I suppose the charitable explanation is that he's trying to be folksy. But notice the exaggerated hand movements, the bit about "The most important per--Michelle Obama"; that definitely sounds like he's a little squiffy.
I don't know whether I'm helping to spread this crap, but I feel it needs to be confronted. Some posters over at Democratic Underground are spreading a ridiculous rumor that Sarah Palin's last child, the one with Down's Syndrome, is actually her grandchild and that her 16-year-old daughter is really the mother.
As evidence, the Palin "Truthers" offered an article published on Google Groups that noted Alaska reporters were caught by surprise by the announcement that Governor Palin was seven months' pregnant. Of course, anybody who knows about pregnancy knows that's about when it starts to show.
There are claims in one of the threads that David Sirota pushed this rumor on the Thom Hartmann show; I am working on that angle now. If so, this is more than just a few of the loonier left at DU, but a major blogger and a well-known talk radio show have been caught spreading rumors. Update: I listened to the show and Sirota is blameless in the matter. He was in the studio, but the conversation was between Hartmann and Kerry Kerrigan, a "progressive" talker in Alaska:
Hartmann: Kerry, I'm hearing some--now this falls into the category of rumor, Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, whom I know nothing about, is pregnant?
Kerrigan: I have heard that as well and I know people who go to her--this is a very small community, when people ask me what Alaska is like I describe as Mayberry where Andy Griffith lived, because Aunt Bea would cook a pie and Barney would smell it and come by for a slice. And that's kind of what we're hearing up here from some of the kids who've gone to school with her at her high school as well, saying the same thing.
Hartmann: So her daughter Bristol, the 17-year-old daughter is single? She's not married?
Kerrigan: That is correct.
No sleaze is apparently too low for Hartmann.
Of course, the idea that Governor Palin could get away with this is ridiculous; an army of people would have to have been paid off. And the point is not whether she "showed" at seven months; how about at eight and nine months?
The second day of the Alaska Republican Convention had some fireworks - a raging Don Young, a surprise announcement, and a more pregnant-looking Sarah Palin getting multiple standing ovations.
Barack Obama's campaign is blasting John McCain for putting "the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency."
Of course, what is the Obama campaign attempting to do? Putting a former state senator from Illinois with zero foreign policy experience in the presidency. Not a heartbeat away.
Excellent pick. I'm thrilled with the selection; she's a wonderful pick strategically as she takes the wind right out of Obama's sails. She gives the women who supported Hillary a good reason to take another look at the GOP.
She also neutralizes Obama's advantage on the basketball court, as she played point guard on the state championship girls' team. Nickname: Sarah Barracuda.
As I have pointed out in the past, the dynamics of this race have changed dramatically over the summer. Obama seems on the defensive, while McCain is taking charge of the campaign. To continue the basketball meme, Obama's trying the four corners offense against Al Maguire. Didn't work for Dean Smith, won't work now.
12:45 pm- I am still in the afterglow, and thought I would go for another trounce. Screw the foreplay, here is Pat Buchanan being positively effervescent about the speech:
Heheh, Pat Buchanan joins the Obamaniacs and they celebrate it.
The only thing that could make this better is if Jerome Corsi decides to endorse Obama tomorrow.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Obama's lost a point at InTrade. I think he gave the red meat to the liberal wing of the party and lost the center. The attacks on McCain seem especially tacky given this:
Obama's No. 1 ranking is akin to being declared the major-league batting champion. The honor goes to the player with the highest batting average, regardless of whether he has the most hits. In Obama's case, voting the liberal position 65 out of 66 times earned him the title, as opposed to a senator who might have voted the liberal position 80 times out of 90.
Today's new McCain ad -- "Tiny," which you can watch HERE -- crosses a new line into dishonesty, however, beyond whether or not it's actually airing anywhere.
Alright, cool, a new line being crossed in dishonesty, this sounds interesting:
The script reads; "Iran. Radical Islamic government. Known sponsors of terrorism. Developing nuclear capabilities to 'generate power' but threatening to eliminate Israel.
"Obama says Iran is a 'tiny' country, 'doesn't pose a serious threat,'" the ad continues. "Terrorism, destroying Israel, those aren't 'serious threats'? Obama -- dangerously unprepared to be president."
Okay, so what did Obama actually say?
I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela -- these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union.
Oh, so he only meant tiny compared to the Soviet Union, not tiny compared to the United States of America? Got it.
And the second part:
They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us.
Okay, so they don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviets posed a serious threat to us. They pose some sort of comical, Three Stooges kind of threat? Some sort of semi-serious threat that's serious without being quite Soviet serious?
