The night Sen. Obama accepted his nomination the only appearance Sen. McCain made was an ad congratulating Obama on his historic night. But the night Sen. McCain accepts his party’s nomination it is being reported that Obama will appear on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News… RIGHT before McCain’s speech.

No good deed goes unpunished. As I know it a miracle that The Apostle Obama will appear on Fox News, make no mistake that part of his agreement was to do so only if he could the night of McCain’s speech. Class act, Sen. Obama… but not surprising. I would panic too if I gave a speech to a stadium of 80,000 people and it dropped off the radar less than 24 hours later.

Between this stunt and the coordinated effort to attack, slander and push Gov. Palin off of the ticket, the Obama folks seem to be in a panic.

This is amazing, Reports are circulating that Dem operatives have released Gov. Palin’s social security number and that their goal is to push her off the ticket “by next week”.

Helping them is the media. One only has to look to one of the most popular magazines that targets women (owned by the same people who own Rolling Stone… LARGE contributors to Obama), US Magazine.

….

Notice the subtle blatant branding of Palin? What lies?!?!?!?

In a statement, Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com said:

“A critical rule in politics is: Define or be defined. Fairly or unfairly, Dan Quayle’s image was set within days of his selection as a candidate for vice president, and, forever after, the media sought out evidence that fit in with that pre-conceived image.

“Liberal Democrats are working quickly to Quayle-ize her. They are downplaying her experience and expertise, and trying to define her as ‘just a little housewife from Alaska.’ And, with the help of their friends in the media, they will get away with it – if the Republicans let them.”

He is right

Is it possible? In Palin, could McCain have actually picked someone more maverick-y than himself?

The View on Palin from an Alaskan Anti-Real ID Activist and Democrat

She is what McCain would like to be: She really is a maverick. In two years she stuck it to the two largest oil corporations in the United States of America. That’s pretty (bleep) impressive, you know, that she has antagonized her party to the point that they despise her. And her ratings are still in the 80s.

Sorry to double-dip on sources, but this was too interesting. Raising taxes on oil companies to provide fuel cost relief to taxpayers? Revoking unused resource leases from Big Oil? I’ve heard that before recently, but it sure wasn’t in the Republican Party platform. I’ll give McCain this, Palin sure is interesting.

Greetings from St. Paul!

Happy Birthday to my dad Bill who is with me in the Twin Cities. Not telling his age but email him at bsaxman@shenspring.com and wish him many more. Good man and a great dad. He still is not proficient with chop sticks but LOVES sushi and sashimi - yes, we found a great place near the hotel - been twice.

Brief but succinct.

Minnesotans are incredibly friendly and gracious hosts.

Security is tight.

Protesters? Well, you got to love when anarchists are screaming about their rights as they are being arrested. Dad’s take was hilarious but not for public consumption.

Very well organized overall. Powerful appeal to help the Gustav victims made by Cindy McCain and Laura Bush.

Mrs. Bush is beloved by the GOPers. Cindy McCain is as well. Mrs. McCain, Roberta - Senator’s mom (96) - attended the whole session yesterday as well. We should all look that good and be that sharp at 96.

The convention delegates were very involved with Gustav yesterday. As I was checking my email about 3pm Monday, a lady from Baton Rouge sat down to the laptop next to me and was nervously trying to log on with a toolbar problem and she was crying. Naturally, I asked if I could help and she said, “I am trying to get in touch my girls,” showing me a picture. I said, “I’m sure they miss you too, where do you live?” With her lip quivering, she replied “Baton Rouge”. “Oh.” I tried to reassure her that her girls were fine and she was thankful but that encounter will always stay with me as a memory of this convention.

On to happier notes…one never gets over seeing famous celebs or media stars or politicians…quick run down on who I have been able to see and meet.

Seen - Wendy Malik actress. Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani (five min ago) Sen. Kit Bond. KC and the Sunshine Band (a proud Republican). former Sec of Veterans and Ambassador to Vatican Jim Nicholson.
Kelly Anne Conway who spoke at breakfast today - great talk, very funny! The McCain family.

I’ve met The Beach Boys -super nice guys - It was awesome to be able to go back stage before the show and hang out. Bruce (last name help here) wrote the Manilow song “I Write the Songs….” originially as a hymn. Who knew? Then out of their room popped Bill O’Reilly! Tall. Man. 6′8″ at least. Got individual pics with all. Then met Pat Boone this morning. Dad told me just how popular he was back in the day. #1 show when everyone watched the show. Everyone.

So, that’s my initial take on the convention itself. No real politics so far, just a snap shot of the first 24.

The Virginia delegation is stage right (to the left on TV) and about a 45 degree angle from podium, about 20 yards away.

Tonight Laura Bush then the President via satellite, Orson Swindle, Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman.

heading to the floor now, will not be able to respond to questions so email me at saxman8091@tmail.com

Hope you are well!

Chris

I am not sure what is worse… The violent protest or the lack of surprise on my part. These are the “enlightened” ones who know better and want peace…

Click here to see the Posts pictures of them

Where is the outrage? Where are the calls from the left for calm? Can you imagine if ONE single Democrat was even LOOKED at wrong, to say nothing of physically ATTACKED in Denver? Can you imagine the enormous outcry from Obama fans the media?!?!? In this case, it is an “oh, by the way” story.

