Will Sarah Palin jump the shark before or after the presidential election?
A poor job of preparation blunts Palin’s ability to save the McCain campaign
The job of preparing Sarah Palin to face the media was done poorly. The campaign held off the press for several weeks. This gave the Governor a chance to cram for her debut but it also let the press set an ambush. I don’t know what was done in the period between Sarah Palin’s introduction to the country at the Republican convention and her first interview but it was not effective. Mrs. Palin didn’t let her inner bulldog out. Instead, the press went on an offensive to prove she is not qualified for the office she is seeking.
The bad news is one of these guys is going to win
Reviewing the first presidential debate of 2008
Well the first debate of the 2008 presidential election is in the books. One thing that we can look at as a positive is the fact that informed citizens with sensible ideas are not possessed of the megalomania required to endure a presidential run. Both campaigns are claiming victory after the candidates spent almost two hours talking in circles. Your humble scribe scored this one a decisive defeat for both candidates. McCain seemed to employ a high risk strategy of giving his answers in hard to interpret generalities. Obama countered with the unconventional tactic of responding to McCain’s questionable ideas with eloquent, decisive, egg headed nonsense. One would think that a prudent strategy would be to offer ideas that have a better chance of succeeding than those offered by McCain but you have to hand it to the young Senator from Illinois for this bold strategy.
Fine Charlie
The IRS should demand interest and penalties from Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel.
If you owned a condominium unit in a foreign country and earned income by renting it out and if you didn’t have your employer withhold enough money for taxes or make adequate quarterly payments, you probably owed a tax penalty. That is unless you were the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee responsible for writing US tax law. It seems that paying interest and penalties is optional if you have been in the House since 1970.