The second is from the official Republican response delivered by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.

The more often a word is repeated in the speech, the larger the word will appear in the cloud.

h/t The Maddow Blog

~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more…

Adorable on Steroids

Be warned. Do not play this video unless you are able to handle a serious overdose of cuteness. This is a polar bear cub from the Scandanavian Wildlife Park. His mother was unable to nurse him, so little Siku (sea ice) has been coddled around the clock by his human caretakers.

To keep the cute coming, you can like Siku’s Facebook page HERE.

Clinton and Obama are Most Admired – Palin Slips

Gallup reports that once again Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama have topped the charts for most admired woman, and most admired man in any part of the world, each receiving 17% of all mentions.

Clinton tops the list of most admired woman for a record 16th time, and Obama won the title of most admired man for the fourth consecutive year.

The lists, which Gallup has compiled nearly every year since 1948, are a mix of popular, high-profile leaders in politics, business, charitable causes and entertainment.

Our ex-half-governor slipped from a #2 spot last year, to #4 this year.

Those who have been in the top ten the most? Billy Graham, and Queen Elizabeth II.

Zing!

Remember how Newt Gingrich said that his name not getting on the ballot in Virginia due to the incompetence of his own campaign was akin to Pearl Harbor? Well, Mitt Romney had a great observation. When asked about the ballot fail by a reporter in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Romney responded:

“I think he compared that to … Pearl Harbor,” Romney said. “I think its more like Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory. So, I mean, you know, you gotta get it organized.”

Newt responded to the hilarious Lucy comparison with the following humorless testosterone-laden adolescent rant:

“I’ll meet him anywhere in Iowa, for 90 minutes, just the two of us, in a debate, with a timekeeper and no moderator,” Gingrich told Blitzer after being shown the clip of Romney mocking him. “I’d like for him to have the courage to back his negative ads,” Gingrich continued, adding that he could not prove that he could beat President Obama at a debate without going through Gingrich. Blitzer noted that Romney had debate Gingrich, and “he was standing during those debates rather close to you.” That wasn’t enough for Gingrich, however, given the recent negative campaign. “If you want to run a negative campaign and want to attack people, at least be man enough to own it,” he replied.

That’s right Willard (pokes finger in chest), you and me, outside, right here, right now… if you’re man enough.

BP Off the Hook

Judge Ralph Beistline released BP from probation over a 2009 oil spill of 15,000 gallons from a pipeline rupture that contaminated wetlands on the North Slope. The judge told BP that it better not happen again, but said it was an accident and that there was no way BP could have reasonably expected what happened to have happened – even though it did. So, does this mean “negligence” must be purposeful? Next time BP makes elaborate plans to spill oil for jollies, and deliberately opens the spigot while doing the evil “lets destroy wetlands” dance, they’re in biiiiig trouble.

“It is incumbent upon BP to make sure this does not happen again,” he admonished. Beistline’s order followed seven days of hearings — in effect a mini-trial — into allegations that BP violated probation conditions from its conviction in 2007 for violating the Clean Water Act with a 250,000-gallon spill. The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency sought to have the 2007 probation revoked and reinstated with new conditions — additional fines and an extended period of compliance. Like most other criminal defendants, BP’s probation agreement required it to obey state and federal laws. The 2009 spill amounted to just such a violation when crude spilled from a transport line that was plugged with ice after operators failed to address repeated alarms that sometimes lasted for months, prosecutors charged.

The GOP is pushing a pipeline that could blow you to pieces

Palast conducted a five-continent investigation of Big Oil for British TV’s premier current affairs program, Dispatches, and for BBC Worldwide. This report is based on the broadcast seen prime-time worldwide—but not yet in the USA.

Whistleblowers have told Britain’s “Dispatches” that the safety software on major US pipelines contains deliberate errors—and so pipelines can — and have — busted, leaked, exploded …and killed.

Congressional Republicans are holding extended unemployment benefits hostage until President Obama agrees to speed up approval to build the XL Keystone Pipeline. XL Keystone will slice down through the entire width of the USA, moving tar-sands oil from Canada to Houston.

The oil industry promises that the Pipeline will be safe. But the pipe is only safe if the PIG inside it can squeal.

Federal law requires the industry to run a diagnostic robot PIG, a Pipeline Inspection Gauge, that will squeal when something is wrong: a crack, dangerous corrosion, anything that might lead to a spill or explosion.

But PIGs are only as good as the software that tracks and analyzes their signals. And the software used by Big Oil has been compromised—deliberately.

Insiders told this reporter that the software was designed to fool the safety inspectors.

“The software feeds them incorrect information about the state of their pipeline.”

This source knows what he’s talking about: It was his team that designed the software with the known flaw. But so what?

The insider, quite nervous, told Britain’s Dispatches that, “If they don’t repair the pipelines the worst that can happen is similar to the disaster that we had near San Francisco, where natural gas pipeline exploded and killed 9 people.”

The insider—identified as Pig Man #1—appeared on Dispatches, Britain’s equivalent of “60 Minutes,” including the segments not yet broadcast.

Originally, our source thought that the deadly software code was an error—so he tried to fix it to meet the standards of the law.

“I was part of a team that corrected the error.”

But the error was deliberately left in place, and the correction hidden, “Because the software would increase the liability that a pipeline operator would, in this case a subsidiary of BP, would have to deal with.”

Pig Man #1′s story was corroborated by another member of the software team, too scared to come on camera, even in shadow, following a threat by the industry contractor hired by BP and other majors to design the software.

Dispatches provided the information to BP which said it complied with all rules and regulations.

That’s a reasonable alibi for BP, except that one of the nation’s premier public-interest lawyers doesn’t buy it. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dean of environmental law studies at Pace University in New York notes that “the dog didn’t bark,” that is, when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline burst then exploded, when pipes cracked in Yellowstone National Park and underneath homes in California, the companies didn’t turn around and sue their software contractor for failures which costs millions of dollars in fines — and several lives.

