sure geek~

with msnbc's nifty new viewer you can actually check for key words n phrases too!
put 'er there!

thanks for the 538 link, anarch. you and tree always remind me of that site, and i always love going there. i love their read on pundits equalizing subjects in the debate, and that this was nothing close to a tie. obama was the winner. plus their electoral map.... if that's correct then by the time the election is held this thing really could be a landslide-- atleast by the electoral college...

and i was assuming the 'low ranking monkey' link was going to be about the last week and the bail out business, but no. it was about body language and the debate.... and it was funny. thanks.

one of my favorite playwrights, christopher durrang calls mccain "an angry poached egg"

i love one of the sub-headlines at huff post: "mccain ad rips obama for agreeing with him" darn tootin' you'd have to be nuts to agree with mccain!

how can you not love that biden was everywhere last night, and palin was.....AWOL. i nearly peed myself watching cnn talking about the people who angrily emailed asking why biden was on but not palin.... until wolf explained that they offered her time, but she declined.

oops. today we're being told she's a terrific master debater. heh. that'll be news, cos she's a shitty interview. lots of talk about her bowing out-- bill maher was talking about the article i posted below about how she's out of her league, and ought to quit for the good of the nation.

personally i think she's doing the us a huge favor by showing what an incompetent president mccain would be, and destroying any political career she might have had in the future. *fingers crossed*

i hope that she' doesn't quit. keith olberman has talked about mccain's "reset button", what chris matthew's calls "the razzle dazzle"--- a huge, theatrical, distraction that makes everyone forget how mccain's been running what could possibly be the country's shittiest campaign. i thought hillary was bad, but mccain makes hillary's shotgun shack of a run look like a palace.


ETA: watching fox news' new show "huckabee" starring you know who. what is it like? a political infomercial. there is an audience and he takes questions. it's got really, really bad, painful joke writing. like serious cornball type stuff. it's worse than fox's red eye, which is like a comedy root canal. times a kazillion.

his first guest? elizebeth hasselbeck from the view. it could only be more hard hitting if they got sarah palin....

...oh wait...

The other choice.... is real choice.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ1l0E4kZQ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJfNicO6sNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPnx2RDrZy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uMzN8NMsKM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAXRmx6IYvM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlkJazKz3Jw

Thanks guys!

I love busties!

Excerpts of Couric's interview with Palin

SNL take

Alaskans hold a Hold Palin Accountable Rally

The sexism of John McCain: "He knew full well what Sarah Palin was going to face if he nominated her. He knew that reporters would go through her past, that they'd quizz her on the present, that she would need to be ready, and he shunted concern aside, and tossed her to the wolves."


Dead-on debate analysis by James Fallows: On Strategy and Tactics

It's been disheartening how weak (i.e. "neck & neck") Obama's polling numbers have been, esp. in the time when Bush's gang and the Republicans in general are looking so bad. I take this to be a measure of American racism, more than anything else. And I fear that such racism will only be more obvious /worse once voters are in the privacy of their booths, and the "Bradley effect" takes effect. Meaning: more Racism will come "out of the closet" once voters are concealed in the closet of their booths...

On the other hand, race is also a factor in Obama's weak polling, insofar as so many of his newly mobilized black supporters are not being polled, because they have no history of being "likely voters." And that will mitigate the Bradley effect.

A good pal who is often in DC says, optimistically, that if Obama takes all of Kerry's states, and then takes (as he is expected to) CO, NM & NV, then he'll have the presidency even if he loses the notorious battle ground states (PA, OH, FL). (I hope I have those states listed correctly.)

And then on today's news, someone at NPR said that the financial crisis was helping BO significantly. It certainly should! It would be ridiculous if the party of aggressive deregulation (the Reps) does not take a big hit because of this meltdown.

If you'd like to read some hard hitting articles on what's dubious about the bailout, you can find some such at The Nation.

Starting with

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/galbraith_black

PS Thanks for the link to Fallows on the debates, Anarch.

I did not see all of the debate Friday night, as my satellite receiver decided that it was tired and no longer wanted to transmit the signals. I live just far enough away that using rabbit ears is not an option. From the first bit of the debate that I did see, I got the following:

1. Sen. McCain was not elected Miss Congeniality of the Senate.
2. Sen. Obama & Sen. McCain are both very good at sounding like their commercials.
3. Sen. Obama, while maybe not directly in line with my own personal politics, is a very capable leader, able to stand up for what he believes directly in the face of opposition.
4. Sen. McCain was not elected Miss Congeniality of the Senate.

It is rather interesting for me this year, as I don't usually get to see all the down & dirty ads due to Indiana being a solid red state, until this year anyway. It's safe to say that the gloves have never been on, and it looks like the brass knuckles are coming out.

