John McCain

Change

Posted on by Democrashield

Today, John McCain said ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong.’

What economy is John McCain talking about? Because I see an economy that isn’t strong—unemployment is up, the dollar is weak, the stock market dropped 500 points just today, banks and mortgage companies are failing, families are losing their houses, prices are skyrocketing, wages are stagnating.

The American people know the economy is in a crisis. Then again, unlike John McCain, we don’t own so many houses we can’t keep track of them all; maybe that’s why we and John McCain don’t see eye-to-eye on the economy.

And now McCain is saying that he can fix this mess. Really, Senator? You’ve been in Washington longer than I’ve been alive. Your party has controlled the federal government for most of the past seven years. It’s the Republican Party and our Republican President who laid the foundation of this economic failure—the same party whose standard John McCain now bears, the same President John McCain stood next to and gladly took an endorsement from.

John McCain and the Republican Party have spent the past seven years spending recklessly, running up huge debts on the American people’s credit card. And now that we’re threatening to take the card away, John McCain is saying that he can fix it, he can make things right, just give him one more chance.

Sorry, Senator, but you had your chance. You had 26 years worth of chances. Instead of strengthening our economy, you stood with the very people who built this economic house of cards, and we’re not going to trust the people who put us in this mess to get us out.

I guess when John McCain talks about ‘change,’ he’s referring to all you’ll have left once his economic policies are done with you.

Party Of Whiners

Posted on by Democrashield

[pic from BAGnewsNotes]

So, it turns out that the Sarah Palin-Charlie Gibson interview was a disaster for Gov. Palin.

Gibson actually asked some tough questions; at times he actually caught Palin off-guard. When asked about the Bush Doctrine–you know, that ideology that has defined American foreign policy since 9/11–Palin was clueless, stumbling through a confused, wandering answer.

The right’s reaction to the interview is equal parts predictable and pathetic–“how dare he make her explain and defend her beliefs! How disrespectful! Doesn’t he know it’s sexist to question Sarah Palin!? He must be in the tank for Obama!”

In other words, more pathetic whining. Are these guys going to let their Presidential ticket get bogged down with this stupid nonsense?

And now Politico is reporting that Palin’s next interview will be with Fox’s Sean Hannity–I guess Gibson didn’t lob her enough softballs for her liking.

A few weeks ago, when Palin was first chosen, I called her selection an epic fail. A few people have asked me since then if I regret my initial characterization.

No, I don’t.

See, Palin gave a good introductory speech and a good speech at the RNC. But both of those speeches–and every Palin speech since–were written by the McCain campaign and fed to her line-by-line. Every event she’s held was carefully choreographed. Palin was even carefully scripted during the Gibson interview–she stumbled when Gibson asked her questions she wasn’t prepped for.

We have 53 days left until the election. It’s going to be a long campaign for John McCain if he thinks he can keep Sarah Palin under wraps–or giving softball interviews to friendly pundits–until November. It’s going to be a long campaign if he thinks he can get away with crying sexism whenever a journalist asks Palin a question that catches her off guard and exposes her unpreparedness.

It’s becoming clear that Sarah Palin’s media honeymoon is over. The press’ fascination with her as someone fresh and new and compelling is ending. The more they try to pin down what her beliefs are and what she would do in office, the clearer it will become that Sarah Palin is unfit for office. This interview is just the first step down that road.

Deference (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

Tomorrow night, Sarah Palin will give her much-anticipated first interview to Charles Gibson. I expect it’ll go extremely well–the McCain campaign has spent weeks feeding her talking points, while Gibson has been very friendly towards John McCain in the past.

Palin’s interview will be the latest in a long line of heavily-scripted campaign events–the McCain campaign has kept her away from the media, instead feeding her talking points and putting her in front of large, pre-selected crowds.

Why are they being so cautious with her?

A few weeks ago, the McCain campaign sniffed that they were going to keep Palin away from the media until they started showing her ‘deference.’

Deference?

Sorry, John, but Palin isn’t running for Miss Alaska, she’s running for Vice President. The media shouldn’t be showing her deference–they should be examining her positions, her beliefs and her policies as much as possible. The media’s duty is to put candidates under a microscope and to report what they find so that–come election day–we the people know exactly who we’re voting for. So no, John, the media shouldn’t be showing Sarah Palin ‘deference.’

I remember when Hillary Clinton shed a tear on the campaign trail–conservatives roundly mocked her for it, and one high-profile right-wing blogger said that ‘the crying tactic’ wouldn’t work very well with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Well, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won’t show Sarah Palin deference. Vladimir Putin won’t show her deference. Kim Jong Il won’t show her deference. Robert Mugabe won’t show her deference. Moqtada Al-Sadr won’t show her deference. Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah and Hamas won’t show her deference.

What’ll happen when they go toe-to-toe with her? What’ll she do when they attack and criticize and insult her? Will the McCain administration complain about how mean and unfair they’re being? Will Palin hide in a Cheney-like undisclosed location until they all agree to play fair?

Come on, John. This is just ridiculous.

Now, I’m sure some people will say Palin doesn’t need to be ready on day one because she’ll have years to learn foreign policy under John McCain. Well that’s ridiculous, too. The Vice President has to be ready to take over on inauguration day; if something happens to the President, you have to be able to fill in. Period. There’s no room for on-the-job training. And if Sarah Palin can’t stand up to the news media, how can she stand up to America’s enemies?

In this dangerous world, America needs a steady hand. What we don’t need is a reckless President and a woefully-unprepared Vice President. The stakes are just too high–and the world is just too dangerous–for McCain-Palin.

UPDATE: Case in point, the latest McCain ad.

“Oh my God, guys, they’re being disrespectful to Sarah Palin! They’re so mean!!”

Sarah Palin is running to be Vice President of the United States, the second-most powerful person in the world.

There are countries out there that hate America.  There are people out there who want to destroy America.  They’re not going to treat Vice President Palin with deference and respect.  If she can’t handle a simple political campaign, how is she going to handle being Vice President?

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.  If you can’t stand the campaign, don’t run for office.  But don’t sit there and whine about how the media and your opponents are just so mean to you–it’s shameful to the office Palin is running for.

America needs strong leadership.  What we don’t need are self-centered politicians whining not getting enough respect. It’s pathetic.

Honor

Posted on by Democrashield

There was once an honorable man named John McCain.

