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Palin for VP and Two Speeches

With John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin for VP, one can only shake their head at how amateurish a decision this was. Palin’s stance on abortion will result in few Democratic women voters being willing to even listen to her, let alone changing their vote. Her age and lack of experience do major self-afflicted damage to the attacks on Obama and she is even involved in a scandal where the Alaskan State Commissioner of Public Safety was fired by her because the commissioner refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced her sister. Ultimately, this decision is very short sighted and the VP Debate now has all the makings of a massacre.

Meanwhile the Conventions continue. Obama’s speech, which received praise from all but the most biased of judges, now places McCain under a very powerful spotlight. If McCain does not produce a speech that is at least somewhat comparable to Obama’s, then his last chance to win the election by himself (as opposed to requiring Obama to make multiple huge gaffes) is most likely gone.

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By GhostWhoVotes

An Australian political observer.

653 replies on “Palin for VP and Two Speeches”

And it turns out that Freddie Mac was ‘cooking the books’ by overstating its capital reserves.

Whoever would have thunk it?

So there goes another “Sunday Special”, where a major bailout gets done on a weekend, but this time its just the nationalisation of the mortgage industry.

Bush and Co weren’t just inept with hurricanes.

Hello Us bludgers (or whatever we are called these days)-
back from Broome where Cable Beach is all that the Waifs claim it to be!
And Cape Leveque complete with 9 whales no more than a k from shore was spectacular.
Being WA the choice of newspapers was limited – the Oz or the WA – both abysmally right wing. So all I know is that the new Madonna Sarah is knocking Obi off his perch and bringing out the fundies in droves… Creationism to be taught in schools?????? OMG…and we dared to dream:sad:

Will go back and try and follow the hopfully more positive analysis from you good people.
Cheers –
Jen.

Sums it up:

“We have just had to nationalize the two largest financial institutions in the world because of policy makers’ inaction,” said Josh Rosner, an analyst at Graham Fisher, an independent research firm in New York, and a longtime critic of the government-sponsored enterprises. “Since 2003, when these companies’ accounting came under question, policy makers have done nothing. Even though they had every reason to know that the housing market’s problems would not be contained to subprime and would bring down the houses of Fannie and Freddie.”

NYT

…in other words Bush and Co. sat on their hands and watched this disaster unfold and now its being foisted on the US taxpayer.

603 jen

Welcome back Jen.

I think the whales may have been a better option than the RNC! LOL

So guess whose grubby paws are all over this debacle?

It’s not hard:

Senator McCain’s economic guru through all of this was Mr. Gramm, a former Republican senator from Texas and chairman of the banking committee. He was a demon for deregulation, and he and his wife, Wendy, who once led the presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief in the Reagan administration, were among the big recipients of Enron’s largess.

Phil Gramm was one of the lead architects of the breathtakingly irresponsible policies (No more restraints! No more regulation!) that led to the subprime mortgage meltdown and the current credit disaster.

(Bob Herbert in NYT)

…so follow the footprints of the Freddie and Fannie meltdown all the way back to Macca’s door. Here’s the line that Obi will start flogging and making plain for everyone: look around and see the results of the GOP’s mismanagement.

Who wants four more years of this?

Welcome back Jen.

Obama and Biden seem to be off on their platform. I suspect that is how they run their campaign, and their plan is not to be detracted from their planned objective. All we need is to get Bill and Hillary doing exactly the same thing, which I suspect they will. Throw in Al Gore and we’ll’ be right.

Hiya Spam, Kirri and Chris –
Kirri hope the horror treatment is over and you are ok.
I detest Sarah Palin- no surprises there 😈 fundamentalist Christian, member of the NRA, supporting mining in Alaskan National Parks, climate change sceptic, anti- choice on abortion -n total moron IMHO . But then there’s a lot of moron voters judging by the last 2 elections. I agree with you David- this is going to be close.
Obi needs to take the gloves off. Now.

Missed you, jen, hope you had a bonzer break.

As Neil Murray says, “There’s good light in Broome.”

“Well when I get to Cable Beach, I’ll fall right out of the truck and into the sea
With my clothes still on, I’ll plunge under the waves
And all the dirt will drain away
And just like Bunjil, I’ll get two dogs
And every evenin’ I’ll walk them along
On the edge of the country, take in the view
Just like I heard, there’s good light in Broome”

http://www.australiasnorthwest.com/NR/rdonlyres/4078C2C3-160C-46A8-8C6E-FDC8120AD9FD/12677/clearbeach2.jpg

Macca speaks in Orwellian loops about Freddie and Fannie:

“There’s got to be restructuring, there’s got to be reorganisation and there’s got to be some confidence that we’ve stopped this downward spiral,” McCain said.

“This is the kind of cronyism, corruption, that’s made people so justifiably angry.”

…ah, hello John? And who’s party is the most responsible for this debacle, do you think, eh?

Once again, smoke and mirrors.

(Notice he calls it ‘restructuring’ so as to avoid the harsh reality that the financial markets actually need some regulations with teeth).

Obi needs to attack on this front, and drive it home.

