As long as we're YouTubing it tonight, this brief clip of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric is simultaneously amusing and terrifying -- amusing that she can be so ill-informed and terrifying that she may soon be president.
I haven't been focusing too much on the Presidential campaign. I'm far too confident that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be inhabiting the White House come January 2009.
I'm also pretty confident that neither Obama nor Biden would waste their money installing a tanning bed in the chief executive's mansion. But follow the link, and you'll find that McPublican VP nominee Sarah Palin did just that in the Alaska Governor's mansion.
Now this has been blogged here on DailyKos earlier this week and a few angles continue. My angle? When you add the Palin tanning bed installment to the John McCain mulitple house fiasco, you get the perfect opportunity for the Obama/Biden campaign to come out with the response ad to end all response ads. The McPalin ad in question is the recent "Original Mavericks" spot now playing in media markets across the fruited plain.
My proposal, below the fold, is a word-for-word reply...McCain/Palin: The Original Elitists.
This is what Humiston had to say about Palin's "right to tan" (from the Buffalo News):
While some bloggers are using the news to attack the priorities of Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Humiston defended her right to tan.
"Kudos to Gov. Palin for standing up to members of the sun scare industry who are trying to frighten
Americans away from [ultraviolet] light," Humiston said in a statement widely reprinted on blogs and news Web sites.
I don't care if she tans. No one does. A lot of women (and even some men I know) tan. It makes them feel good. It makes them feel better during the cold winters here in Western New York where there is lots of snow but not a lot of sun.
But whether or not she tans isn't the issue here. It's the fact that she had a tanning bed installed in the governor's mansion. A tanning bed can cost $35,000 to install in a home. It has been said that Palin paid for the bed for her own money, which if she did, that's fine too. But does one really need a tanning bed in his or her home? Especially in the governor's mansion, where the people of Alaska pay the electric bill?
All I'm saying is that this isn't about the fact she tans. A lot of people tan. It's nothing earth-shattering. But when you decide that you need a tanning bed in your home and that home just happens to be the governor's mansion, it's going to be scrutinized.
(Note: This is an update from a column first written in February of 2005. This column, and a couple hundred others, is also on my website.)
As the McCain campaign's ... let's call them "inaccuracies" ... mount up, they are certain to turn again to that old Republican standard, "values." The argument will be that the "liberal" Barack Obama and his "liberal" running mate are out of touch with American values, while the veteran McCain and his "hockey mom" running mate are perfectly in line. This will be expanded to claim, once again, that the entire Democratic Party is out of touch and the entire Republican Party represent American values incarnate.
This begs the question, is the values claim as inaccurate as the rest of McCain's statements and advertisements?
However, Sarah Palin's selection as McCain's running mate has convinced the public change is coming no matter who wins. Even worse, the very same corporate media that complained Obama only offered "words" compared to Hillary Clinton's policy specifics during the primary season now argue that McCain's lack of specifics does not diminish his stature as a maverick. Is that fair? Of course not! But there is no sense whining about it. These are the cards we've been dealt.
So how do we change the narrative? The solution is to present the voting public with a stark choice: progress or calamity. Change vs. more of the same is stale and no longer resonates.
Sarah Palin has enabled John McCain to revive the culture war as we argue over who is the real elitist, sexist or patriot. We've seen these sorts of smokescreens from Republicans before. They're diabolically brilliant at distracting voters with visceral appeals to the politics of cultural resentment while exploiting America's dark underbelly of racism and xenophobia. McCain/Palin even have the chutzpah to campaign as patriotic change agents eager to fight on behalf of regular folks while promoting polices that amount to class warfare against wage earners and small business entrepreneurs.
How easy to get caught up in Sarah Palin's polarizing celebrity and lose sight of the real issues at stake. That's exactly what the GOP wants. I too have been consumed by the Palin phenomenon in recent days and the GOP's toxic convention. Well it's time to get back to basics. Obama did a good job of that yesterday with respect to the new unemployment figures. I'd like to take a moment and focus attention on another vitally important issue that's easily overtaken by cultural politics: infrastructure.
Last night there were a few themes that the Republicans hit Barack Obama on. The one that was insulting to Obama was targeting his past as a community organizer.
"On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education," Giuliani said. "He worked as a community organizer. . . . What?"
A small-town mayor has responsibilities? Being a small-town mayor is a part-time job, especially when it's a town of 5,000 or 6,000 people. I would know. I'm from a town that is bigger than Wasilla, Alaska was when Palin was mayor. My mayor can work his full-time job for the Republican state senator. Being a small-town mayor isn't backbreaking work. Being a community organizer is.
I received an e-mail blast from Wellstone Action today. They have trained thousands of community organizers and have written a blog entry about a community organizer's responsibilities. It's hard work, long hours and little pay. Obviously something the Republicans would never be bothered with. But here's an excerpt from that blog post:
Now, let me be clear: my interest here is not to defend Barack Obama's experience, but the professional field to which Wellstone Action trains people to devote their lives.
So let me outline, for anyone who may be curious, the responsibilities of a community organizer:
8am -
Wake up, knowing that the day ahead of you will require you to work long hours, for little pay, less thanks, and zero credit.
Sit down at your desk, or pick up your cell phone, and figure out the people in the community you need to talk to to identify the challenges being faced. Set up meetings with leaders and regular people to get buy-in on the proposed solution.
12pm -
Make decisions about how best to proceed with your plan for change in your community. Figure out how you will influence powerful interests without any resources other than your own scrappy resourcefulness and the support of many individuals earned by painstakingly building relationships.
5pm -
Figure out who in your community wields power and influence, who doesn't, and why. Make hundreds of calls, knock on hundreds of doors, and listen to hundreds of stories in order to bring people together in common cause. Convince folks to set aside what makes them different and focus on their shared interest - it's the only way to build common ground and affect change.
8pm -
Learn from those around you and prepare for the next day. Write follow-up notes, make confirmation calls, and thank your volunteers. Remind yourself to be tenacious, because the process of change is long and can be slow in coming.
Being an organizer means putting the needs of the community above yourself and your ego. Your task is to influence the powerful with little more than the common will, and do so while developing the leadership of those around you. A good organizer is always working to put themselves out of a job, because many others should be prepared to step up and take their place. You listen and learn, coordinate and plan, arrive early and stay late, and do the real work that improves people's lives.
What Giuliani, Palin and other Republicans have said about community organizing is insulting. Community organizing is working with people within the community and working FOR the betterment of the community. Clearly this is something that goes far over the heads of all Republicans.
While Mayor of Wasilla: The budget grew by 40% in 7 years -- after adjusting for inflation.
She raised taxes to build a stadium.
When she became mayor, the city had no long-term debt; she left behind $19 million in debt.
She hired a lobbyist to bring in federal earmarks -- that lobbyist, Steven Silver, was a former chief of staff to Ted Stevens.
Among pork that McCain has found "objectionable": A 2001 earmark of $500,000 for a public transportation project in Wasilla; $450,000 for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla in 2002; In 2002, $1 million for an "emergency communications center" in Wasilla that local law enforcement said was redundant and confusing.
As Governor: She supported the bridge to nowhere before she opposed it. Her support came while running for governor.
There are actually two bridges to nowhere; she still supports one of them (the Knik Arm bridge).
Her "ethics reform" package would be laughed off the map in most of the country -- for example, campaign contributions uner $1,000 don't have to be reported.
She appointed Marty Rutherford, a former TransCanada (oil & gas co.) lobbyist, to run her gas pipeline project.
That ethics reform bill? It came because to Veco (an oil co.) executives were convicted of bribing lawmakers. Guess where she got a lot of campaign funding when running for Lt. Governor -- yup, Veco.
Since becoming governor, in just two years, Palin has asked for $589 million in federal pork.
In July, the state legislature voted unanimously to fund an investigation into the abuse of power regarding her firing of the Public Safety Commissioner because he wouldn't fire her former brother-in-law.
She is in bed with Big Oil -- when running for governor in 2006, she took $13,000 from oil industry lobbyists (that's a lot in Alaska).
She has vetoed $20 million spending projects for wind energy -- twice.
It seems folks never quite learn this simple truth. The latest victims are GOP strategist Mike Murphy and former Reagan speechwriter and current WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan. It's quite obvious that there is quite a difference between what these folks have been saying on the TeeVee for the last 5 days or so and what they actually believe. Listen carefully:
Ouch.
UPDATE: A rough transcript.
Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state government work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.
Noonan: It's over.
Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
Noonan: I saw Kay this morning
Murphy: They're all bummed out. I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?
Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.
Murphy: Yeah, but what's the narrative?
Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.
Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.
Last week, presumptive Republican nominee for President John McCain surprised the political world by choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. As self-appointed pundits bombard us with phony and irrelevant "theories" as to why he would choose her, the truth goes eerily silent.
Governor Palin has almost no experience, and has clearly not demonstrated any readiness to lead. She has legal and ethical problems surrounding her attempt to get someone fired from a state job for the heinous "crime" of divorcing her sister. Now it turns out that this "abstinence-only" politician doesn't practice at home what she preaches in public.
This has to be the worst choice for a running mate since George H.W. Bush picked Dan Quayle. So why would John McCain pick her?
If you're a Republican woman, who is your idol in politics?
Apparently for Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin, she has two: Geraldine Ferraro, who was a 1984 vice presidential candidate, and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Both, of course, are Democrats. Palin is a Republican.
There was mild applause when Palin mentioned Ferraro and reluctant applause for Clinton. John McCain gave a smirk at the mention of Hillary and gave a brief clap for the mention.
