MeFi post: Sarah Palin may be a better debater than you think

The whole exchange on the role of the vice-president is going to be incredibly damaging for the McCain ticket.
If there is one person more despised, feared and hated in this country than George Bush, it it Dick Cheney. Palin's tacit endorsement of Cheney's constitutional revisionism of the office of VP, combined with her sunny assertion that she would like to expand the powers of that office in various unspecified ways, will pretty much destroy any hope of McCain winning over a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Chrischris at 7:59 PM on October 2, 2008

I found I could barely even keep my mind on what Palin said, while I had no trouble following Biden. And no, the problem is not my powers of concentration.

That "Bridge to Nowhere" joke was awesome. And I loved it that Biden counteracted Palin's idiot "I'm a mom and a real person" shtick by proving that he has his own family and his own griefs and struggles — he just doesn't use it as evidence that he's qualified for being VP. It had a certain... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan at 8:32 PM on October 2, 2008

Jesus, American politicians are dumb about energy. Palin doesn't believe in man-made global warming and wants to drill, drill, drill for an "energy independence" that that can't remotely accomplish, and Obama and Biden give lip service to global warming, but can only make empty nods to crack-pot "alternative energy sources" like wind, solar, and bio-diesel. The ONLY proven energy source that generates lots of electricity without burning all those nasty fossil fuels that are... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dgaicun at 9:18 PM on October 2, 2008

My flag pin is crocheted from the entrails of my enemies.
posted to MetaFilter by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:48 PM on October 3, 2008

I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me."

Pathetic. I enjoyed hilzoy's reaction to this at obsidianwings:

I'm sure I'm not the only female in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, rolled her eyes and thought: oh, dear God. We have all seen just that wink deployed at guys... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cybercoitus interruptus at 4:39 PM on October 3, 2008

Interesting analysis, iamkimiam

You bracket the question of intentionality -- one can prevaricate an entire persona, and spin an entire semantic web in the voice of that character. In that case, you have to look beyond the surface semantic features to locate the meaning of a speech act. Debates have their own truth conditional norms, forcing one to lie in generalities if one is going to lie at all. In addition, there is an interesting oral/literate mediation going on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 4:42 PM on October 3, 2008

he won because he was perceived as being more truthful. And in fact, he was.

Excellent points, wow. And I'd add that not only have Biden's texts become more deeply internalized and more readily available over the years, it's not only because of that accumulated repetition that he's able to appear more truthful. It's also because in some real sense, his texts and his own identity are in tighter alignment than Palin's texts are... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 5:08 PM on October 3, 2008

Yeah, exactly -- Biden has internalized his verbal persona as his character and his political identity. He's built a long record of work that allows him to feel a stake in the success of the ideas and institutions he's supported. That's the elusive "authenticity" factor pundits are always wailing about: is someone comfortable in their own persona? (Aside from them telling us what off the rack persona is supposedly more "real" American).

Being a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 5:16 PM on October 3, 2008

Or in simple terms, what I am saying is that *despite what the pundits think,* Sarah Palin was the one who came off as a faker last night, and Biden came off as a real person you could imagine caring about your problems. He won the debate, no matter what they say about low bars and exceeding expectations, because he was much more real, even as he was much more experienced and smart and more of an "insider." The point is that those need not be incompatible. Don't even get me going on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 5:21 PM on October 3, 2008

Is Sarah Palin the first time we've seen *directly* sexual marketing employed in a presidential campaign? I mean, the winking, the vamping, the flirtiness

**cough** Bill Clinton

I have not seen this directly proposed anywhere yet, but it seems an obvious question: did they pick a beauty queen on purpose, one who not only had the 'looks' but the moves as well?

It certainly crossed my mind from the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 4:15 PM on October 4, 2008

MeFi post: It's not the economy, stupid.

McCain was just going for the low-hanging fruit. The US is chock full of people who think all spending that does not very obviously and immediately benefit them directly is bad spending: art is for assholes, bears are for blasting, and taxes are for building roads that get me to and from work faster. If you try to respond with a proper explanation of why the research on bears is important, you'll label yourself an egghead who is out of touch with the common taxpayer; people's eyes will roll,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pracowity at 2:24 AM on September 29, 2008

MeFi post: Oh sh*t.

I love this part:

Asked why she only obtained a passport last year, Palin said, "I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world. No, I've worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Avenger at 11:51 PM on September 25, 2008

MeFi post: Because there are more important things to do on Friday night

I love that Obama's continuing to operate based on a trust in the intelligence of the American people

It terrifies the ever-living fuck out of me.


