Politics
gregladen | August 30, 2008The following announcement regarding Sarah Palin is from Move On Dot Org. This is about McCain's running mate.
Obviously, in my earlier post I was too quick to judge this woman. It turns out that she is not a bad choice, not a person with less than ideal experience, not a person unsympathetic to liberal ideal.
No. It turns out that Sarah Palin is the WORST CHOICE POSSIBLE, she is UTTERLY INEXPERIENCED and has some potential ethical issues. It turns out that McCain and she spoke TWICE (at most) about this position! It turns out that she stands AGAINST every liberal ideal that ever…
oracknows | August 30, 2008Having grown up in an American league town east of the Mississippi, as a baseball fan it is my sacred duty to hate the Yankees. This is even more so given how badly my hometown team (the Detroit Tigers) and my second favorite team (the Cleveland Indians) are doing this year. Thanks to the Yankee organization itself and the NYPD, I now have yet another reason to hate the Yankees (as if I needed one), thanks to Stupid Evil Bastard. The Yankees actually ejected a man from Yankee Stadium for wanting to go to the bathroom during the seventh innning stretch (which, I always thought, was the purpose…
j7uy5 | August 30, 2008McCain has explained his choice of running mate, saying it will "shake
up the status quo in Washington."
It's time for a fact check, comparing Palin to the status quo...
width="480">
FEATURE
CHENEY
PALIN
Anti-environment
Yes
Yes
Anti-science
Yes
Yes
Oil Industry
Supports
Supports
Foreign
Policy expertise
None
None
Military
Experience
None
None
Shoots people in face
Yes
Unknown
Qualified to be President
No: bad heart
No: bad grammar
Miss Congeniality
Not quite
Yes
Anti-abortion
Yes
Yes
Right, a proponent of oil companies in the White House.
That's sure to shake…
razib | August 29, 2008Seems like there's a 14% chance that if the Republicans keep the White House this year that Sarah Palin will be President of the United States in the interval 2009-2013. Of course, you could modulate the probability up or down based on plugging in more priors into the model, but I think it gives a rough qualitative sense.
jlynch | August 29, 2008On August 10th, Karl Rove had the following to say about Tim Kaine who he wrongly assumed was to be Obama's choice for VP:
With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town. So if he were to pick…
jlynch | August 29, 2008The more I think about Obama's speech last night, the more I like it. As for Sarah Palin, I have little to add to what my stablemates have to say. That is all.
clock | August 29, 2008Palin is the one I was afraid of.
Not much to say. I have collected some good links here - check them out.
McCain needed to appease the unhappy base. And he needed to make inroads into the Zero-information "independents". And he needed more women. And he needed the last remnants of racists that have not yet left the Dems with Nixon and Reagan elections. Sara Palin does it all for him.
Her extreme social conservatism gets the base. Her good looks and zero name-recognition appeal to the "open minded Center". She has does not have a Y chromosome which, unfortunately, is enough for some…
jrosenhouse | August 29, 2008By now I'm sure you have heard that John McCain has chosen Alaska governor Sarah “Teach the Controversy” Palin to be his running mate. I think The New Republic has the most sensible take, by Peter Scoblic:
But surely a campaign that has been charged with being too naive to manage rogue state dictators can have a bit of fun with the idea that a one-time Miss Congeniality could effectively face down Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Kim Jong Il. Surely, Obama's “eight is enough” quip ought to apply not only to President Bush's economic and foreign policy travesties, but to the elevation…
laelaps | August 29, 2008As far as my vote in the upcoming election goes, John McCain's selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin makes no difference to me. I'm voting for Barack Obama. What everyone is all a-twitter about on the science blogosphere, however, is the fact that during a debate in 2006 Palin said that if the issue of creationism came up in the classroom it should be discussed alongside evolution. Here's the actual quote from the debate;
Teach both [evolution and creationism]. 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…
gregladen | August 29, 2008According to the BBC, John McCain has picked Alaskan Sarah Palin for VEEP.
...John McCain has picked Sarah Palin, the female governor of Alaska, as his surprise ... mate.
...
