Those Zany German Media Elites!

From the 'No Comment Could Ever Replace the Image' Files



Obviously they're 'Liberal' Media Elites who Lieben Obama





Google translation tool German to English

McCain's Campaign Suspension Gimmick: Ripe for Parody

And Steven Colbert is the One to Do It




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I Can See Russia from My House

In case you missed it:
Watch the brilliant Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and the incomparable Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton in the now-classic Saturday Night Live / SNL video of this past weekend, September 13, 2008

Logic That Can Not Be Denied

Simply The Truth:

This nation has suffered through eight years of an ill-prepared and unblinkingly obstinate president. One who didn’t pause to think before he started a disastrous war of choice in Iraq. One who blithely looked the other way as the Taliban and Al Qaeda regrouped in Afghanistan. One who obstinately cut taxes and undercut all efforts at regulation, unleashing today’s profound economic crisis.

In a dangerous world, Americans need a president who knows that real strength requires serious thought and preparation.

When it all comes down to it, it just can't get more clear than that. Of course, I still believe the best option was Hillary Rodham Clinton, but given the choices now, it's surely not McCain, raw political talent and an energizing, charismatic new face on the scene notwithstanding.

Source: NYT

September 11 Seven Years Later

In Memoriam



— Buddhist Heart Sutra —
by Imee Ooi

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Peace for All Sentient Creatures

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Related: Alternate Versions

Reality-check Must read: Roger Cohen "In the Seventh Year"

For Bush ruled over the whole nation and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did foster division until it raged like a plague. Each tribe sent pestilence on the other.

And in the seventh year after the fall, the dust and debris of the towers cleared. And it became plain at last what had been wrought — but not how the damage would be undone.

Liberal & Media Hatefest Of Hysterical Hypocrisy: The Mommy Wars

The Unbearable Class Snobbery of Privileged Elite, White Women in the Media and Democrat Party

SANDRA TSING LOH has an opinion piece in the NYTimes yesterday entitled "The Rantings of a P.T.A. Mom" asking why the other candidates couldn't send their kids to a public school like Sarah Palin did.

...it is with huge grief-filled disappointment that I discovered that the Obamas send their children to the University of Chicago Laboratory School (by 5th grade, tuition equals $20,286 a year). The school’s Web site quotes all that ridiculous John Dewey nonsense about developing character while, of course, isolating your children from the poor. A pox on them and, while we’re at it, a pox on John Dewey! I’m sick to death of those inspirational Dewey quotes littering the Web sites of $20,000-plus-a-year private schools, all those gentle duo-tone-photographed murmurings about “building critical thinking and fostering democratic citizenship” in their cherished students, living large on their $20,000-a-year island.

Meanwhile, Joseph Biden, the Amtrak senator, standing up boldly for the right to be a Roman Catholic, appears to have sent all three children to the lovely looking Archmere Academy in Delaware. Archmere’s Web site notes some public school districts allow Archmere students to use public school buses. Well, isn’t that great — your tax dollars at work in the great state of Delaware because with $18,000 a year in tuition, they can’t afford their own buses.


We should be asking:"How can we support and make policies and safety nets stronger and better for ALL moms, dads, parents, children and their families?"


Then again, a spot of happy news for the Democrats: not only did John McCain’s four children attend elite private schools in Arizona, but collective donations to their children’s private schools between 2001 and 2006, totaled $500,000.

And yes, I know I appear to be ranting on like a pit bull without lipstick, which brings me to the final nail in the coffin in this sorry election year. As a Democrat I am horrified that Sarah Palin is the one who snagged the deeply profound — and absolutely ignored by professional smart people — emotional real estate of “P.T.A. mother.” I too am, in fact, not just “my kids’ mom” but their Title I Los Angeles public school P.T.A. secretary. This unheard female howl is, for better or worse, what Ms. Palin has set out to tap into; it is real, and I am sick that we’ve let the Republicans charge this ground.

Sarah Palin’s children went to what looks like a humble little public school: Iditarod Elementary on Wasilla Fishhook Road. The school’s score on www.greatschools.net is a 4. That’s a lot of street cred, for a gun-totin’, snow-mobilin’ creationist-lovin’ lady.

Oh, I’m such a depressed, Democrat P.T.A. mother.

Amen. Thank you Sandra. Sending you healing, supportive energy on your journey. Thanks for bringing this touchy subject up. I'm no longer a democrat. I dumped them too and am now an independent.

While we're at it, the main reason for this entry: I'm totally disgusted with the progressives, leftists, self-described feminists and democrats who — with the blessings and instigations of the media and democrap party — immediately launched the mommy wars, attacking Palin for NOT staying home, for having the audacity to be ambitious and answer the call for the #2 slot in the WORLD, not just the nation.

HUH? !!!! WTF have we all been fighting for all these decades if not for women to make their own decisions, be able to SUPPORT their families as well develop our own professional, personal, creative and intellectual talents whether at home with the kids, volunteering in the community or out in the work-world.

It is hypocrisy of the WORST most disgusting kind; truly infuriating. The writers of the New York Times, Washington Post among the WORST. Sally Quinn (OMG is there a pointier, snootier more hypocritical nose in the D.C. arena? A complete joke. She pooh-poohed Hillary and Bill for not fitting in when they arrived in Washington to begin his first term. Did she do anything to HELP Hillary pass health care reform? HELL NO! She acted like the privileged, rich, adulterous, sniveling hypocrite she still is. Ruth Marcus -- Give Me A BREAK. Shame on you. All the poseurs at the Huffington Post? God has there ever been a more useless, reactive, narcissistic group (other than Daily Kos)? Nancy Pelosi? Nothing like putting party over principles.

And that Dowd woman: puhlease — all women are her enemies and competition. She's the ultimate male-identified college girl who won't grow up. All those democrats who riled against what happened to Hillary and are now making excuses for it because it's directed at Palin (who may be a republican, but she's also a Woman and Working Mom.

All those ridiculous 'liberal democrats' (faux feminists) showing that it is actually their social and class sensibilities — not feminist principles — that have been mortally wounded by a working class woman from Alaska who has enraptured the nation. I seem to remember a black dude politician who captured the imagination of millions not too long ago. Hysterical hypocrisy seems to fit pretty well.

Not only does Palin have a lot of street cred, but also tremendous natural potlical talent. Her entry into the campaign with her amazing story should have offered the perfect launching pad for a national discussion about STRENGTHENING family support systems, child care, family leave, living wages, health care, etc.

Instead, the elite, entitled WOMEN in the media acted (and the obamabots of both genders in the blogosphere) -- not out of feminism -- but out of snobbery and classism.

And it's the classic patriarchal trap and set up: Women destroying other women so that the patriarchal system can claim innocence. Males, male systems, dehumanizing thugs who hold the power and make policies that harm women, children and families once again escape unscathed. They get to stand at a distance, say and pretend: "This is not about us, it's all you silly women. See. We told you that women can't handle power."

Economic power, equality, equal opportunity for ALL women -- ESPECIALLY working class and poor women -- support for all women and their children REGARDLESS of political affiliation or belief system. That's what feminism is supposed to be about.

We should be asking: "How can we support this amazing and talented woman and helping her be the best she can be—as a mother, leader, woman, role-model? How can we encourage HER to be an advocate for all working mothers (the old saying: all mothers are working mothers) and their families (regardless of their political affiliation, etc). How can we support and make policies and safety nets stronger and better for ALL moms, dads, parents, children and their families?" (in all the many forms including foster and grandparents raising their grandchildren)

Why aren't those questions being posed, much less discussed?

The fact that the media owners/publishers have given so much print/page/digital/air time to the HYPOCRITICAL voices attacking Palin very much betrays their superficial reactive, non-grasp of the real issues affecting women, children and their families. They surely don't give a flip about what's best for women, children, families (which by the way, includes men/male relatives of some type in the overwhelming majority of them) or they would not have instigated and fueled this ridiculous bullshit in the first place.

I can't believe how quickly the leftists, democrats, feminists and others who are SUPPOSED to be advocates for women's rights so quickly and easily trashed their own street cred and descended into complete and utter hypocrisy.

Among the few women in the media whom I've heard refuse to jump in to the fray and who also defended Palin: Mika Brezenski of Morning Joe, Andrea Mitchell of NBC, Hillary Rosen (a democrat analyst who supported Hillary), Gail Collins of the New York Times, Joan Walsh of Salon.com and the always annoying but sometimes brilliant Camille Paglia, who has a recent piece in which she proclaims "the charismatic Sarah Palin, a powerful new feminist."

The only national feminist LEADER so far that I know of who hasn't joined the hatefest of hysterical hypocrisy: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Sandra's complete piece is here.

Hillary's Amendment

Hillary has dutifully been on the campaign trail for Obama and other democratic candidates:  

"To slightly amend my comments in Denver ....
No way, no how, no McCain, no Palin."

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And Now the Press Begins Picking Apart Obama: No longer the shiny new object

Contains updated material:

As the iconic California pol, Willie Brown, wrote a couple of days ago: "The democrats are in trouble. Period."

His column was entitled "Palin floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee."

"Whenever you start having to explain things, you're on defense." He added that dems don't win elections while on the defensive. Since the brilliant pick of Palin, the dems have been on the defensive. Completely and totally. And totally screwing it up.

The media is bored with Obama.

Here's another reason why Obama is failing to connect as an online reader posted on the washington post politics chat with Dan Balz this week with regard to the race for the White House:

"New York: Dan, as someone who intends to vote for Obama, I'm constantly puzzled at how he seems flummoxed when answering questions he should clearly expect to be asked: about NAFTA, when life begins, and most recently the surge. He seems to be thinking out loud, as though he hasn't thought it through ahead of time. Maybe the campaigns folks just don't consider these burning issues? But it seems to me it goes to character and trust, which may matter more than issues. What's going on here?

Dan Balz: That's an interesting point. ...... Does his style of answering questions make him look less decisive than he really is?"

Duh. Yeah. Looks and sounds unsure, defensive, whiny, complaining (or as Cohen wrote today -- detached, disconnected, dispassionate, disinterested and thus reinforces the NOT READY meme.)

Mostly I keep hearing " those mean republicans aren't playing fair!!! boo hoo hoo! wah wah wah."

Every clip I have seen of Obama recently he sounds like a defensive distant clueless ineffectual John Kerry in 04 -- (sighing Gore in 2000, Dudley Dukakis in 88, Carter in 80) -- he's taken to whining and complaining about the unfair mean old republikkkans. Boo Hoo Hoo some more.

Total losing / loser tactics.

Plus Obama looks like he is sleep walking through this. As if all he needed to do was win the primary and the anointment would be complete. give me a break.

Tom Friedman puts it this way:

...[H]ere’s what I’ve been feeling for a while: Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama’s coffee needs to be found and arrested by the Democrats because Obama has gone from cool to cold.  ...

I don’t know how long or high the “Sarah Palin bounce” will go, but I would take her very seriously as a politician. She may not know nuclear deterrence theory, but she can deliver a line. 

Sarah Palin is ... is connecting at a gut level. So does McCain — and, therefore, they don’t need to give their constituents many details.

This race has a long way to go. It is still Obama’s election to lose. But Obama got where he is today by defining himself as the agent of change and by defining change as the issue in this election. McCain, with Palin’s help, has once again not only made Obama’s experience an issue, but has now moved in on Obama’s strength and tried to define the G.O.P. ticket as the party of “change.”

How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as the party that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the agents of “change?” That’s politics. There’s no shame. But what this has done is to make the word “change” as a campaign slogan meaningless. Obama will need to find another way to connect his ideas — clearly, crisply and passionately.

Because, while the pollsters tell us it is still really close, my own totally unscientific, seat of the pants poll tells me this: When you say Obama’s name today and ask people for their first impression — a quick, flash, gut, first impression — no single word or phrase or policy comes to mind. His opponents will fill that vacuum if he doesn’t. They already are.

Surprise. It's Not Over! Obama only won the primary, not the election (barely) and The democraps are not winning the national election anymore —again. If Obama does lose, there are some party heads that should roll: start with Dean, Pelosi, Reid.

Sarah Palin didn't have to prove she was "of the people."
She really is the people.

