Those who call themselves progressives and liberals but subscribe to Rovian tactics of innuendo as a form of personal political attacks are neither liberals nor progressives. The fact that Sarah Palin breast feeds is apparently not enough to quell perhaps the most vicious smear in the nation’s history since Grover Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock during his run for the Presidency. Enough already.
The Daily Kos and the Democratic Underground among others are about to have their lunch handed to them and in the process only hurt their own cause. These are not liberals but lunatics.
Former Vice Presidential nominee and Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro gave an interview to National Public Radio (audio) in which she stated that she thought it was “wonderful” to see another woman on a national ticket adding that it was long overdue. She also decline to state for whom she will be voting.
In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro became the first female vice presidential pick on a major party ticket. Democrat Walter Mondale selected the former New York Congresswoman as his running mate in a race that they later lost to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Now, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joins Ferraro as the second woman on a major party ticket — on Friday, Sen. John McCain announced Palin would be his running mate.
“It’s great to be the first,” Ferraro says, “but I don’t want to be the only. And so now it is wonderful to see a woman on a national ticket.”
McCain’s choice means that the 2008 presidential race most likely will produce a historic result: the first African-American president or the first female vice president.
Ferraro talks with Jacki Lyden about Palin, and what has changed in the 24 years since she ran for vice president.
One does get the distinct impression that Congresswoman Ferraro isn’t exactly thrilled with Senator Obama’s candidacy.
Every Sunday I take a look at one of the world’s natural parks and examine some of the threats facing these areas. With Hurricane Gustav bearing down on Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, I am going to take a modest departure from my normal focus and instead turn to the destruction of Louisiana’s wetlands and bayous that have in the past served as a buffer of protection against the onslaught of devastating storms. With their destruction however, hurricanes come on shore with full force.
Louisiana’s 4,600 square miles of coastal wetlands are being lost at the rate about 35 square miles annually, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Two weeks ago, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced plans for more than $1 billion in coastal protection and restoration projects in Louisiana - the largest investment in coastal protection in Louisiana history. It’s a start.
For more information on the value of wetlands, please visit Save Our Wetlands.
Count former John Edwards campaigner manager Joe Trippi as someone who understands politics and why Governor Sarah Palin works as a Vice Presidential running mate for John McCain. Today, Trippi writes an op-ed for CBS News that those who seek to dismiss the choice are missing the significance of McCain’s emerging theme in this campaign — change isn’t just rhetoric, it’s a record.
I have seen a lot of commentary on why John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a cynical and transparent ploy to bring disaffected women who supported Hillary Clinton to his cause - and why this ploy would fail.
But I don’t think John McCain and the people around him are that stupid.
Something else in his speech introducing Palin as his choice caught my attention and I believe shines some light on the real reason McCain chose the Alaskan.
McCain said of this pick “I have found the right partner to help me stand up to those who value their privileges over their responsibilities, who put power over principle, and put their interests before your needs…I found someone with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies; someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past.”
The McCain campaign plans on making an assault on Barack Obama’s strength as a change agent. And challenge, what the McCain campaign will describe as, Obama’s weak or non-existent attacks on corruption within the Democratic Party and other institutions throughout his career.
Like the Swift boat attacks of 2004 on Senator John Kerry, a decorated Viet Nam Veteran — this assault will be on what is now a strength of Barack Obama’s — his focus on changing a broken system in Washington.
To make this assault, McCain picked in Palin someone who has taken on the corruption in the GOP in Alaska, turned against her own party’s establishment, and fought for reform.
The McCain/Palin duo will challenge Barack Obama’s claim of “a new kind of politics” and chastise Obama and Democratic vice presidential Nominee, Joe Biden, for their “silence” in taking on corruption in their own party in Illinois, Delaware and Washington, DC.
The McCain campaign intends to claim that “more of the same” in Washington means Barack Obama and Joe Biden and will make the argument that if you want to “shake things up” then McCain and his reform minded running mate from Alaska will get the job done.
A new poll from Rasmussen Reports seems to show that race is effectively back to where we were before the Democratic Convention. Polls had pointed to a significant eight point bounce for Senator Obama over the last three days of the convention but now the McCain campaign has its own bounce from the selection of Alaska Governor Palin as his running mate.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday—the day before the Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin—shows Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by three percentage points both with and without leaners. That’s exactly the same edge Obama enjoyed a week ago on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
Today’s numbers show a one-point improvement for McCain, but Obama still leads 47% to 44%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 49%, McCain 46%. Obama is now viewed favorably by 57% of the nation’s voters, McCain by 56%.
Here’s a clip from 1988 when Sarah Palin was still Sarah Heath and working as a sportcaster in Anchorage for Channel 2, KTUU-TV. Obama supporters are using this same exact footage as a smear. What do his supporters have against someone having a humble background? What do his supporters have against someone living the American dream? The Sarah Palin story is a local girl done good. If the assertion is that only Ivy Leaguers can run this country, this Stanford-educated lad scoffs at that notion. I think the beauty of Sarah Palin is that she is a self-made woman. That’s to be celebrated no matter what you think of her political views.
The second part of the clip is a campaign ad from Sarah Palin’s run for Governor in 2006.
I’ll add the smears emanating out of the Daily Kos and the Democratic Underground are now being circulated across the Internet and rather than gaining currency, these websites are suffering a backlash and ridicule. The hate that these sites are pushing is shameful and outrageous. After leading a misogynistic campaign against Senator Clinton, these two websites are now leading one against Governor Palin. It’s time that they be called on this and exposed for the faux-progressivism they stand for. Their rationale is that Karl Rove would have pursued the false pregnancy story. Let me remind them that among the victims of Karl Rove is Senator John McCain who was smeared in South Carolina in 2000 with accusations that he had fathered a child with a black woman. You are the company you keep. The ends do not justify the means.
A commenter over on Talk Left left this comment regarding the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate. I think it rather astute and I am passing it on.
1– Palin re-opens the experience issue in a new way that lets McCain bring back an issue that was getting tired. VP vs. Prez is a new spin on this, and makes it look like the Democratic ticket is backwards, just like Dukakis/Bentson seemed to many.
2– Her Western credentials and charm plunges a dagger into the heart of Obama’s Western strategy. A caribou shooting, moose-eating, snowmachine riding, government reforming, spouse of a Native, governor from a western state may suddenly be the much more interesting candidate to western voters than the urbane urban black guy. If Obama can’t win Ohio, he has to win in the West. This pick makes that much harder, IMO.
The government of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela is emulating the role of the military in Cuba by enacting new regulations that create popular militias under the direct control of Chávez and by allowing the military to take on civilian functions previously off-limits. The Venezuela military now has more of a role in politics than at any time since Venezuela sent its last military leader packing in 1958. This is yet another indication that Chávez poses a growing threat to civil society in Venezuela.
Under new regulations decreed by President Hugo Chávez just three weeks ago, Venezuela’s military will undergo the most ambitious restructuring plan in more than a century, remodeling itself in many aspects on the Cuban military.
The new legislation enacted by Chávez places the ”popular Bolivarian militias” directly under the command of the president, promotes the role of social intelligence networks similar to the Cuban revolutionary defense committees and gives the president unprecedented powers over the armed forces.
The measure also allows the military to take on civilian functions from the previously banned, such as the intelligence network that will now operate through the thousands of community centers around the country.
Governor Sarah Palin, talks about energy security and independence, mentions Mitt Romney & Ron Paul in this clip from an MTV Interview from February 2008. A MTV reporter was asked by college students to ask Palin about Ron Paul. Palin states that he is a “cool and a good guy”.
Governor Palin has already begun attracting Clinton supporters, but might she also attract those elusive and fiercely independent Ron Paul supporters?
The Obama campaign has released two new ads. The above 30 second spot is set to air in Michigan. The ad hits Senator McCain over failing to support the Michigan auto industry and it continues the theme of the Obama campaign that Senator McCain is more of the same.
The second ad, below, is another 30 second spot and is running in another battleground state, Pennsylvania. This ad features Senator Joe Biden, Obama’s Vice Presidential running mate, talking about his Pennsylvania roots and comparing them to Obama’s background. The aim here is clearly to rehabilitate Senator Obama among small town and rural voters who Obama called “bitter and clinging to guns and religion” in comments earlier this year on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary.
