2008 General Election Discussion Thread

[lostfan]

It's not a smear, because honestly, none of it's stuck.

 

Rev. Wright - that was RSO's own doing, not the right wing. He stepped in his own s*** spot on that one. Birth Certificates? WTF? That's just stupid, and I've never heard of it. Ayers - ok, let's face it, the guy worked with RSO. Period. Closely at that. Yet, no one can prove a thing there, and so that's all the further it's gotten, so what?

 

It's not about "fighting back". It's about taking the high ground, something neither party seems to know how to do. I'm sick of the "gothca" bulls***. Let's just stick to the issues.

And the Rezko thing too, where all that's known Obama did was make a legal transaction, and his name never came up in the trial or anything. That hasn't stuck either.

[kapkomet]

And the Rezko thing too, where all that's known Obama did was make a legal transaction, and his name never came up in the trial or anything. That hasn't stuck either.

Exactly. I think RSO got special treatment, but I don't give a s***. All the political jackasses get special treatment, so it's pretty much even s***storms there, IMO.

 

[Balta1701]

Frankly I'm sure the Republicans saw this coming, but here's the NYT doing the leg work on "How much did they vet Mrs. Palin?" The answer seems to be pretty much what I've been saying...McCain wanted one of his guys, couldn't pick them, and then just grabbed something.

In Alaska, several state leaders and local officials said they knew of no efforts by the McCain campaign to find out more information about Ms. Palin before the announcement of her selection, Although campaigns are typically discreet when they make inquiries into potential running mates, officials in Alaska said Monday they thought it was peculiar that no one in the state had the slightest hint that Ms. Palin might be under consideration.

 

“They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community,” said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.

 

Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.

 

“I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called,” Ms. Phillips said. “I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.”

 

The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.

 

State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. “I heard not a word, not a single contact,” he said.

[Rex Kickass]

It's not a smear, because honestly, none of it's stuck.

 

Rev. Wright - that was RSO's own doing, not the right wing. He stepped in his own s*** spot on that one. Birth Certificates? WTF? That's just stupid, and I've never heard of it. Ayers - ok, let's face it, the guy worked with RSO. Period. Closely at that. Yet, no one can prove a thing there, and so that's all the further it's gotten, so what?

 

It's not about "fighting back". It's about taking the high ground, something neither party seems to know how to do. I'm sick of the "gothca" bulls***. Let's just stick to the issues.

 

The birth certificate was a big thing. Big enough that the campaign actually had to produce it believe it or not.

 

If the McCain campaign failed to vet Palin, that could be a problem. With all the s*** that came up in just a couple days from someone who was basically unknown on Thursday, it's not a good sign. If the McCain campaign needs to send ten more lawyers up to Alaska to retroactively further vet her? Even a worse sign.

 

Actually leaving Wright and Ayers out of it, there was the "Secret Muslim" thing, the "Terrorist Fistjab" thing, the bulls*** Rezko mortgage thing, there have been plenty of "gotcha" attempts. Very little of it really stuck, because its mostly all untrue crap.

 

The "Troopergate" issue is a google search away, and the active investigation gives a very real possibility of a deposition from her before the Election, which could look really really bad for someone who's trying to run on a "Reform" slogan.

 

A lot of the stuff that has come up from Palin hasn't been super deep opposition research, that stuff won't pop up in 36 hours.

[HuskyCaucasian]

A lot of the stuff that has come up from Palin hasn't been super deep opposition research, that stuff won't pop up in 36 hours.

TPM seems to have done more research than the McCain campaign.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Not sure if this was posted yet:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog.

 

There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage.

 

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money."

[KipWellsFan]

Not sure if this was posted yet:

 

You really think the town she was mayor of was a special, entrenched interest? Sounds like she was doing her job well.

 

That being said I couldn't in a million years see this person leading the free world and facing down the likes of Vladimir Putin. There had to be 50 people in the Republican Party more ready to be Vice President.

[lostfan]

You really think the town she was mayor of was a special, entrenched interest? Sounds like she was doing her job well.

