Fox, why are you doing this to me?

I have been a lukewarm defender of Fox News in the past. Most of their op-ed stuff is pretty biased, but the "news" portion of their broadcast wasn't all that bad and they usually get some fairly bright commentators and panels. They certainly weren't any worse than most of the rest of the MSM. Maybe I have just been getting more crotchety, but I have less tolerance for pundits in general and the commentators on Fox have been getting on my nerves.

O'Reilly is the least annoying, but he still shouts far too much. At least he brings on people that disagree with him. Hannity is a lost cause. His show made some attempt at balance when Colmes was paired with him, but it is completely unwatchable now. Beck never was watchable, nor will he ever be.

As for the contributors, some are good. Judge Andrew Napolitano is sharp and has a good understanding of the Constitution. I don't like Karl Rove, but at least he has the background to discuss politics, campaigning, and DC. Now I find out that they are bringing on Sarah Palin as a contributor. I know I have defended her in the past. I still don't think the media treated her fairly, but I also don't think she has done enough to educate herself on national matters and is content to produce sound bites and populist BS. I think this is a bad move on the part of Fox.

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Huh?

Resigning is no way to pad your resume Governor.





Discuss.

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Woh!! Was that the same Palin?

Now we all know that I am nowhere near as politically savvy as the rest of you guys, but I've got to say that Palin did MUCH better in that debate than I expected! Ignoring my own disagreement with her/her ticket's policies... I'd be hard pressed to chose a "winner". I'm real curious to see what you guys think, as I'm sure you'll all have some more valuable insight than I've got!

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...pants on fire!

About a week and a half ago I had begun composing a post on Sarah Palin.  I decided to table it.  The issue was putting me in a foul mood, as was politics in general.  For me, this is unusual.  To some degree, I have always been kind of a politics junkie.  Hell, I went door to door for Mondale when I was 13.  I am pretty used to the negative campaigning that has been the norm for the last few elections, so that doesn't really bother me.  

I don't know why this election seems different or why it seems to cheese me off more than usual.  One possibility is that I entered this race being mostly independent and undecided.  I have some major problems with the current manisfestation of the Republican Party and I have never had a problem voting for a Democrat even though I tend to lean to the right on many issues.  I was, and still am, impressed with the way Obama is running his campaign.  The same can't be said for the rest of the left.  

To many, Palin is a relative unknown, and for some reason this has fueled a ton of speculation.  This has ranged from outright lies (her daughter is really the mother of her baby) to leaving out important facts (troopergate).  I was working on a list when I found two others that were far more extensive.  One is from Chris of Rights, the other is from Explorations.  Some interesting points:

-Palin didn't cut money for unwed mothers.  She increased funding by 354%, as opposed to the 454% that was asked for.

-Palin doesn't support abstinence only sex-ed.

-Palin didn't say that the war in Iraq is a "task from God."

There are plnety of others.  More than usual, I have taken a wait and see approach when dealing with critiques of Palin.  Most seem to be seriously lacking in the credibility department.  I don't want to speculate as to why.  In the case of blogs like HuffPo and Daily Kos, they aren't trying to be unbiased.  The MSM is supposed to at least try.  The Volokh Conspiracy has a good entry on a biased story on ridiculously overblown "troopergate".  The 'gate' suffix has been so casually used that it has almost lost it's meaning.  Even if all the worst speculation was true, this doesn't even come close to Watergate.

In some cases, the media is just lazy or stupid.  Many of the debinked stories are ones where the reporters never even tried to contact all of the parties involved or even checked with reporters in Alaska.  In the stupid column, I will throw in co-host of the View, Whoopi Goldberg, with her suggestion that Sarah Palin was "very dangerous" because she wanted to "succeed from America."  Did you mean secede?  Anyway, that story has been debunked a while ago.  She also threw in a Nazi reference for good measure.

I will admit that I have some measure of respect for Sarah Palin.  I am not totally convinced that she is the best person for the job, but I also think that most of the critiques lack substance and take the focus away from the real issues.  It also makes me hard to takes these critics seriously if they aren't interested in debating the issues with facts and logic.  I know that the Right does it too, but that doesn't make it any more palatable.  That being said, it mostly seems to be coming from the left right now and that is too bad.  

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The Hypocrisy of Experience, Teenage Pregnancy, and Sexism.

Thank goodness for the real journalists. (on comedy central)

Unfortunately it wouldn't embed, but watch here.

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Sarah Palin Scandal(s)?

Before I get to the point, I wanted to thank the people involved with this blog.  There seems to be no shortage of political blogs, but so many of them offer very little in terms of rational debate, but tend more towards hyperbole, name calling, and bloviation.  This place is different and people are able to reasonably and passionately express opposing viewpoints.  I'd like to think this is beneficial.  I have certainly learned much and have changed my opinion in several policy areas and this is due to the type of discourse that occurs here.

The same can't be said for the rest of the blogosphere.  The Palin nomination has drawn a lot of scrutiny, as it should.  She is a relative unknown and we should know about how she has governed, how she has voted, and what she thinks on the "issues."  Reasonable or not, I would also expect that people would have questions about her personal life.  I don't care for most of the gossip or personal stuff, but I do expect there to be some factual basis.  We have already seen Obama be the subject of a nasty rumor that he was some kind of closet Muslim.  Some even took that to the absurd by suggesting he would institute some kind of Islamic law in the US.  

The Palin version of the nasty rumor was seen briefly on our own blog before Smitty canned it.  It suggested that Palin's youngest is actually the child of one of her other children and that she faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her daughter.  Daily Kos ran a very elaborate one with pictures that has already been debunked by numerous outlets and is completely without merit.  I have never been a huge fan of Kos, but had respected them for the most part.  I would certainly have put them in the top 10 for left leaning blogs.  I am pretty jaded about some stuff and I know this is nothing new.  That being said, it still makes me very mad.  On one level, it is just a rotten, dishonest thing to do.  On another level, it distracts people from more important issues that are certainly critical to our nation.  Despite being denied and proven wrong, they are still believed by some.  I still hear the closet Muslim rumor.

As I was composing this post news came out that Sarah Palin's disclosed that her daughter is pregnant.  It is hard to tell where this will go.  I am sure both sides will spin it all sorts of ways.  The fact that McCain knew maybe says that we are able to not make such a big deal about irrelevant stuff, but maybe not.  One thing is for sure, this will clear up the accusation that he was pandering to the religious right.

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McCain Chooses...who?

McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, Two-year Govenor of Alaska as his running mate. This might be a bold move. Choosing a woman is a likely a smart choice, but who is this person?

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