Have fun

WaPo headline: “Military Justifies Attack That Killed at Least 33 Afghan Civilians.” I think we should all be proud to live in a country with a military that can do the impossible. Because “justifying” the killing of 33+ civilians is fucking impossible. The military inquiry determined that the air strikes that killed 33 civilians that they’re admitting to, including 12 children, were in self-defense and... wait for it... proportional. Proportional to what?

SHE’S THE REMINDERER: (AP): “‘We all need to remind Sen. Obama that Sen. McCain served our nation in uniform for 22 years,’ Palin said during a rally in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville.”

McCain and Palin were lovingly interviewed by Sean Hannity yesterday.

What advice did they give each other before their respective debates? “Have fun.”

PALIN: And it was helpful though that you called me right beforehand, and you said those two words — you said —

MCCAIN: Have fun.

PALIN: — have fun.

McCain praised Palin: “Second, obviously, she has been a great reformer. I still don’t think a lot of Americans appreciate what it’s like for a Republican to take on an incumbent sitting governor of your own party. It almost never happens. They wait until they retire or whatever it is — so it’s clear that she’s got a great record of reform.” So it’s clear that she has a great record of reform because she... ran against a governor from her own party. See, to McCain, being a “maverick” is exactly the same as effecting reform. And he accuses Obama of being style over substance.

So what role would Palin play in a McCain administration? According to McCain, and I’m not making this up, it would be to “find what’s causing autism, find a cure for it.”

Sarah Palin recited a devastating attack on Obama which somebody got paid good money to write for he: “So, I think last night, coming away from the debate, too, one of the things that I got out of it was, I think Barack Obama was drilling for votes. I don’t think that he’s too keen on drilling for those source of energy that we need.” Get it, get it? Because he’s drilling for votes, not drill- (baby drill) -ing for oil. It’s funny because it’s true.

McCain says that Palin is “so persuasive” that if she ever got him up to Alaska, she might just convince him to drill in ANWAR. Hannity asked if they’d go moose hunting. McCain said, “moose hunting is fine.”

McCain insisted that Obama’s plan to reduce taxes for 95% of Americans must be a lie: “Well, first of all, it’s not truthful in the respect that 50 percent or 40 percent of the American people — of taxpayers — American citizens don’t pay taxes, federal income taxes.” This is a weird lie that anti-tax conservatives tell themselves to justify all their tax cuts going to the rich – you just can’t cut taxes for the poor, why they don’t even pay them. Not only does it ignore payroll taxes, but isn’t even true for income taxes.

IF SARAH EXCITES YOUR “BASE,” KEEP IT TO YOURSELF, WILL YA, FELLA? McCain: “But I saw this as a real breath of fresh air that would sweep across America, give people inspiration, which Sarah Palin has, which would excite our base.”

SERIOUSLY, DUDE, NO ONE WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR KINKY S&M ROLE-PLAY: McCain: “We are glad to be in the underdog role here. It excites and motivates our supporters. It gives independents another look at us and I’m very happy with where we are, Sean. I couldn’t be happier.”

Ana Marie Cox interviewed McCain, eliciting from him a statement I hadn’t expected to hear on the campaign trail: “A lot of those zombie movies are political, you know.”

Speaking of political zombies: