I have long said that, when I die, I want to come back as a political rather than a legal commentator. Political commentators seem to be able to say the most predictable facts so long as they follow a scripted Democratic versus Republican persona. However, this week Mike Murphy, an former McCain aide, and Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, were caught speaking off script about Gov. Sarah Palin: it wasn’t pretty, in fact (according to Noonan) “it’s over.”
On the tape, Noonan says “It’s over” in apparent reference to the campaign and the controversial choice of Palin. When Chuch Todd asked her if Palin was the most qualified woman the Republicans could nominate, Noonan responded, “The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives. Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and that’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.” Murphy added that the choice was “cynical” and “gimmicky.” He actually stated the very talking point of democratic talking heads: “You know what’ really the worst part about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.”
Noonan is now trying to make this cat walk backwards and insists that it was taken out of context, here.
For the tape, click here.
I heard the audio last night and I was pleasantly amused. Once again, a Republican operative is caught with his/her pants down. Here is an example of a Republican speaking her mind and she is now trying to wiggle out of what she said. The audio wasn’t taken out of context, it was just a brutally honest indictment of the Republican party’s bad choice and poor vetting process. This Alaskan Governor makes Dan Quayle look experienced. She had a very folksy speech and said all the right conservative things, but with every day we learn more about her true colors. She was a Ted Stevens advoacte and an advocate of earmarks and doesn’t believe that global warming is caused by human activity. Maybe that is why she kills animals for sport. It must be the animals fault. She also seems to have a serious problem staring her in the face with the ongoing investigation in the Alaskan legislature. Of course, she took the normal Republican approach and filed an ethics complaint against herself in order to try to stop the legislature from continuing their investigation. Sounds like Rove is in town.
I’m glad they spoke the truth in an unguarded moment. The right wing religious base smells blood in the water. They are salivating over their quest for dominance in this country. The Beatitudes is for losers. But I had to wonder about the rest of the Republican party. While true, the elites will never be subject to god’s (HA,HA) Dominionism many others will. Not that many people see the excitment of living in 800 A.D. again. These people would like their children to know about science so they can get good jobs. They no more want to live under the christian taliban than Deomocrats and Independents.
McCain would have had the religious right vote. Plenty of “I hate gays and abortion” measures were in place to bring them out. In the meantime I’m certain they’ve pushed away Independents and moderates within their own party. To view the unseemly, truly irrational, ideology in all it’s glory–to have it seen as the naked grab for social power that it is, (all in the name of god of course)–that’s a scary thing to see. I’m glad the dominunists are in the open now. It was a mistake. The presidency is Obama’s to lose.
How can she not be qualified to be a GOP Veep choice? She’s been Governor for what, twenty minutes and she’s already under investigation for abuse of power. What more can they ask of a VP than to have that kind of experience even before having the Veep’s job.
However, despite that little nuance and despite her membership in an Alaskan seperatists movement, membership of a church whose minister has preached from the pulpit that he hates the United States and her family’s being a living example of the value of abstinence-only programs, the really serious question is of the poor judgement of John McCain. And to think it was McCain who accused Obama of making purely political decisions. A sad and pathetic fall for a once vaunted statesman.
By the way, were you all aware that John McCain was a POW? Who knew?
Jill – in your failing attempts at ignoring me and my comments, you consistently repeat my statements – practically verbatim, only months later!
Besides ‘yours’ on religion, do you have any genuine original thoughts, inspirations, or opinions? Of your own, I mean?
I’m also curious to know what professional hands-on pediatric experience you have, if any? Ever?
And/or what personal hands-on experience you have with children, generally…
… besides the neighborhood prosel’ girl you ‘work with’ and care so deeply etc etc etc for ie who comes over and preaches while ‘helping’ you in your garden – ever?
I know they say imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery, but somehow I just never got that from you.
PC
That she competently read a “canned,” generic attack speech is undoubtedly true. She was proceeded by Rudy G who’s speech was a masterly mocking of Obama and the Democrat. The “base” loved it and was no doubt energized. However, the competence, mocking and meanness of the Palin speech, removed her from the sympathy bubble that the Rovian’s have been trying to create to deflect criticism of her lacking qualities to be President.
