The New Republic has a very informative article up about the role of the vice president and how both Biden and Palin were wrong in their answers. It's short so read it.
Palin Attacks Over Ayers
"There's been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol,'" Palin said today, according to a transcript distributed by the campaign. "These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes. This is not a man who sees America as you and I do - as the greatest force for good in the world."This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country," Palin concluded, in the hardest shot of the statement. (Italics mine)
This level of attack is to be expected from a campaign running out of places to turn. And Palin's set-up is clever enough, but what's striking about her statement is that it belies the fact that she clearly didn't read the article, which concluded that there wasn't much of a connection between Obama and Ayers.
Hunch: This shit won't play. Americans are looking for solutions to the myriad problems they face, not swift-boat level attacks. There is something unseemly about all this and it's a far cry from change.
The McCain Tax
Obama's latest attack ad. Could be very effective if "the McCain tax" enters into our political lexicon.
Instant Poll Roundup
Biden Palin
CNN/Opinion Research 51 36
CBS 46 21
Fox 61 39
Survey USA 51 32
MediaCurves (indies) 67 33
(Source)
Palin in California?
Sarah Palin is campaigning today in California. Why? What am I missing here? California is not in play for the GOP. McCain is also taking the day off from campaigning. I realize it's Saturday, but with only 31 days until the election can the McCain-Palin ticket really afford to take an entire day off?
Obama is in Virginia.
$300 Million for Propaganda
The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.
The new contracts -- awarded last week to four companies -- will expand and consolidate what the U.S. military calls "information/psychological operations" in Iraq far into the future, even as violence appears to be abating and U.S. troops have begun drawing down.
Troopergate Emergency Appeal
McCain's lawyers have filed an emergency appeal to have the Troopergate investigation stopped. The Alaska Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal next Wednesday with a ruling no later than next Thursday. The investigation is set to release the report next Friday. Two days ago a judge ruled to allow the investigation to continue.
Obama: McCain's Healthcare Plan is "Radical"
Via CBS News:
Barack Obama will bring health care back into the spotlight today, after weeks of heavy emphasis on the economy.
At a rally in Newport News, Virginia, Obama will blast John McCain’s health care plan, which he describes as being “radical.”
McCain is offering up a proposal to tax health care benefits received through the workplace, but in return, he would give a $2,500 tax credit for individuals and $5,000 for families. The tax credits would be paid directly to the insurance companies.
According to excerpts from Obama’s speech today, he will argue that McCain essentially will be raising taxes because the tax credit will not directly go back to individuals.
“You read the fine print, it’s clear that John McCain is pulling an old Washington bait and switch. It’s a shell game,” Obama will say. “He gives you a tax credit with one hand – but raises your taxes with the other.”
Healthcare Confusion
McCain wants to tax healthcare benefits for the first time in our history. Obama has to do a better job explaining his healthcare plan. Period. Via US News and World Report:
A Gallup poll in early September that asked which candidate could better handle the issue of healthcare found that Obama enjoyed a 12 percentage-point lead. But when voters were asked in a more recent poll which healthcare plan they thought would most benefit them personally, that lead slipped to 6 percentage points. Perhaps more important, 2 in 5 registered voters surveyed in the recent Harris Interactive and Harvard School of Public Health poll said they didn't know or didn't think there was much difference between the plans.
On the Attack
Here we go, another deflection from the issues, via The Washington Post:
Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.
ith just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.
"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Obama Market Surge
Obama closed at 73.9 on Intrade today, almost a 10 (!) point jump from the opening price. His price is now catching up with his win percentage on 538, which is hovering around 84%. That's still a nice ten-point gap to exploit. Right now Obama stock is a better invenstment than your 401k.
As far as the markets are concerned, the winner of Thursday's debate was the Obama campaign, which is now selling at an all-time high on both Intrade and the Iowa Electronic Markets.
Friday, October 3, 2008
She Reads! What. What?
When I was preparing for the LSAT a friend told me a that a good way to prepare for the reading comprehension portion of the exam was to read The Economist. Its articles are dense and educational and therefore are good substitutes for the passages in the LSAT. This was the only time I've read The Economist in my life. As Politico writer Mike Allen said last night in response to Palin's inability to name a single publication she's read, “Somebody told me, she should have just said The Economist. Everybody lies about reading The Economist."
Including, it turns out, Sarah Palin! In her interview with Fox News today she took the opportunity to revise and expand on her list of reading materials:
PALIN: I read the same things that other people across the country read, including the “New York Times” and the “Wall Street Journal” and “The Economist” and some of these publications that we’ve recently even been interviewed through up there in Alaska.Think Progress has the story, but I just want to point out one thing. No plain-spoken folksy moose-hunter types read The Economist. I may be an elitist asshole for point this out, but it's true. Hell, I'm an elitist asshole and even I don't read The Economist. I have no doubt in my mind that Sarah Palin doesn't either. In this regard, we have something in common.
How Women Saw Debate
From Time:
Overall, the women warmed up to both candidates throughout the evening—both Biden and Palin's favorability ratings rose 9 points from pre- to post-debate. They liked Palin's strength and confidence, and the married women particularly responded to her "folksiness" and "down-to-earth" personality. That personal regard, however, didn't necessarily mean they wanted to see her in the White House. "I'd like to have lunch with Sarah," said one married woman, "but have Joe running my country." Another agreed: "I think Sarah Palin is cute as a button and is good in sound bytes, but she just is not ready." Before the debate, only 10 of the women believed Palin was not ready to be vice-president or president; by the end of the evening more than half of them (21) shared that concern.
A: Because Obama Refused Town Hall Meetings
Q: Why has McCain gone 100% negative in his advertising?
Roger Ebert on Debates
A film critic's perspective on last night's debate as an act of theater. It reads in part:
A very different sort of unanticipated moment took place during the debate. Biden said, "I know what it's like to be a single parent raising two children." He did not know if his sons would survive the auto accident that took his wife and daughter. For a moment, he lost his composure. Looking at the moment again here I believe, as I did at the time, that it was genuine emotion, and not stagecraft.
It could not have been anticipated by Palin. The next camera angle was above and behind her. She paused. The silence seemed to anticipate words of sympathy and identification from her. But Biden had ended in a sentence using the word "change," and her response, reflecting no emotion at all, cued off that word and became a talking point about McCain. This felt to me, at worst, insensitive and callous. At best, that she had not fully heard Biden. In either event, her response troubled me. If a man had responded in that way to such a statement from a women, he would be called a heartless brute.
Sudan Lie
Palin sure picks odd things to lie about. Sullivan has the skinny on a claim she made last night about divesting from Sudan which, surprise!, is not true.
Ground Game
In recent years the GOP GOTV effort has made the Democrat's effort look like preschool recess. But Sean Quinn -- the non-statistics half of 538 -- has been on the road over the last few weeks and is reporting that once again there is a huge gap between the two. But this time it's the Dems who have it together. He writes:
You could take every McCain volunteer we’ve seen doing actual work in the entire trip, over six states, and it would add up to the same as Obama’s single Thornton, CO office. Or his single Durango, CO office. These ground campaigns bear no relationship to each other.
Healthcare Breakdown
From Reuters:
An analysis of the two starkly different approaches to reforming the U.S. health care system offered by John McCain and Barack Obama suggests Obama's plan has the best chance of making health care more affordable, accessible, efficient and higher in quality.
