Obama’s speech was the greatest I have ever heard live by a major politician, both in terms of content and delivery. No wonder McCain wanted to, and did, step on it immediately. Let’s not forget to mention it. Again, and again.
After Gore gave a very good speech, albeit with the delivery oddly rushed, not a single bloviator on CNN – not a single one – deigned to discuss it for about 10 minutes, until Gergen said that Gore said something appreciative. Susan Eisenhower’s speech received more attention. I found that incredibly disrespectful of a man who counts the Vice-Presidency of the United States as just one spectacular achievement out of a lifetime of service to his country (and world) and a clear sign that the msm still hates his guts.
Speaking of bias, was it just me or was the coverage on CNN negative for the most part? I wonder if we’ll see all the bloviators frowning so deeply just before McCain accepts.
Obama chose Biden partly because of his reputation in foreign policy, which directly addresses an important component of the actual job of being president. McCain chose Palin merely because she was useful in shoring up a demographic needed to win an election. She has, as far as anyone knows, no other qualifications or experience that is directly relevant to running an entire country. It is like Bush nominating Miers for the Supreme Court because she’s a good person.
The decision to choose Palin demonstrates McCain’s impulsiveness, his erratic character, and his lack of seriousness about the actual job of being president.
Palin is, apparently, a radical Christianist, in the mold of Dobson, Robertson and others. Therefore it is only fair to ask her these questions, among many others:
Did Palin support Randall Terry in his attempts to undermine the US judiciary and prolong the vegetative state of Terri Schiavo?
Since McCain believes America is a Christian nation, what positions does Palin believe non-Christians should be permitted to hold in the US government?
Does Palin consider Catholics to be Christian?
Some other preliminary questions to ask Palin:
Besides Canada, has she ever been out of the US? Where? For how long?
Who is the head of Australia, North Korea, South Korea, Afghanistan, Israel, the EU and the UK? Who is the president of Brazil?
What is the difference between Shia and Sunni Islam?
Like most of America, I can’t say I know much about Sarah Palin. But here’s a few instant (yes, you could say knee-jerk) reactions to today’s news that she’s on the ticket with John McCain.
McCain has definitely concluded that he wasn’t going to win without doing something dramatic. Just like his surge in Iraq, McCain has decided to “Go long.”
McCain got what he wanted and needed the most: Nobody is talking about the magnificent speech Barack Obama gave last night.
John “never surrender” McCain just gave up on trying to attack Obama’s experience. It was a calculation he was willing to make. Interesting.
Palin is already benefiting from extremely low expectations. Really can’t get much lower than a complete unknown. Biden will have to realize that winning a debate against her is pointless. He will need to share a stage with her, but win a debate against McCain.
Palin has already started blowing the dogwhistles:
Now, no one expects us to agree on everything, whether in Juneau or in Washington. But we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant’s heart.
She said Nook-yoo-ler.
Whether this pick is just another gimmick in a long line of McCain’s gimmicks, it is striking to me that a man who told America that Obama is a big risk in an uncertain world has chosen a running mate who said this in her introduction:
If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves. Well, it’s always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn’t get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why the ship is built.
It’s been noted that McCain likes to roll the dice. He is now asking America not just to gamble on an unknown, but to gamble on a pair of gamblers.
Palin has an interesting personal story and in our superficial national discourse, that will be a plus for her. As much of a dull blade as Rep. Eric Cantor can be, I was actually worried that he would be the surprise pick. I’m less worried about Palin, but going with somebody other than Mitt or Lieberman was a good move.
I think we’re going to see a lot more of Hillary Clinton over the next two months than I thought yesterday.
The fact that there are only a couple months before the election might help Palin quite a bit. Everybody knew Arnold Schwarzenegger already, but his initial victory in California was facilitated by the extremely short campaign allowed by the special election. There’s less time for something really embarrassing to happen.
The vice presidential selection is not as important as everybody will make it out to be today. (UPDATE: As was pointed out in comments, in the case of McCain’s age, it is a big deal. Good point. Damn, knee-jerk reactions.)
Even though Palin comes with a scandal in progress, I wonder if the Obama camp will get drawn into making a big deal about it. I think it will help blunt her claims to be a big reformer, but as I wrote above, the person they really need to defeat is John McCain.
We’ve already heard all the great things that we’re going to hear about Palin. Everything from here on out is going to be stuff they didn’t want to talk about. This could get good.
I am traveling today, so I won’t have the time to really delve into the speech, the convention etc until tomorrow probably.
Barack Obama said a lot of great things last night. But there was one thing he said that I’ve been waiting for, desperate for, and I couldn’t be happier that he said it:
For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy – give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.
Well it’s time for them to own their failure.
I think this is the key to the case and when I heard it, I stood up and cheered.
I know that point is not very hopeful or very uplifting and it won’t be the biggest selling point among swing voters. But there were plenty of those things in the speech. This is the case against conservatism that people need to hear in this country if we hope to move ahead. (Remind me to relate my convention story of trying to convince the 19 year old “independent” that his tax burden wasn’t the reason he couldn’t afford college. People have been brainwashed.)
My mind was greatly relieved last night. I think we are heading into the fall campaign with a standard bearer who is prepared now to take the fight to the Republicans. He’s not going to lie back and take the character assassination now that McCain has shown that he’s willing to roll around in the mud with the filthiest of GOP pigs. And he’s not going to pretend that conservatism isn’t responsible for the mess he’s asking to be allowed to clean up. That bodes well for the long term.
For the first time, I’m feeling not just optimistic about the Dems chances of winning (I’ve always felt that) but that they might just win on their own terms.
(King Louis XVI and courtiers at Versailles in Ridicule, 1996.)
Has anyone heard yet whether Cokie Roberts approves of the stadium venue for Obama’s acceptance speech? Has Colorado been deemed sufficiently “American”? Has she “summered” there? Inquiring minds want to know!
Cokie does have her moments, I suppose. But she deserved all the criticism she received and more over her Hawaii comments. Meanwhile, if you’ve missed them, you may want to check out Eric Alterman’s 2002 piece on Cokie Roberts (via TBogg), and Bob Somerby on Cokie’s speaking fees and the television pundit gravy train. (And boy, has Howard Kurtz changed!)
Cokie’s world, the Beltway Village, Versailles on the Potomac, can’t be fully understood in “reality-based” terms, or notions of what constitutes good journalism. Those are valid forms of criticism, but they don’t get to the heart of what ails these supposedly smart and often highly-educated people. Wisdom sadly doesn’t always accompany knowledge, but the problem is more one of social customs. It’s sometimes really amazing to see, but for many Village pundits, what’s right, and sometimes truth itself, is entirely socially determined. They’re a pretty anti-empirical, unreflective lot. They often possess a blithe authoritarianism, or at least an obsession with prestige. Social norms can be very good– but the Beltway conventional “wisdom” can be awfully dumb.
Richard Cohen may be too easy an example, but he really is the Village attitude and approach laid bare. He’s provided plenty of fodder for the liberal blogosphere (and maybe high school debate classes) with column after column featuring some glaring disconnect or shoddy argument. Before the McCain campaign’s POW rollout this month, Cohen may have invoked McCain’s POW status even more than McCain himself. Cohen’s POW defense of McCain earlier this year was widelyridiculed, and for goodreason. He’s written several columns where he’s basically stated, ‘I prefer John McCain because I know him and like him.’ That’s fine, I guess, but it’d be nice if he came out and said just that, admitting his criteria were fundamentally social in nature, rather than trying to justify his personal preferences with other arguments, and consistently ignoring obvious relevant facts in the process. Cohen doesn’t really analyze anything substantially, doesn’t learn from his core mistakes, and rarely seems to think things through. Instead, he represents a set of attitudes, and is mostly obsessed with propriety over morality.
Similarly, “centrist” David Broder always seems to come up with novel reasons why you shouldn’t vote for a Democrat, such as pushing executive experience as the most meaningful standard. Executive experience is a valid concern, of course, but Broder never seems very concerned about significant policy differences between candidates, has a funny sense of bipartisanship, and somehow seems to believe, despite the past eight years, that policies have no important consequences. Probably, Broder’s view of the political game ossified years ago, and he’s just never bothered to update his diagnosis nor his prescription to accommodate any pesky new facts (similar to Reagan and Bush the younger, come to think of it). Taken as a whole, the Village makes for one hell of a study in cognitive dissonance. “Surely the Vice President would never lie to us about a matter of such importance!” “Surely the administration must have the nation’s best interests at heart!” “Surely having an enjoyable beer with someone is a more important gauge than competency for one of the hardest jobs in the world!” Despite warnings before each and every disaster, the Bush administration has proceeded undeterred, often taking extremely radical steps in secret, and at times lying to their own allies. These are people of neither good faith nor good judgment, and it would be hard to overstate their arrogance. Yet in the world of the Village, George W. Bush has made bad decisions because he simply wasn’t counseled, or wasn’t counseled politely enough – or he hasn’t made bad decisions at all. The commercial angle of Beltway “wisdom” shouldn’t be overlooked either – these people all gotta make copy, or fill air time. And a system that rewards bad reporting and disastrous punditry tends to keep reproducing exactly that. Consider what Jonathan Schwarz oftensays: “Reporters don’t have a choice. Repeating stupid right-wing claims is their job.”
Years ago in an anthropology class, I read a fascinating essay about kinship ties in Washington, D.C. written by Professor Jack Weatherford of Macalester College. It was a class favorite. Here’s an excerpt from what looks like a slightly earlier version, “Tribal Politics in Washington,” 1993:
In 1990 when the editors of Spy magazine decided to make a diagram of the American political universe, they did not place the President of the United States at the center, nor the leaders of Congress, nor the richest person in the country, nor the strongest lobbyists. They selected radio and television reporter Cokie Roberts who serves as a political reporter for ABC News as well as for National Public Radio. As a reporter, Cokie Roberts certainly is not the best known personality in the country, but her selection by Spy reveal an inside look of how Washington works. To understand why they named her as the focal point, we need to examine where she fits into the system.
Cokie Roberts is the daughter of Congresswoman Lindy Boggs of Louisiana’s second district from 1972 until 1990. Cokie Roberts’ father Hale Boggs represented the same New Orleans district until his death in an Alaska plane crash in 1972, and he had served as the House Majority leader. Cokie Roberts’ brother is Tom Boggs, a major Washington lobbyist who once ran but lost an election for representative from Maryland. Cokie Roberts’ sister is Barbara Boggs Sigmund who ran for the Senate from New Jersey and later became mayor of Princeton, New Jersey.
On her mother’s side Cokie Roberts is related to Rhode Island’s Senator Claiborne Pell; Cokie’s full name is Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Clairborne Boggs Roberts. Senator Pell is the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the senator for whom the Pell Grants were named. His father, Representative Herbert Pell, served in the House, representing New York. Other political members of Cokie’s family through the Clairborne and Pell connections include former Senators William Clairborne and George Dallas. The ties even stretch back well before the founding of the country to John Pell, who served as a minister in the British Court of Oliver Cromwell in the seventeenth century and whom history credits with introducing the mathematical notation for the division sign to the English-speaking world.
Growing up as a member of the congressional kids club on Capitol Hill, Cokie Roberts knew the other kids in the club such as young Al Gore, Jr., the son of Senator Al Gore, Senior of Tennessee and young Chris Dodd Jr., son of Christopher Dodd, senior of Connecticut. While Cokie Roberts pursued career in broadcasting, these other kids grew up to follow their fathers into political careers.
Cokie Roberts is married to Steven V. Roberts, senior editor of U.S. News & World Report. While Cokie Roberts serves as a commentator on ABC’s This Week With David Brinkley, her husband appears on NPR’s Washington Week in Review. In her capacity as a reporter for public television, Cokie Roberts worked under Sharon Percy Rockefeller, who chaired the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Sharon Rockefeller, the daughter of former Senator Charles Percy of Illinois, was married to Senator and former West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller.
With all of her connections through kinship, marriage and other intimate networks, Cokie Roberts is truly the center of the political universe of Washington, D.C.
Daughter Rebecca Roberts is now a reporter as well. Now granted, the essay is from 1993, but it still gives a useful glimpse into Beltway culture. The Democrats have the Kennedys, of course. Certainly George W. Bush benefited from his kinship ties, and is probably the ultimate example of promoting pedigree over merit. Among the conservative punditry, there’s quite the wingnut welfaresystem, and sometimes it even creeps into more legitimate publications. I guess Gore’s ties didn’t help him much back in 1999-2000, but perhaps that was because the press was “going to make him jump through the hoops” until he condemned Bill Clinton over Lewinsky, and they didn’t see “anything wrong with that.” Remember, protocol must be observed, lest you be ridiculed. Trashing the Constitution is fine, especially if you hide most of the violence behind closed doors; just don’t try to come in and trash the Village if it’s not your place.
I imagine some enterprising anthropologist or student would have a wealth of material for further studying Village mores. But in any case, even if Cokie is no longer the reigning queen, surely she’s still a duchess or something. So I say: Move over, Matt Drudge! It’s not your world after all! It’s Cokie’s world, it’s her America, and the rest of us just live in it!
Another day, another McCain advisor thrown under the bus for accidentally telling the truth about his candidate’s indifference to the struggles of ordinary Americans. John Goodman “said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance.”
“So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime,” Mr. Goodman said. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American — even illegal aliens — as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
The immediate goal is to make sure there are more people on private insurance plans. I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.
Ronald Reagan pioneered this art when he justified his lack of decent funding for school lunches by redefining ketchup as a vegetable.
George Bush and his sidekick, John McCain, have really taken it to a new level. They redefined “hunger” as “very low food security” in order to salvage their domestic record. They redefined squirting guacamole at Taco Bell as a “manufacturing job” to salvage their jobs record. They are trying to redefine contraception as abortion.
They redefined what a stream is in order to open them up to the coal industry. They’ve tried to redefine carbon dioxide in order to allow more pollution. They redefined “privacy.” They redefined “overtime.” They tried to redefine toxic sludge to justify defunding Superfund. They redefined the Vice President as a fourth branch of government. They redefined “organic.” They redefined “torture” and the Geneva Conventions.
And I haven’t even started on all the people who were kicked to the curb for predicting the costs of the Iraq War would be tremendous. Or the way they hid the real costs of the GOP’s health care bill.
That’s how they solve problems. Two plus two equals four? No problem! “Two plus [redacted] equals five!”
McCain’s plan is to deliver the exact same prescriptions for the “whiners” in a “mental recession:” Out of sight, out of mind.
Michael quotes my post from last night and adds this:
Clinton’s eagerness and electricity radiates right through the battery of secret service. Shots 3, 4 and 5, however, really reveals the full spectrum of Clinton’s political personality. In the third shot, we see his characteristic finger. But it’s instructive rather than admonishing. In the next frame, we see a side of Clinton that has been painfully absent (and almost forgotten) since Lewinsky — that gregariousness and playfulness.
In the last shot, though, Bill’s expression is one that can’t really be acted. And, it’s is the image the Democrats and Obama really needed from Clinton last night: simply the look of joy.
FWIW, John Judis has a comprehensive take of the state of the campaign that I think is worth reading. It doesn’t take the good TV moments at this convention into account (or his speech tonight) but his overview of the campaign thus far and his observation that the ground game must be targeted to be effective is worth considering.
Finally, if anyone is seriously telling Obama to change his speaking style, I certainly hope nobody in the campaign listens. As Judis says, at this point, if there is a problem it’s message not style. Obama is a gifted orator and he should not try to change that. It would be like telling Bush to stop being a dumbass in 2004— it’s the thing that people love the most about him. Let Obama be Obama — it got him this far and it will take him all the way.
Meanwhile, if McNasty picks him for VP, I’m looking forward to seeing Lieberman give his big conversion to the pro-life cause speech. I would expect hair shirts and self flagellation. And I don’t honestly see why it wouldn’t work on the Christian Right. Holy Joe didn’t get his nickname because of his undarned socks. He’s a longtime social conservative. (And hey, if CW favorite Flip Flop Romney can get away with it, why not Joe?)
I think this could be the slam dunk post-partisan issue we’ve been looking for:
more information on the grassroots political campaign that’s already threatening to eclipse both Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. What we got back was a manifesto that could easily be folded into the Democratic Party platform, and probably should, because honestly the convention is already so HARSH, what with all the talk of war and economic depression and sexism and so forth. Also, this Crystal Pepsi thing, along with (OK OK) the other street protests, is probably the closest the convention comes to actual political dialog. Escape the pageantry for the moment and think about important issues, after the jump.
The time for change is now, and the choice is clear, crystal clear. CRYSTAL PEPSI! It’s like drinking hope. For us, Crystal Pepsi is freedom in a can. Our platform is based on peace, love, and Crystal Pespi. Down with war, up with Crystal Pepsi. For us it’s not about politics, it’s only about Crystal Pepsi. This is a movement that we can all get behind, it unifies us to our very core, Crystal Pepsi. The foundation of America is Crystal Pespi.
In all honesty, for me, it’s kind of nice to lighten the mood a little bit. Everybody is down there, protesting, screaming about a cause, yelling at one another about how the other person is wrong. It can be kind of a tense situation. It’s nice to walk away putting a smile on someone’s face, getting a high five, and hearing someone say we represent a movement we can all get on board with. People initially hear the “protest” coming, you can see the look on their face, “Great, what are these people marching and carrying on about?” When they discover our cause is Crystal Pepsi, there is an overwhelming feeling of relief, followed by immediate support.
I was running down the street carrying about 50 pounds of laptop and extraneous accessories in 90 degree heat when these guys came toward me chanting “Crystal Pepsi stands for Hope!” I have to say, it made me stop and laugh out loud, even in my misery.
I think the street protests and demonstrations are great (although the anti-abortion people are some scary zombies.) But there is a bit of “earnest” overload sometimes at a thing like this and these guys, with their message of “freedom in a can” was pretty perfect. It’s not mean, but it’s … right.
The best and really the only way to liveblog the events at Invesco tonight is through my cell phone, so you can follow along at www.twitter.com/ddayen.
