Do Facts Matter?

Here's an AP article on the fact that both campaigns tend to stretch the truth in places.

If we, as a country, could agree on the facts of a situation then we probably still wouldn't agree on how to address that situation, but we could at least understand the other side's point of view.

As it is we just think the other side is crazy, because they actually believe what they've been told by their media.

I don't know how to fix this. I don't want a single media entity deciding what is and isn't true, but having divergent media outlets appears to have resulted in divergent views of reality.

Does anyone out there have a suggestion? How can we find out what's true?

It seems like organizations like FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting - are good in theory, but I look at their site and it seems to be more critical of McCain than of Obama.

Is this because McCain's campaign is more worthy of criticism? Or is FAIR biased?

FAIR watches the watchmen, but who makes sure FAIR is fair?

Where's Hillary?

Well, as many of you may have noticed I have become more vocal, politically. This started with my original post on Palin - in which I was impressed by how she appeared to have been created for her role as vice-presidential candidate this year. More (and more accurate) information on Palin came out at the same time that some very baffling rumor-mongering was going on. I posted on these things separately. My post about the rumors was, possibly, just more rumor-mongering. My post on the Bridge to Nowhere was more clear, I hope. Admittedly, I compared her unfavorably to Dick Cheney in that one...

What's interesting is that Google Ads, looking at my content, seemed to think that my blog was frequented by McCain-Palin supporters (if my family reads this blog then possibly it is...) and several ads for their campaign then appeared.

So I wrote an Obama article. It appears to have balanced back out a bit.

The presidential election is certainly the topic of greatest interest to me just now, although Wall Street's current melt-down is a close second.

These topics will run together, eventually, I am certain.

For now, though, I'm an Obama-supporter on the sidelines, having lots of Kerry flashbacks.

And today I found myself thinking: Where's Hillary?

Who could best respond to Palin's attacks on Obama? Who could best reach out to women voters and say "A vote for Palin is a vote against everything I believe," ?

So where is she? Does she actually care about the country? Or is she going to sit this out, let McCain have his turn, and then wait for 2012?

And for that matter, where's Biden? Why is a man famous for running his mouth off failing to do so at this critical juncture?

The Obama campaign is going on the attack. And they're attacking McCain, which is appropriate, as he's the other person running for president. The attacks are still high-road, which I appreciate on some fundamental level.

But shouldn't we be seeing more surrogates? Why aren't we?

McCain’s Katrina, or maybe McCain's Eagleton

The Sarah Palin saga continues, and it’s riveting. I find myself flipping between the news channels for the latest, just as I did in 2005 watching Katrina unfold. I also find myself wishing the news media would go ahead and declare the Gustav story over and done so they can devote themselves completely to all things Sarah Palin.

But of course the Gustav story is not completely over. Evacuees from New Orleans have been ordered to stay away for now, although Mayor Nagin promises they are just days – not weeks – away from returning. Gustav did cause a lot of damage, and it will take some time to see if New Orleans will survive, even though it was spared the full brunt of Gustav’s fury.

But I want my Sarah Palin! And my wish will be granted, it appears. It appears that there are at least a couple different things going on with Sarah and her family. One of them is fairly straightforward. One of them isn’t.

What’s straightforward is that Sarah’s daughter Bristol is pregnant. In a manner reminiscent of an earlier time, Bristol has been living with an aunt in Anchorage, and attending high school there.

This is a family matter and does not directly belong in the electoral spotlight.

What does belong in the electoral spotlight: Sarah Palin supports abstinence-only education programs. What are the facts regarding abstinence-only education? Does it work, as measured by number of pregnant teens or lack thereof? This is something I would love to see the media run with. I’d love to see the facts regarding abstinence-only education presented coherently to the American people.

Meanwhile, there’s something else going on with the Palins, something less straightforward. And it’s leading to rumors. Those rumors have led to the press release regarding Bristol’s pregnancy. Whenever the rumors are mentioned in the press they are attributed to “liberal blogs” but seldom are more specifics given.

The Daily Kos is an Obama-supporting unapologetically liberal blog. I’ve not had occasion to read it prior to yesterday, although I’ve been aware of it.

Check that. According to my browser history I have read a few stories on the DailyKos before:

• One is questioning the notion that Obama’s supposed liberalism is a negative.
• Another is about FISA legislation, and then I’ve read an additional comment lamenting Obama’s vote for the FISA legislation. (Obama voted for a version of the FISA bill that gave telecom companies immunity from prosecution for helping the government spy on American citizens, even though he had previously threatened to filibuster any such bill.)
• Yet another Kos URL in my browser is about the fact that electing democrats to congress in 2006 had not had much of an effect on the direction in which the country was going in 2007.

My point is that I’ve been aware of the Daily Kos, and have generally approved of its editorial stance (if the word editorial stance can be applied to a largely self-regulating collection of bloggers) until yesterday.

The Daily Kos appears to have taken note of a number of oddities concerning Sarah Palin’s delivery of her son Trig. The Daily Kos has then come to the bewildering conclusion that the child is not Sarah’s, but is Bristol’s.

That being said, what editorial control there is at the Daily Kos appears to have exerted itself. I cannot find today the Daily Kos column that I read last night, which had insisted that these oddities / facts add up to one inescapable conclusion.

Another rumor-mongering blogger – I don’t know if he’s liberal or not – that seems to be fanning the flames is Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic.

