Sarah Palin, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate

[archibaldcrane]

What I'm saying is that I'm skeptical of the word because I feel it is constantly misused. Not taking the easy out that McCain was given as a POW qualifies in my mind more than most (he's more of a prisoner hero than a war hero, but I'm probably splitting hairs at this point).

Kwijiboe, not sure what you're saying about being "the victim of an attack" - where did that come from?

I'm kind of a word-nazi though, I can go on one hell of a rant about what is and what is not a "sport".

Also, any person who would self-identify as "a hero" deserves a punch in the gonads, regardless of what they think gives them this status.

[Demosthenes11]

Again, it's hard to know exactly what your brain really is thinking when 98% is done in the subconscious (gonna have gf ask him how they know this). It is certainly possible though for other neurons to get associated with those words too - it doesn't have to be just the 2.
But once neurons make their move, they are there to stay and will always fire with those things until your neurons go bad ;x

[archibaldcrane]

Demos, basing an argument about something you heard your girlfriend say that she learned in some college class...

...is making my neurons hurt.

[Demosthenes11]

Demos, basing an argument about something you heard your girlfriend say that she learned in some college class...

...is making my neurons hurt.

she introduced me to the topic of it all a year or so ago and has been talking to be occasionally about. I just started reading the books a while ago and saw the man and talked to the man in person yesterday.
gf is just in the class is why I bring her up. she can ask things i cant. I'm certainly not basing things on that at all if you have been paying attention.

[archibaldcrane]

I can't pay attention, all my neurons that used to be dedicated to attention are now permanently and forever hardwired to "hatred of demosthenes11".

I can't help it, the neurons have spoken.

[Demosthenes11]

I can't pay attention, all my neurons that used to be dedicated to attention are now permanently and forever hardwired to "hatred of demosthenes11".

I can't help it, the neurons have spoken.

indeed
if you tell people that they can't help but to "think" some things, I guess people take offense to that. Don't kill the messenger!

[Kwijiboe]

What I'm saying is that I'm skeptical of the word because I feel it is constantly misused. Not taking the easy out that McCain was given as a POW qualifies in my mind more than most (he's more of a prisoner hero than a war hero, but I'm probably splitting hairs at this point).

Kwijiboe, not sure what you're saying about being "the victim of an attack" - where did that come from?

I'm kind of a word-nazi though, I can go on one hell of a rant about what is and what is not a "sport".

Also, any person who would self-identify as "a hero" deserves a punch in the gonads, regardless of what they think gives them this status.

The victim in this case would be your sister. (from your example) However, since you say she was in Iraq, it would depend on her motives for being there. If she was there to put her life on the line to help others, sure, I would have no problems regarding her as a hero. However, if she went there to get an exclusive story, I'd be less inclined to consider her a hero-- As our nation tends to do. However, I think a Hero as someone who, at any point, is willing to sacrifice their life for something greater. I do agree that in some cases the word is thrown around loosely, but I think that the American men and women that enlist and die in war are definitely heroes.

[archibaldcrane]

She was there because the army told her to be there, which is pretty much the reason most soldiers do what they do - it's what their paid for. If you're asking why she joined? Mainly because there was a 1.5-year waitlist at the local community college for the nursing program, and the army promised her medical training (a whole other disgusting story on its own). This was pre-9/11, so yeah.

I know everyone wants to idealize "The American Soldier" as someone who is looking to give their life to defend "The American People" but honestly...WWII was over 60 years ago. You'll notice that the Army commercials don't say "put yourself in harm's way to sacrifice blah blah" - they sell the money, the experience, the training, the character-building. Most of the deaths in Iraq are bad luck - Humvee runs over a IED, your truck just happens to be the one that gets ambushed, mortar happens to hit your building instead of the one next to you, etc.

It sucks, but it also does not, a hero, make (usually).

[Senoska]

Spoiler: show

by Mark Silva
Talk about bail-outs.
John McCain had just made one of the riskiest, and perhaps costliest, moves of his presidential campaign, in attempting to bail out of the first televised debate of the candidates so that he could return to Washington, rise "above politics'' and concentrate on the federal bail-out of the nation's bad mortgage debt underway.
Barack Obama, for his part, had no intention of forgoing the first debate, and voiced some dismay in allowing that, yes, McCain had talked to him about skipping the debate when the two spoke by telephone yesterday but then the next thing Obama heard, McCain was announcing that he had decided to skip Friday night's debate and he was calling on the president to summon a meeting of congressional leaders and both of the presidential candidates, senators, of course..
But the debate was on, Obama maintained later, ultimately accepting the president's invitation to that meeting today but leaving McCain looking like something less than the statesman which he was attempting to play with this call for putting "country first.''
McCain, in turn, was looking somewhat desperate in the odd, campaign-suspending transaction. For many long months now, McCain and Obama have waged a close contest for the White House, if the polls are any judge - and they are.
They went into their summer nominating conventions in a dead heat nationally, and they came out of their conventions - after the "bounces'' of their own unique events, Obama's appearance before 80,000 people filling a football stadium in Denver, and McCain's selection of a suddenly popular Sarah Palin for a running mate - in another virtual tie.
And then something happened: An economic crisis of proportions unseen since the Great Depression started unfolding. And Obama's numbers started climbing, with voters telling the pollsters - by double-digit margins - that they view Obama as better-suited than McCain to handle the economic crisis.
After months of staring one another down, and with Obama's political fortunes suddenly ramping up with a crisis that even President Bush was now willing to characterize as the start of a "long and painful recession'' if the government does not act, the senior senator from Arizona blinked. He pulled what Democrat Barney Frank called a "Hail Mary pass,'' MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews dismissing it as more McCain "razzle dazzle.''
"We're 'suspending' the campaign,'' late night comedy host David Letterman said last night, stood up by slated-guest McCain -- with Letterman derisively suggesting that this is not the "hero'' McCain whom he knows. "Are we suspending the campiagn because there's an economic crisis, or because the poll number are sliding?''
"What John McCain was thinking was, this was a close race,'' said Doug Schoen, a pollster who served President Clinton - someone who knows about running on the economy, and perhaps running one as well. "He was slightly ahead and then the economy became the issue and all of a sudden he is nine points behind.''
That 9-point gap is the result of the newest ABC News and Washington Post measure this week, coming from a survey that found the two candidates virtually tied two weeks before - now a Democrat was topping 50 percent for the first time in an ABC/Post poll. It found voters, by a 14-point margin, more confident in Obama's ability to handle the economy than McCain's.
McCain somberly stepped to a podium on Wednesday and declared that he was "suspending'' his campaign, starting today, returning to Washington and giving full attention to the resolution of the financial bail-out that the Bush administration is pressuring Congress to enact before adjournment for the fall elections.
"His comments were a tacit indication that he sees the economy as literally taking over the campaign and the country,'' Schoen told the Tribune. "It has become all-pervasive.''
And why shouldn't it be oervasive in this campaign, judging from the president's own dramatic comments televised to the nation last night: "We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis... Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic, and a distressing scenario would unfold... More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet... And ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession.''
So what is Bush doing to push his $700 billion bail-out through Congress? Not only going on national television, prime-time, but also summoning that meeting of congressional leadership today, leaders from both houses and from both parties - and also two senators who have been out on the road a lot lately, Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Barack Obama of Illinois.
At 4 pm EDT, the leaders and candidates will join the president in the Cabinet Room of the White House for a closed-door session starting with, of course, a photo opportunity at the top.
The meeting may not be all that necessary, however. It seems that congressional leaders are close to an agreement already, and the president signaled his own willingness to compromise on the question of limiting the profits that financial executives extract from this buyout. Basically, they're nearly ready to deal.
But what better cover for the Republican presidential nominee's bail-out from the campaign and sudden return to Washington than a presidential pardon of sorts, an invitation from the president to both of the presidential candidates to join them all in resolving this crisis together: Bush's personal bail-out
The question, then, is who's meeting is it? McCain asked for it. Bush called it.. And Obama is going to it. Clearly, it's the Republicans' meeting, and the Democrats are ready to do business -- so, effectively, McCain has claimed the higher ground that he was seeking: Attending to the affairs of state in front of the affairs of the campaign.
Effectively, the ground campaign of these two will be suspended for the day - though there are precious photos to be gained from their appearances in the Cabinet Room.
With this hastily summoned meeting, Bush has bailed McCain out of a jam, for a day. Suddenly, this is the senator who can organize a pow-wow at the White House.
Yet the debate remains another question. McCain already has suggested that, if Congress can reach a deal by Friday he will be prepared to go through with the debate. Of course he will. McCain is the one who has demanded more debates all along.
Should McCain really bail out, imagine the Commission on Presidential Debates plowing ahead with a solo appearance by Obama on stage at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. At that point, the campaign would effectively be suspended for good. Should Obama concede to the postponement, it ultimately will become McCain's responsibility for scuttling the first, long-awaited debate of a contest that Americans are getting ready to settle on their own. They will settle it on their specific terms, not on McCain's or Obama's.

