Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."
"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature. She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day, voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and personally."
There is a reason that McCain's judgment should be questioned.
Clearly I went into the wrong profession. I should have become a makeup artist - that's where the money is at:
Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?
Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.
Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”
To put that in perspective, the president of the United States makes $400,000. A United States senator makes $169,300 per year. The governor of Alaska makes approximately $90,000. At Amy Strozzi's current rate, she would make $592,000. Excellent use of taxpayer money.
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL:
In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, got $10,000 for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of October.
There are no Republican hair stylists willing to volunteer their time?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's public safety commissioner.
The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn't the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor.
This sounds like old news, but this is the first step towards saying outright that she abused her authority. She can now officially be called "corrupt" without the word "alleged" though nothing is going to happen quite yet.
If she is going to leave the campaign in order to help McCain, this is exactly when she would do it. Within the next 72 hours, if she does not step down, she won't do it at all. I hope she stays.
Well, I've changed my mind. Sarah Palin is qualified to be President. I recently found out she is multilingual. Observe:
The governor fired back from her private e-mail account: "I've never driven Trig anywhere without a new, approved carseat. I want to know who said otherwise — pls provide me that info now."
Notice she used the world "pls." There is nothing I respect more than someone that writes in abbreviated chatroom speak like a 13 year old girl. Nothing.
From here. Article itself is only somewhat newsworthy.
It's hard to use an editorial piece from the New York Times and claim that it accurately reflects what the country sees, but this piece by Bob Herbert was exceptionally well written, and I also think that this year a lot of the points he brings up matter to voters - at least to over half of voters.
Some gems:
For Ms. Palin, such things as context, syntax and the proximity of answers to questions have no meaning.
After Ms. Palin had woven one of her particularly impenetrable linguistic webs, Joe Biden turned to the debate’s moderator, Gwen Ifill, and said: “Gwen, I don’t know where to start.”
Of course he didn’t know where to start because Ms. Palin’s words don’t mean anything.
This is such a serious moment in American history that it’s hard to believe that someone with Ms. Palin’s limited skills could possibly be playing a leadership role.
Where is the evidence that Governor Palin even understands these complex and enormously challenging problems?
She has done pretty much nothing that has displayed any competence for a leadership role in any occupation, let alone the most complicated job in the world. And while her "gosh golly gee" is likely to win over some voters still, I think displaying competence (even if it is fake) is far more important in this election than others.
~~~~
Also, I want to note that this election is really about McCain vs. Obama. The reason Sarah Palin is so important, however, is because it reflects so poorly on McCain's judgment as to reflect on his ability to be president. I'd prefer to go off on how stupid McCain is, but going off on Sarah Palin is essentially the same thing.
I remember when a single debate was really two debates, where one candidate was debating nothing but issues, and another debater was essentially reading from a transcript various forms of propaganda that never actually addressed the issue. When one candidate was considered boring for actually wanting to discuss substance while another one made strange, false, vague references to intangibles like [lack of] patriotism and elitism. When one candidate was seen as whiny for pointing out with facts how almost everything the opponent said was wrong, while the other opponent was allowed to make up blatant falsities that were left unchecked by both the media and the American people.
But before you say that 2008 is exactly like 2004, I don't believe it is. Back in 2004, "have a beer with" was still considered a qualification. It was a time where enough Americans assumed things were going smoothly that they were able to believe that issues were less important than character, and in 2004, Bush had the character, Kerry had the issues.
It was that belief that gave Bush that election, and - in my opinion - it is that belief that was essentially shat on when Bush continued to suck at his job. That is not to say that there aren't large numbers of people that still view intelligence as a negative quality - they are still there, probably at least a fourth of the country - but these days they are in much more of a minority. In this election, they matter less.
So when Sarah Palin decided to bring out the "Gosh golly gee willickers" into the debate, what would have worked in 2004 I do not believe is going to work this year. That is not to say that the country is more intelligent - not at all. Just that they are more hesitant. They need to be convinced that someone is going to be capable before they are able to accept their character. Not that capable, mind you, but more capable than the president needed to be in 2004.
