palin

AP Calls It For O'Donnell

The AP has just called it for Delaware's Tea Partier extraordinaire and Palin protege Christine O'Donnell. This just helped secure Biden's old seat for the Democrats.

Media

Tweety Loves Him Some Palin/Bachmann

This display by Chris Matthews and his gushy, gooey love fest over the Palin/Bachmann rally is, well should I say not ethical, moral or professional?

Politics

Putting Palin In Perspective

To all the Republicans out there who think Sarah is great for your party, please take a moment and consider this:

Palin resigned as Governor last July. A few months later she starts a nationwide book tour.
She refuses to speak at CPAC and instead speaks at a tea party convention. She would have made $0 at CPAC, but will get $100,000 at the tea party convention.
She then signs a multi-year contract with FOX news to be a contributor.

If you believe Palin is worried about Alaska, you or this country then you are sadly mistaken. Her actions in the past 1/2 year shows that Sarah worries about Sarah and no one else. If you still buy into this crap then you would most likely believe it if a hooker tells you that she loves you.

Economy

McCain Doing Something I Like?!?!?

Call the Pope because hell is freezing over:

Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell are joining forces to reinstate the Depression-era Glass-Steagal [sic] Act of 1933, which separated commercial banking from Wall Street investment banking. According to Newsweek, the two plan to announce the bipartisan McCain-Cantwell bill on Wednesday morning.

The Glass-Steagall law was repealed in 1999, allowing for commercial and investment banking to combine. Bloomberg notes that its repeal has sparked debate as to whether it "helped spawn reckless lending practices and financial speculation that led to the meltdown of credit markets last year and the $700 billion U.S. bailout of troubled banks."

There is something here that really has me scratching my head. Glass-Steagall was repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 and proudly signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. The main author of that bill was Phil Gramm, who also served as the top economic adviser to the McCain/Palin campaign. So Gramm was good enough to advise McCain on economic issues, yet McCain now wants to repeal Gramm’s keystone legislation?

I love the idea of us getting back to real regulation in the banking sector but I really question the motives of McCain on this issue.

Failin’ For Palin

I don’t know if I should laugh or shudder at the thought that these people are allowed to vote in the United States. I’ll let you decide as you watch these Palin supporters fail miserably at trying to explain things:

(h/t Cesca)

Cheney 2012?

A hint about a possible Cheney run for the Oval Office was dropped yesterday by none other than his daughter:

I couldn’t think of anything better, except maybe a Cheney/Palin ticket. Take a man who no one trusts, combine it with a total ding bat and put it on the Republican ticket. If that happens I doubt President Obama would even need to campaign.

CNN Loses Their In-House Racist

That’s right – Lou Dobbs has announced that he is resigning from CNN effective immediately. Here is a clip of him announcing it on CNN tonight:

What the future for Dobbs is, I don’t know. Perhaps a gig at Fox News? Maybe we could even see a Palin-Dobbs ‘12 ticket? Oh now that one would be way too much fun, and Christmas is still over a month away.

Dede Scozzafava Endorses Democrat Bill Owens In NY-23

I believe this news is a perfect example of my “sliding scale” of political parties I discussed in my previous post. A lot will try and claim that Scozzafava made this decision out of malice against people like Palin, but I believe it isn’t that simple.

Scozzafava was more to the right on fiscal issues, while being more to the left on social issues. For example, Scozzafava supported the Bush tax cuts, yet supported gay marriage and reproductive rights. By having two other candidates from opposite sides of the political spectrum, she was able to chose which candidate best represented her views. In this case that pushed her to the left with Bill Owens.

Now this doesn’t make the race a certainty for Owens – its still anyone's game. What it does do is give him a little boost, but this close to Election Day makes it really hard to capitalize off of it.

And even if you don’t agree with my political theory here, one thing is for certain – this is like cocaine to political junkies. We generally don’t see this kind of action in normal elections, but these special elections always open us up to bigger side shows.

No Public Option?

That’s the news catching on like wildfire this morning – that President Obama has dropped his support for a public option in the healthcare bill. Like most on our side I was at first really upset over this, but instead of starting my screams of anguish, I sat here and thought about it.

When you start looking into the story you quickly realize that there is mixed messages going on. Kathleen Sebelius was the one who brought us the news of no public option yesterday, but Robert Gibbs basically denied it. Is the Obama White House this confused on message, or is it part of a bigger plan?

Democrats are losing the message war during the August recess. Townhalls are turning into shouting matches thanks to the right wing opponents of health care reform, and now the two big things they have complained about, a public option and end of life counseling, are rumored to be gone. That takes away their two biggest complaints, while the loss of these items should ignite our base.

