No! Nay! No Nay Never!!! Why should she? Just because she has a normally whacked life is that any excuse for this sort of reporting by Ibbitson today?
"We have not scheduled Wednesday and Thursday," Mr. Mendelsohn told reporters. "So I couldn't tell you what is confirmed and what is not confirmed." On a normal news day, this would be shrugged off. Of course Ms. Palin will speak in prime time; vice-presidential nominees are invariably given that slot. But at around the time Mr. Mendelsohn offered his remarks, Intrade, the online forecasting exchange, was predicting that there was a 13-per-cent chance Ms. Palin would withdraw as vice-presidential candidate before the 2008 election. This was no time for campaign strategists to feed such rumours by refusing to confirm what should be obvious.
So because a bunch of geeks "vote" at a staggering 13% for the far fetched, the Globe and Mail can report on it as the basis for taking the far fetched as plausible. As far as I can tell, in the flow of the opinion piece, that loser/nerd website statement appears to be the actual linchpin to the argument - the telling stroke.Has it come to this? Are the internet left us so devoid now of the ability to judge relative merit that anything (and I think that a 13% position on Intrade counts as "anything") can be tossed in as a ground for an argument in political thought?
Comments
Ben (The Tiger) - September 3, 2008 10:00 am
Nah.
It just shows us how bereft of talent some of the people we considered "respected journalists" actually are. (Or how willing they are to sacrifice their credibility to push an agenda.)
But hey, what the heck. I think it means more that we're moving back to a 19th century model of journalism.
sean - September 3, 2008 11:18 am
Again my link made my post bounce, so again I just say that Palin will set in well with the republican droid army when the news spreads of her book banning past. She fired a head librarian who refused to censor the stacks, then was forced to re-hire her due to public pressure.
sean - September 3, 2008 11:20 am
All that being said, she does posess the look and persona of a younger Laura Roslin, with whom I have a fan boy love hate relationship.
Greg - September 3, 2008 1:53 pm
I say keep her in. The campaign would be boring without her. America needs a secessionist VP! America needs a VP who believes in book banning! America needs Sarah!
Alan - September 3, 2008 4:29 pm
At least she doesn't go around advocating charging the President!
Jay Currie - September 4, 2008 4:27 am
I think it is delightful that Mrs. Palin has so changed the game that her experience and speech making abilities are now being compared to the Oman's. They are, as I recall, running for different positions. But now they are running against each other with the old silver backs relegated to the wings.
Tomorrow night McCain has to show up, say "I'm with her" and then get down to outlining a real vision for America.
Better still, Biden is looking like the spent force he is.
All that said, I suspect I agree with Mrs. Palin's actual positions about as much as I agree with Obama's. I am not a fan of book banning or the hard end of pro-life. But the Republican base is, the Evangelicals are and Joe and Judy Lunchbucket are. The swing vote here may well be the people who stayed home in disgust given the choice between Bush and Kerry or Bush and Gore.
Class in America is a funny thing. Nascar Dads are married to security moms and go to big churches in shorts on Sunday before settling into a day in front of the big screen and a couple of beers.
In a rather real sense, Mrs. Palin knocks on the door of Al and Peg Bundy's house and walks right in. She is the woman who Oprah has always hoped does not exist and who Rosanne Barr has made millions pretending to be.
It should be a very interesting few months and, just for fun, we'll squeeze in a personality free Canadian election, while the Americans march off to a full scale culture war on TV.
Sean - September 4, 2008 7:53 am
I miss the ideal television US of the 1950's. Now its Mayberry with a pitchfork, a theocracy and everyone owns a torch.
Hans - September 4, 2008 8:47 am
Nice line, Sean....