Fantasy Cabinet

Why the massive delay in posts? Well, nothing's really happened in the past couple of weeks.

I picked up some dry cleaning, visited with the in-laws, ...

my country broke cultural barriers and united in electing a transformational leader poised to become the defining figure of my generation.

And I got a new hat.

Really, though, I couldn't be happier. I firmly believe that Barack Obama will slowly transform this country for the better, be re-elected to a second term, and by the time all is said and done, he will have restored the positive image of America in the world, once again making us the standard-bearer for the best society this planet has to offer. He will bring a sober, yet inspiring tone to America; he will speak to us like adults; and (far-off, starry-eyed projection ahead) after his two terms, he will remembered among the ranks of FDR and JFK. Enjoy your remaining time on the ten dollar bill, Hamilton.

Further far-off projection: Next Democratic president - Mark Warner, elected 2016

And now, my (partial) fantasy cabinet for the Obama Administration.

State: Sen. John Kerry, Susan Rice (alt.)
Treasury: Robert Rubin, Jamie Dimon (alt.)
Defense: Sen. Jack Reed, Robert Gates (alt.)
National Security: Susan Rice, Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.) or James Steinberg (alts.)
Energy: Gov. Brian Schweitzer
Homeland Security: Richard Clarke, Rep. Jane Harman (alt.)
Ambassador to UN: former Rep. Lee Hamilton, Caroline Kennedy (alt.)
Attorney General: Rep. Artur Davis, Gov. Tim Kaine (alt.)

VA, MD: "Goodbye, Electronic Voting"

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Fantastic news. I heard this on the radio, driving in to work. The Washington Post has the story on the front page of the Metro section:

Maryland will scrap its $65 million electronic system and go back to paper ballots in time for the 2010 midterm elections -- and will still be paying for the abandoned system until 2014. In Virginia, localities are moving to paper after the General Assembly voted last year to phase out electronic voting machines as they wear out.

It was just a few years ago that electronic voting machines were heralded as a computerized panacea to the hanging chad, a state-of-the-art system immune to the kinds of hijinks and confusion that some say make paper ballots vulnerable. But now, after concern that the electronic voting machines could crash or be hacked, the two states are swinging away from the systems, saying paper ballots filled out by hand are more reliable, especially in a recount.

Now, of course, every voting place should have one electronic voting station for voters with special needs, but I am very pleased at the move back to paper ballots. They're intuitive; they're reliable; and I can trust my ballot - I'm not left wondering which way a computer program thinks I voted.

Of course, some argue that paper ballots are outdated and that such a move represents a lurch back to the 19th Century.

But the move has perplexed some experts who say that after using the electronic touch screens for several elections now, voters have gotten used to them. People use touch-screen machines for many things, such as ordering at McDonald's and taking money out of the bank, and should, advocates say, be able to vote on them.

And what do you get from McDonald's or Wachovia that you don't get with electronic voting machines? A piece of paper confirming your transaction. You know you ordered a Big Mac, but how do you know that's what's being made for you? There's a paper trail. Also, if you have a problem with your Value Meal price or need to ask a question about a banking fee, you have a restaurant manager or bank teller that can call up your order on a computer and make it right. There's a reason for that: buying a cheeseburger is not as important as voting. As sensitive and critical as voting is in our country, why wouldn't we want a system that values accuracy and integrity over technological glitz?

I'm just sayin'...

"His Choice" - The Hidden Message You Missed

Now, I'm just sayin'...

On its surface this ad is pretty good. No dialogue, no narration, just McCain's own words used against him and a reminder of his joke of a VP pick - an embarrassing example of his bad judgment.

Below its surface, though, it's even better than you first thought (even if it's just from a political ad-making standpoint).

Now, I've seen a lot of discussion on other sites about this ad. In today's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz even has a blurb on A3 about it. The consensus seems to be that it's a great ad: simple, damaging, aggressive, and with a little levity/terror at the end with Palin's wink. It concretely defines McCain as weak on the economy and it highlights his thin bench...

Wait... what was that last part?

Here's where we get into what you missed on first viewing. To illustrate my point, begin by asking yourself this: What is the biggest fear about Sarah Palin?

That McCain will die in office and she will be our (gulp) president.

So. Watch the ad again and listen closely to the soundtrack. With no dialogue or narration to cloud your ears and the words on screen to distract your attention, a new side of the ad emerges.

Hear that? The steady bass thump behind the strings? Like the lub-dub of a heartbeat? The subtle rhythm-keeping clicking? Like the ticking of a clock? The message below the surface, in the periphery of viewer's attention, is a dramatic reinforcement: that if John McCain dies, Winky McMooseburger is the new Commander-in-Chief. This ad isn't just a commentary on economic policy and who is prepared to lead us out of a recession. This ad has now evolved into something even more clever. It asks an even more fundamental question, past McCain's judgment: "President Palin?"

As we begin the ad, the heartbeat and ticking clock keep a steady cadence. They continue through McCain's lonely quotes, ostensibly focusing us on his economic inexpertise. (McCain seems to be solemnly looking at the quotes, too - or are his eyes closed? Is he embarrassed? Or are his closed eyes foreshadowing something else?). The heartbeat and ticking pump through 2005. They patter on through 2007. But there's a change near the end. Listen closer. At the text of "Vice President", the heartbeat skips just slightly, but then quickly resumes its normal rhythm. In the next shot, however, the heartbeat becomes momentarily distressed, irregularly accented and stopped for a panicked, uncomfortable moment when Palin appears on screen, thoughtlessly running her mouth with a rehearsed wink. The moment is accompanied by a discordant, lower guitar note (unheard until this moment) that transitions into the end of the ad.

In sum, clever sleight of hand has turned this ad on economic trust into one that is more striking, more damaging, and posing a scenario more disastrous in its consequences than what lies on the ad's surface.

Just brilliant ad craftsmanship.

I'm just sayin'...

THE Ad

Billy Joel, Opie, Andy, Richie and the Fonz

In today's Washington Post, a piece by Dana Milbank entitled He May Be Right, We May Be Crazy. If you like political humor and the Piano Man, you'll love this. I did.

Also, Ron Howard wants a moment of your time:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Pfotenhauer Gets Served

One for the Scrapbook

Yowza. Em-barassing:

"I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty..."

No doubt you're familiar with John McCain's loud and persistent opposition to earmarks and "wasteful spending".

