More On Palin, Debates, and Science

Moron, er, I mean, More On Palin:

So I watched Fareed Zakaria interview the Premier of China on CNN-GPS today – it was an amazing interview. I had not been familiar with Fareed Zakaria before – he is the guy who wrote the cover story in October 2001 called “Why They Hate Us” in Newsweek. He is a really smart guy, to say the least - http://fareedzakaria.com/about.html

He has an article in Newsweek now, entitled “Palin Is Ready? Please.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/161204/page/1
And a previous article on the differing world views of McCain and Obama, called, “The World Isn't So Dark”:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/158764?tid=relatedcl (Zakaria again)

You know when there are so many stories like these about Palin in mainstream media, like the LA Times and Newsweek, and especially the National Review, that Palin is in trouble. I mean, I love the Huffington Post and Daily KOS and all that, but, hey, those ARE the “liberal media”! :)

And more on the Debate topics:

McCain’s Bizarre Earmark Obsession:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9908

I think all the drummed up outrage against earmarks is just a distraction. Earmarks are the way states and local governments can currently fund things that aren’t big enough for an entire bill all their own – it’s just how things are done in Washington these days. Reform, making it easier to have smaller funding requests not stuck in larger bills in earmarks, sounds like a good idea, because no one is saying the earmark system is a ~good~ system, but it IS the system that is in use now, and it works to get funding for things like research (McCain’s Grizzly Bear DNA example – that was NPS and I know a guy who participated in the study, collecting Griz scat! It was an important tool for wildlife managers to know how many grizzlies they had and what their territories were, etc.) and Planetariums (another one that McCain railed against Obama for – I happen to agree with Phil Plait, the “Bad Astronomer,” that planetariums are pretty darn important for public education and research and their benefits spread far beyond their local areas: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/09/15/john-mccain-literally-antiscience/ )

Speaking of Science:

“61 Nobel Laureates have officially endorsed Obama for President. That’s more than have ever endorsed a candidate before. I don’t know if it’s Obama’s pro-science stance or the fact that McCain’s VP pick is so antiscience, wanting to teach creationism in the classroom and denying human-induced global warming (even when McCain admits as much). Either way, it’s remarkable.”

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/09/27/obama-nasa-and-nobels/


I’m becoming a serious news junkie. I’ll really try to limit my group emails to one a day from now on, if I can help myself! I don’t want to be a spammer!

Maggie

This Just In...

McCain's campaign may self-destruct all on its own... And more comments on the debate

If you haven’t seen it, in addition to George Will, other conservatives are highly critical of McCain, mainly his choice of Palin, and they seem to be smart enough to see that she is completely out of her league and realize that would be a BAD thing for the country.

It’s so easy to get blinded by your own ideals – by the things we ~want~ to be true, that I have admiration for people who can see the truth about their own candidates.

LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-palin28-2008sep28,0,3440078.story

The National Review (that bastion of the liberal media – ha): “Palin Problem: She’s out of her league.”
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDZiMDhjYTU1NmI5Y2MwZjg2MWNiMWMyYTUxZDkwNTE=


And of course, omg, SNL!!! Tina Fey was brilliant, and she DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO CHANGE WHAT PALIN SAID!!!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/36863/saturday-night-live-couric--palin-open

(You can pick your own video of Palin to compare: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=palin+couric&search_type=&aq=f )

Debatable Thoughts:

A lot of liberals I know are commenting that they wish Obama hadn’t said so much how he agreed with McCain, or how McCain was absolutely right on certain points, but I think that was a very smart move, and a good sign, for a couple reasons:

Obama was playing to the undecided voters and those who weren’t comfortable with him. He showed, by giving credit and agreeing, that he can work with Republicans, that he is not some outrageous scary guy with nothing in common with other politicians (though, I know some of us would like to think he doesn’t have much in common with them – ha). By playing to the undecideds I believe Obama gained votes, or lessened fears, both steps in a positive direction. McCain, on the other hand, was playing to his base, and so probably didn’t gain any votes from the debate that weren’t already in the bag.

I think it also shows what Clinton spoke about this morning – that he is intelligent, adaptable, and can listen to other people’s ideas and incorporate them. Clinton commented that Obama’s proposed policies have gotten better and better as his campaign has gone on, which to me is a very strong positive – especially after 8 years of a president who, in the immortal words of Stephen Colbert, “thinks the same thing on Tuesday as he did on Sunday no matter WHAT happened on Monday”! One party, and especially one person, doesn’t have a corner on the good idea market, so it’s wonderful to have someone as a presidential candidate who can actually listen and recognize good ideas from his opponents.

