Why President Obama And Herman Cain Are Praying For A Palin Run

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By David A. Love

Sarah Palin has made some moves lately that signal she could enter the Republican presidential field. With the recent purchase of a $1.7 million home in Scottsdale, Arizona, a beefing up of her staff and the release of a feature film? about her stint as governor of Alaska -- with a debut set for next month in Iowa, of all places -- it sounds like Palin might be preparing to take the plunge into 2012 presidential politics.

If this is true, then there are two people who stand to benefit the most from the news -- President Barack Obama and Herman Cain.

A recent Gallup poll has an surprisingly strong showing for Cain, the former pizza magnate and Tea Party affiliate who has no experience holding political office. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads in the poll with 17 percent, followed by Palin with 15 percent; Texas Congressman Ron Paul with 10 percent; Newt Gingrich with 9 percent; Cain with 8 percent; former Wisconsin Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 6 percent, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann with 5 percent, with John Huntsman, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum with 2 percent apiece. Twenty-two percent remain undecided. CONTINUE....

Sarah Palin: Graceless Under Pressure

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By: Jeffrey Winbush

Sarah Palin could have risen to the occasion in commenting on the Arizona shootings. Instead she revealed a nasty streak of self-absorption. CONTINUE....

Sarah Palin's Dangerous Race Game

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By: David Kaufman - The Root

In her new book, the former Alaska governor questions the patriotism of African Americans who point out the country's imperfections. CONTINUE....

White America Has Lost Its Mind

Todd Harrison (iStockphoto)

By Steven Thrasher

About 12:01 on the afternoon of January 20, 2009, the white American mind began to unravel.

It had been a pretty good run up to that point. The brains of white folks had been humming along cogently for near on 400 years on this continent, with little sign that any serious trouble was brewing. White people, after all, had managed to invent a spiffy new form of self-government so that all white men (and, eventually, women) could have a say in how white people were taxed and governed. White minds had also nearly universally occupied just about every branch of that government and, for more than two centuries, had kept sole possession of the leadership of its executive branch (whose parsonage, after all, is called the White House).

But when that streak was broken—and, for the first time, a non-white president accepted the oath of office—white America rapidly began to lose its grip.

MORE....

Bailin’ Palin

Did she finally get the memo to get out of the spotlight? Or was national politics just too nasty for Sarah Palin?

By: Lawrence Bobo

For now, the great Republican joke of 2008 has decided to step off the public stage. At least that’s how I read this weekend’s announcement from Alaska governor and former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. What will late-night comedians do? Will Tina Fey still have a job?

Of course, some time ago, I concluded that Wasilla and the Palin family were essentially a comedian’s Full Employment Act, the trailer park that keeps on giving. From unwed, teenage motherhood and OxyContin dealers to televised turkey grinding and pointless belly-aching about the humor of late-night talk show hosts, the Palin clan managed to keep themselves in the headlines. But suddenly, the heady mix of media attention, mass adulation, criticism and biting humor seems to be too much for the one-term governor.

Bailin’ Palin....

McCain Concedes Graciously, Bush Wishes Obama Well

By: Beth Fouhy

Flanked by wife Cindy and running-mate Sarah Palin, McCain spoke to supporters outside the Arizona Biltmore Hotel shortly after 11 p.m. EST Tuesday, saying the "American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly."

He conceded the contest as polls closed on the West Coast, adding a string of states to Obama's electoral vote tally and sealing the Illinois senator's victory.

McCain stressed the historic nature of the election, noting that an invitation to Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House by Theodore Roosevelt had been viewed as an insult in some quarters.

"Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country," McCain said.

Although McCain had criticized Obama during the hard-fought campaign as too inexperienced to be president, the Arizona senator said that "in a contest as long and as difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance.

"But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving."

McCain Concedes Graciously, Bush Wishes Obama Well....

John Lewis: McCain 'Sowing Seeds of Hatred'

By: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Gov. George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.

Republican candidate John McCain on Saturday called Lewis' remarks "shocking and beyond the pale."

The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator doesn't believe McCain or his policy criticism is at all comparable to Wallace and his segregationist policies.

In a statement issued Saturday, Lewis said McCain and running mate Sarah Palin were "sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse." He noted that Wallace also ran for president.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights," said Lewis, who is black. "Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

John Lewis: McCain 'Sowing Seeds of Hatred'....

Commentary: ‘There Once Was a Lady Named Sarah’ – An Ode to McCain’s Choice for Running Mate

By: Deborah Mathis

There once was a lady named Sarah
With no fondness for land like Sahara.
She favored cold days,
And old frontier ways,
And big, fluffy hair a la Farrah.

She was that rarest of few
Who was sexy and tomboyish, too.
With game on the loose,
She shot and killed moose
And cooked it at night in a stew.

Her life took a big turn the day
When she felt a political sway.
She thought she’d do better
And got it together
And commandeered the school PTA.

Though her smile was a popular thriller,
Her political instincts were killer.
She would need the big ball.
She needed it all.
She would have to take over Wasilla.

COMMENTARY....

Will Palin’s Attacks Backfire? Barack Obama to Slam John McCain’s ‘Keating Five’ Ties

By: Associated Press and BlackAmericaWeb.com

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

Palin's attack shows that her energetic debate with rival Joe Biden may be just the beginning, not the end, of a sharpened role in the battle to win the presidency.

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.

"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."

In her character attack, Palin questions Obama's association with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground. Her reference was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers' radical views and actions.

Will Palin’s Attacks Backfire?....

In V.P. Debate, Palin Goes Folksy, Biden Gets Emotional – and Nothing Changes the Game

By: Associated Press

Even before she reached the podium, the first words out of Sarah Palin's mouth set the tone for her debate night: "Hey, can I call ya Joe?"

It was an unabashedly, one might even say relentlessly folksy and down-home Palin that greeted Americans Thursday night, with phrases like "Doggone it," "You guys," "Darn right" and, one she must have been saving 'til the end, "Say it ain't so, Joe!" You became "ya," change was "comin'" and a class of third-graders even got a "shout-out" from the Alaska governor.

And whether viewers loved or hated it -- a result likely to split down party lines -- it was clear this was a much more comfortable candidate than the one who faced CBS News' Katie Couric in those painful interviews.

In V.P. Debate, Palin Goes Folksy, Biden Gets Emotional – and Nothing Changes the Game....

Avoiding the Dan Quayle Trap: 20 Questions We Hope the V.P. Hopefuls are Asked Tonight

By: Tomika DePriest

Millions will tune in tonight for the vice presidential debate between Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. This will be an opportunity for the American public and media to judge who has best understanding of key foreign and domestic issues and mastered the art of speaking in sound bites, and which candidate’s message -- on the top of the ticket -- clearly has resonated with voters.

Both Biden and Palin have received mixed reviews in the media regarding their ability to stay on message with their respective parties and avoid gaffes. Some Democrats and Republicans may be holding their collective breath, hoping their candidate doesn’t come off as confusing or contradictory. Neither party wants to see their candidate morph into this campaign’s Dan Quayle. After all, the vice presidential debate is occurring on the heels of Palin’s botched Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson interviews and after a string of Biden blunders, both in interviews and at campaign events. Either way, each candidate will have to rise to the occasion in a way that leaves the audience with a clear understanding of who they are and from where they come.

Avoiding the Dan Quayle Trap: 20 Questions We Hope the V.P. Hopefuls are Asked Tonight....

Black Alaskans See Sarah Palin as Daughter of Privilege, Out of Touch with People of Color

By: Patrice Gaines

Blacks in Alaska said they will be watching closely Thursday when their governor, Sarah Palin, faces Sen. Joe Biden in the vice presidential debate in St. Louis.

