Wednesday Night at the Clown Show

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I’ve been watching the convention with the sound off, mostly because I’ve been working on other things and don’t need the distraction. But, never fear, I will update this post with live blogging of Sarah Palin’s speech.

Meanwhile, feel free to snark about anything you’ve seen at the convention.

Update: Is it me, or is there something sinister about all those “Country First” signs?

I believe they’ve got the boyfriend sitting next to the pregnant daughter.

Palin: “There’s a time for politics, and a time for leadership.” McCain is stuck in politics mode, dear. He chose you.

She’s pushing the Commander in Chief button. I think of all the things she needs to do tonight, that’s about the last one.

Now she’s pushing the mother button and “special needs children” button.

Introducing her husband. She’s spending a lot of time on her family.

The “opportunity for women” button. Does she have anything to say about, oh, the economy?

They’re praising Harry Truman. Harry Truman was a flaming liberal by their standards.

She’s going on about how ordinary she is. PTA! Hockey mom! Small town!

I might vote for her … for PTA president. Depends on who she was running against, though.

This speech is all about her, with some snark about Obama. She’s not talking about America.

Wow, she eliminated a luxury jet. A bold decision.

Bridge to Nowhere! But she kept the money! What a hypocrite!

She has X-ray vision and can see the oil reserves under the North Slope. Wow.

What’s with the yellow scarves the delegates are swinging?

She said Obama hasn’t authored a single bill as a Senator. I can think of a few he authored off the top of my head.

Is this a speech that will appeal to anyone but wingnuts? I honestly don’t know. She’s dishonest and glib, so it’s not working for me. It will appeal to the stupid, of course.

Is anyone bored yet? I am.

Palin isn’t the reformer she claims to be.

Did you know McCain was a POW? Wow.

Good; she’s done.

This may sound sexist, but there’s something about Palin that reminds me of the woman that used to come to our high school home ec class and do product demonstrations.

They’ve got the bleeping boyfriend on the bleeping stage.

Olbermann is saying she sounded condescending.

The crew at Think Progress is fact checking, but as of now they’re still on Giuliani’s speech. I’m going to bed.

Babies, Lies and Scandal

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Sarah P. US magazine cover

For so many years, we on the left have been playing Jeremiah in the wilderness, anguishing all alone over the latest of many attacks on our beloved country by the far right. It’s refreshing to finally kick back for awhile and let the mainstream media, at long last, step in to anguish themselves over the weighty issues of the day. To think that an esteemed publication such as US magazine would step forward and so gloriously take up our cause… 🙂

OK, I confess to a serious/hilarious case of schadenfreude these last few days. Enjoy.

What Did I Miss?

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Did anyone see Bush’s “speech” tonight? I understand it was kept to 8 minutes. They really don’t want him around, do they?

When I got home from Tuesday night chorus rehearsal they were showing a tribute to Reagan. How many years will it take for them to get past Reagan? I realize the Dems had a tribute to the Kennedys, but that’s because there was a Kennedy on the stage.

I watched Thompson with the sound off. He’s much better that way.

Looking at the conventioneers reminds me of the folks back home. All white.

Oo, Lieberman’s up. TV off.

Anyway, I’m going to break my own rule here and say something about the Palins and their pregnancies. Via Atrios, the National Enquirer is reporting that Sarah Palin was planning to marry Bristol off to her boyfriend right after the convention and then announce the pregnancy. But Bristol refused to go along with this plan, it says.

Has anyone asked Bristol if she wants to marry the kid she messed around with? Maybe she doesn’t. If so, that would tell me she has more sense than her whackjob mother. Who the hell outside of Arkansas marries off 17-year-olds these days, even if the girl is pregnant? They might as well pay for the wedding and divorce in one package deal. It would save both those children, and the baby, a lot of grief.

Right now I’m too tired to go through all the Palin family dramas that have turned up just today. The biggies: The Palin’s association with an extremist, anti-American secessionist movement; as governor, Palin slashed money for teen moms; just three months ago, Palin called the Iraq war a messianic affair in which the United States could do the will of the Lord.

Sarah Palin — the gift (to the Dems) that keeps on giving —

I’m beginning to think the “Eagleton Scenario” is possible. If … nay, when … Palin becomes too big a drag on the ticket, they could dump her and blame the evil liberal media and liberal bloggers for being mean.

Maybe we should lay off and encourage her to stay on the ticket.

POTUS Persona Non Grata

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Be sure to read Sidney Blumenthal’s account of the cancellation of Bush’s speech last night. The McCain campaign used Gustave to shove Bush off the program, and Bush is pissed.

In order that Bush and Cheney not seem to have been humiliated, McCain cancelled the entire proceedings for the first evening.

Almost certainly, Bush had to cancel his planned speech while Gustav loomed. But the sources say he didn’t like the idea and felt pushed. Bush is described by sources as “furious” at McCain for being deprived of his last appearance before his party, which nominated him twice, as a sitting president. He believes he is being treated disrespectfully.

Unless he’s been canceled again, Bush is supposed to speak to the convention tonight via satellite. But he’s not on the schedule on the RNC web site.

President who?

Meanwhile, McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, told the Washington Post,

“This election is not about issues,” said Davis. “This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.”

Fascinating.

RNC Updates

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President Bush may address the RNC convention tonight via satellite. Oh, please make it so …

The Republican National Convention web site has no schedule up for today, as of a bit before noon EST, so I have no idea what’s going to happen there today, and apparently neither do they. I’m sure they were hoping that they’d get more mileage out of Hurricane Gustave.

Update to the update … this just in…

The Republican National Convention, cut back Monday because of Hurricane Gustav’s arrival on the U.S. Gulf Coast, will resume a full schedule Tuesday, convention officials said.

President Bush, who was scheduled to speak Monday, will deliver his address via satellite at 9:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, officials said.

Tuesday’s theme will be “Who is John McCain,” officials said.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who ran in the early GOP 2008 presidential primaries, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, will deliver primetime speeches after President Bush.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will have a speaking role at the Republican National Convention, a GOP official told CNN Tuesday.

Alas, I will be out tonight and will miss the President’s speech, but maybe I can catch Joe and Fred. (Note to self: Get Pepto Bismol.)

According to rightie bloggers, “leftists” are rioting in St. Paul. It appears the chief troublemakers are a group called “The RNC Welcoming Committee,” which describes itself as “an anarchist / anti-authoritarian organizing body preparing for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.” They make it clear on their web site they don’t like Democrats, either, but they didn’t protest at the DNC because they would have had to travel to get there. Apparently most of these characters are local to St. Paul.

I can’t tell how much of the Welcoming Committee’s agenda is “left” and how much of it is “we’re assholes.” And are we sure some of these persons aren’t Ron Paul supporters?

It’s striking, though, that protests at the DNC (which were relatively mild and gentle), according to wingnut bloggers, “proved” that liberals are bad. Protests at the RNC also prove that liberals are bad. Funny how that works.

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC.

Evangelicals rally behind Palin after pregnancy news — not surprising. Pregnant, unmarried teenage daughters are as common as coffee and doughnuts with this crew. All they care about is that Bristol is not getting an abortion.

Speaking of abortion, I’ve got an article on the Buddhist view of the abortion issue up on the other site.

Stuff to read:

Eugene Robinson, “The Cynicism Express”

Greg Sargent, “The Palin Meltdown in Slo-Mo”

George Lakoff, “The Palin Choice and the Reality of the Political Mind“

The RNC Begins

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Apparently the GOP didn’t want the nation to get a close look at Cindy McCain. She was hustled on and off the stage in St. Paul very early in the evening, way not prime time. I could snark about her shiny gold suit, but that would be sexist.

MSNBC reports that police used tear gas on protesters at the RNC convention. So is Little Lulu covering this as tightly as she covered protests in Denver? Of course not.

However, Little Lulu does want us to leave Bristol Palin alone. I didn’t know anyone was bothering her. It’s her mother we’re bothering.

I called the last post “GOP Tries to Hide Behind Hurricane.” I’m thinking Gustav isn’t a big enough hurricane for them to hide behind. That could change; we’re not out of danger, especially from floods. But I think most of the nation is still disgusted about Katrina, and the GOP dog and pony show of concern about a less serious storm is just a reminder.

GOP Tries to Hide Behind Hurricane

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I just flipped on the television and saw President Bush in some bunker in Texas, walking around shaking hands and congratulating everyone in the vicinity on the great job they were doing about Hurricane Gustav. It was a near-perfect replay of that wonderful moment on the Mississippi tarmac when Bush uttered his immortal line, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

I heard one report say the President might address the nation tomorrow night about Gustav. There’s no question Gustav is a significant storm, but so far it’s not shaping up into another Katrina. That could change, of course. But I think the GOP might over-do the concern act. People haven’t forgotten Katrina. People understand there’s an election coming.

Hurricane Gustav presented the GOP with a perfect reason to keep the POTUS and VPOTUS out of St. Paul. Instead, the GOP is using the convention to put on a great show of concern. They are already raising money for hurricane “victims,” for example, assuming there are any. Maybe the money could be sent to Katrina victims still waiting for help.

Today McCain and running mate Sarah Palin are in Mississippi pretending to be Doing Something and getting their pictures taken. Oh, and McCain accused Obama of “playing politics” with the hurricane.

The lesson, children, is that if you’re going to be hit by a natural disaster during a Republican administration, be sure it’s close to election time. Otherwise, you are SOL.

Stuff to read —

Mother Jones, “John McCain’s Miserable Record on Hurricane Katrina”

Paul Krugman, “John, Don’t Go”

Mike Madden, “Bush, McCain and the GOP try to dodge Katrina 2.0”

A Real Palin Pregnancy

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Those of you who can’t STFU about the alleged faked Sarah Palin pregnancy, here’s a documented pregnancy you can obsess about. Reuters reports that Bristol Palin is pregnant now.

The 17-year-old daughter of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, is pregnant, Palin said Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Senator John McCain.

If Bristol is five months pregnant, she couldn’t very well have given birth four months ago. I hope we can let that rumor go now.

However, IMO the last thing a pregnant 17-year-old needs is a shotgun wedding.

Update: Here’s the MSNBC video —

Of course, maybe they’re faking Bristol’s pregnancy now so that they can deny … oh, never mind.

Update: Another report here.

Don’t Go There

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There’s a lot of talk about what we can and cannot say about Sarah Palin. There are some who seem to think any criticism at all of Palin amounts to sexism, an attitude that strikes me as sexist. It says that women can’t be taken seriously in the political world and treated the same way men are treated. It’s like the high school coach who puts girls on the boy’s varsity team not because he thinks they are good players, but because he thinks the opposing team will hesitate to rough them up. (Which, come to think of it, might explain McCain’s choice of Palin.)

I argued yesterday that it’s absurd not to talk about Palin’s inexperience. Anyone who says that talking about her inexperience requires imposing a double standard is, um, imposing a double standard.

However, I will not criticize her as a mother or suggest she has too many small children to take care of to be VPOTUS. I haven’t seen any such criticism personally, but I understand there was some such carping among a few Daily Kos diarists, leading to the Times of London to report a “Left-wing websites such as the Daily Kos are leading the chorus of disapproval.”

It’s not much of a chorus; more of a small chamber ensemble. In any event, don’t go there. The late Benazir Bhutto gave birth while she was President of Pakistan, for pity’s sake.

And yes, I’ve heard the rumor that Palin’s youngest baby isn’t hers. I’m not going there, either, unless more evidence shows up. Making wild accusations that turn out to be stupid makes you look like a rightie.

On the other hand, Josh Marshall explains in detail why Palin’s troopergate issue needs to be discussed.

We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It’s called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired him. She first denied Monegan’s claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened.

There’s a difference between criticizing people professionally and criticizing them personally. Criticizing Palin’s stands on issues, yes. Discussing her record as a mayor and a governor, yes. Pointing out her lack of experience, yes. Ridicule of her appearance, family or personal lifestyle choices, no. I hope we’re clear.

Let’s not forget that the real focus needs to stay on John McCain. Todd Gitlin writes,

McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin is not a weird anomaly. It’s of a piece with his standard modus operandi. He’s impulsive, erratic. Put him in a jam, he leaps from petulance to exuberant nose-thumbing. He may be old, but he’s unseasoned–he’s childish. He jumps outside the box and takes pleasure in his insouciance. Faced with a foreign policy problem, he thinks: Bomb. (Sometimes he blurts it out, as in: Bomb bomb Iran.) Faced with energy crisis, he thinks: Drill. Faced with Russia-Georgia-Ossetia, he thinks: Let’s get the Cold War on. Bomb and drill, drill and bomb–this is not a steady hand at the wheel; this is a go-for-broke gambler playing the game as he loves to play it.

Whenever I see polls that say a majority think McCain would be a better commander in chief than Obama, I want to scream. We need to find a way to flush this jerk out into the open so the American people can see him for what he really is.

Update: Ta-Nehisi Coates writes,

The entire Sarah Palin pick comes down to one thing–the hope that George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, or (God forbid) Will.I.Am. will make a joke about moose-burgers. At that point, the McCain campaign will cut an ad which says They’re laughing at you. Vote for McCain and you can show the world. You can show them all! Of course said ad will never appear on television but will be screened only for the media–who will then do their job and turn the cable news into giant echo chamber in which the “Real Americans” yell They’re all gonna laugh at you! They’re all gonna laugh at you! Welcome to Victimology 101–the White Working Class Edition.

Watch the Obama-Biden ad. Nice.

It Could Have Been Worse

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Word is that McCain had wanted to choose Joe Lieberman as his running mate, and the GOP Powers That Be wouldn’t have it, because Lieberman supports abortion rights. So the “maverick” caved and chose someone else.

I think Lieberman would have been a much more dangerous choice for us than Palin will turn out to be. Joe may be persona non grata on the Left, but I think most people who are not politics nerds, which are most people, don’t understand why us lefties don’t like him. They see him as a moderate bipartisan who talks about Gawd a lot. The choice would have assured people that McCain intends to break with the extremist body of the GOP.

And the Dems sure as hell couldn’t have said he isn’t qualified to be veep.

The next question is, how carefully was Palin vetted? She wasn’t a complete surprise, as I’ve seen her name mentioned a few times in the past several weeks as a possible veep pick. The McCain campaign claims she was well and thoroughly vetted. Josh Marshall has reason to doubt this.

Oliver Willis calls it, I believe:

Increasingly, I’m beginning to believe the Palin pick is the latest manifestation of John McCain’s impulse control problem, a thread going through his entire life – from cheating on his first wife with Cindy McCain, advocating for war with Iraq right after 9/11, chanting “bomb Iran”, as well as his numerous flashes of rage both physical and verbal against his congressional colleagues. As Paul Begala notes, McCain picked someone who isn’t up to the job in a way that would endanger us all – and all based on what his ego is feeling at the moment.

There is speculation that Palin will end up being the GOP’s Thomas Eagleton and will be replaced on the ticket before November. I wouldn’t count on that. I think the true believers on the Right will support her and believe her to be an asset to the ticket no matter what happens between now and November.

But that’s OK. Obama will never win those votes, anyway. The real question is, how will independent voters perceive her? Those are the votes Obama needs. And I’m not much worried. As I said, Lieberman would have been much more dangerous.

On the minus side — I understand President Bush will not be attending the RNC convention because of Hurricane Gustav, which disappoints me terribly. But you know how our president likes to take charge and stay on top of things during hurricanes. In fact, McCain questioned whether the convention would be held at all.

“I’m afraid … that we may have to look at that situation and we’ll try to monitor it,” he told Fox News. “But you know it just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster. So we’re monitoring it from day to day and I’m saying a few prayers too.”

Yep; wouldn’t be appropriate. Not at all.