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Open Thread

Lipstick on a Pig

Ferny Grover at 491 said:

… you seem to have the impression that Americans are interested in real issues when they are showing every indication of being a nation in complete denial.

You’ve hit the nail on the head. I think most Americans have trouble facing reality. The worse things get, the more they want to escape.

The Republicans know this, so they gave the people Sarah Palin as the ultimate distraction. Now Americans don’t have to confront the hard stuff anymore in this election. They can talk about whether Palin was the right pick for VP. They can dream about the small-town hockey Mum suddenly making the big time. They can debate whether Bristol Palin should have kept her baby or not and what led her to a teen pregnancy. They can wonder whether Palin would be someone they could have a coffee or beer with.

Sure, there are plenty of people hurting in a declining economy, but for those who aren’t, they now have Palin to occupy them rather than having to be concerned for their fellow citizens or the overall decline in their country’s international standing.

This is a country that has lost its way under the Republican leadership as people were continually frightened into voting for the Republicans. Now that the Republicans have made the world seem so scary, they are exploiting American’s desires for escaping that world… no more big issues, no more things to worry about, just a fascination with Sarah Palin. The MSM have complied. The alternative media has complied. And now we are two weeks into this great scam and Americans are still chugging along besotted in some way with Palin, either loving or hating her.

The Republicans will be trying to make the most of this. She has now had one major interview. Expect them to hide her a way for a little, then bring her back out for another, anything to stretch it out until election day, drip feeding the country with bits and pieces of Sarah Palin.

The only way Obama can turn this around is to stir Americans in an emotional way, a DEEP emotional way. If he simply bangs on about the issues, people will keep resorting to the Palin distraction. He needs to reignite his message of hope and change so people can shift from escapism to a future dream. It is still about avoiding the here and now, which many Americans are inclined to do, but at least Obama can take them to a place that can inspire something better in them and in future generations rather than seeking solace in a temporary distraction.

1,030 replies on “Lipstick on a Pig”

If Obama’s supporters are feeling the need to latch onto unfounded gossip then they really must be running scared.

This woman is undermining the GOP campaign every time she opens her mouth. Gossip isn’t required.

And if the Obama campaign want to run a great attack ad, they only need to use The Daily Show’s “John McCain – Maverick Reformer to Reformed Maverick” piece.

It was profoundly insightful as well as funny. The perfect combination.

Th one thing that keeps running through my mind at the moment is that if McCain was 55 this would be a disastor, but even the most ardent Sarah supporters must in their quiet moments question whether she can really take on the mantle of POTUS, no matter how much she loves Jesus and AK47’s, and the fact that she might end up doing that is a reality given McCain’s age and health. That will have to be the focus, along with Bush’s record and then they will be toast.

Just keep repeating that Jen. Surely the obvious intelligence of the American people just has to see them reject McPalin.

Obviously

Dio et al,

There’s an interesting piece by David Brooks in today’s NYTimes where he dissects the modern US conservative shibboleths and finds them seriously wanting of updating to conform with the last thirty years of scientific and sociological observation about the nature of the individual in society.

It’s a remarkable piece at any time from someone who’s an avowed conservative, and in effect he’s saying that the current holders of the flame have little of relevance to offer.

Considering the political calender, it really is an incredible statement.

104
Ferny Grover

Whilst the campaign is bogged down in the shallow swamp of personalities, it seems impossible for the facts to have much effect…even when they’re so brilliantly put together by Jon Stewart.

More’s the pity.

or the swamp of shallow personalities…..or the personal swamp of shallowness…..or the lipstick on a pig.

Yes its a pity KR…..but it’s good to see you online.

I’m saying it over and over Ferny …”they can’t be that stupid, they can’t be that stupid, they can’t be that stupid…” and then I see George Bush – and they can. 🙁

Arvo Ticsters,
unsullied by the imperatives of Mammon, we soldier on commercial-free and unsold-out:)

Been a bit of a wobbly time for Team Kid supporters this last couple of weeks. When I went to bed last nite Obi was ~8 points on the wrong side of the Intrade spread. Now it’s a 2.4 gap which is a whole lot less depressing.

