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The convention is back to a pretty regular schedule.  We'll be covering the proceedings tonight.

TUESDAY,  SEPTEMBER 2,  2008

7:05 P.M. ET.  We're now starting our coverage of tonight's Republican convention.    I've just been monitoring some of the early coverage.  CNN remains obsessed with Sarah bashing.  Dana Bash - an interesting name - breathlessly informed us that the McCain camp claims it asked Palin 70 questions, some of them personal.  Strange, didn't I read that news yesterday?  Yeah, I think so.

DIRECT HIT!  AT 5:01 P.M. ET.  McCAIN CAMP TAKES ON NEW YORK TIMES:  Add this to our report, "Media Disgrace," just below.  The McCain campaign has now snapped back at an outrageous New York Times hit job.  Real Clear Politics has the comments of official McCain blogger Michael Goldfarb:

While the press scrambles to report on the process by which Governor Palin was offered the second spot on the Republican ticket, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller has opted instead to make up her own version of events. As the AP reports, "Sarah Palin voluntarily told John McCain's campaign about her pregnant teenage daughter and her husband's 2-decade-old DUI arrest during questioning as part of the Republican's vice presidential search, the lawyer who conducted the background review said." Yet according to Bumiller, yesterday's disclosures "called into question" how thoroughly Governor Palin had been vetted. Why the discrepancy? It seems one reporter actually reported the story, while Bumiller made up her own....

And Bumiller writes that Governor Palin "was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party." Not true, and unsourced. Governor Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982.

Ms. Bumiller, if you'd like to try reporting instead of writing fiction, here's a link to our press line.

Terrific.  I'd love to see Sarah take on some of these media fools in her speech tomorrow, while at the same time praising those journalists, including liberal writers, who act fairly and professionally - and there are many.

MEDIA DISGRACE

Posted at 4:40 p.m. ET

More on the obnoxious media assaults on Sarah Palin.  ABC News reports that the supermarket tabloids are now joining the attack, with their usual vulgarity.  Rick Klein writes:

But this, to me, is the clearest evidence yet that the McCain-Palin campaign is losing the battle over Palin’s image. US Weekly readers are the voters her selection was designed to attract. There’s not much to like in this early take -- and not much to indicate that the next round will be much better.

Well, there's Sarah herself, who will speak to the nation tomorrow.  But the tabloids have a large audience, and their joining in the knifing does worry me.  There is a press riot going on.  It is sickening.

Some are fighting back.  Fred Thompson has taken on The New York Times, whose behavior has rivaled that of the tabloids.  The Hill reports: 

ST. PAUL - Former Sen. Fred Thompson lambasted The New York Times for its coverage of Sarah Palin on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper is "trying their best to drag her down."

Thompson told Fox News that the Times has focused on Palin's children, saying, "I don't think they get it."

But Thompson also said the Times is not the only one who has had unfair coverage of Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) running mate, claiming liberal bloggers "are in a state of panic" about Palin.

Thompson touted Palin as a outsider, suggesting that some Washington Republicans are "sore" that McCain didn't pick an inside-the-Beltway politician.

He said Palin "excites people like I've never seen before."

The only way to deal with a press assault is to fight back.  There are a lot of bullies in the press, but, as an institution, the mainstream media isn't as strong as it once was.  A media assault can be resisted.

And even the liberal Cokie Roberts, appearing on ABC's "This Week," defended Sarah Palin, as reported by Jerome J. Schmitt in American Thinker:

I was surprised to see Ms. Roberts, one of the grand-dames of mainstream television broadcast news, take center stage on Sunday to vigorously defend Governor Sarah Palin against attempts to dismiss her candidacy prematurely. George Will hardly said a word, leaving Ms. Roberts to do the heavy lifting on behalf of a Republican.

Ms. Roberts repeated her performance last night on PBS's Charlie Rose. Although not actually endorsing Sarah Palin, Ms. Roberts almost bristles at liberal concoctions designed to dismiss her qualifications before the Governor has had a chance to make her case to the American public.

