Seen down the street, in a duplex usually clogged with Hamline University kids whose yard has been slathered with hand-drawn “STOP THE RNC” placards for the past week; five mohawked, black-in-head-to-toe clad college kids with black and red “Anarchist” flags staggering out into the street, milling about…
…and climbing into a late-model minivan.
My thirteen-year-old son made an interesting and unprompted observation as we were out running errands in the car the other day.
“Dad, at the Open House (for his school) I noticed that the Student Council candidate at our school is sort of like Barack Obama.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, he’s really nice and enthusiastic and promises things that he can’t do and are completely out of his control; to get people to vote for him.”
He went on with examples.
“Like vending machines in every room, and no bullying ever in the halls, allowing video games in school, to make sure school lunches are a lot better; less homework.”
Smart kid. It made me think of Obama’s speech the other night.
“Well, (Obama’s) really nice and enthusiastic and promises things that he can’t do and are completely out of his control; to get people to vote for him.”
I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power.
I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America.
I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars.
And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy
…five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.
I’ll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support
…help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.
I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.
I wonder if Barack Obama ever ran for student council? I wonder if all junior politicians take their lead from liberals these days (and I include GW Bush in that hogpile)?
In all fairness to Barack Obama, his speech didn’t sound that different from G.W. Bush’s State of the Union a few years back. Promises, promises. Program after program. I don’t think any of them happened.
At least now, with Sarah Palin on the McCain reform ticket, there is hope. Albeit a sliver of it. Hope that someone will go to Washington, and once there, wake Americans up to the fact that our Federal Government needs to go on a diet. Needs to do less, and with less. That the American people will have to do more with less. That we will actually have to go back to “being our brother’s keeper.”
Someone’s gotta do it. The question is will it be now, when we have a choice, or later when we don’t?
The local leftysphere is running itself ragged trying to spin the “anarchist” raids over the weekend.
Charlie Quimby echoes the complaints of many leftybloggers in reaction to the left’s lawyers’ spin about, among other things, the buckets of urine:
But then, sometimes a bucket of urine is just a bucket of urine.
Not everyone in America lives with two-and-half baths or maintains their houses to Martha Stewart standards. That may make them a civil nuisance, but it doesn’t make them criminals.
In an atypical house, such as one being used as a crash pad for large numbers of youngsters who lean toward the permacultural persuasion, there’s a better explanation than stockpiling material for urine bombs.
The practice might appear far fetched to average suburbanites…
…as well as to this Saint Paul guy, who’s managed to find a way to dispose of urine – pretty much always in a toilet.
Quimby’s point – that many homeowners might have some of the shopping list of “weird” items in their homes. Yesterday, I took a sarcastic stab at the list. Today, let’s do a real comparative inventory:
Let’s establish this; I know nothing about the specifics of this case. I would never rule out “law enforcement overreach” for something like this.
But I highly doubt that the raids were carried out because of buckets of urine or caltrops. I’m going to go out on a limb, and say the cops likely have something else; some sort of paper trail linking at least some of those arrested to at least some kind of organized plan for mayhem.
Still – I’m not completely unsympathetic with the “anarchists”. More – probably much more – on that later.
The notoriously Democrat-friendly Zogby poll shows Mac in freefall.
UPDATE: Oops. They don’t.
The interactive online Zogby survey shows that both Obama and McCain have solidified the support among their own parties – Obama won 86% support of Democrats and McCain 89% of Republicans in a two-way head-to-head poll question not including the running mates. When Biden and Palin are added to the mix, Obama’s Democratic support remains at 86%, while McCain’s increases to 92%.
They do show that libertarian Bob Barr has an absurdly high vote total – high enough (presuming he’s stealing mostly from McCain/Palin) to deny Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and (although crosstabs aren’t available for them) Montana and the Dakotas.
Yes, I said “absurdly”. No Libertarian has ever polled much over 1% in the general election. Chalk it up to it being an “online”, “interactive” poll, I thinki.
I’ll slot this one into the “good news” column.
Some anonymous nutslap leftyblogger on Daily Kos started the meme (warning; article has over 1,600 comments on Sunday, and takes forever to load) in re Sarah Palin’s youngest:
Sarah Palin was not pregnant with child.
Her sixteen year-old daughter was.
Checking with the Anchorage High School that Bristol Palin attended, reporters were given word that her family had taken Bristol out of school due to contracting infectious mononucleosis. The amount of time Bristol was absent shifts from five to eight months.
Mono can last anywhere from two weeks to three months, but an eight month infection is a freak oddity. Yet it remains a common excuse given by girls in private & Catholic schools around the nation when pregnancy comes into play. Not the first time, not the last time.
The “writer” slings together a whole lot of circumstantial…not even “evidence” so much as “overbroad observations” (writer seems to presume all women carry pregnancies and belly fat the same way) and just-plain-overreaches (I’ll let you all pick ’em out; it’s both too depressing and hilarious).
Some of the less-capable leftybloggers have been passing the meme around.
I suspect the rumor – like most everything on the Kos – is BS.
But what if it’s not? What if Sarah Palin is raising her grandson? What if she did, as the Kossack stated (in a pretty laughably unconvincing case), feign her own pregnancy and conceal her daughter’s?
In other words – what if she put her pro-family, pro-life money where her mouth is? What if she actually walked her walk in a way that was not just political, but infinitesimally personal?
What if she lived her family values in a way that Joe Biden hasn’t even thought about fabulizing from whole cloth yet?
Not that I want to dignify this rumor with the faintest shred of a presumption of legitimacy – the “writer’s” “case” is that dull-witted – but if it’s true, I think it is even further proof that Sarah Palin is the real thing.
And that hurts the ticket not at all.
UPDATE: Hypotheticals aside, it is BS.
To a Democrat, a female politican’s gender is her stock in trade, her reason to exist. She is a piece of chattel that puffs up a caucus’ numbers; she is a statistic to show how far “women” (who are liberal, or to be more accurate pro-infanticide) have or have not come in our political system, as a group; they are a mass of mouths commissioned primarily to repeat lines written for them from above. Any actual legislative or executive talent is largely an “extra”.
To a Republican, a politician of any gender is judged by her or his talents and accomplishments. Among Republicans, the idea of “a female vice president” comes in far down the list of things we’re excited about with Sarah Palin. She is accomplished. She walks the walk – and it is a walk that would make Ronald Reagan smile down from heaven; principled and yet pragmatic; expansive yet intimately personal; big-picture and yet applied to real life. She is the real thing.
She hunts, ice-fishes and is a crack shot who knows how to fire an M16 rifle. “I was raised in a family where gender was not going to be an issue,” she said. “The girls did what the boys did. Apparently in Alaska that’s quite commonplace.” No softy, she sued to stop the federal government making polar bears an endangered species and favours drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge. However, she also levied a windfall tax on oil companies.
Palin was glamorous enough to have entered beauty contests to earn money for college. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in her home town and was runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest. “They made us line up in bathing suits and turn our backs so the male judges could look at our butts. I couldn’t believe it,” she told Vogue, more amused than outraged.
Counterbalancing McCain’s reputation as a political dinosaur, Palin smoked pot when it was legal in Alaska, admitting, “I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say I never inhaled”, and her children, Track, 19, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, Piper, 7, and Trig, four months, have hippie-sounding names.
Which is why liberals hate her. Liberalism – as it is practiced in America – is profoundly sexist. Senator Barbara Boxer – perhaps the stupidest person in Congress – says:
“If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.
“The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart.
“Senator McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a women on his ticket, such as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or Senator Olympia Snowe – they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice
I won’t say the left’s reaction to Sarah Palin is consistently “sexist” so much as a range of thoughts, from “clueless” to “incomprehensible”. Palin, to Boxer, isn’t a person with ideas, a personality, motivation and talent. She’s a set of ovaries – one that is interchangeable with a couple of mushy-middle (pro-choice!) RINOs who are on many issues interchangeable with most liberal women. Like Boxer who, in her supremely arrogant statement, tips the lefty hand; women (a monolithic bloc of Clinton supporters, naturally) should let Big Women like Babs Boxer do their thinking for them..
Sean from MnPublius:
My obnoxious post earlier aside — this pick is catastrophically bad.
Most obviously, this pick is a craven attempt to try and peel off just enough women for McCain to win. That’s the math now in McCain land.
Dang that craven John McCain -not only playing politics, but doing it by picking a politician with more political experience than their presidential nominee, and more executive background than the entire Tic ticket, and who has the potential to not only lop off the odd Hillarista but solidify Mac among the conservative base that’ve been Mac’s biggest detractors to date.
Yep. Pretty desperate.
Of course, Flash from Centrisity refrains the left’s attempt at the “experience” meme:
New York, N.Y. 8,143,197
Los Angeles, Calif. 3,844,829
Chicago, Ill. 2,842,518
Houston, Tex. 2,016,582
Philadelphia, Pa. 1,463,281…[Remainder of list abridged. You get the idea]
To which I respond: combined populations of states where Barack Obama and Joe Biden have held executive office of any type: 0.
But I hope lefties continue to buy the memes their overlords are imposing on them. I’ve not seen the right this energized by any decision by any GOP candidate in recent memory.
And we needed it.
Molly “Is It White In Here” Priesmeyer on the cops’ haul in yesterday’s anarchist/protester raids:
A look over the inventory receipt for the raid at 3240 17th Avenue (hat tip TC Indy Media) reveals that most of the items the police seized out of the the home this morning as “evidence to riot” are things that could be found in nearly any home: They confiscated a pack of staples, laptop computers, bike locks, cell phones, a storage device, a computer hard drive, curtain rods, a checkbook.
Priesmeyer doesn’t see fit to mention the things found in various raids that are less likely to be found in the “typical” home, according to my colleague JRoosh and the Pioneer Press (or, for that matter, to tell us who “Nestor” is and what he or she’s significance to the story is; “Nestor” is a disembodied last name Priesmeyer’s piece; perhaps it’s really a secret government program?:
materials to creating “sleeping dragons” (PVC pipe, chicken wire, duct tape), which is when protesters lock themselves together large amounts of urine, including three to five gallon buckets of urine wrist rockets machete, hatchet and several throwing knives a gas mask and filter empty glass bottles rags flammable liquids homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads) metal pipes axes bolt cutters sledge hammers repelling equipment Kryptonite locks empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields material for protective padding an Army helmet.
A typical house? Perhaps; other than the buckets of urine and the caltrops (medieval stop strips – think jumping jacks designed to blow out tires), who doesn’t have all the above?
I mean, really?
The 37 caltrops found in the garage of the home, tiny nail-like devices used to stop traffic or puncture wheels, are also not evidence or conspiracy to commit a riot, Nestor says. For one thing, there were only 37 of them, hardly enough to stop much.
Hello?
It takes ONE to stop a bus.
It takes half a dozen, maybe ten, to make a street fairly impassable, and to tie up traffic pretty badly even at a best case.
“Did they have some devices to try to block traffic? Maybe so,” Nestor assert. “But does that mean they should be arrested on conspiracy charges? Not at all. This was intended to halt the protests.”
Intended to halt protests intended to douse people with urine and shred their tires?
This free speech absolutist is having a hard time ginning up much sympathy.
To: The John McCain Campaign
From: All Conservatives
Re: The Tactical “Error” of Selecting Sarah Palin
Dear Senator McCain:
Parts of the Sorosphere (albeit not the parts smart enough to get out of jury duty, if you catch my drift) have been calling your selection of Sarah Palin a mistake.
Please make many more, just like it. We approve. Thanks.
That is all.
Police raid RNC protest sites in Twin Cities
First of all, protesting is a loser’s game. It has no lasting impact on policy or public opinion. If you want to affect policy, you have to be organized, respectful, and these days demonstrate that you have at least one hundred thousand voters of the same consensus, whatever your cause or complaint.
Otherwise you are a non-starter politically. You may find that unfair, nonetheless it is how the game is played. The internet, the great equalizer of this day and age makes the dissemination of information and the gathering unto oneself of like-minders easier than ever.
As a blogger, I don’t begrudge anyone that would oppose the policies of their government. Open, unfettered debate is a right and a responsibility for every citizen. However, protesting and the disruption of a legitimate political process is an ineffective, wasteful, and frankly lazy way to express one’s opinion.
Our law enforcement is charged with protecting those that gather for the legitimate process as well as the protestors, putting them in a veritable squeeze play. Add the fact that an outbreak of violence at an event of the magnitude of the Republican Convention in Saint Paul is not out the realm of possibility.
If the protesters are obtuse enough to make their plans to exercise anarchy and disruption known, a preemptive strike by law enforcement should not be a surprise and in fact serves to dissuade those that would break the law by bringing harm to persons or property.
Ramsey County authorities raided several Minneapolis homes and a St. Paul building on Friday and Saturday as a pre-emptive strike against disruptive protests of the Republican National Convention.
Three people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids.
In a statement Saturday morning, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the St. Paul raid targeted the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group he described as “a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists…intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention.”
But that can’t be right. How could a group with such an innocuous name intend to bring harm to persons or property?
“These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers,” Fletcher said.
But the raids drew immediate condemnation from activists and St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune, whose district includes the former theater at 627 Smith Avenue South, which was rented by activists as a gathering space.
“This is not the way to start things off,” Thune said Saturday morning. “This is sending the wrong message. Regardless of how you feel about these people…they had a right to be there.”
Not if they are breaking the law – any law. Even the RNC Welcoming Committee should be smart enough to know that.
At a news conference Saturday, Cheri Honkala of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, one of the protest groups, described the Friday raid and an earlier one Thursday that evicted a demonstrators’ camp on Harriet Island as “terrorism” intended to divert attention from issues the protest groups are raising and cast the news as police versus protestors.
Terrorism. Don’t insult our intelligence.
You are not raising any issues. No one cares about you because you have marginalized yourself by the means you have chosen to publicize your cause.
“We will not be intimidated,” Honkala said.
Big words. Not smart.
Thune was especially critical of Fletcher for taking action within St. Paul city limits and because the raid apparently did not yield any dangerous materials, such as Molotov cocktails, bombs or other devices.
“I’m really ticked off…the city is perfectly capable of taking care of things,” Thune said. “If they had found anything that could have been used to commit a crime they would have arrested somebody.”
Sounds like the cops cut the protesters some slack. Law Enforcement had a Warrant. Hey Thune, mind explaining what these items might be used for then?
Pioneer Press/Twin Cities.com (HT “Chuck”):
- materials to creating “sleeping dragons” (PVC pipe, chicken wire, duct tape), which is when protesters lock themselves together
- large amounts of urine, including three to five gallon buckets of urine
- wrist rockets
- a machete, hatchet and several throwing knives
- a gas mask and filter
- empty glass bottles
- rags
- flammable liquids
- homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)
- metal pipes
- axes
- bolt cutters
- sledge hammers
- repelling equipment
- Kryptonite locks
- empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields
- material for protective padding
- an Army helmet.
The RNC Welcoming Committee denied criminal intent and described the police actions as “violence” that is a sign of more extreme police measures to come.
“The police may claim that the raid was executed according to protocol – however, the violence inherent in this action may only be a hint of the violence to be expected on Monday and beyond, and is only a hint at the violence perpetrated daily by the police,” the group’s statement read.
Violence? Reports (from a newspaper more likely to be sympathetic to the protestors than anyone else by the way) cited no violence save busting down a door. Being asked to lie down and keep still is hardly an act of violence.
…and what the hell do you plan on doing with a bucket of urine any way? Idiots.
This action on the part of law enforcement is a small price to pay in what will surely be a rarified environment. The people that have gathered lawfully have as much right to be there, and to be kept safe, as the protesters have to excrete their rage.
Gustav is expected to achieve Category Five status, equal in category to Katrina
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) — Desperate to avoid a repeat of the Katrina catastrophe in 2005, New Orleans began mandatory evacuations Saturday as another deadly hurricane, Gustav, bore down on the city.
Traffic crawls on major route out of New Orleans
Campaigns Weigh In on Gustav Preparations
Also today Fox News anchor Chris Wallace reported that Republicans indeed are considering “curtailing or suspending” the convention. He said Sen. McCain, in a taped interview scheduled to air on the network Sunday, told Fox News “the festivities” around his presidential nomination would be inappropriate “while Americans were in trouble.”
This campaign for President will get a lot more interesting and a lot more relevant when the debates begin and we can hope for a shift of the conversation to the issues and less on the candidates’ backgrounds.
Then again, one candidate has an apparent history of picking the wrong friends and mentors…so the opposing camp may never let go of that lever.
Maybe Obammy’s momma (or grand momma) should have told him to be careful who he spends his time with.
WSJ: On the bus from Invesco 1,609 Meter High Stadium back to civilization last night, we sat next to a Hillary Clinton delegate from New Jersey. She was not a bitter-ender; she intends to vote for Barack Obama and said there was never any chance she would not support the Democratic nominee. But she was decidedly unenthusiastic about Obama. She said she expected that more would come out about his relationship with Jeremiah Wright (the nominee’s America-bashing erstwhile “spiritual mentor”), and she readily agreed with our observation that Obama’s friendship with an unrepentant terrorist (that would be Bill Ayers) would not go over well with ordinary Americans.
So does that mean we saw a stadium filled with extra-ordinary Americans?
The conversation turned to John McCain’s vice presidential choice, and our interlocutor said she thought McCain could help himself among Mrs. Clinton’s backers by choosing a woman. We asked if Obama would have helped himself by choosing a woman, and she said no, Mrs. Clinton’s backers would have seen that as a slight.
As it turns out, they saw not getting vetted and not being chosen, despite 18 million votes in her pocket, as a slight any way. Polls of late have shown as much as 27% of Clinton voters currently intend to vote for McCain and that was before his choice of running mate Sarah Palin.
Two things are clear now. One, Obama made a huge mistake not picking Hillary. That might have been game over right there.
Two, John McCain admittedly made his choice in response to Obama’s miscalculation. But the choice of Sarah Palin doesn’t make everything easier for the Republicans. (emphasis mine)
The biggest drawback of the Palin pick is that it complicates the argument that Obama is too inexperienced to be president. At 44, Palin is actually younger than Obama, and she has two years’ less experience in statewide office than he does. On the other hand, she has more executive experience than McCain, Obama and Joe Biden combined, and the Democrats have a rookie at the top of the ticket.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton quickly denounced McCain for proposing to put “the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.” This took a degree of chutzpah, since the Democrats have just spent four days touting Obama’s experience as a “community organizer” as a central qualification to put him no heartbeats away. Even after listening to those speeches, we’re still not sure what a “community organizer” is.
We will see your Change and Raise You One Reform
If any doubt remained that former fighter pilot John McCain loves to take unconventional risks, he put them to bed Friday by picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Introduced in Dayton by Mr. McCain, Governor Palin swung the bat pretty well. We’ll now see if she can hit curve balls.
But will Windy Joe be just as afraid to debate a woman with vigor without appearing to be unstatesmanlike?
It’s a daring pick because Mrs. Palin has never faced national scrutiny and hasn’t had to deal with foreign policy. Most VP choices are designed to do no harm, and we tend to agree with the maxim. Democrats are already saying they can’t wait for Mrs. Palin’s debate against “statesman” Joe Biden.
And then will she kick his saggidy ass?
On the other hand, the record shows that Sarah Palin’s political career is a case study in taking on the big boys. We suspect her record of fighting the status quo was uppermost in John McCain’s decision.
…come to think of it, we’ll take your Change too
Barack Obama aside, Senator McCain’s biggest problem is a Republican brand that has suffered — both among independents and the GOP base — from the party’s business-as-usual mentality in Washington. The public wants change. This pick could prove Mr. McCain is serious about changing his party.
…and when you compare VP selections, it becomes clear who is really interested in change, even if it means losing the election if the choice of Sarah Palin proves to be a mistake.
Sarah Palin’s reform resume would be remarkable in any political career. She entered politics at 28, winning a seat on the Wasilla city council as an opponent of tax increases. After she defeated Wasilla’s three-term incumbent mayor four years later, she swept the mayor’s cronies out of the bureaucracy.
In 2003, Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski appointed her to the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Bear in mind that Mr. Murkowski had already served as junior U.S. Senator from Alaska for 22 years.
Shortly after joining the oil and gas commission, Mrs. Palin commenced an ethics probe of the state’s Republican party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, involving conflicts of interest with oil companies. The probe resulted in a $12,000 fine for the party chair.
She crossed party lines in 2004 to join a Democratic representative’s ethics complaint over an international trade deal against the Republican Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who had ties to the Murkowski machine. Mr. Renkes resigned.
