe Biden have been campaigning together in Virginia, he's also sent Joe out to major swing states by himself -- because he can. I haven't seen Sarah Palin (forget Todd) or Cindy McCain out there in Wisconsin stumping for John--I don't think the campaign could possibly trust any of them out by themselves.

So actually, it's no surprise (although it is really, really pleasant to see) that Obama is opening leads in key swing states. As reported yesterday, he's over 50% in Ohio, Pennsylvania and FLORIDA according to Quinnipiac, but new polls from CNN/Time reflect the same trend.

  • Florida: Obama 51%, McCain 47%
  • Minnesota: Obama 54%, McCain 43%
  • Missouri: Obama 49%, McCain 48%
  • Nevada: Obama 51%, McCain 47%
  • Virginia: Obama 53%, McCain 44%
Plus, Obama is polling at his highest ever in the CBS/NYTimes poll: 49% to McCain's 40%. This is the first statistically significant lead he's taken in that poll. "The election cycle is entering a time when voters historically begin to make final judgments; this year, in fact, many of them are actually beginning early voting in states."

33 days to the election, folks! 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. Ohio, your absentee ballot program is now open for business.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

posted by Mary Ellen Hunt | 10:01 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home