Palin Puts On A Show, But Its All Smoke And Mirrors

Last night the Republican convention and those watching at home were given quite a large dose of what it means to be a conservative in 2008. All the surrogates hit Obama and tried really hard to sell Sarah Palin and John McCain to the voters. It was a valiant effort filled with lies and innuendo, but nothing did more to their third night than Sarah Palin herself. She really does sum things up for the GOP and what they have been reduced to.

The speech was meant for Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty and you can hear where they made the changes (i.e. Alaska and Palin). For the most part though, the twenty minutes or so was filled with partisan hackery, blatant lies and a terrible disdain for people that try to make their communities a better place to live.

The lying without a care in the world as she read off that teleprompter was just as funny as it was sad. Some of things mentioned contradict the facts, including the top ten things you might not know about her. Of course, facts never got in the way of a good time at an RNC function. The thing that got to me, well OK two things was the repeated attack on community organizers and the blatant use of newborn Trig Palin as a political prop, I honestly lost count on how many times the cameras went to the cute little baby. Most likely because there was no way to show a diverse crowd like the cable news producers could at the DNC.

Finally, it was that lack of diversity that loved Palin's speech. It has been compared to a student-council rant that goes off on the big meanies across the stage. She threw huge chunks of red meat at the crowd, but no real reason that made it clear she was capable of being Vice-President or god forbid, the President of the United States. She was put there solely for political reasons and nothing more. Frankly, that is all the GOP cares about, pure politics. Leadership is merely a catchword, not something you actually embrace and use to guide the country. We've been flying blind for the last eight years, now it is time for someone to take our hand so we can soar again.

An Endorsement For Sarah Palin

As a political neophyte, Sarah Palin is going to need a large boost for people to get behind her. Thankfully we have a distinguished an indicted Senator from her home state that can do just that:

With Palin, John McCain Determined To Lose

Last night I presumed that either Mittens, Pawlenty or Lieberman would have been picked to be McCain's VP but I was wrong, though I am so glad I was. No one is perfect and Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is a testament to that. By picking her, McCain throws his lot with the right-wing of his party and assures us that he'll never bring up that "experience" crap again. Two years ago, Palin was a part-time Mayor and now McCain expects people to believe she'll be ready to lead our country if something happens to the 72 year old (Happy Birthday John!), yeah right! People are already comparing her to Quayle or even worse.

Heck, she doesn't even know what a Vice-President does:

In an interview just a month ago, she dissed the job, saying it didn’t seem “productive.”

In fact, she said she doesn’t know what the vice president does.

Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Co.” asked her about the possibility of becoming McCain ticket mate.
Palin replied: “[A]s for that V.P. talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that V.P .slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”

Someone should probably hand her a copy of the Constitution before she debates Senator Joe Biden, sheesh, what a joke that will be. What she does know is how to be another corrupt and crooked Republican. With one of her state's Republican Senators under indictment and charged with seven counts of false statements and a Congressman that is as ethical as day is night, she brings to McCain's table the pinnacle of Republican malfeasance (at least on a state level). She was touted as a reformer and something new, but already within two years, she has a troopergate story that rivals my own ex-Governor's saga. It turns out she had a state commissioner fire to fire a state trooper that her sister was divorcing. Tsk, tsk on that one Sarah.

Then we have your "beliefs," such as teaching creationism in public schools and siding with energy companies over the environment. She is inexperienced, a joke on the national stage and a true desperation pick from a washed-up Senator from Arizona that is clearly crumbling under the tremendous appeal that Barack Obama brings to America. Sarah Palin, like John McCain, is merely more of the same.

Rove Urges Lieberman Not To Be McCain VP, Joe Laughs Him Off

Karl Rove is still up to his old tricks, but it seems that his influence isn't what it used to be. According to the well-sourced Robert Novak, he tried to get Lieberman to take himself off the short list of McCain's Vice-Presidential considerations. Obviously Holy Joe doesn't think much of Bush's Brain anymore, because he laughed at the suggestion of calling McCain to take his name out of the running.

From Politico:

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation.

Lieberman dismissed the request, these sources agreed.

Lieberman “laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details.

“Rove called Lieberman,” recounted a second source. “Lieberman told him he would not make that call.”

Well, it is nice to see that George Bush's main man is dabbling in the Republican VP selection process. Except for the President himself, there is no one better to tie the disastrous and bitterly partisan era of the last eight years to John McCain. I hope Karl gets his pick, because shredding Mitt Romney can be done blindfolded with one arm tied behind your back. Rove likes him because he "saved the Olympics" (for Utah in 2002 I presume) and he's good on the economy. Oh Karl, you really are losing your edge. If you want to talk economics and the two men debating them on the VP ticket are Joe Biden and Mitt Romney, then by all means, select Mittens. He is no match for Joe Biden, not even close.

Thanks, But No Thanks For The VP Advice Rudy

Rudy Giuliani is at it again, trying to give "advice" to the Democratic delegation currently in Denver. The corrupt ex-Mayor and self-proclaimed 9/11 expert flew to Colorado to make trouble, much like his cohorts at Fox News. While Joe Biden and Barack Obama team up to crush the Republicans in ten weeks time, the GOP is foolishly wasting time trying to fracture the party by playing on the PUMA crowd. Though as you can see, there really isn't much to that gaggle. Nevertheless, we'll let Rudy waste his time anyways.

From The NY Daily News:

WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani voiced his newfound sympathy for archfoe Hillary Clinton and her loyal cohorts Sunday, saying he feels their pain over her getting jilted as the Dem veep pick.

"The strong choice would have been Hillary Clinton, the obvious choice would have been Hillary Clinton" rather than Joe Biden as the running mate for Barack Obama, Giuliani said.

"It's kind of a no-brainer that that's your ticket," Giuliani added on ABC's "This Week."

A no-brainer move would have been to fix those FDNY/NYPD radios asshole. So he really has no clue in ways of saving lives or even picking a VP choice (and you know McCain isn't dumb enough to pick him). Perhaps McCain has him leading this foolish mission because our VP nominee tagged his entire existence in one short line.

Huckabee Thinks Romney Flip-Flops Too Much

Huckabee may think that Romney is too much of a flip-flopper, but that sounds like a perfect match for McCain:

Evan Bayh Is Obama's Wrong Choice

Evan Bayh's name has come up before in talk about the 2008 Presidential race. He was thought of as an outlier candidate two years ago but he never officially started a campaign. Now that Barack Obama is going to be the nominee, his name is back in the spotlight for consideration of the VP pick. As the date for the text message nears, I am just a little bit nervous that he would be the one Obama picks.

There are many objections to Bayh and more desirable candidates as well. First of all Senator Bayh's replacement would be picked by a Republican Governor and partisanship will immediately reduce our Senate majority by two (one Dem gone, one more Repub). Secondly, Bayh is a DLC centrist and Iraq war apologist. We certainly do not a need a blue dog as Vice President. Finally Obama has his own brand and Bayh doesn't scream "Change!" to me. Obama needs a neutral pick and the Indiana Senator is not it.

So what do we do about it?

At about 2am last night after a gig in Austin, we launched 100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP on Facebook. We have about 99,000 to go but we are growing at the rate of about 100 names per hour now.

For the record -- I would support Barack Obama if he picked a turnip as his running mate, but since so much of Obama's candidacy is rooted in Obama's willingness to listen to his supporters, this might be a real chance to help make sure that he doesn't.

And if you aren't on Facebook, write an email, write a hand-written letter or even a phone call to the campaign. We got Obama's attention on FISA (yeah I know it didn't work out as well as we had hoped) and we can do it for this. Tell the campaign you want to see Wes Clark, Tom Daschle, even Al Gore (not that he'd accept of course) or anyone that does not have the problems that Bayh does. When I get that text message, I want to see another name on it.

Vice President Schmezident

Hillary Clinton is making it an issue to subvert Barack Obama by mentioning him as a possible Vice-Presidential nominee, you know, to let him on the ticket below her. While Senator Clinton is so gracious to offer that to her opponent that is ahead in the delegate count, amount of states won and the popular vote, she might want to check that offer with what she was saying about Senator Obama just a few days ago. Or else he might just remind her himself.

From The NY Times:

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Senator Barack Obama implored voters here today to discount the political chatter about him joining the Democratic presidential ticket with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, declaring: “I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place can offer the vice presidency to someone who’s in first place.”

“If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?” Mr. Obama said. “Do you understand that?”

In a town meeting here, one day before the Mississippi primary, Mr. Obama sought to aggressively knock down the discussion stirred by Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton that the deadlocked Democratic nominating fight could be resolved by giving him the No. 2 position. It was the most expansive answer he has ever given on the subject, with his tone ranging from stern to mocking to sarcastic.

“With all due respect, I’ve won twice as many states as Senator Clinton,” Mr. Obama said, speaking over the applause of nearly 2,000 people who rose from their seats. “I’ve won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I have more delegates than Senator Clinton.”

So um, Senator Clinton, if you want to start talking about Vice Presidential nominee selections, ya might want to think about putting your own name in the hat before throwing other people in. Oh and speaking of Vice-Presidential nominees (that endorse Clinton), wtf was Geraldine Ferraro using race for in that tirade of hers today? That leads me to my final question, why hasn't Clinton apologized and explained her dismissive comments about Mississippi? The Mayor of Hattiesburg (whose town is one of many voting tomorrow) still wants an answer to that.

Of course you can just keep ignoring these questions, and continue losing the vast majority of contests this primary season. Your choice.