Take This Russia !

Real Time With Bill Maher - September 10 2008

Roseanne Barr made a surprise appearance on Real Time tonight (and totally showed the panel how to deal with that clown John Fund), and Paul Begala was funny as usual.
As for the rest of the show, Fund, who is an insufferable ass, pretty much ruined the panel discussion, though it was somewhat satisfying watching him be called a liar. Plus, there was one classic moment involving Fund. It came when Salman Rushdie said that Osama bin Laden had hoped to topple the Saudi government and Fund said that bin Laden was right, the government should have been toppled

Real Time Opening Segment Sept. 12, 2008






Real Time: Panel Discussion Part 1 Sept. 12, 2008




Real Time: Panel Discussion Part 2 Sept. 12, 2008




Real Time: Panel Discussion Part 3 Sept. 12, 2008





Real Time: Panel Discussion Part 4 Sept. 12, 2008





Real Time New Rules Sept. 12, 2008

An Alaskan Woman’s Perspective on Sarah Palin

Comment from MUDFLATS

fireweed (19:24:06) :

Hello Friends, I now have time to become politically active. Feel free to share this with any and all. Thank you for reading this!

An Alaskan Woman’s Perspective on Sarah Palin

I am Mary A., age 55, from Fairbanks, Alaska. I wish to voice my strong disapproval of the choice of Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate. I expressed total disbelief when McCain selected her, as did most people in my life. Never in my wildest dreams had I considered her to be even remotely qualified to be our nation’s vice-president, much less our president should that ever be the unfortunate case. I have chosen to write down my thoughts and concerns and to share them with other voters in our state and nation. I want people to know what an Alaskan resident thinks about this choice and why. I have lived here for 30 years, and yes, my family enjoys many activities in the outdoors and in the wilderness. We own guns, we hunt, we fish,we enjoy moose burgers and caribou and salmon and halibut. We pick blueberries and cranberries and harvest gardens. We have sailed in Prince William Sound, the Gulf of Alaska and in Southeast Alaska. We have hiked and kayaked in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other wilderness areas. We are active citizens, always vote, have raised two children here, and are proud to live in Alaska. But Governor Palin would never be our choice vice-president.

Yes, she was a mayor of a small town in Alaska with a small population of under 7000 during her tenure. She was elected with less than 700 total votes. Now she is the governor of our state which has less than 700,000 total residents, and has been so for only 18 months. She was elected with a total of 114,697 votes. Slightly over 239,000 people voted, the lowest voter turnout since 1990. You know, 17 cities in the U.S. have populations greater than the entire state of Alaska! Being Governor of Alaska is like being mayor of a U.S. city where only 239,000 people voted! She’s been learning about government in a small isolated town, and in a state with a small, and isolated population. A small population base makes for a small and often less selective candidate pool. Her experience from a national and world perspective truly is miniscule. It does not make her ready to be a major player on the world stage.

The more I have learned about this candidate since her selection, the more concerned I have become, both about what she is and what she isn’t. Many of my friends, both male and female, have echoed my concerns. Her characterization of her few government accomplishments is disengenuous to put it lightly. She has reaped the benefit of state coffers that are nicely in the black simply due to the state’s royalty share of oil profits. Outrageous world oil prices have given us a budget surplus, not policies from Sarah. She has not had to balance the budget or overcome deficits. She has actually increased our budget considerably. She has not cut our taxes. Alaska does not even have an income tax, nor state sales taxes. What taxes is she talking about? She was definitely for the “Bridge to No Where” until the very last minute and Alaska has kept the money allocated for that project. She has been an active supporter of other earmark funds as well. I am concerned about her national misrepresentation of herself.

