The same AP that edited out McCain's infamous "excellent question" response to "How do we beat the bitch?"

Yep, Ron Fournier And Nedra Pickler and Co. stick up for their team.

i pick #3!

I honestly cannot believe we're still flogging this non-issue issue.

The latest polls suggest what the strategy should be: McCain/Palin alienate independents and women because they are RIGHT-WING on the issues and not at all moderate.

That's the message, along with Clinton's "America in trouble on two fronts".

From:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/unsurprised.html

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Unsurprised

"No Surprises From Palin, McCain Team Says"-Washington Post

Senior McCain officials described themselves as "unsurprised" today as huge storms of locusts flew from Wasilla, Alaska and descended upon McCain campaign headquarters. "Locusts were vetted. Locusts were vetted in the vet" said one campaign official, who spoke without attribution out of concern that he would be devoured by a verminous flying cloud. The campaign also said that they were nonplussed by reports that the rivers were running black with ashes, that family pets were begin to speak in human voices, declaiming "Release Sarah!", and that a huge spreading stain was beginning to blot out the Northern sun. "Vetted" said the campaign.

"There are exciting new studies that show that locusts can be used as a source of biodegradable fuel" said Newt Gingrich, as he hunkered down to avoid the black marble obelisks falling from the sky around him. "Palin, if she can be said to have played a role in bringing about these new biofuel resources, should be praised for her innovative role in the solution to our future energy demands".

"These events firmly demonstrate Palin's deep connection to traditional modes of traditional expression, in traditional forms, traditionally." said William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard. "Experience, in the face of these more traditional events, is overrated..." continued Kristol, before ending the interview to wrap himself head-to-toe in mosquito netting and swallowing a bitter tasting anti-malarial drug, the taste of which, as his lips contorted, he noted to be "surprisingly refreshing."

Palin's schedule in the upcoming days of the Republican National Convention has been cut short due to, as one McCain communications aide reported, a desire not to "let the magic out of the bottle too quickly." "Sarah is a precious resource, who each moment brings a new vitality and energy to every worker on the campaign" said the aide, while fighting to remove the nest of serpents which had suddenly materialized on the floor beneath him, and were now slowly ascending his legs. "Do these bite, or just slink?" asked the aide, who spoke on conditions of anonymity so as not to provoke or otherwise alienate the reptiles.

Meanwhile, as the heavens darkened, the seas began to boil, and a voice tore through the clouds shouting, in deep, stentorian tones to one and all: "It was a Mistake!", campaign offices described themselves as "unperturbed". "Serpents materializing, house pets suddenly called to vocal advocacy, Celestial callings to revise and repent...Vetted" said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was turning into a pillar of salt. "Everything that was vetted was vetted in the vet."

Cite:

Head of State:

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/unsurprised.html

The AP is tragically transparent. They see the winds blowing, and know their business model is failing. So naturally, they opt to go the Fox News route, and become the official print news outlet of Wingnutopia.

It's pathetic.

Option 4: The aides hadn't had a chance to ask but were terrified of what the answer might be.

Option 5: The aides hadn't had a chance to even thik of the question, much less ask it.

So you're telling me that John McCain knew she was a secessionist?

All 3 options are equally bad for McLame -

BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Palin is getting torn down, and McCain along with her in the eyes of the public. And with that, I think Obama needs to stay on the track he is on. The campaign need to really push the idea that these people are far right, more so than Bush at this point in 2000. Not more of the same: far, far worse. Stay away from Palin, she will drive herself down.

At first, I thought that we'd have Sarah Palin to thank for the meltdown and impending civil war within the Republican party, but now we find out that she's also going to become cause of the discrediting of Ron Fournier and the Associated Press.

Oh, thank you so much Miss Congeniality 1984 (contested). You've meant so much to us all.

The minor point is how well she was vetted---not very. The major point is that McCain made a conscious calculation to capitulate to the right wing of his party.

Obama negotiated a very spectacular role for the Clintons at his convention, but remained steadfast in choosing the vp he thought was best.

McCain, foolishly, caved in.

Is anybody aware of any anti-Palin ads run by the Dems, or anybody else for that matter, running in any state?

The image of Palin in the minds of many Americans is fluid at the moment. Plenty of information has come out that completely undercuts her glossy image as a "reformer" and enemy of earmarks (the WaPo has a good article on that today), and as Lalo notes, illustrates what a fringe loon she is. NOW is the time for the Obama campaign to aggressively attack Palin (and McCain) on all aspects of her record. NOW is the time to define her, not next week.

If the Obama campaign dithers, it will give the McCainiacs time to regroup and develop the new round of crazy attack ads that they'll be leveling at Biden and Obama, who will then have to spend days or weeks refuting and defending, instead of driving the narrative on Palin and McCain themselves.

Fournier's swimming against the tide here, seeing as how the NYT, WaPo and LA Times have all come out with stories of what a clusterfuck this alleged 'vetting' was.

I'm hoping that in addition to destroying the Republican brand for a generation, this story also succeeds in branding Fournier, once and for all, as the hack he's always been.

