Palin and Creationism: Let It Live

COURIC: Should creationism be allowed to be taught anywhere in public schools?

PALIN: Don’t have a problem at all with kids debating all sides of theories, all sides of ideas that they ever–kids do it today, whether it’s on paper in a curriculum or not. Curriculums also are best left to the local school districts, instead of big brother, federal government, telling a district what they can and can’t teach.

This is a ridiculous answer. First of all, creationism isn't a theory. Second of all, no one is for regulating what kids can talk about. Third of all, teaching science should be the goal and if local school districts muddy that water it would be nice to know where she came down on that issue. But of course she doesn't tell us. She only says that the government shouldn't intervene.

A note: Do you think she's read 1984? I say no.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

McCain v. Des Moines Register

McCain sat down for an interview yesterday with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register and he was his typical happy self, gracefully acknowledging the truth about a variety of issues.

Jon Stewart Goes Off

The opening segment of last night's Daily Show is classic.

Obama Up Big

Quinnipiac just released a new round of battleground polls and the news is very bad for McCain.

Florida: Obama 51, McCain 43

Ohio: Obama, 50, McCain 42

Pennsylvania: Obama 54, McCain 39

Also of note is that Ohio has begun early voting, which will help Obama.

Palin Hurting McCain

Pew has released a new poll showing that 51% of Americans believe that Palin is unqualified, up from 37% after her announcement. Pew states what is becoming obvious:

There is a clear correlation between views of Palin's qualifications and support for McCain, which may be hurting the GOP candidate. Fewer people see her as qualified to become president, and the balance of opinion toward Palin has grown more negative since early September.Unfavorable views of the Alaska governor have increased among most demographic and political groups, with GOP voters a notable exception.

The more people learn about Palin, the less they like her, and the less they like her, the more they dislike McCain. Except for Republicans, who remain impervious to her idiocy.

What's Changed Exactly?

Michael Calderone unloads on Palin:

Yesterday, on Hugh Hewitt's show, Sarah Palin -- who declined to tell Katie Couric the name of one periodical she reads -- talked about the decline of the Fourth Estate.

HH: 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?

SP: Well, I have a degree in journalism also, so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago. But I’m not going to pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrelful. I’m going to take those shots and those pop quizzes and just say that’s okay, those are good testing grounds. And they can continue on in that mode. That’s good. That makes somebody work even harder. It makes somebody be even clearer and more articulate in their positions. So really I don’t fight it. I invite it.

So what exactly changed since Palin received her journalism degree from the University of Idaho, just over two decades ago? Were Vice Presidential candidates like Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle not subjected to scrutiny by the political press? Was there a time when Vice Presidential candidates weren't asked questions about their positions on foreign and domestic issues -- as was done in the Couric and Gibson interviews? What was the pop quiz question?

One difference from 20 years ago might be that a no candidate seeking the Vice Presidency has ever been as shielded from the press corps following her, and resistant to answer questions on the trail.

Of course, to Palin its all "gotcha" journalism, even when the question comes from a voter. And Palin, and McCain, will simply continue decrying the treatment they get in the media to sympathetic listeners as long as they can.

Palin Prepares

From the NYT:

Advisers said she was a diligent worker and was frequently up until the small hours of the morning in her hotel room trying to cram as much information as possible before the debate.

The McCain campaign is making a mockery out of the office of the vice president.

Palin Was A Journalism Major

That's all.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

More Palin-Couric

Choice quotes from Palin's most recent interview with Couric.

On homosexuality:

But what you're talking about, I think, value here, what my position is on homosexuality and you can pray it away, because I think that was the title that was listed on that bulletin. And you know, I don't know what prayers are worthy of being prayed. I don't know what's prayers are going to be asked and answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I am not going to judge people.

Global warming being man-made:

You know there are - there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it's real; we need to do something about it.

Here's the thing. It does matter if you believe global warming was man-made. If you don't accept the cause as the cause then I am at a loss for how you come up with a solution. Any solution will have to respond to the cause. And if that cause is man-made, the solution needs to address that.

Equally troubling about this answer is that it contains the tired tactic of responding to a question that wasn't asked as a way of deflecting from the question that was. The question is whether or not man's activities has been the catalyst for global warming -- caused, in the loosest sense, global warming. Palin responds not to this question but to the question of whether global warming can be attributed entirely to human activity.

It's Like Christmas Every Evening

Another magnificent exchange between potential vice president Sarah Palin and Katie Couric.

