August 29, 2008
You might end up with your body ventilated—by her, by her husband, by her son. By me.
Just try not to do it, Boy, okay?
Via Flopping Aces, who has some delicious insight into how the hardcore Hillary people are reacting to the Palin pick. Some are suggesting that we be on the alert for overt sexism (which has not been difficult to find today, of course). Some are voting for the McCain-Palin ticket. Some are already sending money to The Party That Dare Not Speak Its Name.
Popcorn. I will need a lot more popcorn around here to watch all this unfold.
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Via a tweet that Hackbarth (see his analysis of Palinmania here) sent to Bluey, which I cleverly intercepted using this newfangled spy technology they call "Twitter."
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Come on: she's a mother. Does anyone remember which gender of bear you're supposed to look out for in grizzly country?
But Ace is right: she'll get more points for "grit" after she takes the razor wire to Biden.
His Aceness claims to be deducting "style points" for her "cuteness" and "sweetness," but it's impossible this time to tell whether he's joking. He acknowledges that there's real sexism going on out there in some of the reactions to Palin, but won't disclose for real whether or not he's sipping a little of that particular Kool-Aid. (At least, I can't suss it out. Does someone else have the "Moron Code Book"?)
She surprised me today. She was confident and unfazed, direct and sharp. I'm looking forward to being surprised further. But I guess I do need to be surprised further, as do many voters.Adorableness has its advantages, but it has its drawbacks too. She's got to show some real iron. And maybe cutting apart that soft-handed starched-shirt Joe Biden woud be a good start.
On a related note... Here's some sexist bias—some say women might be all in favor of women achieving great things in principle, but when it comes to specific women making concrete achievements, suddenly they're a bit lukewarm on the whole idea of sisterhood.
Jealousy and envy, I'm talking about. [We know, Ace: it's called "the Queen Bee syndrome," and every working woman has encountered it.—Ed.]
Is that real? Will this actually backfire and drive women away? [Maybe. One. Her initials are HRC, and she may actually, today, be contemplating voting for Barack Obama, for the very first time.—Ed.]
Attack Dog: Actually, a good start in dispelling the "too nice, too sweet" impression would be to play the role of the attack dog well. If she's thought of as being 25% a ball-breaker . . . well, win-win.
Burn on Barracuda: I wanted to google some of Palin's attacks against the Dems to remind myself of how well she did.
Allah has one, wrapping "fearmongering" on energy production around Joe Biden's pencil neck.
She has a sweetness to her as she "attacks." (Attacks in quotes, because of course what she's saying is both true and vitally relevant; but anytime a Republican notes a Democrat's votes or quotes it's an "attack," most often of the "intolerable and unacceptable" sort.)
I have to deduct style points, though, because that bubbly, sweet, gosh-darn sort of manner just doesn't seem serious or dour enough to me.
I know we've got that in spades from Mr. Warmth McCain, but still... I think she'll have to ease up on the sweetness and get a bit more grim.
On the plus side: Everything she says is right and informed. The only knock is the style one.
Yeah, well. Lady Thatcher made breakfast for her husband every goddamned day when she was P.M. But she seemed to acquit herself just fine on the job, despite the "handicap" of femininity.
Stacy Mac claims that some of the "morons" are genuinely conflicted about whether it's okay to ogle our next "vpilf," or quite possibly our next "cicilf." He suggests that they "go for it," but I suspect that the dudes doth protest too much, and . . . . what? Does anyone honestly think that they aren't already Googling "Sarah Palin naked"? Are you kidding me?
They just want to know whether they should feel guilty about doing it. You're up against biological imperatives, boys. Give yourselves a break.
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Via Memeorandum. By the way: if you're looking for news over there that doesn't have anything to do with Sarah Palin, be prepared to do some scrolling.
I still don't see the point in holding the election. I mean, that's like when one side says "checkmate," and the other person maintains that the game isn't won until they have physically seen their King taken off the board. It's a bit legalistic, if you ask me.
Though I guess in democracies we are supposed to go through the motions.
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See, this is why journos in the bag for Obama should await the royal talking points before opening their dullard yaps.CNNÂ’s John Roberts: Palin Too Young and Inexperienced:
During the 9 a.m. EDT hour of “CNN Newsroom,” “American Morning” co-anchor John Roberts gave an analysis of Governor Sarah Palin during discussion of Senator John McCain’s vice presidential choice. Roberts focused on Palin’s lack of experience, saying that a prerequisite for the vice presidency should be the ability to step right into the office, especially because of McCain’s age. Roberts stated [...] “she’s the youngest governor ever in Alaska’s history, and she’s the first woman. She’s only been in office for a couple of years now, which really raises the experience issue here.”Leave aside for the moment the dissonance of pretending to worry about Palin’s “inexperience” should she be forced (by the death of a fossilized McCain) into the Presidency when you haven’t offered the same argument for a man with even less executive experience getting the job outright; that probably has to do with her being “the first woman” governor or something equally patriarchal.
But in making this argument — that a 72-year old candidate is almost certain to kick while in office — what you have further done is begun alienating aging boomers who will soon be McCain’s age, questioning their worth and viability, throwing into doubt their general competence.
—Which means Roberts has managed to 1) highlight the inexperience of the Dem candidate for president by going after the inexperience of the Republican candidate for vice president; 2) has managed to make an implied argument that the inexperience of a woman is somehow more dangerous than the inexperience of a man, or a man of (half) color; and 3) has managed to make an ageist argument that could, at some level, get aging Dem Boomers to believe that their party thinks of them as prop voters, necessary for victory, but after that, to be set afloat on an ice chunk and allowed to drift off serenely into the great political beyond.
Add to that the calculus that many Hillary supporters will be thinking, “that should have been Hillary!” and what we have here is a perfect storm of identity politics for the Dems to try to steer their shiny yacht through safely.
Yup. Come on, People: Energy crisis. Conservation comes first, right? Call off the election. It's just a silly exercise at this point.
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And, yes: I've always thought Palin had the "naughty librarian" vibe down pat. Something to do with her choice of glasses, and the fact that she's so articulate, without, um, having to brag about her I.Q.
Thanks, Rusty!
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"I'm not the guy," he said.
And the last time he was interviewed, he reiterated some of the highlights of his resume.
A good soldier, Pawlenty: like Patton. And I'll bet he didn't enjoy it any more than Patton did the runup to D-Day, but the element of surprise is important in these matters.
Word has it that this morning, Palin's staffers still thought she was in Alaska, and that her own mother found out that she was the VP pick from watching television today. I actually believe those two reports: the more people who are in on a secret, the higher the risk.
But I think Pawlenty knew. "I'm not the guy." Nice little red herring, Dude. And you're a heck of a sport.
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•Sarah Palin used to wrestle kodiak bears in Alaskan bare knuckles fight clubs;
• Sarah Palin once bagged a caribou by staring it down until it died;
• Sarah Palin turned down a job as skipper of a Deadliest Catch boat because it wasnÂ’t challenging enough;
• Sarah Palin fishes salmon by convincing them itÂ’s in their interest to jump into the boat;
• Sarah Palin once guided SantaÂ’s sleigh through an Alaskan blizzard with the light from her smile.
Somehow, I feel like a hat tip to FrankJ is in order, and I'm not quite sure why . . .
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There are going to be so many crossover votes: both Palin and McCain have been willing to buck the GOP when they found it appropriate. And Palin comes from a union background—she's also gone up against the energy companies from time to time.
Despite out that, the hard-core social conservatives won't be able to help notice that her commitment to life included bearing a Down's Syndrome child.
This election is just about over.
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That would be Sarah Palin of:
• executive experience (however brief);
• youth and energy to balance McCain's age;
• first-hand knowledge of the importance of developing more domestic energy production;
• two—count 'em, two—X chromosomes.
Happy Friday, Barack. Hope you enjoyed yourself last night.
P.S. CalTech Girl informs me that Palin's nickname is "Barracuda." (And, yes: that's from her days as a hockey player.)
