There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

No one as Irish as Barack Obama

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

You don't believe me, I hear you say
But Barack's as Irish, as was JFK
His granddaddy's daddy came from Moneygall
A small Irish village, well known to you all

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish As Barack O'Bama

He's as Irish as bacon and cabbage and stew
He's Hawaiian he's Kenyan American too
He's in the white house, He took his chance
Now let's see Barack do Riverdance

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish As Barack O'Bama

From Kerry and cork to old Donegal
Let's hear it for Barack from old moneygall
From the lakes of Killarney to old Connemara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara T
here's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
From the old blarney stone to the great hill of Tara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

2008 the white house is green,
their cheering in Mayo and in Skibereen.
The Irish in Kenya, and in Yokahama,
Are cheering for President Barack O'Bama

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

The Hockey Moms gone, and so is McCain
They are cheering in Texas and in Borrisokane,
In Moneygall town, the greatest of drama,
for our Famous president Barack O'Bama

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish As Barack O'Bama

The great Stephen Neill, a great man of God,
He proved that Barack was from the Auld Sod
They came by bus and they came by car,
to celebrate Barack in Ollie Hayes's Bar

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish As Barack O'Bama
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish As Barack O'Bama

Bush's last gasp: Let's poison the parks.

Is ruining things sort of like scratching an itch for Bush? Here the man is about out of office, and he won't stop.

You know what will be novel? Having an Environmental Protection Agency that think its job is to protect the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the decision and four others criticized the move in writing.

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the administration's push to weaken Clean Air Act protections for "Class 1 areas" nationwide has sparked fierce resistance from senior agency officials. All but two of the regional administrators objecting to the proposed rule are political appointees.

The proposal would change the practice of measuring pollution levels near national parks, which is currently done over three-hour and 24-hour increments to capture emission spikes during periods of peak energy demand; instead, the levels would be averaged over a year. Under this system, spikes in pollution would no longer violate the law.

His defenders STILL don't get why people are so furious with George W. Bush. Well, here's a hint:

He filled the Environmental Protection Agency with friends of his who were hostile to the idea of protecting the environment.

See, it would be really hard to shut the agency down, which is what he wanted to do. So he just filled it with people who were hostile to its actual mission. Same effect without the trouble.

How is it possible not to realize how frigging insulting that is?

It's the worker's fault

You've probably heard people claim that the auto companies' woes are the fault of the unions.

Well, what do they actually make?

This is from a 2006 article:

"The average Ford worker makes $50,000 a year without overtime. "

Well, gee, THAT'S certainly living high off the hog. I can't IMAGINE why a guy with a family making 50 grand a year isn't willing to take a pay cut - when his CEO makes 28 million in four months.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Struggling Ford Motor Co., which posted a record $12.7 billion net loss in 2006, gave its new CEO Alan Mulally $28 million for four months on the job, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.

But remember everybody - the guy making 50 grand? It's HIS fault. The Republicans say so.

Cheney indicted

Really.

McALLEN, Texas — A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.

What's really fun is that Bush will forced to pardon them BEFORE a finding of guilt or innocence is issued.

Remember: Daddy Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger and other member of his staff on Christmas Day before leaving office. And poor Junior wanted so bad to NOT be like the old man.



Like father, like son.

The lobbyist from hell.

Holy crap.

Gilbert Genn is a lobbyist. A Democratic lobbyist. He's also thoroughly insane.

This guy was leaving his house to go walk his dog and the next thing you know a deer attacked him. A buck. Stabbed him in the crotch with his antlers. Repeatedly. OPENED A WOUND. In the groin.

So you know what he did, right?

He closed the wound with a paper binder clip and went lobbying. Met with the Speaker of the Maryland House.

"There was no way I could miss this meeting," Genn said.

Uh, yeah, I guess not. Obviously, a meeting with the Pope has nothing on a meeting with the Speaker of the Maryland House.

"Not to get too partisan, but I'm convinced it was a Republican deer, because it happened right where we had our Obama sign. And all the deer could do was attack, attack, attack. So it had to be a Republican deer."

He did get himself to a hospital AFTER the meeting. What a pansy, eh?

I suppose it's a good thing that he's a Democrat, since it's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in. But a guy who thinks a lobbying meeting is more important than his dick should probably be checked out. Quickly.

