Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Allow Me To Retort

I just want to take a moment to rebutt some of the bullshit coming out of the GOP Convention this week.

Talking Point: Picking Palin demonstrates what a maverick John McCain is.

Rebuttal: No it doesn't. It demonstrates precisely the opposite. From all reports, John McCain wanted Joe Lieberman or possibly Tom Ridge to be his VP. The base wanted Palin. He folded. That's not a maverick, that's a henchman.

Talking Point: Palin has more executive experience than Obama.

Rebuttal: Even if we accept the horseshit that running a state with a population of less than the South Side of Chicago is more impressive than serving in the Senate and running a national campaign efficient enough to beat the most powerful political machine in America, Obama has consistently shown vision. He has consistently demonstrated that he has intelligent ideas about national and international politics. He has proven himself. Has Sarah Palin?

The thing is, it's not inconceivable that a less-than-one-term governor could have the credentials to be president. Did she prove herself to be a reformer? Did she handle a crisis? Did she show vision? Does she regularly show herself to have intelligent ideas about national politics? Show me the evidence. Instead, they either say things (she's a budget slasher!) that are completely contradicted by the facts, or they throw out nonsense about commanding the National Guard or foreign relations with Russia.

Talking Point: The press is ganging up on Palin over her teenage daughter's pregnancy (although when you hear these people talk, it's usually constantly shifting between "The Obama Campaign," "Pro-Obama blogs" and "The Media," depending on which fits their narrative at the moment).

Rebuttal: Actually, that hasn't been much of an issue. During the first 48 hours after the announcement of her candidacy, there was some basic questions being asked, and now they are mostly forgotten. Instead, the questions now being asked are about subjects like her extreme anti-abortion views (she doesn't just want to overturn Roe, she wants a law passed to outlaw abortion, including for rape and incest, nationally), the fact that, as mayor, she left her town $22 Million in debt, that she lied about her support for the "bridge to nowhere" (and is closely associated with Ted Stevens), that she tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired, then fired the cop who refused to fire him, that she is responsible for several of the "earmarks" that McCain has railed against, that she believes God wants us to build a natural gas pipeline through her state, that she belongs to a crazy church where TWO WEEKS AGO she sat through a sermon that stated that anti-Israeli terrorism was God's judgement on the Jews for not accepting Jesus!

The thing is, the Republicans want her to get shit for her kid. They're actively trying to bait the press into going after her. They want to cast her as a victim of sexism on the (hopefully misguided) belief that that will win over Hillary supporters.

Also, this is awesome.

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