The Palin Precedent

10:18 pm EST August 31st, 2008 | Republicans | 33 Comments

So, considering the criteria that the Republicans are using to make up national security credentials for Sarah Palin… I qualify as an astronaut. According to them, Palin has dealt with the Russians because Alaska is near Canada. That said, I qualify as an astronaut because I watched the movie Spacecamp several times.

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No Vetting Watch

9:57 pm EST August 31st, 2008 | News | 33 Comments

The McCain campaign didn’t even check out Palin’s hometown newspaper.

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Hurricane Gustav: The Response

1:13 pm EST August 31st, 2008 | News | 53 Comments

Senator Obama will be using his e-mail list to bring in aid for those affected by Gustav:

Sen. Barack Obama announced that his campaign would mobilize supporters from his enormous e-mail list to send money or enlist as volunteers once the impact of Hurricane Gustav becomes apparent.

McCain, on the other hand, seems to look at Gustav as a campaign backdrop and not an impending national disaster. He and his entourage are planning to go into the storm zone, a move that will likely cause first responders and other authorities to have to deal with the McCain campaign’s logistics rather than the job of dealing with the hurricane.

Of course, Republican “leaders” using storm zones as window dressing is more of the same.

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The Change We Need

11:31 am EST August 31st, 2008 | Democrats | 33 Comments

The Democratic convention was a unique event in the way in which it continually rejected the storyline the mainstream media was determined to push. We live in a far different media environment than past elections, particularly on the liberal side. The Obama campaign has come along at a fortuitous time, recognizing that Democrats lose when they try to curry favor with the mainstream press. What exists now is a party that has alternative media to get reality out beyond the filter. Why let Fox News hold you over a barrell when you can embed bloggers or create the media for yourself, publish it online and blast it out to your supporters to pass along?

The early storyline from the fading media was about unity. Would the Clintons be pleased, would they embrace the Obama candidacy? Then the press wondered if Michelle Obama would be too “angry” for mainstream America. The most ridiculous attack was an echo of the McCain campaign’s flailing versus Senator Obama – the elitist nonsense. They attacked the stage design, even though it was as traditional American as you get. They tried and tried to make the Democratic convention something it wasn’t.

The Clintons both gave rousing speeches, unambiguous expressions of support for Sen. Obama. How stupid do you have to be to underestimate Bill Clinton’s skill at speechmaking? Quite stupid. And for Michelle Obama, her speech continued to dissolve the GOP/MSM spin against her. She came across as a likeable affable wife and mother and sister. It continues a racial pattern that has been used against the Obamas for eighteen plus months now: The desire to paint this family as something different, something “other”, to sow the seeds of doubt that it is impossible that the first major party candidate who is black could be just like you. But that’s just it: The Obamas are just like the rest of us. And they found the best way to cast aside the caricature the Republican noise machine has invested so much in creating: they spoke.

Most of all, that’s what Joe Biden and Sen. Obama did. People who are paying attention are realizing that Sen. Obama is the real deal. I hope the mainstream press and the Republicans continue to talk him down. Before the speech, we were told that it would be a speech that sailed over the heads of people, given by the aloof law professor who couldn’t possibly speak to the average American.

Except of course that Sen. Obama is a creature of the middle class in a similar way to President Clinton, and not of the elitist class like President Bush and Sen. McCain. As his speech – seen by over 38 million in real time, plus more in repeats and by over 68,000 mostly swing-state voters in person – made clear, Barack Obama is more than ready and able to communicate concrete solutions to the American people. The McCain campaign has repeatedly tried to tell us that Obama’s communication skills are no more than mere celebrity, but as history has shown us – especially the last eight years – we need an American president who can speak about issues more complex than basic sloganeering. It’s a complex world that we live in and we don’t need more of the same stupidity and irresponsibility in the highest job in the nation.

Obama and Biden refined the “change” message at the convention, now describing it as “the change we need”, bringing a sense of urgency to the ideals that the Democratic party stands behind. We no longer live in a world where the GOP’s spinners who write the mainstream media’s storylines get to define the box in which liberals operate. Obama has been able to bypass the filter right to the Democratic nomination, and he and Joe Biden now have the momentum and backing to continue the journey right to the top.

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“Soulmate”?

10:44 am EST August 31st, 2008 | News | 11 Comments

On Fox News Sunday, McCain called Sarah Palin a “soulmate”. He’s met her twice. He must be her soulmate in the way that Bush looked in Vladmir Putin’s soul, and ended up twiddling his thumbs as Putin brings back Soviet-style government.

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A Question I’d Like To See John McCain Answer

11:49 pm EST August 30th, 2008 | News | 36 Comments

It’s pretty simple, really. Journalism 101, frankly.

“Did your campaign actually vet Sarah Palin?”

We’ve been down this road.

UPDATE: Josh Marshall has more. Like when they went into Iraq, it looks like the Republicans never actually checked this out.

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First Post-Palin Attempt To Woo Clinton Voters = Epic Fail

11:40 pm EST August 30th, 2008 | News | 62 Comments

Who didn’t see this coming? Anyone?

In just her second appearance on the campaign trail with John McCain, newly-minted GOP running mate Sarah Palin was showered with boos on Saturday for attempting to praise Clinton’s trail-blazing bid to become the first female president.

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But in contrast with the mild reception that greeted her comments at the Ohio event, when Palin praised Clinton here for showing “determination and grace in her presidential campaign,” the Alaska governor was met with a noisy mix of boos, groans and grumbles around the minor league ballpark where the “Road to the Convention Rally” was held.

Increasingly, I’m beginning to believe the Palin pick is the latest manifestation of John McCain’s impulse control problem, a thread going through his entire life – from cheating on his first wife with Cindy McCain, advocating for war with Iraq right after 9/11, chanting “bomb Iran”, as well as his numerous flashes of rage both physical and verbal against his congressional colleagues. As Paul Begala notes, McCain picked someone who isn’t up to the job in a way that would endanger us all – and all based on what his ego is feeling at the moment.

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Sarah Palin Mismanaged The Economy Of Wasilla

3:22 pm EST August 30th, 2008 | News | 72 Comments

Seriously?

Palin, who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla — that amounts to $3,000 per resident.

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Palin Laughs At Mockery Of Cancer Survivor

2:34 pm EST August 30th, 2008 | News | 37 Comments

Yeah, she’s prettier than usual, but it’s the same old Republican conservative bull from Sarah Palin.

UPDATE: I wonder if McCain will eventually eject Palin, Harriet Miers style?

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Palin Is Against Abortion Even In The Case Of Rape Or Incest

6:10 pm EST August 29th, 2008 | News | 123 Comments

That’s a pretty extreme position Palin’s got going for her there. The latest polling I could find – from Fox no less – shows that 70% support abortion in the case of rape.

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