Month: September 2008

The McCain camp is looking desperate:

In a comment sent out by the Arizona Republican’s aides, adviser Carly Fiorina said she was "appalled by the Obama campaign’s attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin’s experience. The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin."

Frank Gaffney, Jr. goes there:

As [Alaska’s] governor, Sarah Palin would know more by osmosis – if nothing else – about the necessity for U.S. anti-missile systems than either Messrs. Obama or Biden.

In fact, the Democrats have reflexively opposed such defenses and promise to starve them of funds if elected.  Opinion polls suggest that the support missile defense enjoys among Gov. Palin’s Alaskans is shared by strong majorities of their countrymen elsewhere. Her judgment versus Sen. Biden’s on the question of whether America should be protected against present and growing missile-delivered threats will be one of the highlights of the vice presidential nominees’ debate.

Hilzoy is speechless. Meanwhile, Pat Buchanan is arguing that because her state is bigger (in square miles) than California and Texas combined, she is better qualified.

(Hat tip: Yglesias)

Unbelievable:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday… McCain had spoken with all of the others on his shortlist over the course of a selection process that went on for several months, but he was least familiar personally with the person he finally chose.

How confident does that make you in McCain’s executive skills? And one wonders whether the vetters had read this Anchorage Daily News story or this one. Or whether they were aware that she had been at a Jews For Jesus sermon only a week or so previously, on August 17, where the speaker said that anti-Israeli terrorism was "God’s Judgment" for the Jews not converting to Christianity.

If this is how John McCain picks the person who would replace him in an emergency, imagine how stable and rational a decision-maker he’d be in the White House.

Yes, Sarah Palin sat in a church where this message was given. Two weeks ago. The karma in all this is just amazing:

Brickner also described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God’s "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven’t embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It’s very real. When [Brickner’s son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can’t miss it."

Palin was in church that day, Kroon said, though he cautioned against attributing Brickner’s views to her.

How does Hannity deal with this? After what he said about Jeremiah Wright?

David Weigel:

How awful is his life going to be come January, when Democrats win enough Senate seats to stop humoring him? How much worse will it be if Barack Obama is in the White House? Pretty bad, I’d expect. So Joe’s speech, leaking out to press now, isn’t too hard on the man from Hope. It’s mostly praise for the man who plays Moe to his Larry.

Michael Crowley:

It was odd to see George W. Bush speaking to the convention remotely from the White House. He looked like a man in exile–or maybe a quarantined leper.

Michael Schaffer:

It’s early yet, I know, but thus far it seems the overwhelming tone of the Republican Convention is nostalgia. Shot after shot of a room full of white people cheering shout-outs to Theodore Roosevelt, applauding commemorations of aging Medal of Honor winners, misting up at video footage of Ronald Reagan.  Every image up on that giant screen painted in sepia…what about this century?

Franklin Foer:

Keeping Bush locked up in the White House turned out to be a mistake. The crowd  wanted to erupt and warmly embrace him. Instead, the whole moment felt rushed and disembodied. And it was clearly hard for him to deliver a full-throated political speech from the White House. All in all, it had the feel of a busted play.

Rod Dreher:

Fred Thompson is giving ’em the populist red meat over Sarah Palin, attacking the media for its elitism. Smart. This is the GOP message of the day. Huck was on it earlier, zeroing in on the media. It’s very clear now that the GOP is going to run against Barack Obama and the New York Times. The anti-Palin freakout over the past four days has given them opportunity. You can’t go to that well often enough.

K-Lo:

Lieberman is talking about ‘my Democratic friends.’ I thought his lack thereof was the reason he is here tonight.

Jay Nordlinger:

The feel of the Republican convention, compared with the Democratic convention, is flat. Could be the strange, hurricane-caused truncation. But the convention seems less tight, less purposeful, and less excited (and therefore less exciting).

Samantha Sault:

From my seat in section 226, a mention of Sarah Palin got the loudest cheers. Although many say this crowd doesn’t compare to that in Denver, I have a feeling that the atmosphere will be electric when the Republican VP nominee takes the stage tomorrow night.

Lieberman just told Andrea Mitchell that we should just hope that nothing happens to John McCain in office. Surely the entire point of the vice-presidency is premised on the fact that the worst always can happen.

A lobbyist Palin hired to lobby for Wasilla has ties to Jack Abramoff’s lobbying firm.

Lieberman is actually touting campaign finance reform, global warming, and the "end of the partisan paralysis over judicial confirmations" to this convention. Yes, the applause was not exactly deafening. This is weird whiplash after Thompson.

"What you can expect from John McCain as President is precisely what he has done this week," – Joe Lieberman.