Whew….and to think we could’ve had a doofus for VP….
David K.
Whats sad is that Sarah Palin makes Joe Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar…
Joe Mama
Whats sad is that Sarah Palin makes Joe Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar…
Comments like that are amazing. Either (1) you are ignorant or dismissive of Biden’s verbal diarrhea, or (2) you have a hate-on for Palin. To wit, the only time the two were paired against each other in a debate, Palin’s slips were nothing compared to Biden’s:
Gov. Palin certainly had her sketchy moments that night. On one occasion, she called her opponent “Senator O’Biden.” She referred twice to the top U.S. military officer in Afghanistan as “General McClellan.” (His name is David McKiernan). She claimed as mayor to have reduced taxes “every year I was in office,” an assertion that is accurate only if one ignores sales tax increases. Likewise, she maintained that McCain’s $5,000 tax credit for health coverage was “budget-neutral,” which is only possible by repealing the laws of mathematics. She gave McCain more credit than he was due in blowing the whistle on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while repeating a misleading claim against Obama used by Hillary Clinton and McCain on an energy bill. She also exaggerated her own accomplishment regarding a $40 billion proposed pipeline in Alaska.
Sen. Biden, however, was in a place by himself when it came to bogus claims, absurd contentions, and flights of rhetorical fancy. He threw out several assertions that were so preposterous that – had Palin made them – they would have prompted immediate calls for McCain to dump her from the ticket.
The good senator from Delaware warmed up slowly, erroneously claiming that McCain voted with Obama on a budget resolution, and asserting wrongly that Obama wanted to return to the Reagan-era marginal income tax rates. He also embarked on an appallingly wrongheaded monologue about the constitutional history of the vice presidency. But when the talk turned to national security, presumably Biden’s purported area of expertise, he went completely off the grid.
• “John McCain voted against a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that every Republican has supported,” Biden stated. (Actually, in a 1999 vote in Congress, McCain sided with 50 other Republicans to kill the treaty. Only four joined the Democrats.)
• “Pakistan already has deployed nuclear weapons,” Biden said. “Pakistan’s weapons can already hit Israel and the Mediterranean.” (Pakistan has no known intercontinental missiles. The range of its weapons is thought to be 1,000 miles – halfway to Israel.)
• “When we kicked–along with France–we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t…Hezbollah will control it.'” Biden recalled. “Now what’s happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.” (Except that the U.S. never kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon or anywhere else. They’ve been entrenched in Lebanon since 1982. Actually, Hezbollah, insofar as it was responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing at the Marine barracks that killed 241 U.S. servicemen, kicked America out of Lebanon, not the other way around.)
• “The president…insisted on elections on the West Bank, when I said, and others said, and Barack Obama said, ‘Big mistake. Hamas will win. You’ll legitimize them.’ What happened? Hamas won,” Biden said. (Only the last two words of Biden’s strange soliloquy are true. The rest are false. For one thing, Fatah controls the West Bank. Biden was thinking of Gaza. Secondly, neither Biden nor Obama predicted the 2006 victory for Hamas in Gaza’s legislative elections. Third, McCain and Obama – but not Biden — signed a letter urging the president to pressure Palestinians to require that candidates adhere to democratic principles before being allowed to run for office. Fourth, Biden served as an election observer and later wrote an article expressing high praise for Bush’s actions. To sum up: One factual error and three fibs in only 31 words. Pretty impressive, in its way.)
• “With Afghanistan, facts matter…we spend more money in three weeks on combat in Iraq than we spend on the entirety of the last seven years that we have been in Afghanistan. Let me say that again…” (He did say it again, but that didn’t make it true. It’s wildly and weirdly off the mark. Yes, facts matter. The facts here were that at the time Biden was speaking, the U.S. had spent $172 billion in Afghanistan. The Iraq War consumes between $7 billion and $8 billion every three weeks. Biden’s math was off by 2,000 percent.)
• “Can I clarify this? This is simply not true about Barack Obama. He did not say (he’d) sit down with Ahmadinejad.” (He most certainly did. And among those who criticized him at the time for it was Joe Biden, who told Byron York of National Review that the idea of a president meeting with the likes of the Iranian president or Hugo Chavez was “naïve.”)
