Republicans get mad when the surveillance programs they thought were a good idea under Bush are turned against them.  Hey, I’m against all this surveillance too – but you weren’t crying about it when they were spying on lefties were you?  Karma’s a bitch.

Matt Taibbi on the “peasant mentality” and these seemingly infantile “teabagging” protests.  Yeah, I know, they picked a pretty stupid name didn’t they?  Or are they that ignorant of the “common usage” meaning for that phrase in todays < 35 crowd.

Sarah Palin never stops making herself look stupid.  Ever.

Interesting watercooler fodder for those of you still wondering what the hell happened on September 11th.

After all the drama with her daughter’s “marriage” she really should know better.

And she’s supposedly planning a 2012 presidential run?  Man, talk about reality TV!

[EDIT: Here's more from Mudflats.]

I only add “bastard” because it’s technically true.  I completely disagree with all negative connotations associated with the word: single parents can raise wonderful and loving children.   Good luck to Bristol though with that (now?) power-hungry manipulator for a mommy though.  Then again, I’m sure she’ll never have to want for money, so she’s already massively better off than most other young, single mothers.

Oh look!  It’s another nominee!  You’ve heard of people dumb enough to fall for those scams right…?  But someone dumb enough to steal for one?  fail.

The bit about erasing memories in mice is still making the rounds.  You should check it out if you haven’t already because, at the very least, people will be talking about for a bit.

A really nicely done photo essay type thing on Obama.

Emoticons, in the 1880s?   Pshhh.  Show me some ASCII art and then I’ll be impressed! ;)

Jane Meyer’s New Yorker article on the push for Palin.

This piece from Time has some interesting pieces from Obama  & Petraeus’ meeting.

Jason Jones (of the Daily Show) interviews the current mayor of Wassila (embedded @ the Daily Dish because I’m too lazy to try and embed it here).

How your beer bought McCain’s shoes.  A nice explanation of the way beer distribution works…doesn’t sound very capitalist to me!

Buckypaper.  The latest in high-tech materials.  Have any of these things made it into public hands since plastic?  Probably…I just don’t pay much attention.  Spandex maybe?  ;)

McCain & Obama on infidelity.  I think one candidate clearly has more experience than the other here.  The question is, is that experience enough to get them into the White House?

I’m sure you’ve seen the stories about how Palin charged the state for her children’s flights & hotels.  But just in case: here’s one.

Block African witchcraft curses against McCain and Palin now!  You cannot make this batshit up.  OK, obviously someone can…because they did, and appear to believe it.

Looks like Focus on the Family is getting in on the “batshit crazy” act too!  Seriously, all you not-batshit-crazy Christians need to man-and-woman-up and shut these fools up.

Wacky broccoli.

Surprise!  JP Morgan isn’t going to use the bailout money to issue loans!….they’re just going to keep it and do whatever the fuck they want with it!  You didn’t see that coming did you?????  The real question is of course: “How can we get them to defenestrate themselves?”

One last touch of crazy, congressman says “Liberals hate real Americans.”  Honestly I don’t hate many people in the world right now.  But I will laugh relentlessly at you if you are socially, morally, or mentally deficient.   Note that this guy also falls under the batshit-crazy Christian label – or, at the very least, he is trying to appeal to those folks.

No, I don’t know where the term “batshit-crazy” comes from…I suppose I should look it up.  This was the best I could find in a hurry.   Hmm.  Toxic gas from poop.  Gotcha.  Good to know.

[EDIT: Couple more because I don't want to make another post:

Zakaria goes to the Obama side.

A lengthy article about pursuing interviews in Vietnam with ex-military officers.

Ever wondered why your cell phone messes with nearby speakers, etc.?  Inquire within.

/END EDIT]

Seriously, “hardscrabble”?  I guess that must be an old people word ;).  OK, more seriously…I think the sketch actually covers it pretty well:

*Moderator didn’t ask many serious follow-up questions
*The debaters weren’t actually allowed to debate much (blame this on the format that the  McCain campaign requested and the Obama one somehow acquiesced to …)
*Palin DID say the m— word way too many times.
*Biden was too nice.  If you think any Republican would have been this civil to Clinton you probably don’t live in the same country  I do.
*Neither said much, but I think Biden did a better job of articulating things (surprise!).
*I heard/saw a few conservative types saying she “blew him out of the water” and other such things.  I can’t see how we were watching the same debate.
*It is perfectly legal/logical to bring up the last 8 years of Republican government, and point to someone’s complicity with it as a reason for why they won’t give you anything new…

It’s been a few days since I saw it, and I already forgot most of it…so I’m sure there’s more to say but hey, it wasn’t really that interesting, or important I think.  Palin proved that, after 3 weeks of coaching, she can managed not to look like a fool (although, check out this footage from her pre-governor debate – she seemed much more confident and in control there. AND MUCH LESS folksy.   I didn’t catch any winks. Hmmmmmm.), and the moderator proved that she really shouldn’t have accepted a job where people could argue there might be a conflict of interest, thus neutering her completely as a moderator.

