Sarah Palin is an idiot

When Couric asked Palin what she thought about abortion in a situation in which a 15 year old was raped by her father, Palin responded by saying that she wants this country to have a culture of life.

Sarah Palin doesn't know what it's like to have her father rape her, so I'm sure it's very convenient for her to spout off this bullshit. Did this stupid retard ever think about what a 15 year old would go through, having to put her life on hold because someone decided to rape her? What it would be like for this teenage girl to go through school, being laughed at by friends, and forever ostracized for being in that horrific situation?

Sarah Palin: being raped may not be your fault, but it should ruin your entire life.

And by the way, if she doesn't want this country to have a culture of death (I suppose she thinks we do), it would go a long way if we weren't being scared to death by existential threats.

I wonder if her "culture of life" attitude holds when it comes to capital punishment?

Oh COME ON!

Please, just name ONE fucking news publication!

Fareed Zakaria's Smackdown of Palin

Debate

Honestly, it was a very good debate. Not just because I believe Senator Obama did well, but because neither of them argued over trivial bullshit.

A lot of people are hot and bothered over the fact that John McCain didn't act deferentially to Obama-- he didn't look at him once. Who cares? It's a debate STRATEGY that Hillary Clinton used in order not lend any cache or gravitas by simply gazing in Obama's direction. Look how great that turned out for Hillary!

When John McCain mentioned Fannie and Freddie, I initially wished that Obama would have mentioned how McCain's senior advisor still gets a paycheck from them. After it was over, I'm glad it didn't get mentioned, because the whole debate what have devolved into a "you <3 lobbyists! But YOU <33333 Rev. Wright!"

Personally, I came away very impressed that Obama has such a clear understanding of foreign policy. When he was up against Hillary early on, it sometimes looked as though she took him to school.

John McCain made a good point when Barack Obama mentioned how right he was not to go in. It appears that McCain has conceded the point: WE SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE IN. But that, according to McCain, is all in the past: the next president has to worry about getting out of Iraq, not worry about why we went there in the first place.

However, in one of the most powerful exchanges of the debate, Obama pounded McCain on his past statements on Iraq. Obama told McCain how wrong he was when he told the American people that it would be to go in and achieve victory, and that we knew exactly where the WMD's were.



I'm upset that the MSM seems to have decided that nothing newsworthy came out of the debate, simply because neither of them cursed the other out, nor physically attacked each other. Just because the MSM can't seem to figure out who won, doesn't mean this was a forgettable debate. It wasn't.

It was an excellent debate, and I'm glad that no major gaffes were made on either side, as to take away from the substance of their points. I, of course, disagree with John McCain's neoconservative foreign policy objectives, but I can't say he didn't make the case for himself. That said, foreign policy is supposed to be Senator McCain's strength, and there was an expectation that Obama wouldn't look as presidential when speaking about foreign policy, vis-a-vis McCain.

Oh Magoo

It seems as though YOU don't know the difference between a strategy and a tactic.

Bush is more coherent than Sarah Palin

Honestly, this is really depressing. The Couric interview demonstrates why John McCain has kept Palin under lock and key. At first, I thought it was because they wanted to avoid questions about her family, but that news cycle has long passed.

It's because she knows very little about policy. She doesn't really know John McCain's record. Like I said before, she can spout Republican talking points well, but that's about where her confidence ends.

McCain: Can we postpone the debate? Pretty Please?

Goodness. McCain wants to postpone Friday's debate, due to, according to McCain, the bailout.

According to an astute commenter at the HuffPo:

"Perhaps McCain can explain why he didn't postpone his birthday party when Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans? Or is the total destruction of a major American city not enough of a "crisis"?
--Kyuzo

My thoughts exactly.

Comment of the Century

Who is "Ben Ladin"?

by The Termite on Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 10:57:44 AM PDT

[ Parent | Reply to This | RecommendHide ]


Some poor bastard who's doomed to riding the bus
across the country from now on.


by iconoclastic cat on Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 11:02:18 AM PDT

[ Parent | Reply to This | RecommendHide ]

Score! EPA Won't Remove Yummy Rocket Fuel from Water

No, really.

This is fucking ridiculous. Even though rocket fuel is a PROVEN toxin (who'da thunk...), risking the health of fetuses and thyroid problems for the rest of us, it's perfectly okay.

What else can we expect from a country that allowed its citizens to mine uranium without telling them of the health risks?

The Politics of the Bailout

If there's one thing the Republicans are good at, it's simplifying (read: dumbing down) very complex concepts in order to make their solutions seem as though they follow logically in the eyes of the average voter.

It doesn't take a genius to see that if the Democrats opposed the bailout, the John McCains and Sarah Palins of the world would talk about how the Democrats are playing partisan politics in a time of crisis.

Oh those Democrats, they want to surrender to the terrorists and want to make sure that the economy doesn't get better, so you have to pay higher gas prices, but we're not going to let them do that to you!

A lot of Democrats (especially the netroots) are taking the opportunity to point out the failure of Republican voo-doo economics, pointing out how this bailout betrays core conservative philosophies of government non-interference. Yes, it's true.

Here's the thing: calling Republicans hypocrites actually sort of works in their favor right about now. Republicans get to claim that they're putting their precious ideology on the back burner for the sake of the American people. Because, you know, they're such mavericks.

Politically, Democrats must support the bailout. Of course, I don't like the idea of giving Bush and Co. a blank check for a problem they helped create. However, explaining to the American people that the real underlying causes of this current crisis is due to deregulation and Alan Greenspan's reign, or that Iraq has weakened our capability (from a economic, political, and strategic standpoint) to fix our problems, isn't really a winning strategy.

It's not very forward looking, and the American people are looking for more leadership than a bunch of losers wagging their fingers, claiming "I told ya so."

Umm, Barack?

Obama laid out his thoughts on the bailouts, laying out seven conditions in which he would support a bailout:

1) No blank check

Sounds good to me.

2) Tax money should not be used to provide golden parachutes to the CEOs who are partly responsible for this mess

Definitely.

3) Taxpayers should have the opportunity to recoup losses

Sure.

4) Plan must include a way to keep homeowners in their home

I'd like to know a little more about what he means by this. Is this a plan to put a moratorium on foreclosures? Or is going to give a free ride to the people who took out a bad loan? Just as I'm not okay with corporate welfare, I'm also not okay bailing out folks who got in over their heads. Think about it: I don't live in a mansion because I can't afford it. Should someone get to stay in their mansion because there's a gold mine being thrown somewhere in their direction? So, I'd like a clarification.

5) Other nations need to step in since this crisis is affecting their economic health, too

Seriously, good luck with that. On the surface, it's a very common sense proposal--I've thought of this before: why do we have to shoulder the burden and stabilize the global market? It is because the US is the epicenter of the mortgage crisis, so convincing a bunch of other countries-- who also got screwed into buying these bad loans-- to chip in and help, will be a huge waste of time. Unless Obama has a way of securing cooperation from other countries (because if this doesn't get solved, they're all screwed), this point is just wishful thinking on Obama's part.

6) Increasing regulation

While de-regulation is partly to blame for the mortgage crisis, I don't know if folks have enough faith in our government to regulate the financial sector--Republicans and Democrats alike are bedfellows with industry lobbyists.

7) A bailout has to benefit main street

Agreed.

Crooks

The same people who campaign on the dangers of "socialized" healthcare and scare the electorate into believing that Democrats are a bunch of commies, are now planning to steal $700 billion from tax payers and give it the banks who fucked up.

"I don't want to pay for the bypass surgeries of people who eat McDonald's everyday, while I make the effort to be healthy. It's not fair." I hear that all the time. I hear that all the time from my friends and random people.

You know what? I don't want to pay for the bailouts of banks and predatory lenders who weren't careful with the loans they were giving out, while I worked hard for my money. I had no part in this mortgage crisis, and I shouldn't have to pay for it.

It's not fair.

I have no doubt that this plan is one last-ditch effort to fatten the coffers of some very powerful people, with very powerful friends in Washington. Is this bailout going to help the folks on mainstreet? I don't see how regular folk are going be better off, besides maybe providing some relief at the pump.

Andrew Sullivan needs to learn some manners

Jeez, anyone catch Sully on Realtime with Bill Maher? It was pretty painful to watch, speaking as a fan of his.

I believe he Code Pink-ed himself (found some way to make people who agree with him, disagree with him because he was being obnoxious).

I mean, I love his blog and all, but did he have to be so domineering? Maher had to repeatedly scold him to stop ranting and cutting Wolf off.

Palin is going just to get Karzai's autograph

Wow-- Palin is trying to bolster her foreign policy cred (anything multiplied by zero is still zero, dear) by having her father runningmate arrange a meeting for her with Afhghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai.

What is she going to talk about? Alaska? The Bush doctrine?

This is just embarassing. I'm sure Karzai has better things to do then tutor Palin in Afghanistan 101. She should start with Wikipedia instead.

Youth Cynicism, Youth Idealism and No Room for Pragmatism

I'm taking a Peace and Conflict Studes (PACS) course, which is the first class I've taken outside my major (Political Science & Anthropology). Right now we're going over the differences between conflict resolution, conflict management, peacebuilding, and peacemaking using the theories of International Relations as frameworks.

Our professor mentioned how several researchers have found that civilians are expendable in intrastate conflicts, which shocked a whole lot of my fellow students. Essentially, they became really up and arms that intellectuals could even think that way, without even giving the slightest regard that the theory could be true. It's just wrong for someone to even propose that's the case.

And thus began the self-righteous behavior that makes me cringe. They have this attitude that if you propose a theory that is seemingly heartless, that certainly must mean you are heartless and don't give a shit about people dying.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

We've been lied to so many times as a nation under the Bush administration. We were even lied into a war in order to act in the interests of a select few. How many Americans are benefiting from the invasion in Iraq? Anyone?

I cannot fathom why we would elect John McCain, who is already proving to be as deceitful and dishonorable as Bush and Cheney. Sarah Palin is his little partner in crime who idiotically keeps repeating "I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, for that bridge to nowhere" even though we know it's not true. Let's call her for what she is: a fucking liar.

Sarah Palin is a puppet

The wingnuts sure love Sarah Palin. She was a blank canvas, just waiting to be filled with talking points on neoconservative foreign policy (see: Bush, George W.). And that clearly came across in her interview with Charlie Gibson.

She can parrot standard Republican fare pretty well when she doesn't know the answer. My sense is that she's not going to know a lot of answers to a lot of questions. Her constant regurgitation of Republican talking points will make a lot of people question why she's running on the mantle of change when the stuff she's saying sounds a lot like the crap we've heard for the last eight (or even 20) years.

Clearly, when Sarah Palin was making foreign policy flashcards, she forgot to make one for "Bush Doctrine." It's actually kind of sad that Charlie Gibson obviously had more knowledge of foreign policy than the Republican nominee for Vice-President.

And oh, for goodness sake, the professor of my lower division International Relations class went over the Bush doctrine, too.

John McCain helps pedophiles

Having a bit of a background in Anthropology, I've studied a little about American material culture. The "celebrity" attack ads, as well as this one, are laced with racial undertones. In the celebrity ad, the McCain campaign juxtaposed Obama's image with two women who are perceived to be damaged goods. During Jim Crow era, particular in Western Louisianna (that I know of) one of the primary reasons given for lynching black men were accuasations that they had raped white women. While these experiences may not be a part of my consciousness living in one of the most diverse regions in the world, they certainly exist where race relations are still contentious. These ads are subtle and egregious.

And you'll notice-- Obama once had a fighting chance in Mississippi, North Carolina and there was even chatter about Georgia being in play because of Bob Barr. McCain has now solidified his lead in these states, where Obama was once in striking distance.

I was hesitant to make such a statement at the time the celebrity ad was first released, since the charge of racism shouldn't be thrown around lightly. And frankly, I didn't think John McCain would engage in this type of campaigning, and it was personally difficult to acknowledge the low-road he has chosen to take. There were many like Andrew Sullivan or Jon Stewart (or even myself) that believed a race between John McCain and Barack Obama would be a "tonic" for this country.

Whatever semblance of civility the election had went out the window after McCain's "celebrity" ad.

This new "education" ad from McCain is pretty despicable. It was equally stomach-churning when craptastic douchebag Mitt Romney made the exact same charge of Obama wanting to teach sex-ed to Kindergarteners. The fact is, young children SHOULD be armed with the proper knowledge to understand what kind of touching is appropriate and what isn't. To say that children shouldn't have that knowledge (let's be honest, now) only helps pedophiles, who think they can get away with abuse because their victims don't know any better.

Thoughts on the GOP Convention

-Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin's much hyped speech wasn't great. In fact, it wasn't good at all. She is being touted by her handlers as the future of the Republican Party, but nothing about her speech suggested a new direction for the GOP. And, I suppose, I should be grateful for this, but there was no reach to young people or women. So, "the future of the GOP" is not concerned with bringing any new people into the fold that may have felt or currently feel alienated from the Republican Party. To me, that was thorougly disappointing. This was her chance to break away from the Bush-Rove division politics-- but she only upped the ante with her cheap shots against Obama, community organizers, and people who live in big cities (what, we don't work hard?).

Governor Palin's references to fighting corruption were also underwhelming. This is the party that is characterized by no-bid Halliburton contracts, Harriet Miers cronyism, outing CIA agents for revenge, lying about WMD's, and the politically motivated firings of U.S. Attorneys. All we got was a milquetoast "I fought corruption in Alaska! Go me! Wooo Hoo!" instead of acknowledging the possible challenges of fighting corruption as a vice president, or specifically mentioning a plan for going after folks who engage in corruption. For a lot of the people who have been disaffected with the GOP, a strong stance against corruption would make some in-roads. But again, she chose the road that wouldn't upset her base.

One of her strongest lines was her pledge to be an advocate for people with special needs (to which the Republican delegation cheered loudly, presumably, because they are all special needs).

There were no policy proposals or plans. There was no acknowledgment of the failures of the Republican Party. In fact, her only unequivocal statement came about drilling for oil.

It amazes me how someone chosen to become the standard bearer of the Republican mantle had such a stale, and almost backward-looking speech.

-Rudy Giuliani

His speech was utterly demeaning and digusting, almost to the point where it was unbearable to watch. Why does a former mayor feel the need to belittle the accomplishments of an individual who has achieved so much more than Giuliani ever will? He came off as a jealous child, unable to see the irony in several of his jarring attacks against Obama.

How can a man who publicly humiliated his former wife, be in a position to preach about sexism?

How can a person whose sole rationale for running for office, being a big-city mayor, criticize people for being too "cosmopolitan"?

How can a big-city mayor, who arguably must have had to make deals with several local interests before becoming the mayor, accuse Obama of being a Chicago-machine politican?

Like Palin's, his speech was divisive and full of mockery. All I could do was thank our lucky stars that this douche turned out to be such an incompetent campaigner, and won't be our president. Really dodged a bullet there.

-John McCain

His speech, quite frankly, was boring, although it was more respectable than the speech attempting to restart the culture wars by his running mate. There was no mention of Pakistan, no mention of plans-- I guess we should take that his views are no different from the Bush administration. But oh, trust him: he KNOWS how to win wars because he says he does!

This is Family Business

As someone who isn't much older than Bristol Palin, I definitely feel for her. The way her story is playing out is pretty upsetting. Sure, I can see why it can be a bit ironic that the darling of the Christian right's teenage daughter is knocked up. Ha Ha. Abstinence-only sex-ed doesn't work (we already knew that for a while).

Why are folks acting as if they're so outraged? Teenagers have sex all the time. Shocking, I know.

In all of this, there's a very pregnant (and unhappy) young woman who is making her primetime debut as the laughingstock of the day. It's pretty disgusting. I can't possibly understand what it's like to have my personal business addressed in a campaign statement being repeated on every news channel in America. And how devasting it must be that folks are talking about how her mother may lose because of her decision.

In all of this, Bristol is a politician's daughter. And because her mother was in the spotlight, she may have felt pressure to make decisions she might have not wanted to make. A lot of us don't know what that might feel like. But it isn't any of our business.

This should be a happy time in their family, even if it occured under unfortunate circumstances. Anyone who is making an issue out of this is making sure that Bristol is "punished with a baby." Let's stop the panty sniffing. The Republicans are better at it than we are.

Congratulations, Bristol Palin.