Getting them to spend $$ defending red turf is EXCELLENT...

On an unrelated note, what does "Dem operative" mean? Can I be one?

Yes, please spend all your money in MN, IA, NM, NH, and other states you will lose.

MN is certainly a lost cause, so says this MN resident.

OK, having a TiVo sometimes has its down-side.

Let me ask:  Did the Dems run any ads during their own convention?  I didn't see any, but I didn't watch any ads at all.  Hope somebody can fill me in.

Just wondering about the Rs running ads during their own convention.  It seems to me that the convention would be ad enough.

I am donating to Obama today after last night's speech. Anyone want to join me?

OK. Time to send another $50 to Obama.

I suggest sending a new $5 donation on any day ending in the letter 'Y'. We can keep this up a while, Johnny. Hope you don't have to start dipping into private funds from Cindy's stash.

On the donation - I sent him two-fiddy the other night in response to his email with the links to complain about the Swiftboaters ads to the sponsors. I complained, too, of course.

Or I would join you. :)

I think it is safe to say that the election is now over. The only thing left to be decided is by how big a margin will Obama win.

By picking Palin as his running mate is there anyone left who doesn't think McCain is an idiot? I mean, the message McCain is making with his VP pick is that a woman's looks are more important than experience and ability. Is this really going to go over well with the angry 50+ women who make up the PUMAs?

Plus there are a hell of a lot of misogynistic men in the Republican Party. Do you really think they are pleased with the pick?

Anyone who still thinks the sky is falling really needs to get themselves some therapy. The Republican Party is imploded in front of our eyes and it is quite entertaining to watch.

With the Palin pick McCain gave up fighting for the middle, and instead moved to invigorate the Evangelicals (who are head over heels with this pick) and hopefully pull enough identity voters from the Left.

McCain has five days left to spend his primary money, though there is talk he could move back his convention if Gustav hits on Monday.

I liked it better when they were in complete denial.

They are still in plenty of denial to enjoy - I mean, come on.

And since they started panicking in earnest, it's gotten way entertaining. I'm loving the runner up to Ms Alaska being the Repug Veep choice.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope McCain continues to dump ad buys in Duluth, Minnesota. The chances of turning Duluth & St Louis County blue would be equivalent to a fart surviving a hurricane.

I hate broken blogs!

I can't believe this. Matthews is now saying that Palin is the first woman ever to be nominated for Veep...

He has invited on his show the PUMAs who are pretending that Mcwar has won the election and that millions of women will vote for McWar

I can't believe this. Matthews is now saying that Palin is the first woman ever to be nominated for Veep...

He has invited on his show the PUMAs who are pretending that Mcwar has won the election and that millions of women will vote for McWar

I can't believe this. Matthews is now saying that Palin is the first woman ever to be nominated for Veep...

He has invited on his show the PUMAs who are pretending that Mcwar has won the election and that millions of women will vote for McWar

Things are looking much better now. I don't think the Obama camp should comment on McCain's VP decision until the shock has fully set in. Just let it play. McCain though, total wacco.

A friend of mine told me that NPR just reported that the chief editor at Wikipedia just came out with the news that the Sara Palin wikipedia article was radically rewritten to make her seem more positive last night. Can anyone confirm this?

When the Republicans try to compare Palin's experience to Obama's, we should just reply that Obama has twenty million people who decided that he had the qualities needed to be president, by voting for him in the primaries. Sarah Palin has John Mccain.

He's making a play for Ohio, Pa. white female voters. Are they enough to swing those states? Seems to me he splits the difference with independents and males he might have gotten. No net gain, then?

Oy - this blog is beyond broken-

later

Attack her politics - she's a far right fundamentalist. That's all you need to cement to win this election. Palin is an unknown, so it's a battle to frame her right now - look at how her wiki was scrubbed last night.

Her lack of experience is a real question, but right now she's "The Female VP candidate" and such attacks might get some backs up. For the time being focus on her politics to scare off moderates/centrists and let Hillary backers know that Palin has nothing in common with Sen. Clinton except their gender.

Obama's defense to the inexperience tag has always been judgment trumps experience, you have to attack her judgment, not the years in public office.

Some observations on the McCain buy.

The NM buy is to the Republican base vote in rural NM. I think their polls must show that they are loosing the hard core Republican vote and have to shore it up to have any chance. The tossup area is Albuqerque where they are buying no time. Obama (and Bill Richardson) really have changed that playing field. The area where they are buying to the area traditionally used to offset Santa Fe witt the real battle in Albuqerque. This is a panic buy.

The VA buy also shows panic. Harrisonberg, Charlottsville, and Roanoke (lower Shenandoah Valley) are in the areas where Republicans have to run up big margins to help offset N. VA. Obama has been been running ads there for weeks and has offices all over the place to cut that margin. If Obama gets 40% in the Valley he probably carries VA; if he gets 45%, then landsliade is on the way. The other VA buys are more predictable for a contested VA statewide race. The Norfolk buy (which will also reach into NC) is also somewhat defensive and is an indicator that the "military" vote is not solid for him--I have thought that was the case for some time. [Consider that somewhere between 30% to 40% of the military enlisted folks are either African-American or Hispanic; also consider how he dumped his first wife--a military wife who kept a family together during his years as a POW and despite her own serious injuries in an auto accident--I have suspected for sometime that military (active and retired) wives would have real problems with McCain.]

The NC buy is also interesting. Obama is on track to run up massive majorities in the Triangle [Raleigh buy] (primarily Durham, Orange and Wake counties but some adjacent counties as well) as well as the Greensboro area. This buy seems to me focused on trying to reduce those majorities. The Raleigh buy also gets into the rural parts of E. NC where Obama has been working to reduce McCain margins and where he will carry some areas.

The MN buy also appears to be defensive and somewhat a panic buy. With the RNC starting Monday, free media should be all you need. Why spend the money? It also gets most of the MN population.

The NV (Salt Lake) buy is a panic buy. That buy targets rural NV where Republicans have to run up massive margins (along with Washoe County--i.e., Reno) to offset Clark County (Las Vegas). This is a definite sign of panic and big trouble with the core Republican vote.

The Iowa buy also appears targeted at the base Republican vote rather than the swing voters. Again, a sign of panic and big problems with the core Republican Iowa voters who are necessary to offset the Democratic Iowa voters. The Republican organization in Iowa verges on the nonexistant (and McCain ahs never had a personal organization there and Senator Grassley holds him in minimal high reagard) while the Democratic organization may be the best in the US.

The NH buy is a state buy and not necessarily a sign of panic. It is worth noting that there is no Boston buy (which is very expensive) which is how you get to the E. NH voters who are also the newer voters (and helped turn NH blue).

My observations for whatever they may be worth.

Palin's 13 years of experience should be mocked. PTA, city council and mayor of a town of >7000 account for over 11 of those 13 years. They she is Governor for 18 months, and has two brewing scandals already - troopergate and the Dairy boondoggle. She also killed the "Bridge to Nowhere" but kept the money to spend on other areas.

David Gergen on CNN, amid the harping of Bay Buchanan with her new pretending to be hip glasses, had to use his very quiet adult voice to seriously question the wisdom of Sarah Palin as veep.

May McLaughlin, Will, Brooks, and others follow suit. Other than a purty couch cozy, what does she bring? Votes? Foreign policy xp? Enlightened women's rights policies? All the people she will win are already voting for her.

Gustav is about to wring out this absurdity of incompetence, not so much hers as McShame's, as this is just a terrible choice.

Pax,
M.

Hey that's our hockey rink you're dissing!

The Pepsi Center was a hockey arena as well, and the X was a wonderful place to watch Obama claim victory this past June.

I'm just waiting to see the RNC's party suffer by comparison.

I do think she and McCain have a future as characters in a new season of Northern Exposure.

Andrew Sullivan has it exactly right, and this is where the Democrats should focus: per Sullivan......

Palin isn't the issue here. McCain's judgment is. It's completely off the wall.

ALSO, ROVE ON KAINE when still up in the air:

"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done ... [Kaine] was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa, or Gilbert, Arizona; North Las Vegas, or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town."

Regarding McCain's primary monies - I am under the assumption that any monies on hand he simply has to donate to the RNC. If that is the case, he doesn't need to spend it all, because the RNC can just run ads for him. Can anybody clarify this issue?

NEW McCain/Palin buttons

http://www.betastart.com/SW/McPalin.jpg

Before Nov. 4 there will be a new V.P. nominee for the GOP. I am shocked by the MSM backlash to this. All day they've been interviewing Republicans on why she's qualified to be President if something were to happen to McCain if he was elected. Not one has been able to give a legit argument. Wolf Blitz, of all people, backed Lindsay Graham into a corner when he asked him what foreign policy experience she has or what foreign leaders has she met with. He literally couldn't answer the question.

Sullivan's "Misreading Women" post is interesting.

I was watching MSNBC's analysis of her speech this afternoon with my fiance and after they brought up her 5 kids and the one with Down Syndrome, my fiance got up and said, "Turn this off. This is pissing me off. She should be home with her kids."

It's an interesting angle.

Is the server OK now?

Gwen Ifill (PBS Newshour and Washington Week)is the moderator for the VP debate. Between Biden and Ifill, they will put her in her place - back in the igloo. (Jim Lehrer is the moderator for the first debate - between Obama and mcsenile)

Have Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman (McCain econ advisors, fundraisers) stopped crying yet, or are they about through with the second box of tissues. Are they going to switch to Romney at the convention? What about some of the female, Republican senators: Collins, Dole, Murkowski, Snow --- Should be interesting to see how they react. We'll have to Sunday talk show schedule Saturday, if it's not already available.

Thank you all of you for monitoring CNN, etc. They'd have to pay me to watch that. I watched the entire convention this week on CSPAN and all of you missed some incredible speeches by retired military, veterans, average Americans, Republicans - There is no doubt in my mind Obama/Biden have this wrapped up, even without the Clintons.

I read a few weeks ago that Putin is interested in renewing ties with Cuba - Too bad he probably won't be paying Raoul and Fidel a visit next week - The hurricanes make it too risky for him I would think. Palin probably thinks Cuba is just about exporting cigars and music. And what does Palin think should be done about Fannie Mae - or does she think this is a box of candy.

Which could bring up another question - how does a governor that is supposedly VP material find time to edit WIKI pages. And wouldn't there be more important things to do to get ready?

Damn. I love Andrew Sullivan. I do.

Think about what the Palin pick really says about how McCain views this campaign and how he views his potential responsibilities in national security.

Think about what it says about the sincerity of McCain's own central criticism of Obama these past two months in foreign affairs.

Think about how he picked a woman to be a heartbeat away from a war presidency who hadn't even thought much, by her own admission, about the Iraq war as late as 2007.

Think about how he made this decision barely knowing the woman.

Think about the fact that the most McCain could say about his potential war-time vice-president in foreign affairs and national security when selecting her is that she commanded Alaska's National Guard as governor and has a son in the military.

Think about the men and women serving this country who have every right to trust that their potential commander-in-chief, whatever their party, would have some record of even interest in foreign policy before assuming office.

Think about how the key factor in this decision was not who could defend this country were something dreadful happen to McCain in office but how to tread as much on Obama's convention bounce and use women's equality as a wedge issue among Democrats because it might secure a few points here or there. Oh, and everyone would be surprised. And even Rove would be annoyed.

Please. This is his sense of honor and judgment. This is his sense of responsibility and service.

Here's the real slogan the McCain campaign should now adopt:

Putting. Country. Last.

Excellent hyperRevue - Putting. Country. Last

I just read at CNN/Political Ticker than mcsenile only met Palin once, per Dana Bash. Here's part of what was reported:

"John McCain first met Sarah Palin only six months ago and had just one conversation with the Alaska governor before offering her the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, the Arizona senator's campaign said Friday.

The move appears to be a marked departure for McCain — a man known for his tendency to surround himself with a close circle of advisers and politicians he has long felt comfortable with."

I guess it was "love at first site".