The Power Of Positive Spin

S Palin reads all the newspapers and K Lo pretends it's all good.  Does someone have a good clip from the latest Sarah and Katie episode?

Comments

[clarice]

TCO (or was it TGO) posted a link to the UTube of this part of the interview..I agree with Lopez about it.
Niters.

[TGO]

Sarah n' Katie, BFF

[bgates]

I don't know how people can say Palin doubts the existence of dinosaurs. She's been giving them interviews for weeks.

[Pofarmer]

Red State Update on the Bailout.

LUN

[Topsecretk9]

Clarice

Me too. What Katie wanted her to say was "Oh, I read the New York Times just. like. you. Katie...because I can't function or take my marching orders and shape my news coverage live without knowing what the elitist pigs at the NYT says I should do or think!"

Awesome.

[Topsecretk9]

At the very end, Lou Dobb's snarks on Joe Biden's massive amounts of GAFFES and makes fun of Situation Room

[TGO]

ts9-

I think you mean the elitists at NRO.

Seriously, she could have said the WSJ, NatReview or WaTimes and it would have been just fine. But she gave a response not inconsistent with being an illiterate, so she's getting called on it.

And her response is reinforced by other portions of the interview, so it's not like this is a single smudge on an otherwise stellar performance. There's a pattern, and everyone can see it.

[Greg Q]

Yeah, I was disappointed with that answer, I wanted her to say something like

"Read a newspaper? Why would I do that? You folks all play so many games with the information that you put in there that it's impossible to find out what's going on from one of your dishonest pieces of left-wing tripe. I get my information from the internet."

[sbw]

It's a badge of honor for Palin to have avoided mentioning the NY Times by name. And bonus points for dodging the spear -- er, question -- so gracefully so many times.

I dropped my subscription to the Times so long ago I have forgotten how long it has been -- but that doesn't mean I don't read a NYT article when someone recommends it to me.

The best answer to Katie is, "I get my news from many sources -- just like you."

[John Hansen]

Does anybody else find this line of questioning weird?? I did not watch the clip, but I commend Palin for this answer. This deflected and prevented a nuisance follow up. If she said "Anchorage Times" or something like that she would be ridiculed. If she answered a journal that Couric knew, the follow up would be to comment on an article in it. I think the press is starting to overplay their hand on Palin. I get sick of every question looking for an angle to trip her up. How long was Obama on the campaign trail before he would take a hostile interview.

Now I am in no way saying she looked good in the interview, and I do not claim that she is an intellectual heavyweight. Quite frankly she repeats too many words, and use too many cliched phrases. But this is a woman who defeated an entrenched governor, negotiated a new deal with the oil companies, and got a project at least moving that had been stalled. This is a woman who won her governorship after 23 debates.

I am thinking what has hurt Sarah Palin, is trying too hard not to mess up. She has been coached to death. Her answers sound like trying hard to remember all the various talking points that were crammed into her. She was loved on the convention stage because she looked so real and genuine. The combo of her handlers and the completely hostile press has robbed her of this. It would be great if she pulled of a tremendous debate performance, but right now I am not hopeful. She just does not know how to be herself anymore, and it also just might be that her true self is truly not up to the job.

[Antimedia]

"How long was Obama on the campaign trail before he would take a hostile interview."

Obama has had a hostile interview? Do you have a link?

[TGO]

I wanted her to say something like

Yeah, and I wish I had a fleet of Barchetta's, but things are what they are.

it also just might be that her true self is truly not up to the job.

Finally, something here that has the ring of truth to it. You guys may be forced to accept the conceit that she's had her 'true essence' diluted, but the reason she's been overprepped is that her handlers are truly terrified of what they're seeing in their one on one's with her.

They prep her because the alternative is too horrible to consider.

[Pofarmer]

TGO, may not be TCO, but it's still an idiot.

[Topsecretk9]

Joe Biden just makes crap up and the Obama campaign just has no answer for it - PREP!

