September 6-7, 2008
Sep 06 04:25 Thank the Agenda Media for the Record Ratings Sep 06 05:39 Mark Olson, Part II Sep 06 06:13 Hurricane Sarah Through the Eyes of an Alaskan Sep 06 10:09 Tinklenberg's Dishonest Tactics? Sep 06 12:35 Goodbye Charlie? Sep 06 13:54 Mark Olson, Part III Sep 06 20:23 Biden's Big Mouth, Obama's Glass Jaw Sep 07 13:51 Team Barry Won't Like This Sep 07 20:27 Willie Brown: Team Barry In Deep...You Know
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Thank the Agenda Media for the Record Ratings
According to this AP article , this week's Republican National Convention was the most watched political convention in history. Of the four major party candidates, only Sen. Biden didn't attract 40 million viewers the night of his acceptance speech. Here's a portion of the AP's reporting:
The GOP presidential candidate attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his convention acceptance speech Thursday as Obama did before the Democrats last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.While I agree with Mr. Rosenstiel that most Americans are interested in this year's election, I think the main reason why people tuned into the Republican National Convention was because of how the hatemongers in the Agenda Media treated Sarah Palin. This is anecdotal proof that most American voters rejected the elitist comments made by Sally Quinn, Andrea Mitchell and Campbell Brown.
It marked the end of an astonishing run where more than 40 million people watched political speeches on three nights by Obama, McCain and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The Republican convention was the most-watched convention on television ever, beating a standard set by the Democrats a week earlier.
Three times in two weeks, political speeches were watched by more people than the "American Idol" finale, the Academy Awards and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics this year.
"It clearly suggests that a great number of Americans think that who will be the next president is important and worthy of their time," said Tom Rosenstiel, a former political reporter and director of the Project for Excellence in journalism.
Another reason why a record number of people watched was because of America's fascination with Sarah Palin. She's taken the week by storm. People wanted to see if her introductory speech in Dayton, OH was the exception or the rule.
In that speech, she talked lovingly about Trig, the Palins' newborn who was born with Down's Syndrome, as "a beautiful baby boy." She talked about fighting hard against corruption in Alaska and winning those fights. She talked about her husband Todd's being a union member working on "Alaska's North Slope" working on oil rigs. In other words, she described her family as the prototypical American family.
Wednesday night, they wanted to know more about this woman who was causing a firestorm in the media. They wanted to know that she was more than just another pretty face.
What the sane portions of America found out was that Gov. Palin is intelligent, tough, poised and charismatic, traits that they're drawn to. They also found out that she's as plain-spoken as the neighborhood's hockey mom, something else that people connect with.
What America saw Wednesday night caused them to see how Sen. McCain would follow up that performance. though he didn't deliver the type of speech that Gov. Palin gave them Wednesday night, he finished with a flourish that had people standing up and cheering all across the nation.
At first, I thought of the speech as workmanlike. I've since concluded that it was inspirational, too. How could you not be inspired when Sen. McCain said this:
I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's.The more I pondered that paragraph, the more I started being inspired by the speech. I suspect that a great many people reached that conclusion, too.
It's safe to say that the enthusiasm gap that was appallingly apparent in January has disappeared, thanks in large part to the Agenda Media's adoration of Sen. Obama and their reviling of Gov. Palin. People know that their views aren't objective. They know that they want Obama to be our 44th president so badly that they'll do or say anything that they think will put him over the top.
In taking that approach, they've turned people off. They've pushed people away from Sen. Obama. They've caused people to rally to Gov. Palin's defense while uniting the Republican Party in the most ironic of ways.
Now the race begins in earnest. Rest assured that the McCain-Palin ticket will take the fight to the Obama-Biden ticket. What the final outcome will be is still to be decided, of course, but I can't wait for Election Day.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 4:28 AM
No comments.
Mark Olson, Part II
Yesterday, I criticized Mark Olson for his hypocrisy and for his criminal behavior . I criticized him for breaking his promise. As much as I loathe him for those things, I can't put all the blame on him for his getting endorsed. Far from it, actually. What I'm about to do is lay out an indictment against the delegates that voted to endorse him at the SD-16 endorsing convention for this November's special election.