The report, released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, sized up the presidential candidates' plans for dealing with a health care system which has left nearly 46 million people uninsured and many more underinsured.
According to the report, Democrat Obama's plan would cover 34 million of the nation's projected 67 million uninsured people in 10 years, compared with just 2 million covered under Republican John McCain's plan.
She Read Wikipedia
Fox News gives Palin another stab at the Supreme Court question. This time she can site case names and rulings. Liberal spin: Someone introduced her to Wikipedia! Conservative spin: She froze during Couric, but this proves she knew all along.
Nailin' Paylin
After this ad was posted to Craigslist we knew it was only a matter to time. Now the details are pouring in. The porno is called Nailin' Paylin. From TMZ:
The faux Sarah is Lisa Ann, who "will be nailing the Russians who come knocking on her back-door." In another scene -- a flashback -- "young Paylin's creationist college professor will explain a 'big bang' theory even she can't deny!"
There's also a threeway with Hillary and Condoleezza look-alikes.
The video is in pre-production, but is being fast tracked for release before the election.
Three things:
1) This was inevitable.
2) Creative use of her interview gaffes and background for scene set ups. Also inevitable.
3) No one wants to see Condi and Hillary look-alikes in a porno. No one.
Palin Calls Couric Annoying
Man, the interview she gave with Fox News this morning is turning into a gift. In this installment Palin complains about being annoyed during the Couric interview, ostensibly because of the questions she was ask. HuffPo:
For the record, Couric asked her, among other things, what type of news sources she turns to for information, which Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with, why Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience, her opinion of the bailout package for Wall Street, and where she thought Vice President Dick Cheney erred.
She Read About It In A Newspaper I Guess
Palin says this today that she she read about her campaign pulling out of Michigan just this morning. Must have been in one of those thousands of newspapers she reads.
Who Did She Win Over?
From Daily Kos:
[Palin] lost thoughtful conservatives and independents, and Democrats were never her audience. Social conservatives and wingers like Pat Buchanan may love her, but who cares? Buchanan, I will remind the media, was a fringe candidate who did very poorly when he ran. Palin's audience may love her but they are a small portion of the electorate and they do not count any more. This is not a base election. It will take a loss for the media to get it.This is one of the fundamental truths of this election, that McCain-Palin cannot win solely by courting their base. This is why you see the GOP co-opting the change slogan. But that doesn't mean it's going to work. The plea for change is, from a Democrat, a way of shoring up the base while extending a hand to independents and disgruntled Republicans. From a Republican the plea for change is a tin-ear slogan for anyone not already in the bag . Palin may have done wonders last night in rallying the base, but she clearly lost the battle where this election is being fought.
A Bridge Too Far
From Bob Beckel, via Fox News.
Have we reached the point of mediocrity in this country that Sarah Palin’s debate performance was actually acceptable to her supporters (fortunately, Independents in early polls do not share that view) because she didn’t fall on her face, as many conservatives feared? That’s your standard? No wonder there are still some of you who still think George Bush, the very definition of mediocrity, is a good president.
In a word, Palin’s debate performance was awful. She couldn’t win a high school student council election with those homespun platitudes, repetitive inane comments about the war, and most strikingly her refusal to answer not a few but EVERY question put to her that demanded a direct answer.
Every economic question received the tired tax-and-spend slogans Republicans have bellowed for years.
Foreign policy: “You were wrong on the surge.” — That was it. Not one single idea of her own (which is understandable, since she has none). What would you do different in bad economic times like this? “Cut more taxes in Walissa.” The great foreign policy team around McCain-Palin includes Rudy Giuliani, who has about as much foreign policy experience as Madonna, and who history will record mishandled 9/11 in tragic ways.
Palin’s next foreign policy guru? Mitt Romney. — The same stiff-haired flip-flopper whose entire foreign policy experience was pedaling his bike trying to convert Mormons in France. Or Henry Kissinger, who ran illegal wars in Laos and Cambodia to get Richard Nixon re-elected and lied when he told Americans before the 1972 election that, “Peace is at hand” in Vietnam. I suppose if your worldview is seeing Russia from an island in Alaska, and having a border with our threatening neighbor, Canada, you love these guys.
The Economic Crisis: When asked about the current economic crisis, she says nothing because she knows nothing. But she sure talked about her family breakfast table a lot. That’s the table the citizens of Alaska paid per diem for her to sit at for over 300 days as governor. She says electing her and McCain is electing two mavericks who will cut spending, including earmarks. Palin has asked for, and gotten, $1 million every day in pork for Alaska since she’s been governor.
Palin says she and McCain will appoint the most qualified people to government despite party labels. Sort of like your second grade friend you put in charge of Alaska’s agriculture because “she loved cows as a little girl,” Sarah?
A word for Moderator Gwen Ifill: The right intimidated you. You never forced Palin to answer a question directly and not duck; you bent over backward to take her sophomoric answers seriously; and frankly you treated her with girlie gloves.
But that’s not the point. Even with your softball questions she couldn’t get past “aw shucks,” “hockey moms” and “Wasilla values” (which get weirder and weirder).
If the stakes weren’t so high, this obviously nice and fairly articulate person can probably still govern the state of Alaska, where frankly it doesn’t much matter. But vice president of the United States? That is a bridge not only too far, but the real bridge to nowhere.
The Grading Curve
Pundits graded Palin on a curve while the voters graded her against their standards for the office of the vice president. What was interesting last night was watching the pundits, particularly those on the right, struggle to spin who won the debate after seeing the instant polls, which showed that viewers overwhelmingly thought Biden beat Palin.
Yglesias puts it well:
It’s almost as if ordinary people don’t grade these things on a complicated “expectations” curve. When someone shows up and seems slightly dimwitted they don’t think to themselves “well, she’s not quite as dumb as I thought — what a triumph!” They think, “wow, she seems slightly dimwitted.”
NYT Editorial on Debate
They nailed it:
We cannot recall when there were lower expectations for a candidate than the ones that preceded Sarah Palin’s appearance in Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate with Joseph Biden. After a series of stumbling interviews that raised serious doubts even among conservatives about her fitness to serve as vice president, Ms. Palin had to do little more than say one or two sensible things and avoid an election-defining gaffe.
By that standard, but only by that standard, the governor of Alaska did well. But Ms. Palin never really got beyond her talking points in 90 minutes, mostly repeating clichés and tired attack lines and energetically refusing to answer far too many questions.Senator Biden did well, avoiding one of his own infamous gaffes, while showing a clear grasp of the big picture and the details. He left Ms. Palin way behind on most issues, especially foreign policy and national security, where she just seemed lost. It was in those moments that her lack of experience — two terms as mayor of a tiny Anchorage suburb and less than two years as governor — was most painfully evident.
Asked about Israel, Ms. Palin reeled off her support for “a two-state solution, building our embassy also in Jerusalem, those things that we look forward to being able to accomplish with this peace-seeking nation.” Asked about the possible use of nuclear weapons, she declared “nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people and too many parts of our planet.” On Iraq, all she had to offer was the false accusation that Barack Obama wants to surrender.
