Search
RSS Feed
Archives
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
Blogs Eric Reads
1058
- Oh, Sarah Palin. No matter how hard she tries, she just can’t stop the never-ending stream of ethics violations. Some Alaskan dude (not the First Dude, maybe Fourth Dude or Fifth Dude?) has filed an ethics complaint against Palin for conducting interviews about her vice presidentail run and future electoral prospects while in the governor’s office, where Alaskan taxpayers pay to keep the lights on. Alaska Republicans: very corrupt or extremely corrupt? (Anchorage Daily News)
- Well what do you know, turns out Barack isn’t a Muslim after all! A new al-Qaida tape says that Barack Obama’s plan to move troops out of Iraq to Afghanistan will fail. Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida’s number two guy, then goes on to call Obama, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice ”house Negroes,” a term which was first used by actual black Muslim Malcolm X. (Voice of America)
- Barack Obama has chosen Peter Orszag to head the Office of Management and Budget. Nobody would ever care about Orszag or the OMB except that Orszag OMGOMGOMG worked for Bill Clinton. Apparently, appointing Democrats who actually know what they’re doing isn’t change we can believe in, or some nonsense. People, listen: the morons have been running the country for the past eight years. Let’s get some people who actually know stuff in power. (CNN)
- Oopsie! An astronaut on a spacewalk accidentally dropped a toolbox. Except by “dropped” I mean “allowed to float off into the infinite reaches of space.” Fortunately, NASA sent them with an extra spacewrench, or whatever it was, so they can keep fixing the space station. (Slashdot)
Republicans Abandon Ship!
- Ah, remember the good old days, when John McCain was the Republican nominee for President of the United States–you know, two weeks ago? Well, he lost the election (which means the GOP no longer has to believe in any of the same shit he does) so the RNC has filed a lawsuit claiming that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional. Yes, you read correctly. The Republican Party wants the Republican nominee’s crowning achievement overturned. I guess they never liked that geezer after all. (Marc Ambinder)
- Well, looks like Palin for President is not off to the greatest start. Here’s five Republican governors telling the TV folks that Palin isn’t going to be ready for the top of the ticket in 2012. They were also unhappy about having to stand behind her at a press conference while she took questions about running for president in 2012. They did not like the appearance that they might be Palin supporters. Because they are not. At all. And they want that to be very clear. (YouTube/CNN)
- Palin for Senate isn’t going so well either. What, you didn’t know she was running for Senate? Yeah, she told CNN that she would be interested in running in a special election for Ted Stevens’ seat after he was reelected to and then expelled from the Senate. Only problem with that is that Mark Begich now leads Stevens by over 800 votes with many of the remaining votes expected to come from Begich friendly districts. (The Caucus/Anchorage Daily News)
Something Is Rotten In the State of Alaska
- In case you forgot, the day before the election Alaska’s Personnel Board–a group of Palin appointees–released it’s own Troopergate report clearing Palin of any wrongdoing. Except they missed a spot, since it looks like Palin may have committed perjury. Trooper Wooten’s attorney testified under oath that Palin called him in January 2007. Palin testified under oath that she didn’t. That means someone’s pants are on fire. Only replace “pants are on fire” with “a felon.” (The Daily Dish)
- And speaking of America’s Governor, Palin said in an interview with CNN that she would be willing to serve in the administration of a friend of terrorists. No, seriously. In the same interview, Palin said that it would be her “honor to assist and support our new president” and that she was “still concerned” about Obama’s ties to “an unrepentant domestic terorrist.” Um, putting aside that the presidential campaign is over, you can’t exactly say both of those things in the same breath and expect to still have any credibility. (CNN)
- Don’t worry, all hope is not lost for Seward’s Folly! As of 2:09 pm local time today, convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens’ lead over Democrat Mark Begich is down to 971 votes. Nate Silver says that there are about 60,000 ballots left to be counted and that most are from rural districts where Begich performed well. (State of Alaska/FiveThirtyEight)
The 2012 Republican Primary
President-Elect Obama hasn’t been sowrn in yet, but the 2012 Republican presidential primary has already begun in earnest.
First up, here come Bobby and Huck:
Here we go again: Huckabee, Jindal visit
Starting next week, two high-profile Republicans will visit Iowa amid speculation that they will seek the GOP 2012 presidential nomination.
Up first is this year’s GOP Iowa caucus winner, Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor will host two book-signing events Nov. 20 - one in Cedar Rapids and the other in Windsor Heights.
On Nov. 22, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will visit Cedar Rapids and West Des Moines to speak at several events. Jindal is known for having played a significant role in Louisiana’s recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
And Ambinder speculates that Newt Gingrich is heading to Iowa as well.
Meanwhile, Charlie Crist is touting Florida’s divided government:
Crist calls Florida a model for future of GOP
TALLAHASSEE — Barely a week after Barack Obama’s decisive victory, Republican governors across the country gather in Miami today for two days of exploring how to find their way out of the wilderness.
The host of the Republican Governors’ Association event is Florida’s Charlie Crist, a big believer in the “big tent” theory who calls his way of governing “a model for the country.”
And of course, we can’t count Sarah Palin out.
Rehasing ‘08 and Rehearsing, Perhaps for ‘12
Unleashed and not humbled, Ms. Palin is on a speed date with history, upending protocol as she goes. She put herself on full display, in interviews with NBC and Fox News before Mr. McCain had a chance to take a no-victory lap on “The Tonight Show.” And she has many more appearances scheduled throughout the week, including a star turn at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami on Thursday.
…
When Mr. Lauer asked her if she minded not being allowed to give more interviews during the campaign, Ms. Palin said she would not delve into that kind of “inside baseball,” and then she stole a base. “I would have loved more opportunities to speak to the American people about what I’d like to see of — happen there with our country,” she said pointedly.
Here’s to hoping the already fractured GOP starts a highly divisive four-year primary. That should end any of this “center-right country” nonsense.
Update: Haha! CNN puts the kibosh on Sarah Palin 2012:
Four years ago, John Edwards was in much the same situation Palin finds herself in right now. Edwards was John Kerry’s running mate on the losing ticket in 2004, and officially launched his presidential bid in this campaign in December of 2006 — only to come in second in the Iowa caucuses this January, followed by a third place finish the following week in the New Hampshire primary. The former North Carolina senator withdrew from the race for the White House on January 30.
Go back another four years and it’s a similar story. Sen. Joe Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate on the losing ticket in 2000. Lieberman launched his own bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out on February 3 of that year after losing six straight primaries.
Vice President Dan Quayle and his boss, President George H.W. Bush, went down to defeat in the 1992 election. Quayle raised money and considered runs in 1996 and 2000, though he ultimately never ran in any primaries or caucuses.
Vice President Walter Mondale and his boss, President Jimmy Carter, lost the 1980 election. Mondale ran for the White House in 1984, winning the Democratic presidential nomination, before losing the general election in a landslide to President Ronald Reagan.
Sen. Bob Dole was the vice presidential nominee on the losing Republican ticket in 1976. Dole briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, which Ronald Reagan won, and made a more serious effort in 1988, before losing to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Dole eventually won the GOP nomination in 1996, before losing the general election to President Bill Clinton.
If that’s not enough, both 1972 Democratic vice presidential nominee Sargent Shriver and 1968 VP nominee Ed Muskie ran for the top spot in their party four years later. Each lost their nomination battle.
11/11
- Sarah Palin, who is now talking to the press as much as possible, blames her campaign staff for expecting her to read the speeches that were placed in front of her and do other non-mavericky things. Also too, she hopes God will show her the way to the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. This will be the ultimate test of my faith. (The Caucus)
- Some Alaskan got Ted Stevens to autograph a VECO hat. VECO, of course, is the oil company that bribed Stevens resulting in his conviction on seven felony counts. Ha! (Wonkette)
- So the Clinton people are all still pissed off at the Obama people. This time, it’s because they don’t think the President-Elect has done enough to help Hillary Clinton pay off the campaign debt she racked up by attacking him. If Barack Obama won’t cut Clinton a check for $5 million to pay Mark Penn, it is a slap in the face!!!!! (Politico)
- It’s Veterans’ Day. May God bless all those soldiers across the world who have served in defense of their nations and their people.
Palin Blamed for Obama Death Threats
The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of “palling around with terrorists”, citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling “terrorist” and “kill him” until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin’s attacks.
Goshdarnit, who would’ve thought that her stirring up hatred towards Barack Obama would cause her listeners to hate Barack Obama.