While America might deserve the McPalin package, the rest of the planet does not. Four more years of U.S. Climate Change denial will tip the global temperature balance in a way that peer-reviewed scientists state will have devastating consequences for our biosphere and the plant and critter species that sustain it.
We ain’t got the luxury of four more years of Seppo-phobic schadenfreude. Denial or no denial, as Pogo said:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Pogo_-_Earth_Day_1971_poster.jpg

So as long as we’re still part of “us”, our planetary “duty of care” remains unfulfilled. My principal reason for barracking for Obi is that his presidency would show better global leadership on the issue than would an old, grasping, vainglorious, mendacious, Big Carbon beholden warmonger.

“who’s gonna tell the children
that rivers used to flow crystal blue,
yet we keep leavin’ scars on Mother Earth,
and movin’ closer to the truth”
Tony Joe White 1991.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6nC0Xw-O7s

jen at 96:

looks pretty dire, and yet Texans appear to be refusing to leave…denial even here.

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58993

Hi Ecky –
precisely.
Americans (well neoconservative ones) might deserve McPalin, but the rest of us don’t. Apart from John Howard of course 😉

Obama really needs to bring this back on McCain and the Republicans and how self serving and untrustworthy they are. Everyone knows Palin is stupid, inexperienced and just a ‘shock’ gimmick to take the focus off McCain and Obama. Attacking her on what people already know is pointless – unless she has had an affair, been personally nasty, stolen etc

The Republicans lied American into Iraq and now they are trying to lie themselves into the Presidency. They seek power for power’s sake and for feeding the pockets of corporate America who then export jobs overseas. Should just about cover the message they should get over. Sounds a bit like Howard.

You mean Howard sounded a bit like Bush – except i think he can read.
Agreed – Time to let Palin fade into the obscurity she deserves – no one can take her seriously surely. Obama and co. need to get on with the real issues – and there’s plenty of them.

Ferny Grover @ 92.
I had to make the choice between ditching the blog completely or getting paid for it – there was no other option.

I went for as long as I could doing what I was doing the way I was doing it – sacrificing increasing amounts of my own time and income to produce content in the process.

You might think it’s sad Ferny – but I have a life as well, one that needs income like everyone else. Purity is nice – but someone else is always paying for it somewhere along the line.

If you want to know the intelligence of some of the American voters interested in politics just go to the Yahoo Messenger Government/politics site. You can read what they say and hear them speaking. More like a football match and pretty damn stupid.

Basically you have democrat supporters going on about policy and actions and the Republicans talking over the top, abusing and living in denial. Admittedly only those interested in politics (and thus probably have formed biases already) would go to these sites and would not represent the ‘swinging’ voter.

It’s always gratifying when they listen to us…
.”
Barack Obama’s campaign has remained mum on Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s interview on ABC News, and one Democratic strategist said that’s a good thing

“I think Democrats have to resist the temptation of kind of poking at this hornet’s nest,” Democratic strategist Julian Epstein said on CNN’s “American Morning.”

“I think the media need to be able to go after her and ask these questions about her readiness, but Democrats need to move on, refocus this campaign again on [Sen. John] McCain and refocus on the question of change.”

And Possum – best of luck. I lost respect for Crikey when Christian Kerr had too much rope, so I hope you and William can bring something new to the site. And making a quid is absolutely fair enough …

We often heard from the Murdoch media that their endless trivial attacks on Rudd where part of probing his credentials to be PM.

The democrats shouldn’t have to say much about Palin’s glaring failings. The media should be picking up and highlighting them as part of their duty of informing the people on important issues. He says laughingly.

