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Attack of the asthma
03 Sep 2008 10:07 pm
Something, probably the speeches, has triggered an asthma attack. If I can get the wheezing under control, I'll blog Palin's speech. If not, it's safe to assume that I hated it.
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» Watching Sarah Palin from Alex Geana
Watching Palin speak from home, I must agree with Megan McArdle's asthma, I'm having my own case, yet it's more like food poisoning. It seems like Palin is trying to say she's wholesome and American - as normal as the [Read More]
Hope you overcome the attack quickly!
LOL. And yet there are those who question whether or not you're a creature of the left.
I hope you are overcome your allergies (to Republicans?) - should be fun to read anyway.
Psychosomatic. Your subconscious is trying to protect you from the drivel that is certain to come.
Asthma attack? Oldest excuse in the book. This isn't gym class, McArdle. Get out there and blog. And no drinking in the bars tonight. And not one puff.
Ugh
this is painful, if you're a rabid republican it may play, but Independents? Not so much.
and for a family being off limits, she's been smacking around Obama's family an awful lot.... hmmm
I'm watching Palin's speech.
First observation: She sounds a little like Frances McDormand in Fargo. This is neither praise nor criticism.
Second observation: The speech is neither better nor worse than other vice presidential nomination speech I've heard in my lifetime.
Third observation: If she gave her consent, I would WRECK this chick. I would do every vile, unspeakable, sexually depraved act that would make even the Marquis de Sade shudder. Something about reasonably attractive, conservative, religious women just does it for me. It must be the thrill of defiling the pure.
a few more observations:
whoever wrote her speech, was contemptuous of Obama. The same points repeated over and over, even those that had been discounted. That's going to be a serious problem if they continue to go that partisan in the future.
I understand the need to introduce the family, but wow, did they hammer that.
I wasn't impressed, and really that was an unpleasant speech.
Q: Which malady is more disabling to Megan, asthma attacks or vertigo?
A: I don't know, but if Obama's supporters don't do exactly as I say, then I'm thinking about voting for McCain.
Those were some of the meanest political speeches I've ever heard. And from the party that is about to be owned in 60 days? What are they thinking? They better be punished for 8 years of recklessness..
It was an great speech! Yes, it was very red-state. But that's going to play very well in Ohio, which I think will decide this election once again. She may have mocked Obama a bit too much, but most of what she mocked is eminently mock-able. I had almost forgotten about the fake Presidential seal and the "bitter" comment. And totally fair game to say being a mayor of a town, no matter how small, is more substantial to being a community organizer.
Oh, and Rudy was awesome!
Palin is all set for a show of her own next year after McCain gets his ass kicked in November.
Let's use "American Douchebag" as a working title. A woman who uses her special needs child as a fucking football/prop at a political event deserves nothing less.
I haven't seen anyone else comment about it, but at one point Palin talked about how McCain got jobbed during the 2000 primaries. The entire hall went deathly silent. It was my favorite moment of her otherwise rather stupid performance.
All the best to you, Megan. As, asthma attacks can be very serious indeed, here's hoping you are not in a hospital emergency room. Take care.
Hope you're okay, Megan.
So the republicans once again appeal to the basest instincts of the electorate with their mean-spirited, angry speeches. That's about all they have to offer.
I look forward to your opinion... but I strongly suspect you won't like the speech.
is there anything or anyone or any condition you won't use to attack someone?
It was a great speech, IMO. Hope you are feeling better, Megan.
It was a speech on the attack in many ways. Considering the stuff that happened to her, and the way her supporters acted, I thought a bit of self-pity might occur. I'm pleased it didn't that I could see. Her family even seemed happy, for real. Which is either a sign of remarkable endurance or a sign of a blithering loss of touch with reality.
Overall though I think it was a good speech, for the intended purpose, that she delivered mostly well. It was not intended to get all of us to unite and embrace conservatism. (As Obama wishes us to all unite under a very liberal/left program) It's based in the idea they're probably not going to get New York or Oregon and don't really need to speak to them. So she's apparently going to be a bit of the mould of the VP as "attack dog" and "fiesty defender." In that mould she's done well. If that is not the mould you want, if you find that mould obnoxious even, you're not going to like it.
Megan:
News Flash: McCain was a POW in the war. Oh yeah, and community organizers are a life form below pond scum.
That just about sums up the night.
I turned on the TV and that one part of my brain that says these sorts of things said 'ooh it's a lady' and then she said something to the effect of Obama is too concerned about reading terrorists their rights and any doubt that I won't for McCain was forever obliterated.
Megan:
I look forward to your observations--and hope you are okay.
I thought the attacks on community organizers were really funny.
What exactly do they do?
Loved it, but I was its target audience.
Megan may not like it, the commenters may not like it, but the pundits are having a hard time finding good ways to knock it right off the bat. Olbermann's best shot was saying it would appeal to the people it would appeal to (paraphrasing). Oh, and he made an offhand remark about how she had to use a teleprompter.
Hope you're feeling better, Megan!
Sarah Palin is eminently fuckable. I'd make another Downs child with her anyday.
Chris B stupidly quotes and writes: " A woman who uses her special needs child as a fucking football/prop at a political event deserves nothing less.
is there anything or anyone or any condition you won't use to attack someone? "
John McCain said that Chelsea Clinton was ugly because Janet Reno was her father, and I guess you'll be voting for McCain anyway. So go Cheney yourself, chuckles.
They used that baby as a prop. I didn't. Who is actually doing the using here?
Can someone tell me about McCain's alleged reforms? What exactly has he reformed in the Republican Party, except for maybe himself after the Keating Five scandal. Is the celebration of him as a reformer attributable to his landmark McCain-Feingold bill? My recollection is that the GOP is none too fond of that one.
Regarding earmarks, what has he done to put an end to them except score political points by grandstanding about earmarks?
Sarah Palin delivered like "an iron hand in a velvet glove." This is one strong lady, and I say that in the most flattering sense of the term.
Hope you feel better.
Wow. First off Giuliani was gleefully vicious, which is surprising given the nothing he has done since 2001, or his particularly unique way of trying to be president via the unique method of campaigning in Florida alone. But anything to get a job in the Federal system, I guess.
He was especially clever in merging Palin's qualifications into McCain's while attacking Obama. He would start the sentence with a Palin quality, and some how end it with "And that's why McCain..." as though both candidates were just one highly qualified borg unit.
As for Palin, she has been protected from the press, largely did not write her own speech, and will probably be off the ticket within three weeks if all rumors swirling (from places like the National Enquirer, ANALizer of Edwards) prove true.
Four more things...
1) Why would you knock Obama as a community organizer? Of course that word was used as a euphemism for blacks like Al Sharpton... given the smirking tone. But that will backfire, since, in reality, it's a pretty broad category filled with a lot of different types of people.
2) It would be interesting seeing Palin trying to stop someone like Putin (slayer of tigers in recent photos), when she cannot even get the crowd to shut up to let her speak at the start of her speech.
3) It's interesting how they dismiss the whole intellectual component...Obama's time at Columbia and Harvard and the Harvard Law Review... and graduating with honors. One would think that all that time studying, debating, teaching law, might be kind of handy in a foundational way when in a place like Washington (or do they not make laws there). I think people devalue the schooling aspect which, in this case, is vitally important.
4) Someone needs to make a campaign commerical from that moment when the crowd and Giuliani started chanting "Drill for Oil" or whatever it was. It seemed like one of those emotional moments that seems so right at the time, but looks and sounds extremely ridiculous in retrospect. My gut tells me that most of America is not ready to drill the crap out of our shores, when oil prices are now dropping.
These comments are strangely obtuse, or just disingenuous. She mocked the " Community organizer" because he has been sneering at her as a " small town mayor" ignoring the fact that she is a governor for longer than he actually spent in the Senate - he has been running for president since shortly after he arrived there.
And, what did you want them to do with the baby? Put him in the closet somewhere, so you didn't have to look at him? Don't politicians always trot their families out on stage? And, babies always get passed around. They are dead weight, and they get heavy after a while, and people like to hold them because they smell so sweet.
And, fat Al Sharpton is usually referred to as a community activist - or a " Family advisor" when he is trying to incite a riot.
Why would you knock Obama as a community organizer? Of course that word was used as a euphemism for blacks like Al Sharpton... given the smirking tone. But that will backfire, since, in reality, it's a pretty broad category filled with a lot of different types of people.
Atwater 101. It does, however, run straight into 'thousand points of light'.
My gut feeling: people outside the base will remember the chanting, the anger, and the distilled scorn, rather than the words. And Obama will have received a lot of donations tonight. That felt like Ugly America on display.
All that aside: I hope you're feeling better, Megan.
McCain has been the one pushing experience for the entirety of this campaign, and in that respect his choice of Palin is hypocritical. Obama, on the other hand, has consistently talked about the importance of good judgment over Washington presence. On that front, most recently, Obama has had a number of strong domestic and international positions during his 4 years in the Senate and campaigning; he outperformed many senior politicians in the debates; ran an incredibly successful primary campaign; and was eventually vetted by over 18 million voters.
Not my analogy - if you're hiring a CEO and the applicant built a hugely profitable corporation from scratch, it doesn't matter if he dropped out of high-school; but when the applicant is largely unknown, their resume matters. So please, direct me to any evidence of judgment that Palin has made on domestic or foreign policy issues (that aren't social litmus-tests). Or better yet, head over to http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm and click around on Homeland Security ("Visits Kuwait; encourages Alaska big game hunting to troops.") or Immigration ("No issue stance yet recorded") and tell me with a straight face that she's had a history of strong judgment that supersedes Obama (weather you agree with him or not).
As most of the former presidents have said - there's nothing that can prepare you for the office. Weather you're a mom, a senator, have "executive" experience, or were tortured for five years - what's important is your judgment and the stance you have taken on the very serious issues that a president will have to face.
Call me elitist, but then please explain to me why we encourage our children to go to Ivy League schools but not our leaders.
"to the effect of Obama is too concerned about reading terrorists their rights"
I didn't like that part either. I guess the Republicans have to have someone say that kind of nonsense to win over the Rightists who consider McCain "weak" on the war on terrorism. Hopefully they won't have anyone throw in something about Mexican drug-dealers raping our daughters, to shore-up his "weakness" on illegal immigration, but there's a Neanderthal Secular-Nationalist element of the Right that loves to hear that kind of crud.
Also I wish she'd drop the part about the "Bridge to Nowhere" or gave it more nuance. The truth is she did kill it. This was possibly for political expediency, but it did occur. However she could give a nod to the fact that initially she thought it was a good idea. Maybe that'll get her the image of "flip-flopper" but whether infrastructure projects are a good idea is not a core moral issue. I could certainly believe that an Alaskan might initially think the lower-48 was being unfair to a project they have, but then learn more and decide they were correct after all. To be honest a politician should be able to change their mind sometimes.
She did her role well and was fun to watch. However I hope people don't think I've become a "Stepford voter" as I recognize problems with the speech and her as a national politician. I do think he's likely going to keep her either way as many of the most damaging things about her have proven to be basically false. Although real issues certainly remain. (Earmarks for Wassila, the library thing, misleading people on the Bridge, and Troopergate)
"And, what did you want them to do with the baby? Put him in the closet somewhere, so you didn't have to look at him?"
Considering that it was, what, 10pm in Minnesota, and the baby is just a few months old, I think the right thing to do would've been home, in bed, (or, alternately, in a nice quiet hotel room, in bed) watched over by a nanny or child care provider, rather than being trucking him into a huge, loud arena full of screaming strangers and bright lights for use as a stage prop.
If he were my 5-month old infant, he wouldn't've been there.
Patrick Meighan
Culver City, CA
This is what equality looks like. She gave the same VP attack speech every VP is expected to give. No self-pity, no schmaltz, professionalism. However much we may loathe the profession.
My other thought -> Slick Sarah. It ain't the female side of the Clinton couple she resembles...
oh my go(o)dness - this crazy democrat was actually speaking his mind honestly and while others were listening... does he not know that we ALL think the same but would never dare to be honest about it? How does he dare to be so honest... and while other are listening... other listening? in their faces and backs! America do you hear this?
Please vote republican - we would never do anything like this to you. Who wants to know when his/her partner cheated on them? Nobody... Look how well the republicans handled the intelligence reports regarding Iraq - it is this kind of honest talk that America deserves!
After all - we all now what Cain stands for? No?
on the other hand - Palin HAS been honest about her inner workings. but it does it not backfire even more than in Barak's case?
Barak: Don't turn to numbing distraction during hard times but lets pull up the sleeves and work together.
Palin: when you are down pretend to be up and when do not say publicly what you really believe. at least not while others are listening.
Do you believe somebody who effectively claims that lying is better than the truth - maybe she IS lying and what she really thinks is that Obama-Abel was courageous in his speeches compared to the Mc-Cain? This will be a re-run of Obama vs Hillary (and Hillary was a professional athlete compared the amateur Palin)?
seriously - it is surprising that anybody who actually listened didn't catch more than an asthma attack. how do people turn into Palin's.. really. It does not happen at birth - does it? maybe she overheard her parents one day: "honey - if you ever cheat on me - I do not want to hear about it..." Fair enough - but this is America - Americans do NOT want to be cheated and they DO want to hear about it if it happens. Why - because Obama believes that they handle it truth - especially when they have to pay the price-tags associated with say $1.5 trillion wars that do not get us closer an inch to Al Qaeda etc.
Then again - I really enjoy the videos that Osama Bin Laden keeps sending us while our young boys die in a foreign country that never posed a real threat to their parents!!!!!! Yes - let's go after Barak for being honest with us..
The delivery was great, but the substance won't do much for us Independents. I'm rah, rah, rah, America as much as the next gal, but why shouldn't people on trial for terrorist activities be read their rights? And why focus so much on victory in Iraq? What we're looking for is low taxes, not an obsession with victory for a bisbegotten war.
However, honestly, I didn't really mind the digs at Obama, even though I would consider voting for him. For the record, "community organizer" is not a real job. That is not some slur, as some posters have suggested. Someone with a law degree should not use his talents to run around the neighborhood like some high-school Free Tibet protestor calling for all kinds of things that need to happen. The last thing communities need is more organization. They need jobs and to otherwise be left alone. If Obama had started a business and hired people instead of "organizing," he could have perhaps really helped the community.
All in all, theres not much for Independents to like from either Denver or Minneapolis this past week.
bloody hell - the more I think about it.. Palin has given the Obama camp so much meat with only one speech that Barak should be able to kill those two loud flies with ease now....
For the rest of the campaign I would merely show video clips of her speech. Especially the ones where she attacks him for being honest with America.
If I were Barak - I'd run this over and over - smile and then say: Well America - I am sorry for not lying to you like the Republicans have over the last 8 years. I am sorry that I believe that you can handle the truth.
I am sorry that I believe that you should not be surveilled - that one should not say one thing and do the other - like with fiscal policies. I am sorry that I stand for fiscal responsibility and for wanting to check if the door is open before we run it in etc. I am sorry that I believe that given that we have the lowest tax income from cooperations in the world - there is not need for further tax cuts when it comes to international and domestic competitiveness.
Basically - I am sorry that I want to search for the lost key where we actually lost them and not where it is easy crawl.
I am sorry that while the Republicans want to attack Iraq and Iran and maybe Saudi next - I would like to find Osama Bin Laden first. I know my priorities are twisted - most American probably hate Ahmadinejad much much more than Osama Bin Laden, right?
I mean - Jimmy Carter was fiscally more to the right than the current Republicans? Nixon was an honest stand-up guy compared to the current bunch? At least back then - doing unconstitutional things was still regarded as bad?
"Community Organizer" is not a real job that qualifies you for office - "actor" is? A carpenter was good enough determine most of our ethical arguments but a community organizer..phh? after all - jesus sacrificed his life so that we can practice the death penalty today.
Who would have more authority to confront Russia for example regarding Georgia - Bush, Cain or Barak? The Russians would crack up if the current Republicans criticized them - I mean really rolling and wetting themselves on the carpets while we make them rich with our foreign policies? Remember when we offered the Chinese gold so that we can ship salt back to Europe? This is how the Russians feel when they see us sailing away again...
No - I do not think that God wants us to repeat the Cain and Able pattern over and over. The idea of Genesis is for us to break out of, learn and develop to work together.
Another great quote from Genesis for the populist theists among us:
I am sorry that I believe that given that we have the lowest tax income from cooperations in the world - there is not need for further tax cuts when it comes to international and domestic competitiveness.
Given how tax rates on corporations in Europe have been cut in recent years, on which facts is this assertion based?
I've never read your blog before but this made me laugh out loud. I'll be back.
Hmm perhaps you're unaware that rants about the forces of Satan don't sound less crazy just because they come from a Democrat or Obama supporter.
I'm skeptical of rampant tax-cutting, but the US doesn't have the lowest income tax rate in the world. I'm not sure what "tax from cooperations" means in this case. Do we really have the lowest rate on Co-ops? Were they even talking about that?
I know on corporations and individuals the highest marginal US rate is higher than in Finland, Canada, Norway, or Sweden.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tax_hig_mar_tax_rat_ind_rat-highest-marginal-tax-rate-individual
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tax_hig_mar_tax_rat_cor_rat-highest-marginal-tax-rate-corporate
A difference is the highest rate only covers individual incomes above around $326,000 per capita whereas the others place the top much lower. So people making between $61,000 and $326,000 might be less taxed than anywhere for all I know. (This could explain my puzzlement about Sweden having as many billionaires as they do. Perhaps it's this $61-$326,000 range that gets taxed more comparatively speaking)
It was a solid performance, and that was the overriding goal. If she had appeared timid and overwhelmed, then all the attacks leveled at her over the last 6 days would have been validated in spades, but they weren't. She was composed and extremely confident sounding.
As for the content, it was perfect, though I doubt all or even most of it could be attributed to her, but I will assume the tone was certainly of her making since it was identical to every other speech of hers that I could find online over the last 6 months. The mocking of Obama's qualifications was perfectly appropriate since his campaign has made an issue of hers- it is tit for tat going both ways.
The Democrats have a real problem on their hands now. Palin has powerful political skills. This should have been obvious to anyone that did even a cursory investigation into her political history (you don't take out an incumbent governor in a primary and defeat a former governor in the general election without such skills), but most of the media appears to have missed this until last night. If the Democrats don't smarten up quickly, she will steamroll Biden in the October 2 debate.
Someone above said she is the female Bill Clinton- that is an apt comparison on the purely political skills.
If you are serious it is time to turn in all the rest of your cards, you are a liberal. I have been noticing this trend for awhile so I do not think you are joking. Please do not start posting on Daily Kos :)
Finn,
You are correct that Obama has made a very big deal of his academic record. Graduating HLS magna cum laude and being elected president of the HLR are impressive, no doubt, and if I were hiring a junior lawyer at a law firm, he'd be high on my list.
Given Obama's emphasis on his academic credentials, though, I can't help but wonder why he has adamantly refused to release his undergraduate transcript from Columbia University.
"Considering that it was, what, 10pm in Minnesota, and the baby is just a few months old, I think the right thing to do would've been home, in bed....
If he were my 5-month old infant, he wouldn't've been there."
Have you had an infant? If so, have you been closely involved, or just left the care to others? Babies "just a few months old" aren't known for strict schedules and for sleeping 10 hours at a stretch every night (people often attempt to force schedules on infants fairly early, but that's for the convenience of the parents). And when babies do sleep, lights and noises don't necessarily bother them much. Perhaps you'll someday segregate your infant as though he/she is a shameful secret, but it's better for the child to be out and around people, being cradled in someone's arms, rather than locked away in a hotel room somewhere. Trig is part of the family.
This is just a really, really odd thing for people to complain about - that Palin's family was there while she talked. Think of the nasty comments the same people would have made if Trig hadn't been there!
ignoring the fact that she is a governor for longer than he actually spent in the Senate
False. Obama took office January 4, 2005. Palin took office December 4, 2006. Learn to count, dipshit.
Just dropping by -
I think the key phrase there is "actually spent", as opposed to "should have spent, if he'd been doing his job and not campaigning to be President".
Still hoping you'll let us know you're okay soon.
Also, regarding whether the baby should have been there, the answer is, of course! Don't you think someday he is going to be interested in the fact that he was there when his mom was nominated to be vp of the United States? Heck, my parents took me to ticker tape parades for the Apollo 11 astronauts and the Mets when I was a baby, and i'm glad to be able to say I was there, though of course I have no memory of it.
Where was the vaunted Sarah Palin speaking talent, though? I heard she was an effective public speaker, you know, comfortable and charming.
I guess that was like the myth that George Bush speaks Spanish, because the Sarah Palin I watched last night was halting and uncomfortable on the stage. Inappropriate pausing, stilted pronunciation.
It was absurd, like someone's first night at Toastmasters.
Perhaps too obscure: Palin is a feminist Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish boy who identified with his native France but whose attempt to support France in her Army was perjurously destroyed by Catholic France. Shortly Catholicism became an insignificant factor in France. Palin accepts the idea of a woman aspiring to any career. Have success in destroying her and leftist feminism is dead.
CS writes: "These comments are strangely obtuse, or just disingenuous. She mocked the " Community organizer" because he has been sneering at her as a " small town mayor" ignoring the fact that she is a governor for longer than he actually spent in the Senate - he has been running for president since shortly after he arrived there."
Bullshit. Neither Obama or Biden has "sneered at her as a small town mayor." It simply hasn't happened. That was just nonsense Palin's speechwriter tossed in.
Repiglicans will lie about anything, anytime, anywhere. You can tell when they're lying because their lips are moving. Palin is just another Repiglican.
Oh, and she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.
Of course Megan is not going to like the speech and she is going to loath Palin. Palin is
1. Better looking than Megan
2. More successful than Megan
3. Married with kids versus being single
4. Most importantly, didn't go to an Ivy League school and is from nowhere.
Among the female Washington writers, Megan, Lithwick, Baylzon and so forth, there is a whole lot of Palin just isn't University going on. That is going on throughout the entire media. The media is dominated by Ivy league types and people from important families. They do not like it when someone from the rif raf tries to play in their league. It was one of the reasons they hated Reagan so much.
Jesus, John, the asthma attack wasn't triggered by Palin, it was triggered by having asthma.
I didn't mean to imply that it did Megan. I hope you get better very soon. I really do. Astma is a nasty condition. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
Hope you beat the asthma.
My Mom says that my asthma started when I was eighteen months old. I've managed to survive to the age of 55. But asthma dictates a lot of my life.
So I think I know what you are going through.
Charles