The endorsement you wouldn’t want to have.Corrupt and indicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens endorses the John McCain’s choice for VP in this 2006 ad when Palin was running for Governor.
The announcer concludes here that the ad was ‘frugally paid for …’.The cost of this ad was $350,000.Is that frugal?
Script of “Senator Stevens” (TV)
TED STEVENS: We have a state that needs new management.
(Text on screen: Senator Stevens Speaks About New Leadership)
These two people represent a new generation. And they represent a new vision, new energy. They represent the kind of people who ought to come along and take our places.
And that needs a new agenda for all of us to get behind. Think of this: When you go to vote, don’t go to vote alone.
And you’ll help Sarah become the next governor of Alaska, which we all want to see.
ANNOUNCER: Frugally paid for by Palin Parnell, new energy for Alaska. 245 W. 5th, 99501.
(Text on screen: Co-Chairs Wayne A. Ross, Walter J. Hickel)
Computer Models have changed drastically in the last 24 hours.Experts are not certain if the high pressure ridge that is over the Eastern United States will weaken allowing Hanna to turn north over the next few days.
Hurricane Gustav is an extremely dangerous category 4 storm.Winds are 150 mph – moving Northwest at near 15 mph – located 65 miles west southwest of Havana, Cuba.Estimated central pressure is 941 mb or 27.79 inches.
Once it moves past Cuba late tonight, Gustav could strengthen into a category 5 hurricane.
Gustav is expected to make U.S. landfall along the Louisiana coast possibly as a category 4.There is a high pressure area that may deflect Gustav on a more westerly course which would increase the impact on Texas.
Tropical Storm Hanna is out in the Atlantic and is not expected to affect any land for a number of days.Computer models suggest that sometime over the next week, Hanna is expected curve back to the southwest where the storm will head towards the Bahamas and then possibly Cuba.Southeast Florida is still within the ‘cone of uncertainty’.
Hurricane Gustav has strengthened to a major Category 3 storm.Winds are now at 120 mph and is still gaining strength.Gustav is responsible for 71 deaths in the Caribbean.After crossing western Cuba, Gustav will move into the Gulf of Mexico and most models have the storm eventually reaching U.S. landfall in the Louisiana or Texas area.
If you haven’t seen the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, you’re really missing something special.Here, they spoof the John McCain smear ads ‘The One’ and ‘The One: The Road to Denver’ (which was a great Hope and Crosby movie) but it also brilliantly spoofs all those convention videos where they introduce you to the candidate.
I mean Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.She’s a mere 28 years younger than John McCain.So, what does her selection as VP mean?
Palin is 44 years old.She’s considered a maverick in her first term as governor.CNN reports that she is a political outsider.Of course she is – she’s 44 and only served as a mayor and council member in a small Alaskan town.Besides, how much more of a political outsider can you be than Alaska?
I like how this is playing out.Barack Obama is being painted as young and inexperienced so he brings in an older, experienced Joe Biden to balance the ticket.Obama took his perceived weakness and brought in someone who is strong in those areas. A well thought out calculated move.
Palin’s constituents
Meanwhile, McCain is perceived to be OLD!Okay, he is OLD!He is being painted as someone who is forgetful and may not make it the full 4 years.So he brings in a running mate who is young.So her inexperience becomes a factor when people realize that she could be the president within 4 years.
Alaska is a small state with a diverse group of constituents (seen here). She treats these constituents exactly as one would expect a Republican politician to.
Palin's role as VP
For McCain, this is a move with pander written all over it.Could Palin be anymore than a Republican pawn here?
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Then again, there is another benefit to having her on the ticket:
Her youth will also come in handy as she can stay awake in meetings.
As the storm exits Jamaica tomorrow and enters the waters of the Caribbean, Gustav will strengthen into a category 1 hurricane.By Sunday, Gustav is expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico as a category 3 and at some point could strengthen into a category 4 hurricane.
Though the future path is uncertain with the unpredictability of tropical cyclones, most computer models agree that Gustav will come ashore the middle of next week somewhere around Louisiana.This could be disastrous for an area that still hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Katrina 3 years ago.
Hanna is moving toward the northwest and is encountering wind sheer which will impede intensification.This situation is expected to continue for a couple of days. Somewhere over the weekend, Hanna could strengthen into a hurricane.
Computer models agree that heading into the middle of next week Hanna will begin to shift back to the southwest toward Florida but where Hanna will actually wind up is quite uncertain.
Joe Biden nailed his acceptance speech last night.His story, presented by his son Beau, is inspirational and truly American.The more I find out about Biden, the more I like and respect the man.I thought he would be a great addition to the ticket, now I see he was the perfect choice.Obama – Biden ’08 seems like one of the great presidential tickets of all time.
What touches me most about Biden is his loyalty to family.The emotion you see in his family – especially the young grandchildren cannot be faked.The pride seen in the eyes of Joe Biden’s mom told me all I needed to know.Joe Biden IS for real and will be a great vice president.
Here, Beau Biden talks of Joe’s story.He describes the accident that took his wife and daughter and how it almost prevented him from ever serving in the US Senate.He talks of Biden before his loquaciousness set in.He talked about his values and of the man.
“Please join me in welcoming my friend, my father, my hero, the next Vice President of the United States Joe Biden.”
After the acceptance speech, Joe’s wife Jill introduced a ‘special guest’ – Barack Obama.
He talked briefly of Biden and his family.Obama stroked both Clinton egos and did it well.
I have posted the post-Biden acceptance speech video because what really made the night for me was watching Biden interact with his family.For the last 3 minutes of this video, you see Biden surrounded by his family.Watch him with his grandchildren.Picture Cheney doing this 8 years ago or Mitt Romney doing it next week.
I wish this video had played a little longer because there is a moment when Biden’s mom had an expression on her face as she looked at her son.Her watery eyes gazed with pride at her son and you knew she wanted him to give her a hug.To me, this was the moment of the convention.
Good news for Florida – Bad news for the Louisiana / Texas coast.
Tropical Storm Gustav has turned to the west and Florida is now out of the ‘cone of uncertainty.’The bad news is Gustav is expected to strengthen back to hurricane force as early as today and after it passes the western tip of Cuba will encounter nothing but open warm water while it treks through the Gulf of Mexico.
Gustav stalled yesterday over Haiti dumping more than 12 inches of rain.There have been 23 reported deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Tropical Depression 8 is out in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean at this time posing no threat to land.She is expected to become Tropical Storm Hanna later today and a hurricane before Labor Day.
[Update: 11 am advisory - TD 8 strengthens into Tropical Storm Hanna.]
The storm is expected to maintain a west-northwesterly / northwesterly track through early next week when most models indicate a turn back to the southwest toward the east coast of Florida.
During the course of 3 days, the political diehards are going to have plenty to chew on.Two weeks of conventions will provide an exorbitant amount of minutiae for us to debate but these 3 days will be the best.
Today we have former President Bill Clinton who was given the task of speaking about national security when he wanted to speak about the economy.Rumor has it that he will weave in his economic message into his speech.
Clinton has not been the greatest surrogate – not for his wife, as he repeatedly put his foot in his mouth and not for Obama where he has indicated that Obama wasn’t ready to lead and had also made another boneheaded statement the other day.
“Suppose you’re a voter, and you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?”-Bill Clinton
Bill, Bill, Bill.He did correct himself by saying that he wasn’t referring to this election.Nice save.
At the same time, Bill Clinton has been an incredible speaker – especially when it was a prepared speech.If he stays on message, this truly can be a great speech and a great 1-2 punch with Hillary’s awesome speech last night.Then again, it will be fun to watch.
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It’s Nomination Day!Barack Obama gets nominated and can drop the word presumed from in front of his current title.Today, he becomes the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States.
All eyes will be on how they handle the roll call for Hillary Clinton’s delegates.Since the PUMAs high-tailed it out of Denver, we shouldn’t have to worry about them tonight.
If you can use a big laugh (and who couldn’t), Bruce from the bruce blog has a hilarious post today on the PUMAs.[Click here to read his post].
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Tonight, the night belongs to Joe Biden.After 2 attempts at the presidential prize – the first 20 years ago – Biden will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination as Vice President.The man is a sound bite machine.I am highly looking forward to seeing him speak tonight.
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Not to sound negative, but who scheduled all those speakers between Clinton and Biden?There are some everyday people in there – and I actually like some of their stories.We also have John Kerry, Bill Richardson and tonight we all find out who Chet Edwards is.He was mentioned as a late VP possibility when it was leaked that Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine were out of the running.
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So far, it seems that the DNC is keeping a lid on the festivities for tomorrow except that INVESCO Field will host Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.Seventy-five thousand people will watch Obama give the speech of a lifetime.Get your TiVo’s ready.
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On Friday, John McCain turns SEVENTY-TWO.72!Good lord, he’s 72!
And for his grand festivities, McCain is scheduled to announce his VP choice.Mitt Romney?Rudy 911-iani?Traitor Joe Lieberman?Tim Pawlenty?Donald Rumsfeld?Karl Rove?Jeb Bush?Charlie Crist?Bobby Jindal?Mike Huckabee?How about Fred Thompson for good measure?
As long as McCain doesn’t have cake while Hurricane Gustav is coming ashore along the Gulf of Mexico . . .
I’ve been blogging about Tropical Storm Fay and now Hurricane Gustav but have you noticed the current projection map . . . and the timing?
Come Monday, a category 3 Hurricane Gustav should be somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.It should be bearing down on the Texas or Louisiana coast.And the oil rigs in the gulf will be in harm’s way.
Also scheduled for Monday – The Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.We’ll all be watching, except for the cities that will be glued to the approaching hurricane.
Somewhere between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, the storm should be barreling into the U.S. shoreline.If power is lost in that region, there will be a decent number of Americans in Red States who will not be able to see the VP candidate speak on Wednesday or McCain speak on Thursday.And when do Bush and Cheney speak?
As I have said, I live in Hurricane Alley and blog about the storms.They are to be taken seriously because you never know what to expect.
The irony here is that the Republican Party has a strong history of treating Americans in hurricane ravaged areas really poorly.(Actually it is all disaster ravaged areas.)So, their convention – where they can expect a huge bump in the polls – will run face-to-face with a strong Hurricane Gustav.
How will the GOP respond to the areas hit by this storm?
Will McCain vow to actually respond to hurricane victims if he is elected president?
Will his thoughts and prayers be with the victims and families?
How can they talk about offshore drilling when the offshore rigs are vulnerable to these storms?
Who will the GOP blame?
How will they determine that Barack Obama caused this?
Personally, I’d prefer it if this storm fizzles out and the GOP convention were to go off without a hitch.America needs to see what an angry, bitter, mean and selfish group of people these Republican leaders are.
