Wizbang Blue

Caribou Barbie Sarah Palin is a Quitter

2009-07-03T20:54:07Z

She can't stand the heat, so she's getting out of the kitchen:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) announced this afternoon she will resign from office on July 26 and return to private life, a stunning decision by last year's Republican vice presidential candidate to leave office before the end of her first term.

Sounds to me like another skeleton is about to surface, and Palin is bailing before the crap hits the fan - but Palin attempts a positive spin:

"We know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time on another scale and actually make a difference for our priorities," Palin said in a news conference alongside a lake in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. Using a basketball analogy, Palin said, "I know when it's time to pass the ball for victory."

She knows when it's time to quit and walk off the court in defeat. Her nuttiness os not going unnoticed by some in the GOP:

"We've seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," said John Weaver, a longtime friend and confidant of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the party's presidential nominee in 2008 whose of selection of Palin catapulted the first-term Alaska governor to national prominence.

She'll be back -- like a plague.. she'll be back.

Erratic Sarah Palin Quits Her Job

2009-07-03T20:52:56Z

If anything, Sarah Palin is full of strange surprises if anything. And her latest bombshell that she's quitting her job as governor of Alaska before even completing one full term should just about completely write her off as one of the most non-serious politicians of all time. Her silly rambling public address in which she announced her resignation from office, was so confused that it would even be hard for an Egyptian hieroglyphics expert to decipher why exactly she was really quiting her job. It was a nearly incomprehensible mess. Part a shopping list of her claimed achievements, part a silly claim that she really achieved all that she really wanted serving only a portion of her single term in office. Her claims that can achieve more working outside of the role of a governor of a state are highly suspect to say the least. Sarah Palin may have more time to raise money for a presidential run in 2012. But who wants to put money behind someone as erratic as Ross Perot, who was also known for quitting himself, and then changed his mind and ran again. Sarah Palin's own personal ambitions apparently have left the people of her native Alaska high and dry for now, where the Lt. governor will now have to step in. It is only the latest chapter in this goofy Sarah Palin saga, where only a few days ago Palin attempted to gain political mileage out of a silly stunt by deliberately pretending to misunderstand a joke told by late night comic David Letterman, and beat this foolish issue around for days, milking it for every bit of publicity that she could. For his part, Letterman was wrong to even acknowledge Palin or offer an apology for a stupid joke that really amounted to nothing at all. It only played into her warped publicity seeking ways. Well, publicity hound Sarah Palin will get plenty of publicity out of job quitting stunt today. But once again, neither her nor her small cult of true believers will really understand that this publicity isn't good publicity at all. Palin probably closed shut any doors to any future office opportunities today, whether it's a senate run in 2010 or the presidency in 2012. Few serious people will vote for someone who will quit their office when the whim just hits them to do so. Maybe the shocking Michael Jackson news was getting too many headlines, and Sarah Palin just needed to do something erratic enough to compete with that news. Or, maybe Palin just wanted to set off a few early 4th of July fireworks. But regardless, good riddance.

The 2010 AMC Ambassador?

2009-07-03T18:46:23Z

HOT ROD's website recently offered up some wild futuristic artist renderings of what the 2010 AMC Ambassador might have looked like if little carmaker AMC had survived and not been acquired by Chrysler in 1987. The Ambassador became the top of the line full size car for little AMC, something like their own Cadillac, but for the price of a full size Chevrolet. In fact, my first car nearly became a beautiful 1969 white Ambassador, but the guys selling the car were too drunk to complete the sale, so I left in disgust. The Ambassador cars were always a terrific deal, because they were a top quality full size car for a very reasonable price tag with a great array of luxury car options, yet they just were never considered by many to be in the same league with Cadillacs, Lincolns and Imperials, despite their overall quality by many car buyers. Ambassadors came standard with a V8 engine, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and many other great items that were options on comparable full size cars in the same price range. Compared to the cost of many full size cars like the Chevrolet Impala, Ambassadors seemed like a lot of car for the money. Strangely, the full size AMC cars like the Ambassador and the lower priced Rebel were actually light in weight for their size, while AMCs small cars such as the Gremlin Hornet and especially Pacer were very heavy in weight for their size. Well, AMC is long gone as a company. However this artist's concept is a pretty decent image of what these underrated full size Ambassador cars might have been like if the company survived. Ambassadors were a great American full size car of very high quality and durability that too few Americans considered back in the 60's to mid 70's when buying a car. 1974 was the last year for the big Ambassador, and the last year that AMC was a full line carmaker as well. Both the Ambassador and Javelin bowed out after the 1974 car year, leaving the controversial styled 1975 Matador as AMC's last remaining large car. Strangely, the 1975 two door coupe Matador and the 1975 four door sedan appeared to be entirely different cars, which is another very strange quirk.