In late 2005, Mrs. Palin announced her run for Governor before then-Governor Murkowski had announced his intention to stand for re-election.
Obama/Biden best be wary about throwing around the already once corrected/retracted “lack of experience” mantra within earshot of McCain/Palin, and vice versa. In effect, McCain’s choice takes the argument away mutually, and may (hopefully) force debate to the issues (and specifics).
For starters, we’d say Governor Palin’s credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama’s. Mr. Obama rose through the Chicago Democratic machine without a peep of push-back. Alaska’s politics are deeply inbred and backed by energy-industry money. Mr. Obama slid past the kind of forces that Mrs. Palin took head on. This is one reason her selection — despite its campaign risks — seems to have been so well received by Republicans yesterday. They are looking for a new generation of leaders.
Don’t expect this remarkable personal Palin narrative to get an Obama-like break from the national media. Their main focus will be her lack of experience, claiming it undercuts Mr. McCain’s criticism of Barack Obama. One mispronounced foreign leader’s name, and she’s going to be hammered.
Reform: The New Republican Platform?
Mr. McCain’s instinct clearly is to offer himself to voters as a reformer. With Sarah Palin, a genuine reformer, Mr. McCain may have found the right idea and the right person to make his run.
John McCain’s choice yesterday was a tactical one. A bold one. It was a high-risk/high-reward move that will make political history one way or the other.
Four of these things belong together
Four of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here?
Now it’s time to play our game (time to play our game).
Joe Barack Gustav Sarah John
“That’s right boys and girls. If you guessed Gustav, you’re right!
Gustav has become a real S.O.B. kids, and we want him to go away!
Yes, kids, I know that makes Gustav a little like Joe.
Stop laughing.
No kids, I don’t know how many times federal dollars will be used to half-rebuild a community that was built below sea level.
Stay focused kids.
We want Gustav to stay away from the Gulf Coast so that all the nice activists here in town don’t have to extend their stay and won’t get fired from their jobs at, well, actually they don’t have jobs – we call them parasites – I mean professional protesters.
Here’s the update from forecaster Knapp kids!”
000
WTNT62 KNHC 291915
TCUAT2
HURRICANE GUSTAV TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072008
315 PM EDT FRI AUG 29 2008DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT
GUSTAV HAS AGAIN BECOME A HURRICANE WITH MAXIMUM WINDS NEAR 75
MPH…120 KM/HR.$$
FORECASTER KNABB
Aaron Landry links to Ted Stevens comments about Sarah Palin.
In related news, I have a line on Al Capone’s views on Elliot Ness.
Hillary Clinton in her characteristically warm and loving way, congratulates Sarah Palin by handing her a smelly fish. Unlike McCain’s cordial and non-conditional congratulatory video released just before the DNC Orgy Toga Party Love Fest Convention, Clinton couldn’t just congratulate her – she had to get a barb in (no pun intended).
“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin’s historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain,” Clinton, the first woman to win a presidential primary, said in the statement. “While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”
The McCain campaign has made little secret of the fact the selection of Palin — the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket — was in part designed to court supporters of Clinton’s White house bid, some of whom feel the New York senator was treated unfairly during the primaries because of her gender and remain wary of supporting Obama.
To say it was because of her gender is unfair to the Obama campaign. They dissed her because of Obama’s inability to look past the negative comments made by the Clinton campaign, made more hurtful to him by the fact that they are mostly true, and are going to be continually played by the McCain/Palin campaign. That, and the baggage that is Bill. Meanwhile possibly losing the race because of it.
Palin directly mentioned Clinton by name in her acceptance speech earlier Friday, saying, “Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”
Clinton’s statement reacting to Palin is markedly different than the Obama campaign’s initial reaction which made no mention of the historic nature of the Alaska Republican’s VP candidacy — instead painting her as woefully inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.
Wow. That came quicker than we thought.
I think that observation will be filed in the same place as Obama’s
“I am my brother’s keeper.”
The Big Daddy of all gaffe’s thus far.
For now, let’s call it the “FIM File.” Foot in Mouth.
The Obama campaign later released a joint statement from both the Illinois senator and his running mate, Joe Biden, praising Palin for making history.
Well boys, ain’t you sweet. Your sure know how to treat a lady!
