Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know Where The U.S. Is At War!

Either she’s easily confused, simply misspoke because she’s so tired, or is projecting the future with a war against Iran as a key part of the McCain/Palin Plan…

If McCain pulls out a win on Tuesday, I’m hoping for the middle option.

Sarah Palin Pranked!

Leave it to two Canadian comics to get more access to Sarah Palin than the entire American news media!

Of course, they had to pose as the President of France to do it…

Obama To Biden “Don’t Help, Joe!”

Here’s a clip of Joe Biden talking to fundraisers about the early days of a potential Barack Obama presidency and how the world might set out to test him:

Really and truly, I think Joe Biden is speaking truth and also believes Obama would be ready for the crisis he predicts.  But sometimes things are just better left unsaid especially when you’re trying to get yourself and your running mate voted into The White House.

PS – Is the McCain commercial using this bite out yet??

Sarah Palin To Join Monty Python?!

John Cleese seems mighty impressed with her.   

As a comedian…

This One Goes Out To John McCain – Classic Biden Gaffe!

 John McCain really impressed me today.  He actually told the truth about Barack Obama.  He told a crowd that he was a decent family man, who we shouldn’t be scared of should he win the White House. 

(See that video clip in the post prior to this one)

Anyway, in an effort to encourage continued such behavior from Senator McCain and cause he’s been having a really tough time lately, I thought it only right to post the below video clip of one of Joe Biden’s classic screw ups.

Cheer up, Senator McCain!  I hope this brings a little chuckle to your face.  American War Heros deserve that much, if not an automatic pass to the White House.

All the best,

Tidewater J.

Palin Report Finds She Abused Power, But That’s Not The Real Story!

Guess if I’d had more time to reflect on it earlier today, I would’ve realized that the McCain Campaign putting out its own report vindicating Sarah Palin of abusing her power was a bad sign for Sarah Palin.

Now comes the news, that yes, according to the investigation commissioned by the Alaska’s bi-partisan Legislative Council, Sarah Palin abused her powers as Alaska’s Governor.  McCain supporters will point to the incredibly stupid statement of Hollis French, the state senator overseeing the investigation in early September that the result might lead to an “October Surprise” for the GOP as proof of the bias of the investigation.

Why French would have ever said something like that is beyond my understanding.  That said, I don’t think the big learning here is about whether this report is biased or whether Sarah Palin did or did not abuse her executive power.

The big story here is John McCain.  Throughout this campaign we have seen glimpses of how each candidate would lead.  In McCain’s case, more and more it seems to be that rather than being described best as maverick, the term erratic may be the best fit.

John McCain is and was a legitimate candidate for the U.S. Presidency.  He is a true American hero.  He has a long, mostly uncheckered history of service in the U.S. Senate.  He is clearly more experienced than his rival for the White House.  He has, on occasion and to his great credit, bucked his own party on matters of principle and policy.  He has at times worked effectively with members of his party’s opposition.  In short, McCain has a lot going for him.

Over the course of this campaign, however, the issues of his judgement and decision making process have clearly come into question.  Palin being found guilty today is just the most recent example of his being burned by last minute, throw anything that sticks, impulsive choices.

Let’s even suppose the report is totally biased and that Sarah Palin is completely innocent of the charges made against her.  Furthermore, let’s suppose that the entire bi-partisan commission was blatantly influenced by their desire to see Palin denied her shot at the Vice Presidency.

Ok, got that?  So, now the BIG question. Who’s fault is this mess?

Can you really blame the Democrats for jumping on such an opportunity (assuming that’s what they did and that’s why she was found guilty)?  You, can’t can you?  Would Republicans not seize a similar opportunity? 

Who handed the Democrats this opportunity?  In perhaps one of his most effective efforts at working with those across the aisle, John McCain gave Democrats this shot at Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin should never been picked as John McCain’s running mate.  First, she wasn’t ready.  Second and today, more importantly, she had some skeletons in her closet that were about to come outside and take a little walk for all to see.  Where was the vetting process?

