Multi Medium

Cavett Vs. Palin

It is just so much fun to watch Dick Cavett take someone apart in that genteel, musing, half-baffled way of his…

What will ambitious politicos learn from this? That frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out completely are a candidate’s valuable traits?

And how much more of all that lies in our future if God points her to those open-a-crack doors she refers to? The ones she resolves to splinter and bulldoze her way through upon glimpsing the opportunities, revealed from on high.

What on earth are our underpaid teachers, laboring in the vineyards of education, supposed to tell students about the following sentence, committed by the serial syntax-killer from Wasilla High and gleaned by my colleague Maureen Dowd for preservation for those who ask, “How was it she talked?”

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

And, she concluded, “never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or a continent, I just don’t know about this issue.”

It’s admittedly a rare gift to produce a paragraph in which whole clumps of words could be removed without noticeably affecting the sense, if any.

(…)

Matt Lauer asked her about her daughter’s pregnancy and what went into the decision about how to handle it. Her “answer” did not contain the words “daughter,” “pregnancy,” “what to do about it” or, in fact, any two consecutive words related to Lauer’s query.

….If it happens again, Matt, I bequeath you what I heard myself say once to an elusive guest who stiffed me that way: “Were you able to hear any part of my question?”

At the risk of offending, well, you, for example, I worry about just what it is her hollering fans see in her that makes her the ideal choice to deal with the world’s problems: collapsed economies, global warming, hostile enemies and our current and far-flung twin battlefronts, either of which may prove to be the world’s second “30 Years’ War.”

(…)

A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?

Do this lady’s like-minded folk wonder how, say, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, et al (add your own favorites) managed so well without being soccer moms? Without being whizzes in the kitchen, whipping up moose soufflés? Without executing and wounding wolves from the air and without promoting that sad, threadbare hoax — sexual abstinence — as the answer to the sizzling loins of the young?

(In passing, has anyone observed that hunting animals with high-powered guns could only be defined as sport if both sides were equally armed?)

(…)

Could the willingness to crown one who seems to have no first language have anything to do with the oft-lamented fact that we seem to be alone among nations in having made the word “intellectual” an insult?

I can’t really add anything to that, other than to share Dick Cavett’s amazement that Stupid has become the new Smart, and Smart the new Stupid.  I mean, it’s not like Stupid has a very good track record.

4 comments November 16th, 2008 at 11:58am Posted by Eli

Sarah Palin Shoots, Field-Dresses Irony

Republicans suddenly want to be bipartisan when they’re on the losing team…

At a press conference earlier Thursday, Palin said that she and her fellow Republican governors were ready to put aside “extreme partisanship” and act if Washington fails to provide the leadership America needs.

She told them not to “let obsessive, extreme partisanship … get in the way of doing what’s right.”

Yeah, I’m sure Palin and her fellow Republicans will be totally cooperative and reasonable, just like they always are.

(h/t dakine)

Add comment November 13th, 2008 at 08:45pm Posted by Eli

The Palin Plan

I think Gail Collins may be on to something here, even if only accidentally:

The Republicans are being way more nasty to Sarah Palin than the Democrats are to Lieberman. They’ve been portraying her as both a shopaholic and a woman who walks around in nothing but a bath towel, a hillbilly who’s also a prima donna. The leakathon climaxed this week when Fox News’s Carl Cameron announced that Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Palin says this is untrue. But the worst part is that if these people get any meaner, we’re going to wind up feeling sorry for her. This is not something we are looking forward to, Republicans, and we will resent you for it.

Republicans love to play the victim card, to claim that the liberal media or the Blue Meanies are treating them unfairly because it’s the only way to keep them down.

What do you want to bet that by 2012, if Palin runs for president, the source of the post-election attacks on her will be conveniently forgotten?  That the same Republicans who propagated them will be deploring the shameful media attacks on Our Sarah, and claiming that they prove that the Democrats are deathly afraid of her looks and folksiness and prodigious command of policy?

What, no takers?

3 comments November 8th, 2008 at 10:15pm Posted by Eli

Palinsanity

Now that it’s all over, the Palin dirt is just coming right out of the woodwork - almost like, well, the last two months.

