58 Comments

1. David Thomson:

The MSM may have done more investigation into Sarah Palin in less than a week—then it has throughout the whole career of Barack Obama! He is able to slide under the radar. At this point of time, few American know about Bill Ayers and the other Chicago area scandals. If they did, there is no way that Obama could possibly win the election. Life is not always fair. The McCain campaign is going to have to spend its own money to essentially do the job of the MSM. This could be the last hurrah of the left-wing media establishment. Unfortunately, it can do a lot of damage before its demise.

Sep 2, 2008 - 11:10 am 2. Dishman:

Sooo…..
Obama is now arguing whether or not he’s more qualified than McCain’s Veep pick.

Somehow I see him as firing away, having nothing to hit but his own foot.

Sep 2, 2008 - 11:31 am 3. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Obama’s vainglorious stabs at some kind of Camelot Redux are proving to be no more than “Castles Made of Sand,” and we all know what happens to them….eventually.

November 4th, the tide’s comin’ in.

Sep 2, 2008 - 12:02 pm 4. Mike S:

I agree that Obama and Palin are in the same range of experience level, and that Palin comes out ahead because of executive experience and corruption fighting within her own party. But the big difference to focus on is that if she becomes president, she will have been Vice President before that. It really makes her pre-POTUS resume a heck of a lot better than Obama’s.

Sep 2, 2008 - 12:04 pm 5. tim maguire:

If Obama’s experience comes from running a presidential campaign, then how will we know if he did a good job at it before election day? As Ann Althouse pointed out, this is circular logic.

Sep 2, 2008 - 12:12 pm 6. Larry J:

The President of the US is also called the Chief Executive. Obama has no executive experience worthy of the name. Neither does Biden. If Obama wants to compare his experience campaigning to be president to McCain’s VP pick, well, that’s just funny. Is he running for president or VP? If he gets to count his campaign experience, doesn’t McCain get to count his?

John McCain’s real executive experience is limited to being a squadron commander in the Navy. Palin’s got experience running a commercial fishing company, being a mayor, and a governor. She has more executive experience than the 3 men on the tickets combined.

Obama is just an empty suit who gives a good speech when there’s a teleprompter. Without the teleprompter, he almost makes Bush 43 sound articulate.

Sep 2, 2008 - 12:21 pm 7. vnjagvet:

It is about time to drop the Chicago machine politics bomb with page and verse at hand as a talking point against The One. I heard Vilsack this morning armed with the Palin talking points. It was pitiful, and I like Vilsack.

The Chicago machine is so much more damaging to Obama than the crap they are using against SarahCuda. Axelrod is asking for it.

Sep 2, 2008 - 12:54 pm 8. David Thomson:

“The Chicago machine is so much more damaging to Obama than the crap they are using against SarahCuda.”

Most voters have no idea what you are talking about. It is simply mind boggling how the MSM has covered up the scandals of Chicago. Barack Obama and George McGovern are the most left-wing major presidential candidates in our nation’s history. However, the voters were well aware of the latter’s radicalism by this time during the 1972 election. This is why he was also far behind Nixon in the polls. At this very moment, a lot of people may vote for Obama because they have been conned into believing he is a political moderate!

Sep 2, 2008 - 1:07 pm 9. tim maguire:

vnjagvet: from what I hear (off classicalvalues.com last week), the bomb has been loaded and moved into position. According to poster Simon, they are planning on showing an Ayers video at the convention. He included a link to the video and it’s devastating.

Sep 2, 2008 - 1:08 pm 10. vnjagvet:

Also, she isn’t being considered for Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State or National Security Advisor.

And the notion that her family is not under scrutiny even absent her candidacy as VP is ridiculous. She is the Governor of a state after all.

Does anyone seriously think that Bristol’s situation would not have been publicized in Alaska had mom not been asked to run for Veep?

Sep 2, 2008 - 1:12 pm 11. Charlie (Colorado):

Does anyone seriously think that Bristol’s situation would not have been publicized in Alaska had mom not been asked to run for Veep?

Well, eventually, but it apparently wasn’t widely known.

Sep 2, 2008 - 1:34 pm 12. Jay:

“Palin is a fighter against corruption…”

Incorrect. She chaired a 527 for Ted “intertubes” Stevens and lied about her views of the Bridge to nowhere. Yes, she knocked off an entrenched crook in a primary, but that’s just a start.

Sep 2, 2008 - 2:01 pm 13. Mike Shuster:

honestly, I understand why some people are unnerved by Obama’s inexperience. But over the past four years, he’s made it clear that he’s thought deeply about all kinds of issues, both domestic and foreign. I don’t agree with all his positions, for sure, and there’s a modicum of political opportunism there (which I would also say about McCain), but I am convinced he knows how policy is made and how federal government works. So, while I’m not super-enthused about him, I’m not deeply uncomfortable with the idea of him running the country.

Palin, on the other hand, makes me very uncomfortable, because there’s no evidence of this kind of engagement with the issues a President faces. Suppose something happens to McCain and we find ourselves in a Palin presidency. And then pick your own unexpected-but-possible scenario: Israel bombs Iran. Domestic inflation continues to sky-rocket. We need to re-calibrate our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq or somewhere else. I don’t doubt that Palin’s instincts might be in the right place, but I see no evidence that she has thought enough about these types of issues to make extremely complicated policy decisions. Which is what a President has to do, especially in times of crisis.

Maybe she’d be buoyed by a lot of advisors, and things would be okay. But that’s hardly what I would hope from the VP choice of a 72-year old candidate with a cancer history.

For me, it’s not so much about ‘experience’ as ‘demonstrating a history of thoughtfulness,’ I guess.

Sep 2, 2008 - 2:19 pm 14. jedrury:

A history of thoughtfulness?

He made his stand against the Iraq War on the floor of the Senate of Illinois not the floor of the US Senate at a time when being against the war was easy. A meaningless expression made to appease his liberal base in Chicago. Hardly the profile in courage one hears.

Joe Biden came out against the Kuwait War and was wrong. He voted for the Iraq War 2 and then said in the middle of his presidential campaign that he made “a mistake.” He wanted to tri-partition Iraq before the surge and through the surge. He has not given his latest bloviating opinion.

Thoughtfulness presumably precedes good judgment, don’t you think, Mike ?

Sep 2, 2008 - 2:49 pm 15. Godzilla:

Regardless what happens in November, from this moment on Alaska is my favorite state.

Sep 2, 2008 - 2:59 pm 16. Zhombre:

Given that he’s written two autobiographies, I’d say Obama has a history of thoughtfulness about Obama.

And being from Chicago and knowing the affluent, liberal enclave of Hyde Park, I’d say taking an antiwar position, or any anti-Bush position, in front of that constituency is less a profile in courage than a matter of de rigueur.

And having watched his acceptance speech at the Democrat convention, I’d say his deep thinking consists of having internalized the most conventional liberal pieties; old wine in a new bottle, Obama 2008.

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:17 pm 17. Banjo:

The only way BO wins is if people still believe what they read in the papers and see on the three old networks.

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:28 pm 18. Larry J:

But over the past four years, he’s made it clear that he’s thought deeply about all kinds of issues, both domestic and foreign.

Has Obama thought about what he’d do if he was president? Yeah, I’m sure he has. However, listening to his half-baked hair-brained ideas, I get flashbacks to hearing a bunch of college sophomores trying to sound profound. “Wouldn’t it be great if….”

Don’t tell me what Obama has thought about. Tell me what he has done. He’s what, 47 years old? What has he actually accomplished in all that time? From everything I see and hear, it doesn’t appear to be very much.

Palin, on the other hand, makes me very uncomfortable, because there’s no evidence of this kind of engagement with the issues a President faces. Suppose something happens to McCain and we find ourselves in a Palin presidency. And then pick your own unexpected-but-possible scenario: Israel bombs Iran. Domestic inflation continues to sky-rocket. We need to re-calibrate our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq or somewhere else. I don’t doubt that Palin’s instincts might be in the right place, but I see no evidence that she has thought enough about these types of issues to make extremely complicated policy decisions. Which is what a President has to do, especially in times of crisis.

And what gives you any confidence that Obama with his almost complete lack of experience will make the right decisions?

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:29 pm 19. Mike Shuster:

Well,look, this isn’t the place to get into the zillionth conversation about Obama’s shortcomings.

My point, though, is I think that anyone who is *really* comfortable with a President Palin is either a) not a serious person or b) fooling themselves. And it troubles me to see the McCain campaign trying to pitch this bill of sale. The retort ‘well, she’s no less experienced than Obama’ might be true, but it doesn’t exactly make me enthused about voting for the ticket. Maybe I will anyway, but I’m disappointed that McCain, who makes such hay about being the responsible, stable candidate, made this choice. Maybe he had to– maybe the pro-life contingency would have revolted if it was Ridge or Lieberman– but as someone put it, if this pick was made to re-assure the base, the party needs a new base.

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:34 pm 20. Mike Shuster:

this interview on CNN with Tucker Bounds (McCain spokesguy), for instance, is just really painful to watch.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/01/brown.tucker.bounds.interview.cnn

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:36 pm 21. Mike Shuster:

(re: the link above, start watching around 3:00)

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:38 pm 22. dre:

“if this pick was made to re-assure the base, the party needs a new base.”

Paraphrasing dead communists playwrites is the new black for some on the right.

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:40 pm 23. Dee:

Ah, good to know that sexism is alive and well. You barefoot and pregnant guys prefer a naval gazer to a woman of accomplishment. Makes sense to me.

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:51 pm 24. Brian Hutchinson:

A theme of Roger Simon’s is that liberalism is dead, is now blind reaction. Spot on Roger — latest evidence the MSM reaction to SP’s pregnant daughter. Their complete abandonment of any concern with how they will appear in history is shocking but not surprising. (What will history say of the shame of the Times,which went forever on record that it would rather risk genocide than give the Surge a chance to succeed? An institutional disgrace worse than WD’s lies for Stalin.)

Sep 2, 2008 - 5:06 pm 25. Terrye:

Jay:

That is not true. I can believe the depths that Democrats have plunged to in order to destroy this woman. It is just disgusting.

Palin took on the good old boys in her own state and beat them. That does not mean she is perfect. It does not mean that she did not take 27 million to build a little railroad track for a town that needed it. It also does not mean that she never changed her mind about anything. The Bridge to Nowhere was one of the things she changed her mind about.

What has Barry changed his mind about..other than just about everything? That bus of his must have some high clearance because just about every cause he ever championed and every friend he ever had has gone under it.

He is running this campaign on hate and racism. He is also making promises he can not possibly keep. That will work for now, but if he wins this thing he can only Blame Bush for so long. Sooner or later running a campaign won’t be enough. He will have to lead and thus far I have seen no evidence that he is capable of that.

Sep 2, 2008 - 5:08 pm 26. Lem:

My point, though, is I think that anyone who is *really* comfortable with a President Palin is either a) not a serious person or b) fooling themselves.

“We need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.” B Obama.

Presidents are alone, facing the unknown. The job is not about running the country; it is about leading the nation in unexpected crisis or danger. No one remembers whether Lincoln balanced the budget.

http://tinyurl.com/63t4rp

I have a question for people obsessing over Palin’s family - If Monica and Paula Jones did not raise to the level of impeachment, why does Palin raise to the level of disqualification?

It’s either sexism, blatant partisanship or both.

Sep 2, 2008 - 5:10 pm 27. Terrye:

Mike:

Oh please. The woman is every bit as experienced as Obama.She is a Governor for Chrisake, not a check out girl.. And the base does love her. And no matter who McCain had picked people would have complained. However, the willingness with which the media has gone after this woman and her family is disgraceful. Al Gore’s son was busted because he was driving 90 mph with a car full of drugs and nobody asked if Al was fit for office. And what exactly had he ever done that was so astonishing?

No, I think McCain had a right to pick the person he thinks is best suited. Obviously the sexists, the Democrats and the Republican sore losers who wanted someone else will go after her. It is not as if they have principles or anything.

Sep 2, 2008 - 6:09 pm 28. Mike Shuster:

Terrye,

Well, just for example, take Tom Ridge. Who was a governor for seven years, a congressman for twelve years, and a cabinet secretary for three or four. I’m sure some people would be complaining if McCain had chosen him (not me), but they wouldn’t be complaining that he didn’t meet the ‘ready on day one’ criterion that McCain himself established.

Of course, McCain has every right to pick whoever he wants, but as a voter I have a right to wonder what it says about his judgment, and the risk factor in the case that succession is necessary.

To be fair, McCain *probably* won’t die in office. A 72 year-old with a history of cancer only has a 40% chance of dying within a decade (I don’t know how to break that down to eight or four years), In the other hand, most experts put the risk of a nuclear attack on American soil at 2% or 3% in a given year, and we take that threat seriously, as we should.

