At Least Palin Made Social Conservatives Happy

Now I remember why John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. To help win over the social conservative base. Palin talks about abortion and homosexuality with Katie Couric.

On Abortion:

In cases of rape and incest, she would "counsel to choose life" and make adoptions easier. She also doesn't support the morning-after pill as a form of contraception.

On Homosexuality:

She doesn't believe in judging "Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships." She says she has a good friend who is gay, but implies that homosexuality is a choice.

Come On, Just Name One...

Did Sarah Palin get another "trapdoor" question from Katie Couric? Here's a highlight from Palin's CBS News interview with Couric:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

She couldn't pick one news source? Not ONE? She MAJORED in journalism. Hmm, maybe this is all part of McCain's campaign strategy. Maybe Palin is just playing uninformed to lower expectations of her debate performance? Well, it's working. Expectations can't be any lower. Or can it?

Dear Joe Biden, Please Read This Before you "Gaffe" Up the Debate

The must-see vice presidential debate is coming up and everyone is nervous, or excited, to see Sarah Palin. I'm actually more nervous to see Joe Biden since he often misspeaks and his runaway mouth is very well documented. As much as some don't believe his gaffes are damaging, I think we are too close to election day to risk any more Biden gaffes.

Slate's Dahlia Lithwick has written a letter to Biden with some tips on "How To Debate a Girl, and Win."

Below are just a few funny, yet very valid points:

"Everyone expects you to win the debate, and to trounce her on the substance. But the rules for debating Gov. Palin are different. If you lecture her, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. If you act too smart, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. If you condescend to her, you'll be seen as a sexist bully."

"Sen. Biden, let's be clear. Great Supreme Court oral advocates will tell you that a flawless oral argument will never win a case, but a bad argument can lose one. You have a similar problem. If you engage, fight, bicker, or bluster, you can lose this debate. Think Rick Lazio. So my advice, in a nutshell: Don't lose it."

"There is no easy way to tell you this, Joe Biden, but the surest way for Joe Biden to lose a debate against Sarah Palin is by being Joe Biden. If you are windy, pompous, unctuous, or pushy, you will come across as patronizing and condescending—the guy who puts the "boy" into "old boys' network." If you flirt and smirk and flatter (Did you truly tell an Ohio crowd you thought Palin was "good-looking"? Did you really introduce us to your wife, Jill, by leering that she is "drop-dead gorgeous"?), you're going to sound like the creepy guy in the trench coat at the back of the porn theater. If you can manage to be your warm, amiable self, even if you're going batshit on the inside, you will do fine."

"Caution: Sarah Palin is funny. And it's the kind of jeering Ann Coulter-funny that's assuredly going to irritate the heck out of you. She'll suggest you are a coward and unpatriotic and also (heh heh) that you are corrupt and dishonest. Keep your poker face. Poker face when she says you plan to raise taxes on the middle class. Poker face when she says she has plans to sell Barack Obama's next celebrity memoir on eBay and give all the money to special-needs children. Don't lunge (a la Lazio). Don't sigh (a la Gore). Don't roll your eyes (a la Where the Wild Things Are) or look longingly into the camera as if to plead "This is the best they could find for me?" Just nod sagely and refute logically. Get off a zinger if you can. ("You're nice enough Sarah" does not constitute a zinger.) But you are not going to beat her at the victim game, or the regular-folks game, or the humor game. You have to beat her on the fact that you are qualified to be a heartbeat from the presidency and that in 10 years she may be, as well."

McCain Just May Fake Suspend Again

Talking Points Memo reports that "John McCain made the morning show rounds today. On Fox they were virtually begging him to "suspend" his campaign again in the wake of the bailout failure yesterday on the Hill. You know, since it worked out so well the first time. McCain's answer: He just might suspend again."

The latest plan McCain "helped" create only had 33% of Republicans vote for it. Clearly his presence in Washington and involvement with the bailout plan doesn't matter.

McCain Looked Like Palin's Overprotective Dad

Did anyone else watch the joint interview McCain and Palin had with Katie Couric last night? It was a bit... strange. It was like McCain was Palin's overprotective dad who was trying to get her out of a "jam." At one point McCain started answering questions meant for Palin. Palin's answers seemed so rehearsed and McCain looked on like a proud parent. I was just waiting for her to lean over to him and ask if she was doing ok. Check it out below.