Hiya Poss. Sorry I seem to have struck a tender spot – which may indicate you’re not entirely comfortable with the move.
And yes it is sad that everything – including independent thought – is sacrificed to the credo of ‘commercial reality’.
Of course you’re entitled to earn a quid – and you’ve got an amazing talent with which to do so.
The price paid in the new arrangement, though, is your independence – which is the very thing that attracts many bloggers to sites like yours.
I wish you all the best with it.

Ferny, dont get me wrong, I didnt mean to sound snarky (although looking back at it, I can understand why anyone would think I’m a cranky old bastard!… sorry about that).

My independence is still there – I have no brief, I’m not told what to write nor what agenda to push, I dont even think Crikey has an institutional agenda that one would be tempted to follow if one likes one’s job…. so to speak.

They pay me to post, they host my work and in return they use my eyeball traffic and audience demographic to bolster their own advertising buy. It also gives a substantial opportunity to do new things with new technologies.

In the time that I’ve been writing for Crikey, I can’t remember them ever knocking an article of mine back – and there have been articles critical and praiseworthy of all sides of politics, and I’ve had digs at other Crikey writers as well.

If Crikey does anything to prevent a writers independence – I’ve neither seen nor experienced it. It’s why I also chose to work with Crikey in the election campaign rather than take up a few MSM offers – independence.

Anyway – ta for the wishes Ferny.

Poor old McStupid looks like he has made anothe McStupin statement.

The Obama campaign is jumping all over a line from John McCain, in which the Arizona Republican suggested that time in Washington had made it easier from him to be out of touch with everyday concerns.

“I think John McCain is right about John McCain,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a fellow Chicagoan known for his brass-knuckled politics. “He has been there so long that is why he has voted 90 percent of the time with George Bush and that why his staff is bogged down by lobbyists that represent special interests.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/obama-camp-lets-rip-on-mc_n_125955.html

Well it looks like they may be going to get the Troopergate out in the open. One of the Fences GOP state senators has sided with the Dems to Get it On!

The abuse of power investigation against Sarah Palin, Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, took a potentially ominous turn for her party on Friday when state lawmakers voted to subpoena her husband.
Republican efforts to delay the probe until after the Nov. 4 election were thwarted when GOP State Sen. Charlie Huggins, who represents Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, sided with Democrats. “Let’s just get the facts on the table,” said Huggins, who appeared in camouflage pants to vote during a break from moose hunting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/palins-husband-subpoenaed_n_126055.html

Ah yes there is nothing like a good reform ticket to run on. Sometimes it helps to clean out your own backyard first.

Here’s something that could complicate the McCain-Palin reform message a bit: It turns out that McCain’s national finance co-chair, Wayne Berman, is a paid lobbyist, and has been one for years, for two of the oil companies that are at the center of the sex, drugs and oil scandal enveloping the Interior Department.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/mccain_cleaning_up_lobbying_hi.php

114
Ferny Grover

Thanks Ferny, it’s great to be alive, and after almost five days of a mild virus that put me flat on my back, today’s brilliant, as it seems to have run its course and left me back in the land of the living.

Plus a spring day to make you whoop for joy…what more could one want?

140
codger

US financial companies are dropping like flies, eh? Pretty much as expected, and it’s now Lehman’s turn to face the music. The Fanny and Freddie thing is still a monumental worry, with the US taxpayer well and truly on the hook for it. Those who know about this stuff in all the gruesome detail are concerned the worst is yet to come.

If you mean by the horse a blogger elsewhere, I have to admit I’ve not been even lurking over there for quite some time. Why, am I getting stories told about me again? LOL

Hiya Kirri- good to see you up and about.
Made a brief visit yesterday and copped the usual bully boy crap – don’t bother.
Houston is in for it – “facing certain death” if they stay apparently…surely the good citizens of the US are starting to worry about the global warmimg phenomena now. In which case this can’t be good for the Drill Alaska supporters – or is that too complex?

