Sarah Palin, Obama and Headline News

There it is, right now on CNN's website.  The headline:

America to Sarah Palin: Enough!

Wow, sounds like an absolute rebuke. "America" is sick of Palin.  But (bold added)..

A majority of voters say they've heard enough from Sarah Palin, according to a new national poll. The NBC/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania survey indicates that 54% of voters say they've heard enough from Palin and would prefer that the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate be less outspoken in political discourse. That includes nearly two-thirds of Democrats, a majority of independents, and nearly four in 10 Republicans.

So 54 percent want her to move along, which means that 46 percent don't.  A majority, but 46 percent is also a higher figure than the president's current approval rating.  What are the chances of seeing a CNN headline saying, "America to Obama: Enough!" anytime soon?  Ever? 

This hilarious story isn't the only example of bias this afternoon.  There seems to be a sudden lack of curiosity about the children-are-dying-border-crisis story on the alphabet networks and most papers at the moment.  Why, because the president didn't visit the border?  Could they not even find any Tea Partiers trying to block buses?  When Bush didn't immediately visit New Orleans after Katrina the networks carried incessant stories suggesting he was insensitive and incompetent, even Fox.

Yet aside from a few whack-jobs nobody claimed that he had actually created the storm. Clearly this president has had a hand in erecting the "y'all come" signs in Central America (note to liberals, the signs aren't real).  Meanwhile our leader has been photographed drinking beer, playing pool, and fundraising over the past 48 hours and we get zip.  But the media is still mentioning children--the ones being killed in Gaza by the evil Jews.  Talking about hearing enough of something....

PDS Strikes Again

PDS- Palin Derangement Syndrome.  Some publisher is suing her for using the iconic flag picture from the 9/11 rubble on her Facebook page.   It's like suing someone for using the Iwo Jima flag picture.

More than likely that photo has been used in some form millions of times on the web since 9/11 thanks in large part to.... Google.

So why don't they sue Google?   Yeah, you know why.

   

Hillary's Dream

Here's Ms. What Difference Does it Make Anyway talking about how a female president would send the right message:

In a video of a private Clinton speech posted to YouTube on Friday, Clinton told a Canadian audience that she hoped the U.S. would elect a woman to the White House because it would send "exactly the right historical signal" to men, women and children. She said women in politics need to "dare to compete" and the nation needs to "take that leap of faith."

How magnanimous of her to consider a president Condi Rice or Sarah Palin as good for America and the world.

I Don't Know...

But this sure looks like a candidate...



Wonder how she'd do up on stage calling Perry a crony capitalist?

Bombshell From Alaska Email Quest

Here it is:

"I'm a centrist Democrat, and would have loved to support my hunch that Ms. Palin is illiterate," said 2tor Chief Executive Officer John Katzman.

"However, the emails say something else. Ms. Palin writes emails on her Blackberry at a grade level of 8.5.

"If she were a student and showing me her work, I'd say 'It's fine, clear writing,'" he said, admitting that emails he wrote scored lower than Palin's on the widely used Flesch-Kincaid readability test.

"She came in as a solid communicator," said Paul J.J. Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor. The emails registered as an 8.2 on his version of the test. "That's typical for a corporate executive."

Not only wasn't she involved in evil doings her Blackberry communications were that of a CEO. Double bummer.

BTW, last time they checked Obama he came in with an 8.8 for his first State of the Union speeches, pretty low but it was from a prepared draft for teleprompter so they could have dumbed it down. However, since Palin's score was largely based on email jibber-jabber the only fair thing for the Times and WaPo to do is to request Obama's Blackberry/email records of his time in the US Senate for comparison. Presuming they are available.

Palin Derangement Update

The jackals are salivating over today's document dump--the Palin email release, convinced they'll find what eluded them in Palin's "Wasilly" trash dumpster long ago (or via the hack). Early results must be disappointing for team seek and destroy but make no mistake, something will eventually turn up they can exploit--and it will be hugh.

