The Insiders
October 20, 2008 12:55 PM   Subscribe

Jane Meyer of The New Yorker explains how John McCain came to pick Sarah Palin

Jane Meyer offers a fascinating account of the mating ritual performed between Palin and Republican elite in the year leading up to the general election. Excerpts:

``From the start of her political career, Palin has positioned herself as an insurgent intent on dislodging entrenched interests. In 1996, a campaign pamphlet for her first mayoral run—recently obtained by The New Republic—strikes the same note of populist resentment that Palin did at the Convention: “I’m tired of ‘business as usual’ in this town, and of the ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ network that runs the show here.” Yet Palin has routinely turned to members of Washington’s Old Guard for help. After she became the mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a law firm to represent the town’s interests in Washington, D.C. The Wasilla account was handled by Steven Silver, a Washington-area lobbyist who had been the chief of staff to Alaska’s long-serving Republican senator Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts and is now standing trial. (Silver declined to discuss his ties to Palin.) As the Washington Post reported, Silver’s efforts in the capital helped Wasilla, a town of sixty-seven hundred residents, secure twenty-seven million dollars in federal earmarks. During this election season, however, Palin has presented herself as more abstemious, saying, “I’ve championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.”

``In February, 2007, Adam Brickley gave himself a mission: he began searching for a running mate for McCain who could halt the momentum of the Democrats. Brickley, a self-described “obsessive” political junkie who recently graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, told me that he began by “randomly searching Wikipedia and election sites for Republican women.”...

``By the spring, the McCain campaign had reportedly sent scouts to Alaska to start vetting Palin as a possible running mate. A week or so before McCain named her, however, sources close to the campaign say, McCain was intent on naming his fellow-senator Joe Lieberman, an independent, who left the Democratic Party in 2006. David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who is close to a number of McCain’s top aides, told me that “McCain and Lindsey Graham”—the South Carolina senator, who has been McCain’s closest campaign companion—“really wanted Joe.” But Keene believed that “McCain was scared off” in the final days, after warnings from his advisers that choosing Lieberman would ignite a contentious floor fight at the Convention, as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice.

``“They took it away from him,” a longtime friend of McCain—who asked not to be identified, since the campaign has declined to discuss its selection process—said of the advisers. “He was furious. He was pissed. It wasn’t what he wanted.” Another friend disputed this, characterizing McCain’s mood as one of “understanding resignation.” ''
posted by Blazecock Pileon (186 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
_____ has positioned ___self as an insurgent intent on dislodging entrenched interests. ... “I’m tired of ‘business as usual’ in this town, and of the ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ network that runs the show here.” Yet _____ has routinely turned to members of Washington’s Old Guard for help. ... During this election season, however, ____ has presented ___self as more abstemious, saying, “I’ve championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.”

[insert one of 535 names above]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:01 PM on October 20, 2008 [7 favorites]


What's with the accent on "élite"? I've never seen that before, and even if it is sometimes used, seems awfully elitist. Sorry, élitist.
posted by yellowbinder at 1:06 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


Also note that in pretty much every New York Times op-ed he writes, including today's, William Kristol talks about Palin as if she's the best candidate for any office in America since 1792. He never explains to his readership that he was one of the biggest proponents of the Palin pick, and he never explains that he continues to work closely with the McCain campaign, nor do the NYT editors ever bother to mention it. Classy as heck and in no way ethically unsound.

But hey if Bill Kristol and Adam Brickley want to take ownership of the VP candidate that simultaneously earned the Obama campaign millions in new contributions and turned off huge numbers of independent voters, I guess they're more than welcome to it. Good fuckin' call, geniuses.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:08 PM on October 20, 2008 [22 favorites]


I always figured it was her butt in the pageant videos. Mr. McCain, a cute ass does not a VP make, no matter what happened with Al Gore.
posted by jonmc at 1:09 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


If elected, I will get rid of the "Good 'ol Boys" currently running things, and replace them with all-new "Good 'ol Boys".
posted by SaintCynr at 1:10 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


[insert one of 535 names above]

I'm with ZenMasterThis for the most part, but I think there's far more than just 535 names that could go in the blanks.

seems awfully elitist

In the New Yorker, pshaw.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:10 PM on October 20, 2008


No King Tut?
posted by rottytooth at 1:11 PM on October 20, 2008


One more thing:

In fact, in an admiring column published in the Washington Post two days after Palin was chosen, [Dick] Morris wrote, “I will always remember taking her aside and telling her that she might one day be tapped to be Vice-President, given her record and the shortage of female political talent in the Republican Party. She will make one hell of a candidate, and hats off to McCain for picking her.”

This is the bloated adulterer who sucks on prostitutes' toes, remember.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:12 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


What would a Lieberman pick have meant to us? He's an also-ran, a maverick/turncoat, but obviously connotes anti-Bush insofar as he ran against him, in 2004. It seems, to my lefty eyes, to be a really impotent pick.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:13 PM on October 20, 2008


"élite" is one of the New Yorker's little stylistic quirks, like "coöperate" and "New York Times." They enforce it hard, because it is their identity. A couple weeks ago there was a cartoon that said "élitist" in a speech bubble.
posted by decagon at 1:15 PM on October 20, 2008 [6 favorites]


What's with the accent on "élite"? I've never seen that before, and even if it is sometimes used, seems awfully elitist. Sorry, élitist.

They also insist on putting an umlaut over cooperation - fucking pansy liberal media.
posted by spicynuts at 1:16 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


merp 2000
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:18 PM on October 20, 2008


Rëspëct the Ümläüt.
posted by Mister_A at 1:23 PM on October 20, 2008 [11 favorites]


never trust an umlaut. they're all the same
posted by philip-random at 1:24 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


It's not an umlaut, people. It's a diaeresis.

Sheesh.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:26 PM on October 20, 2008 [32 favorites]


Hey, they've embraced that image, their mascot is a dandy after all.

I kind of like it.
posted by rottytooth at 1:27 PM on October 20, 2008


John McCain picked his vice presidential candidate with the same foresight and rationality with which Sarah Palin chose the names of her children.
posted by clearly at 1:30 PM on October 20, 2008 [8 favorites]


...as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice...

and Jewish.
posted by ericb at 1:32 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


We shoudn't make fun of the kids' names. I'm sure little Trig, Track, Bloomer, Pumpkin, Floride, Shrimp, Dookie, Hammock, Pow, Ledbetter, Frottage, Pampers, Dinette, and Yog-Soggoth are perfectly happy with their names.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:32 PM on October 20, 2008 [64 favorites]


A boner is not a vetting process.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:33 PM on October 20, 2008 [94 favorites]


What, no batshitinsane tag?
posted by tommasz at 1:33 PM on October 20, 2008


I thought that the selection process went something like this:
"Duck, Duck, GOOSE!"
posted by Kabanos at 1:35 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


Astro Zombie, hastily scanning your comment, the juxtaposition of Bloomer and Pumpkin caused me to do a double take.
posted by clearly at 1:37 PM on October 20, 2008


I heard it went like this:

John, I'm afraid it's no on the Jew.

What?

No on the Jew. You can't have him. The base won't like him.

But he's who I want.

Sorry. Ain't happening. You need someone who the loonies will like.

The loonies?

You know. The single-issue voters. You need someone who thinks cavemen rode dinosaurs while God was telling them to ourlaw abortion and manufacture assault rifles.

I don't want someone like that.

Tough, John. You got to make a choice. Here's a list of candidates.

Do any of them have a hot ass?
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:37 PM on October 20, 2008 [65 favorites]


> the mating ritual performed between Palin and Republican elite

Do not use 'mating ritual' in this context again. It's unpleasant.
posted by ardgedee at 1:38 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


I'm just a stupid Brit, and haven't really taken much notice of the US electoral process going on. Truth be told, I'm trying all I can to avoid it. However, it strikes my tiny-unAmerican mind that the reason McCain chose Sarah Palin was to pick up all those voters who were voting for Hillary because she was a woman, and the fact that Palin's pretty hot also helps to pick up that red-blooded middle American man vote?

Did I miss something?
posted by metaxa at 1:38 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


sorry, 'middle American male', I meant.
posted by metaxa at 1:39 PM on October 20, 2008


A boner is not a vetting process.1

[1] unless you are choosing a running mate.
posted by clearly at 1:40 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]




explains how John McCain came to pick Sarah Palin

no, he does not. I would have loved to read just what the hell mc cain was thinking in choosing that loony but the article only talks about how she promoted herself.

I also believe you are blatantly violating the new yorker's copyright. quoting the whole article isn't exactly fair use.
posted by krautland at 1:42 PM on October 20, 2008


In fact, Joe Lieberman was the pick by McCain, a an important delegate to the convention told a political scientist friend of mine over lunch. The party top people insisted that Joe. L would sink the ticket--probably right--and McCain next went along with the Palin pick.

The pick, says the Washington Post, quickly got the Hillary defecting lady voters to return to the fold, so angered where they when they heard the Baked Alaskan babble on tv.

Finally, if McCain picked her, he was a fool; if he let others insist upon her, he didn't show much leadership. She appeals to "the base"--in all the senses of that word, but her know-nothing appearance on tv and her lack of experience coupled with McCain's health and age seems to have turned many voters away from the McCain ticket.
for useful info that ha never made mainstream on this lady:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/news/the-book-of-sarah/

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/10/sarah_palins_ea.php

http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?threadid=816170
posted by Postroad at 1:44 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


She spoke about the need to drill for oil in Alaska’s protected wilderness areas, arguing that her husband had worked in nearby oil fields and knew firsthand that it wasn’t environmentally hazardous.

That's convincing.
posted by mazola at 1:45 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


"If McCain were truly the independent hard-ass he claims to be, he would have courted the GOP conservative base right up to the moment he clinched the nomination, then galloped to the middle, which is where most American voters live. A true tough guy would have said, in effect, "Hey, this is my party now, with my platform and priorities." ...

But succumbing to the choice of his advisers and going with Palin was not only cynical and irresponsible, it was weak. It was a confession that McCain could not, by himself, wrest control of the Republican Party..."

posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:49 PM on October 20, 2008 [5 favorites]


metaxa writes "and the fact that Palin's pretty hot also helps to pick up that red-blooded middle American man vote?"

If people in this country are really voting for a President based on what their crotch tells them, then the US deserves the Handmaid's Tale future it chooses for itself.
posted by mullingitover at 1:49 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


“John’s personal comfort level is low with everyone right now. He’s angry. But it was his choice.”

Worth reading to the end just for that.

Also, I miss Longthread.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:50 PM on October 20, 2008


For a New Yorker article, this is far too "politician says one thing, does another--film at 11" for my liking. The whole article seems to need to pick apart the assertion that Sarah Palin differentiates herself as a Washington outsider, by pointing to the myriad ways that she's courted beltway attention to promote her political career.

I dunno...who cares? I mean, I understand why you would care if it was someone else--someone who is otherwise politically and intellectually on par with her opponent, where the contrast of her words vs. deeds plays significantly in the debate.

But how do you even get that far with Sarah Palin? Her disingenuousness plays a distant backseat to her lack of qualifications, her utter ignorance of many issues of importance on the national stage, and her extreme views on others where she does have some measure of a tenuous grasp.

To call her out as a slippery politician? Sarah Palin doesn't rate that level of credibility.
posted by Brak at 1:51 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


Oh man ...
Brickley’s family, once evangelical Christians, now practice what he calls “Messianic Judaism.” They believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but they also observe the Jewish holidays and attend synagogue; as Brickley puts it, “Jesus was Jewish, so to be like Him you need to be Jewish, too.” Brickley said that “the hand of God” played a role in choosing Palin: “The longer I worked on it the less I felt I was driving it. Something else was at work.”
Something else indeed was at work, Adam, but I imagine it had more to do with a "cold, calculated political decision" then the hand of the Almighty, you cynical, self-righteous lunatic.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:54 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


"452 words from a 4,409-word article?
One percent?"


Sarah Palin math?
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys at 2:01 PM on October 20, 2008 [6 favorites]


“Messianic Judaism.”

This puts them in the company of Jay Alan Sekulow, one of the leaders of the American Center for Law & Justice, aka the Pat Robertson-funded, anti-ACLU.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:01 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


She spoke about the need to drill for oil in Alaska’s protected wilderness areas, arguing that her husband had worked in nearby oil fields and knew firsthand that it wasn’t environmentally hazardous.

That's convincing.


Indeed. That's how we do it here in Alberta - we go to a couple of bars up and down the strip in Fort MacMurray and hand out questionnaires to the rig pigs to find out how ExxonMobil's doing on their stewardship stuff. Now, most of 'em are tweaking so hard they just sort of carve big hieroglyphic rips in their pages, but their very vigour is, we reckon, a clear sign that everything's A-OK in terms of the environmental health of the tarsands.

Honestly, that might as well be how we do it here in Alberta, for all the oversight . . .

*weeps for the future*

posted by gompa at 2:01 PM on October 20, 2008 [9 favorites]


> Brickley said that “the hand of God” played a role in choosing Palin

If this is true, it means God's voting for Obama.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:02 PM on October 20, 2008 [9 favorites]


It wasn't witchcraft?
posted by Mr_Zero at 2:02 PM on October 20, 2008


as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice.

and Jewish.
posted by ericb at 4:32 PM on October 20


thank god I'm not the only one who thought this. I thought maybe I was crazy, since no one ever seems to bring it up.
posted by shmegegge at 2:08 PM on October 20, 2008


[Nitpick-filter] I was absorbed by Jane Meyer's article but distracted and saddened that she and her New Yorker editors apparently might not understand how a domain name is registered, the difference between a domain registration and a blog registration, or (worst of all) the huge difference between a "domain registration" and a "website": "Brickley registered a Web site—palinforvp.blogspot.com—..."

GRRRrrrrRRRrr.
posted by applemeat at 2:09 PM on October 20, 2008


Um, Cool Papa Bell, isn't that more like ten percent?
posted by misha at 2:12 PM on October 20, 2008



Sarah Palin math?

Well, it's not like he went all Biden on us.
posted by VicNebulous at 2:13 PM on October 20, 2008


On preview, never mind!
posted by misha at 2:13 PM on October 20, 2008


> What's with the accent on "élite"?

It's because the Republican elite are elitier. They are possibly the elitiest. Far too elite for conventional eliting.
posted by ardgedee at 2:17 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


“They took it away from him,” a longtime friend of McCain—who asked not to be identified, since the campaign has declined to discuss its selection process—said of the advisers. “He was furious. He was pissed. It wasn’t what he wanted.” Another friend disputed this, characterizing McCain’s mood as one of “understanding resignation.”

Yep, Ol' John McCain has a long history of 'understanding resignation' when he doesn't get his way. In fact, if he loses this Presidential race, I'm sure he'll accept the loss with the good grace and gentle good humor John McCain is known for. No throwing things or calling his wife a cunt or anything.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 2:18 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


“They took it away from him,” a longtime friend of McCain—who asked not to be identified, since the campaign has declined to discuss its selection process—said of the advisers. “He was furious. He was pissed. It wasn’t what he wanted.” Another friend disputed this, characterizing McCain’s mood as one of “understanding resignation.”

Gives you a different take on his "My fellow prisoners" comment.
posted by Challahtronix at 2:19 PM on October 20, 2008 [3 favorites]



explains how John McCain came to pick Sarah Palin

no, he does not. I would have loved to read just what the hell mc cain was thinking in choosing that loony but the article only talks about how she promoted herself.



True. This is pretend-insider bullshit.

They chose her as a last roll of the dice when they learned over the summer that the election was unwinnable (which it still is).
posted by Zambrano at 2:20 PM on October 20, 2008


Would we ever have had all these threads about Joe Lieberman?
posted by grounded at 2:23 PM on October 20, 2008


However, it strikes my tiny-unAmerican mind that the reason McCain chose Sarah Palin was to pick up all those voters who were voting for Hillary because she was a woman

Certainly this was what some people thought at the time. Polling has shown it didn't happen, and thats not surprising: the number of people voting for Hillary "just" because she was a woman was pretty low. Some of her voters were certainly extra-excited because she was a woman (in other words, some chose Hillary over Obama because of this, just as some people were nudged the other direction by race -- but these were only one of many factors), but to turn around and vote for a pro-life conservative wasn't going to happen. Those women wanted a woman who also shared at least some, if not most, of their values, not just "any" woman. It sounds like the McCain campaign was smart enough not to fall too much for the idea that women were that easily fooled (unfortunately, not smart enough to not choose Sarah Palin anyways -- but they did it more for the religious conservatives, who absolutely love her, than for the Hillary voters, who have largely rejected her).
posted by wildcrdj at 2:23 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


> The other journalists who met Palin offered similarly effusive praise: Michael Gerson called her “a mix between Annie Oakley and Joan of Arc.”

Here's hoping her political career ends the same way Joan of Arc's did...but in metaphorical flames this time.
posted by you just lost the game at 2:25 PM on October 20, 2008


I (still) wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that McCain picked Palin to spite that part of the Republican party and show, once and for all, how worthless they are. His missteps seem more and more a form of sabotage.

I'm guessing Palin might end up a commentator on Foxnews, where she'll read anything they hand to her. Her passive response to what SNL did to her politically seems to show that her primary goal is attention, no matter what kind. (She'll likely sign with Paglia's agent.) But hopefully by then Fox will be reclassified from 'news channel' to 'lifestyle' or 'religious' channel.
posted by troybob at 2:37 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


OK MeFi smart-asses. If Lieberman is a no-go 'cause he's not crazy enough or too Jewish or something and Palin, is, well, Palin, then who should have McCain chosen? Who would be out there stumping and McAngry's poll numbers up? Who would have crushed Biden in the VP debate? Huh? Who?
posted by GuyZero at 2:41 PM on October 20, 2008


Bolton, for his part, was pleased that Palin, a hunting enthusiast, was familiar with his efforts to stave off international controls on the global flow of small weapons.

Lol, what?
posted by delmoi at 2:43 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


Adam Brickley.

I wouldn't let that dude deliver a pizza to me let alone help choose my running mate.
posted by The Straightener at 2:47 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


Guy Zero.

