'“until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day. I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here….”She is the first woman and the first Alaskan on a Republican presidential ticket. Palin, 44, was elected Alaska's first woman governor in 2006.
I was thinking about folklore, aliens, or posting some poetry today. Instead, I wrote down all the childhood rhymes I could remember...and it turned out to be about 15 or so! It felt pretty good ignoring politics. I was feeling sluggish about politics in general, even though I've been a convention junkie since 1968. And then I listened to, and watched, Michelle Obama's speech tonight. Content: 100%; Tone: 100%; Inspiration: 100%. Was her speech the pivot of the entire Obama campaign? I don't know, but it felt like it was. And I wonder how he tops this magnificent oratory. Whoever wrote this speech, Barack, it's probably time to give them a serious bump. I came into this as a Michelle Obama doubter. I've watched her and read about her. Tonight she absolutely and forever convinced me she is the real deal.“I was looking at the Sturgis schedule and noticed that you have a beauty pageant and so I encouraged Cindy to compete,” McCain said to hoots from the largely male crowd. “With a little luck, she could be the only woman ever to serve as both the first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.” Senator John McCain a/k/a "The 44th President" a/k/a "George W. Bush's Third Term Stand-in." Miss Buffalo Chip is a title given to the winner of the Sturgis beauty pageant that features topless (and often bottomless) contestants.
I'll admit I don't spend much time tracking John McCain. And I know very little about Cindy, other than she has more money than Yoko Ono...which is nothing to sneeze at. Is is true that she is coked up, or frequently flying on Oxy's, or some cocktail of hashhish, Xanax, and Maker's Mark? Two times over the last week people have said "You don't know about Cindy McCain? You? I can't believe it." No, I don't know. Write in and disabuse me of that notion. I am too busy trying to find images of Cindy where she took her husband's advice. I mean, we kind of need someone to take the place of Jeri Kehn Thompson in the G.O.P. babestakes, but Cindy does have a spooky, severe, Aryan side.
Dems
39% Clinton
31% Obama
16% Edwards
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If Hillary Clinton and John McCain are nominated, this could be the most civilized election ever, at least according to Bill Clinton.
According to CNN, former president Bill Clinton "brushed aside suggestions his wife would prove to be a divisive nominee for the Democratic Party, pointing out how she has successfully worked with Republicans in the Senate," including Senator McCain.
"She and John McCain are very close," Clinton said. "They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they're afraid they'd put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other."
At an ABC debate in January, the two were seen chit-chatting. A Clinton side said "she told the Arizona senator he’d done a “good job” staging a comeback in New Hampshire. He asked that she say hello to Bill Clinton for him."
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"On Sept. 16, 1992, the police in New York City held a rally that spun out of control. The cops wanted a new collective-bargaining agreement, and they were angry at Mayor David Dinkins for proposing a civilian review board and for refusing to issue patrolmen 9mm guns. More than a few of them tipsy or drunk, the cops jumped on cars near city hall and blocked traffic near the Brooklyn Bridge. According to some witnesses, they waved placards crudely mocking Mayor Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York, on racial grounds, while at the same time chanting "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!" to welcome Rudy Giuliani, the crime-busting former U.S. attorney who had arrived in their midst to shore up his political base.
"It is not clear Giuliani knew exactly what he was getting himself into—he later denied that he did—but video shows him wildly gesticulating and shouting a profanity-laced diatribe against Dinkins. The next day the New York newspapers were sharply critical of Giuliani (a Daily News editorial called his behavior "shameful"), and Dinkins, years later, accused him of trying to stir up "white cops to riot." At the time, Giuliani refused to back down or apologize for his remarks, saying only: "I had four uncles who were cops. So maybe I was more emotional than I usually am." Giuliani's performance that day lost African-American voters, some permanently, but it guaranteed the informal backing of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the policemen's union, which helped him get elected mayor in 1993."
Top ranking insiders in the Republican Party have disclosed to Vanya Newton at All This Is That's Washington D.C. desk that the party is debating changing its positions on homosexuality. The party has long battled against gays in the military, equal rights for gays, anti-gay discrimination, and gay marriage and adoptions. "In light of recent events," one official told us, "we have begun rethinking these policies." The senior official would not speak for attribution. Another top ranking Republican said, "this isn't totally foreign to us, as you well know. The Log Cabin Republicans have a long tradition in our party now."