Under the off chance there's no there there they can always fall back on the "they held the good stuff back" defense. Because like Birtherism, Palinmania will never end as long as she remains in the public eye. Speaking of birthers, finding the smoking gun email on Trigg has to be in the top three 'finds' being frantically searched for as we speak.

There's nothing wrong with the media vetting political candidates--they should with vigor--but our mainstream media clowns probably don't even realize their own double standard. Here we are in the 3rd year of Obama's presidency and already we know more about Palin than will ever be necessary and about the same on the actual president despite the unanswered questions.

But the media clowns are not only advocates and fans, they're also likely scared to death of being called racists for doing anything close to a full court press on the first liberal black president. Sexism for hammering a woman? No, wait sorry, Palin isn't a woman, she's a Republican.

Meow

Dana Perino carves up Palin with a smile..



The look on Kristol's face says it all (he had just praised Palin). And we also learned something--the whole panel shook heads in agreement that other politicians also have staffers write their newspaper op-eds.

But that's two Bushies slamming Our Sarah now, Babs and now Perino, both with smiles. The question is whether this is just the lingering low-level war between the Bushes and McCains or whether they're trying for an early elimination of Palin before she gets her campaign wheels on track. Who's up for a third party run in 2012?

The cunning in Perino's jab was her mention of Twitters and Facebook, knowing that Palin would fire back on...Twitter and Facebook.

Rethinking Palin

Sarahcuda seems to be on the move...towards a run for president. Let me be the first to say my opinion stated here was that she would not run, or if so, would not get nominated, much less elected. But what do I know? There was a time I thought Obama had no chance against the mighty Clinton machine.

Palin is showing herself to be a very strong individual, a person of character and grit with a sunny, positive attitude. Those are the exact kinds of qualities Americans gravitate towards in a leader. This article linked off Drudge seems to nail the latest developments in the Palin odyssey:

She’s Ronald Reagan — at least a smidge. Palin frequently invokes the name of the 40th president. Of course, she can’t match his decades of debating public issues before winning the presidency in 1980. But like RR, Palin has been maligned and downgraded by the media and punditocracy. But when Reagan stood next to Jimmy Carter and got to make his case in his own words, opinions changed.

They called RR a warmongering dummy for years and all he did was win two elections. The big question with Palin is whether she might 'go rogue' if the establishment GOP locks her out next year, which is certainly possible. The Christine O'Donnell flap about the 1st Amendment and other recent 'foupas' made by socially conservative candidates suggests a possible split on the right at some point.

If nothing else it would be interesting to see whether three parties could exist in our current two party system. Just guessing again here, but probably not, although not sure which conservative entity would emerge against the Rush Limbaughs and Karl Roves. Anyway, my other prediction regards Palin is still in play.. (and no, I don't frequent the dog track).

On Praying for the Gulf

Here's Keith Olbermann last night on Sarah Palin's recent call for prayer over the Gulf oil spill:

"Pray baby pray...So there you have it, a Palin presidency in microcosm, 'oh crap, something bad happened, don't worry God will fix it'. A quick miracle and presto chango, the oil stops."

And here's the end of Obama's recent Oval Office address on the oil spill:

Tonight, we pray for that courage. We pray for the people of the Gulf. And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day. Thank you, God Bless You, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Does Olbermoron actually hear the words leaving his lips or are some lefties so reflexively programmed to ignore any Obama references to religion as just pandering to the small people that they auto-dismiss them? Wondering.

CNN and Kernell

This CNN story about the upcoming trial of David Kernell, the UT-Knoxville student charged with accessing Sarah Palin's email account during the presidential campaign of 2008, is emblematic of sly lefty news slant.

Notice the picture CNN chooses to use--compare to the one at left, which would have been just as appropriate since she's nearly expressionless. Second, notice the reference to Kernell being the son of someone famous in Tennessee:

The case involves University of Tennessee student David C. Kernell, the 22-year old son of a Democratic state representative.

