I've had that confidence too, though it generally only came after the fifth shot of Jaeger.

Sounds like a Ronco infomercial

Candidates in Soviet elections were very confident too, because they had no one to run against.

McCain surrendered

My first question would be: Why did we invade Iraq and what connection was there with the 9/11 attacks?

even so, that speaks to a certain bravado...

probably not the best trait...

Someone should toss this one at her.

Would you launch an attack that would kill 50 unborn babies to save one American life?

Okay, so she'll play "stump the candidate" with a friendly audience, but can she withstand Leno's Jaywalking questions?!?!

No, Steve, it sounds like Palin is a scared little know nothing, a loud mouthed incompetent scared shitless of the American people. A perfect match for her house boy McFeeble, the brilliant foreign policy expert who can't remember or even recognize the prime minister of Spain. Scared and stupid: vote Republican 2008.

There are plenty of voters out there that would play more than 'stump the candidate' with Gov Palin.

They are probably mentally unvexing her as we speak.

I could be one of them.

This "stump the candidate" nonsense was uttered at the end of the town hall. Nobody ever asked her a question after that, because McCain jumped in and answered the question about her lack of experience for her.

Someone in the audience asked her to provide a specific set of skills that she possesses they could use to refute claims she's inexperienced. These folks want to fight for Palin, they want ammo.

She couldn't provide it for them. Instead, she gave them a friggin punchline. She's GOLD for late-night comedians, and that's really going to start taking its toll on perceptions of the ticket. She's a court jester to a tired old man who wants to be elected king.

Sounds like it was said just to have a video of it for the news and to use in commercials. See, she's asking for questions! Cut! Print! Nevermind that she wasn't allowed to answer any.

Actually, it was even worse for Palin.

She was asked to name a "specific skill" that she had that would help her deal with foreign affairs.

She was unable to come up with a single skill, simply stating that she was "prepared" and "ready," as if those were "skills" to be President or Vice-President.

It doesn't exactly sound like a vote of confidence in the candidates' ability to answer tough questions, does it?

No, but it sounds exactly like Bush's staged Potemkin events.

I wonder if the so-called "liberal media" -- after quoting Palin on her "confidence" and "readiness" -- noted the unlikelihood of a hand-picked partisan Republican crowd serving up a stumper.

Oh, wait -- no, I don't wonder at all.

So how, exactly, does Porker Palin's fear of the American people make her qualified for the position of Vice President? And what ramifications does her fear have for dealing with serious national and international issues? Can a person so scared of the American people be effective?

Your comment struck a chord. "This tired old man that we've elected king." What was the song and who was the artist? I can't remember. I think the song was originally written with Reagan in mind but it could apply just as well to McCain. If you remember, let me know.

Sorry - that comment was meant for Jake.

Damn, Obama was so brave. Hanging out with Barbara Streisand and all those tough questions from the Hollywood crowd!

Hey, Obama's nutroots hacked Palin's e-mail and were dropping sandbags on cars from highway bridges and the RNC.

I think America recognises that Obama is in bed with some nasty tactics and doesn't need McCain-Palin to not defend themselves.

What Americans have to consider is whether it’s a good thing to have Sarah “Porky the Earmark Pig� Palin’s abject fear of the world in the number two executive position in the American government. Can we afford to vote for fear, for a scared little porker frightened of her own shadow?

Hi, I'm Sarah Palin. I'm confident that I'm a foreign policy expert because I slept at a Holiday Inn last night.

Speaking of packed house- Anyone see the clip on Olberman of McSame speaking at an car factory - when he finishes his stump speech , the line workers start yelling OBAMA!! 08 -Perfect all McLame could manage was the Rictus Grin

Speaking of packed house- Anyone see the clip on Olberman of McSame speaking at an car factory - when he finishes his stump speech , the line workers start yelling OBAMA!! 08 -Perfect all McLame could manage was the Rictus Grin

That "by invitation/ticket holders only" type of thing is what Bush did all the time...remember the West VA incident where the sheriff escorted out a Kerry tshirt wearing supporter.....so I am not surprised that McLiar is doing the same thing...a typical Rep ploy.

Got it: Don Henley "The End of the Innocence"

Maybe not so apt as American lost its innocence a long time ago.

Lori - The End of the Innocence - Don Henley

Being prepared and being blessed by God are skills that none of the God loathing leftists on this blog have.

So Porky McPalin has no problem feeding at the trough of American taxpayer’s money, but when it comes time to face those same American people she hides behind a feeble geriatric house boy who can’t even recognize the Spanish prime minister, even when he’s told that’s who it is. Why is Porky McPalin so scared of the same folks who pay her salary? Why is she so scared of the folks who actually pay for her porcine feeding frenzies? Why is Palin scared of the American people, and how would her fear impact her performance as Vice President?

