Palin to the Supreme Court

Following up on the embarrassingly ignorant response to the question about the role of the vice president showing her total ignorance of the U.S. Constitution, I guess this shouldn't surprise me. But it does. I have this weirdly quaint notion that the people we elect to hold the highest federal offices in the land should have at least a passing familiarity with our laws. I'm a huge dick that way. Given how shockingly, disturbingly, dangerously and cosmically wrong Palin is on this one, I question whether she has ever read the U.S. Constitution even in comic book form.

As reported in the Huffington Post, Palin was interviewed on a conservative (shocker!) radio show this morning and told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Palin suggested that reporters who suggested that this is a negative attack may be threatening her free speech rights under the Constitution. Yes. Seriously.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Now, here's the thing, this is not just wrong, it's the exact opposite of right. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects Freedom of the Press, not freedom of the government. It ensures the press' right to freely question the government or a political officeholder, and protects the rights OF the press FROM the government. It does NOT protect elected officials from the scrutiny of the press. When the press criticizes a political candidate or an elected official, that is an example of First Amendment rights being exercised, not abridged.

As Rachel Weiner notes, this isn't just a demonstration of profound ignorance of our liberties, it's also giving voice to the "standard right-wing grievance instinct: that it's inherently unfair when they're criticized. And now, apparently, it's even unconstitutional." Well said.

Lyin' Snakes on a Plane: Sarah Rocks the Rear!

Uh oh - Palin got off her leash and is milling about the back of the Straight Talk Air Express, pallin' around with the reporters, you know, Joe Six-Packs and Hockey Moms, not answerin' questions like you daggonit want me too also on that, a consummate maverick, a real maverick, gonna talk on that.

Here's a snippet from Governor Palin's press "avail" (not an announced press conference, but an impromptu visit by the Governor to the tail section of the aircraft where the "mainstream media elite" grovel for food scraps, mouth wash and bemoan their lack of access). Six weeks since her nomination and this is her first quasi-unscripted encounter with the press corps.

And, much to my delight, the unbridled She-Bush was in fine form.

On the Ayers-Obama connection, Palin prays for a "Deep Throat" to pull the lid off . . . er . . . . "friendswithterroristsgate" (what do you want, people! The McCain spinmeisters are running on fumes. The second choice was "BarackhusseinObamadoesterroristfistbumpswithsixtiesbombersgate." It was discarded as prolix):

There were times when I was playing vice presidential candidate where I felt . . . retarded. Like really retarded. In a weird way I had to sort of just free myself up to believe that is was ok to be stupid or dumb.

QUESTION: Governor, on the William Ayers issue, you've been bringing it up a lot. I'm curious, why do you think it's a pertinent argument to make right now? It was a long time ago, why is it pertinent?

A: It is pertinent, it's important because when you consider Barack Obama's reaction to and explanation to his association there, and without him being clear at all on what he knew and when he knew it, that I think kinda peaks into his ability to tell us the truth on, not only on association but perhaps other things also. So, it's relevant, I believe, and I brought it up in response to the New York Times article having been printed recently, and I think it just makes us ask the question that, if there's not forthrightness there, with that association and what was known and when it was known, does that lead us to ask, is there forthrightness with the plans Barack Obama has or say tax cuts, or spending increases, makes us question judgment. And I think it's fair and relevant.

QUESTION: (FOX) Are you going to continue to link Obama to Ayers with all of the economic problems going on?

A: Well, Americans are caring about the problems in the economy of course And wanting to know what those long term solutions are that our ticket can provide and what the other ticket is proposing so when you talk though about what it is that we are proposing and what it is that Barack Obama is proposing again it is relevant to connect that association that he has with Ayers--not so much he as a person Ayers, but the whole situation and the truthfulness and the judgment there that you must question if again he's not being forthright in all of his answers as to how did you know him, when did you know him, why would you continue to be associated with him!? It makes you wonder about the forthrightedness, the truthfulness of the plans that he is telling America in regards to the economic recovery because that is first and foremost on American's minds."

I'm neither a grammar Nazi, nor critical of most syntactical gaffes or dubious sentence structuring, but this woman positively mangles English. I think she's declared war on English. Either you are with her or you're with English. English: Wanted! - Dead or Alive. We will fight English over there, so English will not attack us over here.

All of us are dumber for having to endure these two months with Palin. I'm frankly glad she is cordoned off from the media so the American people are immunized from her contagion of stupidity. "Forthrightedness"????? For the love of elocution, c'mon Palin: "You went full retard. You never go full retard!"

One more savory nugget from the She-Bush (though this sobriquet may unfairly deride GW I must astonishingly admit). Responding to a question about her husband, Todd Palin (aka, the "first dude" as Greta affectionately gushes again and again, then again), agreeing to testify with respect to the Governor's allegedly improper removal of former Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan:

QUESTION: (NBC) Why did your husband decide to change his mind and return to Alaska and testify?

A: He's always been an open book about this whole Tasergate issue, wanting to speak with investigators, wanting to speak and is with attorneys, everybody involved. The personnel board in the state of Alaska is that board tasked with dealing with any issue involving the governor, the lieutenant governor, or the attorney general.

What the investigation turned into, led by a Senate Democrat, has been kind of a goat rope, a very partisan and very controversial type of investigation. The personnel board Todd's corroborating with, as long as all the other employees too have an opportunity to cooperate with.

It's an open book. Nobody has anything to hide. Nobody's done anything wrong. My choice, and my responsibility to replace a cabinet member, an at-will exempt political appointment whom I did replace, because his strengths were in other areas. It wasn't in running an entire department. There was some, some duties there that he was not able to fulfill.
So my choice, my responsibility had nothing to do with my husband or any of my staff members asking a guy to step aside and take another job, and he didn't want to take that other job.

In fairness, this is a relatively coherent response and only a true master of winsome folksiness can drop a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Restaurant idiom like "goat rope" and make you feel just cheery about political corruption and improper influence. Had to see what the web yields on "goat rope." Ah, "a situation that has become completely f**ked up."

Understood Sarah. Let's hope this Republican goat rope severs on November 4.

And to quote some more down-home, firepit-cooking wisdom: Sarah, you couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.

Posted by Warm Apple Pie.

Foreclosure of the Fourth Estate

This is scary stuff. The Palin-McCain campaign is creating a lynch mob mentality among its supporters. Both the media and Obama are targets.

From Talking Points Memo:

Milbank: McCain-Palin's Attacks On Media Have Spawned Unprecedented
Crowd Hostility Toward Press
By Greg Sargent - October 7, 2008, 2:35PM
Dana Milbank -- the Washington Post reporter who wrote this morning's piece about the Palin crowd's disgusting abuse of reporters at a rally yesterday -- tells me that the McCain camp's repeated attacks on the media have spawned crowd hostility towards the press that's running at a "degree of intensity" he's never experienced in covering presidential politics.

As Milbank wrote, one Palin supporter hurled an unspecified racial epithet at an African American sound man, and told him: "Sit down, boy."
. . .

Milbank says that after the Palin attacked the New York Times and Katie Couric in her stump speech yesterday in Florida, he and other reporters were pelted with boos, with some saying things like "screw you" and "f[]ing liberal media."

"McCain has so overtly taken on the media -- they're doing it to rile the base," he continued. "And lo and behold, the base is good and riled."