That's correct, but as Jim Croce once crooned, "he's got a name". And his name happens to be state rep Mike Kernell of Memphis. Third, here's how they described the alleged infraction, emphasis added:

Kernell was indicted in October 2008 after he allegedly used information freely available online to guess the password to Palin's personal Yahoo! account, the name of which was posted on numerous Web sites at the time. Kernell accessed the account around the same time questions were being raised about Palin's use of personal e-mail accounts to conduct state business as governor of Alaska.

Well, that sounds rather harmless--for Kernell, and a tad sinister for Palin. But Knox News described, as the late Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story:

At a time when the national media was probing Palin's use of her personal e-mail account for gubernatorial business, Kernell used publicly available information to figure out Palin's password security question. On that, even Davies agrees. He is not accused of hacking into her e-mail account or computer.

The Justice Department contends Kernell's crimes came when he reset her password and used the new one to peruse her e-mail in what turned out to be a fruitless search for politically damaging information. A team of federal prosecutors, headed locally by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle, allege Kernell posted the new password on a Web site, allowing at least one other person to access Palin's e-mail.

While CNN mentioned the password reset and the broadcast of her allegedly private information the facts really don't really jump right out like the Knox News story. There's no mention of the word 'hack' in the CNN version.

In contrast, CNN and the rest of the big media seem to rarely bother using the word 'alleged' when talking about the climategate emails (once they finally started talking about it). Here's a CNN story that uses the word "hacker" and "stole" in the first paragraph, despite there being no official determination of how that particular CRU zip file escaped into the open web. Hey, maybe it was "freely available online", who knows?

At any rate, Kernell's defense lawyer is saying the crime is no more than a misdemeanor due to Palin's celebrity status (which might be true) but then has the balls to demand this:

Kernell's defense attorney, Wade Davies, wants Palin to bring any documents relating to that account - when it was opened, how it could be accessed and why, and who was allowed to use it. ... Federal prosecutors have insisted Davies' records request of Palin is a veiled fishing expedition.

But that's what lawyers do. Interesting that in an age of moral call-outs and preachy sermons about greed the president has yet to find any appropriate targets in the legal profession.

Biden's Biden

Joe Biden talked to Larry King and seems to be laying down some new ground..



We must assume Joe is privy to some inside knowledge as to the size of the next attack lest he set the administration (or maybe just him) up for failure. But it's an interesting statement. Perhaps Joe has been sent out to help put terrorism back into the nuisance box so as not to lose focus on the the more important domestic agenda. Downplaying the threat also helps get the KSM show trial to Manhattan, a plan mostly likely designed to allow surrogates to take free shots at Bush-Cheney and tie them to current Repubs in front of the mid-terms. Oh and to uphold our values.

Or maybe it was just Joe being Joe. After all, he offhandedly praised Bush on fighting terror and said he "likes" Sarah Palin despite some of her ideas (countdown to a Palin Facebook reply).

But the suggestion, even if clumsily made, that his administration might get credit for a successful Iraq was just plain 'out there'. Or wait, again, maybe it was just Joe being Joe, since he was once a true believer. It's hard to tell! Is this kinder, gentler Joe representative of some kind of new way forward in the post Scott Brown/Abdulmuttalob era at least until the health summit, or just a political burp? Well, whatever the case let's hope Obama doesn't go all Gangsta on him for talking out of turn. Joe's a likable guy.

Special Election Politics

ABC has weighed in on what the special elections really mean:'09 Exit Polls: Voters Approve of Obama, Wary of Economy . Considering the fact the voters overwhelmingly tossed Obama's approved candidate for Virginia; and considering the fact that Bush was blamed for the economic collapse that rubbed off on McCain/Palin; and considering the fact that the sitting president usually owns the economy, good or bad: this is really puzzling.

