One Debate Down...

Tonight was the first debate.  I'm sorry to say that I am disappointed in my candidate.  He let McCain interrupt him and he also kept saying that he agreed with McCain.  The Republicans will certainly use that to their advantage.  All in all it lacked energy and was, frankly, boring.

The most exciting part of the night came after the debate when Biden did the follow up.  He was dynamic, energetic, positive.  And then who spoke on behalf of McCain? Uh, that should have been his running mate, right?  Nope.  She is missing in action, so who stepped in?  Rudolph Giuliani. 

How pathetic.  The Republican VP candidate can't be allowed to speak on her own.  Get this:  a friend told me that given McCain's age, health problems, etc., actuaries say there is a 66% chance Sarah Palin would become President in McCain's first term.  I'm with Jack Cafferty, that does scare the hell out of me.  God help us all.

When will he learn?

Here I am back thinking about Clinton.  Bill, not Hillary.  Would Bill just shut up?  Could he just say nothing, if he can't say anything nice about Obama?  He continues to give aid and comfort to the Republicans that we don't need right now.  Has he forgotten that he was the leader of the Democratic Party?  Has he forgotten that he got us into this mess?  Has he forgotten that the Republicans have used every dirty smear they could think of against him, his wife, and his daughter?  Now is not the time to say anything, and I mean anything, that could possibly be construed as positive about McCain and Palin.  Just STOP calling McCain "my friend."  McCain is most certainly not your friend Bill.  He is an acquaintance, but not a friend.  Those swing voters, you know, the ones who voted for you, are needed now.  Any bit of praise you give to McCain/Palin will be an excuse for those voters to say to themselves, "Well, Bill thinks they're ok."  The First Dude doesn't need your advice, so just keep it to yourself.

  

Spontaneous Patriotism

Last night was the opening of the Metropolitan Opera.  The performance was simulcast in theatres all around the world.  Before the performance began, the evening started with Maestro Levine leading the orchestra playing The Star Spangled Banner.  Here's what happened in Lowell, Massachusetts:  the entire movie theatre audience rose and many sang our national anthem.  I don't know when I have felt more connected to my country.  No one told anyone to stand.  It was spontaneous, by choice, and moving.  No announcer said (like at baseball games), "Please rise for the singing of the national anthem."  I wish just that act of patriotism could be shown on television so people who think those who attend opera are unpatriotic snobs, etc. could see otherwise.  It isn't just country music fans who love our country.

Oh yeah, and Renee Fleming was the diva to end all divas and sang pretty darn well too...

Throwing her daughter under the bus, continued

Well, well, well...someone else thinks Palin threw Bristol under the bus...read on...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonnie-fuller/sarah-palin-she-has-chose_b_123282.html

Here's the quote:

--No wonder getting pregnant in high school is truly a girl's worst nightmare, points out Atoosa Rubenstein, the founding editor-in-chief of CosmoGIRL! magazine, and later the editor of Seventeen magazine. Bristol Palin should have "the protection of her mother right now and not be paraded around as a platform. She should have had the privacy to make her own difficult choices and now she has to support her mother's ambitions and policies regardless of what she wants for herself — she's been thrown under a bus," believes Rubenstein.--

Republican racism, hyperbole, downright lies...

Only the Republicans could turn a black kid working hard and getting a good education into a negative.  Phyllis Schlafly said on NPR that Obama is "elite" (and she wasn't saying it in a good way) because he went to "$17,000/year prep school" (I have no idea whether that is true) and an expensive college.  Sarah Palin on the other hand "has worked with her hands."  You have got to be kidding me.  This is racism plain and simple.  I guess black boys shouldn't be going to good schools.  But on to the GOP Convention...

Remember all that "family privacy" Palin was demanding?  Well, she flew in Levi Johnston, father of the illegitimate yet to be born child of her 17 year old daughter, to parade in front of the convention and the television cameras.  Palin said her family was like any other.  Uh, I think not. 

Was last night the most strident, vicious string of speeches ever?  How do they get away with the lies?  Huckabee said that Palin received more votes for Mayor than Biden did for president.  This is not an opinion statement.  It is a fact statement, but the problem is that it ISN'T TRUE.  It isn't even remotely true.  The Washington Post has the numbers.  Biden 63,157.  I think that is more than the total population of Wasilla which now stands at 9780.

Mitt Romney railed on about the "eastern elites."  What the heck is he?  Let's see, how about the ex-Governor of MASSACHUSETTS with a networth according to Money of $202 million dollars.  On top of that he is a Havard grad, you know, that "elite" school in Cambridge, Massachusetts not England, the same one Obama attended. (OK, here's a logic test for Schlafly Republicans:  If Obama is an "elite" because he attended Harvard and Romney attended Harvard, what is Romney?)  How much more "eastern elite" could you get?  I guess he loses the who has the most houses contest with McCain though because as I recall, he has a home in Belmont, MA, a lake house in NH, and a home in Utah.  That's only three to McCain's 7, 8, or is it 9?  

Giuliani?  What can I say.  He was the same Giuliani who LOST and that speech showed why.  The perfect lead up to Sarah Palin, the best speech reader ever.  She said NOTHING about what she and her running mate will do.  Nothing about the economy, nothing about health care, as Giuliani said, NADA.  There was nothing there but rhetoric.  Let's hope she doesn't get to play the double standard game when her lack of substance is attacked by saying, "You bad man, how can you attack a girl?"

Finally, if there is anything that could energize Democrats to GOTV, last night was it.  Now to find the Nashua, NH,  Obama-Biden office... 

P.S.  I started writing this on the 2nd, but didn't post until the 4th.  Somehow blogspot is determined to show this as being posted on the 2nd.

  

 

Palin Throws Daughter Under Bus

The hypocrisy of the Republicans will never cease to amaze me.  The soon to be nominated VP candidate Sarah Palin threw her daughter under the bus.  Why?  Because there were stupid nasty rumors that her Down Syndrome infant was really the child of her 17 year old daughter.  So what would you do if "they" were saying things like that about you?  How about nothing or if you felt like you really, really had to say something releasing your hospital records or maybe some photos of you after the birth of your child.  But no, this wonderful, bright woman decided to out her 17 year old daughter with the news that the girl is 5 months pregnant.  Oh, and we were also assured by Palin that her daughter would be marrying Levi, the father of the child.  Oh and THEN she said the family needed privacy.   Sort of like the guy who kills his parents and then asks for the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.  What narcissism.  I repeat, she threw her daughter under the bus for her own ambition.  Shameful.