Daniel Larison on the Palin resignation

I Didn’t See This One Coming

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by Daniel Larison

On another subject entirely, Sarah Palin has announced that she will not seek re-election and will be resigning from her office in a few weeks. The GOP really is in freefall. The governor most Republicans like and want to support is apparently dropping out of politics, and Mark Sanford remains in office despite scandal and disgrace. Though there is otherwise really nothing in common between them, Palin is every bit as finished politically on a national level as Sanford is.



Despite all of the talk about the recent Vanity Fair feature on her, Andrew’s renewed obsessions with every detail of her life raising of important questions, John’s tireless refutations of those obsessions important questions, and reports of the continued support she enjoys from most Republicans, I have felt no need to say anything about her for several months. By the end of the election campaign, I had come to think that she was unqualified for the post she was seeking, and I probably allowed her more irritating supporters to color my judgment of her more than I should have, but once the election was over I would have been pleased to let her get on with her work in Alaska. After a flurry of post-election appearances, she seemed to do just that, and that was fine. I don’t think I ever feared that she would run for President in 2012. If she ran, she would lose the nomination to someone else, and if she didn’t she would have gone off into the sunset with all of the other losing VP candidates. Palin was never as threatening to the left nor as wonderful for the right as both sides imagined. Her resignation will prove to be a good thing for her, her family and Alaska. Her tenure as governor has been so lackluster that it might be fair to say that Palin never demonstrated her worthiness for the office so much as in her departing from it.



Never has a major political candidate been so poorly served by her own supporters. To quote that Russian proverb again, “The yes-man is your enemy, but your friend will argue with you.” Palin was surrounded and cheered on by almost nothing but yes-men, because once anyone tried to offer any kind of criticism that person seemed to become persona non grata in her circle and in the wider conservative world pretty quickly. That is why a reasonable column offering advice and encouragement to Palin could be met by so much insane fury from so many of her supporters. It will be very difficult to explain to later generations what it was that the Palinites saw in her that made them so fervent and enthusiastic. The Palin enthusiasm of 2008 will not end up making much sense a few years from now. At least the excitement about a Jack Kemp presidential campaign after 1996 was based in a record with some accomplishments in it.



While I initially gave her some benefit of the doubt, I never pretended to be a supporter, because I could not bring myself to cheer on anyone who would work so closely with McCain, but like many on the right I found something initially very likeable about her. After the first week or so, likeability became much less important once we started finding out something about her record. What came to be so annoying about her was not so much that she performed poorly in interviews, had no policy knowledge outside of issues related to oil, and had an unremarkable record as governor (except when she was jacking up windfall profits taxes to redistribute liberate the money from oil corporations), but it was that her supporters seemed intent on never acknowledging her errors, refused to hold her accountable when she made misleading statements and began making virtues out of her weaknesses. Whether or not Palin could have become a much better candidate, there was no way that things could work out well for her or the country with supporters like this.



P.S. I never did understand why so many people on the right liked to refer to her as conservatives’ Joan of Arc. At least in the earthly, political sphere, that meant she was doomed to defeat. Just another example of the sheer weirdness of some of her supporters, I suppose.



Update: This was not clear to me when I started writing this post, but it seems that there are crazy people advising Palin that this is how she can run for President in 2012. John Weaver observes that it doesn’t make sense:

“I’m not smart enough to see the strategy in this,” said John Weaver, a senior party strategist. “Good point guards don’t quit and walk off the court.”

To use a different sports reference, there are no votes in becoming the Vince Young of politics.


Second Update: I keep seeing these odd Richard Nixon references in commentary on this resignation. As Alex Massie notes, Richard Nixon was already a fairly significant, well-established political figure by 1960. Just as important, he was the losing candidate in a close race in which he was the presidential candidate, and so far as I know Nixon never resigned from a major office before his term was up unless it was to take a more prestigious post. To make a Nixonian comeback, it might be helpful if Palin’s career were in any way comparable to Nixon’s.



