Open Thread: Big Talk Butters No Parsnips
3 days ago
Showing posts with label Gaffes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaffes. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Palin Spending Spree is Illegal
As you may have heard by now, the RNC took Sarah Palin on a $150,000 shopping spree (with cash and prizes!) at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue using RNC campaign contributions.
Leaving aside the sheer boneheadedness of the politics of spending $150,000 on Sarah Palin's wardrobe, makeup and hairdos (which is more than what most people in the country spend on clothes in 80 years) during a financial crisis when people are struggling to pay their bills, let's focus on the fact that this is illegal.
Let's examine the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act of 2002:
SEC. 313. USE OF CONTRIBUTED AMOUNTS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.
(a) PERMITTED USES- ...(b) PROHIBITED USE-
(1) IN GENERAL- A contribution or donation described in subsection (a) shall not be converted by any person to personal use.(2) CONVERSION- For the purposes of paragraph (1), a contribution or donation shall be considered to be converted to personal use if the contribution or amount is used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist irrespective of the candidate's election campaign or individual's duties as a holder of Federal office, including--
(A) a home mortgage, rent, or utility payment;(B) a clothing purchase;(C) a noncampaign-related automobile expense;(D) a country club membership;(E) a vacation or other noncampaign-related trip;(F) a household food item;(G) a tuition payment;(H) admission to a sporting event, concert, theater, or other form of entertainment not associated with an election campaign; and(I) dues, fees, and other payments to a health club or recreational facility.'
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Poll: Palin is #1 Negative Concern About McCain
What do voters worry about when they think of John McCain? His age? His temperament? His similarities to George Bush?
A new NBC News poll reveals that most voters' top negative concern about McCain is Sarah Palin. Oh, sweet, sweet, justice:
Palin’s qualifications to be president rank as voters’ top concern about McCain’s candidacy - ahead of continuing President Bush’s policies, enacting economic policies that only benefit the rich and keeping too high of a troop presence in Iraq.
As Andrew Sullivan puts it:
Yes, 34 percent rank Palin as their major issue with McCain, above the 23 percent who are concerned that McCain will be a third term for Bush and the 20 percent who don't like his economic policies.
Poll: Palin is Worst VP Pick Ever
An interesting number hidden in a new New York Times poll:
Mr. Obama’s favorability is the highest for a presidential candidate running for a first term in the last 28 years of Times/CBS polls. Mrs. Palin’s negative rating is the highest for a vice-presidential candidate as measured by The Times and CBS News. Even Dan Quayle, with whom Mrs. Palin is often compared because of her age and inexperience on the national scene, was not viewed as negatively in the 1988 campaign.
Mitt Romney Unsure If Sarah Palin is Qualified
Oops, Mormo-robotron 2000 Mitt Romney got caught in a brain freeze recently when asked whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be President:
When asked by host Wolf Blitzer whether she is “ready to be President,” Romney hesitated and offered this stuttering response: "Well, that — that’s something which I — I believe the American people will, uh, assess individually and say, uh, yeah, she’s got the kind of executive experience that you’d hope to find from a person who’s been a governor and a mayor."
Friday, October 17, 2008
Joe the Plumber Acknowledges Obama Tax Savings
McCain really should have thought the whole "Joe the Plumber" gambit through.
Master Plumber, who turned out to be a right-wing Republican all along, has now acknowledged that Barack Obama's tax plan would result in more tax savings for him and his family:
So today, Joe, who said he makes much less than $250,000, reluctantly admitted Obama would lower his taxes.
“I would, if you believe him, I would be receiving his tax cuts,” Wurzelbacher said.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
McCain Mocks 'Health of the Mother' Abortion Exceptions
One of the most jarring moments of McCain's performance last night was when he mocked "health of the mother" exceptions written into most anti-abortion laws. There goes the female vote...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Video: Palin Can't Think of Any Supreme Court Decisions
The ultimate Palin pain is finally here, and its brutal. In the segment of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin aired today, Palin was unable to think of a single Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade she disagreed with. You have to watch the video below to understand how painful this was:
This woman isn't even qualified to chair the PTA.
McCain Turns to Palin for Foreign Policy Advice
I really think the McCain campaign going to kill the parody industry. After all, how can you make this sh*t up?
During an interview with NPR, McCain claimed that he has turned to Sarah Palin for advice on foreign policy matters "many times in the past":
Seriously, I'm not making this up.NPR: Given what you've said, senator, is there an occasion where you could imagine turning to Gov. Palin for advice in a foreign policy crisis?
