GOP scales back tomorrow’s convention plans.
GOP scales back tomorrow’s convention plans.
Today, GOP officials “announced they would hold only essential party business required under its rules on Monday” at their convention in Minnesota. Party officials “have decided that Monday’s session will open at 3 p.m. Central time and probably end at 5 to 5:30 p.m. and will be limited to official business like adopting the platform and electing convention officers.” The New York Times reports on what the media will be doing:
The major television networks are pulling some of their top talent out of Minneapolis, promising to diminish, if not upend, coverage of the convention. Katie Couric will head to the Gulf Coast to open the “CBS Evening News” from there Monday night, instead of from the convention hall as planned. Charles Gibson of ABC News and Brian Williams of NBC News are expected to do the same.
“Nightline” on ABC will also broadcast from the storm area, as will CBS News, a sign that all of the major news programs will be focused on the hurricane zone rather than the convention floor adorned with Mr. McCain’s “country first message.” That will deprive him of the crucial perk of wide television coverage of his message that usually comes with a political convention.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) has also decided not to attend, although it is unrelated to the hurricane; he needs “to deal with a continuing stalemate in Sacramento over the state budget.”
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Graham criticizes Obama for missing too many Senate votes.
Graham criticizes Obama for missing too many Senate votes.
Today on ABC This Week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for being absent for so many Senate roll call votes, saying that “Sen. Obama’s been gone more than he’s been here.” Watch it:
Of course, Graham failed to mention that his candidate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) remains the most absent member of the Senate, beating even Obama. McCain has missed 63.8 percent of the votes in the 110th Congress; Obama has missed 45.5 percent. Some of the crucial votes that McCain has missed have been on energy and the GI Bill, which Obama has been present for.
Bush says he ‘doesn’t consider Bolton credible,’ laments spending ‘political capital’ on him.
Bush says he ‘doesn’t consider Bolton credible,’ laments spending ‘political capital’ on him.
The New York Times reports that President Bush recently held an off-the-record meeting with conservative writers. During the meeting, Council on Foreign Relations fellow Max Boot asked Bush why he had diverted from the priorities of his first term. “That’s ridiculous,” Bush said. Boot then read from a Wall Street Journal op-ed by war hawk John Bolton in which Bolton said Bush’s presidency is “in total intellectual collapse.” Bush then lashed out at Bolton:
Bush grew more agitated at the mention of his own former senior diplomat. “Let me just say from the outset that I don’t consider Bolton credible,” the president said bitterly. Bush had brought Bolton into the top ranks of his administration, fought for Senate confirmation and, when lawmakers balked, defied critics to give the hawkish aide a recess appointment. “I spent political capital for him,” Bush said, and look what he got in return.
Matthew Yglesias notes, “Of course Bush is right, Bolton isn’t a credible thinker on national security issues. But Bolton is also right — the inherent unworkability of the Bush doctrine has persuaded Bush to substantially abandon it in the waning days of his administration.”
McCain and Graham Repeat False Claim That Palin Opposed The ‘Bridge To Nowhere’
McCain and Graham Repeat False Claim That Palin Opposed The ‘Bridge To Nowhere’
This morning on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) cited Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) 2007 cancellation of the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere” as one reason he selected her as his running mate. McCain repeated the increasingly common right-wing myth that Palin opposed the $400 million dollar project. Host Chris Wallace did not challenge McCain’s characterization.
On ABC’s This Week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) similarly argued that Palin is a reformer because she supposedly said, “I’m not going to build a Bridge to Nowhere.” This Week host George Stephanopoulos pointed out that Graham’s claim is false:
GRAHAM: To go in her state and say ‘I’m not going to build a bridge to nowhere’ — a $400 – $400 million appropriation that was passed by brute force in the Congress by two senior members of the congressional delegation, very powerful figures in Washington. And for her to say, ‘We’re not going to do this because its not necessary and its wasteful,’ to take on your own Republican party –
STEPHANOPOULOS: But Senator, she turned against that, only she campaigned for it in her 2006 race, and turned against it in 2007 only after it became a national joke.
Watch a compilation:
When she first introduced herself as McCain’s running mate, Palin also lied about her support for the project. But as Stephanopoulos notes,the claim made by McCain and Graham that Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere is patently false.
In reality, Palin strongly supported the bridge project. During her 2006 run for governor, the Anchorage Daily News interviewed Palin. At the time, federal funding for the bridge had been stripped by Congress. The paper asked if she was in favor of continuing state funding for the project. “Yes,” she responded, noting specifically her desire to renew congressional support:
Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now — while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.
When Palin finally canceled the project in 2007, she expressed regret that Congress had not been more forthcoming with federal funding. Moreover, as recently as March 2008, her administration was publicly defending its frequent requests for the same kind of earmark spending that McCain himself often rails against.
Palin: Iraq is a war for oil.
Palin: Iraq is a war for oil.
In a recent BusinessWeek interview, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) admitted that she believes the Iraq war was fought because of oil:
We are a nation at war and in many [ways] the reasons for war are fights over energy sources, which is nonsensical when you consider that domestically we have the supplies ready to go.
In May, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also said that he plans to “eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.” He later backtracked from his comments, denying that he meant to imply that the Iraq war was fought over oil.
McCain Says He Is ‘Obviously’ Against Torture, Forgets His Vote To Allow Waterboarding
McCain Says He Is ‘Obviously’ Against Torture, Forgets His Vote To Allow Waterboarding
When asked to judge the Bush administration this morning during an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said “history will judge that” but then immediately began making an attempt to distance himself from President Bush. One area of “disagreement” McCain cited was torture:
McCAIN: I obviously don’t want to torture any prisoners. There’s a long list of areas that we were in disagreement on –
WALLACE: You’re not suggesting he did want to torture prisoners.
McCAIN: Well, waterboarding to me is torture, OK? And waterboarding was advocated by the administration and, according to published reports, was used. But the point is, we’ve had our disagreements.
Watch it:
McCain seems to forget that he voted against a bill that would have banned the CIA from using waterboarding. In fact, when the bill passed, McCain urged Bush to veto it, which he did. Thus, McCain’s claim that he “obviously doesn’t want to torture prisoners” rings hollow. Indeed, because of Bush’s veto, the CIA retains the option of waterboarding prisoners:
Still, waterboarding remains in the CIA’s tool kit. The technique can be used, but it requires the consent of the attorney general and president on a case-by-case basis. Bush wants to keep that option open.
“I cannot sign into law a bill that would prevent me, and future presidents, from authorizing the CIA to conduct a separate, lawful intelligence program, and from taking all lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack,” Bush said in a statement.
McCain also said he differed from Bush on climate change, yet he plans to run on the GOP’s election platform, which is “loaded with caveats about the uncertainty of science and the need to ‘resist no-growth radicalism’ in taking on climate change.”
“I’ve been called a quote maverick,” McCain told Wallace, arguing his point. Yet McCain and his conservative allies have yet to indicate how his administration would be anything but a third Bush term.
Transcript: More »
Cindy McCain: Palin knows foreign policy because ‘Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia.’
Cindy McCain: Palin knows foreign policy because ‘Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia.’
Today on ABC’s This Week, Cindy McCain tried to rebut the criticism that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) has no national experience by taking a talking point from Fox’s Steve Doocy. McCain pointed to the fact that Palin’s state is near Russia:
STEPHANOPOULOS: But she has no national security experience.
McCAIN: You know, the experience that she comes from is what she’s done in government, and remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. It’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.
Watch it:
It doesn’t appear that Palin has ever even traveled to Russia, despite her state’s proximity. In fact, she didn’t even have a passport until 2007, when she visited troops stationed in Kuwait and Germany. She has also visited Ireland.
After Voting Against Them 19 Times, McCain Claims He Supports Minimum Wage Increases
After Voting Against Them 19 Times, McCain Claims He Supports Minimum Wage Increases
Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) why he has voted 17 times against raising the federal minimum wage. (Wallace later corrected himself and pointed out it was 19 times, to which McCain dismissively replied, “Well, or 29 or 49, whatever it is.”) McCain initially attempted to wriggle out of answering by talking about tax cuts.
But when pressed again by Wallace, McCain claimed that he opposed the increases only because they were attached to unrelated spending bills:
McCAIN: I’m for the minimum wage increases when they are not attached to other big-spending pork barrel. The practice in Washington is attach a good thing to a bad thing. And that way, then you have to vote yes or no. [...]
When I’m president, I’m going to veto every bill that doesn’t have straight up or down votes on the issues that are important to the American people. … The fact is that I am for a living wage for all Americans.
Watch it:
Ironically, one of the only times McCain actually did support a minimum wage increase was when it was tied to a war funding bill. But on at least 15 occasions, McCain has opposed minimum wage increases that were stand-alone amendments or bills. On April 7, 2000, he even voted against a non-binding “sense of the Senate” resolution “concerning an increase in the Federal minimum wage.”
McCain’s assertion that he supports a “living wage” for all Americans is even more questionable, considering his 19 votes against the minimum wage. After all, a living wage is usually even higher than the minimum wage.
Transcript: More »
Bush ‘unlikely’ to attend GOP convention.
Bush ‘unlikely’ to attend GOP convention.
This morning, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that it is “unlikely the president will travel to Minnesota on Monday” because of concerns about Hurricane Gustav. “We are currently preparing alternate plans.” Gustav is expected to make landfall along the Gulf Coast as early as Monday, the same day that President Bush, Laura Bush, and Dick Cheney are scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Cindy McCain, and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) are planning to travel to Jackson, MS, today, to receive a Gustav briefing at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
McCain may deliver convention speech from disaster zone.
McCain may deliver convention speech from disaster zone.
Politico reports that the impending landfall of Hurricane Gustav has forced Republicans to scramble their convention plans. President Bush may not attend at all, and John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech from the hurricane-stricken areas:
McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters.
“It just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain said in a taped interview for Fox News Sunday.
I know that if I lived in an area that was trying to prepare / evacuate in advance of a major national disaster, what I’d really want would be for a presidential candidate to swing by for a campaign appearance, distracting local political officials and drawing down resources of the local public safety agencies. After all, it’ll look good on camera to be engaged with the problem!
Gustav growing into ‘monster Category 5 storm.’
Gustav growing into ‘monster Category 5 storm.’
Hurricane Gustav is growing into “a monster Category 5 storm” as it heads towards the Gulf Coast. The storm is moving into the Loop Current, a deep bed of hot water in the Gulf of Mexico that is helping to intensify the storm. In May, climatologists reported that the Gulf has been experiencing warmer waters than usual:
Off St. Petersburg, water temperatures have been 2 to 4 degrees above the 80-degree average for this time of year. In Fort Myers, temperatures have been similar. If that warm water continues to deepen and spread, it could be disastrous if a hurricane enters the gulf. … The gulf, with its loop current of deep, warm-water pools, is a hurricane minefield. If the water heats up enough, it can send storms spinning headlong into the coast.
ABC News writes, “Many scientists predict over the next decade we’ll see stronger hurricanes — Category 4 and 5 hurricanes even more violent than Katrina. The cause, some argue, is rising sea surface temperatures caused by global warming.”
Loyal Bushie: Palin pick is ‘disrespectful to the office of the presidency.’
Loyal Bushie: Palin pick is ‘disrespectful to the office of the presidency.’
In his Political Playbook column, Politico reporter Mike Allen reports that one Bush loyalist is extremely troubled by McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin:
BIGGEST QUESTION ABOUT PALIN: If it said something admirable about President Bush that he chose a running mate who would be more helpful in governing than in campaigning, what does it say about Senator McCain that he did the opposite? One of the most loyal Bushies calls the selection “disrespectful to the office of the presidency.”
Palin Repeatedly Professed Desire To Renew Federal Funding For ‘Bridge To Nowhere’
Palin Repeatedly Professed Desire To Renew Federal Funding For ‘Bridge To Nowhere’
During the unveiling of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to cast her as a “reformer” and “fiscal conservative.” She boldly claimed that with regard to Sen. Ted Stevens’s (R-AK) infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” she told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks“:
I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves.
It appears, however, that Palin is lying. As Bradford Plumer first noted, the Anchorage Daily News interviewed Palin during her 2006 campaign for governor. At the time, federal funding for the bridge had been stripped by Congress. They asked if she was in favor of continuing state funding for the project. “Yes,” she responded, noting specifically her desire to renew Congressional support:
Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.
That assistance never materialized. When she finally canceled the $400 million project, Palin lamented the fact that Congress was not more forthcoming with federal funding. She said in a statement at the time:
Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island.
Palin’s desire to have federal funding directed toward pet projects in Alaska, however, did not diminish. As recently as March 2008 — around the time she first met McCain — her special counsel, John Katz, wrote in the Juneau Empire that despite recognizing increased scrutiny of such spending, Palin was not “not abandoning earmarks altogether.” While McCain expressed high-profile disdain for earmarks, the Palin administration held that:
[E]armarks are not bad in themselves. In fact, they represent a legitimate exercise of Congress’ constitutional power to amend the budget proposed by the president.
Top Alaska Republicans puzzled by Palin pick.
Top Alaska Republicans puzzled by Palin pick.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that the state’s leading Republicans are expressing shock and bewilderment over John McCain’s selection of their governor as his running mate:
State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to give her the news.
“She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?” said Green, a Republican from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla. “Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?” [...]
State House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was astonished at the news. He didn’t want to get into the issue of her qualifications.
“She’s old enough,” Harris said. “She’s a U.S. citizen.”
Graham Lowers The Bar For Palin: ‘Don’t Think It Matters’ That She Hasn’t Traveled Abroad
Graham Lowers The Bar For Palin: ‘Don’t Think It Matters’ That She Hasn’t Traveled Abroad
This summer, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his surrogates spent weeks assaulting Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for traveling to Iraq just once while a senator. “Sen. Obama has been to Iraq once,” McCain said, “this is about leadership and learning.” “Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the President of Iran, but hasn’t yet sat down with General Petraeus?” he charged in May.
It seems that new VP pick Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) isn’t receiving the same scrutiny for her thin foreign policy resume. On CNN yesterday, Wolf Blitzer asked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about Palin’s foreign policy background, particularly where she has traveled abroad. Graham didn’t know the answer but said it didn’t matter:
Q: Has she met with world leaders like you have, like Biden has? Has she really gone around the world and done any of those things?
GRAHAM: I don’t know where she’s traveled to…But it’s not meeting people that matters. You know, President Bush met President Putin. And I don’t think it matters just meeting people. You look at people’s judgment.
Watch it:
As ThinkProgress noted, Palin has never been to Iraq, failing a central component of McCain’s commander in chief test. Speaking with Time Magazine earlier this month, Palin expressed little substantive knowledge about Iraq policy, admitting that she does not know “what the plan is to ever end the war.” “Let’s make sure we have a plan here,” she pressed:
[My son] is 19, he’ll be gone for a year, and thats quite tough too, kind of on a personal level when I talk about, hmmm, the plan for the war? You know, lets make sure we have a plan here? And respecting McCain’s position on that too though.
In the interview with Blitzer, Graham said Palin’s experience in Alaska is sufficient for her to tackle the world’s largest country. “Gov. Palin took on Ted Stevens. If she can take him on, she can take on the Russians. Heh,” he said.
Palin wasn’t ‘really focused much’ on the Iraq war, wanted ‘an exit plan in place.’
Palin wasn’t ‘really focused much’ on the Iraq war, wanted ‘an exit plan in place.’
In March 2007, John McCain’s vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said: “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe.” (HT: Andrew Sullivan)
Rove Flips On Qualifications For Vice Presidency, Says Palin Is Qualified For Same Reason Kaine Was Not
Rove Flips On Qualifications For Vice Presidency, Says Palin Is Qualified For Same Reason Kaine Was Not
Earlier this month, Karl Rove repeatedly argued that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) would not be “capable” of being Vice President. He complained that “he’s been a governor for three years” and said Kaine was mayor of only the “the 105th largest city in America,” referring to Kaine’s tenure as mayor of Richmond, VA. “It’s not a big town,” he quipped.
Yesterday, however, Rove argued just the opposite with regard to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). He explained on Fox News that Palin was a good choice as McCain’s vice presidential nominee because she was “mayor of the second largest city in Alaska”:
ROVE: She’s a populist, she’s an economic and a social conservative, she’s a reformer, she took on the incumbent governor of the state Frank Murkowski — Republican — beat him in the primary, won an upset in the general election. She’s a former mayor. She’s the mayor of, I think, the second largest city in Alaska before she ran for governor.
Watch it:
Kaine was indeed mayor of the ‘the 105th largest city in America.’ While there, he governed nearly 200,000 people and managed a bureaucracy of over 8,000 employees. By contrast, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, AK, a town of just over 8,000 people that currently employs just over 100 individuals and — contrary to Rove’s claim — didn’t even make it into the 10 largest cities in AK while she was mayor.
Larry King mocks conservatives for claiming 9/11 was Clinton’s fault.
Larry King mocks conservatives for claiming 9/11 was Clinton’s fault.
Larry King — CNN’s usually mild-mannered and non-confrontational host — took umbrage last night when his guest, conservative radio talker Larry Elder, tried to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11. “It’s Bill’s fault? … George Bush had nothing to do with this, then?” King asked. When Elder and King’s other conservative guest — Ben Stein — persisted in blaming Clinton, King said, “It happened on the Republicans’ watch. … It didn’t happen on Clinton’s watch.” King then began to mock the conservative guests, saying, “I’m totally lost — your history’s better than mine. I’m lost. I thought it was during the Bush administration.” He concluded by directing this sarcastic comment at Elder:
KING: You know something? You’re better than me. You know when it was planned. All the guys who planned it are dead. They’re dead on a plane, you know when. You interviewed them during the flight.
Watch it:
On Third Anniversary Of Katrina, Officials Aren’t Confident New Orleans’ Levees Can ‘Handle’ Gustav
On Third Anniversary Of Katrina, Officials Aren’t Confident New Orleans’ Levees Can ‘Handle’ Gustav
Three years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall upon New Orleans. The storm was tragically followed by an abysmal disaster response from the Bush administration and ultimately took the lives of nearly a thousand of the city’s residents.
Last week, President Bush appeared in New Orleans to say that “hope is coming back” to the city, due to $126 billion in disaster aid sent to the region in the last three years. As the Progress Report notes today, there is still mountains of work to be done, including “significant debris management issues,” a clean-up fraught with environmental issues, and vacant homes.
Today, Tropical Storm Gustav “threatens to become a hurricane and poses the biggest threat to New Orleans since the killer 2005 storm,” the AP reports. In an interview with CNN yesterday, Mayor Ray Nagin expressed concern about the sturdiness of the city’s levee system:
Well we are ready to evacuate. The big question is, which shape are our levees in. For all the work that the corps of engineers has done, is it going to be sufficient enough to handle what is projected to be a category 3 that right now is poised and pointed towards New Orleans?
Watch it:
In a press conference yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told residents, “Don’t try to rely upon the fact that the levees are stronger than they were in Katrina to assume that that’s going to necessarily protect you from harm.”
ThinkProgress assembled a timeline of the administration’s failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina. See the timeline here.
Palin is seemingly unaware of McCain’s Iraq plan.
Palin is seemingly unaware of McCain’s Iraq plan.
In an August 14 interview with Time Magazine, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), now Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate, suggested that McCain had not shared his plan for Iraq with her. Palin, who has not been to Iraq, said she does not know “what the plan is to ever end the war.” She later said its “tough” to “talk about the plan for the war” because her son will be deployed to Iraq this September. “Let’s make sure we have a plan here,” she said. Palin then added, “respecting McCain’s position on that too though.” Listen here:
Matt Duss notes that by trying to “make news with an unknown, stunt VP pick, McCain has shortchanged the issue which he himself insists is the most important — national security.”
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