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The candidate of change went with the status quo.OK, it's an analysis and, as such, is subject to dispute. Yet even those who praise Obama's choice of Biden do so because Biden brings to the Democratic ticket the exact same qualities Fournier named: His experience in Washington, his credibility on foreign policy, his ferocity as an attack dog.
In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness -- inexperience in office and on foreign policy -- rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.
He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate -- the ultimate insider -- rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list.
The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden pick is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative -- a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image.
McCain campaign staffers are pushing [Fournier's story] fairly aggressively to other reporters, in large part because it mirrors the Republican line with minimal variation.In other words, any analysis that might reflect a GOP perspective is prima facie illegitimate. Kos calls Fournier "McCain's mole at the Associated Press." Another blogger goes after Fournier for his speaker's fees.
Anita Thompson is a wonderful person. I should feel no pleasure at her glum reaction to Old Pluggy as Barack Obama's running-mate pick. Then again, I recall no sympathy from my liberal friends when Maverick somehow foisted himself on the GOP.I struck up a conversation with an Obama volunteer from Portland, Oregon, and told him who I write for. After the speech, he came over and confidently said, "you guys are in trouble."So cheer up, Anita: Obama's disciples believe the Messiah can do no wrong, including picking a veep candidate who comes complete with an extensive GOP oppo-research dossier.
Though he acknowledged that Biden could be a "loose cannon," he thinks he's a known quantity who will bring experience to the ticket.
He was also convinced that Obama was not going to be like John Kerry, but would be prepared to fight back against Republican attacks -- especially because he took on the Clinton Machine. "That's like taking on the frickin' mafia," he exclaimed.
For some reason, the late Dr. G0nzo's words keep haunting me this year. While so many of the circumstances in this year's election are unprecedented ("vuja de," as George Carlin would say), Team Obama keeps making moves that recall the absurd overconfidence of the McGovern campaign in 1972, when Mankiewicz, Hart & Co. seriously believed that the unpopularity of Nixon and the Vietnam war would guarantee the election of whoever won the Democratic Party nomination.I had been without sleep for two or three days at the time, and my temper was close to the surface. Beyond that, I had spent the past five or six days brooding angrily over the list of vice-presidential possibilities that McGovern had floated in the New York Times several days before the convention even started. I recall telling Mankiewicz in the coffee shop on Friday night that I had never seen so many bums and hacks listed in a single paragraph in any publication for any reason. . . .
But Frank assured me that my wrath was premature. "Don't worry," he said. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." . . .
So there was nothing personal in my loud objections to Eagleton a week later. It struck me as a cheap and unncessary concession to the pieced-off ward-heeler syndrom that McGovern had been fighting all along. Tom Eagleton was exactly the kind of VP candidate that Muskie or Humphrey would have chosen: a harmless, Catholic, neo-liberal Rotarian nebbish from one of the border states who presumably wouldn't make any waves.
-- Hunter S. Thompson,
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72
Obama's choice of Joe Biden strikes me as eerily similar to McGovern's pick of Tom Eagleton 36 years ago. Unlike Eagleton -- a young nobody in '72 when he was tapped for the No. 2 spot -- Biden is a known quantity, and all of Biden's scandals are old news. While there may be some undiscovered conflict-of-interest scandal lurking in Joe's closet, we're unlikely to be shocked (pardon the pun) by any revelation of secret treatment for mental illness.I’m not sure a political campaign could possibly screw up a running-mate announcement as badly as Team Obama.Well, it could be done, Ed: McGovern waited until 4 p.m. on the Thursday of the convention before making the call to Eagleton. Still, as in '72, the disappointment of many on the Left is palpable, especially among Hillary's supporters like Jeralyn Merritt (who is "underwhelmed and greatly disappointed") and Big Tent Democrat, who says, "Hell of a rollout. Not."
But what's with holding the text message until 3 a.m. for Joe Biden? The only explanation that makes any sense is that Team Obama just couldn't resist one last dig at Hillary.
A likelier explanation: They meant to send it out this morning, but the networks scooped them by confirming the pick around midnight so they had to push it out ahead of schedule to save as much face as possible.
Either way, they've pushed it into the Saturday news cycle and blown whatever word-of-mouth buzz factor they might have gotten by sending the message in the middle of a weekday.
UPDATE II: Linked by Memorandum, Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft, Moe Lane at Red State, and Stephen Green at Vodka Pundit. Thanks all. And hey, Tommy Chong says Joe Biden's a narc -- pass it on, man!
UPDATE III: Ed Driscoll links with "The Enharshening of the Mellow." Wow. Heavy, man.
Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.You can say that again. And again. UPDATE II: Man, that was quick:
Obama announced the pick on his Web site with a photo of the two men and an appeal for donations. A text message went out shortly afterward that said, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee."
Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.
UPDATE II: Something tells me the graphics department at Obama HQ wasn't very excited about having to work late Friday night on this announcement. VodkaPundit's got the slogan: Change you can believe in -- because it's been in Washington since 1973 already.Yeah. That works. UPDATE III: Michelle Malkin dubs it the "Smarmy & Smirky" ticket, probably because "Ren & Stimpy" was already taken. Linking the story of Biden's notorious plagiarism, Ed Morrissey says:
Now Obama, who supposedly represents a new brand of politics, has instead hitched his wagon to an old-time pol who has trouble coming up with his own words when he campaigns. That’s desperation, and what’s more, it’s obvious desperation. And in politics, just as in dating, desperation is not an aphrodisiac.Bridget Johnson of the Rocky Mountain News:
Joe Biden, change?? Biden, the sixth-longest-serving and notoriously long-winded senator? Biden, who was named a Face for the Future by Time magazine in his freshman senatorial year -- in 1974, before I was even born? Biden, who withdrew from the 1988 presidential race after speech-plagiarizing and school-grade-exaggerating scandals? Biden, who snagged a whopping 1% of Iowa delegates in January?But, but, but ... Biden is so beloved by the "progressive netroots community"! UPDATE IV: Gonzo on Veeps. UPDATE IV: Linked by Fausta. Thanks. UPDATE V: Linked by Dad29, who offers what is likely to be a common reaction of Catholic traditionalists to Obama's pick of a pro-choice "Catholic."
"It is profoundly disappointing to see surrogates for Barack Obama attacking Cindy McCain, particularly after Obama himself claimed that 'families are off limits' and pledged to 'speak out against' attacks on spouses in this campaign. If Barack Obama expects the American people to believe he is a man of his word, he has a personal responsibility to condemn this ad."(Via Hot Air.) But this is fine. If Team Obama wants to say spouses and personal income are fair game, then everything Michelle Obama has said or done, including her financial dealings with her husband's campaign donors, is now a reasonable subject of discussion. We'll see if Obama can take it as well as he dishes it out.
I took my family to a baseball game (the home team lost 6-1) and came home expecting that Obama would have announced his veep. Instead, nothing but rumors.Is that really happening? After a week of excruciating suspense, the big revelation is Joe Hairplugs?Exactly. I mean, after all the wild speculation (hey, what happened to the Chet Edwards bubble?) now it comes down to a guy who made his first White House bid in 1988? Anti-climatic in the extreme. The oddly delayed announcement drew this reaction from Ed Morrisey:
In fact, one has to wonder whether Obama really had made up his mind, or whether his first or even second choice didn’t turn him down. That would explain the delays in the announcement, and the apparent disorganization of Team Obama in handling an event that should have underscored the seriousness of their candidate. After all, they set the expectation that the running mate announcement would come this week, and they missed their own target.Is it still too late for Obama-Eagleton?
The United States Secret Service has dispatched a protective detail to assume the immediate protection of Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a source tells ABC News, indicating in all likelihood that Biden has been officially notified that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has selected him to be his running mate.
Sources also tell ABC News that two others said to be finalists for the position of Obama's running mate -- Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Virginia Gov Tim Kaine -- have been told they have not been selected for the vice presidential slot.