I offer you Dick Cheney.
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 2:48 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


OK MeFi smart-asses. If Lieberman is a no-go 'cause he's not crazy enough or too Jewish or something and Palin, is, well, Palin, then who should have McCain chosen? Who would be out there stumping and McAngry's poll numbers up? Who would have crushed Biden in the VP debate? Huh? Who?

Duh. Rick Astley.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:10 PM on October 20, 2008 [3 favorites]


OK MeFi smart-asses. If Lieberman is a no-go 'cause he's not crazy enough or too Jewish or something and Palin, is, well, Palin, then who should have McCain chosen? Who would be out there stumping and McAngry's poll numbers up? Who would have crushed Biden in the VP debate? Huh? Who?
Putting on my maverick hat...

... is a party required to have the consent of the person that they nominate for Vice President? Perhaps there's a law saying so, but I could imagine that there might not be.

And if not, it would've been a super-duper-extra-special-mavericky level of maverickosity to nominate John McCain as President, and Barack Obama as Vice President.

He could've tried to spin it as "I'm maverickosimous enough to reach across the aisle and realize that Senator Obama has the potential to, one day, make an excellent President. But he needs experience. And as my Vice President, I will make sure that he gains that experience."

Sure, it's idiotic and transparent, but hey, no more so than what he actually did. And it would've been a heck of a lot more mavericklicious.
posted by Flunkie at 3:12 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


And this from the article:
Ed Rogers, the chairman of B.G.R., a well-connected, largely Republican lobbying firm, said, “Her criteria kept popping out. She was a governor—that’s good. The shorter the Washington résumé the better. A female is better still. And then there was her story.” He admitted, “There was concern that she was a novice.”
You who think she's unqualified are just sexist, like that guy who's head of the Republican lobbying firm that helped pick her.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:16 PM on October 20, 2008


[from the article]: she could go one-on-one against Obama in basketball

I wish this would decide the election.
posted by desjardins at 3:20 PM on October 20, 2008


Here's an amusing account of the 2007 National Review cruise (no mention of Palin, though): Neocons on a Cruise: What Conservatives Say When They Think We Aren't Listening
posted by homunculus at 3:23 PM on October 20, 2008 [3 favorites]


Bolton, for his part, was pleased that Palin, a hunting enthusiast, was familiar with his efforts to stave off international controls on the global flow of small weapons.

After all this time, I'm still shocked with the level of evil of these people. My repeated claim that the neo-cons are literally a group of psychopathy seems more irrefutable every day.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 3:24 PM on October 20, 2008


I offer you Dick Cheney.

Crushed Biden in the debate, not shot him in the face. Big difference.

At least Palin wasn't the head of the VP search committee.

Rick Astley.

As much as he's had a second wind, dude hasn't release a song since 2005 and has not charted since 2001. Let's face it: he gave you up and let you down.
posted by GuyZero at 3:32 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


GuyZero: Given that McCain's numbers collapsed rapidly with the onset of the economic crises, Romney is looking like a better pick right now. It would have allowed McCain to continue using his (somewhat) successful experience line-of-attack against Obama, and Romney's expertise in economic issues would be hard to dispute (he basically made Bain Capital into the powerhouse it is today). Of course, a Mormon would be a hard sell with the wingnuts, but as McCain is learning, there's not enough of them to get you 270 electoral votes - you need moderates and independents as well. Even Tim Pawlenty, the bland governor of Minnesota, would have been a better choice.

As I predicted in the original Palin thread - she was chosen to pander to the base, and was probably not going to resonate with moderates and independents. This was a stupid risk to take, because in a Democratic year like this one, McCain needed to capture pretty much all of the undecided swing voters to win.
posted by thewittyname at 3:48 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


John McCain as President, and Barack Obama as Vice President.

I look forward to the day (maybe in 2040?) when the two major-party nominees pick each other as running-mates, and the only choice for the voters is who they want at the top of the ticket. Imagine the bickering in the white house.

"I wanna push the button!"
"No, the people elected me, your job is to stand by and support me while I push the button!"
"You pushed it last time! Besides, Diebold totally threw the election for you!"
"Well, you're right about that. Okay, fine, we'll push it together. One, two..."

Of course, in that scenario Nader might manage to peel off more votes than usual.
posted by lostburner at 3:49 PM on October 20, 2008


From homunculus' link:

"Now that this barrier has been broken - everyone agrees the Muslims are devouring the French, and everyone agrees it's funny - the usual suspects are quickly rounded up. Jimmy Carter is "almost a traitor". John McCain is "crazy" because of "all that torture"."
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:54 PM on October 20, 2008


Ron Paul is my place holder.
posted by Sailormom at 3:59 PM on October 20, 2008


“It wasn't witchcraft?”

Wicked witchcraft? That crazy witchcraft? Although, you know, it’s strictly taboo?


“Who would be out there stumping and McAngry's poll numbers up? Who would have crushed Biden in the VP debate? Huh? Who?”

Joe Biden.


“Seriously, what in the fuck is it with John McCain and beauty queens?”

What is it with beauty queen contests? Seriously. We still have those things?

I keep having the argument over posession of a quality or talent vs. hard work with people.

People tell me stuff like ‘he has talent’ or some such. Now, I’ll grant it takes the right tools. I was never going to be a tap dancer. I have friends who are now professionals in a field in which I excelled them. Why are they pros and I’m not? Hard work in that direction. More than I put in. So now they’re pros and they’re very very good indeed, and I’m not.

I don’t know why some people take that as though it’s taking something away from them. Either way. I’m happy with the choices I’ve made. I’ve got time for my family, stuff like that. It’s what *I* wanted.
Someone wants to be the best in their field, it takes some talent sure, but it’s mostly busting your ass towards that goal. I think it’s much more valuable to recognize that and a person’s dedication than it is to just write them off as ‘talented.’

Reminds me of Louis Armstrong bitching about the old canard that all black people are musical or can dance, etc.
Well, no, they can’t all. They’re not all talented in music. And most of the black guys I know who can dance, can do so because they spend a lot of time and effort doing it. And after years of study, ta da! They have a ‘natural’ ability and ‘talent.’
So I’m naturally pugnacious after years of fighting after school? I’m naturally athletic from playing ball every day from early grade school?

So what’s having ‘beauty’? Oh, look, I’m very attractive. Big freaking deal. And we judge people on this basis?
(And yeah, I don’t much care for bodybuilding either on that score. I get there’s work involved. And I appreciate the science. But it’s still the enhancement of an inherent quality, not the utililization of it)

I’d suspect, in McCain’s case and folks who appreciate beauty contests, it’s bound up with the wider idea of possession. You possess a woman who possesses these qualities (who mysteriously ‘loses’ them over time).

But I haven’t really chewed it over. There’s a dance there, but I can’t hear that music.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:01 PM on October 20, 2008


she was chosen to pander to the base

This is something I don't get. It's not like the Republican or Democrat "base" are going anywhere. Dog-whistle politics and a false appeal to the middle of the spectrum, that I get, but maybe that's just too many years of watching Canadian politics. But once McCain had the nomination, there's no need to pander to the base - they're already in the bag.

I suppose Romney would be a good choice, but has anyone every chose a loser from the primaries to run as VP? As the article indicates, the primaries get uglier than the Presidential campaign and so it seems unlikely that two candidates for the party nomination would kiss and make up.

Also, Tim Pawlenty was a VP at Wizmo (whee!) which apparently has some way to SaaS-ify your existing apps (according to Wikipedia). So yes, he looks bland, but apparently he has enough brainpower to help run a half-baked technology business which is more than I can say for most politicos. But the srticle seems to be pretty spot on to me: they wanted a female, Republican Governor. Pawlenty has 2 out of 3 and, apologies to Meatloaf, that's bad. As competent as Pawlenty might have been on the job, he would have been pretty invisible in the Republican sea of old white guys.
posted by GuyZero at 4:03 PM on October 20, 2008


Love Song for Lieberman

We're no strangers to Rove
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
We need somebody to destroy that other guy

I just wanna tell you that I'm smiling
No, I'm not grimacing in pain...

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna shoot you from an air-o-plane, but
Never gonna make you VP, you know it's
Never even been up to me, you're
Never gonna run with John McCain

We've known each other for so long
You'll always have a bunk
In the Straight Talk Express
But Sarah makes this old maverick feel young again
And she looks better than Rudy in a dress

And if you ask me how I'm feeling
It's not a stroke that has me reeling...

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna shoot you from an air-o-plane, but
Never gonna make you VP, you know it's
Never even been up to me, you're
Never gonna run with John McCain

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
I could use a nap, honestly
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:13 PM on October 20, 2008 [9 favorites]


I suppose Romney would be a good choice, but has anyone every chose a loser from the primaries to run as VP?

John Kerry chose John Edwards in 2004 after beating him in the primaries. I'm sad that McCain didn't get his first choice, but I don't think he would have done better with Lieberman.
posted by bluefly at 4:32 PM on October 20, 2008


It's not an umlaut, people. It's a diaeresis.