I mean, what the hell is he? The Democrats' G. Gordon Liddy?

On regulation and deregulation

The real question is: "Who makes the rules?"

The idea that you can somehow have banks and corporations just moving money and goods around WITHOUT rules is a foolish pipe dream: won't happen, can't happen. So who makes the rules?

Well, we've seen that recently, haven't we? In the absence of government regulation, the rules are written by the lenders and banks. So you have the rules being written and re-written by people who are actually in the middle of playing the game.

And what do you wind up with? You wind up with rules where the lenders are almost completely unaccountable for their own risk. But they spread that risk to everybody else. They make the profit. YOU take their risk for them. Because they wrote the rules.

And that's what you get if you take the authority to regulate away from regulatory bodies. You still get regulation. But you get regulation where the consumer is the only one bound by any rules.

Iraq votes for us to leave

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi Cabinet on Sunday approved a security pact that would set the terms for U.S. troops in Iraq.

The agreement sets June 30, 2009, as the deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from all Iraqi cities and towns, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

The date for all troops to leave Iraq will be December 31, 2011, he said.

These dates are "set and fixed" and are "not subject to the circumstances on the ground," he said.

This resolution isn't passed: it now goes to the Iraqi Parliament, which will very likely pass it.

A timetable. Not subject to circumstances on the ground.

This should not only accelerate President Obama's move to withdraw from Iraq - it will make it very hard for the right-wingers to oppose it.

The Moose Stops Here

We're chumps, too.

You have probably heard that AIG - after being bailed out by the taxpayer - gave $503 million dollars in bonuses to their executives.

Elijah Cummings (D-Has Spine) tore into Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and "bailout czar" Neel Kashkari and called him a chump (well, he asked if he was one, but it was a rhetorical question):

"I’m just wondering how you feel about an AIG giving $503 million worth of bonuses on the one hand, and accepting $154 billion from hard-working taxpayers. You know, because I’m trying to make sure you get it. What really bothers me is all these other people who are lined up. They say, well, is Kashkari a chump?


"I wouldn’t want to be asking my friend for some money to stay afloat....Then my friend, who can barely afford to go to McDonald’s sees me in a restaurant costing $150 a meal. There’s absolutely something wrong with that picture!" exclaimed Cummings.

Watch it. The look on Kashkari's face is priceless:




The freaky thing is that they DON'T get it. They see absolutely nothing wrong with holding up the taxpayers with tales of financial woe, and then taking $100-million-dollar bonus with the money.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?

They say Obama has offered it to her.

That one, she might actually be interested in.

And BOY would it piss off the right-wingers.

A petition

Dear Sarah Palin, please shut up already.

Republican Governors dis Gidget

The Republican Governors Association announced its new leadership at the recent meeting.

Guess who they didn't pick?

Get Lieberman out.

You know why I hate Democrats? Because they really ARE spineless. Unfortunately, the jerk-offs probably won't kick Lieberman out, because they suffer severely from battered wife syndrome.

But here's Rachel Maddow on why they should:

For the sad pathetic people suffering from election withdrawal

There are still three races to be decided, and in the Alaskan Senate race, it looks like Ted Stevens - convicted felon and the moron who called the internet a "series of tubes" - is going to lose.

But how screwed up is Alaska? First they said that Stevens won by a tiny margin - but then it turned out that they hadn't counted more than 30% of the votes. 90,000 of them - uncounted.

Somebody should tell Alaska that their "hey-we're-really-an-independent-third-world-country" act gets old in a hurry.

Obama on religion

Beliefnet has just published the full transcript of President-Elect Obama's 2004 interview on the subject.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

Here are some great pictures of the new President-Elect by photojournalist Callie Shell. Click on the bottom to keep seeing more of them.

Uhhh...Sarah?

The election is over.

The time to do media interviews was BEFORE the election.

Exit, stage right.

Dean is stepping down

Sic transit governor mundi, and all that.

Remember when some people said that Howard Dean was doing a TERRIBLE job as head of the DNC as though it was an established fact?

Remember when some people said that the 50-state strategy was silly, and the Democrats would be better off ignoring whole regions of the country to focus on a few swing states? Do you hear anybody say that anymore?

