With an ever increasing amount of conservatives calling for Palin to step down from the race (maybe she can hang out with Harriet Myers?), the McCain camp is spinning their (two sided) faces off. Step one: deal with Katie Couric. Yes, they are so incompetent, they had to attempt to fix a Katie Couric interview. They should be thanking their evangelical god that Peter Jennings isn't around to school their asses - that's how much this woman sucks in front of a camera.
A partial transcript is after the jump as well... I particularly like when McCain attacks "gotcha" journalism and says something about a pizza place. No, seriously.
Oh, side note: there had been word leaked from CBS about another embarrassing moment from Palin in the first interview. Politico.com (among others) is reporting that when asked about Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade, Palin could not think of one. So she just stayed silent. A nominee for the Vice Presidency could not name any Supreme Court cases, past or present, except Roe v. Wade. I feel safe in continuing to say that this woman is a complete idiot.
CBS) Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin were in Ohio Monday for a campaign rally. In their first joint interview, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked them about a statement Palin made the other day, because it didn't seem to square with her running mate's policies in the war on terror in Pakistan. What follows is a partial transcript of the interview.
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Katie Couric: Over the weekend, Gov. Palin, you said the U.S. should absolutely launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to, quote, "stop the terrorists from coming any further in." Now, that's almost the exact position that Barack Obama has taken and that you, Sen. McCain, have criticized as something you do not say out loud. So, Gov. Palin, are you two on the same page on this?
Sarah Palin: We had a great discussion with President Zardari as we talked about what it is that America can and should be doing together to make sure that the terrorists do not cross borders and do not ultimately put themselves in a position of attacking America again or her allies. And we will do what we have to do to secure the United States of America and her allies.
Couric: Is that something you shouldn't say out loud, Sen. McCain?
John McCain: Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age of "gotcha" journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear … the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation, grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country …
Couric: Are you sorry you said it?
McCain: … and the fact …
Couric: Governor?
McCain: Wait a minute. Before you say, "is she sorry she said it," this was a "gotcha" sound bite that, look …
Couric: It wasn't a "gotcha." She was talking to a voter.
McCain: No, she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth. And … I'll let Gov. Palin speak for herself.
Palin: Well, it … in fact, you're absolutely right on. In the context, this was a voter, a constituent, hollering out a question from across an area asking, "What are you gonna do about Pakistan? You better have an answer to Pakistan." I said we're gonna do what we have to do to protect the United States of America.
Couric: But you were pretty specific about what you wanted to do, cross-border …
Palin: Well, as Sen. McCain is suggesting here, also, never would our administration get out there and show our cards to terrorists, in this case, to enemies and let them know what the game plan was, not when that could ultimately adversely affect a plan to keep America secure.
Couric: What did you learn from that experience?
Palin: That this is all about "gotcha" journalism. A lot of it is. But that's okay, too.
Couric: Gov. Palin, since our last interview, you've gotten a lot of flak. Some Republicans have said you're not prepared; you're not ready for prime-time. People have questioned your readiness since that interview. And I'm curious …
Palin: Yeah.
Couric: … to hear your reaction.
Palin: Well, not only am I ready, but willing and able to serve as vice-president with Sen. McCain if Americans so bless us and privilege us with the opportunity of serving them, ready with my executive experience as a city mayor and manager, as a governor, as a commissioner, a regulator of oil and gas.
McCain: This is not the first time that I've seen a governor being questioned by some quote, "expert." I remember that Ronald Reagan was a "cowboy." President Clinton was a governor of a very small state that had "no experience" either. (laughter) I remember how easy it was gonna be for Bush I to defeat him. I still recall, whoops, that one. But the point is I've seen underestimation before. I'm very proud of the excitement that Gov. Palin has ignited with our party and around this country. It is a … level of excitement and enthusiasm, frankly, that I haven't seen before. And I'd like to attribute it to me. But the fact is that she has done incredible job. And I'm so proud of the work that she's doing.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
McCain & Palin Ask Katie For "Take Backs"
Friday, September 26, 2008
HA!
Reasons this is an AWESOME video:
1.) She is a very vocal Hillary Clinton supporter
2.) They are on a idling 4 wheeler
3.) Everyone is HAMMERED
4.) They all live in Kentucky
5.) Each of them looks like a relative of mine
Enjoy.
The Right Wing Eats Their Own (and it's a beautiful thing to watch!)
For those of you that don't know, The National Review is an extremely conservative publication. I'm talking waaayyy to the right. I'm talking founded by William F. Buckley, okay?
