Awesome Jon Stewart Clip

If Viacom petitions to get the clip yanked from YouTube, I'll try and edit the link when another version of it inevitably gets posted.

Jon shows the flip-flopping of Republican pundits when the shoe is on the other foot.

Possible Veep Replacement?

I don't know how much of this is rumor, but it's been reported that there are some back-room conversations occurring whose purposes are to determine how hard it would be to replace Gov. Sarah Palin as the V.P. choice for Sen. John McCain's campaign. Apparently, she can be replaced easily (aside from public ridicule, backpeddling, and signage production costs) up until she formally accepts the nomination in her acceptance speech at the RNC's convention.

If they decide that she has to go after that, there're waiting periods, mandatory filings, required documentation to state the reason for the switch, and possibly an internal vote among party officials. With that said, you know that the Vetting Squad is very active right now, belatedly turning up every stone in Alaska to see what crawls out. Let's look at some of the highlights so far.

• It's reported on CNN that the Governor's husband, Todd Palin, was once a member of a political party, the Alaskan Independence Party, whose primary goal is to remove Alaska from These United States. They want for it to be an independent nation, to own all their own oil rights, and to be able to drill willy-nilly in ANWR and keep every penny for it. It was the for the attempt of secession that the Civil War was fought, that over 600,000 Americans died in a battle to maintain the integrity of the U.S. The Governor attended the AIP's convention in 2000, but it is unclear as to her membership status (though the AIP claims that she was indeed a member). Bear in mind that the most effective tactic to achieve its goal would be to have its members infiltrate the American government and push the secession agenda. Is Vice President of the United States (and accordingly the President of the Senate) high enough a position?

• She is under investigation for strong-arming a Public Safety Commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law from the State Troopers. Included in her reasons is that he tasered his 10-year-old stepson. That's terrible! Of course the rest of the story is that the kid really wanted to get zapped and begged his stepdad to do it. He foolishly agreed, proceeded to set the taser to its lowest setting, had the boy get into a safe position so he wouldn't fall, then zapped him. Afterward, the kid asked to get zapped again. While this is not stellar judgment on the trooper's part, it is the kind of behavior that one sees in rural areas when boys try to peck out their Manly Men status. This is right up there with the T.V. show "Jackass" and the countless people on YouTube recording themselves getting shot with paintball guns while not wearing armor.

• Remember the Bridge to Nowhere that Gov. Palin claims to have fought against? Now there are reports surfacing that she actually campaigned for it in the first place, before the national attention was directed at Alaska. Not just rumor-filled reports, mind you. Last night, during a Q&A period with RNC committee members, they admitted that "Yes, she was for it before she was against it," but now everything's just hunky-dorey.

• And on the topic of earmarks, which she's supposedly going to fight in Washington, does she mention that her small town of Wasilla (pop. 5,469) has benefited from over $26.9 million? And that's just during her final term as mayor there. That's an average of $4,918.63 per resident.

• Well, maybe she's doing better on the family front. Well, we all know the situation with her eldest daughter, but the family is supposed to be off-limits. I think it would be fair game since much of the Republican's platform is "family values," but I'll lay off. Now the Governor herself is fair game and there is a question as to whether her eldest son was conceived in wedlock. If he were conceived on their wedding night, some calculations put his term at 7 months, 21 days. Quite a bit premature, but certainly not unheard of. I'd be curious if someone knew his birth weight...

Now, please keep in mind that Alaska is difficult to get to, and the Vetting Squad has only really had five days to look into her background. What's going to seep to the surface over the next sixty days? We have roughly 6 hours before changing the bottom half of the ticket gets really troublesome, so let's sit back and enjoy the show.

Republican Veep Selection

Sen. John McCain tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, no puns intended. After reviewing her background, I have to say that this was an incredible choice. Incredibly poor. I'm trying to isolate what it is about her that brings any strength to his ticket. Alaska usually goes red, so there's nothing to "bring in" there. She's a life-long member of the NRA, but so is half of the Republican party, so no gains there. She won "Miss Congeniality" in the Miss Alaska contest of 1984. Um, really?

She was on the city council of her hometown, population 5,469, for four years. Then she got elected mayor for two terms. Apparently, her first task as mayor was to place a gag order on the chief of police, public works, and the local librarian. No one could talk to the press without first consulting her. In a town of five thousand, I assume this means that some of them couldn't say "Hi" to their neighbors without squaring it with the mayor first.

After term limits ended her mayoral career, she tried and failed to get the vote for Lt. Governor. Four years later, she tried and won the governorship. She hasn't finished her first term there, but she has managed to rack up an investigation as to whether she strong-armed, a Public Safety Commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law from the state troopers. She allegedly dismissed the Commissioner when he refused to fire the trooper.

Along with Sen. McCain's famous temper and grudge list, I think the new motto for the Republican ticket should be "Never Forget, Never Forgive".

Sen. Obama, on the other hand, has presided over the Harvard Law Review, served eight years in the Illinois State Senate, and four years in the U.S. Senate. Since Chicago has four times the population of the entire state of Alaska, I believe that Sen. Obama has served the interests of a far greater populace than Gov. Palin.

Let's look a tad bit closer at the good Governor, since we're discussing her experience. She's a five-time mother. Her youngest is 4-months-old and, unfortunately, has Down's Syndrome. Caring for differently-abled children takes a lot of energy and time. Is she going to have the time to perform her duties as V.P.? Is she going to have the time to even campaign for it? Perhaps her 17-year-old daughter, just starting her senior year in high school, could help out with the infant. Except that she is 5 months pregnant herself and might have her hands full.

What's left that the Governor brings to the table? The only thing I see left is her gender. Maybe McCain felt he needed a woman on the ticket to bring in Hillary's supporters. But, as I heard on some morning show today, Hillary was a woman who was strong on issues and had a solid track record. This is not to say that there was a woman-sized-hole open on the ticket and any woman could fill it. There was an incredibly-strong-and-popular-Clinton-sized hole to be filled.

So, the Republican ticket wants to put a rather inexperienced 1-term governor, with infant children and grandchildren into the position of being 1 heartbeat, 1 stroke, 1 coronary, 1 cheeseburger away from being the President. And McCain says that he was fully aware of the upcoming grandbaby and it did not affect his decision on the affair. Again, not-so-great judgment being displayed by the Senator from Arizona.