Actually, trust no one. Act casual. Or act normal, if casual doesn’t work for you. More later unless MdC returns.

Well, it worked (by which I mean their guy got into the White House). It’s interesting, though. Back in 2000, Bush was presented as an outside-the-Beltway candidate whose minimal experience and aw-shucks plainspokenness were seen almost as advantages. The righties now claim (pretend?) to be highly dissatisfied with Bush. To counteract the problems caused by the election of this inexperienced governor with more folksy appeal than substance, the Right nominates as VP…an inexperienced governor with more folksy appeal than substance.

It’s basically the 2000 ticket flipped on its head. It’s bizarre…but then again, it did work.

signed, MzNicky

WHAT’S THAT? YOU’LL HAVE TO SHOUT LOUDER. I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MARK LEVIN PROTESTETHING TO MUCH!!!!11!1

Sarah Palin: Axis of Idiots.

David Frum:

George W. Bush had very slight executive experience before becoming president. His views were not well known. He won the nomination exactly in the same way (as) Palin…

It sounds like they’re trying to use her to recreate the 2000 election. Bizarre.

Sorry for the shout, but you seriously have to check out the real (and surreal) YouTube interview with Miss Alaska.

Check it out.

“No balls.” Heh, indeed.

We are talking about a particular set of decision-making skills – and there is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that Palin possesses them. Worse, from my point of view, is the assumption that because she is a conservative Christian that she therefore has intelligent conservative views on every other subject, from what to do with Fannie Mae to what to do about Iran. That’s a greater leap of faith than I can make.

[…]

George W. Bush had very slight executive experience before becoming president. His views were not well known. He won the nomination exactly in the same way that Palin has won the hearts of so many conservatives: by sending cultural cues to convince them that he was one of them, understood them, sympathized with them. So that made everything else irrelevant in 2000 – as it seems again to be doing in 2008.

[…]

I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It’s an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That’s all.

Sorry, David, but that’s not how your side plays the game, and it’s not going to change now. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, someone who did have proven executive experience before he ran for president, Democrats win when people think.

Occam’s Razor requires selecting answer b).

The professional commenters are still stuck on ‘Karl Rove is god’ mode, and refuse to comprehend the fact that the Mayberry Machiavellis would never have gotten as far as they have without the outright complicity of the corporate media.

I think the McMansion campaign is riddled with saboteurs.

Every event & tv professional who has commented on the convention are of the opinion that it had to be sabotaged. Or they hired professionals on the order of “my nephew has a Toaster.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94332543

I’ve seen that La Progessive article and from what I can tell much of it is taken verbatim from one of those anonymous chain emails going around. Not reliable.

Yeah, I agree that the LA Progressive article is untrustworthy. But the ‘anonymous chain e-mail’ you mention is probably the Kilkenny letter I linked to upthread. It’s not anonymous – the Anchorage Daily News has confirmed that the author really is Anne Kilkenny. She’s a longtime resident of Wasilla, has been involved in local politics, and a week ago sent the letter to some friends who had questions about Palin’s personality and background. One of the friends posted the letter online without Kilkenny’s permission. Again, I suspect Kilkenny’s description of Palin is probably accurate.

Top McCain aide Rick Davis indicated the campaign isn’t in any hurry to slot Palin for a Sunday show appearance — and will do so only if he and other strategists determine it serves the ticket’s purposes … “I’d never commit to anything in the future. … Our strategy is in our hands, not the media’s. We’re going to do what’s in our best interests to try to win the election. If we think going on TV news shows are [sic] in our best interests, we’ll do it. If we don’t, we won’t.”

Translation: “If we think she might fuck up, we’ll pack her off to Juneau to ‘attend to her family.’ On the other hand, if we decide she’s safe enough, we’ll pimp her out to you swine faster than you can say ‘unqualified.’ It totally depends upon our mood. We’ll let you know if we need you. People’s right to know? Ha ha ha! Fuck you very much.”