TWITS IN MCCAIN CAMP MISFIRE IN PALIN ATTACKS
One of the most hilarious Monty Python sketches is the “Upper Class Twit of the Year” where inbred, palsied, oblivious sons of English aristocracy are put through their paces jumping over matchboxes, “kicking the beggar,” taking the bras off of debutantes, and trying to walk a straight line.
But it is the final test for the twits - so funny it brings tears to my eyes - that is apropos of the current effort by anonymous McCain staffers to trash Sarah Palin. That “test” involves the twits being able to pick up a gun and shoot themselves in the head.
Being upper class twits, it takes them a while to figure it out. They fire the gun in the air or aim at their heads and miss until finally, one by one, it dawns on them what must be done and down they go.
What we see out of the McCain camp is not a circular firing squad but rather a bunch of twits pointing their guns at Sarah Palin and missing only to shoot themselves in head when all is said and done.
These misfires run the gamut from accusing the Alaskan governor of trying to promote her own future at the expense of the present effort in helping McCain win to whispering about her “shopping spree” and her lack of prep for the Couric interview.
Now all of you are probably aware that this kind of backbiting goes on in all losing campaigns so the idea that you can believe anything coming from anyone on the losing side is just preposterous. Exaggeration or outright lying is not uncommon. In the case of McCain twit loyalists, we have a little of both.
First, this breathless report from CNN:
Randy Scheunemann, a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain, was fired from the Arizona senator’s campaign last week for what one aide called “trashing” the campaign staff, three senior McCain advisers tell CNN.
One of the aides tells CNN that campaign manager Rick Davis fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading “disinformation” about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.
“He was positioning himself with Palin at the expense of John McCain’s campaign message,” said one of the aides.
Evidently, the campaign has fingered Scheunemann as the culprit who fed William Kristol some juicy tidbits about how the McCain camp completely mishandled Palin’s rollout. Apparently, they don’t like to read the truth in the newspapers.
Yes, the McCain campaign blew it with Palin. How could someone be ready to assume the presidency if they are deliberately kept from the press for 3 crucial weeks? Not that Palin was ready from day one - a point that I’ve made on several occasions. But it was a sick joke for the McCain camp to hide Palin from the press the way they did.
Overscripted, over managed, - just plain over. Palin will probably be seen as a net plus for McCain in that she certainly brought a lot of conservatives who otherwise would probably have stayed home to the polls. But her effect was negligible and might also eventually be seen as having a negative effect on independents and women. If Palin had been allowed the normal freedoms of any Vice Presidential candidate, would that have made a difference with those groups? We’ll never know because of the McCain campaign’s belief that she wouldn’t have helped the cause if she had been allowed to interact with the media.
What does all this have to do with Scheunemann? Someone was telling lies to CNN about his firing:
Advisers in the McCain campaign, in suggesting that Palin advisers had been leaking damaging information about the McCain campaign to the news media, said they were particularly suspicious of Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s top foreign policy aide who had a central role in preparing Ms. Palin for the vice-presidential debate.
As a result, two senior members of the McCain campaign said on Wednesday that Mr. Scheunemann had been fired from the campaign in its final days. But Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, and Mr. Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s closest advisers, said Wednesday that Mr. Scheunemann had in fact not been dismissed. Mr. Scheunemann, who picked up the phone in his office at McCain campaign headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, responded that “anybody who says I was fired is either lying or delusional or a whack job.”
Bad sourcing by CNN? Or perhaps some wishful thinking by a McCain partisan? Either way, it stinks.
The leaking by pro-McCain staffers about Palin has been incredible. They complain that Palin’s camp kept them in the dark about the French-Canadian comedy duo’s interview with Palin. But the prank call from the Canadians pretending to be French President Nicholas Sarkozy was on her schedule for three days. Are they trying to tell us that nobody - not someone extremely high up in the McCain campaign - checked Palin’s schedule on a daily basis? This would not surprise anyone given the general incompetence shown by these twits in everything from oppo research (where they had to rely on bloggers and friendly journalists to dig up the best stuff on Obama) to scheduling (McCain was in Florida on the last day of the campaign and spoke to about 1,000 people).
The stories about the Palin “shopping spree” have now grown so bad they have to be exaggerations. Some GOP donor evidently paid for much of her clothing no doubt due to the incredible stupidity of the McCain campaign who thought that “3 suits” for Palin would be enough for 9 weeks of campaigning. Michelle Obama was probably wearing three different outfits a day.
Could they have gotten by with less? Of course. But let’s be honest. The McCain campaign was selling Palin’s spectacular looks as much as they were pushing her conservative credentials. Quite simply, Palin wows male voters - even those who wouldn’t vote for her in a million years. And for those females not inclined to be jealous of her looks, her family, and her job, she is a hugely impressive example of a modern American woman who has it all.
Why shouldn’t she be dressed to the nines in order to promote this image? What is coming out of the McCain campaign now is pure poison, trying to shift blame for their incompetence and mismanagement on to Sarah Palin. And the Palin camp is fighting back, trying to answer these charges. What is striking is that they are giving reasonable explanations for issues being raised by McCain loyalists. It makes them much more believable than the wildly exaggerated image the twits are pushing of Palin as a “diva.”
It stinks of cowardice for McCain staffers not to own up to the fact that it was their ideas, their plan, and their piss poor execution that resulted in this landslide loss in the electoral college. There was nothing inspiring about this campaign at all. It didn’t energize the base. It failed to convince other conservatives that McCain would govern much differently than Obama. In the end, the candidate had no recognizable set of principles, no identifiable ideology, and no real issue that would have energized Republicans and conservatives and brought them to the polls. As it was, millions of GOP heartland voters either stayed home or, as I pointed out here, finally pulled the lever for Obama in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina.
To blame Palin for this is outrageous. And hopefully, if Erick at RedState gets his way, none of these twits will work in politics again:
RedState is pleased to announce it is engaging in a special project: Operation Leper.
We’re tracking down all the people from the McCain campaign now whispering smears against Governor Palin to Carl Cameron and others. Michelle Malkin has the details.
We intend to constantly remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them. Naturally then, you’ll see us go to war against those candidates.
It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.
They’ll just have to be stuck at CBS with Katie’s failed ratings.
And to that I say, Bravo. The architects of this disaster who compounded their sin by trying to shift blame to probably the one person who prevented a spectacular electoral humiliation a la Walter Mondale should be kept far away from leadership positions in any future campaign.
If they want to help, let them knock on doors and stuff envelopes. At least if they fail there, they will have no one to blame but themselves.
I may not always agree with you Rick but this is one of the very BEST posts you’ve ever done! Bravo! I tip my non-existent chapeau to you!
Comment by Gayle Miller — 11/6/2008 @ 10:26 am
Rick:
I must say that your capacity to hearten me one day and blow my mind the next has survived Election Day.
There is widespread agreement that the biggest of the several reasons that McCain and Palin lost — and lost big — is that many Americans have moved away from the ossified views of the Republican base.
Yet you stand this on its ear by saying the one person who consistently fed read meat to that base and by extension further turned off other voters should be congratulated for the ticket’s catastrophic loss not being worse.
Her pick as Veep turned off indies and some persuadable women, you are correct. But she also pulled more certain republican votes to the polls. You cannot deny that. Without those voters, McCain would have lost even bigger was my only point.
As far as people rejecting the “ossified views of the base - the exits showed that 34% of voters think of themselves as conservative while 21% see themselves as liberal. I don’t see any big turn to your far left positions otherwise indies would have broke hugely for Obama and instead, gave him a modest 5% above Kerry’s total.
You know how I feel about Palin’s “base” so I won’t go into it here. But without them - and there was a real danger of them staying home in much larger numbers than they did - McCain’s loss would have approached the whupping given to Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis.
ed.
Comment by shaun — 11/6/2008 @ 10:42 am
“she is a hugely impressive example of a modern American woman who has it all”
sure, Parah Stalin’s “success” is impressive to any woman who “envies” people who will do anything for “success”.
Comment by let them eat polyester — 11/6/2008 @ 10:47 am
This group was incompetent. I ordered 10 yard signs for myself and neighbors. I got an email a week later saying they were out and would ship them “sometime in the future”. I called McCain HQ here in Phoenix. I was told they were getting lots of these calls, didn’t have signs or bumper stickers, make my own! By the way, my daughters worked in Sen Kyl’s office and were told each bumper sticker was worth $500 of paid advertising! I tried to donate to the McCain online, the site wouldn’t work! We wound up donating elsewhere. NR has report of no computers or phones in Pennsylvania. Total incompetence! I don’t think Sarah was in charge of all of this, was she?
Comment by S Mulder — 11/6/2008 @ 10:55 am
I believe that Sarah Palin will come back in 2012 stronger than ever. By then people will have woke up to reality. I voted for McCain but I really believe that the campaign managers really were the ones that caused McCain to lose the election. They should have stayed out of it and let him run it and they should have turned Sarah Palin loose and let her do what she had to do to win this election which is be herself.
Comment by I Rankin — 11/6/2008 @ 11:20 am
Dah! Does anybody smell political sabotage? It sure did stink in the McCain Campaign and still does. They have just moved into the Palin arena to take her down before she gets out of the starting gate.
Comment by Sam — 11/6/2008 @ 11:21 am
Working for a Campaign does not mean they are GOP or Conservatives. Many career minded campaign professionals would jump at the chance to work for any Presidential Candidate.
Comment by Dennis D — 11/6/2008 @ 11:27 am
I think America has placed too much value on Speeches and Interviews and less emphasis on an actual record. Sarah Palin has a record to be proud of as a Governor and Mayor. Obama has been a Below Average US Senator.
Comment by Dennis D — 11/6/2008 @ 11:33 am
OK, so where’s McCain himself in all of this? He’s supposed to be a man of honor; why isn’t he out there publicly putting a hard stop to this backstabbing crap?
We had enough of this BS during the campaign from the likes of Tina Fey, Andrew Sullivan and the entire mainstream media.
We don’t need it from alleged Republicans too.
