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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Politicans

Politicans

Interesting Troopergate Stuff

by Michael Demmons|  September 24, 20088:35 am| 27 Comments

This post is in: Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Republican Stupidity

This is great reading. We learn that:

1. The New York lawyer that John McCain sent to Alaska to help defend Sarah Palin, Edward O’Callaghan, is not a members of Alaska’s Bar. That’s a problem? (Updated for clarity: O’Callaghan admitted to Newsweek’s Michael Isakoff that he’s providing legal advice.) The author notes:

The pickle O’Callaghan’s wagging tongue has gotten its owner into is that, pursuant to Alaska Statute 8.08.230, a person who is not a member of the Alaska Bar who while physically present in Alaska “engages in the practice of law” is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. And in Alaska the “practice of law” includes “rendering legal consultation or advice”.

2. Alaska is one of only a few states where the Attorney General is appointed by the governor. Sarah Palin’s pick?

Prior to being plucked from obscurity by Sarah Palin, Talis Colberg was a home grown Mat-Su Valley homeboy who practiced workers compensation law by himself out of a small office in downtown Palmer, a farm town (of sorts) down the road from Wasilla. When news of his nomination reached Anchorage, to the man and woman, I and every other lawyer of my acquaintance said, “Talis who?” No one, and I mean no one (other than the few attorneys who practice in Wasilla), had ever heard of the fellow.

Perhaps, in choosing Sarah Palin herself, McCain was just following her lead. Being Mavericky! Talis Colberg has since gone into hiding. It would be hilarious were it not indicative of how a McCain-Palin administration would operate.

3. Troopergate is a partisan witchhunt? Not quite:

[C]onservative Republican Charlie Huggins cast the deciding vote [to isssue subpoenas]; which puts the lie to Van Flein and O’Callaghan’s repeated bald assertions that the Troopergate investigation is a partisan Democratic witch hunt.

Enjoy: How Alaska’s AG defied the public’s interest to cover for Palin in Troopergate

Interesting Troopergate StuffPost + Comments (27)

You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

by John Cole|  September 19, 20087:00 pm| 155 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?, General Stupidity


Sign at an anti-Palin rally in Alaska

Our nation’s foremost “expert” on energy has no idea what the hell she is talking about, and after you listen to her, you will have no idea what the hell she is talking about, either. Video here, and I half expected her to finish with “is our children learning.”

BTW, I think I speak for everyone when I say I like the sarcastic Hilzoy.

You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It MeansPost + Comments (155)

Random Friday Thoughts

by John Cole|  September 19, 20082:56 pm| 51 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Music, Politics, Tax Policy, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?, General Stupidity

Had a nice drive, listened to the new Randy Newman and then Ice Cube’s greatest hits, and the weather is perfect. Sunny, blue skies, and cool. Great day for a trip on the highway. Some random thoughts:

1.) I listened to Limbaugh for about ten minutes, where I learned that Obama is a segregationist and, this is the term I loved, a “racist baiter.” We went to cd’s shortly after that crap.

2.) Move over invisible hand, now it is time for the invisible handout. The Paulson bailout could cost a trillion. Everett Dirksen is looking down from above and is giving us all the finger. At any rate, because the taxpayers are now on the hook for a couple trillion (if they say it is going to cost a trillion, double to triple that), the greedy bastards who got rich screwing us with the “free market” are reacting favorably. This seems as appropriate as ever:

As Atrios notes, the music stops, and you and I got left without a chair.

3.) Every day the travesty of GOP rule becomes more and more obvious. I still believe many of the same things I have always believed, whether it be about abortion, the death penalty, the use of the military, etc., but it just becomes increasingly clear with every day how bankrupt the conservative movement has become. I don’t think the Democrats are that much better, and have repeatedly stated that I came to the party pre-disillusioned, but they are, at least right now, better. That can not be argued. What galls me is the depths that some folks seem willing to sink to in order to keep power for the broken and corrupt “conservative” ideology. It seems to me that simply comparing where we are now as opposed to where we were at the end of the Clinton years really says it all. The GOP has failed, and they richly deserve a few years off.

4.) WVU football is in for a period of steep decline. The last two games give me no reason to think we can win even five games this year. Our offense is flat and predictable, our defense is flat-footed and unreliable (unless you count on them reliably being unable to get the opposing team’s offense off the field), and the play-calling was the worst I remember ever seeing. Our coaching staff is clearly in far over their heads, and I do not see any reason why quality recruits would commit to this mess. If what the past few weeks is any sign, WVU football is headed for a dark period that we have not seen since before pre-Nehlen days.

5.) Please stop calling what that jackass kid did to Sarah Palin’s email acount “hacking.” He didn’t “hack” anything. What he did was good old social engineering, much like how Kevin Mitnick exploited so many systems back in the day (although in this case, it was not even anywhere near as clever as Mitnick’s exploits). All he did was google where Palin met her husband, entered that, and he was in. Hacking, this was not.

