Thinking Right

By Mrs. Godzilla

September 16, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this

McCAIN/PALIN 08

Tax cuts for 5%

Depression for 95%

It’s the REPUBLICAN economy, stupid!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. I would commend the entire Paglia essay at Salon.com to our leftist friends, noting that Paglia affirms she is voting for Obama nevertheless. Camille is my favorite feminist writer, and I sent the article to my friends last week.

Taranto gave us a few incisive arguments yesterday:

(1) On Friday, we noted that ABC News had engaged in some sleight-of-hand to conceal Charlie Gibson’s misrepresentation of a Sarah Palin quote. On Saturday Jacques Steinberg, a reporter for the New York Times, noted it too: The questions some respondents took issue with included Mr. Gibson’s reference to a recent church speech, in which he quoted Ms. Palin as saying, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” In an excerpt of the speech on YouTube—which ABC spliced into the interview when it was shown—Ms. Palin had prefaced that comment by appearing to say she was praying that America’s mission in Iraq represented God’s will.

But Palin’s meaning escaped the Times editorial page, which repeated the falsehood that her prayer was an assertion:

“Her answers about why she had told her church that President Bush’s failed policy in Iraq was “God’s plan” did nothing to dispel our concerns about her confusion between faith and policy. Her claim that she was quoting a completely unrelated comment by Lincoln was absurd.”

By the way, an alert reader spotted this exchange from Barack Obama’s January interview with Beliefnet.com:

Q: Is it difficult in the rough and tumble of campaign politics to stick to that, to live out your faith? And can you talk about whether you have a favorite prayer or what you pray about?

Obama: The prayer that I tell myself every night is a fairly simple one: I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that my sins are forgiven, that my family is protected and that I am an instrument of God’s will. I’m constantly trying to align myself to what I think he calls on me to do. And sometimes you hear it strongly and sometimes that voice is more muted.

Obama, like Palin, prays that he is on God’s side. Palin, unlike Obama, does not (so far as we know) claim to hear the voice of God. Why is she the one who gets painted as a religious nut?

(2) Obama supporter Mickey Kaus declares, “The curret lib-blog-MSM-campaign tack—getting outraged by McCain’s ‘lies’—is a total loser strategy.” It’s a long post, well worth reading in full, but here are the highlights:

When Dems get outraged at unfairness they look weak. How can they stand up to Putin if they start whining when confronted with Steve Schmidt? …

Lecturing the public on what’s “true” and what’s a “lie” (when the truth isn’t 100% clear) plays into some of the worst stereotypes about liberals—that they are preachy know-it-alls hiding their political motives behind a veneer of objectivity and respectability… .

Inevitably the people being outraged on Obama’s behalf will phrase their arguments in ways well-designed to appeal to their friends—and turn off the unconverted. (“This is just what they did to John Kerry and Michael Dukakis!” As if the public yearns for the lost Kerry and Dukakis Presidencies… .)

(3) This “strategy” seems so ill-conceived that we have to wonder if it’s a strategy at all. Commentary’s Jennifer Rubin—not an Obama supporter, as far as we can tell—argues that it is. But its objective, Rubin believes, is something other than victory:

They are preparing their excuses for defeat. No matter how foolhardy the Democratic primary voters in selecting a high risk candidate, no matter how bizarre the policy choices of that candidate, no matter how outlandishly wrong the conventional press wisdom and no matter how inept the campaign operation there is a cure-all excuse: McCain lied, our hopes died.

I am not saying Barack Obama is going to lose; I am saying the Obama Gang of Three (i.e. the mind-melded bloggers/MSM/campaign operation) now thinks that is a distinct possibility. So how to explain how they all messed up? When in doubt, revive the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove/Gore v. Bush/Swiftboat rationale which is “It is never our fault.”

Can it really be true that the Democrats and the media are concentrating on assigning blame for a defeat that hasn’t even happened yet?

Finally, the Quote of the Day: “If we’re going to ask questions about, you know, who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily.” Obama, on Good Morning, America, September 15, 2008.

By AJC/DNC Management

September 16, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this

The left is in a quandary over Oblahma:

Obama’s teleprompter hits the trail- But the Illinois senator used a teleprompter at both his Colorado events Monday — making for a particularly peculiar scene in Pueblo, where the prompter was set up in the middle of what is normally a rodeo ring.

And he still blew it:

Obama’s initial attempt to localize his speech by referring to the Ute Indians, brought some nervous groans from the crowd when he mispronounced “Ute.” But that gaffe was overlooked after his speech gathered steam.

What a dimwit.

By Bo Chambliss

September 16, 2008 8:40 AM | Link to this

Georgia’s senior senator is still dogged for his support of a controversial immigration bill that would have opened the door to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens. And who doesn’t remember him posing for photos with liberal icon Ted Kennedy to show his support for the bill? Of course, he later backed away from the measure, but the damage was done. His credibility never would be the same among the anti-immigration crowd.

Then there’s Chambliss’ son, who has been a lobbyist for the commodities trading industry at a time when Dad happened to be chairman or ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee - the committee with jurisdiction over commodities trading.

Chambliss is one of the few statewide elected officials in America who still is willingly joined at the hip to President Bush. Even in Georgia, Bush now has hit bottom in his approval rating.