[Barry Dauphin]

The answers suggest too much trying to avoid some mistake or gotcha. Better to say what she reads and leave it at that. Politicians dodge questions all the time. There are better ways to handle that type of question. But she has had numerous debates in running for public office. She needs to stop running the four corners offense and drive for the hoop.

[Topsecretk9]

Nancy Pelosi is proving herself completely unqualified to lead anything. I wouldn’t trust her to lead a troop of Girl Scouts.

[TGO]

She needs to stop running the four corners offense and drive for the hoop

Unfortunately that was her drive to the hoop.

[RichatUF]

John-

How long was Obama on the campaign trail before he would take a hostile interview.

It had been a while, and I forget the exact situation (Rezko or Wright), but he answered "something like 8 questions"? Some of them might have been considered fast pitch softball.

I'm still waiting for those breathless reports about Obama buying his house with convicted felon and Chicago-Syrian fixer Rezko, but I'll have to be satisifed with NBC's CEO making Obama campaign video's reprising "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" complete with the O-salute.

[Barry Dauphin]

Hardly, TOGA.

Whatever the merits or demerits of our elected officials, the idea that someone could become governor of a state after that many debates and challenge entrenched interests but for it to be "too horrible to consider" her answers without prep is the mark of someone not serious, just someone trying to yank chains.

[Topsecretk9]

"something like 8 questions"

Much like his important waffle he said:

'Guys, I mean come on. I just answered like eight questions."

I guess a few too many for the Telepromter Prez.

[TGO]

Some of them might have been considered fast pitch softball.

Certainly nothing like the mind-bendingly soul-crushingly difficult puzzlers like 'what papers do you read?'

A question truly forged on Satan's unholy anvil, my friends.

[Topsecretk9]

Here is video of Obama afraid to answer questions on Rezko

chaos.

[bgates]

Rich - it wasn't that Jeff Zucker.

[narciso]

It would be charitable to say one reads the Times; but considering they've gotten one story in 10 right about her neck of the woods; where the information is available through basic public records searches (debate clip, public hearings etc) The Washington Post; 1-8; the Anchorage Times,
1-12. News Weak 1-15.Imagine how much they get wrong in a foreign land with different language and cultures (Although the Times probably thinks Afghanistan is less exotic than Alaska) Having Serpent Head, the down scale Democratic version of Rove; trashing Sarah, while he shepherded this 'fat.
lecherous hillbilly' for two terms; I know he's less loathesome than the community agitator from Hyde Park, is the height of hypocrisy. Et tu Howard Dean; seriously considered until his Edward Munsch moment.

The things we care about, military preparedness,missile defense,the struggle against Islamic extremism, a good business environment with elements of reform, ethical and moral values; are things the Times, CBS, NewWeek et al; don't care about; and it shows in their funhouse mirror coverage.

[Topsecretk9]

Here's video of Obama's boy Blagojevich Speechless trying to explain his bribe money/a> that Obama house purchaser Rezko, who is apparently is singing to the Feds.

[TGO]

ts9-

Wow. Powerful stuff. I hope your guy does a $100m media buy based on that footage alone.

[Barbara]

From the Drudge Report:
"VP DEBATE MODERATOR RELEASING 'AGE OF OBAMA' BOOK ON INAUGURATION DAY"

Hardly an impartial person to moderate the single Vice Presidential Debate.

LUN

[TGO]

ts9-

Here's a hint- if shady business deals mattered to the public, Bush and Cheney wouldn't be in the Whitehouse, Stevens wouldn't be running for re-election in Alaska, and Reagan's 'arms for hostages' would have brought down his presidency.

For whatever reason, people don't care about this stuff unless it's really blatantly obvious, as in they haul your sorry ass off to prison (as in Randy Cunningham's case.)

It's why the Dems don't bother bringing up the Keating 5 stuff, because people really don't care. Not sure why, maybe they assume that all pols have their hands in the cookie jar to one degree or another.