Supreme Court Question - Palin Definitely Needs a Lifeline

In an earlier post I mentioned the rumor of CBS having embarrassing unaired footage of Sarah Palin from last week's interview with Katie Couric. A CBS spokesperson later denied having any additional footage from the interview. WELL...according to Politico.com, CBS does have embarrassing footage. This is what they found:

Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

Hypocrisy At Its Best

McCain surrogate Nancy Pfotenhauer was on Fox & Friends discussing what Sarah Palin may be up against at the upcoming vice presidential debate. Here is what Pfotenhauer had to say:

"Obviously you can have a series of "gotcha" questions..."

Nancy, what exactly are gotcha questions? Are those the same as questions that any other experienced vice presidential candidate can easily answer? Or maybe those questions are similar to the series of "trapdoor questions" Katie Couric asked her. Yes, Pfotenhauer really thought those were "trapdoor questions." See the clip below.




"My guess is that they're going to go very heavily on foreign policy." She adds, "Normally on vice presidential debates you see a more even-handed approach, particularly with the challenges we're facing with the nation's economy. So I would hope the questions would be more even-handed"

Commentator Steve Doocy adds, " Nancy, it sounds like they're stacking the deck against her because everybody knows that's Joe Biden's, you know, that's his forte. Why wouldn't they ask half and half? The average person is more concerned with domestic stuff than foreign stuff anyway."

Now foreign policy isn't what people are concerned with? Isn't this the same camp that is slamming Obama for lack of foreign policy experience? And how is asking foreign policy questions to a vice presidential candidate "stacking the deck against her?" Obama didn't get the same luxury of not getting asked those questions.

"I think whoever, you know the moderator, will have some questions to answer themselves if they do go so heavily foreign policy."

If you have to ask the moderator to go easy on someone who may very possibly be the next president of the United States, that might be a problem.

SNL's Take on Bill Clinton's Lousy Support for Barack Obama

I've mentioned in a previous post that Bill Clinton is doing a lousy job of endorsing Barack Obama and uniting the Democratic party. SNL did a parody of it. If you watched Clinton on Meet the Press yesterday morning, you'll find the skit even funnier.

Uh Oh, Does CBS have more Palin/Couric Material for SNL?

Rumor has it that CBS has more un-aired footage from the Palin/Couric interview. The Daily Kos found this tidbit in Howard Kurtz' column:

And the worst may be yet to come for Palin; sources say CBS has two more responses on tape that will likely prove embarrassing.

I wonder when CBS will drop this bomb? I'm sure the Obama camp would love for it to air right before the election. But really, how can it get any worse? We've all seen her take on foreign policy experience.

*Update - A CBS spokesperson has said they've released all footage from last week's interview.

McCain makes Palin Go to "Debate Camp"

October 4th, 2008 is probably the most important event in Sarah Palin's political career. It's the day Palin will debate Joe Biden. Democratic strategists are saying she'll do "terrific." Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod has even said, “She's very skilled and she'll be well-prepared. As you saw at the convention she can be very good. So, I think it would be foolish to assume that this isn’t going to be a really challenging debate. We're preparing for that, on that assumption.” It's well known that Palin's been avoiding the media and many say it's because she's been prepping for the debate. According to WSJ, Palin's leaving late tonight for McCain's home (1 of 8) in Sedona, AZ for last minute cram session for Thursday's debate. Supposedly this was at the urging of McCain himself. One of McCain's top aides, who's part of the team prepping Palin, is calling it "debate camp." I'm assuming she's going to camp due to her not so great performances at some high-profile interviews.

Here are my thoughts on this. Even if Sarah Palin outshines Joe Biden at the debate, this still doesn't make her ready to be the vice president. This just means she's really good at memorizing and reciting. A month of being told what to say by a team of experienced advisors doesn't make you ready to run our country.

Going to the Chapel and Bristol Palin's Getting Married

According to the Times Online (UK), the wedding of Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter Bristol to her fiance Levi is expected before November 4th or at least that's what the McCain camp is wishing for. They are hoping that the wedding will boost the popularity of McCain/Palin. I'm taking this news with a grain of salt. Although, never say never. No one would have expected A) for McCain to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate B) that McCain would suspend his campaign and C) that McCain would ask to postpone the presidential debate. 

Palin is a Terrific Debater...Say the Democrats?

Two different democratic strategists were on MSNBC this morning speaking highly of Sara Palin's debating skills. According to Politico, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe even told reporters Saturday that Sarah Palin's a "terrific debater" who could give Joe Biden a run for his money when they meet  for the debate Thursday.

Odd,  did they not see Palin's interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric? Everyone and their moms expect her to bomb Thursday night. Oh ok, I get it now.  Speaking highly of Palin is all part of the democrats' plan. They are "lowering expectations," which Politico says is a "common campaign practice before a debate." They probably don't want a repeat from last week. After McCain's disastrous couple of weeks and the "suspension" of his campaign, everyone expected Obama to blow him out of the water. As we all know, that wasn't the case. Ironically, it's the republicans that are nervous.

Turns out Palin Co-Wrote Last Night's SNL Skit

Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin last night on SNL. The skit was a parody of Palin's interview with Katie Couric (played by Amy Poehler).



Did Sarah Palin unknowingly co-write it? The skit used actual quotes from the interview. Hmm, doesn't it say a lot when a vice presidential candidate's words are used verbatim? Below is a highlight from the the skit:

POEHLER AS COURIC: "On foreign policy, I want to give you one more chance to explain your claim that you have foreign policy experience based on Alaska's proximity to Russia. What did you mean by that?"

FEY AS PALIN: "Well, Alaska and Russia are only separated by a narrow maritime border. (using her hands to illustrate) You got Alaska here, this right here is water, and this is Russia. So, we keep an eye on them."

POEHLER AS COURIC: "And how do you do that exactly?

FEY AS PALIN: "Every morning, when Alaskans wake up, one of the first things they do, is look outside to see if there are any Russians hanging around. And if there are, you gotta go up to them and ask, 'What are you doing here?' and if they can't give you a good reason, it's our responsibility to say, you know, 'Shoo! Get back over there!'

McCain's Sailor Mouth?

Remember this zinger Obama shot McCain during the presidential debate?

"He even said the other day that he would not meet potentially with the prime minister of Spain, because he -- you know, he wasn't sure whether they were aligned with us. I mean, Spain? Spain is a NATO ally. If we can't meet with our friends, I don't know how we're going to lead the world in terms of dealing with critical issues like terrorism."

Well John McCain thought it was horsesh*t. If you watch closely to the video an observant viewer caught, you can see McCain say it under his breath. Classic!

Media Calls Tie, McCain says He Won

According to Reuters John McCain said “I was a little disappointed the media called it a tie but I think that means, when they call it a tie, that means we win.” He said this during a telephone call that was caught by cameras filming him at his campaign headquarters.

Before I overreact, my girlfriend did make a good point. Maybe he said that because everyone before the debate was declaring Obama the winner. Okay fine, but who says they won out loud? Obama's campaign has been calling McCain "out of touch." Does McCain's statement reinforce that?

Polls and focus groups of undecided voters think Obama won the debate.

Acccording to The Atlantic a CBS News poll:

40% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. 22% thought John McCain won. 38% saw it as a draw.

68% of these voters think Obama would make the right decision
about the economy. 41% think McCain would.

49% of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. 55% think McCain would.

And according to the The Huffington Post , CNN's Poll shows Obama as the overall winner on the economy and Iraq"

Who Did the Best Job In the Debate?

Obama 51%
McCain 38%

Who Would Better Handle Economy?
Obama 58%
McCain 37%

Who Would Better Handle Iraq?
Obama 52%
McCain 47%

Oh Snap!

Here are some zingers Obama was able to slip in.

"I just want to make this point, Jim. John, it's been your president who you said you agreed with 90 percent of the time who presided over this increase in spending. This orgy of spending and enormous deficits you voted for almost all of his budgets. So to stand here and after eight years and say that you're going to lead on controlling spending and, you know, balancing our tax cuts so that they help middle class families when over the last eight years that hasn't happened I think just is, you know, kind of hard to swallow."

"John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the surge. The war started in 2003, and at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong.You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shiite and Sunni. And you were wrong"

"And, John, I -- you're absolutely right that presidents have to be prudent in what they say. But, you know, coming from you, who, you know, in the past has threatened extinction for North Korea and, you know, sung songs about bombing Iran (video below), I don't know, you know, how credible that is." 

"And the point that I originally made is that we took our eye off Afghanistan, we took our eye off the folks who perpetrated 9/11, they are still sending out videotapes and Senator McCain, nobody is talking about defeat in Iraq, but I have to say we are having enormous problems in Afghanistan because of that decision. And it is not true you have consistently been concerned about what happened in Afghanistan. At one point, while you were focused on Iraq, you said well, we can "muddle through" Afghanistan. You don't muddle through the central front on terror and you don't muddle through going after bin Laden. You don't muddle through stamping out the Taliban."

