Posts from — October 2008

Comedy interlude!

From Brian Regan’s most recent DVD:

I think the first half of that could have been expanded to a good Will Ferrell sketch.

Digital Journalist has a bunch of great pictures of Obama on the campaign trail, some of which you may have seen. Click the link at the bottom to see more, they’re quite good. My favorite caption was this one:

I loved that he cleaned up after himself before leaving an ice cream shop in Wapello, Iowa. He didn’t have to. The event was over and the press had left. He is used to taking care of things himself and I think this is one of the qualities that makes Obama different from so many other political candidates I’ve encountered. Nov. 7, 2007.

(via ChrisBarthol on twitter)

Palin’s poll numbers have fallen dramatically since her nomination, and perhaps most importantly:

The declines in Palin’s ratings have been even more substantial among the very voters Republicans aimed to woo. The percentage of white women viewing her favorably dropped 21 points since early September; among independent women, it fell 24 points.

Conservatives (e.g. Colin Powell) have been swayed by the Palin pick to move to Obama. Arnold Schwarzenegger, still a McCain supporter, can’t really defend the pick:

BROWN: Do you think [Palin is] qualified to be president?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I think that she will get to be qualified.
BROWN: She will get there? What do you mean? She’s not ready yet?
SCHWARZENEGGER: By the time that she is sworn in I think she will be ready.

(source)
TPM has an interactive guilde to conservative politicians, pundits and newspapers citing Palin and endorsing Obama.

Reading these, I’m interested in looking back at my own initial reactions and move to the point where I am today. My initial reaction on Twitter was “Given the alternatives, Palin looks like a smart pick, I guess.. we’ll see.”

That first night, after saying “Who?” like everyone else, I thought she had a real chance to change the dynamics of the race and mix things up, which would be good for McCain. A couple of days later, I wrote a post about experience and preparedness and included some positives about Palin:

Palin has executive governmental experience, unlike any of the other candidates, and has shown an ability to fight through establishment and accomplish some anti-corruption goals. That’s a valuable skill, certainly, and fits well with McCain’s “maverick” theme.

Time has shown those attributes to be oversold, though. She was for the bridge before she was against it, she’s had problems separating her personal and professional life (e.g. troopergate), etc. She showed that she not only had no real foreign policy experience, but she hadn’t really thought about the significant issues to any great degree. She’s not stupid, she’s just not prepared.

I’m relieved that her numbers are tanking like this: she was a cynical and unserious pick, and we saw right through it.

From Sean Quinn’s recent On The Road entry at FiveThirtyEight, a brief story from the field of this election:

I spotted a very old black man in a sharp Sunday suit walking slowly at the very back of the huge march. He hadn’t yet arrived at the voting center, and I decided to find him when I got back.

I wanted to go talk to him, to ask him what this moment meant to him. He was a guy who you take one glance at, and know, that guy’s seen it all. I wanted a quote. I had my journalist hat on. I thought, this will be great.

So when I got back to the voting location with the car, I went to find him in the line. Eventually I spotted him, and was ready to walk up the few feet between us and introduce myself when I stopped in my tracks.

A young black boy, no more than eight years old, walked up to this man, who was at least eighty. The boy offered the man a sticker, probably an “I Voted” sticker, but I couldn’t see. The man took the sticker and paused. Silently, he looked down at the boy, who was looking back up at the man. The man put his hand gently on the boy’s head, and I saw his eyes glisten.

I didn’t ask the man for a quote. I didn’t need to. I walked over by myself, behind the community center, and I sat down on a bench next to the track, and wept.

I can’t imagine what this election must mean to that man.

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama

Robocalls are illegal in Indiana, so they have to get telemarketers to do it. I doubt those who walked off have a ton of spare cash hanging around, either.

Obama’s closing argument in Ohio ties themes of his 2004 convention speech to the topics of the day:

It’s a great expression of the hopefulness and inclusion on which the campaign has been built.

Let’s get to work!

Politico reports:

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

(based upon financial disclosure that the campaigns need to do)

I’m sure some democrats wiill bring up this issue, but it’s stupid. This isn’t the voters’ problem, this is the republicans’ problem. Some republican donors are reportedly upset about the expenditure, as they should be. I’d be bothered if the same thing came out about Obama, as I’ve given to that campaign, but this really doesn’t make a difference to me at all.

While I certainly couldn’t justify spending that much, there is campaign value in having good clothes for your candidate and fammily, as they’re always on TV and need to project a certain image.

Question: What does the Vice President do?
Answer:

[...] They’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better [...]

Someone who’s running for VP
10/20/2008

It’s not impossible that the VP could work closely with senators and preside over legislative business, but they wouldn’t be “in charge” except in a parliamentary role, and taking a role as described would be a significant departure from the role of the VP since at least the 20th century.

From the constitution:

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

From senate.gov:

[T]he vice president is usually seen as an integral part of a president’s administration and presides over the Senate only on ceremonial occasions or when a tie-breaking vote may be needed

“I couldn’t agree with you more than the fact that Western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic, most God-loving, most patriotic part of America.”

John McCain
10/21/2008

Digging back a bit, a Pew study released in September showed that “nearly six in 10 white Southern evangelicals believe torture is justified”, compared to “48 percent of the general public think torture can be justified”.

I can’t say I’m shocked anymore about this, but it should be shocking. Christians should be leading the charge against torture, but they haven’t, and they’ve supported politicians who have tortured in our name. A platform focused on issues of poverty and torture seems so much more relevant to the teachings of Jesus than spending all this time and money obsessing over what gays are doing or abortion. It’s not that I think those are illegitimate issues, I just think the focus is entirely in the wrong place.