Despite his unfailingly loyal service to the Bush administration, Chambliss has little bacon to show for his efforts. Georgia lost multiple military installations during the last round of base closings, which occurred on his watch. We appear likely to fail in efforts to land several major federal projects, including the national biodefense facility the University of Georgia has pursued doggedly

By the tooth will set you free

September 16, 2008 8:40 AM | Link to this

thanks mr. wooten, for the incredible insight to ms. palin’s qualifications and records…. opps, sorry, never mind you did mention a one. hmm. i wonder why? perhaps it is because she is wildly unqualified.

By AJC/DNC Management

September 16, 2008 8:41 AM | Link to this

After months of confidently riding the wave of change, Democrats are like a surfer who looks over his shoulder to see the white crests of a tsunami gaining on him.

Recent polls show the leadership hurt itself already this summer by not being more responsive to middle-class voters squeezed by high oil and gas prices. And if Wall Street investment bankers failed to show due diligence, what about a Congress that has all but abandoned its budget process this year and whose House tax-writing chairman didn’t pay his taxes?

Hey, but at least they subpoenaed Karl Rove right?

You know, the real important things?

By Ilene

September 16, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this

Hi, I’m in quandry. Anyone with common sense and a brain would realize that the Republicans have made a mess of this country and if you want to get out of the mess, you vote the opposite party. You don’t vote in to the highest office of the land someone who’s biggest claim to fame is being a POW — that is not an instant qualification. And you certainly don’t entertain the idea of having a VP who wanted to ban books, opposes reproductive rights, believes in abstinance as the best education (sure got her far) and thinks she can become a foreign policy expert overnight because she can see Russia from her state! This is illogical. Anyone who has fallen for this is a jerk and deserves what they’ll get should this party get in.

So agin, I repeat, there is no quandry on my Democratic brain.

By Tray

September 16, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this

The reason we’re in this mess is because there were poor complaining they couldn’t find affordable housing, so the banks started giving loans to them even though they couldn’t afford it (DEMS TOLD THEM TO). Then, when it was time to pay the bill, instead of getting off their lazy democratic butts and working 2 jobs to make a living as i have done many times, they decided to bail out, AND THAT IS WHY THE ECONOMY IS WHAT IT IS TODAY!

Palin’s got the Dems running scared because she actually cares for the people (majority-middle classs, not minority-poor class), it’s not a facade like Obama’s.

And some of these morons actually think Obama will help by raising taxes on the rich, but spending more on the poor than what he’s getting from the rich!! How does that math add up?? DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL??

Obama is approving earmarks for spending that have nothing to do with ‘quality of life’ or ‘community organizing’. He’s approved over 100 projects in the BILLIONS!! And you think this guy, who can’t even speak unless it’s written for him, is too coward to challenge MCCain to town halls (cuz he’ll not only lose, but embarrass the hell out of himself), and thinks he’s THE MESSIAH and WORLD UNITER can take the US out of debt?? so wrong…so wrong…

By Ilene

September 16, 2008 8:44 AM | Link to this

Hi, I’m not in a quandry. Anyone with common sense and a brain would realize that the Republicans have made a mess of this country and if you want to get out of the mess, you vote the opposite party. You don’t vote in to the highest office of the land someone who’s biggest claim to fame is being a POW — that is not an instant qualification. And you certainly don’t entertain the idea of having a VP who wanted to ban books, opposes reproductive rights, believes in abstinance as the best education (sure got her far) and thinks she can become a foreign policy expert overnight because she can see Russia from her state! This is illogical. Anyone who has fallen for this is a jerk and deserves what they’ll get should this party get in.

So agin, I repeat, there is no quandry on my Democratic brain.

By Chuck

September 16, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

GOP: inexperienced Vice President Dems: inexperienced President

Take your pick.

By Road Scholar

September 16, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

Ragnar: You missed the point that Obama was making in respect to God. He hope God influenzed his decisions and protected his family. Not, as Palin said, whatever she did was God’s will. We have the ability to make decisions. He hopes he is influenzed, she spouts it is God’s decision.

As for stating the truth, Repubs have never let that get in the way of distoting what one says, or the real intent of legislation. Palin will self ditruct once the “cone of silence” is removed and she can be accessed by the American people. Why not address head on Troopergate; isn’t she a maverick? addresses problems head on? What crap!

Also, since McCain has to read a speech from a paper script over and over (and he still bungles the whole speech), it also appears that they have no original thoughts concerning using Change and Enough is enough as thei mantras. Or are they just mocking Obama- like Obama has been accused of mocking St Palin.

By Churchill

September 16, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

Whose Elitism Problem Now?

In democracies, all political factions run against an elite. Since the New Deal, Democrats have cast themselves against the financial and business elite. Since the 1960s, Republicans have thrashed the cultural and intellectual elite.

Over the weekend, the moneyed class became a richer target. The foolishness of our financial geniuses now threatens to bring economic sorrow to Main Street. Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 attack on “the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties” never sounded so up to date.

Americans don’t mind wealthy and even rapacious capitalists, as long as they deliver the goods to everyone else. But when the big boys drag everyone else down, Americans rise up in righteous anger. The New Deal political alignment endured for decades because the financial elites were so profoundly discredited by the Great Depression. The New Deal coalition dissolved only when prosperity began to seem durable and only after the GOP discovered the joys of baiting Hollywood, the media and the academy.

There is always something slightly phony about anti-elitist politics. Plenty of investment bankers are Democrats, and Republican politicians who claim to speak for devoutly religious cultural conservatives are usually far removed from the world (and the values) of those whose votes they court and whose resentments they stoke.

But the captains of John McCain’s campaign figured they might wring one more election victory out of the culture war. They ridiculed Barack Obama as the celebrity candidate loved by Europeans — the right always consigns Europe to the elitist camp — and harped on his unfortunate comments, ripped out of context, about “bitter” voters who “cling to guns or religion.”

For good measure, McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. A religious and proudly gun-toting mom, Palin has turned expertise itself into a badge of elitism, proclaiming pleasure in her lack of a “big, fat résumé” that “shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment.”

But anti-Washington politics is itself rooted in the interests of the financial elite. When the private economy goes haywire, it is always the federal government that has to step in. When those whom Teddy Roosevelt called “malefactors of great wealth” get out of hand, Washington is the only town with the authority to hold their power in check.

Therefore, the party of the business elite has always pursued its interests behind slogans proclaiming a war on Washington and its “bureaucrats” — and never mind that a little more regulation might have prevented the subprime-mortgage-buying, short-term-profit-maximizing Wall Streeters from wrecking the economy.

All of a sudden, the culture war seems entirely beside the point, an unaffordable luxury in a time of economic turmoil. What politicians actually believe about the economy, what fixes they propose, whether they side with the wealthy few or the hurting many — these become the stuff of elections, the reasons behind people’s votes.

And nothing more exposes the hypocrisy of financial elites riding the coattails of those who revere small-town religious values than a downturn that highlights the vast gulf in power between the two key components of the conservative coalition. Even cultural conservatives will start to notice that McCain’s tax policies are geared toward the wealthy investing class and Obama’s toward the paycheck crowd. Even the most ardent friends of business have begun to argue that a re-engagement with sensible regulation is essential to restoring capitalism’s health.

For some time, McCain’s strategists figured they could deflect attention from the big issues by turning Palin into a country-and-western celebrity and launching so many ill-founded attacks on Obama that the truth would never catch up. The McCain strategists’ approach reflected a low opinion of average voters, and some Obama supporters began worrying that their opinion might be right.

But those so-called average voters understand the difference between low- and high-stakes elections. They develop a reasonably good sense of who is telling the truth and who is not. And though it sometimes takes a while — and a shock like this week’s economic news — these voters almost always turn on politicians who manipulate cultural symbols as a way to escape the consequences of their policies.

In 1936, FDR argued that “private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.” He insisted that “freedom is no half-and-half affair. If the average citizen is guaranteed equal opportunity in the polling place, he must have equal opportunity in the market place.”

The stakes in this year’s election went way up this week. The days of Paris, Britney and the exploitation of divisions around race, gender and religion are over.

By The Snark

September 16, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this

If Sen. McCain is elected, it won’t be the “left” in a quandry — it will be the whole country. You may like her and agree with her views, but the woman is no more qualified to assume the Presidency than she is to become CEO of the Bank of America.

By Ilene

September 16, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

Don’t call me a moron, Tray. A moron is someone that would continue to vote in Republicans as President and Vice President knowing how they decimated this country.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

Now Ilene @ 8:42 and 8:44, you have to make up your mind, are you in a quandry or not? Or does it change from minute to minute?

By Maniac is accurate

September 16, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this

So, were you in Nicholls or Broxton? Or, many it was Pridgen or Axson, or Wilsonville? Gen. Coffee state park? My neck of the woods is lovely any time of year.

By SaveOurRepublic

September 16, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this

Bo Chambliss @ 8:40 AM - Good points regarding Neocon Saxby “Shameless”. Like fellow Globalist Elite puppet “Juan McAmnasty”, Saxby is all for amnesty & the planned, forthcoming North American Union (NAU/SPP). He’s indeed shown his allegiance to the Internationalist agenda.

Regarding Palin, she’s a gimmick selection being leveraged as a “judas goat” to dupe the GOP base (rightfully disillusioned with “McAmnasty”) into voting for the Republicrud ticket. I like many of her policies (utilizing ANWR, defending the 2nd Amendment), but I think she’ll be “turned” by the Neocon GOP “leadership” if/when elected.

I’d urge all Americans who truly care about our Constitutional Republic’s future to cast a vote for a 3rd party candidate (if on principle alone). I personally am supporting Constitutional Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, whose platform is nearly identical to (true patriot) Ron Paul’s.

http://www.baldwin2008.com

By parentof4

September 16, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this

Ok…usually I love to read all the hate that is written on here. But really, Palin’s speech was prepared by one of Bush’s speech writers. These people are paid good money to convey what ever type of message they want to present. The true Palin speaking was when she was interviewd. Or better yet the clips of her on Youtube. It was said that Obama is just a speaker, he can use hollow words and rile up the crowd. Why is it now when Palin used hallow words prepared by someone which riled up the crowd (who were obviously staged to react in such a way) is she spunky and a fighter?

I am not a diehard fan of either camps. But what I do not like is the double standard. The same double standard that the Republicans told Hillary she should stop “whinning” about it, they are now using for Palin. I do not like that McCain has told off-color jokes about women and the degradation of women, yet to be considered a promoter when he finds someone out of Alaska. The same women who weeks before getting the job asked “What does a VP do anyway?” Before being placed here, her numerous interviews show that she thought this was a long shot and it was not on her radar. She was not thinking about how she could change America, her church was promoting how America will run to Alaska to be saved. (That is also on Youtube in their own words.)

What is going to make or break this election…Youtube. All your dirty deads are broadcasted there.

By Ga Values

September 16, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

Here is my CONSERVATIVE colume of the day..Shock it comes from CREATIVE LOAFING Please take the time to listen to the ads by the only Conservative in the U.S. Senate race.