The Democrats have done nothing but win since he's been in charge, and you'll still hear some idiots say he's done a bad job, because they don't like this thing or that thing. Ignoring little details like the fact that he's WON.

Well, he always said he'd only serve one term. Sorry to see him go. I hope whoever takes his place was paying attention.

Good job, Governor Dean.

YEEEEAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Why I'm glad I don't live in Jersey

Because their politicians LITERALLY piss on the citizens.

A drunken Jersey City councilman was arrested for urinating on a crowd of concertgoers from the balcony of a Washington nightclub, police and club sources said Saturday.

Councilman Steven Lipski was caught relieving himself onto several revelers at the 9:30 Club during a concert by a Grateful Dead tribute band Friday night, club sources said.

Usually, they just do that to us figuratively.

Nice Touch

The Obama campaign has released an organizational chart of the Government.

The Constitution is on top.

It's simple

If Harry Reid decides that Joe Lieberman should remain a committee chairman, Harry Reid must go.

Enough is enough. What the hell does Lieberman have to do? Spit on Obama?

I've always liked Al Gore, but one of his worst decisions was in choosing that clown as a running mate.

My, my, my

The White House Butler

Michelle Bachmann sucks up

Oh, holy crap.

'After suggesting that Barack Obama had anti-American views in an exchange three weeks ago with MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told Politico Thursday that she was "extremely grateful that we have an African-American who has won this year." She called his victory "a tremendous signal we sent."

A signal WE sent? Funny - I dont' recall Michelle Bachmann favoring the sending of any such signal.

I suggest that Congress investigate Michelle Bachmann to make sure she doesn't harbor any anti-American views.

Rahmbo

Rahm Emanuel has accepted the job of Obama's Chief of Staff.

You will note that the right-wing smearers have tried to paint Obama as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. And he just appointed as his chief of staff a Jew who was a civilian volunteer in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Proposition 8, California

You have probably heard that Proposition 8 - a ban on same-sex marriage which eliminates California's newly declared right of same-sex couple to marry - will probably pass in California. It hasn't been certified yet, and some votes have yet to be counted, but it will probably pass. Some groups that are reliable Democratic voters are still on the other side of this particular issue. So, in the midst of celebration, some folks who would otherwise be elated are feeling rather mournful.

I tend to write very little about same-sex marriage. I'm not sure if I've ever written about it before at all, actually. But there's a reason for that: I have absolutely no worries about the subject whatsoever. Same-sex marriage is an inevitability. Guaranteed.

If not this year, next year. Or the year after that. But it's inevitable. Gay people will NOT go back into the closet. Within a few years, same-sex marriage will be the law in the West and the Northeast. And then the rest of the states, one at a time, in fairly rapid succession.

Economic issues swing back and forth like a pendulum. But - as long as we have a democracy - civil rights issues can go in one direction only - forward. Same-sex civil rights is a rather large change, and progress has been EXTREMELY rapid. Yes, I understand that for people on the other side of the line who are still waiting to be acknowledged as legitimate it hasn't been rapid enough. But by the normal standards of such things, it's been VERY fast. Most members of the younger generation don't even UNDERSTAND homophobia - its a closed book to them. And those young people will just get older, and soon run society.

Proposition 8 was one step backwards. It may actually be ovetturned by a court anyway, but even if it isn't, it will still be succeeded by two steps forward. Guaranteed.

Patience. It's coming. And it can't be stopped.

Self-respect

Roger Cohen absolutely nails it.

Beyond Iraq, beyond the economy, beyond health care, there was something even more fundamental at stake in this U.S. election won by Barack Obama: the self-respect of the American people.

From the Onion

Heh.

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

Krugman

The Monster Years

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

Whence that wince? (A stirring song)

Quoth I, "My wench, O whence that wince?"
She blushed and said, "O, sir,
My daddy isn't stirrin' since
My momma's been in stir."
- Walt Kelly

More Good news that you may not have been aware of

Proposition 2 passed in California.

The proposition will prohibit the confinement of certain farm animals in structures or cages that do not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs. The measure will phase out California’s use of battery cages for layers, veal crates, and sow gestation crates.

Unfortunately, it won't take effect until 2015 (I suppose to give farms time to replace their equipment). But it's something.

Palin greeted McCain's staff wearing only a towel

Holy crap.

At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys' club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.