Comment by Wes S. — 11/6/2008 @ 11:41 am
I absolutely believe Palin brought more conservative voters FOR McCain than the supposedly numbers she has been blamed for that we did not get. I voted for McCain and the whole time was thinking…wonder what he will do (if elected)first AGAINST his own conservative base? Who will McCain pander to in order to show his “crossing the line” bull? Palin was the best shot we had! Shame on all the useless cowards that point their unprofessional fingers at her this week!
Comment by tarheelgirl79 — 11/6/2008 @ 11:45 am
I think Sarah Palin’s handling of the prank call exposed the fact that there is no national political future for the governor. How could someone running for vice president conduct a six minute conversation with that content and be totally oblivious that it was a prank? SCARY! It is quite unfortunate that Ms. Palins sound thinking on policy will be dismissed because of this incident.
Comment by Greg Ehrlich — 11/6/2008 @ 11:47 am
Rick Moran said “And to that I say, Bravo. The architects of this disaster who compounded their sin by trying to shift blame to probably the one person who prevented a spectacular electoral humiliation a la Walter Mondale should be kept far away from leadership positions in any future campaign.”
I agree that the McCain campaign was badly handled but in defense of those lobbyists in charge, they had a terrible candidate in John McCain. Their challenge was to win the Kentucky Derby with a lame horse. The only pleasant irony in this debacle of an election is the fact that McCain’s own un-constitutional and dim-witted brainchild - campaign finance reform - helped destroy his bid to be president.
McCain is a democrat in republican clothing. Any principled and free thinking conservative, libertarian or constitutionalist smelled a skunk in McCain long ago and bolted the party in search of alternatives.
Yesterday I found some hope for the future of the GOP. Dr. Ron Paul (republican congressman from Texas and member of the house banking committee) has been invited to speak at the coming CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference).
You may remember that Dr. Paul was “shunned” by McCain’s people in not being invited to speak at the republican convention in Minnesota even though he ran an incredible campaign and attracted more young voters than the rest of the GOP primary candidates combined. And, you may have noticed that McCain’s lost terribly with young voters - Obama beat him like a rented mule with young voters.
Dr. Paul was told by the McCain people that in order to speak at the convention, he must publicly endorse McCain. Dr. Paul was too principled to endorse McCain.
Oh, by the way, John McCain has not been invited to speak at CPAC!
Comment by DrKrbyLuv — 11/6/2008 @ 11:51 am
Logically, you come from the wrong point. McCain is not going to run for the president again. Those people trashing Palin now are not really trying to cover their asses — the blame for Palin’s performance lies with McCain anyway.
They are either genially concerned with the fact that Palin is not a viable politician (and you can’t seriously argue that that could not be the case) or they want to undermine Palin because they are Romney’s partisans. Both of those motivations are perfectly sane and are nothing like “shoot yourself in the head” competition.
Comment by Nikolay — 11/6/2008 @ 12:02 pm
Despite her shortcomings, Palin displayed more competence as a campaigner, at least, than McCain could muster. This is anecdotal, of course, but insightful. After one of the presidential debates I attended, the Obamas mingled with the audience and probably picked up a few votes. The McCains couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. The Palins were the opposite of the McCains in this sense.
Some of these leaks are transparent lies. For example, does anyone really believe the governor of Alaska–that is surrounded by Canada–if clueless about NAFTA? Of course the media breathlessly reports these leaks because:
a) they are newsworth and b)they play into the template they constructed about Palin. Because of the latter, don’t expect much challenge to the McCain staffers’ lies. Again, though, some are too transparent to pass the smell test. As you pointed out, the cloths “scandal” is an absolute joke even if true.
Although in the end I voted for McCain, because his policies were somewhat better, I can’t say he was the better man. His post-market meltdown stunt probably marked the day he lost, and was quite typical of McCain. I expect in short order, this man very well may suck up to the same Democrats and media outlets that attacked him unrelentlessly and trash conservatives and Republicans like a trained monkey again. I know for certain his staffers will.
So, yes, let’s get their names and cast them aside.
Comment by jackson1234 — 11/6/2008 @ 12:03 pm
John S. McCain did NOT run his campaign as a politician, he ran it as a Senator (and a gentleman), while his opponent did the precise opposite. That is why he lost and no other reason! It’s Bob Dole all over again. Blaming Sarah Palin is futile, stupid and wholly unfair and the actions of infantile amateurs who routinely blame other people for their mistakes. That’s something Dems do people - not mature and grown up Republicans!
Comment by Gayle Miller — 11/6/2008 @ 12:32 pm
Just a continuation of her SNL apperance?
Or is she really clueless?
Only time will tell us the truth.
Please explain to me why Bill O’Reily dismissed it with suggesting she could be tutored? Is he really the clueless one? Bill, we don’t need someone in office that needs 3rd grade level tutoring.
Holy Jesus don’t you people EVER get tired of trashing the intelligence of conservatives? You think you would have learned after having gotten toasted by “Stupid Ike” and “Dumb Reagan.” You have about as much insight into how intelligent someone is from reading the newspaper or watching TV as a marmoset.
