Don’t Go There

There’s a lot of talk about what we can and cannot say about Sarah Palin. There are some who seem to think any criticism at all of Palin amounts to sexism, an attitude that strikes me as sexist. It says that women can’t be taken seriously in the political world and treated the same way men are treated. It’s like the high school coach who puts girls on the boy’s varsity team not because he thinks they are good players, but because he thinks the opposing team will hesitate to rough them up. (Which, come to think of it, might explain McCain’s choice of Palin.)

I argued yesterday that it’s absurd not to talk about Palin’s inexperience. Anyone who says that talking about her inexperience requires imposing a double standard is, um, imposing a double standard.

However, I will not criticize her as a mother or suggest she has too many small children to take care of to be VPOTUS. I haven’t seen any such criticism personally, but I understand there was some such carping among a few Daily Kos diarists, leading to the Times of London to report a “Left-wing websites such as the Daily Kos are leading the chorus of disapproval.”

It’s not much of a chorus; more of a small chamber ensemble. In any event, don’t go there. The late Benazir Bhutto gave birth while she was President of Pakistan, for pity’s sake.

And yes, I’ve heard the rumor that Palin’s youngest baby isn’t hers. I’m not going there, either, unless more evidence shows up. Making wild accusations that turn out to be stupid makes you look like a rightie.

On the other hand, Josh Marshall explains in detail why Palin’s troopergate issue needs to be discussed.

We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It’s called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired him. She first denied Monegan’s claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened.

There’s a difference between criticizing people professionally and criticizing them personally. Criticizing Palin’s stands on issues, yes. Discussing her record as a mayor and a governor, yes. Pointing out her lack of experience, yes. Ridicule of her appearance, family or personal lifestyle choices, no. I hope we’re clear.

Let’s not forget that the real focus needs to stay on John McCain. Todd Gitlin writes,

McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin is not a weird anomaly. It’s of a piece with his standard modus operandi. He’s impulsive, erratic. Put him in a jam, he leaps from petulance to exuberant nose-thumbing. He may be old, but he’s unseasoned–he’s childish. He jumps outside the box and takes pleasure in his insouciance. Faced with a foreign policy problem, he thinks: Bomb. (Sometimes he blurts it out, as in: Bomb bomb Iran.) Faced with energy crisis, he thinks: Drill. Faced with Russia-Georgia-Ossetia, he thinks: Let’s get the Cold War on. Bomb and drill, drill and bomb–this is not a steady hand at the wheel; this is a go-for-broke gambler playing the game as he loves to play it.

Whenever I see polls that say a majority think McCain would be a better commander in chief than Obama, I want to scream. We need to find a way to flush this jerk out into the open so the American people can see him for what he really is.

Update:
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes,

The entire Sarah Palin pick comes down to one thing–the hope that George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, or (God forbid) Will.I.Am. will make a joke about moose-burgers. At that point, the McCain campaign will cut an ad which says They’re laughing at you. Vote for McCain and you can show the world. You can show them all! Of course said ad will never appear on television but will be screened only for the media–who will then do their job and turn the cable news into giant echo chamber in which the “Real Americans” yell They’re all gonna laugh at you! They’re all gonna laugh at you! Welcome to Victimology 101–the White Working Class Edition.

Watch the Obama-Biden ad. Nice.

It Could Have Been Worse

Word is that McCain had wanted to choose Joe Lieberman as his running mate, and the GOP Powers That Be wouldn’t have it, because Lieberman supports abortion rights. So the “maverick” caved and chose someone else.

I think Lieberman would have been a much more dangerous choice for us than Palin will turn out to be. Joe may be persona non grata on the Left, but I think most people who are not politics nerds, which are most people, don’t understand why us lefties don’t like him. They see him as a moderate bipartisan who talks about Gawd a lot. The choice would have assured people that McCain intends to break with the extremist body of the GOP.

And the Dems sure as hell couldn’t have said he isn’t qualified to be veep.

The next question is, how carefully was Palin vetted? She wasn’t a complete surprise, as I’ve seen her name mentioned a few times in the past several weeks as a possible veep pick. The McCain campaign claims she was well and thoroughly vetted. Josh Marshall has reason to doubt this.

Oliver Willis calls it, I believe:

Increasingly, I’m beginning to believe the Palin pick is the latest manifestation of John McCain’s impulse control problem, a thread going through his entire life – from cheating on his first wife with Cindy McCain, advocating for war with Iraq right after 9/11, chanting “bomb Iran”, as well as his numerous flashes of rage both physical and verbal against his congressional colleagues. As Paul Begala notes, McCain picked someone who isn’t up to the job in a way that would endanger us all – and all based on what his ego is feeling at the moment.