The rest of the article makes Palin look like even more of a loose cannon and nutjob than I already thought she was.

Mandate

In 2004 Bush got 286 electoral votes. Kerry got 251.

The Republicans claimed that that was a "mandate."

Somehow, I doubt that they'll say that this time around.

Last Bush bash (maybe)

Bush called Obama last night and said this:

"You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations and go enjoy yourself."

"Go enjoy yourself"?

Does that explain George W. Bush's whole approach to the Presidency, or what?

Georgie, assuming that you don't get indicted...

go enjoy yourself.

No Republicans in New England

Last night, Chris Shays conceded defeat in the House of Representatives.

That means that there is not one single Republican Congressmen in New England.

That's astounding.

YES,
WE
DID

From FOX News:

I guess if FOX news is willing to admit it, it must be real.

I don't know if liveblogging is a good idea

11:05


California, Oregon, Washington.

It's over. I an now drinking champagne.

Obama 284.

Me and Mrs. Ignatz just did a fist bump.

11:02
From kos:
"McCain expected to concede at 8 PT/11 ET"

Break out the champagne.

10:22
Rocky Mountain News says Colorado has been won by Obama.

10:20


10:11
Ding-Dong, Karl Rove is dead.

10:01
Iowa for Obama. Montana is too close to call.

9:56
John McCain wins Texas. And it no longer means anything.

9:45
And McCain's home state is too close to call.

9:41
From kos:



9:38
Comment about Ohio from a wingnut on freerepublic:
"I’m just ashamed of the Blacks in America, not my country."

What a nice sentiment.

9:31 New Mexico. And that, friends, in 200 electoral votes. 70 to go. The West Coast states - California, Oregon and Washington - are more than 70. Holy Crap, I think it's over.

9:28 The slime-sucking weasels at FOX News also called Ohio for Obama.

9:22
MSNBC. Obama has just been projected as the winner in (ready) OHIO.

OHIO.

I think it's the beginning of the end.



9:10
Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin to Obama.
I'm starting to get worried. I'm waiting for a single state to flip and so far, none has. Every state called for Obama so far was won by Kerry.

8:54
GET TOM DELAY OFF MY TEEVEE

8:31 Liddy Dole, the godless bitch, has lost. Proving that there is a God.

8:06 Just want to point out the CNN has NOT called PA for Obama.

8:05 Maryland. Blue. New Jersey. Blue.

8:00 Florida too close

8:01 They just projected Pennsylvania for Obama. 0% of the vote in. The ecist polls must be extreme. And New Hampshire and Maine. And Delaware.

McCain just got Oklahoma. BFD.

8:00
They just called SC for JM.

7:31
North Carolina is too close to call.

7:27
MSNBC's David Gregory just said "When we come back, we'll have some characterizations." I don't know what that means, but it sounds like they're going to call McCain a fuckface or something.

7:21
Over on kos, he points out that his election guide said:

If Indiana is announced too close to call when polls close this year, it will be an indicator that Barack Obama is headed for a similar landslide victory himself, even if he isn’t quite able to carry the state.

And Indiana is too close to call.

7:10
GET PAT BUCHANAN OFF MY TEEVEE.

7:01
They say Indiana and Georgia are close.

6:51
The clown on the teevee is saying exactly what I just wrote below about Howard Dean. What, did he sneak into the back room and read this blog?

6:42
My basic idea is that if Obama wins places like Indiana, it will break the back of the Republicans.

You know who won tonight, whatever happens? Howard Dean. He pushed for the 50-state strategy, the old school DLC claimed that it was foolish, Dean got his way, and it's working in spades.

6:21pm
Your correspondent is coming to you from wild and woolly Yonkers, NY, where an election night party of his nearest and dearest is taking place. Brownies and cookies. McCain looks far ahead in the early returns. Yes, it's 1% and it's Indiana and Kentucky, but it bothers the crap out of me anyway. I WANT Indiana. The pundits are saying "That will change," I assume that they have access to exit polls they aren't telling us about.

Indiana just switched to Obama. I think it's 3% of the vote.

6:00pm
I don't quite get the point. I'm going to try doing it anyway.

Message from Governor Dean

Find you polling place here.

Just came from voting

It's usually lickety-split, but this time I was on line for a half an hour. But the voting machine was broken, and we voted by paper ballot, which probably slowed things down. I don't think there was a McCain vote in the room, but this is a REALLY liberal place.