"He even said the other day that he would not meet potentially with the prime minister of Spain (video below), because he -- you know, he wasn't sure whether they were aligned with us. I mean, Spain? Spain is a NATO ally. If we can't meet with our friends, I don't know how we're going to lead the world in terms of dealing with critical issues like terrorism."

*

McCain Winner of Smirking; Obama Winner of Being Agreeable

I just finished watching the debate with my girlfriend. We couldn't decide on who won the debate without being partisan. But if I had to call a winner, I would call it a draw with McCain having the slight edge.

My Thoughts

I felt that Obama held his own, especially on foreign policy, his area of weakness. With that said, Obama overall was too nice and passive. He at times was too cordial and started some of his rebuttals with, "Senator McCain is right." Of course McCain's camp ate this up and already have campaign ad for it.

McCain was aggressive, at times bully-like, and dominated the debate. He brazenly said whatever he wanted, and talked as long as he wanted. Obama kept looking at the moderator Jim Lehrer as if he could help him. McCain was shooting zingers left and right and Obama was letting McCain get away with it. Obama was constantly on the defense, while McCain played offense.

On tone and temperament, Obama was the winner. Obama was calm, cool and collected. McCain's body language was just strange. He didn't ONCE look at Obama during the debate. It's as if he has so much contempt for him that he didn't even want to be on the same stage. He constantly had a smirk on his face whenever Obama was speaking. McCain came off as a grumpy old man that was about to lose it. I swore I saw steam coming out of his ears. He seemed so angry. The pundits say the reason McCain didn't look at Obama is because he hates him. He views Obama as his enemy and find no reason to look at him. He did the same in his debates with Mitt Romney and George W. Bush.

Basically this debate comes down to what kind of president the American people want. Obama who is a "nice guy" and can stay grounded under distress or McCain who is aggressive and will get in your face to get things done?

Best Thing Ever!!!

Remember Sarah Palin's "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where -- where do they go? It's Alaska." comment she made to Katie Couric? Well the GENIUSES at BoingBoing.net have a visual for it.

Latest Gallup Poll - Obama and McCain Tied

The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for Sept. 22-24 show Barack Obama and John McCain tied at 46%. After McCain's rough two weeks they're tied??? I'm nervous about this election...

CBS News Execs Are Not Happy With Dave

The New York Post is reporting that

CBS News executives were red- faced yesterday trying to explain how David Letterman used unaired news footage of Sen. John McCain with Katie Couric to embarrass the Republican presidential candidate."

Asked if CBS officials had a problem with Letterman using the internal news feed, a spokeswoman for "The Evening News" refused to address the issue.

But several CBS News executives - who asked not to be identified - said that the stunt did not go down well within the news division.

"If we had done something like that to him, someone around here would end up getting fired," one said.

Yes! It's Friday!

It's almost the weekend! Some funny things to start your Friday. I found the funniest video on CitizenSugar today. Sarah Silverman is doing her part in helping Barack Obama get elected. She's is reaching out on behalf of The Great Schelp, which "aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor. "

Remember Matt Damon speaking out against Sarah Palin? He said, "It's like a really bad Disney movie. The Hockey Mom. Oh, I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska, and she's president. She's facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It's absurd."




Yup, someone made a movie trailer for it and CitizenSugar has the video posted.

McCain Punk'd Us, Says He Suspended Campaign

John McCain announced yesterday that he was suspending his campaign due to the economic crisis. Oh wow, that's great I tell myself.  McCain truly does believe in "Country First." Maybe I got this guy all wrong. 

 *Cue video of John McCain shouting "PSYCHE!" *

Oh man!  I fell for it. He didn't really suspend the campaign.  It turns out you could still donate money on McCain's site and his surrogates were also out on cable networks going after Obama and pushing their cause. Rachel Maddow also says that "there are reports from across the country that McCain tv ads are still on tv." But wait, didn't they say they were withdrawing paid media ads off the air (See 1:30 mark of video below)? The Huffington Post also reports that McCain campaign offices across the country are still "up and running, accepting volunteers, conducting phone banking, literature dropping and other GOTV activities."

You got us good Maverick.

Bill Clinton, Who Are You Fooling?

