"Dickish?" I definitely could have been nicer, but you're the one calling me a jackass and calling me dickish. Normally if you're going to criticize someone for being condescending or rude, you don't turn around and do the exact same thing (and even worse). Part of the reason for posting the Zimbabwe figure was personal interest (I knew that the currency was bad, but I had no idea it was that ridiculous), but also because you were making ridiculous statements all over the place. Just because I said you were "far off" doesn't mean you have to turn around and call me a jackass. The interesting thing about your example is that there's no such thing as a homeless guy's shack. If he has somewhere to live, he's not homeless. If someone's house is really as bad as that of a really poor person (since obviously homeless isn't the correct term here), than there's probably some room for criticism. And anywho, when's the last time I've been dickish to you? I can't even remember. What was it, many months ago? A year ago or more? And how many times have you been dickish to me or other members? Such as right now?

I'm sure Bush and most other politicians would be doing the same exact thing as Obama. The problem is that most politicians would rather kick the can down the road instead of solving problems at once in a more painful way.

This is not just to blame on politicians though... the public reacts better to short-term half-assed measures than a good strategy.

Again, a funny thing to say. Bush would have done things a little diferent. I think he would of tried to spend his way out of the recession. One thing Obama is doing that's just frighting, is he is using this crisis to advance programs that cost a fortune, and are not temporary.

The concept of spending your way out of a recession is on where once out, you stop spending. Things like the healthcare plan and cap & trade are programs that will cost trillions for years and years.

They either fail, or we print money. There is no other solution.

Now, why is this a funny thing to say? because it's another example of how great Obama's campaign was. You should have said "I'm sure McCain and most other politicians would be doing the same exact thing as Obama". See, Obama ran against this guy named McCain. Remember him? Yea, most people don't. They just remember Obama running against Bush (odd, being Bush was not running).

@Mafoo: I was replying to a post which mentioned Bush, so why would I mention McCain?

What was McCain's reaction to Bush's bailouts, and what did he propose to do?

So we are not done with her yet....

Her interviews were so pathetic... and fun

She really has a "don't know, don't understand, don't care" style like Bushy...

McCain would have done the same thing with respect to the bailouts. Healthcare and Cap & Trade would never see light.

I know you know, but I hear all the time when talking about Obama "But Bush...". A lot of people never stop to think that it's not Bush vs Obama. Obama just did just a good job making people think that.

This is not meant as a defence of Sarah Palin, but John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all said as many (if not more) stupid things that were not heavily played in the mainstream media.

Personally, I'm not so sure Sarah Palin is as "dumb" as many people try to make her out to be and a lot of how she was portrayed could easily be attributed to inexperience. It's not that uncommon for people to ask for (and receive) a brief outline of topics that will be covered in an interview, or (in some cases) a list of questions that will be asked, and I'm not so sure that Sarah Palin asked for (or received) this list to properly prepare for her interview; on top of this, many interviewers will allow the person they're interviewing to rephrase an answer upon request and it wouldn't surprise me if Sarah Palin didn't ask for (or wasn't given the courtesy) to repeat an answer.

To put it another way ...

It doesn't take a particularly smart individual to interview really well if you have the co-operation of the media and have people who know how to use the system to their advantage. If you have the topic list ahead of time (or a full list of questions) you can create thoughtful answers to questions and all they have to do is mouth the answers on queue; and if they make a mistake the interviewer can allow them to repeat their answer to sound confident and collected.

In contrast, many smart individuals have interviewed really poorly when they haven't had the luxury of being prepared and didn't have the co-operation of the media

Then what did she expected ? Is she just a muppet ? Did she joined Mc Cain because she beleived it might be great for her career ?

How is she supposed to handle the most powerful country in the world if she is not even ready for a damn TV interview ?

What will she do with Korea and Iran ?? Flash her boobs ??? Come on...

Her campaign was only about clichés to please the conservative side of the republican and maybe trying to steal some women vote from Hillary.

What a great and challenging agenda ! Hum...

And now some interlude : http://current.com/items/89263347_mccains-vp-rejects.htm

@HappySqurriel: Some of the things Palin said were outright dumb. On top of that her presentation was highly incoherent, and she would spew irrelevant truisms to answer a question, going nowhere with her answer.

I saw her resignation speech at CNN video and it was another big incoherent mess which confirmed my previous beliefs.

The media obviously didn't do her any favors, but she didn't do much for herself either.

Guys, my point wasn't that "Sarah Palin is Great!" my point was that you shouldn't judge a person's capabilities based on interviews ...

Given enough coaching and assistance from the media I could make Paris Hilton look like an intelligent, worldly, presidential candidate; and if I was given the opportunity I could make (practically) anyone look like a complete idiot.