Palin's Real Function in this Election

[Michael Tee]

from today's Hufpo

<<Did Sarah Palin wrongfully push to have her ex-brother-in law fired? Was she really against the "Bridge to Nowhere?" Did she really sell Alaska's plane on eBay, or just list it on eBay? Did she actually have any substantial duties commanding the Alaska National Guard?

<<The correct answer to all these questions is: who cares? Which isn't to say these aren't valid questions, or that Palin and the McCain camp aren't playing it fast, loose, and coy with each of them. The point is that Palin, and the circus she's brought to town, are simply a bountiful collection of small lies deliberately designed to distract the country from one big truth: the havoc that George Bush and the Republican Party have wrought, and that John McCain is committed to continuing.

<<Every second of this campaign not spent talking about the Republican Party's record, and John McCain's role in that record, is a victory for John McCain.

<<Her critics like to say that Palin hasn't accomplished anything. I disagree: in the space of ten days she's succeeded in distracting the entire country from the horrific Bush record -- and McCain's complicity in it. My friends, that's accomplishment we can believe in.>>

There's more to the article, but it is kinda what I was talking about before (but not taking my own advice) - - this election has got to be re-focused on one thing and one thing only:  THE SHEER AWFULNESS OF JOHN MCCAIN.   I'd like to focus it on the fact that the guy is a war criminal, a bastard who came home, lied to and cheated on his wife, lied about being tortured (his own jailer says he WASN'T) AND lives in the past, boasting incessantly about his imaginary torture.

However the war criminal accusation won't go over big in fly-over country, so it's better to focus that on the counterculture or what's left of it.

 He's a veteran Washington insider for decades, now posing as a "maverick" which is just plain ridiculous.  He's 72-fucking-years-old.  Hasn't had a fresh idea in years.  Voted for Bush 90% of the time.  Was there when Bush was fucking the country on every important issue.

Forget Palin.  BUSH is the jugular and McCain is Bush.  Go for the jugular.

[BT]

Forget Palin.  BUSH is the jugular and McCain is Bush.  Go for the jugular.

Can't forget Palin. You have driven home the idea that McCain won't finish out his term.

and guess what. Palin isn't Bush.

The dems made a fatal mistake attacking Palin's family like they did.

They made the election about her. And last i saw she was more popular than McCain, Obama and Biden.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Palin isn't Juniorbush. She is even less experienced that Juniorbush in several ways. Besides, she's just the VP candidate. Unless McCain croaks, she is essentially irrelevant.

The same oligarchy that decided to foist the stubborn, incompetent, warmongering Juniorbush upon us has a chance to nominate McCain, but gave us Juniorbush instead, by funding his campaign.

Now they are desperate and will accept an older, more enfeebled McCain, packaging him as a "maverick", which he isn't.

This is just more manipulation of a people who will actually buy Palin or Obama "action figures". Beware.

[Michael Tee]

<<Can't forget Palin. You have driven home the idea that McCain won't finish out his term.>>

Sure you can forget Palin - - by concentrating on McCain, McCain, McCain.  Nobody who doesn't want him as President will vote for him in the hopes that he'll die and leave it to The Barracuda.

<<and guess what. Palin isn't Bush.>>

No, she's even farther right than he is.   Women get it.

<<The dems made a fatal mistake attacking Palin's family like they did.>>

No, she's a total failure as a mom and it reflects on how she'll run the country.  The Dems' failure was in not pushing it to the limit, with ads from mothers of Down-syndrome kids talking about the enormous committment they have to make.  I think the public just doesn't realize the magnitude of the commitment, partially because not all Down syndrome mothers make that commitment.  But the message that the Dems left,"You can't mix family and career" was fatal.  The message had to be more Down-syndrome-specific, and maybe it needed some preparatory public education, like mini-docs on the lives of the mothers of Down-syndrome kids.

<<They made the election about her. And last i saw she was more popular than McCain, Obama and Biden. >>

Well, they didn't make anything they can't unmake.  All they gotta do is re-focus on the war criminal and phony "torture victim" himself.  The backward-looking Bush clone.  And if they don't go after him with both barrels blazing, then they deserve to lose.  I am sick and tired of Democrats who don't know how to fight.

[BT]

Well, they didn't make anything they can't unmake.  All they gotta do is re-focus on the war criminal and phony "torture victim" himself.  The backward-looking Bush clone.  And if they don't go after him with both barrels blazing, then they deserve to lose.  I am sick and tired of Democrats who don't know how to fight.

I don't know if changing tactics midstream helps Obama. People still, at this late date, do not know who he is. Offering another side to his personality muddies the vision of him further.

