Brilliant Politics

“It’s a wild gamble, undertaken by our oldest ever first-time candidate for president in hopes of changing the board of this election campaign. Maybe it will work. But maybe (and at least as likely) it will reinforce a theme that I’d be pounding home if I were the Obama campaign: that it’s John McCain for all his white hair who represents the risky choice, while it is Barack Obama who offers cautious, steady, predictable governance.

Here’s I fear the worst harm that may be done by this selection. The McCain campaign’s slogan is “country first.” It’s a good slogan, and it aptly describes John McCain, one of the most self-sacrificing, gallant, and honorable men ever to seek the presidency.

But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?”

-David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush, in National Review Online

Did John McCain vet his VP choice, Sarah Palin, at all? This is another example of McCain’s poor judgment and tendency to make reckless, impulsive decisions.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has an excellent summary of the Troopergate issues, and here is the conclusion:

The investigator appointed by the state legislature began trying to arrange a time to depose Gov. Palin last week — in other words, in the final days before her selection.

So let’s put this all together.

We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It’s called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired him. She first denied Monegan’s claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened.

Below is a video of the investigation of Sarah Palin’s role in Troopergate by an Alaska TV news team:

The Obama campaign points out the obvious – that McCain’s policies will be an extension of Bush’s policies, regardless of who McCain picked as his running mate.

Andrew Sullivan:

“John McCain first met Palin in February of this year and had a telephone conversation with her. That is the full extent of his familiarity with Palin until he spent time with her last week. That’s how seriously he is taking the presidency of the United States. It’s simply unbelievable recklessness. It’s Bush-level recklessness.

Putting country first? This is a reckless act of egotism and politics. The more you think about it, and the more you consider how many charges he has leveled against Obama’s alleged inexperience in a time of peril, the more outrageous it is that he picks an unknown local politician he has only met once before to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Palin isn’t the issue here. McCain’s judgment is. It’s completely off the wall. Is there something wrong with him?”

This interview with a Hillary supporter and delegate to the Democratic Convention from Texas on Wednesday afternoon, August 27th, the day after Hillary’s strong speech in support of Obama, is interesting because the man makes a clear and compelling case for voting for Obama. He was interviewed on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, a few blocks from the Pepsi Center.

These three Texans were delegates to the Convention and Hillary supporters. Jim Maddox, in the middle, was the former Attorney General of Texas.  I will post a video later today of the man on the left making the case for Obama.

Downtown Denver on the 6th Street Mall, where political theatre was in full force.

Markos Moulitsas, AKA Kos, speaking at The Big Tent, the alternative media venue a few blocks from the Pepsi Center, on Wednesday, August 27th. He is the founder of Daily Kos, the most influential progressive political blog in the U.S.

Media trucks parked outside Mile High Stadium, Invesco Field, on Thursday afternoon before Obama’s speech. We did not get tickets to the speech, so this is as close as we got to the big event.

The police were often in view in downtown Denver this week, and it was not unusual to see a SWAT team of 8-10 or more officers moving through the streets standing on small platforms on the outside of an SUV. This group, near a security entrance to the Pepsi Center, was rumored to be headed to a demonstration of veterans a few blocks away, although we had no confirmation of that rumor.

Counting the days and hours!!

Chuck talking with Arianna Huffington, publisher of The Huffington Post, a liberal political website. She had another interview to get to at that moment, so we did not get to interview her.

Downtown Denver, near 16th Street Mall.

Near Invesco Field on Wednesday, August 27th.

We have been staying in the mountains outside of Denver, without access to the Web. We will post more of what we saw and heard in Denver over the next few days. Last night, the Dish TV went on the fritz just before Obama’s speech, so we had to jump into two cars and race along a gravel mountain road to a nearby casino to watch Obama’s acceptance speech. The sound of slot machines was omnipresent as we listened to Obama give the best speech of his life. He was consistently strong in emotional tone, very tough on McCain, funny, clear about his vision for America, and inspiring. Here are reactions from conservative and independent pundits:

Andrew Sullivan: “Look: I’m biased at this point. I’m one of those people, deeply distressed at what has happened to America, deeply ashamed of my own misjudgments, who has shifted out of my ideological comfort zone because this man seems different to me, and this moment in history seems different to me… I’ve said it before – months and months ago. I should say it again tonight. This is a remarkable man at a vital moment. America would be crazy to throw this opportunity away. America must not throw this opportunity away.”

Bill Kristol: “Barack Obama faced very high expectations tonight and honestly I think he met them and I honestly think he exceeded them…He eloquently explained America’s promise. He explained why the Bush Cheney administration had fallen short of that…I thought it was an awfully impressive performance.”

Thanks to Political Wire for the summary of opinions.

-Doc Pierson

Dan Bartlett was the White House Communications Director and, later, Counselor to the President in George W. Bush’s second term. He did rapid response for the 2000 Bush Campaign. He resigned from his position as Counselor to the President in 2007, jumping the sinking ship with many other Administration officials.

You can go directly to the audio file below, although I will give a brief synopsis first:

This interview took place just outside the Pepsi Center security gate on Tuesday afternoon, August 26th. Mr. Bartlett gave a straightforward assessment of what he saw as the strengths and weaknesses of the Democratic Convention as it was shaping up after the first day. He seemed pleased that the story of tension between the Obama and Clinton camps was getting a lot of media play. He said that his fears included an “electrifying speech” by Barack Obama on Thursday and high voter turnout for Democrats in November. He indicated that Republicans would try to spin the Obama speech at Invesco as another indication of Obama’s “celebrity.”

Bartlett believes it will be a close election. He thinks that the election will turn on two states, Ohio and Michigan, and that McCain will win if he wins these two states. Batlett predicts that Romney will be McCain’s VP, and that Romney will help to win Michigan for McCain. The only part of the interview that sounded like propaganda was Bartlett’s contention that Obama didn’t know how to govern. I found that quite laughable since Bush and the Republicans have shown overt contempt for responsible governance and staggering ineptitude when it comes to managing domestic and foreign policy.

Click Here for Audio: danbartlett