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American Presidency: Still nice

ElkiElki get busyModerator, ClubPA mod
edited September 2008 in Debate and/or Discourse
UNLIKE a swing state, a red state or a blue state, a refuge state is not part of the political map. It is a bit of the eschatological one. A senior pastor at Sarah Palin's old church had this to say about Alaska, as she stood by his side:

But there was some things, about the natural resources, about the state, there are some things that god wants to tap into to be a refuge for the lower 48. And I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states. Come on you guys, in the last days. And hundreds and thousands of people are gonna come to the state to seek refuge...

This has been reported before, but I only saw the video just today, and so this is the first time that I realised Sarah Palin was standing right next to the pastor who said this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8twqZpUT2NQ

Why has this not gotten a tenth of the attention of Jeremiah Wright's paranoid rantings at Barack Obama's church? Why am I just seeing this now? Besides the fact that Mr Obama heads his ticket and Ms Palin is a vice-presidential nominee, I think there are many things that make this worse. One is the loopy theology: God, in the revelation to St John, designated Alaska as a refuge state after the Rapture? Before there were even states? Thanks to its abundant natural resources? I'll have to go back to my Bible; I think I missed that part. Does Sarah Palin believe this?

I'd have a hard time having anything nice to say about Mr Obama if he thought that September 11th was America's "chickens coming home to roost", as Jeremiah Wright believes. But I don't think Mr Obama believes that. It seems Mr Obama chose a feisty black church as an entry point into a black community in which he was an outsider, and looked the other way at the questionable politics of its pastor. Mr Obama has a thin layer of deniability; he was not there the days of Rev Wright's various greatest anti-American hits. But more importantly, he has clearly denounced Rev Wright's ugly statements and distanced himself. Saying he admired the man while disowning the beliefs was awkward; I still don't feel comfortable with Mr Obama's years in Mr Wright's church. But nothing else Mr Obama has said makes me think he shares Mr Wright's views or style. A very bad judgment call, to stay in that church, but nothing more.

I'm rather more concerned about Ms Palin's pastors. (There are a few, with a variety of colourful beliefs.) The belief in an imminent End Times seems to be fundamental to the Wasilla Assembly of God's beliefs. Other excerpts of this video show a tissue-thin line between God's will and earthly politics in Ms Palin's worldview (cf. her call for voters to pray for a pipeline). We know Ms Palin imbibed this stuff.

I'm generally against the mixing of religion and politics—John McCain doesn't like to talk about his church, so I'm not inclined to ask him about transubstantiation or the Monophysite heresy. But Ms Palin's faith is obviously central to her life and her political views. That makes it fair game. Can someone, when she finally takes questions, ask her about the End Times? Does God have plans for Alaska? The Alaska Daily News article linked above also says that all of the churches Ms Palin has attended think the Bible is inerrant. Does she? Because for me, that would trash the credibility of virtually every pronouncement she has to make on science. (That oil in her state would be just 6,000 years old.) A belief that the Bible is inerrant, along with a belief that God takes an active role in political affairs like pipelines, would worry me a great deal, in fact. Israel-Palestine? Relations with Islam? Is she going to be checking her decisions against Leviticus?

Some will say that this is rude to ask, that there is no religious test, that you can just look at the woman: she's obviously not a wacko. But when I hear code phrases like "refuge state" and "servant's heart" I get nervous. Mr Obama and Mr McCain have done countless interviews on their faith. We need to know a little more exactly what Ms Palin believes, since she too stands a decent chance of being not just vice-president, but president.

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    ToyDToyD Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    So repost from the end of the now locked thread:

    So, having read a few stories about some fools that hacked Gov Palin's email I'm now pretty much convinced the lady is a crook of the kind we have here in OK. And we have some good ol' boys who can really get themselves into some trouble.

    However, I am having trouble understanding how people really can support this lady much more. It's becoming quite clear she's just as dictatorial as can be. Not to mention she's not really the brightest bulb they've ever picked for a running mate.

    However, having said all that, I cannot believe some idiot went and broke into the lady's email account. If they assign USSS to protect candidates, you have to KNOW that's just a bad idea. This isn't suzie from high school. Man.

    ToyD on
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    SpeakerSpeaker Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    I have a witchhunter on Morrowind.

    Um.

    Speaker on
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    SpeakerSpeaker Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    You know, my great great great great great grandmother was killed in Salem by witchhunters.

    I wasn't there, but I hear it was a bad time.

    Speaker on
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    JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    I'd be just fine with religion not being brought up again for the rest of the campaign, honestly.

    Jragghen on
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    ToyDToyD Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Speaker wrote: »
    You know, my great great great great great grandmother was killed in Salem by witchhunters.

    I wasn't there, but I hear it was a bad time.

    Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

    Heh, sorry. You just made me think of it.

    ToyD on
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    SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    New Olbermann slogan: "McCain in the membrane."

    Schrodinger on
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    SpeakerSpeaker Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Perhaps witchhunters are what we've been missing in our efforts to capture Osama.

    Speaker on
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    DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    RE: The Economist:

    Republicans are supposed to have wacko pastors. Republicans are allowed to be wacko pastors and still get elected. Palin is fine in that regard.

    Dracomicron on
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    NocturneNocturne Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Jragghen wrote: »
    I'd be just fine with religion not being brought up again for the rest of the campaign, honestly.

    I can't agree with this when we're talking about someone in charge of thousands of nuclear weapons and the most powerful military in the world believing in a literal interpretation of "Revelations."

    Fuck that.

    Nocturne on
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    ZimmydoomZimmydoom Accept no substitutes Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Chris Matthews unhinges his jaw and consumes Eric Cantor whole.

    In case you haven't seen it already

    Zimmydoom on
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    ToyDToyD Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Jragghen wrote: »
    I'd be just fine with religion not being brought up again for the rest of the campaign, honestly.

    Personally, I cannot WAIT for a real debate between these two. They are such polar opposites from devising an actual plan that I cannot WAIT to hear it. I read This today and just cannot wait for debate. Choice quote:

    "...Obama's proposal would eventually cover more than 34 million of the roughly 47 million Americans currently without insurance, while McCain's would cover at best 5 million uninsured. "

    ToyD on
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    deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Cantor really is a bit of an idiot

    deadonthestreet on
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    RustRust __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2008
    He is a repulsively smug man.

    Rust on
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    LykouraghLykouragh Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    So what do you guys think would have happened if half of this shit had come out about Obama's VP pick?

    Particularly the part about the pregnant teenage daughter.

    I think Obama would be polling at about 5% and we wouldn't hear news about issues for about 30 years.

    Lykouragh on
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    SpeakerSpeaker Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Seriously.

    I don't even know how to

    a witchhunter

    Speaker on
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    TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Lykouragh wrote: »
    So what do you guys think would have happened if half of this shit had come out about Obama's VP pick?

    Particularly the part about the pregnant teenage daughter.

    I think Obama would be polling at about 5% and we wouldn't hear news about issues for about 30 years.

    Sadly, you are right. But that's just part of the hypocrisy that is found in the Republican party. Not that the left doesn't have it, too, but the right just seems to be blatant about it.

    Tomanta on
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    SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Speaker wrote: »
    Seriously.

    I don't even know how to

    a witchhunter

    dude. please stfu.

    Sentry on
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    wrote:
    When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
    'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Tomanta wrote: »
    Lykouragh wrote: »
    So what do you guys think would have happened if half of this shit had come out about Obama's VP pick?

    Particularly the part about the pregnant teenage daughter.

    I think Obama would be polling at about 5% and we wouldn't hear news about issues for about 30 years.

    Sadly, you are right. But that's just part of the hypocrisy that is found in the Republican party. Not that the left doesn't have it, too, but the right just seems to be blatant about it.

    Well, it's all about white privilege:
    For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
    • White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
    • White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
    • White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”
    • White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.
    • And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
    White privilege is, in short, the problem.

    AngelHedgie on
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    RustRust __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2008
    Sentry wrote: »
    Speaker wrote: »
    Seriously.

    I don't even know how to

    a witchhunter

    dude. please stfu.

    Let the man stare blankly into the void or he'll debate you until your ass hairs crinkle.

    Rust on
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    SavantSavant Simply Barbaric Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    So there's a theory going around on the internets as to why Wasilla made victims pay for their rape kits. It was because the kits had emergency contraceptives in them, which the really wacko fundies think is abortion. A motivation for this theory is that Palin's refutations were carefully worded, in that she never though victims should have to pay for their "evidence-gathering test".

