After casting her ballot for Barack Obama, Amanda Jones said simply, "I feel good about voting for him." Ms. Jones, of Cedar Creek, Texas (a town just south of Austin), is African-American, and what gives her vote some historic punch is that she's 109 years old. Her father was a slave. Her mother was born right after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. She's been through it all--Jim Crow segregation, women's suffrage, the Great Depression, the poll tax, FDR, the civil-rights movement, desegregation, 13 years of George W (five as guv, eight as prez), and now: Barack Obama. This last change fills her with joy, she says.
But not this year
Liz
http://iflizwerequeen.com
I've noticed that almost everything that McCain does this year blows up in his face. His circumstances remind me of the old childhood taunt: "Everything you say about me bounces off me and sticks on you." Remember that one from the playground?
For example, he goaded Obama about not going abroad. So Obama went abroad. . .and the rest is history along with the audience of over 200,000 Europeans at one rally in Berlin.
For example, McCain and Heckle and Jeckle (Hannity and Limbaugh)mocked Obama's suggestion for properly inflated tires. They even had tire gauges ordered (LOL). Oh boy did THAT one blow back at McCain--worse than a dust storm in West Texas. McCain is still choking on that one.
For example, McCain is fool enough to belittle two young Republican women who support him, or did. (You would think he would have learned to not mock young women after the Chelsea joke he made in 1999) At least you would think that he would have the gumption to have chosen two young Democratic and not Republican women to mock.
But all this is water under the proverbial bridge. Here is the funniest twist of fate: McCain will be done in by another Republican--Ron Paul.
Originally Paul had scheduled Williams Arena in MPLS for his "alternative" Republican convention scheduled to overlap with the "real" one and originally it was to be a one-day venue. I justread where it is not a three-day venue and they have moved it to the Target Center--the largest arena in MPLS. 80,000 people have purchased tickets (only 45,000 are expected at the Republican convention).
and do we hear a peep of this in the mainstream media?
Heck no.
and how many people do you think know that the Republican state convention in Nevada was not held because they could not get a quorum? Did you see that plastered all over the news 24/7 for a week? I don't think so.
I think the new Republican strategy this year is head-in-sand.
-- posted by Elizabeth Berry at 9:13pm, August 10, 2008
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Rise of the Rovians
The nasty fellow whose attack-dog, smear-tactic, lie-and-distort brand of politics lifted George W into the White House twice has quietly slipped back into this year's presidential game. Yes, none other than Karl Rove!
His infamous search-and-destroy approach to political opponents (John Kerry, Max Cleland, et al.) turned his name into a verb--to "rove" someone--and now Rovians have moved inside John McCain's campaign. Not that Karl himself is directing the senator's political shop (though he has been giving pointers from the outside). Instead, it's his political spawn who recently have taken over day-to-day operations.
Steve Schmidt, who's been described as a "political artillery shell," is now in charge of strategy and communications. Known as intense and hard hitting, Schmidt has long been one of Karl's key henchmen. He has run Bush's campaign war room, served as counselor and spokesman for Dick Cheney, been Rove's point man on the battles to put Sam Alito and John Roberts on the Supreme Court, and been a member of Rove's exclusive "breakfast club" that plotted the Bush White House's political attacks.
Rove operative Nicolle Wallace, who was communications director in Bush's 2004 run, has been brought in to travel with McCain and keep him on message. Another Rovian, Greg Jenkins, was added last month to try to add some pizzazz to McCain's campaign events. He's a former Fox news producer and advance man for Bush.
Meanwhile, the swift-boat slime crew that Rove orchestrated in '04 to trash John Kerry is back this year in the guise of a group calling itself Vets for Freedom. Pretending to be independent of the McCain campaign, it's already running ads that attack Obama on Iraq. Far from independent, its founder is a member of a McCain leadership team and its line of attack directly mirrors that of the campaign.