More on clothing spree and lack of clothing:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin’s shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent “tens of thousands” more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast,” and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

(…)

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

(…)

One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. “I’ll be just a minute,” she said.

Even Fox gets into the act:

I heard this live on the Fox Report, Shepard Smith’s show. It was at the end of the show, a report done by Carl Cameron. But apparently the tensions and drama behind the scenes in the McCain Campaign were far, far worse than anyone in the media allowed us to believe.

According to Cameron,

Palin did NOT know Africa was a continent.
She did NOT know who the parties to NAFTA were.
She threw dramatic temper tantrums over bad press.
She refused to prepare for the Gibson or Couric interviews.

Cameron reported that the McCain camp thought the interview was fair, although they didn’t like the media’s snarky reaction to it.

Ho-ly crap.  I kinda hope she is the Republican nominee in 2012.

(f/t Attaturk)

6 comments November 5th, 2008 at 08:39pm Posted by Eli

Sarah Palin Outs The Republican Party

I knew it!

She continued: “And there must be something about San Francisco and he because it’s like I heard on Fox News today, it’s like a truth serum where when he’s there, he seems to be more candid, and remember it was there that he talked about, there you go, the bitter clingers, the cling-ons, all of us, I guess, you know holding on to religion and guns and, um, so something about he being there in San Francisco.”

It sure would explain their foreign policy, although not their complete lack of courage or honor.

(h/t Blue Texan)

Add comment November 3rd, 2008 at 07:49pm Posted by Eli

Monday Media Blogging - Pre-Election Edition

Vlad & Boris sing a touching love song for Sarah Palin:

i made this teliscop myself out of duck tape and the thing that holds the rapping paper

How can any woman reject a man who makes his own teliscop???

(h/t Teresa Nielsen-Hayden, via Julia)

Add comment November 3rd, 2008 at 07:12am Posted by Eli

PAlin Sports Geography Fail

Hahahahahaha!!!

According to a source in the audience Sarah Palin got a big arousing boo when she took the [stage] in Erie just minutes ago. Palin was not properly prepared and congratulated the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Any local could have told her that wasn’t the local team of choice.

Yeah, PA may not be as big as Alaska, but it’s a big enough state to have baseball teams on either side of it, and Erie is firmly on the Pittsburgh Pirates side of the state, and could care less about the Phillies.  Way to rub it into the fans whose team hasn’t had a winning season in 16 years.

(h/t emptywheel)

Add comment October 30th, 2008 at 08:48pm Posted by Eli

Huh.

Beautiful.

Wolf Blitzer: And this just coming into the “Situation Room,” the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now speaking out openly about her intentions in 2012 if, if she and John McCain were to lose this contest next Tuesday. In an interview with ABC News, Sarah Palin is now saying, she would be interested in remaining a serious national political figure, going ahead to 2012. She was asked what happens in 2012 if you lose on Tuesday, would you simply go back to Alaska? Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News asked her and Palin said this, and I will read it to you verbatim according to an ABC News transcript: “Absolutely not,” Sarah Palin says. “I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we’ve taken, that … that would … bring this whole … I’m not doin’ this for naught,” and that is a direct quote from Sarah Palin. Clearly, leaving open the possibility that she would be interested in leading the Republican Party in 2012 if she and John McCain were to lose this presidential contest right now….

Dana Bash: I just got off of the phone, Wolf, with a senior McCain adviser and I read this person the quote and I think it is fair to say that this person was speechless. There was a long pause and I just heard a “huh” on the other end of the phone. This is certainly not a surprise to anybody who has watched Sarah Palin that she is interested in potentially future national runs, and she is being urged to by a lot of people inside of the Republican Party if they do lose, but it is an “if” and people inside of the McCain campaign do not want any discussion that has an “if” in front of it six days before the election, they don’t want any discussion at all, any kind of hypothetical talk about running for the next time around. So certainly, this is not at least initially being received well inside of the McCain campaign.