OK, I admit it. I’m a closet Reason fan. Though obviously not a libertarian, I do find myself nodding my head subconsciously often enough while reading it.

At any rate, there was an interesting column there a couple days back on Obama and whether or not he’s the hard-core Big Government ideologue many conservatives paint him as.

But saying a Democrat believes in big government is like saying that Chicago winters are cold—true, but inadequate. Some winters are more bone-chilling than others, and some Democrats are worse than others. There are grounds for gloom with Obama, as there would be with anyone nominated by the party of FDR and LBJ. But there are some reasons to hope he will be less bad than most

Of course, i can already see BK’s new tagline:

Barack Obama - Less Bad Than Most

From CNN, “Coalition troops on Monday formally handed over security control of Iraq’s Anbar province — once the hub of the country’s Sunni insurgency, to Iraqis on Monday.” Is it all sunshine and roses? No, but it is a true milestone, in a good way. I like this quotation from a Guardian story:

Anbar was once off-limits to all but local people, with long-distance traffic rare on roads from Baghdad to Jordan and Syria. But the father of a Shia family who drove back to Baghdad from Syria this week through Anbar said: “It is safe. I had no fear about bringing my wife and children.”

Good writeup here at Castle Aargghhh! More spelled out here at Mudville Gazette. Thank you to our military and to President Bush.

In the past 24 hours, the left have gone beyond their usual lying, sick selves. Allen Colmes of Fox News wonders if Gov. Palin caused her child’s downs syndrome (he took the post down, but not before a screen shot was snagged), CNN’s John Roberts openly wondered if Gov Palin was a fit mother to care for the child and the fine folks at Daily Kos accuse Gov. Palin’s 16-year-old daughter of being the mother of the baby.

The latter is the worst. The post that throws this rumor out there spends an awful lot of time examining pictures of the minor child. They go into deep examination of this childs abs, breasts and hips. They stare and gawk at the body of this 16-year-old. Of course what they fail to mention is the family picture they cite a “baby bump” in is an Anchorage Daily News photo from 2006. Wow that is a long pregnancy.

In all of this we see the usual “enlightened” discussion we have become accustomed to from the left. The only question left to ask is, will the debates be on the news, or Dateline NBC.

To bad McCain’s daughter is over the age of 18. She is too old for the liberals to stare at.

This is being cross-posted at Bearing Drift Ohio.

This article is a couple of months old, but it provides an interesting prism through which to retrospectively view McCain’s and Obama’s VP picks for their respective tickets.

Candidates’ Vices: Craps and Poker

I just returned from Dayton and my on-stage seat. This gave me a great view of the back of people’s heads, but also a chance to meet and shake the hands of Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain (and their proud spouses). Enjoy my pictures and I apologize for the blurriness. There was not a lot of light and I did not take the “good” camera (too bulky).

Click here to see the pictures

Well Said, Sir.

Cross Posted at Bearing Drift Ohio

Soon after Hillary Clinton delivered her ‘Unity’ speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, a CNN reporter interviewed a Delegate who is also a Clinton supporter. One must wonder: Is she unique or do a lot of Clinton Democrats feel this way? And she is a delegate, not just some average voter!

On Friday, one of my favorite bloggers, RealClearPolitics’ Jay Cost, posted an excellent and thorough electoral analysis of the battleground state of Virginia and what it will take for Barack Obama to win the Commonwealth in November.  This is the fourth in a series of battleground state reviews that also includes Pennsylvania, Ohio (here and here) and Colorado.

Cost’s bottom line is this: “I would say that of the four states we have reviewed thus far, Pennsylvania is the most likely to go for Obama, Virginia the least, and Colorado and Ohio fall in between.”  However, Cost also points out that, for Virgina observers on Election Night, the key groups/areas to watch are 1) Washington, 2) Virginia Beach, 3) Richmond, 4) Downstate Whites and 5) African-Americans. How these groups vote in relation to past elections will determine who gets Virginia’s 13 electoral votes.

Bernanke seems to be a bit of a loose cannon when comes to following the Bush/McCain economic message. Back in January while Bush and McCain were extolling on the “strong fundamentals” of the economy, Bernanke was privately painting a much bleaker picture. Then, when many Republican supply-siders were pushing for an extension of the Bush tax cuts as part of an “economic stimulus”, Bernanke for all intents and purposes slammed that approach and put his “seal of approval” on a more Keynesian approach favored by the Dems (guess which one eventually won out). Now we have McCain again this week saying “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Well, it appears Bernanke again missed the memo, as in his comments at the Fed symposium today he said the current economic crisis “has not yet subsided,” creating “one of the most challenging economic and policy environments in memory.”

Any bets on if McCain wins the White House that Bernanke will be job shopping in 2010 when his term is up? After all, you can’t keep around a Fed Chief who seems to sound more like your opponent than he does you, right?

Feeling blue? Need a good laugh? Well check this out. It is real!
Click the photo to see the video!

Hardly seems fair… He gets to be submitted by two different Americas Families!