Sarah Palin bikini pics

UPDATE 9/26: Finally! Video of Sarah Palin strutting her stuff in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant swimsuit competition!

PREVIOUSLY: See-Dubya seems to think it's only crazy left-wing bloggers trying to get photos of Sarah Palin in a bikini. But I'm with Ace: I'm all about getting the random Google-search traffic (e.g., Anne Hathaway).

So if you've got photos of Sarah Palin in the 1984 Miss Alaska swimsuit competition, or pictures of Sarah Palin during Spring Break '83 at Cabo showing her stuff in a wet T-shirt contest, or Sarah Palin posing topless in a thong for an auto parts calendar, please e-mail these scandalous photos to me immediately.

Because you'd want a greedy capitalist blogger to get all that awesome traffic, wouldn't you, Steve Schmidt? It just wouldn't be fair for some left-winger to cash in on exploiting the Republican vice presidential candidate, when a conservative could exploit the VPILF just as well.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan:

I find the comparison with Obama ludicrous.

OK, fine, Andrew. However, I do have photos of Obama in a swimsuit, splashing in the surf, if that makes you happy. And we both know it does, right?

UPDATE II: Linked at Right Wing News, which also links to Dr. Melissa Clouthier's post with the headline, "Sarah Palin Topless Photos."

UPDATE III: OK, it's not a bikini, but here is a teenage Sarah Heath (#22) with her brother Chuck and sister Heather:

UPDATE IV: I've sent an e-mail to the McCain campaign, requesting that they supply the blogosphere with authentic bikini photos. The worst they can do is say no.

UPDATE V: Charlie Martin is ... uh, helpful.

UPDATE VI (9/4): Several people have e-mailed me this photo of Sarah Palin holding a gun and wearing a star-spangled bikini:

This is an obvious Photoshop job -- Palin is wearing glasses and has her hair up, as in all the other pictures of her online. Also, the angle of the neck and head are a mismatch.

UPDATE VII (9/5): Bikini pics help GOP in Gallup, Rassmussen polls. ("Issues? We don't need no stinkin' issues!")

UPDATE VIII (9/7): Somebody just e-mailed me a link to an (obviously fake, but still NSFW) topless Sarah Palin photo.

Quote of the Day

"What I've had to do, though, is in the middle of the night, put down the BlackBerries and pick up the breast pump."
-- Sarah Palin (via Hot Air)

Hope for Homophobia?

Little Green Footballs traces to the Obama campaign a Web site -- SarahPalinGayRights.com -- that tries to portray Sarah Palin's December 2006 veto of a ban on state benefits for same-sex couples as indicating her supposed support for gay rights.

The Obama-run site quotes the Anchorage Daily News story out of context, omitting this:

Palin said she rejected the bill despite her disagreement with a state Supreme Court order earlier this month that directed the state to offer benefits to same-sex partners of state employees.
Advice from her new attorney general said the bill passed by the Legislature was unconstitutional, she said.
"Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office," Palin said in a prepared statement released by her administration Thursday night.

Palin asked the Alaska legislature to approve a ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment to ban such benefits, but the May 2007 vote in the legislature came up five votes short of the required two-thirds majority. (Want to guess how Democrats voted?)

The SarahPalinGayRights.com site is nothing but a dishonest attempt by Team Obama to distort Palin's record, a cynical smear that underestimates the intelligence of Christian conservatives and other opponents of the Democrats' own gay agenda.

UPDATE: LFG corrects:

There is apparently no connection between these attack sites and the official Obama campaign. . . .
[T]he point still stands that it's more than a little slimy to be a supporter of the "progressive" campaign of Barack Obama, then turn around and use Sarah Palin's pro-gay rights positions against her in a creepy anonymous web site.

So it's not Team Obama, officially, but rather one of their demented supporters who's doing this.

Short answer: John Edwards

Next time some TV talking head brings up Sarah Palin's lack of foreign-policy experience, can somebody please point out that the Democrats in 2004 picked John Edwards as their vice-presidential candidate?

What was Edwards' background in national security? How was Edwards -- who ran third in the Democratic presidential primaries this year -- so much more eminently qualified for the VP slot than Palin?

