Palin And Sexism In The Aftermath Of The Election

I have been ruminating on this issue for the last couple of days. I knew it was coming, but I wanted to see just how it played out.

The attacks on Sarah Palin are horrendously sexist and wholly unfair.

The Rest Of This Article Has Been Moved To My New Blog – CLICK HERE

The Big Question: Will Obama Name A Woman To A Top Cabinet Post?

The big question that has been getting me in the wake of Barack Obama’s election is, “Will he name a woman to a top cabinet position?”

As I listen to the names of his transition team and cabinet begin to leak out, with others being talked about, the one thing I do not hear is the name of a woman.

Chief of Staff – Rahm Emanuel

Sec State – Bill Richardson or John Kerry

Sec Def – Chuck Hagel (a Republican no-less)

Sec Treas – Paul Vockler

Sec EPA – RFK Jr

Notice the lack of a woman’s name?  And I am not even talking about Hillary Clinton, who many Democrats, including Joe Biden himself, think deserved to be named AT LEAST Vice President.

And now, Obama is likely to even pass her up in considering who to name to top cabinet spots?

Hell, the Republicans named Sarah Palin to the VP slot, Condi Rice to the NSA and then Sec State slots…  and yet Obama, even as a Senator….

For The Rest Of The Post, Please CLICK HERE

Guest Blogger CT: Be Careful When Puma-ing, You Might Get More Than You Bargained For

Note From Texas Hill Country – CT is a blogger and a dedicated Conservative Republican.  This is the story about how (s)he came to know the PUMA movement and subsequent impressions.  I found this very interesting, wonderfully written and asked if I could cross-post the article here.  CT was kind enough to allow me to do so, and here you go…

From Politics and Critical Thinking

A few days ago one of the contributors on Conservative Badlands did a piece called the PUMA Factor, it was a look at how this block of voters might be one of the groups to decide the Presidential election in 08’. It made me realize that I didn’t know much about their movement or philosophies, other than the obvious. PUMA means Party Unity My Ass and they were angry because HRC got lambasted in the primaries and there was a SERIOUS possibility of caucus manipulation. So, I had an out of the ordinary idea, I figured go into their virtual community and ask them if anyone would be interested in answering a few questions for this post. Well I got some takers.

Most of the PUMA’s that answered the call of the wild in my open thread were female but the composite of their whole movement, I imagine, is a little harder to determine. One very pleasant and intelligent woman, who goes by the SN, Angrynana said this, “Also, there is a mistake in thinking all Pumas and Puma types are older, white women. There are men, people of many religions, all races, gays and lesbians, young, middle-aged, and older Pumas. There are groups from the West and the East. There are Native American Pumas and African American Pumas.” I can honestly say I believe this assessment. Since there were about 18 million people who voted for Hillary in the primaries and the Democratic Party is noted for its pluralism, it makes sense they are a very diverse lot.

What I was more curious about was what brought them to this point and what were they going to do after the election. Their responses ranged from moving to the GOP, going Independent, to retaking the Democratic Party. Judging the answers, Ereizindian sums the majority of their thoughts up well, “If the Dem leadership continues to deprecate its members who were slandered and vilified in the primaries and GE, I shall become an Indie, possibly on my way to becoming a Republican.” This is not to say all of sudden they identify with the Republican or Conservative movement. For them, however, it will be a near strategic impossibility to retake the Democratic Party. It has slid too far into an abyss of identity politics and viral cult worship, it is no longer about issues, it is about one man.

Despite their obvious visceral anger towards the Democratic Party establishment a single theme reigned supreme in the great majority of their posts and emails. Helen put it best, “IT IS COUNTRY AND PRINCIPLES BEFORE PARTY.” I was absolutely, jaw droppingly, astounded to hear a Hillary supporting Democrat in Exile say this. These responses gave me the insight to look at them as I have never looked at a political opponent before, I saw Americans who care about their country. This got me thinking, who am I to judge whether they can love their country just because they are Democrats. Neither Republicans nor Conservatives have the copyright or moniker on patriotism. After all aren’t PUMA’s demonstrating this by standing by our sides?

They have become apostates to their party but not their country, that speaks volumes to me. PUMA’s have recognized that this is about America, not a singular person. They also understand this has nothing to do with the sweeping change and one man, little m, cannnot shoulder this all by his lonesome. That goal is far too lofty and enchanting to be anywhere near reality. Truth be told, he is neither Atlas nor Prometheus, even if he thinks he is.

In closing I would like to thank all of the ladies and gentlemen who so graciously accepted my invite to participate in this undertaking, I hope I did you justice. Sometimes we get reminders of things from unexpected sources and that is what the PUMA’s did for me. My suggestion to Republicans and Conservatives, alike, try and understand them. Politically we may need them as much as they need us, we are rapidly becoming a house that is acquiring vacancies and they may need a home. More importantly, they are Americans who love their country enough to look past partisan lines. That, my friends, is the miracle of being an American first.

-CT

“Happy Hunting!”

Pic cred to The Confluence, I violated some internet copyright laws by snagging them. Hopefully in the spirit of the post they won’t mind.