I know, me too. But then it also inspires the ever living fuck out of me, and then I remember that there is no other way of winning that is *worth* having. If we need to win by being lowest common denominator shock and awe culture war bullshit slanderous fucktards,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 7:17 PM on September 24, 2008

Ledbetter ‘Strongly Offended’ By McCain’s Statement That Women Need ‘More Education,’ Not Equal Pay
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 8:03 PM on September 24, 2008

A lot of people are suddenly asking this: what's wrong with McCain's face in this video? Watch his left eye.

Anybody else notice anything weird with McCain's left eye recently?
posted to MetaFilter by ericb at 8:51 PM on September 24, 2008

in immediate risk of a depression look pretty goddamn fucking ridiculous.

Do you know what caused the Great Depression? Too-low interest rates that fueled a credit-based economic boom that expanded the money supply in the twenties. Sound familiar?

Interest rates hit a low in mid to late 2005. 2005 marks the peak of the housing boom, i.e. the mortgage-based economic boom that inflated the money supply. But you want to know... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pastabagel at 10:59 PM on September 24, 2008

snsranch: All I can hope for is that minority Americans come out and vote like they never have before and end this.

My fear? Replay of 2004.

That's an understandable fear to have, especially since McCain's campaign has become eerily familiar over the last couple of months. Some people are clearly getting that sinking feeling they got in 2004 when they realized that "It's just so stupid it just might work" turned out... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by joedan at 9:54 AM on September 26, 2008

MeFi post: Palin, pancakes, and the straight talk express

Michelle Malkin happens to be Asian American. What was that about her being a racist?

Ummm.... she's an Asian American racist?

Can you seriously explain what the fuck this meant?
posted to MetaFilter by XQUZYPHYR at 11:59 AM on September 14, 2008

The collective thought process of our nation is chaotic, gut-level, poorly reasoned. I accept it at a root level that there is some core wisdom in the American electorate, that truth will out and the good guys will win someday. But what if it isn't true? What if Gore and Kerry weren't wine-sipping nancy boys and brainiacs but were actually good people who lost to worse ones?

Here's the conclusion that I've drawn: Americans back the strong. Less simply,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ten pounds of inedita at 1:11 PM on September 14, 2008

Given the choice between a bully and a nerd, America will pick the bully every time.

This is just flat out false. Not that I'm knocking your insight. I think you make interesting points, however there's one small problem.

2000 was a tie, and Al Gore won the popular vote. In that election Bush ran as a moderate, "compassionate" conservative. Despite tipping their evil hand in the primaries, they waited until after they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by billyfleetwood at 1:54 PM on September 14, 2008

Also for anyone freaking out about McCain/Palin, please note that people like MapGuy and konolia are merely agents of Rove's "keep the opponents in turmoil" strategy. MeFi doesn't ban concern trolls, so I suggest you ignore them (please, even if I fail to do so) and go donate money or time to the Obama campaign.

Remember that if McCain is elected, and he is incapacited, then Palin will be President, and within a few years a rapist will be able to choose which... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:10 PM on September 14, 2008

ne man gleefully showed my husband a clipping from today's Sunday classified ads. The clipping was a want ad for paid Obama campaign workers. He chortled, "They have to PAY people to campaign for him!" The ad stated no experience needed. Apparently they will be paying people to hold up signs...during the primary, there were folks standing on streetcorners holding signs for Hillary and I remember assuming they were paid to do so (if it matters, they were African American.)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 7:39 PM on September 14, 2008

It's what they all want to do (GOP candidates that is)! What makes anyone think Palin is any worse on this issue than W?

Even President Bush is okay with abortion if a 14 year-old girl is raped by her father. Sarah Palin is not. Sarah Palin's stated objective is to criminalize abortion so that a rape victim would be forced to bear her rapist's child.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 9:20 PM on September 14, 2008

and while i'm ranting let me say something else - that saying that we should render to caesar what is caesar's and render unto god what is god's

well what do you do when caesar wants it all?

i know what much of the evangelical church and republican party has done - they've given it all to caesar and pretended they were giving it to god

god's not fooled
posted to MetaFilter by pyramid termite at 9:14 PM on September 15, 2008

...that grumpy old man, who has been to hell and back, who really doesn't give a rat's hiney what anyone thinks anymore...

