Republican Hypocrisy at its Finest

For anyone following the Republican "defense" of McCain's ridiculous pick of the unknown (even to him), utterly inexperienced, ultra-right wing, under-educated, hockey mom for Vice President, it is a study in complete and utter hypocrisy. Consider the evidence presented quite nicely by John Stewart:

The Greatest Political Scandal Ever?

This morning, my dear colleague, Mr. Adams, passed on the following column in yesterday's Philadelphia Daily News - http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/27755734.html - in which Howard Gensler laid out the intriguing case that Bristol Palin might actually be the mother of Trig Palin (as opposed to Bristol's mom - Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin). In passing along the column, Mr. Adams quipped that, if true, this would be the greatest political scandal ever. While I agree that, if true, Bristol-gate would be among the greatest political scandals ever, I wonder it if could even crack my informal top 12 that I thought of while trudging into work. What do you think?

No. 12: The Congressional page sex scandal of 1983. where Congressman Gerry Studds (no pun intended) admitted to having had sexual relationship with a young male page.

No. 11: The Resignation of Nixon Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973. Forget Vice Presidential nominees, in this scandal, a sitting Vice President was convicted of crimes stemming from his acceptance of bribes while Governor of Maryland and Vice President and was forced to resign.

No. 10: Abscam. Remember that one folks? In Abscam, U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams (D. NJ) and five members of congress were convicted of taking bribes from an undercover operative posing as a representative of some Arab sheikh.

No. 9: The Impeachment of President Johnson. While this took place fifty years after Mr. Adams' death (and over 140 years ago), it is notable that but for a mere one vote in the U.S. Senate, President Johnson would have been the only President declared guilty after having been impeached by the House.

No. 8: The Teapot Dome Scandal of 1923. While this sounds like small potatoes today, in 1923 this was BIG news. In the scandal, the Secretary of the Interior was convicted for taking kickbacks in secretly leasing a government oil field to a private individual.

No. 7: The Keating Five. Who can forget this one which involved Presidential candidate John McCain himself? You remember, in this scandal, a group of five Senators were accused of using improper influence to interfere with an investigation into a failed Savings and Loan. While Sen. Alan Cranston and two others were found to have acted improperly, Teflon McCain was simply found to have exercised "bad judgment." Sound familiar?

No. 6: McCarthyism. While not a "scandal" per se, McCarthy's witch hunts were certainly scandalous and deserve a spot in this list.

No. 5: Burr v. Hamilton. This one really should top the list, but is No. 5 only because it happened 200 years ago. In this one, the sitting Vice President of the U.S., Aaron Burr, shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, a founding father and former Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington, in a duel! Burr was later acquitted of murder charges and later charges of treason (stemming from a later land grab involving the Louisiana Purchase and other misdeeds in Mexico). Burr is also rumoured to be the illegitimate father of President Martin Van Buren! Talk about Teflon!

No. 4: Chappaquiddick. Surely Sen. Teddy Kennedy's complicity in the drowning death of his "secretary" Mary Jo Kopechne would trump a cover up the true maternity of Tripp Palin?

No. 3: Iran Contra. Who can forget this one? The old arms for hostages scandal in which front man Oliver North had convenient memory issues and in which "W"'s father shielded Reagan from exposure. Methinks the son would of dimed out the Old Man.

No. 2: Clinton - Lewinsky. We all know the story. Married President meets homely intern, gets her to play with his cigar, commits perjury by lying about it under oath, nearly gets convicted following impeachment, does get disbarred, but manages to increase his approval ratings in the process. Talk about a slick move, Willy.

No. 1: Watergate. The winner and still champion. Nuff said.

Never Underestimate the Stupidity of Americans

Some wise man once said that "No one has ever gone broke by underestimating the stupidity of the masses." Those are words that John McCain must live by as evidenced by his absurd pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate. When the pick was announced - as no fan of McCain - I was gleeful. By making that pick, I thought he had sealed his fate - he had gifted the election to Obama. After all, she is a nobody, from the middle of nowhere, with no national political experience, with limited education, with no advanced degree, with no professional work experience, and hails from a "state" that is closer to the Arctic Circle and Siberia than it is to mainland America. Heck, McCain doesn't even know really this woman, having apparently only met her twice before making the most important decision of the campaign (we lawyers call that grossly reckless conduct). And most importantly, I was sure that American women would be insulted by this pick, transparently aimed to fill the void caused by Hillary Clinton's exit from the race.

Well, it seems that I might have been wrong again (after all I thought Al Gore trounced "W" in every debate) and that McCain might have been right not to overestimate the intelligence and sensibilities of American women. You see, folks, this weekend I was confronted by three otherwise intelligent, college-educated women who liked McCain's pick - or at least were prepared to defend it. Two were smarting by Obama's decision to exclude Hillary (and her baggage) from the ticket. Another thought that her presence on the ticket would limit McCain's misogynistic tendencies (I kid you not). And all three said that Palin is no less inexperienced as Barack Obama and Bill Clinton (when he first ran for President) - an idiotic thing to say. Let's see:

Bill Clinton was a six-term governor of Arkansas and chair of the National Board of governors. He went to Georgetown undergrad and Yale law school and spent some time at Oxford. He was very much involved in national politics for years before he ran for President.

Barack Obama went to Columbia undergrad and was President of Harvard Law Review. He served over seven years in the Illinois Senate (the 5th largest state), taught constitutional law at University of Chicago Law School for 12 years, and has been a US Senator for the past 4 years - not to mention being a best selling author.

In contrast, Sarah Palin was runner up in the Ms. Alaska pageant and parleyed that success into a semester Hawaii Pacific College, a year at North Idaho College, and then ultimately a communication's degree at the prestigious University of Idaho. She then worked as fisherman with her husband before hitting the the big time with two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska (a town of 7,000) town council, followed by two terms as its Mayor (her mother-in-law lost in a bid to hold onto that job). And for the past 18 months she has served as governor of Alaska (population - 600,000) whose total population would scarcely put it among the top 20 U.S. cities, juggernauts such as Columbus, OH, Fort Worth, TX, San Jose, CA, and Jacksonville, FL surpass it in the population department. In other words, Palin has no advanced degree, never worked in a professional capacity, has never worked or appeared on the national political stage, and, shockingly, doesn't even know what the Vice President of the United States does:

And perhaps most importantly of all, she sounds like she fell out of the cast of the movie Fargo. Can you imagine being forced to endure that accent for four years?