Top 5: Game Change

I watched the HBO original series Game Change last night and for what it's worth - here's my Top 5 impressions:

1. Sarah Palin (as portrayed) did come off as ignorant when it came to international politics and history. But as bad as the semi-fictionalized account was she still wasn't Wolf Blitzer in real life on Jeopardy stupid.
2. John McCain came off as very Presidential. If the goal of the show was to make people think, "Thank God we didn't elect Palin" I think they failed because I think overall the show made people see John McCain as a good, decent man who in hindsight was better prepared to be President than Barack Obama.
3. Barack Obama was portrayed only with real clips of the real Obama. As I mentioned above - the overall impression the show gave was that Obama wasn't prepared to be President. The Republicans would be wise to make The Who's Don't Get Fooled Again their campaign anthem.
4. The show mentioned the impact of YouTube on the campaign. This election cycle that will work against Obama because John McCain's campaign ads still hold up very good against Obama (like this one that was Nostradamus like on gas prices) and Obama's own campaign promises and ads won't go down the memory hole.
5. I called it a semi-fictionalized account above because it is clear the writers took many liberties with the truth.

It Ain't Worth It - Just Ask Sarah Palin

Politics as Poetry

Today's poetry is brought to you by the letters, R, N and C.

Sarah Palin's speech as poetry. Very good.

However, Donald Rumsfeld remains the standard against which all other would be poets are measured.

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party

Over at Instapundit I saw lots of speculation about Sarah Palin having resigned to possibly found a third party to confront the Democrats and Republicans in the 2010 and 2012 elections. The idea is that Sarah Palin may form a formalized Tea Party.

It should be remembered that the Republican Party was once a third party itself. When it started in 1854 the main issue was slavery but the party was also interested in the well-being of small business and the middle class. The issues that this new Republican Party were attractive to many voters from both of the existing political parties and by 1860 this new third party had elected Abraham Lincoln as President.

The Tea Party would have a single main issue - over-taxation and an out of control government bureaucracy with waste the rule and not the exception. This issue is appealing to members of both parties (not just Republicans). The abuse Palin would receive at the hands of the MSM wouldn't even be worse than the press that Abraham Lincoln received from the Democratic leaning press of his day.

Could the new Tea Party do in half the time what it took the Republicans 6 years to accomplish a century and a half ago? Why not? Back in 1854 I bet not many thought the new Republican Party would have success defeating the mighty Whig Party who had just elected 3 out of the previous 4 Presidents of the United States. But they did. Why not Sarah Palin and a Tea Party?

David Letterman

David Letterman is taking lots of flack for his "joke" about Sarah Palin and her daughter at a Yankees game. People are calling Letterman classless, misogynistic, ignorant and much worse. I'm sort of surprised at the backlash at Letterman. I mean what else did you expect? Letterman is a Yankees' fan so being classless, misogynistic, ignorant and much worse is par for the course. [/rimshot]

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Michael Gee makes a good point regarding the Sarah Palin getting booed by Flyers' fans incident. "Pols always get booed, and always pretend not to notice." I am reminded of John Kerry throwing out the first pitch at a Red Sox game in 2004 right before the DNC in Boston. Kerry was booed. He threw from the front of the mound, it was a lousy throw and he was booed. The difference here is that the media completely ignored the fact that Kerry was booed (by his "hometown" fans no less) but Sara Palin being booed gets to be a story.... Steve Silver points out something that has been bugging me subconsciously. Those Brooke Shields commercials for Volkswagon are creepy and it wasn't until Silver pointed out the strangeness of combining the words "German engineering" and "babies" did the "Master Race" angle fully hit me... John L. Sullivan would have been 150 year's old today. He is often forgotten when the names of great Boston athletes are mentioned but once he was the most famous athlete in the world and probably the toughest man in America. Sullivan used to walk into a bar and claim to be able to "lick any man" in the place. If someone made such a claim today it would come off sounding a bit gay...

The Sarah Palin Effect

Wow - just wow. You can't manufacture this sort of sincerity.

Or this sort.

The humanity and decency of the McCain/Palin ticket is what is going to put them over the top this November

Presidential Odds

The odds on the US Presidential election have changed. At the time of the RNC - it was:

Barack Obama -$200
John McCain +$140

Meaning you would have to risk $200 on Barack Obama to win $100 or risk just $100 on John McCain to win $140.

Today those odds are:

Barack Obama -$160
John McCain +$120

That means that you would have to risk $160 to win $100 on Obama or risk just $100 to win $120 on McCain. It should be noted that -$120 is even money (the "house" takes $20 as vig). That means that the race for President is inching closer to a dead heat in the only poll I think is worth keeping an eye on.

I fully expect to race to draw even and then have McCain as the favorite sometime within a month.

Odds via Bodog.com

The Barack Obama Interview

Today we were lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with Democratic nominee for President Barack Obama.