6.) It seems that the first dude is refusing to testify in Alaska. That is right, folks. We now stand poised to elect a Republican administration that we know is corrupt, cynical, and has no respect for the law BEFORE they take office. Bravo, voters. If the McCain/Palin ticket is elected, I hope we, as a nation, get what we deserve and get it hard.

7.) Speaking of Todd and Sarah Palin, the lyrics in Randy Newman’s new song, A Few Words in Defense of Our Country made me laugh:

I’d like to say a few words
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst this poor world has seen

Let’s turn history’s pages, shall we?

Take the Caesars for example
Why within the first few of them
They were sleeping with their sister
Stashing little boys in swimming pools
And burning down the City
And one of ‘em, one of ’em
Appointed his own horse Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something

That’s not a very good example, is it?

I think that deserves a “heh, indeedy.”

8.) Finally, it appears that nominating an inexperienced religious wingnut and unrepentant liar as your vice-president and then engaging in the “Lies Across America/Putting Lies First” tour has hurt McCain in the polls. Gallup has Obama up by five, RCP has him up by a few, and 538 has Obama in control of the electoral college again. All this can change, but still nice to see things trending in the right direction.

I have a bunch going on and may or may not be back later tonight. If you have some time, take this study, and if you are so inclined, throw Obama a buck or two:

Goal Thermometer

Be cool.

Random Friday ThoughtsPost + Comments (51)

The Real Manchurian Candidate

by John Cole|  September 17, 20088:07 am| 19 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?

Is Sarah Palin:

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is effectively turning over questions about her record as Alaska’s governor to John McCain’s political campaign, part of an ambitious Republican strategy to limit any embarrassing disclosures and carefully shape her image for voters in the rest of the country.

Republican efforts include dispatching a former top U.S. terrorism prosecutor from New York, Ed O’Callaghan, to assist Palin’s personal lawyer working to derail or delay a pending ethics investigation in Alaska. The probe, known as “Troopergate,” is examining whether the governor abused her power by trying to remove her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.

O’Callaghan is just part of a cadre of high-powered operatives patrolling Alaska as reporters and Democrats scrutinize every detail of Palin’s tenure in government, plus her family and friends. One strategy: Carefully coordinate any information that’s released. The McCain campaign is demanding that it becomes the de facto source for answers about the operations of Alaska’s government during the past 20 months.

She still has not had a press conference or any contact with the media.

*** Update ***

I should read my own damned website. Michael covered this earlier.

The Real Manchurian CandidatePost + Comments (19)

If He Can’t Run a Corporation….

by Michael Demmons|  September 17, 20086:34 am| 12 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?

Why should we believe he can run the world’s largest economy???

Because SHUT UP! That’s why!

Update: This…

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is effectively turning over questions about her record as Alaska’s governor to John McCain’s political campaign, part of an ambitious Republican strategy to limit any embarrassing disclosures and carefully shape her image for voters in the rest of the country.

It’s not like she’s actually been answering questions anyway.

If He Can’t Run a Corporation….Post + Comments (12)

Surrogate Fail

by John Cole|  September 16, 20081:04 pm| 44 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Republican Stupidity, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?

Someone needs to submit this to failblog, because Carly Fiorina is off message:

Carly Fiorina, a key surrogate for John McCain on economic issues, said on Tuesday that Sarah Palin does not have the experience needed to run a major company like the one that Fiorina formerly headed.

“Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?” asked the host.

“No, I don’t,” responded Fiorina. “But you know what? That’s not what she’s running for.”

What the hell is Fiorina talking about? Just last week, Sarah Palin drove by a mall, so clearly she can run a big business.

Surrogate FailPost + Comments (44)

Straight Talk Express, Klondike Edition

by John Cole|  September 16, 20089:23 am| 20 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?

Sarah Palin, July 2008, discussing the firing of Walter Monegan:

I’ve said all along, hold me accountable.

Walter Monegan, September 2008, discussing his firing:

“She’s not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten,” said Walt Monegan, the Alaskan official whose dismissal by Sarah Palin is the focus of a state investigation known as “Troopergate”. “And she’s not telling the truth to the media about her reasons for firing me.”

Sarah Palin, September 2008:

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will not cooperate with a legislative inquiry into her firing of an Alaska official, her campaign said, labeling the probe “partisan.”

Spokesman Ed O’Callaghan said Monday the investigation had become “tainted” by Democratic state lawmakers targeting Palin, the governor of Alaska who Republican White House hopeful John McCain chose as his running mate late last month.

She is going to fit right in.

*** Update ***

They are worried. The McCain campaign is firmly behind her defense now, and are trumping up charges of insubordination against Monegan after the fact, and then circulating the coverage, as this email to the Politico’s Ben Smith from campaign flack Brian Rogers demonstrates:

—–Original Message—–
From: Brian Rogers
Sent: Tue 9/16/2008 9:34 AM
Subject: Anchorage Daily News: Monegan Accused Of Insubordination

They are scared to death of this, and you should ask yourself why.

Straight Talk Express, Klondike EditionPost + Comments (20)

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