Report: Down. Palin: Yay! The report says up!
Here is what the state of Alaska’s legislative commission found regarding Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, whom she allegedly fired because of his reluctance to dismiss a state trooper that Palin wanted gone for personal reasons:
- Palin did not violate any law in firing Monegan. As governor, she had the right to fire a cabinet member for pretty much any reason she wanted.
- Palin DID, however, act unethically, and she abused her power as governor.
That’s two separate findings. Did she break the law? No. Did she abuse her power and act unethically? Yes.
Now here’s Palin’s reaction to the report:
“I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there.”
No, dummy. You were cleared of any legal wrongdoing, but NOT of unethical activity. Yes on one, no on the other.
REPORT: Sarah Palin acted unethically.
PALIN: I’m very pleased that the report has cleared me of acting unethically!
REPORT: Did you even read me?
PALIN: I’m so glad the report supports me! I love the report!
REPORT: I don’t support you.
PALIN: See? So much love and support.
REPORT: I don’t even know why I bother with you.
PALIN: Maverick! (winks)
It would be one thing if she said she disagrees with the report. But to say that the report says the OPPOSITE of what the report actually says — who does she think she’s fooling? As Rachel Maddow, MSNBC commentator and part-time K.D. Lang impersonator, says in this clip, that’s not a difference of interpretation. That’s just a lie.
In the comments below: people posting examples of other politicians stating the very opposite of what is true, because that makes it OK when Palin does it.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I don’t have an example of another politician stating the opposite of what is true. I just wanted to point out that Palin shouldn’t be blamed. She probably didn’t have time to read the report because she was too busy reading all the newspapers and magazines. Or maybe she was winking during the “acted unethically part” and didn’t see it.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
And that dog photo is hilarious.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Yeah, that dog photo is awesome! It makes me giggle. Also, the part-time k.d. lang impersonator makes me giggle.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
You don’t need to look to Gov Palin to find contradictions, when the report provides them itself with its key findings.
Please tell me how something can both be an “abuse of power”/”violation of Ethics Act” (i.e., the law) and at the same time be “proper and lawful”?
October 14th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Really?
October 14th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Apparently to violate the alaskan ethics law there needs to be evidence of personal gain, generally financial gain. The report found no such evidence. I guess there is no clause in the evidence law for using your power just to get back at the guy, that isn’t enough of a “gain”.
As a mother I would call that nitpicking…it’s wrong.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Stop it, Sarah Palin! Stop sucking! You were so great at first! Then you started talking! Man, you’re like a hot blind date who you later find out enjoys kicking kittens.
This election has come down to the candidate I mostly agree with but don’t trust, and the candidate I mostly disagree with, but DO trust.
If there’s ever an election that has a candidate I really, truly like, I’ll celebrate whether or not they win. Is it too late to go back to being colonies of England?
October 14th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Yeah, she apparently missed the “unethical” part. Maybe she misspoke. That’s happened with other people before. Or maybe she didn’t actually read the report and just listened to what McCain’s aides told her. That’s possible.
Whatever the reason though, she’s doing it wrong.
Maverick! *wink* That dog picture makes me laugh!
Can we make fun of Obama’s socialist comment to a small-business plumber from two days ago, now?
October 14th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Also, I miss Mitt Romney.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Eric, I love you.
You might want to read this take on the report vis-a-vis Palin:
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/134db782-50f0-42e5-8171-791804d9fbc1
It’s less funny than yours, but it has things like quotes from the report and stuff.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Yeah, I have the same copy-and-paste function on my computer that Hugh Hewitt does. The issue I’m talking about isn’t the report’s credibility. If Palin takes issue with any of that, or if she thinks the report contradicts itself, she is welcome to say so. But for now, accurate or not, the report says what it says, and Palin’s mavericky declaration that it says something else (which she did repeatedly, even when reporters tried to correct her) is silly.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Hm. Thanks N. for that link. That makes a lot more sense now.