Could the Palin candidacy be instigating a split in the ordinarily-monolithic liberal mainstream media? Dennis Sevakis already noted that Maria Bartiromo was positively effusive over Sarah Palin's qualifications on Meet the Press this past Sunday.

In response to the Governor's selection, a few well-known cast-members seem to be changing their roles.

Let's hope so.  But a word of caution:  I was in mainstream journalism, and you can't imagine the careerism that goes on.  Very few journalists will stick their necks out to defend Sarah Palin if the people who control their careers are sixties leftovers in the tank for Obama.  That is simple reality. 

But fight back we must.  There used to be a saying:  "Never start up with people who buy ink by the barrel."  Today you have to start up, or they'll sink you.

September 2, 2008.      Permalink          

NOTE AT 3:48 P.M.:  From a columnist named Fatimah Ali, Philadelphia Daily News:  "If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness - and hopelessness!"

COMMENT:  We'd wondered weeks ago at Urgent Agenda when threats like this would start.  Now we know.  Sixty-eight years to the day after the end of World War II, we're told that, if we don't elect a particular candidate, we'll have violence in America.  Not what the guys fought for. 

TRACKERS

Posted at 3:08 p.m. ET

Both trackers are now out.  The Gallup tracker continues the disturbing trend we reported earlier today.  For whatever reason, Obama is enjoying a new bump in the polls.

Rasmussen, which had Obama up three yesterday, has him up six today.

Gallup, which had Obama up six yesterday, has him up eight today.

Why?

We did some speculating here earlier.  What could possibly account for this sudden bump, which occurred after a few days in which any convention "bounce" for Obama seemed to flatline?  Other polls just released also show important leads for Obama.

Was it the hurricane, reminding voters of what they don't like about Republicans?  Was it the Palin pick, even though that might not be mentioned directly?  Was it another, more positive look at Obama?  Was it the disruption in the GOP convention, which may have stopped McCain's momentum?  Was it simply the difficulty of polling over a holiday weekend? 

Or was it the relentless press assault, obnoxious and thoroughly unprofessional, directed at Governor Palin?

We don't know.  It's not a good day for McCain.  The convention begins in earnest tonight, and he's got to stop this new leakage.   Wednesday will be critical, when Sarah Palin gives her acceptance speech.

September 2, 2008.      Permalink          

NOTE AT 11:29 A.M.  Regarding the poll results reported below.  The sudden bump for Obama is baffling, but may - and this is an informed guess - be related to the difficulty of polling over a holiday weekend.  I don't have facts here.  I'm just suggesting the possibility.  There is an old saw that weekend polling favors Democrats.  I've not seen the evidence.  We'll get a fuller story in the coming weeks.

UPDATE AT 11:25 A.M.  AP reports that Rudy Giuliani, originally set to deliver a keynote tonight, will instead address the GOP convention tomorrow night or Thursday night in prime time.

BULLETIN AT 9:59 A.M.  A new Hotline poll just out shows Obama up nine points.  The poll was taken before the announcement that Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant. 

BULLETIN AT 9:35 A.M.  In a stunning development, Barack Obama has doubled his lead in the Rasmussen tracker, just out.  Rasmussen has Obama up six.  He had him up three yesterday.   What is particularly alarming is that Obama has broken through the 50-percent mark, and now stands at 51 percent, versus 45 percent for McCain.

It is hard to know what accounts for this change.  Rasmussen says that the perception of Sarah Palin hasn't changed in the last few days, and today's result would include polling from last night, after announcement of her daughter's pregnancy.  Maybe it's just statistical noise, but this new number puts Rasmussen closer to other recent polls.  Gallup had Obama up six yesterday.  A CBS poll had him up eight.

This is not impossible to overcome.  But the disruption of the Republican convention may well depress the audience and limit enthusiasm.  Also, the Republicans have, incredibly, dropped Rudy Giuliani, one of the most popular men in the country, as keynote speaker.  I cannot understand that.

It may also be that the hurricane reminded people of what they don't like about Republican management.

