The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[scaeagles]

That was one of the best two commercials (the Betty White/Abe Vigoda/Snickers one). That and the underwear casual Friday commercial for career builder.com

[Strangler Lewis]

Abe Vigoda: uniting force.

Okay, it's passed.

Speaking of condoning violence against women, will you be endorsing Linda McMahon's run for Senate in Connecticut?

[alphabassettgrrl]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

There was great controversy over the Tim Tebow Focus on the Family pro-life ad prior to it airing on during the SuperBowl. Whatever one thinks of the organization or the ad, I'm finding the response of the leadership of NOW to be absolutely hysterical. (by the way, I'm so paranoid now that I had to go check the Drudge Report to make sure there wasn't anything on his page about this.)
...snip...
"I am so happy that the story of Tim Tebow turned out the way it did, as he is truly a remarkable young man. What I am concerned about, though, is that the full story involves a woman ignoring the advice of her doctor, and while it turned out this way, it's very possible that it might not have. I would encourage women to take the advice of their physicians for their own safety."

Yeah, some groups definitely go overboard with the freaking out. I'm not above criticizing groups just because I agree with their overall goals and calling the mom-tackle violence against women is too much.

I'm not pleased with the ad, and I think the super bowl is somehow not the right place. Can't state the logic for that, just a feeling that it's somehow not right.

And I do dislike the implication that all women should ignore the advice of their docs and risk death because it worked out pretty well in this one case. This is an issue where the stories that get told are the ones for whom it worked out- the dead don't get their stories told. It's a self-selecting bias.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

Speaking of condoning violence against women, will you be endorsing Linda McMahon's run for Senate in Connecticut?

I honestly have no idea who she is.

ETA: McMahon of the WWE McMahons? Interesting. I know nothing about her except that now. I would figure at very least she can't be as corrupt as Dodd, so that's a step up.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I know I should be ignoring Sarah Palin entirely...but I can't help it.

I've enjoyed watching her squirm, trying to maintain her conservative credentials while being an activist for the first thing I agree with her on.

Then there's the teabagger speech, where she made fun of Obama for his reliance on teleprompters while A) reading her speech off a piece of paper, B) having been given the soft ball questions for the post speech press conference beforehand to review, and C) even having been given the soft ball questions beforehand to review, still needing to refer to notes written on her hand to answer.

You know, if the end result of Sarah Palin being put on the national stage is that the nutbags that idolize her are siphoned into some impotent independent party of nutjobs, maybe it's a good thing.

[scaeagles]

I'm not a Palin disciple, but mocking Obama for his reliance on teleprompters is open to anyone who writes notes on their hand or not. The man sets up teleprompters when he speaks to elementary school kids.

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I'm not a Palin disciple, but mocking Obama for his reliance on teleprompters is open to anyone who writes notes on their hand or not. The man sets up teleprompters when he speaks to elementary school kids.

I used to wince a bit when Obama would speak off the cuff and use a LOT of "umm" and "uh" pauses. But the teleprompter talking point? Sorry, but that boat isn't gonna float anymore.

1) Every president since the invention of the teleprompter has used them at nearly every one of their televised speeches.
2) He doesn't set them up himself, though that's an amusing image.
3) The school incident was a little silly, and I doubt it has happened again, though you are welcome to prove me wrong on this one. It's still a pretty big "so what," but I'll give you partial credit. However ...
4) Did you SEE him when he had the open question session with Republicans, live, a few weeks ago? No teleprompter. No script. You may have disagreed with him and found his every answer evil, but you can't claim he was helpless and floundering. He was on fire. And FOX News made themselves look like scared ninnies by cutting off before it was done. Anyway, whatever the political import or content of that encounter, it proved decisively that Obama is not somehow pathetically dependent on teleprompters. Game over.

Y'know, Sarah Palin used a teleprompter when she gave her much-praised speech as she accepted her nomination. She used it all the time on the campaign trail, as did McCain. Nobody cares, because this is standard practice. The first time I heard the McCain campaign using this as a talking point, I thought they had to be joking. It made them sound desperate, as if they knew they didn't have anything of substance to use against their opponent. (And SURELY they did, yes?) I suppose they keep on tossing this out because their base laps it up, but you aren't going to get any mileage out of it around anyone who has been paying any attention.

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

You know, if the end result of Sarah Palin being put on the national stage is that the nutbags that idolize her are siphoned into some impotent independent party of nutjobs, maybe it's a good thing.

It would sure be entertaining. (Unless they actually won!)

[Stan4dSteph]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I know I should be ignoring Sarah Palin entirely...but I can't help it.

Did you see her interview with Glenn Beck where she seemed to have a hard time coming up with a name when asked who her favorite "founding father" was?

I loved this bit they did on Jimmy Kimmel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPWD-PR_FA

[scaeagles]

Oh, I don't care about using it on every major speech. Doesn't bother me a bit. Of course he needs it and every President does on such addresses.

I didn't mean he actually sets them up himself. Would figure that would have been evident, but I suppose I didn't word that well.

I did not see the question and answer session with Republicans.

I think the whole thing is silly to focus on, but so is a lot in politics, and both sides do it when it is in their interest to do so. I've never posted about it and only did in response to a post which addressed the subject.