Palin Pardons Turkey While Others Slaughtered

Gov. Sarah Palin has granted the traditional Thanksgiving pardon to one lucky turkey, but the video that shocked some viewers captured what was happening in the background.

As she answered questions Thursday at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla cameras from the Anchorage Daily News and others showed the bloody work of an employee slaughtering birds behind the former Republican vice presidential candidate.

On the video, Palin didn't comment about the slaughter as she answered questions, saying she's thankful that her son's Stryker brigade is relatively safe in Iraq and the rest of her family is healthy and happy. She said she's glad to be back in Alaska.

"This was neat," she said of the outing. "I was happy to get to be invited to participate in this. For one, you need a little bit of levity in this job, especially with so much that has gone in the last couple of months that has been so political obviously that it's nice to get out and do something to promote a local business and to just participate in something that isn't so heavy-handed politics that it invites criticism. Certainly we'll probably invite criticism for even doing this, too, but at least this was fun." Video01 and Video02

Isu Biden, Sarah Palin, Hingga Irak

Sejak pertarungan memanas, capres Republik John McCain terus mencoba memainkan taktik sumir. Pada awalnya McCain berharap bisa menjual isu kebijakan luar negeri, yang dia anggap akan lebih mengena bagi masyarakat. Namun, isu luar negeri, terutama soal Irak, tidak lagi mengena. Berdasarkan jajak pendapat, dari semua lembaga, isu Irak bukan urusan utama.

Setelah krisis, faktor ekonomi kini menjadi perhatian utama warga AS, di mana Obama dianggap lebih mampu ketimbang McCain.

Lagi, Barack Obama mengantisipasi kelemahannya dalam kebijakan luar negeri dengan menunjuk Joe Biden sebagai calon wakil presiden. Jualan McCain soal kebijakan luar negeri juga makin hancur dengan penunjukan Sarah Palin sebagai pendampingnya.

Lidah Palin keseleo. Dia mengatakan, Rusia bisa dia lihat >

Lagi pula, McCain juga dianggap tidak piawai soal kebijakan luar negeri karena ternyata dalam delapan tahun pemerintahan Presiden George W Bush, citra AS di mata dunia hancur berantakan. ”Kita tidak mau lagi menerima kenyataan bahwa citra AS terus memburuk. McCain akan sama saja dengan Bush,” kata Becky Campbell, wartawan dari Johnson City Press, di Johnson City, Tennessee.

Pengangkatan Palin sebagai pendamping juga membuat McCain seperti menjilat ludah sendiri karena pernah mengatakan bahwa Obama tidak siap sebagai presiden. Palin yang tidak berpengalaman berbalik menjadi sasaran kecaman pada McCain.

McCain juga berharap isu aborsi dan perkawinan sesama jenis bisa menjatuhkan Obama mengingat Republik pada umumnya didukung kaum konservatif. Kemudian muncul isu ekonomi dengan hancurnya sektor keuangan. ”Orang-orang tidak memerhatikan isu-isu seperti ini lagi,” kata Brittany Long, mahasiswa East Tennessee State University.

Ambruknya ekonomi membuat warga menjadikan isu ekonomi menjadi prioritas, di mana McCain turut tercoreng karena semua ini lagi-lagi dianggap sebagai warisan Republik.

Harapan McCain mendulang pamor sebagai eks veteran juga tidak menggugah. ”Ayah saya militer, nyatanya tidak mendukung McCain. Menjadi veteran, sama seperti ayah saya yang juga pernah bertugas di Vietnam, tidak menjadi jaminan untuk siap sebagai presiden,” kata Corie Shaun, warga Tennessee.

Karena itu, McCain mencoba memainkan isu bahwa Obama adalah teroris dan mengaitkannya dengan Bill Ayers. Hal itu langsung membuat McCain juga menjadi sasaran kecaman karena dia ternyata juga terlibat penjualan senjata ke Iran di bawah pemerintahan almarhum Presiden Ronald Reagan, dan kemudian membiayai pemberontakan di Nikaragua.

