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Cicely Libre!
The takeaway lesson of the Palin family pseudo-scandal: In 2008, the average Christian conservative is more tolerant of teen sex than the average liberal Democrat. Apparently, it's one thing for a vice president's kid to indulge in, say, drug-fueled reckless driving. But consensual sex? That's unthinkable. And the kid didn't even have the decency to evacuate the evidence!
If you're searching for reasons to oppose Sarah Palin, you'd be better off looking at this:
[A]s mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents.
In other words, she put her town on the dole. Balancing that: Not only did Palin, as I reported earlier, send a friendly video this year to the Alaskan Independence Party, but for a while in the '90s she may have actually been a member. If Alaska were independent, it wouldn't receive any earmarks at all, though I suppose Prime Minister Palin could always hire a firm to lobby for foreign aid. They get self-determination; we get to spend less. Win-win!
(Yes, I know: The AIP doesn't demand independence for the 49th state; it merely wants a referendum on the subject. But you can guess from the party's name how most of the members would vote if the issue ever appeared on the ballot.)
|9.2.08 @ 2:43PM|#
I'm kind of astonished how Palin has become the epicenter of all discussion of this election, and has been for days now. Is it because she's a broad? Because otherwise I just don't get it.
Mad Max|9.2.08 @ 2:47PM|#
"[A]s mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002,
Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8
million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as
earmarks . . ."
Oh, no, give me the smelling salts, quickly!
If the federal government hangs out on streetcorners in fisnet
stockings with a sign reading "will give access to the public
treasury in exchange for votes," what do you *expect* will happen?
They're just asking for it, if you ask me.
nicole|9.2.08 @ 3:00PM|#
In 2008, the average Christian conservative is more tolerant
of teen sex than the average liberal Democrat.
More tolerant of teen sex, or more tolerant of raising your
daughters to spend their lives barefoot and pregnant? Please.
|9.2.08 @ 3:02PM|#
I thought that another poster made a relevant comment, to the
effect that its the lower 49 that are prohibiting Alaska exploiting
and capitalizing on its abundant natural resources, so what the
hell do you want them to do?
If the Federal Government proscribed my property rights to the
extent that I couldn't capitalize on my comparative advantage in
the market, I'd want a freakin' welfare check too.
|9.2.08 @ 3:03PM|#
More tolerant of teen sex, or more tolerant of raising your
daughters to spend their lives barefoot and pregnant?
Please.
Y'all want Sarah Palin to stay barefoot and pregnant.
Alan Vanneman|9.2.08 @ 3:04PM|#
Sorry, but I don't remember anyone "defending" Gore after the
arrest of his son, who was and is an adult responsible for his own
actions. It's the social conservatives, after all, who have been
claiming that teen pregnancy is a moral issue and that
abstinence-based programs are the correct solution.
If Palin can't keep her own daughter from getting knocked up, how
is she going to create abstinence-based programs that will work?
And if "the reality is that sometimes kids get pregnant" is now the
Republican philosophy, shouldn't we just 1) stop spending money on
teen pregnancy prevetion and 2) stop speechifying about how bad it
is?
Abdul|9.2.08 @ 3:06PM|#
A libertarian blog is suggesting a scandal because Palin
allegedly cozied up to a third party with radical sovereignty
ideas?
By the way, the
membership in the AIP rumor appears to be about as well founded
as the Barrack Obama forged birth certificate rumor.
|9.2.08 @ 3:07PM|#
TAO,
The federal government was the one that bought and paid for the
land, so the federal government owns the land. It's not like DC
prevents private land owners from drilling. All the prohibited
areas are federal lands.
BDB|9.2.08 @ 3:08PM|#
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/members-of-frin.html
Link to that.
|9.2.08 @ 3:09PM|#
Y'all want Sarah Palin to stay barefoot and
pregnant.
TAO,
Did anyone say that Palin has to quit her job as governor? Then
you're wrong.
Abdul|9.2.08 @ 3:09PM|#
Alan,
Gore's son was arrested as a teenager for smoking pot. If you want
a hypocrite angle, marijuana is the only green thing Al Gore never
advocated.
BDB|9.2.08 @ 3:14PM|#
John McCain had two things going for him--
1) He was the "safe" candidate
2) His opponent was not well known, inexperienced, and had all
kinds of crazy rumors and associations being thrown around
By picking Palin, he no longer has either of those advantages.
DADIODADDY|9.2.08 @ 3:15PM|#
Abdul
how come? cause it contributed to Global Warming or casued the
Supreme Court to give the election to GWB (the younger)? or casue
his once & forever boss wouldn't/couldn't inhale?