But that's just the way it looks to me.

[Topsecretk9]

Obama's ever changing christianist logo -- it's like play dough!

and
“I don’t think me calling House Republican members would have been that helpful, I tend not to be that persuasive on that side of the aisle.

He tends not to be persuasive?

That's change and INSPIRING and Presidential!

[Topsecretk9]

uh oh--Rezko singing like a bird

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the Chicago political influence peddler whose relationship with Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has been highlighted by Obama's political opponents, might be helping the government mount a corruption case against the state's governor.

[Topsecretk9]

Attorneys believe Rezko is talking to prosecutors

e Rezko is talking to prosecutors
CHICAGO AP _ Convicted political fixer Antoin Tony Rezko has been quietly visiting Chicagos federal courthouse, setting off speculation that he may be spilling secrets to prosecutors in return for a lenient sentence. Prosecutors investigating Gov. Rod Blagojevichs administration would plainly like to hear what Rezko knows, and there is plenty of incentive to talk. Jail is horrible and Tony Rezko has just two....

[Pofarmer]

It's why the Dems don't bother bringing up the Keating 5 stuff, because people really don't care.

Or it could be because McCain was found completely innocent you friggin maroon.

[ex-democrat]

fortunately, TGO, the majority of americans are not, like you, snotty elitists.
and here's the thing: whatever newspapers you happen to read, you still manage to be a profoundly ignorant person.

[Topsecretk9]

For whatever reason, people don't care about this stuff unless it's really blatantly obvious, as in they haul your sorry ass off to prison (as in Randy Cunningham's case.)

Nice goalposts asshole...Ted Stevens

[bgates]

Further to Barbara's link about Gwen Ifill's book, "The Breakthrough: Race and Politics in the Age of Obama", the book has generated several thoughtful discussions on its Amazon page. Such as:
Why did Matt Drudge choose the homosexual lifestyle?
Why is GOP propaganda created by a homosexual - Drudge?
Drudge is gay but promotes someone who believes he's a sin
Are all the top GOP propagandists homosexuals?

I'll confess I had never given a moment's thought to Matt Drudge's sexuality. I can't say that anonymous hateful commenters have convinced me he's gay, and I can't say I care one way or the other. It's good to know where the opposition stands, though.

[Topsecretk9]

Oh, it's just sweet, sweet, sweet to see Obama hired trolls roll back the 'corruption charge and rewrite the meaning of corruption.

I guess when Democrats are chest deep in shit in the Fannie Mae rape of taxpayer corruption they move the goalposts .../No corruption here and does it really matter?

Yeah asshole, it does. Cunningham was a fucked head who took bribes to enrich HIMSELF!

Obama's advisor's PAID BRIBES TO ENRICH THEMSELVES! TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO BRIBE DEMOCRATS AND ENRICH THEMSELVES.

To your chagrin, it's sinking in.

[Elliott]

Althouse uses Google's 2001 index to good effect, but I think we can use it more profitably.

Open sesame!

[Elliott]

Tops,

Re: Obama not calling Republicans, I wonder how many of his superdelegate supporters voted against it.

[Topsecretk9]

I wonder how many of his superdelegate supporters voted against it.

Little man diplomacy.

[MayBee]

Elliott-
Thanks for that! This is a good one:

Pastors turn to Obama over Rush in race
Barack Obama (D-Chicago), citing his grass-roots background in their communities
. Pfleger said that for hard-pressed areas on the South Side "to receive the ...
http://482457.world_news.indiasearchengine.com/news/redir1.asp - View old version on the Internet Archive

Of course the page is gone.

[Topsecretk9]

In July 2007, I wrote a letter to Illinois Senator Barack Obama asking him to personally intercede in the business of the General Assembly on the matter of ethics. In that letter I urged Senator Obama to make a simple five-minute phone call to his friend and mentor, Senate President Emil Jones.

Knowing Senator Obama's interest in ethics reforms related to responsible contracting in state government I had hoped he would respond to my request in a timely fashion. However, a year and three months passed before he took action, doing so only after pressure from the media mounted following the Illinois House override of the Governor's veto of HB 824, which restricts the campaign dollars constitutional officeholders can accept....

Obama failed. All talk. All changing positions. No leadership.

[MayBee]

This is fun! January 5, 2000
Open forum

State Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago) called to gripe about Tuesday's Inc. (Hey, join the club.) His beef was that we questioned his decision to stay on vacation in Hawaii instead of returning to Springfield to vote for a tough gun control measure.

Obama insists that he and his wife, Michelle, stayed in Hawaii not to sip mai tais on the beach but because their 18-month-old daughter, Malia, was sick. He decided not to fly home alone, which would have meant leaving his wife back in Hawaii to care for the sick child.

"We have a lot of politicians who like to talk about family values. At some point you have to live those families values," he told Inc.

We repeat: His opponents in his race for Congress will use this against him.

[MayBee]

What is the New Party? How long has Barack been a Democrat?

New Party members and supported candidates won 16 of 23 races, including an at-large race for the Little Rock, Ark., City Council, a seat on the county board for Little Rock and the school board for Prince George's County, Md. Chicago is sending the first New Party member to Congress, as Danny Davis, who ran as a Democrat, won an overwhelming 85% victory. New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago.

[Topsecretk9]

MayBee

Obama insists that he and his wife, Michelle, stayed in Hawaii not to sip mai tais on the beach but because their 18-month-old daughter, Malia, was sick. He decided not to fly home alone, which would have meant leaving his wife back in Hawaii to care for the sick child.

And Sarah Palin is bad mother.

He decided not to fly home alone, which would have meant leaving his wife back in Hawaii to care for the sick child.

and all the feminists went "ahhhhhh" because obviously Michelle Obama was at a loss without the Messiah!

WTF?

[MayBee]

Isn't that weird, tops? But he missed an important gun control vote. Suspicious...

Here he is in 1996
13TH DISTRICT

Democrat: Barack Obama. Supports gay rights, same-sex marriage; increased AIDS funding, abortion rights, affirmative action. Endorsed by IFHR, IMPACT, IVI-IPO, Illinois and Chicago NOW, Personal PAC.

---
He now says he doesn't support same-sex marriage or AA.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

The clip makes it obvious that she is being sarcastic to Couric and mocking Couric for trying to mock her by stereotyping her as some kind of illiterate hick from Alaska. Listen to the tone she uses to Couric. Couric is the one who ends up looking the fool.

You can view the entire interview HERE and read along with the transcript.

Couric is as vapid as they come.

[Topsecretk9]

Obama said he was never objected to Nuclear waste- a gaffe the media would mock FOREVER had Palin said it.

Here he is in 1996 13TH DISTRICT

Democrat: Barack Obama. Supports gay rights, same-sex marriage; increased AIDS funding, abortion rights, affirmative action. Endorsed by IFHR, IMPACT, IVI-IPO, Illinois and Chicago NOW, Personal PAC.

---
He now says he doesn't support same-sex marriage or AA.

So essentially Obama just says the good lies? Lies, shameful lies, but lies we are supposed to lie for.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

In an interview this week, Palin's father said that from 3rd grade on, when he grabbed the sports page she grabbed the front page and poured over every article. And her sister and her best friend, when asked by Greta what the remember most about Sarah while growing up, they said she always had a book with her, she is an avid reader. Everyone they interviewed about her had one thing they all said, she is very smart, and a very fast learner.

Do not fall into the trap of the left and the media by allowing them to define Sarah Palin in their image of her. And like her Dad and Todd warned, don't ever underestimate her.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Maybee: Via Wiki:

The New Party was a third political party in the United States that tried to re-introduce the practice of electoral fusion as a political strategy for labor unions and community organizing groups. In electoral fusion, the same candidate receives nomination from more than one political party and occupies more than one ballot line. Fusion was once common in the United States but is now commonly practiced only in New York State, although it is allowed by law in seven other states. The party was active from 1992 to 1998. There had been an earlier New Party in 1968 that ran Eugene McCarthy for President.

The New Party was founded in the early 1990s by Daniel Cantor, a former staffer for Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, and by sociology and law professor Joel Rogers as an effort to break with the largely unsuccessful history of left-leaning third parties in the United States.

The party could best be described as social democratic in orientation, although party statements almost invariably used the terms "small-d democratic" or "progressive" instead. Its founders chose the name "New Party" in an effort to strike a fresh tone, free of associations with dogmas and ideological debates.

[MayBee]

My son giggled at Sarah's rambling answer, but I agree I would have my back up if Katie Couric asked me what I read to "inform my world view".
I don't know if people from big metropolitan areas understand what a hot button that is for people from smaller areas. I remember the first time my MIL came to visit my family's house from the larger city in the state. She was surprised we had our own stations and news anchors and everything.

[MayBee]

Thanks Sarah. That's interesting, isn't it? Just 12 years ago...

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php%3Fid%3D26913&usg=AFQjCNEHZ7CH96CEqWbk8EKrT3wAclYTOA" class="l">Obama and the New Party - HUMAN EVENTS

[Elliott]

Using this cache">http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-endorsement-notes.html&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us">cache of super delegate endorsements by date* from Dem Convention Watch, I found 17 representatives who had endorsed Obama prior to March of this year but voted against the rescue plan:

Barrow (GA, February 28**); Lewis (GA, February 27, former Clinton super); Herseth Sandlin (SD, February 26); Kagen (WI, February 21); Castor (FL, February 20); Doggett (TX, February 20); Scott (GA, February 14-former Clinton super); Yarmuth (KY, February 8); Walz (MN, February 6); Blumenauer (OR, February 1); Grijalva (AZ, January 29-formerly for Edwards); Becerra (CA, January 27); Thompson (MS, January 22); Linda Sanchez (CA, January 18); Welch (VT, January 17); Rothman (NJ, July 2007); Jackson, Jr. (IL, 2007).

Obama only needed to persuade 12 of them. And, there were plenty more no voters who endorsed Obama before June.
_________________
*Dem Convention Watch switched from blogspot to a different domain (which currently redirects to Google) and the links are problematic.
**I'm don't think that every date listed on at Dem Convention Watch is the precise date of endorsement.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

She was surprised we had our own stations and news anchors and everything.

I had that experience with a friend who stopped to visit us in Indiana on her way back to her home in Manhattan. She was surprised that we not only had more choices in TV coverage, including all the New York stations as well as national and our own local. When she said she didn't know if she could stand not having her New York papers, I called up the NYT website and showed her I could read her paper as well as my own every day and then read the papers from Atlanta, Washington, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago and all major foreign cities too. I was shocked at how ill informed she was, but then she didn't "have time" for computers. I think I finally got to her when I showed her how I could log into art galleries, historical archives almost anywhere, and libraries any time the mood struck me to do some research.

[JM Hanes]

Frankly, I think it would be more instructive and consequential to know what the hell Katie Couric and her ilk read.

If I were asked such a question, I wouldn't even know where to start, and if I were a politician, I'd hardly want to endorse some, or maybe even any, of them by mentioning them -- or have to leave the bulk of what I do read out in order to point to two or three. Do sites sites like Google News even count as "newspapers" these days? Can't you just imagine the hoots 'n hollers would have greeted that answer? Sheesh.

I'm really sick of all the stupidity, and the silly questions. If Couric actually expected to learn anything, it only confirms that we divide newspapers up ideologically. The idea that Palin couldn't answer Couric's question because she probably never reads a paper is beyond idiotic. Who are these people?

[Elliott]

Tops and MayBee,

Good to have you both on the case. Can you be sure to bookmark and/or save anything of interest that you come across? If Google makes that feature unavailable it might be difficult to find some of that stuff again.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Boston Globe Leads With a Lie -- Debunked Palin Rape Kit Story Raised Again

[Elliott]

Rush ahead in cash race:

Rush has received $137,181 from PACs of major corporations and organizations, including a $5,000 contribution from Banc One Corporation and $500 from the AFL-CIO. Obama has received $266,919 from individual donors compared with Rush's $181,840, but has only received one PAC contribution, from the Community Bankers Association of Illinois, for $3,300.

Anyone know anything about the Community Bankers Association of Illinois? Did they like Obama or did they really not like Bobby Rush?

[unseen]

Are you people this stupid? she is a governor of a state. you think she doesn't stay current on events? We know for a fact she reads the SF paper. she even wrote to the editor:

Dear Editor,
San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase "under God" away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words. God Bless America.

Sarah Palin, Mayor, Wasilla, AK

[unseen]

and this letter to the editor of the ADN:

Consider the letter to Mike Doogan, then a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News.

Doogan had written in the paper on March 5, 2002, that lawmakers were considering moving the state legislature to Wasilla. “Now, I disrespect Wasilla as much as the next guy, but this seems a little extreme,” Doogan quipped. “Isn't being a blight on the landscape enough shame for Wasillians?”

Palin couldn’t resist. Two days later, she wrote a personal letter that simply said:

“Dear Mr. Doogan: Why do you do what you do to Wasilla?”

She signed it, “Respectfully, Sarah.”

[unseen]

then there is this video. About a minute into the video is a filming of Palin in her office. Notice the NEWSPAPER on her desk.

Idiots. do some research for once.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/video/article/video_israeli_documentary_director_elan_frank_shoots_sarah_palin_20080923/

And Oh My GOd she knows how to work a computer too. and she can handle TWO BLACKBERRIES.

[unseen]

and if you watch that video she walks to the busstop everyday and picks Piper up from the bus. and she breastfeeds Trig. And people think she is stupid? give me a break. Yuo try running a state breastfeeding a baby and finding the time picking up a 7 year old from school bus everyday.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Via Byron York:

The McCain campaign is launching a new website tonight, PalinTruthFiles.com, which has a pretty extensive collection of background information on the "Troopergate" investigation.  The McCain team in Alaska has been doing a lot of work on the matter, and this site is part of its newly aggressive stance in the ongoing investigation.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

New Obama Logo Has Star and Crescent

[M. Simon]

Debate Moderator Author of Pro-Obama Book

Read it and weep.

[PeterUK]

"It's why the Dems don't bother bringing up the Keating 5 stuff, because people really don't care."

In effect you are saying that Democrats have a criminal culture.

[Terry Gain]

Palin should have replied: “I given up trying to get my news from the alphabet networks. I mean, you guys are so in the tank for Obama, it's pathetic. You don't even pretend to be objective. For example, how does Obama get away with this statement at the first presidential debate…

OBAMA: We hadn't finished the job in Afghanistan. We hadn't caught Bin Laden, we hadn't put, uh, Al-Qaeda to rest, and as a consequence, uh, I thought that it was going to be a distraction. Now, Senator McCain and President Bush had a very different judgment. We took our eye off the ball.

Took our eye off the ball? Everybody knows bin Laden and Al Qaeda escaped from Tora Bora into Pakistan in December 2001. The Iraq war didn't start until March 2003. al Qaeda did go into Iraq to try to prevent the establishment of a democracy there. But they've been defeated, and not just by Americans, but by Americans and Iraqis fighting together. So how does Obama get away with this “ eye off the ball” nonsense? Al Qaeda hasn't been in Afghanistan since 2001.

He wants us to invade Pakistan, and make a bad situation worse by turning an ally- which has its own challenges- against us.