Mr. Biden directly challenged Ms. Palin’s debate prep on Afghanistan — pointing out that the commander there had disagreed with Mr. McCain’s call for an Iraq-style “surge” in Afghanistan. Ms. Palin tried to contradict him, but the most memorable part of her answer was that she got the general’s name wrong.
One can argue (and her supporters will) that Ms. Palin is a newcomer and can’t be expected to know all of the wonkish details, that what matters is the image she projects. Except, anyone who is running for vice president in these very dangerous times needs to have detailed knowledge.
When it came to domestic issues, Ms. Palin mainly relied on enthusiasm and humor, talking about hockey moms, soccer moms and Joe Sixpack almost as often as she used the word “maverick” to describe Mr. McCain or herself.
But she offered virtually no detail — beyond the Republican mantra of tax cuts — for how she and Mr. McCain would address the financial crisis or help Americans avoid foreclosure or what programs they would cut because of the country’s disastrous fiscal problems.
Ms. Palin’s primary tactic was simply to repeat the same thing over and over: John McCain is a maverick. So is she. To stay on that course, she had to indulge in some wildly circular logic: America does not want another Washington insider. They want Mr. McCain (who has been in Congress for nearly 26 years). Ms. Palin condemned Wall Street greed and said she and Mr. McCain would “demand” strict oversight. In virtually the next breath, she said government should “get out of the way” of American business.
There were occasional, disturbing flashes of the old, pre-campaign Sarah Palin. Asked about the causes of global warming, Ms. Palin suggested that man had some role — but she wasn’t saying how much.
In the end, the debate did not change the essential truth of Ms. Palin’s candidacy: Mr. McCain made a wildly irresponsible choice that shattered the image he created for himself as the honest, seasoned, experienced man of principle and judgment. It was either an act of incredible cynicism or appallingly bad judgment.
Word Clouds
This is from Plutonium Page, via Daily Kos. The writer took each candidate's words from the debate transcript and plugged them into Wordle. Palin's first, Biden's second.
What Other Measure Is There?
From CNN's instant poll:
[On] the question of the candidates' qualifications to assume the presidency, 87 percent of the people polled said Biden is qualified while only 42 percent said Palin is qualified.
159K Jobs Lost
From Politico:
Employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than five years, a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession.
The Labor Department's fresh snapshot, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent as hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of the work force for any number of reasons.
The reduction in payrolls was much sharper than the 100,000 cuts economists were forecasting. They expected the jobless rate to be unchanged.
It marked the ninth straight month that the economy has lost jobs. The drop underscores fallout from a long slump in the housing market and a dangerous credit crunch that intensified last month throwing Wall Street -- and the economy -- into chaos.
Girl Power
Courtesy of Belinda Luscombe at Time:
Ah, women, the consistently, tragically underestimated constituency. What the Democrats learned during the primaries and the Republicans might now be finding out the hard way, I learned at my very academic, well-regarded all-girls high school: that is never to discount the ability of women to open a robust, committed, well-thought-out vat of hatred for another girl.
Women are weapons-grade haters. Hillary Clinton knows it. Palin knows it too. When women get their hate on, they don't just dislike, or find disfavor with, or sort of not really appreciate. They loathe — deeply, richly, sustainingly. I do not say this to disparage my gender; women also love in more or less the same way.
Here's why Palin doesn't make the grade:
1. She's too pretty. This is very bad news. At school, pretty girls tend to be liked only by other pretty girls. The rest of us, whose looks hover somewhere around underwhelming, resent them and whisper archly of their "unearned attention." So, if everyone calls your candidate "hot," you're in a whole mess of trouble. If the Pakistani head-of-state more or less hits on her, well, yes, she'll get a sympathy vote, but we're in Dukakis-in-the-tank territory. It's an admiration vaporizer. (Of course a candidate can't be too ugly, or it will scare the men, who are clearly shallow as a gender.)
2. She's too confident. This also bodes ill. Women have self-esteem issues. But they also have other-women's-esteem issues. As almost any woman — from the head of the Budgerigar Breeders association to Queen Elizabeth — can attest, it's almost impossible to get confidence right. Too timid and you're a pushover. Too self-aggrandizing and you're a bad word unless it's about a dog, or Project Runway's Kenley. Or Michelle, my best friend until 9th grade, after she won that debating prize and got cocky.
3. She could embarrass us. History is not on Palin's side. Every time a woman gets a plum job, be she Hewlett-Packard's ex-boss, Carly Fiorina, or CBS's Katie Couric, there's always that whispery fear that people will think she got the job just because she's a woman. So if things don't go well — and a couple of YouTube clips have suggested that they're certainly not going well for Palin — women are the first to turn on her for making it harder for the rest of us to louse up at work.
The fact of the matter is once a female decides it's over with another female, it's like an end-stage marriage. No matter how seemingly benign, every attribute becomes an affront: the hair, the voice, the husband, the moose-shooting, the glasses, the big family, the making rape victims pay for their own rape test kits.
I know, I know. With all this extra baggage a female candidate has to bear, the chances of finding a woman whom other women won't hate seem skinnier than last year's jeans. But don't despair, if all else fails, we could just do what we always do and just vote in some guy. It's worked so well for us in the past.
Paternal Love
I couldn't agree more.
From Leah McElrah Renna:
Joe Biden did more for the equality of the sexes with his honest display of paternal emotion during the vice presidential debate than Sarah Palin's presence on the executive ticket has or will ever do.
Biden visibly teared up when he rebutted the idea that "just because I am a man" he didn't understand what it was like to wonder whether or not a child would "make it" in recovering from a life-threatening medical situation. At the time, he was likely recalling the tragic automobile accident that killed his wife and daughter and severely injured his two sons. It was an authentic, moving and powerful moment. It was, in fact, the strongest expression of real paternal love we have seen from a public official in recent memory and maybe ever.
By bringing that reality to a national political stage, Biden demonstrated that -- for all of us, not just feminists -- the personal is political, that women alone do not have the sole responsibility for caring about the future of our children and that the concern of fathers is a largely untapped pool of political energy. In his acceptance speech, Barack Obama paved the way for this when he talked about fighting for equal pay for equal work because he wants "my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons" -- and said this while looking with protective ferocity straight into the camera. He has continued this message on the campaign trail with great impact.
I Have to Point Out the Obvious
McClellan, as in Scott McClellan, has nothing to do with Afghanistan.
Well Stated
From Politico:
[It] is hard to count any objective measures by which Biden did not clearly win the encounter. She looked like she trying to get people to take her seriously. He looked like he was running for vice president.
Gimme That Wink
She might not have "blinked" before considering the VP nomination, but she certainly blinked, or winked, her way through the debate. Funny clip, from the Huff Po:
She's Folksy Alright
I'll buy dinner and drinks for the first person who can definitively tell me how many times she used the following words (or phrases) in tonight's debate:
You Betcha
Doggone it
Darn right
Folks
Alaska
Energy Independence
Say it ain't So, Joe (Okay, that was only once, but so annoying)
2:1 Uncommited Voters for Biden
From CBS:
Uncommitted voters who watched the vice presidential debate thought Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden did the best job by a margin of more than two to one, according to a CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll taken immediately following the debate.
Fact-checking the Debate
I paid my dues as a fact-checker in both Boston and NYC and I know how important it is to be factually accurate, which is why I heart these posts. From USA Today (but via FactCheck.org):
From the Palin/Biden Debate:
Tax votes
The claim: Palin said Sen. Barack Obama voted 94 times to increase taxes.
