John McCain

John McCain's mostly boring, "bi-partisan", "centrist" acceptance speech was certainly at odds with the rest of the RNC's speakers. That's been noted. And clearly it will set the agenda for what will come out of *his* mouth from now until the election. Nothing but good old faux-populist rhetoric and unity and changing washington 'together'. While all this is silly and easy to see for the sham it is, there's another issue at the core of that speech and of the McCain campaign that seems to have escaped many.

John McCain's new credo is 'country first' and his speechwriter used McCain's time in a POW camp to frame the discussion, to give credibility to the idea that John McCain is a patriot first, who first learned to truly love his country when in his prison cell, doing his duty.

As he said, when he left for Vietnam - and right up until he was shot down - he was arrogant and selfish. In prison he learned humilty and patroitism and from the moment he was set free he has always put 1) himself second and 2) country first.

Then why did he cheat on his wife upon his return home? And why did he divorce her?
After she was in a debilitating car accident, after he promised before his God and community that only death would do them part? She didn't ditch him when he was imprisoned for 5 years. So why did he drop her for a beauty queen, heiress to a fortune?

Mind you, I'm not a saint and I can't say what I would have done in his shoes. But I know what he wants me to believe about him, and I know better than to believe it.

Because he is completely full of it.

GOP self-contradictions on ALL the Palin mess

Live by the 'Enquirer', die by it?

The sleazy National Enquirer, which exposed the sleazy John Edwards, is reporting that Palin cheated on her husband with his business partner. With the amount of rage conservatives hit the "mainstream media" with for not following up on the Edwards affair, I wonder what the response will be to this news.

Palin's speech

Well, what can I say. I thought the speech was awful. It was poorly delivered. She was too clearly 'reading'. She didn't seem to 'feel' or 'identify with' the lines. She came of as disingenuous. Then there is the issue of mockery and condescension. When will republicans learn that it is just this sort of talk that is exactly what people are tired of in politics, and a major part of why Obama has been so embraced; He doesn't insult and mock people.

Perhaps it was the incredibly insulting Giuliani speech that preceeded Palin's that set the tone, but I came out of those two speeches feeling like I needed a bath.

If I'm right, this speech went over like a lead balloon outside of the convention room floor. I look forward to seeing polls on this. And I feel quite certain we'll see just the same sort of aggressive condescension from McCain. So if I'm right there's going to be little to no bounce off this. In fact, I'll predict a drop. McCain will never get over 45%.

Weather prayers and weather reality

In a not-so-widely reported story leading up to the Democratic National Convention, fringe evangelical Christian group "Focus on the Family" decided to pray for torrential rain to ruin Barack Obama's amazing open air speech. They posted a youtube video and tried to get the message out as best they could.

What must someone who truly believes prayer can change weather, and that God intercedes for political causes, on the side of the righteous, think when the weather was perfect? And what in the world must such a 'true believer' think now that the horrible weather news is saying Hurricane Gustav may well strike US shores with extremely violent force on the eve of the Republican convention? Barely 3 years since Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans and exposed the cold crassness of the Republican party, effectively eliminating George Bush's political capital?

If I could ascribe consistency in reasoning to a 'true believer' who prayed for rain at the Democratic convention but instead had to witness an electrical storm of another kind, with 40 million viewers, I'd be worried. If days later I found out that worse weather was on the way to disrupt the favored Republican convention, I'd suppose I'd have to second-guess myself. Either its a sign I'm supporting the wrong group, or its a sign that I shouldn't pray for harm to come to people.

A-palin

Can I tell you how pleased with the McCain campaign's choice for VP? I can't imagine what in the world they were thinking!

Well, I know what they were thinking, but they didn't think it through enough. Let me count the reasons why:


1. They totally ceded their major critique of Obama, that he is inexperienced, which apparently had some pull among older independents.

2. They totally ceded the question of who has the more qualified VP - Obama/Biden.

3. They still have no shot at stealing the 'change candidate' label; though Palin is female, a female VP candidate has been done and furthermore, she's a 100% christian conservative. That's certainly not new.

4. The REAL KILLER: the whole point of this move was that even though 1-3 are true, it could appease the conservative base while also stealing away a good number of dissatisfied Hillary Clinton supporters.

But picking a female VP candidate is the exact opposite thing to do, and for the same reason it would have been bad for Obama to do it. If for some voter, say her name is Ann, the point of being a loyal Hillary supporter and not going for Barack is because you wanted Hillary to be the first woman President, or Vice President, the only way Ann can now have a real shot at that is if you vote for Barack this time:

Consider that Ann votes for Obama/Biden, in 8 years Hillary will still be much younger than McCain is now, will have risen to even higher stature in national politics and have a serious platform of experience - and democratic policy victories - to stand on.

But if you vote for McCain, Well, the Palin obviously gets to be the first female VP. And on what grounds? What did she do to deserve it? How can she get it but not Hillary? Furthermore, as we know it is difficult to supplant incumbents, you are nearly certainly assuring Palin 8 years as VP. You don't think she'd be the odds-on favorite to win the Presidency in 2016? Do you think Hillary could beat a 2-term VP female?

And what if McCain becomes ill, incapacitated or even dies in Office - He's 72 and a cancer survivor. What's the average lifespan we're talking about here? There's a solid chance he wouldn't survive the first term!

And this is without (yet) pointing out that Palin disagrees with Hillary and Barack on nearly every issue.

Any way you slice it, a Hillary supporter has ZERO reason to vote for McCain/Palin and every reason to vote for Obama/Biden

The convention

I am so proud of the Democrats. For the first time in my memory they actually put together a compelling convention. No doubt Plouffe and Axlerod had alot to do with that.

But hats off to all the speakers: From Michelle to Barack, everyone held their weight or better. And Michelle, Hillary, Bill Joe and Barack were monumental.

Barack's speech in particular made me proud.He hit all the right notes, inspirational so that the first time listeners can get a feel for his magic but also policy driven to clear away the 'no substance' issue. And finally, it made a very clear distinction between Obama and McCain. There's little left for undecideds who aren't swayed by the BS 'muslim' attacks to fear.