OK, Ms. "Stump the Candidate". Here's a question for an oil expert like you,, "Please explain why Congress and the executive branch should not focus on passing legislation that ends the tax breaks and loopholes for Big Oil and returns that money to taxPAYERS to help offset rising fuel costs? Even President bu$h, in 2005 stated,"And so one of the initiatives that I will push, again, is to get an energy bill out. I will tell you with $55 oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There are plenty of incentives." Now oil is apprx. $100/ barrel, not $55. $100 billion (that's "Billion")in PROFITS was made by the big four oil companies in 2007. If just one of these companies, Exxon/Mobil, were a country, its 2007 profit would exceed the GDP of nearly two thirds of the 183 nations in the World Bank's Economic Rankings. Yet oil companies get money from the government in the form of tax breaks and incentives before American families get tax relief? Please explain this situation to the Americans who are struggling to try to keep their homes, are working multiple jobs, and who can't afford health insurance.

Vote for Porky Palin: Prepared to be scared from day one!

Vote for McFeeble: Geriatric house boys make better...something. What was the question?

Juliet Eiperin of the WaPo was just interviewed by Contessa Brewer on MSNBC. Eiperin said last night was the first time people were able to ask Palin any serious questions. Hmmm.

"I have that readiness"

How much more of the BS do we have to listen to?!?! I'm willing to pay more in taxes just to send her back to Alaska for good.

Damn, Obama was so brave. Hanging out with Barbara Streisand and all those tough questions from the Hollywood crowd!

Why bother, but there is a distinction between a fundraiser and a scripted "town hall meeting".

McAristotle must be proud to support a candidate who was mayor of the only town in Alaska that made rape victims pay for their own rape kits and whose goons in the McCain campaign are now trying to ruin Walter Monegan, the former Public Safety Commissioner who sought federal funding for sex crime victims in the state with the worst per-capita incidence of rape in the country.

Onward Christian soldiers.

if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president

That's a little strange. It sounds like a) she thinks if they win it's because God wanted them to, and b) she views being elected to public office as some kind of personal boon.

McAristotle wrote: Damn, Obama was so brave. Hanging out with Barbara Streisand and all those tough questions from the Hollywood crowd!

Obama went on O'Reilly's show, you blockhead.

You're embarrassing yourself, McAristotle. Go climb back into your bottle.

That's a little strange. It sounds like a) she thinks if they win it's because God wanted them to, and b) she views being elected to public office as some kind of personal boon.

I'll give you both (a) and (b), but I don't see why you'd think it's "strange". The things that have been coming out about her tenure as mayor (like her $50K redecorating binge that the City Council never got to vote on) and her tenure as governor (her current Troopergate scandal) suggest that she sees power to be something used to benefit herself personally. That takes care of (b). And lots of uber-religious folks credit personal victories as "God's will" - whether they're in politics or on the football field. (Losses aren't usually taken as "God wanted me to lose", though - funny that).

So I don't find it strange at all. Scary that she's been elected to high office? Yeah, but not strange - you can find folks like this all over Ohio's political scene. Sadly. (Hey we said no to Ken Blackwell - he was one of those overtly religious, abusing office for personal power types. So we're not completely stupid, I suppose.)

The whole thing was pathetic. The washed up old warhorse and his giggling gov barely spoke. And whe they did they provided no specifics. Most of the time was spent with fawning supporters gushing their love before even asking their questions....and in some cases, like the Vietnam Vet, they didn't even bother to ask a question.

I challenge everyone to first FIND A VIDEO OF THE EVENT (please post the link when you do) and then sit through it with the slightest critical eye.

The only memorable line was that fish love oil rigs. Absolutely PATHETIC!

THE LEGEND OF JOHN McCAIN AND THE TOWN HALL

Once upon a time, there was a town. It was pretty much like other towns of its time; small, compact in the middle with houses, shops, a few churches and maybe a school or two---and stretched out as one went further into the hinterlands of rolling fields, pastures, and brightly painted barns cozily tucked next to pristine farmhouses.

In the middle of this town---again, as with all the other towns of that time---was a Town Hall. It was open to everyone with a question, or a concern, or even a worry.

It was a good Town Hall.

Then came the Pig.

The Pig came to the town, claiming not to know about the things that the citizens of the small town were concerned about, but he promised that he could fix them with a thing called "change." He promised continued openness ans unfettered access to all of the various officials in the Town Hall. He brought with him an Assistant Pig from a land far to the north; he surrounded himself with a legion of other Pigs, and he began quoting Pigs and speaking Pig-ese, citing it as "the language of knowledge.

Gradually, the citizens of the small town began to notices "changes" in their community. The people who agreed with the Pig and his Assistant Pig---who was now bragging about expertise in a good many things that no Pig would ever have expertise in---were suddenly deemed to be "better citizens" than the ones who disagreed with the Pig.

The Assistant Pig, meanwhile, had developed a lipstick fetish---and her breath smelled like bacon once in a while.

Occasionally, someone who disagreed with the Pig was removed from the Town Hall. As time went on, "occasionally" became a common occurrence. This was something that had never happened in the Town Hall before, but the Pig attributed it to the need for change, problems in a couple of investment banks, and a group of angry foreign Pigs who lived on the other side of the planet---but practiced the same xenophobic philosophy as this Pig did.

The Assistant Pig, meanwhile, developed an addiction to Moose stew---with pork rinds.

Time continued to march on and, true to his word, the Pig brought more changes. The Town Hall was surrounded by brutish guard-Pigs; anyone who was on the record as disagreeing with anything the Pig declared as "truth" was banned from the Town Hall, and no one could come into the Town Hall unless they had an invitation from the Pig and his Pig friends.

The Assistant Pig, however, was going around and looking for ways to ban all things "not Piggish enough" from the local library---and started collecting recipes for fixing ham.

Finally, the Pig declared his new "Town Hall" open for business. The only creatures who were ever allowed to enter the Town Hall, however, were Pigs. It was now surrounded by a fence.

The Pigs insisted that it was still a Town Hall, but everyone else started referring to it as the Pig Sty.

And the Assistant Pig? She had a problem with some folks who noticed that, instead of a Pig, she looked more like a Wolf in a Pig suit....

Essentially, the best answer Palin could give at a friendly, staged event, to a question asking for experience specifics was "Just ask me, I'm ready."

How can she survive the debate?

Humourous item: there's a new t-shirt for sale with Governor Palin's head attached to a pair of moose antlers. The name of this creature is "Mooselini."

Here's the link:

http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/sarah-palin-is-mooselini-jr-raglan/305221552

I'd want to know what is most difficult about being Governor-in-Chief: having to constantly refuse all the earmarks the Democrat congress tries to shove down her throat, or waking up every day having to stare down potential Russian invaders just accross the Bering Sea.

Essentially, the best answer Palin could give at a friendly, staged event, to a question asking for experience specifics was "Just ask me, I'm ready."

How can she survive the debate?

This statement hands the Democratic ticket a dream opportunity. The dishonest right-wing screechers -- but I repeat myself -- stand ready to pounce on any notation by Biden of her towering, smug and self-righteous ignorance. At the same time, the GOP benefits in the expectations game by any portrayal of Palin as the ignoramus she is, as she could then survive the debate merely by not drooling on herself.

But no longer. The standard reply to whines about "sexism" or "elitism" in exploiting her gaffes -- which I predict will be legion -- should be to shrug and say "she claimed to be ready.

In fact, Biden should go around saying "Palin says she's ready, and I'm looking forward to the debate."

The Republicans just fumbled the expectations game. The Democrats must exploit this opportunity, as the so-called "liberal media" will blow anything Obama or Biden do that can be spun as negative out of all proportion.

"I'm ready.. to throw up!"

Especially after reading about her interjection into her humble partner's statement about whom it was that pushed for the Splurge and how we need to win that war or we won't/can't win in Afghanistan. Sarah Palin must be a great mom because she sure can serve up a hearty helping of bullshit! Pathetic.. Gee, I sure want to hear Sarah Palin's input on the war!!

It boggles the mind that people are STILL supporting this pair of clowns. What an American embarrassment.

.."guys and gals ....needs to be some "shakin' and fixin' "

from her speech in Ohio. This woman reminds me more and more of Ellie May Clampett.

Ellie: Golly pa, I heard on the tee-vee that America needs a fixin'. Maybe granny can cook up some vittles and INvite Congress over so we can tell 'em to start shakin'.

Jed: I'm proud of ya, Ellie May. That's a reeel good idea ya got there. I'll get on the phone to Mr. Drysdale right after I skin this here possum..

Steve @10:58--that was a masterful combination of "1984" and "Animal Farm." BRAVO!

Speaking of packed houses, how are members of the audience being chosen for the debates? Are there any standards for audience behavior outside of no fruit throwing? Wouldn't put it beneath McCain to try to win the debates via orchestrated crowd reactions.

This phony town hall, equal access setting has become GOP SOP.

Bush has never faced a crowd that wasn't hand picked since 2000. The reason his handlers don't allow it is the same reason Sarah Palin's won't.
They don't know squat.

Let's play a game of Stump the Candidate? Is that what it's come down to...Stump the Freaking Candidate? I guess we've gotten what we deserve.