Oy
If this is the attitude of the investigative reporter CNN has put on the trooper-gate case, I guess we shouldn't be expecting much from them.
--Josh Marshall
Oops ...
From the WSJ ...
The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.
--Josh Marshall
McCain Plays the Cameron Card
According to a article just out from Huffington Post, the story about flags from the Democratic National Convention being thrown away is simply false. The story was jumped on and apparently authored by the McCain campaign. But the real tell is down in the Huffpo piece where it traces the story to none other than Fox News' Carl Cameron.
Longtime readers 
of TPM will remember that back in October 2004 this site caught Cameron publishing a series of fabricated quotes attributed to John Kerry on the front page of the Fox News website.
After I placed a series of calls to Fox News inquiring about the Kerry story, the story was eventually pulled, and Fox was forced to issue an apology and retract the fabricated story. Fox spokesman Paul Schur told TPM: "Carl [Cameron] made a stupid mistake which he regrets. And he has been reprimanded for his lapse in judgment. It was a poor attempt at humor."
Why anybody would believe anything this joker says is difficult to fathom. But he's good enough for McCain.
--Josh Marshall
Real Investigation Much Needed
Reed Hundt has more on McCain's apparent obstruction of the trooper-gate probe.
--Josh Marshall
Question
Isn't Palin supposed to move to Cheney's undisclosed location after she gets elected, not before?
--Josh Marshall
Election Central Saturday Roundup
Barack Obama and John McCain will commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks together with a joint appearance at Ground Zero in New York. That and other political news in today's Election Central Saturday Roundup.
--Eric Kleefeld
Those of Us Who Are About to Tire Swing ...
It always brings a tear to my eye when I see the Grey Lady hopping on the McCain tire swing. But there she goes. Yesterday the McCain campaign was all mum on the Walter Reed/Green Screen goof until deep in the evening when they released some pro forma bamboozlement to the effect that it was all on purpose. They mean to highlight the middle school.
From the Times report ...
"The changing image-screen was linked to the American thematics of the speech and the public school was simply part of it," Mr. Bounds said, adding that during the speech, Mr. McCain "called for public education reforms that empower parents and students before bureaucrats and labor unions."
Sadly, the Times actually went for that explanation. And even more bizarrely, Timesman Michael Falcone actually bought the idea that the McCain campaign wouldn't want to highlight the real Walter Reed because of the controversy over its treatment of Iraq and Afghanistan war vets.
However that may be, a few problems with the idea that this wasn't a goof. One is that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was admitting it was a goof at party's after the speech and telling reporters that Fred Davis, McCain's ad man, was at fault.
But you don't need the inside scoop to know what happened here. Those who watched the convention closely know that through the event, the screen backdrop had rotating video of what Bounds called "images of Americana." Stuff would cycle in and out.
But that's not what happened with McCain. Our crack analysts at TPM HQ pulled the tape. And what happened in McCains case was that the green screen was up for 5 or 6 minutes. Then it got pulled. It was replaced briefly by a cornfield. And then after a few moments of that it was the picture of the flag, which appeared as a blue screen to viewers on tv. That remained through McCain's entire speech. No more changes. It was pretty clear that someone on McCain's staff realized the goof a few minutes into the speech, cancelled the pre-programmed order of images and hurriedly slotted in flag image to save the day.
--Josh Marshall
Bringing Out The Base
AP sees the GOP's problem:
Since the last federal election in 2006, volunteers like Graham combined with the enthusiasm generated by the Obama-Clinton struggle to add more than 2 million Democrats to voter rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party affiliation. The Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters in the same states.
--Will Thomas
Nitpicking
There are plenty of issues in the career of Sarah Palin that deserve a hefty amount of scrutiny, so I'm only going to give this one a few seconds.
The McCain camp is reveling in her sale of the governor's jet on eBay. McCain himself said yesterday, "You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor, and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!"
Someone should really tell McCain to be more careful with his words:
In fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the plane -- shy of the $2.7 million purchase price -- according to news reports at the time. Reynolds contributed to Palin's campaign in 2006.
Palin, so far as I can tell, has precisely said she auctioned the plane on eBay, without confirming whether or not it actually sold. Just a friendly reminder that details can be pesky things.
--Will Thomas
The Economy Is Strong, Ed. #193
Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday called in top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, and told them that the government was preparing to place the two companies under federal control, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said.
--Will Thomas
Obstruction
Newsweek: McCain camp and its Alaska allies move to shut down trooper-gate probe.
Definitely take a look at the Newsweek article. Also take note of the following, that we're going to be looking into next week. Within days of Palin's selection, at least seven of her aides and associates, who had previously agreed to cooperate with the trooper-gate investigation, informed investigator Steve Branchflower that they were now no longer willing to be deposed. Note too that this was immediately after the McCain team deployed what George Stephanopoulos reported was a "rapid response team of about ten operatives that includes lawyers" to the state.
So the question is: what contact did representatives of the McCain campaign have with these aides that had agreed to testify but within days of her selection took back their pledge and are now refusing to cooperate?
--Josh Marshall
We Will Not Be Exploited!
That school out in North Hollywood that John McCain shameless exploited as his convention speech backdrop is calling foul.
Meanwhile, the McCain camp, despite requests for comment from almost every media organization under the sun, is refusing all comment.
(Remember, just between you and me, at that party last night Rick Davis was blaming it on their ad man Fred Davis.)
--Josh Marshall
Ready ... Eventually
I'm officially laughing my head off at the McCain camp's -- oh, sorry, 'Drudge's' -- attempt to bully Oprah into doing a puff interview with Sarah Palin.
--Josh Marshall
Props
TPM Reader SR ...
I hope you are penning something to this effect: that the Walter Reed mix-up last night is indicative of GOP politics and policy-- that is, injured troops are merely political props, and even then the GOP can't get it right. If they can't get the actual Walter Reed up on screen as a political ploy, how can we possible expect their competence in addressing the needs of actual veterans at the actual Walter Reed?
--Josh Marshall
Ready on Day ... 57?
From Ambinder ...
A senior McCain campaign official advises that, despite the gaggle of requests and pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin won't submit to a formal interview anytime soon. She may take some questions from local news entities in Alaska, but until she's ready -- and until she's comfortable -- which might not be for a long while -- the media will have to wait. The campaign believes it can effectively deal with the media's complaints, and their on-the-record response to all this will be: "Sarah Palin needs to spend time with the voters."Not out of the question are appearances on lighter, fluffier television shows. But -- not for a while.
--Josh Marshall
Delicate Dance
The investigators up in Alaska have come out with their press release announcing how they plan to deal with Gov. Palin's stonewalling of the trooper-gate investigation. It seems Palin has now gotten seven others to also refuse to speak to the investigators (they all signaled their refusal to testify post-Palin announcement). And they've now decided to meet on September 12th to decide whether or not to issue subpoenas to compel testimony. However, they will not issue a subpoena for Palin herself. Why? The press release from the investigators says it's because: "She has told the public that she intends to cooperate with the investigation, indeed, she has told the public that she welcomes the investigation and I have every faith that she means it."
Now, this is a bit artful since just two days ago Gov. Palin made clear that she will not cooperate with the investigation. She is insisting that she will only provide testimony once the committee closes down its investigation and allows the probe to be taken over by the State Personnel Board made up of three members appointed by the governor. So she's saying she's not going to cooperate but they're insisting on taking her at her earlier promises to cooperate.
Now, there's some backstory here that's critical to understand. The point-man for the committee which voted to start the probe is Democrat Hollis French. However, the committee, that voted unanimously to begin the probe has a Republican majority.
So what if Palin just absolutely refuses to testify and continues to stonewall?
TPMmuckraker's Zack Roth just spoke to GOP Rep Jay Ramras, also a member of the committee. And he says no, that even if Palin refuses to cooperate, compelling her to testify would be "inappropriate conduct given the unique political circumstances" and "disrespectful."
--Josh Marshall
He Did It! No He Did It!!
Okay, seems like the finger-pointing is breaking out in the McCain campaign over the green screen / Walter Reed / McCain McMansion goof in last night's McCain speech.
Last night at the Google/Vanity Fair party celebrating the last night of the RNC, McCain chief Rick Davis was telling people the whole thing was the fault of McCain ad man Fred Davis.
--Josh Marshall
Harsh but Very True
MJ Rosenberg ...
You would never know it from the media coverage but John McCain is not one of America's greatest war heroes. He is a former POW who survived, heroically. He deserves to be honored for that heroism.But one thing distinguishes McCain from other war heroes, the kind whose heroism changes history rather than their life stories.
America's two greatest war heroes were Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. Grant saved the union. And Ike saved civilization.
And neither one ever bragged about their experience. (Can you imagine Ike smacking down Adlai Stevenson by saying that while Adlai ran a nice medium-sized state, he was the Supreme Allied Commander who ran D-Day, defeated Hitler, and liberated Europe?).
Impossible. Like Grant, Eisenhower did not brag.
--Josh Marshall
Alaska Paper Not Afraid of the Story
The big papers and cable networks in the lower 48 states may be cowed. But Alaska's biggest newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News apparently isn't. They're asking Sarah Palin to stop stonewalling the ethics investigation probing her firing of the state's Commissioner of Public Safety.
--Josh Marshall
Goof with Greatness
So it seems that that school in North Hollywood that the McCain campaign accidentally used as a speech backdrop instead of a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital is about to release a statement.
--Josh Marshall
Inversion
From TPM Reader TH ...
I think there's a connection between the mansion-cum-middle school picture and the lousy speech prepared for McCain. It has to do with the stress that Palin's nomination puts on the GOP ticket, on the resources she necessarily diverts from McCain. Whatever you think of the Palin speech, whether it was cynical or alienating to anyone outside the base, it was solidly written. I'd even say well written. McCain's wasn't. It was decidedly second rate, not just badly delivered but clumsily written (except for the part about his POW experience, which I assume he has on file: that worked). How did that happen? Everyone knows McCain is a bad public speaker, so one would assume his campaign would it least give him a rock solid text to work from. But I suspect the campaign only has so many first-rate people on hand, and all of those people in the McCain campaign were tasked with taking care of Palin, leaving the top of the ticket to the second-stringers.
--Josh Marshall
Could It Be?
As noted below, it seems like we may have solved the mystery of the bizarre mansion they had up behind John McCain last night on the big TV screen that on TV made it look like a green screen. We're digging in to confirm. Click for the whole story.
--Josh Marshall
Election Central Morning Roundup
Congressman Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) says there was nothing racially derogatory about him calling Barack Obama "uppity." That and other political news in today's Election Central Morning Roundup.
--Eric Kleefeld
Speak For Yourself, Bub
I've been wondering about this phrase from McCain's speech: "We have to catch up to history." So much was going on tonight at the office that I didn't get a chance to really focus on it. In the back of my mind, though, I was thinking, what does he even mean?
But is this really a catch phrase you want to be using if you're an older guy who doesn't use email and hasn't learned how to log on to your own website?
I mean, John, we're already here, speak for yourself.
--Josh Marshall
Mystery Solved!
A lot of people were asking tonight: what the hell was that mansion up behind John McCain tonight during the first part of the speech? As I noted below, the TV close-ups only showed McCain's head against the grass in the picture, which made it look like he was reprising his famed green screen performance. And when they panned out, it looked like McCain was showing off one of his mansions.
Well, several readers have written in to tell me that the building is actually the main building on the campus of the Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California. And sure enough, this page on the school's website makes it pretty clear that they're correct.
You can compare below ...
(ed.note: Thanks to TPM Readers JR and EK for cluing us in.)
Late Update: I'm surprised this hadn't occurred to me. But several readers have suggested that perhaps one of the tech geeks charged with setting up the audio/visual bells and whistles for the evening was tasked with getting pictures of Walter Reed Army Medical Center but goofed and got this instead. At first I thought, No, that's ridiculous. This is a major political party with big time professionals putting this together. Nothing is left to chance. I mean, is this the RNC or a scene out Spinal Tap or Waiting for Guffman? I still have a bit of a hard time believing they're quite that incompetent. But when you figure in what appears to be the utter lack of any logic for this school being behind McCain and the fact that it has 'Walter Reed' in its name, I'm really not sure you can discount this possibility.
(ed.note: Special bonus snark: That's not stock photo keyword searching we can believe in.)
--Josh Marshall
TPMtv: Ahhts A Wrap
(Publisher's Note: I want to give a shout out to the TPM staff. At the moment we have ten full-time employees, each of whom has put in two weeks straight of something like 15 to 18 hour days on convention nights. David Kurtz and Ben Craw in Denver and St. Paul and the rest of the crew working out of TPM HQ in New York -- Justin Elliott, Andrew Golis, Eric Kleefeld, Kate Klonick, Zachary Roth, Greg Sargent, Lila Shapiro and Al Shaw. And interns John Davisson, Ezra Deutsch-Feldman, Daniel Gatti and Rachel Slajda. As we grow, we're developing new ways to expand the scope and comprehensiveness of the coverage we provide for events like these. We've learned a lot these two weeks, which we'll be applying in our debate and election night coverage over the next two months. And I've been really happy with the results. I hope you've enjoyed our coverage. -- jmm.)
--Josh Marshall
Surprised
I wasn't sure what to expect from this speech tonight. But I was pretty sure, as high-stakes conventions speeches almost always end up being, that it would be good. But I really don't think it was. It certainly wasn't bad. He didn't say anything embarrassing or have any real flubs. But the truth is that John McCain does have, at least for a critical five years of his life, a compelling story. And for a relatively brief period of the speech, toward the end, he spoke about it powerfully. But there wasn't that much of it. The rest of the speech, when condensed to its essence, seemed to be that he'll turn the page on the Bush era by continuing all of Bush's policies.
Among the surprises, perhaps the biggest one was that it actually wasn't a very good speech. Not in the sense of delivery, but the speech itself, the speech-writing. There wasn't a clear theme, though it approached on toward the end. Most of it was a fairly tired recital of Republican boilerplate. Did they really devote like ten minutes to charter schools? It was much, much too long for the speaker. I really think they could have given him a much better speech.
Another surprise? What happened to the days when the Republicans were the masters of stagecraft and theatrics. They had him up with there with a set that on TV looked like the notorious green screen from the speech in New Orleans. Even Karl Rove, on Fox, pointed it out.
And when they panned out to see what the audience in the convention hall saw, it was some unidentified mansion. Like maybe a house they're putting in an offer on? Weird. No idea what that was about.
I'll have more thoughts tomorrow. But I thought the delivery was acceptable but tired. The speech itself let the candidate down. I can't imagine the folks at Obama HQ didn't look at each other and say, "Okay, we can deal with that."
--Josh Marshall
Freud Makes Surprise Appearance
Yes, for all of you who've written in, we also just saw Tom Ridge slip and say "Because John Bush, er, John McCain is his own man."
--Josh Marshall
Live McSame Blogging
10:15 PM ... Green Screen!!!
10:19 PM ... Green, Baby, Green!
10:23 PM ... I'm so glad President Bush is president. Now, let's win this election and get this country back on track.
10:26 PM ... I loved the part with the ritual slaughter of the protester. That rocked. That was the best thing since the Lord of the Flies interlude between the Rudy and Palin speeches last night.
10:33 PM ... Can we bring in a few shrinks on that one. This is a guy most known for having a bad temper and getting into a lot of fights. He's known for it.
10:35 PM ... I won't stand for Obama shilling for the oil companies! Enough!!! Four years of Obama oil-shilling is enough! Also, Enough!
10:38 PM ... Can we get Palin back?
10:40 PM ... It's astonishing that he's giving this whole speech from memory.
10:44 PM ... Did anyone else notice this? A few lines back I think he called for abolishing unemployment insurance. Here's the line: "I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn't even noticed. Government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s. That's going to change on my watch."
10:46 PM ... I remember back in '64 when Barry Goldwater first said 'Drill, baby, drill."
10:50 PM ... TPM Reader PT: "What are the odds Governor Palin drops McCain from the ticket? After a performance like this, it's a serious question."
10:53 PM ... I'm trying to be objective in this. But this seems pretty feeble, no? What actually surprises me is that the speech itself, not the delivery but the speech, doesn't seem that great. A lot of laundry list stuff.
10:57 PM ... They/he should have started with biography. Much more compelling than the boilerplate that made up most of the speech.
11:01 PM ... I question the wisdom of not letting anyone in the auditorium under 50.
11:02 ... Nothing brings so much happiness as betraying all the ideals you said you believed in to try to take advantage of your last chance to be president.
11:08 PM ... I'm insulted that McCain uses a lifeless speech to hide his lack of specific policy proposals.
--Josh Marshall
That was a pretty powerful video. But they left off the part about how that guy died ... what, six years ago?
--Josh Marshall
No Shame
From the Boston Globe blog ...
One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.The informal prohibition, which had been occasionally threatened by political ads in recent years, was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 CST, when a video aired before delegates at the Republican National Convention included slow-motion footage of a plane striking the World Trade Center, the towers' subsequent collapse, and smoke emerging from the Pentagon.
The September 11 precedent was one of the few surviving campaign-season taboos. It is survived by direct comparisons of one's opponents to Hitler.
--Josh Marshall
Oy
My God, John McCain's never become a Washington Insider? My God. Hero, war hero, Maverick, any of them I could buy before that one. You could only say that if you've never lived in DC.
--Josh Marshall
Editing Goof
They left out the part about how John was married when they started dating.
--Josh Marshall
TPMtv Talks to Howard Fineman
Very cogent on Palin's mockery of 'community organizers' ...
--Josh Marshall
He Walks Among Us
I watched a lot of Obama's convention. But I don't remember this level of personality cult gushed up around him.
--Josh Marshall
Palin increased funding for infrastructure in Wasilla without raising taxes? Wasn't the money from the federal earmarks?
--Josh Marshall
If You Can't Stand Up to the RNC ...
The original Maverick asked Karl Rove if he could pick Joe Lieberman for vice president. Karl said no. The Maverick said okay.
--Josh Marshall
The Cartoons Look So Life-like
Identity politics certainly has its shortcomings on the left. I've pointed it out in various contexts. But like in so many things, there's nothing compared to the cartoonish excess of identity politics when practiced by the right. Supporters of Hillary aren't just encouraged to vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin. They obligated to. An off-hand remark by Barack Obama and he's playing the race card. But from what I can tell, these jokers aren't even pretending. It's sexist to accuse Sarah Palin of lying daily about her purported opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere. And there's no end of raging about all the journalists who are saying Palin shouldn't be vice president when ... who's saying that. This is actually a deeper pattern worth exploring. Right-wingers can't handle CNN so they create Fox. And the funniest thing is that a lot of them actually think the two are basically equal.
--Josh Marshall
Lying Sarah
From Jake Tapper ...
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sent out a fundraising solicitation today that charged that "the Obama/Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain."I asked spokespeople of the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee just which "Obama/Biden Democrats" they're referring to.
The response I got was that Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski erroneously attacked Palin as a supporter of Pat Buchanan.
That's it. That's the evidence.
An attack on Palin herself.
Someone tell me when the free ride's over.
Thanks
--Josh Marshall
Coming Tomorrow
Sarah Palin's Unitary Theory of the Alaska Governorship.
--Josh Marshall
Focus
The basketball court line got the headlines. But Barack Obama's statements today on camera were, I think, exactly right. Brush off the insults, turn every question back to John McCain. He's running against John McCain. Don't get distracted.
--Josh Marshall
Liar Party
When he's right, he's right. Chris Matthews is, as I write, whacking away at the GOP spinners claiming all the press criticism saying Sarah Palin shouldn't be vice president because she's the mother of young children. Who said that?
--Josh Marshall
That's Not Racism We Can Believe In
Rep. Lynn Westermoreland (R-GA): Obama's too "uppity."
--Josh Marshall
Bull
As you know, despite earlier promises to the contrary, Sarah Palin is now refusing to cooperate with the trooper-gate investigation. Her lawyer now says she will refuse to be deposed unless the head of the current investigation relinquishes control and hands the investigation over to the state Personnel Board made up of three of Gov. Palin's appointees. We've been trying to see whether Palin's argument has any merit under Alaska law. And the former Alaska Attorney General we just spoke to told us, in essence, that it's a bunch of bunk.
Not surprising, since the whole gambit is an effort to push any depositions out past the election.
--Josh Marshall
Megalomaniac
Confirmed: Rudy ran way long in his convention speech, forcing planners to nix a planned soft-focus bio video of Palin that was set to run before she spoke.
You can view the Palin vid here.
--Greg Sargent
TPMtv: Special Sarah Palin Lovefest Edition
We wrap up reaction to Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican Convention, in the most patriotic episode of TPMtv ever:
Full-size video at TPMtv.com.
--David Kurtz
Wolfson on Palin
A short time ago, I put the "Where is Hillary?" question to former Clinton flack Howard Wolfson:
As Greg Sargent reports, Hillary is scheduled to campaign in Florida for Obama on Monday, although it's not clear whether that was a pre-scheduled event or a response to Palin.