Keep believing that if you want to. I really feel like, as of today, Obama and Biden have figured out to tell a different story about John McCain--a truer story, in my opinion. They've found their words.

John McCain, like Bush before him, has managed to package his style in way that speaks to a lot of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by neroli at 10:06 PM on September 15, 2008

What America wants-at least the America I know:

An end to corruption in politics.

Konolia, you and I couldn't agree more. We are nearing the end of eight years of possibly the most corrupt administration in our country's history. I sure hope the next guy doesn't bring in the same old people to continue the party! (Hint: if you're thinking McCain is the guy who will break it up, just look at who has been staffing his... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by brain cloud at 10:23 PM on September 15, 2008

A grumpy old man whose main attraction is that he isn't a Democrat. But that grumpy old man knew exactly what so many Americans were desperate for. And that grumpy old man, who has been to hell and back, who really doesn't give a rat's hiney what anyone thinks anymore

Yeah, that's the "main attraction" alright. Exactly what we need - a president who just doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks. What a breath of fresh air that'll be, in sharp... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:39 PM on September 15, 2008

It's absolutely ridiculous to call people elitist for having the common sense God gave geese.

Repeated for truth.

What America wants-at least the America I know: An end to corruption in politics. An end to government waste. An end to Washington business-as-usual. And they are desperate enough to get the above that they are willing to take a chance on a lipstick-wearing, beehive sporting, mooseburger-eating, mother of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by five fresh fish at 10:52 PM on September 15, 2008

I personally know a woman who used to babysit his three oldest kids. Nuff said.


Would those be the kids he abandoned when he left his first wife for a younger, prettier, and much richer model?

As for the "America you know," I know that America very, very well. And I have news for you and some other people in that America: you don't own the country, and people who think and live differently are just as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 5:05 AM on September 16, 2008

Right now a lot of people have no idea how much their employer's contribution is. ... Let 'em see how much this stuff really costs and watch how they react if it's an acknowledged part of their pay.

I just happen to have my last pay stub right here in front of me. My employer is forthright enough to have a little box near the bottom which tallies up all the things they pay out of pocket on my behalf -- retirement account, disability insurance, life,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by contessa at 10:05 AM on September 16, 2008

the biggest problem that pro life people have with Obama: the fact that he voted against a law that sought equal treatment for babies who survived premature inducement for the purpose of abortion and wanted babies who were born prematurely and given live-saving medical attention. Obama has since nuanced his opinion (he now says that he supports the new federal law that essentially says the same thing), but still, his voting shows he is not just pro-choice, but much more pro choice than... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jonp72 at 10:29 AM on September 16, 2008

Apparently, they don't always crush the skull in those abortions, since there is a form of abortion called "life birth abortion".

No there isn't. Leaving babies to die is a crime in and of itself. The language used in many of these "partial birth abortion" discussions is not the language of doctors, it's the language of people who want to control doctors. World Net Daily is not a reliable news source. The baby Jill Stanek is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 12:18 PM on September 16, 2008

On all the pro-life blogs I read, people do know that Obama said he would have voted for the federal version (I said the same thing in my comment) but they maintain that this federal version was virtually the same as the Illinois version that he did oppose.

Federal abortion laws and state abortion laws are inherently different, even if their wording is exactly the same, because the Supreme Court, our Constitution, and our federal... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jonp72 at 12:30 PM on September 16, 2008

from 1977.

And that's another of the rhetorical tricks used by the right -- focus on some totally marginal, almost non-existent, possible outrage or contingency, and then move it right to the center of the debate. "Partial birth" abortion is an exceedingly rare procedure, used as a last resort in medically severe situations, not as a casual solution to forgetting to take one's birth control pill. People do it when they discover a genetic... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 1:08 PM on September 16, 2008

I think you've confused your relatives with the cast of the Andy Griffith show.

i think you've confused your television with your brain
posted to MetaFilter by pyramid termite at 8:38 PM on September 16, 2008

Oh for pete's sake, konolia. How is esteeming small-town life as some sort of mythic Mayberryesque bubble of morality over life in the big cold cities any less snobbish than what you just quoted?
posted to MetaFilter by shiu mai baby at 4:18 PM on September 17, 2008

Tolerating intolerance is not a virtue; despising intolerance is not snobbish. Intolerance is not a "lifestyle"; it's a character flaw.
posted to MetaFilter by nicwolff at 4:19 PM on September 17, 2008

First of all let's get this whole definition thing out of the way. When my town, Garner, was incorporated 102 years ago it certainly was not a suburb of Raleigh. It was a small town with its own train station and its own Main street and its own businesses-- mostly agriculture and rock quarries. I won't deny that with the increasing sprawl of the Triangle (Raleigh-Chapel Hill-Durham) we are becoming more of a bedroom community as are all the other small towns in the area: Clayton,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:37 PM on September 17, 2008

Values like treating people right. Values like 'remembering where you came from.'

