We became very close with a family in our village that had a child drown in a steel container of raw sewage. Let me say that again. They had a child drown in a steel container of raw sewage. Their child was simply outside playing and since there is no playground equipment for the kids to play on, they play on anything, often things too dangerous for children. In this case it was something commonly referred to as a "honey bucket." This is a steel container where house sewage is dumped since there is no indoor plumbing.
The image of Gov. Sarah Palin being promoted by the McCain campaign is of a straight-shooter who talks truth to power. The true image is of a person who lies repeatedly, even after being called out for her lies.
The Vice-Presidential debate offered more examples of her ability to lie with a straight face. All politicians obfuscate during debates and frequently misstate their opponent's position. But, not all of them make up lies as they go along. Gov. Palin did that at least twice during Thursday's debate.
One of the lies, about post-surge troop levels in Iraq, could have been caused by lack of knowledge on the part of Palin, but the other, about divestment of investments in Sudan, was a pure unadultrated prevarication.
With four weeks to go, John McCain still can't draw a crowd by himself and the person who can fill a stadium - Sarah Palin - scares everyone who isn't madly in love with her.
We know that John McCain is perfectly willing to use the economic crisis to advance his political interests, but is he willing to use a 17-year old girl?
In a campaign lurching from cynical tactic to frenzied ploy as fast as John McCain's, it's difficult to guess what tomorrow's political news holds. The senator has now fully committed himself to the kinds of reckless, desperate tactics that have given pause to even steadfast conservatives. How a presidential candidate conducts his campaign is a good indicator of how he will govern his country when in office, and in the conduct of his campaign in the past month we've been given a perfect illustration of why John McCain is the worst possible thing for America at the moment.
When a campaign tries to tilt the pinball machine as often as possible, there's almost no point in trying to guess what strategy will come next. So far these maneuvers almost seem to have been chosen more for unpredictability than political prudence. Not many of us would have guessed that McCain would try to cancel the first debate, and all indications are that it was a risky gambit that did not pay off. The frantic accusations that the New York Times is "not even a journalistic organization" might play well with the GOP base, but I suspect don't even pass the laugh test among the critical undecided voters McCain is trying to court. He and Palin are rapidly becoming a laughingstock and for once, the media is doing its job, calling out their lies and refusing to defer to the usual false balance that is the central linchpin of the Rovian media strategy. The referees have finally realized that they are being worked, and they don't like it.
The London Times is reporting on what I think has a very good potential to be the next bizarre twist in this story: A high-profile storybook wedding between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston.
Inside John McCain's campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. "It would be fantastic," said a McCain insider. "You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week."
[...]
Johnston was greeted with a handshake and friendly slap on the back by McCain in St Paul, Minnesota, and treated as a member of the family during the Republican national convention when he appeared on stage after Palin's speech.
The ice-hockey player wrote on his MySpace page he was a "f****** redneck" and stated, "I don't want kids." But a McCain insider predicted he would marry Bristol whenever his future mother-in-law wanted. "It's a shotgun wedding. She kills things," the source joked.
Does anyone really think this woman is prepared to step into the Presidency of the United States if necessary? We need to send her back to Alaska, so she can keep the Russians at bay.
With the intellectual equivalent of surrendering before the battle has actually started, the McCain campaign today stated that they would appreciate it if their VP candidate could do her first debate without any actual, you know, "debating" involved.
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
Over at Mudflats is a great story about a one-man protest at the Juneau Docks.
The huge Anti-Palin rally in Anchorage last weekend got a tremendous amount of media coverage, and support from around the nation. People needed to know that not all Alaskans support Palin as the VP nominee, or share her values. Some may even like Palin as a governor, but find her completely inappropriate on the national (nevermind international) stage. Huge rallies are great, but sometimes a powerful statement can be made by just one person. Here's a wonderful story sent to me from Doug, a Mudflatter in Juneau, Alaska.
Thanks for standing up and speaking out when it was not easy or comfortable to do so.
In a campaign lurching from cynical tactic to frenzied ploy as fast as John McCain's, it's difficult to guess what tomorrow's political news holds. The senator has now fully committed himself to the kinds of reckless, desperate tactics that have given pause to even steadfast conservatives. How a presidential candidate conducts his campaign is a good indicator of how he will govern his country when in office, and in the conduct of his campaign in the past month we've been given a perfect illustration of why John McCain is the worst possible thing for America at the moment.