Jesse Walker|9.2.08 @ 3:16PM|#
A libertarian blog is suggesting a scandal because Palin
allegedly cozied up to a third party with radical sovereignty
ideas?
Nope! A libertarian blogger is praising Palin for her connection to
a third party with radical sovereignty ideas.
By the way, the membership in the AIP rumor appears to be about
as well founded as the Barrack Obama forged birth certificate
rumor.
You can be a registered Republican and also active in another
party. (Ron Paul, for example, has a lifetime membership in the
Libertarian Party.) At any rate, the story I linked to mentioned
the dispute over whether Palin was a member in the party, and I
used the phrase "may have" rather than "was" when discussing her
alleged membership.
|9.2.08 @ 3:19PM|#
In 2008, the average Christian conservative is more tolerant
of teen sex than the average liberal Democrat.
This statement is so moronic it torches on otherwise insightful
argument.
As far as I can tell, the liberal democrats in this equation have
not expressed any "intolerance" for Palin's daughter's 'delicate
condition.'
However, many of them have accurately pointed out what a great
example this is of the effectiveness of abstinence-only sex
ed.
My suggetion, Walker, is to lay off the liberal -bashing until you
can figure out how to do it without making yourself look
stupid.
armchairpunter|9.2.08 @ 3:21PM|#
It's fine to decry the earmarks, but to do so in a vacuum doesn't help a whole lot. How does this piece of information impact the voting decision? Hard to say it makes the Dem ticket more appealing by comparison.
D.A. Ridgely|9.2.08 @ 3:23PM|#
My suggetion, Walker, is to lay off the liberal -bashing
until you can figure out how to do it without making yourself look
stupid.
We need a ruling from the judges. Is that close enough to "...
before you embarrass yourself any further" to yell "DRINK"?
Jesse Walker|9.2.08 @ 3:23PM|#
Sorry, but I don't remember anyone "defending" Gore after
the arrest of his son, who was and is an adult responsible for his
own actions.
Funny how you put the word "defending" in quotation marks, even
though it appears nowhere in my post.
If Palin can't keep her own daughter from getting knocked up,
how is she going to create abstinence-based programs that will
work?
Maybe it isn't her job to police her 17-year-old daughter's sex
life.
nicole|9.2.08 @ 3:30PM|#
Maybe it isn't her job to police her 17-year-old daughter's
sex life.
Maybe not, but it is her job to give better advice than "Looks like
you're going to grow up nice and fast!" And she intends to
specifically forbid just that kind of advice.
And to somehow make it her job to police the sex lives of everyone
else in the country.
Jesse Walker|9.2.08 @ 3:30PM|#
As far as I can tell, the liberal democrats in this equation
have not expressed any "intolerance" for Palin's daughter's
'delicate condition.'
For heaven's sake. I've been without a decent home Internet
connection or a working TV for the last few days, and I've
still seen & heard plenty of easy intolerance both in the media
and in ordinary conversation.
BDB|9.2.08 @ 3:30PM|#
I'm more disturbed by the fact she pressured the town librarian as Mayor to ban certain books she thought were morally offensive.
Abdul|9.2.08 @ 3:37PM|#
Damn you Jesse, you win this round. . . but you'll never stop me from misinterpreting your posts!
Jesse Walker|9.2.08 @ 3:38PM|#
she intends to specifically forbid just that kind of
advice.
Palin wants to forid parents from giving their kids advice? News to
me!
Yes, I know: She wants the public schools to engage in moronic
"abstinence-only" sex education, rather than the more authentically
conservative position of getting those schools out of the social
engineering business altogether (or the libertarian position of
letting parents pick the schools that teach whatever values they
prefer). For all that, her supporters seem to have a lot more
tolerance for her daughter's sexual activity than the soi-disant
liberals who think she's an embarassment because she failed to play
Sex Cop. Foucault would have a field day with this.
|9.2.08 @ 3:44PM|#
Maybe it isn't her job to police her 17-year-old daughter's
sex life.
Funny...I thought most Social Conservatives seem to WANT the job of
policing people's sex lives.
You seem to be missing the point here, Jesse. You can't use
libertarian views to defend someone who obviously does not
subscribe to libertarian ideals.
...and I've still seen & heard plenty of easy intolerance
both in the media and in ordinary conversation.