The facts: Non-partisan FactCheck.org called that count, which has been cited before by Republicans, "inflated and misleading." Examining the 94 votes at issue, FactCheck.org found that 23 were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all; they were against proposed tax cuts.
Seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, while raising them on a relative few, either corporations or affluent individuals, according to FactCheck.org, which is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
The 94 tally includes two, three and even four votes on the same measure.
Tax rate changes
The claim: Palin said Obama's plan to raise the top income tax rate would affect "millions of small businesses." Biden responded that the vast majority of small businesses do not report more than $250,000 in income.
The facts: The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, citing 2003 data from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, said in a report that 436,000 tax filers with small-business income — 1.3% of the 32.8 million filers with small-business income — were subject to the top income tax rate. Another Tax Policy Center analysis concluded that "roughly 97% of small businesses would not be affected at all by increases in the top two tax rates."
Len Burman, who runs the Tax Policy Center, said in an interview Thursday: "The vast majority of small businesses would not be affected by the Obama tax increases" because they are not in the top two tax brackets. He added, "Most small business owners have relatively modest incomes."
Health care
The claim: Palin said Obama wants a "universal, government-run program" and "health care being taken over by the feds."
The facts: Obama's health-care plan does not call for a government takeover. In fact, it isn't even universal. It would only cover all children. Obama's plan would give Americans the opportunity to have government health insurance, but they also could pick a private plan.
Energy
The claim: Biden said he has "always" supported clean coal. He said "a comment made at a rope line was taken out of context" by John McCain's campaign.
The facts: In the video, recorded at the beginning of Biden's bus trip across Ohio last week, he is seen responding to a question about why the campaign is supporting clean coal. "We're not supporting clean coal," he says. "Guess what? China is building two every week, two dirty coal plants. And it's polluting the United States, it's causing people to die."
As the exchange continues, Biden says: "China's gonna burn 300 years of bad coal unless we figure out how to clean their coal up, because it's gonna ruin your lungs, and there's nothing we can do about it. No coal plants here in America. Build 'em, if they're gonna build 'em, over there and make 'em clean because they're killing you."
Mortgage crisis
The claim: Biden said McCain said he was "surprised" by the subprime mortgage crisis.
The facts: McCain's use of the word "surprised" came in response to a leading question in New Hampshire last December. At the time, he compared it to the dot-com collapse of the late 1990s, adding: "I was surprised at other times in our history. I don't know if surprised is the word." Later in the same interview, he said, "When I say 'surprised,' I'm not surprised when in capitalist systems that there's greed and excess."
Troop funding
The claim: Palin said Obama voted against funding U.S. troops in Iraq.
The facts: Palin's charge is true, but FactCheck.org has said the statement paints "an incomplete picture." Obama voted against troop funding once and said at the time that he wanted to fund the troops, but the bill in question didn't include a requirement that President Bush begin bringing troops home. "Obama cast at least 10 votes for war-funding bills," FactCheck.org says.
roop levels
The claim: Palin said success in Iraq has allowed U.S. military leaders to reduce troops to the level before Bush's "surge" at the beginning of 2007.
The facts: Before the surge, there were about 130,000 troops in Iraq. While plans for troop reductions would get us close to that level, we are not there yet. There are still about 152,000 troops in Iraq.
Diplomacy
The claim: Biden said Obama did not say he would meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "This is simply not true about Barack Obama," he said.
The facts: At a news conference in New York City in September 2007, Obama was asked, "Senator, you've said before that you'd meet with President Ahmadinejad … would you still meet with him today?" He replied: "Yeah, nothing's changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries."
For more, click here.
Life Isn't Fair
We knew this was coming. From Politico:
Hours ahead of the vice presidential debate, Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.) criticized the selection of PBS's Gwen Ifill as moderator because she is writing a book called "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."
“Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let's face it," McCain said on "Fox & Friends." "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," he added.
Ifill is moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." She is viewed as one of Washington's fairest journalists.
I can't wait to see what he says in the morning.
How You Know Obama Will Win
Browsing around the Iowa Electronic Markets tonight I came across this graph. What's remarkable about this graph is that not once in the last 2+ years have the markets thought that a Republican would win the White House. The GOP got a nice post-convention bounce, but they never surpassed the Democrats. And since then things have been trending badly for them. In fact, it's the worst it's looked for the GOP in over a year.
In order to win the White House McCain-Palin would have to reverse that trend in five weeks. That's like righting the Titanic and then, for fun, turning around and doing it again. Not gonna happen. So buy your Obama stock.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Endorsing Obama, Rejecting McCain
The editors of the New Yorker have issued a comment rejecting McCain and endorsing Obama. The comment is long and thoughtful and certainly worth your time. The concluding paragraph:
We cannot expect one man to heal every wound, to solve every major crisis of policy. So much of the Presidency, as they say, is a matter of waking up in the morning and trying to drink from a fire hydrant. In the quiet of the Oval Office, the noise of immediate demands can be deafening. And yet Obama has precisely the temperament to shut out the noise when necessary and concentrate on the essential. The election of Obama—a man of mixed ethnicity, at once comfortable in the world and utterly representative of twenty-first-century America—would, at a stroke, reverse our country’s image abroad and refresh its spirit at home. His ascendance to the Presidency would be a symbolic culmination of the civil- and voting-rights acts of the nineteen-sixties and the century-long struggles for equality that preceded them. It could not help but say something encouraging, even exhilarating, about the country, about its dedication to tolerance and inclusiveness, about its fidelity, after all, to the values it proclaims in its textbooks. At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader’s name is Barack Obama.
Palin Must Dominate?
Phil Singer argues that Palin must dominate on the issues in order to win tonight:
Under normal circumstances, the candidate of low expectations should generally be regarded as the favorite going into a debate. But this campaign is anything but normal and Palin’s expectations are so low that it’s going to be tough for her to exceed them unless she turns in an unequivocally bravura performance.
If the Palin that shows up tonight even remotely resembles the Palin we saw on CBS this week, it’s done. All it takes is one 15 second moment.
Palin-Biden Debate Live Blog
Vanity Fair is a few hours ahead of the world as they've already posted a live blog of tonight's debate. Choice cuts:
8:32PM: Senator Biden
has just entered the Athletic Complex. It should be noted this debate
is being broadcast in HD. The level of detail is astounding. On my
high-def television I can actually see that Biden's hair is colorless,
like that of a polar bear.
9:03PM: Here we go…Gwen Ifill just set the ground
rules for the debate. 90 seconds for each answer, followed by a
two-minute discussion of each question, and two minutes each for
closing statements. She also instructed the audience not to applaud
after any of the candidates' responses and, similarly, to refrain from
gasping in disbelief or posing rhetorical questions out loud, such as,
"Are you fucking kidding me?" or "Seriously, how fucked are we if
McCain dies in office?"9:40PM: To her credit, Palin just took a very
assured, impassioned, and practical stand on how the United States must
deal with terrorism overseas to protect our security at home. I'm
embarrassed to admit it, but the analogy she made about the Statue of
Liberty shaking her fist was actually very evocative.9:42PM: UPDATE - Never mind. She was just reciting lyrics from a Toby Keith song. It's true. I checked lyricsfreak.com.
