What Does TrooperGate Mean for November 4?
A few thoughts.
First, I sort of suspect that John McCain may have been warned TrooperGate might break badly today, when he decided mid-day to put his legacy ahead of his ego.
"I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as president of the United States," McCain told a supporter at a town hall meeting in Minnesota who said he was “scared” of the prospect of an Obama presidency and of who the Democrat would appoint to the Supreme Court.
Second, at least for the moment, the McCain team is standing behind Palin. They released a statement that claimed that the report had found Palin had not done anything wrong, that the investigation was partisan, and that Palin looked forward to the Personnel Board investigation results as she continues her conversation with the American people.
In other words, Palin’s still on the ticket, for the moment. They’re probably stuck with her. After all, there are few people who would want to take over for her. I think KayBee Hutchison might help McCain–but why would you do it if you were her? Becoming McCain’s running mate is no longer a desirable career move. And if he replaced Palin with Lieberman, it would devastate Republican turnout in November. So, for now, at least, Palin remains on the ticket.
Which leads me to my third point. McCain’s whole campaign since he picked Palin was about "mavericks" who take on the old way of doing things. Was. That’s not going to work anymore. So now he’s got an unqualified but charismatic fundie fire breather, but a really tainted claim to maverickyness (though I think McCain will claim that his refusal to push the lynch mobs is more maverickyness).
In other words, since his poll numbers are already in the 42% range, McCain’s bid to be President just got even more tougher, because his brand is for shit.
So point four. At some point, the Republicans are going to decide that McCain’s going to lose, and they need to save as many of the congressional seats as they can. They’ve already started pulling advertising out of toss up Congressional districts. But then there’s this:
So I hear (via a prominent member of the sane Republican faction) that the word on the right side of the street is that the Republican National Committee is about to pull the plug on its joint ads with the McCain campaign, and devote its resources instead to trying to save a couple of the senators who are at serious risk of losing their seats. Now this is gossip, albeit of the high class variety; take it with the requisite pinch of salt. But it points to some real vulnerabilities in the McCain campaign’s finances. McCain’s decision to opt for public funding has meant that he’s had enormous difficulty competing with the Obama money raising machine. He’s been able to partly compensate by co-financing ads with the RNC (this skirts the limits of the legislation that he himself co-wrote but is just about legal). This has kept him competitive in TV advertising, albeit still significantly outgunned. But if the Republicans are as worried as they should be about the impending elections, there will be a lot of calls on that money, and the RNC is going to have to make some tough choices. Should it keep spending money on the presidential campaign in the hope that McCain will win despite the polls, or should it instead try to minimize the damage of a McCain defeat by doing its best to stop the Democrats from making big gains in the Senate?
That is, at a time when McCain has already had to withdraw from a swing state (mine!!) because he’s broke, the RNC may well pull their funding from him and try to save Mitch McConnell or Saxby Chambliss.
So to sum up: earlier today, there was a ceiling for Obama’s support. But I think that roof just got raised.
so mavericks are crooks?
Not exactly; the brothers Maverick (James Garner, Jack Kelly) were professional gamblers — it’s a fine line.
Just sayin’.
“crooks” versus “Professional Crooks”
so they wasn’t crooks, per say
they wasw PROFESSIONAL crooks
Well, right now the GOP brand is so toxic that in the San Joaquin Valley, even in Bakersfield, the candidates don’t want it on their signs. That’s a fairly reliably red area, too. I’m not sure the RNC can save Chambliss and McConnell.
No. Perhaps not. But McConnell and Chambliss have a better shot–with a cheaper price tag–than McCain does at this point.
Scuttlebutt I got today is that gooper congresscritters in Florida are intentionally skipping public debates and other events that were scheduled to be televised. By skipping them, the stations then refuse to air the event because they fear the gooper will come back later and demand equal time. Appears to be statewide by design.
You just watch, Paulson will figure out some way to inject capital directly into certain illiquid advertising agencies and media outlets. Problem solved!
Apparently, the Republican Party just got an $8 million loan from Wachovia. I have to find the site I read it on last night.
is wachovia, which just failed, in a position to give out loans at all?
or
how could a politician who just allowed the government to seize wachovia, and who has been voting on bailouts for the financial indstry for a month BORROW MONEY FROM A BANK THE GOVERNMENT SEIZED, AND A BANK THE BAILOUTS HAVE A DIRECT AFFECT ON ???
it’s called CONFLICT OF INTEREST
not THE APPEARANCE of a conflict of interest
IT’S a direct Violation of EVERY FUCKING ETHICS LAW EVER WRITTEN
first saw it at Dailykos; citation below article
Apparently, Wachovia can loan $; at least $ to the Republican party.