*sigh*
I am so sick of the politics this election. I am also sick to my stomach to think that Obama is going to be elected and institute redistributionism in our society. Goodbye to job growth and incentives to work hard and get educated. I don’t like John McCain a whole lot, but he’s better than socialism.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Hm, I’m not sure I’d call it a “mavericky” declaration Eric, but I do agree it sounds dumb.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Sarah Palin wasn’t lying; she was giving the finger to a BS, self-refuting hack job on her. Ever see the technique on a discussion board where you quote someone, change what they said and write “Fix’t” after it as your response? She did the verbal equivalent of that. She scribbled a line through the “un” in “unethical” and wrote “lol u has typo!” and linked to a funny picture of a cat. Judging by the level of Palin Derangement Syndrome emanating from Rachel Maddow in her little screed, I’d say it worked pretty well and I’d say Palin was right on in doing so. The less she acknowledges the farcical claims of the Tasergate kangaroo court, the better.
And cheer up, Christina D., you sound like you’ve been reading too much Allahpundit. I dunno what happened to that guy; he was much funnier back in 2004.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Just a hint of what is to come in the event of a McCain win. Microscopic media coverage of befuddled politicians who stand in the way of progress. If the O wins, There will be no nasty details. There’ll be no nasty coverage. And republicans can draw lots for which one of them will be outed because of some major scandal, perhaps decided by spinning an arrow on a round poster (“You win…scandalous texting with foreign lobbyist pageboy!”). Not like I’d miss half of them.
Barney Frank, meanwhile, will be busy with his rescue efforts involving the mortgage crisis. You know, that plan for affordable housing?
The situation reminds me of the last scene in Chinatown.
Forget it citizens, its Washington, D.C.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:16 am
Christina D,
Fear not. We’ve had redistribution of wealth for several decades now (that’s what the progressive tax is about). We appear to be doing okay on that front, especially if we like the rich getting richer and the poor poorer.
Also, all governments are socialist. Some moreso, some less-so. But they all are. And, if it is any consolation, Bush appointees have made our government far more socialist than anything I can imagine Obama (or McCain) doing.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Eric, if you want Gov Palin to refute the ethics violation part of the report, she did.
Come on, you know better than to take a MSM reporter at their word when hey talk about Republicans. Nothing more here than politics as usual.
Now for something really important: Madonna and Guy are divorcing? (Who’d have thought?)
October 15th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Okay I read the other link. From reading more it appears MSNBC reporter stinks and Eric is showing his leanings again. I’m not even voting for Pallin, I’m going for third party. This just bothers me that the report says there isn’t proof she violated a law, yet the reporters are saying otherwise.
It appears what Pallin is contradicting is the headline, not the facts.
good try eric maybe your still too ill to think clearly.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:02 am
I’m with you, Eric. The report’s accuracy, or lack thereof, is beside the point. The point is that instead of pointing out the report’s problems, she just ignored the part of it that she didn’t like.
If she believes the report is accurate, she should have responded to what the report said.
If she believes the report is inaccurate, she should have said so and explained why.
Claiming the report says something it doesn’t is stupid and dishonest.
She fits right in with the rest of them.
October 15th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Ha! This is good stuff. Hand that girl a bigger shovel, let her dig herself a deeper hole.
What! Eric has political leanings? Alert the press! Clearly he can’t be trusted to be funny anymore.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am
ClobberGirl: That is the funniest fake explanation I’ve seen yet. Thank you!
For everyone with questions about my “leanings,” particularly those who are amazed and/or offended that I would have them, I urge you to read this comment that I posted on a previous thread. The gist: The site is called EricDSnider.com. You should expect it to contain the opinions of me, Eric D. Snider. Presumably, those who find my opinions distasteful or wrong-headed will simply stop visiting the site, or keep visiting and state their opposing views. Surely they will realize the folly in expecting me to modify or suppress my opinions simply because they disagree with them.
Also, yes, I posted this entry on Sarah Palin JUST to annoy you. I quote myself from an old column: As Luscious Malone puts it, it’s not that I push people’s buttons (bzz, bzz, bzz). It’s that I find one button I like and just keep my finger on it (bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz).
October 15th, 2008 at 9:57 am
ClobberGirl: That is the funniest refutation of my unfunny tirade against Palin I’ve seen yet. Thank you!
Fix’t, and you’re welcome.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:59 am
“For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff,” Monegan said Friday from Portland. “What they said directly was more along the lines of ‘This isn’t a person that we would want to be representing our state troopers.’ ”
Hey, Eric! That’s in your backyard! And here he admitted that no one told him to fire Wooten just a stone’s throw away from you.
If no one told him to fire Wooten, which he did not do, which he claims is the reason he was “fired,” then doesn’t that mean that he lied?
