McCain Camp Trying To Work The Refs

In light of Palin's recent disastrous interviews, the McCain camp has been hard at work lowering expectations and working the refs. Here is a McCain spokeswoman admonishing Gwen Ifill, the Veep moderator, to go light on foreign policy:

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About The Debate

The pundits are hard at work but last night's debate was at best a draw and that favors Obama. I felt that McCain looked angry, petulant, and no candidate threw a knockout punch. Unfortunately for McCain, he needed to rattle Obama and show his superiority on foreign policy and national security issues, but he failed to do so.

Obama clearly demonstrated that he was ready and more than held his own, yet there were opportunities missed on both sides. In particular, Obama needed to corner McCain on the economy and tie him more directly to Bush. Time and time again, I felt he let McCain off the hook and allowed him to rattle his stump speech talking points.

Once again, Obama was being a gentleman and praised his opponent numerous times last night and I think that was a mistake. He needs to STOP praising McCain and agreeing with him. In fact, some conservative pundits jumped at these comments; in such times he can simply remain silent or change the subject. Furthermore, Obama needs to needle McCain on his conservative policy, for the aim is to have a Tom Cruise-Jack Nicholson moment and get McCain to lose his bearings or at least appear to do so.

Lastly, Obama needs to connect with the average voter and show that he feels their pain. Obama looked cool and calm, McCain never looked at his opponent and this is yet another opportunity. Obama needs to engage McCain more in these next debates but if the aim was to prove that he could stand on the same stage with McCain and debate foreign policy, he accomplished that with flying colors.


This was the highlight of the night:



Incidentally, Joe Biden was in the spin room providing excellent post mortem analysis on the debate, but where was Sarah Palin? She was at a debate party in Pennsylvania.

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Palin-Our Nation's Mother?

Bernie Quigley of the Hill Blog wrote the following:


Crazy about Sarah: The Return of the Earth Mother — America’s Center is Red

Old Bernie continues to waste digital space. Were you intoxicated when you wrote this gibberish or was it LSD? You lost me at Dick Morris, but I had to painfully endure the remainder to properly respond. Folks, it appears that Bernie resides in some alternate universe and chooses to ignore the facts.

Thankfully, I doubt that most will read your long winded diatribe which amounts to nothing more than a feeble attempt at class warfare and racial bias.
“She officially becomes not just an archetypal Earth Mother from the Alaska wilderness, but one of us and potentially our Earth Mother”... Are you freaking kidding me? More on this later…

You inexplicably declare: ”From reading blogs (which ones?) and listening to rural rednecks” that Obama is starting to slip. Never mind that all non partisan polls state otherwise. Heck, why allow nagging facts get in the way of your narrative?
While harpooning historical comparisons of Obama, you bombard us with your own missives and insult our intelligence. Elois and Morlocks? Bernie, dude, I mean really! Although I have no clue about your current social status, I seriously doubt that most “rednecks” live as well as you do. Your supposition that Obama supporters live in a Northeastern bastion of elitism is hypocritical. Didn’t you admit that you are a New Englander? I suppose that you are in a bubble insulated from these elites while feeling the pain of your working class brethren.

From here to November there are two critical events that will determine the outcome of this race.

LOL, here Mr. Quigley seems to think that the entire race hinges on the VEE PEE interview and debate while forgetting such nonsensical factors like our economy! Did you miss the fact that taxpayers are being asked for a trillion dollar bailout? Nonetheless, according to Bernie, after successfully acing these events, his heroine will be transformed into “one of us and potentially our Earth Mother” LOL


This is actually significant, Palin has been referred to as “fertile”-as if that was a qualification for prez? It does however, provide an insight to the psyche of some white conservatives and their illogical hatred of Obama and by extension, his wife Michelle. While some can fathom accepting Obama, what they refuse to accept and probably will never forgive, is his choice of Michelle Obama, an intelligent, sassy and unapologetic black woman.

If you follow Quigley’s narrative, the first lady or in his case Sarah Palin, is widely considered our nation’s maternal figure and Michelle does not fit that mold. Further, Obama is despised for choosing her as his mate-why didn’t he choose a white woman or a Halle Berry type? This is the only way one can explain the cultish infatuation of Ms. Palin, a political neophyte that most sane analysts from both sides of the ideological spectrum agree that she is ill-prepared for the VP job.

