Above: A radio spot by the victorious Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, which aired in Memphis, & was voiced-over by a prominent retired African-American judge.

He didn’t have to do it. He had a commanding lead all year long, & could have coasted with just the party faithful.

But to his credit, Alexander’s strategy helped him carry a sizable segment of the black vote on November 4th:

“While colleagues like Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina were coming out on the losing end in part because of a strong African-American vote for their opponents, Mr. Alexander, who had a record of appointing blacks to government and education positions, was able to win about 26 percent of the black vote.”

Kleinheider:

“It’s something deserving of at least grudging political respect, if not outright kudos.”

You’d think this is a strategy that would at least cross the mind of a Senator who’s in the fight for his life one state to the south.

But instead… this is what we’re hearing:

“We didn’t get our folks to come out & vote..”

This isn’t an isolated incident, either.

Scroll up & watch that Lamar radio ad again.

I believe both members of Tennessee’s Senate delegation are worthy of praise for recognizing the future.

I also believe Senator Chambliss embarassingly represents a part of the GOP’s past that it should (& eventually will) forget, for its own good.

What do you think?

Remember Jessica? She used to report for NewsChannel9 & anchor the weekend newscasts.

Now she’s making news of her own, as a spokeswoman for a controversial Georgia congressman:

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican congressman from Georgia is standing by comments that he fears President-elect Barack Obama could be planning to build a domestic security force so that he can impose a Marxist dictatorship.
Rep. Paul Broun had sent mixed signals yesterday about retracting his comments, saying in a radio interview that he regretted the way they have been perceived while at the same time issuing a written statement defending them.
But spokeswoman Jessica Morris said today the congressman is “not taking back anything he said.”
In an interview with The Associated Press Monday, Broun pointed to a speech Obama made in July in which he called for a large new civilian security force. Broun compared the proposal to security forces in Nazi Germany and said he was concerned that Obama could be planning something similar.

More here.

Jessica was fun to work with.

Incidentally, I remember she was Condoleezza Rice’s biggest fan.

Also incidentally, I happen to disagree with her boss.

]]> http://vote08.freedomblogging.com/2008/11/12/so-whats-former-nc9er-jessica-morris-up-to-these-days-anyway/7180/feed/ http://vote08.freedomblogging.com/2008/11/07/the-1st-news-conference-as-president-elect/6537/ http://vote08.freedomblogging.com/2008/11/07/the-1st-news-conference-as-president-elect/6537/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:44:53 +0000 Dan Lehr http://vote08.freedomblogging.com/?p=6537 Click here to view the embedded video.

Read the transcript as you watch, after the jump, plus, my take on what worked & what definitely didn’t…

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much.
This morning we woke up to more sobering news about the state of our economy. The 240,000 jobs lost in October marks the 10th consecutive month that our economy has shed jobs. In total, we’ve lost nearly 1.2 million jobs this year, and more than 10 million Americans are now unemployed. Tens of millions of families are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and stay in their homes. Their stories are an urgent reminder that we are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we’re going to have to act swiftly to resolve it.

Now, the United States has only one government and one president at a time, and until January 20th of next year, that government is the current administration. I have spoken to President Bush. I appreciate his commitment to ensuring that his economic policy team keeps us fully informed as developments unfold. And I’m also thankful for his invitation to the White House.

Immediately after I become president, I’m going to confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity.

This morning I met with members of my Transition Economic Advisory Board, who are standing behind me, alongside my vice president-elect, Joe Biden. They will help to guide the work of my transition team, working with Rahm Emanuel, my chief of staff, in developing a strong set of policies to respond to this crisis. We discussed in the earlier meeting several of the most immediate challenges facing our economy and key priorities on which to focus on in the days and weeks ahead.

First of all, we need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provide relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear. A particularly urgent priority is a further extension of unemployment insurance benefits for workers who cannot find work in the increasingly weak economy. A fiscal stimulus plan that will jump-start economic growth is long overdue. I’ve talked about it throughout this — the last few months of the campaign. We should get it done.

Second, we have to address the spreading impact of the financial crisis on the other sectors of our economy — small businesses that are struggling to meet their payrolls and finance their holiday inventories, and state and municipal governments facing devastating budget cuts and tax increases. We must also remember that the financial crisis is increasingly global and requires a global response.

The news coming out of the auto industry this week reminds us of the hardship it faces — hardship that goes far beyond individual auto companies to the countless suppliers, small businesses and communities throughout our nation who depend on a vibrant American auto industry. The auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing and a critical part of our attempt to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

I would like to see the administration do everything it can to accelerate the retooling assistance that Congress has already enacted. In addition, I have made it a high priority for my transition team to work on additional policy options to help the auto industry adjust, weather the financial crisis, and succeed in producing fuel-efficient cars here in the United States of America. And I was glad to be joined today by Governor Jennifer Granholm, who obviously has great knowledge and great interest on this issue. I’ve asked my team to explore what we can do under current law and whether additional legislation will be needed for this purpose.

Third, we will review the implementation of this administration’s financial program to ensure that the government’s efforts are achieving their central goal of stabilizing financial markets while protecting taxpayers, helping homeowners and not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.

It is absolutely critical that the Treasury work closely with the FDIC, HUD and other government agencies to use the substantial authority that they already have to help families avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.

Finally, as we monitor and address these immediate economic challenges, we will be moving forward in laying out a set of policies that will grow our middle class and strengthen our economy in the long term. We cannot afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle-class families.

My transition team will be working on each of these priorities in the weeks ahead, and I intend to reconvene this advisory board to discuss the best ideas for responding to these immediate problems.

Let me close by saying this: I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead. We have taken some major action to date, and we will need further action during this transition and subsequent months. Some of the choices that we make are going to be difficult. And I have said before and I will repeat again: It is not going to be quick and it is not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in, but America is a strong and resilient country. And I know we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and politics and work together as one nation. That’s what I intend to do.

With that, let me open it up for some questions. And I’m going to start right here with you, Nedra.
Q Thanks, Mr. President-elect. I wonder what you think any president can accomplish during their first hundred days in office to turn the economy around. How far can you go? And what will be your priorities on day one?

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: Well, I think that a new president can do an enormous amount to restore confidence, to move an agenda forward that speaks to the needs of the economy and the needs of middle-class families all across the country. I’ve outlined during the course of the campaign some critical issues that I intend to work on.

We have a current financial crisis that is spilling out into the rest of the economy. And we have taken some action so far. More action is undoubtedly going to be needed. My transition team is going to be monitoring very closely what happens over the course of the next several months.

The one thing I can say with certainty is that we are going to need to see a stimulus package passed either before or after inauguration. We are going to have to focus on jobs, because the hemorrhaging of jobs has an impact obviously on consumer confidence and the ability of people to — to buy goods and services and can have enormous spill-over effects.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And I think it’s going to be very important for us to provide the kinds of assistance, to state and local governments, to make sure that they don’t compound some of the problems that are already out there, by having to initiate major layoffs or initiate tax increases.

So there are some things that we know we’re going to have to do. But I’m confident that a new president can have an enormous impact. That’s why I ran for president.

All right.
Lee.
Q Sir, there’s been some suggestion from House Democrats that the stimulus package may be in trouble, that it’s going to be a hard time getting it out of a lame-duck session.

Are you still confident that you would be able to get something done before you actually take office?
PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: I want to see a stimulus package sooner rather than later. If it does not get done in the lame-duck session, it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States.

Jake.
Q Senator, for the first time since the Iranian Revolution, a president of Iran sent a congratulations note to a new U.S. president.

I’m wondering, first of all, if you responded to President Ahmadinejad’s note of congratulations. And second of all and more importantly, how soon do you plan on sending low-level envoys to countries such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, to see if a presidential-level talk would be productive?

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: I am aware that the letter was sent. Let me state — repeat what I stated during the course of the campaign.

Well, I think we’re in for 4 years of boring news conferences. The man is a master of the 6-second soundbite (”I want to move with all deliberate haste, but I want to emphasize deliberate as well as haste“) yet is also a master of talking without saying anything.

There was a signal that tax increases are off the radar (”But obviously over the next several weeks and months, we are going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what’s taking place in the economy as a whole“) & of course he conveyed the message to the country & the world that President Bush is still in charge; still, he demonstrated that he will not shy from sharing his point of view.

.

..& just in case you haven’t realized it yet, the guy’s not perfect:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stupid mistake. Not only was the statement uncouth & untrue about Mrs. Reagan, it also referenced the wrong 1st lady.

Obama’s since apologized.

(left: image by Matt Brunson. Click on the picture to read our post explaining how they’re the Fantastic Four)

.

***REMINDER: Today is the last day to vote early in Georgia***

.

“Yes We Carve“

By the way, there’s a whole website dedicated to Obama-themed Pumpkins. Click here.

How to carve a McCain pumpkin: click here.

.

Hamilton County Donor Update

NewsChannel9’s Kim Fields found this info online:

McCain:

# of Contributors: 493
Amount Donated: $265,972.00

Average contribution: $539.50

Obama:

# of Contributors: 1189
Amounted Donated: $233,556.00

Average contribution: $196.43
.

McCain’s Closing Ad: ‘Freedom’

Click here to view the embedded video.

.

Obama in Iowa

.

“Or???“

Above: McCain with GMA’s Robin Roberts. What do you think he means?

.

Gore Stumps in His ‘Waterloo’ State

Above: Al Gore in West Palm Beach, Florida today.

.

An Unforced Error

From the LA Times:

“On Thursday at a rally in Erie, Pa., Sarah Palin touted the victors in the World Series to thousands of supporters. “I am thrilled to be here in the home state of the world-champion Philadelphia Phillies,” Palin said.

The crowd booed.

Philadelphia is a seven-hour drive from Erie, which is in the state’s far west. Erie’s baseball devotions are split between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Indians. (Pittsburgh and Cleveland are about two hours away.)”

.

Hunkering Down

E-mail from a relative who’s an ardent Rush Limbaugh lover, Obama-fearer, & McCain-Palin voter (in that order)***:

“This weekend you should stock up on batteries, canned goods, matches, fill your car with gas, dried beans, corn, etc, jerky, and fill up available containers with potable water. If you have water purification equipment keep it handy. If you have white gas lanterns, stoves, etc, make sure they are in good operation and that you have plenty of fuel by this Tuesday. Having lived through the MLK and the Bobby K. killings, I know it pays to be prepared.”

***CLARIFICATION: said relative says “You got the order wrong. It’s #1) Palin, #2) Limbaugh, #3,497) (tie) McCain and O’Bama-both liberals (but McCain is a couple of points ahead because he would not appoint Hillary to the Supreme Court.)”

.

Dole Doubles Down

The North Carolina incumbent senator airs yet another ad attacking her rival, Kay Hagan.

Thanks to NewsChannel9’s Kim Fields for the tip.

.

(Not) Covering the Biggest Rumors of Campaign 2008

Politico pulls back the curtain to reveal the biggest rumor tips from viewers that they chose not to cover. Personally, at NewsChannel9 the most common one -by far- we got from callers/e-mailers/Vote08 commenters was the ‘Obama citizenship’ story, about which Politico says:

“So why isn’t this getting wide coverage? Well, first, there’s lots of evidence that Obama was born in the United States, and none that he wasn’t. The campaign handed over an official copy of his short-form birth certificate — the standard document produced by the Hawaii Department of Health — to Factcheck.org. And Poliltico has confirmed the authenticity of a contemporaneous announcement of his birth in the Honolulu Advertiser.”

.

Two New Obama Ads

.

Palin on Good Morning America

.

Why Black People Shouldn’t Vote for Obama

An independent ad above says Because Martin Luther King said so.

.

Obama: “Game Back On” in GA

ATLANTA (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama is putting television ads back up on the air in Georgia.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said Friday “early vote is going extremely well in Georgia.”
In September, the Obama camp took down its ads and moved some paid staff out of Georgia suggesting it was retreating from its pledge to compete in the reliably Republican state.
But new polls have suggested Obama is close to GOP candidate John McCain in the state. And blacks have turned out in disproportionately high numbers for early voting.
Plouffe said the state is winnable, although any victory would be a narrow one.

Check the latest Georgia poll average here.

I’d have to say out of all the states, that one is by far the most interesting.

Obama’s also now buying ad time in North Dakota (!) & Arizona (!!). Read more here.

.

New Endorsement for McCain: From Obama

.

NC Senate Race: Hagan Responds to Dole’s ‘Godless’ Ad

Watch the Dole ad in this Vote08 post.

North Carolina newspapers weigh in:

“..worse than dishonest.” - the Greensboro News Record

“..one of the more egregious examples of negative campaigning.” - the Asheville Citizen-Times

“It has no place in N.C. politics.” - the Charlotte Observer

.

The Center-Right Candidate for a Center-Right Country

Despite McCain’s admission he “doesn’t know much about economics,” Charles Krauthammer argues (somewhat bitterly, it seems) that McCain’s economic plans would be more appropriate given the overall politics of the nation.

.

Still Undecided?

An AP Poll finds 1 in 7 - 14% - of voters remain undecided, with just 4 days to go:

“Who are they? They look a lot like the voters who’ve already locked onto a candidate, though they’re more likely to be white and less likely to be liberal. And they disproportionately backed Hillary Rodham Clinton’s failed run for the Democratic nomination.”

Kathleen Parker has an exercise designed to help you make your choice.

.

Yesterday’s ‘Last Day’ to Early Vote in TN

Above: watch our report at 5:30 on what’s on voters’ minds.

Final tally: 67,515 people in Hamilton County voted early. By my calculation (PDF file), that’s 49% of ALL voters for president from Hamilton County in 2004.

Also, early voting in Hamilton County increased by 154% from 2004.

That. Is. Amazing.

Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles faxed NewsChannel 9 on Friday to say that he’s placing a police officer on site at the election commission next Tuesday to “safeguard the equipment & ballots.”

.

She’s Here to Stay

I agree with Eugene Robinson today, who acknowledges Sarah Palin will be a national figure even if her ticket (sorry, make that McCain’s ticket) doesn’t win next Tuesday. Her star is nothing but rising. Those who discount her as a “lightweight” or “bubble-headed” do so at their own peril.

.

Happy Halloween from Vote08!

[& for those of you who don't honor the holiday - Happy Reformation Day!]

Are you smarter than the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate?

Apparently, if you can name more than one Supreme Court case, the answer is yes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is devastating, & should be cause for concern among Palin fans.

Also, conservatives may - what am I saying, DO differ - with her stance on whether or not there’s a right to privacy inherent in the Constitution, as the conservative blogger Amygdala points out:

“Of course, if the inherent right to privacy is in the Constitution of the U.S., then determining how it plays out is not up to the individual states, or the will of the people. She’s directly contradicting herself. Either it’s up to the states and the people, and the right isn’t in the Constitution, or vice versa. It can’t be the way she stated it.”

Think I’m being unfair? Read another criticism that says

“I cannot imagine a conservative watching this video without wincing. I just can’t.”

&

There are also other cases that are wildly unpopular on the right, and which she might have known about — e.g., Kelo v. City of New London (pdf). Likewise, cases like Exxon v. Baker (pdf), which she had to deal with as governor, and commented on at the time. (And “at the time” means last June, when it was handed down.) (h/t)

This isn’t about being a legal scholar. It’s about being able to come up with one single example, when there are a lot of separate reasons why you ought to be able to.”

&

At the end of the day, though, the story isn’t Palin’s ignorance, or the fact that she is manifestly not prepared to be President. It’s McCain’s shocking recklessness in nominating her in the first place.

No one who put country first would have done that.”

The Supreme Court is the head of one of the three branches of government - the other two being legislative (Congress) & executive (the White House).

The legislative branch writes the laws.

The executive branch carries out the laws.

The judicial branch (Supreme Court) decides whether or not those laws conform with the U.S. Constitution.

The founding fathers created a system of government in which these three branches have checks & balances over each other.

Whoever is president can appoint justices to the Supreme Court.

Congress holds the power of approval over those Supreme Court nominees.

Once a Supreme Court justice is approved by Congress, they can serve on the court for life - something no other member of the other two branches can do (they must be re-elected by voters every 2, 4, or 6 years).

So as you can see, the Supreme Court is an extremely important branch of government, & the rulings from the high court have been extremely consequential over our nation’s history.

If you’re interested in knowing some of those consequential rulings, I found a good site that quickly runs through them. Click here to improve your civic knowledge.

What do you think?

We have a window into the GOP’s recommended “talking points” on McCain’s desire to suspend his campaign & postpone the debate.

We don’t have these talking points because they were illegally obtained;

Rather, they were inadvertently released by the south central Colorado press officer for McCain’s campaign to every single media contact in the state.

Read them after the jump.

Tom Kise would like to recall the message, “TALKING POINTS: Suspending; The Campaign”. [yeah, good luck with that -Vote08]

Please see talking points on the suspension of the campaign. Please do not proactively reach out to the media on this. If you are contacted independently, please let me know.

Thanks,

Tom

——

Tom Kise
Regional Communications Director - South Central Region
John McCain ‘08

Email: tkise@mccain08hq.com

TALKING POINTS: SUSPENDING THE CAMPAIGN
Topline Messaging:

· To address our nation’s financial crisis, John McCain will suspend his campaign and return to Washington. He has spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of his decision and has asked Senator Obama to join him. The campaign is suspending its advertising and fundraising.

· John McCain is calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including himself and Senator Obama.

· John McCain is directing his campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until action has been taken to address this crisis.

· It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem. This is a time to put our country first. We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.

· It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’s proposal. He does not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

· Last Friday, John McCain laid out his proposal and has discussed his priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward.

· America faces an historic crisis in our financial system, and we must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy.

· John McCain is confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people.

ALSO: The Obama campaign gives a history lesson on the news making headlines on the days of presidential debates in the past:

HIGHLIGHTS OF MAJOR NEWS EVENTS ON DAYS OF PAST PRESIDENTIAL, VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

1960 DEBATES
Sep 26, 1960
Soviets announce ready to put first astronaut into space
Oct 7, 1960
Cuba accuses US of links to invasion
Pentagon curbs spending in light of trade imbalance
Oct 13, 1960
KRUSHCHEV BANGS SHOE ON DESK
Bomb injures 33 in Times Square in 3rd explosion in 11 days
US embargo on Cuba announced
Oct 21, 1960
KRUSHCHEV SAYS USSR HAS NUCLEAR SUBS
Gold price problems in world markets

SOURCE: Front pages of New York Times on debate day

1976 DEBATES
Sep 23, 1976
SEC probing US Steel, including Gerald Ford Congressional activities
Oct 06, 1976
Chinese nuke tests fallout on US soil
Oct 22, 1976
Swine flu vaccine leads the news
Oct 15, 1976 (VP)
Castro says CIA involved in crash of airliner of Barbados, won’t renew anti-hijack agreement with US.
Watergate: no investigation of Ford blocking probe

SOURCE: NBC Nightly News evening of each debate via Vanderbilt TV News Archive

1980 DEBATES
Sep 21, 1980
Iran/Iraq war developments, including US role
Cutoff of rail access for West Germany to West Berlin.
Follow-up on Titan II Missile explosion earlier in week
Oct 28, 1980
Iranian parliament resumes debate on US hostages. Questions of arms to Saudi Arabia from US
Record loss for car company from Ford

SOURCE: NBC Nightly News evening of each debate via Vanderbilt TV News Archive

1984 DEBATES
Oct 07, 1984
Space shuttle Challenger difficulties in orbit
Oct 21, 1984
El Salvador reports CIA agents killed in plane crash
Oct 11, 1984 (VP)
Chief Justice Burger blocking abortion for retarded, dead, blind rape victim
Threats confirmed of plan to crash plane into US embassy in Middle East

SOURCE: CBS (10/7, 10/21) and CBS (10/11) Nightly News via Vanderbilt TV News Archive

1988 DEBATES
Sep 25, 1988
Oct 13, 1988
New stats on growing trade deficit
Oct 05, 1988 (VP)
US hostages in Lebanon
Elections/violence in Chile

SOURCE: NBC Nightly News evening of each debate via Vanderbilt TV News Archive

1992 DEBATES
Oct 11, 1992
Reemergence of tuberculosis
Oct 15, 1992
Oct 19, 1992
Oct 13, 1992 (VP)

SOURCE: New York Times, 10/11/92

1996 DEBATES
Oct 6, 1996
Oct 16, 1996
Oct 9, 1996 (VP)

2000 DEBATES
Oct 3, 2000
Oct 11, 2000
Middle East violence erupts
Oct 17, 2000
Debate goes in the aftermath of the sudden death of Senator Mel Carnahan
Attack of USS Cole occurred 5 days earlier
Oct 5, 2000 (VP)
Middle East peace talks fall apart

SOURCE: AP, 10/17/00; New York Times, 10/5/00, 10/11/00, 10/14/00

2004 DEBATES
Sep 30, 2004
“North Korea has said it has turned plutonium from 8,000 spent fuel rods into nuclear weapons.” [BBC, 9/28/04]
Fannie Mae Agreed To ‘Major Changes’ In Its Accounting And Management Practices. [New York Times, 9/28/04]
Oct 8, 2004
Oct 13, 2004
Oct 5, 2004 (VP)

Above: Gerald Ford asserts that there “is no Soviet domination of eastern Europe” during a debate with Jimmy Carter. He even asserted the same after the questioner called him on it.

But it’s important to note that despite the opening of a lifetime, Carter did not call Ford out on his mistake.

D’ya think that’d happen today?

So did this gaffe have any fallout in the presidential race?

From US News & World Report:

“In the following days, he and his staff said that the president simply meant that the United States would never recognize Soviet control of eastern Europe. But many voters came away questioning Ford’s understanding of world affairs. “It wasn’t just the press focusing on it. It was tens of millions of people watching the debate,” says Alexander Lamis, an associate professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University. “Something that goes against common understanding is going to immediately be thought of as odd.” While he believes the Nixon pardon had more to do with Carter’s ultimate victory, Lamis says, “You never know what can turn a close election.”"

Also from another debate that year: an excrutiatingly long technical difficulty on the part of the networks. See if you can make it through these full five minutes - if you can, you’re a better person than me.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It ultimately took 27 minutes to get the problem fixed.

Above: Another joltin’ gem from Joe. Watch as he tells Katie Couric that “when the stock market crashed in 1929, President Roosevelt didn’t get on the television & just talk about the princes of greed.”

As pointed out here & here,

1. Franklin Roosevelt wouldn’t have gone on TV to talk about the stock market, unless he was trying to speak to an audience of about a half a dozen people.

2. If those half a dozen people did see Franklin Roosevelt on their TV screen, they would have said “who is this man? & what happened to President Hoover?”

George Will thinks so:

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Chris Cox, SEC Chairman

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that “McCain untethered” — disconnected from knowledge and principle — had made a “false and deeply unfair” attack on Cox that was “unpresidential” and demonstrated that McCain “doesn’t understand what’s happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does.”

&

“Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?”

By the way, for the record, as President, McCain would not have the formal power to fire the head of the SEC anyway.

What do you think?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Above, Sarah Palin, today. Pay careful attention to the final 5 seconds.

Whose administration, again?

ABC’s Jake Tapper says Palin has also referred to McCain as “my running-mate,” a phrase a running mate normally doesn’t use when referring to the person at the top of the ticket.

& Politico’s Jonathan Martin says dozens of people could be seen leaving a McCain-Palin rally after Palin finished - while John McCain was speaking.

Also, this “answer” about foreign policy from last night’s town hall meeting? A meeting in which only ticketholders (read: supporters) attended? Doesn’t cut it. Not by a long shot. If you want Sarah Palin to win, you had better hope she does a better job answering this question in her debate with Joe Biden.

Click here to view the embedded video.

John McCain adviser (& one-time veepstakes finalist) has been kicked to the curb.

Why?

Watch this, from yesterday:

John McCain was reportedly furious with Fiorina for that remark, & therefore, while she’s still part of his campaign, we won’t be seeing her making any TV appearances anytime soon.

Actually, I have to disagree with her. Both McCain & Obama have been running their campaigns for well over a year. That involves hiring & firing, allocating resources, managing public relations - all could be compared to running a major corporation.

In fact, seeing how they’ve managed their campaign is one of the best windows we have into how they would be president.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Sarah Palin disagrees with Fiorina’s assessment in last week’s New Yorker magazine:

“Our state constitution—it lays it out for me, how I’m to conduct business with resource development here as the state C.E.O.“

I say “Chapter 1″ because as sure as you’re born this is not the last time we’ll see some “off-message” gaffes from the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate.

So, above: “Hillary Clinton might be a better vice-presidential candidate than me?” Are you serious, Joe?

Homer? Anything to say?

Okay, on to clip#2, which is far, far funnier. I would say less damaging (?), but certainly funnier.

That “Chuck” Biden asks to stand up? He can’t stand up, because he’s confined to a wheelchair.

Homer - take it away!

Above, John McCain’s daughter Meghan says “No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period.”

Really?

You could say this issue hits close to home.

McCain was asked how many homes he owns, & told the Politico “check with my staff on that.”

That prompted this response ad from the Obama campaign:

Click here to view the embedded video.

..which prompted this response to the response ad from the McCain campaign:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Politico checked, & found that the answer to their question is “8.” 

This gaffe by McCain has the potential of being as impactful as this clip from the 1992 campaign, in which President George H.W. Bush discovers a supermarket scanner for the first time:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Like that incident, it didn’t really reflect whether a candidate was truly out of touch.. but it reinforces the opinion held by some that he is.

But in all fairness, the above supermarket scanner incident didn’t happen the way it was subsequently portrayed. Read more here.

What do you think?

From Reuters “Tales from the Trail” blog:

HUNTINGTON, W. Va - Republican John McCain appeared to back down on Tuesday in his dispute with his opponent Barack Obama over tire pressure.

Last week in St. Louis, Obama told an audience that steps such as inflating tires to the correct levels could make a difference when it comes to conserving fuel.

Cue gleeful mockery from McCain. Obama was naive, inexperienced and not talking straight to the American people about energy, he said.

His campaign went further, distributing to reporters tire gauges engraved with the words “Obama’s energy plan.”

Predictably, Obama hit back calling McCain’s mockery “ignorant,” arguing his plans were being misrepresented and saying that experts backed his call over tire pressure. Equally predictably, McCain’s camp hit back.

The surprise came during a telephone town hall meeting McCain held on Tuesday with voters in Pennsylvania.

“Obama said a couple of days ago says we all should inflate our tires. I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it,” McCain said.

But he kept up his broad criticism of Obama on energy: “I … don’t think that that (inflating tires) is a way to become energy independent.”

The United States’ energy challenges will be a central factor in the months leading up to the election. But when it comes to how far to inflate your tires, the air seems to have gone out of the dispute.

You can virtually picture his staff synchronously reaching for the Tums.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Actually, I give McCain credit for going back to common sense. I mean, come on, even NASCAR endorses proper tire inflation. The losers in this debate are the Karl Rove proteges who have apparently taken over the McCain campaign, a development that should cause concerns among Republicans who were hoping for a debate among adults this year. Can’t McCain realize that voters wouldn’t turn away from him if he acknowledged something that he & his opponent could agree upon? This disagree-with-absolutely-everything-Obama-says tactic only coarsens the debate & diminishes McCain’s standing.

EARLIER POSTS ON THIS TOPIC:

Tire-Ade

The Race Gets Muddier

WHAT OBAMA SAID:

“I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions” - speaking to members of Congress yesterday, according to the Washington Post.

REACTION:

“It appears that he is beginning to believe the over-the-top hype that he really is the Obamessiah for America.” - NewsBusters

“Wow, the arrogance in that. The hubris, the astounding hubris of it all is overwhelming to anyone that knows even a tiny bit of human history. This is the sort of thing if said by a Republican would be hung around that candidate’s neck like a mill stone. The epithet of “arrogant” would be the tail pinned forever to him and would appear in every single news story. Should a Republican bespeak of himself in such terms, he’d be branded the next Hitler leading us all to ruin.” - Publius Forum

CLARIFICATION:

“His entire point of that riff was that the campaign is NOT about him,” says a House Democratic staffer. The Post “left out the important first half of the sentence which was something along the lines of ‘it has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. Its about America. I have just become a symbol.’”

Other staffers with whom I spoke back that up, and a Democratic Congressman who isn’t a particular fan of Obama agrees, saying that Obama preceded that quote with something along the lines of, ‘Those people in Germany weren’t excited about me.  They were excited by the prospect of America getting back to being all it could be.” - ABC News’ Political Punch

WHAT McCAIN SAID:

MCCAIN: No, I have said and will say, I will say that everything has to be on the table, if we’re going to reach a bipartisan agreement. I’ve been in bipartisan negotiations before. I know how you reach a conclusion. We all have to sit down together with everything on the table.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, that means payroll tax increases are on the table, as well?

MCCAIN: There is nothing that’s off the table. I have my positions, and I’ll articulate them. But nothing’s off the table.

I don’t want tax increases. Of course I’d like to have young Americans have some of their money put into an account with their name on it. But that doesn’t mean that anything is off the table…

STEPHANOPOULOS: With their payroll taxes diverted into accounts.

MCCAIN: I say that everything is on the table that has to be on the table, the way Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan did. - Interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week last Sunday

REACTION:

“This statement was particularly shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances…. your comments yesterday send American taxpayers and businesses a mixed message about where you stand on this issue.” - an open letter to McCain from the Club for Growth

“Such mistakes also help explain the continued lack of enthusiasm for Mr. McCain among many conservatives. Meeting with us last December, before the primaries, he declared that “I will not agree to any tax increase,” repeating the phrase for emphasis. He did not say any tax increase with the exception of Social Security. If Mr. McCain can’t convince voters that he’s better on taxes than is a Democrat who says matter-of-factly that he wants to raise taxes, the Republican is going to lose in a rout.” - today’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal

CLARIFICATION:

Click here to view the embedded video. (Tucker Bounds, McCain spokesman, on Fox News - key soundbite starts at about 2:05 in - saying McCain didn’t really mean what he said when he said it)

Your turn, dear reader! Which gaffe was the bigger one? Which will cause more damage? Tell us in the comments section!

The above two photos proportionally represent the amount of media coverage each candidate is getting this week.

Obama has been criticized by members of the right wing for making the trip. Yet these same folks were running a countdown on the days it’s been since Obama visited Iraq or Afghanistan.. in fact, that countdown still remains on the main page of GOP.com. To those who criticize Obama for making this trip, I ask you: what’s your proposed alternative? That he not go? Isn’t that what you criticized him for in the first place?

Many have criticized the media for adding to the Obama-overseas-mania for having all three network news anchors visit him while he’s abroad. Dee Dee Myers, former Bill Clinton press secretary & Hillary Clinton 2008 supporter asks in Vanity Fair “Is the Media Trying to Elect Obama?” One could make that case, but please tell me the last time you thought the three network news anchors were relevant in any way. Far fewer people consider “the big 3″ when getting their news these days than ever before. Those who would inflate this trip as a pure example of media bias would do well to remember this.

It is news. You can’t not cover it.

Plus look at this poll from ABC News that shows Obama lags far behind McCain in terms of who’d make a better commander-in-chief. This trip is necessary for any candidate, Democrat or Republican, who faces those numbers.

& besides, McCain should consider himself lucky that he’s out of the spotlight a little more this week:

Click here to view the embedded video.

p.s., Senator McCain: Czechoslovakia doesn’t exist anymore. He had better be careful with these gaffes, because there is a good chance that the media will start paying closer attention to them as November draws near.

What do you think? Is the coverage of Obama’s overseas trip unbalanced? Should he have just stayed at home? Time for you to weigh in!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Planned Parenthood has revived McCain’s 8-second stumble in an interview last week when asked whether he has any thoughts about insurance plans that cover Viagra & don’t cover birth control. (the issue was raised by his own economic adviser, former Hewlett-Packard exec Carly Fiorina, earlier in the day)

Frankly, we’re stumped as to why he took so long to say anything. I don’t get why saying “that’s not right, & should be changed,” & be done with it, should be so hard, unless he’s calculating what words could potentially damage his standing with the religious right. Not a good 8-seconds for McCain here. He does remember more women turn out to vote than men, right?

Our assignment manager Melydia is convinced that something’s afoot with the stars (”Jupiter is now opposite the Earth”) & causing some general crazies to come out; current evidence that makes this case:

1. We’ve had a gentleman call the newsroom repeatedly telling us about a premonition he’s had that aliens are about to arrive & achieve world peace & reduce our dependency on foreign oil,

2. Our newsroom has received approximately 136,372 e-mail messages from an apparent organized campaign to “bring the makers of Red Bull to justice” (please - don’t ask),

3. Jesse Jackson making some crazy remark that I won’t reprint here about Barack Obama that’s (unfortunately) dominating the current news cycle, &

4. The topic of this post, Phil Gramm, former advisor to John McCain, who has said that America is not in an actual recession but rather a “mental recession.” Quote:

“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,” he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. “We may have a recession; we haven’t had one yet.”

“We have sort of become a nation of whiners,” he said. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline” despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

“We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today,” he said. “We have benefited greatly” from the globalization of the economy in the last 30 years.

Mr. Gramm said the constant drubbing of the media on the economy’s problems is one reason people have lost confidence. Various surveys show that consumer confidence has fallen precipitously this year to the lowest levels in two to three decades, with most analysts attributing that to record high gasoline prices over $4 a gallon and big drops in the value of homes, which are consumers’ biggest assets.

“Misery sells newspapers,” Mr. Gramm said. “Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day.”

Let’s forget completely for the moment whether or not Gramm has a point (for the record, I think he’s wrong) so we can make this one: Americans of all political stripes are not happy with how gas prices are eating into their pocketbooks these days, & none of them likes to be told by anyone that they’re “just a bunch of whiners.”

It’s only natural that the Obama campaign took advantage of this low-hanging fruit:

“One of Senator McCain’s top economic advisors may think that when people are struggling with lost jobs, stagnant wages, and the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, it’s merely a ‘mental recession’. And Senator McCain may think it’s sufficient to offer energy proposals that he admits will have mainly ‘psychological’ benefits. But the American people know that our economic problems aren’t just in their heads. They don’t need psychological relief – they need real relief – and that’s what Barack Obama will provide as President,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

& so, as you can imagine, just as Barack is doing so with Jesse, John McCain took pains to distance himself from Gramm’s remarks:

“Phil Gramm’s comments are not representative of John McCain’s views. John McCain travels the country every day talking to Americans who are hurting, feeling pain at the pump and worrying about how they’ll pay their mortgage. That’s why he has a realistic plan to deliver immediate relief at the gas pump, grow our economy and put Americans back to work.”

One last point on Gramm - it’s pretty amazing to me that the McCain camp kept Gramm on board with the campaign as long as he did. When he was a Senator in the late 90s, he was instrumental in deregulating the housing industry, which helped contribute to the housing crisis we’re in today.

What do you think? Are these tough economic times all in your head? Let us know by posting a comment!

OBAMA-JACKSON
Jackson apologizes for comments about Obama

CHICAGO (AP) - The Reverend Jesse Jackson says he’s “very sorry” for comments he made about Barack Obama during what he thought was a private conversation with a reporter.
Jackson tells The Associated Press he doesn’t remember “exactly” what he said after a Sunday interview about health care with a Fox News reporter when asked his opinion about Obama speaking in black churches.
Jackson says the comments were “a side light in a broader conversation about urban disparities.”
He issued a written statement Wednesday apologizing “for any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused.”
He says his support for Obama’s campaign is “wide, deep and unequivocal.”

What did he say? Oh, I’m not gonna go there. You can find it on the internets if you try a little.

Not gonna spend too much time on this as it’s quite the non-story .. except to say that this is nothing but a plus for Obama. He will win points with anyone considering him who doesn’t like Jesse Jackson, & lose support from … well, no one, actually.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Dan Balz of the Washington Post explains why this is such a boon to Obama:

“Obama did not have to rebuke an important constituency himself to define himself as different from the Jackson-Sharpton wing of the Democratic Party. Being attacked by Jackson was more than enough to get across the point. Whatever people may know or think they know about Obama, they can no longer mistake him as a direct descendant of old-style black politics.”

Totally non-important PostScript: This is a true story. In the summer of 1992 I was an intern at CNN in Washington, D.C. It was a pretty menial & somewhat pointless exercise but I did manage to have a lot of brushes with celebrities. As interns, we were instructed never to approach any of the famous “talent,” & at the time Jesse Jackson was in that group, hosting a show called “Both Sides with Jesse Jackson.” One day he interviewed Ross Perot, who that summer was giving both George H.W. Bush & Bill Clinton a run for their money. So just to say I did, I waited at the outside courtyard in front of the CNN studios to shake Perot’s hand (for the record, I was not a fan of Perot, but it was hard to pass up the opportunity). So finally Perot walks out of the building with Jesse Jackson all alone. No guards or assistants, just them. The height difference was remarkable. I believe Jackson is about 6′ 4″ or so & Perot stands about 4′ 10″ (just a guess). I approached them both, & remembering my earlier edict about not approaching “talent,” I said to Mr. Perot, “Mr. Perot I’m a big fan! Can I shake your hand?” He said “You’re very kind” & shook my hand & gave me an autograph. Jackson said nothing. I hope he didn’t take it personally - I just didn’t want to get in trouble if he saw me later.

Anyway, that was my brush with Jesse Jackson & Ross Perot. At the very least the above news story has given me a chance to tell that tale.

Okay, count Wes Clark off the list of potential Obama Vice Presidential candidates. Fast-forward to about 1:30 into this interview, where you’ll hear him say of McCain “I don’t think getting your plane shot down is a qualification for President of the United States.”

I’ve had enough of this from both parties. This whole “that’s not enough,” “he’s not qualified” folderol gets us nowhere in solving the nation’s problems. As far as I’m concerned, the moment a person swears an oath to defend this country at the risk of their own life, they are automatically qualified to be President.

But that’s a qualification, not a requirement. That’s what’s great about this country, & why someone who chooses not to serve deserves an equal shot.

Both candidates are qualified to be president. Let’s start talking about where they want to take the country, not whether they’re up to the job. The primaries settled that question.

Barack Obama should repudiate the comments Clark made above as soon as is possible, and refrain from having Clark be his advocate in the future.

UPDATE: Obama addressed the issue in his speech on patriotism in Independence, Missouri (of which more later) thusly:

“For those who have fought under the flag of this nation – for the young veterans I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country – no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary.

And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.“

UPDATE #2: McCain addresses the issue today in Pennsylvania at a news conference:

Click here to view the embedded video.

John McCain has had to back-pedal today thanks to a comment his top aide, Charlie Black (above, with McCain), gave to Fortune Magazine:

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an ‘unfortunate event,’ says Black. ‘But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us.’ As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. ‘Certainly it would be a big advantage to him,’ says Black.” 

The Obama campaign responded:

“Barack Obama welcomes a debate about terrorism with John McCain, who has fully supported the Bush policies that have taken our eye off of al Qaeda, failed to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, and made us less safe. The fact that John McCain’s top advisor says that a terrorist attack on American soil would be a ‘big advantage’ for their political campaign is a complete disgrace, and is exactly the kind of politics that needs to change. Barack Obama will turn the page on these failed policies and this cynical and divisive brand of politics so that we can unite this nation around a common purpose to finish the fight against al Qaeda,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

When asked about the matter at a news conference today, McCain seemed unaware his aide had made the remark:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Black later apologized:

“They were inappropriate,” Black told reporters at a fundraising event, according to a pool report. “I recognize that John McCain has devoted his entire life to protecting his country.”

Who wins if terrorists strike our soil between now & November? None of us do. Folks, think back to the days after 9/11 & try to remember that we were not seeing how that event played politically. We (correctly) saw that as an attack on all of us - Democrats, Republicans & everyone else. This campaign would do well to refrain from speculating on “which candidate the terrorists want to win.” Arguments could be made for either candidate, but they get us no further in solving the problem.

What do you think?