Obama, Clinton and Edwards Speech Writer Leaving Democratic Party, Give Props To McCain

Excepts of the Article from The Daily Beast

Since I started writing speeches more than ten years ago, I have always believed in the Democratic Party. Not anymore. Not after the election of 2008. This transformation has been swift and complete and since I’m a woman writing in the election of 2008, “very emotional.”

See campaigns get complicated when you’ve written for so many Democrats. Not only had I written for Senator Edwards, but I had also been Senator Hillary Clinton’s speechwriter. Senator Joe Biden is a “good looking” man and his care after my father almost died from an aneurysm is the kind of kindness you never forget. When I saw Edwards at a traffic light in D.C. about a year after our meeting, he asked for help and I did and it was an honor to help him with his concession speech. And when the primary ended, it was a privilege to help Michelle Obama with a stump speech, be considered as a speechwriter for the V.P. nominee again, and send friends in Chicago ideas until the financial crisis hit. This is what the Democratic Party has been for me; it’s family. Now, it doesn’t even feel like a distant cousin.

This drift started on a personal level with the fall of former Senator John Edwards. It got stronger during the Democratic National Convention when I counted the substantive mentions of poverty on one hand and a whole bunch of bad canned partisan lines against Senator John McCain. Some faith was lifted after Senator Hillary Clinton’s grace during a difficult hour. But that faith was dashed when I saw that someone had raided the Caligula set and planted the old columns at Invesco Field.

The final straw came the other week when Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (a.k.a Joe the Plumber) asked a question about higher taxes for small businesses. Instead of celebrating his aspirations, they were mocked. He wasn’t “a real plumber,” and “They’re fighting for Joe the Hedge-Fund manager,” and the patronizing, “I’ve got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber.”

“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me.”

The party I believed in wouldn’t look down on working people under any circumstance. And Joe the Plumber is right. This is the absolutely worst time to raise taxes on anyone: the rich, the middle class, the poor, small businesses and corporations.

Governor Palin and I don’t agree on a lot of things, mostly social issues. But I have grown to appreciate the Governor. I was one of those initial skeptics and would laugh at the pictures. Not anymore. When someone takes on a corrupt political machine and a sitting governor, that is not done by someone with a low I.Q. or a moral core made of tissue paper. When someone fights her way to get scholarships and work her way through college even in a jagged line, that shows determination and humility you can’t learn from reading Reinhold Niebuhr. When a mother brings her son with special needs onto the national stage with love, honesty, and pride, that gives hope to families like mine as my older brother lives with a mental disability. And when someone can sit on a stage during the Sarah Palin rap on Saturday Night Live, put her hands in the air and watch someone in a moose costume get shot—that’s a sign of both humor and humanity.

I can no longer justify what this party has done and can’t dismiss the treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It’s wrong and someone has to say that. And also say that the Democratic Party’s talking points—that Senator John McCain is just four more years of the same and that he’s President Bush—are now just hooker lines that fit a very effective and perhaps wave-winning political argument…doesn’t mean they’re true. After all, he is the only one who’s worked in a bipartisan way on big challenges.

Please go to the article and read the whole thing.  It is a wonderful insider’s view of the party.

I would love to see some more elaboration on a few points, especially about the manufactured inanity of the narrative on Palin and the intentionality of it, but I guess that will have to wait for her next installment.

The Best Article On Palin I Have Read So Far… By A Female Democrat No Less.

If you do nothing else today…  read this article.  It is entitled “Sarah Palin Is A Braniac“

Below is a snippet…  but just a snippet of it’s goodness, so read the whole thing.

The Daily Beast

It’s difficult not to froth when one reads, as I did again and again this week, doubts about Sarah Palin’s “intelligence,” coming especially from women such as PBS’s Bonnie Erbe, who, as near as I recall, has not herself heretofore been burdened with the Susan Sontag of Journalism moniker. As Fred Barnes—God help me, I’m agreeing with Fred Barnes—suggests in the Weekly Standard, these high toned and authoritative dismissals come from people who have never met or spoken with Sarah Palin. Those who know her, love her or hate her, offer no such criticism. They know what I know, and I learned it from spending just a little time traveling on the cramped campaign plane this week: Sarah Palin is very smart.

I’m a Democrat, but I’ve worked as a consultant with the McCain campaign since shortly after Palin’s nomination. Last week, there was the thought that as a former editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine as well as a feminist activist in my pre-journalism days, I might be helpful in contributing to a speech that Palin had long wanted to give on women’s rights.

Now by “smart,” I don’t refer to a person who is wily or calculating or nimble in the way of certain talented athletes who we admire but suspect don’t really have serious brains in their skulls. I mean, instead, a mind that is thoughtful, curious, with a discernable pattern of associative thinking and insight. Palin asks questions, and probes linkages and logic that bring to mind a quirky law professor I once had. Palin is more than a “quick study”; I’d heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory and, frankly, I watched it in action. She sees. She processes. She questions, and only then, she acts. What is often called her “confidence” is actually a rarity in national politics: I saw a woman who knows exactly who she is.

 

For all those old enough to remember Senator Sam Ervin, the brilliant strict constitutional constructionist and chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee whose patois included “I’m just a country lawyer”…Yup, Palin is that smart.