Sarah represents the hopes and dreams of the pro-life movement; with five children and a grandbaby on the way, she is the ultimate symbol of white fertility. The representative of their continued dominance over those considered “not one of us” who seek to shatter their perceived natural social order. The pro-life movement hinges on encouraging white women to produce more white babies to ensure their future majority against the tidal wave of a growing minority population. Obama and his wife Michelle threatens and scares the crap out of them.

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Palin On Energy

This woman is being touted by McCain as the next energy czar. God help us.

See her in action as Blitzer gets confused..



"Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans who get stuck holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first" OMG

Did you get that?

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Obama Reaches 50 In Gallup Poll

Wow, last week I was berating the Obama campaign for not going after McCain-my apologies Senator. Obama reaches the 50 percent mark and now has a healthy lead beyond the margin of error. He needs at least an eight point lead to negate a possible Bradley effect (this is when white people tell pollsters they will vote for the black guy, but then vote against him on election day).


The poll below and Chuckie T of MSNBC agree on the Obamamentum..




The economy is in tatters and McCain is desperately trying to retool his message to combat his declining poll numbers. If these numbers hold up after next week, watch for some desperate measures from the GOP. On another note, there was yet another terrible terrorist incident, this time in Pakistan where scores of innocent lives were taken. So far, the attack has gotten lukewarm coverage in the American media and I doubt it will replace our current economic crisis here, this is just too big.

Here is Chuck Todd:





So Senator, how is that Palin pick going?

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McCain Goes For The Race Card

Seriously, we should expect more of this in the weeks to come. Here the McCain camp whips out the race card with the below ad. Two black men, Obama and Frank Raines (not an Obama advisor) followed by a fragile elderly white woman. Think about that for a quick minute...Okay.

His poll numbers have been in steady decline and with the economy the main issue, desperate times call for desperate measures.


Here is the video:

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It's the Economy Stupid!

Poor McCain, the public has grown weary of his political mail order bride and his bounce is gone, baby, gone.

Her fifteen minutes of fame are nearing an end and the McCain camp is struggling to regain the narrative. This week we witnessed a couple of new blunders from McCain-the man is a gaffe machine! On Monday he declared: “Economy is fundamentally strong!” then had to quickly backtrack the statement when it became clear that it didn’t go quite well with the public. Later in the week while campaigning in Florida, he appeared to start a diplomatic spat with Spain by refusing to concede that he misunderstood the interviewer when asked if he would invite Zapatero, the Spanish PM, to the white house. The McCain camp could have simply stated that he didn’t understand the interviewer’s thick accent and that would have been the end of it. Instead, a McCain administration will have to repair relations with a NATO ally.

It’s the Economy Stupid!

After being barraged with such wonderful topics like lipstick and pigs, the economy roared back into the national dialogue. Not even a terrible terrorist attack on a US embassy has been able to divert attention from this travesty. The feds fell asleep at the wheel and allowed financial institutions to run amuck. Thus far, the American tax payers are the proud owners of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have had to bail out Bear Stearns and AIG to the tune of $85 billion with no end in sight. In fact, there are talks that it may take nearly a trillion dollars to shore up this mess. Talk about corporate welfare, and please spare me the “Democrats will tax and spend!” meme.

How did we get here and who is to blame?

You can imagine that the GOP and McCain, Mr. The economy is not my strong suit, are scrambling to avoid taking responsibility. This led Chris Matthews of Hardball to opine “it seems that the Republicans are taking off their uniforms and running from the field of battle!” Classic! The repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act with the passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act coupled with a lack of oversight is the main reason we are in this mess. Phil ("US is a nation of whiners")Gramm-McCain’s current economic advisor and the former chair of the Senate Banking Committee, as well as lobbyist for several large investment banks-authored the bill and was the architect of deregulation which was fully supported by John McCain. The financial institutions conducted business with impunity and now taxpayers are expected to bail them out, isn’t that what the free market system is all about? Allow poorly run companies that make bad decisions to fail and be replaced by leaner and stronger ones? Am I missing something here? The GOP loves to talk about free markets but always find ways to bail out these large corporations when they fail, yet turn deaf, dumb and blind when average voters need assistance.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining to this debacle. After spending nearly a trillion dollars for the wars in Iraq, and billions more bailing out the banking industry, the GOP loses one of its main talking points: That the Democrats will tax and spend this economy to death. Joe Biden was quoted yesterday saying that “it would be patriotic for the top 1% earners to pay more taxes.” Go Joe!

