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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Your last post gives me the opportunity to comment on the supposed attractiveness (physically) of Ms. Palin. May I ask you, do you think she is really that physically attractive? Personally I think she is quite an average looking middle-aged woman and I am quite baffled by the fact that since she appeared on the scene everyone seems to be going gaga over her looks. Frankly, this quite average looking woman is being sold to us as some super sexy lady, which is just not the case. It seems pretty desperate and childish that so many people seem to be crushing on this woman's looks. Having read your comments in the past I'm pretty sure you are not actually one to be taken in by this hype but I thought I'd check.
She appeals to the Fox News watchers. Anyone seiously considering a candidate will not vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.
Her sound-bite speech may have fired up the "base" but they are always fired up about something anyway.
"reformer" and "populist" are this years "compassionate conservative"and "uniter not a divider."
ran up a 22 million dollar debt as a small town mayor. Not a reformer.
Is involved in corruption scandal. Not a Populist.
She says all the right things, but it's just not true. Just like Bush.
Snow job, hood-wink, bamboozle.
Biden should just come out and say it. "She a carbon copy of Bush's 2000 run."
"She's being dishonest about her record."
-The line, "Being a small town mayor is a bit like being a 'community organizer' except you have actual responsibilities" is devastating. It doesn't degenerate community service, it juxtaposes that it is not important for national office than being a mayor.-
Actually, her line about the mayor/community organizer thing does denigrate both the job of community organizer and community service in general and the fact that you and your wife don't understand that is disturbing. there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans who work in their communities to make their communities a better place, for Palin to suggest that there is no "responsibility" in this is a denigration, it is mean-spirited and it is just plain ignorant. And yes, it is denigrate not degenerate. Sure Palin may be a degenerate but that's a story for another day.
Now that Sarah Palin has made her debut on the national scene, it seems obvious to me that the comparisons to previous vice presidential selections need to stop. Palin is no Dick Cheney, no Dan Quayle, no Geraldine Ferraro, no Spiro Agnew, no Tom Eagleton.
The past Rebublican Convention speakers that Palin most resembles are Marilyn Quayle and Pat Buchanan, who fired up the 1992 assembly with their mean-spirited, nasty attacks.
Palin's curious, self-satisfied sneer each time she leveled a baseless accusation against Obama was disturbing to watch. Her words were an even more disturbing reminder that the Republican party knows no limits when it comes to speaking falsehoods and distortions in support of its candidates.
We can only hope that Palin's sneer -- was it done to prevent the foam from leaking from the corners of her mouth? -- will have the same effect in 2008 that Mrs. Quayle's and Mr. Buchanan's had in 1992.
Patrick,
There's no actual responsibilities for community organizer. I know, I've been one, and worked with many. While some are very hard working and dedicated and do much to help others, they are not accountable. Even paid positions are treated as volunteer work, because it's too hard to replace people.
True, many people toil away helping their neighbors, in activities that are both frustrating and noble, but it's different that actually having to report back on your progress. Most work off a personal sense of obligation, but that is self accountability.
If being a community organizer is qualification for high office, then certainly Mayor of any city is as well.
filming for the series "How it's Made". There will be a special on how bullshit is made.
To question Obama's lack of extensive political officeholdership and readiness to be Prez is surely fair game. And the Democrats were themeselves harshly critical in blunt language in Denver, but of GOP policies. There was never any personal vitriol or rancor. With that in mind, let me just say that snickering at helping poor people pay their electric bills is genius! Bravo Rudy! It figures that Guiliani would find working with the poor comical and worthy of a laugh.
What the hell was that? "Community Organizer?" What does that even mean? It's one thing to say his resume doesn't qualify him to be President, but it's another to look down on and demean his work with the indigent in Chicago, especially when he probably turned down an extremely lucrative career in corporate law in order to do so. There seemed to be something ugly and personal about the way they were attacking Obama, and I think it will backfire. There was an element of mean-spiritedness that I don't think came across well.
Considering that she demanded the resignations of the police chief and the librarian among others when she became mayor of a little town of 9,000 as a test of loyalty to her and she wanted to censor which books would be in the town library, the claim that she's no Darth Cheney is questionable. The other thing is that Cheney's unique vice presidency is due in large part to Shrub. Most presidents don't want competing power centers in their government and keep the VP on a short leash. So Cheney's ascendancy tells you at least as much about Shrub as it does about Cheney since I couldn't see, for example, Dan Quayle pulling some of Cheney's stunts had he been left to run amok as Cheney has.
I'm actually waiting for the Democrats to jump on that community organizer with responsibilities crack. The observation is, in many respects, accurate but the question is how well did she discharge those responsibilities? Given that she started with a town that was in the black and was $22 million in the hole when she left, I would say that she discharged them very poorly.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
