McCain Clamps Hand Over Palin’s Mouth. Again.
“Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin’s stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama’s support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists“She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we’re not going to do anything except in America’s national security interest,” McCain told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos of Palin. “In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that’s—that’s a person’s position… This is a free country, but I don’t think most Americans think that that’s a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin.”
So, people sticking microphones into conversations, shouldn’t count? Hmmm…I seem to remember something about people clinging to guns and religion into a microphone…
So what was this wishy washy comment that wasn’t really what she meant?
“Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Palin was questioned by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
“If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,” Palin said.
During Friday night’s presidential debate in Mississippi, Obama took a similar stance and condemned the Bush administration for failing to act on the possibility terrorists are in Pakistan.
“Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan,” Obama said after McCain accused the Illinois senator of wanting to announce an invasion. “If the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out.”
So, any guesses about the debate in 3 days? Is it going to happen? Will she be wearing her hair down (i.e. concealing a wire)? Is she going to make it to the election? Discuss.
hair up, neutral color suit
omg. i was first. i like being first.
They SHOULD check them for wires. Bet Biden wouldn’t care.
Isn’t there wireless technology for this by now?
HAHAHAHAHAHA Open mouth insert foot….and piss off your running mate. I can’t wait until thursday, it’s going to be hilarious!
I don’t think the candidates are allowed to wear wires, but I don’t work there to know for sure, but that’s what I understood.
However Palin where’s her hair (same old stupid half up-do with the ‘helmet’ poof) she will still sound whiny and annoying. I just can’t wait for how stupid she will sound when spewing out the same shit she’s been spewing out. I don’t think one week of ‘cramming’ will do her any good!
she will be wearing a wire…i bet my worthless retirement!
I’m so mad at McCain right now I could shake him silly.
What a pompous ass. This morning he was trying to take credit for a successful bailout vote. Now that the vote has failed, he’s trying to blame Pelosi and Obama (!!!) for poor leadership. I’m so sick of him. Enough!
I still say the “Palin Wins Debate” Ads are already in the works, so even if she’s a no show, they will air and folks will think she won, because they were to busy to watch.
May next guest is that they decide she can’t make the debate at alloted place, but is beamed in from Mars or some hiding place where they can control the questions and her answers and she doesn’t have to face Biden person to person. That has already been suggested by some pundits.
I too can’t wait for Thursday…we’re having a “WTF Did She Say?” party. But what about the goodies Katie Couric still has in store? I hope those are released soon. As someone else said, if you think of Steve Carell on the Office while watching Failin’ Palin speak, it’s even funnier!
Great blog you’ve got yourself here (just a little mudflattery to start off) -
After the Wall St self-immolation, McCain/Palin might as well go home. Hit Americans in the wallet and a democratic voter registration pops out.
Oh, I just can’t stand it!!! I want to watch and I don’t want to watch. I avoided watching bush for all these years because I was afraid I would have a stroke and now here we are again. Decisions, decisions.
There are plenty of wireless gizmos out there for her to be hooked up to a coach but all it would take is someone who can find their frequency and she will be blasted from her perch by a screech! One can only hope.
It is all turning into madness………………………………….help me! said the little man in the web
AKM as usual, ASTUTE observations.. backpeddling by McCain but no equal assessment about the Obama gaffe with the guns and religion comment, off the record etc.
I am ever impressed by your attention to details and writing skills.
Thanks for the interesting grist for the mill.
So cynical! Of course, she’ll show up. And she’ll say whatever flies out of her mouth, whether it is relevant to the question asked or not. Past experience tells us that she will not be very factual, coherent or impressive–but the campaign will declare it a win, it will be all OVER the papers, airwaves and ethernet that she won and the usual folks will believe it.
Any obvious problems–those that can’t be otherwise explained away or ignored– will be blamed on Biden being sexist or Gwen Ifill being biased.
Hide and watch!
From what I’ve read this morning, McCain is “re-packaging” Palin to get in front of the cameras and be more herself because she’s bombed in the media. I expect her to be an absolute attack dog at the debate and she’ll deliver some memorable one-liners. That’s all she can do. She can’t talk about any of the issues. But here’s the problem: A lot of Americans will fall for it and won’t realize she’s just dodging questions.