Oh, and Tina Fey once again kicked serious ass on SNL portraying Gov. Palin.

For a bit of levity, if anyone wants to see a map of stuff that's closer to Moscow than Sarah Palin, click this link:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/287127...93db22691_o.jpg

I've gotten pretty pissed off that the media outlets have been playing the campaign as Obama vs Palin. Yes, she could end up being the president if McCain got elected and died in office, but the real issue is at the top of the ticket, not the running mate. I think that the debate on Friday brought us back to that, and how scary McCain is on his own without Caribou Barbie at his side. The part that disturbed me most was when McCain proposed a budgetary solution as cutting everything except the defense budget and veterans' services (suddenly he's siding with veterans, I guess). Huh?! There's a whole lot of stuff that makes this country run, and it ain't all about the damn military. It really, really scares me what he might do if he wins.

I also wished Obama would have pounded McCain on his shitty record of voting for veterans. He's been voting against increasing services as of late. Kinda hypocritical for a guy who spent 5 years at the Hanoi Hilton, isn't it?

Me too. I was screaming "GI Bill! GI Bill!" at the TV as Obama waved his hand acknowledging that time was up.



The Sarah Palin Pity Party: "Where I come from, a woman -- and especially a woman governor with executive experience -- doesn't have to rely on any elder or any man to protect her and pull her ass out of the fire. She can make a decision all on her own."

What It's Like To Debate Sarah Palin: "When he faces off against Sarah Palin Thursday night, Joe Biden will have his hands full.

I should know. I've debated Governor Palin more than two dozen times. And she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality."

vote Nader 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WiE6MnmCM

You've seen the two party system tell you what they will do in the next four years.

McCain Obama Nader
Living Wage no no http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XVD_92EK0w

Bailout Wall Street yes yes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7aC7CyOP0Q&feature=user

Democracy no no http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ieQG2_WK34

Agitate Russia yes yes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63KqDC0DKFs&feature=user

Universal no no http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5owbKCiUdCg
healthcare

Criminal Prosecution no no http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5EVGyRXC5E
Of Bush

there has been talk of the democrats getting their act together and actually putting together a proposal for the "bailout" that is being called a new, new deal-- which i'm excited about. it's super smart and leftist as hell.

basically the theory is that the problem with the economy is liquidity-- i.e. no body wants to loan money because loans are risky-- so oregon rep defazio says the problem that got us here is bad mortgages, so we'll buy all of them up, and make them cheap so lower to middle class people can buy them up, and boom! a newly revived middle class. add to that obama's plans for infrastructure revitalization, and you have a whole new wave of middle class jobs. then you tax investors at .25% which reduces speculation, and with the money raised, wall street bails itself out. all for much less than the 700 billion we were supposed to spend.
dennis kucinich has said he will sign on to it if you're looking for progressive credentials. oh, and SEIU is backing it too.

it's called the no bailout act

the problems with the old bailout plan and a basic overview of the problem

the overview of a 'new new deal' and a history of the new deal and it's parallel right now.

ETA:late news this is the plan that the pelosi and the senate dems are putting for a vote later tonight.
grrrr! why do dems always bend to what the rethuglicans want instead of standing up for what they believe in. at least the republicans have some integrity. well.....maybe not...

**********

in a disturbing note, it seems tom brokaw is more than happy to distort his reporting to favor republicans. last week he used month old out of date poll numbers to rebut an obama surrogate, and he was, it seems one of the people who was pushing to have keith oberman off the anchor position at msnbc, in favor of the lazy reporter, david gregory.

**********

i'm interested to see the debate. i've heard that she's good, but that could have been because she was a medium fish in a small pond. when she couldn't name a single paper that she read in her katie couric interview (which will be aired on wed), i wonder if she really has any clue. cos the kicker is that she was a journalism major. the problem here is she's lived a very miopic, sheltered life. she's obviously never looked past the alaskan border.

having come from that particular strain of charismatic/evangelism, i can tell you that they eschew watching the news seriously or reading the paper, which means she's got a lot of ground to cover between now and the debate.

it's interesting to see her called the master of the glittering generality, but that seems to be her problem of late-- she's been giving beauty pageant answers, which don't cut the mustard in a presidential race. you kind of have to know the basics before you can bs.... and you won't have a teleprompter to help you out either.

honestly the idea of her in office terrifies me. honestly, how can someone vote for mcain/palin? oh yeah, american stupidity and racism.

*****************

i don't mean to be a bitch, but well, it's too late to stop now.
no hope why do you just post links and not actually write something? you know, you could stimulate the conversation, instead of lazy proselytizing. i know you're capable, but you always get on these cut/paste/link sprees, and well, it's not very interesting. it's not like your participating, you're just masturbating.

and you can do that by yourself.


you're better than that. why not add to the convo?

i'm hoping that the bail out bill that they are trying to push thru today, and i hope it goes down in flames. this bill, as kucinich has said, is a fraud. the blue dogs are pulling out saying that it's too much appeasement to republicans and corperate interests. he and defazio have been on tv talking about the bill and specific things that suck in it.

i have to tell you, i'm irked at obama. now is the time for real lefty leadership, and he's offering leadershit. i wish he'd grow a spine. instead of pushing this nonsense, he should direct pelosi to put forward the no bail out act instead of the piece of crap, rich get a taxcut bill they are putting out tonight.

yeah...i figured i might have a change of heart sometime before the election and vote for him instead of nader after all. but that's soooo not gonna happen. also? leadershit is my new favorite word.

is anyone else as excited as i am about the debate tomorrow? seriously, i'm counting down the hours. i think it's gonna be hilarious. i just don't understand how anyone could take palin seriously. i mean, i take the prospect of her in office seriously in a "holy shit, we are all fucked" kind of way, but those "she ran the pta, she can run a country" people just leave me dumbstruck.

today one of my students casually asked, "don't the kkk still have people running for office?" and i was like, "yeah, they're called republicans." he looked surprised then started laughing, but i glanced at the girl sitting behind him and she did not look amused. oops.

gt i agree with you. but he voted for it. and it passed. and i think that had he not, he would have zero chance at the presidency. i'm a little worried at what kind of precedent this sets, but on the other hand i'm trying to see it as strategy.

also, i love how they kept saying the new bailout has "sweeteners". like it's got splenda instead of sugar. how apropos.

and the sweeteners are all for fat cats anyway--how is that honestly helping anything?

I was looking forward to watching tomorrow's debate but something's come up, dammit.

About Obama, I dunno. He has to maintain broad appeal to independents and undecideds to win this election. So many people in the US have a huge knee-jerk reaction against anything interpretable as too "left".

on preview: mouse said it better.

Why What Palin Doesn't Know About The Supreme Court Matters

The Joe Biden Feminism Watch

What Biden Needs To Do To Nail The Debate

Only One Heartbeat Away: A site established by Health Care Professionals to Raise Informed and Responsible Questions about John McCain's Health

well, it's not thru the house yet. and there is said to have some resistance.

i love the republican's integrity. first they say that the bill is too expensive, so democrats make it more palatable to them? make it even more expensive.

from 3 pages to a lovely 451 pages.

the plan is ridiculous, and if last weeks bill was bad, this week's was worse.



the debate should be interesting. the thing with palin is she debates in generalities, and when she does that she's very good. my question, the one that this whole thing is going to hinge on, is if gwen ifill is going to ask specific questions and hold her to actually answer the questions. you can't talk about gas when the economy is the question. if ifill asks general questions, palin will come off well, and give fluff answers. if she has her feet held to the fire, she will cave.

here's hoping the questions are specific, and she is made to answer them.

GT, I agree with you re: debate. It will all depend on the questions. But, I do think Biden could raise the bar by giving more informative answers. That will make Palin's general ones look weak.

I've decided not to watch the debate tonight. I'm going to a friend's house instead. I just don't think I can sit through it. It sounds like too much of a cringe fest (Palin's interviews are so painful to watch!). Besides, I already know how I'm voting & this debate certainly will not change that.

According to 538.com, it looks like North Carolina has turned purple! Woo hoo! We've been red for so long, but now it looks like my vote might actually matter! I've never experienced that before, so I'm very excited.

As for Obama and his temperment .... frankly, I love the way he's handling things. The man has class and integrity. He isn't rolling his eyes and being childish and snarky like McCain has been lately. Instead, he's acting like a true adult with a great deal of emotional intelligence. He refuses to lower himself to their level. For that I respect him all the more.

yeah it's looking like lots of states are going atleast blue. i've heard battle ground states like florida, ohio, and penn are leaning to obama. but-- that is a quinniac poll, which, from what i understand is the most volatile of the polls.

with the last two weeks of mccain's inept campaign, if there wasn't some movement, i'd completely think people were idiots. i've said it before, i thought clinton's campaign was horrible, but she can't hold a candle to mccain. this is quite possibly the worst campaign ever. there have been missteps daily. so there's been plenty of reason to vote other than.

i know what you are saying rose, i was having a conversation with one of my friends about that yesterday. obama has to be above it all, he has to be jackie robinson, listen to all the racial shit thrown his way and not react. he has to be more dignified, because if he isn't people will use that as an excuse not to vote for him. and lots of people are just looking for an excuse. but that doesn't mean that he can't grow a spine and support a "bailout" plan that would actually help this country and the people in it. that doesn't mean he has to be angry or anything other than aware that the bill about to be voted on in the house will do lots of damage to this country-- and, if he is our next pres.-- his administration.

