- ‹ previous
- 2643 of 2726
- next ›
Sarah Palin Explodes
SARAH PALIN EXPLODES....This is ridiculous. I was only away from the computer for a few hours to watch the UCLA-Tennessee game (helluva second half, by the way) and all hell breaks loose. After only three days, the mainstream media now appears to be in full shark-circling mode over Sarah Palin. Pretty much any piece in today's newspapers would tell the story, but here's the New York Times:
A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain's choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.
On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.
Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state's public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede [more here on that –ed.]; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.
Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin's background.
It's now plainly obvious that neither McCain himself nor anyone on the McCain team knew the first thing about Palin before they put her on the ticket. Among other things, they're refusing to say precisely how McCain found out about Bristol's pregnancy; the Washington Post has discovered that the supposedly pork-fighting Palin was actually a grand champion at hoovering up federal pork when she was mayor of Wasilla; and Edge of the American West has dug up a bunch of local dirt on Palin's, um, rather personal management style as mayor. Greg Sargent rounds up the whole thing here. As he says, it's a pretty remarkable performance for a mere few hours on a holiday weekend.
And hell, as long as we're on the subject, here's another thing I find puzzling. The New York Times piece confirms something we already knew, namely that up until the middle of last week McCain's top choice for running mate was either Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge. And he would have picked one of them except that word came back that the base would be furious if he chose a pro-choice veep. So he pulled a 180 and chose Palin instead. And the base has reacted rapturously.
But seriously: are they really that easy to sucker? It's plain where McCain's true sentiments lie: he would have chosen a pro-choice partner if he could possibly have gotten away with it. He only picked Palin out of absolute political necessity. And yet the Christian right reacted as giddily as if he had genuinely seen the light.
So I guess the answer is: yes, they really are that easy to sucker. Pretty amazing.
As the GOP deals with Hurrican Gustav and Hurricane Paliln, the Right says we on the left are afraid of Palin or Jealous of her because we are dong what he should have done Vetted Her! What we are upset about is the hypocrisy of McCain to (for months) label Barack as an empty suit, has no experience, etc., etc. and then to pick a VP "beauty queen" who is up for ethics investigation, who is completely unqualified, and shows very little intellectual capacity, just because she is a Woman in a dishonest attempt to Steal Hillary women, is prepostorous and foolhardy (fools rush in where Angels fear to tread). And we are terrified because John McCain is old and not in the best of health and there is a very REAL possibility that this woman who is not fit to be President could be president. That is outrageous! And a slap in the face to the American people. It is dangerous and reckless and this man has to be stopped! This ? McCain's Rush to Judgment ? has unveiled the true persona (a dangerous, foolhardy and reckless man who puts party first before the country)! His campaign motto "Country First" is a lie and a deception ? something GOP is good at, but not anymore. The Truth shall Prevail!
As the GOP deals with Hurrican Gustav and Hurricane Paliln, the Right says we on the left are afraid of Palin or Jealous of her because we are dong what he should have done Vetted Her! What we are upset about is the hypocrisy of McCain to (for months) label Barack as an empty suit, has no experience, etc., etc. and then to pick a VP "beauty queen" who is up for ethics investigation, who is completely unqualified, and shows very little intellectual capacity, just because she is a Woman in a dishonest attempt to Steal Hillary women, is prepostorous and foolhardy (fools rush in where Angels fear to tread). And we are terrified because John McCain is old and not in the best of health and there is a very REAL possibility that this woman who is not fit to be President could be president. That is outrageous! And a slap in the face to the American people. It is dangerous and reckless and this man has to be stopped! This ? McCain's Rush to Judgment ? has unveiled the true persona (a dangerous, foolhardy and reckless man who puts party first before the country)! His campaign motto "Country First" is a lie and a deception ? something GOP is good at, but not anymore. The Truth shall Prevail!
Of course they're that easy to sucker. I'm long past amazement. These people don't believe in evolution. Critical thinking ain't their strong suit.
Luther,
Continuing the conversation from the previous thread, there is another reason I think McCain won't drop Palin from the ticket. If he does, he will have to find another candidate. Who in his/her right mind would jump into a damaged ticket as a second choice? There is always Joe Lieberman, but we already know that McCain had to keep him off the ticket because the right wing threatened a fight on the convention floor if McCain chose a pro-choice candidate.
