Critique and/or advice for anyone supporting Obama or, at the very least, would like the Republicans to be thrown out.
---
Turns out that the McCain campaign has been right about one thing, if one thing only, and that is that we can tell by Sarah Palin's short stint as an executive just what sort of executive she will be. Think of Cruella de Vil or The Evil Queen in "Snow White". Associates in Alaska report that she has a full and detailed history of vindictiveness, cronyism, graft, secrecy, betrayal, and selfishness (how Republican is this?). Add that to the videos going around about shooting wolves from the air and her Christian Dominionism Church, not to mention her absolute ignorance about almost everything the federal government might be responsible for, and you have just about the worst selection for US vice president in the history of the world. Well, maybe second worst. But look at it this way -- the fact that Bush did not pick Cheney and Cheney picked himself was a prelude to Cheney's unchecked power (used for multiple bad ends) in the last seven years. The fact that McCain picked Palin is certainly a prelude to a different kind of disaster from the Bush disaster, one that will come from her narrow-minded hubris and aggressive ignorance combined with his erratic hotheaded impulsiveness. And Putin is cool enough to sedate a charging tiger!

The papers were full of articles this morning about how Democrats (not Obama but "talking heads' like moi) reacted too strongly to Palin's selection and are now responsible for the inevitable defeat of the Democrats because we have offended middle America. But you know that if we had kept smiling and elevating the discourse, we would now be attacked for being soft and rolling over, as John Kerry was. Why can't the Democrats do anything right? Well, I'll tell you. The Republican mindset is inherently extreme -- extremely aggressive, extremely defensive, extremely emotional. If you don't exhibit much aggression, they think you are wimping out, and if you do unto them what they have done unto you, they start screaming that they are being unfairly victimized. They are highly reactive and sitting down and reasoning together is not on the program.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ jane-smiley/monster-in-a-box_b _126514.html
---
The Republican problem is a systemic disparagement of government, community, faith in our institutions, family, God's creation and the mitigating institutions that put a check on something any party aligned with a religious movement should know all about: sin. Greed is not the only problem. Human weakness and stupidity (i.e., "sin") is the problem! And the genius of the American system is supposedly that we have a system of checks and balances to mitigate our fallen state. You have destroyed those checks and balances.

Bush felt no guilt about promoting completely unqualified people to high posts merely on the basis of social, ideological or political connections. I'll take that a step further: I don't think Bush ever wanted the government to work. You Republicans hate our government as bitterly as our terrorist enemies do. You have been trying to deconstruct it. Since the government is seen as the enemy of freedom by you, if it doesn't work so much the better!

We have met the enemy and he is us! When Islamists tried to destroy our country by flying planes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Towers, we rightly called them terrorists. When the Republicans in the Congress and the White House set about destroying our country, our standing in the world, our military and our economy, but much more effectively, you called them statesmen. It is time for all Americans -- including all you who are patriotic Republicans -- to sweep away these putrid earth-consuming, family killing, government bashing "me" worshipping individualistic fools--that or to watch our country be swept away by them. We can't afford eight more years of this willful ignorance.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ frank-schaeffer/an-open-letter -to-all-rep_b_127709.html

There's a candidate in this presidential race who remains a mystery -- hazy, undefined, so full of contradictions that voters may see electing him as an enormous risk. I'm referring to the cipher known as John McCain.

In fact, there are some basic things about McCain that apparently even McCain doesn't know. Asked Wednesday by reporters from Politico how many houses he and his wealthy wife, Cindy, own, McCain responded, "I think -- I'll have my staff get to you." The correct answer seems to be in the neighborhood of seven, but who's counting?

I don't begrudge McCain his multiple residences or his $520 Ferragamo shoes. I understand that he was just being flippant and unresponsive when he said at the Saddleback forum last weekend that being rich meant having an income of at least $5 million a year. But it's a stretch, to say the least, for McCain to portray himself as a Regular Joe while painting Barack Obama as some kind of jet-set celebrity.