That honorable man became a soldier.  He went to war. He got captured and became a prisoner of war. During that time he showed true courage and bravery.

When he came home, he was still an honorable man. Now, he made mistakes in his personal life—particularly in his first marriage—but there was still plenty of honor in him.

That man got elected to Congress—first the House, then the Senate. And for most of that time, he was honorable—standing up for his beliefs, sometimes having to stand against his own party.

Eight years ago John McCain, that honorable man, ran for President. But he  ended up running against some exceptionally dishonorable people; people who dragged him through the mud and–using underhanded smears–cost him the Presidency.

After his defeat, this honorable man realized something.  He realized that he couldn’t become President if he stayed honorable. So John McCain made a choice—he decided that being President was more important than being honorable. So John McCain put becoming President first and put everything else second.

Now, a lot of John McCain’s supporters will say he’s still honorable. But you know what? It’s not honorable to stand with the worst President in America’s history, even as his policies are hurting millions of your fellow countrymen. It’s not honorable change your positions to appeal to the radical fringes of your political party. It’s not honorable to hire the same team of people who dragged you through the mud last campaign to run your current campaign.

It’s not honorable to help the privileged–the wealthy and the corporations–while hurting the middle class. It’s not honorable to keep American troops in the middle of a war we should never have fought and that we shouldn’t lose another life fighting. It’s not honorable to spend $10 billion of the people’s money a month to fund a war the people themselves oppose.

It’s not honorable for a candidate to attack his opponent for being inexperienced, then turn around and pick a less experienced running mate. It’s not honorable to pick a radical ideologue as your running mate just to please your political base. It’s not honorable to lie about your opponent, to lie about his record, to stand by while your running mate lies about her record time and time again, even after those lies have been disproved.

Most of all, with all the challenges our country faces, it’s not honorable to waste America’s time by distracting us with trivial nonsense. It’s more than not honorable—it’s dishonorable. It’s unworthy of our democracy.

During an interview not too long ago, John McCain was asked to define honor. He couldn’t. That’s because John McCain has lost his honor.  John McCain put being President first and everything else second—and the shameful, dishonest, deplorable campaign we’re seeing right now is proof that he has put honor in the backseat.

Poutrage

Posted on by Democrashield

So at a rally today, when talking about McCain-Palin, Barack Obama says:

“You can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years.”

Now, most of us understand what that sentence mean.  The McCain campaign, on the other hand, hears:

“Sarah Palin is a pig.”

Of course, if anyone in the McCain camp has ever talked to the American people, they’d realize that ‘lipstick on a pig’ is a pretty common–and pretty innocuous–saying.

Then again, the McCain campaign isn’t stupid.  They know that, if this election is about the issues, they lose.  Period. So they’re going to take every instance like this–anything they can drum up into a scandal, anything they can build faux-outrage over–and run with it.  They’re going to try to distract us all from the serious problems facing our country to focus on distractions like pregnancies and mooseburgers and pigs.

Oh, and I don’t remember any outrage from conservatives when John McCain said this:

McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s health-care plan, he said it was “eerily reminiscent” of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the early 1990s.

“I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” he said of her proposal.

So, guys, if Barack Obama insulted Sarah Palin, John McCain insulted Hillary Clinton.  Either that, or you’re drumming up a lot of scandal over nothing. Which wouldn’t really be anything new, actually.

Obama’s Foreign Policy Smackdown

Posted on by Democrashield

Earlier today:

Obama accused Bush of “tinkering around the edges” and “kicking the can down the road to the next president” with his plans to remove 8,000 US troops from Iraq in the coming months and send 4,500 to Afghanistan by January.

“At this point what it appears is that the next president will inherit a status quo that is still unstable,” Obama said, adding that his Republican White House rival John McCain was bent on the same course as Bush.

[…]

The Illinois senator said that on Afghanistan, he was “glad that the president is moving in the direction of the policy that I have advocated for years.”

But he added: “His plan comes up short — it is not enough troops, and not enough resources, with not enough urgency.

“What President Bush and Senator McCain don’t understand is that the central front in the war on terror is not in Iraq, and it never was — the central front is in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the terrorists who hit us on 9/11 are still plotting attacks seven years later,” Obama said.

“Now, the choice for the American people could not be clearer. John McCain has been talking a lot about change, but he’s running for four more years of the same foreign policy that we’ve had under George Bush.

“Senator McCain will continue the overwhelming focus on Iraq that has taken our eye off of the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11,” Obama said.

“It’s time to change our foreign policy,” he said.

“Because seven years after 9/11, we are still fighting a war without end in Iraq and we still haven’t taken out the terrorists responsible for 9/11. We heard no explanation for why (Al-Qaeda leader) Osama bin Laden is still at large, because that’s where George Bush and John McCain’s judgment has gotten us.”

[Emphasis added]

Ouch.  John McCain and George Bush will be feeling that one for a while.

We all know that there’s a lot at stake in this election.

And let’s face it, America’s security and defense are threatened right now, and the Bush-McCain policies of the past few years have allowed that to happen. Their policies have left our military overstretched and weakened; they have taken our precious resources away from fighting terrorism and dumped them into Iraq; they have taken America’s focus off of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see that Bush is finally sending more troops to Afghanistan; then again, Barack Obama has been saying we should do that for years. If Obama were President, we would have already sent more troops to Afghanistan and we’d be well on our way to securing that country.  We’d also be on our way to securing the federally-administered tribal areas of Pakistan, where some terrorist groups are currently operating out of.

The truth is that on Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Barack Obama was right and John McCain and George Bush were wrong. If Obama were President these past eight years, our country would be far, far better off than it is right now.

Irresponsible

Posted on by Democrashield

The McCain-Palin campaign loves to talk about much of a fiscally-responsible maverick reformer Sarah Palin is.

But does that record really hold up?

Well, as Mayor of Wasilla, Palin did save the people money–by forcing rape victims to pay for their own ‘rape kit’ forensic examinations:

But in fact, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska from 1996 to 2002. And according to an Alaskan news article in the local Wasilla paper in the year 2000, the City of Wasilla, under Mayor Palin, charged rape victims for their own forensic tests. Most Alaskan municipalities picked up the tab themselves, but not Wasilla, the article notes. You see, the city of Wasilla, the article notes, didn’t want to “burden” taxpayers with having to support victims of rape. Yes, they were more interested in lowering taxes.