Eckie – enjoy, my friend. They have some brilliant toons from the US and here in Oz.

It’s funny how the world seems like such a sweet and pleasant place after a bottle of good Aussie vino.

God bless the grape!

148 Enemy Combatant “US financial companies are dropping like flies, eh?” Enough to scare the living daylights out of the voters. 😈

5 Tips to Keep Your Stomach Flat. Click Here!!

What is it with these American political websites? A bloke can’t surf there at the present time without some abominably made pop-up ad flashing the “Abdominal Inadequacy” card.

I can smell Steve “Schmuckens” Schmidt’s slimy paws all over this.
The bastard’s trying to boost Joe and Jane Six-Pak turnout in November.

http://www.formerfatguy.com/go/six-pack-abs/six-pack-abs.jpg

Jen, you’ll be pleased to know that at least one US journalist agrees with you, (and has the guts to say so):

While watching the Sarah Palin interview with Charlie Gibson Thursday night, and the coverage of the Palin phenomenon in general, I’ve gotten the scary feeling, for the first time in my life, that dimwittedness is not just on the march in the U.S., but that it might actually prevail.

…Bob Herbert in the NYTimes.

KR at 155

I’m really conflicted by dimwittedness thing. I know dozens of Americans. Of my sample they are all really bright, educated, knowledgeable, and every one of have travelled to more places around the world then comments on this post. But on the other hand – we have polls showing that close to half of people intending to vote would vote for McCain/Palin. That is so scary – and so in conflict with the Americans I know.

If I were a cartoonist I would be drawing Bush as a fat bloated tick sucking on a shriveled up America ready to fall off, with McCain and Palin in the background getting ready to stick their straws in.

Tom/Cat:) it is a good add. Nothing nasty about it at all. Just telling it like it is. Team Obi should run it in all marginal States on high rotation in Primetime. Needs a bit of editing, but once people pause to think a bit about Palin, her “celebrity spell” is broken.

To the online version, Dem War Room creatives should add:

“Enough is ENOUGH!! Does America need another imbecile in the White House for the next four years!?”

As alluded to by several commenters upthread, there is a certain widespread demographic in America for whom it’s best if things are spelt out without nuance or ambiguity.

Sat 13 Sept:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/doonesbury;_ylt=ArhaeVUldyMcNw8rCvQ6PHMl6ysC

Morning all-
just glanced back ; Catrina I totally sympathise with your dilemma re: not all Americans are complete morons – the trouble is though that enough of them are Someahat Unsophisticated in their thinking shall we say, and are easily mobilised to get out and Vote For their Gal (never mind that she is not the candidate – that’s a minor detail) – especially if the idea of a black man as POTUS doesn’t feel quite right (The I’m Not Racist But brigade…).
If Palin hadn’t entered the scene they wouldn’t have turned off the tele long enough to vote, but now they’ve got a cause celebre who is a s basic as they are; and they love it. Stick it up those eddercated smartass types.
So really that’s what this election is going to come down to IMHO. which already makes it a massive disappointment to see the dumbing down of a critical global situation economically, environmentally, socially, culturally – you name it, reduced to this crap.
Ah America .. never fails to disappoint.

Wheels Come Off the “Straight Talk Express”.

As NBC News notes, it was a “brutal day for John McCain and his campaign.”

“First came a front-page New York Times piece noting that McCain ‘has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth.’ There was also an accompanying fact-check of McCain’s latest TV ad, which called it the “latest in a number that resort to a dubious disregard for the facts.”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/09/13/wheels_come_off_the_straight_talk_express.html

The Real Sarah Palin.

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes.

WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

Must be registered.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

From the Gallup Daily: McCain 47%, Obama 45% …

These results, based on interviewing conducted Wednesday through Friday, indicate that the presidential contest is — for now, at any rate — settling back into the close race that it was before the two weeks that marked both candidates’ selections of their vice presidential running mates and the two conventions. In the weekend before the Democratic convention, the race was tied 45% to 45%. Now, as the “convention dust” is settling, the race is at 47% McCain, 45% Obama, only slightly different.