Wolf Blitzer: I am not surprised, not surprised at all. It is one of those “wow, she is talking about 2012 if we lose,” that is not supposed to be something that you say. You are supposed to say, “well, I’m not looking ahead, I’m not looking ahead only to Tuesday,” and those are the talking points she’s supposed to be saying, but she is obviously blunt and she is looking ahead if something were to happen on Tuesday that she wouldn’t be happy with.

I just love the McCain campaign reaction to Palin’s naked ambition.  I think Palin is going to be in for a pretty huge disappointment if she tries to run for president in 2012.  Even if the excitement she generates in the conservative base is enough to carry her to the nomination, she has zero support outside of it.  She alienates and scares most normal people, and she has done absolutely nothing to make herself believable as President Of The United States.  Four more years as governor of Alaska will do nothing to change that.  She would be toast.

6 comments October 29th, 2008 at 09:53pm Posted by Eli

Great Moments In Chutzpah

First up, the Mitch McConnell campaign:

Last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) squared off in a debate with Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford. But on Lunsford’s podium a GOP operative had placed a small voice recorder, presumably to pick up some off-mic comments Lunsford might make — apparently a violation of the debate rules.

(…)

According to the Lunsford campaign, Lunsford actually didn’t see the recorder. But since it was nestled in among his papers it was included when he handed his papers off to his staffers after the debate — staffers who say they later erased the recording since it violated debate rules to have a planted recorder on the opponents podium.

According to the McConnell staffers, however, Lunsford did see the recorder during the debate and essentially confiscated it. Richard St. Onge, II (who, in a separate story, may have absconded with his name from some neo-gothic southern novel) is the GOP operative who planted the recorder. And according to St. Onge, when he went up to Lunsford after the debate to demand his recorder back, Lunsford said, “No you won’t get it back.”

And now St. Onge and the chairman of McConnell’s campaign have filed a criminal complaint against Lunsford for petty larceny and destruction of property — because of the erasure.

Wow, they tried to bug Lunsford and then filed charges against him when they got busted.  Amazing.

The Tennessee GOP isn’t nearly as humorous:

The chairwoman for the Tennessee Republican Party draws a wild parallel:

“Hate is not a political party, policy statement, agenda or ideology - it is a pure evil that no place in civil society,” said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “Whether it is neo-Nazi skinheads plotting a racist shooting spree targeting Sen. Obama, or West Hollywood liberals hanging Gov. Sarah Palin in effigy and calling it ‘art,’ or unknown anarchists tossing bricks through the windows of a county Republican headquarters in Murfreesboro, Americans of all political views should be outraged.”

The Palin effigy was crude, but it’s breathtaking to compare that with indictments in a mass murder and assassination plot.

Yes, that’s right, they compared an effigy and some brick-throwing to a neo-Nazi murder spree.  Shame is completely foreign to these people.

Add comment October 27th, 2008 at 09:30pm Posted by Eli

Toobz Goes Down Them

Amazingly, despite a grossly (deliberately?) inept DOJ prosecution, Ted Stevens has actually been found guilty of all seven counts of corruption, but apparently a felony a conviction is not enough to convince him to drop out of his Senate race:

I am obviously disappointed in the verdict but not surprised given the repeated instances of prosecutorial misconduct in this case. The prosecutors had to report themselves to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility during the trial for ethical violations. Exculpatory evidence was hidden from my lawyers. A witness was kept from us and then sent back to Alaska. The Government lawyers allowed evidence to be introduced that they knew was false. I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have.

I am innocent. This verdict is the result of the unconscionable manner in which the Justice Department lawyers conducted this trial. I ask that Alaskans and my Senate colleagues stand with me as I pursue my rights. I remain a candidate for the United States Senate.

I think this might be the opportunity the Alaska Independence Party has been waiting for.

For Toobz!  And FREEDOM!!!

1 comment October 27th, 2008 at 08:52pm Posted by Eli

Question Of The Day

What hand does Sarah Palin wear her wedding ring on?

“My wedding ring, it’s in Todd’s pocket cause it hurts sometimes when I shake hands and it gets squished,” Palin told a crowd in Tampa, Florida. “A $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought myself …’cause I always thought with my ring, it’s not what it’s made of, it’s what it represents and 20 years later, happy to wear it.”