Why would John McCain put himself and his party in this position?  Where was his judgement?

In a week in which Senator McCain needed some good news, whether this report is biased or not, he has only himself to blame for today’s bad news.

PS – In an effort to be fair, I’m including links to the coverage of the report finding from both Fox News and CNN.  Enjoy!

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/10/panel-palin-abused-power-firing-commissioner/

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/10/palin.investigation/index.html

What Joe Biden Should Have REALLY Said to Sarah Palin! AKA Joe Biden’s Big Blown Opportunity!

Oddly enough professional and personal considerations made it impossible for me to watch either the first McCain-Obama debate or the VP debate.  Not to blow my own horn (OK, I AM blowing my own horn), but I did pretty much call the VP debate ahead of time.  It was all about expectations and as I predicted it was graded on a curve. 

Palin didn’t say anything that instantly confirmed for everyone her blatant unfitness for the job of being a heartbeat away…   And, Joe Biden managed to keep very focused on attacking John McCain while avoiding attacking Governor Palin as much as possible.  

Biden’s strategy seems to have worked if you believe polls.  Since the VP debate, the Democrats have opened up a bigger lead over their GOP rivals.  Good news for the Democrats to be sure, Sarah Palin didn’t blow up and somehow Obama is still farther ahead.  Yet, from all that I’ve read, there was one big time blown opportunity.

Sarah Palin threw Joe Biden a big fat fastball straight over the plate and Joe Biden kept the bat glued on his shoulder.   It came up when the topic of Iraq and the support of the troops was being discussed.  Sarah Palin chastised Biden for voting against a particular Iraq funding bill and basically said she couldn’t believe he’d voted that way given that he has a son in the National Guard.

I realize that a critical point for Biden was to avoid seeming like a bully, sexist or condescending toward Palin.  But, when someone basically questions the kind of father you’ve been, especially given the Biden family history of overcoming a tragic accident that came close to claiming the entire Biden family, you’ve got to respond.  America, in that moment and with that context, would have understood Joe Biden cutting Sarah Palin in two.

Americans want their politicians to speak to the issues but to speak with passion.  Not Howard Dean “yee-haw” crazy passion, but passionate belief in their positions and how they relate to improving the lives of the rest of us.  Joe Biden MISSED a huge chance to do that and to put Sarah Palin in a terrible spot in the process.

Let’s say yours truly was inside Biden’s head…. Here’s how the exchange goes down:

SARAH PALIN - I don’t know how, you with a son in the National Guard, could have voted for that bill  (or something like that – NOT AN EXACT QUOTE HERE)

JOE BIDEN (with me in his head) – “Now, Governor Palin,  I need to stop you right there.  I know we have different views and I know the America people want to hear us talk about them.  But, there are things that are over the line.  Bringing my son into this to score a cheap political point is less than what the America people expect of us and of YOU.  I will debate you on any point you chose to bring up.  I owe the voters that.  I will NOT however stand here and debate you on my fitness as a father or my love for my children.

I love my son.  As I’m sure you do yours.  I’m proud of him and I’m proud of his service.  I’m also proud of our troops that have sacrificed so much in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I have a record of consistently supporting them.  I find it truly sad that the only way you feel you can debate that record is to tarnish it by suggesting that I’m somehow not a good enough father.  I would hope that you would refrain from personal attacks moving forward so that we can get back to the real issues Americans want us to talk about.  Including how to get all our troops, your son and mine, home from Iraq as soon and as safely as possible”

At the end of the exchange, I imagine Palin sputtering, possibly weakly defending herself as never having meant to insinuate that Biden wasn’t a good dad.  All over America, voters are wondering “how could she?” or “she went too far” or “she is just too nasty”.

We’ll never know, of course, because Biden didn’t seize the moment.  But, I’m suspecting that the polls would’ve have only shown a greater swing to Obama-Biden…

What do you think??