Obama cannot afford to rest on his laurels, with President Bush AWOL and having another Katrina moment; he must continue to seize the opportunity to reassure a nervous electorate while bashing McCain and the GOP for their abysmal failure.

Obama presser, where is McCain?

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White Privilege

Tim Wise speaks the truth-found this essay on the web.

~By Tim Wise ~

"For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.


White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because 'every family has challenges,' even as black and Latino families with similar 'challenges' are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.


White privilege is when you can call yourself a 'fuckin' redneck,' like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll 'kick their fuckin' ass,' and talk about how you like to 'shoot shit' for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.


White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.


White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're 'untested.'


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words 'under God' in the pledge of allegiance because 'if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me,' and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the 'under God' part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was 'Alaska first,' and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a 'second look.'

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a 'trick question,' while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a 'light' burden. And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole 'change' thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.


White privilege is, in short, the problem. "

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Phil Gramm Redux

Obama released a two minute positive ad this morning instead of keeping up the attack. He needs to keep pounding McCain on the economy and the below clip will do well in many states. Phil Gramm is the architect of this mess and voters should be made aware.



Senator Obama-KEEP ATTACKING

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Fiorina Goes off the Reservation

She has to be one of McCain's worse surrogates, listen to her say (reveal?) that Palin is not qualified:



Well, you'd think that she would walk back the statement when asked for clarification? How wrong you are-Ms Fiorina doubles down and says McCain is not qualified. This is the same woman that ran HP into the ground and was shown the door due to her incompetence.

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McCain On the Economy

The Obama camp struck hard today with the below ad, showing McCain claiming that the fundamentals of the economy are strong:



OOPS! McCain has been struggling to get back on offense after his gaffe, so he did the morning show tour trying to limit the damage. He claims that the "fundamentals" he was referring to are the American worker, US ingenuity...blah, blah..so much for pigs and lipstick.

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Obama's Speech At Cooper Union

In case you missed it, here is Obama's speech on the state of our economy:

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Obama Attacks McCain's Honor

Obama is finally calling McCain out on his repeated lies. I have been critical of the campaign's lethargic response to the GOP's repeated attacks using lies and innuendos. In retrospect, after watching Bob Schieiffer nearly faint when he perceived that General Wesley Clark questioned McCain's integrity, I now think that it was right for Obama to wait until the media caught up to McCain's chicanery.

Obama can now attack and question McCain's honor with impunity. See the below ad.




UPDATE: You know it's bad when FOX is calling McCain on his lies:



The man knows what he's doing, and with the failure of Merrill Lynch and Lehman, the focus is now back on the economy instead of lipstick and pigs.

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The McCain Camp Continues to Lie

The MSM is finally calling out McCain on his repeated lies, and this is a direct result of the online activism of the progressive blogosphere.

Here is some proof:



The press finally has had ENOUGH.

Here is Eric Cantor, who was briefly considered for the VP slot, being called out by MSNBC's Norah O'Donnel:



Here is MSNBC's First Read on McCain lies.

There's more-here is the LA Times refuting McCain on Palin's earmarks.

Gore was excoriated by the media for "exaggerations", yet they've been complicit in allowing the McCain camp to repeatedly lie to the public. I am sensing that these lies have finally reached critical mass and now the press are being shamed into doing their jobs; better late than never.

To offer a helping hand, the Obama camp has release a memo detailing the numerous fibs McCain has been pushing, you can click here . Lets hope that this trend continues for the country's sake.

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America-This Woman Could Be Your VP!