After the Couric interviews, among other things, Palin fell far below the baseline of "capable." Far below. So with today's debate, she couldn't bank on the character aspect. She needed to win back confidence.
And she didn't. All she did was read scripted answers without substance that did not establish her as a qualified individual. She may have reaffirmed the belief in some die hard republicans that had doubted her after her recent blunders, but a small gain is not what she needed, and certainly doesn't help McCain win the election.
With these debates, sometimes the winner is simply the lesser loser. Though I believe Biden did a good job without any major blunders, even if you assume he just did "okay" I would argue that Palin did below that, and Biden won the debate, because "Gosh Golly" isn't cutting it anymore.
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.
Couric: Librocrat, can you tell me where, exactly, you are right now?
Librocrat: Well, you know, where I am at the moment is where I am physically.
Couric: But Librocrat, can you name the specific place that you are.
Librocrat: That's exactly right, I'm where you'll find me, you know, where I am. That place, you know, it's like, that's what I do... Where I am.
Couric: Some people have credited the morning-after pill for decreasing the number of abortions. How do you feel about the morning-after pill?
Palin: Well, I am all for contraception. And I am all for preventative measures that are legal and save, and should be taken, but Katie, again, I am one to believe that life starts at the moment of conception. And I would like to see …
Couric: And so you don't believe in the morning-after pill?
Palin: ... I would like to see fewer and fewer abortions in this world. And again, I haven't spoken with anyone who disagrees with my position on that.
Couric: I'm sorry, I just want to ask you again. Do you not support or do you condone or condemn the morning-after pill.
Palin: Personally, and this isn't McCain-Palin policy …
Couric: No, that's OK, I'm just asking you.
Palin: But personally, I would not choose to participate in that kind of contraception.
Couric: So, tell me, Librocrat, do you think puppy rape should be legalized?
Librocrat: Well, I personally believe that puppies grow up to be dogs.
Couric: But about puppy rape, do you think that is an acceptable thing to do to puppies.
Librocrat: All kinds of dogs, too. Like, Golden Retrievers. Like, when those puppies - those ones that were born from older dogs, grow up, they can - you know, become other animals, and big dogs pull sleighs but sometimes they die young from cancer.
Couric: Okay, but about puppy rape - do you support its legalization. Yes or No.
Librocrat: Well, me, personally, I do not participate in surprise sex with baby dogs.
Couric: I want to start with climate change, if I could. What's your position on global warming? Do you believe it's man-made or not?
Palin: Well, we're the only arctic state, of course, Alaska. So we feel the impacts more than any other state up there, with the changes in the climates. And certainly it is apparent. We have erosion issues and we have melting sea ice, of course. So what I've done up there is form a sub-cabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real.
Couric: Is it manmade in your opinion?
Palin: You know … there are man's activities that can be contributed to … the issues that we're dealing with now with these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns … are cyclical. And over history we have seen changes there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is it's real, we need to do something about it. And like … Tony Blair had said … when he was in leadership position, he said, "Let's all consider the fact that it is real." So instead of pointing fingers … at different sides of the argument as to who is to blame, and if nature just to blame, let's do something about it. Let's clean up our world. Let's reduce emissions. And let's go with reality.
Couric: Because, if it's not man-made, then one might wonder, well, how can human beings contribute to a solution?
Palin: Well, human beings certainly are contributing to pollution today. And to some adverse effects on the environment. And it's all of our jobs to do to clean things up. And that's what we're committed to doing.
Couric: So you do believe … that man is contributing to global warming, because you just said they're causing pollution. Of course, pollution causes global warming.
Palin: I believe that there are a lot of causes. And there is one effect. And one is changes in the climate. And there are things that we can do to make sure we're cleaning up the environment. I also formed an integrity office that solely is focused on petroleum, on pipelines, on those things that we do up there in Alaska to contribute to the U.S. domestic supply of energy.
