Dean is first.

Here is a tiny fraction of Frank Rich's pitch-perfect dissection of this week in politics from today's NYT:

At the Democratic convention, as during primary season, almost every oversold plotline was wrong. Those Hillary dead-enders — played on TV by a fringe posse of women roaming Denver in search of camera time — would re-enact Chicago 1968. With Hillary’s tacit approval, the roll call would devolve into a classic Democratic civil war. Sulky Bill would wreak havoc once center stage.

On TV, each of these hot-air balloons was inflated nonstop right up to the moment they were punctured by reality, at which point the assembled bloviators once more expressed shock, shock at the unexpected denouement. They hadn’t been so surprised since they discovered that Obama was not too black to get white votes, not too white to win black votes, and not too inexperienced to thwart the inevitable triumph of the incomparably well-organized and well-financed Clinton machine.

They just might luck out and have all eyes on the Gulf Coast.The internet doesn't actually deliver anyone to the polls so early voting efforts need to be stepped up.

Sarah Palin is not Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is not Condoleezza Rice. She isn't Kathleen Sibelius or Olympia Snowe or Janet Napolitano. She's not Susan Eisenhower or Dianne Feinstein.

Alaskans typically devour their governors. They usually serve a single term before the tectonics of state politics undermine their state leader. But she hasn't even served two years as governor.

What does she think about Cuba? Does she know the difference between America's relations with Brazil and Venezuela? Does she know what a balancing act we are walking in Asia between Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, North Korea, Russia and more? Does she know anything about nuclear weapons and our defense posture?

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/08/country_first_m/

Talked with my daughter-in-law who lives in WA.  We got talking about politics, she told me her Dad was in the Navy with McCain, evidently he was hated because of his hotheaded egotistical ways, plus he was given favors because of his father.  Her Dad however is voting for him because he is a Republican.  I wonder though if now McCain has chosen a veep that puts our country at risk, he will change his mind.

Accordingly to news McCain/Palin will be visiting hurricane regions today to see how evacuation is going.  That is all they need more cars on the highways.  Guess it will make a good photo op though.

I continue to be fascinated by the possibility that Palin pulled a Bree Hodge and pretended to be preggers to save face for her daughter.

The KOS diary on this is extremely detailed, with before/during pictures. Most significant are the facts that she didn't announce the pregnancy until the 7th month, and even at that point her personal staff was dumbfounded because she didn't look any different and her clothes all fit just the same.

I'm assuming anyone who already carried four pregnancies and is now in their 40s would show sooner rather than later. The other oddity is that after flying back to AK, instead of going directly to the closest hospital, which was also the best-equipped hospital (in Anchorage), she took a long ride to the small rural hospital in the town where she used to live. No reason given, so perhaps that's where the baby had already been born?

She went back to work in only three days, also unusual. But then, when the real mom is present to "babysit" the child, it all works out.

This is a very strange rumor but if it does happen to turn out to be true, it takes away the high ground of making a difficult choice for herself and casts her as a mom ashamed of her daughter and willing to force a decision on her instead. Yuck.

-- volney

I put this on the main blog also since the subject there was Gustav.

An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Dear God,

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.

I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an "Act of God" -- when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.

Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized -- and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush's FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.

But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, "There you go again!"

So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.

So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.

But now it appears that You haven't been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America's "wholesale slaughter of unborn children." His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.

So this is my plea to you: Don't do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven't sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time -- they are already patrolling the city streets. And, in a nod to I don't know what, Bush's head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government's response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W's to help save the Gulf Coast.

So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It's done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I'll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.

Your faithful servant and former seminarian,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. To all of God's fellow children who are reading this, the city New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina. Please click here for a list of things you can do to help our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. And, if you do live along the Gulf Coast, please take all necessary safety precautions immediately.

 

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Maureen Dowd pulls out her scalpel in today's New York Times:

Americans, suspicious that the Obamas have benefited from affirmative action without being properly grateful, and skeptical that Michelle really likes “The Brady Bunch” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” reject the 47-year-old black contender as too uppity and untested.

. . . . Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal?

The Times is on a roll.  This is from Gail Collins' acerbic column:

It is conceivable that some people will think John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate because she is a woman. I know you find this shocking, but I swear I have heard it mentioned.

McCain does not believe in pandering to identity politics. He was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down his foot!

The obvious choice was Palin, the governor of Alaska, whose guard stands as our last best defense against possible attack by the resurgent Russian menace across the Bering Strait.

Also a woman, but that’s totally beside the point.

Sen. Kerry has performed a magnificent service today on This Week.  Democrats were successful in relentlessly portraying McCain as George Bush's incarnation for a third term.  Kerry has closed the circle by identifying Palin as Dick Cheney in disguise, saying "With the choice of Gov. Palin, it’s the third term of Dick Cheney. He’s chosen somebody who doesn’t believe climate change is man-made."

Kerry added "It’s almost insulting to the Hillary supporters," and called Palin a "Cheneyesque social conservative who’s going to satisfy the base. John McCain is a prisoner of the right wing, not a maverick."

I also like Sen. Graham's rejoinder.  He said "compard to Sen. Obama, she’s qualified beyond belief.”

This really warms my cockles -- according to the article, each hat is one Canadian black bear.

Changing of the guard: Talks over bearskin hats

Something kept sticking in the back of my mind about Troopergate.  Then it struck me, this is not the first time Palin has used her power to fire someone.  When Mayor of Wasilla she had the librarian and police chief fired because they did not support her during her campaign. Cannot remember all the details.

TPM has a good synopsis of troopergate - Getting Real About Palin

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

By the way Wasilla is a lovely little town with a beautiful Musk Ox farm.

TPM (Josh Marshall) has done a stellar job with the Troopergate investigation.  And Josh Marshall is no conspiracy theorist.

Was Sarah Palin even vetted?  Apparently not.  In some ways I feel sorry for her - she's clearly a redneck who was just thrilled to be chosen - but clearly in over her head.  Why was she not on any Sunday shows?  She wasn't even McCain's first choice.  I think she was a *Harriet Meiers* choice.  And what does this say for the religious fundamentalists being so excited about her nomination?  Just because she's anti abortion, anti gay and a creationist?  Wow, just wow.  This country has become one big reality show.

Anni, having been raised in a fundamentalist church (back in those days any involvement in politics -- beyond voting -- by church people was taboo, and would that it had stayed that way), there are many fundamentalist Protestants as well as the Mormons who do not approve of women having outside careers while they still have children at home. And there are even some who would feel it's wrong for a woman to rule over men, but those would be fewer in number.

McCain is pandering to W's redneck base who might have been tempted to sit home. I don't see him picking up even one vote from Obama by naming Palin, only re-energizing his own disgusted base. And not even all of them.

They say he's appealing to poorly educated rural women in Pennsylvania. Again, a group that already would have voted GOP or sat home since they're pretty racist and refuse to vote for Obama (this is based on the opinions of rural and not-so-rural poorly educated Pennsylvana women in my own extended family).

Rae, could you tell us more about the swirling pregnancy rumors in the state at the time? When I first heard the theory and thought of Bree Hodge, I couldn't picture any real person getting all the different-sized belly prostheses, etc. But obviously, Palin wouldn't have done all that, just went from her regular size at "seven months" to looking slightly overweight at 'eight months" and then voila! an induced delivery. So she really only played the game for eight weeks max. That a real person might actually do.

-- volney

we want her to get nominated first

they aren't nominated yet, but since Big Oil owns that Party they likely will be

Good grief, haven't the environmentally enlightened British heard about polyester yet?

I love bears. We have a large bear that comes in and through our backyard just about every night and sometimes in the afternoon when he likes to rob the bird feeder of seeds.

By Florida standards he is big -- guessing about 400 lbs. Florida bears are not dangerous in any way unless you might get too close to a cub when they might slap at you.

I go out sometimes and talk to him while he robs us blind, he's not afraid of me any more and rather ignores me. I can't have a dog anymore so bears, coons, possums, squirrels, etc. fill the bill as best as possible.

By Tom Bearse on Aug 31, 2008 11:20 AM EDT

"...The obvious choice was Palin, the governor of Alaska, whose guard stands as our last best defense against possible attack by the resurgent Russian menace across the Bering Strait.

Also a woman, but that's totally beside the point."
----------------
By raehart on Aug 31, 2008 11:37 AM EDT

Is this a joke?

---------------

100%

By Tom Bearse on Aug 31, 2008 11:40 AM EDT
Follow the link.

>>>>>>>>>>>

The "small victorious war" is obvious (historically verified multiple times and proved  successful) WAY OUT of an awful situation administration is in now (including silence in Iraq probably for...2 more month).

Could not find English translation of recent (ARD's German agency, CNN's also good) Putin's interview on Georgia conflict and everything around it.

Always listen/read ORIGINAL source to have true impression rather than its interpretation by "fair and balanced" media of the most advanced Democracy in the World...lol.

or whatever it was he called his replacement for the UN idea didn't get anywhere nearly enough scrutiny in the lead up to Georgia's attack on South Ossetia, even though he visited seven times

starting a war for political gain and reopening the cold war is a much bigger deal to me than troopergate but might explain why they might need a running mate that doesn't have a clue

that they are sure to pardon you has to be a test for any Republican candidate

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7590469.stm

my son called and said yesterday was sort of a normal gameday on campus and today lines as people lay in water and at the ATMs and waves of rumors as the direction of the storm wobbles, but gridlock on I-10

The Red Cross has 750,000 cots ready.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7590469.stm

then there's no way they can contain the story, even in Alaska. One test will be whether the Tabloids pick it up. Those hideous rags don't need much, if any, corroboration to run with a story if it will up their circulation, and this one certainly would.

If the rumours are true, there are just too many people in on the basic story to keep a lid on it. I'm thinking especially of an obstetrician risking his/her license to provide cover for a politician.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bil-browning/putting-palin-in-perspect_b_122684.html

Let's put Sarah Palin's executive experience in perspective, shall we?

• Population of Alaska: 670,053
• Population of Indianapolis: 784,118
• Governor Sarah Palin's amount of time in office: 20 months
• Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard's amount of time in office: 8 months

Apparently Ballard is almost as qualified to be our next vice president as McCain's running mate pick. He has less time in office, but governs more people.

I wouldn't give Ballard the spare set of keys to my car, let alone the country. Maybe if we build a Chinatown in Iraq, the Shiites and Sunnis will come together over a yummy dinner of moo shoo pork.

Palin Laughs As Opponent Is Called "Bitch," "Cancer," Mocked For Her Weight

 

What's really telling in this info is that the opposition was a state senator who had been a cancer victim, yet Palin laughed when she was called a "cancer."

within Goggle News, you will see that the story is already airborn everywhere! How fast news and/or rumors fly!

http://news.google.com/

Obama on MSNBC says he will stay out of the way prior to the storm but will possibly use his enormous email list to enlist whatever help will be needed AFTER the storm like volunteer help, donations,etc.