Did anyone soften up against Hillary to avoid having "sexism" attached to them? Come on, gimme a break...

 

I think if there's any sort of "reason" (more like excuse), it's not so much sexism, it's because she's a beauty pageant winner, and no one wants to be vicious on someone who's supposedly hot.

 

It's not "sexism" but "sexiness" that's the core of this problem.

JMO

Um... I disagree.  You don't remember the Clinton-Lazio debate in which Lazio stepped out from behind his podium and presented Clinton with a document that he demanded she sign?  It was an ugly tactic by Lazio, but commentators quickly spun the confrontation and the negative reaction to it as a case of Clinton getting special treatment because she was a woman.  They argued that it looked especially bad for Lazio to aggressively approach Clinton because it gave the appearance that he was trying to take advantage of the gender distinction and intimidate a woman.

As for sexyness... I really don't know how you're distinguishing this from sexism in this case.  Obama's an attractive guy, but you don't hear people saying that he should be spared tough questions because he's handsome.

Doesn't it make more sense that after months of hearing their surrigates claim that the Democrats were going to nominate 'an affirmative action' candidate, McCain's team started to think they shoud get a woman or a minority on their ticket so they could enjoy the same perceived advantage?

At the first debate Biden should give her a box of chocolates, a dozen roses and a diaphram. He can't act like a bully but, he must be tough and let her use her ignorance against herself. I bet they are having a round table discussion on this as I write this. Biden is in deep dodo if they debate socer. 

As far as I'm concerned...... Biden should treat Sarah Palin no differently than if Grampy had picked Liebermann or any other man! PERIOD!

If the Republicans want to attempt to derail the obvious strength of Biden's debating skills..... then they need to come to terms with the very high posibility that Biden will or at least should attack, attack, attack!

The Republicans kept on making the claim that Hillary was whining about how she was treated....... well..... if Biden does what he should... putting this inexperienced, sad example of Republican pandering of a woman in her political place...... we ain't seen whining yet!

I can see it now...... the rightwing will claim that Biden was way to tough on her... or some other pathetic excuse making pukefest no matter how nice Biden may be.....

With that said..... Biden... knowing the inevitable anyways that will come from the rightwing.... might as well give them something to whine about!!

Nuff said!!

Agreed.  If Palin cannot handle the nastiness inherent in politics, she should go back to sports journalism.  She should get no special treatment.  Biden is the most knowledgeable regarding foreign policy.  He's the best pick for VP.  The closest Palin got to foreign policy experience is the fact that Alaska sits across the Bering Strait from Russia.  When the news media pushed that Russia/Alaska talking point, I almost peed my pants laughing.  Palin with executive and foreign policy experience? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I hope Biden mops the floor with her, wrings her out, and mops the floor with her again.  She deserves no pity because she is a woman.  And no one should go easy on her. (But leave her kids alone...that's just not right).  However, I do call her judgment into question.  She should get her own house in order before trying to get the nation in order.

Women want and deserve equality.  Playing down to her because she is a woman is insulting, not only to women, but even to male feminists.

hockey

All Biden needs to do is not look like a Jerk.  He just needs to come off as the wise, old scholarly professor, standing next to the doe-eyed, fairly niave and not-yet=well-informed student.  That should be failry easy for him.

Obama and Edwards as well as Russert and the other moderator whose name I can't recall piled on Clinton during the October 30th debate. Chris Matthews even prompted Clinton to tell him he was "obsessed" with her.

Well, that's the double standard that's been noted before.

Hey, not wanting to get too OT, but has anyone else asked the question about why Palin thought it was necesaary to drag her own daughter into this baby issue, in order to prove that SHE was the one who delivered in May? 

I mean, it wasn't necessary-- what about doctor's notes, pictures in the delivery room, affidavits, whatever? Why drag the poor girl into it as merely  indirect evidence-- and that's all? It was atrocious.

Think a question like this will come up with Biden at the debate? Anything similar?

I agree that the way they handled it was kind of bizarre and callous.  Even if it genuinely was their goal to refute the rumors, it was ridiculous to express it that way.  A more sensible way, and one that would have been more compassionate to her daughter, would have been to simply make the announcement and state that they were simply doing so in the interest of disclosure, because it would soon become apparent anyway.  It would have had the same effect without making it such a Sarah-centered announcement.

And if the pregnancy runs much past December, all of the rumors will pop back up again, anyway.  Of course, by then Palin will be permanently back in Alaska, on her way to becoming a future trivia question.

Yeah, but since when have the Republican's refuted RUMORS with FACTS?  FACTS seem to have a liberal bias these days.  Better to refute bizarre rumors with heresay and anectdote and indirect evidence.  That's something that's mroe up there alley.

Very good questions, Carlile.

Why does he have to "go soft" on her?  If he becomes VP, would they expect Biden to go soft on Angela Merkel?

If the roles were reversed, would they have expected the Republican VP candidate to go soft on Senator Clinton?

If Palin does become VP, will they expect foreign leaders to go soft on her too?

Great, now come a bunch of posts from the broads who think it's unfair to use Palin's sex as a way to keep that cad Biden in check. It's a holiday, gals, don't worry your pretty little heads about it.

You did have to post right before me, didn't ya, ya bastard! :-0)

Are you as wrong about everything else as you are to calling me a "broad"?

I think he was referring to the media figures, not you.

He was referring to us MMFA broads. I'm a card carrying broad, dame.....whatever. Just don't call me late for a Tex Mex dinner and I won't have to hurt anybody. :-0)

No wuss, he specifically said now come a bunch of posts from the broads who think it's unfair ... and he said it after my post.  Nice spin though, but you're wrong too.

SF, I'm amazed, once again, that I'm apparently too subtle. Sorry, sometimes I can't come up with a way to react to our ridiculous media except by being even more ridiculous.

Please don't make me bust out the ;0)s or <sarcasm> stuff. It feels condescending.

I guess I'm still having troubles with the difference between subtle and condecending.  Maybe I'll get it next time.

He's a well-known misogynist and hast been posting this kind of stuff about you gals for days now.  Don't just sit there and eat chocolate and cry - hen-peck the heck out of him.

Let him know that modern guys like myself recognize that many of todays broads have responsibilites beyond cooking and cleaning - that many hold real jobs.  Some chicks don't ever snag a husband, but they somehow figure out what to think on their own.  And let him know that a broads opinion often is as valid as most men's.

Wel sed

Thanks.  Hope I didn't sound too condescending.  It's a thin line between simplifying and sounding condescending.  And we all know how women can get when their intuition tells them that we're being condescending.

You M-Fer, Neon. I have a really painful case of hiccups right now, thanks to you.

BTW, I've noticed an odd pattern of deleted posts recently. The scrubbed posts( a couple of mine, a couple of yours, several of others) were no more off-topic or offensive than many others, but they shared a common thread; blatantly pulling the pants of a certain poster down around the ankle zone.

Am I wearing a tin-foil hat, or do we have a comment monitor who doesn't like his slip showing?

Well, far be it for me to speculate on allegations based on circumstantial evidence.  However, it would be fair to say that an uncanny coincidence of specific deleted comments and their relationship to the misguided ideas of a certain individual COULD possibly lead one to believe that there has been a scrubbing of threads which imbue said individual with a measure of well-deserved embarrassment.

That said, pass the Reynolds wrap... 

Psst, he's just kiddin' around. He's a nice boy, really. I'm not kidding. He's one hundert percentile in the ladies camp. I mean it. He is pro female all the way. He loves all of us gypsies, tramps and vamps, hookers and Vaginal Americans. Really. I would NOT kid about this.

Did I mention that he's a very nice boy?

Thanks for the backup, JJ. I thought the "Damsel in Distress" Halloween costume may have been a bit too much, but I guess I'm still not laying it on thick enough.

Great, now come a bunch of posts from the broads who think it's unfair to use Palin's sex as a way to keep that cad Biden in check

LOL

Well I know he's not talking to ME cause I'm usually referred to as the OLD broad!

No, Pearlene, you're the SEXY OLD broad (with the righteous frying pan). :-0)

I loveeee my frying pan!

I just gotta ask Juliajayne, were those Alaskans comparing the "Palin/unidentified baby's daddy" to black folks?

Contrast this to the reaction of the typical supersized ghetto she-boon whose 17-year-old daughter has an unplanned pregnancy. Instead of doing the right thing, they all go trundling down to the local welfare office and demand more Section Eight housing and more food stamps and an endless supply of other taxpayer-financed bennies. Gimme, gimme, gimme!!!

http://alaskapride.blogspot.com/search/label/Sarah%20Palin

 

I'm afraid your fears might be justified, Pearlene. God help us all! 

..."Advisers said Palin's daughter should be afforded privacy like the other candidates' children. Said Schmidt: "If people try to politicize this, the American people will be appalled."............"MSNBC AP 9-01-08

 I have already heard that Senator Obama stated that the lives of the candidate's families will be off limits. However; it's interesting how the American people weren't so "appalled" when the right wing media felt it necessary to discuss Chelsea Clinton's looks, made fun of Mrs. Edwards during her cancer discovery, the attacks on Hillary Clinton when she was the first lady, and the attacks on Mrs. Kerry.

I have a feeling there will be some upcoming MMFA artlcles on their hypocracy in this case as well......but here iswhat I think is really going to happen.....THE RIGHT is going to bring this up themselves, over and over, just so they can use it to their advantage with the pro-life voters.

"....  Focus on the Family founder James Dobson issued a statement commending the Palins for "for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances." He added: "Being a Christian does not mean you're perfect. Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord."...."      MNBCC 9-01-08

dobsons mouth moves thanks to Duracell batteries. His Dogma has no business in the political theater. (It could be said: neither does anything anybody posts on MMFA except, we are not invited to make our gutteral utterances on Cable TV). When will these pious sectarians shut their pie holes and "save the souls" in their own congregations? OR, are they just trying to influence someone eating pork rhinds, drinking beer and watching NASCAR? When can we expect religiosity to be extracated from the political dialog?