Spare me the mock outrage. Once again avoiding the very point I
made....that no one is intolerant of her pregnancy...they are of
the obvious hypocrisies Social Conservatism and Abstinence Only sex
ed.
|9.2.08 @ 3:45PM|#
However, many of them have accurately pointed out what a
great example this is of the effectiveness of abstinence-only sex
ed.
Oh, so you know what the sex-ed curricula in Bristol Palin's school
was?
|9.2.08 @ 3:47PM|#
Funny...I thought most Social Conservatives seem to WANT the
job of policing people's sex lives.
So you translated "seem to want" on the part of group X to mean
that, since Palin is a member of group X, she's somehow MUST want
to police people's sex lives?
And that her "failure" to do so in her own family represents a
failure of policy?
|9.2.08 @ 3:49PM|#
madpad - Nope, I don't. But you're the one proclaiming Bristol Palin's pregnancy as a failure of policy, when you haven't even proven what policy her school had with respect to sex education.
|9.2.08 @ 3:51PM|#
Did anyone say that Palin has to quit her job as governor?
Then you're wrong.
No but the Left has said she needs to step down because she's being
a bad mother.
How dare she have career aspirations! Back to the kitchen, Sarah
Palin (sayeth the "Progressives")
BDB|9.2.08 @ 3:54PM|#
I'm WAY more disturbed by her propensity towards banning books
in the public library.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html?imw=Y
|9.2.08 @ 3:54PM|#
...you're the one proclaiming Bristol Palin's pregnancy as a
failure of policy,
I did nothing of the sort. I merely used her pregnancy to openly
mock her mother's stance on a policy that I feel is
ridiculous.
If Jesse Walker can spout nonsense with no facts, so can I.
|9.2.08 @ 3:57PM|#
No but the Left has said she needs to step down because
she's being a bad mother.
Not true...they've said she needs to step down because she's a liar
and a hypocrite. The possibility that she might be a bad mother is
just a point SoCons puff up to distract the argument.
|9.2.08 @ 4:11PM|#
The really unsourced observation is the "barefoot" part. Does anyone care to offer any evidence that the Palin family doesn't allow Bristol to have any shoes?
|9.2.08 @ 4:23PM|#
Not true...they've said she needs to step down because she's
a liar and a hypocrite.
Liar? How so? Seriously, what lies has she told about her
daughter's pregnancy?
Hypocrite? How so? Is there any evidence whatsoever that she didn't
try to pass her social conservative values on to her daughter? How
does having a daughter who gets pregnant demonstrate in any way
that Sarah Palin preached one thing and practiced another?
|9.2.08 @ 4:23PM|#
Does anyone care to offer any evidence that the Palin family
doesn't allow Bristol to have any shoes?
Well, the propensity for frost bite being what it is up that way,
I'm guessing the application of that makes it hard to prove...but
apparently her baby daddy has proclaimed himself a 'F*****g
Redneck'.
Now I live in North Florida and we have a lot of rednecks. A lot of
them like to go shoeless when possible, though this is a matter of
choice...
Does that help?
|9.2.08 @ 4:26PM|#
I'm kind of astonished how Palin has become the epicenter of
all discussion of this election, and has been for days now. Is it
because she's a broad? Because otherwise I just don't get
it.
Good looking white women get vastly disproportionate amounts of air
time.
Vicious attacks on Republicans, ditto.
Put the two together, and, voila, you have a mainstream
media once again embarrassing itself. I mean, c'mon, the NYT can't
bother to run a single story on John Edwards' affair and presumed
love child, but it hacks up three front page stories in one day on
a pregnant teenager?
|9.2.08 @ 4:26PM|#
What would be the point, R.C Dean? You're a Kool Aid drinker. Any evidence I present is akin to teaching a pig to sing...it'll waste my time and further annoy you.
|9.2.08 @ 4:30PM|#
Vicious attacks on Republicans, ditto
Thank goodness Republicans are above that sort of thing...Oh
wait...ooops.
|9.2.08 @ 4:32PM|#
Epi,
There is a wonderful intersection of race, class, sex, and gender
at work. The fascination is understandable.
For example, if Obama's daughter was 17, unwed and pregnant, with a
baby daddy who proclaimed himself a "F***ing GANGSTA!" what would
the liberal blogs being doing right now? The exact same thing, I'm
sure. I'm sure all of them would talk about Obama's lack of fitness
to run the country because his daughter's pregnant.
|9.2.08 @ 4:33PM|#
What would be the point, R.C Dean? You're a Kool Aid
drinker.
I will take this as madpad's admission that he has nothing that
will demonstrate that Sarah Palin is a liar or a hypocrite because
her daughter is pregnant.