So no simple task then, this speech on women’s rights. For the sin of being a Christian personally opposed to abortion, Palin is being pilloried by the inside-the-Beltway Democrat feminist establishment. (Yes, she is anti-abortion. And yes, instead of buying organic New Zealand lamb at Whole Foods, she joins other Alaskans in hunting for food. That’s it. She is not a right-wing nut, and all the rest of the Internet drivel—the book banning at the Library, the rape kits decision—is nonsense. I digress.) Palin’s role in this campaign was to energize “the Republican base,” which she has inarguably done. She also was expected to reach out to Hillary Clinton “moderates.” (Right. Only a woman would get both those jobs in either party.) Look, I am obviously personally pro-choice, and I disagree with McCain and Palin on that and a few other issues. But like many other Democrats, including Lynn Rothschild, I’m tired of the Democratic Party taking women for granted. I also happen to believe Sarah Palin supports women’s rights, deeply and passionately….

Follow the link!

Dan Rather Makes Interesting Comments Re: TV, Newspapers And Internet

I want to hear what you think Rather is saying in this clip…

Palin To Obama: “Why Didn’t You Pick Hillary?”

ABC

“When it came time for choosing, somehow Barack Obama just couldn’t bring himself to pick the woman who got 18 million votes in his primary, and that seems to be too familiar a story isn’t it?” Palin said at a rally in Henderson, NV yesterday. “How it is for so many American women that the qualifications are there, but for some reason the promotion never comes?

In stronger language than Palin has used on the campaign trail before, the comments were part of a broader attempt to sell herself as an advocate for women and working numbers at a time when Palin’s support among women has slipped dramatically in national polls since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee.

“You’ve got to ask yourself why was Senator Hillary Clinton not even vetted by the Obama campaign?” Palin continued. “Why did it take 24 years, an entire generation from the time Geraldine Ferraro made her pioneering bid until the next time that a woman was asked to join a national ticket?”

“In the long history of our country, 74 people have held the position of President or Vice-President, and why have the major parties given America only two chances to even consider a woman for either office?” Palin asked. “This glass ceiling, it is still there, but it’s about time that we shattered that glass ceiling once and for all.”

Ouch…

*waits for Obama to trot out Hillary so she can save his ass once again*

McCain’s Tour Bus Shot At?

From Sacunion

We learned at this morning’s Stop Obama Rally here that the McCain/Palin Straight Talk Express came through town yesterday.  It arrived with a window shattered by a .22 caliber weapon.  It had also been hit by an unknown number of paint balls from a paint ball gun or guns.  There were reportedly no injuries and neither candidate was on board.

One local man who saw the damage and spoke with the McCain/Palin staffers said the attack(s) had occured in southern New Mexico that same day. 

Wow…  that’s pretty friggin crazy! 

If this really happened, I am shocked that this has not made it to the major media outlets…  I would like confirmation from a larger and more reputable source, so for now I am filing this in the “developing stories of a questionable nature” box.

Secret Service: “Kill Him” Comment At Palin Rally Did Not Happen, Journalist Lied?

In a follow up to my article about how the media is inventing White racists and racist comments from people that were never made, comes new news…  apparently they are inventing death threats against Obama…

And Obama, his supporters, all the major media outlets and the DNC are carrying this myth to the far corners of the country….

BUT, now…  the Secret Service has called bullshit on the reporter saying that this never happened.

Good.  It’s about time.

TimesLeader

SCRANTON – The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him” when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded.

The Scranton Times-Tribune first reported the alleged incident on its Web site Tuesday and then again in its print edition Wednesday. The first story, written by reporter David Singleton, appeared with allegations that while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd and mentioned Oabama’s name a man in the audience shouted “kill him.”

News organizations including ABC, The Associated Press, The Washington Monthly and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann reported the claim, with most attributing the allegations to the Times-Tribune story.

Agent Bill Slavoski said he was in the audience, along with an undisclosed number of additional secret service agents and other law enforcement officers and not one heard the comment.

“I was baffled,” he said after reading the report in Wednesday’s Times-Tribune.

He said the agency conducted an investigation Wednesday, after seeing the story, and could not find one person to corroborate the allegation other than Singleton.

Slavoski said more than 20 non-security agents were interviewed Wednesday, from news media to ordinary citizens in attendance at the rally for the Republican vice presidential candidate held at the Riverfront Sports Complex. He said Singleton was the only one to say he heard someone yell “kill him.”

“We have yet to find someone to back up the story,” Slavoski said. “We had people all over and we have yet to find anyone who said they heard it.”

Hackett said he did not hear the remark.

Slavoski said Singleton was interviewed Wednesday and stood by his story but couldn’t give a description of the man because he didn’t see him he only heard him.

John Lewis And His Disgusting Comments.

In a follow up to my post about the baseless accusations of racism on the part of Palin, Rep. John Lewis has made comments that indicates that he has lost his damn mind.

From CBS

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Gov. George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.

Republican candidate John McCain on Saturday called Lewis’ remarks “shocking and beyond the pale.”