10:18PM: After a question about the appropriateness of
cross-border attacks in Pakistan, Palin asked if Pakistan was "the one
with all the Indians" and then asked to have her comments stricken from
the record. When this request was denied, she asked if she could "use
the Internet for a quick sec," and once again is denied. For remainder
of her 90 seconds, she just showed everyone photos of her children.
This Can't Be Their Strategy, Right?
Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight’s debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders... according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight’s showdown.If this is true it's straight up stupid. At best Palin will come across as a foreign policy poseur. At worst she risks getting into a detailed debate about foreign policy with Joe Biden -- a debate she cannot win. Attacking Biden on foreign policy is a death sentence for Palin. The only way it could work in her favor is if he puts his foot in his mouth, but he's likely to do that no matter the subject. In the meantime she'll look ridiculous.
Mr. Clean dies at 92
House Peters Jr., the actor who portrayed the original Mr. Clean, died yesterday.
Right to Privacy
Last night Palin said there is an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution. The Supreme Court agrees; they have since Griswold v. Connecticut. But the Griswold decision is not popular with conservatives, not the least of which is that it provides the legal basis for Roe. In a very real way Palin came out against her own party last night, tacitly endorsing those activist judges she probably rails against during her louder moments on the campaign trail.
The McCain campaign hasn't responded to Palin's remarks, but John McCain did make a floor speech back in the 1980s where he states in clear language what he thinks about the right to privacy. Salon has dug up a copy of that speech, made in support of the SCOTUS nomination of Robert Bork, which reads in part:
Now, some of my colleagues are so result oriented that they appear anxious to embrace judges who are willing to bend and shape the Constitution to fit a particular social agenda. That should trouble people of all political stripes. No matter how much we may like the result of a case, we should never feel comfortable creating new constitutional precedents out of whole cloth and binding future generations simply to accomplish a particular end.McCain is already walking on unsteady ground in the election. His popularity is sinking and the last thing his campaign needs is to recycle this issue. The American public overwhelming believes that Roe should not be overturned, but even less controversial than that (and likely more popular) is the belief in the right to privacy. McCain cannot win if he has to make a statement (re)announcing that he does not believe the Constitution protects the right to privacy. But right not it certainly looks that he and his running mate fundamentally disagree on this issue. Someone should ask him about it.
Not only is that an inappropriate use of judicial power, but it leaves legislatures incapable of changing the outcome. Congress and State legislatures cannot change Supreme Court rulings when they are based on constitutional grounds, as opposed to statutory interpretation. That is fine when the Court ruling is based on a clearly intended constitutional right. But that is wrong when a fair reading of the Constitution shows no such right was within the realm of intentions ...
The right of privacy was created by Justice Douglas in the Griswold case and was used as the basis of the later Roe v. Wade abortion case. It was created by a Supreme Court opinion which struck down a Connecticut anticontraceptive statute and found various "emanations" and "penumbras" throughout the Constitution which warranted the leap to creating a new right that has still never been fully defined. No one, including Judge Bork, argues that the Connecticut law was appropriate. Judge Bork even testified that there were other ways to strike down the law.
What he -- and many constitutional scholars -- objected to was creating such a new constitutional right when that right could not be found or derived from one of the provisions of the Constitution or our Bill of Rights.
So You're Saying There's A Chance....
One person raises a hand for McCain, the rest of the room for Obama, and Fox News calls the crowd split.
Palin Nude
Sarah Palin has made the wall at the infamous Old Town Ale House in Chicago. The illustration (NSFW) can be seen here.
McCain Lies
Politico rounds up McCain's lies. This in response to his assertion yesterday that he tells "100 percent absolute truth." Ironically, that statement is false.
Diagramming Palin
A writer attempts to diagram a few of the sentences from Sarah Palin's answers in her three interviews. Things go as expected until this bad boy --
"I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people."-- to which the writer says:
I had to give up. This sentence is not for diagramming lightweights. If there's anyone out there who can kick this sucker into line, I'd be delighted to hear from you. To me, it's not English—it's a collection of words strung together to elicit a reaction, floating ands and prepositional phrases ("with that vote of the American people") be damned. It requires not a diagram but a selection of push-buttons...
Yet surely, more than most of us, politicians need to be able to think on their feet, to have a brain that works quickly and rationally under pressure. Do we really want to be led by someone who, when asked a straightforward question, flails around like an undergraduate who stayed up all night boozing instead of studying for the exam?
In a few short weeks, Sarah Palin has produced enough poppycock to keep parsers and diagrammers busy for a long time.
Powerful
I defy you not to be moved by this speech from ALF-CIO member Richard Trumka about confronting racism in America. He makes a passionate plea for union members to embrace their laudable history of civil rights and vote for Obama.
(h/t: Sullivan)
(h/t: Sullivan)
Google's Clean Energy Plan
Google has unveiled an energy plan that will, according to their estimates, end up saving the U.S. $1 trillion. It's rather complicated and scientific but if you have a little time (Joel, you'll have to stop posting blogs for 15 minutes) it's pretty interesting. I know I jumped the gun on "Science Friday" but this is good stuff.
PS - The link is a little slow to load. Be patient.
McCain and Eisenhower
McCain is still embellishing the story he told during last week's debate about Eisenhower, on the eve of Normandy, writing two letters, one a letter of resignation. The story is nice but only partly true: at no time did either of Eisenhower's letters mention resignation. McCain knows this -- it was pointed out following the debate. But that won't stop him from repeating the story again and again, this time this morning on Morning Joe.
Still Kickin'
So I thought this whole Obama birth certificate thing was over, but I guess the district judge in eastern Pennsylvania denied the democratic party's motion for dismissal of the citizenship case.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/pennsylvania/paedce/2:2008cv04083/281573/13/
I've been out of the loop. Any thoughts or rumblings about this been posted lately?
About Those Trade Missions
More evidence comes in undercutting Palin:
So for the umpteenth time we find out that Palin will say anything. This is getting boring.
In an interview last week with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Palin suggested that her contact was more than just awareness of Russia's nearness. When Couric asked Palin if she'd "ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians," the governor replied, "We have trade missions back and forth."
But Steve Smirnoff, the Russian Federation's honorary consul in Anchorage, said Palin never accepted his invitation to open a dialogue with Alaska's neighbor.
So for the umpteenth time we find out that Palin will say anything. This is getting boring.
Two Questions For The Debate
William Saletan has two questions Qwen Ifill should ask at tonight's debate.
1. Gov. Palin, you were asked this week whether it should be illegal for a girl to get an abortion in the case of rape or incest. Your answer was that the girl herself should not go to jail. What about the doctor? Should the doctor who performs that abortion face criminal penalties?
2. Sen. Biden, you said four weeks ago that you believe life begins at conception but that you can't impose your personal beliefs on other people. Yet you also voted for a law against gay marriage called the Defense of Marriage Act, and two years ago, you said this law expresses your view that "marriage is between a man and a woman and states must respect that." Why is it OK to impose your beliefs on gay marriage but not on abortion?