I also noticed while McCain was introducing Palin that there was a woman over McCain's left shoulder on television who was like a little girl at Christmas when it was said that the vice presidential pick was a woman. She was practically in shock and if you watch video of that moment again (at this time, nothing is available) you will see what I'm talking about.
In reviewing the women in Congress, I counted 67 women who are Democrats serving in either house of Congress (56 in the House, 11 in the Senate). Republicans only have 26 women in either house, with 21 of those serving in the House and five in the Senate. So this isn't like the Republicans are the best at getting women into higher office.
(NOTE: Included in that count is Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, who passed away recently. She was still included on the list, so I counted her among the Democratic women in Congress.)
(It is also worth noting that from my home state of New York, there are eight women in Congress - seven in the House and one in the Senate.)
Sarah Palin is an interesting choice as I discussed on my blog, The Albany Project, today. She has very little experience. Two years as governor of Alaska and serving from 1992 to 1996 as a city councilmember for Wasilla, Alaska. She became mayor of Wasilla in 1996.
Wasilla is a small town in Alaska. As of 2000, there were 5,470 people. A 2005 estimate suggests that the population has grown to 8,471. It's not a very big place, but Palin was in charge of it at one time. In fact, that is where most of her political experience is derived.
The reason I bring this up is that I believe this pick does a disservice to women and the cause to get more women into politics. In talking with women here in New York where getting more women elected to state government is an ongoing fight, they want to see the most progressive and most qualified women elected to office. The McCain pick of Palin doesn't give Republican women the most qualified woman (I think Carly Fiorina would have made a better VP choice for McCain, given his weakness on economic issues) on the Republican side nor does it give women in general something to be proud of. She's very inexperienced and unqualified for this post.
Palin invoking Hillary and Ferraro today was an indirect shot at the GOP and herself. The Republicans are not a very diverse group. If you want a Republican, just go around and ask any white male what their party affiliation is. This might explain the reaction of that woman I described above standing behind McCain and expressing shock that McCain had picked a woman. The 26 women on the Republican side also show this lack of diversity when their counterparts on the Democratic side have two-and-a-half times as many women in Congress than they do.
So why is Palin mentioning Hillary and Ferraro a shot at herself? The same women who supported Hillary and Ferraro would never dream of supporting a McCain-Palin ticket. Palin is a pro-lifer, pro-gun, a believer in Creationism and is against gay marriage. She also is in favor of the death penalty. In other words, Palin appeals to that same conservative Republican base that sums up the Republican base best: White males. She is not going to have any sort of appeal to women on the Democratic side of the aisle or give McCain a chance at stealing Hillary supporters away from Barack Obama. At least, not with those five issues in mind.
I believe Palin's pick was for two reasons:
(1) Age. Today McCain turns 72. What better way to distract the media from your 72nd birthday than by picking your vice president who just happens to be 28 years younger than you are. In thinking about this, I can't think of any other reason why they would pick this day - the slowest news day of the week, a Friday - to announce McCain's VP pick. Palin has probably been in the cards for at least a week or so and I also would think Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was as well. McCain needed someone younger. He got that with the 44 year old Palin.
(2) Conservative bona fides. Everyone knows McCain has a problem with social conservatives. Picking Palin gives him someone who is the model social conservative. Anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage, as well as pro-death penalty, pro gun and a supporter of Creationism.
In any event, the vice presidential debate between our man Joe Biden and Palin will be a fun one to watch. A guy with experience and foreign policy knowledge in his back pocket against a woman who has ran Alaska for two years and prior to that ran a small village, both as mayor and as a city councilmember.
As the saying goes, the Republicans are bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Palin is a social conservative who is strongly opposed to abortion and same sex marriage. In addition, she is pro-gun and wildly popular in Alaska.
In Palin, McCain has chosen someone with no experience on the national stage and no foreign policy experience. But she is a reformer, popular with conservatives and is considered tough enough to deal with what may come.
In the Vice Presidential debate, however, she will go up against Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has personal relationships with heads of state and other world leaders.
In other words, in the vice presidential debate Biden wipes the floor with her.
So who is Sarah Palin? Good question:
Palin is the first woman governor of Alaska, elected in 2006. She was also the youngest ever elected at the age of 42. She is the mother of five children, the youngest of whom was born in April and has Down Syndrome. She ran on a clean government platform in '06 to defeat the incumbent Republican Governor Frank Murkowski.
She's been governor of Alaska for two years and served on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996 and became mayor of Wasilla in 1996. She also served as Ethics Commissioner for the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003-04.
By the way, Wasilla has a population of about 5,400. That's smaller than the village I'm living in now.
This certainly is an "outside the Beltway" pick. Palin has no foreign policy experience. She is younger than Barack Obama (Obama is 47, Palin is 44). She has served only two years as governor of Alaska and before that served as a city councilmember and mayor of a village that would be, if it was in my home county of Orleans, the third largest village in this county.
This is an interesting pick. We'll have to see later on what McCain was going for with this one.