Why not? Why is Big Oil happy with what they call a “smart PIG” that’s often real stupid? Is it because the dumber the PIG, the less sensitive the software, the more they save? Sometimes, the industry quietly skips the “pigging” altogether.

After all, a few million in fines and payments to bereaved families adds up to a cheap license to pollute.

Making the diagnostic software less sensitive is like pulling the battery out of a smoke alarm. God forbid you have a fire. But in the case of the PIG, it’s not just dangerous, it’s illegal. The whistleblower saw that the software violated the very specific requirements of the law, and tried to fix what he thought was an accidental error.

And by the way, I’d like everyone reading this to say a quiet ‘Thank You,’ to Pig Man #1. Even speaking in shadow, he took a gamble on his career, on a threat of financial ruin by the company who made all the engineers aware of the problem to sign papers that they would never discuss nor reveal anything about this software and it’s deadly errors. That’s guts, that’s courage.

But that brings us to the XL Pipeline. This pipeline which will be benefit BP, Shell Oil, Chevron, the Koch Brothers’ Flint Hills Resources, will be safe, just as BP swore to Congress in Nov 2009 that all is A-OK with drilling in the Gulf of Mexico’s deep water.

We have good reason to fear the PIG in the XL pipeline and, given the history of this crew, even more reason to fear the pigs that own it.

***********************************************

Cross-posted from TruthOut.org

Read more about Pig Man and the industry in this excerpt from Greg Palast’s new book Vultures’ Picnic: in Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates and High-Finance Carnivores

*****

Greg Palast is the author of Vultures’ Picnic: In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates and High-Finance Carnivores, released in the US and Canada by Penguin.

You can read Vultures’ Picnic, “Chapter 1: Goldfinger,” or download it, at no charge: click here.

By Shannyn Moore

A friend of mine has a “driving teenager.” I know my time is coming, so I’ve watched their interaction closely.

Last night the president addressed the nation on jobs, the economy and the “political circus.” The full transcript is below. What did you think?

Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress

United States Capitol
Washington, D.C.

7:09 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, and fellow Americans:

Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country. We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that’s made things worse.

This past week, reporters have been asking, “What will this speech mean for the President? What will it mean for Congress? How will it affect their polls, and the next election?”

But the millions of Americans who are watching right now, they don’t care about politics. They have real-life concerns. Many have spent months looking for work. Others are doing their best just to scrape by — giving up nights out with the family to save on gas or make the mortgage; postponing retirement to send a kid to college.

These men and women grew up with faith in an America where hard work and responsibility paid off. They believed in a country where everyone gets a fair shake and does their fair share — where if you stepped up, did your job, and were loyal to your company, that loyalty would be rewarded with a decent salary and good benefits; maybe a raise once in a while. If you did the right thing, you could make it. Anybody could make it in America.

For decades now, Americans have watched that compact erode. They have seen the decks too often stacked against them. And they know that Washington has not always put their interests first.

The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy. (Applause.) The question is — the question is whether we can restore some of the fairness and security that has defined this nation since our beginning.

Those of us here tonight can’t solve all our nation’s woes. Ultimately, our recovery will be driven not by Washington, but by our businesses and our workers. But we can help. We can make a difference. There are steps we can take right now to improve people’s lives.

I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It’s called the American Jobs Act. There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans — including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything. (Applause.)

The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for long-term unemployed. (Applause.) It will provide — it will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business. (Applause.) It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and if they hire, there will be customers for their products and services. You should pass this jobs plan right away. (Applause.)

Everyone here knows that small businesses are where most new jobs begin. And you know that while corporate profits have come roaring back, smaller companies haven’t. So for everyone who speaks so passionately about making life easier for “job creators,” this plan is for you. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill — pass this jobs bill, and starting tomorrow, small businesses will get a tax cut if they hire new workers or if they raise workers’ wages. Pass this jobs bill, and all small business owners will also see their payroll taxes cut in half next year. (Applause.) If you have 50 employees — if you have 50 employees making an average salary, that’s an $80,000 tax cut. And all businesses will be able to continue writing off the investments they make in 2012.

It’s not just Democrats who have supported this kind of proposal. Fifty House Republicans have proposed the same payroll tax cut that’s in this plan. You should pass it right away. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill, and we can put people to work rebuilding America. Everyone here knows we have badly decaying roads and bridges all over the country. Our highways are clogged with traffic. Our skies are the most congested in the world. It’s an outrage.

Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us a economic superpower. And now we’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads? At a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America? (Applause.)

There are private construction companies all across America just waiting to get to work. There’s a bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that’s on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America. A public transit project in Houston that will help clear up one of the worst areas of traffic in the country. And there are schools throughout this country that desperately need renovating. How can we expect our kids to do their best in places that are literally falling apart? This is America. Every child deserves a great school — and we can give it to them, if we act now. (Applause.)

The American Jobs Act will repair and modernize at least 35,000 schools. It will put people to work right now fixing roofs and windows, installing science labs and high-speed Internet in classrooms all across this country. It will rehabilitate homes and businesses in communities hit hardest by foreclosures. It will jumpstart thousands of transportation projects all across the country. And to make sure the money is properly spent, we’re building on reforms we’ve already put in place. No more earmarks. No more boondoggles. No more bridges to nowhere. We’re cutting the red tape that prevents some of these projects from getting started as quickly as possible. And we’ll set up an independent fund to attract private dollars and issue loans based on two criteria: how badly a construction project is needed and how much good it will do for the economy. (Applause.)

This idea came from a bill written by a Texas Republican and a Massachusetts Democrat. The idea for a big boost in construction is supported by America’s largest business organization and America’s largest labor organization. It’s the kind of proposal that’s been supported in the past by Democrats and Republicans alike. You should pass it right away. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill, and thousands of teachers in every state will go back to work. These are the men and women charged with preparing our children for a world where the competition has never been tougher. But while they’re adding teachers in places like South Korea, we’re laying them off in droves. It’s unfair to our kids. It undermines their future and ours. And it has to stop. Pass this bill, and put our teachers back in the classroom where they belong. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get extra tax credits if they hire America’s veterans. We ask these men and women to leave their careers, leave their families, risk their lives to fight for our country. The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home. (Applause.)

Pass this bill, and hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged young people will have the hope and the dignity of a summer job next year. And their parents — (applause) — their parents, low-income Americans who desperately want to work, will have more ladders out of poverty.

Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get a $4,000 tax credit if they hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job. (Applause.) We have to do more to help the long-term unemployed in their search for work. This jobs plan builds on a program in Georgia that several Republican leaders have highlighted, where people who collect unemployment insurance participate in temporary work as a way to build their skills while they look for a permanent job. The plan also extends unemployment insurance for another year. (Applause.) If the millions of unemployed Americans stopped getting this insurance, and stopped using that money for basic necessities, it would be a devastating blow to this economy. Democrats and Republicans in this chamber have supported unemployment insurance plenty of times in the past. And in this time of prolonged hardship, you should pass it again — right away. (Applause.)

Pass this jobs bill, and the typical working family will get a $1,500 tax cut next year. Fifteen hundred dollars that would have been taken out of your pocket will go into your pocket. This expands on the tax cut that Democrats and Republicans already passed for this year. If we allow that tax cut to expire — if we refuse to act — middle-class families will get hit with a tax increase at the worst possible time. We can’t let that happen. I know that some of you have sworn oaths to never raise any taxes on anyone for as long as you live. Now is not the time to carve out an exception and raise middle-class taxes, which is why you should pass this bill right away. (Applause.)

This is the American Jobs Act. It will lead to new jobs for construction workers, for teachers, for veterans, for first responders, young people and the long-term unemployed. It will provide tax credits to companies that hire new workers, tax relief to small business owners, and tax cuts for the middle class. And here’s the other thing I want the American people to know: The American Jobs Act will not add to the deficit. It will be paid for. And here’s how. (Applause.)

The agreement we passed in July will cut government spending by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years. It also charges this Congress to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion in savings by Christmas. Tonight, I am asking you to increase that amount so that it covers the full cost of the American Jobs Act. And a week from Monday, I’ll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan — a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run. (Applause.)

This approach is basically the one I’ve been advocating for months. In addition to the trillion dollars of spending cuts I’ve already signed into law, it’s a balanced plan that would reduce the deficit by making additional spending cuts, by making modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and by reforming our tax code in a way that asks the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share. (Applause.) What’s more, the spending cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small businesses and middle-class families get back on their feet right away.

Now, I realize there are some in my party who don’t think we should make any changes at all to Medicare and Medicaid, and I understand their concerns. But here’s the truth: Millions of Americans rely on Medicare in their retirement. And millions more will do so in the future. They pay for this benefit during their working years. They earn it. But with an aging population and rising health care costs, we are spending too fast to sustain the program. And if we don’t gradually reform the system while protecting current beneficiaries, it won’t be there when future retirees need it. We have to reform Medicare to strengthen it. (Applause.)

I am also — I’m also well aware that there are many Republicans who don’t believe we should raise taxes on those who are most fortunate and can best afford it. But here is what every American knows: While most people in this country struggle to make ends meet, a few of the most affluent citizens and most profitable corporations enjoy tax breaks and loopholes that nobody else gets. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — an outrage he has asked us to fix. (Laughter.) We need a tax code where everyone gets a fair shake and where everybody pays their fair share. (Applause.) And by the way, I believe the vast majority of wealthy Americans and CEOs are willing to do just that if it helps the economy grow and gets our fiscal house in order.

I’ll also offer ideas to reform a corporate tax code that stands as a monument to special interest influence in Washington. By eliminating pages of loopholes and deductions, we can lower one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. (Applause.) Our tax code should not give an advantage to companies that can afford the best-connected lobbyists. It should give an advantage to companies that invest and create jobs right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)

So we can reduce this deficit, pay down our debt, and pay for this jobs plan in the process. But in order to do this, we have to decide what our priorities are. We have to ask ourselves, “What’s the best way to grow the economy and create jobs?”

Should we keep tax loopholes for oil companies? Or should we use that money to give small business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers? Because we can’t afford to do both. Should we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires? Or should we put teachers back to work so our kids can graduate ready for college and good jobs? (Applause.) Right now, we can’t afford to do both.

This isn’t political grandstanding. This isn’t class warfare. This is simple math. (Laughter.) This is simple math. These are real choices. These are real choices that we’ve got to make. And I’m pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose. It’s not even close. And it’s time for us to do what’s right for our future. (Applause.)

Now, the American Jobs Act answers the urgent need to create jobs right away. But we can’t stop there. As I’ve argued since I ran for this office, we have to look beyond the immediate crisis and start building an economy that lasts into the future — an economy that creates good, middle-class jobs that pay well and offer security. We now live in a world where technology has made it possible for companies to take their business anywhere. If we want them to start here and stay here and hire here, we have to be able to out-build and out-educate and out-innovate every other country on Earth. (Applause.)

And this task of making America more competitive for the long haul, that’s a job for all of us. For government and for private companies. For states and for local communities — and for every American citizen. All of us will have to up our game. All of us will have to change the way we do business.

My administration can and will take some steps to improve our competitiveness on our own. For example, if you’re a small business owner who has a contract with the federal government, we’re going to make sure you get paid a lot faster than you do right now. (Applause.) We’re also planning to cut away the red tape that prevents too many rapidly growing startup companies from raising capital and going public. And to help responsible homeowners, we’re going to work with federal housing agencies to help more people refinance their mortgages at interest rates that are now near 4 percent. That’s a step — (applause) — I know you guys must be for this, because that’s a step that can put more than $2,000 a year in a family’s pocket, and give a lift to an economy still burdened by the drop in housing prices.