UPDATE: Morrissey has a great analysis over at Hot Air, which you must read at once. Money quote:
First, though, let’s assess the risk. Palin has served less than two years as Governor of Alaska, which tends to eat into the experience message on which McCain has relied thus far. At 44, she’s younger than Barack Obama by three years. She has served as a mayor and as the Ethics Commissioner on the state board regulating oil and naturalk gas, for a total of eight years political experience before her election as governor. That’s also less than Obama has, with seven years in the Illinois legislature and three in the US Senate.However, the nature of the experience couldn’t be more different. Palin spent her entire political career crusading against the political machine that rules Alaska — which exists in her own Republican party. She blew the whistle on the state GOP chair, who had abused his power on the same commission to conduct party business. Obama, in contrast, talked a great deal about reform in Chicago but never challenged the party machine, preferring to take an easy ride as a protegé of Richard Daley instead.
Palin has no formal foreign-policy experience, which puts her at a disadvantage to Joe Biden. However, in nineteen months as governor, she certainly has had more practical experience in diplomacy than Biden or Obama have ever seen. She runs the only American state bordered only by two foreign countries, one of which has increasingly grown hostile to the US again, Russia.
And let’s face it — Team Obama can hardly attack Palin for a lack of foreign-policy experience. Obama has none at all, and neither Obama or Biden have any executive experience. Palin has almost over seven years of executive experience.
Politically, this puts Obama in a very tough position. The Democrats had prepared to launch a full assault on McCainÂ’s running mate, but having Palin as a target creates one large headache. If they go after her like they went after Hillary Clinton, Obama risks alienating women all over again. If they donÂ’t go after her like they went after Hillary, he risks alienating Hillary supporters, who will see this as a sign of disrespect for Hillary.
So. We're bothering to hold the election this fall . . . why?
UPDATE 2: While the female side of the rightosphere exchanges high-fives, James Joyner seems underwhelmed:
WeÂ’ll see what the reaction turns out to be. IÂ’m certainly not the target audience. But McCainÂ’s first big decision is, in my mind, a truly awful one. Obama went traditional but steady in Biden. It wasnÂ’t a bold pick but it was one that butressed his claim that he has judgment even though he lacks experience. McCain has done the opposite here.
Joyner's usually dead-on right about this kind of thing. He happens to be wrong this time. I love Joyner: he's the guy who got me to accept McCain as our nominee, and why that choice wasn't the compromise I initially felt it to be, given McCain's real, heartfelt commitment to the War on Terror, which is the major challenge of our age.
Brilliant guy. Doesn't "get" it yet. But he will.
UPDATE 3: The announcement is being made right now; I'm listening live.
UPDATE 4: The Wall Street Journal:
A native of Idaho who grew up in Alaska hunting and fishing, Gov. Palin gained a reputation for political purity early on. In 2004, she resigned as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission over ethical grounds. Among her concerns: That Mr. Murkowski had appointed Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, to a seat on her commission while Mr. Ruedrich got to keep his partisan post. Mr. Ruedrich ended up resigning from the body after Gov. Palin, among others, disclosed he was conducting Republican business in his state job. Mr. Ruedrich said he had, and agreed to pay a $12,000 state fine."Someone has to take a stand and change some things," Gov. Palin said in an interview in June in her office in downtown Anchorage, which is adorned with Alaskan knick knacks including the skin of a brown bear killed by her father.
In 2006, when she was running to unseat Mr. Murkowski, Gov. Palin says she got a call from Ben Stevens, then president of the Republican-run Alaska Senate and son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, the powerful Alaska Republican. "He told me, 'You're not just running against Murkowski. You're running against me, my dad, the whole state Republican party'," Gov. Palin says.
The younger Mr. Stevens did not return calls for comment. He opted not to seek re-election after his was one of six legislative offices raided by federal agents in 2006. Four other state legislators have been sent to prison or are awaiting prosecution in the case, which has focused on bribery and other influence by oilfield contractor VECO Corp., whose chairman and a top lieutenant have pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges. Sen. Stevens, who handily won the Republican primary this week to face re-election in November, was indicted in the case and has pleaded not guilty.
In office, Gov. Palin -- whose husband, Todd, works as an oilfield worker and fisherman -- has set an earthier style than her predecessors. For one thing, she sold the private jet Mr. Murkowski used to get around Alaska, relying instead on commercial airlines and her family's Jetta and a state-issued black Suburban. "I love to drive," she says. She also waved off a security escort, driving herself to and from work every day from the Anchorage suburb of Wasilla, about 45 miles away.
I don't know if I mentioned that I'm a bit stoked about this babe.
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August 28, 2008
Congratulations, base. Governor Palin, your time will come.
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Via AllahP, who points out that if Obama attacks McCain tonight, he may well look "ungracious." If he's smart, he'd editing his speech a bit, as we speak.
There is a sort of warmth to McCain that one cannot deny, despite his temper, and his inability—at times—to suffer fools.
I don't see a note on this memo, however, that John McCain approved it. I'm sure he never saw it.
Anyway, it's a clever move.
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That makes a difference, you know.
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August 27, 2008
Via Ace, who clearly has a stronger stomach than I am: he's watching the Dem convention. Presumably, you know—so I don't have to.
If Obama can't even bear to hear the Hillary delegate counts, how is he going to manage an actual Presidency? I mean, that job is hard. It's really a ball-buster.
Ace, again, having too much fun:
Breaking; Negotiations Between Hill and Obama Have "Ceased;" Obama Now Merely Telling Hillary What's Going to HappenPossible Plan to Scrap Roll Call Entirely in Favor of Written Ballot (Which Woud Be Untelevised, and Perhaps Not Even at the Convention)
Alternate plan: Roll call begins tomorrow, but ends at 1:15. Then the call for unanimous acclimation of Obama.
Another plan: Each state reads its delegates' votes... but only Obama's numbers are mentioned. Hillary's delegate counts are omitted entirely. Thus, instead of saying "The Great State of Iowa casts (whatever) 44 votes for Hillary Clinton, and sixty-six votes for the next president of the United States, Barack Obama," they just say "Iowa casts sixty six votes for the next president of the United States, Barack Obama."
That's not how it traditionally works. At least I've always heard the vote-split way of announcing the delegate count.
On FoxNews now. Hill's Angels are getting pissed off.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bear in mind, this genius Obama is further annoying Hillary's delegates in the interests of "uniting the party."
And, from Salon, whose Rebecca Traister seems skeptical about just how many hard-core PUMAs* there really are out there:
"There is such a fear of women coming into power, that when they protest, they are given more weight," said Marie Wilson, head of the White House Project, before speaking as part of the Unconventional Women's programming, acknowledging the likelihood of protest. "Just the fact of women saying they support their candidate and want to make their voices heard sounds more scary than it would be if it were guys. That's just part of backlash. But come on. When women gather around a water fountain, men get scared. People oughta just chill."Wilson acknowledges that there will be residual tension at the convention. But she sees the discord as a positive thing, a perhaps painful step in the right direction. "Putting issues on the table" -- as opposed to keeping political frustrations pent up -- "is what is going to bring people together." Wilson believes that in the wake of Hillary's run, "we are in the middle of a revolution. Women are stepping up and taking power." She said her organization, which encourages women to seek elected office, has seen a 61 percent increase in participation in the past year.
A half-hour later, many of the same sentiments were echoed by a woman who sat behind me during Nancy Pelosi's presentation, which was taken over by Code Pink protesters. As the demonstrators shouted for peace, I heard a soft voice say, "Ask Pelosi why she asked Hillary to get out of the race." After the speech was over, I spoke to Pat, a 73-year-old retired teacher who declined to give her last name because her husband is a delegate.
"I'm not anxious to disrupt the convention," she said, adding that she plans to go to a pro-Hillary march on Tuesday, but that "if it gets rowdy, I'll step to the side. I consider that march a thank-you to Hillary for having not given up." Pat said she'll vote for Obama, but that she just wonders, after listening to Pelosi tell the crowd about how there should be more women seated around her at the White House table, "Why, why, why did she ask Clinton to leave the race? And why did she encourage superdelegates not to vote for her? That whole speech she just gave was about how women have to strive for power, but she used her own power to diminish and destroy Clinton's."
This was anger, no doubt about it. But it was reasonable, rational, thoughtful and politically sophisticated anger, not the "No-bama!" protests I would see later in the day. "The thing is," said Pat, "if Obama loses the election, don't think it won't be Hillary who's blamed." But, she said, she doesn't believe the convention will be badly disrupted by protest. "A roll call vote, that's traditional!" she said. "Dennis Kucinich got one, and Shirley Chisholm. I don't understand why it should be such a big deal."