McCain: I've turned to her advice many times in the past. I can't imagine turning to Senator Obama or Senator Biden because they've been wrong. They were wrong about Iraq, wrong about Russia.
There are only two conclusions to draw from this exchange:
1. McCain doesn't give two figs about the truth. He just makes sh*t up on the fly.
or
2. McCain actually does consult Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues. Which should frighten the f*ck out of you.
Palin Endorses 'New Ideas' Over 'More of the Same'
Palin really is the gift that keeps on giving. In another Katie Couric excerpt, Palin endorses the idea that voters should choose "new ideas" over "more of the same". Does she even listen to herself?
[A]t the end of the day, though, it is -- it's so clear, again, what those choices are. Either new ideas, new energy and reform of Washington, D.C., or more of the same.
Read More
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Palin Can't Name a NEWSPAPER That She Reads
You seriously can't make this sh*t up. The gaffes, bullsh*t, lies and embarrassments just seem to keep coming from Sarah Palin and her encounters with Katie Couric. In a recent impromptu Q&A, Palin couldn't even name a single NEWSPAPER that she reads!
Here's what was said:
Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?
Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.
Couric: What, specifically?
Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.
Couric: Can you name a few?
Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
Are we sure Palin and Bush weren't separated at birth?
Republicans Back Off 'Pelosi Made Us Do It!' Claim
Republicans yesterday claimed that Nancy Pelosi was being mean to them and, as a result, that is why they decided to vote against the bailout bill.
The claim was so stupid and tone-deaf that even Peter Wehner of the ultra-conservative National Review Online had this to say:
I have been defending House Republicans for a week against friends who thought they were acting in an irresponsible fashion. I argued they were people with admirable free-market principles who were simply trying to improve legislation and have their voices heard, something to which they were certainly entitled. And I thought they made the bill better than it was. But yesterday’s vote, and the excuses that followed the vote, have made me reassess my judgment. Watching Boehner, Blunt, and Cantor blame the outcome on the Pelosi speech was an embarrassment.
Well, cue the frantic backpedalling:
– Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): “We are not babies who suck their thumbs.”
– Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO): “I think you don’t want to give too much blame to that speech.”
– Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ): “It was embarrassing for leadership on both parties to lose the bill, so they went out and made a stupid claim.”
– Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “That speech was not the reason I voted against the bill.” [MSNBC, 9/30/08]
Pity Palin? Cry Me a Freaking River
I admit that I have occasionally lapsed into a bit of pity at watching Sarah Palin f*ck up so stupendously over the last two weeks.
Sharp literary minds have repeatedly woven her trials and tribulations into a metaphorical tableau evoking simpler times when, yes, we too experienced the pains of a book report in seventh grade gone awry or a mean teacher in high school who called us on something we didn't know.
Regardless of the college debate I once flubbed, I am 100% done with the Sarah Palin pity party. After all, we're not talking about a college debate, a book report or a mean teacher. We're talking about someone that could conceivably ascend to the most powerful political office in the world.
Seriously, just think on that the next time you feel the urge to lactate in sympathy to the crying of Sarah Palin's inner child yearning to run free.
When McCain and his campaign came a-calling, she had all the power. She could have done the right thing and politely said NO and spared her family (and the world) the pain she has now foisted upon us.
Here's Salon's Rebecca Traister with sentiments echoing my own:
Like everyone else, I can barely take the waves of embarrassment that come with watching someone do something so badly. Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem, Sophia Coppola acting in "The Godfather: Part III," Sarah Palin talking about Russia -- they all create the same level of eyeball-squinching discomfort...
It was so predictable that we would get to a pity-poor-helpless-Sarah phase. The press was already warming up for it on the day McCain announced her as his running mate, when NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell speculated that McCain's choice was designed to declaw scrappy Joe Biden, whose aggressive style would come off as bullying next to the sweet hockey mom from Alaska. Now, of course, we know about the hockey moms and the pit bulls; the more-powerful-than-expected Palin juggernaut forestalled the pity/victim/mean boy/poor Sarah phase.
So here it is, finally. And as unpleasant as it may be to watch the humiliation of a woman who waltzed into a spotlight too strong to withstand, I flat out refuse to be manipulated into another stage of gendered regress -- back to the pre-Pelosi, pre-Hillary days when girls couldn't stand the heat and so were shooed back to the kitchen.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Quote of the Day II
Conservative writer Daniel Larison has more on the Palin-Couric interview debacle:
[Sarah Palin] is a natural product of mass democracy’s ongoing pursuit of charismatic mediocrity, in which voters not only seek someone with whom they can identify but also actively discourage politicians’ cultivation of expertise. Expertise grates against their egalitarianism, and so they try to avoid it in their political leaders.