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —

COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.

PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.

Couric's look at 0:36 is priceless. As is the fact that Palin apparently thinks that we Lower 48ers believe Alaska doesn't have mail service or the internet. As is the fact that Palin reads every newspaper and magazine ever put in front of her (or every newspaper and magazine ever published, if you parse her response literally). As is the fact that Palin can't name one.

This American Life Does the Crisis

Surprisingly entertaining and informative, this episode of This American Life covers the financial crisis. Word is that the producers are furiously working on a follow up piece for this weekend.

False Polling?

Tom Brokaw has been pissing me off left and right lately and Sunday's Meet the Press was no different. He concluded his segment on the Iraq war with David Axelrod by saying the following:

In fairness to everybody here, I'm just going to end on one note, and that is that we continue to poll on who's best equipped to be commander in chief, and John McCain continues to lead in that category despite the criticism from Barack Obama by a factor of 53 to 42 percent in our latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

To me, it seemed like such an awkward quip, and now it turns out the poll numbers weren't even accurate. From Jason Linkins at The HuffPo:

MoveOn.org researched the matter, and found the polling numbers Brokaw was citing. They weren't in any recent poll conducted by NBC/WSJ. In fact, the recent NBC News/WSJ poll does not even include a question on "who's best equipped to be commander-in-chief." To get those 53-42 numbers, you have got to dial it back to the poll taken September 6-8 - significantly, the poll done after the Republican National Convention - to find those numbers sitting at question 14. The larger picture, of course, is that in head-to-head matchups - in NBC/WSJ now, NBC/WSJ then, all these polls from Sunday - is that those polled prefer Obama.

MoveOn has, naturally, asked Brokaw to apologize.

Palin Wins Debate?

It's not unthinkable, given how low the expectations are. Here's more from Katharine Zaleski:

Sarah Palin can win the vice presidential debate before she even hits the stage, and the McCain campaign knows it.

The plan is risky, but their aim is to conquer the expectations game. They beat expectations at the convention when they unveiled her before millions of Americans who were incredulous about her experience, abilities and obviously unvetted background. That speech, delivered only a month ago, capped off a week of bad press... bad press that made Palin's success on the stage inevitable as long as she didn't throw up on the teleprompter.

Palin's remarks to Couric revealed her broad lack of knowledge on many of the issues that one needs to know when you're a heartbeat away from the presidency. She also showed a terrible ability to naturally dispense memorized information, even talking points that have been repeated numerous times by other McCain surrogates. Her answer on why Russia's proximity to Alaska gives her foreign policy experience was among the worst. She failed to convince Couric and the audience of a key argument, albeit a completely mind-numbing one.

Now that we expect Palin's debate performance to be disastrous, she only has room to surprise us, just like she did in Minnesota. McCain senior adviser Nicolle Wallace couldn't have said it better: "I seriously hope that people continue to underestimate the most popular governor in America and a woman who speaks to the heart of America's economic angst."

The Obama Effect

A comment from a statistics professor (not my Dad):

"My take on this is that African American voters will vote for Obama in greater numbers than the polls indicated and that will be called "the Obama" effect. Not an unreasonable prediction: AA's as a group have less respect for authority or what they see as "white" systems - (the pollsters, the elections) - and have been known to react as a group in surprising ways that can only be understood by recognizing AA's acute awareness of the unfairness in our society towards minorities. (Response to the OJ verdict comes to mind.)"

Right now Obama is polling at 89% among black voters according to Gallop, so for the Obama effect to be real he'd need to see something on the order of 93% of the black vote. That's not much room for movement. Of course another way to measure an Obama effect would be to see if there's been an unusual increase in black voter registration since he won the nomination and of those voters if they overwhelmingly break for Obama. Polls have a notoriously difficult time accounting for new voters, so this is another area worth exploring.

Don't Announce Attacks?

McCain hammered Obama during the debate about talking about military strikes ahead of any attack. But as Think Progress notes, McCain has often talked about US attacks prior to any military engagement.

When thinking about how McCain could hold these contradictory positions simultaneously -- cognitive dissonance, you've met your match -- and when thinking about how he could attack Obama for something Obama has not done even though McCain himself has, well, remember that external reality does not matter to the McCain campaign. The divorced themselves from that sweet sister months ago.

Is This Guy, bin Laden, Really That Bad?

Read it.

