comment #1

Jack Price says ...

Palin's sticking by her words, saying "it's fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career, in the guy's [Ayers] living room."

However, if the media suddenly turned a more discerning eye towards her husband's past affiliation to the Alaska Independence Party, what are the odds that Republican pundits would exclaim that these are "personal attacks" that "have no place in politics"?

As the brilliant Daily Show segment on the sexism card showed during the RNC, many of the same right wing pundits who like to beat their chests and scoff at the "wimpy left" almost always reveal themselves as the most butthurt and fragile whenever their myopic worldview is challenged.

I've said this before, but Sarah Palin is the phoniest blue-collar caricature since Larry the Cable Guy, and it's getting to the point where anytime I hear someone laud praises on her I can't help but think that they've probably fallen victim to every bad salesman trick in the book.

comment #2

astrophore says ...

jack price, absolutely right.

if you go back and listen to sarah palin from the 2006 alaska governor debates, you'll see a completely different persona. she wasn't a rhodes scholar, but she wasn't an extra from "fargo," either.

she isn't even smart enough to deliver these lines correctly. if they were truly concerned about obama's deep and abiding connection to a terrorist, they would say it gravely, soberly. she jokes around the whole time, knowing that the whole thing is a farce.

we're 30 days away now, and the most vicious sleaze is coming up. can't wait.

comment #3

Ogami Itto says ...

Everything you ever wanted to know about John Sidney McCain III (but were afraid to ask):

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

comment #4

JaySmire says ...

John McCain was very good friends--very good friends--with Charles Keating during the 1980's until the savings and loan scandals forced John to distance himself (and, of course, be brought up in front of an ethics committee). I guess if they are going to play the "guilt by association game" then you might as well say that John McCain is responsible for the current mortgage and banking crisis. See how it works.

Palin is one of the most dangerous creepy snakes I've seen the republicans trot out yet. She scares me, and people should really be afraid. Don't be afraid. Be very afraid.

comment #5

duck dodgers says ...

Banker=bomb maker

comment #6

Hallick says ...

"Palin is one of the most dangerous creepy snakes I've seen the republicans trot out yet. She scares me, and people should really be afraid. Don't be afraid. Be very afraid."

If the Democrats don't have the first clue how to send a clown like Sarah Palin packing back to her governorship, THEN I'll be afraid, but certainly not surprised.

comment #7

D.Z. says ...

I'm starting to understand how Jeff feels: You have to at least question the voting rights of people who boo a newspaper of the same city which got attacked by terrorists, and which they keep using to support endless war.

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

Who would have thought Tim Russert would be replaced by a man so vigorously in the tank for McCain? And he's in prime position to attempt to undermine us as a debate moderator. Guess we know why he came out of retirement. Sad.

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081005/pl_politico/14294

comment #10

MovieBob says ...

The Ayers thing is a problem (honestly, it even makes ME more than a little queasy - the Weather Underground were, in fact, violent terrorists. There's just no way around that) but it would be a bigger problem if McCain himself had the stomach or inclination to make it a campaign centerpiece - he doesn't.

Just remember: Compared to how dirty it COULD be right now, McCain is running a shockingly genteel campaign. If they were interested in fighting genuinely dirty, they'd be actively tying Obama to ACORN in order to blame him and "affirmative action loans" for crashing the housing market and thus the economy. It would be largely untrue, it would start a racial civil war, it would destroy race-relations in American for another two decades... and it would WORK. But they haven't done that. Yet.

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

Bob: "The Ayers thing is a problem (honestly, it even makes ME more than a little queasy - the Weather Underground were, in fact, violent terrorists."

So were the so-called "freedom fighters" we supported in Afghanistan who later became the Taliban.

"they'd be actively tying Obama to ACORN in order to blame him and "affirmative action loans" for crashing the housing market"

Then Obama would respond with the rich white bankers who got bailed out for $700 billion...

"It would be largely untrue, it would start a racial civil war, it would destroy race-relations in American for another two decades... and it would WORK."

It would work, if people weren't more concerned with keeping their houses and health insurance than race-baiting.

comment #12

MickTravis says ...

Two words: Witch doctor.

The guy didn't just drop by Palin's church one Sunday. He made NINE VISITS. Nine times....

End of interview.

comment #13

Jake says ...

http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

comment #14

D.Z. says ...

Jake: Looks like Obama noticed. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14302

comment #15

NotImpressedYet says ...

Does any other Obama supporter feel that the Rolling Stone article is too over the top and a way obvious hatchet job? The tone and the negative spin it puts on every single fact turned me off big time. I'm a firm believer that any good journalistic takedown piece has to let the facts speak for themselves and thus take a dispassionate tone. Anyone remember the Frontline episode with bios of Kerry and Bush before the '04 election? That's what I'm talking about. This Rolling Stone article feels more like it came from a used car salesman (or a left leaning Swift Boat-type). If Obama's smart he won't touch this with a thousand foot pole.

comment #16

Josh says ...

so its ok for people running for office to be friends with people like bill ayers and tony rezko and rev wright???

comment #17

Edward says ...

Let's drop the Rev. Wright crap. I've listened to some of his sermons and he's extreme, but he's not the evil person Fox News made him out to be. Taken out of context anyone can be made to look crazy. Rev. Wright was preaching from a black perspective and from this white man he seemed to be speaking the truth.

comment #18

dinther says ...

I agree, not impressed. Too many media outlets waste their time preaching to the converted rather than appealing to reasonable people in the center. Rolling Stone is a sad cliché these days, and stopped being relevant 10 years ago.

comment #19

Amazing Larry says ...

Josh, the stock market just dropped 500 points today. Tell me exactly why Obama's associations with Ayers, Rezko, Wright, or Bozo the fuckin' Clown are more important than Palin talking about how she and McCain would solve this mess.

If Obama is elected, it doesn't matter how debunked all this crap about Ayers, Rezko and Wright is, or how many times it's shown to be nothing.... it will be to Obama what Whitewater was to the Clinton's. Count on it.

Dinther, show me a list of media owners and how much they contributed to each party. (Shouldn't be hard, because thanks to de-regulation, there's only about 4 or 5 of them.) If the Republican/Democratic distribution isn't 5 to 1, then I'll buy you a ham sammich.

As to the Rolling Stone article, if it's fair game for McCain's campaign to bring up crap about ARW (shorthand for Ayers, Rezko, Wright from now on), why exactly isn't it kosher for an article to quote McCain's own words, as well as people from his own party for a profile of his life that goes beyond "POW Maverick"?

Not that you actually read the article, because I'm fairly sure that you didn't. But I agree with you that RS is a cliche compared to it's past, as is Saturday Night Live. But that doesn't make their debate skit from 2 days ago any less funny than it makes this profile of McCain any less well-written and informative.

comment #20

Ghost072 says ...

Great article. I knew most of the facts it raises already, but seeing them all lined up like that makes it even more impossible to vote for McCain.

comment #21

dinther says ...

Amazing Larry, I'm not sure I get your point on listing media owners.

I'm not sure you'll find anyone as adamant as me about opposing McCain as president. It would be a disaster, no doubt. My point earlier was that transparently partisan media persons - e.g., Rolling Stone, Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore - don't advance the ball by advocating, with great alacrity, the idea that McCain is the son of Satan.

Not that I disagree with them, mind you - I think they're right, generally. But I'm not the one who needs convincing. The ones who need convincing/conversion are those people who don't read newspapers or inform themselves on political issues, and who are reasonably intelligent but not-well-informed -- i.e., those susceptible to the myth of John McCain as a "maverick."

And my point was that articles like this one in the Rolling Stone (and yes, I read it) -- which highlight all of McCain's failings, but give him credit for none of the things he deserves credit for -- don't advance the ball with those on the fence. These people dismiss this stuff out of hand. So, while I agree with what the article says, I think it could be more effective it it did so in a manner which acknowledged McCain's few positive accomplishments.

comment #22

NotImpressedYet says ...

Good points Dinther.

Also, I wonder if the Rolling Stone is simply bad journalism. The picture it paints of McCain is so much worse than 90% of the McCain haters (me included!) probably have. The McCain we are introduced to in this article - how would he have ever been able to make friends like Kerry, Hagel, Biden? The McCain in that article is a 100% pure scumbag - not the formerly halfway decent but fundamentally flawed guy who's sold his soul in the past few years. To my mind it's an obvious caricature and lampooning, a total smear. It will make for a nice straw man and brush with which the McCain campaign can paint ANY criticism of him.

comment #23

D.Z. says ...

NotImpressedYet: "Does any other Obama supporter feel that the Rolling Stone article is too over the top and a way obvious hatchet job?"

Not for Republicans, no.

"Also, I wonder if the Rolling Stone is simply bad journalism."

You're right. Nothing says quality journalism like a gay prostitute posing as a reporter.

"The McCain in that article is a 100% pure scumbag - not the formerly halfway decent but fundamentally flawed guy who's sold his soul in the past few years."

And that's not true, because...?

Josh: "so its ok for people running for office to be friends with people like bill ayers and tony rezko and rev wright???"

Are they any worse than Luis Carriles, Charles Keating, and David Brickner?

dinther: "And my point was that articles like this one in the Rolling Stone (and yes, I read it) -- which highlight all of McCain's failings, but give him credit for none of the things he deserves credit for -- don't advance the ball with those on the fence. These people dismiss this stuff out of hand."

If they dismiss this stuff out of hand, then they won't vote for Obama, anyway.

comment #24

NotImpressedYet says ...

way to elevate the discourse D.Z.

you're an idiot.

comment #25

fattyhadaparty says ...

While watching that Palin clip, I became oddly fixated on something: was there some way to remove the "R" and the "Y" from that "COUNTRY FIRST" placard attached to her podium?

comment #26

fattyhadaparty says ...

And while we're at it, let's just remove the "O" as well.

comment #27

SpinDozer says ...

RS has sucked for many years/decades as a culture mag, but their journalism in the past 8 years has been vigorous. Don't know that we really want, in the present climate, to unilaterally disarm partisan left wing journalism. At a minimum, it provides a ready supply with 'right back attcha's' when the Limbots start braying. Doubtful that they will persuade uncommited/uninterested voters, but that's not their purpose.

comment #28

D.Z. says ...

NotImpressed: "way to elevate the discourse D.Z."

Like that really matters in this race.

comment #29

GonePostal says ...

The Rolling Stone article is of course a hatchet job, but Rolling Stone doesn't get any traction out of an evenhanded analysis. They've never been some kind of centrist mag anyway. They preach to the choir. Nothing particularly wrong with it in general, but it is, at least, an unfair portrait. McCain is about as evil as Obama is a secret Muslim. Though this campaign won't help, people need to realize that political disagreement does not mean that person who holds different views is evil/racist/stupid. That attitude is going to fuck our country up, big time.

While I'm not bothered by the Obama-Ayers connection too much, even though Ayers should probably be in prison, I wonder why the writer of that AP commentary thinks that Palin going after Obama on it is racist. Obama can defend himself. He doesn't need some jackass at the AP playing the race card. His Keating response was much more effective as it changes the conversation and puts the focus on McCain.

comment #30

NotImpressedYet says ...

I watched the 15 minute Keating Economics video today. As far as takedown pieces go, I'll take a million of these over that Rolling Stone garbage any day of the week.

And D.Z., nothing you say is even worth a response from me. You are an imbecile -- in the worst meaning of the word.

comment #31

SpinDozer says ...

'McCain is about as evil as Obama is a secret Muslim.'

Utter nonsense.

comment #32

D.Z. says ...

Notimpressed: "I watched the 15 minute Keating Economics video today. As far as takedown pieces go, I'll take a million of these over that Rolling Stone garbage any day of the week."

And I'll take RS over Drudge.

"And D.Z., nothing you say is even worth a response from me. You are an imbecile -- in the worst meaning of the word."

There's a positive meaning? Also, if nothing I say is worth a response, why are you responding?

comment #33

62Lincoln says ...

AP: "Rascally-tinged subtext"?
Ayers is WHITE.
Dumbases.