The Ashford Zone Blog

Speaking of youthful indiscretions, there’s been some speculation (which I don’t believe) about Sarah Palin’s family life, specifically, that her youngest son Trig (the one with Down’s Syndrome) is not her child, but the child of her eldest daughter Bristol (an unmarried junior in high school).  It seems to me a little bit of a stretch, but this seems to be getting a fair amount of attention today.

The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

I think it is fone that Bristol "made the decision… to keep the baby", but the problem with the McCain team statement (one which is supposedly reflective of pro-family values) is that, if McCain & Co. had their ways and overturned Roe, Bristol would not have a choice to make.

And, of course, Gov. Palin is a strong proponent of teaching abstinence-only sex education to teenagers.

Cindy McCain:

STEPHANOPOULOS: But she has no national security experience.

McCAIN: You know, the experience that she comes from is what she’s done in government, and remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. It’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.

I lived in New Hampshire for over a decade.  Right next to Canada.

I oughta be Secretary of State.

UPDATE:  The vid…

McCain: "You know it just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster."

True, that.

Pictured above: Bush presenting McCain with a birthday cake — August 29, 2005, a couple of days after Katrina hit and people were still drowning….

First polls on Palin show women aren’t drawn to her:

The first national polls on John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin yesterday came out today from Rasmussen and Gallup — and contrary to what the GOP probably hoped, she scored less well with women than men.

Here’s a finding from Gallup: Among Democratic women — including those who may be disappointed that Hillary Clinton did not win the Democratic nomination — 9% say Palin makes them more likely to support McCain, 15% less likely.

From Rasmussen: Some 38% of men said they were more likely to vote for McCain now, but only 32% of women. By a narrow 41% to 35% margin, men said she was not ready to be president — but women soundly rejected her, 48% to 25%.

Only 9% of Obama supporters said they might be more likely to vote for McCain.

Overall, voters expressed a favorable impression of her by a 53/26 margin, but there was a severe gender gap on this: Men embraced her at 58% to 23%, while for women it was 48/30.

And by a 29/44 margin, men and women together, they do not believe that she is ready to be President.

As for voters not affiliated with either major party, 37% are more likely to vote for McCain and 28% less likely to do so.

Gallup is now out with its own initial poll. It also shows women with a slightly less favorable view of Palin. An excerpt from USA Today:

There is wide uncertainty about whether she’s qualified to be president. In the poll, taken Friday, 39% say she is ready to serve as president if needed, 33% say she isn’t and 29% have no opinion.

That’s the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988. In comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18% after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week…..

I guess people are seeing what Steven Benan so eloquently articulates here:

I don’t doubt for a moment that Sarah Palin is a nice person and probably a competent Alaskan governor. But she also has the thinnest background of any candidate for national office since 1908. Is McCain willing, with a straight face, to argue that Palin is the single "most prepared" person in the entire United States to assume the presidency should tragedy strike? Is anyone, anywhere, prepared to argue that McCain has put "country first"? Of course not; these ideas are literally laughable.

Palin’s qualifications are, to a very real degree, secondary to the issue at hand. What matters most right now is John McCain’s comically dangerous sense of judgment. He picked a running mate he met once for 15 minutes, who’s been the governor of a small state for a year and a half, and who is in the midst of an abuse-of-power investigation in which she appears to have lied rather blatantly. She has no obvious expertise in any area, and no record of any kind of federal issues. McCain doesn’t care.

Sensible people of sound mind and character simply don’t things like this. Leaders don’t do things like this. It’s the height of arrogance. It’s manifestly unserious. It’s reckless and irresponsible. It mocks the political process. Faced with a major presidential test, McCain thought it wise to tell an imprudent joke of lasting consequence.

Kevin noted:

This is all part of what I was talking about the other day when I noted that McCain is running such a palpably unserious campaign. Steve Schmidt seems solely interested in winning the daily news cycle; his staff spends its time gleefully churning out juvenile attack videos; McCain himself has retreated into robotic incantations of simpleminded talking points; and now he’s chosen a manifestly unqualified VP that he knows nothing about. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it.

No one has; it’s without precedent in modern American politics. The novelty and gimmickry might hold sway with those who base their votes on who they’d like to have a beer with, but that doesn’t make it any less of a joke.

Sullivan added, "Palin isn’t the issue here. McCain’s judgment is. It’s completely off the wall. Is there something wrong with him?"

That may sound like a flippant question, but it deserves a serious answer. Is there something wrong with him? Might this be evidence of some kind of impulse problem, as reflected in his shoot-first, think-second approach to foreign policy?

