David Corn

Her speech struck me as a throwback to the 2000 and 2004 elections. Can the GOP play the culture war card again and win?

Your style points are fine, but why did you ignore the repeated lies she told? The Bridge to Nowhere story is known bullshit, and there are lots of other factual whoppers as well.

"Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accomplished the mission. "

I guess the "mission bar" was set very low?

She attacked Barack yet she didn't say anything of substance.

"Mission Accomplished?"

Matthew Yglesias on John McCain:

Rather than being the victim of his own post-partisanship, as Continetti argues, today McCain is in a downward spiral of ever-intensifying right-wingery even at a time when the American right has rarely been less popular. Many expected him to try to pull the plane up once the primaries were over, but the decision to re-re-invent himself is not so easily undone. For one thing, three ideological makeovers in ten years might be too much even for McCain's most credulous fans in the press. But beyond that, the more he damages his maverick brand the more McCain comes to depend on the conservative establishment -- on the Bush bundlers, on the dirty energy interests, on the Christian right activists he once derided as agents of intolerance -- an establishment whose current bad reputation necessitates a campaign strategy grounded in Eskew-style smear-merchant tactics. What's more, there's a chance it could work. But for the moment, the odds don't look good -- the public's in the mood for change, and McCain long ago got off the path where he could credibly offer it.

Baloney is a big part of that experience, apparently, as noted by Jim Kuhnhenn at AP, (something bloggers have been noting since the weekend):

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

*****

Why would anybody believe anything this liar and poser says?

I would think a critical review of the claims is what a journalist should do?

If the M$M lets the lies go uncgallenged we have to have a very strong alternative press that is both curious and fact driven.

At least someone is willing to look at the claims and lies . . .

http://tinyurl.com/6e5lwg

Thank all that is good for those willing to discuss facts and substance.

David where are you? This is 'smart, fearless journalism?' She read a speech prepared by the best of the best propagandists. At some point she will have to think on her feet and answer real questions unless they successfully offer her up only to the 'friendly' media and fill her with enough catchphrases to get her through the debate. This was a hollow, angry speech without substance that should prompt any thinking person to be very concerned about the future of this nation. I think Republicanism is becoming more of a disease than a political orientation. It's as if this convention is occuring on a satellite out in space, spinning round and round the real world down here. It seems that their unconscious campaign strategy is denial. What concerns me is that there are a lot of voters out there that want immunity from reality so their approach is very effective. But we need reality-based people in the media (i.e., you!) to point out that this is NOT leadership. True leadership inspires us and appeals to our better nature and meets real problems head-on with real solutions. Ultimately, I hope that there are deeper forces at play that won't allow the tragedy of a McCain-Palin presidency. The Republicans are blindly locking themselves in the prison of their own fear and shame, seeing the prison bars as a form of protection. I just hope more Americans will start to see this and refuse to be taken captive.

""Next, Palin will have to face the media""

do you expect us to believe that the media will do anything other than make her the next vice president?

""praising John McCain as a hero""

weren't you just bitching and moaning last week about the lack of "calling a spade a spade"?
this was YOUR chance to do so and it didn't even occur to you.
did it.
you could very easily point out to your readers the hypocrisy of calling someone who is shot down, WHILE BOMBING INNOCENT CIVILIANS, a "hero".
but you don't.

""Days ago, Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, told me""

oh you are in contact with tom delay? did you remind him that he is among the worst of political hypocrites? or did you give him a pass on his bullshit.

weak.

WEAK?

This ain't journalism, this is a swoon for the GOP VP, her speech and whatnot. No reason to take it on face value, eh?

That's okay though, I think McCain/Palin are considered the suck by most viewers . . . .

****

"Ouch. Fewer viewers than in 2004, and about 4.5 MILLION fewer viewers than watched the Democrats on the same night last week. 4.5 million Americans . . . that's about 46,000% bigger than Wasilla, Alaska."

(kos)

*****

Anybody want to challenge the idea that Palin is so great she SHOULD have run for president? I bet she would have won, right?

The fact is she IS running for president when the top of the ticket is 72 years young.

But hey, forget about sunstance or popularity - she: "she did it well."

Oh SNAP!

DC wanted Barack to offer some "red meat" I guess he has a taste for it even coming from Sarah "Peggy Hill" Palin?

lololololo

Palin's Speech: Second Thoughts

The way to evaluate a speech like this is by what people are going to remember in the morning, and the only thing that people are going to remember about this speech in the morning is that she went after Obama -- a lot -- and that at times it it seemed fairly personal. It was almost kind of fun at first -- I don't think people saw it coming, and she got three or four really good lines in. But then it became too much -- sarcastic and mean-spirited. Everything else -- the outsider stuff, the family stuff, the media critique -- is going to be forgotten about. In fact, the Republicans will look like whiners if they go after the media after that speech.

I don't think the Republicans are doing as good a job as the Democrats were doing about pairing their speeches to the strengths of the speaker. It's as if they wrote seven or eight speeches, and drew lots to determine who would deliver which one. So you have Mitt Romney -- one of the wealthiest men ever to run for office -- critiquing east-coast elitism, and Mike Huckabee -- who is an economic populist in disguise -- critiquing big government, and Sarah Palin -- who voters don't know one iota about -- critiquing Barack Obama's biography.

(fivethirtyeight.com)

Cindy McCain's Barbie Outfit last night cost $300,000. That is ten times more than average americans make in a year - I know that might not be quite so accurate but you get the idea.

I guess that's why they think it's ok to bash community organizing. Since their base is the rich, they don't need to rely on thier community to help them out - their community is as rich as they are so they don't need any help.

But if you are not so fortunate to be able to afford $300,000 gowns - I guess you are on your own.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Sad.html?viewAll=Y&text=#comments

Go to Will Bunch's blog on the Philadelphia Daily News website: www.philly.com

Speech to Nowhere

But...it was a great speech -- written for someone else, a male in fact, days before the Palin selection was even a gleam in John McCain's eye, but a great speech nonetheless. The pundits are fawning over it as I write this -- Tom Brokaw said she could not have been "more winning and more engaging" -- and in a world that is dominated by horse race journalism I can understand why, because I agree that Palin's one-of-a-kind story has given her long shot running mate a decent chance now of pulling this one out at the finish line.

It's a good metaphor, a horse race, because in the end it finishes right near where it started -- just as it will be for America if John McCain and Sarah Palin are sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009. Yes, it was a great speech politically, and a great night for her family, but an empty speech for America -- and for America's families. It was defined by its lowest moment, Palin's shameless lie about "the Bridge to Nowhere."

This was a Speech to Nowhere.

It was a Speech to Nowhere when Palin said that "I told the Congress 'Thanks but no thanks' on that Bridge to Nowhere, because that was a lie, and the worst kind of lie in American politics, a blatant falsehood that showed utter contempt for the American people that Palin pledged to serve, assuming we are too stupid to look up or know that truth, that she pushed for those funds in Congress and while she got great political mileage out of announcing that she was killing the project, she still has not returned the funds to American people.

David - she LIED - please write about that!

David, others are clearly outling the lies Palin told...why aren't you?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_fact_check;_ylt=AhszAmPCUA4SxEMTrIQhoWSs0NUE

From the AP via Yahoo News

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth

Some examples:

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

speaking of bashing community organizing, how about the fascist clamp-down by official thugs of suspected protesters in minneapolis:

http://tinyurl.com/68j2sv

From the Huffington Post Eat the Press:

"So — here's a little newsflash for Sarah Palin, to paraphrase her speech: The media isn't writing about you to seek your good opinion — they're writing about you to serve the people of this country. Americans expect the media to investigate their candidates for office for the right reasons, not just to get the right access. If you really want to serve the people — as opposed to just your party, or yourself — then you'll do well to remember that. "

My comments...
And when they decrie "Sexism", remember that they called Hillary a whiner for doing the same thing.

And when they cry foul for getting into Bristol's affairs, remember what McCain said about Chelsea Clinton - that she looked like her father - Janet Reno.

They are a bunch of hypocrites.

When Palin compares her experience to Sen. Obama, think about this statistic: Palin has been governor of Alaska slightly longer than Obama has run for president.

From Open Secrets.org

Individuals at a law firm founded by Charles H. Keating, Jr., who symbolized how political influence contributed to the collapse of savings and loans in the 1980s, have bundled at least $50,000 to John McCain's presidential campaign since June, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated, making the Cincinnati-based firm McCain's sixth-largest contributor during that period. McCain was among "The Keating Five," a group of senators who benefited from more than $1 million in campaign contributions connected to Keating and personally intervened with government regulators to allow his S&L to make risky investments that ultimately defrauded thousands of investors and cost taxpayers $3.4 billion.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/the-keating-50000.html

The Huffington comment is priceless, as is the Kuhnhenn-Drinkard litany of falsehoods in her speech. Let's hope they give other reporters and commentators the inspiration to ask Gov. Palen some of these questions:
1) Has God told you to reconsider your support for abstinence-only sex education? If the Almighty hasn't spoken to you about this, have you done any reconsidering on your own?
2) As a devout, born-again Christian, do you take what the Bible teaches to be above the laws of your state and nation? On what do you base your opposition to absolutely any abortion, religious beliefs or political philosophy? On what theory of democracy do you base your belief that your conception of when life begins should be a law that all American citizens must follow?
3) Do you stand by your statement that Sen. McCain is the only candidate in this race to have fought for the people, in places where losing meant death and winning meant survival? If so, explain your logic please, because the only place Sen. McCain fought was Vietnam, which is the only war we have ever lost, yet he survived. Further, doesn't what you said essentially mean that, in your mind, the only way to fight for someone else is with guns and bombs and tanks and planes? Do you mean that Gandhi, who brought freedom and democracy to his people without firing a shot, did not fight for his people? Do you mean that Dr. King did not fight for his people, and advance the cause of freedom and equality for all Americans? Do you mean that Rep. John Lewis, whom Sen. McCain named as one of the three wise people whose counsel he would seek, did not fight for his people when he marched in Selma and resolutely took the clubbing of racist policemen?
4) You say "the media" have attacked your family. Do you regard it as an attack when a newspaper reporter quotes, verbatim, a statement that you yourself read about your daughter's pregnancy? Exactly which media do you regard as having attacked you, and what did they do that constituted an attack? Can you name one person who has attacked you who also has any standing whatsoever in the Obama campaign or any organization officially affiliated with the Democratic Party? If so, what did that person do that you regard as an attack? And until you can name such a person, will you agree to quit complaining?
5) You raised the local sales tax as mayor of Wasilla, for all residents. Sen. Obama proposes raising taxes only on people making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. Further, an independent organization has estimated that Sen. Obama's tax plan will cut taxes 5% for average families, versus a 3% cut for the average family under the McCain-Palin plan. Please explain why you label your opponents "tax and spend."
6) With you as governor, Alaska requested more special federal financing per capita than any other state. Please explain how you reconcile that with Sen. McCain's opposition to earmarks. If you are elected vice president, what will you tell your successor as Alaska's governor that she should do?
7) Do you believe in the First Amendment? Do you believe that the McCain-Feingold Act restricts freedom of speech? Do you believe the First Amendment applies to town librarians?