On another topic, Glenn Beck thinks the mood in the country is more towards a third party than bringing back Republicans. I concur. We've had relatively lousy governance in Congress since the late 90s under both majorities. When Palin resigned from the Alaska governorship my WAG was that she was setting up for a third party. I'm sticking with that, for awhile at least.

On negotiating with Iran

The great campaign promise is about to come true, so says the Times:

The Obama administration said Friday that the United States would accept Iran’s offer to meet, fulfilling President Obama’s pledge to hold unconditional talks despite the Iranian government’s insistence that it would not negotiate over the future of its nuclear program.

Here's a suggestion for Mr. Obama. Since he doesn't seem all that interested in foreign policy why not make Sarah Palin our special envoy to Iran? She's not doing anything except Facebook at the moment and besides, she seems to get responses every time she speaks out, proving her effectiveness. If she fails it can be blamed on the right wing. Who knows, her natural beauty and charm may disarm the Iranians, allowing us to bamboozle them into giving up their nuke program.

For a guy who prides himself in bringing sides together, it's a winner.

Cambridge Police Should Invite Obama and Gates

Instead of forcing the white police officer to attend what would have to be awkward moment at the White House with Obama and his professor pal Gates, or worse--be forced to turn down the offer and suffer the wrath of the media while making Obama look magnanimous by comparison, perhaps the Cambridge Police could invite Obama and Gates to attend a police function somewhere in the city. Do they still have Policeman's Balls? Or maybe a Just Say No seminar, or whatever they are called today.

Don't misunderstand--it's good the president backtracked off Robert Gibbs' Friday morning comments suggesting the police were a bunch of typical bitter McCain clingers. Bush never apologized for anything until forced by the press late in his second term when he was busy both wrecking and saving the economy. And never mind that Obama's comment wasn't technically an apology, it was close enough for government work.

But it's over. We can now get back to the important things, like news of Sarah Palin and her approval numbers upon leaving office (but not about her ahem, "independent" detractors) and of course, Dick Cheney.

CAN WE PLEASE HAVE SOME LEVITY HERE? 07/26/09

Maybe Obama's still ticked off about all those parking tickets. And good grief,

Bizarrely, he and the Cambridge, MA, officer who arrested him, James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages, a famous Irish chieftain.

He's a Mc. No wonder. He was probably drunk.

Palin Resignation

Here's a WAG-- if she doesn't announce cutting ties with politics for good she is jumping ship from the Republican Party for a third party.

If she does say it's over politically she's going for a TV pundit job or some other national media position. With all the legal fees defending the mean-spirited frivolous lawsuits maybe that would give her a voice while allowing her to clear the debt. Or maybe this arrogant butthole is correct. We await the twittering.

MORE VOICES

Lots of back and forth at Stop the ACLU.

Tigerhawk thinks Palin will use the time off to 'bone up', ie, get smarter. I disagree with the "quitting to win" scenario. They will not forget about Palin in 2011. No way. Even if her resignation is family-oriented or health-related, the left will connect the dots with media help. Gotta be something else.

Lefty reaction from TPM while the faux-conservative pats himself on the back. Prematurely?

MORE 7/3/09

The Palin saga is perhaps the best example of why politics is so often driven by feelings and emotion instead of facts and logic. Palin presents an almost Greek Siren-like attraction to conservative men while at the same time producing an unhinged vision of Satan to folks on the left (many of them gay), who lose all sense of fair play in their rush to tear this woman down.

Everyone says the right has no leaders right now, yet Palin shows all the ingredients of a leader as does Jeri Thompson (from a lesser perspective). Guys, where are you?

Tied up in Knots

For the record, there will be no effigies hanging outside the McCloud household this Halloween. Not even one of bin Laden.

But if we were tempted to do such a thing there would be two of them--one with a likeness of Sarah Palin hanging directly next to another resembling Obama. It might be fun to watch the city police arrive with a court order demanding we unhang the Obama effigy then drive off as the Palin dummy twisted around in the fall breeze.

