Say Goodnight Sarah

Maybe Senator Joe Biden should bring a good cigar to Thursday’s debate. This way it will just look like an old Burns and Allen skit when non sequiturs and nonsense come flowing out of Governor Palin’s mouth, and everyone could just have a good laugh.

I was appalled, but not surprised when the latest episode of Katie Couric’s Palin interview was aired. Either Palin suffers from anomic aphasia, or she hasn’t read a Supreme Court opinion in her life. When Couric’s second question to Palin was for her to name another Supreme Court decision with which Palin disagreed, besides Roe v wade, Palin appeared stymied. She knew enough (sort of) to stay on topic and repeat the mantra of “States Rights” and Federalism, but as usual she lacked any knowledge of specifics. So the answer to Katie’s second question was a paraphrase of the answer that Palin had already given when answering the first question about Roe v Wade. When this was compared to Senator Biden’s answer to Couric’s question as to why Biden supported Roe v Wade, Palin’s lack of ability to express herself, as well as her general ignorance of major issues facing us, became even more painfully apparent.

So McCain expects us to believe that he puts Country first even after his stunningly inappropriate choice of a running mate. He is guilty of reckless grandstanding at its worst. Like suspending (give me a break!) his campaign. He injects election politics into the important discussion surrounding our current financial meltdown, contributes nothing, possibly motivates House republicans to reject the only viable offer on the table, blames Obama for politicising the process after delivering rhetoric which demanded Obama’s presence in Washington. Then he sits through the meeting, saying nothing except a few inconsequential remarks at the end of the meeting. Then he spends the next day on the phone even as his aides are proclaiming that Senator McCain didn’t “phone this one in”. Then we have the prematurely released ad declaring his victory in a debate that not only did not yet occur, but to which McCain had not even decided to attend; at least he hadn’t announced his intention to change his mind again.

Is this the person we want trying to solve the economic crisis? Is this the team that we want to represent us in dealings with Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, al Qaeda, et al? If he tries one of his foolish stunts in conducting our foreign policies, what price will we ultimately pay? This is a very dangerous time for America, and we need our A team to deal with the myriad challenges of the 21st century. Instead we will have a desperate, geriatric narcissist and a bubble-headed beauty queen at the helm if, God forbid, they are elected.

So, putting country first, I can only hope someone asks Governor Palin to “Say goodnight, Sarah”. And since she was in (like) second grade when Biden was elected, she may fail to see the humor in her own reply, which will probably be ”Good night, Sarah”.

Deathbed Repentance?

So now George Bush seems to finally believe that the US should be involved in brokering peace beween Israel and the Palestinians. Five years ago he refused to consider talking directly to the pricncipals in that conflict, just as he refused to talk to North Korea or Iran. Now he’s back from hopping around the middle east, hoping to improve his legacy, or create one that transcends simply being our worst and stupidest President ever. As Bill Maher put it, for five years lives were lost, while Bush was getting on the job training.

But is this new attitude really a result of Bush having actually learned something or is it comparable to a deathbed repentence in which he will try to repudiate the sins which has caused his approval ratings to crash? “Too little, too late” doesn’t begin to characterize his ingenuous posturing.

Likewise, he announced his intention for an economic stimulus package. This is an issue that has bi-partisan support, and any viable package will be crafted by legislators on both sides of the aisle. He ruined our economy with his stubborn ideologies and his ill-advised deployment of our military. Now, he wants to take credit for issuing the prescription needed to treat the malady created by his own incompetent policies.