Third Update: After a commenter appropriately pointed out my stupidity, I need to correct that one remark about Nixon. Obviously, at the end of his career he did resign his office in disgrace. I was referring to the pre-1968 period of his career, but made a silly blanket statement.

Not wanting to be lame duck governor for 18 months is just one more horrible decision in being a lame, failed governor.

She's a lying, shit-stained, sicko shit stain on Alaska voters who elected her.

Good looking babe, from the neck down, for her age.

Ugh. That's a dog's breakfast, b_d.

Alaska’s Lt. Gov. says ‘insane’ legal bills forced Palin to quit
By Raw Story

Published: July 6, 2009

Alaska’s next governor says that Sarah Palin blamed “insane” legal bills connected to non-stop ethics probes which forced her to resign.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell said, “I think what I heard from the governor really had to do with the weight on her, the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like — the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska’s agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment. So that’s what I saw.”

“Mr. Parnell, who is scheduled to take over for Ms. Palin on July 26, said it was costing the State of Alaska about $2 million just to pay for the staff to deal with the records requests from the ethics complaints,” the New York Times notes.

Parnell added, ““That was just over the top, and I think she used the word insane in her remarks.”

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Another politician with serious difficulties with English language.

"move forward Alaska’s agenda on behalf of Alaskans"

The only agenda pitbull bitch has is her own agenda, which will be book-"writing" and money grubbing speaking to her foam-mouthed, hated-saturated choir.

Note that when she stuck the oil companies for $3000 per capita more in fees, she enriched herself many 10s of $1000s.

You are going to get such a talking to....

whottt has been informed of your attack.

Expect swift and decisive internets action to be taken by whottt.

I wanna bang Sarah Palin......and in semenate her so she can have my baby with a xtra chromo!

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Originally Posted by Gervin44Silas13

I wanna bang Sarah Palin......and in semenate her so she can have my baby with a xtra chromo!

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Ok, you've gotta be on top of whottt's list now.

So let me get this straight, a conservative that didn't like her because she was the more conservative VP selection of a conservative Presidential nominee he didn't like doesn't like her even more now.

Got it.

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

Ok, you've gotta be on top of whottt's list now.

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Well, at least you've dropped all pretentions about your political ethics.

Perhaps there's some scandal, some nefarious underlying story here, but it seems reasonable that someone that got into politics because her local school board was fucked up might either be tired of not being able to do any good or simply thinks that concentrating on a national campaign requires allowing someone else to do her job. John McCain and Barack Obama, and most other recent candidates had no problem campaigning while drawing paychecks for jobs they weren't doing. I'd vote for Sarah Palin in a heartbeat, but I wouldn't blame her for telling everybody to go piss up a rope. I wouldn't put my family out there for any of you, no matter how much good I thought it might do.

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Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

I wouldn't put my family out there for any of you, no matter how much good I thought it might do.

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whottt will pimpslap you for this careless remark.

By assigning the merest particle of responsibility to Sarah Palin, you are giving cover to those who attack children and think that it's funny.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

whottt will pimpslap you for this careless remark.

By assigning the merest particle of responsibility to Sarah Palin, you are giving cover to those who attack children and think that it's funny.

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In a way, you're helping the terrorists.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

“I’m not smart enough to see the strategy in this,” said John Weaver, a senior party strategist. “Good point guards don’t quit and walk off the court.”

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Why did you bold this WH? This is a guy who helped shape GOP strategy over the past 8 years. McCain has taken his advice in two presidential bids. McCain still isn't president and the GOP has become a powerless party. Weaver should have limited his comment to "I'm not smart."

It's witty; it's also true IMO. Weaver being a failure doesn't change that.

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

Why did you bold this WH? This is a guy who helped shape GOP strategy over the past 8 years. McCain has taken his advice in two presidential bids. McCain still isn't president and the GOP has become a powerless party. Weaver should have limited his comment to "I'm not smart."

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If he shaped the Republican strategy over the past 8 years, he won at least one presidential election. Can't be THAT dumb.

