One thing which comes to mind will be what the upcoming Meet the Press interview with Senator John and Governor Sara will most likely be like.

Question: Senator what do you think about the state of the economy?
McCain: My friends, I was a prisoner of war and the economy is fine.

Question: Energy crisis, your plan Senator, how do we address the issue?
McCain: Well friends, I was a prisoner of war and the answer is DRILL.

Question: Iraq and Iran, how do you see those situations being handled?
McCain: Friends, I was a prisoner of war and we should stay in Iraq 100 more years
plus you know the Iran song.

Question: How many houses do you own?
McCain: Well since you asked, I was a prisoner of war, why don’t you ask Governor
Palin, she’s right here.

Question: Governor, how many houses does Senator McCain really own?
Palin: Well since the Senator was a prisoner of war, only God knows the answer
to that question.

Question: Governor, let me ask you the same questions on the economy, energy,
the war and in addition education and healthcare.
Palin: God will handle those situations!

Question: Governor, one last question, can you give us any insight into Trooper
Gate?

Palin: The devil made me do it!!!!!!!!!

I can hardly wait.

wow! McCain was a prisoner of war?
Noun verb POW; the latest GOP talking point.

"Tropper gate"

What a perfect example of the left's drama and fabrication.

Palin replaced what amounts to a cabinet member. Her enemies try to paint it as abuse of power and others embellish it into an investigation with possible charges and impeachment.

Ooooh what a scandal!

A train wreck? I've never seen the GOP base this energized. Obviously more than a few of you are really out of touch with the reality of the situation. This is going to be a close one.

Question: Senator what do you plan on doing about unemployment?
McCain: Unemployment hum…. It’s nice and high… no, wait, unemployment….
That should be low, right….I was a POW…. Sara!!
Palin: Sunni or Shiite, one has a big turban.

I do believe that the R-Party Convention pulled off a huge magic trick: they made G.W. disappear! I might start believing in that "power of pray" stuff.

While I hate to admit it, their convention appears to be a success. With their W-disappearance, they were able to shift the rhetoric coming out of the party and the campaign (and eagerly absorbed and repeated by the media) into what sounds like an out-of-power party who hasn't carried the presidency for the last eight years and Congress for 75% of that. Listening to Palin, McCain and others (Romney, for example), I might have believed democrats had been in charge since 2000 had I not been awake (and outraged).

Gore ran against himself in 2000 and lost (I know, he won, but he could have won better and more decisively to prevent the election being stolen from him). The Republicans are now running against themselves, but they're better at it. The selection of Palin was a brilliant, game-changing move, turning the campaign overnight from a referendum on Bush's disaster into full-scale class and culture warfare. Paul Krugman hits a bull's eye in today's NYT column in assessing how the Republicans falsely paint the Democrats as elitist when it is they themselves who are elitists. Hundreds of thousands may be fooled. The Dems are now at risk of losing this election, or at least of running close enough to allow it to be stolen once again in a swing state or two. So: both a smashing success and a train wreck.

It looks like the Republicans don't have any confidence that VP nominee Sarah Palin can field and answer questions from the media. So much for her executive experience and Vice Presidential/Presidential potential. She's nothing more than a trophy running mate.

As reported by Jay Carney, Time's Washington Bureau Chief:

"According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads."

Read more at:

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/no_questions_please_were.html

I'll partially agree with Joey. The convention was hugely energizing for the Republican base. Unfortunately for them, the Republican base is smaller than ever. According to a recent Pew poll just 38% of registered voters identify as Republicans or Republican-leaning. Compare that with 51% for Democrats.

The Rs needed a convention that did more than just energize their ever-shrinking base. They needed to reach out to independents and conservative Democrats on issues like the economy and energy, which I didn't see any real evidence of whatsoever.

Palin replaced what amounts to a cabinet member. Her enemies try to paint it as abuse of power and others embellish it into an investigation with possible charges and impeachment.

A smashing success for a desperate but powerful minority. What they won't stoop to to maintain power. Power to do nothing for another term. God willing.

Oh please.
Yes she fired a cabinet member and may have recommended the trooper be fired.

The left filling in the blanks and devining her motivations is just typical Blue garbage that amounts to nothing.

"Abuse of power" ,, "Corruption".

Blue drama, that's it.

And "allegedly lied about it repeatedly".

Really? How's that because she's been repeatedly asked about it?

That entire "alleged" incident has been rejected by Palin and she firmly stated she did nothing wrong, and she has NO "fear" of any "investigation", and any "investigation will result in no more than the same inflated speculation that exists today.

This is really quite laughable that you would pretend there is some abuse of power with this trivial and petty issue.

Especailly since here in your own backyard there are numerous instances of abuse of power many of you have no interest in.

You're right Ben. Abuse of power is a pre-requisite to continue the agenda of Bush/Cheney. What's the big deal people?

The Rs may only have 38% nationally registered, but nearly 60% classify themselves as "conservative" on the spectrum between "liberal", "moderate," and "conservative" (so they said on the nes radio station yesterday morning). The key will obviously be how many of those non-affiliated conservatives buy the idea that McCain and Palin are selling.

