60,000 to 2,000? Say It Ain't So, Joe!

I have been immersed in financial news for days and just now saw that Governor Palin drew a crowd of 60,000 to a speech near Orlando, FL yesterday.

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THE VILLAGES, Fla. — Governor Sarah Palin, on her first trip as John McCain’s running mate to the battleground state of Florida, drew a massive crowd of 60,000 people.
She was welcomed like a star, with tens of thousands cramming into a plaza and nearby streets in this enormous retirement community about an hour north of Orlando. Some waited more than five hours in 92-degree heat to see her speak for 23 minutes.
Palin arrived in Florida on Friday and had no public events Saturday, though she told the crowd her daughters Piper and Willow got to go to Disney World.

After some jokes about the difference between golfing in Florida and Alaska, her remarks hit most of the same points she’s made since McCain chose her as the first woman to run as a Republican vice presidential nominee. She did, however, update the stump speech to reflect last week’s turmoil in the financial markets.
“We need serious reform on Wall Street. We need better regulation. It’s like Senator McCain said just yesterday — we don’t need a dozen federal agencies doing the job badly, we need the best agencies doing the job right,” she said.
She said McCain had warned about the problems affecting financial institutions, and attacked Democrat Barack Obama on the issue.
“This week when the economic crisis threatened the livelihood of millions of Americans, John McCain took a clear stand and he offered his own recovery plan. Our opponent refused to even take a stand on the position,” Palin said.

The visit drew a few contrasts between Palin and Obama running mate Joe Biden.
The largest was the crowd — an estimated 60,000 according to the fire chief. Some people had to wait in line about 90 minutes just to park their cars. Biden’s largest crowd during a visit earlier this month was about 2,000.
Palin had star power. One teenage girl held up a sign that read, “When I grow up, I want to be Sarah Palin.” Another sign read, “This chick supports Sarah Palin.” Many said they didn’t even know who Palin was until last month.
“I knew absolutely nothing,” said Tyler Deeds, 19, who made the drive from Auburndale 90 miles away and waited more than 5 hours to see Palin. “I couldn’t even tell you who the governor of Alaska was.”
But Deeds, who plans to enter the Navy soon, said he “tends to cling to my guns and religion” and he quickly grew excited about Palin’s candidacy.
Joan Guay, 81, dabbed bottled water on her arms as she waited for Palin in the broiling heat. She said she previously supported Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“This country needs a woman up there,” Guay said. “I like her background, I like her family. It’s a family that does things together. And I like her work in the community.”

According to a Palin campaign aide, this Wednesday in separate meetings Palin will meet with Iraqi President Talabani, President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvelli; President of the Ukraine, Victor Yuschenko; Pakistani President Zardari, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
She will also meet with rock star and humanitarian, Bono on Wednesday.
As previously reported, on Tuesday she will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and Dr. Kissinger in separate meetings.
The meetings will be in New York and coincide with the United Nations’ General Assembly which attracts leaders from all over the world.

-taken from an AP report via FOXNews, edited to eliminate bias

Bring It

The last 24 hours have shown us that Gov. Sarah Palin's children will not be afforded the same respect that was given to Chelsea Clinton for 8 years or even the Bush twins for most of their father's presidency. The reason for this is clear. Like Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, Gov. Palin is attempting to take one of the highest positions in the federal government and in doing so she has strayed from the liberal plantation. A white man with her exact positions would be opposed strongly by the forces on the left. But, as a woman, she also adds the idea that female political figures DO NOT have to be Hillary/ Pelosi/ Boxer thinkalikes. That has to be opposed viciously by the hard core left. One could even say that a conservative-libertarian woman's national political career must be smothered to death in the crib. So, savaging 17 year old Bristol Palin? No problem. The same people have even suggested that Sarah was wrong for not killing Trig Paxson Van Palin in the womb. If they can heap venom, anger, and unbridled hatred on little baby Trig what does Bristol mean to them? Not much.

We don't find ourselves cheering Bill Kristol very often but yesterday when he got revved up as Mort Kondracke spewed the abortion activist's line on Brit Hume's "Special Report" applause broke out hereabouts. Later we found out that a CNN reporter had filed a "news" report that essentially had been written for her by an abortion activist group out of Anchorage. Our old pal Dr. Bennett spoke out from his perch as a token non-leftist on a channel we block on our satellite receiver. Was the good doctor pissed off? Oh yeah, he was.

Now we don't travel with the Focus on the Family folks nor are we members of the Southern Baptist Conference but it sure seemed to us here that their responses to the abortion activist's attacks on Sarah Palin through her 17 year old daughter Bristol were well -reasoned:

“This is the pro-life choice. The fact that people will criticize her for this shows the astounding extent to which the secular critics of the pro-life movement just don’t get it. Those who criticize the Palin family don’t understand that we don’t see babies as a punishment but as a blessing. Barack Obama said that if one of his daughters made a mistake and got pregnant out of wedlock he wouldn’t want her to be punished with a child. Pro lifers don’t see a child as punishment.”

-Dr. Richard Land, SBC

"Unfortunately, teenage pregnancy has become all too common in today's society regardless of a family's economic or social status. It is a problem that we remain committed to reducing through encouraging young people to practice abstinence.
Fortunately, Bristol is following her mother and father's example of choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation. We are committed to praying for Bristol and her husband to be and the entire Palin family as they walk through a very private matter in the eyes of the public."

-Tony Perkins, Focus on the Family

Meanwhile there is a meme out there, promoted by the Democrat handmaiden press, that Arthur B. Culvahouse did a slapdash job vetting Sarah Palin. He begs to differ. My money is on Mr. Culvahouse. His appointment to that job was not a glamour pick like Obama putting a Kennedy in the job. He heads up one of the most wired-in Washington DC law operations. Corner-cutting does not enter into their work. Fouling up a job like this would be very bad for business in the company town. Mr. Culvahouse says that in his interview with the Governor the first thing she told him about was Bristol's pregnancy. Naive is not a word to use in describing Sarah Barracuda. She stalks caribou in Alaska but she also knows that rabid jackals live in the Northeast corridor of the nation. Those drooling jackals have attacked not one but two of her babies. In fact, they've even attacked her unborn grandbaby. A stalker of big game knows just how unwise that is.

We'll leave it with this item from an article by Fred Barnes written 14 months ago:

"In the roughly three years since she quit as the state's chief regulator of the oil industry, Palin has crushed the Republican hierarchy (virtually all male) and nearly every other foe or critic. Political analysts in Alaska refer to the "body count" of Palin's rivals. "The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah," says pollster Dave Dittman, who worked for her gubernatorial campaign. It includes Ruedrich, Renkes, Murkowski, gubernatorial contenders John Binkley and Andrew Halcro, the three big oil companies in Alaska, and a section of the (Anchorage) Daily News called "Voice of the Times," which was highly critical of Palin and is now defunct."

-The Weekly Standard

As for Trig? No matter what happens in an election he'll grow up knowing that Todd and Sarah love him deeply. And, that they put that Van before his last name because they like Van Halen and thought it would be pretty cool if his name was Van Palin. It could have been worse, Trig. Mom could've liked AC/DC better than VH.

Good Luck

Once it was clear the nominees this year would be Obama and McCain I was disheartened. I always vote. I haven't voted for a Democrat for anything meaningful in more than 30 years, but that doesn't mean I always vote for Republicans either. McCain was just the sort of Republican I have rejected in the past. Suddenly the election shaped up to be 1976 all over again with Obama as Carter and McCain as Ford. National politics in the 70's were almost universally awful and the culmination of that horrible decade, for me, wasn't Watergate but the election of 1976.

With the choice of Gov. Palin for VP I got on the train for McCain. Well, not really. I got on the Sarah Palin bus and the only way I can vote for her is to vote for McCain. Last night I didn't watch John's speech. I was busy having root canal surgery without anesthesia instead. But from the clips I've seen this morning I can tell that the 1976 comparison still largely holds true, despite the Pontiac Game Changing Moment of adding Gov. Palin to the mix. In '76 there was a fellow who energized the crowd at the Republican convention. He wasn't the candidate. Ford would go on to lose narrowly to Carter. Carter would turn in the worst performance of a US President in the 20th century and in 1980 Ronald Reagan would sweep to victory.

I do not mean to say that Palin is Reagan as others have started doing since her Wednesday night speech. It is not fair to Sarah Palin to be compared to the greatest US president of the last century. But, it could be the start of a very important national political career and that is where the 1976 analogy breaks down. In '76 Reagan could afford to lose to Ford and then come back and defeat an unpopular incumbent. Sarah Palin can't do that from a position on the ticket. For her to usher in a new era of Republicanism (with a small "l" libertarian streak a mile wide a la Reagan, by the way) in Washington she has to win the Vice Presidency. There are already plenty of Republicans waiting for 2012-- Romney and Huckabee to name two. No, she has to win this election. And then, hopefully, with other great young figures like Governor Jindal she can help put the Republican Party firmly on what President Reagan called the four pillars of freedom: Individual Liberty, Economic Opportunity, Global Democracy and National Pride.

So, I'll vote for McCain/Palin. But don't make me listen to him talk about reaching across the aisle in the spirit of bipartisanship to "get things done", OK? Bipartisanship means, "get out your wallet, taxpayer." Bipartisanship means, "here's another dumb idea for more government that got enough votes to pass."

And here's a little thing about Reagan's 4 Pillars of Freedom, Senator McCain.

Obama/Biden/Pelosi and Reid don't like much of that stuff.

In The Dark But Gettin' Ever Dimmer

The gang over at Big Hollywood directed me to Variety magazine today. I used to subscribe to and actually read Variety as part of my work duties in olden times. (Yikes!) So I figured it might be funny to see what they had to snark about Governor Palin's bye-bye speech.

