Live Bloggin' as I Watch the Repubs' Convention...

I'm watching tonight's Republican Convention and trying out writing thoughts as I watch here...

Governor Huckabee is talking now. He says Obama's trip over to Europe wasn't worth it, as though the world's opinion of and collaboration with the U.S. doesn't matter. Cheap shot at how Palin supposedly got more votes running for a mayor's spot in Alaska than Biden got running for president--I can't see how that's actually true.

Now he's talking about McCain's time as a POW in Vietnam. It's a heroic period for McCain, and certainly shows some of his character; but, my problem with it is that many people have good and heroic stories, but that doesn't justify them as our next president in the way many seem to make it out to be.

I can't see that it's relevant that VP nominee Sarah Palin's intro includes explaining that she was a beauty queen winner...

They're talking now about her personal qualities, all which sound valid (and which Repubs often appeal to voters the most on, sometimes at the cost of actually balancing this with the issues though)...This lack of an issue-based focus among Republicans was shown recently with this recent comment by McCain's campaign manager: "This election is not about issues...this election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

The speaker (Hawaii governor) leading up to Palin's speech just used the (over-used) comment that Obama gives good speeches, as though that's a negative...

Same speaker just made a valid point that Palin has executive experience and that Obama and Biden don't, though McCain doesn't either to my knowledge. It's a fair argument that Palin brings something in the way of managing a big budget that they don't, however they deal with massive sums of money in Congress in some very similar ways...

It must be nice for them to be able to call McCain a "maverick" no matter whether he actually has held that up over the last few years (he really has not of recent).

Uh oh, here comes 'ol Rudy G. (Giuliani that is), former NY mayor, he's a real cracker-jack, will likely try and swing for the head with some comments based on what I've heard before...here he goes with the fear factor, talking about how we need to watch out for our safety...they really did just tell this story (with Huckabee above) of McCain's POW experience--I have no problem with the story, it's powerful, but they told it last night and earlier tonight, they just don't have to tell it again and again...now he's poking fun at Obama--literally, poking fun, saying it's a "problem" that he was a community organizer...wow, it really stokes the crowd though, this emotionalism...

Now he brings up the "least experienced candidate" comment, saying Obama's the least experienced in a 100 years--perhaps he thinks Lincoln, who had basically identical credentials to Obama, shouldn't have been in there...I can't believe Giuliani has the gall to bring up experience with someone like Sarah Palin as VP candidate--when Palin has at least the same, but I think measurably less experience then Obama; and it is a simple reality that McCain has had melanoma cancer a number of times and Palin may really have to take his place at one point...

And couldn't be the Republicans this time without Rudy here bringing up drilling offshore for oil--because that will really motivate us all towards healthy approaches to energy...and geez, I should've known that Rudy, who primarily campaigned for the Rep. nomination this year on his experience as NY mayor during 9/11, would bring the fear factor on in full strength, saying "Democrats are in a state of denial" about the real problems of terrorism--what a factually baseless statement.

Now Giuliani's talking up some cheap shots about changes in position for Obama--the most credible argument would be to walk through the points and consider what Barack said on those changes. Geez, this is pathetic though, really, it's an endless attack on Obama, and says so little about what McCain has to offer...

The crowd looks like it'd cheer on anything Giuliani here has to say; it's really unnerving and makes it seem as though the crowd would cheer on the same type of pathetic cut-downs (for lack of a more mature term for the pettiness of it) if it were a little kid getting pushed around on a playground or something--it's like Obama said in his acceptance speech last week, "making a big election about small things." I think I'll do another one of these posts to start over with Palin's speech above...

Update: Josh, a college buddy of mine who commented below, had a great comment on his blog about Giuliani's speech: "honestly, i don't think that i have seen as many disgruntled, angry white people in one room together as i have tonight watching the former mayor of NYC Rudy Guliani's speech tonight at the republican national convention. i mean seriously. they made fun of obama being a community organizer...they literally stopped and laughed at him. it sure is something to laugh at, you know, a young black guy trying to make a difference in his neighborhood and city. they showed the faces of young white men my age who scowled with what seemed like hatred in response to Guliani's cadences. where does the anger come from? honestly, i felt like i had a little vomit in my mouth each time Guliani smiled and used terms like "energy exploration" to describe the continued vain dependence on oil through drilling in alaska and wildlife areas rather than "exploring" renewable energy. or take when Guliani emphasized McCain's willingness to go to the ends of the earth to eradicate any enemy of the US with military power, and then pointing to Palin's religion as a sign of God's affiliation with the republican party."

As a note to readers, I have to say that Josh and I are in a bit of a different place in terms of our worldviews, but we've got so much in common at the same time; the fact that we were both offended on an ethical level at various qualities of Giuliani's speech shows, in my view, that people coming from somewhat different perspectives can still connect on areas related to ethics, humanity in general, etc. (as you and I happened to talk about last weekend Josh).

