Grand political roundup

[metroid composite]

Which deserves a nod from The Exile on the folllow up to the Christopher Buckley incident.

http://exiledonline.com/daily-inquisition-the-further-punching-of-christopher-buckley/#more-1450

Pretty much flagging such moves as opportunist.

To be perfectly fair to Colin Powell, glancing through his wikipedia Bio from 2005-2008 reads like a looping sentence "and then Powell criticized the Bush administration again."  So...going against Republicans is hardly a new position for him.  Additionally, it's not like he's currently holding a job related to politics (like political analyzer or politician), if he's being opportunist, the question comes up what is he getting out of this exploited opportunity?

Furthermore, his logic makes sense; he initially supported McCain's campaign (donating money during primaries) and has a history of siding with McCain against Bush.  However he didn't like how McCain ran his campaign (appointing Palin, using "small town" vs "big city" rhetoric, and accusing Obama of being Muslim).  It makes sense that he'd switch his support, given that a big reason why he often sided with McCain the senator was McCain acting more moderate than Bush, which kinda falls apart when McCain/Palin started campaigning their ticket as more right wing than Bush.

[Cotigo]

Snarky interjection:  I can't read!

Also don't feel bad about editing this since I'm quoted below

[metroid composite]

Snarky interjection:  Good job quoting the wrong link, ass.

I was quoting Grefter's post (which seemed to be responding to Colin Powell's statement, seeing as it was immediately below the Colin Powell post, starts with the words "which deserves a nod", and was criticizing people who shift their viewpoints).  So uhh...no, I'm pretty sure I quoted exactly who I meant to quote.

[Grefter]

What is he getting out of it?  Credibility for future positions in Politics, the thing a good 75% of moves in this politcal system are made for.

Edit - This is much more for Buckley than Powell though, just that they were vaguely related.

[NotMiki]

What is he getting out of it?  Credibility for future positions in Politics

Buckley is doing something a bit more expansive than just jockeying for position here.  There has been a cold war in the Republican party between big-word-using classical conservatives and know-nothing neocons, and Buckley is trying to ignite the conflict, essentially placing himself as the vanguard of a brand of conservatism that isn't afraid to say that Palin is a fucking idiot and we should elect smart people (though they would be sure to use bigger words to say so).

He isn't the only one gearing up for a fight either.

For team egghead, David Brooks
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10brooks.html
writing a version of a speech he gave the night before (and removing the bit where he said Palin is a fatal cancer to the Republican party)

and for team Bush-is-a-great-president-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you, William Kristol
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/opinion/20kristol.html

[NotMiki]

[Cotigo]

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/10/the_final_undoing_of_sarah_palin.html?f=most-commented-24h-5

Sarah Palin's campaign wardrobe costs more than I will have spent once I earn my degree, BEFORE FINANCIAL AID IS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

I mean, yeah.  Politicians spend a lot of money.  This isn't news.  But this is on clothes.  And only her clothes.  In an economic crisis.  For Joe Six Pack.

Hate.

[Grefter]

That article needed to be titled "The Final Undoing of Sarah Palin's Clothes" and the people that matter might have actually read it.

[metroid composite]

Well now.  THAT puts the AIG spa retreat into perspective.

Throwing out meals and accommodation (which I'm sure she's getting in spades) she just got roughly 100x as much spending as any one of them.

[Idun]

Well now.  THAT puts the AIG spa retreat into perspective.

Throwing out meals and accommodation (which I'm sure she's getting in spades) she just got roughly 100x as much spending as any one of them.

Yeah, it does put it in perspective, but the scrutiny is probably different because of AIG and Palin's position associations. Joe Six Pack just needed a nice Diesel watch, and outfit to match his wanted persona >>

[Taishyr]

http://www.heartlessandbrainless.com/2008/10/republicans-2008-death-before.html

Huh. I'm actually skeptical this is real, due to where they have the Alaska race currently, but I dunno. Also not the most fair of sites, from what I can tell, but it's still an interesting document, even if false.

[NotMiki]

dunno about that, but this is real:

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/10/23/nrcc-pulls-bachmann-funding/

seems Neo-McCarthyism is destined to be a short-lived phenomenon.

On a separarte note, I don't think the Palin clothing thing is a big deal (the money apparently may include clothing for her family as well).  I mean, it's politically damaging, sure, but I don't think it should be.  Politicians appear in public, and the clothing they wear is a legitimate business expense, though the price is impolitic.  Even so, it's not like she's alone in high fashion; Nancy Pelosi's signature pearls are estimated at northward of $80,000.  Hillary's pantsuits, which she got for free I believe (because celebrities wearing your brand is the best advertising anyone can get) retail for over $6,000 a pop.  I'm surprised this is taking off as a story when the revelation that she claims a per diem for living from home as governor didn't.

