the list of now

So, the nation is all a buzz about her speech last night – or should I say the speech she delivered last night which was mostly written for a yet-unnamed male VP pick, over a week ago – not that I’m hating on that, here in America, we all know that they use speechwriters right?*  I mean… there aren’t thousands of people in our country right now gushing and championing her for going out and speaking from the heart on the “straight talk” express, are there?  Really?

Regardless of who wrote what, her performance was brilliant.  I have no doubt she meant every classist, condescending, mean-spirited and ignorant word with all her heart.  It made me ill.

Many people love to say that is just the game of politics, however, there were not attacks of that level in the entirety of the Democratic Convention last week – they really did stick to the issues, facts and records of their opponents.  I would admit it if I thought they crossed the line.  Honestly, I would have enjoyed a little bit of rowdy bashing, because I’m angry.  (Not that I believe it’s right or appropriate, it’s just sometimes really understandable!)  They could have taken the cheap shots, but they were actually classier and took a higher ground then personally I would be able to, in their positions.

Many people have said the media – especially those liberal bloggers – started the fight by spreading awful slanderous stories… and that Sarah Palin was the victim of these attacks, while Obama gets a free pass.  Seriously?  What free pass would that be – the one that I’ve been seeing sludging around the internet for the past YEAR in which Obama is called a terrorist, a terrorist sympathizer, anti-american,  and even a black power warrior seeking to enslave white people?  Yes I’ve seen all of these, multiple times in my f’in email box and posted ALL over the blogosphere.   Is this the free pass in which the supposed liberal-bias is going easy on Obama – oh yeah, that one… the one that has been found to be complete bullshit (emphasis mine):

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

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You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

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During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative

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Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

So that about brings us up-to-date, now how about last night’s speech?  Here’s a breakdown of some of the lies in her speech (via the AP):

PALIN: “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.”

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a “bridge to nowhere.”

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PALIN: “There is much to like and admire about our opponent. 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 reform — not even in the state senate.”

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

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PALIN: “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.”
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama’s plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain’s plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

Please also go read Palin’s Speech to Nowhere.  It is very powerful commentary on her speech and if I thought I could add much or do better, I would attempt to.  Really just go read it.

I know I am linking and quoting liberally.   Secretly it is because I wanted to write my own assessment but I’ve been mad as hornets all day and I can’t link together cohesive intelligent thoughts past my anger.  So this is not an original thought here, but on a personal note, this is what I am feeling-

How fucking dare she…

• Repeatedly mention the working people when she has never advocated or worked to protect their civil liberties or privacy, work to provide them healthcare or housing or jobs and is on a ticket with a person who will actually cost them MORE in taxes.

• Say that “victory is in sight” in Iraq.  Period.  Shut up and stop missing the point.

• Claim to be a reformer and then pursue and accept earmarked money, bully local police and librarians to meet her own agendas and repetedly tow the party line and not challenge any actual establishment?  Cutting a luxury plane out of the budget is a nice gesture.  But fighting poverty, investing in education and working to ensure adequate affordable healthcare for citizens would be a much much better one.  Hey … you know who works in the trenches on behalf of the everyday, working people?  Community Organizers.

• Insult community organizers. This disgusted me BEYOND words.  Actual responsibility, Sarah?  You want to discuss people who go out and work with other citizens in their communities, because they feel that it is the right thing to do, because they are invested in fighting opression and injustice, because they can’t stand to see other human beings suffering or being repeatedly failed by corrupt systems and people like you?  You REALLY want to go there?   Real change, Sarah?   Let’s do a quick recap of momentous real change in our country’s history:  The Labor Movement, The Suffrage Movement, The Civil Rights Movement, The Women’s Rights Movement and most recently, The Same-Sex Marriage Movement -  So let’s see… the laws in our country have changed and more people have gained the ability to be US Citizens with equal basic human rights because of… mass amounts of COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS bringing people together.  It’s the ONLY thing that has ever transformed America.

and lastly:

HOW is ANYONE BUYING IT? STILL.  After the last eight years.  Utterly unbelievable.

* A note on speechwriting in politics. Do You know who wrote Obama’s speech four years ago at the Democratic Convention of 2004 – that really amazing one that made me and countless others look to him as an inspiration and the kind of leadership that we need in our country?- Obama did.  Just him.  You know who writes his speeches that he gives on the road these days or the one he made to a packed football arena last week?  Well, now that he is busy, there are a couple of helpers by his side in the editing process, but it’s still mostly done by him.  I can’t tell you how much I admire that.