The Sarah Palin Thread

O.K... it's getting way too warm and fuzzy in here. But I do have to admit, I did see the McCain that I would like to respect in that clip.
As much as I blog liberal, and am merciless with my McCain/Palin attacks, I made it a point to post the video as a feature today.
Funny, I had just written about how disgusted I was that McCain was doing nothing to refute the hate that his supporters were spouting. So it actually felt good to see him do the right thing. Sarcastic hatred really tires you out after a while.

 

Oh, don't worry, Harold - it will ice up in a minute or two, and the board will once again turn into a scabrous mess, I'm sure. - see below.

I find this hysterical.

If John McCain hadn't said what he said today, you'd never have removed your avatar portraying Barack Obama as Osama Bin Laden. Only yesterday, you vigorously defended the practice ("if it stops votes, fantastic!" - never mind it's this kind of hate that could actually result in violence, for godsakes), and both yourself and Biz defended Palin's vomit, for the same reasons:

Now that John McCain has done what he should have insisted on from the beginning, you immediately react, and pull down your offensive lie of an avatar?

In all seriousness, Simply - do you have any independent thought, or does it all come to following what your would-be leaders would do? I received an infraction for some of my comments this way last night (rightfully so), but it's a serious question, and goes directly to many of my critiques surrounding the blithe acceptance of what Palin and her ilk are puking out. I see blindness, and I find that dangerous.

This proves John McCain has finally had enough, at least for now, at least in one respect, and in this, he is doing something Obama has sought from the beginning. It isn't Obama's joy to trash McCain - it wasn't his joy to slam Hillary during the primary. It just isn't Obama's thing, period. You will (or won't) recall how many instances there have been, stretching back 2 years, now, when Obama has asked for a national debate that eschews the gutter politics of the Rovian past. In my book, this is normal, not extraordinary.

There has not been a candidate in American history who has faced as many withering broadsides of smear, paranoid delusion, and incitement to outright hatred as those endured by Obama - and yet he has done remarkably well in keeping the gloves up, in my opinion - a helluva lot more than I would have, or Obama had to, to be honest. He's gone south, no doubt; but it has consistently been in response to the crap being sent his way, and, perhaps to a fault, Obama seeks consideration and respect over animosity, from all that I can tell.

As only one example - you will (or won't) recall Obama's certain slamming down any attempt to make Palin's daughter's pregnancy the stuff of political fodder:

You will (or won't) recall that it became so obvious that even Bill O'Reilly was moved to comment on both Obama's decency (see their "sit-down") and campaign style, and on the other hand, the McCain ticket's gutter tactics in the "lipstick" non-event.

Bottom line, I see what John McCain did today as the right thing to do, and a correction to what his campaign has been doing very, very wrongfully, since the beginning. I honor him for it. But I do not see this as somehow showing "he's the man for the job over Obama," on the specific criterion you mention - "campaign honor."

 

I am honestly hopeful that this isn't just an act and the real John McCain I once supported will emerge.

If the real McCain could show himself, that he's back and not going anywhere I damn near could support him once more. A few issues honestly makes me seriously question it, and may make it so I can not with good conscious support him. In any event I will have lots to think about should he come forward and be the leader I once saw in him.

 

I'd love to see it too, Grim. I couldn't vote for him for his stand on many things, but there was a time, a few years back, when I, too, could have come close. I always honored him, and liked him, precisely for some of what I saw in this video of today. Well done, Senator. Keep it up.

 

Yeah a few issues just really tears at me. I know there is always some form of compromise. I do seriously find him weak on the 2nd however, together with an absolutely horrible stance on immigration are two main things I am not certain I could overcome.

 

For me, a good part of it comes down to foreign policy outlook. A serious deficiency of the current administration, in my opinion, is the notion that one instrument satisfies all needs, internationally - usually, militarism and its smug face, imperial arrogance (only demonstrating post-imperial weakness, as a result).

McCain's views are, in my opinion, way too close to Bush's in this respect - a simplistic belief in force, and a lack of understanding of its strategic consequences, a misapprehension that force cannot be divorced from other, "softer" variables, the political-economic dimension. If others saw in Obama's call for a multi-pronged approach to foreign relations - to include "talking with those who are enemies, as well as friends" - as a sign of "weakness" or "no stomach," I was very early on refreshed by the judgment this showed me.

Obama, I think, has a proper understanding that no action taken, internationally, can be divorced from an exhaustive and proper understanding of the internal politics of other nations; the economic, historical and cultural legacies embedded in those nations; and the importance (and relatively cheaper notion) of regional diplomacy over "go it alone" fiat, or imperial decree.

Basically, if Obama has said he believes in a budget approached by a scalpel and not a cleaver (whether either will work can be argued, obviously, anymore), I think he has a similar approach internationally, I think this very definitely distinguishes him from both Bush and McCain, and I think this is the right mindset when thinking on international relations.

 

North do you come to your own conclusions based on nothing? Because i see that as impossible. Anyone that makes decisions, makes them based on something that has influenced them.

I still stand by what i believe. That being that Obama did interact with terrorist. It is a fact. And granted that fact was used for a political advantage. Both parties participate in the same type of mudslinging. I also believe that a man with suck a background should not be eligible for presidency. I dont know Obama and neither do any of you. He could be a great family man. He could be a sleeper terrorist, I only know what i learn from the media. The same sources you get your info from.

For you to try and say i dont think for myself is silly. I make up my mind based on what i see as a whole.

By changing my avatar, I am simply admiring McCain for standing up against a crowd of his own supporters and expressing he own personal feelings on the matter. And putting the common act of mudslinging aside. That is admirable for a man running for the presidency to do.

Dont try and crush me because i decide to stand with him, and do the right thing by letting go of the mudslinging.

I dont get you North, when you disagree with my views, you attack, when my views change, you attack. What the hell are your intentions? Did you get picked on as a child or what? Is it the revenge of the handicapped or something?

You tell me, cause i cant seem to win with you.

 

Glad to see that. It reminded it me of how ridiculous and paranoid the McCarthy hearings seem when you look at them today.
Everyone knows that there is no way that a United States Senator is a Terrorist.
It's like labeling you neighbor a child molester even though you know it's not true, just to turn the other neighbors against him.

 

Simply, let's be clear on a few things.

Yesterday, it was cool with you to portray the standing nominee of the Democratic party as the most vile symbol of hatred known to Americans, generally. Your sole reasoning, as you stated it, was that so long as this would dissuade "a single vote" for Obama, "mission accomplished." I find that not only deeply offensive, but the mindset, radically irresponsible.

Yesterday, both you and Biz repeatedly defended the very filth that McCain is now apparently backing away from, at least personally (more on this below), irrespective of the level of hatred and potential violence on obvious display among the ticket's frenzied followers, over precisely the kind of thing like your avatar, or Palin's foam-in-the-mouth rabble-rousing, fomented.

Today, because McCain took his action, you drop your avatar. Not because it was wrong to do in the first place, but because "it honors McCain."

Today, you say McCain is "the right man for the job" because he made a move to correct what should never have been done in the first place.

Bottom line, I don't take issue with your beliefs, as much as I take issue with how you arrive at them, and how that level of what I feel is a kind of blind complacency, is a serious problem for our country.

***

I am very pleased to see Senator McCain take this course. That renewed admiration will be seriously tempered if I otherwise see him pursuing the same tack he has pursued since gaining the nomination (as I saw, a bit, today - another forum, and it was the same old smear), or allows his running mate to continue puking her filth, or allows his handlers to continue placing the sleaze fests.

 

Nuff Said.

 

Nathan, I might be tired - I've missed your meaning...?

 

Sorry, I wasn't reading the conversation. I just thought I'd throw my opinion in here randomly

Also I'd like to bring this up for those who have missed any of the news casts for the last few hours.
http://digg.com/politics/Alaska_panel_Palin_Abused_Power_In_Firing

If she managed to mess up being governor in just 18 months. Imagine how many mistakes she'll do in 4 years with all that power.

 

He did this because
a- It did not have any effect
b-he got a lot of bad press
c-he got calls from other republicans

 

Honestly, she really screwed him, but it was their own fault for not investigating everything and going for that sensationalism.
Well he got it.
The funny thing is, it was her husband that did her in.
I don't think that it will change a whole lot, as most voters have made up their mind, but I don't see McCain making a comeback.

You can't have a dirty campaign smearing your opponent with slurs like terrorist, unstable, dangerous, and unpatriotic when it is you with the most skeletons in your closet.

 

It's not McCain as president the danger. The danger is in his death...

 

He seems brain dead to me. kind of like bush.

 

You're right. If elected, best case scenario, he continues what Bush is doing: putting the US in the shit at all level. Worst case scenario, he dies and Palin becomes President: World War III, beginning by Russia and Pakistan...