Chris and Panayiotis give their final thoughts on the Democratic Convention

(I've been sitting on this post, postponing it because of Hurricane Palin. So I'm posting this now, lest it never get up - JOHN.)

Chris in Paris, and my Greek blogger friend Panayiotis Vryonis, were sitting in our usual spot on Thursday night, right after Obama's speech, and I asked each of them to give their final thoughts on how Obama did, and the convention overall.

Here is Panayiotis (video length 2:20)



Here is Chris (video length 0:31)

Read More......

McCain campaign uses hurricane to attack Obama's patriotism (again), while Obama gives McCain a pass

I don't think I've seen a single thing that Obama has said about McCain and the hurricane. Zero. Yet John McCain's spokesman today used Hurricane Gustav to attack Barack Obama's patriotism yet again. Surprise!

Obama could have talked about how McCain going to the hurricane zone was irresponsible, self-aggrandizing, and endangered the lives of those in the region whose leaders would better spend their time evacuating their citizens rather than holding court with John McCain. Obama could have talked about how tacky and sleazy and opportunistic it is for John McCain to be considering using the Hurricane Gustav disaster zone as a backdrop for his political convention acceptance speech. Obama could have talked about Mccain's vote against the Katrina Commission to hold the Bush Administration accountable for their disastrous non-handling of the previous hurricane. He could have talked about McCain's vote against extending unemployment benefits to Katrina victims. He could have talked about McCain's vote against Medicaid for Katrina victims. He could have talked about McCain voting against funding the Army Corps of Engineers. He could have talked about McCain seeking and receiving the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee after Hagee said Katrina was God's punishment against New Orleans.

And finally, Barack Obama could have talked about how John McCain went and ate cake with George Bush while people were literally dying in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina struck. Hell, Obama could have, and should have, made this photo into a TV ad that he should run doing the entire Republican convention this week.

But Obama didn't do any of that. And now John McCain is using the hurricane to attack Barack Obama's loyalty to our great nation. Being nice to Republicans earns us nothing. How many times do we have to be taught this lesson before Democrats get it? Read More......

Sarah Palin wasn't vetted

There are reports that the McCain campaign came up with the idea to pick Palin a week ago, and then only vetted her for four days. That would explain the plethora of bad news the blogs and the corporate media have been able to find on her in such a short period of time. And now we have even more evidence that John McCain simply wung it in picking a neophyte with no national security experience as the person who may replace him as president in as little as six months. McCain didn't even check her hometown paper to see what it had to say about her. At some point, McCain's actions become reckless. You don't choose a vice presidential candidate who isn't qualified simply because she might help you pick up a few votes here and there. It's Dan Quayle, and Harriet Miers, and Brownie all over again. And it speaks very poorly of John McCain's first significant decision as our potentially future commander in chief. Read More......

Bush heading to Texas to prep for hurricane. Will the sun ruin his photo-op this time, too?

ABC News just sent me an email that reports "PRESIDENT BUSH PLANS TO TRAVEL TO TEXAS MONDAY IN REACTION TO HURRICANE GUSTAV; WILL GO TO LOUISIANA WHEN CONDITIONS PERMIT."

Bush wants to show the nation that this time he really, really is ready -- this time. We've seen this before. Several weeks after the Katrina debacle, during Hurricane Rita, Bush went to Texas to show us all that he was in command. But, the Bush team cancelled the photo op because the weather didn't cooperate. Here's my post from September 24, 2005, titled, "Texas Trip cancelled because it was...too sunny":

Interfering with on-going storm preparations wasn't the reason Bush ditched going to San Antonio yesterday. No, that's not why. The reason was a bad visual:

It was too sunny.

Not kidding:

Another White House official involved in preparing Mr. Bush's way noted that with the sun shining so brightly in San Antonio, the images of Mr. Bush from here might not have made it clear to viewers that he was dealing with an approaching storm.

The White House is desperate.

Some things never change. It was all about the photo op for Bush, just like today it's all about the photo op for McCain. Read More......

What earrings would you choose for visiting a national disaster?

Read More......

Why do McCain and Bush disrupt emergency services during the hurricane - for their photo ops?

Remember what happened the last time George Bush staged a photo op during Katrina? It halted food delivery to the hurricane victims. And don't forget, now that McCain is the GOP candidate, it takes a 9-car caravan to buy him a cappuccino at a Starbucks. McCain and Bush are going to make a disaster of a disaster. Why are they going to the region at all? If they really want to help, if they really wanted to help, they'd be chairing task forces in Washington, not posing for photographers in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. Read More......