John McCain, 1st presidential debate, September 26, 2008:

"...[s]pending can be brought under control because I have fought against excessive spending my entire career. And I've got plans to reduce and eliminate unnecessary and wasteful spending."

John McCain, campaign ad "Outrageous", November 20, 2007 (you know, the ad that puts forward the Bridge to Nowhere as its first example of "outrageous", "unbelievable" spending):

"I'll stop wasteful spending by Congress and restore Americans' trust in their government."

John McCain, November 30, 2003:

"The numbers are astonishing," said McCain, an Arizona Republican. "Congress is now spending money like a drunken sailor.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Walk The Walk-ville.

Politico: $150,000:

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

[snip]

Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74

[snip]

Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree

[snip]

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August

The Washington Post: $8,672.55:

Tifanie White, who reportedly has done makeup for the shows "So You Think You Can Dance" and "American Idol," was paid a total of $8,672.55 in September by the McCain-Palin campaign, according to the campaign's latest monthly financial report filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. She was paid $5,583.43 the previous month, records show.

AP: $21,012 (also diaried here by ChicagoSwan):

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006.

..."The numbers are astonishing," said McCain, an Arizona Republican....

You betcha, Senator.

.

Daily Show Tackles "Real America"

On the heels of my entry yesterday about "real America", "pro-Americans", etc, Jon Stewart doesn't seem too psyched about the implication of "fake Americans" like him (and me). What ensued was a trifecta of bits examining the McCain campaign's argument:

More Republicans Jump Ship

Now, I'm just sayin'...

In the wake of the Colin Powell endorsement (and, as a side note, that of Philadelphia talk radio personality Michael Smerconish) - when it rains, it pours.

Ken Adelman is a lifelong conservative Republican. Campaigned for Goldwater, was hired by Rumsfeld at the Office of Economic Opportunity under Nixon, was assistant to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld under Ford, served as Reagan’s director of arms control, and joined the Defense Policy Board for Rumsfeld’s second go-round at the Pentagon, in 2001. Adelman’s friendship with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and their wives goes back to the sixties, and he introduced Cheney to Paul Wolfowitz at a Washington brunch the day Reagan was sworn in.

In recent years, Adelman and his friends Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz fell out over his criticisms of the botching of the Iraq War. Still, he remains a bona-fide hawk (“not really a neo-con but a con-con”) who has never supported a Democrat for President in his life. Two weeks from now that’s going to change: Ken Adelman intends to vote for Barack Obama. He can hardly believe it himself.

In Mr. Adelman's own words:

When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.

[snip]

Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick.

I'm just sayin'...

McCainthyism

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Wheeling, West Virginia, located in the northern panhandle of the state, 11 miles west of Pittsburgh, was the site where nearly 59 years ago a first-term senator from Wisconsin purportedly launched arguably the most shameful - and shameless - fear campaign in American history. At the heart of the machinations were Joseph McCarthy's baseless and unsubstantiated accusations of communist sympathies among certain Americans. Depending upon whichever label Senator McCarthy assigned to you, you were either one of the good, real, pro-America Americans or a godless, pinko commie. Over the next few years, Joseph McCarthy's deplorable, self-interested machinations would inflame national paranoia, exacerbate political divisions, and ruin lives.

Throughout the aftermath of 9/11, the Iraq War, and the 2004 election, a similar gauntlet was thrown down by the Republican party. The simplistic, accusatory, and ignorant question of "Why do you hate America?" became so pervasive that it evolved into a mockery of itself, becoming a reactionary, sarcastic semi-punchline. Again, though, Americans found themselves demarcated as either Pro-America or Anti-America, depending upon whether or not they supported the "right" policies.

Now, I know that you're already connecting the dots in your head between past and present, and so I want to take the opportunity to stress one important point - I am not comparing the man John McCain to the man Joe McCarthy. That's the kind of character assassination increasingly worthy of McCain's campaign. What is fair, however, is to discuss the deeds and rhetoric of the two, and to draw parallels where warranted. Here, we find an undeniable similarity between the tactics employed by the McCain campaign (and its Republican supporters) and those brandished by McCarthy and the Bush Administration. And while by my own standards, "McCainthyism" may be perceived as just the kind of name-calling I deplore, I am unapologetic in taking two similar series of behaviors and branding them a reified "ism".

Tell me how Sarah Palin saying this is fundamentally different from the rhetoric employed in McCarthy's witch hunt:

"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation,"

Or this more localized gem from McCain campaign senior adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer:

On MSNBC this morning, McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer asserted that “real Virginia” does not include Northern Virginia:

I certainly agree that Northern Virginia has gone more Democratic. … But the rest of the state — real Virginia if you will — I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain’s message.

MSNBC host Kevin Corke gave Pfotenhauer a chance to revise her answer, telling her: “Nancy, I’m going to give you a chance to climb back off that ledge — Did you say ‘real Virginia’?”

But Pfotenhauer didn’t budge, and instead dug a deeper hole.

Real Virginia, I take to be, this part of the state that’s more Southern in nature, if you will.

Corke ended the segment noting that Pfotenhauer was appearing via satellite from Northern Virginia. “Nancy Pfotenhauer, senior policy adviser for the McCain campaign, joining us from Arlington, not really Virginia.” “Alright, I’m just gonna let ya– you’ll wear that one,” Corke responded.

Got that? Sarah Palin will tell you whether you're a "real American" or "pro-America" just as Pfotenhauer will decide who's a "real Virginian" or not. (Presumably, those Virginia residents and soldiers who perished in the Pentagon on 9/11 weren't "real Virginians" according to the McCain campaign).

This isn't a question of who likes pancakes and who likes waffles. This is an attempt to directly label entire groups of people as "good" and "evil" (e.g. "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists"). Couple these examples with the smearing of Obama as "palling around with terrorists", Michelle Bachmann's crusade against and proposed investigation into "anti-American" members of Congress, and the McCain campaign's labeling of Obama as "socialist", and the climate being created by this campaign - with John McCain's approval - is disgustingly resonant of the Senate's bygone blight from Wisconsin. "Are you going to support "the Mav'rick" or the terrorist, socialist, anti-American Other?"

Again, it makes me shudder to compare anyone's actions or words to those of such a reprehensible fear mongerer - not because it's inaccurate (it's not), but because it has become necessary. Once again, a national platform is being used to openly divide our citizenry along unnecessary and hateful lines. If John McCain wants to avoid the comparison, he should rebuke and cease these horrid tactics. With two weeks left in this election, I'm not holding my breath.

I'm just sayin'...

Intelligent, Eloquent, Charming... AND Funny?

El Debate-o Finito Snap Judgment

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!

Obama cool and presidential ... again. Collected while discussing issues; unflappable on Ayers and the sideshow, speaking directly to the television audience on important matters.

McCain unhinged at times. Rambling, inconsistent. What's the word I'm looking for... ERRATIC. Angry, snarky, snorty, condescending, obsessed with Joe the Plumber. And JITTERY! wtf was that? Talking too fast, blinking, blinking, blinking.... like he was strung out on Mc(co)Cain(e).

Obama 3, McCain 0

"My Fellow..." Wait. What?

I guess this is what happens when you become more and more reluctant to talk about your time as a POW - all that self-repression eventually comes out at random prisoners... times! times! random times!:

Snap Judgment: Debate #2

Now, I'm just sayin'...

This will be brief: No "game changer" for McCain. Obama: polished, empathetic, highly credible. But the highlight I took away? "That one." My eyes got as big as saucers when McCain called Obama "that one". On the heels of spending an entire debate refusing to look at Senator Obama, Senator McCain found a way to emphasize his contempt for his opponent. He's fast become a nasty, peevish, rude little man.



And, as further example of McCain's disdain, while making rounds through the post-debate crowd, McCain rejects Obama's extended hand:



I'm just sayin'...

SNL and the VP Debate

Snap Judgment: VP Debate

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Quickly, here's what I said yesterday:

The truth is Palin is a very able debater, as she has demonstrated in past elections. While she may not have a great command of the facts (to put it nicely), when she is prepared, she is the master of the non-answer. Look for her to come to tomorrow's debate with a high energy level, a sickeningly sappy, can-do demeanor right out of Disney central casting, glittering generalities, subtle, pithy insults, and lots and lots of bullshit.

I'd say I nailed that pretty well, thanks.

1. Palin is a pull-string doll. She sounded like she was speed reading a book report.

2. Between her thoughtlessly-connected talking points, she took a few moments to be a caricature of herself. There's folksy and then there's Mickey Mouse. "Gosh, golly, gee howdy willikers, Joe! You betcha folks ain't buyin' my dadgum flibbidy jibbit moose shucks. My stars!" Overkill. She was a cartoon; a self-parodying candidate.

3. Biden made a connection with the audience, avoided engaging Palin, and demonstrated a calm and engaging command of the facts.

4. I nearly cried when Joe Biden talked about being a single dad and life's challenges. There was no slick veneer. There was no facade to dig under. That was Joe Biden. Period. That's the kind of thing people remember. It's real sweet that you gave a shout out to an elementary school, Sarah, but you were cutesy and gimmicky. Joe Biden was the one who showed us he really understands.

5. Sarah responded with a cold, deflated answer about McCain's mavericky-ness.

6. Sarah flat-out said she wasn't going to answer questions she didn't like - and she kept her word. True to form, she non-answered most of the questions posed and flat-out ignored others.

7. One thing she was very clear about: Palin wants more power as vice president.

8. Joe effectively kept his focus on McCain, tied him to Bush, spoke in plain English, and came off as the trustworthy statesman he is.

I'm just sayin'...

Please Don't Vote

Biden v. Palin - Preview clip

Watch CBS Videos Online

Now, I'm just sayin'...

In all seriousness, though, as much of a blithering idiot Sarah Palin appears to be, I feel surprisingly conflicted about the VP debate. And I acknowledge it's for the most unlikely and seemingly ridiculous reason: it's too good to be true. There's a tiny person in my head, way in the back, wringing his hands, unblinking, staring into the distance, rocking back and forth on a short stool, paranoid and muttering to himself. "What if she's sandbagging? What if, in the greatest, most deceptive long con in American political history, the McCain campaign got her to play dumb from her inception? They knew they'd be in for a tough, tough race. What if she's been deliberately spouting the lines of a bumbling airhead to Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, and in the greatest ambush we've ever witnessed will wow us all with her grasp of facts and figures in the debate?"

Now, I know that's garbage. But I also know that the bar has been set so low for Palin's performance that unless she collapses in a weeping heap behind her podium, pounding the floor and cursing the Lord, she can't do worse than a "draw".

The truth is Palin is a very able debater, as she has demonstrated in past elections. While she may not have a great command of the facts (to put it nicely), when she is prepared, she is the master of the non-answer. Look for her to come to tomorrow's debate with a high energy level, a sickeningly sappy, can-do demeanor right out of Disney central casting, glittering generalities, subtle, pithy insults, and lots and lots of bullshit. In other words, she will have all the tools she needs to endear herself once again to the American public. Whether she pulls it off - leaving the media fawning over her canned answers and her folksy, just-like-me delivery - is another question. Just be aware: she's done it before.

(Full disclosure, chips on the table: I believe she will fail. There will be spin on both sides, and the consensus will be that she didn't LOSE lose. However, the damage is done. Enough of the people to whom she appealed at the time of her announcement as VP candidate have enough serious doubt about her that she will not recover all of their trust. The debate will be a footnote in the campaign, doing nothing to fundamentally alter the state of the race.)

I'm just sayin'...

Why Barney Frank is in My Top 5

AP: Military Donations Favor Obama Over McCain

Now, I'm just sayin'...

This story was published by the AP in the middle of August. How did we miss this??? Oh, wait - because if we talk about this, we put a dent in the the McCain/POW/war hero narrative. And if we do that, we can't draw our clear line between the two candidates and their military cred (or their lack thereof) - regardless of how many times one of them may have voted against veterans' benefits over the course of his congressional career.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday.

Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much money to Obama's presidential campaign as they have to McCain's, the Center for Responsive Politics said.

I'm just sayin...

Fey/Palin/SNL Redux

1st Debate

Now, I'm just sayin'...

My initial and main impressions:

*Number One With A Bullet: McCain won't make eye contact with his opponent; won't acknowledge his presence in the room; won't give so much as a cursory glance Obama's direction. What does this show? Contempt? Dismissiveness? Is he trying to keep his temper in check? While I expect McCain to correct this by the next debate, I say Obama should have a line ready: monitor whether McCain ever looks at you while criticizing or attacking you and when he doesn't, say, "Senator, where I come from, when you take issue with someone, you say it to their face - you look them in the eyes and tell them what's what." I guaran-damn-tee you Democrats will be on their feet, the McCain supporters will feel shamed and embarassed (and angry), and independents will embrace Obama as strong and honest while rejecting McCain as petty, small, and all bluster.

