Well, actually, I am quite surprised that nobody from my school, Messiah College, has signed yet.
Also, for all my friends at West Chester University, I just wanted to point out Professor Lawrence Davidson as a supporter of Bill Ayres… Good luck in his completely balanced classes!
(I forgot to mention that if you look at the petition’s site the professors are listed by name and school. So you can look up your favorite nut job professor to see if they’ve signed yet! Have fun.)
UPDATE: I wonder how many of these professors have read Ayres’ book? (they easily could have since it was republished in 2006)
UPDATE: I wonder how many of these professors are going to read Ayres’ new book?
Here’s the answer that Sarah Palin gave to a third grader who asked what it is that the Vice President does:
And Here’s the specific part CNN was interested in:
“They’re in charge of the United States Senate. So, if they want to, they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes.”
Here’s the title of the CNN story (as it appears on CNN.com) regarding her comments:
“Palin misstates VP role”
Now, I’m no constitutional law expert but luckily for me the constitution is written in English so I can pretty well understand it.
And to be quite honest, the constitution doesn’t much address what the specifics of the Vice President’s role are…
In fact, here is the one and only provision pertaining to the Vice President in regards to the Senate:
“The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
Seems to me that being the president of something means you are “in charge” of it, at least formally, and when you’re trying to explain what the VP does to a third grader thats not a half bad way of doing it. So if that wasn’t the offending part of this excerpt it must have been the insinuation that the Vice President, “if they want to”, can influence senators on policy.
But if the Vice President isn’t supposed to influence policy in the Senate then what exactly are they supposed to do? Just wait around for the President to die? I mean, besides outlining how the VP is elected (and revising it in the 12th amendment and several others), impeached, and that the VP assumes the office of the President if the President is unable or unfit to fulfill the duties of that office what does the constitution tell us?
Again, only that the Vice President is the president of the Senate and casts the decisive vote when there is a tie. And, again, I’m left wondering what CNN sees as the gaffe in Palin’s statement…
They quote Donald Ritchie, a historian in the Senate Historical Office for what seems to be the real crux of their argument:
Donald Ritchie, a historian in the Senate Historical Office told CNN that Palin’s comment was an “overstatement” of what her role would be.
“The vice president is the ceremonial officer of the Senate and has certain ceremonial functions including swearing in new senators and can vote to break a tie,” he said. “It’s a relatively limited role. It’s evolved into a neutral presiding officer of the Senate.
Ritchie also noted recent vice presidents have played a behind-the-scenes lobbying role on Capitol Hill for an administration’s policies, but called it “somewhat limited.”
Personally, I find these assertions to be contentious. Who is Ritchie to say what kind of Vice President Sarah Palin will be? And if anything the office of Vice President has been moving away from its “somewhat limited” role of influencing senate policy decisions, you only need to look at Dick Cheney to figure that out. Plus, everything I’ve heard Palin say about the kind of Vice President she’ll be points to one that is very engaged in influencing policy. After all, she has the right to be that kind of Vice President if she so chooses.
So lets stop all this idiotic panic please. I mean seriously, Obama is running in a dead give away Democrat year with about a 4:1 money advantage and McCain is still within the margin of error nationally and in most important states. Obama couldn’t be a weaker candidate…
It’s gonna be close, just like the past two elections. You know, ever since the current red/blue demographics were aligned. Seems to me that despite all the rhetoric about changing the dynamics the election is going to be won or lost in the same states as ’00 and ’04. And it will probably come down to each parties get out the vote operations, just like the past two elections.
So, really, the fact that McCain never fell more than, say, 8 points behind nationally (and I don’t even think it got that bad in most battleground states) at his worst and the fact that he is pretty much back to even now should make us all very happy. After all, who had the better GOTV operations in ’00 and ’04? And while Obama may have made up ground its still widely recognized that the GOP has much larger and better voter information databases.
Honestly, people, recent history tells us that McCain is in good shape. Heck I might even consider him the front runner at this point.
I just wanted to take a quick second and say Happy Birthday to Michelle Malkin.
As many of you who read The College Politico regularly know Michelle Malkin is a major source of news and perspective for me. I find her opinions and principles to be some of the most enlightening and consistant in the conservative movement. Not only that but I find her to be one of the foremost leaders of that movement.
Plus Michelle is doing almost exactly what I hope to do in my career, producing insightful, vivid, and clever commentary that cuts to the heart of an issue and enables people understand and connect with it. I hope some day I can write and speak with half the briliance Michelle Malkin displays on a daily basis.
So I hope that you stop over at this link and wish her a happy birthday.
Personally I think it was decently funny, the Mark Wahlberg cameo was actually the funniest part in my mind, but it could have been much better. They easily could have done a skit where Palin spoofs Fey and it would have been far funnier. I mean they had Palin there and they barely had her involved in anything… it was a below average night for SNL, something that is more and more common these days.
Here is the other Mark Wahlberg skit that was far more hilarious than either of the Sarah Palin skits:
I will now be featuring two of the best political cartoons on the planet.
The first is a cartoon called Diversity Lane. It comments on national politics and the liberal mindset in a way I find poignant and, more importantly, a way that actually makes me laugh. Diversity Lane is also written in a very unique way, it’s really closer to a written sit-com than anything else.
The second cartoon is by Ammon Perry and focuses on Pennsylvania state politics and the politics of Messiah College. His work is insightful and impressive. He never ceases to entertain and inform. He will give this blog the local focus that has been lacking. Oh, and his stuff brings tears of hilarity to my eyes.
Here’s a sample of his work:
I will be updating The College Politico as often as possible with works from these two brilliant satirists.