Wow, this sounds familiar. Where have I heard this before?
Girl I can't notice but to Think of you (you) Governing me (me) From across the room I can see it And can't stop myself from shaking and Thinking of you Governing me Watch out I've seen her type before That girl is so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl I've seen her type before She's so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl, yeah
Ohhh yeah thats her The big dog tryin to get her little kitty to purr. Ex-man lookin at me like I'm Lucifer, Cause he knows I will be on the case Yes sir! If I was the last man on earth I would only blame that girl End of search She give a new definition to the word curve Got chicks in the strip club envyin her Body's like a weapon of mass erruptions, See the glad on that phat obstruction, Tongue game give a new type of seduction. (Im trying to give that girl something... CHA!)
Girl I can't notice but to Think of you (you) Governing me (me) From across the room I can see it And can't stop myself from shaking and Thinking of you Governing me Watch out I've seen her type before That girl is so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl I've seen her type before She's so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl, yeah
Ohh...Bad to the bone, Everything locked like a two-three zone I wanted to make my black snake moan Talk a lick a bit and take that home She bad and she know the deal That sweater can’t hide what she want to conceal I mean Megan Good and Halle Berry Put together ain't close to the JUBEE i see (no no) No disrespect but this gyal a pon another level Cut the check..uhhh Tell the king, Man stop the press Say kid can I get a witness
Girl I can't notice but to Think of you (you) Governing me (me) From across the room I can see it And can't stop myself from shaking and Thinking of you Governing me Watch out I've seen her type before That girl is so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl I've seen her type before She's so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl, yeah
I see you got that fire By the way that you walkin' (walkin') from left to right i watched her go down Girl I just want it right now Don't wanna do no talkin' [talkin'] Shorty's so right I need to slow down
Figure 8 Good body shape When she on the dance floor Gyal dem irate When she do her thing A man can’t walk straight That biscuit can soak up everyting on my plate Bad heels like Jessica B I'm tryna give homegirl sex and the cit-it-it-ty Itty bitty waistline moves with the baseline One lick of punch.. I’m fine
Girl I can't notice but to Think of you (you) Governing me (me) From across the room I can see it And can't stop myself from shaking and Thinking of you Governing me Watch out I've seen her type before That girl is so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl I've seen her type before She's so dangerous That girl is so dangerous That girl is a bad girl, yeah
So, so true. Using that same logic, here are a number of other things that are true:
- Fox News is fair and balanced. - The Bridge to Nowhere goes somewhere. - The Muppets are based on the characters from Casablanca. - MySpace is user friendly. - The most effective way to get over depression is to cut yourself. - Mosquito bites are love bumps by Jesus. - Sarah Palin is qualified to be President.
That one line may have singlehandedly lost him over 200,000 votes or more from people who now realize he's an idiot.
~~~~
One more quick thought on the Palin pick:
One of the things picking Sarah Palin did was it brought John McCain back into the spotlight. Before the conventions, Barack Obama was on every channel and John McCain was barely mentioned. This brought a lot of complaints by the McCain campaign about unfair coverage.
But it was that unfair coverage that allowed John McCain to get away with the numerous mistakes he was making throughout his campaign. His geography mistakes, his accidentally saying he wants to bomb Iran and Russia before getting corrected by Lieberman, the blatantly incorrect statements about the economy, foreign policy, and his own voiced political beliefs...
But with Palin, John McCain has thrown himself back on stage. This may make the McCain campaign happy, but it shouldn't, because now his mistakes are finally being reported on as well, and his complete incompetence is finally a news story.
In other words, there is a chance that his new popularity is what loses him the election. He may have had a better chance if he had simply stayed in the shadows, feeding on children's dreams or whatever else he does.