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/09/15/allen-buckley-radio-ads-slam-chambliss-on-spending-immigration-everything/

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this

Dear Road @ 8:46, I respectfully argue that you are the one who missed the point. The unedited prayer by Sarah – not the one you saw on the ABC interview, where they clipped the preface – makes it plain Sarah was making the same prayer as Obama, without the part about hearing God talking.

By fearless fosdik

September 16, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this

TRAY…The housing collapse was NOT a result of..”(DEMS TOLD THEM TO).”

It can be attributed to PHIL GRAMM who spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.

Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry!

And, who was one of John McCain’s financial advisors? None other than Phil Gramm!

By misterearl

September 16, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

Another Conservative View To Ponder

In the current Weekly Standard, Steven Hayward argues that the nation’s founders wanted uncertified citizens to hold the highest offices in the land. They did not believe in a separate class of professional executives. They wanted rough and rooted people like Palin.

I would have more sympathy for this view if I hadn’t just lived through the last eight years. For if the Bush administration was anything, it was the anti-establishment attitude put into executive practice.

And the problem with this attitude is that, especially in his first term, it made Bush inept at governance. It turns out that governance, the creation and execution of policy, is hard. It requires acquired skills. Most of all, it requires prudence.

What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique pattern of a specific situation. It is the ability to absorb the vast flow of information and still discern the essential current of events — the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and feel which arguments have the most weight.

How is prudence acquired? Through experience. The prudent leader possesses a repertoire of events, through personal involvement or the study of history, and can apply those models to current circumstances to judge what is important and what is not, who can be persuaded and who can’t, what has worked and what hasn’t.

Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.

The idea that “the people” will take on and destroy “the establishment” is a utopian fantasy that corrupted the left before it corrupted the right. Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.

• David Brooks NYTimes

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

Dear Save @ 8:54, if Sarah was not “turned” by the power establishment in the Alaskan republican party – where their power was nearly absolute – what makes you think any mere lobbyist can turn her?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

Dear Save @ 8:54, if Sarah was not “turned” by the power establishment in the Alaskan republican party – where their power was nearly absolute – what makes you think any mere lobbyist can turn her?

By Ilene

September 16, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this

No quandary at all. This is what happens when you don’t get enough sleep and the computer browser screws up. Can’t you tell by what I wrote that there is no indecision on my part whatsoever.

By Grading Greenspan

September 16, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this

Grading Greenspan gave a 50/50 chance 4 a recession last January on This Week with George Stephanopolus. Last Sunday, he was asked why the recession didn’t occur.

Greenspan objected that if George Steph. had pressed him, he would have answered that he felt it unlikely a recession would have occurred.

SO: Greenspan’s answer last January was a lenghty diatribe that ended with a coin toss prediction. And he told George S. that he could have kept talking in hindsight and would have been more forceful in his vagueness.

Greenspan did say Sunday that he would be surprised if the current turmoil didn’t have an effect on growth.

He said he wouldn’t bet on the markets too.

But then he contradicted what he said fifty times both ways, so, nobody knows nothing as usual.

I think it’s the intrinsic naive trust that is crumbling here. Banks, and insurance companies, brokerage and mtg. houses falling or being bought out by who knows who?

China must be catching some of these falling ginzu knives. The wallstreet gurus like Kudlow, thinks yesterday was the best thing to come along to the markets sinced sliced bread. (ginzu knives). He suggested we actually rallied yesterday. Kudlow and Booyah. Sounds like a brokerage, dont it? Kudlow & Booyah: toast.

However, because of the American Attention Span, Kudlow and Booyah will still have a career.

Mother nature helps us cope with old age because we cant remember how much pain we’re in or what a mess our lives have become, we kind of drift along unaware but happy.

The American Attention Span helps wallstreet, the white house, and Kudlow.

By Thought for Today

September 16, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

Obama trying to get Iraq to not let U. S. troops come home BEFORE the election. He knows troops coming home will help McCain.

The author said media is not reporting this. Obama must think he is already Commander in Chief.

By Glenn

September 16, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

Do you suppose it’s posible to find a Republican who is not a crook? McShame, the phoney war hero (3.8 hours in combat), and now Palin, the queen of the lower middle class hicks, begins to have her ethics revealed and unwrapped. What sorry examples of humanity.

By AJC/DNC Management

September 16, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this

Aahhh, yes, the triumph of free speech in the moonbat fever swamps:

Chicago radio station WGN-AM is again coming under attack from the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama for offering airtime to a controversial author.

“The author of the latest anti-Barack hit book is appearing on WGN Radio in the Chicagoland market tonight, and your help is urgently needed to make sure his baseless lies don’t gain credibility,” whined an e-mail sent Monday evening to Obama supporters reads.

Poor little thing.

So brave in thee face of criticism.

By Tray

September 16, 2008 9:08 AM | Link to this

YOU ARE A MORON if you are voting for a president who has no more experience than i or Palin does! OBAMA IS AS QUALIFIED FOR PRESIDENT AS THE PERSON SITTING NEXT TO YOU!!

McCain may be similar to Bush, but in this difficult time, I’ll take a MAN who knows the roles than an inexperienced boy.

So again, you are a moron! The DEMS all whined about not being able to afford a house because (like i said) they were too lazy to work 2 jobs, since the one they worked wasn’t good enough for them or their family! Then they all were given loans they couldn’t afford for that ‘dream home’, and they can all watch that dream crash in front of them for all i care!

