Tag: alaska

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Let’s Play Palin VP Bingo!

With the eagerly anticipated Vice Presidential debate between Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin and Senator Joe Biden, I thought now would be a good time for Sarah Palin Bingo. Although Sarah came on like gangbusters, lately her star has been falling. From the get-go she has lied about her record on the “bridge to nowhere”, Alaska’s energy contribution to the United States, her position on climate change and a whole host of other subjects. And although she’s conducted only a handful of interviews, her answers have made conservatives increasingly cringe.

Given all this and the fact that a growing number of right-wing strategists have said she should resign from McCain’s campaign, I thought it would be fun to keep track of the items sure to pop up during the debate on October 2nd. You can download and print out the PDF version of Palin VP Bingo so you can play along at home, or just check the Palin Bingo Page following the debate to see how we did.

NOTE: If for some strange reason the VP debate gets cancelled, it’s an instant Bingo. Now go download and have fun!

UPDATE: Well the debate is now one for the history books (thank goodness). I’m sorry to say we didn’t manage to call a Bingo! but it was fun none-the-less. If every space on the board had been filled with “maverick” then we all would have easily won. Sarah seemed to mention it ALOT in the last half of the event, especially in the closing minutes. And while she held her ground and didn’t provide the train wreck that I think so many on the left were hoping for, I think it’s pretty clear she doesn’t have the stuff to be one heart beat away from the Presidency. She didn’t answer questions, kept falling back on talking points, repeatedly mispronounced names and relied too heavily on “folksy” sayings.

Biden for his part seemed off-stride for the first half, but picked up steam in the end. He didn’t put his foot in his mouth as I expected he would (which was great) and gave more solid answers to a number of questions than Palin did. In the end, I don’t think this debate changed much, and after the right’s relief that Sarah didn’t screw up wears off, I think people will realize how little she actually said.

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They’ve Got Palin Covered

It took me over 2 months of research to put together my list of 100 reasons why I didn’t think McCain would be President post. It’s taken Kos only a few hours to come up with 49 (so far) reasons why Sarah Palin was a poor choice for McCain’s running mate. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Palin was not vetted properly by McCain’s team prior to him selecting her. He only met her once before he made his choice and the cracks are starting to show. Some of my personal favorites from this new list are:

2. – She advocated AGAINST mine safety / pollution control

29. – She was a bad mayor who left her town’s economy in tatters.

30. – She originally supported Obama’s energy plan.

42. – She supports the outlawed aerial hunting of wolves.

48. – There have been discussion of witness tampering and possible impeachment hearings related to charges of her abuse of power.

We’re hearing a great deal about how Palin has re-energized the Republican base. McCain has generated a lot of cash since the announcement, but this really is to be expected. It happens every time there is a major milestone in a campaign. I suspect the further along we go, the more unpleasant things we’ll learn about her. And even if that doesn’t happen, her conservative stance on the issues will simply serve to magnify the “four more years” argument for voters. There’s other stuff on the horizon as well, but it’s too early to tell about that. Yet.

UPDATE: Turns out undecided, independent voters are picking up on her downsides pretty darned quickly. Check out this video of GOP pollster Frank Luntz’s attempt to see how well Palin will bolster McCain’s popularity. That is, until the majority of the people in the room tell him just the opposite. You can almost see him literally start to squirm half way through. Obviously this poor focus group performance will somehow be good news for McCain. Somehow.