Um... what?

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke to Fox “News” yesterday about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich; “Now is the time, not just for governors, but, for all elected officials to try and start shoring up some trust with the electorate. […] You cannot be in this business to get rich...can't be in this business with anything but a servant's heart. I'm wondering how long the guy thought he was gonna get away with it.”

There’s something I should be saying here… something regarding a pot, a kettle and the color black… but I'm laughing so hard I can’t think of it at this moment.

The Palin Factor

As I mentioned in today’s ‘Daily’, Gov. Palin just will NOT go away…

And that could be excellent news for us.

It’s becoming obvious that battle lines are being drawn within the republican party; those who see Palin as the answer for 2012 and those that see her as the antithesis for 2012, and each side is getting more and more vocal.

Now it seems the more intelligent GOP operatives and other future Presidential contenders see the true state of their party, their ideals and their organization and are rapidly seeing that an Obama presidency might virtually be assured of 2 terms and that anyone they run in 2012 is doomed to fail.

Herein enters Sarah Palin;

A strategist for a rival potential presidential rival e-mails to express amusement with Gov. Sarah Palin's come one, come all PR strategy: “Fine with us. Let her be the sacrificial lamb for 2012.” Which means: a lot of the folks who you'd think are angling to run in 2012 are certainly preparing to do so, but they're looking to and thinking about 2016....

So is this accurate? Are the republicans actually looking past 2012 to 2016?

Let’s think about the logic behind that… as the battle lines start to get a bit clearer within the republican party there starts a movement to have Palin increase her political profile over the next few years… but one would think, if they were truly serious about her as a contender, that someone would gently pull her aside right now, tell her to stop talking for a while, fade away for a few months and try to accomplish something concrete in hopes of polishing her resume.

But it’s not happening. Instead, people are allowing her to go out and speak her mind whenever she wants, and, in turn, has started to alienate many people, not only some in the inner workings of the RNC but also the American electorate, and in doing so is starting to lose her alleged reputation as a so-called maverick and is gaining a new reputation of being a self-serving tool with a large sense of entitlement.

Most of the time, after a campaign loss, a candidate will quietly slink off in order to power down, do some self-assessment and figure out what to do.

Palin hasn’t done that… and if she hopes to have any political future other than that of being a laughingstock or a punchline, then she should probably shut her mouth, go back to Alaska and actually, I don’t know, govern. If not… if she decided to stay in the spotlight, grabbing any spotlight or interview at the drop of a hat, her shtick will get old VERY quick.

Of course I have NO problem with that and hope she sticks around, making the odds for re-election in 2012 even greater.

Stay tuned.

Two weeks? Try two days! The Throwing Sarah Palin Under the Bus Story: Part I

I knew McCain’s handlers would throw Gov. Palin under the bus, I just didn’t think it would happen so damn soon.... but it is.

As I mentioned in this morning’s ‘Daily’, anyone with their own brain who wasn’t drinking the McCain Kool-Aid could see that Sarah Palin was woefully unqualified to be Vice President… but there she was, being trotted out to appeal to “spurned” supporters of Hillary Clinton and the American ‘everyman/woman”...

As it turns out, McCain’s staffers AND Fox “News” knew she was unqualified, but they seemingly sucked it up in order to put the republican party first (if this doesn’t show that Fox “News” is in bed with the gop, I don’t know what would). And now, with the election barely over, the McCain campaign is attacker her, using Fox “News” as their lipstick-stained attack dog.

Here are some of the better juicy bits from Fox’s Carl Cameron;

She didn’t know which countries were part of NAFTA… Palin was angry at staffers over the Gibson and Couric interviews even though she had refused staff requests to prepare for the interviews… and someone had to explain to Palin that Africa was a continent, not a country.

You read that right… it had to be explained to her that Africa was a continent, not a country.

As if the allegations from Fox weren’t enough, Newsweek released an article teaser yesterday that has their own allegations, including the charge that Palin went “rogue” by attacking Obama for his so-called “association” with Bill Ayers before the McCain camp even had a plan of attack.