There is speculation that Palin will end up being the GOP’s Thomas Eagleton and will be replaced on the ticket before November. I wouldn’t count on that. I think the true believers on the Right will support her and believe her to be an asset to the ticket no matter what happens between now and November.

But that’s OK. Obama will never win those votes, anyway. The real question is, how will independent voters perceive her? Those are the votes Obama needs. And I’m not much worried. As I said, Lieberman would have been much more dangerous.

On the minus side — I understand President Bush will not be attending the RNC convention because of Hurricane Gustav, which disappoints me terribly. But you know how our president likes to take charge and stay on top of things during hurricanes. In fact, McCain questioned whether the convention would be held at all.

“I’m afraid … that we may have to look at that situation and we’ll try to monitor it,” he told Fox News. “But you know it just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster. So we’re monitoring it from day to day and I’m saying a few prayers too.”

Yep; wouldn’t be appropriate. Not at all.

Conspiracies

Maybe you can help me with this. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs (to which I do not link) believes he has discovered a plot by the Obama campaign to smear Sarah Palin with this web site.

You can read about why LGF suspected the Obama campaign was behind the site at Gateway Pundit. As I understand it, the Sarah Palin smear site is traced to the IP address 74.208.74.232. This same IP address also hosts other anti-McCain sites, plus a site that redirects to Obama’s “Fight the Smears” site. “Fight the Smears” itself has a different IP address.

If you do a Whois for the IP address, it takes you to a company called 1&1 Internet Inc., of Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania. It’s a web hosting service. A cheap one, with disgruntled former customers who have set up complaint sites, presumably with another web host. This doesn’t tell us who actually created the sites.

The only connection to the Obama campaign is the site Obamadefense.com, hosted at 1&1 Internet, that redirects to the “Fight the Smears” site. I did a Whois for Obamadefense.com and didn’t find anything that told me anything more.

Is there a there, there? I don’t understand how any of this proves a connection to the Obama campaign.

No Way to Treat a Lady

Update: The Big Tent in more-liberal-than-thou mode:

I would add that Obama does not need to be arguing how important experience is. Let me also add that when Tim Kaine, who has exactly the same experience as Palin, was treated by the Media and the Dems as a serious and acceptable potential pick, it opens up charges of a double standard.

Let’s walk through this.

As Mayors

  • Kaine: Two terms as mayor of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, population 197,790 per the 2000 census.
  • Palin: Two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 5,469 per the 2000 census.

Other:

  • Kaine: Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, 2001-2004
  • Palin: Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (while still mayor of Wasilla), 2004-2005

As Governor

  • Kaine: 2007, sworn in as governor of Virginia, population 7,642,884 per 2006 estimate
  • Palin: 2007, sworn in as governor of Alaska, population 670,053 per 2006 estimate

On most planets, this is not “exactly the same experience.”

As documented in the Karl Rove quote in the last post, Kaine wasn’t always treated as a “serious and acceptable potential pick.” I googled “tim kaine vice president experience” and came up with a number of pages with comments that questioned Kaine’s experience. And if he had been the veep pick, there would have been more such comments.

There’s a double standard, all right, and it says that women must be treated more softly and gently than men. We can’t point out her lack of experience, even though she lacks experience, because she’s a girl.

Back in my day, feminists campaigned to be treated equally. I guess I’m getting old.

The Next Few Days

Beautiful Downtown Wasilla, Alaska!

Kinda reminds me of back home, except the Ozarks has hills and more foliage.

I picked up the photograph of beautiful downtown Wasilla from this site, which has a must-read background article on the new nominee for VPOTUS, Sarah Palin. Read it, and then ask yourself: Is Palin another Dan Quayle? Or another Katherine Harris, albeit with less money? See also “Chief Fired by Palin Speaks Out.”

Wasilla, Alaska, is where Palin gained nearly all of her executive experience. She was on the Wasilla city council from 1992 to 1996 — I envision a meeting room graced by cheap imitation wood wall paneling and a soft drink machine — and mayor from 1996 to I think 2006. I haven’t found a precise end date for the mayor job. Then she was sworn in as governor of Alaska in January 2007. That was, like, last year.

Steve Benen reminds us of something Karl Rove said earlier this month on Face the Nation.

“I think he’s [Obama] going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice,” Rove said. “He’s going to view this through the prism of a candidate, not through the prism of president; that is to say, he’s going to pick somebody that he thinks will on the margin help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He’s not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities of president.”

Rove singled out Virginia governor Tim Kaine, also a Face The Nation guest, as an example of such a pick.

“With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he’s been a governor for three years, he’s been able but undistinguished,” Rove said. “I don’t think people could really name a big, important thing that he’s done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America.”

Rove continued: “So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I’m really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States.”

See above, photograph of beautiful downtown Wasilla, Alaska.