P.S. It's not Hillary Clinton's responsibility to win independents, other Hillary supporters, and white working class voters for Obama. That's his responsibility. And he's blowing it.

Hillary is doing the smart thing by NOT joining the hysterical hatefest against the talented and energetic Palin. After all, she knows exactly what being on the target end of that hatefest is like.

The media is bored with Obama. They need their "newness" fix. Obama's no longer the shiny new object that captured the A.D.H.D. stenographers' pool 20 months ago (yes, that's sarcasm, not intended for most of the print-only press). The "shiney new object" honor, especially as regards the cable news tweeties and their ilk, now goes to Sarah Palin (once they get past their snobbish boorish behavior; they'll likely never get over their sexism, however).

Here's more keen insight from Willie Brown (and bad news for the dems/Obama):

As for Palin herself, she is going to be very, very effective on the campaign trail, especially if McCain's people can figure out how to gently keep her from getting into confrontations with the press.

If she can answer questions like she handled herself at the convention, Palin will turn out to be the most interesting person in all of politics, and the press will treat her like they treated Obama when he was first discovered.

And remember, the Palin bandwagon needs to roll for only two months.

And as was easily predictable, Obama's adoring media is now turning the corner, turning on him, and will join together to throw him under the bus soon. Then wash their hands with a "Tsk tsk." Totally predictable.

Once again: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Updates: several columns on this very topic beginning to pop up:
And another blogger, Leah McElrath Renna, at the Huffington Post is in full-blown panic mode:

Most of us are out here watching, listening to and reading media that shows a campaign continually in responsive mode and not in charge of the message..."

Actually, I'd use the word "reactive" instead of "responsive."

Chris Cillizza's The Fix on WashingtonPost.com: Obama on Losing End of Personality Contest

WP's right-leaning Richard Cohen: Too Cool to Fight? Obama's moral commitment is being tested, and he doesn't seem to care.

Tom Friedman's NYT column is here.

Be sure to read those columns!

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Upon re-reading it, I think the full text of Willie Brown's thoughts are worth posting en toto:

The Democrats are in trouble. Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign.

Period.

Palin's speech to the GOP National Convention on Wednesday has set it up so that the Republicans are now on offense and Democrats are on defense. And we don't do well on defense.

Suddenly, Palin and John McCain are the mavericks and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the status quo, in a year when you don't want to be seen as defending the status quo.

From taxes to oil drilling, Democrats are now going to have to start explaining their positions.

Whenever you start having to explain things, you're on defense.

I actually went back and watched Palin's speech a second time. I didn't go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. I had to make sure I got the lines right.

Her timing was exquisite. She didn't linger with applause, but instead launched into line after line of attack, slipping the knives in with every smile and joke.

And she delivered it like she was just BS-ing on the street with the meter maid.

She didn't have to prove she was "of the people." She really is the people.

There is one thing she should have done: announced when her 17-year-old daughter and the teenage father of the girl's unborn child are getting married and invited all of us to the wedding. It should be like Sunday at church.

As for Palin herself, she is going to be very, very effective on the campaign trail, especially if McCain's people can figure out how to gently keep her from getting into confrontations with the press.

If she can answer questions like she handled herself at the convention, Palin will turn out to be the most interesting person in all of politics, and the press will treat her like they treated Obama when he was first discovered.

And remember, the Palin bandwagon needs to roll for only two months.

Here's the transcript from the Washington Post Dan Balz chat. Here's the complete Willie Brown column in the San Francisco Chronicle; it includes a few thoughts on John and Cindy McCain, too.

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Fortuitous: Colbert Interviews the "Uppity" Congressman from Atlanta

Update on earlier entry: "How Far We Haven't Come: Racism & Sexism Partners in Bigotry" about the Republican Georgia Congressman, Lynn Westmoreland who recently called Michelle and Barack Obama "uppity." 

In the good ole Old South the term was "uppity negroes" or "uppity N-word".  Westmoreland later claimed [lied] that he had no idea that was a racially tinged /charged term. Bullsh*t.