Sep 2, 2008 - 6:48 pm 29. chuck:

OT:

Roger, the video software doesn’t support Linux, so you won’t see me as a subscriber. I don’t expect Vividas to accommodate me, but if you could mention Linux to them I would appreciate it.

Chuck

Sep 2, 2008 - 6:53 pm 30. Barry Dauphin:

If experience running a campaign counts for so much, should McCain have simply picked Lyndon LaRouche? He’s run a lot of campaigns.

If people are more “comfortable” with Obama as president it is in large part due to simple familiarity. They’ve seen him over and over. Palin is unknown to people, and that is why she scares them, not because she is “inexperienced”. It’s understandable.

Her experiences are no less significant (I’d argue better experiences) than Obama’s. Palin is set to be the number 2, not the number 1. Although it is technically possible that McCain could croak the second he lays his hand on the Bible, it is picayune to make that the be-all-and-end-all. Biden could croak too, and where would Obama be then, having to scramble to get another “experienced” pol because he isn’t “experienced” enough. She will have plenty of time to observe the functioning of government at the Federal level before she’s put into some situation “above her head”. It is clear that the Democratic party thinks its own candidate is not ready, hence the push for the “experienced” pol.

This issue might haunt the McCain campaign, but I doubt it. I think it addresses Obama’s experience level but leaves plenty of oxygen to go after Obama in other ways. I think that the McCain bunch knew her and vetted her. The issue was always going to be her lack of familiarity to the public in the continental 48. That’s the risk, an electoral risk, not a governance risk. Her performance to date does not really appear to raise issues of basic competence or basic judgment. People don’t know who she is, that’s the gamble McCain was willing to take. I think he sees her as wanting to get something done, and he likes that about her. I think he wants “his” people in power if and when he wins. I think he’s willing to lose the presidency if winning meant being overly compromised with having a VP he doesn’t want. I think he approached picking Palin in much the same way he pressed for the surge. All the “experts” said it was a bad idea. McCain seems to like playing from behind too.

Sep 2, 2008 - 6:57 pm 31. ricpic:

Is the issue experience or attitude?

Obama can barely suppress his resentment. It’s all about getting back at America for him. Why vote for your sworn enemy?

Palin practically bursts with well being. She’s comfortable in her skin. She’s part of our way of life, she’s not out to annihilate us.

When one of the candidates can barely conceal his malevolence you go with decency. Far more important than credentials under the present circumstance.

Sep 2, 2008 - 6:58 pm 32. Mike_K:

I am convinced he knows how policy is made and how federal government works. So, while I’m not super-enthused about him, I’m not deeply uncomfortable with the idea of him running the country.

You have drunk the Kool Aid. His ideas are old and hackneyed. The Soviet Union tried a bunch of them and they didn’t work out so well. Time for a change and that doesn’t mean Obama.

Sep 2, 2008 - 9:47 pm 33. Dick Stanley:

Barry actually does have executive experience, i.e. running that grant giveaway program with Bill Ayers. Of course, he doesn’t want to talk about that.

Love PJTV tonight. Great audio/video with no glitches, at least on XP in IE. Such fun having conservative/libertarian commentary for a change.

Sep 2, 2008 - 10:39 pm 34. Gary Rosen:

“Yes, she knocked off an entrenched crook in a primary, but that’s just a start.”

It already puts her way ahead of Obama. Check out how his electoral career got started, and how he got elected to the Senate.

“over the past four years, he’s made it clear that he’s thought deeply about all kinds of issues, both domestic and foreign.”

In other words, he’s as qualified as half the posters to Belmont Club.

Sep 2, 2008 - 10:56 pm 35. ic:

Obama has as much experience as Palin has for the vice presidency. He admitted that much in his own comparision to Palin. As mouthy Biden said: it’s time for on-the-job training. Obama will win over Putin and the silly man in Iran with his winning personality and engaging charisma. In fact, I bet Putin will give back Georgia to Carter as a good will gesture as soon as Obi is inaugurated. Obi shall name the state Ogeorgia, as one of his 57 states. I bet further, by the end of his first year, he will find the other 6 missing states.

Sep 2, 2008 - 10:59 pm 36. Michael Smith:

It is an error to attack Obama for “lack of experience”. The fact of the matter is that no amount of “experience” — of any sort — will make the doctrines of socialism and pacifism any less disastrous than they’ve universally proven to be every time and every place they’ve been tried.