During the last year and a half our state has been getting to know this new governor. Her relatively high approval rating may well be due to the “honeymoon” effect of her short tenure to date. That “honeymoon” was starting to end, however, since even before this VP nomination. Questions had already been raised by Alaskans about Palin and her professionalism and judgment. Topics that were already newsworthy concerns even before this selection include: unprofessional and disrespectful talk show behavior, rocky relationships with other elected women in government, and actions against government employees based on personal vendettas. However, most people were still giving her the benefit of the doubt, or, having been so busy living and working, they had paid little serious attention to state government or to Sarah. Plus, of course, when state coffers are overflowing and both permanent fund and energy assistance checks are in the mail (totaling over $3000 per person), constituent approval is understandable.

I do not ever want to be for or against a candidate simply because of age, race, religion, or gender. I do not want to vote for a candidate simply because I can “relate” to him/her. I can relate to many of the parents of my children’s friends. I can relate to women who have been soccer moms, hockey moms, homework moms, PTA moms, orchestra moms,…… as I have been. I can relate to the women in my thirteen year old book group. I can relate to people who enjoy singing, and dancing, and music. I can relate to my coworkers and colleagues. I can relate to these people in my life, but I don’t want to select any of them as my vice-president or president simply because I can “relate” to them. So far Sarah has not let me know what she truly thinks and believes about important issues. During her speeches, she simply replays what she said at her convention speech. I can only assume that she wants my vote based on gender, her religious views, her less than honest portrayal of her accomplishments as small town mayor and governor of a state with a small population, and because she can deliver caustic jabs at her opponents.

Despite her assertion that she is for honest and transparent government, she is apparently not willing to be transparent as a vice-presidential nominee. She has not yet answered any serious queries by the press so that I can get to know more about her other than Alaskan issues and “scandals”, her family matters, as well as her views on abortion, sex education and contraception. I want her to answer serious questions so that I can learn her views on important issues and about why she believes she is prepared for this position. The fact that she has hired a lawyer in regards to “Troopergate” makes me wonder how upfront she wants to be with this ethics investigation. Or, does she just want to stall this inquiry until after the election?

I want any candidate I vote for to be one of the best thinkers and decision-makers our country has to offer. I want them to be someone who can be respectful, who can unify, who can consider all sides of an issue, who can listen, who can evaluate, who can learn from the past. I want a candidate who can be respected both from within our country and from without. I now know that Sarah went to five colleges and then graduated with a degree in journalism and a minor in political science. I would like to know more about her background as a serious student and a deep thinker. If her grades were good or if she participated in university level organizations, this would be one way for me to know about her intellect. I have not yet seen a release of her GPA and most colleges where she attended can’t remember much about her. I want to hear her speak intelligently and “off the cuff” on many issues before I know whether she has the intellect for national office.

So far, most of her comments and her demeanor in the national spotlight have been sarcastic and divisive. This is not what I want in a national leader. She has been praised for becoming McCain’s “pit bull” and talking tough. But you know, if she can talk tough, she needs to truly be tough. Why isn’t she talking to the press on her own? Why is she able to dish it out yet is afraid to take it? The fact that McCain’s campaign says she needs to get ready to talk to the press, that she needs to prepare, and that the press needs to treat her with “deference” only shows me that she’s not ready to be on the national stage on her own. This is not what I want in my vice-president or possible president. She needs to be ready to face some truly formidable characters in many different regions of the world, with very high stakes at risk. How can she be ready for those sorts of confrontations if she can’t even “face” her own country’s press? How can she say she is for transparency in government if she refuses to open herself up to the press? Whether or not she has been under scrutiny for her personal life, she can’t hide from the press. She accepted this scrutiny when she accepted the nomination. Believe me, even more intense scrutiny comes with the job, even more than when interviewing for the job. How can I continue to interview her for this job, which is what I believe a campaign is about, if she won’t even answer my questions via “the press”? If she is elected, will she also feel that she has no obligation to speak with the press? Scary thought. As a woman, I want a female candidate to believe in herself and to feel confident and comfortable talking to the press. She is letting the McCain campaign treat her as a “fragile flower” even as they use her as their “pitbull”. A strong and confident woman would insist on talking to the press for herself. If she can’t handle this scrutiny, or this pressure, what will she do in a national crisis?