To review some of the more well known apolitical errors at the RNC:
1) Somehow John McCain ended up being in front of yet another green screen. 2) The Republicans, after (yet again) failing to do their research, had an image of Walter Reed High School in California behind McCain as he spoke, when they meant to put Walter Reed Medical Center, which is strange in its own right, considering the tremendous failures of Bush and McCain with the Medical Center itself. 3) The teleprompter was clearly a Democrat.
And now, to add onto the failures of the McCain administration (get it?), the Republicans used a song by the Seattle based rock group "Heart" called "Barracuda" to introduce Palin twice, first on the day she spoke and then when she walked in to meet up with McCain.
The band is made up of avid liberals, and the song itself was meant as a statement against corporate corruption, something they believe both McCain and Palin are a part of. The Republicans failed to ask Heart if they could use their music, and the entire Republican party has now been told that they, under no circumstances, are allowed to play the song again.
Wow.
----
Also, for fun, an official statement from the band:
"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
All conventions lead to bumps in polling data as people wowed by the speeches move from "undecided" to "decided." Those bumps tend to not be permanent, especially because after both conventions are over the two bumps tend to cancel each other out.
But in this case we are seeing some interesting signs - the country, for all its glory, has been far less stupid this year. Take the Palin pick - it does not matter if you like her or not. She very clearly was chosen because she is a woman. Is she qualified? Will she do a good job? That answer has a lot to do with your opinion of her and the parties (no and no). But the country has been far less predictable in how it welcomes her - they are looking at it critically, and although a large number of them are still making the wrong decision, at the very least it is a decision, not the blind following of leadership.
That brings hope. But that is just one issue. We will still have to see whether or not the speeches of the last few nights (as well as tonight and tomorrow) continue that trend. Yesterday we were treated to Joe Lieberman's awful, awful speech, where he was essentially saying nothing but praises about McCain's manhood:
"John McCain is all man. John McCain is made of penis. He bleeds testosterone and shoots bullets from his fingers."
Right after we were treated to Law and Order's Fred Thompson strange speech where he talked about McCain screwing a stripper and then went on for about 15 minutes on gore porn, where he discussed nothing but violence:
"John McCain was legally dead for 15 days. During that time he was sexually assaulted by rabid albino monkeys, some of whom weighed over 15,000 tons. Afterwards, John McCain woke up and subsequently knocked all of them unconscious with nothing but his big toe and a frito chip. Now, I'm not saying that's what makes this man qualified to be President. I'm saying that this man is qualified to be President because of everything I said."
The entire thing was a joke. Thompson's speech, despite its... um... eccentricities... was fine, because it was about McCain's character, which is the only platform he is really running on. But Lieberman's was hilariously awful. A true testament to a guy that doesn't know what he is doing. Here is where we see two speeches that people may still have "liked" in the end, but we have yet to see if they were taken at face value or if they were critically analyzed before people come to the wrong decision.
Today, we already have experience Bob Dole's interview on MSNBC where he was like "This is so exciting, what a great pick. I can't talk about her though because I don't know anything about her and have never met her, but she is definitely qualified..." Are people critically thinking about this? Or are they blindly following the propaganda?
My thought will be that even if these speeches work, if they are being thought about critically the "convention bump" would take place over a few days rather than right away, as people try to figure out whether or not they are going to agree with what was said. If immediately after Sarah Palin's speech the public thinks she was a great pick, then nothing has changed.
It has only been... What... 3 days since the announcement that Governor Sarah Palin was going to be the Republican running mate and it already looks like that decision is going to lead to the end of the McCain chance at a Presidency. I had written previously that I was worried that Sarah Palin would affect the election - not necessarily by gaining votes, but rather convincing social conservative women that they definitely need to vote this year.