I thought diaeresis was what you got when you had bad kidneys.
posted by Eekacat at 4:35 PM on October 20, 2008


I thought it was what killed ET.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:37 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


I suppose Romney would be a good choice, but has anyone every chose a loser from the primaries to run as VP?
John Kerry chose John Edwards in 2004 after beating him in the primaries. I'm sad that McCain didn't get his first choice, but I don't think he would have done better with Lieberman.
In 1980, George H.W. Bush was the Republican VP pick after having lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan.
posted by Flunkie at 4:41 PM on October 20, 2008


I'm happy to see signs from even the hard-core neocons that Palin was an atrocious choice. From Ken Adelman's endorsement of Obama:

The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.

That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick.


Welcome back to the reality-based community. Cookies and coffee in back.
posted by sapere aude at 4:42 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


But once McCain had the nomination, there's no need to pander to the base - they're already in the bag.
Not true, if by GOP base you mean the fundies. Once McCain wrapped up the GOP nomination, all talk was of the fundies sitting this election out. That was until Sarah Palin got the VP nod.

I suppose Romney would be a good choice
Not for the fundies. He's a Mormon, not a Christian.
posted by nudar at 4:50 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


I look forward to the day (maybe in 2040?) when the two major-party nominees pick each other as running-mates, and the only choice for the voters is who they want at the top of the ticket. Imagine the bickering in the white house.

We already tried that, kind of. Before the 12th Amendment (ratified in 1804), the first-place finisher became president and the second-place finisher became vice president. (This was before the concept of running mates; each elector got two votes, both for president.) George Washington won easily in 1789 and 1792 so it wasn't a big deal.

In 1796, John Adams became president and Thomas Jefferson became vice president even though they were from different parties and didn't get along. (There was lots of bickering in the White House.)

In 1800, Jefferson tied Aaron Burr in the Electoral College, and it took the House of Representatives 36 ballots over seven days before Alexander Hamilton pulled some strings to make Jefferson president.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:50 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


In 1796, John Adams became president and Thomas Jefferson became vice president even though they were from different parties and didn't get along. (There was lots of bickering in the White House.)

IIRC, the bad blood between Adams and Jefferson stemmed from an Adams dinner party to which Jefferson brough fucking Merlot, which Adams refused to serve.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:55 PM on October 20, 2008 [5 favorites]


IIRC, the bad blood between Adams and Jefferson stemmed from an Adams dinner party to which Jefferson brough fucking Merlot, which Adams refused to serve.

The first white whine in recorded history?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:58 PM on October 20, 2008


If McCain had picked the REAL Tina Fey, he might be winning now.
posted by jamstigator at 5:03 PM on October 20, 2008 [2 favorites]


Adam Brickley.
I wouldn't let that dude deliver a pizza to me let alone help choose my running mate.
posted by The Straightener at 2:47 PM on October 20


Too stupid to spell France correctly? Check. Too lazy to get a new $1.19-cent piece of posterboard? Check.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have another future star of the Fox News Republican pundit circlejerk!
posted by Optimus Chyme at 5:13 PM on October 20, 2008


In all seriousness, It's pretty clear that Hustler was behind this.
posted by Liquidwolf at 5:32 PM on October 20, 2008


This is something I don't get. It's not like the Republican or Democrat "base" are going anywhere.

Isn't that exactly what happened to Gore in 2000? "Fuck you lefties, you can't go anywhere, we're pandering to the Republicans to bag this one! Bill Clinton sucks! We repudiate his works! 'Holy' Joe Lieberman for VP!"

I seem to recall it didn't work out so well.
posted by rodgerd at 5:43 PM on October 20, 2008


her husband had worked in nearby oil fields and knew firsthand that it wasn’t environmentally hazardous.

You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of people who go "OH DON'T WORRY, I'M NOT CONTAGIOUS, I'M NOT CONTAGIOUS" while hacking up phlegm in your face. The fuck you're not (environmentally hazardous|contagious).
posted by decagon at 5:54 PM on October 20, 2008


If McCain had picked the REAL Tina Fey, he might be winning now.

McCain/Fey '04!
posted by kirkaracha at 5:58 PM on October 20, 2008


there's no need to pander to the base - they're already in the bag.

So, so, not true.

The Republicans learned this the hard way against Clinton.

The Base think like god damned petulant children. If they don't get they're way they take their toys and go home. A huge portion of the base of each party are single issue voters. Otherwise known as morons. They barely even understand the ONE issue that gets their hate boners going. And they stay home unless their stupid asses get kissed constantly.

The GOP base never liked McCain all that much. Doncha all remember how all the Hannitys, Limbaughs and Coulters SWORE if McCain got the nom they were gonna go campaign for Hillary. They actually SAID this.

They HAD to get something like Palin to get the dipshits enthused. Hello? Didn't you read anything written by our own local kook Konolia on the matter?
posted by tkchrist at 6:01 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


"their" not they're. Oh. Why do I bother.
posted by tkchrist at 6:03 PM on October 20, 2008


Palin as President.
posted by malocchio at 6:07 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


The first white whine in recorded history?

Could have been funny if Merlot was white.
posted by spock at 6:21 PM on October 20, 2008


One name: Liddy Dole.

Female Senator with enough Pro-life and executive (Red Cross) cred to simultaneously satiate the base and reach out for the independent female vote. A known quantity. Intellectually able to at least hold her own and form complete sentences.

Instead, he picked a corrupt, barely-literate nobody from a state whose electoral unimportance is rivaled only by North Dakota and Rhode Island.

John McCain is a fool.
posted by Chrischris at 6:29 PM on October 20, 2008 [3 favorites]


I've said it before, I'll say it again. Had he picked either of Maine's (female, Republican) senators, I'd have been hard pressed to not vote for him during my OMG SHUT UP, HILLARY HATERS phase. But neither Collins nor Snowe has a hot ass, apparently, so they were out from the get-go. Good job, McCain. Way to run a campaign.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:35 PM on October 20, 2008


One name: Liddy Dole.
Liddy Dole is a month older than John McCain.

I don't think the Republican Party would like the idea of winning the election only to have Nancy Pelosi become President.
posted by Flunkie at 6:43 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]


Thanks for the eye-opening and quite stunning article about McCain's picking Palin. So interesting to see this was a long term strategy on her part. Pretty damn machiavellian for a woman who cannot say nuclear. Or is she faking that too as part of the fake Joe Sixpack, just yer gen-u-ine regoolar American sfchtick? Damn, what a conniving fraud she is. Hyena, predatorial shrewdness.

Adding to the hot off the press factor:

How Local Teens Beat Sarah Palin In The Battle Of The Wasilla Skate Park

New Questions Over McCain's Health, Times Reports

Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say.
posted by nickyskye at 6:51 PM on October 20, 2008


I started off thinking she was picked because McCain wanted a woman he could push around (her baby-bully binary appeals to a certain kind of boss)... and then I started thinking perhaps McCain, mindfully or not, picked a woman who would appeal to men like him. She's a stand in for a strong woman - always flinging herself around screeching look at me, look look look! I'm a STRONG woman, approve of how strong strong strong I am (while constantly checking to see how she's doing and going boo hoo hoo the second anyone doubts her). And like many women who trade on looks, not actually that good looking.

Seriously, Kay Bailey would pinch McCain and he would cry. Linda Lingle would just pat him on the head and take care of things while he fumed.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 6:52 PM on October 20, 2008


I don't think the Republican Party would like the idea of winning the election only to have Nancy Pelosi become President.

That is a very, very, funny point.

But can you imagine the sheer panic with the George Wills of the GOP if Palin ends up president?
posted by tkchrist at 6:53 PM on October 20, 2008


I'm guessing Palin might end up a commentator on Foxnews

Dear god, he's right.
posted by flotson at 6:54 PM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]


But can you imagine the sheer panic with the George Wills of the GOP if Palin ends up president?
Far less than mine, I would wager.
posted by Flunkie at 7:02 PM on October 20, 2008 [3 favorites]


But can you imagine the sheer panic with the George Wills of the GOP if Palin ends up president?

Ohh, I don't know. Will jumped ship several months back and would probably philosophically muse that a Palin presidency is just the disaster the Republican party needs right now. I suspect that he's a closet libertarian these days anyway, as he keeps bellyaching that the Republicans have put ideology and popularity over good sensible free-market governance.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:17 PM on October 20, 2008


"I seem to recall it didn't work out so well."

I'm really getting tired of having to remind people that the SCOTUS decided that election, not the electorate.
posted by Brocktoon at 8:24 PM on October 20, 2008


So, so, not true.

The Republicans learned this the hard way against Clinton.


Huh. Interesting. So that's why Clinton had such a huge sweep, because the Repubs hadn't remembered/learned to drag out the single-issue voters? I thought maybe people liked Clinton. Certainly he had more appeal than Gore or Kerry. Anyway, interesting to realize that the "base", like so many things in politics, is anything but a base but a block of issues voters (whom I disagree with, but I guess it's good that they're about some issue)
posted by GuyZero at 9:33 PM on October 20, 2008


Sweep?

Clinton never had a huge sweep. He had Ross Perot.

The Republicans lost a large part of their base to Perot. Whose single issue was the frigg'n vietnam war and POWs. And/or NAFTA. Or something.