Thank goodness Republicans are above that sort of thing . .
.
Of course they aren't. But the question was, why the media frenzy?
I think the differential treatment of John Edwards and Sarah Palin
provides a sterling example of media bias driving disproportionate
coverage of Republican "scandals".
|9.2.08 @ 4:34PM|#
madpad,
Give it up. The Edwards/Palin comparison is spot-fucking-on. The
media knew about Edwards for months and didn't think it was
newsworthy, but Palin's pregnant daughter was only eclipsed
new-wise by Katrina 2: This Time We'll Cover It Live!.
|9.2.08 @ 4:37PM|#
I'm WAY more disturbed by her propensity towards banning
books in the public library.
Ditto.
|9.2.08 @ 4:38PM|#
..you have a mainstream media once again embarrassing
itself.
Define "mainstream media."
5 years ago I think you could make a case for a 'mainstream media'
argument.
These days, however, I think that trying to cast Rush Limbaugh, Fox
News and a large number of right wing bloggers as NOT mainstream is
pretty weak.
SIV|9.2.08 @ 4:39PM|#
Epi,
I'd say the most significant element is Class (and American
mythology). If everything plays out as intended McCain wins the
election.
nicole|9.2.08 @ 4:40PM|#
I don't get the Edwards comparison. Maybe I am just out of touch
with cable news. But from what I know of the Edwards scandal, he
slept with an adult woman who then decided to have a baby. Bristol
Palin, on the other hand, was brought up in an extremely religious
conservative environment where she was led to believe that
contraception and abortion were unacceptable even when you know
you will have a permanently, and possibly devastatingly,
handicapped child. Do you really think it was, as the
McCain/Palin campaign claims, "her choice" to keep the baby and get
married? Is it still her choice if she has been brainwashed to
think she will go to hell if she does differently? If Sarah Palin
wants to raise her kids like that it's their problem, but I don't
think it's anything we should be looking to as a positive way to
live a life.
Maybe you could make some kind of better connection if Edwards had
forced his mistress to have an abortion.
|9.2.08 @ 4:44PM|#
Give it up. The Edwards/Palin comparison is
spot-fucking-on.
I think you're choking on some bile, there Sugar Free...I haven't
had any time to respond to the "Edwards/Palin comparison."
However, I agree with you that Edwards got off easy. Unfortunately
the difference 'tween Edwards and Palin is that Palin is in the
running and Edwards is NOT.
So your argument, while being astute and nominally accurate is,
nonetheless...irrelevant .
|9.2.08 @ 4:44PM|#
You're a Kool Aid drinker.
"It is obvious to the most simpleminded that Lokai is of an
inferior breed."
"The obvious visual evidence, Commissioner, is that he is of the
same breed as yourself."
"Are you blind, Commander Spock? Well, look at me. Look at
me!"
"You're black on one side and white on the other."
"I am black on the right side."
"I fail to see the significant difference."
"Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on
the right side."
|9.2.08 @ 4:47PM|#
"...Palin's pregnant daughter was only eclipsed new-wise by
Katrina 2."
Actually, I think it was the pregnant daughter that eclipsed the
Hurricane-That-Wasn't
|9.2.08 @ 4:50PM|#
Unfortunately the difference 'tween Edwards and Palin is
that Palin is in the running and Edwards is NOT.
Don't bullshit a bullshitter. Edwards was going to be a VP
contender / Palin is. Timing is the only difference. The media was
only forced to talk about the Edwards affair because the Enquirer
scooped them. They jumped on Palin with both feet.
I don't have any bile. I'm not voting for anyone in the fucking
GOP. But to act like the media and the left blogosphere are not
being massive hypocrites in this whole kerfuffle takes partisan
blinders the size of dinner plates. Blow smoke all you want, my ass
isn't going to like it any better.
|9.2.08 @ 4:51PM|#
Why is the Edwards/Palin comparison "spot on"?
Palin was recently announced as a VP candidate. Edwards, as near as
I can tell, is not doing anything right about now. He's no longer a
candidate, he's no longer a senator, he's probably busy playing
golf. If you were the media, wouldn't you be covering the current
VP, rather than the former, washed-up VP candidate? To put it more
bluntly, no one gives a damn about Edwards' affair because no one
gives a damn about Edwards.
Besides, Edwards' affair was hardly novel. If politicians having
affairs while their wives were in some sort of peril were a
drinking game, our whole country would be puking in the toilet
right about now.
|9.2.08 @ 4:51PM|#
Great Trekkie shout out, Episiarch, though I'm pretty sure
you're knocking me with it.
And I probably deserve...name-calling is not nice and I should
behave better.
Thank you for your wise council
|9.2.08 @ 4:51PM|#
I'm kind of astonished how Palin has become the epicenter of all discussion of this election, and has been for days now. Is it because she's a broad? Because otherwise I just don't get it.
Gilbert Martin|9.2.08 @ 4:51PM|#
"The federal government was the one that bought and paid for the
land, so the federal government owns the land."
It did?
When was that exactly and how much did the feds pay for it?
|9.2.08 @ 4:54PM|#
Funny...I thought most Social Conservatives seem to WANT the
job of policing people's sex lives.
It is funny that the left confuses gay marriage and abortion with
sex.
I can see how gay is "sexy" in the hollywood movie sense...but
abortion?
And how the fuck could anyone in their right mind confuse marriage
with sex?
|9.2.08 @ 4:55PM|#
I'm kind of astonished how Palin has become the epicenter of
all discussion of this election, and has been for days now. Is it
because she's a broad? Because otherwise I just don't get
it.
It's not that fucking hard to figure out. It's because before last
Friday, most people - including political pundits - knew nothing
about her except her name and that she was, supposedly, a
reformer.
It turns out that she ran Ted Stevens' 527, hired Wasilla's first
ever lobbyist who was a former Stevens aide, encouraged earmarks
for her town of 5,000, has been involved in two scandals involving
the firing of subordinates who may or may not have failed to do her
bidding, and so forth.
We already know all there is to know about Obama - who went through
this process in the spring, Biden, and McCain. There's no grand
conspiracy.
Oh, also, we are learning that John McCain makes asinine decisions
without considering the consequences and fully vetting his
selections.
Finally, before I'm accused of being a liberal, let me say for the
record that I am a libertarian. You know, the kind of person who
was once the audience of a publication called Reason magazine.
SIV|9.2.08 @ 4:57PM|#
American Mythology is powerful stuff:
Sarah Palin kilt her a moose when she was only five.
She hand-sewed a dress to win a scholarship to study sports
journalism at a podunk State College in a beauty pageant. That
eclipses Honest Abe scrawling on the shovel with a piece of
charcoal.
She returns to her home town to marry her HS sweetheart and start a
family.The family is too poor to afford a proper wedding.
When not raising youngins she works with her husband on a fishing
boat. Sometime she actually scores a union card and probably knows
how to weld.
As the first youngin(now fighting for his country in Iraq as an
enlisted man) reaches school age she takes an interest in his
education and joins the PTA. She encounters Government bureacracy
head on.
She makes the leap from concern for her child to concern for her
community and seeks and attains local political office.... I could
go on but we all know the story.
Hot chick + "middle class" + American mythology that happens to
actually be more or less true = WIN
|9.2.08 @ 4:57PM|#
But to act like the media and the left blogosphere are not
being massive hypocrites...
Did I do that? I'm pretty sure I didn't. I merely said they were
not intolerant of dear Bristol's with-childness but rather her
mother's apparent hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy should always be ridiculed. I didn;t make that
rule...that's just the way the world works.
Mark A Tarnowski|9.2.08 @ 4:59PM|#
"If Palin can't keep her own daughter from getting knocked
up"
Having spent years working with pregnant and parenting teen moms I
can assure you that no parent can. And anyone who believes
otherwise is a fool.
shrike|9.2.08 @ 5:00PM|#
It turns out that she ran Ted Stevens' 527, hired Wasilla's
first ever lobbyist who was a former Stevens aide, encouraged
earmarks for her town of 5,000, has been involved in two scandals
involving the firing of subordinates who may or may not have failed
to do her bidding, and so forth.
Not only is Palin an airheaded bimbo, she is a CORRUPT, PORK-LOVING
airheaded bimbo.
Now if I were porking her - different ballgame....
|9.2.08 @ 5:01PM|#
|9.2.08 @ 5:02PM|#
Edwards, as near as I can tell, is not doing anything right
about now. He's no longer a candidate, he's no longer a senator,
he's probably busy playing golf.
For the cheap seats.
I know a favorite talking point of the left is that Edwards was
just strolling along, minding his own business and the media ran up
and whacked in the knee with a pipe. Bullshit. He was a prominent
Senator, credibly ran for president twice and was still a viable
candidate for VP. Larry Craig was a nobody Senator from a nowhere
state and they talked about him for months.
How stupid does criticism of Republicans have to get for me to
defend them? Apparently, this stupid.
|9.2.08 @ 5:04PM|#
When was that exactly and how much did the feds pay for
it?
