Sunday, September 28, 2008

Obama strengthens his lead based on his debate performance

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

The most recent tracking poll data:

• Gallup: Obama 50%, McCain 42% ,
• Rasmussen: Obama 50%, McCain 44%
• Hotline/Diageo: Obama 47%, McCain 42%
• Research 2000: Obama 50%, McCain 43%

Or, Obama is ahead by a rounded margin of 50%-43%. The press and blogs may be calling it a tie, but the voters seem to believe otherwise. . .
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Candidate Sarah Palin in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest, swimsuit division

Sarah Heath, who would later become Governor Palin, appears in the swimsuit portion of the 1984 Miss Alaska competition. Apparently there is also footage of her playing flute in the talent competition. We'll let you know when we find it. . .

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Asif Ali Zardari lands in hot water in Pakistan over calling Sarah Palin hot

Governor Palin opened with a "glad to meet you." After shaking Governor Palin's hand last week in a photo op, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari told her "You are more gorgeous than you are on [television]."

"Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you," Zardari told her, as he flashed his famously toothy and pearly-white smile.

The two were urged to shake hands again [sotto voce], for the benefit of the cameras. "I'm supposed to pose again," Palin whispered. Pointing toward the aide that prompted them, Zardari said, "If he's insisting, I might hug."

I can almost hear the off-camera aides saying "nooooooooooooooo." After their extremely brief photo-op, campaign functonaries shuffled Asif Ali Zardari out of the room.




Pakistani newspapers ran prominent accounts of the "embarassing" incident. News anchors smirked after airing the footage.
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Obama to McCain: You were wrong! The best video moment of the first Presidential Debate


"You talk about the surge. The war started in 2003, and at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. And you were wrong. " Barack Obama to John McCain, September 26, 2008






"We've spent over $600 billion so far, soon to be $1 trillion. We have lost over 4,000 lives. We have seen 30,000 wounded, and most importantly, from a strategic national security perspective, al-Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001. We took our eye off the ball. " Barack Obama to John McCain, September 26, 2008
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All This Is That's Carbon Offsets



What is All This Is That doing to save the planet? Offsets!


click to enlarge
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Was it a tie? Obama and McCain survive to fight another day?

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

I hoped for more from the first Presidential Debate of the 2008 season. In the end, you'd have to call it a tie/dead heat/stalemate. The very fact it was a tie undoubtedly translates to a loss for McCain, who needed the win.

In this first, "foreign policy" debate it took over 30 minutes for the candidates--admittedly facing a national and world economic crisis--to actually get around to foreign policy issues. And when they did, Senator McCain failed to expose any real weakness in Senator Obama's grasp of foreign policy. McCain, now trailing in the tracking polls, needed a big win tonight. No cigar. McCain never seemed in control of his message; Obama never seemed to waver. McCain almost conceded the change issue to Obama. He never brought it up.

McCain accused Barack Obama of compiling "the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate" and accused him by my count seven times, in various forms, of being naive and clueless. For his part, Obama praised McCain too many times. And he let McCain's jabs stand when he should have counterpunched. He let McCain's comments on his 900 million in earmarks stand, when this was clearly one more case of inside baseball. McCain came off as an arrogant and cranky professor lecturing a clueless student. . .while Obama proved time and again his mastery of the facts of numerous and complex foreign policy issues. The new kid on the block relentlessly rattled off facts and figures on the devastating and costly war in Iraq. He didn't just say the war was wrong: he showed how the war was wrong, by proving we were fighting the wrong war.



Obama scored big points for accusing McCain of being wrong on Iraq, and for fighting the wrong war by ignoring the real issue of the growing presence of al Qaeda in Afghansitan and Pakistan. McCain did not rebut him.

Early in the debate, Obama refused to address an arcane point about the inner -workings of Senate committees because it was "inside baseball." However he left several of McCain's inside comments about earmarks stand, and didn't go after McCain on any of his own spending troubles when McCain tried to take the high road.

On the podium, they both looked fine (even McCain, who can look pretty spooky...he had an expert makeup job). It was mostly a tie, but McCain often came off as snarky, and was generally hunched over his podium in what came off--to me at least--as a hostile, closed off posture, while Obama was open and warm. He often turned and looked over at McCain, who refused to ever look directly at Obama.

Both candidates refused to take advantage of the nation's economic woes, and did not differ on much of substance, and, in fact, agreed that greed and deregulation that brought us to this lamentable state of affairs.

It was close to a stalemate...I'd give McCain a few more points for getting in unanswered jabs, and I'd give Obama points for showing grace an charm under fire. Obama absolutely looked Presidential, and I suspect that, even if you'd score this as a tie, Obama clearly showed he would be every bit--if not more--Presidential than John McCain. Following this debate, the populace now understands that Barack Obama could clearly hold his own with the likes of Putin, Chavez, or any foreign leader. This raises the stakes on the next debate. . .right through the roof!