So, some things we can do on our own. Other steps will require congressional action. Today you passed reform that will speed up the outdated patent process, so that entrepreneurs can turn a new idea into a new business as quickly as possible. That’s the kind of action we need. Now it’s time to clear the way for a series of trade agreements that would make it easier for American companies to sell their products in Panama and Colombia and South Korea -– while also helping the workers whose jobs have been affected by global competition. (Applause.) If Americans can buy Kias and Hyundais, I want to see folks in South Korea driving Fords and Chevys and Chryslers. (Applause.) I want to see more products sold around the world stamped with the three proud words: “Made in America.” That’s what we need to get done. (Applause.)

And on all of our efforts to strengthen competitiveness, we need to look for ways to work side by side with America’s businesses. That’s why I’ve brought together a Jobs Council of leaders from different industries who are developing a wide range of new ideas to help companies grow and create jobs.

Already, we’ve mobilized business leaders to train 10,000 American engineers a year, by providing company internships and training. Other businesses are covering tuition for workers who learn new skills at community colleges. And we’re going to make sure the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in China or Europe, but right here, in the United States of America. (Applause) If we provide the right incentives, the right support — and if we make sure our trading partners play by the rules — we can be the ones to build everything from fuel-efficient cars to advanced biofuels to semiconductors that we sell all around the world. That’s how America can be number one again. And that’s how America will be number one again. (Applause.)

Now, I realize that some of you have a different theory on how to grow the economy. Some of you sincerely believe that the only solution to our economic challenges is to simply cut most government spending and eliminate most government regulations. (Applause.)

Well, I agree that we can’t afford wasteful spending, and I’ll work with you, with Congress, to root it out. And I agree that there are some rules and regulations that do put an unnecessary burden on businesses at a time when they can least afford it. (Applause.) That’s why I ordered a review of all government regulations. So far, we’ve identified over 500 reforms, which will save billions of dollars over the next few years. (Applause.) We should have no more regulation than the health, safety and security of the American people require. Every rule should meet that common-sense test. (Applause.)

But what we can’t do — what I will not do — is let this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that Americans have counted on for decades. (Applause.) I reject the idea that we need to ask people to choose between their jobs and their safety. I reject the argument that says for the economy to grow, we have to roll back protections that ban hidden fees by credit card companies, or rules that keep our kids from being exposed to mercury, or laws that prevent the health insurance industry from shortchanging patients. I reject the idea that we have to strip away collective bargaining rights to compete in a global economy. (Applause.) We shouldn’t be in a race to the bottom, where we try to offer the cheapest labor and the worst pollution standards. America should be in a race to the top. And I believe we can win that race. (Applause.)

In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everybody’s money, and let everyone write their own rules, and tell everyone they’re on their own — that’s not who we are. That’s not the story of America.

Yes, we are rugged individualists. Yes, we are strong and self-reliant. And it has been the drive and initiative of our workers and entrepreneurs that has made this economy the engine and the envy of the world.

But there’s always been another thread running throughout our history — a belief that we’re all connected, and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation.

We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party. But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future — a Republican President who mobilized government to build the Transcontinental Railroad — (applause) — launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges. (Applause.) And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.

Ask yourselves — where would we be right now if the people who sat here before us decided not to build our highways, not to build our bridges, our dams, our airports? What would this country be like if we had chosen not to spend money on public high schools, or research universities, or community colleges? Millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, had the opportunity to go to school because of the G.I. Bill. Where would we be if they hadn’t had that chance? (Applause.)

How many jobs would it have cost us if past Congresses decided not to support the basic research that led to the Internet and the computer chip? What kind of country would this be if this chamber had voted down Social Security or Medicare just because it violated some rigid idea about what government could or could not do? (Applause.) How many Americans would have suffered as a result?

No single individual built America on their own. We built it together. We have been, and always will be, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; a nation with responsibilities to ourselves and with responsibilities to one another. And members of Congress, it is time for us to meet our responsibilities. (Applause.)

Every proposal I’ve laid out tonight is the kind that’s been supported by Democrats and Republicans in the past. Every proposal I’ve laid out tonight will be paid for. And every proposal is designed to meet the urgent needs of our people and our communities.

Now, I know there’s been a lot of skepticism about whether the politics of the moment will allow us to pass this jobs plan — or any jobs plan. Already, we’re seeing the same old press releases and tweets flying back and forth. Already, the media has proclaimed that it’s impossible to bridge our differences. And maybe some of you have decided that those differences are so great that we can only resolve them at the ballot box.

But know this: The next election is 14 months away. And the people who sent us here — the people who hired us to work for them — they don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months. (Applause.) Some of them are living week to week, paycheck to paycheck, even day to day. They need help, and they need it now.

I don’t pretend that this plan will solve all our problems. It should not be, nor will it be, the last plan of action we propose. What’s guided us from the start of this crisis hasn’t been the search for a silver bullet. It’s been a commitment to stay at it — to be persistent — to keep trying every new idea that works, and listen to every good proposal, no matter which party comes up with it.

Regardless of the arguments we’ve had in the past, regardless of the arguments we will have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now. You should pass it. (Applause.) And I intend to take that message to every corner of this country. (Applause.) And I ask — I ask every American who agrees to lift your voice: Tell the people who are gathered here tonight that you want action now. Tell Washington that doing nothing is not an option. Remind us that if we act as one nation and one people, we have it within our power to meet this challenge.

President Kennedy once said, “Our problems are man-made –- therefore they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants.”

These are difficult years for our country. But we are Americans. We are tougher than the times we live in, and we are bigger than our politics have been. So let’s meet the moment. Let’s get to work, and let’s show the world once again why the United States of America remains the greatest nation on Earth. (Applause.)

Thank you very much. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END
7:43 P.M. EDT

~Free market under-regulated air in Beijing, China

It’s become increasingly clear in the past months that the Environmental Protection Agency is squarely in the crosshairs of the Republican Party. But it’s not just insignificant or annoying rules and regs that irritate the right. The battles being fought are elemental and huge – The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, massive extraction projects that could cause harm to our country on a massive scale.

The EPA believes it is a fundamental right that citizens of this nation can breathe clean air, and drink clean water. The “nanny state” believes that children shouldn’t have asthma because they cannot escape the belching smoke of a coal fired power plant, or that a rancher should have to give his beef cattle contaminated toxic water because a natural gas fracking well destroyed the aquifer that used to provide clean safe water.

