perpetual memory loss

Here’s the clip from last night’s SNL skit of Palin and Clinton.  It’s uncanny how much Tina Fey resembles Sarah Palin–I’m convinced they are doppelgangers–and she does the accent spot on.  Hopefully Fey continues to come back and reprise this role.  Enjoy.

Things have been a bit crazy with school starting lately–all kinds of boring drama–and I haven’t really gotten back into the school and blogging groove yet, but that will be changing. Anyways there has been all kinds of crazy drama going on in the political world so I figured I would post some political cartoons from the last few days via the Washington Post.  By the way, I love how this guy draws Obama and McCain.

Here’s a couple of videos that make light of this whole Sarah Palin veep pick.  Personally I think this is akin to suicide for the McCain campaign, but who knows sometimes these long-shots pay off.  It’s just that I think her negatives far outweight any of her potential positives.  One of the worst parts about this picks, from McCain’s standpoint, is that it takes away his argument against Obama’s experience.  Her youth and inexperience combined with his age and proclivity for cancer make for one potentially devastating ticket.  If he died in his first year or two the effects would be catastrophic and would make the Bush Administration look like FDR’s.  If McCain wanted to pick a women I’m sure he could have found a more experienced candidate, but maybe he just has a penchant for the beauty queens–Cindy McCain better watch her back.  Also it is never good for your veep pick to be embroiled in scandal on the first day.   Besides now I am going to have to listen to commentary about how her kid has Downs Syndrome and that somehow qualifies her for the VP.  Lastly, she has almost no opinion on the important foreign policy issues of our day: nuclear proliferation, Iraq, terrorism, Russia etc.  Doing a search for her on LexisNexis and EBSCO brings up nothing.  The closest she has come:

Alaska Business Monthly: We’ve lost a lot of Alaska’s military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.

Not exactly the deep thoughts I was hoping for out of a veep candidate, besides the fact that this is a blatant attempt to pander to women, and win their votes.  The only problem is that most of Hillary’s supporters won’t vote pro-life just out of spite.  I will re-iterate that is, in my opinion, political suicide, and that McCain’s campaign is effectively over.  Anyways enjoy the videos.

Update 3:25

Found a couple good commentaries on the Palin decision.  First is from Obsidian Wings, one from James Fallows of The Atlantic, and the other is from Sensico.

The folks over at jibjab have released a hilarious new video, lambasting all the politicians involved in this year’s election.  Check it out, laugh, and maybe for a second forgot about all the pending crises’ that are looming on the horizon.

A leaked memo from the Obama campaign–via 23/6–dealing with the ground rules for tonights Hillary/Obama love-fest:

These untruths are going to continue to be beaten into the consciousness of the American public throughout this election cycle. However, these are all false accusations that are meant to do one thing: make people afraid. Get them afraid of the boogey-man so they vote for the other guy. It has worked before, numerous times, and unless the word gets out it can work again. This is the politics of old, Karl Rove politics. Fear people into voting their emotions and fears. It needs to stop, and this is something that this election, in particular, is about. Changing the way we do business. The Obama campaign has set up a new website to get the word out about the untruths that Barack is a Muslim and that Michelle hates whitey. They will always say they have proof but that they are waiting for the ‘right’ time to release it, but it never happens. This is the same thing that has happened to both Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore, when they supposedly have pictures to prove that they burned the American flag–which they never produced. Those aren’t the only instances, however, and if this continues this election will be another instance. Let’s get the word out. Go to Fight the Smears. Let others know also.

This video was sent to me by a loyal reader and it is especially apropos for this post, enjoy.

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Ok so I stumbled upon this political humor site, and this was the first picture I saw. At first I laughed, then I realized how big of a dork I am that I get this joke, then I kind of got a little bummed out, and then I laughed again after I accepted my nerdiness. I mean I may be a nerd, but I’m not Bush.

Here’s a couple more for your amusement and if you still want more head over to Pundit Kitchen.

Priceless.

This one might piss off some HRC supporters, and some feminists, but I find it hilarious.

Nerdy Barack returns.

Catchy isn’t it.  It’s provocative too, however, it’s false.  If anyone was half a brain or has been paying nominal attention to this long and dragged out primary season then you should know this.  Yet you still hear people who use this misnomer as a reason not to vote for him.  I’m sure some of you have seen those emails that insist that he is a radical Muslim.  One of my problems with this is that people will believe some silly email that has been mass forwarded to them before they are willing to believe what they have seen themselves.  We have had to deal with this whole Rev. Wright fiasco for months now.  Obama, his pastor, and his church–all Christian–have been plaster all over the papers, the news, and the air waves; yet people still don’t want to believe that he is, indeed, a Christian. Which brings me to my next point, who cares what religion he is.  A supposed Christian used Christianity to get our country in the mess it is now.  He also betrayed his core constituancy–Christians.  Some people probably believe that there is some evidence out there that will prove that Obama is a Muslim, and when found–or made public–it will destroy him.  I have to tell you folks, if that imaginary piece of evidence did exist I guarantee you that Hillary Clinton would have already found it and used it. Don’t believe me.  Maybe you forgot about this picture that was leaked from the Clinton campaign to the Drudge Report.  She used just about anything she could to beat him, and wasn’t able to.  Ok, ok so what’s the point already?