I suspect she’s going to model herself after McCain — she’ll start off acting like the “nice, folksy one” and then when Joe Biden tries to keep to that folksy civil tone, she’ll suddenly turn aggressive and contemptuous of him. I have never seen Biden debate, so I can’t even imagine how he’s going to be able to deal with her. He’s almost at a bigger disadvantage because if he attacks her, he’s going to look sexist and overbearing, blah blah blah. Can’t you just hear them? He should make it very, very clear, every time he makes a strong point or rebuttal, that he is responding not to her but to her policies.
Interesting WSJ article on Palin and the debate prep.
“Game Plan for Palin Is Retooled Ahead of Debate
Top McCain Aides Oversee Preparation After Recent Flubs”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122265784614384667.html
Whiskey Otter Palin
From what I have read elsewhere, the 2 “goodies Katie Couric still has in store” are:
1) Couric: What was the worst thing Dick Cheney did as VP?
Palin: Shot someone in the face!
Google “Couric Palin Cheney” and you should find it.
2) Something about the Supreme Court.
I cannot find more on this.
If anyone knows, can they post it!
Do you really think she could use a wire? Trying to talk while having someone else talk in your ear? Come on! She might be able to read a teleprompter, but hearing someone else while you are trying to talk. I just can’t see her being able to do it, but she has surprised us all, hasn’t she?
I just reviewed my comment. I think I’m ready for a Republican leadership position! Is that scary or WHAT!!!
All Biden needs to do is let her talk, she’ll hang herself.
Click HERE for 538.com’s take on it.
Excerpt from an MSNBC article, regarding the failed bailout vote (whcih failed by just 12 votes !):
Republicans blamed Pelosi’s scathing speech near the close of the debate — which attacked Bush’s economic policies and a “right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation” of financial markets — for the vote’s failure.
“We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House,” Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi’s words, the Ohio Republican said, “poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south.”
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi’s speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.
Frank said that was a remarkable accusation by Republicans against Republicans: “Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country.”
Palin, like most Americans, has no interest in things beyond her borders. While many Americans know more than she does, her interest is narrow and provincial. She has not been known as a deep thinker, and her grasp on issues, even local, is tenuous at best. She wants to know enough to get by and her ability to connect with people makes it possible for her to get by. Most are too enthralled by her to notice that her head is empty underneath that fluff of hair.
For Palin, Waziristan is just another of those pesky countries (though it’s a region on N.W. Pakistan) that end with “stan” and that are peopled by “Islamic terrorists.” If she has any idea of where it is, I would be very surprised. It’s not some place she’d ever had to think of before, her worldview is limited to Canada, the country with which her state shares a border, or Russia from where Putin might launch a kamikaze attack on Alaska’s soil. This is a woman who never once bothered to go to countries with which the states conducts hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trade–Japan, South Korea etc.
By the way, does anyone here know who in from her Alaska staff got sent to her operations Outside, I saw something this on the Examiner.com site:
“For his part, Mr. Palin has worried about the frequent separation of his wife from her family, friends and Alaska staff, an adviser said. Accordingly, her family will be with her in Sedona during this week. Also, a key Alaska staffer joined the Palin operation Sunday.”
Is it someone from the governor’s office, and if that’s the case, is that legit?
Biden Debates
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHdSahEsIC4&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpPR4VPt47I
My money is on the wire!!! Of course wireless!
McCain and his camp wishes they had a remote with one function…mute. Not the power button mind you as McCain and his cronies have only Palin’s ‘looks’ as their only remaining ‘ass’et to exploit.
The McCain camp’s exposing of Palin to the press this week is a strategic hail mary. This is a last ditch effort to drop voter’s expectations of Palin to such a low that trumps even Bush’s political capital.
Prediction: She will stumble regardless of whether or not an ear piece is installed. Fool us once (Dubya 1st term), fool us twice (Dubya 2nd term), but fool us thrice??? McCain will try to sway you, ‘see, I told you she was a Maverick like me’… but Americans will finally see what a ‘dubya’us mistake McCain and his VP pick truly are.
i cannot wait for thursday night. oh man. it’s going to be a bloodbath.
There’s something fishy about that guy who was in line with her and asked her about Pakistan: a guy with his name works for the Alaska Frontiersman, I think it’s called. Does anybody know about this paper? I asked about it on another thread.
Was the guy a plant, and for whose side? Was he trying to draw out her ignorance (not a very involved process) or was he a plant from the McCain campaign hoping she would be able to get just one canned answer right in public?