think about it, that money has to be paid for-- it is a loan, and the more we borrow, the more we tempt economic disaster. you can't just print more money, that's what they did in zimbabwe, it creates hyper inflation, and worthless money. you can't keep borrowing, because, just like all of us, the united states has a credit rating, and once that stops being AAA, and is down graded....*crash* but more than all of that, the bill he and mccain approved is simply throwing good money after bad. there will be other banks that will demand to be bailed out, and our deficit will balloon even more.

this is the problem that clinton had when he came into office. first day, all of his advisors told him, all of those things he'd been promising while he ran would have to wait. he had to pay down the debt. so all of his lefty leanings were immediately put in check. same here. so if this plan goes thru, we can kiss any sort of nationalized health care goodbye, along with any other programs he is talking about now.

that's how bad this plan is. over 20 billion in handouts to businesses.

that no bail out plan would save us atleast 600 billion, AND make wall street bail itself out. obama pays lip service to bottom up change, and that plan gets to the root of the problem, buying up the mortgages directly, taking the bad capitol off the banks hands, and not letting them set the price. then reselling it.

when i speak of obama growing spine, i'm not talking about him getting angry or anything of the sort, i'm talking about him standing up for what he knows is right. if he thought it was a bad bill to begin with, how is this bill with it's new cancerous growth better? it's not. it's simply political expendiency. that bill needs to go down.

People looking for fair, sensible discussions about the wall street crisis and the "bailout" should look to Canadian TV.

I have seen some great segments on both CBC's The National and TVO's The Agenda on this topic. Both of these shows are on public broadcasters, and having been in the states recently and watching CNN for my coverage, I gotta tell ya, returning home and watching Canadian news programming was like a breath of fresh air. ACTUAL FACTS! MODERATED DISCUSSION! DIFFERENT OPINIONS! SENSIBLE ANSWERS!

I loves me my public broadcasting!

there are a couple of debate bingo/drinking games out there. you can google them or there is one here.

Youtube: LGBT Alaskans on Palin

Palin on Hamas


comic relief:

Biden's debate training

Letterman's Top 10 Things Heard at Palin Debate Camp

ETA:

QUOTE

“I’ve got to say, I find it fascinating. It seems like the only people in the room that think that debating a woman is going to be fundamentally different are people who don’t hang around with smart women.”
-joe biden

mccain & co. is pulling out of michigan. even the ads that the RNC has been sponsoring are going to end, according to ap. seems obama is coming on too strong. they have been saying their work there has been defensive from the beginning, but that is doubtful.


this morning, mccain claimed he wasn't a rich man on msnbc. they talk about biden overstating things as gaffs, but what about mccain? after all he's been saying that sarah palin is an expert on energy-- indeed, he says she knows more about it than anyone in the united states. i've heard some whoppers in my time but, really?

i'm thinking if pailin is failin debate wise (although i don't really expect her to), expect the gop to be playing teh gender card as much as they can.

(d'oh)..... more humor: homer simpson tries to vote for obama

man, i could've played a drinking game to the debates by myself. i should've looked at this thread sooner.


so what does everyone think of the debates?

palin look at the camera kinda creeped me out. but, i think the strategy there is to speak to the "american people" aka small town people in America. I think she would do a good job of looking at biden. but, it felt like they weren't addressing each other. seemed like alot of tension there.


they were both strong, but i didn't really feel the passion from either one of them. i wasn't particularly moved. if i was not sure who i would be voting for...both of these people were lacking. basically, i didn't hear anything new.


back to another superficial thing...dude, biden's teeth were SO white. did he bleach them for the debates or what? i was hypnotized by his teeth.


thanks for the homer clip GT!

i'm obviously a political junkie, but that was boooooo-ring. yeah, palin did better than expected, but then i was really expecting her to throw up on biden out of nervousness, and todd would run up on stage and dab her mouth with the baby's wetnap. so expectations were so minute as to be microscopic.

honestly tho. i'm very disappointed in her. the least she could have done was put on a show. ok, so she did, not answering questions, her faux folksy shtick, and the winking at the camera, but i wanted a trainwreck. instead i got a ventriloquist act.

is it any wonder i was sawing wood? a hive of bees couldn't have delivered more zzz's. yeah it was funny when she said she wasn't going to answer questions, (then what are you doing here lady?), and true to her word, she didn't. it was creepy when she said the president needed MORE power and seemed to think it would be a good idea if the vp was king of the legislative branch, but really, if i wanted talking points i could go to the RNC's web site. i don't need her winking at me like some cheesy used car salesman.


