Health wealth and...and...I forget what the other one is...

Welcome to a very special health care edition of ME's Political Rant.

So, this is how I know that it's time for a political rant -- when I'm standing in front of the TV SCREAMING at CNN and the monologue goes something like this, "What the $^&*!!^% are you talking about, you &*$$*%! ?/&*!%^!&*!! Why don't you ask that ??%!@&^&%@ #$ &*&^ %^$! what he'd do if his OWN !?#$%&# daughter were #&*^!#%^*$ sick and he didn't have his &^%?!$% precious Congressional health care ???? Are you a MORON????"

Now, far be it from me to take a reductionist view of a complex and byzantine issue, but can I just point out that nobody is getting ANYwhere right now? The truth is that I've had a hankering to put out a rant for a while, but now my blood pressure is up, my throat is sore from yelling at FOX news idiocy and yesterday I almost put my middle finger through the TV screen. Clearly, the time has come.

There's a lot to cover here, but I'm gonna put this right at the top. You wanna know what's in H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, or the Health Care Reform bill? Here it is, in its 1018-page glory. Yes, that sounds like a lot, but consider that it's 80 pages shorter than Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (paperback edition) and it's double-spaced and in a larger font.

So the beauty of the Internet is that you can find anything you want if you just look long enough. As this bill wends its way through committees it obviously gets revised, and you can track the changes on Govtrack.org.

A Little Bird Told Me....

I think there should be a new rule: you may not be on TV, you may not be quoted, you do not get to talk about health care, if you are going to use the phrase "I've heard that..." as in "I've heard that grandma will be called up in front of death panels under this health plan....I've heard that kids under the age of 21 with bad acne and frizzy hair will be sterilized under this health plan...I've heard that Barack Obama wants to recycle old people into Soylent Wafers under this health plan."

The "I've heard that" impulse-- which I readily admit is hard to fight-- accounts for so much of the hysteria out there, like this frustrating email that you may have seen around the net:

On Page 425 of Obama's health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes... They are going to push SUICIDE to cut Medicare spending!!! And no, I am NOT KIDDING YOU! So those of you who voted for Obama have now put yourself and your own parents in dire straights... Congratulations!

If you check on the famous page 425, you can read for yourself what it says about Medicare paying for-- not forcing people to talk about -- a consultation about end of life care with a doctor. Anyone can read it for themselves.

If you're like me (or like Jon Stewart) you howled when there appeared to be hedging on the idea of a public option ( a government -run insurance plan similar to Medicare). I think it was all a ploy to get the rest of us SOOO riled up at the prospect of the public option being taken off the table that we'd get on the horn, and so here I am, on the horn to you, my friends. (Jeez, I sound like John McCain.) I'm sending out this rant with some special resources on who and how to contact in Congress, so please feel free to pass it on through the same channels we used last year at this very time...

Should there be health care for crazy people?

Wow, I guess in principle I'm for mental health coverage in this reform bill, but there are obviously a lot of Crazy People (Sarah Palin) out there barking at the wind (Sarah Palin). People (Sarah Palin) who really need to schedule those 20 visits with a mental health professional.

Yes, I'm talking about Sarah Palin's Death Panel fiesta. By the way, in case you missed it, it was conservative Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) who put the so called "death panel" clause into the health care lottery. His comment on Palin's Death Panel crack? "How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. You’re putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don’t know how that got so mixed up."

Not content with dissing that bastion of socialism, Canada, the misinformation storm has now swept up Britain too. To the point that they're finally hitting back, after watching their NHS system pilloried in the news, e.g. "Oh God, Americans would NEVER want SOCIALIZED medicine disaster like that SOCIALIST REGIME in BRITAIN forces on its people. They would have KILLED someone like Stephen Hawking under a system like the British." Except that Stephen Hawking LIVES in BRITAIN -- and he's not dead. Yeah. Um... yeah. Says Hawking to The Guardian newspaper: "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS." Moving on.

(All figures are for 2007 except for Japan, which is for 2006)

The White House has a website rebutting some of the claims that drive me insane (How many times do you think Obama is going to have to say, "You will be able to keep your own health insurance if you like it"?) But you can also read the excellent Consumer Reports Health Reform blog for up to date and well-researched information -- one of the better reads out there. It's part of their larger website covering Health Care reform, which has other good resources on it.

Consumers Union health policy analyst, Steven Findlay also had an editorial in USA Today back in June that laid out the basics with an historical persepctive pretty clearly. "Socialized medicine. Government-run health care. Rationing. Bureaucrats in charge. "Cookbook" medicine. Waiting lines. It'll break the bank. Welcome to the health care debate 2009. Sound familiar? These notions aim to instill fear. And once again, they bear no more relation to the reality of what is being debated in Washington than was the case when the Clintons had a go at health reform in the 1990s. Don't be misled this time. In fact, far more bipartisan agreement exists on many core elements of reform than you might think... What would be new is that people who don't have access to such coverage (and some who do) would be able to get coverage through insurance "exchanges." They'd be able to choose from a batch of private plans and policies that would have to accept all comers, offer comprehensive coverage, and be barred from "cherry-picking" only healthy people."

Has anyone else noticed that in fact, under he current system, someone-else-who-is-not-you is already making the decisions for us? When your employer gives you a "choice" of either a low-budget, it-would-be-great-if-you-never-get-sick coverage from Kaiser, or pay-through-the-nose-$800-a-month-Blue-Shield-PPO plan, you think you have choice? When insurance companies decide that they don't want to cover someone with a pre-exist, that they don't cover mental-health care, that they don't cover chiropractic, you think you have the power to make choices?

As Consumer Reports observes in their August 2009 issue,

Private health insurance already comes between you and your doctor. And because each company sets its own rules, it’s hard to imagine a more bureaucratic system. Some insurers decide which doctors you can see, which hospitals you can visit, and what drugs you can take and still be covered. And they may require copious paperwork before approving a treatment you and your doctor want. Health-care reform would standardize claim procedures to cut down on all of that. And it would protect you from other abuses, like being rejected for coverage or paying exorbitant premiums if you get sick.

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The LA Times' Noam Levey had a good summary of where everything got left as Congress went on break.

Where does the healthcare overhaul legislation stand?August 2, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- Amid a flurry of activity on healthcare legislation, the House left Friday for its monthlong summer recess. The Senate will take off at the end of this week. The break comes as Democratic leaders are working to cobble together complex healthcare bills to bring to the floors of each chamber for votes this fall.

Here is an update on where the debate stands in Washington:

Has Congress agreed on how to ensure that all Americans will be able get health insurance?
The two major bills that have cleared committees in the House and Senate would establish insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, through which individuals and small businesses could compare a variety of plans that meet basic standards to be established by the federal government. The exchanges would include private plans as well as a government insurance program, which advocates say would pressure commercial insurers to lower costs and improve quality. The government would provide subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people afford the insurance.

Does that mean there will be a government plan?
Not necessarily. The government plan faces opposition from some who fear it could ultimately drive private insurers out of business. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, which is charged with evaluating the effects of legislation, has projected that would not happen. But because Republicans and some centrist Democrats object to a government plan, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate Finance Committee is trying to develop an alternative. That might be a system of health insurance cooperatives owned by consumers.

Will these exchanges really control the cost of healthcare?
Not by themselves. The two major bills include other provisions designed to encourage Americans to be healthier, such as eliminating co-payments for some checkups and other preventive care. Many believe that will ultimately save money. The House bill also contains several pilot programs in Medicare to encourage hospitals and doctors to deliver care more efficiently. For example, one committee inserted a provision to reward programs that provide care to chronically ill senior citizens in their homes to prevent costly hospitalizations.

Will that be enough?
Many business groups, labor unions and others believe the legislation must put even stricter limits on Medicare spending to curb unnecessary and inefficient care. The head of the CBO also has testified that the bills do not do enough to slow the growth of healthcare spending. Senior Democrats have pledged to adjust the legislation to do that over the August break.

Would that mean that Congress won't raise taxes to pay for this healthcare overhaul?
That's still not clear. The House bill would assess a new surtax on individuals who make more than $280,000 and couples who make $350,000 a year to raise $544 billion to help offset the cost. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has indicated that she might move to raise those cutoffs to $500,000 and $1 million. In the Senate, where there is little support for a new income tax, lawmakers are talking about other proposals, including taxing some health benefits or assessing fees on insurance companies. Senior Democrats plan to work on those details over the summer.

==============================

Now, who do we need to call...

So here we are again -- are you up late at night scanning CNN and HuffPo? Are you railing at your TV? Are you seething with undirected rage? Here's my thought -- make up a little form letter that encapsulates how you feel and send it to members of Congress. Send a supportive email to the ones whose views you back, send an irate one to the members whose views make you mad. I don't care which is which, but get in there. Attached is a handy list (in Excel Format) with names, phone and fax numbers and email links -- feel free to use it liberally... Thanks to the visi.com site which keeps this sort of thing updated regularly.

The Roll Call of Shame (please feel free to call, fax or email your rants to these guys, click on his or her name to go to a link to email them directly.)

• Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): “If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” "We're about where Germany was before World War II where they became a social democracy."
• Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): "I don't know for sure, but I've heard several senators say that Ted Kennedy with a brain tumour, being 77 years old as opposed to being 37 years old, if he were in England, would not be treated for his disease, because end of life – when you get to be 77, your life is considered less valuable under those systems." Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
  
• Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ): Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.” "The Arizona senator rejected the suggestion that Republicans were to blame for any "scare campaigns" designed to derail healthcare, stating that the party instead is simply reflecting public sentiment."
• House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA): “If it is just another name for government takeover of our health care, I’m not going to be for that,” said on CBS’s “The Early Show.”
  
• Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), chair of the conservative House Republican Study Committee, “Patients should be wary of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
• Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of seven senators involved in Finance Committee negotiations, left the bipartisan talks. Hatch informed Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) Wednesday afternoon that he couldn't continue to particpate because there were too many aspects of the bill that he could not back, including the employer mandate, individual mandate, Medicaid expansion and tax increase...Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): George Stephanapolous reports, "Graham told me that the U.S. Senate will not "go down the government-run health care road" despite a new poll showing 72 percent of Americans want a government role in health care -- and are willing to pay higher taxes for it. "The reason you're not going to have a government run health care pass the Senate is because it would be devastating for this country," Graham told me Sunday in an exclusive "This Week" interview.
• Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.): Former big league pitcher Jim Bunning says he won't run for a third term as U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Bunning says his Republican colleagues have been doing "everything in their power" to dry up his fundraising. Bunning, who is 77, had a narrow win in 2004 and has been clashing with GOP leadership...Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
• Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho): Crapo sits on the Senate Finance Committee, whose members are instrumental in writing what is expected to be the dominant Senate version of the health care bill. Earlier this month, Crapo signed an op-ed in the Washington Post with 12 other senators calling for bipartisan solutions to the nation's health care crisis. He has expressed dissatisfaction with one of the current Senate bills, saying that it fails to provide affordable coverage for people who don't have it without affecting those who are happy with their existing coverage. Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
• Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.): opposes "rationed Health Care"...Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
• Sen. John Ensign(R-Nev.): Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, a leading conservative mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, admitted Tuesday he had an extramarital affair with a woman who was a member of his campaign staff....Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
• Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.): Congress should approach health care reform in steps, instead of trying to put together a comprehensive package...Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”
• Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas): Nine Republican senators are urging President Barack Obama to facilitate more inclusive reform of America’s health care system and say the creation of a public insurance option would “inevitably doom true competition.”

And now, Arf Arf: The so-called Blue Dogs (Contact these guys, they need to know how we all really feel!)


Who are these people and why are they doing this anyway? "So far this year, the Blue Dog Political Action Committee is on track to shatter all its fundraising records; in fact, the total for the first six months of 2009 — more than $1.1 million — is greater than what was raised in the entire 2003-04 fundraising cycle. Furthermore, according to analysis by the Center for Public Integrity of CQ MoneyLine data, the energy, financial services, and health care industries have accounted for nearly 54 percent of the Blue Dog PAC’s 2009 receipts (up from 45 percent in 2004). These contributions poured in as President Obama and the Democratic Congress have been making a major push to reform health care, develop a new energy policy, and restructure oversight of the banking sector. Clearly, these Dogs are having their day."

Any other questions on why the Blue Dogs are stalling health care reform?

Updates on what they were up to this week from the RollCall.com site. Are you represented by a Blue Dog? CALL him or her!!!