[kuronosan]

Fuck all that garbage about neurons firing up - it's just psychological association. When you've been conditioned enough to associate a particular idea or word with somebody, it will make you think of them.

It's no different than if you're deeply in love and attracted to your significant other. There's a high probability that if I ask you to associate an image with "love" you're going to think of them or a relative first.

It's not science, it's psychology - which as we all know thanks to Tom Cruise, is a pseudo-science.

I did the research. *scuff*

[Elvis]

Just look at symbols. How people interpret symbols differently based on their culture/etc.

[Seraph]

Unless you play too much Megaman X, mavericks can be counted on to stick up for the little guy in the face of those in power, whether it be masked outlaws or the current administration.

That's right. I hear "Maverick" and I think "Old and busted robot that needs to be put down." Get your X-Busters, we ride at dawn.

[Muffins]

@ Senoska's post

Many people reacted harshly to McCain's announcement the instant he made it. Chief among them, a man who was supposed to interview him on late night TV: David Letterman. He was none too pleased about this, and when looking for a guest to replace him, who happened to be in the neighborhood at the right time? Keith freakin' Olbermann. Possibly the funniest thing (on many levels) to come out of the McCain campaign.

The best part, without spoiling the whole thing, was to see a live feed of what McCain was really doing after he stiffed Letterman.

EDIT: Anyone else get a very familiar vibe with the language being used to describe the urgency and the necessity of the Paulson Bailout in comparison to the language used for the AUMF against Iraq? Between Bush's speech last night predicting doom and gloom for every American if we don't act now, and right down to Paulson, Bush, and Bernake saying the bailout will pay for itself, it feels like it's 2002 all over again.

[Olo401]

McCain can't handle managing a national economic crisis and manage his presidential campaign at the same damn time?

Uhh.. yeah. You've gotta be fuckin kidding me. How the hell does he expect to handle being president then - a job that will be throwing any number of varied and complex situations at you constantly during the course of a single day?! How the hell does he even handle his job as a Senator, since it requires the same kind of constant atention to numerous issues.

This is absolutely inexcusable. The man just proved he was unqualified for the job of President. He should make the suspension of his campaign permanent.

[Muffins]

The funny thing is, and it was mentioned a couple of times on some of the pundit shows, was that this move by McCain to suspend the campaign to go to Washington means absolutely nothing with respect to his stated mission (save the economy). By the time he gets to Washington, most of the work will have already been done, and if it weren't, he isn't on any of the relevant committees that are working on getting some workable legislation to the floors of Congress.

Essentially, the most he will be doing is stagecraft and photo-ops; good for him, a major annoyance for the congresspeople actually doing the hard work of averting total disaster. And don't be surprised if he takes some credit for a bill's passage.

[fantasticdan]

I think they're just trying to make us associate mccain with:

http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_...ise_suited.jpg

[Acturus]

I think they're just trying to make us associate mccain with:
http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_...ise_suited.jpg

Scientology?

[geno]

The funny thing is, and it was mentioned a couple of times on some of the pundit shows, was that this move by McCain to suspend the campaign to go to Washington means absolutely nothing with respect to his stated mission (save the economy). By the time he gets to Washington, most of the work will have already been done, and if it weren't, he isn't on any of the relevant committees that are working on getting some workable legislation to the floors of Congress.

Essentially, the most he will be doing is stagecraft and photo-ops; good for him, a major annoyance for the congresspeople actually doing the hard work of averting total disaster. And don't be surprised if he takes some credit for a bill's passage.

The theory is that if McCain backs a version of the bill wholeheartedly, he can gets members of his own party (the actual ones who are holding the bail out back) to cave to political pressure and vote for it. That's the theory anyways. Then again, there is no reason he needs to be in Washington to do that. It is inevitable though that he will take some credit for the bill's passage and Sarah Palin will have something else to 'get back to' Katie Couric with.

[Maxxthepenguin]

It is inevitable though that he will take some credit for the bill's passage

Does that not seem politically suicidal? "McCain suspended his chances to tell you, the American people, about himself to make sure that the government spends 700 billion of your dollars. He says he's against big government, but that's a big lie."

I mean, I agree that this needs to happen in some form, but it just sounds so bad.

[Demosthenes11]

It's not science, it's psychology - which as we all know thanks to Tom Cruise, is a pseudo-science.

I did the research. *scuff*

LOL
It's not psychology, it's not pseudo-science. It's cognitive science. Physical changes occur