Palin Blames Media For Her Idiocy
In speaking this morning about the debate tonight, Sarah Palin laid the blame of her pathetic interviews at the feet of the big cruel media. Tonight things will be different because she won't be censored (!):
"Getting to speak directly to Americans without that filter ofHere's an idea: Sit down for a damn Sunday morning live interview. Hold a press conference. The only person who's been censoring Palin is the McCain campaign.
mainstream media trying to I think maybe censor some of my comments as
we lay out those contrasts between these two different tickets."
Tide Turning Against Palin
From the new WaPo poll:
The 60 percent who now see Palin as insufficiently experienced to step into the presidency is steeply higher than in a Post-ABC poll after her nomination early last month. Democrats and Republicans alike are now more apt to doubt her qualifications, but the biggest shift has come among independents.
In early September, independents offered a divided verdict on Palin's experience; now they take the negative view by about 2 to 1. Nearly two-thirds of both independent men and women in the new poll said Palin has insufficient experience to run the White House.
Palin and Gay Marriage
Ambinder attempts to discover what Palin's position is on a constitutional ban against same-sex marriage, given that last night she said that issues concerning the right to privacy are best left to the states to decide. The result is...confusing.
Palin And The Marriage Amendment
Palin And The Marriage Amendment
Debating Palin
Andrew Halcro explains what it's like to debate Sarah Palin. Halcro debated her during the gubernatorial race in Alaska in 2006. Key excerpts:
Palin is a master of the nonanswer. She can turn a 60-second response to a query about her specific solutions to healthcare challenges into a folksy story about how she's met people on the campaign trail who face healthcare challenges. All without uttering a word about her public-policy solutions to healthcare challenges.
In one debate, a moderator asked the candidates to name a bill the legislature had recently passed that we didn't like. I named one. Democratic candidate Tony Knowles named one. But Sarah Palin instead used her allotted time to criticize the incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski. Asked to name a bill we did like, the same pattern emerged: Palin didn't name a bill.
And when she does answer the actual question asked, she has a canny ability to connect with the audience on a personal level. For example, asked to name a major issue that had been ignored during the campaign, I discussed the health of local communities, Mr. Knowles talked about affordable healthcare, and Palin talked about ... the need to protect hunting and fishing rights.
So what does that mean for Biden? With shorter question-and-answer times and limited interaction between the two, he should simply ignore Palin in a respectful manner on the stage and answer the questions as though he were alone. Any attempt to flex his public-policy knowledge and show Palin is not ready for prime time will inevitably cast him in the role of the bully.
On the other side of the stage, if Palin is to be successful, she needs to do what she does best: fill the room with her presence and stick to the scripted sound bites.
Post Turtle
Bill Clinton busted out the post turtle reference when discussing Sarah Palin yesterday. Here is the joke:
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.
The old rancher said, ‘Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.’
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.
The old rancher said, ‘When you’re driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle.’
The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor’s face, so he continued to explain. ‘You know she didn’t get up there by herself, she doesn’t belong up there, she doesn’t know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.
Letterman To Do Rare Friday Show
David Letterman normally records his Friday show on Monday, but this week he's opting to record his Friday show on Friday so that he can comment on the debate. This does not bode well for McCain-Palin.
Real Clear Politics is Dead To Me
Or so says Nate Silver now that RCP is allowing their numbers to be driven by partisan interest. Smack down!
Rasmussen: Obama Up 7
Rasmussen has just released a new daily tracking poll and the numbers look good for Obama, who is up 51 to 44, his largest lead yet in this poll. Rasmussen tends to have a conservative lean, so the seven point gap is fairly substantial.
Symmetry
Obama's favorability rating at its highest ever on the day when McCain's is at its lowest. From the NYT:
A CBS News poll released Wednesday found that Mr. Obama’s
favorability rating, at 48 percent, is the highest it has ever been in
polls conducted by CBS and The New York Times. At the same time, the
number of voters who hold an unfavorable view of Mr. McCain — 42
percent — is as high as it has been since CBS News and The Times began
asking the question about Mr. McCain in 1999, the first time he ran for
president.The CBS News poll showed that Mr. Obama had a
nine-percentage-point lead over Mr. McCain — 49 percent to 40 percent.
It is the first time Mr. Obama has held a statistically significant
lead over Mr. McCain this year in polls conducted by CBS or joint polls
by CBS and The Times. And a series of polls taken in highly contested
states released by other organizations on Tuesday suggested that Mr.
Obama was building leads in states including Florida, Pennsylvania and
Virginia.
Liberal Media! Ack!
Finally, a case of true liberal media distorting the McCain-Palin ticket. A French newspaper ran a picture of Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin above an article on her candidacy. See the image here.
McCain Losing It
From Jonathan Martin:
Asked this morning on Fox & Friends why polls had shown Obama benefiting from the financial crisis, McCain had a candid response: "Because life isn’t fair."
McCain did expound a bit beyond the JFK-like shrug, contrasting his actions with Obama.
"He certainly did nothing for the first few days," McCain argued about his rival's response to the crisis. "I suspended my campaign, took our ads down, came back to Washington, met with the House folks and got on the phone, and also had face to face meetings.”
McCain also went further than he had yesterday in responding to a question about Gwen Ifill serving as the moderator of tonight's veep debate, saying he preferred somebody else.
"Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama," McCain said of Ifill, who is examining the rise of the Illinois Democrat and other post-civil rights Let’s face it. But I have to 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.”
Don't Vote
This video is cliched and there's profanity, but hey look! Celebrities!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The Merging of Politics and Baseball
My mom, a die-hard Cubs fan, skipped out on the game tonight to see Michael Beschloss, the famous American historian and best-selling author, speak at Purdue. But instead of asking him about the election, Palin's idiotic remarks, the bailout, etc., she asked him about....the Cubs! Apparently Beschloss' kids warned him that no one would show up to his talk tonight because of the game. My mom proved them wrong and Beschloss said he couldn't wait to share the info with his kids.
This is the woman who raised me.
Coates Responds to Palin Interview
Ta-Nehisi Coates in response to Palin's interview with Couric:
Palin's entire participation in this process has been an exercise in disrespect for government and the presidency.About right, that.
The Straight Talk Express
A Politico reporter followed McCain down the steps following the vote to ask him about the reaction of House Republicans to the vote.
He didn't appreciate the company.
McCain: "Excuse me, you're bothering me."
Politico: "I'm bothering you?"
McCain: "Excuse me, I have to go."
At least he was honest for once.
The China Rant, A Bit More Subdued
We owe China a shitload of money. HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. And no one ever fucking talks about it. (If you were in my backyard two weeks ago, you heard my wine-induced China rant. If not, consider yourself lucky.)
So, I was pleasantly surprised to see China get a tiny mention in this new spending ad from the Big O.
I can't bring myself to type her name twice...
Normally, I wouldn't waste my time or energy typing anything about Elizabeth Hasselbeck. But this clip is fascinating. When asked why Sarah Palin would make a good president, Hasselbeck stumbles and stammers and basically has no response. Except the obvious. "Why would Barack Obama make a good president?" Unreal.
The Poetry of Sarah Palin
From Slate, via Morgan, way out there in Portland.
The poems collected here were compiled verbatim from only three brief interviews. So just imagine the work Sarah Palin could produce over the next four (or eight) years.
"On Good and Evil"
It is obvious to me
Who the good guys are in this one
And who the bad guys are.
The bad guys are the ones
Who say Israel is a stinking corpse,
And should be wiped off
The face of the earth.
That's not a good guy.
(To K. Couric, CBS News, Sept. 25, 2008)
"You Can't Blink"
You can't blink.
You have to be wired
In a way of being
So committed to the mission,
The mission that we're on,
Reform of this country,
And victory in the war,
You can't blink.
So I didn't blink.
(To C. Gibson, ABC News, Sept. 11, 2008)
"Haiku"
These corporations.
Today it was AIG,
Important call, there.
(To S. Hannity, Fox News, Sept. 18, 2008)
"Befoulers of the Verbiage"
It was an unfair attack on the verbiage
That Senator McCain chose to use,
Because the fundamentals,
As he was having to explain afterwards,
He means our workforce.
He means the ingenuity of the American.
And of course that is strong,
And that is the foundation of our economy.
So that was an unfair attack there,
Again based on verbiage.
(To S. Hannity, Fox News, Sept. 18, 2008)
"Secret Conversation"
I asked President Karzai:
"Is that what you are seeking, also?
"That strategy that has worked in Iraq?
"That John McCain had pushed for?
"More troops?
"A counterinsurgency strategy?"
And he said, "Yes."
(To K. Couric, CBS News, Sept. 25, 2008)
"Outside"
I am a Washington outsider.
I mean,
Look at where you are.
I'm a Washington outsider.
I do not have those allegiances
To the power brokers,
To the lobbyists.
We need someone like that.
(To C. Gibson, ABC News, Sept. 11, 2008)
How the Times Haven't Changed
Back in 1999, the first time McCain ran for president, a CBS poll found that 42 percent of those surveyed had an unfavorable opinion of him.
Today, a brand new CBS poll found that, um, 42 percent of those surveyed have an unfavorable view of McCain. Not much movement there...
The Big O, on the other hand, now has a 48 percent favorability rating—the highest it has ever been.
For more, click here.
Palin Newspaper Interview
Never mind that yesterday she couldn't name one newspaper she's read, today Palin gave an interview to the Frontiersman, which is either the Wasilla newspaper or a gay monthly. In it she comes clean, sorta, about the Bridge to Nowhere.
Q: Since your campaign began, you’ve stated you opposed the “Bridge to Nowhere” and have called it that. What caused you to change your stance on building the bridge? Also, do you still support construction of the Knik Arm bridge? Why or why not?So she canceled the project when it became clear that Alaska was going to have to pay for it. So she didn't tell Congress thanks but no thanks. Congress told her no. That's it. Of course we've always knows this to be the case, despite her repeated claims otherwise.
A: After taking office and examining the project closely, realizing the Feds were not going to fund it as Alaskans had assumed was the case, I cancelled [sic] the project.
Palin is a twit and a liar.
Walking Contradiction
UPDATE: I've been told my line on Palin, Roe, and privacy is too strong, but I remain skeptical. Roe is founded on Griswold which is founded on the right to privacy. I don't see how you can be for one without granting the other.
In the Supreme Court interview Sarah Palin says three things of note: 1) that she is a federalist; 2) that she does not agree with Roe v. Wade; 3) that there is an inherent right to privacy protected by the Constitution.
There is no political philosophy that encompasses these three positions. They are self-contradictory.
To wit:
Federalists do not believe in an inherent right to privacy protected by the Constitution. Federalists are concerned solely with enumerated rights (all else is left to the states). Privacy is not an enumerated right.
The legal basis for Roe v. Wade is the right to privacy. You cannot be against Roe v. Wade while agreeing that the Constitution protects the right to privacy. It makes no sense. It's like being against the existence of stars while agreeing there is a sun.
Finally, the Republican platform since Roe v. Wade has in large part been cast against the right to privacy being protected by the Constitution. In stating that she believes there is such a right she's bucking her own party's platform. How will that play to the base?
Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Next VP!
Via Politico:
COURIC: What other Supreme Court decisions [than Roe v. Wade] do you disagree with?
PALIN: Well, let's see. There's --of course --in the great history of America rulings there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are--those issues, again, like Roe v Wade where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know--going through the history of America, there would be others but--Better to say nothing and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. -Samuel Clemens
COURIC: Can you think of any?
PALIN: Well, I could think of--of any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a Vice President, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.
Palin Lies Again
Responding to a question from Hugh Hewitt about the economic crisis, Palin says:
I know what Americans are going through. Todd and I—heck, we’re going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don’t like the idea of just an everyday working class American running for such an office.But the Washington Times has the real story:
A check of financial records, though, shows the Palins live anything but a common life when compared with their fellow residents of their hometown of Wasilla.
Their combined income of nearly a quarter-million dollars last year was five times the median household income for Wasilla’s 7,000 residents. They own a single-engine plane, two boats, two personal watercraft and a half-million-dollar, custom-built home on a lake that is worth three
times the average of other homes in town.
Clinton Raises Stakes
After weeks of doing little to help Obama with the election Bill Clinton today finally made himself useful by raising the stakes of the vice presidential debate.
"Senator Obama has spoken a lot about how we oughta relate to the world, and yes, he'll get out and travel some in the first year, we should want him to do it. But he is going to have to be really focused on fixing this economy. That means that role of the Vice President in repairing quickly our relations with the rest of the world will be relatively more important in the first two years of the next presidency."And I am just telling you, you can talk to me or anybody else at any time in Washington, and they will tell you there is nobody, nobody in the entire United States senate that understands the political, the economic, and the security challenges and opportunities of the world better than Joe Biden does. He is a superb choice."
How Smart She Is
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says of Palin:
"She's normal. My wife loves her because doesn't have a chip on her shoulder like some women politicians. She is very normal, she doesn't tell you how smart she is."Oh, but she does tell you how smart she is. Every damn time she speaks.
A Lyric For Today
I know you are waiting and I know that it is not for me /
But I'm here and I'm ready and I've saved you the passenger seat /
I won't be your last dance just your last goodnight /
Every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied /
I'll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen
CBS Teases Tonight's Interview
Roe v. Wade
Answered tonight: "Why do you think Roe v. Wade is a good or bad decision? What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?"
Church-State Separation
Answered tonight: "Thomas Jefferson wrote about the First Amendment: 'building a wall of separation between Church and State.' Why do you think that is so important?"
[Funny thing is that Palin doesn't actually answer all these questions]
538 / Intrade Update
Big day for Obama. Win percentage cracks 85%. Still selling below 65 on Intrade. If you can stomach the $25 wire transfer fee, now is a good time to buy Obama stock. Exploit that 20-point gap.
Debategate
Nate Silver weighs in on Debategate -- the new name for the Gwen Ifill-moderated vice presidential debate -- arguing that should Ifill be replaced Obama would be in an even more commanding position than he is now.
Remember When...
Remember when Palin was nominated for the vice presidency and a bunch of people said that she should get back into the kitchen? Completely justified.
Believe What I Say, Not What I Said
Talking Points Memo has the skinny on McCain's latest divorce from reality. Yesterday he blamed Obama for the bailout failure, even going so far as to release this ad blaming Obama for the bailout failure. Then later yesterday he says he never blamed Obama for the bailout failure in an interview with ABC.