In a statement issued Saturday, Lewis said McCain and running mate Sarah Palin were “sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.” He noted that Wallace also ran for president.

“George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Lewis, who is black. “Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.”

One of the seminal events of the civil rights movement was the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963. Four black girls died in the blast, which was linked to a Ku Klux Klan group.

Seriously?

This is getting out of control.

.

Big apologies required.

100 Ambassadors Endorse John McCain and Sarah Palin

JohnMcCain

ARLINGTON, VA — McCain-Palin 2008 today announced that more than 100 former U.S. ambassadors are endorsing Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin for president and vice president.

Prominent former U.S. ambassadors endorsing the McCain-Palin ticket include former Ambassador to Japan, Senate Majority Leader and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker; President George H. W. Bush, former Ambassador to the United Nations; former Ambassador to Yugoslavia and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger; former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; former Secretary of Defense and former Ambassador to Portugal, Frank Carlucci III; former Ambassador to the Vatican and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson; and Ambassadors Richard Burt (Germany), Bruce Gelb (Belgium), Margaret Heckler (Ireland), John L. Loeb (Denmark), Ed Ney (Canada) and Julia Chang Bloch (Nepal), the first U.S. ambassador of Asian descent.

Democrat Mark W. Erwin, a former Hillary Clinton supporter and an ambassador during the Clinton administration, is co-chair of the group. “I will vote for John McCain because the differences between the two candidates are so vast and profound,” he said.

“Senator Obama does not have sufficient leadership experience, nor has he been tested in difficult times,” Erwin said in his endorsement.

Other co-chairmen of the group called “Former U.S. Ambassadors for McCain/Palin” are former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Gregory J. Newell and former Ambassador Gilbert A. Robinson, both of whom served in the Reagan administration. Newell also served as an assistant to President Gerald Ford and as Assistant Secretary of State. Robinson was special adviser to Secretary of State George Shultz, Director of the Office of Public Diplomacy and Deputy Director of the United States Information Agency.

“Nobody could ask for a greater show of confidence,” Sen. McCain commented. “These former ambassadors are outstanding men and women who have served their country in foreign lands with great distinction and devotion to the values we all hold dear. They have a deep knowledge of the challenges facing this country abroad as well as at home. I am honored by their endorsement.”

Ambassador Robinson added, “The endorsements from this country’s most experienced foreign affairs experts are still pouring in. This demonstrates the overwhelming admiration and respect they have for John McCain’s leadership and the confidence they have in the historic McCain-Palin ticket.”

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADORS FOR MCCAIN-PALIN

Weston Adams, Malawi — Columbia, S.C.

Lenore Annenberg, Chief of Protocol — Radnor, Penn.

Cresencio Arcos, Jr., Honduras; FP/NS — Coral Gables, Fla.

George Argyros, Spain and Andorra — Costa Mesa, Calif.

Catherine Todd Bailey, Latvia — Louisville, Ky.

Howard H. Baker, Jr., Senator (R-TN); Senate Majority Leader; Amb. Japan — Huntsville, Tenn.

Douglas H. Barclay, El Salvador — Pulaski, N.Y.

Stuart A. Bernstein, Denmark — Washington, D.C.

ACORN Is Stealing The Election!

Breaking News from INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY (IBD):

Election Fraud: A radical group Barack Obama used to work for is committing voter-registration fraud in several states, ahead of the election. What does Obama know about this scam?

I am going to let IBD tell the story themselves. Here it is posted in its entirety:

It’s a legitimate question to raise now that the FBI has raided the offices of the nonprofit Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in Nevada and North Carolina, two states where Obama and John McCain are running neck-and-neck. ACORN has registered bogus voters in both states.

The group’s voter-registration fraud is rampant, and authorities plan a nationwide sweep of ACORN offices to collect records.

In Nevada, state officials say the fraudulent registrations included forms for the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team, including quarterback Tony Romo.

“Romo is not registered to vote in the state of Nevada,” Secretary of State Ross Miller said, “and anybody trying to pose as Terrell Owens won’t be able to cast a ballot on Nov. 4.”

While those names will be flagged on Election Day, felonious voters may have better luck using other cutouts. Nevada, along with several other key battleground states, requires no ID to vote.

In North Carolina, where Obama has been running nonstop ads, ACORN has registered a record number of new voters, many of them suspicious. Statewide, Democrats are doing better than the GOP in new converts — even in traditionally Republican counties.

There have been 218,749 newly registered Democrats in North Carolina since January — more than five times the 38,337 new Republicans, state records show.

The numbers show a startlingly close political battle even in Republican-dominated Union County, with 4,233 new voters registering as Democrats and 4,362 as Republicans. In previous election years, new Republicans have outnumbered Democrats 2-to-1 in the fast-growing Charlotte-area county.

In Missouri, one ACORN registrant named Monica Rays showed up on no less than eight forms, all bearing the same signature.

Suspicious election officials sent letters to some 5,000 ACORN registrants in St. Louis, asking the letter recipients to contact them.

Fewer than 40 reponded.

In Kansas City, 15,000 registrations have been questioned, and last year four ACORN employees were indicted for fraud.

