Well, I'm not buying it, but then again I'm not completely fucking brain-dead. Just partially.

I haven't had time to do much reading here, of late, so if this is old news to the highly perceptive Benenites, my apologies.
Palin is a pre-election lame duck. Kind of a VP stalking horse. My prediction, made about 3 hours after the announcement of her selection, is that she'll 'step aside to xxx her family and/or yyy for the sake of the campaign and the party'. Nowhere will anyone admit error, incompetent vetting, or (my favorite) that they never inteended for her to stay on the ticket, she was just put there so that Huck or Mitt would look better when they step in to save the day.

This line of attack looks promising, but it won't work. She can just present herself as a reformed porker, who came to believe that earmarks are bad and will fight them in Washington.

If, "towns like Wasilla in Alaska depended on earmarks to take care of basic needs," then why is it again that McCain opposes the practice of earmarking? And why did Palin become "disgusted" with earmarks "as her career has progressed"?

Oh please let there be hard copies of these "pork lists" available!!

Honestly, how great would that be?

Steve Benen wrote: "And as is always the case, it comes back to McCain's judgment. Did he know about any of this?"

Like George W. Bush, McCain is a figurehead and frontman for a criminal gang masquerading as "conservative" politicians in order to gain power and enrich themselves, their cronies and their financial backers at the expense of the American people. Palin was selected by the Rove machine, to whom McCain answers. McCain regurgitates whatever scripted talking points the Rove machine gives him. McCain himself is nothing but a burnt-out shell.

We have listened for 8 looooong years as rethugs tell us that they have changed, they're even FOR change, and if we would just trust them we will see for ourselves how much they have changed. They tell us they have learned the error of their ways. It's all been lies. It is lies now. Anyone who believes this crap is bat-shit crazy.

The real question: "Is the press tired of being bamboozled by McCain?".

If he cancels on Larry King a couple of more times, I think they'll get tired of his act.

This is so funny; the GOP is complaining that the Dems are out-organizing them:

“The left controls ... those mechanisms of power in our country,” Santorum said. “All we have is the family. All we have is the churches.”

Sniff. All they have is the big corporations, and banks, and insurance companies, and defense contractors, and Wall St, and right-wing radio, and Fox News...

speed you left out a couple. they also have the Executive and Judicial Branches. how tragic for them to have so little! /snark

They have ol Grandpa McCoy on such a tight leash , I'm suprised they are letting him make an acceptance speech, instead of issuing a press release.

You missed an obvious point, Steve. If small towns depend on earmarks, why was McCain criticizing them when they were first passed? Is he completely ignorant in his earmark crusade, or is he lying?

Speed,

Don't forget, the Republicans also controlled both houses of Congress from 1995 - 2006 (with a brief Dem plurality after the Sen. Jeffords switch to Independent in 2001).

Republicans whine about not being in control even when they are in control. When they can't get their way through swagger and arrogant abuses of power they whine and run to the churches for solace.

How do these characters sleep at night?

I'm getting the funny feeling that McCain's choice of Palin has energized Democrats.

I'm also beginning to think she's a major drag on the economy. With stories popping out from behind every tree, September productivity is going to be in the toilet.

One of the added benefits of this particular revelation is that it also stomps right on one of McCain's favorite stump speech examples of purported government waste - the infamous "$3 million to study grizzly bear DNA in Montana."
OK Johnny-boy, how do you feel about "$2 million to research crab productivity in the Bering Sea?"
Crow: it's what's for dinner.

how do people who vote for these characters sleep at night?

TippeMcCain & Palin, Too!
I Mcain't hardly wait!

This is probably just me, because I'm a big ol' nerd, but the choice of Palin reminds me a lot of the old DVD-Divx war. Before "divx" was a compressed video format," it was the name of a digital video format originally designed to compete with DVD & heavily pushed (and mostly owned) by Circuit City. The idea was, the players would be wired to your TV and your phone line, discs would be priced-to-rent, and when you brought a disc home and put it in your player, the modem would call the Divx center, unlock the disc, and you'd have 48 hours to watch it before it would lock back up. After that, you could pay the rental fee again when you wanted to watch it again, bring the disc to a designated return center so it could be rented again, or just throw it away (ain't THAT America?).

From the get-go, the idea of Divx caused more problems than solutions: Would the players also play regular DVDs? (It was decided upon that they would, before the rollout, but it was touch-and-go for a while) What if you wanted to own the movie outright (you could pay a purchase price, but it would only play on players you owned. MAYBE it would play on all divx players for an ADDITIONAL fee - if the studios wanted it to happen - but it would never play on a standard DVD player no matter what). Would the Divx center keep my movie rental info? (sure they would, but they wouldn't do anything with it, they said) What about all those tossed discs? They won't biodegrade! And what if the rented disc you return still retains your rental info (some people had trouble playing previously rented discs for this reason, and other people got billed for other people's rentals on that "recycled" disc as a result). What if my kid throws a disc back in the player without my permission, am I responsible for the rental fee? (duh, of course). What if it's a movie that's ONLY available to rent? If a Disney classic only comes out this way, am I expected to keep paying a rental fee every time my daughter wants to watch Snow White? She watches Snow White ALL THE TIME!!! (Disney had to assure customers all of its "classic" titles released on divx would be available for purchase, but of course, tough luck having your daughter bring her copy of Snow White to a friends' house for a sleepover)

As all of these questions and more kept popping up, the overriding theme of all of these questions was: How is this making my movie-watching experience better? or easier? Or even cheaper? Sure, the movies were priced to rent, but the divx-equipped DVD players cost up to 100 dollars more because of the modem built in. And as DVDs weren't priced that expensively in the first place (not compared to its predecessor, laser discs, anyway), and internet companies like netflix made it easy for people to rent DVDs and return them without having to go to a store to pick them up in the first place, Divx became what one DVD aficionado at the time called "The answer to a question that nobody asked." In less than a years' time, Divx was dead. I never bought a player, but bought one divx movie as a gag. The movie, was ironically "Great Expectations."

Today, I feel compelled to send that worthless disc to Sarah Palin. It just seems so apt. Great Expectations for a "product" that creats far more questions than answers, and far more problems than solutions.

Thanks for letting me cyber-rant.

Did he know about any of this? Does he consider Palin's lobbying for earmarks an example of the kind of "reform" he wants to bring to the White House?

McCain doesn't care about bringing reform to the White House. The only thing John McCain cares about is getting elected. His image as a "maverick", sustained by a craven and compliant media 4 years after McCain capitulated to Bush conservatism, is a farce. McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for his VP running mate is simply McCain's latest act of submission to Republican ideologues (Military Commisions Act, anyone?), and the Sarah Palin presented by McCain's GOP handlers is a fiction for whom they are gambling the voters will suspend their disbelief.

What a travesty!

Slappy,

Thanks for that (frankly) awesome analogy!

As for my pop-culture comparison? Well it hit me this morning in the shower - Palin is the real life version of Kirstie Alley's character in Drop Dead Gorgeous!

VOTE DIGBY-CLARK-2008---VOTE THE INTERNET quality and honor
VOTE JONATHAN VERSEN-2008 FOR TEXAS US SENATOR---VOTE THE INTERNET a Texan working for Texans.

THIS is the ad that Barack Obama should release on Friday, and tie it to the economy. John McCain and his running mate "just don't get it" when they talk on both sides of the earmarks issue, and when they think that we will be duped into believing them if they keep saying the same thing over and over again. The evangelical base says that Sarah Palin "walks the walk" instead of just "talking the talk," but what about when it comes to our taxes? And the ad should include pictures of the projects that she lobbied for, along with the price tags.

All they have is the big corporations, and banks, and insurance companies, and defense contractors, and Wall St, and right-wing radio, and Fox News...

....T. Boone Pickens, The Associated Press, the pharmaceutical industry, Exxon/Shell/etc., AT&T, and of course, Sun Young Moon.

Now, I admit I don't have the years of DC experience that McCain has, but even I knew that Alaska gets more federal revenue than any other state, and would have thought to ask about her record on earmarks. He really isn't very thoughtful, is he?

This line of attack looks promising, but it won't work. She can just present herself as a reformed porker, who came to believe that earmarks are bad and will fight them in Washington.

Yes, but will anyone believe her? She _hired her own lobbyist._ For a town of 6,000 people? Even the official defense line up there --- if there's more than 5 towns of that size who have their own lobbyist in DC I will eat my hat.

how do people who vote for these characters sleep at night?

Lunesta.

Bob Novak insisted today...

Lost me there. Robert Novak is unbelievable. No really, I mean it.

Is anyone buying this?

You bet. The LimbBots.

Did he know about any of this? Does he consider Palin's lobbying for earmarks an example of the kind of "reform" he wants to bring to the White House?

All good questions, if they were directed toward someone with an ounce of integrity. Or better put, if the media was truly capable of holding feet to the fire. But they are not. And sadly, this stuff will not get the play it merits. But on the bright side, the Republicans might just lose anyway -- despite the underwhelming zeal for relevant information by the voting public.

why on earth would john mccain and the republicans what to take away something that small towns depend on to "take care of basic needs?"

I thought Novak retired.

Palin is Failing The Republicans will not admit it though

Palin the failed trophy VEEP

So, Novak has trashed what's left of his principles to hop on the bandwagon. Well, Bob, there goes what's left of your legacy.

(I e-mailed him last night to see if he had any actual insider scoop on the process. (evansnovak@aol.com, per his Sun-Times webpage)

Don't forget that as mayor, even in her first term, she went to Washington to lobby for money. That is a pretty bold step when you consider the distance, the size of her town (5000 at the time) and the fact that Washington is very far away.

Someone should ask why she didn't lobby her state for the money.

No executive experience

Obama seems to have left out this job from his resume ..

"Recently [1995] he [Obama] was appointed president of the board of the Annenberg Challenge Grant, which will distribute some $50 million in grants to public-school reform efforts."

... I wonder why ?? ... this would be an excellent comeback for Obama to all those complaints that he never had executive experience or handled a payroll.