Ten times as many people showed up at Invesco field as live in Wasilla. My high school has more people in it. It took more executive experience to put together one fundraiser than it did to put Wasilla in the red.

Steve, were you not copied on this memo?

"...even as John McCain's campaign declared heatedly it was time to stop questioning her background."

Shut up, that's why! Also she's a lady!

> all of this may seem rather trivial.

It's not trivial, when you consider that her tenure as mayor of Wasilla (pop. 5,700 at the time) is a cornerstone of her much-touted "executive experience."

Just this morning, Rudy Giulliani was on ABC, making the point that Palin "has been mayor of a city." You'd think Giulliani, of all people, would appreciate that not all mayoralties (mayorships? whatever) are not equal, but apparently not.

And as we look, it's hard not to notice that Palin sounds a lot like religious right-style culture warrior.

Awesome. I couldn't be happier. At a time when Americans are reeling from the bad economy the Republicans run an old-school culture warrior who has no idea what to do about it.

They keep going back to the same play that won them the big game four years ago but they haven't noticed that the field conditions and their opponent have changed.

Bring it.

Hopefully Joe Biden will have his hey day over all of this.

Steve, the free speech advocate, has deleted my comments. Palin did not burn books. The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita. Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita.

If the left was smart, they would not be lowering expectations for this woman.

To continue the size meme, I would assume that there are apartment projects in Giuliani's NYC with a population larger than Wasilla's.

Swear to god, I grew up in a town of 7,000 in Northern California and the mayor of the small town was also the high school's janitor/bus driver.

I wouldn't want that guy to be President and certinaly don't want Palin. I don't buy the her executive experience.

People like Palin, with their "Christians need to be running things" bullshit are the Gestapo in America's cultural holocaust.

It is absolutely relevant - supposedly, she has more experience than Obama. And this is the experience they're talking about.

Steve Benen wrote: "Frankly, all of this may seem rather trivial. The performance of a young mayor of a small town in Alaska 12 years ago probably sounds inconsequential in the context of a national presidential campaign."

Frankly, Sarah Palin has a trivial and inconsequential career. But you run for Vice President with the career you have, not the career you wish you had.

Hey, Bill! Steve is allowed to delete whatever he pleases, for whatever reason he pleases. The First Amendment applies to government censorship. I thought you right-wing dudes were supposed to be the experts on the Constitution.

Palin was a smart pick. She has about as much experience as Theodore Roosevelt or Lincoln and they are on Mount Rushmore. She may even become the first female president because McCain will be the oldest president elected for a first term and the oldest president was Reagan and his second term was a bit shakey. He just needed to continue doing the same.

Don't you get it? SHE'S A NEOCON!! No wonder John McPOW was anxious to get her on the ticket after only a couple of conversations, and no wonder the Righties are excited about her. Well, that and her rack, which didn't look all that great to me.

I agree wholeheartedly with Stefan - the country has to realize that one more administration like the one in power will likely tip the nation past recovery. It's the last opportunity to choose between rebuilding, and radioactive rogue nation.

A foam-flecked neowhacko like Sarah Palin is the perfect choice, pretty much like Hillary was going to be for the Republicans. As someone else said yesterday, I think it was RacerX, or maybe The Answer Was Orange; if the Dems can't win this one big, they deserve to lose.

and later said the discussions about banning books were "rhetorical." (No, I don't know what that means, either.)

It means that when she asked how one goes about banning books, she wasn't expecting an answer. She was expecting results.

Steve, the free speech advocate, has deleted my comments.

Funny. I see your comment just fine. Perhaps you're having problems with the WashingtonMonthly comment buttons. The one name "Post" on the far right is the one you want to use, not the one marked "Cancel".

Palin did not burn books.

And it doesn't say she did. It says that she asked about the process for banning books from the library. Which is a completely different thing, though most librarians I've known will get in your face about it as much as if you had suggested burning the books.

Learn to read.

Steve, the free speech advocate, has deleted my comments.

Start your own blog, spout all the stupid shit you want and marvel at the lack of readers you attract. I love how the tighty-righties scream "censorship!" when they get moderated for spouting repetitive, debunked bullshit. When you start a blog and the government shuts you down, you can scream about being censored, and we will back you up, most likely. Untol then, shut your damned fool mouth.

Palin did not burn books.

Not for lack of trying. The town librarian stood up to her. (Librarians and JAG officers have made me extremely proud the last few years.)

The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita. Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita.

Move your decimal one space to the left.

The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita. Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita.

Funny, when Bill Clinton left office, we had a budget surplus. Now, eight years later, we all owe $278,000.

I wonder how that happened. Any ideas, B.O.B.? Democrats weren't in control of Congress until 2006, and the debt was incurred before that, so it couldn't have been tax-and-spend. How exactly did it happen that the country is now so far in debt?

Also she's a lady!

If shes such a tough gun toting moose shooting Annie Oakley she should be able to take criticism instead of hiding behind her sex.

Steve, the free speech advocate, has deleted my comments. Palin did not burn books. The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita. Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita.

Posted by: Brick Oven Bill on September 3, 2008 at 12:48 PM | PERMALINK
_____________________________________

Soooo...doesn't aht mean the residents of Wasilla owe $3000, ON TOP OF the $278,000 they owe AS AMERICANS? She made them even more in debt than the rest of America. Why would you tout that as a plus?

As they say, "With all due respect (whatever that means)" to the militarists on this site: Do you want to have a "woman" as your Commander-in-Chief of the Greatest Military on the face of the planet, in the event that McPOW is not able to serve? I can just see Gen. Petraeus(sp) taking orders from a "woman"! I wonder how they would react to Hillary as CIC?

Just saying.

I am committed to Onenss through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

Sarah Palin is not so much a NeoCon as she is Christianist. This is about stoking the Culture War fires and getting the Religous Right's foot soldiers out there for McPOW.

Good grief, that's weird. She made abortion the cornerstone of her campaign for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? And they FELL for it? Did she succeed in reversing Roe from her post in Wasilla, Alaska? I'm beginning to think ol' "f*#&$' redneck" Levi might represent the upper half of their IQ scale....

That's what Democratic surrogates and pundits need to focus on tonight: who she is.

Don't fall for this pregnancy crap or whether or not she will give a good speech. Of course she will. She's not new to public speaking and teleprompters, she's new to the issues most Americans care about.

However, she is well-versed in the fringe, right wing jeremiads that will electrifying the lunatics on that floor.

Point that out. Point out that Palin is the fringe right's dream gal. These are the people that now call George Bush a liberal and think the government should be focused on Terry Schaivo.

Those folks adore her.

She's going to kill tonight in that room, but let's explain just how scary that is for the rest of the people watching on tv.

That's what Democratic surrogates and pundits need to focus on tonight: who she is.

Don't fall for this pregnancy crap or whether or not she will give a good speech. Of course she will. She's not new to public speaking and teleprompters, she's new to the issues most Americans care about.

However, she is well-versed in the fringe, right wing jeremiads that will electrifying the lunatics on that floor.

Point that out. Point out that Palin is the fringe right's dream gal. These are the people that now call George Bush a liberal and think the government should be focused on Terry Schaivo.

Those folks adore her.

She's going to kill tonight in that room, but let's explain just how scary that is for the rest of the people watching on tv.

For an excellent discussion on the new culture war and how to fight the right wing extremists:

The Palin Choice: The Reality of the Political Mind
by George Lakoff

http://www.truthout.org/article/george-lakoff-warns-dems-reality-based-arguments

The right wing ecstasy that greeted the announcement that Palin was the pick for veep always struck me as completely irrational. Why was everyone so happy that a small time politico and complete unknown was #2?

But now it's looking more obvious: the culture wars are back on! Time to sweep away all this silliness about global warming, war and the economy ... it's all about god, gays and guns again. Just don't look too close at the hypocrisy.

Obama is right, we shouldn't look at Palin's family, her record is the real embarrassment. Palin is George Bush in a skirt. She took her two executive offices with little to no debt, squandered potential to get into the black and got the citizenry deep into debt when they didn't have to be. Plus she has a vengeful streak a mile wide and places staff loyalty to her uber alles. Right wing conservatives are all cut from the same cloth, even the former beauty queens.

Oy. First, the $3000 they owe needs to be examined with respect to that city's budget. So if US citizens owe $28.7k each (not 287k) that's as part of an over $1 trillion US budget. The ratio means that to be comparable, the Wasilla budget would have had to have been about $100 billion. It's probably more like $10 million, so basically, it's MUCH worse of a figure.

And secondly, WTF is the mayor of a small town doing running on national wedge issues? Dont those citizens have more important things to worry about, say, perhaps, like not borrowing yourself into oblivion?

ENOUGH!

Let's talk Obama! Why is he the ONE? What does he mean to the U. S. and the world? Let's talk about his vision for a better nation and world, for better health care, for a better economy, for no more wars, for a greener world!

