Sister Sarah

The "choice" of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate certainly had the effect of capturing a news cycle, but not in quite the way Senator McCain may have hoped for. Comments from observers ranged from "bold" to "a Hail Sara pass", many analysts suggesting that McCain was so cowed by the success of the Democratic Convention that he felt driven to make his choice of Vice President an unusually bold and attention-getting one. In that he succeeded. What he also seems to have done is leave many of his allies open-mouthed and unable to find anything coherent to say, since they did not know anything about her. The days when a "Dark Horse" candidate could be seen as a bold move probably went out during the second term of Teddy Roosevelt. The cautionary example of Thomas Eagleton, a first-term Senator chosen at the last minute as his running mate by George McGoven in 1972, should serve as a modern-day cautionary tale as to the pitfalls of tapping an attractive young political one does not know very well.

In Eagleton's case it was a prior history of mental illness and electro-shock therapy. In case anyone imagines that no candidate would think to leave out damaging information during the vetting process for them to be considered as a Vice Presidential running mate I have but two words. John Edwards. Edwards choice of mistress was a lady of erratic temperament that he did not know prior to the campaign. Nor did she conveniently have a cooperative husband, something that proved to be so helpful when Prince Charles needed a romantic outlet. Edwards imagined that he could cat around a bit and there would be no consequences. And that sort of illusion seems to be common among political figures. Most of the time they probably do get away with it, but when they aspire to be President or Vice President the level and intensity of public and press scrutiny soars. Old friends and enemies who had elected to keep quiet about an individual's past misdeeds suddenly have an attack of public citizenship, in some cases with a substantial financial reward from journalistic icons like The National Enquirer, who freely admit that they pay rather generously for a really juicy story. How generously? Try a hundred to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and even more on occasion. Have you ever been to Alaska? I can promise you, as lovely an area as it is, many Alaskans would sell their grandmother for a hundred grand and try to cut a side deal for granddad at the same time.

As best anyone is able to determine, John McCain met Governor Sarah Palin "once or twice" prior to selecting her to be his running mate. Political figures in Alaska were stunned at her pick, noting that no one in Alaska had been interviewed about her in advance. It would also appear that no one in the McCain campaign even bothered to do a search on Google.

Perhaps McCain was just so impressed by Palin's appearance in Vogue Magazine's "The Governor Issue" he has seen and heard all that he needed to know? I mean, when you compare a hottie like this with Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney or Joe Lieberman? Is there seriously any comparison?

Seriously, at a time when our country has two ongoing wars in progress, neither with a clear path toward resolution by any measure, commitments that are straining our military forces and bleeding our treasury by $12 Billion dollars a month, economic woes, a budget deficit that has swollen to $600 Billion for 2009 and with our international standing at an all-time low, the choice of a running mate can only call for one thing: a hottie. Seriously, my friends, this is a time when Americans have turned into a nation of whiners because they are losing their homes, their jobs, their savings, their ability to pay their bills and feed their families. It is a time of malaise, when something dramatic is needed to lift Americans' spirits. The answer? Vice President Hottie! And that pesky stuff about abuse of power? Heck, Americans have never cared about THAT stuff. They want a Vice President who knows how to shoot a moose! If Sarah Palin had been hunting with that attorney in Texas, she wouldn't have just wounded him, she'd have finished him off with one shot! That's the decisive approach Americans are crying out for.

And that story about Palin not actually being the mother of the child with Downs Syndrome, that actually being her oldest daughter's child? Pshaw, that's all a family thing. The American people and The National Enquirer would NEVER be interested in that story! Maybe so, but here's a hint. This photo was taken when Palin was supposed to be six months pregnant. Remember what I said about politicians imagining they can hide parts of their personal life and no one will find out? I give it until the end of September to all come unraveled. Maybe sooner. Looked at in one way, on that day our entire nation will have ducked a bullet, not just a fortunate moose. And as an example of John McCain's first Presidential decision I'm not sure he even warrants a grade. Instead it confirms the skepticism of all of his colleagues who believe he is not suited to the job. Oddly, one of Governor Palin's colleagues was so nonplussed at the news that McCain had selected her that all he could say was, "Well, I guess she is born in this country and is forty-four, so I guess she legally qualifies".

