Jay Allen's Blog

Jay, This SHOULD (but it won't) speak volumes to any one that continues to believe that Palin is Qualified to be VP. God Forbid something should happen and she become president.

To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. 

What I don't get is what in the world it is that Obama has ever done to make you think he is qualified?  I honestly just don't get it....

Janna - Obama has displayed what John Kennedy displayed in the beginning of his presidency.  The willingness to surround himself with a whole bunch of smart people in their respective areas of expertise that aren't necessarily yes-men.  Obama has displayed the poise, the clarity and the intelligence in what we should have in the highest office in the land. Obama has displayed that he does not shoot from the hip and exacerbate problems by approaching them with viscerally clouded judgement. 

Jay - I guess home field advantage has it's limits!

Mike - You are correct.  That to me was one of the downfalls of Dubya, he surrounded himself with Cheney & Rumsfeld and shut out most others.  If he'd put together the right team, he might be seen in a different light by many.  No one person can do it all, a good team is what will lead to success.

Jay - It's really a shame that Palin can't read, because if she could I'm sure she would use the powers of her office to get back at the Ankorage Daily News as she has done to everyone else that has shown the world what a moron she is.

Jay---

What I think is most ironic about Palin are:  1) Alaska, has a ton of oil but has the highest gas prices in the country "drill baby drill" and ;  2) Alaska practices a form of socialism.  Each citizen gets a check from the gas companies just for living there.

In my opinion, if McCain loses, his choice of Palin and not Romney or Guiliani, probably cost him the election.

By the way, Janna, graduating from Columbia and Harvard Law, combined with a few years of work experience in local and national goverment could put you in the CEO seat of any corporation in the world including the United States of America Inc.

Aaron, I couldn't have summed it up any better.

I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks about Alaskan Socialism - those oil companies and their executives would make more money if they didn't have to pay Alaskan. Therefore, oil company wealth is being redistributed.

I keep hearing this line about Obama surrounding himself with smart people. Dang, I hope he starts soon. His track record of associates thus far has been one of his greatest weaknesses from Jeremiah Wright to Joe Biden and all points in between. Oh well, just another of those things we have to take on faith rather than performance I guess.

Gene, what do you think about Palin's hometown paper rejecting her ticket?

Media is liberal.  So I personally don't give a flip who any paper endorsed.  My vote will be based on my beliefs of each candidates positions on issues important to me and my family.  My belief of their positions doesn't come from any media, but from my research of their voting records.

Tammy

I concour on your media take. It is a fact that the majority of media has been in bed with the BHO campaign since the day Hillary fell by the wayside. This is evidenced it in all forms of media.  I am a mature adult who can read and make up his own mind about who I want to vote for. I will never understand why a 'Newspaper" should endorse anyone,  unless they want to make the news....which they quite frequently chose to do regardless. 

A true issues voter who thinks the media is liberal?  That's a new one for me.

Tammy without the media, how do you learn about a candidate. I am as likely to meet these candidates as I am Bugs Bunny. As far as their voting records - you or I could spend 80 hours a week and not be able to read the entire contents of all the bills that passed through Congress. So, we need the media to learn about these people.

Now, let's consider the media... you didn't hear much about this "liberal media" before Fox News and Rush Limbaugh came into existence. That entity and that man created a far-right-wing media and convinced their listeners and viewers that everything else was/is the "liberal media". Furthermore, the "news" they report is much more scandalous in nature (it looks more like the National Enquirer than Time) - Fox News is much more likely to talk about Michael Jackson than CNN.

Best practice... read, listen to and watch news from a variety of sources.

Well said, Jay!  As an issues voter myself, I try to read from as many sources as possible.    As an example, for a period in time I supplemented Iraq War US media coverage with the BBC and Al Jazeera.  I can tell you that some media are "liberal" , some are mainstream and some are conservative.  There are all kinds.

Who cares what NEWSPAPER endorses who?  Who cares what actor or actress endorses who?  It's all a crock.  All Newspapers are liberal period..Again.. just vote.. Oh.. and watch FOX news for the truth. Ha!  I'm just trying to push buttons.. don't go crazy.

Tana, while we may disagree here, I appreciate anyone with a sense of humor.

Let's see...

How surprising would it be for a newpaper that "generally supports Democrats" and has endorsed the Democrat Presidential Candidate in:

1972 - McGovern

1988 - Dukakis

1992 - Clinton

1996 - Clinton

2000 - Gore

2004 - Kerry

Surprising?  Not at all!!

What WOULD be surprising would be if they switched and supported anyone OTHER than a Democrat.

But leaving out that inconvenient truth doesn't surprise me either... at least not in one of your blogs.

Yes, David By all means let's print the WHOLE TRUTH

The Daily News generally supports Democrats "But Fanning does not let the paper's politics get in the way of its Pulitzer-caliber journalism: her reporters presently are investigating fund-raising practices by state Democrats".

David - I don't believe McGovern, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore or Kerry were ever public figures in Alaska.  And certainly not public figures with approval ratings near 80%!

Linda - the question wasn't, "How good is this paper?"  Nor was it, "Does this paper exercise balanced journalism?"

No, the question was, "Are you surprised by this endorsement?"

The paper's politics and prior endorsements are directly related to that last question, whereas the quote you seem to feel is important has no bearing on the actual question Jay raised. 

Jay's failure to disclose pertinent information isn't surprising.  And, since you jumped in, I'll add that given the recent history I've seen of your posts, it isn't surprising that you'd bring up information that has no bearing either.

But that's the nature of politics I guess.

Tchaka - Of course none of them were home-grown nor local public figures.  But since when is a candidate running for President of the Country not a public figure in any of the 50 states?

Tchaka, Why do they always pick on me and over look your comments? Is this a sexist thing????

LOL< Oh he got you too. I feel better Now.

Linda - Probably because I'm good at smiling while sticking a dagger in someone's stomach (on email anyway). :-D

David - You're hitting on the same thing I am but looking at it from a different direction.  Being home-grown should give the local papers an inside track on an individual.  I can see a paper with a different slant than the candidate endorsing another.  But when you're home-grown with an alleged 80% approval rating (assuming that number is correct), that means that people of all (or most) affiliations/viewpoints are backing you.  That's just simple math.  So either this is a very left leaning paper (how it would then survive in AK, I don't know) or else they know her better than we do and don't agree with her.

Tchaka - I can imagine them being an exceedingly left-leaning paper and still surviving due to good (albeit extremely biased) journalism.  I see Simon and Inna both as examples of something along that line - they're coming at politics from completely opposite ends of the spectrum, yet, unlike others here, they demonstrate good journalistic tendencies in their writing - not stooping to hiding facts nor name-calling.  Both express themselves forcefully, and often end up agreeing to disagree, yet they're respectful and willing (if pushed to it) to admit when "their side" is wrong.  A good paper will do the same, and will, I believe, survive if not succeed as a result.

My understanding of the 80% approval rating is that it's due to her (socialistic) policy of taxing the oil companies and redistributing that wealth to the families... much more in line with Obama's policies than a traditional conservative's.

While they reportedly did do at least one investigative report on Democrats, I suspect (with no proof either way) that they did far more investigative reports on the Republicans.  Regardless - 5 election-cycles of Democrat-candidate-endorsement creates at least the impression of quite a bit of momentum in one direction, that would be unusual to break from.

David, a few points... the quote "generally supports Democrats" came from May 17, 1976. Nixon, Bush, Dole, and Bush weren't from Alaska. What was the newspaper's logic in supporting Ford and Reagan?

Jay - I don't know.  Do you?

Jay - it appears that everybody missed that the Anchorage paper is not her hometown paper. Her home town paper is the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Now, I don't know if the paper has or has not endorsed anyone. Again, your headline is stretching the truth just a bit.

Mike ~ No, Jay stretching the truth, just a little bit...now how can you say that?

Mike, Wasilla 40 miles from Anchorage - The Anchorage Daily news would be the primary source of printed news for residents of Wasilla.

Nicholas, stretching the truth... didn't you write: "Sarah Palin Packs Stadiums With 60,000 When She Visits The Villages in Florida"??

Just so you know... I didn't say I didn't watch the news, read newspapers or care about news.  I said I don't give a FLIP who ANY PAPER endorses.  The endorsement of a paper doesn't mean anything to ME.  And maybe the issues that are important to me and my family are not the same as issues that are important to liberals or progressives. 

And Jay- Obama's voting tenure in kinda short and it really didn't take me that long to read the each and every bill that he voted yes or no on, I admit I didn't read (just scanned) the ones he voted present on.  Present is a cop out, not a real vote, not why we elect officials.  But honestly it only took me about 2 to 3 hours a day for about 4 weeks to get through all of them.  And I was not amused by the garbage he voted to spend money to accomplish.  I still believe private donations need to take care of many things that others think the government should take care of for people.

I still believe in Government for and by the people and right from my local commissioners to president I vote for the people I think will most accurately reflect my interests as an American.

Jay - I think Nicholas carried 1 zero too many because FL only has about 4 stadiums capable of 60000+ and none are villages (not even Gainesville).  To Palin's credit she does maintain a large draw.  Obama just manages to pull in monster draws.

Voting records.... here's a link to a single bill Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007

These bills are very, very, very lengthy - that's why a Senator has a staff, no single person (including voters) could possibly read and understand everything that is proposed and/or passed through the Senate.

Therefore, people learn about voting records through the media, not by reading the actual bills. If you learn about voting records through the AFA, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. you will hear about a couple of sentences from a 500 page bill that makes Obama look bad - plain and simple.

Tammy, were you amused by Palin's spending? Wasilla is still recovering from her time as mayor. She got the money for the bridge to nowhere. She takes money from businesses and redistributes that wealth to Alaskans.

You are seriously asking Republicans if they are SURPRISED that a media outlet would be for the Democratic side? LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!

You know better than that. We believe almost 100% of the media is pro-OBama and have been saying so for months!

No surprises there.

Jay, I saw in the news today that one newspaper in New Mexico has already printed the headline "Obama Wins".  They said they wanted to be the first.

As for crowd draws, last weekend in Denver McShame drew 4000 supporters and Obama drew an estimated 158,000 supporters.  The McBush campaign used to pad the figures till the media figured out that they would hold a rally at a 7500 people capacity venue, but tell the press there were 20,000 in attendance.  Kinda like the McSurge campaign says his poll numbers are higher than Obama's.  Smoking funny cigarettes I think!

On the subject of media and their selectiveness on what to cover.

http://multimedia.boston.com/pub/m/20274004/presidential_hopeful_residents_complaints.htm?q=Obama+and+Developers

Anyone seen this in any papers? Hmmm, Palin's wardrobe more interesting.  I think if McCain had ties to this, it would be pasted everywhere. 

We better not get jinxed like in 1948!!

Jay - Now there you go again, proving you're a  s l o w  learner!

It was the Fire Chief of The Villages who estimated the crowd for Palin at 60,000, as Nicholas stated in a comment to you on his post.

See here - http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/NEWS0107/80921022 - last sentence of the 4th paragraph, "The fire chief estimated the crowd at 60,000."

Thanks Jeff ~ I am tired of arguing that fact with Jay. He seems not to believe the fire chief who was actually on the grounds.

But  he never says the police or fire chiefs estimating Obama's crowds are wrong. Typical liberals.

Jay - I lived in Beaverton, OR, 12 miles from downtown Portland and it was never my hometown nor was the Potland paper my hometown paper.

I lived in Issaquah, WA, 15 mles from Seattle and Seattle was never my home town nor was the P.I. my hometown paper.

I lived in Benicia, CA, 30 miles from S.F. San Francisco was never my hometown nor was the Chronicle my home town paper.

I lived in Glendale, CA, 5 miles from L.A. and L.A. was never my hometown nor were the Times or the Chronicle my hometown paper.

I believe it is probably similar in Wasilla.

Again, you are stretching it.

Terry- Just so you know we... McCain supports are at work while the Obama supporters are at rallies. But I will get up early to go vote next Tuesday, before I go to work.

