links for 2008-10-02
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Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.
Those are a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down.
Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated?
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Like Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker has been voted out of the conservative club. Good luck to her. -
Comedian Sandra Bernhard has lost her slot as a keynote speaker for a women's shelter in Massachusetts after attacking vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on abortion. In a monologue criticizing the Alaska governor, Bernhard made crude comments about rape that cost her the gig.
The comments came in a one-woman stand up show Bernhard did last month in Washington, D.C.. During the event, Bernhard said Palin would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" and the comments came in a diatribe against Palin's pro-life views.
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As a media trainer, I tell CEOs that the worst thing they can do is try to fake it when they don't know the answer. Better for Palin to say, "I don't know that detail, but I will be surrounded by people who do, and in the meantime, what I DO know is this………………" Her goal should be to drive home the point that what counts is the philosophy and judgment she brings to the table, not the little s__t.
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Expect the unexpected tomorrow…… -
The state will be hard-pressed to pay its bills next month for critical needs from teacher salaries to nursing home services unless Congress promptly acts to calm the nation's fiscal storm, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned today.
Lockyer said the national crisis threatens to exhaust California's reserves by late this month. Congress thus far has been unable to agree on a $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan.
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What a surprise?
NOT
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may be recalled yet. -
Woolly bully
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FactCheck.org: Don't Worry, Joe Biden Was Just Clueless About Coal Plants
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FactCheck.org is in the tank with Dems since the beginning.Worthless -
The United States needs new weapon systems, including missile defenses and other advanced military capabilities, to deter and counter China's steady buildup of nuclear and conventional arms, according to a draft internal report by a State Department advisory board.
U.S. defense policy has stressed missile defenses against Iran and North Korea. The report, by the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), is the first to recommend such defenses against China, including technology in space.
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If Obama is elected it is doubtful he will support more missile defense. -
It took some work to find this on the Washington Post's website, but Obama has a narrower lead in their (and ABC's) poll this week:
Negativity about the country's financial prospects continues to lift Obama, but he now has a narrower advantage over McCain in Post-ABC polling than he did last week. Overall, the senator from Illinois holds a slim lead in the new national poll, with likely voters dividing 50 percent for Obama and 46 percent for McCain.
A few readers point out, FWIW:
You might want to note that in the print version the Post put Obama's previous 9 point lead in a front page headline. Now that it has narrowed to 4 points I had to struggle to find any mention of it. They did bury a graph of the polls deep in the paper.
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The race will remain tight until election night….. -
John McCain’s fade in recent polls, combined with a barrage of negative news coverage during the financial crisis, has leading Republican activists around the country worrying about his prospects and urging his campaign to become much more aggressive against Barack Obama in the remaining month before Election Day.
A flurry of new polls shows Barack Obama gaining in several battleground states – most notably Florida, Pennsylvania and swing states throughout the West. Officials worry early voting, which is under way in important states such as Ohio, is likely to favor Obama in this toxic political climate.
Several state GOP chairmen in interviews urged the McCain campaign to be more aggressive in hitting Obama’s vulnerabilities, such as his past relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other problematic associations from Chicago.
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Debunking the Rape Kit Rumor
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t's a little late to replace Gwen Ifill as moderator of the vice-presidential debate, and McCain partisans might prefer to have a moderator with a glaring conflict-of-interest to provide a handy objection to any question Palin deems out of bounds.
"Gwen, that sounds like the kind of question one would ask if one had a financial stake in the election of Barack Obama — like a book about him coming out early next year or something."
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It is not too late and she should be replaced. -
In BusinessWeek.com, Maria Bartiromo reports that she asked the former President last week whether he regretted signing that legislation. Mr. Clinton's reply: "No, because it wasn't a complete deregulation at all. We still have heavy regulations and insurance on bank deposits, requirements on banks for capital and for disclosure. I thought at the time that it might lead to more stable investments and a reduced pressure on Wall Street to produce quarterly profits that were always bigger than the previous quarter.
"But I have really thought about this a lot. I don't see that signing that bill had anything to do with the current crisis. Indeed, one of the things that has helped stabilize the current situation as much as it has is the purchase of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, which was much smoother than it would have been if I hadn't signed that bill."
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Bill Clinton has it right…… -
Gwen Ifill should be removed as moderator of the Vice Presidential debates.