Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
This is too funny. On Saturday Palin had this to say:
While waiting in line with her daughter Willow to place her order, a reporter asked Palin if she watched Friday's debate, and what her impressions were."I did, I did," she said. "McCain did awesome. He was great. He was absolutely on his game."
Palin added that she is ready to debate Joe Biden next Thursday in St. Louis.
"I am," she said. "Look forward to it. Look forward to getting to speak to Americans through that debate, absolutely."
The governor got a more serious interrogation moments later when Temple graduate student Michael Rovito approached her to inquire about Pakistan.
"How about the Pakistan situation?," asked Rovito, who said he was not a Palin supporter. "What's your thoughts about that?"
"In Pakistan?," she asked, looking surprised.
"What's going on over there, like Waziristan?"
"It's working with [Pakistani president] Zardari to make sure that we're all working together to stop the guys from coming in over the border," she told him. "And we'll go from there."
Rovito wasn't finished. "Waziristan is blowing up!," he said.
"Yeah it is," Palin said, "and the economy there is blowing up too."
"So we do cross border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan you think?," Rovito asked.
"If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," Palin responded, before moving on to greet other voters.
Yoday, the McCain has retracted those remarks:
"She would not...she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos of Palin. "In all due respect, people going around and... sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's--that's a person's position... [bold mine - afarensis] This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin."
If that wasn't her position then why did she say it? McCain seems to be implying that the press is somehow responsible, but I don't get that. Do words mean different things depending on whether or not the press is present or absent? Does "If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should." mean exactly what it says when the press is around but "...negotiating with Pakistan before carrying out attacks on terrorists within their borders..." when the press isn't? Call me confused!
(Hat tip to TPM)
Politics
Comments
Posted by: Tegumai Bopsulai, FCD | September 28, 2008 2:24 PM
Why should they be held accountable for the things they say when they're not even held accountable for the things they do?
Posted by: Tophe | September 28, 2008 3:34 PM
Why is it so hard for Palin to say, right away, "I don't know, I'll think about it"? There is no shame in it. It would be good if polticians in all parties learned this good habit.
Posted by: crf | September 28, 2008 3:59 PM
Posted by: Tegumai Bopsulai, FCD | September 28, 2008 4:07 PM
What I wanna hear from Palin is how to spell "potato" (chuckle, chuckle). Anyone reminded of a certain previous VP (giggle, giggle)? Anyone thinking of a particular VP/past prez who got so flustered, talking to reporters asking pesky questions, that he nearly burst into tears, and announced (a bit prematurely, it turned out), "You won't have ___ to kick around anymore!" (boo hoo! -- too bad it wasn't true). By the way, 10 points to the first person who posts the correct fill-in-the-blank. (Posted by an old lady who remembers him whimpering this, to her father's delight).
Posted by: DianaGainer | September 29, 2008 3:00 PM
Wow, Palin makes mistakes. Then McCain has to go and correct those mistakes. How unseemly. Don't they know a true blue liberal politician would continue to manfully bloviate, like Barack Obama?
Or is it that Obama doesn't correct his errors because his supporters would have flaming tizzies if he did? Free Barack Obama from leftwing extremists!
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | September 29, 2008 9:38 PM
That is not the issue and you know it. The issue is that once it became apparent that a mistake was made they want to blame it on everybody the themselves. Neither is admitting they made a mistake, they are saying, in effect, that the media made up words and put them in her mouth - which is totally wrong.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | September 29, 2008 10:55 PM
Posted by: Trin Tragula | September 30, 2008 10:47 AM
That's conservatives for you: the Party of (Shifting the Blame, Corruption, Fearmongering, Executive Power-Grabs). Pick one.
Posted by: stogoe | September 30, 2008 1:53 PM
What I find amazing is how many things her and McCain don't actually have real views on. Clearly she made up a viewpoint without prior thinking. How dangerous is it to have such (potentially) powerful people who have never even thought about such important things?
Posted by: TheMonkeyMan | October 1, 2008 10:12 AM
I think I prefer this meaning (the most common one) of verbiage when it comes to McInane and Moose Queen:
Don't know who Marcia Davenport is, but she has definitely hit the nail on the head in this context.
Posted by: shonny | October 2, 2008 4:40 AM
DianaGainer @ September 29, 2008 3:00 PM:
Richard M. Nixon, aka "Tricky Dick". What are my ten point good for?
Posted by: boojum | October 2, 2008 12:57 PM
The House Republican leadership was blaming Nancy Pelosi
Posted by: Juli | October 19, 2008 1:24 AM