I Just Realized: Sarah Palin is a Mean Girl

Joe Biden said recently that an Obama Administration would face an international crisis the first 6 months in office.

Palin made note of that comment at a rally in Reno, NV today:

Gov. Sarah Palin suggested today that Barack Obama is unprepared to serve as commander in chief, laying out scenarios she said made the country vulnerable to an international crisis under his leadership.

Palin fed off the words of Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, who said Sunday that Obama would be challenged by an international crisis in his first six months of office. During a rally at the Reno Convention Center, Palin listed four scenarios "that would place our country at risk in an Obama administration," including sitting down with dictators and sending American troops to Pakistan over the objections of the country's leader.

"But I guess the looming crisis that most worries the Obama campaign right now is Joe Biden's next speaking engagement," Palin said. "Let's call that crisis scenario number five."

Seriously, did McCain Campaign advisors come up with this schtick for her to ignore issues and spend her time thinking of nasty things to say at rallies? Or is that just her own brilliance?

Jezebel.com put a nice perspective on it thanks to CNN:

Oh, and while she's running around mocking Joe Biden's statement that the Obama Administration might face an international crisis, CNN pointed out that the Cuban Missile Crisis started off Kennedy's Administration; the fall of Saigon, Ford's; the first World Trade Center bombing, Clinton's; and 9/11, Bush's. Silly facts.

I'm starting to think that, because Sarah Palin is clearly a Mean Girl, and since Tina Fey wrote Mean Girls, Palin is actually just Tina Fey spewing her own brilliant parody of the worst kind of bigoted, inexperienced, woman-hating GOP candidate that could possibly exist. Anybody with me?

(hotline), (jezebel)

7 Ways to Make Sure Your Vote is Counted

This list was written by Megan of Jezebel in her article, "Voter Suppression And You: A Guide For Unreal Americans" in Jezebel today. The full article details many of the current efforts by the GOP to disenfranchise Democratic voters. Don't let it happen this time!


1. Vote early, preferably in person. Most of the people who will be out and about to mount challenges will be doing this on Election Day proper. This also gives you a chance to makes sure you are registered properly and challenge back if anything is wrong.
2. Insist on a paper trail. Many states have this as an option now, but in some it's only upon request. Request.
3. Don't wear anything that signals your voting preferences. Some states have little-used laws that prevent "electioneering" in polling places, and there have been signals that the folks there to challenge some voters will be challenging people wearing Obama stuff. Leave it at home or in your car.
4. Bring picture ID. Your state may or may not require that you have it, but it is one good way to verify your identity and residency if challenged. If your address isn't up-to-date, many states can issue free temporary change-of-address cards, or just do the paperwork to get it officially changed today.
5. Stand your ground, politely. The point of a challenge is to keep you from voting, and they can win in two ways. The easiest thing to do — which is why they're doing it — is to embarrass you into leaving. Fuck that. If you can't win the challenge at the moment, demand a provisional ballot and a written explanation of what you need to do to make sure that it is counted. Speak only to official poll workers, and ignore the partisan hack if s/he tries to "help."
6. Ask for help. If there is a problem with your electronic machine, do not press done and leave the polling place. Insist that a poll worker help you until your vote is cast correctly. If it cannot be, tell them they need to request assistance from the appropriate authorities and refuse to leave or cast your ballot until the problem is corrected. If you leave, you've probably already lost. Do not forget to have a paper trail.
7. Ask for more help The Brennan Center For Justice, among other groups, will have lawyers on hand to take reports of problems and offer legal assistance by called 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Use it if you have to. Hopefully you won't have to.

David Sedaris Has a Way With Words

David Sedaris offers this analogy to help us understand undecided voters: "I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?' To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

(the new yorker)

Daily Show Rage: "What the Pfuck?"

Last night's episode of the Daily Show was even better than usual, thanks to Jon Stewart's rage over the separate comments by Palin and McCain advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer about small town America being the "real America". I read various reports over the weekend of Stewart giving a speech to a college audience in Boston and reacting to the Palin statement with a very clear, "Fuck you", so I was wondering how censored his reaction to the statement would be on Comedy Central. Well, thankfully for us, his rage didn't seem to subside before Monday's show, as proven by his repeated conclusion that Palin's statement would mean that September 11th happened in "fake America" (and that bin Laden was going to be mad when he realized that he bombed the wrong America!)

Rage on, Jon! We're right there with ya!

Click here to watch the full episode.

Palin Rally Racists of the Week

Thank the Immigrants

So it turns out, California is not a reliably blue state because of those gay Jews in Hollywood, or those gay atheists in San Francisco! According to Brian Beutler and Ezra Klein, conservatives can now have a new reason to hate the first and second generation Latinos in California: they vote Democratic, and are a big reason why CA goes blue. It makes sense though--looking at the several images I stole from Ezra, it's easy to see that the farther you get from the coast (disregarding San Diego), the more conservative it gets. Point being, there are a lot of white voters in CA who vote Republican, and Bush had a 5 point margin among white voters in 2004. Thank you, hefty Latino minority, for keeping CA blue.

Amy Poehler rocks my world.

I'm glad that Sarah came off as mostly stiff on SNL last night---she left most of the funny stuff to tina fey and amy poehler. The opening skit was actually so stiff that it made me uncomfortable for the most part, but this amy poehler rap is pretty much the funniest thing ever:

Powell Endorses Obama on Meet the Press

NYT Profile of Cindy McCain outrages McCain camp

McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb has labeled the piece, "gutter journalism", but it actually does a pretty good job of humanizing the Stepford Cindy McCain.

article after the JUMP.

Sarah Haskins explains the Disney Princesses.

they so do have daddy issues.