Among the ringing endorsements of history, that surely must be the most measured.

Arthur

Weekend Update - August 30th

• HAPPY 87TH BIRTHDAY TO UNCLE BOB! Damn, eighty-seven years old. And still kicking conservative, right-wing, religious, close-minded, bigoted, uncultured, red-necked, uncivilized ass. Gawdluvim! Wish him Happy Birthday at robtwins@comcast.net. Here's just a little portion of what's he's written of his exploits. Click here.


• Obama Outwits the Bloviators. Frank Rich comments.


• Fairandbalanced update, number one. Not sure this is a "swiftboat" kind of thing, but I want to include all deranged idiots, including Ralph Nader's Vice-Presidential nominee, into this debate. "I started looking into Obama’s voting record, and I’m afraid to say I’m not just uninspired: I’m downright fearful. Here's why:"


• Don't kid yourself folks, this race is not a sure thing. Our next president could actually become Sen. John McCain, (R-Idiot). In which case I will give up on politics, and spend the rest of my life gathering and injesting psychotropic vegetation from desert areas of the greater southwest. Promise.


• Sure it's tasteless humor. Right up our alley, right? With no apologies, McJesus, anyone?


• "My father had nothing. He and my mother sold everything they had to raise $10,000," she said. "I'm proud of what my dad and my mother did and what they built and left me. And I intend to carry their legacy as long as I can." Cindy McCain is pissed. And she's not gonna take it anymore.


• McCain has indicated that the GOP convention could be suspended because of Hurricane Gustav. Wow, heckofajobBrownie has a legacy.


• Joan Baez: I was Right 40 Years Ago, and I'm Right Now. Cool.

Three Good Reasons

1. Joe Biden is a large and apparently large-spirited guy who entered the Senate for the first time when he was 29 years old. Thirty-six years later he is still there, head of the Judiciary Committee and Foreign Relations Committee. One of the things a Vice President does is preside over the Senate, breaking ties by voting, generally mixing it up with the branch of Congress that has the right to filibuster, or to bargain by threatening to filibuster. If I ask myself who among the candidates for Vice President who I would like to see working the halls of Congress, I'd have to say Biden. He knows where all the skeletons are buried and he has the personal contacts to be able to work the building. Important? It could be critical, even if the Democrats are able to elect a filibuster-proof majority, since some of the Democrats from the South are fairly conservative. Being able to horse-trade will be essential. As MSNBC pointed out this morning it was Biden who was able to craft an accommodation with Jesse Helms to get the US to pay its back dues to the UN, in return for some flex on the part of the UN.

2. Joe Biden's wife Jill has a Doctorate and teaches at a Community College in Delaware. She reports herself as being increasingly horrified at the cost of a college education and the barriers that it places in the way of those who would like to get an education, but can't figure out any way to do it. I have watched our two boys, now starting their third and fourth years in college. I never anticipated the changes that I have seen in them each year. I guess I got some value out of college, but they are literally being transformed by the exposure. And with financial aid and not the most expensive colleges it is still costing us $50K out of pocket each year, which is often a real stretch, even with loans. I am willing to put ourselves through it because from experience I know that when a kid steps out of college (as I did) it is somewhere between hard and impossible to get back on a graduation track. I like that Biden's wife says she would make education her top priority and that she sees the costs of affording every American a top quality education should be viewed as a national crisis.

3. Biden saved us from Rudy Giuliani by saying that the only thing Rudy had to offer was "a noun, a verb and 9/11". When questioned about that he said the problem with Rudy is that he simply does not know much, as for example when he stated publicly that he did not know whether North Korea or Iran was a great nuclear threat. And then Biden laughed and sneered at how stupid that comment was. I think it is time for a little bit more calling-out, smacking down and sneering, when stupid and pointless things have been said in public.

