RNC08 preview

with the scene in St. Paul already kicking off to a dramatic start, here's a little preview of what we can expect at the RNC this week. good times.

there's a storm abrewin'

for those not paying attention, there's a huge storm heading toward New Orleans again.
but there's an even bigger shitstorm brewing in St. Paul already. what the hell is wrong with Republicans!? (rhetorical question)

Glenn Greenwald has extensive coverage of this today.

jesse's 1st day

well, after weeks of anticipation, Jesse finally came to his new home today. it's a brave new world for him, but he seems to be settling in fine. meeting the neighbor dogs & being completely mesmerized by the squirrels stealing pears from the tree next door. he was a complete champ when it came to conquering the stairs, too. as you can tell from this picture, he's a pretty chill fellow. which explains why the cats are still trying to figure out if the new addition to the home is animal or furniture.

UPDATE: tune in here for updates on all things Jesse related.

D'oh!

looks like someone didn't do their homework.

"A very reliable source overheard Republican spokesperson McHugh Pierre state TODAY that he had spoken to the McCain Campaign. They are coming to Alaska tomorrow to check out the "Troopergate" investigation."

(h/t FDL)

getting an early start

things are already getting dicey in St. Paul.
that didn't take long.

FTW!?!

that certainly got everyone's attention.
it's not Mittmas, but it might just be a whole lot better.

"Is this really who the Republican Party wants to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency? Given Sarah Palin's lack of experience on every front and on nearly every issue, this Vice Presidential pick doesn't show judgment: it shows political panic."
-- Rep. Rahm Emanuel

it's a present that keeps on giving & giving, & giving, & giving & giving...
ad infinitum.

here's Sarah Palin accepting the VP position today
at the Nutter Center in Dayton, OH :

*yawn*

McCain is about say something today, but really...who cares.

(fitting that this announcement will come from the Nutter Center)

THE Speech

I know, we've all seen it, but it bears repeat viewing.

"What he didn't do was give an airy, abstract, dreamy confection of rhetoric. The McCain campaign set Obama up as a celebrity airhead, a Paris Hilton of wealth and elitism. And he let them portray him that way, and let them over-reach, and let them punch him again and again ... and then he turned around and destroyed them. If the Rove Republicans thought they were playing with a patsy, they just got a reality check."
-- Andrew Sullivan

UPDATE: official McCain response -

"but...but...but...POW."

the next POTUS

an unbelievable end to 4 dramatic days. I don't envy the GOP having to follow that act. their operatives are already spinning like crazy, with an emphasis on crazy.

million dollar parking lot

who's watching the DNC?

well, according to the Nation:

"Over twenty million people a night -- and the numbers are rising. In fact, on the second night of the convention, the Dems quintupled their draw compared to 2004! This Tuesday drew 26 million viewers; about 5 million people tuned in on the same day in 2004."

wow, just...wow.

ziiiiing!

"John McCain says he's a maverick. But he's voted with Bush over 90% of the time. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick!"

--Bob Casey

Rachel R.O.C.K.S.!

listen to the cheers she got tonight
when she skewered McCain's over use of
noun, verb, POW!

here we go...

right on the heels of a truly moving & rousing tribute to & speech by Ted Kennedy at the DNC, there comes the news that Police may have broken up an assassination plot against Barack Obama.
unbelievable, really...words escape me.
(details here & here)
(thinkprogress has even more chilling details)

a noun, a verb & POW

you know this is getting ridiculous when even
the MSM begins to tire of the schtick.

quote of the week

"Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there every night after you put the kids to bed and you talk, you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you’re worried about being able to pay the bills. Well ladies and gentlemen, that’s not a worry that John McCain has to worry about. It’s a pretty hard experience — he’ll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at."

that about sums it up, Joe.

the text is in

(in case you blinked)
not completely thrilled, but he's just the tenacious bulldog needed for the job. can we move on now? rumour has it that McSame will pick Mittens as his VP. could the gods be so kind. stay tuned for Mittmas in August.

oh, SNAP!

"What's most notable about John McCain's confusion over the number of homes he owns isn't merely that it demonstrates that, after running his campaign based on depicting Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist and himself as the all-American Everyman, McCain lives a life that is about as far removed from the Average American as one can get, and has done so for decades. What's notable is how McCain was able to live that way. McCain himself isn't actually rich. He just lives off the inherited wealth of his much younger, former mistress and now-second-wife -- for whom he dumped his older and disfigured first wife -- and who then used her family's money to fund his political career and keep him living in extreme luxury (while insisting that he sign a prenuptial agreement, which would make McCain the first U.S. President to have one)."

(Glennzilla today)

quick on the draw

& then there's this, too:

a simple, man of the people

let's go easy on McCain. who among us hasn't, at one time or another, lost track of the number of homes we own? in this fast, paced modern world, it's just too difficult to keep everything sorted out.

word is spreading fast

Jesse:
coming 8/29/8

it's about time...

the smartest person on cable teevee is finally getting her own show. that's right, the NYT reported today that MSNBC is handing the reins of the 9pm time slot over to Rachel Maddow on Sept. 9th. finally another progressive voice in the vast desert of cable bloviators. here's a little taste of why Rachel is such an asset to the field:

McCain: Idiot, Cheat, Liar

Keith was on a tear tonight in his Special Comment,
ripping into McCain w/everything in his arsenal.
really something to behold.

pt. 1


pt. 2

nonagon. RAWKS. Hard!

the boys literally rattled the fillings in my teeth last night.

go listen for yourself, then go buy their CD!
(then go visit the dentist)

more McCain lies squashed

once again Brian Deese does a great job here of
deconstructing the latest McCain lie & smear fest.