Of Records and Such

From the WaPo:

"Voters need to know who is most likely to be running the country in 2010 if Senator McCain is elected in 2008," Wendy Epstein, a New York dermatologist and Obama supporter, wrote in an eight-page analysis of the senator's risk circulating on the Internet.

Death-wish 2008. Here's the Times' foray into political fitness:

Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden released recent medical records to the Times showing that they were healthy, though Altman notes that Biden's documents "did not indicate whether he had had a test in recent years to detect any new aneurysm," and Obama's most recent check-up was in January 2007.

That's funny. CBS News is saying otherwise:

Biden, now 67 years old, has yet to release his medical history, of which the aneurysms are one of the few known episodes.

Biden’s spokesman David Wade told Politico that "we intend to make available his medical history before the election.”

But let's not obsess on records of the past, such as original birth certificates, college transcripts or State Senate records and the like. They are but distractions! It's all about the issues, and Mrs. Palin, of course:

Meanwhile, "Nothing is known publicly about Ms. Palin's medical history," Altman reports, "aside from the much-discussed circumstances surrounding the birth of her fifth child last April. Ms. Palin has said that her water broke while she was at a conference in Dallas and that she flew to Anchorage, where she gave birth to her son Trig hours after landing.

Ah yes, the true motive of this sudden medical interest--it's a reminder McCain is still old and formerly cancerous and suggestive that Palin still might not be Trigg's mama. They know Barack is as healthy as a horse (he shoots hoops with the troops) and, sad to say, nobody really cares about Biden, evidenced by his gaffe-a-minute roadshow to nowhere.

The American people deserve no less than a full medical history, governmental history, business history, college (and other schools) history, voting history, and a full vetting of all these candidates' primary friends and associations. So c'mon 60 Minutes and the Chicago Tribune--let's get busy before time runs out.

Hysteria is in the Eye of the Beholder

Try if you will to make sense of this:

While a few of Alaska's large glaciers are advancing, 99 percent are retreating, the book, "Glaciers in Alaska," states. The book was written by USGS research geologist Bruce Molina.

In combination with this:

Never before in the history of a research project dating back to 1946 had the Juneau Icefield witnessed the kind of snow buildup that came this year. It was similar on a lot of other glaciers too.

"It's been a long time on most glaciers where they've actually had positive mass balance," Molnia said.

And finally...this:

Permafrost continues to warm, however the rate of warming in the 2000s is significantly slower than in the 1990s. There is a continued tendency for a decrease in the snow cover of the Northern Hemisphere in the months of April through October. Glaciers are shrinking in most of the world. The amount of river discharge to the Arctic Ocean is increasing.

Is it any wonder Palin said she's not sure global warming is 100 percent mad-made? Mere men can't even fully explain it.

It's Official--Palin Won

The true test of the debate last night was going to be today's media coverage. After a long day it's clear Palin won the debate by not losing and summarily handing McCain a Little Big Horn moment. As bloggers have been pointing out all day long, the media has collectively yawned, focusing on the bailout.

Speaking of which, Pelosi was at least wise enough this time to not smear the GOP until after the voting occurred. That is, unless the previous episode was intentional. Here's her much anticipated remarks (sort of like her book):

"Mr. Frank will be holding hearings on where we go from here, because we are about the future. Mr. Waxman's hearings will be instructed as to how we got here -- that we know how to avoid this in the future. It will be about accountability, it will be about regulation, regulatory reform, which is essential. It will be about building an economy with a focus on the middle class, where many more Americans will participate in the economic security of our country.

"And the high flyers on Wall Street will no longer be able to jeopardize that personal economic security of Americans, again, because of the bright light of scrutiny and accountability and the attention given under regulatory reform.

What bald-faced gall this woman has, to applaud Barney Frank--of all morons--who was just on TV in July saying the outlook was solid for Fannie and Freddie. And who was among several of her colleague cashing checks from Frank Raines and Jim Johnson. This, friends, is what Sarah Palin is running against. She may not be seasoned enough for the CIC role but her heart's in the right place and her change would be real and immediate and positive, unlike the hopey change from the other side.