I don’t agree with the rumors, but something strange is going on. Here are the oddities:

• When Sarah Palin announced her pregnancy in March, and stated her pregnancy was 7 months along, she didn’t look pregnant.
• Sarah Palin began leaking amniotic fluid in Dallas at approximately 4AM Central Time on the 17th of April. That is at about 1AM in Anchorage.
• After consulting by phone with her doctor in Alaska, Palin stayed in Dallas just long enough to give a keynote luncheon address.
• She flew by commercial airline to Anchorage, Alaska, with a stop in Seattle. She arrived in Anchorage at 10:30 PM local time.
• Once in Alaska her husband drove her an additional hour to their hometown medical center in Wasilla. What’s odd about this is that Anchorage hospitals are better equipped for a premature birth than the one in Wasilla. That being said, Wasilla is still counted as part of the Anchorage statistical area.
• Her family doctor – the same one who delivered her fourth child, Piper – delivered Trig at 6:30 AM on Friday the 18th of April. The doctor, incidentally, is a founder of the Sexual Assault Response Team in the Wasilla area, and also a co-founder of The Children's Place in Wasilla. Basically, the doctor is active in the area of preventing and treating child abuse and neglect.

It seems to me that the Occam’s Razor explanation of events is simple: Sarah and Todd Palin really wanted their child born in Alaska, and delivered by their family doctor. In support of this simple theory, Todd Palin has been quoted as saying "You can't have a fish picker from Texas."

There is some question of Sarah Palin’s decision making (1) in giving the keynote address in the Dallas area after her amniotic fluid began to “leak”, and (2) in flying while over 7 months pregnant and possibly in labor. Evidently it is somewhat unusual for a woman more than 7 months pregnant to fly, because of the pressure changes encountered when flying.

Maybe it's simple. Maybe it's not. Either way something a little weird is going on, and it appears that it will impact the presidential race.

Also impacting the race will be Sarah Palin's membership in a group of Alaskan Secessionists.

It looks like Sarah is going to be McCain's Katrina. If not, perhaps she'll be his Eagleton.

The Divine Sarah

No, not Sarah Bernhardt. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and McCain’s pick for VP.

Her Wikipedia entry is largely sourced by a biography of her that was just published on April 1^st of this year - Sarah: How a Small Town Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment on Its Ear. Wikipedia lists the title as "Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down"

Whether she’s a Hockey Mom or a Small Town Mom or Both doesn’t really matter, but it serves as a nice reminder always to check and to double-check the wikipedia sources on anything you’re researching.

I mention this because the Wikipedia article depicts her as being everything for which the current conservative movement could ask. I'm skeptical of her perfection. Her bio couldn't be better written by Hollywood.

In high school (and possibly prior to high school) she would sometimes get up at 3AM to go moose-hunting with her father before school. She was the head of her school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and would lead the team in prayer before games. The prayers paid off, as she helped win the state champion in 1982 with a critical free-throw in the last few seconds. Oh, and she had a stress fracture in her ankle at the time.

She married her high school sweetheart. They have 5 children. The eldest is deploying to Iraq next month.

As mayor of her town of Wasilla, Alaska she kept her campaign promises, reducing her own salary and reducing property taxes by 60%.

She’s a lifetime member of the NRA. She also ice fishes, snowmobiles, and owns a float plane. She likes to eat mooseburgers.

She was elected governor after making a name for herself as a whistleblower, helping to expose corruption within the Republican party, which appears to be rampant in Alaska.

Wikipedia starts citing other sources when detailing her accomplishments as Governor, including AP, CNN, and other reputable news sources. As governor:

• She brought an end to the “Bridge To Nowhere” project. (I didn’t know it had been called off, but CNN reported it dead nearly a year ago.)
• She sold a jet her predecessor had bought with state money.
• She increased taxes on oil company profits, and is planning to give money back to the Alaskan people to offset high energy costs.
• She cut spending massively from the state budget in 2007, vetoing 13 percent of the state's proposed budget for capital projects.
• She has encouraged development of Alaska’s natural resources, while insisting on strict compliance with state requirements. Through her Alaska Gasline Inducement Act she has eliminated the typical oil companies (BP, Conoco, Exxon Mobil) from the field of applicants to build a natural gas pipeline,
• She gave birth to her fifth child, returning to work 3 days later.

I’m not going to vote for McCain, regardless of his selection for Veep, but this is the best choice he could possibly have made to woo some of the die-hard Hillary fans. She looks too good to be true.

If Palin was running for president against Hillary, I would probably vote Palin.

It's Obama versus McCain, though, and I'm voting Obama.

Update: Yes, Palin is under investigation, but what Republican in Alaska isn't? Still, she's just not a team player. Her investigation is nothing like the others.

The corruption investigations in Alaska are mostly about people getting kickbacks from oil companies. Palin is not being investigated for this or any kind of inappropriate financial or material benefit of her office. Palin is being investigated for firing her Public Safety Commissioner. The allegation is that she did so because the commissioner wouldn't fire a state trooper married to Palin’s sister.

The trooper in question has been found guilty of, among other things, tasering his own stepson.

This action – firing the middleman – fits her pattern. She did a very similar thing when dealing with the state Creamery Board.

That being said, if she is ultimately behind the commissioner’s firing then she’s handling it really well. She’s co-operating with the independent investigator, releasing information without being forced to by subpoena, and generally looks like she’s going to come out of the whole things smelling like a rose.