New U.S. President

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by cheesehead

Oh, wait ... McCain's proposing to change the date to next week, when the only vice-presidential debate is scheduled, and postpone the vice-presidential debate until "a little later". (http://dyn.politico.com/blogs/jonath...ategory/Debate) Gives GOP advisors more time to prepare Palin.

...or more time for them to drill McCain with sound-bite-sized definitions of "credit", "finance", "fractional reserve banking" [oh wait, better scratch that, too technical], "leverage", and "speculative asset bubble".

Sounds like someone's trying to weasel out, and at the same time use the whole "crisis demands our full attention - sorry, must suspend campaigning" as a stealth form of ... campaigning. Very cute.

[cheesehead]

"I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin said.

- - -

"Flip! Flop!" -- one of the televised chants of delegates on the floor of the 2004 Republican national convention, referring to Democratic then-nominee Sen. John Kerry.

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Here's some of an August 31 story from the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News:

http://www.adn.com/sarahpalin/story/511471.html

Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop

By TOM KIZZIA
tkizzia@adn.com

(08/31/08 02:29:08)

When John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and center.

"I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge.

But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

"I think that's when the campaign for national office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.

. . .

BRIDGE TO NOWHERE

But it is the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere in Ketchikan that seems destined to make or break Palin's national reputation as a cost-cutting conservative.

The bridge was intended to provide access to Ketchikan's airport on lightly populated Gravina Island, opening up new territory for expansion at the same time. Alaska's congressional delegation endured withering criticism for earmarking $223 million for Ketchikan and a similar amount for a crossing of Knik Arm at Anchorage.

Congress eventually removed the earmark language but the money still went to Alaska, leaving it up to the administration of then-Gov. Frank Murkowski to decide whether to go ahead with the bridges or spend the money on something else.

In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity.

She said she could feel the town's pain at being derided as a "nowhere" by prominent politicians, noting that her home town, Wasilla, had recently been insulted by the state Senate president, Ben Stevens.

"OK, you've got Valley trash standing here in the middle of nowhere," Palin said, according to an account in the Ketchikan Daily News. "I think we're going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project."

One year later, Ketchikan's Republican leaders said they were blindsided by Palin's decision to pull the plug.

Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Saturday that as projected costs for the Ketchikan bridge rose to nearly $400 million, administration officials were telling Ketchikan that the project looked less likely. Local leaders shouldn't have been surprised when Palin announced she was turning to less-costly alternatives, Leighow said. Indeed, Leighow produced a report quoting Palin, late in the governor's race, indicating she would also consider alternatives to a bridge.

CHANGE OF VIEW

Andrew Halcro, who ran against Palin in 2006, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Palin changed her views after she was elected to make a national splash.

Mayor Weinstein said many residents remain irked by Palin's failure to come to Ketchikan since that time to defend her decision -- despite promises that she would.

Weinstein may be especially sore -- he helped run the local campaign of Palin's 2006 Democratic rival, Tony Knowles. But comments this week from area Republicans show bitterness there too.

Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican who represents Ketchikan in the state Senate, told the Ketchikan Daily News he was proud to see Palin picked for the vice-president's role, but disheartened by her reference to the bridge.

"In the role of governor, she should be pursuing a transportation policy that benefits the state of Alaska, (rather than) pandering to the southern 48," he said.

Businessman Mike Elerding, who helped run Palin's local campaign for governor, told the paper he would have a hard time voting for the McCain ticket because of Palin's subsequent neglect of Ketchikan and her flip-flop on the "Ralph Bartholomew Veterans Memorial Bridge."

TIMING OF PRESS RELEASE

Palin's 2007 press release announcing her change of course came just a month after McCain himself slammed the Ketchikan bridge for taking money that could have been used to shore up dangerous bridges like one that collapsed in Minnesota.

Leighow said she had no record of what time she sent out the press release, but does not recall being told to send it out early for East Coast media.

Once Palin spiked the bridge project, the money wasn't available to Minnesota or other states, however. Congress, chastened by criticism of the Alaska funding, had removed the earmark but allowed the state to keep the money and direct it to other transportation projects.

Enhanced ferry access to Gravina Island is one option under consideration, the state said.

Meanwhile, work is under way on a three-mile road on Gravina Island, originally meant to connect the airport and the new bridge. State officials said last year they were going ahead with the $25 million road because the money would otherwise have to be returned to the federal government.
. . .

[AES]

Here's part of an article from the same source before John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. September 21, 2007 By STEVE QUINN
The Associated Press:

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/story...-9235189c.html

JUNEAU -- The state of Alaska on Friday officially abandoned the controversial "bridge to nowhere" project in Ketchikan that became a symbol of federal pork-barrel spending.

The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan to its airport on a nearby island. "Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer," Gov. Sarah Palin said in a prepared statement.
She directed the state transportation department to find the most "fiscally responsible" alternative for access to the airport.

Here's a link to to the infamous Alaska Democratic Party site that credits Palin for helping kill "The Bridge That Goes Nowhere":

http://www.retireted.com/category/re...ravina-bridge/

Palin did not do away with the "bridge to nowhere" with a single executive decision as the McCain camp claims, but I can't blame anyone for wanting to get rid of Ted.

[cheesehead]

John McCain has proposed that both he and Obama suspend their campaigns (in effect) while Congress deals with financial-crisis legislation.

I realized yesterday what this reminded me of:

President Jimmy Carter's self-imposed exile to the White House during the Iranian hostage crisis.

For you young'uns: Some time after Iranians seized the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, taking several dozen people hostage, Carter announced that he would remain in the White House until the hostages were released -- he would make no trips around the country for any reason. The symbolic idea was that he was making every conceivable effort to obtain their release and that his staying in the White House demonstrated that he was maximally available for any communications with anyone who could help obtain the hostages' release.

Even in those days before cell phones, that was rubbish. No president, even then, was more than moments away from adequate telecommunications linkages at any time during his term in office. Furthermore, he has a whole State Department full of people whose speciality is negotiation. They're the ones that actually accomplish most agreements with foreign powers, with the president stepping in only after all the details are agreed and just need his signature.

That self-imposed exile was the dumbest single decision Carter ever made. All it accomplished was to make it seem as though the Iranians were somehow remotely holding him hostage, too.

Now McCain is trying to make it seem that somehow he (along with, he hopes, Obama) is a sort of "noble hostage" to the financial crisis.

It wasn't a good idea when a Democrat did it, and it's a sorry excuse for a campaign tactic when a Republican tries it now.

- - -

The purpose of history is to learn from it.

[AES]

“Given Senator McCain’s political stunt to avoid the debate, I ask that Friday’s debate moves forward without him, as I am more than willing to step in to participate,” Barr said.


“If John McCain wants to bow out, I’m willing to step in and take his podium on Friday,” said McKinney.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by cheesehead

The purpose of history is to learn from it.

My dear, silly, naive Mr. Cheesehead, you could not be more wrong - the true purpose of history is to interpret it in a way which supports one`s own ambitions.

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by AES

“Given Senator McCain’s political stunt to avoid the debate, I ask that Friday’s debate moves forward without him, as I am more than willing to step in to participate,” Barr said.


“If John McCain wants to bow out, I’m willing to step in and take his podium on Friday,” said McKinney.

Many readers will need fuller identification:

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr

Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney

[only_human]

Originally Posted by cheesehead

John McCain has proposed that both he and Obama suspend their campaigns (in effect) while Congress deals with financial-crisis legislation.

I realized yesterday what this reminded me of:

President Jimmy Carter's self-imposed exile to the White House during the Iranian hostage crisis.

[...]

Now McCain is trying to make it seem that somehow he (along with, he hopes, Obama) is a sort of "noble hostage" to the financial crisis.

It wasn't a good idea when a Democrat did it, and it's a sorry excuse for a campaign tactic when a Republican tries it now.

- - -

The purpose of history is to learn from it.

YeahBut...at least it is not as dumb as Bush giving up golf Bush's golf claim angers veterans

George Bush has angered US war veterans by declaring that out of solidarity with those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq he decided to make his own sacrifice: giving up golf.

Bush said he laid down his clubs after the August 2003 bombing of United Nations offices in Baghdad that killed the UN's top official in the country, Sergio Vieira de Mello. "I remember when de Mello got killed as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life. I was playing golf - I think in central Texas - and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, 'It's just not worth it any more'."

According to a database held by CBS News the statement is not entirely accurate. He did cut short a round of golf at the 12th hole on that day, but his last recorded game came two months later, October 13.

[ewmayer]

Pair of campaign-related Op-Eds in today`s edition of that leftist rag, The New York Times:

Miachael Cohen | It All Comes Down To Experience: As Barack Obama continues to stay on message, it’s no wonder John McCain has proposed postponing the first debate.

My Comment: I disagree with Cohen w.r.to Obama "staying on message throughout the summer" - I was annoyed at how he and his campaign advisors allowed themselves to get sucked into the Republican politics of sound-bites and distraction after the Democratic convention and McCain throwing the Palin monkey wrench into the campaign machinery. The financial crisis deciding not to wait for the election to be over essentially forced everyone back to what should have been the real issue all along, namely the economy. Cohen does point out something crucial which I predicted would happen: Palin may have shored up McCain`s support among the religious right, but it appears to be alienating many moderates and independents, especially since it is becoming crystal clear that both she and McCain are way out of their depth on economic issues. Watching McCain sitting at the bipartisan legislative leaders meeting convened yesterday by President Bush, the first thought that occurred to me was "here is a man trying very, very hard to look 'clueful'."


Poor Sarah: In a photo of Gov. Sarah Palin with Henry Kissinger, Judith Warner sees someone she can sympathize with: a woman fully aware that she is out of her league.

[cheesehead]

FYI:

complete transcript of first McCain-Obama debate, Sept. 26, 2008

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/wash...-transcri.html

[cheesehead]

A couple more items about Sarah Palin's background, and an opinion-piece analysis:

"AP Investigation: Palin got zoning aid, gifts"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080928/...r/palin_ethics

"Palin treads carefully between fundamentalist beliefs and public policy"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,1440865.story

"How Sarah Palin embodies the Christian right archetype of the Sexy Puritan"

http://www.slate.com/id/2200814?nav=wp