Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 29, 2008
My mom: I think it's the worst choice anyone could make for Vice President--ever!
Me: Worse than Dan Quayle?
Mom: Yes!
Me: You know, it's also a little patronizing to think that women will vote for her just because she's a woman--
Mom: I know; "Oh! Oh! I'm going to vote for her because she was on the cover of Vogue!"
It's not as though my mom is a big Democrat, either. I wonder how many women are going to feel this way; I expect some backlash among independent and moderate women.
Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 28, 2008
Frances' response, below, from a libertarian perspective, doesn't make sense to me, and I think it misses the big points (I've responded in detail in a comment).
My view is that this was a historic speech; both thoughtful and direct. I don't have time tonight to do an in-depth analysis, so expect that either tomorrow morning or tomorrow night.
UPDATE: Hoh hoh, I have the luxury of waiting until tomorrow to formulate an analysis of the speech, but the McCain campaign apparently doesn't have that luxury.
"Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama," spokesman Tucker Bounds said. "When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm's way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President."
Does this strike anyone else as really, really weak when you measure it up against the speech that Obama just gave? I heard a TV commentator say that McCain "might as well have been speechless."
Posted by: Sam Jack in Stevie Wonder on
Aug 28, 2008
Stevie Wonder is still awesome.
Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 28, 2008
SusanG of DailyKos is right; this portion of Kerry's speech is probably the highlight so far, at least in terms of McCain attacks:
I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain. Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it.
Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.
Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 27, 2008
I just can't stand to watch the network and cable coverage of the DNC. I don't care what George Stephanopoulos thinks, really, I don't what Chris Matthews or Diane Sawyer have to say that much. It galls me that George and Chris and Keith and Diane talk right over Tammy Duckworth and John Kerry (!), relentlessly spinning things that, in the act of spinning, they are preventing us from seeing.
I don't need these talking heads to predigest the convention and spit it out for me like some overweening mother bird. I don't think anyone else does either. So please, everyone--just tune into PBS or C-Span, watch what is actually happening, and then form your own opinions.
Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 27, 2008
Yeah, I'm going to disagree with Frances's take--although it was admirably snarky. I think this is the point where it diverged from Frances's characterization:
I want you -- I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me, or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him?
Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids?
Were you in it for that young boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage?
Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
If Clinton had left that out, the speech would've been a failure, but putting it in turned the whole thing around, tying up all the accomplishments she mentioned in the speech with the mission going forward, that being electing Barack Obama. The message to her die-hards was that they better elect Obama, or else everything Hillary stands for will go down the tubes. True enough, and I think the best approach to bring the so-called "PUMAs" into the fold.
And I thought the Harriet Tubman bit was the most inspirational:
My mother was born before women could vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for president. This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.
So how do we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her lives to bring slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice: "If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going."
UPDATE: The only criticism of Hillary Clinton's speech that I thought had something to it was John Dickerson's criticism that Hillary didn't make an affirmative case for Obama as Commander-in-Chief.
Clinton never made the case that Barack Obama was ready to lead as commander in chief. That was her strongest argument against Obama during the primary—so strong the McCain campaign is recycling her ad about the president answering the phone at 3 a.m. Maybe Joe Biden is planning to address that issue for Obama, and Clinton needed to stay focused on convincing her supporters. Still, it felt like a hole.
And Bill Clinton just said, pretty emphatically: "Barack Obama is ready to lead America. Barack Obama is ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States." That fills the hole, yeah? Especially since Bill Clinton invoked his 'unique perspective' on the Presidency.
Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 25, 2008
After an immediate nod to Hillary Clinton and her supporters (expect every major speech to include such references), Pelosi starts in on a laundry list of Democratic accomplishments. Then onto the call and response portion of the speech: "Barack Obama is right--and John McCain is wrong." I agree with just about everything Pelosi is saying, but this just isn't an interesting speech to me--it's a collage of tropes and cliches that reoccur constantly in Democratic circles. Probably this speech is so generic because Pelosi doesn't have a specific role to play other than providing the imprimatur of the highest ranking Democrat.
UPDATE: The speeches following, as well as the video clips, are all about building Obama's biography--presumably Michelle Obama will pull it all together as the keynote for tonight. Maya Soetoro-Ng and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. have spoken now.
UPDATE II: Jim Leach, the director of the IOP, is speaking, endorsing Obama. He's giving a thoughtful speech, aimed at moderates. Points out that Bush is the first to "finance a war with tax cuts."
LAST UPDATE: Michelle Obama was tremendously effective--warm and authentic and emotional. And having the girls come out at the end to say hi to their dad was brilliant imaging, and a great way of combating the lunatic smears.
Posted by: Sam Jack in Untagged on
Aug 21, 2008
I'm being driven slowly insane by the media coverage of Obama's VP choice. Here is the status of Obama's selection, as well as I can divine it: No one has any information other than that Obama has decided, and that he will announce it within the next few days.
That exhausts the category of things known. But those facts aren't anywhere near enough ground to cover. People are interested, so it's important that when they turn on the television, pundits are yapping about the Veepstakes. Everyone has their lists of possible picks--I imagine if you compiled a super-list from all of the supposed 'short lists,' it would encompass every federal and state-executive Democrat, and most of the moderate Republicans.
Today, I listened to 'Talk of the Nation' on NPR, and the host went on and on about Obama's text-message schtick! (What does this say about his ability to lead? Slippery slope? Will he deliver the Sttate of the Union in leet-speak? etc.)
Really, Vice President is one of the least important decisions that Obama will make.
And I think it's probably going to be Biden, Kaine, Bayh, Bowie, or Sebelius.