Too bad Colbert didn't know about that quote before this interview. However, the redneck bigot comes through loud and clear anyway. And this is Colbert at his best:

A Neocon's Admission: Good Reasons for The Vanishing Republican Voter

"

the trend to inequality is real, it is large and it is transforming American society and the American electoral map. Yet the conservative response to this trend verges somewhere between the obsolete and the irrelevant.

"

[Meanwhile...]

Wealthy Americans live in a world in which things work.

In case you missed it:

Excerpts from David Frum's New York Times Magazine editorial 9/7/08:

pervasive economic unease ... is capsizing the Republican Party ... Republican economic management ... has not yielded many benefits for middle-income America.

Meanwhile, the argument over same-sex marriage has become worse than a distraction... [a cruel, sadistic joke perhaps?]

...[C]onservatives need to ask ourselves some hard questions about the trend toward the Democrats among America’s affluent and well educated.

[Seven] of America’s [ten] best-educated states are strongly “blue” in national politics, and the others (Colorado, New Hampshire and Virginia) have been trending blue. Of the 10 least-educated, only one (Nevada) is not reliably Republican.

Republicans have been badly hurt in upper America by the collapse of their onetime reputation for integrity and competence. Upper Americans live in a world in which things work. The packages arrive overnight. The car doors clink seamlessly shut. The prevailing Republican view — “of course government always fails, what do you expect it to do?” — is not what this slice of America expects to hear from the people asking to be entrusted with the government.

...low-skilled immigration enriches upper America, lowering the price of personal services like landscaping and restaurant meals. And by holding down wages, immigration makes the business investments of upper America more profitable. 

Of course Frum's primary concern is about the Republicans "losing" POWER and wanting to "win" again. He's actually not that concerned about income inequality as a moral or social justice issue (not even just basic 'fairness'), nor does he mention the growing disparities over the past 30 years which began in the Reagan era. Only Bill Clinton and Robert Rubin (his Secretary of the Treasury) slowed it somewhat (remember, the republicans were in power in the Congress from 1994—2006!) and made America work better again for working people and families as well as for those who had the tools and skills for success. They made it work well for MOST, not just the top 10 percent!

The biggest reason to read the piece is that it's an especially valuable set of facts about why NOT to vote for McCain and the Republican Party this year or any time in the forseeable future.

The complete online NYT Frum piece is here.

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Desperately Seeking ... intellectual honesty and internal consistency?

Samantha Bee and Comedy Central visit the Republican Convention

What's that word I'm Looking for?
Bristol Palin has made the decision to have her baby, but Samantha Bee tries to remember another word for it.

More republican right-wing hypocrisy on choice, privacy, personal decisions: do as I say, not as I do. It's my choice but I'll take away your right to make your own decisions.

Urban Myth: Alaska Jet Not Sold on eBay as Palin, McCain Claim

SARAH PALIN'S Alaska Jet

Plane Not Sold on eBay

Updated 7:10 p.m.

By Anne E. Kornblut

One of the compelling anecdotes about Sarah Palin is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor's jet on eBay after taking office -- a swift move made by a reformer hoping to clean up the excesses of her predecessor.

But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to contemporaneous news reports, including a story in the New York Times.

Dan Spencer, the director of administrative services for Alaska's Public Safety Department, said that the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal. Reynolds made campaign contributions to both Palin and Harris in 2006 and 2007.

What happened? It appears that, as promised during her bid for governor in 2006, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay but that doing so was not as easy as it might have sounded. After putting it up to auction, there was one serious bid, in December 2006, and it fell through. Still, the Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving Palin's goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.

But that hasn't stopped Palin, or John McCain, from implying -- and, on Friday, claiming outright -- that Palin did sell the jet on the Internet.

"You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!" McCain declared in Wisconsin at a campaign stop on Friday. It could not be immediately determined what that profit was.

The video tribute to Palin that aired at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night made the same claim. "She signed sweeping ethics reform legislation, auctioned the governor's jet on eBay," the narrator said, citing it in a list of Palin's achievements.

Palin has been more cautious in her comments. Rather than claiming she sold it on eBay, she gave in her convention remarks a description that was true but, nonetheless, still left the impression she had sold the jet online. "That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay," Palin said.

"She put the plane on eBay," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain's campaign. "It didn't meet the minimum threshold the state desired so they used a broker.

Here is link to the Washington Post story.


And this is from the NY Daily News:

Story that Sarah Palin sold Alaska state jet on eBay is a campaign-trail tall tale

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, September 5th 2008, 12:05 PM

The folksy tale of how Gov. Sarah Palin saved Alaska millions by unloading the state jet on eBay is fast becoming a campaign fish-that-got-away tale.

Sen. John McCain not only repeated that story on the stump Friday to tout his Republican running mate, but added, "She made a profit, too."

The truth is that Palin couldn't find a buyer last year when she tried to peddle to plane on eBay - and lost the state money when she did sell it.

Palin's predecessor, Frank Murkowski, originally bought the 20-year-old Westwing II for the state of Alaska for $2.7 million. She listed it on eBay for $2.5 million.

When no offers came in, Palin hired a jet broker - Turbo North Aviation in Anchorage - which sold the jet for $2.1 million to an Alaska businessman.

"We handled the sale for the state of Alaska," jet broker Rob Heckmann told the Daily News. "The eBay thing didn't work out for them."

Twenty months ago, when Palin was running for governor, she pounded Murkowski relentlessly about the jet and called it an extravagance, even though he shared it with the state's Public Safety Department.

Heckmann said Palin isn't the first politician who has tried to sell a state plane on eBay.

Link to NY Daily News story.


So much for 'straight talk' and 'reform'. McBush the third is about doing business as usual the republican way: enrich the rich and powerful. To hell with the rest of us. That's why John McSame / McCain has at least 60 lobbyists on his campaign staff in key positions. No telling how many more in lower level posistions.

Bottom line so far: It was listed, but not sold on ebay apparently. A clever deceit indeed.

Watch what they DO, not what they SAY.

McCain-Palin: The Reform Ticket of Bush-Cheney-Rove Style Change

The Washington Post's Tom Toles editorial cartoon says it all about what a 'reformer' McCain will be:

How Far We Haven't Come

Racism and Sexism: Partners in Bigotry.

Barack and Michelle Obama are ‘uppity,’ says U.S. Congressman

Thursday, September 4, 2008, 03:50 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who was born and raised in the South, said Thursday that he’s never heard the word “uppity” used in a racially loaded fashion — and meant nothing more than “elitist” when he applied it to Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

[WHAT COMPLETE & UTTER BULLSHIT, of course.

Just like the denials of continuing, perpetual sexist knuckle-draggers on both the left and the right.]

“If anyone read more into it, no undercurrent was intended,” Westmoreland spokesman Brian Robinson said this evening.

In a Washington D.C. conversation with reporters, the two-term Sharpsburg congressman was discussing the speech of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin when he was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said, according to The Hill, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill.

When asked to clarify, Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

The Hill immediately posted the incident on-line, where it zipped around the Internet, causing Westmoreland’s office phones to ring off the hook.

The incident underlines the cultural minefields that come with a presidential campaign that features the first African-American to win the nomination of a major political party. Republicans say they’re merely trying to portray Obama as out of touch with working Americans, but some Democrats say the GOP is speaking in cultural code.

For decades in the segregated South, “uppity” was a word applied to African-Americans who attempted to rise above servile positions.

“It was only a matter of time before Republican officials shifted from oblique racially-charged language to brazen racially-charged language,” wrote Steve Benen, author of a blog for Washington Monthly magazine.

Though raised by a struggling, single mother, Obama studied at both Columbia University in New York and Harvard University. Michelle Obama was raised on Chicago’s rough south side, the daughter of a city pump operator — but she attended both Princeton and Harvard universities.

This spring, Obama apologized for his “poor word choices” at a California fund-raiser in which he described small-town Americans as “bitter” over the souring economy and clinging to religion and guns in response.

Citing that gaffe, Hillary Clinton sought to apply the “elitist” label to Obama in the Democratic primary. Republicans have tried to do so during their national convention in Minnesota.

“In small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening,” Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP nominee for vice president, said Wednesday in her debut speech.

A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign in Georgia declined comment.