I mean, other than his possession of a Y chromosome and his membership in the Democratic Party, exactly why was Edwards spared this kind of sneering from the MSM? Granted, Joe Biden is an old hand at foreign policy. But certainly no one can argue that Palin is less qualified than Edwards. who had never held public office until he got elected to the Senate, and accomplished exactly nothing during his tenure there.

UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers. And please read this post about "Hope for Homophobia." It appears that the VPILF is a victim of what can only be called triple standards: One for men, one for women, and one for Republican women.

UPDATE II: Rasmussen:

After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin. . . .
By way of comparison, on the day he was selected as Barack Obama’s running mate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was viewed favorably by 43% of voters.

To borrow a phrase, "Heh."

'Republican elites'

Jonathan Martin on Sarah Palin:

[T]he response I've gotten from Republican activists coast-to-coast has been one of almost joy. My e-mail in-box is bursting with enthusiasm from loyal GOPers who've been either glum, skeptical or downright unhappy for the past two years.
This zeal is emphatically not matched by some Republican elites, who are casting a more pragmatic eye on the potential pitfalls of McCain tapping a running mate that neither he nor many other political types know. (Emphasis added.

The negativity coming from inside the GOP -- remember the "veteran communications operative" who said, "We're doomed"? -- has been one of the major obstacles for Team Maverick. It's not merely their disdain for John McCain that causes this reaction from Republicans inside the Beltway, it's also (a) the dim prospects for congressional Republicans, and (b) extreme Bush fatigue.

Martin says he's " never seen a crowd with the energy that I witnessed yesterday at the Erwin Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio." What he may not know -- I haven't seen it reported anywhere -- is that some people were turned away from Friday's event. My Ohio in-laws had tickets but were told that the crowd was big enough to cause a fire-code violation.

UPDATE: Peter Baker in the New York Times:

One former Bush aide who spends his days publicly bashing Barack Obama sat down for lunch with me recently and before the appetizers even arrived lamented that the Democrat will probably crush McCain.

With friends like that, etc.

(Cross-posted at AmSpecBlog.)

Dem talking points on Palin

Ed Morrissey debunks the Democrats' attacks on Sarah Palin. It was obvious from watching CNN yesterday and reading the blogs that Democrats (and CNN anchors) are getting their spin from a common source.

Shoulda picked Rudy instead?

David Frum -- who hired on with Rudy Giuliani's campaign last fall -- disses Sarah Palin.

This is the essential problem of journalists drifting in and out through the revolving door. One day he's a journalist, then he's a Bush speechwriter, then he's a journalist again, then a campaign operative, then once more a journalist. At some point, you begin to ask yourself: What's his angle?

Is Frum dissing Team Maverick's decision-making because they failed to offer him a job? "Hey, Steve Schmidt, if you want me to stop trashing your campaign in print, how about a consulting contract?"

On the hotness of Sarah Palin

Over at the Aceosphere, some of the morons were discussing whether the customary leering AOSHQ comments about attractive women are appropriate when the attractive woman is (a) married, (b) a mother of five, and (c) the vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

I say: Go for it.

What better way to counter the MSM stereotype of conservatives as uptight, boring, sexless prudes than to celebrate the fact that the GOP running mate is totally hot?

Like Sarah Palin, my wife is 44, a pro-life Christian mother (six kids), and very attractive. My beloved wife is at the age when catcalls and whistles are more flattering than offensive, an affirmation that she's still got it.

So I'm thinking that Mrs. Palin won't really mind being acknowledged as a hottie, and her husband will probably find it flattering, too.

VPILF.com? OK with me. And, as Rusty's commenter Gordon says, "Don't forget there is an even shot that she will end up our CICILF."

If I were Team Maverick, I'd make sure that those swimsuit photos from the running mate's beauty-pageant career were "leaked" to the media ASAP.

GOP '08: TAKING SEXY BACK!

UPDATE: Craig Ferguson: "Is it just me or do you get a kind of 'naughty librarian' vibe from the governor?"

