But most in the media (and certainly in the Democratic Party) seem to point the finger at George W. Bush and the Republican Party. Take a look at the clip below. (Yes, it is from Fox News, and while Fox News is seen as a conservative news network, the report consists primarily of video and audio footage, and direct quotes. Conservative or not, a fact is a fact, and the alleged political slant of the news network cannot be used as an excuse in this case)...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Short & Sweet
Well, unless you've had your head buried in the sand for the last week, you've probably noticed that things on Wall Street have been a little hectic. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday morning, insurance giant AIG nearly did the same on Tuesday, and the markets have generally been in turmoil -- the Dow down nearly 450 points yesterday, and then up over 400 points today. In over eight years "in the business", I cannot recall a busier week -- nor can I can recall seeing more volatility. Most alarming for me, I think, is that I can't recall seeing more uncertainty, even from so-called "experts". With the government's apparent plan to create an entity in which to dispose of all of the toxic debt plaguing so many financial firms, the buyers returned today with more conviction than I've seen all week.
Long story short, I've barely had time for lunch this week, and what is already a fairly stressful job has been even more so this week. As a result, blogging has been the last thing on the agenda. The last hour or so of today brought the first signs of potential stability, and should tomorrow be a return to (some semblance) of normalcy, I'll hope to be able to write a post or two this weekend and early next week. In the meantime, a few quick thoughts to leave you with...
Long story short, I've barely had time for lunch this week, and what is already a fairly stressful job has been even more so this week. As a result, blogging has been the last thing on the agenda. The last hour or so of today brought the first signs of potential stability, and should tomorrow be a return to (some semblance) of normalcy, I'll hope to be able to write a post or two this weekend and early next week. In the meantime, a few quick thoughts to leave you with...
- The McCain-Palin "bounce" in the polls following the Republican National Convention appears to have exhausted itself. This is not unexpected -- a "bounce" is inherently temporary.
- With that said, though, McCain likely catalyzed the reversal in the polls this week when, in the midst of Lehman Brothers' declaration of bankruptcy and a stock market meltdown Monday, he affirmed his belief that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong". He's not entirely incorrect, technically, but that was the last thing that nervous Americans wanted to hear, and it was remarkable in its political tone deafness given the slew of headlines people were seeing that indicated quite the opposite. The lead McCain has enjoyed in the polls since the convention immediately began to disappear, and as of today, he again trails Obama.
- According to CNN, Obama is now using the teleprompter for each and every speech he gives -- even for what would normally be considered fairly informal, casual stump speeches. I have a few thoughts on this bit of news. First, clearly the Obama Campaign had become concerned about the candidate's ability to stay "on message" when speaking extemporaneously, perhaps trying to avoid another "lipstick on a pig" moment. Second, this reinforces the belief many have that Obama lacks some degree of substance. He can absolutely write a great speech and he can sure as hell deliver a great speech, but every one of the "great" speeches he has delivered has been while using a teleprompter, and conversely, many of the missteps he has made have been when shooting from the hip. Lastly, this is just further evidence of the media's double-standard. Were this McCain who was now relying on a teleprompter for each and every word he uttered in public, the media would be in a frenzy, and the leftist blogs would be buzzing with claims that McCain is so old (or perhaps even approaching senility), and therefore he is unable to even remember his stump speech lines. (Were it President Bush who did this, the same crowd would be trumpeting how "stupid" Bush is, as evidenced by his need for a script whenever he speaks). With Obama, though, not so much as a peep. (NOTE: I stand corrected on this point thanks to a comment from a reader -- and a good friend -- Brandon. Thanks for the correction, Brando).
- A week from tomorrow is the first of three presidential debates -- Friday, September 26th at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. I predict that Obama will maintain his lead -- perhaps even build on it slightly -- and head into next week's debate with a 3-5 point lead in the polls. I believe the debates are crucial this election year. A disastrous showing by either candidate could have a significant impact on the polls and on the election's ultimate outcome, so be sure to tune in and watch.