It is a battle of philosophy.

I remember when I was young, I asked my mother what the difference was between Democrats and Republicans. “Democrats are for the people, and Republicans are for big business.” It seemed like a simple enough answer for a small child. And naturally, I understood that my father, as a small business owner, employed people and that this was helpful for everyone. But my dad was small business. He hired and fired employees himself. He grumbled a little when his workers unionized. He grumbled a little more when the EPA made him jump through a lot of hoops that he thought were unnecessary. But ultimately, my dad earned a living wage, and so did everyone who worked for him. He was not a slave to shareholder profits, and he kept his humanity. Unlike a corporation, he didn’t want to pollute because it was cheaper to be irresponsible, or because he was obligated to provide maximum profits above all else.

And while it is understandable that the corporations themselves try everything to maximize profits, with blinders on to the human cost of their operations, how is it that the individuals in the Republican Party – the voters – don’t see it?

I believe if we were to ask a parent of any political party what was more important – a job, or the health and safety of her children and her neighbor’s children – the answers would be easy. Ultimately, of course, you’d want both – a good job to provide for your children, and safe air and water to keep them from being sick, incurring health costs, and the emotional stress that goes with seeing someone you love suffer. But if you could only pick one, health would always win. Without it, nothing else matters.

So, why the disconnect? Is it so appealing for the human mind to have someone to be angry at, that it trumps basic survival? Why does the average Republican voter cheer for those who want to do away with these regulations and even the EPA itself? Ask people in countries like China (if you can find it under the smog) who are suffering massive environmental contamination how grateful they would be to have an enforcement agency to protect them. They don’t have one. We do.

Corporate polluters have lots of lobbyists because they have lots of money.  Asthmatic children, and regular people who live at ground zero for environmental pollution? Not so much. Our lobbyists – the people who are supposed to be out there fighting for our best interests, and our literal survival, are those we put in office. Yes, they may have partisan agendas, but above all they are there because we put them there, and they are there to protect us, promote our well being, and defend us from those whose priorities are green (in the form of currency) over green (in the form of sustainability).

Today, the President capitulated to those who actively seek to maximize their own profits at the expense of your health, and your children’s health, by killing new rules controlling emissions proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. And the sad irony is that the new regulations, which were estimated to cost between $19 and $90 billion are cheaper than the cost to mitigate the health issues they will cause. Yes, it’s cheaper in both “green” ways to be responsible. It’s cheaper for the nation as a whole – for you and me – but not for the corporations themselves. There’s the rub. So, your government has decided it would rather lose money and compromise the health of its citizens, than to annoy the polluters by requiring them to be responsible and spend some of their massive profits to do so.

“This sudden admission by President Obama that ill- considered regulations do, in fact, have a negative impact upon our economy is a welcome breakthrough,” Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement. His committee is scheduled to vote on measures to scuttle two other EPA proposals next week.

That’s how the issue is being framed by the Republicans who are now praising the President. Obama has now seen the error of his ways. He now sees that it’s environmental regulations that are responsible for breaking the back of the economy. It’s not the Bush tax cuts; it’s not two wars the country can’t afford; it’s not corporate takeover; it’s not lack of basic health care; it’s not NAFTA. Nope. It’s the government telling giant polluters that they’re not allowed to poison us. And they’re really glad that the President has now seen the light and knows that the Republicans have had it right all along. Did you hear that, media? It was very big of him to admit that he, and those silly environmentalists were wrong.

And, of course, in reality, the President doesn’t feel that way at all. Unfortunately, he has lost the debate as he sits in the Oval Office buried in wreaths of flowers smugly bestowed upon him by the likes of John Boehner, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and every other self-interested Republican who is looking forward to campaign contributions from Big Oil, Big Coal, and Big Frackers. But then again, the President is looking for those contributions too.

Last week, I asked Alaska Democratic Senator Mark Begich’s office if he had made a statement or if he had a comment or opinion about Trans Canada’s 1980-mile tar sands Keystone XL pipeline proposal that is currently with President Obama, and about the demonstrations and arrests that have been made at the White House. So far, there have been over 700 arrests, sit-ins and demonstrations at the White House, and harsh criticism of the project from many former Obama campaign workers and staffers, important environmental groups, and political strategists. The pipeline would carry highly corrosive toxic crude oil from the tar sands of Canada, straight down through middle America, to the Gulf of Mexico in Nederland, Texas, threatening drinking water for millions of people, and farmland that feeds millions more.

In addition, NASA scientist James Hansen warned that exploiting the massive tar sands deposit could mean “game over” for staving off catastrophic climate change impacts. The stakes are high.

The response from Senator Begich’s office?

“Sen. Begich is on the record supporting this project because of the country’s energy needs and the number of jobs it would create.”

In Alaska, as in many places,  it’s generally not so much about Red v. Blue on environmental issues, because the sad fact is that with very few exceptions, politicians here are the color of oil, and the color of money.

“It will be increasingly difficult to mobilize the environmental base and to mobilize in particular young people to volunteer, to knock on thousands of doors, to put in 16-hour days, to donate money if they don’t think the president is showing the courage to stand up to big polluters,” Mike Brune, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, told reporters last week regarding the massive pipeline project. That statement rings true not only for Keystone XL, but for many environmental issues.

We are in an environmental war, and it isn’t over how to improve where we are, or develop new technology in the face of opposition. It is a basic war of survival. We, as a nation, as parents, as human beings, will be called upon to defend not the subtleties of environmental protection, but the basic existence of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and massive resource extraction projects like the proposed Pebble Mine, and Keystone XL. It is our obligation to make our positions known to our elected officials, and to our friends on the other side of the aisle. This is not a political issue, as much as the industry and elected officials would like to make it one.