2. Obama's debate prep was made brilliantly evident by his response to McCain's "bracelet" moment. Without missing a beat, he showed and told his own bracelet story, effectively defusing this favorite McCain prop.

3. While taking a more dignified stance, Obama landed the hardest punches.

4. Obama will be criticized for saying "John's right", "I agree with John in the respect...", etc (there's already an ad out using these statements against Obama), but if you haven't made up your mind about these two guys, which comes across as more credible, more earnest in seeking a positive tone, more knowledgable, and ... wait for it... more likeable? The one who says, "I agree on 'x', but you're wrong on getting to 'x'" or the one who says, "You don't get it. You're wrong, wrong, wrong. Thou shalt have no other way but mine"? ... which segues nicely into...

5. Indepedent and undecided voters connected to Obama. McCain was cold, angry, removed, stubborn, and rude. Obama spoke to the camera, spoke to the moderator, and - as I pointed out in point 1 - spoke to John McCain. He included everyone in the audience in his answers. He talked about the middle class. He talked about kitchen table issues. He related to the problems regular people are facing. Number of time John McCain said "middle class": Zero.

I'm just sayin'...

"Curse You, Red Putin!!!"

"It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right here . They are right next to-- to our state." - Sarah Palin, interviewed by Katie Couric

Photo of Palin in action, defending Alaskan airspace from V. Putin (click to enlarge):

Updated: Oh Dear. Couric v. Palin

How long until Katie Couric is branded a "sexist" by the McCain campaign? Seriously, though, Sarah Palin has no business on the national political stage. Just a pa(l)inful performance.

Watch the clip below, but first, grab ya some butter, cuz this b*tch is toast.



UPDATE: Alaska, Russia, and her foreign policy "credentials":

Uhhh! Ummm! Time Out!!!!! (?)

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Here's the scenario: 2 minutes left in the game, you're on defense and you NEED a stop to win:

1st and 10 from their 20, RB breaks off a 25 yard scamper up the gut into the secondary. 1st down.

Next play, same RB runs a counter left side for another 15. 1st down.

Now, you load up 8 men in the box to stop the run, the safety bites on the ensuing play action and the QB fires one down the sideline to a streaking receiver for another 38 yards before help arrives to knock him out of bounds at the 2. 1st and goal.

Now you're winded with your hands are on your hips, all the momentum is against you, and all the offense has to do is punch it in for the score.

What do you do?

Call a time out. Or, perhaps more accurately, flop to the ground, theatrically clutching your knee, and force an injury time out.

Which is precisely what John McCain did today with the poll numbers against him, two days before he was scheduled to debate Barack Obama in what is sure to be one of the most watched debates in history. Acceptable for football. But for a presidential election?

Obama's having none of it.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama rejected Republican Sen. John McCain’s dramatic call Wednesday to delay Friday’s presidential debate because of the economic crisis.

“This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama told reporters in Clearwater, Fla.

Obama agreed with McCain on the need for the two men to issue a joint statement of support for legislation to rescue the banking industry, but he declined McCain’s call to postpone the first debate, scheduled for Friday in Jackson Miss.

Meanwhile, Pelosi joined Obama in reminding Senator McCain you need to be able to walk and chew gum:

Barack Obama rejected the proposal -- put forward by John McCain today -- that the two presidential candidates leave the campaign trail, delay Friday's debate, and return to Washington to work on a bailout package for the economy,

"Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time," he said, "it is not necessary for us to think we can do only one thing and suspend everything else."

[snip]

"The debate should take place as scheduled," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with NPR to be broadcast this afternoon. "We have to be able to do a couple of things at once. That's what leadership requires."

Oh, but there's more!

McCain was scheduled to be on Letterman tonight, but cancelled, saying he had to rush away to work on the financial crisis. But then a funny thing happened:

Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride [to the airport]?"

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

And as a further demonstration of McCain's commitment to the emergency, just look at what else he did this morning:

The McCain campaign's new urgency about the financial crisis didn't entirely clear his schedule this morning.

My colleague Amie Parnes reports that he made it to his scheduled morning meeting with Lady Lynn de Rothschild, a Clinton backer who recently came out in support of him.

All while Obama was waiting by the phone for a returned call.

I'm just sayin'...

The Unfixable Temperament

A quick update related to today's previous entry: George Will... yes, THAT George Will - Poster Boy for Conservative American Commentary George Will... had this to say in today's Washington Post re: Senator McCain:

McCain Loses His Head

By George F. Will
Tuesday, September 23, 2008; Page A21

"The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said without even looking around."

-- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated.

[snip]

In any case, McCain's smear -- that Cox "betrayed the public's trust" -- is a harbinger of a McCain presidency. For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public's trust," two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people.

[snip]

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

"He Who Drinks Fast, Pays Slow"

Now, I'm just sayin'...

This title borrows from Benjamin Franklin's aphorism, illustrating that short-term benefits may do more harm than good in the future; a quick buzz will get you through the evening, but there'll be hell to pay later.

John McCain's campaign may be on the verge of learning this lesson, again.

While I could cite several minor examples of how McCain has sacrificed good, long-term strategy for the sake of a quick fix, I believe two instances in particular (one major, and one timely) are indicative of the kind of flawed, short-sighted judgment that characterizes the Senator from Arizona: Sarah Palin and, now, the debate scheduling.

Part I: Caribou Barbie Governor Palin

Now, I'm on record as being psyched about Sarah Palin. I thought she was a patronizing, transparently calculated choice and that the shine on the proverbial turd would eventually tarnish:

There will be an initial media infatuation, but the honeymoon will soon be over once she's forced into the limelight.

<\ self back patting>

Sarah Palin was a night of Wild Turkey shots at the bar. You got small doses of good stuff, you felt jollier after each one, and at the end of the evening you felt pretty damn good. But, the next morning, you felt like you'd been hit by a bus, swore off the stuff, and maybe even puked. The short term effect was great, but what did you have to show for it in the morning?

Declining favorability numbers.

When John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate late last month, the Alaska governor quickly became a media phenomenon.

[snip]

But then a funny thing happened: Palin seems to have lost some of her luster...Over the course of a single weekend, in other words, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least.

But, as a picture is worth 1,000 words, this chart uses data collected by Survey USA - a nonpartisan organization that ranks as one of the best in the business for polling accuracy (click to enlarge):



Part II: The Debate Schedule

Now, for the timely story. Ignoring the amusing fact that John McCain plans to take a nap before the first debate (presumably to make him less fussy), the topic of the first debate was originally domestic policy.

The first debate, on Friday, will be at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where in 1962 the enrollment of James Meredith, its first African-American student, touched off a deadly riot. The debate commission had directed that this debate would cover domestic issues, but the two campaigns agreed to change it to foreign policy. Sen. McCain's advisers wanted to lead off with his strong suit, foreign policy. Sen. Obama's advisers wanted to have the last debate center on domestic issues, particularly the economy, which they believe will benefit their candidate. Also, some Obama advisers said they didn't want the issue of race "front and center" during a debate.

So, it would seem that both sides got what they wanted in this respect: McCain leads off with foreign policy, and Obama bats cleanup with domestic. But this is another example of McCain's bad judgment: sacrificing long-term success for quick momentum.

While McCain - who consistently polls ahead of Obama on foreign policy cred and experience - will certainly feel as though he got a shot in the arm from this first debate, how long will it play out? The first debate is this Friday. While record numbers of voters will tune in, headlines and quick talking head reactions from the first debate will be lost to the weekend. The next debate is the next Thursday (October 2) between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. With all the attention this debate has been given ahead of time - MORE than the presidential debates themselves - the media narrative is likely to shift a day or two in advance, previewing whether Joe Biden will bully poor Sarah, or whether Sarah will come off looking like a novice, or a host of other non-issue-related stories. This leaves a very small window during which a strong performance (which McCain still has to deliver, lest we forget) can be fawned over and inflated.

While I could get into similar projected time frames and prognostications for the VP debate and the presidential town hall debate on Tuesday, October 7 (i.e., McCain prefers town hall style, how previous performance determines tone and behavior, etc), there's a more important factor best described by an old sports adage: "It ain't how you start; it's how you finish." While McCain was focused on getting his foreign policy buzz on, Obama is playing for the long haul. Enter, Wednesday, October 15 at New York's Hofstra University where the presidential candidates will meet for their third and final debate on... domestic issues.

That's right. The last things we'll be talking about coming out of the debates for three weeks - with no other date on the calendar but November 4 - are the economy, health care, education, and other Obama strong suits. Obama will hammer McCain on the dreadful state of the economy, rip the face off his faith-based health care plan ("pray you don't get sick"), call out the lies about his tax plan, and wrap John McCain up in a pretty George Bush/four more years of the same bow.

Now, I'm no dummy. I know the McCain campaign won't sit back and let this story occupy the airwaves for three weeks. That's why the Obama rapid response team has to be on their best game for the inevitable distractions that are bound to happen following the final debate. You can set your watch by it. After the third debate, McCain's team will blow the dam, unleashing a deluge of every ridiculous red herring and allegation they can dream up. And don't be surprised if McCain gets an assist from the Bush White House with a timely terror alert in a desperate attempt to shift the public focus. With time winding down, it will be the responsibility of the Obama campaign, the press (gulp), and us to debunk the lies. In the wake of the debates, a swift and merciless Obama surrogate/spokesman counterattack will be absolutely essential to electoral success.

Strap yourself in. This is going to be intense.

I'm just sayin'...

Which One's the Elitist, Again?

Click image to enlarge

The Best Indicator of Future Behavior...

Now, I'm just sayin'...

The absurdity is just as potent on the 100th repetition as the 1st: "Hi, I've been in Washington for three decades. I have 7 lobbyists running my campaign and writing my policies (including the author of the deregulation bill that has our economy royally screwed). I voted against every financial regulatory measure I support now. But you can sure bet I'm an agent of change and reform and that when you elect me, my advisors and handlers are prepared to be kicked to the unemployment line."

Honestly, it's like stopped trying weeks ago. As recently as today:



If you didn't have time to hear McCain's response, I'll summarize: "Well, Carly's different... because I said so. I think she alone did a good job, unlike any and every other beneficiary of golden parachutes. You see, whereas she ran her company like so many other poop-flinging apes, her poop was much browner and firmer."

For the Republican ticket, "reform" is just a word that sounds pretty, noble, and - most importantly - politically advantageous. The record and the rhetoric just don't match up. For example, when you laud your own efforts at lobbying and securing millions of dollars for a town of only a few thousand (people, not caribou), you're not an "earmark reformer". And yes, that's Palin's handwriting in the document's margin, written with the giddiness of a yearbook-signing teenager - if that teenager is responsible for having secured $27 million for about 5,000 people and then appointed half her friends in the yearbook to state government posts.

Reformer? Please.


(cartoon by Drew Sheneman of the Newark Star Ledger)

I'm just sayin'...

Boredom Remedy #43: Endorsement Lookup

My unfairly selective partial List of Obama presidential campaign endorsements

Zach Braff

John Cleese

George Clooney

Matt Damon

Tom Hanks

Dustin Hoffman

Brad Pitt

Paul Rudd

Ben Stiller

Charlize Theron

Will Ferrell

Hal Sparks (VH1's Best Week Ever)

Stella (Michael Ian Black, David Wain, Michael Showalter)

J.J. Abrams (co-creator of LOST)

Billie Joe Armstrong (lead singer, Green Day)

Dave Matthews

OK GO

Michael Jordan


My unfairly selective partial List of McCain presidential campaign endorsements

Wilford Brimley

Heidi Montag

Patricia Heaton

Dick Van Patten

Rupert Murdoch

Donald Trump

Jeb Bush

4th Branch? Palin Ain't Sayin'

The comparisons between Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney have been mostly contained to the similarities arising in light of Troopergate: stonewalling and blocking investigation, lack of transparency, refusing to allow state employees to testify (reminiscent of phony claims of executive privilege), and attacking the investigators as on a "partisan witch hunt". But today, The Hill reports we can add another tenet of the Cheney Doctrine to Sarah Palin's governing philosophy.

Vice President Dick Cheney has said his office only partially belongs to the executive branch. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden disagrees and Republican rival Sarah Palin isn’t saying.

[snip]

“Unlike Dick Cheney, Joe Biden won’t have to create a full employment plan for lawyers and scholars to clear up something that was unquestioned for about 200 years. The vice president is part of the executive branch, period. End of story,” said Biden spokesman David Wade.

We all remember the laughable legal conclusion Cheney came up with in order to justify withholding information and avoiding disclosure: essentially, that the Vice President doesn't really belong to the executive branch because he serves as President of the Senate. Constitutional scholars were left with mouths agape and "fourth branch of government" jokes permeated late night talk show scripts.

In turn, a spokesman for the Republican presidential campaign did not answer the question [of whether Palin believes the vice presidency is solely in the executive branch]. Instead, he e-mailed remarks Palin gave at a campaign rally in Golden, Colo., on Monday.

Palin did not say what branch of government she believes the vice president’s office is part of in those remarks. Instead, Palin said she and Republican presidential nominee John McCain had discussed what responsibilities she would take on as his second-in-command.

“My mission is going to be energy, security and government reform and another thing near and dear to my heart: It’s going to be helping families who have special needs and children with special needs,” said Palin.

Avoiding questions and sticking to tangential, empty talking points to mask your contempt for the Constitution? That's not change. That's more of the same. This is just another example of how McCain's judgment will bring us four more years of this nonsense - by picking a VP who leaves the door open to mangling, twisting, or just ignoring the Constitution to fit her politically expedient needs.

Bye, Carly

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Farewell, Carly Fiorina. We hardly knew thee.

Under the headline "Carly Fiorina Says McCain Not Qualified to Run a Corporation", former Hewlett-Packard CEO and current top economic McCain advisor Carly Fiorina told reporters that neither the Republican candidate for president, nor his hockey mom appointee, are qualified to run a major corporation.

However, in an appearance on MSNBC, Fiorina was asked by Washington Correspondent Andrea Mitchell to clarify a statement she made earlier in the day on a St. Louis radio talk show that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, is not qualified to run a corporation.
Fiorina defended her statement by extending the lack of qualities to John McCain.

"Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation," she told Mitchell.

I'll bet the Obama campaign had something to say in response to that.

"If John McCain's top economic adviser doesn't think he can run a corporation, how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis?" said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. "Apparently, even the people who run his campaign agree that the economy is an issue John McCain doesn't understand as well as he should."

Now, in a move employing terminology reminiscent of mobsters, McCain's campaign will now "disappear" Fiorina:

A top McCain official contacted by CNN said, on condition on anonymity, "No big deal, but not how you get on the surrogate all-star team. Very Biden-like."

“This campaign source said Fiorina would be discouraged from additional media interviews.

Another top campaign adviser was far less diplomatic.

"Carly will now disappear," this source said. "Senator McCain was furious." Asked to define "disappear," this source said, adding that she would be off TV for a while – but remain at the Republican National Committee and keep her role as head of the party’s joint fundraising committee with the McCain campaign.

Fiorina was booked for several TV interviews over the next few days, including one on CNN. Those interviews have been canceled.

As a (not-so) side note, though: I'm no expert, but isn't being the President of the United States VERY similar to being the CEO of a company, in spite of Carly's assertion to the contrary in the clip above?

The President prepares a budget. The President strategically apportions resources to strengthen the country, solve current problems, and prevent future ones. The President has to forecast economic conditions (along with the Fed, Treasury, etc) in order to formulate sound policies in the financial sector. The President manages and delegates to a Cabinet of executives, each with their own areas of expertise. The President works in cooperation with chief executives of other nations to promote peace and prosperity at home and abroad. The President leads the country in virtually every sense of the word...

You know, John Aravosis put it much more succinctly than I just did:

But fortunately the US government is not a multi-trillion dollar enterprise with hundreds of thousands of employees. Oh wait...

McCain and his team just don't get it.

I'm just sayin'...

Economic Strategery

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Did we mention John McCain doesn't know much about the economy? Not that we need to - he's reminded us often in the past:

January, 2000: Seeking to explain his shift on economic issues, McCain claimed: “I didn’t pay nearly the attention to those issues in the past. I was probably a ’supply-sider’ based on the fact that I really didn’t jump into the issue.”

June 2008: Carly Fiorina, a top McCain adviser, acknowledged that McCain has said he knows little about the economy, noting that “he did say it one time, no question, maybe twice.”

December, 2007: “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” McCain said. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

Now, that's nice of him to be straight with us on his dearth of economic expertise, but does he really need to keep reminding us? It's really unsettling. This morning, though, during a testy exchange on MSNBC's Morning Joe, McCain gave his book report on Republicanomics:

"...Wall Street has betrayed us. They've broken the social contract between capitalism and the average citizen and the worker, and the workers are paying a very heavy price while a lot of them are not only emerging unscathed, but some of them left with packages of a hundred million dollars or so."

(As an added bonus, watch as McCain gets cranky with Mika, calling her an Obama supporter in an attempt to discredit and marginalize her and then calling it a "cheap shot" when she points out that her brother works for McCain. Joe actually comes to her defense as everyone on set seems a little shocked at McCain's testiness.)

Now, I've racked my brain trying to figure out where amongst this string of b.s. McCain thinks a social contract exists in capitalism. First, let us assume that he has the economic knowledge of a 10th grade civics student and knows that American capitalism is not pure capitalism (though I would love for a reporter to ask him to define and distinguish the two). Deconstructing his statement, there is no other conclusion except McCain believes some social, humanitarian "obligation" exists in American "Capitalism Lite". I can only guess the Senator has been skimming his Adam Smith cliffs notes. Back in the 18th Century, Smith was a fervent advocate of the theory that the free market, pitting rational self-interest and competition against a social framework that values moral responsibility leads to economic prosperity. In short, the "social contract" to which McCain refers is a hope that individuals get tired of acquiring wealth - also known as a "fantasy". Sound familiar? It's Republicanism and Bush Economics at its finest. He's saying that everyone is out to make as much money as they can - until they see they're hurting the little guy and then they benevolently stop and help the market redistribute the wealth. It's bunk. Time and again, self-interest inevitably trumps moral obligation in our economy (e.g., Enron, golden parachutes, Exxon-Mobil windfall profits, skyrocketing cost of living). The fulcrum of McCain's confused and muddled criticism of the economy is a half-hearted and insincere wag of the finger at Wall Street: "Don't be so greedy, markets! Shame on you! (oh, and here, enjoy another big cut in the capital gains tax so you can keep more of the money you made doing nothing!)"

In sum, McCain's economic "philosophy" is exposed again as more of the same: deregulation, less oversight, rich-get-richer, trickle-down voodoo. John McCain may not "get it" when it comes to your kitchen table, but he sure knows on which side his bread is buttered.

Sadly, it doesn't stop there. How can you fix the economy if you don't think it's broken? Flying in the face of reality, McCain cued up his favorite "golden oldie" yesterday morning:

"Our economy, I believe, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong..."

John McCain said this as Wall Street was in the middle of its worst day since September 11, 2001; on the same day Lehman Brothers (a firm that survived the Great Depression, by the way) filed for Chapter 11 and Merrill Lynch sold out to Bank of America. He said this in the wake of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG in trouble, nervous eyes on Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley... the list goes on...

Which prompted a hard left hook from the Obama campaign:



One begins to wonder if saying John McCain will continue George W. Bush's economic policies gives McCain too much credit.

I'm just sayin'...

Obama: "I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska"

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Ben Smith at Politico reports Obama's latest zinger.

"But now suddenly, John McCain says he is about change, too. He even started using some of my lines. Suddenly he says he wants 'to turn the page.' He had an ad today that he started running that he and Gov. Palin would bring the change that we need. He had this in an advertisement. Sound familiar? Let me tell you something, instead of borrowing my lines he needs to borrow our ideas," Obama said.

He followed up with s dig on lobbyists, saying "if you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well then I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."

This, in my opinion, is the most effective form of attacking. It's sarcastic without being snide (there's a difference, Sarah Palin) and it makes the point (while tying in another B story) in a humorous way. I want to see more comments like this on the trail - biting, concise, but fun. If Obama can get his message across, while stoking these kinds of fires and tying McCain to Bush - all while having fun - he's a lead pipe lock with independents.

I think it complements the tone struck in the video ad that came out last week on McCain's savviness with computers and the economy. While many (including myself) bashed the ad as too light and weak, I believe the tone hits nicely with the intended audience. It's not for the choir, it's for the congregation. And hey, if you're stuck in the pews through all this, you appreciate a good laugh.

I'm just sayin'...



UPDATE: My moment in the sun/top of the rec list on DailyKos:

ABC: Fact Check Fail

Well, at least she knows what one can see from Alaska. Great Job, Sarah.

What We Learned: Palin/Gibon Edition, Part 1

Now, I'm just sayin'...

After keeping the Governor of Alaska safely protected from media inquiries for weeks, Charlie Gibson of ABC was finally permitted to ask some questions of the small town mayor who wants to be our president. So, what did we learn about where she stands? What kind of person was the beneficiary of John McCain's judgment?

1. She has the foreign policy credentials of an IHOP coffee mug.

Asked about the Bush Doctrine, Palin is a moose in headlights. Caught off-guard, her snide, exasperated, condescending tone shines through in a sad attempt to mask her panic. Has she been paying attention for the last 8 years? Watch as she stumbles, bumbles, and finally - once she remembers her coaching - bullshits for the remainder of the answer.




2. Iraq and 9/11? Even Bush doesn't believe that anymore.

Front page of the Washington Post:

Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."

3. War is her first reaction.

This woman is a dyed-in-the-wool hawk.

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.

But NATO, I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, at this point and I think that we need to -- especially with new leadership coming in on January 20, being sworn on, on either ticket, we have got to make sure that we strengthen our allies, our ties with each one of those NATO members.

We have got to make sure that that is the group that can be counted upon to defend one another in a very dangerous world today.

And if Israel is threatened?

GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?

PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.

GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.

PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.

GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.

PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself.

"We can't second guess what they need to do to defend themselves?" Translation: "I love me some KA-BOOM!"

Her first reaction - the place where her mind jumps - is not diplomacy, or any other form of working with allies to bring peaceful resolution to a conflict. It's bombs. It's retaliation. It's war. That's not change. That's more of the same. More itchy trigger finger foreign policy. More diplomacy as an afterthought. More war.


4. Her foreign official address book consists of Jose Cuervo and Joe Canadian.

GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?

PALIN: I have not, and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you.

If that sounds wrong to you, it's because it is.

However Palin, who obtained her first passport two years ago, would in fact be the first vice president in 32 years who hadn't met a foreign head of state, if she were elected.

5. She disagrees with John McCain - and agrees with Obama - on taking action against terrorists in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border.

Great summary by John Aravosis at Americablog:

First, here is what Obama said earlier this year:

“Let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains, that murdered 3,000 Americans,” he said, continuing with resolve: “If we have actionable intelligence about high-valued terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will.”

Here is what McCain had to say about Obama:

Obama at the time was talking about attacking known al-Qaeda terrorist targets, not suggesting mounting an attack on the country or government of Pakistan. Still, he caught flak shortly thereafter from some on both sides of the aisle for discussing the merits of attacking a sovereign ally.

And McCain saw no distinction, while speaking with reporters, today. “That’s still bombing Pakistan,” he said when pressed on the topic. McCain then sidestepped, discussing the merits of diplomacy. “The first thing you do is you don’t tell people what you’re going to do; you make plans, and you work with the other country that is your ally and friend, which Pakistan is.”

Here is what Palin said, in [her interview with Charlie Gibson]:

"If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend."

6. She's fighting a Holy War.

Palin knows she's been exposed as a zealot, trying to backtrack and discredit the messenger, then tries to shine a turd (or put lipstick on a pig, if you prefer), but still directly injects religious conflict into the discussion:

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said -- first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words.

But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side.

That's what that comment was all about, Charlie. And I do believe, though, that this war against extreme Islamic terrorists is the right thing. It's an unfortunate thing, because war is hell and I hate war, and, Charlie, today is the day that I send my first born, my son, my teenage son overseas with his Stryker brigade, 4,000 other wonderful American men and women, to fight for our country, for democracy, for our freedoms.

Charlie, those are freedoms that too many of us just take for granted. I hate war and I want to see war ended. We end war when we see victory, and we do see victory in sight in Iraq.

GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln's words, but you went on and said, "There is a plan and it is God's plan."

PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That, in my world view, is a grand -- the grand plan.

Finally, exposed and desperate, she desperately jumps for the nearest exit.

GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?

PALIN: I don't know if the task is from God, Charlie.

You're Too Stupid To Know What You Mean

Now, I'm just sayin'...

"You're too stupid to know what you mean."

That’s what John McCain is - in effect - saying to people like me from Lebanon, Virginia.

