Champagne Sarah Palin Doesn't Know what a Vice President Does!

This is great TV. Chris Matthews, one of the few talking heads who doesn't represent the Darth Vader side of Republican politics, takes on sorority queen, McCain spokesperson, Nancy Pfotenhauer (have you ever noticed how many of these sorority queens the McCain camp has working for it? The party of Joe Six Pack is packed with privileged rich kids with perfect skin and teeth making their appeal to the "middle class" one of the greatest scams ever unleashed on this country) over Champagne Sarah's taste in clothes and apparent inability to grasp exactly what it is she might be doing in January.

I will say it again: Sarah Palin is a joke. Makes me almost feel sorry for people like Pfotenhauer who have to defend her. Almost.

Someone Like Me!!

I saw a woman being interviewed today on CNN who was ga-ga over Sarah Palin. Ever since she first laid eyes on her she was head over heels.

This, according to the reporter, is an indication that Palin speaks to a certain demographic, in this case middle aged blue collar women; evangelical middle aged blue collar women. That's been her appeal all along. Not that she's qualified for this office. Not that she has the kind of knowledge and experience we usually demand in a vice presidential candidate. No, it's because "she's just like me."

I understand this. I want a candidate who is like me, as well. Which means first of all a "he," not a "she." That's what I am. I'm a "he."

He also has to be well educated and well traveled; have midwestern roots and like to listen to NPR. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me will be his favorite show. His musical tastes should run to new age (instrumental only) for background music while reading, classic rock when he wants to kick back and let loose, the Waifs to get into a zone.

He has to be a Christian. Evangelical, but leaning more left than right. Politically progressive.

As for tastes in food and clothing, well, I'm a blue jeans kind of guy. He should be too. And pizza. He has to like pizza. Lot's of pizza. And Indian curry. The hotter the better.

That's the person I'm looking for. Someone who meets most if not all of those criteria.

If, perchance, I can't find someone like that, well, then I just won't vote. That'll show em. It'll show those Republicans and Democrats that next time they go to all the expense of running a big national campaign, they need to keep my kind of person in mind.

Experience in working with congress? Doesn't matter. Proven leadership abilities? Not important. Broad knowledge of national and international affairs. Who cares? The only thing that matters is that it be someone like me. I will only vote for someone like me . . .

Finally Someone who Gets it: Straight Talk from Newsweek Columnist

More Days Till the Palin-Biden Debate




Palin is Ready? Pleeeeeeeeeease.

Senator John McCain likes to characterize himself as a "straight-talker." Then he says: "I'm John McCain and I approve this message" for political ads that are blatant lies. Then he chooses Sarah Palin for his running mate. And she is only allowed to repeat memorized talking points. So much for the "straight talking express."

There's some talk that this could change at the debate, that they're going to "let Palin loose" and be herself. But that's what happened with the Katie Couric interview. We know how well that went. This "straight talking express" is a train wreck waiting to happen.

Finally the mainstream press is getting it. One of my favorite columnists, Fareed Zacharia who often writes for Newsweek and Time, more or less makes that point in a hard hitting article that will appear in this week's Newsweek magazine. This is the kind of straight talking we need.

* * *

From the October 6th issue of Newsweek Magazine:

Palin Is Ready? Please.

McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, that is simply not true.

Fareed Zakaria

NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Oct 6, 2008

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace 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."

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. "It is from Alaska that we send out those …" What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. ("We mustn't blink.") But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.

FULL ARTICLE

Countdown: She's Really a Good Girl

More days till the Palin-Biden Debate



Palin's Parents Say She's a Good Girl!

Here's a surprise: Sarah Palin's parents think she's a swell gal and they don't like the media questioning that.

That's what they told CBS news yesterday. And CBS news thought that was actually news-worthy. But isn't that what parents are supposed to say? Wouldn't Biden's mom say the same thing about the dirt the Republicans have been digging up about him, or Obama's parents, if they were still alive, about him? And would CBS news have a special report on that, as well?

Here's what Palin's parents need to understand. When a person runs for the second highest office in the land they open themselves up to an intense scrutiny that is sometimes fair, sometimes not. Too much is at stake for a candidate simply to be allowed to let their parents or their bowling buddies tell us who they are. We need to hear from everyone who knows them and examine everything they have ever done. And because this is politics and not the PTA there will be many who will be out to discredit this candidate because the party whose candidate they oppose will be doing the exact same thing to their candidate.

Information that reporters have dug up on their daughter suggest, in fact, that this is how Sarah Palin has gotten to where she is today - by dissing anyone who gets in her way. She, in other words, is just as good at digging in the dirt as anyone else. While I would rather see no one engage in this kind of politics, its much harder to feel sympathy for someone who does it themselves.