[Contact the White House and send Barack Obama a message HERE]

[To sign the Friends of the Earth petition asking the President to say no to the pipeline, click HERE]

[Details on the Saturday rally in Washington, D.C. HERE]

Welcome to Mudflix! We’ll be posting interesting videos of 10 minutes or less on a regular basis to spur interesting conversation and lively debate. Feel free to pop some corn and chime in with your buttery little fingers.

And who better to launch our new feature than my Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Yes, I know I don’t live in Vermont. I live in the state of Alaska. This means, as a progressive, I also live in the state of Denial, which means I’ve adopted him whether he likes it or not.

There’s also a great follow-up from Robert Reich. The rich get richer…

Dear Mr President, Bernie Sanders

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ECONOMY, Robert Reich

On the longest day of the year, in the Land of the Midnight Sun, Hays Research Group in Alaska came up with some interesting numbers. Seems that average Alaskans, if faced with the choice of voting for Barack Obama, or Sarah Palin in 2012, would come down decidedly NOT on the side of our ex-half-governor.

That’s right. If “The Undefeated” ran, she wouldn’t be. Again.

Here’s the breakdown:

Obama Strong 34%
Obama Not so strong 6%
Undecided – Lean Obama 2%
Palin Strong 25%
Palin Not so strong 6%
Undecided – Lean Palin 5%
Other Candidate 7%
Undecided / Don’t Know 16%

This year, they were not only in the same city, they were in the same hotel – mine. This made for several uncomfortable elevator rides with people wearing Right Online badges, who glared at my Netroots badge, and also for a couple impromptu sightings of Andrew Breitbart. His favorite activity was standing around the lobby having people take pictures of him while he looked important. His second favorite activity was standing around outside the main doors having people take pictures of him while he looked important. I noticed that he was constantly followed around by creepy guy in a hat with a strange gait. Bela Lugosi will play him in the movie, if (God help us) there is a movie.

All that said, this serendipitous confluence of politicos did have one little perk – that thing I noticed slipped in the crack of my door. Actually, it was slipped in the cracks of every door of the hotel, and this is what it was:

You can imagine me standing by my door, card key in hand, letting out a huge, “HA!” in the empty hallway. Now, I’ll grant you that this is not everyone’s idea of a good time. But it is mine. I would have been happy to go to the screening of The Undefeated alone, but as luck would have it, I had the best date on the planet!  Also attending the conference was my Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin co-author Ken Morris. We were fresh from a radio interview which meant we missed the first half. But as soon as we were able, we went to the ballroom and quietly entered the side door.

The title of the movie alone indicates what will be in store, because of course politically Palin has been defeated in the Lt. Governor’s race in Alaska, and also was soundly defeated in her bid for the Vice Presidency. So spin promises to be the order of the day.

There were a couple hundred people sitting at round tables watching the movie when we entered. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see on the screen, but it wasn’t what I saw. Lo and behold, there was the six-foot tall head of none other than Alaska State Senator Bill Wielechowski (Will a cow ski), who we fondly referred to as “the best Bill in Juneau.” Once my saucer eyes had returned to normal size, I realized why he was there. He was talking about ACES (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share), the oil tax system implemented under the Palin administration.

Palin went to Republicans with a version of the idea, and was soundly rejected. The Democrats galloped to the rescue of the new governor, strengthened the bill, and got it passed. Of course, that whole “Democrats saving the day” narrative was overlooked for some reason. But nevertheless, ACES was great, and it happened under Palin. Alaska is now pocketing $2 billion a year it wouldn’t have had otherwise. Regrettably, the new Parnell-Conoco administration is doing its best to scuttle ACES and return that money to the oil companies, but legislators like Wielechowski are working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. [You can read all about that HERE]

The next half hour of the film was dedicated to talking about oil tax policy, opening leases in the Arctic, the gas pipeline (which is dying an ignominious death, and which sounded in the movie like it was already happily flowing the gas to eager consumers), and all sorts of topics that had most of the audience glazing over like they were sitting in a 9th grade history class. These things are very important, but it’s not what most people get excited about, or why most people go to a Palin rally. As testament to this, a couple dozen people quietly left their seats and slipped past us to freedom.

After the oil and gas lesson, those that stayed were treated to a full on extravaganza of gushing Palinbots. There was former communications harpie Meg Stapleton (known as “Stapletongue” for good reason). She was all decked out in a dark suit, standing against a white background telling the story of the VP nomination, subsequent defeat, and the return home to Alaska. We heard from her throughout the film, usually beginning her sentences with “It was SO sad…” She referred of course to the constant perceived victimization of Palin and her family by the big bad media, fellow Republicans, Democrats, bloggers, voters, and everything and everyone else under the sun.

And who else should pop up but our favorite arch-villain Thomas Van Flein, the Palins’ personal attorney!

And then there was the aforementioned Andrew Breitbart who was ubiquitous, and couldn’t have spoken of Sarah Palin in more glowing terms. Over. And over. And over. Breitbart’s sycophantic appendage (the creepy guy with the hat) was conspicuously absent.

Conservative filmmaker Steven Bannon, who is responsible for all this, seems to have a fondness for freakishly violent imagery.  The media attacks, and criticism from Alaskan politicians and commentators were accompanied by devastating scenes of earthquakes, concrete overpasses collapsing and crushing cars full of people, ominously dripping oil, a pack of lions graphically ripping apart a hapless zebra (lions = bloggers, zebra = Palin) – and what would a right wing fearfest be without the obligatory mushroom cloud? Nothing, that’s what.

It was SO sad, Stapleton told us with tight esophagus, that the governor had to leave “the job she loved more than anything else in the world.”  She apparently missed that email from Palin that said, “I hate this damn job.” And the other one that expounds “I hate this flipping kangaroo joke of a job.”

It was SO sad, she went on, that when the governor came back to Alaska and it was like a car “going from 60mph to zero.” Cue scene of white van racing down the highway, doing a wicked rollover and coming to rest upside down at zero miles per hour. You get the idea.

According to published reports, “Palin did not have any editorial role in the project and was not interviewed for the film.” At first I found this odd, since large portions of the movie were actually narrated by Palin herself, who was clearly reading from a script. But I guess reading the script doesn’t technically imply editorial control or being “interviewed.”  Those conservatives love their sneaky wording.

There was no doubt that this feature length propaganda flick was a campaign film, but it had a twist. This was no Republican propaganda film – this was a Tea Party film that slammed both the left and the right. Any time Nancy Pelosi was mentioned, the crowd in the ballroom swelled with hisses. When Obama was mentioned, boos erupted, and there was even a cry of “Terrorist!” which sent a little chill up my spine. My date and I locked eyes at that one, but tried quickly to look inconspicuous.

Interestingly, the Republicans fared not much better. Slightly less venemous jabs were made at the “entrenched” GOP “elite” while images of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner flashed on the screen. No booing and hissing on this one – just a clenched awkward silence and a bunch of raised eyebrows.

The Tea Party, the film tells us, is going to be our political savior because it’s really “grass roots.” They never mentioned the Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Freedomworks or the other conservative foundations funded by the wealthiest families in the nation. But good propaganda must select its message without letting fair and balanced facts intrude.

Bannon, I think it’s safe to say, has guzzled the Kool-Aid.

All in all the film did a great job of selecting all possible 10-second clips where Palin looked like an energetic, funny, spunky, stubborn advocate for all that is great and good. It also did a good job of making me queazy and scaring the bejeesus out of me. The Good vs. Evil themes, the charismatic leader, the cheering crowds, the larger than life personality, the persecution of the martyr, the selective scrubbing of the bad, the exaggeration and bending of the true… It all felt like some horrible history lesson of the future. It even came complete with an enraptured audience clinking their glasses with forks and wooooing and cheering in concert with the woooooing and cheering crowds on the screen.

I even found a review of the film from someone in the room attending the Right Online conference. This impartial critique comes from… you’ll see.

I’ve long been a Palin supporter. I grew up in Wasilla. My family have been friends with the Palins and the Heaths (Sarah’s family) for some time now. I can’t help but support the hometown girl. But even I was taken aback.I had expected, frankly, Palin propaganda. And I don’t mean that derisively. After the treatment Palin has gotten at the hands of the media and the left, she deserves some propaganda. I had expected an hours-long run-down of all the ways the media/left were unfair to Palin.

What I got was a thorough, eye-opening (even for a Palin supporter) run-down of why Palin is everything the media says she isn’t.

A Palin supporter and friend of the family from Wasilla thinks she deserves some propaganda, expected to hear about nothing but how badly the media treated her, and instead found out that everything the media said about her was a lie. What can you say?

After a segment about Ronald Reagan, and a quote from Thomas Paine, this surreal episode of Sarah in Wonderland came to an end. Ken and I filtered out into the hallway with nothing on our lips but “Wow.”  Then I noticed a set of oil paintings propped up on a table just next to the main doors. One was of Sarah Palin, and the other was (wait for it) Thomas Jefferson. Yup, Palin was shoulder to shoulder at her screening with a French-loving Democrat who snipped up the Bible and made his own version. I wonder if there’s an army of Palinbots changing history on Jefferson’s Wikipedia page at this very moment.

One of my fellow Alaskans at the convention made it a point to talk to a Palin supporter who was actually in the film and said a few words on the stage after it was over.  I caught snippets of their conversation, and the comment that struck me was when the woman said, “Look, all I know is that the left hates her, and the right hates her, so she must be doing something right.”

Everyone hates you = You’re the greatest

It’s all starting to make sense.

She will run, she won’t run, she will, she won’t, she will…

Everyone is weighing in. Everyone is asking. Hints are being dropped. Money is being raked. And yes, I believe that Sarah Palin is getting ready to inflict herself upon the nation once again. The national spotlight beckons to her like yummy brains to a zombie. (Here, you can imagine her doing a robot walk with stiff knees and arms stretched out muttering “Must…Have…Attention…”)

But before the official announcement is tweeted to the world, the ‘lamestream’ media must do its due diligence and feel around for any kind of hint, or indication that the inevitable is going to happen. This time it was Greta Van Susteren’s turn to ask. Now, if you recall, Palin has called her the most influential journalist today. OK, it was because she couldn’t actually think of any journalists, nor could Todd when she asked him, and then conveniently she saw Greta standing there like the back of a flash card – but at least it was some kind of answer.

The full clip is 10 minutes, but we’re going to start about 5 and a half minutes in – partly because I find Newt Gingrich uninteresting, and partly because it would involve transcribing five additional minutes of Sarah Palin. I’m fairly certain at this point that one loses 10 minutes off the end of life for every minute of Palin transcription, and frankly I’m worried about what my tally is at this point.

So, let’s roll ‘em! (As always, my comments appear in red)

Greta Van Susteren: I know you haven’t made a decision, but do you have a fire in your belly? Do you really want it?

Sarah Palin: Ohhhh… that’s a great question. I think my problem is that I do have the fire in my belly. (I think her problem is that ALL she has is a fire in her belly) I am so um… adamantly… um supportive of the good traditional things about America and our free enterprise system, and I want to make sure that America’s put back on the right track and we only do that by defeating Obama in 2012. I have that fire in my belly. It’s a matter for me of some kind of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made. (Oh, really? Do tell…)

One is, with a large family, understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children’s part in order to uh see their Mama run for President. But, yeah, the fire in the belly – it’s there.

(This puts me in mind of a passage from the recent book The Lies of Sarah Palin by Geoffrey Dunn in which we learn that the family meeting in the living room when she polled her children to find out if they wanted her to accept the VP nomination, and they all said “Go for it, Mom!” actually went something like this:

When the Palin family entourage landed in Ohio, Palin took [McCain aide Steve] Schmidt aside and asked him to tell her daughters the news about her selection. She hadn’t told them yet. Neither had their father. (snip) Bristol, as Schmidt knew, was pregnant.

After hearing the news and realizing their young lives were about to be turned upside down, a “strained silence” followed. And thus concluded the family meeting and the “vote.”  But, I digress.)

