Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Getting all mavericky with the Senate

Gettin' all maverickyWhat exactly does the Vice President do anyway? Well, Sarah Palin had this answer for an inquiring third grader named Brandon:

"[The Vice President is] in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to, they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom. And it's a great job and I look forward to having that job."

Oh, really? Well, let's all take a peek back at Article I of the Constitution for clarity: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided."

Essentially, the Vice President presides over the Senate and, for the most part, it is more of a ceremonial position and one that really only gets called into play in order to break a tie vote. In other words, the Vice President has no official role in developing legislation or determining how it is presented to or debated by the Senate. It is the leader of the majority party that is in charge of the Senate, not the Vice President.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want this woman babysitting my children, let alone getting all mavericky with the Senate as the Vice President.

For further insight into how being the mayor of Wasilla unequivocally prepares you for being President, check out this interview with current Wasilla mayor, Diane Keller (the interview is about halfway through the clip).

If you don't have the patience or bandwidth, let me provide a transcript:

Jason Jones: Do you think being a small-town Mayor prepares you to be president of the United States?
Mayor Dianne Keller: An unequivocal yes.
JJ: How?
Mayor: How?
JJ; Let's say you have a problem with the fire department? What would you do?
Mayor: The city of Wasilla doesn't manage the fire department.
JJ: Ok, fine. Let's say there's something wrong with the school system?
Mayor: We don't do the school system.
JJ: Just pick any social service.
Mayor: We don't do social services in Wasilla...
JJ: Um, what do you do?
Mayor: What do we do in Wasilla?
JJ: Take me through the Mayor of Wasilla's day.
Mayor: (nod, nod, nod), Just different, different things on different days...um, well Mondays at 10 o'clock we always have a staff meeting, and then, um, um, (long pause) every Thursday is a check-signing day, so I sign all the checks for the city of Wasilla--pay the bills...

And there you have it! Executive experience.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the appeal. Nope. Not. at. all.

Anonymous said...

First a disclaimer: I am not voting for either McCain or Obama. I am voting for a 3rd party (as I do each year).

Why do Obama supporters blindly criticize Gov. Palin when there own candidate isn't even qualified to be a US Senator? That's right - Obama's political experience is so thin that he is marginally qualified to hold any federal office, let alone Senator or President.

I'm not saying he won't be a good president. He certainly has many strong qualities. But experience is not one of them.

Anonymous said...

First a disclaimer: I am not voting for either McCain or Obama. I am voting for a 3rd party (as I do each year).

Why do Obama supporters blindly criticize Gov. Palin when there own candidate isn't even qualified to be a US Senator? That's right - Obama's political experience is so thin that he is marginally qualified to hold any federal office, let alone Senator or President.

I'm not saying he won't be a good president. He certainly has many strong qualities. But experience is not one of them.

Gretchen said...

In all fairness, which I have yet to see you give to Sarah Palin, I think she was trying to relate to a third grader in a clear but brief way. She could have explained the constitution to him, but time probably did not allow. Plus she knows how to relate to children well, since she has 5 of her own.

Secondly, Sarah Palin is NOT running for President. Why don't you save these criticisms for when they are valid, hopefully in 8 years.

Thirdly, I will repeat a comment I've made here before: If you are so adamantly opposed to Sarah Palin and John McCain, I am wondering when you will EVER have something positive to say about Obama or Biden. I have never seen a post on either of them, but it seems like McCain, but especially Palin, sure takes up a lot of space on your blog page. If you dislike her so much, why do you bother? It's not changing the mind of her supporters and you already know who agrees with you. What are you trying to achieve?

equa yona(Big Bear) said...

Marginally qualified for the senate? What qualifications does he lack? I think the basic thing one might hope for in any candidate for any job is that they have a clear concept of the job duties. This woman is not competent regardless of her experience signing checks in Wasila AK. In all fairness though, assailing Palin's experience is simply demanding consistency from the Republican who began the onslaught against Obama.

Anonymous said...

Having a clear concept of job duties does not qualify you to be anything. I have a clear concept of a teacher's duties (my wife is a teacher), but I am not qualified to be a teacher.

esther said...

pleeeeeeaaaase tell me she won't be the vice president of any country?! ever!