This is personal for me. I grew up in Lebanon, Virginia. It’s a beautiful town in the Appalachian mountains full of honest, hard-working people. It’s an example of America’s greatness and promise – it is the kind of economic success story we as Americans want to see replicated across the country. Lebanon even got special mention in Mark Warner’s keynote address at the DNC for these very reasons.

As an American from Lebanon, Virginia, John McCain has pissed me off royally.

Barack Obama took the time to visit Lebanon on Tuesday, putting a small town in the national limelight like we’ve never known before. This was a very big deal for another reason as well. The common sentiment in southwest Virginia is "Virginia ends at Roanoke". The meaning here is that we're often forgotten by the rest of the state when budget time comes around and, as a region, we're neglected or marginalized nationally. We often feel forgotten - as many do in Appalachian America. And we endure demeaning epithets like "white trash", and "hillbilly" on a regular basis.

During Senator Obama's speech, he used an aphorism immediately familiar to rural Americans – “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.” We know what that means. It means trying to present one thing as something better than it is. We grew up with that turn of phrase. We invented that turn of phrase. Hell, we own that turn of phrase.

To hear a man who could be our next president connecting with us, using familiar and identifiable language was exciting and it was wholly appreciated. The audience applauded and cheered.

So imagine my outrage when I hear John McCain and his spokespeople saying, “it’s not what you say, it’s how it’s perceived – the people in the Lebanon High School gym thought he was referring to Sarah Palin – “lipstick on a pig” is an inside-the-beltway term, they don’t know any better.”

Yes, sir, those poor, dumb hicks ain’t never heard of that fancy Washington pig 'n’ makeup gibberish.

That’s an insult to the intelligence of the people of Lebanon, Virginia and to rural America as a whole. Those in the audience understood what Senator Obama meant – he had just spent the last few minutes talking about John McCain presenting old policies in a new “change” wrapping. That’s putting lipstick on a pig. To say we don’t understand our own damn phrase proves to me that John McCain must think we’re stupid.

So as a demonstration to John McCain that yes, Senator, we know that expression and its proper use, I offer you this in closing:



I'm just sayin'...

Stealing the Bat

Now, I'm just sayin'...

Barack Obama in (my very own little hometown of) Lebanon, Virginia yesterday:

"John McCain says he's about change, too. And so, I guess his whole angle is, "watch out George Bush, except for economic policy health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics, we're really gonna shake things up in Washington." That's not change. That's just calling the same thing something different. But you know you can't.. you know, you can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."

(side note: I'll give you $100 for every mention of Sarah Palin in that quote.)

Folks in Lebanon know what "lipstick on a pig" means. We're no strangers to colloquial aphorisms. Its use here is appropriate and accurate.

John McCain understands its use, too, having employed it in describing Hillary Clinton's health care plan on at least two occasions (one on youtube here). A senior advisor to his staff even wrote a book with the title: "Lipstick on a Pig".

Are any of these uses offensive or wrong? No. At least, not until Barack Obama said it. Now, the McCain campaign is all in a tizzy over the turn of phrase, calling it "offensive", "disgraceful", and a "smear" against Sarah Palin.

And our dear media - with 24-hour cable news networks eager to exaggerate, pontificate, and hyperventilate over anything with a whiff of imaginary controversy in order to generate viewership and ad revenue - swallowed the hook. The breathless conversation this morning now revolves around the question, "Is Obama a sexist?"

If there was ever an example of rank hypocrisy, cynicism, and pathetic, dishonorable political maneuvering, this is it.

And guess what Obama should do?

Wear the phrase as a badge of honor.

I say, use the "lipstick on a pig" aphorism and use it often. Use it proudly.

Regular folks get it. We in the South are no stranger to colloquial turns of phrase. And "lipstick on a pig" is one that resonates - it's pithy, it's memorable, and it's accurate.

This is one area where a traditionally Rovian tactic should be employed by the Obama camp - take a perceived weakness (the quote) and play it as a strength. Say it loud, say it proud, and repeat. "McCain's health care policy? It's George Bush's. It's more of the same. It's lipstick on a pig. McCain's tax policy? It's George Bush's. It's more of the same. It's lipstick on a pig. McCain's foreign policy? It's George Bush's. It's more of the same. It's lipstick on a pig."

If someone's trying to beat you over the head with a bat, you can take the beating, or you can hit back. But if you really want to win, you steal the bat and start swinging.

UPDATE: Obama isn't backing down. He's calling it as it is in Norfolk, VA this morning. Excerpts from speech:

"I love this Country too much to let them take over with lies, misdirection, and swift boating. These are serious times and they call for serious debate".

"Spare me the phony outrage, phony talk about change, we have real problems, we need real answers; not distractions, diversions and manipulations."

And from the article:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is accusing John McCain's campaign of "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he had made a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Obama on Wednesday called the Republicans' criticism of his use of the phrase "lipstick on a pig" a "made-up controversy."

I'm just sayin'...

What's Your Obama Tax Cut?

This is just a fantastic tool. ObamaTaxCut.com

All results are from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Pass it on!

John McCain, Reformed Maverick

Why I love Joe Biden - Exhibit A

The Knockoff

Now, I'm just sayin'...

After watching the Redskins horribly mismanage the game clock in the last 5 or so minutes of their opener against the Giants (someone get Jim Zorn and his staff an abacus: down by 9, TD = 7, need *2* scores! How about a little urgency??), I flipped over to watch Sarah Palin's running mate give his speech.

Riveting his audience with all the energy and excitement of watching milk curdle, John McCain gave a vapid address that inspired most who heard it to fall into a coma.

We did learn something interesting about John McCain, though (other than the fact that he was a POW. Side note: why hasn't the POW stuff been mentioned before? It's a terrific story. TIC). Boy howdy, does he love change. Though he couldn't match Obama's 14 uses of "change", he talked about change no less than 10 times throughout the course of his speech. Changing tactics, changing tone, changing Washington, changing a dollar, changing babies, ch-ch-ch-ch-changin, change, change, changidy, change change. If you missed the speech, here's a breakdown of what we heard:

Change - 10 times
Country - 27
Fight - 25
Economy - 7
Iraq - 2
Laura Bush - 1
George Bush - 0
President Bush - 0
George - 0
Specific plans - 1ish ("Doubling the child tax exemption from $3500 to $7000 will improve the lives of millions of American families.")

So John wants change. Change is what we need. He is the change we need... boy, this is sounding familiar... and looking familiar:





Obama : Ipod :: McCain : Zune

I'm just sayin'...