Only in red state America and from Al Qaeda!

 

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Here’s the msnbc headline:

Mayor sorry for kids’ ‘assassinate Obama‘ chant

Parents in Idaho town accused of ‘damaging young hearts and minds’

Yes it is 2008 and yes a black man was voted in decisively to be No. 44, but somethings don’t CHANGE much anyway! Click here to be disgusted!

After reading this I wonder which is worse vitriol in Idaho or from El Qaeda?

Ayman al-Zawahiri, the reputed second-in-command of Al Qaeda, has apparently responded to the election victory of President-elect Barack Obama in a vitriol-laden video message posted on Web forums on Wednesday.

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The first full interview of Pres-Elect Obama and Mrs. Obama

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It was on the CBS Sunday night TV stalwart “60 Minutes“. The interview was done by Steve Croft in Chicago. Apart from the usual program ending contribution by Andy Rooney, it was Croft and Barack and then Croft, Barack and Michelle.

I was so fascinated with the quality of the exchanges between Croft and his guests. It’s rare and moving to see and hear two sane politicians, and that is not an oxymoron in this case, responding to direct questions as well, as openly and credibly, even though guardedly, about the process of transitioning into the most powerful political office in the world.

Croft, Barack and Michelle gave the impression that they were engaged in a careful word dance between three people that respected each other and their words. Barack and Michelle left little doubt about the openess and closeness of their emotional and mental connection. It was a tour de force performance by all three, a rare event on public TV dealing with US politics!

The interview was a very fitting way station on this journey into political power. Watching it gave me happy goose bumbs, unlike the sinking feeling I always get when I see and hear McCain and his wife Cindy.

Dave Winer weighs in with choice video parts of the interview!

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The headline in Salon – Obama and the dawn of the 4th Republic

This photo leads a Michael Lind think piece that puts the 44th President in the line back to No. 1, George Washington:

This essay outlines is a novel integration of Obama’s election with the 43 elections that preceded his. I found this in Boing Boing.

UPDATE:

Check this link out for the Time Mags perspective “The end of the Reagan era”

I’ve got a lot of time for Josh Marshall’s views at TPM

Here’s his comment about all the Palin leaks from the McCain campaign et al:

As a big of an ignoramus as Palin clearly is, and as big a liar, I’m more than a little skeptical myself.

I tend to agree with that simply because those people, Davis, Schmidt etc gave little evidence that they practiced “real straight talk”. They seemed to believe in faking it!

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Obama moves outside the “box” again

I do believe choosing such a large public setting to spend election night with so many people is a first in US politics, or politics anywhere in the world!

Gov. Sarah Palin’s “bad week”, or same old, same …

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Now it’s a top McCain national security adviser:

Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush and whose endorsement is often trumpeted by McCain, said on Thursday that the Alaska governor is not only unprepared to take over the job on a moment’s notice but, even after some time in office, would only amount to an “adequate” commander in chief.

“And I devoutly hope that [she] would never be tested,” he added for good measure — referring both to Palin’s policy dexterity and the idea of McCain not making it through his time in office.

Oh well what does he know anyway!

But the NY Times adds this sour note about La Palin:

A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Here in Canada our Conservative PM just appointed a 41 yr old woman to be Minister of Health, the biggest budget in this government. I read this morning that she is from the north, Nunavut Territory, ambitious and “tough”.

Does this mean that we may have our own Inuit version of La Palin? Who needs that?

Now it’s the right wing press who’s quibbling about Gov. Palin’s role in this campaign

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The byline says “If she is so awful, why did McCain pick her?” Politico’s Roger Simon goes on this way!

John McCain’s campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.

And it has decided on Sarah Palin.

In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.”

Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking?

Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.”

Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t it his first presidential-level decision?

And if you are a 72-year-old presidential candidate, wouldn’t you expect that your running mate’s fitness for high office would come under a little extra scrutiny? And, therefore, wouldn’t you make your selection with care? (To say nothing about caring about the future of the nation?)

Gov. Palin just doesn’t know when or how to stop!

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I guess she didn’t do very well with her English classes at those 6 colleges she attended on the way to a journalism degree. Here’s her latest sally in an interview with ABC News:

Ms. Palin also defended her recent characterizations of Mr. Obama as “palling around with terrorists,” and his past association with William Ayers, the 1960’s radical. She insisted that she wasn’t implying that he is “un-American.”

“I am sure that Senator Obama cares as much for this country as McCain does,” she said.

It’s like she is preternaturally disengenuous or just plain dumb. She says it and then meekly says that she didn’t mean it! What the F..k!

Sarah Palin is touted as future GOP right wing leader

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Well Chris Hitchens can think what he prefers about la Palin but some GOP right wingers disagree completely with his bleak assessment of her. Here’s a sample from an NY Times article:

Despite all the criticism, she has many supporters among Republicans who see her as bright, tough and a star in a party with relatively few on the horizon.

“She’s dynamite,” said Morton C. Blackwell, who was President Ronald Reagan’s liaison to the conservative movement. Mr. Blackwell described vying to get close to Ms. Palin at a fund-raiser in Virginia, lamenting that he could get only within four feet.

“I made a major effort to position myself at this reception,” he said, adding that he is eager to sit down with her after the election to discuss the future. Asked if the weeks of unflattering revelations and damaging interviews had tarnished her among conservatives, he replied, “Not a bit.”

Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, a conservative group, called it a “top order of business” to determine Ms. Palin’s future role. “Conservatives have been looking for leadership, and she has proven that she can electrify the grass roots like few people have in the last 20 years,” Mr. Bozell said. “No matter what she decides to do, there will be a small mother lode of financial support behind her.”

The comment “She’s dynamite” sticks out for me. I recognize that she has considerable but probably thin appeal to a certain type of GOP registered voter. I wonder how she would measure up over a long primary season competing with the likes of Mike Huckabee?

While “she gives a good speech” she obviously understands very little about what she says. For example she derided an earmark for fruit fly research without knowing that this earmark was for child autism research, which is supposed to be something she wants to alleviate or eradicate with a government program. More socialism?

Update: It seems that not every senior GOP rep agrees that Palin is such a great leader for the future.

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“Let Sarah be Sarah” and let the chips fall where they may!

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After reading a Robert Draper blog post it seems amazing to me that there are still commentators out there who wonder why McCain campaign operatives are still struggling to “manage” la Palin. Why was it considered necessary to do that in the first, and second, place?

McCain, whose body language and facial reactions don’t hide very many of his own doubtful internal reactions to what she says and how she says it on many videos, repeats his mantra that she is great and her record complements his so well. Who is he kidding?

Christopher Hitchens says it so well when he describes her as a ” proud boastful ignoramus”! I would add “singlemindedly ambitious” and unblinking in her readiness to take advantage of all opportunities thrust on her.

For his part I believe McCain is willing to do and say anything to win this election, his last hurrah! But I feel pity for him, especially when I see how physically awkward he is on stage with his own wife. Because of this obvious situation it is sad and ironic that her personal fortune has been the most constant support in his political quest and he can’t even show natural affection for her.

Is this a case of his blind ambition leading him from an awkward connection with his wife to just another one with his VP running mate?

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