The tan is fake, just like she is…

Cross posted at TPM, re: the Palin tanning bed story. (Short version: one of her very first acts as Governor was to have a professional-grade tanning bed installed in the Governor’s mansion.) Some Democrats on the board were arguing that this story was not worthy of our notice or debate.

============

You guys are so cute. I *love* my fellow rational, left-brained Democrats.

However.

You’re confusing shouldn’t matter with doesn’t matter.

If this election were being decided on issues, it would already be over. Obama/Biden would be up by 20 points.

A large segment of the electorate doesn’t vote the issues, they vote their gut – - and that’s what Sarah Palin is appealing to. The entire package is “I’m just plain folks – just like you! Not at all like that elitist uppity Hollywood Democrat (I can even hear the sneering as I type the words…)

Of course it’s not about the tanning machine, any more than it was about the windsurfing (Kerry) or the expensive haircut (Edwards) – - it’s about the metaphor:

Her tan is a fake – just like she is.

The pitbull line is an act – she runs from questions so fast you can see the skid marks, and has surrogates protect her from the mean awful reporters because, after all, she’s just a girl.

She’s not about saving the taxpayers’ money – she’s about sticking it to the lower 48 (gas prices, federal pork) and using it to reward cronies and buy herself perks (even if the bed wasn’t an illegal gift – and I bet it was – taxpayers still footed the bill for the wiring job.)

And don’t even get me started on her “family values”…

I agree that the Obama/Biden campaign shouldn’t touch this story with a 10 foot pole, but the media should run with it (particularly since they did the same with Kerry and Edwards.)

Joe Biden is a pit bull?

Cross posting a comment I made on another board in response to the comment “Joe Biden is the real pit bull”

——

I hope that’s true – - because I’m not seeing it.

“Unlike almost every other presidential running mate in recent political memory, “I’m not going to be an attack dog,” Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden told USA TODAY.”

This article was Thursday, the morning after Palin’s full throated attack speech.  Later in the same piece:

“Biden said he and Obama agreed on his high-road campaign approach. “That was part of the deal,” Biden said. “I’m not going to fool with my brand.”

With all due respect, screw Biden’s brand.  Veep’s job on the ticket is to be throwing punches and putting voice to the anger and outrage many of us feel.

*Obama* needs to focus on looking presidential, and staying above the fray, but instead, he’s out “mocking” (TPM’s headline, not mine) Palin for earmark flip-flops, while Biden at a townhall in PA is saying:

“I admire John McCain. I know of no man or woman I have ever met that has more personal courage than John McCain. We have been friends for over 33 years. We have traveled together. When John was Navy liaison he staffed me for three or four years everywhere I traveled in the world…

…he’s a great guy,” Biden said, “and if John called me today and said ‘Joe -,’ like when they went after John McCain, when Bush went after him in South Carolina with the scurrilous comments they made about his character, I called him and said, ‘John, where do you want me? I’m an Al Gore man but where do you want me? I will show up anywhere in America to testify to the kind of man you are.’ And he is a good man, he is a good man.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-04-biden_N.htm

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/oh-that-joe-n-4.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/214374.php

WTF?

It’s all relative…

The below got me thinking.  Imagine for a moment that it’s early August, and Barack Obama announces that he has selected an African American woman as is his VP pick.  No one has ever heard of her before, and one of the first things we learn is that her 17 year old daughter, Latisha, is pregnant and unmarried.

What do you imagine the response from the “cultural conservatives” of the Republican party would have been?

If you’re a minority and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “token hire.”

If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “game changer.”

If you live in an urban area and you get a girl pregnant you’re a “baby daddy.”

If you’re the same in Alaska you’re a “teen father.” (Actually, according to your own MySpace page you’re an F’n redneck that don’t want any kids, but that’s too long a phrase for the evil liberal media to take out of context and flog morning, noon and night.)

Black teen pregnancies? A “crisis” in black America.

White teen pregnancies? A “blessed event.”

From the pocket guide to Palinguage

In other news, Palin’s Speech Didn’t Move Undecided or Democratic Women Voters