Preparedness to Lead
— Ace

Obama's a hell of a quick study and always has the facts at his fingertips.

Of course we can trust he'll demonstrate similar scholarship when pondering international crises.

The famous Penn State "Nitally Lions."

In fairness, 75% of the words in that statement are actual words and not some insipid babybabble he just made up in his stupid moronbrain.

Yeah, what a beautiful mind you have on ya, Professor Awesome. You fuckin' screwhead.

Update: Some speculate that this was Obama's effort to court an important swing group, Catholic blue-collar Nitalians.

Posted by: Ace at 10:59 AM | Comments (33)
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Rasmussen: Obama Beats Palin on Question of Preparedness to Lead Among Independents (By a Whopping 5%!)
— Ace

Whose experience better qualifies him or her to lead?

Obama: 42%

Palin: 37%

Putting that into a more easily understood format:

Obama: Wile E. Coyote

Palin: An ACME Anvil Slingshot which cannot possibly malfunction and harm the user

Thanks to Brad.

Posted by: Ace at 10:45 AM | Comments (33)
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Neutral, Objective Media Asks Indenpendent, Republican-Leaning Men on the Street for More Dirt on the Palin Family
— Ace

Iowahawk has the excerpts.

ABC Asks Neutral, Objective Independent Code Pink Hunger-Strikers About Palin's Speech: You think I'm exaggerating, don't you?

I'm not.

Why is it that Dan Riehl can find out she's a Code Pink Hunger Striker and yet the multiple layers of painstaking editorial oversight at ABCNews and the Detroit Free Press can't?

The MSM has to start taking Rosie O'Donnell's advice:

Google It!

Posted by: Ace at 10:35 AM | Comments (12)
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Democrats Double Down On Palin Is Stupid Meme
— DrewM

ItÂ’s one thing to try to paint Sarah Palin as stupid before most people have had a chance to see and hear her but itÂ’s quite another keep up the attack after sheÂ’s proven otherwise. Except thatÂ’s just what Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius did this morning.

[Palin] mastered the words written by the Bush speechwriters and delivered them well.

You'd think people would be smart enough to realize when their talking points are 'no longer operative' as the saying goes. Yet as Ace pointed out in his brilliant post very early this morning, Democrats are indeed just that dumb.

This is an ugly distortion of the speechwriters role. When a politician works with a writer itÂ’s the writerÂ’s job to get to the essence of what that speaker thinks and believes and then to craft that into an address. ItÂ’s not the writer's job to provide that essence, measly to help the speaker convey it. Sure you could just write whatever you want and hand to anyone to read but how well would it work?

Now, if the Democrats really want to get into a fight over who is better with out a speechwriter, IÂ’m willing to put either McCain or Palin up against that stuff. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 09:35 AM | Comments (105)
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Reaction to "The Speech" from Flyover Country
— Russ from Winterset

Even though Iowa gets to be on Centerstage for a little while at the beginning of the process, we're still considered to be "the sticks". We don't have much gang activity, an 1100 square foot ranch home doesn't cost you $1,000,000 or more depending on the schools in that neighborhood, and you still can't order Chinese food at 3am (after a trip to Dallas a few years ago, I decided that the "Chinese Food Test" was the best way to determine if you're in a "Real City" or if you're still in Hicksville.) So I guess I still qualify as a "bitter, religious gun-clinger".

My impression? Obama should maybe put some antiseptic ointment on the burns he got last night. The last time I saw someone take that much abuse on my TV screen, Stealer's Wheel was singing "Stuck In The Middle With You" in the background. That was DEFINITELY a nice introduction to The Big Show for "The Thrilla from Wasilla". Plus, you've GOT to love The Powers That Be bringing up Bristol's fiance to stand with the family. It's like Sarah Palin is Lucy VanPelt, and she's just sitting there with the football, waiting for Charlie "Big Media" Brown to come along and try to kick it one more time. "Oh Noes, Br'er Big Media. Pleeze a-don't throws me back into the briar patch again! Iahsa can't STAND anotha five point bounce in mahysa poll numbas!"

She introduced herself, made some good policy points, and managed to land a few rounds on target while she was at it. The only things she didn't do up there were kill a caribou with a sharp stick, field dress the carcass on stage, prepare a wonderfully tasty pate out of it's liver for her kids to snack on at the post-speech parties, tan the beast's hide with a mixture of oak leaves and the caribou's own brain matter and make a stylish caribou-leather wedding dress for Bristol to wear during her upcoming White House wedding. Other than those minor details, she pretty much covered it for me. A solid speech that met expectations, even with the sky-high level of expectations the base had for her.

Yeah, I get it. The whole "Cool Facts About" phenomenon is sort of dorky and makes us all look like a bunch of drooling fanboys. So what's your point? Look, playful exaggeration is what you do with friends, and those you want to be friends with. Admittedly, you see some sarcasm with the "Cool Facts About Fred Baron" or "Cool Fact About Joe Biden" (Joe likes to sing an acapella version of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" in the shower every morning!), but those are obviously parody. It's a reflection of how the Republican base finally thinks that we've got ONE OF US in the spotlight. She's someone we have in our own families, someone we go bowling with on Tuesday nights, or even someone you see at your 20-year high school reunion and say to yourself "DAMN! How the hell did I let THAT get away?" It's always nice to see your prospective leaders and think to yourself "Hey, she's just like me" without being totally clueless.

She might not be the head of the ticket, but she'll be able to get up to speed for a good portion of her first term as VP, unless you think that the Secret Service protective detail is gonna let Johnny Mac walk in front of a bus this December. And while we're talking about inexperience in politics, I just can't figure out what kind of idiot it would take to nominate someone in the middle of their first term in an important office to be their presidential candidate? Wow, you'd have to be a total spaz to think that America would support someone with the metaphorical training wheels still on their bike having control of America's Executive Branch. Could that even HAPPEN here?

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 08:55 AM | Comments (39)
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Democrat Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Pleads Guilty Will Resign
— DrewM

The man community organizer Barack "Judgment Matters" Obama once said was "a great mayor" and "doing an outstanding job" has pleaded guilty to lying under oath.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has pleaded guilty, ending a nearly eight month drama that has transfixed the region, paralyzed much of city business and halted a political career that once held such promise.

The deal calls for Kilpatrick to plead guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice by committing perjury, agreeing to serve four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years' probation. He also agreed not to run for office during that five-year span.

The mayor will turn over his state pension to the City of Detroit, which paid $8.4 million to settle two whistle-blower lawsuits three former cops filed against the city. The mayor was charged with eight felony counts ranging from conspiracy to perjury to misconduct in office to obstruction of justice after the Free Press revealed that the mayor lied on the witness stand during a police whistle-blower trial and gave misleading testimony about whether he intended to fire a deputy police chief investigating allegations of wrongdoing by members of his inner circle.

So let's recap...community organizer Obama says an admitted felon is "a great mayor" but Sarah Palin is just the mayor of small town "Wasilly" (sic) and doesn't count.

Obama is right, judgment matters.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:28 AM | Comments (122)
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Heh: How in the Tank is Roger Simon?
— Slublog

Last week, praising Obama:

And even though there will be debates and commercials and town hall meetings in the weeks ahead, presidential campaigns are still largely about giving speeches. They used to be done on stumps and now they are done on television, but they still have to be done.

And Barack Obama knows how to do them

Today, snarking about Palin:

Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Speaks for itself, really.

Thanks to notropis for pointing this out.

Update - Just to be clear, I'm talking about Politico's Roger Simon, not Roger L. Simon, who writes for Pajamas Media and loved the speech. (h/t: Nice Deb)

Just Sayin' [ace]: This jaw-dropping bias is so good I want to dip my balls in it.

Posted by: Slublog at 11:22 AM | Comments (51)
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Top Headline Comments 09-04-08
— Gabriel Malor

Is the sun shining brighter today? I think it is.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:51 AM | Comments (49)
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Media Still Doesn't Get It
— Slublog

Roger Simon (no, the other one) attempts sarcasm in an attempt to explain away the media's sins.

The results are not pretty.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first - yes, Roger. Those are legitimate questions to ask. Conservatives asked many of the same questions, and were not all that disturbed that you asked them. However, we were just a wee bit curious as to why you did not and have not asked similar questions about the guy at the top of the other ticket with equal vigor.

Let's face it - you guys have spent more time vetting Bristol Palin than Barack Obama.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldnÂ’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Oh, this is just too precious. You've spent the last few days trolling leftist websites and using the deranged, lunatic ravings you found there as legitimate news tips.

When you weren't doing that, your own website wasted bandwidth with stories in which you found scholars who donated to Obama who were *SHOCKER* willing to trash Palin. You want to talk about doing your job? I found in five minutes what your two idiot reporters and your multiple layers of editors and fact-checkers couldn't be bothered to discover. So unless you elite media start actually doing some...I don't know...actual fricking fact finding, don't snark at us about doing your damned job, you sniveling little jackweasel.

Ahem. more...

Posted by: Slublog at 05:29 AM | Comments (82)
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Barack Obama: Andrew Sullivan
Sarah Palin: Growing Fears About The Atlantic's Credibility
— Ace

I just can't quit him.

Excitable Detestable Andi, tonight, filled with heart-ache that a cute shot of Piper and Trig Palin was being shown in the context of a political campaign:

10.40 pm. We've just seen a picture of a seven year old cradling and stroking the hair of a Down Syndrome infant. This, apparently, is relevant to deciding who should be the next vice-president of the United States.

From Power Glute's blog online crush-diary, August 20, 2007:

Face of the Day

Barack Obama and daughter Sasha at the Iowa State Fair. By Scott Olson/Getty.

And, yeah, that whole matter of being very interested in Trig Palin indeed, at least until a DNA test conclusively establishes that Bristol is not his mother.

Thanks to Tom Maguire.

Sorry if this bores anyone. I forgot about The Vile One for a good long while, but he reminded me of his annoying and unnecessary presence in a big way this weekend, and I'm not done with this bitch until The Atlantic tosses him right out on his Power Glutes.

Posted by: Ace at 02:46 AM | Comments (99)
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