Monday - September 08, 2008

No one ever won a pissing contest with a skunk. Tannenberg’s take on Palin critics.

Last week I posted the following headline with the article.
Palin’s Alaska aides will be forced to reveal her office secrets in Trooper gate inquiry

Under comments, Tannenberg correctly said things should be met head on and hide nothing.
Also under comments, Dr. Jeff wrote the following which I see as an editorial, and a darn good one it is.  So, not that I’m lazy but. Can I write like this?
Sure. And cats can bark but see no reason to.

Jeff makes great points and I didn’t want it wasted and so am posting it here.  I can’t see any reasonable person taking issue with him.  If ya do, have at it.

Putting aside the question of when and how Governor Palin should deal with the problem, do I understand correctly that the primary push for the investigation itself and the urge to move it up come from Democrats”

Hollis French, the Democratic senator who chairs the judiciary committee, stoked the furore when he predicted last week: “It’s likely to be damaging to the Governor’s administration.”

Steven Blanchflower, the independent prosecutor conducting the investigation, was originally due to deliver his report on Oct 31, just four days before the presidential election. But the judiciary committee brought the probe forward to change such a politically-loaded schedule.

Italics mine.

OK, I’m guessing that Governor Palin had no love for Wooten who definitely did some strange stuff.  Don’t forget, the kid was Palin’s nephew.  So, I’m also assuming (yeah, dangerous word) that Governor Palin probably rode the fine edge of the law in dealing with Monegan and Wooten.  Innocent or guilty, the Dems will use it as an albatross around her neck.

Hollis French is telegraphing the hits the Dems are going to use in a massive smear campaign.  You don’t think a Democratic Senator on the Judiciary Committee would influence an investigation, do you?  You don’t think he might influence the emphasis on one area of the report over another, do you?

There are ways to report the same set of facts, that, while they may maintain the same technical meaning, will have a grossly different emotional meaning.

Short thought that gave me a smile.  Considering that he comes from Illinois & Chicago politics, Obama knows full well that Wooten would have been found in a ditch had he messed with the family of any Illinois politician.

Going on to the other bit that got my attention is:

In the last few days, video footage of her describing the Iraq war as “a task from God” and urging trainee pastors to pray for a new gas pipeline as “God’s will” has been unearthed and posted on YouTube. As a fundamentalist Christian who advocates the teaching of intelligent design (a form of biblical creationism) in schools and opposes abortion even when a mother was raped or her life is at risk, her beliefs certainly appeal to the hardline Religious Right but may deter more mainstream swing voters.

The right or wrong of the political positions are now overshadowed by the religious position.  My experience is that a significant number of mainstream (not just leftist) voters are uncomfortable with hardcore Evangelicals having political power.  If you get to the left of the mainstream, the reaction is far worse.  No wonder Obama says his campaign won’t touch the issues of Palin’s daughter, Trooper Gate and her faith.  He’s got lots of hatchet men to do it for him.

What no one is taking into consideration is that the President’s religious beliefs actually can’t change the law of the land by any great amount.  Our system has a lot of checks and balances built in, limiting legislation based purely on an individual person’s faith, or even the faith of the majority.  Personally, what I would expect from Governor Palin, is that she would feel required by her beliefs, to do the best job possible for the welfare of the American people.  The biggest problem will be to separate the emotionalism the Dems are using, from the reality of the qualities that she would bring with her.  One demonstration of Evangelical faith in government is that I seem to remember is that when John Ashcroft first started as Attorney General, a major abortion clinic bomber (forget his name) was caught.  I know that neither Ashcroft nor G.W. Bush who appointed him, liked abortion.  However, I saw nothing held back in the bomber’s prosecution.  They nailed him and they nailed him good.  They understood that whether or not they liked abortion clinics, they were sworn to uphold the law of the land, the man had broken the law and needed to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The matter of her daughter I see as mostly a personal, family matter, to be left out of the news.  At some time, there should be a picture of the proud Grandmother holding the newborn baby, standing next to the smiling daughter and that’s about it.  All considered, the Governor and her family seem to be handling it quite well.  Summation:  daughter is pregnant, they love their daughter and they will support and help the daughter.

Kids have been going against their parent’s teaching and wishes since the dawn of recorded history.  What is significant is not that the daughter is pregnant, but how it is dealt with within the Palin family.  Unless something really awful occurs, even that issue is irrelevant to anyone outside the Palin family.  Sometime though, there’s got to be a way to dump the a**hole boyfriend.  I’ve got more of a problem with Bristol’s taste in men than I do with her pregnancy.  I spent some time this weekend with enthusiastic Democrats.  They’re talking about how horrible Governor Palin must be, because she’s an Evangelical and her daughter is pregnant.  They think the pregnant daughter is a good thing, because it now guarantees Obama and company the Presidency.  Don’t ask me to explain, I’m just reporting what I heard.

Never confuse fact with reality.

Dr. Jeff

Posted by Drew458     on 09/08/2008 at 06:44 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Editorials •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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