McCain mencoba memojokkan Obama dengan menyebutkan bahwa Rashid Khalidi, warga Palestina, dikatakan pernah dekat dengan Obama. Kemudian muncul kecaman bahwa adalah McCain yang pernah menyumbang dana 400.000 dollar AS lebih kepada pihak Hamas di Palestina. Tentu saja Khalidi membantah dirinya teroris Palestina dan demikian juga Obama membantah tudingan sumir itu.

McCain mencoba meraih simpati dengan merangkul Joe Lieberman, termasuk merangkul warga Yahudi mengingat Liberman adalah Yahudi Amerika. Akan tetapi, pamor Lieberman jelek karena dia adalah pemberontak Demokrat yang berpaling mendukung Republik. Politikus pelarian tidak dihargai di AS.

McCain dan Palin mencoba merangkul pendukung Hillary Clinton dengan menyatakan rasa simpati kepada Hillary Clinton setelah kalah pada pemilu pendahuluan dari Obama. Namun, tindakan ini juga jadi bumerang. ”Tidak untuk McCain, tidak untuk Palin,” ujar Hillary pada Konvensi Nasional Demokrat di Denver Agustus lalu.

Kemudian McCain mengampanyekan Samuel J Wurzelbacher, Joe the Plumber, seorang pengusaha yang menentang program ekonomi Obama, terutama program pajak Obama yang akan meningkatkan pajak korporasi. Akan tetapi, Joe the Plumber ternyata adalah pengusaha yang tidak punya izin.

Demikianlah McCain selalu terbentur aksi-aksi sumir yang dia lakukan. Dalam aksi komedinya, Tina Fay, pelawak yang meniru Sarah Palin, mengatakan, ”Berhadapan dengan Obama, McCain seperti garbage.”

Mengapa Pada Selasa, 4 November 2008?

Hari Selasa setelah Senin pertama pada bulan November selalu menjadi hari pemilu presiden AS. Hari Selasa setelah Senin pertama tahun 2008 jatuh pada tanggal 4 November.

Awal penentuan soal hari Selasa ini diputuskan pada tahun 1845. Kemudian pada tahun 1875, hari Selasa juga sekaligus diputuskan sebagai hari pemilihan DPR AS. Pada tahun 1914, hari Selasa juga ditetapkan pemilu Senat AS.

Pertanyaan selanjutnya, mengapa pemilu dilakukan pada awal November? Pada awalnya, komposisi warga AS didominasi para petani. Karena itu, politisi AS menilai bahwa bulan November adalah bulan paling senggang bagi para petani untuk beramai-ramai memberikan suara.

Waktu senggang ini perlu agar para petani memiliki masa santai berjalan dari pelosok pedesaan ke sentra-sentra pemilu. Masalah, bulan November adalah bulan di mana masa panenan sudah usai, atau masa musim gugur yang ditandai dengan musim panen sudah usai.

Masa tanam terjadi pada musim semi dan musim panas adalah masa mengelola tanaman, menyiangi dan memupuki, serta seterusnya. Nah, masa musim gugur, cuaca masih dianggap bersahabat bagi warga bepergian menuju kotak-kotak pemilu yang dulunya harus melalui jalanan rusak dan becek.

Pertanyaan selanjutnya, mengapa harinya jatuh di setiap hari Selasa itu. Dulu kala, warga AS harus menempuh jarak yang relatif jauh untuk memilih. Hari Senin dianggap kurang tepat karena warga harus mulai berangkat untuk memilih sejak hari Minggu. Padahal, hari Minggu adalah saat berbakti di gereja-gereja.

Ada juga alasan lain mengapa pemilu selalu dilakukan hari Selasa setelah Senin pertama. Politisi AS ingin menghindari agar hari pemilu tidak jatuh pada tanggal 1 November. Ada dua alasan untuk ini.

