The VP pick

UPDATE: For a more detailed comparison of Obama/Palin, check this diary at Dkos.

McCain made his announcement to his "massive rally" and the response has been underwhelming.

Sarah Palin - Gov. Alaska (1.5 years)

Prior to winning the governorship of Alaska, Palin was the mayor of a small town of 6,500. She holds a degree in Journalism, and a minor (yes a minor) in Political Science. She is 44, and has five children, the youngest of which she gave birth to in April 08. She is anti-choice, pro-oil, anti-gay, and a creationist to boot.

She has no advanced degrees and no foreign policy experience. She is currently under investigation in her home state for abuse of power. She is a heartbeat away from the presidency, and probably couldn't find Afghanistan on a map.

By tapping her as VP, McCain is cynically trying to lure Clinton voters to his ticket. Once again, McCain does not get it. Palin is no Hillary. Palin's 114,000 votes propelling her to the governor's mansion certainly does not compare to the 18 million votes the Clinton received in her primary campaign. Offering Palin up as a Hillary surrogate is as transparent as it is insulting.
Not to mention that the McCain Campaign just effectively cut their legs out from under the main argument that they had attempted to make about Obama - that he is too inexperienced. Observe.

Barack Obama

After attending Columbia University, he became a community organizer on the south side of Chicago for three years. Following that, he entered Harvard Law School and was ultimately voted the President of the Harvard Law Review - the first black man to hold that post. After graduating magna cum laude he returned to Chicago and became a professor at the University of Chicago for the next 12 years. During that time, he also joined a law firm that specialized in civil rights.

In 1996 he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He served there for seven years before running for US Senate. He won that campaign in 2004, and has served as the Junior Senator from Illinois ever since. In 2007 he kicked off an improbably campagin to be the Democratic Party's nominee for the 2008 election. Last night, he became the first black man to ever be selected as the presidential nominee for a major political party.

So, by the numbers:

McCain VP

Please, PLEASE pick Romney.

McCain Bingo!!

I'll be using this bingo card when McCain gives his acceptance speech.

(courtesy Digby)

Ewwwwww

Also, check out this John McCain-Bush Tijuana Bible. (NSFW)

A Tijuana Bible is a small pornographic comic featuring bootleg versions of popular comic strips and celebrities. The above is a replica (updated) of a bible that ran in 1934.

15,000, really?

Did you see this press release from the McCain campaign today about how he will be announcing his VP pick to a "massive" rally tomorrow. He will have "5 times as many people as any other event", he'll have "15,000 people." 15,000, really? The largest campaign event he's ever had, has been 3,000? reallly?

WE HAVE FIVE TIMES 15,000 TONIGHT. FIVE TIMES. GOBAMA!

DNC Day 2

A round up of zinger quotes that you may have missed last night because the talking heads have to give their own bullshit analysis instead of letting Americans listen for themselves.
(in no particular order)

Hillary Clinton - NY Senator

I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership. No way. No how. No McCain.

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

It makes a lot of sense that next week John McCain and George Bush will be together in the Twin Cities, because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart.
(and watch the whole thing)

Bob Casey - PA Senator

John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush more than 90% of the time...that's not a maverick, that's a sidekick.

David Patterson - NY Governor

If he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous.

Kathleen Sebelius - KS Governor

I’m sure you remember a girl from Kansas who said there’s no place like home. Well, in John McCain’s version, there’s no place like home. Or a home. Or a home. Or a home. Or a home.

Ted Strickland - OH Governor

You know, it was once said of the first George Bush that he was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple. Well, with the 22 million new jobs and the budget surplus Bill Clinton left behind, George W. Bush came into office on third base -- and then he stole second. And John McCain cheered him every step of the way.

Rahm Emanuel - US Representative (IL-05)

You know, President Bush inherited the strongest economy in history and a huge budget surplus. He inherited an economy that created 23 million new jobs. I’m a little surprised. You would think the one thing President Bush was good at was inheriting things. Instead he turned a $236 billion surplus into a record deficit and added nearly $4 trillion in new debt. That’s the one thing we can say about George Bush: Mr. President, we will be forever in your debt.

