Hey Mom, former OB-GYN, can you take a look at this post and chime in with what you think in the comments? It makes a pretty compelling case that Sarah Palin isn’t actually the mother of her fifth child, but I’ll defer to you on this one.
As Ezra put it :
She has no foreign policy experience. She has no experience making national policy. She has spent fewer than 700 days crafting statewide policy for Alaska. None of this is a moral flaw or personal failing. It just makes it hard to imagine her fit for the vice presidency.This was, for McCain, a major decision. And we can learn from it. And here’s what even his supporters must admit: Country did not come first. Polls did.
Amen. This is Harriet Miers redux. The only difference is that the base is pretending to love it.
Also, can we stop talking about the predictive power of the free market now?
In the original title for my previous post, I used a plural form of the verb which may have been more correct (since I was referring to more than one thing), actually changed the meaning of the title significantly. While that version of the title might have been noteworthy given John McCain’s advancing age, it’s not the sort of thing that I’m particularly interested in commenting upon.
I don’t know if the John McCain we’ve been seeing lately is the real McCain or “Candidate McCain“, but either way, John McCain is turning out to be a real jerk. For the candidate whose earlier promise to run a “respectful campaign” has already become a running joke, John McCain has spent the last few weeks being inexcusably disrespectful towards his opponent.
There was a time when candidates wouldn’t run negative ads during the Olympics out of respect for the Olympic spirit of unity. John McCain eschewed that trend and spent $5 million in ad time during the games to bash Obama.
There was a time when candidates would welcome their opponents to the campaign and looking forward to a spirited debate. When John Kerry announced his VP in 2004, the Bush campaign said “I welcome Senator Edwards on the ticket … I look forward to a good spirited debate.” When Barack Obama announced his VP, McCain first response was to attack, saying “There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden”.
There was a time when presidential candidates held their fire during their opponent’s conventions, knowing that their respect for their opponent would be matched in kind during their convention. John McCain broke that tradition, opting to run negative ads during the Democratic convention, lest a day go by in which his pledge to run a positive campaign isn’t once again shown to be a lie.
On the eve of Obama’s historic speech, John McCain’s campaign is hinting that they may interrupt the acceptance speech too announce their pick for VP. (When I grew up, I was told that it was rude to interrupt people while they’re talking.)
And finally, in an attempt to distract people from the ugly, dishonest turn his campaign has taken, John McCain is buying his way into Obama’s spotlight with a single positive ad.
Fantastic. She hit every note she needed to. If she was this good in the primaries, things might have turned out differently. Not only did she put to rest the silly media-fueled Clinton drama, but she really established herself as a Democratic leader for years to come. As someone who never supported her candidacy for a variety of reasons, I can say that I finally get what people saw in her.
That said, it’s sad to think that she even had to include her “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?” line. It’s remarkable that the people who ostensibly share Hillary Clinton’s ideals need to be reminded again and again and again that she’s a Democrat who supports Barack Obama. Even more bizarre was hearing a teary-eyes Clinton supporter on CNN tonight grudgingly concede that she “did what she needed to do” (or something along those lines) as if to imply that Hillary was insincere in her ringing endorsement of Obama. The PUMA brand of zealotry, which mixes equal parts self-righteous promotion of and bewildering disrespect for a candidate, is one I’ll never understand.
The primary is over, guys. It’s time to unite for a common purpose. Universal healthcare. End the war. Fix the economy. Stop McCain. Y’know, the stuff that Hillary has been saying all along?
I’m not looking forward to tonight’s Clinton encore. After the rancor of the primary, I found it incredibly galling that Hillary’s narrow loss somehow meant it was Barack Obama’s responsibility to help pay off the debt she accumulated while bashing him for months on end, to give her the VP slot ignoring his own judgment and any electoral concerns, and to remind her emotionally-scarred supporters that they’re Democrats. Granted, these expectations came more from the media and Clinton’s supporters than the candidate herself, the last few month’s worth of Clinton drama has been been exasperating.
