What we know

So what do we now know about Sarah Palin, who the London Times calls a “gun-toting beauty queen”?

We know she’s a woman, which probably accounts for a Reuters photographer’s choice to take this particular picture.


We know she is congenial.

We know she hates polar bears and loves Pat Buchanan.

We know she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

We know from Troopergate that she is not only vindictive and willing to abuse her power but, even more unforgivably, to do so stupidly, because it was inevitable that it would come out.

We know that John McCain is so old that just one overly vigorous handshake could kill him.


We know she believes creationism should be taught in schools (too bad her nomination was announced in Dayton, Ohio rather than Dayton, Tennessee) (oh, look it up).

We know her husband competes in snow machine races.

We know her kids have funny names.

We know that John McCain only met her once before this week. You would hope he wouldn’t pick a secretary of transportation this carelessly, much less a veep.

We know that in the next few weeks we’re going to hear the word “mooseburger” more than we ever thought possible.

Question

Does Sarah Palin know how many igloos she owns?

Doesn’t know

Obama: “Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn’t know.” Barack, what has McCain ever said or done that makes you think that if McCain did know, he would care?

You don’t know what goes on in combat until you are in combat

Follow-up: In the civilian trial of former Marine Sgt. Jose Nazario for executing two unarmed Iraqi captives and ordering his men to kill two more, the jury evidently bought his defense that “The killings did not occur, but if they did occur, they were justified during the violent, fast-moving battle in Fallujah.” The jury’s forewoman said, “I think you don’t know what goes on in combat until you are in combat.” Maybe if she considered herself incompetent to render a verdict, she shouldn’t have been serving on a jury in the first place.

(Update: she added that the verdict was intended to send a message to the troops: “I hope they realize that they shouldn’t be second-guessed, that we support them and know that they’re doing the right thing.” A trial, any trial, is an exercise in “second-guessing.” Again, if you don’t believe in the legitimacy of the criminal justice process, you shouldn’t be participating. Also: “doing the right thing” – sheesh.)

(Updatier: another juror agreed that a civilian jury shouldn’t have tried this case, saying, “I don’t think we had any business doing that. I thought it was unfair to us and to him.” Which I guess is why she decided not to do it, despite taking the oath and all.)

They’re drilling it for everything it’s worth

From Radio Prague: Shortly after Czech President Vaclav Klaus’s hip-replacement surgery in June, someone was arrested after trying to sell what he claimed was the old hip joint online. Klaus said the body part was not his, but, suspiciously if you ask me, pardoned the man anyway.

Honduran President Zelaya says that in January 2006 the American ambassador tried to get him to give asylum to Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles (note: the linked Miami Herald story says the request was put by former ambassador to Honduras Charles Ford. Ford is in fact the current ambassador to Honduras, and was at the time).

Gore’s convention speech: “big oil has a 50-year lease on the Republican party, and they’re drilling it for everything it’s worth.” Ewwwww.

I was the first to say I would lose a campaign rather than lose a war

Immigration officials are now staking out Head Start centers, following their buses, etc. Bastards.

Go read the amusing McCain interview, in which he reacts to every question like a grumpy five-year old woken up from his nap. Don’t bother listening to it, though; the recording is all airplane noise. The only significant bit not in the article was his claim about Iraq: “It’s a peaceful, stable country now.”

The eight most dreaded words in the English language

They keep telling us that Joe Biden used to stutter. He’s supposed to have overcome it when he was a kid, but you have to wonder if he really intended to name his son Beau Biden. Just saying.

Seriously, though, am I not right that a former stutterer naming his kid something that sounds like a stutter is just a little odd?

So Joe says that when he was a kid, bigger kids used to beat him up, so his mother told him, “bloody their noses so you can walk down the street the next day.” Then she cackled maniacally.


When he’s veep, “no longer will you hear the eight most dreaded words in the English language: The Vice President’s Office is on the phone.” Actually, more dreaded still are the next eight words: “And he’s inviting you on a hunting trip.”

Under Vice President Biden, those dreaded eight words would be: “And he’d like to chat a little while.”

They do not resent or resist America’s democratic influence in the world

Russian puppety prez Medvedev recognizes South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent sovereign nations. Hurrah! This blog likewise recognizes the independence of Chechnya, North Ossetia, Dagestan and, oh, let’s say Tatarstan, ‘cause why not.

Speaking of independent sovereign nations, the “specific deadline” Maliki is supposedly insisting upon would be “conditions-based.” Who gets to decide if conditions are right? A joint American-Iraqi ministerial group. In other words, the US gets to veto withdrawal.

John McCain told the American Legion annual convention today: “when people in the oppressed nations of the world need support, and solidarity, and hope, they look to America. When they talk about our country, it is not with distrust or disdain, but with respect and affection. They do not resent or resist America’s democratic influence in the world -- they thank God for it.” Um, gosh, I don’t really... know... what to say about that particular, ah, view of the world. I guess he learned all about that respect and affection and stuff in Vietnam.

If not much longer than that

Condi is in Israel, because she’s going to have the entire Middle East thing solved by January, as you know. She held a press conference with Foreign Minister (and next prime minister?) Tzipi Livni, at which the latter was asked about a Peace Now report that settlement activity has doubled this year. Tzipi dismissed this as irrelevant: “the peace process is not and should not be affected by any kind of settlement activities. ... at the end of the day, the role of leaders is to try and find a way to live in peace in the future, and to avoid any kind of -- not to let any kind of noises that relate to the situation on the ground these days to enter the negotiations room.” Yes, by all means let’s not let “noises” about “the situation on the ground” (what some might call “reality”) enter the negotiations room.

Condi mildly criticized the settlement building as “unhelpful,” and herself helpfully added that “this is a conflict that goes back at least 40 years, if not much longer than that.”

Theirs is a forbidden love

Two stories in today’s WaPo tell us that Dick Cheney and Cindy McCain will both be visiting Georgia, clearly using the war-torn nation as a backdrop for their clandestine, torrid affair. Trips like this are “an important part of what I’m about, what makes me tick,” Cindy said, winking lasciviously.

Do you not believe in freedom?

If you can’t make out the chant, it’s “fuck Fox News.”

The definition of a slow news day...

is when the BBC World News features a four-minute interview with Jackie Chan (something or other about the Olympics).

So here’s a nice picture of John McCain at a baseball game, which you can caption, or not, as you see fit.

Blanket of freedom

I sort of expected the proposal to let FBI agents investigate anyone they want just because they feel like it, without even a sliver of evidence of a crime, to have generated a touch more discussion. Like, you know, any.

The Afghan Interior Ministry says the US killed 76 civilians, most of them children, in an air strike. The Americans say the number was zero. I predict you will never hear another word about this.

A former Marine sergeant, Jose Nazario, is being tried, in civilian court since he is no longer in the military, for the murder of four Iraqi prisoners in 2004 (he killed two and made two men under his command kill one each – male bonding and command leadership Tony Soprano-style). The LAT explains Nazario’s lawyers’ planned defense argument: “The killings did not occur, but if they did occur, they were justified during the violent, fast-moving battle in Fallujah.”

The judge has decided not to put those other two Marines in jail for refusing to testify against him, after one of their lawyers asked the judge to take into account “the unique sacrifices Sgt. Nelson has made for all of us -- that we all live under the blanket of freedom he provides with the blood that flows through his veins.” That is one disgusting blanket of freedom.

Caption contest. Don’t make fun of Obama’s freakishly long right arm.

Speaking of road kill sex...

As it happened, when I turned on my computer this morning, before checking any news sites, I looked at this blog’s visitor, and that’s where I intuited the Biden pick, because people have been coming to old posts via Google searches for: “joe biden draft dodger” (two of those), “joe biden suicide attempt,” “joe biden animal rights,” and “joe biden circumcised.” Also, “road kill sex.”

Just so I don’t set off a scramble for “joe biden circumcised”: I do not in fact have posts on any of those subjects.

Next question

All right, Senator McCain, now that we’ve (sort of) cleared up the question of how many houses you own: how many servants do you and your wife employ?


(Update: it seems that in 2007 the McCains’ budget for domestic staff was $273,000.)

I mean just flooded it

Yesterday, Bush went to New Orleans.

WHAT HE THINKS THE MESSAGE HERE TODAY IS: “I think the message here today is: Hope is being restored. Hope is coming back.”

WHAT THIS ISN’T LIKE: “This isn’t like a farewell address -- you know, George Bush came and he said, he’s through.” Through talking about himself in the third person.


IT’S EASIER TO REMEMBER WHEN THERE AREN’T ANY: “And even though I’m headed for retirement in about six months, that’s not to say I’m going to forget who my friends are in this part of the world.”

NAME OF THE DAY: “I said thanks to Hunt Downer -- that would be General Downer.” Why I can remember when he was just a Private Downer....

WHAT’S HARD TO BELIEVE: “It’s hard to believe that it was three years ago that Katrina, in essence, wiped out a lot of this city. I mean just flooded it, just destroyed a lot of hopes and a lot of dreams.” Speaking of flooding:


WHAT THERE IS: “There is hopeful signs of progress as housing is restored.”

WHAT ELSE THERE IS: “there is notable improvements.”

That’s pathetic

Condi Rice, on CNN, on the Russian threat to nuke Poland if it goes ahead with the Star Wars deal: “That’s pathetic.”

Rice with evil but adorable twin president of Poland Kaczynski
WHAT CONDI IS BEGINNING TO WONDER: “I’m beginning to wonder if the Russian President is ever going to keep his word, or can he keep his word, or what is going on there?”

WHAT IS EMBARRASSING NOW: “He’s the Russian President. He’s the Russian President and he ought to keep his word. But I think what is embarrassing now is the Russian President continuing to make representations that don’t turn out to be true.” Yes, imagine what it would be like to have a president like that.

She praised soon-to-be-former president Musharraf as having “pull[ed] Pakistan away from the brink of extremism.” He also “helped to smooth the path to civilian democratic rule in Pakistan.” Sort of like praising O.J. Simpson for helping to look for the real killer.

Testy v. testosterone

Bush, arriving in New Orleans: “I make no promises. This isn’t a chance for me to be a typical politician and make you a promise that I don’t intend to keep.” Um... good?




Today McCain accused Obama of getting “testy” (let me repeat: McCain accused Obama of getting testy. Sort of a “man bites testy attack dog” story) about being accused of being unpatriotic, which McCain says he totally isn’t doing: “Let me be very clear: I am not questioning his patriotism -- I am questioning his judgment. I am questioning his judgment. Senator Obama has made it clear that he values withdrawal from Iraq above victory in Iraq, even today with victory in sight.... He has made these decisions not because he doesn’t love America, but because he doesn’t think it matters whether American wins or loses.” See? Totally not questioning his patriotism.

It is possible I might have committed mistakes

Condi on the Russo-Georgian War: “what has Russia demonstrated? It has demonstrated that it can use its overwhelming regional military power to beat up on a small neighbor. That’s what it demonstrated. It can attack Georgian civilians, it can block Georgian highways, it can bomb Georgian ports, and it can say very nasty things about a democratically elected Georgian Government. That’s what it has demonstrated.” You make it sound like a bad thing.

Musharraf’s resignation speech:

ALL? THAT WAS REALLY ALL THE HONESTY AND INTEGRITY YOU HAD? “I am going with the satisfaction that whatever I could do for this nation, for the people, I did it with all my honesty and integrity.”

MMM, COULD BE: “It is possible I might have committed mistakes”.

CHANNELING JOHN MCCAIN: “Some elements have given preface to their own interests rather than the nation.”

The hour-long speech included a long listing of his many accomplishments for Pakistan, such as increased hotel occupancy. He denied that anything that sucks about Pakistan had anything to do with his nine years of dictatorship: “They said that during the last nine years our economic problems and electricity shortages were due to our policies. It is absolutely wrong and deception for the country.” There were three blackouts in Karachi during the speech.

He also repeatedly claimed that none of the charges would stick, because “because I never did anything for myself.” In other words, he wasn’t corrupt, just power-mad. So that’s all right, then.

Just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage

In a speech at the VFW, McCain, class act that he is, accused Obama of treating veterans’ concerns as “just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage.”

He also accused him of trying to “legislate failure” by not supporting the surge, repeating his claim that the O Man chose political self-interest over national interest. McCain is clearly not following his own political self-interest here, unless he thinks it’s in his political self-interest to look like a douchebag. Note that for McCain’s charge that Obama chose to reject a policy that was in the national interest to be true, Obama would have to have shared all along McCain’s belief that the surge would work and been lying when he said the contrary.

By the way, according to McCain, “victory in Iraq is finally in sight” but “The hard-won gains of our troops hang in the balance.” It’s like buying a DVD player at Circuit City, isn’t it? The salesman tells you the machine he’s pushing is a marvel of engineering, a piece of technology so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic, then when you agree to purchase it you’re told it’s really as delicate as a house of cards in a tumble drier and you should buy the extended warrantee.