I don’t own a house, i rent. But when i do buy one, it’ll be a cold day in hell before i sit around and let my house foreclose. WORK 2 JOBS PEOPLE!!!

i have a son, a fiancee, rent, bills, car note-ALL THE DEBT YOU HAVE TOO! The difference is, I’m not too proud to work at McDonald’s part time to make ends meet IF I HAVE TO. The difference between a (active) republican, and a (lazy) democrat!

By Peter

September 16, 2008 9:08 AM | Link to this

HA HA HA Jim………Big quandary……..

Let’s see she is a liar about the Bridge to no where and all the Pork going to her state……..

She is wrong about Global Warming………

She is about slaughtering wild animals such as wolves.

She didn’t teach her slut daughter anything, thus she (the daughter) is a boozer and pregnant……..

She thinks it is OK to spend taxpayer’s money for a $700.00 a night hotel for the little slut.

Jim ever hear of a separation of Church and state…….?

She is an idiot about foreign policy…. “God wanted the Iraq War”……sure Jim !

Her education stinks……..No where U

Her record stinks……..and she is not CAPABLE of being VP never mind President……..

HA HA HA Jim I think the voting will tell the story…

Spin Jim…. Spin hard Jim…..0ps you are dizzy again !

By Lee

September 16, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this

The left doesn’t have to destroy Sarah Palin, she will destroy herself. She hasn’t been in a job long enough to accumulate the enemies and exposure that she would as a VP. Someone who fires the government employees and replaces them with friends and relatives won’t do well when exposed, especially if those friends and relatives become venal or turn on her.

As to her presentation, it is simply Bush lite. He, too, came across as scappy and fiesty, and a with new ideas like “compassionate conservative”. But we have seen what is abyssmal lack of knowledge about the world has come to mean, and that being scrappy without support, like he is with Russia’s invasion of Georgia, only leads to the appearance of impotent bluster and bombast, both of which Sarah Palin also excells.

If she can’t meet with newspaper reporters and softies like Charles Gibson without later explanations and retractions and accusations, what in the world is she going to do when she needs to meet and negotiate with the rulers of Iran or China or France?

Over time, her lack of judgement in government will be shown. They say you can use her senior yearbook to find out about the Alaskan state government, since she has given so many of her friends political appointments- wait until she has the federal government as a personal spoils system! We had enough with Bush giving government jobs to unworthy friends in FEMA- just wait until the Alsaskan crew starts coming south to gorge at the trough.

So far, Sarah Palin hasn’t faced real investigation; she hasn’t been examined for her silly mistakes; for her strange alleigances to people who want to pull Alaska out of the union and make it an independent country.

At the present, people who know nothing about her are projecting their wants and needs on to her- she won’t be able to meet all these fantasies. Instead, she will eb shown for what she is- a gifted speaker of other people’s thoughts, a person to pander to the agressive and mob psychology of a crowd, and one who has never really had to face the consequences of her decisions and her “reforms”.

The right has been there before with Bush. They will be there again if they are foolish enough to elect this woman, who will rule McCain’s presidency far more than Cheny has done in Bush’s administration.

By Copyleft

September 16, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this

So, Wooten… when can we expect your FIRST column on how great McLame is, and what a privilege it’ll be to vote for him?

Still waiting… still nothing. I wonder why the right wing is so scared to even mention their own candidate?

John McLame: Hoping to sneak into office by default. Don’t look! Don’t look!

By Ilene

September 16, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this

To Glenn. You know the answer to that question already :) It’s a resounding “no.”

By Ms. Writer

September 16, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

Are you serious? This is what I hate about republicans (I am independent) you guys take up for even the most idiotic things that your party does. Palin is an idiot who needs to go back to Alaska and watch her sexually active daughter and special needs child. She is not intelligent enough to hold a debate on foreign poilcy let alone run the country if John McCan, God forbid, dies or gets sick in his old age. Palin? Come on, you cannot be serious!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this

Dear Fosdick @ 8:59, your vague reference to GLB is off course, it only added new privacy obligations and liabilities to the banks. (You know that worthless piece of paper you get every year from every financial institution – that is your GLB statement.) Tray is right, in relying on nothing more than the recent pattern of regulatory enforcement of CRA and HMDA. Many HMDA fines in the past five years.

By fearless fosdik

September 16, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this

By Tray

September 16, 2008 8:43 AM

Please for your own edification read this! Perhaps you’ll learn something?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091500637.html?hpid=topnews

By TJ

September 16, 2008 9:18 AM | Link to this

When will people realize that Sarah Palin is not the issue! Why are ppl still writing about her?

The REAL issue is about making the economy stronger, providing jobs for ppl out of work and reducing dependence on oil.

Instead ppl are writing about a lady who refers to herself a a pitbull in lipstick!

I’d be more interested in reading about her policies to improve the economy and issues than the fact that she’s a pitbull in lipstick.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this

Dear Ilene @ 9:03, I apologize for being silly, I was merely teasing you. Your argument is well composed and thoughtful and you deserved a pat on the back for the effort rather than my wiseacre smart comment. Please continue posting your thoughts.

By Donna P.

September 16, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

What is interesting is how Obama is trailing in the polls. Geez what is wrong with America? On yeah, we are racist! But then again, the Democrats can’t stand a woman who is pro-life, pro-gun, pro-God, pro-country, pro-troops, and pro-marriage. Didn’t a Democrat in South Carolina say last week that Sarah’s only qualification is that “she didn’t have an abortion”? I guess she was referring to Sarah’s CHOICE to keep her child with Down’s syndrome.

By hillbilly ragger

September 16, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this

Yet another installment of “run out the clock.”

Ok, I’ll play along this once.

