KO: “You Governor… are a fraud!”
It’s almost come the point of shooting fish in a barrel…
…or wolves from an overhead chopper, as the case may be.
Meawhile… In other hilarity:
Update: Heh. From Hendrik Hertzberg in the latest New Yorker magazine:
The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist — Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine — that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.
So much for the “North Korean-style totalitarian ant heap” that McCain and his running mate are desperately attempting to conjure into existence as the nightmarish shape of things to come should Obama and any other Democrats down ticket be elected next week…
Red: I’ll have to admit that I’m a bit jealous that our American friends get to vote in an election that is exciting, and that actually has a candidate that says relatively normal things, particularly vis-a-vis religion:
Dave — I’ve always found American politics to be utterly fascinating ever since I was a kid glued to the TV watching the Watergate hearings. Right then, I was hooked. A C-SPAN (although that didn’t exist at the time… then it was PBS) junkie. Although, I have to say that I’ve found this latest kick at the presidential can much too long and wearisome. Our election is what… six weeks? The American one has been actively dragging on for more than a year now — it’s completely ridiculous. Although it would be kind of interesting to have a “primary” system here, no? There’s something to think about… Imagine if the next Liberal leader had to win a majority of provincial primary elections. I know that’s not the way things work in our parliamentary system, but it would certainly add some spice to things, don’t you think?
Regarding Obama and the issue of “faith”… well, religion is a huge turn-off for me, generally speaking, although it has to be said that he addresses it quite eloquently. I was surprised that he didn’t come out better in the “Saddleback” debate with Pastor Rick because his views seemed to better articulate where I’d imagine most moderate, somewhat agnostic pseudo-believers and pro forma Christians are situated if they could actually bring themselves to admit that, rather than the more traditional, moronically fundamentalist and entirely predictable, cartoonish Good v. Evil paradigm that McCain trotted out for the benefit of a broad swathe of ignorant slackwits, mental defectives and gullible rubes across the land. Oops, I meant to say “values voters”… My bad.
Not sure if you caught KO tonight, but Samuel the Unlicensed Plumber was actually on the stump with Palin today. (BTW has anyone considered the fact that her name might actually be Paling?…just sayin’)
It turns out this “average American” has hired a publicist and is negotiating a country music album & tour. Oh yeah, and he also agreed with some yahoo who said that an Obama presidency would mean the “death of Israel”. Nice.
I haven’t yet… just making dinner and catching up. It’s been weird here today — people in the place painting, renovating and doing “stuff” in preparation to moving, etc. I feel kind of like a displaced alien at the moment.
Anyway, enough about me…
Oh, why am I totally not surprised that
JoeSam the unlicensed plumber from Jerkwater, OH is ca$$hing in on his 15 min. (extended to several days courtesy of cable TV and the election campaigns) of “fame”…?Who really cares what this ignorant, opinionated dickwad thinks?
Ah. Real life and all. Are you staying in Victoria?
As for Sam the Jagoff, apparently McCain, Palin and their “base” care a great deal for what he has to say. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
BTW, watched Bill Clinton and Obama campaign together this evening in FLA. Not sure what took him so long, but Clinton gave quite a rousing speech, and endorsed BO unequivocally. Let’s hope it works…if Florida goes Dem, it will be impossible for McCain to win.
Oh, of course.
Actually, it’s kind of funny… I’m just going to be trading places with a couple in the same fourplex. They need more room, I require less; so it all works out.
Come the spring, I’ll look to move back to civilization (where one can actually walk to a theatre, pub or bookstore) and get out of the god-forsaken ex-urban sticks here where I’ve been stranded for now…
I caught some of that Clinton-Obama speech (his big “prime-time” media buy) and it was nice enough to see I guess, but I’m not sure if it will be all that influential. I think there’s a lot of ennui at the moment. Also saw McCain on LKL and he was in good form. Where was this guy over the last few months? Actually lucid and in good humour. I think this is perhaps his way of going out on a good note and winding up his campaign with his dignity intact. Funnily enough, one of his best presentations may actually have been a concession of defeat.
I didn’t catch LKL tonight. To be honest, I actually feel a bit bad for McCain. Perhaps it’s dawning on him that his reputation is being permanently tarnished by his own campaign. The John McCain of 2000 has largely disappeared in 2008. He made a serious error in picking Palin, and compounded it by allowing his campaign to be hijacked by the very same Atwater/Rove disciples that so mercilessly destroyed his own presidential aspirations in 2000. Having said that, I will note that this very day, Sarah Palin was busy publicly linking BO with another college professor with the nefarious name of Khalid Rashidi. Oooooh….scary….
That such a smear tactic could be used without the knowledge and approval of John McCain is hard to believe. So I’ll continue to suggest that he has a long way to go if he wishes to restore his dignity.
BTW, good luck with the move. I know it’s not far, but I for one despise the process of moving. Over the course of my undergraduate, graduate and medical training, I moved more times than I care to remember….and I hated every one of them!
Thanks.
Yeah, I absolute hate it too.
There was one point where we moved six times in eight years… from Victoria, to Edmonton, back to Victoria, then to Vancouver, to Calgary and then back to Edmonton… after a few years there it was off to Windsor and then for me it was Cambridge, Stoney Creek, Toronto… back to Windsor, then returning yet again to Victoria (which has since involved a few moves).
In the process I just keep shedding more and more “stuff” to the point now where it’s quite entirely minimal (plus a lot of books and clothes).
RC — I don’t think John McCain will have much difficulty re-endearing himself to most people once this awful business is all said and done. Consider Bob Dole and the affection he generates these days (despite actually being a pretty miserable SOB)… Look for McCain to be back on the late night talk show circuit and the Sunday yak-shows in fairly short order.
As for Palin — she’s a temporary phenom and won’t be heard from beyond this campaign, I don’t think in terms of being a “leader” within the GOP. The Washington establishment will ensure that she’s rigorously marginalized and quickly forgotten. Cinderella will find that once the accouterments of national attention vanish after the election, her wardrobe is repossessed, all of the lights, camera and action falls into silence… she’s best off going back to just being the “most popular Governor in the USA” and focusing in running out that term and then eventually grifting off plumb corporate appointments, speaking engagements and any other way she can conceivably leverage her attention-getting and somewhat memorable media profile.
I’d wager money on it… (If I had any to spare, that is.)
Actually Red, I rather hope that the GOP loses its collective mind further and runs Palin in 2012. I thought that this election was entertaining (although it does get tedious 12 months into it, as you noted), but Palin (and who? there’s a fun question) in 2012 would be downright THEATRE.
By that point, we’ll probably have gone through two changes of government up here, so we’ll all need some entertainment.