Say Anything Blog

By Avi Steinberg

Sept. 6, 2008 | ST. PAUL, Minn.—Gathered in the basement of an office building in a tough section of St. Paul, less than two weeks before the gavel drops downtown at the Republican National Convention, roughly 30 recruits hired by a private security company sit through 12 hours of lectures. I am one of these officers-in-training.

The group is a mix of moonlighting prison guards and cops, infantrymen and Marines between tours of duty in Iraq, immigrants, assorted freelance goons and young career seekers. There is also a crisp-looking airman and an outspoken right-wing ideologue, who never fails to demonstrate his remarkable talent for transforming any conversation, even one about the weather, into a discussion about the Mossad. MORE…

A beautiful eyewitness account of a security guard’s journey at the RNC. Very funny.

The GOP ticket, making its debut in the West, draws a monster crowd into a Colorado Springs airport hangar.

The campaign had 15,000 RSVPs, and 10,000 have already gone through Secret Service as the rally gets underway on a gorgeous Rocky Mountain day.

As with yesterday in Wisconsin and Michigan, there are not just more people but significantly more excitement and anticipation than at past McCain rallies.[Politico]

This McCain/Palin team are simply celebrities. Bringing in crowds of people that think they’re their Messiah, watching him and talking in tongues. Is being famous the same as being credible to be commander in chief?

By Marc Ambinder

A senior McCain campaign official advises that, despite the gaggle of requests and pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin won’t submit to a formal interview anytime soon. She may take some questions from local news entities in Alaska, but until she’s ready—and until she’s comfortable—which might not be for a long while—the media will have to wait. The campaign believes it can effectively deal with the media’s complaints, and their on-the-record response to all this will be: “Sarah Palin needs to spend time with the voters.”

Not out of the question are appearances on lighter, fluffier television shows. But—not for a while.

This sums up her ability to reply from her own knowledge instead of reading a Bush speechwriters written word.

By Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she’s on the national stage.

Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature’s attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules.

As a result, the Troopergate allegations hang over Palin’s future and cloud her candidacy for vice president.

The allegations are that she, her family or administration improperly pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Gov. Palin’s ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, who had been in the middle of a custody dispute with Palin’s sister.

In July, when legislators started talking about conducting an investigation, Palin denied any wrongdoing and said she welcomed an investigation.

“Hold me accountable,” she said.

The Legislature took her up on that offer. But this week, she basically told the Legislature, “Never mind.”

Palin’s lawyer has asked the Legislature to drop its investigation. He had the governor file an ethics complaint against herself, in a bid to turn the entire matter over to the state Personnel Board, which would hire an independent investigator.

This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin’s accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.

Instead, Gov. Palin should honor her pledge to cooperate with the Legislature’s investigation, conducted by former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.

She could start by telling aide Frank Bailey he has to talk to the legislative investigator. She should fire him if he doesn’t.

Bailey was caught on an audio recording of a phone conversation with a Public Safety Department official, in which Bailey pushed to get Wooten fired.

Bailey was put on paid leave, not fired. A spokeswoman for Palin said that while Bailey is on the state payroll, Palin can direct him to cooperate with the legislative investigation.

So why is Bailey still on the payroll, after he bailed on a scheduled interview with the legislative investigator Wednesday?

The Legislature hasn’t given its investigator the power to subpoena, or compel, testimony of witnesses. Subpoenas appeared unnecessary, since it appeared the governor and administration would be cooperating.

That’s over. It’s time for the subpoenas.

The Legislature’s investigation is supposed to be wrapped up by Oct. 31. That’s obviously poor timing from the standpoint of the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, coming just a few days before the national election.

Instead of trying to delay the whole thing, Palin should take a cue from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who asked that his corruption trial be moved up so it would be completed well ahead of the November general election. Voters deserve to know the outcome of Sen. Stevens trial and the investigation into Palin.

When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin’s response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.

The political impact of Sarah Palin continues to be hazy—she’s clearly revved up the Republican base, and helped McCain’s campaign bring in more than $10 million since she was announced as his running mate.

But the Palin pick seems to be having a virtually identical effect on the Democratic base. Activists have frenetically picked apart Palin’s record over the last week, and an Obama aide told the Huffington Post that the campaign has raised $8 million since her speech last night “from over 130,000 donors - on pace to hit $10 million by the time John McCain hits the stage tonight.”

“Sarah Palin’s attacks have rallied our supporters in ways we never expected,” the aide said. “And we fully expect John McCain’s attacks tonight to help us make our grassroots organization even stronger.”

UPDATE: The Republican National Committee says it has raised $1 million since Palin’s speech. [HuffingtonPost]

Barack Obama continues to hold a lead over John McCain, 49% to 42%, in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.

Gallup Daily

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.
Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.
“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Other Democrats have charged that the Republican campaign to paint the Illinois senator as an “elitist” is racially charged, and accused them of using code words for “uppity” without using the word itself.

In August, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) told reporters, “When I hear the word ‘elitist’ linked with Barack Obama, to me, that is a code word for ‘uppity.’ I find it extremely offensive and John McCain should know better.”

