Liberaltopia

But Probably Won’t…

Spot Title: ‘Community Service’

IMAGES: Montage of candy stripers helping senior citizens and feeding disabled vets; volunteers serving food at a disaster relief shelter, piling up sandbags during a flood, handing groceries to a family at a food pantry.

VOICE-OVER: “Every day, all over America, volunteers willingly give up their free time to help their fellow citizens, a proud tradition of helping others that has made America great…”

CUT TO IMAGES & AUDIO: Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin snickering over Obama’s community service at the GOP convention.

V.O.: “Yet, to hear the Republican Party, their selfless efforts to help their fellow Americans and that tradition of aiding those in need is only worthy of snide laughter…”

CUT TO IMAGE: Ask the Republican Party – what do they have against community service?

V.O.: “Ask the Republican Party – what do they have against community service?”

CUT TO IMAGES OF OBAMA & BIDEN

V.O.: “Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe in service to America – not only in Washington, but in local communities across the land. They believe this country was built on Americans helping other Americans. Why does the Republican Party have a problem with this?”

CUT TO IMAGE: Elect Obama-Biden in 2008 – if you believe in helping America.

If Obama doesn’t run an ad like this soon, and make it a regular talking point, Thom Hartmann will be right – the GOP will paint community service as some kind of far-left liberal tripe to be snickered at.

VP Wannabe Gov. Appalling Palin…

“(When it comes to the oil crisis…) …we need to lay more pipe, and as my daughter proves, we know how to lay pipe!”

(Scribe Post-It Note: the first part of this was oddly edited out of the official version of the text: but she did say it. Guess they thought there might be a problem with her mentioning the “lay pipe” phrase. But it was there. Scribe has REALLY good ears and KNOWS what he hears.)

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Barack Obama might feel that the “private lives” of his opponents is “off-the-table” or “out of bounds”, and to some extent I would tent to agree with him. But when they become inserted into the public arena by those very opponents, then they become fair game.

Of course, having had to listen to the Right Wing Smear Machine over the course of this election in the way they attacked Obama, his wife, and even his very young children, I am not inclined to give them any quarter. It is long since time for Democrats to push back and punch the school yard bully in the political nose.

Here is Jon Stewart doing what the Mainstream Media refuses to do (again):

John McCain Instructs Sarah Palin On the Fine Points of Foreign Policy…

McCAIN: “Okay, now, let’s start with Iraq. What do you know about Iraq?”

PALIN: “Well, I’ve been to Kuwait for a short visit and that’s right next door to Iraq!”

McCAIN: “Is it? Okay, then, you’re an expert on Iraq! Let me give you one tip, though: Don’t let the reporters trip you up on that ‘Shia-Sunni’ stuff. Listen, they’re all the same over there – just a bunch of crazy ragheads peddling carpets.”

PALIN: “Uh, what about those Kurds or whatever I’ve heard about?”

McCAIN: “Ah, curds are something you get in cottage cheese. Don’t bother your pretty little head over that BS; I know I don’t.”

PALIN: “How about Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan?”

McCAIN: “Don’t worry about ‘em. More crazy ragheads and we’ll just blow ‘em off the map if they cause any trouble.”

PALIN: “Well, what else do I need to know?”

McCAIN: “Let’s see, you’ve been to Germany once, so you’ve got Europe knocked, and your plane touched down in Ireland, so that covers the UK, and you know about Russia since you’re right across the water from ‘em – that’s about it except for China and North Korea. Hey, did you see the Olympics on TV?”

PALIN: “Sure.”

McCAIN: “A lot of the people in the audience there were Chinese – you know, like gooks. The North Koreans are the same damn thing. Just watch out for ‘em, is all, ’cause they’re known for being diabolical. I read all about it in those Fu Manchu books when I was a boy. Man, when I become president, I’m gonna send in the Marines and rip that Chink demon Manchu a new one!”

PALIN: “What about all of this stuff in Georgia I hear on the radio, war or whatever? I don’t even know where that place is.”

McCAIN: “It’s just north of Florida. You don’t have to worry about any of that crap – that’s just Cheney trying to start the Cold War again to give us Republicans something to campaign on this year. Sure can’t campaign on the wonderful friggin’ economy can we? Ha, ha!”

PALIN: “So, is there anything else I need to know?”

McCAIN: “Nope. You’re as much of an expert on foreign policy as I am now.”