Honestly, I think the McCain campaign allowed her on purpose so they’d have this exact wedge, but hey, maybe I’m just cynical!

Also, the poll #s (which only mean as much as any poll can) seem to say that no one much cares either:

It does take a few days for these things to kick in though, so we may see more over the next few days.

Overall, Palin managed not to look like a deer in the headlights and Biden managed not to look like someone eager to run over said deer with a stomper truck.  With Palin’s low standards, people seem inclined to call that a draw.  I’ll call it like I think it is and call for Biden, even though I don’t particularly like him.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbg6hF0nShQ

Thoughts?

I’m not sure what to say other than that someone is telling a very direct lie about something very trivial, but WHY?

That’s right, I’m looking at you Mrs. “I said no-way to no-where!” or whatever the quote was.

Anyway, I’d hope that by now voting Americans would have the energy to research what their candidates say..or at least look around for other people on the internet who have already

Wait..no I have one last comment.  I found it exceptionally amusing how Fred accused Democrats of “protectionism” last night, and yet tonight Rudy accused them/Obama of sending jobs over seas.

Make up your damn minds!  Oh wait, I forgot, McCain is your candidate.  You’re taking lessons.

1. He waited until the day after to announce – it would definitely have affected the DNC news cycle I think.   However, maybe he did it immediately to be a jerk, who knows really.  I’ll just give him the benefit of the doubt for kicks.  He almost loses this point though for that 30 second “congratulatory” ad…it came off really snide to me.  Or was it just me?
2. He picked a woman.  Now, there are many ways to take this but I don’t *think* it’s a Mondale-I-just-want-to-make-history thing.  Sure, he kind of voided his entire “experience” argument (she runs a state with less people than many cities), but it does support his argument that he’s open to some kind of change at least, as she apparently has a good record on the environment.  But hey, maybe you only need experience to be President, not VP.  Although, realistically, I have to wonder at the odds of someone in their mid 70s (say, second term), coming down with some kind of ailment that would prevent him from continuing as President.  Then, suddenly, her few years running a state with 600,000 people might be more relevant.

That’s still really all I’m giving him.  If this was the McCain of 5 or 8 years ago, running against Kerry instead of Bush, then I *might* have voted for him.  But ’08 McCain is kind of a sell out to his previous values, if they were ever indeed anything more than an act (as you might be led to believe he was trying hard to recover from the Keating 5 scandal and make himself look good again).

I look forward to their speeches (hopefully I didn’t miss them already, I haven’t looked at the RNC schedule, mabe they do everything backwards! ;p ).  Judging by the few views she has expressed (anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage) I doubt I’ll be impressed with her politics, but maybe her character will shine.

As for Biden…with him we know what we’re getting, to a degree.  I’m hopeful that he is more able to reign in his worse running at the mouth tendencies (Obama must have made him agree to that, right?) and doesn’t go around insulting anyone about their IQ this campaign…

I think he’d make a decent VP. I wouldn’t be particularly motivated to vote for him as president, but I think he’ll do just fine as a VP, and do well on those diplomatic errands VPs often get sent on, hopefully doing better than Gore did when the next Russia/Putin type situation arises.

I’m very curious how the VP debates are going to play out – are people going to be offended if Biden goes for the jugular because she is a “young woman”, or should we hold her to the same standards as men?  I go for the second obviously, but you can’t predict what people will do.  People know Hillary, if someone goes after her I don’t think there would be as much of a “defend the woman” type vibe, they know she can throw bullshit with the best of them.  But this “cute”, young working mother…that might be a different story.

Also, the “young” Obama vs. “old” McCain & “young” Palin vs. “old” Biden debate dynamics are sure to be interesting.  I don’t think Obama will have a problem with McCain, but I can’t see how Palin, with her limited experience (at least a far as national politics, debates and media goes!!) is going to be able to keep even with Biden.  But she may surprise me.

Game on!