Intelligence has nothing whatsoever to do with a lack of knowledge. Knowledge can be taught and the lack thereof does NOT make someone stupid.
Except people like you stop learning once you figure out that you know it all. Any new facts that might come to your attention are given short shrift because they don’t fit into your extraordinarily narrow frame of reference. Hence. your political positions never alter one iota because you fail to take into account changing realities.
And you call Palin stupid?
ed.
Comment by Pan_theFrog — 11/6/2008 @ 12:37 pm
Rumored McCain-Palin And GOP Infighting Causing Huge Division Amongst Conservatives…
The Finger-Pointing Begins In The Wake Of McCain-Barracuda Drubbing
As has long been customary with losing campaigns, the failed attempt of the McCain-Palin ticket to win the Oval Office is proving to be no exception to the rule. According to The New …
Trackback by THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™ — 11/6/2008 @ 12:57 pm
John McCains Top Ten Presidential Campaign Mistakes
1) Started in early 2007’s with Mind Boggling conceptualization of Immigration Legislation and that Debacle. With 78% of the electorate opposing this concept including both Democrats and Republicans makes this one of the biggest presidential campaign preparation Gaffes in the history of national politics. 1a) McCain’s Global Warming pandering of the left. Maverick is not a political party. Mavericks DO NOT reach across the aisle.
2) Choosing Public financing of the general election did not give the Republican base a chance to financially support his “only wise decision he made all year” selection of the honorable Governor Sarah Palin. I estimate that Governor Sarah Palin was worth a minimum of $86 million dollars of contributions in 2 months or less and most likely would’ve generated $150 to $200 million. Money left on the sidelines with this horrible decision.
3) The Decision to SUSPEND the campaign to support the fear mongering bailout bill of Hank Paulson has got to be one of the silliest political strategies ever implemented. This ignored and cemented the Democrat Parties constant association of McCain with George W Bush. What a bonehead. McCain should have trumpeted for the immediate resignations of Paulson, Frank and Dodd and the entire members of the Senate Banking and House Finance committees. This was a clear Winner and Ignored entirely. Ultimately the immediate current economy doomed all
4) The Subsequent bailout that didn’t work fear mongering that spooked the equities markets created an October surprise that the only way McCain could recover from was to oppose it adamantly and publicly. W created the October surprise.
5) McCain’s Campaign Advisors and Managers ill-advised management of Sarah Palin and throwing her to the wolves of an obvious colluding, corrupt and electioneering Big Media. She should have had lengthy and multiple interviews with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, Greta Van Susteran before ever offering interviews to the wolves of Liberal bastion with a well pronounced negative agenda against all Republicans. Actually these big Media interviews could have been avoided and ignored entirely as a chastising recognition of the big Medias obvious Democrat electioneering.
6) John McCain stated in 2007 and probably believed and thought that the Big Media was his base. A clear Alzheimer’s induced concept. Joke or not?
7) The Saturday Night Live appearances were not a Winner and served to increase the Big Medias ratings when they should been excoriated. Both did well but neither accomplished one new vote from the embarrassment and humiliation intent of the SNL crew. Gave the Big Media more ammunition. A Dennis Miller like special satirizing the Big Medias obsessions would’ve been both brilliant and revealing.
9) Ignoring Obamas place of birth, lack of birth certificate, travels to Indonesia when US Passports were not allowed entrance during those years and Obamas lack of paperwork showing him to be a naturalized citizen after his years as a minor in that part of the world. Huge Gaps in answers about this very critical and Campaign winning issues.
10) For the future of America and the Republican Party he should not have conceded the Race on election night until legal challenges in 14 States of Voter Registration Fraud, Actual Voting Fraud by Obamas employees and supporters caught felonious voting in multiple states could have been heard by the States and Federal court system. This was not as much about extending McCain’s chances of winning as it was about exposing the fraud, deceit and the illegal “over-seas” contributions that will continue to be a problem until it is full exposed and litigated. Another Opportunity Lost and this makes about a dozen HUGE FAUX PAUXS by John McCain and his Campaign Manager.
I voted Tuesday and after entering the polling station in my 69% White Suburban county of Metro Atlanta was followed, stared at and “tracked” by a Jackboot Black Panther THUG with a “poll watcher” badge on. I finally screamed at him “Your intimidation is NOT going to get me to change my vote”! I was then ushered to the front of the line and was out of the building 5 minutes later.
Comment by Scott D — 11/6/2008 @ 12:58 pm
Thank you to your response to my comment. I better understand your POV, but you amd some of readers need to chew on this regarding Palin and the future of the Republican Party:
The vote margin in Montgomery County, once the strongest for the GOP in Pennsylvania, was an astonishing 69-39 for Obama.
Mind you, I think the party’s problems run a whole lot deeper than an woman whose inability to do anything beyond throwing red meat to men whom she endows a warm feeling between their legs, but Montco is ample proof that Palin has no future on the national stage if the GOP wants to have one.
