Just wondering, but has anyone ever seen Dubya and Sarah in the same room, much less in the same city? Here’s what I mean: John McCain drags (no pun intended) an unknown politician from a little known state out of the Republican closet just as Gustav starts to look like a threat to the Gulf Coast, and everyone on both sides, including him, immediately scrambles to do the right thing by New Orleans the second time around. One of the McCain’s first moves is to cancel Bush’s Monday in-person speech as he and Sarah start campaigning together and making the appropriate noises about helping Gulf Coast residents.

Yeah, I know, Bush was spotted in a number of places while he monitored the Gustav response, so clearly they’re two different people. But boy, do they sound alike. It’s downright spooky.

For example, in the ensuing days after Gustav proved pretty much a bust and everybody got back to business as usual, among other revelations (with a small “r”), it was revealed that Sarah is an ardent Rapture Rightie who routinely makes comments like: "Our national leaders are sending them out (to Iraq) on a task that is from God. . . That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

And, regarding more local Alaska issues, like the natural gas pipeline she’s pushing: "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.”

And, in reference to other projects she wanted to implement for her state: "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."
McCain is supposedly doing his darndest not to be tied to Political Poison Bush politically, yet he chooses as his co-star someone who shares the same bigoted Christian extremist ideology as Dubya. What’s going on here?

For me, the fact that Palin is a woman has nothing to do with my distrust of her as a politician. I think it would be great if a truly qualified, truly leftie female ran for president/vice president and won. A female Dennis Kucinich, perhaps? But cynically choosing a token female to try to attract Hillaryites and Rapture Righties and make feminist history before the Dems do is not the way to go about it.
Yes, she made a very well-received speech last night, but as Joe Biden gently pointed out, she didn’t even bring up the issues that matter to most Americans. If you take away her deft delivery, it was basically just a mud slinger, a typical right-wing attack-mode boilerplate written by a man who should know better, Matthew Scully, a former Bush speechwriter (and ethical vegan!).

Cindy McCain may whine that the media (she includes the leftie blogosphere, I presume) is being sexist with regard to Palin, but I find McCain's remark sexist in itself. Is the press required to handle Palin with kid gloves just because she’s a girl and she may cry if they’re too hard on her? That's hardly likely. And besides, little Sarah from Alaska is playing with the Big Boys now. She’s entered the major leagues. Her record has some very dark stains that need to be examined. Hillary understood that she was in for a rough time of it during her campaign, took her lumps like a “man”, and came through the other end with her dignity intact. So why should the media tip-toe around Palin? And conversely, why aren't Barack Obama and Joe Biden just as tough on her as the media (generally) is?

The reluctance of the Obama campaign to deal with ALL issues no matter how irrelevant they seem (and that includes personal issues, which are, after all, intimately tied to one’s political ideology) is reminiscent of why Kerry lost in 2004. He refused to comment about the lies of the Swift Boat Swifties, thinking they would just go away because they were so absurd, until it was too late. Never underestimate the gullibility of American voters.

I hope Barack Obama thinks about the price he may pay for being nice and “above it all” with regard to Sarah Palin, and not continue to make the mistake of not challenging her personal as well as familial ethics. Because when push comes to shove, Palin’s response to family problems and her Bush-like insistence that she has direct knowledge of “God’s will” are a reflection of how she will deal with the bigger issues, should she make it to the White House.

It’s now become clear that Sarah is one tough cookie, so give ‘er hell, Dems!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_iraq_war;_ylt=AtGi_eOn6yno1KiqXe7fVPGs0NUE