Archive → September 18th, 2008
Obama’s wife swipes at Palin again
While talking at voters yesterday, Michelle Obama – wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack “Barry” Obama – warned voters not to vote for someone because “I like that guy” or, “she’s cute.”
When asked whether she was targeting Alaska governor and GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin with that comment, Michelle replied that she had meant to reference herself with that comment.
One problem there: Michelle’s not on any ticket herself, so her rationalization doesn’t hold water. It was a Palin swipe, like it or not, and you don’t need cell phone amplifiers to hear that signal clearly.
Franken wants to hike your taxes, avoid his own
US Senate candidate Al Franken, the angry, partisan liberal Democrat, needs to put his mouth on diet pills. The man who once thought it witty to entitle a book “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat Idiot” is proving to be a better fit to such charges.
After avoiding his own tax burden in 17 states – something he might never have corrected had he not run for office – Franken has been admitting his desire to raise taxes all over the place. In fact, speaking of an increase in the gas tax, Franken recently said, “I don’t think people would notice it much.”
Just like you didn’t notice that you hadn’t paid your taxes in 17 different states, Al? Please. I guess if you’re not paying taxes to begin with, it really is painless when the rate is raised.
Netanyahu: The most decent and democratic thing
While the corruption charges drove Olmert from power and put Livni in charge of the current coalition government in Israel, at least one former prime minister of Israel – who may run again – is calling for new general elections in Israel, and soon: Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud Party.
“This is the most decent and democratic thing to do. We need to go to the people of Israel and let them choose,” Netanyahu told Livni by phone Thursday, according to a piece in the Jerusalem Post Online.
“We need to let the people of Israel decide who should be the country’s prime minister and not to leave this decision exclusively to the members of Kadima. He who fears the people’s choice, should not lead.”
Look for leaders like Netanyahu to throw everything, including kitchen sinks, at Livni before too long, here.
Reagan would be proud of Palin
It’s like finding a high-quality antique at a fraction of its true value at a discount furniture store: conservatives, who couldn’t find anyone they were really behind in the entire primary season, are now so over the moon for Sarah Palin that you’d think she was at the top of the ticket.
Palin resonates with blue-collar voters – “hockey moms” and the like – far more effectively and any Republican leader since Ronald Reagan. As a person who matured and came of voting age during Reagan’s run, Palin has done well modeling herself after the Reagan ethos.
So far, it appears Reagan would find a lot to be proud of in Palin become the successor to his mantle.
Tzipi Livni wins party chair
Call her Israel’s Hillary Clinton; call her Israel’s Sarah Palin; but whatever you call her, remember that the title is now Ms Prime Minister. Israel foreign minister Tzipi Livni survived a primary battle to become the new head of the moderate Kadima Party and will spend the next few weeks forming a coalition government, or face the threat of early national elections.
With a bottle of Leptovox nowhere in sight, the Israeli centrist will be pressed hard to move a bit to the right by the Ultra-Orthodox Shas party and its leader, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, who has made it clear he wants no compromising on ceding territory in Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
Former prime minister and current conservative Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu has already called for Livni to order a new round of general elections, which makes an alliance with the Likud Party unlikely in the formation of a coalition government.
Livni is not the first female prime minister of Israel; that honor belongs to Golda Meier.
Palin’s the ticket
Let it never be said that WonderfulPessimist.com can’t admit that it was wrong. A few months ago, someone posted a comment to one of my articles insisting that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would make the perfect running mate to John McCain.
I did some brief research into her background and basically pooh-poohed the idea. Why? Well, first I got some bad info on her; I was under the impression that, despite some otherwise nice conservative credentials, she was a global warming sell-out.
Turns out, that’s not the case. While she acknowledges the importance of climate change, she stated in her convention address that she doesn’t believe it’s man-made. At least that’s a middle-ground stance I can live with.
While my instincts are usually more reliable than life insurance quotes, I have to admit that as I learned more about Palin, I’ve become more and more impressed.
With only two years as governor under her belt, I certainly think 2012 would have been a better year for her, as well as for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindall. But there’s no position better in this nation to train for the presidency than to be someone else’s running mate and vice-president.
WonderfulPessimist.com still has a sea of reservations about John McCain himself; yet with Palin on the ticket, we can at least trust there will be a solid conservative as his presumptive successor once his term is over – assuming McCain-Palin win. Can’t count those votes before they’re cast, after all.
And it does pose an interesting scenario for 2012. If McCain decides not to go for a second term, there is a very good chance that the GOP ticket next time around could be Palin-Jindall. For a Reagan conservative like me, that would be a dream come true.
And with a ticket like that in 2012, the charge could never again be made that the GOP is a home only to “angry white men.” Take that and stick it in your ear, Dems! Who’s the party of diversity now?