Comment by shaun — 11/6/2008 @ 1:01 pm
After the immigration debacle, I probably would have voted for mcCAin but would not have been enthused. I was very excited aobut Palin! However, i am disgusted that MCCain has not come out in support of McCain today. It looked like Todd Palin was angry and Sarah was crying on election night. The rumour is that mcain had not spoken to her for 1 month and had words for her election night. If that is true i would like to know. What is the deal witht the today Shep smith reportign this garbage and Carl Cameron bereathily attacking Palin.I knwo shep smith is gay and probably has some mother /women issues but please –shopahlic b/c she bougth some extra suits herself at neiman marcus?! Is that the best he can do? Michelle Obama -Blackie O -had plenty of suits.
palin in 2012- and as greta van sustern said — there is a special place in hell for women who vicioulsy attacked Palin.
Comment by nyatty — 11/6/2008 @ 1:12 pm
#12 wrote: Oh, by the way, John McCain has not been invited to speak at CPAC!
but has Palin?
Look. It’s possible that she is an honest, intelligent, and competent politician. But I have seen zero EVIDENCE of that. (Lowry seeing starbursts does NOT count as evidence, ok?) Wouldn’t you repubs like to establish unequivocally her honesty, intelligence, and competence BEFORE betting the ranch again? This is a pretty simple task, way easier than lots of others facing the party. That would be more productive than the intra-party feces-flinging going on now.
Comment by HyperIon — 11/6/2008 @ 1:38 pm
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Thank you for setting this forth so clearly! I completely agree on all counts! These nit-wits are disgusting to me. You know, at least in the Obama camp - they are loyal - to the bone, and they dang sure know how to keep incidentals to themselves and not for all the world to see.
Comment by freetofly — 11/6/2008 @ 1:48 pm
It would also have been nice if the conservative media would have rally around Palin when it would have done good.
Comment by unseen — 11/6/2008 @ 1:58 pm
Sen. Charles Schumer has announced the old John McCain is back. He has asked McCain to act as a liason between Congress and the White House.
Translation: you can go back to being a whore John.
My bet is this witless fool takes it, and reverts to form and bashes conservatism and Republicans. Hell, he’ll probably trash the previous New John McCain. You know, we have a very good shot at retaking the White House if Obama does half as badly as I suspect. If McCain had won, we would have lost it in 2012. I never liked McCain even though I voted for him; it is nice to be able to hate his guts again.
Comment by jackson1234 — 11/6/2008 @ 3:18 pm
I spent my youth as a political media consultant. I have never seen a fresh candidate with so much potential so mishandled. There’s hope for Palin. But here’s what she should do. First, write a book about the experience. Second, get some serious media training. Third, go on a book tour…go to the toughest venues. CNN, The View, NYT as well as the conservative talk shows and Fox. Show her substance. Go on O-Reilly…often. Shore up the base. Make a few million. Get to DC as a Senator. Make energy independence her religion.
Comment by Louis Laurent — 11/6/2008 @ 3:24 pm
I keep hearing that the party needs to move more to the left, that it’s base is the problem. Good`grief, if it moves any more left, Hillary will be to the right and Kennedy will be joining. If only Thompson, Huckabee, Newt, Sarah, Jindal and other true conservatives would get together to form a conservative party. Guess I can dream.
Comment by johnnycab23513 — 11/6/2008 @ 3:46 pm
“…And for those females not inclined to be jealous of her looks, her family, and her job, she is a hugely impressive example of a modern American woman who has it all.”
Bwaahhhaaahhaaa! An example of a woman who has it all…except morals and brains!!!!
With that logic, y’all voted for McCain because you’re just males who drool over Palin’s looks and are jealous of Obama’s looks, family and job! Right?
Comment by icarus — 11/6/2008 @ 3:58 pm
You mean the GOP princess Nicole Wallace is now under fire for outing outing Caribou Barbie as being an even bigger twit and wannabe diva then we all thought?
My how you right wingers love to eat your own young!
Who’s the bigger twit? A person who dishes poisonous gossip with no proof or the idiot who swallows it whole?
Tough choice but I think I’ll award the prize to you because you can do nothing but spout talking points. I’ll bet there isn’t an independent thought in your entire brain.
ed.
Comment by Cozmo — 11/6/2008 @ 4:45 pm
@ ScottD:
You raise alot of points and issues, but one that cought my eye in particular was:
“9)Ignoring Obamas place of birth, lack of birth certificate, . . . .”
If this concern is based on the alleged “Photoshopped scan” of the birth ceritificate that was discussed by Corsi and many web sites earlier this year, while the concern over possible suspicious details in the scan may have had merit, FactCheck.Org has hi-res photos of the document, with the raised seal, the cert. # visible, no haloing on the text, etc. They also talked to Hawaii officals, look into why the “photoshop watermark” in the scan reads 2007, and even has a pic an oppo-Obama researcher found of a birth announcement for him in the relevant local paper of the time:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
There may be reasons to be suspicious of Obama, but the Birth cert concern seems to have been addressed in a pretty credible manner.
Comment by busboy33 — 11/6/2008 @ 6:56 pm
First off I love reading your replies to these comments Rick. LOL. Your comebacks are so funny.