1867...the Alaska Purchase...AKA Seward's Folly...for $7.2 million
dollars
|9.2.08 @ 5:05PM|#
Finally, before I'm accused of being a liberal, let me say
for the record that I am a libertarian. You know, the kind of
person who was once the audience of a publication called Reason
magazine.
As much as i would like to blame Reason for the two worse
presidential nominees from the two major parties in living history
I have to take the rational course and come to the conclusion that
they had the least to do with it.
I guess I can blame CATO for less.
shrike|9.2.08 @ 5:05PM|#
American Mythology is powerful stuff:
Right on, SIV. Marketing overpowers accuracy every time.
If Palin makes it to the speech (Intrade is saying her crash
potential is high) then McCain may have his Annie Oakley after
all.
Granger|9.2.08 @ 5:06PM|#
"Funny...I thought most Social Conservatives seem to WANT the
job of policing people's sex lives"
Most automobiles have internal-combustion engines.
Electric automobiles have electric engines.
Therefore, automobiles with electric engines are not
automobiles.
Thanks. I understand now.
Delbert|9.2.08 @ 5:07PM|#
"Spare me the mock outrage. Once again avoiding the very point I
made....that no one is intolerant of her pregnancy...they are of
the obvious hypocrisies Social Conservatism and Abstinence Only sex
ed."
That's why I support maditory abortion.
|9.2.08 @ 5:08PM|#
The federal government was the one that bought and paid for
the land, so the federal government owns the land.
They should sell it and pay off some of its debt.
Bill\'s Dog|9.2.08 @ 5:09PM|#
"I did nothing of the sort. I merely used her pregnancy to
openly mock her mother's stance on a policy that I feel is
ridiculous."
Palin is on record as being pro-contraception.
|9.2.08 @ 5:10PM|#
How stupid does criticism of Republicans have to get for me
to defend them? Apparently, this stupid.
Don't worry, it's getting stupider.
|9.2.08 @ 5:11PM|#
OK, Granger...so your saying most social conservatives don't
want to police people's sex lives...they want electric engines to
do it? And if they don't, they're not automobiles?
Glad you understand. I'm confused.
Hambone|9.2.08 @ 5:14PM|#
"However, I agree with you that Edwards got off easy.
Unfortunately the difference 'tween Edwards and Palin is that Palin
is in the running and Edwards is NOT."
So Bristol is thirty-five then? Wow, they sure grow up fast.
|9.2.08 @ 5:17PM|#
Palin is on record as being pro-contraception.
Palin is on record as being for the Bridge To Nowhere. She's also
on record for killing it.
She's on record as a great patriot (according to a large number of
RNC attendees). She's also on record as belonging to the "Alaska
First" Secessionist group.
But the policy I was referring to was her stance on Abstinence-only
sex ed.
|9.2.08 @ 5:19PM|#
Worst Star Trek episode ever.
Nah...the one about Lazurus was....closely followed by the one
where Kirk becomes a girl.
|9.2.08 @ 5:22PM|#
Nah...the one about Lazurus was....closely followed by the
one where Kirk becomes a girl.
No, the worst was The Way to Eden. It is also the best at
the same time.
|9.2.08 @ 5:24PM|#
Episiarch...I can't find anything in that statement to disagree with. Thread goes to Epi.
Granger|9.2.08 @ 5:27PM|#
"OK, Granger...so your saying most social conservatives don't
want to police people's sex lives...they want electric engines to
do it? And if they don't, they're not automobiles?
Glad you understand. I'm confused."
Perhaps a class in basic logic would help...
Bill\'s Dog|9.2.08 @ 5:28PM|#
"But the policy I was referring to was her stance on
Abstinence-only sex ed."
So why'd ya dither? Woof.
|9.2.08 @ 5:44PM|#
Most leaders get to be world leaders after years of testing and
gradual approval of the people they will lead. Even crazy despots
have spent years earning the loyalty of those who enforce their
will.
McCain, Obama and Biden have spent quite a bit of time out there
and most people have decided which ones they like and why and most
of their questions have been answered.
In Palin's case, there are just over 2 months to go for a host of
questions to be asked and answered before most people will likely
be comfortable voting for her or not.
When Nixon picked Agnew, the VP still wasn't worth a warm bucket of
spit. Now people see the VP differently.
Bill\'s Dog|9.2.08 @ 5:46PM|#
"Most leaders get to be world leaders after years of testing and
gradual approval of the people they will lead. Even crazy despots
have spent years earning the loyalty of those who enforce their
will."
