The RNC and why Giuliani is one of the biggest tools ever...

Listening to Giuliani's speech at the RNC ... I was absolutely appalled by his and the crowd's laughter at Obama's experience as a community organizer. Obama was a guy who could have went to a prestigious law firm out of Harvard and instead chose to be a community organizer in one of the poorest areas of Chicago, helping people down on their luck to get jobs. WHY IS THAT FUNNY? Why is that worthy of Republican belittlement? (And they call Obama elite.... WOW)

What does this say to young Americans who want to do work in their communities to make them a better place??? That one day they can get laughed at by a bunch of white old dudes on national television?

I just find it funny that Republicans who have spent the last couple hours talking about how self reliance and the people were the things that were going to change America, are now laughing out loud at someone who chose to enter his community and do just that. He was helping people get jobs and get back on their feet so they could be self reliant.

I would like to thank the Republicans for once again showing why they are so damn out of touch with regular Americans who don't vote solely on the issue of abortion.

On a side note, I wish someone would punch Giuliani and knock his prominent upper teeth out. He sucks so bad.


On an even sider note... I just won a bet with my brother because Giuliani couldn't go one speech without mentioning September 11th.

P.S. Did anyone notice that Huckabee and Giuliani said the exact same scripted line about McCain's time as a POW. Holy crap.... WE GET IT!!!!! He's a POW!!! This is like the new September 11th to the Republicans.

P.S.S. Notice how much they keep talking about Palin's executive experience? Notice how they haven't mentioned how McCain has exactly ZERO executive experience, but they have railed on Obama and Biden about it. Once again... hilarious. Have fun losing an election McCain, I don't think your "maverick" pick is going to make the American people forget about your lack of a plan in taking the nation forward beyond what the Bush Administration has come up with in the past 8 years.

McCain's War Against the Press

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/angry_amateurs.html

I was going to say some things about this but I think the above Time blog entry hits the nail right on the head.

The fact is... God forbid something to happen to John McCain were he elected President (and I don't say that sarcastically, I use to actually be a pretty big John McCain fan before he became such a Republican drone that he barely resembles his former self), Sarah Palin would be our next President. Her record, background, and views need to be vetted to the fullest by the media and by the citizens of this country who don't seem to know much about her. For the McCain campaign to suggest that this is "sexist" or "an attack on Palin" is the most ridiculous and audacious thing I've ever heard. SHE COULD BE PRESIDENT. We need to know what that would look like.

I totally agree that her pregnant daughter should not be the focus. Besides the fact that the wingnuts like Rush Limbaugh who are praising her for it would chastise Barack Obama were it his child, I could honestly care less. If they would just be consistent it wouldn't even be an issue. But the rest of the issues, like her experience, her stance on the issues, and her track record (like trying to ban books, raising taxes, and allegations of corruption) are definitely fair game and need to be explored. Unlike Obama who has been ran through the ringer by the media over the past year and thensome, she hasn't been in the public eye. The election is in a little two months... what do they expect the media to do, sit on their hands?

I had a feeling this is what Republicans really thought...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Huff Post:

Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan and former John McCain adviser, Time columnist, and MSNBC contributor Mike Murphy were caught on tape disparaging John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate.

"It's over," Noonan said.

When Chuck Todd asked her if this was the most qualified woman the Republicans could nominate, Noonan responded, "The most qualified? No. I think they went for this political bullshit about narratives. Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and that's not what they're good at, they blow it."

Murphy characterized the choices as "cynical" and "gimmicky."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You could almost tell the Republicans were passing out talking points on what to say about Palin so they could show a united front in support of her. A good portion of people I know thought it was a lousy choice by McCain.... yet somehow not one Republican seemed to have one bad word to say about it. A lot of them were even saying it's the "best choice" he could have made. Really? No one out there that might be a little more qualified? It's almost laughable. Then again, I guess honesty isn't exactly the best policy in politics.

Is the hunt for Osama Bin Laden back on? (SPECULATION)

Could it be the October surprise that Bush and McCain are looking for?

Pakistan protests 'coalition air attack'

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/03/pakistan.attack.afghanistan.deaths/index.html


Now all violations of Pakistan's sovereignty and civilian deaths aside, and this is just speculation on my part,.... BUT... could this incursion into Pakistani territory, where Osama Bin Laden is thought to be hiding, be Bush making a concerted effort to save the legacy of his presidency?

His administration is currently suffering from record low approval ratings, and many think he will go down as one of the worst presidents, if not THE worst, in the history of this country. As much as people get fired up in regards to 9/11 there is no doubt that the administration realizes this might be their last chance to save face with some of the American people (certainly don't include me in that group). Despite the fact that he should have been impeached by now (if you take into account laws and the Constitution, you know, all that stuff deemed dismissible), if he were able to bring Osama to justice, many people would likely tout him for doing right by the nation. It would likely also give McCain a bump as he is tied so closely to Bush because of his voting record and party affiliation.

NOW THIS IS ONLY SPECULATION ON MY PART... but crazier things have happened. We've also seen what lengths the Republicans and the Karl Rove crew will go to in order to win elections.

So... could it be?

Sarah Palin: Another example of McCain's lack of judgment?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090203462.html?hpid=topnews

From my point of view, as more information is revealed about the vetting process and the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain's Vice Presidential running mate, the more it becomes apparent that Sen. McCain is seriously lacking in judgment. She wasn't even subjected to a "lengthy background interview" until Wednesday. That would be the day before he asked her to be the VP candidate. I just find that to be a very rash decision, especially as you begin to look at her qualifications.

Looking at her qualifications????? Don't do that! That's sexist say many Republicans. How dare you challenge her qualifications?

I won't even go into what a ridiculous argument that is. This is someone that could become the leader of the free world, which is especially pertinent considering McCain could be the oldest President ever elected to a first term and has been very secretive about releasing his medical records.

So let's talk about those qualifications (from Wikipedia, sources can be found there):

1. Served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska (2000 census pop. 5,469) city council from 1992 to 1996.
2. Was mayor of Wasilla for two terms from 1996 to 2002.
3. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004 while also serving as Ethics Supervisor of the commission.
4. As of December of 2006 she has been the Governor of Alaska.

Now I guess you can argue she has executive experience, which seems to be all that McCain and Repubs are doing (side note: what about McCain's executive experience??? Oh that's right, he has none. So if that is so important, why not put her at the top of the ticket?). They seem to be using the kitchen sink approach of throwing anything out there to defend her qualifications, including: the fact that she is a parent (really???) , hunts, fishes, commands the Alaska National Guard (where they conveniently leave out the fact that that doesn't include when they are deployed outside Alaska), and has an Israeli flag in her office. She seems like a very nice, intelligent and capable person, but I can't say I would be comfortable with her as President.

What concerns me is she seems to have little experience on NATIONAL issues and her quote from a month ago is very telling: "As for that VP 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 VP does every day? I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP 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." - Politico

How about her understanding of Iraq?
"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq," Ms. Palin told Alaska Business Monthly in March 2007. - Washington Post

She basically has zero foreign policy experience, she is under investigation for corruption charges (can you say Bush DOJ scandal anyone?), and has little understanding of the very biggest problems the nation is facing right now (the one the Republicans keep ignoring and McCain has admitted he doesn't understand much, the ECONOMY).

Overall it seems like McCain realized his chances were fleeting after the successful Democratic Convention and the amazing speech by Obama where he laid out his vision and plan for a united and prosperous America. Therefore, he decided he needed to make a VP pick that would create a media frenzy and people would spend most of the time before the election focusing on things like Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy and the fact that barely anyone knows anything about the Alaskan Governor. This would allow everyone to forget about how McCain has no new ideas and a scant plan to turn this nation around for the better. So far it seems to be backfiring in the sense that with all the revelations about Palin so soon after McCain's choice, it makes it seem as if McCain lacked major judgment in his decision.

I'll take Obama's judgment over McCain's number of years spent in politics any day.

Diddy. Not a fan of McCain's VP pick.

I guess instead of Vote or Die this year we get "Diddy Blogs". Diddy comes off sounded pretty retarded as usual... but it is a valid point.

Sarah Palin... really?

Time for the media to find something new to talk about...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/31/AR2008083101620.html

Even Howard Wolfson is on board. I guess there goes what the media has been opining about for the last couple weeks. What will the talk about now? Hopefully not another dreamed up narrative that makes for good news but lacks much truth.

Growing up I always thought the media's job was to give citizens in this country the facts so that they could then be informed and make sure the nation was heading in the right direction. Now as I get older I realize that the media is just like any other corporation, they are there to make money. If they have to create narratives and constantly talk about half-truths to get people to watch, that's exactly what they are going to do.

I'm not sure how we could get an actual independent source of information and news in this country that is available to everyone, but it surely isn't going to come from corporate news. Most of the independent and reliable information is now coming from blogs and independent news sites on the internet. Sadly, some people still don't have regular access to this information. In this period of "best news teams ever" and "no-spin zones", it's increasingly hard to get factual information that isn't given some sort of spin before it gets to us. I think we need to demand truth and non-bias from our news stations or punish them for not doing what they are supposed to: giving us the facts.