The released the story of her daughter’s pregnancy to the media and then used the media’s followup to cry foul. The mocking tone of her speech makes her fair game. The weight of the blowback will not be about her daughter, but about the proven lies about herself that she’s already made. This tactic of lies and mockery in the past has had good effect for the GOP. Today a public disgusted with Bush and hurting economically will be offended by the lack of substance in the McCain plans and the over the top support for social issues expecially no abortion in the case of rape, or incest.
Terry Gross has an interesting interview with David Kirkpatrick on the NYT on McCain in general and his play for the extreme right wing to include picking Palin specifically. Here’s the link:
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13
This is the most conservative Republican platform ever and the interview tries to examine why this is.
On abortion, all are banned even to save the life of the mother. I am wondering how it comes to be that “pro-life” means it’s fine to order the death of the mother? That is a strange definition indeed. I am also wondering how this squares with the Republican idea of small govt. While true that any rich woman will still get an abortion should she need to, even a rich woman might be in a hospital by accident. She might not be able to fly out of the country to save her life should something be going wrong with her preganancy that threatens her life. Woman hating is a characteristic of fascists everywhere. Indeed the christian taliban is showing themselves exactly for who they are-hate filled power mongers.
There’s one word that sums up this audio…
Delicious.
Jill, I think I am learning something from you, about “quiet cool”.
Your ability to brush of the vain babblings of the self indulgent and overly narcissistic is an example to us all.
Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush administration· Biden says criminal violations will be pursued
vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said earlier this week that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.
Biden’s comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
But his statements represent the Democrats’ strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.
When asked during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, whether he would “pursue the violations that have been made against our Constitution by the present administration”, Biden answered in the affirmative.
“We will not be stopped from pursuing any criminal offence that’s occurred,” he continued, going on to praise congressional committees for the deliberate pace of their inquiries into alleged Bush administration misdeeds.
Members of Congress are “doing the right thing, they’re not making false accusations about anything … they’re collecting data, subpoenaing records, they’re building a file”, Biden said.
“If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued – not out of vengeance, not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president — no one is above the law
From the Guardian.
CroMM,
Thanks for the above! What you reported is good news.
They’ll look good in state issued orange Jill.
All I know is how excited I got when Her Hon. Ms. Palin said we had to lay more pipe. I don’t remember much of her speach after that.
I did not see the show, but there’s a five minute clip of a recent edition (perhaps yesterday’s) of John Stewart’s The Daily show that is SPOT ON. I saw it at The Huffington Post. It’s great and should be seen by every American to get a sense of just how cynical a choice Gov. Palin is.
He ran clips of Karl Rove speaking out of both sides of his mouth about the possibility of Obama picking Tim Kaine as hid VP. Rove mocked the insignifiance of the role of the Mayor of such a small town Richmond, VA and offered some maligning comments should Obama select him as his VP. He said being Mayor of Richmond was nothing more than the same job in other inconsequential towns like Chula Vista, CA or Mesa, AZ. I live in Mesa, AZ six months of the year and in Coronado, CA, just across the bridge to San Diego (Chula Vista is just south of SD) the other six months. Mesa is the third largest city in AZ at roughly 450,000 people. Chula Vista has a population of about 210,000. Richmond has 200,000. Wasilla, Alaska—-9000. Hmmmmmm. Let’s not forget that on Sept 1, Rove told the Wahington Post that Governor Palin was a “campaign choice, not a governing choice…”
Stewart also ran a clip of Bill O’Reilly lambasting the press for reporting about Gov. Palin’s daughter of easy virtue. His message was roughly, Gee whiz, this happens in families all over the country and we shouldn’t be judging the parents blah, blah, blah. In the juxtaposed clip, O’Reilly is outraged at the announcement of the pregnancy of Britney Spears’ sister and says the blame lies clearly and exclusively with the neglegent parents.
Welcome to the bizzaro world of GOP-land where up is down.
And we’ve only scratched the surface of the Governor and her husband’s membership in the Alaskan sessation movement group, The Alaska Independence (political) Party. One wonders if the MSM will replay her mentor’s speech wherein he claims he “…hates the government of the United States…” every three minutes as they did Rev Wright. There is also apparently some question as to the reason her son joined the army (rumor is it was a army or jail choice). He’s the one she said was shipping out Sept 11th to Eye-rack. Then there’s the more salacious rumors uncovered by the same Enquirer team who outed John Edwards’ “relationship”.
We also deserve far more details of her actual governance. It appears that as both Mayor or Wasilla and as Governor, Palin has aggressively sought earmarks from Congress and received hundreds of millions of dollars even though Alaska is swimming in oil tax revenues. Gathering those earmarks was helped along by her hiring the first ever lobbyist for the metropolis of Wasilla, Alaska (population 9000). Having a lobbyist is nice, but the fine point was in hiring the former Chief-of-Staff for—survey says—Sen. Ted Stevens.
The GOP has to be happy that she took it upon herself to audition for the Republican VP’s job by trying a little abuse of power of her own. After the head of the Dept. of Public Safety refused her (and her husband’s) demands to fire the Governor’s sister’s State Trooper ex-husband, she fired the head os the dept. of Public Safety.
Now what was that, Senator McCain, about judging candidate’s judgement?
Why is the most insightful critique of her speech coming from a comedy station???????
O.K. rcampbell–and she may have tried to ban books at the local library as well, but have you seen her gun pictures?
P.S. Those are some purty places you live now. Bet you miss Ohio a lot! And did you see those gun pictures?
seamus,
It’s true, much more often than it should be! ARRRGG
When they catch McCain “vetting” Palin in the green room, they’ll know why HE selected her.
CMM,
That story about Biden’s comments about going after the felons in the Bush Regime is the best news I have seen in awhile. Jill, you and Seamus are right when you say that it is a shame that the best review of the political scene is often found on Comedy Central. When you have the corporate Mass Media following that corporate line, John Stewart has often been the one who has called out the Bush Regime.
I just checked to see more about the Biden story and I am sorry to say that Biden “backed” off the story that CMM quoted above. Check out this Raw Story link http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Biden_would_prosecute_Bush_officials_if_0904.html. I hope Obama/Biden do not try to wiggle out of the responsibility of investigating criminal action(s)and punishing those gulity of criminal activity.
I wouldn’t be too worried about that Raff. When cornered on it they can’t campaign on the idea of investigating the previous administration.
But Biden did say it. In fact, Obama said some stuff that supported the notion.
I think it will slip into the background until after the election, but I am confident that the decisions already been made, and steps are already underway.
I wouldn’t expect to hear much more about it, but that Biden said those words, and Obama said similar things, points to a little accountability coming down the pike.
Here. I took this quote from the article you linked to.
Biden concluded his comments by explaining that possible misdeeds are
“being looked into now, just so it never happens again in any other administration.
I think the wheels are slowly turning. Problem now is they own the DOJ, so its hard to do anything outright. But I think the wheels are turning.
No doubt theres still a few Ephram Zimbalist Juniors left in our Department of Justice, working, watching, … waiting…
Obama and Biden can’t back off criminal prosecution of the Bush Administration for this simple reason: Not pursuing Bush’s crimes invalidates 211 years of American jurisprudence. If anyone, including the President, is allowed to abuse the Constitution and commit crimes as they have done (I mean committed, not alleged, staring with the Florida election fiasco), you will invalidate any convictions past, present or future. The Constitution is the taproot of the tree of American jurisprudence. It must be protected at all costs.
And crimes? You don’t have to be a genius to follow the money. This war was always an oil deal with the Saudis. There are elements within the RNC as evil as you want to call them – theocratic, authoritarian oil fascists. It is a founding principle of the country that no man is above the law. If they are not held accountable, I can guarantee many citizens will also start considering following the law optional. When the taproot dies, the tree soon follows. In addition, their corporate sponsors must be pursued as well. Complicit in the Bush crimes is everyone that attended Cheney’s secret energy task force meeting. Everyone in attendance should be arrested and charged with treason. Their companies should be nationalized and their assets seized as war reparations.
None of this would have come about except for the ridiculous notion that money equals free speech (worst S.C. call EVER). The lobby for graft system needs to go. The Right to Petition should be a form you pick up at the Post Office, not something you need to pay Cassidy & Assoc. $4M to get.
Look at the cost of punishing him vs. the cost of not and you’ll see that to restore America to pre-Bush standing both economically and politically, domestically and internationally, he’s got to go to prison. For a long, long time. Just like his accomplices from Cheney to Feith (don’t get me started on PNAC). Anything less doesn’t really fix anything – the taproot still dies, just a slower, malingering death.
On a personal note, if they are not punished, I swear on my grandfather’s grave that I will not die an American citizen. I’ll burn my passport at the border.
Enjoy your evening.
