So, This Is the Rough Tough Moose-Hunting Hockey Mom, Huh?

From ABCNews:

[The] campaign manager for Sen. John McCain ... just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself to any tough questions from reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."

Would Sarah Palin stamp her feet and refuse to meet with Russia until Vlad Putin gave her respect and deference? Ms. Palin should grow up. If she wants to run among the grown-ups who have toughed out a long campaign season to win votes to get them where they are, then she should jump into the fray and let chips fall where they may. Even her counter part, Joe Biden, has put his hide on the line during the process. Why is the McCain campaign shielding her rather than letting her show people that she is tough enough to face difficulty? It's what should be demanded of leaders who could be president one day. They must be trying to hide some fatal flaw or vulnerability from public view.

She may run, but she cannot hide forever. She's leaving a lot of blank space to be filled in by her opposition. At some point, she's going to have to answer for herself.


UPDATE: Palin caves to criticism.

Obama Video Response to the McCain/Palin Attacks on Community Organizers

The community organizer who hired a young Barack Obama for the job that Sarah Palin ridiculed him for expresses her own thoughts about it to a Canadian new service:

In the 30 years Loretta Augustine-Herron has been a community organizer in Chicago, she has been involved in many projects, from ridding a public-housing facility of asbestos to interviewing a young job applicant named Barack Obama ....

“I was offended,” she said. “It was a real slap in the face.”

Before attending Harvard Law School and emerging on the U.S. political scene, Mr. Obama was hired by Ms. Augustine-Herron to direct the church-based Developing Communities Project in Chicago from 1985 to 1988.

People such as Ms. Augustine-Herron said that community organizing is not something to be mocked, and defended it as an effective way of helping people deal with problems, from housing and health care to employment and voter registration. And she believes it is a perfect training ground for politicians.

“You learn how the government is run, how it should be run, what it means for you, how it affects you and how you can affect it,” she said. “You show me a good community organizer and I'll show you someone who knows everything about the government.”

Ms. Augustine-Herron said that the most important thing Mr. Obama did during his early years in Chicago was train people like her to be more effective in leading the community to initiate change.

“Imagine someone that young, 24 years old, working seven days a week, long hours,” she said. “Anyone that dedicated to the process is ready to run a country.”

It looks like Sarah Palin should learn more about community organizers before she opens her mouth on the subject in the future. One lesson she obviously did not learn from small town life is to avoid commenting on subjects that you admit you know nothing about. It also looks like Barack Obama has learned a few lessons on how municipal government works precisely because of his community organizing position so many years ago.

Kay Brooks Appears to Have Been Caught Up in a Lie

An Enclave reader referred me to information that completely contradicts the Republican source on whom former Metro School Board Member Kay Brooks relied for her mistaken assumption that Democrats threw American flags away:

"All of the flags at Invesco were picked up and put in bags and into storage, along with the unused flags and campaign signs. The flags were going to be donated, and the signs were going to be sent out to be used elsewhere," the [Democratic Party] official said, speaking anonymously since he was not authorized to talk to the press ....

DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney issues a statement: "American flags were proudly waved by the 75,000 people who joined Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention. John McCain should applaud that, but instead his supporters wrongfully took leftover bundles of our flags from the stadium to play a cheap political stunt calling into question our patriotism. On the same day he agrees to join Barack Obama at Ground Zero on September 11, John McCain attacks the patriotism of Obama supporters who so proudly waved the American flag at our historic event in Denver just days ago."

Another statement from the Democratic National Convention Committee: "Stories circulating about flags at the Democratic National Convention are false. We distributed more than 125,000 American made flags at the Convention - the flags removed from Invesco field were intended for other events and taken without permission. It's disappointing that someone would take American flags without authorization and then falsely describe how they were being used. We have the utmost respect for the American flag, and it's sad to see them being used for a cheap political stunt."

So, it comes down to the Republican Party's word against the Democratic Party's word with no independent or neutral corroborating proof. Since the alleged violators are innocent until proven guilty and since the Republicans are prone to say whatever they want true or false about their opponents, I'm going to take the Dems word over it.

Palin E-Bay Airplane Story Was an Imbellishment of the Truth

She didn't sell it on E-bay as she claimed, and she sold it for much less than the purchase price. Don't confuse the campaign's entrepreneurial myth with Sarah Palin's real life.

And it's unfortunate that the press is not being allowed to follow-up with questions on this and other matters. You see, Sarah Palin, like Dick Cheney is now being spirited around to undisclosed locations without any media contact, even though John McCain promised in July at least an appearance on Larry King the night after the VP nomination.

CLARIFICATION:  It was actually Palin's running mate, John McCain, who said that Palin sold it on e-bay.

You Will Be Startled, Maybe Even Horrified, at the Resemblance

It is uncanny. The "change" parallels between George W. Bush and John McCain are just freaking me out:

Four more years! Four more years!

HT: Braisted

Revenge of the Community Organizers

In response to the McCain/Palin ticket's hateful mockery of community organizers, the latter have set up a website in their own defense. Here are some of the justifiably indignant comments of community organizers to Sarah Palin and Mayor "9/11, 9/11, 9/11!," both of whom denigrated, scorned, and taunted organizers at last week's GOP necktie party:

“Community organizers work in neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by the failing economy,” said John Raskin, founder of Community Organizers of America and a community organizer on the West Side of Manhattan. “The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we’re trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn’t need community organizers. But I work with people who are getting evicted from their only home. If John McCain and the Republicans understood that, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to make fun of community organizers like me.”

“I have ‘actual responsibilities,’” said Jacqueline del Valle, a community organizer in the Bronx. “If Mayor Giuliani and President Bush cared more about working people instead of just people who can hire high-powered lobbyists, maybe I wouldn’t have so much responsibility. Maybe working people would have an easier time in America today. But that’s not our reality, and they don’t have to mock us while we’re trying to clean up their mess.”

That's the heart of the matter, though, it's wealthy lobbyists who garner the respect and admiration of elected officials, precisely because community organizers cannot bring the politicians the bling that lobbyists can. Organizing does not lead former administration officials and political lackeys to ease into jobs lobbying for corporations to leverage more tax breaks and special treatment by giving the politicians more money.

That's exactly why Sarah Palin spits out her hatred for organizers. They can't do anything for her because they're too busy working to help people who work multiple low-paying jobs while trying to care for the their families leverage what political power they can up against the corporate Goliaths and their concubines in the lobby industry. Palin the politician wants power and money and they can't deliver either one. Organizers are the representatives of people at the grassroots level in the absence of adequate representation at the legislative level, and that vacuum is due to lobbyists who short-circuit representative democracy with money and special favors.

So the question bears repeating: who is more worthy of scorn? Community organizers or the lobbyists who help Sarah Palin stay in office?

Kay Brooks Tests Our Gullibility

Because Kay Brooks read in the mainstream media that Republicans told them that a custodian showed up with bags of neatly rolled American flags and said that Democrats had intended them for the trash and because she saw a picture of trash bags with American flags we are supposed to believe that Democrats were throwing away Old Glory and they hate America.

Yes, I can tell by the color and size of the trash bags (in this untraceable picture) that they are definitely Democratic grade trash bags. And I can tell by the way they are wrapped around the flags (in a photo that anybody with some flags and trash bags can pose and snap) that the Democrats, with malice of forethought, destined flags for the trash bin. They hate us for our freedom.

