Saturday, September 6, 2008
Obama to Palin: You Can't Just Make Stuff Up
Obama finally takes on Palin, but you won't see it in this video. He gets off some pretty good shots at McCain as well. He had this to say of Palin:
“I know the governor of Alaska has been, you know, saying she is change,” Obama said at a town hall meeting here. “And that is great. She is a skillful politician. But when you [have] been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person.
“That is not change, come on,” Obama continued. “I mean, words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up. You can’t just make stuff up. We have a choice to make and the choice is clear.”
Sphere: Related Content
Friday, September 5, 2008
Palin Keeps Up Attacks on Community Organizers
Whatever happened to a 1,000 points of light? Remember when Republicans used to encourage people to get active and organize in their community? Or how about President Bush's "faith-based' initiatives? The only candidate talking about that this election cycle is the Democrat, Barack Obama. What we're hearing from the Republican ticket is this:
The crowd cheered when Palin reprised a pithy line from her convention speech that mocked Obama's professional background.
“I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer only you have actual responsibilities,” she said, responding to critics who accuse her of lacking experience.
This is such a striking slap to the face of all the Reagan Democrats and evangelicals who have clung to the notion that the Republican party supports them in their community organizing.
Sphere: Related Content
Joe Biden Impales McPalin
Biden: It's not so much what I heard at the Republican Convention, it's what I didn't hear. The silence of the Republican party was defeaning, it was defeaning on jobs, on health care, on environment, on all the things that matter.
The Real Sarah Palin
A true insight into Sarah Palin, not the scripted version that McCain wants you to see. She talks about Iraq being a "task from God" and her sons tattoos, among other things.
The second video reveals her church's belief that Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days and that hundreds of thousands of people will come to the state to seek refuge.
Quote of the Day
"What advice could Palin possibly offer McCain? There might as well be an empty seat at the table."
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) noting that the vice president sits on the National Security Council.
Source: Washington Post Sphere: Related Content
McCain Dumps on the Fourth Estate
The McCain campaign is whisking Sarah Palin away to Alaska so that she is "unavailable" to answer any questions from the press (the Fourth Estate of the government) and thus, we the people. It is a shoddy tactic and one reminiscent of a Bush Administration that scripted its press conferences, refused to answer questions from certain reporters, sent talking points to FOX News, and allowed fake reporters in to get out the White House version of stories.
Anyone who thinks a McCain White House will be any different from a Bush White House is seriously deluded. As evidence, witness McCain spokesperson Nicole Wallace defending the unavailability of Sarah Palin to the press, as if it was totally unnecessary for her to face questions. Instead, what Wallace plans is for the American people to just "accept" what it is the campaign tells them about Palin.
Anyone who thinks a McCain White House will be any different from a Bush White House is seriously deluded. As evidence, witness McCain spokesperson Nicole Wallace defending the unavailability of Sarah Palin to the press, as if it was totally unnecessary for her to face questions. Instead, what Wallace plans is for the American people to just "accept" what it is the campaign tells them about Palin.
In her smug dismissal of the media's role in asking questions of the candidates, Wallace was really showing contempt not for reporters, but for voters. I bet there are a lot of undecided voters out there who were intrigued by Sarah Palin last night, but who don't yet know enough about her -- what she believes, what she knows -- to be comfortable with the idea of her as vice president of the United States. It's important to them to know if Palin can handle herself in an environment that isn't controlled and sanitized by campaign image makers and message mavens. Maybe she can, maybe she can't. As far as Wallace is concerned, it's none of their -- or your -- business.
This all begs the question of what is really going on. It appears that this removal from the public eye is so they can "train" her. From Politico:
During this time, Joe Lieberman will be tutoring Palin on foreign policy. I think that scares the bejezzus out of me more than anything. A Vice Presidential candidate who has to be removed from the public eye, and the press, until she has been "trained" enough so that she can be competent to be Vice President. Yikes! Sphere: Related ContentThe campaign will "also use the plane time and time on the ground to begin the education of Sarah Palin," Fineman said. "They want to take that pause to train."