Make his opposition react and respond or shut up!

Time to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and to quit messin' wit Mr. In-between.

Palin isnt a fundamentalist, she makes use of fundamentalism. Same as with Reed and Abramoff. Get the whackos out to vote for something, they said, to obfuscate complex legislation and slide it under peoples noses.

BOB: Steve, the free speech advocate, has deleted my comments. Palin did not burn books. The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita. Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita.

Nobody said she burned books, you idiot.

As for what you "think" (I use that word loosely in reference to you) about what Americans owe per capita, are you saying the residents of Wasilla aren't Americans? Further, their debt incurred under Palin is therefore irrelevant when compared to the national debt? Misdirection, spin, logical fallacies, straw men.

SteveMule @ 1:01 PM got it right. B.O.B. is right about one (and only one) thing. It is not in our interest to underestimate Governor Palin. She's no idiot and she connects well with people. However, if Obama wins we have the potential for a two-fer. Not only can he discredit movement conservatism, but he will also weaken the religious right as a political force.

All this talk of Palin as a right-wing culture warrior [or a "neocon"--huh? They're, er, different] misses a lot of complexities. This born-again Christian moralist also fought to keep the Wasilla bars open until 5 AM! And her record as governor shows little or no attention to moral/religious issues--she's mainly been known for her obsession with goosing oil and gas production, forcing the oil companies to share more of the profits with the state, and showering the taxpayers with big checks. The better way to understand her is to see her as an opportunist; she'll be what the voters want her to be. Wasilla was ripe for a religious right candidate in the 1990s; Alaska was ripe for a corruption-fighting, screw-the-oil-companies candidate in 2006. The left blogosphere is making a huge mistake if they think she's incapable of shifting shape yet again.

Andy - its truly astonishing to see all of the republicans coming out of the woodwork to gush about how beautiful the Emperor's new clothes are.

Did I say "astonishing"? I meant "revolting".

You want to know what is the problem with Kansas? A whole lot of Sarah Palins. Do you want to know what happened in Kansas? The regular Republicans became conservative Democrats and Kathleen Sebilius is now in her second term.

There are only so many culture warriors like Sarah Palin in America. It is impossible for a well identified culture warrior to win in a national election. Hell they have a hard time winning in small town America if they are really committed to their culture war.

It sounds like Sarah started off as a flake and found that to stay in power she would have to grease the wheels with pork. Don't under estimate dear Sarah. I bet she gives a wonderful speech tonight. I also bet she doesn't focus on the culture war. If she does, she and John are toast.

Funny, when Bill Clinton left office, we had a budget surplus. Now, eight years later, we all owe $278,000.

Careful now. First, Clinton had a couple years of surplus, but a surplus or deficit is a one year result. The $27.8K number is a reflection of the total National Debt (an accumulation of many years of deficits and a couple surpluses).

To put this in context, the Debt was .91 Trillion after Carter, 2.6 T after Reagan, 4.06 T after GHW Bush, 5.67 T after Clinton and about 9.65 now. Part of the progression is interest, but don't kid yourselves. Republicans lie. Don't help them by misrepresenting the facts.

By the time Joe Biden is finished with her at the debate there won't be anything left but a cinder.

Baked Alaska

This born-again Christian moralist also fought to keep the Wasilla bars open until 5 AM!

Nothing complex about populism. I'd rather rassle a moose than an oilman whose last call got cut short.

The left blogosphere is making a huge mistake if they think she's incapable of shifting shape yet again.

I think she's capable of any number of things. Doing them without being called on it by voters is another thing altogether.

Bush has been an eight year drought and these two idiots like to play with matches.

That's Just What I Said

Don’t worry Gang Green; Wall Street, the Chinese, and the oil interests will soon figure out that neither the federal government, nor the residents of Wasilla, who are very attractive, by the way, will be able to pay off those debts. We are on the hook for $53 trillion, or $178k per person, including the bums. Palin's family is on the hook for $1.23 million if we judge by counting heads. In reality, she probably owes triple that.

Should be an interesting Century.

The left blogosphere is making a huge mistake if they think she's incapable of shifting shape yet again.

After all she's a barricuda who maybe won Miss Congeniality; a pork queen who rails against pork; a Ted Stevens protege who fights corruption; a fisherman with out a license who wanted her brother in law fired for shooting a moose without a license.

"The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita. Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita."

The residents of Wasilla, Alaska aren't Americans?

"Palin was a smart pick. She has about as much experience as Theodore Roosevelt or Lincoln and they are on Mount Rushmore."

