Biden's just a barrel of gaffes

From his CBS news interview earlier this week:

"Part of what a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate he or she knows what they are talking about and communicates to people ... "

Biden just did a terrible job communicating with good English. Doesn't instill confidence. But maybe he can still show he knows what he's talking about:

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'"

FAIL! The stock market crashed in 1929 when Herbert Hoover was president, FDR was famous for his radio addresses and TV was still being invented.


Some great comments on Biden's quote:

...And if you owned an experimental TV set in 1929, you would have seen him. And you would have said to yourself, "Who is that guy? What happened to President Hoover?" (Reason)


kevinbinversie: When the Great Depression happened, FDR was a Governor...just like Pontius Pilate

Don't Tase Me, Po'!

A break from serious politics to give you this gem:


Naked man walking dog Tasered by Tallahassee police

A 40-year-old man walking his dog in the nude Friday night in northwest Tallahassee was Tasered by police when he became belligerent and refused to follow an officer’s commands.
...
When asked what he was doing, the man told the officer, “Allah told me to watch a Bruce Willis movie and walk the dog,” McCranie said.

“He was obviously having some sort of emotional distress,” he said. “It was unfortunate we had to use the Taser. … It was the only way we could subdue him without having to hurt him.”

Learning about Sarah Palin

Gotten around to reading some of the more in-depth Sarah Palin articles lately. Here are some good ones, with my favorite passages:


NYT: Palin fuses politics and motherhood in new way

"Many people will express sympathy, but you don't want or need that, because Trig will be a joy," Palin wrote. She added, "Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed-up world you live in down there on Earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome."

WSJ: How Palin Beat Alaska's Establishment

Enter Mrs. Palin. The former mayor of Wasilla had been appointed by Mr. Murkowski in 2003 to the state oil and gas regulatory agency. She'd had the temerity to blow the whistle on fellow GOP Commissioner Randy Ruedrich for refusing to disclose energy dealings. Mr. Murkowski and GOP Attorney General Gregg Renkes closed ranks around Mr. Ruedrich—who also chaired the state GOP. Mrs. Palin resigned. Having thus offended the entire old boy network, she challenged the governor for his seat.

London Times: Sarah Palin: it's go west, towards the future of conservatism

No one paid much attention to the fact that she had been elected governor of a state. Or that she got to that office not because, unlike some politicians I could mention, her husband had been there before her, or because she bleated continuously about glass ceilings, but by challenging the entrenched interests in her own party and beating them. In almost two years as Governor she has cleaned out the Augean stables of Alaskan Government. You don't win a statewide election and enjoy approval ratings of more than 80 per cent without real political talent.

Feb. 08 Vogue: Altered State

"I've been taken aback by the nasty criticism about my appearance," she says. "I wish they'd stick with the issues instead of discussing my black go-go boots. A reporter once asked me about it during the campaign, and I assured him I was trying to be as frumpy as I could by wearing my hair on top of my head and these schoolmarm glasses, but he said, 'No, that's not what I mean.' I guess I was naive, but when I hear people talk about it I just want to escort them back to the Neanderthal cave while we get down to business."

Vogue author in Sept 08 Telegraph: Rebecca Johnson: 'I am a liberal, but I'm blown away by Sarah Palin'

Deriding Palin's modest background and lack of Ivy League credentials will only turn voters off. We should celebrate what is groundbreaking about Sarah Palin: a card-carrying member of Feminists for Life is a big step forward from Housewives for Life. And then we should talk about the issues.

Fox News: A Priest’s View of the Palins

As you read along, consider this: how a family fares in such a challenge is mostly about good instinct and character. ...

I ask if any of us guys could be a mom of five, with a handicapped child, achieve an 83% approval rating as state governor, and smile all the way through a prime time speech, after the week this woman has just had.

Pat Buchanan: One of Them and One of Us

Barack has zero foreign policy experience. Palin runs a state that is home to anti-missile, missile and air defense bases facing the Far East, commands the Alaska National Guard and has a soldier-son heading for Iraq.

Camille Paglia: Fresh blood for the vampire

Now that's the Sarah Palin brand of can-do, no-excuses, moose-hunting feminism -- a world away from the whining, sniping, wearily ironic mode of the establishment feminism represented by Gloria Steinem, a Hillary Clinton supporter whose shameless Democratic partisanship over the past four decades has severely limited American feminism and not allowed it to become the big tent it can and should be. Sarah Palin, if her reputation survives the punishing next two months, may be breaking down those barriers. Feminism, which should be about equal rights and equal opportunity, should not be a closed club requiring an ideological litmus test for membership.

