Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

I laughed SO HARD when I watched the SNL sketch, largely because once Tina-Sarah started talking, I recognized that a HUGE portion of what she was saying was a nearly-verbatim recreation of Palin’s actual interview answers, especially once they got into the substance of it.

YouTube – CNN Laughs It Up Over Sarah Palin Interview.

So what do we know about the readiness of the two men most likely to end up taking that call? Well, Barack Obama seems well informed and sensible about matters economic and financial. John McCain, on the other hand, scares me. (Read more)

Despite my railing on Palin, I’m still not ruling out the possibility that this is all just a finely-crafted facade intended to drastically lower expectations for Sarah Palin’s performance at Thursday’s debate:

Despite some ominous signs, some analysts say the the negative comments may actually help her.

“The expectations for Sarah Palin, I think, are pretty low. So I think she can exceed expectations. I’m not sure she can disappoint them,” Alex Burns, a reporter for Politico, said.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying Palin is a closet Mensa member or anything. But I wouldn’t underestimate her ability to make herself look even dumber so that when she finally starts talking, people say, “Oh, gee, that was coherent. Maybe she can be VP.” In fact I’m pretty sure McCain and Co. are banking on it.

Did John McCain call Barack Obama’s argument horseshit on national television? My friend sent me this video and although I didn’t notice it during the actual debate, now that I listen again, it sure sounds like it!

You decide!

What on earth is this?!!? Papa Bear McCain babysits Little Pitbull Palin so she doesn’t say anything stupid? Wow. She can’t even be left on her own anymore – he has to be there to hold her hand! Figuratively, of course. I doubt Cindy McCain would approve of anything more.

Seriously, though. It’s like they’re not even bothering to pretend she scares the hell out of them every time she opens her mouth. It’s just so bloody obvious.

And by the way… WHY ARE THEY STILL TALKING ABOUT REAGAN? Does John McCain REALLY want to draw comparisons to Reagan right now, with everybody so concerned about his age? Is that really the connection he wants to draw? Even putting age aside, Reagan is part of the reason we’re in this mess in the first place – if the wealthy were taxed at legitimately progressive rates instead of getting spoiled by the principles of Reaganomics, our middle class might not be an endangered species right now.

A graduate of Wasilla High School comments on lack of sex education:

Abstinence-only education is great in theory, but it is not practical. For every emergency drill I went through to protect myself from an intruder or bomb threat, I think of the condom wrapped in foil and how unprotected I could have been. (Read more)

I felt compelled to re-link to this blog entry after the recent comment on my entry about Google’s taking an official stance against Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment which would literally dissolve thousands of legal marriages across the state of California (and they say LGBT Californians are trying to destroy marriage?).

In my article, Five Myths About Same-Sex Marriage, I discuss some of the common arguments folks will make against same-gender marriage in California. One of the key arguments put forth by most Prop 8 supporters is the “overwhelming” passage of Prop 22 in March of 2000. Do not believe them. Prop 22 did pass, and at first glance it passed with a hefty majority – but once you look at the numbers more closely, you’ll see that it definitely didn’t pass with the level of support claimed by proponents of Proposition 8.

This shouldn’t surprise you, though – these are the same people who brought you Proposition 22 in the first place, and if they were willing to lie about the motives and goals of Prop 22 in order to confuse voters into supporting it (it was supposed to be about marriages from other states), then they’re certainly not going to balk at lying about its outcome and its passage rates.

If people start throwing Prop 22 in your face, I encourage you to either direct them to the article or show them the numbers so they see the truth about Prop 22. Odds are they will refuse to see the truth, but if even one mind is changed, then that is better than nothing.

As for the “bride and groom” issue raised by the commenter in the Google entry, here is the response I sent:

It’s not “illegal” for you to marry as bride and groom. You are still a bride and groom regardless of what title the form gives you. If you are a woman, you are a bride. If you are a man, you are a groom. That doesn’t change. It wouldn’t make sense for a same-gender couple to have to decide which is the bride and which is the groom – contrary to popular jokes and beliefs, there isn’t that kind of gender dichotomy in a same-gender relationship.