Slate has a great article called "Why Bill Clinton is a Lousy Surrogate." Clinton has been doing the media rounds praising McCain in every interview. At times he literally goes on and on about how great McCain is. Clinton also has kind words for Sarah Palin. What's wrong with that? Nothing, except his praise for Barack Obama is ...well...half-assed. There I said it. 

Chris Rock even called out Bill Clinton on his lousy support. 

And today on Good Morning America Clinton defended McCain's request to postpone the presidential debate.  

"We know he didn't do it because he's afraid, because Sen. McCain wanted more debates,"Clinton said. "I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted -- I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don't think we ought to overly parse that."

Is Bill Clinton passive-aggressively rooting for McCain so Hillary could run in 2012? That's the latest rumor out there. Whatever his reason is, he needs to do a better job at backing Obama and uniting the Democratic party. Go big or go home.

"Putin Rears His Head" . . .in Alaska

Here is part two of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin. I felt like I was watching improv comedy. If this is a preview of what the debates will look like, I feel really bad for her. She needs a hug.

Thanks Washington Monthly for the transcript.

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land -- boundary that we have with -- Canada. [...]

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our -- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia --

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We -- we do -- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where -- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is -- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to -- to our state.

Palin's True Political Colors?

I read this really insightful article written by David Talbot of Salon about Sarah Palin's run for mayor of Wasilla. Apparently her campaign was full of lies and backstabbing. Before Palin decided to run for mayor against incumbent John Stein, the two were friends. Stein actually helped launch Palin's polticial career! Stein took Palin under his wing and mentored her during her run for city council in 1994. When she announced her candidancy for mayor in 1996, she vowed to overturn the Wasillas's "old boy" establishment. That's when "thing got very ugly," according to one of Stein's close friends Naomi Tigner. She also recalls that Palin "became very mean-spirited."

Here are a few excerpts from the article that exposes Palin's true political colors:

• Even though Palin knew that Stein is a Protestant Christian, from a Pennsylvania Dutch background, her campaign began circulating the word that she would be "Wasilla's first Christian mayor." Some of Stein's supporters interpreted this as an attempt to portray Stein as Jewish in the heavily evangelical community. Stein himself, an eminently reasonable and reflective man, thinks "they were redefining Christianity to mean born-agains."

• The Palin campaign also started another vicious whisper campaign, spreading the word that Stein and his wife -- who had chosen to keep her own last name when they were married -- were not legally wed. Again, Palin knew the truth, Stein said, but chose to muddy the waters. "We actually had to produce our marriage certificate," recalled Stein, whose wife died of breast cancer in 2005 without ever reconciling with Palin.

• According to some political observers in Alaska, this pattern -- exploiting "old-boy" mentors and then turning against them for her own advantage -- defines Sarah Palin's rise to power. Again and again, Palin has charmed powerful political patrons, and then rejected them when it suited her purposes.

Palin allows Couric more than 29 seconds

Sarah Palin took time out from studying up on foreign policy to do an interview with Katie Couric. They focused on the economy and discussed the $700 billion dollar bail out, the risk of the Great Depression and the reports that the lobbying firm of McCain's campaign manager received money from Freddie Mac.

Here's an excerpt of the interview:

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Must...Stay...Up...Need...to...Watch...Letterman

My allergies are raging, I'm going on 4 hours of sleep and my body is ready to give out on me...but I MUST stay up and watch David Letterman.

Apparently John McCain was set to appear on Letterman tonight, but McCain called and told Dave that he had to cancel because he had to get back to Washington and deal with economic crisis. Well it turns out McCain never left for Washington. Here is how everything unfolded according to the Drudge Report.

In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

* Update - The reason the McCain camp canceled on Letterman? Because they "felt that it wasn't a good night for comedy." Point taken, but why lie about it????

*Update - Just watched it. Wow. I posted the video below

Biden Dropping Out of the Race?

I had an interesting conversation at the hair salon today. It went like this...

LiberalOnMyMind: So have you been following the election?

My Stylist: Yeah, kind of. What's wrong with the vice president?
LiberalOnMyMind: What do you mean?
My Stylist: You know, the old guy. I heard he was dropping out of the race.
LiberalOnMyMind: *confused as hell* What?!?! You mean Biden???
My Stylist: Yeah, I guess. I heard he's stepping down as vp and that Obama is going to ask Hillary.
LiberalOnMyMind: *still confused as hell* WHERE DID YOU HEAR THIS?
My Stylist: From one of my clients. He was telling me all about it.

