A week and a half ago 300,000 people were without power here. Traffic lights weren't working for days.
Today the power goes out again in large parts of Kettering, Centerville, and Beavercreek and people STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN A TRAFFIC LIGHT ISN'T WORKING?!?! Seriously?! A week and a half ago NO traffic lights were working. How have people not figured it out yet?!
Former Democratic Congressional candidate and wunderkind Paul Hackett on Daily Kos:
Both elements of strategy, an offensive and defensive plan appear to be absent in Southern Ohio.The solution rests with local surrogates on the ground spreading the attack face to face coupled with an air campaign via radio and TV.
The message is simple and the professionals can refine it but essentially it should contain these elements:
"Sarah Palin? Can't keep her solemn oath of devotion to her husband and had sex with his employee. Sarah Palin? Accidentally got pregnant at age 43 and the tax payers of Alaska have to pay for the care of her disabled child. Sarah Palin? Unable to teach her 16 year old daughter right from wrong and now another teenager is pregnant. Sarah Palin? Can you trust Sarah Palin and her values with America's future? John McCain? Divorced from his first wife one month and marries a billionaire influence peddler and convicted felon. John McCain, a record of rash and impulsive decisions. That's not change that's more of the same."
Stay classy Paul Hackett.
My admittedly biased take...
It wasn't the most soaring of rhetoric, and with McCain it was never going to be. But to a certain extent I think I fell in love with the idea of John McCain somewhere between the beginning of the introductory video and the end of the speech. The idea of a man who has truly given his life to his country and a man who has put his country first. Senator McCain may have fallen in love with his country while in another person's country, but I think I fell in love with John McCain when I fully realized the love he had for his country. There's a real power to his character and a real contrast with Senator Obama. You can really see that contrast just in their bio videos. Obama's was a video about... Obama. About his search for himself. John McCain's was a litany of the ways in which he has devoted himself to his country. What he has done for his country.
I went in to the speech with a McCain pin alongside a McCain button on my shirt, but I don't think I truly appreciated John McCain's story.
Some are going to say he doesn't stand a chance, but they've been saying something similar for 8 years straight. There is a path to victory for John McCain here if they play their cards right and for the past month they've shown that they can in fact play their cards right.
It's on.
She's certainly a fighter. She's authentic, she's serious, she's gotten results in the past, she gives a darn good speech, she won't be backing down to Joe Biden, and she won't be backing down to Barack Obama.
The constant attacks on Gov Palin have been staggering (and probably entirely predictable). In the past we've been able to diagnose this as "Bush Derangement Syndrome", but I have a feeling we've moved into a new era here and are in need of new terminology. As such I would like to humbly offer this:
Palinoia: The belief that the subject's lack of knowledge about another person is evidence of that other person's lack of knowledge.
Barack Obama being interviewed by Anderson Cooper earlier:
COOPER: And, Senator Obama, my final question -- your -- some of your Republican critics have said you don't have the experience to handle a situation like this. They in fact have said that Governor Palin has more executive experience, as mayor of a small town and as governor of a big state of Alaska.What's your response?
OBAMA: Well, you know, my understanding is, is that Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We have got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.
So, I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear...
Is that really the game he wants to play? 2,500 employees and a budget of about $36 million a month? Perhaps someone should inform him that the state of Alaska (of which Gov Palin is the Chief Executive) has approximately 15,000 employees and a monthly total budget in excess of $1.14 billion.
Using your campaign as executive experience is pretty weak to begin with, but doubly so when you don't realize your "less experienced" opponent is running an operation with 6 times the people and 34 times the budget.
