Thereās a delicious irony of seeing private luxury jets flying into DC, and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands, saying that theyāre going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses. Itās almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. Kind makes you a little bit suspicious as to whether or notā¦weāve seen the future. Thereās a message there. Couldnāt you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled to get here? It would have at least sent the message that you do get it.
Why voting matters: Though I currently live in NYC, my family lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Republican incumbent Virgil Goode has been the congressional Representative for what feels like forever. Virgil Goode has quite the history on him, mostly race-baiting and saying pretty awful things about gays and Muslims, so some of us were really hoping he would be getting the boot in 2008 with the popularity of Barack Obama and Mark Warner (former Governor and soon to be Senator of Virginia).
My Dad usually votes Republican/Third Party, my mom votes straight Democrat, and I begrudgingly vote Independent/Democrat in most elections. Well, things changed this year… I guess we all got fed up with Bush and the past 8 years, enough so to drive a centrist-right person like my Dad into a straight Democratic ticket.
Good timing too, because this was the year to clean house. And while no polls showed Goode’s challenger, Democrat Tom S. P. Perriello, coming within 5%, we all were hoping for some sort of election miracle. And it looks like we may have gotten it:
As of 3:31 the day after the election with 100% precincts reporting, Perriello is ahead by 31 votes. Yes, with over 315,000 votes cast, Tom Perriello is ahead by 31 votes.
I’m really glad I voted. And I’m even gladder that my whole family voted. Mom, Dad, and I constitute 10% of Perriello’s lead. And I hope it stays that way.
[tags]Tom S. P. Perriello, Virgil Goode, 5th house district in virgina, va, va house race, house of representatives, democrat Tom S. P. Perriello, democrat challenger, 30 votes, republican, incumbent[/tags]
With the end of the 2008 Presidential election, a thorough retrospection of the most astonishing Sarah Palin moments is a necessity. Providing blogs with the kind of fodder we could only have dreamed of, it’s time to recap some of the highlights of Sarah Palin’s efforts in the 2008 campaign:
5. IF YOU CALL JOE BIDEN OLD, I’LL CALL JOHN MCCAIN THE UNDEAD
Now, call me crazy, but did Sarah Palin just try to make a wise crack about how old Joe Biden is? While this didn’t garner much attention from the media, it was quite the ironic jab, as Sarah Palin’s would-be Presidential-Overlord, John McCain, can often times be mistaken for an undead ghoul. For the record, at the tender age of 72, John McCain would be the oldest first-term President in the history of the United States.
4. THE ANSWER SO STUPID THAT TINA FEY REREAD IT WORD FOR WORD ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Under the section of “dumbest answer to a question anyone should have seen coming” is Sarah Palins response to a simple and completely foreseeable question on why the federal bailout should be supported by those not directly benefiting from it (aka the lower and middle class). In the end, Sarah Palin would deliver one of the most moronic replies, basically meandering from one incomprehensible assortment of words to the next:
COURIC: Why isnāt it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: Thatās why I say I, like every American Iām speaking with, weāre ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, itās got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade ā we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. Weāve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.
3. I SPENT $150,000 ON CLOTHES BUT I COULDN’T FIND A SCARF WITH THE RIGHT ANIMAL ON IT
$150,000 Won't Buy You An Elephant Scarf
We’ve all heard ad nauseum about Sarah Palin’s mavericky middle-class hockey-mom Christian-oriented moose-hunting six-pack Joe just-like-every-Middle-American background. But it turns out that the Republican party spent 3 times the median American income just to dress her for the 2 months of campaigning. That’s right, $150,000 on clothes during one of the worst economic crises in modern history. And what could be worse than appearing as completely out of touch with your own image? How about showing up to events, decked out in your $150k clothing, only to get the animal of the Democrats on your scarf? Sounds about right, but knowing Ms. Palin, she probably thought the donkeys were miniature elephants.
2. I WILL BE THE DARK LORD OF THE SENATE
Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, āWhat does the Vice President do?ā
PALIN: Thatās something that Piper would ask me! ā¦ Theyāre in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.
Sadly enough, Palin had appeared on CNBC in June amid speculation of being selected to be John McCain’s running mate, but deferred the appeal of the position, as she had to ask out loud, “What does a Vice President do?”. So between June and October, all Sarah Palin learned about the Vice President is that it ‘gets in there’ with the Senate. Sounds like someone’s been copying Dick Cheney’s homework.
1. PUTIN ONCE INVADED MY AIRSPACE AND I SAW HIM WITH MY CREATIONIST TELESCOPE, ERGO I HAVE FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our– our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They’re in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia–
COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We– we do– it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is– from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to– to our state.
The answer that makes Dan Quayle seem like John Kennedy. Where to begin? First off, her statements are racked with lies. There never were any trade missions from Alaska to Russia and Russia doesn’t ‘come over the airspace’ of Alaska. But most egregiously, how the fuck does living in a state that is in proximity to other countries give you foreign policy experience? One would typically define foreign policy experience as having been a part of diplomatic or trade related activities with other nations. Conversely, one would not define foreign policy experience as having lived near Canada and having to occasionally drive through the 51st state to attend a gun show or rodeo.
Runners Up In Idiocy:
Sarah Palin Doesn’t Understand Fruit Flies And/Or Science — And you thought Sarah Palin hated science before. It turns out that Palin hates all that ‘unnecessary government pork’ going to wasteful science projects, like, you know, curing the myriad diseases and conditions that plague this country:
“Where does a lot of that earmark money end up, anyway? […] You’ve heard about, um, these — some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense, and sometimes these dollars they go to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not!”