So imagine my delight when one of their columnists, Kathleen Parker, decided to destroy Sarah Palin today. Kathleen Parker, who's been so vehemently conservative and pro McCain in this race, she's been defending Palin to anyone who would listen. Now, she says to Palin, get out of the race. And use your baby as an excuse to do it, so John McCain doesn't get stuck with you.
HA! I'm tagging this post with "Ha!" which we normally use for videos of Will Ferrell pretending to rape a goat or something. That's how much I'm enjoying this. She uses the phrase "Clearly Out Of Her League" (capital letters included)!
She even references her "cringe reflex", which is the Republican version of a gag reflex, which I'm taking to mean that Palin makes her feel like she's choking while performing a blow job. Which, if defending Palin is the metaphorical blow job, I totally understand feeling that way.
The article can be found right here, in which case you're giving the National Review pageviews... OR, you can click the "give me more" link below, in which case you're giving us pageviews.
Clearly, you'll make the right choice, both in the clicking and the election.
Palin Problem
She’s out of her league.
The National Review
By Kathleen Parker
If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.
To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.
Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.
Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.
As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.
Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan’s president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)
And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she’s had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).
Finally, Palin’s narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain’s running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood — a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.
Palin didn’t make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.
It was fun while it lasted.
Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.
Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”
When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama’s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: “I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?”
If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.
If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.
What to do?
McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.
Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.
Do it for your country.
— Kathleen Parker is a nationally syndicated columnist
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I Heart Stewart & Colbert
The ABOVE picture cracks me up. Read the just as funny interview in EW.
Sarah Palin Continues To Be A Hack
Here is a Vice Presidential candidate who cannot answer a questions about her campaigns connections to Freddie Mac (Uh, the answer is that Rick Davis was still on a $15,000 a month payroll until last month). Please watch until the end, when she talks about McCain's history of supporting stronger regulation of the financial sector. She can't name an example, of course, but assures Karie Couric that she'll find one and "bring it back for you".
I'll be waiting with baited breath, you incompetent twit.
Project Runway Finale: PREVIEW!!!!
Click the LINK and see the fashions by the Top 6 at Fashion Week.
The picture to the LEFT is one of Korto's dresses. She has a couple outfits that look like you have to shave before you go outside in them ... and I don't mean your legs :)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Be Like Clay: Come Out Already!
So in honor of Gaiken, I have decided that it's time for us to come clean. Since I normally babble about television, let's come out of the television closet.
I have a theory that all of us, no matter how "open" we act with our friends, each secretly loves a TV show that is embarrassing to admit. Now, I'm not talking about TiVoing I Love Money or watching a marathon of Lifetime movies (Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? is still the standard bearer of that genre). We're not embarrassed by our of love of melodrama and trash television - we're aware that actually makes us more endearing.
What I'm talking about is worse. It's loving a show that is, for lack of a better word, mediocre. Ordinary. Appealing to the average. A show that your friends wonder aloud "Who watches that crap" and the answer is you.
I'll go first: My name is Mon Chi Chi - and I love NCIS. I do. I love it. Mark Harmon is a childhood obsession, and he's aging like a fine wine that I'd like to sip for hours. I realize that it's a by-the-numbers procedural, and that any person with an semi decent I.Q. can predict who the killer is in fifteen minutes. (OMG! The delivery driver wasn't actually a delivery driver - he was the killer!) I get that it is a show designed for people over the age of fifty who've given up on ever having plans on a Tuesday night. I get that the assigned quirks for each character are so unoriginal as to make Tarantino say "Wow. That's really derivative!" (Awkward Computer Guy! Girl Scientist That Is Hot And Goth! Hot Woman Agent Who Can Kill You In Fifty Ways But Can't Have A Successful Relationship And Since She Is Foreign, Messes Up English! Woman In Charge That Once Had Love Affair With Main Character! Main Character Who's Motivated To Catch Criminals Because Criminals Once Killed His Wife And Daughter!)
And I don't care. I waited for last nights season opener with as much glee as I had for season two of Mad Men. And you know what? Even though I had to watch it online because of a certain husband who thought it was less important than other shows, it was awesome. (Spoiler: There's a double agent at NCIS and she doesn't realize that Gibbs is on to her! I KNOW - terrible! And yet WONDERFUL.)
It's your turn now - get it off your chest in comments. What show do you secretly love?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Five Hosts? And One of Them Was Tom Bergeron? What?
Well, at least Mad Men & 30 Rock won the big catagories last night, which is awesome because they are the two best in their catagories. I know people love The Office, as do I, but 30 Rock is the best written comedy on television, and when you add that to Alec Baldwin you get a big old pot of genious. As for drama - the only show I would have been comfortable seeing beat Mad Men wasn't nominated, so I'm happy with that outcome. Although if Emmy could get around to rewarding the fucking brilliance that is Battlestar Galactica, I wouldn't want to throw bombs at their offices on Wilshire.
