Back in 2005, I got labelled "pro-looter" by several local right-wing bloggers because I dared to deviate from their "shoot first and let God sort them out" idiocy during Katrina. The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff has come up with a creative alternative that avoids the hair trigger response and seems to separate the wheat from the chaff: he intends to send anyone caught looting to the state pen.As soon as we announced we would be taking people to Angola, you could see the dirtbags starting to leave the parish," he said at a news conference this evening. "It was like somebody sprayed for roaches" ....Sounds fine with me, unless FEMA fails to do its job and fails to get water to survivors for 5 days again. Starving and thirsty people who steal food and water shouldn't be sent to prison for stealing food and water if the federal government does not step up to rescue them.
"Once you get up there, who knows when you'll get back," Stephens said. "There's a lot of paperwork involved, and the storm will probably set things back even farther."
Mayor Nagin tells people to "get the hell out," yet most poor residents of New Orleans don't have the money to travel, because it is the end of the month. The government didn't send aid checks this week and with stores closing this weekend, New Orleans residents left behind will have no access to food and water.Does anyone have any more info on this?
Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal? ....
This chick flick, naturally, features a wild stroke of fate, when the two-year governor of an oversized igloo becomes commander in chief after the president-elect chokes on a pretzel on day one.
The movie ends with the former beauty queen shaking out her pinned-up hair, taking off her glasses, slipping on ruby red peep-toe platform heels that reveal a pink French-style pedicure, and facing down Vladimir Putin in an island in the Bering Strait. Putting away her breast pump, she points her rifle and informs him frostily that she has some expertise in Russia because it’s close to Alaska. “Back off, Commie dude,” she says. “I’m a much better shot than Cheney.” ....
“The P.T.A. is great preparation for dealing with the K.G.B.,” President Palin murmurs to Todd, as they kiss in the final scene [back at the White House] while she changes Trig’s diaper. “Now that Georgia’s safe, how ’bout I cook you up some caribou hot dogs and moose stew for dinner, babe?”
"Something's kind of changing here in Alaska, too, for being such a red state on the Presidential level. Obama's doing just fine in polls up here, which is kind of wigging people out, because they're saying, 'This hasn't happened for decades that in polls the D' "--the Democratic candidate--" 'is doing just fine.' To me, that's indicative, too. It's the no-more-status-quo, it's change."
You need someone older and wiser telling you what to do.
I am 70 going on 80. I'll take care of you.
It’s about her being a woman and that being the home run out of the park. Not her experience or belief system but the fact that “Hey, look, it’s a girl.” That’s the selling point that McCain banked on but when did it become a gender race and not a presidential race about issues facing this nation? A weakening economy, a war, a global uncertainty about the United States intentions, the rights of individuals … are these not important things to be discussing?If "identity politics" is one of the most heinous mortal sins exclusive to liberalism as conservatives are prone to argue, then why is John McCain banking on gender and genitalia to get him elected in November? And why are so many conservatives infatuated with picking a woman simply because she is a woman?
I resent that a woman is, once again, being used as a gimmick. I don’t like that. Palin, however, knew what she was getting into so there’s that.
For my conservative friends, I know this is inspiring. For me, it’s just another objectification at this point of a female but I also know you dig her politics and that’s cool.
But for those left-leaning people who are just voting for McCain because he’s got a woman on the ticket, I can only say, look at her track record and tell me, is this what you want one heartbeat away from the White House?
I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.She goes on in the interview to say that she supports Bush and sees the need for an exit strategy; but seriously, no one expects the Governor of a remote, small state to be ready to tackle the war in Iraq. However, that is the very reason why Americans rely on presidential nominees to choose wisely running mates who do have experience and who could step in to deal with the war.
[Sarah] Palin has been governor for less than two years of a state with 600,000 people, compared to Virginia's 8 million. Before that, she was mayor of a town with 6,000 inhabitants, compared to Richmond's 200,000. Someone able to become president of the United States at a moment's notice? Politically, I have no idea how this will play. As an act of presidential governing, as McCain's first real presidential decision, it was and is fundamentally unserious.
It seems quite clear that [serial contacts about Palin's Alaskan Trooper brother-in-law] emanated from Pallin and that she was actively in it. So she abused her power as governor and then almost certainly lied about her involvement. Why did McCain pick her?Because his judgment is unsound?
Such a strong storm is likely to be accompanied by significant storm surge to the east of its central area, and its surge could be higher than that caused by a 115 mph storm, as Gustav is expected to have winds near 130 mph, Category 4 strength, 12 hours before landfall.Tuesday is also interestingly enough the night that the Republicans in Minneapolis are going to be promoting "reform."
The 4 a.m. forecast would have Gustav move slowly west northwest over New Iberia after its initial landfall, taking a full day to reach Lake Charles, still as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of close to 100 mph. Such a slow passage would likely bring intense rainfall to most of south Louisiana.
The Bush Administration's emergency response and Homeland Security are in need of some reform, given their pants-down posture during and after Hurricane Katrina's strike on New Orleans 3 years ago today.
Bellevue Council Member Eric "English Only" Crafton is moving ahead with his threats to waste more of your tax dollars on a frivolous lawsuit. No amount is too high to burn for a sore loser. He's already gleefully warned that a lawsuit could cost up to $1 million.What does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush is right 90% of the time? I'm not ready to take a 10% chance on change.Americans who want change and vote for John McCain are taking a huge, perhaps fatal risk to get what they want.
John McCain says he will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives.That's exactly the sort of offensive that Obama needs to mount. It's the line of attack that I've been waiting for the whole convention. If it comes from the nominee, then all the better.
Earlier today, ThinkProgress contacted John Hagee Ministries to see if erstwhile John McCain endorser Rev. Hagee saw the Lord’s hand in reports that President Bush might not speak at the Republican National Convention on Monday because of Tropical Storm Gustav.Back in 2006, Hagee declared that “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” Hagee said that “New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God,” because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came.”
ThinkProgress asked Rev. Hagee’s spokesperson, Kara Silverman, whether Gustav’s possible impact on the Republican National Convention might be seen as punishment against Republicans for their not having done enough to combat the “homosexual agenda,” or whether this storm could be attributed to some other target of divine wrath.Ms. Silverman said Hagee had “no comment.”
Mounted in the eagle's eye of the Washington Monument, a CBS television camera showed viewers a thick carpet of people on both sides of the half-mile reflecting pool and all around the base of the Lincoln Memorial. At noon, nearly two hours before the rally began, the police estimated the crowd at more than 200,000 .... [T]he numbers reduced observers to monosyllabic joy. Within the movement, the gathering sea of placards and faces produced the most brain-numbing sight since the first ghost fleet of empty buses chugged through Montgomery.
An ancient man reached halfway across the world to fix the historical moment: W.E.B. Du Bois had died in Ghana .... For those who revered Du Bois, news of his death that very morning came as a shockingly appropriate transition. Gone finally was the father of pan-Africanism, the NAACP, and the Negro intelligentsia ....
King faced ... a giant press corps and listeners as diverse as the most ardent supporters of the movement and the stubborn Congress at the other end of the Mall, where by quorum calls sullen legislators "spread upon the Journal" the names of the ninety-two absent members who might have let the march distract them from their regular business. For all these King delivered his address in his clearest diction and stateliest baritone. Ovations interrupted him in the cracks of infrequent oratorical flourish, and in difficult passages small voices cried, "Yes!" and "Right on!" as though grateful and proud to hear such talk. From the front, a woman could be heard to laugh and shout, "Sho 'nuff!" when King told them about the freedom checks that had bounced ....
The crowd responded to the pulsating emotion transmitted from the prophet Amos, and King could not bring himself to deliver the next line of his prepared text, which by contrast opened its lamest and most pretentious section ....
There was no alternative but to preach. Knowing that he had wandered completely off text, some of those behind him on the platform urged him on, and Mahalia Jackson piped up as though in church, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin." Whether her words reached him is not known. [Source]
The White House titled its official evaluation of what went wrong after the 2005 disaster Katrina: Lessons Learned. Here's hoping Gustav doesn't give that phrase the same bitterly ironic twist the insurgency gave the president's assertion of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.
Crude-oil prices roared briefly back above $120 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as energy traders, betting on supply disruptions, dashed consumers' hopes that gasoline prices would seamlessly extend their descent from recent record highs.
That's simply not going to happen. For all the ruckus about how energy prices have been hijacked by speculators, the underlying fundamentals of supply and demand still apply during hurricane season. And with Gustav bearing the markings of a big, potentially deadly storm, energy traders are not about to let themselves get caught short heading into the three-day Labor Day weekend.
With traders holding the long position, this metaphorically backs the Republicans into a short position, clinging to the hope that they can dodge another disaster and another spike in fuel costs.
If Gustav pounds New Orleans, the deluge will be felt in St. Paul-Minneapolis, reminding voters of the 2005 Katrina disaster that Democrats have hoisted ever since as an example of the current Republican administration's incompetence.
When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just three months after 9/11 and proclaimed, "Next up, Baghdad!", Barack Obama saw, even then, "an occupation of "undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences" that would "only fan the flames of the Middle East." Well, guess what? Mission accomplished.Kerry gave the most stirring call to arms of the convention. VP candidate Joe Biden, who just finished, was good but his speech was not nearly as impressive as Kerry's, in my opinion.
So who can we trust to keep America safe? When Barack Obama promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to our enemies, John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it "the soft comfort of appeasement." But today, Bush's diplomats are doing exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.
So who can we trust to keep America safe? When democracy rolled out of Russia, and the tanks rolled into Georgia, we saw John McCain respond immediately with the outdated thinking of the Cold War. Barack Obama responded like a statesman of the 21st century.
So who can we trust to keep America safe? When we called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, John McCain called it "cut and run." But today, even President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki agree on guess what? a timetable.
The agenda is war and the threat of war - including what would be an end to cooperation with Russia on securing loose nuclear materials and sharing terror intelligence, in favor of a new cold war in defense of ... Moldova and Azerbaijan. I'm sure McCain would like to have his Russian cooperation, while demonizing and attacking them on the world stage, but in the actual world, he cannot. Putin and Medvedev are not agreeable figures, and I do not mean in any way to excuse their bullying. But this is global politics, guys, and these are the cold, hard choices facing American policy makers ....One would hope that the threat of losing would be enough to motivate Dems, but they seem so acquainted and comfortable with losing that I doubt the aphorism "losing is not an option" means a whole lot to them. But the terrifying prospect of loose nukes and McCain's openness to 100 years of war should motivate the Dems to do whatever it takes--short of disenfranchising voters--to beat the Republicans in November.
John McCain is making it quite clear what his foreign policy will be like: tilting sharply away from the greater realism of Bush's second term toward the abstract moralism, fear-mongering and aggression of the first. Not just four more years - but four more years like Bush's first term. If the Democrats cannot adequately warn Americans of the dangers of a hotheaded temperament and uber-neo-con mindset in the White House for another four years, they deserve to lose.
One thing I've come away from here in Denver, in talking to various people, is the sense that the Obama campaign has become consumed with its brand as an end in itself. They did such a good job of packaging hope, optimism, and change that they are now resistant to any campaign strategies or tactics that might, in the eyes of some people, damage the brand.
They remind me of the classic car aficionado who beautifully and meticulously restores a vintage sports car but can't bring himself to risk actually driving the thing ....
A lot of time and energy went into creating this special product. But at some point you have to let go and use the thing for its intended purpose. The sports car is made for driving, tight and fast. The candidate's positive reputation is intended to further political ends, which in the short term means winning election.
Eric Crafton, the Metro Council Member who once blew a gasket on the subject of xeroxing costs, is promising to burn more taxpayer money on English Only by taking Metro to court after the Election Commission voted to keep Crafton's effort to force Metro employees to speak English always and forever off the Nov. 4 ballot.I think even Hillary's detractors would have to agree that her speech rocked the DNC tonight and was exactly what the Democrats needed: a great message and a masterful speech, delivered by a pro.
That was quite a speech. It occurred to me as she built to the conclusion in the last few minutes, that the pre-2008 Hillary Clinton would not have been capable of that speech. That's not a dig. But she grew incredibly as a candidate over the course of this campaign. And this was an immensely powerful delivery, and a richly woven together speech. The beginning seemed fine but not remarkable. But it slowly built into something very powerful.
It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities, because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.
Sure, as a feminist it would have been satisfying to see her raise a fist in solidarity, but let's face it, this speech wasn't aimed at the likes of us. Her target, which she nailed with impressive deftness, was that vague, elusive and maddening clump of the electorate that still somehow finds Obama's wife too aggressive and scary and un-First Ladylike, what with the fist-bumping and the Harvard degree and the actual opinions on policy.
Watching her bat a thousand in every conventional First Lady category--for God's sake, she's beautiful, stylish, charming, poised, maternal and warm, leaving aside for the moment her obvious accomplishments and intellect -- I wanted to call up these waffling bozos in person and harass them. She's Jackie Kennedy with a working-class back story! What else do you want from the woman? .... If you don't like Michelle Obama after this speech, do you like any flavor of ice cream besides vanilla?
Salon.com's Greenwald has been covering the Democratic Party's Blue Dog honeymoon in Denver with corporate sponsor and patron AT&T, which also happens to have a hub in Middle Tennessee and to be represented by Congressman Jim Cooper, who also happens to be one of the bluest Blue Dogs.It was really the perfect symbol for how the Beltway political system functions -- those who dictate the nation's laws (the largest corporations and their lobbyists) cavorting in total secrecy with those who are elected to write those laws (members of Congress), while completely prohibiting the public from having any access to and knowledge of -- let alone involvement in -- what they are doing. And all of this was arranged by the corporation -- AT&T -- that is paying for a substantial part of the Democratic National Convention with millions upon millions of dollars, which just received an extraordinary gift of retroactive amnesty from the Congress controlled by that party, whose logo is splattered throughout the city wherever the DNC logo appears -- virtually attached to it -- all taking place next to the stadium where the Democratic presidential nominee, claiming he will cleanse the Beltway of corporate and lobbying influences, will accept the nomination on Thursday night.It is really not hard to believe why this Democratic Congress is one of the most unpopular in history. They are shamelessly more connected to corporate money and unabashedly less responsive to their constituents.
Here's a number I started to tally in my notebook before giving up: the list of sponsors (roughly three dozen) scrolling continuously across the flat-screen TVs above the bar at Mile High Station. Almost every industry had a company or trade association on the roll call: Conoco, Novo Nordisc, Citibank, the National Automobile Dealers Association, and the suddenly embattled National Association of Mortgage Bankers were there, to name a few ....
And it must be noted that, on the eve of a convention about to elect the first majority-party African American candidate in history, "A Blue Night in Denver" was noticeably white. Of course, there is only one African American Blue Dog in Congress -- Georgia's David Scott -- and a mere handful of Latinos, including California's Loretta Sanchez and Colorado's John Salazar ....
If there's not much color in the coalition, neither is there much estrogen -- of the 47-member Blue Dog coalition, only six are women. Of these, two are rookies -- Arizona's Gabrielle Giffords and New York's Kirsten Gillibrand -- and a third who only won her first full term last cycle: South Dakota's Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who won a special election first before being re-elected in 2006. Perhaps the coalition will change in time with the infusion of these newer, younger members and more input from women.
I asked Democratic pollster and women's vote expert Celinda Lake about this as we strolled along downtown Denver's 16th Street pedestrian walkway. "I think that women voters and women Democrats believe in a proper role for government, and the corporate stuff is a bit of a turnoff," said Lake. "Even the women in the coalition have the most progressive voting records for Blue Dogs, by far."
McCain has been more successful in rallying Republicans to his side than Obama has been in unifying the Democratic Party. Indeed, McCain is now garnering more support from Republicans and white evangelical Protestants than he had June, and steadily gained backing from white working-class voters over the last two months.Are the differences between Republican and Democratic support of their candidates based on different approaches to party loyalty or are they based on Obama's attempt to move to the middle and away from populism after the Dem primaries?
In contrast, Obama made little progress in increasing his support among core Democrats since June. In August, 83% of Democrats favored him compared with 87% of Republicans who back McCain. And the poll found that the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate was still getting only modest support (72%) from Hillary Clinton's former supporters.
The political reasoning behind Obama’s presumed decision to shy away from urban issues seems obvious: on one hand he must work hard to demonstrate that he can identify with Americans outside of urban areas and, on the other hand, he is expected to pick up the urban vote regardless of whether or not he himself addresses head on the concerns of the nation’s cities.Though acknowledging that Obama's "paper" urban policy is better than John McCain's irrelevant school voucher solution and his ridiculous "surge against crime" ideas, DMI asks for more:
Being a spokesperson for the nation’s cities does not mean speaking only on behalf of urban elites, nor does it mean speaking only about poverty and homelessness. Rather, this spokesperson would present cities as typical in the economic, social, and cultural challenges they face, but unique in their capacity to confront and overcome them.My guess is that we are not going to get anything more substantive from Obama than warmed over conservative urban policy. It begs the question: if candidate Barack Obama would choose yesteryear's urban solutions during the campaign, would President Barack Obama use the same to win victories in Congress? If that is indeed the case, then the prospect of winning does not justify holding tongues about the need for progressive urban agenda at the federal level.
Democrats have largely ceded rural areas to Republicans, especially in national and statewide races. The modern Democratic Party is, for the most part, an urban one. That’s not a bad thing. As Rural America loses population, its political influence dissipates as well.
The decline of the farmer was never more evident when, at the end of the caucus, the council opened the floor to questions. David Harper, a row cropper and pasture farmer from Hartsville, Tennessee, stood up to ask if Obama had bothered to engage the Farm Bureau, a non-partisan organization that looks after the interests of its members while simultaneously offering them insurance. Campbell’s roundabout answer was that the Obama campaign intends to reach out to as many rural organizations as possible. Hartman then turned to the audience and asked, holding his hand up, “Are there any farm owners here?” One other hand crept up, belonging to an elderly woman with gaunt, weathered skin stretched across her cheekbones. Hartman turned back to Campbell at the podium and said “That’s rural America…and I’m real concerned about that.”
So the Mall is getting their TIF. I am sure it was reported last week, but it was in the Tennessean article yesterday about TIF financing. The Mall has agreed to build a library for the city in the development. There was no mention of the public space. The TIF is contingent on financing. This may be hard to come by. Especially since many stores are slowing expansion plans. I know there were a few articles written recently that talked about the Council members were beginning to look at their districts for TIF if Bellevue can get it. Is this going to start a trend? Is the entire County going to need to be broken up into TIF districts?
Did you notice the co-chair of the LED task force? Her name is Jane Alvis and she is a registered lobbyist for Lamar Advertising. Looks like [Vice Mayor Diane] Neighbors is putting the fox in charge of the hen house. I am still looking to see if Bobby Joslin [owner of local sign company] is on the list.According to the Metro government website, Ms. Alvis is indeed a registered lobbyist for Lamar Outdoor Advertising. Which billboard opponent does Vice Mayor Neighbors balance her with on the task force?
This task force looks rather one-sided in favor of the business community. Where are the other task force members representing the residential part of the community?
co-chair- Burkley Allen-Neighborhood leader
co-chair- Jane Alvis -Registered lobbyist Lamar Advertising
Dan Haskell -registered lobbyist, Greater Nashville Hotel and Lodging
Debby Dale Mason-Nashville Chamber of Commerce
Patricia Totty- Hadley Park Neighborhood
Anne Withers- ?
Chris Whitson- BZA, Belle Meade resident, doesn't even live in Nashville area governed by sign code
John Brittle- Real Estate
Bob Cooper- Metro lawyer for the Council
Stewart Clifton-Planning Commission
Terry Cobb- Head of Codes Department
Judge Dumas-Environmental Court, who will have to preside over codes violations in court
Anna Shepherd-?
Larry McWhirter- Donelson councilman almost 20 years ago
Sonny West-well enough said here
All they are missing is Joslin and lawyer Tom White. Maybe they are controlling this committee by proxy.
While opponents to May Town Center worry about the risk of development to taxpayers, public transit clearly would require taxpayers to dole out some cash .... Then there are the developers. You might be able to convince some of them to pay for a bridge, but good luck getting them to pony up for public rail.But Lawson draws a faulty connection between the costs of sewer, water, and other utility infracture (which would benefit smaller numbers of people in the immediate location) and light rail systems (which would benefit a wider range of Nashvillians).
If the church is going to measure today's candidates on such "faith and values" issues as abortion. gay marriage, war and the environment, shouldn't wealth (theirs and ours) also be part of that discussion?Camels can be put through the eyes of needles more easily than wealthy politicians can address questions about the stewardship of their riches.
I'd like to hear McCain's response to this question: "You are a rich man. You and your wife Cindy own seven homes, which you apparently use just for yourselves and your children. A number of years ago, you adopted a child from an orphanage in Bangladesh. How many more children could you save if you sold five or six of your homes and just used one or two for yourself. As a Christian, do you feel a responsibility to do that?"
I'd like to hear Obama's response to this question: "You are a rich man. A few years ago, you signed two book deals worth nearly $2.3 million. You and your wife Michelle made more than $4 million last year and you own a home worth more than $1 million. What have you done with that money to help "the least of these." I don't mean how many checks have you written to charity. Can you give us specific names of people you have helped?"
What politicians do with their own money says something about their character. It says even more about their faith.
Biden brings far more to the ticket than foreign policy experience. He has a powerful personal story. As a Roman Catholic with working class and Pennsylvania roots, Biden may give the Democrats added credibility among the very working-class voters Obama has struggled to attract in battleground states of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He has longstanding relationships with organized labor that will give an additional boost to the ticket among a constituency of vital importance this fall ....Looks like the Democratic Party may be getting back to its practical, populist roots in the Biden pick.
Biden's persona and a political personality are in so many ways the antithesis of Obama's. Obama speaks with soaring and often inspirational rhetoric; Biden is direct, blunt and plain-spoken. Obama may seem aloof. Biden is always in your face. Obama offers high altitude passion, Biden's passion is ground level ....
[H]e rides the train home to Delaware every night and has never lost touch with the people and neighborhoods of home.
Middle-class voters are split on the presidential race (about half leaning toward McCain and half to Obama) but there’s a lot of agreement around public policy with strong support for progressive measures. 75% of middle-class respondents think a universal national health insurance plan is an excellent or good idea. 71% want to see a law requiring employers to provide paid family and medical leave. 78% wish their representative in Congress had voted to expand SCHIP (health coverage for uninsured low- and middle-income kids). 68% say their rep should have voted to make it easier for people to organize labor unions. (the list goes on – check out the poll report itself).DMI also discovers that Congress is able to vote against many progressive and popular initiatives because the elected representatives fail to communicate effectively with their constituents:
While Democrats and folks planning to vote for Obama tended to support these policies most strongly, all the policies mentioned above get a majority of support from Republicans and McCain supporters as well.
If these policies are so popular, why isn’t the nation moving in a more progressive direction? One problem is that most middle-class Americans don’t know how their members of Congress actually voted on the issues in question. While two-thirds of middle-class adults say they try to follow what Congress is doing at least somewhat closely, most get very few communications from their representatives. 72% cannot name a single piece of legislation passed by Congress in the past two years that has benefited them or their families. In part, this reflects a grim assessment of Congress’ efficacy. But it also says something about the lack of connection between the nation’s legislators and their middle-class constituents. 68% of middle-class adults would like their rep to support taxing hedge fund managers at the same rate as others in their income bracket. But 69% don’t know if that’s how their rep actually cast the vote. It’s hard to hold your representative accountable if you don’t know what they’re up to.
It reflected a critical strategic choice by Mr. Obama: To go with a running-mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his resume, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Mr. Obama’s message of change.Obama gains some gravitas. Let's hope it frees him up to return to some of the more liberal, reforming themes that were giving him higher poll numbers at the end of the Democratic Primaries.
Mr. Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is familiar with foreign leaders and diplomats around the world. Although he initially voted to authorize the war in Iraq — Mr. Obama opposed it from the start — Mr. Biden became a persistent critic of President Bush’s policies in Iraq.
Stuff like the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry and McCain's Celeb/P Diddy assault on Obama aren't really about the attacks themselves. In themselves, they're often too cartoonish to be believed in any literal sense. What they're about is smacking the other guy around and making him take it. There's no better way to demonstrate someone's lack of toughness or strength than to attack them and show they are either unwilling or unable to defend themselves -- thus the rough slang I used above. That not only makes the other guy look weak. It also transforms him into an object of contempt, which together are politically fatal. It's this meta-message of weakness that resonates far beyond the literal claims. And it's this that Democrats so often seem to miss -- explaining the factual inaccuracies of the claims, demanding that the attacks stop, all the while reinforcing the intended message of the attacks in the first place.
You can even catch a hint of the mentality in the McCain camp's huffing and puffing Thursday afternoon. The new and somewhat improbable line from the McCain camp is that they've actually been doing their best to go easy on Obama, to hold back the stuff that would really make him suffer. But now that Obama's gone ahead and raised McCain's inability to remember how many houses, now he's really gonna get it ....
In effect, the devastating Rezko ad McCain says it never wanted to have to run is pretty weak. Which is pretty much what you'd expect for an ad put together in three or four hours by a campaign shell-shocked by a media firestorm they couldn't put out by screaming POW, POW, POW.
Totally remodeled in Old World style complete w/7 bedrooms in main house & 6 bedrooms in guest houses. Hardwood & travertine floors throughout. Master suite has huge walk-in w/private cantera stone patio w/spa and fplc. Gourmet kitchen has travertine floors, granite counters, comercial SS apliances w/large catering room/butlers pantry off kitchen. 2 guest houses. His/her dressing cabana. Finest entertaining backyard in the Valley - 3 ramadas (2 w/full bar set-up), BBQ, play house, cantera stone decking, pavillion, spa and large lap/play pool. 7 car detached garage...
[CEOs who never built a business from scratch, but who are still receiving hundreds of millions in benefits] are not capitalists. They think they are, but they're not. Capitalism is essentially predicated on an individual's coming up with an idea that is going to benefit society, and as a result of utilizing his or her talent, producing a good end. Capitalism involves the investment of capital. It involves risk ....It is really too bad we don't have more "capitalists with conscience" who though hardened by the reality of human vice, value their responsibilities to society as much as they do their own self-interests.
You would think it would be enough simply to recite the extravagant excesses represented by the salaries of today's business leaders, and reform would follow. Sadly, that is not the case. The heinous mistreatment of something as beautiful as capitalism should not be tolerated. Capitalism is the greatest economic system ever conceived because it comports with the greed instinct. But greed, like any other unsavory potential, must be guarded against. It requires a constant check.