Those delegates, 90-something of them, that voted for him should be ashamed of themselves. They ignored Olson's broken promises and his criminal history. I suspect that they did this under the guise of 'he votes right on the issues'. While that's important in endorsing a candidate, it's far from the only consideration.
Another explanation is that they're simply Olson cronies. It isn't a stretch to think that, especially considering the fact that they've leveled threats against his opponent, Alison Krueger. They've spread rumors about her, too, while arguing in print that Mark Olson wasn't a criminal.
Are these people that stupid? It didn't take much effort to get a copy of the court records. I posted the relevant portion of those documents in that previous post. If Olson's cronies want to continue arguing that he wasn't convicted, I'll simply point to the documents where it says that he was convicted of Domestic Assault-Misdemeanor-Commits Act With Intent to Cause Fear of Immediate Bodily Harm or Death on August 16, 2007.
At a prior endorsing convention, Mark Olson filled out a questionnaire. Here's the question from the questionnaire that all the candidates, including Mark Olson, was asked:
D. Adopting codes of conduct for all Minnesota elected officials that require resignation and loss of pension and benefits upon conviction of felony or any crime involving dishonesty or moral terpitude.These delegates should've held Olson accountable to that promise. They didn't. Instead, they endorsed him.
At a time when people look at the GOP and wonder if we're people of integrity, giving politicians a pass is totally inexcusable. That's the most insidious and pervasive type of corruption imaginable.
Another thing that's upsetting is that someone sugested to Ms. Krueger that, should she win the primary this Tuesday, she shouldn't accept the victory. Here's the logic she was given:
"If the Primary election goes your way you need to hand the victory to Mark because 90+ delegates recommended him."As I pointed out in Friday's post, endorsing conventions aren't legally binding. From a legal standpoint, they're nothing more than a suggestion or recommendation. Again, purely from a legal standpoint, elections are legally binding.
What Dave Wilson suggested to Ms. Krueger is that she ignore the will of the people and heed the will of a handful of delegates. That flies in the face of the principles of the Constitution. The Preamble of the US Constitution starts with the tall words "We The People" for a reason. The Founding Fathers, who I believe are the smartest leaders brought together to form a nation, wanted to ensure that everyone's voices be heard. They didn't want small groups of people making all the decisions.
Saying that the delegates, not the voters, should decide who's on November's ballot is a form of elitism. That elitism can't be tolerated, especially when we're trying to show people that Republicans are men and women of integrity.
If the SD-16 BPOU won't do their part to restore honor and integity to the Republican Party of Minnesota, then they should be treated like a pariah. Let's be clear about this: I'm not talking about stripping local control from their BPOU. I'm calling on honest conservatives in SD-16 to take back their BPOU. I'm calling on conservative men and women of integrity to flush the current BPOU leadership from their system.
That's the grass roots taking matters into their own hands. You can't get more unelitist than that. The best part of doing it this way is that the current leadership won't have a leg to stand on if they want to complain.
The current BPOU leadership needs to learn that voting right isn't enough. There's no such thing as acceptable corruption. Corruption is evil and it must be repudiated each time it's encountered. Anything less is unacceptable.
I'm calling on honest conservatives in SD-16 to take back their BPOU. I'm calling on conservative men and women of integrity to flush the current BPOU leadership from their system. It's long past time that we dumped some ethical chlorine into the SD-16's gene pool so that it can return to being viewed in an honorable light.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 9:57 PM
No comments.