Luckily, that worry seems all but gone and if it were not for the hurricane, I would assume that it would be a complete wash by the Obama camp. In the last 72 hours, we have learned:
- John McCain in his "long search for a VP" never even bothered to check the local newspapers about Palin, as a Newspaper researcher went to Alaska and was told he was the first person to search the archives (Alaska's local papers are not online). So his "long search" was really a "hasty decision." And it is costing him. - Sarah Palin was a member of an independence party that wants Alaska to Secede from the union that she is expected to lead. Yeah. - Sarah Palin's unwed 17 year old daughter is pregnant, even though she is against sex education. She is "Choosing" to keep it even though she is not "pro-choice." The birth will take place when Palin would be sworn in. - There is this awesomeness:
In her nationally televised speech accepting the job as John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she "championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress" and opposed federal funding for a controversial bridge to a sparsely populated island.
"I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere," Palin said Friday in Ohio, using the critics' dismissive name of the project. "'If our state wanted a bridge,' I said, 'we'd build it ourselves.'"
While running for governor in 2006, though, Palin backed federal funding for the infamous bridge, which McCain helped make a symbol of pork barrel excess.
- Troopergate. Maybe a stupid word, but it's still a big deal. Don't believe me? She just hired a lawyer for the case. Snap.
- Thankfully the hurricane passed without much damage. However, all of this information was released TODAY with the intentions of it being overshadowed by the hurricane. While we could discuss how vile it is to use a hurricane to hide news, instead all the attention is still front page of the paper, because the hurricane did not do enough damage to take over as the sole major story.
One thing needs to be remembered here. No one is blaming Sarah Palin for this. Yes, many of these things are her own fault and attest to her character, but as governor of Alaska they were much less important. Here, the blame is on McCain, for not doing his research and allowing all of these personal things to be made public because he was trying to take advantage of women voters by choosing a woman to be on the ballot with him.
...is not news. Palin is not qualified to be Vice President because she is not qualified - not because her daughter is pregnant.
The only way - and I repeat, the ONLY way this is news is if she continues to explain that abstinence only education works, and even then it should not be thrown into her face on the blogs and on the newspaper sites. Rather, it should serve as a silent reminder why she is not going to be a good president.
Update: I have changed my mind slightly. There is something that is news about this, and that is that the daughter and family have talked about how she has made the "Decision" to keep the baby. You cannot make a decision unless it is a choice. Think about it the next time you speak, governor.
Sarah Palin is blatantly pandering to women. But it is not pandering to liberal women, it is pandering to undecided women. Unfortunately - and I say this with no ill will towards the undecideds - undecided voters tend to not critically think about propaganda. The better the propaganda, the more likely the undecided voter will go towards the less blasted candidate. I cannot tell you how many individuals I happened upon that were undecided that believed the John Kerry Swiftboat attacks. But it was all of them. That's a significant number.
It also almost guarantees a mistake by Biden that allows Republicans to paint the Democrats as sexist. And it's going to work, and he's going to make a mistake.
Pick Weaknesses:
She's not a good candidate. She's too good looking. She has no experience but, unlike Obama, does not even appear as though she is going to have experience. It would be like choosing my downstairs neighbor, if my downstairs neighbor was a hot mom. Also, the "VPILF" jokes (Vice President I'd Like to F-) Are going to be out in full force. She's really just... not good. If Bush was the president one would like to have a beer with, Palin is the Vice President that people want to buy a drink for.
Overall Thoughts On How This Will Effect the Election:
The effect of picks like this are measured by the amount of voters it convinces to go make a decision on who to vote for. How many will it convince? Not many. For every woman it gains it will lose a man, and for every woman proud to see a woman on the ticket, another will see it for what it is: the idea that picking a woman - any woman - is enough to convince women to vote for McCain, which is sexist, condescending and bullshit.
So the net gain will be roughly 0. However, what it won't measure but what will likely happen is that more Republican conservative women are guaranteed to go to the voting booths. And that sucks for the Democrats. You won't hear about it much, but Republicans always show up in force, and now that more Republican women have a reason to go vote, this pick looks bad for the Democrats.