[Michael Tee]

<<I don't know if changing tactics midstream helps Obama. People still, at this late date, do not know who he is. Offering another side to his personality muddies the vision of him further.>>

When you're on a losing horse, you get off it and pick another mount.  You don't ride the loser all the way to the finish line.   Muddy vision, clear vision etc. are side-bar considerations.  He's gotta keep his eye on the prize and do what he's gotta do to get there in first place.

[BT]

When you're on a losing horse, you get off it and pick another mount.

I think it is a bit late for that. I also think that there are dems who may be wishing that Hillary did just a bit better in the primaries.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I don't think that Palin is a "total failure" as a Mom. She's not John Wayne Gacy's mom, after all. She is not an unlikeable person. She is preferable to previous governors of Alaska as well. But she isn't particularly qualified to be president, and ideologically I disagree with her positions on abortion and abstinence as a sole method of birth control: the first because it is a violation of womens rights and the latter because, as we all know right now, it doesn't work.

McCain would be a mild to moderate improvement over Juniorbush. I'd rather have Palin as VP than Dick Cheney, but then again, who wouldn't?
Obama would be far more likely to improve what needs to be improved in this country, with regard to the Supreme Court appointments, health care, war, foreign affairs, especially how others see us abroad, and the economy.

[Michael Tee]

<<I think it is a bit late for that. I also think that there are dems who may be wishing that Hillary did just a bit better in the primaries.>>

So a week ago wasn't too late for McCain to turn things around with Palin, but this week is too late for Obama to turn things around by concentrating his fire on McCain?  That's absurd.

[BT]

Obama has positioned himself as a news style politician, above the fray, on the high road.

If he goes on the attack, he shows his posturing to be a lie.

If he dispatches surrogate, he shows a lack of control of his organization.

He is in a difficult position. 

His supporters know that. It shows up in his fundraising.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/09/america/09donate.php

[Michael Tee]

<<I don't think that Palin is a "total failure" as a Mom.>>

"Total failure" was rhetorical.  She sure as hell didn't do the greatest job with Bristol, who (judging by the schmuck she let father the kid) is still gonna need a lot of parental support, and of course running off to attend to the needs of the nation with a Down syndrome child at home isn't exactly what you'd expect from a devoted mother either.  Sure the husband can pitch in and save the day, but usually it's teamwork from both parents that's required, not dumping it all on one man's shoulders.  Especially with four other kids in the picture, one a pregnant teen.

The current Republican line is that the Democrats have "insulted all working mothers."  Ridiculous when you consider that conscientious working mothers with Down syndrome kids at home usually pick self-employment or jobs with flexible hours, and none of them to date have tried to fill the responsibility of either a Presidential or even VP job while attending to their special-needs children.

[Michael Tee]

<<Obama has positioned himself as a news style politician, above the fray, on the high road.

<<If he goes on the attack, he shows his posturing to be a lie.>>

Agreed

<<If he dispatches surrogate, he shows a lack of control of his organization.>>

Ridiculous.  Who controls the "obama's a muslim" surrogates?  nobody even acknowledges their existence.  On either side.  (probably because they're Hillary's originally)  Does anyone accuse Hillary or now McCain of failure to rein in the "He's a Muslim" surrogates?

<<He is in a difficult position. >>

He's running for President.  You were expecting maybe a petal-strewn red carpet and a door being held open for him?

<<His supporters know that. It shows up in his fundraising.>>

That would be bad.  Lemme check it out.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The current Republican line is that the Democrats have "insulted all working mothers."  Ridiculous when you consider that conscientious working mothers with Down syndrome kids at home usually pick self-employment or jobs with flexible hours, and none of them to date have tried to fill the responsibility of either a Presidential or even VP job while attending to their special-needs children.


I can agree with you on this. Unless McCain croaks (and I will admit, that is a possibility), her duties as VP will involve sitting in the Senate from time to time, cutting ribbons and attending funerals and events too unimportant to waste a presidents time on (like the inauguration of the president of Malaysia or the PM of Botswana).

I'd rather have her in Alaska, rooting out corruption and hectoring Big Oil. I am sure that her becoming a candidate for VP delighted many who feared what she might have done to them.
 

[Michael Tee]

<<http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/09/america/09donate.php>>

Doesn't really say much either way.  Could be in trouble raising funds, or not.  Miscalculations happen all the time.  Maybe he's already drained the pool and doesn't know it.  Maybe there's plenty more where the first batch came from.

[BT]

Doesn't really say much either way.  Could be in trouble raising funds, or not.  Miscalculations happen all the time.  Maybe he's already drained the pool and doesn't know it.  Maybe there's plenty more where the first batch came from.

If he has drained the pool, or confidence in his electability slips, the only chance he has is for the PACs to step up and fill the void. And that definitely goes against the credibility of him being an above the fray, new type of politician.

Might shatter the idealism of the young voter set he will most assuredly need to pull off a victory.