Secret Service enroute to protect Joe Biden? Better hurry before he shoots himself in the foot before the official announcement. That is, if his foot isn't already in his mouth, of course!This promises 10 weeks of non-stop gaffes, clarifications, damage control and apologies.UPDATE 12:20 a.m. Saturday: Politico:
As it now stands, his announcement will land on a weekend and bleed right into the nominating convention -- a time when a nominee can already expect to be nominating national attention.The thing is, Joe is old news. Very old news. And he's got no executive experience. To jerk around the national press for a full week, only to deliver Joe Biden -- this is a disappointment. Imagine the reactions of those poor saps getting their text messages: "WTF? Dude. Joe Biden?"
What’s more, by keeping expectations hanging for so long, Obama makes it harder to deliver on all the anticipation. A weeks-long strip tease, ending with a naked Joe Biden or Evan Bayh -- or some other safe but unsexy choice -- might prove deflating.
Here is the latest RNC radio ad for John McCain. Message: McCain fought harder for illegal alien shamnesty, so Latinos should vote for him!Besides, she's already in Denver, so . . . I've got to take my kids to a baseball game now, so if Obama sends a text message while I'm gone, screw it.
Just another reminder, my friends, that the GOP establishment continues to 1) treat Hispanics as a monolithic bloc of open-borders sheep; 2) put p.c. pandering above the rule of law; and 3) thumb its nose at the conservative base in pursuit of votes they’re not going to get anyway.
Every person inside the Pepsi Center has to have a badge with a bar code. You scan it to get in and out.Yeah, but do they have one of these?
One of the few instances where the Dems believe in, and practice, tough border enforcement.
I am not implying, for one moment, that every athlete in Beijing is at it. Just that 99 per cent of them are.One heard similar tales from Atlanta in '96. Chicks were like NBA groupies, trying to get into the Olympic village.
The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) and the Obama for America campaign today announced that everyday Americans will speak each night of the Convention in primetime to share their voices as the people who have been powering Barack Obama’s campaign for change. . . .For crying out loud. Amtrak mechanic? Amtrak gets $1.9 billion -- that's "billion" with a "b" -- a year in subsidies from the American taxpayer. It used to be $1.2 billion, but the Senate voted last year to increase it:
The speakers selected to be part of the nightly program come from across the nation, but they are all brought together through their personal stories, which address real life challenges. . . .
On Monday night, Mike and Cheryl Fisher of Indiana will speak. After years of working to provide for their three children, the Fishers are facing the possibility of Mike being laid off from his job as an Amtrak mechanic. The Fishers believe Barack Obama is the best hope because he understands what it is like to face every day economic struggles.
"I'm just a poor railroader. I've got a small house and a family I'm trying to raise,”
said Mike. Barack and Michelle can relate to that because of their upbringing."
The Senate on Tuesday authorized a sharp increase in federal money for Amtrak for six years. . . .So when Mike Fisher goes on stage to sing his sad song -- and don't you just know he's probably got one of those union jobs that pays $65,000 a year with no-deductible health insurance? -- just remember that his job is already subsidized with your taxes.
The Senate voted, 70 to 22, for $11.4 billion, or $1.9 billion a year, up from $1.2 billion that corporation has received in recent years. . . .
The race has clearly tightened and stabilized in recent days. Obama has received exactly 45% of the vote in the past four Gallup Poll Daily tracking reports, and McCain has received 43% or 44% support.It's Hillary, right?PREVIOUSLY:
Thus, the candidates enter the high-intensity convention phase of the campaign essentially tied. Political observers are awaiting the news of whom Obama has selected as his vice presidential running mate, which could happen at any moment.
Cruel, cruel summer.By the time Barack Obama is ready to announce his vice presidential pick, will anyone believe him?
In recent days, as speculation and anticipation has mounted, so too have phony text messages declaring Obama’s supposed running mate -- from Evan Bayh and Hillary Rodham Clinton to Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.
It’s a cruel twist in a prolonged game of guessing that has put political junkies and Democratic supporters on edge since the campaign announced last week that it would disclose Obama’s choice through text messaging, which is expected to happen by Saturday.