I actually missed much (most) of the show, as the Yankees were playing their last game at the old stadium and it was quite the spectacular (Sorry - Yogi Beara and Tino Martinez vs. Best Directing for a Comedy is no contest.)
I've got the list of winners after the jump, but from the pieces I saw live I have the following questions that I'm sure Monkey See, Monkey Doo Doo and Gleek can answer. (They don't watch the Yankees. Unless Derek Jeter is on Daily Show or something.)
1. They didn't have time to let people speak, but they had time for a five minute bit about reality TV Hosts?
2. Don Rickles: discuss
3. How did Bryan Cranston happen? Was it vote splitting? A Nader like situation? Do you think enough Emmy voters even saw Breaking Bad?
4. The Josh Groban singing TV theme songs - please tell me it was done ironically. Cause that sounds like comedy gold.
5. Tina Fey for Writing & Best Show - YES. Tina Fey for acting? Hmm.
6. MVP of the Night (also called "The Hosts Suck Award"): Ricky Gervais or Don Rickles?
7. How HOT was Tina Fey last night? My goodness - someone's stylist needs their own Emmy.
Winners when you hit the cute little link below this......
COMEDY SERIES
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO)
“Entourage” (HBO)
“The Office” (NBC)
“30 Rock” (NBC)
“Two and a Half Men” (CBS)
DRAMA SERIES
“Boston Legal” (ABC)
“Damages” (FX)
“Dexter” (Showtime)
“House” (Fox)
“Lost” (ABC)
“Mad Men” (AMC)
MINI-SERIES
“The Andromeda Strain” (A&E)
“Cranford” (PBS)
“John Adams” (HBO)
“Tin Man” (Sci Fi)
TELEVISION MOVIE
“Bernard and Doris” (HBO)
“Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale” (HBO)
“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” (Lifetime)
“A Raisin in the Sun” (ABC)
“Recount” (HBO)
VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
“The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
“Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS)
“Real Time With Bill Maher” (HBO)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
REALITY COMPETITION
“The Amazing Race” (CBS) “American Idol” (Fox)
“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)
“Project Runway” (Bravo)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock” (NBC)
Steve Carell, “The Office” (NBC)
Lee Pace, “Pushing Daisies” (ABC)
Tony Shalhoub, “Monk” (USA)
Charlie Sheen, “Two and a Half Men” (CBS)
ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment” (HBO)
Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Michael C. Hall, “Dexter” (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men” (AMC)
Hugh Laurie, “House” (Fox)
James Spader, ““Boston Legal” (ABC)
ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOVIE
Ralph Fiennes, “Bernard and Doris” (HBO)
Ricky Gervais, “Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale” (HBO)
Paul Giamatti, “John Adams” (HBO)
Kevin Spacey, “Recount” (HBO)
Tom Wilkinson, “Recount” (HBO)
ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate, “Samantha Who?” (ABC)
America Ferrera, “Ugly Betty” (ABC)
Tina Fey, “30 Rock” (NBC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (CBS)
Mary-Louise Parker, “Weeds” (Showtime)
ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close, “Damages” (FX)
Sally Field, “Brothers & Sisters” (ABC)
Mariska Hargitay, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC)
Holly Hunter, “Saving Grace” (TNT)
Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer” (TNT)
ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE
Judi Dench, “Cranford” (PBS)
Catherine Keener, “An American Crime” (Showtime)
Laura Linney, “John Adams” (HBO)
Phylicia Rashad, “A Raisin in the Sun” (ABC)
Susan Sarandon, “Bernard and Doris” (HBO)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jon Cryer, “Two and a Half Men” (CBS)
Kevin Dillon, “Entourage” (HBO)
Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, “Entourage” (HBO)
Rainn Wilson, “The Office” (NBC)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Ted Danson, “Damages” (FX)
Michael Emerson, “Lost” (ABC)
Zeljko Ivanek, “Damages” (FX)
William Shatner, “Boston Legal” (ABC)
John Slattery, “Mad Men” (AMC)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE
Bob Balaban, “Recount” (HBO)
Stephen Dillane, “John Adams” (HBO)
Denis Leary, “Recount” (HBO)
David Morse, “John Adams” (HBO)
Tom Wilkinson, “John Adams” (HBO)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Kristin Chenoweth, “Pushing Daisies” (ABC)
Amy Poehler, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Jean Smart, “Samantha Who?” (ABC)
Holland Taylor, “Two and a Half Men” (CBS)
Vanessa Williams, “Ugly Betty” (ABC)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Candice Bergen, “Boston Legal” (ABC)
Rachel Griffiths, “Brothers & Sisters” (ABC)
Sandra Oh, “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC)
Dianne Wiest, “In Treatment” (HBO)
Chandra Wilson, “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Eileen Atkins, “Cranford” (PBS)