Chris Matthews’ is blaming McCain
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/29/matthews-on-mccains-faile_n_130309.html
Commentary on the bailout.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html
I wouldn’t miss Thursday’s debate for nothing. I need a good laugh.
Oh, she’ll show all right. She’ll spew her talking points and all those people who say “I just like her” will continue to do so. She has the confidence “I didn’t blink” to think she can do it and is convinced she’s right. It’ll be up to Gwen Ifil to make sure she answers the questions.
Obama & Biden are characterizing her as a good debater so that people don’t have low expectations. They don’t want to underestimate her. Remember we were all upset when they didn’t take her on immediately? Well, maybe they knew she would self destruct as she’s been doing lately. I give the campaign and these guys credit.
I just want to scream sometimes, this is getting so ridiculous: McCain is so annoying….I’ll save the country…no wait, it failed, Obama’s fault. And I’m sorry, isn’t GWBush still the president? Why didn’t the republicans back him up
Crazy In Alaska (13:39:14) :
Do you really think she could use a wire? Trying to talk while having someone else talk in your ear? Come on! She might be able to read a teleprompter, but hearing someone else while you are trying to talk. I just can’t see her being able to do it, but she has surprised us all, hasn’t she?
Talk show hosts use them all the time. Maybe that’s what the intensive training is really about.
I almost spit out my coffee when I heard McCain say that to Stephanopolous … I think he’s regretting his decision more each day.
Listen – Bush had a device of some sort when he debated in 2004, and responded to the device when no question has been asked. So yes, there has to be some kind of preparation for this. (You can see it outlined in pictures of his back)
Maybe that’s what they’re practicing with her.
Besides that, she really did do a creditable job in the Alaska gubernatorial debate. So if they give her confidence she’ll get the answers, she might do fine. That would be a big boon for them.
In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard describes a frog being eaten, so to speak, by a spider. The spider stings the frog and injects a venom full of enzymes that digest the frog’s innards. By the end of the process, the shell of the frog remains sitting there on its rock while its substance, its interior, has turned to slime.
I keep thinking of this image when I see Sarah Palin–and now Meg Stapleton seems to have been stung as well.
@ boretide (13:45:20) : By the way, does anyone here know who in from her Alaska staff got sent to her operations Outside…//
I would guess it’s the Nanny who was reportedly paid as a state administrative assistant, another little scandal in the making.
Apparently unless you are very practiced with an Earprompt it can mess you up. You tend to inject random words and phrases from the audio feed into your own sentences and your eyes tend to go unfocused.
Oh, wait. It won’t make any difference.
Give her the wire .
Seriously, aren’t there rules against using “wires” (aka lifelines) in professional debates?
ds55-I’d be very interested in knowing how many staffers of both candidates are “double dipping.” I have seen it happen in my state elections and I’m sure that it’s illegal.
What is he going to do? Retract her whole debate?
This gets better every day!
Maybe they could ask her a question about men & dinosaurs coexisting on Earth about 6,000 yrs. ago….I wonder what Biden’s response would be. Harry Smith interviewed her parents this am. They seem nice. I wonder how they had such a mean & evil daughter. Dad did say she was REAL determined….yes Dad, we know that now.
Mental health suggestion….DO NOT WATCH JOHN McCAIN when he comes on TV. It will make you really angry.
I think it’s highly unlikely that they’ll try any earphone system. The possibility of her tripping up her timing is high, even though she probably got some experience with producers’ speaking to her in her broadcast days. The Secret Service detail would be monitoring for any unauthorized broadcast signals and its unlikely that Biden’s contingent would be in the tank for Palin. Finally the risk for total self destruction of the campaign would just be too great. If Palin flubs it they can replace her with the excuse that the constant attacks on her family led to a nervous breakdown. If they get exposed for fraud, McCain would essentially have to withdraw.
Still it’s kind of interesting to imagine them being exposed la James Randi’s expose of Peter Popoff http://www.bible.ca/tongues-popoff-39-17Mhz.htm
Woods Corp P. Just say “Woodie” Cinch You! (14:03:10) :
Seriously, aren’t there rules against using “wires” (aka lifelines) in professional debates?
We are talking about the Rethuglicans! If they can steal two elections, this little debate thing is no biggy.
I’m really looking forward to the debate, assuming her handlers don’t think of an excuse to keep her from performing.
Wire or not, don’t think she’ll be able to do anything except jabber like an idiot.