Neither did Dana Kennedy, a 40-year-old Hillary delegate from Arizona who is one of the 300 signers of the petition to get the roll call vote for Hillary. "My hope is that in the first round of voting I get to vote for her, and in the second round, I will vote for Obama," said Kennedy. "A vote for Hillary is a vote for history and not against him."
*No, not a chick in her 30s who likes to date younger men, no matter what the Urban Dictionary would have you believe. A male or female who felt that the media were "in the can" for Obama, and feel distinctly cranky about it. The acronym stands for "Party Unity, My Ass."
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August 23, 2008
Th McCain people are pointing to some tiny little inconsistencies between what Biden used to think, and what he might be thinking now--having been offered the illusion of power.
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At first, the Obama team looked into major media buys in key battleground states. But with a campaign budget already strained by price increases in arugula and Hawaiian airfare, the impact was deemed to be minimal. Instead, they turned to a key campaign asset -- a dedicated cadre of young urban hipster douchebags willing to take Obama's message of change to America's small town streets and rural blacktops. An intensive eVite recruitment campaign on websites like the Daily Kos and Huffington Post yielded over 1,500 volunteers for the potentially dangerous mission."I couldn't be prouder of all of you wonderful young indy rock assholes," said Axlerod at a swearing-in ceremony at the campaign's official training center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "You represent our party's finest, the best of best -- you are our Douchebag Delta Force."
Highly motivated, and with skills ranging from post-modern gender theory to espresso cafe blackboard chalk art, the volunteers were eager to get to work on the campaign trail. But before deployment Obama officials insisted that all recruits undergo an intensive training regimen to prepare them for the rigors of life in Red Country.
"A lot of the plebe douchebags come in here full of swagger, thinking all it takes is a few hours of FM country music endurance training, and I have to tell them they have no idea what they're up against," says Ethan Dodge, a Seattle conceptual theater set designer and veteran douchebag of Obama's Iowa caucus campaign. "Believe me, I've been to Dubuque. I know."
Douchebag DI Dodge: "They don't what they're up against"To toughen up the recruits for the task ahead, Dodge and other drill instructors take a direct approach.
"We tell them straight up: we aren't your mommy or daddy or your au pair. There aren't any independent lesbian film festivals in Youngstown, and just because Iowa has a lot of farmers it doesn't mean they are going to see a lot of Sunday chill-out farmers' markets," says Voorhees. "After that shock wears off, we tell them about how the natives drink Pabst unironically."
"Sure, it scares some recruits off," admits Dodge. "But the ones who stay are much less likely to crack under the pressure of a two week isolation from American Apparel or Urban Outfitters."
If you don't RTWT, you have serious self-esteem issues.
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* Interesting contrast between Joyner and me—beyond the fact that he's a sellout, successful blogger whom people read, and I'm a "boutique blogger," only accessible to those with rarefied tastes and too much time on their hands: I use vulgarities quite often on this blog, whereas James' blog is G-rated. And yet, in conversation, James will out-vulgar me with something like a 4:1 ratio.
I hope it's okay that I said that. If it isn't, I never said it and my remark was taken quite out of context. In fact, if I wasn't supposed to say it, any reporting on my having said it constitutes Negativity. And stuff.
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I imagine the Obama campaign sitting around working on this: "Listen: there's one group we haven't yet alienated; our base—the die-hard (mostly male) hard-core Left. Can't we find someone to put on the ticket that will put that group off, as well?
Well, they did it!
Miniter has a thing or two to say about Biden as the VP pick, but he sounds . . . edgy. Almost sardonic.
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But let me just say this: swallow that mouthful of coffee before you read this, or you might need a new motherboard. 'Kay?
Note: Those among my readers who support Barack Obama may be slightly less amused than those who do not. But it's still funny, man.
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August 22, 2008
"That's perfect," I exclaimed. "Baggins really balances out his lack of experience, and nearly overshadows McCain's record of war heroism. It's freakin' brilliant."
I was also happy that Frodo comes from an agricultural area (the "flyover country" of Middle Earth, really).
Alas, it was a cruel joke. According to Taranto, there are a lot of these "fake VP reports" going around. (No permalinks in "The Best of the Web"--scroll down to "Biden His Time"). Though why anyone believed Obama had picked Mickey Mouse is beyond me . . . that's just silly.
* He really did say that, though it was yesterday, and it just made me giggle.
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