Hurricane Sarah Through the Eyes of an Alaskan
Since Hurricane Sarah swept the Lower 48, we've been hit with a downpour of information and misinformation about Gov. Palin. It's time we learned with the people of Alaska think of her. That's why I loved reading this commentary from Butch King, a pilot and guide at Wildman Lake Lodge. It gives us a great look at the Sarah Palin we don't know about. Here's the most powerful graph of the entire article:
When Sarah walked into the Governor's Mansion, she promptly dismissed the State Trooper detachment assigned to the Governor and had her and her husband's gun case brought in from Wasilla. Then, she got rid of the former Governor's STATE jet and told legislators that there were no more free rides. They would have to fly Alaska Airlines if they wanted to travel, just like she and her family. Next came the nut cutting (the Barracuda part) and the heads that rolled were too numerous to name. But when Sarah finished cleaning house, a number of our legislators ended up in jail on corruption convictions, or they tendered their resignations along with numerous department heads and others who had been riding the gravy train for far too long, AND THEN SHE HAD LUNCH. By the end of the day, Sarah Palin had saved the people of Alaska millions and has not yet slowed down.I've used the cliche "After everything is said and done, more is said than done" many times in my life. That cliche clearly doesn't apply to Gov. Palin. The reform accomplishments listed in that paragraph dwarfs Sen. Obama's list of reforms. That's a list of reforms that most politicians would be proud of for a career. Instead, that's just a partial list of reforms that Hurricane Sarah has accomplished since getting elected.
She has truly brought CHANGE to Juneau. I personally know several people in the private sector in Alaska who hold her in high esteem. She surrounds herself with smart people, many from my hometown of Anchorage. She listens to them but ultimately makes her own decisions. Sarah Palin is a no "BS" politician. It is refreshing that there is such a thing anymore. You want to talk about CHANGE? You should see a "before" and "after" picture of the state government in Alaska. That's CHANGE!I'd love seeing "a "before" and "after" picture of the state government in Alaska." Since I haven't seen that picture yet, I'll just imagine it through the lens of her half a billion dollars worth of vetoes. That alone tells quite the story.
Finally, this is my favorite portion of the entire commentary:
This is just the opinion of one Alaska bush pilot and guide who pays attention to national politics, watches the news, and is deathly afraid of the direction our nation is headed. I guarantee that if Sarah gets a chance to dig her spurs into the flanks of the liberal Washington types, they will know that she is in the saddle.I love hearing that. I can't wait until Hurricane Sarah hits Washington with Cat-5 fury. Washington won't know what hit them.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 6:14 AM
Comment 1 by Perry at 08-Sep-08 03:08 PM
I'm a 62-year old gay woman who feels that we are really ready for Sarah Palin. My only misgiving was when I read an article where Sarah said that gay people should pray to be heterosexual. Well, I'll bet we gays have all prayed to be like the rest. Who would choose to live a life as hard as being gay can sometimes be? In the 50s and 60s, I thought I was the only one; that's daunting in itself.
I will probably still vote for John and Sarah, but I feel sad that she can't understand.
Not mad, just sad!
Tinklenberg's Dishonest Tactics?
It's been awhile since last we checked on Mr. Tinklenberg's campaign. Friday, Tinklenberg's blogger Tanner Curl posted about Mr. Tinklenberg's posting on "the dishonest tactics of Rep. Michele Bachmann." According to Mr. Curl's post, here's what Mr. Tinklenberg wrote:
When he announced Monday's pared-down convention schedule in St. Paul, John McCain urged RNC attendees to suspend party politics and "act as Americans, not Republicans" in light of Hurricane Gustav. It seems his plea was heard by most everyone there except Minnesota's own Rep. Michele Bachmann.There's just one problem with Mr. Tinklenberg's characterization: it's completely without merit. Here's Sen. McCain's direct quote :
That day, Bachmann went ahead with a campaign fundraiser hosted by Mitt Romney-whose Regain Our Majority Project for vulnerable Republicans has targeted Bachmann-where she "also" asked for funds for hurricane relief. Bachmann then attended a reception hosted by her core supporters at Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. Later she found time to argue with James Carville about McCain's VP pick on Larry King Live, calling Gov. Palin "a woman who's actually done something other than just run for president her whole life."
"This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans," John McCain, soon to be the official presidential candidate, said Sunday from St. Louis. "We are going to suspend most of our activities tomorrow, except for those absolutely necessary."It's obvious that Sen. McCain was talking about the convention and festivities officially related to the Convention.
The point was made that it would be wrong to be celebrating at lavish, catered parties with Hurricane Gustav was about to make landfall. That's certainly understandable.
It's a major stretch to think that Sen. McCain's suspending of the first day's activities related to Rep. Bachmann's pre-planned fundraiser. When Sen. McCain said that "we have to do away with our party politics", shouldn't people immediately think that he's talking about the first night's speeches?
If that's what he's referring to, then I'd further ask the Tinklenberg campaign what dishonest tactics Rep. Bachmann is using. Isn't it just as likely that Mr. Tinklenberg has intentionally taken Sen. McCain's official statement out of context to attack Rep. Bachmann?
When the latest fundraising reports were announced, Rep. Bachmann held a CoH advantage of $1.4 million to Mr. Tinklenberg's $200,000. With just sixty days left in the campaign, that's hardly a show of strength on Mr. Tinklenberg's behalf.
I further suspect that, with the DCCC not kicking any money in his direction, that Mr. Tinklenberg's campaign is doing whatever it could to jumpstart the campaign. I can't fault him for that.
I'll just fault him for taking Sen. McCain's statement out of context.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 10:10 AM
Comment 1 by Eva Young at 06-Sep-08 10:27 AM
Gary - why is Michele Bachmann avoiding debates? So far the only debate she's accepted has been at the Monticello Chamber of Commerce. She has never held an in person town meeting in her district. Yet she finds the time to go to the Conservative Ideas festival being held in Bloomington (not in her district), and the Values Voters summit held in DC.
Comment 2 by anokacountyred at 06-Sep-08 03:44 PM
Because she will be in DC for the final weeks of the session. Is Elwyn even worth debating?
Tinklenberg offers nothing in reforming government, his dismal performance in fundraising his bootlicking of Oberstar and pandering to anyone that will listen is a sign of his weakness in the district.
Comment 3 by Eva Young at 06-Sep-08 08:06 PM
Clearly other media outlets were under the impression that McCain was calling for the suspension of parties as well. Bachmann's fundraisers were parties. Despite Gustaf, there were plenty of parties - including the infamous party featuring "Hookers and Blow".
Comment 4 by anokacountyred at 06-Sep-08 08:53 PM
So you are attributing "plenty of parties" to Bachmann? You are smarter than that I would hope.
I am sure CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the biased media outlots were happy to slant it that way. I am sure NOBAMA and BIDEN CANCELLED their fundraising events too.
Comment 5 by Gary Gross at 06-Sep-08 09:07 PM
Red, Ignore Ms. Young. She's just an agitator.
Comment 6 by Guy Bertram at 07-Sep-08 12:18 AM
Gary, doesn't Bachmann have a history of "dishonest tactics"? I believe her politicking from the Living Word Community Church in 2006 has the IRS about to bring Down Pastor Mac Hammond and the church will likely lose their tax exempt status as well.
I WOULD also like to see MULTIPLE debates, thank you Ms. Young.
Comment 7 by Gary Gross at 07-Sep-08 07:22 AM
I believe her politicking from the Living Word Community Church in 2006>
If the IRS takes any action on LWCC, they'd better take action to every church that Barack Obama visits this fall, every church that John Kerry, Al Gore & Bill Clinton visited in 2004, 2000, 1996 & 1992.
Their visits were purely political visits.
Guy, You'd best think things through better than that if you're gonna make arguments around here.
Comment 8 by Guy Bertram at 07-Sep-08 09:39 PM
"Guy, You'd best think things through better than that if you're gonna make arguments around here."
Gotcha Gary, "around here" your pastors lie to their congregation from the pulpit that they are going to vote for a congressional candidate when they don't even live in that district, MN06.
Goodbye Charlie?
While it's doubtful that Charlie Rangel has served his last day as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, it's entirely possible that he'll soon be the subject of an ethics investigation . Here's why:
Representative Charles B. Rangel paid no interest for more than a decade on a mortgage extended to him to buy a villa at a beachfront resort in the Dominican Republic, according to Mr. Rangel's lawyer and records from the resort.Simply put, that's unacceptable behavior on Rangel's part, although it isn't that surprising. Here's the first question I thought of after reading this:
The loan was given to him by the resort development company, in which Theodore Kheel, a prominent New York labor lawyer, was a principal investor. Mr. Kheel, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Rangel's campaigns over the past decade, had encouraged the congressman to be one of the initial investors in the project.
The loan, which was extended to Mr. Rangel in 1988, was originally to be paid back over seven years at a rate of 10.5 percent. But within two years, interest on the loan was waived for Mr. Rangel and six other early investors because the resort was generating less income than projected, according to a statement released on Friday by Jose Oliva, director of the resort.
How many people get this type of deal?Here's the next question:
Why should we believe that "the resort was generating less income than projected" when we've just read that the National Legal and Policy Center is asking for a criminal investigation into Rep. Rangel's not reporting of $75,000 of income from that property?
I hope the advertising department at the NRCC are working overtime this weekend on this one. Something that cuts from Nancy Pelosi promising the most ethical and open Congress in history to Charlie Rangel at his Dominican villa to Paul Kanjorski's earmarks for his family's business to William 'Cold Cash' Jefferson.
We knew that Democrats were just as corrupt as Republicans. Now we've got the proof. This fits perfectly with the McCain-Palin reformer theme, too. Now's the time to hit them hard with this information.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 12:36 PM
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Mark Olson, Part III
Mark Olson's supporters stuck their hand inside the proverbial bee's nest when they wrote LTES saying that Olson hadn't been convicted of a crime. Not only did they make those assertions but, as I chronicled here , they threatened Alison Krueger, then attempted to intimidate her.
One of the unintended consequences of those actions was that it caused Alison Krueger to establish a website . This post displays the documentation that Mark Douglas Olson was convicted of a crime. (Click on the link at the top of the page to read the pdf file for maximum clarity of the document.)
This website corroborates the information that I've received on Olson's ethical dilemmas. In fact, it contains information that I hadn't seen before. I can't say that I'm surprised, though. At this point, I'm certain that Mark Olson is a thoroughly unethical man who shouldn't be entrusted with any elected office.
As I said before, there's no such thing as acceptable corruption. It's evil and it must be confronted wherever it's found. If we want the public to trust Republicans again, the first step must be to eliminate corruption within our party. If we don't take that step, then we'll be the minority party for a very long time. What's worse is that we will have earned that distinction.
Minnesotans don't care if someone has 'voted right' if they can't trust their legislator to be trustworthy.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 1:57 PM
Comment 1 by Lady Liberty at 07-Sep-08 11:35 PM
Look, I need to make a few points here that I think honestly and sincerely need to be addressed.
First off, let me make the blanket statement that you have NOT been fair to Mark Olson in this whole debacle. This isn't about how ridiculous his supporters can be. This is about whether or not Mark Olson deserves to continue to serve the people of his district, this time in the State Senate.
Second, I am curious as to whether or not YOU are a resident of SD-16 or if you are just some embattled republican who is angry that this chap DARE run for public office ever again... Please, in your next post, make that VERY clear and make it clear what your role is in this whole debate.
Third, regardless of how his supporters have conducted themselves, Mark Olson WAS convicted of a lesser charge and has since 1.) reconciled with his wife, 2.) apologized to his wife, his consituents, and publically to the entire House of Representatives, 3.) has moved on in his life with his wife, and she even gave a speech nominating him, if I remember correctly, at the very least, at the endorsing convention which he did lose to former SOS Mary Kiffmeyer (great woman, they are BOTH outstanding representatives of that area), and 4.) Has taken his ousting from the House GOP caucus in stride and made the best of the situation and continued to fight for the GOP and common sense values in the legislature.
4.) Mark Olson was one of the most outstanding members that the MN House had...when all hell was breaking loose on the floor, who was the loudest (even if lonliest) voice demanding that Madame Speaker follow the rules and rule accordingly to breaches in parlimentary procedure? When a hotly contested issue was being debated, who always came in with an argument (not just talking points from the Caucus)? When important votes affecting not only his consituency, but the entire state, were riding on several votes, his included, he always made the right decisions for his consituency. Mark Olson was a fighter, even when nobody else was willing to fight with him. As a legislator, he had serious cajones and got stuff done, or at the very least, made people think about his very articulate arguments. He was never without words.
Mark Olson has publically and privately acknowledged the failure that he made in his personal life and he in no way shape or form has condoned his own actions, and I know from speaking to close friends of his that this whole ordeal was devastating for him, a situation that simply got out of hand. Not even in the court of law does the truth and the whole truth always come out. Mark was convicted on one charge, but in the eyes of the media, including scandal hungry bloggers like yourself, he was now a monster and no longer fit to draft/sign onto bills, vote on legislation, serve on committees, etc...
This bit with Allison Krueger and the Senate GOP and Norm Coleman absolutely disgusts me. Mark Olson won the endorsement fair and square, no matter which way you try and frame it. Regardless of who has done what since, whatever allegations have been made, unless it is something Mark has done, it isn't news, so please stop pretending it is.
This SD-16 race should NOT be interfered with by hot shots in St. Paul, or bloggers with a vendetta.
The people of the district will choose who will be the best representative for THEM. Mark Olson did one HELL of a job during his tenure in the State House. SD-16 would be very lucky to have someone fighting for them as hard as Mark Olson has and will continue to do so.
I do not, have not, and probably never will live in SD-16. However, I have worked with Mark and his colleagues at the House of Representatives and I can tell you for a fact how hard that man and his former staff of one (the Independent Republican caucus, all two of them) worked.
If Allison Krueger ever really wanted this job, she would have found a way to convince the delegates at the endorsing convention. She didn't. But now the GOP is playing the same stupid games that we accuse our opponents of doing. It is despicable, although nothing new with our party--the other most noteable endorsing/GOP support backlash in recent memory would probably be the fiasco surrounding Sue Jeffers' bid for the gubernatorial endorsement in 2006. Though she never even got her chance to get in front of a conventiona and went straight to the primary.
I sincerely hope that SD-16 will re-elect Mark Olson. He is a humble, kind, fight-for-what's-right, TRUE conservative man.
SD-16, do the right thing and don't blow this situation out of proportion. If Mark's wife can forgive and move on, we should all follow suit. That doesn't mean forget what he did or condone it, but we need to finally, for once and for all, accept his apology, live and let live, and WIN that seat once more. It would truly be a shame if shameless, crude supporters would impede Mark's bid, and potentially result in losing yet another Senate seat. THAT would be an embarrassment.
Comment 2 by Walter hanson at 08-Sep-08 09:42 AM
Lady Liberty:
Just curious. If this had been a Democrat who disagreed with us on literally every issue will you be saying that the Democrat was an honorable person who deserves reelection?
No you will be saying that this person disgraced their office and doesn't deserve it anymore!
So just because you like Mark Olson who by the way isn't running for reelection he's running for State Senate where he isn't the incumbent. So the fact that you don't know that shows your entire rant is totally off base and shouldn't have been written.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Biden's Big Mouth, Obama's Glass Jaw
I got this video from the DNC. Here's the text of that fundraising letter:BIDEN: I tell ya, it's not so much what I heard at the Republican Convention, when you heard John speak last night or not so much what I heard when I heard the Governor had to say, the vice presidential candidate. It's what I didn't hear. The silent. The silence of the Republican Party was deafening. It was deafening on jobs, on health care, on environment, on all things that matter in the neighborhoods that I grew up in. Deafening. Ladies and Gentlemen, their America is not the America I live in. They see something different than I see. Ladies and Gentlemen, literally, those of you, I can't swear to this because I didn't see every minute of every speech but I asked my staff to check. Do any of you recall either candidate on the Republican ticket utter the phrase middle class? Did any of you hear them utter the phrase health care or how we're gonna help?
Ladies and Gentlemen, Rick Davis, John's campaign manager, said two days ago at the convention, and I heard this, he said this campaign is not about issues. That's what he said. And everything that I saw at the Convention demonstrated that. It was about how well-placed, and boy how good she is, and how a left jab can be stuck pretty nice. It's about how Barack Obama is such a bad guy.It's about how, in fact, they've got great quips and they're like the kids, you know, when you went to school and you're very proud of the new belt you had or the new shoes you had. There was always one kid in the class that would say "Oh, are those your brother's"? Remember that kid? That's what this reminded me of. "Oh I love your dress. Is that your mother's"? You know what I'm talking about.
What do you talk about when you have nothing to say? What do you talk about when you cannot explain eight years of failure? What do you talk about? What do you talk about? You talk about the other guy. Look, I don't have to...You remember what Harry Tru...remember hiM saying "Give em hell, Joe"? I wasn't around when Harry Truman was around but I remember my grandfather saying "Give em hell, Harry." He yelled back, "I'm not gonna give em hell. I'm gonna tell 'em the truth and they're gonna think it's hell."
Friend --Blogger are saying that this proves that "Joe can land a punch", something that I didn't doubt for a minute. That isn't the question, though. It's whether Obama can take a punch that matters. Thus far, I haven't seen proof that he can. in fact, he's been flopping and flailing since his San Fransisco fiasco.
The most shocking thing about the Republican convention this week wasn't what you heard, but what you didn't hear.
That's what vice presidential nominee Joe Biden told a crowd in Pennsylvania during a fiery speech on Friday. Joe explained why John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their
Republican surrogates chose to make the convention an issue-free zone and replace a serious conversation with attack after attack.
Joe's speech is a must-see. Watch his blistering response to the Republicans' empty attacks and make sure to pass it on to your family and friends.
The platform adopted by the Republican Party this year is the most extreme in recent history. They didn't talk about it very much, and it's easy to see why. Here's what you might have missed:
It's no surprise that McCain and his party spent so little time talking about the issues, they have no issues to run on.
- A constitutional amendment banning all abortions, regardless of rape, incest, or the mother's health, and another banning same-sex marriage
- Language restricting embryonic stem cell research and opposing action on
climate change- Absolutely nothing about Equal Pay for Equal Work, the destruction of American jobs due to outsourcing, or closing rampant corporate tax loopholes
Republicans are hoping they can avoid talking about their failed policies of the past eight years, and how they have no plans but to bring you just more of the same.
But it's our job, with Joe Biden on our side, to make sure they don't get away with it.
When Gov. Palin took a couple shots at his being a community organizer, he fell into tiny little pieces. Talk about a guy with a glass jaw. It wasn't one of his finer moments. It came off too much like the one-time neighborhood bully saying to his mother "Mommie, please protect me. That girl is beating me up." Like I told King and Michael during their show this afternoon, Gov. Palin is the type of wild game that shoots back, to which King said "And rather well from what I'm told." I would've added that Gov. Palin is the type that'd empty the full clip into an animal that's still moving but they were running tight on time.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 8:25 PM
Comment 1 by Chuck at 06-Sep-08 10:29 PM
I think this campaign is following the typical Democratic script. They have no stand on issues so they resort to attacking to play to the base.
Joe Biden is lying when he says the GOP didn't talk about issues. In fact if McCain got any criticism for his speech it was that it was too issue heavy. Some said, and I felt the same way, that it had the feel of state of the union speech. He can pretend this didn't happen but 40 million people saw it and that tired old argument is going to fall flat this time.
The Dems are resorting to playing to their base again and this will cost them the election again.
Comment 2 by Walter hanson at 07-Sep-08 06:20 PM
You know part of the problem the Democrats have is that what Biden said was a lie.
Didn't Mccain during the speech make a comment that he understands people in states like Michigan were hurting. That the jobs weren't coming back. That he was going to have to help people get on their feet by getting other jobs.
He laid it out. The problem is since this plan can work unlike the tax the rich approach the Democrats have to say the issues weren't talked about.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Team Barry Won't Like This
Team Barry won't like this Gallup Poll . That's ok with me though. Seriously, I didn't expect McCain-Palin to move ahead this soon. I'd told friends that I wouldn't have been surprised to see McCain-Palin ahead a week after the Republican Convention. Still, I didn't expect this solid a lead this soon after the Convention. Here's what Gallup published this morning:
The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows John McCain moving ahead of Barack Obama, 48% to 45%, when registered voters are asked for whom they would vote if the presidential election were held today.I expected the McCain-Palin ticket to overtake Team Barry sometime after the Republican's convention but I didn't expect them to jump ahead this quick or by this much. The question now facing Team Barry is whether they'll respond with poise or whether they'll react irrationally.
Since the House Republicans rebelled against Speaker Pelosi's dictatorial rulings, Republicans in general have been on the offensive. When Sen. McCain started highlighting the issue, his campaign's been gaining ground. Still, Sen. Obama has maintained a lead in the polls.
Until now.
The most important issues to voters this year are national security, energy and, to a slightly lesser extent, health care. Sen. McCain's held a healthy, commanding lead on national security since pollsters started polling the McCain-Obama matchup. Gov. Palin's expertise on energy gives the McCain-Palin ticket a significant advantage over the Obama-Biden ticket.
Anytime you've got a commanding lead on two of the three most important issues of the election cycle, you're in great shape. That's where the McCain-Palin ticket currently finds itself.
Things won't get better tomorrow or the next day either because this morning's poll doesn't include done after Sen. McCain's acceptance speech and it doesn't come after Chris Wallace's thrashing of David Axelrod on this morning's FNS. Here's the video of that thrashing:
Mr. Axelrod clearly isn't ready for primetime. He isn't helping Sen. Obama at all.
Posted Sunday, September 7, 2008 1:53 PM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 07-Sep-08 04:55 PM
You know Gary I think it's a little worse than that. The argument might be it's just one poll. But if you look at the Real Clear Politics average Obama has just one poll where he is ahead and that poll was taken basically before the Pallin and Mccain speeches.
This isn't the game plan that Obama was thinking of a couple of months ago. They thought they would've have a big lead, out spend Mccain, and cruise to a large landslide election.
The question is what can Obama do to change the race. The only major event left now is to win the debates and after the saddleback disaster I'm thinking one of my great fears that Obama was going to clean up on Mccain isn't going to happen.
Of course the people like Axelrod
who give Obama their advice put him in this position. They did two stupid stunts (the trip to Europe and the speech in the stadium). They think these were big successes, but they were disasters.
Obama in June was heading to an easy win, but they blew it.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by Chuck at 07-Sep-08 05:24 PM
The real story is the polls in the polls. McCain has maintained his lead among men but cut Obama's lead among women from 14% to 6%. My thought is that a lot of these were Dems so this is a double whammy.
Willie Brown: Team Barry In Deep...You Know
Former SF Mayor Willie Brown has a message for Democrats that's akin to Ed Koch's in 2004: the Democrats' nominee is in trouble. Here's Willie's thinking:
From taxes to oil drilling, Democrats are now going to have to start explaining their positions.If you're on the right side of issues, you can turn things into an offensive. When you're on the wrong side, like Democrats are on taxes and drilling, it isn't fun. It only gets worse from there:
I actually went back and watched Palin's speech a second time. I didn't go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. I had to make sure I got the lines right.If anybody's an expert on "slipping the knives in", it's Willie. He's one of the savviest at the hand-to-hand combat that's every walked the planet. He's saying that Sarah Pali was focused on delivering a withering attack, that she recited her lines flawlessly and, most importantly, her attacks were substantive, not stylistic. If you think that's bad news for Team Barry, it gets worse:
Her timing was exquisite. She didn't linger with applause, but instead launched into line after line of attack, slipping the knives in with every smile and joke.
She didn't have to prove she was "of the people." She really is the people.This is the Democrats' worst nightmare. She doesn't talk like a politician. Her story reminds us of most accomplished professional women, balancing career and family and being good at both. Herre's the worst news for Team Barry:
If she can answer questions like she handled herself at the convention, Palin will turn out to be the most interesting person in all of politics, and the press will treat her like they treated Obama when he was first discovered.That's really gotta hurt Barry. He's gotten used to being treated like royalty. If the media start treating Gov. Palin like royalty, it'll be adding the final insult to his worst injury.
That's what can happen when you're attacked by a barracuda. If you swim with the barracudas, you're gonna get bit.
Posted Sunday, September 7, 2008 8:28 PM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 07-Sep-08 10:18 PM
Fortunately she won't be treated like a Queen. She has been treated like Hitler or Sadem Hussein. Wait a minute the left felt sorry for Hussein eventually.
They have asked more negative questions in one week (a lot untrue apparently) than Obama has gotten during his entire year.
If Sarah Pallin had a house deal like Obama's that would've been nonstop news for the whole week. Since it's Obama's house no questions.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