What I cannot quite make out is whether those flags are actually made in China by slave labor in order to cover America's indebtedness to the Communist country. I also cannot tell whether this is a ploy staged to pump up Chinese novelty sales by publicizing their product and putting slave-wage-friendly Republicans back in the White House again. However, if they are Chinese-sponsored American flags, perhaps true patriots like Kay Brooks should be a little more circumspect before asking us to be so gullible as to believe that Democrats are trying to bring America down because of a picture of novelty items in trash bags that could have been taken by anyone, anywhere, at any time.

It's not like Republicans don't make up stuff to make Democrats look bad. Chances are good that this is either a photo unrelated to the Democrats or the Republicans are just pulling something else out of their collective ass to torpedo the opponent. Chances are even better that Kay Brooks is up to her usual demonizing of liberals. What better way to do that to insinuate that they don't honor their country? But this ain't Iwo Jima, and Democrats aren't Hirohito's hoards swarming in to capture the flag. If you want to believe what a Republican told the mainstream media and lay blame, then blame rampant consumerism that reduces noble flags to cheap mass produced consumer items designed for convenient disposal to make room for acquistion of the next profit-bearing novelty.

There's some video of clean up after the Republican convention. I can't quite make out whether they picked up any flags and threw them in the trash, but they are throwing away novelty red, white, and blue confetti, which sure as hell doesn't represent the Canadian flag or the Belarusian flag. Maybe if Republicans loved their country more they would either use non-red, white, and blue confetti or dispose of it honorably, while singing Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!, instead of ignobly throwing it into garbage bags. It's not like they are above doing other things that make me question their patriotism.

What Do Republicans Talk about When They Cannot Explain the Last Eight Years of Failure?

Go, Joey, Go!

They talk trash about community organizers. That's what they talk about.

McCain's Scheme to Attract Clinton Voters Not Working

According to the AP:

Evidence shows that [Sarah] Palin is not drawing a lot of support from voters outside the Republican base. An ABC News poll released Friday found the selection of Palin makes people likelier to vote for McCain by just 6 percentage points.

That's just half the 12-point margin by which Sen. Joe Biden makes them more likely to support Barack Obama.

And as for Clinton supporters, eight in 10 said they would vote for Obama in November, according to a Gallup Poll conducted last weekend after McCain announced his selection of Palin.

Perhaps the McCain team should have spent more time using Palin to attack Biden rather than Obama since Biden makes them twice as likely to vote for Obama than Palin makes them likely to vote for McCain.

But if Norm Ornstein is correct and McCain was backed into selecting Palin because several state delegations threatened to walk out of the convention if he went with his first choice, Joe Lieberman, then the real misstep came much earlier. McCain would have had a lot more credibility with Independents and some Democrats if he had said, "Look: I am breaking with business as usual. I am bucking my party and the social conservatives, who have been wrong for the last 8 years. In the spirit of bipartisanship and for the sake of all sides in our country, I am choosing Joe Lieberman to be my running mate."

He could have more legitimately claimed the mantle of change. And ironically, it might have even rendered Barack Obama's decision not to put Hillary Clinton on the ticket weaker than it turned out to be, not because she is a woman, but because it would have brought the two sides of the Democratic fight together more quickly and easily. The Iraq War still would have been an issue, but a host of other problems that attach to Sarah Palin and George W. Bush would have been easier to shed.

Boots on the Ground: McCain Operatives Sent to Alaska to Obstruct Palin's Troopergate Probe

According to Newsweek, Sarah Palin's husband Todd Palin (a.k.a., "First Dude," a.k.a., "Snowmobiling Salmon Farmer") has retained his own lawyer, because he apparently called a public safety official to Her Honor the Governor's office himself and "improperly intervened in state business" by asking him to check a state trooper's status. Must have been a slow spawning season on the farm. How many other regular Alaskans could walk into the Governor's office, call a commissioner into her office, and start demanding stuff?

Anyway, between all of the lawyers now involved and the McCain operatives pulling the Alaska GOP strings, Sarah Palin's troopergate investigation is sure to hit many brick walls before November. If John McCain had 100 years, he would probably stretch this war of attrition out that long, too.

Diverse Local Group Organizes to Fight English Only

Rather than just sitting back and waiting to see out English Only plays itself out, one diverse group of leaders is organizing to fight big spending CM Eric Crafton:

In the three months since Metro Councilman Eric Crafton and a group dubbed Nashville English First revived the city's language debate, a coalition quietly has been making plans to quash what its roughly 100 members see as a divisive and damaging measure.

Members of Nashville for All of Us range from lawyers to clergymen, private individuals to public officials and business leaders to nonprofit directors. The Tennessean's publisher, Ellen Leifeld, is a member.

Late Wednesday, Nashville for All of Us took its first public action: six organizations and individuals affiliated with the group filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit that Nashville English First filed to force its issue onto the ballot. The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, Councilman Mike Jameson, Service Employees International Union Local 205, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and an individual, James Zralek, were all parties to the motion filed Wednesday.

Anchorage Paper Confronts Palin's Stalling Ploy of Filing an Ethics Complaint against Herself

The Anchorage Daily News stands up to Governor Sarah Palin and accuses her of stonewalling an investigation with which she agreed to cooperate before John McCain picked her as VP:

This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin's accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.

Instead, Gov. Palin should honor her pledge to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, conducted by former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.

She could start by telling aide Frank Bailey he has to talk to the legislative investigator. She should fire him if he doesn't.

Bailey was caught on an audio recording of a phone conversation with a Public Safety Department official, in which Bailey pushed to get Wooten fired.

Bailey was put on paid leave, not fired. A spokeswoman for Palin said that while Bailey is on the state payroll, Palin can direct him to cooperate with the legislative investigation.

So why is Bailey still on the payroll, after he bailed on a scheduled interview with the legislative investigator Wednesday?

The Legislature hasn't given its investigator the power to subpoena, or compel, testimony of witnesses. Subpoenas appeared unnecessary, since it appeared the governor and administration would be cooperating.

That's over. It's time for the subpoenas.

I Wonder

I wonder if this guy is going to keep attention focused on Phil Bredesen's Troopergate in order to divert attention away from Sarah Palin's Troopergate.  He's already calling her "Ronald Reagan in heels," which itself is an image I didn't need stuck in my mind.

Irony of the Heart

While last night I pointed to the inopportune dovetail of Heart's Barracuda lyrics with Sarah Palin's ethics problems after the song was played during her appearance on stage at the RNC, Ann and Nancy Wilson (a.k.a., "Heart") responded today by asking the GOP to cease and desist and underscored their own sense of irony:

The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."

Indeed, no business is soulless to Republicans, but doesn't their approved music library seem to shrink as time goes by?

CNN Analyst Lights into Sarah Palin in Defense of His Mom and Dad

Roland Martin's parents were community organizers and he responds to Sarah Palin's mockery of their profession:

His comments have got me wondering whether the McCain/Palin attack on community organizers is not just one aimed at Obama, but a deliberate and calculated attempt to whip up white suburban concerns about urban leadership and people of color in general who fight for their share of the pie.

McCain Not the Greatest American Hero Except to the Media

While the media is falling all over itself to fawn over John McCain's re-recitation of POW, POW, POW, M.J. Rosenberger puts McCain's service in perspective of the greatest war heroes like Grant and Eisenhower:

You would never know it from the media coverage but John McCain is not one of America's greatest war heroes. He is a former POW who survived, heroically. He deserves to be honored for that heroism.
But one thing distinguishes McCain from other war heroes, the kind whose heroism changes history rather than their life stories.

