Palinistas versus McCainiacs

Liars lying about liars lying about lying...

Mo Betta. Popcorn. Please.

Yes,let the long knives come out.Fundy wackos slashing neo-con throats.

The gift that just keeps giving

Did Palin herself not record a robocall? Or did I just hallucinate that?

I wonder if McCain is allowed to talk to Palin. On the same day that she claimed the $150K wardrobe was purchased for the RNC (huh?), McPOW was telling everyone she needed clothes.

Why yes, I will have some more popcorn.

BTY...I can not wait until the days after the election to hear what they really think. This is going to be fun.

Note to McCainiacs everywhere---I'll let you in on a little secret. Come closer.

No---closer than that. Stand right here next to me; it's a secret secret.

Yes---that's fine.

THIS IS WHY THE GODS INVENTED VETTING, YOU STUPID MORONS YOU!!!

You may go now....

She's positioning herself to be the phoenix of the ashes of the Republican party, but the joke's on her: she will be the scapegoat for Karl Rove's fire that causes the party to go up in flames.

She may be the champion of the religious right, but their day is passed. It's as absurd as trying to become the CEO of Enron now.

But... but... but she's his soulmate! :((

Did Palin herself not record a robocall? - Helena Montana

Oh yes she did. And it either came out the same day she spoke against the things, or the day before.

There's little question people will question McCain's choice of VP, but try to think of a better choice. After a while it comes down to, "Who do I know the least about?" And just as McCain was the least horrible of the Republican primary choices, I have a feeling Palin was seen as the least horrible VP choice precisely because her inexperience propelled her "least baggage" score.

Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party.

Ha! That's so cute'n'funny. *pinches cheek*

the Prairie Angel

Oh, they should let her have her way. She wants to be the big, grown-up leader? The campaign should schedule her to be on MTP, Maddow, and Letterman. And not coach her.

The thing is, McCain's campaign blundered so much that there is enough blame to go around for everyone. And the blame lays out like this: The fact that McCain lost the election is his fault, as he was always going to lose based on the lousy "I'm so great I don't need a strategy" campaign he's been running since the beginning. But the upcoming landslide is ALLLLL Palin. That's what chased out all but the most diehard conservatives.

While there were quite a few moderates who might have been nervous about Obama's readiness, that all flew out the window once they met Sarah Palin. Realizing that Day One might begin with that sharky twit at the helm was enough to throw everyone else Obama's way. They say that about 40% of people self-identify as conservatives, and McCain's numbers aren't going to be much better than that.

There's GOT to be better choices than Palin. Let's see, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe -- those are two that come to mind, immediately. Kay Bailey Hutchinson -- I'm less fond of her politics, but she's at least sane. That McCain decided to choose Palin, with no vetting, is a stupendous insult.

But what if McCain pulls this out and Palin is VP?

Palin forgets one thing. McCain sent all those lawyers from his campaign to protect her. I, for one, would not be surprised if they did a lot of digging to make sure that other dirt on her didn't surface. Throw in all those Alaskans who helped her up and were rewarded with a knife in the back and you have the makings of a big legal shiv shoved into the well dressed back of Mooselini and her family of grifters.

Hard to be the savior of the Republican Party if you're in jail for corruption/abuse of power.

I'm as interested in the intra-party warfare that's about to consume the Republicans as the next person. More so in fact: I just pre-popped four hundred cubic feet of popcorn so I can settle in a watch them burn, baby burn....

But that's really not what's important. What's important is that the Republicans are going to be so busy strangled and knifing each other for control of what's left of their party, that the Democrats are going to have clear sailing for at least a year and a half -- and any Republicans who are serious about governance (hello Richard Lugar!) are probably going to be happy to get away from the crazies in their party so they can get something done.

I see Obama having 18 months of first-term freedom the likes of which a President hasn't had in the U.S. in a long time. There are so many problems, and so many of them need immediate attention, that the table is set for REAL change this time. Not "I'm in charge" Bush bullshit change that nobody asked for, but the kind that gets America back on track every fifty years or so.

Now...a couple of cases of ginger ale and I can sit back and enjoy the warm glow from my TV, as Sarah Palin tries to burn Mitch Romney to the ground....

Check out this quote from a Lebanese newspaper:

The Alaskan governor, “In one swift, serendipitous moment … was transformed from a moose hunter in Alaska to a global mullah hunter in a contest and a world about which she knows zero, as she reconfirms every time she opens her mouth.� His top four are Georgia, Phillipines, Cambodia and Laos.