The Newsweek article also mentions that McCain advisors showed up at the Palin's hotel room during the convention to meet with her and Todd and she entered the room in nothing but two towels, one of which was wrapped around her wet hair.

Oh, and have we mentioned that Palin spent MUCH MORE than the previously reported $150,000 on clothes for herself and her family? Well…she did, and now there are rumors that lawyers for the RNC will be heading to Alaska to try to account for all the money that was spent on clothing, jewelry and luggage.

Couple all of this with the fact that Palin pissed off campaign leaders by asking to make her own concession speech on election night, which just isn’t done, and you have the makings of an old-fashioned DC brawl developing.

Someone get the popcorn as tomorrow I look at how long-time McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann turned over and became a Palin-confidant... to the point he was let go last week under a shroud of secrecy.

Epic. Fail.

New clothes: $150,000
New bridge to nowhere: over $400 billion
Getting played by a Canadian comedy duo on the radio: Priceless

So stupid it hurts

Since becoming Sen. McCain’s running mate, Gov. Palin has said some truly idiotic things… her latest tops them all.

Speaking to conservative radio host Chris Plante this morning, Palin said that because the media described her criticism of Sen. Obama’s associations with Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Right as negative campaigning, that their criticism may “constitute an attack that threatens a candidate’s free speech rights under the Constitution.”

The stupid! It burns…..

Note to Ms. Palin; perhaps you should put down all the things you read on a daily basis – Junior Jumbles don’t count – and read the Constitution… then you would see that the First Amendment bars the Government… the government… from abridging free speech rights and has absolutely nothing to do with one being able to say things without being criticized.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the mindset of conservative tin-foil hatters – I.E. Holocaust deniers, secessionists, militia nutjobs, John Bi*r*h followers and their ilk – this is a frequent complaint… private criticism of public pronunciations somehow violates their free speech rights and one – conservatives only mind you – should be allowed to let their hate-filled rhetoric spew forth without any criticism at all.

If we use Palin’s logic (a term I use with her very, very, VERY loosely, especially when considering she believes that earth was created only 6,000 years ago and that man and dinosaurs walked together in peace, love and harmony), then when a newspaper, Sen. McCain or Palin herself criticize Sen. Obama for his associations, then they’re threatening his constitutional rights since The Constitution also guarantees freedom of association (HT to Glenn Greenwald).

Care to answer THAT charge Ms. Palin?

The fact that this woman is still a viable candidate for the second-most powerful job in the U.S is a perfect example of how mindless and lemming-like republicans are. Anyone with their own brain can see she’s out of her league playing with the big kids in DC, but all they hear are the conservative talking points about taxes, abortion and the like and they’re ready to prop her up as a party savior.

I have two words for that strategy…

Epic. Fail.

Is she kidding us with these answers???

An 8 year-old student submitted a question to a journalist about what the vice president's job is, so the reporter relayed the question to Gov. Palin.

Her response; “Palin: That's a great question, Brandon, and a Vice President has a really great job, because not only are they there to support the President agenda, they're like a team member, the team mate to that President. But also, they're in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.”

Actually, the VP is NOT in charge of the Senate, they merely preside over it and cast a vote ONLY if there’s a tie… furthermore…

Oh never mind, she wouldn’t understand anyway…

Am I the only one that, when thinking about Palin being VP, gets a tightness in his chest and a pounding in his head?

And if you want a laugh, check out this response that I saw on MSNBC’s Hardball;

Pat Buchanan: She's talking to second graders, Chris!
Chris Matthews: She's talking like a second-grader, Pat!

Nice…

and true…

The Fallout Begins

After a day of flying around the blogosphere, the hatred being brewed by the McPalin campaign (intended or not) is FINALLY getting attention from the traditional media.

Consider this scathing editorial from the NY Times this morning;

It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember. […] Ms. Palin, in particular, revels in the attack. Her campaign rallies have become spectacles of anger and insult. "This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America," Ms. Palin has taken to saying. […] Her demagoguery has elicited some frightening, intolerable responses. A recent Washington Post report said at a rally in Florida this week a man yelled "kill him!" as Ms. Palin delivered that line and others shouted epithets at an African-American member of a TV crew.