When I think about the respect that John McCain had worked so hard to develop, the stature he’d taken years to cultivate, and the reputation he’d built his career on, it’s breathtaking to see him throw it all away. If there’s a more complete collapse in modern political times, from hero to clown, I can’t think of it.

We’re poised to learn a great deal about Sarah Palin, but we’ve just learned even more about John McCain. He’s fundamentally unsuited for the presidency.

I think that’s right.  This isn’t about Palin.  It’s about McCain’s judgment.  Or lack thereof.  I wonder how much vetting went on.  Were the McCain people aware, for example, that the conservative Christian Sarah Palin’s first child was conceived out of wedlock?

From a March 2007 interview:

ABM: We’ve lost a lot of Alaska’s military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe.

Our potential new commander-in-chief…..

BONUS:  Audio from an interview with Palin two weeks ago… "Let’s make sure we have a plan here"….

Doesn’t sound very cohesive…

Oh, and she doesn’t really know what a VP does… from an interview before her selection.  Fun starts at 2:50 minutes in….

FURTHER THOUGHTS:

Clearly, McCain selected Palin to get the women vote — particularly, those disgruntled Hillary supporters.  But why her specifically?  Why not Condi Rice?  Or Olympia Snow?  Someone with more experience?  When McCain started his bid for the presidency, Palin wasn’t even governor of Alaska yet.

This is truly a bizarre choice, in that it reveals McCain’s desire to win, rather than his desire to do what is best (even on his own terms) for what is best for the country.  Hopefully, people will see through this transparently political choice.

The buzz this morning is that McCain has picked 44 year old Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House in November.  In fact, CNN just went with the story minutes ago.

Never heard of her?  Me neither.

But already, I see a problem.

McCain is, in case you haven’t noticed, old.  And this means that Palin is one fragile heartbeat away from the presidency.  Someone you never heard of.

UPDATE:  For all their talk about Obama’s inexperience, Palin has only been Alaska governor since 2006.  They say that the first test of a presidential candidate is who he/she picks as VP.    McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama’s relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters, so I’m not sure McCain’s selection reflects prudent thinking on his part.  It’s clearly an attempt to pander to women.  What other qualifications might have warrented such a selection?

She’s also under investigation… the Alaska state legislature voted to hire an independent investigator to find out whether she tried to have a state official fire her ex-brother-in-law from his job as a state trooper.

UPDATE:  Yes, this is really her (with a little Sadly, No captioning…)

Wow.

I had high expectations for Obama’s acceptance speech.  I wasn’t worried about him meeting those expectations, but I never — never — thought he would exceed them.

I knew he would have lofty rhetoric about "politics as usual" and finding common ground among the diverse political views of the nation, especially his appeal to independents and Republicans (for example, his references to "personal responsibility").  I knew he would talk about his view of government in (as Brian Williams pointed out) a very Aaron Sorkin-like way.  I knew he would go into some specifics about his plans and policies.  I knew he would effectively rebut the whole "elitism" and "celebrity" memes.

What I didn’t expect was the toughness against McCain and the rightwing political machine.  That part was brilliant.  It’s tricky to go on the offensive while maintaining an optimistic and inspirational tone, but that’s precisely what made Obama’s speech so effective. He didn’t just take the fight to McCain, he eviscerated McCain, his worldview, his party, and his record. This is not Kerry, not Dukakis, not even Gore.  He was less afraid and less calculating that Bill Clinton.  Obama is not only a great orator, but a street fighter.  The GOP will have their hands full, because Obama showed himself to be a pragmatic progressive, not just a liberal with a sackful of rhetorical flourishes about his "vision".

I thought MSNBC’s coverage — the gushing of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann — was a bit embarrassing, although it was nice to watch Pat Buchanan acknowledge what a terrific speech it was.

Of course, from my couch, Obama was preaching to the converted.  Did it score with disenchanted Dems and Independents?  Time will tell, but I can’t think of a better speech to have accomplished that task.

By the way, the AP report on the speech is bizarre, as Yglesius points out:

As part of the AP’s continuing descent into absurdity they covered Barack Obama’s speech with this long, editorializing-heavy whine about an alleged lack of specifics. This in particular is bizarre:

He said he would “cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families,” but did not say how.

How? His staff would have to work with the staffs of the relevant members of congress on writing a bill. Then the bill needs to get out of committee, pass the House and the Senate, maybe go through a conference committee process and then be signed into law. What does he mean how?