More McCain Backdrop Shenanigans
You just can't make this stuff up! After having speculated that John McCain was actually running for Student Body President, I had my suspicions confirmed last night when he chose to give his acceptance speech in front of a picture of a Middle School! Here's the photo that appeared behind McCain last night:
After no one could figure out what the hell that was a picture of behind John McCain, Blogger Josh Marshall finally figured out that it was actually a picture of Walter Reed Middle School. The person in charge of McCain's backdrop was obviously told to get a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center but instead pulled this picture of Walter Reed Middle School:
Oops! That would explain why McCain spent most of his time in front of a blank green screen.
Sphere: Related Content
McCain Taunts Colbert, Stands in front of Green Screen
I think this was the best part of the McCain speech for me. Of all the things to go wrong for him, this was the funniest. You'll of course remember his disastrous speech in front of a green backdrop earlier this campaign season.Colbert went to town on it challenging his viewers to make McCain more exciting by adding backdrops behind him. I can't wait to see what he does with this.
You can see the best of the Green Screen submissions HERE and HERE.
Update: You can find out why the green screen appeared behind McCain HERE. Apparently, this tech savvy candidate didn't hire the best crack research staff.
On a side note, I'm hoping that McCain can promise as President to do all his speeches in front of a green screen. Maybe that way more Americans will want to watch him if they can add their own backdrop so they don't actually have to listen to him speak.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Appalling Republican 9/11 "Tribute" Video Looks like Terrorist Recruitment Tape
I worked for three years in a newsroom after 9/11. I can tell you a hard and fast rule of thumb when it comes to video from 9/11. You can show the towers on fire, before they fall. You can show the rubble after the fall. You can not show the plane hitting the tower, the plane exploding into the tower, or the towers actually falling. Why? For some people the terror and the horror of that day are still real and still painful. If you were going to show the video, you had to have an explicit warning that what the person was about to see was painful.
I guess the Republicans are tired of that rule. In a 9/11 "tribute" video aired tonight at the convention, and shown to millions of Americans watching television, they showed the tower exploding, the tower falling and the blood of Americans. They also showed the Iran hostage crisis, the bombing of the barracks in Beirut and several shots of random pissed off Muslims. Nowhere in there did I see anything amounting to a "tribute." Instead, what it consisted of was the type of scare tactics you would expect to see from a terrorist trying to recruit people to take on the United States. It gives me the heebie-jeebies to watch it. You can watch it, and you can watch the moving Olbermann response to the video which is the REAL tribute to the victims.
WARNING - CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES NOT SUITABLE FOR POLITICAL CONVENTIONS
Fundraising Goddess for Obama
Sarah Palin's speech may have fired up the crowd in the XCEL Center last night, but the group she really fired up were Barack Obama's supporters.
The Obama campaign says it took in more than $8 MILLION dollars last night after her speech. According to CNN:
The campaign also says it is on track to raise $10 million before John McCain takes the podium at the Republican National Convention tonight.
I hope they keep sending her out there so Obama can keep raising more money.
By the way, Pat Buchanan just said Barack Obama is a "decent, likable guy." This is weird election.
Community Organization: Republicans Ought to Try It
Obama has a pointed rejoinder for Palin's pathetic charge last night belittling his work as a community organizer.
Roland Martin, a Republican, also had this sharp response to Palin's attack on community organizers.
Plainly Sarah Palin is Hiding
Are we to understand, that as an electorate, we are only going to have access to Sarah Palin through prepared speeches and rallies, without any exposure to questioning from the press until the October Debate with Joe Biden?
The last two weeks have brought us both the Democratic and the Republican conventions. Now, with those over, the "normal" candidates are hitting the airwaves. Barack Obama is set to appear on the O'Reilly Factor Thursday night. He will also be on "This Week" on Sunday. Joe Biden will appear on "Meet the Press" on Sunday. John McCain will appear on "Face the Nation" this Sunday. Not Palin.
There is "no word" on when she'll ever sit down for an interview. I guess it's the McCain campaign's intention to keep her under wraps. She can't screw up by doing that, and voters can't learn anything more about her, or see someone ask her the tough questions.
I wonder how long it takes to complete the George W. Bush School of Presidential Politics for Dummies. We'll find out when Palin dares to make her first interview appearance.
Sphere: Related Content
The last two weeks have brought us both the Democratic and the Republican conventions. Now, with those over, the "normal" candidates are hitting the airwaves. Barack Obama is set to appear on the O'Reilly Factor Thursday night. He will also be on "This Week" on Sunday. Joe Biden will appear on "Meet the Press" on Sunday. John McCain will appear on "Face the Nation" this Sunday. Not Palin.
There is "no word" on when she'll ever sit down for an interview. I guess it's the McCain campaign's intention to keep her under wraps. She can't screw up by doing that, and voters can't learn anything more about her, or see someone ask her the tough questions.
I wonder how long it takes to complete the George W. Bush School of Presidential Politics for Dummies. We'll find out when Palin dares to make her first interview appearance.
Comment of the Day
A reader e-mail to Jonathan Martin at Politico:
"Mrs. Palin needs to be reminded that Jesus Christ was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor."
Sphere: Related Content
Joe Klein to Media: Keep Fighting Palin
There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we are criticized. But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.
read more. Sphere: Related Content
Notes on Palin's Speech
It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin had the nerve to talk at length about John McCain's "torturous interrogations" in the very same speech when she all but condoned the continuation of similar, abhorrent practices that have been directed for eight years by our own U.S. leaders, when she stated that Democrats are "worried that someone won't read them [terrorism suspects] their rights."
It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin belittled "community organizers" -- thousands of Americans who work long hours for little pay in some of the toughest neighborhoods, trying to assist the American Dream that even the poorest among us can pull themselves out of the muck with a helping hand. Palin and other GOP speakers have turned a noble job into a dirty word tonight -- shame on you! Listen to what CNN's Roland Martin said after Palin's speech was over.
read more.My two parents are sitting home in Houston, Texas and they are both community organizers and the GOP and Sarah Palin might have well have said "being community organizers doesn't matter" to my parents face. I'm disgusted. Community organizers keep people in their homes, keep their lights on, keep food in the fridge.
An oddity from the prepared text of Palin's speech [emphasis added]:
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay
I didn't look in time to see if it was rendered this way on the teleprompter but I assume this spelling was designed to prevent her from a mockery-inducing Bush-like pronunciation of "newkyuler."
PALIN: “It was the spirit that brought me to the governor’s office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau … when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol’ boys network.”
REALITY: PALIN HAS A LT. GOVERNOR WHO IS A FORMER OIL LOBBYIST, HIRED WASILLA’S FIRST FEDERAL LOBBYIST (A FORMER STEVENS STAFFER) & HAD THE SUPPORT OF ENTRENCHED ALASKA POLITICIANS DURING HER 2006 RACE.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, September 3, 2008
Palin Belittles Obama, Takes Gloves Off
Indecision 2008 has this fun list of words that Palin did not say in tonight's speech:
Pregnancy
Economy
Abortion
Values
Health Care
Immigration
Foreign Policy
Roe
Wade
Environment
Polar Bear
Abstinance
Israel
Nuclear*
Brother-In-Law
Clinton
Science
Talking Snake
Economy
Abortion
Values
Health Care
Immigration
Foreign Policy
Roe
Wade
Environment
Polar Bear
Abstinance
Israel
Nuclear*
Brother-In-Law
Clinton
Science
Talking Snake
You're invited to go to Indecision 2008 and add any other words she left out. Sphere: Related Content
So Which is it? Family is off limits or not?
I guess when it comes to Sarah Palin, it's okay to attack other people's families, but not hers. Palin tonight said:
So it's okay to question the patriotism of Michelle Obama, but not okay to question the morality of the Palins. Got it. Let me know when you got any more double standards coming out so I can keep up. Sphere: Related ContentPalin, noting her small-town heritage, says that such folk are “always proud of America.”
Live Blogging Palin's speech
Live blogging
9:32 Why does she insist on using his middle initial when saying McCain's name?
9:33 One minute in, I can't watch any more. It's so ridiculous that this person, who is obviously not yet ready for prime time, would be given the nomination.