October 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
It’s amazing how people will love this site and think Eric is funny unless he is making fun of the politician that they like. We get it. You’re republicans and would prefer to let the rich control everything. You want to keep laws away from guns but in a woman’s womb. We get it. Now stop complaining when he makes fun of something you believe it, admit it’s a difference of opinion, and get over it. You knew what you were getting into if you read the headline. If you don’t want to read someone making fun of Sarah Palin, don’t read the article. It’s his website, his opinions, so go read someone you agree with and let those of us who agree with him and find him funny go back to our happy lives.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Hopefully I’ve made it clear that I don’t expect you to modify your opinions based on my suggestions.
Your opinion is your opinion. I’m just saying it would be nice if you made fun of everyone else too. You won’t obviously, so that’s fine.
I’ll be happy when Nov. 4th has passed though and you start mocking something else. I have been looking forward to another batch of Raven-Symone letters for a while. Will we ever get any more?
@ClobberGirl: Good guess. Heh I’m going to take a 24 hour break from reading political stuff, I think. It’s starting to make me really sad and stressed out. I will focus on happier things, like the house I’m in the process of buying, despite the economic crisis. Credit Unions still seem happy to lend, at least. I’m stimulating the economy, yay!
October 15th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Also the expensive puppy that I’m buying at the end of the month. If we go into a depression, I’m doomed. But at least I’ll have my puppy.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I think Eric is secretly rooting for Palin to win. That way he can keep on making fun of her for another 4 years.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I’m still confused why some people think Eric’s bias is a bad thing. Personally, I don’t swing left nearly as far as Eric, but I really do value his thoughtful input on current issues, even when its nothing more than pointing at something and laughing. So far (in my opinion) he’s never sacrificed being funny in favor of pushing any agenda.
Think about it, if you make it a point to listen to, read, or watch only things you completely agree with, wouldn’t that be the fast-track to closed-minded ignorance? How would you ever get the other side of any issue, without it being simplified and/or exaggerated by people pushing their own agendas?
Its one thing to support ideologies you don’t agree with, or regularly spend all your time on things that aren’t in any way uplifting, but how can merely reading the opinions of others damage you?
More than anything, what ruins any political conversation in my opinion, is the childish attitude that “anyone who doesn’t agree with me is stupid”- aka “the Bill O’Reilly mentality” – effectively obliterating any thoughtful observations or valid points someone holding the opposing view might have. Controversies exist because usually there really ARE valid opposing points on something.
Last point in this rant- Being condescending doesn’t make *you* one iota more “right”; being rude doesn’t make *them* one iota more “wrong”. (Something I wish Bill Maher could understand..) Has there ever been a time when someone could actually say they “respectfully disagree” about politics or religion without sounding arrogant or smug and accompanied by the mental wink of false-superiority that completely nullifies the word “respectfully”?
/end poorly-worded rant
October 15th, 2008 at 11:15 am
It’s amazing how people will love this site and think Eric is funny unless he is making fun of the politician that they like.
This is my top-secret test for determining if I find Eric’s blog posts and columns funny or not: if I laugh, it’s funny. If I don’t, it’s not. Pretty complicated stuff.
Most of his Sarah Palin posts have been duds in the humor department for me. You can tell me I’m just not enjoying them because I’m a yellow dog Republican and I’m letting my bias affect me if you like. I’ll take that about as seriously as Eric does when someone says he did not like a movie because he has a bias.
Unlike some of the conservatives who comment here, I have never once complained about Eric having a political bias. I have always agreed that he’s entitled to be as slanted as he pleases because it’s his site. However, the reason I come here is to be entertained, so if I think something isn’t funny I’m going to say so. Eric’s free to take my opinions with the whole salt shaker if he wants.
Christina D., try DJ Drummond’s posts at WizBang if you need some optimism on the state of the election. If Obama wins, personally I plan to give him what most liberals never even considered giving to GWB: a chance. Partisan scorn and demonizing has to end somewhere, it might as well start to end with me.
Hope your new puppy brings you lots of love.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:41 am
It’s funny to hear complaints that Obama is a socialist, since the Bush administration just committed the most egregious act of socialism this country has ever seen. But it’s tradition, after all.