Perhaps this is a way for the administration to regain control of the message war in August. We are at the halfway point of the recess, and now the White House can see what happens at the townhalls with these two items off the table. If they start seeing outrage from the left about it then they can come back in September and reinstate the options, citing a public outrage over the removal of them.

On top of that, if there is visible outrage from the President’s own party, that will be much more meaningful than opposition from a bunch of McCain/Palin supporters. That will also help to push the Blue Dogs over to our side that much more. After all once the recess is over they need to start their campaigns for the 2010 elections.

Then There Was 18

Palin gets hit with ethics complaint number 18:

The latest complaint alleges she abused her office by accepting a salary and using state staff while campaigning outside Alaska for the vice presidency. It's the third complaint filed against the Republican since she announced July 3 that she was stepping down.

[SNIP]

In her complaint, Andree McLeod said that two days before Palin was named John McCain's running mate, she signed travel documents that stated "conclusion of state business." A similar document soon after the election stated "return to duty status."

McLeod said Palin's signature on the documents demonstrated a "willingness to forgo her duties as governor" to travel on the national campaign. She added that she filed the complaint now only because she was waiting for a final document from the state in response to a public records request.

McLeod said that given that temporary absence, Palin should have turned over the governor's responsibilities to Parnell as required by the state constitution.

She might be leaving office, but her problems appear to be lingering.

She May Go Away But The Ethics Complaints Keep On Coming

Despite Palin’s announced resignation, she is still getting hit with ethics complaints:

Zane Henning -- a conservative government watchdog from the governor's hometown of Wasilla and an oilfield worker on Alaska's North Slope -- asserts in a letter to Alaska Attorney General Daniel S. Sullivan that Palin has "been charging and pocketing per diem to live in her home and has used the process for a personal gain since being elected."

Got that? This is a conservative filing the complaint, not “some liberals”. And if you read the entire thing, you will also question this practice Queen Sarah partook in. Now I just wonder if I will get sued by Palin for mentioning it?

Despicable

I’m going to join the right in the outrage over a post that appeared on Huffington Post for a short time yesterday. Allahpundit captured a screen grab of it:

The author, Erik Sean Nelson, decided to poke some fun at Palin while also insulting the mentally retarded. How does the HuffPo handle something like this? They quietly just delete the post. As mater of fact the author gave Bloggasm a less than sound reasoning for it:

Simon,

No story, I pulled it down. I got some emails from offended loved ones of the retarded. No one was seeing the absurdity of Palin hiding behind her children, so my piece was not accomplishing anything good. That’s all that happened.

Best,

Erik

Not only should Nelson’s account on HuffPo be deleted, but the editors of the site should also post a very heart-felt apology. This is absolutely appalling and if I was Arianna I would be fuming. Right now Nelson has put HuffPo in the same category as Limbaugh and FOX News, but a strong response from the site editors can quickly right that wrong. Time is ticking boys!

UPDATE:
I had misspelled Nelson's first name. It is Erik, not Eric. Thanks to Eric S. Nelson from the University of Massachusetts Lowell for pointing this out.

Palin’s Use Of Family

Reading the latest interview with Levi Johnston something really caught my eye:

At the time, the Palins insinuated he’d have to move to D.C. if McCain won. “I ain’t never moving,” he says with a shudder, thinking back.

So the Palin’s were telling him where he and his bride would have to live? I don’t remember any other VP telling their adult children they would have to live in D.C. The only reason I can think of for such a demand would be keeping the “family appearance”. Palin just wants to show everyone she is some great family person, even if it means going against the wishes and desires of her family. In other words – everything is for nothing but show. Using your family in that way doesn’t make you anymore of a matriarch. Instead it makes you a user.

Oh You Done It Now Levi!

It looks like RedState master mind Erik Erickson has declared war on Levi Johnson (via Sully):

The real Levi Johnson is something altogether different. The left, when it decided Bristol Palin was fair game, went after Levi Johnson for being a thug and redneck. He was not interested in college — only in scoring with the Governor’s daughter. The classic tale of the high school jock who is, in essence, a low life loser in it for a good time. The left and media regaled the rest of us with tales of what a loser the Palin kid slept with.

The left was right. Now, though, they can’t be bothered by it. Below is the actual Levi — no preppy clothes. No polish. Just good old boy who knocked up the Governor’s daughter. Not exactly the image Tyra Banks and he would like you to think about.

What’s even more creepy is that the other person in the picture is his sister. And, as if lifted from the pages of Deliverance, she has his name tattooed on her ~~back~~ finger. Think about that one for a minute.

Yup Levi – you better watch out or Erik might get ya! Hell he’s already starting with the implications of inbreeding.

How this is going to be fun and hey Erik – how’s “Operation Leper” going?

Family Values!!!!

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have reportedly broken off their engagement. I’m sure it will be back on just in time for Palin’s 2012 run though.