I just realized today that I’m a little bit thankful for Sarah Palin – she’s provided so much comic relief in this election... But I’ll be even more relieved if that “relief” ends after the election!!
Of course, if you missed Saturday Night Live, you have to see Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in the debate (she’s perfect!):
http://www.hulu.com/watch/37730/saturday-night-live-vp-debate-open-palin--biden
Here is Carl Bernstein’s take on the debate:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/03/what-the-palin-biden-debate-really-told-us/
Roger Ebert’s take on the theatrical nature of the debate – this is pretty good, insightful, and is in his area of expertise:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/10/you_didnt_ask_me_about_the_deb.html
The “Pit Bull” is back (thank goodness, but she’s still wrong for America):
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/rosen.debate/index.html
Why Some Women Hate Palin:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1846832,00.html
This is a funny article, but I think there are more and better reasons to loathe Palin, such as, oh, science that doesn't go beyond “The Flintstones,” her being against reproductive freedom paired with the whole rape kit thing, abstinence only education paired with pregnant teen daughter and not seeing how totally ridiculously stupid that makes you and more importantly, your position about it, look, foreign policy “expertise” based on “keepin’ an eye on Putin when he rears his head,” the apparent desire to ban books, the firing of people who disagree with her – oh I could go on and on, but I think I don’t have to. Then again, maybe I just hate her because she’s too pretty. Yeah, that’s it. Sarah “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” Palin, the biatch!
And a “lovely” song about Sarah Palin:
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2008/10/03/hey-sarah-palin/
(warning: maybe NSFW – has the F word in it twice, but otherwise quite pretty :)
(to the tune of “Hey There Delilah” if you recognize it but can’t think of it and it’s driving you crazy!)
And, back to the actual main candidates (maybe Palin is just to make everyone not focus on McCain...):
Republican Charles Krauthammer analyzes why Obama will win:
“he's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100203043_pf.html
He also criticizes him and raises questions and doubts, but explains why McCain is losing: one too many “Hail Mary passes.”
He uses party-line comments like the idea that Obama, after his “mocking retort that presidential candidates should be able to do "more than one thing at once," that “McCain might have pointed out that while he was trying to do two things, Obama was sitting on the sidelines doing one thing only: campaigning.” These people ignore the fact that we have telecommunications. Oh, yeah, that’s probably because McCain doesn’t know how to use email (I’ve heard he has an elaborate system of cans and strings, though).
All in all, coming from a staunch Republican, it’s encouraging!
Three Alarming Facts about John McCain Every Voter Should Know:
http://www.johnmccainrecord.com/
You can just scroll through to see all the sets of three (there are three facts each about Economy, Education, Energy & Environment, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Homeland Security, Iraq, Jobs, Lobbyists, Rural Issues, Seniors & Social Security, Taxes, and Women)
For those of you with grandparents in Florida (you know who you are) - if you aren’t going to take the Great Schlep as Sarah Silverman suggests, at least show this video to Nana and Buby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2VFRt5W4FM
(Israelis for Obama – it’s well made and inspiring – and a strong reminder that the world is watching, and most of the world is hoping for Obama to win: http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/ )
Let’s keep helping that electoral map turn blue!
http://my.barackobama.com/
Showing posts with label debate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debate. Show all posts
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Palin Debate Flowchart
This is SO perfect!!
Thanks to my friend Jenny for sending this to me!
I Googled it, and it started here:
http://adennak.com/blog/wordpress/?p=92
And has exploded – you can even get CafePress stuff with the flowchart on it:
http://www.cafepress.com/adennak
You may have seen the flowchart on any number of other web pages or blogs, but this is the original – stroke of genius!
That’s all for now – except to note that the npr.org politial map is turning blue!!
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/2008-election-map.html
YAY – let’s keep it that way!
Sign up at http://www.barackobama.com/ to find out about ways you can volunteer locally – you can be on phone banks (we even have two phone bank parties the next two weekends here in Bishop!) to call undecided voters in battleground states, help register voters, etc.