Pay no attention to that $150,000 spending spree, and all those tens of thousands for hair and makeup.  She (sometimes) wears a $35 wedding ring, so she’s just folks.  She totally understands the problems of other ordinary middle-class people like her; which is to say, ordinary middle-class people with virtually limitless resources at their disposal.

(h/t Jeannine)

Add comment October 27th, 2008 at 07:05am Posted by Eli

Valentine’s Day Comes Early… Or Late.

Ah, romance…

(From Superpoop)
 

Add comment October 26th, 2008 at 02:49pm Posted by Eli

Least. Impressive. Endorsement. Ever.

Wow, so “lifelong Democrat who hasn’t wavered in his presidential vote since 1980″ and war pimp Michael O’Hanlon finally, reluctantly endorses Barack Obama after being “unable to support [him] over the last two years.”  And only because he thinks Joe Biden is a stronger running mate than Sarah Palin.

Some lifelong Democrat - I’ve seen stronger Obama endorsements by Republicans.  But not to worry - O’Hanlon’s with us on everything except the war. Just like lifelong Democrat Joe Lieberman.

(h/t Elliott)

Add comment October 26th, 2008 at 11:52am Posted by Eli

When Palin Supporters Attack

This is how worked up Sarah Palin’s fans get:

Jack B. Cheskaty, 62, of Grand Junction, said he pulled a handgun because “he wanted to be ready for anything” in what started as a verbal spat between drivers in bumper-to-bumper traffic leaving [a Palin Rally in] Lincoln Park around 8 p.m. Monday….

…A man behind the wheel of a Kia SUV attempted to inch in front of Cheskaty’s Chrysler, the affidavit said.

“If you want to get ahead of me you’ll have to deal with my insurance agency,” Cheskaty allegedly shouted.

The Kia’s driver reportedly replied, “I’ve got insurance too.”

The driver in the Kia alleged Cheskaty then displayed a handgun, “racked the slide” and held the weapon over the steering wheel, according to the affidavit.

A 14-year-old girl riding in the Kia noted, “Dad, he’s got a gun.”

Obviously, “I’ve got insurance too” is wingnut code for “LITTLE MAN, I WILL KILL YOU AND DRINK YOUR BLOOD,” and only Mr. Cheskaty’s quick thinking and borderline insanity averted a terrible tragedy.

(h/t Colorado Pols)

Add comment October 23rd, 2008 at 11:35pm Posted by Eli

Can’t Wait To See This

I guess this is what happens when you pick a running mate you don’t even know:

Commenting on a new joint interview with John McCain and Sarah Palin, NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd described the Republican ticket as lacking cohesion, chemistry, and (he hinted) trust.

“There was a tenseness,” Todd told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. “I couldn’t see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. I felt as if we grabbed two people and said ‘here, sit next to each other, we are going to conduct an interview.’ They are not comfortable with each other yet.”

Todd, who was remarking on the interview conducted by NBC’s Brian Williams (he was in the room), speculated that the candidates had come to the realization that “they are losing” the campaign, and guessed that McCain may have begun to hold his vice presidential choice responsible for his dwindling White House chances.

“When you see the two of them together, the chemistry is just not there. You do wonder, is John McCain starting to blame her for things? Blaming himself? Is she blaming him?” asked the highly regarded NBC newsman. “And maybe they don’t feel they can win right now, so they are missing that intensity. That was the thing that struck me more than anything. You almost wonder why they wanted the two of them sitting next to each other.”

I remember in the weeks after McCain announced her as his running mate, when the body language between them was awkward in a different way - McCain looked like the infatuated guy chasing her around the stage, while Palin looked repulsed and desperately trying to keep her distance.  I was expecting this to be one of the big untold stories of the election, something that just subliminally turned voters off, but they cut way back on joint appearances, so it kinda went away.

I do think it’s safe to say that when one half of the ticket thinks the other half is creepy, good chemistry is probably never going to happen.

Add comment October 23rd, 2008 at 11:28am Posted by Eli

Connecting With Joe Six-Pack - Ur Doin It Wrong

So much for Sarah Palin’s blather about how she’s just a simple middle-class girl who understands the common man…

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Wow.  Who’s elitist now, eh?  But this might actually be my favorite part of the story:

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent,” she said.