But like everyone else, I’m hoping tonight’s Clinton love fest will do the trick. At the risk of adding more uninformed advice about “What Hillary needs to do”, lemme just hearken back to something I wrote back in April in response to one of her negative ads :
The thing I find depressing about this ad isn’t the tacky fear-mongering (I’ve come to expect that from the Clinton campaign), but my concern that these last few weeks are the toughest I’ve ever seen the Clintons work for something. If Hillary Clinton applied the same take-no-prisoners attitude she brings to the primary to her role as a Sentor, she’d be mounting filibusters and demanding impeachment hearings. Where was this toughness when the Patriot Act sailed through Congress or when we rushed to war in Iraq or on telecom immunity, net neutrality, torture, or any one of dozens of other issues in which Clinton has failed to take the lead?Moreover, why should we expect Hillary Clinton to bring her “kitchen sink” strategy to the general election and aim it at her BFF, John McCain?
Tonight’s the night when we’ll find out whether Hillary Clinton will be as tough against the GOP as she was against Barack Obama. Here’s the baseline against which I will be viewing tonight’s speech :
Hehe. Well, I blew another prediction :
Sen. Barack Obama has picked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, multiple Democratic sources tell CNN.
Score one for beltway conventional wisdom. Biden wasn’t my favorite pick, but the campaign will get a whole lot more entertaining with the guy who gave us the classic “A noun, a verb, and 9/11″ line on the stump.
One funny thing to about Biden is that his personality is very similar to the way McCain used to act before he became another humorless, mud-slinging, charisma-free, dishonest, Republican presidential robot (see: Dole, Bob). Biden’s laid-back charm will serve as a subtle reminder (to me at least) that the John McCain of 2008 isn’t the same guy who the press fell in love with on the Straight Talk Express eight years ago.
Here’s my last chance to look foolish or prescient. All week I’ve been predicting Kaine would get the nod, but with reports that he and Bayh have been told they weren’t picked, it’s time to update my guess. As much as the media wants to stalk Joe Biden, I’m gonna go with Kathleen Sebelius. Here’s what I think of what I consider the top three candidates :
Chet Edwards – Oh god please, no. He would be the absolute worst. From his National Journal profile :
On several measures, he has worked with the Democratic leadership, supporting a waiting period for sales at gun shows and opposing repeal of the estate tax. He has voted for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and for the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
. . .
In 2002 Farley ran again and national Republicans ran ads against Edwards arguing that he had the voting record of a Northeastern liberal. Edwards argued that he supported Bush on terrorism, education, welfare, energy and the Iraq war resolution.
I’m really hoping the only reason he was vetted was because Obama knows that if he wants to get anything through Congress, that he’ll need to keep its leaders on his good side (Pelosi was reportedly the one who pushed for Edwards).
Joe Biden – Meh. Not a huge fan, but I prefer him to Bayh or Kaine. I still stand by my earlier arguments that the Obama campaign is way too disciplined to want a blowhard like Biden on the campaign trail. The more I think about it and watch the coverage of Biden, the more I think he’s probably a willing participant in the Obama campaign’s toying with the media. I’m really going out on a limb at this point, but considering how leakproof the Obama campaign has been thus far, all of the “leaks” and clues pointing to Biden over the last few hours seem suspicious. Why would official sources let it be known that Obama hadn’t chosen Kaine or Bayh? They’ve been building suspense so well over the last week, it seems odd to deflate the tension a few hours before the announcement by preemptively eliminating two of the top three picks mentioned. If Biden is the pick, then the past day or so will make tomorrow morning’s text message pretty anticlimactic.
Kathleen Sebelius - She’s awesome. She’s a red state Democrat who’s got a lot more progressive bona fides than the standard “Liberal who loves the war and thinks abortion is murder” red state Dem. She’s got a reputation for getting things done in Kansas by taking advantage of divisions within the GOP rather than selling out and hoping for the best (see: Reid, Harry). I think she’d compliment Obama perfectly.
What I find so amusing about the CNN coverage is that they seem to be covering every. little. thing. that’s happening with Joe Biden, but nobody seems to be providing the same coverage of anyone else still left on the short list. There’s no live feed outside Chet Edwards’ home. They haven’t asked whether or not Sebelius was asked to provide a list of aides or friends. Their singular focus on Biden has them all but ignoring any other candidates. Obama has done such an incredible job playing the press so far, I doubt they’d tip their hand like this.
Or maybe CNN is right about Biden. We’ll find out soon.
I know the veepstakes anticipation is feverish, but there’s no way this is real :
Now keep all of that in mind as you take a look at the monstrosity of a sticker that’s making the rounds purporting to be proof that Obama is picking Evan Bayh. It uses the most boring and basic shades of blue and red imaginable, a silly wave of a white line that looks like it was borrowed from a Pepsi can, and truly bizarre choice of font for the “08″ in the corner. The star in the “0″ finishes it off as if to imply that this sticker was a class project from a Learning Annex Photoshop class rather than the work of design professionals.
If this is real, then it would mean that despite all of the perfectly executed planning and coordination by the Obama team, they handed over the design of their campaign merch to amateurs who shouldn’t even be in the same room as those who have been so successful in the campaign branding so far. Personally, I don’t buy it.
I think it’s a real credit to the Obama team that they’ve held off any leaks of his VP pick. Since many read into the Obama’s statements earlier this week referring to his potential VP as “he”, what should we make of this interview that was conducted yesterday :
“Obviously, the most important question is: Is this person ready to be president?” Obama told “The Early Show” on CBS. Second, he said, was: “Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally?”And, he added: “I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a ‘yes person‘ when it comes to policymaking.
Needless to say, since I’m crossing my fingers for a Sebelius pick, I’m reading way too much into the gender-neutrality.
My thoughts on some of the names being thrown around :
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius - My favorite of all the short-listers. She’s a reliable progressive with bipartisan cred, she’s got ties to Ohio, and she’s damn good at governing in general. Granted, she gave an underwhelming State of the Union rebuttal earlier this year, but the Democratic response is always stiff and tiresome. I think she perfectly complements Obama’s message of working across the aisle and getting things done. The only downside I could see is if Clinton supporters might take umbrage at the fact that Barack Obama would pick an accomplished woman who isn’t Hillary to be his running mate, but if Hillary Clinton is the only female who deserves consideration, then their immaturity is just carefully-disguised sexism. Sebelius is awesome, regardless of gender.
Sen. Joe Biden - This may be one of those predictions that comes back to bite me in the ass, but here we go : There’s no way Barack Obama will pick Biden. Not gonna happen. Biden would make a terrific surrogate, but he’s too much of a loose cannon for the hyper-disciplined Obama campaign. The first time Biden says something stupid, the McCain campaign will have a field day. I don’t think Obama wants to deal with the hassle of having a foot-in-mouth VP.
Sen. Evan Bayh - Ugghhh…He’s considered the “safe” pick in much the same way that Mitt Romney was considered “presidential”. In this instance “safe=boring”. I don’t think he really brings anything to the table and the fact that he was a major player in the rush to war in Iraq is enough to make him a non-starter.
Sen. Chris Dodd - Better than the other Senators being considered, but I think Obama will shy away from picking a Senator since he’ll need every Democratic vote he can get if he wants to get anything done next year.
Gov. Tim Kaine - He’s the one I think is most likely to get the nod, but I worry about Obama picking a pro-life Democrat who has really pissed off his base. I think the Obama campaign is probably so desperate to win Virginia that it’ll tip the scales in Kaine’s favor, which is a shame because I think the obvious pander VP pick is a mistake. Kaine isn’t the worst candidate, but he’s far from the best.
John Edwards - A few months ago, I was hoping for an Obama/Edwards ticket. What a difference a couple of weeks makes, huh?
Tom Daschle - I’m not so sure the guy who oversaw the most shameful Democratic majority in the Senate should be rewarded. His tenure as majority leader makes Harry Reid look like FDR.
Hillary Clinton - Too much drama. The last thing the Obama campaign needs is another three months of coverage about how he doesn’t get along with the Clintons.
Wes Clark - I think he’d be a fantastic choice, but I don’t think the campaign would want to risk another controversy like the recent one regarding Clark’s comments about McCain’s time as a POW. Which is a shame because (1) Clark was right and (2) they could turn this into a good cop/bad cop dynamic and let the retired general defuse McCain’s bizarre “prisoner of war tourette’s” shtick. Also, according to Wes Jr., the VP thing ain’t happening.
