John McCain, if he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous

By Pistol Tanker Palin

Tomorrow I make my reservation for the all-night party being held by Democrats Abroad at Cinéaqua at the Trocadéro in Paris. My husband might be in attendence, as well, to celebrate the end of a long, long election season, and the recovery of his wife.

He has been warned that he is mistaken. There is legislation to accomplish before we rest.

One thing he has noticed, however, is that I have been noticeably nicer since Obama won the primary.

So, let's take a walk back down Memory Lane with Keith Olbermann to revisit some of the unforgettable moments of an historic, entertaining and exhausting (check out Hillary's black circles by February!) election season.

"An unprecedented election season"




"For the GOP, securing a nominee happened faster"




"The road to the running mate"

Oh, here's where it really starts to get good.




Some highlights

"The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."
-- Senator Edward M. Kennedy, endorsing Senator Barack Obama, Los Angeles, California.


"We commited ourselves to building the world as it should be. So tonight, in honor of my father's memory, and my daughters' future, out of gratitude for those whose triumphs we mark this week, and those whose everyday sacrifices have brought us to this moment, let us devote ourselves to finishing their work, let us work together to fulfill their hopes, and let's stand together to elect Barack Obama president of the United States of America."
-- Michelle Obama, the Democratic National Convention, Denver Colorado, August 2008

"Case, I think, closed."
-- Keith Olbermann, covering the Michelle Obama speech

And Hillary, wow. She still gives me the shivers. She was simply awesome and powerful.

"On the 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 they are shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop, keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going. And even in the darkest moments, that is what Americans have done, we have found the faith to keep going."
-- Hillary Clinton, Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado, August 2008

Here is the whole speech, in case that made you feel like listening to her again, from begining to end.


The roll call

Keith Olbermann: California should be interesting.

California: California passes.

Olbermann: And the great state of confusion, casts 60 votes for-- what is goin' on with the roll call?

New Mexico: We yield to the Land of Lincoln.

Illinois: We yield to the great state of New York.

Olbermann: Well, here we go.

Hillary Clinton: I move that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the nominee of the Democratic Party for the President of the Unites States.

Nancy Pelosi: Is there a second?

The delegates: Resouding cheers.

The Democratic party and its supporters: Tears, of joy and relief.


Bill Clinton

"President Bill Clinton is always fascinating to watch."

"Put him on TV for 60 minutes just reacting, and people would watch."

"Just watch his face."

"Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama. That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us."
-- President Bill Clinton, Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado, August 2008

And, signed, sealed, delivered, he is soon to be our president elect.

Olbermann: Vote for [Barack Obama] or do not, but take pride that this nation can produce men and speakers such as that.


"A surprise Republican VP pick"

BOO!

Did I scare you? Oh, sorry, then you might not have the stomach for this.

Oh, here we go... do we have to?

You betcha'!
wink

"The Sarah Palin."
-- Keith Olbermann

"executive experience"
"executive experience"
"more executive experience'"
"experience leadership"

"Sen. MCain has a record as a maverick"
"he's a maverick reformer"
"he is the maverick"
"the maverick McCain"
"Senator McCain's maverick style"

Oh, and don't forget the very first and original Joe, Joe Lieberman,

"What is a democrat like me doing at a republican convention like this?"

Damn good question, Joe. What the hell are you doing there?

The answer, Joe, is all in the democrat that you are not.

And then, she spoke, and we got our first taste of that inimitable pitbull style. Draw them in with that "Gee, golly gee whillickers, I just just don't know" sweetness, add a comma, make a little fist, squint your eyes, then train them into the camera and then bite their heads clean off. Reapply lipstick and -- you got it! -- wink!

"I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, [here we go!] except [here it is!] that you have actual [ah, she's gettin' you good here!] responsibilities [wow! She gotcha'. You betcha'!]."
-- Governor Sarah Palin, Repuiblican National Convention, St. Paul, Minnesota, September 2008

Ouf, as they say here. Pack that pistol back in the holster and take a bow, Annie Alaska.

Olbermann: She clearly gives a great speech. People who like this sort of thing will find this -- the sort of thing they like.

Well, Sarah Palin, you are not the one for whom American women have been waiting for 232 years.

And let me say, you are no Hillary Clinton.

Finally, there was John McCain,

"Stand up. Stand up. Stand up and, fight --"

Oh, never mind.

Here's Stand up! This is what Stand up! sounds like, and it takes courage.

EL-ECT O-BA-MA!

Or this, Wake up! Wake up, America!

That's what it sounds like. That's what I'm talkin' about. We don't need anyone who can't get any passion, anything goin'.
....

Barbie in Nixonland

9.4.2008

Today they came and cleaned up everything they chipped off. It makes for a lot of mess to haul away in their flatbed truck.

Monday, the scaffolding goes up along the street, and they begin that facade.

It suddenly looks a lot like progress, soon the plaster will fall.

....

The RNC 2008

Tuesday evening: prosperity

I have been forcing myself to watch the speeches from the RNC on CNNLive.com and YouTube. I have so much to say, but I have exhausted my brain and my fingers on the MYBO boards.

My favorite Republican convention mo(I can't even type anymore; my fingers are stumbling on the keyboard)ment so far was the night Sarah Palin spoke (wasn't she something? I was just so proud of Bush's speech writers and how she delivered that speech! Such poise! Such diction! Such sarcasm!). That was the prosperity theme night, the evening all the minority entrepreneurs spoke.

They brought out a brown, I mean an Hispanic man, and he told an eager convention floor filled with Republicans -- young and old, white and white (okay, there are a few blacks, like Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams), manipulator and manipulated, ignorant and ignoranter -- that his father, a migrant worker who had no education beyond the 4th grade, could teach "Obama", (whistles) with his "fancy schools" (crowd cheers), a "thing or two about economics" (crowd roars their approval) because he'd done "real work with his hands (pregnant pause... oops! No reference whatsoever to pregnant teens) in the dirt," (crowd goes crazy) and "Obama's gonna' raise our taxes!" (crows goes crazier) A proud lackey for the McCains of the world with their wealth valued in the tens of millions and more, who have never worked with their own hands in the dirt.

It's the world upside down.

I didn't know migrant workers and the poor paid taxes, but they sure might like the health care benefits they could get if the wealthiest and the corporations paid a decent share.

....

A case in point: William McGuire
HealthUnited Group's now retired CEO

Someone else used different numbers but made the following argument: 38% in taxes of the average CEO pay of $10.2 million in 2004 still leaves $6.3 million in take home pay to suffer through the year until the next $10.2 million rolls in.

But even that's chicken feed compared to the high-end of CEO salaries cited in the same article, where "The highest-paid CEO in 2004 was Yahoo's Terry Semel, who hauled in $230.6 million. That's more than $4 million a week."

The third highest paid CEO was in health care, "William McGuire, of UnitedHealth Groups, the nation's leading insurer, was the third-highest paid CEO on the Forbes list. His pay of $124.8 million could cover the average health-insurance premiums of nearly 34,000 people."

As Spoon of SiCKO Universal Health Care HR 676 (join us) on the MYBO boards replied:

That doesn't include the $1.6 billion in stock options he was given when he retired, or the hundreds of millions in options he'd already cashed in, or the rest of his retirement package. Or the fact that the head of Medicare and Medicaid administers a LOT larger and sicker group for around $200,000 per year (no stock options). The last I checked, The UnitedHealth Group stock was up over 900% since Bush took office... these guys make our oil barons and military industrial giants look like chump changers.

Nice. Welcome to the You ESS-AY!! At least we're not (gasp) socialists.

And these Republican sheep from small town YOU ESS-AY!! are only too happy to chant their national pride -- YOU ESS-AY!! YOU ESS-AY!! YOU ESS-AY!! -- ecstatically against closing the corporate tax loop-holes -- YOU ESS-AY!! --, eliminating death taxes and the alternate minimum tax -- YOU ESS-AY!! YOU ESS-AY!! -- to provide themselves and their neighbors with health care as good and with as much freedom of choice as the French enjoy, preferring to scrimp to fill the gas tank and the oil tank for the winter's heating and do without health care benefits, while their leadership rolls in obscene, but surely well-deserved, wealth.

....

And her outfit cost...

I owe a reader of Vanity Fair a debt for this information. According to their report, we now have an idea of Laura Bush and Cindy McCain's vestimentary budget for Monday evening's attire at the RNC, and as she says, "I don't know about you, but I could pay 2 months of my mortgage on Laura's alone, and that's based on the LOW estimate":

Laura Bush

Oscar de la Renta suit: $2,500
Stuart Weitzman heels: $325
Pearl stud earrings: $600 - $1,500

Total: $3,425 - $4,325


Cindy McCain

Oscar de la Renta dress (did they shop the sales together?): $3,000
Chanel J12 white ceramic watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000 (I accidentally typed $28,000 the first time, had a hard time getting the extra zero in there and the comma in the right place)
Four-strand peral necklace: $11,000 - $25,000
Taryn Rose shoes: $475

Total: $299,100 - $313,100


I could pay off my mortgage with that.

Yeah, I'd rather worship the wealthy than live decently, too. (crowd and son of Hispanic migrant worker with 4th grade education lose all control, ecstatic)

....

One word: resentment

For the Republicans' breath-taking ability to turn the world on its head for their own gain (and more gain, and more gain) without loosing sleep, Paul Krugman provided a one-word analysis in his OpEd in the NYTimes yesterday, resentment. From the column:

Some of it, of course, is driven by cultural and religious conflict: fundamentalist Christians are sincerely dismayed by Roe v. Wade and evolution in the curriculum. What struck me as I watched the convention speeches, however, is how much of the anger on the right is based not on the claim that Democrats have done bad things, but on the perception — generally based on no evidence whatsoever — that Democrats look down their noses at regular people.

Thus Mr. Giuliani asserted that Wasilla, Alaska, isn’t “flashy enough” for Mr. Obama, who never said any such thing. And Ms. Palin asserted that Democrats “look down” on small-town mayors — again, without any evidence.

What the G.O.P. is selling, in other words, is the pure politics of resentment; you’re supposed to vote Republican to stick it to an elite that thinks it’s better than you. Or to put it another way, the G.O.P. is still the party of Nixon.

....

What you can do

(besides get mad and worry)

Have you talked to a disappointed Republican or an Independent today? Happily, they have an option, Obama/Biden 08!

Sign up on www.mybarackobama.com to make your profile and find out how to call Swing States for the campaign from home.

And from Alex Koppelman at Salon.com:

By Alex Koppelman

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 17:55 EDT

The Sarah Palin money bomb

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sarah Palin's speech to the Republican convention really seems to have energized people. Including Democrats, it turns out -- Barack Obama's campaign says that since Palin's speech, it has taken in $8 million, and the Obama camp estimates that number will hit $10 million by the time John McCain addresses the convention tonight.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has reportedly raised $1 million in the same time period. And a McCain source told the Drudge Report, "We could not count our donations fast enough." (The McCain campaign is now restricted from raising its own money, as McCain accepted public financing.)

Give. Give often, give regularly, give what you can -- Click here for my fundraising page on www.mybarackobama.com.

Hey! Someone made a contribution! The campaign used to let us know so we could thank the donor, but it didn't this time. Whoever you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Gotta' get to the supermarket before they close, or I am going to be very embarrassed this evening.
....

Good Morning America, Vietnam Era Returns

This is not Beijing

It's St. Paul, Minneapolis,
the Republican National Convention 2008

Although you could be easily forgiven the natural mistake.

If the Dems are channeling JFK, RFK, MLK and LBJ, the Republicons have decided to respond -- true to their Patriot Act America form -- by channeling Kent State and Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes:

During a press conference, Governor Rhodes called the protesters un-American and referred to the protesters as revolutionaries set on destroying higher education in Ohio. "They're worse than the brown shirts and the communist element and also the nightriders and the vigilantes," Rhodes said. "They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America. I think that we're up against the strongest, well-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America."

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar's unlawful arrest in violation of Free Speech and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/01/democracy_now_host_and_produce.html

....

September 1, 2008 -- A report on the arrests of DN!'s Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar from Senator Obama supporter and contributing editor for the New Mexico Sun News, Stephen Fox:

UPDATE: Goodman was arrested along with Democracy Now producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. As of 9:15 PM EST, the Ramsey County jail has charged Goodman with "conspiracy to riot" and released her, but is still detaining Kouddous and Salazar. No charges have been pressed against them.

Laurie, the phone operator at the County Jail says she "hopes charges will be presented within the hour." As of right now, Kouddous and Salazar are being held without charges.

9:50 PM EST: Kouddous and Salazar are still being held without charges. Laurie, the operator, now expects a few hours to expire before they are officially charged with a crime. She claims the slow process is due to an unusually high number of arrests coupled with many detainees using pseudonyms. More than 100 people were arrested along with Goodman and her producers.

Early reports indicate Kouddous and Salazar were originally arrested on suspicion of rioting .

11:00PM EST: The Ramsey County Jail redirected me to something called the "Joint Information Center." Under a little pressure, the operator finally revealed his name (Sgt. William Palmer,) though he asked for my name (had me spell it twice) and asked for my phone number in exchange. Friendly stuff.

Palmer informed me that Kouddous and Salazar will be held in jail overnight until they are taken to court tomorrow. No one knows what they are being charged with, but Palmer attributes their arrest to "suspicious behavior."

Kouddous and Salazar are still being held without any formal charges.

Mayor Chris Coleman can be contacted at: 651-266-8510 or e-mailed at: https://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/forms.asp?FID=69
Governor Tim Pawlenty can be reached at: (651) 296-3391 or e-mailed at tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us
Ramsey County Jail: 651-266-9350

....

Democracy Now!, September 2, 2008:

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/1/update_democracy_now_s_amy_goodman_sharif_abdel_kouddous_and_nicole_salazar_released_after_illegal_arrest_at_rnc

....

Your vote is urgently needed in November for Obama/Biden 08 to bring back democracy now.

The Obama/Biden campaign is not accepting public financing or contributions from special interests. It is relying on contributions from We, the people, of however much you can afford. Please, contribute regularly, contribute often, as little as you have in your pocket by clicking here for my fundraising page. All money contributed goes directly to the Obama/Biden campaign. I merely receive credit for my efforts to help make them our next president and vice president.

Please help me to sleep at night by offering any small amount. It's time now, before it's too late. Don't take it for granted that the Republicans can't win it again.

And, please consider making a profile at www.mybarackobama.com and using the phone banking tool to make phone calls from your home to swing state voters to help insure respect for our Constitution, the respect of the people around the world who have so admired our great nation and want us to elect Senator Obama our president so that they may continue to do so (they tell me all the time, young and old, mostly white Europeans, worried America might not be willing to elect a man with a black father), and help the USA fulfill its promise to her own citizens, as well as to her friends and neighbors around the globe. It's so easy. I got my numbers, and I am preparing my notes to get callin'.

We might be sure to win it, but let's win it by an historic landslide to show ourselves and the world that we are strong, and so is our president's mandate. Let's get 'em good.

Democracy is an active noun.
....

It's dark inside, and, no, I don't have a migraine

1:55 pm

It's Monday, September 1, and we know what that means: summer vacation is over and it's back to work, for non-Americans who are not celebrating Labor Day (have a nice picnic) and school (tomorrow. Shit.).

And they came back, right on time! Georges and José are here! They closed the shutters to keep chunks of falling plaster from hitting the window panes.

I really have to do my drawings. And get back to garden designs. And get off the political listservs, as riveting as they are right now, what with the Sarah Palin pick.

I hope he doesn't gamble at the races, or Cindy will have real reason to get upset, what with 100 million at stake.

On the other hand, there are just so many jewels out there, not the least the manifestation of God's will that, contrary to the fervent prayers of Reverend Wiley Drake that it rain on Obama in Denver, he prefer that it preempt the Republicans convention, most surely to their very great relief. It was going to bomb in the ratings, I heard, outside the evangelical right, anyway.

But, I hear that former DNC chairman Fowler had to apologize for his ironic comment. Thank you, Mr. Pink Eyes for steering me clear of the foul waters into which I myself nearly waded. But, of course he was wishing ill to those who would suffer the hurricane, and not laughing at the ludicrous fact that the Republicans are getting their own medicine.

Naturally.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will have to do morning editions to get it all in.

Come to think of it, I do have a headache. Time to go make lunch.
....