Tucker Bounds Compares Obama to Bush

Does the McCain campaign really want to go there? McCain lackey Tucker Bounds, today in New Orleans:

“We welcome Barack Obama’s new-found interest in passing this critical economic rescue of our economy, but the American people needed leadership last week, and our next President can't wait until after the levees break to start making phone calls.”

The Obama campaign ought to respond to this attack by throwing light on the comparison. Obama spokesmen should bring this up from now until Thursday. Tie this into a narrative about McCain throwing the kitchen sink at Obama.

"First suspending his campaign, now comparing Obama to Bush!?! I never thought someone could make that comparison with a straight face, but there we have it. I guess they'll do anything, say anything."

Palin Scares Albright

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright

is frightened by the possibility that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican John McCain's running mate, could assume the presidency.

Asked today in an interview with [Cleveland] Plain Dealer editors and reporters if she is scared by the prospect of Palin being a heartbeat away, Albright, who has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama, responded without hesitating, "Yes. Yes."

Interactive Home Price Graphic

The NYT has a nifty interactive graphic displaying home prices for twenty cites over the last eight years. See how much things have crashed in your neck of the woods.

A Lyric For Today

Then one night you found me in my army issue cot /
And you told me of your flash of inspiration /
You said fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought /
and all night long you drove me wild with your equations /

Oh Marie do you remember all the time we used to take /
We'd make our love and then ransack the rations /
I think about you leaving now and the avalanche cascades /
And my eyes get washed away in chain reactions

Netroots Leading Charge on New Bailout Bill?

Ambinder reports:

House Democrats who voted against the bailout are throwing a new bill into the mix. A diverse lot of lawmakers led by Rep. Pete DeFazio want to give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. more latitude to deal with bank failures, just as the FDIC efficiently negotiated the takeovers of Washington Mutual and Wachovia.

It would also suspend "fair value accounting," which could, in theory, stabilize prices and impose a securities tax equal to one fourth of one percent of profits.

Open Left has more details:

DeFazio believes that the Paulson/Bush proposal is based on a flawed premise: if the American taxpayers spend $700 billion to buy Wall Street's toxic assets - a plan pundits are calling "trash for cash" - it will create liquidity in our financial markets and will somehow trickle-down to Main Street. DeFazio's plan is not in any way based on the Paulson/Bush plan. Instead of throwing taxpayer dollars at the program and crossing our fingers that the plan work, the measure will direct the Administration to take five simple steps, suggested by noted economist and former head of the FDIC, William Isaac, to re-regulate the markets and move America towards a healthy financial future.

The Official InTrade Map

Palin Humor

Jimmy Kimmel: "John McCain showed up without running mate Sarah Palin, which is a shame because she actually has a lot of experience with financial matters. You know, she lives right next to a bank."

Bill Maher: "I don't want to say she's a ditz, but last night my stripper's fake name was Sarah Palin."

I Think Rene Would Agree

Rebecca Traister pours cold water on the Sarah Palin pity party:

Sarah Palin is no wilting flower. She is a politician who took the national stage and sneered at the work of community activists. She boldly tries to pass off incuriosity and lassitude as regular-people qualities, thereby doing a disservice to all those Americans who also work two jobs and do not come from families that hand out passports and backpacking trips, yet still manage to pick up a paper and read about their government and seek out experience and knowledge.

When you stage a train wreck of this magnitude -- trying to pass one underqualified chick off as another highly qualified chick with the lame hope that no one will notice -- well, then, I don't feel bad for you.

When you treat women as your toys, as gullible and insensate pawns in your Big Fat Presidential Bid -- or in Palin's case, in your Big Fat Chance to Be the First Woman Vice President Thanks to All the Cracks Hillary Put in the Ceiling -- I don't feel bad for you.

When you don't take your own career and reputation seriously enough to pause before striding onto a national stage and lying about your record of opposing a Bridge to Nowhere or using your special-needs child to garner the support of Americans in need of healthcare reform you don't support, I don't feel bad for you.

When you don't have enough regard for your country or its politics to cram effectively for the test -- a test that helps determine whether or not you get to run that country and participate in its politics -- I don't feel bad for you.

When your project is reliant on gaining the support of women whose reproductive rights you would limit, whose access to birth control and sex education you would curtail, whose healthcare options you would decrease, whose civil liberties you would take away and whose children and husbands and brothers (and sisters and daughters and friends) you would send to war in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and wherever else you saw fit without actually understanding international relations, I don't feel bad for you.

I like the article because she pushes back against Judith Warner, a writer I simply cannot stand.

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