I don’t care who you support - really, I don’t (my wife supports McCain). But if you think that any of these McCain/Palin supporters made “good”, “thoughtful”, or “reasonable” statements then I suggest you stay at home this November 4th…

…and go read a book

…and stop watching Faux News

…and Jesus, REALLY? What the hell is wrong with you?

Very nice retort to the weak political attacks Palin is trying to play up:

Since McCain’s campaign wants to make this election “not about the issues“, let’s take a closer look at the people behind the campaign:

Partial Transcript:

• If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re ‘exotic, different.’
• Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, yours is a quintessential American story.
• If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
• Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.
• Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
• Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.
• If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that Registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.
• If your total resume is: local sportscaster, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a man in his eighth decade.
• If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.
• If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a true Christian.
• If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
• If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you’re very responsible.
• If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious Law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America ’s.
• If you’re husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

Wow… it’s shocking how bad a response she gives when viewing the VP candidates side-by-side.

My first thought was Plessy v. Ferguson (which was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education). Hmm… maybe she should read some newspaper articles about herself since she was quoted as being against the recent (2005) Supreme Court ruling for “Baker vs Exxon”. That ruling gutted the punitive settlement for Alaskans hurt by the 1989 Exxon spill. You’d think such an “involved” governor of Alaska would be able to at least think of rulings that recently and directly affected citizens in her own state.

But be warned: I have listened to Palin’s previous debates during her bid to become governor and she is a very good debater. Most debates aren’t about policies, and she is excellent with sound bites and connecting with people on a personal level.

I don’t think you should listen to celebrities to determine your own political decisions - but this video I completely agree with. Register before it’s too late (you only have a couple days left).

Can’t say I love Kerry, but every point he makes here is factual.

Is anyone else reminded of another beauty queen’s response when listening to these answers? I can see why the McCain camp has only allowed Palin to be interviewed a handful of times (compared to the 80+ interviews Biden has done).

And this is Katie Couric - not exactly a hardball interviewer (in fact, given the “crisis” those questions were all very softball). I can’t wait for the VP debates.

Oh well - at least it would make a neat Disney movie (best quote: “You pucked with the wrong ice president!”).

UPDATE: Oh man, another clip from the interview where she is trying to explain how being close to Russia gives her foreign policy experience. It’s almost comical at this point (until you realize that this person might actually be one heartbeat away from the presidency!).

David Letterman comments on McCain canceling his appearance due to the economic crisis.

Politico looks into Sarah Palin’s attendance record as Governor. Of the 397 workdays in her Governorship (578 if you include weekends and holidays), Palin was in Juneau for at most 85 days. We can only say “at most” because this assumes she never traveled anywhere other than her home and the capital (which would make the total days in the capital even less).

We know she was at home for 312 days because she billed per diem to the state of Alaska for her time spent at home. You read that right: she made the government pay her to work from home.

Why does the governor of Alaska need to be in the state capital? There are two big reasons — and probably many smaller ones. The first big reason is that she appoints most of the people who manage the 15 departments of Alaska’s state government, containing more than 100 divisions and employing more than 50,000 people. Nearly all the department heads and division directors are headquartered in Juneau. E-mails and telephone calls alone are not effective for the governor to get advice, give directions and follow up to ensure that appropriate policy is being implemented. It is obvious that the ability to fully monitor the performance of the bureaucracies any governor has chosen to lead is greatly restricted if the governor does not spend significant time on the ground where the operations of government are housed.

But also of great importance is the governor’s ability to work with the legislature to update state policies and offer new programs for improving governance. Any effective governor must work on an ongoing basis with not only the leadership of both houses in the state legislature to build consensus and draft the governor’s proposals into language that both houses can accept, but also committee chairmen and recalcitrant members whose votes are needed to support key portions of the governor agenda.

Heckuva job there, Palin. Must be hard to run a state with a built in surplus from oil taxes.