President Obama's Approval Numbers Rise To 62%

2009-07-03T18:11:40Z

In the latest Gallup tracking poll on the public approval of President Obama's job performance, his approval numbers have ticked up slightly to 62% approval vs. 31% disapproval. These are improved public approval numbers than the low of 57% he had some days ago in the wake of news about the GM auto bailout which was controversial with many Americans. Despite some serious new national unemployment news, such as the bad news that sent stocks down more than 200 points, yesterday, President Obama is proving himself to be a very popular president who inspires confidence and trust. While it appears that the economy is struggling, and bad news abounds, despite serious actions by the Obama Administration to stabilize things that seem to be having only a minimal effect so far, the public seems to still have deep trust in the president and feel that he cares about them. Scenes such as the one where he comforts a woman who has a recently discovered tumor and other acts of kindness, prove he is far more than just a stiff intellectual, but a very decent man filled with much compassion for others. All of this translates into broad public appeal and support, despite the fact that many of his policies remain controversial or that the economy remains stalled with very serious problems. Some areas where the Obama Administration has seen great early success is in military efforts in both Pakistan and Afghanistan where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have suffered serious military losses in past few weeks, and a huge new offensive by 4,000 Marines in Afghanistan is having great success. At home, while the bailout plans to rescue both GM and Chrysler remain very controversial, both companies seem to have survived the recession thanks to the bailout plans, and remain in business, providing many jobs. Stimulus Bill spending is starting a large number of construction and highway projects around the nation. In the long run, it will certainly be results that dictate whether the Democrats do well in the 2010 midterm elections or whether President Obama is re-elected. And performance on the stubborn economy remains a very difficult issue for the Obama White House to deal with. And likely, performance on the economy may remain as the number issue deciding on the ultimate success or failure of the Democrats and President Obama.

Judge Rules Blogger Does Not Have Same Equal Protection Free Speech Rights As Journalists

2009-07-03T16:22:51Z

In what might become an important ruling limiting the legal free speech rights of bloggers, a Freehold, NJ Superior Court Judge J.S.C. Loucuascio has ruled that a Washington state blogger, Shellee Hale, who writes for Oprano.com, does not have the same equal free speech protections as a normal journalist to shield sources when writing. The case revolves around claims by blogger Hale, who has also contributed articles to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and BUSINESS WEEK, that claimed a security breach in some Internet business software developed by a New Jersey based software development company, Too Much Media. Too Much Media claimed in court that no such security breach issues had ever developed, whereby hackers might steal important customer information. Further, Hale even claimed that the company somehow threatened her life, which is another claim that the NJ software developer company also denies. The judge also noted some discrepancies in the testimony of Hale. Hale also claims to hold a private investigator's license in Washington state. However, both Hale and Too Much Media are both somehow actively associated with Internet free speech rights. Hale posts the Electronic Freedom Foundation free speech Blue Ribbon Logo on some of her blogs, while some of the clients of Too Much Media are businesses actively involved in free speech rights or causes. While this whole case might actually just pit the credibility of a single blogger against the reputation of some software company that prides itself in the quality of the software products they develop, as well as dueling serious claims by both parties, it also brings in fresh new legal issues such as are blogs entitled to the same equal protection free speech rights as other journalists. So far, the judge in this particular case views blogs as merely a message board, and not a true news forum, which offers far less legal protections to bloggers. However, important issues that define the legal limits of what bloggers are allowed to publish in the way of consumer protection or investigative journalism stories might hinge on part of the new legal ground set by this case.

GOP Class of '94: The Family Values Hypocrites

2009-07-02T17:12:23Z

It's 1994. The GOP promised to dismantle social programs, cut taxes and balance the budget. Newt Gingrich massaged the message, and the "Me Generation" bought it hook, line and sinker. This was the new GOP, and they had made a "Contract with America." It was a promise built upon "family values" lies... Instead, the GOP Class of 1994 that were ushered into power with a promised 'family values' core that would be the driving principle behind their legislative actions turned out to be rife with family value hypocrites who sold America a bill of goods:

The sex scandals that have tarnished Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) don't appear to have much in common. Yet there is one thread that binds them together: Both Ensign and Sanford were members of the famed Republican House class of 1994, as well as its latest casualties. As it turns out, the pressures and demands of political life have inflicted devastating damage not only on the Ensign and Sanford families, but on the families of many of the 71 other freshmen who formed the vanguard of the Republican Revolution. In the 14 years since that star-crossed class arrived in Washington espousing an agenda that placed family values at its core, no less than a dozen of its members have been caught up in affairs, sex scandals or in messy separations and divorces from their spouses that, in more than a few instances, led to their political downfalls.

This isn't something that took years to develop -- the GOP hypocrites who were voted into office failed from the outset.

The problems started almost as soon as they took office, and by the end of their first year in Congress, the marriages of at least four Republican freshmen had collapsed. One of the first to see his marriage unravel was Rep. Jim Bunn (R-Ore.) who, not long after taking office in 1995, divorced his wife, married one of his political aides, and later elevated her to chief of staff. Bunn lost his 1996 reelection bid. Rep. Enid Greene, who became the first female member of Congress from Utah in 1994, spent most of her single term in the House dealing with a scandal of her husband's making. Joe Waldholtz, who married Greene in 1993, embezzled millions of dollars that he used to help finance her campaign. Once authorities finally caught up with Waldholtz, Greene filed for divorce and took custody of the couple's daughter. She did not run for reelection in 1996. Former Rep. Jon Christensen (R-Neb.) was another high-profile casualty -- he divorced his wife during his first term after she admitted to marital infidelity. All of this came despite an acknowledgment at the start of the 104th Congress that the grueling pace of work in Washington could tear families apart. Then-newly installed House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who later got divorced for a second time in 2000, even warned as much. And Gingrich pledged to do something about it, setting up a bipartisan task force, the Family Quality of Life Advisory Committee, to rethink the congressional work-life balance. "We have established the principle that we are going to set schedules we stick to so families can count on time to be together, built around school schedules so that families can get to know each other, and not just by seeing us on C-SPAN," Gingrich said in a speech at the opening of the 104th Congress on Jan. 4, 1995.

Gingrich, recognizing the hypocrisy that early, still failed to turn the tide. Today, most Republicans refuse to acknowledge or address the hypocrisy, using the time-honored techniques honed by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to deny the existence of the 800 pound gorilla parked on the living room coffee table... ... and the hypocrisy of that -- of the GOP "family values' party that today refuses to even acknowledge the problems posed by their hypocrisy, is the bottom line left behind with the Republican "Contract with America." It wasn't a contract "with America" -- it was a contract "on America" -- and America lost dearly.

Breaking News: The Jackson Family Found Alive, But Broke

2009-07-02T09:21:18Z

Unfortunately the family of Michael Jackson really failed to effectively invest or manage their money very well despite huge success, leaving the family mostly in serious financial straits. There were reports that Michael Jackson might have died with up to $400 million in debt. And reportedly, at least one pharmacy business had a difficult time collecting a prescription drug bill owed by Jackson for over $100,000 for some time. Another story claims that Michael Jackson might have used up to $48,000 in prescription drugs some months. Michael Jackson also lost primary ownership of the Neverland Ranch with all of his money troubles. But the financial problems for the Jackson family don't just stop there. Janet Jackson is the best at money management and raising income compared to all the other family members, and she bought a home for her parents because the mansion owned by her parents was facing possible foreclosure, and she didn't want her parents to become homeless. And stories exist that claim that workers at the mansion haven't been paid a salary in months by the elder Jacksons. Both of Michael Jackson's parents have declared bankruptcy before, and the father only makes a little money by promoting some girl groups. In fact, the elder Jackson used the death of Michael Jackson as an opportunity to promote his latest smalltime struggling record business to a national audience. Latoya and Robbie Jackson both have wealthy businessmen in their lives, allowing them to survive financially. However, one brother Marlon merely stocks groceries and lost his home to foreclosure. Tito Jackson has a small time blues band he formed which does shows for as little as just $500 a show, hardly a fortune. Randy Jackson, who is three years younger than Michael makes a few bucks working as a tire changer. However, he unfortunately duped three friends of Michael Jackson to take out home equity loans on their homes to allow Michael Jackson to pay lawyers when he was charged with sexual abuse. Michael Jackson failed to repay these friends, leaving them in a financial mess. Great way to treat good friends, huh? Jackie, the oldest son of the Jackson family started a largely failed Internet clothing business that went nowhere, and has only struggled financially since. And Jermaine Jackson, is at least $5 million in debt for state and federal tax liens and has declared bankruptcy back in 1995. Reports are that he doesn't work. Unfortunately, his job acting as family spokesman at the passing of his younger brother, Michael, was probably the most work that he's seen in some time. Despite having so much money at one time, few of the Jackson family members managed or invested it very well. Instead they merely squandered away huge amounts 0f money on Jewelry, mansions, automobiles or other foolishness and are now essentially broke. It is unfortunately a sad portrait of poor money management where no one seemed wise enough to hire an accountant or a financial advisor to preserve their cash assets. Now few of them have much to show for all of the money they once had. Many Americans believe that the Jackson family story is some sort of Horatio Alger rags to riches success story. That it's another Motown Records success story. However, the real truth is pretty far from that. It's more like rags to riches to rags.

The "Airhead' Motorbike

2009-07-02T08:46:21Z

At the National Center University of Taiwan, some interesting research has built a prototype motorbike that runs entirely on compressed air as the power source, creating zero pollution. However, this early prototype can only hold enough compressed to travel about 3/4 of a mile currently. The project needs far more research, however is the first baby steps towards building a possible future generation of motorbikes that produce zero pollution, powered by alternative sources. The compressed air notion for alternative power is closely similar to that Midi air powered automobiles built in Europe. And Zero Pollution Motors hopes to be able to market a $18,000 hybrid compressed air/ gasoline car in the U.S. within about a year in the U.S. , that is able to travel up to 35mph on compressed air alone. Since automobiles or trucks are able to hold much larger air tanks than motorbikes, the experiments in automobiles have proven far more successful so far. However, the Taiwan experiment is a novel use of the technology in motorbikes. Hey, suddenly being an "Airhead" is a good thing.

Iraq Signs Major Oil Deal With China

2009-07-02T08:17:07Z

In it's first major oil deal with a foreign country since the American and British effort to bring down Saddam Hussein, China will end up winning a $3 billion contract to develop oil in Iraq. It is the first major foreign oil deal in the nation in the last 35 years. The China National Petroleum Company will be allowed a 20 year contract to develop oil in Iraq's Southern Wasit province according to the terms of the major deal. Interestingly, while it was well known that the 2003 George Bush effort to topple the Saddam Hussein regime was all about putting Iraq's oil under "International control" according to Paul Wolfowitz's own words, China seems to have so far emerged as the biggest winner for all that effort and bloodshed. Instead of putting more oil on the world market from Iraq from the Bush war in Iraq, production still lags below the pre1991 war levels, although oil production now is nearly as good as days prior to the 2003 effort to topple Saddam Hussein. Oil prices actually nearly doubled to around $4 a gallon as a result of this war at one point, the war only lowering overall oil production levels from Iraq. Rather than providing more oil or cheaper oil, the Bush premise to create war in Iraq to get more oil effort failed on both counts. Traditionally most colonialist wars in poor nations have been all about getting the poor nation's national resources to benefit wealthy interests in nations such Britain, France or the United States. The American war effort in Iraq has cost at least $683.6 billion dollars so far, and cost the U.S. 4,321 dead, and left 31, 156 American service persons wounded. Americans paid the huge costs of this war, had their sons and daughters come home in body bags or in wheelchairs, but China will see the benefits of the oil from Iraq. Way to go George Bush. Mission Accomplished?

A Creepy Creepy True Story

2009-07-01T16:06:39Z

Warning: If you don't like deeply creepy true stories, then don't read this because it might change your life forever: Yesterday, when I drove past a very old business district here in Portland, Oregon with my brother past an old funeral business, my brother told me how he used to do car repair work for the funeral director there. So we went on talking about the business. Then I was shocked to hear an outrageous true story about this funeral home. One day a gang member who died an unnatural death was killed in a shooting came in to the funeral home for preparation. And when the director came in to prepare the body, he just about jumped out of skin, because there was a ghost walking through the room. This funeral director was in pure shock. It was the first and only time this happened in all his years of work on so many deceased persons. Creepy stuff. I know that the Sci Fi channel features some programs like GHOST HUNTERS, but I never cared to really ever watch a full episode. I've never really given ghost stories very much interest myself. But, man oh man, is this a creepy true story. I even heard that some old Navy ships have claimed to have ghosts on them as well. Anyone here have any true ghost stories to relate? This is really weird stuff I never really thought was even serious before.

A New EU Tax On Disabled Persons

2009-07-01T15:38:49Z

Unbelievably, the EU commissioners are now moving ahead with plans to impose a new 10% tax on mobility scooters imported into Europe, often manufactured in the United States. But some like physicist Stephen Hawking are angry as this will dramatically boost the costs to handicapped who now have to pay around 2,500 pounds for disability scooters. The EU commissioners plan to lump disability scooters in the same league with sports car imports or other motorized vehicles so that they can add the new tax on disabled persons for these American imports for use by the handicapped. In the UK, the government already gets around 6 million pounds a year on additional taxes on the estimated 25,000 disability scooters imported or sold. Outrageous.

Like Iran, Iraq Well On The Way To Dictatorship As Well

2009-07-01T14:58:32Z

The sham election in Iran, and the brutal suppression of the prodemocracy demonstrators in Iran reviewed Iran is little more than theocratic-military dictatorship. Unfortunately, many of the same signs are also present in Iraq as well, where Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is well on the way to becoming little more than just an Iranian backed dictator. Al-Maliki has built a network of security agencies that only report to him for one thing. Further, al-Maliki has steadily reduced any political rivals through his use of police, military or any secret agencies he directly controls. While Iraq is supposed to have elections in 2010, expect them to be far less free and open than those elections in past. Ahead of this election, al-Maliki has built up a system of bribes and payoffs to various tribal leaders who are political allies of his. The fact of the matter is that the worse fears of al-Maliki have now proven true. He has slowly built up the political, police and military apparatus to make his government into a Iranian supported, Shiite religious dominated military dictatorship where there is little possibility of free elections in the near future. With an American pull back from the cities, expect al-Maliki to operate with far less restraint now. Iraq's government is merely a near carbon copy of the same sort of fundamentalist-military rule as in Iran. A further problem is that the Al Dawa Party that al-Maliki is the public figure for is little more than a fundamentalist Shiite organization so closely aligned with Iran, that Iran could easily replace al-Maliki unless he follows their will. Al-Maliki is hardly the Iraqi nationalist that he publicly claims himself to be. It is all just window dressing for a near puppet leader of Iran's corrupt dictatorship. Iran couldn't win the 1980's war. But Iran gained control over Iraq's government because the U.S. made that path easy when George Bush toppled Saddam Hussein. The fact of the matter is that when George Bush calculated to topple the dictatorship Of Saddam Hussein In Iraq, there was little real planning to make Iraq a true democracy or to prevent fundamentalist religious elements from establishing another government much like Iran. Originally an American oversight committee worked with a coalition of political rivals to Saddam Hussein. However, gradually a group of Shiite fundamentalists emerged under the Al Dawa Party label, with a heavy religious clerical background with many from Iran. Now al-Maliki sits atop this fundamentalist religious organization as their public relations man, which isn't that much different than the role Ahmadinejad in Iran. And with less future American oversight, you can certainly expect far more human rights abuses to take place, and for the Shiite controlled government to further suppress more Sunni political rivals. The religious-military government of Iraq has essentially locked true moderate Iraqi political leaders like former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and his moderate democratic nationalist and secular political party allies from any meaningful political role in Iraq. Allawi was a true secular democrat and a true reliable ally for the United States to trust to make the nation into a modern secular Muslin nation much like Turkey. Instead, with so little political planning, coupled with little military planning for a long occupation of Iraq, the 2003 George Bush invasion of Iraq really had little planning other than a military plan to topple Saddam Hussein. There simply was not good plans to replace a Saddam Hussein dictatorship with the real mechanics for a real and durable democracy. Allawi still remains the one best hope for secular democracy in Iraq, however has no viable path back to power because his ability to politically compete has been effectively blocked by the Al Dawa control of the election machinery. A further problem is that the Obama Administration wants to concentrate on other hot spots right now like Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and North Korea. But the problems in Iraq will not improve on their own, and with even less U.S. influence, the Iraqi government will become less responsible and only behave just well enough to continue to gain billions in American aid. However, while the government has plenty of money due to oil revenues, corruption among elected officials in the al-Maliki government makes plenty of this money disappear into thin air. Meanwhile, the economy of Iraq continues with serious problems, with few jobs, and still just only a few hours of electrical service a day even in many places like Baghdad. More clean water is still needed. However, with billions in oil revenues only disappearing into government corruption prevents progress on many of these critical fronts. Further, the Kurds in the North continue to concern our U.S. ally in Turkey with their expansionist goals to eventually expand their empire into parts of Turkey and hurt this important relationship with this important NATO ally. The ghosts of the George Bush Iraq War fiasco will continue to haunt both the Obama Administration and the United States public many years. At some point, most Americans are going to realize that Iraq and Iran are far more similar than they are different. Neither is a real democracy, both are in fact religious-military dictatorships controlled by Iran. The more than 4,000 American lives lost in Iraq didn't really achieve too much more than replacing one dictator in Iraq with another one. That's supposed to be progress? Maybe the rock group, The Who, summed all this up the best with, "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss". It might just take a magnifying glass to identify any real differences between either Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Nouri al-Maliki.