[Emphasis added]

In fact, the only reason Wasilla stopped forcing rape victims to fund their own investigations was because Alaska’s Democratic Governor, Tony Knowles, signed a bill into law forcing the town to end the practice.  In addition, the Frontiersman article cited above notes Wasilla as the only place in Alaska that actually charged rape victims to pay for their own investigations.

I guess you could call that fiscally-conservative, though I’m not sure burdening rape victims is the best way Sarah Palin could have saved money.

Then again, saving taxpayers money apparently stopped being a priority when Palin moved up to the Governor’s office:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

[…]

[Palin] wrote some form of “Lodging — own residence” or “Lodging — Wasilla residence” more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem.

[…]

Palin charged the state a per diem for working on Nov. 22, 2007 — Thanksgiving Day. The reason given, according to the expense report, was the Great Alaska Shootout, an annual NCAA college basketball tournament held in Anchorage.

In separate filings, the state was billed about $25,000 for Palin’s daughters’ expenses and $19,000 for her husband’s.

[…]

In the past, per diem claims by Alaska state officials have carried political risks. In 1988, the head of the state Commerce Department was pilloried for collecting a per diem charge of $50 while staying in his Anchorage home, according to local news accounts. The commissioner, the late Tony Smith, resigned amid a series of controversies.

“It was quite the little scandal,” said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. “I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam — you pay yourself to live at home,” he said.

[Emphasis added]

Of course, Palin’s supporters say that she’s allowed to charge the state for whatever she can reasonably classify as a business expense, and they’re  technically right.

But this isn’t a matter of breaking the law, it’s a matter of Palin displaying terrible judgment (and just a bit of greed)–she’s charging taxpayers to pay herself to live at home and attend basketball games.  And Sarah Palin’s doing this even though the last time a high-ranking state official did the same he was forced to resign.

I wouldn’t call charging your taxpayers for your personal expenses (or expenses you never incurred) fiscally responsible.  Nor would I call this fiscally responsible, either:

Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 21/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska’s government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it.

[Emphasis added]

Sarah Palin’s Alaska: highest in taxing, highest in spending.

Hey McCain campaign, what’s all this talk I hear about Sarah Palin being a maverick who reformed Alaska? Because all I see is another power-abusing Republican who mismanages the people’s money and stuffs her pockets with tax dollars.

Stonewall

Posted on by Democrashield

Newsweek reports that Sarah Palin and John McCain are stonewalling the troopergate investigation:

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called “October surprise” that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.

In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska’s bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called “troopergate” investigation.

[…]

The investigation, authorized by the Legislative Council last July, revolves around charges that Palin abused her power by embroiling the governor’s office in a bitter family feud involving her ex-brother in law, a state trooper named Mike Wooten. Specifically, the council is investigating whether Palin fired [Public Safety Commissioner Walter] Monegan when he refused to dismiss Wooten (who at the time was involved in an ugly custody battle with Palin’s sister) after getting repeated complaints about him from the governor and her husband, Todd Palin.

[…]

“How can this possibly be read as anything but a partisan attempt to shut down a legitimate investigation that was approved and funded with bipartisan support?” said one state Democratic legislative aide, who asked not to be identified because of the political sensitivities.

[…]

One major reason the probe is so sensitive is that it raises the prospect that Governor Palin’s credibility could be called into a question in a major state probe on the eve of the election. When the “troopergate” story broke over the summer, Palin adamantly denied that anybody in her administration exerted any pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten. But only weeks later, a tape recording surfaced in which another one of her top aides, Frank Bailey, was heard telling a police lieutenant, “Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, ‘Why on earth hasn’t this, why is this guy [Wooten] still representing the department?'”

[Emphasis added]

And then there’s this:

Within days of Palin’s selection, at least seven of her aides and associates, who had previously agreed to cooperate with the trooper-gate investigation, informed investigator Steve Branchflower that they were now no longer willing to be deposed. Note too that this was immediately after the McCain team deployed what George Stephanopoulos reported was a “rapid response team of about ten operatives that includes lawyers” to the state.

I used to think Sarah Palin was like Tom Eagleton–a desperate, poorly-vetted last-minute pick designed to breathe life into a flagging campaign.

But now I think she’s more like Richard Nixon and George W. Bush–willing to do anything to get ahead.

Just like Bush and Nixon, Palin abused the power of her office to seek revenge on her personal enemies.  She fired a competent public servant only to replace him with a political loyalist.  And when someone opened up an investigation into her unethical political machinations, she stonewalled the investigation and tried to replace the investigators themselves with political loyalists.

This is telling as to what we would get under a McCain-Palin administration–more abuses of power, more politicization, more lack of accountability.  In other words, four more years of failed government.  Can we really afford that?

The Audacity Of Audacity

Posted on by Democrashield

Change?

In his tepidly-received speech last night, John McCain said:

“And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: change is coming.”

Really, John?

You’ve been part of that Washington crowd for 25 years.  You’ve been in Congress since 1983. You’ve been a Senator since 1987.  You’ve been a political celebrity for over a decade–you were on Bob Dole’s VP shortlist in 1996.  You were named one of TIME magazine’s 25 most influential people in 1997. You improved ran for President in 2000 and have been one of the most famous politicians in Washington ever since.

In other words, John, you’ve had plenty of time to change things.  And not only have you not changed much of anything lately, you stood by George Bush and Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay and all the other right-wing ideologues who ran Washington for most of the past seven years. You supported their ‘big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second’ policies through and through.

In fact, John, you embraced George Bush’s policies just so you could run for President.  You hired the same team of smear artists and dirty tricksters who dragged your name through the mud in 2000. You haven’t been trying to change Washington–you’ve come to embrace nearly everything Washington has become.

Not only that, but you have a way to start changing to Washington right now–through your job as a United States Senator.  Unfortunately, you’ve become the most absent Senator this Congress, missing nearly 65% of votes.  Instead of voting on legislation and representing the American people, you’re too busy campaigning for President.  How is that putting ‘country first’?

Face it, John, you’ve had plenty of time to put country first and change Washington.  Instead, you embraced everything that’s wrong with Washington, and now you want us to believe you’ll change the problems you helped create?

Sorry, Senator, this isn’t 2004–the audacity of audacity just won’t sell very well anymore.

McCain’s Speech (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

Honestly, for once I don’t have very much to say.

Palin’s address last night was a good speech delivered poorly.  On the other hand, McCain’s address tonight was a terrible speech delivered even more poorly.

It was a hollow series of bumper-sticker platitudes, a boring laundry list of fuff.  There were no specifics, just a lot of “I will do this” and “I will do that.”

And the lack of substance was made even worse by a terrible delivery–I honestly have to say it was one of the worst speeches I’ve ever heard anyone–Democrat or Republican–give.  And the Republicans in the hall gave McCain a reception roughly as strong as the one they gave Tommy Thompson.  If this is a preview of what a President McCain would be like–Bushean platitudes and hollow rhetoric–I don’t think very many more people are going to run to start line up behind McCain.

I think whatever sparks Palin generated yesterday were put out by McCain’s wet blanket of a speech today.  Like I said before, in a week or two these speeches are going to be forgotten, so this won’t matter much.  But if this is a preview of things to come, McCain-Palin is in for a rude awakening in November.

UPDATE: Hillary Clinton responds:

The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin do not.

After listening to all the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation’s leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces. So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN.

I can’t wait until Monday–I can’t wait to see Hillary Clinton take on Sarah Palin.

McCain-Palin: Polarizing

Posted on by Democrashield

Republican strategist (and informal McCain advisor) Mike Murphy shares his thoughts on McCain-Palin:

“I think she’ll ultimately be a polarizer. After last night’s smash, Republicans are in deep love. Nothing thrills ’em like a good ‘us vs. them’ speech. But I’d guess that most Democrats had the opposite reaction. In a year where the Democrat generic numbers are 10+ points better than the Republican, I don’t like the math of a strategy that just polarized the election along party base lines. Among the vital sliver of voters in the middle, I think Palin’s rock solid social conservatism will be a turn off. And while voters may value vision over experience, Palin’s inexperience is a weakness, denying McCain an argument that has been helping him against Obama.”

Like I said before, Palin’s speech was great–but it wasn’t the speech she needed to give.  In a year where the Republican brand is so weak, a partisan, red-meat-for-the-followers campaign isn’t going to cut it.

And surely enough, preliminary polls support Murphy’s argument: both Gallup and Rasmussen show Obama leading by 5-7%.  Pollster, FiveThirtyEight and Electoral-Vote also show Obama significantly ahead. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has raised $8 million since the Palin speech, while the Republicans have raised just $1 million.

Yeah, it’s still early.  But remember, the Democratic bounce started before Obama gave his acceptance speech at Invesco field.  So while the Republicans will get a bounce, right now it doesn’t look like it’ll be high enough to overcome Obama’s lead.

Let’s face it–mooseburgers, POWs, ‘hockey moms,’ press BBQs and ‘straight talk’ won’t be enough to win this election.  The American people are hurting; the stakes are too high for us to get distracted by trivial garbage.

So while the GOP re-uses the Bush playbook, trying to make this election about who wants to have a beer with who, just look at the polls–the American people are fed up.  We want someone in charge who is going to fix our problems, and right now that’s Obama and Biden, not Palin and McCain.  The more the Republicans polarize, the more they feed into Obama’s argument about having to overcome the divisive politics of the past.

The GOP’s True Face

Posted on by Democrashield

Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland lets his true feelings show:

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Remember that Sarah ‘Eagleton’ Palin’s job is to be a mask–to put a fresh, smiling face on the same old GOP policies. But always remember that, deep down, beliefs like Rep. Westmoreland’s are the heart of the Republican Party–of Sarah Palin’s party, John McCain’s party, George Bush’s party.

Look at Palin’s nasty, partisan speech and how the Republican National Convention just ate it up.  Of course they hate Obama, of course they think he’s “uppity”–Obama wants to change our broken government, the government Republicans built brick by brick.  Obama wants to derail their gravy train and make government work for the American people, not the special interests who write big fat checks to the Republican Party.

That’s why the right is so angry.

Sarah Eagleton’s Speech (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

I said earlier today that I thought Sarah Palin’s speech was probably going to be great, since the McCain campaign’s future hinges on her ability to get past her scandals and portray herself as both likable and Presidential.

Unfortunately for them, Palin’s speech really didn’t stack up.

She started out clearly very nervous, which isn’t the image you want to project when you’re trying to convince the country you’re ready to be Vice President.

And her delivery was off–to be honest, it sounded like Palin was reading a script instead of delivering a heartfelt speech. It’s not not surprising–McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis told us that the speech was written long before Palin was even chosen, they just retooled it to fit her biography–still, her delivery was unexpectedly terrible. I thought Palin was a better speaker than this.

I read Palin’s full remarks. It was great material very poorly delivered. All of those details in there about energy and foreign policy don’t prove Palin’s knowledge, since she was just repeating words put into her mouth by McCain’s speechwriters. To that extent, she comes off a bit like George W. Bush–she doesn’t really understand the material, but she repeats it because it’s what she’s told to do.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Palin’s tone was surprisngly off-putting. I figured her small-town charm and natural likability would be out in full force. Polls taken after she was announced as McCain’s running mate showed that, even though a vast majority of people think Palin isn’t experienced enough for the job, people find her extremely likable. I figurd the McCain campaign would would best use her as a personable foil to McCain’s grizzled warrior.

In this speech, though, Palin didn’t come off as charming at all. In fact, she came off as just the opposite–smarmy and arrogant. To me, it’s like one of McCain’s advisers told her to project confidence, and she took it way too far and projected pure, nasty condescention. This isn’t the down-to-earth, affable Palin who was introduced to the world last week, nor is this the effective attack dog VP candidates usually become. Palin is something that combines the worst of both of those worlds–nasty and self-righteous.

I’ll admit that the speech has some damn good barbs at Obama–the community organizer line is sure to stick, even though it insults community organizers and the thousands of people they’ve helped–but Palin can’t really deliver an attack well. The parts of her speech where she attacked Obama came off like an overbearing comedy routine, not a serious speech by a Vice Presidential nominee.

And Sarah Palin didn’t really address the elephant in the room–she didn’t display shy she’s qualified to be Vice President. It seems like Rick Davis & co. wrote the speech for someone with better credentials and then forgot to include a part where Palin explains how her short tenure as Governor qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Palin talked a lot about being Governor, she talked a lot about what she (or, more accurately, McCain) would do in office, but there was a step missing in the middle that left a giant, gaping hole in her speech.

