Policy and Politics
tfk | September 3, 2008I've been loath to say anything about Sarah Palin's impending grandmotherhood, the unwed state of her daughter, the shotgun wedding she's arranged for young Bristol, and all the other mud being slung. I think it's petty and inappropriate to campaign by attacking people's children.
That's why I also thought it was inappropriate in 1998 for John McCain to jokingly ask "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?," and cruder to answer his own question "Because Janet Reno is her father." That was low in 1998, and it's low today. McCain still owes the Clinton's an apology, and his two-faced attempts to…
tfk | September 2, 2008For reasons passing understanding, the Alaskan Eagle Forum blog has purged its post highlighting Sarah Palin's hilarious answers to inane wingnut questions. Fortunately, we have The Google. The cached text is below the fold.
Meanwhile, a diversion into the meaning of "palingenesis," and my recent obsession with Palin-blogging.
Why Palin? Because she's an hilariously bad choice. Unqualified for the Presidency, and therefore unqualified for the Presidency. A last minute choice by a peeved old man told he couldn't have his apple sauce Lieberman, and who then seems to have randomly drawn a…
tfk | September 2, 2008Time magazine digs into Mayor Palin's early days:
At some point in those the fractious first days, Palin told the department heads they needed her permission to talk to reporters. "She put a gag order on those people, something that you'd expect to find in the big city, not here," says [local paper editor] Naegele. "She flew in there like a big city gal, which she's not. It was a strange time, and [the Frontiersman] came out very harshly against her."
[Former mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she…
tfk | September 2, 2008Yesterday, the RNC convention was curtailed to avoid the awkward optics of wild celebration in the midst of Hurrican Gustav's landfall in New Orleans. That means today's schedule has been rejiggered, and the theme is "Who is John McCain?"
Voters are much more curious "Who the heck is Sarah Palin?"
tfk | September 2, 2008This is truly the Harriet Miers of VP selections. A shot from the hip that signifies not only the incompetence of nominee Palin, but more worryingly, of nominee McCain. Steve Benen explains:
To reiterate a point from the weekend, the fact that Sarah Palin shouldn't be one heartbeat from leading the free world is obvious, but beside the point. The problem here is that John McCain's judgment is so comically flawed, the prospect of his presidency is starting to become quite literally frightening.
Even cursory vetting would have turned up some of these basic details of Palin's record. Indeed,…
tfk | August 31, 2008Via ThinkProgress, which watches CNN so you don't have to, Holocaust-trivializer and Expelled frontman Ben Stein and conservative radio host Larry Elder discuss 9/11:
Ben Stein's comments around 1:20 are the least sensible from the entire clip, and that's saying quite a bit.
Elder's claim is that George Bush deserves credit for the fact that there were no terrorist attacks on American soil during his presidency, except for 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, which don't count because 9/11 planning began before January 20, 2001 (when Bush took office). So Clinton was responsible, since he failed…
tfk | August 31, 2008Or were Law and Order's Mariska Hargitay and Miss Alaska runner-up Sarah Palin separated at birth?
I'm not complaining, but being a celebrity look-alike is not exactly a major qualification to be one heartbeat from the Presidency. Especially when the heart in question belongs to the aging John McCain.
tfk | August 29, 2008In a move that should've been taken eons ago, California's legislature is moving to bring civic planning under a unified framework that will reduce carbon emissions and reduce traffic:
The bill yokes three regulatory and permit processes. One focuses on regional planning: how land use should be split among industry, agriculture, homes, open space and commercial centers. Another governs where roads and bridges are built. A third sets out housing needs and responsibilities — for instance, how much affordable housing a community must allow.
Under the pending measure, the three regulatory and…
tfk | August 29, 2008Three years ago:
McCain and Bush monkey around at McCain's birthday party photo op.
Hurricane Katrina inundates New Orleans.
And then things got really bad.
By all accounts, a lot of New Orleans is still in ruins, a state that is frankly intolerable.
Obama dealt with the aftermath of Katrina head-on last night, saying:
I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. … I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a…
tfk | August 29, 2008From a 2006 debate:
Next, [moderator] Carey asked about teaching alternatives to evolution - such as creationism and intelligent design - in public schools. …
PALIN: “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information.
“Healthy debate is so important and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.
And, you know, I say this, too, as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject -- creationism and evolution.