What Right Wingers Mean When They Call Obama A Socialist
October 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
What’s the debate about here? To me it seems like most are missing the point. This isn’t about wanting someone to be fair, or only reading the things you agree with, it’s about the fact that everyone has the right to an opinion. People recognize a hack job when they see it, and I think Eric overestimates how much his readers care about his opinions or leanings. Writers aren’t the only ones who get to write whatever they want, biased or not, and tell everyone else to suck it because it’s their own opinion.
What I’ve seen happen lately is that people use the comments to call a spade a space, in the case of Eric’s bias against Palin. So what? He doesn’t like her, other people do. It’s called a difference of opinion. Do liberals actually believe there shouldn’t even be a debate? Actually, don’t answer that…
Also, the Palin-haters here that say ‘don’t read the article if you don’t like it’ are no different than those who say ‘speak English or leave America.’ Bleh.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Nice, Adam. Playing the race card that soon? Seems a little knee-jerkish to me…
October 15th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
So I note that Eric has backed off of his I don’t want to just be a poster in the comments on my own blog position he took months ago. Why is that?
October 15th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Early and often, just like voting.
But seriously, Q, what do you mean by “soon?” To early in this comments thread for the race card? Too early in the campaign season? Too early for flapjacks?
October 15th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
@Adam,
I don’t like Bush. I don’t like what Bush has done to the country. Just because he is technically a Republican doesn’t mean that he has actually followed our ideals or that we agree with what he’s done. Surprise! Lots of Republicans don’t like what Bush has done! Wow! Good thing you’re voting for someone who’s going to do the same things!
October 15th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
@Adam–”soon” was referring to the evolution of the debate on this thread (i.e., not much of one) and your initial contribution that went to a link that is stunningly over-the-top. The American Prospect is usually so out of touch it blows my mind. The logic in the column is that when Republicans classify Obama’s “spread the wealth” economic plan as socialist, they’re really just being racist. Wha?
I do like the ACORN motto at the beginning of your post though. By what factor do you think we should discount the Obama vote this time around to get to actual living people?
October 15th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
RE: ACORN. I can’t believe this is actually an issue. If I register to vote 50 times, that doesn’t mean I actually get 50 votes. The voter registration offices will just throw away 49 of the forms I filled out. If I register under 50 different fake names, that doesn’t help me either. When someone submits a form with the name “Mickey Mouse,” how is that voter fraud? Does that mean this fictional “Mickey Mouse” has actually voted for Obama? I don’t believe so. ACORN getting some false registrations does not enable people to actually VOTE falsely.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I know Eric has opinions, I just don’t care about them unless they are funny…or atleast TRYING to be funny.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
mommy:
So since you didn’t find Eric funny, he wasn’t even trying?
I agree that opinions can sometimes drown out any humor, but for some of us it WAS funny.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The only problem I have is when people who thought something was funny, try to paint the people who didn’t find it funny, stupid or something (no matter whether their reason was valid or not).
Also, person-up-above-somewhere, insisting that one shouldn’t read things that one doesn’t agree with is dumb. How would I ever get a balanced view of an issue if I only read the things that I agree with? Sometimes I have a certain view of something, then I read the opposing view and I’m like “Oh, ok, I see” and my view changes. If everyone avoids reading things that they initially don’t agree with, then we’d all be very clueless. For this reason, I read articles from both liberal and conservative viewpoints.
However, I do believe we can all agree that making fun of fringe lunatics is always very funny. See PETA.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
no I don’t see it as funny. I dont’ even see it as trying to be funny.
I’m voting for Baldwin, but I’m sick of the Pallin bashing. oh look Pallin names her children funny names (um Obama isn’t funny?), Oh look Pallin stumbles over her words (have you seen the Obma town hall tape?), Oh look Pallin disagrees with what a repors SAYS a report says (ummmm..oh yeah, Obama has all the reporters wrapped around his pinkie). And none of that is HAHA funny.
PETA…that’s funny! “wouldn’t be prudent”, elephants, .that’s funny but insisting Obama has not a thing to mock? and then pulling out Pallin after Pallin reference that really aren’t funny….
I cry fowl…with lipstick on it
October 15th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Just two notes mommy:
Obama is his last name.
