The Vice Presidential Debate 2008

In honor of Sarah Palin, I will ignore the question of tonight's debate and focus on another topic.

I'm not in favor of term limits for city politicians, but I'm even more opposed to elected politicians extending tenure by overturning the limits. So yeah, I think Mayor Michael Bloomberg should not be able to get a third consecutive term—especially without a public referendum. We managed to survive without extending Rudy Giuliani's term, despite the chaos of 9/11, so I think we can manage to survive without extending Bloomberg's term, despite the cratering of greedy and corrupt Wall Street. And hey: If the mayor's so great, how come he didn't prevent the collapse in the first place and protect a major source of city and state revenue? Anyway, I believe that, under the existing law, try again after a one term hiatus.

Y'see, that's how our team of mavericks get things done at patriotic Blog About Town.

The BAT Challenge: Palin or No Palin?

I was going to wait a few days for this, but I think I'd better take it head on now.

Here's the situation: John McCain had months to scour the nation for the very best veep candidate to fill out his ticket. For strategic reasons, he waited until after Barack Obama picked Joe Biden; then, out of millions of possible picks, McCain chose Sarah Palin, a former beauty queen and Alaskan city council member and mayor who is currently in her second year as Governor of Alaska. Days later, much of the world remains aghast at McCain's choice (she is unusually unqualified to be vice president) while a small number of Republican leaders and conservative pundits stupidly or disingenuously try to paint her as the greatest vice presidential pick ever!

As Gothamist put it: "When asked by Good Morning America if 'she were the president on 9/11, you would have been confident?' [overrated creep Rudy] Giuliani said, 'I'd be confident that she'd be able to handle it. She's been a governor of a state, she's been mayor of a city.'" As you might recall, Rudy was similarly enthusiastic in in support of Bernard Kerik when the George Bush nominated the unusually unqualified Kerik to be Secretary of Homeland Security.

So what's it gonna be then, eh? Will Sarah Palin be a Kerik or a Harriet Miers, paraded as "the best possible choice for the job" before vanishing from consideration? Or will she be a Dan Quayle, another in a series of extreme right-wing nincompoops the Republicans pretend is actually qualified to be on a Presidential ticket?

This will be an open-ended BAT Challenge that could run through Election Day [though you should get your guesses in by 11:59pm EST on September 9, 2008]. The issues to be addressed:

1. Palin will/will not stay on the ticket.
2. Palin will be off the ticket as of [date]/She will remain on the ticket.
3. Palin will be replaced by [name]/Don't you get it? She's on the ticket to stay!

To count, your guesses must appear at least 24 hours before Palin leaves the ticket (if she leaves the ticket). Anyone who guesses today will get a free pass on the timing issue. A point goes to the highest scorer(s); another point goes to the player(s) who do better than I do. Leave your guesses in the comments, using a distinct moniker so we can tell you apart from the other players.

Enjoy—and God Bless America!

Photo: David Marc Fischer

GIULIANI FIRE TRUCK?

Hours ago I saw a strange site by the Time Warner Center: a kind of fire truck outfitted with video screens showing footage of Rudy and Judi, including what looked like images of 9/11.

Bad taste, whatever it was.