Not really. Bush was riding a wave of popularity from the Reagan years that saw enormous economic growth, peace and the crumbling of Communism. Dukakis was a weak nominee from a weak field (affectionately called the Seven Dwarfs") and never came close to Bush. Also, Quayle was a young, little known, good looking mid-western senator, and most of his gaffes ocurred after the election. He survived allegations that while in the National Guard, he received preferential treatment to stay out of Viet Nam.

Anyway, this is a memorable gem that stung him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI

Hell's Kitchen is great. I like how he'll get in the chef's face and cuss them out up one side and down the other.

"All artists borrow, but the great ones steal!" - Anonymous

And yeah, JFK didn't write PROFILES OF COURAGE.

Sorenson did write a good book though.

All right, thanks for correcting me on that point. Thanks for the video too.

Speaking of post-speech reaction, Pat Buchanan.....yes, that conservative Pat Buchanan...called it the best convention speech he's ever heard.

Liked this one line from Obama's speech: ""We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country."
"

Technically, Kennedy escalated our involvement in Vietnam, Bay of Pigs failure came under him, but his administration did defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis without America looking weak or negotiating weakly, or coming out as such from the encounter.

Still, good assertive line, which the Democrats haven't done enough perhaps against McCain.

Not much else can be said about the speech. It was one helluva speech. I was watching it in my office, and stayed late just to see the whole thing. He did/said everything he had to. Now we'll see how McCain responds, and what happens in the next 2 months.

Some of the names the GOP has come up with for Obama's over-the-top stage:

The Temple of Obama. Egobama. And my favorite, Barackopolis.

Ha ha ha... Barackopolis! I saw something about that yesterday on a political site. I was at work (just checking the news) but only saw a headline about the "pillars. Didn't open the link. Btw, I read there was 80,000 people there.

Anyway, SB yea, I watched. I have always been interested in who runs our country, but man, the last couple elections and this one in particular, I feel like a political geek. I am acutally considering a vacation or sick day the Wednesday after the election. I figure I'll have the day to do celebrate or mourn....either way, I'll need it.

TIS

Oh, don't try to race bait me, SC. It's not very becoming of you.

Besides, I don't have a K-Mart near me. I do know where you could get some Depends cheap though!

No baiting going on here. You're the one who keeps making racist references in regards to the Obamas (gorillas, Aunt Jemima, etc.). The only thing becoming of you here is that it's becoming tired and quite ugly.




No thanks. I'll leave the wearing of sheep to you.

Wow. It's not unconfirmed, but it looks like McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Is this a last desperate attempt to try and get the Clinton voters? Other than that, I don't see what else she brings to the table.

....Watch she's not actually the pick.

I heard that earlier, too (unconfirmed). She'd bring the female vote to the party.

NBC News is confirming that right now!

Well, she'll deliver all of Alaska's electoral votes. Oh, wait, no that's not it...

John McCain's is 73 years old. God forbid something happens to him, Sarah Palin will be the President? She's only been a Governor for 2 years, and the only other office she ever held is Mayor of Wasilla. Wow. Just wow.

....The again, nothing was more scary than the prospect of "President Quayle".

She's gonna debate Joe Biden???

WTF was McCain thinking?

Biden will have to be careful though, and walk a thin line. He can't come off as a bully, picking on a woman.

I just called my most conservative friend, and asked him what he thought.
His quote was: "I'm depressed. I don't want to talk about it."

This is a blunder of monumental proportions. What is McCain thinking?

She's going to appeal to a lot of social conservatives, and he hopes to get the Hillary voters. I can't see the people that are on the fence for Obama, but aren't sure due to the experience issue, voting for McCain now.

A smackdown that trumps anything coming out of Chad Johnson's mouth...

Terrible choice, but good for Obama!

McCain is trying too hard to win over Hillary's die hard feminist supporters. In doing so, he'll chase away the blue collar men that Obama was having a hard time with.

He should have played to his strengths, rather than take advantage of Obama's biggest weakness (older white women).

It's being reported that Obama's campaign is "thrilled" with the pick because now the inexperience arguments are off the table with Sarah Palin one step from the White House.

I really don't know much about her. It was kind of a surprising pick. I'm sure a lot of thought went into the selection, but wow.

I don't know this Sarah -- I don't know what she does -- I don't know what she lives on. Now why don't you tell her that the Vice Presidency is out of the question, and you don't want to see her anymore. Now she'll understand, believe me.

As they should be.

I think a reason McCain picked her was that she would be pro-life legit to calm the social conservatives down, and which McCain doesn't hate her guts (like he dd with Romney, and reportedly with Huckabee as well).

But there are some real drawbacks to this pick:

(1) As a GOP Governor, she's currently under a criminal probe led by a GOP-controlled Alaskan legislature, investigating whatever she without good cause fired a state trooper...who happened to be married to her sister, and whom was divorcing the trooper at the time.

(2) If McCain sought to capitalize on Hillary's supporters still upset/meh on Obama, consider two problems with this logic: #1 Palin is pro-life, and most American women according to polling data, about 55%, are still pro-choice, and #2 Go ask Walter Mondale how a female VP racked up the votes for him in 1984.

(3) Back to experience as Lou points out, this pick wipes out one of McCain's strongest arguments against Obama, that of not having enough experience. McCain plays that card at a debate, and Obama will demand why she's experienced in case the worst should happen, and not him.

Boom

Remember 2004 when GOPers (rightly) attacked the Edwards VP pick as not having enough experience for the top job? Consider that Obama has had what, 3+ years in the Senate and some years (can't remember exactly how much) in the Illinois State Senate?

Now consider Palin, who's been Governor of Alaska for more than a year and before that was only the Mayor of a city.

(4) As much as I've shit on the idea of Ridge as VP because of his pro-choice stance, some here have pointed out right that he would though put Pennsylvania into play, and score some moderate swing voters.

With Palin....Alaska hasn't gone Democratic in a Presidential election since 1964. Obama was about 10 points last I checked there, but still I would have called it a safe GOP state anyway, even if the Governor/Senator/Congressman are in legal deep shit.

(5) Off topic, but she was asked what a Vice-President does and her response: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/11757/7150/175/578516

(6) The name of her kids: TRACK, BRISTOL, WILLOW, PIPER, and TRIG.

Look, generally I don't diss names that people give to their kids, but admit it more than once alot of us have read the names given by celebrities to their offspring and laughed at how silly they were: Inspector Pilot (Jason Lee), Kal-El (Nic Cage), Apple(Gwyneth Paltrow), Jermajesty (Jermaine Jackson), Moon Unit and Dweezil and all that shit.

So now add Palin with Track and Trig.* At least we have a new political Frank Zappa as a punchline.

Again, is she from Alaska or Hollywood?

(7) Biden will shred her to bits in the VP debate, though her only chance might be that Biden will try to be softer than usual just so he won't be criticized as being too tough on a girl.

(8) Still, congrats to the GOP for nominating their first woman to a national ticket.

*=Though I feel bad with pointing that one out, considering he has down syndrome. Still.....Trig? Will Palin's next be called Calculus?

I could care less what she names her kids. I care about the fact that she's pro-life, has no experience, is a lifetime member of the NRA, wants to drill in the Alaskan refuge, and tried to get her brother-in-law fired because he was in a custody battle with her sister.

Maybe he was going for youth and feminism, but man did he miss the mark. Whoever advised McCain on this move must have been drinking, heavily.

I could care less what she names her kids or that she's pro-life or that she's a member of the NRA. I care about the no experience.

Now I'm more confused than ever who I'm gonna vote for.

What are the chances now that McCain can change his mind and pick someone else?

Fair enough, I was simply bringing up stuff that the media will highlight for the next 2 months.

You know, its funny how the other day, I penned that WHAT IF? column on Curtis LeMay's disaster of a VP for George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign.

Palin isn't LeMay nuclear bad (pun!), but....I doubt that 12,000 seat joint for McCain's GOP acceptance speech next week will break through the roof now.



McCain needs to lay off the bottle.

But I agree with you, this pick is just a shitbasket for McCain.

The last that happened was 1972 when Eagleton got revealed as an electro-shock patient, and Shriver of the Kennedy clan replaced him.

And which McGovern/Shriver won only Massachusetts that fall in the biggest electoral-asskicking...until 1984.

Point is, to my fellow Republican comrades, you're stuck with her, for better or for worse.