In what was one of the most painful interviews given by a major party candidate in recent history, Gov. Palin clearly showed last night why she is clearly not ready for the big leagues. Charlie Gibson to my surprise did an excellent job; he was tough but fair, yet I noticed his exasperation when Palin kept spouting the coached talking points and declined to answer the questions. I am unsure how any independent voter who watched the charade came away convinced that this woman is qualified and could be a 72 year old's heartbeat away from the presidency.

Here is the transcript:

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?
PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?
(she has no clue, so she tries to answer with another question)

GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be?
(Gibson did not bite, and pressed on)

PALIN: His world view?

(Again she tries to get him to provide some clues)

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.

(Gibson is not budging, refuses to bite, but gives up a clue)

PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that's the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better.

(She goes right into one of the War on Terror talking points and gets it wrong)

GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?
PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.

Here an exasperated Gibson finally gives in and provides the answer. Yes this was painful to watch and it will be interesting to see how conservatives try to spin this-the woman is clueless! I really think that he was ready to give her the benefit of the doubt and do a fluff interview, but he probably got so disgusted at her lack of knowledge that he decided to become an impartial journalist once again.

Here is the video, see for yourselves:

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Hannity Melts Down

Watch Sean Hannity having a meltdown:

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Drill Baby Drill!

From HuffPo: Oil Sex Scandal May affect Drilling debate

"A scandal involving sex, drugs and _ uh, offshore oil drilling. It's a strange mix, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for those in Congress pressing to expand oil and gas development off America's beaches while trying to stave off an election-year rush by Democrats to impose new taxes and royalties on the oil industry.

An Interior Department investigation describing a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" by workers at the agency that issues offshore drilling leases and collects royalties hit lawmakers Wednesday just as they prepared for votes next week on expanding offshore drilling."

I guess this is what they meant by "Drill Baby Drill!!" It will be interesting to see how the GOP responds to this scandal now that oil prices have been at a downward spiral since the Dems closed the Enron Loophole back in June. The price of crude has receded and OPEC recently voted to scale back production due to lower demand and to stabilize prices. I sure hope that the Dems don't capitulate on this issue; in fact, this brief respite should be used to begin outlining a comprehensive alternative energy policy that could ween us off Middle Eastern oil dependency.

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The Lipstick Debacle

This is manufactured outrage and I hope that the Obama campaign doesn't back down. On Morning Joe today, Pat Buchanan was trying his best to start class warfare over the pig quote, that incidentally, McCain used against Hillary Clinton last year.

The quote? " You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig"



Meanwhile, Palin is still sequestered at an undisclosed location. No questions please!

UPDATE: The Obama response:

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Obama To Use 527s?

If this is true, then all I can say is FINALLY.

Marc Ambinder is reporting:

There's been a spurt of 527 activity on behalf of Sen. John McCain, but Barack Obama campaign has suddenly gone silent on the subject.

That's because, after a year of telling donors not to contribute to 527 groups, of encouraging strategists not to form them and of suggesting that outside messaging efforts would not be welcome in Obama's Democratic Party, Obama's strategists have changed their approach.

An Obama adviser privy to the campaign's internal thinking on the matter says that,with less than two months before the election and with the realization that Republicans have achieved financial parity with Democrats, they hope that Democratic allies -- what another campaign aide termed "the cavalry" -- will come to Obama's aid.

Did you actually think that McCain was going to object to the 527 groups?

After months of being hammered with reports of more groups forming to attack him, it appears that the Obama campaign is finally warming to the idea that he needs to attack. Senator, you don't have to publicly support these groups but someone has to do your dirty work. You need to go after both McCain and Palin and call them on their lies, the MSM isn't going to do it for you. I watched you last night and it appears that you are counting on the debates to make your case, what happens if they are a wash, then what? You also need to make sure that McCain doesn't cheat his way through the debates, and monitor all close circuit RF channels to ensure that he isn't fed the answers.

Lastly, UNLEASH Joe Biden, you need an attack dog and don't worry about GOP charges of being a typical politician; just get yourself elected and worry later.

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Palin's Church Problem?

It appears that the MSM is finally reporting this story. Apparently, Ms. Secessionist belongs to an extreme fundamentalist church, Wasilla Assemblies of God.

Below is a video courtesy of a Dkos diarist:

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McCain Gets His Bounce

John McCain is currently enjoying his largest lead over Barack Obama. The USA Today/Gallup poll shows him ten points ahead: 54-44, but that poll appears to be an outlier using likely voters instead of the more reliable registered voters. The daily Gallup poll from this past weekend also shows McCain with a slight lead over Obama: 48-44. Yes folks, John McCain is getting his bounce and we'll need to wait until Tuesday to accurately determine the full scope of the GOP Convention bounce and the Sarah Palin factor. Strategically, the Sarah Palin audible was brilliant, it completely overshadowed Obama's speech and since then, the media has been in a public swoon. McCain is also trying to co-op Obama change mantra while still throwing zingers at Obama's experience.

So Senator, it's your move and how do you plan to counter? Yes I know that the polling data is skewed and does not represent the new media electorate without landlines, but perception is reality with our fickle electorate. The low info voters will be bombarded with the Republican talking points in the next eight weeks and if you are not careful, you will be Kerryized. You cannot ignore these repeated attacks or issue a tepid response. Unleash Biden, please.

You need to forcefully counter Gov. Palin and be ready for the sexism card, and when they flash it, sharpen your attacks and accuse them of whining while working the media (refs). You cannot underestimate her appeal to the electorate and she needs to be destroyed, not by you directly but with the assistance of your surrogates. Hillary Clinton needs to be dispatched to attack Ms. Secessionist, and yes she will balk and may exact a heavy price but through back channels let her know that you fully intend to run again in 2012 and will blame her if you lose. Further, you will not support her candidacy if she doesn't go after Palin. Yes you need to play hardball with the Clintons and use your favor card for granting all their demands during DNC Convention.

Push back on the media's incessant "the surge worked" questions. It undermines the fact that you were right about the Iraq war, the Afghanistan surge, Iran, and the Iraqi timetable. Refuse to answer surge question unless they insist that the McCain camp and his surrogates acknowledge your wisdom on these other equally important decisions. McCain must be berated with questions about your good judgment on these matters and be forced to admit that you were right.

Please STOP praising McCain. We get it, he was a POW and a war hero, but understand that you are in the midst of the toughest political fight of your life and your opponent has competent surrogates who are handsomely paid to promote him. While you continue to praise McCain, his camp undercuts you with harsh Rovian tactics.

The American people love a fighter and did you notice how many times McCain used the word "fight" in his boring speech? All I remember is: "I will fight, fight for you…" and you could be sure that low info voters heard it as well.

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Daily Show Funnies

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McCain's Boring Speech

Who wrote that speech?

McCain’s acceptance speech was widely panned by the media. It didn’t seem to have any flow, and it was a boilerplate of past McCain stump speeches lumped into one presentation aimed at running out the clock past 11 PM to prevent media pundits from sharing their opinions. They spent so much time propping up Gov. Palin that it appears that they forgot the man on top of the ticket. The speech was flat, poorly written, and for a guy who has limited oratorical skills, it was a great disservice.

Remember that horrid green screen? Unbeknownst to the McCain camp, it was back. The blogosphere got to work and apparently the McCain camp intended to show a picture of Walter Reed Medical Center and ended up showing Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood California, oops! The green screen effect was recreated when the camera zoomed in on McCain and the grass provided the backdrop.

Here is the play by play from TPM:

Late Update: I'm surprised this hadn't occurred to me. But several readers have suggested that perhaps one of the tech geeks charged with setting up the audio/visual bells and whistles for the evening was tasked with getting pictures of Walter Reed Army Medical Center but goofed and got this instead. At first I thought, No, that's ridiculous. This is a major political party with big time professionals putting this together. Nothing is left to chance. I mean, is this the RNC or a scene out of Spinal Tap or Waiting for Guffman? I still have a bit of a hard time believing they're quite that incompetent. But when you figure in what appears to be the utter lack of any logic for this school being behind McCain and the fact that it has 'Walter Reed' in its name, I'm really not sure you can discount this possibility.

(ed.note: Special bonus snark: That's not stock photo keyword searching we can believe in.)