An interesting article about Bush wearing a wire in 2004, as background for those who may not know. It discusses some gaffes Bush made due to the alleged wire.
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/10/08/bulge/index.html
Would she have used an earpiece as sports reporter in AK? It was a while ago, though.
You know. I just realised something. She’s not very clever is she?
She’s always been a pretty girl with a livewire personality and loads of charisma and that’s what has got her this far. But all the cramming in the world isn’t going to work because she doesn’t have the intellect.
It’s all about ‘look at me’
I hope she sticks it out through the election so she comes back with a least a partial education of the world beyond her own back yard. Her appearance at the Republican Convention was to capture the conservative base. I can imagine the internal debate.
Solidify the base? Go for the middle? Be a maverick? A reformer? Wall Street? Main Street? The Bush? Bush? McCain? Drill, baby, drill? I’ve had actual responsibilites, so trust me, I’m prepared to deal with this financial crisis? Maybe she can do it all in one sentence?
Let them eat moose!!
Palin Says she’s ready to rumble
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/palin-says-shes.html
She can only speak like this when there is no question.
Whether she debates or not, wire or not, I believe she’ll soldier on in this campaign (OK be pushed through the slogging mudflats by McCain henchmen who want more pay for refuse duty). With all the McInain staffers stirring the Alaskan tundra pottage with their unwashed hands (they aren’t brown-nosin’, they’re brown-handin’) there seems to be plenty of miffed politicos and staffers that aren’t going to want to make a deal with the only glacier left in Alaska. Your little ice maiden is going to have to hang on to these brown hands to help control the situation or she’ll end up in the deep freeze. If she resigns for whatever reason, I don’t see McCain being able to cover the costs of all this staff because he’ll need the money elsewhere to spin, and introduce his new running mate. Of course, they might come to a deal . . .
If they’re elected–no thank you. I don’t like hand stirred tundra pottage–and she resigns, the Senate has to approve McCain’s appointment for VP. I can’t quite see that happening really quickly, can you? But I here Donald Duck’s still a patriot (he still wears his sailor suit minus pants, and he’s older than McFrame, I believe. But not by much.) Of course, if anything happened to him and there wasn’t a VP around, then the post would go to—-drum roll please–the Speaker of the House, which is currently Nancy Pelosi. Well, she’d do. She’s also a mother of 5. Agree with her politics (or handling of the financial crises) or not, she’s a real role model for those of either sex that want a large family and great career. Oh, and she’s a–another drum roll–religious democrat.
So I don’t see Sarah leaving unless she brokers herself a deal for great representation through the whole Troopergate thing. And having read about all her political dealings and the bodies of former friends and enemies left in her wake, would it be all that surprising to find out that getting her legal problems taken care of for free was her sole purpose in accepting the VP position? I don’t really think so, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true. McFlame wouldn’t be the first old guy flattered by the attentions of a gold digger and hoodwinked into thinking he was ready for a guest spot at Chipindale’s. (There’s an image I’m sorry I put into my head! Sorry everyone.)
eyes now tight shut, trying to rid myself of that image.
I am hosting a P.A.P. Party (P*ssys Against Palin) at my house on October 2nd! Vagina shaped cookies and an Anti-Palin-Debate-Watchery! Hopefully, snazzy women around the nation and the world will do the same! I will surely be watching mudflats for great post-debate discussion. Keep up the great work!
Sure, if she shows up, she might be wired — or wirelessly wired. But I would expect that she might at some point unconsciously hold her hand up to her ear, or pause excessively either before or during a response, or get totally flustered in the midst of one trying to talk and listen at the same time. As for me, I’ll be watching for coherent responses, replete with pauses before and during. Given her totally rambling incoherent responses to Katie, anything coherent would be a tip off for me. We’ve seen the coy delaying tactics while she’s trying to think. That’s a different response from trying to hear something whispered in her ear. She’d be concentrating on what’s she’s being told, and it’s hard to concentrate and look coy at the same time.
Am trying to visualize the process of making vagina shaped cookies.
Hours of innocent entertainment!
Oops, it’s a troll
There’s an old saying in public relations that you should not answer the question asked, you should answer the question you wish was asked. I have seen Palin debate several times, and she is the master of this technique. In the interviews, she had no choice. It was just her and a professional interviewer who knew how to ask direct questions. The story will be different in the give-and-take of the debate. I suspect that her handlers will have prepared her, not with sound bites, but entire mini-speeches, enough to give a marginally relevant answer in most anticipated areas. Just as she did in Alaska debates, she will avoid any direct interaction with Senator Biden and attempt to establish a connection with the moderator/audience. In Alaska, when her opponents attacked her, she did this. She was polite and gracious and totally sucked the moderator into an “us vs them” kind of thing. Biden’s best move is to totally ignore Palin and speak directly to the issues. Let the moderator chase Palin around.
