Palin said a lot of words last night. Mostly "also." I lost count at 96. Afterward, many pundits were saying she was readying herself for a 2012 bid for the Oval Office. Really? Look, I'm all for straight talk, but why is it that we feel the need for Joe Six Pack to run our country? And didn't we just have eight years of that? I guess eight more could be cool. We'd have Rose Garden speeches about football, shotguns and chili dogs. That'd be awesome. And it's just what we need, also. I'm sure the writers of every late-night talk show are, in some way, hoping Palin sticks around. Talk about writing in your sleep.

The only thing more frightening - or disheartening - than Palin as our Vice President is Palin as our President. If she were a man, we'd all be so much harder on her. On her fumbling for words, lack of knowledge, her folksy way of speaking, her contradictory statements. Imagine it. If she were an older man, everyone would have a field day with it. But as it is now, Fox News is chalking up a victory for her simply because she tells it like it is while sounding like an outsider. Whatever that means. I think it means you play with the hand you are dealt. And they're doing just that, even though they've got a pair of twos. Ugh. Here's to Palin-Sixer '12!

An excerpt:

Palin: Patriotic is saying, government, you know, you're not always the solution. In fact, too often you're the problem so, government, lessen the tax burden and on our families and get out of the way and let the private sector and our families grow and thrive and prosper.

Palin (minutes later): There is not. And how long have I been at this, like five weeks? So there hasn't been a whole lot that I've promised, except to do what is right for the American people, put government back on the side of the American people, stop the greed and corruption on Wall Street.

And the rescue plan has got to include that massive oversight that Americans are expecting and deserving.

Er, Wieden+Kennedy.

I believe I pulled this from The Washington Post. It doesn't really matter, though. All that matters is you're not going to get anything remotely truthful out of the candidates these days. And I don't want to sound biased, but the McCain-Palin camp is especially guilty of spewing half-truths.

From a Times Op-Ed piece:

Look at Carly Fiorina, John McCain's top economic surrogate - if you can find her this week, after the news and her narrative fused in a negative way. Dismissed as head of Hewlett-Packard after the company's stock plunged and nearly 20,000 workers were let go, she was rewarded with $44 million in compensation. Sweet!

Thank God McCain wants to appoint a commission to study the practice that enriched his chief economic adviser. On the campaign trail this week, McCain and Palin pledged to "stop multimillion dollar payouts to C.E.O.'s" of failed companies. Good. Go talk to Fiorina at your next strategy session.

Click here for the whole thing.

Labels: ny times, palin, sucks