Article below tells us not to worry- if the Republican party pays the loan everything is fine! Heard that before…
philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Wachovias_loan_to_Republicans.htm
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008
Wachovia’s loan to Republicans
Democratic Party propagandists are abuzz at the revelation that the National Republican Congressional Committee has borrowed $8 million from troubled Wachovia Bank as the company is in negotiations to be sold. That’s intriguing for several of reasons. The loan follows partisan maneuvering as Republican leaders in Congress fought a GOP-led rebellion over whether and how to bail out bad loans at Wachovia and other banks. Did the loan have a role in convincing reluctant right-wing reps to switch their votes and back the bailout? That’s worth following. But the people who wrote this up at SouthernStudies.org and DailyKos.com aren’t too familiar with banking, and they ran up some blind alleys instead. (Addresses posted below for cut & paste if you want to go there.) The articles portray Wachovia as a failing bank that’s funding the GOP while it’s stiffing its own customers. They use Wachovia’s freezing of the Common Fund, which manages funds for hundreds of small colleges, as an example. But Wachovia’s role as stern trustee for an over-extended investment fund during a collapsing securities market doesn’t relate to its role as a lender to solvent borrowers. Even under threat of bankruptcy, banks need to keep lending to well-collateralized business clients, homebuyers, credit card users and many others, or they’ll die. If the GOP pays its bills, the loan in itself is no smoking gun.. The articles also miss the partisan complexities in the struggle between Citigroup and Wells Fargo & Co. for control of Wachovia. Briefly, Citigroup (like other Wall Street firms) is run by Democrats who raised piles of money for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (and John Edwards, too.) By contrast, the people who run Wachovia, like most provincial bankers, are Republicans; the articles note that, but they miss the subtlety that Dick Kovacevich, the ex-Citibanker who runs Wells Fargo, also tends Republican (he backed McCain in the primaries), though he’s given lesser sums to powerful Democrats like Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) Does the fact that Citi is Democratic while rival suitor Wells trends Republican have anything to do with Wachovia’s GOP loan — or to the fact that Wachovia CEO Robert Steel double-crossed Citi and decided to support Wells as Wachovia’s buyer? Plus, the authors confuse Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance with taxpayer aid. FDIC is a government agency, but it’s funded by banks. When banks have to pony up more insurance, it eventually costs their customers, corporate as well as consumer; but that doesn’t make the Citi proposal a taxpayer bailout. Bottom line: Wachovia in extremis lending to Republicans is worth another look, but not a rush to judgment.
Daily Kos propaganda: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/9/144138/991/200/625265
Original Southern Studies article: http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/10/investigation-how-did-republicans-get-8.asp
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 8:48 PM
at the time palin was picked, in fact for a couple of years now, it has seemed pretty likely for our next prez to be a dem. seems clear over the past 8 years that the fundies are a little bit of an anchor for the rnc. so i wonder if they didn’t want to attach the fundies to the sinking ship and do so in a way that when they rebrand themselves over the next few cycles (move towards the center?) they can play the card of having picked one of them for vp. i don’t see ‘christian values’ getting a lot of attention over the next few cycles.
Throw the cash down the McCain hole dangit, don’t give it to Saxby! We’re getting close to getting rid of his sorry ass.
Johnny Mc’s gonna be one lonely ol’ guy pretty soon. I feel sorry for him, not that he hasn’t knowingly chosen this.
Did McCain not get control of the RNC when he became the nominee? I mean, how incompetent is this crew? How can the RNC pull its money out of McCain’s campaign? Doesn’t he own the RNC until 11/5?
Yes, he got control.
For as long as the party agreed that POTUS was the top priority of the party. Besides, when you get just below McCain in the current pecking order (to McConnell) they HATE MCCain.
I believe that the RNC is controlled by a club of corrupt old men into whose company Johnny is only grudgingly admitted. They’re not answerable to a candidate who calls himself a maverick no matter how much that candidate tries to whore himself down to their own standard of depravity.
McCain and Palin are nothing more than puppets for the very same folks who have been in power for the past 30 years.
McCain owns nothing. In fact, if (Gawd forbid) he and Palin are elected I fear for his safety.
um, no; believe it or not, until a republican wins the presidency, bush is the official head of the republican party.
for example, even though gore and kerry won the dem nominations, clinton, as the most recent sitting dem president, remains the official ‘head’ (as in figurehead) of the party. still holds a lot of clout, tho.
As Governor, Sarah Palin was given Immense Power – in fact, according to Alaska Law, she could have Legally Fired Walt Monegan for No Reason at All.
What the Branchflower Report shows, imvho, is that she Lacked the Character to Do The Right Thing with All that Power – she’s Ethically Flawed, and she Used her Power for Personal Reasons instead.
It’s Very Difficult to Spin Troopergate so that Sarah comes out Qualified to be a Heartbeat Away from the Presidency.
Big Power/No Character is Not the Formula for the Leadership We need.
That would be More of the Same.
What can you call a’branded maverick’?
Some might call it a “steer.”
Some might call it a “neutered bull.”
Some might call it “dinner.”
And some might call it dog food.
That last one was to Marcy at 14.
I once worked in an office at the suburb-countryside boundary, for the guy who owned the farm. We were called out (from paperwork) to help chase some of the tenant farmer’s beef cows which had found a gap in the electric fence, got the herd halfway out, got confused, and were making nuisances of themselves in the front yard.
Cow, standing and refusing to move (b/c the herd was split): “Moo.”
Farmer’s wife: “Moo, my ass. I’ll see you on a plate!”
Back when I was dealing with horses, we called them “Geldings”.
When you think of it, McSame is a Gelding and quite frankly, it seems like the Republican party itself is the one to weild the final ax that cuts him off at the nuts.
Holy electoral college Ms E, where do you think this goes? I mean, he’s still a ni..gro secret Muslim terrorist Manchurian candidate socialist foreign-born whitey-hating anti-gun liberal freakin’ Democrat, right?
My guess is this: Virginia and North Caroline for sure go Obama, due to the big federal employment presence; Indiana because to about half the state he’s the homeboy; Missouri because they got that “so goes the country” thing happening – and then maybe Georgia’s within reach [Love to see a downticket effect on Congressman Uppity’s career], and Montana’s got possibilitie.
But after those, McCain’s up by double digits in the rest of Rove’s base.
