“Does Any of This Really Matter?”

Here is Sarah Palin in a gubernatorial debate against opponent Andrew Halcro:

PALIN: "Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers and yet when asked questions you spout off facts, figures and policies and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, 'Does any of this really matter'?"

Why do I get an uneasy feeling in my stomach when I read this? Because George Bush got elected President of the United States, not once but twice, by being just one of the guys with no better command of “facts, figures and Policies” than Sarah Palin.

I think we will all need a couple of drinks BEFORE the debate starts tonight. In fact, my wife insists on it if for no other reason than to protect the TV.

Addendum:

Here's a partial transcript of Gov. Sarah Palin's latest interview with Katie Couric that aired on The Early Show:

COURIC: I know you're heading to Sedona to work on your debate. What is your coach advising you?

Gov. PALIN: I don't have a debate coach.

COURIC: Well, what are your coaches?

Gov. PALIN: I have quite a few people who are giving us information about the record of Obama and Biden, and at the end of the day, though, it is -- it's so clear, again, what those choices are. Either new ideas, new energy and reform of Washington, DC, or more of the same.

God save America.

She didn't blink

When Sarah Palin was asked if she hesitated for a moment when she got the call from John McCain asking her to join him on the Republican ticket this year, her response was , "No, I didn't. You don't blink when a call like that comes in. You say "yes" and you say it for your country."

That was the comment that convinced me John McCain had made a mistake.

Anyone who has even a grade school understanding of the complex problems facing this nation would have hesitated, would have been given pause by the sheer weight of the question, would have asked for time to think about it, discuss it with family, and consider whether the full scope of their public service experience and their intellect would be sufficient for the task. But no, she didn't need to do that. She didn't even blink once. Sarah Palin said, "yes." Her country was calling and she was ready to serve.

Now, John McCain surely is having second thoughts about his decision. Surely he would like to reconsider a decision he made in haste in the desperate moments after Barack Obama concluded his speech to 90,000 screaming faithful in Denver's football stadium.

Sarah thinks of herself as just another "Joe Sixpack," but even Joe would have been humbled by the question. Even good old Joe would have blinked...at least once. She didn't blink, because she was blinded by her own ambitious pursuit of the tiara they award at center stage.

Now we see through the glass darkly, but soon.....

I'm doing the best I can to stay ahead of the disaster the Bush administration is imposing on America. For example, in anticipation of the high gasoline prices, we traded in our car for a hybrid in early 2007. Second, even though our low ARM did not expire until March 2009, we refinanced our house in early summer 2008 for a low 30-year fixed rate because I did not believe rates would be better in March 2009. Today, I visited the Bank of America office near by and found their 30-year fixed rate is now 7.0 percent.

I want to state emphatically that I am not prescient. However, I do I live on the west bank of the Potomac River and from here, I can see Washington clearly....even through the intensely partisan cloud that usually hangs over the city each morning. What I have seen is not pretty. We citizens have to rescue the city from itself...and we must do it on November 4th.

Those members of Congress who did NOT vote for the "National Economic Stability Act" on Monday should be sent packing. (I know that is not its real name.)

It is not a bailout; it isn't even a rescue. I think it should more accurately be described as an act to restore economic stability to the markets AND to main street. All are affected by the lack of action. But make no mistake about it, the bill defeated 228-205 on Monday WILL pass this week...even if the Democrats are the only party with enough patriots willing to risk defeat with unhappy constituents at the polls in four weeks. They will do it; the bill will pass.

As for next year, two things are likely: (1) When the troops come home, America will start to spend a small portion of the war money on rebuilding America's infrastructure and that will lead to tens of thousands of new jobs; (2) another small portion will be dedicated to developing the means to wean ourselves off addiction to foreign oil and that will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs over the next decade.

Oh, and one other thing: you can expect to see about 20 books published by former "friends" of Bush 43 who served with his administration for the past 8 years and have been waiting until "it is over" before penning their recollections of the time they spent in this unfortunate national experience. If you have no stomach for incompetence, dereliction of duty, malfeasance and misfeasance in office, the politicization of the Justice Department, the emasculation of nearly every budget of nearly every department or agency of government, do not buy any of them. I will tell you this: I have already started a collection of these books and will continue to add to them, because I want to pass them along to the next generation with the hope they will read them and vow to avoid putting in office such partisan incompetence in the future.

Door to Door for Obama

Last weekend, my wife and I were among the 300 volunteers who visited 10,000 voters in Virginia, walking door to door for Barack Obama in Virginia. We knocked on 60 of those 10,000 doors.

I must tell you I have been involved in politics for many years but have never walked door to door. It is an exhilarating experience. You get a few doors shut in your face…but not many. A few people greet you with, "Yeah, what do you want?" In general people don’t like to have their normal weekend activities interrupted but I found, when they hear you are from the Obama campaign, their entire demeanor changes. Lots of questions follow, sometimes they tell you specifically which house on the street is home to an undecided voter, and frequently they ask for yard signs and bumper stickers for themselves or friends.

There is indeed something blowin’ in the wind and yes, the times, they are a’ changing. There is an excitement for the potential Barack Obama holds that is downright palpable.

The change coming on November 4 will be felt from Bar Harbor to San Diego harbor. Blue states will become a deeper shade of blue and Red states will turn purple on their way to Blue.

The Right Wing Cannot Legislate Because It Does Not Legislate.

The Republicans, when in the majority, with a President from the same party, can easily march in lockstep, like lemmings to the sea, behind their President. I do not consider any bills passed under such conditions as evidence of legislative courage. Clearly, today's vote indicates it is not possible for them to work among themselves to solve problems of true national import.

The initial vote today was utterly predictable. (226 NO, 207 YEA)

Republicans sat and waited to see if the Democrats would save their grits...as they used to regularly (in the pre-Gingrich era).

Historical note: Republicans were always more comfortable in the minority, complaining from the back bench, and content to go home and tell their constituents the problem is those old free spending liberals in the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, they and their constituents enjoyed the programs enacted by Democrats, programs that ultimately helped these "conservatives" get re-elected. In fairness to their voters, the voters were satisfied with such an arrangement.

I'm pleased to see the Democrats not giving them the privilege of sitting back and waiting for the Democrats to save them. Make 'em vote. It would only take 10 votes switched by the Republicans to have it pass. I realize voting "yea" on this bill will give some Republicans heart attacks and a few may need a doctor to control their nausea.

With the House taking the next couple of days off, perhaps cooler heads will prevail when they reconvene on Thursday.

Phone Home, Senator McCain. Phone Home.

Taegan Goddard pulled together a couple of quotes from the McCain side that reveal a totally undisciplined approach to influencing the debate on the Wall Street bailout:

"I suspended my campaign and came back to Washington because I thought that it was vital to do so. Sen. Obama said he was available to discuss the issue by phone. I didn't want to phone it in. I'm proud that we were able to get this done, and I'll give the credit to everybody else."

• Sen. John McCain, in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch on why he needed to be back in Washington, D.C. to work on the bank rescue package.

"He (McCain) can effectively do what he needs to do by phone. He's calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can."

• McCain aide Mark Salter, quoted by CBS News explaining why his boss could work on the rescue package over the weekend from his campaign office and wasn't needed on Capitol Hill.

The McCain Campaign is without a rudder or tiller or sail or compass….and certainly, without an anchor.

To Iraq and To Ruin

I do not have the words to tell you how tired I am of hearing Republicans recite their mantra: "We will cut your taxes and reduce the size of government."

BS

It is not true and they know it. Their only job --and they will quickly tell you it is their only job -- is to convince you that it is true. You only have to...uh, trust them.

Reagan said it and here's what we got in return. During his eight years in office we endured two economic recession, a 20 percent increase in the size of government, and a tripling of the national debt.

Bush 41 said it and the economy was in a shambles by the time he ran for re-election in 1992. Indeed, not even his victory in the first Gulf War -- which was a true victory, not a "Mission Accomplished" fake victory -- could prevent Bill Clinton from cleaning his clock (not even the one Bush 41 was checking during the debates). Remember, "It's the economy, stupid!"

The tremendous economic expansion the country enjoyed during the eight years of Bill Clinton's Presidency had the Republicans chomping at the bit to get back into power and demonstrate they could do the same thing with -- you guessed it -- cutting taxes and reducing the size of government.

Bush 43 sold the same bill of goods to Americans in 2000, and again in 2004, and here is what we got for it: America's first pre-emptive strike on another sovereign nation, a war fought on fraudulent pretenses, destabilization of world economies, record prices for oil and gasoline at the pump, abdication of federally mandated oversight of financial markets -- among a long list of dubious, indeed, disgraceful, "accomplishments."

But the most telling is the realization that Bush 43 will leave office having more than DOUBLED the national debt, from 5.5 trillion dollars on the day he came into office to 11.6 trillion dollars (if the current Wall Street bailout package is approved

If you hear another Republican repeat that old saw, "We just want to cut your taxes and reduce the size of government and that'll make your life better," you should shout, "ARE YOU CRAZY?" and run for the nearest exit as fast as your legs will carry you.

And yes, Bush 43 will always be remembered in the history books as "The President who took America to Iraq and to ruin."