McCain has no choice now, unless the investigation into troopergate finds Palin at fault, giving McCain a good excuse to dump her.
Simple Sarah is mos def on the menu.
FREE AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY
Much of the information in the NYT article was ferreted out by blogs over the weekend. Real on-site reporters have to go and confirm the leads, but they were all out there to read.
Troopergate wont be "decided" until a few days before the election, too late to discard Palin from the ticket. The scattered info that has come to light is pretty damning.
I cant help but guess that Palin told no one about her daughter's pregancy and simply showed up at the Ohio rally on Friday with all the children in tow. It is hard to believe that the McCain campaign could have let this revelation fester over the weekend if they had known what was coming.
But then, we live in interesting times!
I'm pleased to see that the main stream press is finally growing some steel ones and actually investigating Republican candidates and reporting on their shortcomings. If they thought McCain was going to win, they would have tried very hard to avoid being objective in order to stay in McCain's good graces. But, I think they see the writing on the wall and that they now have to choose between sticking with a loser at the end of his political career or do some real reporting and hedge their bets between Obama and McCain.
If McCain doesn't come out of this convention smelling like a winner, the right wing will cut its losses and disown him so as not to throw good money after a bad choice of a candidate.
In (stock) trader parlance, McCain is sitting right at support. He either bounces off of this support level and gains hope of victory or he will break support and fall quickly. It appears that by choosing Palin, whether he really vetted her or not before Friday, he chose to test his support level.
Conservative Richard Brookhiser wrote something like "He picked them and the base gets energized? We're already fighting two wars: we need a new base."
[that's a massive paraphrase.]
Exactly.
Should be "He picked HER" in my post above. Apologies.
I'm sure many of them are not suckers, but those that are not probably don't give a crap what McCain wants. You know, just give us our Bible loving, abortion hating, creationist teaching dog bone to chew on.
I'm not sure what's worse, the sucker or the rabid ideologue.
McSlime choice is one of desperation. Miss Sarah is tainted and no doubt this will be exploited by the Democrats and they should. Once you become a candidate and the gloves are off. She actually wanted to secede from the Union. Is this not "Treason". She says that her families decision about her daughter's baby is their own or her daughters. Is this not Pro-choice or freedom of choice? Evangelicals are you hearing this?
The Alaska Independence Party platform makes for some good reading as I note in this post at economists for obama.
(sorry for self promotion...but I thought I'd do one since Kevin moved)
troglodyte: You are right, troopergate may not be decided until early November. The Republican lawyer vetting team that is apparently in Alaska right now will probably take a hard look at the evidence against Palin. It was rumored that there are some damning emails. If that is true and they can't get rid of those (hey, they managed to get rid of White House email; it is probably easier to get rid of Alaska govt email) they may push McCain to dump Palin before he has to drop her in disgrace.
McCain only has a day to decide if he should dump Palin. On Wed Palin will be official and it will be even harder to cut her loose at that point no matter what the circumstances are.
The Christian Evangelicals do not crave actual substance. They crave recognition; every nod in their direction saying that they do matter is what gets them going. Had he picked a pro-choice candidate, it wouldn't have been his values that offended them (although they would have said as much) but the snub, the statement of their irrelevancy would have hurt them politically.
rational: but if McCain ditches Palin then he's lost the conservative evangelicals for good anyways and his only hope would be to grab independents - Lieberman would be the best bet on that front, no? I still see a shot for Lieberman here. On that score: what the hell are Lugar, Scowcroft, Powell, Hagel, Rice et al thinking by not coming out right now and endorsing Obama. They must be fuming at John McCain's utterly irresponsible behavior.
Also I totally agree with lucero: how can the "Party of Lincoln" as they still like to call themselves nominate a secessionist on its national ticket? What the hell are they thinking?
If Gov. Palin survives the convention, then gets dumped, can he then choose Holy Joe? Did Sargent Shriver replace Thomas Eagleton before or after the convention in 1972?