Quote of the Day
Here's Fallows on the Palin-Couric interview fiasco:
George W. Bush is in a completely different and superior league to what we've seen from Palin. When people made fun of his inexpressiveness in the 2000 campaign (and onwards), it was because he mispronounced words or used cliches. It was nothing like the total inability to express any coherent thought on any issue outside "values politics" that Palin has revealed.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Cafferty: Palin Should 'Scare the Hell Out of You'
CNN's Jack Cafferty unloads on Sarah Palin in this clip, saying "if [the thought of Sarah Palin becoming President] doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should", and that her interview was "one of the most pathetic pieces of tape I have ever seen for someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in the country." Ouch.
Orwell, Sarah Palin and the Utility of Meaningless Words
Michael Leddy makes a great point when reflecting on the blathering nonsense that came out of Sarah Palin during her Katie Couric interview:
As George Orwell points out in "Politics and the English Language," one need not take on the responsibility of thinking when composing sentences:You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent — and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special connection between politics and the debasement of language becomes clear.
Look at what we have here — ready-made phrases, stray bits of language, as if pulled together from some desperate cramming for an exam: back on the right track, health care reform, job creation, one in five jobs, opportunity, reform that is needed, reducing taxes, reining in spending, shore up our economy, tax reductions, tax relief, the trade sector, the umbrella of job creation.
Right-Wing National Review Writers Are Over Sarah Palin
Oh, how quickly the Palin sweater unravels with the incessant tug-tug-tugging of reality and incompetence.
Even some ultra-right-wing writers over at the National Review have jumped off the Palin Doubletalk Express:
Even Kathryn Jean Lopez ain't impressed:“It was fun while it lasted.
Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted. Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there.”
I know I like a lot of what I’ve heard her say. I also know a lot of what I like about her could be projection. I’m not where my friend Kathleen Parker is — wanting her to step aside to spend more time with her family and Alaska — but that’s not a crazy suggestion.
Friday, September 19, 2008
WSJ Slams McCain for Scapegoating SEC Chairman
McCain truly has become unhinged in the last few days. I worry for his sanity.
Apparently, so do the good folks over at the Wall Street Journal, who slammed McCain for his imprudent and inaccurate attacks on... the Chairman of the SEC, Christopher Cox:
[McCain said,] "The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were President today, I would fire him."
Wow. "Betrayed the public's trust." Was Mr. Cox dishonest? No. He merely changed some minor rules, and didn't change others, on short-selling. String him up! Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential...
In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution. He'll never beat Mr. Obama by running as an angry populist like Al Gore, circa 2000.
Read the Whole Article
Thursday, September 18, 2008
CNN Explores McCain's Spain Gaffe
McCain's jaw-droppingly strange gaffe yesterday when talking to a radio station about whether he'd meet with Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain has made its way onto CNN:
Earlier: McCain Thinks Spanish PM is Leftist Latin American Commie
McCain Thinks Spanish PM is Leftist Latin American Commie
[Ask yourself when reading this (as always): "What kind of feeding frenzy would this spark if OBAMA had done this?"]
Yesterday John McCain was interviewed on the Florida affiliate of Spanish radio network Union Radio. And in the interview McCain appeared not to know who the Prime Minister of Spain was and assumed he was some anti-American leftist leader from South America.
In the interview, McCain was asked about Prime Minister Zapatero and, in response, McCain started rambling some nonsense about Mexico:
After the interviewer presses him a couple times on the point and tries to focus him on the fact that Prime Minister Zapatero isn't from Mexico and isn't a drug lord either McCain comes back at her saying, "All I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the Hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not. And that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region."
Then there's a moment of awkward pause before she says. "But what about Europe? I'm talking about the President of Spain."
McCain: "What about me, what?
Interviewer: "Are you willing to meet with him if you're elected president?"
McCain: "I am wiling to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for humans rights, democracy and freedom. And I will stand up to those who do not."
At this point, the interviewer gets tongue-tied presumably because she can't get over McCain not knowing what Spain is.
Here is the original interview (in English). The relevant remarks start at around the 2:58 mark:
Update: Here's the Washington Post's coverage of El Gaffe:
So, was McCain purposely trying to diss the Spanish leader? Questions about whether McCain forgot which country Zapatero leads, got confused about Spain's geographic relationship to Latin America, or confused Zapatero with the Zapatista rebels from Mexico have exploded on blogs since reports of the interview first surfaced.
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