Second of all, Palin has been smeared so badly (and also admittedly has made enough mistakes of her own) that a 2012 comeback could be a real challenge. I think her national reputation is basically screwed at this point, but she does still have a large following. She just won’t be able to increase the size of it unless she attacks this aggressively. She will have to rebuild it piece by piece in the years leading up to any national comeback. Her best bet is to just stay in the national eye and keep giving interviews and not make any mistakes. I think when you’re a female politician, and in particular a Republican female politician, America expects you to be a walking talking reference book to have any credibility.
It’s funny that she can make a couple of mistakes and everyone thinks she is stupid… but Biden says screwball things nearly everyday. I definitely think there is a double standard at play here.
But, on a more general note, I think conservatives need to find a leader that can go toe-to-toe with these left wing professor college types like Obama. We need someone that can really dissect these pie in the sky progressive theories on the left and why they are doomed to fail. We need a real “belly button gazer”, the type of person who when doing an interview on TV will make ordinary people space out and change the channel back to American Idol. We need someone who will do that because it will leave them with the impression that they must be too dumb to understand how intelligent and super conservative thought is. I think the left has so infested our colleges that now there is a prevailing attitude that if you are a Republican you must be uneducated or ignorant. We really need to get around that because the electorate is changing. More jobs require college degrees than ever before. If we don’t pay attention to this, then before we know it our society will definitely continue moving left. Well, I’ll get off my soap box for now
Comment by Shelby — 11/6/2008 @ 6:56 pm
Those clothing purchases for Palin violated McCain/Feingold.
Comment by Melanie — 11/6/2008 @ 7:56 pm
Even if Palin is offering reasonable explanations to answer the charges of the McCain staffers, how many people will actually know about her rebuttals? The former McCain staffers and the main stream media have the same goal in mind. That is to destroy Sarah Palin. I hope she can find a way to answer these charges. America needs more leaders like her. It would be a real tradegdy if the media and former McCain staffers are allowed to destroy Sarah Palin. I hope she does not give up in disgust over the whole thing. America needs more leaders like her.
Comment by B.Poster — 11/6/2008 @ 8:17 pm
1. The amount of negative articles about Palin was staggering. Newsmax did a recap of the AP stories on Palin for September thru October. Around Seventy percent were negative. What person new to the national political scene could survive that?
2. I saw an article on how Dan Qualye’s handlers ruined him (I think it was in it was the American Spectator)and warned that Palin needed to be careful not to let the same thing happen to her. It appears The Spectator may have been on to something.
If Mccain had let Sarah be Sarah perhaps things might be different for her now, even in defeat. Unfortunately, we will never know.
Comment by Illinois Conservative — 11/6/2008 @ 10:19 pm
This is what i am talking about
“But, on a more general note, I think conservatives need to find a leader that can go toe-to-toe with these left wing professor college types like Obama. We need someone that can really dissect these pie in the sky progressive theories on the left and why they are doomed to fail. We need a real “belly button gazer”, the type of person who when doing an interview on TV will make ordinary people space out and change the channel back to American Idol. We need someone who will do that because it will leave them with the impression that they must be too dumb to understand how intelligent and super conservative thought is. I think the left has so infested our colleges that now there is a prevailing attitude that if you are a Republican you must be uneducated or ignorant. We really need to get around that because the electorate is changing. More jobs require college degrees than ever before. If we don’t pay attention to this, then before we know it our society will definitely continue moving left. Well, I’ll get off my soap box for now ”
Shelby, the problem is not that colleges are infested with liberals. It’s that liberals tend to go to college more often than conservatives. Liberals protect and value articulate educated leaders. Conservatives generally support populist leaders. We need a populist who knows were Afghanistan is on a blank map.
The fact is, and I hate to say it because I tend to be conservative, is that Liberals embrace knowledge and Conservatives embrace principle.
Well, when facts trump principle it’s important to be able to see outside the bun, so to speak.
Liberals saw outside the bun.
Conservatives saw the same old same old.
The people of this country rejected the latter and welcome an educated Ivy League man who made his own success from a poor childhood to the cheif executive.
If society is moving left, the answer isn’t eradicating leftists in college. The antidote is to create conservative intellectuals. And who do we have speaking for us? Ann Coulter, Michelle Malagang and Sarah Palin. Not exactly compelling arguments come from these polemicists. Great insults and soundbytes but few really substantive arguments. If conservatism is a better way, we should be able to make that case with words, not force it. For eight years we have rejected
intellectualism and forced our way through with legislative rules, tricks, smears and innuendo, and executive power grabs.
We got spanked two nights ago. Am I the only one who woke up with a red ass? No.
We all did. We got spanked because we have become the hiding place for bigots and xenophobes and polemicists. Look at the difference between Obama and Mccain. Obamam is educated articulate, measured. He can make his case. McCain is an iracible, say anything old man. That’s why we lost.
We did not make our case.
Final point- Shleby- you want us to go toe to toe with these “professor types”? Then we need people who are smart as professors, not snow machine driving Caribou hunting rednecks.