Joe Biden made the rounds post-debate of numerous talk shows. Sarah Palin was, as is often the case, absent, under wraps, and silent. Their turn comes this upcoming week.
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Friday, September 26, 2008

Head of Skate: The Disney Sarah Palin movie

Thanks to Tony Ravo for this excellent link! Click here to watch Head of Skate.
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Stalemate: John McCain rushes back to Washington in a flurry of activity only to witness (and possible create) a stalemate



After all the huffing and puffing about John McCain charging in to rescue the economy. . .nothing happened today. . .pfffffft! They may try to blame the Democratic Party, but in the end, it seems to be the Republicans that queered the deal. . .at least for now.

As late as Tuesday, Senator John McCain hadn't even read the administration's plan! WTF! Hey, we understand. . .it's only been a week or so, and after all, the plan the administration submitted was 2 1/2 pages long! The Senator is a busy man.
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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Video: Crosby Stills and Nash at Woodstock '69 perform Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (with lyrics)

CSN perform the great song by Stephen Stills, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (aka Judy Collins) at Woodstock in 1969. It was one of their very first public appearances, and as Stephen Stills said "We're scared shitless."




Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
by Stephen Stills, performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young At Woodstock, 1969.

It's getting to the point
Where I'm no fun any more
I am sorry
Sometimes it hurts
So badly I must cry out loud
I am lonely

{Refrain}
I am yours
You are mine
You are what you are
You make it hard

Remember what we've said, and done
And felt about each other
Oh, babe, have mercy
Don't let the past remind us
Of what we are not now
I am not dreaming

{Refrain}

Tearing yourself
Away from me now, you are free
And I am crying
This does not mean
I don't love you, I do, that's forever
Yes, and for always

{Refrain}

Something inside
Is telling me that I've got your secret
Are you still listening?
Fear is the lock
And laughter the key to your heart
And I love you

{Refrain}
And you make it hard
And you make it hard
And you make it hard

Friday evening
Sunday in the afternoon
What have you got to lose
Tuesday morning
Please be gone, I'm tired of you
What have you got to lose

Can I tell it like it is Catch me I'm falling
Listen to me baby
It's my heart that's suffering Catch me I'm dying
It's dyin' and that's what I have to lose

I've got an answer
I'm going to fly away
What have I got to lose?
Will you come see me
Thursdays and Saturdays
What have you got to lose

Chestnut brown canary
Ruby throated sparrow
Sing a song, don't be long
Thrill me to the marrow

Voices of the angels
Ring around the moonlight
Asking me, said she so free
How can you catch the sparrow

Lacy lilting lady
Losing love lamenting
Change my life, make it right
Be my lady

Do do do do do, do do do do do do
Do do do do do, do do do do
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McCain Weasels: "I can't debate. It feels like my head is on fire."


"What Are You Going To Do If You're Elected
And Things Get Tough? Suspend Being President?" [1]


By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

In a stunningly desperate move, Senator John McCain "suspended" his campaign for President. He also said he was cancelling or postponing the debate scheduled for Friday night.

With his lead long since obliterated, the Palin bounce now a momentary flash in the pan, and the backlash following his calling the economy "strong" only last week, McCain threw a desperate Hail Mary Wednesday afternoon. The announcement was mocked by the Democrats and seemed to puzzle the Republicans. One Republican congressman, who refuses to be named, told me "I just about s**t my pants! He must have gone off his meds."

McCain's surprise announcement that he was suspending his presidential campaign was met by a statement from Barack Obama saying it's ``more important than ever'' for the candidates to tell voters how they would deal with the crisis." They can work with Congress while campaigning, Obama said.


"It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once,'' Obama said.
The move by McCain is "desperate,'' said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. "He has been trying to change the conversation every time the press and public starts paying attention to the issues."

Presidential Campaigns have not been suspended before, even during the Civil War, the Depression, World War II, and the Vietnam War. "McCain's move should be judged too clever by half,'' said Stephen Hess, a scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

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[1] Some other choice remarks David Letterman made Wednesday:

"In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

VP nominee Sarah Palin defends John McCain "the deregulator" (with bonus Palin painting)




In an interview today between Katy Couric of CBS News and Governor Sarah Palin, Couric probed Palin on Senator John McCain's credentials as an economic reformer:

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric:
I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.
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*sigh* It was just one of those days

Sometimes, I wish I could break through the Chinese Wall I've erected between this blog and what I do for a living. I've been a good boy for nearly four years now. Why should I suddenly shake that up?

Some days, it's not worth the energy it takes to chew the leather straps, as a wise man once said. And there is always tomorrow.
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