America's two greatest war heroes were Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. Grant saved the union. And Ike saved civilization.

And neither one ever bragged about their experience. (Can you imagine Ike smacking down Adlai Stevenson by saying that while Adlai ran a nice medium-sized state, he was the Supreme Allied Commander who ran D-Day, defeated Hitler, and liberated Europe?).

Neither Grant nor Ike were POWs like McCain, but there is at least one of McCain's fellow POWs believes that McCain's imprisonment and his temperament makes the prospect of him becoming President a bad idea:

Catch that? There were hundreds of POW, and yet, John McCain is arguing--in fact it's really his main argument--that his POW experience uniquely qualifies him to be president. So, why should we automatically assume that imprisonment and torture are the best prerequisites for a President of the United States? It's not dishonoring his service to question his qualifications for the highest office in the land, especially under a constitution that mandates civilian control of the military.

Like Sarah Palin, Pontius Pilate Was a Governor

One of the best responses I've seen to the McCain/Palin attack on community organizers:

Calling Tennessee Tax Revolt!

Dear Ben Cunningham:

Your boys are off the reservation. They intend to spend $500,000 in Metro taxpayer money. Please do something. Wag a finger. Express opposition consistent with your cause. Anything to discourage them.

Sincerely,
S-townMike

An Artificial Demographic No Better or Worse Than Any Other kind of Mom

Vet this!

HT: Shane

UPDATE: I tell you what. I just can't stop watching this one today. "Thousand points of bullshit" and "denigrating service the night after making service their slogan" are just priceless.

I Love Sarah Palin

Although I would never vote for her, I would like to thank Sarah Palin and the McCain Campaign for sending my statcounter to heights it's never seen before this week: over 10,000 pageloads and over 6,000 visitors since Barack Obama's exceptance speech Thursday a week ago. 2,000 pageloads and 1,200 visitors yesterday alone. Rarely do I get that much traffic in such a short span (and never over a holiday weekend!). From what I can tell a lot of the traffic came from elevated rankings of Enclave posts on Palin in Google and CNN searches. So, I also appreciate the search engine gods.

Thank you, Sarah Palin, for the assist. I guess I can see why others love you so much, too.

Palin Ridicules Poppy's "Thousand Points of Light"

An Enclave commenter makes an insightful observation about Sarah Palin's sneering and snide stabs at community organizers during her acceptance speech:

When Palin criticizes community organizers, she is in essence panning George H. W. Bush's '1,000 Points of Light' program, which awards community organizers for addressing community needs.

After McCain's speech last night, MSNBC cut away to Times Square to get "responses" from people watching it on the diamond vision. Coincidently, there just happened to be a couple of white shadow Republicans available, looking straight out of the Brooks Brothers Squadron and the French Manicure Auxillary. In what looked like an obvious dig at the profession, one had a McCain campaign pin that said "Community Organizer." Or maybe he just fancied himself the white preppy version of Cesar Chavez or Ernie Cortez. His privileged blue blazer lifestyle probably couldn't handle the long hours and low pay.

UPDATE:  GOPAC's Michael Steele, who was a guest on HBO's Bill Maher tonight, downplayed the attacks on community organizers by Palin et al.  He said that they were not so much attacking them as they were questioning whether the position of community organizer qualifies one to be President.  Then a few minutes later, during a discussion about Sarah Palin's small town experience, he argued that her being a mom and a PTA leader were experiences that were important to the job she could do as Vice President.  Geez.

Maybe We Just Have to Catch Up to Teleprompters

So which John McCain are supposed to follow given last night's speech? The one who said, "We never hide from history. We make history." Or the one who said, "We have to catch up to history." Was it another teleprompter malfunction?

Thank heavens the GOP weathered the crucible where the soul of a leader is tested and refined: the battle of the teleprompters. We already knew that McCain was trying to catch up to history just using one. Odysseus couldn't have written a greater narrative on trials and mettle than MSNBC's blow-by-blow account of Sarah Palin's first acid test of leadership in dealing with a bad teleprompter, and Fox News made Palin look heroic for single-handledly delivering a speech with with a "faulty" teleprompter. Never mind that the legend of the Palin teleprompter was completely pulled out of the ass of the McCain campaign.

It's a dangerous world out there. There's a teleprompter in the woods. And the Republican convention could have gone horribly wrong:

Crafton Loses Round One of His Frivolous Lawsuit Against Metro Taxpayers

The Chancellery Judge upheld the Election Commission's decision to keep the English First/Only referendum off the November ballot, which is all fine and good. But Eric Crafton--who haughtily says he intends to appeal his baby to higher courts--should have to answer to taxpayers for how much this first round is costing us. He's an elected official, for Pete's sake, and accountable to voters. He consistently pounds away at government employees for being accountable to Metro Council for expenses, so why does he feel that he's entitled to hire a contemptuous lawyer in an effort to sue our government (a government which also pays his council salary) at greater cost to us?

McCain Will Reach Out to Anyone ... Anyone Who Doesn't Disagree with Him

John McCain just told his audience not to pay attention to any "static" or "ground noise" after being interrupted several times by Iraq War protesters during his speech.  The problem is that he had just told them that he was going to extend his hand to "any patriot" regardless of political persuasion.

Hence, he intends to extend his hand only to those who agree with him.  Those people are John McCain's idea of "patriots."

By the way, I've counted 3 protesters now.  How are these people getting by the generally tightly orchestrated GOP machine?


UPDATE: Josh Marshall's impressions of the heavy-handed mob response of GOP delegates to the protesters:

I loved the part with the ritual slaughter of the protester. That rocked. That was the best thing since the Lord of the Flies interlude between the Rudy and Palin speeches last night.

UPDATE: Ooops. Flubbed transition between "students" and "parents" in the education portion. Wonder if it was a teleprompter breakdown. If so, John McCain has a whole new profile in courage. Teleprompter problems are tests of character.


UPDATE:  Back to "wants to share credit" mode where he says he will work with Democrats and Independents.  Wonder if he'll work with those war protestors who got thrown off the floor and into some remote "free" speech zone if they weren't taken into custody several minutes ago.


UPDATE:  Oh, no, he didn't!  He did not just seriously encourage people to "teach, minister to people, feed the hungry, and defend the oppressed," did he?  He did not say those things after last night's attack on community organizers!  That's exactly what community organizers have done for over a century.  Has he no shame?


UPDATE:  At speech's end they're playing Heart's Barracuda, no doubt in tribute to Sarah Palin whose high school basketball nickname was "Sarah Barracuda."  However, the lyrics are not fortunate for Gov. Palin, given her current ethics problems in Alaska and flip flop on the "bridge to nowhere":

If the real thing don't do the trick
You better make up something quick

UPDATE: Christian Grantham has photos of the protesters who disrupted the necktie party and subsequently got mugged out of the hall. They were from Iraq Vets Against the War and Code Pink.  The vet's sign reads "McCain Voted Against Vets."

Can't Say That I Didn't Tell Him So

Yesterday I wrote the following:

The other hole in Southcomm blogger's argument is the assumption that the reactions either climax or stop with the social conservatives mobilizing to put McCain in the White House. He's so cock sure of himself that he arbitrarily ends the reactions with the social conservatives, and fails to acknowledge that the mobilization of social conservatives will likely galvanize previously foot-dragging liberals behind Obama.

Within the past hour, the Obama campaign reported that since Sarah Palin spoke last night, it has raised a one day record of $10 million. I'd call that a proportional response by the liberal base to consolidate and mobilize resources against a common threat. It softens the Palin bounce of the past week.