The more I learn about Sarah Pallin, the more I believe that she has not put “Country First” when she accepted this nomination. Sarah has not been honest about her accomplishments. She has not been realistic about her educational preparation. She has not been realistic or transparent about her knowledge and preparation for dealing with the national economy. She has not been realistic or transparent about her knowledge and preparation for dealing with world affairs. She is not ready to face her own country’s press much less world leaders and the world press. She is not prepared for this important national and world position and SHE SHOULD KNOW THIS! Is she flattered by the nomination and unable to see beyond her ego that she is unqualified? Is she complicit in realizing that she is not qualified yet is simply being used as bait for the religiously conservative fundamental and female votes? My conclusion is that Sarah is in this for Sarah. She’s willing to sell our country out for the glory of the nomination and for the chance at being a Republican window dressing. She won’t be getting my vote!

Palin and Her Church

Peggy Noonan, Mike Murphy, Chuck Todd "MSNBC Open Mic "

TRANSCRIPT:

CHUCK TODD: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we'll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We'll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she's the right woman for the job Up next, one man who's already convinced and he'll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.
(cut away)

PEGGY NOONAN: Yeah.

MIKE MURPHY: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys -- this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it's not gonna work. And --

PEGGY NOONAN: It's over.

MIKE MURPHY: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

CHUCK TODD: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PEGGY NOONAN: Saw Kay this morning.

CHUCK TODD: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about this --

MIKE MURPHY: They're all bummed out.

CHUCK TODD: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PEGGY NOONAN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --

CHUCK TODD: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MIKE MURPHY: I totally agree.

PEGGY NOONAN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.

MIKE MURPHY: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CHUCK TODD: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MIKE MURPHY: Yeah.

Palin's Pastor: God "Is Gonna Strike Out His Hand Against" America

Written By:

Max Blumenthal

On July 20, 2008, the pastor of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's home church, Larry Kroon, delivered a sermon called "Sin Is Personal To God." Kroon, the senior pastor of the non-denominational Wasilla Bible Church in Wasilla, Alaska, used the book of Zephanaiah as his reference point for discussing "that great day of the Lord when God will finally bring closure to human history... a day of wrath." According to Kroon, "all things and all people" are going to bear the brunt of God's "intense anger." "There's anger with God," he proclaimed. "He takes sin personal."

Palin's pastor, Larry Kroon, warns God "is gonna strike out his hand against" America

Kroon placed Zephaniah in a modern context, warning that the sinful habits of Americans would invite the wrath of God. "And if Zephaniah were here today," Kroon bellowed, "he'd be saying, 'Listen, [God] is gonna deal with all the inhabitants of the earth. He is gonna strike out His hand against, yes, Wasilla; and Alaska; and the United States of America. There's no exceptions here -- there's none. It's all.'"

Kroon's sermon, which I first reported on my blog and at The Nation's Campaign Matters blog, can be heard by clicking the play button on the player below:

A full transcript is here.

While Kroon has cautioned his parishioners against the mass marketed End Times prophecies of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye, he has nonetheless invoked doomsday scenarios that mirror those on the pages of Lindsey and LaHaye's bestselling tracts.

"It's so very possible that God, instead of responding by granting spiritual renewal and sustained prosperity," Kroon said in a sermon on July 13, 2008, "could just as easily...it's conceivable that He could just as easily, for example, raise up a revived, prosperous and powerful Communist Russia with a web of alliances across the Middle East. And our gas pumps would go dry. The dollar would collapse. And the markets would crash. The kayak could go upside down. And it could happen in a matter of weeks. That could happen. It could happen by this fall."

Palin joined Wasilla Bible Church after leaving Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church where she delivered a controversial sermon asking her audience to pray that the war in Iraq is "God's plan." When she is working in Alaska's capitol, she worships at the Juneau Christian Center, another Pentecostal church where charismatic displays like speaking in tongues and dancing in the spirit are encouraged. Palin describes herself as a "Bible-believing Christian."