Yes it was that type of night and now we await the polls over the weekend to see whether the McCain camp was able to erase Obama’s post convention bump. My hunch is that Obama will retain a four to five point margin.

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Media and Howard Dean Push Back

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GOP Day Three

Carly Fiorina wants you to know that she knows John McCain, otherwise you could have slept through her entire speech.

Mitt Romney kept screaming: liberal! liberal! and ranted about those eastern elites while forgetting these obscure facts: He was once the Governor of Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard. Right on Mitt!!

Mike Huckabee was actually pretty good, the guy is genuinely funny. One of his best lines attacking the media elite was: "Media is tackier than costume change at a Madonna concert".

Rudy Giuliani- was the attack dog of the night, he blasted Obama's experience forgetting his own neophyte Gov. Palin. He also said that John McCain offers specifics ideas but neglected to tell us what they were. Rudy also reminded us of 9/11, how scared we should be of the terrorists, and only John McCain can protect us, and by the way, did you know that McCain was a POW? Rudy like most New Yorkers talked too long, so the GOP was forced to scrap the Palin video fluffography.


Sara Palin-Ms Secessionist came out blazing chided Obama's experience and described herself as a pit bull with lipstick. She was on full attack mode denigrating Obama line after scripted line. The partisan crowd loved it and cheered gleefully. So much for reaching out to moderates and indepedents, the GOP is going for broke with their base and everyone else can go pound sand. She attacked the media, familiar theme of mthe night and was quite snarky with the following comment: "The Mayor of Wassila is somewhat like a community organizer, but you actually make decisions", the crowd roared. This is a woman who was mayor of an igloo village of 6500 give or take a few hundred, with an annual budget of $6 million! She is now a 72 year old heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the world.

Well, in that case, as former student council president of my alma mater with a similar annual budget, I now consider myself qualified for at least a governorship! The media and the conservative punditry class fell into a swoon and basically declared Ms. Secessionist the next Margaret Thatcher.

John McCain goes on tonite with the unenviable task of following the new rockstar of the GOP. We all know his problems with a teleprompter, and in case you forgot, the Giants play the Redskins tonite with Usher performing during the pre-game festivities.

Go Johnny GO!

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The Palin Convention

With the bar set so low that my five year old niece could somersault over it, Sarah Palin takes the stage tonight. If you didn’t know, the GOP doubled down on its long shot Tuesday night. With the gravitas and hubris that can only be attributed to the GOP, they are now attempting to make the case that Sarah Palin is actually more qualified than Senator Obama. You know, the same Obama who defeated the Clinton machine, former Ivy League magna cum laude graduate, law professor, who oversees a campaign staff of 2500 with an annual budget of over $350 million, yeah that one versus an eighteen month Governor of Alaska.

She will undoubtedly give a decent and well prepared speech later this evening and could overshadow the party’s nominee, but that is the gamble McCain is taking. The Tuesday night speakers clearly set the stage for her. They each took turns showering praise on Gov. Palin. The selling of Palin has begun to what is now a very skeptical electorate (polls show that only 37% approve).

With Bush in virtual exile, the snoozer last night actually had some highlights. Fred Thompson showed some passion and reminded the world for the umpteen time that McCain was a POW, unfortunately the poor guy needed some water as he kept clearing his throat (was he drunk?) I digress…

Lieberman presented himself as a “Democrat” and Andrea Mitchell reminded everyone that Joe Pa is still registered as such. His task was to sell McCain’s bipartisanship credentials. He ridiculed Obama for being an “eloquent young man” who isn’t ready to lead while in the same breath praised Sarah Palin, former mayor of Wasilla, population 6500. This is why I call it: The Palin Convention. If you didn’t know any better, you would think that it is Palin who is on top of the ticket and McCain is simply a side show.

Therein lies the problem with the Palin pick, the public doesn’t know this woman and the McCain camp is spending too much time explaining and propping the Alaskan governor and not enough time talking about McCain’s platform. She was not properly vetted and now they have the audacity to present this political neophyte as a reformer who is ready to lead.

This week should be quite interesting.

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Palin Fallout continues...

Here is a video compilation of the Palin fallout:



Here is more courtesy of TPM:



Here is Joe Scarborough and Pat B on the pick:

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