ALR: Sir - than you so much for granting me this interview. I'm so glad that you chose my humble blog.

Barack Obama: It's my pleasure Chris. I know I can be completely honest and open with you. I don't have to worry about having to look combative like I did on the O'Reilly interview on Fox or getting creeped out by some "yes" man undressing me with his eyes like in the Olbermann interview.

ALR: We'll let's jump right into it. Your recent comments have been interpreted by many as you calling Sarah Palin a pig? Didn't it occur to you that the lipstick on a pig metaphor would be interpreted as an insult to Palin and to women in general?

Barack Obama: Of course I knew how it was going to be interpreted. I'm a Harvard grad for God's sake. I was speaking in not so veiled code calling Palin a pig. I had another joke written where I called her Miss Piggy. I didn't think I had to use that one because I figured the lipstick on a pig comment would be plain enough.I can't believe some people are defending what I said as an innocent comment.

ALR: But why do it then? Why make the lipstick on a pig comment? It's like you want to sabotage your own campaign.

Barack Obama: See Chris - that's why I agreed to the interview. You obviously get it. Of course I'm trying to sabotage my own campaign. I don't want to be President. I never thought it would go this far. And Michelle has made it clear that she absolutely doesn't want me to win this election.

ALR: Well I guess that explains the Joe Biden pick for Vice President.

Barack Obama: Exactly! If I really wanted to win - I would have picked Hillary to be the VP. Everyone knows that. I pick Joe Biden and the Hillary supporters jump ship. Sure they all say they will vote for me but come election day - they'll vote McCain just to spite me for my choice of Biden. I expected Joe Biden to have made a big gaffe by now that would alienate a bunch of voters but since he's been quiet - I figured "if you want something done right - do it yourself." That's why I called Palin a pig.

ALR: But why? You are so close to being President. Your election would be historic.

Barack Obama: Well that's part of the problem. Do you think the first black President wouldn't be a major target? I don't want to live the next 4 or 8 years of my life worrying about some nut with a rifle. And if I really wanted to win and had picked Hillary - then I'd have to worry about somebody poisoning my food too. Those Clintons are hardcore power junkies.

ALR: But if you are worried about your safety - why run in the first place?

Barack Obama: The money! You kidding? If I win this election I get paid peanuts as President and have the threat of assassination hanging over my head. If I make it close then lose - then I can make millions and millions going around the world and giving speeches. Look at Al Gore. He's making a bundle and having a blast. I just need to keep it close. I figure the pig comment should swing more women voters and some independents over to McCain. If it stays too close to call then I plan on being caught on tape saying something nasty about Asians or Mexicans. I haven't decided which group to alienate yet - probably the Mexicans because I don't see many big paying speaking opportunities in Mexico.

ALR: Well I'd like to say I'm shocked but these days not much in politics shocks me.

Barack Obama: Thanks for letting me vent.

Sarah Palin as Mrs. Weasley

Last night I got home too late to have seen Sarah Palin's speech live. I did find the text of her speech on RealClearPolitics and my initial reaction was "Wow!" Flipping around the channels I noticed that one of the C-Span channels was replaying the night's RNC events. I knew I would have to wait a while to see the speech but I had to see it. I couldn't wait till the morning when the speech would be available on video. The anticipation was killing me.

I fell asleep but awoke during Rudy Giuliani's speech. Governor Palin would be next. I sat up in rapt attention and when she started in my reaction was, "Wow - simply wow!" Her speech generated strong emotions in me. Feelings that were eerily familiar. It took me most of the day to realize when I had felt those feelings before.

Before I explain - let me back up. Like many people I was disgusted at the way the media had been attacking Palin through her children. Her speech reminded me on a visceral level of a lioness protecting her cubs. Governor Palin knows her family is not perfect nor rich nor to the aristocracy born. But it's her family and they are a family. Whole and intact. Like the Weasley family from the Harry Potter books.

It hit me tonight that the last time something generated such feelings was at the end of the last Harry Potter book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

At the end of the book Bellatrix Lestrange is trying to kill Mrs. Weasley's youngest daughter Ginny (along with Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood). Mrs. Weasley's response? "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!"

Mrs. Weasley did not need anyone to protect her child. She did it herself. Much like Sarah Palin last night. If you substituted the liberal media elite for Bellatrix - then to me the cry of "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" seems spot on.

To continue the analogy - again substitute the main stream media for Bellatrix and the reaction to Palin / Mrs. Weasley again seems spot on:

"Bellatrix's [the MSM's] gloating smile froze, her eyes seemed to bulge: For the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared..." Deathly Hallows Page 736-737

The gloating smiles over an inexperienced, white trash hick with no experience is gone. Evaporated by a speech like no other I can recall in my lifetime. The mainstream media has been exposed for their shabby treatment of a mother and her daughter. And last night the crowd cheered as the mother protected her family and prevailed over her would be tormentors.

The crowd is still cheering. Not my daughter you bitch indeed!