It remains unclear just how many former Clinton supporters Palin may attract, but California Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday that McCain is “badly mistaken” if he expects backers of the New York senator to break ranks with the Democratic party because of Palin.
Boxer is correct in that those former Clinton supporters had yet to fall in rank and now they may have a Home Sweet Home.
I exchanged emails this morning with a good friend from across the aisle on Senator John McCain’s selection of Governor Sarah Palin and whether it was a tactical response to Obama’s dismissing of Hillary Clinton.
It sure seems like a reach for disgruntled Hilary voters rather than a sophisticated presidential selection.
My response:
I like her so far but I think it could also be risky in that she is an unknown. He will either go down as a genius or an also-ran if America isn’t ready. No one knows how she will perform in a national debate, which is much more important than convention speeches on either party’s part. On the plus side, she has more executive experience (limited as that may be) than Obama does, and even arguably McCain and Biden, neither of which have been in such a position.
The intriguing issue here is among all four candidates, she is the most able to define herself as she isn’t tied to a voting record or a history of national media appearances.
Having said all that, I would have preferred Pawlenty. Obama clearly – clearly should have chosen Clinton, and at the very least should have vetted her. I think he lost the election the moment he didn’t.
As much as I have also grown in my disdain for the political manipulation that has marked our process for years now, I am a pragmatist in that I want my candidate to do whatever is ethical to win. Picking a female Vice President to pick up the disaffected Hillary voters is clearly such a move. If you are reading my posts, you will recall that I asked my readers, if for only a moment, to consider McCain/Clinton.
What say you?
Welcome to Saint Paul, all you delegates. This is my town.
Perhaps you’ve heard – we have a city council president who has an interesting opinion aobut Republicans and everything about us…:
…except maybe the tax money you bring in (because Dave Thune’s been known to raise a tax or two).
Oh, he originally said he was talking about “lobbyists” – but then, he clarified:
Finally, I may have unfairly sullied the reputation of lobbyists. My friend
[redacted, a lobbyist] pointed out that lobbyists don’t puke, they’re professionals who have experience holding their liquor. Its the amateurs who spew.He may be right, but the particular lobbyists we’ll have in town that week
are the ones who have initiated this whole discussion.And of course these are the lobbyists who brought us an illegal and tragic war, a recession, polluted water, expensive drugs, and even the moralists who preach family values but play “outside the box” themselves. They are enough to make me queasy without a snootful…
Enh.
Anyway – welcome to town, delegates!
You wanna make it to downtown Saint Paul for the big counteprotest.
I’m here to help.
Here are some simple directions and recommendations from a Saint Paul guy. They should get you into the city – close by the West 7th Street counterprotest site – and back home again. Best of all – they’re fairly cheap.
Getting To Triangle Park
If you insist on driving – good luck. You’re on your own. Saint Paulites know a few secret hideaways for parking; sometimes if you get to an event early enough, you can find free parking on Cathedral Hill, on or about Summit Avenue south/west of the Cathedral. If it’s a big event, that can mean the far reaches of Cathedral Hill – like, Summit and Dale. No kidding. Patience is a virtue, unless you’re there very early in the day. As to parking ramps downtown – vaya con Dios.
Bus And Train Fares: Buses are $1.50 – $2.00 during rush hour (5-9, 3-7). Trains are always $2. Express buses (the 94 Express) are $2.75. Get and save your transfers.
CORRECTION: I was in error, and confused “Vets for Freedom” wtih Joe Repya. They are completely different. Vets for Freedom is in no way affiliated with this action.
I regret any confusion.
God save us if McCain picks Lieberman
Alaska Gov. Palin Tops Speculation About McCain Veep Pick
DENVER — Speculation about who John McCain would name as his running mate focused on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin after reports circulated early Friday that two short-listers — Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty — were out of the running.
Adding fuel to the Palin possibility was a report that a charter aircraft from Anchorage owned by a McCain supporter had arrived in Dayton, Ohio, where McCain has scheduled a noon ET rally to announce his choice.
On Palin:
Born in Idaho, Palin moved to Alaska when she was three months old with her parents.
She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, and played on the Wasilla state championship girls basketball team. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984, and was a runnerup in the Miss Alaska pageant.
She studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho and graduated in 1987. After graduation, she eloped with her high school boyfriend in 1988 to save money on an expensive wedding. She helped out in her husband’s family commercial fishing business and appeared occasionally as a television sportscaster.
Palin won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992 as a new face, new voice and by opposing tax increases. Four years later she was elected mayor at 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent. At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics. She was elected Alaskas youngest and first woman governor in 2006.
Pawlenty in Denver Gov. Tim Pawlenty led the RNC’s press conference pre-buttal to Obama’s big speech in the Mile High stadium in Denver. The effort is called “Not Ready 08: A Mile High, An Inch Deep.” Pawlenty said the question is “Sen. Obama what have you done and what have you run?”
I think the Governor has a campaign slogan to be reckoned with.
Stand 4 Change!
What have you done? What have you run?
Yes we can!
What have you done? What have you run?
We are the people we’ve been waiting for!
What have you done? What have you run?
We are choosing hope over fear.
What have you done? What have you run?
“I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about
real change in Washington … I’m asking you to believe in yours.”
What have you done? What have you run?
Nothing.
How ironic it would be if Obama, especially after assembling a stadium of frothing groupies, were to be disqualified on a technicality. Ironic, because that is how his first political career victory came to him. He eliminated the other democratic candidate on a technicality, which is just fine, them’s the rules; but what if the tables turned on him…now?
Lawsuit questions Obama’s eligibility for office
Pennsylvania’s former deputy attorney general and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter Philip J. Berg has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania accusing presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of lying about his U.S. citizenship, which would make him ineligible to be president.
Mr. Berg is one of a faction of Clinton supporters who haven’t heeded the party’s call for unity, filing the suit just days before the opening of the Democratic National Convention, which will nominate Mr. Obama as the party’s presidential candidate.
Now one would think that the DNC has the answer on this issue as they surely vetted Obama for the nomination, right?
Certainly they wouldn’t back a candidate that had an unknown or questionable background or didn’t have the requisite experience and credentials, right?
[crickets]
Al Gore, John Edwards and Bill Clinton, bastions of truth and honor that they are, wouldn’t endorse a candidate of questionable integrity, would they?
[crickets]
Al Sharpton, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro, Louis Farrakhan, Hatem El-Hady, Ahmed Yousef, and the Muslim Brotherhood in America could not be reached for comment.
One way or another, let us hope/change/yeswecan that this is resolved soon.
To: President Carter
From: Mitch Berg
Re: Your comment
President Carter,
You had the following to say about John McCain:
Former president Jimmy Carter called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a “distinguished naval officer,” but he said the Arizona senator has been “milking every possible drop of advantage” from his time served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
By the same token, Mr. Carter, you have been “milking every possible drop of advantage” from having been the worst president in my lifetime.
Just giving credit where it’s due.
That is all.
originally posted 2:35 PM
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) is canceling print and broadcast interviews for the day…
Strib
Pawlenty cancels TV interviews
Pioneer Press
Pawlenty abruptly cancels afternoon interviews in Denver
CNN is reporting a “cone of silence” forming around Governor Pawlenty and that friends of the Governor are suddenly not able to reach him (which is not uncommon if he is in fact flying at the moment).
Pawlenty cancels media interviews
Asked if he has the experience to be vice president, Pawlenty reminded reporters, as he often does, that he does not address GOP presidential V.P. speculation.
Pawlenty then went on to say: “I would note I have been a governor for six years, commander in chief of the Minnesota National Guard for six years, and before that I was the majority leader of the Minnesota Legislature. [I] have some other life experiences as well.”
VP selection process complete, McCain campaign confirms
Drudge posts “Romney Family gets Security Sweep” and then pulls it, but leaves up “PAWLENTY CANCELS NUMEROUS PUBLIC APPEARANCES…“
4:50 PM: A neighbor of Governor Pawlenty is reporting to me that news helicopters are hovering overhead.
6 PM: Drudge: Meet Tim Pawlenty…
9:59 PM: McCain camp won’t reveal VP tonight (I’m going to bed)
Early 8/29: Pawlenty confirms in an interview with WCCO Radio that he will not be in Ohio today and is not McCain’s choice for Vice President.
HT “Chuck”
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