But what it wasn't was the culture war stuff the GOP figured out in 2000 that got the mouth breathing Christians fired up and closed the gap for the GOP.

Also in 1996 Clinton won against Bob Dole (and Jack Frigg'n Kemp), with whom the Far Right Christian Base were never hardly thrilled.

So we got Bush. And now Palin. For the base.
posted by tkchrist at 9:45 PM on October 20, 2008


I (still) wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that McCain picked Palin to spite that part of the Republican party and show, once and for all, how worthless they are. His missteps seem more and more a form of sabotage.

This assumes that deep down, John McCain is this man of such great character, that he would be willing to kamikaze his own political carreer if it meant destroying the image of the Republican Party once and for all. Like he's going to walk up to the podium for his concession speech, mournful and enraged supporters cheering him, red and blue balloons and streamers everywhere - McCain smiles, waves once to the cameras, and then pulls off a form-fitting mask to reveal that he's actually Jimmy Carter. A shocked gasp from the crowd, and then silence, as he at first smiles, and then slowly breaks into a resounding cackle.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:18 PM on October 20, 2008 [3 favorites]


Even if McCain were to win all of the states that polls show tied (North Dakota) or a slight lead for Obama [Nevada, Missouri, Florida, Ohio & North Carolina] (plus all the states he is leading by even the slightest margins) McCain still wouldn't have enough to win the election. As the article states, he's pissed. He's lost and he knows it.
posted by spock at 10:30 PM on October 20, 2008


Jesus, I am sick of people saying Palin is hot. This, for example, is a hot woman. (sfw). I weep for our country if our boner-standards have fallen so low that a middle-aged, overly-made-up, double-chinned, Caribou Barbie is arousing us to the point of affecting a presidential election.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:50 PM on October 20, 2008 [5 favorites]




I am certainly willing to believe that Sarah Palin is a lot more politically shrewd than she is generally given credit for, but her choice of addressing the Alaskan Independence Party convention so warmly (being sure to include a lot of key phrases to resonate with group) at the time that she was supposed to be positioning herself for the national stage would seem to be a pretty big strategic blunder. Curious.
posted by taz at 11:43 PM on October 20, 2008


In February, 2007, Adam Brickley gave himself a mission: he began searching for a running mate for McCain who could halt the momentum of the Democrats.

So I was right.

And they would have got away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids.
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 PM on October 20, 2008


Jesus, I am sick of people saying Palin is hot. This, for example, is a hot woman. (sfw). I weep for our country if our boner-standards have fallen so low that a middle-aged, overly-made-up, double-chinned, Caribou Barbie is arousing us to the point of affecting a presidential election.

Double chinned? maybe in this picture (right after she gave birth) or this one, but most of the time she looks fine. I think she has a lovely face, and interestingly I think she's actually hotter then when she was in her 20s.

Still a horrible person, of course.
posted by delmoi at 12:03 AM on October 21, 2008


her choice of addressing the Alaskan Independence Party convention so warmly

And who would have been in a great position to run for president of Independent Alaska?

I guess at that moment she figured that the odds of her running for president of Independent Alaska were bigger than the odds she would once be running for (vice) president of the USA.
posted by DreamerFi at 12:23 AM on October 21, 2008


our boner-standards have fallen so low that a middle-aged, overly-made-up, double-chinned, Caribou Barbie is arousing

Yeah, show us the way to enlightenment!! This crazy country is all wrong about who and what they'd fuck!! We patriots should preserve the purity of our boner standards and trumpet their superiority worldwide (except in Brazil, no use preaching to those fierce hotties)! Our great nation's borders whould be like a line drawn in the sand, and all those who would HIT THAT should go to the OTHER SIDE. I shall don a lapel pin representing a flaccid weiner this minute for this great cause! Until the Violence Parbonery Stops!

Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:25 AM on October 21, 2008 [5 favorites]


...The other journalists who met Palin offered similarly effusive praise: Michael Gerson called her “a mix between Annie Oakley and Joan of Arc.” The most ardent promoter, however, was Kristol... He described her as “fantastic,” saying that she could go one-on-one against Obama in basketball, and possibly siphon off Hillary Clinton’s supporters.


This reminds me a lot of the movie Being There, in which a bunch of rich, powerful stuffed shirts meet a complete moron and convince themselves he's a genius.
posted by Clay201 at 12:47 AM on October 21, 2008 [8 favorites]


GuyZero: Given that McCain's numbers collapsed rapidly with the onset of the economic crises, Romney is looking like a better pick right now. It would have allowed McCain to continue using his (somewhat) successful experience line-of-attack against Obama, and Romney's expertise in economic issues would be hard to dispute (he basically made Bain Capital into the powerhouse it is today).

Jesus god almighty no. A thousand times no!
Yes, he has experience at Bain Capital, and yes BC has nothing to do with the credit crisis. But can you imagine what the Obama ads would look like if a former Wall Street golden boy was on the Republican ticket?
posted by atrazine at 1:31 AM on October 21, 2008


"I seem to recall it didn't work out so well."

I'm really getting tired of having to remind people that the SCOTUS decided that election, not the electorate.


I got really tired of listening to morons haul out ridiculous excuses about why the DNC and Gore lost the 2000 election years ago. Drooling hatefests for the supreme court, for Nader, for whoever.

Listen up: Al Gore was the VP of a golden period in the States. He, and the DNC - the same political geniuses who wanted Kerry and managed to give George Bush a clear, increased majority in 2004 and spent much of the last year arguing for Clinton and against Obama - ran on a platform of repudiating every connection to the 1992-2000 presidency, who ran with a pro-censorship , religous conservative Likunid as a VP candidate. They managed to fuck up so badly that they got the election to that point. The SCOTUS did not make them run a campaign fit for morons. The SCOTUS did not make them spend all their time worrying about reaching out to "moral conservatives" and ignoring their core electorates. The SCOTUS did not make Al Gore unelectable, Al Fucking Gore made Al Gore unelectable.

The Democrats lost because they deserved to lose. If the Republican party could get Bush I in on Reagan's coat-tails, they should have been able to get Gore in on Clinton's. They got so few votes that they left it in the hands of Florida to decide. They were morons.

You can go bury your head in the same sand as the nutbars who think Obama is ahead because of ACORN or the Weathermen or whatever whacko theories are doing the rounds, but those are the facts.

The people guiding the Democrats fucked up every election between 2000 and 2006, and Bill Clinton most likely only got his shot at President because those selfsame geniuses had written off the '92 election as unwinnable, allowing a nobody like Clinton a chance to prove them wrong.
posted by rodgerd at 1:47 AM on October 21, 2008 [16 favorites]


"Messianic Judaism"? WTF?

Is fundamentalist Christians redefining themselves as "Jews" (old-testament ones, natch, not the problematic modern variety) common in the US?
posted by acb at 4:15 AM on October 21, 2008


Is fundamentalist Christians redefining themselves as "Jews" (old-testament ones, natch, not the problematic modern variety) common in the US?

You'll see more of this as we get closer to End Times, i.e. when we elect a black man as President.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:51 AM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


What it comes down to is: How stupid is the American electorate? There are still groups of people shouting "Sarah! Sarah!" and thinking that she's the best thing since freeze-dried moose.

Fool me once, shame on...fool me twice...you can't get fooled again.

Unless you're voting McCain/Palin. Then you're just a fucking fool.
posted by leftcoastbob at 5:54 AM on October 21, 2008


One name: Liddy Dole.

I keep seeing this trotted out. Liddy Dole would have been an awful choice for McCain, not just because she's older than him, but because she has done a terrible job as a senator. She would not have helped him win, NC. She might have even hurt him.

She has quite simply not really done anything at all in the past 6 years. In North Carolina, she is regularly referred to as Senator Dole (R-Kansas). She is in all likelihood not going to get re-elected this year. Meaning Jesse Helms' seat will finally be in Democratic hands. Woot!
posted by hydropsyche at 6:04 AM on October 21, 2008


Hanson, the historian, recalled Palin in high heels, “walking around this big Victorian house with rough Alaska floors, saying, ‘Hi, I’m Sarah.’ ” She was “striking,” he said. “She has that aura that Clinton, Reagan, and Jack Kennedy had—magnetism that comes through much more strongly when you’re in the same room.”

This made me ill. Sarah Palin in high heels talking about how environmentalists are wrong to get in the way of oil production-- that puts her in the same league as three of the greatest politicians of the 20th century-- men who had great ideas and could communicate them brilliantly. Dear God. Do Republicans never get laid? Is that what this is all about?

I'm trying not to think about how close she is (was?) to being President of the United States of America all because some guys thought she was Hawt. In the end Time will ravage her Hawtness and she will be left with her fundie religion, her family, and her memories of being the laughing stock of a nation.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:37 AM on October 21, 2008


McCain's new message: "I am not George Bush." I'm not sure introducing a commercial that says "The last eight years haven't worked very well, have they?" two weeks before the election helps Johnny-come-lately. Obama can blanket the airwaves with clips of McCain insisting he voted with Bush 90% of the time or the one where McCain says he totally agrees wth bush on the transcendent issues.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:54 AM on October 21, 2008


The LA Times reports that people don't remember Palin from her college years.
Looking at this dynamic personality now, it mystifies me that I wouldn't remember her," said Jim Fisher, Palin's journalism instructor at the University of Idaho, where she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in journalism in 1987.

Palin, he said, took his public affairs reporting class, an upper-division course limited to 15 students. "It's the funniest damn thing," Fisher said. "No one can recall her."

"I don't remember her," said Roy Atwood, Palin's academic advisor at the university.
Maybe among all the other college girls her Hawtness wasn't so signifigant?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:21 AM on October 21, 2008


that people don't remember Palin from her college years.

She went to five different colleges, and I bet (just a hunch) she skipped class a lot too.
posted by delmoi at 8:12 AM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


“Jesus, I am sick of people saying Palin is hot”

It was the same fetishization thing they had with Coulter. Ooh, she’s thinks what I think - sexy.

“This reminds me a lot of the movie Being There, in which a bunch of rich, powerful stuffed shirts meet a complete moron and convince themselves he's a genius.”

Well, a complete moron who could walk on water.
I’d vote for Chance. Adam, even.
(C’mon ‘Eve’? Dead giveaway)


“The SCOTUS did not make Al Gore unelectable, Al Fucking Gore made Al Gore unelectable.”

*shakes head*
*sighs*
posted by Smedleyman at 8:41 AM on October 21, 2008




Looking at this dynamic personality now, it mystifies me that I wouldn't remember her," said Jim Fisher, Palin's journalism instructor at the University of Idaho, where she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in journalism in 1987.

Palin, he said, took his public affairs reporting class, an upper-division course limited to 15 students. "It's the funniest damn thing," Fisher said. "No one can recall her."

"I don't remember her," said Roy Atwood, Palin's academic advisor at the university.


A phone rings, vice president Sarah Palin (for it is she) answers it
Sarah Palin: Yes, hello?
Unknown voice: Is this Vice President Palin?
SP: Yes.
UV: Vice President Sarah Palin?
SP: Yes
UV: Sarah Louise Heath Palin
SP: ...yes.
UV: ...Listen.
posted by atrazine at 9:39 AM on October 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


I'm guessing Palin might end up a commentator on Foxnews

Just like the last woman who was a major party VP candidate.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 10:08 AM on October 21, 2008


I don't remember Lieberman drinking the kool-aid prior to 9/11. All I knew about him at the time of the 2000 election was his harsh rebuke of Clinton for the Lewinsky shit.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:13 AM on October 21, 2008


“The SCOTUS did not make Al Gore unelectable, Al Fucking Gore made Al Gore unelectable.”

If Gore had won in 2,000 we'd all be campaigning for VP Lieberman today.
posted by delmoi at 10:15 AM on October 21, 2008


UV: ...Listen.
UV: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
SP: ... and miles to go before I sleep.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:09 PM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice.

and Jewish.
posted by ericb at 4:32 PM on October 20

thank god I'm not the only one who thought this. I thought maybe I was crazy, since no one ever seems to bring it up.


because it's not politically correct and it's not nice, it's obvious but people won't say it aloud (I mean, like Obama's "otherness". it's called blackness, in plain English, not otherness. the funny name is bad but it's not the problem. Dukakis had a weird name too, after all but nobody worried about his "otherness"). no matter how much Fox News cheers for Israel, Lieberman was a big no-no as VP. he's someone they can appoint to something if they win. he can't run on that ticket. it's the same reason why Powell always knew he couldn't win the nomination as a Republican. that's the difference between the GOP and the Democrat's base. Obama won the nomination. I'm curious to see how long it takes for a black person to be nominated for President by the GOP. looking at their congressional delegations, at the faces I saw on TV at their convention and the people who turn up to see Palin, it looks bad.

same as 2000, with the lame dance around the fact that Gore, a Southerner, hadn't even won his home State. Lieberman killed the Savior and that shit doesn't fly in the former Confederacy, no matter how much Gore amplified his accent stumping down there. they won Florida before it was stolen from them, but almost everyone down there is a yankee anyway.

Palin may be a shit choice, but Lieberman was even worse. McCain, quite clearly secular, despite his recent "conversion", needed to prop up the GOP base, esp in the South, and a Jew can't do that. say what you want about Palin, at least she's not Jewish.
posted by matteo at 1:50 PM on October 21, 2008


If Gore had won in 2,000 we'd all be campaigning for VP Lieberman today.

I don't know. I have a feeling that even after 8 years as VP (assuming they could get reelected in 04) Lieberman would have trouble getting nominated as President. a strong challenge could sink him easily, he's just so lame. maybe I'm wrong, of course, it's all hypothesis.
posted by matteo at 1:52 PM on October 21, 2008




Is fundamentalist Christians redefining themselves as "Jews" (old-testament ones, natch, not the problematic modern variety) common in the US?

There were a bunch of "Jews for Jesus" who turned up at an anti-gay rally here in New Zealand a few years back, to get their hate on for the GODLESS QUEERS! I was pretty confused, since all I saw at the rally[1] was a big ol' Israeli flag; there are only a handful of Jews in New Zealand, and they don't have a high-profile ultra-Orthodox contingent who might have strong feelings about homosexuality.

A friend did some digging around and, yes, it's mostly a bunch of people who are about as Jewish as I am.

[1] I hasten to add I was in the "fuck you, bigots" countermarch.
posted by rodgerd at 2:47 PM on October 21, 2008


It was the same fetishization thing they had with Coulter. Ooh, she’s thinks what I think - sexy.


At the risk of demeaning myself by buying into the whole is-Palin-hot-or-not conversation, that's unfair to Palin. Palin is, at worst, a good-looking middle-aged woman who is aging well. Coulter has that whole overskinny model/concentration camp victim look.
posted by rodgerd at 2:54 PM on October 21, 2008


If you don't want to demean yourself by stooping to misogynistic discussion of women's appearances you could, you know, not.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:09 PM on October 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


The people guiding the Democrats fucked up every election between 2000 and 2006, and Bill Clinton most likely only got his shot at President because those selfsame geniuses had written off the '92 election as unwinnable, allowing a nobody like Clinton a chance to prove them wrong.

Almost right up until this point. For all his weaknesses, Clinton is incredibly intelligent and a very shrewd politician, not to mention he oozes charisma. He did create something of a cult of personality, which is not a strong platform. I think that's one of the main reasons his legacy endured up until the day GWB took office, but no longer than that. It was all about him, not the party, although he did accomplish some good, but he triangulated his way through some horrendous policy, and he ended up thoroughly embarrassing himself and his office for his lack of control.
posted by krinklyfig at 6:47 PM on October 21, 2008


If you don't want to demean yourself by stooping to misogynistic discussion of women's appearances you could, you know, not.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:09 PM on October 21


We'll stop making fun of Coulter's man-hands and Skeletor-fleshmask face when she apologizes for calling John Edwards a "faggot." How's that for a deal?
posted by Optimus Chyme at 6:50 PM on October 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


Also, I hope no one thinks it's sexist if I point out that Rush Limbaugh looks like a giant pink turd and that Karl Rove is the doughiest person this side of the little Pillsbury man.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 6:52 PM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


Karl Rove is the doughiest person this side of the little Pillsbury man.

AKA, John McCain.

Thank you, thank you, tip your waitress and drive safely!
posted by krinklyfig at 7:21 PM on October 21, 2008


McCain's new message: "I am not George Bush."

Funny. I've been thinking lately that he should run an ad in which he looks straight into the camera and says:

"Hello. I'm John McCain. And I'm not George Bush.

Not only am I not George Bush, I ran against George Bush in the 2000 Republican primary. Because even back then, I could tell he'd make a crappy president. If I'd won that primary, I would have run against Al Gore in the general election. And if I'd run against Al Gore in the general election, I would have kicked his ass because Al Gore has the personality of a toaster and no nutsack at all. There wouldn't have been a Florida recount; I'd have taken all of the south. And I would have been re-elected in 2004 because the Democrats, let's face it, could barely win a game of Bingo. And you know all those retarded things that Bush has said and all those insane things he's done? All those people dead down in New Orleans and all those people in countries around the world getting tortured by the CIA? None of that shit would have ever happened in a McCain presidency. Because I'm not a moron or a rightwing nutjob. Yeah, I lean to the right, but, Jesus, I know where to draw the goddamn line. And when I set out to do something, I don't fuck it up and then refuse to accept responsibility. So on November 4th, vote for John McCain. The REAL anti-Bush."

If he ran such an ad, part of me thinks he'd win.
posted by Clay201 at 7:26 PM on October 21, 2008


Yeah, I lean to the right, but, Jesus, I know where to draw the goddamn line.

And yet, Palin.
posted by ormondsacker at 7:53 PM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


Is fundamentalist Christians redefining themselves as "Jews" (old-testament ones, natch, not the problematic modern variety) common in the US?

Well, they DO go on about the 10 commandments, don't they? From the new (i.e. Christian) testament...