GObama! GOBAMA! GOBAMA!
Thanks to my friend Jenny for sending this to me!
I Googled it, and it started here:
http://adennak.com/blog/wordpress/?p=92
And has exploded – you can even get CafePress stuff with the flowchart on it:
http://www.cafepress.com/adennak
You may have seen the flowchart on any number of other web pages or blogs, but this is the original – stroke of genius!
That’s all for now – except to note that the npr.org politial map is turning blue!!
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/2008-election-map.html
YAY – let’s keep it that way!
Sign up at http://www.barackobama.com/ to find out about ways you can volunteer locally – you can be on phone banks (we even have two phone bank parties the next two weekends here in Bishop!) to call undecided voters in battleground states, help register voters, etc.
GObama! GOBAMA! GOBAMA!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
This is Going to Be Fun! (I hope)
The VP debate – wow. So, on Twitter, lots of people had drinking games going on during the debate – like lehrershot, which was every time Jim Lehrer had to say “Senator, Senator, time...” or just different buzzwords. It sure made the debate more interesting watching it with the peanut gallery of Twitter comments floating in in real time in the background! I think a good drinking game (if you wanted to get really drunk, and seriously, who wouldn’t while watching Palin, right?) would be to take a drink any time a candidate ends a gerund (-ing word) with an “n” instead of a “g.” As in, “America needs fixin’!”
Now, here’s another way to make the next debate interactive: Let’s play Palin Bingo!!
http://gedblog.com/2008/09/29/lets-play-palin-vp-bingo/
Here’s some Fact Checking in advance:
Fact Checking Sarah Palin – from Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23140513/the_truth_about_sarah_palin/
And a cool way to help fact check the debate tonight – npr.org's Vox Politics blog is using Twitter (I get a LOT of my links from the people I follow on there) and getting the Twitterverse to help them fact check:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/politics/2008/10/help_us_factcheck_tonights_deb.html
A couple of one-liners:
Palindrones (n.pl.) A politician's run-on pronouncements, making almost as little sense forward as they would if repeated backward.
Palintology (n.) the study of dinosaur and human co-existence on the 6,000 year old planet earth.
Are we too cruel? Nah...
After watching all these painful “high cringe factor” videos of her clearly being out of her league, it’s easy to start to feel sorry for her, but don’t. She is a savvy politician, a governor of a state, and she knew what she was getting into – or at least she should have known that she didn’t know enough (as evidenced by her saying she didn’t really know what the VP did all day):
Stop the Palin Pity Party!
http://thanksbutnothanks.com/informed/the-sarah-palin-pity-party.shtml
It was nice to see Clinton out actually campaigning for Obama, and telling it like it is about the VP – this time, it’s more important than ever, since the president will be busy at home dealing with the economic crisis, for the VP to have a good solid understanding and experience with foreign policy, and Joe Biden is that person.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/bill_clinton_lays_out_strong_c.php
I leave you with an image of Putin rearing his head over Alaska – then we might value Palin’s foreign policy experience as the Pitbull (with lipstick) watchdog of America’s northern borders!
http://www.michaelberube.com/images/uploads/zzzputin.jpg
And... Okay, I was just kidding about “leaving you” - here’s a whole lot more besides the VP debate:
The other debate:
Roger Ebert crosses McCain off his dinner party list:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/COMMENTARY/809289997
(I don’t think I’d want to go to a dinner party with Roger Ebert, anyway, but he makes some good points!)
The Economy:
Dilbert, from 2002 – deja vu all over again?
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2002-07-24/
How to ask for $700 billion:
http://wondermark.blogspot.com/2008/09/447-wrong-way-to-ask-for-700-billion.html
Pelosi’s speech and at least one honest Republican:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220911.php
Here’s what George Soros says about it:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d68e10cc-8f45-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
And Warren Buffet calls this an “economic Pearl Harbor” - I wonder who we bomb this time?
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/02/warren-buffett-on-the-bailout-plan-and-our-future/
Maggie’s random thoughts and opinions on the economy:
(Full disclosure: I have no idea what I’m talking about. But I’m not alone in that.)
This whole thing is very unsettling – I’m mostly pure liberal, but have enough of a Libertarian sympathizer side (yeah, I read Ayn Rand – so what? Ha) to hate the idea of too much government intervention, but I’m also enough of a realist to believe that we do need regulation and can’t “let the fox watch the henhouse” as the saying goes. I think a completely free market is way too idealistic, and the idea that we have a “free market economy” is as much a myth as the agrarian ideal or suburban utopia – we have a capitalist economy, which is different.
Here’s an interesting perspective I found in a forum from September 10th after the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac thing (the author is British history professor and author, John Simkin):
So maybe now, we have to figure out what is “sensible” in order to "save capitalism from socialism" (and our economy from the crapper, I might add).
Here is a really interesting discussion about it started by the same author:
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=13510&st=0&p=155337&#entry155337
He states, at the end of his post:
This is all very thought-provoking stuff! With systems so large and complex, it is very difficult to operate from ideology, as we are seeing with the sudden surge of Republicans now for regulation instead of against it on principle.
Personally, I think I like the idea of social democracy (oops, my “libertarian side” just died, I think - ha)... [NOTE: that is ME, not Obama, talking - Obama's plan is basic, traditional, progressive taxation, NOT socialism in any way, shape or form, so shut up any right wing nut-jobs that might read something into this on my personal opinion blog!]
So, what do YOU think? (Does anyone who isn’t paid to do so actually have the time to think about something this complex? I mean, even the people who ARE getting paid to think about it seem to resort to sound bites like “Wall Street Fat Cats” to talk about it.)
Have fun watchin’ the debates about fixin’ America!
Maggie
Now, here’s another way to make the next debate interactive: Let’s play Palin Bingo!!
http://gedblog.com/2008/09/29/lets-play-palin-vp-bingo/
Here’s some Fact Checking in advance:
Fact Checking Sarah Palin – from Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23140513/the_truth_about_sarah_palin/
And a cool way to help fact check the debate tonight – npr.org's Vox Politics blog is using Twitter (I get a LOT of my links from the people I follow on there) and getting the Twitterverse to help them fact check:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/politics/2008/10/help_us_factcheck_tonights_deb.html
A couple of one-liners:
Palindrones (n.pl.) A politician's run-on pronouncements, making almost as little sense forward as they would if repeated backward.
Palintology (n.) the study of dinosaur and human co-existence on the 6,000 year old planet earth.
Are we too cruel? Nah...
After watching all these painful “high cringe factor” videos of her clearly being out of her league, it’s easy to start to feel sorry for her, but don’t. She is a savvy politician, a governor of a state, and she knew what she was getting into – or at least she should have known that she didn’t know enough (as evidenced by her saying she didn’t really know what the VP did all day):
Stop the Palin Pity Party!
http://thanksbutnothanks.com/informed/the-sarah-palin-pity-party.shtml
It was nice to see Clinton out actually campaigning for Obama, and telling it like it is about the VP – this time, it’s more important than ever, since the president will be busy at home dealing with the economic crisis, for the VP to have a good solid understanding and experience with foreign policy, and Joe Biden is that person.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/bill_clinton_lays_out_strong_c.php
I leave you with an image of Putin rearing his head over Alaska – then we might value Palin’s foreign policy experience as the Pitbull (with lipstick) watchdog of America’s northern borders!
http://www.michaelberube.com/images/uploads/zzzputin.jpg
And... Okay, I was just kidding about “leaving you” - here’s a whole lot more besides the VP debate:
The other debate:
Roger Ebert crosses McCain off his dinner party list:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/COMMENTARY/809289997
(I don’t think I’d want to go to a dinner party with Roger Ebert, anyway, but he makes some good points!)