The point is that you people who think that he is a closet Muslim piss me the fuck off.  If you are going to choose to not vote for someone then exercise a little bit of common sense and discretion in you decision.  Do some research on what is important like the issues.  Where does Obama stand on the issues that you care about.  Consequently, where does McCain on the issues that you care about.  Make a decision based on as much fact as you can find.  Don’t believe some stupid, spurious email.  Also look at the records of the candidates and look at their character.  Now Obama’s record is shorter than McCain’s–which is good and bad.  Good because he has less mistakes in his past and bad because there is just not enough info in certain areas to really know where he stands.  As I noted the other day, however, McCain’s record on Veterans is not as strong as he claims.  His stance on the war and on veterans is supposed to be his strong point, but if you look at his record you will see there are discrepancies with what he says and how he votes.  There is another way to gauge a candidate too by watching how they act when there encounter trouble.  If you have been even paying a little attention over this primary season though you should have been able to see each candidate react under pressure.  McCain gets all grumbly and angry like, well a grumpy old man.  I have to say though I was thoroughly impressed with the way Obama took on all his problems.  He confronted his problems  head-on and told the truth.  I think after 8 years of lies, betrayal, and underhanded politics I’ll stick with the guy that may make rookie mistakes, but has the wherewithal to be honest about his shortcomings.  Don’t forget how lucky we are where we get to live in an age where the right to vote is a guarantee.  For the majority of human history we have had some King, Queen, Church, or whoever order around and subjugate the masses.  Now the right to vote is guaranteed to all.  So don’t treat it so casually.  You should vote every chance you get and make sure your vote counts by not voting on emotion, but on facts.  Finally, this can’t be linked to or said enough.  He’s not a muslim. So let me know what you think.

I have pretty much always considered McCain to be all bark and no bite when it came to this subject, but after reading a brilliantly researched blog by Hilzoy, I was knew that my suspicious ons were well founded. Frankly, I have for years expected better out of McCain in regards to the war in Iraq. As a veteran of the Vietnam war I expected him to think more clearly, and be a more vocal opposition to the war in Iraq than he has been. He has been as much of a warmonger as the rest of this abysmal administration, and that is truly sad, because he SHOULD know better. I think deep down maybe he does, but he is consumed with attaining the Presidency. Whatever maverick, straight-talk reputation he has had over the years he has slowly be shelving in favor of a more neo-con approach so that he looks more favorable to the party.

However, I don’t think McCain has ever been a veteran in the sense that many of us are. Yeh sure I know he was a POW, and all that, but if we can move past that lets look at the rest of his life. He was the son of a famous and decorated WWII Admiral–which means he received preferential treatment. He has never been poor or had to struggle. He didn’t have to depend on the GI BILL to go to school or VA hospitals to get treatment. His family has money, and his wife’s family has even more. He has, in essence, lived the life of a privileged–some may say spoiled–American, white man. So I don’t think that he has any idea about how hard it is to deal with the VA, how crappy many of the VA facilities are, and how tough it is to go to school on the GI BILL. If he did he wouldn’t have an abysmal track record. That’s why McCain has voted against Senate Bill S22–while Clinton and Obama the non-veterans have–often citing that it is too expensive, and that it will cause too many military personnel to leave the military to go to school. That may be true, but an argument I haven’t heard yet is that if the benefits are that good won’t it entice more people to join, thus evening out the numbers?

Who knows if that will be the case or not, but I find it hard to believe that we can give too much to veterans. It’s not like we are handing out Lambo’s and million dollar checks when then process out. Look at it this way McCain says this bill is too expensive. The bill will cost the American taxpayers $3 billon a year. Wow that is a lot of money, or is it. Consider, that that is just more that the cost of the Iraq war for 1 week. This just further validates Obama’s argument that we are spending way too much money in Iraq, and that money could be put to better uses here in the United States. Like making sure the injured veterans are taken care of, that they have adequate finances to go to school, and that the VA hospital facilites are maintained properly. Not to mention the money could be used on infrastructure, schools, police etc. Anyways the point is don’t believe McCain’s bark about he’s a veteran, and only he can take care of the troops and be Commander-in-Chief. Look at his record which Hilzoy diligently researched. Also check out Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Update 4:10

I forgot to post the official GI BILL website.  Go here for more information on the new GI BILL that is being proposed.  You can also check to see if your representatives are for it, against it, or pulling a McCain and not voting on it.  If you have extra time why not write your representatives and thank them for supporting the bill or if the don’t support it write them and let them know that they should.

The GOP unveiled a new website that details all of the attacks that Clinton fired at Obama during the primary season. This was the inherent danger of Clinton turning towards ad hominem attacks in an attempt to tarnish Obama. Now that she is supposed to support Obama she is going to be pressed with finding a way to undue the damage that she has helped to bring to Obama’s candidacy. Many people in the media and especially members of the GOP will continue to bring up her attacks on Obama and ask why are they not valid now. She could’ve chosen to run a different campaign, one that didn’t go negative. But instead she chose to go negative, and let’s hope that this doesn’t ruin Obama, because the last thing we need is Bush Jr. in the White House.

Updated 1:01

Ok well I thought this day would never come. I thought Hillary would hang on to the bitter end destroying any chance that Obama has at becoming President, however, she did the honorable thing and conceded. I’m still in a bit of disbelief in hearing Hillary throw her full support behind Obama and suspending her campaign. Finally it’s official and this nightmare of a primary season is over. Hopefully she is now going to shelve that idea of being the VP, and just commit to campaigning for Obama. As much as I don’t like her, I’ve got to hand it to her. She’s good at what she does. She has this crowd just eating out of the palm of her hand. Of course she’s straight pandering to the crowd, but whatever that’s her prerogative.

Updated 5:08

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