Who said it?

“I’m the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he’s got the experience based on many many years in the Senate and voters are gonna have a choice there of what it is that they want in these next four years.”-???, 9/30/08

It was probably this guy, eh?



Well, no. In fact, it was our very own Sarah Palin today speaking with a reporter. Sounds awfully similar to the theme we've been hearing over and over again for months, eh? Well I'd argue the similarity is incredibly intentional.

It says, "Ok media/Dems...you want to define me as someone lacking the experience and depth to be President? Fine. Do you happen to notice what drives my candidacy...my experience, my character, my judgement...is equal, if not superior to what Obama claims as his own?"

In other words, by identifying herself on equal ground with Obama, it provokes the undecided voter to question why Obama hasn't been called out himself.

Get off your knees Steve Schmidt, you're blowing the game...

"Without McCain they would have ran over me like a freight train" -John Boehner, 9/29/08

As John McCain would say.....My friends, WHERE THE HELL WAS THIS KINDA TALK LAST WEEK!?!?!?

The fact is, McCain's campaign completely wasted the brilliant idea of 'suspending the campaign'. As I've said before, the McCain camp had to "sell this perfectly". They pretty much did the opposite. Apparently when they suspended the campaign that included every single possible surrogate who could go on TV and explain McCain's motivations.

When Bill Clinton is the GOP candidate's best supporter, something is entirely wrong.

Where was our Party's 'best spokesman on the economy', Mitt Romney? Where was our Congressional leadership? Where were the Governors? Where were the GOP elected officials or high ranking Party representatives that could tell the American people WHY the campaign needed to be suspended, HOW McCain was helping in negotiations and WHY McCain decided to do the debate?

The fact is, the McCain campaign's communications team was absolutely pummelled. At the end of the day it is the responsibility of the campaign to coordinate their surrogates to hit the airwaves to discuss the 'issue of the day'. When we needed them most, they blew it.

Mocky mock mockity mock.

On June 3rd, after securing the Democratic nomination, Sen. Obama stated:

"...what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon—that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first."

Well, maybe we should take a gander at what fear, innuendo and division really looks like...

From a simple 'Obama mocks McCain' google search:

Obama mocks McCain's call to fire SEC chairman - www.msnbc.msn.com/
Obama mocks McCain in Nevada stops - Las Vegas Sun
Obama mocks McCain promise to bring change - USATODAY.com
The Associated Press: Obama mocks McCain as computer illiterate
Obama mocks McCain as computer illiterate in ad - Yahoo!
Obama mocks McCain for 'old-boys': The Swamp
Obama mocks McCain as computer illiterate in NEW YORK (AP)
OBAMA MOCKS MCCAIN'S PROMISE TO BRING CHANGE - New York Post
Political Radar: Obama Mocks McCain’s Definition of 'Rich' - blogs.abcnews.com
ABC News: Obama Mocks McCain With Label That Had Been Used Against Him
Obama mocks McCain-Palin as 'change' - First Read - msnbc.com
The Associated Press: Obama mocks McCain promise to bring change

For someone who based his entire campaign on 'the kind of change we are looking for', does this really look like it?

THIS is why I love politics so damn much!!!!111!!ELEVENTY!!!

CNN.com: Breaking News >> John McCain suspends campaigning to work on economy, requests postponing Friday debate; asks Obama do the same.

Foxnews.com: Breaking News >> McCain Says He'll Suspend Campaign to Deal With Financial Crisis; Wants Debate Postponed

Drudgereport.com: MCCAIN SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN TO FOCUS ON ECONOMY; WANTS DEBATE DELAY

Brilliant. Frickin'. Move.

Two ways Obama can respond:
1) Say no. This shows indepedents and undecideds that Obama will choose politics over America's best interest in the midst of a national emergency.
2) Say yes. This shows independents and undecideds that Obama is McCain's bitch. Keep playing follow the leader, Barack.

My guess? He says no. He'll say this action shows McCain is flailing and desperate. This kind of demogoguing is what worked for him when this crisis first broke last week. Let's see if it keeps working.

I doubt it.

Update: In all seriousness, it is a bit of a risk on McCain's part...

1) It's not like the media has been kind to him recently. They will focus on Obama's angle and look at this as cynically as we are. It will be up to the McCain campaign to sell this perfectly.

2) He runs the risk of the Democrats roadblocking it. If that happens he looks like a failure.

3) He's taking down all his ads. That means Obama's go unanswered to the independents who watch Wheel of Fortune more than they do the news.

Update: In all actuality, it's a good thing McCain is going to be working on the plan in some capacity. He always has been one to call out special interests and knock out earmarks whenever possible. This bailout is going to have those special interests all over it. Glad to see the toughest anti-pork guy in there to carve them out.

In fact, with all eyes on him the pressure for him to make a difference will be even greater. I imagine McCain's finance Legislative Assistant, Legislative Director, Chief of Staff and every other staffer worth his spit will be working some serious overtime the next few days. I hope no one scheduled any vacation.

If only they had a place to register...

Homeless people are like Obama.

Fight! Fight!

It's 12:52pm on Tuesday.

Look at Drudge right now.

You may notice sometimes that Drudge has a surprisingly high influence on what is discussed in the mainstream media. Many times you'll see stories in his headlines that become the story of the night on Fox or elsewhere.

And what are the two headlines this afternoon?


So what will we see tonight or tomorrow? Stories on possible friction between the Democratic running mates. They may not be the story of the night, but they may be enough to get the Obama campaign off message.

"We fucked up. Sorry."

This mortgage mess is FAR from easy to understand, so here is something obnoxiously simple(and sorta funny) that can help you figure out why we are where we are.

"That's what I said."

I can see what people mean when they describe a man, lo, a gift from up on high, with rhetorical skills equal to no other.

Something wicked this way comes...

As I listen to the POTUS Channel on XM Radio to and from work, I've become more and more frustrated with Obama's speeches as they are played start to finish. Nowhere but in conservative blogs do I hear of Obama's new kind of politics caricature being called out.

My friends, Obama is as big a fraud as we've seen in national American politics. His lies and distortions relative to his call for substantive debate could not be more polar opposite of eachother. Fortunately, the New Hampshire Union Leader made this point much more eloquently than I ever could:

"In the past few weeks, Obama has thrown so many false accusations against John McCain that just keeping track of them has become difficult. And these aren't innocent errors. They are deliberate distortions of the sort Obama has always said he reviles.

...

Obama's greatest strength as a candidate, aside from his oratorical skill, has long been his apparent sincerity and decency. Voters attracted to him think of him as that rarest of things: an honest politician. He has claimed himself that he would never engage in the sort of deceptive politicking that he says has tainted Washington for so long.

Yet here he is violating his own professed standards. This is not the Barack Obama so many voters in New Hampshire and elsewhere thought they knew. But it is the real Barack Obama. For despite his rhetoric, he is in fact campaigning so dishonestly that even The Washington Post and The New York Times have called him on it. Which means that he is in practice no different from those regular politicians against whom his entire campaign has been built."

Update: Nice to see the Washington Post getting in on the action.

Defining Palin

She's considered dumb. A hardcore conservative. Inexperienced.

While no one would have thought Republicans could ride the wave of Palin popularity into Nov4, it does seem like we've hit one hell of a beachhead. What's to blame?

1) Democrats/Axelrod have mounted one helluva 'grassroots' campaign to defraud the GOP VP nominee.
2) Shitty mortgages made the economy go plop.
3) The McCain campaign was too scared/too dumb to let Palin out of her cage.

Plenty of time has been spent on other blogs and in the MSM on the first two...so my frustration will be focused on #3. We'll run with the assumption that, other than Oprah, McCain could have booked Sarah Palin on any major media medium they so choosed. She was the story of the campaign for two weeks after her selection and the national media was there for the taking. Instead, what have we seen? One interview with ABC news, one with an 'ally', Fox News...and a number of speeches on the campaign trail. The McCain campaign may say they aren't hiding her from anything, but I would strongly disagree. Considering her celebrity, what we've seen has been only the bare minimum of what I expected and hoped to see after the balloons came down in Minneapolis.

Instead, the opposition has had an opportunity to define her personality before Sarah had a chance to do it herself.

There are two possible reasons we've seen so little of Palin. One, the McCain campaign is stupid. Two, she just wasn't ready to take on the tough questions by seasoned interviewers. Since I don't think the McCain camp is dumb, let's run with option two. There has been some criticism that Palin didn't handle the Charlie Gibson as well as many in the GOP had hoped. Some of that may be valid, some may be unfair based on Gibson's questioning...but none of that matters. Clearly, Palin's first interview had to be a 'legit' interview with a respected member of the mainstream media. But a large part of Palin's attractiveness, other than her legs, is her charisma and newfound cult of personality that follows her everywhere she goes.

So, with that being said, a spot on Leno's couch would have done her a world of good. The questions would have been much more manageable and it would have given her an opportunity to let her hair down and show her affable personality. Would some in the MSM have judged her for doing a show lacking substance? Sure. But that interview could have easily been followed up with the Hannity interview. And then the McCain camp books her on The View(a show McCain and Obama have been seen on themselves) before doing an interview with Katie Couric.

By this point Palin would have been able to define herself and been able to tell her story from her point of view, rather than that of People magazine.

Unfortunately, many a campaign is lost based on missed opportunities. Let's hope this isn't one.

Obama just lost the Buckeye state....

From ABC news:

"Before boarding his flight from Wilmington, Del., to Washington, DC, the loquacious Blue Hen [Joe Biden] displayed some Fightin' Blue Hen alumni bravado in an impromptu airport meeting with the University of Delaware football team.

'I was out in Ohio,' he said, clutching a football. 'I told the folks in Ohio that we'd kick Ohio State's ass!'

The Buckeyes might be coming off a 35-3 drubbing at the hands of top-ranked Southern Cal, but the Blue Hen ballers aren't exactly world-beaters themselves. Delaware is ranked sixth in the Division I-AA coaches poll, but they lost earlier this month to Maryland."

This doesn't make James Laurinaitis happy.

Jimmy Carter is a bad mutha...

(click to enlarge)

You can be a Palin

Sorry I've been gone a couple days. I was celebrating my birthday and getting myself into assorted trouble. But I couldn't think of a better reason to return than to link you to one of the most brilliant devices provided to the internet in recent months.

Ever wonder, What would your name be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Well now you can find out!

I'm Fog Piles Palin. Dreamy.

I don't think that word means what you think it means...

Today, John McCain reiterated his claim that the "fundamentals of this economy are strong."

That's quite a statement considering the credit crisis we're currently in the and the downfall of our financial investment giants, isn't it? Isn't he aware of the economic emergency this country is facing?

Obama's campaign responds:

"'Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans. Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis,' said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton."

The betting line is now open on how long before we see an Obama ad knocking McCain on this very issue. I'm betting this ad will not include the following text from McCain's speech this morning:

“Today we are seeing tremendous upheaval on Wall Street. The American economy is in crisis. Unemployment is on the rise and our financial markets are in turmoil. People are concerned about our economic future. But let me say something: this economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. Our workers are the most innovative, the hardest working, the best skilled, most productive, most competitive in the world. My opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals of America are strong. No one can match an American worker. Our workers sell more goods to more markets than any other on earth. Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they remain the strength of our economy today."

Ah, THOOOOSSSEEE fundamentals. OHHHH!!! Ok, I was confused.

The fundamentals McCain is referring to are the power and output of the American worker and the blue collar economy. But the fact of the matter is that he needs to find a better way to phrase his argument. Not because he's wrong in any way, but because it simply is such an easy phrase for the opposition to attack. The mainstream media revolves around soundbites, not nuances.

Now, based on the phrase 'my opponents may disagree', it is possible that McCain is simply trying to draw Obama into a larger debate on the power of the American workforce, but at the end of the day that seems like quite a gamble considering the easy fodder McCain provided.

Ya know, at least I was in Southern California for four days...

Stayed with great friends. Enjoyed the best hamburger of my life. Drank lots of beer.

Good times were had by all....except for a three hour stretch on Saturday night.

Anyways, back to blogging...

DJ out...

Off to LA. Back on Monday.

Go Bucks. Beat the Trojans.

Sarah Palin responds to Obama's 'pig' comment...

Dorky Moose and the Lizards of Satan

Hi. I'm Johnny Utah. I'm new here. But more about me later. For now, I just want you to know why I'm not a Democrat. It has something to do with the fact that I don't think I'm dumb enough to let myself be one...

Go ahead and open this link to Snopes.com.

Ok. Now read that email that Snopes is covering. Seriously, read it.

Right, I know you're lazy, so let me paraphrase some of that ridiculious crap.

On Creationism, Palin's quote reads, "...There is nothing natural about a dorky moose!...God has a well known sense of humor, I mean, he made the platypus too!"

On ANWR, Palin's quote reads, "...God made dinosaurs 4000 years ago as...lizards of satan, really, so when they died and became petroleum products we...could use them in our pickup trucks, snow machines and fishing boats."

I'm not even going to paraphrase the quote on Jesus, Jews and the Israeli Air Force. I just can't do it. My fingers won't let me type such idiocy.

So, what we can learn from this kind of stupidity is:

(jefffoxworthyvoiceon) Now, if you read that and thought, for even a second, that any of those quotes could have been uttered by a candidate for ANY public office anywhere, youuuuu might be a Democrat. (jefffoxworthyvoiceoff, thank God)

Lizards of Satan? Really? This is what you have been reduced to believing?

Dorky Moose? This is just silly.

However, I want to go on record as laying claim to the band name:

Dorky Moose and the Lizards of Satan.

Coming to a Union Hall near you.

I'm Johnny Utah and you can't make this stuff up.

Update (DJ Tablesauce): Apparently Matt Damon is one of those idiots that Johnny Utah was calling out above. Wow. The stupidity knows no bounds.

Getting a little dusty in here...

...I may need a kleenex..

I'm going to take a little timeout from the cynical analysis of politics that usually graces this blog and provide our readers with a story that really made an impression on me. This comes from today's Rush Limbaugh show and you can't help but be touched by this story:

RUSH: Kurt in Pittsburgh, hello, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network, and how about the Steelers defense?

CALLER: How about those Steelers, huh?

RUSH: How about that?

CALLER: Hey, listen, Rush, longtime listener, first-time caller, one of those Bible, family, gun clingers from western Pennsylvania.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: And I wanted to share a story with you. A week ago last Saturday we went to the Palin-McCain rally in Washington, Pennsylvania, was the day after he announced her, and we have a five-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, and we made a sign that said: "We Love Kids with Down Syndrome." So when they pulled in in their bus the sign did catch their, McCain and Palin and the rest of their family, it caught their eye, we could tell, they gave us a thumbs-up from the bus, so we were all excited just by that --

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you the thumbs up, McCain and Palin?

CALLER: McCain, Palin, Cindy McCain, we could see them from the bus. We were in a position where we had eye contact with them --

RUSH: Oh, cool!

CALLER: My wife was holding our daughter.

RUSH: Very, very, very cool.

CALLER: It was really cool, Rush. I was like, "Wow, that's awesome," because I love Governor Palin and so I thought that's really neat. So then we moved around as the bus was getting ready to pull out, we kind of positioned ourselves so we could just wave them on and a Secret Service agent came up to us and said, "Hey, can you come with us?" I was like, "Do we have a choice?"

RUSH: (laughing) You shouldn't have worried. It's not the Clinton administration.

CALLER: Right. So we accompanied them up the hill, we went right to the bus, where it was, and Governor Palin, Senator McCain, Cindy, Todd Palin, they're all standing there. We're in this inner circle with just us and them, and the Secret Service agent, and they came right up to us and thanked us for coming out, said they loved our sign, and Governor Palin immediately said, "May I hold your daughter?" and our daughter Chloe, who's five, went right to her, and I have some pictures I'd love to send you maybe when I'm done here, but Governor Palin was hugging Chloe, and then her little daughter brought their baby Trig who has Down syndrome from the bus, he was napping, and Chloe went right over and kissed him on the cheek, and my son Nolan who's nine, he thanked her.

RUSH: This is amazing.

CALLER: I will send you all the stuff, Senator McCain was talking to my son, and we thanked him for his service, and he asked my son if he wanted to see the bus, and we were hanging out and it was very surreal. I felt like we could have had a pizza and a beer with them, they were so warm.

RUSH: You know what? I want to put you on hold. I want Snerdley to give you our super-secret, known-only-to-three-people here, e-mail address.

CALLER: I will send you everything, Rush.

RUSH: And then could you send us these pictures? Would you mind if we put them on the website?

CALLER: I would be honored, and my main thing is they are warm, kind, genuine people, and they represent the best of this country.

RUSH: That's right. And when you send these pictures, make sure you identify them. I mean, we'll know Palin and McCain, of course. Identify yourselves.

CALLER: I will, I will identify everybody in the picture, Rush, and God bless you for being a beacon of hope and truth in this country.

RUSH: Oh, no, no. It's nothing, it's nothing. You're doing the Lord's work.

CALLER: Well, we're very blessed and I want people to know what a blessing it is to have a child with Down syndrome. These kids, they're angels.

RUSH: That's the thing. There's always good to be found in everything that happens. It may be a while before it reveals itself.

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Right, and when she hugged my daughter I said, here's the difference, this candidate embraces life and all its limitless possibilities.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: That's what she is.

RUSH: Terrific, okay, I gotta run here, but I'm going to put you on hold.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush.

RUSH: Thank you, Kurt. I really appreciate it.
END TRANSCRIPT

The Joe Biden we know and love

Biden: Palin Would Be "Backward Step for Women".

My analysis: Sen. Biden, you sir, are an idiot.

Taking the fight to the chick in glasses

Obama blew his load today taking the attack to Sarah Palin. I agree with Jim Geraghty over on NRO when he says a Presidential campaign can only push one message at a time. The news cycle, no matter how fast these days, is finite. So let's break it down. What was the attack, the GOP response and what SHOULD be the response:

The Obama Attack
From Mark Halperin's blog:

Sarah Palin has been disingenuous in regards to her support of the Bridge to Nowhere.

From what I understand, this argument has some merit, but not much. It is true that while Palin was Governor, she welcomed the federal earmarks to construct the bridge. Let's ignore the fact that you would be hard pressed to see a Governor refuse 'free money' from the federal government. Many would say she should have rejected it from the beginning on principle, but that just isn't realistic from a political perspective. Once Congress buckled under public pressure and withdrew most funds, Palin then refused to pursue any further effort to fund the bridge using state means or further federal lobbying, despite political pressure from within Alaska. In other words, Sarah Palin killed the project.

The McCain Response
From NBC: “Gov. Palin learned that earmarks are bad and she did say, we don’t need our Bridge to Nowhere.”

Ok, while this is factually correct it lacks substance and any 'oomph'. The average voter has the attention span of a 4 week old puppy, and they need some kind of 'gotcha' in any kind of retort for it to take hold.

What SHOULD Be the Response
This website dug up the Alaska Democrats' own web page that describes how Palin killed the bill. McCain's campaign should shoot back a simple message: Palin's own Democrat opponents admitted that Sarah Palin was solely responsible for killing the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska. or Your own Party disagrees with you, Sen. Obama.

Provide the documentation as provided above and you have yourself a concise and effective message that forces the Obama camp to acknowledge and disagree with their own Party or ignore the response completely. In turn, that would force the media to stop reporting on a story that isn't going anywhere. The media feeds off the back and forth between the campaigns, so if Obama doesn't respond to the McCain retort then the story fades.

And if they do respond? Well by that time we've already taken things to such a level of 'wonkiness' that the public and media will turn itself off, thereby muting the attack quickly and effectively.

Just a thought.

Cut down the next tree you see.

Because honestly, what's funnier than crying hippies?


http://view.break.com/565864 - Watch more free videos

OMGZ!!! TOTAL PWNAGE OF PALIN!!!11!!!ELEVENTY!!!!!!

From Jake Tapper's blog on ABC:

In their first post-convention appearance, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gushed about his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with a story that doesn't quite square with reality.

"You know what I enjoyed the most?" McCain said in Cederburg, Wisconsin, according to ABC News' Bret Hovell. "She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on e-Bay. And made a profit!"

What a delightful story.

But it's not true.

She didn't sell the jet on eBay.

And she didn't make a profit.

...

“The eBay thing didn’t work out very well,” Dan Spencer, director of administrative services for the Department of Public Safety, told the Anchorage Daily News last year.

It was "sold in August 2007 for $2.1 million to a Valdez, Alaska, entrepreneur — about $300,000 less than a broker’s asking price, according to press accounts."

Seriously, Jake? This is the kinda 'gotcha' high school journalism crap you've been reduced to? Listen, I know she's a big story these days and every word she says is going to be scrutinized. But to think THIS is a story in any way shape or form just screams desperation.

Fortunately, it's this kinda crap that scored Sarah 40 million viewers on Wednesday night.

So please, keep it up, Jake.

QUIT CLAPPING! LET ME TALK!!!

I've read a lot of talk wondering why the hell McCain kept clamoring through the last 60 seconds of his speech last night. As you recall, for the first time all night he ignored applause and kept powering through his words.

"I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your President. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.

Fight for what's right for our country.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history."

Yep. It was a little hard to hear each word and phrase with the throngs of poorly dressed and relatively unattractive conservatives screaming their approval. So why not break for applause?

Easy. It's going to be a commercial.

If McCain had paused for the applause to die down it would have lessened the enthusiasm and drained the energy. It also would make it pretty damn hard to edit it all down to a 60 second ad.

Add some music, turn up the levels on his mic a bit and you'll be seeing a well crafted commercial in no time.

True.

Liveblogging the McCain speech.

10:10 - Hi Sarah Palin. I like you. :waves:

10:12 - Where's your flag pin, Senator? Obama had one!

10:13 - Wow, there are some downright ugly Republicans. The hotness quotient has clearly gone down since the conventions I attended.

10:14 - Green background? Who threw up?

10:15 - Props to the President? Good. Got that out of the way.

10:15 - Uh oh. Here comes impatient McCain.

10:17 - Cindy is sooooo giving the Senator 'do me eyes'.

10:18 - McCain is thanking his Mom. So why are they showing Barbara Bush?

10:18 and a half - Ha.

10:19 - The background is changing colors. This has totally gotta be freaking out the Moveon psychopaths.

10:20 - "To the Obama supporters" Ok, who is the dumbass that started to boo?

10:21 - AH! BLUE! On a sidenote, what the hell is wrong with American flags as a backdrop? Do it the Mike Deaver way. Toss up a bunch of flags right behind his head and do it right.

10:22 - Wow. Way to handle the protestors, John.

10:23 - Hi Sarah. :wink:

10:25 - John, if you need help introducing the Governor to DC I'm happy to help.

10:26 - "Change is coming." Nice.

10:27 - They aren't really utilizing the new 'town hall' staging.

10:28 - "You will know their names." Awesome.

10:29 - :hangs head: Yeah, I admit it...I was one of those that thought he was finished a year ago when he was outta cash. Helluva comeback, John. Thanks for making us proud.

10:30 - Call out Obama on the surge strategy. Please please please please please.

10:31 - Michigan? Check. Pennsylvania? Check. Where is the Ohio mention?

10:32 - Great job personalizing the war on terror.

10:33 - Calling out Republicans, eh? I hope Tom DeLay isn't there.

10:35 - "A culture of life" and "judges that don't legislate from the bench". What a great big kiss for the base that was.

10:38 - Zzzzzzzzzzz.

10:39 - More substance, Johnny. We've been getting GOP philosophy the whole week.

10:40 - Hitting on the economy a bit. Atta boy.

10:41 - School choice!?!? Nice! Reward good teachers and get rid of the bad ones. Love it.

10:44 - No one will be able to say the speech was light on substance.

10:46 - Calling out Russia. Now THAT is a leader.

10:48 - "I know how the military....world works". Great implied contrast to Obama.

10:49 - "I hate war." Oomph.

10:52 - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

10:55 - He seems like a different man talking about his time as a POW. What a stark difference between this speech and Obama's. So much more real.

10:57 - Wow. Incredibly touching point regarding standing back up for his country after being broken by his captors.

10:59 - Harsh comparison to Obama re: being "anointed". Has there been a more stark difference between two candidates for President in modern political history?

11:00 - Fight! Stand up! He's pounding through this part of the speech despite the applause. Obviously he was prepped so the campaign can use this for a commercial. Great way to finish the speech. Perfect. That will be played over and over.

11:01 - BALLOONS! WHERE ARE THE DAMN BALLOONS!?!??!

11:04 - There's the flag I was looking for.

11:05 - The story of this speech will be the last 60 seconds. Obama never had a moment like that during his speech at the Temple in Denver.

11:05 - Ah. There are the balloons. :-)

11:06 - BARRACUDA!!! Nice. Every GOP convention needs a good 'Heart' song.

11:08 - They look like rockstars together. Quite a difference from Bush/Cheney, eh?

11:09 - Wonder if someone has stolen the 'Ohio' sign yet? I'm a frickin' ninja with that stuff.

11:10 - Time to watch CNN. Gotta see what the opposition says. Tablesauce out.

Pretend you're Sarah Palin

http://www.bigmoneyarcade.com/index.php?action=playgame&gameid=75

Wish I was there...

This year marks the first Republican convention that I haven’t attended since 1992. Back in 1996 I was working with the Ohio delegation on the floor of the convention in San Diego (you’re welcome for the ‘Ohio’ sign, Doug…you better still have it!). In 2000 I joined some more fellow Ohio political hacks in handling advance and logistics on a number of events. And in 2004 I was able to sit back and enjoy all the parties, drinking and bad behavior that marked the NYC convention.

And now I’m here in DC instead of up at the most captivating of all the past four conventions. I must admit, I wasn’t exactly intrigued at the prospect of heading up to St. Paul, but who knew things would end up being the way they are? Relative to the past three conventions this one is downright crazy.

So to all my friends enjoying those Minnesota nights and the historical evening they are about to witness, I give you my warmest regards and share with you my utter and complete jealousy. Scream your heads off and have some fun.

And make sure you hit up one of the famous Boehner parties for me. Sigh.

All Palin, All the time

Peggy Noonan nails the roots behind the Sarah Palin media onslaught in her most recent column.

Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist; because she wears makeup and heels and eats mooseburgers and is Alaska Tough, as Time magazine put it; because she is conservative, and pro-2nd Amendment and pro-life; and because conservatives can smell this sort of thing — who is really one of them and who is not — and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to a future Obama candidacy.

She could become a transformative political presence.

So they are going to have to kill her, and kill her quick.

And it’s going to be brutal. It’s already getting there…

I think the left will go hard on this: Fringe. Radical. What goes on in her church? Isn’t she extreme? Does she really think God wants a pipeline? What does Sarah Barracuda really mean? They’re going to try and make her strange, outré, oddball. And not in a good way.

In all this, and in its involvement in this week’s ritual humiliation of a 17-year-old girl, the mainstream press may seriously overplay its hand, and court a backlash that impacts the election."

So the challenge is on to be the first to define her as a VP candidate. Democrats/Mainstream Media have already had a headstart. Reportedly McCain's campaign is soon releasing a Palin-centric ad contrasting her experience with Obama's. They are on the right track, but need to go on an all-out offensive.

One of the difficulties the McCain campaign has faced in fighting back this offensive is their decision to keep Palin out of sight the past few days. I'm sure this was not an easy decision to make and one made out of necesity. They needed to work her hard in order to make sure she would be ready post-Convention.

But tonight will be the true Sarah Palin coming out party. Palin's ability to connect with the average voter is one of her best assets and needs to be exploited from now until Nov4 with fierce abandon. Due to the Palin obsession, the McCain camp will be able to book her anywhere they want....Leno, Letterman, the View, you name it.

McCain's campaign understands the best weapon to fight off the Palin offensive is Palin herself....so get ready to see a lot of her.

I'm sure you won't mind.

Interview of the night...

Obviously great jobs all around tonight. Fred and Joe were the perfect one-two punch.

Then we had solid interviews like this right after the evening's events were over...

It says so much.

From the Daily Kos:

"Are you telling me that you would not use character-destroying lies to ensure a war against Iran does not occur? . . . What choice do we have? When faced with monsters, we have to be monstrous ourselves."

What'd I miss?

So my Vegas trip was a success so long as you ignore how much I lost at the poker table. But clearly I missed out on the ruckus behind the Palin selection.

First things first, I'm STILL thrilled with the pick and can't wait to see the speech Gov. Palin plans to give tomorrow night. It's going to be a doozy.

Since by now you're all aware of what has been transpiring there is no need to go over the laundry list of attacks or rebut them. People with more time on their hands than me are doing their best to refute the ridiculous charges at every turn.

What I wanted to discuss was the aspect of the story that I feel is causing the most damage to the McCain/Palin ticket right now, and that is the 'vetting' story. Multiple media outlets are, according to them, investigating just what went wrong with the vetting of Sarah Palin. This single story is hurting the McCain campaign in three ways: 1) Its very existence implies there is a problem with her selection and ability to serve as Vice President; 2) it infers disorganization and mismanagement at the highest levels of the McCain campaign and calls into question McCain's judgement; and 3) it is distracting from the ultimate goal...the campaign staying on message.

Unfortunately, the campaign is forced to play catchup to stop this story from growing any larger legs than it already has. McCain's staff is now doing a good job of providing the press with a full understanding of their vetting process and doing their best to use the opportunity to draw comparisons to Obama's experience.

But what is going to help stop this story more than anything else is the Governor's speech tomorrow night. She will need to take this opportunity in the spotlight to showcase her ability, her judgement, her strength, her integrity and most importantly, her ability to weather the storm. Nothing defines a leader better than how they weather a crisis and Wednesday night will provide Sarah Palin that opportunity.

And she's gonna kick ass.