Having worked in Hollywood I find it amusing to see how little the troops there know about most of the USA. This Variety column did not disappoint. But far better are the comments after--- the first one was so dead solid perfect I wish I'd written it.

Here are excerpts from the clueless column:

July 26 Sarah Palin's Attack on Twig-like Hollywood Starlets
Sarah Palin's farewell address as Alaska governor contained the standard conservative targets of big government, the media and Hollywood, but it's the latter where Palin forged new ground.
She didn't just attack the industry elite, but the wafer-thin starlet elite who embrace vegetarianism and have age-defying figures.
Her comments came about halfway through her speech, when she warned the state's residents of Hollywood's penchant for targeting Second Amendment gun rights.
"You are going to see anti-hunting, anti-second amendment circuses from Hollywood," she said. "And here's how they do it. They use these delicate, tiny, very talented celebrity starlets. They use Alaska as a fund-raising tool for their anti-Second Amendment causes." The crowd clapped.
Then came the line that got one of her biggest cheers. "By the way, Hollywood needs to know. We eat, therefore we hunt."

......

... perhaps Palin's motives were some kind of ingenious populism: the very same checkout counter magazines that have hounded her family also routinely obsess about celebrity weight loss and gain. In other words, stir up the resentment among anyone who's ever tried and failed to obtain unobtainable physiques.
She did spend a greater portion of her speech talking about energy, one of her signature issues, as well as criticisms of the federal stimulus package. But like her pre-Independence Day bombshell announcement that she was resigning, there were parts of this speech that were just incoherent, a stream-of-consciousness recitation of her accomplishments and resentments as if she were posting it on Twitter.
Take this part, in which she addresses the state's tradition of independence and living off the land:
"We would roll up our sleeves and we would diligently sow and reap. And we can still do this, to carve wealth out of the wilderness, and make our living out of the water, with strong hands and innovative minds, now with smarter technology. It is what our first people and our parents did. It worked, because they worked."

Palin thrives on being unpolished, but even that is of little help it you can't understand what you are saying. Her persona came through at the Republican National Convention, in what was regarded as her best speech on the national stage, but that was a fully scripted endeavor.
More problematic is the fact that she is leaving office period. Again, she cast her reasons for departing the governorship early as a desire not to play it "politics as usual" and bide her time as a lame duck. It's an argument that can just as easily be twisted the other way, that your very status as a lame duck makes you more valuable, because you are more likely to make decisions without reelection considerations. In a Republican primary, that will be held against her, from Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota in particular. He's a likely presidential candidate in 2012 and also a lame duck governor. But he remains in office.

"We eat, therefore we hunt" was an amusing line --- something you can envision on a bumper sticker. But if it is a higher office she is seeking, campaigns aren't won or lost based on the support or opposition to Hollywood, as much attention as the industry gets when it makes a foray into the political arena.

Before I could even point out how coherent and sane the "incoherent" passage was, others beat me to it. Take a look:

Comments

I'm afraid that this writer's own intelligence is to be questioned here. That sentence that seemed so elusive to him or here made perfect sense to me. But then again, like Governor Palin, my IQ is higher than the average turnip in California.
Actually it was a rather good restating of Fredrick Jackson Turner's Westward Expansionist theory of history.

But since the writer's intellect and education seems to be rather limited, like much of Hollywood, let me explain it in simple terms for you. I promise to try and keep the words small:
"We would roll up our sleeves and we would diligently sow and reap."
In past, people worked hard on family farms, and in other industries. They made plans, worked toward them and profited from that hard work.

"And we can still do this, to carve wealth out of the wilderness, and make our living out of the water, with strong hands and innovative minds, now with smarter technology."
People (that is people in fly-over country who feed the rest of you wastes of oxygen) can and still do this. They find new areas of need, and find a way to fill those needs. They work at sea, and on the land. They work hard, and they work smart, and they use the new technology (I'm hoping this word isn't too big for you) to make the work more profitable.

"It is what our first people and our parents did. It worked, because they worked."
This is what the first pioneers did, and what our past generations did. They were successful because of their hard work and their dedication.

What she is saying is that same spirit is still alive today in the farms and fields, factories, and small business across America. Those people are still working and they are the people that matter, because they are the people who pay the bills for the country- not the brain dead little starlets who spout off at the mouth about subjects they are unqualified to give an opinion on.
I suggest next time you avoid political thought. It is obviously too difficult for you. Next time just drink your kool ade and think of 0bama. You seem incapable of grasping much else.
Posted by: Asatruteacher July 26, 2009 at 09:56 PM

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And this is why many Americans are pissed off. You guys don't get it! When your homes, jobs and family security are in danger WE DON'T NEED FANCY POLISHED SPEECHES-JUST THE FACTS. This whole article was about style not substance. And what was so hard to understand?! WORK! That was the point of her speech. Our country wasn't built on savvy politicians and shiny suits. It was built on the backs of hard workers. This is why I'm ashamed to be a New Yorker. You guys from the two left coasts are elitist snobs and you're the ones out of touch! Keep tring to figure Palin out, all the while your golden President with the perfect teleprompter speeches will keep on tumbling down the polls because of his FAILED POLICIES THAT YOU VOYED FOR. When your energy bills, grocery receipts, taxes, insurance skyrocket, you only have yourself to blame because Palin warned you. OBAMA IS A FAILURE-THAT'S A FACT.
Posted by: LisaBK July 26, 2009 at 10:27 PM

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Asatruteacher - thank you. The paragraph in question was perfectly clear to me as well, but the notion of "working" may be an alien concept to those whose primary occupation is playing make-believe on TV.
Posted by: J R July 26, 2009 at 10:53 PM

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what she is saying is pretty darn clear to me. but when the only "rolling up your sleeves" your used to is when you are purchasing your lattes from starbucks, I can see how you missed the point.
Posted by: sharise parviz July 27, 2009 at 04:18 AM

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If this isn't EXACTLY the same type of snobbish, snarky, pseudo-intelligent hackery that Sarah and most conservatives have been fighting against for years then I don't know what is. It still floors me just how much the majority of people in entertainment and the press just don't get it.
Amazing.
Posted by: Tim Hathaway of NC July 27, 2009 at 06:12 AM

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Theodore Levitt once wrote a business masterpiece, "Marketing Myopia." It describes how the railroad industry thought it was in the railroad business instead of the broader transportation business.
I suspect that B-school students may now be writing something similar to that about the entertainment/news industry's myopia about most of the rest of America.
Based on polling that shows the entertainment/news industry's credibility declining I would have to say that it is headed for a brick wall obscured by its own brand of marketing myopia.
You people just don't get it. So many twigs in your industry, and I don't just refer to the so-called "talent," seem to think that success in pretending (which is really what acting is all about) and the adulation heaped by limited minds automatically translates into a carte blanche to waltz into the limelight and opine on complex issues.
Enough already. Go back to pretending and leave complex issues to those who have actually spent adequate time to understand and manage them.
Posted by: Maggio July 27, 2009 at 06:24 AM
....

The article was worthless but the comments are pure gold.

Posted by: Frazetta_girl July 27, 2009 at 07:36 AM

They don't get it. And they never will.

I am so happy I got out of there while I could still think straight.

Another Tired Old Lefty

The sad, angry, washed-up, TV comedian Dave Letterman offered an apology of sorts for joking about Willow Palin being raped in Yankee Stadium by A Rod during a ballgame. He said he wasn't talking about 14 year old Willow but her older sister, Bristol. I guess there are degrees of outrageous creepy behavior and it is, in his mind, less egregious making a rape joke about an 18 year old than a 14 year old. That's his story and he's sticking to it, ensconced in his Manhattan limousine liberal echo chamber.

What does Todd Palin think about this?

"Any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it, and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too."

John Ziegler asked Governor Sarah Palin about it and she dismissed the out-of-it TV yakker as "old" and "pathetic." In a prepared statement she later said:

"Acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others."

Letterman used the forum of his low-rated TV program last night to invite Governor Palin on as a guest. He even invited Todd to come along, although he said it would be better if he didn't accompany her. No doubt it would be a ratings bonanza for the sad jerk.

But the show I'd watch on Pay-Per-View is Todd and Dave 1 on 1 in the ring. No holds barred. We'd really see how funny that knee-slapper about raping a 14 year old is then.

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By the way, if you haven't seen Ziegler's documentary on the 2008 campaign, "Media Malpractice" it's still available.

UPDATE: Governor Palin issued a further statement today re: the "perverted comments of a 62 year old male celebrity" about their 14 year old daughter and his subsequent invitation to come on his little-watched TV program.

"The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."-- Palin PAC spokesperson Meghan Stapleton

Exactly Right

The great Mark Steyn checked in from his self-imposed exile to leave a post on The Corner about McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin. In true Steyn fashion he taps out in a quick blog post more dead-on correct thinking than everybody else with a keyboard and a hundred hours of cogitation.

A few excerpts:

... Governor Palin is not merely..."all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.

...Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol

... Governor Palin has ... a life beyond politics. Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual. Sarah Palin isn't just on the right side of the issues intellectually. She won't need the usual stage-managed "hunting" trip to reassure gun owners: she's lived the Second Amendment all her life. Likewise, on abortion, we're often told it's easy to be against it in principle but what if you were a woman facing a difficult birth or a handicapped child? Been there, done that.

... she complicates all the laziest Democrat pieties. Energy? Unlike Biden and Obama, she's been to ANWR and, like most Alaskans, supports drilling there.

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It always feels good to agree with Mark Steyn. Even better when you agree with him before you know what he thinks.

Slow Joe Show Hits Bank City

Hey now! Slow Joe Biden was in the neighborhood yesterday. He raised a few bucks, spoke to several hundred people at a rally in Charlotte, and seemed oblivious to the fact that polls have shown North Carolina firmly in the McCain-Palin camp. The Obama campaign, prior to the conventions and the unveiling of Secret Weapon Sarah, promoted to an adoring press the odd notion that both NC and GA were "in play" this cycle. If "in play" means that Obama-Biden is only 17-20 points behind then, well yeah, sure.

Perhaps this will be Slow Joe's role now in the sputtering, rudderless Obama campaign-- send him off to states where he can't screw up a close race. You know, put him out there to talk to "the bitter clingers"-- the morons so stooopid they don't realize that the New York Times and a guy named Charlie at ABC think Governor Palin isn't a good idea for America's next Vice President. Hey, maybe Ol' Slow Joe will bring 'em around! Just look how he dazzled 'em in Charlotte last night while all sane folks were celebrating the Panthers come from behind victory over the Bears at Bank of America (Merrill Lynch too! WooHoo!!) Stadium in Uptown:

-- Biden called Senator McCain's criticisms of Barack Obama's tax policy “a bunch of malarkey.”
In fact, Senator Joe argued that McCain “Just doesn't get it.” Good insight there: malarkey and a hackneyed phrase. Excellent ripostes, sir. I salute you.

-- He bragged about his physical endurance when he stated “I could walk from here to Greensboro!” That's a 92 mile walk. I guess he's trying to show that, although he was already warming a chair in the US Senate way back in January 1973, 35+ years ago, he's still a vigorous hard-chargin' dynamo. He also claimed that along the way he would not run into any McCain/Palin supporters on economic issues. Now, that's a bold claim, Joe. Hyperbole from Biden? Never!

-- Earlier in the day Joe attended a fundraiser at the fashionable south Charlotte home of Crandall Bowles, the former CEO of Springs Global. Springs Global is a textile giant. Let's just say that their corporate policy vis-a-vis manufacturing locales does not square with the broad anti-trade, union-friendly, populist message from Democrats these days. But one would have to be paying attention to appreciate the scene of committed Clintonistas like Erskine and Crandall Bowles now holding fundraisers for Obama. Party first, I reckon.

-- Joe told the friendly crowd that “John McCain and Sarah Palin, they apparently don't think we have any obligation … to retrain and re-educate people who've been displaced by a modern economy.” He apparently offered no examples to buttress this incorrect claim-- but nobody cared. It's delicious to watch Slow Joe go from a fundraiser held by the former CEO of a textile company that (wisely) moved thousands of US manufacturing jobs to South America, China, Mexico etc. and on to criticize the (imagined) McCain/Palin position on displaced jobs, education and training.

-- Democrats enjoy the obligatory "parade of victims" moment. Last night was no exception. After the presentation of someone whose child is not being covered by their health insurance company for a pre-existing condition Biden pledged that the American taxpayer would cover insuring everyone in an Obama/ Biden administration. At least I think that's what he was saying. Maybe Obama-Biden will still allow private health insurance, but it will be regulated even more than today and some bureaucrat I guess, a commissar of some sort, will tell those "private" companies how to run their business or else. Here's what Slow Joe said, “I absolutely commit to you, I guarantee you, that under the Barack Obama-Joe Biden health care plan, no insurance company will be able to deny you because of a pre-existing condition.… It will not happen.” We assume he meant "deny you coverage."

Now that can't be malarkey because Joe Biden eschews malarkey.

The McClatchy newspaper covered the whole exciting day... sort of.

UPDATE! : I just heard a soundbite from Michigan where Slow Joe said he could "walk from here to Lansing..." Who knew US Senators had such a hard time gettin' a lift?

What, Me Worry?

As long as the Bill Ayers problem wasn't being mentioned by the McCain campaign Team Obama didn't address it. It was just something the right wing nuts on talk radio and the blogs worried about. Then this weekend Governor Palin dropped William Ayers like a Weather Underground nail bomb into the bloodstream of the daily campaign. And the initial response from the Obama campaign was quite telling. They attacked the McCain campaign for changing the subject from "the economy." They held with that and got help from the handmaiden media with tut-tut articles that BXO and Bill weren't "close." Non-answer answers. Non-denial denials.

But Governor Palin hammers away at it at every campaign stop to thunderous roars from tens of thousands of voters. Even the friendly dinosaur media has had to at least ask Obama's handlers about it obliquely. So, what's the new spin on Bill Ayers from Axelrod, the man behind the Wizard of O's curtain? The New York Post got this: Barack Obama's top political adviser said today Obama "didn't know the history" of unrepentant bomber William Ayers' activities in the violent Weather Underground movement when the candidate attended a political event at Ayers' home in 1995. "When he went he certainly didn't know the history," chief Obama strategist David Axelrod told CNN - arguing for the first time since the story surfaced early this year that Obama was unaware of Ayers' past.
"There's no evidence that they're close," Axelrod added.

"No evidence" is weaselly-- like "no controlling legal authority." But, seriously, what kind of an Alfred E. Newman do you have to be to have liberal arts/ law degrees from two Ivy League institutions and not know enough about the 1960's & 70's in America to be aware of the Weather Underground? And, by the way, Senator, your wife brought Ayers in to be a guest speaker where she worked. Did she not know he had committed what you now call "despicable acts?" Is Michelle Obama that dense too? Frankly, they are lying. In Hyde Park, IL one can pal around with domestic terrorists, racist pastors, and political fixers and still get elected. But that's The Chicago Way and it doesn't play so well out in the larger country.

Governor Palin, what do you have top say about this latest twist in the road?

Speaking at events in Florida, Palin pointed to Axelrod's latest comments, saying, "Today they're saying for the first time that Barack Obama didn't know back then about Ayers' radical background."
"Wait a minute," Palin said. "He didn't know a few months ago that he had launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist?"

UPDATE: Dirty Harry links to a CNN piece on the depth of the Ayers/Obama connection here.

Futures Markets Moving to McCain

Last Thursday night I was asked what the political futures markets were saying about the McCain v. Obama election now that Governor Palin had been introduced. I replied that nothing had changed much-- yet. In fact, on the day Gov. Palin gave her speech, September 3rd, Obama futures were trading at 62 and McCain futures were at 38 (in round numbers).

So, what about this morning? Well, Obama futures have dropped to 52.8 and McCain futures have risen to 47.8. The USA Today poll showing an 11 point swing to McCain/Palin is likely driving this new assessment by traders along with other pollsters saying that the race has narrowed. Among likely voters that same poll shows McCain/Palin with a 10 point lead, 54-44.

In a somewhat related move... equity market futures are soaring today. This is largely due to the moves out of the Treasury Department. However, one should also ponder that the increasing prospects for a McCain/Palin victory, almost certainly meaning split government in Washington, is a positive for financial markets. And, Obama, over the weekend, admitted again that supply-side economic theory is correct. I'm not sure he knows he did... but he did.

UPDATE: Just before 10AM ET Monday 9/8 and futures are now... Obama 50.2, McCain 49.0

Game On... Finally!

On the campaign trail in Colorado today Governor Palin finally opens up the giant can of whoop-ass and out pops domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

"There's been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol.’ These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes. This is not a man who sees America as you and I do - as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country. This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change anyone can believe in - not my kids and not your kids."

Governor Palin was referencing an article in today's New York Times that details Obama's relationship with his neighbor and former Weather Underground domestic terrorist William Ayers.

Also in Colorado today...

Palin told a group of donors at a private airport, "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." She also said, "This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."
Palin, Alaska's governor, said that donors on a greeting line had encouraged her and McCain to get tougher on Obama. She said an aide then advised her, "Sarah, the gloves are off, the heels are on, go get to them."
The escalated effort to attack Obama's character dovetails with TV ads by outside groups questioning Obama's ties to Ayers, convicted former Obama fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

H/T The Corner

Picture: Obama pal Bill Ayers' FBI Wanted Poster

On OODA Loops

The schematic above is something I've hung onto for years. It's a graphic depiction of John Boyd's OODA Loop. OODA is short for: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Boyd is describing here how people logically make decisions. Most people who make clear, logical, decisions proceed through the stages of OODA. There are some people who end up at the Act stage in knee-jerk reactions at the drop of a hair plug, er, hat. Those people don't make consistent decisions and are of little good consequence over time. They are entertaining though, as their undisciplined approach to life and endless pontificating often reveals their weak mental training.



OODA Loop. So what? Well, if you understand the OODA Loop, you can also figure out how to disrupt an opponent's decision-making. The applications of this are seen in warfare and business quite often but they also work in most every human interaction including politics and sports. Take sports for an easy example. The center snaps the ball to the QB and he drops back Observing. He Orients himself to where his receivers and the defenders guarding them are while also noting the pass rush. He Decides where to throw and then he Acts. Easy.



But what if the defensive coordinator devises a scheme that gets inside the QB's OODA Loop. Let's say he calls for a blitzing pass rush scheme that doesn't reveal itself as a blitz until the snap. As the QB drops back he Observes, then Orients... but the blitz is coming so he has to Observe and Re- Orient... now he sees a rusher coming from an other direction... that causes another Observe re-loop... and so he tries to Orient again... the next thing he Observes is the turf as he is buried under his opponents. He never could get to Decision and the only Act he gets to make is picking himself up off the carpet. What happened? The defensive team got inside his OODA Loop and caused him to get stuck at O-O-O-O-O-O-O. Also known as "Oh, Oh!"



An excellent columnist, Jack Kelly, wrote on September 13th that "Mr. McCain is so far inside Mr. Obama’s OODA loop that I almost feel sorry for the senator from Illinois." Kelly was referring to how the choice of Governor Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate had knocked the smooth, auto-pilot gliding Obama campaign into a turbulent tailspin. Remember that the closely guarded naming of Palin came the morning after the grossly over-the-top Denver stadium speech. Jack Kelly was exactly right. By the way, the Palin pick also got inside the OODA loop of the mainstream media. They expect to be leaked key news early. McCain didn't court them and seek their wise council. The beltway media likes guys like Biden who they've chatted with at countless Georgetown cocktail parties for decades. In fact, as long as McCain was bashing Republicans they liked him too. But this Alaskan Governor move-- well, the legacy media has not found their bearings yet and, in fact, by attacking Governor Palin personally day after day they are not only hurting their favored candidate but damaging their own soiled brand names irreparably (see: NBC and New York Times).



Michael Barone also noted last week how McCain got inside the Obama/Axelrod OODA Loop. He quotes John Boyd's biographer:

Robert Coram describes what can happen when one player gets inside another's OODA loop. "If someone truly understands how to create menace and uncertainty and mistrust, then how to exploit and magnify the presence of these disconcerting elements, the loop can be vicious, a terribly destructive force, virtually unstoppable in causing panic and confusion and — Boyd's phrase is best — 'unraveling the competition.' ... The most amazing aspect of the OODA loop is that the losing side rarely understands what happened."



So, how does McCain stay inside the Obama OODA Loop creating "menace" and "uncertainty"? Well, for example, 48 hours before a huge debate on Foreign Policy he could abruptly say that it's time for all good men to come to the aid of their country and do their day job, US Senator, to help solve the economic problems of the day. So far the reaction from Obama/Axelrod and the Democrat handmaiden media shows them panicked, confused, and unraveling-- in the words of Robert Coram. They expected McCain to lose gracefully. To be a Bob Michel, Bob Dole type of Washington DC Republican. They are spinning and in danger of augering in.



Why did John Boyd come up with the loop? To help train fighter pilots to succeed in dogfights. John McCain: Navy fighter pilot. I don't think they teach the OODA Loop at Ivy League schools or in the street organizer/ agitator handbook.

Hey Joe, How's It Goin'?

I gotchyer convention bounce right here, pal...

Zogby Poll: Equilibrium in the POTUS Race!
Brash McCain pick of AK Gov. Palin neutralizes historic Obama speech, stunts the Dems' convention bounce
Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination - has stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows. The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.

Slow Joe A No Go

As the Democrat handmaiden media enters day five of their attempt to destroy Gov. Palin, just one of the many unintended consequences of their smear campaign has been to keep their candidates out of the news. I'm sure that the media cheerleaders never envisioned the prospect that their slender young hero would stand in his fabulous Denver acropolis, deliver his boilerplate speech, and then have virtually nothing reported about him for a solid week. When your guy is THE ONE he's not supposed to be off the front pages day after day.

About the only thing I've heard about the two droning senators running on the D team in the past week was when human gaffe machine Joe Biden made a demeaning comment about Gov. Palin's appearance. Now I didn't watch a minute of the Democrat's convention. Listening to Democrat politicians or their in-the-tank media is as interesting to me as staying up late at night waiting to hear the latest Pakistani cricket scores. But I heard that Slow Joe bragged twice in his speech about beating people up. Apparently his parents thought Joe should bust people in the mouth a lot. Whatever floats your boat, Joey. So when I heard that Joe dismissed Sarah Palin like that my first thought was, tell that one to Todd Palin 1 on 1, pal. (Joe likes to call people he doesn't actually like, "pal" or "buddy" so I'm returning the favor.) My second thought was that Todd wouldn't need to do anything. Sarah will kick Joe's ass all by herself.

The picture above shows how the Obama handlers have decided to get their loose cannon Biden under control. Apparently they are making him stuff his motor mouth with ice cream until his face turns red.

The Angry Republicans Storyline

For eight years we've watched endless venom, mouth-foaming anger, vitriol, and abuse thrown at President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The legacy media position on The Angry Left was... *yawn*. Now however we are told that attendees at McCain/ Palin rallies are dangerous, angry, screaming lunatics. I have yet to see any of these supposed unhinged people identified by name. If the elites in the NY/DC media axis would do that we could then research who they are. In the past we've been presented in newspaper articles with "life-long Republicans" who are "fed up and just can't support President Bush" anymore. Often a little research on opensecrets.com reveals these folks to be people who gave money to the Clinton-Gore campaign, the Gore-Lieberman campaign, the Kerry-SilkyPony campaign, and other Democrats. Too good a story for the Democrat handmaiden media to fact-check properly, in other words.

If the left wing dinosaur media didn't care about getting it right then, my answer to their meme about the "angry" McCain-Palin rally folks is pictured above.

Rick Moran wonders here if the people in the stories are even McCain-Palin supporters.

Now It Can Be Told

Slow Joe Biden has now disclosed that he has sought help.

Yes, in order to prepare for his debate with Governor Palin, Joe will spend four days huddling with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. That should work out well-- for Granholm. In fact, I'm pretty sure the highlight of her resume will read:

>Pretended I was Gov. Sarah Palin for four days with some old Senator who was running for something or other.

Pictured: Gov. Granholm (D-MI) overreacting to a modest gift from a child.

I Get The Feeling That...

... everywhere she goes people will be giving Governor Palin hockey stuff. All I want is an autographed puck. But it has to be autographed by VICE PRESIDENT Sarah Palin.

Drooling Hyenas

The FBI & Secret Service are investigating an extraordinary invasion of Governor Palin's privacy. It's clear that the drooling hyenas of the left will stop at absolutely nothing to destroy her. I am lukewarm at best about John McCain-- but these dark forces must be stopped in their quest for power at all costs. The AP couldn't care less. People who normally fret about hacked e-mail don't think it matters so much when it's Governor Palin. Isn't one of the Rules for Radicals espoused by Saul Alinsky, "clear the field" of competitors?* It's easier than running for President of the United States on Marxist positions.

*RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

Wouldn't It Be Great?

By all reports a number of potential McCain running mates are flying to Dayton, OH to join the senator for the event that will name his VP choice. The conventional wisdom is that they will show party unity and leave Dayton with all parts of the Republican Party working hard for McCain and his running mate. Perhaps. But, wouldn't it be interesting if what he's really going to do is announce that every one of these assembled folks would be great choices and that what he's going to do is allow the convention delegates to decide, through a roll call ballot, who the nominee for Vice President will be. It would energize the convention in a way not seen for decades. The media would pay attention because it would now be a news story rather than a four day infomercial. All factions in the party would have a chance to battle it out for their guy or gal. And, from the battle would likely emerge a candidate that all could support. Nobody would feel they had someone pushed on them-- they had their say and their fair chance.

Ever since John McCain secured the nomination I've been largely disinterested in the Republican campaign. Lately I've been encouraged by some of the aggressive Internet video ads by the McCainiacs. But, allowing the delegates to choose his running mate would be a master stroke. And, it would prove him to be a maverick in the best sense of that tired description.

Whatever happens today Republicans can take comfort in this-- there is nobody on the short or even the long list that would be as poor a choice for McCain as Joe Biden is for Obama.

UPDATE: Of course.... way back on June 13th I wrote that if McCain was smart he' d pick Sarah Palin. Next I'll call for the R's to flip the ticket. McCain could debate Biden and Governor Palin could take on The Little Messiah. Wouldn't THAT be great.

July 4th Salvo

One of the things that drove supporters crazy about George W. Bush was his reluctance to fight back against all sorts of lunatic rhetoric directed at him. He saw the Presidency as a position from which one does not descend to engage in fisticuffs with critics.

As Governor Palin exits her state job in Alaska she shows that her nature is, um, somewhat different. In the 24 hours after her announcement a great deal of unresearched speculation went out over the air and Internet. Her attorney has told an Alaskan left wing blogger, The NYTimes, MSNBC, The WashPost and Puffington Host that they are on notice and will be subject to legal action for defamation. The four page letter is here.

Some people called her a "quitter."

Amusing.

Imagine for a moment that you knew you could make in one night, giving a 45 minute speech in Houston, what you made in an entire year as governor. Now imagine that, when your children are attacked by pundits and comedians you can make such speech actionable as a private citizen. You might not win any lawsuits, but then the lefties who have filed more than a dozen harassing suits against you in the past year haven't won either. The payback might be too sweet and way too lucrative to pass up.

Is she running for president? Probably. Some day. But first it's time for fun and profit. Lots of profit. There are opinion-shapers in America who make many millions a year through radio, books, TV, and speeches. None of them would take the pay cut to run for public office. Sarah Palin found herself on the other side of that equation: working for chump change when there are tens of millions of dollars on the table.

Just Drill It

The other day Senator McCain got a question he dreaded about his position on drilling for crude oil in ANWR. During his answer he trotted out a tired old line of his that compares ANWR to The Grand Canyon.

McCain: "As far as ANWR is concerned, I don’t want to drill in the Grand Canyon, and I don’t want to drill in the Everglades. This is one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of the world."

Maybe the Senator needs to go to ANWR and check it out. In fact he should have Alaska Governor Sarah Palin take him there. By the time he leaves he'll realize-- it ain't the Grand Canyon! And, if he's smart, he'll ask Palin to be his running mate.

All of which is an excuse to put up a picture I took while running the Colorado River rapids in the Grand Canyon more years ago than I care to recall. I recommend it to anyone plus it's closer than "pristine" ANWR.

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner has some snapshots of ANWR for comparison here.