Of Palin and hurricanes

The tropical disturbances swirling in the Atlantic -- not just those around Sarah Palin -- may still upset the GOP's applecart in Minnesota this week. Thursday evening, the night that John McCain is to give his acceptance speech to the assembled delegates, is also about the same time that Hannah may be hitting the southeastern US coastline:

The computer models have come into strikingly good accord for the 75-mph Hurricane Hanna today, and it's now with some confidence that we can predict a moderate hurricane will strike the southeastern U.S. late this week, probably along the Georgia or South Carolina coasts or possibly Florida.

So Bush is set to address the convention by satellite tonight -- along with Turncoat Joe Lieberman and, in a surprise, Lazy Fred Thompson -- bumping Rudy 9u11iani out of his keynote slot:

The revamped schedule suggested that convention planners were easing back into partisan politics with an appeal to independent-minded voters. Thompson is known by most voters for his portrayal of a gruff district attorney on NBC's Law & Order.

It was unclear whether Thompson had replaced former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the convention keynoter and, if so, why. Convention planners said Giuliani would address the gathering in prime-time Wednesday or Thursday, though they did not know whether he would remain the keynote speaker as planned.

The real Mystery, however, is where the Alaska governor is ...

So far, Palin has not conducted a formal news conference or taken questions from reporters, and no such sessions were scheduled today. Her only statement Monday disclosed that her daughter Bristol was pregnant and planned to marry the baby's father.

That news was followed by the announcement that a private lawyer had been hired to represent Palin in a state investigation into the dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner.

We can be thankful, while Pastor Dobson's prayers for rains of biblical proportion were answered a week late, that the trouble was limited mostly to the 2 million Louisiana and Southeast Texas evacuees from Gustav, and not to their homes or property left behind. New Orleans lives to party again.

The GOP? Not so much.

Change We Can Secede With

I prefer "Sedation and Sedition '08", but most voters may not be aware that John McCain was an Ambien junkie. Likewise I'm sure very few know that Sarah Palin was recently a member of a third political party in Alaska whose purpose for being was to withdraw the state from the Union:

The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First - Alaska Always."

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.

"We are a state's rights party," says Clark, a self-employed goldminer. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."

But if you're one of those 'low-information' voters that believes, for example, Barack Obama is unpatriotic for not wearing a flag lapel pin, how do you feel about someone a heartbeat away from the Oval Office who advocates sedition?

We fought a Civil War over such a thing, I believe. IIRC John McCain crashed his bi-plane and was taken POW during it (yeah, that's the ticket).

Really, maybe it's just best for everyone if this woman goes on home and focuses on taking care of her 4-month-old with Down's and her 17-year-old with child and without husband.

Update: All you could ever want to know about Palin's Secession Scandal. One tiny excerpt (emphasis mine):

• In 2007, the Vice Chairman of the AIP, Dexter Clark, not only referenced Palin's membership, but also said that since she joined the GOP, "she is pretty well sympathetic to her former membership." Clark also goes on to discuss the need to "infiltrate" the major parties.
• In 2008, Palin recorded a message for the AIP's annual convention, stating that Alaska has "a great promise to be a self-sufficient state" and encouraging them to "keep up the good work."

Half-baked Alaska (or, Cheney in a skirt)

The right-wing freaks had little to rejoice about during the past week, but the selection of one of their own by a befuddled John McLame sent them into a tizzy. Denied by the Religious Right his first choice, turncoat Joe Lieberman, Senator Maverick chose instead to pander to them. And despite their entire Monday lineup of speakers canceling on them -- the Governator has a budget battle he would rather fight, W and Dick want to appear as if they are doing something about Gustav -- the RNC delegates go right on partying with the fabulous hookers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport stalls proceed with the solemn business of their convention today.

There's about a thousand controversies swirling around Sarah Palin, the gun-totin', beauty-queenin', rapidly-breedin', earmark-lovin', polar-bear-hatin' governor of a state with just about the same number of people as Fort Worth (and just as backward and conservative).

Personally, I do think she squeezed out that puppy herself. That's not much of a scandal anyway, in my book. But she's got so much baggage that she could probably save Alaska Airlines from bankruptcy just on the extra suitcase charges alone. And let's not even get started on that Neanderthal husband of hers, a piece of neocon work his own self.

Among the things Sarah has already learned in the past week: it's warm in Ohio this time of year.

Can't wait for the debates.

Labor Day Wrangle

Gustav comes ashore (in Texas we're seemingly spared, even SE Texas) and the RNC may resume its festivities later in the week -- if New Orleans is spared by a weakened hurricane -- and here in Houston we're going to celebrate Labor Day as always. Here's the weekly roundup of the Texas Progressive Alliance blogs from the eventful week just past.

Mike Thomas at Rhetoric and Rhythm is unhappy with some liberal bloggers who decided to label his Congressman -- Ciro Rodriguez -- as a so-called "Bush Dog Democrat".

Is John McCain's vice presidential pick some kind of joke? McBlogger's Mayor McSleaze thinks it's more like a situation comedy.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme is happy for Webb County! Finally the long sheriff's primary is over and Martin Cuellar is the official sheriff-to-be. And yeah, the AG is looking into the hinky first recount.

With Tom DeLay and the TRMPAC indictments back in the news, Off the Kuff conducts an interview with Cris Feldman, one of the attorneys who won a civil judgment against TRMPAC for its violations of campaign finance law in the 2002 elections.

Stace Medellin at DosCentavos is celebrating ten years of living in the Houston area. Read about what brought him to Houston and what has kept him in the big city.

Neil at Texas Liberal is glad to note that the Galveston County Democratic Club is, as always, working hard for all the people of Galveston County -- both on the mainland and on the island.

The Texas Cloverleaf reminds everyone that McCain is older than fiberglass. His new sidekick leads a state with a population smaller than Collin County. Sitcom indeed.

jobsanger wonders why the Democratic convention didn't show a little respect for Lyndon Johnson's 100th birthday, and prepares to enjoy the prospect of dueling Republican conventions.

What is the linkage between radioactive waste dumps, smear ad campaigns and HD-52 Republican nominee Bryan Daniel? Dembones at Eye On Williamson follows the money trail back to Swift Boat financier and Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, whose latest smear campaign tries to link Barack Obama to '60s radical William Ayers.

Doing My Part For The Left's refinish69 wonders if Texas Deferred Adjudication is helpful or shameful.

North Texas Liberal has video of Sen. Hillary Clinton condemning John McCain's use of her picture and quotes in his ads.

PDiddie assembled some of the satirical ridicule of John McCain's selection of Elaine Benes from Seinfeld Sarah Palin of Alaska at Brains and Eggs.

BossKitty at Truthhugger observes "FEMA Gets A Second Chance - NOLA Redux for “Mother Of All Storms”and what our fearless leaders plan to do about it THIS TIME.

Vince at Capitol Annex offers his opinion on Michael L. Williams' manipulation of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. concerning Barack Obama's experience. For added value, one of Williams' campaign staffers decided to comment on the post and attempt to defend his boss.

nytexan at BlueBloggin wonders why PUMAs are exhibiting a high level of disrespect to Hillary and her request for full support and asks PUMA, Was It Ever About Hillary Clinton.

The political implications of Gustav

The human implications of this monster hurricane are immense -- 80 people have already died in the Carribean -- but we will stick to the political implications here. First, most people living far from the Gulf Coast have already forgotten Katrina and Rita; this will remind them. The media will no doubt trot out all the photos of a happy President Bush in sunny Arizona ignoring the drowning city because he was too busy celebrating John McCain's 69th birthday. In case they forget, here is the photo from the official White House website.

Second, if the storm hits Tuesday, it will be smack in the middle of the Republican National Convention. Normally, that would be the only news story of the week, but it will have to compete with news of drowning people on the Gulf Coast. This diverts attention from the Republican's message of national security and focuses everyone on domestic affairs, such as the government's role in helping people. The Republicans core message of low taxes and less government may not go over so well juxtaposed with photos of old people on their roofs pleading for help from the government while the Republicans are busy saying that free markets solve problems far better than government bureaucrats. Heck-of-a-Job Brownie may get another 15 minutes of fame.

Third, depending on the actual path the storm takes, it could hit oil rigs and refineries. Heaven forbid there is an accident that causes an oil spill. That would remind people of why the Democrats oppose off-shore drilling. On the other hand, if there are no accidents, the Republicans will say: "If off-shore oil rigs can withstand this, they can withstand anything." In any event, rigs and refineries are likely to shut down, reducing the supply and driving up gas prices in the next few months, something that will remind the voters of the economy, in case they had forgotten.

Fourth, under federal law, the person in charge of handling natural disasters in a state is the governor. He can call up the National Guard, ask for federal help, or whatever he wants, but he's the boss. The governor of Louisiana is now a Republican, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal. Last time around, the botched response was coordinated by a Democrat, Kathleen Blanco. If Jindal does a great job and the evacuation goes smoothly, help arrives on time, and nobody dies, the Republicans will be crowing about their management skills and that the real problem last time was that a Democrat was running the show. However, Jindal is only 37 and has been governor for scarcely 8 months, even less time than the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. If Jindal messes up, the Democrats will be saying: "It's more of the same." To say that McCain's political fortunes rest on Jindal's ability to cope with disasters is not entirely true, but it will be a big factor. Unlike Blanco last time, Jindal is surely fully aware of what is about to happen and the potential consequences of failing to handle it.

John McCain's been saying his prayers, but if I were a Christian I would be tempted to say -- especially after we witness the damage of an 18-25 storm surge where the levees are 9-13 feet -- that God doesn't care what John McCain wants.

And if Gustav had hit a week earlier, we would no doubt have heard a few Republican pastors proclaiming that God was delivering His Retribution to the Democrats, indeed the United States, for supporting the evils of abortion, homosexuality, etc.

I doubt we will hear any of that "God is punishing us because of the GOP" from any pastors on either side this week. More, with my bold emphasis:

For better or worse, all five potentially affected states have Republican governors: Rick Perry in Texas, Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, Haley Barbour in Mississippi, Bob Riley in Alabama, and Charlie Crist in Florida. If they do a good job getting help where it is needed, they will get the credit; if they don't they will get the blame. It is likely that all of them will skip the convention and stay home. In an odd way, the hurricane might actually have a silver lining for the Republicans. The Democrats spent all of last week yelling: "McCain is Bush III." Having Bush speak at the convention, as scheduled reinforces their point. However McCain could hardly have told Bush to stay home since that would infuriate the 30% of the country that still supports him. Enter St. Gustav stage left. McCain could now announce that much as he wants Bush to speak at his convention, for the good of the country, Bush should go tour the Gulf Coast to help the poor people there. This solves two problems: keeping Bush away from Minnesota without McCain getting blamed for it and having Bush appear to be on top of the situation at the hurricane site in an attempt to wipe out the bad memories of his doing nothing when Katrina struck.

So when Karl Rove says that the Republicans can't catch a break with the weather in August, he's just being a stupid asshole again.

EV 8/31: some movement for Obama

The polling that moved NV and CO back to blue and OH into the tossup column this week occurred during the DNC convention, so it can't really reflect a convention bounce but rather a Biden one. The effect of Obama's soaring speech to 40 million Americans last Thursday night -- that was more than saw the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing -- as well as the pick by McCain of Elaine Benes from Seinfeld Sarah Palin of Alaska is yet to be reflected in the polls.

<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p>

Sunday Funnies (Pre-Gustav edition)

It's hard work finding something to laugh about on this last day before New Orleans is destroyed for the second time in three years. At least John McCain isn't going to spend another birthday eating cake while an American city drowns; he's taking Sarah Palin to Jackson, MS so she can see some black people for the first time.

Gidget Goes to Washington

Admit it; that was your first thought too. Well perhaps the second one, after "Who?"



The humor was flowing early and rapidly this morning:

McCain-Phailin' '08
Tina Fey's SNL skits guaranteed to be classics
McOld-Barely Legal (to be president) '08
McCain-Milf '08
McCain-Pale-in-Comparison

And then there's this:



Who is this poor little girl McCain plucked out of Alaskan obscurity to demolish his only rationale for not electing Obama? Someone quite clueless about the role of the vice-presidency, for openers. Just last month, Palin said:

“As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”

MSNBC's Chuck Todd reported that Kay Bailey was "furious" about the choice. Two senior advisers to Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney felt "rudely strung along and manipulated".

What is known about Palin is that she a creationist, a gun nut, she's virulently anti-choice for women -- no abortion even in cases of rape or incest -- and she thinks polar bears should not be on the endangered species list.

That's not funny. But this is:

HE is an ex-POW turned multimillionaire. He has power, wealth, and more houses than most people have ties. But can anything -- or anyone -- calm his savage temper, and teach him to love again?

SHE's a young creationist who knows little about politics and is in trouble with the law. He'll take her in -- but can he teach her the ways of Washington before she embarrasses him at the big Telecom Ball?

Find out this fall on Dharma and Methuselah ...

Eight has been more than enough

"Barney Smith, and not Smith Barney" nearly stole the show in the run-up to the headliner. There was also "McCain can afford those $400.00 shoes, but America can't afford McCain's Flip-Flops".

I think my personal favorite however was:

It's time for them to own their failure.

Yeah. Way past time.

So there's no need to post another pretty picture or excerpts. If you saw it or heard it you get it; if you didn't you don't. Like most everything else about the campaign, it was an historical event. Here's a take from David Sirota on the populist message Obama communicated:

If his convention speech tonight is any indication, Barack Obama has (finally) signaled that progressive economic populism is going to be the central thrust of Democrats campaign in the stretch run of the 2008 election.

The speech is probably the most populist national speech Obama has given....

(H)e knows that Democrats have won red-states like Ohio not by pretending to be Royalist Republicans, but by being economic populists and tapping into the uprising (in fact, Obama himself invoked uprising language explicitly tonight, saying, "Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up.")

That his newfound courage is partially rooted in election opportunism doesn't negate its value. If he continues with this kind of posture, he not only will win the election, but will create a mandate that helps force an Obama administration to fulfill the economic promises it is making. And that more than anything would, indeed, mean real change.

In GOP news, wait for the announcement today of McSame's running mate and whether or not the Republicans will postpone their convention because of Hurricane Gustav.

The Republicks don't like you either, Lieberman

Mark me down here as falling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact John McCain to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation.

Of course Mighty Joe stood up to the Rove-Beast:

Lieberman dismissed the request, these sources agreed.

Lieberman “laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details.

“Rove called Lieberman,” recounted a second source. “Lieberman told him he would not make that call.”

Rove did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rove, President Bush’s former top campaign adviser and arguably the most prominent political operative of the past generation, has no formal role in McCain’s campaign. But he knows much of the Arizona senator’s high command and has been offering informal advice, both over the phone and in his position as a Fox News analyst, since McCain wrapped up the GOP nomination.

The Rover has been trumpeting $200 Million Dollar Man (and owner of three houses his own self) Mittens Romney for the pick, to be announced at any moment in order to blunt the Obamamentum of tonight's acceptance speech ...

“Rove is pushing Romney so aggressively some folks are beginning to wonder what's going on,” grumbled one veteran Republican strategist.

From his perch on Fox, Rove has touted McCain’s fierce primary rival as strong vice presidential material.

“Romney is already vetted by the media, has strong executive experience both in business and in government, has an interesting story to tell with saving the U.S. Olympics, and also helps McCain deal with the economy, because he can speak to the economy with a fluency that McCain doesn’t have,” Rove said on “Fox News Sunday” in June.

The sources spoke about Rove’s involvement after Robert Novak, writing his first column since being diagnosed with brain cancer, reported Wednesday that McCain and some of his close associates would like to tap Lieberman for the number two slot but that putting an abortion-rights-supporting former Democrat on the Republican ticket was likely to be unrealistic.

Gasp. Novak's not dead yet? Can you just see that ghastly countenance propped up in a cancer ward, phone in one ear, banging out a column not on a laptop but a 1940's typewriter?

This development is too bad/so sad for Kay Bailey's hopes, I suppose.