So what happens when you as a presidential candidate parody what is already the farce of your own campaign? You get something like this. To my eyes this looks like a FU sendoff to Sarah Palin.
FEY AS PALIN - "So instead of going to one of those elite department stores with their liberal agendas and over-priced items and their gotcha return policies that violate your First Amendment rights, why not do your holiday shopping with us? (SHE turns to a different camera) Okay, listen up everybody, I am goin' rogue right now so keep your voices down. Available now, we got a buncha' these 'Palin in 2012' T-shirts. Just try and wait until after Tuesday to wear 'em okay? Because I'm not goin' anywhere. And I'm certainly not goin' back to Alaska. If I'm not goin' to the White House, I'm either runnin' in four years or I'm gonna be a white Oprah so, you know, I'm good either way."
MCCAIN - "What's going on over there, Sarah?"
FEY AS PALIN - "Oh...just talkin' about taxes." (SHE winks)
She's reveling in the ugliest corner of her party's support. Rallies over the past week have featured backers yelling racial epithets, calling Obama a terrorist and worse. She has shown not the slightest indication any of this was a problem for her. (Nor, it should be noted, has a certain Connecticut senator on stage with her at a few of these events.)
America's least favorite "Hockey Mom" received a less than stellar welcome at last night's Flyers game. No matter how hard they tried to drown out the boo's with the booming PA music it was clear she didn't get the type of reception Flyers owner Ed Snider and big McCain backer had hoped for.
"The Governor's debate prep today is taking place outdoors near a creek on the scenic McCain ranch in Sedona. The serenity and beauty of this setting has contributed to what can be characterized as a relaxed environment. Her family (Todd, Willow, Piper and Trig) are also at the ranch. Several advisors are participating."
From tonight's show, a leaked and edited version has already made it to the net. McCain cancelled on Letterman only to show up in an interview with Katie Couric just down the street at another CBS building. Keith Olbermann sits in and can hardly contain himself.
As a proud grandmother, I have been thinking about the impact of this election on America's children. Normally, such a thought might be taken for granted; or else it would appear to be a "no brainer;" but not this year. For starters, just consider a few issues that Obama wants to talk about: global warming, health care, and education (including a program, attacked by his opponents to help protect young children from sexual predators). The McCain ticket doesn't focus on any of these things.
From the Republicans, we hear a great deal about Family Values, and it is difficult to imagine that anyone opposes this concept. However, if we examine the conduct of this year's nominees in the context of values that most Americans would say they hold, we are presented with a stark contrast.
John McBush did with local reporter Rob Caldwell of WCSH in Portland, Maine.
For those who are concerned about the rise of McBush in the polls, this should bring you some comfort. Take note of McCain's defense of Palin about 1 and 1/2 minutes into the interview.
Simply put, when McCain is forced to answer questions...he has no answers.
In this small exchange, a local reporter shows the mainstream media how to do their job by refusing to allow McCain to spin his way out of answering direct questions and with less than 55 days until the general election, this line of questioning is long overdue.
It's simple...The McCain campaign is nothing more than a list of dishonest "muddy the water" sound bites geared more to winning a 24-hour news cycle as opposed to talking about real issues. This carefully crafted spin of deceit hinders the public from having a honest discussion about how we as a people move forward and repair the eight years of damage President Bush has created for this nation (you know, the same President McCain agreed with over 90 percent of the time).
In a time in the campaign where the media is drinking the "lipstick on a pig" Kool-Aid instead of forcing candidates to address serious topics that are affecting average Americans (i.e., the rise in people unemployed, rising cost of energy, how to best address the health care crisis, etc) it's refreshing to see that there is at least one reporter who didn't fall for McCain's spin and made the honest attempt to hold "The Maverick" accountable for his past statements.
Lets hope for more lines of questioning from reporters like Caldwell and more straight talk answers like this from McCain...
With a mostly compromised mainstream media, the McCain-Palin ticket continues to get a "pass" from so-called journalists, who really have become stenographers. Democrats, on the other hand, are the recipients of intense scrutiny; and if the facts do not suffice, lies are employed to complete the attacks.
With this sad state of affairs, I was particularly dismayed to see the apparent collapse of what had appeared to be one of the few remaining sources of "objective" reporting. The following letter explains a concern I have with FactCheck.org, which is associated with the Annenberg School of Journalism.
This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States.
Besides a short period of a few months in 2000 when he changed his registration to undeclared, Todd Palin remained a registered member of AIP until July 2002 when he registered again as an undeclared voter.
There appears to be some conflicting reports on the Sarah Palin's membership which I think I have found the way to clear up. But there is no doubt that they both attended a 1994 convention, as well as Sarah Palin's video address to the group in 2006 (Video Below).
And make no mistake about the significance of this when you consider that as the "First Dude/Dunce" of Alaska, Todd Palin, has been seen having a significant hand in Alaskan politics not typically allowed for a person with the status of citizen, given his access to what is claimed as supposedly confidential information, information that Sarah Palin refuses to release to the media or any other citizen based on obviously and demostrably false claims of "executive privilege" Sounds like the corrupt bush admin. all over again, eh? Now wonder McCain likes her.
A phone number search for a number I got out of AKIP archives sent me to this dKos Diary by Ash Meerstrand... It appears he had the same lead I was on. The phone number:
The claim that the AIP held meetings in the town where Palin was mayor while her husband was a member can easily be confirmed using Internet Archive. Meeting information from that time (the first set is from 1998, the other 2000):
Wasilla ,Alaska
Country Kitchen Restaraunt,
411 W. Parks Highway, Wasilla
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM
Wasilla, Alaska
Nobody's Inn Restaraunt,
W. Parks Highway, Wasilla
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM
Call 376-8285
It's only 8pm in Wasilla, Alaska. Is it too late to investigate? Wasilla has only about 9,000 people, and about 5,500 people lived there in the year 2000, so maybe there could be someone there that would know if Todd or Sarah ever showed up.
