About three weeks ago, at a discussion event, Madeleine Albright took a jab at Sarah Palin. 

In discussing the environment, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour wanted to make clear all five secretaries — who also included Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher and Colin Powell –  were in agreement that it is mankind that causes global warming. Amidst all the “yeas” in agreement, Albright added, “Yes, except in Alaska,” which had the crowd loudly applauding the obvious jab at Sarah Palin.

At a rally over the weekend, Palin got in her own dig.  She read the quote from her Starbucks cup, which came from Madeleine Albright of all people. 

There’s a special place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women.

Big roar from the crowd on that one.  Except, oh no, Palin misquoted the cup!!  The quote actually says “help” not “support.”  How could she?  Albright’s statement said that “[t]his is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth.”

Maybe Albright took her cues from her ex-boss.

 
By the way, m-w.com states help is “to give assistance or support.”

Can Babwa Wawa still look in the mirror and call herself unbiased?

I shouldn’t let the “ladies” of The View get me riled up, but the narrow-mindedness on that show just makes my blood boil!  I shouldn’t even watch these clips, but it’s like driving past a car wreck — I just can’t help myself.

First, poor Elisabeth.  She doesn’t choose her words very well.  She needs to talk down to them and with language that won’t excite them, such as “radical” and “terrorist,” because she is talking about their Messiah.

To the other ladies, being judged by one’s past is OK.  One’s present also has to be taken into account.  That’s how you learn about the future. 

Did McCain cheat on his wife after she was in a horrible car accident?  Absolutely.  He admits it.  He took full responsibility.  He agreed to pay for all of her medical bills for the rest of her life in his divorce settlement.  And, when he remarried, he’s been with her for 28 years and hasn’t cheated even after she went through a difficult addiction.  He’s still friends with his ex wife, and all of his children were on that stage with him during the Convention. 

Did McCain meet with Keating during his first year as a Senator, and did Keating ask McCain to get the investigators off Keating’s back?  Absolutely.  McCain did not do him any favors.  In fact, reports are he let that famous temper of his fly when Keating dared to ask in a meeting he was in.  He didn’t meet with him again.  He was investigated and cleared but had his hand slapped for using poor judgement.  He went to the press and admitted his mistake and apologized to his voters for it.  He opened it up to questions and spent 90 minutes answering them until all reporters were satisfied.  He made corruption one of his target issues, and he eventually co-authored the McCain-Feingold bill that was well-meaning to say the least.

Did Obama sit on the board of a foundation with a man who protested the Vietnam War by setting off bombs aimed at police stations and judges homes among other sites?  Absolutely.  Obama was eight when the bombings took place, so there was absolutely no involvement, but Ayers to this day still thinks what he did was right.  Obama worked with the man on giving out grant money, spoke at a conference with him, and attended a fundraiser at his house.  Obama eventually denounced Ayers’ actions, but said he barely knew the man who just lived in his neighborhood.  When the NYT did a story on Ayers’ connection with Obama, Palin started hitting Obama on his associations.  Obama’s camp denied he knew that Ayers was a terrorist until recently. 

Did Obama attend a church for twenty years with a pastor who married him and his wife, who baptized his children, and who frequently spoke of how America treated poor and minorities and often used racial slurs against Caucasians during his sermons?  Absolutely.  Obama said he was the man who helped him find Jesus, but he denied ever hearing the sermons that were played often in the media. Obama made a big speech about race in America where he denounced what the pastor said, but he said he understood where Rev. Wright was coming from and could not throw him under the bus because he was like an uncle.  Rev. Wright made a racially-tinged speech at a conference, and Obama threw him under the bus a day later.  Obama left the church.  Whenever he is asked about Rev. Wright, he says he is no longer a member of the church.

Do you see a difference here?  McCain admits his mistakes and learns from them.  Obama will not admit a mistake no matter what the cost.  How can that not tell you something about a person?  Barbara Walters said she didn’t want her daughter judged by her past because of the wonderful work she does now.  After some reading, Walters’ daughter sounds more like McCain.  She owned up to her problems, fixed them, and made something wonderful out of them.

Based on these examples, can you tell me who skipped a fundraiser with a man who made a joke about eape?  Can you tell me who won’t talk about his years in college?

One final thought — I wonder what Whoopi and Barbara would say if McCain had even been seen in the same room as Eric Rudolph? Hmm?

Here’s how you start hearings into a financial mess that you want to blame on your political opponents.  First, get a thesis statement together.  The Democrats have a two-parter this week:

a) Did the Republican’s deregulation of Wall Street lead to the massive foreclosures among poor minorities on Main Street who deserved houses but were preyed upon by evil Wall Street lenders, backed by Republicans, to accept loans with fees that caused their payments to be more than they could afford?
b) Did the failure of the Republicans to bail out Lehman Bros, because Secretary Paulson is the former CEO of their evil rival Goldman Sachs, cause the market run on Lehman, which ultimately led to the downfall of the market and the probable downfall of society, except for the rescue from Hell led by the Democrats?

Next, you need to call in all the responsible parties that can be linked to your opponents.  Call evil CEOs who are all Republican, of course, to testify.  Call liberal think tanks who “study” corporations and will point fingers toward the evil (Republican) CEOs.  Make sure they all stay on message.