McCain/Palin are the true reform ticket in this case. They both have a history of going against the system and establishment. Obama can talk all he wants about change, but why is it that during his time in either senate he never introduced one piece of legislation? How's that for change? One could almost argue that's a record of maintaining the status quo. Then he goes and picks Mr. Status Quo himself, Joe Biden, the 6th longest serving senator.

Obama can talk all he wants about change, but why is it that during his time in either senate he never introduced one piece of legislation?

This is a blatant and bald-faced lie. A retraction would be minimally appropriate.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/02/dear-chris-matt.html is a place to go to start finding the truth about Obama's record.

Thanks for the link Allan. I was wrong :)

Wow Ben that must be some great Kool-Aid.

She insists she didn't do anything wrong, well I guess that settles it, I mean we don't ever need investigations or trials, just ask the person if they did anything wrong.

And as far as her agreeing to answer questions, uh try again, she has said she won't testify and is trying to get out of it.

Joey, kudos to you for owning up to the error! There's too little of that going around (and I have to include myself in that assessment). So, even though I don't much agree with you, I respect your openness.

I would have called it a train-wreck without Palin. Palin was sort of like a defibrillator that brings someone back to life, which means that you still have a person with a major problem, they just aren't dead yet.

The Dems need to take this very seriously and continue to hammer on the issues that are critical to the American people. Unemployment is a whopping 6.1% and we lost 81,000 jobs in August. Foreclosures are at the highest level since the Great Depression. McCain keeps talking about his P.O.W. experience 40 years ago.

Meanwhile John McCain is trying harder than ever to disavow and disown his own party. It takes more of an economic plan than more tax cuts for the rich and a bunch of blabber about "using our community colleges to train our workers to compete in a global marketplace". It's news to John McCain that the community colleges train people to do skilled labor, apparently not realizing that they have been doing so since WWII. The American worker is already the best trained and most productive worker on the planet. Ambitious and energetic Americans find a way to get the skills they need to compete in the marketplace through community colleges, the military and apprenticeships as long as there are good living wage jobs there to be had in exchange for the effort and expense involved in educating themselves. They aren't closing steel plants and sending the jobs to China because our workers don't know what they're doing. It's a massive trade imbalance that's fueled by a government subsidized industries in China with workers who make pennies on the dollar compared to American workers. To add insult to injury, we are borrowing money from the very same government that's stealing our jobs so we can pay for a worthless war in Iraq.

McCain doesn't get it. He lied to the American people by saying Obama will raise their taxes by failing to point out that the only increases will be on those who earn more than 250K a year. The Dems need to knock the Republicans on their asses for what they have done to our country, put their knee on their throats and not get up until Nov. 4th.

Joey Link, I hope you reflect on where you heard that false information about Obama's record. Palin, McCain and all the surrogates spout disinformation. People unfortunately tend to believe it without making a simple google search to find the truth. As a juror, when faced with witness testimony wholly or patially false, the judge instructs to distrust all testimony of that witness. Trying to hijack the mantle of change is equally disingenuous. They'll try anything to win though. Truth be damned cause God is on their side.

Allan, I think it's important for people to admit when they're wrong or make mistakes, and everyone makes mistakes at one point or another. While you and I differ greatly on the details, I'm sure we share many values and traits that make us good people.

genop, I think you need to be honest here, there's tons of misinformation coming from both the left and the right. I'm a huge advocate for people researching their facts before taking them as truth, and as you saw above I failed to do that with this bit of (mis)information. That doesn't change the fact that in November, I'll still be voting against the person who goes against nearly everything I believe in. Bush has ravaged this country with his spending, and Obama will do the same exact thing.

Why do anti-Palin people support troopers drinking in their vehicles and using stun guns on there own children?

Aren't those Republican values?

Well, I think both candidates promises to lower taxes are whistlin' past the graveyard. While the actual federal debt is somewhere around $10 trillion dollars, the IMPLICIT debt needed to fund SS and Medicare for the baby boomers is around $60 trillion. When Paul O'Neill of Treasury attempted to draw attention to this in 2002, he was dismissed from the Bush cabinet, since this would obstruct the administration tax cut efforts.

The candidates choices are: raise taxes, lower benefits, or start printing money so the promised future obligations are reduced by inflation. NEITHER candidate is addressing this problem with any degree of specificity.

http://tinyurl.com/5bat4v

There's a fourth option PMG, increase efficiency.

There's a fourth option PMG, increase efficiency.

I'm afraid with the magnitude of the numbers, that won't amount to much. With 80% (and growing) of federal spending CURRENTLY going to the entitlement programs, efficiencies in the remaining 20% (with the largest portion DOD spending) just won't cut it.

Those numbers are right, I think, only if (a) interest on federal debt is treated as an "entitlement", and (b) social security is included in the budget (which, in general, it isn't). I have no idea what this means, though.