Take Your Pick of Worst Republican Impression of Patriotism

I'm always amused at GOP attempts at patriotism, which are usually cheap, overdramatized, and require no sacrifices of the flag-wavers. There are two embarrassing moments at this week's Republican neck tie party (by the way, they really strung up the nooses last night with Mayor "9/11, 9/11, 9/11!" and Sarah Palin) that stand out like sore thumbs:

1. The Pledge of Allegiance video intended to evoke real emotions in the audience used paid actors instead of real soldiers for a staged military funeral.
2. In their zeal to look überAmerican, the GOP publicly recognized two active duty Navy SEALs, which constitutes a violation of strict rules against military personnel attending political events or appearing to endorse candidates.

"My home, sweet ... DOH!"

What Do You Want to Bet?

If Sarah Palin were progressive instead of conservative and she had a pregnant teenage daughter, the same conservative Palindrones singing her praises now would be blaming both her progressive values and her lack of involvement at home for the pregnancy.  Since she's conservative, her motherhood is sanctified and her career is justified.

Benefit of the Doubt for One Parent; Just Doubt for the Other

Compare and contrast a former Metro School Board Member's judgment of one politician parent vs. another:

Kay Brooks' response to Governor Sarah Palin, mother of 5 children (including a newborn), running for Vice President of the United States:

The women of the Brooks' household were so excited to see this strong woman, mom and wife [accepting the GOP nomination for VP]. I was so thankful my children got to see what was possible .... because she'd worked hard at serving her communities and that hard work was noticed.

Kay Brooks' response to Council Member David Briley, father of 1 child, during his past run for Mayor of Nashville:

Not good [that Briley had to miss the Council's English First vote to coordinate extended family care for his son, Sam]. It was about 8:00 when that vote was taken. I hope this was an unusual glitch and these folks work out the designated sitter issue. I feel for Sam. That's a long day for a small child. It's going to be a long campaign season too.

It seems to me that Kay Brooks shows nothing close to the degree of concern for the Palin children (especially little Trig) that she showed for Sam Briley (assuming her concern for Sam was authentic and not feigned in order to zing David Briley).

Historically in Georgia, "Uppity" is Followed by the "N-word"

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (a McCain/Palin supporter) sent dubious racial code to his fellow conservative southerners today by calling Barack Obama "uppity."


UPDATE: Westmoreland has previously had trouble with other "uppity" people who desire to protect the voting rights of minorities:

Palin Would Not Be Governor If Not for Community Organizers

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities.

- - Sarah Palin, GOP convention speech

One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.

- - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Sarah Palin's attack on community organizers shows that she has no clue about the exacting job requirements of community organizers. Worse, she has no clue about her own debts to the history of community organizing in America, which stretches back to the 19th Century.

One of the most important books in the history of social movements is Robert Fisher's Let the People Decide. In that book Fisher traces the genealogy of community organizing from the 1880's, and if Gov. Palin knew that history she would see that the privilege she enjoys in serving in a high state office and her chance to be placed on a major party's presidential ticket is due in no small part to community organizers who started fighting for national women's suffrage in 1920 and a 2nd wave of organizers in the 1960's and 1970's who demanded equal rights for women.

But she owes what she has to an even larger cloud of organizers. The legacy of community organizers includes prominent women focused on various types of communities. Jane Addams started the first settlement houses that provided day care for working mothers and education for all ages of people at the bottom of the pecking order. Dorothy Day, mother of the Catholic Worker Movement, advocated for women's rights, ran hospitality houses for the dispossessed in urban slums and opposed the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Sarah Palin's children owe the existence of the leisure time to join their mother in Minneapolis to community organizers like Mother Jones, who organized children working in mills and mines in the early 20th Century to leverage change from a Republican administration that otherwise ignored the ills of child labor. The tiny contingent of African American delegates applauding Ms. Palin attacks enjoyed the right of traveling to Minneapolis via desegregated interstate travel thanks to Rosa Parks, who learned the art of civil disobedience right here in Tennessee at the Highlander Folk School from a community organizer, Myles Horton (who also trained Martin Luther King, Jr.).

You see, so much of Sarah Palin's public life would have been erased had it not been for the thankless work of an unbroken line of community organizers (both remembered and forgotten). But she had no thanks in her snide and sophomoric denigration of community organizing. She expressed prideful and pompous disdain for her forebearers as if she earned the privileges of public service all by herself (thus confirming the perception that Republican leaders get born on third base and assume they hit triples). And her previous life as a beauty pageant contestant, TV desk reporter, and hockey mom never afforded her the opportunity to stand in the shoes of people who work night and day (including weekends) for modest pay to serve their community by organizing it.

Worst of all, she abdicated her responsibility as a public servant to retell the story of American progress as her own story. For the sake of personal gain and her own portfolio, Sarah Palin attempted to poison the perception of Americans who may know community organizing even less than she does. The story of America since the late 19th Century is the story of immigrants being "Americanized," women getting the vote and breaking through vocational glass ceilings, African Americans finally enjoying the basic civil rights to which they were entitled ages ago, Latinos fighting for the full fruits of their labors, children being freed from sweat shops to go to school and to play (and, in Bristol Palin's case, freed to have their own children), and neighborhoods leveraging a place at the table of decision makers. Community organizers are the central protagonists in that story, even if Sarah Palin doesn't really understand or acknowledge that.

Not So Willing to Win a War and Lose an Election After All

In using her Iraq-bound son as campaign prop last night, Sarah Palin may have also violated Operational Security, according to VetVoice.com. Generally, disclosing the date of deployment is illegal. But Governor Palin may not have technically violated the law since she wasn't telling the truth: Track Palin is not going to be deployed on September 11, like she claimed. He's going to be part of a ceremony, "though one Public Affairs Officer said that any details of the upcoming ceremony hadn't been made public yet by the military." So, either she knowingly didn't tell the truth or she doesn't understand sensitive Operational Security protocols, even though the McCain campaign argues that her executive experience with the Alaskan National Guard qualifies her to be next in line to be commander-in-chief.

Even if Governor Palin isn't exactly threatening our security, the so-called "patriotic" right-wing blogosphere is. According to VetVoice, conservative bloggers have gone viral and they are circulating information on locations where Track Palin is scheduled to be deployed. Following VetVoice's lead, I will not link to those sites out of respect for our national security and the rule of law.

Show Them the Money: The McCain Target Demographic Seems to Grasp Where True Elitism Resides

These Pew Research numbers are not good for Republicans (and more than a few Dems):

By a margin of 69-28, Americans agree that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This is similar to levels recorded on this question in surveys taken since 1994, although lower than those recorded in the earlier 1990s. Women are more likely than men to agree with this, 72% to 63%. There are few differences by income, but a higher share of middle class Americans with less than a high school education believe this (81%) than do those who have more educational attainment.

Eventually, the Republicans are going to have to leave their red-meat cultural elite positions and deal with the real ruling class in America: the economic elite, especially if they want to appeal to women. Confronting the sin of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is as much culture war (even though it gets mislabeled "class war") as is defending the family. Republicans generally don't comprehend that.

More Like a Great White with Lipstick

McCain strategists are working on a campaign plan of attack that will cede the black vote and that will target white women and white working class. That is sad news for African Americans in the GOP, who will obviously lose more and more traction when it comes to influencing the direction of the party.

And have you noticed the conspicuous absence of references to immigration so far? Last night they declared culture war and the only reference to foreigners were a couple of attacks on Barack Obama's trip to Europe. It makes you wonder if McCain is worried about losing more Latino votes:

The look in the convention hall is similar to that of a typical McCain event. This summer, for instance, 67 people showed up for one of his town hall meetings in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. One of them was black.

The lack of diversity is out of sync with the demographic changes in the United States. The Census Bureau reported last month that racial and ethnic minorities will make up a majority of the country's population by 2042 -- almost a decade earlier than what the bureau predicted just four years ago. Two-thirds of Americans are non-Hispanic whites, 12.4 percent are black and 14.8 percent are Hispanic, according to 2006 census numbers.

I fully expect that if the Palin "hockey mom" approach stops motivating the social conservative base, we'll see them turning to immigration to try to sustain white traction.

But There Is No Global Warming to See Here

A 4,500 year old ice shelf the size of Manhattan has broken off from a Canadian island into the Arctic sea. End of message. Skeptics feel free to reinsert heads in sand at any time.

The Most Personally Painful Part of Tonight's GOP Convention

It really hurt me to be subjected to CNN's coverage of GOP floor delegates dancing to Earth, Wind, & Fire recordings. Describing what they were doing as "dancing" is charitable. It was painful to watch. Brooks Brothers suits stiffly stirring invisible cauldron paddles with tightly clinched fists. If there was ever a case against the urban myth that white guys (only 2% of the Republican delegates in Minneapolis are African American) can't dance, the GOP convention was not it. Funk deserved a better fate.

Quote of the Night

I'm from rural America. I'm convinced that rural Americans are not sitting around tonight thinking of how to vote to annoy Anderson Cooper.

- - Paul Begala in response to Sarah Palin's take on rural America and the media

UPDATE: Two other quotes get my honorable mention.

Josh Marshall:

Is Sarah Palin really comparing herself to Harry Truman since he only served as vice president for a few months?

Chuck Todd (leading me to the logical conclusion that there is some Obama envy going on in the GOP):

Conservatives have found their own Barack Obama [in Sarah Palin].

Oh, Yah. You Betcha.

Ooofta! Sarah Palin did a good job, but didn't hit it out the park like I assumed she would. Her skills didn't rise much above a talking head reading text not entirely hers (especially the reliance on foreign oil portions) from a teleprompter. She did seem to assimilate her speech more effectively and launch attacks better than Joe Biden did in his convention speech, but hers did not transcend any of the footage I've seen of her on You Tube. I have to confess that she did seem adept at doing what Republicans have turned into a fine art: both promoting the idea that people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and arrogantly taunting opponents who actually do so. She did basically what a VP needs to do, which looks like progress given the lowered expectations of the past few days, but there was nothing here that would have inspired anyone outside of Republican voters to vote for McCain as the solution to our nation's problems.

A Former Beauty Queen Will Twist the Truth in Her Speech

According to reports on Sarah Palin's planned speech, she intends to denigrate Barack Obama's first job without telling the entire truth about hers:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities.

Lest this leave you with the impression that Ms. Palin's first job was Mayor, it was not. She was a sports desk reporter for a local television station. She was serving her community by extensive recitation of "Sunday Night Sports Bloopers" and the Iditarod dog-sled results instead of being involved daily in the life of building neighborhood organizations and defending communities. A talking head and a teleprompter seems like a curious equation for service. I guess it paid the bills.


UPDATE: Yep. She skipped right over her sports desk work. She went from hockey mom to PTA to Mayor. Here is a video of Sarah Palin working the sports desk for a local TV station:

A Former Baptist Pastor Tells a Baldfaced Lie

In his GOP convention speech Mike Huckabee wrongly told Republicans and other onlookers that Sarah Palin got more votes in her run for Wasilla Mayor (pop. around 5,000) than Joe Biden did in running for President.


UPDATE: Joe Biden got over 5,300 votes in the Texas Democratic primaries/caucuses alone. Not all 5,000 or so Wasillians would have voted, let alone voted for Sarah Palin.

Mitt Romney Gave the Most Hypocritical Speech of the Convention So Far

Rich Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney criticizing eastern elites? He spent 25 years amassing wealth in the private sector and he's not among the east coast elite?

He's saying its time for the party of big ideas and not the party of big brother? Did he forget he's in the party that lead defense waterboarding and immunity for telecoms that turn over private info to the government?

GOP Prone to Splinter Harder than Dems over Sexism Charges

Chris Matthews just posed a question to Mel Martinez that got me thinking about the conservative coalition. He asked Martinez whether it is really sexist to believe that women are better equipped to stay at home and "raise the kids." This question has the potential to drive wedges between the conservatives, especially the social conservatives, a huge number of whom are Christian conservatives.

Evangelical Christians carry with them some strong beliefs about traditional gender roles and the idea of women being better suited to raising children than men. Take, for example, the Southern Baptist Convention's "doctrinal accountability" document, which mandates that "a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ" and "to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation."

Establishment Republicans and the CEO's who drive the party need to be very careful about pressing the claims of sexism based on parental roles too far. The more they start pushing the idea that dads and moms are equally equipped to lead the family or to raise children, the more religious and social conservatives they will discourage.

My Prediction: Palin Hits It Out of the Park in Tonight's Speech

She's got no where to go but up. The press has lowered expectations for two days. The McCain campaign has worked the delegates into a lather over her. As a former sports anchor, she learned a long time ago how to use a teleprompter and she has the poise of a beauty pageant contestant. She'll plug into the "every (wo)man" sensibilities that Republicans must have to win. It's a big moment for a major party breaking the gender barrier, and there will be some gratification among women across partisan lines. And finally, Americans root for underdogs even if they have questions about qualifications, and my guess is that Joe and Jane Sixpack would enjoy seeing her beat the odds, and hence they'll lower their expectations, too. I would be surprised if she does not do well and get high marks afterwards.

Buchanan Perpetuating the "Savage Press" Myth on MSNBC Now

Pat Buchanan was just in total culture war posture about the NY Times "savaging" the pregnant daughter of Sarah Palin by publishing a story on the pregnancy. What he failed to point out was that the McCain campaign released the news of the pregnancy to the NY Times in the first place. So, basically, Pat Buchanan is impugning the NY Times for publishing a McCain press release. Would they have been savaging the McCain campaign if they had refused to follow up on the MCCAIN PRESS RELEASE?

Republicans Finally Tell the Truth about Sarah Palin

The Republicans can drone on and on about how great Sarah Palin is to try and pump up the party faithful, but an authentic, unguarded moment at a live MSNBC microphone ripped away all the pretense and fake optimism.

Former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan should get a good conduct metal for finally just coming out and saying what not a few Republicans and many more Americans must be thinking:

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.

Republican political consultant was also heard over the microphone agreeing with Noonan and saying:

You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

Again, this is a total indictment of John McCain's judgment out of the candid, unfiltered mouths of Republicans.

Here's the video with the audio of Noonan, Murphy, and MSNBC commentator Chuck Todd:

HT: TPM

UPDATE: In linking Noonan and Murphy's comments, Kate Phillips adds:

The McCain campaign — especially Steve Schmidt, its chief strategist, has been slamming the media for questioning whether Ms. Palin was properly vetted, and campaign surrogates from former rivals of Mr. McCain like Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani have fanned out across the TV networks and cable TV to defend Ms. Palin’s credentials.

But even one of Senator McCain’s top campaign representatives — Meg Whitman — told Fox News today that it was perfectly fair and “the right thing to do” for the media to scrutinize Ms. Palin’s background and the selection process. Just as it had for Senator Barack Obama or Mr. McCain, she added.

She also dismissed another charge being leveled by top McCain aides and Republicans who are complaining about how Ms. Palin has been treated. Asked whether sexism in the media was at play here, Ms. Whitman, said: “I wouldn’t say there really has.”

Immigrants Made Sophie's Choice

Via Facing South, many immigrants chose to risk their lives rather than risk arresting ICE check points along Gustav evacuation roots:

The Associated Press reports that many of the illegal immigrants who have been rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina stayed behind when Gustav struck because they were afraid of being arrested if they boarded the buses and trains arranged by emergency officials. They also feared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints along the way. Many immigrants also could not afford cars and the money they needed to flee from a storm on their own.

Sheriff's Advisory Committee "Cover" for Daron Hall's "Political Ambitions"

Enclave commenter, Mr. Mack, relates a personal experience with Metro Sheriff Daron Hall:

Mike, I was a member of the original counsel. Hall never intended for our role to be anything but a cover for his political ambitions. He shouted me down at a meeting, and everyone else in the room just sat there, too cowed to call him out. I never went back. I'm not about to sign off on this war of attrition.

Local Media/Metro Council Darling, Daron Hall, Fires Immigration Attorney for Not Advising Him in the Fashion the Sheriff Wished

What does the Davidson Co. Sheriff want? A committee of advisors or a goon squad of yes-men (and women)?

State-Subsidized, Lawyered-Up Palin Now Refuses to Submit to Independent Investigation of Troopergate in Republican Alaska

In an unusual move, Governor Sarah Palin's lawyer (bought and paid for by the State of Alaska) asked a Palin-appointed personnel board to review her case:

[H]er lawyer is now demanding that the entire case be taken out of the hands of the independent prosecutor hired by Alaska lawmakers, and given over to a state personnel board -- whose three members were appointed by the governor herself.

The ethics problems continue for Sarah Palin and she's only making them worse with the conflict of interest of appealing to a board that she appointed. It sounds like to me that if the personnel board members don't want to be entangled in the mucked up morass that she is creating, then they should either refuse to take the case or recuse themselves from sitting in judgment of a Governor who bestowed to them their seats of power.

Southcomm Blogger Overgeneralizes "the Left," Puts McCain in the White House

The same media blogger who ran with an overhyped tape of an Obama peck has now jumped on some liberal responses he's read to the out-of-wedlock pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin. He uses what he sees to pen a grand theory on liberal conduct in the culture wars on the battlefield of sexuality. And he's got the conservatives nodding their heads in agreement, because it fits their "liberals are out of touch" assumptions.

As someone who is no novice to southern evangelical culture, I disagree with the extent of his generalizations, and with the focus of liberal attacks:

The Left simply misunderstands cultural war because they believe that social and religious conservative think they are perfect people. Rural, working class people know exactly who they are. The Left seems to think that they are somehow breaking the news to social conservatives that sometimes, even often, kids will have sex and get pregnant. Social conservatives know these things. They are not as divorced from reality as they sometimes get painted.

I have never believed that conservatives think that they are perfect people. In fact, evangelical conservatives point to the idea over and over that we are all fallen. Perfection has little to do with it.

In my experience, Christian conservatives tend to approach social issues as if they are, in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, the children of light; and the rest of us who fail to see the light are children wandering in darkness. That's a far cry from a perfection vs. flawed position. Children are limited in ability, prone to error, and impulsive, but some have seen the light, and hence are in a better place than children of darkness, a.k.a, liberals and other transgressors. But all are vulnerable children who require care. This way of seeing the culture war has a liberal analogue in the notion that people are either enlightened by reason or blinded by ignorance. Perfection never enters the mix beyond those who are predisposed to think in terms of cultural purity.

The other hole in Southcomm blogger's argument is the assumption that the reactions either climax or stop with the social conservatives mobilizing to put McCain in the White House. He's so cock sure of himself that he arbitrarily ends the reactions with the social conservatives, and fails to acknowledge that the mobilization of social conservatives will likely galvanize previously foot-dragging liberals behind Obama. I sure as hell feel closer to Obama than I did before McCain picked Sarah Palin. Despite Obama's post-convention bounce in the polls (which is remarkable progress for an African American candidate in this generation's America), Post Politics has already written off a 50-50 electorate scenario and declared the election for McCain-Palin, even though liberals will likely cancel out social conservatives and bring us right back to a nation split in half.

So, it is in the middle rather than on these fringes where this election is going to be won or lost. Liberals supposedly "breaking news" to conservatives about assumed perfection has little to do with it. And just like liberals shouldn't over blow the Palin pregnancy, neither should Southcomm bloggers overestimate its impact. Moderates are more likely to see shades of gray rather than children of light and darkness. Their votes are more unpredictable and less swayed by lightning rod issues like teenage pregnancy. The moderates are going to wait out this latest battle in the protracted culture war campaign and see what the future holds. They are going to make their decisions based on their pocketbooks, their health, and their hopes for their own children.

The Palinontological McCain Campaign

A progressive military blogger observes how the right-wing military blogosphere looks more and more like a Jonestown compound every day on the subject of Sarah Palin's command-and-control, and he tries a little deprogramming:

[A]s any responsible military analyst understands, it's the State Attorney Adjutant Generals who command the National Guard units, it is the White House who federalizes them and sends them overseas, and it is the Pentagon who equips and sustains the National Guard units. Not the governors. It's beyond shameful to see my right-wing brethren lower their qualifications for the White House so much for the sake of political expediency. You can do so much better, guys. Just admit it, this is not the person you want a heart-beat away from the White House - especially not with a 72-year old former cancer patient.

Now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to prepare for my next job as Secretary of Defense. Because, as you see, I've lived near Arlington for nearly a decade now and I have had a military blog for four years. That makes me qualified - using the Palin standard.

These questions kept resurfacing for me during last night's GOP festivities: if Sarah Palin is the executive they kept lining up at the closest media microphone to tout, then what do they need with Senator John McCain? Why not just swap spots on the ticket? Why not make her the real executive and put him in the VP advisory role? One can only stretch the executive logic so far before it snaps and recoils.

McCain's "Day-Before" Ticket

WaPo's Balz has some sobering news that gives the idea of a "faith-based" campaign a whole new meaning:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.

The friggin' day before? How can Americans trust the judgment of a leader who makes an impulsive decision with 24 hours of sketchy vetting? How can the country trust John McCain, who said that his VP vetting was thorough?


UPDATE: Jim Grinstead has a look at vetting more properly done.

McCain Gets Mad at Campbell Brown, Takes His Toys, and Goes Home

The McCain campaign pulled an interview with CNN tonight because they say that election analyst Campbell Brown "crossed a line" in asking a McCain staffer to give one example of Gov. Sarah Palin making a command decision involving the Alaskan National Guard. The staffer could not give one.

In a follow up to the story airing a few minutes ago, Campbell Brown told Wolf Blitzer that one of her fellow journalists did some research and did find a specific command decision that she made. Brown pointed out that it was an example that the McCain campaign could have given if they would have vetted Ms. Palin better.

Instead of acknowledging that they didn't have the information and promising to get it, the McCain campaign went away and sulked like spoiled kids who didn't get the interview they wanted.

Country First? But Which Country?

How ironic that the GOP spent its first whipping post party reinforcing "Country First," when their presumptive VP nominee, Sarah Palin has some checkered affinities with an Alaskan separatist organization trying to gain independence for "The Land of the Midnight Sun":

Whether or not Sarah Palin was ever a member of [Alaskan Independence Party], her easy acceptance of this fringe group is significant. In the odd, neo-colonial poltical culture of Alaska, AKIP is not that far out of the mainstream. But make no mistake: in the politics of the South 48, and particularly Republican politics, the AIP is, well, anti-American. Whatever she represented in Alaska, she is now the putative vice presidential candidate of a super-patrotic GOP and the handpicked running-mate of a presidential candidate whose message is "country first." "Alaska First" or "Canada First" are not acceptable points of view for John McCain's GOP, not matter how happy conservative activists may be about Palin's reactionary views on cultural issues.

In this respect, Palin's reminiscent of Trent Lott, who casually expressed a time-honored southern regional point of view about the Dixiecrat heritage in 2002 ... and got nailed for it.

Stop Talking about Using What We Learned from Katrina So We Can Start Learning from Our Gustav Failures

One of the unfortunate consequences of being more prepared for Gustav and of having less urban destruction than Katrina's is complacency. It is the complacency of assuming we're fine and we don't have to learn from mistakes that were made in areas less populous than New Orleans.

Sue Sturgis won't let any false sense of relief cause us to ignore those areas:

The increasing danger [in the Cajun coastal community of Terrebonne] ... is due in part to the erosion of coastal wetlands that help soften the blow from tropical storms. And that erosion is due in part to the state's oil and natural gas industries, which are concentrated in Terrebonne and other nearby coast parishes. They have contributed to wetlands erosion by cutting channels in and otherwise developing coastal wetlands for exploration and extraction.

While there are a number of public efforts underway to restore degraded coastal lands and thus better protect Louisiana's residents from storms, none of them comes close to the minimum estimate of $14 billion needed for truly sustainable restoration. If the federal government does not take action soon, the problem will only grow much worse -- and Louisiana's wetlands are already disappearing at the fastest clip in the nation, with up to 40 square miles lost each year.

The people of south Louisiana are only going to suffer more in future landfalls and the costs of repairing the damage and healing the suffering will only grow unless the federal government does more immediately to protect our coastal wetlands.

Katrina's teachable moment is behind us. What will we learn from Gustav?

Was the President Projecting?

In his speech to the GOP neck-tie party, George W. Bush just compared the "angry left" to the prison camp torturers of John McCain.

Must Have Missed His Turn on the Happy Little Tire Swing

The McCain campaign's VEEP problem crystalizes in WaPo's Balz writing:

All these disclosures call into question just how thoroughly her selection was weighed by McCain and his top advisers. Palin is now in the spotlight, but so too are McCain and his campaign advisers.

John McCain has run on two primary memes: experience and judgment. Both are undermined by his choice of Sarah Palin.

Bill to Rezone MetroCenter/Salemtown Properties for Lexus Dealership Passes Public Hearing

Council just approved bill to rezone properties surrounding MetroCenter Starbucks on second reading. No one rose to speak for or against the proposal during the public hearing. Some current residents whom the development team connected with the construction of the Lexus dealership helped in relocating their houses approached Salemtown Neighbors a few months ago for permission for the relocation. The association approved.

I believe that the lack of opposition against the rezoning and the building of the Lexus dealership is due to the existence of I-65, which both cuts a sliver of Salemtown off from the rest of the neighborhood and acts as a barrier to MetroCenter businesses encroaching into the larger portion of the Salemtown neighborhood.

1.4 Million Louisiana Households Won't Be Able to Watch the Republicans Tonight

1.4 million Louisiana households continue to be blacked out in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. And 300,000 New Orleaneans and 1.9 million Gulf Coast resident are still homeless as they wait for permission to come back.

Nonetheless, the Republicans, who are no longer emphasizing service to the needy (given that Tropical Depression Gustav is now petering itself out over Arkansas), could have probably saved themselves from their disingenuous compassionate conservative telethon if they just would have paid attention to the water temperature signs that Gustav was not going to be another Katrina. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Crafton's English Only Lawyer Fined for "Criminal Contempt"

Michael Cass has the news on the lawyer suing Metro on behalf of Bellevue's CM Eric Crafton and Nashville English First: in a previous case, a judge judged that his conduct "bespeaks misconduct and misjudgment." Let's see. "Contempt," "misconduct," and "misjudgment." Why am I not surprised that Eric Crafton chose him?

Sarah Palin's Executive Experience Resulted in Fiscal Troubles for Tiny Wasilla, Alaska

When presumptive Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin left the Office of Mayor of Wasilla in 2002, she also left a long-term debt at a cost of $3,000 per Wasillian. All we get from the Palindrones is how her executive experience trumps Barack Obama's, but when you start delving into the quality of her service you find out fatal details like the fact that she ran up a $20 million municpal debt. My friends, that's not a trump we can believe in.

HT: Knoxviews

The GOP Welcomes the Media to Minneapolis. Now Take Yourself to the Free Speech Zone or Else.

According to Democracy Now, journalist Amy Goodman and two other journalists were illegally arrested by Minneapolis police at the Republican Convention. Here's the video of Goodman's attempt to "free" two other journalists who were arrested while covering a demonstration:

Democracy Now maintains that, while police in riot gear were dealing with splinter unrest and vandalism after a march to end the Iraq War, squads also fired on journalists.

Tonight's Not Just Any Another Tuesday Night Metro Council Night. It's Microbrewery Night!

The "Cat Herd" meets tonight: head 'em up and move 'em out.

In a move a lot less spicy than Rev. CM Jerry Maynard's bid for beer cabarets, CM Erica Gilmore has a bill on public reading to create a zoning use called "microbrewery" on behalf of Yazoo Brewery at Marathon Village. No strippers are involved (at least there were no strippers at the Yazoo Tap Room the last time I was there), but the bill allows per month production of up to 5,000 barrels of beer. If one of those barrels happens to fall ...

This Just Gets Uglier

The worst defense of Sarah Palin's executive experience by a McCain staffer ever, especially in the loathsome insinuation that she has command over the Alaskan National Guard while they are in Iraq:

Gives "on point" the whole new definition of "off point." Does she have ANY specific relevant experience beyond the the statement, "She's experienced as long as she's with John McCain"?

One State's GOP Delegation to Desecrate Their State Flag in the Twin Cities

Are pit stains and ring-around-the-collar (let alone all the food and beverage spills) demonstrating any less disrespect for a flag than burning it would?

The Labor Day Telethon is Over; Back to the Necktie Party!

The Republicans are no longer shouting, "Service!" to the strains of "What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love." You see, Gustav didn't turn out to be as bad as they feared; they think that they can get everything in before Hanna or Ike reach landfall and still give George Bush time to get back to the Crawford Ranch and wrestle a dangerous branch.

They should be happy. Not only will they get to start stringing up hapless Dems without reference to the tenuous suffering of Americans (which only gets attention under the threat of natural disasters), but they won't have to pay for VP nominee Sarah Palin's legal defense during an investigation of her firing a guy who refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law back on the Frozen Tundra. The State of Alaska is putting up $95,000 to defend her.

LA SEIU Under Investigation

The Service Employees International Union, a "host committee member" and "an official sponsor" of last week's Democratic National Convention, has other ethical problems beyond recent charges of double-crossing students.

The Labor Department is investigating charges of payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars by the union and a related charity to firms owned by relatives of the Los Angeles local's president. Union dues were allegedly diverted to a minor league basketball team, a golf tournament, and various organizations.

Sarah Palin's Collaborations with Ted "Road-To-Nowhere" Stevens

The Republicans can no longer distance their presumptive VP nominee from connections to indicted ethical invertebrate, Senator Ted Stevens. Sarah Palin has several rather close working relationships with Senator Stevens:

[Palin] ... held a joint news conference with him in July, before he was indicted, to make clear she had not abandoned him politically.

Stevens had been helpful to Palin during her run for governor, swooping in with a last moment endorsement. And the two filmed a campaign commercial together to highlight Stevens's endorsement of Palin during the 2006 race.

Here is the video of the glowing endorsement, which was removed from the Palin website after John McCain took her as his VP:

Palin also worked as director of a Stevens fundraising organization from 2003 to 2005. She's a director of a 527 organization dedicated to Ted Stevens and she has no direct, working connections to him? C'mon, Republicans. What do you think we are? Dolts?


UPDATE: Republican lawyers go to Alaska to do the deeper vet that the McCain campaign failed to do:

On This "Day Without Politics"

The Republicans are going to do politics without appearing political:

First Lady Laura Bush will introduce a video of the various Gulf Coast state governors (all Republicans, I believe) this afternoon and Cindy McCain will also address delegates, urging support for hurricane victims.

If Hurricane Hanna (currently a tropical storm) hits Florida or Georgia on Thursday or Friday, is John McCain going to keep his acceptance speech "non-political," too?

Palin Giggled as Shock Jocks Called a Cancer Survivor "A Cancer" and "A Bitch"

Then Anchorage Daily News described Sarah Palin's behavior during an appearance on a local radio show "conduct unbecoming a governor." Earlier this year, Ms. Palin appeared on the "Bob and Mark" show, which the paper describes as "a sophomoric venue," and she "came off looking immature herself, almost high-schoolish." The hosts referred to a fellow Republican opponent as "a bitch" and "a jealous woman." That opponent is also a cancer survivor, but that did not stop the shock jocks from calling her "a cancer" herself.

Did Her Honor the Governor stop them and tell them that they went too far? Did she try and distance herself from their insults? Nope. She just sat by and giggled while they trash-talked her opponent. I know Dick Cheney has lowered the bar for Vice Presidential decorum (and who would have thought it could have gone lower than Spiro Agnew?), but don't we need a Vice President who acts more honorably than your average junior varsity cheerleader?

HT: TPM

Police Come Up with Effective Alternative to "Shoot First"

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.

NOLA quotes the Sheriff:

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" ....

"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."

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.

FBI Hunts Down GOP Protestors for "Fire Code Violation"

Despite the fact that John McCain has stripped down the GOP necktie party to just the essentials so that he can hop a special charter to be in Louisiana for his Gustav make over, protestors are being taken into custody in Minneapolis not for potential disorder or destruction, but because there were too many of them at one gathering in violation of fire codes.

Geez, if that's all the authorities have on the protestors do we still live in "the land of the free"?

Troubling, But Unconfirmed News on Poor People Trapped in New Orleans

I cannot confirm this in the mainstream media, but the Anarchist News Service reports the following:

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?

Counterintuitive ICE

After making the largest workplace bust in U.S. history and scaring the hell out of a Hispanic community in Mississippi as Gustav's bearing for the Gulf Coast became clear, ICE is now urging immigrants to evacuate in advance of Gustav's landfall. They're promising no check points along evacuation routes, but I wouldn't buy it if I were an immigrant.

It looks like a choice between their lives and keeping their families together. It sounds like ICE is forcing something akin to Sophie's Choice.

No Blaming Hurricane Survivors Victimized by FEMA This Time

90-95% of the residents of coastal Louisiana have evacuated farther inland. 18,000 New Orleaneans took advantage of the city's assisted evacuation program. Highway speeds have been reduced to 10 miles per hour. Commenters are saying on line that it is taking 9 hours to get from New Orleans to Mississippi on I-59. Many South Mississippi gas stations have run out of gas. Many of the Mississippi National Guard now helping Katrina victims living in temporary government housing were not around to assist 3 years ago with the Katrina evacuation because they had been sent to Iraq.


UPDATE: NOLA video of the deserted Downtown NO streets and the obvious presence of National Guardsmen.

Mo-Do Blows Past the Palindrones

Maureen Dowd skewers the Sarah Palin apologists and stretches the logic of their wishful thinking to hilarious proportions:

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?”

Aboard the Double Standard Express

HT to the Southcomm blogger who broadcasted the salacious innuendo that a Knox County Republican blogger (among several wildly imaginative others) read into the botched peck on the cheek that Barack Obama gave Jill Biden on stage after her husband's acceptance speech. (Keep in mind that the Knox blogger is an avowed Southern Baptist, which may explain his Victorian knee-jerk. The genesis of the Southern Baptist Church was the defense of slavery, and it's explosion in the 20th Century is marred by a legacy of church support for segregation. Combine that with the Baptist obsession with abstinence, and you get the picture; but, I digress).

The space Southcomm wasted even paying attention to what is obviously an innocent miss of aim (when you give someone who has no record of hitting on women in large venues the benefit of the doubt) gives me the opportunity to underscore the double standard applied to black and white candidates.

There was a modest blogstorm on the right regarding the peck, and that virtual circle jerk was given credibility at some media sites like Southcomm. I believe that if Obama had been white, works-righteous bloggers and their media megaphones would not have posted like voyeuristic Puritans.

And yet, John McCain is not getting the same blog or media attention for eyes that seem to wander across his running mate's (or in his words, his "soulmate's") goods during her introduction speech in Ohio:

That's not ogling we can believe in. You can bet that if McCain were black, bloggers would be tearing up the prospect of a single glance at a white woman in a suggestive way.

Palin Said Obama "Doing Just Fine"

Sarah Palin from the New Yorker via TPM:

"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."

I Cannot Believe She Was Actually Once on a School Board

Putting a scaled map of Alaska next to a map of Delaware to support the argument that Sarah Palin is more qualified than Joe Biden is like arguing that the biggest kid in the class is the smartest because he's the biggest.

It makes for interesting geography but stupid logic.

I Wonder If They'll Invite Kanye West?

It's hard not to be cynical about the improved response Republican leaders are making toward New Orleans this year as opposed to their awful neglect in 2005 after Katrina hit.

But John McCain's tentative plans to convert the Republican National Convention to a service-oriented telethon and to insert himself into storm-affected areas ASAP after landfall smacks of shameless political opportunism and public relations. It smacks of philanthropic cover for partisan purposes.

Odds are good the RNC won't be inviting one person to another Red Cross fundraiser:

Levees Likely to Top Again

It's not exactly the kind of surge John McCain wanted to talk about at next week's Republican necktie party in Minneapolis. The National Weather Service is expecting a 15-20 storm surge by the time Gustav makes landfall, likely as a Category 4 Hurricane. Incomplete levees located in the New Orleans area's West Bank could be topped and levees protecting the Upper and Lower 9th Wards could be tested.

In other news hurricane-related news, the National Guard has arrived in New Orleans and Louisiana is requesting 1,500 troops from other states including Tennessee. Unfortunately, it looks like private security contractor Blackwater is also on the way, which probably means the American taxpayers will be paying them at least $950 per day per mercenary again.

Lower Than Quayle

The Monkey Cage reports a Rasmussen poll finding that only 29% of Americans believe that Sarah Palin is ready to be president. By contrast a 1988 poll found that 40% of Americans believed that Dan Qualye was qualified to be president.