An op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal ("The McCain Change") questioned McCain strategy of focusing so heveily on character and experience at the expense of the economy. Here is an excerpt: ...Mr. McCain will have to resist the temptation to fight this election mainly on character and experience. His own campaign manager suggested this week that this election will be about "character" more than issues. But that is a losing strategy in a year when the electorate is also looking for change at home, especially a stronger economy and rising after-tax, after-inflation incomes. Mr. McCain can only win if his character advantage is applied to an agenda of genuine change. What is this change? For all of McCain talk about being a maverick and reformer he has yet on the campaign trail specifically lay out programs and policies that will address America's economic problems. Maybe Cindy McCain will sell her wardrobe on Ebay to help pay down the national debt.

E.J Dionne in today’s Washington Post has a good op-ed piece on how John McCain has stopped being the maverick that made him so popular eight years ago.

On top of longing for an idealized past that has never existed, during her speech tonight Cindy McCain mentioned that she was hockey mom like Gov. Palin.  I am from a middle class community and I never heard of any hockey, soccer, or baseball mom wearing $300,000 in clothing and accessories. So much for trying to identify with everyday Americans. 

The one thing I noticed from the speeches tonight is that theme was to question Barack Obama's and the Democratic party's patriotism.

Lindsey Graham attacks were particularly jingoistic: 

The New York Times has an interesting article that analyzes the long road ahead for Gov. Palin.  Here is an except that characterize what Ms. Palin will encounter on the campaign trail:

From here, Ms. Palin moves into a national campaign where she will have to appeal to audiences that are not necessarily primed to adore her. She will have to navigate far less controlled campaign settings that will test not only her political skills but also her knowledge of foreign and domestic policy. And she must convince the country she is prepared to be vice president at a time when the definition of that job has been elevated to the status of governing partner — something voters might have been reminded of Wednesday by images of Vice President Dick Cheney embarking on a mission to war-torn

Despite the Sarah Palin "lovefest" and McCain's "big speech," the historical significance of Obama's candidacy is not lost on prominent Black conservatives such as Armstrong Williams, Tara Wall, and Lenny McCallister.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland comments in The Hill are indicative of how Republican have used anti-intellectualism to win elections for the three decades.  The implication of his comments are stark.  In his view, if you study hard, attend the best schools, make a nice living for yourselves, and are a democrat you are unfit to lead.  What is also disturbing is that his comments imply that because Obama and his wife are African-American intellectuals they are somehow a threat to "traditional American values."

What is interesting to me is that Mr. Westmoreland endorsed Mitt Romeny before he supported Senator John McCain.  So the question is why isn't Mittt Romeny and labled as an uppity elitist even though he has vast wealth and failed to empathize with the everyday struggles of hardworking Americans.  On the other hand, there is John McCain who is also from considerable wealth and as out of touch with the struggles of hardworking Americans. Again, why isn't he labeled as an uppity elitist?

Republican Joe Bruno, former New York Senate majority leader, called Obama a "wimp" and compared him to disgraced former governor Elliott Spitzer at a breakfast for the New York delegation.  Here is his Obama-Spitzer comparison:

Who was more articulate than Eliot Spitzer?… For those of you in the press - don’t forget. Glib, fancy, dancy, prancy…70% of the vote… Why? Marketing, selling. Was it him? Think about it. Was that him? Was that real? Hell no.
Who was the first person who said he wasn’t fit for the Executive? [audience responds with different answers] Joe Bruno! [Bruno talks to the audience] Where were you? [he said “You have people like him (Spitzer), who fool the people…for eight years, he was my best friend. Why? Because he needed stuff….Once he was in office, he became like a despot. What was it? He was an effing steamroller….he got it half-right. [laughs]  That’s what dangerous in this country. You have people like him. Who fool the people. Let’s fast forward to Barack Obama. Everybody says, man, he’s articulate…what a presence, how bright, good American, stand-up guy. Yeah, he’s all of those Hollywood things…What has his life been about? The leadership here, the people here, to go out from here and help your neighbors, help your family, with the press, simply tell it like it is. Who do you want to lead this country and the free world?…somebody who talks the talk, or people who walk the walk?

This is so off the mark.  Mr. Spitzer had a longstanding reputation as a hot head.  Nothing in Obama's story would lead anyone to believe that he will govern as irresponsibly as Mr. Spitzer did in his short tenure as New York Governor. Maybe Mr. Bruno should focus on his own eithcial problems instead of using the Obama's candidacy to settle a score with Mr. Spitzer.

In classic Republican style CNN's Leslie Sanchez is lauding Sarah Palin as the "VP for the rest of us".  She cites her experience as a hockey mom as "proof:"

She knows how hard it is to raise children in a culture where every time they're out of your sight, they're tuning into a multibillion-dollar music, computer game, Internet and film empire that promulgates messages frequently at odds with small-town American values. It is an industry well-represented among the power elites of the Washington Beltway.

Isn't funny how Republicans discount  the fact that Michelle Obama is a devoted mother of two that has dealt with these issues.  Considering that she was full-time lawyer and hospital executive until her husband ran for president, she has had to deal with balancing the rigors of work and motherhood.  One should take issue with how Ms. Sanchez frames Sarah Palin's experience as a mother.  Michelle Obama grew up in a modest home in Chicago's gritty south side, worked hard, overcame the odds, and attended two ivy league schools.  Isn't that what we call the American Dream? Isn't that something that many Americans can identify with?  Is that really elitist? 

It has only been a day since Gov. Palin's speech but I am sick of hearing that if you grow up modestly and then persevere against all the odds, but are not from small-town America you are somehow an elitist.

In classic style America's Dictator Rudy Guiliani cited in his convention speech speech that Obama record in the Illinois Senate is evidence that he is incapable of making a tough decision.

Then he ran for — then he ran for the state legislature and he got elected. And nearly 130 times, he couldn’t make a decision. He couldn’t figure out whether to vote “yes” or “no.” It was too tough.

Rudy says this even though these present votes were a very small fraction of the 3,000-4,000 votes Obama cast in his nine year tenure as an Illinois State Senator.

Maybe Rudy conveniently forgot, which he seems to be good at, that his candidate John McCain was so busy running for president that he missed nearly two-thirds of the votes this congressional session (which included a Medicare bill that the ailing Ted Kennedy flew in to cast his vote; and both Obama and Clinton left the campaign trail of numerous occasions to cast important votes) and in the book The Real McCain, Cliff Schecter provides unequivocal evidence (from the congressional record) that throughout his legislative career McCain has often not voted on difficult issues and only voted when the issue would help his political career.

So who is the real opportunist here?  Who is the one that can't make a tough decision?  I will leave that for you to answer

In his post on National Review Online conservative economist/commentator Lawrence Kudlow said that Gov. Palin's and Rudy speeches miss the point that the economy and not values alone are foremost concern of voters.

Foremost, I do not think Palin connected with folks on the economic slump, nor did she present an economic-growth recovery plan. Rudy Giuliani made the first foray into that area in his speech when he talked about restoring economic growth through tax cuts and drilling. (Palin also fingered Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal. Good.) But he didn’t get to gas pump prices, or the oil-shock-driven consumer shortfall in real purchasing power, or the threat of more job losses and higher unemployment that are casting shadows over public confidence and the investor-class stock market.

Hammering the Democrats on values and patriotism is not going to wash with voters. ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID!!!!!  This is just another of numerous examples that McCain and Palin are not going to be ready on Day 1 to act a responsible steward of the economy.

In his speech at the Republican National Convention former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani went out of his way to label Barack Obama an elitist.

