Palinontology
The Dems are set to blow it again. I've just seen their latest attack ad against McCain/Palin, and it seethes against perceived hypocrisy: Palin was in favor of the "bridge to nowhere" before she was for it. But hey, Dems, and I speak as a registered one of you: you're missing the point! Picking Palin was an audacious choice, out of the box. And it can only be countered by an out of the box attack, such as....
"Palinontology"
:60
Exterior: Barack Obama at the Museum of the Earth, in Ithaca, New York. This is a museum of paleontology -- the study of how life evolved on earth over billions of years. In the museum, Barack walks slowly up an exhibit ramp, that leads slowly upwards, featuring wall panels, each of which display ten million years of evolutionary time.
OBAMA: Life is everywhere on earth, from the most humble to the most complex.
[Camera shows primordial molluscs, shell-like creatures, ancient insects...]
Some of these guys have been around for hundreds of millions of years.
[gestures] This is the Jurassic period, when dinosaurs ruled the earth 150 million years ago. And this is the Cretaceous, when a meteoric impact destroyed almost all life, 65 million years ago.
[He comes to the end of the ramp] Now, this is where my Republican opponent, Sarah Palin, says life began, just eight thousand years ago. She doesn't know what she's talking about. And it's not just about history. No one who doesn't understand these time scales is qualified to understand and interpret science today -- and science holds the keys to our most pressing problems.
No one who doesn't understand science can understand the environment, how chemicals affect species, or genetic engineering. As President, I will support and fund American science -- because our future is too important to be left in the hands of people who cannot understand what has gone before.
"Palinontology"
:60
Exterior: Barack Obama at the Museum of the Earth, in Ithaca, New York. This is a museum of paleontology -- the study of how life evolved on earth over billions of years. In the museum, Barack walks slowly up an exhibit ramp, that leads slowly upwards, featuring wall panels, each of which display ten million years of evolutionary time.
OBAMA: Life is everywhere on earth, from the most humble to the most complex.
[Camera shows primordial molluscs, shell-like creatures, ancient insects...]
Some of these guys have been around for hundreds of millions of years.
[gestures] This is the Jurassic period, when dinosaurs ruled the earth 150 million years ago. And this is the Cretaceous, when a meteoric impact destroyed almost all life, 65 million years ago.
[He comes to the end of the ramp] Now, this is where my Republican opponent, Sarah Palin, says life began, just eight thousand years ago. She doesn't know what she's talking about. And it's not just about history. No one who doesn't understand these time scales is qualified to understand and interpret science today -- and science holds the keys to our most pressing problems.
No one who doesn't understand science can understand the environment, how chemicals affect species, or genetic engineering. As President, I will support and fund American science -- because our future is too important to be left in the hands of people who cannot understand what has gone before.