Because you demanded it! Or … at least you decided to browse this page!
Since everyone’s always interested in what’s going on with Sarah Palin … it’s got to be vaguely embarrassing when even your running mate used to pooh-pooh the experience of governors and mayors to be President … at least when he (a senator) was running against them. Still, when talking in this month, McCain and company (i.e., Palin) are quick to tout Palin’s national security expertise as a function of her energy industry expertise as a function of Alaska producing 20% of the nation’s energy. Which, of course, it doesn’t.
Palin seemed to strike an opposite tack by noting that other VP candidates haven’t had much in the way of national / international exposure. Which is true, as long as you stop counting at Spiro Agnew. Palin’s also backpedaling on the whole global warming thing, claiming she never denied humans were affecting the climate — except, of course, when she did.
But I’ll give Palin this — at least she knows how to laugh at herself. No, really — it’s actually kind of impressive.
Meanwhile, the GOP is so confident about the election, they’re coming up with all sorts of new ways to disenfranchise voters. Like, challenging anyone who’s on record receiving a foreclosure notice. The idea being that, well, if you’ve received a foreclosure notice, then your address must automatically no longer be valid, and thus you are a filthy fake voter, and just because in Michigan that makes it more likely you are poor and/or black and probably Democrat — well, that’s just icing on the cake. Never mind that receiving a notice doesn’t mean you’re out on the street, or that it’s no longer a legal residence — it’s just enough to challenge the vote to delay or eliminate it from the counting.
Oh, and by the way — really, when you run for president, you give up 99% of your privacy. To that end — especially in his case, McCain really needs to let loose of his health records. We, the public, need to know. And if there’s something that the campaign is going to assert is too private and non-germane to the public, then let it be vetted by a neutral party of experts. Locking a few journalists in a room to riffle through thousands of pages without notes or copies for just a few hours … no.
The problem with pointing out that the McCain campaign is being both secretive and lying left, right, and center (and again to the right) is that pointing that out doesn’t seem to make any difference. Indeed, at least on the conservative side, the brain seems to be just fine with ignoring the facts. Disturbing. It may be that the Silly Party will win again. Though, to be sure, when even Fox news is calling you liar, you know you’re in trouble.
Throughout all of this, more and more people have been clamoring for Obama to strike back against the lies and attacks. I think he has a delicate balance to keep between maintaining the high road (keeping things from being smear-vs-smear) and not letting the mud stick through sheer volume. Despite raising lots of money in August, McCain’s poll numbers have been climbing. This ad might be the right way to tackle that — not through anger and disdain, but sadness and calling the lies for what they are.