I edited out the "image source" and formatting crap so you could see the plain email addy for the "same phone number" contact. I was unable to find another reference on a quick Google of that eMail BUT I also did on a search of "web-ak". Info on website addy for this site
Excerpted from the website description:
Alaskan owned and operated, Web Alaska offers web services for Alaskans and outsiders alike. Compu Doc offers computer repair and services thoughout South Central Alaska.
The following is a first hand account of a gentleman who has a story to tell about his experiences with Sarah Palin. I am granting him this venue to say what he has to say because firstly, it gives us another non-press view of a soon-to-be mainstream name, and secondly, the person giving this account is a Geek with Guns (and used to host this website for me when I needed his help).
"I just wanted to let you know ... Sarah Palin who McCain just picked as the next vice president is one of the most honest people I have known. I have known her for over 15 years, been in her house and have had numerous conversations with her, in person, on the phone both for personal issues as well as political issues.
"She is an excellent choice and this might have even saved McCain from going down in history as a loser in the presidential race. Sarah is one elected official that I can't say anything negative about. And after 15 years of knowing her if there was something that was bad I would have known it.
"This lady has contacted me personally to get help discovering how one of her co workers was abusing his state office because she didn't believe she could trust the states department of law. The guy later copped a plea, paid a hefty fine and lost his state job but this was after she quit her 2000 / week job and was forced to go public to expose his corruption. By the way he was/is the chairman of the state republican party "She is VERY approachable which is going to make the insiders and secret service crazy."Wanted to let you know."
Mark Chryson
Wasilla, Alaska
If you would like to know more about the personal experiences of Mark in regards to Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, Mark has given us permission to present the following contact information for that purpose, and offered his phone number up for that purpose as well (which I will decline to provide here do to the GwG haters).
mark [at] web-ak.com - Email Mark Chryson by removing the [at]
I have not verified the credibility of "Geeks with Guns," BUT remember how she hacked computers to out the Alaska Republican chairman...
But Fenumiai adds that Palin's husband Todd was a member of the AIP from October 1995 through July 2002, except for a few months in 2000. He is currently undeclared.
As part of their pushback against the charges of Lynette and Dexter Clark of the AIP, the McCain campaign says that Palin did not even attend the AIP convention in Wasilla in 1994.
But another former AIP official -- Mark Chryson, chairman of the AIP from 1995 to 2002 -- tells ABC News that "Palin was at the convention in 1994. She was there."
Was she a member?
Chryson can't say. "She may have been, I do not know," he says. Their records don't go back that far.
"Ask Sarah," he suggests.
I'd love to. But she hasn't exactly been making herself available to the press.
Former AKIP chairman Chryson, friend and neighbor of the Palins for over 15 years. Chryson was in charge of Wasilla meetings for the AKIP. And Todd Palin was a member almost the entire time Chryson was in charge.
Chryson can't say if she was a member of AKIP? Or he won't say it knowing it would doom her politically.
Well, one may no longer claim that women are the smarter, more sophisticated, more earthbound of the species. It is now possible in this wonderful age to be female and still be a completely unqualified, bleating, prevaricating moron who can get kicked upstairs like any of the men before her to have been so blessed.
To the unified delight of all the other morons of both sexes assembled at last night's Repustule Convention, the glass ceiling took another head-butt courtesy of a scrunch-wearing no-nothing and now -- incredibly -- the race is on. While thousands of conventioneers frequently burst into spontaneous cheers (one wishes that many of them could have burst into spontaneous flames instead) all too reminiscent of the ones heard in brauhauses in Munich in the early 30's, the spectacle of the bespectacled bobble-headed boobie capably reading her teleprompter gave the crowd of dead-enders the hope they have prayed so long for. For unto them has been delivered the perfect candidate to further their agenda, one that can deflate and defeat any and all who try to use reason and sense to better this nation's future chances at survival by invoking a large uterus and a tiny brain.
Forgive me if this post may, at first blush, sound sexist. But, it truly isn't. Gosh, I guess I am a liberal if charges of sexism instantly makes me more aware and be careful about what I say.
In any case, Stephen Weber's diary on Huffington Post pretty much summed up how I felt about Sarah Palin's speech last night. Her delivery through the teleprompter was exquisite. But, the content of her speech left me cold.
Once again, we have a new standard bearer for the Bush/Cheney/Rove politics of divide and conquer. Once again, we have a Republican--or a Repustule (as Weber intimates)--who thinks creationism should be thought in public schools, that the American invasion of Iraq was a task from God, and that women's right to choose should be suspended even in the face of rape or incest. Is this the newest face of Republicanism? a pitbull who delights on putting lipstick on her hockey mom persona?
Unfortunately, the more you look the more it stays the same. Her speech could have been just as deftly delivered by Cheney, himself, without benefit of a teleprompter. The right-wing message is the same: Our beliefs trump everybody else's rights! And, the crowd in Xcel Energy Center would still have burst into spontaneous cheers of USA! USA! USA!
Disclosure: I was one of the 130,000 who felt (in the past 24 hours) that Barack Obama needed a little help in our collective quest to change that message.
Lieberman was on Morning Joe this morning, and some other shows. In this brief clip when asked if Palin was chosen simply because she's a woman, Lieberman replied "I don't know." When pressed more:
"She was chosen because of her record as an independent fighter.... the fact that she's a woman is a bonus."
and that it is McCain who is the true agent of change, not Obama.
Lieberman gives the major address tonight at the RNC, in primetime.
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