McCain Introduces Palin

Watching John McCain introduce Sarah Palin. It turns out today is his 72nd birthday and her and her husband's 20th anniversary.
Audience applauds when he says something about sports ... apropos of nothing.
She speaks. Awful voice.
Five kids, including a son who's in the Army.
Telling her story. It's inspiring, but not at a national level. She's not running for Congress, for chrissakes.
Lots about ethics and corruption and integrity. She's on the wrong team and doesn't know it.
"Nobody more committed to change in American than John McCain?" Ex-squeeze me? It sounds like they are in denial.
Finally talks about McCain's toughness. Finally, an actual attempt to draw a distinction, not just gloss over their own record.
It sounds like she wrote her own speech, the kind the mayor of a town gives when he or she is introducing the candidate. Did the campaign even see this, much less write it?
"Nu-ku-lar" -- it's like a genetic aberration in the GOP.
She leads her own clapping, like she's the head cheerleader.
Reference to women's suffrage -- did the Republicans oppose it then?
Pays tribute to Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, tries to put on their mantle.
If I'm a red-meat Republican in the audience or listening in on TV, my head must be ready to explode. She's bragged about being a union member, about having women on the ticket, etc.
Clearly appealing to women to abandon Obama and go with McCain.
"Thank you, and I God Bless America."

Overall impression: LIGHTWEIGHT.

Sarah Palin To Be McCain's Running Mate

The Washington Post and the Burnt Orange Report -- two of the most trusted names in political journalism -- are reporting that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be introduced later this morning as John McCain's running mate. Chris Cillizza thinks Palin, although she is anti-choice, will give disaffected women an alternative to Obama and let the PUMAs vent their anger by voting Republican in the most important election of their lifetimes. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Matt Glazer thinks Palin ends Republican ability to talk about Obama's inexperience and opens new vistas of Republican corruption for public inspection.

In 1984, when Walter Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate in a battle against Ronald Reagan, there were a lot of platitudes about the gesture to women, but ultimately her selection was viewed as a stunt, a "Hail Mary" to try and shake up the dynamics of the election. Is this the same?

I imagine we'll hear a lot about the "culture of corruption" in Alaska GOP politics. I also imagine we'll hear a lot about the enormous subsidy that the people of the United States pay to Alaska. "Hey, hard-working single mother in Ohio, how do you like that we export a ton of your taxes to Alaska every year?"

"Knock, Knock" "Who's There?" "Gustav"

Hurricane Gustav now looks to be on a path to a) grow stronger and b) hit the U.S. Gulf Coast somewhere near New Orleans within the next few days. Check out the map:

Post-Denver Thoughts

I blogged about Barack Obama's terrific acceptance speech last night. Now, some concluding thoughts on this historic Democratic National Convention.

First of all, we should not forget how amazing the fact that Obama is the nominee is. Most people who will read this in an era when civil rights for blacks, while not perfectly realized (even today!), were established national policy. Most people in my generation grew up in world where no one thought a black person would be President in our lifetime. Yet, here we are. I'm very proud of how far the country has come in your lifetime.

Obama needed to do three things in his speech:

1. introduce himself and share his story for people who were paying attention for the first time;
2. set out some specifics of his agenda, partly because that's his job and partly to answer critics who say he's just oratory; and
3. show Democrats he can throw a punch.

I thought he did all three. Years from now, lines from the speech will be quoted as examples of great oratory.

The Republicans, who used to be masters of the staging and dramatics of political events, have nothing to compare with this. It's like we just saw a movie with DeNiro and Hoffman and Streep and Swank and they're doing a remake with Sandler and Van Damme. (Apologies to those who think Adam Sandler is the greatest actor of his generation, but I have a news flash: he's not.)
So their convention will seem dull by comparison, and it will be. Apparently their spin is that they WANT IT THAT WAY. Yeah, right ....

The Democrats should be as united as they can get. It's time for them to roll up their sleeves and bring the same passion, tireless effort and desire for change to the general election that they showed in the primaries.