It's understandable that McCain would want to fuzz this aspect of his biography; at a moment of great economic dislocation and anxiety, people might question your ability to feel their pain if they know that your net worth may be somewhere north of $100 million.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08 /21/AR2008082103112.html?sub=A R
---
This election has hosted some interesting stages in the evolution of rhetoric. John McCain has shown us that Change means four more years of the same Bush Doctrine that brought us wars and conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, and soon to be Pakistan, and Iran. Oh, and Russia. I'm sure I'm leaving out countries, too. Barack Obama has shown us that Change means repeating the same mistakes of Triangulation as John Kerry, and before him, Al Gore, and before him, the daddy of Triangulation, Bill Clinton, who did manage to win an election but sold the Democratic soul with his win. The evolution is most evident in the way pundits are throwing around words like Elitism and Populism. Simultaneously, citizens are reminded that they should not be Elitist in their dismissal of Sarah Palin as unqualified, but they are also unequipped to lead a Populist, Democratic revolt in order to pump some new blood into the Washington machine. Elitism now means evil snobbery and Populism means hopeless dreaming. Elitism, David Books reminds us in the correct first half of his New York Times op-ed, used to be a way to filter out the cons and crazies. It used to mean finding the best man or woman for the job. Now, the media has redefined it as dismissing God and Guns, and asking Sarah Palin if she really thinks living in Alaska prepares her for negotiating with Medvedev. Sure, we need smart, wise leaders to lead us, but The People are responsible for holding those same leaders accountable come election time. The only way for The People to know what the hell they're doing in the election booths is through self-education. The only way they can stay educated is for the media to responsibly report news in a balanced fashion.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ allison-kilkenny/check-and-bal ance-this_b_126838.html

It's the most irresponsible decision by any leading presidential candidate since Bush picked Quayle...facing a potentially catastrophic period of war in the Middle East and find that a woman whose expertise is in fishing, snowboarding and oil-drilling has been deemed worthy of leading the free world at the drop of a hat. But that's how seriously McCain takes national security. This was about marketing not governing; hiring for appearance not competence. And they did it - without apparent irony - on the anniversary of Katrina as another hurricane threatens. From from being a reversal of the Bush administration's worst instincts, McCain seems itent on recreating it - as farce. Heckuva Job, Sarah.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan tic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08 /krauthammer-on.html
---
Mayoral performance. Palin, who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla — that amounts to $3,000 per resident. She argues that the debt was needed to fund improvements.
— The environment. As governor, Palin vetoed wind power and clean coal projects, including a 50-megawatt wind farm on Fire Island and a clean coal facility in Healy that had been mired in a dispute between local and state governments.
— And, maybe, censorship. According to the Frontiersman newspaper, Wasilla's library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said that Palin asked her outright if she "could live with censorship of library books." Palin later dismissed the conversation as a "rhetorical" exercise.
http://www.politico.com/news/s tories/0808/12987.html
---
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin was for [The Bridge To Nowhere] until she was against it, and kept the money anyway. She also supported funding for the road that leads to the bridge, even though there wasn't much point to it without the bridge.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan tic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08 /that-bridge-to.html
---
...the Palin pick reflects the most dangerous tendencies in McCain's foreign policy--the tendency to react, to overreact, to crises, without thinking it through. It also reflects a defiant, adolescent "screw you" attitude toward governance.
We have had two big presidential decisions from both candidates - the first time we can clearly judge their decision-making skills. Obama's was prudent, cautious, thoroughly vetted, and serious about governing. McCain's was impulsive, rash, barely vetted and decided at the last minute by a small coterie that left everyone else gasping. We are at war. Another 9/11 is possible. Israel may attack Iran. Pakistan may go up in smoke. Putin may invade another country. Who would you rather have as president?
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan tic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08 /what-this-says.html
---
"Palin will also be assigned to pacify conservatives. On the evidence of the numerous emails reprinted here, that will be easily done. Reader after reader said that the base was now energized. You would have thought the base was energized by being in a war. If not, perhaps we need a new base," - Rick Brookhiser...people in the Republican base are much less interested in national security than in religious orthodoxy. Who knew? The only relevant criterion for the Christianists is that Palin is a pro-life evangelical. What other criterion should they have? This isn't about governing; it's about believing.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan tic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08 /yglesias-awar-4.html
---
He'd Met Her Once!
John McCain first met Palin in February of this year and had a telephone conversation with her. That is the full extent of his familiarity with Palin until he spent time with her last week. That's how seriously he is taking the presidency of the United States. It's simply unbelievable recklessness. It's Bush-level recklessness. Putting country first? This is a reckless act of egotism and politics. The more you think about it, and the more you consider how many charges he has leveled against Obama's alleged inexperience in a time of peril, the more outrageous it is that she he picks an unknown local politician he has only met once before to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Palin isn't the issue here. McCain's judgment is. It's completely off the wall. Is there something wrong with him?
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan tic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08 /hed-met-her-onc.html