Could this be true? I raced home, grabbed my laptop and searched frantically on google for any news on this. And low and behold, I found a Fox News article on it. Of course Fox News would be reporting on this. They're trying to divide the Democratic party I tell myself. Well the article was actually quite interesting.

Apparently there is an Internet rumor making its way on to discussion forums and e-mails that Joe Biden will drop out after his October 2nd debate with Sarah Palin. Many Democratic supporters and strategists are dimissing the rumor. Here is the part of the article I find very interesting...

"Fight the Smears, the Web site the Obama campaign set up to quash damaging Internet rumors. But Fight the Smears hasn’t touched this one, perhaps out of fear that it would only further a wild rumor. The Obama campaign has not commented on it, other than to say that Biden’s medical records will be released soon."

"Snopes.com, a site devoted to picking apart online rumors and urban legends, has labeled the status of the claim “undetermined.” Several online discussion boards have been loaded up with denials."

Will the Real Reason for the Postponement Please Stand Up?

According to CNN, the McCain camp is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama campaign that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the vice president debate, which is scheduled for next Thursday.

Call me skeptical, but is McCain's camp that worried about Sarah Palin that they are willing to use the economic crisis as the reason to postpone the presidential debate? Of ALL days the McCain campaign could choose to re-schedule the presidential debate, they pick October 2nd, the VP debate?

(Chicago) Birds of A Feather Flock Together?

John McCain has a new campaign ad out called "Chicago Machine." Guilt by association, that's the new tactic McCain's campaign is trying to use.

The ad starts with the announcer saying, "Barack Obama. Born of the corrupt Chicago political machine." A clip of Obama follows with him saying "In terms of my toughness, look first of all, I come from Chicago." The ad then shows pictures four local politicans (Bill Daley, Emil Jones, Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich) and the controversies that are linked to them. The ad ends with the announcer saying, "With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead."



According to FactCheck.org, the ad's implication and many of its supporting details are FALSE.

Well Bill Daley is furious over the ad. He says that "the whole thing is an outright lie," and adds, "A year and a half ago, he [McCain] called me the greatest U.S. commerce secretary ever, at a conference being held at Deer Valley," Daley said. "I certainly thought he was being extreme, but he even voted for my confirmation as U.S. commerce secretary when he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee!"

Check out FactCheck.org where it exposes more of the lies in the ad.

Thank You Campbell Brown

Dear Campbell Brown,

Thank you for calling out the McCain camp on their sexist behavior. Everything you said is exactly what the other media outlets want to say, but are afraid to. They're afraid they'll be labled one of those "Obama-Biden Democrats". You had me at "Free Sarah Palin."(referenced around the 1:13 mark)

PS. Thank you for also putting Tucker Bounds in his place.

Sincerely,

LiberalOnMyMind

Thanks Sam Stein for transcribing this video clip.

"Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one."

Brand New Information - Clay Aiken is Gay

OK, not so much brand new information. We all called it from about twenty miles away. He did, however, officially come out for People magazine's latest issue.

The world patiently awaits Ricky Martin's People cover.

Civil Unions are great, but...

Pro-gay marriage ads are being  shown in California in response to Proposition 8. This got me thinking about gay marriage and civil unions.

There are a lot of people out there who are in favor of civil unions but gay marriage is pushing it. Marriage, for many, is defined as being between a man and a woman and due to religious beliefs they do not want that definition altered. I hate to admit it, but not too long ago I didn't understand why some gays were pushing so hard for gay marriage. I said that as long as civil unions were in place for us I could care less about needing gay marriage. My thoughts were, "Why would you want to marry in a church that have beliefs that include condoning homosexuality?" As long as civil unions afforded us the same rights that married couples get, then sign me up! Well I now see the rainbow light. 

Civil Unions offer only SOME of the same rights of marriage, but not all. Most importantly, civil unions are only recognized on the state level and unfortunately there are only a few states that actually recognize it. Gay marriage isn't just a ceremony and certificate for us, it also allows us legal and economic benefits. 