No Katie, I get my news from Fox NEWS and JustOneMinute blog. Even with O'Reilly tacking left they are the only network that even attempts to be fair and balanced. At Fox News you get the opinions of Bill Kristol and Juan Williams.

And the commenters at JustOneMinute are brilliant. Except for the odd one that's baked.

I'll end this by asking you a question: how many on camera employees of CBS support the GOP?

[sbw]

Charlie Martin, would you "Truth or Fiction" unseen for us, please?

[SunnyDay]

I think Palin has learned to recognize where the landmines are buried. She just refused to step on one in order to pass Katie's "test".

[SunnyDay]

ooopsie - taking the link out.

[centralcal]

M. Simon: NO. Gwen Ifill should read and weep. Trouble comes in threes.

1. She fell and broke her leg
2. She is splashed large on Drudge
3. ...

There is always a three. Let's just wait and see what it may be.

[M. Simon]

I'll end this by asking you a question: how many on camera employees of CBS support the GOP?

They're looking. They're looking.

[PeterUK]

"Yuo (sic) try running a state breastfeeding a baby and finding the time picking up a 7 year old from school bus everyday".

Joe Biden could do that standing on his head.

[bad]

If asked directly he would confirm he's already done it.

[MayBee]

Elliott-
Apparently, Barack Obama was on a committee to celebrate Black Harvard Alumni in 2000, with William Jefferson and Franklin Raines.

Here'spart of his bio:

n 1992, Senator Obama served as Illinois Executive Director of PROJECT VOTE!, an effort that added over 100,000 newly registered voters in Illinois. ...

[State] Senator Obama serves on the boards of several organizations including the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, where he is chairman, the Joyce Foundation, the Woods Fund of Chicago, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and Public Allies.

[DebinNC]

The Obamas and Public Allies.

The media that is avidly researching whether Palin really could see Russia from Alaska, has no interest in Obama's direct connection to the radical Public Allies.

[MayBee]

http://web.archive.org/web/20011205185920/www.chi-challenge.org/home.htm>Chicago Annenberg Challenge Website

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Kindernacht Pulled, Apparently in Disgrace

Kindernacht is that creepy video of the children singing

[MayBee]

From that link, Small Schools Workshops info:
The Small Schools Workshop is a group of educators, organizers and researchers based in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Small Schools Workshop collaborates with teachers, principals, and parents to create new, small, innovative learning communities in public schools. In addition to our interest in individual schools, the Small Schools Workshop actively explores the larger issues of education reform, with a particular focus on the role that small schools can have in furthering positive whole-school and systemic change.

[sbw]

Hmmm. One">http://www.chi-challenge.org/granters.htm#ADDITIONAL%20GRANTS">One hand pays the other. John Ayers is Bill Ayers son.

Local School Council Elections

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge joined with city funders to support candidate recruitment and voter turnout campaigns for Local School Council elections in 1996, 1998 and 2000. The initiatives surrounding the biannual elections convened neighborhood and community organizations in an effort to increase voter turnout and better prepare candidates for positions on local school councils.
Grant Award: $230,000 (First funded December 1996)

.
Contact Person: John Ayers
Leadership for Quality Education
21 South Clark Street, Suite 3120
Chicago, IL 60603
312/853-1203

[MayBee]

This isn't huge, but http://web.archive.org/web/20010124111600/www.catalyst-chicago.org/10-99/109prom.htm>Michelle Obama on a planning committee for Catalyst's 10 year anniversary prom with Susan Klonsky and John Ayres in 2000.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Consider the first paragraph of this AP Article:

Gov. Sarah Palin cites vigilance against Russian warplanes coming into U.S. airspace over Alaska as one of her foreign-policy credentials. But the U.S. military command in charge says that hasn't happened in her 21 months in office.