"She's exactly who I need .. to help me .. turn ... old ... head."
Thanking Mr McCain, Ms Palin said she would be honoured to serve ... him.
She introduced her ... husband ... saying:
"My husband... is now ... up in the oil fields up on Alaska's north slope...."
...
The Obama campaign suggested Mr McCain's choice was irresponsible, referring to Ms Palin's former role as mayor of the small Alaskan town of Wasilla…
pharyngula | August 29, 2008So McCain has picked Sarah Palin as VP. Supposedly she has some credibility as a good choice for dealing with energy issues, but near as I can tell she's of the drill-in-marginal-areas school, not someone who's going to pursue alternative energy sources, and is going to be a favorite of the oil companies — Dick Cheney with a less evil face. Worst of all, from my perspective, she also has a history of pandering to creationist ignorance, promoting the bogus 'teach the controversy' nonsense in the absence of any real scientific controversy.
Guess I won't be voting Republican this year.
drorzel | August 29, 2008Well, OK, there aren't any graphs, so it's not real Physics Style, but Physics Today has been blogging the Democratic National Convention, talking in detail about the science content. Start with this post, and move forward in time.
They apparently have somebody lined up to file reports from the Republican convention next week, as well. Unless he gets captured by the Spanish Inquisition, which would be unexpected.
drorzel | August 29, 2008I departed from my policy of getting convention news only via Daily Show reruns last night, and watched Obama's big acceptance speech. You can find substantive commentary elsewhere, and endless reams of wankery about whether he did what he "needed" to do, blah, blah, blah.
My main thought watching it was "Boy, it would sure be nice to have a President whose speeches aren't physically painful to listen to." The man sure can deliver a speech.
gregladen | August 28, 2008Extraordinary speech, Barack.
But as Julia said at the end ... "OK, guys, now step slowly away from the stage before it gets cheesy .... oops, too late..."
I have the following thoughts. Remember the Friend of Bill hats? Hey, we can re-use them as Friend of Barack hats. The money saved can be used to buy better armor for our troops in foreign lands. It occurs to me that Jackie Kennedy was a first draft for Michelle Obama.
And now, get to work, fellow Democrats. Slap on the bumper stickers, send money, get the word out, and if someone calls you and asks who you are going to vote for…
pharyngula | August 28, 2008Every time I see the disregard the Democratic party shows for secular values — which is painfully frequent — I wonder why the heck I'm even voting for these addled con artists. But then the Republicans remind me by showing up and being even worse. The latest is from the Elizabeth Dole campaign in North Carolina, which has decided to vilify her opponent, Kay Hagan, because she dares to actually meet with atheists. How horrid! Hagan has probably got godless cooties now. Here's what a Dole press release says, expressing disgust that Hagan is actually going to meet with the Secular Coalition for…
clock | August 27, 2008...but I have not seen even one minute of the DNC convention this year. I cannot escape some commentary on blogs and FriendFeed, though, and feel I have enough information.
Btw, I may be on TV tonight. News at 11 (literally). Stay tuned.
pharyngula | August 27, 2008You may recall that some whackaloons going to pray for rain in Denver to ruin Obama's acceptance speech. It didn't work — no surprise there — but there was an incident, a small selective event. A defective sprinkler went off, flooding a skybox booth.
It belonged to Fox News.
Omens and portents!
gregladen | August 27, 2008Minnesota Governor Tim "Falling Bridges" Pawlenty is going to be asked to join the John "The Creep" McCain as his Vice Presidential Running Mate. Mark my words.
This is going to happen during the present calendar week, most likely on McCain's birthday, which is Friday. (He'll be 72.)
gregladen | August 27, 2008I have not been able to find a news reference on line for this yet, not even AP seems to have it, but I can tell you what I heard on the car radio moments ago. A group of documentary film makers who have previously documented police abuse of demonstrators in other cities has just arrived in Saint Paul. The Saint Paul Police found them, harassed them, and took away their cameras and other equipment.
The only thing we know so far is what the film makers are claiming. The police agree that something happened but say that their version is different. I believe the police are also saying that…