What I think of when I think of what Obama’s presidency might look like is Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” - some of the best and brightest who may also challenge Obama’s ideas and help him become even better.

That’s all for now...

Except:

Thanks for giving me an outlet to share my thoughts and news/humor bits I find enlightening, thought-provoking and entertaining. Most folks have replied saying “keep it coming” - but if it’s too much or you already see enough political stuff, please let me know and I’ll take you off my “liberal friends” mailing list! :) Conversely, if you know of other friends who’d like to be included, let me know – I tried to only put people on the list who I was pretty sure would enjoy/appreciate/have time for the emails, but I could easily have missed some!

Keep up all the good work out there people. I know some of you have been on the phones for Obama – here’s a funny blog post from a guy who did that and his experience – I call it “A Democratic Angel gets his wings” :)
http://tj.tntluoma.com/tales/sporadic-democrats

On a more serious note - bailouts, economy, debates, oh my!

James K. Gailbraith with an interesting take on what we could do instead of a bail-out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092403033.html

The Devolution of McCain:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/26/the-palin-pick-the-devolution-of-mccain/
A thoughtful piece by a journalist who used to respect him: Carl Bernstein

And a great article on Energy Security:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/26/in-the-new-century-energy-security-is-national-security/
This is inspiring!

“Today, we are at a crossroads. We face a choice: our young men and women can either wear green fatigues overseas, or they can wear green hard hats at home. They can pick up weapons to destroy other countries, or they can pick up tools to rebuild and repower this one.”

The Debate:
Later – okay, I just watched the debate, and I have to say it:
OBAMA WINS!!!!!

(because he has a bracelet, too, dammit!)

Here is my take on the debates:
McCain:

• McCain = the Past
• Comforting, at times – experienced, yes, but as CBS reporter David Axelrod said, the debate was about the conflicts we have now, not the conflicts we had 20 years ago. Yeah!!
• McCain evoked the avuncular warmth of Reagan, but it felt fake. Comforting, but fake.
• McCain would freeze spending. Is that like “Suspending the Economy”?

Obama:

• Obama = the Future
• Real Change, Hope, and even Dreams.
• Obama would INVEST in the future. Smart choice.
• Obama can be challenging, but that is growth. We need to GROW and move forward as a nation, not backward.

The Economy:
So who’s to blame for the economy? A heck of a lot of people. Move on. What to do about it is the question.
Good, thoughtful series of posts on this:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/09/who_can_i_blame.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/09/really_everyone_is_to_blame.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/09/blame_bush.html

Foreign Policy:
And what about Talking with Iran? (and McCain’s “close personal friend” Henry Kissinger):
http://www.npr.org/blogs/politics/2008/09/talking_to_iran.html


And Health Care?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

“Talk about a shock to the system. Has anyone bothered to notice the radical changes that John McCain and Sarah Palin are planning for the nation’s health insurance system?

These are changes that will set in motion nothing less than the dismantling of the employer-based coverage that protects most American families.

A study coming out Tuesday from scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Purdue and Michigan projects that 20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it under the McCain plan.”

Patriotism:

I’m feeling patriotic, now, people! Join me for a rousing rendition of our national anthem!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er8qSz0RuRg

(ps – did anyone notice that McCain wasn’t wearing a flag lapel pin? WHY must he poop on our patriotism?!)

I thought of it first!

So, I guess I wasn’t the only one that noticed the similarities!! Hahaha
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=WLhVGDy-ZXc

Sarah Palin in the hot seat, George Will, suspension of democracy, and sh*t cake...

Wow – doesn’t she sound like someone who has been faking it successfully for a while and suddenly realizes she’s way over her head?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbg6hF0nShQ

And this one with transcripts: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/25/palin-takes-questions-from-press-corps-for-first-time/
She reminds me of Miss Teen USA 2007 South Carolina here...
(In case you missed that one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww)

Here’s what George Will is saying about McCain – George Will is a conservative with a brain. I wish there were more conservatives I could “respectfully disagree” with rather than just be amazed at the stupidity or hubris of their positions! I can count them on one hand, and most aren’t considered truly conservative any more in the days of the neo cons.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202583_pf.html

McCain suspends democracy:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/25/mccain-suspends-democracy/

And the BEST ever Jon Stewart, oh how I love that man!
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Daily_Show_Bush_failures_could_make_0924.html
It’s all about the legacy...

And... Just for more fun, a McCain ad (from their official website) targeting wrestling fans!! Omg...
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Multimedia/Player.aspx?guid=fa6ef3fa-d912-461d-af6b-945581f0acb8

There’s just too much material here, and it keeps pouring in...

The 12 Lies of Sarah Palin ... Plus Chris Rock :)

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/the-twelve-odd.html

By Andrew Sullivan
(Author of The Conservative Soul: How We’ve Lost It, How to Get it Back)

And some insightful commentary from... Chris Rock!

http://gawker.com/5053486/chris-rock-to-bill-clinton-hillary-lost

I like the quote about Alaska - “It’s like the Road Warrior with snow”! It kind of is, too – ha!

Also, am I the only one who thinks we need Hillary to get out there and fervently, loudly, and visibly campaign for Obama? To talk to her supporters who are now supporting Palin and tell them they are idiots? How could anyone who supported Hillary Clinton now support Palin? What are you, voting for genitals? Hilary needs to tell her supporters that Obama is a better candidate for women – by FAR.

Yes, it would be nice to have a woman in the white house, but as Gloria Steinem said very well, this is the Wrong Woman, Wrong Message!
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,7915118.story

What President Bartlet would say to Obama

This is awesome – I never watched West Wing (I think I saw one or two episodes, but not enough to remember), but this is what West Wing creator, Aaron Sorkin, wrote about a fictional meeting between his show’s president and Obama:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html

Here’s the RSS feed (not as fancy, but I think you can see it without having to sign up, if you don’t want to have to do that):

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

I have several favorite parts – what are yours?

Obama and The Palin Effect (Deepak Chopra)

Hey peeps – I just started sending out some choice bits to y’all as I come across them – if you are getting too much political email already, or aren’t interested, just let me know and I’ll take you off my “liberal friends” list (but not off my list of friends!) :) I don’t usually forward too much, but this is the second one today, so I thought I should add this disclaimer!


Obama and The Palin Effect From: Deepak Chopra | Posted: Friday, September 5th, 2008
http://www.chopra.com/node/1064
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/obama-and-the-palin-effec_b_123943.html

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent [negligible?] parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.)

I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:

• Small town values -- a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
• Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.
• Family values --a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be heeded.
• Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
• Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.
• "Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal- radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism , however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.

Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow -- we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

McCain and the Lying Game

This needs to be spread – it’s very good.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842030,00.html

AND... Obama is now ahead in the polls by 3 points, according to CNN – w00t!!!!!

OBAMA!! OBAMA!! GObama!!!!

Annie Lamott on Palin

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/09/16/anne_lamott/

I’d be Smoke Strapon Palin. I couldn’t make that up.

:)

I'm a little confused

I'm a little confused.

Let me see if I have this straight... If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'

Grow up in Alaska killing and eating moose, you're a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

But if you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive (and according to the actuarial tables, you have a greater than 30% chance of succeeding the president during your first term).

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, left your severely handicapped wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school systems while your un-wed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family values don't represent America's.

If your husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now! Whew!!! ........I was worried there for a minute.

Palin the Book Banner?

A friend forwarded me an email with a long list of books "Palin had tried to have banned." I wanted to believe it, but it looked a little too "good" to be true, so I checked it out, and, sure enough, it was a hoax. Here is the letter I wrote back to my friend. In a nutshell, we don't need hoaxes or exaggerations - the truth is powerful enough to make our case.

Sorry – this is not true:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/sarahpalin/a/banned_books.htm

Here’s an article – she did ask the librarian if she would remove objectionable books if asked, but didn’t ask for specific books to be banned. The librarian said absolutely not. Later Palin tried to fire the librarian. That’s enough, in my mind, along with the other “loyalty tests” - ick. She’s evil. EEEEEEEEEEvil.

I hate her stupid anti-science creationist anti-reproductive freedom guts, but don’t want to pass on false info about her – I think there are plenty of true things that are against her already.

Of course you’ve read the Anne Kilkenny letter, who some Republicans are now trying to say is not even a real person. Looks like she is. And more power to her!!
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_anne_kilkenny_on_palin.htm

I love this Gloria Steinem op-ed piece in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,7915118.story
There were a couple others on latimes – let me see if I can find them...
Here’s a good one, about her “independent spirit” - as an Alaskan Secessionist!
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,3731150.column

And, Andrew Sullivan, one of the conservatives I still have respect for, wrote this:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/email-of-the--1.html

And this is a good article about her speech:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=palins_speech
Good comments, too.

And I love this science article that quickly becomes an anti-Palin piece:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ratcliffe/?p=362

And of course, omg, Jon Stewart, HOW I love thee!!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card
(and he has so much more – maybe I’ll change my Facebook religion to Stewartist – he is god!!)
Here’s another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vm0P4LmHHM&NR=1

Maggie

Update - It turns out that while she did not try to get any specific books banned as mayor, she may have while on the city council.