Palin VP: The reaction

OK, so how's everybody liking Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate? A quick rundown:

• You gotta know Wonkette's loving the choice of the woman they dubbed the "GILF" when she was elected in 2006.
• David Keene of the American Conservative Union: "The selection of Governor Palin is great news for conservatives, for the party and for the country. Her dedication to principle, her courage both before and after her election as Governor of Alaska and her personal qualities make her a perfect choice for Vice President. I predict any conservatives who have been lukewarm thus far in their support of the McCain candidacy will work their hearts out between now and November for the McCain - Palin ticket."
• Matt Lewis: "If you had to imagine a ticket that could possibly defeat Obama, you couldn't have scripted it any better than this."
• Founding Bloggers notes, "It took the AP two paragraphs to attack her," with this quote: "She has more experience catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs." To which FB responds: "It's too bad she wasn't a community organizer."
• U.S. News has some biographical facts: Starting point guard on a state championship basketball team, journalism major, runner-up Miss Alaska, refers to her husband as "First Dude."

Assuming she's got no major skeletons in her closet, Palin looks like a winner.

GOP veepstakes; UPDATED: PALIN!

11:10 a.m. ET: Just spoke to my wife who tells me that my Ohio in-laws, Erica and Donovan Powers, are at the McCain rally in Dayton with their genius baby, Keegan.

10:52 a.m. ET: The Great One likes Palin.

10:45 a.m. ET: Hillary supporter Big Tent Democrat:

First and foremost, it would stop Obama's Media train in its tracks today. . . .
Second, it revives the Hillary melodramas. And at this point, Obama does not need that.

Got to hand it to Team Maverick on this one: (a) Palin gives the Clinton supporters just the excuse they need to bolt on Obama, and (b) she gives McCain an excuse to say, "Screw the caribou -- drill ANWR!"

BUMPED 10:34 a.m. ET: Carl Cameron on Fox: CONFIRMED! PALIN!

10:18 a.m. ET -- Jimmie at Sundries Shack:

She’s in favor of increased domestic drilling. She holds to at least the big conservative beliefs, which will help offset McCain’s left-leaning past on free speech, immigration, and taxes. She’s a solid pick and I think she’ll help from the first day she’s on the ticket.

DRILLING! Yes! Who better to cover a McCain shift on drilling ANWR than an Alaskan?
BUMPED 10:10 a.m. ET: Palin? A 44-year-old pro-life mother of four. Yeah. I think the base would be OK with that. And notice that the speculation about Lieberman and Ridge (both pro-choice) makes this a "thank goodness" relief for the Right, despite Palin's relative inexperience. If it's Palin, ABC News just got fooled by a huge head fake.
10 a.m. ET: Michelle Malkin also has a thread going. She got an early start, even if she missed last night's blogger bash, where VodkaPundit insisted on staying until closing time.
9:55 a.m. ET: Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit have a thread going at Hot Air, including a link to this tantalizing news.
9:50 a.m. ET: Now watching MSNBC, which says it's not Lieberman. Please God, let the Palin rumor be true. Otherwise, it's Ridge and ... hello, President Obama.
9:45 a.m. ET: Just realized that my times are still Eastern, even though I'm in Denver. That's because I don't reset the computer clock when I travel. Don't reset my watch, either. If I need to know local time, I either do the math or look at my cell phone. The reason: My editors and my family back home are still on Eastern time.
9:28 a.m. (ET): Woke up this morning, turned on the TV, and Fox News was saying that Romney and Pawlenty have been eliminated. Sarah Palin? Will update as I get some coffee and learn more.

When Olby attacks

Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher:

In an unusually heated attack on a veteran political reporter by a cable news host, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann laced into the Associated Press's Charles Babington an hour after Barack Obama had concluded his speech in Denver on Thursday night.

OK, here's Babington's lede:

Barack Obama, whose campaign theme is "change we can believe in," promised Thursday to "spell out exactly what that change would mean."
But instead of dwelling on specifics, he laced the crowning speech of his long campaign with the type of rhetorical flourishes that Republicans mock and the attacks on John McCain that Democrats cheer. The country saw a candidate confident in his existing campaign formula: tie McCain tightly to President Bush, and remind voters why they are unhappy with the incumbent.

Mr. Objectivity said the AP story bore "no resemblance to the speech you and I just watched." Obviously, it's the "rhetorical flourishes" part that must be getting under Olby's skin. But let's face it: Anyone who offers anything but gushing praise for Obama is just begging for a Worst Person in the World award from Olberman, who might as well be press secretary Obama.

Live from Denver: HOPE!

On the balcony of PJHQ!

Jason Mattera, Michelle Malkin, Jim Hoft and some ugly hillbilly -- after liveblogging the Apotheosis of Barack Obama.