But here's what Palin's parents really need to understand. What the press is doing for the most part is helping us understand whether or not their daughter is qualified for the second most important political position in the most powerful country in the world. This has nothing to do with how nice she is. This has to do with her qualifications for national office. We are willing to believe that she is a good mother and a hard worker. We understand that she is extremely talented and a natural leader. All of these things that her parents wish us to understand about her, we do understand. What we don't understand is why Senator McCain thought she was qualifed for this position.

In the few times she's been allowed to respond to questions with her own thoughts she has evidenced a pitiable lack of knowledge about the very things a vice president needs to know. I don't care how quick a read she is, there is simply no way that she can get up to speed within two or three months. This is not an SAT exam. This is holding responsibility for the administration of the world's most powerful country. No major corporation would even begin to consider someone with insufficient experience or knowledge to be a vice president in their company. Why should we consider putting in office someone with as thin a resume as their daughter?

Mr. and Mrs. Palin: we think you have a fine daughter. She is charming and charismatic and has gone far with grit and determination. She is a gifted leader on the local and state level. She has a wonderful family; a model for working mothers everywhere. But she is not qualified to be vice president of the United States. That more than anything else is what the investigative reporting you are so critical of has determined. She is not suitable for this position. I hope you understand that this is not personal. It's the truth.

Who is Sarah Palin?

Welcome to the Matanuska Valley Republican Women’s Club!

By:

Stan Moody, Ph.D.

I have been struggling to get a handle on Sarah Palin and her evangelical/political agenda. The letter below from an education official in Alaska was forwarded to me by a colleague in, of all places, China. What has been gnawing at me is the sense that I have encountered numerous Sarah Palins in the past – hard driving, positive, narrowly-focused “Hockey Moms” set on conquering America for God, skipping the inconvenience of credentials and experience.

In a word, “The Holy Spirit will give me utterance! If not, I still have plenty to say.”

A peak into the world of Phyllis Schlafly, redux:

Lots of friends and relatives have been asking me (as an Alaskan) what I think of Sarah Palin, our Governor, and new choice for McCain as a VP candidate.

This pick floored me. Sarah Palin is a nice person. I've met her. I've even talked to her for a few minutes at a principal's conference a couple of years ago. She has lots going for her superficially. She speaks from the heart, like a spitfire mother; she can even be sort of funny sometimes. She is quite beautiful, athletic and has that radiant glow of someone who actually spends time doing things outside. Unlike many politicians, she has lived a "real life" and done things that few living and working in DC could ever do....like dipnettin' fish, shootin' stuff and eating it out on the tundra, and havin' 5 kids.

Personally, I'd never vote for her. She has an extremely simple view of the world. I don't even think she has ever been abroad. As governor she has repeatedly shown us that she is unable to grasp the demands of leadership. She is very prone to cronyism of the worst kind. Every cabinet level political appointment she has made she has over-ridden suggestions of our state advisory boards and, instead, promoted those who had granted her direct political favors. Not that other politicians don't do this; they do, but most of them are able to balance their appointments to ensure that at least a few people with real skill and experience are running big state agencies.

She also has been unable to pay attention to her Alaskan constituency. Personally, I've written several of our previous gov's and been asked to comment publicly on education policy. All the previous gov's have always acknowledged that contribution, criticism or comment – sometimes by direct reply, or at least through a staff member. Palin's office has been a zone of silence. Not I; not one person I know has ever gotten any sort of reply. Her claim of running an open or transparent government is totally false; the public simply has no role in her administration.

Her previous claim to fame was being mayor of Wasilla, a growing town about 40 minutes from Anchorage. Wasilla is a hellhole, even by Alaskan standards, where there are plenty of hellhole towns and villages. Wasilla is an ugly place that shows a complete absence of planning, design or sense of public vision. Gov't agencies and services are completely overrun in this town; things are so bad that they can't even track their population or build schools in the right place. Because most parts of the town don't require building permits, the only clue about where people are settling is utility receipts. Imagine trying to be an emergency responder in this kind of place: Houses don't just catch on fire in Wasilla, they burn to the ground, because by the time the fire department has figured out which road to take (no signs) or whose house it is (no directory), the place is done for. Palin was mayor this town for at least 2 terms before being elected gov. a year and a half ago.

Her moral sense is simplistic and not inclusive. She is the sort of person who is used to using their "faith" to divide and isolate minority groups of human beings instead of uniting them. To her credit as Gov. she has kept out of this arena pretty well, but when in comfortable company (i.e the Matanuska Valley Republican Women's Club), she lets her moral cat out of the bag.

I will do what I can to ensure her defeat and that of her running mate as well. Please share this information with those who can use it well.

Stan Moody
www.thehopepartnership.org
207/626-0594

Stan Moody, founder of the Christian Policy Institute and The Hope Partnership (www.thehopepartnership.org), has served in the Maine House of Representatives...He is an Advisory Board member of "Jews-On-First" and the "Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism." Dr. Moody is the author of several provocative books, including, "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry." Pastor of a rural country church in Central Maine, Moody has enjoyed a long and productive career in small business development and management.