Friday cat blogging!

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The Non-Debate

Please take a look at a piece by Juan Cole entitled "The Non-Debate". Here's a sample:

Not only was there no debate but Sarah Palin was not required actually to answer any of the questions put to her, and she announced before she began that she was just going to throw up on us all the talking points that she had binged on in Arizona for the past few days.

She mugged for the camera, winked like a bar fly, and just went on talking and talking and talking, oblivious to whatever anyone else said. Not only did she ignore most of Gwen Ifill's questions,she paid no attention to what Joe Biden said. When he choked up over the loss of his family, she did not have the decency to express any kind of condolences. It is almost as though she is autistic and unable to connect with human beings.

Yes, I too was quite troubled that Palin did not respond at all to Biden's emotional moment. She definitely seems empathy-impaired -- along with all the other impairments we've witnessed.

Palin's strategy

Frank Ford sent me a Capitol Hill Blue article with this gem:

She winked. She nodded. She grinned. She said "betcha." But she didn't debate.

You're darned tootin'.

Last night's debate

Frank Ford sent me a Washington Post opinion piece by E. J. Dionne Jr. entitled "Hockey Mom on Thin Ice". This paragraph really sums things up for me:

Expectations for Palin were so low that the mere fact that she managed to keep talking and to keep assailing Obama will be rated as a great victory by McCain's lieutenants. But it was Biden who knew what he was talking about, who could engage in argument and who showed he actually understood the issues. In recent interviews with CBS anchor Katie Couric, Palin came off as profoundly uninformed, as someone who had given little thought to the issues that will matter. Nothing Palin did last night changed that. Those rooting for her were relieved. Those who doubted her readiness going in were not persuaded by her endless repetition of the word "maverick."

"Profoundly uninformed". That's quite an observation. That's also quite an indictment. I do so hope that the ordinary American voter sees that as well.

CNN Quickvote of the day

This might interest you:

Who do you think won the U.S. vice presidential debate?

Joe Biden - 79%

Sarah Palin - 21%

Something about the Biden-Palin debate

I was worried about this happening. Take a look at something I read on Think Progress that was posted during the debate:

Gwen Ifill, perhaps cowed by pre-emptive criticism of her alleged biases from the right-wing, is being extraordinarily passive throughout this debate. She’s not asking any followup questions, she’s letting the candidates get away with completely avoiding her questions, and most of all she’s scarcely asking questions at all — she’s just proposing topics and then opening the floor to a recitation of talking points.

Ifill was next to useless as a moderator. It was obvious that her main objective was getting through the debate without giving anyone material to criticize her.

Oh dear

Well, I'm watching the debate right now.

I must say that I find find Sarh Palin's expressions like "You're darned right" and "You betcha!" as well as winking at the audience quite irritating.

That said, so far she's doing very well. She holds my attention better than Biden and she's churning out those talking points and sound bites.

Mind you, she's not answering the questions but I don't think that will be noticed by the ordinary person on the street. Palin has remarkable stage presence and that will go far in people's perception of her performance.

Dear God in Heaven

McCain said this on Tuesday. He really did. I have several sources on this plus I've seen the video:

MCCAIN: I just want to make a comment about the obvious issue and that is the failure of Congress to act yesterday. Its just not acceptable. […] This is just a not acceptable situation. I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently.

Maybe he'll say he was joking. But my sense is that dictatorship in this country is not a joking matter. At all.

Now it's Supreme Court cases she can't name

Oh my goodness. Oh my, oh my. Just look at this:

COURIC: What other Supreme Court decisions [than Roe v. Wade] do you disagree with?

PALIN: Well, let's see. There's --of course --in the great history of America rulings there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are--those issues, again, like Roe v Wade where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know--going through the history of America, there would be others but--

COURIC: Can you think of any?

PALIN: Well, I could think of--of any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a Vice President, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.

Can you just imagine her as President of the United States of America??? Do you realize how likely that will be if McCain is elected?

