Completely Unnecessary

Yikes! That didn’t go so well.

John McCain’s announcement that he would suspend his campaign (and try to cancel Friday’s debate) to focus on the economy met with sharp rebuke on Wednesday from the Obama campaign and the United States of America.

Arguing that he needed to work on the bailout plan, McCain earned an assist for one of Obama’s best slam dunks of the campaign:

It is my belief that 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… It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.

But it didn’t have to be this way, McCain! This whole thing started early in the morning when Obama’s campaign wanted to work with McCain. Wonkette’s Jim Newell put it best:

The Obama campaign has released a preliminary response to McCain’s [debate] proposal, which shows that the two were planning on making a joint statement about the economy until McCain randomly told everyone he had canceled the debate.

If you were to ask me (and it’s implicit that you would since you’re wasting your own time to read this - seek help), I’d say this has more to do with trying to get Sarah Palin off the hook. Well, equal parts at least.

The McCain campaign is now suggesting that the first McCain/Obama debate be moved to Thursday in place of the VP debate. Then the veep debate would be postponed.

I’m think November 5th is probably the McCain camp’s best bet for that.

However, the whole thing backfired and now everyone (especially David Letterman) will revel in the destruction of McCain and his campaign. The end.

Vaguely Related

• Second Debate Delay
• Legitimate Concern on Palin

I’ve been thinking about Sarah Palin during my weekend hiatus (I was in Adelaide, which is an entirely different, occasionally terrifying story).

But remember last week? Remember when everyone was convinced that the level of scandal was too great, that Palin would be replaced by the end of the week?

It’s funny how one speech that didn’t say a whole hell of a lot totally changed the tone about Sarah Palin.

I’m a little concerned that the coverage and Democratic outrage over her speech (mine included) has legitimized Palin as a candidate. I wonder if a better reaction might have been, ‘Yes, well, that’s all very nice speechifying, but you’re highly unqualified to be president, so….’ *

It may also have taken our eyes off the ball.

John McCain seems to have gotten a free pass on his speech - not much fanfare, but - Barack Obama aside - not much critique either. Palin is the big story of last week - and McCain seemed small beside her.

That might be a good thing, but I’m conflicted. I feel as though treating Sarah Palin like the enemy only grants her power and diverts attention from the fact that the best way to keep Palin out of the White House is to make sure that John McCain doesn’t get there.

Palin excites the base - fine. She might get some people out to the polls that would have stayed home (and, for the record, I’m glad about that; the more people voting the better, I say). She might get some pumas and some panthers.

The election, however, is going to be decided by the vast majority of people who will vote for the top of the ticket.

My desire to not have Palin as a VP is marginal compared to my desire not to have McCain as President. Last week she earned, as far as Republicans are concerned, her right to be on the ticket. As for the rest of us, I think we should laugh her off on the rhetoric, hammer her on the issues should she ever bring any up, and let Biden raise expectations for the debate.

The focus, however, should be McCain.

Speaking of Biden - this is three minutes of a speech he gave after the RNC. Pretty good stuff:

* - my exception to that is the snipe at community organizers. Seriously, where does she get off?

Vaguely Related

• Reflections on Palin’s Convention Acceptance Speech
• Navigating the Sarah Palin Daughter Pregnancy Scandal

The thing that sticks out most in my mind is the Dallas theme song used for the Palin and McCain videos. Nothing says ‘we understand the working folks’ like culture referencing a 1980s television show about rich people.

For serious.

Looking forward to the McCain greenscreens. Even stormtroopers will make that tie look better than the White House lawn.

Palin was the star of the convention for sure, but she was talking to people who were going to vote Republican anyway. Maybe she’ll get them to come out to the polls, but that’s really the most gain I think they’re going to see from her.

McCain didn’t say a whole lot. For all the policy he promised, it was more like “Democrats will raise your taxes” [by repealing Bush's tax cuts that McCain used to oppose], and the like.

The 9/11 video was out of control. The use of the close-up shot of the fireball coming out of the second tower - to rising music, nonetheless - was damn near pornographic. Congrats on breaking that cherry, Republicans.

Overall, I thought the Obama/Biden combo was better (surprise!), but those two speeches have been sort of lost in the clatter over Palin, the hurricane and the RNC this week. But I don’t think the RNC pulled over any independents and/or liberals. And I don’t think they can win Bush’s 2004 map.

I wonder if anyone will be doing any polling this weekend?

Vaguely Related

• Reflections on Palin’s Convention Acceptance Speech
• Last Day of the Conventions Liveblog

Thank god, huh?

I’m pretty sure Lindsey Graham just said that Barack Obama doesn’t speak the same language as the rest of us. He also used Obama’s ‘it’s not that he doesn’t care, he just doesn’t get it’ line - but twisted it to be about Obama himself. Oooh.

8:04: Hey, they’re running the Palin video Rudy made us miss last night!

8:11: Palin’s RNC video argues that when McCain and Palin joined forces, ‘The world shook, the world trembled.’ Yeah, but it was with more of the “whaaaa?’ kind of trembling than the good kind.

8:15: Tom Ridge is wearing the Hope tie. Party foul.

8:17: Yeah, the barnburners were last night. Brownback ham-fisted his way through his speech, Graham didn’t get such amazing applause either, and now Tom Ridge keeps stopping woodenly until people clap.I’m getting a coffee.

8:31: Cindy McCain started a non-profit that organizes doctors and nurses. HA HA HA HA HA.

8:33: She sounds like a nice, accomplished woman - it’s a shame the crowd is going to boo her helping others… oh, wait, they’re cheering.

8:40: Cindy just said the Republican Party was based on ’service, community, self-reliance… [and] compassion for each others’ neighbors.” Again, to a lack of laughter. Strange.

8:45: I got bored and watched this clip from The Daily Show instead. Awesome.

8:53: I like the setup for Cindy McCain’s speech - hand held mic. I think that’s the ‘town hall’ feel that McCain’s going to do, too.

8:57: I’m offended that they’re using Johnny B Goode. That’s the iconic song from my favorite movie they’re co-opting.

9:00: All the news organizations have huge, backlit signs proclaiming their names. It’s like watching global crises where every runs around with Oxfam armbands and stands in front of the WorldVision water tank. More flags though.

9:03: Okay, they’re running the same song in the McCain video as they did in the Palin video. It’s not the music from Mary Stouffer’s Wild America, but it’s really close. It’s something I know - I swear it’s from an animal show. Ugg, and synthesized again. Why do Republicans hate our instruments? Update: Oh my god - it’s the theme from Dallas. Thanks, 538.

9:09: Ewww, way to make hay from the Bangladeshi daughter. It was alright in Cindy’s video, but here it was like, ‘We saved this girl! From a brown country!’

9:12: McCain went with the (Aussie/Howard) yellow tie! Interesting. (Steph, your door is shut; you’re missing it!)

9:14: Every ‘homemade’ sign has exactly the same paint. Guys, when you’re trying to fake it - purchase widely.

9:15: Oh shit! They green-screened McCain. Let the YouTubing begin.

9:20: Now blue screened, so people have options. Neil points out the irony of critiquing Obama for using the seal when McCain’s running a picture of the White House behind him.

9:22: Whoa - out of sync cheering interrupting their candidate. Sounds like booing. And he can’t get them under control. Awesome. Are their protesters? That’s what I get for watching the FoxNews feed (again, MSNBC cut out…)

9:25: Did he just say that Palin worked with her ‘hands and her nose’?

9:28: That tie looks awful against the blue backdrop. And he looked good coming out, too. Red would have been great! Neil calls it ‘criminal’ - I don’t know if I’d go that far. ‘Unfortunate’ is about where I’m at.

9:29: I wonder if Sarah Palin is going to be one of the people he ‘outs’ for loving pork barrel spending.

9:29: McCain just referenced Abramoff obliquely. He got sentenced today - too soon?

9:31: By the way, did anyone see the terrifying 9/11 video? I wasn’t even going to blog today until I saw that (and I’ve got some time now as John craps on about random, made up voters). There was a flute riff as flames burst out of the second tower. It was awful. Update: Josh Marshall notes it is the first time the attacks have been used for partisan gain.

9:33: Wasn’t he supposed to lay out policy tonight? It’s like a random collection of talking points I’ve heard a thousand times.

9:34: Nice, someone had their sign upside down. Next to a ‘Peace through strength’ sign. ‘War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength’

9:37: Health care? BOOOOOO. ‘Where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.’ You know what? Fuck you - lots of people don’t even have doctors because of Republican, market-based approach.

9:41: Neil says, ‘what’s the point of school choice if there’s vast differences in spending across districts?… Can I choose a school in a white suburb?’

9:44: More ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ Okay, this is now just word for word what Palin said last night about energy.

9:45: Oh, I didn’t know that rising oil prices were what was damaging our planet…

9:47: ‘[Russia] invaded a small democratic neighbor to gain more control over the world’s oil supply’ - he’s talking about Russia, but (except for that ‘democratic’ part) what does that sound like?

or put better by Neil:

___ invaded a ______ ___ in order to gain more control of the world’s ______ supply.
Mad libs!

9:51: McCain’s complaining about the ‘constant partisan rancor’ - seriously, after Palin’s and Giuliani’s speeches last night. Really?

9:53: Here we go on war hero stuff - so, maybe this is a good time to talk about how sad I feel for McCain. I think he does genuinely want to be post-partisan - or used to. He’s been forced to kotow to the Christian and neo-con right to get on this stage. What a cost.

10:01: Be a community organizer!

10:02: Awkward ‘fight with me’ and now they’re totally drowning him out. What’s that?

10:06: Oh they finally found the confetti and balloons. Even the confetti is lackluster. And video of fireworks. Palin’s speech was better.

10:07: Wow. They’re actually playing Barracuda.

10:15: Yeah, I’m done. It was… fine? I don’t know. He didn’t really say much or present it in any particular way. I don’t know whether that will hurt him or help him. I feel meh.

Vaguely Related

• Reflections on Palin’s Convention Acceptance Speech
• Reflections on the Republican Convention

I have mixed feelings about Palin’s speech last night (which is still today for me).

I’ll give her this, she’s a better speaker than I would have anticipated.

When she hit her stride (after being rushed on after a chatty, mugging Giuliani), her style was rather natural, something we’re bound to miss in McCain’s speech tonight.

As I suggested the other day, the bar was set very low for Sarah Palin. She definitely got over it, with some room to spare.

The tone, however, represented just how far this campaign has gotten away from McCain.

He wanted a moderate Republican (Ridge) or a crossover Independent (Lieberman) for personal reasons, but also to draw in independents and liberals.

The speech we saw last night was directed at the choir. Its choleric, mocking tone enthused the base, just as I’m sure it turned away some of those drawn in by McCain’s (once) maverick promise.

Part of the problem, I think, was Giuliani. He was supposed to speak on Monday, but it was moved because of the hurricane.

His barn-burning, angsty rhetoric would have been better then - crazy uncle Rudy gets ‘em all fired up, whilst McCain/Palin talk soberly about the future a couple days later.

Instead, Giuliani’s spoke tonight, and he was having such a good time that they had to cut what I’m sure was a happy-dappy video intro for Palin. So we got much of the same rhetoric back to back, without the feel-good happy in between.

What really stands out for me is the three roars of jeering laughter about community organizing within 20 minutes.

I grant you that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, but what on Earth is laughable about community organizing? It’s the ultimate ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ activity.

I can see them hitting Obama on the experience angle, but the laughter during all three mentions seemed to be directed the idea of it. It was the one slam of the evening I found truly baffling (aside from Romney calling the Democrats the party of Big Brother, in what I assume was a misspeak).

Anyway, if McCain’s speech is in anywhere near the same vein, I think the Dems will have a compelling argument that he isn’t even driving this flying number of them anymore. I’m really surprised that the story about McCain losing the battle for selection of his own veep isn’t getting more play.

What’s the point of experience if you’re not allowed to use it?

Oh, well, Josh Marshall at TPM said almost exactly the same thing, but more concisely. My blog, living up to its name once again.

Here, read this article instead about the complete lack of elected officials currently running Alaska. My favorite line:

If a special election ensues, look for a comeback of former Gov. Tony Knowles (D), who served from 1994 to 2002, or Mr. Knowles’s lieutenant governor, Fran Ulmer, now chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage, says Marc Hellenthal, a pollster and political consultant who works mostly for Republicans. [Or
…
“After that, it drops off,” on both the Democratic and Republican sides, he says.

Hellenthal added Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich to that list, but Begich is running against Ted Stevens for his Senate seat. Three politicians on this side of the ‘drop off’ - that just makes me laugh.

Speaking of Alaska politics, my Alaskan aunt says that while Palin did put the plane up on E-bay, it didn’t sell. And they eventually sold it for a loss to a private buyer. She’s right.

Vaguely Related

• Reflections on the Republican Convention
• Last Day of the Conventions Liveblog

[And vague liveblogging the speeches - I keep updating below...]

Well, Rudy Giuliani’s wading back into the fray with his old tag line about ‘executive experience’ again.

He’s speaking at the RNC tonight and his prepared remarks include the line:

Governor Palin represents a new generation. She’s already one of the most successful governors in America — and the most popular. And she already has more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket.

This mirrors his comments during the debates about Obama, Clinton and every other senator in the race - that they’ve ‘never governed a city, never governed a state, never governed an agency, never run a military unit, never run anything.’ [That quote is specifically about Obama this week on CBS, but it's the same line he often used before his campaign imploded at the start of the year.]

You know who else Palin trumps, according to Giuliani?

John McCain.

His basic argument is that senators aren’t qualified to be president. He argued it in the debates last year, saying McCain had ‘never run a city, never run a state, never run a government.’

To bring it up AGAIN at the convention seems the height of… Giulianiness, I guess. I don’t have a word for actively undercutting the person you’re ostensibly supporting through an apparent misunderstanding of the argument you’re making.

Romney’s speaking as I’m writing this. Here are some quotes (I think I’ve got them right):

We need change alright. From a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington.
…
It’s time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother.

Um… is he fucking kidding me? (Also, does he not know what ‘Big Brother’ means?)

Update: Yikes! Huckabee just referred to McCain as his ’second choice’. (Awww, and the ‘elite media’)

Update II: Heh. Republicans chanting ‘Zero! Zero!’ about Obama/Biden are also using a hand gesture that to them apparently means ‘Zero!’, and to the rest of us means, ‘OK!’

Update III: Led by Giuliani, the entire Republican Convention just giggled at ‘community organizer’. What?

Update IV: ‘No time for on-the-job training…’ Like Palin would get?

Update V: Whoops, Rudi deviated from the script, and had to walk the delegates through the concept of ‘good change’ vs ‘bad change’ - they’re so used to not applauding change. Oh, but now they’re chanting, “Drill, baby, drill’ and interrupting Rudy.

Update VI: Holy crap this is awkward - Rudy keeps pausing for cheers, and then they have to find something to cheer. Plus, there’s a guy who finds Rudy hilarious close to the FoxNews mic.

Update VII: Eek! FoxNews, too close to the Hitler Youth-looking guy angrily chanting USA in response to a line on which everyone else was cheering happily.

Update VIII: Rudy deviated from the script. He said Obama didn’t think Palin’s town was ‘cosmopolitan enough’ since they might ‘cling to religion there’. They loved that. Oooh, and he’s going for the ’sexist’ angle, saying we’re questioning whether or not Palin will have enough time to spend with her children.

Update IX: When they cheer Rudy all together, it sounds like ‘boo’. Hey, it’s Palin!

Vaguely Related

• Reflections on Palin’s Convention Acceptance Speech
• Reflections on the Republican Convention

Oh, hot mics - when will you cease to plague the punditry among us?

They, the commentariat, who - while never saying a word of actual substance whilst on the air - have a legion of apt, insightful (and frequently profanity-filled) opinions on the matters of the day.

And those opinions are captured every time someone forgets to turn. the. damn. thing. off.

Peggy Noonan wrote in her column today:

Gut: The Sarah Palin choice is really going to work, or really not going to work. It’s not going to be a little successful or a little not; it’s not going to be a wash. She is either going to be magic or one of history’s accidents.

Fair enough. A seemingly honest assessment of a conflicted conservative.

What does Peggy Noonan really think, though? Only a MSNBC hot mic can tell us [video and transcript]:

It’s over… The most qualified? No. I think they went for this — excuse me — political bullshit about narratives… Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.

Hell yeah, Pegs!

Also, whoops!

How much better would political television be if stuff like this was actually on the air. Have an opinion, let’s argue! Great!

Finally, Noonan also wrote today:

…[Palin] is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist…

Note: any gun-toting feminist already knows how to reload that ‘thang’.

Vaguely Related

• Privacy and Publicity at the GOP Convention
• Biden and the Feminist Argument on Palin

The McCain/Palin campaign has called for the media (and nearabouts the entire nation/globe at this point) to give some privacy to Bristol Palin.

The 17-year-old can’t be feeling so amazing at the moment, what with all the spotlight, insinuations and the like. [And can I just say re: my previous post, that the deliciousness is in the irony of Palin's policy stances, not in the plight of the girl herself.]

So, who thought it was a clever idea to invite Bristol Palin’s boyfriend to the RNC?

I can see the appeal in getting them all together for Palin’s speech tomorrow night. Getting the whole happy (if a little shell-shocked/shotgunny) family together onstage tomorrow night might seem like a way to try to put this horror of a five days behind them.

Instead, I bet it’s just going to inspire another insane round of photos, and exposes on the baby-bump and related, obsessive nonsense.

But, again, we have the disconnect that underlines this entire situation. They want privacy when it suits, publicity when it might help.

It’s the same idea behind the campaign’s lauding of Bristol Palin for her ‘choice’ in keeping the baby: celebration of a choice that would be denied to women all across America should McCain/Palin get their way.

Instead, the campaign is going to try to use this girl to their advantage, whilst crying ‘foul’ to anyone who seeks to debate this issues that arise from it.

If they trot her out tomorrow, boyfriend in tow, that’s really poor form.

[Oh, and can HuffPost and everyone else please stop using the term 'baby daddy'? That shit is taaaacky.]

Vaguely Related

• Navigating the Sarah Palin Daughter Pregnancy Scandal
• Biden and the Feminist Argument on Palin

There’s always one or two crossover speeches at each convention, so the fact that Joe Lieberman spoke at the RNC doesn’t really bother me that much. He and John McCain have been friends for years, etc.

Do what you want man - go with god.

But, seriously, can he, like, go with god already?

My favorite part of the 2008 election - Obama win or lose - is going to be winning enough seats in the Senate that we can give the sanctimonious old blowhard the heave ho.

Here’s Bush at the RNC tonight via video (and I’m sure there are several Republicans damning the miracle of satellite technology):

Fellow citizens: If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain’s resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.

That ‘angry left’ used to include Joe Lieberman. TPM’s got a series of clips of him railing against Bush, et al. ideology and policies as recently as 2004.

I’ve never been particularly fond of Lieberman, but his braggadocio was less repellent when it didn’t reflect an apparent willingness to abandon nearly all his values in favor of draconian, one-issue politics.

Or perhaps he’s still smarting from 2006, so he took his ball and went to the TC.

[Ergh. Sorry, I had some great (wrong) par from the NYT about how Dems had pushed Lieberman from his ticket in 2006, but I'm unable to find here. I think it's up on my work machine. If I find it, I'll update.]

Either way - really looking forward to the Senate pick up. No one person should have that much power. I hope the Senator enjoyed the smug cheers from the floor tonight; his status is bound to be downgraded come November.

In other news, some frightened part of me begins to suspect that all these Palin scandals and mini-scandals are only to place the bar so low that she only has to skip over it to succeed.

I’ve read multiple postings today (including this one from FiveThirtyEight) that say all she has to do tonight is avoid everything but the most major stuff ups.

Bear in mind that I also just re-watched Season Seven of The West Wing. Remember the one where Leo makes everyone think he’s a crap debater, just so he can hit it out of the park?

I bet Sarah Palin doesn’t even have any kids…

Vaguely Related

• Reflections on Palin’s Convention Acceptance Speech
• Reflections on the Republican Convention

With all the frenzy surrounding Sarah Palin this week, I sort of forgot to thank John McCain for filling my request from last week:

I’m hoping for an Obama bait-and-switch. American politics is supposed to be all drama and circuses.

I demand absurd surprises. If McCain selects Alan Keyes, I’ll vote for him.

The fact that Alan Keyes looks like the more reasonable choice at this point is a McCain gift that keeps on giving. At least Keyes is a known quantity.

And this hilarity of this statement from Ezra Klein grows by the hour (and increasing number of Palin -gates):

In this election, Joe Biden is proving the low-key, stable, drama-free vice presidential candidate who basically does his job and stays out of the news. Joe Biden.

Speaking of Biden, my cheer in his nomination also continues to grow (from CNN):

If Sen. Joe Biden was hurt that Republican operative Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at an event in Minneapolis Monday, he didn’t show it.

On hearing the news, Biden grinned and said “he’s a great American.”

Perfect.

[Ed note: McCain did not choose Alan Keyes, which means I'm still voting for Obama.

Oh, also - I don't hold myself to anything I pledge on this blog. (Except if Palin is withdrawn for Keyes; I swear on my life on that one...)]

Vaguely Related

• Legitimate Concern on Palin
• Biden to be Obama’s Vice President