Sarah Palin Cost McCain the Election (UPDATE1)

UPDATE 1: Added paragraph about McCain's motivations

     Not because she is retarded.  Not because she has the policy acumen of your average hockey mom, but because she has no experience.  The morning she was selected I knew it was all over for John Sidney McCain III.

     See, you can argue that the Biden selection was a semi-cynical ploy to beef up the Obama ticket's foreign policy credentials, but I don't see how it helps with the current economic situation.

     No, the Palin selection undermined the most effective argument the McCain campaign had.  This argument had been used by all the major McCain supporters.  Before that it had been used extensively by the campaign of Hilary Clinton.  It was an argument that made me worry.  It was an argument which I know was influencing some people who might not have wanted to vote for Obama for other reasons (racism, Hillary supporters).

     The Palin selection undermined the experience argument completely.

     So, we have three choices.  We can believe that McCain had no idea about what every Republican in America was saying about Obama and experience.  We can believe that this choice was forced on him by Ralph Reed, or the likes of him.  Or we can believe that John Sidney McCain the Third wanted the Democrats to win.  The most generous answer, of course, is the last.  And if it is true, we should thank John McCain. : And even if it isn't, we should thank him for a mostly decent fight.

Yah, But What's A Ry?

     Is John McCain's "Country First" slogan really about Cindy McCain?

Hee Hee, Thanks Kristin

The Vet Who Did Not Vet, a Dr. Seuss-ish tale of McCain choosing Palin.

Sarah Palin's College Board

Turns out this story was a hoax.  Sorry for the confusion.  To see the original post, if you want, view the source of this webpage and look at the commented HTML.

Pastor Conrad for John Sidney McCain III

I pray to Hindu and Buddha to raise B. Hussein Osama to the Presidency, just like Pastor Conrad (takes 15-20 seconds to get going).

Powell Endorsement Would Have Been Meaningful When Race Was Close

Few people now think McCain can overcome his disadvantages and win.  I hope that is true.  I hope the Powell endorsement will help that. 

     Let's not forget that Powell sat in front of the United Nations and spewed one of the most murderous lines of utter bullshit that humankind has heard in the last few decades.  Supposedly, Powell wouldn't repeat some of the crap the Bush administration told him to, but he did repeat some crap that any reasonable person should have known was garbage (e.g. "unaccounted for stockpiles"), and much else that was of dubious value, while completely avoiding anything that might have cast doubt on his talk (e.g. volunteered CIA interview with Saddam's son-in-law, the defector Gen. Hussein Kamel).

     It's a shame that people like Colin Powell are trumpeted by our press corps as people of substance, whose opinions matter.  He's not a terrible general, but as a politician, he should just shut the fuck up.

Governor Palin, Trooper Wooten and the Moose

A moose, still dead, finds it tragic, that his own death, a criminal matter, was only important as part of campaign of vengeance in the aftermath of a divorce proceeding.

Todd Palin met with Walter Monegan in the first few days of the Palin administration and the only topic was Trooper Wooten.  Todd presented Monegan with a bunch of papers, including pictures of a dead moose.  Monegan agreed to review the documentation, to see if anything about the Wooten investigation had been mishandled.

Trooper Wooten shot and killed a moose wihtout a permit.  We know this because the Governor's sister (his then wife, and moose-killing permit holder) was standing right next to him.  Another person with first hand knowledge of the incident was Sarah Palin's father, who butchered said moose, which remains, to the present day, very dead.

After the review Monegan told Todd Palin that normally a charge wouldn't be filed, because a permit-holder was present, and if charges were filed, they'd also have to charge Sarah's sister and Sarah's dad.

This from pages 16-23 of the 263 Branchflower report(pdf) on allegations of Palin's abuse of power.

Obama Preferred by International Audiences

PIPA did a poll of 23 countries concerning the 2008 US Presidential election and their results showed that in 22 of the 23 countries it wasn't even close, Obama was preferred.

The one country where it was close?  America.  I kid you a little.  They didn't actually poll Americans on that question, but at the time, July-August 2008, the race was very close in America.

It must be noted, however, that in Russia, Egypt and Turkey, most people didn't think either would be better.  I strongly suspect this is because of Obama's idiotic rhetoric concerning aggression in Georgia and South Ossetia, and his volte face of policy concerning Israel and Palestine. 