That would be a cool scenario. The base would completely rebel, the Republican party would lose in a total blowout, and John McCain would have his revenge for the way he was treated in 2000 by taking the entire GOP down. I like it.
The base's enthusiasm is not quite as irrational as KD thinks. Democrats have, after all, been busily pointing out that McCain's legislative record shows him to be resolutely anti-choice; it's a bit odd now to crow that he doesn't really care about the issue, as revealed in his initial VP preferences. The real question is: will a President McCain bow to evangelicals' political power and obey their desire to make their issues a priority? The Palin pick signaled that, yes, he would, regardless of his own personal inclinations.
What I find amazing is that she felt qualified to do this. I've spent 18 years in government including appointed offices, I am an avid student of public policy and international affairs, and I only have one small skeleton in my closet, yet if someone asked me to run for anything higher than a state legislative office, I would decline. I'd be terrified to debate Joe Biden on foreign policy. She just got a passport in 2007! What books on foreign policy has she read? What foreign policy periodicals does she read? Who does she regularly discuss foreign policy with? I bet there are no good answers to these questions. It is not so much her lack of experience, as much as it is her lack of interest. I just don't get what went through her mind.
Tee hee.
In many ways it is awesome that the media is tearing into the Republican candidate for once. That said, a word of caution might be in order.
I am concerned which direction a media frenzy might take. Progressives should leave the family ENTIRELY out of the campaign. It would be morally wrong and if the Palin family is dragged into the gutter, I doubt the public will care if it is the media or the Obama campaign which does it. For that reason it is vital the story be pushed towards substantial issues and not on issues of family or character, even if the media has other ideas.
On more substantial issues I propose a three-pronged campaign.
First, it is vital the Palin-as-Maverick meme not become entrenched. It is now clear that Palin's record on earmarks, the Bridge-to-Nowhere, and her associations with Ted Stevens have been entirely deceptive. If the evidence of these misstatements gain traction it will be difficult to maintain the claim of 'reformer' and does not risk creating sympathy for the McCain campaign.
Second, Palin's membership in the Alaska Independence Party, whose entire purpose is to advocate for secession from the United States, should be well neigh impossible to spin. It is not necessary to assault Palin's character on this issue, only to highlight how very far out of the American mainstream she truly is. I simply cannot imagine that if this detail is widely known the majority of Americans would accept her as a candidate for Vice-President.
Third (sadly) Palin's policy issues are also far out of the mainstream and the public should know it. In a perfect world this would go first but I know the media will never allow that to happen. Still, we all know issues are vital (and under-reported) and hopefully this election will be seen as a rejection of the right-wing agenda.
Given the issues linked to Sarah Palin, (again, excluding ANY and ALL details of her personal life)it would seem likely that her presence on the ticket would damage McCain's candidacy. If Democrats (and the media) do not over-reach on these issues it may be possible to place the election effectively out-of-reach in the month of September.
The choice of a candidate for such an important office (VP) may be held as a surprise until the last minute, but the record of that candidate should NOT be a surprise. McCain gambled big and it appears he himself is in for a surprise.
He had a very long time to choose a VP candidate but it appears he was too busy talking to Saakashvili (President of Georgia).
The Republithug base is not the only gullible party. I suspect most MSM have heaved a sigh of relief and backed off investigating the original story that Trig Palin is Britol's child, not the governor's. If Palin stays on the ticket, I predict either a tragice 'miscarriage' for Bristol, (hopefully before she has been shotgun-married to some slacker dude), or, if she actually is pregnant, she will not deliver until February or March, and Palin will issue some announcement to the effect that they had not been sure of the date of conception, that these kinds of things happen, that anyone who says anything about it is attacking regular American families. Look at thieir words carefully: she is "about" five months pregnant, i.e., conveniently pregnant enough so that Trig could not be her child. If they knew about the pregnancy at the time Palin was being vetted, had they not obtained pre-natal care for her? If they had, they would have a due date. Why are they not stating it? If she is due to deliver say, at the end of January or later, Trig certainly could be her baby. I'm not as qualified to make diagnoses looking at pictures as former Senator Frist is, but the way she is holding that child at the picture of the rally which is going around, she sures looks a lot more like a Mom than a big sister.
You know, I've been following politics for a pretty long while and I can honestly say I've never seen anything like this. The constant stream of embarrassments coming out on Palin... this is an incredible debacle. This woman may well be the worst Vice Presidential pick in history.
I mean, to recap: her own party's state senate president says she isn't ready to lead the state let alone the country; her own mother-in-law says she isn't sure what Palin brings to the ticket and she's not sure who she's voting for; she's under investigation by her state legislature for firing the Commissioner of Public Safety for refusing to fire her brother-in-law cop; she's about to be deposed under oath as part of said investigation; she lawyers up for said deposition for said investigation; her husband has a DUI in his history; her 17 year old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant; she's apparently a former member of a wacky secessionist party; she knows nothing at all about US foreign policy and she said she just really hopes we have an exit plan while John McCain was out there stressing that we're not about to exit; she says she isn't interested in being VP until someone can explain to her what the VP does all day; she laughs as as some radio hosts call a female opponent a bitch and she mocks Hillary Clinton's whining before going out there to try to get Hillary supporters to vote for her; she introduces herself by claiming she fought a program that for the past two years she's been supporting.
... umm.
Man, Thomas Eagleton ain't got shit on Sarah Palin. I imagine right now she's thinking "I wish all I had were a few electroshocks."
I'm with Anonymous. What the hell was she thinking? It's pretty arrogant to think that you can take on a job like that with so little knowledge. She knew her religiously raised 17 year old was pregnant too. What kind of mom would want that shared -- literally -- with the entire country?
And on top of all of that, we're only on day four of her candidacy.
I'm with Anonymous: what was she thinking when she accepted the position? She has probably ruined whatever chances she will ever have of being taken seriously on the national level. I mean there was NO ground work laid to introduce some of the more exotic parts of her background (AIP). How unpatriotic can you be if you join a group advocating, in part, secession?
Let us not forget that with regard to the young pregnant daughter, and the life changing, never-to-be-completely-escaped media frenzy that is now enveloping her: it happened because Sarah Palin made a knowing choice.
She knew her child was pregnant and in a fairly late stage pregnancy. She knew that in a modern national campaign it was bound to come out. She knew that the resulting media firestorm would change the kid's life, not for the better, in much the same way Monica Lewinsky's life was changed forever when she wandered into a similar media firestorm.
Some parents, faced with less severe harm to their kids (say, forcing them to move to a new town midway through high school), would turn the chance at the big job down, for now. After all, Sarah Palin is young, and would likely have had options in 2012 or 2016 if national office was meant to be, and when the teenage pregnancy was past history, not a current newsworthy event.
Not Palin. To be VP, she tossed her daughter right under the paparazzi bus.
If McCain is to be believed, he knew all about this situation, and was happy to help sacrifice this child to boost his chance to be President.
That some high school kids made a poor choice in a moment of lust is not a fair story. That two adults asking to be trusted with the biggest jobs in the land made such a heinous choice is.
reader: Yes, if McCain decides to dump Palin, he is toast. He would be dissing some faction or the other with the dump Palin decision as well as the new choice.
Which is why I think he won't dump her as long as they can spin everything as "attacks from the liberals and the liberal media." Any hint from even an anonymous source in his campaign that he is thinking about dumping Palin will be the end of his candidacy. He may be a hothead, but I think he knows enough about elections to realize the importance of sticking with his VP choice to the bitter end.
Here's the fairly delicious irony:
The McCain team has clearly been reveling the last few weeks in getting in the Obama team's "OODA loop" (basically, confusing them so that they can't figure out what move to make next, leaving them reacting rather than acting). And I think announcing a surprise VP pick the day after Obama's convention speech was supposed to be a real masterstroke along these lines.
Well, who's confused now? Do you think McCain and company really want to spend convention week talking about the Alaska Independence Party?
[If I had to guess right now, I'd pick that particular strand of scandal as the one most likely to lead to electoral debacle for the McCain-Palin ticket this year.]
The state police wouldn't fire a serial drunk driving, wife-beating lout who waved his gun and badge in bars while dead drunk, and threatened to KILL Palin's father in her hearing. Gave him a 5-day suspension.
Not only did they not discipline this guy, their good-old-boy crap was endemic. The creep was pulled over drunk on many occasions (he BRAGGED about it) but his badge got him off.
So Palin starts firing from the top, down, until she finds someone who gives a sh*t about cleaning up a crooked police force.
What's so hard to understand. Unless of course you don't want to, living in that "reality" cocoon of yours.
Kevin--
I find it amazing that you cherry-pick your MSM articles. The Washington Post has a detailed article claiming that the Palin nomination was long in the works. You quote them on other things, but discount them on this. All the facts that fit, what?
But seriously: are they really that easy to sucker? It's plain where McCain's true sentiments lie: he would have chosen a pro-choice partner if he could possibly have gotten away with it. He only picked Palin out of absolute political necessity. And yet the Christian right reacted as giddily as if he had genuinely seen the light.
Perhaps they are giddy for another reason. If they are playing the long game, they will want to to normalize their presence in the political arena. They will want to redefine the norm in order to make their candidates more acceptable to the electorate. That's what's so dangerous about Huckabee, no?
Kevin, there are two separate issues here:
1) Most sources close to the divorce say it was a mess on all sides; do you have an unbiased source for your accusations?
2) Do you really think it is appropriate for elected officials involve themselves in decisions where they have a personal interest?
oh, and Kevin, what is your view of the Alaska Independence Party?
Jbryan: That was an amazingly succinct sum-up. I'm in awe.
Kevin Murpy: Nice try. The WaPo had a McCain press release disguised as a news article, regurgitating the spin that the Republicans wanted to put on things. There was no reporting of anything other than campaign sources.
Subsequent reporting has made it obvious that they had no clue that practically any of the things that jbryan summarized were coming.
This is a staggering clusterf*%#.
Oh, and let me add that if what the WaPo article said actually IS true, that makes them look even worse! If they knew all these wacky things were out there and laid NO groundwork for them, then they are even bigger idiots than if they were caught by surprise.
so...choose your poison I guess.
I should probably go to bed, but here's one more thing re: KM's first post:
The scenario you describe is quite defensible. The only thing is, your comment is the only time I've ever heard it. She denied having any involvement in the issue. She didn't claim he was a menace and used her powers to make sure that justice was served. She just denied it.
The Alaska Indepence Party and Sarah...Now it all makes sense that she boarded a plane, after her water broke, and risked an 8 plus hour flight back to (the country of) Alaska so her son could be born a citizen there, ha. Just seemed incredulous before. Well OK, still seems incredulous to me, but I can see where she is coming from now.
I'm with Anonymous: what was she thinking when she accepted the position?
She knew her child was pregnant and in a fairly late stage pregnancy. She knew that in a modern national campaign it was bound to come out. She knew that the resulting media firestorm would change the kid's life, not for the better, in much the same way Monica Lewinsky's life was changed forever when she wandered into a similar media firestorm.
I don't think she did know. This is a woman from way out in the sticks, used to throwing her weight around and getting what she wants, all within a VERY local context. She's never had any involvement in national politics or international relations. I think she had no clue what the full scrutiny of national press (not to mention the blogosphere) would be like.
WRT debating foreign affairs with Joe Biden, I think her life experience is so blinkered that she has no idea that foreign policy expertise even exists, much less that she is sorely lacking in it. Fools rush in, as they say.
As for the wingnut base, this is a group of people who have found a way to be spectacularly wrong about every political issue (and a lot of life issues as well). It's fitting that they'd go ape over the worst VP pick in the country's history. It would be more remarkable if they were ever right about anything.
Its clear from reading the lame attacks on this site that American language needs a complement to the phrase "damning with feint praise".
Something like "confirming with lame scandals.." only with a more pithy ring to it. Thank you lefties for the laughs of what you consider "deal breaking" scandals. Its pretty humorous.
Now can we get on to the real qualification and see how she does on policy and debate.