Sarah Palin’s Big Advantage Over Joe Biden! (Re-Post)

Reposting this as so many people are clicking on the original post now that the debate is upon us.  For those of you who have seen this already… Sorry!

When I first heard about the surprise GOP VP pick, I quickly read as much as possible about her and the pick on the web.  One major news site had some analysis up that basically said that Joe Biden would likely wipe the floor with her during the their debate this fall.  Especially, the commentary went on, in the arena of foreign affairs.

For the record, I think that Sarah Palin has a big advantage in the VP Debate.  Does anyone remember the chatter prior to the Bush-Gore debates?  The basic conceit was that frankly George W. Bush wasn’t the same caliber egghead as Al Gore.  So, it was reasoned, it would be perfectly understandable if Gore did better.  So long as George W didn’t come off as completely unprepared to be president, he’d end up with a winning grade in a lot of people’s books.  And, indeed, he did.

Anyone can be super smart.  Not just anyone can get people to believe they should be president or vice president. The Gore-Bush debates proved that political debates are about way more than intellect.   This is especially true when you’re doing it live in front of millions of people.  Suddenly, the ability to connect, the ability to impress as someone viewers and voters feel comfortable with, humor and luck all come into play.  Not to mention the candidates looks.

My suspecion is that a similar line of thinking will play out in the run up to the Veep debate.  Unless Palin is damaged goods at that point due to the various issues hanging over her candidacy, I think people will just need to see her be OK.

Furthermore, there’s the man woman thing.  Given Washington’s old boy culture and Biden’s long time membership in it, he simply can’t be seen as being dismissive or mean-spirited towards Governor Palin.  For Senator Biden, it’s going to be all about the tone. He has to press his points aggressively but not go over those lines.

Oh, and by the way, Joe Biden can’t mess up in the debate.  The whole reason he’s on the ticket is to bring experience.  Should he blow a response, it will be remembered.  He’s got to be perfect.

That’s not the case on the GOP side.  If Sarah Palin messes up, she’ll just be graded on a curve.

Even George Will Says Sarah Palin Isn’t Ready! (Video)

If Conservatives don’t believe me, maybe they’ll believe George Will!

Eve Ensler And Other Feminists Are All Wrong On Sarah Palin!

As regular readers of this blog have certainly figured out, I’m no stone age kind of guy.  I am all for women’s rights.  I saw a post from a leading feminist recently, however, that I could NOT disagree with more.

Here’s the blog I found the Eve Ensler post on:
http://hippiemeg.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/eve-ensler-on-sarah-palin/

Please read through and then come on back here.

OK, are you back?  Good!  (Knew I could count on you!)

Anyway, here’s the deal as I see it.  Feminist ought to be about giving women the right to express themselves however they see fit and to believe whatever they believe.  I’m in total agreement with Ensler that Sarah Palin is in no way, shape or form ready to be vice president or for that matter president of this here U.S. of A.

But, it’s not because Sarah Palin has betrayed her sisters.  It’s because she’s way under-qualified.  I’d say the same if Palin had a penis.

Reading through Ensler’s commentary, I couldn’t believe how someone who is clearly passionate about women’s rights would deny them of one very basic right.  Women should be able to make up their minds.  Sarah Palin wants to pull polar bears off the endangered species list, she’s a hunter and wants to “drill, drill, drill.”  I oppose her on almost all of her positions.  But that said, I respect her right to them.

Eve Ensler does not.  Eve Ensler seems to think all women should think a like.   Eve Ensler wants to deny her right to think for herself.  Is that the answer?

How is that progress?  How about just voting against her?

There’s a million legitimate reasons to be against Sarah Palin.  The fact that she’s not a feminist in the narrow way that Eve Ensler defines feminism and the feminist agenda, is NOT one of them.

Good day to all my sisters out there!

Respectfully,

Tidewater J.