Pertama, setiap 1 November adalah Hari Semua Orang Kudus (All Saints Day), hari libur bagi pemeluk Katolik. Jadi, jika 1 November jatuh pada hari Selasa, maka pemilu tidak akan dilakukan karena hari Selasa pada tanggal ini bukanlah hari Selasa setelah hari Senin pertama di bulan November.

Alasan kedua, hampir semua pedagang umumnya sibuk melihat rekening pembukuan setiap tanggal 1 setiap bulannya. Politisi AS khawatir bahwa sukses atau kegagalan bisnis pada bulan sebelumnya akan memengaruhi pilihan para pedagang.

Palin Takes Prank Call From Fake French President

TORONTO – Sarah Palin unwittingly took a prank call Saturday from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and telling her she would make a good president someday.

"Maybe in eight years," replies a laughing Palin.

The Republican vice presidential nominee discusses politics, the perils of hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney, and Sarkozy's "beautiful wife," in a recording of the six-minute call released Saturday and set to air Monday on a Quebec radio station.

Palin campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt confirmed she had received the prank call.

"Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy and other celebrities, in being targeted by these pranksters. C'est la vie," she said.

The call was made by a well-known Montreal comedy duo Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel. Known as the Masked Avengers, the two are notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state.

Audette, posing as Sarkozy, speaks in an exaggerated French accent and drops ample hints that the conversation is a joke. But Palin seemingly does not pick up on them.

He tells Palin one of his favorite pastimes is hunting, also a passion of the 44-year-old Alaska governor.

"I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun," the fake Sarkozy says.

He proposes they go hunting together by helicopter, something he says he has never done.

"Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done," Palin counters. "We can kill two birds with one stone that way."

The comedian jokes that they shouldn't bring Cheney along on the hunt, referring to the 2006 incident in which the vice-president shot and injured a friend while hunting quail.

"I'll be a careful shot," responds Palin.

Playing off the governor's much-mocked comment in an early television interview that she had insights into foreign policy because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska," the caller tells her: "You know we have a lot in common also, because ... from my house I can see Belgium."

She replies: "Well, see, we're right next door to different countries that we all need to be working with, yes."

When Audette refers to Canadian singer Steph Carse as Canada's prime minister, Palin replies: "Well, he's doing fine and yeah, when you come into a position underestimated it gives you an opportunity to prove the pundits and the critics wrong. You work that much harder." Canada's prime minister is Stephen Harper.

Palin praises Sarkozy throughout the call and also mentions his wife Carla Bruni, a model-turned-songwriter.

"You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife," Palin says. "Oh my goodness, you've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of yours."

The Sarkozy impersonator tells Palin his wife is "so hot in bed" and then informs her that Bruni has written a song for her about Joe the Plumber entitled "Du rouge a levres sur une cochonne" — which translates as "Lipstick on a Pig."

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama derided his Republican challenger John McCain's call for change in Washington as "lipstick on a pig," days after Palin made a lipstick joke at the Republican convention. The McCain-Palin campaign then released an ad implying Obama was calling Palin a pig with that remark.

The caller asks Palin if Joe the Plumber is her husband and adds: "We have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It's called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit."

He also tells the Alaska governor that he loved the "documentary" made about her and referred to a pornographic film with a Palin look-alike made by Hustler founder Larry Flynt.

She answers tentatively, "Ohh, good, thank you, yes."

The callers then reveal the prank and identify themselves and their radio station.

"Ohhh, have we been pranked?" Palin asks before handing the phone to an aide who ends the call.

Obama's campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs, commenting on the prank, said: "I'm glad we check out our calls before we hand the phone to Barack Obama."

Watch the video

Palin as President

Palin Obama McCain

Suspected Sarah Palin E-Mail Hacker is the Son of a State Representative

Last week it was revealed that the Palin email "hack" was little more than a lucky guess and that a trail of evidence existed that would likely lead the authorities to an arrest. Apparently, this evidence has lead the FBI to the home of a 20-year-old student at the University of Tennessee named David Kernell. To make matters worse, David is the son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell. The apartment was thoroughly searched, but no criminal charges have been filed just yet. I suppose it goes without saying, but if Kernell is found guilty, this simple hack may bring both his life and his father's political career to a screeching halt.