McCain considering using Gustav disaster area as prop for convention acceptance speech

This is simply sick.

John McCain [is] floating the idea that he might deliver his acceptance speech Thursday night from the area blasted by the storm.

What, McCain missed Katrina, because he was off having birthday cake with George Bush (though the corporate media isn't mentioning this in their coverage of Gustav, isn't that interesting), so this time he wants to take full advantage of the storm by using the victims as political props? Wow, that is simply sick. Then again, the McCain people like thinking of national disasters as political props. And don't forget, it was John McCain himself who said he'd never cancel a visit with our injured troops, even if the visit were considered a photo op. So, big surprise that McCain is now using Gustav as political theater. Read More......

GOP operative: "Gustav may be a positive" for McCain

From Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post:

"As long as we properly handle the Gustavication of the convention, it may be a positive," said one GOP operative.

That's nice. Then again, the McCain people are kind of big on finding the brighter side of national disasters. Read More......

Our future Commander in Chief

Watch Sarah Palin's sportcast below. Now imagine her staring down the likes of Vladimir Putin. This has nothing to do with Sarah Palin's gender. I'm all for a woman president - while we preferred Obama, Hillary would have been a fine commander in chief. But Hillary spent her life in jobs preparing her for sitting in "the" chair. Sarah Palin did not. The more we learn about Sarah Palin, the more she comes across as just goofy. Watch the video:

Read More......

MoDo on Palin (I laughed out loud reading this)

Maureen Dowd:

Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal?

Read More......

Former Palin staffer: "She's not qualified, she doesn't have the judgment, to be next in line to the president of the United States"

Bloomberg:

``She's not qualified, she doesn't have the judgment, to be next in line to the president of the United States,'' Larry Persily, who until June worked in the governor's Washington office as a congressional liaison, said in a phone interview yesterday.

A supporter of Palin's campaign for governor, Jim Whitaker, the Republican mayor of Fairbanks, also questioned Palin's readiness to serve as vice president in a phone interview yesterday.

`Avid Supporter'

Whitaker said that while he is ``still an avid supporter'' of Palin as governor, he will continue to back Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

And just four months ago, when Persily left his job with Palin, Palin said that she was hoping to find him another job back in Alaska. So she publicly endorsed this guy. They did not leave on bad terms.

Palin says she hopes to find a position for Persily in state government here.

Read More......

CNN has already begun the split screen: GOP convention vs. Gustav

Bill Bennett isn't looking very happy. He should cheer up - if anyone can turn the personal tragedy to their own political advantage, it's the Republicans. I'm sure they'll come up with something appropriately warm and fuzzy, and opportunistic, to take advantage of Gustav. Stay tuned.

Read More......

Comatose-looking McCain faces his first national crisis as presidential candidate

It was creepy. McCain just spoke to the nation about suspending some of the festivities at the Republican convention this week, and he seemed mildly confused, repeated himself (he quoted the same quote by Haley Barbour twice in a minute, seemingly without even realizing it), and was somewhat comatose. It was simply creepy. He had no energy whatsoever. Exuded no confidence. It was as if he was a very bad actor reading a very bad teleprompter. Wow. He just plain looked old. Not mom and dad old - grandpa old. Joe is going to be posting the vid soon. Videos like these may start Americans thinking that McCain passed his prime a few years ago.

Keep in mind, Mccain voted against the Katrina Commission to hold the Bush Administration accountable for their disastrous non-handling of the previous hurricane. He voted against extending unemployment benefits to Katrina victims. He voted against Medicaid for Katrina victims. He voted against funding the Army Corps of Engineers. He sought and received the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee after Hagee said Katrina was God's punishment against New Orleans. And finally, McCain celebrated his birthday with his bff George Bush and a big cake the very minute that Katrina was destroying New Orleans. McCain has already been battle-tested in disaster response. And he lost. Read More......

Palin lied about opposition to "Bridge to Nowhere"

Well, at least she has one major qualification to be a Republican president. She's a liar. This, from her home state paper, the Anchorage Daily News:

When John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and center.

"I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge.

But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

She stood up with John McCain and flat out lied to the national press and the American people. Every single reporter should dogging her and asking why she lied to the American people on the first day of her campaign. Read More......

Why did John McCain bring any press at all with him to the hurricane?

Joe found this little tidbit in an article earlier today:

Mr. McCain plans to go to Jackson, Miss., which is inland, with his wife, Cindy, and his newly-selected running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, his campaign said. Mr. McCain will take only a small pool of reporters, and will tour a hurricane center with Gov. Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor.

Why did he take any? Would he take reporters to a funeral? No. Why take reporters on a trip that supposedly isn't political? A trip to a national disaster? And the fact that McCain is only taking a "small pool of reporters" means that McCain has control over how many reporters he takes - McCain CHOSE to take this small pool. That means he could have chosen to take no reporters at all. And, guess who was chosen to be in that "small pool"? Carl Cameron from FOX, of course.

When Barack Obama had planned to visit injured troops in Germany, he wasn't going to bring any reporters at all. Obama canceled his trip to visit the troops because the Bush-McCain Pentagon tried to claim that the trip was political theater. But John McCain apparently isn't beyond political theater. The media needs to ask John McCain why he is bringing reporters with him on a trip to this looming disaster. It looks an awful lot like McCain is trying to take political advantage of human suffering. Though I guess it's a step up from sharing a birthday cake with George Bush. Read More......

Does Sarah Palin count duty-free shopping as foreign policy experience?

UPDATE: Yep, it's confirmed. Palin counted a refueling stop-over in Ireland - 30 minutes? 60 minute? - as an in-depth visit to the country. Amazing.

Irish blogger Maman Poulet notes:

So the Republican’s Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin has visited Ireland - this is listed as part of her foreign travel experience. She only got a passport last year and visited US troops (Alaskan National Guard) in Kuwait and Germany.

Two words to describe that visit to Ireland I think.

SHANNON STOPOVER! *

I could of course be wrong and Governor Palin was over to find her roots?? More as I get it.

*For US readers the Shannon Stopover refers to planes landing at Shannon Airport to refuel when on their way to and from parts of Europe/Middle East. Shannon Airport sees many US Military and contractor flights arrive there each month for refueling - passengers get off the plane for a while and then get back on again. Hardly a visit to Ireland?

If true, that would be one-third of Palin's entire national security/foreign policy experience. A 30 minute shopping trip at the Shannon airport. (It would also be an outright lie from the Bush-Palin campaign about our possible future wartime president.) I think we deserve to know the details of Palin's extensive foreign policy adventure in Ireland.

(I bought a cute shamrock mug in Shannon on a stopover, can I be VP too?) Read More......

Sarah Palin is my mom, without the foreign policy experience

Was talking to mom this morning, and apparently all of her friends are calling from around the country to say that McCain's VP choice, Sarah Palin, looks just like her - well, looks like mom back in the 1970s. (See photos, left, of mom in 1972 or so (left) and Palin (right) - mom also wears glasses).

Which got me thinking. Sarah Palin has met no world leaders, and she's visited a whopping total of 3 countries in her entire life (and at least two of those in the past year). I've attended meetings with 2 current or former heads of state, have been in the same room with at least 3 more, and have visited around 28 or so countries. Mom hasn't met any heads of state, I think, but she's probably visited almost as many countries as I, if not more. So basically, mom and I (and probably my entire extended family) are far more qualified than Sarah Palin to be vice president during war time. Read More......

The Theocrats are in a frenzy over Palin

McCain often talks about America's "Judeo-Christian" values, a term which The Boston Globe said "puzzles":

Such comments may pass unnoticed by most American voters and may be reassuring to some religious Christians and Jews. They may even go over well with some secular Americans who are pleased that he is using more inclusive language than some members of the religious right.

But his repeated invocation of "Judeo-Christian values" is sure to stick in the ears of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and people of other non-Christian, non-Jewish faiths. And they're sure to be asking themselves: Just what is McCain trying to tell us?

Those people, and people of the Jewish faith, better ask: What is Sarah Palin trying to tell us? The Governor of Alaska is even less inclusive. She just sticks with the Christian part. Via Political Wire, I came across this column from David Brody at Christian Broadcasting Network. As Governor, Palin declared a "Christian Heritage Week" last year. Palin wants a theocratic Alaska. If she wins, she can impose her theocracy on the nation. Brody reports the theocrats are loving this pick:

I'm telling you folks. The Evangelical base is revved up about this pick. A McCain campaign source told me that there is so much excitement from the Evangelical community about this pick that it's making their head spin.

Following the Rove playbook on evangelicals isn't all the maverick. Read More......

When John Met Sarah

John McCain is getting to know Sarah Palin. He seems to like what he's seeing:



Read a sample of the comments Jed got when he posted this video. Hysterical. Read More......

McCain, Cindy and Palin all heading to Gulf Coast for photo op. He did the same thing in Iowa during the floods.

Last June, when Iowa was inundated with massive floods, Iowa officials asked the presidential candidates to stay away. Barack Obama did. John McCain and his entourage arrived to insure he got some photos. George Bush showed up, too.

Today, John McCain, Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin are flying to Mississippi for a pre-hurricane photo op. They're meeting with state officials. The Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, used to chair the RNC, "invited" them -- so he's letting his staffers be used for the politicking on the eve of a massive hurricane striking. Do the McCains and Palin really need to show up with all of the staff, their security and the press? McCain did it in Iowa during the floods. Now, he's doing it during Gustav:

Mr. McCain plans to go to Jackson, Miss., which is inland, with his wife, Cindy, and his newly-selected running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, his campaign said. Mr. McCain will take only a small pool of reporters, and will tour a hurricane center with Gov. Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor.

Senator Barack Obama said that he had talked to the Louisiana governor and other officials. He added that he was monitoring the storm, but was planning no tour of the coast because he wanted to stay out of the way.

Come on. Only "a small pool of reporters"? Those reporters are the whole point of the visit. McCain could get this briefing over the phone or as a web conference (not that he knows what that is). He doesn't want information. He wants pictures. This is just another example of McCain putting politics first.

As a Senator, there is basically nothing McCain can do right now to help anyone in the Gulf Coast prepare for a hurricane. Not a thing. Just like there was not a thing he could do in Iowa during the floods. This is pure politics -- and McCain doesn't care how it interferes with the ongoing operation. It's actually pretty craven. Once again, McCain puts McCain's political interests first.

This you know is true: If Obama, Michelle and Biden headed to the Gulf Coast today, Haley Barbour would be the first one to criticize him for interfering with hurricane operations. And, the entire political press corps would dutifully report it. Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The shows are chock full of Republicans today -- and this all plays out against the backdrop of Gustav.

Cindy McCain is making a couple of appearances. There are so many questions to ask her. Start with this one: In February, you were quite sure that your husband wouldn't have an affair. Yet, you started dating McCain while he was married. So, how can you be so sure? Yes, it's a fair question. Oh, and see if she knows how many homes she owns.

Also, be good if any of the hosts could get any Republican on the record about the McCain/Palin position on birth control. Try that one on Carly, she brought it up herself already.

Make Rudy and Lieberman defend Palin. They both talk sooooo tough on national security. Make them defend her national security credentials.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain; Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John Kerry, D-Mass.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y.; Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; Carly Fiorina, adviser to the McCain campaign.

___

NBC's "Meet the Press" — Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., and Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian.

___

CNN's "Late Edition" — Govs. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., Mark Sanford, R-S.C., and Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; former Sens. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D.; Reps. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Eric Cantor, R-Va.; Nancy Pfotenhauer, adviser to McCain; Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.; R. David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Fox News Sunday" _ John McCain, Cindy McCain; Mike Miller, director of operations for the Republican National Convention.

Read More......

Palin praises Hillary, GOP crowd groans and boos

Quite the outreach program and I'm sure the Hillary supporters will feel welcome within the GOP circles. After just a day, the GOP crowds have gone from "mild" to "groans and boos" when Palin mentions Hillary.

This might not be the best way to reach out to those disillusioned Hillary Clinton supporters.

In just her second appearance on the campaign trail with John McCain, newly-minted GOP running mate Sarah Palin was showered with boos on Saturday for attempting to praise Clinton’s trail-blazing bid to become the first female president.

Read More......

How divided is the GOP heading into the convention?

As much as the GOP tried to promote the idea of a divided Democratic party, it increasingly sounds like they are projecting. Despite adding a PTA star from Wasilla, Alaska, the right still distrusts and dislikes McCain. The right loves the anti-choice, pro-gun positions of Palin and her lack of international experience (save that one visit overseas, to Ireland) is probably another bonus since the GOP almost bragged of the lack of international exposure Bush offered when coming into office.

But look who's divided now: the Republicans. As John McCain heads for St Paul this weekend - with his photogenic but almost comically inexperienced running mate, Sarah Palin, in tow - it is the GOP that struggles to find real unity. John McCain now leads a party saddled with fierce internecine disputes about everything from civil liberties to budget policy to America's role in the world. While these Republicans may lack a soap opera akin to the Clinton-Obama psychodrama, their ideological stitching has come dangerously loose. It is McCain's challenge to ensure that the seams don't burst open before election day.

How times have changed. During the first half of the Bush era, the Republican party brooked about as much dissent as the North Korean Communist party. But nothing breeds division like failure and the collapse of Bush Republicanism has a long list of party factions pointing the finger at one another.

Read More......