The Invisible Palin Meltdown

[Cervaise]

@pepperlandgirl

I feel like this thread is giving me a look into Bizarro World. I guess I’m completely out of touch with “middle America” because I always assumed that somebody who makes something like 50x what I make in a year, between real estate, stocks, bonds, and 401k investments was “wealthy”. Hell, I thought that was living the American Dream! I had no idea it was actually the equivalent of struggling along and sitting around the kitchen table wondering how bills would get paid. I’m sure my peers will also be shocked to hear how hard it is to be worth more than one million dollars, but will also feel comforted to know that millionaires really, honestly, truly feel our shared pain.

I suggest you take a look at the book Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich. (I know, I’ve recommended it a couple of times already in previous threads, but it keeps coming up as relevant.) One of the interesting throwaway details in the book is that everybody thinks of themselves as “struggling middle class” until they get up into the ludicrous stratosphere of nine-figure wealth. Ask a millionaire how much money he would need to feel “rich,” it’s almost invariably a multiple of ten of what he has now, until you get to a tipping point of something like a couple of hundred million. The rest of the book is about explaining why that should be true. Interesting stuff.

[pepperlandgirl]

Thanks for the rec, Cervaise. That looks like a fascinating book.

[Sarahfeena]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

My wife says the same thing. I ask her “Is that what you felt like the first two times?” She says 'I don’t know." It must be some pretty amorphous, idiosyncratic sensations before the hard labor really hits. She is talking about feeling a lot of “pressure,” and I remember her saying that a lot when the other two came.

It IS really hard to explain the sensations…they are not like anything else I’ve ever felt, so how can you describe them so someone else can understand, you know? And you have these little cramps and twinges all the time…with my second one, I had those Braxton-Hicks things pretty much every day, sometimes worse than others, so it’s really hard to guess when you’re going to cross over into real labor. Plus, the baby is always bearing down on you like it wants to get out. It’s really a pretty weird thing.

Actually we do know it’s a girl. I guess I was using “it” to refer to the delivery, not the baby.

Your others are both girls, right? That’s so cute. Congrats in advance, and good luck with everything!

[Grumman]

@Steve_MB

McCain does not propose to do so. She has to defend the plan as it is, not the plan as you might wish it to be.

Doesn’t McCain’s website explicitly state that part of this health care reform involves giving people a $2500/$5000 tax credit? Wouldn’t that cover the cost of making employer-funded health cover taxable income?

[Dangerosa]

@pepperlandgirl

Thanks for the rec, Cervaise. That looks like a fascinating book.

The Millionaire Next Door is also interesting - because it talks about people who live below their means and save. Now, having a really good income is certainly an asset when it comes to saving - but there are a lot of people with six figure incomes who dig themselves deeper into debt each year.

There is a “six figure trap” a lot of people fall into. You start thinking “I make a lot of money, I can live like a rich person.” But, believe it or not, $100k a year goes fast in most parts of the country. Here, you could live in a nice house - but not likely one with tiled bathrooms, jaccuzzi tubs, granite countertops and stainless steel commercial appliances like you see in home magazines. If you have kids in daycare, are saving for retirement, paying a mortgage on a not extravagant home - then yes, you sit around table in front of the bills thinking “we went out to dinner at Outback this month and we shouldn’t have - not with that Target trip to get the kids summer clothes…I’d better turn off the air conditioning.”

Anyway, this is a complete hijack on Palin herself being rich. I don’t think she is (I saw another article where the fishing rights were valued at much less - and Todd Palin and friends built that home, so they didn’t spend half a million to get it. Its also only really worth what it would sell for - how many half a million - million dollar homes sell in Wasilla?) - she is definitely not poor - she’s somewhere in that huge band of middle class Americans - CERTAINLY on the upper end - but she isn’t hanging with Buffett and Gates.

[Moriarty]

Did anyone hear (or see a transcript) the small talk between the debaters and Gwen Ifill after the debate?

I could have sworn I heard her say to Biden, “you did good”, and that Palin told her something like, “it wasn’t that bad.”, but I was distracted at the time, and don’t trust the recollection. If true, though, it was an interesting comment on Ifill’s opinion of the debate, as well as Palin’s sense of being out of her league.

Also, what was Biden’s response to, “Can I call you Joe?”

[MsWhatsit]

I think Biden asked Gwen Ifill how she was feeling/doing (in regards to her broken ankle) and she replied, “It’s good” or something to that effect.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Atomicktom

Did anyone hear (or see a transcript) the small talk between the debaters and Gwen Ifill after the debate?

I could have sworn I heard her say to Biden, “you did good”, and that Palin told her something like, “it wasn’t that bad.”, but I was distracted at the time, and don’t trust the recollection. If true, though, it was an interesting comment on Ifill’s opinion of the debate, as well as Palin’s sense of being out of her league.

Also, what was Biden’s response to, “Can I call you Joe?”

I didn’t hear what Ifill said, but Biden’s response to Palin was “You can call me Joe.”

[descamisado]

FYI: I’ve tried to but couldn’t find the original post speculating what a broadcast of the debates would be like if they had instant fact-checking projected onto the screen as they went along.

CNN will be doing just that with the Vice-Presidential debate today at 4:00 CDT.

[Mighty_Girl]

@Sarahfeena

I don’t know if your analysis is correct, but the way she acts with the baby has been bothering me, too. (I haven’t seen the debate…I was too busy watching the Cubs implode, but this is my observation from other televised appearances.) Speaking as someone who fairly recently had a baby, I do not recognize my natural mothering instincts as being reflected in her actions. For instance, when I pick up one of the kids, I tend to give them a quick kiss or squeeze, or look at them and babble some baby talk or some such…and this was especially true when they were infants. I have not seen her do that ever, I don’t think, and it seems odd. I don’t know if she is too distracted, or if she isn’t relating well to him because of his disability (he doesn’t react or hold himself like most babies do, either). But I don’t like it.

About the hockey game in philly:

A carpet was laid down and Palin, dressed in a beige trench, walked on to the ice joined by her daughters Willow and Piper. The GOP Vice-Presidential nominee said at an earlier fundraiser that she would stop some of the booing from the rowdy Philadelphia fans by putting her seven year old daughter, Piper in a Flyers jersey. She said, “How dare they boo Piper!”

I am speechless.

[rocking_chair]

oh great, put the tyklet out in front.

phila sport fans are known for booing and throwing things at santa claus… little girls are pre game snacks. the philly version of little debbies, ('cause philly is a tasty kake town, being seen with a little debbie could result in an incident.).