Paw-Cutters for Aerial Wolf Gunning

The avalanche of news triggered by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin to be his running-mate has unearthed two new linguistic discoveries.

First is the name of one of John McCain's spokespersons, Nancy Pfotenhauer, who is probably not aware that her name means "paw-cutter" in German (for more Americans with odd German names, go here and here). The second discovery -- not unrelated! -- is "aerial wolf gunning," which is not, as you might expect, the title of a John Ashbery poem or a Boards of Canada CD, but rather a form of hunting Palin supports.

I'm in seventh heaven. If John McCain drops Palin from the ticket, I'll never forgive him.

Comments

[Kunar]

Wieso gibt es einen ersten und dritten, aber keinen zweiten Teil? Oder ist das etwa der Redux-Eintrag?

[franchie]

I have been watching how a peculiar group of "christian" Americans operate in twisting the opinion since a year

[Don]

I think you miss the point about both McCain and Palin, Franchie.

If you had to select a prominent Republican who is most unlike Bush it would be McCain. And if McCain asked for his Veep searchers to find someone who is the complete opposite of Dick Cheney, Sarh Plin would be the obvious choice.

The Palin choice shows one thing - John McCain is swinging for the fences, going for the home run. He is not interested in keeping it close, in making a respectable showing - he is aiming to win. If he can't win he doesn't care how much he loses by!

Palin is a gamble compared to the nice safe plasant young white man whom everyone was expecting.

Palin i important in another respect, in that her choice is an obvious effort to widen the party base. You may believe the GOP is only for successfull white males - McCain obviously believes otherwise. If he wants the office he is wise to do so....

[Marie Claude]

I am afraid that Palin wasn't really the normal choice of McCain, it looks like the "sect" that changed the face of GWB after 9/11 is again at the direction, when they saw that McCain was dangerously falling down in the polls. These are really dangerous, cause they promote a revisited history, a divine right to impose their "moral" views

Burke is their source for justification,

Himmmelfarb, a neocon historian, is the later displayer of their supposed superior moral revisionism

Naturally all what came from the french "enlighted" philosophers" are the manifestation of the evil

[Don]

I just thought of another angle. God is not the only Power who intervenes in hman affairs. God does not do so frequently judging by the historical record, so I think it unlikely.

There is another Party however, whom (judging by popular films and horror novels DOES have a strong interest in human offspring and has been known to do uncanny thingd (think "The Witches of Eastwick").

I must borrow phrasing from Saturday Night Live, because they phrase it so much better than my limited talents ever could:

Coul it be - Satan?!!!!

Where was Dick Cheney 13 months ago? 5 months ago? Did he visit Alaska?

There you have it, folks! Conclusive proof that the GOP did not stop with Iraq, with Afghanistan, with Tax Cuts. They took the Final Step and actually became a Limbof Satan!

If this doesn't elect Obama, nothing will! And all brought to us by those paladins of truth who brought us the National Guard Memo scandal of 2004 - our peerless press corps!

[Don]

This gets even better. The Palin story truely IS the gift that keeps on giving, but it's not Palin herself providing the entertainment.....

There are TWO baby stories here, both concerning children born or being carried by Palin's 17 year old daughter, Bristol.

Bristol apparently bore a baby out of wedlock, an infant whom mother Sarah 'covered up' by claiming the child as her own. This child (who has Downs Syndrome) is 4 months old. Hot story to be sure.

Bristol is currently *5* months pregnant with another child by her boyfriend. We're not talking about ordinary pregnancy here, folks.

This is either the widest-separated pair of fraternal twins on record (8 months apart) or the biggest miracle to come down the pike since a certain stable in Nazareth was used for alternate purposes.

This definately needs investigation, I feel. Something fishy ('loaves and fish'y?) is going on here. Bristol seems to be out of commission as the source of the other infant. Even if they are lying about the dates this represents awful quick work on boyfriend Levi's part. 'Irish Twins' ain't half of it, lthough it DOES make one wonder about the architecture of the hospital in Anchorage - or the visiting hours. What WAS going on during that delivery! ;)

Governor Palin DOES have two more daughters. Willow (born 1995), and Piper (in 2001). That makes one thirteen and the other .... seven. But let's not go there.

I personally favor the miracle theory, but that leads to a political problem. If God vouchsafed a miracle upon the US in this form, doesn't that rather imply that he/she/it has clearly indicated THEIR CHOICE for President this year? It would be blasphemous to assert otherwise.....

[Don]

For more information about the Palin biogrphy you may visit the US foremost source of political journlism; a trusted source and only slightly less reliable than the NY Times:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/85974

[Norbert]

I'd think that the original meaning was rather "paw chopper", as in "Fleischhauer", i.e. an ancient type of specialised butcher.

[August Wynde]

Pfotenhauer is a funny name. At the danger of seeming pernickety, I have to say though that it means paw-beater or perhaps paw-slapper, 'hauer' being the person who does the 'hauen'. And considering the McCain campaign's reaction to some questions by a CNN interviewer, who knows who will get slapped on the hands next ...

[onchyophaga]

Sorry for being pesky, but I`d rather like "pfotenhauer" being translated as "paw basher" or "-clouter" - in other words, a ... teacher (of course, only in those ancient times when corporal punishment was regarded as a means of education)