Liveblogging Thursday night

I'm going to live-blog the events in Denver tonight, with my TV mostly on MSNBC but also watching CNN and Fox.

6:30 -- will.i.am and john legend singing "Yes We Can." They sound wonderful. Their backing band is tight. They're trying to get the crowd to sing along, but either the TV mikes cannot pick up the singing or no one in Mile-High Stadium ever heard the song before. I think the latter is unlikely.

7:00 -- Sheryl Crow just finished her set. Man, she looks great. She sang some of her old classics, all with a message buried in the song or chorus:

"A change will do you good ... "

She also sang a cool song that had something about "out of your head and into your heart ... " Time for research.

Watching her, I am struck by how much the Tired Old White Guy (TOWG) chorus must hate all this. Buchanan, O'Reilly, Bill Bennett (I thought he was in jail), etc. -- they trash-talk Obama and the Democrats all they can, but underneath it all is a sense of being OUT OF IT.

UPDATE, 7:35 p.m.: Stevie Wonder on stage now. He sat there quietly for a minute or so, then said, "I love you," and the place erupted. Both CNN and MSNBC have cut away for him, although Fox is showing the O'Reilly show. O'Reilly is promising a new SERIES on how bad Barack Obama is, to debut on Fox on September 8. Really, O'Reilly?

UPDATE, 7:40 p.m.: Stevie Wonder singing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." Wolf Blitzer and Donna Brazile dancing on CNN. No such luck with Chris Matthews and Norah O'Donnell, or the new kid on the block, Savannah Guthrie.

Meanwhile, on Fox, the TOWG chorus drones on -- O'Reilly interviewing Dark Prince Karl Rove. Obama's got problems, they intone, as 85,000 people dance to Stevie Wonder. Yutzes.

UPDATE, 7:45 p.m. -- Al Gore speaking.

"John McCain has promised to use the sam policies Bush did. Hey, I believe in recycling, but this is ridiculous!"

Frequent use of "George Bush and John McCain" as a formulation ... tying them together. Al's pretty feisty, and focused on environmental issues.

Like all the other speakers, Gore cannot resist describing McCain as "a friend" and "a good man." Last night, Pat Buchanan was fulminating about how the GOP will never, ever say a nice thing about Obama, and urging the Dems to get as aggressive. Is Buchanan right? Or is the Obama team reading new tea leaves that say personal sniping and bashing is counter-productive?

Gore sounds like he's rushing his speech ... comparing Obama to Lincoln -- Illinois politician, relatively inexperienced, respected for judgment and willingness to speak against the tide (Lincoln on the Mexican War, Obama on Iraq).

Maybe there's a reason. He ended at exactly 8:00 p.m. CDT.

UPDATE, 8:05 p.m. -- Fox has Hannity & Colmes, and they're paying attention to Denver. Cutaway to Michael McDonald. Wow! I love Michael McDonald, but has he had a hit record in the last 20 years? 25? I loved his work with the Doobie Brothers -- he gave the band a whole new sound and probably the biggest hits of its career, but that was all late 1970s. Had some solo hits, too ... I lost track of him around 1983.

He can sing, though. "America the Beautiful." Sweet.

There's an Eisenhower up there .. speaking for Obama. The late President's grand-daughter. Quoting her grandfather, quoting Lincoln. Lincoln is a big theme tonight.

UPDATE, 8:16 p.m. -- David Gergen, charter member of the TOWG Chorus, yakking on CNN about how "the music's great, but I am glad Al Gore and Susan Eisenhower are adding some substance." Gergen agrees with me, though ... Gore was rushed and everyone's evoking Lincoln. OMG, I'm a Tired Old White Guy!!!!!

Ed Rollins now on CNN ... another TOWG.

Jesse Jackson on MSNBC, sounding like a parody of himself. If Obama is elected, what happens to the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons? We all know racial animosity continues to be a thread in the American tapestry, so what will their role be?

Paul Begala: "Susan Eisenhower does not look like someone out of a will.i.am video." Paul's dodging the TOWG bullet so far.

UPDATE: 8:22 p.m. -- The song I liked by Sheryl Crow was "Out Of Our Heads," and the YouTube video is here.