Tell that to Teddy Roosevelt. He became president at the age of
42.
Woof!
|9.2.08 @ 5:47PM|#
She's on record as a great patriot (according to a large
number of RNC attendees). She's also on record as belonging to the
"Alaska First" Secessionist group.
George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Ben
Franklin.....
All Patriots...All members of a Secessionist group
|9.2.08 @ 5:47PM|#
Palin Controversy Summary: the first female national executive
could very well be a Republican, and this has Democrats shitting
their pants. Rember, Hillary *deserves* to be the first woman
president, and if McCain has the indecency to die during office it
will be some provincial tramp instead.
"Picking Palin *proves* that Republicans are sexist!"
|9.2.08 @ 5:49PM|#
p.s. The worst Star Trek episode ever was "The Empath".
p.p.s. Sorry for reminding you guys of that one. You can now go
scrub the memories out of your brain with a brillo pad.
|9.2.08 @ 6:01PM|#
Sugar Free-
Not so fast. Sure, the folks saying that Edwards was unfairly
treated are wrong. However, as for the comparative "merit" of the
media coverage between the scandals of Edwards and Craig, keep this
in mind:
1. Craig has been a congressional institution. He was first elected
to the House in 1980 and served five terms before being elected to
the Senate in 1990.
2. Edwards was in the Senate for 1 term.
3. Craig has his fingerprints on a lot more legislation than
Edwards.
4. Craig has been an outspoken supporter of fundamentalist
legislative causes.
5. Ergo, you take 1 through 4 above and mix in the facts of the
respecttive scandals, and you get the very predictable result that
a guy like Craig may have had it coming to him.
Rhywun|9.2.08 @ 6:02PM|#
In 2008, the average Christian conservative is more tolerant of teen sex than the average liberal Democrat.
Only when said sex produces an infant, thereby bolstering the
social conservative credentials of a campaign that up till now some
had thought lacking.
|9.2.08 @ 6:05PM|#
But from what I know of the Edwards scandal, he slept with
an adult woman who then decided to have a baby.
While he was
(a) married,
(b) making his marriage the centerpiece of his campaign,
(c) vociferously denying that he had an affair,
(d) recruiting others to participate in his coverup, and
(e) paying his paramour over $100,000 from his campaign
funds.
But none of that rated a mainstream media story.
We already know all there is to know about Obama
The hell we do. Obama's connections with the Chicago political
machine that gave him a stage, including but not limited to the
felon who helped him get a sweetheart deal on his house, are
largely uninvestigated and unreported.
Most leaders get to be world leaders after years of testing and
gradual approval of the people they will lead.
Like Bill Clinton? And Barack Obama? The double standards just
won't quit, will they.
Look, folks, I really don't have a stake in McCain getting elected;
I don't have much use for him, to tell you the truth - he won't
advance any of my pet issues, of that I am sure.
But its really hard for me to watch the Fourth Estate go absolutely
apeshit over a nothing issue like Bristol Palin's sex life,
furthering their project of being completely in the tank for Barack
Obama, without calling foul.
|9.2.08 @ 6:08PM|#
Sugar Free-
Don't get me wrong, what the cops did to Craig was awful. Even a
congressional creep like Craig should not have had to endure the
affront the cops made to his dignity and privacy.
|9.2.08 @ 6:21PM|#
Bristol Palin, on the other hand, was brought up in an
extremely religious conservative environment where she was led to
believe that contraception and abortion were
unacceptable
She was? What, did you pull a Kato Kaelin at the Palin household or
something?
Or (as I suspect is the case) are you just talking out of your
ass?
|9.2.08 @ 6:26PM|#
R.C. Dean-
Did you happen to see/hear Meet the Press this week?
I inquire because Tom Brokaw essentially made the same argument
wrapped in a question he asked of his guest, Gov. Pawlenti. Brokaw
made the argument in response to Palenti's answer to Brokaw's
preceding question. Brokaw had raised the experience issue and
Palenti had responded by distinguishing Gov. Palin's diverse
executive experience from Obama's lack of the same.
After Palenti completed his answer, Brokaw then argued that Obama
had been vetted by the american people as he had been before them
for the past 20 months and that he had participated in debates,
visited with foreign dignitaries and had secured the democrat
nomination.
I guess securing a party's nomination means one has earned the
gradual approval of the american people. Curious. Would he ask the
same question of Sen. Biden's qualifications?
|9.2.08 @ 6:31PM|#
I think BDB mentioned this earlier, but isn't it wildly strange
to anyone that Palin is considered a mistake but Jindal would be
"TEH BEST VEEP CHOICE EVAR!!"
