Yes, yes, I know it's probably only early evening over there, but it's early morning here so I get a pass.
Two things for your delectation. How great to see Hillary on the campaign trail. I've missed her. A lot.
And she comes out swinging in a vibrant bold attack on the years of Republican mismanagement
"Make no mistake about it. We've done it before and we will do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes."
America can rise indeed. Especially with Hillary on the stump. Inspiring stuff. But it won't rise with 'post turtle' Sarah Palin.
[UPDATE 4] 9:28pm The report is out, and in brief it says: [sic]"She definitely did abuse power and break trust with the people, but we don't recommend a criminal investigation."
What this means is that those of her base will continue to be excited by what a Mavericky Maverick she is, and those on the fence will have yet another reason to question every word that comes out of her mouth.
She broke the public trust and abused the power of her office.
Expect the MSM to talk about this all weekend in between discussing how much the GOP has hosed the economy.
......................
The "Troopergate" report on Governor Palin's abuse of power is in the hands of the Legislative Council right now. They got their hands on the 200+ page report and 600+ pages of backup documentation this morning at 9am local time (1pm ET).
I am going to keep tabs on this and update this diary as events unfold.
Hat tip to Btchakir for alerting me to this great Salon piece on Sarah Palin's connections to the extreme right wing Alaska Independence Party.
The AIP have been instrumental in Palin's rise from small town mayor to the Governorship, along with a rag bag assortment of other far right wingers (including Palin's pastor who claimed that Alaska would become a refuge state during the rapture).
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.
From Dana Milbank at the Washington Post comes a disturbing, if not unsurprising, report:
The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)
That's right, the GOP is terrified. They're skittish, they're nervous, they're running scared. Not from Obama, of course.
No.
They're afraid of Sarah Palin.
Honestly, can we blame them? Her record is sad enough, but her performance in interviews is abysmal. Anything unscripted, and she's in trouble. Here we have Ms. Palin seeming none too sure about what that mysterious "Bush Doctrine" might be:
You almost have to laugh watching this much outrage coming out of Hollywood. I've never been one to pay much attention to the sleazy tabloids or the innumerable useless factoids about celebrities, but I have to admit, I'm enjoying the smackdown they're giving Sarah Palin. Since the primaries ended, Hollywood has remained relatively quiet about the presidential race -- until, of course, John McCain decided to put Palin in the spotlight. She is anathema to everything our liberal stars hold dear: her political ideology is positively prehistoric, the sort of positions born of nightmares. So naturally, our stars are reacting accordingly.
Here we have Gina Gershon toting a gun and wearing some kind of bathing suit. Clearly a devastating blow to the McCain campaign.
There's been a lot of noise this cycle about Senator Barack Obama's purported "problem with women," a talking point which gained popularity during his historic battle for the nomination against Senator Hillary Clinton. Though Obama's numbers dipped slightly after the GOP convention, polls indicate he is trending upward again. Conventional wisdom among the talking heads and doomsday prophets is that Senator John McCain's vice presidential pick Sarah Palin might prove capable of pulling Clinton's female supporters away from Obama, but unfortunately for the McCain campaign, his choice of an unvetted, little-known woman governor for vice president was woefully transparent.
Sarah Palin has been: busted using Yahoo personal email to go around the requirement of transparency and accountability in government affairs; kicked out of a speaking position at a jewish group's event on Monday after trying to turn it into a campaign event; pulled off a trip to California; ordered her husband to commit contempt of court, who will likely be charged for this in January when the Alaskan Legislature is in session; caught taking 11 items through the ten-item lane at Wiggly Piggly...
