The Umbrage to Nowhere.

So Senators Obama and Biden supported the "bridge to nowhere" in the where/where it costs the taxpayers: The U.S. Senate. But who should've stopped them? Why, that person they dismiss as a small town mayor.

While running for chief executive [Govenor of Alaska], Palin backed the bridge, although with little evident enthusiasm. “The money that’s been appropriated for the project,” she told Ketchikan voters in September 2006, “it should remain available for a link, an access process as we continue to evaluate the scope and just how best to just get this done.”

A link? A link may be a bridge or it may be something like this -- a link to the above quote. But where the support counts -- in the state budget -- she found the bridge did not fit the state's priorities. They now have a different sort of link -- a ferry.

But what I love is the assumption that Senators are not responsible for what the Senate spends. When they offer hundreds of millions of dollars to governors, it is up to the governors to do the responsible thing and refuse. This is like adults (or what passes for them in the Capitol) constantly offering candy to children and blaming the children for taking it. I don't want treat the state governments like children -- the national press corps does that already (my chief objection to their Katrina coverage was their refusal to hold state and local officials in Louisiana accountable for their many screw-ups)-- but you can count on politicians to act in the predictable manner. It is up to Senators from other states to stop this nonsense -- not vote for the pork and blame someone else.

Apparently, being a Senator is like being a small town mayor except you're not responsible for anything.

Why the Long Face, Loh

All the candidates' children -- save you-know-whose -- went to private schools, writes Sandra Tsing Loh:

And yes, I know I appear to be ranting on like a pit bull without lipstick, which brings me to the final nail in the coffin in this sorry election year. As a Democrat I am horrified that Sarah Palin is the one who snagged the deeply profound — and absolutely ignored by professional smart people — emotional real estate of “P.T.A. mother.” I too am, in fact, not just “my kids’ mom” but their Title I Los Angeles public school P.T.A. secretary. This unheard female howl is, for better or worse, what Ms. Palin has set out to tap into; it is real, and I am sick that we’ve let the Republicans charge this ground.

Sarah Palin’s children went to what looks like a humble little public school: Iditarod Elementary on Wasilla Fishhook Road. The school’s score on www.greatschools.net is a 4. That’s a lot of street cred, for a gun-totin’, snow-mobilin’ creationist-lovin’ lady.

Oh, I’m such a depressed, Democrat P.T.A. mother.

It's The Party of Education, Not Learning. Interestingly, the schools in my town were more "diverse" before the social engineers took over. And they used to teach reading and writing, too.

Obama-Palin Smack down

I stopped watching the evening news after their Katrina coverage, which I found self serving and incompetent and deserving of every meaningless award the networks gave each other. But I won't go into that now. Suffice to say I haven't watched in a long time.

Yesterday a friend and Hillary supporter told me ABC's Charlie Gibson would be interviewing Gov. Palin. I actually like Gibson (and the other anchors) I just don't trust him (or them). In any case, I turned into the Nightly News to find out when that interview might be. That's when I saw Sen. Obama make that "putting Lipstick on a pig" comment. Now, I did not think they showed the comment because they thought it was a moldy old cliche that no one would associate with Sarah Palin. They do not pick their sound bites on the basis of how cliched and boring they are -- unless it is a Republican making them.

Then tonight they reported on the controversy that grew out of the story -- and Sen. Obama's indignant reaction -- as if it was a moldy old cliche that no reasonable person would associate with Sarah Palin. Except that many in the audience cheered because they did. It was good to see how Sen. Obama soldiered on through the hysterical response of his listeners. Apparently every cliche he utters is greeted with hoots and hollers. I wonder if Sen. Obama has the feeling his attacks on Gov. Palin have been counterproductive? Perhaps his intention is to build up the audience for her interview, hoping ABC will do the right thing by her -- or rather to her. I wouldn't count on it. They may be in the process of changing sides (why go down with Barack's barge?).

Well, I hope I remember to tune in to see the first portion of the Palin interview. I feel I've already had my fill of the network news these last two nights.

The day after Gov. Palin's pick -- all of, what, two weeks ago --my Democrat friend was hitting the Palin family issues, the Governor's lack of experience, and the "investigations" of her in Alaska. After Gov. Palin's excellent convention speech, she was a bit subdued but said, "What can a VP really do?" Yesterday she talked about Palin's opposing abortion in cases of incest and rape. And her general religious beliefs. The Democrats attacks are constantly shifting. It reminds me of that bridge to nowhere Bill Clinton built.