Listening to Palin with Couric is sickening enough, but read the transcripts and it just sillier than SNL
From Newsweek
COURIC: Why isn’t 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: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were 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, helping the—it’s got to be all 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, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.
re: wearing a wire being “not allowed” – When has McCain, or any Republican leader for that matter, ever bothered to follow rules? They will do whatever they wish.
I am pretty certain that any form of wired or wireless communications system is a violation of debate rules, but I have no idea if the participants are actually checked to make certain they are not wearing them. I think they cannot bring note cards either.
REPLY TO KathyNo Gravatar (13:56:33) :
There’s something fishy about that guy who was in line with her and asked her about Pakistan: a guy with his name works for the Alaska Frontiersman, I think it’s called. Does anybody know about this paper? I asked about it on another thread.
Was the guy a plant, and for whose side?
——————
Kathy,
I thought the same thing but I’m pretty sure it’s a very weird coincidence. There’s a reporter named Michael Rovito who writes for the Frontiersman (Wasilla’s local paper) but there is also a Michael Rovito who is/was a PhD candidate in the Dept of Public Health at Temple University in Philadelphia and who has his BA and MA in Geography and Urban Studies, respectively.
So, most likely they’re two different Michael Rovitos…Strange! I was initially so suspicious myself–Rovito? Rove?
There’s additional CBS footage in addendum to the Couric interview. The “buzz” is that it’s as embarrassing as the interview footage for Palin. May have some bearing on whether she goes on or not.
If I was her, I’d be asking myself, “What option is least damaging to my future political prospects?” In other words, will bowing out — running away but without further embarrassment — hurt her 2012 prospects more, or staying ’til the bitter end but possibly permanently labeling herself as…well…as an idiot.
However, I suspect her main criterion is “I really don’t want to face those people back in Alaska if I lose,” and will stay in the race until the bitter end. Perhaps there’s some “god’s annointed” kinda thinking going on there too, hoping that God will pull a Franco Harris.
If that’s not mixing too many metaphors.
@ bPoint:
“Palin Says she’s ready to rumble”
She likely meant to say…*ramble*
Thanks to all for the “wired” discussion.
You know after hearing and reading her response to Katie, I’m not so sure she hasn’t already been wired. I’ve tried working with a wire for a speech I gave once and it’s much harder than you might think. You have all these memorized lines, then when the person on the other end of the wire thinks you aren’t on point or tries to prompt you, your mind starts to spin and your mouth just spits out the first thing that it can get out….you never know just what came out, or how it sounds until it’s taped and you get to study your lines and delivery. And then depending on who is listening and who is speaking (on the wire) your natural rhytm is all mixed up, but if your coaches are too supportive you think you are doing it right. If they are negative your ego is burned and you get all defensive.
Sounds, like first Dude is already getting upset and wants to call in the home team. But now the home team is divided and I’m thinking she has lost the 80% lead she had a month ago, so what’s she going to do…let’s watch and see. Todays question on CNN “Should McCain ask Palin to step aside”
Well, we know the answer to that at least! Hey, he sould have done that last week. Now he’s made his bed, so let him live with her. First Dude and all.
Obama/Biden 08 & 12
Sarah’s mouthpiece in Alaska Meg Stapleton
Strangely, the last time Meg Stapleton got national media attention was during her days at KTUU when a story she was filming made it to Jay Leno. While she was reporting a human interest story, at Christmas time, she knelt down by one of Santa’s reindeer. It got spooked and literally ran her over. Sometimes animals have pretty amazing instincts.
Does anyone have the Jay Leno video of Stapleton getting run over by a reindeer?
GJ in Idaho (15:01:18) :
What are the indications Todd is getting upset
Ha, Ha Ha! I couldn’t help but guffaw when Todd complained about Sarah not being available for her family. Imagine Ethel Kennedy, with all those kids, complaining about Bobby’s absence.
Seriously, this is a consideration anyone should make before accepting a job as big and demanding as this. Do you really think they might pull her after the debates because of family duties: i.e her baby? I’ve noticed at least they aren’t bringing the poor child to all these photo ops.