The apotheosis of Obama

The Speech, joined in progress ...

11:30 p.m. -- Michelle Malkin and Jim Hoft were also liveblogging here at PJHQ, and there's photographic proof.

10:55 p.m. -- "In the words of scripture" -- theocracy!

10:53 p.m. -- "Around the bend" -- yeah.

10:51 p.m. -- "It's not about me, it's about you" -- the freak show that is the Democratic Party.
10:50 p.m. -- "It's best to stop hoping" -- he finally said something I agree with.

10:48 p.m. -- "Our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters" -- hey, don't talk about my brother, OK? He'll kick your ass.

10:47 p.m. -- He's going on too long.

10:43 p.m. -- "Tough talk and bad strategy" ... "Don't tell me" this and that.

10:41 p.m. -- The delegates are cheering DKos-friendly applause lines on foreign policy.

10:38 p.m. -- Nobody should have to choose between their job and their family. Equal pay. Yadda, yadda, yadda. He will pay for it all!

10:36 p.m. -- Obama will recruit an army of new teachers union members.

10:34 p.m. -- Obama will personally "invest" in new technologies. Your money. His investment.
10:24 p.m. -- Class warfare. Oh, joy!

10:23 p.m. -- "A nation of whiners ..." boo hoo hoo.

10:22 p.m. -- "The record's clear, John McCain has voted with George Bush 90% of the time"

Jason Mattera is evil

Petitioning to provide MSNBC, CineMax and Netflix for Gitmo internees:

(Via Hot Air.) "They got any Jay-Zee?" Jason has the greatest deadpan. Ever.

'Black man running . . .'

T-shirt for sale, Champa Street, Denver:

Hillary's recycled rhetoric

My report at Pajamas Media:

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s big speech Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention had a familiar ring to those who covered the former First Lady during the primaries.
Once she had name-checked Barack Obama, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and Bill Gwatney, Hillary said, “I ran for President to renew the promise of America,” and then went into a laundry list of promises recycled from the latter phase of her campaign. . . .

Read the whole thing.

Denver street scenes

A few more photos from Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention.

You might be a redneck if . . .

Stephen Green of PJTV interviews a vendor of Hillary Clinton novelties.

Street theatre: A performance by the "Missile Dick Chicks."

Stephen Green of PJTV interviews the chicks.

"So . . . come here often?" Andrew Marcus of Founding Bloggers talks to one of the Missile Dick Chicks.

From the radio gallery inside the Pepsi Center, looking down at the stage.

The "unassigned press" filing area at the Pepsi Center.

The press lounge at one of the media tents surrounding the Pepsi Center.

A Clinton delegate from Texas. Her T-shirt identifies her as "one of 18 million standing with Hillary."

A very cheerful Code Pinko.

Video: Media swarms anti-war vets

Not a riot, but there was a serious risk of being blinded by all the camera flashes.

Posing for their media moment.

Video: Anti-war march in Denver

They mustered about 4,000 marchers -- 8% of the promised 50,000.

Radical obscenity.

Notice the astonishing whiteness of the marchers with the "no more racism" sign. The only person of color in the photo is a press photographer (left).

The Diner in Denver

Stephen Green of Vodka Pundit has lunch with "Diner" blogger James Lileks at the world-famous Sam's No. 3 diner on 15th Street in Denver.

Denver: Vets say the surge worked

Vets for Freedom "hijacked" the anti-war "Bush Legacy" bus today in Denver, and Founding Bloggers was there.

BTW, yesterday, I saw the "Iraq Veterans Against the War" doing some sort of demonstration on 14th Street. Generally, they looked like a bunch of boot camp washouts, REMF file clerks, and dishonorable discharged losers.

Hillary: 'Thanks . . . send money'

E-mail from Hillary Clinton:

Dear Robert,
Standing on that stage tonight in front of 20,000 Democrats unified behind Senator Obama, I saw a bright future for America. I saw millions of people across the country working as one to elect the next Democratic President. I saw a new President and a new Congress giving a voice to the voiceless. I saw America, the land of endless potential, regaining its role as a leader in the world.
I couldn't be prouder of our party, of our nominee, and of all the work you and I have done together over the course of this campaign on behalf of the American people.
I knew that as I stood in front of that podium, I wasn't alone. I had you, and everyone who has supported me, standing right up there with me. And that means the world to me.
Thank you again for everything you've done. Now let's get to work helping elect Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and all of our great Democratic candidates!
Sincerely,

And then a link to contribute to retire her campaign debt. Heh.

Day 3: Roll call

Today, they do the real business of the Democratic National Convention -- the roll call vote for the nomination. A quick roll call of the headlines:

• Speech inspired Hillary supporters . . . to wish she had won. Ed Morrissey: "If Obama loses, no one can point to this speech and blame her for it — and she's set to run in 2012 after a first John McCain term."
• Nancy Pelosi favors drilling?
• Malkin: "Never was so much hype created by so few to simulate the appearance of so many."
• The Temple of Hope?
  

'A meandering, tedious mess'

No, not my latest article. And not "Jessica Sideways."

"A meandering, tedious mess" is what Andrew Sullivan called Tuesday's speeches by Mark Warner and Bob Casey at the DNC.

The Illogical Caucus

My latest American Spectator article:

"One-in-three women in this country will be affected by rape, abuse or be killed," [Rosario] Dawson tells the Women's Caucus, and introduces the executive director of Voto Latino, Maria Theresa Peterson, who declares, "By 2040, Hispanics will be a majority in the United States."
These are both dubious statistics. The "one-in-three" figure for women suffering from violence appears to be a derivative of the widely quoted claim that one-in-four women are victims of rape, a statistic denounced as a "myth" by the Independent Women's Forum. And the Census Bureau projects Hispanics to be 22 percent of U.S. population by 2040, which is hardly a majority.
If they're short on statistical validity, the Women's Caucus is long on political enthusiasm. For all the talk about disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters in Denver, the speakers at yesterday's caucus were unstinting in their praise for Obama. Even the most banal pronouncements were greeted by the delegates with cheers and chants of "Obama! Obama!"

Read the whole thing.

'Some obscure law professor'

Heh.

Live blogging Hillary

At Chez VodkaPundit, where Stephen wagers that Hillary will repeat her Emily's List performance by failing to mention Barack Obama during her speech. I'm doubtful she'd diss the Messiah at the Pepsi Center.

UPDATE: Introduced by the Good Clinton, Chelsea.

Orange suit -- a bold choice.

Vodka says she looks like "a traffic cone."

"A proud supporter of Barack Obama" -- I should have taken Stephen's bet.

"You ... you ... you" -- it's all about affirming the listener's sense that they are important.

Her peroration included the phrase "faith in God" -- she is a Republican!

All in all, a good speech, and a reminder to Democrats they could have had a V-8. I think they may yet regret not nominating her.

UPDATE II: Stephen's full-blown liveblog is at PJM. Stephen says:

McCain mentions: One. Bush mentions: Many. The Dems are STILL running against Bush. Do they think he’s going to be around another four years if they don’t?

This is very much like what the Democrats did in 1988, when Dukakis essentially ran against Reagan -- and got his butt kicked. The problem for Republicans is that the economy now is more like 1992. But still, Bush in 2000 did not campaign against Clinton.

Denver: Profits and protests

My working lunch on the patio of the Capitol Bar was interrupted by (a) bad WiFi, and (b) a nearby confrontation between bullhorn-wielding pro-lifers and bullhorn-wielding activists with the Revolutionary Communist Party.

The blonde with the bullhorn is pro-lifer Kaitlin Mahoney. She's yelling that the RCP guy has no coherent argument for his pro-choice position. Of course, he is a communist, so he didn't have coherent arguments for anything.

This scene took place on 16th Street at Court Place, right in front of the Sheraton, where Hillary Clinton was inside addressing an Emily's List gala. The noise was such that even with headphones I couldn't hear the audio I was trying to transcribe. I've now relocated to the world's noisiest Starbucks, across the street. Christina Bellantoni of the Washington Times is also trying to file her story from here.

Meanwhile, for street vendors in Denver, the Democratic convention is mainly an opportunity to profit by selling Obama-themed merchandise.

Hope is a very popular commodity on the streets of Denver this week.

Here's a person who is a self-declared "atheist, lesbian, male-to-female transsexual." Amazingly, "Jessica Sideways" is not a DNC delegate -- but is, however, a blogger.

Well, I've got to write an article for the American Spectator, so things will be slow on the blog this afternoon. I'll be back to liveblog Hillary's big speech tonight.