However, ridiculous as the issue may be, this is the wrong wrong wrong way to defend it.  God, McCain needs better surrogates.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/23/gop-strategist-on-palins_n_137226.html

[Cotigo]

Except, Miki, that the ENTIRETY of her campaign is that she relates to the working class douchebag, that she's a good ol' small town American.  It wouldn't be politically damaging except for, you know, that.

[Grefter]

Nah Jim is right on this one.  The working class douchebag these days sympathizes with the power elite that talk down to them and spend over twice their yearly income on clothes.

[Cotigo]

I suppose that may be so; take out the "douchebag" part and I think my point stands firm... except that the non-douchebags of the working class didn't sympathize with her to begin with, but if you ignore THAT...

...Well, then.  Nevermind.

[NotMiki]

Except, Miki, that the ENTIRETY of her campaign is that she relates to the working class douchebag, that she's a good ol' small town American.  It wouldn't be politically damaging except for, you know, that.

Don't get me wrong, I expect this to be very politically damaging among those very people.  I guess what I'm saying is a) I'm not one of them and b) I wish they would vote based on something more substantive.  Same goes for the doe-eyed pseudo-cultists fainting at Obama rallies.

EDIT: speaking of which:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/24/palins-makeup-artist-is-m_n_137513.html

Huffingtonpost: your one-stop shop to touch base with the Liberal attack machine.

[metroid composite]

On a separarte note, I don't think the Palin clothing thing is a big deal (the money apparently may include clothing for her family as well).  I mean, it's politically damaging, sure, but I don't think it should be.  Politicians appear in public, and the clothing they wear is a legitimate business expense, though the price is impolitic.

It's the scale of it that boggles me.  I mean, I like buying clothes; there was a while there when I bought myself a cute outfit every week.  Even so, I doubt my clothing expenditures in 2007 averaged over $30 per week or so during peak shopping season.

Now, I buy cheap; you can't do that as a public speaker, so it's understandable that she'd go more expensive.  However I went bridesmaid dress shopping with my sister, and the result was somewhere around $200 - $300.

As for Palin's family, the expenses for the family are actually pretty well laid out ($4902 for her husband; $196 for the baby, etc source).  So...the $150,000 is mostly Palin.  Understandably you need a different outfit every day of the month.  That's still about $5,000 per outfit; 20x the cost of my sister's bridesmaid dress, on average.

[Luther Lansfeld]

It's not even that it's especially weird for celebrities to do that kind of thing; it's more of the stench of hypocrisy that exudes when she calls Obama an elitist. If she didn't levy all the attacks she did and try to paint herself the way she does I wouldn't even blink an eye at such things. Not that I really blink an eye at this; this behavior is pretty consistent with the already very low opinion I have of her. <_<

To elaborate, if Paris Hilton (ignoring the obvious OH MY GOD NOOOO) ran for office or something and spent 150k on clothes in a month, I would be like whatever. Just Palin's obsessive insistence that she is just like everyone else (faux-folksy accent included!) and then doing this is like what.

Now what I'm not sure of is if it would really sway me if I didn't already hate the idea of her coming anywhere near being president. It's pretty typical politician crap.

[metroid composite]

Ciato, your clairvoyance scares me....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riiDGBdZWg
(EDIT: dear god, found the full version).

[Grefter]

Ergh I took the day off work because I have vertigo, now that I have watched that I suspect it will cause explosive shitting myself and projectile vomit.

[Cotigo]

* Zenthor bludgeons MC to death.

AAAAAAAAAGH.

[Taishyr]

asdf

what

WHAT

augh, for the love of god, make it sto- oh right I can close tabs.

Still, that's just... immensely sickening.

[Grefter]

WHY DID YOU LOOK AND FIND A LONGER VERSION ARGH I WATCHED IT AGAIN.

On the other hand, she states she wants to abolish the cabinet and that line is immediately followed up witht he sound of stomping shoes.  Clearly she is just a Fascist.

Edit - Oh yeah and fixing the economy by increasing the number of policemen.  Definitely a Fascist.

[Cotigo]

It worked for Germany's economy.  And if it's good enough for Germany...

[Grefter]

America doesn't have a ludicrously large reparations debt to pay off that they can just go "You know what?  Fuck you we aren't paying shit" to like ze Germans did.  (There is an easy joke there I am not going to make)

Edit - You know on reflection it couldn't be to bad.  It might be worth it for a laugh since under her own policies she would have to be impeached.

This swimsuit is worn accompanying the line "Your Commander in Bikini"


And yet it is clearly there a one piece swimsuit, therefore by very definition not a Bikini.  She would be put into holding by the Fashion Police and her reign ended prematurely because she would have been elected on a lie.