Sarah Palin's Preacher Problems

Witchcraft?  Are you freaking kidding me???

Best.  Election.  Ever.

Comments

[brimur]

I wonder where Rowhey and his anonymous friends went to.

What an absolute freaking nut! Is it witchcraft that makes Ahmadinejad say crazy things? How about Putin? Maybe all we need to solve our problems in the Middle East is this pastor! Great solution Gov. Palin.

Prepared to be President? Riiiiiiggght.

We thought McCain dodged a bullet by not picking the exorcism candidate for VP (Jindal),but this is so much worse. She believes in witchcraft! Freaking awesome.

[JMU Duke]

Careful brimur, don't want to go calling down the thunder again...

[Not Don Rumsfeld]

Now golly gee let's not dismiss this to darn quickly there. Not Teddy and I are using anti-witchcraft preacher right now in the hot tub to exorcise one of the down state jets. Not Ted got caught on one and started shreeking. Oogadaboogada.. jet get unstuck from Teddy's folds!

[Dan]

If I made my living as a comedian I would be rooting for Palin to win.

Can you just imagine the comedic possibilities of having this woman as Vice President for four years. If the issues facing America weren't so deadly serious I'd consider voting for her just for the four years of belly laughs that would ensue.

Her record in Alaska would probably catch up with her and she'd end up resigning like Spiro Agnew anyway. Then McCain would have to pick a normal Vice President and spoil all the fun.

Boing!

[PM]

Ben:

Your analysis of this poll? http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/poll-shows-mccain-warner-leading-races-virginia

It shows McCain +9 in VA. Do you think that's realistic? Is this a reputable pollster?

I just read the witchcraft thing. Hilarious. Of course Joe Biden's mainstream religion believes its members are literally eating the body and blood of God every Sunday. Oh, and that women are inferior -- not able to dispense the sacraments. (I used to be a member of the church.)

Palin, maybe she'll do that voodoo that you do so well.

[notgretchenbulova]

PM -

Terrible pollster. Dismiss the survey.

I'm sure Ben will post those polls which show Obama doing badly.

[James Young]

I strongly suspect the actual results of the election will demonstrate that The One wasted a lot of money in Virginia. I suppose that this could POSSIBLY come back to haunt me, but anybody who expects Obama to carry Virginia should take a breathalyzer.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/from-the-fact-1.html

Jake Tapper at ABC getting on Obama's case for running a blatantly false ad, tying McCain to Limbaugh's views on immigration reform.

Both sides are sleazy.

[PWConservative]

Ok She met him once and was impressed by the way He prayed. Big Deal.
And Do you realize how sexist it is to keep posting the photoshopped bikini picture?

[eh]

Agreed, PW Conservative, but I would give Ben a break on this one cause he is spoofing the spoof. Yeah, let's remember that Jeremiah Wright character. How many years did Obama sit in that pew? And Fr. Pfleger too?

Odd, odd polls out today. A softening of nat'l numbers for McCain, which I expected, but Obama is slipping in some key states:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/wisconsin/election_2008_wisconsin_presidential_election Ras has Obama up by only two in WI and 4 in OR.

An ARG poll has Obama up by only 6 in IL: http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/pres2008/IL08.html Though I do not think much of ARG results, most of its current polls are consistent with other polls.

And for those who think Obama is a reformer --
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped0916byrnesep16,0,188873.story

If Israel selects a female as its new leader, as seems more and more likely, I wonder if Obama will be up to dealing with a strong female. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1022169.html

Yeah, this is JUST LIKE Barack Obama worshipping in Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years, being married by the man, and naming his book after his sermon.

::rolls eyes::

[YKW]

If Israel selects a female as its new leader, as seems more and more likely, I wonder if Obama will be up to dealing with a strong female. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1022169.html

He'll just have to speed up the concentration camps. Ben will find out who his friends are (not). Joey will relish being Ben's (temporary) guard.

"Yeah, this is JUST LIKE Barack Obama worshipping in Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years, being married by the man, and naming his book after his sermon."

March 2008 called. They'd like you back.

"If Israel selects a female as its new leader, as seems more and more likely, I wonder if Obama will be up to dealing with a strong female." -YKW

Why wouldn't he be? Was Obama supposed to bow down to Queen Hillary and every other women because of their gender? Obama has had close interactions with his mother, wife, daughters, and professional female associates throughout his life, and all this "Obama is a sexist" innuendo is just ridiculous.

