Michelle Obama: Glamour cover girl

By GottaLaff

Yes, the First Lady is beautiful, but this is about so much more. That's why this, and she, are so very cool:

This year, Glamour is honoring First Lady Michelle Obama with a Special Recognition award for her commitment to mentoring young women. (She also appears on our cover--the first time in Glamour’s 70-year history that a First Lady has ever done so.) [...] Just nine months into her job, our nation’s first African-American First Lady has thrown open the doors of the White House to local children and families, determined to show young people that, in her words, “there’s no magic to being here”--that with hard work, any one of us can rise to greatness.

Here's the link to the Glamour article.

Isn't it great to be proud of our First Family, their elegance, their style, their down-to-earthitude, their humor, and their intelligence?

H/t: muttlikemeblog

Vetting Sarah Louise Palin: "I'm just amazed at your grasp of issues and facts"

By GottaLaff

A HUNTING TROPHY: In this undated photo, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and one of her daughters pose with a caribou she shot. A woman in an exceedingly macho state, Palin has not always been taken seriously. But opponents cross her at their peril.

We here at The Political Carnival are happy to vet S Lou, since John Sidney McCain apparently didn't have enough time. Here are some informative little excerpts from this morning's long L.A. Times piece:

"There's always been a little bit of an air of an opportunist about the governor," said state Sen. Hollis French, a Democrat, who has been a strong advocate for the public getting a larger slice of Alaskan oil and gas revenues. [...]

"There's a real question whether she's a Republican or a Democrat," said GOP state Rep. Mike Hawker.

Huh? Okay, I'll let that one pass.

Both French and Hawker said Palin has not paid attention to other critically important issues.

"Her administration had the appearance of paying absolutely no attention to any of the rest of the unglamorous side of government," said Hawker, "whether it be dealing with human services, public services, highways, all the routine aspects."

Rep. Hawker, she's a former beauty pageanter. What did you expect? I understand her hunting outfit comes with a flannel sash that says, "Miss Guided".

French faulted Palin for not helping the Legislature pass a bill to raise the benefits threshhold for children and pregnant women from 175% of the poverty level to 200%. (Most states set them at 200% to 250%.) "She said she wanted to help us raise it," French said, "but couldn't be bothered to do anything in the closing days of the Legislature, when she could have helped it through."

How conservatively compassionate and women's righty of her.

Indeed, Halcro said, those qualities meant that debating Palin was an exercise in frustration. The day after a debate in Fairbanks, they found themselves in conversation at a breakfast in Anchorage.

"She said, 'You know, I go to these debates, and I'm just amazed at your grasp of issues and facts. You show up with no notecards; you just kind of spurt it out. But I look out over the audience, and I wonder: Is that really important?' " Halcro said. "And you know, I'm a policy guy, and I'm thinking, 'Yeah.' But people didn't care. She has a way of walking in a room and filling the room with her presence, so people suddenly forget about their concerns about healthcare or education or anything else."

And then she asked, "What does a vice president do, again? I forgot my notes."

Palin has found herself accused of crossing ethical boundaries in office. In 2002, when she was mayor of her hometown, Wasilla, she was accused of arranging campaign travel from her office and of using her secretary to pen thank-you notes to campaign contributors.

Uh-oh. She's multi-scandalous.

She is also embroiled in a controversy now over alleged improper interference with the job of an Alaska state trooper named Mike Wooten, who is divorced from her sister.

Stay tuned. The vetting has only just begun.