It’s the same as with parents; a child’s parents are still mother and father (or mother and mother, or father and father), even if the birth certificate says parent 1 and parent 2. Listing them as the first and second parent of the child doesn’t change the fact that they are a mother or a father. It’s not like the child is going to run around saying, “Hey Parent 1, Parent 2 said to ask you if I can go outside and play with my friends!” It’s not like Hallmark is going to start putting out “Parent 1’s Day” cards. A man is a father, and a woman is a mother. Reality is reality, and a form is just a form, for bureaucratic purposes and nothing else.

If you have a church wedding, I am quite certain your clergyman will be more than happy to refer to you as bride and groom. As for me, my rabbi referred to us as kallah v’kallah (bride and bride), and that’s exactly how we wanted it. We didn’t need to strong-arm the government into giving us a special form that says “bride and bride.” We wouldn’t want it. The state license simply does not discriminate, and that is the whole point. There is no reason for a state form to impose or mandate specific gender permutations, because the gendered titles are pretty self-explanatory by themselves. If you need a form to tell you whether you are a bride or a groom, or a mother or a father, then you have bigger problems than I am trained to address.

Congress unveils rescue bill (CNN).

I still think it’s just amazing how it’s become the accepted convention to use the $700 billion as the baseline for this bailout. Where did this number come from? Why are we even accepting that Congress and the taxpayers somehow owe Wall Street any kind of bailout? And I know the snarky comment is going to be that “owe” is exactly the operative word here, since so much of this is based on mortgages, or so we’re told. But again, these banks were greedy and took a risk based on that greed. Why do the rest of us have to pay for their hunger for money and their willingness to push people to borrow beyond their ability to repay?

Why isn’t this money going towards the establishment of a universal healthcare system? Aren’t skyrocketing healthcare costs another HUGE reason why people are declaring bankruptcy and walking away from their homes? Even if they’re not, nobody can possibly claim that healthcare costs are not damaging the economy. Shouldn’t this be our number one priority, considering that people are dying?

Of course, they could just give this money back to the taxpayers, in a real economic stimulus package… but that would never fly. They’re only interested in giving us chump change, not real change.

From Michael Moore‘s website:

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies — who must soon vacate the White House — are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday’s New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

“Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

“Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

“At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

“Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.”

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to “consult” in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this “collapse” is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn’t know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can’t figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this “bailout” package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What’s this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called “collapse” was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people’s home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it’s because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn’t afford. Here’s the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage “crisis” may never have happened.

This bailout’s mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It’s to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It’s to make sure their yachts and mansions and “way of life” go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something — NOW! Here’s what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they’ve made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what’s the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we’ll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say “NO!” If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

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I was watching that last video and after seeing the montage of “Charlie” this and “Charlie” that, I thought it would be hilarious if somebody made some sort of parody using the Charlie the Unicorn cartoon. Well, apparently somebody beat me to it – take a look!

Sarah Palin’s Interview: It’s just over this bridge, Charlie!.

YouTube – Facts: Sarah Palin is Stupid.

My favorites:

“I can see right into the headquarters of Chase Bank from my office, so on the Sarah Palin scale, that makes me Alan Greenspan…”

“Gibson asked, ‘Have you ever given any kind of command decision to the Alaskan National Guard?’ Palin answered, ‘We have called up National Guardsmen to help in other states who have gone in emergency status. We have assisted there.’ False. Governor Palin has never issued an order to the Alaskan National Guard. Know what else she has not done to our knowledge? Properly pronounced the word ‘nuclear.'”

OH DEAR GOD. She’s a “nukular” girl! Bloody hell. I hadn’t realized until watching this video. This is pure treasure, I swear. You need to watch it.

YouTube – Jack Cafferty slams Sarah Palin!. Visit Cafferty’s blog entry for a transcript. Spend a couple of minutes reading people’s comments on this entry – thankfully most of them are intelligent comments, but there are a few that are just completely off the wall.