Those were alarming mistakes. To me Biden’s most discordant claims concerned his Animal House-like history lecture about the office of the vice president. It came while Biden was dressing down Dick Cheney, who was not present, for supposedly being unfamiliar with the Constitution. “The idea (that) he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States – that’s the executive branch – he works in the executive branch,” Biden said. “He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. And the primary role of the vice president of the United States is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and, as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit….He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the legislative branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive, and look where it has gotten us.”
Lord, would Tina Fey have had fun with this jumble of misinformation – if only Palin had said it! Article I defines the legislative, not executive, branch. The vice president is, indeed, mentioned there. What Biden finds “explicit,” hasn’t been so to previous vice presidents or to most constitutional scholars. Prior to the 20th century, vice presidents didn’t even have offices at the White House compound – they were housed in the Capitol. The notion that a veep’s constitutional authority is to provide advice to a president springs from Biden’s brow; it certainly isn’t mentioned, or even contemplated, in the Constitution, which doesn’t even say whether the vice president should receive a salary.
Should Joe Biden have known this stuff? Since he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, you’d hope so. But even if he didn’t, you’d think it would be news when he unleashed a veritable fount of misinformation to impugn Palin’s knowledge of the federal system while attacking a sitting vice president. It barely rated a mention in the collective mainstream media.
David K.
The only reason you are defending Palin is because she has an R by her name. Any objective person realizes the woman is an idiot. Whatever Biden’s many problems, when it comes to intelligence, she is on the lower end of the totem poll, sorry but thats just the way reality is. It’s got nothing to do with hating Palin, i’ve never met her in fact, she may be a very pleasant person, doesn’t mean she would have made a good leader
Joe Mama
LOL….that’s rich coming from someone who attacks Palin because she has an R by her name. Any objective person would realize that you have no concept of objectivity. Whether Palin is an idiot is beside the point. Even assuming she is, that doesn’t at all mean she makes Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar. I’m not sure exactly what you’re basing your opinion on besides emotion, but based on their debate, a pretty strong case can be made that the exact opposite is true — Biden makes Palin look like a Rhodes Scholar.
Jazz
Joe Mama, that post at #3 was not one of your finest hours. Here’s Cannon’s argument, in a “nut”shell: “Sure Palin forgot about a hefty sales tax increase when she was the mayor of a tiny hillbilly village, but Biden – Biden! asserted that the Republicans said one thing at an indeterminate time, and it turns out that they said the opposite in a related area at this other time!!!! Biden! Idiot”.
This is not the same, but in the same ballpark, as “Sure my kid flunked out of three grades in elementary school, but your child, who was supposed to be this Ivy League prodigy, missed a couple questions on the SAT and only scored 1520! Now who’s the idiot?”
Seriously, dude, its time to move on from Palin-oia. It doesn’t wrap one in glory. Here’s a simple decision rule, when you are tempted to trot out arguments like Cannon’s: if they throw out the mean old MSM canard, and Palin’s notorious mistreatment, and how mean Andrew Sullivan is, you can be pretty sure something’s in that piece that will make the critical independent voter howl, but which sails by the heads of those in the partisan echo chamber.
Speaking of Sullivan: if Palin is to be taken at her word regarding Trig’s birth (any other choice is “nutty”, per Cannon), then a woman with a child known to have Down Syndrome, a condition with about a 50% probability of needing emergency NICU care for predictable heart defects at birth, entered into a 18-hour plane journey, where such care would definitionally not be available, either immediately or soon enough to help the child. Pre-term. 5th kid.
You know what’s nutty? Believing that the story is true … and also that Palin is remotely sane.
Jazz
I meant to say that Palin embarked on her strange journey while in labor, but you knew that. I’ve probably said this before, but the most amazing part of this saga is the following:
PALIN: I was in labor with my fifth child, a special needs one with a high probability of needing immediate NICU care at birth, and I chose to embark on a 18 hour plane journey over unpopulated parts of the planet.
ANDREW SULLIVAN: No way.
EVERY REPUBLICAN: Stupid Andrew Sullivan, he doesn’t care about a special needs baby like Angel Sarah does….
Its a crazy crazy crazy crazy world….
gahrie
I’m so sick and tired of the “Republicans are dumb” meme.
Tell you what..tell me the names of any “smart” Republicans for a change.
BTW I wonder what Pres. Obama’s grades were? Aren’t you the least bit curious? I wonder why his transcripts have never been released?
Joe Mama
That’s some “nutshell” Jazz. I’m not sure which of Cannon’s points your “Biden asserted that the Republicans said one thing at an indeterminate time, and it turns out that they said the opposite in a related area at this other time!!!!” was attempting to minimize — and your comparison to grade school kids and SATs likewise went over like a lead balloon — but it clearly doesn’t pertain at all to Biden’s ignorance about Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities, his fantasies of America ousting Hezbollah out of Lebanon, his outright lies about the Gaza elections and what Obama said about Ahmadinejad, and his absurd exaggerations about the money spent on Iraq — all in his purported area of expertise. Biden’s imagining that the U.S. ousted Hezbollah out of Lebanon is a particular frightening statement coming from a purported foreign policy guru and aspiring VP. Do you have any idea what he was talking about? I sure don’t. But whatever, that’s just ol’ Joe, as they say (like he’s the crazy grandpa around the dinner table at Christmas)….clearly the more important issue is Palin’s plane ride back to Alaska for her kid’s birth. Speaking of finest hours, when did you become a birther?
Jazz
Would you really rest your credibility on comparing the foreign policy cred of mixing up the West Bank and Gaza in a debate with claiming that one can see Russia from one’s window? I’m no great fan of Biden, don’t get me wrong, nor am I arguing that he is a great statesman. But dragging him down to Palin levels is simply dreadful.
Thanks for the birther tag, though. I’m probably about the millionth person to receive it. It feels pretty good. Some people believe that such monikers are evidence of stinky partisan issue avoidance, used as casual dismissal of pertinent issues at hand.
I seem to recall Joe Mama you mentioning the birth of your first child recently. By casting aspersions on me for questioning Sarah Palin’s judgment in travelling 15 hours across the planet with a vulnerable baby about to be born, will you do the following?
Type: “If my wife were pregnant with a child having Down Syndrome, and I knew that the labor were likely to be short due to her having had several other children and the baby being premature, and further if I knew the baby would quite likely need immediate life-saving care upon birth, I would fully support my wife in choosing to travel halfway across the planet in those circumstances, outside of access to medical care.
Its easy to sling the birther tag. Its hard to quote that sentence.
Should tell you something, Joe Mama. Should really tell you something.
David K.
gahrie, I never said Republicans were dumb. I said Palin was dumb.
Also, if you want to bring up smart Republicans, feel free to do so, I have no desire to do your homework for you.
Jazz
Damn! Keep messing up the “labor” aspect. That first sentence is supposed to read “If my wife were in labor…” I’m as dumb as Sarah Palin sometimes.
BTW Gahrie – when someone says “I think its really improbable that any sane person would fly across the planet in labor with a special needs child who will likely need lifesaving care on delivery”, and the only response is to get all cliquey and say “Ah yer just a birther” or whatever, there may arise a few allegations of stupidity. It can’t really be helped under the circumstances.
Joe Mama
Would you really rest your credibility on comparing the foreign policy cred of mixing up the West Bank and Gaza in a debate with claiming that one can see Russia from one’s window?
LOL…first, Palin never claimed she could see Russia from her house. That’s a myth that has made it into popular culture thanks to SNL, along with countless other falsehoods, such as Palin banned books as governor, supported Pat Buchanan for president, etc. Second, are you really pretending that all Biden did was mix up the West Bank and Gaza? Seriously?
And just because I have a child doesn’t mean I know enough about medicine, Sarah Palin, her medical history or the medical care/advice she received to offer any kind of informed opinion about whether she acted recklessly with respect to Trig’s birth. Your hypothetical requires far too many assumptions to be of any use.