It’s “Palin”, not “Pallin”.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
@Mikey–stunning naivete. So since they might not all turn into illegal votes, voter registration fraud is ok? It’s the mentality and approach that is ridiculous, and Obama’s complicitousness in their activities is disgusting. No one worries that Mickey Mouse will be able to vote, but there is more than one way to skin a cat.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
No, voter registration fraud is not okay, but voter registration fraud isn’t the same thing as voter fraud. It’s hard for there to be voter fraud already when the voting hasn’t even happened yet. What is Obama’s connection to ACORN anyway? I’m pretty sure he’s been busy running his campaign this year, not directing the daily operations of ACORN. ACORN says they’ve been flagging the registration forms that they think are bogus. The ones they don’t flag will be caught farther up the line. What are these other ways of skinning cats that you think this voter registration fraud is going to lead to?
October 16th, 2008 at 5:53 am
thanks on the Pallin, and you are right Obama is his last name. Barack is TOTALLY normal and there is nothing to mock about hussein.
I’m just saying there are things we could joke about with Obama, and Eric insists there isn’t…and instead he piles on the Pallin thing. After a while it just gets SO old.
And this isn’t funny it’s stupid…it’s like showing a video of Obama’s “fake” birth certiicate and his short reply…see how funny he thinks his “fake” certificate is real hahaha…
Um it is real, stupid, it’s just not funny.
Funny would be a fake certificate implying Barack was a divine conception-which is proof that God is black, or a video interspercing Star wars and implying Barack was conceived by midicolorians (yes probably spelled wrong) and that explains his power of the American people, his hand movements are jedi mind tricks.
someone could o something funny with his preacher making totally anti american comments EVERYTIME Barack leaves the church, he leaves for an important phone call and the preacher slips in some totally off the wall comments, Barack comes back and it’s all bible and Jesus- he leaves to go to the bathroom and BAM the preacher is all about the governmetn inventing aids…he comes back and its all the bible and jesus…that could be a SNL skit.
Surely people PAID to do this could think of something…
October 16th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I think this is post #46. How long should I wait to play the race card, so as not to seem knee-jerk? 50 posts? Let me know, Q, because this thing is burning a hole in my pocket.
In the meantime, I’m with Mikey, I would love to hear the details on how fake voter registrations could actually result in more votes for Obama.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:59 am
@Adam–Um, you already played it in your first post. That was the point. The fact that you thought the argument put forth in the link (i.e., Republicans who criticize Obama’s economic plan as socialist are racists) was relevant to the discussion at that point (or at any point) speaks volumes. Also, funny you say it was burning a hole in your pocket. That’s the feeling I am getting with a lot of liberals lately–it’s like they almost can’t help themselves with the race card lately. Still, I maintain my point and think you’ve proved it again. That says a lot more about you than it does about anything else.
@Mikey (and Adam too I guess)–I’m not even sure where to begin with your apparent head-in-the-sand questions about voter fraud. Honestly, one has to have never paid attention to think that voter fraud doesn’t exist in many different ways. To continue to split hairs about ACORN’s activities and pass it off as a harmless stunt that means nothing shows a level of subjective validation that is breathtaking.
By the way, voting HAS already happened and continues to happen now, in absentia, which happens to be one of the many ways to affect voting. I wonder if either of you have ever actually voted, since by so doing you would see how vulnerable the process can be.
Of COURSE actual voter fraud happens less frequently than some ACORN burnout being paid by the signature forging a name, but mostly because polls often have very partisan observers keeping watch–not because no one wants to try. Also, voter fraud doesn’t become an issue unless the voting is very close. But when that happens and the votes come under a microscope, well, look up the 2004 “election” of Christine Gregoire if you want to see details of how to steal an election. Really guys, the ignorance is amazing, but Google is your friend.
And ditto on the ignorance about the Obama/ACORN connection. Really? As an Obama supporter you don’t know the story about his political rise in Chicago and how important ACORN was to that? You don’t know the agenda of ACORN and it’s affiliation with the Democratic party and labor unions? You don’t know about how much that organization undermines the very populations it purports to champion, all to secure a political base?
Honestly guys, read past the headlines and your Moveon.org email blasts and try to keep up.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Also, yes, I posted this entry on Sarah Palin JUST to annoy you. I quote myself from an old column: As Luscious Malone puts it, it’s not that I push people’s buttons (bzz, bzz, bzz). It’s that I find one button I like and just keep my finger on it (bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz).
Successful troll is successful
I’m still confused why some people think Eric’s bias is a bad thing.
