Monthly Archives: August 2008

Convention Cut Back

Earlier today, John McCain directed that the Republican National Convention be scaled back because of Hurricane Gustav. Tomorrow’s program has been cut from seven to two and a half hours, with only “essential business” being conducted. Neither President Bush nor Vice-President Cheney will address the convention, as had been planned. Further, McCain announced that an airplane has been chartered to fly Gulf State delegates back to their home states so »

Is Sarah Palin a token?

I have long respected the views of the Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald, even when I occsionally disagree with them. I am therefore mulling over her vigorous dissent from Senator McCain’s selection of Governor Palin as his running mate in “Sarah Palin (R-Diversity).” Mac Donald foresees that, as a result of Palin’s selection, Senator McCain “has just ensured that the diversity racket will be an essential component of presidential politics »

A Party Organ Shifts Into High Gear

The Washington Post (editorial page excepted) has been leading the cheers for Barack Obama for some time. The Post outdid itself on Friday morning. Here are the headlines it ran for the four stories that appeared on page 1: 1. “Obama, Accepting Nomination, Draws Sharp Contrast Contrast With McCain — 84,000 pack stadium to hear candidate close convention with policy specifics and pointed criticism of the Republicans” (I noticed those »

Democrats Root For Hurricane

It’s no secret that Democrats love it when things go wrong. This, though, is a particularly nauseating example. Don Fowler, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Democratic Congressman Don Spratt are caught on video laughing about the fact that a hurricane is about to hit New Orleans, to the political advantage, they suppose, of their party: This is what Hurricane Katrina was all about. Mainstream reporters committed malpractice, »

Reporting From the Minnesota State Fair

Today we did our second show from the Minnesota State Fair. I took two of my daughters along and toured the Fairgrounds a bit when the show was over. We’ve learned that we can’t do our regular studio show when we’re broadcasting live from the Fair, with an audience. Serious political talk gets boring in that environment. So the show is mostly Fair-related, with politics worked in around the edges. »

Governor Palin speaks and jabs

Maria Bartiromo interviewed Sarah Palin on CNBC last week before her selection was announced. The nearly twelve-minute interview is to be aired today. The interview focuses on energy exploration in Alaska and shows Governor Palin getting in a jab or two against Obama and Biden. It’s an impressive performance on an issue with respect to which Governor Palin has something important to offer Senator McCain. Via NRO’s Planet Gore. To »

Memories from the back of the bus, Part Two

Abe Greenwald, one of my very favorite bloggers, recalls another occasion (this one in January 2008) on which McCain articulated what he’d be looking for in a running mate. This time, McCain said his choice would have strong national security credentials. As Abe goes on to show, Palin has said, in response to questions about Iraq, that she “hasn’t focused much on Iraq” (early 2007) and “is not going to. »

True Grit, I hope, part 2

Just for fun, I asked David Lunde of Lundesigns if he would photoshop an image to go with my conception of John McCain as Rooster Cogburn to Sarah Palin’s Mattie Ross. He has kindly responded with the image below. To comment on this post, go here. »

Memories from the back of the bus

When I traveled with Senator McCain last November, just about the first question he answered was, what will you look for in a running mate. McCain responded that, first and foremost, he would want someone already qualfied to be president. Second, he said that because the economy is not his strong-suit, he would want someone with strong expertise in this area. McCain did not say he wanted someone who would »

Pullin’ for Palin

In early June Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Jack Kelly commended Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate in this column. The column is particularly interesting in retrospect. Today Kelly himself takes a look back. Far from patting himself on the back, Kelly now measures the potential risk and reward in Palin’s selection: There is no such thing as the perfect candidate. The knock on Sarah Palin would be her relative inexperience. »

Obama’s Bounce

Rasmussen Reports shows Barack Obama with a four-point lead this morning. Last night was the first time Rasmussen’s survey followed both Obama’s convention speech and McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin. While a few interviews would have been conducted Thursday night after Obama’s speech, for practical purposes today’s result reflects both the speech and Palin’s nomination for the first time. Since Rasmussen’s margin was three points yesterday, the fact that it »

Talk About An Outsider!

More thoughts on Sarah Palin: John McCain must have been cognizant of the stark contrast between Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s Veep choice, and his own selection. Biden has done nothing since he was in his 20s other than sit in the Senate. He is a caricature of the worst sort of Washington politician, a person of limited ability who is intimately tied in to various interests and lobbyists and who, »

The Power of Google Images

In a relatively short time, Google Images has become a huge source of internet traffic. A substantial percentage of our traffic comes from Google searches, and a rapidly growing segment of that comes from image searches. I was reminded of this once more when I checked the numbers and found that over the past 12 hours, nearly 18,000 people have found their way to Power Line by searching “Sarah Palin” »

True Grit, I hope

Like John and Paul, I was disappointed when I heard this morning that Senator McCain had called on Sarah Palin to be his running mate. I was disappointed mostly because I thought that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was the right man for the job. Watching Governor Pawlenty up close over the last 10 years or so, I was impressed by his personal story and likability. Tim is virtually impossible to »

The Bright Side

Paul and I have already voiced our concerns about John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin for Vice-President. Now it’s time to look at the upside. In fact, there is a lot to like about Palin. To begin with, her nomination provoked a typically mean-spirited reaction from the Obama campaign: Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from »

Disappointed

I’m very disappointed that John McCain would put someone as inexperienced and lacking in foreign policy and national security background as Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency. UPDATE: During lunch, I saw Palin’s speech. She looks great on the stump and speaks very well. Her husband, it turns out, is a member of the Steelworkers Union, and looks like he was sent by central casting. Palin praised Geraldine »

Palin, Not Pawlenty?

I’ve suspected for a while that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty would be John McCain’s choice for VP, but it’s not to be. Pawlenty told a local radio station this morning that he’s heading for the Minnesota State Fair, not Dayton, Ohio. “You can draw your own conclusions,” he added. Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that Sarah Palin flew from Anchorage to Dayton last night. If that’s right, it looks like she’s »