Rather than attacking his “experience”, Republicans should go after Obama’s incredible evasions of history — as in his evasion of the events of the 20th century, during which socialism starved millions to death while impoverishing millions more while pacifism invited the horrific aggressions of 2 world wars and countless lesser ones.

The twin animating ideas of the modern Democratic party — socialism and pacifism — have perfect records of global-scale failure. Republicans are foolish indeed if they let the grinning, empty-headed Obama get away with pitching these noxious notions as if they are “new” or “hopeful” or have the slightest chance of working.

Sep 3, 2008 - 5:23 am 37. Insufficiently Sensitive:

I agree that Obama and Palin are in the same range of experience level

I don’t. Palin wasn’t coddled all the way through Punahou and Harvard, and set up by appointment to squander $110,000,000 intended to improve Chicago schools on leftie activists instead. Obama was, and until we learn just where those millions went (our savagely biased MSM will not lift a finger to pursue that lead, soap operas are so much more satisfying) we will not know anything about his only executive experience.

honestly, I understand why some people are unnerved by Obama’s inexperience. But over the past four years, he’s made it clear that he’s thought deeply about all kinds of issues, both domestic and foreign.

Bosh. He’s been portrayed by sympathizers as owning every positive attribute humanly possible, and he’s superb at giving glitzy Teleprompter speeches full of glittering generalities, with no specifics. I am disgusted at Obama’s executive experience (see above), and if you believe that deep thinking is a substitute for engaged experience (how many times has he voted ‘present’ in the Senate, to AVOID disclosing his true positions?), you and he combine as a dazzling example of the triumph of hope over experience.

And then pick your own unexpected-but-possible scenario: Israel bombs Iran. Domestic inflation continues to sky-rocket. We need to re-calibrate our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq or somewhere else. I don’t doubt that Palin’s instincts might be in the right place, but I see no evidence that she has thought enough about these types of issues to make extremely complicated policy decisions.

Exact ditto for Obama. Unless his arrogance propelled him into some desperate hasty trip overseas to bullshit a foreign leader more hardnosed than he is, his deep thinking would instantly yield to his political and military advisors, leaving him speechifying about how it was all his own doing.

Palin’s policy decisions, based on more confidence in the American people and political system than Obama appears to have, and based on all her real executive experience, AND based on what she heard from her advisors, would likely be better for all of us.

For me, it’s not so much about ‘experience’ as ‘demonstrating a history of thoughtfulness,’ I guess.

The vanity of urban intellectuals, the so-much-smarter-than-you crowd. How could Obama’s dance as the lofty thinker trump Palin’s track record of successful executive activity? Does anyone have the gall to assert that there was no thinking behind her policies and decisions? Sorry she’s not an ivory tower ikon, but in my book that’s a plus. And she hasn’t ever diverted $110,000,000 away from schools to fatten up urban ‘activists’. I’d take Palin over Obama, let alone Joe Biden.

Sep 3, 2008 - 6:20 am 38. Captain Hate:

My point, though, is I think that anyone who is *really* comfortable with a President Palin is either a) not a serious person or b) fooling themselves.

What a vile simpleton you reveal yourself to be. Why don’t you report back to Axelrod that you haven’t fooled anybody. Epic Fail, seriously.

Sep 3, 2008 - 6:24 am 39. Roy Lofquist:

I think McCain made his back in February. He found his wing man.

Sep 3, 2008 - 6:37 am 40. Lem:

As a “lifelong republican” I say also unto thee, that thou art Palin, and upon this nominee I will re-build the party; and the gates of Koo’s dominion shall not prevail against her.

Whenever you hear from “a lifelong republican” run for the hills – is nothing but a clue of an impending attack, trashing Palin. They seem to surface every four years like marine subs, never to be heard from again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminar_caller

Sep 3, 2008 - 8:12 am 41. Promoguy:

Hey Lem, I didn’t know they were called seminar callers. My favs are when they call into the Hugh Hewitt show and he gives them the ‘yeah right’. Then he asks who they voted for in 2000 or some other date.

They usually slur the answer.

Sep 3, 2008 - 9:01 am 42. Mike:

Just wondering, is Romesh Ponnuru a seminar caller? David Frum? George Will? b/c they’ve all expresed doubts about the Palin choice. It’s funny that so many in the party of independent thinking are so quick to write off internal disagreements to astro-turfing.

