LA Times: Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for John McCain's presidential campaign, compared Todd Palin's role to that of other political spouses.
First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a vocal player in labor civil rights issues, Hillary Rodham Clinton took on health care while first lady, and Nancy Reagan was a close adviser to her husband.
"The role that Todd has played, I don't think is dissimilar from other spouses, and I think it's an entirely appropriate role," Griffin said. "And Todd will play an appropriate role as the spouse of the vice president."
The legislative probe began as an investigation into whether Palin improperly fired Monegan for resisting efforts to fire Wooten. The report concluded that Monegan's firing was legal, because Palin had the right to choose her top administrators, but that the pressure Palin and her husband exerted to try to get Wooten fired was improper.
The "nation's most popular" hockey mom to drop the puck at Philadelphia Flyers game Saturday night...It will be interesting to see the reaction she gets from the City of Brotherly Love (famous for booing Santa Claus during an Eagles game). My money is on a chant that is popular in New Orleans during Mardi Gras...
Obama buys half-hour of network primetime the week before the election. My initial reaction is this is a mistake. Going on network TV to address the nation runs the risk of bringing back that conceited, self-important issue that hurt Obama in the past (rock star European tour, elaborate stage setup at DNC speech). No need to change the run out of the clock strategy if it is working. Does the campaign really think the difference between winning the popular vote by 5 vs. 10% will make a difference in how the Republicans in Congress treat his proposals when they are fully out of power in the executive and legislative branches? Ask Bill Clinton how that "mandate" he got worked in the first two years of his Presidency.
Editor & President of companion site Sharesluth.com Christopher Carey is accepting resumes. You might remember Carey from his two decades as business reporter with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Sharesluth (and I assume BailoutSleuth) is part of the Mark Cuban empire (he of HDNet, Dallas Mavericks, and maybe someday the Chicago Cubs). This will be the government corruption story of the next few years. Although we have already heard about the wooden arrows & what is sure to be underhanded dealings of Paulson and his Wall Street buddies and Obama's Treasury Secretary, there are already some interesting developments you probably wouldn't have imagined--such as the bailout to General Motors...
Protectionism at its finest. Hey, Congress, that sure worked out great last time we tried protectionism amidst a recession--it resulted in the Great Depression. And it appears as if Toyota is a bit pissed at this development...
Two asides--the professor who writes the above blog (Russell Roberts) is a former Wash U professor of mine--wow, the St. Louis links! Second, according to numerous experts in the battery technology field I have spoken with in my real job, the lithium ion battery being tested in the Volt leaves alot to be desired. It can only go 30-40 miles on the battery right now. Finally, the lithium ion battery is the same battery that has been known to spontaneously catch fire...
Somehow I'm thinking a laptop catching fire might be safer than a car catching fire. Pork-barrel politics at its finest. Where's was Sen. McCain when these "earmarks" were being put in?
Skit didn't make it until actual show. Wonder why? NBC has taken it off their website and taken down from You Tube. Only sound is now available. Listen before Big Brother takes it down.
Washington Post: The angry GOP vice presidential nominee even found a way to blame the market decline on the yet-to-be-enacted tax policies of the yet-to-be-elected Obama.
"If you turn on the news tonight when you get home, you're gonna see that, yah, this is another woeful day in the market, and the other side just doesn't understand -- no!" she said at an afternoon fundraiser at the home of mutual fund giant Jack Donahue. "Especially in a time like this, you don't propose to increase taxes. The phoniest claim in a campaign that's full of them is that Barack Obama is going to cut your taxes."
Of course, Obama never promised to cut taxes for people at $10,000-a-plate lunches in air-conditioned tents on waterfront compounds. And the crowd -- among them New York Jets owner Woody Johnson -- reacted without applause to Palin's Joe Six-Pack lines. After they didn't strike up the usual "Drill, baby, drill" or "USA" chants, Palin, rattled, read hurriedly through the rest of her speech.
ACC Readers More in The Loop Than on Campaign Matters
According to an Associated Press story, apparently ACC readers found out that McCain was pulling out of Michigan before Sarah Palin, who when read about it fired off an email to the campaign. However, critics of Ms. Palin should note that she read about it in a newspaper.
COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.
Dozens of interviews with Catholics in Scranton underscored the political tumult in the parish pews. At Holy Rosary’s packed morning Masses on Sunday in working-class North Scranton and the Pennsylvania Polka Festival downtown that afternoon, many Clinton supporters said they were planning to vote for Mr. Obama, some saying they sided with their labor unions instead of the church and others repeating liberal arguments about church doctrine broader than abortion.
“I think that one of the teachings of God is to take care of the less fortunate,” said Susan Tighe, an insurance lawyer who identified herself as “a folk Catholic, from the guitar-strumming social-justice side” of the church.
Washington Post: Clinton associates, long familiar with his habits and rhythms, say it would take little more than phone calls on a somewhat regular basis to keep him satisfied. Attention has always been Clinton's lifeblood. "We all know that he wants to be loved. Just call him. Call him any time of day or night," said one associate. "Talk to him about anything. Talk to him about the Olympics or what he thinks about a certain congressional district or even about the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle. Obama could even put the phone in a drawer and just let President Clinton talk away. It wouldn't take much. It could be so easy."
CBS4Denver: The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested Tharin Gartrell, 28. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner, according to sources.
Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.
Aurora police alerted federal officials because of heightened security surrounding the Democratic convention, Aurora police Det. Marcus Dudley said.
Subsequently authorities went to the Cherry Creek Hotel in Glendale to contact an associate of Gartrell's. But that man, identified as Shawn Robert Adolph, 33, who was wanted on numerous warrants, jumped out of a sixth floor hotel window. Law enforcement sources say Adolph broke an ankle in the fall and was captured moments later. Sources say he had a handcuff ring and was wearing a swastika, and is thought to have ties to white supremacist organizations.
Nathan Johnson, 32, an associate of Gartrell and Adolph, was also arrested Sunday morning. He told authorities that the two men had "planned to kill Barack Obama at his acceptance speech."
"He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot," Johnson told Maass.
NYTimes: If you’re conscientiously pro-life, you will have reservations about a pro-abortion-rights V.P. If you’re a proud conservative, Lieberman hasn’t been one. If you’re a loyal Republican, you’d much prefer someone from within the ranks.
But if you’re pro-life, conservative and/or Republican, you certainly don’t want Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running the country. If a McCain-Lieberman ticket is the best way to thwart that prospect, you could probably learn to live with it — even perhaps to like it.
And Hillary supporters could protest Obama’s glass ceiling by voting for John McCain and the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee.