But we should all look forward to Frank's kangaroo hearings, for their entertainment value alone. Message to Fox News--better put O'Reilly on some meds now!

One more thing. MSM stories are heralding the number of Repubs who turned their votes (26) out of a total of 60 Reps who flipped. You can do the math.

Let's look at some of the flippy Dems and a story about each one:

Emmanuel Cleaver
Elijah Cummings
Jesse L. Jackson Jr.
Sheila Jackson Lee
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Solomon Ortiz
Bobby L. Rush
Diane E. Watson
Lynn Woolsey
Al Green

Many of the above are members of the CBC. Amazing what a little sugar and some sweet talk from Barack accomplished (along with a shifting of perceptions). But some were stalwart, like the man of cold hard cash, Rep William Jefferson. He held firm with his no vote. But never mind, now that Obama has saved the union we can move on.

Sarah Biden Debate Thread

Consider this a pre-debate tailgate party without the brewskies and bbq. By now everyone should have read Victor Davis Hansen's clever description of the differences in media coverage between the Veep candidates. So true. Funny how half the population shrugs their shoulders at Biden's past incompetence, as if because it's a known trait it's perfectly OK.

But Palin is still an unknown. Therefore she should receive a lion's share of the scrutiny right now, which McCain had to have known before picking her. Like others, I'm not 100 percent sold on Sarah yet. That's my bad if she wipes the floor with Biden tonight, and hopefully she will, but we ARE talking about a possible president here. Country first.

Points I'll be watching for--resilience under fire, character and vision, and the ability to think on the fly. If she can do all that with her natural charm the focus will switch to the naked guy on the other side of the stage. Or tomorrow's House vote, either or.

MORE 10/02/08

Not specific to the debate but just watched O'Reilly come unglued interviewing Barney Frank. Good Lord. Only O'Reilly could take a softball interview like that and foul it off into the stands, maiming an ice cream vendor. Frank came off looking more rational of the two, which acted to dissolve his complicity in the situation--even with a clear video showing him distorting the crisis. One channel over Dave Ramsey was calmly explaining the guilty parties in this mess, without one popped vein.

DEBATE 10/02/08

She really just kicked his arse all over the floor with her Iraq and Afghanistan comments. A loud sigh was heard when she mentioned general McClellan Mckiernan and Joe's flip floppiness on his Iraq war vote. Joe's comparing McCain to Cheney, but let's not forget Cheney:

SEN. BIDEN: Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t, but everyone in the world thought he had them.

The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued—they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued. They looked at them and catalogued. What he did with them, who knows? The real mystery is, if he, if he didn’t have any of them left, why didn’t he say so? Well, a lot of people say if he had said that, he would’ve, you know, emboldened Iran and so on and so forth.

All in all, she's doing better than they expected. Maybe not winning, but better than Tina Fey. As Rove says, never underestimate the power of being underestimated.

SUMMARY 10/02/08

Biden won, but Palin won. She defeated Tina Fey, the MSM, and she cleaned his clock on foreign policy, which he's supposed to be the expert on.

Biden was more cogent on responding to the questions, he was relaxed, and he didn't say anything overly gaffish (except about NATO forces in Lebanon). But overall, his performance wasn't much different than his primary debates. There were no deer in the headlights moments, but there was a lot of dodging and repetition on her part. And nookular? Are you kidding me?!! But she came through.

MORE 10/02/08

The post-debate response has been interesting. Luntz had his focus group on Fox and I've never seen them so animated for any candidate. They really seemed to connect with her on a human level. Team McCain has to be thrilled. Now, anyone care to predict what will the top story be tomorrow?

MORE

I think she messed up the commanding general in Afghanistan's name, so notch one down on the arse kicking scale. But she still won that segment. It's corrected.