- After a series of missteps and strategic errors, Obama and his campaign enjoyed their first good series of days this week since the Republican Convention. While they seem to have regained their footing for now, he still appears unable to close the deal with American voters. If he had done so, he'd likely be leading by double-digits given the poisonous political environment for any candidate with the Republican "R" next to his or her name. Even still, this election has been and remains Obama's to lose.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Puppy Formerly Known As Rocket **
Rather than trying to discern what Barack Obama intended when he made his now infamous "lipstick on a pig" remark yesterday, I decided it was time to have a post unrelated to politics. In that spirit, I'd like you to tell you about Henry...
It has often seemed to me that many of the big things in life happen when we are not planning for them, and so I probably shouldn't have been too surprised when my wife, Hayley, called me three weeks ago with the news. It wasn’t as though it was completely out of the blue, either, because as we near our second anniversary, she and I have found ourselves having discussions and debates that many couples at this stage in their marriage undoubtedly have. We thought we were ready around Christmas time, but ended up talking ourselves out of it. Could we pull it off while living in Manhattan? This spring, we again gave serious consideration to the matter, but in a tough year on Wall Street, we were concerned about what effect such a change in our home life might have on our careers. This time, though, it looked like it was really going to happen, and as soon as we hung up, I knew our lives were going to change dramatically.
“I found him”, Hayley said. “His name is Rocket, he’s six months old, he’s at a shelter in Brooklyn, and we can meet him tonight!” Rocket was a Labradoodle (a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle), and he was in need of rescuing after inexplicably being given up by his original owner. She had found him on Petfinder.com, probably her favorite website in the world, and one she has visited daily for the last year in a heretofore fruitless search for the third member of our small family.
After work that night, we went to Brooklyn as fast as we could. Arriving at the shelter, we announced that we had come to meet Rocket, and someone on the staff was dispatched to retrieve him. The door soon opened, and out bounded the scrawniest, most unkempt dog I’d seen in some time. He jumped on Hayley, then me, then back to her, moving with the frenetic energy that only a puppy has. A few minutes later they asked us if we wanted to take him for a walk around the block, and so we set out for our “test drive”. Once outside, it was obvious that Rocket was just happy to be free. He was sniffing everything, looking everywhere, trying to say hello to everyone, and generally just all over the place. His legs were too long for his body, like a 13-year old boy in his “awkward stage”, and he didn’t seem to know what to do with them when he would try to pick up his pace. Though dirty and a little too skinny, it was easy to see that underneath all of that was a truly gorgeous dog, and naturally, we were completely hooked. “This is our dog, Bragg,” Hayley said, and I couldn’t disagree.
Back at the shelter, we told the manager we wanted Rocket. He gave us an application to fill out, and began to rattle off the laundry list of supplies we would need to properly care for our new puppy. I felt like a cartoon character listening to the cash register “cha-ching” with every item he named. The application was lengthy, requested references, and, as is standard in New York, asked if our landlord allowed dogs and if so, whether there was a size limit. This was the question we had dreaded, because we were pretty sure we knew the answer. In the course of our deliberations about getting a dog, Hayley and our landlord had a hypothetical email exchange in which he informed her that dogs were allowed, but that there was a 10 pound limit. A 10 pound dog? Don’t most cats weigh more than 10 pounds? Hayley grew up with a Golden Retriever, and my family had a Standard Poodle – both large dogs. We are unequivocally “big dog people”, and unlike many fellow New Yorkers, we’d rather have a dog that could eat Hayley’s purse than one who could fit inside it. We made the joint decision to answer “yes” and “no”, respectively.
That night we went home to “puppy-proof” our apartment for Rocket’s arrival the next day, and as we sat down to dinner, I addressed the elephant in the room. “Hayley, what are we doing to do about our landlord?” Even though we didn’t want to admit it, we both knew that in fairness to the dog, we had to call our landlord and officially ask permission. After all, if he denied our request, it might hurt us, but the dog would be fine and would end up being adopted by someone else. If, however, we just brought the dog home in defiance of our building’s policy, we risked hurting not only ourselves, but more importantly, we risked hurting the dog too, and that was a risk we weren’t willing to take.
The next day we woke up early and prepared “talking points” for our upcoming discussion with the landlord. When I got to work, I called the shelter to inform them that we might have a complication, and that I would get back to them with a definite answer by noon. I asked about Rocket’s weight, and was told he was “between 15 and 20 pounds”. I asked if he would likely grow much more, and was told he was probably close to full grown. Armed with this information, we called our landlord. He asked what kind of dog it was (“a poodle mix” I hedged), and then he asked how big he was. “Well,” I said, “he’s about 15 or 20 pounds, but not expected to be much bigger”. “No problem”, the landlord responded to our great surprise, and Hayley and I hung up absolutely elated. We went to pick up Rocket that night.
Our first night with Rocket was somewhat turbulent, but we all made it through. Hayley and I had both taken the next day off from work to begin dealing with all of the logistics of our newfound “parenthood”. While driving him home the night before, we decided we didn’t think the name Rocket fit him well, and since we were told that at his age, there was not yet any name association or recognition, we decided to make a change. After throwing around a few names, we settled on Henry. We liked the name, we didn’t know any other dogs named Henry, and well, he just sort of looked like a Henry. We did, however, feel it was only proper to honor the first name he was ever given, so we made Rocket his middle name: Henry R. Van Antwerp, our dog.
We decided to take him to the vet for a full check-up, nervous new parents that we were, and a few surprises emerged from our visit. For one, Henry was not six months old, he was five months old. No big deal there. But a few of the other revelations were not as innocuous. We learned that Henry weighed 32 pounds – just a tad bigger than the “15 to 20 pounds” the shelter had told us (and that we had in turn told our landlord). Additionally, he wasn’t even close to being fully grown (as we had also told our landlord). In fact, said the vet, we were probably looking at a 70 to 90 pound dog when it was all said and done. Oh and by the way, he also has pneumonia! So a few hundred dollars later, we left the vet a little poorer, a tad shell-shocked, but still falling madly in love with our new puppy.
The last few weeks have been busy ones in the Van Antwerp household. I don’t think I’ve gotten more than five hours of sleep since Henry’s arrival, and Hayley isn’t faring much better. I haven’t had time to go to the gym, and she has fallen behind in her training for the New York Marathon. A small fortune has been spent on the vet, low-calorie, grain-free food, an endless amount of miscellaneous supplies, and of course, entirely too many toys. A woman we only met three weeks ago now enters our apartment three times a day with a copy of our key to walk Henry for 30 minutes. (She then calls Hayley or me to let us know how – or perhaps more appropriately, what – he did while walking). Along those lines, we have had more discussions about our dog’s “elimination” than I ever imagined, and in greater detail than I ever thought possible – to say nothing of what we have cleaned off our apartment floor or picked up off the Manhattan sidewalks. Baby Talk is now the official language of our apartment, and much to our chagrin, we both now occasionally refer to ourselves as “Mom” or “Dad” – in the first person! I have had several business meetings in which I have reached into my pocket only to find a dog treat there instead of my card. In short, our lives have been turned upside down, but we knew that would happen, and it was part of what we signed up for when we rescued Henry. The bottom line is that when I come home from work and he’s there to greet me, his tail wagging so hard that his whole body begins to wag with it – just those few seconds alone make every lost hour of sleep, every dollar spent, and every single change to our lives absolutely worth it. (But I think we may wait a little longer on kids)!
(An abbreviated version of this post can also be seen at Splice Today: http://splicetoday.com/).
** Special thanks to John Lingan, Managing Editor of Splice Today, for the title of this post!
It has often seemed to me that many of the big things in life happen when we are not planning for them, and so I probably shouldn't have been too surprised when my wife, Hayley, called me three weeks ago with the news. It wasn’t as though it was completely out of the blue, either, because as we near our second anniversary, she and I have found ourselves having discussions and debates that many couples at this stage in their marriage undoubtedly have. We thought we were ready around Christmas time, but ended up talking ourselves out of it. Could we pull it off while living in Manhattan? This spring, we again gave serious consideration to the matter, but in a tough year on Wall Street, we were concerned about what effect such a change in our home life might have on our careers. This time, though, it looked like it was really going to happen, and as soon as we hung up, I knew our lives were going to change dramatically.
“I found him”, Hayley said. “His name is Rocket, he’s six months old, he’s at a shelter in Brooklyn, and we can meet him tonight!” Rocket was a Labradoodle (a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle), and he was in need of rescuing after inexplicably being given up by his original owner. She had found him on Petfinder.com, probably her favorite website in the world, and one she has visited daily for the last year in a heretofore fruitless search for the third member of our small family.
After work that night, we went to Brooklyn as fast as we could. Arriving at the shelter, we announced that we had come to meet Rocket, and someone on the staff was dispatched to retrieve him. The door soon opened, and out bounded the scrawniest, most unkempt dog I’d seen in some time. He jumped on Hayley, then me, then back to her, moving with the frenetic energy that only a puppy has. A few minutes later they asked us if we wanted to take him for a walk around the block, and so we set out for our “test drive”. Once outside, it was obvious that Rocket was just happy to be free. He was sniffing everything, looking everywhere, trying to say hello to everyone, and generally just all over the place. His legs were too long for his body, like a 13-year old boy in his “awkward stage”, and he didn’t seem to know what to do with them when he would try to pick up his pace. Though dirty and a little too skinny, it was easy to see that underneath all of that was a truly gorgeous dog, and naturally, we were completely hooked. “This is our dog, Bragg,” Hayley said, and I couldn’t disagree.
Back at the shelter, we told the manager we wanted Rocket. He gave us an application to fill out, and began to rattle off the laundry list of supplies we would need to properly care for our new puppy. I felt like a cartoon character listening to the cash register “cha-ching” with every item he named. The application was lengthy, requested references, and, as is standard in New York, asked if our landlord allowed dogs and if so, whether there was a size limit. This was the question we had dreaded, because we were pretty sure we knew the answer. In the course of our deliberations about getting a dog, Hayley and our landlord had a hypothetical email exchange in which he informed her that dogs were allowed, but that there was a 10 pound limit. A 10 pound dog? Don’t most cats weigh more than 10 pounds? Hayley grew up with a Golden Retriever, and my family had a Standard Poodle – both large dogs. We are unequivocally “big dog people”, and unlike many fellow New Yorkers, we’d rather have a dog that could eat Hayley’s purse than one who could fit inside it. We made the joint decision to answer “yes” and “no”, respectively.
That night we went home to “puppy-proof” our apartment for Rocket’s arrival the next day, and as we sat down to dinner, I addressed the elephant in the room. “Hayley, what are we doing to do about our landlord?” Even though we didn’t want to admit it, we both knew that in fairness to the dog, we had to call our landlord and officially ask permission. After all, if he denied our request, it might hurt us, but the dog would be fine and would end up being adopted by someone else. If, however, we just brought the dog home in defiance of our building’s policy, we risked hurting not only ourselves, but more importantly, we risked hurting the dog too, and that was a risk we weren’t willing to take.
The next day we woke up early and prepared “talking points” for our upcoming discussion with the landlord. When I got to work, I called the shelter to inform them that we might have a complication, and that I would get back to them with a definite answer by noon. I asked about Rocket’s weight, and was told he was “between 15 and 20 pounds”. I asked if he would likely grow much more, and was told he was probably close to full grown. Armed with this information, we called our landlord. He asked what kind of dog it was (“a poodle mix” I hedged), and then he asked how big he was. “Well,” I said, “he’s about 15 or 20 pounds, but not expected to be much bigger”. “No problem”, the landlord responded to our great surprise, and Hayley and I hung up absolutely elated. We went to pick up Rocket that night.
Our first night with Rocket was somewhat turbulent, but we all made it through. Hayley and I had both taken the next day off from work to begin dealing with all of the logistics of our newfound “parenthood”. While driving him home the night before, we decided we didn’t think the name Rocket fit him well, and since we were told that at his age, there was not yet any name association or recognition, we decided to make a change. After throwing around a few names, we settled on Henry. We liked the name, we didn’t know any other dogs named Henry, and well, he just sort of looked like a Henry. We did, however, feel it was only proper to honor the first name he was ever given, so we made Rocket his middle name: Henry R. Van Antwerp, our dog.
We decided to take him to the vet for a full check-up, nervous new parents that we were, and a few surprises emerged from our visit. For one, Henry was not six months old, he was five months old. No big deal there. But a few of the other revelations were not as innocuous. We learned that Henry weighed 32 pounds – just a tad bigger than the “15 to 20 pounds” the shelter had told us (and that we had in turn told our landlord). Additionally, he wasn’t even close to being fully grown (as we had also told our landlord). In fact, said the vet, we were probably looking at a 70 to 90 pound dog when it was all said and done. Oh and by the way, he also has pneumonia! So a few hundred dollars later, we left the vet a little poorer, a tad shell-shocked, but still falling madly in love with our new puppy.
The last few weeks have been busy ones in the Van Antwerp household. I don’t think I’ve gotten more than five hours of sleep since Henry’s arrival, and Hayley isn’t faring much better. I haven’t had time to go to the gym, and she has fallen behind in her training for the New York Marathon. A small fortune has been spent on the vet, low-calorie, grain-free food, an endless amount of miscellaneous supplies, and of course, entirely too many toys. A woman we only met three weeks ago now enters our apartment three times a day with a copy of our key to walk Henry for 30 minutes. (She then calls Hayley or me to let us know how – or perhaps more appropriately, what – he did while walking). Along those lines, we have had more discussions about our dog’s “elimination” than I ever imagined, and in greater detail than I ever thought possible – to say nothing of what we have cleaned off our apartment floor or picked up off the Manhattan sidewalks. Baby Talk is now the official language of our apartment, and much to our chagrin, we both now occasionally refer to ourselves as “Mom” or “Dad” – in the first person! I have had several business meetings in which I have reached into my pocket only to find a dog treat there instead of my card. In short, our lives have been turned upside down, but we knew that would happen, and it was part of what we signed up for when we rescued Henry. The bottom line is that when I come home from work and he’s there to greet me, his tail wagging so hard that his whole body begins to wag with it – just those few seconds alone make every lost hour of sleep, every dollar spent, and every single change to our lives absolutely worth it. (But I think we may wait a little longer on kids)!
(An abbreviated version of this post can also be seen at Splice Today: http://splicetoday.com/).
** Special thanks to John Lingan, Managing Editor of Splice Today, for the title of this post!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Grand Slam !!!
Sarah Palin is simply a phenomenal politician and, more importantly, a tremendously good choice by McCain as a Vice Presidential Nominee. With the stakes as high as possible, she came through with a fantastic speech and perfect delivery.
Democrats should be concerned, I think, but so should Palin. If the Democrats and the media have been tough over the last few days, the pressure will only increase now that they have seen what she can do. They will recognize the real threat that her addition to the McCain Ticket singlehandedly poses to Obama's chances, and they will stop at nothing to tear her down. Something tells me she'll be ready, though.
In the meantime, Republicans have found a politician who generates more excitement and enthusiasm than anyone else in the GOP since Ronald Reagan.
Job well done, Governor Palin.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Mixed Emotions
It has certainly been an interesting few days for Sarah Palin, her family, and the Republican Party. As indicated here on Friday, I was extremely enthusiastic about John McCain's selection of Palin as his running mate. This enthusiasm only grew over the weekend as I was able to hear more of her on the stump, and also to gauge the almost unanimously positive reactions of the people to whom I spoke. But then, on Monday, news broke that her 17-year old daughter Bristol was pregnant, and I began to feel far less optimistic about Palin and the overall chances for the ticket.