I’m only bothered by the fact that Eric refuses to admit his bias. In his mind, he doesn’t make fun of Obama or Biden because there is no good humor content there. In reality, there is humor, but his bias makes it seem unfunny.
@Adam: Playing the race card against individuals who clearly disagree with Obama on the issues is despicable. It frightens off honest debate, and today, we need more of that than ever before.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:01 am
And I forgot to add:
Everyone is biased. Every news organization is biased. I lean right. CNN leans left. Fox leans right. ABC, CBS and NBC lean left. The National Review Online leans right. Eric leans left.
There is no such thing as a completely unbiased individual, so let’s accept that and move on.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am
That’s where you are wrong Conservative guy, Fox News is not biased, it’s catchphrase is “Fair and Balanced”. It’s even trademarked for crying out loud. They couldn’t own it if it weren’t true could they?
October 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
People, I think we’re losing sight of what’s truly important here, which is that the picture of the dog at the top of this post is really frickin’ hilarious.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Q, this is from ABC News:
“But McCain’s voter fraud worries – about Acorn or anyone else – are unsupported by the facts, said experts on election fraud, who recall similar concerns being raised in several previous elections, despite a near-total absence of cases.
“There’s no evidence that any of these invalid registrations lead to any invalid votes,” said David Becker, project director of the “Make Voting Work” initiative for the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Becker should know: he was a lawyer for the Bush administration until 2005, in the Justice Department’s voting rights section, which was part of the administration’s aggressive anti-vote-fraud effort.
“The Justice Department really made prosecution of voter fraud of this sort a big priority in the first half of this decade, and they really didn’t come up with anything,” he said. ”
And if having a connection to ACORN is so bad, why was McCain the keynote speaker at their convention in 2006?
October 16th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Holy smokes, did you know that Joe the Plumber is related to Charles Keating? And that Leonore Annenberg, who just endorsed McCain, once gave $50 million to William Ayers? McCain can’t catch a break, can he?
Thanks for the “Google is your friend” tip, Q. I’m finding out all sorts of neat stuff.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
mommy–
Once again, it’s “Palin,” not “Pallin.” Some people never learn…
By the way, those potential SNL skits about Obama are pretty funny.
But nothing compares to Palin’s crazy run-on sentences. She needs lessons in basic sentence structuring. Wow.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
holy crap. The dog, people! laugh!
October 16th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Palin, Palin, Palin, Palin….there sorry. I hope I have suitably done my penance and we can go laugh at Obama now.
Craig did you just say Dog and Holy crap next to each other? I’m watching three puppies this week and there is NOTHING holy about it.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Adam, Adam…tsk tsk. You just don’t get it (and apparently never will). Your feeble attempt at a straw man won’t work in this situation, although I doubt you will even notice. Your own ABCNews.com quote contains a clue about how wrong you are. Just for kicks, let’s see if you can find it yourself (warning: logic required). As for me trying to help you understand the issue a third time, I’ll politely decline to rehash.
Really, I’m so done with people who have somehow decided (or been told) what side they’re on and then insist on interpreting everything to support that opinion, 100%. Again, subjective validation–a textbook example! Funny how you never addressed my original criticism of your article.
Google is indeed your friend, if you know how to use it. It’s a way for thinking people to gather relevant information and varying points of view about a subject. At the same time, as you’ve showed, others will use it only to find random factoids that they convince themself will confirm their slanted view of things.
And alas, we’ve come full circle. The question at the heart of the lastest drama here–what happens when someone allows their bias to color the way they see things? What right do other people have to call it out? Is it fair to label those who simply disagree with you as ignorant? You’ve shown your stripes from the very beginning, which is telling. Go ahead and continue to operate in a world where you and the people you agree with are 100% right and everyone else is 100% wrong, if that’s what makes sense to you. That, to me, is the definition of a closed mind.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
As for me trying to help you understand the issue a third time, I’ll politely decline to rehash.
Considering your previous two attempts were light on specifics and heavy on “If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you” and “Get your head out of the sand” and “Do some Googling,” it’s probably just as well that you not “help” any further.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
oh come ON! Seriously, being a condescending prick DOESN’T MAKE YOU ANY MORE RIGHT. Grow up people. Show some self-restraint and maturity here.
