Friday, August 29, 2008

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.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

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.

Blue Dogs cuddle up with AT&T in Denver

This is the kind of bullshit that just deflates all the good things I have watched and read about this week:

(Last Monday) night in Denver, at the Mile High Station -- next to Invesco Stadium, where Barack Obama will address a crowd of 30,000 people on Thursday night -- AT&T threw a lavish, private party for Blue Dog House Democrats, virtually all of whom blindly support whatever legislation the telecom industry demands and who also, specifically, led the way this July in immunizing AT&T and other telecoms from the consequences for their illegal participation in the Bush administration's warrantless spying program. Matt Stoller has one of the listings for the party here.

Glenn Greenwald tried to get in but no media was allowed. He spoke to people entering the event who refused to identify themselves (except for one Republican). One of the party's feted was not anonymous: Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader. Let's go to Think Progress ...

Hoyer was “the point man” in negotiations over the new FISA law that Congress passed and Bush signed last month. He helped secure retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies (including AT&T), thereby condoning their participation in Bush’s illegal spying program.

This is what roasts me about those Democrats who vote like, act like, party with, and generally speaking aren't much different from Republicans. They have sold themselves out to the corporations.

That's fascism, people.

Once we get unobstructible majorities in the House and Senate next year -- and with a Democratic president -- can we expect them to act any differently? As in governing for the people and not the powerful?

Why do I get the impression it will be even more difficult to hold their feet to the fire on, say ... offshore drilling?

Joe Biden, George McCain, and Sigmund Freud

Let me make this pledge to you right here and now. For every American who is trying to do the right thing, for all those people in government who are honoring their pledge to uphold the law and honor the Constitution, no longer will you hear the eight most dreaded words in the English language: "The Vice President's office is on the phone."


Nice left jab, Joe. Nice shout-out to your mother, too:

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable. As a child I stuttered, and she lovingly would look at me and told me, "Joey, it's because you're so bright you can't get the thoughts out quickly enough." When I was not as well dressed as the other kids, she told me, "Joey, you're so handsome honey, you're so handsome." And when I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, and this is the God's truth, she sent me back out the street and told me, "Bloody their nose so you can walk down the street the next day." And that's what I did.

After the accident, she told me, "Joey, God sends no cross that you cannot bear." And when I triumphed, my mother was quick to remind me it was because of others.

My mother's creed is the American creed: No one is better than you. Everyone is your equal, and everyone is equal to you.


Selfishness and greed and the conservative mantra of "I-got-mine-and-fuck-all-y'all" is going back into the minority, where it belongs. His Freudian slip was showing here:

I can almost hear the conversation they're having at their kitchen table after they put their kids to bed. Like millions of Americans, they're asking questions as ordinary as they are profound. Questions they never ever thought they'd have to ask themselves:

—Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?

—Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars just to fill up the gas tank?

—How in God's name, with winter coming, how are we gonna heat the home?

—Another year, no raise?

—Did you hear? Did you hear they may be cutting our health care at the company?

—Now, now we owe more on the house than it's worth. How in God's name are we going to send the kids to college?

—How are we gonna retire?

You know folks, that's the America that George Bush has left us, and that's the America we'll continue to get if George — excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of the United States of America. Freudian slip! Freudian slip!

Change, or more of the same? Pretty easy choice to make in November, I think.