PALIN: “Wow, I never realized how easy foreign policy really is! Thanks, John!”

McCAIN: “C’mon over here and show Big John how grateful you are.”

PALIN: “I’ll get the Viagra. Do you want me to wear the moosehead again?”

McCAIN: “Oh, yeah, gotta have the moosehead. Heh, heh, heh — you’re gonna make a great Vice President, kiddo!”

The week Barack O’Bama launched his ship-of-state campaign as the nominee of the Democratic Party, two captains met again…

Two adventurers had sailed separate ships for almost 40 years: different seas. When they had sailed together communications: state of the art, meant long distance contact was occasional; rare. By the time they met again the ability to reach out and contact someone had gone from instantaneously amazing into what many would have considered absurd fiction. Jules Verne would have never been a published author: publishers considering it all “too absurd.”

40 years make any man, or woman, into someone else. Who was there before is still there, but more of mere outline; a mere caricature of who was to be and a soft whisper of what once was.

My first: best, friend and I met on the western shore of the Hudson last week: Nyack, NY… quaint river town, turned urban renewal hole, turned yuppie crystal shop haven, then back to the pit from Hell, then… now, on the upswing again. Last time I saw Dell he had quit school, one of the more interesting part hippie/part revolutionary-thinkers of the sixties… turned dropout: with the kind of IQ I admit I’ve probably never had. Don’t know. I’ve always been too busy “doing” and rebelling against low expectations to care who society decided I had to and must be. I was one of the “new breed of conservatives,” with Buckley as my icon, moderated by a strong strain of libertarianism. I don’t recall my fellow Conservatives calling it “libertarian,” probably because the Religious Right; ebola-like, had only just started to infect the movement; turning libertarians into outcasts; at best the black sheep of a now severely dysfunctional Right Wing family.

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Alight, I didn’t come up with it — I heard it on Stephanie Miller.

I didn’t know it, but apparently there was a little contest to see who could come up with the best nickname for John McDesparate’s pick for VP, and I missed it.  (dammit)

Caribou Barbie and Tundra Barbie were apparently the top two picks.

Other suggestions were:

Gidget the Gunslinger
Moosemeat Mama
Cruella
Governor Jesus Camp
Hurricane Sarah
Half-baked Alaska
Fertilla the Huntress
Secessionist Sarah (a reference to her involvement with the Alaska Independence Party)
Spiro Igloo
The Iditabroad
Grannie Moosebreath
Dan Quail in a ponytail
Bloodsport Barbie
Wasilly Putty
June Cleavage
Barracuda Sarah
Desperate McCain’s Housewife
Trophy Veep
Palin Comparison (to just about any nominee, but especially to Hillary)
Miss Deadliest Catch
Footnote

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Country First.

That is John McCain’s slogan of the 2008 Republican National Convention.

“Country First” appears prominently in 23 places around the arena at varying sizes and on LCD screens.

But isn’t it interesting that the husband of John McCain’s choice for the number two spot on his ticket belongs to a third  party in Alaska?  One that has the motto, “Alaska First”?

That’s right, it appears that Sarah Palin’s husband was twice registered as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a fierce states’ rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state.

For all but two months from 1995 to 2002, the governor’s husband was registered as an Alaskan Independence Party member, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.

Sarah herself insists she was never a member of this Party, but apparently the officals of the AIP say she attended at least one convention, and in January of this year even addressed it via video:

What’s the big deal?

Party Founder, Joe Vogler, is quoted as saying:

“I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America and her damned institutions.”

Their website has the following on their front page:

The Alaskan Independence Party can be summed up in just two words:

ALASKA FIRST!

Until we as Alaskans receive our Ultimate Goal, the AIP will continue to strive to make Alaska a better place to live with less government interference in our everyday lives.

The Alaskan Independence Party’s goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four alternatives:

1) Remain a Territory.
2) Become a separate and Independent Nation.
3) Accept Commonwealth status.
4) Become a State.

The call for this vote is in furtherance of the dream of the Alaskan Independence Party’s founding father, Joe Vogler, which was for Alaskans to achieve independence under a minimal government, fully responsive to the people, promoting a peaceful and lawful means of resolving differences.

Here are a few more gems found on their Introduction Page:

The platform of the AIP is, as one would expect, centered on Alaskan issues. Although it is widely thought to be a secessionist movement, the Party makes great effort to emphasize that its primary goal is merely a vote on secession, something that Party advocates say Alaskans were denied during the founding of the state. A plebiscite was, in fact, held in Alaska at the state’s inception in 1958, but AIP members argue that voting was corrupt and that residents were not given the proper choice between statehood, commonwealth status, or complete separation — something they say has been granted to other U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico.

It seems to me that the “purpose” of demanding a vote is to try and become its own nation, separate and apart from the United States.  Otherwise, why bother with the demands for a “vote”?

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said Tuesday that Palin did not support splitting Alaska off from the rest of the country. He sidestepped the question of whether she favored a statewide vote on secession.

“Gov. Palin believes that every American is entitled to their point of view, and their political beliefs,” he said.

Bounds also did not directly answer the question of whether her husband supported the secession of Alaska. [source]

That really doesn’t answer the question, does it?  I am sure both Palins feel that people are “entitled” to their point of view, but I am more interested in what THE PALIN’S point of view is.

I was wondering this the other day:

How long do you think it is going to be before Sarah Palin is removed from the ticket?  Apparently some bookies have thought the same thing, and the odds seem to be fairly good that she will be gone before the end of the Convention.

Interestingly enough, Rudy Gulliani has been scrubbed from speaking at the Convention tonight, and Fred (Jazz hands, party pants) Thompson is taking his place.  Anyone like to take the bet that HE might wind up in the Second bannana spot before the gavel drops on the end of the Convention?

Good God.

It doesn’t get much better (or strange) than this.

John McCain appeared on Fox News Sunday to defend his choice of Sarah Palin as his choice for his running mate.  He called Palin “a partner and a soul mate.”

“This is a person who will help me reform Washington and change the way they do business,” McCain told Chris Wallace.

How noble.  Of course every candidate running for office since George Washington has uttered those very same words.

“What this brings is a spirit of reform and change that is vital now in our nation’s capital,” he offered.

Gee, John you could have gone to the local PTA and found someone with the exact same qualifications.

Why am I reminded of Harriet Meyers all of a sudden?

The man met this woman once in February for about ten minutes, and then again last Friday before he determined she was his “soul mate”?

And, aping a line often deployed by Barack Obama when he’s questioned about his lack of foreign policy credentials, McCain said Palin has “got the right judgment.”

Palin, he noted, had backed the surge of troops in Iraq.

And that is “good” judgment?  The Surge is Working™ meme?  When we stop paying the insurgents not to fight, what next?

But McCain did try to point out what experience she had, touting a single visit to Kuwait she made and her role as commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard.

Al Franken has made more trips there than both of them combined.  I notice that McCain isn’t singing Al’s praises for such a qualification.

And he also contrasted her sharply with Barack Obama.

“When she was in office, he was a community organizer,” McCain said, alluding to Palin’s time on the Wasilla, Alaska city council in the 90s.

By being “in office” you mean first as a city councilwoman and later as the mayor of a town with 53 employees and 9500 souls?  Hell, I’ve sat on larger boards than that.  Her first act as city mayor was to hire a deputy adminitrator to do her actual work — and to do that, she had to rework the budget to come up with $50k.

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.

Over the course of the next day or so, I am going to be working on a theme upgrade of this site.  You may see it go back and forth between something you recognize and something you don’t.  There is nothing wrong with your computer.

Every now and then I have to upgrade these things because the newer versions of WordPress makes some things obsolete or adds new features that I would like to take advantage of.  It also gives me the chance to do away with some of the hobbled or discontinued coding that collects on these pages.

So try not to pay too close of attention to the sawdust here.

More On Sarah Palin: Nico Pitney over to the Huff Post reports that Alaska’s Gov. Hockey Mom appeared on a shock jock’s radio show in Anchorage and laughed her head off when her opponent in the Alaska State Senate, Lyda Green, was called a “bitch” by the show’s host. The slammer was that she also cackled when the idiot with a microphone referred to Green, a cancer survivor, as “a cancer” twice and joked about her weight. An op-ed in The Anchorage Daily News called Palin’s giggling, “one of the most unprofessional, childish and inexcusable performances I’ve ever seen from a politician.” Classy lady, that Sarah.