I say we should start a petition to get Dobson and his organization taxed - and heavily (if he's not already taxed).  Churches and religious organizations should stay out of politics or be taxed.  Simple as that.

Even worse, remember that it was PALIN today who dragged her daughter into this, unnecessarily, in order to establish that 'Trig' was her own baby.

There were other ways to do this, to establish maternity, not just shove your daughter into the public eye and say, 'she's pregnant now, so she didn't have the kid.'

What does "to bully" mean in debate terms?

Prosecutors are warned against "badgering" a witness, but are not doing their job if they do not extract the relevant facts from the witness.

I can tell you now, the RELEVANT FACTS are enemies of the GOP, so if Biden gets Palin caught up in contradictions, hypocricy, ignorance, and exposes her total lack of competence, it will be called "bullying" by the GOP.

If Biden resorts to discussing her favorite color, or fashion trends, then he lets down the entire nation, which desperately needs this woman put to the test of hard questioning ... and perhaps even harder answers.

McCain has told Republicans that NO OTHER REPUBLICAN ... not Romney, not Guilliani, not Huckabee ... is as WELL QUALIFIED as this woman to be PRESIDENT, should circumstances render him unable to fulfill his duties (should he win).

The "debate" is not so much Palin's qualifications for the job, but McCain's, for making such an obviously bogus choice to be "our leader" should he be elected and incapacitated. Really, she's uniquely "the best"? The entire Republican party should hang their heads if this is true ... or if it's NOT true. Either way, it's a horrendous reflection on the GOP and their top pick.

You nailed it.

This is the best the Republican party has to offer?  Or is it what the Republican party thinks the American public deserves? 

It's what the RNC thinks will get them enough ignorant Hillary hangers-on to vote for McCain.  Purely a political ploy.  If they can sell this woman as being "competent" to be Vice President to the American electorate, then I have to hand to it the Repugs.  They could probably sell sand to the Arabs.

Thats just sad, Hillary supporters are not ignorant.

So the republicans lose, if they think they will get "ignorant" hillary supporters.

The ones who vote for McCain out of spite because she wasn't the VP choice most certainly are.  Why do you think a total unknown with no substantial experience to speak of is the Republican VP candidate?  It's to get the ignorant Hillary supporters. (I'm not saying all Hillary supporters are ignorant, by the way)   

I think the feminists are largely feeling insulted by this.  It reaks of tokenism in a way that Hillary's candidacy never even could have.  It dismissed all of Hillary's positives (in the views of her supporters) and paints ALL OF THEM as 'just supporting Hillary becasue she 's a woman.'

The Right will learn how wrong they were with this pick.  They will learn that NOT EVERYONE THINKS LIKE THEY DO!  They will learn that 90+% of HIllary voters liked HILLARY.  The likes her stands on women's ISSUES - an area in which that Palin is the opposite of Hillary in every way. 

The only women who will support this ticket because of Palin were never Hillary voters in the first place.  They were women who would have voted for McCain anyway.  (I'll give him 10% of the 'disenfranchised Hillary base' TOPS.  And unless they ALL live in NY or PN, or some other electorally significant state that McCain wouldn't have won anyway, it won't be NEARLY enough to change the election.)

She makes Dan Quayle and Barrack Obama look like Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin Roosevelt.  She's patently unqualified, and the GoP should be insulted by McCain's insistence that she's the best pick.

Good Lord, how can anyone use the word "pride" in association with garbage like that. They should really call themselves "alaskashame," except we all know that people who post that crap have no shame.

yea, but only by me Pearl.

These Teevee pundits are just so insulting to women. Joe Biden can't be seen as a bully? Well, I wouldn't think he should be seen as a bully if he were debating a man either. Being a bully shows a weakness IMO. Joe Biden knows what he is talking about and can articulate his positions and be effective all on his own regardless of who he debates. What's with this story about him having to be seen in a certain light regarding a debate with a woman?

But he could well find a way to say to Sarah Palin, "Governor, you're no Hillary Clinton." 

Now I do agree with that. He should start with that line, use it in the middle of the debate and end the debate with it as well. But maybe that would be seen as bullying :-0) 

A rare moment of perfect timing on my part, JJ!

You did it again, bastard. See my reply to you above. Good God man, I can't outrun you in these high heels I'm wearing. It's JUST NOT FAIR!!!!!!

Have you tried outswimming him? ;)

Hey, I'm only 5'2" with heels on. It's hard to do the doggy paddle with heels on.

Try the butterfly stroke then. High heels are not a problem with that stroke, and it is fast. ;-)

Then you need a real doggie to help you with your paddle! ;)

Woof, woof!

So, what is the republican definition of "bullying"

• Palin was the mayor of a town of population 6000. Off topic
• She was governer for 20 months. Off topic
• She got a degree in journalism (how useful is that?). Off topic
• She was a journalist on TV. Off topic
• She said she smoked dope and posed nude before. Off topic
• 2nd place in a beauty pagent. Off topic
• Didn't even have a passport until 2007. Off topic

Gee, what does that leave? She lives close to Russia and loves hunting? That'll draw the clinton supporters in droves, won't it?

Now, OT, but I'm hanging in the Houston airport waiting for my connecting flight to Nashville. Thought I'd check out the magazine selection. I saw the times Obama cover, and the newsweek Obama and Biden cover, both with overly positive cover statements. Only one McCain cover, the economist, with the leading question "will someone please bring back the real mccain?".

Ouch.

Just as an aside. what's-her-name just announced her 17 year old unwed daughter is preggers.  McCain says he knew all about it and they are trying to spin it into some pro-life affirmation thingy.  This could not get more absurd.

Beat me by a few!

But seriously (or not!) how can we expect Palin to keep terrorists from infiltrating our borders when she can't even keep boys from infiltrating her daughters? =0

Someone may have to check and see how she did handling illegal immigrants from Russia and Canada ;)

Are you trying to say she will let the boys in but, can't get them out in time? I am waiting to hear that the implantation was planed and filmed. The happy couple will live in the Lincoln bedroom. They are looking into a diaper delivery service I am sure

Based on the claim of 5 months, they may want to consider the hanoi hilton. If she was fifteen when she got pregnant, I understand the rules are just a little different - unless you're a republican...

I did hear a GOP spokeswoman (Debra Hossenpfeffer is as close as I can get from memory) at the GOP convention today, commenting on this.A clip was played of Obama condemning any attacks on family, followed by this woman saying "Shame on them (bloggers?) who would make a political issue of personal family matters!" (paraphrased)

My, how times have changed overnight.

Here goes: Grease, sugar and bleached white flour (the staples of the right wing), the lack of minerals  and the lack of neurotransmitter precursors, deminishes the brains ability to replinish neurotransmitters required for memory and objective thinking. This is the sad reality of the religious right and the neocons. If anyone should doubt the verasity of the foregoing, research Dr. Linus Pawling. Herin lies the conundrum. The right simply lack the ability to differentiate fact from fiction ad really don't care to or even understand the difference. It boils down to what their religious leaders say from the pulpit. These folks are what Og Mandino describes as the "sheep waiting to be slaughtered by their shepard". Truth will never amount to much to these folks. Proofs in the pudding: Nixon, Reagan, ghw, gw. The right will have their sycophants come hell and high water = (gw). According to the world health org., America is 38th in overall health. Sick people make poor decisions.

Sick people make poor decisions.

• - djasper2761 / Tuesday September 2, 2008 1:48:15 AM EDT

 

Oh you just said a mouthful right there. Don't forget the ubiquitous use of corn syrup and trans fats in our prepared foods. And all the chemicals, insecticides, antibiotics and other crap in our meats, produce, etc.. Add to that unhealthy farming practices, and all the stuff you mentioned, and it's no wonder people don't have any real nutrition going into their cerebtal cortexes.

That's why I take whole food vitamins and buy only organic (when I can get it). People really do need to start paying attention to the abysmal condition of the food we eat. It is indeed making us sick, but making big pharma and other industries plenty rich.   

Dr. Pawling won 2 nobel prizes in medicine and medical research. He proved (and I did for myself) that 99.9% of all diseases are caused by mineral deficiencies. NPK is what farmers use. and the soild has no minerals in it anymore. I do cell ready (solutomic) vitamins, minerals and antioxidents. It is about the 5000+ enzyme systems in each cell. I am an artist (I sell my work to galleries all over the country) and was a health coach (which is like having a Budhist temple in w. Ky. No body will show up) This is the grease sugar and bleached white flour belt. The gulf of mississippi is the colon of America and this is the rectum. I have traveled 9 states (red states) for 3 1/2 years and they are the same. I love America but, America is hooked on pharmaceuticals to mitigate the symtoms of the "diseases" caused by nutritional deficiencies. It boils down to a lack of neurotransmitter precursors which can cross the blood brain barrier. It is truely sad (standard American Diet) I have nothing to sell you except my artwork. Red states = bologne, white bread and soda pop.

Wasn't his name Pauling?

Yupper :-0)

I think you are right. His research institute has a we site. Sorry for the misspelling as I suck at spelling. hvae a ncie dya

Did some reading on dietary fats a few years ago. It was eye openning. I wonder if the damage done to the public by the use of artificial fats will ever be properly documented.

Childhood diabeties, obesity, and developmental problems are just the start of the damage they have done.

A good example of marketing forces in action. Thank you Agribusiness, thank you marketing public relations. 