Destroy? Jim, nobody wants to “destroy” Sarah Palin. We simply want her to return to her teeny-tiny home-state constituency (smaller than the population of Gwinnett County) and go back to being that goofy gal play-acting at “taking on the old boy’s club” while actually scarfing up as much pork and patronage as the market will allow.

And given that this is Alaska, a welfare state that pays people to live there, the market allows a remarkable amount.

There’s no need to destroy anyone, we simply want to reveal her limitations for what they are, and ask the the tough questions one should expect a Presidential candidate to answer. As far as Palin’s concerned, the question I’d have for McCain, which he hasn’t answered yet, is simple: “Why should we trust you to make informed decisions as President, when you chose your running mate based on one in-person meeting and one telephone conversation?”

This isn’t about destroying anyone, Jim. That’s your game, that’s what you do, every election cycle, as you prefer to run on personalities rather than policies, on impressions rather than issues. It usually works, but maybe America’s had enough of it by now.

By fearless fosdik

September 16, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:13 AM

VAGUE REFERENCE?

OK ragnar is this specific enough for you?

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (November 12, 1999), is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate. For example, Citibank merged with Travelers Group, an insurance company, and in 1998 formed the conglomerate Citigroup, a corporation combining banking and insurance underwriting services. Other major mergers in the financial sector had already taken place such as the Smith-Barney, Shearson, Primerica and Travelers Insurance Corporation combination in the mid-1990s. This combination, announced in 1993 and finalized in 1994, would have violated the Glass-Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Acts by combining insurance and securities companies, if not for a temporary waiver process [1]. The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. Historically, the combined industry has been known as the financial services industry.

By Original Rick

September 16, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org.

Pay attention, people! If you want unbiased facts about the campaign, FactCheck.org will provide them.

Unfortunately, you Republicans will not like what you read because the majority of the analyses are about McCain/Palin and their lies and contradictions.

I can only ask this: How blind are you that you cannot even want to look for the truth, much less accept it, when sooooo many sources are providing critical breakdowns?

By Ray

September 16, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

Latest electoral college prediction in the LA Times today. McCain…… 227, + 27 since the RNC Obama….. 220, no change since the DNC

States up for grabs….. MI, Ohio, Penn, MI, CO, VA, NV, total of 85 electoral votes. Need 270 to win…. McCain up 8% on LONG ISLAND, since RNC (NY has 31 EV) Give McCain any combination of any two of the states up for grabs, except NV and it is over. If he takes MI and NY, the fat lady can tune up. Lets just see how pi**ed off the Hillary crowd really is.

By Voice of Reason

September 16, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

Again I say, that you are a mom, can shoot and eat mooseburgers does NOT mean you’re ready to be VP or Prez! You people who are excited about Palin need to stop being so image driven and look for some substance behind all this mess. WHY are they keeping her away from answring questions that are legitimate to ask ANY VP potential? Because she’s NOT ready; she ain’t got it!

McCain thinks white women are stupid and can be snowed over (didn’t get Hillary, here’s another white woman). Are people really that stupid!!?

Barack needs to get FIRED UP and put a iron brand on McCain’s butt. The economy is the worst it’s been; people are losing their jobs, homes, can’t buy food, gas, don’t have health insurance, etc., and McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound? Is he freakin’ kidding himself? Out of touch and if you people vote he and the mooose mouth into office, God help us all.

By Citizen of the World

September 16, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this

In Sarah Palin, McCain has chosen an underqualified running mate who has been in the habit of choosing underqualified people to work in her administration — childhood friends, classmates, etc., with no qualifications whatsoever. The woman she put in charge of Alaska’s Department of Agriculture was the fact that she liked cows — and that was about it. Here’s the link text to be linked

Remember Brownie? If this team gets elected, there are going to be a lot of people in their administration “doing a heck-of-a-job.”

By marko

September 16, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this

Interest piece about Caribou Barbie Jim. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the election was between that black teenager and Granpa I don’t always agree with myself Munster. However If I’ve found myself in error and the the election is between Caribou Barbie and Joe, I know a good speech when I steal one Biden, I’m going with Biden because in my little universe borrowing speeches isn’t an offense quite up there with the two million dollar harbor seal DNA earmarks you forgot you requested.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this

Dear Fosdick @ 9:14, if you are interested in causation of the problem, I suggest this essay.

By Redneck Convert

September 16, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this

Well, I felt real bad when I saw that TV news story about the boy that was going to have half of his brain took out to keep from having fits. Then I thought about the Witt fambly up in Dawsonville that had a boy that had the same thing and had half of his brain took out.. Anyhow, old Half turned out OK. He growed up and reads water meters for the county and he’s talking about moving to Clayton County and running for the school board. Says it pays better and besides he’s already smarter than anybody on that board now.

After yesterday I was awful glad my co. retirement plan was in beer stocks instead of junk like home loans and cos. that make things. People can always do without loans and most stuff you buy in stores, but drunks will always buy beer. Even if the fambly starves and is out on the street.

Just look at what happens on this blog after 3 or so. You have to be a idiot not to know that half the people that post are lit up, and even Sister Dusty is into the Mogen David, judging by the stuff she writes. Come to think of it, Wooten is late opening the blog half of the time. Maybe he gets a early start. Anyway, I think my retirement money is plenty safe.

Anyhow, I don’t like neither of what the canadates say about what’s happening on Wall Street. I say leave all the banks alone. Let them cheat and steal and hide things till there’s nothing left. Sooner or later they will wear theirselfs out just like the oil cos. done and cheat each other and things will start getting back to normal. But keep guvmint out of it.

We wouldn’t have the problem if a bunch of librul banks had stayed away from making home loans to Those People. Some moran in a bank looks at a mortage app and sees income listed as $300,000. The guy filling out the app is driving a 1974 Buick and wearing overalls with big holes in them. So what does the bank guy do? Nothing except cut a check for $500,000 so the guy that ain’t paid his rent for three months can move into a mansion. A trailer ain’t good enough for Those People. No sir. The guy ain’t made $5,000 in any year of his life, so how’s he going to pay that much each month for a house payment?

That’s my opinion and it’s very true. I got nothing to say about this Palin woman. Have a good day everybody

By findog

September 16, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

Rangar, I think the theologians put it this way, “Prayer is us talking to God, and meditation is when God talks back.” The only wackiness is if someone truly believes that God told him or her to kill someone, or violate one of the other nine commandments… Should either candidate start to think that, “God wants them to be president,” I will certainly vote against them. @ 8:51 In defense of Ilene a quandary is the unknown from minute to minute.

Tray, When did the DEMS tell bankers who to give loans to? Did the sub-prime loan mess just recently appear in the last 18-months? Sometimes I really wonder if there will be any truth in the debate over the future of our country.

Glen @ 9:06 Surely as easy to find any other politician that is not

The last query I would like to add is what private employment has Governor Palin had that prepares her to understand the economy from the industrious instead of regulatory side of the equation?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

Dear Fosdick @ 9:29, you really ought to read your posts before you hit the send button. There is not a single post-GLB merger; note that every evidence you cite predates the law. GLB is a privacy initiative.

By zeke

September 16, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

IT IS THE CLINTON ECONOMY STUPID! After 8 years of Clinton and his crap the economy was in the tank when W. was elected! The September 11, 2001 happened. It was a direct result of Clinton policies the castrated the itelligence and law enforcement of our country! Also, was probably the reason W. was given information on Irag that may not have been totally correct! Bush has done an admirable job considering what he had to take over and what has happened on the world scene since! Hopefully the voters will have a little intelligence and common sense and vote Republican and save our country!

By Tray

September 16, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

You can bring me Gramm all you want, doesn’t change the fact that MORE GOV’T INVOLVEMENT helped cause the problem…and who wants more GOV’T involvement, McCain, or Obama…hmmm…that’s what i thought.

Oh, and llene, get your facts right about Palin:

Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.

She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a “What if?” question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin’s first term.

She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982.

Palin never endorsed or supported Pat Buchanan for president. She once wore a Buchanan button as a “courtesy” when he visited Wasilla, but shortly afterward she was appointed to co-chair of the campaign of Steve Forbes in the state.

Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in Alaska’s schools. She has said that students should be allowed to “debate both sides” of the evolution question, but she also said creationism “doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”

vote dem and keep giving to the poor lazy who refuse to work because they think they are ‘owed something’ instead of having to work for it!

By dirty harry

September 16, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

By findog

September 16, 2008 9:37 AM

FINDOG…I understand she did a short stint at HOOTERS!

By Citizen of the World

September 16, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this

I’m new at this — inexperienced, you might say — so let me try again to make the link:

text to be linked

This is an article detailing Sarah Palin’s habit of cronyism, in addition to her vindictive, autocratic management style. Is this the type of leader we want?

By Saying the news

September 16, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

Lets be honest here…people are not voting for Obama Lama because he is almost black….there….I said it.

By andthensome

September 16, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

Sarah Palin: Cute as a button. Dumb as a post! Did you see her interview with Charlie Gibson? Moose in headlights, I’ll tell ‘ya. Doesn’t she know that if McLame is elected, he’s going to thank her for the votes she brought to his ailing campaign and ceremoniously tell her to go sit in a corner and color? Her job every day will be to call him in the morning to find out if he’s breathing, and attend the funerals of heads of state. That’s it. So, all this policy jargon and reform talk is ridiculous. She’s being used because of her body parts. And when McLame is done with her, he’ll pretend he never knew her. It was jealousy of Obama’s support that drove him to bring a woman into the campaign. So, don’t you think her being more popular than he is will endear him to her if he is in office? I don’t think so!

By Ga Ind.

September 16, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this

Zeke, Blame it on Clinton. The morons will always buy that one.

By JLK

September 16, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this

Cult of personality, indeed.

Trying to discuss qualifications with people who don’t CARE about qualifications is about as productive as trying to discuss literature with an eight year old in the videogame store.

You like Palin, and that’s that. Kind of broad you’d like to have a beer with. Wouldn’t abort your kid after that two-for-one shooter night from which she claims no recollection of anything past 10 o’clock. Snappy dresser, tough cookie. Talks a good game in church, too! Drinks on Saturday, God on Sunday! Not only doesn’t pout when you want to go hunting for the weekend, but she’ll come too, bag a big one, prepare your meal, and then b—- you in the tent. Yep, she’s ready to step in and be President if a McCain has a McStroke. This one’ll do! Everybody else can just shut their librul yap! You’ve got your girl now, dont you? A “real” woman. sigh

By Tray

September 16, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this

And how about the polls that show dems would rather Biden be pres than Obama, so what are the Dems saying about themselves?? No faith in their MESSIAH anymore???

By AnonyMoose

September 16, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this

Keep dreaming Wooten! While you’re busy fantasizing, I’m going to continue to watch the Electoral College shape up for an Obama victory in November.