Political consultant David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, said on ABC’s “This Week” that “As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, ‘The One,’ that’s code for, ‘He’s uppity, he ought to stay in his place.’ Everybody gets that who is from a Southern background.”

The Obama campaign, asked about the quote, did not note any racial context.

“Sounds like Rep. Westmoreland should be careful throwing stones from his candidate’s eight glass houses,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Campaigning against the first black major-party nominee has already created some problems for Republicans.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said that Obama’s middle name – Hussein – is relevant to the public discourse surrounding his candidacy, saying in March that if Obama were elected, “Then the radical Islamists, the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror.”

At an April 12 event in his district, Kentucky Rep. Geoff Davis (R) said of Obama: “I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button. He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”

Davis sent a letter of apology to Obama in which he described his remark as a “poor choice of words.”

Westmoreland originally supported former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination. He now supports McCain, but missed an August fundraiser for the nominee because he was vacationing with his family.

By the brilliant John Stewart, or as Stephen Colbert describes him, “Jon deconstructs the news and he’s, ironic and detached, but I falsely construct the news and am ironically attached. You know I’m not detached at all. I’m passionate about what I’m talking about. Jon may point out the hypocrisy of a particular thing happening in a news story or the behavior of somebody in the news. I illustrate the hypocrisy as a character, that’s Jon being Jon and that’s me not being me, that’s me being the Stephen Colbert guy.”

Iraq Veterans Against the War marched to the convention center in St. Paul yesterday intending to present Senator John McCain with a list of demands regarding U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The veterans conducted a similar exercise in Denver at the Democratic Convention and delivered their letter to Senator Obama. McCain, however, refused to meet with the group. The UpTake’s Chuck Olsen reports.

Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan and former John McCain adviser, Time columnist, and MSNBC contributor Mike Murphy were caught on tape disparaging John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate.

“It’s over,” Noonan said.

When Chuck Todd asked her if this was the most qualified woman the Republicans could nominate, Noonan responded, “The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives. Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and that’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.”

Murphy characterized the choices as “cynical” and “gimmicky.”

Watch (the dialogue in question starts 38 seconds in, full transcript is below the video):

Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we’ll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We’ll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she’s the right woman for the job Up next, one man who’s already convinced and he’ll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman. (cut away)

Peggy Noonan: Yeah.

Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys—this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it’s not gonna work. And --

PN: It’s over.

MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PN: Saw Kay this morning.

CT: Yeah, she’s never looked comfortable about this --

MM: They’re all bummed out.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this—excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.

MM: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MM: Yeah.

Republican abstinence-only policies have been disastrous for teens across the country. A 2007 study by the Government Accountability Office found no evidence that the Bush administration’s abstinence education programs, including those that have falsely claimed that AIDS can be transmitted through sweat and tears, have demonstrated any effectiveness. Could Bristol Palin have benefited from the sex education and contraceptives the GOP seeks to deny to public school students?

In my latest video, “Juno From Juneau,” I probe the GOP reaction to this question on the floor of the Republican National Convention. Republican luminaries including Rep. Roy Blount and John McCain’s 20-something daughter, Meghan, tried to elude my line of questioning (Blount complimented Barack Obama’s handling of the matter, however). But members of the Alaska delegation were forthright about their enthusiasm for faith-based abstinence-only programs and restricting abortion even in cases of rape and incest. One delegate, Grace Van Diest, told me she is so fervent about abstinence education that her three daughters are only allowed to go on dates with their father, who lectures them on chastity and makes them wear “purity rings” to remind them of their vows to not have sex until marriage.

According to CNN, Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) pulled out of a scheduled interview with the network after a segment with Campbell Brown and a top McCain spokesman Monday night in which Brown asked for examples of a foreign-policy decision made by Republican vice president pick Sarah Palin.

McCain was scheduled to appear on Larry King Live, but CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said Tuesday that the campaign told the news network they thought Brown’s interview with spokesman Tucker Bounds was “over the line.”

CNN said it disagreed and it is committed to covering both sides of issues.

The McCain campaign was checking into the report of the interview’s cancellation at press time.

Only hours after CNN said McCain pulled out of the interview with King, ABC News announced that it has “the only interview” with the candidate during the Republican National Convention. That will be Wednesday night (Sept. 3) with Charlie Gibson for World News, Nightline and Good Morning America (Thursday morning).[Broadcasting&Cable]

Watch’em dance around questions about Palin’s ZERO foreign policy experience.

James again shows why he is one of the best political men in this country at 5:55 in the video. He holds up, while exposing Sarah inexistent experience, a picture of the City Hall of Wasilla and says, “It looks like a bait shop in South Louisiana.” What response would you expect? You might think Rep. Michelle Bachman would mention Sarah Palin is a Governor and stay on the talking points. But, no. This lady takes it below the belt accusing James of sexism. A man that was a staunch support of Hillary Clinton!

Now, this is a tactic that we can expect in weeks to come when they don’t have a counter-argument, be prepared.