They are? Then, let's ask their opinions. I don't think anyone's in a hurry to fire up the air chisels and find a spot for Sarah.

Seriously, Palin's mayoral behavior IS NOT trivial at all. It is a case study of the Radical Right's approach to "governing" in contravention of the U. S. Constitution, reasonable behavior, and American traditions and values.

What amazes me is that B.O.B. continues to post to this site, after being villified and trashed day after day, post after post. What does this say about the mentality of the radical right? Are they totally immune from feeling? Do they actually recognize that their positions are so far out of the "mainstream" that they may as well be blowing into the wind, for all the difference they make in our opinions? Are WE so out of the mainstream that OUR opinions make no difference to the larger society of the U.S. and of the world? Sometimes I think that may be the case. That the ideas of people like McCain, Palin, Bush, Rove, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, etc. get as much credibility as they do mystifies me. Maybe I am on the wrong planet, not them.

Any ideas? I love to read the comments of MsJoanne, Blue Girl, zeitgiest, et al and am glad that I am not alone in this point of view.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation

peace,
st john

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!

*sob*

You forgot that she raised taxes, too, as I noted a href="http://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2008/09/palin-roundup-day-4-follies.html ">last night.

You know, I'm beginning to think this pick was not as hasty as we all want to think it was.

The McCain camp knows damn well that, just like GOP campaigns of recent memory, they can't win on issues that Americans actually care about (economy, war, environment, health care).

So instead, they need to push the wedge issues and asinine personality politics they're so good at using. And to do that, you need someone with the bona fides the base loves -- a virulently forced-pregnancy supporting, gay hating, bullshit social-issues-loving loon who will tell the base all they want to hear.

The problem is, however, that those type of campaigns only work when things are going relatively well and, thus, the people can be easily distracted. That's just not the case this year -- most folks may not be as plugged in as most of us, but they want the economy fixed, our troops out of Iraq, health care for all, and a solution to our energy mess.

So if the GOP wants to ignore that and go the usual route, fine. I just hope that the American public finally wakes up this time.

jibeaux wrote: I think she's capable of any number of things. Doing them without being called on it by voters is another thing altogether.

Unfortunately, doing them without being called on it by the media is yet another thing altogether. McCain has pandered shamelessly in this election -- not the least by letting the religious right veto his preference for Veep --showing that apart from a prolonged occupation of Iraq, he has not a principle that isn't for sale.

And if it gets noticed, you get jackasses like Brooks and Cohen saying that he doesn't really like to, but the mean ol' voters make him do it. Feh.

Well she does describe Alaska as "God's Country". It makes me cringe.

Steve! Banning books is not a trivial action! I take her intention very seriously and it should be condemned in the strongest terms.

Hoo, boy, this doesn't look good. Palin just filed an ethics complaint with the Alaska State Personnel Board . . . against herself!

According to McClatchy this is an attempt to dodge an indictment for abuse of power until after the election:

"Her lawyer sent an "ethics disclosure" Monday night to Attorney General Talis Colberg. The governor asked that it go to the three-person Personnel Board as a complaint. While ethics complaints are usually confidential, Palin wants the matter open.

The lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, also asked the state legislature to drop its own investigation into the Monegan matter. He says the Personnel Board has jurisdiction over ethics."

The Alaska Dems are proceeding with their own investigation and will take it wherever it leads.

Complaining to the government about your own ethics? That's rich. Finally, an honest Republican.

Brick Oven Bill wrote:

> The residents of Wasilla owe $3000 per capita.
> Americans owe, I think, $278,000 per capita.

The U.S. national debt is about $31,000 per person -- a full order of magnitude lower than your assertion. And the fine folks of Wisilla owe that, too, along with the rest of us; the $3,000 cited in the article only refers to their community's debt from a massive and ill-considered bond Ms. Palin championed.

And while we're talking about the national debt, it's worth noting that the current administration, having inherited a federal budget with a small surplus, has almost doubled the national debt in just eight years.

Yep, call Sarah Palin a Tax and Spend Conservative. All the governing problems you hate and she'll invade your bedroom to regulate your sex life.

Orange

There are two ideas of patriotism in the world.

A) Never critize your country, even when it is in the wrong, and
B) Never fail to critize your country when it is in the wrong.

But there is only one type of Patriot;

1) When he wants to critize a problem, he espouses A, but
2) When he wants to ignore a problem, he espouses B.

For a depressing scenario,check out today's Huffington Report and read Jay Rosen's post entitled "The Culture War Option for the Palin Convention".

