Momma Said There Was No Knock Out

The Jedi and JMac rolled into Mississippi. Neither offered a spellbinding performance, as JMac's campaign made a near game time decision. As expected, Obama seemed in firmer control over the first half, which primarily dealt with economic issues. The tide turned during the second half as JMac showed off his foreign policy expertise. JMac's ability to articulate on defense issues trumped what could be a continuation of a disastrous foreign policy. The old man looked old and cranky but still confident. The jedi looked cool but maybe not as confident.

Rather than accentuate the differences in personalities between the two candidates, moreover, the debate illustrated the differences between the two parties. JMac spoke in narratives and soundbites, much like the GOP's election strategy, which usually pays great dividends on election days. He looked mean and sounded condescending. On the other hand, Obama's answers were more nuanced, somewhat wonkish. His response reveals the complexity of the issues, but poetics and contemplation don't win elections. One man has become a campaigner in the GOP mold; the other can't seem to lower himself to the attack mentality of a presidential campaign.

Obama even agreed with JMac on several points. Does this make the Jedi look weak? A reluctant concession to his opponent?

Who won? Two major polls show Obama, but the reaction around the press blogs gives JMac the edge. Ben Smith explains this lack of a true consensus. Cillizza examines both candidates' tactics.

Here's reaction from around the blogosphere.

Those who think JMac won:
Des Moines Register's Yepsen

Newsweek's Romano

Barnes at The Weekly Standard offers a mild nod to JMac.

And now for the Jedi:
Slate's Kaplan gives Obama the edge after one round.

Time's Klein praises the jedi's tactics.

And TNR tells him what he failed to do: get emotional.

In case you decided to watch Yes, Dear reruns, here's video of the entire debate.

WVPC wanted to keep this blog focused on last night's debate, but there are some things even we can't resist.

See you after the VP showdown in St. Louis. WVPC will have a seat right next to Nelly.

It's the economy, stupid.

Extra! Extra! Financial crisis forces candidates to finally confront real issues.

The jedi offers his response to the meltdown. Economic woes usually mean it's a good time to be the Democratic nominee.

JMac has Republicans clamoring for regulation. The party of free markets is really doing some heavy self-evaluation right now.

This just in: Republicans will win rural vote. Thank you for stating the obvious.

Even with a small lead, many fear that Obama may lose. And what will happen if he loses? Pinot grigio will flow like blood down these streets!

Ever dated someone you didn't like but you couldn't quit? JMac knows the feeling. His relationship with a Grey Old Lady has always been rocky at best.

Dittoheads anxiously await the self-destruction of their leader. Will he combust if the jedi captures the White House?

The hockey mom is a predatory species. Salon reveals some of the dirty tricks up North. Let's hope that Alaskan pipeline doesn't lead to the White House.

Palin meets world leaders, offers Kissinger moose hunting tips.

Fortunately, Maureen commented. Allow her to elaborate:
"The two made an odd couple: the last impure Rockefeller Republican and the first pure Rovian Republican, grown totally in the petri dish of cultural crusaderism."
Oh, that's some tasty editorial.

No thanks to the bridge to nowhere? Well, she said yes first. Fought earmarks? Kinda sorta not really. Lowered taxes in Wasilla? Dammit. Wait, I've got it. Fought the big oil companies! Yeah, that's it. Wait. Shit.

The debate goes on? La dee da dee dee.

See you in Mississippi? We need it more than ever.

Non-Palin Edition

A day of remembrance and a break from mudslinging and Palin.

The campaigns held a brief ceasefire on Thursday as JMac and The Jedi paid their respects on a somber day in politics.

When you're on the homestretch, the goodwill doesn't last long.

New line of attack: JMac doesn't send emails. While this isn't some shocking revelation, The LA Times lets it be known that JMac can't type due to poor fingers. Ouch.

The seven homes argument didn't really work (psst, Obama...many middle class voters yearn for wealth. Some find owning multiple homes as an admirable trait and a sign of hard work, even if it is more indicative of privilege and inheritance). The "third Bush term" jab was going okay until some woman from Alaska hopped aboard The Once Straight Talk Express.

Where does that leave the Obama campaign? They're mounting a counterattack that's critical of JMac's dirty politics and distortions, but it's too early to tell how ideals and policy resonate in the election of biography and diversion.



Johnny, do you got some room on the Straight Talk Express bus for a case of Cat Burglar DVDs?

JMac held up pretty well on Friday's View, as Whoopi, Barb, and co. came out swinging. The interview, however, wasn't without some half-truths and even fallacies.

Stay tuned for more as WVPC cranks into overdrive.

We Vote Pro-Cat: Palin Edition

Since you can't get enough of that hockey mom, it's WVPC's first all-Palin edition blog. We'll give her (and you) a break/"deference" after this epic blog. Here goes.

First and foremost, I quote Patrick Swayze (hang in there, Dalton) when I say "she's like the wind." But she's running on empty. Enter strategists.

As you already know, the right fell in love with this pick quite instantly, but the rest of the country is still skeptical after excerpts from her first television interview.

Here's the the reaction from the blogosphere.

Angus' take: Well, dad, I would describe her performance as nervous exasperation. She knows the media is ganging up on her, and last week's convention speakers only reinforced that notion: the "elites," 2008's latest shitty political buzzword ,can't stand her, and they're out to get her because she's blue-collar, a mom, and hunts. I don't buy that, dad. I just want to know why the highest office in the land has turned into such a joke.

The performance may have fallen short of galvanizing her supporters (WVPC can't find any blogs that offer overwhelming praise for last night's responses), but it certainly and predictably emboldened her critics. Will parts two and three reveal a deeper understanding of her intellect, decision-making, and worldview?

Even though this analysis is probably two weeks late, here's why Palin is a brilliantly sinister pick:

- If the Dems attack her, they look like patronizing, arugula-chomping, Prius driving snobs. And don't forget that buzzword, you elitist.
- She changes the GOP is for old white guys image. A good surface move and clever facade. Who doesn't like a mom?
- She diverts attention away from more important campaign issues. Who needs a plan when you've got personality?
- She reignites the culture wars. Wedge issues may gain more importance to voters.
- The election is now all about biography: war hero and hockey mom versus community organizer and veteran senator who persevered through personal tragedy.

How does it all add up? Disney movie.

Stop Saying Maverick!

It's the second most overused word in the election. Numero Uno? Change.

JMac wrapped up things in St. Paul with a speech heavy on bio but lacking many policy specifics. Once reluctant to discuss his POW time, the party, and certainly last week's convention speakers, now injects JMac's bio into nearly every speech. JMac didn't hold back as he offered an intimate bio that certainly showed his heroic personal story. It's a story filled with the drive to succeed that evokes praise and a hot temper that makes some nervous.


JMac certainly benefited from the bio laden speech; he can draw a television crowd as sizable as the jedi's.



"Funny how? Like community organizers are here to amuse you?"

With hay bales and American flags in the background, the jedi sat down with Stephanopolus. Revelations: Obama briefly considered joining the military, he regrets his abortion response/"above my pay grade" comment at last month's Saddleback Forum, and he would break from his party on three issues:

"I think that, on education, we do have to improve accountability. And I've not only supported charter schools, which the teachers' unions have opposed, but I've also said that we should look at pay-for-performance," he said. "That's not something that's popular in my party."

"Obama said he would also support increasing the size of the military and reducing healthcare litigation costs, moves he said would anger portions of his party."

Even though the interview illustrated that the jedi is better delivering a prepared speech to a stadium-sized crowd, he can give thoughtful, although sometimes initially unclear, answers to complicated questions that can't be answered in black or white soundbites. His answers offer a grey area that is hard to sell to the masses but present a sense of humility and perhaps indicate that he would be a very analytical president.

Black or white? Just when you think the nation has moved past it, Polman reminds us that race is frighteningly prevalent in this election and quite possibly transcends policy and personality when some Americans pick their president. Notice Polman's piece is not citing public opinion from the Bible Belt.

Even if Palin wowed Jmac and the GOP, they're not in a hurry to cart her out to the Sunday morning talk show circuit. After last week's drubbing and pregnancy speculation, the GOP is quite bitter over Palin's treatment in the press and they want interviews on their own terms. WVPC: The McCain campaign will probably start with the weekday morning and afternoon shows (View, Ellen, Regis) and go from there. They should cart her out as quickly as possible to avoid any signs of vulnerability. The decision is strikingly parallel to the Bush Administration's disdain for the media and its hand-picked q & a sessions and public appearances. If the media keeps laying on the criticism, the GOP will play victim with the following equation/scenario: Media = elites. Us = honest folks who could care less about what the chattering classes in NYC, D.C., or Hollywood think. The heartland crowd goes wild.

One of the sharpest cons blogging and writing for The Atlantic, Douthat offers some free advice to Democrats: don't attack Palin. Go after the old man and his policies.

Delaware is behind Biden even if the occasional investigative journalism piece tarnishes those blue-collar First State credentials. At the heart of the matter is Joe's support for the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill and what it means to debtors.

With his Biden selection, Obama chose one of the Dems' premier Washington insiders. That benefits Obama if you spin it this way: Biden has a record of experience, and his action hlped bring jobs to Delaware. The opposite spin diminishes Delaware Joe: his ties to the banking industry reflect a commitment to corporate interests that supersede a pledge to protect hard working Americans from reckless lending practices.