Midge said...

I can't speak for the author of this blog, but I can give my own side. I will ignore for the moment that the McCain campaign spends far more time trying to tear down Obama than building it's own side.

I am well-educated, but unemployed. I am drowning in student loan debt. I care about my country, love people, and love peace. So I am worried about my financial future, the possibility of having health care sometime soon (since I'm behind on my cervical cancer screenings and a little nervous), and I like Barack Obama's plan for providing people with health care. I think he understands my situation and the situations of those much worse off than I am. Community organizer experience will do that for you.

Despite the fact that Sarah Palin and Joe Biden are VP candidates, they also need to be ready to be president in the event of a terrible tragedy. Joe Biden is someone that Obama can look to as an advisor, Sarah Palin is not capable of that role. I love that Joe Biden is such a huge proponent of Amtrak, because to me that means he believes in public transportation. Setting up more areas of this country with good public transportation options will make it easier for people to get to work while keeping cars off the road and reducing the amount of oil we need.

I support Obama and Biden because they want to end the war, I support them because they support me and my right to make my own reproductive decisions if, god forbid, I should ever have to make such a choice, and I support them because they support the rights of my committed gay friends who want nothing more than to be recognized as a couple with all of the legal benefits that it brings for other couples.

Anonymous said...

Jlygrnmigt - Those are all viable/good arguments from an educated person, much better than "pleeeeeeaaaase tell me she won't be the vice president of any country?! ever!" or "Getting all mavericky with the Senate". Although I do not agree with your opinions, I respect you for at least making a real argument.

Violet said...

"In all fairness, which I have yet to see you give to Sarah Palin, I think she was trying to relate to a third grader in a clear but brief way."

Perhaps, but she related to Katie Couric in exactly the same way, and KC is decidedly NOT a third grader, so I think your argument is more than a little invalid.

"She could have explained the constitution to him, but time probably did not allow."

Really, I don't think could have. I don't think she has the first idea about the constitution--unless of course it's the second amendment. Beyond that, I don't think she could tell you a single thing about it.

I find it highly amusing that some people lack the critical thinking skills to see how imbecilic Sarah Palin is. Having said that, I'm decidedly not "pro-Obama". If I vote (and that's a big 'if'), I too will be voting third party.

Hannah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hannah said...

I keep hearing that this response was simplified to communicate meaningfully to a third grader. As the mother of a very bright well-educated fourth grader whose primary teacher has a PhD in American history, I fail to see how this answer would be at all satisfying to a child. Can someone explain that to me? Making "good policy changes" in the Senate doesn't really resonate with my fourth grader. Being on a team with the president does, as does being the Presidential Understudy --and they are the traditional and central parts of the job. I can't figure out why she would want to extend the description if her goal was really communicating well with a third grader.

Anonymous said...

We watched that interview too and laughed our asses off! I mean, really???

Anonymous said...

The other day it finally dawned on me why I am so conflicted about this Presidential Race. The problem is that I will not be voting FOR someone this race. I will be voting AGAINST someone this race.

I don't believe that either candidate pair will be a suitable President/VP so I won't be voting FOR someone. My vote will be made such that it will hopefully prevent the worst pair from making it into office. In essence I will be voting AGAINST someone. Now if I could only decide on who the worst pair is.

And that is what happens when you are not happy with any of the choices.

TDP said...

Everybody has one person or issue that grates on them or pushes more buttons than the person ever realized were there. This is Crunchy's blog. She has a right to say what she feels and thinks. She doesn't have to be bi-partisan and politically correct all the time! Sarah Palin gets under Crunchy's skin. Crunchy is human! So what? Have we all lost our ability to let others vent without taking offense? Is this criticism of Palin so dangerous that we must lash back and silence Crunchy? (Isn't that the job of Fox New?)If you don't like what Crunchy says about Palin, don't read those posts. Sheesh.

