Opie And The Fonz Come Out For Obama

Ron Howard, Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler reprise their characters to encourage Americans to vote for Barack Obama. Way cool!

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Does Austin Have A Cool Mayor, Or What?

Austin Mayor Will Wynn shakes his groove thing.

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Report: Sarah Palin Acted Improperly, Illegally

(Cross-posted at Burnt Orange Report.)

The Washington Post, among others, is reporting that Sarah Palin acted, at best, improperly and, at worst, illegally in pressuring Walt Monegan to fire her sister's former husband, an Alaska state trooper.

A 263- page report released yesterday by the Alaska Joint Legislative Council found that, while Palin had legal authority to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan,

his dismissal came in part because he refused to remove her sister's ex-husband from the Alaska State Troopers.
Investigator Stephen Branchflower found evidence that Palin actively joined her husband, Todd, in pursuing a personal vendetta against the trooper and that she used state employees to try to settle a score in a bitter family feud.

The Joint Legislative Council is a bipartisan group of legislative leaders that acts on state issues during periods when the Alaska Legislature is not in session, much like our Legislative Budget Board. They hired investigator Stephen Branchflower (no relation to Ben's Longbranch Barbecue) to conduct the investigation. According to the Post,

Branchflower found evidence that Palin actively joined her husband, Todd, in pursuing a personal vendetta against the trooper and that she used state employees to try to settle a score in a bitter family feud.
"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."

I've read large chunks of the report, which can be found here. The impression I'm left with can best be summed up in the phrase former faith-based initiatives czar John DiIulio used to describe the Bush-Cheney-Rove White House: Mayberry Machiavellis. The picture of Sarah and "First Dude" Todd Palin that comes acoss is petty, vindictive, and not even remotely presidential.

Finally! The Invite I've Been Waiting For

I just received -- I am not making this up -- an invite from Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie to attend the invitation-only debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on February 21, 2008. Actually, I am not invited to the event; I am invited to participate in a drawing where I might get a ticket to the event. But I will enter the drawing and cross my fingers that I get selected.

The fact that the debate occurred almost eight months ago is not sapping my enthusiasm at all.




Dear fellow Democrat,
Democrats all across Texas are excited about the upcoming historic debate between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. At a time when so many people have lost faith in our government thanks to the failed Republican policies of the Bush administration, our two outstanding candidates are ready to provide the change that Texas and America desperately need.
While seating at the debate is limited, the TDP has secured 100 debate tickets, which will be made available to the general public through a random drawing. The tickets will be evenly distributed between supporters of Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, with some tickets going to undecided voters.
In order to be eligible for tickets, you must be a registered voter in the State of Texas. Names may be submitted for the drawing until 5pm on Monday, February 18th. Winners will be notified the next morning, and subject to the security requirements of the debate venue.

Second Debate: Behind the Post-Debate Numbers

Last night, John McCain and Barack Obama met in Nashville for the second of their three debates, the "town hall" debate. A poll taken immediately after the debate by CBS and Knowledge Networks shows that undecided voters believe Obama "won" the debate, with 40% saying Obama did better and 26% saying McCain did. That, of course, was the one-liner that folks got about CBS's research effort.

But reading the poll results themselves was, to me, enlightening. CBS did before-and-after questions of 516 undecided voters. One question was whether the voters thought Obama "would make the right decisions about the economy." Before the debate, 55% thought Obama would make the rights decisions; afterwards, that number climbed to 68% -- 20 points higher than McCain's post-debate number.

On the question whether "he understand voters' needs and problems," the Obama-McCain contrast numbers soared from 59%-33% pre-debate to 80%-44% post-debate. Think of that bottom line: almost twice as many undecided voters think Obama "gets" them as think McCain does.

The McCain attack since this summer has been the Barack Obama is "not one of us" -- that he's exotic and unusual; inexperienced and unprepared. These numbers show that the McCain meme is not working.

President Palin? 1-in-7 Odds

Say what you will about Sarah Palin's performance in the vice-presidential debate last night. She did better than I expected. Of course, I expected her to spit up on herself, doggone it. She was evasive, uninformed, and out of her depth, but blustered through what had to be a terrifying evening for her.

The bottom line, though, is that she showed none of the gravitas we expect in our top-tier national leaders. She was cute and folksy, but persuaded few people she's ready to take the 3:00 a.m. phone call.

Her partisans argue, of course, that it doesn't matter. She's auditioning for the job of Vice President, after all, and the level of scrutiny does not have to be as high as with the presidency. That may be true, but not with the oldest person ever to run for a first term as president on her ticket.

Here's something interesting: according to the Social Security Administration's actuarial tables, the changes that John McCain will die during his first term in office are 1-in-7. That's the odds that your birthday this year will be on a Friday.

Feeling better about Palin?