Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2008 > September > 30
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Write your own caption to this one, folks…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Permalink | Comments (36) | Post your comment |
It wasn’t Nancy with the laughing face
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barack Obama has reportedly begun to call Democratic House members who opposed the bailout, trying to change a few minds and votes. No names are being mentioned, but you have to think that the four Georgia Democrats who voted against the bill — Hank Johnson, David Scott, John Lewis and John Barrow, whom Obama endorsed in a Democratic primary — would be on the call list.
Another Georgia Democrat, Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, voted for the package despite facing one of the toughest re-election fights of any Democrat in Congress. He reportedly told fellow Democrats that this vote was important enough to lose his seat over if necessary. You gotta like that sentiment.
Also, you may remember that in the wake of Monday’s disastrous bailout vote, Republican House leaders tried to put the blame for their failure on an ill-considered and partisan speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“We had a dozen members that we thought that we had a really good chance of getting on the floor,” House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters afterward. “And all that evaporated when the speaker spoke.”
A day later, that excuse has fallen apart:
Permalink | Comments (74) | Post your comment |
Palin’s debate performance critical
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sarah Palin’s performance in the vice presidential debate Thursday night will determine the course of the last month of the presidential campaign.
If she does OK, the race will continue to be fairly close in the last few weeks, with the outcome still in doubt but Obama holding the advantage.
However, if Palin embarrasses herself and her party and contributes further to the belief that her nomination was a monumental mistake, the presidential race is over and the only remaining question will be the margin of victory.
So far, Palin has come across as unintelligent in interviews, and has been lampooned viciously for that. However, it’s an impression that may not be entirely fair — the more charitable and accurate word may be unknowledgeable. Perfectly smart people will sound stupid if asked to expound on topics they have not studied and thought about, and that seems to be what is happening with Palin.
Time and again, she has shown no real familiarity or comprehension of national or international policy. In fact, her interview with Katie Couric is destined to become political legend. Afterward, one McCain aide tried to explain Palin’s performance in that interview by claiming that Couric had asked Palin “a series of trapdoor questions.”
They weren’t trapdoor questions, they were basic questions, and simply put.
Things got even more absurd this week after a voter in Philadelphia asked Palin whether US forces ought to chase terrorists across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Absolutely, Palin said, thus taking a position identitical to that of Barack Obama and contradicting that of John McCain.
Here’s how the conversation with the voter, Michael Rovito, played out:
“How about the Pakistan situation?” Rovito asked. “What’s your thoughts about that.”
“In Pakistan?” Palin responded.
“What’s going on over there, like Waziristan?”
“It’s working with Zardari to make sure that we’re all working together to stop the guys from coming in over the border,” Palin said. “And we’ll go from there.”
“Waziristan is blowing up,” Rovito replied.
“Yeah, it is,” Palin said. “And the economy there is blowing up, too.”
“So we do cross-border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan, you think?” Rovito asked.
“If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,” Palin said.
It’s hardly unheard of for a vice presidential candidate to express views different from that of the presidential nominee. Joe Biden has already done so on occasion.
But in a later interview with Palin at his side, McCain claimed it was somehow “gotcha journalism” to have reported Palin’s response. Gotcha journalism, to report accurately a vice presidential nominee’s public response to a voter?
Here’s the interview. Note also how McCain and Palin try to mislead viewers about the nature of the exchange with the voter.
Permalink | Comments (177) | Post your comment |
A total lack of faith in economy, leaders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the weekend, Gallup asked Americans how well their national leaders were responding to the economic meltdown. The results weren’t pretty. Only 28 percent approved of how President Bush has handled the problem, with 68 percent disapproving.
Republican leaders in Congress didn’t fare much better, with 58 percent of Americans disapproving and 31 percent approving. Democrats did a little better, with 50 percent disapproval and 39 percent approval.
John McCain’s campaign suspension stunt apparently didn’t go over well, with 53 percent disapproving of his performance and 37 percent approving. The only figure who came out on the plus side was Barack Obama, with 46 percent approval and 43 percent disapproval.
And of course, all those numbers were compiled before Monday’s distressing demonstration of bipartisan pettiness and incompetence.
This is not merely a financial crisis, it is a crisis of faith in American government, and the twin meltdowns are reinforcing each other with potentially terrible consequences. And in both cases, you get the sense that this has been a long time coming and will take a long time to fix.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