If anyone is so offended by her words that it makes them swear off her blog, then so be it. If a person takes offense but still reads other posts by Crunchy and likes what she has to say, take notice. This is called discernment. Its the differentiation we all make when living among others and deciding what is and is not acceptable. Are we current readers going to be demonized and publicly tarred and feathered years from now because we read Crunchy's blog which had an occasional post that was Anti-Palin? Would that seem fair to you? Obama is being criticized and demonized for living in the same neighborhood, and working on the same panel as Bill Ayers. He's not responsible for what Bill did or said or even says today! Just as you are not responsible for what Crunchy says. And we all have to weigh the good vs the bad and decide what is worth more, and what things you cannot control, fix or change.
I don't like all the bad things said about Palin, and I am not a Palin supporter. But I know how to let it roll off my back. If I find sources say things I cannot tolerate, I stay away from those sources. Like NOT watching Fox News.

Maeve said...

I have never been a McCain supporter, even before he got the Republican nomination. Google "Keating Five", and consider seriously the implications of someone who was found guilty of "poor judgment" in relation to the savings&loan crisis, being our Commander in Chief. When he got the Republican nomination, I knew I would not be voting Republican.

His choice of Sarah Palin is beyond disbelief. I'm against Sarah Palin because with the exception of being supportive of guns & hunting, I have NOTHING politically in common with her. And she's simply made things worse all along the way, the worst of it being her comments about things like "the Real America", as if anyone who doesn't agree with them is somehow un-American. That's a divisive, dangerous, sentiment to put out there. It sets people in this nation against each other, supporting accusations of who is or isn't "patriotic enough" and so on. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that things could erupt into violence and trampling of our Rights.

After all, people during WWI were put into prison for voicing their anti-war opinions.

I think the McCain/Palin ticket is extremely dangerous. And if someone wants to mock Palin instead of talking about Obama, on their personal blog, that is their right. (And Palin certainly gives people plenty of fodder with which to mock her.)

I would have voted for Hilary, as a vote for the lesser evil.

I am an Obama supporter (I have a yard sign, I've volunteered with the local office and gone door-to-door, if I had some extra money I would have donated money), because I believe our country is in extremely hard times, which will get worse before they get better, and he is able to not just stand up and tell people they have to take some responsibility for their life and situation, but that *we can do it*. He encourages people, gives them hope, and that to me is key in the times we live in. In addition, I support most of his views on health care and taxes and education.

I like that he wants people to commit to ENDING wars we get into. I'm from a military family, with members of my family serving in WWII, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They're not too thrilled with "Team Maverick", despite holding a lot of Republican views. As for me personally- I have a child who feels he has a calling to join the military (this he certainly never got from me, as I'm more of the Earth Mother anti-war sort). I'd like to see him not die in some unending war over oil.

Anonymous said...

In all fairness, that transcript is from the Daily Show which is not a "real" news show and could be heavily edited to make her sound like an idiot ( I don't know what kind of editing other news shows do but I would assume the Daily show does more). I don't like Palin and LOVE the daily show but I just want to point this out.

Crunchy Chicken said...

As for making a "real argument" against Palin, the subject speaks for itself.

When I see something funny or stupid, I like to point it out, mostly for my own entertainment and, I hope, others.

Given the fact that this is a person, I always assume that someone will be offended somehow, but then again I run the same risk every time I post about anything racy or involving body functions, ass hair or the like. That's just how I roll. I like to entertain myself at the risk of offending others.

Why don't I cover Obama or Biden? Because neither one of them has done anything funny or stupid enough to warrant me writing about it.

Anonymous said...

You're pretty sure I wouldn't want this woman babysitting my children???? Yeah. Um, no.

Composed said...

For all of you with your panties in a wad over poor Palin being attacked because of reasons not pertaining to issues, I wrote a huge response to why I'll be voting Obama/Biden and what I have "against" McCain/Palin.

But it was three pages in MS Word so I posted it to my blog. LOL http://dirtandlife.blogspot.com/

Peak Oil Hausfrau said...

Thanks, Crunchy, for keeping me laughing. When you're scared to death of another 4 years of Bush-lite (only 90% Bush!), it's nice to have a laugh.