    Frankly, I'm not sure if that makes it worse or better whether that is truly the motivation. It's pretty sickening either way.

    Savant on
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    TaximesTaximes Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    Taximes on
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    Armored GorillaArmored Gorilla Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Zimmydoom wrote: »
    Chris Matthews unhinges his jaw and consumes Eric Cantor whole.

    In case you haven't seen it already

    I like this Cranky Matthews.

    Armored Gorilla on
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    No-QuarterNo-Quarter Nothing To Fear But Fear ItselfRegistered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Man what the fuck happened to Chris Matthews. It's like the retarded fool we've been seeing up until now was some Fae replicant which the real Chris Matthews brutally beat to death with a shovel upon returning scarred, changed, and PISSED from hellish Arcadia.

    witch hunters

    No-Quarter on
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    The goal is to either kill the investigation or tar it as being politically motivated. The problem is that they're so inept at both that they're failing miserably at their goals.

    AngelHedgie on
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    PicardathonPicardathon Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Zimmydoom wrote: »
    Chris Matthews unhinges his jaw and consumes Eric Cantor whole.

    In case you haven't seen it already

    Proper answer for Cantor:
    "Bill Clinton and the '98 Republican congress are responsible for the repeal of the Glass-Steagal act that started this mess, it's been a decade, both parties had a role to play in this mess."
    Of course, that would be arguing against deregulation, which the Republicans can't do lest their funding base turn against them.

    Picardathon on
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    nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    Alaska's AG is also on her side

    Apprently they're tryi to push it off till after the election

    nexuscrawler on
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    Alaska's AG is also on her side

    Apprently they're tryi to push it off till after the election

    But that doesn't really work, because it just makes people think there's something to the charges, and just delays the inevitable. They either have to kill it, or make it look like a partisan hatchet job. And that's just not happening.

    AngelHedgie on
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    RustRust __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2008
    Why does everyone on these news programs feel the need to shout so much? Is there some background noise I don't know about?

    Because it's distracting and hurts my ears and makes everyone involved sound like a jabbering ignoramus.

    Rust on
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    ZimmydoomZimmydoom Accept no substitutes Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Lykouragh wrote: »
    So what do you guys think would have happened if half of this shit had come out about Obama's VP pick?

    Particularly the part about the pregnant teenage daughter.

    I think Obama would be polling at about 5% and we wouldn't hear news about issues for about 30 years.

    I know it's just a bullshit hypothetical, but I have to reject this question.

    If Barack Obama was dumb enough to pick a VP candidate as shockingly corrupt, incompetent, and altogether bizarre as Sarah Palin he wouldn't be Barack Obama. We didn't choose our nominee because of his powerful rhetoric or stage charisma, we chose him because he has demonstrated uncommonly sound judgment and foresight during his short time as a legislator. Many of his fellow Democrats recognized something special in him, too. The day I knew we were going to win this was the day he earned Ted Kennedy's endorsement.

    Sarah Palin's selection wasn't just shocking because of who she is, but because of who it revealed John McCain to be: a cynical, opportunistic, short-sighted politician who put self ahead of country.

    Zimmydoom on
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    Gim wrote: »
    Zimmydoom, Zimmydoom
    Flew away in a balloon
    Had sex with polar bears
    While sitting in a reclining chair
    Now there are Zim-Bear hybrids
    Running around and clawing eyelids
    Watch out, a Zim-Bear is about to have sex with yooooooou!
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    SyphonBrueSyphonBrue Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Zimmydoom wrote: »
    Chris Matthews unhinges his jaw and consumes Eric Cantor whole.

    In case you haven't seen it already

    Matthews makes a good point. Where the fuck is Bush? Why is he not on TV talking to the public?

    SyphonBrue on
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    ZimmydoomZimmydoom Accept no substitutes Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Did... did I hear that right? Did Olbermann just bring up the rape kit issue?

    Zimmydoom on
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    Gim wrote: »
    Zimmydoom, Zimmydoom
    Flew away in a balloon
    Had sex with polar bears
    While sitting in a reclining chair
    Now there are Zim-Bear hybrids
    Running around and clawing eyelids
    Watch out, a Zim-Bear is about to have sex with yooooooou!
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    SanderJKSanderJK Crocodylus Pontifex Sinterklasicus Madrid, 3000 ADRegistered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Alaska's AG is a crony by the looks of it.

