Is this the end of the Reagan/Rove right?

D

DWD

Well-known member
vimothy said:
There's no need to speculate. The McCain team have said as much explicitly, with Douglas Holtz-Eakin (McCain's chief economic adviser) joking -- because Palin has to be so extensively briefed on policy -- that "McCain? That guy's on his own!"
Click to expand...

Good grief. I hadn't seen that - cheers.
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp
Link:

Palin is getting nonstop coaching on the campaign trail to bring her up to speed on policy before she has to tangle with Biden in next month’s vice-presidential debate.

Steve Biegun, a former White House national security official, has been given the task of prepping her on foreign policy – an area in which the Democrats are hoping she will trip up but in which she could easily make Biden, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, look pompous.

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who met her briefly in Alaska, said: “I thought she was very sharp. She was very knowledgeable about missile defence – Alaska has missile interceptor bases which are on a trajectory from North Korea.”

To be on the safe side, so many aides are involved in briefing her that Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s chief policy adviser, joked: “That McCain guy is on his own.”​
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp
oliver craner said:
Respect to Zhao's mysterious Alaskan friend, and I know nothing of the Alaskan polar bear issue myself, just a wildlife documentary I saw years ago about nasty Alaskan polar bears, and I also think that British city-dwelling herring gulls should really be culled. But then I also read this:
Click to expand...

Just noticed that the Telegraph piece is by James Bennett of The Anglosphere Challenge.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
josef k. said:
This is rather telling.

Click to expand...

Perhaps more interesting than the "god wants the pipeline" rant is the fact her church had some nutjob from Jews For Jesus there recently - this is the wacko group that believes Hamas are divine retribution for the Jews' failure to accept Jesus. Is that the sound of Florida swinging Democrat?
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
aaabacus said:
Re: her husband's status as a Yup'ik.

Yes, the native corporations are powerful and wealthy, and if you're in the right tribe you can get some very nice benefits(I heard of a $50k payout once, and they all get free health care). But I wouldn't make too much of this, either. I have pot smoking buddies and cousins who are fully native by law, and in fact there are many homeless people with the same status.

"Fifth largest city in Alaska" doesn't sound so impressive if you've been here.

The windfall tax thing isn't as great as it sounds, because the state was getting royally fucked in the first place so just about anything would be an improvement. There were accounting loopholes in what she passed that allowed the oil companies to be substantially less than one would think at first glance.

Many of her lauded "accomplishments" were already in the works when she took office. The corruption charges were part of a nationwide FBI sweep, for instance, though she certainly deserves credit for supporting the process.

As for her being "incompetent or a naif untested in executive politics," that's certainly not the way I'd put it. She's not stupid. She IS small-minded, vicious, and ignorant of the world at large. Did you know that she charged the state a per diem for sleeping in her own house
for more than 300 of the days she was in office as Governor? Here's more, from the best local blog I've seen that covers these issues:
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/0 ... istration/


And about the Fox News effect: don't underestimate it. They've been very successful at helping to push the Overton window to the right in this country. The 1996 Telecommunications act has had a devastating effect on the quality and objectivity of American journalism. The same goes with the conservative takeover of AM radio in the 80s. Don't think for a second that everybody can identify propaganda, either. The old couple who run the coffee shop in my office listen to the entire Rush Limbaugh program every day and believe it. Plenty of people get the majority of their news from Fox, including many who are educated and should know better on paper.

Then you've got this lazy "some say the earth is round, others disagree" idea of objective reporting which has done a lot of harm.
Click to expand...
.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
vimothy said:
Dead link
Click to expand...

Not on my pooter. Here's what it says:

Obama has gathered support among female and independent voters who, following the tumultuous nature of the US financial markets over the past few days, have seen him as the candidate best able to manage the current dire state of the economy. He now leads McCain among likely voters by 47% to 45%.

Over the past two days McCain has been flailing as he attempted to justify his claim that despite one of the most dramatic weeks Wall Street, the ''fundamentals of our economy are strong''.

This error of judgement – along with the masses of coverage on the ramifications of the Lehmann brothers collapse - has put the Palin 'phenomenon' distinctly on the backburner.

In high-mode damage control McCain has appeared on six morning television shows in the US, explaining that what he meant was apparently in reference to the fundamentals of America… "which is the workers, their productivity, their innovation, their incredible performance for many, many years."

The ''excess and greed'' of Wall Street had ''betrayed'' the American working class, he added.

Obama has used McCain's 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' assurances to show how out of touch the Republican candidate is, not only with those suffering on Wall Street but the general public.

A series of advertisements released by the Democrats quote McCain effectively saying everything is fine, at the same time as headlines
"Lehman Brothers Collapses'', "Markets in Turmoil'' and "Foreclosures at 9.800 a day''.

A final word perhaps to one of Obama's people, in reference to a claim yesterday that John McCain had created the BlackBerry, who pointed out:

"If McCain hadn't said 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong' on the day of one of our nation's worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing he said all week.''
Click to expand...
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/86619

CARBONDALE, PA—Less than two weeks after introducing to the nation her developmentally disabled newborn and her 19-year-old son preparing for military service in Iraq, Republican vice presidential nominee and conservative Christian woman Sarah Palin delivered a speech Monday flanked by three heretofore-unknown relatives, including a naturalized Mexican half brother, a formerly lesbian niece, and a New York City firefighter cousin who saved several lives during the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. "John McCain and I will take on the Washington establishment and give the government back to the people," said Palin, who several times gave the "thumbs-up" sign to her African-American coal-miner uncle seated in the audience. "We envision a better and brighter future for hardworking, selfless Americans like Ted, Anne, and Guillermo here." Palin has a campaign stop scheduled next week in Texas, where she is expected to introduce her stepsister Linda, a $35 barrel of offshore-drilled crude oil wrapped in an American flag
Click to expand...
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp

Probably galling to many to read anything in the Weekly Standard. However, this is the definitive smack-down of McCain's economic "team":

As for his team of economic advisers, they continue to see in McCain a picture of their own aspiration. "He's a deficit hawk above all," Rudman told me. "Has been since the day I met him."

"He understands that the solution to our long-term problems will involve some shared sacrifice," Pete Peterson says. "And I think his leadership skills will be very effective in putting this idea of shared sacrifice across."

"I tell him: 'Stop mentioning Pete Peterson!'" Kemp says. "And he gets that. You look at Reagan. He ran a conventional Republican campaign in '76: limit spending, balanced budgets. Then [supply-side economist] Art Laffer and I and some others managed to talk to him. And in 1980 he ran as a growth candidate. I see something similar happening with John.

"It's true he doesn't have the same historical interest in economics that Reagan had. Reagan got it instinctively. But when I talk about the Bush tax cuts and John says, 'I don't think we should give money back to people who don't need it,' I say, 'John. John. That's not why we cut tax rates. We do it to incentivize people to put their capital at risk for new investment and capital formation.' And he gets that. He gets it. "I don't want John to be perfect. Politics is multiplication, not subtraction, and he needs support from all sides. He just has to listen to the right people."​
 
fokse vektaire xeven

fokse vektaire xeven

Arab Nazi
Sarah Palin's yahoo mail account was hacked following it making the news. This is becoming farcical...

...the photo of her daughter is not a good look. It all seems very cruel @ a distance
 
Last edited:
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/18/uselections2008.sarahpalin

Lawyers and Republican aides acting on behalf of Sarah Palin are engaged in a fierce legal battle to block an inquiry into the so-called troopergate affair, in which the vice-presidential candidate is accused of abusing her public office to wage a vendetta against her former brother-in-law.

The bipartisan panel of the Alaskan state legislature in charge of the inquiry is under pressure to drop the proceedings, or put them off until after the November 4 presidential elections.

In the latest move, five Republican members of the state assembly have issued a lawsuit seeking to halt the investigation on the grounds that it is "McCarthyistic, partial and partisan".
Click to expand...
 
S

staypuft

bwah bwah
I didn't see that anybody mention that a few Supreme Justice seats will possibly be up for grabs in the next 4 years- most likely the ones occupied by the current liberal minority. If McCain/Palin get elected... you can bet that conservatives will control the US judicial branch for the next generation or so.

oh, and if anyone here hasn't seen Idiocracy yet, I'd recommend it. essentially it paints a picture of how stupid the world will be in 500 years, but with things going the way they are these days, I think that time may not be far off...

 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
fokse vektaire xeven said:
Sarah Palin's yahoo mail account was hacked following it making the news. This is becoming farcical...
Click to expand...

So the hacking may relate to people digging for info on her alleged impropriety as Alaska gov. I do hope the Dems aren't involved. Have there been any other American political scandals relating to break-ins;)?
 
fokse vektaire xeven

fokse vektaire xeven

Arab Nazi
;)

cj you pot stirrer you.

This just seems like corporate style politics of the type peddled by executives who have read Sun Tzu's The Art of War. You'd hope there might be less of a focus on discrediting your opponent. US politics seem very cruel in that regard. some of the TV spots are unbelievable. Nothing new i know, the standard response being it distracts from the narrowness of modern political choice. it just surprises me every time it comes round. that's all...

in further distractive un-news- it would appear SP may well have named her son Trig Paxton Van Palin in honour of archetypal axe-wielder Eddie Van Halen. These people might be running the world you know... :eek:
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
Now I hate to be the sort of twat who says I told you so, but:

Here's the not-very-liberal Kathleen Parker in the not-very-liberal National Review.

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

What to do?

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.
Click to expand...

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=MDZiMDhjYTU1NmI5Y2MwZjg2MWNiMWMyYTUxZDkwNTE=

And in case you're wondering why....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top