Ecky – I could weep!
Cable Beach at sunset every evening sans clothes and with good bottle of pinot grigio just watching the sky ignite… I’m grieving:sad:
But on with the show – this election is coming down to the extremes of conservatism under the guise of Good Ol’ Small Town Folk vs what of course is going to be charcterised as The Elite – people who are capable of understanding complexity in situations. It’s much easier to sell “You’re With Us or Against Us” as we all know, to our everlasting shame. Sarah Plain is the new incarnation- and she’s scary.

613 jen Don’t worry we are going to cream them. I reakon we’ll even get Texas. It only takes a 10% increase in the black and Latino vote. They are both coming off an extremely low base. Black vote was 35% in 2006 and Latino vote 40%.

Katie-Lou at 597,

About time they dropped that 50-state nonsense. I claimed that they were wasting time and money in Georgia and states like it, and it looks as though they have finally realised the same.

I am worried that they are focused so much on Penn. According to the polling, that state is Obama’s and has been for ever.

Michigan. Ohio. Virginia.

Chris B,

That 10 per cent increase – do you mean increase from 35 to 38.5 or increase from 35 to 45? If it is the former, possibly doable; if the latter, I do not think so.

595 KatieLou That Obama video has gone from around 400 visitors to 15,000 is roughly two hours.

You can help all these You Tube video’s by signing up for You Tube. Then rating the video’s five star and saving it in favorites. This sends a lot more people to see the video. This is far more cost effective way of supporting Obama than donating money.

618 David Gould

This is the Democrat strategy now.

I doubt that they have got rid of the structures in place. I would also be surprised if funds have been redirected to those campaigns. It would never hurt to put more money into those areas, to make doubly sure of winning them. They have that much money that it won’t matter. Regardless, if they withdrew funds from other areas, other organisations such as move on would stay there, as they did to help them win un win able seats. The free Michael Moore movie will be a great help.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24304008-661,00.html

I could stand to be corrected, but I think Move On Helped pick up at least 3 senate seats, that under your scenario and the Democrats ( so you are not alone with your theory) did not think they would win.

The organisations are still there. Obama has just cancelled television advertising in places he believes that they cannot win, such as Georgia. The reason? He thinks that the money could be better spent in other states that he really needs to win in order to actually become POTUS.

As a trainee mathematician, I needed to be certain of what you meant. I do not think it will happen.

And as to MoveOn, yes, they can do lots of potentially useful stuff. However, I would prefer it if they did those useful things in states that Obama needs to win rather than ones in which it might, possibly, perhaps, happen and be nice if it did but not essential.

David at 626

However, I would prefer it if they did those useful things in states that Obama needs to win rather than ones in which it might, possibly, perhaps, happen and be nice if it did but not essential.

Can you be a bit more specific here?

I’m guessing that you have in mind a set of states that are long shots but have are playable all the same. Which states do you think could be candidates for playing around within that would also pose a risk in that the distraction plays negatively in the overall campaign? I’m playing with the Wall Street Journal Map and I’d be interested to plug some scenarios in.

Catrina at 627,

Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, the Dakotas, West Virginia – pretty much anything outside the Kerry states, plus Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.

There are a number of winning scenarios involved in the Kerry states plus one or more of those states. I think that Obama is going to win the Kerry states plus those ones but not Virginia.

Oh: I already give Obama Iowa. He certainy might win Virginia – and it has always been in my key list. However, if McCain wins Ohio, Virginia and Michigan, then the Republicans have another four years. That is why Obama must focus on those states.

David, that’s just fine and dandy as long as Mistah Barry can “focus” on a whole lot of other ones as well. A wide-ranging focus, so so speak:)
—————-

538Nate nails it again:

I see a lot of reaction that doesn’t seem to grasp what Palin is doing and the value she’s providing. I see a lot of Democrats taking a lot of bait.

This applies more to Democratic surrogates than it does to the top-ticket duo. Joe Biden had the smart response yesterday – naming the behavior – expecting it, and then riding through without taking the bait:
“It was about how well placed — and boy she is good — how a left jab can be stuck pretty nice. It’s about how Barack Obama is such a bad guy.”

And that’s all he says of Palin’s antics. Name the behavior, even praising the skill with which the agitation was attempted, and then back to focus. It’s “the economy, stupid.”

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-is-not-hockey-mom.html

Welcome back Jen.
Hope you stayed well clear of the North end of the south bound Codgers’ Camels.

DG at 618.
One of the States you mention is Colorado.
Read this and tell me how much BO’s chances of taking it are when the Co SoS is in bed with software man. Unless something drastic happens i reckon you can give McNochange those 9 ECV’s.

Sources in CO tell us there will be more coming, likely tomorrow, on this. We’re also told that there may be a salacious aspect here that might just make the well-worn euphemism about “election officials being in bed with voting machine vendors,” um, somewhat more than just a euphemism. (Talk about your voting machine “sleepovers”!)

Make sure you hook to the link at the very last of the story;
where it says “full details here”

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6359

If this record isn’t enough to cast a shadow on past electoral practices, then we must look at the founder father Paul Weyrich of the Heritage Foundation’s own words. The Heritage Foundation is a “fringe” right-wing think tank group, hoping to impose their will on the American people. To give you a taste of THF’s electoral philosophy,” here are the words of Weyrich of THF:

“I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, ‘our’ leverage in the elections quite candidly, goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080904/OPINION02/809040308

Somebody is trying to do something about it here but will not affect this election.

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/04-protecting-your-vote-with-invisible-ink

634; I said the SoS was in bed with the software man. My appologies she was the Alamosa County Clerk.

One of [Paulsen’s] earliest government contracts was with Alamosa County during Lowder’s term as clerk. The county bought Paulsen’s voter database and also uses his system for all its electronic property records.
…
Claudia Kuhns, a local voting activist, said Paulsen was a subcontractor on the original state contract with Accenture to develop a new state voter registration database known as SCORE. The state cancelled that contract in 2005 and then hired Saber Corp. to develop the system, which was rolled out to all the counties earlier this year. Paulsen is listed as “key personnel” with the SCORE team.

So Mr Paulsen was a subcontractor to Accenture.
What a lovely law abidin American Company Accenture is;

http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-93.htm

I suppose next trick will be expert in the design and build Hurricane shelters in the Mexican Gulf!

Gaffy, Bill Ritter, Democratic Governor of CO, and Ted Strickland (D) of OH have the power to intervene if “irregularities” are detected in the lead up to, and in the after math of Nov.4.

When evidence of malfeasance/ electoral theft was detected in FL 2000 (Jebby Bush) and Ohio 2004 (Bob Taft), the Governors were GOP and “attuned to party interests”.
—————————————————

Virginia Adds Many New Voters
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is “very much on track toward its goal of signing up 150,000 new voters” in Virginia “by the early October voter registration deadline, on top of the 142,000 new voters who registered during primary season,” according to the Washington Post.

“There is no way of knowing how many of the newly registered will vote for Obama, especially since Virginia does not record voters by party affiliation. But the campaign is encouraged by the demographic profile of the new voters — about 40 percent of those who registered in August are aged 25 or under.”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/09/06/virginia_adds_many_new_voters.html

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http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58579

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58662

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58665

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58668

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58670

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58683

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/58687

EC

Glad we don’t have to pick a winner out of all the Toons that you have posted so far.
They are all good and say so much.
Tis true that a pitcha is worth a tousand words.

Ted Stevens son Ben gets a mention here as well as another [R] Don Young for a few misdemeanors.
She may have to stay home and do a bit of a clean up in Atlantic Salmonville first before she cleans up the nation.
Surely you can not be the Guv of only 600000 people and not have some idea of whats happenin round the traps ffs.
Then again when you look at the GOP it seems the more bent you are the higher you fly.

Trawling thru stuff and readin it i would not be surprised if some of it gets her a few unwanted problems. Especially the way she is deflecting all the things as someone elses doing and she did not know. Time will tell!

Palin’s scandal envelops her in the constellation of scandal-plagued lawmakers currently serving in Alaska. Here’s a brief overview:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/29/palin-corruption-investigation/

The Fence sure is gonna be busy. Imagine her telling all the members of the CBC to straighten up and get their shit together. They would probably tell her to go shove her head up a dead bears’ arse!

The name “Corrupt Bastards Club” (alternatively “Corrupt Bastards Caucus”) has been widely, if with limited accuracy, used to designate Alaska legislators implicated in the federal corruption investigation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_political_corruption_probe#Corrupt_Bastards_Club

Looks like number 4 member of the CBC is about to be “banged up” after his appeal probably fails.

A federal judge sentenced former Wasilla state Rep. Vic Kohring to 3½ years in prison Thursday for taking bribes in a scheme to keep Alaska oil taxes down.

http://www.adn.com/fbi/story/400889.html

If Obama, Biden and Palin went for a CEO job with a global corporation Palin would be laughed out of the door.

I just find it bizarre that all the media and populace are not pointing out the glaringly obvious fact that Palin barely survives as governor of a small far flung state and is grossly under talented to be back-up of chief of the worlds Super Power.

It is like me getting Vice President and Deputy CEO of BHP Biliton.

Thomas P –
if talent/ ability/ competence or capacity were prerequisites for politicians to gain power (as they indeed should be), then we would not have had to endure the complete fool that has been ‘Leader of the Free World’ for the past 8 years. That’s why pointing out the “glaringly obvious” is sadly not very relevant. Wearing a Tiepin on the other hand is.

hi denizens

with the heat turning up ,via some rather base emotions,should obama let the pugs burn off steam.Or should he tackle the palin heifernator head on (god she reminds me of a young female bill heiferman )

ta

KR at 651

Top article! The point made towards the end is something that has been circulating in my mind for the last couple of days …

That’s why the Palin choice was brilliant politics — not because it rallied the G.O.P.’s shrinking religious-right base. America loves nothing more than a new celebrity face, and the talking heads marched in lock step last week to proclaim her a star. Palin is a high-energy distraction from the top of the ticket, even if the provenance of her stardom is in itself a reflection of exactly what’s frightening about the top of the ticket.

I remember when every day was another McCain gaff and I think Frank Rich is on the button – Palin takes away the focus from the old white wrinkly guy.

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