Biden Ain't Bad

Obama's now-VP running mate, Senator Joe Biden, is a cool cat--here's a couple short videos on him, which I'll add to as I run across others (you can also watch Biden and Obama live at their first rally together this afternoon at 3pm EST; Obama's site will have a live video feed of it). But I love how frank Biden is, as especially comes across in the two brief videos below. The first is in response to Bush's claims that Democrats (and by implication, Obama) would be appeasing various enemies by meeting with them (Bush actually even compared it to the idea of meeting with Hitler). The second one is from the floor of the U.S. Senate in March 2007, and has Biden speaking with biting honesty about the negligent way the Iraq war has been handled; the video actually starts with Senator McCain finishing speaking, and you'll hear Biden later address him (when he refers to the Senator from Arizona). Here's a key couple lines of Biden's from the second video:

"Our troops don't lose wars, bad policy, bad leadership leaves wars. They [the GOP] should have the courage to stand up and tell the Administration they have had a god-awful policy, they have put our troops in a position that in fact has made it virtually impossible for them to succeed at the outset. They deserve a policy, they deserve a plan--there is no plan! We went to war with too few troops, we went to war unnecessarily, we went to war with these men and women ill-equipped, they're coming home ill-served. It's about time we have the courage to stand up, and say to the President, 'Mr. President, you have not only put us in harm's way, you have harmed us. You have no policy Mr. President.' I'm so tired of hearing on this floor about courage--have the courage to tell the Administration, 'Stop this ridiculous policy you have.' "

Here's the two videos:

Die, Dream Team, Die, says Pelosi

Picture from this great Economist article on the subject.

What a misnomer, "dream team." Perhaps all those touting the miscalculated idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket are really GOP strategists in disguise. Either way, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi--the highest ranking Democrat in the land right now--appeared to usher in the welcome demise of the idea last week on the PBS "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Here's the question and answer from it:

JUDY WOODRUFF (with the NewsHour): Do you still believe that an Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama ticket is not likely?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: I do. In all honesty, I do think it is not likely. They haven't asked me who I think should be their running mate. You have. And I don't think that would be the ticket that will win for us.

Let me say it another way: I don't think that's the ticket that is going to happen. If it is the ticket that happens, it will be the winning ticket, but I don't see it happening. (Read or watch the whole interview here.)

Hear, hear. The idea has been misguided from the start, particularly when you consider the baggage involved--namely the Clintons' matching husband-wife baggage. If the primary season has revealed anything, it's that the Clintons never had any lessons on playing second fiddle. A Vice President Billary Clinton (as Colby King of the Washington Post dubbed the duo here) would be a disaster in the making.

Most prominently perhaps, as my friend Cecilia pointed out to me recently, the alpha-alpha combination of Obama and Clinton (and Clinton) would be a nonstarter in terms of actual governance. How would the former President and First Lady (particularly this former President and First Lady) not try to continually overstep and outdo a President Obama? Also, as I detailed in this post on Hillary's potential devolution of the Democratic party, I believe her presence on the ticket with Obama would turn significant numbers of people off who would otherwise support him--she's just that divisive in my view, even if she hasn't earned all of those sentiments.

more at twiigs.com...

Update: If reports such as this are indicators of a push by Clinton for the VP spot, I worry that she will try to force the issue; boy I hope not, that is just more than she has the right to do--particularly given the negative factor I think she would represent on the ticket.

Update 2: I just came across a number of posts in my Google Reader (a great tool) on this very subject: here with Robert Reich, here at The Nation, and here from Harvard's Saguaro Seminar blog (a wonderful blog that reflects on issues of "social capital"). I especially appreciate the following thoughts from the last of those three pieces at the Saguaro Seminar:

"In choosing a vice presidential running mate, we hope that Barack will find someone other than Hillary Clinton who can help to reunify the Democratic base of working collar Americans and older Americans. Choosing Hillary only shackles Barack to the scorched earth politics of the past as we witnessed in great quantity from her during the primary season. Moreover, as we often write about in this column, trust is an extremely valuable commodity and hard to repair once breached. And with Hillary as his Vice President, President Barack Obama could scarcely take a business trip without fearing a palace coup during his departure. Whether one’s grist is Shakespearean tragedies or the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, it’s hard to build an effective team around fratricide." (emphasis mine)

I would (excitedly) add that I found out tonight that Obama actually participated in the Saguaro meetings at Harvard from 1996-2000, which were aimed at "developing recommendations for strategies that would help foster the growth of social capital and civic connectedness in America." He was among "33 accomplished thinkers and doers who serve as a catalyst in determining the kinds of changes and strategies necessary to increasingly connect Americans with their communities and community institutions."

Update 3: Here's O. himself talking about the possibility (along with other interesting issues), where he says he's a "big believer in making decisions well," adding the following: "I think it's not just in my interest and Sen. Clinton's interest, but in the Democrat Party's interest and the country's interest to make sure I make this decision well. And I will be deliberate and systematic about it, because this will be my final counselor when I'm making decisions in the White House and I want to make sure I get it right."