The story probably lacks the pull of Palin's pregnancy or JMac's temper, but it raises some interesting questions about what Obama preaches and what Joe sometimes practices.

Raisin' McCain and Hockey Mom: A Night for the Base

Give me red meat.


Alaska, motherfucker?


Sarah Palin and another star-studded lineup took to the podium last night in St. Paul. The gloves were off. Last night's speeches made Tuesday's digs seem tame as Romneybot 3000, Rudy, Huckabee, and a couple of CEOs offered red meat speeches laced with venom.

In a speech laced with more sensitively worded Obama digs, Palin impressed the Beltway with her small town, hockey mom charm. She addressed her critics (the media) and defended her 'executive experience.' Despite little experience in the national limelight, Palin appeared poised, prepped and confident. One prominent poll indicates it may have worked.

Most of the chattering classes were impressed. Cons were fawning over her tough rhetoric. And critics were intimidated by how poised she seemed at center stage and capable she is of collecting middle class votes.

Obama responds:


But was she honest?

Rudy offered some of the evening's harshest criticism with barbs like "Hope is not a 'strategy.'


Notice the quiet response to Rudy's Iraq claim: "JMac got it right. Obama got it wrong." The issue divides the base, so the convention has really played it down.

Mike Huckabee fired up the crowd. Will Huck be the nominee if JMac loses in November?



Mitt Romney kicked it off. As a rich East coast guy, he bashed 'Eastern elites.'

The crowd erupted in applause, as it did again when Romney vowed to "stop the spread of government dependency to fight it like the poison it is. It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother." Say what?

Unlike Denver, personal digs were rampant. Like Denver, there was little substance.

If you'd like to pick and choose your speeches, CNN offers a RNC speech database.

Think the left has ownership over the Hollywood vote? I guess you don't know much about the GOP's secret Tinseltown weapon, Jon Voight.

In a stinging editorial, Joe Conason tells why the Plain pregnancy matters in this election.

Levi Johnston in "There Will Be Gum."

Diddy knows damage control. The former Puffy offers an apology to the great state of Alaska.


John Rich makes it too easy, so I'll just let the music speak for itself.

Put Angus First.

Tuesday night brought all of the heavy hitters, except that one commander-in-chief guy, to St. Paul. That's not to say he wasn't featured (he spoke via satellite), but when Joe Leibermann and Fred Thompson upstage the president, it's safe to say he's reached irrelevancy.

Strangest talking point of the night: "doesn't care what the polls say." Laura Bush, in reference to her husband, and Fred Thompson, in reference to JMac, uttered this sentiment. That logic seems a bit flawed when your sitting president has a 28% approval rating, and you have a foreign policy that, more or less, could follow in his footsteps. I'd have tossed that line if I were the elephants in the speech writing room.

That Huskie independent and thorn in the side of the Dems, Joe Leibermann, took headliner status. With a voice that could put a meth binge to sleep, the same guy that debated Dick Cheney just eight years ago strode to the podium. His calls for unity and general eloquence didn't quite receive the same applause as Fred's drawl. Joe walked a tightrope with comments like "we're living our worst nightmare." The applause was tepid.

Fred "Red Truck" Thompson delivered an impassioned homage to JMac and Reagan. For a party platform that isn't hip to two dudes getting hitched, Republican males have a creepy infatuation with Ronald Reagan. Nevertheless, the speech indicates that Thompson shines when he isn't running for president.

Note, speakers didn't mention Biden. This bodes well for the Dems. The GOP has a hard time attacking someone so experienced.

Ed Kilgore takes us behind the scenes and tells us what, through his lens, really transpired.

JMac canceled an interview with Larry King. It was part of a busy day of retaliation for supposed misspeaks and insensitiveness made against Gov. Palin.

Megan McArdle offers some nice perspective on the Palin pregnancy. If stories like this keep emerging from the woodwork, Joshua Green wonders if they could yank her. Orr says that Dems patronize Palin to their own detriment. WVPC's angle: when did being mayor become more noble than being senator? If you listened tonight, you'd think a senator is the least noble profession in America. I'm just curious; what again is the GOP nominee's profession?

Question of the day: Do speakers like Giuliani and Leibermann indicate that the GOP has a bigger tent than often given credit for? In an interview on MSNBC, Newt Gingrich answered yes. WVPC: Not really. The party has always contained mods, cons, and a few in-betweens. Rudy and Leibermann are just foreign policy hawks. The party has some doves, or at least cautionary isolationists, too. On that note, congrats to Ron Paul, 2008's real maverick. Some of Paul's rhetoric would have been a welcome addition to the slate of speakers.

See you tomorrow.