JOHN MCCAIN AT THE RNC: GIVE ME YOUR TRUST, YOUR MONEY, YOUR VOTES
NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT SARAH PALIN
HURRICANE HELL IN HAITI: NO HELP AS A BILLION GOES TO GEORGIA

No dummy he. John McCain did what most smart politicians do when they have a major TV speech. They speek to the TV audience, not just the people in the room. They reach out ostensibly to people who do not now agree with him or support him to broaden his base rather than consolidate the one he has.

He did that better than Barrack Obama even if he was surrounded by a pep rally—minus one activist from CODE PINK and aother from The Iraq Veterans Against The War—and could have played only to the crowd as his running mater and key supporters did. He tried to do more.

This is not to say that his focus on biography rather than defined bullet points will be acceptable. The Vietnam War was a long time ago , and does not enjoy the popularity that the Iraq War briefly did. His appeal to independents and focus on his version of change—he used the word ten times, Obama 16—sounded rather empty. His critique of his party was broad—and never mention that he voted with the Bush Administration 909% of the time or that it was his own party that was in power.

It doesn’t seem to matter. Its been reported that he raised $200 million at the econvention for his “fight.”

After the speech, Brian Williams of NBC used the word “Kerfuffle: to signify there were technical problems but the core problem was political. He was behind in the polls and puffed up his macho history—told with as much humility as he could generate to show those watching that he as flawed a human being as all of them. The crowd in the hall loved it, but it seemed as if Sarah Palin elicited more enthusiasm in this arena of self-satisfied and affluent self-styled patriots.

Like Palin, he was looking to strike an emotional chord, not a political one and s the critics who dismissed him as offering nothing new would persuade those who see him as something new—at least compared to Bush/Cheney. He pictured himself as more open, and used the word Peace which was absent as far as I can recall from Obama’s presentation which he was undercutting.

With all the insincerity he could muster to at began by taking a high road towards his opponents with “a word to Senator Obama and his supporters. We’ll go at it over the next two months. That’s the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration. Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, an association that means more to me than any other. We’re dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. No country ever had a greater cause than that. And I wouldn’t be an American worthy of the name if I didn’t honor Senator Obama and his supporters for their achievement.”

The critics were predictable and the disruptions were brave but pretty ineffective since it wasn’t clear to TV audiences what they were saying or why. Example, Here’s a typical critique by Ilan Goldenberg on the issues when the speech was saying I am a good guy, and I deserve your trust. He played his POW card –without of course talking about the bombs he dropped on civilians in a crowded city. He didn’t mention why he was greeted by angry people when he fell into that lake in Hanoi. A government that now tortures its prisoners has little right to criticize abuses by Hanoi.

John McCain’s Speech Highlights Failure of His
Foreign Policy Approach, Agenda and Vision
McCain Speech Wrap Up on Foreign Policy

We seriously learned nothing today about John McCain’s foreign policy. Outside of two paragraphs that really got into no detail. But let’s remember what we do know about McCain’ foreign policy

1. McCain’s is reckless and more extreme than Bush: He was the neocons choice in 2000 and his top foreign policy advisor, Randy Shueneman is a Neocon. He has had a more extreme position on Iran. More extreme position on Russia. More extreme position on North Korea. He has called our allies adversaries and took an offensive and aggressive tone in the run up to the Iraq war.

2. John McCain’s foreign policy is very similar to George Bush. McCain didn’t even use the word Afghanistan. He was talking about attacking Iraq and Iran one month after 9/11. He loves to tout the surge. But before the surge came the war. A war he said would be easy and that we’d be greeted as liberators.

That’s it really pretty simple Nothing new in the speech. And pretty weak.

JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM

Fact checking is important even in an event that has so more to do with perceptions than facts. The AP did some on Tuesday night;

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.”

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a “bridge to nowhere.”

PALIN: “There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.”

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, [Obama] was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama’s plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain’s plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

GREG GUMA: THIS IS A STORY WE HAVE SEEN BEFORE

The 2008 Presidential race has gradually evolved from an historic high drama into a “high concept” mystery that would give the most adventurous Hollywood producer pause. The nomination of a biracial Senator was unlikely enough, but the twist of a split-personality warrior joining forces with an evangelical Hockey Mom on the competing ticket surely stretches credulity. Yet here we are, watching the latest Presidential Death Match blockbuster.

While elections certainly ought to be decided on the issues, the truth is that “undecided” voters – that crucial 10 to 15 percent who don’t pick a side until late in the race – often make their choices based on the personal qualities of the candidates. Sensitive to that, on the last night of the GOP convention John McCain portrayed himself as humble, respectful – even of his opponent, and open to “any willing patriot.” Speaking to an uncontrollable crowd that insisted on chanting USA no matter what he was saying, McCain promised that “change is coming.” Then he promised to get back to basics – lower taxes (for businesses), a strong defense, and a culture of life. At times, it sounded like he was reading a speech written for Reagan or some Bush.

There were a few specifics: school choice, cutting foreign aid, nuclear power, and oil drilling now. And some predictable villains: bureaucrats, unions, trial lawyers, partisan “rancor,” Iran and Russia. But the bottom line was that McCain has the scars to prove he’s a leader and Barack Obama doesn’t. “My country saved me and I will fight for her as long as I draw breath,” he said. “Fight with me.”

To understand the McCain-Palin phenomenon, it helps to look at some literary and cinematic precursors. On the surface, McCain looks like a maverick war hero, experienced and unassuming. But there’s another persona lurking beneath the surface, a creature unleashed by his ambition – the bitter, obsessed war lover who will say and do anything. The classic example of this tale is Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In Stevenson’s original text, a London lawyer investigates strange occurrences involving his friend Dr. Henry Jekyll and the destructive Edward Hyde. It’s an early portrayal of split personality, a person who shows a dramatically different character from one situation to another. Today we call it “multiple personality” or “Dissociative Identity Disorder.”

The premise, adapted in more than 100 films and a Broadway musical, is that the unassuming Jekyll invents a potion that turns him into Hyde, a sociopat hic monster. He enjoys the creature’s moral freedom at first, but ultimately begins turning into Hyde involuntarily. Eventually, he runs out of potion and loses the ability to turn back into his original self. TV viewers, comic readers, and filmgoers are familiar with more modern versions of the character, including The Hulk, The Nutty Professor, and Harvey Two-Face from Batman. It’s the story of a flawed hero torn between a good and evil self.

THE I HATE EARMARKS GOVERNOR

The truth is out. Sarah Palin may have posed as an opponent of congressionally mandated earmarks, but when the slop was in the bucket, she was one of the first at Senator Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) trough.

The Seattle Times reported yesterday that she submitted 31 earmark requests totaling $197 million in the current (FY2009) budget cycle. According to that paper, it was “more, per person, than any other state.”…

Racism in Plain English/Eugene Robinson

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it finally happened: A Republican congressman has come right out and called Barack Obama “uppity.”

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), often described as one of the most conservative members of Congress (which is saying something), used that racially loaded term to describe Obama in a conversation today outside the House chamber with a reporter from The Hill. As you can see in The Post’s news coverage, the reporter gave Westmoreland a chance to take it back. Bless him, he didn’t.

I love it when everybody’s cards are on the table.

A spokesman for the congressman said later that his boss didn’t realize that term has long been used to describe African Americans who don’t know their place. If so, he is the only born-and-bred Southerner alive who is so oblivious. I should note, however, that the last time Westmoreland’s staff got such a damage-control workout was in 2006, when the congressman sponsored legislation to post the Ten Commandments in the House and Senate — and then proved unable to list them.

The notion that Obama is somehow reaching beyond his station has been a subtext of the attacks on his eloquence, his academic resume, his ambition — qualities that are usually prized in a leader but that are somehow twisted by Obama’s opponents into negatives. It is within even Lynn Westmoreland’s limited grasp to understand that “uppity” means one thing: Who does this black guy think he is to run for president? If Republicans are going to ask that question, they shouldn’t be allowed to do it through hints and nudges. Just do like Lynn Westmoreland and put it in plain English.

AS MCCAIN ANNOUNCED HIS EDUCATION INITIATIVES, THE LA TIMES REPORTED

Palin went to 5 colleges in 6 years.

JAMIE LYN SPEARS BACKS THE BARRACUDA DAUGHTER

Teen Moms Unite, Jamie Lynn Spears Helps Bristol Palin

THE FACT GAP IS SMALLER THAN THE FIGHT GAP

Senator Joe Biden was quoted as saying he would support prosecuting the Busheviks for various crimes. He now says he never said it:

Biden denies report: ‘No one’s talking about pursuing Bush criminally’

The possibility that Barack Obama might seek to bring criminal charges
against President Bush or members of his administration has been a
recurring theme during the presidential campaign, especially since the
Obama campaign has attempted to stress themes of bipartisanship. For
that reason, Democrats have been quick to downplay any hints of possible
criminal prosecutions.

Sen. Joe Biden aroused fresh speculations on Wednesday, when he
suggested, “If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone
for a criminal violation, they will be pursued, not out of vengeance,
not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no
one, no attorney general, no president — no one is above the law.”

Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends raised that issue with Biden on Thursday
morning, asking about “a report that if you guys are elected … you’re
actually going to pursue criminal charges against President Bush’s
administration and different people that served there.”

“That’s not true,” Biden immediately replied. “I don’t know where that
report’s coming from. What is true is the United States Congress is
trying to preserve records on questions that relate to whether or not
the law has been violated by anyone. Anybody should be doing that.”

Biden emphasized that “no one’s talking about President Bush. … I’ve
never heard anybody mention President Bush in that context.” He noted
that “there’s been an awful lot of unsavory stuff that’s gone on … but
I have no evidence of any of that. No one’s talking about pursuing
President Bush criminally.”