[brimur]

James- You sound awful confident. I wouldn't dare try to predict the results in Virginia - especially with near 300K new voters registering this year.

[Not Bill Howell]

Hey, Ben. Let's start a tabloid about just Sarah Palin. We'll call it "Beyond the Palin" and get our stories by sponsoring third grade creative writing contests. (Can't let the copy sail over the heads of our readers.) We'll distribute through Starbucks, advertise on MSNBC, get financing from the Screen Actors Guild and make billions!

[red dem]

Double, bubble, toil, and trouble....

[eh]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080918/pl_bloomberg/avpbaubyv_qq

Congress may adjourn without attempting to do anything about the financial mess. As Martha Stewart might say, "and that is a good thing." Geez, Harry Reid sounded like an idiot yesterday. At a time when government is supposed to be projecting strength, Reid comes across like an idiot.

Ben, I like Judy Feder and plan to vote for her, but do we really want the Dems in control of both houses of Congress?

[Not Bill Howell]

Uhh -- on second thought, an amendment to our biz plan: we'll have 10th graders write the stories; they have to be sex-obsessed. We'll just tell them to keep the words real simple.

[Tatum]

So this guy that accused a woman of witchcraft comes to Palin's church... How does Kevin Bacon fit in here? This is noise. Nothing but noise.

Why doesn't somebody ask Obama how he's going to increase spending, cut taxes and reduce the deficit all at once. That might have something to do with how the country's governed the next four years.

[Rowhey]

Brimur,
I'm here pretty boy.

[red dem]

Tatum,

love how you guys turn to the issues when you don't like the fluff. where was your ardent need for these things when reverend wright was front and center?

[Dan]

Tatum,

It is certainly fair to question whether Obama's economic proposals add up. I am curious if you are willing to ask the same questions of your own candidate.

Senator McCain proposes to continue the tax policies of the Bush administration and he has given us no specifics as to spending cuts he would propose. And he proposes to continue prosecuting two wars without making any provision for how to pay for them. At the same time he makes the startling assertion that he will balance the budget by the end of his first term! Does any thinking person give that bold (and completely unsupported) assertion an iota of credibility?

I realize that Republicans seem to have a reflexive need to yammer on about those evil "tax and spend" Democrats. Do they not realize that the modern Republican party has been unabashedly taxing the future with all their borrowing? Or do they think all the debt they have run up will magically disappear somehow?

Over the last couple of decades the "borrow and spend" label is a much more accurate description of the Republicans than the "tax and spend" label is of the Democrats. With the national debt approaching 10 trillion dollars it is getting pretty tiresome listening to Republican alibis about their fiscal irresponsibility. Deficits DO matter.

You are right about one thing. People who believe in witches are not issues on which this election should or will turn. It is just noise.

There is only one issue and that is the economy. Any attempt to distract the voters with silliness needs to be brushed aside. We need to talk about economic issues every day for the next 48 days.

[Not Hussein (formerly Not Ben)]

Rowhey is into pretty boys?

[brimur]

Rowhey- As much as I appreciate your compliment on my appearance- you're really not my type.

So where did that bounce disappear to?

[Dan]

And speaking of the economic crisis. What the hell is up with President Bush? We get a two minute address at ten in the morning that says pretty much nothing?

There were some lame mutterings about Bush not wanting to "interfere" in the presidential campaign. WTF?

We are in the midst of an economic crisis that has many average Americans feeling scared and uncertain. I would think that the President might address the nation in prime time. And I would have expected to see it earlier in the week.

I think the guy has done an abysmal job as president, but he IS the president and he has a responsibility to the American people.

What the hell is wrong with this guy? Does he think he can just run out the clock and hand off to his successor? One gets the sense that he is attempting to do just that.

God help whoever follows this clown into the Oval Office.

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

Message to Republicans: You lead from the front. Where is the Decider?

Call your President, tell him to get down to Capitol Hill and huddle with Congress. Cob together a plan and get his ass on TV to tell us what it is. This ain't Katrina.

havn't the democrats been in charge of the checkbook for the past couple years?

Talk about do nothing..

What does the teleprompter have to say about this?

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Ha ha ha....I love seeing Virginia Republicans dripping in the fear of their impending electoral destruction...