    Anyway, with 2 days of a -5% DOW we're pretty much firmly in "it's the economy stupid" land, especially because WaMu is apparently next on the list, going on fire sale right now to the highest bidder. Tomorrow will be grim as well.....

    SanderJK on
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    Joe ChemoJoe Chemo Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    I'm guessing their main goal is to try to delay the investigation so that any damning evidence comes out after the election.

    Joe Chemo on
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    RustRust __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2008
    SanderJK wrote: »
    Alaska's AG is a crony by the looks of it.

    Anyway, with 2 days of a -5% DOW we're pretty much firmly in "it's the economy stupid" land, especially because WaMu is apparently next on the list, going on fire sale right now to the highest bidder. Tomorrow will be grim as well.....

    It is somewhat comforting to see the laws of cause and effect running up against the Republican rhetoric that denied them for so long and bulldozing them (and, yeah, a goodish part of the economy) into the dirt.

    Makes you feel like you're living in the physical world instead of a Heller-esque fever dream.

    Rust on
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    ToyDToyD Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Joe Chemo wrote: »
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    I'm guessing their main goal is to try to delay the investigation so that any damning evidence comes out after the election.

    I would guess 5th amendment. But, then again, in my view, if you're pleading the 5th, you're pretty much guilty of something, even if not exactly what they're looking into. Soooo, yea...

    ToyD on
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    ZimmydoomZimmydoom Accept no substitutes Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    Alaska's AG is also on her side

    Apprently they're tryi to push it off till after the election

    But that doesn't really work, because it just makes people think there's something to the charges, and just delays the inevitable. They either have to kill it, or make it look like a partisan hatchet job. And that's just not happening.

    He didn't say it was a good idea.

    Honestly if McCain's campaign had any idea what they were doing they would have actually bothered to do more than a Google search to check up on Palin's credentials.

    Zimmydoom on
    Better-than-birthday-sig!
    Gim wrote: »
    Zimmydoom, Zimmydoom
    Flew away in a balloon
    Had sex with polar bears
    While sitting in a reclining chair
    Now there are Zim-Bear hybrids
    Running around and clawing eyelids
    Watch out, a Zim-Bear is about to have sex with yooooooou!
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    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Zimmydoom wrote: »
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    Alaska's AG is also on her side

    Apprently they're tryi to push it off till after the election

    But that doesn't really work, because it just makes people think there's something to the charges, and just delays the inevitable. They either have to kill it, or make it look like a partisan hatchet job. And that's just not happening.

    He didn't say it was a good idea.

    Honestly if McCain's campaign had any idea what they were doing they would have actually bothered to do more than a Google search to check up on Palin's credentials.

    Well, to be honest, McCain didn't really pick Palin so much as he was told that she would be his running mate.

    AngelHedgie on
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    TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    SanderJK wrote: »
    Alaska's AG is a crony by the looks of it.

    Anyway, with 2 days of a -5% DOW we're pretty much firmly in "it's the economy stupid" land, especially because WaMu is apparently next on the list, going on fire sale right now to the highest bidder. Tomorrow will be grim as well.....

    I told my co-worker it wouldn't be Bank of America! I just wish I had remembered what I saw about WaMu here the last two days at the time.

    I thought I heard this morning that McCain had an ad out complaining about Obama "politicizing" the economic crisis, but haven't seen that mentioned here.

    I lol'd.

    Tomanta on
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    DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Zimmydoom wrote: »
    Did... did I hear that right? Did Olbermann just bring up the rape kit issue?

    You did. It's by far the juciest anti-Palin bit to come up lately. It contains lurid details of sex, violence, corruption, and blatant stupidity. I mean, she fired the guy for asking for earmarks that Ted Stevens didn't like even though they would help women not be raped. Why wouldn't Olbermann and Maddow pound on it?

    Dracomicron on
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    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited September 2008
    Taximes wrote: »
    I know Palin's refusal to participate in the Trooper investigation is relatively old news, but...

    Can someone please explain this to me? Does she just hope that if she "declines to participate" the whole thing will go away? How can this possibly do anything other than make her look worse if something more does come of it?

    The goal is to either kill the investigation or tar it as being politically motivated. The problem is that they're so inept at both that they're failing miserably at their goals.

    They are also trying to delay it until after the election. The argument about why it shouldn't be concluded before the election is hilarious.

    Couscous on
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