I guess we’ll find out tomorrow or Thursday who’s getting the nod. Who do you support?
Earlier today, I just got around to commenting on the recent shooting at a Unitarian church, noting :
I don’t think it’s fair to say that people like Limbaugh and O’Reilly are directly or even indirectly responsible for the shooting, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention that the limits of what’s considered acceptable commentary among mainstream conservative commentators has moved to the extreme right over the past 10-15 years. Sean Hannity has a book titled “Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism”, Michael Savage describes liberalism as a “mental disorder” and considers us “the enemy within”, Jonah Goldberg’s latest book features a Hitler-mustached happy face under the title “Liberal Fascism”, Ann Coulter’s best sellers describe liberals as being “Godless” and guilty of “Treason”, Bill O’Reilly routinely compares liberal activists to the KKK and Nazis, Glenn Beck describes Barack Obama as a “marxist”, etc. If this is the voice of mainstream conservatism, is it any wonder that the extremists on that side would grab a gun and shoot up a liberal church?
I’m starting to see a pattern here :
The chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party died Wednesday, hours after a shooting at the party’s headquarters, police said. Police block off the streets surrounding the state Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday in Little Rock.Chairman Bill Gwatney died at 3:59 Wednesday afternoon after a gunman entered his Little Rock office and shot him several times in the upper body, Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said.
While we should reserve judgment until we know more about the shooter, when a party chairman gets murdered by a stranger who walks into his workplace demanding to speak to him, I think it’s safe to assume politics might be involved. Moreover, regardless of whether or not this guy was a crazy loner, actions like these don’t occur in a vacuum. I mean, is anybody really surprised when violent lunatics erupt from a mindset in which this passes for humor? (h/t)
Hawaii - Here’s a little rule of thumb : If the Brady Bunch went there, it’s not “exotic“.
Renewable Energy – The Olympics seem to be playing John McCain’s negative ads in a non-stop loop, but the ad’s use of windmills hides the fact that John McCain has zero credibility on wind power. Even Thomas Friedman called him out on it. More here.
Georgia - Ugghhh…it’s like our foreign policy “experts” are playing checkers while the rest of the world is playing chess.
Church Shooting – After a lunatic shot up a Unitarian church a couple of weeks ago, I was kinda hoping that more media outlets would pick up on the fact that it was motivated by the right-wing hate speech that pervades our media. I don’t think it’s fair to say that people like Limbaugh and O’Reilly are directly or even indirectly responsible for the shooting, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention that the limits of what’s considered acceptable commentary among mainstream conservative commentators has moved to the extreme right over the past 10-15 years. Sean Hannity has a book titled “Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism”, Michael Savage describes liberalism as a “mental disorder” and considers us “the enemy within”, Jonah Goldberg’s latest book features a Hitler-mustached happy face under the title “Liberal Fascism”, Ann Coulter’s best sellers describe liberals as being “Godless” and guilty of “Treason”, Bill O’Reilly routinely compares liberal activists to the KKK and Nazis, Glenn Beck describes Barack Obama as a “marxist”, etc. If this is the voice of mainstream conservatism, is it any wonder that the extremists on that side would grab a gun and shoot up a liberal church?
Race-Baiting – It’s becoming increasingly clear from McCain’s pattern of filling his ads with Barack Obama juxtaposed with images of white women that Obama is being “Corkered“. Even more insidious is the fact that McCain’s campaign seems to be employing a strategy of using just enough racist whistle-calls to provoke a response from the Obama team, thereby giving them another opportunity to accuse Obama of playing the race card.
Edwards - The infidelity is heartbreaking, but wasting his anti-poverty center’s money on foreign policy efforts? I hate to think that John Edwards is as insincere as his detractors have suggested all along, but there you have it…
The Clinton Memos - So her campaign turned out the be as rudderless and unethical as we suspected? Shocking! Though I do think it’s kinda funny to see Clinton loyalists crawl out of the woodwork to insist that she would have won if
More Olympics - A negative ad during the Olympics? I can’t think of anything more antithetical to the spirit of the Olympic games than to take advantage of the massive audience to score cheap shots at your political opponents. Also, did you catch the multiple shots of George W. Bush checking his watch during the opening ceremonies? Stay classy, GOP.