Any valid point you could possibly be trying to make gets completely lost in the conveyance. I personally have learned this the hard way. (It doesn’t matter how delicious the cake is, if some jerk is pinning me on the ground and shoving it in my mouth while cussing out my mother and spitting in my eye, do you really think I’m giving any thought to the taste of the cake?) Being ” completely right” about something doesn’t give you permission to be a smug, pompous jerk, so “believing you are completely right” doesn’t either.
*goes back to watching the excruciatingly painful Howling 2 clips on Youtube, which is slightly more uplifting than reading these angry rants*
October 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
oh come ON! Seriously, being a condescending prick DOESN’T MAKE YOU ANY MORE RIGHT. Grow up people. Show some self-restraint and maturity here.
Mmm… the irony tastes like chocolate ice cream….
October 16th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Q, what a tragedy! If only you had written “skewed view” instead of “slanted view” it really would have been the cherry on this Nicholas Fehn thing you’ve got going.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Wow, Eric. What an uncharacteristically curt little retort from the likes of you. Methinks I’ve struck a nerve. Actually, I thought I was pretty clear about the difference between voter registration fraud and voter fraud in each of my posts. The fact that he kept going back to that again and again, not addressing the broader point, was what I was talking about in my last post. I’m surprised it was lost on you–you of all people should know the frustration of people reacting to an invented or falsely perceived issue than the actual words you write.
The bottom line is that Adam’s original post was way over-the-top and I took issue with it. Still no one has addressed it (not that I’m expecting anyone to…) My ACORN reference was a tongue-in-cheek response to his “early and often” joke. A different poster made ACORN an issue, not me.
But again, I have to say that the thread itself (nevermind the blog post) has clearly shown what I dislike so much about the state of politics today. People can’t seem to agree to disagree. Instead, they cling to their bias, searching for something to justify their belief that they’re right and everyone else is wrong. That’s whack.
Being called a condescending prick notwithstanding, I’ve never felt that I could be 100% right. I freely admit that I don’t know everything. Hell, I can’t even explain why I’m not voting for my party’s own candidate. But at least I try to make an informed decision, which I don’t see happening around me much these days.
I am fairly certain I won’t be voting for Obama this election. While I agree with him on a few things, my background and experience tell me that his economic policy will be disastrous, and that’s what I care most about. I have very little hope that he will be at all bipartisan, which is never good, and I worry about his neophytic approach to foreign policy. But, as was mentioned by another poster, if he wins I am willing to give him a chance. I’ve certainly been wrong before. Can any of you liberals honestly say you’d give McCain a chance if by some fluke he actually won? If so, I applaud you, but you’d definitely be an exception to the rule.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I’m so angry at myself. I have been a huge fan of Eric D. Snider since pretty close to the beginning (the only reason I read the Daily Universe was for Snide Remarks) and I found almost every one of his articles a gem. As I looked back numerous times at his articles I fell in love again and enjoyed his enlightened commentary to those angry letters that were so outrageous. I laughed with him when people threatened to stop reading what he wrote.
The reason I am so angry at myself is that I am about to become one of the very people I enjoyed making fun of in the past. I loved that Eric D. Snider was so non-partisan that I could just run to him to have a nice laugh at the human condition (or PETA, or whatever).
One of the strong reasons I was drawn to Eric was that he never talked about politics, partisan or not.
Now that he is getting heavier in the politics, I will have to bow out and become the thing I laughed at those many years ago, and part of me has died inside.
Goodbye, Eric D. Snider
October 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I’ve told Sarah Palin time and time again to give up on me… she just won’t listen. I guess a restraining order is the only possible action I have left to take
The winks, the “heckuva lot” down-home charm. It’s all a feeble attempt to win my heart and get me to return her phone calls.
Sarah, please. If you’re reading this, just stop. For both our sakes. I don’t love you. You’re only hurting yourself.
October 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
happymann: Dude, you and I both know that’s an empty threat. Eric’s just WAY too entertaining to abandon!
Conservative Guy: *zzzzzzzZZZZZOOOOOoooooommmmm*
(the sound of you expertly dodging the point)
My earlier appeal to politely request people to actually show some maturity and genuine respect was completely ignored, (did you even read it, or were you just reading the comments of those you felt were attacking you?) so I used slightly stronger language.
And for the record, its closer to peppermint.
November 4th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
And just because I can, here is a report from a so-called independent source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081104/D9480AK83.html
November 4th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
And by “report” I mean reporting of another report. The link is not to the independent report, just to reporting on the independent report. Or something like that.