"A black sheriff?!": The Official Topic of Obama and New Era American Politics

[Stoney Mason]

lol at redstate

On Sarah Palin

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Friday, July 3rd at 5:31PM EDT

22 Comments
Well, Nicolle Wallace, Andrew Sullivan, and the left can claim a scalp today.

Sarah Palin has been the subject of vicious, vile attacks. Her family and key staff have all been driven to the verge of financial ruin by relentless legal attacks that are routinely thrown out, but still must be offended.

Her children are routinely attacked and turned into the butt of late night jokes by left wing comedians.

I’d want the target off my back and my kids’ backs too.

Sarah Palin will not be President in 2012. She will not run for President. She will not run for any elected office ever again.

The political pundits who are saying she couldn’t take the heat, so she got out of the kitchen, may have found a winning cliche to apply, but then no one has faced the heat Sarah Palin has been subjected to, largely at the hands of the political pundits now dragging out that cliche.

Of course, now she’ll be a great position to be a voice for the GOP, but with no further political ambitions, she’ll largely be able to mitigate attacks from opponents within the GOP.

UPDATE: To get a few people off the ledge and avoid some suicides around here, let me point out that this is my opinion of the situation given what we know.

I’m sure Sarah Palin is not done with politics, but I am equally sure she is done with elected politics. By removing all doubt that she is done with elected politics, she can be much more effective at helping other Republicans get into politics without overly ambitious potential 2012 rivals seeking to hurt her, her family, and those politicians she helps.

To pull out a favorite line of yesteryear, suck it up.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

This is a good day.

[M3wThr33]

lol at redstate

On Sarah Palin

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Friday, July 3rd at 5:31PM EDT

22 Comments
Well, Nicolle Wallace, Andrew Sullivan, and the left can claim a scalp today.

Sarah Palin has been the subject of vicious, vile attacks. Her family and key staff have all been driven to the verge of financial ruin by relentless legal attacks that are routinely thrown out, but still must be offended.

Her children are routinely attacked and turned into the butt of late night jokes by left wing comedians.

I’d want the target off my back and my kids’ backs too.

Sarah Palin will not be President in 2012. She will not run for President. She will not run for any elected office ever again.

The political pundits who are saying she couldn’t take the heat, so she got out of the kitchen, may have found a winning cliche to apply, but then no one has faced the heat Sarah Palin has been subjected to, largely at the hands of the political pundits now dragging out that cliche.

Of course, now she’ll be a great position to be a voice for the GOP, but with no further political ambitions, she’ll largely be able to mitigate attacks from opponents within the GOP.

UPDATE: To get a few people off the ledge and avoid some suicides around here, let me point out that this is my opinion of the situation given what we know.

I’m sure Sarah Palin is not done with politics, but I am equally sure she is done with elected politics. By removing all doubt that she is done with elected politics, she can be much more effective at helping other Republicans get into politics without overly ambitious potential 2012 rivals seeking to hurt her, her family, and those politicians she helps.

To pull out a favorite line of yesteryear, suck it up.

Haha. Yeah, I'm sure NO ONE has been subjected to the scrutiny she has. 

[Mr. Gundam]

How about the Clinton family? Oh, but that's ok because they were awful Democrats. I forgot.

And what? You mean he was president for two FULL TERMS and his wife is STILL IN THE POLITICAL SPOTLIGHT?

These people are idiots.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Greta Van Susteren and John Ziegler are probably on a 24 hour suicide watch by now.  Oh what I'd pay to watch that.

[Stoney Mason]

Greta Van Susteren and John Ziegler are probably on a 24 hour suicide watch by now.  Oh what I'd pay to watch that.

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Cheebs]

This is a good day.

I disagree. A Palin nomination would be an easy general election for Obama.

This is a good day for only one person, Mitt Romney. Yet another potential primary opponent of his has seemingly imploded.

[Phoenix Dark]

So would she have resigned from VP if McCain had won in November?

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

This is a good day.

I disagree. A Palin nomination would be an easy general election for Obama.

This is a good day for only one person, Mitt Romney. Yet another potential primary opponent of his has seemingly imploded.

I think she could still run and that the Republicans would still be stupid enough to give her the nomination.  I'm not letting me comedy dream ticket of Palin/Jindal die an early death just yet.  If she needs some time off to visit some far off distant land like Mexico and kill a condor from her jeep, then by all means.

[Van Cruncheon]

she's not running in 2012. scuttlebutt sez MEGASCANDAL: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7280

[Barry Egan]

[The Fake Shemp]

I think that is a left wing fantasy.

[Van Cruncheon]

willco: the white phoenixdark

[The Fake Shemp]

I wish.

I think if there was really anything to this story, we would have heard about it awhile ago.

[Mandark]

A politically ambitious governor quitting their job apropos of nothing, with a wide open field looming in the next primary season, just doesn't happen.  Especially one who's been openly and actively courting national attention.  It's hard to explain without the prospect of a scandal.

Then again, flakiness and amateurism have defined the Palin experience so far.  If anyone would do this out of the blue, it would be her.  I doubt it though.

[The Fake Shemp]

This is just Sarah Palin.  Even if there was a "looming" scandal, we're not talking until well after the holiday weekend - which is more than enough time to fly her spokeswoman to Alaska to deliver a well written resignation speech, followed up by a very coached-up Palin sometime in the future.

The fact that this speech was so haphazardly put together feels less like panic and more like silly Palin.

[Van Cruncheon]

there's been rumblings about this particular scandal since her first hours as governor.

[The Fake Shemp]

Again, even more reason why that makes no sense.  If the Feds were going to do anything, it'd be well after the holiday.  There's no reason to put together a poorly written, incoherent resignation speech in a hour or so, other than this is just Sarah Palin being Sarah Palin.

Not to mention, she gave no inclination from her speech that her intentions are to lay low.

I think this is a political gaffe and a poor move, but I don't think it's a panicked response to a possible indictment simply because there really is no urgency.

Also, if she truly believed a federal indictment was coming, this whole resignation speech would reek even more retroactively and she'd come across as a total liar.

I just don't think the scandal is there.  I think she couldn't take the political pressure and is being wacky Palin.

[Mandark]

Shorter Willco:  "If a scandal were looming, this would be a stupid, rash, and amateurish way to handle it.  The more likely explanation is that there is no scandal and Palin is just being characteristically stupid, rash, and amateurish."

Just sayin'.

[The Fake Shemp]

I'm trying to imitate Palin.  Meta joke total.

[Phoenix Dark]

willco: the white phoenixdark

Wouldn't he be the black phoenixdark

I agree with Willco. This (ie the continual Palin indictment incoming! calls) is like the left's version of that racist Michelle Obama tape that'll be released any day now!

[brawndolicious]

So the scandal is that the contractor that built a Wasilla sports complex gave Palin a free house?  That's not very convincing because of the bank account fluctuations and the permits involved in buying/building a house.  The indictments would have probably come sooner.

However, it would be fucking awesome if the right-wing darling had some inexcusable shit like that happen.

[Cheebs]

I doubt there is a scandal she is trying to hide. She is just a insanely egotistical wacko. She grew too big for her own job as governer and is tossing it aside to bask in the world of media thinking this will somehow help her in 2012. The thing is the republicans who do this Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich, Cheney...etc didn't run off in the middle of their term. This makes her seem like someone who can't handle the pressures of the job. This quitter stench will sink her in the primaries. Romney is easily the man to beat after all these candidates started imploded.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

It is hard to proclaim you're a victim of the omnipresent liberal machine up in Alaska.

[brawndolicious]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palin5-2009jul05,0,7018263.story

Tittybutts.

[The Fake Shemp]

Called it.

She is just a bizarre narcissist.

[M3wThr33]

 
Part of me wonders if she actually believes the shit coming out of her mouth.
I mean, does she really think the media is treating her differently or is she just fucking with us?
And now she wants to sue people for discussing her? I mean, she's so fucking out of touch with the world.

[The Fake Shemp]

I really do think she's a narcissist, and I don't mean that as an insult, but as a clinical term to describe a personal who has a serious personality disorder.

[Phoenix Dark]

So the left creamed over alleged Palin misconduct, spread it over non-legit and legit blogs/sites only for us to find out it's all bullshit, again? I'm shocked at this turn of events

[Mandark]

Oh no, it's The Left^TM!

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I really do think she's a narcissist, and I don't mean that as an insult, but as a clinical term to describe a personal who has a serious personality disorder.

Most attractive or even somewhat attractive women have this disorder.  I don't know why Palin would be the exception.

[Crushed]

http://www.palinis45.com/

[Phoenix Dark]

 

[Dickie Dee]

Speculating about a possible incoming scandal wasn't rumormongering, it was trying to come up with a rational explanation for a dumb, half-insane act. The only mistake was forgetting that we're dealing with a dumb, half-insane person.

[Cheebs]

http://www.palinis45.com/

That made me curious to check on Hillaryis44. It has become basically FreeRepublic with articles praising John Boehner and congressional Republicans.

[Akala]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl435

According to the nationwide poll, close to 67% of Republicans want Palin to be "a major national political figure" in the future. And 71% of them say they would likely vote for her if she ran for president in 2012.

Unexpected, if not surprising. Scary though.

[lordmaji]

I honestly don't know how people like Sarah Palin... she's a fucking joke. seriously.

[Brehvolution]

That is 71% of less than half of the voting public so it isn't anything to be worried about.

[AdmiralViscen]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl435

According to the nationwide poll, close to 67% of Republicans want Palin to be "a major national political figure" in the future. And 71% of them say they would likely vote for her if she ran for president in 2012.

(Image removed from quote.)

Unexpected, if not surprising. Scary though.

So 4% want the President to be something less than a major national political figure, lol

[Cheebs]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl435

According to the nationwide poll, close to 67% of Republicans want Palin to be "a major national political figure" in the future. And 71% of them say they would likely vote for her if she ran for president in 2012.

(Image removed from quote.)

Unexpected, if not surprising. Scary though.

That is great news. You should be cheering this news. We should WANT the Republicans to nominate her. Her name is toxic among independents.

[Phoenix Dark]

Won't be hard for anyone to beat Obama if the economy continues to tank!

[siamesedreamer]

Quietly:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070901998_pf.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090709/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul

Saving political capital for Stimulus II: This Time We Read It. Coming September 2009.

[Cheebs]

Reading it wasn't the issue last time. The issue was it wasn't enough money.

[Fragamemnon]

Money yanked by moderate Republicans, I might add.

Though I thought that Obama's administration was a bit shortsighted to wave around the ARRA like they did, given how so many economists warned it wouldn't be enough.

Best thing to do now is work the Health Care reform debate as a means of a second stimulus, by ensuring that small businesses can contain costs and retain workers, large businesses can invest in American workers without the fear of skyrocketing premiums, and rich people can just bend over and take it in the ass for a change like the country voted for in the last election.

[siamesedreamer]

Its never enough money though isn't it?

[Fragamemnon]

Its never enough money though isn't it?

for the rich? apparently not, judging from their behavior.

They benefited disproportionately from the last two decades of economic policy. Taxing them to pay for health care is essentially a direct rebalancing between their skyrocketing income and wealth increases and the wage stagnation everyone else in the middle and lower classes are dealing with.

[Crushed]

"God, why do you Democrats want to spend so much money on shit like the economy and healthcare!? *throws trillions of dollars at military contractors and the defense budget every year*"

[Oblivion]

and don't forget big gubment is tuuuuuuuurible and scawy

...except when it deals with gay marriage, abortion, teen pregnancy, prayer in public schools, teaching intelligent design, prostitution, and marijuana

BUT OTHER THAN THAT THOUGH

[Mandark]

siamesedreamer seems to have, um, whatever you call the Midas touch when things turn to shit instead of gold.

Falls in love with Palin and she's out of a job within a year.

Falls in love with Mark Sanford and he's hiking the Appalachian trail.

Praises Newt Gingrich as a Man of Ideas, only to see Gingrich incinerated by a homofascist, pagan space laser.

Lives in Georgia, and Georgia sucks.

On the upside, he did save the bond market by predicting an imminent explosion in interest rates.  So he's got that going for him.

[Oblivion]

siamesedreamer seems to have, um, whatever you call the Midas touch when things turn to shit instead of gold.

You mean something like the 'kiss of death'?

[Phoenix Dark]

siamesedreamer seems to have, um, whatever you call the Midas touch when things turn to shit instead of gold.

Falls in love with Palin and she's out of a job within a year.

Falls in love with Mark Sanford and he's hiking the Appalachian trail.

Praises Newt Gingrich as a Man of Ideas, only to see Gingrich incinerated by a homofascist, pagan space laser.

Lives in Georgia, and Georgia sucks.

On the upside, he did save the bond market by predicting an imminent explosion in interest rates.  So he's got that going for him.

Matt Ryan voids your entire post

[Mandark]

JD: If I dig, I could quickly find posts of you jumping in my shit for suggesting that the defense budget could be heavily slashed.  "Oh no, it's one of the legitimate functions of the federal government!  We can't cut it!"

Of course, this is before Ron Paul turned you into a Bacevichesque anti-imperialist.

[Cheebs]

Obama today stated in his YouTube address that there will not be a second stimulus package that he doesn't want one. My guess is it is mostly due to health care, he much rather get a public option passed than a second stimulus and I really doubt he could get through both.

Time to change that avatar of yours sd.

[Phoenix Dark]

http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001918/ 

Is he trying to admit something?

[Crushed]

hey look the f22 is a broken pile of military-industrial wank, who knew

The United States' top fighter jet, the Lockheed Martin F-22, has recently required more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the skies, pushing its hourly cost of flying to more than $44,000, a far higher figure than for the warplane it replaces, confidential Pentagon test results show.

The aircraft's radar-absorbing metallic skin is the principal cause of its maintenance troubles, with unexpected shortcomings -- such as vulnerability to rain and other abrasion -- challenging Air Force and contractor technicians since the mid-1990s, according to Pentagon officials, internal documents and a former engineer.

While most aircraft fleets become easier and less costly to repair as they mature, key maintenance trends for the F-22 have been negative in recent years, and on average from October last year to this May, just 55 percent of the deployed F-22 fleet has been available to fulfill missions guarding U.S. airspace, the Defense Department acknowledged this week. The F-22 has never been flown over Iraq or Afghanistan.

...

"It is a disgrace that you can fly a plane [an average of] only 1.7 hours before it gets a critical failure" that jeopardizes success of the aircraft's mission, said a Defense Department critic of the plane who is not authorized to speak on the record. Other skeptics inside the Pentagon note that the planes, designed 30 years ago to combat a Cold War adversary, have cost an average of $350 million apiece and say they are not a priority in the age of small wars and terrorist threats.

...

A spokeswoman for Lockheed added that the F-22 has "unmatched capabilities, sustainability and affordability" and that any problems are being resolved in close coordination with the Air Force.

...

Darrol Olsen, a specialist in stealth coatings who worked at Lockheed's testing laboratory in Marietta, Ga., from 1995 to 1999, said the current troubles are unsurprising. In a lawsuit filed under seal in 2007, he charged the company with violating the False Claims Act for ordering and using coatings that it knew were defective while hiding the failings from the Air Force.

...

The plane's million-dollar radar-absorbing canopy has also caused problems, with a stuck hatch imprisoning a pilot for hours in 2006 and engineers unable to extend the canopy's lifespan beyond about 18 months of flying time. It delaminates, "loses its strength and finish," said an official privy to Air Force data.

In the interview, Ahern and Air Force Gen. C.D. Moore confirmed that canopy visibility has been declining more rapidly than expected, with brown spots and peeling forcing $120,000 refurbishments at 331 hours of flying time, on average, instead of the stipulated 800 hours.

...

When Gates decided this spring to spend $785 million on four more planes and then end production of the F-22, he also kept alive an $8 billion improvement effort. It will, among other things, give F-22 pilots the ability to communicate with other types of warplanes; it currently is the only such warplane to lack that capability.

...

One of the last four planes Gates supported buying is meant to replace an F-22 that crashed during a test flight north of Los Angeles on March 25, during his review of the program. The Air Force has declined to discuss the cause, but a classified internal accident report completed the following month states that the plane flew into the ground after poorly executing a high-speed run with its weapons-bay doors open, according to three government officials familiar with its contents. The Lockheed test pilot died.

Several sources said the flight was part of a bid to make the F-22 relevant to current conflicts by giving it a capability to conduct precision bombing raids, not just aerial dogfights. The Air Force is still probing who should be held accountable for the accident.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070903020_4.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009071001019


but we need this for freedom

[Phoenix Dark]

stick to the alien technology you losers

[brawndolicious]

The main thing you need for air-superiority is maneuverability and the F-15 was plenty well designed for that.  The F-22 is just a wargasm machine for the brass now though.

For the 141 F-22's that were built so far, if you fly them 300 hours a year at $44,000 an hour you end up with $2 billion dollars a year just to maintain those planes.  But we don't USE them for anything.

[Dickie Dee]

won't anyone think of Michael Bay?

[Mandark]

If you go back enough years, maybe so.

Enough being two.

The current level of military spending is so high because we're in Iraq. Reduce it to pre-war levels, keep the military edge over China and Russia. Maintain R&D to maintain superiority, and at the same time reduce upkeep costs, fuel use, expense, and thus increase efficiency.

I'd say the timeline fits pretty well.  You're in favor of a giant-ass military budget until Doc Ron Paul gets to you with his bowdlerized Chomskyism.

Now why am I giving you crap for changing your mind?  There is a reason.

[brawndolicious]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31846807/ns/politics-more_politics/
Bristol's ex says that Palin had financial motivations of some sort for quitting in the hopes of securing his own book/movie deal.  Maybe he feels more confident now that Palin's getting out of politics?