Jaded Sage:

I wrote nearly a month ago in No Questions, Poor Judgement about the absurd nature of John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as Vice President. This came in the middle of the right wing popularity of Ms. Palin. I eluded to the fact that this would explode in the face of the McCain campaign. I’m wondering how those knee-jerk right wingers are feeling now after Palin’s abysmal showing in the Curic interviews. These interviews were so revealing that when Saturday Night Live did a spoof of them, one had to cringe because the parody hit too close to home. The Curic interviews displayed Palin’s absence of knowledge of the most basic concepts in modern political thought. For example, she casually relayed the possibility of a Great Depression without comparing the similarities of the current situation with those of the 1920s and 30s. The very learned writer James Fallows breaks down the Curic interview in detail here. With the economic situation certainly being to Obama’s advantage, McCain is now facing a similarly looming disaster, his running mate choice. It would be one thing if it was just her positions that were under assault. Conservatives tend to enjoy digging in and battling over core right wing values. But, however strong Ms. Palin’s conservative ideology is, her weakness over issues can’t be hidden. God knows the McCain camp has tried to keep her shrouded from the media like a 16 year old girl from Mecca. But each time they have allowed her to display the real Sarah Palin it has been catastrophic for the campaign. There is also grumbling within the conservative camp about Palin. Conservative writers such as David Brooks and Kathleen Parker have openly asserted Palin’s inadequacies, the latter calling for Palin to step down. Ouch.

With just two days until the only Vice Presidential debate, Ms Palin has settled down on the McCain ranch in Arizona to prepare for the showdown with Joe Biden. She must turn a lifetime of knowledge about issues in a very short time because, as we witnessed in the Curic interview, she knows next to nothing about the significant challenges our nation faces. In general terms she may be able to enunciate McCain’s positions, but she is not capable of expressing either the nuances or the specifics of the issues. Thursday night should be interesting. I guess the big question is will Joe Biden be quiet long enough for Palin to hang herself? I know I will have the popcorn and soda pop ready for this show.

…and the best one of them all…

Can anyone out there tell me with a straight face they would feel comfortable with a President Sarah Palin?

Asked Tuesday by radio host Hugh Hewitt if she agreed that interviews with ABC’s Charles Gibson and CBS’ Couric were designed to embarrass her, Palin replied:

"Well, I have a degree in journalism also, so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago."

The first debate is over and did we really learn anything new from the two candidates? Not in what they said. Anyone who has been following the race has heard both sides to the story. But there is one component of the debate that left me unsettled. Throughout the debate Senator McCain refused to look at Barack Obama; not when the Arizona Senator spoke about Obama and not when Obama was addressing Senator McCain’s stance. Why is that a big deal? Senator McCain speaks about his ability to reach across the aisle and make compromises. He rails about the climate in Washington; the partisan nature of politics. But in his first opportunity to express himself to the nation he looked down, out across the audience and at Jim Lehrer but never at Barack Obama, the leader of the party that he hopes one day to unite with his own to change Washington. This aspect of the debate should tell you more than you need to know about the self-proclaimed maverick. Never in my life have I seen such poor manners.

What was the tenor of the debate for Barack Obama? He engaged Senator McCain. He looked McCain squarely at his face, which the Arizona Senator kept fixed on the horizon. In the course of the debate Obama frequently eluded to points which he shared with McCain. A fact that McCain’s camp quickly seized on for political gain by making an advertisement saying Senator Obama takes McCain’s policies. But don’t we want a President who will unashamedly highlight the opposition party’s strengths in negotiations and debates while at the same time sticking to their key principles? Isn’t that the climate that we want to change in Washington?

If Senator McCain can’t make eye contact during a personal Presidential debate, what will be his stance with people in the Democratic party while he is President? For me, John McCain’s failure wasn’t so much in what he said, it was in his body language that spoke volumes. This should give everyone pause.

Around the turn of the 20th century there began a policy to ensure safe food in this nation. Progressives began exposing the ills of the nation’s food supply which had been singled out in the great American socialist author and later politician Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle. Sinclair’s president at the time was Republican Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt not only signed the Pure Food and Drug Law into effect as a result of the outcry resulting from the Jungle but proceeded to assault the fat cats of industry who had garnered tight control of the nation’s wealth. TR quickly gained the nickname “Trust Buster” for his efforts. Teddy also realized industry was quickly destroying the beauty this great nation possessed through greed and despite resistance from Congress moved to set aside land for national parks. He understood that business and industry left unchecked quickly resulted in the destruction of those things Americans valued and were irreparably replaced by greed.

The modern Conservative movement that began with Ronald Reagan must be called out for the sham that it is. The tax and spend label, so easily put on liberal politicians has nothing on these guys. During Ronald Reagan’s eight years the national debt went from $700 billion to $3 trillion. One of the interesting contributors of the escalating debt during the 1980s was the Savings and Loan crisis which was caused by a key legacy of Reaganomics, deregulation. The parallels between the S&L crisis and the current debacle is amazingly similar. Without going into the minutiae of the S&L crisis the main cause of the massive bank failure was an elimination of regulations and the bodies that enforced their oversight. The price tag of the banks’ bailout to the taxpayers in the 1980s totaled $124.6 billion (which would be about $217 billion in today’s money).