Jazz
I admit to sustaining a bit of obsession on this topic, not because of the scandal aspect, but rather because of what the polity accepts without questioning from its aspiring leadership. In one regard, Joe Mama, sure Palin might or might not have some medical conditions that affect her travel decision at the periphery.
But those conditions needn’t distract us. If we know that Down Syndrome children need the NICU in 50% of births, and we know that Trig was kid number 5 (and small), then we can assign a probability to labor ending somewhere over the unpopulated mountains of British Columbia, 9-12 hours into that journey. And we can divide that probability by 2 (multiply by 50%) to come up with the likelihood that the baby would be totally f***** by the decision to fly, desperately needing emergency care not available on a commercial airliner.
It doesn’t make sense to say that “Palin is sane because I don’t know that probability”. The more relevant question is, “How low does that probability have to be before I think a decent choice is getting on that plane rather than going to a Dallas hospital?” I think it is fairly obvious that the answer is “Very very low”, probably on the order of 0.0001%, as any parent would know, given the love one has for a child.
And one doesn’t need to be an OB to know that the likelihood of delivering that child somewhere over the mountains of BC was far higher than 0.00001%.
If I am a “birther”, my thing isn’t so much that Palin is a bad politician, or even that I disapprove of the attempted deceit, assuming that’s what this is. Given her support base, the Trig switcheroo would make a lot of sense. My irritation is what the polity unquestioningly accepts, with people acting like sheeple. If your politicians are going to make up bullshit, at least make them tell a believable story.
Jazz
Re: Biden – I’m not much of a Biden guy, but Cannon’s shots at him were ones we have heard before. You mean Biden said he thought Pakistan’s nukes could go further than Cannon’s guys think? And he mixed up the West Bank and Gaza on the fly? Any other great scoops, like the sun rose in the east this morning?
Biden to me has always seemed like a bit of an empty suit, and his difficulty with facts seems to be a direct result of puffery to make of himself more than he is. As an aspirational underachiever he compares unfavorably to Teddy Kennedy, if you will forgive me, I watched Teddy Kennedy, I saw Teddy Kennedy find integrity late in life, and Senator, you’re no Teddy Kennedy.
But to paraphrase a comedian speaking of Dan Quayle, if Biden indeed is the bottom of the barrel, you actually have to lift the barrel and look underneath to find Palin.
Jazz
And, one other thing: I am a red meat, flag-waving patriot. I wasn’t so much as a youth, but then I lived in Canada for several years after college, and I saw how great America was, and how much Americans take our gifts for granted. So I admit to being a bit of an Obama birther too, I mean I’ve been pretty impressed with the guy so far but I do harbor a few fears that he may be a Kenyan agent of an internationalist cabal.
With that as intro, I’ve relinked the original Alaska Daily News article revealing Trig’s birth. The section halfway down under EARLY ARRIVAL is priceless. Palin: Of course I wasn’t in labor, though the pains I felt that morning were noticeably different and worse than false labor I felt in the past. Palin’s Wasilla GP: I’m sure that everything was fine, but for the record I did not give her permission to fly. The Alaska Airlines gate agent She totally didn’t look pregnant at all. A random board certified OB, active in the American academy: its crazy to fly anywhere under the circumstances of leaking amniotic fluid (i.e. early labor). Todd Palin: Well, it might have been crazy, but you know what’s REALLY crazy? Letting an OB from Texas deliver your kid!
Sarah Palin might not have been a registered member of the Alaska Independence Party, but she sure played footsie with them, and played footsie every night with a guy who has been a long time card-carrying member of that party, her damn husband. Alaskans regard us with suspicion, Joe Mama, they refer to visits to the continental 48 as “going outside”, they are filled with separatist folks, they elected the founder of the AIP governor a few before Palin.
Do you think they might think its funny that the last person who asked about the obvious insanity of the Trig story was a British citizen?
And you are worried that Obama is the crazy internationalist here?
As an aside, this is one of the main reasons I reject partisanship. I want to make sure that patriotic love for the United States of America is never substituted for a love of the United States of Sean Hannity’s Ratings.
Love it. Biden just made a few slips of the tongue “on the fly” and disagrees with “Cannon’s guys.” Nothing to see here, move along….OMG!! WHO IS TRIG PALIN’S REAL MOTHER?!?!
