Palin's "White Flag Of Surrender" Line Falls Flat

Sarah Palin is touting the Surge, and America is apparently not that interested, according to CNN's reaction meter of Ohio uncommitted voters. Dial Line stays flat, flat, flat. Biden touts Obama's plan, the dial line shoots up. Especially at the idea of Iraqis taking responsibility. Women especially like the idea of the Iraqis spending their own money. Timetables get tepid support. Palin's accusation that Obama and Biden are waving the "white flag of surrender" sends the line plummeting.

Comments

[BlackJAC]

The troops would really like to come home and remember what it's like to be people, and that's a bad thing, Governor?

[Ohg]

Well so what, we like her anyway. .................
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/01/rednecks-for-palin-wasilla-aa/

[sf girl]

People who "like her anyway," regardless of how uneducated she is on the major issues affecting Americans and how frighteningly unprepared she is to be vice president, should not be allowed to vote. What is there to like? Her condescending tone? Her folksy talk? It's pandering, insulting and irritating.

[firstwizard]

These are the same people that have never been twenty miles from their home towns. They have no clue about the international stage or what the issues are beyond the weekend turkey shoot at the drive-in.

[peloquin]

...it's GWB in a skirt!

[foxbat]

Biden mentioned something that needs to continually be hammered over and over and over. If I heard him correctly, and sometimes my hearing ain't what it used to be when I was a tad younger, he mentioned that there are some 400,000+ Iraqi security forces that have been trained and that need to step up and take charge. That works out to almost TRIPLE the amount of US forces on the ground in Iraq. Also, Iraq has an $80 billion surplus this year while we spend almost $10 billion a month there. What are the Iraqi's waiting for?

There seems to be little reason why you couldn't put a couple hundred thousand Iraqis in the streets and draw down at least 30,000-50,000 US soldiers for redeployment to Afghanistan, or better yet, a very well-deserved rest back here in the States.

That idea of Iraqi responsibility shot up the dials in registering how the audience was responding to the debate. Also, with women, the idea of Iraqis using their money in this war also scored big. The Surge and the "while flag of surrender" fell flat. Obama has constantly gone right at McCain's strong suit to challenge him head-to-head. Every time the word "surge" comes out of his mouth, Obama and Biden should reiterate the number of Iraqi security forces that are available and how much this is costing us per month.

[herhonor]

You heard correctly. It is far time to let the citizens of that country work out there own problems; We are in trouble here

[WasteNJ]

I was hoping that Biden would respond the the idiotic comment about needing to "surge" in Afghanistan by citing that's exactly what Russia did in the 80's and had no success. But luckily, Palin mis-named the General in charge of Afghanistan and mis-stated his position on the matter- General Mckeirnan opposes the idea that a surge will work there.

Tomayto, to-maaato

[Katzenflitzer]

She used the same words... over and over and over and over... It's enough to make any normal person sick, but Americans put up with it still. Who really is as dumb as these people pretend to be? Who are they empathizing with? Pathetic, incurious swine.

PalinBot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn975QEdTU

[comacoma]

We'll find out in November if people still put up with it... I doubt it.

[boogiewoman]

How many wars has John McCain won? She said," John knows how to win wars." Name One for us. I think you'll have to wink when you tell us Mrs. Palin.

[bpowell1]

She did say that and McCain himself has said it a million times. But I have been asking that question for about a year now myself. What war has he won? No one never seems to be able to answer that. I want anyone to tell me that. I think everyone gave McCain all of this credit because he said he was a foreign policy expert but the reality of it is can anyone name one thing he did for Americans that made a significant difference in the way we live. The reality of it is he should be doing better than what he is doing right now.

[SailFree]

Well, it would not be the first time in history when wurrender was favored by a people--but who were these people? We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after years in Vietnam, just as the N. Vietnamese were approaching surrender. We do not want to do the same thing in Iraq. We who actually remember history as it was, not as it has been rewritten.

[ezbreezer]

Seek professional help.

[SlinkyTWF]

Or an accredited institution of higher learning.

[herhonor]

Oh my gosh! you have to be kidding. The North Vietnamese were never about to surrender. If that were true, then why we we have to airlift people out of harms way . The evacuation was horrific; no one wants to see that replay in Iraq.

[Punkynsnow]

'the N. Vietnamese were approaching surrender.'

What????? Where'd you get that from?

Astounding. You are the one who's rewriting history there SailFree.

I'd be curious to know what you definition of victory in Iraq would be.

[ohiodem250]

She used the words "Joe Sixpack" in a debate...and it wasn't even laughed at. Folks, we live in an idiocracy. When smart equals elitist and a Vice Presidential candidate can't name a Supreme Court case they disagree with - and the excuse is most lawyers wouldn't know - the country is f*cked.

[Mahi Joe]

Remember, the Repubbies want to get rid of the Dept. of Eduction. It just seems that the GOP resents anyone who is educated beyond high school and describe them as Elitists. My family scrimped and did without so I could attend University as many families do today. If we had more educated people we would have better candidates than someone who was almost last in their graduating class or someone who went to six universities to get one degree.

[comacoma]

An educated citizenry is the enemy of republicans.

[starboymikey]

It just seems that the GOP resents anyone who is educated beyond high school and describe them as Elitists.
________________________________________________________________

When you talk about the GOP resenting anyone with something beyond a high school education, please be clear about who you're talking about. The GOP party wonks who run the campaigns and the lobbyists who support them are all highly educated.

What they have done is identify a large segment of relatively uneducated Americans and play off their resentments by pointing a finger at so-called "elitists" who are educated. They do this because they need a convenient scapegoat for their own policy failures. Every authoritarian government looks for a scapegoat to keep it's "base" in line. In this case, the scapegoat is us.

[fnygy]

I'm not usually one to get pissy about accents - regionalisms, at it were. Palin can say "nucular" all she wants. But I-raq and I-ran - OMG. It's like I-talian, for god's sake. I suppose it's all part of the "folksiness" appeal she's supposed to have. To me, it sounds ignorant. Besides, all that folksiness sounded too rehearsed to me - Fargo gone round the bend. I half expected her to say, ala Marge Gunderson "Don't get snippy with me, mister - I'm just tryin' to do my job!"

[oommoore]

I saw an interview of Ms. P a lins sister and she did not have that same accent. What does that tell you? Look back at her debate for gover ner. Her accent was less pronounced.

[mema01]

She is a cartoon character. Programmed to be folksy, irreverant, down home and a little undereducated, just like Americans. At least that seems to be what her programmers think of you America. I believe that the republican king makers think the the average person out there is pure trailer trash. Sorry, but think about it!!!

[Sparty1]

Her parents don't sound like that either.

[sf girl]

Thank you! It's so obvious that she's putting on an "accent' to try to appeal to "regular" folk but all it does it make her sound fake. Did anyone else think she also spoke as if she was still sitting behind an anchor desk? The planned pauses, the head bobs and winks? It was like a performance instead of a conversation. The way she spoke came across as too planned and rehearsed. Joe Biden was speaking off-the-cuff and conversationally. The difference was striking.

[SailFree]

Well, Jimmy Carter always said nucular, too, but I have never heard ANYONE make fun of him because of it, right wing or left. Why is the childish condescension and arrogance always coming from the "tolerant" left? Does anyone know?

[pinkyboo]

I'm very tolerant, if the way she pronounced nuclear was her only problem then who would care? She is proposing to be a heartbeat away from the presidency and she is a complete dunderhead.

[herhonor]

I suppose if a physicist "mis-pronounces" a term from their own discipline, we non-scientists must let it go; besides , he isn't running for President (sic)

[quinn52]

Jimmy Carter may have pronounce nuclear as "nucular," but he was a nuclear submariner and studied nuclear physics at the graduate level. Sarah Palin is a bumpkin.

[SlinkyTWF]

What you fail to understand is that McCain never condescends during debates. I think your argument just lost it's credibility.

[Punkynsnow]

What ack-sent are ya talkin' about? lol...

Fargo gone round the bend indeed!! Very well put.

[1dogs2]

You betcha!

[comacoma]

Very funny.. my son said that she sounded like a not very intelligent resident of Fargo... LOL

[Nonamnesiac]

Americans want out regadless of the surge. Simply stated, Americans believe we shouldn't have gone in, and there is no victory -- that even with the surge reducing violence temporarily the Iranians won, as Maliki, Sistani and the majority Shia are closer to Iran than to the US. Finally, Americans don't want to spend another nickel there, especially now that it's being paid for wih their 401(k)s and IRAs.

So although Americans are glad there's a reduction in violence and dead and maimed Americans, they still want out yesterday, and don't want US forces there another week let alone McCain's100 years, whether there's violence or not, unless we're not spending a life, limb or nickel for our being there.

[SailFree]

Well, this is a reason the Founding Fathers created a republic, not a democracy. One notes that there may have been a majority who did not want to fight the British, but it was still the right thing to do.

[thundermummy]

If that isn't a simplistic statement then I'm a Chinese fighter pilot (ne Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness). If the surge is working (or worked in the past tense as McCain has said on occasion) then why don't we have a stable political government that can stand on its own? Wasn't that the point of the surge, to reach a political end? It's time to start pulling American lives and money out of Iraq and let Iraqis steer their own destiny. If we can't then the surge was b.s. and staying there longer is a waste of time. If we can, pat yourself on the back about the surge and get out. Either way, let's bring Americans home and stop the bleeding of our treasury.

[JaniceL]

This whole 'win' thing in Iraq is a joke. How would a 'win' be measured? What would it entail? Who would call it? Americans should be as angry about this war as they are the bailout. The Iraqi leaders are plundering our resources (human and financial) and laughing all the way to the bank while we're struggling back home. Why would anyone support staying in Iraq indefinitely simply so we can say we won? We can't afford it! Since Palin mentioned fiscal responsibility last night, she should understand this.

[herhonor]

Uh DUH, Did you notice that one war was for OUR freedom on OUR soil and the other we butted in for bucks? There plenty of other WORSE regimes on this planet with worse human rights violations but they don't have anything we really want.

[Nonamnesiac]

As opposed to invading and occupying Iraq which was and is the wrong thing to do. And the Foundng Fathers would have vomited in how King George lied us into Iraq, didn't obtain a Declaration of War and promoted torture as a national policy.

[SlinkyTWF]

News flash. The Constitution was adopted in 1787. The American Revolutionary War was already over. There was no vote.

And I presume you are blogging from Afghanistan.

[Wiserone]

She didn't deliver in substance. Pageant answers, no intellectual depth and puts more doubt than not as to whether she is ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. "Anyone" can memorize lines but can one then have command of the subject much less the language, which she doesn’t have either. Instead, I see a repeat of what we've been fed for the last 8 years from Bush ET AL. I believe Americans are tired of being asked to 'dummie down' and her folksy demeanor proved that too. McCain pandered and marginalized all women when he chose Palin and after last nights performance that was proven more so.

[StevieRae]

I hope you're right. I'm questioning, even after this financial debacle we're facing, whether enough Americans are at the point of saying "enough already?"

[SlinkyTWF]

The fact that you even need to ask that question speaks volumes. Sadly.

[SekhmetHathor]

It took Palin about five minutes of rustling threw her papers to come up with the "white flag of surrender" line and it didn't even work.

Price of government bailout? 700 million
Price of Republicans surrender line falling flat? Priceless.

[2lib4oh]

Palin and McCain can't seem to sell the war anymore.People are too worried about the meltdown in America.Times were much better when Bush sold the Iraq war the first time and 9/11 was fresh in everyone' s mind. Now we are worried about losing our homes and taking care of our kids.

Americans are becoming patriotic about something other than war. You can't catapult the propaganda anymore. These "Mavericks" seem like Misfits in these hard times.

[cybertoothcat]

As a child, I watched the popular show "Maverick" on television, and Gov. Palin, you and Sen. McCain are not Mavericks.
On a more serious note, however, at least her handlers/trainers gave up in disgust and told her to ignore the questions. It didn't work and everyone noticed. All Americans aren't quite that dense....just the Republicans.

[BarackDaVote]

"Ending a war is a white flag of surrender".....LOL

This is not a war we are fighting in Iraq....WAKE UP PEOPLE!

[SailFree]

We are in a decades-long war with Muslim extremist jihad. WAKE UP PEOPLE! This won't be ended by winning OR cutting and running from Iraq--but it will worsened tremendously by cut-run. That will give heart to the jihadists. It will make their recruiting easier--"see, we can beat the Great Satan!" It will damage the morale of OUR troops, and it took 20 years after the cut-run in Vietnam to get that morale back up. WAKE UP PEOPLE! The jihadists will not sit down and negotiate reasonably at the table. THEY ARE FANATICS! Religious fanatics have no intention of keeping any bargains they make. Negotiations are useless unless BOTH PARTIES intend to abide by the agreements.

[Punkynsnow]

We ARE awake. Seems like you are the one with your head in the sand.

You are right that the jihadists are our enemy. And Bush/Cheney's idiotic war has played right into the hands of those who would bring us down. We are bankrupting our country while the real enemy, Bin Laden and his network are out there still, gaining strength. The fact of the matter is that even if we 'win' in Iraq, we will not have gained anything. We let Bin Laden get away and gain strength to plan more attacks, while we've put our resources into the Iraq invasion and occupation. It was not then is still not a war.

Bush/Cheney took a page right out of the Soviet's Afganistan playbook. Guess how that turned out for them?? Oh right. They bankrupted themselves right out of existence.

It is criminal what the current administration has done, and McCain promises more of the same policies.

Why is ANYONE buying into this nonsense??

[SlinkyTWF]

Then hie thee to Baghdad and save us. The GOP will have found a way to revoke your GI Bill and VA benefits by the time you get back with your case of reality-induced PTSD.

Hic Rhodus, hic salta.

[Levittown]

The veterans and the soldiers at the front will long remember how John McCain voted whenever a
bill to benefit them and their families came up. He was derelict in his duty to protect the men and women he always brags about caring for. He was an officer with a narrow mind towards the non-coms. His attitude reflects his voting on medical care for the common folk and the children as does his concern for the college hopes for the less fortunate. True he was a POW but that does not excuse his Senatorial mis-steps. That was then...this is now. As for Palin, she is still under the gun in Alaska. And that is by her own Republican legislators. Her resume is suspect too.

[shaaronie]

Exactly! It was an invasion followed by a long occupation.We entered the war under the pretext that an attack with WMD's from Iraq was imminent. The lies and spin of the Bush Admin along with the cowardice of the Dem. leaders has us all refusing to call a spade a spade. We invaded Iraq! As soon as we admit that, it will be much easier to come to terms with ending the occupation.

[ButterflyWeed]

Can anyone recall a single straight forward answer from this woman? She excelled at redirecting back to her memorized talking points over and over.

[gladys46]

She is worst than I thought ... and that's bar on the ground in the 1st place !

[clearthinker2008]

Nope, no straight forward answer.... the streak continues.

[4Ply]

Nope. It was pure reguritation. And like anyone who has crammed for a test, after the reguritation, there's not much left up there.

[Mahi Joe]

With all that coaching and practice she still did what we all expected. She simply played cute and avoided answering the questions by simply spouting generalizations. Palin has to realize that one in the VP position meeting with a foreign dignitary has to think on their feet and be spontaneous and actually answer the question asked. She is simply not qualified to be VP.

[SailFree]

The difference is that Palin was being Palin, while the Obama Campaign had absolutely forbidden that Biden could be Biden.

[RepublicanForObama]

OK debate performance from Palin. She had her talking points memorized. Good for her.
What was with the winking. I guess it excites the male Joe Six Pack voters of America. Or maybe Palin will win the Iraq war with a WINK!
Joe Six Pack men and women of America are so very simple and easily entertained. Just wink at them.
To choose our next American Idol Vice President,
Text 777421 for Sarah Palin
Text 777422 for Joe Biden
I want a women in the Oval Office, just not this WINKING woman.

[clearthinker2008]

Why was her performance Ok? Please give some examples.

[SlinkyTWF]

Ow, the irony...

[Punkynsnow]

Her performance was okay because she didn't fall to the ground and start speaking in tongues, or bring up Putin's head again.

Maybe the winking/blinking thing is a subliminal message, or maybe she's just not that used to wearing false eyelashes. They feel kind of weird if you're not used to them...

[Truthfighter1]

so ..we can spend 120 billion (10 bill a month) or more in Iraq a year for the last few years, but we can't use 150 billion over 10 years as Obama says to create energy independence. Why is this a problem?
Again we can spend 120billion a year and not afford to give all American's health insurance, are we not worth the Countries we invade?

[ButterflyWeed]

And why isn't domestic oil and natural gas treated as a national treasure where all of us little taxpayer/owners get our cut of windfall profits like they do in Alaska?? Sarah's certainly never promised us that. We could buy our own health insurance with the yearly payment.

[clearthinker2008]

Health care should be about who can and can't afford it. If a fine Country like this can't at least offer the most important thing in the world to their tax paying citizens then we are not a fine Country. Health Care should NOT be a business.

[gladys46]

Too many American's are stupid ... period !

[clearthinker2008]

Sad but true.

[Liberalforsure]

I have always felt that way. It is amazing how the rethugs never want to support programs to benefit americans but can always find money to bail out their rich buddies or fund a war.

[shaaronie]

What amazes me is how well the GOP has done convincing so many that our tax dollars shouldn't be used to benefit US! Giving our money to corporations and other nations benefits us how?? Trickle down? The dumbing down of America is almost complete!

[clearthinker2008]

I have been wondering this myself for years. I'm so sick and tired of the way we run our country and treat our citizens. It's mind boggling.

[Punkynsnow]

Here's why: Because the powers that be are able to make obscene amounts of money on the $120 billion per year war, but they haven't figured out a way (yet) to make the same kind of money on alternative energy development or guaranteed health care for all Americans.

The neocons worship at the altar of the Almighty Dollar. Their leaders care nothing for the struggles and sacrifices of most people in this nation. It's all about the Benjamins as the saying goes....

[SlinkyTWF]

Smedley Butler figured it all out many decades ago. Orwell picked up the theme and ghost wrote it under the monkier Immanuel Goldstein. The war is it's own economic entity.