Laura Dern, “Recount” (HBO)
Ashley Jensen, “Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale” (HBO)
Audra McDonald, “A Raisin in the Sun” (ABC)
Alfre Woodard, “Pictures Of Hollis Woods” (CBS)
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN A VARIETY OR MUSIC PROGRAM
Jon Stewart, “80th Annual Academy Awards” (ABC)
David Letterman, “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS)
Don Rickles, “Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project” (HBO)
Tina Fey “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Stephen Colbert, “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
REALITY HOST
Tom Bergeron, “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)
Heidi Klum, “Project Runway” (Bravo)
Howie Mandel, “Deal or No Deal” (NBC)
Jeff Probst, “Survivor” (CBS)
Ryan Seacrest, “American Idol” (Fox)
DIRECTING, COMEDY SERIES
Michael Engler, “30 Rock” (NBC)
Dan Attias, “Entourage” (HBO)
James Bobin, “Flight of the Conchords” (HBO)
Barry Sonnenfeld, “Pushing Daisies” (ABC)
Paul Lieberstein, “The Office” (NBC)
Paul Feig, “The Office” (NBC)
DIRECTING, DRAMA SERIES
Arlene Sanford, “Boston Legal” (ABC)
Vince Gilligan, “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Allen Coulter, “Damages” (FX)
Greg Yaitanes, “House” (Fox)
Alan Taylor, “Mad Men” (AMC)
DIRECTING, MINI-SERIES, MOVIE OR SPECIAL
Bob Balaban, “Bernard and Doris” (HBO)
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, “Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale” (HBO)
Tom Hooper, “John Adams” (HBO)
Jay Roach, “Recount” (HBO)
Mikael Salomon, “The Company” (TNT)
DIRECTING, VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM
Louis J. Horvitz, “80th Annual Academy Awards” (ABC)
Lonny Price, “Company” (PBS)
Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Jim Hoskinson, “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
Chuck O’Neil, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Jack Burditt, “30 Rock” (NBC)
Tina Fey, “30 Rock” (NBC)
James Bobin, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, “Flight of the Conchords” (HBO)
Bryan Fuller, “Pushing Daisies” (ABC)
Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, “The Office” (NBC)
WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
Michael Angeli, “Battlestar Galactica” (Sci Fi)
Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman, “Damages” (FX)
Matthew Weiner, “Mad Men” (AMC)
Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith, “Mad Men” (AMC)
David Simon and Ed Burns, “The Wire” (HBO)
WRITING FOR A MINI-SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Hugh Costello, “Bernard and Doris” (HBO)
Heidi Thomas, “Cranford” (PBS)
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, “Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale” (HBO)
Kirk Ellis, “John Adams” (HBO)
Danny Strong, “Recount” (HBO)
WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM
Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Dan Cronin, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Berkley Johnson, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O’Brien, Matt O’Brien, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg, “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” (NBC)
Eric Stangel, Justin Stangel, Jim Mulholland, Michael Barrie, Steve Young, Tom Ruprecht, Lee Ellenberg, Matt Roberts, Jeremy Weiner, Joe Grossman, Bill Scheft, Bob Borden, Frank Sebastiano, David Letterman, “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS)
Seth Meyers, Andrew Steele, Paula Pell, Doug Abeles, James Anderson, Alex Baze, James Downey, Charlie Grandy, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, John Lutz, Lorne Michaels, Simon Rich, Marika Sawyer, Akiva Schaffer, Robert Smigel, John Solomon, Emily Spivey, Kent Sublette, Bryan Tucker, Robert Carlock, Lauren Pomerantz “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Tom Purcell, Stephen Colbert, Allison Silverman, Richard Dahm, Michael Brumm, Rob Dubbin, Eric Drysdale, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Laura Krafft, Frank Lesser, Glenn Eichler, Peter Grosz, Bryan Adams, Barry Julien, Meredith Scardino, “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
Steve Bodow, Rory Albanese, Rachel Axler, Kevin Bleyer, Rich Blomquist, Tim Carvell, J.R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Rob Kutner, Josh Lieb, Sam Means, John Oliver, Jason Ross, Jon Stewart, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
Full post
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Bartlet to Obama: What's Next?
Aaron Sorkin wrote a bit in the New York Times today...what if Obama sought the advice of our greatest fictional President?
You can find the article here, which includes a good old Sorkin monologue, a defense of the phrase "elite", and a great reference to the power of the Christmas episode.