Awesome.  How much Republican donor money the campaign plans to spend on the Palins’ wardrobe is a top-secret strategic decision.  Hey, I wonder how much Ayertime $150,000 buys?

Republicans ripping off Republicans always makes me smile.  Republicans ripping off taxpayers, not so much.

(h/t Americablog)

Add comment October 21st, 2008 at 10:52pm Posted by Eli

Sarah Palin Is Sorry You Think She Thinks You Hate America

Oh yeah, I’m totally mollified. Are you mollified?

Palin also apologized Tuesday for any misunderstanding caused when she referred last week to the patriotic values of “the real America” and “pro-America areas of this great nation.”

Democrats and others criticized Palin for seeming to imply that some parts of the country are more patriotic than others.

Palin denied that was her intention in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

“I don’t want that misunderstood,” Palin said. “If that’s the way it came across, I apologize.”

“I apologize if you somehow drew the silly conclusion that my referring to ‘the real America’ and ‘pro-America areas’ meant that I think there are parts of America that aren’t ‘real’ or ‘pro-America.’”

1 comment October 21st, 2008 at 09:13pm Posted by Eli

Is It Just Me?

Or is Republican racism getting more and more ugly and overt as the election draws closer?

It feels like it’s building to some horrible crescendo, but I don’t even want to think about what form that might take.

Add comment October 20th, 2008 at 07:52am Posted by Eli

Colin Powell ♥ Barack Obama!

Hopefully he still has some credibility left after he sold most of it with his little presentation about how Saddam Hussein had tons of WMDs and was responsible for 9/11.

If you’re willing to forget that minor little detail, Powell was pretty good.  He said Palin was obviously not ready to be president, that the Republican Party had moved too far to the right, and that McCain was running a “troubling” divisive smear campaign and demonizing Muslims, many of whom have given their lives in service to America.

On the other hand, he expressed his admiration for Obama’s “intellectual vigor” and inclusive, honorable campaign, and said that he was the kind of generational change candidate this country needs.

Hopefully Powell’s words will carry as much weight when he’s telling the truth as they did when he was lying.

(h/t Peter Slutsky for the video)

Add comment October 19th, 2008 at 12:48pm Posted by Eli

The Wisdom Of Gail Collins

On McCain’s all-Joe-the-Plumber-all-the-time debate and campaign strategy:

Do not organize your presidential campaign around a guy you’ve only seen on YouTube.

I’m tempted to say that McCain vetted Joe the Plumber about as carefully as he vetted his running mate, but the truth is that Joe the Plumber doesn’t have any witch doctors, separatists, dueling ethics investigations, or knocked-up teenage daughters in his background.  So he’s got that going for him.

Add comment October 18th, 2008 at 12:50pm Posted by Eli

Bitter Fruit

In case any of you were wondering whether the hatemongering of McCain, Palin, and all their minions is having a tangible effect beyond people shouting rude things at campaign rallies…

Boston, Providence, Cleveland, Seattle:

[A] senior ACORN staffer in Cleveland, after appearing on television this week, got an e-mail that said she “is going to have her life ended.”

A female staffer in Providence, R.I., got a threatening call from someone who said words to the effect of “We know you get off work at 9,” then uttered racial epithets, he said.

(…)

Separately, vandals broke into the group’s Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers….

The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN’s voter-registration drive “may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and may be “destroying the fabric of democracy.”

(…)

[ACORN spokesman Brian] Kettenring said that ACORN had received growing amounts of hate mail in recent weeks, but “the campaign debate sort of tipped it over to a scary point, where raising allegations of voter fraud went from a cynical campaign ploy to really inciting racial violence.”

Since McCain’s remarks, ACORN’s 87 offices across the country have received hundreds of hostile e-mails, many of them containing racial slurs, Kettenring said. “We believe that these are specifically McCain supporters” sending the messages, he said.

(…)

Kettenring said that the bulk of the e-mails had been either “flat-out racist” or had racial overtones. Most of the group’s 400 members and about 80 percent of the 13,000 voter-registration canvassers are African-American or Latino.