During the time period of the conventions, of course, the race underwent predictable “bounces” — first for Obama, who at one point had moved out to an eight percentange point lead, and then for McCain, who moved out to a five-point lead. Now, it appears that the structure of the race — after all the sturm und drang of the convention period — ends up not all that different than when the conventions began.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/110353/Gallup-Daily-McCain-47-Obama-45.aspx

Just run a series of 527’s that make the Swift Boaters look like kindergarten kids. The difference being, the Palin ads will be the truth.

They’re all turning against her now.

Palin never in Iraq, campaign now says.

Sarah Palin did not visit troops in Iraq, a spokesperson for the Republican vice presidential nominee confirmed Saturday, as new details emerged about the extent of the Alaska governor’s foreign travel.

In July of last year, Palin left North America for the first time to visit Alaskan troops stationed in Kuwait. Palin officials originally said her itinerary included U.S. military installations or outposts in Germany and Kuwait, and that she had visited Ireland.

A Palin aide in Alaska had said Iraq was also one of the military stops on that trip.

The Boston Globe, however, reported Saturday that in response to questions about the trip, Alaska National Guard officials and campaign aides said Palin did not go past the Kuwait-Iraq border.

In addition, campaign aides also confirmed reports to CNN Saturday that Palin’s time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a refueling stop.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/13/palin.iraq/?iref=hpmostpop

Obama camp jumps on Greenspan interview to attack McCain.

Barack Obama’s White House campaign Saturday seized on a warning from former Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan about John McCain’s tax plans to portray the Republican as economically reckless.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television Friday, the legendary ex-chairman of the US central bank said the nation could not afford 3.3 trillion dollars of tax cuts proposed by McCain without matching cuts in spending.

Greenspan, a long-time friend of McCain and a Republican, said about the Arizona senator’s plans to extend massive tax cuts imposed by President George W. Bush: “I’m not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money.”

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZrBt31eWuoRhgqVi70ADEIg7dlA

Palin energized McCain campaign, but bloom could be off rose soon.

Some days, it seems that the presidential campaign has morphed into an episode of what could be a new reality TV show: “All About Sarah.”

Since she joined the Republican ticket as the vice-presidential candidate 17 days ago, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has helped pack rallies and captured imaginations with her image as a working mom of five, huntress, and whip-cracking fighter against the political establishment.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/685455.html

175
Chris B

Despite Greenspan’s tarnishing record he still commands some clout in the USA so it’s a good start to have him criticise McCain’s ludicrous tax policy. At least on this he’s right, the US just cannot borrow more capital to keep consuming with, not without a mighty collapse of the dollar.

Unfortunately the campaign seems to be about Sarah Palin at the moment….sigh.

Slightly off topic, but pertinent to the global credit crisis, is an article in this weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald by Michael Duffy, a commentator I usually rank just a touch above Andrew Bolt, but this week he really hit the nail on the head. His point was that whole sub-prime debacle and the colossal wrecking ball it’s put through the US housing and financial markets (not to mention global credit markets) was all down to the credit rating agencies, who had a great scam going charging over the odds to ‘rate’ bundled mortgage securities. Blind Freddy could see these things were not without significant risk, particularly if (ie ‘when’) the over-heated US housing market cooled down.

Ah, a slight conflict of interest here: the agencies were making a packet by giving these hopelessly toxic parcels of debt AAA ratings and thereby inviting investors all over the world to gorge on this stuff in the hope of making good returns with almost no risk.

Well we all know how ‘safe’ these instruments turned out to be! LOL

I recall the same thing with Enron and WorldCom (there’s a blast from the past) and dozens of other companies that crashed with horrendous losses who’d been rated AAA until virtually the day they died. They DO NOT LEARN is the motto.