Joe Biden takes the stage at 8:23 CDT. "This is an open convention." (pointing at the sky.)

Fox airs a commercial from John McCain, congratulating Obama on a historic night. Check it out on McCain's website or right here:

Keith Olbermann has Obama's speech, and is praising its directness, its willingness to contrast himself with the GOP, Bush and McCain, and its specificity. 20 minutes to go ...

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m. -- Flipped over to CNN Headline News and Glenn Beck. Who the f**k is Glenn Beck and why does anyone care? He has former Republican hitman, now Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr on. Bob is angry tonight; the Ds and Rs are keeping him out of the debates. Bob wants to talk about HIS issues and wants a "reasonable criteria" for getting into them.

The whole feel of the conversation, when the other cable news networks are focused on Denver, is that Barr (and Beck) are OUT OF IT.

UPDATE, 8:56 p.m. --Dick Durbin introducing Barack Obama. "Four years ago, we couldn't pronounce his name." More comparisons to Lincoln. "Americans hungry for change, wanting a fighting chance." "Life has tested and prepared him to lead this nation."

Video .. David Straithairn narrating? It sounds like his voice .. rich and steady.

Nice piece about his grandparents ... his mom ... meeting Michelle ... his legislative accomplishments ... the girls ... his mom's passing ... tracing deep grooves in the American experience ... Message: he is ONE OF US.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m. -- Obama strides on stage. Flashbulbs like crazy! Three minutes before he can start speaking. "With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the Presidency of the United States."

Thanks to Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden. Shout out to Michelle and his daughters.

UPDATE, 9:19 p.m. -- Going after Bush and the "failed politics of Washington."

(Speech text here ... ) "We love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say, 'eight is enough'." 75,000 people chant "eight is enough."

Nice to McCain, but he's voted with GWB 90% of the time. What kind of judgment is that? "I'm not ready to take a 10% chance on change." Drags Phil Gramm's carcass out and waves it for all .. the "nation of whiners" line. Tell that to the auto workers. Tell that to the military families. They're not whiners. They're the Americans I know.

"It's not that John McCain doesn't care; it's that he doesn't get it." "In Washington, they call this 'the ownership society.' What they mean is, 'you're on your own.' It's time for them to own their failure. That's why I'm running for President of the United States."

Evoking the stories of his family and the themes of the American Dream. Shot at McCain and "celebrity."

UPDATE, 9:30 p.m. -- Articulating a vision of government and America. "We are responsible for ourselves, but we rise and fall as one nation. I am my brother's keeper. I am my sister's keeper. "

SPECIFICS:

Tax code changes to deter shipping jobs overseas, incentivize small businesses, cut taxes for 95% of all working families;

energy independence and alternative fuels ("drilling is a stopgap measure, not a longtime solution -- not even close"); re-tool auto industry to build more fuel-efficient cars, renewable energy;

education -- "I will not settle for an America where some kids do not have that chance;" college education for community service;

health care -- stop insurer discrimination against those who need health care the most; paid sick days/family leave;

families -- bankruptcy laws, equal pay for equal work, protect Social Security

budget -- close corpoate loopholes; fine-tooth comb on federal government; no 20th century bureaucracy

national security -- "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave he lives in." ROAR.

"We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past."

"I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future. "

New Politics --

Looking into the camera, gesturing for emphasis: "So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."

"We've lost our sense of common purpose, and that's what we have to restore." Hits the hot buttons ... abortion ... guns ... gays and lesbians ... immigration ...

"Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things. And you know what - it's worked before."

"This election has never been about me. It's about you!"

Finale .. reference to MLK and the March on Washington.

OUTRO MUSIC: Country music! Sharp!

UPDATE, 9:58 p.m. -- The outro song is "Only In America" by Brooks and Dunn.

Obama's, Biden's families on stage. How do you confetti and drop balloons in a 75,000-seat stadium?

Think about it: an African American is the nominee of a major political party to be the President of the United States. Wow.