About time… even if the mob-inciting is unintentional, their silence about it speaks volumes and people need to be made aware of it… thankfully the Fourth Estate has decided to do their job.

Unfortunately it will probably be short-lived as I’m sure the news cycle will be full of inane celebrity news before the end of today… but try to enjoy it while you can.

Politicians in glass houses… etc, etc.

The McPalin camp wants us to believe that Obama has associations with Bill Ayers, a 60’s radical with the Weathermen… never mind that Obama was all of 8 years old when Ayers group committed those crimes.

This is guilt by association because Obama and Ayers were on the board of a charity together.

Imagine if all of us were guilty by living in the same neighborhood and working in the same place as a questionable person…. would that mean that we are all guilty by association and proximity?

Give me a break…

And what of McCain? Do you really expect the American people to believe that in their years of public service, they’ve never been associated with someone whose reputation was less than stellar.

Come on John, surely you can name one {cough cough – Keating 5 – cough cough}…

And you Ms. Palin; you’re associated with a group that wants Alaska to succeed from the US… you’re also associated with a pastor that’s said some pretty radical things himself… and yet here you are, throwing stones when your glass house (or should I say ‘igloo’) is chock-full of the same.

If the McPalin camp wants to open this war, then it’s up to the Progressive Blogosphere to strike back on behalf of the Obama campaign.

Starting now.

Something wicked this way comes

Whatever honor or dignity that the McPalin campaign ever had is now gone.

Over the weekend the campaign saw the writing on the wall that the campaign was sinking fast, so they re-strategized and decided to divert focus away from the issues like the economy, the war and healthcare, and took aim at Sen. Obama’s character.

In doing so, they’re going down a bleak path that may lead to… God knows what.

With their hateful rhetoric, the McPalin campaign is starting to incite a mob-mentality with some of their supporters, witness yesterday’s frightening developments:

• After Palin made (totally unfounded and inflammatory) suggestions that Obama is a terrorist and/or is at least friendly toward terrorists and doesn't see the country the way you and I do a supporter shouted out; “Kill him!”
• McPalin supporters shouted racial epithets at reporters and an African American AV technician.
• Palin was introduced by a sheriff who prognosticated about might happen on Election Day “if Barack Hussein Obama is elected.”
• During a campaign stop, McCain asked rhetorically and impregnated with pejorative meaning: “Who is Barack Obama?” A McCain supporter yelled out “A terrorist!"

What is the campaign’s intent in questioning Obama’s character? Come on, does John McCain truly think that the Presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket is a terrorist and hates America?

Of course not… it’s republican fear-mongering at its ugliest… and judging by yesterday’s various occurrences, it’s working.

And that’s what worries me… one should never underestimate the ignorance of mob mentality and mob rule.

Sure, it was one single person screaming “Kill him”, but then you had another yelling “he’s a terrorist”.

Where does this lead?

Is this what our nation, our civilized nation, has become??

And if McCain gets elected... where does it go from there?

The litany of possibilities is downright terrifying.

UPDATE: When is it decided that enough is enough? What has to happen before the traditional media picks up on the fact that the McPalin campaign is prompting a mob mentality and, due to their silence when it occurs, hate-mongering?

In the last few days we’ve seen someone at a McCain rally shouting “terrorist,” someone at a Palin rally screaming “kill him” while others at the same rally taunted reporters and AV techs with racial epithets.

The insanity continued today; “In the latest instance of inflammatory outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies, a crowd member screamed "treason!" during an event on Tuesday after Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of criticizing U.S. troops.”

‘Treason’?

Surely someone in the McCain campaign knows how utterly ridiculous that sounds… and that person needs to explain it to Ms. Palin.

Just be sure to use a LOT of pictures, small words, and speak very slowly…

UPDATE 2: Per Radar Online; "The Secret Service is following up on media reports today that someone in the crowd at a McCain/Palin event suggested killing Barack Obama, according to Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley. The shout of "kill him" followed a Sarah Palin rant on Obama's relationship with radical Chicagoan Bill Ayers."

Good... and since the traditional media is doing their usual bang-up job on reporting (meaning they're ignoring it) make sure you tell everyone you know about this.