Sarah Palin thinks Africa is a country?

[JohnRich 4]

News:

MSNBC retracts false Palin story

MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Eisenstadt claim had mistakenly been delivered to Shuster by a producer and was used in a political discussion Monday afternoon, MSNBC said.

"The story was not properly vetted and should not have made air," said Jeremy Gaines, network spokesman. "We recognized the error almost immediately and ran a correction on air within minutes."

Eisenstadt's "work" had been quoted and debunked before.

Among the other victims were political blogs for the Los Angeles Times and The New Republic, each of which referenced false material from Eisenstadt's blog.

And in July, Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones magazine blogged an item about Eisenstadt speaking on Iraqi television about a casino in Baghdad's "Green Zone." Stein later realized he'd been had.

Source: Yahoo News

This is what they call "journalism"?

I've seen high school gossip with more integrity than this.

[434 2]

John! Do you still think the lady is a good VP candiate? Can you just answer that simple Q?

[PLFXpert 0]

Saw this one coming. Surprised it didn't come out sooner.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[miked10270 0]

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News:

MSNBC retracts false Palin story....

Good Lord. Something like that could have cost Palin & McCain the election.

However, I think I can say that this false news did NOT make me change my vote in any way!

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[BIGUN 1,486]

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Do you still think the lady is a good VP candiate?

I do not.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[jakee 1,596]

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News:

MSNBC retracts false Palin story....

Good Lord. Something like that could have cost Palin & McCain the election.

If the story had travelled back in time?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Not surprising at all. Persons loyal to one side are very quick to believe any story that comes out the lowers the respectability of their opponent.
Both Repubs and Dems are guilty of this behavior.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[TomAiello 26]

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John! Do you still think the lady is a good VP candiate? Can you just answer that simple Q?

What do you mean by "good"?

Was she qualified to be Vice President? On paper, I'd say she was just as qualified a the guy we elected to be President, so yes.

Was she a good "tactical" choice for McCain in the election? Again, I'd say yes. She energized the part of the Republican alliance that McCain doesn't connect well with (moral majority religious types), and she had youth, energy and charisma (and good looks) to balance Obama.

Do I agree with her politics? No, but if that was the standard by which I judged a candidates qualifications, most of the elected officials in this country would be "bad candidates." In fact, I have trouble telling whether it's Sarah Palin or Barack Obama who is further from my own views, although I think I give the edge to Obama in that regard.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Andy9o8 2]

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On paper, I'd say she was just as qualified a the guy we elected to be President, so yes.

You and I must be looking at different paper.

[miked10270 0]

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On paper, I'd say she was just as qualified a the guy we elected to be President, so yes.

You and I must be looking at different paper.

Yes you are. The paper that says Palin was qualified is softer and more absorbent.

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[TomAiello 26]

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On paper, I'd say she was just as qualified a the guy we elected to be President, so yes.

You and I must be looking at different paper.

How so? Representing Chicago (yes, that's intentional, no I don't think Chicago is a continent) in the US Senate makes you better/worse qualified than being governor of Alaska, day per day?

One is an executive position, so that's probably better preparation. One is a federal position, so that's probably better preparation. On balance, I think it's pretty much a wash.

Honestly, I'm more interested in the quality of the candidates than their qualifications, but if you want to focus on something that has less importance than say, their policies, then yes, I'd say Palin is as "qualified" as Obama.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[PLFXpert 0]

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Was she qualified to be Vice President? On paper, I'd say she was just as qualified a the guy we elected to be President, so yes.

Was she a good "tactical" choice for McCain in the election? Again, I'd say yes. She energized the part of the Republican alliance that McCain doesn't connect well with (moral majority religious types), and she had youth, energy and charisma (and good looks) to balance Obama.

Do I agree with her politics? No, but if that was the standard by which I judged a candidates qualifications, most of the elected officials in this country would be "bad candidates." In fact, I have trouble telling whether it's Sarah Palin or Barack Obama who is further from my own views, although I think I give the edge to Obama in that regard.

+1

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Andy9o8 2]

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How so?

In a nutshell: intellect, education, pre-politics career, fund of knowledge, ability to engage in complex critical analysis, especially on the fly and under stress (think: the President in the Situation Room in a crisis). In those terms, I'd put Obama in the "superior" category, and Palin in the "average at best" category.

My dad (retired, moderately conservative, ex-military, college educated, career in management, very pro- strong defense) would have voted for Hillary against McCain, but when Obama was nominated, decided to vote for McCain, and was pretty adamant about it, too. But in the end, he voted for Obama, and it was because of Palin, who he felt showed herself to be completely lacking in the personal depth and substance to be President if something happened to McCain. In his words: "After 8 years of one idiot in the White House, I wasn't about to take a chance at getting another one."

McCain was gracious and a true gentleman in saying that Palin did not cost him the election. Well, she cost him my dad's vote, and those of a lot of my parents' friends and associates, too; and that was in a battleground state, BTW.

[TomAiello 26]

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...pre-politics career...

You mean the one where he was a community organizer, or the one where he was a law professor?

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Andy9o8 2]

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...pre-politics career...

You mean the one where he was a community organizer, or the one where he was a law professor?

All of it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_obama#Early_life_and_career

[beowulf 1]

This just reinforces my disdain for the news media. It shows their bias and disregard for accuracy. Whether or not Palin is qualified to be VP or P doesn't matter any more.

[TomAiello 26]

I generally vote based on policy, rather than personal story, just because of the nature of our government. I'd rather have an incompetent who I agree with than a highly efficient, organized leader who greatly advances a policy agenda I'm opposed to. In general, I don't care too much about a lot of those things. Mostly I want to know what people think about the issues I care about (Obama fails that test 99% of the time--Palin fails it about 75% of the time). On those terms, the only one of the four candidates in the last presidential election (McCain, Palin, Obama, Biden) who I could even get close to was McCain.

As an aside, I'd be more impressed with Obama's resume if I thought he was doing a good job at those things. But a constitutional law professor who can't place the 15th amendment within 30 years? Sounds like a position based on politics and connections, rather than competence, to me.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Andy9o8 2]

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As an aside, I'd be more impressed with Obama's resume if I thought he was doing a good job at those things. But a constitutional law professor who can't place the 15th amendment within 30 years? Sounds like a position based on politics and connections, rather than competence, to me.

OK, now you're really stretching.
After majoring in international relations at Columbia U, followed by a distinguished tutelage at Harvard Law School during which he served as Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and from which he graduated magna cum laude, he taught constitutional law for 12 years at U. of Chicago Law School. Compared to that, I'd say having a brain fart on the year the 15th Amendment was ratified doesn't mean squat.

[434 2]

Tom, you have traveled some few countries in your active time as an jumper, and you know how we did feel about the last president. Is it important to you how the world is seeing your country trough your leader? And do you think how the world is thinking about your leaders are important to your country?

I do see a huge problem with the two party system you have in USA, it is ending up to be either black or white (just as true as written in these days) and the one half is trying ti rip the other side apart. You will never have a steady politic for a surten time to gain any development, and for the next period you just have to start at the beginning again, just the other way!

Anyway, I guess the rest of the world is looking up to Obama, and Bush? Well he is finished, and we are quite happy about that! Now we are willing to help out where you need help, and it will be harder to say no, like we did with Bush!

[jakee 1,596]

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As an aside, I'd be more impressed with Obama's resume if I thought he was doing a good job at those things. But a constitutional law professor who can't place the 15th amendment within 30 years? Sounds like a position based on politics and connections, rather than competence, to me.

OK, now you're really stretching.
After majoring in international relations at Columbia U, followed by a distinguished tutelage at Harvard Law School during which he served as Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and from which he graduated magna cum laude, he taught constitutional law for 12 years at U. of Chicago Law School.

'Sides which, what politics and connections did he have when he first got the gig?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[TomAiello 26]

As I said, I'm not personally very concerned with it--just as I'm not too concerned about those things on the other side of the aisle. If you want to start digging up (or, in this case, inventing) gaffes and missteps, you're going to find plenty for anyone.

Which is more worrisome, a governor who someone (lied and) said couldn't identify Africa as a continent, or a con law professor who can't identify the century of the 15th amendment's ratification? It seems to me that if you're going to nitpick at either side, you ought to be fair and do it to both--and it seems to me that the nitpicking in this case is pretty unbalanced.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[rushmc 23]

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John! Do you still think the lady is a good VP candiate? Can you just answer that simple Q?

I do yes.

The more she is attacked the more I am convinced.

She is a dirct threat to the libs. Hence, the vitriolic (mostly false) attacks

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[TomAiello 26]

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Is it important to you how the world is seeing your country trough your leader?

Sure, but what's going on here is more important. The President of the US is going to have more impact on things going on here (in the US) than overseas. Imagine how much more people would hate GWB if he was President of Europe, too.

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And do you think how the world is thinking about your leaders are important to your country?

Of course it's important. But, as I said, I place a higher priority on the things that will directly effect me, most of which are domestic. For example, the National Park Service reports to the president, so the right president could just wave his hand and allow BASE jumping in Yosemite.

Don't take this to mean that I think Bush is great. I haven't been particularly impressed by him, particularly his foreign policy. But from my standpoint, I think Obama will be worse.

Bush wasn't a particularly impressive president, but then again I don't think he was the worst we've had. And I know that I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be the guy sitting in that seat during 9/11, or Hurricane Katrina, or the current financial crisis.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[billvon 3,119]

>You and I must be looking at different paper.

She was indeed qualified on paper. Heck, on paper, she's as qualified as Al Franken. The qualifications aren't too onerous (over 35, natural born US citizen.)

[kallend 2,150]

Pity the originators didn't retract the false "Obama is a Muslim" story or the "Obama took his oath on the Koran" story or the "Obama's birth certificate is a forgery" story or the "Ku Klux Klan endorsed Obama for president" story or the "Three Fannie Mae executives are Obama's economic advisors" story, or...

When it comes to distributing campaign lies, the GOP is the champion.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.