9/11 2008

Sarracuda's Best Lines from the RNC

I have been so busy I haven't had time to post the best of Sarah Palin's convention speech. But judging from the enthusiasm she has generated, I think a review of her best lines would still be appreciated - and as I was going through her speech, I was struck by how many great lines there were! Here's a sample:

• They [small town people] love their country in good times and bad -- and they're always proud of America.

• And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor if sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

• But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the state senate.

• This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word "victory" -- except when he's talking about his own campaign.

• But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out and those styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot...
  

• What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

• Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights.

• In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

• He [Harry Reid] said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly, what the majority leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain...

• My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.

• This world of threats and dangers, it's not just a community and it doesn't just need an organizer.

And two final more serious, but excellent quotes:

• And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they're always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely. There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you.

• To the most powerful office on Earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even to the captives by the grace of God -- the special confidence of those who have seen evil and have seen how evil is overcome.

Giuliani: Best Lines of the Night

Wednesday of the RNC was AWESOME! Rudy Giuliani rocked the house - as Grant said to me: "That's a man who doesn't have to worry about being elected anymore - he can say whatever he wants!"

I understand Rudy deviated from his prepared text, so here's a copy of his speech as delivered. There were SO many great lines, I tried to whittle them down to the very BEST:

• On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer-WHAT?! ...Maybe this is the first problem on the resume....

• And nearly 130 times, he couldn't make a decision. He couldn't figure out whether to vote yes or no. It was too tough!
  
  I didn't know about this vote "present" when I was mayor of New York City. ...Sarah Palin didn't have this vote "present" when she was mayor or governor. You don't get "present" -- it doesn't work in an executive job. For president of the United States, it's not good enough to be present! You have to make a decision!
  

• They would have you believe that this election is about change versus more of the same. But that's really a false choice, because there's good change and bad change. Because change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.

• Well, I'll tell you, if I were Joe Biden, I'd want to get that VP thing in writing.

• So he changed his position again, and he put out a statement exactly like the statement of John McCain's three days earlier. I have some advice for Senator Obama: Next time, call John McCain.

• In choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has chosen for the future. The other guy looked back, John looked forward.

• She's been a mayor. I love that. I'm sorry -- I'm sorry that Barack Obama feels that her hometown isn't cosmopolitan enough. I'm sorry, Barack -- that it's not flashy enough. Maybe they cling to religion there.

Sarracuda Palin's best will be up as soon as I can get to it.

RNC Tuesday: Top Lines of the Night

I thought Fred Thompson gave a GREAT speech tonight! I finally had the opportunity to hear the full story of John McCain's ordeal in Vietnam - it is an amazing story and I will be forever grateful to McCain for his sacrifice and character in putting Country First. Please read Fred Thompson's speech, McCain's story deserves to be told.

Thompson also went on the attack and served up some delicious red meat to the crowd. My favorite one-liners from Fred Thompson's speech:

• It’s pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, “Who is this man?” and “Can we trust this man with the Presidency?”
  
  
• My friends … that is character you can believe in.
  
  
• The respect he is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad, but because of decades of clearly demonstrated character and statesmanship.
  
  
• To deal with these challenges the Democrats present a history making nominee for president. History making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for President.
  
  
• Apparently they believe that he would match up well with the history making, Democrat controlled Congress. History making because it’s the least accomplished and most unpopular Congress in our nation’s history.
  
  
• No, they’re just going to tax “businesses”! So unless you buy something from a “business”, like groceries or clothes or gasoline … or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small “business”, don’t worry … it’s not going to affect you.
  
  
• And we need a President who doesn’t think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.

After Thompson;s rousing speech, Joe Lieberman came on stage and initially seemed to suck the life out of the auditorium. It was a tough act to follow, but eventually Lieberman hit his stride. He went after his Senate colleague and former fellow party-member Obama directly which I found to be slightly surprising. Here are my favorite Lieberman lines:

• I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.

• Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics. But only one of them has actually done it.

• My Democratic friends know all about John’s record of independence and accomplishment. Maybe that’s why some of them are spending so much time and so much money trying to convince voters that John McCain is someone else.

• Eloquence is no substitute for a record — not in these tough times.
  
  
• In the Senate he has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party.
  
  
• The McCain-Palin ticket is the real ticket for change this year.
  
  
• When others wanted to retreat in defeat from the field of battle, when Barack Obama was voting to cut off funding for our troops on the ground, John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion and support the surge, and because of that, today, our troops are at last beginning to come home, not in failure, but in honor!

All in all a great night of speeches - the Republican base is pumped up and hopes to have attracted undecided voters with Lieberman's appeal to independents and Thompson's focus on character. Can't wait until tomorrow night!

Sarah Palin: Barracuda

In honor of VP nominee Sarah Palin's nickname, here's a quick video featuring Heart's Barracuda: