"She just says things . . . "

Bush the Elder's speechwriter Peggy Noonan has been critical and dismissive of Sarah Palin, saying that it's not just that she "thinks out loud" but that she doesn't think at all. "She just says things," was the way she put it.

Trying to paint Obama as a socialist (and a totalitarian one at that) is only the latest in the McCain campaign's habit of "just saying things." Time and again, McCain himself says things that contradict what he has previously said, or directly opposes a prior position, or accuses Obama of something he himself has done.

All politicians exaggerate and selectively quote out of context to paint their opponents in a bad light. Perhaps an independent, non-partisan linguistic analyst would disagree with me; but putting aside my liberal bias as much as possible, I say that the Republicans and Democrats -- and even moreso the McCain and Obama campaigns -- do this on a vastly different scale.

Democrats/Obama take selective quotes, lift them out of context, and exaggerate, like saying that McCain wants our troops to stay in Iraq for 100 years. Republicans/McCain/Palin dig up a past association and paint a guilt-by-association smear (Bill Ayers) or take an opponent's proposal and morph it into a bugaboo word (progressive taxation becomes socialism).

Obama/Biden tell what they want to accomplish FOR you; McCain/Palin scare people with what they say Obama will do TO you. Obama/Biden present a plan; McCain/Palin incite fear. Obama/Biden offer hope; McCain/Palin just say things to stir up your anger and fear.

Leave aside the arguments over whether electing McCain would give us four more years of Bush/Cheney policies. It's clear that a McCain/Palin administration would give us four more years of Bush's tactics -- including the unitary executive, imperialist presidency that claws its way into power by manipulating public opinion through fear.

They just say things . . . anything to get elected.

Which is reason # 270 for putting an end to this reign of terror.

Ralph