I do hope Obama wins, but I feel sorry for him if he does. There is no way he can dig us out of the hole Pres. Bush has dug for us. But at least he wouldn't keep digging, the way that Sen. McCain plans to.

Quintus Slide said...

I am going to miss her. I really am. She is the gimmick of the year, the gift that just keeps on giving. I especially appreciate the photo, which captures her in all her wide-eyed feckless gradeur.

Anonymous said...

I have some Biden material for you. How about when he said J-O-B-S was a 3 letter word? I can only imagine what your blog would report had Palin said that instead.

Crunchy Chicken said...

Well, if Biden had said that JOBS was a 4 letter word, I would have been more concerned.

Because, apparently, that's what Bush thinks:

Job losses reach worst level in five years

EcoBurban said...

Oh, she wants control of the senate all right. And control of our personal and civil liberties as well as some bridges, a few wolves, some ice caps and even Joe the Plumber I'm sure. I just can't understand why any educated, well-read human can squander their vote on that ticket.

Anonymous said...

Nobody who has a brain and can think for themselves is blindly criticizing Palin. She is just a tactic to get women to vote for McCain, and that should insult a lot more women than it is right now.

I'm leaving the country if the Republicans win.

Anonymous said...

What good will that do, Anonymous? I live on the other side of the globe and can't get away from your Republican President.

Anonymous said...

I left the country before Reagan even ran for President {1979} and I have to say that not being in the US makes the torture somewhat less by far, yet, one often wonders, outside looking in, just what the hell is going on with those wacky Americanos?
I thought Hollywood was the entertainment capital.

Sharlene said...

Two things I can't to see an end to: this damn election and this damn war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Donna said...

You're kidding, right? This wasn't a SNL skit? I'd be laughing if it wasn't theoretically possible that she could become president. Let's hope the other ticket wins.

Anonymous said...

Awwwwww....!! Not this blog, too! I was SO enjoying this blog as a way to escape the political crap going on everywhere else (and of course that it is a lot of fun. Good job on that part, Crunchy) and think about things that are interesting to me and others for a while. Finding like-mindedness, not reasons to fight. Don't get me wrong, I have very strong opinions on the political issues but does it have to be everywhere?

Mama said...

I am also not happy with either choice, and will likely vote for a third party. I think there are a lot of us in this country who would rather vote for a third party candidate, but don't want to risk it. Maybe if we all voted for who we actually wanted to be president something would change. The change we need won't come from either of these guys.

mechiko said...

Seriously... this woman is SO not an Alaskan. And she doesn't even raise her own children - did you know that the reason Track joined the Army was because he got caught with drugs? And she went back to work three days after her youngest was born, and her husband did too. Add in Bristol's unplanned pregnancy (and I'm not bashing her or her choices because I was in the same boat), and you have one very uninvolved, uncaring parent (my opinion of course).
At least the Anchorage Daily News endorsed Obama!

Sherri said...

Wow, Palin has about as much experience as Obama who happens to be running for President.

Obama is a three year Senator with no track record in Government, policymaking, Foreign Policy of any kind, no military experience, has missed 24% of votes since 2005 (McCain has missed 18% since 1993), and sits on 13 committees but has only sponsored 121 bills of which 116 did not make it out of committee. Obama has no experience -- how could he run a country? If a speech is written for him, he presents it well -- if it is ad lib, he is terrible and does not know his facts. Again, no experience -- this is not something you can wing. Yes, our country needs major fixing but I am not willing to vote for a unknown, inexperienced politician who will rely heavily on others to guide him. Who are the "others?"

McCain has major faults too but at least he has a track record that you can follow and know where he stands and votes.

If the election goes the way of the polls, then come January we will have a Democratic president and congress - maybe even a fillibuster proof Democratic Senate. If that happens, the ideas of Obama, Pelosi and Reid will be put into effect without much change. I have to say I'm convinced that if that happens we will see a return to the situation in the late 70s and early 80s - high inflation and high unemployment. I'm also concerned that the taxes we all pay would go up. This group of Democrats doesn't seem as careful with spending as Bill Clinton and the Democratic congress when he was elected.