Here’s to hoping that this was her last trip out of Alaska.
Palin Gets Trooper Wooten Assigned to Desk Job
It looks like Sarah Palin may have succeeded in getting Alaska Trooper Mike Wooten off the streets. The comments Palin made to the media have made it unsafe for Wooten to do his job:
The Alaska state trooper who was the subject of harsh allegations by Gov. Sarah Palin was taken off patrols recently for his own safety, after her comments allegedly prompted a series of threatening phone calls, KIMO-TV in Anchorage reported Friday.
…
In comments to the media and documents released to the public, Palin accused Wooten, her ex-brother-in-law, of making death threats against her family, drinking on duty, tasering his 10-year-old stepson and shooting a moose out of season, among other things.
“The trooper in question here did conduct dangerous and illegal activities,” Palin told ABC News’ Charlie Gibson Sept. 12, in her first nationally-televised interview after joining the GOP ticket as its vice presidential candidate. Wooten “threatened to kill my dad and. . . his threats were he was going to bring down the governor and the governor’s family,” she said.
…
Following Palin’s comments about Wooten in the national media, “people with little or no knowledge of the situation call and make complaints, make threats, talk about what a danger he is,” explained John Cyr, head of the Alaska trooper’s union, to KIMO. “All it takes is one person to show up and do something stupid.” Sources at the Department of Public Safety confirmed Cyr’s account to KIMO, an ABC affiliate.Wooten is now working a desk job, KIMO reported. The troopers’ union has expressed concern because the new position means he can no longer earn overtime pay.
Congratulations to Sarah Palin! Her insane personal vendetta has made it unsafe for a police officer to do his job. What a horrible person she is.
In What Respect, Charlie?
She was almost Vice President.
Real Americans Voted for Obama
And they rejected Sarah Palin:
Results for Guilford County, where Sarah Palin made her remarks about real Americans in pro-America parts of the country:
- Obama/Biden 58.75%
- McCain/Palin 40.44%
Palin First
Having recognized that she will probably not beat the Great Black Hope on Tuesday, Sarah Palin is already talking about dumping McGrumpy and pressing on to 2012:
Wolf Blitzer: And this just coming into the “Situation Room,” the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now speaking out openly about her intentions in 2012 if, if she and John McCain were to lose this contest next Tuesday. In an interview with ABC News, Sarah Palin is now saying, she would be interested in remaining a serious national political figure, going ahead to 2012. She was asked what happens in 2012 if you lose on Tuesday, would you simply go back to Alaska? Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News asked her and Palin said this, and I will read it to you verbatim according to an ABC News transcript: “Absolutely not,” Sarah Palin says. “I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we’ve taken, that … that would … bring this whole … I’m not doin’ this for naught,” and that is a direct quote from Sarah Palin. Clearly, leaving open the possibility that she would be interested in leading the Republican Party in 2012 if she and John McCain were to lose this presidential contest right now. Let’s go to Dana Bash. She has been covering the McCain campaign reaction from the rather blunt statement from Sarah Palin that she would in fact be interested in leading the Republican Party going forward after Tuesday if they lose?
Dana Bash: I just got off of the phone, Wolf, with a senior McCain adviser and I read this person the quote and I think it is fair to say that this person was speechless. There was a long pause and I just heard a “huh” on the other end of the phone. This is certainly not a surprise to anybody who has watched Sarah Palin that she is interested in potentially future national runs, and she is being urged to by a lot of people inside of the Republican Party if they do lose, but it is an “if” and people inside of the McCain campaign do not want any discussion that has an “if” in front of it six days before the election, they don’t want any discussion at all, any kind of hypothetical talk about running for the next time around. So certainly, this is not at least initially being received well inside of the McCain campaign.
Wolf Blitzer: I am not surprised, not surprised at all. It is one of those “wow, she is talking about 2012 if we lose,” that is not supposed to be something that you say. You are supposed to say, “well, I’m not looking ahead, I’m not looking ahead only to Tuesday,” and those are the talking points she’s supposed to be saying, but she is obviously blunt and she is looking ahead if something were to happen on Tuesday that she wouldn’t be happy with.
I, for one, am looking forward to the Barracuda vs. Mittens Steel Cage Match that will be distracting Republicans from November 5 all the way through 2012. Maybe while they’re off doing their thing Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress can get some stuff done for America.