The numbers are in....

Sarah Palin described her trade missions as examples of her foreign policy experience.  Well, Palin's daily schedules as governor were reviewed by Mother Jones magazine.  All 562 pages of them.  In 19 months , counting phone calls and meeting with foreign officials, Sarah Palin racked up a whopping 12 hours of foreign policy experience. Thats it.  12 hours.  

Stock Market: 401K losing value; becomes 106L

Here's the question of the day; Where's the bottom? Now, there are a few bottoms in question.

First, the financial bottom. As of this morning, Asian, Australian and European markets are in sharp decline. I'm sure there are a fair number of people (myself included) who are worried about the day ahead.

Second is the political bottom. It seems like John McCain is taking the brunt of it, perhaps unfairly. (In a way) It seems to me that John McCain embellished his role in the negotiations of a bailout package to reap the benefits, but now with it's collapse it is only criticism being served. It seems like a number of Republicans bailed on it after a speech by Nancy Pelosi. That is quite a petty reason to bail on a bill, albeit a flawed one. With that being said.... Nancy Pelosi, shut your mouth. Shut it. The speech you gave on the house floor was unnecessary and inappropriate. You lauded this bill as a great bipartisan victory. Did you really need to jab them in the eye while handing them the pen? Seriously. Back to McCain. Sensing desperation, John McCain decided to get angry. The problem in that his anger is not genuine, it's manufactured, and you can tell just by watching him. Johnny Mac---You don't come across passionate or concerned, you come across as disingenuous and condescending. Even your crowds seem disengaged. If I were you, I'd kick it up a notch. Pepper your town hall speeches with "Don't you fuckers get it?"

The bottom of politician intelligence and/or experience.

"Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.
The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.
After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.
There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence." http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/In_reintroduction_Palin_to_do_more_interviews_and_tell_her_story.html

Nuff said.

"Yeah, hi. Barack? It's John. Listen, Friday is no good for me."

I know that John McCain is an exceptionally patriotic man. That being said, what he's trying to do in regards to the debate schedule is not an act of pure patriotism. It's more of an act of first aid. Step 1: Stop the bleeding. The past 2 weeks have been very damaging for the Republican candidate. We are now seeing a bold move to try and stem the flow of voter support and confidence making it's way to Obama. It seems as if McCain was posturing to put a line in the sand: "Where do you stand Mr. Obama, with your presidential aspirations, or the well-being of the nation?" It's a take on the "Country-First" slogan he (McCain) has been pushing. It doesn't seem as if it's going to work this time. Here are some of the elements behind the miscalculation:

1. McCain is admittedly not an expert on the economy. Neither his, nor Obama's presence in Washington directly adds any girth of financial wisdom to the discussions.
2. Speaking of country first, isn't a well informed electorate supremely important? We are on the cusp of one of the most important elections in a generation, and I feel it is rather important for the American public to see the candidates debate. Frequently.
3. McCain's proposal would also include the postponement of the Vice-Presidential debate. Interesting... Now we may be on to something. Polls have come out recently stating that a majority of Americans (Including Laura Bush) feel as though Gov. Sarah Palin does not have the necessary experience to be president. Couple that with the fact that Palin continues to struggle with the basic policy questions she has fielded. McCain know this much; Palin is a liability, and is not remotely prepared to debate Joe Biden.
4. Obama didn't bite. Sorry John, you're in no man's land now. We know that It was Obama, not McCain who initiated contact yesterday to propose a joint statement. The two spoke in the afternoon, and McCain immediately followed the discussion with his request. Was the request for postponement discussed with the Obama camp? From what I have read, they did seem rather surprised by it. But they held their ground. They have stated that the president should be able to handle more than one thing at a time, and Obama assured that he is ready to assist in Washington, should his services be deemed necessary by involved parties, but he was still prepared to debate.

Obama comes out of this looking strong, prepared, calm and (dare I say) Presidential. McCain looks flustered. Clearly if McCain felt he had any position of strength going into the debate, this postponement would not occur. Nice try John. See you on Friday.

Let's Sign this thing! Uh, wait....what?

Here's some language from the proposed bailout package:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Sounds like the Patriot Act is now being sponsored by American Express.

Movin' on up!

Here's your chance to be part of the First Family!

http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html

Sincerely,

Copper Catfish Palin

You talkin' to me, (my friend)?

The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster for a self proclaimed political junkie such as myself. I will be honest when I confess that the pick of Sarah Palin scared me. The enthusiasm that seemed to surround her was ferocious. She seemed untouchable. If anyone asked anything at all about her record, or her experience... well, you just about got your face ripped off, didn't you? No one could get close to her. Forget swiftboating, she wasn't even taking softballs. Perhaps this worked to her detriment. With her out of the spotlight, the media still needs to fill the void of Sarah Palin news. They went to Troopergate, and the bridge. There were people who revealed that maybe, just maybe she was feeding us a line. At this point, it feels like they have come down a bit. Several of McCain's TV spots have been denounced as lies. The ethics violations against Palin are starting to take hold, and her refusal to cooperate will end up fanning the flames. (Good point about this one, Guy) John McCain himself has been getting testy in a number of interviews lately, particularly on "Morning Joe." Hell, he even got grilled on "The View." I didn't see that one coming.

And another thing....

Exactly how many of you soccer moms out there who relate so well with Sarah Palin hang your asses out of a helicopter to murder wolves? Anybody? Anybody?