 

That being said I couldn't in a million years see this person leading the free world and facing down the likes of Vladimir Putin. There had to be 50 people in the Republican Party more ready to be Vice President.

I think the real focus is on how silly McCain's literal definition of "earmarks" would be.

[HuskyCaucasian]

CNN just reported that there are apparently now e-mails coming to light that might directly link Palin to Trooper-gate.

[DukeNukeEm]

This will be gone tomorrow morning, so all you night-owls will at least get a little bit of a laugh:

 

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...endid=244796355

 

Thats the daddy.

[whitesoxfan101]

This will be gone tomorrow morning, so all you night-owls will at least get a little bit of a laugh:

 

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...endid=244796355

 

Thats the daddy.

 

No it's not.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/r...n_open_sec.html

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09012008/news/...r_is_127025.htm

 

THAT'S the daddy. Not sure if he's got a myspace though.

 

EDIT: He does, but I don't have a link.

 

On his MySpace page, Johnston boasts, "I'm a f - - -in' redneck" who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes.

 

"But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- - - and just f - - -in' chillin' I guess."

 

"Ya f - - - with me I'll kick [your] ass," he added.

 

Sounds like a keeper.

 

He also claims to be "in a relationship," but states, "I don't want kids."

 

Oops.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2008 by whitesoxfan101

[StrangeSox]

It's not a smear, because honestly, none of it's stuck.

 

Rev. Wright - that was RSO's own doing, not the right wing. He stepped in his own s*** spot on that one. Birth Certificates? WTF? That's just stupid, and I've never heard of it. Ayers - ok, let's face it, the guy worked with RSO. Period. Closely at that. Yet, no one can prove a thing there, and so that's all the further it's gotten, so what?

 

It's not about "fighting back". It's about taking the high ground, something neither party seems to know how to do. I'm sick of the "gothca" bulls***. Let's just stick to the issues.

 

I'm really surprised. Google "Barack Obama birth certificate" and be prepared to laugh. IIRC, it orginated with a completely made-up B.C. claiming Obama's religion listed as Muslim, that he was really an African citizen, etc. Then there were demands from the right wing blogs for "proof" that Obama was eligible. So he produced an abstract of his B.C. from Hawaii, but, of course, that wasn't good enough. They had "proof" it was a fake (even though the State of Hawaii said it was accurate) and they are still claiming its just all made up. There's even some nutjob Clinton supporter in Philadelphia that's sueing over the issue (Barack isn't eligible and Hillary should be the nominee).

 

You also didn't mention the "Whitey" tape the right-wing blogs all claimed existed a few months ago. Supposedly, there was a tape of Michelle ranting about "whitey" at Trinity. Of course, it never actually surfaced. Just like all the dirt that was going to come out on Obama at the Rezko trial.

 

I'd say just about everyone here on Soxtalk sees right through that sort of garbage, but there's plenty of people that eat it up and pass it along via chain e-mails and crappy blogs.

[kapkomet]

I'm really surprised. Google "Barack Obama birth certificate" and be prepared to laugh. IIRC, it orginated with a completely made-up B.C. claiming Obama's religion listed as Muslim, that he was really an African citizen, etc. Then there were demands from the right wing blogs for "proof" that Obama was eligible. So he produced an abstract of his B.C. from Hawaii, but, of course, that wasn't good enough. They had "proof" it was a fake (even though the State of Hawaii said it was accurate) and they are still claiming its just all made up. There's even some nutjob Clinton supporter in Philadelphia that's sueing over the issue (Barack isn't eligible and Hillary should be the nominee).

 

You also didn't mention the "Whitey" tape the right-wing blogs all claimed existed a few months ago. Supposedly, there was a tape of Michelle ranting about "whitey" at Trinity. Of course, it never actually surfaced. Just like all the dirt that was going to come out on Obama at the Rezko trial.

 

I'd say just about everyone here on Soxtalk sees right through that sort of garbage, but there's plenty of people that eat it up and pass it along via chain e-mails and crappy blogs.