In addition, ACORN officials have also been indicted in Wisconsin and Colorado. Investigations against others are active in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

ACORN has also been registering convicted felons — including inmates — in Florida and other battleground states. ACORN boasts registering a record 1.5 million new voters so far this election.

What does all this have to do with Obama, besides the fact that he’d be the beneficiary of most, if not all, of these new votes?

For starters, Obama paid ACORN, which has endorsed him for president, $800,000 to register new voters, payments his campaign failed to accurately report. (They were disguised in his FEC disclosure as payments to a front group called Citizen Services Inc. for “advance work.”)

What’s more, Obama worked as executive director of ACORN’s voter-registration arm, Project Vote, in 1992. Joined by two other community organizers on Chicago’s South Side, Obama conducted the voter-registration drive that helped elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the Senate that year.

The next year, 1993, Obama joined the civil-rights law firm Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, where he sued the state of Illinois on behalf of ACORN to implement the federal “Motor Voter” law, which the GOP governor at the time refused to do. Then-Gov. Jim Edgar argued, presciently, that the Clinton law would invite voter fraud.

Obama downplays his ties to ACORN, and his campaign denies coordinating with ACORN to register voters.

Meantime, New Orleans-based ACORN maintains that it has no control over volunteers who are falsifying application forms, that they’re like employees who steal from the store.

But the fraud is widespread and not isolated. It also turns out that some ACORN execs allegedly are involved in a $1 million embezzlement cover-up at their headquarters. Representing them in the case is none other than Michelle Obama’s old law firm in Chicago.

ACORN’s corruption is not just out in the field, as they claim. There’s a pattern of corruption from the top down.

McCain would be wise to start preparing a challenge to voter registration rolls should he lose the race in a close contest. He’d be crazy not to contest the results in light of these events.

I have been asking for months now, since July, why the Department of Justice/FBI had not done anything to take down ACORN? I am still a bit bothered by the DOJ/FBI’s inaction on the issue of voter fraud and ACORN because we are less than 4 weeks from the November election. I won’t pretend to understand the methodology of the DOJ/FBI, but I am still critical of their action at the 2 minute warning buzzer!

Palin Email Hacker Indicted

From Fox News

A federal grand jury in Tennessee has indicted a man in connection with the hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

A federal grand jury in Tennessee has indicted a man in connection with the hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Federal officials say that 20-year-old David Kernell of Knoxville, Tenn., was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Palin, Alaska’s governor.

Kernell has turned himself in to authorities and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday before a magistrate.

Kernell is also the son of prominent Tennessee Democrat and State Senator Michael Kernell.

Black Congressmen: Palin Is A Racist! She Uses Code Words!!!

From The New York Observer

As the McCain campaign ratchets up the intensity of its attacks on Barack Obama, some black elected officials are calling the tactics desperate, unseemly and racist.

“They are trying to throw out these codes,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York.

“He’s ‘not one of us?’” Mr. Meeks said, referring to a comment Sarah Palin made at a campaign rally on Oct. 6 in Florida. “That’s racial. That’s fear. They know they can’t win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear.”

“Racism is alive and well in this country, and McCain and Palin are trying to appeal to that and it’s unfortunate,” said Representative Ed Towns, also from New York….

….Ms. Palin told donors in Englewood, Colo.,….  “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,” she said. “We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism.”

An Associated Press analysis characterized those remarks as “unsubstantiated” and carrying “a racially tinged subtext…..”

“Some may say their true colors are showing,” said Representative Yvette Clarke of New York. “Others may say they’re just not being thoughtful. But certainly a lot of the language I’ve heard I consider to be incendiary. I believe it is meant to generate a certain sentiment within their base that engenders fear and certainly appeals to a group of people within our society who would pursue this along racial lines.

“It’s very clear,” she said.

Ms. Clarke also found a racial subtext in Ms. Palin’s repeated appeals to “Joe Six-Pack” and “hockey moms.”

“Who exactly is Joe Six-Pack and who are these hockey moms? That’s what I’d like to know,” she said. “Is that supposed to be terminology that is of common ground to all Americans? I don’t find that. It leaves a lot of people out.”

New York State Senator Bill Perkins, an early supporter of Mr. Obama, said, “They are obviously playing on people’s fears and prejudices in a desperate way. While not explicitly relating to race, they are clearly creating the opportunity for those inclined to come to those conclusions. I think it is going to become more explicit as we move forward. It’s subtle now, but not so subtle as to be mistaken.”

And Kevin Parker, a New York state senator from Brooklyn, said, “If you have to remind people that Barack Obama is African-American, you have reached the bottom.”

 

I have a very serious question…

Have all the Democrats that drank the Obama koolaid become paranoid schizophrenics?  I really wanna know.  If you tell me yes, it will make me feel much better.

I will understand that they have a mental illness that they can’t help…  the delusions of persecution from an oedipal female mother figure archetype would just be the product of a disease and not what these people REALLY think…

Or perhaps they all share a strikingly similar form of Tourette’s Syndrome where “code words” and “racist” gets blurted out at nonsensical times…

I don’t know, but this bullshit is friggin crazy, it is incredibly irresponsible, and to be honest, it is incredibly dangerous.