Wish all of you could be here with me as we harvest grapes here!
Kathy and Lean Pipe:
Rovito (I agree it sounds like a baby Rove) appears to be two different people. (And there are others who share the name.) At first I thought the Temple U thing might be a “made up” character (pretty easy to create a fake online identity what with all the professional networking self-service sites out there). But the actual Temple U (Geological and Urban Studies) website has a reference to him defending his thesis in 2006. http://www.temple.edu/gus/news.html He apparently continues there as a PhD student. http://www.temple.edu/chp/departments/publichealth/Current_PhD_Students.htm Recently was named a Schweizer Fellow. Has pretty good ratings as a prof, too. Apparently rated both sexy and funny. Were there any pictures of the encounter?
Sorry, I didn’t keep the link, but read it from one of the posts here on Mudflats…I think it was in this thread above, but have read so many today, I’m not sure.
snip Just as she did in Alaska debates, she will avoid any direct interaction with Senator Biden and attempt to establish a connection with the moderator/audience.
Interesting — that’s what McSame did, too. But his came off as snotty and dismissive.
Palmdale aka Moose Roadster Palin (15:16:50) :
I wonder if Sarah coached John in that tactic
Re: VP debate.
My guess is there will be no debate. There will be a bomb threat at the debate site at the last minute. Secret service would have to shut it down. That way McCain has deniability. The GOP campaign doesn’t have to do a thing, except thank the boys in black suits for doing a stellar job of protecting the candidates. Then they’ll be unable to reschedule because of “prior commitments”.
Hell, I should be working for the campaign.
Joe Biden sometimes sticks his foot in his mouth, bless his heart, but if he doesn’t (humorously) chew this chick up and spit out the pieces, I’ll be amazed. While Palin must be dreading Thursday, Biden must be licking his chops.
I gotta question-something I’ve been curious aboout. Why-when Sarah looks so much better with her hair up-is she so often seen with it 1/2 up-1/2 down? Is this to make her look more like “everywoman” and not too threatening to other women?
As far as the wire thing goes – did no-one think she had one when she did the Couric interviews? Seemed to me she was just repeating what she was being told.
1. I need someone fluent in Palin to translate on Thursday if this goes anything like the Katie Couric interview.
2. That is assuming that the debate happens, and I’m not convinced that it will. I may smell a family crisis brewing in Alaska.
3. Hair will be down if it does happen. I noticed a haircut that looked a little different in photos from the weekend- long layers, a little more professional than what she’s been sporting. I figured it was part of an image upgrade but it also would easily conceal a wire. Which she needs.
Whos on FirstNo Gravatar (14:29:41) :
I’m tending to agree with you. I doubted she’d show, but if she does, I think you’re right. But Joe Biden is extremely personable and he will try to “engage” her and don’t forget, Gwen Ifill is really sharp. Gwen is also an expert in these matters and I do not think she suffers fools well.
I will have to watch–as excruciating as I think it may be–but the real fun begins when the little speeches get looked at under the microscope on Friday…and Saturday…and Sunday..and
This link gets you to the joint interview Couric did with SP and JM. Repeating the “gotcha” meme.
http://cbs13.com/campaign08/palin.mccain.interview.2.828612.html?detectflash=false
whoever said that Biden should just let her talk because she’ll hang herself is correct. But I CAN’T WAIT!!!
Joe Biden will do great. He always does well in the debates. His problem comes in unscripted, off the cuff moments. I supported Biden in the primaries,volunteered for his campaign and got to meet him Iowa. He is a great guy and I think he will show everyone why he was chosen as VP.
Wearing a wire?????? As my husband just pointed out, this woman can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, so how could she do this?
OK Mudfamily.. I got through the first ten comments and I have to chat.
Joe Biden basically won a few of the debates earlier this year. He was very good and effective even though they only mentioned his gaffes he was very, very good. The pundits don’t want to mention this but it’s true.
I don’t know how John McCain got the motto “straight talk” for it really belongs to Biden. As an ardent CSpan and easterner I’ve seen alot of him over the years and like him immediately!
He knows his stuff and truly cares about people. That will show in the debate and if he can keep from calling her a “snotty b**ch” and not offer her a rag, he’ll be alright.
Back to your wonderful comments.
I wish I had the ability to read lips (even lipsticked pitbull’s lips), then I could stick in my earplugs, watch the debate and not have to hear her GRAAAATING voice. Minnie Mouse on steroids.
I am certain that there are several computer literate individuals
commenting on this site. Would you, if at all possible, try to hack
into SP’s wire and blast the shit out of her ear? OOPS! The shit is not
in her ear, it’s eminating from her mouth. However, it would be great
to see her jump out of her seat and have the Secret Service running
to her rescue. Maybe not a good idea. Don’t want the Obama/Biden
campaign blamed for something else they had nothing to do with.
WTH I don’t know anything about it. If someone does it, I have no
idea who suggested it. This comment will self destruct in
three days.
Huffington Post….must see
can anyone say Exxon Valdez
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/29/latest-palin-gaffe-cant-n_n_130395.html
This is just ridiculous. Since when do politicians walking through a crowd have “off the record, this doesn’t count” conversations? With VOTERS? Last time I checked, we were the ones who were responsible for making the decision of who gets elected and who doesn’t. If Palin were a man and not a woman, no one would be making these kinds of excuses.
Is McCain going to sit down with Palin to “correct the record” every time she puts her foot in her mouth? He looked like a father sitting down with his daughter to explain why she would be the best pick for the “homecoming queen”.
elie-
Wow, that’s about the impression I got. McCain talked FOR her, something I despise even when parents do it to small children, let alone a full grown adult PARTNER.
He picked her, and it appears that he is sticking with her. I don’t drink, so I will have to do chocolate shots…an M&M for each “talking point”, perhaps?
Where is the First Dud, anyway? Has he returned to Wasilla? Judging from the current situations of his two eldest, he’s never been competent at parenting regular kids. So who’s caring for their youngest, special needs infant? Is he being farmed around to a series of caregivers like the other Palin kids were? The first year of life is critical for all kids, but especially for a Downs syndrome child – in terms of careful observing and testing to determine the extent of his/her needs and potential.
And are McCain’s people on the scene in Alaska allowing Todd to hang out in the governor’s office, playing shadow governor, as per usual when his wife is out of town? And if anyone knows, what’s his formal education? Did he finish high school? Have any college?
On edit: Guess I posted this on the wrong thread – meant to comment on Todd’s bemoaning Sarah’s absence from her friends and family in another thread.
I think I read that her family is in AZ this week. Which means, of course, that the girls are not in school…
If Todd can’t handle the kids for a week or two, what’s going to happen if she (god forbid) got elected? She can’t hang up on a world leader to deal with an emergency with her child; she can’t take off from a meeting to go to Piper’s school play. And, since Todd likely has little interest in living in DC (people generally don’t drive snowmobiles in “the city”) he will be in AK with the kids while Sarah is in DC, perhaps with the younger kids. It will mean years of separation.
Maybe she should have blinked.
Kids are with gramma dearest – the same one who taught Sarah to be the conniving hypocrit she is.
There were two times during the Gibson and Couric interviews when she gave precise, confident, direct answers instead of rambling gibberish – when asked if Roe v Wade should be overturned : “YES” and when asked if assault rifles should be banned : “NO”. These are obviously the only issues (and maybe a few related subjects) that she seems to have pondered and has some opinion of. She obviously has never tried to understand any (other) national policies or issues, nor has she obviously ever followed or tried to understand anything on an international level. How much can you learn about all of that in a week or two? – you would first have to try and bypass and overcome her apparently lifelong lack of curiosity. So I think that if Ms. Ifill demands that a direct answer be given to each question, and if Biden does just that, then no matter how folksy and down-to-earth she tries to appear, her lack of knowledge and experience and qualification for the job will be apparent.
Obama/Biden ’08 and ’12 (hey, why not?) and I love your blog
I think Palin should bow out. There is no graceful way of quitting, but nobody would fault her for going back to Alaska because of another pregnant daughter. Or would they?
It is become more apparent that McPain/Palin will lose. So when she returns to Alaska you people need to put her behind bars for what she did to your state.
Another outrage…Tom Brokaw has been acting as a liason for the McCain campaign…He is scheduled to be a moderator for an upcoming Presidential debate… Another petition to sign if you are so inclined…posted it on the 29th so sorry, if you are reading this for the second time…
Care2 has a petition to boot Brokaw from the debate http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/boot-brokaw-as-de …
Palin at the debate is gonna have a ‘little chef’ up in her updo – it’s gonna be just like Ratatouille!