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   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
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September 2, 2010
BREWER'S PAINFULLY LONG PAUSES.... I've seen politicians freeze on the air when confronted with a tough question for which they're unprepared, but going blank during a debate's opening statement? This is a new one. Ben Smith reported, "Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's opening statement in last night's debate reflects either an amazing lack of preparation, or sheer panic." It really is bizarre, and kind of painful to watch. An opening statement is the easy part -- a quick introduction, highlight a few talking points, something about getting stuff done, ask for support, and move on. It's the part of a debate in which folks tend to memorize a short spiel so they come across as competent and set a good impression for the rest of the debate. Brewer just had a breakdown of sorts. Worse, she seems to be referring to notes in front of her -- which would seemingly tell her what to say if she forgets -- but which didn't help. By my count, there's a full nine seconds in which a stumped Brewer says literally nothing. That may not sound like a long time, but on the air, during a debate, it's an eternity. Brewer is, by the way, the sitting governor. She's not some fringe candidate included in the debate as a courtesy -- Brewer is currently the chief executive of Arizona, and has been on the campaign trail for months. I kind of doubt this will have a huge impact on the polls -- Brewer may be an unprepared right-wing dolt, but she's the strong favorite in November -- but this minute-long video will serve as a reminder for campaigns for quite a while. Update: But wait, there's more. When the subject turned to Brewer's bogus claims about "beheadings," she got even more confused. —Steve Benen 11:25 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (28)
Comments
Maybe Rose Mary Woods wrote her introduction. Posted by: c u n d gulag on September 2, 2010 at 11:29 AM | PERMALINKSounds like her silence could be edited into a nice ad for her Democratic opponent. She's speechless, she's unprepared, etc. "I have did everything?" Where does the GOP find these dolts? Posted by: Tired Liberal on September 2, 2010 at 11:32 AM | PERMALINKJan Brewer is a nice enough person who is utterly out of her depth as a chief executive. That said, she will win easily since Arizona prefers stupid to smart and folksy to urbane. Her maiden name, by the way, is Drinkwine. Posted by: walt on September 2, 2010 at 11:34 AM | PERMALINKThis is why experienced governors write their notes on their hands. Posted by: square1 on September 2, 2010 at 11:36 AM | PERMALINKHoly crap. That was painful. Wow. Talk about a choke! Posted by: tommybones on September 2, 2010 at 11:41 AM | PERMALINKThat second pause was a doozy. A command performance, indeed! Posted by: JP on September 2, 2010 at 11:41 AM | PERMALINKBrewer may be an unprepared right-wing dolt, but she's the strong favorite in November Which is a sad comment on the degeneracy of the modern Republican Party. For what it's worth, Gov. Brewer may be exhibiting symptoms characteristic of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. (There's no test for the disease, and no way to prove or disprove it, so I doubt it will become an issue in the campaign.) Posted by: massappeal on September 2, 2010 at 11:44 AM | PERMALINKmaybe she can hire Basel Marceaux.com to help her hone her message... Posted by: andyvillager on September 2, 2010 at 11:45 AM | PERMALINKGregory it isn't a sad commentary just on the Republican party but on the Republic as well. The American people are voting for these candidates by a wide margin. This is what and who they want in a candidate. It is a sad commentary on Arizona and the state of the Country as a whole. Posted by: Scott F. on September 2, 2010 at 11:48 AM | PERMALINKI think..............ah...............that was.........................................................a riot! Posted by: Joe D on September 2, 2010 at 11:55 AM | PERMALINK" . . . either an amazing lack of preparation, or sheer panic." Or a heavy dose of garden variety stupid, a common condition among Arizona pols, especially Repubs. Posted by: penalcolony on September 2, 2010 at 11:57 AM | PERMALINKSpeech was obviously written by Marcel Marceau. Posted by: dbcooper on September 2, 2010 at 12:10 PM | PERMALINKshe obviously had a bad day. Isn't there some controversy looming above her head? I'd bet that she and her campaign probably had a fight before she came on the show. Posted by: Alli on September 2, 2010 at 12:16 PM | PERMALINKIt's pretty obvious that she had the wrong paper in front of her. Problem was, without that paper, she had nothing. Posted by: jstrang on September 2, 2010 at 12:17 PM | PERMALINKAt some point in time I think it should be mandatory for everyone in the country to watch the movie Idiocracy. The ugly white face of Arizona She's got no college... but her mindless drivel is very popular with a lot of arizonans, which does not say much for many people in Arizona. Personally, I am mortified at what has happened to our state... Last in education, last in health spending, wanton destruction of state agencies, wanton destruction of the environment. rabid anti-hispanic predjustice. We're turning in to bloody Mississippi all we need now is for the state legislature to pass a law declaring pi equal to 3.0 and our conversion to intellectual, social and moral bankruptcy is complete. It will take a generation to restore quality education to our state. the environmental damage can never be fixed, our roads and streets are crumbling and will take a decade to fix, we have a shortage of nurses and doctors which will take a generation to build back up. Repairing the imbalance in wages may never happen. If you like living in crumbling cities with rotten roads, high prices, and a terrible educational system, move to Arizona. Meanwhile Boycott FOX Posted by: KurtRex1453 on September 2, 2010 at 12:50 PM | PERMALINK She's a martini glass half full kinda gal. Posted by: edd on September 2, 2010 at 3:09 PM | PERMALINKWe have did... I have did... WTH? Besides the grammatical errors, she should have had that short opening memorized or nearly so. Wow. Posted by: Hannah on September 2, 2010 at 3:12 PM | PERMALINKIt wasn't the 9 second pause that I found alarming, it was the shit eating grin and laugh afterword. Kinda like a kid feeding you a lie and they crack halfway into it. Doesn't say much that she cracked up laughing between the statements "We have done everything that we could possibly do" and "We have did what was right for Arizona". She just couldn't tell that big o' whopper of a lie and not break out laughing. Nice to see her recovery mode is to immediately jump on the I hate the federal government and I hate Obamacare meme. Someone needs to tell her she's in a general election, not a wingnut primary. Posted by: Oh my on September 2, 2010 at 4:05 PM | PERMALINKI see what the problem is: she has a habit of clasping her hands together, which prevents her from reading the notes on her palm. She looked like an illegal immigrant caught in headlights. Posted by: RH Potfry on September 2, 2010 at 6:00 PM | PERMALINK
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