It’s possible Palin could help the McCain ticket a lot. She is already firing up the “movement conservative,” anti-government Republicans. Her inexperience will not be an issue for them, since they don’t give a bleep about anyone actually governing. She also will help McCain with social conservatives and cement support with white, conservative evangelicals. I expect McCain to get a significant bounce with these groups.

What about women? I predict a short-term bounce that will wither away once most women catch on how far Right and how inexperienced Palin is. And if anyone thinks McCain’s choice was not a bare-assed attempt to lure Hillary Clinton supporters, Gail Collins notes,

… the only nonfamily members other than McCain that Palin really mentioned in her introductory speech were Democrats Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Whatever happened to Ronald Reagan? Isn’t there a rule that you have to mention Ronald Reagan?

“It was rightly noted in Denver that Hillary made 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America,” Palin said. “It turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”

Not that anyone pays much attention to them any more, but feminist organizations like NOW and NARAL are already slamming Palin.

However, this is a moment that calls for quiet reflection on how far women have come since second-wave feminism burst forth in the 1960s. Forty years ago, slaves to the Patriarchy like Palin simply denounced feminism and women’s equality, saying they were happy being second-class citizens. Now, they pay lip service to feminism and take the reins of power to help the Patriarchy keep women subservient. Unfortunately, I fear there are many women — too young? too stupid? — who are selling out women by supporting an unqualified, anti-reproductive rights whackjob, who if she actually became President would set back women’s rights at least 50 years.

Yes, I’m a bit irritated.

On the other hand, long-term I think the Palin choice could backfire among “swing” voters, especially when they learn about her extremist right-wing views on most issues and understand how utterly inexperienced she really is. McCain’s one advantage with the swing voters was his alleged superior experience and judgment regarding national security. I think the Palin choice broadcasts that his judgment is erratic and that he is more interested in winning elections than protecting America.

In other words, it’s a frivolous choice that makes the Obama-Biden ticket look all the more serious in contrast.

A lot depends on how much of a clown show the GOP convention turns out to be. Eight years ago, a complacent electorate enabled a frivolous presidential candidate to get into the White House. Four years ago, a frightened and emotionally manipulated electorate repeated the mistake. But now, if the GOP convention is the convergence of social pathologies it usually is, I think this time the electorate will not be amused. Now, people are damn pissed off and want the government to be run by people who are serious about running government.

And the conventions do matter. The Dem convention of 1972 hurt McGovern. The GOP convention of 1992 hurt Bush I. Let’s see what they do this time.

I think the biggest reason the polls have been so close is that people who are not paying close attention see the silvery-haired white guy who’s been in Washington forever, and the young skinny not-white guy who’s brand new, and they figure the older guy will be the serious one, the one with gravitas.

Yet it’s McCain who has been running a silly, frivolous campaign — the only time he gets serious is when he is reminding us he was a POW 40 years ago, which is every ten minutes. Otherwise, he runs silly advertisements and has a nearly content-free campaign that consists of telling lies about what Obama might do while fudging the details (if there are any) of what McCain might do.

And a lot depends on Palin herself, and whether she can stand up to national scrutiny, with which she has had no experience, without imploding.

Heh.

Update: Andrew Sullivan —

Here’s the real slogan the McCain campaign should now adopt:

Putting. Country. Last.

Update: Get this

Palin, who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla — that amounts to $3,000 per resident. She argues that the debt was needed to fund improvements.

Post-Rational

One thing’s for sure; McCain’s going to get the idiot vote. What will the PUMAs do when Senator Clinton campaigns against the McCain-Palin ticket? And do they know that Palin wants to criminalize abortion even in cases of rape and incest?

Rachel Maddow keeps calling former Hillary Clinton supporters who now support McCain “post-rational.” Maddow is being kind.

Let’s Get Serious

I began this post before the Sarah Palin veep pick became news, but it fits in, nicely. This is about what we can expect to see at the GOP convention next week.

What we can expect to see are cartoons.

Today’s Republicans are not serious about governing, as John McCain broadcast loudly with his Sarah Palin choice. The GOP convention will be intensely negative, and also intensely juvenile. I don’t know what this year’s version of the purple band aid will be (are the righties over the tire gauge thing yet?). But most of the energy of the convention will be poured into ridicule of the Dem ticket. At the same time, the convention will be vague if not dishonest about the extremely right-wing GOP platform.

The GOP wins presidential elections by turning the Dem into a cartoon (and suppressing votes). They did it to Al Gore; they did it to John Kerry. They tried to do it to Bill Clinton — well, in a sense, they succeeded, but unfortunately for them they turned him into Bugs Bunny and themselves into Elmer Fudd.

So far, John McCain has been running a Karl Rove-style campaign, meaning one that’s not serious about governing. Rove himself never got the governing thing. The fact that your candidate, once in office, at some point has to actually govern is a point that still eludes him.