The Economy:
Dilbert, from 2002 – deja vu all over again?
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2002-07-24/
How to ask for $700 billion:
http://wondermark.blogspot.com/2008/09/447-wrong-way-to-ask-for-700-billion.html
Pelosi’s speech and at least one honest Republican:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220911.php
Here’s what George Soros says about it:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d68e10cc-8f45-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
And Warren Buffet calls this an “economic Pearl Harbor” - I wonder who we bomb this time?
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/02/warren-buffett-on-the-bailout-plan-and-our-future/
Maggie’s random thoughts and opinions on the economy:
(Full disclosure: I have no idea what I’m talking about. But I’m not alone in that.)
This whole thing is very unsettling – I’m mostly pure liberal, but have enough of a Libertarian sympathizer side (yeah, I read Ayn Rand – so what? Ha) to hate the idea of too much government intervention, but I’m also enough of a realist to believe that we do need regulation and can’t “let the fox watch the henhouse” as the saying goes. I think a completely free market is way too idealistic, and the idea that we have a “free market economy” is as much a myth as the agrarian ideal or suburban utopia – we have a capitalist economy, which is different.
Here’s an interesting perspective I found in a forum from September 10th after the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac thing (the author is British history professor and author, John Simkin):
“Karl Marx argued that the inherent contradictions in free-market capitalism would eventually result in a collapse in the economic system and would be replaced with a more rational system of socialism.
In the late 1920s the economist John Maynard Keynes pointed out that Marx’s predictions would not come true as the inherent contradictions in capitalism could be dealt with by sensible government intervention in the economy.
In the 1930s two very different politicians dealt with the economic depression by the use of Keynes’ economic ideas: Adolf Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hitler was rightly described as a fascist whose main intention was to save the capitalist system. Roosevelt was incorrectly called a socialist. In fact, he did more than anyone to save capitalism from socialism.”
So maybe now, we have to figure out what is “sensible” in order to "save capitalism from socialism" (and our economy from the crapper, I might add).
Here is a really interesting discussion about it started by the same author:
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=13510&st=0&p=155337&#entry155337
He states, at the end of his post:
“The current crisis in the US does not mean the end of capitalism. However, it is the end of one type of capitalism, the financial laissez-faire system developed by right-wing forces in the western world. What we are seeing at the moment in the US is an attempt to move towards a government interventionist capitalism. This is a difficult process when you have to rely on ideologically driven politicians who do not have a basic understanding of how the economic system works.
The new super-power will be China. It has developed a state capitalist model that overcomes the economic contradictions highlighted by Karl Marx. This state capitalist model will survive for many years. In time, the western world will try to adopt this model. However, it is unlikely to be successful because of the resistance of its people. It will be the resistance of the masses in China and those in its empire that will finally bring down the state capitalist model. Then, hopefully, we will progress to a fully democratic socialist economic system.”
This is all very thought-provoking stuff! With systems so large and complex, it is very difficult to operate from ideology, as we are seeing with the sudden surge of Republicans now for regulation instead of against it on principle.
Personally, I think I like the idea of social democracy (oops, my “libertarian side” just died, I think - ha)... [NOTE: that is ME, not Obama, talking - Obama's plan is basic, traditional, progressive taxation, NOT socialism in any way, shape or form, so shut up any right wing nut-jobs that might read something into this on my personal opinion blog!]
So, what do YOU think? (Does anyone who isn’t paid to do so actually have the time to think about something this complex? I mean, even the people who ARE getting paid to think about it seem to resort to sound bites like “Wall Street Fat Cats” to talk about it.)
Have fun watchin’ the debates about fixin’ America!
Maggie
Sunday, September 28, 2008
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:
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
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
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
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
Friday, September 26, 2008
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!
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:
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
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?!)
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 = 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.
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?!)
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