With the S&L crisis behind them and no cops on the Wall Street beat the fiscal pirates began an unethical romp through the market knowing the government would ultimately cushion any major blow, just like they did in the 80s. When the dot-com bubble burst and investors shifted their resources further into real-estate, they brought their unsupervised ethics with them. Thus Wall Street was literally blended with Main Street as nefarious practices conducted by unscrupulous individuals in the banking industry blended the investments with mortgage loans. There was no problem as long as the housing bubble remained a bubble.

In all fairness it was Bill Clinton who signed into law an act that allowed commercial banks to branch out into other financial arenas but that bill was signed into law in 1999 and its effects were unknown as Bush, Jr. took office in 2001. What is known is the Bush Administration and his rubber stamp congress allowed Wall Street to go unchecked for seven years even though the signs of an impending crisis were swirling in the air like plastic grocery sacks. Bush, it seems, was focused on one money pit (the Iraq War) to concern himself with a probable second. Like his other two term Republican predecessor, Bush’s debt spiraled out of control. Under his watch the debt has risen from about $6 trillion to over $9 trillion today even though he was handed a surplus when he took office.

So here we are. With the legacy of Reaganomics staring us squarely in the face we proceed to bail out the fat cats. Due to the  desire of those on the right to practice unbridled laissez faire economics, socialism has come to Wall Street. Those guys who were gobbling up $30 million severance packages under the chutzpah that they deserved it because only a few people in America can do what they do turned out to be right, only what they did will cost the American tax payers between $500 billion and one trillion dollars. I wonder how far that amount of money could have helped make the entitlement programs of social security and medicare and Medicaid more solvent?

What we needed was a whole lot more Sinclair Lewises and TRs and a lot less Reagamomics. What we need are a lot more progressives and a lot fewer conservatives. This is unless in fact the foundations of our economy are sound.

We liberals were concerned. Admit it out there leftists. You were befuddled by the impact Sarah Palin had on the race. The polls seemed to be slipping away; moving toward McCain and his new “Ear-mark Queen”. We were not nervous because Palin was a strong pick to be VP. We were nervous because just like the climate that got Bush elected twice, despite the logic that said he should not hold that office, the same strange reasoning seemed to engulf the Palin phenomena.

But don’t despair. The glow of the halo is rubbing off. When you have a thin resume you better make sure the history you do have is clean. As the RNC built up Palin’s leadership story, almost everything she championed in her political biography is crashing down. Especially damning is her earmark requests that included $4.5 million for an airport that served 100 people and $9 million to help the oil companies in Alaska. And of course don’t forget her John Kerry moment in that she was for the “Bridge to nowhere” before she was against it. You want foreign policy credentials? Don’t forget her trip to Iraq to support the troops. Actually she didn’t make it over the Quwait border. That would have been impressive if it was 1990, but that was an old war. You must also add her trip to Ireland to her resume, even if it was just a refueling stop.

What has brought about the winds of change. First, I think the Saturday Night Live skit portraying Palin with Hillary was extremely funny but damning at the same time. The McCain campaign understands this too as they have called the bit “sexist”. This coming after Palin, when asked earlier in the week, said she thought it was funny.

The second factor that has changed the dynamic was the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent drop in the Stock Market. This has shifted the campaign back on the issues and whenever that happens McCain loses. The Arizona Senator has bungled the talking points in regard to the economy. But you need not be surprised since Phil Graham is his go-to guy on the economy and was the man largely responsible for the conditions that led to the melt down we are experiencing.

As the McCain campaign continues to protect Palin from the evil media (well, except Sean Hannity) and the news of her governing history continues to flow from Alaska, the country will begin to see what an error McCain has made. Just like the real estate and oil bubbles, the Palin bubble is about to burst.

If Sarah Palin is ready to be the VP why is she being sequestered? If she is indeed ready to take on the position as McCain’s number two then why can’t she prove it now? This just shows the reckless and dangerous choice McCain’s staff has made. It is time the people in this nation realize the poor judgement exhibited by McCain. This choice is bound to explode in his face and if the country doesn’t realize the utter lack of substance in his decision then we know why we keep getting leaders like George Bush at the helm of this nation; the right is incapable of intellectual thought.

No questions, please; Palin sticks to her script

By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer Sara Kugler, Associated Press Writer 25 mins ago

LEBANON, Ohio – John McCain took a risk in picking little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate, but now the campaign’s playing it safer. She’s sticking to a greatest hits version of her convention speech on the campaign trail and steering clear of questions until she’s comfortable enough for a hand-picked interviewer later this week.