Add this to the coments of other Democrats of all races that have screamed the word “RACISM!!!” and pointed their fingers at everyone from all the Republicans to Bill Clinton of all people!!!  (Holy God, was that some serious dumb.)

Regardless…  This is only further dividing our society and creating a dangerous sentiment of suspicion and anger…  and in this case, it can create a very different situation where, if these irresponsible politicians and the media that perpetuates their message continue to push this idea that there is rampant racism in white America and that racism could be the only explanation as to why Obama would not win the election…  we could very well see irreparable damage done to race relations in the country AT BEST, and at worst we will see racial violence and rioting.

It’s almost as if that is what they want?  They may not, but they are definitely not hiding the fact that violence and repercussions are what they are threatening.

The anger these people are toying with is real, it is dangerous and it is explosive.  There are historical precedents to situations with much less gravity than the Office of the President that have sparked violence  that we can point to, so we know the threat is real.

The saddest part of this whole thing is that it is THE standard campaign tactic in Obama campaign manager David Axelrod’s playbook.  Axelrod has done this same thing many times before, and in many campaigns, even as recently as the primary versus Hillary Clinton.

Inciting racial hatred and suspicion to gain power is what these people do.  This is quite literally David Axelrod’s niche in political campaign management.  This is his job and this is why Obama hired him.

This is dangerous and they need to stop.  It is wrong and irresponsible.

.

Am I saying racism does not exist, no I am not.  It does still exist, regrettably.

But the vast majority of Americans are not racist, and when they cry racism in an undeserved context, they are actually  diminishing not only themselves but the one they sought to defend.

When these people cry racism in such situations, they remove the humanity and the complexity of the man that Barack Obama is and reduce him to his skin color.

There are a great many reasons to love Barack Obama, just as there are innumerable reasons to really dislike him.

When they reduce the reasons why people feel about Obama the way they happen to down to just skin color, THEY are the ones dehumanizing him, not Palin, not McCain.

When they reduce Obama to his skin color, THEY are the ones that have issues with race, not Palin, not McCain.

McCain campaign spokesman Peter Feldman said it best:

“It is disappointing that Barack Obama and his supporters continue to play the race card from the bottom of the deck. This is a tactic that the Obama Campaign has used before, and which McCain campaign manager Rick Davis correctly called ‘divisive, shameful, and wrong.’ It is legitimate for John McCain to ask questions about Barack Obama’s relationship with the unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers because Senator Obama has not been truthful about this relationship. Many Americans want these questions answered. Despite the fact that Barack Obama has been running for president since joining the Senate, many Americans are still wondering, ‘who is Barack Obama?’ These comments are a sure sign of a flailing campaign that refuses to be honest with voters and that is bordering on desperation.”

Instead of Obama bringing us together like he promised to do when he gave his rhetorically brilliant yet somehow empty speech on racism, it seems his sole aim is to divide us as much as possible to gain a political advantage.

He wants power so bad, he is willing to wreck America to get it.

Hell No, No Bama, No Deal, No Friggin Way.

Country First.

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UPDATE:  I woke up this morning and turned on CNN and guess what was on…  a special about Union activists campaigning door to door in PA and OH, and their struggle to deal with racism against Obama….  Nice, right?

So I listen for a while and then it peeks it’s head out in one of the comments…  a canvasser talks about how he has run into the problem “a few times.”  Well, as a canvasser you can visit hundreds of homes a week…  and in a predominantly white, blue collar, working class, heavy union neighborhood, they run into the problem a “few times?”

And this justifies a CNN special report why?  Oh yeah, it’s spin and bullshit.  That’s why.

And then there was the statement from Obama…  I am doing this from memory, but this is what he said almost word for word…

I don’t think race is a problem in the race.  Look, I am ahead in the polls…  that means that the American people are basically good.  They are judging me on my policies and on what I want to do, not my skin color.

Ok, on first pass, not a bad statement, right? 

But we have to look at the more subtle meaning of what he said… 

“Look, I am ahead in the polls…  that means that the American people are basically good.”

He subtly hints that if he were behind in the polls or that if people were to vote against him, then they would not be good and they would be racist.

Those are code words.  Real code words.

Palin’s comment about terrorists…  not code words.

President of NOW Los Angeles Endorses Sarah Palin!

According to Greta Van Susteren…

Speaking as an individual and not for her organization,  Shelley Mandell, who is the President of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women and a self-described lifelong Democrat, has endorsed Sarah Palin.

At a rally in California today, in front of a crowd of 20,000, Shelly Mandell introduced Palin and she had a lot of VERY good things to say about her.

From CBS

“I know Sarah Palin cares about women’s rights,” Mandell said. “As vice president, she will fight for you. She cares about our children and she cares about women’s lives.”

And then, as she handed over the microphone to Sarah Palin, Mandell said;

“this is what a feminist looks like“

Palin took the stage, thanked Mandell and quoted her Starbucks cup from earlier in the day.  Apparently it had a saying from Madeline Albright on the side.  And so Palin started off with this…

“‘There’s a place hell reserved for women who don’t support other women,’ ” Palin quoted. “Let’s see how that comment is turned into whatever it’s turned into in tomorrow’s papers.”