In this Gallop poll, McCain's fifth place country of those who prefer him over Obama shows a zero percent difference between the two candidates.

The only way that happens, mikeel, is if something so outlandish and extraordinary happens that will completely dwarf anything and everything that is going on 'behind the scenes' at the McCain campaign. You may as well posit, "But what if France invades Florida on November 3rd?"

The very fact that all this is coming out now, so early, is precisely because these people already know just how utterly fucked the campaign is. Why else do you think McCain isn't even planning on attending his own 'victory' party?

Just sit back and enjoy the show. This is as good as it gets.

They were for her until they were against her. Flip floppers. Did I mention she "looks" French?

PS: Who you gonna call? Not ghostbusters. Call Joe the Plumber!

Pathetic.

never going to happen. McCain is toast and Barbie will take her share of the blame. We'll see her on Dancing with the Stars at the same time McCain retires to one of his 12 homes with his heiress wife and $500 shoes. She's all about attention not politics.

You are right Donna - The glow is off and the press sharks are smelling blood in the water. Huffington has the hot poop on the Pipeline
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/25/palins-pipeline-deal-flaw_n_137825.html
They are going to eat her alive now - Smart move McCain hiding here and pissing the MSM off. The Couric interviews and Tina Fey will be the only thing anyone remembers about that bitch. Welcome to footnote land Ms Palin.

Seriously, I'm wondering if she'll survive as governor without being recalled/impeached. I don't see her winning a second term in any case, nor any other high office.

Schadenfreude - it's what's for dinner!!

I have my SARAH FOR PRESIDENT 2012 button on order! You can order yours at cafepress.com!

As the true owners of the republican party, the superwealthy and Corporate America will have the final say on who the next candidate for president is. While it is correct that we must provide lip service to the evangelical leadership, we get the final say.

That having been said, we will provide some protestations to the RR before they accept a 'compromise' where we will make Sarah acceptable to the Low Information Voter who is the core of our voting totals.

We will get to train her to do what we want on the economic and war business side of things and we will let the RR make appointments to the supreme court.

Any wet dreams that you progressives have about the republican party 'tearing itself to pieces' is pure delusion!

A Diva! Hey, BTW I am going as Sarah Palin to a Halloween party tonight. I look pretty good in drag, the whole effect is better than I expected.

She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

If the anonymous person really meant to say this, as opposed to saying that "she and her family do not have relationships of trust with any of us", they're calling her a sociopath. That's kind of intense.

Well: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081024/ap_on_el_pr/biden

This seems like the prisoners' dilemma to me. Both sides of the campaign would be better off if the knives didn't come out. But if the knives *are* coming out, the one who shivs earliest and best wins.

In the one piece of good financial news we've seen in the past month, popcorn futures are way up.

Jennifer, @18:00

I prefer peanuts to popcorn (and sunflower seeds to peanuts). Does that make me an elitist?

mikeel wrote:
But what if McCain pulls this out and Palin is VP?

Yes, what IF that were to happen, with a little help from Diebold and friends? Can you imagine a White House with this toxic crew? These are people that bear grudges; they are not going to kiss and make up, even if they were to win.

Dr Biobrain: "The thing is, McCain's campaign blundered so much that there is enough blame to go around for everyone."

ALL are LOSERS, and ALL must have NECK-ALBATROSSES!

I think McCain/Palin's only hope is if Russia attacks Alaska, so Sarah better get right back home and start provokin'

A McCain victory in 10 days' time would result in an armed siege of the WH. Batter call those Blackwater mercenaries home from Iraq....

"Mooselini"--kudos Dan. Right up there with Caribou Barbie.

"I see Obama having 18 months of first-term freedom the likes of which a President hasn't had in the U.S. in a long time."

You are apparently unaware of the recent historical fact that the biggest obstacle to a successful Democratic presidency is, in fact, congressional Democrats. An Obama presidency will most likely be a Palin/McCain campaign writ large.

You are apparently unaware of the recent historical fact that the biggest obstacle to a successful Democratic presidency is, in fact, congressional Democrats.

While that's certainly possible, I don't see that happening. At least not if Obama gets the size of victory I suspect he'll get. Victory has an odd way of convincing people to stick together. Particularly as Dems would be complete fools for allowing Obama's reputation to lose its luster. Not that the absolute loyalty the Bushies required would be a good idea, but Obama will have a mandate and it'd be for the best for everyone if they passed the policies he sold to us. Anything else would be political suicide.

Besides, I don't think we've seen a politician as saavy as Obama and his crew. I've always said that history really won't be a good indicator for this election and that carries true for Obama's presidency too.

"Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

Golly. Sounds like she's just like The McSiah.

Wot does this mean?

"She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

Does that mean that she doesn't have relationships of trust with her own family? If so, will the assembled please tease out what that means? (Which I guess is equivalent to asking whether Juan loved Evita until the very, very end ...)

Does this mean that the campaign doesn't have relationships with trust with her or anyone around her. Don't need as much help to understand what that means, as that clearly has been playing out all day ...

Suneel - she didn't tell her children that she was accepting the Republican VP nomination even as they flew to the convention.

I'd say there's some trust issues right there...

What's the difference between a maverick and a diva?

Lipstick?

dr2chase:
That just reveals the fundamental problem the McCain campaign faced. He was never the first choice of many Republicans, particularly the base, which is why his candidacy so nearly imploded last fall. His best argument to them, after the disappearance of people like Duncan Hunter (R-crazy people near San Diego), was that he was a less bad choice than Rudy Giulliani or Mitt Romney. So McCain had to run on the "I voted with George Bush 90% of the time" theme, even though he knew that would be a disastrous stragegy in the general election.

So, when convention time rolled around, he had to choose between staying true to his long-term narrative and running as an experienced maverick. That would've meant choosing Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge, but it would also have meant running away from 4 years of reassuring the base that he really was a faithful conservative. and running away from everything he had just run.

Or, he could choose someone who would confirm his support with the base, even thought that would further diminish his appeal to the center. Some genius (Steve Schmidt?) decided that Palin would help in that direction, while simultaneously giving him a chance at the PUMAs who'd supported Hillary Clinton. That was just crazy talk, but apparently McCain was willing to believe it.

Of course, there was always a third choice, and it was standing right in front of them for months before the convention. They could've chosen Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who had local political success (re-elected in 2006 -- barely), religious right bona fides (converted from Roman Catholicism to Evengelical Christianity), had already spent time as a McCain surrogate campaigning against Obama, and was of course the host of the Republican national convention. FWIW, unlike "hockey mom" Sarah Palin, Pawlenty actually played hockey in high school. Oddly, Pawlenty seems never to have been seriously considered.

Look, I like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and I've voted for each of them (before I changed residency from Maine), but even though they're both far more qualified than Palin, and much more experienced than Pawlenty, they could never have competed with Lieberman if McCain chose to go with "maverick-iness" and experience. They might have appealed to women voters (who knows?) but they'd have been derided as RINOs by much of the party. Heck, Olympia Snowe (by far the more experienced of the two) was targeted by the Club for Growth a few years back, and derided as too "foreign".

So, they were never really in the running, and I suspect Hutchinson wasn't, either. If the campaign was stupid enough to ignore Pawlenty, and if McCain was stubborn enough to nearly chose Lieberman, then the only other real option was a shocking and "maverick-y" choice, like Palin. It was apparently unimportant that such a choice supported a narrative that played against McCain's strengths and had no chance of attracting independent voters, or that it directly conflicted with a stronger narrative, while also promoting a candidate with whom McCain has little in common and who was pretty obviously unprepared.

Oh, sure, it's important now, and that's going to fuel the Sharks vs Jets steel cage death match we'll see in a couple of weeks, but that's only obvious to GOP strategists in hindsight.

There's GOT to be better choices than Palin. Let's see, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe -- those are two that come to mind, immediately. Kay Bailey Hutchinson -- I'm less fond of her politics, but she's at least sane. That McCain decided to choose Palin, with no vetting, is a stupendous insult.
Posted by: dr2chase on October 25, 2008 at 5:10 PM |

Diva: a usually glamorous and successful female performer.
Question: what performances does she render ?

"just the barest teaser of the bloodshed that's going to erupt between McCain and Palin loyalists after the election."
I think the bloodshed will be rather one-sided. Palin was plucked from obscurity and doesn't have allies in the McCain campaign. Sadly she will probably not return to obscurity. Pretty sharp analysis though that she doesn't trust the McCainites. She rewarded friends, family and contributors with positions and contracts after she became governor. She surrounds herself with those she thinks she can trust.

Diva: a usually glamorous and successful female performer.
Question: what performances does she render ?
Soccer mom, just like everyone else, ya know, hard-workin', faced down the oil companies, you betcha. For sure and certain, said no to that Bridge to Nowhere. Worked a big deal for that great big pipeline, wink, cause I know energy. Got them bullet points down pat, don't ya know. Some people said I did so good at that debate when I talked straight to the real Americans. Big shout out to ya- I was also found innocent of any abuse of power.