Greensboro, NC:

I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

“Hey, hey,” I said. “I’m trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?”

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of “U.S.A” by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

“Oh, you think that’s funny?!” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that’s real funny…” he said.

And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

From my position there I saw the bottoms of a number of feet almost accidentally stomping me to death as the two political camps screamed back and forth, the music continued to blare and some of the Obama crowd moved the large bearded man and his friends away. When I was helped to my feet the bearded man was walking away quickly.

Mission accomplished.  This is exactly what to expect when you tell your supporters that the media are the enemy, that ACORN is the enemy, that Obama is the enemy.  Way to take the high road, Senator McCain.  Everything your crazy amped-up followers do is on your conscience, if you have one.

(h/t Twolf and Pam Spaulding)

Add comment October 17th, 2008 at 11:01pm Posted by Eli

Graphic Of The Day

By Miles Kurland. I think it really captures what the McPalin campaign is all about these days.

I’m calling it “Maverican Gothic”.

Add comment October 14th, 2008 at 07:22am Posted by Eli

Editorial Cartoons I’d Like To See

I probably won’t get as lucky as I did with the “Not So Fast, Ace” cartoon, but there are a couple of other ideas I would love to see take shape:

One would be something like a tiny McCain and Palin clinging for dear life to a giant snorting bull (labelled “Republican Base”) and bragging that they’re going to ride it to victory.  There would be a finish line off in the distance, and hoofprints showing that the bull has been stomping around in circles.

The other would be McCain in a tattered Navy uniform, with a Dubya-headed albatross (labelled “19% Approval Rating”) hanging around his neck emanating wavy stink lines, and the caption, “It is an ancient mariner, and he stoppeth one of five…”

How about it?  Anyone with skills want to help me out?  Or know someone who does?

Add comment October 12th, 2008 at 07:46pm Posted by Eli

Plausible Deniability - Ur Doin It Wrong

So much for the McCain campaign saying that it’s not their fault if some of their supporters get a little worked up and call Obama a terrorist…

According to Time, McCain campaign staffers in Virginia are teaching volunteers to see Barack Obama as having terrorist ‘friends,’ and then providing these volunteers with arguments for persuading voters that Sen. Obama, like Osama Bin Laden, shares responsibility for bombings of the Pentagon.

The report from inside the McCain campaign brings to light an alarming fact: while McCain tells his supporters publicly to refrain from violent rhetoric,  he continues to teach his volunteers rhetoric designed to elicit violent responses.

In the article, Time’s Karen Tumulty recounts her visit to a campaign training session in Gainesville, VA, a strategic center for the McCain ground game in Prince William County.   What Tumulty describes is a training session hosted by by Virginia’s state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick in which volunteers were being trained to see Barack Obama as a terrorist.  Tumulty writes:

(…)

With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” he said. “That is scary.”… “And he won’t salute the flag,” one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, “We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born.” Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii. (link)

The report from inside the McCain campaign is disturbing on several levels.   While McCain has begun chiding his supporters at public rallies for using violent rhetoric, his campaign has taken the opposite tack behind closed doors.   Despite the public image of a campaign not responsible for the violent outbursts of a few followers, the Time report reveals a ground operation actually training its volunteers to elicit violent responses in voters–specifically by making false claims about Barack Obama’s connection to terrorist attacks on U.S. military buildings.

The report confirms that the McCain campaign has staked its chances of winning the Presidency on convincing the public that Barack Obama is on the wrong side of the ‘War on Terror’ and, therefore, his victory in the Presidential election would put the power of the White House in the hands of terrorists.

Tumulty’s report raises serious questions about whether or not John McCain is using campaign rhetori that not only depart from recognized moral boundaries, but risk igniting actual violence.

In particular, by teaching his volunteers to see Barack Obama as similar to Osama Bin Laden–and by training his volunteers to convince voters of the same–McCain is using his presidential campaign to tie his Sen. Obama to the mass murders of September 11, 2001.  In this way, McCain is effectively teaching his suporters to believe that Sen. Obama is not only connected to terrorists, but that Sen. Obama deserves the same punishment as terrorists.