“It’s been a healthy foundation for me. But don’t be…
tfk | August 29, 2008
Republican pitbull Alex Castellanos says that, after that acceptance speech: "whoever didn't get picked for Republican VP today may be a lucky Republican."
It was truly an exceptional speech. He didn't overplay the day's anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Sure, his nomination is a huge step towards the realization of that dream, but had he said that, he'd have been attacked as arrogant. His attacks on McCain were razor sharp, but never crossing the line into cruelty (a line I'll admit to having crossed already, and one I'll only respect when McCain starts…
tfk | August 29, 2008
McSame chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee. This dashed all hopes of a McSame-Mittens ticket, a vehicle of such astounding hilarity as has not been seen in eons.
The McCain-Palin ticket has plenty of opportunities for fun as well. Given McCain's fondness for and treatment of younger women, I expect questions will be raised. Double that given the frequency of beauty queens in his inner circle (for instance: "McCain hires beauty queen to wrangle interns," "At 14, [Cindy McCain] was crowned Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona," "McCain chooses ex-beauty queen for VP…
tfk | August 28, 2008Tonight, Barack Obama will formally accept the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. This should be good times. Next week John McCain will accept his, and the campaigns will start in earnest.
Up 'til now, the campaigns have basically been laying the groundwork for the real fight. People who've been tuning out until now will start to try to figure out what all the fuss is about.
And that's why I'm so excited about a text message I just got. Like a giant nerd, I signed up to get the VP announcement texted to me. Fine.
Then today I got a text informing me that "to get involved…
tfk | August 26, 2008John McCain has decides that his time in a POW camp can be used to explain anything at all. He recently sought to deflect criticism for being unable to keep track of how many houses he owns because "I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair, and I know what it's like to be blessed by the opportunities of this great nation. … So the fact is that we have homes, and I'm grateful for it."
In speeches, he's told a tale about how when his captors asked for the names of his shipmates, he listed off the names of <insert local sports franchise>, varying the team to maximize…
tfk | August 22, 2008If you've been Biden your time, waiting for Obama to announce his VP nominee, your wait is over. Joe Biden (D-MBNA) will be kicking Dick Cheney out of the Naval Observatory shortly.
I guess I see the logic. He's a bulldog, has foreign policy experience, and his age makes him unlikely to run for the Presidency in 2016, assuming he's the incumbent VP at that point. That leaves the field open to other prospects, including Hillary, various likely cabinet officials, etc. His time in DC and in the Senate especially will make him a useful bridge between the Obama White House, Congress, and other…
tfk | August 21, 2008
Earlier today, John McCain got a bit confused.
In and of itself, that wouldn't be so unusual. He's old and slightly crazy, so confusion is part of his daily experience. He can't tell Sunni from Shiite, Iran from Iraq, Iraq from Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia from the Czech Republic, or his wife from a telecom lobbyist.
This confusion was special, though. McCain was asked how many houses he owns, and:
"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."
Which is fine. I lose track of my property ownership…
tfk | August 21, 2008Mark Townsend, a putative candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, is onto something big. "I am running for U.S. Senator of the Great State of Alabama," he explains, "because I believe in 1906 NCAA was not created. They evolved from the same system of government created by the Roman and British Empires. I believe these systems of government were evil."
Furthermore:
I believe we the people of America must choose God over evolvement and open our eyes to both the evil and the good that has evolved or been created by us the citizens of America. I want to make it crystal clear that I believe…
tfk | August 20, 2008Airline captain, lawyer, child on terror 'watch list':
James Robinson is a retired Air National Guard brigadier general and a commercial pilot for a major airline who flies passenger planes around the country.
He has even been certified by the Transportation Security Administration to carry a weapon into the cockpit as part of the government's defense program should a terrorist try to commandeer a plane.
But there's one problem: James Robinson, the pilot, has difficulty even getting to his plane because his name is on the government's terrorist "watch list."
That means he can't use an…
tfk | August 18, 2008When they were asked how much you have to earn to be rich, the presidential candidates differed wildly:
Obama didn't hesitate. "I would argue that if you are making more than $250,000, then you are in the top 3, 4 percent of this country," he said. "You are doing well."
McCain took a far more discursive approach to answering the question but ultimately settled on a dramatically higher figure: "I think if you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?"
The Arizona Republican quickly added that he was "sure that comment will be distorted," and his campaign said Sunday that he was…