Palin and the Alaskan Ethics Law

Papers are repeating one of the responses of Palin's lawyer, Van Flein to the charge that she abused her power as governor in the Troopergate matter.  "Here, there is no accusation, no finding and no facts that money or financial gain to the Governor was involved in the decision to remove Monegan," the governor's attorney says. "There can be no ethics violations under these circumstances."

Sec. 39.52.120. Misuse of official position.
...
   (b) A public officer may not
...
     (4) take or withhold official action in order to affect a matter in which the public officer has a personal or financial interest;
     (5) attempt to benefit a personal or financial interest through coercion of a subordinate or require another public officer to perform services for the private benefit of the public officer at any time;

(empahasis added)

Winning

As soon as Palin was selected I was saying the election was over. The public has begun to catch up, if recent poll results are any indication.

But the Democrats are going to win with the same phony, stupid journalism (is there lipstick on a pig) that brought us George Walker Bush.

I think the corporate media, within reason, gets to pick the President. Not for the real hardcore political junkies, but for a super-majority of voters who rarely get any news except from the mainstream, corporate media.

U Chicago Hospital and Obama, Perhaps Nasty

Michelle Obama was earning about 130K, then started earning 195K more per year when Obama was elected U.S. Senator.  The hospital says the higher salary is "in line" with other V.P.'s salaries.

Less than a year later, Obama tried to insert an earmark to give the hospital where she works a million dollars. 

Sigh.

More Palin Family Vindictiveness

Palin's biggest scandal so far has been firing someone who wouldn't fire the man who spurned her sister.

Apparently, this sort of personal vindictiveness is not a one time thing with the Governor of Alaska.  This article, from the crypto-right-wing Politico website says Palin cuts off people who displease her:

Palin has unceremoniously ended relationships with an aide who was dating a family friend's soon-to-be ex-wife, a campaign adviser whose mother-in-law fought Palin's legislative agenda, a local political mentor who she felt represented the "old boys' network," a police chief who she said tried to intimidate her with "stern look[s.]"

Now, I do this to some degree.  I have a billion people to choose from for friends, 10,000,000 in the city alone, so if someone repeatedly acts daft, I just stop talking to them... but that is not how someone behaves on the job.

This inability to distinguish between the personal and the professional sounds relatively unimportant... but what about foreign policy?  Will she cut off Germany if they disagree over Creationism?  Will she alienate Japan because they are not Christians? 

Protester

How come everyone is talking about the Code Pink protesters instead of the guy in black shirt that said "Iraq Veterans Against the War" with a sign that said, on one side "John McCain Votes Against Vets" and on the other said "You Can't Win An Occupation"

He wasn't even thrown out.  Very cool.

More Palin Links?

She's not going to make it to the election.

Video of Palin saying Iraq is a task from God (Duck Cheney is God?)

Audio of Peggy Noonan calling the Palin selection "gimmicky" and "cynical"  In McCain's defense, Noonan is a nut and a Reagan person, she is not an enthusiastic McCain supporter.

Cindy McCain attacks John McCain?

Cindy said Obama never mentions his P.O.W. experience in one speech.

In the next John McCain speech, he talked about his P.O.W. experience.

GOP Convention: Fah

Everyone says McCain never talks about his POW time or his service, but every single damned one of his commercials seems to bring it up, and that fawning RNC video before his speech tonight brought it up.  Are we supposed to believe that he didn't approve the video?  We know darned well be approved the advertisements.

Today's Must Read

Bob Somerby discusses Palin, defeat of the Dems and Gennifer Flowers.

RNC FearMongering

RNC produced a video about terrorism.  They started with a clip of the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis.  Since when was that "terrorism?"  Just a way to get the war with Iran McCain has sung and joked about.  The clip also said "the day was September the 11th, 9/11."  Twice, or were they just defining it for us?

Before the video was Rep. Mary Fallin (OK-5), who is looney tunes.  Someone should really work on the education system in Oklahoma.

Marsha Blackburn has been all over the airwaves for the last few days.  Fire breathing squirrel.  Tonight she said the TV only provides talk, never provides answers.  John Sidney McCain III has appeared, over the last decade, more times on the TV news than anyone else.  More than twice as much as his nearest competitor, Tom Daschle.  Daschle was the leader of a party in Congress, a position McCain has never held.

Blackburn also Palin would make the best Vice President ever, better than Jefferson, Adams, or T Roosevelt, although she didn't name them by name.

GOP Convention, Final Night's Notes 3

Bill Frist is???  On Drugs?  Hates John McCain?  Worst speaker so far.  And he's gained weight, too