The Gallup tracker will be published this afternoon.  We'll report.  Also, let's see if the McCain people can pull off the next three days of convention, and achieve some kind of bounce.

September 2, 2008. 

NO SHAME

Posted at 7:14 a.m. ET

Consider this headline from a New York Times story yesterday:  Palin’s Teen Daughter Is Pregnant; New G.O.P. Tumult.

Now consider this from Byron York at NRO Online:

As for now, at least, evangelicals seem to be completely on Palin’s side. And McCain’s. This is a group that has been skeptical of McCain in the past. Now, it’s probably fair to say that he has never been more popular among evangelicals than he is at this moment. Whether that will last, or whether Palin will cost McCain support among other voters, is not yet clear. But within the confines of the Republican Convention, McCain’s surprising choice of Palin — and the equally surprising news about her family — is paying off.

There is absolutely no evidence whatever that the Republican convention, or the party itself, was thrown into any tumult by the announcement that Sarah Palin's teen-aged daughter is pregnant.  The only people thrown into tumult were media types who couldn't wait to add this story to the mix they were using against Palin.

Indeed, the pregnancy story had special meaning for much of the media crowd because it apppeared to mock their holy of holies - abortion.  Many journalists seemed to go completely berserk.  The New York Times ran story after story, within hours of the announcement, raising issues that would never be raised with a Democratic candidate.  Get this one:

When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska was introduced as a vice-presidential pick, she was presented as a magnet for female voters, the epitome of everymom appeal.

But since then, as mothers across the country supervise the season’s final water fights and pack book bags, some have voiced the kind of doubts that few male pundits have dared raise on television. With five children, including an infant with Down syndrome and, as the country learned Monday, a pregnant 17-year-old, Ms. Palin has set off a fierce argument among women about whether there are enough hours in the day for her to take on the vice presidency, and whether she is right to try.

In other words, she may be a rotten mother.

Can you just imagine if this had been written about a Democratic woman running for vice president?  Don't try imagining it.  It wouldn't happen.

And who has expressed these "doubts," other than those conveniently interviewed by some newspapers?

I actually heard some journalists question the integrity of the McCain campaign.  After all, why hadn't McCain come clean and informed the world of this news when he announced his choice of Palin?  Maybe he could have said this:  "Ladies and gentlemen, my choice for the vice-presidential nomination is Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.  She's conservative, she's spirited, she's competent, and her unmarried teenaged daughter is pregnant."

It is disgusting.  Shame is one of the most important of human qualities, for it prevents us from doing that which is, well, shameful.  But there is no shame in some of the precincts of journalism.  I have never been more embarrassed by my original profession than I was yesterday.  There was more relentless questioning of Sarah Palin's fitness in a few hours than there has been of Barack Obama's during the months and months he has been running for president.  And there has yet to be a single question about Joe Biden's, despite some remarkably dubious decisions he has made as a senator. 

Sarah Palin speaks at the convention tomorrow night.  I hope she is greeted by a sustained ovation.  And I would have no problem if she were to discuss this family issue, and slam into the ground, by name, some of the journalists who have slimed her over the past 24 hours.  The place would erupt in cheers, and millions of Americans would join in. 

September 2, 2008.       Permalink          

REMEMBER PLEASE

Posted at 7:10 a.m. ET

Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

One of those witnessing the surrender ceremony was Admiral John Sidney McCain Sr., the grandfather of Senator John S. McCain, this year's Republican candidate for president. 

Admiral McCain's son, and Senator McCain's father, was Admiral John Sidney "Jack" McCain Jr., who commanded our forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War, while Senator McCain was a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. 

Newsweek magazine is carrying a pretty reasonable portrait of Senator McCain - I recommend it - and it contains this quote from his father, Jack McCain:

"It's one of the most forgotten, then relearned foreign-policy axioms in history. If you keep backing away because you're afraid of what might happen to you—and you keep backing away and backing away—what you were afraid of in the first place is going to happen to you."

That is the wisdom with which Senator McCain was brought up.  It reflects the most profound difference between him and the appeasing, talk-to-everyone-unconditionally Barack Obama.

It is that idea that was the central theme of our resistance to Soviet expansionism during the Cold War.  The fact that Senator McCain accepts that concept, and practices it in his policy views, is one of the most important reasons to vote for him in November, and to keep his opponent out of the White House.

September 2, 2008.      Permalink           

MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER 1,  2008

BENNETT REBUKES CNN

Posted at 11:24 p.m. ET

Republican stalwart, former secretary of education, and CNN contributor Bill Bennett has issued a stunning on-the-air rebuke to CNN for its handling of the Bristol Palin story.  CNN, like other mainstream outlets, has sent reporters to Alaska to dig up anything they can about Sarah Palin.  One CNN reporter went way over the top, and Bennett made his views know.  You can see the video here at NewsBusters.

CNN ran a "headline" under its picture today, announcing Bristol Palin's pregnancy.  It ran, literally, for hours.  I am appalled.

The in-the-tank-for-Obama media risks a real backlash if this continues.  May it come.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 8:11 P.M. ET:  I just watched a CNN discussion on Sarah Palin, and was utterly sickened.  CNN is completely in the tank for Barack Obama, but you'd think they'd have at least some sense of shame.  Campbell Brown practically laughed at the comments made by a McCain spokesman.  We were informed that Palin's speech this Wednesday isn't really important, compared with the "vetting" the press would do. Palin's alleged lack of qualifications was hammered and hammered. 

COMMENT:  I recall no similar questions asked by CNN about Barack Obama.  Indeed, it took talk radio to force the mainstream media even to acknowledge that the man isn't God.  Reporters are rushing to Alaska to look for anything they can find on Palin, but it took months, in some cases years, for major news organizations to go to Chicago and ask anything about Obama.  It is absolutely disgraceful, an embarrassment to journalism. 

UPDATE AT 8:06 P.M. ET:  A new CBS poll just published shows Barack Obama up eight points.  This is the largest lead shown in any poll today.  It was a relatively small sample, taken among registered, not likely voters.  But it was taken entirely after John McCain named Sarah Palin.  No way to know how accurate this is.  It seems to be an outlier.

HIM VS. HER

Posted at 6:25 p.m. ET

Gerard Baker of The Times of London is one of the most astute British observers of our political scene.  Here he examines, with some glee, the contrast between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.  Obamans be warned:  He is not kind to your guy.

Democrats, between sniggers of derision and snorts of disgust, contend that Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential pick is ridiculously unqualified to be president.

It's a reasonable objection on its face except for this small objection: it surely needs to be weighed against the Democrats' claim that their own candidate for president is self-evidently ready to assume the role of most powerful person on the planet.

And it begins:

Obama: Worked his way to the top by cultivating, pandering to and stroking the most powerful interest groups in the all-pervasive Chicago political machine, ensuring his views were aligned with the power brokers there.

Palin: Worked her way to the top by challenging, attacking and actively undermining the Republican party establishment in her native Alaska.

Ah, but their history, his angst, his profound mind:

Obama: A classic, if unusually talented, greasy-pole climber. Held a succession of jobs that constitute the standard route to the top in his party's internal politics: "community organizer", law professor, state senator.

Palin:A woman with a wide range of interests in a well-variegated life. Held a succession of jobs - sports journalist, commercial fisherwoman, state oil and gas commissioner, before entering local politics. A resume that suggests something other than burning political ambition from the cradle but rather the sort of experience that enables her to understand the concerns of most Americans.

Not fair, not fair.  There are other things, like political jobs.  Why, he's been...

Obama: Elected to statewide office only after a disastrous first run for a congressional seat and after his Republican opponent was exposed in a sexual scandal. Won seat eventually in contest against a candidate who didn't even live in the state.

Palin: Elected to statewide office by challenging a long-serving Republican incumbent governor despite intense opposition from the party.

And there's more.  Read the whole thing and save it.  Compared to Sarah Palin, Barack Obama is...Barack Obama.  Minor senator, mediocre record, adoring media.

September 1, 2008.       Permalink          

TRACKERS

Posted at 3:20 p.m. ET

Both trackers for the day are now out.  Neither show any change from yesterday.  The Obama convention bounce has been far below expectation, but McCain did not gain in the last few days either.

As reported earlier, Rasmussen has Obama up three.

Gallup continues to have Obama up six.

The GOP convention starts today.  Hurricane Gustav looks to be far less a threat than we'd assumed.  I suspect the convention will be back on track tomorrow.  The key event:  Sarah Palin's acceptance speech.  People are eager to see her.  If she hits a home run, it could have a clear impact.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

CURIOUS UPDATE AT 2:08 P.M. ET:  DETROIT (AP) - Barack Obama urged hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Gustav. The Democratic presidential nominee scaled back a Labor Day speech to unions in an effort to keep the focus on the Gulf Coast.  Obama planned to finish his campaign schedule Monday with stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, two battleground states the campaign views as possible wins, before heading home to Chicago to monitor the situation and decide his schedule for the rest of the week.

COMMENT:  You have to go to Chicago to monitor a storm in Louisiana?  Really?  McCain and Palin went to the South for briefings.  Obama might have considered doing the same.   Bad move.

PALIN DAUGHTER PREGNANT

Posted at 1:03 p.m. ET

Here, from Reuters, is the full story of the Palin daughter's pregnancy, as reported a few minutes ago in the bulletin just below.  We report this only because of any political implications:

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

And...

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple's privacy.

McCain knew.

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

Shows class on McCain's part, but the issue will rumble through the campaign.  Listen for the whispers.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" circulating on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in May to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

Finally...

"The despicable rumors that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama's name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their 'campaign of change,'" a senior aide said.

I'm glad someone said that.  In reporting this story, the media have a perfect right, indeed an obligation, to put it in context.  So they will have to discuss those despicable rumors.  (That's known in libel cases as compounding the libel.)  As I said below, public reaction will depend on how Sarah Palin handles the issue.  So far, she's handled it with great dignity.

The public tends to be sympathetic in cases like this.  Indeed, the greater danger may well be to the Obama campaign, if the liberal blogger-clowns make something of the issue.  Millions of families have had similar situations, or known friends or relatives with similar situations, and they won't like dragging the family crisis through the mud.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

BULLETIN AT 12:40 P.M. ET - HANDLE WITH CARE:  From AP:  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Sarah and Todd Palin say their 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant.  The couple said in a statement released by John McCain's presidential campaign that Bristol will keep her baby.  Sarah Palin is McCain's vice presidential running mate.  The Alaska governor says Bristol intends to marry the father of her child. 

COMMENT:  Talk about a strange twist.  Was McCain aware of this?  It is impossible to predict the impact.  The real danger isn't serious criticism, but the jokes, the whispers, the ridicule.  Reaction can cut either way.  There could be a public backlash along the lines of, "She ignored a troubled child to pursue a political career," or there could be huge public sympathy.  The Dems should have the sense to remain silent.  My own sense, at best an informed guess, is that public reaction will be dictated entirely by how Sarah Palin handles the situation, and I suspect she'll handle it well.   

UPDATE AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  Fist tracker is out.  Rasmussen reports Obama up three, the same as yesterday.

THE GAME CHANGER

Posted at 6:55 a.m. ET

I've never seen a vice-presidential choice change a race the way Sarah Palin has changed this one.  The polls, as we've reported here, just stopped in place.  The Obama bounce turned into the Obama disappointment.  He comes out of his convention with very little. It wasn't worth the price of the fireworks or the rental of the hall.

Of course, the usual suspects are on the attack.  I'd imagine by this time that reporters from the mainstream media are bumping into each other at Anchorage Airport.  They rushed aboard jetliners as soon as Senator McCain picked Governor Palin, the better to record every juicy rumor or grudge.

Some of the stuff is getting ugly, real ugly.  For example, a story is being spread that Sarah Palin's newest child, the one with Down's Syndrome, isn't hers, but in fact is her daughter's.  This is absolutely revolting.  Sharp-eyed reader Jim Meyer alerts us to a piece in PolarTrec, a publication of teachers and researchers, that puts that one away permanently:

While delayed in the New Orleans Airport, I reflect back to my airport surprise when leaving Fairbanks after the PolarTREC Orientation in March...

...There were several of us PolarTRECers waiting in the Fairbanks, AK airport to catch our planes home. We were chatting about all we had learned when Kristen Timm, ARCUS administrator said “ Look, there is the Hottest Governor in the United States” as she has been publicly deemed by media and fans.

Of course I had to check out the “Hottest Governor in the US” and quickly turned to see her pregnant (she has since had her baby) with bags and daughter in tote. Then it struck me as odd. Why is the Governor of Alaska in the airport and preparing to get onto my commercial flight?

I questioned PolarTRECer Craig Kasemodel an Alaskan resident. He let me know that Governor Palin sold the corporate jet after securing her official Governor position.

Enough said.

Then there was an awful hit piece in The Politico, whose biases are starting to show, claiming that "scholars" say that Palin is the least qualified candidate ever to be on a major-party national ticket.  Another eagle-eyed reader, Gregory Koster, refers us to the McCain camp response, which pretty much sends that story to the shredder.  To its credit, The Politico published the response:

After reading this article, the McCain campaign issued the following statement:

"The authors quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin's fitness for the office of vice president. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed-out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Gov. Palin's credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Sen. McCain."

Good.  Great.  The McCain team is increasingly on the ball.  This will be a tough fight, but our side seems ready to rumble.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

THE QUEEN IS DISPLEASED

Posted at 6:52 a.m. ET

Hillary Rodham Clinton, of late the presumed Democratic nominee for president, is apparently displeased by the emergence of Sarah Palin.  Of course she is.  She might have to run against her someday.  The New York Times reports on the royal discomfort:

ST. PAUL — Advisers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday that Senator John McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate would lead to a greater role for Mrs. Clinton as she campaigned this fall on behalf of her former rival, Senator Barack Obama.

Mrs. Clinton’s friends said she was galled that Ms. Palin might try to capitalize on a movement that Mrs. Clinton, of New York, built among women in the primaries. And Democrats used strong words on Sunday to rebut the notion: Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said that women would not be “seduced” by the Republican ticket, and Guy Cecil, the former political director of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said it was “insulting” for Republicans to compare Ms. Palin to Mrs. Clinton.

Seduced?  Did Kerry say seduced?  And of course it's insulting to compare Sarah Palin to Hillary Clinton.  It's an insult to Sarah.

Ah, but there is nuance.  Let's face it.  Hillary wants Obama to lose.  So her supporters aren't entirely dissing Sarah Palin.  She might, in some ways, be useful to them:

Nevertheless, Clinton advisers said they expected that a bloc of her female supporters would give Mr. McCain a second look because of Ms. Palin, and that Mrs. Clinton was probably Mr. Obama’s best weapon in response. But asked if the Palin pick would lead to a new political marriage between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a senior Clinton adviser, Ann Lewis, said: “Not a political marriage. She is not on the ticket. Senator Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate. Hillary will do what she can to help.”

Did you feel the same knife I did? 

So Hillary is upset with Sarah, but her supporters are still upset with Barack.  You know, this could be a show on CBS at three in the afternoon.  Could run about ten years.  Procter & Gamble, are you listening?

Obama advisers said they had not settled on the number of days that Mrs. Clinton would campaign for the ticket. She has at least one event next week, they said, adding that all indications from the Clinton camp — with which, before the Democrats’ convention last week, post-primary relations were still bumpy — were helpful and positive.

Yeah, right.  Helpful and positive.  Like poison ivy. 

Spectacular election year, isn't it?

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

"What you see is news.  What you know is background.  What you feel is opinion."
    - Lester Markel, late Sunday editor
      of The New York Times.

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