Republican Convention Police State

Damn –  Twin Cities police officers brutally arrest Amy Goodman, the Democracy Now! host:

She’s charged with “conspiracy to riot” and two of her colleagues are also in police custody.

The Biden Plan

Flashback to Biden laying into Bush and McCain on Iraq and arguing for his federated plan:

What Palin Tells Us About McCain

I said below that McCain almost looks silly in focusing more on the election in November than on the governing that would follow come January. Ezra Klein at The American Prospect says something similar:

This was, for McCain, a major decision. And we can learn from it. And here’s what even his supporters must admit: Country did not come first. Polls did. The calculations are fully transparent. Understanding that he needed to broaden his electoral coalition, he picked a woman. Understanding he needed youth, he picked a young politician. Understanding he needed to emphasize his reformist credentials, he picked a onetime whistleblower. What he didn’t pick was anyone able to help him govern, or capable of stepping forward in a moment of crisis. Palin is not an experienced foreign policy hand like Lieberman or a successful and experienced governor like Tommy Thompson. Today, McCain chose his campaign over his presidency. Over our presidency. Palin seems like a promising young politician, but McCain increasingly seems like a desperate one.

(HT: PostBourgie, the newest addition to our blogroll and brainchild of the smartest kid in my middle school)

Still Thinkin About Palin

What exactly does one say about the Palin pick?

The pros of the pick? While I’m still not convinced the Hillary ladies are satisfied with just any politician who has a vagina, I do think Palin could mobilize otherwise disinterested conservatives, women chief among them. She’s pro-union, another heretofore unrealized metric for Republicans, and her husband’s got the manly-man sport dude thing down. I bet the McCain crowd also thinks she’d neutralize the attack dog in Biden, who I assume will still go after her with equal vehemence, but could potentially come off looking like a jerk in doing so.

Also, the VPILF factor. Is she about to tear off the glasses and let loose the uptwist?

The cons? The commander-in-chief test comes to mind. If this altogether arcane gamble pays off Palin would be one heartbeat — one incredibly faint, irregular heartbeat — away from being President. As Gail Collins said in the NYTimes this morning,

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

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

Another con — her policies. Pro-creationism, anti-taxes, anti-choice even in cases of rape and incest, pro-drilling, pro-war, anti-polar bear. I’m slightly afraid to learn more. So much for the appeal to the mushy middle or McCain’s flirtation with progressive ideas.

Also significant is that the McCain folks can’t seem to articulate a good reason for chosing Palin. All we’ve heard from McCain is that she’s not from Washington and has a compelling persona. From their appearance on stage together, I didn’t get the impression that the two had ever even met.

To me this choice seems almost silly in its reliance on identity politics. Say what you want about the identity politics the Dems have been playing, at least we spent over a year testing and probing Hillary and Obama, making them jump through hoops before becoming convinced that there was some substance behind the glam. But this choice implies that McCain isn’t even taking the governing that would follow the elction seriously.

All that being said, I’m not sure if Palin will help McCain or Obama more. I’ve learned not to underestimate Republicans’ tendency to absolutley cream their pants over the cowboy character type.

Who?

McCain just chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. I went to the kitchen to get more coffee and by the time I got back, Palin it was.

What the F? Who is this Sarah Palin? Turns out she’s the second coming of Harriet Myers. Or William F. Buckley’s wet dream.

She’s a former beauty queen, two-year governor, mother of five with a son shipping off the Iraq on 9/11 and a baby with Downs, NRA member, creationist, against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, pro-ANWR drilling, wants to take polar bears off the endangered species list and is married to a part-Native oilfield worker/snowmobile racer.

Hopefully on this, his 97th birthday, McCain will not get a bounce from all the ladies still bitter about Hillary. Crazy bitches bout to ruin everything. Story of my life.

Morning After

A moving and pointed speech last night. Obama covered every issue of importance and got real specific with taxes, energy, foreign policy and McCain’s multifarious flaws. A year ago I was criticizing Obama for not getting specific and losing himself in “rhetorical flights of fancy,” as I said. Last night I was digging on the sharp attacks — “John McCain likes to say he’ll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives…” ”…we all put our country first.” But I missed the rhetoric and I kept waiting for the invocation of Martin Luther King. Obama held out until the very last few minutes, when his voice gained more resonance and he set it free:

That [American] promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night and a promise that you make to yours, a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west, a promise that led workers to picket lines and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could’ve heard many things. They could’ve heard words of anger and discord. They could’ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead — people of every creed and color, from every walk of life — is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one.

“We cannot walk alone,” the preacher cried. “And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

America, we cannot turn back…

… not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.

America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone.

At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Convention

Tuesday night, Hillary, resplendent in tangerine, rocked the house. Seriously, IMHO, Hillary’s best speech ever. Then the Phillies fought their way to a 8-7 win over the Mets to take first place in the NL East. I woke up yesterday morning feeling like Obama was ready to be sworn in and the Phillies had just won the penant. Even Maureen Dowd scrounging for Obamadrama couldn’t bring me down.

+ =

Then last night my boy came on. His son Beau brought the crowd to tears and Joe did good too. Especially when he talked about his mother who’s approximately 150 years old. One by one, people are catching on that Joe Biden is just too cool for school.

Tonight’s biggie though. I’m a bit worried about the parthenonesque backdrop. But I fully expect that Obama will shatter expectations and that I’ll be in tears by 10:15. If I’m still standing. Gotta pace myself at this watch party…

Keep it Real, Dora

Remember when Tina Fey called Dora the Explorer a “carpet-muncher” on SNL? Apparently Nickelodeon remembers too. This is un-fucking-believable:

Dora the Explorer, the wide-eyed cartoon character adored by young children around the world, is facing a makeover amid competition from older, racier rivals.

Nickelodeon, the children’s television network owned by Viacom, has been discussing a redesign of some Dora-themed toys and other merchandise that would make the character appear more feminine, say people familiar with the talks.

Better say goodbye to your backpack and comfortable shoes, honey.

Scrappy Kid from Scranton

Saturday was a trip. By around mid-morning about everyone I know who’s listened to me talk at all in the last 19 months called or texted to gauge my excitement over the Biden pick. I was already riding high when Biden and Obama took the stage in Springfield, Illinois — land of Lincoln — at 3:00 sharp. I was in tears by 3:10.

And the 3:18 AM Text Says…

Congratulations!

And now for an un-Biden interlude: Congratulations to Rainy and Leonard, who got married this past week out on the Oregon coast. Rainy and Leonard, you guys are beautiful and I love love love this picture from the wedding:

So illustrative! I feel like I was there. Rainy sipping Chablis, pinky out, pontificating on some NPR story. Fatima, fist clenched, cursing the Bush administration. Leonard trying to break into the convo, all “huh?  yeah, I heard that…” And then Ken just leaning back, taking it all in.

Must have been an amazing day. Happy marriage time!

When You Are Not Alone…

BIDENWATCH: Ultimate Edition

Rumor has it Obama will announce his VP pick tomorrow. And eeeeveryone’s looking at Biden:

MSNBC:
He is a lively and feisty if unpredictable campaigner with working-class roots and a street-level feel for the hot spots of the globe — which he can use to go toe-to-toe with Sen. John McCain.

New York Times:
Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, said Mr. Biden’s age was an asset, not a liability, particularly among many of his constituents in Florida, a perennial swing state. “You can’t do better than Joe Biden for vice president,” Mr. Nelson said. “He appeals to the kind of swing voters in Florida you have to have to win here because of his gravitas.”

The Guardian:
Joe Biden’s foreign policy experience and speaking prowess make him the best candidate to be Obama’s vice-president…

Mark Halperin:
“Also, America is no longer a place where citizens care about plagiarism or hair plugs. A Biden pick would immediately elevate Obama’s gravitas, give him a semblance of humility, delight the media, and reassure the nation that a grownup is involved. Democrats would be simultaneously relieved and apprehensive, but they’d be pleased with the choice overall. Plus, Biden is Catholic, is a Washington insider in a good way (a hardworking man of the people unchanged by three decades inside the Beltway), and has a tragic history with a happy ending.”

Biden’s always been my pick, for many reasons, but the most important is that he will help Barack Obama get elected. Imagine Biden stumping throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio for the next two months, tearing McCain a new asshole on all the Sunday morning shows and going head-to-head with the Republican VP in debate — remember Biden in those debates? Imagine him against Tom Ridge, or Romney for Christ’s sake. Like Biden or not, he’s both right and convincing often enough that he can coax the luke-warm over.

What are the negatives of a Biden pick? Ben Smith foresees a possible Republican line of attack in an old Biden ad from 1988 in which the candidate sounds much like McCain today, mocking the idea that a President could learn foreign policy on the job and calling America a “pulpit” from which we preach to the rest of the world. But I think any acknowledgment that Biden’s a moderate will only hurt the Republicans, while his progressive bona fides (he gets a 100% from the NAACP, a 76% from the ACLU, and a 0% rating from National Right to Life Committee — although, not so great with NARAL) are solid.

Mark my words: Biden will bring good things. I’ll be on the lookout for the text tomorrow from the Obama campaign.

BIDENWATCH

Joe Biden has his say about Georgia in the Financial Times of London today:

It is too soon to know with certainty who was responsible for the initial outbreak of violence in South Ossetia, but the war that began there is no longer about Georgia’s breakaway regions or Russian peacekeepers.

By acting disproportionately with a full scale attack on Georgia and seeking the ouster of Georgia’s democratically elected President Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow is jeopardising its standing in Europe and the broader international community – and risking very real practical and political consequences.
…
The only hope for preventing this crisis from becoming a calamity for Russia’s relationship with the west is for Moscow to immediately ceasefire, pull back its forces and agree to negotiations brokered by the international community – all steps that the Georgian government has agreed to. If the fighting continues, this moment could emerge as a turning point in the west’s relationship with Moscow, and deny Russia the international standing it seeks. That is not the future the United States or Europe want – but it is the future Russia may get if it does not stand down and live up to its responsibilities as a force for progress.

In that first line, Biden acknowledges that Georgia may well have ignited the powder keg in retaking the autonomous region of South Ossetia. South Ossetia, along with Abkhazia, has declared its independence from Georgia and has de facto autonomous status, for whatever that’s worth. Both regions fought wars against Gerogia throughout the 90s, and as the Russian bombs fall, people are fleeing north into Russia, not south into the Georgian interior.

But most def, Russia has overreacted seized this opportunity to regain past glories of wielding all the power in the region. And Biden gets it right.

Edwards

John Edwards. Wow.

Will’s right — the timing was impeccable. Not only did the story break on Friday, but on the first day of the Olympics. Right in the midday duldrum between the opening ceremonies happening in Beijing, and the airing of the ceremonies here in the US. ABC’s Nightline interview conveniently eased viewers from Olympic extravaganza to political intrigue all in the space of thirty minutes.

I can’t say I’m indignant that Edwards cheated on his wife. Shit happens. I’m more left wondering what drives a person into running for President, against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for christ’s sake, with this ticking time bomb in his pocket? Why bother jeopardizing the Edwards family, this child stuck in the middle (no matter who the father is), Edwards’s own political reputation, all the millions of Edward supporters, and Democrats in general during the most important presidential race of a generation?

This is one of those situations that one never does explain or comprehend. But this is what Edwards told us on Nightline:

This is what happened. It’s what happened with me and I think happens unfortunately more often sometimes with other people.… Ego. Self-focus, self-importance. Now, I was slapped down to the ground when my son Wade died in 1996, in April of 1996. But then after that I ran for the senate and I got elected to the Senate and here we go again, it’s the same old thing again. Adulation, respect, admiration. Then I went from being a senator, a young senator to being considered for vice president, running for president, being a vice presidential candidate and becoming a national public figure. All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want. You’re invincible. And there will be no consequences. And nothing, nothing could be further from the truth.

OLYMPICS

This BBC Sport Olympic Monkey says it all:

Slightly cooler than America’s own Exxon/Hilton/Coca-Cola/McDonalds sponsorship.

Seriously?

Screenshot from McCain ad on Drudge mocking Obama’s advice to fill your tires in order to save on gas. No matter that this is actually good advice or that Obama’s actually got a thick energy plan that isn’t premised on drilling the shit out of the oceans and the nature.

Besides, I think I’d like a tire gauge that said “Obama Energy Plan.” The Obama campaign should give some out.

Solzhenitsyn

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died at 89 today. From the BBC:

Solzhenitsyn served as a Soviet artillery officer in World War II and was decorated for his courage but in 1945 was denounced for criticising Stalin in a letter.

He spent the next eight years in the Soviet prison system, or Gulag, before being internally exiled to Kazakhstan, where he was successfully treated for stomach cancer.

Publication in 1962 of the novella Denisovich, an account of a day in a Gulag prisoner’s life, made him a celebrity during the post-Stalin political thaw.

However, within a decade, the writer awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature was out of favour again for his work, and was being harassed by the KGB secret police.

In 1973, the first of the three volumes of Archipelago, a detailed account of the systematic Soviet abuses from 1918 to 1956 in the vast network of its prison and labour camps, was published in the West.

Its publication sparked a furious backlash in the Soviet press, which denounced him as a traitor.

Early in 1974, the Soviet authorities stripped him of his citizenship and expelled him from the country.

He settled in Vermont, in the USA, where he completed the other two volumes of Archipelago.

Scathing of Boris Yeltsin’s brand of democracy, he did not return to Russia immediately upon the collapse of the USSR in 1992, unlike other exiles.

His homecoming in 1994 was a dramatic affair as he travelled in slowly by land from the Russian Far East.

Solzhenitsyn’s latter works, which included essays on Russia’s future, courted controversy.

Functionality Perfected

www.howmuchisastamp.com

Tuesday Morning

10:16 and we’re off to a good start. My office both replenished its supply of half-and-half and sprung for trays of fresh fruit. Stellar.

1. Went to see “Shoot the Messenger” last night, a news satire live performance, and they interviewed the one and only Rachel Maddow. I heart her. I chickened out of asking my question, but I wanted to know what she and the other guest, Paul Reikoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, think of federated regional autonomy in Iraq, a la Joe Biden’s (my other crush) plan. Last week on her show, Rachel was saying that this Hunt Oil deal with the Kurds signals the undoing of the Iraqi Parliament, since Hunt circumvented American policy and Iraqi Parliament in making an oil deal with the Kurds. If we bracket for a second Hunt’s evilness in being in league with the Bushes and Halliburton, and the company’s end run around US policy, is there anything potentially beneficial in regional leaders making their own deals, independent of Parliament and American interests? Let’s say the Shiites in the south want to make a deal with China or some other country for the oil down there? Is this a step toward regional autonomy and an actual free market? (Question to self: am I really arguing for free market economics!?) It seems that an Iraqi government that functions more as a loose federation of representatives from semi-autonomous regions is more likely — or at least a more attainable goal right now — than a centralized government supposedly representing all the disparate sects and regions, trying to administer oil deals and everything else for the entire “country.” Just wonderin…

2. The Phillies don’t want Manny Ramirez because they already have Pat Burrell playing left field. Isn’t Pat Burrell’s contract up for renewal after this year? He’s got stats to match Ramirez’s, but if we just passed up on Manny and we lose Pat the Bat to a higher bidding team next year, well that will suck. Btw, the Phils are one game behind the cursed Mets, but are playing last-place Nationals tonight, with the Mets set to play third-place Florida.

3. Gallup yesterday had McCain up by 4 points over Obama. Makes sense — it really blows how Obama just like incurred the good will of the entire world. But today HuffPo says another Gallup tracking poll from yesterday had Obama up by 8. Who the fuck knows.

4. I’m loving the juxtaposing headlines this morning from the NY Times:
“Candidates Return Focus To Economy and Jobs,” with pic of Obama shaking hands with Larry Summers and Bob Reich. Just underneath that, “McCain Has a Spot Removed From His Face,” with visual of McCain in NAVY baseball cap in front of an oil rig.

5. Biden, VA Gov. Tim Kayne, and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh on top of Obama’s VP list.