In addition to being despicable and dangerous, I just don’t see how this strategy translates into anything but resounding defeat for McCain and the Republican Party.  Yes, it will probably energize the Limbaugh/Coulter/Savage base, but it will repulse everyone else.  How can they maintain their pose as the salt-of-the-earth family values party after everyone gets a good long luck at the fear and hate gibbering behind the mask?

(Let us not forget that VA is also the state where Bobby May served as a county campaign chair up until recently - is there something in the water?)

3 comments October 12th, 2008 at 05:58pm Posted by Eli

Hoist By Her Own Personnel Board?

Hey, remember when Sarah Palin filed an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board to try to pre-empt the legislature’s Troopergate investigation?  How her lawyer and the McCain campaign made such a big deal about how her pet investigation was the only legitimate one, and the legislature’s was a partisan witchhunt (despite being dominated by Republicans)?

Um, about that…

Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin’s 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel’s report could be released soon after. “We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board,” said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin “has nothing to hide,” it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Oops.

I think the only card Palin can play at this point is to use this as “proof” that filing an ethics complaint against herself was a sign of her high ethical standards, and not a cynical excuse to duck the real investigation.

Which is all well and good, provided that Petumenos doesn’t release anything embarrassing before the election.  Or isn’t allowed to.

(h/t bmaz)

1 comment October 12th, 2008 at 03:04pm Posted by Eli

Stay Classy, Republicans!

McCain’s supporters continue to be nasty pieces of work…

CBS News:

As the crowd cheered at a Sarah Palin rally this morning in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a man in the audience grinned as he held up a stuffed monkey doll with a Barack Obama bumper sticker wrapped across its forehead.

After Palin finished her remarks this morning, the man holding the stuffed monkey seemed to notice that a video camera was pointed at him, at which point he removed the Obama sticker from the doll’s head and crumpling it up in his hand. He then handed the doll to a young boy who was watching the rally from his father’s shoulders. The boy’s parents later told CBS News that they weren’t acquainted with the man who gave their son the stuffed monkey

As I wrote before, this is an extension of the psychotic behavior being injected into our society from right wing talk shows, Malkinite bloggers and movement conservatives. Sadly, it’ll only get worse during the closing weeks of the campaign and will continue onward and upward after the election.

This is the Republican base now.  Charming, isn’t it.  Actually, it might also be McCain himself…

Add comment October 12th, 2008 at 11:49am Posted by Eli

Who’s Driving The Hate Talk Express?

Overheated rhetoric and personal attacks on our opponents distract from the big differences between John McCain’s vision for the future of our nation and the Democrats’.
- Rick Davis, McCain campaign manager, 3/11/08

This is getting really disturbing. Every day, John McCain and Sarah Palin stir up more and more violent hatred at their public appearances. As they hammer relentlessly at Obama’s supposed connection with William Ayers, their audiences shout “Socialist!”, “Kill him!”, “Traitor!”, “Treason!”, “Terrorist!”, “Off with his head!”, and “Bomb Obama!” (that last one was actually at a Saxby Chambliss rally, but it’s part of the same trend).

For the most part, both candidates have completely ignored these yawps from the Republican id, with McCain making pleas for decency only in response to direct questions… and getting booed by his own supporters when he does. The Republican base is getting bolder and meaner, and McCain and Palin are either deliberately inflaming the situation, or have lost control of it, afraid to antagonize their own mob.

I’m betting on the former, but it’s a strategy that plays very badly with the non-crazy, non-base, non-racist demographic. Are the McCainiacs really betting that more than 50% of American voters are not only racist, but so racist that they’re willing to overlook the Epic Fail that is modern conservatism?

McCain’s playing-with-fire campaign isn’t just immoral, it’s self-destructive. The Republican Party’s brand is already associated with corruption, incompetence, torture and war; exposing its angry eliminationist underbelly will poison it even more. It could make the difference between losing “only” six Senate seats, and losing eleven or twelve… and God only knows how many in the House.

