Month: September 2008

According to the Anchorage Daily News, whose archives are the best source for Palin info, Palin has never personally issued an order to the Alaska National Guard.

Some encouraging news from the terror war: the U.S. is now raiding into Pakistan to pursue the Taliban and al Qaeda. This policy – resisted by Bush for a very long time in deference to Musharraf – was apparently long championed by Bob Gates and is now in effect:

Until now, allied forces in Afghanistan have occasionally carried out airstrikes and artillery attacks in the border region of Pakistan against militants hiding there, and American forces in “hot pursuit” of militants have had some latitude to chase them across the border.

But the commando raid by the American forces signaled what top American officials said could be the opening salvo in a much broader campaign by Special Operations forces against the Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Pakistan, a secret plan that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has been advocating for months within President Bush’s war council.

This is very good news. It’s also a policy – like the withdrawal timetable and like talking to Iran – in which Barack Obama was ahead of the Bush administration. If his judgment is so faulty, why do the wiser heads in the Bush administration keep following it?

The Washington Independent finds Palin’s handwriting on an earmark. Image here.

Kristol doesn’t disappoint:

Now we see why the liberal establishment has been trying for the last few days to destroy Sarah Palin. She is a threat to their hopes to take the White House this year, a threat to their broader claims to speak for youth, for women, and for the future, and a threat to their attempt to control the high ground in the culture war. After her stunning success last night, some in the liberal media may retire from the ring for a while. Others, with the threat now even more evident, may redouble their assaults and become even more desperate and vicious. Surely they’ll fail.

For an advance version of this piece, see here. I’m not sure that Google is the "liberal establishment." As for "destroy", the truth is: Americans were simply trying to find out who she is. Because the McCain campaign didn’t bother.

A nice riff from Nate Silver:

You have Mitt Romney — one of the wealthiest men ever to run for office — critiquing east-coast elitism, and Mike Huckabee — who is an economic populist in disguise — critiquing big government, and Sarah Palin — who voters don’t know one iota about — critiquing Barack Obama’s biography.

Increasingly, it seems to me, the GOP reflects some of the most ADD elements in the culture. There is no sense of accountability, no real pretense that anything is for much more than the present, and reality is constantly shaped to fit the demands of the micro-news-cycle. I thought McCain was unlike that. But he’s the leader of this party, and he cannot change it overnight. My worry is: he doesn’t seem to be trying any more.

More background on the social problems of the home-town of Sarah Palin:

In 2003, authorities uncovered nine meth labs in the area. Last year, the number increased to 42, said Kyle Young, an investigator with the troopers who works with the Mat-Su narcotics team.

Officials with the Office of Children’s Services in Wasilla said the problem affects children. The office receives about 40 calls a month from people reporting abuse or neglect involving some aspect of the highly addictive drug…

 

When authorities surrounded a converted bus housing a meth operation in Big Lake in January, a 13-year-old boy who answered the door bragged that his mom cooked the best meth in the valley, according to the troopers.

During a 2003 bust at a house outside Wasilla, officers discovered five children living inside, all younger than 8 years old.

The calls about meth to children’s services in Wasilla accounts for as many as 40 percent of the agency’s total monthly child protection calls.

Reihan is fascinated.

Kim Barker and Aamer Madhani question if a mini-surge would work in Afghanistan:

More than Iraq, Afghanistan’s terrain–craggy and mountainous–presents challenges. The insurgency here is more rural; militants exploit the weakness of the government outside Kabul and intimidate villagers. Afghanistan also is so poor and illiterate that it’s easier to recruit fighters than in Iraq, counterinsurgency experts say.

In parallel with the surge in Iraq, U.S. troops were able to undermine the enemy by paying former Sunni insurgents to become part of the so-called Sons of Iraq, who now help battle Al Qaeda forces. But in Afghanistan, Afghans are increasingly suspicious of foreign troops, blaming them for killing civilians, arresting innocent Afghans and heeding the advice of hated warlords.

Ross acknowledges the "storm" around Palin calls McCain’s judgment into question, but he is livid about the coverage of her.

Romney’s. I think David Brooks on PBS called it "borderline insane." Megan has a great line:

Mitt Romney seems to use the word "liberal" in a randomly pejorative fashion.  I half expect him to say "I was eating breakfast this morning, and my hash browns were all liberal.  I sent them back and told the waitress to bring me some good, conservative hash browns."

It was random and moronic.