In the article published by The Hill, the national Obama campaign did not note any racial context in the Georgia congressman’s remarks. “Sounds like Rep. Westmoreland should be careful throwing stones from his candidate’s eight glass houses,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Robinson, Westmoreland’s spokesman, said the Obama response proved that no offense was intended. “They saw it as the way he meant it,” Robinson said.

Westmoreland, who is contemplating a 2010 run for governor, released the following statement:

“I’ve never heard that term used in a racially derogatory sense. It is important to note that the dictionary definition of ‘uppity’ is ‘affecting an air of inflated self-esteem — snobbish.’

“That’s what we meant by uppity when we used it in the mill village where I grew up,” Westmoreland said.

Considered one of the most conservative members of Congress, Westmoreland represents the 3rd District, which covers much of central and western Georgia, from Henry County to Muscogee County. He was first elected to Congress in 2004, after beating Republican primary rival Dylan Glenn, an African-American.

Glenn was supported by several high-ranking Republicans, including former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich, who argued that the state GOP needed more diversity. That prompted DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, a Democrat who is also African-American, to jump into the campaign on Westmoreland’s behalf.

Both Jones and Westmoreland were first elected to the state House in 1992. Westmoreland later became the House minority leader.

The dinosaurs are dying off. That's an extinction I look forward to.







................

Logic is not the Point: Political Savvy & Emotional Intelligence Are

On CNN, Jeffrey Toobin concluded Sarah Palin's speech was much better than Joe Biden's. The democrat party and Biden have already proved they will have trouble knowing how to handle her without descending into sneering condescension.

Cogent analysis from Tom Shales TV Review column.

"

Palin gave the impression of an entire party rolling up its sleeves and digging in, never mind whether some of its arguments were illogical or shot full of holes, or even blatantly ridiculous, as when she portrayed the party as pro-environment and Giuliani earlier portrayed it as feminist-minded.

She proved herself in the great arena; that's what counts politically. Nobody could watch that speech and still consider her a joke, no matter how flimsy her credentials and qualifications may seem on paper. The joke, it seems, is on those who'd been laughing at her. Last night the laughing ended -- and the cheering began.

"

We'll see if the Obama campaign can adapt. It's clear the democratic party still hasn't. They're making the same tired defensive, deer-in-headlights whiney complaining statements they've always made or completely inappropriate off-base ones that show how condescending they are toward women candidates in general and Palin in specific. Call it a major deficit of emotional intelligence.

I don't mind seeing them get their butts kicked around for a while. I can imagine some well-earned schadenfreude and a few knowing smiles on the part of Hillary Clinton. Hillary's earned a well-deserved rest while the circus plays out. The dems threw her overboard — or under the proverbial bus — I think she's earned sitting on the sidelines from here on out, watching for as long as she wants. It's Obama's responsibility to earn the votes.

But ultimately I would not like to see Team McCain elected in November. It's also richly entertaining to see the Republicans become more wedded to their right wing anti-science, anti-choice, compulsory pregnancy, theocratic wing nuts.

Exhibit # 2 that the Dem & Media Elites Still "Don't Get It"

CNN is dicussing that the totally pathetic ineffectual, emabarrassing leader of the democrat senate, Senator Harry Reid's office issued a response characterizing Sarah Palin's speech as "shrill." Campbell Brown pointed out that no male speakers or leaders are ever called 'shrill.'

Paul Begalla is now showing that he doesn't 'get it' either. Donna Brazile is now defending Paul Begala.

These elite snobs are going to help the Republicans prove their case.

They truly have not learned the lessons of the past 28 years — which Bill and Hillary knew well when it comes to middle America, not the far left. Winning a primary is not the same as winning a national election.

This should remain interesting for a while.

Palin is impressive. The pundits are not. The democrat party is not. The republikkkan party is not.

It's still the sexist elitist media bias, stupid. Along with the obamatons and democrap pigs who are out in full force at The Fix.

Best Palin Zinger:
"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities." OUCH.

Snobby democrat elites, youthful arrogant know-it-alls & media still don't get the power of American symbolism

election campaigns are primarily about the realities of voters' minds, which depend on how the candidates and the external realities are cognitively framed. They can be framed honestly or deceptively, effectively or clumsily. And they are always framed from the perspective of a worldview.