I refuse to blog about Dixville Notch

Holy crap, it's almost over.

Some phrases I hope I never hear again:

Throw under the bus
Maverick
You betcha
My friends
Drill, baby, drill
Whitey
Muslim Marxist
57 States
Real America

How terribly sad

Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died. The day before the election that might make her grandson the President of the United States.

There is, perhaps, at least a little comfort in the idea that Barack now has a new close friend in a very high place.

This Fucking Election

Sums it up.

Good Timing

The New Republic just released a report saying that McCain should have been expelled from the Senate for the Keating Five Scandal.

"All five senators -- including McCain -- had testified under oath and under the U.S. penal code that the leaks did not come from their camps," Sahil Mahtani reports. "The leaks were also prohibited by rules of the Senate Ethics Committee; according to the rules of the Senate, anyone caught leaking such information could face expulsion from the body."

Obama voters

Chris Buckley

Ken Adelman

Charles Fried, Former Endorser and Adviser to John McCain

Colin Powell

Neoconservative Academic Francis Fukuyama

Republican Charles McC. Mathias Jr., a former Senator & Congressman from Maryland.

At least 50 newspapers that backed George W. Bush

CC Goldwater, Barry Goldwater's granddaughter

Former Republican senator and Connecticut independent Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.

Longtime Wisconsin Republican State Senator Barbara Lorman

Scott McClellan, former press secretary to President Bush.

Former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson, a Republican

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican

Retired four-star Air Force General Merrill Tony McPeak

Douglas Kmiec, a professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law who was co-chairman
of Mitt Romneys presidential campaigns Committee for the Courts and the Constitution; worked in the Reagan Justice Department (sharing an office with Samuel Alito).

Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and a self-described lifelong Republican.

Julie Nixon Eisenhower.

Bill Ruckelshaus, who served in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations, announced that he is supporting Democrat Barack Obama for president.

Former L.A. mayor, Republican Richard Riordan

Linwood Holton, Former GOP Governor of Virginia

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who served in the US Senate from 1999 to 2006 as a Republican representing Rhode Island.

Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.)

Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, Republican from Maryland

Source: Republicans for Obama

Heh.

Obama decided to make a commercial out of Cheney's endorsement.

Oooh Noooooooo!!!!!

Dick Cheney has endorsed John McCain.

Heh.

When your running in an election, and having a tough time gaining any traction, you know what you REALLY need?

You really need for one of the most unpopular human beings in the entire history of the world to endorse you - that's what you need.

To put it into perspective, Cheney's favorability is 18%.

Typhoid Mary is 15%.

Obama's response? He CONGRATULATED McCain. Priceless:

I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney's support.

But here's my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain's going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?

Heh.

Whiners

You hear a lot of right-wingers whining like little children because the EEEVIL Obama want to raise taxes on those poor, poor people who make more than $250,000 a year. Well, let's look at what the actual figures are, shall we? And remember: these figures are NET income. That's $250,000 a year AFTER expenses and deductions.

According to the Tax Policy Center, here is how Obama's tax plan breaks down for individuals:

$0-$18,891 = $567 tax cut
$18,982-$37,595 = $892 tax cut
$37,596-$66,354 = $1,118 tax cut
$66,355-$111,645 = $1,264 tax cut
$111,646-$160,972 = $2,135 tax cut
$160,973-$226,918 = $2,796 tax cut
$226,919-$603,402 = $121 tax increase
$603,403-$2.87 million = $93,709 tax increase
$2.87 million-plus = $542,882 tax increase

This is the part that gets to me:

"$226,919-$603,402 = $121 tax increase"

People netting up to SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR will see there taxes go up by a HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE bucks.

And they're screaming like it's the end of the world.

That's SOCIALISM.

They will look you in the eye, and tell you that that $121 will make people not want to make half a million dollars a year.

And they actually don't realize how INSANE that is.

Ok - she lives in Bizarro world

But we knew that.

Short version: Sarah Palin thinks that a free press is a violation of the First Amendment.

“If they [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations, then I don’t know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.”

Got that? Apparently Sarah Palin thinks the First Amendment means you can't be criticized for what you say.

This would be really funny if it WAS a comedy skit.

It's not.