The collapse of laissez faire

You might like to take a look at an opinion piece in the Washington Post entitled Slow Rise for a New Era by Harold Meyerson. I want to give you just the last paragraph here:

It's not just investment banks that have fallen by the wayside in the recent carnage; it's the ideology of unregulated capitalism -- of Reaganism. And if Republicans cannot find a way to disenthrall themselves from their faith in their old gods, they may ensure that the GOP itself becomes one more casualty in the collapse of laissez faire.

If anything good comes of this mess it will be the recognition that unregulated capitalism doesn't work. I hope that, indeed, has been recognized. (Of course, you would think we would have figured that out after the Gilded Age. Sadly, not many people read history anymore.)

What about smoking him out?

If this doesn't make you sick, I don't know what will. It's obvious that Bush had no intention of trying to capture Bin Laden:

WASHINGTON - New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any plan to block the retreat of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders from Afghanistan to Pakistan in the first weeks after 9/11.

That failure was directly related to the fact that top administration officials gave priority to planning for war with Iraq over military action against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

As a result, the United States had far too few troops and strategic airlift capacity in the theatre to cover the large number of possible exit routes through the border area when bin Laden escaped in late 2001.

Because it had not been directed to plan for that contingency, the U.S. military had to turn down an offer by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in late November 2001 to send 60,000 troops to the border passes to intercept them, according to accounts provided by former U.S. officials involved in the issue.

On Nov. 12, 2001, as Northern Alliance troops were marching on Kabul with little resistance, the CIA had intelligence that bin Laden was headed for a cave complex in the Tora Bora Mountains close to the Pakistani border.

The war had ended much more quickly than expected only days earlier. CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, who was responsible for the war in Afghanistan, had no forces in position to block bin Laden's exit.

What can I say? How is it, now, that the Republicans are keeping us safer? (Good grief.) Go read the rest of it to get all the details.

Palin the pathetic

Palin can't name a newspaper or magazine that's she regularly reads. Simply unbelievable:

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read, before you were tapped for this, to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I've read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press for the media, I mean...

COURIC: Like what ones specifically? I'm curious that you...

PALIN: Um, all of 'em, any of 'em that um have been in front of me over all these years, um...

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn't a foreign country where it's kind of suggested it seems like, wow how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, DC may be thinking and doing, when you live up there in Alaska. Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

And she wants us to believe she's read "all of 'em, any of 'em" ???

UPDATE: I found this update by SilentPatriot on Crooks and Liars where the above was also posted: "Holy crap. It completely slipped my mind that Plain has a degree in journalism. Yes, someone who studied journalism can’t name a single magazine or newspaper." Yes, it totally slipped my mind too. It's simply beyond belief.

FDR

Take a look at these:

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
...
There must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.
...
This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.
...
We can not merely take but we must give as well.

They're from FDR's first inaugural address. You can read or listen to the whole thing right here.

It's very confusing

All right. You all know by now that the bailout bill failed. Now look at this:

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.

The Fed increased its existing currency swaps with foreign central banks by $330 billion to $620 billion to make more dollars available worldwide. The Term Auction Facility, the Fed's emergency loan program, will expand by $300 billion to $450 billion. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are among the participating authorities.

The Fed's expansion of liquidity, the biggest since credit markets seized up last year, came hours before the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry. The crisis is reverberating through the global economy, causing stocks to plunge and forcing European governments to rescue four banks over the past two days alone.

I don't understand this stuff but Logan Murphy over at Crooks and Liars thinks it might be Bush doing an end run around Congress.

Bono makes sense

This is from a Reuters article:

"It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger," the U2 lead singer told Clinton's fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. "That's mad, that is mad."

I'm not sure it's mad. It might just well be evil, however.

What Michael Moore is saying

Please go over to Alternet and read the Michael Moore piece if only for the title - "The Rich are Staging a Coup Right Now". Here's part of what it says:

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich.
...
This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

Yes, the wealthy are holding us all hostage by threatening to undermine the pension funds of the middle class. I don't know what the answer is but I know this whole things stinks to high heaven.