And it’s only going to get worse. The pressure is building, and I think it’s going to boil over before the election. I don’t know what form the explosion will take, but it will be something so gut-punch monstrous that it shocks and appalls everyone but the diehard crazies. I’m desperately hoping that it will be “merely” ugly and not tragic - that McCain and the Republicans are the only ones who get hurt, and only figuratively.

John McCain cannot deny responsibility for the scary turn his campaign has taken since Rick Davis’s long-forgotten memo. He could have fired Steve Schmidt at any time, and he hasn’t. Senator Honor & Courage is either perfectly content to roll in the gutter, too out-of-touch to realize that he’s in the gutter, or too weak to stand up to a subordinate. Not exactly character traits Americans look for in a Commander-In-Chief.

Add comment October 11th, 2008 at 08:59pm Posted by Eli

McCain Campaign Clears Palin In Troopergate

Well, that’s settled.  What a relief!

In an effort to head off the [Branchflower] report, McCain campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin released the campaign’s own version of events. That report, which Griffin said was written by campaign staffers, says the Legislature has taken a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and one of her commissioners, and portrayed it as something inappropriate.

“The following document will prove Walt Monegan’s dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration,” campaign officials wrote. “Trooper Wooten is a separate issue.”

Well, if John McCain’s campaign staff thinks his running mate didn’t do anything wrong, that’s good enough for me!  Palin’s lawyer might disagree, though:

Palin’s attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said he had not received a copy of the report. Over the past few days, Van Flein has released affidavits and other documents that Palin’s husband and aides provided to investigators. That rankled some lawmakers but Van Flein said he wanted to make sure Branchflower’s report didn’t take anything out of context.

“Whenever anyone writes their own report, they’re filtering their data. And if you’ve already drawn your conclusion, you tend to filter it in a way to support that conclusion,” he said.

Imagine that.  But I guess we can’t expect a bipartisan committee to be as impartial and committed to the truth as John McCain’s campaign staff.

(h/t Attaturk)

Add comment October 10th, 2008 at 11:29am Posted by Eli

Hillary Vs. Sarah

Well, it’s good to see confirmation that women aren’t buying Sarah Palin’s I’m-just-like-you schtick:

A new poll of 600 female voters found that most view Hillary Clinton as a better mom, role model and leader than Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the first woman to be named to a Republican ticket.

(…)

The random telephone survey of 600 female voters - conducted for Shezoom.com, a new website devoted to topics of interest to women - included both personal and political questions about Palin and Clinton.

Clinton - whose popularity seems to have only risen since she ended her own White House bid - beat Palin in every category.

If somehow Palin and Clinton end up at the top of their party’s tickets in 2012, for instance, the former First Lady would make moose-meat out of the Alaska governor, 61% to 27%

Nearly three times as many women think Clinton would do a better job dealing with the economy and with foreign leaders, and women are twice as likely to say they trust Clinton than Palin.

Clinton even beats Palin, a mother of five, in the parenting department - 35% think Clinton has been a better mother, compared to 24% who picked Palin.

“I think there is probably a Chelsea factor there,” said Shezoom.com CEO Stacey Artandi, noting that many voters see the Clinton’s 28-year-old daughter as a poised young woman “who is very much a reflection of Hillary.”

Beyond that, women say Clinton has struck a better “work/life balance” by a 44%-to-32% margin.

And 53% believe Clinton is a better role model for women, compared to 33% who choose Palin.

I’m not sure how credible this poll is, but those results sure are lopsided.

Also worth noting that when I looked, the NY Daily News online reader poll was running 78-22 in favor of Hillary on the presidential question, and trustworthy sources tell me that the News is a pretty Republican paper.

1 comment October 6th, 2008 at 11:22pm Posted by Eli

Greetings From Afghanada

Um… WTF?

Three days after a mostly gaffe-free debate performance, the Alaska governor fumbled during a speech in which she praised U.S. soldiers for “fighting terrorism and protecting us and our democratic values”.

“They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan,” she told several hundred supporters at a fundraising event in San Francisco.

Tina Fey will never be able to keep up.

(h/t Lisa Derrick)

Add comment October 6th, 2008 at 11:36am Posted by Eli