Same time as governor.
|9.2.08 @ 6:38PM|#
All Patriots...All members of a Secessionist
group
They're not British Patriots. Just like Stonewall Jackson, Stephen
Douglas and Robert E. Lee aren't American patriots.
SIV|9.2.08 @ 6:52PM|#
Jindal has considerably less time as Governor than Palin. He is also 7 years younger.
SIV|9.2.08 @ 6:57PM|#
Just like Stonewall Jackson, Stephen Douglas and Robert E.
Lee aren't American patriots.
Lee and Jackson were Virginia patriots and Virginia is part of
America (4 years the CSA).
Stephen Douglas was pro-Union. He just lost an election to
Lincoln
|9.2.08 @ 6:57PM|#
Thanks, Mo...you got there b4 I did.
As for Angry Optimist, your sophistry is getting ponderous so lay
off the 'how do you know...you weren't there' crap.
If Palin doesn't raise her kids in "an extremely religious
conservative environment" then how come extremely religious
conservatives are so happy she's on the ticket?
She either is, or is pretending to be, someone who walks the walk
of extremely religious conservative. So if she's being accused of
something falsely, she can only blame herself for ginning it
up.
|9.2.08 @ 7:05PM|#
If Palin doesn't raise her kids in "an extremely religious
conservative environment" then how come extremely religious
conservatives are so happy she's on the ticket?
How scientific of you. "Perception is reality" in madpad's
world.
The same reason that so-called "conservatives" voted for Bush in
2004?
Self-delusion and projection are powerful forces.
|9.2.08 @ 7:12PM|#
I wrote this after the Democratic convention ended:
joe | August 29, 2008, 12:29am | #
My wife had an interesting insight; this convention had characters
and story lines that people where interested in, like a TV show.
Does Michelle hate America, or is she nice? Will Hillary make
trouble? Will Bill make trouble? Can the plucky kid give the speech
of his life? What's up with his world-weary partner, Joe?
And guess what? They all had happy endings! Even nerdy John Kerry
got the girl. Like, a hot nerdy girl. Yay! Wonderful
television.
You know what these Palin brouhahas is?
Great television. She's like a sit-com mom.
People might actually watch this convention after all.
Bill\'s Dog|9.2.08 @ 7:28PM|#
'If Palin doesn't raise her kids in "an extremely religious
conservative environment" then how come extremely religious
conservatives are so happy she's on the ticket?"
I love the Rutger's Women's Basketball team so I must be a black
lab, right?
Woof.
|9.2.08 @ 7:41PM|#
How scientific of you. "Perception is reality" in madpad's
world.
Surely you're aware that in terms of elections, marketing and
waging war, perception IS reality.
As far as this election is concerned, REALITY is that Palin has a
shot at the vice presidency as long as extremely religious
conservatives have the PERCEPTION that she's like them.
I love the Rutger's Women's Basketball team so I must be a
black lab, right?
My PERCEPTION is that Bill's Dog is stoned off his ass.
Dwayne Mayor|9.2.08 @ 8:04PM|#
TAO: "think BDB mentioned this earlier, but isn't it wildly
strange to anyone that Palin is considered a mistake but Jindal
would be "TEH BEST VEEP CHOICE EVAR!!" Same time as
governor."
Except Jindal's brilliant and she's a dunce. Oh, and he's running a
large state of 4 million plus people with real problems and issues
to tackle without the benefit of massive oil royalties. Oh, and he
was also a member of the Congress. Also happens to be a Rhodes
Scholar. A little more than a beauty bimbo queen with a bachelor's
in sports reporting. A bit more meat than mayor of Loserville
Village, eh?
Jesse Walker|9.2.08 @ 9:32PM|#
Just for the record: I haven't seen many Star Trek episodes, but I can't imagine any of them being worse than "Spock's Brain."
|9.2.08 @ 10:20PM|#
There's no comparison between Palin and Jindal. Their abilities,
or their accomplishments.
Jindal's going to get the nomination in 2016, and probably win.
|9.2.08 @ 10:21PM|#
...and he'll spank Mooseburger to do it. She'll drop out in Iowa, like Quayle. He thought he was a contendah, too.
Anonymous|9.3.08 @ 5:04AM|#
Oh, come on Jesse. Hot chicks that go from airhead to genius in
seconds after putting on that hat? I've live in that
asteroid.
Also, for the womenfolk, nervous-sweaty closeups of DeForest Kelley
doing surgery.
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