Third, shut down any opposition.  Don’t allow opening statements.  Don’t allow them to go one second over time.  Don’t let people like Rep. John Mica of Florida mention Fannie or Freddie or Franklin Raines, and call him out of order if he does. 

Fourth, announce once again that the Republicans are evil and caused this whole thing.  Have a closing prayer to The Obamessiah to remind the country that he’s the only one that can save us all.

Finally, hold hearings on Fannie and Freddie after the elections but before January 20th just to remind everyone how fucked they are now that all three houses are controlled by Democrats, who we find out during the hearings were the real culprits.

Update: P.S. Don’t let the media find out that the Lehman CEO knew where his bread was buttered.

Tonight, McCain is going to face a tough, tough battle.  He relishes these types of forums, but he can’t focus on just the small audience he will be with.  McCain needs to be careful not to resort to talking points! 

So those are the biggest don’ts.  What are the do’s?  

1. Hit hard on what he did to prevent Fannie / Freddie.  As Ed Morrissey writes:

McCain sponsored legislation; Obama wrote a letter. 

McCain took action; Obama did nothing but talk, and far too late.

2. Since the Keating 5 incident will come up, McCain needs to say he is on the record that he exercised poor judgement 20 years ago by simply taking a meeting.  He did nothing else, and he was exonerated.  He needs to say something like, “This was the mistake of a first-term Senator. While I was cleared of any impropriety, I understand judgement and appearances are important, unlike Senator Obama who continues to defend his questionable relationships rather than admit a mistake. The experience I gained from that incident has made me a better Senator and will make me a great President.” 

3. Question Obama about what he will cut from his spending proposals.  Don’t let him get away with enumerating what programs have to be implemented like he did the last debate.  Make sure Americans understand the size of his spending package and how he will never be able to pay for it, adding another trillion dollars onto the trillion dollars we just spent on bailouts, err, rescue plans.

4. Be specific!  He has to make people understand he really will cancel all non-essential spending.  Explain some of the programs that will be on hold.  Tell them he won’t take the Presidential salary, which is $1.6 million dollars over the four years. 

5. Shoot down Obama’s “out of touch” argument.  He needs to make the audience understand that he understands them by making some examples that are true but don’t make him seem like he studied up for the question.  He might sound insincere if he makes an argument like, “I know not taking the $1.6 million dollar four-year salary might seem like it won’t make a difference, but every little bit helps.  Americans make those decisions all the time — they buy generic instead of brand name at the grocery store, they go from the 500 minute plan to the 200 minute plan on their cell phones, they cut back on extra cirricular activities for their children.  Pretty soon, they have saved $100 or more dollars a month, which can make a big difference when gas prices are still as high as they are.”  But, if he does it right, he can connect. He just needs to make sure he knows what a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk cost before hand, because he might get called out on it, heh.

6. Have every fact at hand that he can.  He needs to know Obama’s plans and records as well as he knows his.  Call Obama out on things that aren’t right.  Don’t let him put untruths out there unquestioned, because Brokaw won’t do it.  McCain, however, can’t belabor any points or else he will seem like a broken record.

7.  If Obama brings up the angry and erratic argument that has been out there the past couple of days, he needs to say, “Darn right I’m angry.  Aren’t you?  I’m angry that Congress has let America get into this situation.  I’m angry that the greed on Wall Street went unchecked.  I’m angry Americans are losing their savings, homes, and jobs because of it.”

8. If Obama tries to tie him to Bush, he needs to make clear he is not Bush without seeming like a party traitor.  Palin had a good line this morning in Florida, which McCain can use and say something like, “Senator Obama keeps looking back to assess blame.  I am looking forward to the solutions.  I know how to move America to the future.  Senator Obama has never been tested in crisis situations like the ones we are facing at home and abroad. I have the experience to get America back on track.”

9. The “fundamentals of the economy” argument will probably be brought up, too.  He needs a better explanation.  Explain in simple terms: ”This crisis is built on 6% of people who have defaulted on loans.  Wall Street continued to bet on those 6% making payments, and they lost, big time.  While 94% of us still are still making payments and keeping up, we are all being affected by those bets.  However, we are still Americans.  We are all cutting back, but we are still going to the grocery store, we are still producing the best goods in the world, and we are still creating small businesses. America is still trying moving forward, albeit with caution and some obstacles.”

10.  Be McCain.  He’s the straight-talker.  He will connect better with Americans if he just lays it all out there without a lot of the political filters that we see so often.  Keep talking to Americans as an American.

Patterico reports that the L.A. Times covered McCain’s speech yesterday.  I think the reporter left early, because the article only covered the part where McCain spoke about Obama’s associations, then covered Obama’s reaction to the comments.  Then, they called McCain scared for not wanting to talk about the economy.

Huh?  As you know, most of the Conservative blogosphere were overjoyed that McCain finally started hitting Obama on his Fannie / Freddie record (see here).  So the only explanation is the reporter didn’t hear the whole speech.  There’s NO WAY they could be trying to quell the power of the facts. 

Or, maybe they are trying to make McCain look forgetful.  Are they being ageist?  I think they are!  That’s the only explanation is they are trying to scare the voters into thinking that McCain is on his last intellectual legs and make them fear putting an Elder-American in office, experience be damned!