McCain’s leading in Arkansas, North Dakota, and Nebraska-2 by less than 15, all being low to really low information types in low to really low populations, which tend to be volatile. But the next level after that is the heart of Dixie and Bushland: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
It’s all good fun, but I’ll tell y’all one thing: I’d trade a hell of a lot of other bonus states just for Mississippi. THAT…would be sweet.
Well, I’ll tell you what, it is one hell of a lot closer here than people realize. I don’t think it is necessarily likely, but there is at least a chance that Obama can take Arizona.
Rats leaving a sinking ship for other sinking ships?
If I remember correctly, that would mean they’re rat-fucked?
Quite likely.
Will Lieberman start kissing Obama’s ass?
Ahhhh, the student becomes the teacher?
I do believe he might
I saw that ‘ceiling’ thing on 538.com, that was compelling analysis. I was discussing it with a friend at work today. I’ve been expecting the polls to start tightening a bit… but just a bit. I think the fundamentals for Obama are overwhelming.
Agree that the game has changed again, and more is possible.
I’m hopeful that Barry can now use his enormous coattails to come to California and campaign against Prop 8.
I don’t think that will happen. Sorry. In the last debate Obama was not for gay marriage. I was shocked, but, on a national level, I guess the masses are not ready for ‘Adam and Steve’ as opposed to ‘Adam and Eve’.
I’ve only seen one pro Prop 8 ad – it was unintentionally hilarious, and could be busted if someone had the Final Cut Pro chops to do it.
Where are you in CA? Lots of ads are running here – there have been some against it, but a lot more for it. The Mormon Church is spending a LOT of money.
My impression is that the Obama campaign has been against the terminology of ‘gay marriage’, not the issue of equal rights under the law – Biden tried to make the case in the debate – though a bit awkwardly.
But, I do think they are for equal rights. Obama is black, he knows all about discrimination, but previously couldn’t risk the election by coming out against the initiative.
Campaigning to defeat it would cost him a couple of points for sure, but in a blowout, who cares?
Maybe you are right, that Obama could sacrifice a few points to help out 8. I dunno. I am probably not a very good indicator of how people will vote. I am only now becoming cautiously optimistic about the election, because in many of the places I have lived there have been some, no, many disgustingly racist people.
I am in the Bay area – but I guess I tivo through most commercials on the 4-5 shows I watch a week, thus not seeing the adverse adverts.
Here’s the McPalin statement I paraphrased in the post.
Uh huh.
Won’t the 8 Republican members of that Legislative Council be pleased with that.
I’d imagine it would have zero, nada, zilch effect on their willingness to impeach MsBull…winkle.
I’ve got the feeling that MsBull…winkle and First Dude are now making an offer on a nice Arizona condo that’s suddenly come on the market (Yay Cindy on that new realtor job!) and thinking it might be a wise choice to never to go back to Alaska.
Polar bears? Fuck ‘em!
Hey now, we got enough kooks and idiots here already thank you.
But…but…but, Cindy swears it’s got an oceanfront view!
Btw, she sure picks up those realtoring trick right quick, don’t she?
The Goops are hosed. If they yank the support to the McCain campaign, sure they will have more money for the Senate protection effort. But this is another double edged sword for them. If you blow up the Presidential campaign you invite disinterest in the ground game and more casual voters. That may eat up any gains you could obtain from the extra money on the state races. Not sure they gain anything doing this. Oh, what a shame….
I wonder if people will take down their mcCain/Palin signs….. or what? We’ll be able to do our own little personal surveys over the weekend!
Don’t hear all the sounds of McCain/Palin bumper stickers being scraped off? Monday should be a good day for auto body shops. I think they will get a lot of Goopers who want their bumpers not to show traces of stupidity.
Just a single instance, but some time last week — around Tues. or Weds. — my rowhouse neighbor took down his/ her McCain/ Palin window signs. And not just because I’d finally put my Obama signs up — they’d been there for at least a week or ten days. (I’m particularly fond of one that has the word “Enough!” in bold, over Vote Obama/ Biden). I wonder what the motivation was? The neighbor still has a flag decal on the window, but no sign of those McPalin signs. . .
Interesting that you mention those signs.
I had been seeing them in front of huge McMansions and other outsize houses that sit atop hills looking down on the serfs, as it were. Just after McCain lost the first debate those signs were gone, I mean every single one of them, but now McCain/Palin signs were posted in front of small houses and at the entrances to trailer parks.
It’s almost as though the local GOP committee people went around to the rich people on their election lists and told them to take the signs down because, you know what with the economy imploding, it didn’t look good that only the rich had those signs. Then they went out to their class-confused members and asked them to put the signs in front of their modest homes so that people could think that regular, lower middle class and working families were in the tank for McInsane.
I know it sounds conspiratorial, but it’s the only explanation I’ve got.
According to 538, the highest-probability states once you get past Indiana and NC are (in Silver’s order, but with pollster’s state edge) (EV)
WV (M +1.1) (5)
ND (M +9) (3)
MT (M +8) (3)
GA (M +7.5) (15)
AR (M +11) (6)
SD (M +15) (3)
Pollster has AZ at M+12. Pollster has the national race at O+8.
WV looks winnable; even a landslide makes the others look far away. You’d need something like a national O+15 to make them start looking highly winnable (except for the possibility of states-specific ground games.)
Our local poller extraordinaire, Dr. Bruce Merrill at ASU, who is historically just superb on his Arizona polling, has McCain up by 7, but with 16% still undecided. I have talked to Bruce, and he feels that the undecideds are likely to break Obama, but hard to tell how much. If it is a solid break, we got a race. Lot of new registrations here and there are whole lot more Dem than GOP in those. I think there is at least a chance for Obama. Here is Merrill:
Along similar lines, I’m curious to see what happens in Texas. I expect McCain to win, but I don’t think it’s going to be as much of a blowout as usual. John Cornyn, our moron Senator (makes Kay Bailey Hutchison look like Hermione Granger), is leading by only single digits in his race to hold his seat. The numbers are going to be VERY interesting.
Franken keeps things so lively in his Shame Norm Coleman campaign [”I kill puppies…PUPPIES!], we don’t get enough news on how Noriega is doing. Did Richardson have the sense to help him out?
Oops. Here’s the part where I have to admit that I don’t really follow local or state news. I wouldn’t even know a hurricane was coming if it weren’t for my co-workers talking about it.
As a resident of Texas, I have put some skin (read: $$$$) in the game for Noriega… Cornyn does not have a brain and has been straight down the line with GWB. I don’t think that I can stand another six years of him!
As for KayBee, she is not much of a maverick, either… I had to chuckle when I read EW’s mention of her as a possible Palin replacement. Putting KayBee on the ticket would kill the “maverick” brand, IMHO.
Yeah, Arizona would be sweet, too, and maybe shorten the period of grieving for Uncle Sticky [Have I misremembered that? I could be confusing US Senator Grampa McPricky and your big old ex-cactus.]. Would it help there to run an ad based on Senator Goldwater’s judgment on the former? I would think Goldwater would still be considered Rushmore-worthy in those parts.
I can just imagine the scene in Hotel Chez Palin right now:
The First Dude storming around the room smacking himself in the face and saying: “Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me!”
To which MsBull…winkle replys: “Not tonite, I’ve got a real bad headache!
Shoot. i forgot to mention this earlier. A friend of mine is a co-producer on a film called ‘Torturing Democracy’ on Guantanamo and the torture regime in this country.
It’s debuting tonight on PBS in San Diego – apparently only here, due to squeamishness on the part of PBS honchos in DC.
Here’s the press release on the film. My friend Carey Murphy is mentioned at the bottom of the release.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-…..#038;EDATE
Here’s the website for the documentary:
http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/
starting here in 10 minutes.
I just watched part one at the site, randiego, and I need a break. You will understand why. Thanks very much for the links; we have to keep this story going.
EW, I saw your comments on First Dude in the last post. Any chance you might go a bit more in-depth? A first Dude focus would be important…
Rove did this already, when he nixed Lieberman and put Palin in the VP slot. Rove’s never given a shit about McCain. Palin is there to turn out the base for the Senate and House elections.
I agree that Palin is probably there to stay, but I disagree that it’d be a bad career move to replace her. On the contrary, I don’t really see any downside to it. It’s less than 4 weeks of work for an awful lot of free press. An election loss will be blamed on McCain and just about everyone else EXCEPT the replacement. And if you can speak in complete sentences, you’re going to look like a genius compared to everyone else on the Republican side right now.
BOOM – That’s it Frank. Palin was always there to turn out the base for the downticket races. I always thought it was just Rove wanting to screw McCain one more time, and make him like it. And I suppose it was, but with another motive as well.
I knew Rove didn’t give a shit about McCain. I just didn’t understand the purpose of the malice. I get it now.
There is no way she’s gonna be replaced. None.
To admit to such a monumental error of judgment with just 3 weeks left in the campaign would insure an Obama landslide.
Internally, the Rethugs are now down to controlling the damage; changing the VP candidate would only accelerate the slide, not slow it.
Way to raise the roof, Emptywheel!
Anyone else looking to get their groove on, I recommend my new music video about the cost of the war in Iraq!
“Step To The Light” – Push Puppets
http://www.pushpuppets.net
EW, can you clarify the status of Wooten’s custody battle? My impression is that it’s still ongoing. The judge is clearly miffed at the Palins, but it seems to me that they aren’t acting at the behest of Sarah’s sister. They seem more like completely independent psychos to me. I suspect that the judge won’t hold this against the sister. If he owns a television, he probably knows how nuts the Palins are, and how unreasonable it is to expect anyone else to keep them in line.
There was some reconsideration this summer–I’m not sure what became of it. But the key point is that after the judge warned Sarah’s sister that she was responsible for reeling Sarah and Todd in, and we know that were significant attempts afterwards to make things difficult for Wooten.
In Where the sun doesn’t shine, an Anchorage Press article by Brendan Joel Kelly, there’s interesting information on transparency and security aspects of the Palin private email for state business capers and blunders, including this:
There’s also information there on the McLeod open records requests, which I haven’t studied.
Post on Ethics and Boundaries is up now at Oxdown. I’ll be able to sleep better knowing that is done. And given the crying national need at the moment, this is a topic of vital importance.
Enjoy: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/636
(one link is missing, but I’ll add that later. I’m pretty sure the info is at mudflats, though, if someone wants to read about it – that missing link is clearly noted)
Thanks ew.
digg
From Jason Leopold at Atlantic Free Press: Palin Claims Right to See All State Files
Unitary executive again? That old thing?
Huh, “Governor and staff” seems to be getting used all over the place. They must have a plan for how to define Todd as part of her staff. Dunno how they’re gonna make that one fly.
Raise the Roof & Bring on the titans.
The economic damage done over the past few years by the HAVES – the science gap, climate change – we will require skills to repair the devastation. Good will doesn’t cut it. As always, Marcy, you have the politics just right.