Comment by Pythagorus — 11/7/2008 @ 1:31 am
Gayle and Retire 05 are perfect examples of the dolts who drag conservatives down.
They don’t make arguments. They just repeat highly debunked or ad moninem attacks on Dems.
These, according to Pythagorus, are the kinds of conservatives who should have a sock in their mouth.
I tend to agree.
Comment by Gaga — 11/7/2008 @ 1:38 am
meant ad hominem
Comment by Gaga — 11/7/2008 @ 1:39 am
(You won’t win elections by erasing comments boy)
There is nothing Sarah Palin can do to repair her “image”.
Her image isn’t the problem. Its the fact that she has no understanding of geography, history, or the US Constitution.
I really feel bad for us that this nitwit with knockers is the candidate of choice.
People, she is not smart. We need a smart president. The last president ( W) is also not smart. He is an inarticulate rube who has not done a good job on ANYTHING.
We will not become a national party again unless we stop embracing the Dan Quayles and Sarah Palins of candidates; two fine people…Both dumb as rocks.
Remember, we were once the party of intellectuals: William Safire, George T Will, Barry Goldwater. Today, we’re the party for bigots and uneducated plumbers.
It’s a new world. A smarter world. and we lost not just because W was a terrible president, we lost because when someone slips up- like doesn’t know that Africa is a continent or the three nations involved in NAFTA, we have to reject them before the public does. This party should never again embrace a mental midget. Believe me, when we do it just hurts us terribly.
Even though I want a Republican in power, I don’t want a dumbass in power. Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle:
Dumb
asses
Comment by Pythagorus — 11/7/2008 @ 1:41 am
I dunno. I kinda thought that it was her dedication to narcissistic pseudo-Christian “principles” that really pushed it home to the American people that she was literally a joke being played on Evangelical voters.
Comment by Chuck Tucson — 11/7/2008 @ 2:03 am
I think that there was a track toward conservative ascendency that Palin tapped into initially. Between the hard-line left and right is a populist middle. They can be motivated in two ways: what’s in it for my country (the conservative way), or what’s in it for me (the traditional liberal way.)
Obama was incredibly effective in tapping into popular angst fed by the ratings-oriented media. Bad news sells, so they play up negatives to sell. He convinced voters that “the rich” were corrupting the seats of power, and he would fight for them.
McCain was attempting to sell that he was best for the country, but his message changed constantly, he misunderstood the nature of his prior media support, and I think he overestimated the potential Bradley effect.
If Palin is inclined to do the work to improve her image, and she may well not be, she could do so. But until the R’s find a candidate who can tap into populist sentiment, they will be on the outside looking in.
Comment by Dale — 11/7/2008 @ 7:01 am
Oh, and one more problem: The docrinaire right-wingers can’t stand the populists they depend on for power, e.g., Palin.
Comment by Dale — 11/7/2008 @ 7:16 am
gracias rick, me thinks the Palin we saw through the Fu#@ed up monocles of the media and the McCain camp is not the real Palin. whether i am right or wrong, their actions are deplorable, always looking for the scapegoat, good god what year is it? friggin a man, the campaign itself is to blame, they screwed the pooch and then continued to poke the dead dog for months on end. good to see you are alive and well rick, keep it going.
Comment by jambrowski — 11/7/2008 @ 7:36 am
The thing is, this inexperienced candidate made one of the most profound statements I have heard in a long time:
“Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help.”
This statement was attacked as Palin insisting the US would go to war with Russia. But think about it for a second. In the Clinton/W.Bush admin’s rush to admit countries to NATO, has ANYONE stopped to ask what that means if these countries are attacked. For a brief moment in time, Sarah Palin did.
Whaddya know.
“It doesn’t have to lead to war and it doesn’t have to lead, as I said, to a cold war, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries,”
The headlines however?
Palin: U.S. might have to go to war with Russia
Palin: War with Russia may be needed
Palin won’t rule out war with Russia
Talk about misdirection. What the hell do these people think “It doesn’t have to be war” means?
I work with many people who _actually believe_ Palin said “she could see Russia from her house.” They also said “Did you see Palin on SNL talking about 2012?”
Me: “That was Tina Fey.”
“Who? It was McCain and Palin wasn’t it? And Palin with that Hillary look-alike.”
Me: “Huh”.
I do think Palin probably was not ready for the national stage, and the McCain campaign has probably ruined what could have been a bright future star.
Carter, Clinton, and W. Bush certainly knew just about as much about foreign policy when they took the presidency. Bush famously failed that “quiz” that was thrust on him during the campaign.
And we’re talking about the vice-presidency here, not these inexperienced presidential candidates.
Biden certainly is no foreign policy expert. The only evidence needed is when he completely made up a story about Hezbollah in the VP debate. He just made it up. He also just made up that Obama took some kind of stand about NATO troops.
Not a peep from the media. That is a _real_ gaffe… not a fake one like “You’re no Jack Kennedy” (which was a low insult to say to a man who was specifically asked by the moderator to choose a past American hero to compare himself to. He chose. Your insult of the answer was low and immoral). Not a fake gaffe like looking at your watch. Not a fake gaffe like sighing. That was a real deficiency in knowledge and preparedness.