Here are just a few legal rights gay couples are denied:

-file joint tax returns
-visit a partner or a partner's child in a hospital
-inherit from your partner if she or he doesn't have a valid will
-make medical decisions on a partner's behalf in event of illness
-take bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or a partner's child
-choose a final resting place for a deceased partner
-obtain wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children
-have joint child custody, visitation, adoption and foster care
-determine child custody and support in a divorce

-have a spouse covered under Social Security and Medicare

A-List Celebs Donate $100,00 to Fight Gay Marriage Ban

Just last week, Brad Pitt donated $100,000 to stop Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in the state. Variety said it's the largest donation from a prominent individual in the entertainment industry. The Huffington Post reports that Stephen Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw have also joined that fight by matching Brad's donation.

The Spielbergs released this in a statment:

"By writing discrimination into our state constitution, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of each and every citizen in our state to marry regardless of sexual orientation. Such discrimination has NO place in California's constitution, or any other."

It's nice to hear that such high-profile celebrities are joining the fight to stop Prop 8. It would be travesty if Californians decide to vote yes and deny rights for thousands of deserving gay couples throughout that state.

Palin Wants the Democrats to Stop Picking on Her

Apparently vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin sent a fundraising e-mail out to McCain/Palin supporters claiming that the "the Obama-Biden Democrats" have unfairly attacked her, her family and John McCain. Here is an excerpt from the e-mail:

“Friends, in the course of a few weeks, the Obama-Biden Democrats have launched attack after attack on me, my family and John McCain. They’re desperate to win and they’ll no doubt launch these attacks against other reformers on our ticket.”

Jake Tapper of ABC News asked a spokespeson of John McCain's camp and the Republican National Committee which "Obama-Biden Democrats" they were referring to. The response he received was that an Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski erroneously attacked Palin as a supporter of Pat Buchanan.

Greg Sargent of Talking Memo Points also asked a McCain aide what attacks on Palin's family they were referring to. This is what he got:

1) Obama finance committee member Howard Gutman questioning Palin's parenting and her willingness to take on the Veep candidate role when her family is so consuming -- a comment he subsequently apologized for.

2) Andrew Sullivan's demand that the McCain campaign release medical records putting to rest rumors about the birth of Trig Palin.

3) A user diary on the blog DailyKos, which is of course the site of leading Obama supporter Markos Moulitsas, raising questions about that pregnancy.

That's the compelling evidence they have? Wow.

Obama has been vocal in saying that families are off limits. Earlier this month, ABC News asked Obama if had a reponse to the announcment of 17 year old Bristol Palin's pregnancy. "Let me be a clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits," Obama said, "and people's children are especially off limits.

The Republicans would nevermake such attacks, especially presidential nominee John McCain, right? Oops, they must have forgotten this little joke McCain made in 1998.

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." - John McCain

Guilty Pleasure: First Daughter

Has anyone seen the movie First Daughter (2004)? I caught it on FX this past weekend. I have to say I was quite shocked by the "twist" in the plot. I totally didn't see that coming! (Perhaps, my sangria hangover had a part in that.) It sure made me miss Pre-Tom Katie. It's ironic that her problems with the paparazzi in First Daughter mirrors her real life now. She should have stayed with Pacey.

Check this movie out if you're a sucker for romantic comedies!

To be Fair

Barack Obama has gone too far with his latest Spanish-language ad called "Dos Caras" (Two Faces). The ad claims that John McCain is friends with Rush Limbaugh. The ad flashes a picture of the radio host along with two quotes

"...stupid and unskilled" - Rush Limbaugh

"You Shut your mouth or you get out!" - Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is in fact a critic of McCain's view on immigration. PolitiFact and FactCheck.org go over the ad in detail.



Why must all this mudslinging take place in this year's election? Of all the candidates, I thought McCain and Obama would be the last ones to run a smear campaign. Hopefully the two presidential candidates will realize that the American people expect more out of their future president.

If Sarah Palin is Karen Walker...

Does that mean John McCain is Beverly Leslie?

Seriously John McCain? Seriously?!

To quote the phrase Grey's Anatomy popularized...Seriously John McCain? You were for deregulation before you were against it? Seriously?!

Taking a page out of Sarah Palin's "For it Before I was Against it" play book, Senator McCain is claiming he is for regulation after many years of opposing it. According to a Washington Post article, McCain introduced a bill in 2002 to deregulate the broadband Internet industry warning that "the potential for government interference with market forces is not limited to federal regulation." Just a few days ago, Paul Krugman of the NY Times came upon an article McCain wrote for the Sept/Oct 08 issues of Contingincies, the magazine of the Academy of Actuaries. It seems that McCain wants the health care industry to be more like the banking industry.

