Sunday, September 14, 2008

Why the Palin phenomenon is doomed - Market Watch

Why the Palin phenomenon is doomed - Market Watch
Commentary: Media live to build you up -- then knock you down
By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch
Sept. 15, 2008

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The Sarah Palin Phenomenon is doomed.

But it's not because of her lack of foreign policy experience or her deer-in-the-headlights look during part of her interview last week with ABC's Charles Gibson.

The primary reason why the Palin bubble will burst is that the media will decide that they are bored with her. They'll need to move to shine a light on a fresh issue or individual.

This is how the world works in the age of 24/7 news cycles. Whether the subject is Britney Spears, Michael Jordan or Sarah Palin, we inevitably raise stars to mythic levels, out of all reasonable proportions. Then we knock them down. (Look out, Michael Phelps. Your time is coming, too.)

It isn't a case of quixotic behavior by reporters and editors. Internet sites, blogs and cable news operations all thrive on presenting fresh headlines and updated story angles as often as possible so readers think we're on top of things. The news world moves at warp speed.

Palin's story is especially captivating because she emerged as an overnight sensation. The governor of Alaska was virtually unknown on the national scene before Sen. John McCain tapped her to be his running mate. Amid the media crush accompanying her rise, it now seems as if Palin has been around forever.

For as long as she has been in the public eye, people have been skeptical about her qualifications, but the allure of her beginner's pluck catapulted Palin to the covers of magazines ranging from Time to People.

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Why the Palin phenomenon is doomed

Sarah Palin's Record on the Environment? In A Word ABYSMAL!

ABC: 3 of 4 friends won't admit voting for Palin

What Does Palin's Faith Mean for U.S.?

What Does Palin's Faith Mean for U.S.?
Like Other Candidates, Palin Had Had to Undergo 'Spiritual Vetting'
By DAN HARRIS - ABC News
Sept. 14, 2008

It's happened to John McCain and Barack Obama. Now it's Sarah Palin's turn to go through what one observer has called a "spiritual vetting."

A look at the VP candidate's Assemblies of God church in Alaska.

For two decades, Palin was a member of an Assemblies of God church in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. In 2002, years before she was elected governor of Alaska, Palin and her family switched to a nondenominational church, but Palin still returns to her old church on special occasions.

There are an estimated 3 million worshippers in the Assemblies of God church in the Unites States, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Worldwide there are 500 million members, which is approximately 25 percent of all Christians. The Assemblies of God church is a form of Pentecostalism, which has become one of the fastest growing Christian movements in the world.

The most scrutinized and least understood aspect of the Assemblies of God Church and Pentecostalism in general is the ancient practice of "speaking in tongues."

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What Does Palin's Faith Mean for U.S.?

Alaska Women Rally Against Sarah Palin 2008 Rejection Signs

"Palin's not Pro-Women, Why Should Women Be Pro-Palin?"

Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally

Alaska Women Rally Against Palin And Are Threatened

Please watch this video. It is really pretty frightening.

Obama backers break cash records as Palin redraws campaign battleground

Obama backers break cash records as Palin redraws campaign battleground
Tim Reid The Times Online
September 15, 2008

Barack Obama pulled in $66 million last month, smashing his previous fundraising record amid clear signs that Sarah Palin has mobilised many grassroots Democrats against her as much as she has energised the Republican Party.

Mr Obama's fundraising total for August beat his monthly record of $55 million (£31 million) and was the highest in US presidential history. It came with the addition of 500,000 donors, many of whom signed on to the campaign after the extraordinary entry of Mrs Palin into the race as the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

Although the news was a muchneeded boost for Mr Obama after a turbulent month in which he has slipped behind John McCain in the polls, Democratic strategists conceded that the race was now too close to call, with two new polls showing the candidates in a statistical tie 50 days before the election.

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Obama backers break cash records as Palin redraws campaign battleground

Christian Science Monitor: The Palin Doctrine

The Palin Doctrine Christian Science Monitor
She would go beyond various Bush 'doctrines' and 'do whatever it takes' against terrorists.
By the Monitor's Editorial Board September 14, 2008

Sarah Palin may be excused for not knowing "the Bush doctrine." The term was thrown at her like a curve ball during an interview last week by ABC's Charles Gibson, whose own description was incomplete. But her assertion of a potential new "doctrine" – one she might bring to the White House – is far less pardonable.

She said during that interview that the United States "must do whatever it takes" to fight terrorism. This implies the same amoral existentialism that terrorists use. It goes against the very principles of Western civilization that the jihadists seek to destroy.

Ever since these Islamic radicals began attacking US citizens and others, some in the American security establishment have practiced this unprincipled "doctrine." Just think of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or the use of torture against top Al Qaeda figures.

But her do-anything approach appears to go beyond the set of foreign policies put forth by President Bush and that have been dubbed by the media and others as "the Bush doctrine."

When first in office, Mr. Bush set his mark as president by unilaterally withdrawing US support for a few international agreements, such as the Kyoto accords on global warming. Then after 9/11, he warned countries backing terrorists that they are vulnerable to attack. This led to the ousting of the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan.

Later, in the run up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, Bush justified preemptive strikes on countries that might give weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. That was one Bush "doctrine" that Mr. Gibson was obliquely referring to, later calling it "anticipatory self-defense." The policy is similar to the action of a homeowner who shoots a masked gunman standing outside a bedroom window.

Finally, Bush asserted a "doctrine" that promotion of democracy in Islamic countries is a necessary defense against the spread of jihadist terrorism.

All these policies have been pieced together ad hoc by Bush. In evoking one Bush "doctrine," Gibson was trying to be very timely, perhaps hoping to test the Republican vice presidential nominee. He wanted to know if she, as John McCain and Barack Obama do, supports the recent US attacks on Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan without that country's approval.

Here, Ms. Palin was less the hawk as she offered a nuanced answer that Gibson apparently didn't like. She said she would work with US-friendly countries like Pakistan so military strikes would be a last option.

The problem is that Pakistan is not as committed as the US to ousting militants on its border. It may prefer to keep some Taliban in reserve for Pakistan's historic struggle with India for influence in Afghanistan. That's a problem for the US and may have led Palin to say she would "do whatever it takes."

Her statement may also simply reflect the campaign competition to appear tough on national security, especially to biased voters who wonder if a woman can be an able commander in chief.

Candidates must be more careful with what they say during the heat of a campaign. Once in office, they may regret having taken a position as extreme as those of a US enemy.

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The Palin Doctrine

Sarah Palin Parody - Saturday Night Live

Who's Sarah Palin?

FactCheck.org: Energetically Wrong

FactCheck.org: Energetically Wrong
Palin says Alaska supplies 20 percent of U.S. energy.
Not true. Not even close.
September 12, 2008

Summary

Palin claims Alaska "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." That's not true.

Alaska did produce 14 percent of all the oil from U.S. wells last year, but that's a far cry from all the "energy" produced in the U.S.

Alaska's share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent, according to the official figures kept by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

And if by "supply" Palin meant all the energy consumed in the U.S., and not just produced here, then Alaska's production accounted for only 2.4 percent.

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Energetically Wrong

Palin cut own duties as mayor of Wasilla

Palin cut own duties as mayor of Wasilla
By Alec MacGillis Washington Post
September 14, 2008

WASILLA, Alaska - On Sept. 24, 2001, Mayor Sarah Palin and the City Council held their first meeting after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The council condemned the attacks and approved a $5,000 gift to a disaster relief fund. Palin said she would try to obtain materials from both attack sites to include in the town's "Honor Garden."

And then the council and mayor returned to their normal business: approving funds to upgrade the public well, issuing a restaurant permit and taking up a measure forbidding residents from operating bed-and-breakfasts in their homes. After a lively debate, the bed-and-breakfast measure lost, 4 to 1.

Since joining the Republican ticket, Palin has faced questions about whether she is qualified to be vice president or, if necessary, president. In response, the first-term Alaska governor and Sen. John McCain point to the executive qualifications she acquired as Wasilla mayor, a six-year stint from 1996 to 2002 that represents the bulk of her political experience...

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Palin cut own duties as mayor of Wasilla