[wb]

"past couple years"

Eighteen months. Is that all it should take to fix the whole country when you have a near deadlocked Senate with one fake Democrat and a Republican ideologue in the White House? You're setting the bar pretty high there, especially after twelve years of a Republican Congress and seven years of a Republican presidency. Funny that the "right track / wrong track" numbers are essentially the same as when the Democrats took control in 2006, and Congressional disapproval ratings consistently hovered in the mid 60s (pushing 70s) throughout 2004 and 2005. Which may lead one to suspect that this mess, whatever its shape and cause, certainly predates the 110th.

wb,
you might be interested in some small facts.

ie..seems that after careful review, the Bush administration had a plan for more oversight of mac and mae back in '03 and another program in '06 that was killed by the democrats.

or you might just agree with the great democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ``no one knows what to do''

between Reid's ignorance and Pelosi letting Rangel run roughshod over her, the democrat definition of leadership shines brightly.

By all means, give them the keys to the whitehouse.

[Dan]

anon. 12:14,

How weak! That's the best you can do? That's your argument? That since the Democrats have controlled the Congress for the last year and a half that it is all their fault? That everything was just fine and dandy before that? That the Republicans had done a dandy job? That the Republicans had managed things responsibly? That the Republicans hadn't engaged in profligate spending and borrowed massive amounts of money to pay for it?

Why the hell do you think the voters turned the Republicans out in 2006? Your boys controlled all the levers of power for six years. The White House, both houses of Congress and, for good measure, 7 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices had been appointed by Republican presidents. And what did they do with it?

Why don't you use the interwebs to research which party is responsible for running up most of this debt. Go back to the beginning of the "conservative revolution". Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981. Republicans controlled the White House for 20 the the next 28 years. Guess who the ONLY president to submit a balanced budget to the Congress was during that entire time. Who guessed it. Bill Clinton. The only Democrat.

And before you jump onto the "it was all thge fault of Democratic Congresses" bandwagon, during Reagan's term the budget passed by the Democratic Congress never varied by more than 2% in overall spending levels from what Reagan originally submitted. He got pretty much what he wanted for eight years. And the total national debt doubled under Reagan.

Of course, the national debt was just a little over one trillion when Reagan took office. The Republicans had to be truly reckless to double the debt during the Bush years. But they almost did it.

As a Democrat who actually IS a fiscal conservative I can only say good riddance to your faux conservative revolution.

What happened to your old b.s. about the huge Republican deficits not mattering because we should look at it as a percentage of GDP? Oh yeah! You had to abandon that nonsense because the debt as a percentage of GDP has been on the rise for a while now hasn't it?

It is no mystery why the Republicans lost Congress in 2006. It's no mystery why the Republicans will lose more seats in both houses as well as lose the White House this year.

Talk is cheap because supply always exceeds demand. And that is all the Republicans are good at. They talk a good game. Smaller, less intrusive government? Check. Sound management? Check. Fiscal conservatism and responsibility? Check.

But what have the Republicans done when the voters believe what they say they stand for and what they promise to do and foolishly give power to the Republicans. They have a history of doing just the opposite of what they say. And at an alarming level. Nearly ten f'ing trillion dollars in national debt!

Vote Republican? No, thanks. I'm too conservative to ever vote for that bunch of radicals.

Everett Dirksen must be spinning in his grave.

[Dan]

anon. 12:54,

We are supposed to believe that the Bush administration foresaw this whole mortgage crisis and had a solid proposal to avert it at a time when the president's own party controlled both houses of the Congress, but the evil Democrats thwarted them?

So, your argument is that they are not responsible for the result of their policies because they are too incompetent and ineffectual to pass legislation when they control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue?

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for your boys.

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

Republicans: Quit acting like you understand how government works. You elected a clueless tool as President, fix him. The Executive (Bush) regulates the financial and banking industry through his agencies - Treasury and Justice. Lead, or get out of the way.

Dan,

Read some of McCain's comments back in '05/o6 regarding this very issue. Was it forseen? Yes, but the democrats and their friends were too busy taking money from these institutions to increase regulation.

I think you will find that ANY thinking mortgage banker or title company exec. would tell you that this was bound to happen, sorry you don't like the facts that the republicans wanted to fix the potential problem only to be thwarted by the democrats. Maybe the republicans were "ineffectual" in passing this legislation, which makes the democrats successful.

Congratulations, your boys won, and America lost.

bubby,
your posts continue to prove your extreme ignorance.

[Rowhey]

Brimur,
Go back to what I said all along. I said that Obama would get a 10 to 15 pt. bounce. I was wrong on that. The bounce was roughly 5 pts.

And, I said that after things sort out, the race would be even.

It is.

Btw, when are you going to start explaining how and why Obama and his cronies are the biggest recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contributions. Bought and paid for...is the label, I presume.

[eh]

Great point raised here about the Post's slanted coverage. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/09/021546.php I canceled my subscription today, and the circulation clerk said they'd been getting a whole lot of cancellations this week with complaints about pro-Obama coverage.

[brimur]

Rowhey- Fannie and Freddie are just one piece of a larger credit crisis. That's called a red herring.

I could go back and forth with you on this oversimplification policitical gamesmanship and talk about Phil Gramm and deregulation, blah, blah, blah, but it would bore me as much as you AND insult both of our intelligence.

No the biggest financial market crisis since the depression cannot be placed squarely on the shoulders of any single political actor.

[Dan]

anon. 1:39,

Do you have an actual Bill number where one can read this proposed legislation that was thwarted by the Democrats? I'm sure many others would like to read it. That assumes that such a bill was actually introduced. If it was it can be found on the web site of the chamber of Congress in which it was introduced.

Or is this just stuff that is made up on some kooky web site. If it was a real bill which was introduced please provide a bill number.

You'll get no argument from me about the undue influence that monied interests have on legislation. If you are pretending that it cuts only one way you are being completely disingenuous. Remember the K Street project of that scumbag Tom DeLay? He raised the selling of our government to an art form.

As to the Republicans being ineffectual, that was the argument you yourself put forward to absolve them of responsibility.

For a party that preaches personal responsibility the Republicans seem to have quite an aversion to ever accepting any responsibility. When something goes wrong on their watch it is always someone else's fault.

[Grapes]

Praise God! We have started down the hoary road of the apocalypse.

[Dan]

Apocalypse my ass. We'll get through this. It ain't the end of the world.

That apocalypse crap is just a sales tool for religion salesmen. The world will keep on turning and we'll get through this.

t/Grapes take your Bible thumping somewhere else.

[Poly Anonymous]

George Allen To Star At VA GOP's Minority Outreach Rally

Ah ahahahahhahahahahahaha snort.

[Rowhey]

Brimur,
There's no red herring here. Just fact.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were both used by Democrat hacks for largesse.

You know it. I know it.

They cooked the books....and because of their quasi govt status, everyone assumed everything was okay.

And, there is a player that we haven't discussed, and his name is Greenspan.

The big problem with the sub-prime mortgage industry is that the notes don't stay in one place. They are bought and sold on the market...securitized and placed into large trusts. The servicing aspect of the loans were contracted out to the third-parties. It goes on and on from there.

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

Rowhey: You forgot about the big player Phil Gramm, McCain's Economic Brain. Father of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999), which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.

Republicans have franchised deregulation snake oil since the days of Dutch. Your diseased chickens have returned to roost. What's the plan?

[Tatum]

Dan,

Everything you said about Republican excesses in the past few years is correct.

Let me make 3 points.
1) McCain has a track record (track records are votes not speeches) of voting against Bush tax cuts.

2) McCain has a track record (again, not a speech) of voting against Medicare Part-D and other Republican excesses of recent years.

3) Since WWII, the numbers show that divided Gov't increases spending more slowly than one-party Gov't. Specifically, divided Gov't grows 1.7% per year, on average. One-party Gov't grows 5.2% per year.

To summarize: Historically, McCain has supported higher taxes and lower spending. McCain is the only divided Gov't (smaller spending) option.

[brimur]

Oh Rowhey, you're not going to win the argument with Mr. "nation-of-whiners" as our target in this back and forth which I find to be a tad disingenuous on both sides.

In other news, man these polls are crazy aren't they? Virginia polls ranging so far all over the place that they might as well throw their hands up. Polls calling random blue states like Washington and Minnesota competitive, meanwhile a poll saying Obama has a 10 point lead in Colorado. I don't believe any of it.

[Dan]

Tatum,

I think you are missing something in your analysis. If you take all periods of divided government and compare them to all periods when government is controlled by one party you are correct. But if you compare periods where Democrtats controlled both branches to periods when Republicans control both you will see that the worst possible outcome is a government completely controlled by the Republicans. Worst case if you are a fiscal conservative. You will also see that periods where Democrats control both branches are not a problem, despite all the "tax and spend" rhetoric to the contrary.

I admire a great deal about John McCain. In fact, in 2000 I voted in a Republican primary for the one and only time in my life in order to vote for McCain. Forgive me, but the McCain of 2008 isn't the same candidate. In fact, he isn't even the candidate you describe above.

Those budget busting tax cuts for folks who are pretty well off in a time of war that McCain voted against? Now he embraces them.

The neocons who brought us a radical and counterproductive foreign policy? They are now his principal foreign policy advisors.

This current financial mess that was produced in large measure by the "let the wolves watch the henhouse" crowd that is almost pathologically anti-regulation? Those are his economic advisors. Even without Phil Gramm's unfortunate comment about whiners it was not reassuring that he was a key advisor to McCain. He was one of the principal authors of this current mess.

There is a reason that such a large majority of Americans think we are headed in the wrong direction. Because we most emphatically are. This nation has been taken well off into the weeds and we need to get it back onto the paved road.

Even if I could figure out with certainty which McCain I would get (and you have to acknowledge the head spinning changes in his message recently), I don't believe it is a good risk. The Republicans had a fair chance to show us what they would do with the public trust. They didn't earn another term. I'll be voting Democratic up and down the ticket.

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

While Republican faithful mindlessly recited "socialized medicine" their masters gave them socialized insurance, and loaded on 70% of U.S. mortgages! Congratulations comrades! Your Chinese overlords will be here soon to collect the rent. Go tell your children what your conceit has wrought.

[Dan]

OMG! I thought Poly Anonymous was joking, but it's true!

The RPV is having George Allen as the featured speaker at a minority outreach rally. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

This year just keeps getting more and more bizarre.

[Tatum]

I don't think you're right about Democratic-controlled Gov't. 1964 to 1968 was the worst.

Nevertheless, Neocons are over, so is the radical right.

McCain's having to run a radical right campaign because the Republican base hasn't figured out the radical right is over.

After McCain get's their vote I'm confident the centrist McCain will emerge. All of his positions have to be tempered with a Democratic House and Senate.

If you don't trust McCain trust James Madison. He understood the benefits of checks-and-balances.

[Dan]

I thought it was a joke. George Allen really is going to be the featured speaker at a minority outreach rally being held by the RPV. What a hoot!

This must mean Allen is planning to run for office again. I imagine this is the first step in a plan to "rehabilitate " him.

[Rowhey]

Brimur,
It's going to be a bare knuckled street fight from here to election day. You and I both know this race is tight as a tick. While your guy has some devoted followers to be sure, there are many, frankly, who cannot stand him. But you know this already. He doesn't do well with certain voters -- for a variety of reasons.

When it comes to a street fight, I like my chances.

[Rowhey]

Brimur,
This is a street fight and close as a tick. You and I both know that. And, when it comes to a street fight, I like my chances.

All of this bs aside, it boils down to who people like and trust. And, Obama, for all his strengths, is not well liked by many, many people in this country. But you know that already.

Dan,
In reference to your query to anon post 1:39

S. 190 [109th]
Sponsor: Sen. Charles Hagel
Cosponsors: Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Sen. John McCain, Sen. John Sununu

I assume you will now apologize to the poster and support McCain/Palin in their effort to reform and fix our broken system.

Or you could be the typical ostrich democrat, place your head in the sand and support those thieves, Obama and his cronies, that put us in the position we are in. or you could use the other typical liberal tactics when proven wrong you may change the subject call the poster a name or just blame the republicans for all the ills of the world factual or not.

[brimur]

I agree with your general point but I find it funny you're making a likeability argument on behalf of out-of-touch and angry old man McCain. This week has been one blunder after another for McCain- "fundamentals of our economy" "blue-ribbon commission" "fire the SEC chair" "good old boys" - he's almost becoming a caricature of himself.

brimur,
actually the "fundamentals" are pretty good, the good old boys in the democrats have made a killing on this situation. I never much cared for "commissions" as the answers are normally already known and these groups are just an easy way to get to a point and the SEC chair along with managers of these organizations should pay for incompetence, (so should chuch schumer for his stupidity months ago on the bank issue).