WORST. BACKDROP. EVER.

WARNING: This video is recent footage of an interview with Gov. Sarah Palin who seems oblivious to the fact that turkeys are being slaughtered directly behind her.

You will undoubtedly find this video hard and painful to watch.

You may also experience slight discomfort from seeing turkeys being slaughtered.

You Fiona Apple types may disagree, but I don't think those turkeys are being tortured as much as the sentences coming out of Governor Palin's mouth.

Credit: Gazuki

--Junichi

THE MOMENT I SPEWED CHUNKS

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The moment she said, "I love to answer these questions without the filter of the mainstream media."

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Congratulations to those who had "Golly," "You Betcha," "Energy Independence," "Darn It," and "Maverick" in one row of their Palin Bingo card. You won within the first three minutes of the debate.

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Did she really just argue for the expansion of the Vice President's powers? Or was my Nyquil kicking in?

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And speaking of drugs, who sedated Senator Joe Biden? He was solid, but uncharacteristically restrained. Did he buy into the ludicrous notion that a gentleman shouldn't attack a lady?

Why didn't he pounce on her for saying that the toxic mess on Main Street was hurting Wall Street? Or when he referred to Nato Commander Gen. McKiernan as McClellan, the former White House Press Secretary? Or when she gave an incoherent non-answer for the umpteenth time?

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To her credit, Governor Palin beat the spread. She didn't give that moose-in-headlights look that she has showed in situations when reporters are allowed to ask follow-up questions. She didn't refer to affirmative action as a military maneuver. She didn't equate Most Favored Nation status with being America's BFF.

This is too bad, since I would have liked more tracks added to her greatest hits compilation, which TPM compiled in the video below:

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Of course, it's easy to beat the spread when you were expected to lose by seven touchdowns.

--Junichi

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #137

Online Surveys & Market Research

--Junichi

PALIN'S FACEBOOK PAGE

The "Places I've Been" map alone made it worth posting this.

I don't know how Gov. Palin has time to Facebook -- or do anything, for that matter -- since she's busy reading "all" newspapers and magazines.

(Tip o' the Hat: John Aravosis)

--Junichi

BAILOUTS AND BAILING OUT

Somebody just read the latest polls

The last 48 hours have been some of the most fascinating of any news cycle. Let's review.

McCain has allegedly "suspended" his campaign to work on the bailout, even though the fundamentals of our economy is strong and even though Republicans and Democrats already have reached a compromise.

McCain also wants to postpone Friday's debate in order to devote time in the Senate chamber toward staging a photo opportunity building a bipartisan consensus. This is surprising, since he has been absent for more votes in the Senate than any other current senator.

His potential pullout from the debate is all the more suspicious when considering that he wants to reschedule it for the date of the Vice Presidential debate, which would be indefinitely bumped.

Meanwhile, Palin, who apparently didn't get the message that McCain suspended the campaign, went trolling for votes at Ground Zero today and was actually allowed by the non-sexists at the McCain campaign to take four questions from the press. Four! Wow!

One can understand why the GOP is nervous about her talking to any reporter outside of Fox News, given last night's train wreck of an interview with Katie Couric:

One conclusion you can reach from the interview: Katie Couric is not a witch. Because Palin was recently protected from witchcraft at her hometown church.

Her interview, however, wasn't half as bad as McCain's non-interview with David Letterman, who might have single-handedly tilted public opinion about McCain's campaign suspension and debate bailout:

McCain may not be happy with Letterman, but he's probably even less thrilled with his campaign manager, Rick Davis, who -- Newsweek just uncovered -- is still an officer with the lobbying firm that represents Freddie Mac. I see no conflicts there in the same way that I do not see my widening posterior when I look in the mirror.

As for Obama? He's finally up in the polls, which is a miracle given how many Democrats have negative views about black people.

As if that race survey was not depressing enough, somebody at George Fox University wanted to really hammer home the point that this election really might come down to whether America is ready for a black president. That's why he or she decided to hang a life-size depiction of Obama in effigy from a tree.

Just in case you were starting to get optimistic that the bailout and Clay Aiken's refreshing honesty might cure our economic woes, the Congressional Budget Office director just said the proposed bailout might worsen the current financial crisis.

Good times!

--Junichi

McCAIN IS NEVER GOING TO TELL A LIE

If you haven't seen the video clip of John McCain insanely suggesting that Bristol Palin is more qualified than Barack Obama to be president because she "has executive experience in the form of overseeing the production of a human being," click here.

--Junichi

PALIN: SUCK IT, COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS!

