Switching Obama and McCain

From the inbox:

Obama/Biden  vs McCain/Palin

What if things were  switched  around?…..

Think  about it.  Would  the country’s collective point of view be different? Could  racism be the culprit?

Ponder  the following:

What  if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage,  including  a three-month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage  daughter?

What  if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law  Review?

What  if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating  class?

What  if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a  divorcee?

What  if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his  standards?

What  if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What  if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to  painkillers  but also acquired them illegally through her charitable  organization?

What  if Cindy McCain graduated from  Harvard?

What  if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five  were five United  States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal  as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s  and early 1990s.)

What  if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent  speaker?

What  if Obama couldn’t read from a  teleprompter?

What  if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems  and a record of crashing three planes?

What  if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly,  on many occasions, a serious anger management  problem?

What  if Michelle Obama’s family had made their money from beer  distribution?

What  if the Obamas had adopted a white  child.

You  could easily add to this list.  If these questions reflected  reality, do  you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they  are?

This  is what racism does.  It covers up, rationalizes and  minimizes positive  qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative  qualities  in another when there is a color  difference.

Educational  Background

Barack  Obama
Columbia  University -  B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International  Relations.
Harvard  – Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum  Laude

Joseph  Biden
University of  Delaware -  B.A. in History and B.A. in Political  Science.
Syracuse  University College of  Law – Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John  McCain
United  States  Naval Academy -  Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah  Palin
Hawaii  Pacific University – 1  semester
North  Idaho College – 2  semesters – general study
University of  Idaho – 2  semesters – journalism
Matanuska  – Susitna  College – 1  semester
University  of Idaho – 3 semesters – B.A. in  Journalism

Education  isn’t everything but this is about the two highest offices in  the land as well as our standing in the world.

You  make the call.

Know any undecided voters? This might be a good thing to send them.

Quote of the Day

Heh:

Say it ain’t so, Joe! There you go pointing backwards again … Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?

And then the shout-out to the kids in some elementary school who were getting extra credit for watching the debate.

We’re supposed to think she is a credible candidate?

The Dumbing Down of the GOP

Great piece by Joe Conason:

Why should we pretend not to notice when Gov. Palin’s ideas make no sense? Having said last week that “it doesn’t matter” whether human activity is the cause of climate change, she said in debate that she “doesn’t want to argue” about the causes. It doesn’t occur to her that we have to know the causes in order to address the problem.

That moment seemed like a major gaffe to me. She acknowledged that climate change is a problem, but isn’t concerned about what caused the problem?

Maybe it makes sense in the GOP mindset; after all, they want to fight terrorism, but “don’t want to argue” about its causes. Finding solutions to problems seems too often to be about appealing to emotions and making sure to not piss of the party’s base.

More from Conason:

Why should we ignore her inability to string together a series of coherent thoughts?

Why should we give her a pass on the most important issues of the day?

All the glaring defects so blatantly on display in her debate with Joe Biden — and that make her candidacy so darkly comical — would be the same if she were a hockey dad instead of a “hockey mom.” In fact, the cynical attempt to foist Palin on the nation as a symbol of feminist progress is an insult to all women regardless of their political orientation.

There was a time when conservatives lamented the dumbing down of American culture. Preservation of basic standards in schools and workplaces compelled them — or so they said — to resist affirmative action for women and minorities. Qualifications mattered; merit mattered; and demagogic appeals for leveling were to be left to the Democrats.

Not anymore.

This goes back to the farcical nature of the McCain campaign. They have run their entire operation as if it were some kind of a cynical joke run by privileged frat boys who think they are smarter than anyone else, but who in reality have a lot of growing up to do.

Campaign flailing? Pick a hot governor from a small state with very little experience. She’s so hot that no one will notice that she is most certainly not qualified to be a president (and as Vice President to McCain, a 72 year-old man who has had malignant melanomas three times, there is a decent chance that she will become president if McCain wins).

Wall Street crisis? Pretend to lead. Pretend to suspend your campaign. Go to Washington to have dinner with your friend Joe Lieberman. No one will notice that even members of Congress in your own party won’t follow your ideas on the bailout. No one will notice that when your campaign was “suspended,” you continued to campaign, your ads stayed on the air, and that you didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to get back to Washington nor that you hadn’t cast a vote in the Senate since April.

Unpopular Republican President? Pretend to be a “maverick.” No one will notice that since you were defeated by Bush in a nasty and foul South Carolina primary 8 years ago, you’ve become Bush’s lapdog in the Senate, voting with the President over 90% of the time.

The ultimate irony of Palin’s rise is that it has occurred at a moment when Americans may finally have grown weary of pseudo-populism — when intelligence, judgment, diligence and seriousness are once again valued, simply because we are in such deep trouble. We got into this mess because we elected a man who professed to despise elitism, which he detected in everyone whose opinions differed from his prejudices. That was George W. Bush, of course. Biden was too polite and restrained to say it, but the dumbing down is more of the same, too.

Indeed.

Biden vs Palin Reaction

I was entertained by the debate.

Palin’s inability to answer questions was amusing.

But, Palin didn’t fuck up too badly.  She spoke her talking points well and really seemed to want to talk about energy. Biden knew his facts and spoke well, and didn’t fuck up, either.

I’d give the edge to Biden, but I am one of those horrible arugula-eating Democrats.

My take is that though Biden won on points, Palin won because expectations of her performance were so low that her ability to make it through the thing without drooling. Also, she’s adorable!

McCain Campaign: High Comedy

I’ll get to some of the other issues that make the McCain campaign so farcical later, but this one stunned me:

McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there’s no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.

In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.

So in other words, McCain wants to delay Friday’s presidential debate until next Thursday, which was the original date of the Vice Presidential debate. The VP debate will be held “whenever.”

McCain knows that Palin is an incredibly weak candidate who he must keep on a short leash, and who is probably not up to the job of debating Joe Biden.

What better way to make sure that a VP debate never takes place?

Does he really think we’re too stupid to notice the cynicism of such a move?

From the Inbox: I’m a Little Confused

Heh!

I’m a little  confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..

• If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”

• *Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

• If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

• Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.

• Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

• Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.

• If you spend 3 years as a   brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 yearsas a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while        sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,  Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.

• If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000        people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.

• If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.

• If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.

• If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

• If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you’re very        responsible.

• If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position ina prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s valuesdon’t represent America’s.

• If you’re husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote untilage 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer  now.

Daily Palin

Sarah Palin’s parents watching their daughter from their home in Wasilla, Alaska.

For a change of pace on the Daily Palin, I thought it might be worthwhile to hear from the citizens of Alaska writing about their favorite daughter.

From the Letters to the Editor section of the Anchorage Daily News:

Palin’s pro-life? Maybe her own

Parade and humiliate your 17-year-old daughter in front of the world, now that’s love! Hide a pregnancy for seven months and then risk the life of that special needs baby at 36 weeks gestation because it’s not politically convenient to be in labor, now that’s love!

Our governor may be “pro-life” but I’m afraid she means her own.

I know we’re not allowed to say that about Palin, so it’s nice that an Alaskan is bringing up Palin’s apparent selfishness.

Leadership ability is overrated

If Sarah Palin is such a great leader, such a great governor, then why do many of the communities in her own state live by third world conditions? Why do many communities lack running water? Why do many communities have to transport their sewage to a tundra pond in a five-gallon bucket for disposal? Why are “landfills” in many of these communities just places on the ground where people throw their trash? Why does gasoline cost $6.25 in many communities? How can she lead a nation, when she cannot even provide aid to the communities under her governorship? Go out to the rural villages and look at their sewage treatment and collections systems. Go out and drink the water. You will see that her leadership has not helped those that need it most.

To be fair, since Palin has been in office for only two years, it wouldn’t be possible for Palin to raise the living standards of all Alaskans in such a short period of time. But, I wonder if she has any plans to improve the lives of poor Alaskan communities and families.

I’m guessing she doesn’t.

Palin is not ready for this office

John McCain is pandering. He has insulted every hard working politically active (Republican) woman in this country, except for one. He has insulted the second highest office in the country and the world. He has threatened the office of the president of the United States.

Sarah may develop into a woman capable of taking the second highest office in the land, but neither John McCain nor the rest of us know of anything in her background or her limited political and governmental experience that comes near being ready for this office.

That’s just it, I think. Palin very well may evolve into a great leader one day, and very well may become president. But how is it respsonsible for a 72 year-old candidate (who the actuarial tables say has a 15% chance of dying in the next four years) who has cancer four times to nominate a person with unknown leadership abilities, who said she hadn’t thought about the Iraq war, except that it’s God’s mission?

Politics is McCain’s main objective

Wow, 18 months in office, and only one abuse of power scandal. Palin is set to be a Republican vice president. McCain’s choice says a lot.

Palin follows the Republican form of firing any public servant who values the integrity of his work over loyalty to his boss. Palin fired public safety commissioner and former Police Chief Walt Monegan.

McCain recklessly chose someone he hadn’t vetted. He hopes to take back evangelicals from Obama and that Hillary supporters will vote for anyone female.

It’s not Palin’s fault. But it displays rash decision-making and cynical pandering.

Obama treats us like adults. America hasn’t seen that in a long time.

Meanwhile, McCain’s choice has made it clear: he puts politics first and country second.

Bingo! McCain was never much of a culture warrior, but his choice of Palin seems to point out that he thinks the only way he can win is ot pander to the fundie GOP base and create silly resentments.

We need to keep Palin in Alaska

I just don’t understand all the hoopla about a candidate’s experience or lack of experience. Common sense and good judgment are much more important to me. Frank Murkowski had years of Senate experience, but he was a disaster as a governor.

Obama and Palin may be a little short on experience, but they have the judgment and common sense to seek advice from those who do have the experience. Obama demonstrated that with his choice of Biden as a running mate.

I will probably go with the Obama/Biden ticket because we need Sarah here.

I love the understated reasoning here. Obama demonstrated judgment and common sense with his choice of Biden, so what did McCain demonstrate with his Palin pick?

Great letters from Alaskans. I’ll be checking in with them regularly to see what those who know Palin the best are saying about her.

It’s Biden!

I haven’t gotten my personal text message from Barack Obama yet, but this seems to confirm all the speculation:

The United States Secret Service has dispatched a protective detail to assume the immediate protection of Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a source tells ABC News, indicating in all likelihood that Biden has been officially notified that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has selected him to be his running mate.

I’m feeling pretty good about this pick. One of the problems I have with Obama and a lot of other Democrats is that sometimes they are too afraid to speak their minds. That’s not a problem that Joe Biden has. Yes, he makes mistakes, but he says what he’s thinking, and he’s usually right.

I can’t wait to see the Biden/Romney debate. Romney will finally be revealed to be the android that he is.

Oh, and Biden’s one-liners will also be a lot of fun.

And also, foreign policy credentials, experience and all that stuff.

Joe Biden – My New Best Friend

Er, not really. But it’s nice to see a Washington Democrat as if he’s mad about something.

In case you missed it:

Speaking before the Knesset, Bush said that “some people” believe the United States “should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”

“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Biden’s response?

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”

Why can’t more Democrats just say what’s on their minds?