But, if one reads on, it's clear Sarah knew well of what she spoke:

What Palin might have been referring to was a buffer zone of airspace that extends beyond the 12-mile strip. Although not recognized internationally as the United States' to protect, the military watches it.

That zone is where there has been increased Russian bomber exercises, about 20 in the past two years. When Russian bombers enter that expanded area, sometimes called the outer air-defense identification zone by the military, U.S. or Canadian fighter jets are dispatched to check them, [Maj. Allen Herritage, a spokesman for the Alaska region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage] said.

Asked about Herritage's statement, Palin's foreign-policy adviser, Steve Biegun, insisted the candidate's position was correct. Russia's "old behaviors" of aggressively flying into U.S. airspace have been exhibited recently, he said.

"Governor Palin told me that when Russian aircraft buzz American airspace and U.S. aircraft are mobilized at Elmendorf Air Force Base, she is informed by her National Guard commander," said Biegun, who did not offer any additional explanation for the contradiction.

"The point she was making is that the geographical location of Alaska has unique attributes. This doesn't happen to many states in the union," Biegun said.

Herritage said Air Force officials discussed with Palin instances of Russian planes entering the buffer zone and the U.S. response during their annual briefing in February.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Perhaps she was thinking about the fact that:

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

U.S. Northern Command brought the 100th Missile
Defense Brigade (Ground-Based Midcourse Defense) to operational level for the first time in response to the July 2006 North Korean missile crisis. Previously maintained in test mode, the brigade, headquartered at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and its 49th Missile Defense Battalion
(Ground-Based Missile Defense) at Fort Greely, Alaska, remained at high alert status for the duration of the crisis.

As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism.

She’s also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security’s counterterrorism plans.

[DebinNC]

Michelle Obama in CO interview today:

Q: When it comes to the issues, where do you and your husband disagree?"

MO:"You know, Barack and I agree on everything that matters," Obama said. "At the foundation of Barack's campaign is the notion that we need to build an America that is just and is equal and that gives every American a real opportunity for a better chance at life."
......
Q:.. How would you maintain a sense of normalcy [for your children] for that?" London said.

MO:.. We need to make sure that there are millions of other kids who can live out their dreams as Malia and Sasha will and it is not based on luck. But it is based on fairness and justice in this country that is created.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Via Instapundit:

UPDATE: Speaking of double standards, Michael Silence observes:

Palin has been running for just over a month. Obama has been running for more than 18 months. So I did a search on Yahoo News;

Palin and experience: 13,538 results

Obama and experience: 15,074 results

I think that pretty much sums it up.

[bad]

John Ayers is Bill Ayers son.

Aren't they brothers?

[sbw]

There may be two. I googled and came up with son. Makes no nevermind to me. Giving either one $230,000 smells enough to be worthy of note.

[DebinNC]

Speaking of a brother the MSM has no interest in... Palin's family must be the most ethical people on earth since we haven't heard about them.

[bad]

Giving either one $230,000 smells enough to be worthy of note.

Word.

[Sue]

Debbie,

Hedge fund groups. Figures.

[Cecil Turner]

I skipped over this one the first time as a nothingburger, but the incessant repetition in the media is getting ridiculous. (I just heard it twice on NPR on a relatively short drive to the store.)

There's obviously no right answer to that question (i.e., downhome newspapers=hick; NYT and WSJ=liar; stumbling=doesn't read), and I can't believe it's an accident that it recalls disproven hick/unread/book banning memes. Not sure how an attempted "gotcha" by Couric is indicative of anything other than her ability to remember someone else's talking point (I seriously doubt she came up with it herself). Palin's recognition of it as a gotcha isn't newsworthy, as it was pretty darned obvious. Her unwillingness to fall into the trap is also boring, and I suspect her talking around the subject was as or more graceful than Obama or Biden could manage in a similar off-the-cuff response.

But it's funny to see the media types fall all over themselves to prove something with a failed gotcha. My inclination is to think she must not've done too bad.