that was my take on it.

she's so folksy, dawgoneit, i wanna puke.

anyways, or sorry, anywayzzzz, this is a nifty look at possible cellphone undercounting in polls. i've been kind of iffy about this, since most pollsters adjust for that, but this person makes the point that cellphone only houses tend to be much younger, and are statistically more likely to be democratic at a rate of 2 to 1. but most polls assume landline houses are the same as non land line houses.


watching the cnn-o-meter is instructive in watching the debates. i see why most people saw biden as the winner. i'm not convinced that palin knows anything. yeah she can parrot talking points, but i don't think she really knows. when asked about a two state solution, i don't think she had the foggiest. it's all general with her, and i think viewers got that. but oh i can't stand when she was talking about the finger pointing. ugh.

oh shit! barney frank talking to bill o'reilly: "no, this is why your stupidity gets in the way of any rational discussion." and later " you don't listen, or, maybe you listen but you're too dub to understand."

ETA: i think i have a crush on martha stewart that lasts exactly as long as it takes mread this sentence:"The home-spun homilies have to go," Martha Stewart told me. "And, oh my god, words do have ending consonants." from arianna huffington's post debate post.

my sentiments exactly. it felt more like an infomercial than a debate. i was bored too. i wonder if the drinking game would've made it more fun.

i wish she'd been held to answer the questions she evaded (ie, basically every one). i think that had she not failed so epically with katie couric, we would be thinking she did much more poorly today than we are. she did ok. compared to her previous blunders she did well. but without the lowering of that bar, she really didn't do that well.

one of the friends i was watching the debate with pointed out that ifill, as an african-american AND as someone writing a book about how obama shaped politics, didn't really have the room to call palin out on her evasions. i think lehrer would've been a better choice again; he would've been able to ask her to say what she really meant. had ifill pushed her and not biden (because he managed to asnwer the questions asked) people would've been up in arms about favoritism. i think she was a poor choice for moderator in that respect. and i think that's why katie couric really got such a telling interview--anyone other than a similarly white, kind of fluffy woman would've been accused of either bias (and couric hardly escaped that one, thanks to palin's snippy little "mainstream media" remark in her closing statement), patronization, or sexism.

i loved when biden went off on the term "maverick". that was hot. i think he did well--not spectacular, but he didn't make an ass out of himself either. i wish though that he'd been more clear on the gay marriage issue. i really do wish that the dems would have the balls to actually say they support gay marriage--i mean, it really seems no less of a political dealbreaker than abortion to me--but failing that, i wish he had at least been able to differentiate himself from palin. though she couldn't resist getting on a little soapbox there, they still gave the impression that they have the exact same opinion on the issue and that's not true. i wish biden had taken it home instead of letting her get away with the "we agree on this issue" bullshit.

i hated her snide commentary, and her backhanded compliments--like congratulating biden for supporting mccain in the past. she's totally the bitchy catty pta mom that everybody can't stand and the kids never want to go play at her house. i think one of the reasons that she's far more popular with men than women (aside from well, her glaring opposition to women's rights) is that as women we recognize that catty attitude.

it was also a little scary the way she talked as though she was running for PRESIDENT. not the same, sarah. don't give us that heart attack until mccain has one in office. but also the fact that she refused to answer any of the negative questions--the "achilles heel" or "when did you change your mind on something" questions--she flat out denied that she had any flaws. i mean, REALLY??? sure, i don't expect her to cite her crippling evangelical faith (didn't you guys love it when she admitted to the world that she doesn't believe we're responsible for the climate crisis???), terrifying ignorance of the issues at hand, or hateful conservative values as flaws, but no matter your party or who you are, humbling yourself is ALWAYS an admirable thing. and she couldn't even do that.

and don't even get me started on the FUCKING winking!

Are we sure she was referring to his first wife? I don't know much about her, other than she's dead and I didn't even realize he'd re-married. Maybe his second wife is a teacher?

Well, I won at the bingo game- it definitely made it more interesting. If we were playing a drinking game and had to take a shot everytime she said "nuc-u-lar" I'd be completely plowed right now. And the winking and folksiness just reminded me of the SNL skit where Amy Poehler says, "Forgive me Mrs. Palin, but it seems to me that when cornered, you become increasingly adorable."

I was a little disappointed with Biden and with the moderator- neither of them really called Palin on the fact that she didn't answer any questions. You could totally tell she was heavily coached- she never responded to what Biden actually said, she just spewed rhetoric. She even said. "I'm not going to answer the questions the way you want me to."

I loved her Freudian slip when she said that "John McCain is the man we want to leave, er, lead us...."

I loved when she said McCain had the experience to know how to win a war Um, because he was in Vietnam? Last I checked, we didn't win that war.

