President Obama explained to NBC News that the reason companies aren't hiring is not because of his policies, it's because the economy is so automated. ... "There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don't go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you're using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate."This is a perfectly static view, which would have protected jobs in the buggy whip industry by preventing the creation and expansion of the auto industry; would have protected jobs at glass tube manufacturers against the advent of flat screen televisions; would have barred the creation of the cell phone industry because of all the jobs lost in the land line business, and so on and so on.
Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts.The blogosphere, including some conservative and libertarian haters of Palin, erupted in joy, with loads of snark and derision directed at Palin.
I have spoken to Lady Thatcher’s Private Office regarding the story, and they confirm that the attack on Sarah Palin definitely did not come from her office, and in no way reflects her views. As a former aide to Margaret Thatcher myself, I can attest that this kind of thinking is entirely alien to her, and that such remarks would never be made by her office. She has always warmly welcomed like-minded figures in the United States, and has in the past met with numerous US presidential candidates and political dignitaries when they have visited London. But at the age of 85 she is now able to receive very few visitors at all.So now all these people who used a fictitious account of Margaret Thatcher refusing to meet with Palin to belittle Palin now will apologize to Palin, right?
There was never any snub of Sarah Palin by Lady Thatcher’s office. However, there has been a great deal of mischief-making and unpleasantness from sections of the liberal press in a vain and futile attempt to use Margaret Thatcher’s name to smear a major US politician
Bachmann is a much better public speaker [than Palin] and, say whatever one might about her ideas, she is able to present them in a much more polished manner than Palin has ever been able to.Doug Mataconis previously:
Not From The Onion: Michelle Bachmann Mulling Presidential Bid
ABC News is reporting that one of the more bizarre members of the Republican House caucus is thinking about running for President .... Of course, “mulling” a Presidential bid is different from actually running, and even if she actually ran Bachmann would be, at best, a gadfly who got press attention for her outrageous statements. Good for entertainment value, not a serious candidate.
The analysis of Sarah Palin's emails over the past few days may end up teaching us more about the future of journalism than about the former Alaska governor's past.Of course, we all call BS to that explanation, because the crowdsourcing was used on Palin only because Palin was Palin, and the mainstream media organizations did not have enough manpower to do the hit job themselves.
Drawing on methods used by both Wikileaks and social networks, traditional news organizations such as The New York Times and The Washington Post used the Palin email dump as an experiment in new media techniques. They sought collaboration from readers and posted massive volumes of documents online before reporters even had a chance to read most of the papers.
That sort of public coordination — often called "crowdsourcing" — has drawn increasing interest from many journalists. David Lauter, chief of Tribune Co.'s Washington bureau, said he and his colleagues have wondered whether it would be a more productive way of analyzing data.
"It's a concept that we'd been looking at," Lauter said. "This seemed like a great opportunity to test to see how it might work."
There’s also the fact that Sarah’s entire operation is increasingly managed like a CIA field office; that she’s adopted a bunker mentality; that she’s trusting the wrong people, some of whom I know are simply exploiting her.Yet what actual evidence does Ziegler cite; what quotes from people are included; what substance is there in the article other than the fact that Ziegler himself is offended that his opinions that Palin should not run may not be resonating with Palin (in fact, that's not even clear).
Before I left, I felt I had to give the governor at least one piece of advice. After all, I know how politicians work. They surround themselves with yes-people. No one dares speak up. I figured I’d never get another opportunity like this again, so, with the very best of intentions, I told her: “You have to know, you can’t beat Obama in 2012. The media won’t let you. They won’t let him lose and the narrative about you is too negative to correct in three-and-a-half years.”From that silence Ziegler weaves a Stalin-like theory of a cloistered candidate under the control of evil minders.
She said nothing. No-one else spoke, either. I looked around at my crew, and the same thing was written on everyone’s face: “What the hell are you doing, Ziegler?” It was the first of several times where it would be obvious to me that Sarah Palin does not like hearing bad news.
* * * * *The Ziegler article in many ways demonstrates what is wrong with the Republican Party today. It is too reactive to the mainstream media, seeks to impose its vision on the Republican electorate, and when all else fails, resorts to smear and innuendo against someone who has endured more than any other potential candidate under consideration.
Swift was roundly criticized for using staff to babysit her children and for using a state police helicopter to get to her home in Western Massachusetts.Our pathetic MSM spinning a positive Palin e-mail into a negative. Here's my alternative headline:
A few hours later, Palin followed up with another e-mail to the aide:
“What poor decisions she made there. Please, just shoot me if you ever see me travel such a road.”
"AP Maliciously Slams Sarah Palin"--------------------------------------------
Another near certainty whenever Ms. Palin is involved: a media spectacle.Like I said, it practically writes itself.
Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years. She got the vice presidential thing handed to her. She didn't go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance.
If there is a third tier [of presidential candidates,] it would include...Congresswoman Michele Bachman of Minnesota. [She] would have a difficult time being considered a serious candidate.
Over 24,000 e-mail messages to and from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin during her tenure as Alaska’s governor will be released Friday. That’s a lot of e-mail for us to review so we’re looking for some help from Fix readers to analyze, contextualize, and research those e-mails right alongside Post reporters over the days following the release.That's right folks, "live coverage" of a document release, with conclusions jumped to by people with an agenda, spread in real time via Twitter by the elite of the mainstream media.