In the absence of real information, pranksters have filled the gap with guidance from the website Wonkette.
Seventh time this year:Another week, another magazine cover devoted to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.Not that there's any bias, right? The actual article inside the magazine is a doozy:
Many bloggers vented their ire at Time magazine this week for publishing its seventh cover story on Obama in 2008 compared to only two for Republican rival John McCain. . . .Obama and his family were featured on the cover of People magazine this month and he has also been a cover boy for GQ, Vanity Fair, Men's Vogue and Rolling Stone, among others.
If Barack Obama had not chosen a life in olitics, he might have made a fine psychotherapist. He is a master at taking what you've told him and feeding it right back. What I hear you saying is . . .
He has been called a window into the American psyche. Or you might say he's a mirror -- that you see depends on who you are and where you stand. Obama puts it this way: "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." But those metaphors all suggest that he is some sort of passive instrument, when in fact his elusive quality is an active part of his personality.
Link: sevenload.com
Via Hot Air. The complete "Recreate '68" protest schedule is here. I just hope that VodkaPundit has already made contact with our inside sources at Shotgun Willie's.UPDATE: The DNCC just sent out a press release:In an effort to give back to the community that has been such a gracious host, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) held a Community Open House at the Pepsi Center today, allowing Denver residents and students to be among the first to see the unveiling of the innovative Convention podium up close and in person. . . .That's "giving back to the community"? Letting people take a tour and see your convention stage? Like they've been feeding the homeless or something.
Some 1,500 Denver students visited the Convention hall for a special youth program led by Democratic National Committee (DNC) Secretary Alice Germond and DNC Director of Party Affairs, Phil McNamara, who presented a “Convention 101” lesson on the historical significance of political conventions and the role they play in the democratic process. Additionally, youth were able to see the Convention hall up-close, sit in the same seats as delegates, take photos of the podium and participate in a mock delegate voting exercise.
Sen. Barack Obama called some people on his short-list for the vice presidential slot Thursday night to tell them he had not selected them as running mate, a highly placed Democratic party source told CNN. The source did not say which people got the call.Time:
Obama getting ready to announce his decision, with Democratic sources continuing to say "Watch Biden."Will update as further anonymous speculation becomes available . . .
2 Republican sources say McCain has apparently settled on Romney as his pick, but no offer has been made.
Where I live, the southern drawl can be so thick that I can’t make out what is being said. It’s part of what I like about the place. In 28 years in NYC I neverpicked up an accent.Sure, Joe. Let me begin by pointing out that Southern, as a description of the American Southeast, should always be capitalized. But you've given me an excuse to hunt up video of Virginia-born Dagen McDowell: To quote Tygrrrr Express:
Scarlett O’Hara made it to Wall Street. Her accent could melt butter, and her brilliance is overshadowed by her beauty.I've long feared that living in New York and being on national TV, Dagen might come under pressure to lose her delightful drawl, but so far it's survived. You just don't hear that authentic Appalachian twang enough on TV. I spent 10 years living in North Georgia (Calhoun and Rome), and when I hear Dagen on TV, it's like a little touch of home.
Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a corporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."Yes, he actually said it: This is a reiteration of the idea that Italian fascists "made the trains run on time." Chinese airports are not "vastly superior" to ours, and if they've invested more in rail transportation, that's simply because so few Chinese own cars. (Europeans also travel more by rail.)
John Hinderaker tries to spin Maverick's inability to say how many houses he owns:The truth is that McCain isn't out of touch with "ordinary people" because he's rich, he's out of touch with his own domestic arrangements because he cares little about material things, and for many years has devoted his extraordinary energies not to enjoying his wife's money, but to serving the American people. Given the number of nights he's spent in hotels or on military bases over the last few years, it's no wonder he hasn't seen much of his wife's condos.That's not going to deflect the Obama attack. A more relevant point is that several of the eight "properties" owned by McCain and his wife aren't used by them, but rather are the residences of Cindy McCain's elderly aunts and their daughter. So the McCains are supporting their family members (hey, if they ever want to buy a house for a distant cousin . . .).
The idea that John McCain would benefit from picking a pro-choicer is rooted in the assumption that he already has locked up the base. . . .The buzz this week about Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge and Rudy Giuliani as vice-presidential possibilities is evidence of the tendency among political and media elites to think voters are stupid.
But examining actual data on the white evangelical vote just released by Pew tells a different story. At first glance, it looks like McCain is doing quite well -- he's beating Obama 68-24 among this group, which is virtually identical to the 71-24 advantage Bush had over Kerry in August of 2004. However, if you take a deeper look at the numbers, it turns out that McCain's support is much softer -- only 28 percent "strongly" support McCain, compared to 57 percent who "strongly" supported Bush. . . .
[T]he less enthusiastic support makes me wonder about turnout. In Ohio, for instance, if evangelical turnout dropped just a few points at the same time that Obama was able to boost black turnout, that could very well be the ball game.
The generic Democrat beats the generic Republican by as much as 15 points in generic match-ups for Congressional seats. But generic candidates don't run: real ones do, and Barack Obama is running behind the generic Democrat and John McCain is running ahead of the generic Republican, at least if you believe the current polls.Something I've said before: In late 1995, I believed that any Republican could beat Bill Clinton. But in 1996, "any Republican" wasn't on the ballot; Bob Dole was.
On June 15, 2005, Obama bought a gorgeous house in Hyde Park for $1.65 million - $300,000 below the list price. Rezko bought the empty but attractive lot next door from the same seller at the same time; Obama would later buy part of Rezko's lot, overpaying him. . . .Old-style Chicago politics.
Rezko was a genius of corporate welfare who enriched himself at taxpayers' expense, both legally and illegally, via his multiple political connections. . . . Rezko depended on Obama when he wanted legal access to the state treasury. The arrangement was a far cry from Obama's image of "change and hope." . . .
[S]everal of his official acts benefited Rezko, who in turn raised some $250,000 for Obama's campaigns.
In October 1998, Obama wrote city and state officials, urging them to give Rezko $14 million to build an apartment complex outside of Obama's state Senate district.
Was this one set to roll today all along or was it in the chamber and ready to fire in case Obama tried a guilt-by-association ploy of his own first? Either way, acidic stuff.
Devastating, because it's inarguably true. From page 2 of Donkey Cons:
The Weather Underground claimed credit for a dozen bombings from San Francisco to New York. In 1971, they bombed the U.S. Capitol. A year later, they bombed the Pentagon. In December 1980, after living for years as fugitives, [Bernardine] Dohrn and Ayers surrendered to the FBI. They were briefly jailed, but all charges against them were eventually dropped, prompting Ayers to brag later: "Guilty as hell. Free as a bird."
Former terrorists Dorhn and Ayers helped sponsor Obama's entry into politics, and he can't deny it.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin:
No library gatekeepers can keep the lid on the truth forever. It’s out there
Obama says the ad is "despicable."
You know what's despicable, Barack? Befriending an unrepentant terrorist who still supports violent terrorist bombing against your country, Barack.
You have to scroll down through a lot of mocking humor to get to the serious part, but both the humor and the serious stuff are good.
In his essay "The End of the Long Hot Summer: The Air Conditioner and Southern Culture," historian Raymond Arsenault wrote that air conditioning made factory work tolerable in the South, reduced infant mortality, eliminated malaria and allowed developers to build skyscrapers and apartment blocks. Air conditioning industrialized and urbanized Dixie, lifting it out of its post-Civil War funk. No longer a poor, defeated colony, devoted to government aid and hating on Abe Lincoln, the South could fully indulge its conservative leanings.(Via Hot Air.) You've got at least one of your facts all wrong, Mr. Yankee know-it-all: Malaria was eliminated as a major illness in the South long before we had air conditioning. Window screens, DDT and swamp drainage.
Few want a handout, but fewer want government to abandon them. A simmering hurt suffuses their words, a sense that neither hard work nor their unions could save them.I wonder if anyone ever pointed out to Mr. Sylvester that maybe the greedy ways of his union bosses had something to do with the bankruptcy of that steel mill.
James Stanford, a retired and still heavily muscled steel worker, stood at his door and spoke of a pension that had evaporated. "Obama got one thing right," he said. "We are bitter here."
John Sylvester, 76, remembers when you could not find a parking space in Beaver Falls. You danced Saturday night at the Sons of Italy Club and drank with Dutch Town and River Rat neighborhood boys.
Mr. Sylvester labored in a steel mill for 42 years. Then the mill owner declared bankruptcy. Now he was bent over a chipped fire hydrant, putting down a coat of yellow paint for $7 an hour.
His blue eyes were piercing beneath a white sun visor. "I got a little money in the end but nothing to speak of," he said.
Decades of job losses have created a youthful diaspora -- you can knock on many doors without finding anyone under age 45. Declining enrollments forced Raccoon Township to close its elementary and middle schools. Political wisdom holds that such fractures favor the Democrats.
But Mr. Obama does not sound like a sure bet.
"Obama's very charismatic but if you listen closely, he hasn't said a whole lot," Mr. Sylvester said.
Team Obama's sucking up all the liberal money, and when he spends it, it's gone. And a lot of overhead is involved in fundraising, so much of what liberal donors are paying for is for Obama to hire more fund-raising operatives.
Meanwhile, Team Maverick is less than two weeks away from collecting -- in a single lump-sum payment -- $84 million in public financing. By then, there will be barely eight weeks remaining to spend the whole amount, which means the McCain campaign will be operating on a budget of $10 million a week, even while the RNC still has another $75 million to play around with.
All in all, you're going to see more than $20 million a week of coordinated Republican activity from Labor Day through Nov. 4. So much for McCain-Feingold as way to "get the big money out of politics."
The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.It won't work, guys. Give it up. The reason it worked with Kerry (and with Al Gore) is because they were liberal Democrats engaged in the usual class-warfare populist game of demonizing the rich. Highlighting the wealth of liberals exposes their hypocrisy, kind of like when "family values" conservatives are caught in sex scandals.
In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle — a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain’s wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.
Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people 'cling' to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who's in touch with regular Americans?Attention Team Obama: Welcome to the big leagues.
As Avery Island is to Tabasco sauce, so were 1970s Berkeley and San Francisco to white liberal guilt. When I was a fifth-grader in the Berkeley public schools (the first school system in the nation to integrate without a court order), I was taught -- as part of a two-year course in Black History -- that the word picnic had derived from the days of lynching parties, that it stood for "pick a n----" and for the basket lunches that white women would pack for their families to eat while they enjoyed the spectacle. I happened to mention this to one of my parents' academic friends, who sputtered in outrage -- the word had originated from the French verb piquer and had nothing to do with American lynching. But it would not have occurred to her, the mother of two children in the schools, to complain about it. Black History . . . was understood by those white parents who even knew about it . . . to be part of some larger enterprise, some settling of an old debt.(Hat tip: Lead & Gold.) It is amazing that even etymology could be corrupted by Marxoid nonsense. Anyone could consult an unabridged dictionary to find the origins of "picnic" -- originally piquenique in French -- and yet, apparently, the people who were teaching history in Berkeley schools never thought to do so. To challenge those who were propagating such ignorance, however, would have contradicted the "larger enterprise," and might have incurred accusations of bad faith.
Campaign Manager Gary Hart admits: "There were no formal staff meetings, no requests to check people out. I take the blame for not setting up a committee on selection. I should have thought of that."Heh. Too busy toking up with Warren Beatty, I suppose. Not likely Obama will suffer a similar fate; his staff is mostly a bunch of Starbucks junkies. Large quantities of caffeine can make you a bit jittery and push you into a hypomanic state, if you're prone to that, but you couldn't drink so much coffee as to completely forget to vet the vice-presidential candidates. Or could you?
Next week's Democratic Convention is in Denver, Colorado, just 220 miles from Thompson's former home in Aspen. The creator of Gonzo Journalism won't be there in person, but his addictive spirit will certainly make an appearance.Just so. Anita will be there with her friend Jeralyn Merritt, and I hope to see them both amid the anarchy in Denver next week. "A Mile High and an Inch Deep."
That's the slogan the GOP has slapped on this year's Democratic convention in Denver:Two dozen staffers of the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee will head west this weekend to combat the media coverage the nomination of Barack Obama will draw. The slogan for their opponents: Not Ready '08. . . .Meanwhile, VodkaPundit will be getting the scoop at Shotgun Willie's.
"This is an effort to get beyond the glitz and celebrity of Barack Obama's convention and talk about the reality of his record," said Matt McDonald, the McCain campaign's senior adviser in charge of the Denver efforts.
Former McCain opponents Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, along with Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and a host of others, will be in Denver working with the staff in a two-story office within walking distance of the convention site.
Right now, much of the political world is obsessing over a series of new polls indicating that the gap between Barack Obama and John McCain is shrinking.WSJ's Laura Meckler:
Sen. John McCain has all but closed the gap with Sen. Barack Obama, underscoring how international crises -- and some well-placed negative ads -- have boosted the prospects of the Republican presidential candidate.In fact, if you look at all the recent poll data, McCain hasn't just "closed the gap," he's probably pulled ahead.
Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our bibles. Folks haven't been reading their bibles.Many evangelical Christians have read the Bible cover to cover, and have studied its most important passages extensively in Sunday schools and Bible study classes. Many self-taught fundamentalist laymen can cite chapter and verse all day long. These people would be deeply offended by a politician lecturing them that "Folks haven't been reading their bibles." UPDATE: Linked at AOSHQ Headlines. Thanks.
"Whatever momentum that Obama took into the summer, he really appears to have lost it," says Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart. "It is not a dead heat, but it is close." . . .Yadda, yadda. Experts telling us what to think. Welcome to New Media. Just go to the numbers and draw your own conclusions. Here's Allah:
Obama . . . receives the support of just one in two voters who backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries. . . .
The X factor appears to be Hillary nuts, so devoted to their own cult that they can't quite bring themselves to join the Messiah's. In fact, she leads McCain by six in a hypothetical match-up, twice the margin Obama enjoys. . . . So diehard are her fans, in fact, that she’s had to put together a "whip team" to make sure they don’t do anything nutty to embarrass Barry O at the convention.Thanks, Allah, for evoking the mental image of Hillary and her "whip team." Brain bleach, anyone?
Cambium is a unique environment in the tropical Caribbean where just such a life is possible. Nearly three square miles of beautiful, lush countryside are to be set aside as a naturist paradise where individuals and families can live in peace amongst like-minded people all year round or as and when the timing suits them. . . .I have no reason to suspect that this is a complete scam, but that's exactly what I suspect, anyway. Even if it were a perfectly legitimate investment, however, I'm thinking your average "naturist" looks nothing at all like the two hotties strolling under the palms in the photo at their Web site. Caveat emptor.
The site is being specifically created for holistic living with a strong emphasis on living in harmony with Nature. The wearing of clothes is not required at any time or in any place within the territory, which greatly enhances the feeling of freedom and oneness with nature. . . .
Cambium is located in the Dominican Republic (DR). If you can live comfortably on £1,100 per month in the UK after tax, then you should be able to live equally comfortably in the DR for £380 per month, once you have bought your property.
UPDATE: Badger Blog Alliance:
There is no problem so great it cannot be solved through brute strength and ignorance. And maybe Photoshop.Indeed. Ruhypnol can also come in handy.
"Even within families with the best intentions, race can intrude in ugly ways. We can't escape ... this historical legacy that this country's created."
-- Barack Obama, 1995
There's probably some kind of profound essay I should write about this, but between the "dog whistle" smears and everything else, I just don't feel like it right now.
What Obama is dealing with here, in his ultra-sincere bien pensant manner, is the nature of identity in a multiethnic society. At some level, we cannot escape who we are -- the subtitle of his book, after all, is "A Story of Race and Inheritance."
Non-Obamamaniacs, I think, will focus on his contextualization of his own identity within "historical legacy that this country's created." What, exactly, does he mean by this? Any conservative, hearing a liberal speak that phrase in such a context -- essentially smearing his own grandmother as a bigot -- automatically senses a classic anti-American sentiment, the idea that racism is something invented by America, a sin of which America is uniquely guilty.
That Obama seemed so drawn toward his Kenyan father, who had abandoned him, and so indifferent to the American family who raised him, is the kind of puzzle that would tempt an armchair psychologist. But as I said, I'm weary of the whole subject, and merely note a few points on the graph, perhaps for future reference.
Please feel free to comment. By the way, there are two other segments of that 1995 interview online: Part 2 and Part 3.
Unless this is one final head-fake, it looks like Obama's picking Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh as his running mate.The nutroots threw a tantrum last week over Bayh being on the shortlist, with lefty blogger Steve Clemons claiming a few days ago that he’d been summarily dropped by the campaign in response. It’s worth hoping this rumor’s true just to hear them squeal.Yeah, and watch the PUMAs burn when St. Hopey disses Hillary by picking some vanilla-bland Midwest corporate white dude. Anarchy in Denver!
U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign will hold a press conference call with former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and Randy Scheunemann, McCain 2008 Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to discuss reports that an Obama campaign Middle East adviser was recently in Damascus for meetings with Syrian officials.Will update. While you wait, enjoy some photos of Kate Beckinsale in an orange bikini (hat tip: Conservative Grapevine.)
Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice has a nice roundup of reaction to the emergent anti-Obama trend, including this from MSNBC's blog:Nevertheless, there is no longer this widespread belief among the wise guys and gals of both parties that we're all just sitting around waiting for this race to break in Obama's direction.By "wise guys and gals" the MSNBC crew actually means "all our sources and press-corps buddies." This is exactly the point in today's article about "the conventional wisdom among the political press that Obama is a sure thing to win in November."
Democratic lobbyist Lawrence F. Obrien, III said: "People like to say he is a black Jack Kennedy. Fine, up to a point. Kennedy was smart, elegant, very well spoken, slim, handsome -- but, he also was Irish. Sharp, quick and abundant sense of humor, able to make contact with people."Read the whole thing.
"Obama's fundamental problem with voters is that he sometimes comes across as an elitist who talks down to them, dismissing their worries and telling them what they really should be concerned about. Voters don't like being addressed in this manner," said Emory political scientist Merle Black, an expert on the Republican realignment of the South.
Ron Kaufman, former political aide to George H. W. Bush, acknowledged that Obama clearly connects with a ton of folks, but so did almost-President Howard Dean. The polls continue to say that this is tied. Obama should be 15-20 points ahead. The fact that he is not should worry them . . . . I honestly believe Obama may have a glass jaw."
(Via Hot Air) Love that blurb: "He begged her NOT to abort the baby." Seems Edwards is a closet pro-lifer. Who knew?
Republican John McCain has taken a five-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama in the race for President, the latest Reuters/Zogby telephone survey shows.McCain leads Obama by a 46% to 41% margin. . . .This is surprising, even to me.
This latest Reuters/Zogby poll is a dramatic reversal from the identical survey taken last month -- in the July 9-13 Reuters/Zogby survey, Obama led McCain, 47% to 40%.
Obama is in a free-fall. McCain got to the heart of the question about Obama, and especially after the crisis in Georgia, he has voters wondering whether Obama is up to the task of running the presidency as his first executive job in politics.The shift began during the Europe trip, when Team Maverick went on the attack on drilling, then unleashed the "celebrity" message -- and kept repeating it, even after Team Obama screamed "racism."
One can only imagine the panic gripping Team Obama this morning. Of course, this will give Obama a perfect excuse (with a free pass from the Obamedia) to go after McCain on a personal level, which will only do more damage to him.You think the nutroots are going to freak? What about the PUMAs? They'll be ready to riot in Denver.
Expect a full-fledged freakout from the nutroots as well.