UPDATE: "Jessica Sideways" got linked as a headline at Ace of Spades and got her own post at the Jawa Report. Some of the comments at Jawa aren't exactly sensitive and tolerant.

Dang: I missed the riot

VodkaPundit, Charlie Martin and I had been enjoying refreshments Monday afternoon on the patio outside the Capitol Bar at the Sheraton on 16th Street. I'd already filed for PJM, and Vodka and Charlie had covered some excitement at the Denver Mint. We'd had a long day, and I was eager to get somewhere to plug in the laptop and watch the primetime convention proceedings on TV. So we headed back to PJM HQ in a high-rise condo a few blocks away.

Bad decision. We were leaving the scene of what, in a little more than an hour, would be the scene of a semi-riot -- the closest thing to Chicago that "Recreate '68" has so far produced. Zombie filed an on-the-scene report.

But as we left the Sheraton, all was still calm. We noticed large groups of police in riot gear on street corners as we walked down 16th Street, but thought this was just a precaution. Apparently, the DPD had intelligence that trouble was brewing. There was some sort of protest at City Center, and it seems that some of those protesters had the idea to march on 16th Street. Police were not going to let that happen.

When we got to PJM HQ, I was surprised to find Michelle Malkin herself blogging there. Founding Bloggers videographer Andrew Marcus and his crew were editing footage from the day's excitement, when Truthers had swarmed Malkin.

After about an hour, my cell phone rang. It was Evie Brown, who had been visiting friends in Denver (not for the DNC) and was at the Capitol Bar when we were there. Gregarious as always, I'd given Ms. Brown my business card, and now she was calling with an urgent message: "They're rioting! The Sheraton is on lockdown!"

I was tired, and didn't feel like walking back for what might prove to be a false alarm. But Jim Hoft and Charlie Martin decided to take a video camera and go check it out.

No false alarm: Police had cordoned off a street and surrounded protesters who were trying to reach 16th Street. And the center of the action was right at the Sheraton. If we hadn't left the Capitol Bar, we'd have been right in the middle of it. Grrrrr.

Ah, well. Bad luck or bad choices. Either way, there's action all over town, and you can't be everywhere. I'm blogging this basically to give you an idea of how difficult it is for one person to cover the entire convention scene, and why collaborative reporting via the blogosphere provides the best panoptic approach to the experience. Just hanging out at the Capitol Bar, however, I made contact with a source who later tipped us to the action, and that Jim and Charlie were able to capitalize on that tip to provide coverage. Teamwork.

As Vodka says, exhaustion is setting in, and it would be nice to have more sleep. But the excitement overcomes the exhaustion, so I have to force myself to shut it down.

Tuesday: The Women's Caucus. Imagine me in a roomful of liberal women, some of them possibly heterosexual. Frightening. Oh ... yeah, met an ex-Edwards delegate. Heh.

'There are a lot of nutballs here'

So says Michelle Malkin, and she's not talking about the PJM Crew:

Federal authorities have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon amid reports that a fortunate traffic stop by Aurora Police may have disrupted an assassination attempt against Barack Obama.
KUSA-TV is reporting that two men have been arrested on weapons charges after the traffic stop early Sunday.
The first man, identified by the station as Tharin Gartrell, 28, was charged with suspicion of being a felon in possession of a weapon after police found two rifles, a high-powered scope and methamphetamine in his car after the traffic stop.
When police accompanied Gartrell to his hotel in Glendale, a second man jumped from a window and was injured in a four-story fall, according to the station. That man was then arrested, but has not been identified by police.

We're still waiting for Andrew Marcus to load the video of today's "nutball" incident when the 9/11 Truthers threatened Michelle. (Guess who's sitting about 10 feet from my left elbow? C'mon, guess.)

UPDATE: Just got word that there's a riot going on a few blocks from here. The Sheraton is reportedly under lockdown. The streets of Denver are crawling with cops in riot gear. Livecam.

UPDATE II: Reportedly seven arrests already in the riot. Zombie is on the scene.

UPDATE III: Charlie Martin just called in from the scene to report that he and Jim Hoft are watching "the world's most boring riot." They're getting video for Founding Bloggers. Charlie says the ratio is 12:6:1 of cops to media to protesters.

