Hard News: Go Us
638 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 … 11 12 13 14 15 … 26 Newer→ Last
-
Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer?
that's soooo 90s.
-
Craig - It is amazing the bullshit media can get away with writing if they keep it tight. Did you even read the rest of the article you quoted? "No in person interview with the head of the vetting team" which would not preclude
"Throughout this deliberative process of selecting a vice president, John McCain's political advisers each argued pro and con positions to the senator about each of the finalists for his consideration," he said. "The senator had an opportunity to reflect on all the pro arguments for each nominee and all of the con arguments for each nominee."
The search process started in the spring. McCain's vetting team was given a list of 20 names and Culvahouse's group prepared lengthy background books on each candidate, based primarily on a search of public records. Ultimately, the list of 20 was pared to six serious finalists, then to two, and finally to Palin. According to several campaign sources, Palin was on the list from the start.
All six were subjected to a lengthy background investigation that included a review of tax returns dating back seven years, a credit check, and a 70-item questionnaire that addressed nannies and household employees, infidelity, payment for sex, treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, and other personally intrusive subjects.A knowledgeable official said Tuesday that the vetting team had hoped to run such a check but that FBI officials declined to do so because that type of inquiry is reserved for people nominated for senior administration jobs. The official also said the FBI was uncomfortable providing the information to a political campaign, rather than to government officials.
It kind of rebuts the whole last minute no vetting meme dont you think?
Russell - How many times are you going to jump the shark on Palins family. Your obsession with it is disturbing. the convention appearance is probably a rumour invented by one of your nasty litltle co conspiracists. The boy probably would have stayed away from the convention were it not for the intensity of the unwarranted attention.
-
Russell - How many times are you going to jump the shark on Palins family. Your obsession with it is disturbing.
Sage, you'll note it's not just Russell who's interested in this issue. Not by a long shot. I don't disagree with you or Giovanni that it borders on reasonable decency, however I don't think your constant attempts to characterise quite legitimate questions as crude or prurient is reasonable.
The Kos stuff is clearly BS, we know that now, but the confusion about how Palin ended up on the ticket is not. And given her staunchly fundamentalist Christian views, the specific confusion about whether or not she was upfront about her daughter's pregnancy is fairly in the public interest (although clearly it is hard on the young woman herself).
-
The Kos stuff is clearly BS, we know that now, but the confusion about how Palin ended up on the ticket is not. And given her staunchly fundamentalist Christian views, the specific confusion about whether or not she was upfront about her daughter's pregnancy is fairly in the public interest (although clearly it is hard on the young woman herself).
Yes, that's exactly it. They must have known the pregnancy was going to become a political issue, seeing as they were after value voters after all, and did the Palins come clean to McCain or not, and if not, what does it say of Palin's integrity, and what of McCain's vetting process. The McCain's camp swears they knew but they've only come today to an agreement as to the how and when the information was conveyed to them, which is decidedly suspect.
I can't help thinking that had they known, they would have front-footed it.
-
I can't help thinking that had they known, they would have front-footed it.
Precisely. I can't imagine that they'd have managed it in this way had they known. It just does not make sense; Occam's razor!
-
**The search process started in the spring.** McCain's vetting team was given a list of 20 names and Culvahouse's group prepared lengthy background books on each candidate, based primarily on a search of public records. Ultimately, the list of 20 was pared to six serious finalists, then to two, and finally to Palin. According to several campaign sources, Palin was on the list from the start.
"first on the list" - That must mean A for Alaska, right? I can't believe that this woman has been choice number 1 for six whole months.
"according to several campaign sources" - You just know they've got to be telling you the truth, right? And plenty of other campaign sources aren't on message.
I see that Palin was announced from the convention platform this morning as "Sarah Pawlenty". Most amusing...
-
"first on the list"
Pardon me Sage, I conflated your quote with something else I read earlier today. I'd better acknowledge that you didn't say this.
</redfaced> -
No worries Trevor. At least you admit the error. The point obviously being that several sources is more likely to confirm its veracity, even to the frenzy. It seems others are determined to keep on pitching the "last minute unvetted" meme even after it has been thoroughly discredited.