Look at the shiny object….
Jazz
Joe Mama, with all due respect, if only one point sticks from this thread, let it be this:
Those who see starbursts wrt Sarah Palin ought not to use the “Look at the shiny object….” meme when countering their opponents. For what its worth.
Joe Mama
ROFLMAO….so pointing out how Palin’s debate gaffes pale in comparison to Biden’s — and not buying into the Palin birther nuttery — counts as seeing “starbursts?” Got it. Good to see that you reject partisanship, Jazz.
Whew….and to think we could’ve had a doofus for VP….
Whats sad is that Sarah Palin makes Joe Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar…
Whats sad is that Sarah Palin makes Joe Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar…
Comments like that are amazing. Either (1) you are ignorant or dismissive of Biden’s verbal diarrhea, or (2) you have a hate-on for Palin. To wit, the only time the two were paired against each other in a debate, Palin’s slips were nothing compared to Biden’s:
The only reason you are defending Palin is because she has an R by her name. Any objective person realizes the woman is an idiot. Whatever Biden’s many problems, when it comes to intelligence, she is on the lower end of the totem poll, sorry but thats just the way reality is. It’s got nothing to do with hating Palin, i’ve never met her in fact, she may be a very pleasant person, doesn’t mean she would have made a good leader
LOL….that’s rich coming from someone who attacks Palin because she has an R by her name. Any objective person would realize that you have no concept of objectivity. Whether Palin is an idiot is beside the point. Even assuming she is, that doesn’t at all mean she makes Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar. I’m not sure exactly what you’re basing your opinion on besides emotion, but based on their debate, a pretty strong case can be made that the exact opposite is true — Biden makes Palin look like a Rhodes Scholar.
Joe Mama, that post at #3 was not one of your finest hours. Here’s Cannon’s argument, in a “nut”shell: “Sure Palin forgot about a hefty sales tax increase when she was the mayor of a tiny hillbilly village, but Biden – Biden! asserted that the Republicans said one thing at an indeterminate time, and it turns out that they said the opposite in a related area at this other time!!!! Biden! Idiot”.
This is not the same, but in the same ballpark, as “Sure my kid flunked out of three grades in elementary school, but your child, who was supposed to be this Ivy League prodigy, missed a couple questions on the SAT and only scored 1520! Now who’s the idiot?”
Seriously, dude, its time to move on from Palin-oia. It doesn’t wrap one in glory. Here’s a simple decision rule, when you are tempted to trot out arguments like Cannon’s: if they throw out the mean old MSM canard, and Palin’s notorious mistreatment, and how mean Andrew Sullivan is, you can be pretty sure something’s in that piece that will make the critical independent voter howl, but which sails by the heads of those in the partisan echo chamber.
Speaking of Sullivan: if Palin is to be taken at her word regarding Trig’s birth (any other choice is “nutty”, per Cannon), then a woman with a child known to have Down Syndrome, a condition with about a 50% probability of needing emergency NICU care for predictable heart defects at birth, entered into a 18-hour plane journey, where such care would definitionally not be available, either immediately or soon enough to help the child. Pre-term. 5th kid.
You know what’s nutty? Believing that the story is true … and also that Palin is remotely sane.
I meant to say that Palin embarked on her strange journey while in labor, but you knew that. I’ve probably said this before, but the most amazing part of this saga is the following:
PALIN: I was in labor with my fifth child, a special needs one with a high probability of needing immediate NICU care at birth, and I chose to embark on a 18 hour plane journey over unpopulated parts of the planet.
ANDREW SULLIVAN: No way.
EVERY REPUBLICAN: Stupid Andrew Sullivan, he doesn’t care about a special needs baby like Angel Sarah does….
Its a crazy crazy crazy crazy world….
I’m so sick and tired of the “Republicans are dumb” meme.
Tell you what..tell me the names of any “smart” Republicans for a change.
BTW I wonder what Pres. Obama’s grades were? Aren’t you the least bit curious? I wonder why his transcripts have never been released?
