It’s gonna take a lot of Ambien for these folks to sleep well at night.
Category: Politics Page 43 of 73
CNN reporting that McCain’s campaign upset that CNN’s Campbell Brown went “too far” in her interview with McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, so now McCain will not be giving an interview to CNN’s Larry King. And this is what “too far” looks like, I guess.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYiw_y2qDI[/youtube]
Hilarious. John McCain – Ready to Run Away on Day One.
This is just hilarious. Apparently, before Palin snagged the mayorality of the metropolis of Wasilla, she was a paid-up member of the Alaska Independence Party. The primary aim of the Alaska Independence Party is, it seems, secession from the United States and nationhood status for Alaska. Now, as someone who – as a general rule – believes that if people want to run off and form their own country they ought to be allowed to, I can’t say that I’m personally troubled by this. But in light of the hypernationalistic bent of the GOP these days, don’t you think it should be an issue? Or is patriotism just one more principle they’ll jettison in pursuit of victory?
Update: Apparently Palin was *not* a paid up member of the AIP. That was her husband, see. But she was still “sharing [their] vision” in 2008.  Ah well. That’ll teach me to rely on the word of a winger party official.
I’ve been watching the discussion over Sarah Palin with something approaching astonishment. Not just astonishment at McCain’s poor judgment in selecting her, but the extent to which Republicans have had to all but completely abandon the concepts of honesty, integrity, and consistency to do so. And they just did it on a dime (albeit after a bit of shocked stuttering on Friday morning). Overnight, the one issue they had continually slammed Obama over – experience – suddenly became irrelevant.
Republicans made this shift despite the reams of papers, hours of footage, and terabytes of storage showing them going on about what a core qualification it was. Now, I know that comfort with hypocrisy is a very important part of being a Republican, but this goes far beyond that. So far, in fact, that it seems McCain has circled all the way around into a realm completely beyond hypocrisy and more into . . . an alternate reality?
When asked about criticisms of Sarah Palin’s readiness to serve as president, McCain responded: “If they want to go down that route, in all candor, she has far, far more experience than Senator Obama does.” (emphasis supplied)
What.the.hell? Josh Marshall notes:
Set aside the bravado. Can McCain possibly believe that? And if he does, what are we supposed to think of his own fitness to serve? Sen. Obama is certainly new on the national scene. But he’s serving his fourth year in the US senate. He’s run a successful national primary campaign. He’s deeply versed on all the relevant policy issues. Palin has been the governor of one of the smallest states in the country (by pop.) for 18 months. As recently as 2006, she said she hadn’t focused enough on Iraq to have an opinion one way or another about the surge. Even now, her off-hand comments about Iraq are completely at odds with Sen. McCain’s.
Marshall’s post is titled “Sadly Nuts”, and I don’t think he’s far off the mark. After months of slamming Obama’s resume, we’re getting justifications for Palin that include fighting “special interests” while on the PTA, foreign relations experience by osmosis, and “commander-in-chief” experience through briefly being the titular head of the Alaska National Guard. And every one of these absurd claims are being repeated with straight faces far and wide by McCain’s supporters. There is, apparently, nothing they won’t say or do, so long as the GOP has approved it.
Country first, eh?
Looks like even the Twin Cities are trying to live down to GOP standards:
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Now, I’ve seen (with my own eyes) enough high profile protests to know that there is always a dumbass who behaves in such a way as to give the police an excuse to come crashing down. But it’s the crashing down that ends up *really* starting the ball rolling on the things for which protesters are arrested. Honestly, if I were sitting in one of those houses this morning, and all of a sudden I had some guy kick in a door and start screaming at me and throwing me on the floor, it’s entirely possible (probable) that I’d be facing an assault and battery charge tonight. You can’t treat people like this and not expect them to fight back. And really, the fighting back? It’s what they’re counting on. I hope the folks in Minnesota can keep themselves to a higher standard than I could.
Nothing much to say, really, beyond:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJe8hQ8ha0[/youtube]
and:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qW0Edq1KqI[/youtube]
Bonus dedication from Mitt to John:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXhlwYOyLw[/youtube]
(Comments temporarily moderated – seems like Blacknell.net drew the short straw in today’s spammer contest)
Palin? Small-town mayor to heartbeat away from the Presidency in less than two years? Heh. This will be . . . interesting. Kay Bailey Hutchinson painful to watch, trying to spin this as a positive. Here’s a good observation, from a dkos commenter:
I welcome a VP nominee who has demonstrated that she has realized that the Republicans are the party of complete corruption and are void of any moral compass, let alone any patriotism.
Palin has moved against, accused, and turned in Murkowski, Don Young, Ted Stevens, and others.
McCain needs to be asked: Â in just a few years Palin has moved against the total corruption that has gutted the Republican Party in Alaska. Â What, Sir, have you done in Washington to address the total corruption of the Republicans there?
And Palin needs to be asked: Â has the Republican Party served Alaska well? Â Is this what we need for the country?
CNN just talking about today’s McCain event “This is something we never – never see at a McCain event – a full packed house in a large venue.” Ouch.
Update: Oh, lord. This is just too good not to share. Fox News’ Steve Doocy explains to us how Palin does have foreign relations experience (seriously):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwWGS73v4_k[/youtube]
Update II: And just to show that there’s a market for that kind of stupidity, there are already idiots repeating it as an actual argument online.
Update III: Blueweeds gives this pick the serious consideration it deserves.
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Brits are managing to make the proverbial Ugly Americans look like pikers. C’mon, guys, this is what Spain is for. Keep it there, please.
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A plan to go to a Yankees game before Yankee Stadium came down recently fell through, and this makes me completely fine with that:
The Yankees are serious about their bizarre prohibition on going to the bathroom during the playing of “God Bless America” during the Seventh Inning Stretch: a man was dragged out of the stadium for daring to stand up and move around instead of singing a patriotic, religious song.
If I were still to go, I’d probably buy this t-shirt for the occasion.
I know, it’s raining on your birthday. But you and your friends didn’t let Katrina get you down on this day in 2005, so I’m sure you’ll handle it just fine today.