I remember where I came from. I grew up outside Clifton, Virginia (pop. 85). As a kid I spent the summers on my grandparents' farm outside Mountain Grove, Missouri (pop. 4,574), where my dad was from (mom's from Harville, Missouri, which is so small it doesn't rate a Wikipedia page). I went to college in Fairfax, Virginia (pop. 22,407), then I lived in Chapel Hill, North... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kirkaracha at 6:44 PM on September 17, 2008

I feel compelled to weigh in on the small town issue.

I won't go into much detail except to say that as a social scientist, one of my research specializations could be reasonably described as the study of American small-town culture, and that I've logged more hours than most professors, I would venture, sleeping in single-wide trailers, worshipping in evangelical churches, playing country music in dangerous beer joints, drinking and talking shit in roadside garages,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 8:25 AM on September 18, 2008

A Culture of Violence Against Women: More Than Rape Kits
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 10:48 AM on September 18, 2008

I certainly know from observation his supporters do.

Which supporters? What have you observed? All supporters, or just a subset? Please give evidence for "Obama's supporters disdain people from small towns." I currently live in a small town. I'm a supporter.

I'm not claiming small town people are any better than big city people. The latter are certainly more...polished.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 12:50 PM on September 18, 2008

I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…-- If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”

-- Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

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

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

-- Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ericb at 10:59 AM on September 20, 2008

Because in my considered opinion, the real issue for you and your anecdotal friends is that Barack Obama is black.

I honestly don't know that this is an issue for konolia (though I have absolutely no doubt it is one of the issues for the much-vaunted anecdotal friends/aerobics instructors/etc.).

I believe that the real issue -- putting aside the litmus test of abortion -- is that he is manifestly more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by scody at 2:14 PM on September 20, 2008

All I really need to know about Obama is that he thinks that a baby born alive after a botched abortion should just lay there in the specimen pan and die with no medical treatment.

Seriously, jessamyn, even having been proven as a lie and numerous attempts made to rationally respond to this believing that konolia actually wants to have a serious debate, exactly how many times does this same comment repeated over and over again actually get to be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by XQUZYPHYR at 10:02 PM on September 20, 2008

Barack Obama's excellent 60 Minutes interview tonight: (CBS news video)

Part 1

Part 2
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 5:58 PM on September 21, 2008

Racism and the Race -- Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive

This is the bit that really scares me. I know how racist lots of people are. Those who were born after desegregation not only don't have, but cannot understand the racism of those who remember "colored" drinking fountains, and lunch counters where black workers weren't welcome, and different doors into hospitals, different treatment at the hands of the justice system...it's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dejah420 at 10:06 AM on September 23, 2008

It looks like McCain may have helped cover up information about POWs left behind in Vietnam.

From the article: 6. On November 11, 1992, Dolores Alfond, the sister of missing airman Capt. Victor Apodaca and chair of the National Alliance of Families, an organization of relatives of POW/MIAs, testified at one of the Senate committee's public hearings. She asked for information about data the government had gathered from electronic devices used in a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by odinsdream at 6:00 PM on September 23, 2008

I heard they were sending those out in newspapers...if that's the case with you, for starters, I'd cancel my subscription. And write a letter to the editor.

Also, you might want to--hell, everyone here might want to--send a letter of support to the Greenboro (NC) News-Record, the one paper that refused to distribute the DVD.
posted to MetaFilter by neroli at 7:15 PM on September 23, 2008

Ask post: Dog attack.

I encountered two, loose, mean Rottweilers on a run recently, and now carry a collapsible police baton and 10% pepper spray on my runs. I used a 'bigger dog' attitude and the only thing I had on me... my leatherman, to face them down and slowly retreat. I was 5 miles out of town in a rural area with no one nearby, except perhaps the owners of the dogs; way way up in the woods cutting firewood. Very touch and go.

As an inventor and engineer, living in a state where... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by FauxScot at 5:40 AM on September 17, 2008

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