Biden's Debate Prep
For his debate with Sarah Palin tomorrow night Joe Biden should be locked in a room with whatever it is that drives him insane the most. Then he should be coached on how to stay silent. Reaffirming slogans like "What to keep your mouth shut, Joe!" should be running through his head at all times. Whatever it takes to keep him from talking. Going against Sarah Palin, that's all Biden needs to do to win the debate. Opening his mouth is the only way he could lose. Biden does not need to bury Palin. Palin will do that herself. He should be focused on two things: 1) not jumping up and down on her grave and 2) not sticking his foot in his mouth. That's it. Keep quite, Joe.
McCain Seeks Advice From Palin
From an interview with NRP this morning:
NPR: Given what you’ve said Senator, is there an occasion where you could imagine turning to Governor Palin for advice in a foreign policy crisis.
MCCAIN: I’ve turned to her advice many times in the past, I can’t imagine turning to Senator Obama or Senator Biden because they’ve been wrong, they were wrong about Iraq, wrong about Russia…
NPR: But would you turn to Governor Palin?
MCCAIN: I certainly wouldn’t turn to them, and I’ve already turned to Governor Palin particularly on energy issues and I’ve appreciated her background and knowledge on that and many other issues.
NPR: Does her energy qualification extend to the international energy market?
MCCAIN: Of course. Of course. That’s what it’s all about. It extends to a broad variety of issues from her worldview to threats that we face, to radical Islamic extremism, to specific areas of the world. I’m very proud of her, and proud of the knowledge and background that she has.
The America Blog sums up my reaction nicely:
Yeah, right, Joe Biden doesn't hold a candle to the woman who's read most of the newspapers and magazines in the world. And McCain has turned to her for sage foreign policy advice "many times in the past"? He's known her a month. Please do tell, what areas, plural, of foreign policy expertise did John McCain get schooling in the past month from Sarah Palin? McCain said it's happened "many times" - so give us two examples please. And he turns to her for advice on her world view on radical Islamic extremism? Oh please, her expertise in the Middle East is limited to taking a taxi in Anchorage from a guy named Ahmed. And her expertise in particular areas of the world? She just got her passport last year - what areas of the world is she an expert on, and more of an expert than John McCain? The great threat from radical Canadian extremism?
Once again the question arises: lying McCain or demented McCain?
Crib Sheet For Palin
Tonight CBS will air the portion of Couric's interview with Sarah Palin in which she fails to name a Supreme Court case other than Roe vs. Wade. Since she may very well be our next vice president I figured it was my civil duty to provide her with a quick cheat sheet should the Supreme Court ever come up again.
Marbury v. Madison: Supreme Court can overrule Congress.
United States v. Nixon: President not above the law.
Plessy v. Ferguson: Separate but equal.
Brown v Board of Education: Segregation unconstitutional; overturns Plessy.
Miranda v. Arizona: Police must inform suspects of their right to remain silent, consult attorney.
DC v. Heller: Individuals can possess a handguns.
Boumedine v Bush: Prisoners have right to habeas corpus.
Bush v. Gore: Votes must be counted, but shouldn't be recounted.
Dred Scott v. I Can't Remember: Blacks cannot be citizens.
Now, a confession: This is the complete list of Supreme Court cases I could come up with off the top of my head. I know of others, but not necessarily the name of the case. And I know other names, but not necessarily the decision. I also had to look up how to spell "Boumedine" because I cannot spell to save my life (right, Rene?). And it's Dred Scott v. Stanford.
4 Years Ago
Gwen Ifill began the vice presidential debate by asking the following question of Dick Cheney:
Vice President Cheney, there have been new developments in Iraq, especially having to do with the administration's handling.For fun, between now and the debate you can calculate how many minutes remain until Ifill is accused of sexism and liberal bias, with bonus points awarded for how quickly into the debate someone charges her with acting out of racial solidarity with Obama.
Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, gave a speech in which he said that we have never had enough troops on the ground, or we've never had enough troops on the ground.
Donald Rumsfeld said he has not seen any hard evidence of a link between Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein. Was this approved -- of a report that you requested that you received a week ago that showed there was no connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein?
Of course this could all be moot if Ifill doesn't do her job, but since she broke her ankle while preparing for the debate I expect that she'll hurl at least one hardball at Palin.
UPDATE: Ifill already being disqualified.
Welcome to the IHSA Bass Fishing Tournament
That's what many parents around the state will hear next May when the tournament rolls around. Illinois voted last year to add bass fishing to the roster of official high school sports. Apparently, it's a big deal. I wonder how many kids would have joined the bass fishing team when I was in high school. Probably none.
"What are you doing after school today Jim? You want to come over and get stoned? Those two hot girls from chemistry will be there."
"I can't dude. I have bass fishing practice."
Sounds lame.
New Voters
Via First Read:
A brand-new NBC/WSJ/MySpace poll is further evidence that the number of new voters who turn out on Election Day could very well decide the presidential contest. According to the survey, new and lapsed voters (those who didn't vote in 2004) back Obama over McCain by a 2-to-1 margin, 61%-30%. If you take the Bush (62 million) and Kerry (59 million) vote totals from 2004, assume turnout increases by 20 million additional voters (about what it did in 2004), and assume Obama wins these additional voters 2-to-1, then Obama would best McCain nationally by more than three million voters, 72.4 million to 68.7 million. But if turnout increases by just 10 million, then the numbers become Obama 65.7 million, McCain 65.3 million -- a virtual tie.
Stay Classy, John
From the NYT via Politico:
"At one point Senator Barack Obama walked over to the Republican side to shake Mr. McCain's hand; Mr. McCain barely interrupted his conversation, and did not pivot to face him, shaking his hand for only a moment."
A Joke
Palin sits down for an interview with Hugh Hewitt.
HH: Governor, your candidacy has ignited extreme hostility, even some hatred on the left and in some parts of the media. Are you surprised? And what do you attribute this reaction to?
SP: Oh, I think they’re just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what? It’s time that normal Joe six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency, and I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it, but it’s motivation for John McCain and I to work that much harder to make sure that our ticket is victorious, and we put government back on the side of the people of Joe six-pack like me, and we start doing those things that are expected of our government, and we get rid of corruption, and we commit to the reform that is not only desired, but is deserved by Americans.
Two things. 1) That's one long-ass sentence. 2) It's never time that Joe six-pack is represented in the Office of the Vice President. That Palin believes regular folk should run the White House is a sign of a twisted egalitarian narcissism.
The other questions asked:
Now Governor, the Gibson and the Couric interview struck many as sort of pop quizzes designed to embarrass you as opposed to interviews. Do you share that opinion?
Have you followed the attacks on you, say, via Drudge or the blogs? Some of them are just made up and out of left field, others are just mocking. Do you follow those?
Governor, you mentioned the people who are struggling right now. Have you and your husband, Todd, ever faced tough economic times where you had to sit around a kitchen table and make tough choices?
Governor, when you say things are tight right now, is that simply because of Todd being off not working? Or is it because of extraordinary demands on the fiscal resources of the Palin family? What’s the situation there?
Governor, let’s turn to a couple of issues that the MSM’s not going to pick up. You’re pro-life, and how much of the virulent opposition to you on the left do you attribute to your pro-life position, and maybe even to the birth of, your decision, your and Todd’s decision to have Trig?
Do you think the mainstream media and the left understands your religious faith, Governor Palin?
Last question, Governor. Have you and Todd heard from your son? And how is it on your nerves having your son deployed?
