Sarah Palin -- Tax Cheat?

According to a mystery envelope, she is.

Now that she's qualified, President Obama is trying to find a cabinet position for her.

Biden and Palin on Gay Marriage

In case you missed it, here's the part of the debate where Biden and Palin talked about gay marriage. A few points:

1) Realizing that straight people are in the majority in this country it still rankles when I hear them talk -- as Sarah does -- about "tolerating" us gays. I guess tolerate us like a skin rash that will eventually go away.
2) She implies "some of my best friends are gay." I wonder.
3) Biden pinned her down at the end as supporting full and equal civil rights for same sex couples as couples, the same as straight people get. Let's see how long that stands.

So a Day After McCain Swoops in to the Rescue, Where Are We?

Let's see.

McCain decides the government can't fashion a rescue plan without him, so he "suspends" his campaign (though his ads continue to run, his surrogates continue to attack Obama) lies to David Letterman about why he can't be on his show, telling him he's dashing to the airport when in fact he's sitting with Katie Couric and getting makeup applied, finally shows up in DC after an initial agreement is set; pulls all the players to a photo op at the White House where the only thing of slight substance he does is mention a counter proposal by Conservative Republicans that he can't defend when challenged by the Secretary of the Treasury. Meanwhile the person he picked to be a "feeble heartbeat" away from the presidency can't respond to softball questions on McCain's record while making an argument that she's got foreign policy experience because Putin flew through her state's airspace.

And now, after all that, whatever deal had been struck is unraveled. Heckuva job, Johnnie.

McCain says he's suspended his campaign but the only thing being suspended is a sense of disbelief.

Is this really a serious person capable of leading us through the century's biggest fiscal crisis and the "global war on terror?"

Or did all those years of appearing on Saturday Night Live go to McCain's head and he's now perpetrating the biggest parody in history on the country?

I'm not laughing.

Quote of the Day

Sarah Palin:

"reducing taxes ... has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans"

Maybe McCain should make her Secretary of the Department of Redundancy Department.

Palin on Russia with Couric.

This is not an SNL skit. This is all too real.

Palin, Feminism and the Limitations of Identity Politics

The nomination and popularity of Sarah Palin has turned feminism on its head.

Rebecca Traister writes in Salon.com (hat tip: BDU):

In this strange new pro-woman tableau, feminism -- a word that is being used all over the country with regard to Palin's potential power -- means voting for someone who would limit reproductive control, access to healthcare and funding for places like Covenant House Alaska, an organization that helps unwed teen mothers. It means cheering someone who allowed women to be charged for their rape kits while she was mayor of Wasilla, who supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution, who has inquired locally about the possibility of using her position to ban children's books from the public library, who does not support the teaching of sex education.

The paradox Traister points out here highlights the limitations of identity politics. Voting the gender, the skin color, the sexual orientation, isn't ultimately what's important. Issues are. That doesn't mean turning a blind eye to the historical significance of the first possible black president or female vice president. But such firsts are more symbolic than substantive, their power lying more in their ability to inspire and shatter stereotypes than push an agenda.

Palin's success comes in part because she shatters feminist stereotypes of women in power by being feminine. Traister is right to point out the sexism that Palin's candidacy has engendered:

Every time someone doubts Palin's ability to lead and mother simultaneously, or considers her physical appeal as a professional attribute...I bristle

Yet it's because of her being both a career woman who embraces her femininity with pride that women like my mother are so excited by her. When we think of Palin, we think of her being not only a successful politician (which she is) but a mom, in a way we don't think of Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro or even Kay Baily Hutchinson.

SIDENOTE: The Clintons never used their roles as parents as a political tool. For all the drama swirling around the Clinton marriage, there was none centered on their role as parents. Whatever trauma Chelsea endured as a teenager in the White House remained safe from the public eye. And Chelsea emerged on the public stage this year as a competent, poised, professional and able campaigner. Whatever their faults as spouses, the Clintons must have been good parents. In a short time, we already know more drama surrounding the Palin children than we do about Chelsea or even the Bush twins.

But back to the point: Feminism as a movement faces limitations to the extent it rests on gender identity.

Several years ago, I was in the leadership of a GLBT group in Florida. Some of the women wanted to amend our organizational structure to divide our leadership evenly into male and female. They argued that only women could understand and adequately represent other women.