The FRENCH!! Are stealing! Our money! God knows those Frogs are probably just eating the flies instead of dissecting them or whatever else scienticians are supposed to do.
Independent Investigators Find Sarah Palin Guilty Of Gross Misuse of Power As Alaskan Governor — As we’ve all (painfully) learned, Sarah Palin is such a maverick because she shuns government funds, is a clean and honest Christian, and has been an awesome governor. Well it turns out she also loves abusing power to get ex-relatives unjustly fired. Oh, and she also loves redistributing government funds, as long as it ends up in her family’s pockets.
Sarah Palin Is A Strong Advocate For Abstinence-Only Sex Education; Has 17 Year Old Pregnant Daughter — While I wouldn’t necessarily fault Sarah Palin for her 17 year old daughter being pregnant, it is the height of hypocrisy to say your family is off-limits, only to carry your pregnant teenager around like a purse. Even odder is that Palin still clings to abstinence-only sex education policy, her own daughter becoming pregnant at a woefully young age.
7:53: Welcome one and all, we’re live blogging this mother fucker up!
7:57: Fuck! Technical problems… must be able to watch this.
7:58: Order restored. Except we are hearing nothing but loud buzzing. This is nothing compared to Hussein’s angelic voice.
8:00: It begins! Barack Obama loves America… and white people…. and the occasional black person.
8:01: Look at all that rich mahogany. What a man.
8:02: What’s that pin on his shoulder? Is that an Israeli flag?
8:02: Fuck is this hokey. Fuck is this cheesy. Where are the graphs???? I demand Ross Perot graphs!!!!!
8:03: Operations, blah blah blah. Here is a surgery you should consider: a vasectomy. Stop pumping out kids!
8:04: WordPress is not optimal for live blogging.
8:04: Mmmmmmm free market optimism! Tastes like economic inequality.
8:06: Yes! 9/11 has already been mentioned! Terrorists – 1, America – 0.
8:07: You earned your pension old man! Now do the rest of us a favor and throw yourself a building. Your life is getting expensive for America.
8:07: Get those corporations! And no more jobs for Mexicans and foreigners!
8:08: Here comes anecdote number 2. More working class people with working class problems. And this one is black and plays the guitar. It just feels so… FOLKSY!!! š š š
8:09 12 different medications a day. You in a competition with my girlfriend? How many of those are natural breast enhancers?
8:10: Is this about Barack Obama or how much life is starting to suck in America? “But Daddy, I wanted to live in America where I could get a job with little to no skills and happily live a life where my arteries were clogged with Middle Eastern oil!”
8:11: Oh shit! It’s the Planeteer version of energy policy. And it can’t be outsourced, because they don’t have the sun in India.
8:13: Oh shit, Iraq has a surplus. And they better pay up, cuz this war of sweet liberation is not free, you Arab terrorist Al-Qaedas!!!
8:14: Rocket fuel for small-businesses, which is rocket fuel for the economy. And once this is all over, we’ll use our rocket fuel to propel us into the future, or at least onto the moon.
8:15: God damnit. Another peak into everyday Americana. When are they going to kick in the Death Cab for Cutie with forlorn looks out the window?
8:16: Barack Obama’s father — Darkness everybody! Darkness has entered the building.
8:17: An army of new teachers. I hope they’re the ones we send to Iran.
8:17: Oh shit! Our live feed went down! 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11!!! AHHHHH!!!
8:19: We’re back, Barack Obamas Mom. This is actually pretty good. The first time tonight this has not felt like a stage prop.
8:20: And it’s over. Bible quotes and laughing with the family. You think he spanks em? I’d like to see that. Barack Obama spanking some children. Real hard.
8:21: Oh Joe Biden. You’re so dreamy. It must be those hair plugs. And that Horatio Alger storyline.
8:23: Kentucky! American Dream. Pies. Houses. Now he works once every two weeks and can’t stop eating grits.
8:24: This is our moment. And our moment is not fucking pretty.
8:25: PBH Editorial Board member and designer Kit is masturbating to Obama. Not kidding.
8:26: It’s all about the children. And freedom. And Free Masons in coal mines.
8:27: Yikkity yak. Story of America.
8:27: Bizarro Bearded Bill Richardson. Bizarro bizarro bizarro.
8:28: I’m sold, Barack Obama’s got my vote. Once again, terrorists — 2, America — 0.
8:28: Ut oh, I think I just heard something deflate. And that something is John McCain’s campaign.
8:29: Is this live? People sure do go ape-shit about tuition.
8:30: Text message for the next President of the United States! It’s either him or Clay Aiken.
8:30: It’s over! I think this was the most offensive 30 minutes of my life. Initial recap: is that it?
The maverick independent hockey pitbull lady seems to be good at one thing and one thing only — completely alienating independent voters from supporting the John McCain campaign:
A majority of likely voters in a new Washington Post-ABC News national poll now have unfavorable views of the Alaska governor, most still doubt her presidential qualifications and there is an even split on whether she “gets it,” a perception that had been a key component of her initial appeal.
In polling conducted Wednesday and Thursday evenings, after the disclosure that the Republican National Committee used political funds to help Palin assemble a wardrobe for the campaign, 51 percent said they have a negative impression of her. Fewer, 46 percent, said they have a favorable view. That marks a stark turnaround from early September, when 59 percent of likely voters held positive opinions.
The declines in Palin’s ratings have been even more substantial among the very voters Republicans aimed to woo. The percentage of white women viewing her favorably dropped 21 points since early September; among independent women, it fell 24 points.
More broadly, the intensity of negative feelings about Palin is also notable: Forty percent of voters have “strongly unfavorable” views, more than double the post-convention number. Nearly half of independent women now see her in a very negative light, a nearly threefold increase.