--David Kurtz
The Girls' Guide To Hunting And Fishing
TPMCaférs Bernard Avishai, Jim Sleeper and Dr. C.A. Rotwang share their thoughts on the lures and snares of the Alaskan governor. Viva Sarah!
--Lila Shapiro
Laughable
TPM Reader LT:
It really looks like the Republicans think that the Presidency, and election to it, is some kind of a joke. That it's a game which anyone can play at, so it doesn't matter if they grab a governor who is a political neophyte already embroiled in controversy on every front. It's a joke, so it's fine to ridicule and bully your opponent, fib, stall investigations, etc.The "seriousness" (or "seriously?") narrative is the kind that could sway swing voters: independents don't want drama in their ticket -- they want people who can get down to business. They want a ticket that treats voters like sober adults, that treats an election to the Presidency seriously. McCain spokespeople say it's "Not about the issues?" What, so it's a high school popularity contest, then?
I don't know how effective this would be with independents but it sure works on me.
--David Kurtz
Focus Groups
I've posted links below to a couple focus groups on the Palin speech last night. If you've seen others, either in press write ups or discussed on cable news, can you send them along?
--Josh Marshall
What Does This Say About McCain?
This has been nagging at me for a while. Karl Rove this morning told yet another variation on the story of the McCains' adoption of their daughter Bridget. In his version, like the others I've heard, Cindy didn't tell John in advance that she was bringing this child back with her from abroad. She just did it, a fact which usually gets a hardy-har-har from friendly audiences.
In Rove's version today, Cindy specifically told someone else not to tell John in advance. The point of Rove's story was that John McCain needs to reveal more of himself publicly so that voters can see the kind of character he has.
Am I the only one who finds that story to be a poor reflection on Cindy, John, and their marriage?
--David Kurtz
Liar, Liar
Fired Alaska Public Safety Commissioner at the center of trooper-gate scandal says Palin is not telling the truth.
--Josh Marshall
Thumbs Down
I'm certainly not saying this will be the across the board response. And self-identified Republicans loved Palin's speech. But a focus group of Michigan independents did not like it.
Late Update: Focus groups of female undecideds in Nevada didn't seem to like it either.
--Josh Marshall
Tire Swing Feels So Good
You'd think Dan Balz would be a little gun-shy after getting burned on that first Palin vetting story. I guess not.
--Josh Marshall
Rage We Can Believe In
I know I'm swimming upstream against a stiff current. But I'll stick to my first impression. I think Mike Allen is nuts to call the Palin speech a grand slam. For partisan Republicans, absolutely. It's a bad year for Republicans and the desire for something or someone to get excited about is palpable. And they got it. But there's only so much more consolidating of the Republican base McCain can do. As good as her delivery was, I really don't think this was a speech that spoke to the issues that are driving the election this year. I don't think it's a slashing attacks against liberal elites kind of year. And as much as politics is about gut reactions and instinct, I don't think ignoring any discussion of the economy this year works. Finally, fundamentally, I do think this is a change election year. And I don't think that was a change speech. Not a convincing one.
As I said, I could totally be wrong. Just my opinion.
Also significant, while the networks have gotten distracted about the kid nonsense, Palin has a serious issue with a lot of on the record lies -- on a serious front with trooper-gate and on a lighter front with the repeated lies about the bridge to nowhere.
Through August, as the McCain campaign laid down a blanket of harsh and denigrating ads diminishing Obama and the Obama camp receded into the background with little clear message defining the election for up-for-grabs voters, I felt increasingly concerned about the course of the race. After this, I don't feel that way.
Late Update: I just saw James Fallows' take on this. I think he's got it right.
--Josh Marshall
Grand Slam?
That's how The Politico's Mike Allen just described Sarah Palin's speech in a panel he's moderating here in St. Paul that includes Karl Rove. At one point, Allen asked if there was a real "danger" of Palin now overshadowing McCain.
--David Kurtz
Election Central Morning Roundup
John McCain will be delivering his big acceptance speech tonight, and Barack Obama will be giving a pre-rebuttal interview on, of all places, The O'Reilly Factor. That and other political news in today's Election Central Morning Roundup.
--Eric Kleefeld