More than 40 million people tuned in last week to listen to the speech from Palin, the 44-year-old, first-term governor whom McCain announced as his surprise vice presidential pick just days before. Since then, that basic script is all anyone has heard from her publicly, and her only interaction with the media was a brief conversation with a small group of reporters on her plane Monday — off the record at her handlers’ insistence.

Associated Press reporters were not on the plane, but an aide told the journalists on board that all Palin flights would be off the record unless the media were told otherwise. At least one reporter objected. Two people on the flight said the Palins greeted the media and they chatted about who had been to Alaska, but little else was said.

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During the Republican Convention the delegates would not claim their leader. There was a piece on TV whereby those in attendance had pins galore but none of those pins were of George W Bush.  The party that gave us a second term of W and then fled from their choice a mere four years later is now trying to tell us this nation would be better off with McCain. To make matters worse, the GOP is now exhorting the notion that Palin somehow completes the ticket. To say a two year governor of a distant, barely populated state like Alaska is ready to take over the Vice Presidency is like saying a returned Peace Corps volunteer is prepared to run the State Department. If Palin was indeed prepared to take over the number two slot then why is she being protected from the media? Her party faithful (and John McCain, for that matter) are crying foul at the treatment she has received since being named as McCain’s running mate but there is no problem with it. Obama has taken the heat from those on the right and much of it was as harsh as what has come Palin’s way. Surely you remember the closet Muslim stuff and the accentuating of his middle name. Obama’s wife was fair game, too. She was depicted as an angry militant. It simply goes with the territory. It is not racist or sexist, it is the way this nation prepares those for the most powerful positions in the land. It appears the first rate education, the stint at community organizer (which the Republicans prefer to mock rather than credit), the term as state senator and then Congressman has paid off for Obama. He not only overcame the attacks against him but won the nomination of his party. It is time for Palin to face the music. Only then will we know if John McCain made  the right choice.

You hear so much about the liberal media. Sure it is out there but the bit on the John Stewart Show last night was perhaps the best piece that has been done in regards to Conservative hypocrisy. It was as good and funny as it gets.

Sarah Palin delivered a very good speech tonight. Her attacks against Barack Obama were pointed and partisan. But I get the feeling from watching the Republican convention that it is 2000 again. A time when we had a balanced budget, where Wall Street and Main Street were humming along at a positive clip. A point where all you had to offer was to attack the opposing candidate. But this nation is not healthy. Palin did not touch on the declining economy, the strained housing market or the challenges in Afghanistan, neither has any Republican speaker. She did address the issue of energy but Alaska is a lot about energy. Republicans, for some reason, have lost touch with the average American. They are incapable of showing compassion for those on the fringes of society. This was abundantly clear when two of the speakers prior to the Republican heavy hitters tonight were CEOs of Ebay and Hewlitt-Packard. It is also interesting how the Republican base was against John McCain for his very decision making that Palin praised tonight; his belief in immigration reform and against the Bush tax cuts (though he has changed his mind on this issue) but now find solace in the character of John McCain. Though Palin’s speech was well written and well delivered it contained no substance whatsoever. It continued the trend of focusing on the opposition because the Republican Party is devoid of ideas. Don’t believe me. Give me three policy issues Palin presented in her speech. Perhaps McCain tomorrow will delve into a platform because I haven’t seen one yet.

I understand Senator Joseph Lieberman is a strong ally of John McCain. I get that. But it was extremely disingenuous for Joseph Lieberman to also praise McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. There could not be two politicians farther from the ideological spectrum than Lieberman and Palin. Republicans should see it as a farce.

Another interesting indication of the rudderless nature of the GOP these days is tonight’s convention schedule. George Bush, the leader of the party, spoke by satellite to the hall prior to the big networks joining the coverage. It is the equivalent of those Simpson’s episodes where they put Bart in the basement when key school dignitaries are visiting the school. To ensure there is no connection between George Bush and John McCain, as soon as Bush finished speaking they quickly went to a tribute video to Ronald Reagan before continuing with Fred Thompson. And then who was the keynote speaker? A Democrat (well Independent technically) who came out and spoke to the Republicans after Thompson threw out his red meat to the party faithful. Lieberman quelled any momentum for the night. At one point he even praised President Clinton’s bipartisanship while in office and what did the hall do… they applauded. After that it seemed like they were under some kind of spell. Sure, Lieberman gave his reasons for supporting McCain but the energy had vanished from the convention. It almost was like it was an analogy to the Republican support for McCain; polite and subdued.

In many ways the campaign of John McCain has taken on a life of its own. The talk these days is not about McCain but about his choice of running mate. Their strategy has been to make the race about Obama but by choosing Palin, McCain has taken the focus off of his game plan and put it squarely on and about her. In the process he has taken the experience card and returned it to the deck. Tomorrow will be interesting. There are those in the GOP who are completely electrified at his VP choice. Will Wednesday overshadow the purpose of the convention, to highlight the presidential selection? After all, people vote for the person at the top of ticket not the pretty Hillary surrogate who no one really knows.