McCain and Obama Ceasefire

Both campaigns have canceled events related to the RNC tomorrow and have asked supporters to aid with disaster relief efforts by volunteering or donating to the Red Cross in light of Hurricane Gustav's imminent hit on the Gulf Coast.

Sometimes it feels damn good to be an American.

Bravo to both sides.


Here's a link to the RedCross website for disaster relief fund donations.

Volunteer opportunities in our area may be somewhat limited given the distance, but if they need more help, I'd certainly encourage all those who are able to do so.

For now, no more ripping on Obama and his supporters complaints on Palin. (and I was having so much fun with it.)

Inexperienced Beauty Queen

And only a heart beat away from the presidency!

What a massive strategic blunder. What were they thinking?

Have they lost their minds?

...

Magic 8 Ball says: "All signs point to yes."

Meanwhile the daily tracking polls are already showing a dip in Obama's post convention bounce.

Republicans and unaffiliated voters seem to like our VP candidate better than Biden.

And Obama supporters have resorted to competing with our VP candidate to make their guy seem qualified. That's just sad.

Obama vs Palin vs Quayle

A quick and dirty look at experience of the three:



The Obama campaign can be dismissive of the number of people in Palin's leadership positions, but at least she had some leadership positions.

Obama legislating for a small section of Chicago isn't the same job as Palin managing a government for a small city.

Running a State, even with a small population is still more leadership than Obama's similarly short years in the US Senate.

In both cases Obama never had enough seniority to ever chair a committee nor did he ever lead in any significant way. As factcheck.org notes: Obama tends to vote straight in line with his party. Even the issues he likes to pad his resume with were generally handed to him by parties leaders in Illinois or the US Senate who wanted to help push his career along. That's not leadership, that's being groomed.

I sincerely hope that the Democrats keep making an issue out of the experience, since the more voters are focused on it, the more they'll notice that Obama isn't qualified for VP himself... let alone the Presidency.

Dan Quayle with a Pony Tail

I'm starting to like this Palin pick. It has all the Democrats and Obamaniacs up in a tizzy rambling about inexperience and Dan Quayle and heart beats away from the presidency.

First off: Palin is too inexperienced, and like the Biden choice by Obama, it's more than a little hypocritical.

Second off: What experience she does have is actually pretty comparable to Obama. Obama had just under 8 years representing a small section of Chicago. Palin had roughly 4 years representing a portion of her small city and another 6 years as mayor of that city, a mangement/executive experience that while minor, is more executive experience that the entire Democratic ticket since Obama went with a lifelong Senator for VP.

Obama has over 3 years in the Senate, but he's spent nearly half that campaigning for President and by his own admission was near the bottom of seniority so had no leadership positions ever in it.

By contrast Palin's will have roughly two years as governor of Alaska, another executive post, for which she is credited with reforms, fighting corruption (even against her own party) and is sitting pretty with a 80-90% approval rating as has been reported in the news.


So if Palin is too inexperienced (she is), what does that make Obama? Dan Quayle without a pony tail?

All signs point to yes.

Obama's record more closely matches Dan Quayles. While Palin's experience is primarily mayoral and gubernatorial... Quayle and Obama both rested on purely legislative experience.

Quayle only had limited military experience through the National Guard. Obama has none.

Quayle had roughly 4 years in the US House of Represenatatives and 8 years in the Senate. Obama by contrast had less total legislative experience and the bulk of his was representing a small secton of Chicago, with only a couple solid years in the US Senate.

Quayle and Obama have either personally or had their surrogates invoke JFK to defend their lack of experience.

But both failed that test as well. JFK's military experience and narrative blew Quayles minimal experience there out of the water, and Obama's nonexistant experience there is no contest.

JFK's legsilative experience was closer to Quayle's in total years and being split between the US House and US Senate... but was still longer than Quayle's. Obama similarly doesn't even come close to either.

Palin's inexperience is certainly not a strong point for her nomination either. But even her limited experience shows she's a good match for McCain on two of his big pet issues, ethics reform and fighting ear marks, and generally fits with him on his conservative philosophy. Her limited experience also compliments him as it has been management/executive experience, something handy for a VP whose duties beyond breaking ties in the Senate are usually more related to delegated duties of White House management, the amoung of which is up to the President who could otherwise basically tell them to, "Go away unless I die."

And while the GOP has two fallback excuses for their VP pick (McCain's exprience at the top of the ticket and Palin's executive experience, while minimal, still is more than Obama's with an actual leadership narrative and strong accomplishments)... the DNC has little excuse for Obama other than pulling a Dan Quayle with arrogant JFK comparisons.

But America knew Jack Kennedy, and Obama, sir, is no Jack Kennedy.

The Next Cheney

The Dem's were ready:



But the actual pick:



Makes me wonder if the Obama camp is going to have to cancel some ads.

Certainly not what I was expecting. I'm still not sure what to think of it, but talk about a curve ball.

Clinton, Kerry, and Biden Lie for Obama

As a Clinton backer in the 90's... I'm pretty amazed at the irony of last night's security line up... A president, a Senator and former presidential candidate, and now a Senator and current VP candidate who all argued for unilateral military action against Iraq, noting France and Russia would never support us, because of the threat they posed with their WMDs... bitching about McCain support similar policies.

And all of them are now claiming they have a right to judgment for McCain's vote? While I agree there's plenty to criticize Bush on when it comes to Iraq, when it comes to McCain's support and consequent criticisms of how Bush was executing that policy... it puts him far ahead in judgment than all three of these yahoos who all seemed to flip when it became politically expedient or popular to do so.

First it was Bill Clinton attempting a revisionism of who led the world towards unilateral action against Iraq:

Then and only then did Iraq admit to developing numbers of weapons in significant quantities and weapon stocks. Previously, it had vehemently denied the very thing it just simply admitted once Saddam Hussein's son-in-law defected to Jordan and told the truth. Now listen to this, what did it admit?

...

It admitted, among other things, an offensive biological warfare capability notably 5,000 gallons of botulinum, which causes botulism; 2,000 gallons of anthrax; 25 biological-filled Scud warheads; and 157 aerial bombs."

...

In the next century, the community of nations may see more and more the very kind of threat Iraq poses now a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction ready to use them or provide them to terrorists, drug traffickers or organized criminals who travel the world among us unnoticed.

...

If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow by the knowledge that they can act with impunity, even in the face of a clear message from the United Nations Security Council and clear evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program.

--President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

Plenty of quotes from his Administration on the threat Iraq posed as well, from his Secretary of State to his own wife and even Clark, his prize general at the time. But we can skip past those collaborating quotes and move right on to the next big speaker of the night, John F. Kerry:

"Second, without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime. We all know the litany of his offenses. He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. He miscalculated an eight-year war with Iran. He miscalculated the invasion of Kuwait. He miscalculated America's response to that act of naked aggression. He miscalculated the result of setting oil rigs on fire. He miscalculated the impact of sending scuds into Israel and trying to assassinate an American President. He miscalculated his own military strength. He miscalculated the Arab world's response to his misconduct. And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction. That is why the world, through the United Nations Security Council, has spoken with one voice, demanding that Iraq disclose its weapons programs and disarm. So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but it is not new."

-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

But hey, all the war supporting Democrats like to claim they were "misled" including John Kerry. What was he saying back during the Clinton Admin? As it turns out, he was pushing for military action to disarm the threat posed by Iraq and its WMDs.

But let's revisit Nov. 17, 1997, when nobody else in Washington except the Inside the Beltway column led with an item headlined, "Finish the mission."

"Debate on whether to take out Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi strongman, is over as far as one Democratic senator is concerned," or so we had written.

"Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts is calling for a 'strong' military attack in response to the Iraqi leader's 'horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.' "

Weapons of mass destruction? That's what Mr. Kerry called them.

"As the senator points out, military might is the only language Saddam knows and fears. 'Saddam Hussein should pay a grave price, in a currency that he understands and values, for his unacceptable behavior,' says Mr. Kerry. 'This should not be a strike consisting only of a handful of cruise missiles hitting isolated targets primarily of presumed symbolic value. But how long this military action might continue and how it may escalate ... and how extensive it would reach are for the [White House, National] Security Council and our allies to know and for Saddam Hussein to find out!'"

-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Nov. 17, 1997 Source: Washington Times July 23, 2003 (Inside the Beltway)

And ripping on both France and Russia for their monetary interests behind their opposition to enforcing the ceasefire agreement and disarming Iraq... while commending the President (Clinton) for taking unilateral action:

SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D), MASSACHUSETTS, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Well, John, you're correct that this resolution is less than we would have liked. I don't think anybody can deny that we would have liked it to have threatened force and we would have liked it to carry the term serious consequences will flow. On the other hand, the coalition is together. I mean the fact is there is a unanimous statement by the security council and the United Nations that there has to be immediate, unrestricted, unconditional access to the sites. That's very strong language. And it also references the underlying resolution on which the use of force is based. So clearly the allies may not like it, and I think that's our great concern -- where's the backbone of Russia, where's the backbone of France, where are they in expressing their condemnation of such clearly illegal activity, but in a sense, they're now climbing into a box and they will have enormous difficulty not following up on this if there is not compliance by Iraq.

"There's absolutely no statement that they have made or that they will make that will prevent the United States of America and this president or any president from acting in what they believe are the best interests of our country," said Kerry. "And obviously it's disappointing. It was disappointing a month ago not to have the French and the Russians understanding that they shouldn't give any signals of weakening on the sanctions and I think those signals would have helped bring about this crisis because they permitted Saddam Hussein to interpret that maybe the moment was right for him to make this challenge."

"The administration is leading." said Kerry. "The administration is making it clear that they don't believe that they even need the U.N. Security Council to sign off on a material breach because the finding of material breach was made by Mr. (Richard) Butler. So furthermore, I think the United States has always reserved the right and will reserve the right to act in its best interests. And clearly it is not just our best interests, it is in the best interests of the world to make it clear to Saddam Hussein that he's not going to get away with a breach of the '91 agreement that he's got to live up to, which is allowing inspections and dismantling his weapons and allowing us to know that he has dismantled his weapons. That's the price he pays for invading Kuwait and starting a war."

"The fact is that over a period of time France and Russia have indicated a monetary interest," he said. "They on their own have indicated the desire to do business. That's what's driving this. I mean, as (The New York Times') Tom Friedman said in a great article the other day, France Inc. wants to do business with oil and they are moving in the exact sort of opposite direction on their own from the very cause of the initial conflict, which was oil." - CNN CROSSFIRE November 12, 1997; Wednesday 7:30 pm Eastern Time

Astonishing to some. Old news to many.

But hey, Obama couldn't have possibly picked someone in the same camp... right?

We all know Biden voted for the war. But Obama wouldn't have picked someone who totally undermines his judgment meme... right?

Biden was obviously misled by the Administration too right? After all we heard him rip into Bush and McCain over getting us into the Iraq mess last night.

He couldn't have been standing up there and lying his fucking ass off, right?

Bzzzzzt!!! On all counts.

Biden pre-Bush:

And you [Scott Ritter] and I both know and all of us here really know, and it's a thing we have to face, that the only way, the only way we're going to get rid of Saddam Hussein is we're going to end up having to start it alone -- start it alone -- and it's going to require guys like you in uniform to be back on foot in the desert taking this son of a -- the -- taking Saddam down. (Laughter.) You know it and I know it.

So I think we should not kid ourselves here. They're stark, stark choices. I happen to agree with your assessment: A, that diplomacy was picked over inspection-driven confrontation; B, that there's an illusion of arms control that cannot guarantee he will have no system of -- no weapons of mass destruction; and C, that as long as he's there, he's concluded he can absorb air strikes. So I think you've done a significant service for this country; a different policy judgment has been made. If we don't like the policy judgment -- in my view, from observation that's been made by the administration, and the Security Council and our allies -- if we don't like it, we should step up to the ball and say it, because you forced us and I think properly so, to a day of reckoning here about what our policy should be.

But he couldn't have possibly argued that we couldn't depend on our allies against such a threat. He surely argued that we must rely on the UN to get permission right?

Bzzzzzzzt!!!

He argued specifically that other UN Security Council veto members would make that impossible:

So what are we going to do now? We know that France and Russia aren't going to be with us. We're quite confident China's not. We've already run those traps; they're not there.

So one has to ask themselves. Why, on the night Obama was hoping for foreign policy credential boosting speeches, did he pick the top three speakers as those who disagreed with him?

Because they weren't misled. They had the best intelligence available at the time, and like their Republican colleagues were wrong about Iraq's capabilities.

And Obama, who claims grand judgment now, is relying on people who believed he was on the wrong side of the issue, long before Bush was in office, as his foreign policy credentials?

Really?

What did Obama believe in 2002?

According to his one claim to any foreign policy judgment, his 2002 speech, he believed Iraq had WMDs too. He just didn't believe they were a threat. All of his foreign policy cheerleaders disagreed with him at the time on the threat.

So what did Obama believe about his judgment considering he was backing a candidate that supported the war at the time?

"What would I have done? I don't know."

So what does he believe now? Now that that he's chosen people who disagreed enough with him to take the country to war over that disagreement. Men whose judgment he trusts enough that if he were to be debilitated he'd be alright with them taking the reins in his absence. Men he wants the country to listen to for their foreign policy knowledge.

They say he was wrong. Most say he's too inexperienced for the job and too naive and the one guy who actually held the job once says his notion of having judgment on Iraq is the biggest fairy tale of his campaign.

One wonders how closely he expects us to listen. The party loyalists said what they needed to last night to ensure their legacy with the party. But anyone who has listened to them beyond the show and spotlights knows what they really believe: Obama is unqualified and any notion that he had some great insight into the Iraq situation is pure bullshit.

Obama obviously doesn't want America to listen to his big convention picks on foreign policy... at least not beyond the smoke and mirrors. America, I beg you to listen to them, because their party loyalty is unquestionable... but neither are their disagreements that shine an honest light on the least experienced candidate since Dan friggin' Quayle.

Don't buy into the smoke and mirrors. Listen to the whole story.

Hillary Digs by Omission

Hillary did everything she was expected to do. But the most interesting part of her convention speech last night was what she left out, some might think intentionally...



From CNN:

(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton may have endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president in a speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, but Sen. John McCain's campaign said she stopped short of saying that he is ready to lead the country.

"Sen. Clinton ran her presidential campaign making clear that Barack Obama is not prepared to lead as commander in chief. Nowhere tonight did she alter that assessment. Nowhere tonight did she say that Barack Obama is ready to lead," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

On a more humorous note, one of the first things we noticed:

I am so honored to be here tonight.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, I'm -- I'm here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat...

(APPLAUSE)

... as a proud senator from New York...

(APPLAUSE)

... a proud American...

(APPLAUSE)

... and a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

Proud wife? Interesting dig by omission at the beginning of her speech... which set the theme of the speech: Pay attention to what I'm leaving out.

And the biggest coverage of Obama's convention? More about the Clintons and speculation about the Clintons than anything else. Makes one wonder if the tracking polls will still continue to show an Obama slide in the polls.

Given some have described last night's 'unity' attempt as "the biggest stunt of her career so far" by "one of the most accomplished practitioners of the fine art of political deception" and warning their readers bluntly: "Don’t believe a word of it."

...let's just say there's plenty of reason for people to have their doubts.


-- UPDATE 9:16 AM --

Another notable omission. From the planned speech:

"Those are the reasons I ran for President. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too."

When it came time to actually say it. She left out the part in bold. Apparently she couldn't bring herself to tie Obama to the reasons she ran for president, which her prior remarks suggested would include accomplishing something.

Ouch!

Biden Bounce Dud

The latest polling coming out from both Gallup and Rasmussen has McCain either tied or two points ahead. CNN's post Biden pick poll also had them tied.

McCain's favorability has gotten a boost, up to 57% now, while his unfavorables dropped to 42%, with only 19% "very unfavorable."

Obama's favorability dipped a bit, down to 53% now, while his unfavorables went up to 45%, with an incredible 30% "very unfavorable."

And what's even worse? That puts Obama in a worse spot than Hillary on favorability.

Hillary's favorability is now up to 54% with her unfavorables at 43%.

Ouch.

Here it is the 2nd day of the dem convention, that should be a celebration of their inevitable victory, and their guy is more despised than the guy running after the most unpopular incumbent/party in quite some time (in history for the incumbent, afaik). In spite of McCain's failures to get the base to strongly back him, he's doing better among his own party than Obama is doing with his own. And McCain is edging Obama out on Independents.

Will Hillary be able to unite the dems tonight behind a campaign that may be foundering? Or will we see fist fights? I say, "Bring your popcorn!"

Obama Rips On Cubs Fans

Boo!!!

Vets Ad and Obama Gaffe

Vets for Freedom is also not laying low during the conventions. Putting out ads in both Denver and planned for Minneapolis asking people to demand that Obama recognize the success of the surge, and their hard work.

"I am the Surge"



Meanwhile even Democratic pundits are criticizing the first night of the convention:

Speaking on CNN, Carville said the party was too soft in its attacks on John McCain Monday night — the same mistake, Carville says, Democrats made at the 2004 convention.

...

Carville also said the party needs to do a better job of communicating its message to the American people.

“If this party has a message it's done a hell of a job hiding it tonight, I promise you that," he said.

And while it went generally unreported, Barack Obama capped off his wife's speech with a gaffe:

DENVER — Last week, Republican John McCain didn't know how many homes he owns.

Tonight, Democrat Barack Obama didn't know what town he was in.

In a live satellite speech tonight to the Democratic National Convention in Denver from a home in Kansas City, Obama said: "I'm here with the Girardo family here in St. Louis."



Then came a graphic across the television screen that said Obama was in Kansas City, Mo.

Well, at least Mrs. Obama got her lines right. Loves America, doesn't loathe it... check!

Can't wait to see how the 2nd night goes. It could be Hillary-ous!

McCain Keeps At It

The norm for party conventions is that the opposing candidate lays low as there's no spotlights left to find. But as CNN notes:

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (CNN) -- Presidential candidates usually keep a low-profile during the other guy's convention, but not John McCain. He's trying here in his home state to stay relevant to what's happening in Denver at the Democratic National Convention.

The strategy behind McCain skipping the usual R&R is pretty clear: The latest CNN/Opinion Research poll shows this race is much closer frankly than either side expected it to be in a sour year for Republicans, so Team McCain wants to keep the heat on Barack Obama.

...

But the point is McCain is having a little fun, while Democrats are fretting about whether they're on the verge of blowing an historic opportunity. That's why the Republican was planning to spend Monday night on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." A good chance to have a few laughs, and if McCain could reach out to some supporters of Hillary Clinton along the way -- well that's a nice little bonus.

The full interview on Leno isn't available but they have a short clip:



Unfortunately it cut out some of the better banter and serious topics. McCain addressed the 'house gaffe' a bit with some background on where his wife's money comes from, her WWII vet dad who after the war founded the once small distributorship that bears his name, and eventually led to a stereotypical American success story. And while his detractors might reel from his 'playing the POW' card he also noted that he understands as much as anyone can, what it means to go without. But the key to the message was that being successful and being able to provide for your kids is a good thing, not a negative.

Given the Republican attacks on John Kerry's wealth and his own regular references to his service, I can understand why some Obama supporters don't see anything wrong with pulling the same tactics now, but it certainly doesn't help the 'new kind of politics' meme which may have been DOA anyways.

SCUM

Absolute SCUM:




This kind of shit earns life in prison. Him and his SCUM accomplices.

Disgusting.

NOW to Obama's Mentor: Resign

Great timing. As noted in the last post, on the eve of the 'unity' convention for the democratic party, Obama's political mentor (yeah, another crazy mentor... noticing a pattern yet?) attacked a Hillary supporter, witnesses confirm, with a racist insult.

NOW of Illinois is demanding his resignation:

DENVER — The chief of Illinois’ National Organization for Women chapter today called on Barack Obama’s “political godfather” to resign immediately from the Illinois state Senate for calling an African-American Hillary Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom.”

“That was a pretty horrible comment,” said Illinois NOW president Bonnie Grabenhofer, also a Clinton delegate, who issued the demand for Senate President Emil Jones’ resignation.

Feminists who make up the Illinois Clinton delegate contingent at the Democratic National Convention were outraged to learn of today’s exclusive Chicago Sun-Times report about Clinton delegate Delmarie Cobb’s accusation that Jones directed the racially loaded slur at her.

Unity!


-- UPDATE 6:53 PM --

Apparently the goal is to bury the story and push the 'unity' message. From the Rocky Mountain News:

Illinois delegates downplay racial flap

DENVER MARRIOTT CITY CENTER — The Illinois press buzzed with a story about state Senate President Emil Jones reportedly calling a Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom,” but delegates say the story is being blown out of proportion. Jones claims that he used the term “doubting Thomas.” Both Jones and the delegate in question are African American.

Tim Wright, a delegate and former co-chair of Clinton’s Illinois steering committee, said he didn’t believe Jones actually used the derogatory term and if he did, he was joking.

“Sensitivities are at a high level,” said Wright. “People are talking about it because of concerns about party image. We need to project unity, but that isn’t always uniformity.”

One delegate took a moment to bash Hillary supporters for not moving on. A nice touch for that 'unity' message.

Some are suggesting a more literal burying of the story:

Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, offered one possible solution, at least when it comes to Jones.

"I think Barack Obama would be wise to keep him locked up in the basement until the election is over," said Davis, who, like Jones, is black.

Apparently she disagrees it was a matter of a mere misunderstanding.

Still not much coverage on the incident beyond the web. Perhaps the media brought their own shovels?

Hillary Factor

The McCain campaign is actively reaching out to Hillary supporters, and some Hillary supporters are actively helping him:



What's a bit surprising to me is the continued divide among her supporters that has continued on even now on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. Back in March I pointed out that a "survey by the Pew Research Center found that one in four Clinton voters said they would back Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., over Obama" while pondering the ramifications of how negative the primary had become over an extended period of time on the Democratic side. With many referring to it as a 'civil war.'

Hillary for her part has pointed out that she disagrees with the ads and she has once again asked her former supporters to unite behind Obama. Something necessitated by the fact that recent polls, even after the Biden VP pick, show that Hillary supporters are still likely to back McCain by the same margins as they polled months ago. From CNN's account of its recent polling:

One key poll finding was that support for Obama is slipping among supporters of Hillary Clinton, with who Obama fought a close, sometimes bitter, campaign until conceding to her rival in early June.

...

According to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll, 66 percent of Clinton supporters -- registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee -- are now backing Obama. But the number is down from the 75 percent who in June said they backed Obama.

Furthermore, 27 percent of Clinton supporters now say they'll back Republican McCain -- up from 16 percent in late June.

And though Hillary is giving unity speeches to pull them back in, the Obama campaign doesn't seem to be actively trying to court them, and have almost seemed to be snubbing them, with 3AM text messages and denying any intention of considering Hillary for the VP spot.

Further, Obama's own supporters may be hurting him as many seem to hold resentment against both Hillary and her supporters, especially those who might even consider voting for McCain. The term PUMA (short for Party Unity My Ass, but also used derisively by Obama supporters in the sense of a wild cat or the derogatory 'cougar' insult often thrown at women) has become a common one among Obama supporters ranting and raving against those who are considering defection.

The net chatter lately by Obama supporters has been along the lines of 'we don't want them and we don't need them anyways.' With accusations that they're just a bunch of racists or otherwise mentally deficient. And while the West Virginia interviews of some Hillary voters may confirm this in their perspective, they seem to deny that it's possible that many of her supporters considered her more qualified and experienced, something they felt and still argue makes Obama out of his 'pay grade.'

And while they may have no problem pushing them away, McCain seems to have no problem embracing them, even if he wasn't their first or ideal pick by a long shot. A lot of conservatives can probably relate given their opposition to McCain in the primaries. As an independent I'll gladly welcome the Hillary supporters who feel they're making a better choice for their country, even if it conflicts with what their party wants. We can be baffled together on why Obama's camp would want to push them away if they really want to win in November.


-- UPDATE 3:23 PM --

A post on IP.com today linked to this article at the Chicago Sun Times:

DENVER -- A black Hillary Clinton delegate on Sunday accused state Senate President Emil Jones of calling her an "Uncle Tom."

Jones -- Barack Obama's political mentor -- denied using the racially loaded slur against Chicago political consultant Delmarie Cobb, but two aldermen who said they witnessed the Saturday night exchange back up Cobb's account.

...

Cobb has been a high-profile Clinton supporter, and she said she is still paying the price in the African-American community.

"If people are still making digs at the Hillary Clinton people because we supported her, that is not going to bring us on board. It makes us feel as though we're outsiders, and we're Democrats," Cobb said. "The litmus test for being black is [seen as] supporting Barack."

This kind of crap doesn't help either.

Extras to Share!

Just noticed I'd received my "Obama Energy Plan" tire gauge in the mail:



With spares to share! Yay!

Ain't politics absurd?

3AM Snub?

Or was it just coincidence due to the media getting wind of the secret service detail for Biden upping the announcement time?

Obama Text Message Coincidence?
Amy Chozick received a text message at 3:00 a.m. in Chicago.

The text message finally came at roughly 3:00 a.m. EST. Is the arrival time just a coincidence or is it a subtle jab at former rival Hillary Clinton?

During the Democratic primary, Clinton released a controversial ad touting her as the candidate to trust when the red phone rings in the White House with a national security crisis at 3 a.m. Images of children safely sleeping in their beds with Clinton at the helm appeared.

...

“I think Obama just lost the election,” one Clinton supporter emailed right after the text went out.

Regardless... it's pretty humorous timing. Intentional or not. Here are the 3AM ads... original and remakes, if you're wondering wtf I'm on about.

Veep happiness!!!

CNN and Fox both reporting they confirmed that Biden is the VP pick!

Bwahahahahahahaahaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!


-- UPDATE 3:44 PM --

It was inevitable:




It's not just that Biden criticized Obama numerous times on his inexperience during the primary campaign, it's that his arguments were valid and accurate... it's that his actual experience puts Obama's inexperience in the spotlight every time they're together. Even Obama supporters being interviewed in the street were mentioning that he 'makes up for Obama's inexperience.'

Obama just admitted Biden was right. And Obama's supporters generally seem to be admitting it too.

Hope, change? Same ol' same ol'.


-- UPDATE 5:28 PM --

And the first ad:



Heh...

Fun with Factchecking

Factcheck.org has been on a roll lately...



War Stories:

The latest is about the internet rumor that McCain had made up his 'cross in the dirt' POW story. As factcheck.org notes, the rumors suggesting it was lifted from a particular book are false, as nothing of the sort is found in any of the books by that author, let alone the specific one mentioned. Further while a similar story was floating around about the author who survived the gulags, at least two of McCain's POW survivors confirmed he had related the story to them long before it appeared in his 1999 book, "Faith of My Fathers."


Obama's Birth Certificate:



It's real, it's stamped, and they have better pictures showing that fact. Click the link above to read the full article and see the high resolution pictures. Like the closeup of the seal:



Hopefully that baffling conspiracy theory about whether or not Obama is actually a citizen can die off and we can focus on more important matters. Like is he ready to lead?


Ad-dicted to Distortion:

And continuing from my last post, yet another Obama ad deception about McCain's take on the Economy. Apparently he's released more than one of these ads with the same out of context or chopped out quotes that show McCain saying good things about the economy contrasted with real people saying how awful it really is. The goal to show how out of touch he is. But each quote used has been cherry picked to leave out the criticisms McCain made of the economic state, sometimes in the same sentence/breath.


(Oh, and for the record, they do give my preferred candidate quite a bit of grief as well... dig, enjoy.)

Linking McCain to Abramoff?

Didn't they try this already?

From CNN's Ticker:

Obama camp links McCain to Abramoff scandal

(CNN) — Barack Obama's campaign is linking John McCain to the infamous Jack Abramoff scandal that ended several Republicans' political careers three years ago in a new campaign ad hitting Georgia airwaves Wednesday.

Oh yeah, that's right, they did... and factcheckers called them out for it:

The Democratic National Committee proposes to spend unlimited amounts of money to "tell the real story" about John McCain before Republicans can "start smearing" the eventual Democratic nominee. But the line of attack the Democrats outline to their potential donors in an e-mail contains some claims that are false or misleading.

...

It says McCain "looked the other way" rather than investigate Jack Abramoff and a Republican "Culture of Corruption." In fact, McCain's investigation led to a prison term for Abramoff and the downfall of several powerful Republicans. His investigators didn't probe members of Congress directly, but that wasn't the job of his Indian Affairs Committee. And in any case, federal prosecutors opposed a competing congressional investigation which might have interfered with their own efforts.

Obama, in his desperation at his lead evaporating has turned to the hard-hitting DNC play book to smear McCain with deception.

Of course if you look at the other items in that factcheck.org article, you'll notice he was already doing so.

The DNC paints McCain as favoring "endless war" in Iraq. What McCain actually said is that he wouldn't mind a hundred-year troop presence "as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed."

...

The DNC message makes criticisms of McCain that could be directed at its own leading candidates as well. It notes that he lacks training in economics, which is equally true of Clinton and Obama. And it accuses him of "staggering" reliance on lobbyists for campaign help, when Clinton also has substantial aid from lobbyists and Obama has some from former lobbyists.

Obama supporters have themselves convinced that Obama somehow hadn't gone negative yet. But as with any partisan, Democrat, Republican or otherwise, negative attacks don't tend to come off that way when you think it's "the truth."

Meet the new kind of politics, same as the old kind.


-- UPDATE 8/22/2008 1:30 PM --

While the factcheck.org article linked above is referring to the DNC's prior attempts to link McCain to Abramoff, even though McCain is one of the primary reasons Abramoff is in prison now... they just released a new article specifically on Obama's ad, noting the omissions it uses to be deceptive on what is, in the end, a good subject for McCain: Reed Reality

Obama's attempts at negative ads seem to be plagued with drawing more attention to his own problems for little gain against his opponents. Earlier examples include trying to equate his relationship with Wright to Hagee's endorsement of McCain, which seemed to only help keep the spotlight on his relationship with Wright. His attacks on McCain's wealth and non-existant ties to Abramoff have only helped to reintroduce the topic of his own wealth as well as the Rezko scandal and questions about how much involvement he had with the man. His attacks on McCain's economic experience has only helped to unearth the factchecking articles that note that Obama has even less.

If you're going to 'go negative' you might want to stick to subjects you aren't even weaker on... especially on topics that have long been debunked by non-partisan factchecking groups that can be quickly turned into ads about your own skeletons in the closet along with how dishonest or deceptive you're being.

Of all the things to attack McCain on, they picked these? It doesn't make sense.

Signs of Life?

The latest Real Clear Politics Averages which include the latest Zogby poll that shows McCain's first significant lead against Obama:



McCain's numbers have been more sporadic and Obama's more stable... but the pattern of Obama trending up and McCain trending down, with some inevitable bumps and valleys has seemed to reverse a bit lately.

I'm sure there will still be more roller coasters as the next few months progress but it's a relatively decent sign of viability after a long while of watching the negative trends for McCain. Clearly Obama still has the odds edge, as one can see from the betting figures in between the stats and the graph, but that's to be expected given the election environment this year.

Timing

From a recent BBC article on Pakistan:

"The foreign-policy challenges are coming thick and fast for America's presidential hopefuls these days - providing a sharp reminder to us all that the new man in the White House will find himself handling pressing issues in some of the world's most dangerous and unpredictable trouble spots."

America's voters have a clear choice in this matter. "Hope" that Obama's admitted inexperience won't thwart his general intelligence, as it has with many a historical figure (or average Joe for that matter) in the past.

Or John McCain, a guy who has spent a lifetime dealing with foreign policy, from being a family member of those fighting in wars, to doing the actual fighting and suffering, to dealing on a policy level in the government on foreign affairs for longer than many new voters have been alive.

While Obama still relies on his early opposition to the Iraq War as proof of his judgment, there are thousands of hippies who could make the same claim to the Presidency. Obama himself has defended his fellow Democrats on the issue in both 2004 and 2006 with admissions that he did not have access to the intelligence to even know how he would have voted on the matter: "What would I have done? I don't know."

Judgment?

Obama argues that the case was not made. But he still can't figure out why. In 2002 in his big speech (and conveniently only major record of him opposing the Iraq War other than noting his south-side Chicago constituency was also in opposition) he made clear that he believed Iraq had WMDs... but that it wasn't a threat to us because it could be contained.

Just this week he has reversed himself. He now says he opposed it because he didn't believe they had WMDs. A convenient revision given that most Democrats, Republicans, allied nations, the UN Security Council, etc all turned out to be wrong, just as he was in 2002.

But now he needs a claim to 'judgment' he has admitted he didn't even really have when he was sucking up to his anti-war constituency. A 'judgment' he effectively made clear was an assumption.

The next president is going to need a bit more than 'hope' that he can decide things with 20/20 hindsight. Obama has shot his one and only claim to judgment full of holes. The only thing he's proven is that if he guesses right he can claim it was good judgment, even if he openly admits he didn't know how he'd really act. Just words? You betcha.

Cyber Wars

One of the oddest parts of the Russia/Georgia conflict, from the New York Times:

Cyberspace Barrage Preceded Russian Invasion of Georgia
By JOHN MARKOFF, August 12, 2008

Weeks before physical bombs started falling on Georgia, a security researcher in suburban Massachusetts was watching an attack against the country in cyberspace.

A screen grab of the Georgian Parliament Web site, parliament.ge, which had been defaced by the "South Ossetia Hack Crew." The site's content had been replaced with images comparing Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, to Adolf Hitler.

Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks in Lexington noticed a stream of data directed at Georgian government sites containing the message: win+love+in+Rusia.

Other Internet experts in the United States said the attacks against Georgia’s Internet infrastructure began as early as July 20, with coordinated barrages of millions of requests — known as distributed denial of service, or D.D.O.S., attacks — that overloaded certain Georgian servers.

...

According to Internet technical experts, it was the first time a cyberattack had coincided with a shooting war. But it will likely not be the last...

While I find it difficult to take a side on Georgia's domestic conflict with the regions fighting for autonomy from the Georgian government due to my unfamiliarity with the causes and rationale of either side in the recent flare ups.

One thing I'm far more certain of is that Russia flexing its military muscles to control its neighbors and exert centuries old habit of doing so (regardless of whether it was under the czarist empires, the soviet communist domination, or in the much less predictable post-cold war era)... is worrying to every other industrialized nation that favors stability over chaos.



And with the US in little position to keep Russian military actions in check, and NATO being heavily dependent on US military might to do the same, there is little comfort for any of Russia's neighbors tonight. The UN Security Council, as usual, is worthless in such matters since the Russians have veto power over any resolution that even criticizes them, let alone demands any action.

The leaders of the world can meet all they want about this problem, but for now, it appears that their meetings will appear and replicate a self-help group for the impotent. Russia just sent a message to the world, it has the means and the will to get its way with its neighbors. The world just sent a message back: a lack of both means and will to do anything about it.

Road Trip Compilation - UPDATE

Finally got the rest of the pictures uploaded and tweaked:

Here's the final map (it changed quite a bit along the way from the beginning):



We mainly skipped past the mid-west spots since we could hit them again almost any time so the photos start in Colorado:

First Peeks/Peaks:



The Rest of the Colorado Pics:



Utah, Hoover Dam, and Vegas:



Sandy Locals:



Around LA:



Run for the Borders:



Canyons and Craters, Oh My!:

More Road Trip Pics: Canyons and Craters and More

Canyons! (In this case the Grand Canyon):











There's the Colorado River down there (my brother was jumping in it in earlier pictures up in Colorado where it was much smaller):













There were telescope units at this spot that said they'd work with your camera:



This is the picture I got from that:



My brother had better luck:





One of the hiking trails to the bottom:





Mules seemed to be the fastest/safest means of travel:







This was a nifty observation tower from the 30's with Native American art inside:





My brother took this shot because it humored him for some reason:



Canyon critters!









The crows out there were generally half-pterodactyl.



Craters! (this one being the Meteor Crater site off of I-40 in Arizona):




I was nerding out... my brother seemed less amused:



It r big! Contrast with the people on the overlook landing to the impossible to see replica of a 6 foot tall astronaut with full size flag at the very bottom (standing next to the fence... and yeah... I can't see him either).



My attempt at a panoramic shot (click to make larger):



Part of the space rock (mainly iron) that pulverized this little stretch of desert.



Sandia Crest (10,678ft)... an overlook for Albuquerque:





This radio tower near the top gave me a big worry... my car's electronic remote lock stopped working and had me trying to figure out how the hell to replace the batteries until my brother pointed out the sign that said the tower specifically interfered with such items. Whew!



Unfortunately the USGS marker on this one got vandalized or damaged... not much to see/read here:



My brother's favorite part was the humming birds with a view:







He was able to get them to land on his finger at the feeders:





And of course there were other critters roaming around out there:











Ted was mostly amused with the humming birds... who kept dive bombing ME every time he spooked them. Just not fair.



After one last pit stop with family in New Mexico we made the mad dash home. We left around noon and ted drove until just before sundown. I took the next shift and drove from sundown to sunrise (through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and past the Illinois border):



After a quick breakfast stop, my brother finished the last leg of the trip in record time. We were home by 9am.

Kicking ass and a half.

More Road Trip Pics: Run for the Borders

We visited the Aircraft Carrier Museum in downtown San Diego which is aboard the USS Midway (the ship that my dad served on):



Flashbacks to "Top Gun":



A couple views from the flight deck:





A view from one of the massive elevators:



A couple shots of the flags:





Afterwards we shot down to Border Field State Park to stick our feet into Mexico. Here's the southwest point of the continental US:



And a look the other direction:



Probably one of the most appropriate views of Mexico:



And probably one of the more appropriate depictions of our immigration policies as well for that matter.

Here's one guy who came to the US side of the border while a nearby border patrol agent watched to make sure he went back shortly after:



Foot in Mexico:



This couple had the foresight to rent horses to get down to this spot:



We, the ignorant tourists we were, found out the road is closed off during the week... and had to hoof it down this lovely (read: searing hot) desert road:



But what a view. And the warning signs about the ground being tainted by sewage runoff gave it unique... erm... smell.



The Tijuana side looks a bit more lively. Of course the US side is a fairly unpopular park so perhaps it isn't fair to compare.



Here's one of the many border patrol vehicles that passed us while we were wondering around melting in the sun:



And the sky almost inevitably had some patrolling aircraft around:



There's actually two in that picture:





Then we made a run for a different border, the Arizona Border. But on our way out of California we stopped by Joshua Tree National Park:



Squiggly Tree National Park may be a more appropriate name. But like many of our adventures so far... it was once again in the middle of a desert:



At least this desert had trees:



Some of the granite rock formations were fun to climb on as well.





And we got to see one last sunset in California:



And then it was on to drive through the desolate desert through the night and hope the car holds up until we find civilization again:



Next update: Canyons and craters, oh my...

More Road Trip Pics: Around LA

While you'll run into hundreds of people selling maps to the homes of the "stars" (with dubious accuracy) I thought this little house was a bit more interesting. Supposedly Einstein lived here for a while:



Nerd star.

We did stop by some of the more popular spots:



I found it pretty interesting that cartoon characters got their own stars on the walk too:



The Chinese theater was a pretty busy place that day:



We were able to get a fairly clear shot of Nick Cage's "prints" (mom's a big fan):



But some sort of TV show filming had the area pretty well cordoned off:



Ted (unintentionally?) tried to pick a fight with Jackie Chan with this pic. It almost looks like he's kicking it:



And like any good teenager he's a Doors fan:



So we stopped by the Whisky a Go-Go where they got there big break:



That's us and our uncle in the reflection. Dern tourists!



And we swung through and had some schmancy food in a schmancy local with shmancy people doing schmancy things in Beverly Hills:



We checked out Santa Monica for a bit, which had one heck of a pier:



The walk overlooks the beach from the top of the small cliffs that line it (with lots of wealthy joggers running past the homeless sleeping under the trees there):



Here's another view:



And of course palm trees lined the streets:



Next update: our last stops in Southern California all the way down to the border.

More Road Trip Pics: Sandy Locals

I love the smell of Death Valley in the morning (but that's just because an afternoon in Death Valley in July would be unbearably hot):



The mountain shade was nice while it lasted but the road often veered out into the furnace:



Speaking of which, a nerdy aside: We had already taken the highest paved road in the US when we were at Mt. Evans:



We were now on taking the lowest paved road to the basement of the western hemisphere. Kinda cool, eh? Anyhoo...

This spot was pretty wild (and aptly named):



Here's a closer look at what that sign is talking about. Try putting your way out of this nightmare:



The white crust is ancient sea salt:



My brother even tasted the salt (and I didn't even have to dare him too). According to him it tasted like highly concentrated "super-salt." I was relieved to find a sign that also said it was non-toxic. He keeps us so entertained.

And once again he had all the luck getting snapshots of critters:



If you look closely you might notice that coyote has extra legs. It's actually three coyotes in that shot who were all jumping around and wrestling with each other. There's two nipping at each other there with a third hiding behind the tree ready to pounce them both.

And here we come to the nerdy zenith (or should that be nadir in this case?) of this particular visit:



Here's a zoomed in picture of that sign up there that looks like an iddy biddy white blotch:



Woo hoo! We even made it while there was still some shade left:



We hiked out there a ways... but there really wasn't much to see. Was hoping to find one of those geological survey official marker things but no such luck. We felt compelled not to hunt too long though as the shade line was quickly retreating away from us the further out we got... meaning far more time in the sun on the way back than on the way out with every minute we stayed out there.

Our next stop for sandy environments with lots of sea salt would be far more pleasant:



The surfers would certainly agree:



Speaking of which, there was a surfing competition in town with all sorts of tv cameras and crowds watching:



One of the wilder moments, not caught with our cameras, was when one of the surfers ended up going through the peer (successfully) after staying on a wave heading towards it longer than probably expected.

The competition brought out tons of exhibit and marketing booths:



The coolest side show was the motorcycle jumping though:



It drew out a heck of a crowd for all the right reasons. These guys were nuts!



If you look closer you can see he's not even touching the bike in that picture:



He grabbed it back at the last second and got back on to successfully complete the jump. Pretty wild.

After hanging out in Long Beach and our little venture down to the OC (the above pictures) we headed closer to LA. More updates to come...

More Road Trip Pics

First... the drive through Utah. Here's a panoramic of one spot (click on images to enlarge):



My Brother got an interesting shot of himself and the desert in my shades:



Amazing landscapes in southern Utah:



And grumpy lizards:



And pretty nice sunsets to boot:



Then it was on to Hoover Dam. It was hard to get a good shot of the sheer size of this beast:



I tried doing a panoramic but it still didn't do it justice:



My brother got an interesting angle on the winged men statue/monument:



Some views out and down the river side and the lake mead side:



They're apparently constructing a new bridge on the river side... still quite a bit of work left.







And a shot of some of the generators inside:



And then it was on to Vegas...



(yes, I got a t-shirt... I know, I know, I'm lame)

It made for an interesting walk. Lots of people being very drunk and idiotic around all sorts of glowing lights that drew them in to kill their wallets. Life imitates bug zapper?



The more eye-catching the better it seemed... no matter what. Even the Harley store was in on the gimmick action:



New York, NY Casino was pretty wild. It even had a roller coaster on top if you didn't mind the lines and price tag.



This was a cool little gimmick for my little brother. He was at the real Eiffel Tower not that long ago:



The Belagio fountain show was pretty nifty. Seemed to get a hell of a crowd too:



Found a video on youtube with a similar show as we saw (different music though):



Next update... California!

Back Home!

11 days and 9 hours later...

5423 miles later...

2 oil changes later...

More gas and cash than I even want to think about later...

And it was so totally worth it... here's a bit more of Colorado:

The view was spectacular, from down low:



And from the tops (that's my brother):



My brother is the guy who got the great critter shots from the last post... like this one:



I mostly ended up with fuzzy pictures of rocks. These dern things were quick. I did manage to get one shot of a critter ass... whoopty do, right?



The only time it ever rained on us during the entire trip was at Rocky Mountain National Park... our first real day of exploring after we hauled ass out of the midwest to see something other than corn... unfortunately it was a thunderstorm.

Ever feel like the tip of a 11,000 foot lightning rod?

Sucks even more to actually be one:



No fatalities that day, fortunately.

The altitude in some places was killer though:



They had some great stick figure signs for both the altitude sickness and lightning warning elsewhere but I missed them. Neither was especially pleasant so perhaps it was for the best. The altitude sickness one showed some sorry stick figure wrenching his guts out. The lightning bolt warning showed some poor stick figure tucking his head between his knees in a quasi-fetal position in what appeared to be the motion to kiss his own ass goodbye.

More pics on the way as I get them... (which may be after some much needed sleep and getting my brother back home tomorrow)