That’s some “nutshell” Jazz. I’m not sure which of Cannon’s points your “Biden asserted that the Republicans said one thing at an indeterminate time, and it turns out that they said the opposite in a related area at this other time!!!!” was attempting to minimize — and your comparison to grade school kids and SATs likewise went over like a lead balloon — but it clearly doesn’t pertain at all to Biden’s ignorance about Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities, his fantasies of America ousting Hezbollah out of Lebanon, his outright lies about the Gaza elections and what Obama said about Ahmadinejad, and his absurd exaggerations about the money spent on Iraq — all in his purported area of expertise. Biden’s imagining that the U.S. ousted Hezbollah out of Lebanon is a particular frightening statement coming from a purported foreign policy guru and aspiring VP. Do you have any idea what he was talking about? I sure don’t. But whatever, that’s just ol’ Joe, as they say (like he’s the crazy grandpa around the dinner table at Christmas)….clearly the more important issue is Palin’s plane ride back to Alaska for her kid’s birth. Speaking of finest hours, when did you become a birther?
Would you really rest your credibility on comparing the foreign policy cred of mixing up the West Bank and Gaza in a debate with claiming that one can see Russia from one’s window? I’m no great fan of Biden, don’t get me wrong, nor am I arguing that he is a great statesman. But dragging him down to Palin levels is simply dreadful.
Thanks for the birther tag, though. I’m probably about the millionth person to receive it. It feels pretty good. Some people believe that such monikers are evidence of stinky partisan issue avoidance, used as casual dismissal of pertinent issues at hand.
I seem to recall Joe Mama you mentioning the birth of your first child recently. By casting aspersions on me for questioning Sarah Palin’s judgment in travelling 15 hours across the planet with a vulnerable baby about to be born, will you do the following?
Type: “If my wife were pregnant with a child having Down Syndrome, and I knew that the labor were likely to be short due to her having had several other children and the baby being premature, and further if I knew the baby would quite likely need immediate life-saving care upon birth, I would fully support my wife in choosing to travel halfway across the planet in those circumstances, outside of access to medical care.
Its easy to sling the birther tag. Its hard to quote that sentence.
Should tell you something, Joe Mama. Should really tell you something.
gahrie, I never said Republicans were dumb. I said Palin was dumb.
Also, if you want to bring up smart Republicans, feel free to do so, I have no desire to do your homework for you.
Damn! Keep messing up the “labor” aspect. That first sentence is supposed to read “If my wife were in labor…” I’m as dumb as Sarah Palin sometimes.
BTW Gahrie – when someone says “I think its really improbable that any sane person would fly across the planet in labor with a special needs child who will likely need lifesaving care on delivery”, and the only response is to get all cliquey and say “Ah yer just a birther” or whatever, there may arise a few allegations of stupidity. It can’t really be helped under the circumstances.
Would you really rest your credibility on comparing the foreign policy cred of mixing up the West Bank and Gaza in a debate with claiming that one can see Russia from one’s window?
LOL…first, Palin never claimed she could see Russia from her house. That’s a myth that has made it into popular culture thanks to SNL, along with countless other falsehoods, such as Palin banned books as governor, supported Pat Buchanan for president, etc. Second, are you really pretending that all Biden did was mix up the West Bank and Gaza? Seriously?
And just because I have a child doesn’t mean I know enough about medicine, Sarah Palin, her medical history or the medical care/advice she received to offer any kind of informed opinion about whether she acted recklessly with respect to Trig’s birth. Your hypothetical requires far too many assumptions to be of any use.
I admit to sustaining a bit of obsession on this topic, not because of the scandal aspect, but rather because of what the polity accepts without questioning from its aspiring leadership. In one regard, Joe Mama, sure Palin might or might not have some medical conditions that affect her travel decision at the periphery.
But those conditions needn’t distract us. If we know that Down Syndrome children need the NICU in 50% of births, and we know that Trig was kid number 5 (and small), then we can assign a probability to labor ending somewhere over the unpopulated mountains of British Columbia, 9-12 hours into that journey. And we can divide that probability by 2 (multiply by 50%) to come up with the likelihood that the baby would be totally f***** by the decision to fly, desperately needing emergency care not available on a commercial airliner.