Sadly, I'm one who thinks it could work.

Andy you are incorrect, unless you plan on taking entitlements away from dependent peoples. I’m not a big fan of CNN's Glenn Beck, but here is his take. Personally, I place more trust in Senator Coburn, who asks to be called ‘Doctor Coburn’ rather than ‘Senator Coburn’. His number is $70 trillion, growing by $3 trillion per year,

This is one reason that I am a good gardener.

The media are not in her corner. The media are having a field day. David Brooks is not "the media". When it comes to everyday, low-to-mid brow grocery store media, US Weekly is about as media as it gets, probably has 1 million times the readership of the Brookster, and if you're Sarah Palin you do NOT want to see the cover lede "Babies, Lies, and Scandal". I mean, this thing is like those Russian nesting dolls, just one gift-wrapped "Um, THAT didn't come out in your vetting, either?" after another.

Why else do you think the campaign has been breaking out the: Hey! Leave her alone! She's awesome! This stops now! She's a lady! SHUT UP, THAT'S WHY!

What amazes me is that B.O.B. continues to post to this site, after being villified and trashed day after day, post after post. What does this say about the mentality of the radical right?

Two words: Martyr Complex. Bullies love nothing more than to pretend to be victims when confronted. So, they say patently stupid shit, get called out on it, and then they're "suffering oppression for their beliefs, just like Jesus".

She will do well tonight. She's going to go with what she knows: energy. She's going to make the case for drilling as a way towards energy independence, national security, and a new AMERICAN economic revival. That's the talking point she's been honing in Alaska for the last 18 months. She's going to kill with this. Average Joe will be impressed.

She's then going to rehash all of the culture war talking points to cause the religious right to go into apoplectic fits.

It will be a spectacle! And she will get everyone to give her serious consideration.

Orwell, you are such a cutup. I really hope you are planning to be a long-term contributor to this blog, because I am beginning to rely on you for my daily laugh. So, now Palin's having an unsavoury record is somehow a point in her favour, because she has one. Did you forget to mention her breasts? Obama doesn't have any of those! Gynecological modesty prevents me from going further.

You can find out anything you want to know about Obama with a simple search. You don't bother, because it suits your purposes to pretend he's a secret Muslim that popped out of a cave in Tora Bora about a month before the Primaries started. The only people who know nothing about him are those too lazy or stupid to look, and the ideological extremists whose minds are already fixed on McCain.

I further hope the Democrats are paying attention to the extensive laundry list of credentials the Republican crackpots keep attributing to Palin. A few questions regarding the test phase of the Missile Defense System - which an ace by osmosis might reasonably be expected to know - should reveal how little she really knows about it. Ditto her executive experience.

The danger in making your candidate out to be too brilliant is the inmpossible amount of cramming they have to do before their actual knowledge is tested.

orange

B.O.B. is a troll. Do not feed.

Rove does know one thing: how easily manipulated the masses are. Palin is a perfect Rovian candidate because (a) she is so underqualified that the left and the media will drive expectations for her even lower than W's before the debates and (b) as a sportscaster and pageant participant she is used to and poised in speaking, crowds, teleprompter use and the like.

She will do very well tonight and get rave reviews. Count on it.

Presumably Team Obama is smart enough to do just that and has a plan ready for the several days after her free pass at the podium is over.

If the bar is "sportscaster", then I say:

OBAMA/OLBERMANN '08 BABY!

Unlike Obama who has been in charge of....

... a massive campaign machine that decimated his better-funded, better-known opponent and came out the other side with money left over.

He has 2,500 employees in the main office alone. So clearly he has no experience at all running a large organization.

How can you rake in that much pork and run up that much debt at the same time? It's like Bush presiding over price inflation and a recession. These Republicans have a gift, I tell you.

though Palin reversed course after a local outcry, and later said the discussions about banning books were "rhetorical." (No, I don't know what that means, either.)

I'm sure she meant theoritical, not rhetorical. But then again, she so far seems really, really stupid, so it's not a surprise that she'd use a word that sounds right but in actuality, makes no sense whatsoever. Kind of like our current president.

Maybe by "rhetorical" she meant "doesn't require a response." As in "just ban the books and don't give me any backtalk about it."

I'm voting for Obama of course... but let's be honest. If SimCity has taught us anything, it's that small towns have to rack up a lot of debt if they want to grow up into big towns. As with everything else in life, you have to spend money to make money. Maybe her spending wasn't wise, but spending and debt are not themselves problems. The question is whether the debt was productive. That's the interesting issue.

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