And Jay- maybe you can't read 500 pages and understand it in an hour, but I can.

Jay - you just made this a very very good day.:-)

Thank you...

Inna ~ You are easy to please.

Nicholas, you couldn't be farther from the truth:-)

Jeff, Florida officials don't have a very good record when it comes to counting. Perhaps the fire marshal is related to Palin, as was the case with Bush and another Florida official - Katherine Harris. Mike Tucker, the local fire marshal to whom you refer was made available to the press by the McCain/Palin campaign. For what other large events has Mr. Tucker counted the crowd? Where are pictures of this massive crowd (the pictures Nicholas posted on his blog show at most 5k people)? Furthermore, Bloomberg has reported that the McCain campaign has overstated attendance at other events.

Tammy, I'll take you at your word and tell you that comprehending 500 pages per hour is amazing.

Inna, I'm glad someone here appreciates my thoughts!

Jay - You're funny when shooting from the hip - wrong, but funny.  I'll take these one at a time:

First, Florida officials have a great record of counting, as backed up by not one, but two independent media-sponsored recounts, both of which showed that Bush would have won a recount.  I think what you meant to say, was that former Supervisor of Elections for Palm Beach County, Theresa LePore (Democrat, of course),  couldn't design a ballot that was simple enough for the Democrats of Palm Beach County to figure out.  And Bush and Harris are related?  First I've heard of that - got a link?

Next, Mike Tucker is Department of Public Safety Chief for The Villages, and he wasn't "made available to the press by the McCain/Palin campaign" - he doesn't answer to them - he's the logical person any reporter worth his or her salt would seek out for an estimate of the crowd size at The Villages, and he did the estimating, so there was no "overstating" by the campaign.

As for pictures of the massive crowd, you need to understand the venue first.  She spoke from the gazebo located in the center of the Market Square, at Lake Sumter Landing.  On page 2 here, http://www.thevillagescommercialproperty.com/images/download/LSL%20Flyer.pdf , there is a schematic of Sumter Landing.

Now for an aerial photo of it, go here -  http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/market-square,-lake-sumter-landing,-the-villages,-32162_rb/#/homes/for_sale/map/market-square,-lake-sumter-landing,-the-villages,-32162_rb/28.909579,-81.972375,28.907799,-81.976307_rect/17_zm/  Zoom in a bit, match up the street names to find Market Square, and you'll clearly see the gazebo in the center of Market Square.

Now, notice in this pic, all the people "behind the stage", stretching all the way to the lake http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=A4&Date=20080922&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=809220802&Ref=PH&Profile=1001&Params=Itemnr=3   And in this pic, taken in another direction, again people for as far as you can see - http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=A4&Date=20080922&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=809220802&Ref=PH&Profile=1001&Params=Itemnr=17 and this is maybe one quarter of just the people who were able to fit in the square.

My parents live there, and were at the event, and my dad said there were so many people there that the closest many could get was in the parking lots located on the back side of the businesses on all 3 sides of the square, and he said many people who didn't arrive early enough turned around and left when they realized that even if they could find a parking space much further away, they weren't going to be able to get any closer to Palin than those parking lots behind the buildings facing Market Square.

Mike - Why is it that your home state papers seem to have "chronic" in their titles?  Coincidence?  Hmmm.

Jeff Anonymous - This is FL, you know they just wanted to see a "hot chick".

Jeff, as the saying goes... a picture is worth a thousand words. Your description of the crowd is longer than my original post. It's really bizarre that the McCain campaign didn't see fit to pay $1-$2k, rent a helicopter and simply get a picture of this massive crowd. Was it poor planning or was it simply a much smaller crowd than they reported?

Regarding Mike Tucker - again what other 50k plus crowds has he counted? The Department of Public Safety Chief in NYC, LA, Chicago, or any metro area would be credible - The Villages entire population is not much more than 60k.

It's up to us to show that this grassroots movement will do what it takes to change politics in America. 

I will not take from the woman....she is pretty, but who would have thought "looks" qualifies you????

Obama for America

Lexi