As Kevin Drum said of Obama’s acceptance speech,

This is an iron fist in a velvet glove. Or is it a velvet fist in an iron glove? Whichever it is, he’s calling out McCain in plain language not just for running a nasty, Rovian campaign, but for running a fundamentally unserious campaign. By tackling this head on, Obama has put a serious dent in McCain’s ability to continue campaigning with dumb soundbites and too-cute-by-half innuendo. This isn’t a teenager’s campaign for junior high school student council, he was saying, it’s a campaign for president of the United States and you’re old enough to know that you should damn well treat it that way.

They won’t, though. Just watch.

There is a comment at The Fix by Lawrence Hawkins that I can’t link to directly, so I’m going to paste it all here. I hope Mr. Hawkins doesn’t mind.

Amazing. As I scan through the comments above I see the the same sad insults. “Socialism” cries one. “Jerimiah Wright” cries another. “He can’t/won’t change a thing.” And let’s not forget the the eloquent, “I HATE HIM.”

This all goes past the point of being sad. This is psychologically unhealthy for those that feel this way. Be honest with yourselves. You are afraid.

Honestly you need to confront your fears. Barack Obama is a guy with a rocky upbringing. Thank God he had people like his mom, and his grandparents in his life to set him straight. He worked hard in school, got a law degree, passed the bar, which in itself is an accomplishment, and went on to get married, to a woman, and started raising a family. No absentee dad, he. You want a man who shows the system works? Here he is. You want someone who was given lemons and made lemonade? Here he is. Do you want an example to show the world that America works? You’ve got him!

Jerimiah Wright is a jerk. But he’s not running for president.

Face your fear. Grow past it. Barack Obama, despite Rush et al, is not the Bogeyman. He is an American that wants the best for America.

If you’ve got a problem with his tax policy, let’s discuss it like adults. If you have a concerns about abortion and a women’s right to make choices, let’s talk. But this type of reasoned debate can only happen once you get past the fear that cripples your thought process. I guarantee you that once you’ve thought it all through, you’ll vote for Obama/Biden, because at the end of the day, it’s a vote for yourself.

If you’ve got a problem with his tax policy, let’s discuss it like adults. If you have a concerns about abortion and a women’s right to make choices, let’s talk. But this type of reasoned debate can only happen once you get past the fear that cripples your thought process. Spot on.

Sometimes people criticize me for not debating righties. They don’t see the several years I spent wasted attempting to debate righties. I had facts and logic; they had puerile taunting. I gave up; I have more entertaining ways to kill time.

It’s rare to find someone on the Right with whom one can have a serious conversation about a serious subject. The Left has its share of clowns, too, but IMO there is a bigger percentage of us who are not clowns and who are willing to listen to serious, fact-based argument when it is presented to us. Today’s “conservatives” seem congenitally unable to present serious, fact-based arguments, however.

So next week the GOP will get together, and they will put on a great show of hate and ridicule and derision, with occasional breaks for displays of the jingoistic nationalism they confuse for patriotism. What you won’t see them do is get serious.

Miss Congeniality

So the GOP vice-presidential candidate once won second place in the Miss Alaksa beauty contest, and was awarded the Miss Congeniality prize. Her husband works for British Petroleum. She was elected governor of Alaska in 2006. From 2004 to 2005 she was Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, for a time.

Are they serious?

So the aged and infirm McCain, who has been razzing Barack Obama for being “inexperienced,” chooses someone with even less experience to be his running mate. Obviously, Sarah Palin was chosen because of her gender, and for no other reason. The McCain campaign must figure their only hope is to pick up disgruntled Clinton supporters.

Update: My devoted fan the Confederate Yankee smugly links to Palin’s Wikepedia biography and says, “It has to terrify Obama’s camp.” The Wikipedia biography was my source for the details above. Yes, I’m sure we’re all terrified of the former Miss Congeniality who was mayor of Wasilla.

Update: It appears that John McCain has achieved something remarkable — he has pleased everyone across the political spectrum. Righties are happy because they think they’ve pulled a fast one on the left — See? We can play identity politics, too! Lefties are happy because Palin is a joke.

See Josh Marshall.

Update: It gets better. In 2000, Wasilla, Alaska had all of 5,469 residents.

Update:
Chris Kelly — “Governor Palin Has What It Takes to Be the Next Dick Cheney.”

The Speech

Here are excerpts of the speech, titled “The American Promise,” just released by Obama’s campaign.

Here’s the full text.

“You don’t defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq.”

“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.”

“America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.’

Update: I was just thinking, no balloons. But they managed a few streamers.

This was a powerful convention.

The visuals are great. Flags and fireworks.

Lordy, Chris Matthews is going on about Henry V at Agincourt.

Update:
Prediction —