– Yet More Palin: Whatever facts shake out regarding her firing of the Alaska Public Safety Commissioner for allegedly failing to dismiss a state trooper who went through an acrimonious divorce from her sister in 2005, Palin, like most Republicans, doesn’t seem to see that there is a glacier-sized conflict of interest here: She should have encouraged an investigation into his conduct and then left it to her AG or other independent body to prosecute the case. For that matter, if the guy beat his ex-wife, was drunk on the job and abused his son, as Palin has claimed, why wasn’t he arrested? (Many of Palin’s complaints have been dismissed after further investigation.) That she didn’t recuse herself from the case entirely shows she has no respect for, or knowledge of, how the law works, and we’ve had enough of that in the Executive Branch in the past eight long years. (BTW, Palin originally recommended this guy for the trooper job when she was Mayor of Wasilla. Judgment?)

– Soon to Be Breaking News: Something nasty will rise to the top regarding Palin’s close connections to large energy corporations – she’s the only so-far unindicted major Republican in the state and, contrary to Old Man McCain’s guff, she didn’t get there by being a ‘reformer.’ (Her ‘reforms’ were mainly just dumping her political enemies.) In Alaska, if you’re a GOP politician, you make the deal with Energy Money to move into the Big Leagues. This will be enough to sink the USS Maverick once as for all, as his ‘judgment’ is revealed to stink on ice (not much of a pun intended).

– Flanders? Palin calls her good Christopublican husband Todd the ‘First Dude.’ Isn’t that cute and endearing? Gee, at least she’ll bring dignity to the vice presidency.

– ALPO Update: The AP reports that both Bush and Cheney have now pulled out of the GOP-O-Rama in St. Paul entirely. Seems someone realized that being visually associated with the most loathed president and vice president in our history is maybe not the best thing for Republicans this year. Instead, the hapless Junior will be down in Texas ‘monitoring’ Hurricane Gustav (read ‘vacationing’); and Deadeye Dick is on a four-day jaunt to Europe, including a drop-by in Georgia (uh oh). Incidentally, McCain’s handlers have decided to curtail the Republican convention activities from four hours a day to two, purportedly due to deference for the possible victims of Gustav, but really it’s likely because they didn’t think they could dredge up much of an audience for the Right’s Last Rites. This speaks volumes about what terrible shape the GOP is in; no wonder Rep. Tom Davis III (R-VA), in a rare flash of honesty, told CNN last May: “The Republican brand is in the trash can. If we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf.”

– The Shape of Things to Come? C-Span aired a Frank “Death Tax” Luntz focus group of undecided voters early Monday morning (9/1/08), with the Republican pollster and friend-of-Satan, after hours of leaning-to-the-GOP questions, finally asking, while holding a portrait of McCain no less, “Who would you vote for right now?” Out of the 25 men and women in the group, 15 said Obama-Biden, 9 said McCain-Palin and, apparently, 1 had collapsed to the floor from sheer boredom. Luntz could only shrug his shoulders and twist up his chubby ferret face in a semblance of a brave smile as the Big Media filed out of the room. Let’s see if they report on it, Joe “Primary Colors” Klein.

BTW, Luntz made much of pressing the “experience” issue between Obama and Palin. Here’s a head’s-up: In 1999, while Wasilla, AK, (pop. 6,000) Mayor Palin was campaigning for regressive ultra-right Nixon tool Pat Buchanan, Obama was in the Illinois State Senate drafting and passing sweeping ethics reform legislation. Today, as governor, Palin for 18 months has represented 670,053 Alaskans; Obama, since 2005, has represented in the US Senate 12.8 million Illinois constituents, including the third largest city in America. (Population figures from 2006 US Census.) You’re telling me there’s really some comparison here?

– If you caught NBC’s Meet the Press Gang Sunday, 8/31, you witnessed CNBC’s “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo shamelessly auditioning for a job on VP Sarah Palin’s staff, should McCain be elected. Her drooling approbation was embarrassing; she did everything but kneel and genuflect.

– Fritz, That’s It! In all of the fevered hype about McCain’s ‘maverick’ pick of Sarah Palin to be his Veep, and comparisons to Poppy Bush picking certified national moron Dan Quayle in 1988, it’s worth remembering that the last major party presidential candidate to choose a relatively unknown woman as his VP was Walter Mondale in 1984. The result:

Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush
Popular Vote: 54,455,572 or 58.77% of the vote.
Electoral Vote: Reagan/Bush won 525 electoral votes, or 97.6%, and carried every state but Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro
Popular Vote: 37,577,352 or 40.6% of the vote.
Electoral Vote: Mondale/Ferraro won 12 electoral votes, or 2.4%

That’s what’s known in the trade as a blowout, lads and lasses.