Not as important as a small town mayor

America's Mayor and Wasilla's Mayor reached new lows when they used their primetime speeches last night to heartily mock community organizers.

In no uncertain terms, they told Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, and countless other social workers, labor activists, religious leaders (on all ends of the political spectrum), and champions for the underprivileged that their work was meaningless and worthless.

So much for helping voters forget that John McCain voted against a holiday honoring MLK.

As if grassroots organizing was not already the key to Obama's success, Sarah Palin just stoked the fires of the wrong base.

I hear another hurricane coming.

--Junichi

THE GOOD PROGRESSIVE'S GUIDE TO CRITICIZING (AND NOT CRITICIZING) SARAH PALIN

Be careful before you shoot

As much as I am enjoying the implosion and meltdown surrounding Senator McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin, some of the criticisms of her make me cringe.

The most problematic are those being lobbed against her simply because she is a woman. (E.g., "How is she going to take care of her baby and work?" "What kind of VP wears go-go boots?")

Some of the unfavorable reviews also seem entirely hypocritical and/or destined to haunt Democrats/Obama-supporters/progressives/feminists in the future. Suggesting that her few years in office make her ineligible for high office may sound legitimate. But those criticisms hurt Sen. Obama and would also disqualify promising future leaders like Virginia Gov. Time Kaine or Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer -- who were elected around the same time as Gov. Palin -- from being appointed to high federal positions. Why aim for your own feet?

The discomforting critiques of Gov. Palin are especially curious in light of all the other arguments against her that are consistent with liberal principles of compassion, tolerance, liberty, equality, justice, and fairness.

So here's a working guide I put together to sort out what I consider bad Palin talking points from the good talking points:

Inappropriate Criticisms of Governor Sarah Palin:

1. She is a woman.
2. She is a mother of five.
3. She is a mother of a newborn child.
4. She chose to have a baby with Down's Syndrome.
5. She chose to work soon after having her fifth child.
   
6. She has an unwed pregnant teenage daughter.
7. She is from Alaska.
8. She is from a very small town in Alaska.
9. She has only been in elected office for a few years.
10. She is relatively young.
11. She is a devout Christian.
12. She is sassy.
13. She looks like Tina Fey.
    

Appropriate Criticisms of Governor Sarah Palin:

1. She believes that a woman who has been impregnated and raped by her own father should be forced to have the child.
   


2. She believes that the state should incarcerate any doctor who aborts a fetus that is the byproduct of rape and incest.


3. She slashed funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers who need shelter.


4. She opposes hate-crime laws.


5. She sued the federal government to stop it from listing the polar bear as an endangered species.


6. She believes that climate change is not man-made.


7. She said that the Iraq war is "a task that is from God" and part of "God's plan."


8. She was in the pews of her church two weeks ago when a speaker described attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.


9. She wants creationism taught in schools.
   


10. She wanted to ban books from the public library.


11. As governor, she asked for $198 million -- $295 per person -- in earmark requests for pet projects, which is more than any other state received, per person, from Congress for the current fiscal year.


12. She supported the Bridge to Nowhere in Ketchikan (before she opposed it).
    


13. She repeatedly attended the political convention of the Alaskan Independent Party, which supports secession from the United States and whose founder has expressed "hatred for the American government."


14. She is under investigation by the Alaska Legislature for firing the state public safety commissioner for refusing to dismiss a state trooper who was in an ugly divorce and custody dispute from Palin's sister.


15. To tout her foreign policy experience, she lied about visiting Ireland; in reality, she only stopped in Ireland for a refueling stop.
    


16. She opposes any school-based sexual education program that isn't abstinence-based.


17. She is an aerial wolf hunter.


18. She can't even run a car wash.
    

Feel free to suggest additions or amendments in the comments.

--Junichi

MISS AK-47

Next in line? Sarah Barracuda

Happy birthday, Senator McCain! 72 years ago, you exited a birth canal and were born in the Panama Canal.

And now, you've picked Sarah Palin, a former beauty queen who is 28 years younger than you, to be at your side for the next 90 days.

I hope your wife, Cindy, a former model who is 18 years younger than you, doesn't get too jealous!

(After all, you did abandon and cheat on your first wife, Carol, a former beauty queen and swimwear model, to be with the younger woman.)

I trust your aspiring First Lady (who is really the Second Lady) is packing heat since Governor Palin is a lifetime member of the NRA and she doesn't play around!

After all, Gov. Palin is currently under investigation by the state of Alaska for firing a man who refused to fire the man who was in a custody dispute with her sister! Good times!

Anyway, happy birthday, Senator McCain! Your love for models and beauty queens is disturbing inspiring.

--Junichi