• Jason Altmire (PA-4)
• Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
• Joe Baca (CA-43)
• John Barrow (GA-12) voted against the health care reform bill last week in the Energy and Commerce Committee.
• Melissa Bean (IL-8)
• Marion Berry (AR-1)
• Sanford Bishop (GA-2)
• Dan Boren (OK-2) Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.) didn’t plan to hold town halls following a Congressional delegation trip, according to the Oklahoman, but he has now scheduled three meetings for Tuesday.
• Leonard Boswell (IA-3)
• Allen Boyd (FL-2) "I cannot support this bill in the version it is in now," he said. "We can do better. We can make it better."
• Bobby Bright (AL-2)
• Dennis Cardoza (CA-18) In California, almost 200 supporters and opponents of health care reform gathered outside the Modesto office of Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D) to demand a meeting with the lawmaker, the Modesto Bee reported.
• Christopher Carney (PA-10)
• Ben Chandler (KY-6) In Kentucky, some of Rep. Ben Chandler’s (D) constituents brought their complaints to a dummy likeness of the Congressman at a town hall in Lexington, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
• Travis Childers (MS-1)
• Jim Cooper (TN-5)
• Jim Costa (CA-20)
• Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
• Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3) one of the few Blue Dogs to meet publicly with her constituents this weekend. On Saturday, she tried to “to separate fact from fiction” in Sharon, Pa., according to the Herald in Mercer County. “I’ve read the bill and it does not in any way promote euthanasia,” she told them. “It gives you the ability to sit down with your doctor and talk about end-of-life issues such as will-writing and hospice care, and the doctor will be reimbursed. Before, they weren’t reimbursed for that.”
• Lincoln Davis (TN-4)
• Joe Donnelly (IN-2)
• Brad Ellsworth (IN-8)
• Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8) (AZ Daily Star editorial)I support reform that allows Americans to keep their current health-care program, keep their doctors and keep their hospitals. I support reform that creates competition through a strong public option that lowers everyone’s costs and competes with private insurers. I support reform that allows Arizonans who lose their jobs to afford insurance so they can get back on their feet without fear of getting sick. I support reform that will slow the growth of health-care costs and does not impose new taxes or burdens on our nation’s most valuable economic contributors, small businesses. I support reform that would allow this father to keep his insurance so his daughter and wife don’t have to go without proper care.
• Bart Gordon (TN-6) Overall, the typical Blue Dog has received $63,000 more in campaign than other House Democrats over the past two decades, according to the CRP analysis. The top three recipients were Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.), with $1.5 million, and Tennessee Reps. Bart Gordon and John Tanner, both of whom collected over $1.2 million from the industry and its employees, according to the data.
• Parker Griffith (AL-5)
• Jane Harman (CA-36)
• Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
• Baron Hill (IN-9), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
• Tim Holden (PA-17)
• Frank Kratovil (MD-1)
• Jim Marshall (GA-8)
• Jim Matheson (UT-2) voted against the health care reform bill last week in the Energy and Commerce Committee.
• Mike McIntyre (NC-7)
• Charlie Melancon (LA-3), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications, voted against the health care reform bill last week in the Energy and Commerce Committee.
• Mike Michaud (ME-2)
• Walt Minnick (ID-1) Blue Dogs are choosing to speak with constituents over the phone
• Dennis Moore (KS-3) Blue Dogs are choosing to speak with constituents over the phone
• Patrick Murphy (PA-8)
• Glenn Nye (VA-2) Blue Dogs are choosing to speak with constituents over the phone
• Collin Peterson (MN-7)
• Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL) Overall, the typical Blue Dog has received $63,000 more in campaign than other House Democrats over the past two decades, according to the CRP analysis. The top three recipients were Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.), with $1.5 million, and Tennessee Reps. Bart Gordon and John Tanner, both of whom collected over $1.2 million from the industry and its employees, according to the data.
• Mike Ross (AR-4) "The committees' draft falls short," the former pharmacy owner said in a statement that day, citing, among other things, provisions that major health-care companies also strongly oppose. Five days later, Ross was the guest of honor at a special one of at least seven fundraisers for the Arkansas lawmaker held by health-care companies or their lobbyists this year, according to publicly available invitations.
• John Salazar (CO-3) There will be a hot time in the old town hall meetings when John Salazar returns to his district for the August recess. Traditionally a time for elected federal officials to touch base with constituents, public meetings this year will be dominated by health care reform. Like The Daily Sentinel as stated in their “Blue Dog Salazar quiet on health care reform” editorial, many voters would like these meetings to “give representatives a chance to learn what their constituents have been reading about the measure and allow for a give-and-take about political, medical and moral choices within the system we have now and any kind of reform that might take place.”
• Loretta Sanchez (CA-47)
• Adam Schiff (CA-29-Pasadena) During much of the time when Schiff and others spoke, there was yelling from crowd, with individuals calling Schiff a liar and demanding he be recalled. Supporters, meanwhile, repeatedly yelled at the opposition to quiet down. The panel Schiff assembled included a representative from Kaiser Permanente, a consumer advocate, and representatives from smaller health-care groups. All professed some level of support for a public health care option.
• David Scott (GA-13)
• Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip: addressed 24 questions in a call-in on Thursday night, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. He also answered two written questions at the Henderson County Democratic Party’s picnic on Saturday, the Times-News in Hendersonville noted.
• Zack Space (OH-18)
• John Tanner (TN-8) Overall, the typical Blue Dog has received $63,000 more in campaign than other House Democrats over the past two decades, according to the CRP analysis. The top three recipients were Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.), with $1.5 million, and Tennessee Reps. Bart Gordon and John Tanner, both of whom collected over $1.2 million from the industry and its employees, according to the data.
• Gene Taylor (MS-4)
• Mike Thompson (CA-1)
• Charlie Wilson (OH-6)

Fight the Good Fight!! (If you like what your Senators and Reps are doing, contact them too to tell them to to keep up the good work.)

• Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Nichols, a health-care economist with the New America Foundation, said he believed that Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the leading Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Republicans' most influential voice on health care, was the "linchpin." If he supports the cooperatives as proposed by Obama and Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus - the Finance Committee chair, with whom Grassley has been working for a bipartisan bill - criticism from the far right will lose much of its power and a bipartisan bill will likely pass, Nichols said.
• Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) In an effort to defuse the most explosive issue in the debate over comprehensive health care legislation, a top Senate Democrat has proposed that any new government-run insurance program comply with all the rules and standards that apply to private insurance.(May 2009)
  
• Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) an early supporter of health care, due to his own ailing health he hasn't been vocal in the debate.
  
• Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) Frank lashed out at protester who held a poster depicting President Barack Obama with a Hitler-style mustache during. "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked the woman, who had stepped up to the podium to ask why Frank supports what she called a Nazi policy. Frequently, Frank was interrupted by boos. A man in the back kept calling the congressman a "liar". Frank responded by saying "Disruption never helps your cause. It just looks like you're afraid of rational discussion."
• Sen Arlen Specter (D-PA) Specter also told reporters that he still favored the so-called "public option" for a national health care system, despite reports that the Obama administration might be shifting its support to some kind of "co-op" plan. Under the public option, the federal government would act an insurer for many Americans. Under the cooperative alternative, the government would fund start-ups of new types of coverage that could eventually function independently.
• Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., accused Republican leaders of trying to hinder bipartisan progress to deny Obama a political victory.

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Wanna see a Town Hall for yourself? Here's the updated list of upcoming events -- pull out that oak tag and staple gun that puppy to a stake, then head out and shake it in front of a CNN camera please...

And TOMORROW, Thursday, at 2:30 EDT (11:30 PDT) Obama will be hosting an online forum on the Health Care Reform proposal. Details are here as to how to watch online, or you can Twitter questions to @BarackObama (tag with #hc09).

Special bonus for you Palin watchers out there. Ahh, the good old days of the campaign....

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Sarah Palin Resigns

YouTube - Sarah Palin Resigns
How could I have forgotten to post this -- now a classic example of Palinista nonsense... What next? Reality show? Indictment? stay tuned....

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Palin, Fundraising Firm Part Ways

Campaign Solutions, a Republican consulting firm advising Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee, has parted ways with the former Republican vice presidential nominee.

The group had been working with the Palin operation to raise money for SarahPAC but decided to step aside after a series of strategic and philosophic differences, according to a source familiar with the decision.

Read more at The Fix.

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Republicans Disinvite Palin From Major Fundraiser, Trash Her In Private

heh.. heh....

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is out, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in as keynote speaker at a Republican dinner this spring.

Palin, the party's 2008 nominee for vice president, had been slated to address the annual Senate-House Dinner in Washington on June 8. The dinner, sponsored by the House and Senate Republican campaign committees, is one of the GOP's biggest fundraisers.

Palin will be replaced by Gingrich. Both are popular figures with the party's base.

A spokesman for the Senate GOP committee, Brian Walsh, said Palin's team informed the campaign committees that her responsibilities in Alaska prevented her from committing to the speech until the end of the legislative session.

Read more at Huffpo.

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Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston Split Up: CONFIRMED

Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, the teenage daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin, have broken off their engagement, he said Wednesday, about 2 1/2 months after the couple had a baby. Johnston, 19, told The Associated Press that he and 18-year-old Bristol Palin mutually decided 'a while ago' to end their relationship. He declined to elaborate as he stood outside his family's home in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage.

He also said some details of the breakup, rumors of which had been swirling on the Internet, were inaccurate.

Bristol Palin said in a statement that she was devastated about a report on Star magazine's Web site that quoted Levi's sister, Mercede, as saying Bristol 'makes it nearly impossible' to visit the teenagers' infant son, Tripp. The baby was born Dec. 27.

"Unfortunately, my family has seen many people say and do many things to `cash in' on the Palin name," said the statement, which was issued through the governor's political action committee. "Sometimes that greed clouds good judgment and the truth."

SarahPAC spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton did not immediately respond to calls seeking further information. The governor's spokesman, Bill McAllister, declined comment.

Sarah Palin revealed her daughter's pregnancy just days after being named John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket. She had said in December that her daughter and Johnston "are committed to accomplish what millions of other young parents have accomplished, to provide a loving and secure environment for their child."

In an interview that aired on Fox News last month, Bristol Palin said her fiance saw the baby every day and described him as a "hands-on" dad.

Read more at HuffPo.

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Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston Split?

i report. u decide.

According to Star magazine, Bristol Palin and her fiance Levi Johnston are no longer together.

(But raise your hand if you're truly surprised.)

Read more at HuffPo.

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Draft Palin Effort Begins In A Denny's In West Haven

Be afraid... not of Palin, but of the drafters...

First Gov. Sarah Palin Meet-up Held in West Haven, CT
The first meet up for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee was held Tuesday, March 10th at 6:30 pm in West Haven, CT at the local Denny's restaurant.

The event was covered by Abbe Smith of the New Haven Register. She was interested in the reasons why people were supporting Gov. Palin and took copious notes about our Commitee. A photographer was there, so we might expect a fairly detailed feature article. (will provide a link when available.)

Gov. Sarah Palin Meet-ups will be held in towns and colleges across the country the second Tuesday of every month. The next scheduled meet-up is Tuesday, April 14th.

The idea is for people of like interests to meet informally on the second Tuesday of each month. No official talks, or speeches. Just some coffee, a bite to eat and a chance to chat.

Look on the Meet-up Page for scheduled meet-ups in your state.

Thanks,
Paul Streitz

Read more at HuffPo.

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Katie Couric's Sarah Palin Interview Wins Cronkite Award

And well WELL-deserved!

Katie Couric has won a Cronkite Award for her revealing, multi-part interview of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The Cronkite Awards have been presented biannually by the USC Annenberg School for Communication, in honor of CBS News legend Walter Cronkite, since 2000.

Couric won her award in the category 'Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign.' In the awards announcement, judges called Couric's interview with Palin a 'defining moment in the 2008 presidential campaign,' and described it as 'extraordinary, persistent and detailed.'

Read more at HuffPo.

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That's what she said

Yeah, just reminding you... that's what she said.

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Palin 2012 Watch

I report, you decide, but remember that four years before the last election nobody knew who Barack Obama was, and everyone thought Hillary Clinton would be the front runner.

When asked who they would like to see running for president in 2012, Republicans cite familiar names from the 2008 presidential campaign season, topped by vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. This is according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll that provides a very early test of GOP voters' preferences.

Palin, the governor of Alaska, led with 29 percent among the 462 Republicans who responded to the poll taken Feb. 18-19. Palin built a sizable fan club on the Republican right as the party's surprise vice presidential pick with her effusive campaign style and strongly conservative views, though she committed several stumbles that raised serious doubts among many other voters.

More at CQ Politics's Poll Tracker.

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No regrets, but Bristol thinks teens should avoid pregnancy

Should you really have named your kid after Linda Tripp?

Bristol Palin, the unwed teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, recently became a mother, but says teenagers should avoid pregnancy.

But abstinence is 'not realistic at all,' the 18-year-old said in a two-part interview on Fox News Channel's 'On the Record.

Just days after the governor was named John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, Palin announced her daughter was pregnant. Bristol Palin gave birth Dec. 27 to a boy named Tripp.

More at the indispensable Anchorage Daily- adn.com.