Ugh. I hate this stuff, I really do. Even if it's against my pal, RSO.

 

There's plenty of issues to take him down, not this stupid conspiracy crap.

 

[EvilMonkey]

You also didn't mention the "Whitey" tape the right-wing blogs all claimed existed a few months ago. Supposedly, there was a tape of Michelle ranting about "whitey" at Trinity. Of course, it never actually surfaced. Just like all the dirt that was going to come out on Obama at the Rezko trial.

 

I'd say just about everyone here on Soxtalk sees right through that sort of garbage, but there's plenty of people that eat it up and pass it along via chain e-mails and crappy blogs.

The 'right-wing blogs' you mention were a handfull of the REALLY right wing nutjobs, that the left has their fair share of as well. Most of the right-wing blogs actually refused to do anything more than mention that a HILLARY supporter claimed to have the Michelle Whitey tape. That's about it. How many 'right-wing blogs' do you read or track? or do you just get that meme from DailyKos or DU?

[Heads22]

All I know is that if Barack Obama advocated any state to secede, even Alaska, he'd be painted everything from unAmerican to a terrorist....

[BigSqwert]

All I know is that if Barack Obama advocated any state to secede, even Alaska, he'd be painted everything from unAmerican to a terrorist....

You can't fault the GOP here. They just want to replace Alaska with Iraq as our 50th state. No harm no foul.

[Rex Kickass]

Rasmussen Tracking today.

Obama 51 - McCain 45.

[DukeNukeEm]

It's not a smear, because honestly, none of it's stuck.

 

Rev. Wright - that was RSO's own doing, not the right wing. He stepped in his own s*** spot on that one. Birth Certificates? WTF? That's just stupid, and I've never heard of it. Ayers - ok, let's face it, the guy worked with RSO. Period. Closely at that. Yet, no one can prove a thing there, and so that's all the further it's gotten, so what?

 

It's not about "fighting back". It's about taking the high ground, something neither party seems to know how to do. I'm sick of the "gothca" bulls***. Let's just stick to the issues.

Let's be honest, anybody who cares about the issues has their mind made up by now. The rest of the campaign will be dictated by gotcha bulls*** so if the other side wants to play this game I'm down.

 

This is why democracy is a failed concept.

[kapkomet]

Let's be honest, anybody who cares about the issues has their mind made up by now. The rest of the campaign will be dictated by gotcha bulls*** so if the other side wants to play this game I'm down.

 

This is why democracy is a failed concept.

 

Is it now?

 

 

[StrangeSox]

The 'right-wing blogs' you mention were a handfull of the REALLY right wing nutjobs, that the left has their fair share of as well. Most of the right-wing blogs actually refused to do anything more than mention that a HILLARY supporter claimed to have the Michelle Whitey tape. That's about it. How many 'right-wing blogs' do you read or track? or do you just get that meme from DailyKos or DU?

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=michelle+ob...lient=firefox-a

 

It was spread around the internet plenty, even if they only "mentioned" it. That's my main problem with blogs - one person starts a rumor, and it spreads like wildfire across the internet. By the end of the day, its definitive proof of how evil someone is. If it spreads far enough, it even makes it on to national news broadcasts. It's still just "mentioning" or "questioning," but its negative press and some people will just assume its true.

 

And, of course, when the story turns out to be absolutely nothing, there's never apologies or retractions. It's just on to the next rumor

 

[lostfan]

Certainly, comrade deputy.

[lostfan]

Although I must say the title of "General Secretary" is cooler-sounding than "President."

[southsider2k5]

Rasmussen Tracking today.

Obama 51 - McCain 45.

 

So Palin has been worth 3 points so far?

[whitesoxfan101]

This is why democracy is a failed concept.

 

 

Best post in soxtalk history.

[Cknolls]

You can't fault the GOP here. They just want to replace Alaska with Iraq as our 50th state. No harm no foul.

 

 

Wouldn't that be our 58th state?