Sep 3, 2008 - 9:15 am 43. Neo:

Obama seems to have left out this job from his resume ..

Recently [1995] he [Obama] was appointed president of the board of the Annenberg Challenge Grant, which will distribute some $50 million in grants to public-school reform efforts.

… I wonder why … this would be an excellent comeback for Obama to all those complaints that he never had executive experience or handled a payroll.

Sep 3, 2008 - 10:25 am 44. AlanC:

Dear Mr./Ms. Insufficiently Sensative,
May I quote you at length?

For me, it’s not so much about ‘experience’ as ‘demonstrating a history of thoughtfulness,’ I guess.

The vanity of urban intellectuals, the so-much-smarter-than-you crowd. How could Obama’s dance as the lofty thinker trump Palin’s track record of successful executive activity? Does anyone have the gall to assert that there was no thinking behind her policies and decisions? Sorry she’s not an ivory tower ikon, but in my book that’s a plus. And she hasn’t ever diverted $110,000,000 away from schools to fatten up urban ‘activists’. I’d take Palin over Obama, let alone Joe Biden.

RIGHT ON!!!!!!

These U(rban) I(ntellectuals) are the same idiots who babble on and on about all the vast meaning and wisdom found in some novel.

The problem with these mental masturbaters is that they don’t understand that reality doesn’t work that way. They are playing chess against themselves and trying to pretend that they don’t know what move is coming next.

Obama, like them all, thinks that he can intuit all the moves and all their consequences, intended and unintended. If he has thought so deeply about so many “serious” issues why didn’t he tell us that Russia was about to invade Georgia? Where was his take on the success of the Cedar Revolution and how it owuld defang Hezbollah. That should have been right down his ally.

Sorry, thinking is all well and good but it can’t hold a candle to actually having to make a REAL DECISION, accept the responsibility and accountability and deal with the consequences. That’s an experience Zero has never had; ever.

Sep 3, 2008 - 11:01 am 45. bad bob:

so… I guess if you don’t count actual “executive” experience (which, do you really need that when you’re trying for the Chief Executive position? Maybe it’s just as good to really, really think hard about what you’d do in the limo and such…), then Palin pretty much only has as much experience as Obama.

What happens though, when the conversation turns to “accomplishments” rather than merely “experience”? Well… Barry did win the primary and all, and he’s thought really, really hard about all sorts of issues (and somehow come to the conclusion that the liberal wing of the Democratic party has been exactly right on exactly every one of them…). So I guess that could be his accomplishment(s).

Sep 3, 2008 - 12:05 pm 46. Lem:

…Romesh Ponnuru a seminar caller? David Frum? George Will? b/c they’ve all [sic] expresed doubts about the Palin choice.

That comment only confirms a sort of meme. We only hear from “lifelong republicans” and other pundits that disagree with the choice. Notice how they are meant to represent ALL republican commentators.

Sometimes that it’s the only way you hear from these people, other than you having to look them up yourself on the web.

Does the media care what these “lifelong republicans” or the names above have to say about the Joe Biden choice?

I think not.

Sep 3, 2008 - 12:26 pm 47. Jim,MtnViewCA,USA:

“…he’s thought deeply”
It’s interesting that Sen Lieberman, who was the Dems VP choice in 2000, after all, seems to think that Sen Obama is lacking.

Sep 3, 2008 - 12:47 pm 48. Insufficiently Sensitive:

Neo:

Recently [1995] he [Obama] was appointed president of the board of the Annenberg Challenge Grant, which will distribute some $50 million in grants to public-school reform efforts.

It distributed more than double that amount, due to receipt of matching grants from others. The Annenberg Challenge Grant was intended to improve performance of school children in Chicago. Its own evaluation at the end of the process, and an independent evaluation, both agreed that there had been no measurable improvement in that performance. So Obama’s five years as CEO of the disbursing branch must rank as an abject failure, by the most generous standards.

However, his ‘community organizing’ program prospered. Those millions went into setting up and reinforcing a host of left-wing political organizations, many of which likely formed a good portion of his political base in Chicago, and enabled his undeserved rise to his present status.

When will the MSM put as much effort into analyzing and describing those bait-and-switch shennanigans as they do into trashing Sarah Palin?