Comment by CGomez — 11/7/2008 @ 8:32 am
Would this discussion even be taking place if Sarah Palin had been a man? No. Absolutely not. The proof of that is our esteemed Vice President-elect, Joe Biden, the one and only gaffemaster! His gaffes were far more numerous than Mrs. Palin’s and more egregious considering that he is supposedly so experienced. In truth, he is a gasbag idiot!
I am ashamed to the very core of my being that John S. McCain has not spoken up in a clear and uncompromising manner in defense of this extraordinary woman. And to those of you who are criticizing this woman in terms that are eerily reminiscent of the MSM foul canards, you might want to take a step back, lay off the Kool Aid and exercise a tad bit of critical thinking! The woman was overmanaged by people who did not have her best interests at heart and only when she blew free of that nonsense did we see the real and very excitingly competence she exuded.
Sarah Palin has a future but given the bloviating going on in this comments section, the Republican Party may not - unless of course all y’all do some serious maturing and THINKING. I’m an old fart of 66 and I’ve seen the “bigwigs” of the Republican Party in operation my entire life - even been part of the in-crowd in my time. The Party needs new blood and a more focused and clearheaded way of thinking. And backbiting amateurs are NOT the future.
Comment by Gayle Miller — 11/7/2008 @ 9:55 am
Gayle Miller wrote: only when she blew free of that nonsense did we see the real and very excitingly competence she exuded
seriously, when was that? i can’t keep up.
Comment by HyperIon — 11/7/2008 @ 2:09 pm
Always remember intelligence can be learned, common sense is innate.
George Washington was ridiculed for his lack of intelligence and fancy college pedigree. He is the best President this nation has ever had. Why, because he had something no college can instill today, integrity and honesty.
We shall see what Obama can accomplish. However a victory speech that already aims to lower the bar is not a good sign.
That said Obama’s campaign was managed by brilliant people, they made him shine. Now on his own it may become a pay of pigs.
Remember Obama was an average student in his prep school. It was not until he went to elite leftist establishments that he became a star. I have yet to hear where Obama is a genius. Kissinger is a genius, diabolical, yet a genius in his pragmatic realism.
Sickening is correct.
Sarah Palin is being smeared by ex-Bush 43 campaign workers. Bush 43 workers were in charge of her for some odd reason. This is the failure, one of many, of the McCain campaign.
Bush 43 wanted McCain to loose. That is why the timing of the financial meltdown benefited Obama. Timing is everything.
Now his people must put the blame on Sarah Palin so it is not an indictment against his gross incompetence.
Bush and McCain lost this election NOT Sarah Palin.
Sarah did her job well. She also delivered a hell of a campaign speech at the RNC.
Compare that to bumbling bush who has destroyed the GOP. Or McCain who was a downer to say the least.
Comment by racer X — 11/7/2008 @ 6:04 pm
I think next time Sarah Palin has to get a support team around her that really want her to win.
Without her this time round John McCain would have been lucky to get 30% of the vote.
He was up against what was little short of being ‘Organized Crime’.
John McCain lost because he remained a Gentleman thoughout, but you don’t win elections being ‘nice’.
Put simply and totally missed by the electorate John McCain was all that was ‘GOOD’. The other one represented all that was’EVIL’.
And as in the movies its the bad guys that get all the attention!
When the wheels and everything else falls off the wagon in a very short time will the MSM etc even notice?
Comment by Tom Burns — 11/7/2008 @ 7:31 pm
Pythagorus,
my words indeed; good, productive intellectual discourse is the medicine the doctor ordered not Coulter etc.
I do see the populist appeal of Sarah Palin but not the road forward and as I have said on this blog before she is not the most intellectually inquisitive person nicely said. BTW, I also don’t think we need leaders or leadership to get this going to paraphrase ‘Yes we can’.
Comment by funny man — 11/7/2008 @ 11:24 pm
Sarah Palin is or is not a rising star in Republican politics.
Can you as a party offer up someone dumber than W? You just might in 2012.
You will get behind this poor idiot because she passes your litmus tests, or you will not.
Nothing to the base is more important.
Palin 2012, just try and go for it! How will it feel to be smarter than the candidate?
Get real, or go down.
Comment by bobwire — 11/8/2008 @ 1:23 am
“70% of all attacks on Palin were negative”
is kind of like saying that the rookie walked onto the battlefield, and 70% of all shots where directed at her. Maybe it is due to her not knowing how to properly work her way around on a battle field?
I’d love to see Palin spend the next 4 years allowing America to learn more about her. Say an in depth interveiw a month on different topics. Going deeper then sound bites. Explain her platform and dreams for America. Show us just what kind of energy expert she is. What is she learning, what books and papers has she read. If she can’t get an interview, then post a 15 minute video on YouTube. Explain her views on evolution, seperation of church and state, same sex marriage, and progressive taxes.
If she does this, and is as good as many think she is, then she should be a shoe in for President in 2012.
Comment by Pan_theFrog — 11/10/2008 @ 4:03 pm