I hope Obama will take on bigpharma.  If the masses really knew (oh, I forgot, they don't care) what  big pharma and the AMA wants to do it might raise the hairs on the back of their necks. They keep proposing bills to stop nutritional supplement co's from marketing their products. They want to make everything available by prescription only. well over 90% of pharma drugs just mitigate symptoms. They don't address the issue of nutrition. There is no money to be made by Doctors telling their patients to take supplements. It is the opposite in China. We are a nation hooked on legal drugs. At 59 I don't need legal drugs. I would bet 95%, or better, of my contemporaries are on some kind of medication prescribed to them. Considering the new England Journal of medicine , in the early 90's, said over 750,000 people died from taking their scripts, I don't want them in me. Education is key.  The right couldn't care less about this and McC looks to be at deaths door. When the right was making fun of the food groups and colors of the foods to be served at the DNConv. I said "so whats new" Clueless, ignorant, pious sectarians should move to the Bikini Atoll and grow sugar cane, bleach whole wheat and eat plenty of bologne and hot dogs and contact earth by email only periodically. I feel much better now

I like your spunk and your knowledge on nutrition. Too many people are woefully misinformed on the issue. And 'scripts' as you call them cause more deaths per year than illegal drugs. Why aren't people seriously outraged by this? Oh, they don't know because the consumer press is as ignorant (and corporate) as the rest of the media.

I am PO'd. The right waves flags saying we are the patriotic Americans and Liberal/progressives are not patriotic. Yea, right and I am training pigs to fly and going into the umbrella busines. The right needs to take their antiquated "morals" and religious views and free climb El Capitan. I saw enough cips last nite from the repukelican convention and "same ole dodo, different day" If this crapola works again, well, shame on America and no wonder this country has no respect from the rest of the world. Some may fear us due to our military might ( like the Dominican Island) but, respect us? Sanity and reason have been highjacked by pious lunitics whose great, great, greatgrandfathers had BBQ stands selling Teradactyl wings and Velosoraptor nuggets. (spelling of those tasty critters probably incorrect). There will come a time (not in my lifetime) where the inlightened will rule and the knee jerk reactionary superstitious will live in the shadows with their faces tucked under their jackets in shame. Till then, I truely hope, the Demos win this Nov. They are infinately better than the alternative even though they are not the ideal. I wonder if squirel brais were on the menu? If so we could see an outbreak of spongiformenchephalopthy. Of course we could not differentiate that from normal right behaviour. I am still PO'd

McCain says he knew all about it

And if he didn't know, do you think he would admit it?  I don't think they did any vetting of her.

This is a good read on who really picked Palin. Just like when McCain really had no say in when he was released from Vietnam (it was Kissinger who made that call), he didn't have a say here either.

Richard Land has also been taking credit for asking McCain to consider Palin. (For all those who still doubt that the DS baby wasn't considered as a plus in her selection, read below)

 

CBSNews.com: Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community?

Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there's a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. She's strongly pro-life.

She's a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she's a woman. She's a reform Governor. I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that would probably ring the most bells, along with Mike Huckabee, of course, who's a Southern Baptist.
 

September 1, 2008 - 11:29am

Rove: Obama's inexperienced; Biden's a 'big, blowhard doofus'

Gee, but let's not pick on Gidget and Geezer, it might hewt deir widdow feewings...

And here, McCains campaign spokesboy can't even explain why Palin is more qualified than Obama. Man, I really hope the independants are seeing right through this...

Just heard some talking head Palin has really energized the campaign. I can see this as a reality. I bet youtube's servers are starting to melt with all the red staters looking for nude pics of her. I bet their hands are not just busy on the keyboard.  I am wondering if I am in some kind of flash back from the late 60's and I am listening to Fireside theater or the Gonzo Dog Band. Does listening to the right pitch this load of BS make anybody elses stomach churn, or is just me?

It is all based on the negative reaction voters had to Rick Lazio trying to bully Hillary during that debate.

I would sincerely doubt that Biden would do anything so asinine during his debate with Palin.

The difference between Hillary and Palin, is that Palin won her governorship without having been the former "First Lady. In other words, Palin didn't ride the coattails of her famous husband to come in as a carpetbagger and win the election as did Hillary.

The difference between Hillary and Palin, is that Palin won her governorship without having been the former "First Lady.

Palin won because she was a republican who ran.  No other qualifications are needed.

Alaska is not a solid R state, I think the Governor before last (who Palin beat in the Primary) was a D (who just happened to have some ethics problems of his own.)

Why would a Democrat face a Republican in a primary?  Murkowski was a Republican.

Sorry, misread that, the part in parentheses threw me off for some reason.

I though all the statewide officeholders were republicans.

er

Alaska has been considered Republican territory for some time. Lyndon Johnson (1964) is still the only Democratic presidential candidate to win the state ever.

She won because she was the least corrupt Republican in Alaska when she ran.  That status didn't last long.

But will Palin's hubby run for office in Alaska, riding on his wife's coattails? Inquiring minds can't wait to find out.

I don't understand how anyone would advise any of the candidates to "soften his tone and manner in a debate", when the whole world knows that in these so-called "debates" the candidates are forbidden from addressing one another directly...

These things aren't debates: the candidates are not allowed (by their own stupid agreements) to even directly speak to one another, let alone ask questions of each other.

What are the media idiots advising Mr. Biden: that he "soften his tone and manner" while answering idiot questions from a celebrity media hack?

Or stranger still, that he "soften his tone and manner" while talking to a television camera?

Because that's all that the candidates are allowed to do (by their own stupid agreements), they answer idiot questions from celebrity media hacks, and they talk to a television camera... these things aren't debates.

 

(I'm not entirely sure when the cowards first agreed to make speaking directly to one another a forbidden thing to do... maybe it was caused by Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, when he spoke directly to Danforth Quayle "you're no Jack Kennedy"... that could have been the genesis of it: that remark probably made the Republicans suggest that there be no direct addresses from any candidate to the other, and the stupid Democrats most likely would have agreed... that's probably when and why such a stupid term as that was reached in the agreement for these so-called "debates")

Good points, Demo. Real debates not only have moderators who, in addition to presenting questions, raise objections to outright falsehoods, and determine winners and losers.

I was pretty amazed the day after the Saddleback Forum, listening to am radio rightys discussing who had "won this debate". A venue where all that was required of McCain was to toe the line of the  Religious Right  that his party panders to, while Obama had to actually offer answers to the questions.

Col., I don't know if you're watching the hurrican coverage on CNN, but they really are ripping into Palin for troopergate and her daughter. Right now they are mentioning how there is a higher rate of STD's in Alaska and that he abstinance only program is a clear failure. I could be jumping the gun, but the amount of coverage she is getting is very high. I think going forward when you hear Hurricane Gustuv you will automatically think Palin. Not a good connection for her...

No, Snoop, I didn't catch any of that. I caught a bit of the tail end of the GOP convention earlier today on C-Span, and I hung in for wa while because I like those phone calls from viewers. Among the insights from callers;

One was struck by the biggest difference he saw between this and the Dems convention; the amazing diversity in the crowd.

Another caller wanted to remind viewers of the immense responsibility Palin has handled, being in charge of a region bordered by Canada and Russia. ( I didn't get any details about them being in cahoots,but I have my suspicions too).

I had to go out at that time, but being the glutton for the stuff that I am, I turned on Hugh Hewitt's radio show. He was apparently taking calls only from those who had not been very excited about McCain, but were fired up about the VP pick. I realize it's Hewitt Kool-Aid intravenous feed audience, but I heard the words "thrilled" and "brilliant". One caller described the former PTA leader and current home sausge crafter as "real" "one of us" and "honest", gushing over the "trials and tribulations" that Palin has endured.

If the average Hewitt listener represents a large enough group of Americans to swing a vote, FSM help us all.

 

Oh, yeah, at that point I went and caught an early movie about a band I was into when I was in high school. Even knowing how cringe-worthy most rock & roll movies are, I had to go to another place. I'll check out the hurricans coverage later tonight.

I didn't know The Archies made a movie...

(just kidding)

Archies? Right, nerd. It was the Banana Splits Story.

Did they have the dune buggy car?

What amazed me were some of the unbridled comments of the right wing commentators....that the hurricane was a blessing for McCain, because of the expected comparison to the DNC convention, and the fact that many Republicans didn't want to be there to express their excitement for the party's ticket.

In online articles/comments, many said the last thing McCain needed was Bush and Cheney there during Gustav as a reminder of the failure during Katrina. Others are saying that their sacrificing the convention for the hurricane couldn't be a better way to erase the Katrina/Bush fiasco...and supporters would praise McCain for sacrificing his convention spotlight.

that the hurricane was a blessing for McCain,

That's spot on mainly because Fearless Leader and his evil sidekick didn't get to speak.  Actually I was looking forward to their revisionist history in explaining their incompetence/corruption/lies/crimes.

One of them, eh? So that must mean conservative women are sluts who got stoned and posed nude, had sex out of wedlock, can't use a condom, can't keep their legs closed, can't practice the abstinance they preach, and can't impart christian morals on their daughters? Geeze, do they blame Bristol for getting pregnant too?

Snoop, one more-- I forgot my favorite Hugh Hewitt caller. Remember Obama's horrible comment about not wanting a person to be "punished" with an unwanted pregnancy? The Hewiit fan translated this into Pinheadese for us, figuring that Obama was referring to his own daughter getting pregnant, leading logically to "Obama would abort his own grandchild".

"Choice" and "education" morphed instantly into abortion (or "infanticide" for the hopelessly goofy), just for the pleasure of the wingnuts.

If he was selling insurance this would be called "twisting". If it is said enough times with emotion some wayward sheep will believe it. Example: The creatinist museum. There are even those that believe gw is a great president. It is hard for me to believe there are that many people with peg teeth and unibrows..

Oh, I don't know, there could be a sense in which this is a response to the more recent memory of John Edwards' stupid and hamhanded discussion of Cheney's daughter's sexuality.  But that wasn't so much a case of being too hard on one's opponent... that was just a dumb move.

Stupid and hamhanded? wtf are you talking about?

He was asked a question about a ban on same-sex marriage.  The fact that Cheney's daughter is gay was relevant.  And it's not like he outed her or anything.  Cheney himself during the campaign had talked about his "gay daughter".

Sorry, I should have toned that down. Ifill's question did reference Cheney's daughter, but I felt like the moment Edwards even mentioned her, it was going to be used against him. Watching him answer, I was cringing, because I felt like the whole thing was a set up. Stupid and hamhanded, though? No, you're right -- I apologize.

The corporatist conservative Republican Party controlled news media wants Liar McCain-Liar Palin to get elected.  That's why they're demanding that Biden and others go easy on the homophobic fascist racist theocratic white supremacist lightweight hate hag Palin for no other reason than she's a woman. 

How long until Bill O'Reilly and company quote your "hate hag" line as an example of the left's sexism and misogyny?

The Biden - Palin debates(s) can't come soon enough. The question is only how much will be left of her candidacy after he's done.

LOL ... Rove & Co. have teed it up with their talking points ... Now the narrative is set: anything Biden says will be under the 1000x microscope and Palin has wiggle room cuz she's a woman. Nice.

BTW, if they were running Obama's campaign, do you suppose the righties would have started their campaign off by saying, "look, he's black, so you better watch your step and not show racism". Probably, but the dems won't play hardball, so they would have turned it down and lost anyway.

I believe it's just sleazy political opportunism to warn off J Biden , by playing the gender Card . Gloria Borger of CNN said the same nonsense , "Biden has to be careful " .

It's just a cheap attempt to give her an edge  to win the debate . Because on one hand they claim she's tough , a hunter and " takes on big oil ' , now all of a sudden  she can't handle little J Biden during a debate .

If she can't handle Biden, how can she handle Osama bin Laden?

Sarah Palin Isn't Ready To Be Commander In Chief.

- She has been Governor for 18 months of a state that ranks 47th in population.  Only North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming have fewer people to govern than Alaska.
- Prior to that, she was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaka for 6 years and sat on Wasilla's City Council for 4 years.  Wasilla's 2005 population estimate is 8,471.
- Sarah Palin has no foreign policy experience.  Physical proximity of Alaska to Russia doesn't count.

 

Sarah Palin is woefully out of the mainstream in her views.

- She opposes abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.  Only 18% of Americans agree with her that it should be illegal in all cases (source).
- She opposes sex education in schools and is firmly behind abstinence-only programs (source). 69% of Americans think sex education in schools is very important, and 21% think its somewhat important (source - PDF, p. 6).
- She supports the idea of "school choice", or vouchers (source).  70% of Americans do NOT support vouchers when it means public school funding would be cut (source).
- She supports teaching creationism in science classes (source).
- She is skeptical of global warming and doesn't believe climate change is man-made (source).    85% of Americans believe the planet is warming and a full 70% believe that it is attributable to either BOTH nature and man (49%) or solely to humans (21%) (source).

 

Palin is hardly free of old-Washington influence and tactics.

- She was FOR the Bridge to Nowhere, before she was against it (source).
- She openly praises Hillary Clinton, but thinks Clinton is a "whiner" (source).
- She is under investigation for ethics abuses in the firing of Alaska's Public Safety Director (source - worth noting also that CNN just reported Palin has retained a lawyer on the same issue).

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/1/15300/83349/410/582341

It's fair to point this stuff out, and it has nothing to do with her gender.

Breaking news on Palins' pregnant pre-teen!

Palin Blames Daughter's Pregnancy on Media

Posted September 1, 2008 | 05:15 PM (EST)

Coming out on the offensive after a day of controversy, presumptive GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said today that the media was to blame for making her daughter Bristol pregnant.

"My husband and I are well aware that Bristol is pregnant, and we know who made her that way -- the media," she told reporters in Pittsburgh.

It has become common in presidential campaigns for candidates to lash out against the news media, but Gov. Palin's attack was the first known example of a politician blaming the media for her daughter's pregnancy.

Gov. Palin went on to say that since the media had made her pregnant, it was now up to the media to "do the right thing and marry her."

Moments after the governor's statement, the National Enquirer said that it would marry Bristol Palin in exchange for exclusive rights to the wedding photos and the first pictures of the baby.

BTW, what's her birthday, and Palin's first son? Just wondering, about the son especially, because if he's as old as Palin claims she would have to gotten pregnant on her wedding day. Hmmm...

To answer Snoopy

Blog by Alan Colmes/Liberaland (bold as copied):

"in her speech in Dayton today, Gov. Sarah Palin announced that she and her husband are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, which means they were married on August 29, 1988.