PS: The lawyer is lying.

Which begs the question.......

If THIS is what results from a thorough 'vetting', what skeletons do Romney, Ridge, and Lieberman have in THEIR closets??????????

You forgot #4 - Fournier is lying in his column.

AP is now a tainted brand.

"On his MySpace page, Johnston proudly declares: "I'm a f---in' redneck."

"I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing," he says on the site. He also warns that if anyone messes with him, "I'll kick ass."

The Web site, before it was removed, appeared not to have been accessed for a year. On it, he admits to having a girlfriend. On the part where it asks about children, he wrote, "I don't want kids."

I'm sorry, everyone. I'm voting McCain now. This shit is too hilarious to just throw away. I want to see Levi and his tuxedo t-shirt getting hitched in the rose garden.

How's it looking at Intrade about how soon Palin will decide to drop out to "spend more time with her family"?

I suspect the Republicans are furiously "vetting" Joe Biden right now to find ANYTHING to make a scandal out of to take the heat off Palin. I see that as their only real alternative. I won't be surprised if, at any moment, we start hearing about Biden...and of course the Media will gobble it up.

re AP: any word on Charles Babington - the guy who thought Obama's acceptance speech fell short?

Sub-Prime loan borrowers went through more serious vetting than Sarah Palin, Ms. Vendetta '08.

To guard against a coup de GOP, McCain can only dump her now after he's officially nominated. When is that supposed to take place again? Today or tomorrow? If it's before her speech, then I think she's replaced tomorrow morning.

People are not attacking Palin's daughter, they are rightly pointing out the hypocrisy of a Republican establishment that has advanced the politics of character assassination and undermined the Freedom of Religion in pursuit of power. The internet should be replete with apologies from Republicans for supporting right-wing media and party wackos who bludgeon and litmus test fellow Americans with some Biblical passages when politically expedient, while not doing so with other passages like those on fidelity, fornication, shell fish, swine, and indentured servitude. Christian Fundamentalists in the Republican Party and Media that want to impose their particular religious interpretations on others can't have it both ways:

Either, a pregnancy is a personal matter SEPARATE from government (as most open minded freedom loving Americans argue), or it isn't.

Christian Fundamentalists want to impose non-medical/religious-only beliefs on people outside of their church in a nation where your pledge of allegiance means you swear not to do that. By advocating the enforcement of her spirituality into law, Palin invited us to do something we shouldn't have to: to examine the consequences of the imposition of Palin's religious beliefs on those of us who don't share them. Hypocrites deserve worse than being put in front of a mirror that reflects the "family values"/"I'm more Christian than you" that were used to distract the nation from a rational and substantiated discussion on issues that are most deserving of our attention.

Christ was the first to advocate a separation of church and state when he declared "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21, see also John 18:36). Don't you dare use him to hide your lack of integrity, self-reflection, and moral courage. Not even someone who Christian Fundamentalists believe is fit to run the country and pick Supreme Court justices; who embodies their "Christian Values"; is able to keep her adolescent daughter abstinent. If you don't want people to look at how well the politics that puts "abstinence-only education" ahead of adolescent welfare worked out for your daughter, do us all a favor, mind your own business and remember your oath to uphold the Constitution means real American patriots would sooner die than allow their or anyone else's religious-only beliefs to be forced onto others.

The guy who vetted her spent 99% of the time at The Pink Pussycat Go-Go Bar and Grill in Anchorage, and the rest of the time talking to her family.

The AP deserves to be dismantled brick by brick, it is no longer a news organization but a hotbed of partisan hackery. Did I hear that Rupert Murdoch is now on the AP board?

Hmm.

Rachel Paulose, Monica Goodling, Sarah Palin . . . anyone else starting to detect a theme here?

Although I suppose it is understandable, given their traditional status in their male counterparts' world.

The AP deserves to be dismantled brick by brick, it is no longer a news organization but a hotbed of partisan hackery. Did I hear that Rupert Murdoch is now on the AP board?

There is an interesting tidbit about Culvahouse on his wikipedia page. But it remains tantalyzing because the link to an old AP story is dead:
2.^ McCain choice to help with Veep is discreet lawyer who sometimes takes shortcuts to get the job done, Associated Press. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSbbqX-wqc7CFRq_y0cs2kRow_HwD91GDC680

[edit] External links

Fournier, as Washington bureau chief, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just below the water line are Liz Sidoti (who wrote this puff piece), Nedra Pickler and Charles Babbington.
As a journalist, I used to have enormous respect for AP. Meat-and-potatoes, just-the-facts-mam reporting.
Now clearly something has gone wrong at the very highest levels of the organization, and the rot has spread.
Sidoti, for example, doesn't ask Culvahouse the obvious question: "That Alaska independence thing -- that didn't raise any red flags with you?"
Pathetic.
(Apologies in advance if the first version of this I posted eventually shows up; that was some time ago.)

I mean seriously, if people PERCIEVE you as being biased wouldn't you try to dispell that rumor by not being such a hack.