Full of newfound doubts, on Monday, I wrote the following, which now appears at Splice Today:
Here's the bottom line: I still think this was a terrific pick by McCain. I think Palin is a star already, and on her way to even bigger and better things (regardless of whether that ascendance begins with the vice presidency this time around or not). I am extremely interested in watching her speak tonight at the Republican National Convention, and I am even looking forward to watching her debate Joe Biden next month. On the other hand, I feel like what could have been the absolutely perfect pick has been somewhat tainted, even if only slightly. I think that to take the risk McCain took in picking her, the whole package (the candidate, the vetting process, etc.) had to be pristine, and it has not been. A part me of me, then, still feels deflated and disappointed, but then on the other hand, is it possible that all of this could still become a positive? Can the McCain-Palin ticket bounce back after a rough few days? If you'd asked me Monday -- as evidenced by my Splice post above -- I'd have said there was no way to come back from this. But the more I think about it and the more I watch the media (predictably) overplay their hand, the more I think this whole thing could, in fact, boomerang in Palin's favor.
The aggressiveness and borderline glee with which liberal bloggers, the mainstream media and some Democrats have attacked Palin is astonishing. The reason the news of Bristol Palin's pregancy even came to light at all is because hateful bloggers at Daily Kos (a preeminent liberal blog) were alleging that Palin had faked her most recent pregnancy (which resulted in the birth of her son, Trig, 5 months old, who suffers from Down Syndrome) in order to cover up her daughter's. In other words, they were alleging that Trig was in fact Palin's grandson. It was truly despicable. The Obama Campaign itself had to back down from their initial official reaction after the consensus held that it had been overly hostile. The media have, as expected, questioned her experience despite their willingness, by and large, to allow questions about Obama's -- the person at the top of the Democratic ticket -- to go unasked. Some reporters have questioned her ability to run for (much less serve as) vice president while still being able to adequately mother her children, a blatantly sexist inquiry. Has anyone ever asked Barack Obama if he feels he can be a good father to his two young daughters while running for (much less serving as) president?
The reality is that she is hardly less qualified than Obama no matter how one measures experience. And if executive experience is the benchmark, well then she has more than Obama, McCain and Biden combined. The fact that Obama on Tuesday felt compelled to compare his experience with that of Palin's -- again, the person in the #2 spot on the opposing ticket -- shows not only some measure of concern on the part of Obama and his campaign, but also the political brilliance of the Palin choice. Going one step further, McCain's campaign responded today with a new ad addressing the experience question, and I think it's fairly effective. Have a look:
I'm going to have to cut this shorter than I had wanted, but I'll be back later this week with more. In summary, I absolutely wish that the McCain Campaign had revealed Bristol Palin's pregnancy at the outset (even as a part of Sarah Palin's biography -- "expectant grandmother," maybe???) rather than let the news come out on the first day of the Convention, but perhaps they had their reasons. If I have learned one thing over the last few weeks, it's that I have consistently underestimated the political instincts of the McCain Campaign. Perhaps this is all part of their grand plan? Whether it is or not -- and whether that plan will work -- remain to be seen.
Tonight's speech would have been make-or-break for her even without the distractions of the last few days, but because of it, the stakes are astronomically high for Palin as she prepares for her primetime address to the GOP Delegates and, in all likelihood, millions of Americans watching at home. Here's hoping it's her turn to hit a home run!