By mscutie78

September 16, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Thought for the day: YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!! Obviously you have NO clue about the military and DOD contractors serving abroad. Have you ever heard of absentee voting?? That’s what 90% of the military does because most often they are not living in the same place they registered to vote. Get a clue - they’re voices are heard!

By fearless fosdik

September 16, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

RAGNAR…What I cited was in context with what another poster .. posted!

I took the sub chapter of said bill! which applies.

I know the intent was a privacy bill, but the subchapter was not.

Read with your own eyes.

You say predates it…The GBL was written with the added sub-bill in 1999

And who invited you into the conversation?

By mscutie78

September 16, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this

Thought for the day: YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!! Obviously you have NO clue about the military and DOD contractors serving abroad. Have you ever heard of absentee voting?? That’s what 90% of the military does because most often they are not living in the same place they registered to vote. Get a clue - they’re voices are heard!

By mscutie78

September 16, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this

Thought for the day: YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!! Obviously you have NO clue about the military and DOD contractors serving abroad. Have you ever heard of absentee voting?? That’s what 90% of the military does because most often they are not living in the same place they registered to vote. Get a clue - their voices are heard!

By Timothy L. Pennell

September 16, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this

What is it with the TALKING POINTS? Every article contains,”former SMALL TOWN MAYOR”. How about, “SITTING GOVERNOR”? You guys are PATHETIC, and we’re NOT STUPID. This is why your BOY, is going down.

By Grading Greenspan

September 16, 2008 9:59 AM | Link to this

Sarah’s invulnerable, democrats. There’s nothing you can say or do. Look at that cover shot on Newsweek.

The disappointment is that she can only be the Veep, and not the potus.

Camille Paglia thinks Palin is a giant leap for feminism, but that hardly tells this story.

All pompoms and pearls and fembot fur, Palin has invented the cheerleader eligible play. She didn’t throw her hat in the ring, she threw us in the ring, and America got a good look at itself, and loved what it saw.

This is a new era. We wish Obama could reappoint his running mate, sure, but we pray to God that we might rearrange the GOP ticket, and flip flop, yes, flip flop Sarah For John, and John4Sarah.

America want Sarah Palin to be the next commander in chief.

Palin 08: America’s Cool StepMom.

By Ray

September 16, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this

Redneck Convert,

True words of wisdom.

By TW

September 16, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 — More than 30 people were killed in bombings in Iraq on Monday, including one in Diyala province in which a female suicide bomber attacked policemen gathered to celebrate the release of a fellow officer from a U.S. detention facility, Iraqi officials said.

Perhaps we should have waited to evaluate the Surge until after we quit paying the bad guys to be quiet?

Now that we have fortified the Sunni with nice weaponry, perhaps the Civil War will be a little more competitive?

Only in Republican World. Guess it’s a good thing God didn’t make Iraqis…right? Right?

BTW - Check the numbers on Palin…ten years from now her claim to fame will be that she and her kaln set the ratings mark for the Jerry Springer Show.

It’s over, Jim. Nice try.

By AnonyMoose

September 16, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this

Tray, please share the link to these polls you refer to about Biden. I don’t believe they exist.

By Tray

September 16, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this

Yeah, McCain brought Palin in to win some popularity, and it worked.

Obama brought in who?? Biden, why?? To appeal to white middle age men, and he actually found out he needed some experience. What, he has experience? Wow, dod you hear that from the people living in states 51-57??

By Thought for Today

September 16, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this

mscutie78 @ 9:55.
Where does it say anything about the “troops voting” in my post?? Whatch who you’re calling an idiot now - go look in the mirror.

By LadyBird

September 16, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

I’d rather have a midlly qualified VP in the office, than a majorly unqualified President!

I love how the liberals say Palin is unqualified, when their own candidate for President hasn’t even gotten close to her own experience.

Obama has never led a town, a county, a city, a state, a major corporation, much less any troops. He’s led the Democrats down the yellow brick road of “It’s all about Obama” and “I’m your Savior, Democrats!” propoganda.

As president he says he would immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq- even if he were strongly advised against this by our nation’s top military commanders. He would also hold direct talks with the Iranian regime- a regime that does not recognize Israel and is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

Sadly way too many Americans are simply brushing off the facts, for his slick rhetoric. If the Debates showed one thing it’s this: Barack Obama thinks he is above tough questions, that somehow he should get a by on them because he’s so good, that he’s extremely in-experienced and has a basic lack of knowledge on economic theory. His economic theory has one component- punish every one else for the poor, just to be fair. Ah-lah Communism?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 16, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

Dear Fosdick @ 9:55, I understand you dislike being caught with your facts down, but GLB is one of my areas of emphasis, and I could not allow you to convolute the facts to suit your electoral agenda. There are real causes for the mortgage meltdown - I urge you to read my 9:34 link - but Tray’s instinct is closer to the problem than yours. To sustain your argument, you have to affirm that Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch will worsen the problem – I think that argument is a nonstarter.

By Tray

September 16, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

here is the link

Look it up yourself

By Grading Greenspan

September 16, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

Sarah Palin 08: the cheerleader eligible play

Look closely at Sarah Palin. Then imagine the face of the Statue of Liberty. In fact, Tina Fey was actually doing the Statue of Liberty and everybody thought it was Sarah Palin.

Palin 08: Pompoms, Pearls, and Fembot Fur.

By bobthebuilder

September 16, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this

Democrats post all your Blah,Blah,Blah! Change has NOT occured on the left side. Joe Bidden….hasn’t he ran unsuccessfully twice (1988 and 2008). T