Baby Grandmama Drama

This is incredible. In a twist ripped from the pages of soap digest, it turns out that Palin's infant down-syndrome gifted son may in fact be her grandchild. What's next? An evil twin? I can only imagine the election offices of the two camps right now. Of course, it will turn out that "they knew all along" and "respected her privacy" and her "great courage." But this, in combination with their attempts to can Palin's brother-in-law, like Hickville P.I. I'm waiting for the wife-beater-wearing hubby so show up with his trucker cap to make a statement. Here's a shot of Palin, "seven months pregnant."

Looking forward to the debates?

All candidates want to win. But some care more about winning than what will happen if they do. I was a McCain supporter in 2000 (despite a family member of mine who knew him from the Navy, was a Republican, and said he'd never vote for him, because he was a hot head). But it the guy I wanted to vote for in 2000 ever existed, he's long gone. On the positive side, the veep debates should be uber-parody worthy. Palin has to be the least qualified V.P. candidate since ... since ... I think Quayle edges her (at least he had held a national office). She seems bright, shiny, and sincere. And that's about it. Can't wait to hear her vs. Biden. And can't wait to hear Hillary hit the trail.

Just asking

Is it just me or does "Gustaf" sound like that fat little Swiss kid with chocolate on his face?

History

I thought it was the greatest political speech of my generation (and his race speech was the greatest flat-out speech of my generation). But I think you gauge everything from the reaction of ... Pat Buchanan.

Kumbaya

Wow. I watched the Clinton speech last night on pins and needles. It was politically and morally impossible that she would deliver anything less than a full-throated endorsement -- and yet, I worried (and the chattering classes speculated). So those first few lines sent a wave of relief through me.

But after that, there were long passages detailing her accomplishments, her platform, her voters. After a while, I began to wonder if she was going to mention Barack again. And then came that amazing pivot -- demanding whether her peeps really supported those issues or just her. It was *very* well done.

I saw one commentator who suggested she didn't mention Barack enough. But as I was watching, I remembered she wasn't really talking to the Barack camp. She was talking to her supporters, some of them angry. And what they needed was a strong acknowledgement of what they'd stood for and supported, and what she'd meant to them. And the speech was razor sharp in translating that investment into Barack's candidacy. In terms of the political craft, of all speeches at the convention, I thought it was the best -- the most aware of what it needed to accomplish, what it could accomplish, and how to get there. I woke up today singing.

Summon the Dire Swarms

CNN reports this exchange with Bill Clinton:

"Suppose you're a voter, and you've got candidate X and candidate Y. ... Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?"

Wait for it...

[Clinton added], after a pause: "This has nothing to do with what's going on now."

I mean, holy shit. If ever I've wished I could cast Evan's Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion on someone...

Abiden'

I know other bloggers have been posting this. But every time I see it, I hit the floor again. Biden's dumbfounded expression at the end is priceless.



In related videos, James Fallows has a great article on the debates over at the Atlantic, and he posted again what I take as the greatest SNL political spoof of all time. I don't see why they don't do more of this (a salesperson for the McCain Timeshare Cooperative? A prep session in which he is trained which of two options to pick for each question "But I was a P.O.W." or "That's not change we can believe in [grimace]". McCain as Maxwell Smart/Inspector Gadget?) Okay, that last one, not so much. Unfortunately, Youtube pulled the video. But here's an audioversion.

Andrew Sullivan posted this blather from Jonah Goldberg:

...perhaps there’s no mystery at all, and Obama’s problems are the same problems Democrats always have at the presidential level: He’s an elitist. Oh, I know. Upon reading that, some liberal spluttered herbal chai tea from her nose at the injustice of this whole elitist canard, and the earnest Ivy League interns at some liberal magazine have burst into laughter, offering the appropriate bons mots from Balzac at the preposterousness of such a suggestion, saying: 'Don’t you conservatives understand? Democrats care about the little guy. They’re on the side of the proletariat — I mean workers — and as Obama has so eloquently put it, if the workers would only stop clinging to their silly sky god and guns, they’d understand that,'

Jonah Goldberg, NRO.

As Sullivan puts it, "Bon mots from Balzac?"

That's like pithiness from James. Or fluff from Hemingway. Or witticisms from Pound. We could go all night with this.

Could it be, could it be ... CLINTON?!?!

I was really against a Clinton VP pick and I still think Obama is. But it's the only good reason I can think of for him waiting this long. And it would be one hell of a slingshot for him.