Full of newfound doubts, on Monday, I wrote the following, which now appears at Splice Today:
Well, it was a fine three-day run for the McCain campaign, and Republicans in general. As we went to bed last Thursday night, it appeared McCain was on the verge of tapping Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty for the veep slot, and the more I thought about that, I was disappointed, particularly when juxtaposed with Obama’s acceptance speech. Pawlenty is qualified, but he is essentially the personification of “boring white guy.” Friday morning by the time I got to work, the room was buzzing about the rumor that McCain had instead chosen the nearly unknown Sarah Palin. Soon it was confirmed, and I was thrilled. I was familiar with her, but thought she was a long shot at best, particularly with the cloud of an investigation involving the Alaska public safety commission hanging over her. Now that she had been picked, though, I assumed that the team vetting McCain’s potential running mates had looked at the situation closely and determined she had done no wrong, or at least that the controversy wasn’t sufficiently detrimental to disqualify her from being chosen. What’s that saying about the folly of assumptions? Something about making an ass out of you and me?Since writing that, however, I have started to return to the happy, optimistic Bragg of the weekend. Well, almost...
Friday’s official introduction of Palin energized Republicans; many probably had their first genuine moment of enthusiasm about voting for McCain. To the extent that enthusiasm extended to their wallets, the windfall of contributions the campaign received over the weekend seemed to confirm GOP voters’ newfound excitement. In talking to a variety of friends and relatives of varying degrees of political interest and multiple political leanings Friday, I found the reaction to Palin uniformly positive. Palin’s enthusiasm, her verve, her genuineness, her refreshing departure from typical Washington politics and politicians—all were among the attributes positively cited by those I spoke to. Perhaps more importantly, though, her conservative bona fides are unassailable, and for a Republican base still suspicious of McCain’s sincerity on social issues, this was a choice that put many of those lingering concerns to rest. Over the weekend, McCain’s rallies had an energy level higher than any his campaign has seen so far. Record crowds turned out to see the Alaska governor in the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Predictably, the media questioned her experience (despite their general disinclination to do the same for Barack Obama), but in reality, she’s not much less experienced than Obama, and by virtue of having even a day of executive experience, she bests that of Obama, McCain and Joe Biden combined. Whether intentional or not, in a brilliant stroke of political jujitsu, every time the experience of the #2 person on the GOP ticket was questioned, the focus was implicitly or sub-consciously turned back to the inexperience of Barack Obama—the man at the top of the Democratic ticket.
But the subsequent news about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy reminded me of that moment in movies when the thriving dance party is suddenly interrupted by the sound of a record scratching. Was she properly vetted? On its face, the issue of her daughter’s pregnancy is just not a big deal. Nearly every family has had a similar instance, and based on the Palin family’s statement about the issues, it sounds as though they are dealing with it in a loving and unified way. But it is a very big deal in its implications. Does her daughter’s teenage pregnancy make her unfit to be the vice president? Of course not. But if McCain knew about this when he selected her, it raises serious doubts about his judgment and political acumen. If he indeed knew, and if he decided it was not sufficiently damaging to stop him from choosing her, then his campaign should have made this fact known shortly after unveiling her on Friday. Surely that would have been preferable to the bombshell news breaking on the first day of the Republican National Convention and in the midst of one of McCain’s only true momentum surges this year. I frankly don’t believe he did know, and if his vetters couldn’t unearth that, is there anything else that McCain’s campaign doesn’t know about Palin? And if Palin herself didn’t tell him, what does that tell us about her?
In general, it seems that most of the same conservative bloggers and writers who were heralding her choice Friday were now downplaying the political implications of her daughter’s pregnancy. The pro-life crowd is predictably ecstatic that Bristol Palin was choosing to keep her baby, and the emerging party line seems to be that the manner in which Sarah Palin and her husband had embraced the news only made her more appealing as a mother, and further, how dare the media and the Democrats invade the Palin’s privacy in this way! Obama, to his credit, almost immediately announced that the families of candidates should be off-limits, and that, oh, by the way, his mother had only been 18 when he was born. This was a classy reaction from Obama, and it was also politically pitch-perfect. Magnanimity is the shrewd play here, and Obama and Democrats will now sit back and give Palin and the GOP all the rope they need to hang themselves. As for Republicans and conservatives now claiming that this will have no backlash (or even that it will somehow be a net positive), they are simply kidding themselves—drunk, I can only assume, from a weekend bender of political enthusiasm after several painful years on the wagon.
Palin was unquestionably a risky choice for McCain, and for the pick to work out she had to be controversy-free until Election Day. While this was the gamble I thought McCain had to take in order to change the game and catalyze his candidacy, it was only worth it if he and his campaign were 100 percent certain there were no surprises about Palin waiting in the wings. Obviously they weren’t, and so in apparently failing to properly vet her, McCain will now find his judgment questioned, and rightfully so. As a committed Republican, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief and disappointment.
Tim Pawlenty is looking pretty good right about now. Perhaps there’s something to be said for the boring white guy after all.
Here's the bottom line: I still think this was a terrific pick by McCain. I think Palin is a star already, and on her way to even bigger and better things (regardless of whether that ascendance begins with the vice presidency this time around or not). I am extremely interested in watching her speak tonight at the Republican National Convention, and I am even looking forward to watching her debate Joe Biden next month. On the other hand, I feel like what could have been the absolutely perfect pick has been somewhat tainted, even if only slightly. I think that to take the risk McCain took in picking her, the whole package (the candidate, the vetting process, etc.) had to be pristine, and it has not been. A part me of me, then, still feels deflated and disappointed, but then on the other hand, is it possible that all of this could still become a positive? Can the McCain-Palin ticket bounce back after a rough few days? If you'd asked me Monday -- as evidenced by my Splice post above -- I'd have said there was no way to come back from this. But the more I think about it and the more I watch the media (predictably) overplay their hand, the more I think this whole thing could, in fact, boomerang in Palin's favor.
The aggressiveness and borderline glee with which liberal bloggers, the mainstream media and some Democrats have attacked Palin is astonishing. The reason the news of Bristol Palin's pregancy even came to light at all is because hateful bloggers at Daily Kos (a preeminent liberal blog) were alleging that Palin had faked her most recent pregnancy (which resulted in the birth of her son, Trig, 5 months old, who suffers from Down Syndrome) in order to cover up her daughter's. In other words, they were alleging that Trig was in fact Palin's grandson. It was truly despicable. The Obama Campaign itself had to back down from their initial official reaction after the consensus held that it had been overly hostile. The media have, as expected, questioned her experience despite their willingness, by and large, to allow questions about Obama's -- the person at the top of the Democratic ticket -- to go unasked. Some reporters have questioned her ability to run for (much less serve as) vice president while still being able to adequately mother her children, a blatantly sexist inquiry. Has anyone ever asked Barack Obama if he feels he can be a good father to his two young daughters while running for (much less serving as) president?
The reality is that she is hardly less qualified than Obama no matter how one measures experience. And if executive experience is the benchmark, well then she has more than Obama, McCain and Biden combined. The fact that Obama on Tuesday felt compelled to compare his experience with that of Palin's -- again, the person in the #2 spot on the opposing ticket -- shows not only some measure of concern on the part of Obama and his campaign, but also the political brilliance of the Palin choice. Going one step further, McCain's campaign responded today with a new ad addressing the experience question, and I think it's fairly effective. Have a look:
I'm going to have to cut this shorter than I had wanted, but I'll be back later this week with more. In summary, I absolutely wish that the McCain Campaign had revealed Bristol Palin's pregnancy at the outset (even as a part of Sarah Palin's biography -- "expectant grandmother," maybe???) rather than let the news come out on the first day of the Convention, but perhaps they had their reasons. If I have learned one thing over the last few weeks, it's that I have consistently underestimated the political instincts of the McCain Campaign. Perhaps this is all part of their grand plan? Whether it is or not -- and whether that plan will work -- remain to be seen.
Tonight's speech would have been make-or-break for her even without the distractions of the last few days, but because of it, the stakes are astronomically high for Palin as she prepares for her primetime address to the GOP Delegates and, in all likelihood, millions of Americans watching at home. Here's hoping it's her turn to hit a home run!
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