Anyway, the GOP convention will be interesting.  While I hope that nothing seriously bad hits the Gulf Coast next week, I do find it rather amusing that Gustav plans to make a metaphorical appearance.

But for those who missed it, here’s the speech.  You really need to watch the whole thing to appreciate the arc of its craftsmanship, going from the generic acknowledgements, to the policy specifics, to the humility, to the attacks…. it hits all the notes in a wonderful symphony:

From Denver:

Denver’s U.S. attorney is expected to speak on Tuesday afternoon about the arrests of four people suspected in a possible plot to shoot Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.

One of those suspects spoke exclusively to CBS4 investigative reporter Brian Maass from inside the Denver City Jail late Monday night and said his friends had discussed killing Obama.

"So your friends were saying threatening things about Obama?" Maass asked.

"Yeah," Nathan Johnson replied.

"It sounded like they didn’t want him to be president?"

"Well, no," Johnson said.

Maass reported earlier Monday that one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards."

Law enforcement sources told Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."

The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested Tharin Gartrell, 28. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner, according to sources.

Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.

Aurora police alerted federal officials because of heightened security surrounding the Democratic convention, Aurora police Det. Marcus Dudley said.

"Clearly we feel that there are federal implications — otherwise we would not have notified those agencies," Dudley said Monday night. "The weapons clearly would cause great concern."

Subsequently authorities went to the Cherry Creek Hotel in Glendale to contact an associate of Gartrell’s. But that man, identified as Shawn Robert Adolph, 33, who was wanted on numerous warrants, jumped out of a sixth floor hotel window. Law enforcement sources say Adolph broke an ankle in the fall and was captured moments later. Sources say he had a handcuff ring and was wearing a swastika, and is thought to have ties to white supremacist organizations.

Nathan Johnson, 32, an associate of Gartrell and Adolph, was also arrested Sunday morning. He told authorities that the two men had "planned to kill Barack Obama at his acceptance speech."

"He don’t belong in political office. Blacks don’t belong in political office. He ought to be shot," Johnson told Maass.

"Do you think they were really plotting to kill Obama?" Maass asked.

"I don’t want to say yes, but I don’t want to say no," he said.

Johnson’s girlfriend Natasha Gromek is also under arrest on drug charges.

The Secret Service, FBI, ATF and the joint terrorism task force are all investigating the alleged plot. Dudley didn’t say what tied the men together but said more arrests were possible.

Georgia10 from the DailyKos was at the same hotel, across the hall from the bust.

Ed O’Keefe from The Trail blog was right next door.

One gets the sense that this was a bunch of racist drugged-out redneck yahoos, rather than a serious well-funded assassination attempt.  But still….

Random thoughts as they occur to me about Day 1 of the DNC convention:

*  I’m just (half)watching the live stream.  Can’t stand the commenters and pundits on CNN and MSNBC.

*  Love the band.  Doing lots of Earth Wind & Fire

*  Nancy Pelosi really is a poor speaker.  Plastic, stumbling, maudlin.

*  Wow.  They really gave the shaft to Carter.  They give him a tribute, and he’s not speaking????

*  I like Jesse Jackson Jr. better than I like his dad.

*  The CNN feed likes to show shots of white people who can’t dance.

*  The Teddy Kennedy moment certainly paled in comparison to the Bobby Kennedy moment (in 1964).  I wasn’t very impressed, but the man is sick….

Straight talk:

NOT Straight talk:

Yeah.  I’m one of the millions awaiting a txt message, telling me Obama’s Veep choice.

And I agree with this guy: I think we’re ALL about to get rickrolled.

Seriously.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think — I’ll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you."

Very VERY quick response from the Obama camp….

Actually, I think McCain owns more than seven…..

** UPDATE ** McCain has just officially played the POW card to a laughable degree:

The McCain campaign is road-testing a new argument in responding to Obama’s criticism of his number-of-houses gaffe, an approach the McCain camp has never tried before: The houses gaffe doesn’t matter because … he was a P.O.W.!

“This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison,” spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.

Sound familiar?  When the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a close Bush ally, publicly questioned McCain’s marital infidelities, the McCain campaign responded by highlighting McCain’s background as a prisoner of war.

When Dems attacked McCain’s healthcare plan in May, McCain responded by noting his background as a prisoner of war.

Asked by a local reporter about the first thing that comes to his mind when he thinks of Pittsburgh, McCain responded by talking about his background as a prisoner of war.

Accused of possibly having heard the questions in advance of Rick Warren’s recent candidate forum, the McCain campaign responded by highlighting McCain’s background as a prisoner of war.

I think that fountain has run dry.