They see Palin as a daughter of privilege, someone out of touch with the concerns of people of color, and a government official they’d like to see return to their state to face an investigation into allegations of abuse of power.

Asked about their relationship with Palin, some black Alaskans echo Montean Jackson: “What relationship?” he asked.

“She has very little, if any black representation on her cabinet or on any of the committees that she makes appointments for,” said Jackson, an educator, community activist, and Fairbanks native. “The NAACP, along with other groups, was disappointed there were no members from the black community among her appointments.”

Jackson said many Alaskans know little about Palin.

“I’m over 50, born in interior Alaska before Alaska was a state, and I don’t know that much about her,” he said.

Black Alaskans See Sarah Palin as Daughter of Privilege....

God Don't Like Ugly, It's not just the campaign that's getting nasty. It's you…okay, and me, too.

By Veronica Miller

I can't wait for Nov. 4.

It's not just because I'll finally be casting a ballot in my first presidential election (though, don't get me wrong, I'm pretty friggin' stoked about it). But really, I'm in tip-toe anticipation of that first Tuesday in November, because I'm hoping, hoping hard, that on Election Day, all the ugliness we've seen this past year and a half will finally begin to fade.

Who's being ugly? Everybody. The presidential campaigns, of course. Then there are the pundits. I suppose that's no surprise. The group I'm most worried about is the regular people around me.

My black male friend poking fun at Hillary Clinton. My older black relatives already conceding defeat on Barack Obama's behalf. My white feminist associates remaining uncomfortably quiet while racist and sexist remarks are hurled at Michelle Obama. My best female friend calling Sarah Palin a "bitch." Even me, likening John McCain's oft-repeated POW story to Chris Rock's rift on 50 Cent—"He got shot nine times!"

This campaign is bringing the ugly out of everybody. Me and you … your mama and your cousin, too.

Politics is always nasty. But perhaps the group of choices this time—a black man, a white Vietnam veteran, a powerful liberal woman and an energizing conservative one—has amounted to too much change to accept with civility.

God Don't Like Ugly....

Commentary: Sarah Palin’s Pick as V.P. Shows that the GOP’s Just Fine with Selective Affirmative Action

By: Tonyaa Weathersbe

It’s hard to look at the Sarah Palin craze and not see racial hypocrisy.

Especially if you happen to be black.

Since John McCain plucked the 44-year-old Palin from the Alaska tundra to be his vice-presidential running mate, the party that has spent much of the past two decades building part of its platform on the bones of affirmative action seems to be trying to resurrect it for her.

But only for her.

Palin has been governor of Alaska for less than two years. Before that, she was mayor of a town where fewer than 9,000 people lived -- and which she left in debt. It took her five years and four schools to finally get a college degree.

And she and her aides continue to intimate that being able to see Russia from Alaska’s islands somehow magically imbues her with foreign policy insight

COMMENTARY....

Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama's spokesman on Saturday accused Sen. John McCain of "cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history."

Obama, speaking to a crowd Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire, said, "John McCain wants to have a debate about national security; let's have that debate. I warned that going into Iraq would distract us from Afghanistan. John McCain cheerleaded for it. John McCain was wrong, and I was right."

"The McCain-[Sarah] Palin ticket, they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we've just seen. And they know it," the Democratic presidential nominee said. "As a consequence, what they're going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you.

"They're going to talk about pigs, and they're going to talk about lipstick; they're going to talk about Paris Hilton, they're going to talk about Britney Spears. They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats intend to do."

Asked why the campaign's tone was different from its tone during Hurricane Gustav, Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said, "We have enormous concern for people down there ... that's why we canceled 'Saturday Night Live' ... but these people also came out because they're really concerned about the future of the country, and he [Obama] wanted to talk about those issues."

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds criticized Obama for showing "zero restraint" given the storm and said the "attacks mark a new low from Barack Obama."

The Obama campaign's response was even tougher.

Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history....

Commentary: Great, There’s a Woman on the GOP Ticket – Too Bad She’s the Wrong Woman for the Job

By: Deborah Mathis

For all their controversy, identity politics may be the most natural, the most instinctive politics of all. And, oddly, the most complicated, misread and mismanaged, as John McCain has proven anew.

There is no real intrigue behind it. The reason you want a person of your gender, your race, your religion or your economic standing in a position of power or esteem is because you assume that person shares your sensibilities, your experience and your interests and will act accordingly.

You assume it because the country’s social structure has a history of divisions along race, class and religious lines, and those segregated enclaves produced collections of experiences and perceptions that are in many ways peculiar to each subdivision. Only someone who’s lived it -- whichever “it” it is -- can really get it, goes the thinking. Then, you expect them to represent.

But, when a person entrusted with that presumption proves that he or she, in fact, does not share your interests, he or she bears no more attraction for you than anyone else and, perhaps, less. The allure -- the advantage -- of identity vaporizes.

COMMENTARY....

Commentary: Their V.P. Nominee’s Kin Proves the Hypocrisy of Republicans’ Stance on Sex Education

By: Judge Greg Mathis

When Republican senator and presidential nominee John McCain named Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, he not only made history by selecting just the second woman to run on a major party ticket and the first Republican to do so, he also exposed the deep hypocrisies of the Republican party.

Palin recently admitted that her unmarried daughter was five months pregnant. The self-professed party of "family values," Republicans rushed to support Palin, her daughter and her decision to not only keep the child but to marry the teen-aged father.

While the high schooler’s choice was a difficult one to make it, along with her privacy, it should be respected. The Republican Party, however, does not get off so easily.

Now that one of its own has fallen victim to the abstinence-only education it supports, the GOP should finally admit that its sex-education curriculum is not only limited but harmful.

COMMENTARY....

In Her Debut Speech at the RNC, Republican V.P. Pick Sarah Palin Takes Shots at Obama

By: Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination Wednesday, telling a cheering, flag-waving crowd that she has the experience, judgment and leadership to serve in the White House.

“I will be honored to accept the nomination for vice president of the United States,” Palin said. “I accept the challenge of a tough fight.”

Palin is Alaska’s first female governor, the Republicans’ first woman vice presidential nominee, and according to one political commentator, “the most intriguing woman in America.”

She also is the most obscure vice presidential pick in modern political history who wasted no time beating up on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

“It’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform, not even in the state Senate,” Palin said to wild applause. “This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word ‘victory’ except when he’s talking about his own campaign."

In Her Debut Speech at the RNC, Republican V.P. Pick Sarah Palin Takes Shots at Obama....

Commentary: If Politics Isn’t Child’s Play, Why Should Sarah Palin Get the Kid-Gloves Treatment?

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

It seems there’s a lot more drama tucked into Sarah Palin’s resume than rank-and-file Republicans were led to believe.

So it’s not surprising that the same moral-values zealots who were counting on her story to inject some perkiness into John McCain’s campaign for the White House would be trying to flip the script.

They are, after all, used to doing that; to using their arrogance, the media’s timidity and the public’s fickleness and short memory to obscure the real issues.

It would be a shame if they got away with it again.

The weekend had barely passed when Palin, the Alaska governor and former beauty queen who the 72-year-old McCain tapped as his running mate, was forced to out a family secret: Her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant.

COMMENTARY....

Pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter shakes up McCain campaign

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

ST. PAUL, MINN. -- Republicans swung into damage control Monday as their scaled-back convention was overtaken by news that the unmarried teenage daughter of vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin was five months pregnant.

The revelation introduced a highly personal and unpredictable element into a presidential campaign already steeped in gender politics.

In a statement released hours before the convention opened, Palin and her husband, Todd, did not say when their daughter Bristol, 17, told them of her pregnancy. Bristol intends to marry the father, the statement said -- a move that drew widespread praise from religious leaders and convention delegates.

Pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter shakes up McCain campaign....