The Obama campaign has learned this. [Have they? Or have they already forgotten it?] The Republicans have long known it, and the choice of Sarah Palin as their vice presidential candidate reflects their expert understanding of the political mind and political marketing. Democrats who simply belittle the Palin choice are courting disaster. It must be taken with the utmost seriousness.

The Democratic responses so far reflect external realities: she is inexperienced, knowing little or nothing about foreign policy or national issues; she is really an anti-feminist, wanting the government to enter women's lives to block abortion, but not wanting the government to guarantee equal pay for equal work, or provide adequate child health coverage, or child care, or early childhood education; she shills for the oil and gas industry on drilling; she denies the scientific truths of global warming and evolution; she misuses her political authority; she opposes sex education and her daughter is pregnant; and, rather than being a maverick, she is on the whole a radical right-wing ideologue.

All true, so far as we can tell.

But such truths may nonetheless be largely irrelevant to this campaign. That is the lesson Democrats must learn. They must learn the reality of the political mind.

Palin is masterful at the Republican game of taking the Democrats' language and reframing it -- putting conservative frames to progressive words: Reform, prosperity, peace. She is also masterful at using the progressive narratives: she's from the working class, working her way up from hockey mom and the PTA to mayor, governor, and VP candidate. Her husband is a union member. She can say to the conservative populists that she is one of them -- all the things that Obama and Biden have been saying. Bottom-up, not top-down.

Yes, the McCain-Palin ticket is weak on the major realities. But it is strong on the symbolic dimension of politics that Republicans are so good at marketing. Just arguing the realities, the issues, the hard truths should be enough in times this bad, but the political mind and its response to symbolism cannot be ignored. The initial Democratic response to Palin -- the response based on realities alone -- indicates that many Democrats have not learned the lessons of the Reagan and Bush years.

They have not learned the nature of conservative populism. A great many working-class folks are what I call "bi-conceptual," that is, they are split between conservative and progressive modes of thought. Conservative on patriotism and certain social and family issues, which they have been led to see as "moral," progressive in loving the land, living in communities of care, and practical kitchen table issues like mortgages, health care, wages, retirement, and so on.

From George Lakoff's HuffPo post


George Lakoff is the author of The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 20th Century Politics With and 18th Century Brain.

The G.O.P. Vetting Emporium: coming soon to a mall near you!

A little humor along the campaign trail.

That being said, the extreme left, obamabots and newly converted zealots have not failed to show their complete lack of empathy for a woman (and her children) who while being wrong on the issues, has shown some impressive qualities as an individual personality and as a strong woman. Hypocrisy can amply be found in both campaigns in heaping steaming piles.

The personal attacks truly are evidence of the ubiquity of sexism and misogyny in our culture -- it sure wasn't in Hillary's mind -- not to mention the complete effete sniffing snobbery of the belt-way elites, partisan bloggers and the media. Cynicism is the daily vitamin of both sides of the aisle.

Meanwhile: the dems should concede that Sarah Palin may be an impressive person with charming qualities. The republican party is not impressive in the least.

Hillary Rosen has a smart post over at the increasingly out-of-touch-with-reality Huffington Post.

Warning! This pundit isn't feeling the same way as most of my colleagues about Sarah Palin. She is being attacked for her lack of experience for the job and for whether she should be putting her family first instead of her career. This just isn't that unusual in my book. And the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable I feel with that message.

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I'm glad that Ms Palin and her family have the choice to make their own decisions, which should be private decisions. I'm especially happy that they and their children and soon to be grand-child will continue to have access to top-notch medical care; in fact if she wins, they will have the best medical care in the world.

I only wish they and the republican party agreed that all americans have constitutional rights to make their/OUR own personal and medical choices in privacy and that all americans should be afforded access to medical care at least as good as that of our elected federal representatives. We're the only industrialized nation which does not promote the health and well being of its citizens. The republicans have proved they intend to continue dismantling what is left of both privacy rights and the social safety network and social contract.

Don't forget the Republican Health Care Policy for at least 47 million of us: