Month: September 2008

Here’s a video of one of Palin’s 2006 gubernatorial debates.

Goldfarb says the Buchanan rumors are false:

Governor Palin has never supported Pat Buchanan and every responsible magazine or blog that made the charge has since corrected the record, leaving only the Obama campaign peddling this smear. How is it that the media, so committed to fighting the smears against the Obama campaign, is more than happy to allow this one to fester?

This is one rumor I wasn’t worried about. And smear?

Ted Anthony reports:

Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, considers Palin “extremely responsive and smart” and says she is in charge when it comes to in-state services, such as emergencies and natural disasters where the National Guard is the first responder.

But, in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, he said he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

The McCain campaign pushs back again against the AIP membership question:

We have provided ALL voter registration documentation, and the facts are clear. If the Alaska Independence Party at some point taught Governor Palin their secret handshake, there is no record of it. Otherwise, the only relevant criterion for membership in a party is registration–and Palin has never been a member of the AIP.

The Governor did appear at the AIP convention in 2000, when the convention was held in Wasilla. This would seem to be the only decent thing to do, given her responsibilities as Mayor of Wasilla, but apparently Tapper believes the press is owed further explanation.

Well, you know: the press tends to ask for explanations. When, one wonders, will Palin conduct her first press interview?

Ezra Klein:

Turns out that the Alaskan Independence Party is also the Alaskan affiliate of the American Constitution Party, which is basically a third party that demands the institution of a Christian theocracy (Goal: "to restore American jurisprudence to its original Biblical common-law foundations.") This sort of makes sense, as Palin’s political views suggest much more affinity for the far religious right than for secession movements.

Here’s a post that reads like it was from a few years ago, but was actually posted last Saturday. It’s Tyler Cowen:

There is one biographical fact about Palin’s life that the critics (Drum, DeLong, Yglesias, Klein, Sullivan and Kleiman are among the ones I read) are hardly touching upon.  I mean her decision to have a Downs child instead of an abortion.  This is the fact about her life and it will be viewed as such from now through November and perhaps beyond.

Yes, I deemed it irrelevant to start with, if a wonderful and beautiful aspect of her life. I should say again that her decision to bring up Trig makes me think very highly of her, to respect her adherence to principle and to love and to motherhood. I can’t think of many things more admirable than loving and rearing a Downs Syndrome child. I just didn’t think that’s a reason or a qualification to be vice-president in wartime.

The problem is: the McCain campaign made the baby a critical and central part of their political message about Palin for the base.

From the very start of this process, Sarah Palin’s motherhood and her children, especially the most recent baby in the Palin family, Trig, were put out there by the McCain campaign as reasons to vote for her. Her pro-life record, which centers as it must on her admirable decision to bring up a disabled child, was made the focus of the campaign – not by the press but by the McCain peeps. They put a baby out there, making Palin’s private life a subject bound to be covered by the media. Did they know what they were doing?

The human costs of all this must be pinned to the people responsible. Not the press, who are just doing their job. But the McCain campaign whose cynical attempt to appeal both to women and the pro-life world led them to pick and present Palin in this private context. Of course, it now seems obvious that the McCain campaign were doing all of this with no idea of what was about to hit them.

Rasmussen now has Obama at 51 percent.

Thanks:
 

P.P.S.–The Case for Excitability : Andrew Sullivan’s role in publicizing the rumor seems legit too. The feeding frenzy of publicity is what flushes out the counter-evidence quickly (and then it gets a lot of attention).

It’s worth recalling Mickey’s grand rule for scandals like this one:

1) Too horrible and shocking; it can’t possibly be true; 2) It’s not true; 3) You can’t prove it’s true; 4) Why are you trying to prove it’s true? 5) It’s disgusting that you’ve proved it’s true; 6) What’s the big deal anyway? …

Rob Horning wonders about the end of the credit era.

That’s the reason for an oil pipeline:

"I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that."

Much, much more disturbing is her describing the occupation of a Muslim country thus:

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan."

Are these people trying to prove me right about what’s happened to conservatism? This is Christianism ad absurdum.