I have to enjoy this discussion of the "police state" underway:
With riot police on every downtown corner, security helicopters whomping overhead, news that police had secretly converted a northeast Denver warehouse into a detention centre enraged protesters and civil libertarians here yesterday who hoped for a different message with Barack Obama's Democrats in town.
"It's outrageous. All of this – it's designed to intimidate us," said Adam Jung, 28, a Missouri university student who led 2,000 demonstrators in a mostly peaceful anti-war march through downtown Denver.
A 28-year old student? Well, there's 10 years of college down the drain.
One of the best, most moving, intimate, rousing, humble, and beautiful speeches I've heard from a convention platform. Maybe she should be running for president.
Meanwhile reports are surfacing that a bunch of pretty dumb skinheads were planning to assassinate Obama:
The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner according to sources.
Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.
Allie Reynolds, Joe Gordon and Vern Stephens are among 10 players whose careers began before 1943 who will be considered by the Hall of Fame's constituted Veterans Committee when it meets on Dec. 7.
Bill Dahlen, Wes Ferrell, Sherry Magee, Carl Mays, Mickey Vernon, Bucky Walters and Deacon White also will be on the ballot, the Hall said Monday. The 10 finalists were selected by a committee of the Baseball Writers' Association of America that considered pre-1943 players. A 12-member committee of Hall of Famers, media and historians will vote.
My thoughts:
Reynolds: Should go; a 7-2 record in World Series starts is good enough for me.
Gordon: Solid player and perennial All Star and MVP candidate; like many of his era he's hurt by missing two years to WWII. Was traded for Reynolds straight up after the 1946 season; it's safe to say the Yankees got the better end of that deal. Marginal pick due to a short career.
Stephens: Great hitter for a shortstop; led the American League in RBI three times and finished second once. Career has more bulk to it than Gordon's but he's not missing the war years, which accounts for much of the difference in their career stats. Not quite a Hall of Fame career to me.
Bill Dahlen: Old-timer. Had a long and productive career, but only once led his league in any statistic (RBI in 1904, with 80). He only appeared in one World Series, and his showing there was pathetic; 0-15 with three walks. Pass.
Wes Ferrell. Five 20-win seasons and a .601 career winning percentage are the good points, but Ferrell was a workhorse, not a showhorse. Most of his league-leading totals were for negative things like his allowed, HRs allowed, earned runs allowed, etc. Only selected to two All-Star games and did not pitch in either of those. Nope.
Magee: Good hitter in the deadball era, borderline candidate.
Mays: Out because of the Chapman beaning and accusations of throwing the World Series (never proven) in 1921. Marginal candidate.
Vernon: Solid, long-term player, borderline candidate. I'd vote for him.
Bucky Walters: Tough case. Walters was as good as anybody in baseball from 1939-1944, and his two best years (1939 and 1940) deserve mention on anybody's short list of the greatest seasons by a pitcher ever. In 1939, Walters led the National League in wins, strikeouts, ERA, innings pitched, and just about everything else you can name. He also contributed in the batter's box, hitting .325 with eight doubles, a triple and a homer. He was named the league's MVP. However, he was disappointing in the World Series, losing two to the Yankees In 1940, he went out and did most of it again, and although he did not perform as well with the wood in his hand, he managed to win two WS games and even contributed a home run to the Reds' first non-tainted World Championship.
But aside from those spectacular seasons, the rest of his career is made up of 15-15, 14-15, and 15-14 type years. He only finished 38 wins above .500, which would be very low for a starting pitcher, and well below the other pitchers on this list.
Deacon White: A player from the 1870s, so his statistical record may not tell us much. Most baseball historians consider him an important early figure in the game.
It's more like "Recreate the Days of Rage", the 1969 protest by Billy Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn:
Lt. Ron Saunier, a Denver Police Department spokesman, said the number of protesters that actually showed up was nowhere near what groups had told city officials to expect.
Recreate 68 had projected that as many as 25,000 or even 50,000 people would participate in activities this week. Instead, a group estimated by police at 1,000 to 1,200 participated in a Recreate 68 anti-war march Sunday morning, with a much smaller group parading up Colfax Avenue later in the day.
What if they decided to give a revolution and nobody came?
The speakers included Cindy Sheehan (lately famous for running against Nancy Pelosi because she's too conservative); Ron Kovic (a wounded Viet Nam war vet, and perennial protestor, who had the audacity to announce through a thousand watt public address system that he could not speak his mind in America); and the indefatigable ignoramus Ward Churchill. Professor Churchill, you might recall, claimed that the people slaughtered on 9/11 had "provoked" the attacks.
Update II: They might get more participants if some of them showered monthly:
Sheesh, looks like those bandannas might have a double purpose. More photos here.