The funniest fucking thing about Palin is she so brightly shows the complete and utter hypocrisy of the left. People are so vicious towards her, yet are completely oblivious to how hypocritical they are in their political beliefs.

It blows my mind how they will never be able to see it.

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but it was that her supporters seemed intent on never acknowledging her errors, refused to hold her accountable when she made misleading statements and began making virtues out of her weaknesses.

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:lmao Sounds familiar.

He's a McCain guy, El Nono. I'm assuming McCain 2000 and McCain/Palin 2008 was what he meant.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

He's a McCain guy, El Nono. I'm assuming McCain 2000 and McCain/Palin 2008 was what he meant.

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I see. I wasn't aware of that.
EDIT: Right, Karl Rove was the guy behind Bush. Now I remember. My mistake.

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Originally Posted by SonOfAGun

The funniest fucking thing about Palin is she so brightly shows the complete and utter hypocrisy of the left.
:lmao

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Larison disagrees with you from the right and is no way a leftist, Sofa_G. You should assume a little less and read a little more.

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but it was that her supporters seemed intent on never acknowledging her errors, refused to hold her accountable when she made misleading statements and began making virtues out of her weaknesses.

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That isn't unique to Palin, though. Obama supporters do that, so did Bush supporters, fans of Clinton, Reagan, etc.

Everyone who clings to an idol puts them on a pedestal and rationalizes away their flaws.

But what happens when the flaws are the reason they become idols?

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

Larison disagrees with you from the right and is no way a leftist, Sofa_G. You should assume a little less and read a little more.

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No, it's reflexive. "Right" does not mean "holds to some kind of right-wing ideology, especially conservative or libertarian." "Right" means "is a member of our tribe." By castigating one of the tribal chiefs, Larison has earned scorn and expulsion.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

It's witty; it's also true IMO.

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You would prefer that she follow the Obama example of ignoring the responsibilities of her elected position while she works on a national campaign yet still collect the taxpayer provided paycheck?

Right. It still pisses me off though, and maybe someday somebody will listen. .

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

You would prefer that she follow the Obama example of ignoring the responsibilities of her elected position while she works on a national campaign yet still collect the taxpayer provided paycheck?

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I was unaware that was the only alternative, still less that it was compulsory.

To answer your question, though, it's commonly done. If it was my own Senator or Rep I might be a little bit miffed about the double duty. But Texas governors are so weak I wouldn't begrudge any who ran for President.

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Originally Posted by 4cc

or she could do what obama actually did and fulfill the duties of his elected position while he won a national campaign (and collected his taxpayer provided paycheck)

but her book tour was too demanding

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Governors can't just vote present in their job.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

To answer your question, though, it's commonly done. If it was my own Senator or Rep I might be a little bit miffed about the double duty. But Texas governors are so weak I wouldn't begrudge any who ran for President.

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Thanks for the support. :tu

The next presidential election is almost 3 1/2 years away. Any notion that she had to quit her job as governor NOW because she would be doing a disservice to it as a presidential candidate is ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by Ignignokt

Governors can't just vote present in their job.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ge-W-Bush.jpeg

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Originally Posted by ploto

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ge-W-Bush.jpeg

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Wow, he's like the antithesis to the George Washington all purpose awnser for anything negative here.

I get you don't like the guy, but george bush was "involved" in the governorship and still had to sign bills and make decisions on executions.

What did obama do? He Co sponsored a bill touting transperancy and then when he got to the POTUS he flip flopped on his once held virtue, but i guess that's more hope 'n change nuancey stuff there we neanderthals can't grasp.

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Originally Posted by Ignignokt

Wow, he's like the antithesis to the George Washington all purpose awnser for anything negative here.

I get you don't like the guy, but george bush was "involved" in the governorship and still had to sign bills and make decisions on executions.

What did obama do? He Co sponsored a bill touting transperancy and then when he got to the POTUS he flip flopped on his once held virtue, but i guess that's more hope 'n change nuancey stuff there we neanderthals can't grasp.

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Well, he did vote for the TARP in the middle of his campaign.