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Palin to pay tax on past per diem

Yah-huh.

Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials.

The governor's office wouldn't say this week how much she owes in back taxes for meal money, or whether she intends to continue to receive the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still charging the state for meals and incidentals.

'The amount of taxes owed is a private matter,' Sharon Leighow, Palin's spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. 'If the governor collects future per diem, those documents would be a matter of public record.'

Read more at Anchorage Daily-adn.com.

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Palin rails against 'anonymous, pathetic bloggers'

Dare I hope that this me...?

Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is still mad at media coverage of her candidacy, particularly 'anonymous, pathetic bloggers' who she says spread falsehoods about her...

In the interview, Palin, who rocketed to fame as John McCain's running mate in last year's election, reiterated her complaints about media coverage of the campaign. She said reporters continue to question whether her 9-month-old son, Trig, is actually the child of her 18-year old daughter Bristol from a secret previous pregnancy.

"I'll tell you, yesterday the Anchorage Daily News, they called again to ask — double-, triple-, quadruple-check — who is Trig's real mom," Palin told Esquire. "And I thought, 'Okay, more indication of continued problems in the world of journalism.'"

Rumors that Bristol was Trig's mother swirled on the Internet shortly after McCain chose Palin as his running mate. But the mainstream media did not report the story until the McCain campaign announced that Bristol was pregnant, in part to tamp down the rumors about Trig. Bristol delivered a baby boy in December.

More here.

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Palinwatch: All roads lead to Nome.

Keep your eye on her, folks. Seriously.

Boomers talked for decades about building a road to Nome, an epic 500-mile plus project that would run through some of the most remote wilderness of forest, tundra, rivers and valleys in the world. Now Gov. Sarah Palin, to the dismay of some state legislators, is making a push for what could be a $2 billion project.

Palin highlighted the project in her State of the State speech 10 days ago, declaring that she's pursuing a road to Nome, while in the same speech acknowledging a potential budget shortfall of more than a billion dollars. Some lawmakers are scratching their heads.

'I would say that with the limited amount of funds we have for projects I don't know how high that would rank,' said Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman, a budget leader in the state Senate. 'And if we did construct the road, what are the benefits Alaska would get for such a large-ticket item?'

Read more on the Anchorage Daily News site.

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Palinwatch: GOP Should be more like Palin?

Go right ahead, dearies...

While the media and political elites debate the future of the GOP, rank and file Republicans see see no need to deviate from the party's current path. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, a plurality of Republican voters think the party has grown too moderate over the past eight years, and a majority think the party should become more like controversial Alaska Governor Sarah Palin."

More on HuffPo about the poll

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Palinwatch: I Can't Stop Lying....

ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: When House Republicans planned their annual winter retreat, they extended an invitation to Alaska Gov. Sara Palin, hoping the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee would give a morale-building speech to the more than 130 Republican members of Congress gathered this weekend in Hot Springs, Va.

Retreat organizers tell ABC News that Palin politely declined, giving a perfectly understandable reason. According to the Congressional Institute, which hosted the conference, Palin said she simply could not make it to the retreat because pressing state business made it impossible for her to leave Alaska this weekend.

So where is Palin this weekend? She's in Washington, D.C., attending the super-elite Alfalfa Dinner.

'She lied to us,' said a Republican at the retreat.

Asked why Palin told the Republicans she could not leave Alaska this weekend, Palin spokesman Bill McAllister offered this non-responsive answer:

'My understanding is that the governor has not scheduled any partisan events on her current trip to D.C.,' McAllister told ABC News.

More on The Note.

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PalinWatch: Trying to get in with Obama?

Palin said she is participating in outside events, like this weekend's Alfalfa Club dinner, strictly to promote Alaska's interests as its governor.

'The Alfalfa dinner, yes, in fact that's because President Obama is scheduled to be there,' Palin said. 'And how often will I have an opportunity to have dinner with the president? I will take up that offer to do so.'

Seriously? Sarah, you are SO D-List.

Read more on HuffPo.

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Palin's $180,000 wardrobe in trash bags

Seriously folks...it's already in trash bags. Just take it down to Goodwill.

Despite the Republican National Committee's promise to donate Sarah Palin's $180,000 campaign wardrobe to charity, word has it the Alaska governor's clothes remain stuffed in trash bags at RNC headquarters, NewMajority has learned.

While Palin followed through on her promise to return her controversial wardrobe after the election, it seems the RNC has not followed through on its promise to give most of the clothes away.

During the 2008 campaign, GOP vice presidential candidate Palin was pummeled with accusations that she had overspent on clothes for herself, and even for her family -- down to baby Trig. Palin asserted at the time that the clothes belonged to the RNC. They were not her property and would be returned at the end of the campaign. A campaign spokeswoman backed up those claims, saying, "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign." It was also understood that those that had not been worn would be returned to the appropriate retailer; those that had been worn would be used for some other purpose, perhaps auctioned off for charity or to retire campaign debt.

Read more here.

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Sarah Palin--still at it wherever she can get airtime

Seriously? Sarah, your day is over. Your 15 minutes of fame are up. Now.

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Sarah Palin: the gift that keeps giving... to Sarah Palin

Are you freaking kidding me?? The Palin bills continue to mount. Anybody ELSE buy Palin anything??

Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist was paid $68,400 and her hair stylist received more than $42,000 for roughly two months of work, according to a new campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Ms. Palin’s makeup artist, Amy Strozzi — who was nominated for an Emmy award for her cosmetics work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?” — was paid $32,400 by Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign between Oct. 16 and Nov. 24, the period covered by the most recent reports filed with the commission.

This amount came on top of the $36,000 she had already been paid in previous reports, dating back to September.

In addition, Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, Angela Lew, was paid a total of $42,225, with $23,400 coming during the period covered by the latest reports to the commission, which were due at midnight on Thursday.

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The perfect Christmas gift

I just got my husband a coveted Shepard Fairey T- shirt with Oabam and the word "Hope.

What to get for me....?

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$30,000 in accessories?

Sarah Palin. The gift that just keeps on giving.

The National Journal reports that the RNC spent another $30,000 on accessories for America's Hottest Governor.

In October, Politico revealed that the RNC had spent approximately $150,000 on clothing and accessories for Palin and her family after she was selected as Sen. John McCain’s running mate. The story provoked a storm of criticism of the Alaska governor, a mother of five and favorite of the conservative wing of the GOP.

While not providing much in details, Republican officials say that the RNC’s post-election financial report will include information on other “accessories’’ purchased for Palin before the Nov. 4 election.

“The amount to be reported is significantly less than $150,000,’’ one RNC official told National Journal. “The accessories on the report are less than $30,000.’’

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Sarah Palin Still Wearing Campaign Clothes

From HuffPo: Sarah Palin Still Wearing Campaign Clothes

"After a 12-day hiatus, Sarah Palin stepped back into the spotlight on Monday to campaign for Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. Spectators experienced deja vu as the Alaska governor sported the same jacket she had worn on the campaign trail this fall. Was Palin valiantly recycling old clothes or defiantly wearing items from her $150,000 wardrobe? You be the judge."

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Sarah Palin's Turkey Outtakes

Slate has put together some exclusive outtakes from the famous Sarah Palin turkey interview:

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Jon Stewart mixes the best Sarah Palin moments

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

The Daily Show's Best Sarah Palin Moments

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

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Palin alert: New definitions of "turkey"

Oh you miss her... don't you? Well just in time for Thanksgiving, Palin rewards our patience by giving an interview at an abattoir. So here she is talking American people and policy as innocent turkeys go to their deaths just over her left shoulder. Delicious! Sarah Palin's turkey of an interview.

"The tenants arrive here and are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort, past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives. The last twenty feet of the corridor are heavily soundproofed. The blood pours down these chutes and the mangled flesh slurps into these..."

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The Coldest Reality: No more designer clothes

Cold realities await Gov. Sarah Palin in Alaska - Yahoo! News: "Gov. Sarah Palin, heralded by some conservatives as the future of the Republican Party, faces some cold political realities in present-day Alaska.

Within days of the McCain-Palin ticket's defeat earlier this month, the unsuccessful GOP vice presidential nominee capped her tumultuous two months on the campaign trail with a whirlwind series of national media interviews and a headline-grabbing appearance at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Florida.

Now it's back to her day job at the state capital in Juneau."
Y'know, I just don't feel so sorry for her.

And Alaska? Count faster!

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Living without Palin

SNL lampoons Biden's gaffe-ability. Realistically, in a four year term, can Joe provide NEARLY the amount of Govertainment as Palin did in one month?

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Earth to Palin... the Election's over...

Seriously, this woman is a dingbat. And to think she came THAT CLOSE... And now HuffPo reports that Palin baffles reporters by rehashing stump speech at the Republican Governors' Association Conference.

Earth to dingbat...

Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC's David Shuster, "I watched her entire speech, and I had to remind myself that the election was a week ago, and this was not a McCain/Palin rally." Is that crazy white-haired lady who thought Obama was "an Arab" a Republican Governor? Probably! "Everything you heard at a McCain/Palin rally since she was selected as the Vice Presidential nominee since September, and even down to the same rhetoric was in that speech," said Capehart.

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The Sarah Palin Gaffe Video Library

You knew somebody had to have it up... a comprehensive video collection of all of Sarah Palin's greatest gaffes.

The blessing by the witch doctor, the "what does a VP do?" "Thanks, but No Thanks..." and who could ever forget the winks...?

Enjoy!

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Sarah Palin -- Too Much Information

Honestly, we've seen more of Sarah Palin in one week than we saw in two months of campaigning. Over at Wapo they catalog Palin's latest series of interviews and cooking shows.

Moose chili. Un-freakin-believable...

Andrew Sullivan and I agree, Palin's lies matter, because she's being held up as the Great White Hope of the GOP. Everyone needs to know what the truth of the matter is. She doesn't want to back off of the Ayers allegations? Fine, Tell us about your husband's involvement in the Trooper firing and produce some medical records of your prenatal care for Trig.

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Sarah Palin Time Warp

Andrew Sullivan delightfully points out how Palin can't even seem to get her own timeline of "how she accepted the VP offer" right.

Fact is, if you lie, you have to keep TRACK of the lies, and if you tell the truth you don't have to worry...

Andrew sez:

Amazingly, Palin has now offered a third version - contradicting her first two, which contradicted each other - of how she accepted John McCain's insane offer to be his vice-presidential nominee. To recap: the first version was to Charlie Gibson, saying she accepted on the spot, unblinkingly. The second version was that she asked permission of the girls, a chronological impossibility. Now we have both the first version and now a new third version in the same propaganda piece broadcast on Fox last night:

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Alaska "finds" one third of missing votes...

Seriously, Alaska...WTF?

Remember how I was asking what happened in Alaska? How was it that the most watched, most high-octane presidential election, one in which Alaska's OWN GOVERNOR was running, elicited the lowest turnout for a presidential election ever?

As Jon Stewart would say, "Funny story..."

The Anchorage Daily, our new favorite northern newspaper reports that a bunch-a votes were found. Could it possibly change the state of Ted Stevens race? You betcha!

Sen. Ted Stevens leads Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by about 3,000 votes with roughly 30 percent of the ballots remaining to be counted, including:

• 61,000 absentee votes.
• More than 20,000 questioned ballots.
• 9,500 early votes.

For now, more than 90,000 votes remain uncounted. More than 224,000 votes were cast on Election Day.

See, 90,000 votes out of 224,000, that's like what those scientific types call a "non-negligible percentage."

Seriously, Alaska. WTF.

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Palin 2012

Over at Electoral-Vote.com, the Votemaster has an excellent point to make about Sarah Palin's presumed candidacy in 2012:

Sarah Palin actually has a day job, which will inhibit her campaigning a bit, but it will be very hard for her to get rid of her image as a shopaholic who doesn't know Africa isn't a country. If you think it is easy to erase your image, here is a quick test.

1. Name George Allen's favorite species of monkey
2. How does Dan Quayle spell the plant they make French fries out of?

The former came up in 2006. The latter goes back to 1992. Once there is a public image of a politician, it is hard to erase it.

In case you don't get it, answers are after the jump...

1) Macaca
2) Potatoe

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Sarah Palin fires back...

This is rich...The AP reports on Gov. Palin, now back in Alaska....

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called her critics cowards and jerks Friday for deriding her anonymously and insisted she never asked for the expensive wardrobe purchased for her use on the presidential campaign.

"I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr. Pepper once in a while," Palin said as she returned to the governor's office from her two-month odyssey as the GOP vice presidential nominee. She said the Republican National Committee paid for the tens of thousands of dollars in designer clothes and accessories.

Ms. Palin told reporters in Alaska that the anonymous criticism was “cowardly,” and that she had discussed the campaign’s position on Nafta at her debate prep sessions.

“I remember having a discussion with a couple of debate preppers,” she said. “So if it came from one of those debate preppers, you know, that’s curious. But having a discussion about Nafta — not, ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t know who is a part of Nafta.’ ”

“So, no, I think that if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about Nafta, and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context,” Ms. Palin said. “And that’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks, if they came away with it taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right.”

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What happened in Alaska?

Shannyn Moore has questions, and now so do I.

Four years ago, 313,592 out of 474,740 registered voters in Alaska participated in the election-a 66% turnout. Taking into account 49,000 outstanding ballots, on Tuesday 272,633 out of 495,731 registered Alaskans showed up at the polls; a turnout of 54.9%. That’s a decrease of more than 11% in voter turnout even though passions ran high for and against Barack Obama, as well as for and against Sarah Palin! This year, early voters set a new record. As of last Thursday, with 4 days left to vote early, 15,000 Alaskans showed up-shattering the old record set in 2004 by 28%! Consider the most popular governor in history-and now the most polarizing-was on the Republican ticket. Consider the historic nature of this race; the first African American presidential candidate EVER! The second woman to ever make a presidential ticket; and she’s one of our own. Despite that, we’re supposed to believe that overall participation DECREASED by 11%. Not only that, but this historic election both nationally and for Alaska HAD THE LOWEST ALASKA TURNOUT FOR A PRESIDENTIAL RACE EVER!!! That makes sense. REALLY??? Something stinks.

There's more

in Shannyn's update.

Nate Silver, our beloved Inside Baseball guru, has this to say: "It seems unlikely that turnout would drop by 14 percent in Alaska given the presence of both a high-profile senate race and Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket...But even if Begich were to make up ground and win a narrow victory, this would seem to represent a catastrophic failure of polling, as three polls conducted following the guilty verdict in Stevens' corruption trial had Begich leading by margins of 7, 8 and 22 points, respectively."

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Commemorative Editions

The Big Issues of Newsweek, Time and well, just about everyone else int he news media, have hit the stands. Newsweek's behind the scenes coverage, which we saw snippets of on HuffPo, is really detailed and intense. It's like a novel. I think they've actually produced an article longer and more in-depth than the ones you find in the New Yorker! And written to much higher than a sixth grade level. Amazing!

Secrets of the 2008 Campaign

• Chapter 1: "In November 2006, Greg Craig sat next to George Stevens, an old friend of the Robert Kennedy clan, at another Obama speech. Stevens leaned over to Craig and said, "What do you think of this guy for president? I haven't heard anybody like this since Bobby Kennedy." Craig instantly replied, 'Sign me up.' Stevens and Craig approached Obama coming out of the speech and asked, 'What are you doing in 2008?' Obama gave them a big grin and said, 'Oh, man, it wasn't that good.' But before long Craig and Stevens were raising money for Obama's political-action committee, the Hope Fund. Obama was amused by the devotion of the two old Kennedy hands. After a while, every time he saw the two men he would say, 'Here come the Kool-Aid boys.'"
  
Chapter 2: "At the time of the 2000 campaign, McCain had pictured himself as Luke Skywalker, going up against the Death Star. Rumbling along with his aides and a gaggle of mostly friendly reporters in a bus called the Straight Talk Express, he had relished the team spirit—the unit cohesion, in the language of his military past—and the teasing back-and-forth. Not long after the 2000 election, he had spoken of the heady time with a NEWSWEEK reporter over a standard-issue McCain breakfast (glazed doughnuts, coffee) in his Senate office. He was sitting at one end of his couch, the purplish melanoma scar down the left side of his face veiled in shadow. 'Yeah, we were a band of brothers,' he said, his voice low, his eyes shining. The 2000 race had been a glorious adventure, a heroic Lost Cause. But the fact was that McCain had lost."
Chapter 3: "In the days after his wife's back- from-the-brink victory in New Hampshire, Bill Clinton was full of righteous indignation. The former president had amassed an 81-page list of all the unfair and nasty things the Obama campaign had said, or was alleged to have said, about Hillary Clinton. The press was still in love with Obama, or so it seemed to Clinton, who complained to pretty much anyone who would listen. If the press wouldn't go after Obama, then Hillary's campaign would have to do the job, the ex-president urged. On Sunday, Jan. 13, Clinton got worked up in a phone conversation with Donna Brazile, a direct, strong-willed African-American woman who had been Al Gore's campaign manager and advised the Clintons from time to time. 'If Barack Obama is nominated, it will be the worst denigration of public service,' he told her, ranting on for much of an hour. Brazile kept asking him, 'Why are you so angry?'"
Chapter 4: "Throughout the spring of 2008, McCain's uneven speaking style was a source of frustration to his aides. They knew how open and disarmingly honest he could be when he felt like it. But his stubborn integrity (or childish willfulness, depending on your point of view) was as much a liability as a virtue. When McCain didn't like the words he had been given to read, his inner Dennis the Menace would emerge, and he would sabotage his own speech. McCain's subversive instincts had long shown up in his speaking style. Before the 2000 primary in South Carolina, when he spoke in favor of flying the Confederate flag over the state capitol, he would pull a piece of paper out of his pocket and read from it. It was obvious that he didn't really believe what he was saying and was ashamed of his pandering. His aides had trouble coaching him because the very act of telling him what to do could incite a rebellion."
Chapter 5: "There wasn't real panic at Obama headquarters on North Michigan Avenue—such emotionalism (normal in most campaigns) was taboo. But Palin was so unexpected a choice that some staffers were rattled. So this aide, a veteran of some nasty campaigns, would go up to staffers and say, 'Get her out of your head! It's McCain!' It was an effort to force the slightly dazed staffers to see that they needed to stay focused on McCain, not his running mate."
Chapter 6: "Never one to wing it, Obama studied for the three official presidential debates, scheduled for roughly once a week from late September to mid-October, as if he were taking the bar exam. He memorized details on new weapons systems so he wouldn't look like a neophyte on national defense. But the real challenge, he knew, was not in the details of policy or his mastery of defense-spending arcana. He would need to show something more ineffable but profound—a true command presence. As his aides never ceased to remind him, he would have to look 'presidential.'"
Chapter 7: "On the last full day of campaigning, Monday, Nov. 3, Obama walked out onstage and surveyed the crowd for a few extra seconds before giving his stump speech. The crowd was in a festive mood. A middle-aged woman with a silk scarf salsa-danced with a beaming Latino man, holding both hands above his head and flashing the victory sign as he spun and gyrated to the song 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now.' Reporters, who rarely budged from the laptops in the press room to hear Obama deliver his well-worn speech, streamed toward the stage to get a better view of the candidate. They seemed to sense that the long campaign was finally over, that this was their last chance to see the political phenomenon, who rarely came back to talk to the press. 'I have just one word for you, Florida,' Obama declared to the crowd. 'Tomorrow.' He drew on the oratory of the civil-rights movement, intoning, 'We have a righteous wind at our backs.'"

Pick up a copy-- if you can find it.

Oh, and yet one more set of revelations about Palin: "Another reporter asked Steve Schmidt if he was happy with "the pick of Palin." He ducked the question. Schmidt was trying, not very hard, to hide his true feelings. He had been compelled to personally take over Palin's debate prep when she seemed unwilling to engage in the drudge work of learning the issues. McCain's advisers had been frustrated when Palin refused to talk to donors because she found it corrupting, and they were furious when they heard rumors that Todd Palin was calling around to Alaska bigwigs telling them to hold their powder until 2012. The day of the third debate, Palin refused to go onstage with New Hampshire GOP Sen. John Sununu and Jeb Bradley, a New Hampshire congressman running for the Senate, because they were pro-choice and because Bradley opposed drilling in Alaska. The McCain campaign ordered her onstage at the next campaign stop, but she refused to acknowledge the two Republican candidates standing behind her. McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin (perhaps once a week when they were not traveling together, estimated one adviser). Aides kept him in the dark about Palin's spending on clothes because they were sure he'd be offended. In his concession speech, McCain praised Palin, but the body language between them onstage was not particularly friendly. (Palin had asked to speak; Schmidt vetoed the request.)"

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Letterman's Top 10 Sarah Palin Revelations

For those of us who still can't let the soap opera go... Dave offers a list of the continuing Palindromes:

Letterman's Top Ten Sarah Palin Revelations:

10. Thinks Fox News may still declare her and John McCain the winner

9. At her wedding instead of "I do," said, "You betcha!"

8. She and Governor Schwarzenegger once exchanged swimsuit-competition posing tips

7. Prepared for campaign by watching "Legally Blonde 2"

6. Thinks "NAFTA" stands for "Need Another Fifty Thousand for Accessories"

5. Begins every day by reading a passage from the hilarious Late Show Fun Facts book available everywhere

4. She's a person of interest in five unsolved snow machine hit-and-runs

3. Abused position as Governor to get free appetizers at Ancorage Applebee's

2. Already has a new job as Briefcase Babe #12 on "Deal Or No Deal"

1. Her Secret Service code name was "Huh?"

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What Countries Are in North America?

Psst... I know the election is over, but I'm gonna keep on posting things that outrage me....

Can we please get a book deal for Nicole Wallace?

Seriously. WTF?

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The Last Roundup

Ranting, or no, we will continue to see the stories, keep up the discussion and work-- yes, folks, the efforts are just beginning. Here are a few last items:

Lots of folks weighed in on the release yesterday of Sarah Palin's "medical records," which weren't records at all, but rather was simply a doctor's note from Cathy Baldwin-Johnson. Yeah, you're hilarious, Sarah. Where are your records? Alert readers might note that Baldwin Johnson was the one who also allegedly delivered Trig Palin. She is a family practitioner, not an OB/GYN, and the question remains why she would be called on to perform such a tricky delivery of a Down Syndrome child, especially after Palin's 18 hour journey to get back to Wasilla. Andrew Sullivan is still not satisfied-- and neither am I. The truth is still out there. Feel free to email me if you hear more details. Enquiring minds want to know.

We might hope against hope that Palin will disappear from the landscape, but as Tina Fey said in her QVC sketch, "I am not going anywhere...and I'm certainly not going back to Alaska..." Ted Stevens, who appears to have won back his Senate post in Alaska, I'm sure decided to continue his run so they can hold the seat for the GOP. We'll get a circus when the Senate removes Stevens, but more importantly, it means Palin as Governor can appoint his successor. Would she be maverick-ey enough to appoint herself?

John Cusack weighed in yesterday with a really interesting and detailed piece on the direction this election took. "Senator McCain, Governor Palin and assorted surrogates are delusional and breathtakingly corrupt. They disgrace themselves and their country as they lie, smear, slur and write it off as political manner. Yet the creeping truth must frighten them late at night: there is no currency left to buy the big lies."

And a couple more videos that caught my eye in the last day:

• Shay Black's paean to the Great Irish Hope: "There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama."
• And Seal's fabulous rendition of the Sam Cooke classic,"A Change is Gonna Come."

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The Sequels: Return of the Ugly, Son of Ugly, Ugly versus Mothra....

Last blast of the ugly. "John McCain faces a daunting challenge, the GOP and the McCain campaign have ramped up their negative attacks on Barack Obama. Just to start, McCain attacked Obama's patriotism and Republicans made much hay out of a video that purportedly shows Obama attending a party where Palestinian, and Columbia University Professor, Rashid Khalidi was also a guest."

HuffPo rounds up the last minute desperation TACTICS. Still no strategy, just throw the crap out there and see what sticks to the wall. Obama is a Socialist, Obama is an extremist who hangs out with the PLO sympathizers, Obama is soft on crime, Obama's a "chicken shit," Obama's policies will lead to a second holocaust, Obama's not a US citizen. (???) Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Johnny Mac, could you be any MORE desperate and obvious?

And from overseas comes this ridiculous item: "The Republicans have made a last-minute attempt to prevent Barack Obama's ascent to the White House by trying to recruit an Oxford academic to 'prove' that his autobiography was ghostwritten by a former terrorist. Dr Peter Millican, a philosophy don at Hertford College, Oxford, has devised a computer software program that can detect when works are by the same author by comparing favourite words and phrases. He was contacted last weekend and offered $10,000 (£6,200) to assess alleged similarities between Obama's bestseller, Dreams from My Father, and Fugitive Days, a memoir by William Ayers."

Meanwhile, Palin continues to help the campaign effort in her own inimitable way: "Sarah Palin has unwittingly taken a prank call from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and told him she may make a good president in eight years. The Republican vice presidential nominee discussed politics, the perils of hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney, and Sarkozy's 'beautiful wife,' in the telephone call released Saturday. When the caller told Palin she would make a good president, she laughed and replied: 'Maybe in eight years.'"

Oh, and, can someone PLEASE explain to Sarah Palin that we are NOT at war with Iran. Help me out here, folks. What's your opinion? If I smack my head long enough on the table, will I be able to forget that Sarah Palin even exists?

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