Paul - well that just indicates there are more dem obsessives out there. There is a feeding frenzy going on because Palin was a surprise pick that infuriates the dems for being so appealing.
giovanni - I hope that is a piss take. Palin being a normal person might have considered that some time during the campaign it might become a little more obvious her daughter was pregnant and quietly disclose something to an msm that would then respect her daughters privacy. she was obviously not enough of a mind reader to figure out that dems are space invading obseessive loons who would just make shit up about proxy baby mamas
-
giovanni - I hope that is a piss take. Palin being a normal person might have considered that some time during the campaign it might become a little more obvious her daughter was pregnant and quietly disclose something to an msm that would then respect her daughters privacy.
I'm sure they hoped to release it at a time of their choosing, but they must have known that it could just as easily not go that way, and that there was a danger that the spotlight would be taken away from the convention. The family lives in a very small town, the chances of somebody talking once the Palins reached nationwide celebrity status were always very high. I find it very odd that it was the Kos 'story' that did it. I wouldn't have dignified it with a response, had it been me. But god knows what went on behind closed doors.
To be clear, though: I've been extremely critical of Kos' involvment in this, but Bristol's pregnancy constitutes a problem exclusively with the very base that her mum's nomination is trying to appease. It's a group of people that is unabashed in its desire to apply its own moral standards to the rest of the nation; it's the group that gave us Dan Quayle, the scourge of unwed mothers, and that produces the highest hate-speech per capita in the developed world. So there is a certain degree of poetic justice here, and I am sorry for Bristol, I truly am, but for her mum? Not for a second.
-
[I think this means Craig is supposed to like them...]
-
I wonder what Levi thinks about the VP treatment of the brother-in-law and what chance he has of getting a rosy exit if things don't workout,poor little f**ker!
-
It kind of rebuts the whole last minute no vetting meme dont you think?
No it doesn't - I've never said Palin was never on a short list and the wodge you've quoted doesn't actually rebutt the lead. Look, Sage, you're the only one jumping the shark here. OK, in your opinion it's fine that someone with a thin resume, serious and credible ethical questions over her head, and little record of any interest in foreign affairs or even any awareness of the role of the Vice President will soon be the Republican nominee for that incredibly important post.
Sorry, no face to face interview until the day before the announcement? Incredible. And if Palin is the best name that was on his short list, then the GOP has more problems than this election.
The electorate might well agree with you. But I don't -- if anyone is jumping the shark here, it's McCain and his fucking party who seem determined to turn the Party of Lincoln and the legacy of American conservatism into a bad - desperately unfunny - joke.
But I'm getting damn tired of you patronising anyone who even asks these questions as part of some left-wing character assassination squad.
Separated at birth?
[I think this means Craig is supposed to like them...]
Nah, McCain and Palin would be out the nearest airlock. That's diplomacy BSG-style.
-
Craig - no face to face interview. wrong. it is no face to face with the head of the vetting team.
So she meets other members of the team and has telephone conversations with the head as well as having met and talked to McCain. Well gee whiz it is a little different put like that. That was my reference to tight writing.
Palin took on 2 oil majors over Alaskan oil and won. She took on the state head of her own party and won. She has run a $40bn GDP state for 2 years. On any comparison she has a fuck load more executive experience than Obama. So what is your point exactly. That McCain did not go with a traditional pick when the electorate is clearly in the mood for change?
-
That McCain did not go with a traditional pick when the electorate is clearly in the mood for change?
*sigh* No, my problem is that McCain didn't actually go with a credible and competent one. That's the kind of "traditional" everyone should be very comfortable with leaving alone.
On any comparison she has a fuck load more executive experience than Obama
And I'm off chasing the goal posts again. I thought once Hillary Clinton was out of the picture they'd be left alone for a bit. It's "executive" experience - of which McCain has precisely none. She's had less than two years of state-wide elected office. Obama's got her beat there, but that doesn't count. Biden has her bitch-slapped so badly it's cruel -- but he's a tired old Washington insider (which McCain apparently isn't).
Sage: Everone loves a tryer, but I'm still on my meds. I just don't really want to be in the state of willful psychosis you seems to need to be an apologist for McCain-Palin. Though it is rather delightful to see the Republican Party turn into the standard-bearers for moral relativity, the post-modern idea that words and concepts don't have any fixed meaning, and identity politics of the most crass kind.
-
more info on Palin, from somebody in her hometown. Somebody may have put this up here before
-
It kind of rebuts the whole last minute no vetting meme dont you think?
Uh no...the list of people who should have, in any reasonable vetting process, have been spoken to, including senior municipal executives, neigbours and many more, is both long and easy to find with a quick google.
And if we are quoting that WaPo story:
Palin, along with other finalists, completed a lengthy questionnaire that probed many personal issues. Campaign officials declined Tuesday to respond to questions about whether she had returned the questionnaire to the vetting team before she arrived in Arizona, saying they would not provide details of the timing of the process.
McCain officials said that questionnaire and the personal interview revealed three new facts previously unknown to the team: Palin's daughter's pregnancy, the arrest of her husband two decades ago for driving while intoxicated, and a fine Palin paid for fishing without proper identification.
At least two of those things would be expected to be known to any team reasonably vetting anyone for a VPOTUS job before they took her to Phoenix, and if she'd not provided such information, despite a questionnaire having been provided, once again speaks to her shitty judgement.
On any comparison she has a fuck load more executive experience than Obama.
executive experience is a bloody silly term to use isn't it..well I mean it's fine if you are looking for someone to run the city council traffic department, but for the sort of job she's applying for, its a big, rather irrelevant, so what. What's her position on the hell in Dafour? Oh that's right, no-one is allowed to ask her....
That McCain did not go with a traditional pick when the electorate is clearly in the mood for change?
I guessing that a lot of us are having trouble seeing how a ticket with an aging, stuck in the cold-war warrior who votes mostly with the current administration and has an evangelical twist to his ticket is any kind of change. It's just more of the same.
-
Let me get this. Cos i am obviously slow. A guy with great oratory, no actual policy other than get out of iraq, no actual international experience is preferable to McCain. You support Obama cos you want "change" so he gets a free pass. Look at his freaking pronouncements. Obama is one of the biggest wafflers I have come across. Never answer a straight question when you can waffle.
A guy who empathises with the working class american and will work hard for them. A millionaire who leaves his own freaking brother in an African slum
But a similar aged woman who can demonstrate actually taking on vested interests and winning as no 2 is unserious.
Read this for a better analysis of just why the selection is excellent. brooks in the NYT
-
The daughter getting pregnant was considered and concluded upon. Voters seem to be a little more liberal & forgiving than you lot.
The husband must have driven INTO the police station to get done DIC in Alaska. 20 years ago. clearly that also disqualifies her husband.
yeah clearly fishing without a licence also disqualifies her.
But a little blow when you can afford it? hey no problem.
-
I have to be honest Sage, I have trouble making a lot of sense out of some of your posts..you pick and misconstrue and wilfully ignore anything that doesn't suit.
I'm having to agree, since so much of this has been fairly articulately dealt with over and over here and elsewhere, that, yes, you must be slow. Must be tough, eh?
And, ah, Brooks is saying, in his own way that she's not a good choice.
On top of these conditions, he will have his own freewheeling qualities: a restless, thrill-seeking personality, a tendency to personalize issues, a tendency to lead life as a string of virtuous crusades.
He really needs someone to impose a policy structure on his moral intuitions. He needs a very senior person who can organize a vast administration and insist that he tame his lone-pilot tendencies and work through the established corridors — the National Security Council, the Domestic Policy Council. He needs a near-equal who can turn his instincts, which are great, into a doctrine that everybody else can predict and understand.
Rob Portman or Bob Gates wouldn’t have been politically exciting, but they are capable of performing those tasks. Palin, for all her gifts, is not. She underlines McCain’s strength without compensating for his weaknesses. The real second fiddle job is still unfilled.
And as much as I may argue Brooks evaluation of McCain, it's hard to argue that point.
-
simon - "I have trouble making a lot of sense" - I guess we both have problems hey. Do you find it difficult being a patronising twat?
On the other hand tell me what is being wilifully ignored. I am slow, or perhaps my arguments dont suit your memes. If the size of Palins daughters stomach is an articulate argument then I am happy to be slow.
The point that Brooks gets in the first part then loses completely in the second is that McCain picked Palin to carry the apolitical torch.
McCain has a few years yet. He can bring in plenty of competent non partisan adminstrators. Lieberman for example. Biden has been a friend of McCains for 20 years. Can Obama reach across the political divide?
Get the competent administrators as cabinet members under a competent chief of staff. And train Palin in the ways of National management and international affairs. that way you have competent administration and the right management.
Reagan managed to tip the Soviet Union over the edge by having a few clear principles. McCain can achieve similar by sticking to principles.
-
maybe all the reps needed to do was read the dems briefing doc from 2006.
Palin Opposed Shortening Bar Hours to Close at 3 AM Instead of 5AM.
on that alone she would get my vote. chrissakes you call yourselves liberals?
-
no, do you?
your last post evident as to why the whole system bound to fail.
those two hours..dude...
make all the difference to people who don't know when to say whenwhat does the pregnancy of paling's daughter have to do with whether she's a suitable vice president? the USA needs new ideas, first and foremost. and that's precisely what the Palin McCain item aren't offering.
there are few qualifications beyond the ability to communicate and the ideas the candidates are bringing to the table, namely vision. and the Obamas' ideas seem a mite more tuned into the concept of long term development.I don't think preventing abortion is gonna save America..
i can appreciate the entertainment value of celebrity democracy. I'm kinda ok with the fact the future of this place here isn't left hanging in the balance every three or four years .
while education systems are still prone to deliver voluble fucks who are prepared to swing their portion of an entire country's future into the hands of total strangers on the basis of whether or not the candidates in question support bar owners having to take money from casualties of alcohol abuse any longer than necessary, i will continue to enjoy the lark
seems the general final selling points that decide most elections are just windscreen wipers on secondhand cars.
folks keep buying them cars for them wiper.
flabbergasted, by how much bought into media propaganda of what constitutes a worthy candidate people are.
with potential to wipe out 100s of 1000s of lives
mcCain is a living breathing WW2
that hoot bush was a tsunamiwill the US election bring about a scenario where kiwis are sent off to some other far flung country like afghanistan to fight for freedom? and will new zealand tax payers pay for this?
if McCain wins, probability 68%
if Obama wins, probability lowerdoes anyone have a link to Ms McCain's speech?
and i'm fucking surprised this isn't a huge issue in the NZ election, whether the major parties are going to support the next US military campaign, cos it's not like Jamaica has troops in Afghanistan
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557787/Jamaican-troops-serenade-Queen-with-reggae.html
-
if democrazy was even trying to represent anyone you'd expect people'd be able to give their second choice if not their top 5
A likes sandwiches
B likes Souvlaki
C & D like chicken
E likes lattewhat's for dinner sage?
-
Read this for a better analysis of just why the selection is excellent. brooks in the NYT
Heh... Thanks for citing Brooks -- who is one of those "chattering columnists" you were so dismissive of a while back whose thoughtful perspective from the right (NOT regurgitating party talking points) I have a lot of time for.
And he says:
My worry about Palin is that she shares McCain’s primary weakness — that she has a tendency to substitute a moral philosophy for a political philosophy.
There are some issues where the most important job is to rally the armies of decency against the armies of corruption: Confronting Putin, tackling earmarks and reforming the process of government.
But most issues are not confrontations between virtue and vice. Most problems — the ones Barack Obama is sure to focus on like health care reform and economic anxiety — are the product of complex conditions. They require trade-offs and policy expertise. They are not solvable through the mere assertion of sterling character.
Emphasis added.
Couldn't agree more, and with all due respect, what do McCain (who used to be a POW, dion't ya know) and Palin (who has a disabled infant, which I'm sure you've never heard) bring to the table?
-
Andrew Sullivan:
"If Sarah Palin did not exist, Stephen Colbert would have to invent her."
Score!
Post your response…
This topic is closed.