Is McCain/Palin In Obama's Head?

Obama and his campaign have been showing signs of having been rattled by the VP pick of Palin. However, there were signs before the VP selection that the Obama campaign could be rattled. First, the celebrity ad. Outrage, and cries of foul abounded over an ad that basically poked fun at Obama's celebrity and his legions of euphoric supporters. Second, Saddleback. Not the event itself, but the cries of cheating that came from the Obama campaign. It couldn't be that McCain outperformed Obama there must have been foul play. So the Obama campaign screams cheater because Senator McCain wasn't hermetically sealed in in a sound proof pod, or 'cone of silence'. Their reaction was both foolish, and a sign that even minor victories by the McCain campaign could rattle them. However, the pre-Palin kicker is that someone convinced Senator Obama to give a mediocre acceptance speech. What is the one area where Senator Obama has a decisive edge? Speech making; and he under-performed. How that happened should be studied in political science classes in years to come, because forfeiting a strength in any arena is flat crazy.

Then comes the VP picks. Obama doesn't want Clinton, and chooses a candidate to help him appear more experienced so he picks Biden. McCain supporters chuckle as Senator Biden is a legendary 'Gaffe Machine'. Everyone else yawns. Good guy, fairly safe pick, but no one really cares. Then it's McCain's turn. Everyone is predicting Romney or Pawlenty, both safe choices, but again not terribly exciting. The McCain campaign keeps the pick completely secret, and then Palin explodes on the scene. She gave a good opening speech, but there were a lot of questions about her still to be addressed. The Obama campaign immediately took a shot at her, but then retracted the statement as harsh and unnecessary. The media loses its mind. Certainly that's not the Obama camps fault, but their obvious Obama bias and hysterical reaction to Palin does not help their favorite candidate. Clumsily the Obama campaign chimed in with cracks about her experience as a small town mayor, and dismissed her experience as a sitting Governor. This opened the door for Palin to clock Obama on his community organizer experience during her acceptance speech, which was such a powerful speech that it made the media and Obama look foolish for their attacks.

Since then the Obama campaign has struggled to get its bearings. First, Obama acted horrified that Palin challenged his community organizer experience, when he had really set himself up. Then his campaign had a meltdown over Palin's comment that she had pulled the plug on the 'Bridge to No Where'. Instead of criticizing Palin's original support for a different version of the bridge, or questioning what that money should have been spent on after the project was dead, the Obama campaign instead freaked out. They called Palin a liar, they called the McCain/Palin ticket corrupt, yet in the end Palin did pull the plug on the 'Bridge to No Where' and the Obama campaign's over-reaction looked foolish and unstable. Then comes Senator Obama's 'Lipstick on a pig' comment. One can argue intent all day long, however, there is little argument that the comment was incredibly stupid. Particularly, since in the same day he made another comment about a 'stinking fish', and another campaign member also referenced lipstick in a less than flattering way. For someone who is typically graceful in his use of language, "The fierce urgency of now", "We are not red states or blue states, we are the United States", talking about lipstick on pigs after Palin made a lipstick joke during her speech is at best sloppy and out of character.

Today the fumbling continues. An ad criticizing Senator McCain's out of date attire from 1982, and challenging his apparent internet ineptitude has to be one of the weakest attack ads put out in years. Maybe that helps him somehow with the youth vote, but he already has the youth vote. Most people over the age of 30 know at some point in their lives they've worn a silly outfit, and/or had a bad hair day. As for lack of internet experience, who cares? It's an odd argument that I can't imagine helps the campaign. The Obama campaign has abandoned their 'new politics' argument for random and silly attacks. It's not just that they're struggling since the Palin pick and the convention, its that they're panicking. They're only down a few points in the polls, the real problem isn't the numbers it's that the McCain/Palin ticket has them completely flustered.

Is McCain/Palin in Obama's Head?

OMG I'm Watching the First Female Vice President

The test for Governor Palin was to see if she could perform on the big stage. Could she handle the pressure? Could she handle the criticism? Oh yeah! She can handle it. She just crushed her critics, and showed the media for what they are, glorified gossip hounds. While the media sulks, lets look at what was so amazing about this speech. She talked details, no sweeping generalities, but hard facts on current issues. She gave her background and explained how her experience as Governor and as mayor has prepared her for being VP. She addressed her family, and laid to rest the swirl of nasty remarks made over the weekend. She championed small town America, and echoed the theme of service and country. Finally, she destroyed the opposition. From nailing Harry Reed, to shooting down the Obama campaign's message of hope and change as an empty rhetoric that lacked action, to deflating the Obama campaign's attacks on her experience by flipping those remarks onto Obama himself. This speech had it all and Governor Palin knocked it out of the park.

OMG I'm Watching the First Female Vice President

RNC Raises Money for Gulf State Relief - Scales Back First Day Activities

Senator McCain and the RNC have decided to scale back Monday's convention activities, and focus on fund raising efforts for charities in the Gulf States due to Hurricane Gustav. They have consulted with the Gulf State Governors about what charities to support. Governor Bobby Jindal recommended Aid Matrix. Comfort packages will be assembled and sent to the affected region with the help of UPS and Target. A charter plane returned affected delegates back to the region, and will return them to Minnesota circumstances permitting. The RNC is taking a wait and see approach to the convention scheduling. As they learn more about the effects of Hurricane Gustav they will be able to confirm more of their convention plans.

Today's schedule consists of basic convention business. Laura Bush will introduce a video to the delegates, and Cindy McCain will also briefly address the delegates. Governor Palin will be in town, but has no public schedule. Speeches by President Bush, and Vice President Cheney have been canceled as they deal with the effects of the hurricane.

RNC Raises Money for Gulf State Relief - Scales Back First Day Activities

Our Turn, Palin--the Best Choice?

nyssen Reports, Senator McCain has many interesting choices that he could make for Vice President, and I am confident that he will make a good one. Today's Rasmussen Report has some interesting numbers, which suggest that a woman who could keep the GOP base could give an opening to Senator McCain. There is none better than the popular Governor of Alaska. She is a reformer who strikes the right cord with everyone Senator McCain needs.

Women are notably less enthusiastic than men—33% of women say Biden was the right choice while 27% disagreed. Men, by a 46% to 24% margin, said that Obama made the right choice.

Biden is now viewed favorably by 48% of voters and unfavorably by 34%. Those figures reflect a slight improvement from Thursday night polling. He earns favorable reviews from 52% of men and 45% of women.

Just 16% of women have a Very Favorable opinion of Biden while 19% have
a Very Unfavorable view.

Obama has struggled among older voters and that’s one area where Biden shines—60% of senior citizens have a favorable opinion of him.

Not surprisingly, Democrats were more supportive of Obama’s decision than anybody else—52% of those in his party agreed with his pick while 19% disagreed. However, just 43% of Democratic women said the presumptive nominee made the best pick while 23% disagreed.

Gov. Romney would be a good choice. I admit that he doesn’t poll well and with the race neck and neck that may doom his chances. In his favor, polls show that he can pull already close Michigan. That may well be the election. He won’t hurt McCain among the base and moderates who like Sen. McCain will come around because they like the guy at the top of the ticket plus when they get to know Romney he will come across well. It may well be that MI will be the battlefield. Sen. Obama went for balance not battlefield, it would be interesting if McCain went for the old fashion approach which is take a state from the other guys. We actually have 51 elections not one. MI, FL, OH, VA, PA are all within 4 points either way. The election will likely be won by the winner of 3 of 5. VA is one point to McCain (a tie_) FL and OH are 3 to 4 points McCain and the other two the same the for Obama. Would you walk away from tilting MI in your favor?

Huckabee’s PAC Endorses Alaskan Porker

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: Charles Signorile, Constitutionally Right questioned the endorsement by Mike Huckabee of Alaskan Rep. Don Young.

Mike Huckabee has just made a decision which could eventually lead to the end of his new PAC, even before it has begun. When Huckabee initially announced his plans for HuckPac, he left Conservatives with the impression he would only be supporting Conservative candidates, as opposed to those who just happen to have an ‘R’ after their name. Last week Huckabee gave us a stark reminder that politics mean more than principle as he announced his endorsement of Rep. Don Young (R-AK) in his primary fight against Sean Parnell (R-AK), the current Lt. Governor.

After receiving some criticism for his endorsement, Huckabee reminded his supporters that Don Young was pro-life, and had supported Huckabee’s campaign. It is this sort of politics that has ruined the Republican party, and it appears Huckabee has yet to learn this. Don Young has been the ire of Conservatives due to his unabashed pork spending, once even screaming “my money, my money” when being questioned on it. He is responsible for the infamous “Bridge to nowhere” fiasco, as well as the Knik Arm Bridge (better known as “Don Young’s Way”) which would have boosted the value of property held by his daughter. His reckless spending has done more than just draw criticisms from Conservatives however, as one of his earmarks have actually lead to a Congressional investigation . . . .

Is this the type of Republican Huckabee will be supporting in the future? Don Young is the epitome of why the GOP lost seats during the midterm elections and are poised to lose even more this year. It is no wonder Democrats expect to pick up this seat in November, with Young losing 58 to 38 against Ethan Berkowitz in a recent poll. Parnell on the other hand is winning 43 to 38 in that same poll, emphasizing how much Alaskans dislike their incumbent, despite the billions of dollars he has brought home over the years. . . .

I have to wonder why former Gov. Huckabee would have endorsed Rep. Don Young after making a "verbal" stand for people with record of doing right and following the conservative principles of the Republican party. If Young wins the primary, he may be headed for a loss for the GOP and even if he wins the GOP loses in reality because of his past performace as a U.S. Congressman. In April 2007, Citizens Against Government Waste named Rep Don Young as Porker of the Month for defending earmarks and pledging to continue his state’s disproportionate harvest of federal tax dollars. The 2005 highway bill included an earmark of $229 million for the Knik Arm bridge in Alaska, which was to have been renamed “Don Young’s Way,” before public outrage forced Congress to remove the earmark. The Directors at RedState identified:

In the past few years, Don Young voted to force workers into an open, public ballot on the issue of unionization, he voted against reauthorization of the Patriot Act, he voted to expand government funded stem cell research, and he railed against conservatives who wanted to cut earmarks by calling the taxpayer dollars his money. Don Young is also under FBI investigation for taking bribes, illegal gratuities and other unreported gifts from an Alaskan corporation, and he has dubiously forced on the people of Florida a road they don't want all because one of his donors wanted the road.

Huckabee cited that Young was pro-life. Well, Republican Lt. Gov. Sean Parnel is also pro-life with out all of Young's negative baggage. Having been a governor, Huckabee may well have noted that Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin is supporting Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell. If the Alaska Republican leadership recognizes the need to make some major changes, it seems ill timed for Huckabee to try to pursuade Alaska Republicans by his endorsement and support to vote for a Republican of proven lesser stature. We expected based on Hucakbee's public rhetoric and his current interest in being a Fox News political commentator and / or vice presidentail candidate, would have led Huckabee tp passed on this endorsement. However, past Arkansas politicians have evidence that loyalty or retun of past favors is more important than supporting more principled candidated. I encourage readers to visit Sean Parnell for Congress