When asked which is the greatest commandment, Jesus replied,

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." [Matt22:37-40]

Since their commitment is to the 10 commandments instead of the 12 commandments, they must be Jews, yeah?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:06 PM on October 21, 2008


Those who would vote for Palin solely for her looks may find it compelling to reflect on how nothing, but nothing, puts age on a body like a stint in the White House. Heavens, think of the consequences!
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 10:53 PM on October 21, 2008


I lived in AK for four years. I voted against Palin in the last election for gov, but when she won I was not too unhappy until I realized just how horrifying she is. I didn't actually pay attention to her, because I didn't think she could possibly win. Then when she did, I thought, well at least she's not Frank. Now there is a bastard. I didn't believe the Republicans of AK could possible find someone worse than that evil craplord. Evidently they did. Alaska is overwhelmingly Republo-idiot, so I was not surprised that one of them would win, and at first she sounded not horrible. Getting rid of the bridge to nowhere (slated for my town), selling off the jet, etc. But now it turns out all of that was just smoke. She took the money and re-allocated to god knows where (because, as is the familiar theme for her party, she feels she is not accountable for anything even remotely like accounting of a budget), and the jet is just sitting on the tarmac.

I hate myself for not paying more attention.

On a lighter note, even though I can't stand her politics, I would appreciate it if the sexist bullshit was taken out of the debate here. If you don't like her politics, or lack thereof, say so, but please stop the "I would tap that" kind of lame shit.

Wait, as I wrote that I realized that it is pretty likely that she was chosen more for her appearance and female reproduction apparatus than her mad skills. So maybe it is appropriate. And now I feel sick, but I do kind of believe in that theory.

Any thoughts? Cuz if the GOP chose T&A, perhaps they should see sexism in action. I think it goes something like this: hey look at that hot middle aged chick go after Obama. Uh wait she sounds like an idiot. Just another stupid fucking female. I'd do her but hey look at that half white guy take down that argument. He seems so dreamy, in a dude way. At least he's not that screechy chick. Oh and who's that old guy on the Palin ticket?
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 11:30 PM on October 21, 2008




Here's hoping her political career ends the same way Joan of Arc's did...but in metaphorical flames this time.

Except with the entire 'get sainted' bit. I don't want to wear a St. Palin medallion on my necklace next to my cross.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:43 PM on October 21, 2008


If you don't want to demean yourself by stooping to misogynistic discussion of women's appearances you could, you know, not.

It's like a scab. I know I shouldn't pick at it but it keeps itching...
posted by rodgerd at 12:15 AM on October 22, 2008


Belle O'Cosity, I think the shopping list went mostly like this:

1) hardline Christian anti-abortionist to ensure the fundie base bothers to show up at the polls

2) female to pick up the (mostly imaginary?) PUMA voters

3) charisma (and possibly, youth), because McCain ain't got it, and Obama does

and then... if possible, skills, talent, experience, intellect (or at least some knowledge), reputation, lack of ethics violations, would all be nice, but not enough to give up 1 or 2. So while they could have found a qualified woman for the ticket, they couldn't find one who was anti-abortion; and while they could find a more qualified man who was anti-abortion, he wouldn't appeal to disaffected Clinton supporters or the feminists whom they hoped would vote for a woman, no matter how much they hated her ideology.

So, no, not exactly a T&A decision, but equally without actual substance in terms of ability.
posted by taz at 2:39 AM on October 22, 2008


We'll stop making fun of Coulter's man-hands and Skeletor-fleshmask face when she apologizes for calling John Edwards a "faggot." How's that for a deal?

If you don't like that kind of shit, don't do it yourself. Then you have some high ground to call other people out when they do it. How's that for a deal?
posted by hydropsyche at 3:20 AM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


If you stop talking down to me like I was still two years old, I'll stop smearing shit on the walls. How's that for a deal?
posted by flabdablet at 6:57 AM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


Palin's $150,000 Clothes Shopping Spree
"Since her selection as John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even her infant son, it was reported on Tuesday evening.

That entertaining scoop -- which came by way of Politico -- sent almost immediate reverberations through the presidential race.

...Several hours after Politico posted its findings, the topic remained nearly untouched by the major right outlets. Though as Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic opined:
'Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures. ... The heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid ... particularly (and, it must be said, viewed retroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession.'"
posted by ericb at 7:15 AM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


State funded Palin kids’ travel
"Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

...State Finance Director Kim Garnero told The Associated Press she has not reviewed the Palins’ travel expense forms, so she could not say whether the daughters’ travel with their mother would meet the definition of official business.

On Aug. 6, three weeks before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate, and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters’ travel.

In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as 'First Family attending' and 'First Family invited' to explain the girls’ attendance.

...In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women’s leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.

...In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.

In addition to the commercial flights, the children have traveled dozens of times with Palin on a state plane. For these flights, the total cost of operating the plane, at $971 an hour, was about $55,000, according to state flight logs.

...The organizer of an American Heart Association luncheon on Feb. 15 in Fairbanks said Palin asked to bring daughter Piper to the event, and the organizer said she was surprised when Palin showed up with daughters Willow and Bristol as well.

The three Palin daughters shared a room separate from their mother at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks for two nights, at a cost to the state of $129 per night.

The luncheon took place before Palin’s husband, Todd, finished fourth in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, also in Fairbanks. The family greeted him at the finish line.

...In February 2007, the three girls flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines. Palin charged the state for the $519.30 round-trip ticket for each girl, and noted on the expense form that the daughters accompanied her to 'open the start of the Iron Dog race.'

The children and their mother then watched as Todd Palin and other racers started the competition, which Todd won that year. Palin later had the relevant expense forms changed to describe the girls’ business as 'First Family official starter for the start of the Iron Dog race.'"
Geesh, doncha' know? Sarah Palin is quite the ethical reformer! And a maverick at that!
posted by ericb at 7:23 AM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


A Big Wrinkle in Palin's $150,000 Clothing Allowance
"Following up on that Politico story about the RNC apparently spending more than $150,000 on clothes for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin...

I wonder if the governor knows that she's going to have to pay taxes on those clothes, even if she ultimately gives them away?

Tax experts say that even if she only wears them for professional reasons -- locked away in a special 'candidate'cabinet, say -- Palin will be on the hook for those fancy new duds just as if someone had written her a check for $150,000.

Wonder if she knows that."
posted by ericb at 7:30 AM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


Since her selection as John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even her infant son, it was reported on Tuesday evening.

This isn't taxpayer money, right? Who the hell cares then? I am no defender of hers, but I can certainly how someone in the constant public glare would require a top-notch wardrobe. It's an investment in the campaign just as much as buying advertising. If you don't think the campaign should be based at all on appearance, then why pay money for a suit to wear to a job interview? A campaign is basically a months-long job interview. $150,000 is more than I will ever spend in my lifetime on clothes, but then again I dress casually and I'm never on TV.
posted by desjardins at 8:50 AM on October 22, 2008


This isn't taxpayer money, right?

No. It's donors money and many are pissed (as per the Atlantic quote mentions above).

Spending $150,000 in a month-and-a-half goes against the "Real-Jane, Hockey-Mom, I'm One-of-You" image that Palin is so fond of promoting. Palin would have done herself a favor in declining the shopping sprees at Saks, Neiman-Marcus, etc. If she had chosen clothing from places where "Hockey Moms" shop, she'd have been able to make a statement that keeps in step with her so-called "values" and "image."

BTW -- one who is in the public eye and engaged in the political process can still look stylish without blowing a load. Take for example, Michelle Obama who has appeared in very affordable clothes and been complimented for her style.

Michelle Obama Endorsement Blows Dress Designer's Sales Through Roof
"Potential first lady Michelle Obama's fashion has already been praised by critics and voters. But now the simple black-and-white dress Obama wore on 'The View' last week is selling out in stores and on the virtually-unknown designer's Web site. [A tip for Obamaphiles: order it from the designer's Web site. It's $50 cheaper there...]

...Michelle Obama sported [Donna] Ricco's black-and-white leaf-print shift — sold at the White House Black Market store, where Obama bought it for $148 — on 'The View,' and women across the country went wild for it."
Michelle Obama wore this dress from the Gap to a Fourth of July celebration. The dress retails for $39.99.

I guess Palin is shopping from the Cindy McCain "wish-book":
Cindy McCain's RNC Outfit Cost $300,000.
So, who are the elitists in this campaign?
posted by ericb at 9:51 AM on October 22, 2008 [4 favorites]


The resentments of Sarah Palin
posted by homunculus at 10:14 AM on October 22, 2008


I wonder if the governor knows that she's going to have to pay taxes on those clothes, even if she ultimately gives them away?


Geez, that's the dumbest thing I've ever read. If the Republican party has anything, they have a few accountants around who know how the tax system works. Millions of Americans receive taxable benefits through work every year. This is a surprise to the square root of nobody.
posted by GuyZero at 11:45 AM on October 22, 2008


Who is Sarah Palin’s Personal Shopper?

Jeff Larson.
"Does the name Jeff Larson sound familiar? It should. Larson is the Karl Rove protégé who’s a principal in the robocalling firm of FLS Connect (the 'FLS' stands for Tony Feather, Jeff Larson, and Tom Syndhorst, all veteran Republican political operatives). Larson’s firm is the same one that launched the scurrilous robocalls against John McCain in 2000, and that McCain has now hired to make robocalls connecting Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. He’s also well known in Minnesota for leasing his basement apartment at a steeply discounted rate to embattled Republican Senator Norm Coleman.