After hearing the two men speak today I may find many more reasons to feel okay with Biden. I am interested to see the chemistry between the two. I am astounded to hear that Biden has commuted back and forth to Washington for thirty-six years. Is he nuts? or was there method in his madness? In either case, one suspects he will get the commuter vote.

I also think he will help Obama in the 65 and older demographic, where Obama has been weaker against McCain. It may be possible that Biden would be perceived in that group as something akin to an elder-stud. Someone who understands their world.

Arthur

Weekend Update - August 23rd

• And so Obama picks the best man, Joe Biden, for his Vice-Presidential running mate. Bill Nichols from Politico.com explains why he too thinks Biden is the best pick.


• "Like baseball players, political people are superstitious. In the Democratic imagination, August is the month when Republican presidential candidates destroy their opponents with clever, underhanded attacks that meet with ineffectual responses." E.J. Dionne assures us that the worst of August is over.


• I'm not quite sure what to make of this website, but it's interesting: VietNam Veterans Against John "Songbird" McCain.


• How many houses do YOU have? And he calls Barak Obama an elitist. A nine-car motorcade took McCain to a nearby Starbucks early yesterday morning, where he ordered a large cappuccino. Nine cars? By the way, at last count McCain owns 10 houses.


• We've been highly suspicious of those T. Boone Pickens' so-called "Clean Energy Plan" that have been running for several weeks on the TV. Come to find out we had every reason to be suspicious.


• Phillip Butler says "I spent years as a POW with John McCain, and his finger should not be near the red button."


• Russia and Georgia clash, Conservatives start rattling sabers, the Cold War is dusted off, and yep, you guessed it: There's MONEY to be made here!

The Irony Of It All

I am no huge fan of Andrew Sullivan. He is a bit too creepy for me. But every once in a while he makes an intelligent point, this being one of them.

It does seem to me that one cannot wrap ones self in the flag and talk about his heartless Vietnamese guards on the one hand, to elicit sympathy, while on the other hand giving a wink and a nod to a President and Vice President who seem to have an unhealthy interest in and sympathy for torture. The color and ethnic background of those who are to be tortured ought to not be relevant. Torture is either unacceptable and a war crime, or not, regardless of the race, sex, age or national origin of the victim. It cannot be more horrific to torture a well-bred American than it can be to torture an illiterate Arab or dirt-poor African.

And yet, our current administration seems to find a host of reasons, improbable as they may be, why we ought to be able to torture, sometimes to death, pretty much anyone we decide to. Please note that the Chinese have followed that moral compass for many decades, but should they be our teachers, our mentors? Is that the level of morality we aspire to as Americans? How is it that Republicans can claim high ground on "values" and "morality" on the one hand, and behave as homicidal thugs on the other, in the name of our government? Not in my name, not in the name of my government.

I have friends who were tortured, both in Indian, Chinese and Tibetan prisons. They survived, but showed the scars of the experience. Blood clots that need to be drained periodically in one case, shoulder problems, no teeth, nervous disorders. That other nations have and continue to torture their citizens and those of other nations is not the point. There is good evidence that torture has more value as perverted entertainment for the guards, than as a means of gaining good information. Getting good information takes more work, more intelligence, and more often kindness than the opposite. I am afraid my impression of our current administration is that our President and Vice President appear to enjoy the idea of inflicting pain on defenseless prisoners. Those in other countries can see that, why is that so hard for our own people and our own press to grasp? Are we, as a people, so traumatized by the September 11th attack that we are still in the grips of a national psychosis?

I am in hopes that we can recover. So is the rest of the world. They miss our moral leadership.