Gov. Palin represents a new generation. She’s already one of the most successful governors in America and the most popular. And she’s already had more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket combined. She’s been a mayor. I love that. I’m sorry — I’m sorry that Barack Obama feels that her hometown isn’t cosmopolitan enough. I’m sorry, Barack, that it’s not flashy enough. Maybe they cling to religion there.

I think Rudy forgot his "valiant" candidacy for the Presidency where he refused to campaign seriously in the small towns of Iowa and New Hampshire.  He also forgot his brief New York senatorial campaign where he did not campaign in any of the small towns and counties in Upstate New York.  His rival Hillary Clinton (who in his view was a carpetbagging elitist) campaigned hard in these small upstate towns.  I wonder if these areas were not flashy enough for Rudy to keep exploiting his role as mayor during 9/11.  Being a long time New York area resident this is vintage Rudy--vilify and slander your opponents as much as possible without first looking at his own questionable conduct.  The defined his tenure as the dictator of New York City and now in his role as McCain's lackey.

Even though the Republican National Convention is dominating the media, Detroit got some relief today.  Kwame Kilpatirck, finally plead guilty to a felony charge and agreed to resign as Detroit's mayor.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty on Thursday to obstruction of justice in a plea agreement that will force him from office and cap a scandal that had threatened to affect the presidential campaign in a key battleground state.

Thank god that Mr Kirkpatrick finally came to his senses.  Now Governor Granholm can put this distraction aside and focus on fixing Michigan's economy and campaigning for Obama in a state that may decide the election.

Its funny in Gov. Palin's speech she degraded the community organizer profession.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

I always think it's funny that Republican create this myth that community organizers are elitist and out step with American values even though they are the ones that have gone into these small towns and fought for worker rights, civil rights, and heath care.  If it was not for community organizers many of the issues that devastated these small towns would never have been addressed. 

The Northwest Progressive Policy Institute, has a comprehensive response to Sarah Palin's asinine comments about community organizers. NPPI offers four reasons why  Palin and McCain have such disdain for community organizers.

1. Community organizers work to bring people together for the common good. The only interest Governor Palin and Senator McCain care about is their own interest (and likely the rate their bank gives them).
2. Community organizers frequently assist the poor to improve their circumstances. Senator McCain, Governor Palin and their fellow Republicans only care about improving the circumstances of corporate America and the richest 1%.
3. Community organizers work for change. Barack Obama will bring us change we can believe in. Senator McCain and Governor Palin love the status quo and will bring us four more years of the same old thing.
4. Community organizers develop leaders among regular folk, like you, me and our neighbors. Senator McCain and Governor Palin fear regular people coming into power because it will put a halt to the gravy train that they and their rich friends are on, and send them off into the political wilderness.

I guess they are afraid of change that will empower communities rather than empowering wealthy individuals and corporate interests.

While Gov. Palin speech last night energized the Republican base, it just proves that both McCain and Palin just don't get it.   McCain, ad nasuem, has criticized Obama as being all style and no substance.  However in Palin's speech she talked alot about her "small-town values" and so-called reforms but did not adequately lay out her case as to how she will be ready to dive in Day 1 and to help McCain take care of the vast economic problems facing our country.

I guess the Republicans are using the strategy they have used for the last two decades--use values as a wedge to trump the dire economic situation many face in small-towns around America.

Senator John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is indicative of the hair- trigger judgment he would use as commander-in-chief.  Additionally, how the McCain campaign and other Republicans have framed Governor Palin’s dirty laundry, highlights the ridiculous hypocrisy that is the Republican party.  Let’s look at the charges leveled against Barack Obama's values and patriotism and compare them to Governor Palin’s record of values and patriotism.

Senator John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is indicative of the hair- trigger judgment he would use as commander-in-chief.  Additionally, how the McCain campaign and other Republicans have framed Governor Palin’s dirty laundry, highlights the ridiculous hypocrisy that is the Republican party.  Let’s look at the charges leveled against Barack Obama's values and patriotism and compare them to Governor Palin’s record of values and patriotism.