Overall, I’m not sure how Palin’s speech will be received. No matter what, the GOP is going to defend it and claim that she redeemed herself–but they were going to say that no matter how it went, let’s face it. I saw a candidate suppressing her natural charm and carisma, instead coming across as smarmy and condescending, giving a speech she doesn’t really understand while looking like she could have used a few more practice sessions before stepping out into the limelight. Overall, it was a standard convention speech, not the redemptive speech that Palin needed to give in order to seriously save her candidacy.

UPDATE: More thoughts on Sarah Palin:

I still think it was a great speech, though poorly-delivered.  But I don’t think it was the speech Sarah Palin needed to give.

Palin’s speech was Bush circa 2004–it was red meat for the followers, a sneering, condescending attack on the GOP’s political opponents.

But I don’t think Sarah Palin won anyone over.  I don’t think anyone who wasn’t voting for her last week was swayed by this speech alone.  She energized the Republican base, sure, but the Republican base isn’t enough to win this election.  They were barely enough 4 years ago, and since then the number of Republicans has dropped and the number of Independents and Democrats has skyrocketed.

If this is their strategy, the GOP is going to lose, plain and simple.  If they can’t bring new people to the GOP coalition, they will lose.

More importantly, Palin didn’t address her political scandals, which are going to continue to dog her until November (and possibly beyond). Nor did she prove she was qualified to be President, another question that’s going to dog her for the next two months. And Rick Davis & co. filled her speech with the same easily-disprovable lies that were in Palin’s introductory speech a week ago.

The Republicans and their supporters are raving about the speech, and that was the point–it was designed by Rick Davis & co. to fire them up. But for everyone else out there–the vast majority of the American people–Sarah Palin didn’t do anything.  In fact, her nastiness may turn independent voters off and it’s already galvanizing Democrats against the McCain-Palin ticket.

Even They’re Not Buying It (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

Conservative strategist Mike Murphy and conservative columnist Peggy Noonan are overheard discussing John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin:

And remember, these are the guys the GOP trots out to defend their decisions. If they’re not even buying it, the McCain-Palin campaign is in trouble.

UPDATE:

Here’s a transcript of the off-camera part:

Peggy Noonan: [Inaudible, speaking under Chuck Todd]

Noonan: Yeah.

Mike Murphy: Um, you know, because I come out of the blue swing state Governor world—

Chuck Todd: Right.

Murphy: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson—

Chuck Todd: Right.

Murphy: Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And, and, and these guys, this is all like how you win a Texas race, you know: just run it up. And it’s not gonna work. But—

Noonan: It’s over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech and do himself some good.

Todd: How much do you think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson [inaudible]

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.

Todd: I mean, she’s never looked comfortable about—

Murphy: They’re, they’re, they’re all bummed out.

Todd: I mean—

Noonan: Kay—

Todd: Is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives and—

Todd: Yeah, it went to a narrative

Noonan: [inaudible] picture.

Murphy: I totally agree.

Noonan: Every time Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.

Murphy: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatest of McCain is no cynicism, and it is cynical

Todd: This is cynical. And, and, and as you called it, gimmicky.

[Emphasis is mine]

Sarah ‘Eagleton’ Palin’s Speech

Posted on by Democrashield

I don’t know exactly what Sarah Palin will say tonight, but I have an idea of what her speech is going to be like.

First, it’s not all going to be about her and her scandals–McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis has said they prepared the speech before  she was even chosen, so they’re just re-tooling it to fit Palin.

But I expect that it will contain a few different elements:

  • It’s going to ignore all of Palin’s legitimate scandals–troopergate, her penchant for earmarks, her involvement with the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party, her support for the bridge to nowhere, her close ties to indicted Senator Ted Stevens (R), her complete lack of experience, plunging Wasilla into debt, her near-recall as Mayor of Wasilla and the political firings that caused it, etc.
  • Instead, she’s going to talk about her daughter’s pregnancy and her family.  She’s going to portray all of the criticism of her–even the legitimate criticism based on her governance and politics–as attacks on her family.
  • In that vein, expect a chest-pounding defense of her family; expect her to tie liberal bloggers, liberals in general, Democrats and the Obama campaign together and blame them all for ‘attacking’ her family.  Expect to talk about how great her family is, about her happy marriage and her wonderful children, and keep an eye out for a specific mention of her special needs child, Trig.
  • Expect allegations of sexism.  The GOP has been playing the gender card almost since she was chosen, trying to kill legitimate criticism of her record by painting it as sexism.
  • I wouldn’t be surprised if she repeated the nonsense ‘executive experience’ argument and called both Obama and Biden inexperienced. Of course, she also has more ‘executive experience’ than John McCain, so by the logic of this argument she’s better-suited to the Presidency than McCain himself.  Yes, it’s stupid, but it’s one of the only arguments she can make to defend her paper-thin record.
  • Expect her to, once again, portray herself as a reformer and maverick.  Expect her to repeat some of the same falsehoods she did in her introduction speech–that she opposed Stevens, that she opposed the bridge to nowhere, that she cleaned up corruption, that she opposes earmarks, etc.  Even though they’ve been proven false, she’ll repeat them anyway.
  • Expect her to talk about her small-town background.
  • Expect her to portray herself as a small-town girl being attacked by various elites, particularly liberal elites and the media.  I bet she’s going to accuse everyone who’s ‘attacking’ her as being afraid because she’s a ‘reformer’ and if she makes it to Washington she’s going to take their gravy train away.

Overall, expect it to be a good–if not great–speech. Remember, the entire McCain campaign hinges on this speech.  It has to go well, or else.

There has already been discussion of Palin being withdrawn as the VP candidate.  If she performs poorly there will be even more speculation, and the GOP will be in a difficult position: withdraw her and admit defeat or keep her and get hammered with her various scandals.

I guarantee the McCain campaign is pouring nearly everything they have into this speech–probably more than they’re putting into McCain’s speech tomorrow. It’s possible that, with all of her scandals, Palin can’t redeem herself.  But less than a week after she was chosen, the GOP knows something has to change.  If it doesn’t, well–can anyone say ‘Tom Eagleton?’