We are limiting this to just 100 spots for people who will work collaboratively in small teams to surface the most important information from the e-mails. Participants can join from anywhere with a computer and an Internet connection. Read more about how it will work.
If you need inspiration before getting started, take a look at what to expect from the e-mail drop. For micro-updates as tomorrow unfolds, check out our new Twitter feed.
Sarah Palin and her e-mails are just too darn irresistible....
But then the reality of Palin-mania set in. First of all, it didn’t take long for 100 people to sign up, and far more were waiting in line. The Post was trying to screen volunteers for knowledge, ability and political bias, but quickly got overwhelmed by the volume....
So The Post changed course later in the afternoon. Interactivity Editor Hal Straus said in an interview that upon reflection and in light of the huge interest, The Post would make its crowd call more open.What is not "too darn irresistible" for WaPo is an organized effort to obtain access to and analysis of Obama's legislative history, fraudulent campaign credit card activities, or just about anything else which might imperil Obama's reelection.
The updated call-out went up around 6 p.m. with this language: “We’ll share your comments with our reporters and may use facts or related material you suggest to annotate the documents displayed on The Post site. We may contact you for further details, by way of your registered e-mail with the Post, unless you specify otherwise in the comments.”
An adviser to Rep. Michele Bachmann sends over this fairly ruffles-smoothing statement:Not good enough.
“The Congresswoman has nothing but admiration and respect for Governor Palin. The two enjoy a good friendship, and Rep. Bachmann looks forward to working with the Governor for the common goal of making sure President Obama is a one-term President.”
Hiring Rollins is an enormous mistake for Bachmann. It could be campaign killing. The people who hate Palin are the same people who hate Bachmann, and no amount of trashing of Palin by Rollins will change that. Bachmann needs to focus on building, not tearing down.The profound mistake Bachmann made by bringing Ed Rollins on board cannot be overstated.. (Several commentators to my prior post think Bachmann is a stalking horse, but I'll prefer to call the Rollins hire a simple mistake.)
For weeks commentators have tried to set up Tea Party darlings Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, both of whom may end up launching presidential bids, in opposition. Both women have, however, fought the catfight narrative. Bachmann, for example, told "Good Morning America" last week, "I like Sarah Palin a lot, we're friends."Bachmann and her supporters are kidding themselves if they think bashing Palin will immunize Bachman from the treatment. The mocking of Bachmann started long ago, but now will kick into full gear. They will portray every slip of the tongue or error by Bachmann as reflective of a lack of intelligence and wingnuttia.
But that was before Ed Rollins, Bachmann's new campaign manager with a checkered path of dirty and aggressive tactics, entered the scene.
Of course, this has often lead to some amusing off-the-cuff fumbles. She once told a conservative rally at the Capitol: "It's the charge of the light brigade!" (The Light Brigade lost) She also misplaced the historic Revolutionary War towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, into New Hampshire. And in an infamous House speech, she blamed Franklin Roosevelt for something call the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs.
But at the end of the day, the same qualities that often lead Bachmann to the edge of rhetorical cliffs, are the same that ignite fervor among her base in the far right wing of the GOP.A successful career and lifetime of achievement is turned into a caricature based on a handful of misstatements or mistakes. That's what Rollins is doing to Palin, and it's what will be done by others to Bachmann.
"Michele Bachmann obviously is a member of Congress and a representative of the tea party," Rollins told CNN viewers [in January 2011]. "But at the end of the day, we have to get our serious players out front and talking about the things that matter to be the alternative to the president and Democrats."--------------------------------------------
Q. So you think basically on the whole Sarah Palin got her history right?(h/t to commenter CW at HotAir)
A. Well yes she did, now remember she's a politician she's not a historian, and God help us when historians start acting like politicians, and I suppose policitians start writing history.
The basic premise of Longfellow's poem is historically accurate, but Paul Revere's role is exaggerated. The most glaring inconsistencies between the poem and the historical record are that Revere was not the only rider that night, nor did he make it all the way to Concord, but was captured and then let go (without his horse) in Lexington, where he had stopped to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the impending attack.When I pointed out a fact, that Revere himself wrote that he had warned the British that the colonial militias were waiting, the anti-Palinites went into full attack mode, calling me a "deranged propagandist," of making Palin "an object of idolatry," and of validating "the vagina vote."
Longfellow's intention was not to write a history; it was to create a national hero and he was successful at doing so.
Boston University history professor Brendan McConville said, “Basically when Paul Revere was stopped by the British, he did say to them, ‘Look, there is a mobilization going on that you’ll be confronting,’ and the British are aware as they’re marching down the countryside, they hear church bells ringing — she was right about that — and warning shots being fired. That’s accurate.”Fine, call her lucky. But don't shut your mind to the possibility that she was right factually, and don't accuse those who pointed out facts of being idol worshippers or worse.
Patrick Leehey of the Paul Revere House said Revere was probably bluffing his British captors, but reluctantly conceded that it could be construed as Revere warning the British.
“I suppose you could say that,” Leehey said. “But I don’t know if that’s really what Mrs. Palin was referring to.”
McConville said he also is not convinced that Palin’s remarks reflect scholarship.
“I would call her lucky in her comments,” McConville said.
If all people know of Revere is Longfellow’s poem, which is what the reaction to Palin’s remarks seem to show, then they know far less than they think.And Andrew Malcolm:
