We Dodged a Bullet Yesterday

Fox News reports previously embargoed information: while tutoring her on foreign policy, McCain staffers realized that Sarah Palin--the woman who could have become the next Vice-President of the United States of America!--did not know that Africa was a continent.

You have to see it to believe it.

Where Does She Find the Time?

Posted without comment.

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too.

Innovative Products

I can't wait for the day when I can get a sub-prime health insurance plan. Or an influenza-equity loan.

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
--John McCain, in a policy paper published in the Sept/Oct issue of Contingencies

The Real Reason Behind the Energy Crisis

CNBC's Larry Kudlow calls her an "experienced energy expert." John McCain went so far as to say that "she knows more about energy than probably anyone in the United States."



Watch the video. If this is the most knowledgeable person in the United States on energy, then I'm not surprised that we have consumed ourselves into the midst of a crisis; this answer (to the question, "Is there any way to ensure that oil drilled domestically is consumed in the United States, rather than just going on the global market?") at a town hall meeting borders on the incomprehensible.

Foot, Meet Mouth

Today, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sarah Palin promised to bring a new kind of accountability to Washington.

As Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.

Unfortunately for Governor Palin, that measure of transparency is already available for the federal government. It was one of the major bipartisan successes of that guy who is running for President this year. You know, the one who was referred to as "Zero" at the Republican National Convention this year, because he supposedly didn't have any legislative record to speak of?

I give to you the Obama-Coburn Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. Colloquially known as "Google for Government." You can see the results right here.

Oh yeah, and Coburn is a Republican. Funny how that "no bipartisan work of any kind" smear turned out to be false. There's also this bipartisan success, for those who are curious.

The Media's Love Affair with Obama?

There have been a number of stories lately about the infatuation much of the broadcast media has with Barack Obama. But when he impresses the press like this, can you really blame them? This writer for the Jerusalem Post is positively gushing at the fact that a political candidate was actually able to speak for himself, rather than having to rely on aides:

Two months ago in the Oval Office, President George W. Bush, coming to the end of a two-term presidency and presumably as expert on Israeli-Palestinian policy as he is ever going to be, was accompanied by a team of no fewer than five advisers and spokespeople during a 40-minute interview with this writer and three other Israeli journalists.

In March, on his whirlwind visit to Israel, Republican presidential nominee John McCain, one of whose primary strengths is said to be his intimate grasp of foreign affairs, chose to bring along Sen. Joe Lieberman to the interview our diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon and I conducted with him, looked to Lieberman several times for reassurance on his answers and seemed a little flummoxed by a question relating to the nuances of settlement construction.

On Wednesday evening, toward the end of his packed one-day visit here, Barack Obama, the Democratic senator who is leading the race for the White House and who lacks long years of foreign policy involvement, spoke to The Jerusalem Post with only a single aide in his King David Hotel room, and that aide's sole contribution to the conversation was to suggest that the candidate and I switch seats so that our photographer would get better lighting for his pictures.

Several of Obama's Middle East advisers - including former Clinton special envoy Dennis Ross and ex-ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer - were hovering in the vicinity. But Obama, who was making only his second visit to Israel, knew precisely what he wanted to say about the most intricate issues confronting and concerning Israel, and expressed himself clearly, even stridently on key subjects.

It's not that surprising to me that someone who used to teach Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago can handle himself in an interview. But compared to George W. Bush and John "894th out of 899 in his graduating class" McCain, it's easy to look impressive.

Working the Polls

I spent yesterday volunteering at the polls here in St. Joseph County. I was the head worker at a precinct in South Bend's sister city of Mishawaka. We were pretty busy yesterday. According to other workers at the polls, the last general election had about 450 votes in this precinct; in yesterday's primary, we handed out 411 ballots.

Now, before I go on, you should know that South Bend and Mishawaka are very different in their demographics; while South Bend is 35% African-American, has 17% of the population in poverty, and is primarily Democratic, Mishawaka is 3% African-American, has only 9% in poverty, and is primarily Republican.

Even for Mishawaka, my precinct was in a pretty red neighborhood. And there was (some) reason for Republicans to vote in the primary--a 3-way contest for Indiana's 2nd Congressional seat, which is currently held by a freshman Democrat (a contest that drew national press because one of the three challengers spoke at a local neo-Nazi celebration of Hitler's birthday party!) Still, the message was clear that local Hoosiers have had enough with the Republican party: of the 411 ballots we handed out, less than 50 were Republican ballots.

Some people will tell you that this split reeks of "interference" of one party with another's business. (As my friend E has been saying on his blog for the past few days.) But the people I met yesterday seemed genuinely angry about the economy and the war. Several came up and told us point blank that they've never voted for a Democrat before, but that they think Bush has messed up the country so bad that anything different is worth a try.

In the end, Hillary did win my precinct, by about a 60-40 margin. But I don't attribute that to the machinations of Rush Limbaugh or to smaller efforts to make the Democrats weaker in the fall. Hillary's Indiana campaign was all about courting conservative voters--pledging (stupidly) to suspend the gas tax, talking about "obliterating" Iran, etc.--and in conservative Mishawaka, she did just want she wanted to do; people here really thought that she would be the better President in November.

I think those people are wrong about that; but I'm encouraged that Indiana (and our entire country, if polls are to be believed) is beginning to think beyond the confines of party affiliation and is instead considering how best to move the country as a whole forward.

And, to close, a couple of amusing stories from yesterday:

• One woman came in and couldn't decide whether to vote in the Republican or Democratic primaries. We showed her the sample ballots, answered some (strictly factual) questions about the races, and so forth. At one point, she points to a name on the ballot: "Is this guy still in the race?" She was pointing at 'Mike Huckabee.' Someone told her no. So then she pointed to another name. "How about this guy?" 'Mitt Romney.' She ended up taking a Democratic ballot.

• At least three or four people out of the 400 in our precinct wanted to know why they couldn't vote a straight ticket. No matter how much we explained it, I think a couple of them never did understand why just filling a single 'Democratic' oval wouldn't work in a primary.