Palin And McCain May Deserve Each Other But Do We Deserve Them?

I knew when I posted last night I did so at great peril. Defending Sarah Palin in any way, shape or form gave me great pause.

Today that feeling of uneasiness proved true. The gloves are off. The dirt is flying. And Sarah, in her own folksy way, is leading the charge with reckless abandon!

According to an AP article on Brietbart she has now accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists"!

Whoa, Nellie! She is, of course, referring to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the radical Weather Underground. When the group was active and taking credit for violence during the Vietnam War era Obama was a child. In time Ayers denounced his own radical activities and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Obama served on a charity board with Ayers and has indeed had dealings with Ayers over time. These include serving together on the board of the Woods Fund dedicated to the development of community groups to help the poor and Obama served on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school reform group that Ayers founded.

If this is a terrorist I'd not mind palling around with him myself!

Ms. Palin had this to say about Obama, " Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country" and "This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."

Whoa, again. Back the pony up to the cart! Your view, Ms. Palin, is not how I see America nor how I see Barack Obama.

I could suggest you didn't do your home work on this one or your handlers had so much to feed you they missed this, but I don't think that's the case.

You, Ms. Palin, and John McCain will do anything to turn the tide of this election. You both should be ashamed to have sunk to this low. I hope the American people are beginning to see you as the puppet you have become.

Yes. I'm angry now. You're team isn't resonating, your team is weak on the war, on the economy and on decency. Folksy doesn't cut it when you totally misrepresent your opponent. You degrade yourself, your ticket and your party.

I withdraw my earlier statement about you deserving anything. You owe an apology to Barack Obama and Bill Ayers.

Oh yes, when the dirt is dished about you, don't blame the media. Check under your rug. I understand the pile is getting pretty high.

Trouble In Paradise?

I don't think Sarah Palin is Vice Presidential material. That being said, I resent the fact that she is being used, as a woman, to further John McCain's ambitions. I'm beginning to think that even he doesn't think she measures up but if she can bring in the Christian conservative vote, so what?

This headline, Palin questions McCain's concession of Michigan on Yahoo news caught my eye. I was astounded.

The article reports that Palin only learned of it Friday morning when she read it in the papers! Talk about not being kept in the loop! What an unconscionable slap in the face!

Being the feisty go getter that she is, she had this to say, "Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers. We'd be so happy to get to speak to the people of Michigan who are hurting because the economy is hurting" and "I want to get back to Michigan and I want to try".

I applaud Sarah Palin for that attitude. Walking away, pulling your ads and reassigning staff because the polls are against you is no way to convince the American public you are concerned about their needs. Only your own.

Governor Palin has been kept on a short leash for good reason. We've seen glimpses of why in her interviews and in the debate. The campaign is doing everything it can to minimize the exposure that showcases her weaknesses and in turn blame what does come through on the evil media.

That may work some of the time but when the Vice Presidential candidate is not informed of a major strategy decision until after the fact, it tells this voter a lot about the character of John McCain and just how Ms. Palin would be used if the team is elected.

I mentioned in my earlier post today how I'm hearing women voicing the feeling of insult and betrayal because this woman was chosen over many more qualified. Well, here's a new reason to feel both emotions. Whether you like Sarah Palin or not, whether you feel she's qualified or not, she deserves better from the man who put her in this position.

Palin Comparison - To What?

Remember Teddy Ruxpin? Or all the versions of Elmo, the Muppet? You know, the toys on which you'd pull a cord and they'd talk? Or CP3O of Star Wars fame where all his knowledge came from implanted chips? That's what Sarah Palin reminded me of last night.

Giving credit where credit is due, her handlers deserve an A+ for preparation. When told she was formidable as a debater, it was believed with good reason. She raised the bar for herself.

Yet, as in the now infamous Couric interviews, she either speaks a volume of words without saying anything or she skillfully turns a question she doesn't know the answer to into one on which she can expound without saying, again, anything. She was well rehearsed and rote. I can just hear her coaches exhorting her to, "Drill, baby, drill!"

All my snarkiness aside, I'm still left with the uneasy feeling that there is no there there unless it's planted. She is no orator, she drops all her "g"s and her folksiness may wash with those who elected her mayor but I don't see it playing well on the world stage.

I think it was unfair that Joe Biden had to restrain himself for fear of appearing sexist; beating up on the poor girl. That he did to the extent he did was most admirable. He addressed her as Governor. She addressed him as Joe. It reminded me of the folksy Bush and his "Yo! Blair!" comment.

They say the Vice Presidential debate is basically inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I hope that is true. I'm aware of lots of attractive young women who are personable and quick studies who are not Vice Presidential material. Sarah Palin is one of them.

I'm hearing from more and more women that they have a feeling of having been betrayed. Insulted, actually, that with all the able women to choose from that this woman was the Republican candidate's choice.

Please! Stop Whining!

Talk about misinformation! Okay, Gwen Ifill probably should have mentioned to those choosing the moderators for the debates that she was writing a book about the current state of Black politics in America, but for that to disqualify her is absurd.

Who better to write a book entitled "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" than a Black? It is a timely subject and a story, if written by a White, no one would have given it's authorship a second thought.

That she is pro Obama should come as no surprise. Duh! All the moderators have their candidate and some are more open about it than others. Just watch their regular shows.

McCain, it would seem is trying to reinsert race into a debate in which Obama isn't even participating! According to
Politico McCain had this to say on Fox and Friends,

"Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let's face it. But I have to have confidence that Gwen Ifill will handle this as the professional journalist that she is. ...

Life isn’t fair, as I mentioned earlier in the program."

Oh, please. The debate has already been dumbed down to accommodate your running mate and the sexist/gender issue has already been laid on Joe Biden before he's even had a chance to open his mouth!

I understand his being a little nervous. It has been showing lately. John has been getting testy and sarcastic which is not becoming.

Oh, and about the book. The chapter on Obama has yet to be written. This is the time of Obama, he's leading the way for so many, but the book is not about Obama per se but of the inroads Blacks have been able to make because of men like Obama- and Colin Powell, and Harold Ford, Jr. and J.C. Watts and, and, and...

So let's tuck that nasty old race card back where it belongs - out of sight, out of mind. Watch Gwen Ifill tonight for the consummate professional she has proven to be, like, oh let's say, an Ed Bradley or Russ Mitchell or Lester Holt or, or, or...

Let's pay more attention to how the questions are answered than to who is asking them. We will be better served.

There's No Lipstick On The Senate Pigs

The three big pigs and their bailout bills. My version. We started with a three page bill from the administration's little pig, Treasury Secretary Paulson. It was made of straw. The big, bad wolf of a House huffed and puffed and blew it off.

Then they morphed into pigs themselves and build a bill of wood. The problem was they couldn't decide on what grade of wood; solid or full of knotty holes. So they huffed and they puffed and blamed each other and blew it off. Their bill had grown to 116 pages.

Now it's the Senate's turn. Being a wise, deliberative body, they noticed the pig shtick didn't work so they morphed into hogs and produced a bill of brick. 451 pages long!

Hub had the PDF waiting for me when I got home from errand running. Every lobbyist in the world that wanted to get something into a "must pass" bill got into this one.

Here is the said purpose of the bill:

The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to immediately provide authority and facili-
3
ties that the Secretary of the Treasury can use to
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restore liquidity and stability to the financial system
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of the United States; and
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(2) to ensure that such authority and such fa-
7
cilities are used in a manner that—
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(A) protects home values, college funds, re-
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tirement accounts, and life savings;
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(B) preserves homeownership and pro-
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motes jobs and economic growth;
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(C) maximizes overall returns to the tax-
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payers of the United States; and
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(D) provides public accountability for the
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exercise of such authority.

Here are some of the provisions:

Subtitle A—Renewable Energy Incentives

Subtitle B—Carbon Mitigation and Coal Provisions

TITLE II—TRANSPORTATION AND DOMESTIC FUEL SECURITY
PROVISIONS

TITLE III—ENERGY CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY
...and on and on. I don't like to cut and paste but did so to give you an idea of where this is going.

I'm sorry but this bill should not be passed nor should the President sign if it is. Here we are agonizing over the result of what we've been told is greed from the home buyer on up to our largest financial institutions. It has and will have an effect on our lives for a long time to come. The purpose is to borrow from the taxpayer to re-establish liquidity within our financial institutions; not to fund every pet project under the sun!

Now is the opportunity for both candidates to shine. I'd like to hear them defend or discredit, provision by provision, every provision in this bill that has nothing to do with the bailout. Yes. It would take hours. It would also mean they would have to actually read it. That would be novel.

Gentlemen?