Arthur

McCain, Fired Up And (A Bit Too) Ready To Go

If a serious part of this election campaign is going to be about "character" we may have seen an important illustration of the differences between the two candidates this Saturday at the Saddleback Church "Forum on Faith". It was interesting theater and I salute Senator Obama for being willing to step into a setting where a conservative estimate suggested the audience was inclined toward McCain by a ratio of at least two to one. Further, though tickets were meant to be available to the general public the Church members were given first crack at them, with ticket prices ranging from $500 to $2,000, and the congregation stepped up and bought them all out. Then something interesting happened and how this event will play itself out is yet to be seen. One unscripted moment for McCain seemed to be his musing over what made a person rich in America. He suggested that a yearly income of Five Million dollars perhaps should be the criteria. Five Million A YEAR? And anything below that is middle-class and upper middle-class one presumes? Boy have I been living in a bubble! I am headed out right now to apply for food stamps.

Watching McCain's performance at the Forum on Faith I was struck that McCain started out slowly, bashfully saying he hoped the questions would not be too hard, then seemed to catch fire and race on ahead as though... well, as though he had practiced. The issue of whether McCain's entourage had arrived at the facility before it began, in order for McCain to be put into quarantine as Warren said had been done, is not the issue. What struck me when I watched McCain is that it appeared likely that McCain had the actual questions slipped to him some days in advance, and had been conducting practice sessions. There were two telling points where McCain became overly eager and rushed ahead to give answers before the questions had been asked, to the obvious surprise and confusion of Rick Warren. Unless we are to assume that McCain has undisclosed skills as a mind-reader I am afraid it is more reasonable to assume that a sympathetic aide to Warren, without Warren's knowledge, took it upon himself to give McCain the written questions some days in advance, a courtesy that did not appear to be extended to Obama. If McCain had spoken first that would have been less obvious, but since Obama did so the contrast was quite striking. McCain on the stump, when asked a question from the audience, does not give the instant and concise answers that he had at the ready at the Forum. It was telling to watch Cindy McCain's expression, which struck me as one of surprised delight. To my mind that was a clear sign that to the extent the fix was in, Cindy was not aware of it and was pleasantly surprised and slightly stunned by McCain's performance.

If this is the case, and Warren is a bright enough man to also figure out whether his questions leaked in advance, there is likely to be a good deal of soul searching and internal discussion at Saddleback this week. Warren should have a very clear idea who had access to his questions and who did not, so there will not be a long list of people he will need to have that talk with. Then Warren will be faced with a moral dilemma. Clearly he likes McCain, both personally and for some of his positions, but balancing that will be Warren's responsibility as Pastor to his large Congregation. What should he make of a candidate who appears to have seen a copy of the test in advance, and chose to use it on exam day? In military academies that would be grounds for dismissal. Is this an issue of less moment than the honor of a midshipman or a cadet at exam time? What does this tell the American people about the candidate? If Warren discovers the questions slipped out to one candidate, and elects to suppress that information, what does that tell us about Warren? I would not care to be in Warren's shoes this week. He reached for the sky and grabbed on to a hurricane. The issue is explosive enough to at least do some damage to McCain's chance to be President. Warren can hardly relish being placed in the middle of an issue of such importance. Imagine how he must feel about McCain helping to put him in that spot? If I were him, I would be furious at being set up in that manner. If there was ever a time for Warren to pray for guidance, this is it. All I can say is, for those to whom much is given, much is asked.

The entire issue could have been avoided if McCain was less eager, less inclined to charge ahead, less inclined in some ways to show off how well he could answer the questions without even stopping to think about them. Incisive, quick, concise? Yes, maybe, but also so strikingly at variance with his recent and more rambling performances that the contrast was inescapable and questions are inevitable. The implications are troubling. In life we rarely are given the questions in advance. Trying to fool the American people is not nice.

Oh, and that heartstring-tugging story about the Vietnamese guard who drew a cross on the ground? In lengthy earlier accounts of his prison experiences McCain failed to mention that story and spoke of his guards as either brutal or homosexuals. The cross in the dirt story is strikingly like one in Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago".

I should note that when I hear right wing apologists leap to the defense of shysters who represent themselves as fighting for American Values by cobbling together lies and distortions to buttress their positions, that is invariably the path to political sleaze.