Obama-Sama,
I wouldn’t make promises that you can’t keep. Also, I noticed in your posting that you didn’t mention one of the biggest crimes authorized and ordered by the Bush Regime. That crime is the torture of detainees in violation of U.S. and International law.
I think the one that has teeth is the authorization for domestic spying along with those infamous “signing statements”.
Bush knew this was illegal when he was doing it. So did Gonzo. Thats why they tried to coerce John Ashcrofts deputy into post-authorizing them and when he said no, they went to Ashcrofts bedside to try and get him to do it. And Ashcroft too, as far to the right as his political views lean, said no.
Because they knew what Bush was doing, was illegal.
Which is why I had the problem with Obama’s yea vote on HR 6034, which essentially and retroactively said what Bush was doing was ok.
Still, perhaps Obama feels there are other ways to approach the matter, I don’t know. His vote was pretty troubling however and does make me wonder what will develop should he win but given the choice its a no brainer.
Also, it is interesting that he chose a Vice President who voted nay on HR 6034, so it suggests he’s open to opposing views on the issue. How can I say that you ask?
Well, because I know that he, unlike the republicans Vice Presidential candidate, was vetted, prior to nomination.
Jill
…but have you seen her gun pictures?
Guns just don’t do it for me.
This whole business of the GOP selecting (using?) Gov. Palin eerily reminds me of a story line in an early episode of Madmen. The all-WASP advertising firm was to be interviewed by a new prospective client. The client was a Jewish-owned department store that had previously only used Jewish-owned ad firms. The firm’s management, in a desperate desire to appear “empathetic” sent someone to the lobby. There, he found the Jewish custodian (the story is set in 1960 when there still remained a good bit of anti-Semitism) who was brought upstairs, clothed in a suit, propped up at the interview meeting and instructed to say nothing.
The GOP has been obstructionists in nearly evert attempt ever made to pass legislation helpful to women. Now, suddenly, we’re supposed to be awed and they are sooo proud of themselves that they have a woman as a VP candidate—25 years after the Dems offered Geraldine Ferraro.
Have you noticed that Gov. Palin hasn’t been made available to the press at all since her selection. She hasn’t even appeared in public except for her speech on Wed and attending John Bush’s speech last night. Why?
rcampbell,
Yes I have noticed she’s not available for interviews. I also heard one of her handlers say yesterday that she might not be avaibable because basically, the press was out to get her. I must say that is quite bizarre for a vice presidential candidate. It reminds me of bush and cheney who don’t exactly make themselves available to the press for questions and concerns either (and we have a really wimpy press!). I just can’t believe you’re not impressed by her gun toting and the fact that she’s a female. Once I heard those two things I didn’t need to hear any more to vote for her and you shouldn’t have questions either! Madmen is a great show.
rafflaw,
Thanks for the update, even though it’s discouraging. I think Obama/Biden are making a hugh mistake on this campaign. Obama’s already spent a great deal of time and money courting the antedeluvian crowd while alienating those who don’t want to live under “god’s taliban”. Stupid. Congress has a positive rating of around 9-12%, in part because they will not take on cheneybush and they will not help people struggling in this crappy economy. I realize that there are many unholy deals to be made in running for office, but even a very sleezy person can stand up for a few important core principles and Obama should do that. He should be much higher in the ratings than he is, given his opposition. If he would pick a few genuine priciples and fight for them I think he and the rest of us would be much better off.
Some interesting tidbits I hadn’t heard, RC.
Regardless of the reasoning, the campaign is getting lots of mileage out their VP choice and has, at least temporarily, successfully repositioned the focus from the most critical issues – once again.
I caught the end of a snippet from Fox last night which suggested, unless I got it wrong, Palin would have an embedded journalist(Shoshawanna somebody) with her until November.
Patty C
I find it very disturbing that the GOP “base” is now excited because Klondike Kate is on the ticket. Only NOW are they willing to work for the ticket. So, if I have this right, the base does not like McCain enough on his own to care if HE becomes President, but now they’re willing to help elect a person who, by all expectations(?) will not be President. So if they were to get elected and something bad happened to a President McCain, what, they’d be happy? They’d be happy our President and Commander-inChief was an Alaska-before America beauty queen with twenty minutes of exposure to high-powerd international geo-politics? That’s just really scary on a lot of levels, dontcha think?
frightening…
I still wonder if we have heard the last of the natural-born issue, and if she was not chosen possibly as an insurance policy.