From the piece:
OBAMA So what about hope? Chuck it for outrage and put-downs?
BARTLET No. You’re elite, you can do both. Four weeks ago you had the best week of your campaign, followed — granted, inexplicably — by the worst week of your campaign. And you’re still in a statistical dead heat. You’re a 47-year-old black man with a foreign-sounding name who went to Harvard and thinks devotion to your country and lapel pins aren’t the same thing and you’re in a statistical tie with a war hero and a Cinemax heroine.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Oblooper
As many of you know, one of my favorite things is a good blooper clip. So I present a blooper clip that involves a Senator Obama blooper or as I now call it: an Oblooper.
On the video below, scroll to the 2 minute 17 second point and watch Obama have to start and stop an interview due to a pesky insect. I seriously couldn't stop laughing mostly because Obama couldn't stop laughing.
Friday, September 19, 2008
You Should Totally Rent ...
SPEED RACER!!!!!!
I was very surprised at how much fun it was and how much heart it had. Yeah, it is a little long and there were definite places to cut, but it was so great. The effects are amazing, the acting is top notch, and the story is both complex and interesting.
Plus, it has a hilarious monkey in it. Nuff said.
Better Then Wax Sculptures
For their 30th anniversary, Lego has created celebrity versions of their toys.
Check out Posh & David Beckham (to left). I'd even do the Lego version of Becks.
Other Lego Celebs
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Role Models: Red Bad Trailer and Poster
The trailer is NSFW and HILARIOUS!!! Plus, it's directed and co-written by David Wain and co-written by Ken Marino. Both members of the best sketch comedy team ever: The State.
TRAILER
Get Thee To The Peach Pit!
So let's leave aside how boring the new 90210 is. Cause it is. Let's focus instead on another issue. While I was watching last weeks episode (only because I had heard that Kelly's mom was going to be back and drunk - and yes, that was fabulous), it occurred to me that the actress playing Erin "Call Me Silver" Silver, Jessica Stroup, was incredibly skinny. Like so skinny, that she made AnnaLynne McCord look almost normal. Almost, I said, cause watching AnnaLynne on Nip/Tuck last year was like watching a Holocaust victim seducing Dr. McNamara. Which if you watch that show, you know that's not actually outside the realm of possibilities. Anyway, I recently saw the following picture, and I realized why I couldn't stop staring at these women's wrists:
Come on. Come on.
Even Tori Spelling looks like she ate something!! And Tori Spelling was a size 4 when this above picture was taken - I looked it up.
The press has noticed, too: Entertainment Weekly asks "Are the skinny starlets of 90210 setting a bad example?" and Flow TV does an excellent analysis in "Familiar Zipcode, New Bodies: A Critical Analysis of the Feminine Body in 90210"
I remember desperately wanting Brenda's bangs, Kelly's earrings, and a moody rich Dylan (I also wanted to live in a hotel like Dylan. Still do, actually).
Young women today can watch and desire eating disorders and a double zero sized pair of $600 jeans.
The CW also shows Tyra Banks America's Next Top Model, which by the way, kicked off a contestant this week, partially because she was too skinny.
Expect that model to have a guest spot coming up at Beverly Hills High.
UPDATED TO ADD: The Fug Girls, they of the most snark fed opinions regarding celebrity fuggery in the whole internets, finally got around to destroying the show as well right here. Please note they include the following picture of Ms. Jessica Stroup.
LOOK AT THOSE ARMS. WHO IS TELLING THIS WOMAN TO BE THIS THIN? She was in Reaper not more than a year ago and I swear to God she was at least 15 pounds heavier, and she looked beautiful and thin. As the Fug Girls say, if the camera adds ten pounds, Jessica may very well be in negative space.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Ha!
So according to Wikipedia (expert advice from at least 30 seconds ago!), Kat DeLuna is a recording artist with Epic Records who is relaunching her album from last year, 9 Lives. She also once won a Coca Cola sponsored karaoke competition with her rendition of I Will Always Love You. I really do think that explains this performance of the Star Spangled Banner... it's belted out like someone who needs to record the same album twice (or 9 times, natch) and with the force of a wannabe Houston-ette.
Pay particular attention to the pure disgust of the audience when she destroys the note on "free" and tries to recreate Whitney's ending from the 1991 Superbowl. It's a thing of schedenfraudian beauty.
Also, the crowd boos. A Dallas crowd. She ruined the anthem in front of football fans in Texas. That's practically asking to have your tiny Dominican feet tied to the bumper of an SUV.
Fall TV Has Begun!