Palin Says Daughter, 17, is Pregnant

ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, said Monday her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant, an announcement stealing even more thunder from McCain and a Republican presidential convention already overshadowed by Hurricane Gustav.

Adding to the day's drama, McCain aides said the announcement was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's.

The national convention, which a political party counts on to send its candidate surging into the fall campaign, already had been relegated to a distant second to the hurricane on TV, in newspapers and on Internet Web sites.

Monday's statement, attributed to Sarah and Todd Palin and released by the campaign, said that Bristol Palin would keep her baby and marry the child's father, identified only as a young man named Levi. The baby is due in late December.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in their brief statement.

The disclosure came on the opening day of the Republican National Convention, which has been scaled back because of Hurricane Gustav, and three days after McCain named Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Coming after the randomness of Gustav, the revelation added to the sense of unscriptedness that is hanging over the convention.

"Life happens," said McCain adviser Steve Schmidt.

"An American family," added colleague Mark Salter.

Palin told McCain's team about the pregnancy during lengthy discussions about her background, and the senator knew about it when he made her his surprise pick Friday, aides said. At several points during the discussions, McCain's team warned Palin that the scrutiny into her private life would be intense and that there was nothing she could do to prepare for it.

Prominent religious conservatives, many of whom have been lukewarm toward McCain's candidacy, predicted that the announcement would not diminish conservative Christian enthusiasm for the vice presidential hopeful, a staunch abortion opponent. In fact, there was talk that it might help.

The convention opened on time, though shortened out of concern that the party did not want to be seen whooping it up in St. Paul while thousands of Americans along the Gulf Coast were being threatened by the hurricane. From the convention podium, GOP officials asked delegates to take out their cell phones and text-message contributions to help in the relief effort.

McCain's wife, Cindy, and first lady Laura Bush were making their own appeals for relief help in the convention hall later in the day.

The delegates took up the party platform and other business, but most of the opening-day speeches — all of which had been expected to acclaim McCain and assail Democratic opponent Barack Obama — were scrapped.

Palin, the first-term Alaska governor, was in Minnesota preparing for her Wednesday night nomination acceptance speech when the campaign issued the statement from her and her husband; her family was home in Alaska.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," the parents said.

The campaign said it was not disclosing the father's full name or age or how he and Bristol knew each other, citing privacy.

Sarah Palin's fifth child, a son named Trig, was born in April with Down syndrome. Internet bloggers have been suggesting that the child was actually born to Bristol Palin but that her mother, the 44-year-old Alaska governor, claimed to be the mother.

Palin spokesman Bill McAllister emphatically denied those rumors, and McCain adviser Mark Salter said the campaign announced the daughter's pregnancy to rebut them.

"Senator McCain's view is this is a private family matter. As parents, (the Palins) love their daughter unconditionally and are going to support their daughter," said McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt.

Reaction from religious conservatives was sympathetic.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson issued a statement commending the Palins "for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances." He added: "Being a Christian does not mean you're perfect. Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord."

Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America called the pregnancy private. "It's a matter that should stay in the family and they have to work through it together. My prayers go out to them."

Added Combs: "We're excited about the governor and think she's going to do well."

Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law, said: "We're all sinners."

"We all make mistakes. Certainly, the ideal is not to get pregnant out of wedlock. But she made the right decision after her mistake," he said.

McCain advisers said Palin told them about the pregnancy during lengthy discussions about her background. At several points during the discussions, McCain's team warned Palin that the scrutiny into her private life would be intense.

Advisers said Palin's daughter should be afforded privacy like the other candidates' children. Said Schmidt: "If people try to politicize this, the American people will be appalled."

In Monroe, Mich., Democrat Obama condemned rumors involving the children of candidates and echoed the McCain campaign argument. He said, "I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits."

"Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be," he said. "And if I ever thought that there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they'd be fired."