UPDATE IV: Jim Hoft has a report on the Truther/Malkin confrontation this afternoon.

UPDATE V: Michelle now has her own post, and links her favorite person named McCain.

Truthers threaten Malkin

VodkaPundit and Charlie Martin of PJM just returned from the Denver Mint where they were covering a protest. Michelle Malkin was there, and was "verbally assaulted" and "physically threatened" by a group of 9-11 Truthers led by Alex Jones. Charlie intervened to protect Malkin during the confrontation.

PJM cameraman Andrew Marcus was on the scene and captured "explosive" video. Will update when video is online.

UPDATE: More at AmSpecBlog and Founding Bloggers, video at The People's Press Collective.

Cheers from VodkaPundit

The man on your scene.

D-Day: Street scenes

The marquee of a Denver strip club.

Hope for sale!

A Catholic priest participates in a pro-life protest outside the Convention Center.

Activists with TrickOrVote.com.

Tonya Wheeler is an activist with the "Recovery Caucus."

A PETA activist protests outside the Convention Center.

Code Pink activists march to protest Nancy Pelosi.

UPDATED: My report for Pajamas Media:

DENVER — Sen. Barack Obama credits gay activists with making the Democratic Party "immeasurably stronger."
In a letter to the party's LGBT Caucus -- the acronym stands for Lesbian/ Gay/ Bisexual/Transgender -- Obama said the group "will be crucial to bringing our Party together and sweeping us to victory on November 4th."
The letter was distributed at today’s meeting of the LGBT Caucus at the Denver Convention Center.
"Congratulations on being part of the largest LGBT Caucus delegation in Democratic National Convention history," Obama wrote. "I look forward to seeing the LGBT community turn out in record numbers to help create the changes we seek."

Read the whole thing. Right now I'm sitting outside the Capitol Bar at the Sheraton on 16th Street with VodkaPundit, who's living up to his nom de blog, having just ordered his second vodka rocks. He's about to head out to cover the attempt of activists to levitate the Denver Mint. I'll let you know if they succeed.

PREVIOUSLY:
Just left the LGBT Caucus meeting at the Convention Center. Outside the caucus, a couple of guys were promoting their product, "Gay Republican Hypocrite" playing cards. The guy displayed the deck, and I saw that my friend Jeff Gannon is the six of spades. "Hey, I know that dude," I said, and they gave me a deck.

Whatever you say about these Democrats, they're all about entrepreneurial activity. Fourteenth Street in front of the Convention Center is a bazaar of Obama-related merchandise. I'll upload photos shortly, but I'm told Jose at PJM is screaming for content, and so I've got to write something.

PJM cameraman Andrew Marcus reports that the "Unofficial Blogger Total Access" credential actually works. "Nobody reads the fine print," Andrew says.

D-Day in Denver

Just got into Denver, and my latest American Spectator column is now online:

The ragtag coalition of semi-pro agitators calling themselves "Recreate '68" has dedicated itself to a vain attempt to turn this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver into a simulacrum of the notorious 1968 Chicago convention, when Mayor Richard Daley's cops busted the heads of anti-war protesters in the streets.
As much as I'd love to cover a riot -- or at least be serenaded by the distant music of hippie scum howling in pain while I sip a cold Corona at a sidewalk cafe -- it's unlikely that the misguided nostalgia of "Recreate '68" will be any more successful than the 30th anniversary re-enactment of Woodstock, which notoriously resulted in at least four reported rapes.
This is not your father's peace-and-love generation.

Please read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Anita Thompson's in town and can't quite get the whole "Recreate '68" thing.

I met two North Carolina delegates on the flight into Denver. My seatmate was Don Davis, mayor of Snow Hill, N.C., Democratic candidate for state senate, and an Obama delegate. He introduced me to Chris Hardee of Manteo, N.C., who is a Hillary delegate.

It was from Hardee I heard the news that Hillary is releasing her delegates, as we were on our way to baggage claim.

VodkaPundit picked me up at the airport and we're staying at the home of his friends Matt and Ali Traylor. Right now, VodkaPundit's drinking our host's scotch and we're watching a wee-hours TCM showing of Wanda Nevada with Peter Fonda and Brooke Shields, a cheap imitation of Paper Moon with creepy overtones of Pretty Baby.

Well, I'm about shot. If I fell asleep in 5 minutes, I might get 4 hours of sleep. We'll be on the scene soon

D-1: 'We will not be silenced!'

UPDATED & BUMPED: Security is ultra-heavy:

To the uninformed visitor, it has become difficult to tell whether Denver is preparing for a Democratic National Convention or the institution of martial law. Helicopters filled with armed commandos swooped over downtown in a training exercise earlier this summer. A warehouse was converted into a temporary jail with chain-link fences and signs threatening the use of electric stun devices. Travel agents sold getaway packages to locals, with one company imploring residents to "escape town while you still can."

Dang. Someone must have warned them I was coming.

UPDATE: Last word before packing up for Dulles, and VodkaPundit tells ABC News and the protesters, "Welcome to Denver, Now Go Away."

PREVIOUSLY: I'll be boarding a plane for Denver pretty soon, and must make final preparations, but check out (via No Quarter) this new documentary:

We believe that the The Democratic National Committee (DNC) made a grave error by depriving American voters of their choice of Hillary Clinton as Democratic nominee. Senator Clinton, by all accounts, except caucuses, won the Primary Election and, therefore, should be the 2008 Democratic Nominee. That didn't happen, due largely to illegitimate and illegal acts. . . .
This documentary is about the disenfranchising of American citizens by the Democratic Party and the Obama Campaign. . . . We want to be heard and let the country know how our party has sanctioned the actions of what we feel are Obama campaign "Chicago Machine" dirty politics.

Here's a preview clip:

"It was unbelieveable that this could be happening . . ."

Hmmm. Corruption? In the Democratic Party? Somebody ought to write a book about that.

UPDATE: So far, the protest scene in Denver is incredibly lame. Michelle Malkin reports from the scene Saturday at Planned Parenthood:

The pro-abortion presence was measly. I counted about seven or eight demonstrators who tried to compensate for their low numbers with their loud mouths.

Liberals were too busy getting ready for the Salon party.

Left-wing eloquence

My man Jason Mattera in Denver:

"Selling out to the Christofascist theocracy." (Via Hot Air.) Hey, Jason, no fair fooling 'em with the chin-pubes camouflage!

"I'd rather just be living my life and having fun." That's Jason's philosophy, man!

Biden: Chicks don't dig him

Of course, Obama's got enough surplus sexy to cover Joe's deficit, but still:

Women are notably less enthusiastic than men -- 33% of women say Biden was the right choice while 27% disagreed. Men, by a 46% to 24% margin, said that Obama made the right choice. . . . He earns favorable reviews from 52% of men and 45% of women.
Just 16% of women have a Very Favorable opinion of Biden while 19% have a Very Unfavorable view. . . .
Not surprisingly, Democrats were more supportive of Obama’s decision than anybody else -- 52% of those in his party agreed with his pick while 19% disagreed. However, just 43% of Democratic women said the presumptive nominee made the best pick while 23% disagreed.

So even if Biden's no Tom Eagleton, he doesn't seem to be the kind of unalloyed asset Obama needed. Maybe chicks don't dig Joe because he's such an overbearing braggart?

At any rate: Feel the burn, PUMAs!

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey on the poll:

Not only has Biden not helped Obama, it looks like he’s actually damaging the ticket with his addition. He certainly hasn’t added any enthusiasm to the Democratic offering. Did Team Obama do any serious research on Biden and his effect before making this selection?

Also not digging Joe? Free-weeders:

Biden has sponsored more damaging drug war legislation than any Democrat in Congress. Hate the way federal prosecutors use RICO laws to take aim at drug offenders? Thank Biden. How about the abomination that is federal asset forfeiture laws? Thank Biden. Think federal prosecutors have too much power in drug cases? Thank Biden. Think the title of a "Drug Czar" is sanctimonious and silly? Thank Biden, who helped create the position (and still considers it an accomplishment worth boasting about).

And Tommy Chong says Biden's a narc, man.

PREVIOUSLY:
8/23: Bidenfreude?
8/23: D Minus-2: Gonzo on Veeps
8/23: BIDEN VP WTF ROTFLMAO

DNC dog blogging

As much as I hate dogblogging, I couldn't resist this photo op:

Steiner's Law: "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog."

UPDATE: OK, if you don't like dog-blogging, how about some kid-blogging?

That's my 5-year-old daughter, Reagan.