But bear in mind… she may just be working hard to lower expectations before the debate, so that if she just gets through without fucking up, people will say she won.

Official Google Blog: Our position on California’s No on 8 campaign.

Sticking to their corporate motto: Don’t Be Evil.

Thanks, Google!

TIME Magazine’s Joe Klein: Obama Wins Debate On Tactics and Strategies

Toward the very end of tonight's debate—which was quite a good one, I believe—John McCain laid out his rationale in this election in just a few words: Senator Obama, he said, lacks the "knowledge and experience to be President." The presidency will turn on whether the American people agree with McCain on that—but on this night, Obama emerged as a candidate who was at least as knowledgeable, judicious and unflappable as McCain on foreign policy … and more knowledgeable, and better suited to deal with the economic crisis and domestic problems the country faces.

FYI: Transcript of presidential debate @ CNN.com.

On a completely catty note, is it just me, or was there something reptilian about McCain’s appearance tonight? During the debate his face was stretched so tightly I thought he might actually have clothespins behind his ears to pinch back the wrinkles. Or maybe he just had a LOT of makeup on. Possibly more than a drag-queen, if you discount for color choices. Of course, maybe he just sucked it up and got a facelift. Who knows. All I know is, the guy is an expert at not showing his true face. Why should he be any more honest in literal terms?

Ultimately, I think declaration of victory will pretty much fall on straight party lines. I have to say, though, that my favorite “Laugh Out Loud” moment of the night came just after Joe Biden weighed in on the debates.

Apparently, Palin had been asked for her input, but she declined to show her face, since she’s doing some last-minute cramming for her Vice Prez final, since she didn’t study or attend class all semester. Or like, for the past 40-some-odd years of her life. (She’s pretty much trying to lower expectations so that if she even speaks in the English language, her supporters will quickly praise her fluency and declare her the debate winner.)

The McCainaanites did offer up a substitute – former NYC mayor Rudy Guiliani.

Seriously? No, like, seriously? Wow. They’re all about being Captain Obvious tonight.

I also thought it was hilarious when Giuliani tried to point to Obama’s “you’re right, John” politeness and claim that he was sort of thanking McCain for giving him little foreign policy lessons. Um, no.

In other news, C’s debate drinking game was completely shot by the clear instruction John McCain MUST have received from his campaign advisors to absolutely, under no circumstances, refer to his time as a prisoner during the Vietnam war – unless, of course, he’s about to have the last word in the debate, in which case, he must seize this perfect opportunity to utter the forbidden words and use the reference to absolve himself of anything he might have said or not said during the debate and hereby declare himself Winner by POW.

On the other hand, McCain definitely delivered the creepy grins and chuckles.

Wow. John McCain’s campaign has been putting out some pretty desperate ads, but this one just takes the cake.

This ad pretty much crystallizes one of the key differences between Republican and Democratic thinking, at least in the present climate of divisive politics. Democrats – or at least, the kind of Democrats who support Obama – recognize that for any given issue, there is a black, and there is a white, but there are also countless shades of gray, and typically the truth falls somewhere in that ambiguous area. Not always, of course, but when it comes to certain issues, you cannot simply boil it down to a Right and a Wrong. After all, as they say in “Wicked,” “There are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities, and so we act as though they don’t exist!”

On the other hand, for many Republicans, especially the knee-jerk Republicans we seem to see as mainstream candidates these days, there is only a Right and a Wrong, and a Yes and a No, and if you even pause to THINK about the complexity of the issue, or about the space between Yes and No, then you are part of the No. They don’t understand that you can be right AND wrong. They don’t understand that two people can agree about a problem and disagree about a solution.

For a Democrat like Obama, it would seem natural, in a debate, to acknowledge when the opponent is right about certain things, and follow up with an explanation of why their interpretation of those things is still not the best, why some of the details are wrong, why something has been mischaracterized, or why they disagree with the solution to fixing those things, if they’re broken. For Obama to say, “John is right, but…” or “John is right, and we agree on that issue…” seems perfectly natural to us.

For the kind of Republicans who patched this ad together, this is a sign of weakness. The willingness to recognize the skill or knowledge of your opponent makes you a bad leader, in their eyes. Cooperation is weakness. Diplomacy is weakness. Mediation is weakness. Politeness is weakness. To them, you have to be a pit bull in lipstick. You can’t work things out; you have to WIN, at any cost. To them, there is a right, and there is a wrong, and for every Good Guy, there is a Bad Guy. There can’t be two Good Guys who are just different. One of them has to be Bad. And it’s true that sometimes this is the case – but sometimes you’re just talking about two people who want to do good but disagree on the meaning of “good,” or two people who want to fix the same problem but have very different solutions.

This is setting aside the reality that every single one of Obama’s acknowledgments of McCain’s accuracy on a point was followed by a “but,” which was meticulously edited out by the commercial’s creators. Never mind that it mischaracterizes Obama’s opinion of McCain’s beliefs and strategies (and tactics) and completely ignores that he had a strong rebuttal for each point. As far as I’m concerned, that is the obvious problem with the ad, and I don’t think people will fall for it. Not most people, anyway. For me, more problematic is the implication of the ad itself – that to them, the very fact that he was willing to concede a single inch, or say something positive about McCain, even just acknowledge that McCain is at all informed or intelligent or, you know, a human being, makes him a failure and serves as proof of his inability to lead. For them, if Obama acknowledges that McCain is right about one thing, it necessarily follows that 1) McCain is right about all things, and 2) Obama is wrong about all things.

I think that says a lot about what kind of administration McCain would run. It’s pretty much the same administration Bush ran – you’re either with us, or you’re against us. You’re either Christian, or you’re going to hell. You want every zygote to turn into a human, or else you’re a raving baby-murderer. You either support the nuclear family, or you’re a child molester who wants to undermine society and demolish the institution of marriage or marry your pet goat. If you aren’t a conservative, then you’re a radical left winger. You can either put complete and utter faith in the free market, or you can fess up to being a rabid socialist. You’re a blind supporter of US policy, or you’re a terrorist. You’re either a Republican, or you hate your country. If you try to reach over to the other side… you are weak. Oh, and you hate your country.

This most recent ad proves that John McCain will bring more of the same. After all, he’s John McCain, and he approves of this message.

Courtesy of my friend C:

Letterman keeps up McCain tirade – CNN.com.

Noting that McCain wanted to postpone Friday’s first debate with Obama, Letterman said running mate Sarah Palin wanted to put off her debate with Democrat Joe Biden until after Election Day. Letterman said Palin’s meeting with world leaders at the United Nations was like “take-your-daughter-to-work day.”

Oh, glee! I love it when people see through transparency.

Well isn’t that magnanimous of him. Scheming scumbag.

Bash said a senior adviser to McCain agreed that McCain seemed to be hindering the negotiating process rather than helping it.

“We understand that what we need to do is get McCain out of here, get him out of town, because the minute that McCain is somebody seen as brokering this, that’s going to kill it,” Bash quoted him as saying.

Yeah. That’s more like it!

I’d bet a whole lot of dollars (or donuts) that the Republicans are cooperating with McCain to give him an excuse to postpone the debate. I think everybody realizes a debate is not good for the Republicans right now.

Of course they may just be coming face to face with the reality that many of the people who support Republicans actually expect their elected officials to practice the fiscally conservative beliefs they espouse during their campaigns… oops. Funny how real fiscal conservatives don’t support this bailout.

So Sarah Palin is finally talking to the media, is she? Sure, I suppose so. The real question now: Is she actually saying anything?

Well, if generic stock answers are what you’re looking for, Palin definitely delivers – albeit in some garbled postcard language that appears to be comprised of random prepositions and pronouns blended with Republican Spin Machine talking points.

My favorite:

Katie Couric: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Sarah Palin: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and getting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

So… like… giving money to Wall Street is like, good for all of us, because like, health care reform, and you know, job creation, and, such as, tax relief. And definitely trade, because it’s not scary. Does that answer your question?

Ladies and gentlemen: Your Republican vice-presidential candidate.