The Watercooler for 09/01/08 5:00 PM

Protests at convention.....One down with rubber bullet, three arreste.   Delegate buses blockaded with windows smashed.

Democratic Ticket Gets Boost After Convention, CBS News Poll Finds

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/01/opinion/polls/main4405106.shtml

What an awesome Labor Day.  Sunny and warm here in Rochester, NY.  The parade was started off as they all do--line up and wait.  Then you start to move--and wait. 

Lots off interesting pre-parade talk.  Most of the talk was about Palin, her baby and now her daughter's pregnancy.  Ah, the personal drama that is politics. 

But there is real excitement in the air.  When the crowd shouts YES WE CAN as loud as the Obama group in the parade, you know critical mass is about to happen.

By Tom Bearse on Sep 1, 2008 4:42 PM EDT

By Tom Bearse on Sep 1, 2008 4:45 PM EDT

By Tom Bearse on Sep 1, 2008 4:57 PM EDT

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

See Tom that's the difference:

it is one thing to refer OPINIONS ABOUT Ron Paul and

completely different another thing is TO QUOTE his OWN LATEST THOUGHTS.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-gizbert/sarah-palin-thomas-eaglet_b_122984.html

I was just 12 but I remember all of this.

to handle Troopergate. 

---------

The RNC appears to be a complete disaster much like the GOP. 

for the NBC lawyer story.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/palin_hires_lawyer_for_trooper.php

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=605B5FB39D667C0B52BFB3B7DA97816F?diaryId=7875

and the sheep will listen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/01/dobson-comments-palins-fo_n_123007.html

There is an evacuation of Bernard Parish because they believe the levee may break at any moment!

Blitzer was covering the story there, but -- hold the phone -- Laura Bush is about to speak, so they cut off the live storyof the levee and are covering Ms. Bush's speech.

This day has been one of the most bizarre imaginable in politics.

Stay tuned!!

I just heard the levee broke.  OMG.

Yesterday, an infrequent neighbor (owns land, and a cabin here, but mostly only comes to hunt) showed up with wife, sister, and sister's friends.  All Bush voters (x2).  None want to vote for McCain.  All think his choice for Veep is krezzy (pandering to the Dems).  None think he knows jacksh*t about how bad the economy is, nor any understanding of what it's like to manage in this economy.  The wife (from) Florida sez, Florida is past recession and into depression.  She also sez one million dollar mansion (Obama's) is the same as seven or more. (She is the only one having a time deciding who to vote for).  The rest are voting for Obama. . .   Or maybe Bob Barr. . .  They were wondering where Nader was. . . .

Really fascinating talk.

No electricity but no word of deaths. Just starting to let up, but like Katrina they thought the worst was over when the levee broke. Son was in awe of the power of this storm so far inland. and just a Cat. 2 so a sigh of relief of sorts there but flooding lies ahead as it pulls a Faye and stops in west LA

Just want to second Tom's post upthread. I was in the same parade. I hope other DFA-ers were able to take the time and march for local candidates in their Labor Day parades.

For me, it brought back memories of what an event the parade was when I was a kid. People packed downtown to watch, but now the crowds are thin and I often wonder if more people are in the parade than watching it.

This year, though, there was a better crowd because fewer people have money to go away. Waving at the folks who come out -- poor folk, old folks who remember the day, handicapped people, very young families... well, it makes you almost tear up sometimes, thinking of all those diverse stories in your town, how you helped them have a happier day by smiling at them and waving, how most of them are also labor and you are thanking them while they are thanking you.

Those of us from DFA Rochester split our efforts, marching for our DFA-list Congressional candidate, Eric Massa, as well as Barack Obama and a Democratic state assembly challenger, Dave Garretson.

Many of our number went on to another event for Eric -- I was energized enough to come home and do the Howardly... clean my garage!

Happy Labor Day to all of you!

-- volney

that a levee has already broken or is breaking.  What is the real story?  I remember during Katrina thinking *phew* it wasn't that bad until the levees were breached and the flooding began. 

chose Palin in a meeting in Minneapolis.  Guess who belongs to the CNP?  Dobson, Tony Perkins, Grover Norquist for starters.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/1/184046/2116/186/582565

McCain is no maverick.

The news is crediting bloggers and internet rumours with the disclosure today about the Palin daughter's pregnancy.  While I agree with Obama that this shouldn't matter in a campaign, there are many other things that shouldn't matter, but do.  And what the heck, anyone running for the two top offices in America has to known one thing for sure--everything matters. 

What today's announcement exposes is that when abstinence is taught and fails, there are no other solutions offered by the Republicans.  The Catholic church doesn't like birth control and the Republicans don't ever want to speak the word CONDOM.  Palin publicly preached abstinence. 

Therefore, I have to ask, is Palin a failure when it comes to her efforts to prevent unwanted teenage pregnancy?  Yes, she is--along with Republicans in general.  Because Palin helps set policy in her state, it scares me to think how many other pregnancies could be prevented with sex ed and condoms?

Tim LeHaye of the *Left Behind* series. 

They deserve it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/gustav_gulf_coast

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Abstinence-only is a crock.  If McCain is elected (with Palin) we'll turn back the clock of this country even further than GWB has turned it - and that's saying a lot.  We need solutions not these fake Christian slogans.

Preaching abstinence really gets to me. 

Palin can attempt to turn this into a warm and cozy family moment while her daughter is forced (?) to marry her boyfriend.  Palin also gets praised heaped on her for standing by her daughter.  And her daughter looks good in the eyes of many for keeping her child (did she have any choice?) 

Keeping her child isn't the only thing she could be keeping.  What if she was infected with HIV?  Why isn't this brought up?  Any failure of abstinence could be a sentence of life with HIV.

I'm still trying to figure out how they believe Obama's "mansion" (his is a larger version of a two-story bungalow) is worth seven mansions!!!

Repugs are so confused these days because they refuse to vote for Dems (brainwashed I suppose) and don't have anywhere else to turn that makes sense.

It wasn't enought that McCain used a Jackson Browne song without permission and is being sued, now comes this:

After John McCain used a Van Halen song during his big speech earlier today, the band wants to make to make one thing clear -- they're not running with McCain.

Van Halen management tells us the band had no idea McCain was planning on using "Right Now" during his big entrance in Ohio telling us, "Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given."

Face It: They Didn't Vet Her

Earlier I noted Andrea Mitchell's reference to reports that the McCain camp had just sent a team of GOP lawyers up to Alaska to do what I guess you'd call a post-vetting of Sarah Palin. Now George Stephanopoulos appears to have more. George says the McCainers are sending a "rapid response team of about ten operatives that includes lawyers" to do the aforementioned deeper vet. A lot of attention is being given to Gov. Palin's daughter's situation.

cont'd

The much bigger deal is the expanding trooper-gate investigation, the fact that Palin lied in her Friday speech about her purported opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere, her apparent former membership in the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, and more. Individually, you can come to your own judgment about how consequential these stories are. What they show pretty clearly now -- in addition to the news that the McCain campaign is only now sending in a vetting team -- is that John McCain didn't do any serious vetting of Palin before he invited her to join his ticket and, he hopes, become Vice President of the United States.

h/t Josh Marshall

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/1/19345/31771/170/582581

and sort of threaded between Lafayette and Baton Rogue

newsmen talking called it the worst they went through right in Baton Rouge in 30 years "like Betsey" so it must have been a pretty wild day in the Capitol

my son reports only that the fence in front of the Church was blown away but "didn't hit his car", kind of a joke since he had carefully parked it right in the middle of the lot a day ago out of the reach of the big trees, only to just miss a fence blown on top

they worked last night and got the paper out before the storm hit and he will have plenty of video for next week

large trees down all over, the softball complex wrecked , now reports of a couple of deaths 

In a recent BusinessWeek interview, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) admitted that she believes the Iraq war was fought because of oil:

We are a nation at war and in many [ways] the reasons for war are fights over energy sources, which is nonsensical when you consider that domestically we have the supplies ready to go.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/31/palin-iraq-is-a-war-for-oil/

Feministing is as strongly feminist a blog as you will find. Here's what they think of Gov. Palin:

"...both Palin's decision to carry her Down's syndrome child to term and her daughter's decision to carry her own pregnancy to term... are seen by the antichoice Republican base as affirmation that Palin shares their values. But the underlying message that each woman had a choice is a validation of pro-choice values."

Yes, indeed. When they crow about keeping the pregnancies, they are actually admitting they MADE A CHOICE and can be proud of the CHOICE they made.

Which is the essence of pro-CHOICE. That women have the responsibility for their own decisions, something any Republican ought to be enthusiastic about, vs. Big Government intruding in matters that can be solved closer to the citizen (like, by the individual citizen herself).

The same blogger mentioned McCain's response to a question the last time he ran, about what would happen if his teen daughter became pregnant. At the time he said the daughter would MAKE HER CHOICE, with his and Cindy's advice. Someone pointed out this meant he was pro-choice, which made him angry. The point being, it's great for the McCains or the Palins to have a choice, but not the hoi polloi, ofh no sir, they can't be trusted.

I have a lot of beef with the Clintons but one thing I liked was their stance in favor of funding all the support programs that would allow single moms to keep and raise their children while leaving Roe v. Wade alone. That's a sane approach to this issue, and one that treats women like the adults they actually are.

-- volney

Hello,

I scrolled down the front paged threads and

found them black holes.  Even the one staff posted about the hurricane.  Shoot, no communication: no dialog.

Well, I would have had my comments flushed here, so here I land.  Sorry.

I hear that Palin's daughter is with child.  And I read that the father of the bastard will forcibly wed the young lady.  Well, that's as it should be, don't you think?  I mean, it is either that or abortion, right?  Pretty much so, and the honorable path is having the child.

I believe the kids should o' used birth-control.  A condom at the very least.  I am sorry, but the boy was a dick-head for not wearing extra skin.

ABC News has confirmed Palin was a member of AIP - the wingnutty group in Alaska. 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/1/193111/4427/159/582600

management seems to like the number zero

'Cain will allow the RNConvention to nominate someone other than Palin (damaged goods).

his supporters are pretty fierce

a Barack Obama type would have won there too (steady evenhanded type)

just nominate McCain and Palin and get on with your defeat Gopers

ABC did an absolutely poisonous story on GOP lobbyist-funded parties. Apparently they did a similar story on Dems and lobbyists which I have to say I didn't see b/c I normally watch NBC. Tonight the MDA telethon was finishing up so I switched news. Anyway...

The first point they made was that even after McCain requested they not conduct any but the most urgent business, the big lobbyist parties went ahead right on schedule. In other words, McCain doesn't even have control over his own party.

Then they showed the lavish parties. At one, two men there hid their faces from the camera with the pink feather boas they were wearing. Another agreed to be interviewed and said something to the effect that "everyone has troubles" and just because there was a hurricane didn't mean he shouldn't party. Good one! Nice job, Brownie!

Then ABC did what only journalists can do when they're feeling particularly vindictive. They mentioned the band at one of the parties was named "Hookers and Blow".

Not up to the impartial journalist ideal b/c I'm sure there were also bands named things like "Home of the Brave", but it was nice to know that as actual people, what they saw P'ed them O.

-- volney

because all people are talking about is the failure of Katrina

had he given his speech and asked for forgiveness for what he did to the victims of Katrina 

a lover's question

Phil, I agree and if I were a Paul person I would be planning the coup right now. All the Paul people I know still have their signs up, and frankly, while I don't agree with him on everything, if the Dems had given us another John Kerry I would be supporting Paul myself. If anybody's actually a maverick, he would be that guy.

In other news, the Associated Press reports:

"McCain aides said the announcement about the pregnancy of Palin's daughter, Bristol, was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's own youngest son, born in April, was actually the daughter's."

Wow, that's a heck of a defense!!! "It can't be hers b/c she's pregnant right now!!" Good one.

Let's wait and see if the baby is mysteriously really late.... I'm sorry, I know I'm just being bad now!!

-- voln

'Cain whould have been upstaged

had the son of an aristocrat spoken to the RNC.

Oh - it was a goody.  Rep. Bachmann (heinous Republican) was on along with Stephanie Miller and James Carville and another Republican robot (don't know her name).  Anyway, Bachmann said Palin is qualified for VP because she sold the state's airplane on ebay (which prompted giggles from Carville and Miller) and went on to slur Democrats - you know the *Democrat* party (which Carville corrected her).  Also, how she had more experience than Barack Obama AND that Palin did not support *The Bridge to Nowhere*.  Unfortunately, no one corrected Ms. Bachmann's lie about the bridge.  All in all - very entertaining television.  As my husband noted *the school secretary at our son's school is anti-choice - maybe she too is qualified for VP*.  Wowser.

Do you know what you are if you don't eat mooseburgers?  A Washington jackass.

That's right.  From Charles Mathesian's article in the Politico, we learn that fishing permit violations, a DUI citation as a 22-year-old, an unmarried teenage daughter who is pregnant and a nasty child custody battle involving a family member are "awfully familiar to many average Americans. It is this averageness that makes [Gov. Palin] such a politically promising running mate for John McCain — and such a dangerous opponent for Democrats."

I am not surprised that they don’t get it. But Americans get it,” said Florida Rep. Adam Putnam. “A mooseburger means she is like one of us. She is not some jackass who’s ‘gone Washington.’”

There you go.  Hypocritical rubrics of morality that apply to thee, not to me: that's the new creiteria for selecting an electable vice president in America.

...pretend land.  they're pretending that the past 8 years hasn't happened.  that their brand hasn't failed.  that their whole ideological concept, both as a way to believe and as a way to govern our country, hasn't been proven to fail at every turn of the dial.    the reluctance to admit any error or fault.  the reluctance to admit that they have failed to lead the country.  the hippocracy in even pretending to have a future vision for our country. 

tar and a rail.  tar and a rail.  "they" used to deal with the snake oil salesmen this way.  what's good for the goose....

I haven't personally had the pleasure of encountering or dealing with any of these.  Maybe I'm not as average as I had hoped.

..or get out of the way...

...anyone wanting a little Rene Pape w/ their Wagner tonight -- check out these youtubes on Parsifal's blog -- a little Hans Sachs and Wotan, neither of which he has yet sung in the opera house that I know of -- they are of course perfect and very beautiful.  Apparently from a concert in Lubeck just yesterday...

http://parsifal79.blogspot.com/2008/09/kneel-in-front-of-master-kneel-i-said.html