Brian Schweitzer - MT Governor

Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain’s backyards, including the ones he can’t even remember.

Amy Klobuchar - MN Senator

People who live in seven houses shouldn't throw stones.

Dennis Kucinich - US Representative (OH-10)
Just read the whole thing.

PUMA

PUMA - "Party Unity My Ass" - is a group of "die hard" HIllary fans that disagree with the nomination of Obama - believing that it was stolen from their candidate and actively working towards electing Hillary in 2012. 2012. which would mean that Obama would have to lose the election in 2008. These PUMA members have suggested that they may even vote for John McCain.

Repeat after me. If you are a "die hard" Hillary fan, if you are a professed Democrat, you cannot vote for John McCain. If you do, you are NOT a "die hard" Hillary fan, you are not a life-long democrat. Once a candidate is nominated, you get behind the nominee. Once your defeated candidate endorses the nominee, you get behind the nominee.

Saying that you are die-hard clinton fan, and then saying that you'll vote for the GOP candidate over the Dem is ridiculous. it just does not compute. at all.

meanwhile, americablog reports that mccain is not holding even a significant lead in his home state. He's up by only 6%. In contrast, Obama leads in IL by 15%. Um, yeah.

meanwhile, back at the batcave. McCain threw out his POW status AGAIN, to negate his housing gaffe, this time on Jay Leno. Will this man never stop? We get it, you were a POW. Congrats. However, it does not excuse cheating on your first wife. it does not explain why you don't know how many houses you have. it does not give you an special knowledge on foreign policy. and it does not entitle you to the presidency.

BIDEN!

Biden is a fantastic pick for VP - just check out his first remarks as the presumptive democratic vice presidential nominee (that's a mouthful):

"Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there at night before you put the kids, after you put the kids to bed and you talk, you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you're worried about being able to pay the bills. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's not a worry John McCain has to worry about. It's a pretty hard experience. He'll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at" (transcript courtesy NPR)

BEAUTIFUL. This whole not knowing how many houses he owns issue is going to be hard hard hard for John McCain. His campaigns insinuation that his POW-status somehow negates not knowing how many houses he owns is going to be even harder. And please John, please pick Romney as your running mate. Please, I'm begging you. Please add another white rich guy to your ticket. (Romney's net worth is estimated between $250m -$500m, and he has three houses.)

The best slogan I've seen that encapsulates what should be huge problems for McCain:

Obama/Biden - one house, one spouse. HAHAHAHAHAHA. I love it.

(which is not to say that i would not have loved to have kathleen sebelius, governor of kansas as the veep pick, but her time is coming, so i'm not worried)

Meanwhile, you may have seen some recent polling that has McCain and Obama in a statistical heat. You need to remember that it is not nationwide polling that is important, it's state polling. According to fivethirtyeight.com, the preeminent statewide polling aggregator, Obama still wins the election 285 - 253. That does not include winning Nevada and Virginia, which I think the dems can pull off. uh, and missouri, of course - don't think that Claire won't be working her ass off to deliver the Show me state.

I should point out that fivethirtyeight also puts our Sentate pickups at 55 seats, with 70% confidence. Fuck you Joe! Hopefully, by God's grace, they will strip him and turn him out after the election, we don't need fake dems in Obama's party.

Meanwhile the Dem convention is this week, so I'll be watching as much of it as possible. I am specifically interested in Michelle Obama, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and of course Barack's speech. They all should bring the house down... Kindof like obama did four years ago. And i'll admit it. I poo pooed the idea that Obama could be "the only silver lining." I was dead wrong.

And i think that all the pundits will be wrong about this election. i don't think Obama will beat McCain in November.....I think Obama will SMASH him. we're talking electoral landslide. you watch. you heard it here.