McCain & Palin

Excerpt from the lead editorial in the New York Times, Sunday, September 8th:

Mr. McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate raises even more worrisome questions. Her strategy is drill here, drill there, drill now.

She would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a heartbeat --- something Mr. McCain continues to oppose. She has sued the Bush administration for declaring the polar bear a threatened species, fearing it would interfere with oil exploration in Alaskan waters. She has questioned whether humans are responsible for climate change. Governor Palin's views are alarmingly out of touch with reality. No less alarming was Mr. McCain's decision to welcome them into his campaign.

We must be very, very careful in the voting booths eight weeks from tomorrow.

The Eagleton effect

For those of you too young to remember, Senator Thomas Eagleton was chosen by George McGovern as his running mate in 1972. He lasted only 18 days, after revelations that he had suffered from depression and had been subjected to electroshock therapy. So much for Eagleton, so much for McGovern. Though I'm afraid McGovern never had much of a chance to unseat Richard Nixon anyway. (Nixon himself was unseated two years later when he was forced to resign the presidency over the Watergate scandal.)

So, now we have Sarah Palin named by John McCain as his choice for the v.p. nomination and the media is going crazy as revelation after revelation comes out. Rather than detailing them all here, I urge you to go to the Colonel's blog and read his multiple postings on the subject.

So...is Governor Palin this year's Eagleton? Will she survive? It's not looking good for her at present but John McCain is a stubborn man. At any rate, for this blogger, politics has become fun again.

Sleepy Smoke

This is a lazed-out Smoke.

Ha! Bet you thought I was asleep, didn't you!!!!

American Politics

Announcing Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential pick one day after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention was John McCain's ploy to take the attention of the media away from Barack Obama's marvelous speech of the night before.

But what now? Not only has the attention to Palin been taken away by the oncoming Hurricane Gustav but the Republican Convention is in turmoil, with McCain on t.v. today telling his folks to "take off their Republican hats and put on your American hats." (He had barely finished speaking when I received a telephone call from a friend who asked "What is McCain doing? He was talking like he already has been elected and is running the country!") Gustav has also caused the cancellation of speeches by Bush and Cheney to the convention and apparently shortened the convention itself.

Earlier today, the BRD called to say "Remember how the Republicans were praying for a thunderstorm to wash out Obama's speech the last night of the Democrat convention? Now look what's happening to their convention! They should be careful what they pray for!"

I was tempted to call her back later and sing "Obama will win now . . . with God on his side!"

Meanwhile, back to Palin. I have several friends who live and formerly lived in Juneau, Alaska. While one says she is smart, tough and dedicated to her family, others deride the choice of a woman with so little experience being a heartbeat from the presidency. Particularly with a 72 year old president with health problems.

She also believes in:

• Teaching intelligent design alongside evolution in the schools.
• Drilling for oil in the ANWR area of Alaska.
• Global warming is NOT human-caused.
• Women should not have the right to decide for themselves whether to end a pregnancy.
• The war in Iraq is a good thing.

She also refuses to live in the governor's mansion in Juneau, preferring instead to remain in her home in Wasilla, a long air flight away. And, despite campaign promises to the contrary, would like the state capitol moved from Juneau to Anchorage.

I'm sorry, folks, this woman is not playing with a full deck, no matter how many fish she catches and how many moose-burgers she consumes.

Sarah who???

The pick of Senator John McCain to be his running mate. Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Click on the bottom picture to read the caption.

Transformation

I've said it before: Barack Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention tonight was a transformational moment. He made his first big impression on the national conscience four years ago when he gave a speech at the convention of that year.

People began to notice him.

Tonight, I can't imagine anyone, even my lifelong Republican father, who couldn't have been moved by this speech. Granted, he is a natural orator. But tonight he overcame all the rhetoric and got down to the points of his "change."

I was a supporter of Hillary Clinton to the end of the primaries. But tonight, I totally came over to the Obama side. For the first time, I saw not only the high-minded speechifying but the true measure of the man.

I will be proud to do what I can to elect Barack Obama the next president and I think he may go down in history as one of our best.

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Other convention highlights:

The speeches of Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton. I thought Joe Biden's speech was good but not great. Although I didn't see all of it, I gather the speech by the governor of Montana was quite a barnburner too.

I was quite happy not to see any sign of John Edwards.

Contrary to the view of Colonel Colonel, I think the Clintons were spectacular at this convention and both of their speeches were great.

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AND, I thought Michael McDonald's verson of "America" was nearly as good as the late great Ray Charles'.

Carpentry

The BRD is moving out in less than a month. She bought a house in the next town over . . about 11 miles from here. Since the other half of the duplex will be rented out to strangers, she decided to put a wall between the two halves of the back patio. Up until now it's just been one big open space, which none of us really used because of the shared front patio.

So she hired a carpenter. The guy she had used once before, who did exemplary work, never answered her phone calls this time so she found a different guy.

SWMBO asked if she could have him build a ramp down from our back door to the ground, a distance of about three feet. SWMBO's ailing knees can't handle steps very well any more but since we would now be using the back yard for our outdoor time, she needed a comfortable way to get down there.

Well, after two or three weeks, here's what the guy has accomplished. (And he hasn't shown up since last Friday.)

SWMBO says it's typical of construction guys. They take on two many jobs all at once and then go from one site to another, doing work for the person who yells the loudest.

And let's face it. As the guy pointed out the last time he was here, we can get down to the back yard now though I don't think SWMBO will attempt it until the job is more done and the promised railing is in place.

Meantime, the wall between the two yards? Hasn't been started yet.

I think I need Mike.