McCain’s Folly (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

[Image from Daily Kos]

It looks like Sarah Palin isn’t the reformer she pretends to be:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog. […]

In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks — about $1,000 in federal funds for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho — which has more than 190,000 residents — received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2008.

“She certainly wasn’t shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “She’s a little more savvy to the ways of Washington than she’s let on.”

Oh, she’s savvy in Washington ways alright. In fact, as the article notes, earlier this year, “Palin’s office sent [indicted] Sen. [Ted] Stevens a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for the state of Alaska.”

Looks like Sarah Palin loves Washington pork, helping funnel your tax dollars to her hometown.

Not only that, but she was more than willing to use indicted Senator Ted Stevens (R) to secure pork for her state–nearly $200 million of your dollars for the third-least populous state in the union.

Sarah Palin and John McCain represent the same old pork-grabbing that’s been plaguing Washington for years. And if we put them in the White House, they’re guaranteeing us four more years of the same.

UPDATE: Oh no:

The Washington Post reports today that, while Mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a lobbyist, Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to now-indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens — to help win federal earmarks for the city.

[…]

According to Senate lobbying disclosure reports examined by TPMmuckraker, from 2002 to 2004 Silver listed as a client Jack Abramoff’s lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. On Greenberg’s behalf, Silver lobbied the federal government on “issues relating to Indian/Native American policy,” “exploration for oil and gas” and “legislation relating to gaming issues” — the very issues that Abramoff headed up for Greenberg at the time. In other words, Silver appears to have been a part of “Team Abramoff.”

[…]

Silver did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Sarah Palin hired a federal lobbyist to win millions of dollars in pork for her hometown.  Sarah Palin relied on indicted Senator Ted Stevens to win more pork for the state of Alaska.  And now it turns out that the lobbyist Palin relied on was a protege of corrupt Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Do we really want another four years of the same kind of corrupt, incompetent governance? Can we even afford McCain-Palin in light of these revelations? Considering the toll the past eight years have taken, I would have to say no.

Vetting Sarah Palin (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

A big fat question mark, now nearly a heartbeat away from the Presidency

As you read this, a team of McCain campaign staffers are in Alaska, vetting Sarah Palin:

We had heard hints of this. But just moments ago, Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC said that Republican lawyers are currently doing a vet of Sarah Palin up in Alaska. We’ll get you the video shortly. But it seems that the really deep vet of Palin started after her selection was announced.

And then there’s this:

The campaign of John McCain has sent a staff of eight people into Alaska to conduct background checks and vetting on Governor Sarah Palin.

Word is they have have eight rooms reserved at a Wasilla hotel.

[…]

On Saturday, a Democrat tasked with opposition research contacted the Huffington Post with this piece of information: as of this weekend, the McCain campaign had not gone through old newspaper articles from the Valley Frontiersman, Palin’s hometown newspaper.

How does he know? The paper’s (massive) archives are not online. And when he went to research past content, he was told he was the first to inquire.

“No one else had requested access before,” said the source. “It’s unbelievable. We were the only people to do that, which means the McCain camp didn’t.”

The McCain campaign didn’t do their homework. This proves that Sarah Palin was a last-minute pick borne of desperation; it shows just how poorly John McCain is running his campaign.  I mean, he sewed up the Republican nomination in February–he had six months, more than twice the amount of time Barack Obama had, to vet and pick his VP candidate.

The vetting process is supposed to be thorough and comprehensive.  Campaigns are supposed to examine every aspect of a potential candidate’s life.  Not only do they want to pick someone who won’t hurt their candidate’s chances, but they also want to pick someone with a record that shows they can govern well if need be. Vice President isn’t a small job, and most Presidential campaigns know they can’t treat their decision lightly.

But not the McCain campaign.  They didn’t vet Sarah Palin before picking her.  In fact, John McCain only ever met her once and talked to her on the phone once in addition to that. John McCain was willing to put her on the ticket, to nominate her as the second most powerful person in America, while he barely knew anything about her.

A Presidential campaign is a preview of how a particular candidate would govern the country.  Picking a VP candidate is regarded as a candidate’s first Presidential decision, their first major appointment.  How John McCain has conducted–or failed to conduct–his VP search shows just how disastrous a McCain administration would be.

We just had eight years of shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later governance, administered by a President who appointed incompetent, unqualified people to important government posts. The last thing America needs is four more years of that.

UPDATE: And the hits just keep on coming:

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

That’s right–Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin belonged to a fringe political party that tried to get an American state to secede from the union.

John McCain says ‘country first;’ Sarah Palin says ‘Alaska first.’  Which will the voters believe?

Politicizing Tragedy

Posted on by Democrashield

What John McCain was doing last time a major hurricane hit the Gulf

So John McCain is on his way to the Gulf Coast as Republican Party drastically scales back their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Now, I don’t doubt that McCain hopes to do some good in the wake of the hurricane, but there’s clearly a political element to this.  The GOP knows their convention won’t help them as much as the Democratic convention helped the Democrats.  Right now it looks like they’re going to sacrifice a mediocre convention for the sake of having their candidate look like he’s on top of things.

But what does McCain have to offer? What, exactly, is he hoping to accomplish?. McCain doesn’t have any disaster relief experience.  McCain isn’t a local with knowledge of the area or a local network to tap into.  McCain won’t be in charge of any part of the recovery effort.  Nobody down there (except for his campaign) reports to him.  I’m baffled as to what good he thinks he’s going to do down there.

Because not only does McCain have nothing to contribute, he’s actually going to take away from the recovery effort.  Media attention will be on John McCain instead what’s happening on the ground.  Emergency management and disaster relief officials are going to have to spend their time showing McCain around, accommodating his security detail and briefing him on the situation instead of doing their jobs.  It seems to me that McCain’s visit is going to suck up time and resources and give absolutely nothing in return.

If McCain wanted to make a difference, he should actually go to the Senate and sponsor some legislation; remember, John McCain is the most absent Senator in the 110th Congress.  Then again, after Hurricane Katrina, McCain repeatedly voted against bills that would have helped rebuild New Orleans, so maybe he shouldn’t stop by the Senate and do his actual job this time around.

The Obama campaign is doing the right thing–they’re raising money for the recovery effort while staying out of the way and letting the professionals do their job. In fact, I got a text message from them just a few hours ago asking me to donate to the American Red Cross. McCain, on the other hand, is going to be getting in the way, tripping officials up with Secret Service sweeps and security checks, diverting attention away from the disaster itself and holding up recovery efforts to get photo-ops.  Oh, and there are reports that he wants to give his acceptance speech from the site of the disaster.  I wonder, how many precious resources is that stunt going to eat up?

McCain’s slogan is ‘country first.’  But, in this instance, all I’m seeing is ‘McCain first.’

Gustav

Posted on by Democrashield

As Hurricane Gustav approaches the Gulf Coast, we’re reminded of Republican government in action:

On the eve of Hurricane Gustav’s expected arrival, many in New Orleans, from residents of the Ninth Ward to the city’s mayor to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, have their doubts about whether the levees will hold.

“There is a real likelihood of getting some overtopping. Additionally, rain is a big factor here,” said DHS chief Michael Chertoff about water pouring over the tops of the levees.

Three years since Katrina and $3 billion later, the levees still leak and much of the repair work remains incomplete.

“Huge areas of Louisiana are going to be devastated. We’re going in essence to see what Katrina didn’t destroy, what Rita didn’t destroy in 2005 being destroyed now in 2008,” said Ivor Van Heerden, a professor at Louisiana State University who wrote a book about why the levees broke during Katrina.

At best the levees are estimated to be able to withstand water levels rising at the rate of an inch and hour. The coming storm, however, promises much more. In some places storm surge could reach 18 feet.

The Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with repairing the levees, says work was being accelerated.

Despite Congress authorizing $12.8 billion to rebuild the levees, only $3 billion has been spent. The engineers blame red tape, saying the studies, approvals and environmental committees have all slowed down the work.

The Army Corps is already trying to blame it on the environmentalists, but considering that the press recently found engineers filling the levees with newspaper, their protestations aren’t really credible. In fact, they failed to use the money and are scrambling to finish in 48 hours what they haven’t done in 3 years.

[Emphasis added]

And even though the GOP is looking to exploit Gustav to erase their record of incompetence, this latest hurricane reminds us of how they dealt with the last one:

FLASHBACK: McCain voted against Katrina relief multiple times

[B]oth Obama and Biden were either co-sponsors of, voted for or drafted Katrina relief or oversight bills.

Biden was the sponsor of Senate amendment 1661, which was to provide emergency funding to victims of Katrina.  The vote failed 41-56, with McCain voting against it.

[…]

McCain also voted against not one, not two (this one failed by three votes) but three other Democratic-introduced Senate amendments that would have brought much needed relief to Hurricane victims.

And yes, he voted against a bipartisan oversight commission to study the failings and recommend corrective measures to ensure that the next time will be better.

Let’s keep reminding America how much McCain really cares about putting country first.

[Emphasis added]

What a coincidence–it’s an election year and suddenly John McCain is concerned about a hurricane barreling down on the gulf.  Remember, last time around McCain and his fellow Republicans were nowhere near as charitable.

Exploiting a major tragedy for political purposes–is that putting country first?

Initial Thoughts on Sarah Palin (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

1. The McCain campaign is clearly desperate to harness some of the Obama mojo. Much of Palin’s speech sounded like watered-down Obama, particularly where she talked about being an outsider, about bipartisanship and about reform (and remember, this talk of ‘reform’ is coming from someone who was ringingly endorsed by now-indicted Senator Ted Stevens and is under a state investigation for abuse of power).

2. Looks like Gov. Palin has been given her very own deck of POW cards to play. The McCain campaign plays the POW card to defend against legitimate criticisms and to defend every bad policy McCain has endorsed. They’re cheapening both McCain’s service and the service of every other American POW and soldier who has suffered for their country.

3. I thought-I hoped–the McCain campaign had a smart strategic reason for picking Gov. Palin. I hoped it wasn’t just a naked pander for women’s votes, particularly those of Hillary Clinton’s former supporters.

And then Palin brought up Hillary Clinton, in a blatant attempt to win over Clinton’s former supporters. But Sen. Clinton and her supporters have almost no common ground with Palin on any of the issues, and they’re not shallow–they won’t simply vote for McCain because his running mate is a woman.

Clinton’s qualities that earned her such a strong following was that she was an experienced fighter for progressive causes, particularly for choice and equality for women. Palin is not experienced, she has no record of fighting for women’s rights (or any other progressive cause), and she’s strongly anti-choice. I was hoping McCain didn’t pick her just to pander, but after that speech there is no doubt in my mind this was a desperate move.

The choice in this election couldn’t be clearer–Barack Obama picked a Vice President to help him govern; John McCain picked a Vice President to help him win the election.

UPDATE: There is dissention in the ranks:

Though it was high in shock value, the Palin pick left bruised feelings among the short-list contenders who were not picked — and infuriated some Republican officials who privately said McCain had gone out on a limb, unnecessarily, without laying the groundwork for such an unknown. Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim
Pawlenty said they had both been rudely strung along and now “feel manipulated.”

“They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them,” one Republican involved in the process said.

[Emphasis added]

And like I wrote about below, the GOP is spinning hard, pushing Palin’s ‘executive experience’ — an empty buzzword used to describe a Governor, Mayor, CEO, etc. with no real notable accomplishments.

Atrios catches the flaw in their argument:

Republican on MSNBC is arguing that Palin has much more experience than Joe Biden because all he did was run committees in the Senate.

By this logic Palin has much more experience than John McCain.

Whoops

UPDATE II: Here’s Sarah Palin campaigning for indicted Senator Ted Stevens, who was under federal investigation at the time this video was filmed:

Inexperienced, corrupt, abusing power–Sarah Palin is a George Bush Republican, through and through.

UPDATE III: Another oops:

Flashback: Palin Said She Didn’t Like Hillary’s “Whining”

Today in Ohio, new McCain veep pick Sarah Palin made a big play for Hillary voters by referencing her now-famous “18 million cracks in the glass ceiling” quote.

But Newsweek reports that back in March, at a Women and Leadership event held by the mag, Palin’s view of Hillary wasn’t quite as charitable:

Once onstage, together with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Palin talked about what women expect from women leaders; how she took charge in Alaska during a political scandal that threatened to unseat the state’s entire Republican power structure, and her feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton. (She said she felt kind of bad she couldn’t support a woman, but she didn’t like Clinton’s “whining.”)

EPIC FAIL

Posted on by Democrashield

John McCain has announced that his Vice Presidential running mate will be Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Sarah who?

Sarah Palin, who has spent a scant year and a half as the Governor of Alaska.

Now, Barack Obama serves on the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees. He cosponsored the Secure America & Orderly Immigration Act and the Secure Fence Act. Obama introduced the Lugar–Obama bill, which will keep nuclear arms and other dangerous weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue states. In other words, he has spent his time in the Senate dealing with and leading on national security and foreign policy issues.

But that wasn’t enough experience for John McCain. Time and time again, McCain and his campaign have said that this election is about experience and that Barack Obama doesn’t have enough of it. They have tried to make foreign policy–and John McCain’s ‘experience’ on foreign policy–the central issue of this campaign.

Now, John McCain has destroyed all of those arguments, exposing them for the hollow partisan rhetoric they really are. You can’t say that experience–particularly foreign policy experience–is necessary to be President and then turn around and put someone a heartbeat away from the Presidency who has no experience whatsoever. It’s Republican hypocrisy at it’s most blatant.

Republicans will talk about ‘executive experience,’ a vague buzzword politicians use when they have no actual accomplishments or notable achievements to point to. And they might talk about Palin as a clean government crusader, though they’ll probably leave out the charges that Palin has been abusing her power as Governor:

Lawmakers will hire someone within a week to investigate whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The legislative council approved 100,000 dollars for the investigation that will find out whether Palin was angry at Monegan for not firing an Alaska State Trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin’s sister.

On Monday afternoon, the Joint Legislative Council, filled with Republicans and Democrats, voted 12 to 0 to formally call for an investigation against Governor Palin…

[Emphasis added]

That article was dated a month ago, BTW. This investigation will be ongoing during the course of the Presidential campaign.

Hypocrisy? Corruption? Abuse of power? It seems like McCain’s VP–just like McCain himself–is going to give us four more years of the same.

UPDATE: When she ran for Governor, Palin received a ringing endorsement from now-indicted Senator Ted Stevens (R):

The AK GOP is chock full of corruption–keep this ad in mind whenever anyone describes Palin as a ‘reformer’ or ‘squeaky clean.’

UPDATE II: Just one month ago, this occurred:

Palin dissed veep job

[…]

Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Co.” asked her about the possibility of becoming McCain’s ticket mate.

Palin replied: “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration.”

[Emphasis added]

Mitt Romney, Karl Rove’s Vice President

Posted on by Democrashield

Politico reports that Karl Rove recently called John McCain, urging him not to pick Joe Lieberman as his Vice Presidential running mate and pushing him to pick Mitt Romney instead.  From the article:

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact John McCain to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration

[…]

[Rove’s] decision to wade into the vice presidential selection process could provide Democrats fresh ammunition to tie McCain to the polarizing Bush.

It is also chafing some Lieberman allies and others wary of the selection of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

“Rove is pushing Romney so aggressively some folks are beginning to wonder what’s going on,” grumbled one veteran Republican strategist.

From his perch on Fox, Rove has touted McCain’s fierce primary rival as strong vice presidential material.

Karl Rove was the architect of Bush’s presidency.  The fact that Rove has become an adviser to McCain proves just how much John McCain is in the pocket of Bush’s people, which will be proven even more if McCain picks Romney.

Mitt Romney is Karl Rove’s hand-selected Vice Presidential candidate, period. McCain’s selection of Romney would prove to us that, if McCain wins, the same people who are running Washington now will run it for the next four years; the only thing that’ll change will be the name on the White House stationary.

McCain/Romney ’08–four more years of the same.

Stupid Republican Tricks (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

The right-wing blogs are all a-twitter over the stage being built at Denver’s Invesco Field for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday night.

Here’s a shot of the partially-constructed stage:

[Pic from Think Progress]

Conservatives are up in arms because it supposedly resembles a ‘Greek temple,’ which reinforces their nonsense perception of Obama as leading some kind of cult of personality.

Looking at it, though, those pillars look just like the ones that adorn the White House. You know, that place where the President lives? That building that serves as a symbol of the office both Barack Obama and John McCain are running for?

So, I wonder, where are the breathless blog posts talking about how John McCain wants to rule the country from a giant mansion built to look like an ancient Greek temple?

I won’t hold my breath.

UPDATE: Josh Marshall thinks it looks like the Lincoln Memorial, which also makes sense–Lincoln and Obama are both Illinoisans, and Obama looks to Lincoln for inspiration on how to unite a deeply-divided country.

Obama’s speech will also occur on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I have a dream’ speech, which was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and spoke of fulfilling Lincoln’s vision of unity and equality.

UPDATE II: Think Progress for the win:

Conservatives are mocking the stage as a “temple of Obama.” Ed Morrissey writes, “That this scales heights of presumptuousness can hardly be refuted.” One anonymous McCain adviser quipped, “Is this from the Onion?” No, but it may be inspired by the stage at the 2008 Virginia Republican Convention:

vagop.gif

[Emphasis added]

So, is the Virginia Republican Party some kind of cult of personality, too? Or are you guys going to admit this is just a stupid line of attack?

UPDATE III: Politico’s Ben Smith one-ups Think Progress:

Barack Obama’s appearance in Denver won’t be the first convention speech framed by Greek columns.

Republicans who are mocking Obama’s appearance haven’t mentioned it, but George W. Bush accepted his own nomination in 2004 on a set with a similar neoclassical theme, with columns rising on either side of him, as the pictures above and below show.

Indeed, the Bush set and the Obama sets currently look strikingly similar, with the podium set well in front of the columns, and connected by a path.

[…]

[Emphasis Added]

I think this is quickly rising to the level of one of the stupidest, most baseless attacks in modern campaign history.  Debating the placement on columns on a convention stage? Aren’t there bigger issues out there to worry about, guys? Come on.

The POW Card (Again) (Again)

Posted on by Democrashield

John McMansions pulls out the POW card on the set of Leno:

Later, [Jay Leno] asked McCain: “For $1 million, how many houses do you have?”

At that, McCain got serious, saying he had been imprisoned for five-and-a-half years during the Vietnam war, and that “I didn’t have a house. I didn’t have a kitchen table. I didn’t have a table.”

Careful, Senator–you’re veering dangerously close to Rudy Giuliani territory.  How long until every sentence out of your mouth is a noun, a verb and POW?  Overall, that POW card is wearing pretty thin…