Oily.

From Michael Kinsley's column in Time:

     Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and has never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead of partisan politics, McCain pretty much proved the opposite with his selection of a running mate whose main asset is her ability to reignite the culture wars. So maybe Governor Palin does represent everything that is good and fine about America, as she herself maintains. But spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.

     Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said "No, thanks" to the famous "bridge to nowhere" (McCain's favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said "Yes, please" until the project became a symbol and political albatross.

     Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.

     Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state's unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can't afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears.

     As if it couldn't support itself, Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.

     It's 11 days since "DoubleTalk" chose this snowbilly to be his VP nominee. 

     She still hasn't taken questions from the press, although she will sit for an ABC News interview later this week.

     Bear in mind that part of that "interview" is reported to include ABC News' attendance at her speech in Alaska on 9/11, the day her son is being deployed to Iraq.

     Let's see Charlie Gibson weave that into his report without it cynically pulling at people's heartstrings. 

     I don't think the timing of the deployment or the timing of the interview is a coincidence.

     This campaign will exploit 9/11--and McCain's POW history--nine times 'til Sunday. 

     As I type this, she's in Lancaster, PA, giving the exact speech she gave at the RNC--lies and all.

     I read somewhere that she's been taught that it's "nuke-lee-er", not "nuke-U-ler"--her original, Bushian pronunciation.  

     How come nobody has taught her that it isn't "EYE-rack"; it's either "E-rack" or "E-rock".

     Unless, of course, you are a snowbilly, I suppose.

     She strikes me as a nativist who has never sought to have a meaningful conversation with anybody that didn't look just like her. 

     Her biography and ability to procreate mean nothing to me.

     The only fertility that matters in our leaders is that of the mind.