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David Brooks: Palin “a fatal cancer” on the GOP; “not even close” to ready to be VP

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My goodness.  These are some of the harshest words I’ve seen spoken about Sarah Palin — and they come directly from David Brooks, one of the country’s most prominent conservative(ish) commentators.

Brooks also had positive things to say about Obama — read it here.  A few highlights on Palin:

Do I think she’s ready to be vice president or president?  No, she’s not even close…. Again, I’m more Republican than not: she represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party…. [William Buckley] thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning…. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition which is not only to scorn liberal ideas, but to scorn ideas entirely.  And I’m afraid Sarah Palin has those prejudices.

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  1. Still—-distressing news re voter fraud. Not good, Destroys folks faith—“in the system”—-what faith they have remaining. In a closely contested election—which this may or may not be, you’ll have folks screaming—-like eight years ago—that the election was stolen—and folks will never be satisfied that it wasn’t. ACORN is not doing anyone a favor on this one, on many levels.

    <

    p>The Ayers thing is becoming even more problematic. Even if Obama did not know who this guy was—I don’t believe that—but just for the sake of arguement—Obama should have put as much room between himself and Ayers as humanly possible and never spoken to the man again. From my point of view—it makes Obama completely untrustworthy. I mean the guy who as a kid was almost killed by Ayers and his henchmen was on the box this morning. He and his siblings were the children of a federal judge that the “Weathermen” tried to kill. I never knew that—and I should have known that —I know it now. You don’t think that secret service and FBI et al will be watching every move that Obama makes.
    Secret Service are cops first, executive protection second.
    Perhaps Mr. & Mrs. Obama will be a classic example of “be carefull of what you wish for.”

    • Take a deep breath. Check this link out:

      <

      p>http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

      <

      p>In fact, by the mid-1990s, when Obama encountered him, Ayers was a major figure in the field of education, a professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, who was routinely praised by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley for his work on elementary and early childhood education. In other words, in the dark ages before the Google began working its stalker-like miracles, who the fuck cared who Ayers was? He was the dude who wrote books on empowering students in the classroom and on problems with the juvenile justice system.

      <

      p>“There was nothing radical about Ayers. He did not talk about radical political beliefs in the class. He was a reformer, not a revolutionary. He didn’t say anything anti-American. In fact, he didn’t mention the government or economics or anything that didn’t have to do with research and education.

      <

      p>”He never brought up his past. He did not talk about his radical days. I’d say 95% of the students didn’t know anything about him other than he was a great professor. Students were told by other students to take him. They raved about him. And he was a brilliant, smart guy. A captivating teacher. We were in awe of him, of his charisma, and we just sat there listening to him talk about his teaching experiences and research. He filled the room.

      • Ayers was praised by Richard Dailey? Oh—it that case—I take it all back. That’s like saying Richard Nixon thinks I’m a good guy—–. Gimme a break.

        <

        p>Nothing radical about Ayers. No——-nothing radical. If I said—-what I was thinking —I’d be arrested. But—-Ayers can do it—-an—-well—-that’s OK. It was a turbulent time and it’s not like you killed thousands. Please explain to me why we are after that guy bin Laden?

        <

        p>He never brought up the past.

        <

        p>Ok ladies and gentlemen—today we are going to talk about my wife—ya know—the cop killer and Oh ya—I tried to kill a federal judge and his family—-but—ya know—that was a long time ago.  Sure. Just the type of guy you want to be teaching your kid for 40+K a year. Bomb making 101. Conspiracy 202. Ya think that Mr & Mrs Ayers hear bump in the night since everyone in the world knows who they are, where they live and where they work. I’d move and change jobs if I had anything to do with these two, for health reasons.  

        • By your logic (and I use that term loosely), you and the McCain/Palin campaign believe that serving on the Annenberg Foundation board with William Ayers is “palling around” with a terrorist. The head of that charity, according to your ‘logic’, is by association, also a terrorist sympathizer. Let’s see exactly which campaign that terrorist, Mrs. Leonore Annenberg, donated to:

          <

          p>ANNENBERG, LEONORE THE HON.
          SAINT DAVIDS, PA 19087
          HOMEMAKER/HOMEMAKER

          <

          p>MCCAIN, JOHN S.
          VIA JOHN MCCAIN 2008 INC.
          05/21/2008 2300.00 28991300179

          <

          p>ANNENBERG, LEONORE THE HONORA
          SAINT DAVIDS, PA 19087
          HOMEMAKER

          <

          p>REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
          02/24/2004 22500.00 24990833322
          04/19/2006 25000.00 26940150164

          <

          p>ANNENBERG, LEONORE THE HONORABLE
          SAINT DAVIDS, PA 19087
          HOMEMAKER

          <

          p>REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
          09/15/2000 10000.00 20036110160
          12/31/2001 10000.00 22990190210
          04/18/2002 12500.00 22990982629
          10/10/2003 25000.00 23992340301

          <

          p>www.fec.gov

          <

          p>John McCain and the RNC should immediately return to this “terrorist sympathizer” all of her donations.

          <

          p>You post such utterly imbalanced garbage that your friends and family should be worried about your sanity.

      • Presumably now MCRD will adorn every thread on the Presidential election with an alternative reality rant on Ayers and Tom/Asa/Jack/CenterAisle will treat us to some more acorns and “craqp”. We should be clear: MCRD cannot be convinced. The other guy is here to tell us “the Truth”.

        <

        p>Do we really want to keep feeding such discussions? Isn’t this duller than wet Wonder bread and half as appetizing?

        <

        p>There’s an interesting discussion to be had about how much of the conservative punditry has expressed disappointment in McCain. Is it ideological because of McCain’s grasping quickly and thoughtlessly at solutions? Does it represent the fracturing of the conservative coalition or problems with its ideology? Is it tactical because they recognize what a poor candidate McCain is? McCain turned a fine reputation to dross in 6 months. Will these defections translate into votes — or at least into apathy?

        <

        p>Something is going on among conservatives. It might be interesting to hear more about it.

      • That’s their appeal to the low-information voter, of which there are many examples among our differently-winged posters here on BMG.

        • I say allegedly and puportedly because I have been unable to locate the docket or order.

          <

          p>And for the comment: Well—-this ain’t bean bag. Either you win or you lose. As long as it is legal. No Lyndon Johnson  ballot box stuffing. No voter fraud. Then no one can complain. If you throw sh*# at someone and it sticks—-well, that’s politics and sausage. McCain has taken his lumps.

          <

          p>They called John Gotti “the Teflon Don”. Nothing stuck. Well——almost never.

          • There has been no order issued in this case, which you’ve already brought up.  Obama and the DNC have filed a motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds, which most likely will be allowed, IMHO.  There is no hearing date set, as far as I can tell.  Why don’t you call up the plaintiff, Mr. Berg, since you seem obsessed with the case?  His phone number is on the pleadings, which are available at the above link.

    • As long as we’re bringing up the “problematic” Ayers thing again, check out With friends like these… McCain finds his own radical friend from the May 4, 2008 Chicago Tribune:

      <

      p>

      Obama has been justly criticized for his ties to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, who in 1995 hosted a campaign event for Obama and in 2001 gave him a $200 contribution. The two have also served together on the board of a foundation. When their connection became known, McCain minced no words: “I think not only a repudiation but an apology for ever having anything to do with an unrepentant terrorist is due the American people. “What McCain didn’t mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers — in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him.

      <

      p>The article cites Liddy’s:
      · breaking into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents
      · proposing to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn’t disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention
      · planning the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist
      · giving this advice to his radio listeners in 1994, after the federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco: “Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they’re going to be wearing bulletproof vests. … Kill the sons of bitches.”

      <

      p>About McCain’s relationship with Liddy, the article says:

      Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as “an old friend,” and McCain sounded like one. “I’m proud of you, I’m proud of your family,” he gushed. “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.”

    • (or maybe Bob covers this in his book?)

      <

      p>Susan Collins in today’s New York Times sees eye to eye with me:

      In my experience, most State Senate hopefuls are so thrilled at any sign of interest that they would happily attend a reception given by a homeless couple in their cardboard box.

    • The greater danger to our democracy is the disenfranchising of voters. This includes such activities as voter caging, making poor voters wait in long lines, official intimidation, etc. Ask David Iglesias, the fired US attorney in New Mexico how woefully few are the legitimate cases of people trying to vote illegally. These are the lies that Karl Rove was trying to sell for his permanent Republican majority. Wake up and get your information from sources besides Fox News and McCain-Palin rallies.
      Conservative voices are welcome here, but your hysterical nonsense is increasingly annoying.

        • The most you can say about the ACORN issue is registration fraud. Their goal is to register voters in under-represented areas. ACORN pays people for each registration form generated. This is guaranteed to generate some bogus registrations. However, there is no evidence that, over the years that ACORN has been doing this, there is anything approaching widespread vote fraud — ineligible people actually voting.
          Go find another distraction from your sources and report back.

  2. This Kos diarist points to a conservative-leaning newspaper editorializing against McCain.

    <

    p>McCain is losing parts of his base: this could help down ticket a lot.

        • as she does with any information that does not meet her approval or that which she disagrees. Could have been a “0” too if she thought that censorship was appropriate . Reality -based, Kathy? Facts are an awful thing, aren’t they?

          <

          p>This is why the rating system here is a farce and needs to be revised to a disagree/agree format to weed out the childish and vindictive ratings.

          • And most of the time, those aren’t worthy of a response.

            <

            p>States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal:
            http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10…

            <

            p>Fact: The Republicans are working to suppress REGISTERED voters in swing states.

            <

            p>Fact: In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

            <

            p>Fact: In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

            <

            p>Fact: In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

            <

            p>Fact: In swing states Ohio, Michigan, and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

            <

            p>Fact: The only way your pathetic party can win is through cheating.

            <

            p>

              • Most independents I know don’t get their info from Free Republic or WingNutDaily.

                <

                p>I don’t know why I bother linking to facts when the three faces of Jack12 (Edgarthearmenian? MCRD?) prefer speculation and talking points to reality.

          • The article to which you linked certainly does not make the case that ACORN is stuffing ballot boxes. You’re welcomed to suspect that. You’ll have to wait until it’s proven before you can claim that “reality-based” mantle.

            <

            p>What does seem to be the case is behavior typical of organizations that pay people for voter contact.

            <

            p>If one pays people to sign up voters or get petition signatures, one often ends up with a lot of bogus voters or signatures. This happened with Mass Resistance’s efforts against marriage equality, for example. And yes, I suspect that Nevada will find a lot of bad forms that should be thrown out and good for them, but it is a reach with the current information to say ACORN is engaging in some kind of intentionally fraudulent effort. More likely, this is just sloppy.

            <

            p>I avoid giving out 3s because I think they just generate noise, but Kathy was not wrong to smell some stink because your comment and link were not in sync.

      • the right wing is blowing out is a classic case of blaming the victim. ACORN paid people to register voters. Some of those people faked it in order to get paid while not actually performing the job. They defrauded ACORN, and now the wingnuts are pretending it was some kind of plot by the organization, rather than a low-level crime perpetrated on – not by –  ACORN. Utter nonsense.

          • and you counter with links to a left wing rag called Democracy Now and another link to a friggin comic book?

            <

            p>Are you joking?  
            Scotty, stand by to beam me aboard.

            • And here’s a link to a NY Times article:

              <

              p>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10…

              <

              p>Fact: The Republicans are working to suppress REGISTERED voters in swing states.

              <

              p>Fact: In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

              <

              p>Fact: In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

              <

              p>Fact: In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

              <

              p>Fact: In swing states Ohio, Michigan, and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

              <

              p>Fact: The only way your pathetic party can win is through cheating.

              • You’re saying the “FACT” word with ZERO reference or backup. “facts” as you call them like  “Fact: The only way your pathetic party can win is through cheating.” sound pretty much like hate filled opinion  to me .
                I thought that one of the key rules of this Reality -based thread was that links, references etc were required to support an argument.
                You seem to have ignored that rule, Kathy. Please try to be more respectful of the rules here that promote Reality Based commentary and not the rantings of an irrational and angry partisan zealot.
                How about some legitimate references to support your “facts” so as they are not confused with YOUR opinion.

                <

                p>

      • Isn’t McCain the one that wants the American government to buy stakes in private companies, and provide state-sponsored housing to Americans?  His program reads like a poorly translated New Economic Five-Year Plan.

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