House: Starring the delicious Hugh Laurie, and some other people. FOX, 9pm PST / EST
So, last season, in a pair of fabulous episodes (House's Brain/Wilson's Heart) Amber the Cutthroat Bitch had died because House couldn't stop drinking/being codependent. Wilson is not so happy about this. Count on bizarro cases, lingering guilt, pill popping, and a still annoying 13.
The Biggest Loser: Families, NBC Two Hour Premier 8pm PST/EST
Apparently, someone told Jillian she was too nice last year. Too nice. So Jillian has admitted that she is even tougher this year. Beatings and more beatings! Yay! Bob is still gay or southern, and still uber competitive against his fellow partner. What does this all mean? These contestants are in for absolute hell (and the chance to win $250,000 furnished by seventeen different product placement companies).
So take a break from your hatred of Sarah Palin (Not really. Just hate her during commercials.) and watch some masochists and sadists (both fictional and real!) tonight.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
9 to 5
9 to 5 the musical is doing its pre-Broadway tryout in LA and they had some technical difficulties during their first performance but the show went on. The audience got a special treat when Dolly Parton (who wrote the music and lyrics) was in the audience and entertained the crowd while the tech problems were resolved.
Here are 2 videos. The first is Dolly entertaining the crowd and the second is of the final number in the show.
Tonight: 102 Minutes That Changed America
Tonight, the History Channel is showing their documentary on the attacks that occurred seven years ago. Here's a preview.
On the website, the History Channel says "This unprecedented special takes an unfiltered look at the history - as it happened - through video and audiotape captured by more than 100 witnesses."
So watch, remember, and honor those we lost.
Tonight
History Channel
9pm
Karl Rove is Dead, Long Live Karl Rove
So of course, the McCain/Palin ticket continues to live up to its values... of being liars and scumbags. The latest ad claims that Barak Obama supported giving kindergartners "comprehensive sex education". Of course, the reality was that part of a sex education bill. Part of that bill included education to teach kindergartners what a bad touch is. With a provision for parents to opt out, just in case that was too racy.
So basically, Republicans spun an excellent bill designed to prevent child abuse into an excuse to accuse Obama of wanting to teach a five year old the Karma Sutra.
Republicans, why do you love child abuse?
New York Time full article destroying this ad, after the jump.
Ad on Sex Education Distorts Obama Policy (New York Times, September 11th)
Escalating its efforts to portray Senator Barack Obama as a candidate whose values fall outside the mainstream, the campaign of Senator John McCain on Tuesday unveiled a new television advertisement claiming that Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, favors “comprehensive sex education” for kindergarten students.
“Learning about sex before learning to read?” the narrator asks in the 30-second advertisement, which the campaign says will be shown in battleground states and on national cable. The commercial also asserts that a sex-education bill introduced in Illinois, which Mr. Obama did not sponsor and which never became law, is his “one accomplishment” in the field of education.
Both sets of accusations, however, seriously distort the record.
The original controversy dates to 2003, when a bill to modify the teaching of sex education in Illinois was introduced in the Legislature. The proposal was supported by a coalition of education and public health organizations, including the Illinois Parent Teacher Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Illinois Public Health Association and the Illinois Education Association.
Mr. Obama voted for the bill in committee, where it passed, but it never came to a full and final vote. The proposal called for “age and developmentally appropriate” sex education and also allowed parents the option of withdrawing their children from such classroom instruction if they felt that it clashed with their beliefs or values.
In referring to the sex-education bill, the McCain campaign is largely recycling old and discredited accusations made against Mr. Obama by Alan Keyes in their 2004 Senate race. At that time, Mr. Obama stated that he understood the main objective of the legislation, as it pertained to kindergarteners, to be to teach them how to defend themselves against sexual predators.
“I have a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean,” Mr. Obama said in 2004. “And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age.”
It is a misstatement of the bill’s purpose, therefore, to maintain, as the McCain campaign advertisement does, that Mr. Obama favored conventional sex education as a policy for 5-year-olds. Under the Illinois proposal, “medically accurate” education about more complicated topics, including intercourse, contraception and homosexuality, would have been reserved for older students in higher grades.
The advertisement, then, also misrepresents what the bill meant by “comprehensive.” The instruction the bill required was comprehensive in that it called for a curriculum that went from kindergarten and through high school, not in the sense that kindergarteners would have been fully exposed to the entire gamut of sex-related issues.
In another part of the advertisement, Mr. McCain maintains that Mr. Obama’s sole achievement in education was the sex-education bill. In reality, Mr. Obama not only helped administer a $49 million education project in Chicago in the 1990s, but also sponsored or co-sponsored measures that increased the number of charter schools in Illinois, and expanded federal grants to summer school programs and to historically black colleges.