TGIF

so yuck it up.

Mr. Co-President ?

it seems someone has taken it upon himself to step up to the plate. (disregarding the guy already in the batter's box) McCain thinks he's some kind of DH. hmmm....does anyone else think this is a bit...oh, I don't know...PRESUMPTUOUS.
not to mention that his top adviser is a paid lobbyist for Georgia. that might just cloud his judgment in this matter. no?
but don't worry, the MSM won't fill our pretty little head with these kinds of details.

complete irony deprivation

here's McCain on Russia invading Georgia:

"In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations."

riiiiiight.

or as Jon Stewart put it last night:
"In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations
....... in Europe."

better late than never

here's Obama's newest ad, finally hitting back on all this 'celebrity' nonsense.it's pretty good, if not a little late. let's see if the MSM will play this to death like they did the McCain ad.

WTF, George!?!

far be it for me to criticize, but while W is playing grabass over at the Olympics, there is some serious shit going down in Georgia. maybe someone should take a minute to check in w/home base, or perhaps call his good buddy Pooty-Poot. I'm just sayin'.

Obama camp responds to McCain's lies

Brian Deese, economic adviser to Barack Obama
dissects the latest McCain attack ad, pointing out each lie as it comes down the pike.
this video is a must see. watch it, then forward it along to everyone you know. maybe if it goes viral, the MSM will be forced to call McCain out on his blatant lying. well, we can dream at least.
(h/t TPM)

Ceremony

Radiohead's cover of arguably one of the greatest
songs ever written, IMHO. enjoy.

he had me at "baroo"

I spent the morning in bucolic southern Wisconsin, at the wonderful Emerald Kennels. I went looking to adopt a retired racing Greyhound & boy did I hit the jackpot. so many friendly faces & wagging tails, more than enough to melt the hardest heart. it was really quite thrilling to be in amidst so many of these amazing creatures. & FAST!, oh man...to see them RUN...incredible.
I went in with something of an idea of what I was looking for (fawn colored, female) but as the good folks at Greyhounds, Only suggested, enough of an open mind to be swayed by the dreamiest of brown eyes. I'm happy to say that I came away with this brindle, male...hey wait a minute how did that happen!? I'm not really sure, but this lil' guy picked me & that was pretty much that. I mean, come on...just look at that smile. who could resist!? now he's off for a week or so of foster care & then he comes home for good at the end of the month.
all in all, a perfect way to spend a Saturday.

quote of the decade

"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

--Barack Obama

in other news...McCain concedes: He's ignorant.

"Miss Buffalo Chip", pt.2

Keith & Rachel tonight discussed McCain's suggestion that Cindy enter the Sturgis Miss Buffalo Chip contest; with much incredulity, not to mention hilarity.

"Miss Buffalo Chip" McCain

Mavericky McCain is in Sturgis, SD today & he wasted no time in offering up Cindy as a contestant for the Miss Buffalo Chip Beauty Pageant, described as:

'It holds a Miss Buffalo Chip contest every night, which is essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too. During a drenching rain Wednesday night, the contest broke up into smaller groups and one woman wound up dancing naked on a bar top. Her boyfriend/husband saw her and angrily dragged her away as she struggled to put her pants back on and muttered something about how, "It's only this one week a year."'

guess McSame stepped in it again, because I really don't think he knew the depths to which this pageant actually sinks.
or maybe he did.

inexperienced celebrity?

brilliant push back to those Reagan loving Republicans

(h/t kos)

we're well on our way

quote of the week

'In the middle of John McCain's dopey Britney & Paris attack ad, the announcer gravely asks of Barack Obama: "Is He Ready to Lead?" An equally good question is whether McCain is ready to lead. For a man who will turn 72 this month, he's a surprisingly immature politician--erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled "juvenile," another termed "childish" and McCain's own mother called "stupid."'

--Jonathan Alter of Newsweek

Saturday Night Special

Devo - Through Being Cool

Friday funnies

it's all water under the bridge

or so the GOP would have you believe...

"It’s a year today since the Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, but don’t expect Gov. Tim Pawlenty to showcase the reconstruction."

"Indeed, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul just a month away and Pawlenty reported to be high on John McCain’s running mate list, Republicans want to drive attention away from the infrastructure disaster that spotlighted the nation’s crumbling bridges and from the criticism the governor faced for what some critics said was a slow response."

“The anniversary of the bridge collapse is this Friday, and the convention isn’t for a month after that. The two things aren’t really related,” said Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung."

"Republicans say they would rather not dampen the convention by revisiting an old tragedy."

(via Politico.com)

the image above should be plastered all over the Twin Cities during the Republican National Convention & they should shuttle people to the site, not away from it, just to remind everyone who exactly was responsible for the failure of our infrastructure that caused this disaster. I'm just sayin'...