I can’t help but wonder if McCain’s shift toward “respecting” Obama also has to do with Obama calling him out before the final debate about not saying these scurrilous things he and Sarah have been saying to his face?
All of a sudden Senator McChickenshit has found his conscience again! Hmmmm…..
Oh, he hasn’t found his conscience. He got a good talking to is all, from someone he trusts. When he made the comments, he was looking into his microphone. Looked like an 8 year old who had been caught beating up his sister. The 8 year old doesn’t really regret beating up his sister–just being caught.
And that someone let him in on why he found himself saying,
“My fellow prisoners…”
Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt – GOP hired campaign torturers and executioners.
It has nothing to do with honor and everything to do with cratering in the public polls, cratering in private polls, dragging down the down ticket races and being publicly and privately admonished by those conservatives who see that McCain is destroying the party bit by bit.
It has nothing to do with honor because an honorable person would have never allowed such vulgarity and crassness being spewed in his name.
-GSD
Well, if I was the ex-brother-in-law of the Palin’s I would make sure my attorney is taking careful notes of everything the Palin’s, their friends, McCain staffers and the GOP talking point heads have been saying. It makes me wonder if any of these people have thought about their exposure to a slander suit.
More importantly, why do the Palin’s want to smear and humiliate their nephew and nieces father? That’s emotional abuse and the family court judge specifically warmed them against behaving this way. I wonder if the Palin’s have had any concerns for the embarrassment they are causing these children.
More importantly, why do the Palin’s want to smear and humiliate their nephew and nieces father? That’s emotional abuse and the family court judge specifically warmed them against behaving this way. I wonder if the Palin’s have had any concerns for the embarrassment they are causing these children
I think Wooten may well have grounds to seek custody of the kids and get child support. This is exactly the sort of mischief that the judge warned the Palin clan to stop, and now they are seriously busted.
The Palin clan doesn’t care about children once they’re out of the womb.
From Scott Horton: DOJ Goes Long for Sarah Palin
Then there are the troublesome questions. Why does it mean nothing to the feds when Joe Six-Pack is the victim of Internet identity theft, but the house falls in when a prankster wants to embarrass Sarah Palin? Do you think there might be just a bit of politics lurking behind the scenes? In this Justice Department? And then there is the still-more menacing question: we now know that Palin was systematically violating the Open Records Act trying to keep her official dealings in the dark. By bringing down the hammer on a person who helped expose her misconduct, are the prosecutors actually attempting to cloak the official misconduct of a public servant?
The prosecutors in this case owe us some explanations. And they should start by disclosing who at the Justice Department concluded that a bigger manhunt should be launched against a University of Tennessee computer hacker out to embarrass a Republican political candidate than the Bush Administration sent out after Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora. At a minimum we’re looking at some seriously twisted priorities.
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/10/hbc-90003672
——————————–
The 20 year old Economics major was brought into court in handcuffs and shackles on his ankles.
Yeah baby.
This kid gets a huge fine (more than Libby’s) and is going to do time. Libby and the Bush thugs who outed Plame and undermined U.S. National security are running free, influencing our elections and have not been held accountable. “Justice for All” ….yeah right
At least CNN has changed their headline since I went to bed to “violated the law” from “broke no law”.
I think Palin supporters are already convinced that news is bullshit and anti-Palin, so the people who supported her will still support her. I mean, there are plenty of other reasons, just as worthy, why she should not be VP. Just because this one seems to have some finality to it, I doubt it plays any louder than the economy, which, after all, is a bigger story and a bigger reason not to put Republicans into the WH.
Watching the news the last couple days, I think Republicans have already abandoned McCain and are trying to save as many seats in Congress as they can. I think they finally realized that they’re going to be washed away there. Or, they knew they were going to be washed away in Congress, so they bet the House on McCain and now that he’s tanking, even their crappy odds of saving seats in Congress looks good now.
Remember, Bush abused power and he was pretty popular. I mean, he abused power while he was popular. In fact, it was his popularity that allowed him to do it.
Question: In Branchflower’s report, page 2, ”Scope of Investigation,” Branchflower writes about his responsiblities, one being:
”…I, as the Consultant to the Council… shall prepare a final report, including any recommendations for actions by the council…”
So did they not issue the ”actions” part or did Branchflower not have any actions to recommend?
Hmmm… Here’s one, admittedly unlikely, scenario where it makes sense for
KayBeethe esteemed Senator Hutchison. First, we know she wants to run for Governor of Texas in 2010. If internal Rep. polling shows that keeping Palin on the ticket puts Cornyn at risk, then the Dems would have a real shot at 60+ in the Senate. By taking one for the team in replacing Palin, Hutchison takes control of the state party (i.e. Gov. BlowDry decides not to run in 2010 so that he can spend more time with his family and ’special friend’) and guarantees that the big money donors support her in 2010.May have missed its mention here, but Alaskan Judge Craig Stowers has ruled that Palin must preserve emails.
Also, as people here would expect, Gov. Palin denies abuse of power in attempts to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired.
Interesting, she says she would never abuse her power, but yet, a judge has to remind her to not destroy an emails or documents!
Unfreakingbelievable. The right wing irony in this country gets louder every day.
For McCain to hang-on to Palin now – would only equal the same Bad Judgment that picked her to begin with.
Loyalty is No Substitute for Character, Sen. McCain.
I wanna see the FBI going after the McCain campaign for obstruction of justice in this whole fiasco up there. Sigh. Am I reaching for the stars here?
Also just sayin’, John McCain is the type of galoot who, losing to the Mavericks at poker, would inevitably upend the table, pull out his six-gun and start blazing away…missing Brett or Bart, but plugging a few bystanders.
With all due respect, I’m not sure this is going to be all that big a deal.
FOX has been doing ACORN magnification stories nearly 24/7… echoing down to our local media here. And based on what I’ve seen from that, McCain’s wingnut base is secure here at least.
McCain’s economic (buy all the mortgages) proposals are ridiculous, but most of voting public doesn’t know that ’cause most of ‘em don’t know… shit. Obama has not distinguished himself in this econ meltdown discussion AFAIC, particularly in context of what-is-actually-happening, what-are-the-causes, & what-we’gon’a-do. At accelerated rate of meltdown, by the time of election who knows what things are going to look like.
Paulson is plugging fingers in the dike so fast he’s running out of fingers. From Fed Reserve (St. Louis), what’s happened just in last couple months w/US monetary supply (eg: printing funny money):
Adjusted Reserves
Adjusted Monetary base
Long & short: there’s somewhere north of $70 trillion of paper floating around the unregulated (”black banking”) market, and nobody that’s talking seems to know exactly where it is. $70 trillion… think about that.
When’s somebody going to stand up and say…
At rate things are going, hard to know what our (not mention EU’s) financial system is going to look like in Nov., much less inauguration day.
I’ve looked over Obama’s econ team quite thoroughly… IMO he’s got some of the best we (US) have to offer, and I’m pretty damn sure these folks have a good idea of the magnitude of the situation. Why he’s not speaking up in more specifics I don’t know. Whatever the reason, IMO there are reality-realities superceding traditional election year political-realities which demand just a wee bit more urgency.
IMO, the truth is so much on Obama’s side if he would get detailed and specific in the mechanics of what’s ruined our economy, and drive a stake through the heart of the repub’s “free-market” (eg. pay to play) implementation of economic policy.
Other than a few wingnuts & pundits, there’s a whole large swath of US population paying attention this time… folks who usually sit on the sidelines. It’s a huge, very rare window of opportunity to both forcefull repudiate the economics that got us here, while laying out some very well thought out new stuff. New stuff being (IMO) so direction from WH focusing national attention on some of the stuff that’s drastically needed but has been 100% ignored.
As others have said (mostly on econ blogs), I think a damn good place to start would be Manhattan project for…
Economics
Energy
There’s huge un-tilled, fertile ground in both areas that could set a course that would get a lot of smart people excited and ready to roll up their sleeves to get to work.
…
There was some economic forum on C-SPAN a couple days ago, very interesting. (don’t recall group, but well versed panel). They were dissecting current situation and doing it well… hit most of they key elements AFAIC. One of the audience members, a journalist whose name I don’t recall, asked (my paraphrase):
What about education… getting our population educated in at least
econ 101. If people understood the basics, and what was going on
was widely reported, things could never have got to this point.
What about a crash course in commitment to informing folks to
be adroit in citizenship.
The ensuing response from the panel was, IMO, fascinating… to a man, they all agreed fully, each adding timeline details as example to illustrate that had this citizenship threshold been in place, chances that things would have turned out different were damn good.
mccain did today as I predicted, he said the findings showed palin did not exceed her authority, he also said that this proves the investigation was a democratic lynch mob
interesting, cbs radio let that go by without pointing out that there were republicans on the investigation
IIRC, that is nonsensical on its face, since the investigation started long before she was chosen as McGramp’s running mate.
A young woman at a McCain rally just now held up a sign about peace (”War is over”) and a right wing asshole tore it out of her hands while McCain was trying to talk!
She was chanting, “We want peace!” (you could see her lips saying it) and the rest of the KKK assholes were changing, “We want John!”.
She’s toast. Check out this AP article about mingling church and state:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponlin…..State.html
toast is relative;
when we found out the president’s aids were planning an attack on Iran years before bush took office, that is a smoking gun and he was toast
yet there he still is
when we found out the data used to lie us into war was forgeries perpetrated by Cheney and his sociopaths, they were toast
yet there he still is
when we found out the president tortured people, violated the constitution, “disappeared Americans”, he was toast
yet there he still is
when we found out they were listening to our private lives and sharing our intimate conversations for their prurient pleasure, they were toast
yet there they still are
write this down and keep it tucked away when it comes to republicans;
there is no toast
A tidbit from the report that I haven’t seen anyone mention, and would like the legal-eagles’ take on —
On page 6 Branchflower helpfully quotes from the AK Statutes WRT the confidentiality of personnel records:
(my bold)
Isn’t Branchflower explicitly telling the Leg Council how to proceed with Sarah?
NICE FIND
though she would have to be tried and convicted
I entirely doubt charges will be preferred while she runs for vice president
Turns out Sarahs no maverick ,just your usual sleezy polititian!!
” KKK assholes”
The only supporters he has left!!
The new campaign song for the Palin/McPain ticket is a song by Ingrid Lucia and the Flying Neutrinos, theat starts out, “I’m in a hole and I’m diggin’ it deeper…” from the Live from New Orleans album.
WayneC
heck of a job georgie is still in his delusional bubble
totally fucking clueless to the end
link to the bubble of delusion
Bush is not alone in this. The captain of the Titanic felt much the same.
Would like to think that the McBush campaign would get hosed over the Palin illegality- but somehow I doubt it…They’re already losing with more polls daily showing a double digit deficit- so maybe it doesn’t matter.
Looks as if McBush is going down- and he knows it. It’s possible that he realizes that the only thing his current campaign could accomplish is to create and angry mob that will make the job of the next president of the Unites States more dangerous and difficult without increasing McBush’s chances to be that next prez..I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that there was some genuine regard for the good of the country in his actions yesterday..
Don’t know if Sarah Palin has a national future or not…I wouldn’t think so- but she’s got a taste in her mouth and she wants more.
Bottom Line____ this race is probably over OBAMA
I think recent exposures about Sarah’s governing style and Todd’s undue influence have pretty well put the kibosh on her future in national politics, unless enough Alaskans still like her to elect her to the Senate.
Alaskans like pork – she has a lot of video out there
She has probably had more success bringing home the bacon as governor than she would as a freshman senator. Regardless, I suspect the pork barrel is going to be running low for some time, with the economy on the skids and the Feds having already committed so much future spending to bailouts. With the global markets also in deep doo-doo, just think what would happen if our lenders cut off credit to the U.S., although I doubt if that will happen.
Her chance to host American Idol or some other game or reality show is still a strong possibility
I look for her to be a contestant on Dancing With The Stars next season.
Maybe ,talk radio a Rush Blowhard with lipstick,the right wing nut jobs just eat it right up!!
I don’t think she’s gonna just fade away!
Not exactly a great radio voice I’m afraid. Even her fans would hate her after an hour of screeching.
You’re probably right ,it took me about 30 seconds!!
How about dancing with inmates?
Maybe they will cast Cheney and Palin on a hunting reality show. Scary!
Spencer “Attackerman” has a great post up( excellent video link)
http://attackerman.firedoglake…..ut-hatred/
Surly Fox News has a job for Palin when she needs one. She’s already excellent at mindlessly parroting Republic talking points.
Talking Caribou Barbie just pull her string and listen to her spew her hateful talk!
Something every good republican would want for Christmas!
Hurry ,supplies are limited!!!
Bottomline: This race is over the meltdown, and voters blame that (with a great deal of validity) on the Republicans.
repuglitards are getting their rightful credit for more than just the economic meltdown
the “do Nothing” congress ??? I just saw a clip from july of 2007 where mcconnel was bragging about being an obstructionist. Apparently the repuglitards thought that video has a shelf life of less than a year, cuz when mcconnel was telling voters about the “Do Nothing” congress, that clip came out of the closet, and mcconnel had to explain why he was blaming democrats for the results of a REPUGLITARD OBSTRUCTION SCHEME
trickle down economics, deregulation, obstructionism, bi-partisanship as date rape
the repuglitards thought we forgot all of their SHIT
as yea sow, shall yea reap
mcsame saw the repuglitards sowing the whirlwind last week
I think some of William Tecumseh Sherman’s words seeped into mcsame’s brain
Sherman didn’t say it quite like that, maybe
but I’m willing to metaphorically “BURN ATLANTA” again, if that’s what it takes to put these hate mongers in their place
I think mcsame caught a glimpse of that in the haate mongering he got caught up in
mcsame has to choose
destroy the repuglitard party or divide America
I ain’t ready to make nice with these repuglitarded assholes
mcsame can talk sense to them, or humanity can dispose of them
mcsame has to be a leader at the repuglitards’ Dunkirk
anybody think he’s up to it
freepatriot, I must say, I really enjoyed that rant
what was the coffee you had this morning, I want to pick some up
Dude you are missing your trash opportunity
I think we can count on this new crop of Republican thinkers to fuck this up and lose badly.
McCain’s maverick brand has been undercut and recast in recent weeks as “erratic”. The Troopergate report’s finding that Palin abused her authority undermines her claim to the maverick brand as well. A maverick is supposed to act out of principle, not personal reasons as Palin did. So the Republicans currently have a ticket with two non-mavericks, and now perceived to be non-mavericks, running as mavericks. This is a set up for an implosion and really all Obama has to do is let it happen.
now this is interesting. top diary over at dkos:
“Did Sports Complex Contractors Build Palin’s House for Free?”
diary
MCBush may not have had a chance anyway- but he really fucked this election up- bringing in Schmidt sealed the deal- he gave up a positive persona to become the man who he hates- George Fuckin Bush. Incredibly fucked up campaign- shows what happens when you give up everything you believe in to get elected- you can no longer distinguish between the bizarre and the effective- nor do you have a steady compass to keep you from being perceived as “erratic”…
Sad way to end a political career that actually had some high points
I’m less clear about the high points but it isn’t much of a way to finish his political career. Curious though how Bush who was his nemesis in 2000 was, in a different way, his nemesis this time around as well.
Yeah- Irony galore..
McBush wanted it SO badly that he swallowed the Bush bullshit that if he’d just kiss Bush ass for eight years or so, he’d be the next prez….
howdy firepups, been away for a while. Thanks to all for helpin get the word out about just how awful this woman is
Obama speaking before 20,000 in Philly – McLame speaking in front of 2-3,000 in Iowa!!.
538.com has Obama up 9.3% in Iowa, and projects the final margin will be 13.9%
Stick a fork in
Steve SchmidtGramps – he’s all done.McBush has a problem deciding where to go- if he goes to “defend” states- like Indiana it makes him look like a loser. If he goes to “attack” states- like Wisconsin- it makes him look like a fool….What’s an old codger ta do?
Retire gracefully and enjoy the young wife and grandkids.
Maybe he can become an “elder statesman”?
That is also McCain’s only scheduled campaign stop for Saturday. Honestly, he’s just too old. Just imagine him going to China for a summit. It would take days to get there:
DC to LA, rest the next day.
LA to Honolulu, rest the next day.
Honolulu to Tokyo, rest the next two days.
Tokyo to Hong Kong, rest the next day.
He probably helps his chances most during his off time.
He’s like an old football player who is trying to make it through one more season and ends up getting seriously injured. It’s a matter of choice and McC made the wrong one.
Norm Coleman (R-MN) who is running a close race against Al Franken, declined to appear with McCain in Minnesota yesterday. Per Nate Silver (fivethirtyeight.com):
Norm Coleman’s own actions does enough harm to Norm Coleman. My favorite thrashing of the warmongering Senator Coleman was when George Galloway took him apart with such class and intellect…this was the best.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_…..53601.stm#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lINNad6Njs
McCain is incredibly “erratic” Ripping on Obama for the last month, hitting way below the belt, ignoring Obama during the first debate, “that one” during the second and the day the Troopergate findings come out he is coming out all nicey nice. Disgusting. What a hypocrite! Lieberman must be freaking out..which worries me. Will Israel strike Iran this month pulling us into another unnecessary confrontation?
McBush was destined to lose some Bush states- New Mexico and Iowa for example- he knew he had to take a Kerry state or two- Pennsylvania and Wisconsin looked as if they would taste real good- but turns out they are BITTER!
shit. from laobserved:
“Obama threat, white powder sent to LAT”
link
Most presidential elections lower candidates look for a coattail effect from their pres candidate this time McShame maybe looking for the coattails
Don’t believe that McC has any coattails. Would be just too wonderful to get McConnell.
It ain’t over till it’s over!!!
I’ll do my celebrating after the votes have been counted and certified!!
needs an edit – “just got even more tougher”
hojo will be visiting obama’s dojo soon?
One of the great things about McC losing will be that Lieberman goes down with him. I never again want to see a photo of McC, Lieb and Lindsay Graham yukking it up.
Iowa? does this loser even have a strategy anymore? basic math says he has to hold/get the yellow states- all of them- to get 269 and then undertake a desperate bid to pry away one elector in Maine or to get back either NV or NH to even have a hope of ekeing out a victory. Iowa’s not part of that equation anymore. if he wants to win he needs to be in MO, NC or ME
is it “scrap heap or dustbin” of history?
Over at DKos they’re wondering who built Palin’s home. Todd said he built it with some contractor buddies. Hmmm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…../47/627460
I often wondered where her wealth came from. She seems to be doing very well for herself, but she didn’t inherit. Was her business that successful so quickly? Where’d it come from?
What fun is it to be a Republic in power if you can’t collect a little graft? Ok, it’s lots of graft. Still, it must have been fun.
Check her land deals…
Palin charged the state of Alaska 10,000 to make appearances at various churches…..where she made speeches about running the state at the direction of GOD.
Alaskans must be SO proud!
Palin is a logical step in the progression from George Bush-
Blue America up over at the Mothership with an interesting opportunity.
Need a laugh. Send your bills to Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson
Thanks Hank
Watch this clip
http://backbonecampaign.org/storydetail.cfm?id=237
Palin is not answering questions about her abuse of power. In fact, she’s not answering questions from anyone. Neither is McCain, except for the debate and from people in “the base”. Bush stopped taking questions back in August.
Too late to dump her. And if they did it would enrage the racists that are the Republican party’s “base.”
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
~ Napoleon
The McCain Campaign seems to be keeping Sarah in the boat, while ignoring the smoke coming out of her ears.
Who would so recklessly gamble to Keep Her On when the combination of Branchflower’s finding of Abuse of Power (he says that she violated the Public Trust,) as documented in 18 Events – together with the still-unknown contents of the withheld e-mails – might just add-up to Conspiracy to Abuse Power?
IOW, What are the chances that those withheld e-mails show *coordination* between some, or all, of the 18 Events?
Performed as Acts of Omission by Governor Sarah (looking the ‘other’ way), and Acts of Commission by First Gentleman Todd (the ‘coordinator’) to Settle a Family Score?
Were the resources of the State used? It certainly looks so – Todd appears to have had Personnel Jackets with him in the Conference Room next to Sarah’s office.
Did Todd have eyes and ears on Wooten? It appears so, some of the Wooten ’sightings’ are dated to the minute.
Do many of the Events have ’similar’ fingerprints? It’s almost comical how all of the ‘interventions’ seem to be coming out of the same hymnal, so to speak.
Since Branchflower didn’t have a scope beyond investigating State Employees, all he could do was Demonstrate Sarah’s Ethical Lapse – the Error of Omission. She Failed To Do what needed to be done proactively, in order to faithfully execute her job for Alaskans – she ‘looked the other way’ while ‘others’ Abused her Power by Proxy.
Those ‘others’? Why, Todd and the Get Wooten Gang, of course.
What will the McCain Campaign do next? Defend Todd’s Claim to Spousal Privilege?
How long before the rest of the Alaska Legislature has their chance to review Branchflower’s Report, including the 1,000 page Non-Public Appendix, and realizes that the Report suggests that the ‘not discussed’ Todd may be the Ringleader for a bunch of Alaskan Hatfields running Amok with the Resources of the State to ‘get’ a personal enemy, while hiding and acting in space ‘protected’ by the ‘not knowing’ Governor?
This would be like Bush ‘looking the other way’ while Rove ‘coordinated’ the Firing of the USAs, or Gonzo honchoed the Torture Memos through, or Cheney outed Valerie…
What about substituting his ‘gal pal’ Lindsey Graham?
Waaaay Late: Palin will drop hockey puck tonight in PA…trying to restore her image.