As support for its contention that Mr. Obama is “wrong on education,” Mr. McCain’s advertisement cited criticism by Education Week, a trade publication. Mr. Obama “hasn’t made a significant mark on education” in his years in the Senate in Illinois and Washington, the advertisement asserts.
Education Week did indeed make that assessment in an article published last year. But in the same paragraph, the magazine also said that Mr. Obama “did promote early-childhood initiatives that advocates considered “innovative and progressive,” and also noted that “his biggest accomplishment in the field was the creation of a state board to oversee the expansion of early-childhood education in the state.”
The same publication has also criticized Mr. McCain, in language that was perhaps even stronger. Early this year, in an article titled “John McCain Where Art Thou?” it complained that he offered “a laundry list of fairly vague answers” on how to improve schools and did not make education a priority.
“McCain is a campaign-finance, foreign-relations, anti-abortion, tax-cut candidate,” the magazine said. “Education is not his thing. Depending on your perspective, McCain’s relative silence on education may be a good thing. If you think the federal government has grossly overreached into the state business of education, then he may be your guy.”
The Obama campaign expressed outrage over the commercial, with Bill Burton, a spokesman, describing it as “shameful and downright perverse.”
But Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said, “the Obama campaign did not and cannot dispute a shred of the content in the ad.”
Monday, September 8, 2008
Your Daily Reminder That Sarah Palin Is A Tool
From Wonkette:
WHAT’S ALASKAN FOR ‘IGNORANT’? Asked about the housing collapse and emergency government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Sarah Palin said they had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.” Both are private corporations — or were until they were bailed out over the weekend by the Bush Administration and, uh, the taxpayers.
I Shoulda Watched the Bears Game...
Friday, September 5, 2008
Plane To Nowhere
The private jet that Sarah Palin spoke about in her speech on Wednesday and that John McCain talked about today while stumping DID NOT sell on ebay. More importantly, it was sold for under $300,000 what it is worth to a contributor to the GOP.
SOURCE
Why are they lying about such stupid things?! I mean, I don't want them to stop, but Jesus!
When Will I Stop Posting About Sarah Palin? November 5th, When She Goes Back to Obscurity
But in the meanwhile, here's Sarah Haskins, making another kick-ass Target: Women video. This time, it's P.A.N.T.H.E.R.S.
A Free Michael Moore Movie
Michael Moore has a new movie coming out called Slacker Uprising, which follows Moore as he tries to get more young people to vote.
For a limited time, starting September 23, you can download the movie for FREE.
Click HERE to sign up for your FREE download.
In John Stewarts Fantasy, Every Year is Election Year
Enjoy - one the best episodes in years.
Didja Hear? John McCain was tortured!
And after enduring the circle jerk that was the Republican convention, so was I.
A good roundup of the various news outlets response to the speech can be found at the Huffington Post. Consensus is: Boring, off from the message of every other speech, good job on the torture story, boring.
My quick thoughts: You can't have two days of Republicans frothing at the mouth to see who could be more vicious towards Sen. Obama to then turn around and talk about bipartisanship. It doesn't work that way. And also, the policy portion sucked and was exactly like the Bush White House. And your torture does not qualify you for the highest office in the world, any more than Gov. Palin's "executive experience" qualifies her to be Vice President.
Finally, this morning, amid stories on your speech was the announcement that the US Unemployment Rate is up again. It's not torture, it's the economy, stupid.
HEART Attacks
Nancy Wilson, of the GREAT female rock group Heart, is pissed.
Yep, it seems that McCain/Palin and the RNC are using Heart's classic song "Barracuda" without permission. The song (written about the sexism Heart faced with corporate record executives) was never licensed to the RNC and Wilson is pissed.
Click HERE to read EW's exclusive article.
PS I had a huge crush on Nancy Wilson when I was a kid and have seen them in concert THREE times. So this is just more fuel for the fire that is my hatred for the RNC.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
My God I Love The Daily Show During Election Years
Seriously, the writers and researchers of the Daily Show blow my mind. Come for the comedy, stay for the Bill O'Reilly smack down. LOVE IT.
Give Me More, Monkey!Liquid. Evil.
While Gleek and I spent the entire evening texting back and forth statements like "THAT A LIE!" and "OH, MY GOD, HOW CAN SHE SAY THAT AND GET CHEERS!", it's comforting to know that journalists still fact check.
Like the AP, who checked her "facts" and found that she is a liar.
Well, we're not entirely sure that she knew she was lying - after all, the speech was written by the McCain team. Nah, she knew she was lying. Didn't she look like she was having fun being a total and complete liar?
Her lies include:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
The whole article, reprinted, after the jump:
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin Is Liquid Evil.
Gleek actually called her liquid evil. I called her liquid evil with a side of lies.