How amazingly brave and wonderful is that!

Bravo Ms. Mandell, Bravo Ms. Palin.

NOW needs to be turned on it’s ear!

Stay tuned, I will have all the updates for you as they come in!  As Greta said…  expect some serious fireworks to start flying!
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For a personal account of the rally CLICK HERE.

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UPDATE:  I emailed Ms. Mandell to thank her for her bravery, let her know that a whole lot of Hillary supporters applauded her and that we would be singing her praises for a long time.
Her response:

  I too am a hillary supporter
Thank you for the words of support
I will not stand by and let another women personnly get trashed
for policy beliefs.

Greatness.

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UPDATE:  NOW California has released a statement re-affirming NOW’s endorsement of Obama (the first time that NOW has endorsed a Presidential candidate without a woman on the ticket iirc btw) and repudiating the endorsement of Palin by Shelly Mandell.

And so the feminist wars begin…

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Photos Courtesy of OC Register

Palin On The Attack: Obama Doesn’t See America Like You And I Do

Breitbart

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday accused Democrat Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists” because of his association with a former 1960s radical, stepping up the campaign’s effort to portray Obama as unacceptable to American voters.

Palin’s reference was to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground. Its members took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol, during the tumultuous Vietnam War era four decades ago. Obama, who was a child when the group was active, served on a charity board with Ayers several years ago and has denounced his radical views and activities.

The Republican campaign, falling behind Obama in polls, plans to make attacks on Obama’s character a centerpiece of presidential candidate John McCain’s message with a month remaining before Election Day.

Palin told a group of donors at a private airport, “Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” She also said, “This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America.”

Palin, Alaska’s governor, said that donors on a greeting line had encouraged her and McCain to get tougher on Obama. She said an aide then advised her, “Sarah, the gloves are off, the heels are on, go get to them.”

Biden’s 14 Lies

From JohnMcCain.com

Joe Biden’s 14 Lies

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

The Bailout – A Clairifcation Of My Position

Ok, now that President Bush has signed the “Bailout/Rescue” Bill, I feel the need to clarify my thoughts on the bill.

Do I oppose the passage of the bill as it appeared in both the House and the Senate? Absolutely.

Do I oppose the basic principle of the bill? No.

Unfortunately, and as much as I hated it, the bill was necessary.  Period.  No if’s, and’s or but’s.

Who was at fault?

In a word…  everyone…  from the banks, to the politicians on both sides of the aisle, to the public.  This is AMERICA’s fault.

Why Did/Do I support the basic principle of the bill?

Well, the large amount of unstable and insolvent debt the banks owned caused an immense amount of fear and distrust within the financial markets to such an extent that the banks stopped loaning each other money, much less loaning money to corporations and businesses.

While I agree that the “bailout” of stupid decisions is less than ideal, the consequences of doing nothing were so dire that it had to be done.

Coming on the heels of a general economic downturn, and the YTD loss of more than 750,000 jobs, the credit crisis becomes all the more dangerous.  The credit markets were completely frozen this week.  At the highest levels, money stopped.  Dead.  Literally.

This could not happen any longer.  If it did, it is entirely possible that by the end of next week, the economy would come to a screeching halt and we would be completely dead in the water, plunging into a horrendously bad depression…  potentially even worse than what we saw in 1929.  Really.

Companies would not be able to get short term credit (usually overnight borrowing) to meet payrolls, businesses would see the lines of credit they use for inventory purchasing and general operations shut down, and good luck getting a car loan or a mortgage.

By purchasing the questionable mortgages and mortgage backed securities, this allieviates much of the balance sheet strain on the financial institutions, making them much more stable, freeing up cash so that they become able to lend and also so that other banks are willing to lend to them.

So why did I object so strongly to the bill if I think it was necessary?

In a word…  Pork.  This bill got so overloaded with “sweeteners” and pork that it is unreal.

I am very, very upset over this.

Am I against everything that got added to the bill?

No, absolutely not.  I support many of the things that were added.  Many.

For instance…  the tax credits encouraging green energy and energy efficiency are fantastic.  I whole heartedly support those provisions.  Also, the mental health parity provision is one that has been a long time coming.

They do not belong in this bill though.  They deserve thier own.

Was everything that got added total crap?

No.  As a matter of fact, there were a couple things that were added that were very smart.

The temporary increase in FDIC insurance to prevent withdrawal of funds from banks was an intelligent and necessary move that retains a lot of liquidity in the banks.  In addition, the provisions on executive compensation were good…  not ideal, but at least they were there.

So what got added that was crap?

Tax breaks and earmarks got added for Hollywood, NASCAR, Puerto Rican Rum Producers, Virgin Island Rum Producers, the makers of wooden arrow shafts that boy scouts use, fisherman, businesses in American Somoa and all sorts of other little goodies.

Why does this make me so upset?

The reason this makes me so upset is that while working on the most sweeping and important piece of legislation that most of the people in Congress, House or Senate, will probably ever work on in their entire careers…  these selfish, greedy, pandering, blame shifting, irresponsible (ARRRRGGGGHHH) politicians decided that they would spend some of their time thinking about and fighting for other things, and some of those things as insignificant and friggin wooden arrow shafts!!!