If regulation was EVER needed in financial markets this would be a seriously good place to begin, since the whole edifice has been built on these models having some validity.

It would be really healthy to hear Obama start talking about fixing this system, and would go a long way to restoring confidence in markets that have been battered into the ground as a result of what amounts to almost criminal collusion.

I don’t think we will see a carve up by the media – instead, I think what is more probable is a shift in the narrative away from identity and more towards the implications of Obama/Biden versus McCain/Palin. In my view its that arean which promised to hold a lot more interst for readers. On one hand we have an experience McCain with a fixation on the military option backed by an inexperienced and extermist Palin ready to take over whatever trouble the two can lead the US into. On the otherhand we have a young charismatic candidate that is much more focussed on inclusion, community, foreign relations as something to value, and backed up by Joe Biden – someone with experience and broad foreign affairs credentials.

Given the mix, McCain/Palin has everything you need for a scary movie whereas Obama/Biden has everything you need for a change towards something closer to a better planet.

Yeah, Ferny, and she wasn’t even Prime Cut. Populist Warrior Women are most potent on their first exposure to their “target demographic”. The quicker their mystique wanes, the more easily the stiletto can puncture the audiences “suspension of disbelief” bubble. Everyone jerried to Hanson in the end, but she did glom 25% of Qld. Vote in 98. Most of it was in the Qld equivalent of “Red State” zones. However, sociologists have suggested that some of her appeal was attributable to her “allure” to blokey rural voters. There’s been heaps of media talk, blogspeak and cartoonists’ recognition of Ms. Palin’s vpilf appeal, which is politically potent pulling power indeed.
Some might claim that 54 days isn’t a lot of time to change voter perceptions, yet a lot of smart people say a week in politics is a lifetime. Who the fuck really knows?!

From a Dem perspective, Palin needs to be “field dressed” and “hood bound” by an authentic downscale high profile white woman with well-scripted wry redneck humour in 20-30 sec ads in swing States on Primetime.
A recently retired US Forces officer would be perfect, a female Scott Ritter.

Meanwhile Ticksters, stand by for the next exciting episode of…….
What Sarah Did Next.

Earlier this year, in another blog, I mentioned the credit crisis would not be over until the whole edifice had done a WTC, and that included the top floors, where the pointy heads from Harvard with degrees in mathematics pretend to understand financial markets with elegant models and formulas that owe more to Alice in Wonderland than reality, and never so much as now.

So the warning: watch the Credit Default Swap market of really arcane, non-transparent derivatives, that have literally exploded over the last few years into a colossal ‘ghost’ market between the big financial houses of the world.

And none bigger than American Insurance Group, who are now looking so wobbly (and they are even bigger than Lehmans!) that CDS spreads have shot through the roof.

As Sunday looms Stateside, there is near panic that an implosion of Lehmans will produce a bloodbath in the financial and stock markets, and as of this point, there is NO Fed bailout on the table and negotiations to sandbag their toxic debt seems stalled.

There will be serious blowback if this happens, and it could take out AIG and send shockwaves around the world.

If you want Sarah Palin put into perspective, a tsunami of this magnitude will really do it!

Get set for what may be a VERY interesting week, (and the AUD is seriously oversold IMHO! LOL)

Lets hope she makes a “if you are watching this I have been murdered ” video – just cos it’s so hilarious 😆

I wonder if we get a couple more of these hurricanes before the election, whether it will scare the living daylights out of the redneck vote. They may see the light. 😈

Hurricane Ike barreled across a wide swath of Texas on Saturday, deluging the city of Galveston with a wall of water, flooding coastal towns and leaving extensive damage across metropolitan Houston.
With wind gusts approaching 100 miles per hour, the 600-mile-wide Category 2 hurricane peeled sheets of steel off skyscrapers here, smashed bus shelters and blew out windows, sending shattered glass and debris across the nation’s fourth-largest city, with a population of 2.2 million.