It doesn’t make sense to say that “Palin is sane because I don’t know that probability”. The more relevant question is, “How low does that probability have to be before I think a decent choice is getting on that plane rather than going to a Dallas hospital?” I think it is fairly obvious that the answer is “Very very low”, probably on the order of 0.0001%, as any parent would know, given the love one has for a child.
And one doesn’t need to be an OB to know that the likelihood of delivering that child somewhere over the mountains of BC was far higher than 0.00001%.
If I am a “birther”, my thing isn’t so much that Palin is a bad politician, or even that I disapprove of the attempted deceit, assuming that’s what this is. Given her support base, the Trig switcheroo would make a lot of sense. My irritation is what the polity unquestioningly accepts, with people acting like sheeple. If your politicians are going to make up bullshit, at least make them tell a believable story.
Re: Biden – I’m not much of a Biden guy, but Cannon’s shots at him were ones we have heard before. You mean Biden said he thought Pakistan’s nukes could go further than Cannon’s guys think? And he mixed up the West Bank and Gaza on the fly? Any other great scoops, like the sun rose in the east this morning?
Biden to me has always seemed like a bit of an empty suit, and his difficulty with facts seems to be a direct result of puffery to make of himself more than he is. As an aspirational underachiever he compares unfavorably to Teddy Kennedy, if you will forgive me, I watched Teddy Kennedy, I saw Teddy Kennedy find integrity late in life, and Senator, you’re no Teddy Kennedy.
But to paraphrase a comedian speaking of Dan Quayle, if Biden indeed is the bottom of the barrel, you actually have to lift the barrel and look underneath to find Palin.
And, one other thing: I am a red meat, flag-waving patriot. I wasn’t so much as a youth, but then I lived in Canada for several years after college, and I saw how great America was, and how much Americans take our gifts for granted. So I admit to being a bit of an Obama birther too, I mean I’ve been pretty impressed with the guy so far but I do harbor a few fears that he may be a Kenyan agent of an internationalist cabal.
With that as intro, I’ve relinked the original Alaska Daily News article revealing Trig’s birth. The section halfway down under EARLY ARRIVAL is priceless. Palin: Of course I wasn’t in labor, though the pains I felt that morning were noticeably different and worse than false labor I felt in the past. Palin’s Wasilla GP: I’m sure that everything was fine, but for the record I did not give her permission to fly. The Alaska Airlines gate agent She totally didn’t look pregnant at all. A random board certified OB, active in the American academy: its crazy to fly anywhere under the circumstances of leaking amniotic fluid (i.e. early labor). Todd Palin: Well, it might have been crazy, but you know what’s REALLY crazy? Letting an OB from Texas deliver your kid!
Sarah Palin might not have been a registered member of the Alaska Independence Party, but she sure played footsie with them, and played footsie every night with a guy who has been a long time card-carrying member of that party, her damn husband. Alaskans regard us with suspicion, Joe Mama, they refer to visits to the continental 48 as “going outside”, they are filled with separatist folks, they elected the founder of the AIP governor a few before Palin.
Do you think they might think its funny that the last person who asked about the obvious insanity of the Trig story was a British citizen?
And you are worried that Obama is the crazy internationalist here?
As an aside, this is one of the main reasons I reject partisanship. I want to make sure that patriotic love for the United States of America is never substituted for a love of the United States of Sean Hannity’s Ratings.
Forgot the link, enjoy —->http://www.adn.com/626/story/382864.html
Love it. Biden just made a few slips of the tongue “on the fly” and disagrees with “Cannon’s guys.” Nothing to see here, move along….OMG!! WHO IS TRIG PALIN’S REAL MOTHER?!?!
Look at the shiny object….
Joe Mama, with all due respect, if only one point sticks from this thread, let it be this:
Those who see starbursts wrt Sarah Palin ought not to use the “Look at the shiny object….” meme when countering their opponents. For what its worth.
ROFLMAO….so pointing out how Palin’s debate gaffes pale in comparison to Biden’s — and not buying into the Palin birther nuttery — counts as seeing “starbursts?” Got it. Good to see that you reject partisanship, Jazz.