Raise the price of the arrows by 2 cents!  I don’t give a crap!!!

Pay attention to the potential bankruptcy of the United States and the precipice of a world wide depression the likes we have never DREAMED of.

Jesus…  stop thinking about yourselves!!!!!  Keep your eye on the god damned ball!!!

Is there more coming or are we close to the end?

I hope we are close to the end, but I don’t think we are.  This was a necessary first step.

So far, the mortgage meltdown and credit crunch has been like a really angry Bull Mastiff sitting in the corner impatiently waiting to take us down.

When the derivatives market and CDS’s start unravelling…  then we will see a really pissed off gorilla of a problem charge into the room.  Hopefully the “Rescue” has put a bit of a leash on this bad boy, but who knows?

I will be discussing the derivatives and debt/default credit swaps in coming posts, so stay tuned…  it’s going to get really interesting, but I will leave you with this little tidbit…

Warren Buffett said that he stay away from the derivatives market because he didn’t really have a good understanding of how it worked….

If Warren Buffett was afraid of the market and essentially said it was nonsensical, can you imagine the mess that sector is in?

What effect has this had on my political stance?

Now, more than ever before, this process has solidified my feet in the McCain/Palin camp.

Washington needs to be reformed.  The culture of pork and earmarks has to stop because it is exactly this sort of selfish shortsightedness that got us into the damned problem in the first place!!!

Only one person on either ticket had the judgement and foresight to predict this crisis…  John McCain.

Only one person has a career long record fighting against earmarks and pork…  John McCain.

Only two people have a reputation of fighting corruption in both the other party as well as their own…  John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Only two people have lived the words “Country First”…  John McCain and Sarah Palin.

McCain/Palin.  Country First.

The Reviews Are In: Palin Did Very Well – A Success!

An example from the Weekly Standard

The moment when Sarah Palin knew she was winning last night’s debate with her vice presidential opponent Joe Biden came after the subject had turned to nuclear weapons. Palin had talked about nukes as a deterrent and said it was important to keep them out of the hands of dictators who are enemies of America. Then she turned to moderator Gwen Ifill and asked, “Can we talk about Afghanistan real quick?”….

by that point in the debate–two-thirds the way through–Palin was brimming with self-confidence. She knew she could handle any issue likely to be thrown at her by Ifill. She knew Biden would not outmatch her. So she purposely tackled an issue on which he was expected to have an advantage.  He didn’t….

If that episode didn’t demoralize Biden, a senator from Delaware for 35 years, it should have.  For it showed she had passed the biggest test any vice presidential candidate faces–a test the media was ready to declare she’d failed. Was she capable of being vice president? Based on her debate performance, the answer was yes.

Not that she came close to matching Biden’s experience or extensive knowledge of issues, especially foreign policy issues. But she was conversant with every issue, domestic and foreign, that came up in the 90-minute debate and talked with seeming confidence about them….

For sure, she did one remarkable thing aside from handling Biden with ease. She undid the negative impression that had been created by her avoidance of most of the media and hardened when the two TV interviews went poorly.

Please be sure to read the rest of the article….  The point is…  that she did well.

And From WSJ

She killed. She had him at “Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?” She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy.

The whole debate was about Sarah Palin. She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry. They are for campaigners. She is a campaigner. Her syntax did not hold, but her magnetism did. At one point she literally winked at the nation.

As far as Mrs. Palin was concerned, Gwen Ifill was not there, and Joe Biden was not there. Sarah and the camera were there. This was classic “talk over the heads of the media straight to the people,” and it is a long time since I’ve seen it done so well, though so transparently. There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics. But it was an effective infomercial.

Joe Biden seems to have walked in thinking that she was an idiot and that he only had to patiently wait for this fact to reveal itself. This was a miscalculation. He showed great forbearance. Too much forbearance. She said of his intentions on Iraq, “Your plan is a white flag of surrender.” This deserved an indignant response, or at least a small bop on the head, from Mr. Biden, who has been for five years righter on Iraq than the Republican administration. He was instead mild….

My Thoughts On The VP Debate

The strategy and goal for Biden was to tie McCain to the status quo and all of the issues that engenders as well as tearing down John McCain.

The strategy and goal for Palin was to repair her image and re-assert her strong personality.

Biden was the consumate statesman, an elder Washington insider…  and yet a bit annoyed and angry at times.

Palin, on the other hand, came off very competent, knowledgeable and down to earth…  a breath of fresh air.

Biden did an ok job accomplishing his goal, not super though…  he got a bit stale and wonky at times…  lost the connection.  Biden’s best moment was at the end when he was talking about his kids.  That was THE connection moment.

Palin did a very good job accomplishing her goal.  Very good.  She pointed out that she was an outsider, and that she didn’t understand all the Washington doublespeak, was approachable and folksy, and all the while knew the names, places and policies.  Her best moment is when she was talking about talking to the American public without the filter of the mainstream media.  This was an essential statement because it brings into question all of the pundits opinions and the framing of all her interviews.  Great line.

In my opinion, this is a Palin win.  And a big one.