You come after the fruitfly, you’d better be ready. From the always vocal and former Bush-supporter Christopher Hitchens, comes this gem:
“This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just ‘people of faith’ but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.”
Also, it’s been reported that it is snowing in Madison, Wisconsin. I don’t have a window office — this, despite the fact that when I started here four years ago my boss assured me it would be a matter of days until I would be able to see outside — so I cannot confirm.
life and puppies 
Wow, that dude had some stuff to get off his chest. Not that I agree at all with being anti-science, but geez, that’s taking a teeny tiny quote and just running with it.
I am not sure it was snow so much as weird hail – I managed to agree to meet a friend for coffee at the exact moment that it kicked in. My hair is now in quite a state. It wasn’t that pretty, so you didn’t miss anything.
And actually I was going to walk my friend over to vote early, but you should see the huge, huge line! We got coffee instead. I’m starting to think I should vote early, the Tuesday lines are going to be incredible.
I wonder about that, too. But then I think, geesh, it seems like everyone has alredy voted, how bad can it be on Tuesday? I know my aunt said she had to wait an hour and Dale said he had to wait an hour, too. That seems so nutty to me. Also, does anyone know how they deal with early voting in other states? Here, the ballots are taken sometime on election day to the ward where the ballot would have been cast had the person voted on election day. And then the poll workers feed the ballots into the machine when they get a chance, either throughout the day or, as is more often the case I think, after the polls have closed. So, it would seem, that results will take longer to get the more people vote early (not that I am at ALL discouraging voting early). I just wonder if this is how it commonly works in other states or if other states count them in a centralized location and then feed their numbers back to the original polling place. Anyway.
Weird hail, says Sara.
Oh, and I agree — I mean, I think there are plenty of reasons to be scared of Sarah Palin, but I think the fruitfly thing was just the campaign’s attempt to find something they viewed as pork to harp on. Whether they really see it as pork, or they just think it’s a cool sound byte, who knows.
Though who really does know with her. What do you think of all these stories that she’s gone all rogue on McCain? I think it’s funny.
Well, she is a maverick. 🙂 I think she has this idea that she supposed to disagree with him as often as possible to prove her mavericky-ness or something. IDK. Or there’s the idea that she’s gearing up for 2012, which I’m sure she is, in her mind. But then again Rudy Guiliani was supposed to be the shoe-in for the repub nom this year as of a few years ago. And look how great that worked out for him! Ha.
OMG. Remember when Guiliani sort of forgot to campaign and then he was like, “Shit! Is it time? Let me get down to Florida and take some boat ride. That should do it!….Oops.”
I’m almost starting to feel bad for McCain. I think he’s totally regretting his choice – he really wanted Lieberman, was told he couldn’t win that way, so he picked the person the conservatives wanted. I was reading a really interesting article about how Sarah Palin was entertaining prominent conservative journalists who took Alaska cruises WELL before she was picked. It’s all been percolating in her mind for a while and she’s been working at it…
I think she really might be a barracuda. And I can’t decide if I should respect that or not. I mean, isn’t Hillary a bit of a barracuda? Maybe she’s just a little less obvious about climbing over the backs of others to get her own success, because Gov Palin, you are being totally obvious.
Weird hail. As a trained weather spotter, I am totally sticking by my description. 😉
I read the same article, I think. She is truly something else. I think he regrets it, too, though I think he’s behind for more reasons than picking her. But the Palin pick does seem to have caused a lot of Republicans to jump ship. I don’t know if they’ll vote Obama, third-party or stay home.
Hills is certainly ambitious, but IMO she has the intellectual curiosity to back it up. Not that ambition needs to necessarily be backed up just for the sake of it or anything, but you know what I mean. You just can’t say seeing Russia from your house means you have foreign policy experience, and then expect your rogue political ways to make up for that ignorance. Her political ambition and her intellectual ambition just don’t match up. Again, IMO. Obvi some are buying it.
And that Rudy – what a card! That was so hilarious to watch, the Florida thing. I know I’ve said it before on here, but there is prob not any politician outside of the current POTUS that I dislike more than Rudy. Grrrr.
I agree. Frankly, Sarah Palin seems to be a vacuous bonehead. Just because she’s ambitious and has had some success with it does not, to me, mean that she’s not a moron. And maybe she’s not. But — and I think this is what Hitchens is more upset about (at least I am) — she seems to be celebrating mediocrity and stupidity. That’s just something I can’t tolerate. I want my leaders to be WAY smarter than I and not ashamed of that. If it’s all an act — the folksy thing and the vapid thing — than maybe that’s even worse. I know that politicians are at least part-time actors, but she really has elevated things to a new level.
From yesterday’s NYT. Judith Warner writes a weekly column about women called Domestic Disturbances. But yesterday every op-ed columnist wrote a column about the election. Of course Warner’s was about Palin.
It’s appropos.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26warner-1.html?scp=3&sq=judith%20warner&st=cse
Appropos. NYT op-ed from yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26warner-1.html?scp=3&sq=judith%20warner&st=cse
She confuses me. I have a really hard time believing she is a complete bonehead, but obviously she’s said some boneheaded things (the explanation of the job of VP, for example – that wasn’t the McCain campaign forcing her to find some sort of foreign affairs expertise in her backgroud by saying she can see Russia). And I can’t quite figure out how pretending to be a bonehead would work for her. I mean, she’s not competing to be the next Paris Hilton. I feel like it must be an act somehow, but I can’t imagine the endgame, which then makes me wonder if it is an act. Am I missing something? Maybe her boneheaded move was being a smart person who thought she was ready for something she just isn’t.
I wonder what Bristol will name the baby?
Sorry. I just do… 😉
She is an enigma.
Is Bristol really still preggers? I read somewhere that the McCain campaign thought a right-before-the-election-wedding might help their campaign. I don’t think I read it in a reputable source.
Also, the Russia thing definitely makes for good copy and is SO funny when Tina Fey does it, but I agree that that was a dumb thing manufactured by the McCain camp. In fact, didn’t Cindy say it first? And then it seems like Palin just inherited it and had to keep trying to back it up when asked about it when she probably wanted to say, “Yeah, I have no foreign policy experience or knowledge. But I can learn.” Or whatever.
I know this is giving her way too much credit, and she was probably just all pumped up about being the pick and wanted to say anything they asked. But she should have said “Dum dums, I simply can’t see Russia and I’m not saying that.” If she was smart. If she was smart she would have said “It’s my confidence and “reformer-ness” and looks that got me this far. And that’s what you can use me for and I promise I’ll work the shit out of that.” Argh. The whole thing is so ridic.
But yes, the Russia thing alone is definitely not the best example of why she is a moron. The answer about the VP’s job is though! Oh god, that tone of voice she used. I almost barfed on my TV.
Nighty night!
If it’s a boy, probably not John.