Registration needed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/14ike.html?hp

The New York Times has a profile up on Palin.
Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

TPM is picking up on that info with a story about book-banning by Palin.
NYT: Palin Personally Sought To Ban Book From Library

Meanwhile, the Obama Campaign responds to McCain’s Campaign …

We will take no lectures from John McCain who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern Presidential campaign history. His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office he is seeking.

Obama Camp: McCain Running “A Campaign Not Worthy Of The Office He’s Seeking”

And while I’m tapping away – an article over on the Huffington Post is digging into that question we were reflecting on earlier – just how stupid are Americans.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billy-kimball/how-stupid-do-they-think_b_126141.html

It has been said on here before that the imbecile would not dare start another ig skirmish to draw a bit of a deflection from the campaign trail and some of us would not be surprised if they decided to give Margarineabad (spelling) in Eyeran a bit of a touch up.
I wonder what would happen if a Paki army group decided to give the Seppos in their territory a bit of a touch up and necked a few of them.
Do you think the CIC would hit back? How much might that escalate in the next few weeks?
Eyeran spruik may be just a diversion.

The head of the Pakistani military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, responded by saying, “No external force is allowed to conduct operations inside of Pakistan.” He said that he had told this directly to U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen. And, on Thursday, Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas took it a step further by saying that the army had been ordered to hit back in the face of any action by foreign forces on Pakistani territory.

http://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical_diary/geopolitical_diary_pakistan_and_u_s_crisis_begins

Analysis Tracker
Source: DEM; REP; Undecided
Polster: 243; 224; 71
NYT: 238; 227; 73
538: 248; 290
Electoral Vote: 268; 270
Politico: 273; 265
Possum’s Headline: 311; 227
Possum’s Aggregate (Median): 289; 249

Bill Maher interviewing Paul Begala. Begala talks about the need for Obama to go negative, about Bill Clinton campaigning for Obama, AND it’s funny.

Bill Maher: “You’re running against a 200 year old man and a mountain maid who makes Bush look like a professoor, and you’re losing?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGCxUg21FbU

EC @ 191

I absolutely adore Tina Fey, and she nailed this perfectly! I’ve sent this to all my friends who are Tina Fey fans!

190
Gaffhook

I think that stuff is mostly for home consumption, and the idea that the Pakistanis would seriously think of having a barney with US troops is NOT a viable option. But the new President has to demarcate the national agenda and appease those who are are screaming about US invasions and the deaths of civilians in their raids.

It’s a pretty complex situation, but lets not forget how many billions the US has poured into Pakistan…and they, (at least at senior levels) are not about to bite the hand that feeds them, despite the domestic rhetoric.

196
Catrina

It’s usually not a very big step from burning books that portray gay people positively to burning gay people, especially when she failed to even read the book herself.

There’s a consistent picture emerging of a fairly bigoted and autocratic politician emerging here. Sort of Dick Cheney with Big Hair, an assault rifle and a bible in hand.

Dangerous mix.

OzFrog, we are but pamphletteers, proselytizers in cyberspace Johnny Appleseeding the intertubes. Success can be metaphorically measured when the fruits of our sewing are not net ectopic.
——————-
Sun 14 Sept:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/nonsequitur;_ylt=A0WTUegyocxIjm8BNQEDwLAF

Sun Sept 14: Yeah, good ol’reality!
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/billday;_ylt=Ar8BnN8LQMVMp3sCQxrVWWje.sgF

Sun Sept 14:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/doonesbury;_ylt=Ahm2RkFDLzjYEE5yjpEhc5RX_b4F

Sat Sept 13:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/jeffdanziger;_ylt=AjpMbWi5gZiCebV32Q6ykwtX_b4F

Sun Sept 14:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/ettahulme;_ylt=Aj8Dj3lFUK_m5D02Sf190VxX_b4F

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