 On April 20, 1989 – less than eight months after they eloped – their first son, Track, was born."

But the important thing is the right wing will AGAIN say, is that she and her husband got married and chose to keep their son, and that we all sin. All of these "sins" are being excused away on Evangelical web sites, telling us that All of Palin's sins have been washed away by Jesus.

She is being set up as untouchable....immune from any serious questions, or pressure from the left, and that includes Biden. They want her to be all things...tough, tenacious, baracuda, Maverick, reformer, but they also want her to be a sweet little beauty queen, hockey mom, who loves Jesus, her family, and America.They want her voter group to connect to her fast, and verbaly stand up for her should she stumble in the next weeks.

Their biggest fear is that she will fall apart during tough debate, and show her inexperience, and that is one of her failings that have been discussed in past articles. If they keep talking about "what if Biden gets tough, or can he afford to get tough" when there is a debate, if she fails miserably they can say it was Biden being too tough.....after all she's "just a mom", and not used to the heavy handed politics.

 

And as a flip side, should she hold her own during a debate, they will still say, regardless of what Biden says, that she was given a rough shake from Biden, but her tenacity, or experience or personal strength has shown America that she is right for the job.

They are "setting the stage" for whatever may happen....and it's their use of her gender to do it that is so disgusting about all of this.

For those who are still undecided why the media is saying this, think about what they might say is the candidate was a wheel chair bound evangelist. It would play out the same, only they would ask if Biden could or should go tough on a disabled candidate. 

You should have pointed out that that's by Andy Borowitz, and is satire.

Very funny satire, but satire nonetheless.

I would HOPE others realized Snoopy's article was satire! ;-)

But I agree, the writer should have been given credit.

Every time i hear this all I can remember is Chris Matthews saying over and over, on every show for awhile.

"when's he [OBAMA] punch her?" {CLINTON] "When's he gonna land a knockout blow?""What's he waiting for, when's he gonna draw blood?"

And this was long before HRC did anything remotely what would have been considered negative by any normal human being that was not the victim of Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

 

I supported O at that time and it was really starting to pis me off, particularly because he was landing punches but they were so masterfully (and passive aggressively embedded in his speeches that they were termed "swipes." (I thought kittens took swipes, not grown men. 

 

Isn't it odd that everyone wants to warn off Biden, wants everyone to go easy but no one seemed to think they needed to go easy on HRC. In fact I've never seen any politician take the beating she took by the media and the other candidates in the debates and still come out standing and fighting. For Christ's sake Charlie Gibson asked her why she was so unlikable!!! (esssentially) ironically that is when I began to really start liking her. lol)

 

Anyway, I find it amazing that this is going on, this warning of Biden, of noone mentioning that HRC sure stood up to it and the other candidates were invited to and encouraged to, and castigated for not doing more!

AND no one mentions that this is a manipulative, pandering, insulting move on the McC campaign's part.

"We know he "doesn't speak for the campaign." 

And how about the gas tax rebate or suspension or whatever the hell it is/was.

I remember clinton got torn apart from every direction about that, pandering, this, that, the other thing, but certainly pandering--- very little said about McC's support of it except to ssay he wanted it and he said it forst... Now it turns out palin is in favor of it as well.

Wanna bet nobody says "pandering" about it?

 

Go easy because she is new?

Does McC and the rest think Putin is going to go easy on her?

God, have mercy. 

Please excuse all  my typos, especially with the quotes, parenthesis etc. Its late, I'm tired, my keyboard is small and I don't really type.

LOL

 

'night. 

Democrats have got to get over this whimpiness that they have been cultivating for years.  The Republicans attack them, their woman and children, and when they are attacked cry foul, not fair, and the MSM sides with them when they start their whining, and the Democrats back off. they must play by the same dirty rules that these gutless cowards use.  We can not let them hide behind their woman or children.  What Obama and Biden have to understand is that Republican woman are just as vile as their man and deserve no mercy.

So both Democratic candidates have to pussyfoot around on egg shells during the debates; remember that Tom Brokaw also warned Obama about being mean to McCain 'cause he's a war hero.

It is also an attempt to get the bar lowered for her, just like the bar was lowered for Georgie and McGramps. I remember the pundits saying of Bush, if he can just not mangle to many words then he will have successfully met expectations. Nice, the most powerful country on Earth led by someone who only mangles a few sentences. He could'nt even live up to that low standard. "Fool me once ...."

Americans must stand up against these sexist commentators, news anchors and politicians. Jack Cafferty of CNN while discussing Governer Palin quipped today that, "Dealing with Putin isn't like attending a PTA meeting". SEXIST! Paul Begala 'complimented' Governer Palin on her charisma (tongue in cheek) stating that, "Competing in all those beauty pageants must have really paid off for her." SEXIST! These hateful leftists can't stand a successful conservative woman and are pulling all the stops to ruin her because they can not defeat her on the issues. Where is the media outrage? Where are the feminists? Oh, that's right she's a CONSERVATIVE woman.