Her acceptance speech was long on attack and short on policy. So short on policy, in fact, that I've put it behind the jump so you can read it and try to locate policy. What you can spot are the litany of attacks on Sen. Obama, including but not limited to: his patriotism, "wanting to read terrorists their rights", being all style and no substance, wanting to increase the taxes of everyone in the country by millions of dollars, being a community organizer, and never serving his country. Oh, the last two are true, but apparently that takes him out of the running for being President. Cause all of sudden, being a community organizer is a terrible, horrible thing. And you can't be President if you haven't been military.
And don't forget! The media is evil. And liberals are evil.
This speech was to the far, far right wing of the country. The rest of us were given an insight into how the Republican Party wants to treat us, the world, and our Constitution. Be forewarned.
Text of the speech follows. By all means, comment away. Let's play a game, shall we? Try to find the parts that prove she's qualified to be VP, and try to count the fallacies of fear. I can guarantee the fallacies are by far more plentiful.
Please note: Speech is the text released to the media before the actual address.
Read Sarah Palin's Republican Convention speech, as prepared for delivery.
----
Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.
I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.
But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.
They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.
And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.
He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.
Our son Track is 19.
And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.
My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.
In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.
And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.
That's how it is with us.
Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.
Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.
And children with special needs inspire a special love.
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.
I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.
He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.
We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.
And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.
My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.
A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people.
They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.
They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.
I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.
When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.
And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.
The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.
No one expects us to agree on everything.
But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.
I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network.
Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.
And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.
That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.
I also drive myself to work.
And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.
Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
Our state budget is under control.
We have a surplus.
And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.
I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.
If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.
As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.
And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher.
When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.
And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.
Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.
We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.
Maybe you have, too.
We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.
And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.
The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.
How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.
How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.
In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.
And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.
And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.
He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.
A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.
He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.
And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.
It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.
It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.
As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.
For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
Thank you all, and may God bless America.
Peggy Noonan calls Palin Nomination "Bullshit"
She also says this the nomination is part of a cynical narrative that Republicans lose at. Hee. From your Republican lips to voters ears... and, next time, you might wanna check to see if that mike is on.
The Oratorical Styling of Diddy on McCain's VP Choice
"Sarah Palin, you ain’t ready to be vice president. ALASKA MOTHERF—-ER? What is the reality in Alaska? There aren’t even any crackheads in Alaska. There aren’t no black people in Alaska."
Give Me More, Monkey!Elephants On Parade. (Not Pink Ones, They Stay Quiet)
The Republican National Convention really began last night, and the biggies were Sen. Lieberman, former Senator/former candidate/former Law & Order King Fred Thompson, and oh, yeah – the President of the United States. Via satellite from the White House. (Tacky, by the way. One should not electioneer from the Oval Office.)
It was Vietnam and September 11th all over again – the case was argued by each speaker that Sen. McCain will defeat America’s enemies. Personally, I’m not sure that’s the best tactic for Independents, who are looking at the shaky economy like they’re staring at a firing squad. But dance with the girl that bought ya, I suppose, and if that has to include a three minute description of your many broken bones by Fred Thompson, well… do what ya gotta do.
Here’s a news wrap up:
The New York Times says that President Bush used his six minutes of speaking time to say that Sen. McCain has the experience to lead a post September 11th world. He also made a joke about the times that Sen. McCain has yelled at him. The article points out that the RNC chose not to have the President speak in prime time, on purpose, to distance his dismal legacy from Sen. McCain.
CNN’s Campbell Brown says that the campaign needed to punch the biography as hard as they did in order to negate the foolish VP pick. Gloria Berger wonders what’s going to happen to little boy lost Sen. Lieberman, who’s entire body politic is the war in Iraq. Donna Brazille
wonders where the economy went. Alex Castellanos liked the red meat, and Candy Crowley was shocked the Lieberman could praise Palin, considering the only position they have in common is the war.
The Washington Post says the case for war was really the focus of the evening, and points out the sharpness of Fred Thomas’s barbs against Sen. Obama. In fact, they point out how many Obama campaign phrases were borrowed, including Laura Bush saying that the President’s AIDS initiative was actual “Change you can believe in”.
MSNBC says that Gov. Palin is frantically studying today, trying to prepare a policy speech for tonight. They point out that this is her only chance of reversing the impression that most American’s have of the young nominee. To that end, the White House sent foreign policy tutors, and the McCain camp seems pleased with her preparedness – the speech has been written by McCain’s team. She’ll downplay her personal story as much as she can in those efforts.
Fox News thought is was a very successful day. (Did you just fall over in shock?)
Tonight – the biggest speech of them all, really. Gov. Sarah Palin takes the stage.