Personally, I think she is going to clean Joe's clock. But, that's just a feeling. I don't know how enough about her to know how she will really do. She has a big advantage though. She is, as far as I can tell, a genuine person and not some image. That is half the battle when speaking to the people of the right. We prefer reality to a vain show. We would never nominate as candidates people like BHO who are just so much rhetoric. Occasionally we will get conned by a slick image. But, for the most part, we on the right seem to prefer sincerity with flaws, than pretty images. Sarah will do fine.
The theme of the GOP convention--whatever is left of it--will probably become:
"FORGETTING SARAH PALIN."
John, Is your only requirement for leadership of our country that someone be "sincere" or "genuine"? That is setting the bar pretty low. What makes you think Obama is not genuine? All politicians speak rhetorically, even Sarah. You just happen to agree with her, so you see it as honesty rather than rhetoric.
Personally, I think she is going to clean Joe's clock. But, that's just a feeling. I don't know how enough about her to know how she will really do.
John, that is the point we are making here. Neither you nor McCain knows enough about her, yet you have thrown your unqualified support to her candidacy. You may believe whatever you want about BHO and those of us here may believe whatever we find out about Palin.
The true test is what will the independent voters believe? Will they fall for that rhetoric filled Obama or will they fall for a sincere Palin with too many flaws? I think we will have a pretty good idea in about a week when the polls start reflecting the impact of the conventions.
The Republicans managed to elect (twice) as president a guy with more skeletons in the closet than Palin. Drug use, DWI arrests, lots of questions about his National Guard service, insider trading allegations. And, by his own admission, no foreign policy experience (he said he would rely on "experts" for that).
With that recent history, you can't really fault the Republicans for having concluded that vetting is overrated, and that the average voter (especially the red state voter) doesn't care about the skeletons.
I think we will know a lot more when Palin gives her convention speech. Don't be surprised if, by the end of the convention, she is America's darling.
I took at quick peek at some of the leading news papers to see who else, besides the NY Times, is covering Palin's association with the secessionist party.
Looks like the story is gaining traction:
LA Times
There are plenty of Palin stories at WashingtonPost.com, but I didn't want to register to see if there was a reference to the secession story. Nothing so far in USA Today; they only have the now well-known pregnancy story. Same with Chicago Trbune and Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Considering that two major papers, one on each coast, have covered the story, we will probably find more coverage in the next couple of days.
"damning with feint praise"
"feint?' don't you mean "faint?"
isn't a "feint" a fake-out maneuver that is done in sports to trick an opponent?
doesn't "damning with faint praise" mean complimenting people in a way that is actually insulting them and subversively implying that they are wrong or culpable?
jest askin...
Here's something about the Palin pick that is being overlooked. McCain, who cultivates the image of a damn-the-consequences man of action, didn't get to pick his VP. His first "presidential" decision, and he didn't get his way. He wanted Lieberman or Ridge, and his Party or his campaign overruled him on political grounds. I guess he's not the Decider. The fact that he wasn't able to choose his own running mate makes him look weak.
Then the VP candidate that the Right foisted on him turns out to be a disaster. He must be livid. The Christianists never liked McCain, and many don't actively support him. This is what McCain gets for embracing Rovian politics.
This Palin debacle is another indication of the incompetence that has has been the hallmark of GOP rule.
How did the Straight-Talk Express become Mr. Toad's Wild ride? Dave
Hey, the LAST guy the chose for the job actually shot a man in the face. Clearly, this is an improvement.
The problem I've always said about McCain is that even if he's the maverick he portrays himself as being, he can't win without the Republican base. The odd moments when Bush tacked against the base, on the Miers nomination and immigration to name 2 examples, the Republicans dealt him serious humiliations. If McCain wins in November, the conservatives will feel vindicated and be even less willing to compromise with him than they were with Bush. This nomination only underscores how beholding he is to the base.
The Democrats keep acting as though McCain is running for Bush's 3rd term. Actually, he may be running for the term Cheney could never run for.
The rumor that Palin's child Trig is actually her daughter's cuts two ways. If the kid is actually her grandchild it's no big deal. A certain amount of mendacity would be involved, but it would basically be a loving, protecting, accomodating act.
However, if Palin was in labor in Dallas, and, instead of seeking prompt medical attention there, spent eight hours flying to Anchorage and then drove to her local hospital, then she has no more sense than her running mate.