New pussies = House GOP.

John McCain = pussy.

For a little background about what I mean when I say McCain's gonna try and wait to see how Obama votes and then vote against it (or abstain?)...and then run on it for the next month...

...head on over to TDS and this post. I vaguely remember having to memorize some of these "game theory" graphs for a college International Relations class, taught by a professor who was ranked by students as "simply...the worst," I digress, have a look here.

I'll bet 'ya 700 billion dollars that McCain votes against the bailout if Obama votes for it and continues to try and lie about being a populist. Mark my words. McCain will vote against it.

On another note tomorrow morning my favorite girls and I will be participating in the Out of the Darkness community walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention here in San Francisco. As many of you recall, we participated in the 20 mile overnight walk two summers ago and raised over $8000 as a team. This time, it is a shorter walk and my donation goal is $200. I'm a little late in getting this out. For those interested in donating, here is my site. I'm currently at $115!

Yes, indeed. Sarah Palin is a joke.

And there's this wackadoo shit.

Thankfully, the Palin honeymoon seems to be passing. We can thank McCain for that.

Looking forward to the debates tonight. Let's hope Obama can get McCain's temper up like Gore did to Perot many moons ago.

Sarah Palin is a fucking joke.

I like what this gal has to say about her. Thanks to TDS for the link.

Same old Bush/Cheney administration tactic: There's a crisis because of your shit administration, then use the urgency of that crisis to try and ram your right wing agenda down everybody's throats. Much has already been said about the 32 word clause buried in the bailout:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Today Paulson says we should save the debate for later. But how can you pass the legislation when it includes the above without at least some debate?

We've seen this all before. While Bush himself these days increasingly looks like someone just sitting around and running out the clock, the neocon agenda is alive and well.

UPDATE: Indeed, Cheney's paw prints appear to be all over this thing. Same old shit, different year, except that many GOP lawmakers now are running away from it.

Ah yes, there was a reason I went to college and spent those hours in symposiums senior year discussing political philosophy and considering other systems besides the free market capitalism model, although it seemed somewhat pointless in the real world at the time. We knew the Republican and Democratic viewpoints were both slight variants on the free market system, but times were ok relative to the Great Depression so those differences didn't matter much. But now it is all coming into focus again.

The key difference is this, and I'll use an analogy: Republicans think that government should help private companies build the train track and trust that they will do the right thing and spend some of their earnings maintaining that train track and that government should stay out of their way or quit meddling with the wisdom of the private enterprises' right to spend their profits as they see fit.

Democrats wisely believe that someone has to make sure that the track is being maintained. Republicans will only act to fix the track after a train derails and people are killed. Democrats, if allowed to do so, use taxes and earmark those funds to make sure someone is maintaining the track, so the derailment never happens on account of neglect.

How many times do we have to relearn the same lesson? The Grover Norquists, George W. Bushes and John McCains of the world are for deregulation at all costs...until they are against them (well, except for Norquist, who doesn't have to decide anything other than advocate for elimination of government at all costs). Private companies under a Republican administration know they can cross the line because if the shit hits the fan, "big government" (normally their bugaboo) can always bail them out.

Back in the symposium days, one of the books we read was Strong Democracy by Benjamin R. Barber...which advocated, among other things, town hall meetings like the ones we see today. This is the same Benjamin Barber that in later years wrote the rather stiff "Jihad vs. McWorld," but he still has a lot of interesting things to say. This article of his puts things into greater focus.

The man has absolutely no shame. I hope to God the American people are paying attention to this, because if McCain gets elected, we have another liar in the White House.

Nice mansion. And that's...check...on the styrofoam columns.

And then there's this. This is proof, I think, that Georgia's in play. Why else would someone want to stir up the KKK?

It's on. Bring on the debates. I have a feeling McCain will bring out his talking points about the discredited supply side philosophy tonight. It will be interesting to see what kind of lies he comes up with about how he's different from Bush.

I have to say I am pleased with the way Palin presented herself last night. All she had to do was present herself as a likable candidate with a positive vision for how to take the country forward, and she didn't do that. She presented herself as petty, snarky, and unlikable to anyone not already predisposed to like her (read=wingnuts). So, I think we're gonna be okay. Gloves can come off now!

Thank god for Jon Stewart!

And here are some facts (from AP, of all places).

Palin = Snark over substance. Full of lies. I don't see that speech winning over wavering democrats or independents. It played right to the base. It was full of, as Chuck Schumer said recently, "rabbit punches." Good luck tonight, MacSame. She's a tough act to follow. Fallows has it just about right.

A word of caution about the feeding frenzy going over Palin: The GOP are counting on this to take on a life of its own and make her into a sympathetic figure for those prone to believe that this country is under the influence of a "liberal" media. I don't think it's going to work this time, because things are looking bad for the GOP. However, I will be interested to see what she says in her speech tonight in contrast to this little speech to evangelicals in Alaska a while back. Remember how many people were turned off by Buchanan in 1996? Let's just say ol' Pat's in her corner. Point is, we all need to be careful, and start talking about this potential smoke screen. Because she's going to frame herself as the girl next door tonight. Think Ollie North. Or...

...this may seem counterintuitive, but I can't help but think back to the Anita Hill controversy, and wonder if Thomas would have sailed into the Supreme Court in 1991 if not for the sexual harassment allegations. At the time 98% of the Senate was male, and...I'll need to check the record on this...but I wonder if Thomas would have had the votes if his record and views alone were all that were considered. The controversy polarized a lot of people at the time, and though the shift took place later (remember 1992 as "year of the woman?"), I think for some in the Senate, the claim Clarence Thomas made, that of a high tech lynching, might have resonated with some in the Senate who might otherwise have voted against him because it made him a "sympathetic figure." Food for thought anyway. Camille Paglia said as much many summers ago.

Here's all I'll say about Palin: Getting personal with family matters should be off the record, unless what you do for yourself isn't what you prescribe unto others. Remember when the Clintons were practically hanged for sending Chelsea to a private school? And I hear wingnuts yak about Al Gore's energy bills for his estate all the time. Come clean about your abstinence-only philosophy and now you're talking.

She's got bigger issues than her daughter's pregnancy, but more to the point...McCain's got two big problems:

1. Judgment to lead - This was clearly a last minute hail mary a-la Brett Favre 2005-2006.

2. Readiness - How is McCain's argument about Obama's readiness to be commander in chief holding up? How about all of the wingnuts who parroted the same line? They can all stew in their moose shit now.

I wonder if Gustav's the only reason these guys are scaling back their convention. For one, it doesn't seem like everyone got the memo. And another, I wonder if turnout and enthusiasm would be any different Gustav didn't happen. I guess we shall see.