GV: You talk about your children… Haven’t your children been through sort of the hell of it?  (See above) At some point, you just reach the saturation point. I imagine for children of politicians, they’ve heard it all. I mean is there really anything, … in terms of the personal cost, haven’t they heard it all?  (Translation = Greta calls BS on Palin’s excuse.)

SP: Yeah, and you know, that’s a good point, and I know that my kids have heard it all, and yet you know the darts and the arrows keep flying. You see that movies are being made, books are coming out… um, hoarded emails from a disloyal former staff member (points at Frank Bailey) have been compiled by a hateful blogger, (points at self) and those are going to be released. (points at the Blind Allegiance Amazon page where you can pre-order this season’s most highly anticipated political memoir. Wink.) Things like that that are taken out of context and told a story around ‘em.

(I particularly like the fact that Palin does not call Bailey “dishonest” or “disgruntled” but “disloyal.” Apparently being on the receiving end of getting thrown under the bus doesn’t agree with her.)

GV: That kind of stuff sticks in the beginning, but after a while it’s like you know – really?

SP: Yeah, yeah, really.

GV: I mean even in our business, every day I get emails saying how terrible I am on TV and I do this and I do that, and I’m all these horrible things, but you know after twenty years on TV it’s like yeah OK. (I wonder if any of those emailers criticize her for saying things on national TV like “it’s like you know really?” and “it’s like yeah OK”?)

SP: Well, exactly Greta and I’m at that point of saying, “Yeah, you know, whatever.” (Yes, her blase almost zen-like attitude in which she lets all this roll of her back is inspiring) It’s gonna keep on comin’ and I feel like I have a prayer shield in front of me that deflects a lot of that.  I just want to make sure that for my loved ones, for my parents, for my spouse and my children and those close to me, that they have that that tool to deflect also so they’re not adversely affected. (Sooo… she’s hogging the “prayer shield” tool and leaving the rest of the family out there unprotected?)

GV: Well, all the candidates that decide to run – they’ve got to know that we’re going to go after them, and we’re going to hopefully do it with good manners, but we’re going to be very aggressive, prying into everybody’s past… (Uh-oh…)

SP: OK then Greta, what you, and you can help lead your colleagues in this mission – come after us based on our record, based on our present day statements about what we intend to do to, for, and with this country. Don’t come after us for little petty stupid things like… (Like our past, or previous decisions, ability to use good judgment, honesty and integrity, contents of emails, stuff like that. Nothing to see there.)

GV: Then don’t take the bait. (Zing! And let the stammering, finger-pointing, defensive, strained explanations begin!)

~”Hateful” screen capture of Sarah Palin

SP: Here’s the bait. Here’s how we do it. Here… here is how the bait though is almost impossible sometimes not to nab. Somebody emails the other day from a tabloid and says, “We hear a story about one of your kids.. bla bla bla.” And they have the facts so wrong that obviously… and they say they’re gonna write the story no matter what and if you don’t respond, then the record won’t be set straight, (Get ready, she’s about to nab that bait!) so dang it, you gotta respond to at least get the facts out there that that uh can help set the record straight. Well, boom, you just, you just took the bait. Now they have an opportunity to perpetuate whatever story it is that they have.  (OK, so they’re going to write a story regardless, and you take the bait, and then they run the story. So the reason it’s impossible not to take the bait is because you take the bait. Now, I see.) I think it’s sick. I think it’s ridiculous. It’s such a waste of time. Time is our most precious resource. I’m tired of wastin’ it.

~Bait

So yeah, I’ll take you up on that, in me being committed to not taking the bait, and you being able to lead your colleagues in just gettin’ the facts out there – who, what, where, when and why in reporting. Hammer away at our records and our intentions and what our view for America is. Lay off the petty stuff.

(Yes, I’m sure Greta is pleased that they’ve reached agreement in this fictitious bargain she never agreed to – Sarah Palin not taking the bait, and Greta Van Susteren leading the mainstream media in a crusade to not report anything negative, or go digging for facts, and to remind themselves of the 5 w’s of Journalism 101. I can see how this is a brilliant career move for Greta.)

GV: Well, you know this is going to be an interesting season. Whoever runs, whether you run or not, and I hope we can go after everybody aggressively, and anybody’s got any dirt though, really bad things in the past you know, voters need to know that. It’s fair. Some of it’s ugly, but it’s fair…

SP: That’s fair. (But… but… but you just said…)

GV: Arnold Schwartzenegger’s a perfect example if he were to run again. If he’s going to betray his wife and his children, maybe he’ll betray the voters, so I think it’s a legitimate topic. And some of the stuff stings and hurts, but it’s the process and I guess that’s where you know you’ve gotta have that fire in your belly to take it.

SP: It is. And that’s fair for the media to come after candidates based on that kind of criteria – what really matters and have their past actions been a reflection of their character and how perhaps they would govern and try to lead, so that is very fair. (We grip the arms of our chairs to steady our inner ear from this instant 180 degree change in position. Then we realize that she has suddenly remembered that even though she doesn’t want the media doing it to her, this is what she did and intends to do with Obama. How will she reconcile the two positions? Let’s watch…) What isn’t fair though is when it’s only one-sided, when it’s only the conservatives, say, who get hammered away at.. um those things that the press wants to know. You know, we, um, the perfect example of um the media one-sidedness is Obama’s record not being explored – his associations in the last campaign not being explored, and now revelations of maybe some of his upbringing, some of his background, certainly his associations, how they impact his world view and how that affects his decisions today.

(And suddenly on the table is marital fidelity, “associations”, upbringing, background, more “associations”, world view, and how all these things affect decision making. I’m imagining this would include, oh… I don’t know… emails from her campaign and gubernatorial administration. Wouldn’t you think? Oh, but she’s a conservative and they’re always getting picked on…)

GV: I, you know, I, I, I, think that’s you know it’s I mean everyone should be challenged the same way equally… (Wow)

And I think at this point, we’ll leave these two masters of the word salad, and suggest that if Sarah Palin continues to have a fire in her belly that she take an alternate solution than foisting herself on the American people in a presidential run.