[R. S. Gwynn]

Does Todd remind anyone of Roy on The Office, or is it just me?

[Rick Mullin]

This from a guy who wrote a book called The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine,

It's ugly.
RM

[Maryann Corbett]

I've been trying to the last half hour to edit that URL and it's just not working. Is there something different about Google cache URLs?

[Stephen Collington]

Hi Maryann,

Just cut and paste! (Well, you have to open "Edit" first . . .)

Palin Approves Obama Energy Plan

As for the how part . . . I don't know the details of the system, but Google cache addresses include all sorts of extra spaghetti for the techies and the geeks. Some of it might even be useful, if you knew how to use it. Anyway, if you look at the URL that Martin posted, you'll see that the main page address (www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php) is used twice. The second instance appears about midway across the line at the plus sign +. Anyway, what I think happens is that that the scripting on the site here (Eratosphere) sees this as two addresses and can't figure out which to use when the whole lot is placed in the [url= . . . /url] coding. And so the "url" button doesn't work properly for cached pages.

But it's easy to fix. Just cut the Google URL before the repeat in the address, right before the plus sign:

. . . p%3Fid%3D1384+http://www.g . . .

Delete everything after the plus sign (including the plus sign!), then paste the edited URL into the "url" button dialogue box. And you're done!

Steve C.

p.s. Editing back: I think I've figured it out. The second repeat of the address is for the current page, as it appears if you go to its home site. (The first repeat, of course, is for the cached page at Google.) Below, I've broken the original URL posted by Martin into its three components for easy inspection. First comes the cache address, the page that we want to see. Second, the trouble-making plus sign. And third, the address for where the page should be on "gov.state.ak.us." Which, if you click on it, does indeed lead you to a 404 "page not found" error. They removed the page. How very interesting . . .

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:wbCGTUeD1r0J:www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php%3Fid% 3D1384

+

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php%...lnk&cd=1&gl=us

Anyway, all you need is the cache address, so as I said above, look for the plus sign, and cut everything that follows, along with the + itself.

We might want to file this one somewhere . . .



[This message has been edited by Stephen Collington (edited August 30, 2008).]

[David Rosenthal]

The VP candidate makes no difference (cf. Dan Quayle and Spiro Agnew).

[James Wilk]

Commentary: Is McCain out of his mind?

By Paul Begala, CNN Contributor

CNN) -- John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls "a checkup from the neck up."

In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, he is not thinking "outside the box," as some have said. More like out of his mind.

Palin a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain's age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.

In choosing this featherweight, McCain passed over Tom Ridge, a decorated combat hero, a Cabinet secretary and the former two-term governor of the large, complex state of Pennsylvania. iReport.com: 'McCain pick might be a gimmick'

He passed over Mitt Romney, who ran a big state, Massachusetts; a big company, Bain Capital; and a big event, the Olympics.

He passed over Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas senator who is knowledgeable about the military, good on television and -- obviously -- a woman.

He passed over Joe Lieberman, his best friend in the Senate and fellow Iraq Kool-Aid drinker.

He passed over former congressman, trade negotiator and budget director Rob Portman.

And he also passed over Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas.

For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown that he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.

[Laura Heidy-Halberstein]

Originally posted by David Rosenthal:
The VP candidate makes no difference (cf. Dan Quayle and Spiro Agnew).

Tell that to John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford.


It's mattered a lot 9 out of 43 times. That's a better than 1 in 5 chance that it'll matter again.

The odds of it not mattering this time, when the presidental candidate in question is already 72 years old and on disability, is a bit more than I'd be willing to bet on.

And I've got a gambling problem.

[This message has been edited by Laura Heidy-Halberstein (edited August 30, 2008).]

[Rick Mullin]

Well, David is right. Palin's opponent in the race for governor laments in the New York Times today that she won because people liked her...she made them feel good. He compares her to Obama in this regard. That is a big advantage for Obama.

It will come down to McCain vs Obama. But views of both candidates are affected by their VP choices, obviously. Both made hypocritical choices, given their spiels this summer (Obama ran on the message of change and picked a guy who's been in office in DC for over 30 years. Clearly Obama wants Biden's foreign relations etc. weight in his corner. McCain has questioned whether a young person with 4 years of experience and no significant foreign policy experience is ready. He picks a younger person with less experience in order to add her arch conservativism and renegade stance to the Republican status quo--mirroring his supposed own--to the ticket).

McCain's choice surely made a bigger headlines--it is more "daring". Obama must proceed with caution, I'd say. The biggest mistake would be to laugh Palin off.

Note that Palin is part of an ethics probe for acting to fire a state trooper who divorced her sister.

I want to sleep for two months or so. It would be good if Nancy Pelosi did the same.

RM

[Janice D. Soderling]

McCain wants a Veep who will cut ribbons and visit libraries and hospitals and otherwise not get in the way. She is a token woman but it shows he knows zilch about women.

McCain doesn't want anyone smarter than he is. He doesn't want any one who can advise him. He intends to run the show. Which bodes no good at a time when bipartianship is sorely needed.

But Obama will win now, if no one asassinates him (way too many nuts out there).

Of course, the enormity of the error and the backlash it causes might cause her to quickly renege pleading family problems that just popped up yesterday and give McCain a chance to find someone better. I beleive conservative women will be alienated by what they perceive as shirking her mom/family duties. I think Hiillary women will not regard her as a role model.

That's my take on it anyway. Not that anyone asked me.

[Anne Bryant-Hamon]

Originally posted by Rick Mullin:
I think it is ridiculous to think for a moment that McCain or anyone around him is "stupid". What seemed so crazy yesterday (making me very happy) seems this morning like a Rovian Stroke of Sinister Brilliance® (which makes me very very sad).

RM

Me too, Rick. I had less than a day of laughing and gloating and then became terrified, knowing there must be something sinister going on with such a reckless and ridiculous choice. Think Monica Goodling - and then imagine her as President, clay in the hands of the Neo-con puppet masters. Oh my God! I'm going to hide under my covers and cross my fingers.