Here's an excerpt from his article:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

A McCain spokesman argues that his words were, of course, taken out of context. But how do you explain his recent appearance on 60 Minutes?

Nice to meet you Don Draper

The last well written show I've seen on television was Six Feet Under. I was sad to see it come to an end, especially with the gazillion reality shows flooding the airwaves. There are entertaining shows such as Pushing Daisies and Grey's Anatomy, but they don't have the dark characters and well-written story lines Six Feet Under had. Until now...Thanks to Don Draper and the rest of the staff at Sterling-Cooper, I've finally found a show to be obsessed with again. Mad Men takes place in New York in the early sixties and follows the life of an ad man, Don Draper. The show addresses societal issues we still face today, such as racism, sexism and homophobia. There are some who suggest that the show is misogynistic, which I can see if you watch the first season. But I have faith in the writers to flesh out each character and to hopefully see them grow as a person as time goes on. From the looks of this second season, I was right. Mad Men deserves all the critical-acclaim it's gotten and the Emmy it won was very well deserved.

Adding a Little Sugar to Politics

Some say this year's 2008 presidential election will be determined by women. There are a zillion political blogs out there and a number of them are geared toward women. One that I've found is CitizenSugar. Launched this past January, the blog is dedicated to the latest headlines and political news. The blog makes following politics easy and fun for women.

Some regular CitizenSugar features include:

• Check This: The scoop and analysis behind the headlines, a must-read for the beyond well-read.
• Hot Button: A forum that dares to discuss everything controversial.
• Now You Know: Background on the most talked about issues – from No Child Left Behind, to Darfur.
• Ad-rageous: The best (or funniest) campaign videos and ads.
• Yay or Nay: Daily polls on everything from bumper stickers to national policy and everything in between.

This is definitely a blog to check out.

Co-Captain of HS Basketball team = VP of U.S.A?

My girlfriend and I caught MSNBC's special profiles on Sarah Palin & Joe Biden. Twenty minutes of Sarah Palin's profile was about her being the co-captain of her high school basketball team and her beauty pageant experience. Yikes.

O Non-Partisan Sites, Where Art Thou?

This past Friday night my friends and I were discussing politics over dinner. Many of them vented that they wish they knew of a place to get non-partisan political news. Are there such sites out there? It’s no surprise that I’m a liberal that would much rather get my political news from MSNBC over that horrible cable network that rhymes with Pox Mews. I’m an avid fan of The Huffington Post and I steer clear from sites like TownHall.com. Is it healthy for me to get all my news from liberal leaning media? Maybe I should check out conservative leaning media. Or not. However, I did find two sites that are genuinely “fair and balanced.”

The first is FactCheck.org. They describe themselves as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit, ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.” They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by both John McCain and Barack Obama “in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.” Reading the findings from this site often brings me down from my liberal high horse. It has me focus on the real issues of the campaign instead of the mudslinging that is being thrown by both parties.

The second site is PolitiFact.com. In the same spirit of FactCheck.org, this site calls out the candidates on their exaggerations and lies. It’s a highly amusing site that offers a feature called the Truth-O-Meter. This feature rates the candidates’ claims and attacks and are given rulings (TRUE, MOSTLY TRUE, HALF TRUE, BARELY TRUE and FALSE). If a statement isn’t accurate and is completely ridiculous, the site rules it PANTS ON FIRE. Another amusing feature is Flip-O-Meter, which you guessed it, determines if a candidate has flip-flopped on an issue.

If you are true independent or just need a dose of un-biased “truth,” these two sites are for you.

I Dream of Arianna

Welcome to my blog. I owe it all to Arianna Huffington. Let me first explain that I’m absolutely obsessed with the 2008 presidential campaign. MSNBC is on at my house 24/7 and I constantly surf the Web to find the latest on the election. As a proud liberal, The Huffington Post is my favorite site. I’m on it multiple times a day. I’m so consumed by politics that last night I had a dream about Arianna Huffington. I won’t bore you with the details of my dream but it did get me to go to YouTube and watch all I can possibly find on Arianna. I have concluded that she’s a genius. Who knew that the idea for starting The Huffington Post stemmed from a viral campaign Arianna used when she ran for governor of California. Check out her Women@Google interview for more interesting tidbits on HuffPo, but I digress. Arianna inspired me. If she was able to get people who didn’t even know what a blog was to start blogging for her site, well why can’t I start my own. And that my folks is how Noticeably to the Left was born.