....Under FEC regulations, the RNC must file what is called a 'Schedule F form,' which lists 'expenditures made by political committees or designated agents(s) on behalf of candidates for federal office.'

....What’s so incompetent about this from a political tradecraft perspective is that both parties ordinarily take the easy precaution of making sure such embarrassing material isn’t obvious to reporters, which they do by routing the payment through a law firm or consultant. Here they neglected to do so. Larson may not be able to look forward to a lucrative contract with a McCain administration. But who knows? He may land his own show on Bravo."
posted by ericb at 1:12 PM on October 22, 2008






If the Republican party has anything, they have a few accountants around who know how the tax system works.

I'm not sure the RNC, Jeff Larson et al expected an investigative reporter from Politico.com to scour the September 'Schedule F' and connect-the-dots. They got caught with their pants and skirts down and now claim that the wardrobe was always intended to be donated after their candidate wore (the likely tailor-fitted) outfits. Riiiiight.
posted by ericb at 1:18 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


*Spending $150,000 in a month-and-a-half*

Correction: *Spending $150,000 in a month* The expenditures were for September alone. After October's Schedule F is released let's see if we can suss-out how much more was spent for Palin. How much ya' wanna bet that they'll be harder to spot?
posted by ericb at 1:59 PM on October 22, 2008


“Prayer Warriors” Should Ask God To Intervene In US Election For GOP

WWGD? (Who Would God Disenfranchise?)

See, I thought that this election was about things like the electoral college and votes. Little did I know that it's about which team can outpray the other. So on November 5, Palin and McCain are going to get down on their knees and ask God's forgiveness for their sins--since obviously, with the Obama win, God thought they were the suckier of the candidates?
posted by leftcoastbob at 1:59 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]




Sarah Palin, err 'Sarah Plain' + $150,000 Makeover = Eliza ("The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain") Doolittle.
posted by ericb at 3:12 PM on October 22, 2008


Too bad the Republicans will never call her on her whole 'I'm just like you regular folks' pose while standing before those crowds in such pricey duds. Strange thing is that it seems she would have gained more legitimacy in that realm had she made those speeches dressed from Target or such.

I don't think this will amount to so much, but it sure is fun to see the Republican defenders take that next step (beyond saying she's the most qualified) and talk about how irrelevant this is and how it in no way conflicts with any of the messages she's pimped out to deliver.

And I just saw in passing today that Palin's (again) claiming new feminism by criticizing Obama for not picking Clinton as VP. I wish Hillary would come out and say that she would not have accepted the position, or that she had previously asserted such. Bonus if she could frame it as 'I didn't work so hard to be second to a man', but in a cool way that doesn't throw shade on Biden.
posted by troybob at 5:08 PM on October 22, 2008


This isn't taxpayer money, right?

No. It's donors' money and many are pissed...


GOP donors critical of Palin's pricey threads
“The Republican National Committee’s $150,000 investment in Sarah Palin’s wardrobe has prompted some teeth gnashing among the party’s big donors about its political sensibility and a feisty debate among campaign finance specialists about its legality.

‘As a Republican Eagle and a maxed-out contributor to McCain’s general campaign, I’d like my money back – he can still have my vote,’ complained one irate donor on Tuesday.

‘I’m not one who says a candidate shouldn’t wear fine clothes,’ he added. ‘I’d just like to think they were successful enough in the private sector to have afforded their wardrobe with their own money, not the party’s or the campaign’s, which is really our money as contributors.’

Another big donor was sympathetic to the effort, but critical of the execution.

The Alaska governor was tapped by Arizona Sen. John McCain to become his vice presidential running mate just days before the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, the donor noted.

Given the short notice and the Palins’ relatively modest means, ‘she could probably not go into her closet at home in Alaska to come up with a wardrobe appropriate for her status as a vice presidential candidate,’ he said.

‘Having said that, $150K is big money,’ he added. ‘It kind of makes it worth running. Even if you lose, you’ve got a whole new closet.’”
posted by ericb at 9:06 PM on October 22, 2008


If the Republican party has anything, they have a few accountants around who know how the tax system works. Millions of Americans receive taxable benefits through work every year. This is a surprise to the square root of nobody.
“Campaign finance laws prohibit candidates from spending donor cash to their authorized personal campaign committee on costs ‘that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign,’ including clothing, vacations and gym memberships.

But the law does not prohibit such expenditures by party committees, and Congress has killed legislation to expand the personal use ban to those and other types of political committees.

The fuzzy part in the Palin case is that the RNC used money from an account designated for ‘coordinated,’ or shared, expenditures with the McCain-Palin candidate account.

The Federal Election Commission, which interprets federal campaign finance laws, has never been asked to address this issue. And legal experts say the key question is: From which side of the joint account was the money drawn?

Noting that the expenses were reported by the RNC and not the McCain-Obama campaign, Ken Gross, a law partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who advises corporations on campaign finance laws, concluded: ‘The bottom line is that this is party committee money. These are not campaign funds.’

Wiley Rein lawyer Jan Baran, an adviser to several Republican candidates and committees, agreed with Gross, but added that the Palins may still be forced to comply with tax laws.

‘The receipt of goods and services by the taxpayer usually constitutes reportable ‘income’,’ Baran said. Consequently, Palin may have to declare the value of the fashion gifts as income and pay taxes on it.

‘She might be able to offset some of the taxes by donating the items to charity after the campaign, Baran said, ‘although she will only be able to deduct the fair market value at that time.’” *
posted by ericb at 9:15 PM on October 22, 2008


can someone please explain this?

AP Poll: Candidates Running About Even
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:36 PM on October 22, 2008


can someone please explain this? ... AP Poll: Candidates Running About Even

New flawed AP poll claims McCain and Obama are tied. Will AP's pollster take Nate Silver's challenge?
posted by ericb at 9:44 PM on October 22, 2008


WATCH: The Obamas Discuss Dressing On A Budget.
posted by ericb at 9:47 PM on October 22, 2008


“She might be able to offset some of the taxes by donating the items to charity after the campaign, Baran said, “although she will only be able to deduct the fair market value at that time.”

The campaign said Monday that Palin intends to donate the clothes to charity after the election.


Something tells me that these threads will not be appearing at a Goodwill any time soon.
posted by leftcoastbob at 10:31 PM on October 22, 2008




oh, hey Newt! Remember when you were relevant? man, i'm glad that's over.
posted by shmegegge at 11:27 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


Gingrich: SNL's Palin skits are 'slander' 'worthy of a lawsuit.'

Especially the parts that are verbatim quotes from her interviews! They're the most damaging of all!
posted by kirkaracha at 11:57 AM on October 23, 2008


What is exactly the charity plan? When did they come up with it? What have they offered as evidence?

God almighty, do these people have a true plan for any damn thing? Saying "we're going to" or even "we will fight to" is not a plan. Not not not. Augh.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 8:31 PM on October 23, 2008


LA Times report on Palin's history as Governor:
* More than 100 appointments to state posts -- nearly 1 in 4 -- went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.

University of Alaska historian Steve Haycox said Palin has been a reformer. But he said she has a penchant for placing supporters, many of them ill-prepared, in high posts. He called it "cronyism" far beyond what previous governors have done and a contradiction of her high-minded philosophy.

Terrence Cole, an Alaska political historian, said Palin had in some cases shown "a disrespect for experience."
Sarah Palin: the more you know her the more she stinks. (Can I get a bumper sticker?)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:31 AM on October 24, 2008


Forgot the link
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:34 AM on October 24, 2008


And about those clothes....

Palin insists she is a frugal shopper.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin insisted she is a "frugal" spender as she denied she had a 150,000 dollar Republican Party clothes budget for her and her family for the White House campaign[...]Those are not ours. We give those back, those go to charity or they'll be auctioned off or whatever. That's not even my property. So to be criticized for that, that is not who we are."
So there you have it. The clothes are not hers, they just happened to fit her and she wore them for three days and gave them back so they could be given to charity. I am calling this The Case of the Hot Potato Clothes.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:45 AM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


This is high school crap. "Those cigarettes aren't mine! I was just holding them for Jen."
posted by iamkimiam at 8:42 AM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


I think it's interesting how she is being styled. That beehive hairdo, and the kind of 50s inspired wardrobe. That look was carefully crafted. She did not look like that at all when I live in AK. It's very clever since the Republicans have this nostalgia worship thing going on.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 8:48 AM on October 24, 2008


Who made more money than any other individual in the McCain-Palin campaign for the first two weeks of October? Palin's make-up artist -- $22,800 for two-weeks!
posted by ericb at 10:31 AM on October 24, 2008


Oooo. And quite a tab for September (as per jamaro's linked article).
"McCain-Palin campaign paid out $13,200 in September to an Emmy-nominated makeup artist who traveled with vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin.
posted by ericb at 10:38 AM on October 24, 2008


Palin has started to resemble Paula Abdul

Going after the same demographic, eh?
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:16 PM on October 24, 2008


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