DISQUS

Sam Cooke's music; "It's been a long time comin', but I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will." I think Barack had to avoid using this during the campaign because it would have been presumptuous, since the song was written for the civil rights movement, and Barack couldn't, as an individual, claim such a mantle while he was running. But he can now, and I wasn't surprised to see him refer to the song tonight, in his speech.

Amercan flags, large and small, waving in the crowd in Chicago.

Charles Krauthammer saying nice things about Obama -- self-made man and all that -- on Fox News (some time between 11:30 and 11:45).

Sarah Palin's face during McCain's concession speech -- embarrassed and on the verge of tears herself.

Jesse Jackson crying in the Chicago crowd.

Absolutely wonderful pictures. Thank you! O Happy Days.

Jed, Add to this Rick Davis's playing the POW card again today on Fox, in the most blatant attempt to turn the attacks McCain is delivering into attacks on himself. Wallace asks about the incendiary comments at McCain-Palin rallies and Davis responds that the incendiary comments are John Lewis's (!), and where was McCain when Lewis was getting beaten up: in prison, of course. The only reason that could possibly explain such an approach is that McCain identifies with Lewis as a martyr and is trying to make himself, instead of Obama, into the St. Sebastian.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/12/mccain...

This is really wonderful. The ending is a great feel-good moment.

Jed, I suggest you take this post down, now. This needs to be a stealth campaign, thru email, not made public on the internet. The McCain supporters reading it will advocate doing exactly the same thing to the Obama campaign.

I also felt that Palin's mannered folksiness was nothing like the way most regular folk speak and was insulting -- condescending -- to them.

Apart from all the other reasons McCain pulled this stunt today, it turns out that his campaign is suggesting that the debate be moved up to the Oct. 2 slot when the VP debate was supposed to occur, and that "the VP debate be scheduled for a later unspecified date."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09...

Kissing off the debate in Mississippi wouldn't have anything to do with Obama's large African-American support there, would it?

I also had the thought last night -- it just came out of the blue -- when contrasting the mood and success of the Dem convention vs. the Repubs', that maybe Barack, Bill and Hillary planned the drama, or how to play it, knowing it was inevitable anyway, as a way to get everyone to watch their convention. Playing on the catharsis of Greek tragedy. And Barack as a writer clearly is a dramatist (storyteller).

I also think Obama is biding his time. These things have to play out in the press for a day or two before he'll do his thing. There was a tidal wave of support rising for her tonight. Obama knows how to ride a wave -- he knows how these things build and crest. Biden on Morning Joe I thought was masterful: appearing to show respect, to not be condescending, and setting things in motion to raise the expectations for her at the debate. Then he'll crush her. Do you really think pols like Obama and Biden don't know how to play their opponents? Note also: there's a huge amount of negative reaction to Palin's speech. Focus groups of undecided women, etc., not liking her attitude at all and unhappy that she offered no substance. I don't remember any negative reactions to Obama's debut in 2004. Even Republicans raved about him.

My first thought on hearing about McCain's choice was also that he was just playing to win, and then, "This is not a game."

Yes, the cynicism -- selecting a VP for pure political advantage (perceived) and passing over whatever talent there IS in the Republican party -- is the message of this first administrative decision by McCain. And that's the point that should be driven home.

He was also on stage as one of the many retired generals honored.

This is a "queer as a three dollar bill" smear. "Queer" meaning exotic translates into...

Trying this leak on the same night as there was wall-to-wall coverage of McCain's housing crisis is so obvious as to be laughable.

He's playing the "change-the-subject" game. We should keep hammering him hard on his embarrassment of riches. His supporters on blogs are making the point that he "only" owns 4 homes, "many of the others are condos." Lots of places you can take that. Without taking the bait of responding to the Rezko nonsense. But to me, the main argument about his "association" with Rezko, Ayers or anyone else is that Barack probably has 30,000 close friends and knows tens of thousands more, has worked with many people. To single out one or two simply b/c they're extreme is tempting, I know, but ridiculous.

Talking Points Memo today (8/19) produces research saying the story never happened to Solzhenitsyn either, that IT'S A RIGHT-WING URBAN LEGEND passed on by Chuck Colson, Billy Graham and Jesse Helms.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com...

Actually, the biggest story they may be trying to deflect is the suspicion -- voiced in many places -- about McCain's involvement in the Georgia debacle. The whole Saddleback story and its tentacles, because more superficial & easier for the punditry to cover, has a chance to dominate a much more momentous expose that only hard-core investigative journalists will go after -- if they do.

That a trifecta of stories broke today re McCain's falling short of the truth at the faith forum suggests that MSNBC, or at least Olbermann and Maddow, were going to be covering this pattern of distortions on Monday. The cross-in-the-dirt story breaking on DKos was picked up quickly by 2 stories on HuffPo; Politico reported that the story about the 2 "mentally disabled" women "used" as suicide bombers in Iraq has been refuted; and then there was cone-of-silence-gate. The Obama campaign weren't the only ones questioning the uncannily "prepared" nature of McCain's performance: many comments on blogs last night immediately after the show made exactly this point, before Mitchell said anything. So I'm sure you're right that the McCain team is bracing for an onslaught and trying to divert attention and blame by declaring pre-emptive war on NBC. I hope NBC doesn't take the bait and try to defend itself by getting down in the weeds over who said what when, but focusses on the trifecta of distortions by McCain. And that it takes this opportunity to begin doing some SERIOUS reporting on McCain's past record, in particular on his role in the Georgia-Russia conflict. Somebody's got to start. Then the other media will have to start digging, to keep up with them.

He's also hedging his bets here in voting against Gen. Casey, knowing he would be confirmed, and explicitly expressing his lack of confidence in him: in case the surge went wrong: then it could be blamed on Casey, too.

It was ABC News that "broke" the story on Rev. Wright -- first aired the video clips. That was the context in which I saw the horrible ABC debate. Everyone then thought that they were leaning Clinton.

Isn't this the same question that the media, primed by the Clinton campaign, was spouting during the primary: "why can't Obama close the deal?" Well, he did, slowly but surely. And Chuck Todd said that for every point Obama is head in the national polls, it translates into a huge gain in electoral votes, that a 3-point lead is a good win but a 6-point lead would mean a landslide. So if things hold steady (and they can only get better, with the debates!) and with Obama focussing on the economy when he returns, I'm not worried. Unless Israel attacks Iran, the scenario Dick Morris is now pushing shamlessly, shockingly, on Fox.