I wish there had been more clarification on the gay marriage thing. Like if Biden really believes in giving gays the same legal rights as straight couples, but marrying them is the church's responsibility, then maybe marriage for straight couples shouldn't be called "marriage" by the government.

I wish there would have been more questioning for Palin about the criticisms of her, but I guess that suits one-on-one interviews more than a debate.

Ugh, and the maverick thing. Shuddup already.

Overall, I was happy with Biden's performance. Palin's answers (to the questions she did answer that is!) were shallow, general, and less informative. I think all that had to happen here was no major mistakes from Biden and no real stellar performance from Palin. Both of those happened.

The winking! I could NOT believe she was doing that. And all the "dog gone it!"s and the "darn right!"s. UGH. Is this woman running for political office or head of the bake sale committee?

Rudderless, Palin was referencing Biden's current wife with the comment about teachers. But yes, her "reward in heaven" statement made my head spin. WTF??? B/c teaching is such a lowly job that the woman obviously won't be rewarded for it here on earth?

I think it was good that Biden pointed out that Palin wasn't answering the questions. Had he done it more, it could have been bullying. Sad but true.
It's RIDICULOUS that Palin said basically "I won't answer the questions if I don't want to." Similar to her refusing to cooperate with the "troopergate" investigation. That is reminiscent of the Bush administration attitude of being above it all. That really pisses me off.

And the other thing that I simply couldn't believe was when Biden talked about the Bush administration & Palin's response was "There you go again Joe! Looking in the past!" Seriously? We are all just supposed to ignore the last 8 years and treat this election as a completely detatched event??

ETA:

ok, WTF!? i turn on msnbc and they had armstrong williams on there.

now, if you aren't from colorado, or listen to the news closely, you might not know who AW is. essentially a right wing columist/ radio hack who took money ($240,000) from the white house to sell no child left behind. something that the GAO labeled illegal. he is nothing but a goverment shill who will say or do anything if there is a paycheck in it for him. this is a person who has no place on american tv, let alone in print or on radio.


****************************

omg kari------ i HATED that "there you go again" business, she was straining so hard to be folksy and try and be reaganesque. it was stupid, cheap, and was so obviously put on. that, to me, was just disgusting.

and i agree, are we supposed to have amnesia because the last administration was republican? she should have just said "jesus wants you to forgive the republicans for all their sins." and that "reward is in heaven" bullshit. wtf?! really? that's what you say when someone's life is super, super shitty. that is so not a hat's off, that's a "god, soo glad i'm not you." line.

i wish gwen ifill had done her job. the moderator's job is to get info for the voter. to push them to answer the question. a task all the more urgent because that is the sole debate for the vp.

talk about contrived, i was pissed off that when she walked out and met biden he greeted her quietly so as not to be really heard by the mics. she, of course, asked loudly enough to be heard, "can i call you joe?" it's as phoney as her baby holding afterwards. that baby should be in bed, not some f'ing prop to make you look cute. have you noticed the last day or so if she is getting off of a plane she has that baby? it's like, don't be mean! look! i've got a baby! i'm a mom!

i fucking hate when people use babies as shields.

get it together, lady.

oh, and your family made 250,000 a year. you're not middle class, no matter how delusional you are. i'm sick of her and bush pretending to be "just folks." folk you.

****************

i'm pissed off because republicans woke me up.

i leave my radio on all night because i have bad insomnia, today i woke up earlier than my usual 5 am, but was just groggy enough to get back to sleep when my ears focused on air america's bill press show. it seems they had a slew of republicans calling up pretending to be liberal. that wouldn't have been enough to wake me, i'm used to their silly stunts, but some of the things they were saying.... well i found myself laughing so hard that i fully woke up.

*hmph*

*****************
ok. how is this for stupid: the republican house leaders just gave a press conference saying that they were looking to pass this new bail out package, because it's better, and that their main aim was to "watch out for the *cough* tax payer." ok, wait, this is the same fucking bill but with more money spent, how does that look out for the tax payer, exactly? oh that's right, you guys got a bunch of handouts/pork, so you keep your job. it has nothing about the tax payer.

I didn't watch the debate last night, had to study for a chem test. Now I'm sorry I missed it. I've been reading on NYTimes.com and they're saying basically what you all have said: Palin dodged questions, she did okay only because the expectations were so low, etc.
I don't know where she comes off saying McCain is a Maverick.... Seems to me that if he wins the election, we'll just see more of the same.
I'm sickened by the folksy attitude, and I didn't even see the debate (read about what all she said)! Maybe she should have addressed points of concern for Americans instead of putting on an act. Idiot.

I know, I fully expected a Ned Flanders-esque "okily-dokily" to come out of her mouth!

I cracked up at this comment posted at Metafilter:

Chris Matthews was just freaking out on MSNBC over her comment about expanding the powers of the VP. I was in the car when she said it, and I could hear the guy in the car next to me scream "OH MY GOD, YOU DUMBSHIT FASCIST!" when she started in.

Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart

I wasn't really sure where to post this, but I thought it might fit here. Dolly Parton supports Sarah Palin. Reading this just hurts my heart. Dolly, your golden, sparkly image is now a little tarnished in my eyes. What happened to the woman who once stated, "There's a brain beneath the wig, and a heart beneath the boobs"? What happened to the brain? I'm beggin' of you, please.... Just Say No to Palin.

anarch, thanks for the shoutout to our Joe Biden Feminism Watch. We're going to keep it up through the election.

I wish there had been more questions on women's issues to let Biden and Palin articulate their very different views on abortion, rape kits, equal pay, etc.

I was also disappointed that women's issued weren't brought up, and also that issues involving the Supreme Court were not brought up. I would like to know what factors the candidates would consider if they were in the position of having to select justices. Though I'm sure the right wing pundits would have cried foul about bias if the Supreme Court had been brought up, being that Biden has served on the judiciary committee and Palin apparently cannot name a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade.

I love how Republicans and the McCain campaign are acting as if Palin had some huge victory when all the polls prove otherwise. I guess that they consider it a great victory because she didn't fall on her face. Way to have high standards.

say it ain't so, dolly parton!!!!!

though that biden quote on debating a woman is wonderful, debating poor lil' sarah palin seems to be a different story. suddenly she's in a class by herself. it makes me think of the attitude that a lot of people have that you're not a "girl" unless you're skinny, wear sexy underwear, heels and makeup, and giggle a lot. the "strong women" don't fit into the status quo category of "woman" because they're in "men's roles". palin and her supporters seem to think that because she's a cutie pie, she's the first real woman we've ever had in a high political position. barf.

excellent point.

a.k.a, they're castrating bitches.

that really pisses me off.

Testify. Well said, mouse. I so wish I could re-visit the internet forum where I used to post and quote you (but I won't because I'm so sick of the shit that went on there). A majority of the members of that forum, men and women alike, were of the impression that women who stood up for their beliefs and said so were practicing 'misandry,' and the only women who were preferred on the site were non-confrontational women who mostly complained about their low self esteem in an effort to get more compliments from the guys. It really chafed my nerpals. ...Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled topic.

Warm fuzzies: This is a story from the Norwegian newspaper VG, the biggest newspaper in the country . . . Mary was a newlywed and ready to move to Norway, but was stopped at the airport because she didn’t have enough money for the trip. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.

Yes, great comment, mouse. Along similar lines, I enjoyed this Metafilter comment about Palin's flirty behaviour:

So far, there has been puh-LENty about Palin to criticize without even once resorting to the fact that she is generally considered attractive. That position makes sense when you expect to take a candidate seriously. Until now I haven't wanted to consider what role sex appeal may have played in her rise, since that can often be a way of belittling or undermining the real accomplishments of a woman ('you know how she got where she is today...'). . . .

But I think my policy begins to make less sense when applied to a candidate who regularly uses flirtatious behaviors by constantly smiling, making prolonged eye contact, winking, and - as I saw her do in the tandem McCain-Palin Couric interview, doing the 'attraction signal' touch on McCain's forearm. These things aren't just quirks - they are the classic markers that flirtation (or manipulation by pretending a flirtation) is taking place, and they've been studied thoroughly enough to produce a convincing argument that they are reliable. And flirtatious behavior is definitely not usual for women who want to be taken seriously in male-dominated professions in America. It does get you attention, even at the subconscious level: "There's something - just - so darn appealing about her! I can't put my finger on it, but I sure like it!," or as someone said here recently about Palin "her face is like food." There's a reason people cause that feeling, and often they've communicated it purposefully by doing flirtatious behaviors. . . .

But it's a strategy of limited success for a woman to use. It might get you to a certain point, but once you become too actually powerful, actually threatening, or even just achieve your purpose and end the flirtation, your behavior may be the first thing used to punish you or limit opportunity ("she's not seasoned enough, she seems immature" "she's unprofessional," "she's two-faced - acts like that when she wants something, does that to everyone" "I can't concentrate around her, her constant flirting distracts me" "I think she's just out for herself, totally playing me") - it's sometimes even disastrous. For all these reasons and more, women in power have generally been counseled to avoid any appearance of inappropriate flirtatiousness, and our image of female power has become a largely desexed one. As (to be fair) are most images of male power. There are usually few direct sexual referents visible in the public lives of powerful people in serious professions.

But with Palin, it's visible. What people call her "charm" or "charisma" is sometimes simple charm, doggone it - warmth, personability, willingness to engage with others, as a grocery checker is charming or your grandma is charming. But sometimes it's definitely a bit more than "charm" that's being communicated - it's flirtation, a challenge to approach and a signalling of availability for intimacy. [I'm not saying she IS available, I'm saying she's sending the same signals one does when one wants to be liked a whole lot]. I think there's no question that she's used this to appeal to voters. As someone noted upthread, it's something that is easy for women to decipher (especially if you are a very good-looking woman or have ever been friends with one, and have witnessed its effectiveness firsthand), but it still seems to have a startlingly effective power over some straight men.

I'm not really interested in judging her on whether she's considered attractive or not, just as I have discouraged the pursuit of that question where other politicians are concerned. I still think it's beside the point. Politicians need to look professional and presentable and it's nice if they look basically pleasant, non-offputting. But I do think it's fair to ask whether she's consciously employing flirtatiousness and sex appeal to get ahead, and it really would be horrifically cynical if the GOP chose her largely because they believed that would be enough to convince enough voters. But to me, this is not at heart really a question of hotness or an opportunity to pass judgment on her appearance, but one of appropriateness and professionalism. Is she always appropriate to her setting, audience, stature? No. So when she's not, the interesting question is why not? Inexperience may be the whole answer, or only part of the answer.

And, if this were brought up in the public arena, the classic response to any woman critiquing Palin for being flirtatious or dressing in sexually appealing outfits is usually to be told they are just jealous and want to tear other women down. In fact, it's possible to deplore the use of sexual signalling in nonsexual arenas, and the exploitation of a power differential based on gender, without that indicating a hatred of one's own gender. But, knowing that is a subtle idea to talk about, I've resisted bringing up the whole Attractiveness Thing - when the topic is brought up, the popular narrative so quickly becomes Ugly Loser Chicks Criticize Cute Successful Ones Out of Jealousy.

Wow, Anarch, that's a really amazing post! That person did an excellent job of expressing something I've thought about, but couldn't properly form into words. Somebody needs to invite that person to come over here & post with us!

Forgot to mention this in my last post ...

Have any of you noticed additional campaign signs sprouting up in front of the houses in your neighborhoods lately? I certainly have, so I decided to count them. There are 8 houses in my neighborhood sporting campaign signs on the lawns. Seven of them are for Obama; only one is for McCain (and that person also has signs for all of the republicans running for office here). This afternoon Sheff and I went out to run an errand & I noticed 10 campaign signs as we drove along & all of them were for Obama. Interesting, no? Granted, I live in a very Democratic area of NC, but I still find it a bit surprising.

seems like everyone i meet is wearing an obama t-shirt or button, and living a stone's throw away from shepard fairey's studio, that obama poster is wheatpasted EVERYWHERE. but then again i'm in one of the most liberal cities in the nation, in a true blue state.

I've seen my share of McCain bumper stickers on the back of ginormous SUVs and minivans in my neck of the woods.

My polling place this year is at somebody's house in my neighborhood, which I think is kind of cool. It's actually in their garage, but I think it's cool of them to offer up their house for the cause.

if you see a big ol' silly grin on my face, it's cos obama has finally taken off the kid gloves--

ladies and gents, he has pointed out the 1000lb gorilla in the room: the keating 5.

i guess he's had a gut full of palin talking about ayers and the weather underground, so after biting his tongue thru the early waves of such smears, obama's attacking and attacking hard. as much as i was hoping obama was going to stop being mr. nice, i'm glad he waited till now. i could have told you there were no more skeleton's in obama's closet for a GOP october surprise. had their been, clinton would have used them. so now, barring some sort of concocted terrorist hoo-hah, the mccain camp can only recycle the minor "scandals" we've heard earlier in the campaign, poor dears.

obama's counter attack has a website:KeatingEconomics.com,, which has a 13 minute documentary on the savings and loan scandal with mccain at it's center.

not time to pop the bubbly, but oh my is this good news.

I gave the finger to an old lady in a Cadillac with a McCain sticker on the back the other day. I couldn't help myself.

I'm in a blue state, and I've only seen a few McCain stickers/signs. Mostly in more conservative suburbs.

That's a great post about Palin, anarch.

I'm in a solid McCain state, and it kills me to know that my vote isn't going to count. I've seen only one Obama yard sign, and one Obama sticker. So, I'm thinking, at least 3 of us in Texas are voting Obama...

On the increased campaign signs thing - I've noticed even here in Canada a lot of people are sporting Obama badges and stickers etc. The only other American politician that has incurred that sort of visibility this side of the border (to my recollection) would be the ANTI-Bush league.

jsmith, all of south texas is blue, as is austin. so there's a little hope...