Oh, Barry, Oh!

I think Glenn Reynolds has a good rundown on Barry cracking that "You can put Lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig." The crowd assumed he was talking about Sarah "Piglette" Palin. I think they were meant to think that. I saw video of "the crack" on one of the Network News shows so even they thought we'd think what they thought the crowd thought. And they were right!

Here's a possible ad: I saw a clip of Barry referring to Gov. Palin as a Caribou hunter or some such -- in humorous manner. He also referred to Sen. Clinton as acting like she's "Annie Oakley" (during the Pa. primary, I believe). There were other "humoress" references to Senator Clinton. End with the Piglette gaffe. He's funny. You laughing?

The post below deals with Juan Cole making a Lipstick allusion. So it is well established "code."

Wan Salon

At RealClearPolitics I read the headline for a Salon piece by Juan Cole: "Palin, Muslim Fundamentalists are one and the Same." And I felt such relief. I was afraid they wouldn't like her.

Following the link, I saw the actual headline: "What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick ." Not a very original line, Juan. I guess female Muslim fundamentalists are not allowed to wear make-up. That would make sense, I suppose, wearing veils in public and all. Surprising what you learn on the web. I think Juan Cole is an expert in this stuff. We need more of them. Will we get more of them if Senator Obama wins? Yes! And they will have real power, too.

Only the "I" can reinvent himself...

...not the you.

"You can't just make stuff up, you can't just reinvent yourself," he said earlier in Flint, Michigan, in response to Palin's boast that she had intervened to kill the federally funded bridge.

Let's see. In a desperate move to create a record, Sen. Obama gets his name attached to legislation so uncontroversial it passes by a unanimous voice vote -- and then paints it as a "Profile in Courage." He may not have invented "reinventing himself," but he sure has reinvented it.

Now we learn from the AFP that Sen Obama claims McCain-Palin are 'lying' about their "maverick claims." Strong words from a mighty orator.

If that wasn't bad enough, he went on to accuse the boastful Sarah Palin (the AFP's description) and audience seducing Sarah Palin (the AP) of being a great Mayor by snagging millions of Federal dollars for projects in her town. I mean, what's she suppose to do? Send the money to Chicago? I guess this is a stab at the Liberal's favorite charge: hypocrisy. How can you be against earmarks if you in some way benefited from them? But she simply played the game by the established rules until the rules can be changed. (I gather Sen. McCain never accepted an earmark, so it would be hard to attack him.)

Apparently Sen. Obama always voted for Alaska's famed "bridge to nowhere" when it came up on the Pork List. So Gov. Palin can brag -- or boast, if you prefer -- that she turned against it before he did. Sen. Obama is right: you can't just make this stuff up.

UPDATE: Anyone who works in a practical way knows that as you work in a practical way you will spot the impracticalities. When you have responsibilities and as you work responsibly, you more clearly see the irresponsible. The key is not to become impractical and irresponsible yourself, but to work with what you got while seeking improvements. In Sen. Obama case, was he ever really successful at improving things in Chicago when he worked with his leftist friends? By his own admission, pretty much not (and then there is that murder rate). During his association with the Chicago "machine" his behavior is best described as "get along by going along."

The Eight Hundred Word Answer is "Yes"

Discussing Gov. Palin's record, the Washington Post writes:

People are still buzzing about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. But while her style has been minutely analyzed, very little commentary has focused on one of the few substantive claims she made about her brief tenure as governor of Alaska: that she "fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history . . . a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence." Is Ms. Palin right about the importance of the pipeline and her role in moving it forward?

They beat around the bush a bit, but over all they give a favorable assessment of her performance.

The oil companies flared off gas on the North Slope for thirty years while multiple layers of Government squabbled amongst themselves and with Industry about a pipeline. Meanwhile, environmental groups and their lawsuits raised the hurdles high. Gov. Palin broke the logjam and got it rolling.

Of course the WP has to end a positive assessment with a snark remark: "Perhaps her Democratic opponent for the governorship in 2006, who campaigned on similar ideas, would have achieved these results. Nevertheless, Ms. Palin actually did." Perhaps in four years they can voice a similar lament about the Obama/Biden ticket. "The Democrats campaigned on World Peace and ending poverty. Nevertheless..."