Obama, Where is "the Urgency of Now" in Not Changing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"?

2009-07-01T13:00:00Z

Obama, thus far, has been the steely pragmatic president more than the ideological, dare I say principled politician, that the "wingnuts" of the right feared. Nowhere has this been more evident than in his refusal to order, as commander-in-chief, the lifting of "don't ask, don't tell", whereby gay men and women in the US military, must remain in the closet. I wrote about this first, over two year ago. This is plainly a litmus test issue. All Republican candidates for the President, came out predictably against changing the policy, all Democrat challengers, just as predictably, for changing it. 75% of the American public are behind removing this restriction. The majority, 73%, of American military personnel, men and women, want it changed. Every Western power including Israel, allows homosexuals in the military. Once 'staid olde' Victorian, Britain even recruits them openly, in advertising campaigns on their 'gay pride' day. So why is Obama stonewalling? See critical Olbermann video. Upwards of a hundred Pentagon American Arabic translators have now been fired, since they were discovered, horror of horrors to have been gay, since Bush 43, and now Obama have taken office. Does the war on terrorism take a back seat to this neanderthal red meat issue? The answer is apparently yes, or is Obama going to make this an issue for 2012 and force Republican candidates, in the face of overwhelming public opposition, to maintain their ludicrous support of "don't ask don't tell"? I suppose Obama by 'stonewalling' is ultimately indeed, the pragmatic adroit politician, and by delaying implementing of a new policy (by 2010 or 2012), is presenting a gift wrapped opportunity for the Republicans appropriately, to look so openly and ludicrously out of touch with the American public, and even the rank and file American servicemen and women.

With Ricci Decision SCOTUS Majority "Legislated from the Bench"

2009-06-30T22:29:16Z

Watch Conservative Joe stammer -- dumbfounded at the notion that the conservative SCOTUS majority "legislated from the bench"... but that's exactly what they did. They redefined the rules on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII "disparate treatment" provisions.

Republican "Little Shop of Horrors"? Sarah Palin!

2009-06-30T17:25:14Z

Just as I've been saying all along...

Alaska's lipstick-wearing pit-bull is a "Little Shop of Horrors." That's how one longtime friend and campaign trail companion of John McCain, the vanquished 2008 GOP presidential nominee, described veep nominee Sarah Palin.

McCain campaign staffers admit that she was not ready for the job...

In an expansive story in the August edition of Vanity Fair, a slew of senior members of McCain's campaign team told reporter Todd S. Purdum that they suffer a kind of survivor's guilt following the 2008 presidential election. "They can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be," Vanity Fair reports.

Caribou Barbie was wholly unqualified for the job, and her ego got in the way of her decision-making:

During the campaign, there were reports of anonymous McCain aides describing Palin, the governor of Alaska, as a "diva" and a "whack job." The Vanity Fair article recounts how strained Palin's relationship was with the McCain advisers. She maintained "only the barest level of civil discourse" with Tucker Eskew, the operative assigned to be her chief minder, the magazine reports. She believed Steve Schmidt, McCain's top strategist, had lied to her about conducting polling in Alaska - that was a "belief she conveyed to anyone who would listen," the magazine reported.

If the hoax that was attempted with Sarah Palin's candidacy wasn't so damned funny, it would be downright sad:

As previously reported, Palin was so intent on delivering her own concession speech on Election Night that she wouldn't accept advisers telling her that McCain had decided he would be the only one to speak. She took the issue up with McCain himself, discussing it on the walk from his hotel suite to the farewell rally. Palin did not speak on Election Night. Only McCain addressed the crowd and the nation. One McCain aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he "always wanted to tell myself the best-case story about her." "I think, as I've evaluated it, I think some of my worst fears...the after-election events have confirmed that her more negative aspects my have been there...." As his voice trailed off, he said, "I saw her as a raw talent. Raw, but a talent. I hoped she could become better." Palin refused to comment for Vanity Fair.

Sarah Palin was a train wreck, and the good news is - the more progressives label her as such the harder her supporters fight to make her ready for the 2012 ticket. I can't ask for a more "perfect storm"....