I opposed this, feeling then as now that such a move would institutionalize our differences and discourage attempts to overcome the barriers between sexes. Just because someone has a vagina doesn't mean she necessarily speaks for all women or has their best interests at heart.

A point that the Palin candidacy drives home.

I think I'd rather

have a veep who shoots lawyers.

Sarah Palin's Travels

Visited Iraq? Nope, never left Kuwait.

Ireland? Just a refueling stop, she didn't get out of the plane.

Andrew has the deets.

The more we learn about the truth behind Sarah Palin's foreign experience and travels, the more we realize it is as thin as the soup that was made:

'by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death."

That metaphor is Lincoln, by the way, since Sarah seems to be fond of Lincoln quotes.

Quotes of the Day

Sarah Palin:

“Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s [Obama] worried that someone won’t read them their rights..."*

Barack Obama:

"The reason that you have this principle [habeas corpus] is not to be soft on terrorism. It's because that's who we are. That's what we're protecting," Obama said, his voice growing louder and the crowd rising to its feet to cheer. "Don't mock the Constitution. Don't make fun of it. Don't suggest that it's not American to abide by what the founding fathers set up. It's worked pretty well for over 200 years."

The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2:

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

*For a discussion of why Palin's comment not only trivializes an important issue but is fundamentally wrong, go here.

The Bush What?

McCain Opens 15 point Lead Among Independents

Read it and weep.

What is happening in this campaign is truly absurd. McCain is winning by proclaiming himself a maverick despite the fact that he caved into the entrenched evangelical wing of the Republican Party that the former truly maverick McCain denounced.

Sarah Palin was not John McCain's first choice for the person who should succeed him if needed. He was forced to abandon his preferred veep because the pro-life party establishment made him.

This...is a maverick?

Baby Props

Ignoring the fact that a screaming throng at 9:30 pm (central) isn't the best place to bring your infant, it's starting to look like the Palin family themselves are content to use the baby as a prop.

Am I the only one who looks at this as cringing and creepy?

Every Threat Gets a War

The Republicans made it very clear last night that they're going to follow every madman into the gates of hell. How far away are those fiery gates? At least seven years and counting, since that's how long Osama has been on the run.

So the question I have for Ms. Executive Experience Palin is, how many "madmen" are you going to march into hell for? Kim Jong-il? Ahmadinejad? Putin? How much money will you borrow from China to pay for it? (on top of the money we've already borrowed following Saddam into the Gates of Hell. And since Saddam is the only madman actually in hell, can't we go home now?)

The U.S. faces serious threats around the globe. But every threat doesn't warrant a war. By mocking Obama's more reasoned, conservative approach to foreign affairs, the Republicans seem to want to meet every threat with war.

Here's the irony: The Bush Administration finally gets it. They've reached out diplomatically to both North Korea and Iran.

I begin to fear a McCain Administration will make the Bush Administration look relatively dovish.

Onward Christian Soldiers

God wants us to get A-rabs. This is what John McCain's choice for Veep Sarah Palin said:

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Between John "We're all Georgians, now" McCain and Sarah "Mission from God" Palin, I'm terrified.

I've a new word to contrast the Obama ticket from the Republicans: "Stable."

Palin's Family

It's all a bit unsavory to me -- not the fact that Palin's daughter is pregnant, that's a private affair. It's the attention brought to it. Although I guess if the GOP wasn't so obsessed with defining what your family values should be it might not be such big news. Palin's interference in trying to get her brother-in-law fired concerns me more. Actually (to be a bit catty), the more you learn about Palin, the more you think she should be headlining Jerry Springer instead of Fox News.

Okay, that was a cheap shot. But I do seriously think the question should not be about her family. It should be whether or not Palin could set Senator McCain straight the next time he mixes up Shites and Sunnis, like Joe Lieberman could. Somehow I doubt it.

The Hail Sarah Pass

The reaction of the DNC women that I've seen here in Denver over the McSame selection of what's-her-name is anger.

Anger that he would pander so blatantly. Anger that he would think them that stupid. Anger that he could be so presumptuous that Gov. What's Her Name has the same qualifications, let alone policy positions, of Hillary.

One woman I talked to said that maybe those who were still harboring anger and resentment would go for it. But those Democrats were probably going to stay out of it anyway.

There's also some glee that McSame would cede the "experience" issue.

The best analysis I heard on CNN was that McSame gets a short term gain (everyone is now talking about it) but a long-term loss (everyone will be talking about how stupid it was).