Palin's presence at Wasilla Bible Church has not been confirmed for the days Kroon warned of God "striking out his hand against... the United States of America" and "rais[ing] up" an alliance of nations to ruin America.

Palin's Church Promotes Converting Gays

Written By:

RACHEL D'ORO | September 6, 2008 05:18 PM EST |

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

"You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the "Love Won Out" Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.

Palin, campaigning with McCain in the Midwest on Friday, has not publicly expressed a view on the so-called "pray away the gay" movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin's church, was not available to discuss the matter Friday, said a church worker who declined to give her name.

Gay activists in Alaska said Palin has not worked actively against their interests, but early in her administration she supported a bill to overrule a court decision to block state benefits for gay partners of public employees. At the time, less than one-half of 1 percent of state employees had applied for the benefits, which were ordered by a 2005 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court.

Palin reversed her position and vetoed the bill after the state attorney general said it was unconstitutional. But her reluctant support didn't win fans among Alaska's gay population, said Scott Turner, a gay activist in Anchorage.

"Less than 1 percent of state employees would even apply for benefits, so why make a big deal out of such a small number?" he said.

"I think gay Republicans are going to run away" if Palin supports efforts like the prayers to convert gays, said Wayne Besen, founder of the New York-based Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group. Besen called on Palin to publicly express her views now that she's a vice presidential nominee.

"People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House," he said.

"So Sambo Beat The Bitch"

I did not write this.

I have attrubuted the author with his due.

 

Taken from the L.A. Progressive 

http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-“racist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean”/ 

 

 

Friday, September 05, 2008

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean”

September 5, 2008

by Charley James –

“So Sambo beat the bitch!”
This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.
“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.
Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”
Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.
Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.
But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.
No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.
Tough Getting People Who Know Her to Talk
It’s not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin – especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that “all circuits are busy” or numbers just wouldn’t ring. I should think a state that’s been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.
On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they’re afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.
“The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,” an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. “It’s corrupt and arrogant. They’re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.”
“Once Palin became mayor,” he continued, “She became part of that inner circle.”
Like most other people interviewed, he didn’t want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it’s the long winter nights where you don’t see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they’re under constant danger from “the authorities.” As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that’s happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.
Alright, that’s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there’s ample evidence of Palin’s vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.
Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poobahs who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.
“People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day,” states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.
For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he “intimidated” her.
Running on Extreme Fringe Evangelical Views
Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are nonpartisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.
Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.
“She’s doesn’t like different opinions and she refuses to compromise,” Kilkenny notes. “When she was mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t hers. Worse, ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.”
Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney’s reincarnate.
Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a “refund surpluses but borrow for the future” attitude.
According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian’s with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.
To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22 million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor – especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city’s infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer’s money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?
For starters, she remodelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.
Then Palin spent $1 million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15 million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.
She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5 million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.
For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.
Sarah Barracuda
En route to the governor’s igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.
“She hated the job,” an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. “She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn’t figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski” and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn’t get appointed.
But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished – despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a “reformer.”
But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.
“She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,” said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. “I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it’s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.”
Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her “Sarah Barracuda,” Kilkenny insists.
Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a “reformer.”
And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.
And what has she done since winning the job?
According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state’s multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn’t that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush’s economic policies left the nation.
It may explain why, when asked by reporters, including me, what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain’s running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, “What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?” Of course, when the woman – said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla – was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her, so that may explain the family tension.
As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. “They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action,” the aide said. “She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important.”
But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being “anti-pork”.
In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.
As for being “ready on day one” to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she’s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, “she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.”
“Sambo Beat the Bitch”
“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, a**hole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.
“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.
“Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”
“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.
by Charley James

Jon Stewart exposes Rove, Hannity, Morris, Palin hypocrisy

Jon Stewart exposes Rove, Hannity, Morris, Palin hypocrisy

Feel free to download the video here

Oy ... Live Mics Are Such Dangerous Things

Just watch (the voices are Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan) ...