Below is NOT The Onion. :lol

The Huffington PostJuly 6, 2009

Robert Lanham

Posted: July 6, 2009 06:41 PM

Palin Holds Press Conference to Explain Last Press Conference

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen...ALIN-large.jpg

Responding to criticism that many were confused by her resignation speech on Friday, Governor Palin issued another press conference today to explain her reasons in "plain English" and without the use of sports and/or fish metaphors.

"When I last spoke about the issues at hand here on Friday," stated Palin, "I was addressing hardworking, average Americans who understand what it means to be a leader. Average Americans also understand sports metaphors and the direction a dead fish will move when in a particular body of water that has a current." :lol

Last week's surprise press conference, conducted on Palin's back lawn in Wasilla, has been the subject of much speculation with many accusing the governor of not clearly articulating her reasons for resigning her seat as governor.

"It's come to my attention that some of my critics, mainly out-of-touch members of the media elite who don't follow basketball, were confused when I mentioned being a point guard and the full-court press that was being applied here," said Palin.

"Let me state my reasons in plain English without any sports analogies: I'm resigning because I feel I can be a more effective leader operating from the sidelines. I'm no bench warmer," she added. :lol :lol

( she's on the sidelines, but on warming the bench. Is she gonna coach? cheerlead? play an instrument? :lol )

Throughout the holiday weekend the media tried to make sense of Palin's resignation as well as her ability to make an entire speech without stopping once to take oxygen into her lungs.

Anderson Cooper, was candidly perplexed by all the talk about hoops and baskets.

"Honestly, I know nothing about basketball," said Cooper. "All I know about is politics."

Meanwhile, a sports reporter covering the conference for the Wasilla Times was equally confounded. "I do follow basketball and I don't know what the hell she was talking about," he said.

Standing on her lawn in Wasilla this morning, her family once again by her side, Palin attempted to clear up the confusion about fish and point guards while ending speculations that she was leaving office because of an impending scandal.

"The great state of Alaska and her great people know what I was talking about last Friday," Palin told the handful of reporters invited to attend the event. "But let me explain again to those who are eager to attack me."

"When I was a point guard at Wasilla High School," she continued, "my nickname was 'The Barracuda.' Barracudas hunt in packs and they put a full-court press on their prey, just like people have been doing to me. And driving to the hoop, this barracuda didn't want to succumb because if I let them beat me, I'd be like a dead fish floating with the current. But that's not how this barracuda is wired. No siree." :lol :lol :lol

Palin went on to note that since barracudas travel in large schools they understand the value of teamwork.

"Barracudas know when to pass the ball--for victory," she said. "Or at least they would if they had hands underwater there, instead of fins and whatnot." ( whatnot? :lol)

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/200...basketball.jpg

Critics say that today's press conference was even more confusing than the one held on Friday, further muddling the governor's reasons for departure.

Still, Palin did manage to shed some light on her ability to make an eight-minute speech without taking a breath. :lol

"They don't call me the Barracuda just because I'm tough," she told reporters referring to her uncanny ability to forgo breathing. :lol

"Sometimes, I prefer making speeches without breathing at all. I'm an avid runner and depriving my brain of oxygen sorta feels like having a runner's high. Plus, I know the First Dude will catch me should I get too dizzy. He's a deacon at our family's Pentecostal church and has lots of practice catching fainters who have had demons exorcised."

( or catching dead fish!! :lol :lol )


Most scientists say that when the brain is deprived of oxygen it can no longer function properly, and that this could explain the governor's inability to communicate clearly. But fervent Palin supporter, Dick Kristal, contends that the brain can operate just fine without oxygen.

"Excess carbon emissions cause global warming, too little oxygen can cause decreased brain activity, blah blah blah blah blah," said a visibly agitated Kristal. "These are clearly just theories, pseudo science promoted by liberals."

In response to a question posed by a Times reporter, Palin also took a moment to briefly address posts she made to her Twitter account on Saturday where she threatened several reporters with lawsuits.

"I just needed to be clear since there have been baseless allegations about me in the last several days. Just because my nickname is barracuda and I don't need to breathe, that doesn't imply that I'm a dead fish floating with the current. Let's be clear, I swim against the beltway's politics-as-usual current!"

Palin spokesperson, Peg Mapleton says the governor will be holding another press conference at noon on Thursday.
"She's decided to hold a third press conference to clear up any confusion surrounding the second press conference since there are still a few lingering questions about what she said in her first press conference," said Mapleton. :lol :lol

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Originally Posted by Ignignokt

I get you don't like the guy, but george bush was "involved" in the governorship and still had to sign bills and make decisions on executions.

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Wow, you missed it alltogether. George Bush ran for President while serving as Governor of Texas but Palin had to resign 3 1/2 years before an election from a term that ends in 1 1/2 years!

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Robert Lanham's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Maxim, Radar, Nylon, Playboy, Salon, McSweeney's, and Time Out New York, among others. He is the author of the satirical anthropological studies The Hipster Handbook, Food Court Druids, and The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right. Lanham is the founder and editor of the trendsetting publication FREEwilliamsburg.com.

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:lol

It's a lampoon, b_d. But I guess you knew that when you posted it.

What confused me was the interlineal riffing, the sarcastic commentary.

If you already liked the spoof, why did you cap the author's punch lines with your own? It just seems a little weird to me.

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Originally Posted by SonOfAGun

The funniest fucking thing about Palin is she so brightly shows the complete and utter hypocrisy of the left. People are so vicious towards her, yet are completely oblivious to how hypocritical they are in their political beliefs.

It blows my mind how they will never be able to see it.

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but it was that her supporters seemed intent on never acknowledging her errors, refused to hold her accountable when she made misleading statements and began making virtues out of her weaknesses.

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:lmao Sounds familiar.

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That's not all. What about the feminists complaining about her not being home. So many other examples.

I simply cannot believe how STUPID so many of you are here assigning negative motives to an action that you don't have all the facts on.

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Originally Posted by Wild Cobra

I simply cannot believe how STUPID so many of you are here assigning negative motives to an action that you don't have all the facts on.

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Everybody is allowed to speculate, including the OP.
If she would have been concise on what she is planning to do, then there would be no room for speculation. Heck, she could have simple said 'I'm taking some time off to meditate about my future', and that would have reduced the opinion as to wether her decision was sound or not.
So, basically, it was her choice to bring all this speculation over her future, not the STUPID posters in this thread.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

Everybody is allowed to speculate, including the OP.
If she would have been concise on what she is planning to do, then there would be no room for speculation. Heck, she could have simple said 'I'm taking some time off to meditate about my future', and that would have reduced the opinion as to wether her decision was sound or not.
So, basically, it was her choice to bring all this speculation over her future, not the STUPID posters in this thread.

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Speculation is one thing. I have speculated too. I also said "assign negative motive."

So has anyone figured out what the hell the point-guard metaphor meant? Pass the ball to Romney or Jindal for an assist? Ah, shit - not Huckabee (*brick*)...

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Originally Posted by boutons_deux

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen...ALIN-large.jpg

Responding to criticism that many were confused by her resignation speech on Friday, Governor Palin issued another press conference today to explain her reasons in "plain English" and without the use of sports and/or fish metaphors.

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"I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!"

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Originally Posted by Wild Cobra

Speculation is one thing. I have speculated too. I also said "assign negative motive."

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What's that even supposed to mean?
Speculation is positive, negative and every shade of gray in-between. Like I said, if she would have been clear from the get go, then there would be no room for speculation, negative or otherwise.

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Originally Posted by Ignignokt

What did obama do? He Co sponsored a bill touting transperancy and then when he got to the POTUS he flip flopped on his once held virtue, but i guess that's more hope 'n change nuancey stuff there we neanderthals can't grasp.

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This bit makes no sense. He obviously lied about wanting transparency, or at least for a good majority of areas.

You know how ridiculous you guys sound always spouting the "Hopenchange" line, right?