One act of dishonesty begets another.

Arthur

Dogs, Horses, and John Edwards

I am dog tired from work after being dog tired from work in Oregon. Those who assume that I live my life flitting from one tony soiree to another are badly mistaken.

Or maybe I am?

Edward's story is a sad and tawdry tale of love, aging, betrayal and desperate attempts to cover up a foolish blunder. One wonders what it is about borderline psycho women that men find them so deeply attractive.

Oddly, I've been able to stay faithful to my wife for 25 years, so I cannot tell you how deliciously creepy it must have been for Edwards to do something so self-destructive and oddly-stimulating. I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Edwards, but I can't see her using sex toys or whipped cream, and for John something as odd as that might have been his life's dream. Everyone has something that makes them act crazy, that odd bottle-blonde lady was his. Did you ever get a peek at the other woman in Prince Charles' bust up with Princess Di? Diana called her "horse face" but maybe Charles secretly had a thing for horses? Which of us can judge another? One might consider it but an alternative form of equestrianism. In the case of Edwards he may have gotten sick of having such a smart and highly-principled wife and secretly yearned for a truly deranged and not-so-bright bimbo. And what powerful men want they seem to invariably get.

Incidentally, I do not see John McCain as "powerful". I see him as "powerfully deluded" and I see a terrible train wreck about to happen. Winning by too much might be dangerous to the character of the Democratic Party, so I hope SOME Republicans win in their 2008 elections.

But Lordy do they have a lot of deadwood to clear out this year.

Arthur

Weekend Update - August 16th

• The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children. The archdiocese's Decree on Child Protection also prohibits bear hugs, lap-sitting and piggyback rides. But it says priests may still shake children's hands, pat them on the back and give high-fives. Here's the creepiest list you'll ever read, I promise. Of course, it's reported by Mark Morford.


• Ohmygawd. Welcome to the world we now live in, where PRAVDA calls the American President out for his "audacity." Hey, didn't we invent the phrase "shock and awe?" This is so embarrassing.


• In 2004, the false or unproven anti-Kerry charges -- probed rather belatedly by the media -- may have cost him the White House. This week, the press does not repeat that performance in covering a new anti-Obama broadside. Swiftboating, are we getting better, or are we just ashamed of ourselves?


• Ray McGovern writes a "Dear Colin" letter to Colin Powell. It's pretty good.


• Just when you began to think it couldn't get any more bizarre: Singer/Songwriter Jackson Browne Files Suit Against Republican Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain and the Republican Party for Copyright Infringement and False Endorsement. Someone get me a drink...


• Someone please explain to me the Right's pride in being ignorant. I understand rednecks and their pursuit of stupidity, but for an entire political party to base the future of America upon how uneducated our populace can be is frightening. It's been going on for an entire decade. It's the "dumbing down of America." And it's working.

Back At It Update

• One pill makes you larger, one pill makes you small.... Mark Morford reports on 9 of the best new drugs.


• Okay, let's get this over with. John Edwards obviously has had a bit of a pecker problem. Shame on him. And what's worse is he just took himself out of the picture for a role at the convention, let alone a shot at attorney general. Well, at least this gives our Conservative friends something to crow about. Lord knows they needed something. Click on Olbermann below left, for his take on this whole mess.


• From the lips of the man (John McCain, R-Idiot) who said we could be in Iraq for a hundred years: "Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations, withdraw all forces from the sovereign territory of Georgia."


• Paul Krugman: "The GOP is the Party for Fools." Pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?


• Greg Palast calls the McCain plan for nuclear power "Homer Simpson without the Donut."


• What happens when you lock up one in every one hundred Americans? We're there, baby. Welcome to the Age of Incarceration.


• Hey, fess up. Did you vote for Bush? Did you help put America's worse president ever into power? Time to make amends.
• Who knew they ripped out the White House bowling alley, and put in an "Interrogation Room?" Now we know where Cheney spends his weekends.