Sep 3, 2008 - 12:50 pm 49. Crusader:

If McCain had made the safe choice(Romney, Pawlenty, Ridge), he’d safely go down to defeat and paleocons would be happy. However, I actually want to win and SaraCuda gives us a shot.

Sep 3, 2008 - 12:57 pm 50. Crusader:

Musn’t ask questions about Obama’s Chicago machine
Musn’t ask questions about Obama’s Chicago machine
Musn’t ask questions about Obama’s Chicago machine
Musn’t ask questions about Obama’s Chicago machine
Musn’t ask questions about Obama’s Chicago machine

2+2 = 5
Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Sep 3, 2008 - 1:02 pm 51. Mike:

Lem, I’m pretty sure that when you list a few names, and say ‘they’ve all’ done something, that’s a linguistic equivalence of ‘they’ve each’

Crusader: You really think all those ’safe choices’ would have been doomed to lose? It’s not like McCain’s that far behind in the polls, and Obama’s convention boost was negligble. I mean, we’ll never know, but if McCain made this choice because he was panicked he’d lose with Romney/Pawlenty/Ridge, and made this choice as an electoral calculation, then, well…

Sep 3, 2008 - 1:26 pm 52. Lem:

I have a theory that the democrats are looking for their Zola Budd to derail Palin.

http://tinyurl.com/5ucfck

Will Hillary play Palin’s Iron Maiden?

http://tinyurl.com/yqmmls

Sep 3, 2008 - 1:44 pm 53. History Buff:

I seem to remember the least prepared man to become President was Harry Truman. He had not been told about the Manhattan Project among other things. But, he had owned a retail store, had captained an artillery company, and run a county before becoming a Senator. He was picked by Roosevelt b/c he made his reputation with a Senate investigation of War Contracts.

A lot of people were opposed to his being the Veep. A lot more were opposed to his presidency. It seems he is one of the most respected Presidents of the 20th Century.

I’ll vote for the person who has had to sign off on death warrants, who has had to fire people who did not have any back up, who sat down with corporate big wigs and fought them to a draw. I could go on, but you should get my drift by now.

Sep 3, 2008 - 3:01 pm 54. Bill Bradley:

YO, dudes. And dudettes.

I did more by age 18 in local government than Palin did by age 43.

I know McCain a lot better.

I’ve met Putin.

You see where this is going …

Sep 3, 2008 - 3:23 pm 55. Walsingham:

Re: “McCain made this choice because he was panicked he’d lose….”

Maybe he is wrong and maybe he is right about Palin, but I just don’t see John McCain as a guy that panics. Ever.

Sep 3, 2008 - 5:54 pm 56. Les Nessman:

Roger, puhleeeze!

Brocko has some success because he is running a campaign, WHERE ALL HIS ‘EMPLOYEES’ AGREE WITH HIM, WHERE HE CAN FIRE THEM AT WILL, and THAT is supposed to count as ‘real life experience’?

Heh. Let him first try it with a governorship, or as a mayor, before trying it as leader of America.

Sep 3, 2008 - 8:28 pm 57. California Dreamer:

BO is sitting in a hotel room somewhere asking himself “how the hell did this happen? She ain’t got no Harvard Law degree, she ain’t no Clinton, what the hell just happened?”

The answer, of course, is after hundreds of coffees and candidate forums (OK, fora, but if you were asking yourself that question you have already missed the point) she has learned how to look people in the eye and render the quip. She’s probably used that pit bull-lipstick joke 300 times in her career. “Saying one thing in Scranton and another in SF” really hurt.

BO is in deep do-do and he knows it. Wright, Ayers, Rezko et al are back on the plate because now nobody cares that one daughter is prego. And the ex-brother-in-law state trooper should have been fired right off. The campaign cash is going to start flowing out of every dinky little town and BO’s constituency is tapped out. He is going to run out of cash in the middle of October and Mac is going to stick it to him on the airwaves in the swing states with a mixture of Hillary quotes, flags and a running mate who is “teacher-hot”. Quite a night.

Sep 3, 2008 - 10:01 pm 58. Lem:

Obama to Dispatch Female Surrogates

http://tinyurl.com/6qdy5b

Panic over Palin!

This is what I meant when I asked yesterday

Will Hillary play Palin’s Iron Maiden?

Apparently she turn Obama down, so he went and found others.

http://tinyurl.com/69olv3

Sep 4, 2008 - 8:22 pm

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