ENOUGH!!!

[MichiganJ]

As has been pointed out many times, if it were Chelsea Clinton who was pregnant, you just know the “liberal” media would have had a field day. But that’s hypothetical, what about Jamie Lynn Spears? How come nobody came to her defense when the “liberal” media (see Bill O’Reilly and confessed drug addict, Rush Limbaugh) pointedly blamed the parents? Spears wasn’t off-limits to anyone, including Leno and Letterman, and, if I’m not mistaken, Spears’ mother isn’t running for an office, the main platform of which, is to take away the very choice she and her daughter had.

I have no idea what kind of sex education Sarah’s daughter had, I just know whatever she learned, wasn’t in a class room, because this administration, and presumably Ms. Palin, believe in abstinence only education, meaning, no sex before marriage.

So, Sarah will only sit down with the press if they play nice. How ‘s that going to work with Putin?

Hillary took far more abuse from the “liberal’ media on her best day (“femin-nazi, anyone? Anyone?). There’s only a little over seven weeks until the election, and we still don’t know Palin’s economic policy, her stand on Iraq/Iran/Russia (oops, I forget, her pundits says she knows about Russia because of Alaska’s close proximity), or anything of substance. And it really means something. Not to be ageist, but McCain is seventy-two. There’s a fair chance that Palin could be president, and we know nothing about her, except that she hates the press. C’mon people! At least can we know where she stands on high-sticking?

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

May I add another cent to my 2???

I was discussed to hear today that Ms. Palin shoots wolves from the air and couldn't care less about polar bears dying on the thin ice of the Arctic Ocean.

This somehow makes me wonder how she reflects on what she thinks of people who are deemed useless and unproductive.
Is she going to disregard the homeless, the disenfranchized and seniors & vets???
For someone who professes to worship God in a fundamentalist religion, she seems a 'hypocrite' to me.

Of course, this was just a media story reported today, so I don't know if it's true or just "hype"...
I hope Charlie Gibson asks her about all this as it is disturbing to me...

Larry

[inglis]

Hi,

We in Canada are also having an election - a surprise one, which we didn't really need. More wasted money.

My concerns for both countries are:
Education
Health Care
Environment
Economy
Crime
and not necessarily in that order.

I don't care what colour and kind of lipstick any candidate is wearing, be they male or female!!! Or if their panties are on inside-out!!!

Today, on Canadian TV, we have one candidate showing a commercial of a puffin pooping on his opponent... How childish, juvenile & adolescent...

I dislike negative advertising - show me what your platform is and how much it's going to cost...

My 2 cents worth!!!

Larry

Hi Larry ! I am disgusted about another election as its just going to cost more I am still waiting for the last promise of higher child tax benefit.I agree with you about the pooping puffin well said

[jdb1]

From what I've been reading about life in Alaska (all over the newspapers these days), out of wedlock pregnancy is not unusual and isn't treated as a very big deal. In Alaska there are not many people, and lots of space, and the population can do things a little differently from the rest of us without censure. Nothing wrong with that -- it's probably why many people went there in the first place.

Maybe Gov. Palin thought that the rest of America thinks and behaves the same way that they do in Alaska, and no one would make a fuss about it. This doesn't mean she is not an intelligent person; but it might mean she is a person of limited scope. Maybe she needs a little tutoring in the cultural climate of her own country, before her handlers try to give her a cram session about how to run the world so that she sounds "vice-presidential" during her interview tonight.

[mrsl]

I don't know if I'm walking around in a fog or what. I keep hearing about the big smear campaign against Palin, but I have yet to see or hear anything. But I have heard about the lipstick/pig thing. This is the thing that makes me crazy. They took the pig thing totally out of context - he was talking about Bush and his groupies - and turned it around to make it sound like he was talking about Palin. The shame of it is so many U.S. citizens are such sheep, they accept it as truth. If Obama is forced to defend every line he speaks the crooked republicans will pull this election out because people won't have listened to Obama's thoughts.

Not wanting to screw up my computer, I won't do that transfer thing from another site, but for a real eye-opener, check into www.indecision2008.com and listen to John McCains Big Acceptance Speech. I know it's on comedy central, but the section where they compare speeches is not funny, it's pathetic.

Anne

[Dewey1960]

Here, for anyone who's interested, is John McCain earlier this year during the campaign. Please listen carefully to what he says. Either McCain is an old, old man verging on senility or he is a liar. Either way, our country could not possibly do worse by electing him.
[youtube][/youtube]

[silentscreen]

All I know is that Palin is a Mother and a Governor too. I don't think the job of being V.P. is more demanding than the job of being governor. And that's all I'm looking at right now. I'm not speculating about McCain getting into office and dying where she would have to take over. If push came to shove, I'm sure she would do better than Bush. And no, I don't view McCain and Palin as a third term George Bush. It will be interesting to see her interviewed.

[MichiganJ]

Anne,

I’m with you in that fog, but I suspect most of the “news” is generating from the 24-hour cable networks (as well as the “highly journalistic” blogs.) They have just too much time to fill, and this is the easy, juicy, gossipy kind of “info-tainment” they love. To keep things “interesting”, they get “experts” on to pontificate about something, which is obviously only an opinion, but is purported as fact. It’s funny, how political ads, and now, blogs, have become news. A party, or worse, a 527 group (like the Swift Boaters) can air an incendiary ad, and the media reports on the Ad, giving it more play, and allowing for those nefarious “experts” a chance to comment. That’s part of the reason John Kerry can be the candidate who volunteered to go to war, fought, and was wounded, and yet turn out to be the “coward”, and yet Chaney, with deferments coming out of his wazzo, and our very own president, bravely not showing up for National Guard duty, are the heroes.

Again, Palin is new, and completely unknown. The blogs, and 24-hour cable shows are going to air anything and everything, true and un-true about her, especially until she sets the records straight. But the fact is, Palin’s NOT talking to the press, and the media’s (I hate that term “media”, it’s far too generic. This, what I’m writing now, is “media”, and who the heck am I?) insatiable appetite for anything, is playing right into the conservative’s hands. They now don’t have to run against Obama, they can run against the media, which is exactly what they are doing, and doing well. The defense and compassion the conservatives are showing Palin (something they didn’t do for Hilary Clinton; in fact, for her it was quite the opposite), isn’t lost on the campaign strategists. You can bet Palin will not do many interviews, will likely continue to campaign with McCain (after all, it’s she the crowds are coming to see), and will remain pretty generic in responses to any policy questions. She already has the sympathy vote, and hasn’t said or done anything.

It’s surprising though, how she is still talking about that bridge to nowhere. Surely she and the campaign know that Palin didn’t say “no” to congress, and kept the money for the earmark, using it for something else (when it could have been used for, say, our own infrastructure. But hey, it’s not like our bridges are falling down). By continuing to tell the crowds that she said “thanks, but no thanks” to congress, she’s doing more than just imply that she gave that money back. Where I come from, my own mother would call that “lying”, but, because the “media” are the bad guys, pointing out that “inconsistancy”, and the other relevant issues, are as easily dismissed as the “info-tainments”.

[klondike]

A party, or worse, a 527 group (like the Swift Boaters) can air an incendiary ad, and the media reports on the Ad, giving it more play, and allowing for those nefarious “experts” a chance to comment. That’s part of the reason John Kerry can be the candidate who volunteered to go to war, fought, and was wounded, and yet turn out to be the “coward”, and yet Chaney, with deferments coming out of his wazzo, and our very own president, bravely not showing up for National Guard duty, are the heroes.

Not to remove any of the relevence, or topicality, from the points you've made, MichJ, but on a related, but more light-hearted note, I found this today, which in a way makes a lot of direct, and moral, sense:


Drafting Guys over 50


New Direction for any war : Send Service Vets over 50!

I am over 50 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing ass-backwards. Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 45.
Researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds; us old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy. Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry' We are impatient and maybe letting us kill some a*****e that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while. An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10 a.m. Old guys always get up early to pee, so what the hell. Besides, like I said, 'I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical s.o.b. If captured, we can't spill the beans because we forgot where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number might just be a real brainteaser! Boot camp would be easier for old guys. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and having to eat crappy food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling. They could lighten up on the obstacle course, however; I've been in combat and didn't see a single 20-foot wall with ropes hanging over the side, nor did I ever need to do pushups after completing “basic training”.

Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too; no-one can outrun a bullet, though ducking for cover can sure come in handy.
Eighteen-year-olds have the whole world ahead of them. They’re still learning how to shave, start up a conversations with pretty girls. They still haven't figured out that caps have brims to shade your eyes, not the back of your head!
These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way, like moving out, getting jobs, getting married, starting families, starting mortgages, paying taxes, maybe even developing some work & parenting ethics.
So, let us old guys track down those dirty rotten, cowardly killers! Believe me, the last thing those Middle Eastern terrorists want to consider are 20 or 30 thousand grumpy old North American farts closing-in on them with pissy attitudes and automatic weapons, who know that their “salad years” are pretty much behind ‘em.

If nothing else, put us on Border Patrol . . . . we’ll have it nailed-down & secure the first night, with surveillance tighter’n a junior high dance at a Catholic parochial school!

Share this with your senior friends. It's purposely in big type so they can read it.

[MichiganJ]

Klondike,

Except for the thinking about sex a “couple” of times a day ( I’d prefer the slightly more ambiguous “few”), I’m on board. Where do I sign? Wait, let me get my glasses. And my pen. Where’s that blasted pen? Who stole my favorite pen?

[mrsl]

Well, I'm still reading up on Mrs. Palin. She was Mayor of her little 6,000 person town for two consecutive terms, so I assume that means 8 years. But what really shocked me was, she was Governor for exactly 21 months. She took office on December 4, 2006, yet she looked Charlie Gibson in the eye and said "Yes, I'm ready to take over if anything should happen to John McCain". PUHLEEZE - the approximate population of Alaska is 700,000 according to the home page of Alaska when you yahoo Alaska.

I also watched the 'Nation Service' Q & A on MSNBC, and find that McCain is quite a militant. I guess that's to be expected from him, but HEY, I want this war to be over not accelerated. He looks at everything from a military point of view as far as I could ascertain. Does anyone recall what his platform was last time he ran for pres?

Anne

[jdb1]

I missed the Big Palin Interview last night.

Please, All, let's hear your thoughts and impressions.

[moira finnie]

You can see the first part of the interview here and the latter half will be broadcast today (no doubt with that part going up on youtube asap as well).

My take:
She's well-rehearsed, a bit robotic, but at a loss when Gibson asked about her view of the Bush doctrine, (i.e. in a nutshell, Bush's assertion that the U.S. has a unilateral right for a pre-emptive strike against another nation that we perceive as a threat).

Thinks "foreign policy" experience, consisting of having Russia across the Bering Strait from Alaska and being a figure head commander of the Alaska national guard, is sufficient. Also thinks that Israel has a right to do anything they need to do to secure their borders. Claims that Russia was completely unprovoked in invading Georgia, (action taken after Georgia took South Ossetia's capitol by force).

Thinks that prior veeps in U.S. history had little or no contact with foreign leaders prior to ascending to office of POTUS. The only former veep I thought that this might apply to was Truman, which wasn't exactly a plus for us, given his lack of finesse and canniness at Potsdam at the end of WWII.

On the plus side, I like the way she dresses a lot, and her eyeglasses are nice.

[MichiganJ]

More telling than Palin’s interview, is her speech, made to a brigade of soldiers (which included her son) heading to Iraq. She said that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”

How cynically crass, on September 11, no less, to once again, try and link Iraq to the heinous attacks seven years ago. It appalled me when this administration continued to make that claim, encouraging our young men and women to enlist in the armed service, to go and fight an enemy that had nothing what-so-ever to do with the attacks of 9/11. Support our troops? How about being straight with them?

The fact that Palin is espousing the (can i say “lie” yet?) “mis-statement”--something which the administration itself now admits isn’t true--is reprehensible. Al Qaeda may be in Iraq now, but they weren’t before the war, there weren’t WMD’s, yadda, yadda, yadda. It’s one thing “mis-stating” facts about entitlements, it’s quite another “mis-stating” to soldiers heading off to a war zone.

[jdb1]

On the plus side, I like the way she dresses a lot, and her eyeglasses are nice.

Despite all the Tina Fey resemblance talk, when I look at Palin I see (and hear) Megan Mullaly as the monumentally self-absorbed and careless Karen Walker of Will & Grace.

I saw an episode just the other day --
Karen to waiter:
"Honey, who told you you could make eye contact?"

No -- I'm not likening Palin's behavior to that of Karen Walker. Now don't anyone get all bent out of shape. (Anyway, I love that character - she's so very, very, moneyed New York.) I'm just noting the physical resemblance -- and reminiscing.