Partying with the Johnsons

Last night, the LBJ Foundation celebrated President Johnson's 100th birthday with a big barbecue on the ground of the LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas. Thousands of Texans ate Rudy's Barbecue, sipped iced tea and savored ice cream for dessert -- although, unfortunately, the ice cream had run out by the time I got there. Still, it was nice to see all the people there.





As dusk fell over Austin, the U.T. Tower lit up with "100" in a tribute to the lifelong Texan and former 36th President.





In the gathering dusk, the LBJ Library and the beautiful fountain in front of it looked lovely.

Happy Birthday, LBJ!

Today is former President and legendary Texan Lyndon Johnson's 100th birthday. Growing up in Texas, he was one of my heroes. He was bigger than life and had a charismatic, fascinating history. Besides, his birthday was the same as mine.

I opposed the Vietnam War, but I think even then had some primal loyalty to Johnson as a Texan. In retrospect, I think he was one of the great Presidents of our nation's history, and I still consider myself a fan. I love to go out to the LBJ boyhood home in Johnson City or to the state and national park at the LBJ Ranch. I always try to stop by his grave under the spreading oaks next to the river and pay my respects.

"American Prayer"

Explanation from The Huffington Post:

A new celeb-filled pro-Obama video is going viral. Titled "American Prayer," the song features lyrics by British artist Dave Stewart and features a slew of actors and
musicians, including Jason Alexander, Forest Whitaker, Macy Gray, Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Baez. Even Pamela Anderson and Perez Hilton make cameos.

Reason # 2,680 Why I Love Austin

Austin is such a great political town. Last night, I went to an event hosted by former State Senator and LBJ School Dean Max Sherman and his wife Jean. The event was sponsored by a group called Austin Authors-in-House, run by Jan Williams, as a benefit for Texas Impact.

"Let's Talk Politics" was supposed to feature two of the architects of George Bush's (and, oddly enough, Ann Richards') fortunes, Matthew Dowd and Mark McKinnon, in a free-wheeling conversation about the fall elections moderated by Texas Monthly's Paul Burka. Sadly, Dowd was contractually obligated by his new masters at ABC News to sit in a chair and wait for Barack Obama to name his vice presidential candidate, which ABC News apparently thought was going to happen yesterday. It didn't, of course, (I'm still waiting for my text message) and so Dowd was reduced to writing a blog post.

Fortunately, historian and professor Douglas Brinkley was in town and filled in for the absent Dowd. For over an hour and a half, McKinnon and Brinkley shared thoughts, riffed off each other, and answered questions from Burka and the audience. Burka also pitched in his two cents on many subjects, particularly on Texas politics about which he is more informed that either of the others.

If I'm in the mood later, I'll share some of the gems from the evening. Here's a picture of the panel as they were being introduced.

From left: Mark McKinnon, Max Sherman, some guy, Paul Burka, and Doug Brinkley.

Joe Lieberman To Address Convention -- GOP, That Is

The Washington Post is reporting this morning that Joe Lieberman will address the Republican National Convention in two weeks in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lieberman, who until 2006 was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Connecticut, will speak on the opening night of the convention. Says the Post, "His address on the opening night of the convention is intended to signal McCain's independence."

Lieberman was Al Gore's vice presidential candidate in 2000, but over the last years has devolved from independent to annoying to irrelevant in the Democratic Party. He is the Zell Miller of this year's GOP convention, and is being cast in Miller's role -- angry, divisive and in amazing lock-step with the entire GOP/conservative agenda. What independence?

Of course, it's the genius of the modern GOP that it will successfully frame Lieberman's lap-dog relationship with the Bush Agenda as a sign of independence. Lie to the American people about the rationale for invading Iraq? Check. Torture's OK, as long as we're the ones doing it? Check. Tax cuts for the wealthy will eventually close the deficit? Check.

These are the failed policies of the Bush years. McCain once opposed all of them -- unlike John Cornyn, who proudly embraced the Bush nonsense from Day One -- but has now climbed into Bush's lap to solidify the conservative movement's tepid endorsement of him. That's the narrative the Obama campaign must start talking about, and start talking about now.

Thomas Frank on "The Wrecking Crew"

Four years ago, Thomas Frank wrote what many thought was the definitive book capturing the zeitgeist of George W. Bush' first term and the 2004 election. What's The Matter With Kansas? was part travelogue, part small-town journalism, part Big Picture politics. Frank traveled around his home state of Kansas, seeking an answer to the question: How have Republicans mastered the art of getting people to vote against their own interests? He examines the ability of the conservative movement and its embodiment, the modern Republican Party, to get voters focused on cultural issues to the exclusion of all else in their electoral decision making. He reports on how the Democratic Party has too often played into the conservatives' game. And he takes an elegiac look at the damage that a generation of conservative, free-market policy have wreaked on his homeland.

Appearing at Book People tonight, Frank said that the goal of his new book, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, was to examine what happened when these same masters of campaigning try their hand at governing. The result, he says, is a disaster.

The conservative mindset, he says, glorifies the so-called "free market," arguing (with little evidence) that it is, in every case, superior to government at performing any function or addressing any ill. The laws of the free market are universal, resolute and ultimately beneficent. Government, in this worldview, hinders the efficient operation of free markets, sabotages the common weal, and creates its own constituencies determined to continue and even expand its reach.

It is to this life-and-death struggle against government and its apologists that the conservative movement -- which he calls "the organic embodiment of the American business community" -- has dedicated itself. In his presentation tonight, he quoted from his book the words of one Homer Ferguson, a president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in 1928:

The best public servant is the worst one. A thoroughly first-rate man in public service is corrosive. He eats holes in our liberties. The better he is and the longer he stays the greater the danger. If he is an enthusiast -- a bright-eyed madman who is frantic to make this the finest government in the world -- the black plague is a housepet by comparison.

Frank quoted Grover Norquist -- whom he called the "most brilliant political mind of the conservative movement," lamenting that liberals had no one of his caliber -- in 1984 urging conservatives to follow Josef Stalin's model in consolidating their hold on the apparatus of government. Norquist, of course, has famously said he wants to shrink government down to the size where he could "drown it in the bathtub."

What are the consequences of this approach? As Frank says in the book, "the chief consequence of conservatives' unrelenting faith in the badness of government is ... bad government." This is the end-product of the conservative ideology about government. And Frank took it a step further: for conservatives, bad government is an okay outcome. Why?

First, conservatives see, and definitely market, themselves as outsiders: they're never "in charge" and thus responsible for government's failings. If, as happened with Reagan in the 1980s and Bush in the 2000s, a conservative governing class screws up, that's because they're "impostors," not true to conservative ideals. REAL conservatives would have avoided those mistakes, they argue.

Second, public perception of government inefficiency paves they way for the preferred conservative solution to everything: out-sourcing. Out-sourcing allows the conservatives to boast of their "shrinking government" accomplishments (the Bush Administration proudly notes that the number of federal employees is at the lowest level since the 1950s) while the budget bloats up like a Macy's Thanksgiving parade balloon. More importantly, out-sourcing rewards the people who fund the conservative movement by giving them lucrative government contracts, often based less on competence or even low-bidding than on ideological and political loyalty to the movement.

Third, bad government feeds cynicism about government, and about civic engagement in general. This serves conservative ends: the less you're paying attention or the less you think you can do to change what's going on, the better off they are.

Frank's thesis is compelling, and his speech at Book People laid out his argument well. He spoke for about 35 minutes, then took about 20 minutes of Q&A.

The Wrecking Crew researches and lays out the argument I first heard from George Lakoff two years ago: that the incompetence (Katrina, the Iraqi occupation), venality (Duke Cunningham, Ken Lay) and corruption (Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay) we've seen from the Bushies is not an aberration; it is the logical result of the governing philosophy they've implemented.

It seems fitting that Frank spoke in Austin on the day that the Sunset Commission staff recommended abolishing the Texas Residential Construction Commission, created of, by and for the homebuilders to shield themselves from responsibility for their actions by creating an almost criminally-incompetent and hog-tied bureaucracy.