No on Prop 8: Home invasion video

I wrote the script. My brother and his girlfriend produced it. My best friend directed and edited it. It's amazing what a group of dedicated activists can do.

Sarah Palin is an idiot

So, who won tonight's vice-presidential debate? To be honest, that's not something that the pundits and spinmeisters on TV can tell you, no matter how much they may wish they could. Rather, the question of who won the debate is entirely a question of what the average non-political person thought of the candidates.

I got my answer tonight. My girlfriend's sister is decidedly non-political. She doesn't follow politics at all. But like so many millions of other Americans, she tuned in to this debate. And as soon as it ended, my girlfriend received the following text message from her sister:

Palin is an idiot

That settles it in my book! Biden 1, Palin 0.

On the bailout: time to end the bipartisanship

Yesterday's diary on the failure of the bailout bill--which was well-received but did not quite make the recommended list--lays out the argument that instead of offering a further compromise to get House Republicans to support a bailout bill, the Democrats, who are the group more trusted by far to deal with this crisis, should take advantage of the situation and yesterday's panic on Wall Street to force through a partisan bill incorporating all of the strictures the populists have been demanding.

Key quote:

Everyone expected the failed bailout bill to pass. That includes John McCain, who was famously taking credit for getting Republicans on board to support the bill on the false and embarrassing assumption that it was going to pass.

But the bill failed, and took the market down with it. Now, this fact will intensify the pressure to get a bailout deal done fast. But the truth is that Barack Obama and the Democrats have the leverage and the public trust to do this their way. Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress have the highest approval ratings of any presidential or Congressional entity regarding the response to the bailout.

The fact is, the public doesn't trust the Republican Party on this issue any further than than an 8-year-old can throw an Olympic shotput. And we have to take advantage of that.

It seems like others are coming around to that way of thinking. Take today's post by kos, which quotes Digby approvingly:

The leadership can tinker around the edges of the current plan or try to pass the exact same one after twisting some arms. But this is a shit bill, and, anything designed to appease one end of the House "no" votes will cost them support on the other end. It's the "problem" with having this bill opposed not by a single group, but by two ideologically incompatible ones.

But like my post above indicates, that isn't so much a problem as it is an opportunity.

If Pelosi decides to water down the current bill to make it acceptable to the House wingnuts and tries to strong-arm Democrats into voting for it, we'll get hammered from a political point of view. But given the fact that the Republican brand is in the tank, what we really need to do is say something like, "Main Street has spoken and we have listened." Push a progressive, and even punitive, bill, and force Republicans to vote for it because they're too afraid of what will happen to the Dow if they vote against it.

Agreeing with John McCain: not a bad thing

Here's a link to a post I wrote on DailyKos and MyDD (reclisted on the latter) arguing that Barack Obama's statements of agreement with John McCain were not only not harmful, but actually productive in light of the current mindset of the American people. Key preview quote:

At a time when regular citizens are tired of the partisanship in Washington and are looking for who is actually going to provide solutions to problems rather than engaging in even more partisan hackery, there are certainly situations less appealing to the American people than, say, a United States Senator having the temerity to agree with another United States Senator in a public debate forum about both economic and foreign policy issues.

That contrasts strongly with John McCain's debate performance, in which he couldn't even look Obama in the eye for the full 90-minute session...

Read the full post here.

Absolutely hilarious debate video

It's damn funny, but it makes a good point. I wish I were cool like this guy.

CFMA (Country First My Ass)

Last night I wrote a diary on DailyKos attempting to frame the selection of Palin as contravening McCain's slogan of "Country First." After all, if you were putting your country first, how could you possibly select the least qualified VP pick ever just to appeal to certain demographic groups?

Well, it turns out I'm not the only one thinking that direction. David Frum at the National Review--yes, the National frikkin' Review--is suggesting the exact same line of attack.

Here's I fear the worst harm that may be done by this selection. The McCain campaign's slogan is "country first." It's a good slogan, and it aptly describes John McCain, one of the most self-sacrificing, gallant, and honorable men ever to seek the presidency.

But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?

The Sarah Palin pick leaves McCain open to attacks on his desperation to win as opposed to being sincere about his desire to do what's best for the country.

Best line of the night so far

Ted Strickland:

George W. Bush came into office on third base, and then he stole second. and John McCain cheered him on every step of the way.

Pain.

Today in the Big Tent

A lot of buzz and even more TradMed than yesterday trapsing through here. But still no power.

I had a nice conversation with Brad Miller about the convention--he came to the tent looking for Kagro X of DailyKos.

Nancy Pelosi is speaking live

I'm at the Big Tent--and I've decided to play flash games because the Big Tent is not offering audio to go along with the flatscreens. What's up with that?

Not that I'll be playing very long, because my battery is almost out.

When the media tries to push a narrative

It's amazing what happens when the media is focused on driving a narrative, to the exclusion of everything else that's relevant. In this case, the narrative in question is the "Democrats Divided" narrative.

I happened to see a truck driving down the street right outside the Big Tent, with two people in the bed of it waving handmade "Hillary or McCain" signs and shouting anti-Obama slogans. Mind you: two nuts in a truck.

And yet, there were 15 cameras turned on them, watching their every move.

Add to that the fact that CNN has been caught fudging the numbers to promote this narrative, and you've got a recipe suggestion an incredibly strong compulsion to pursue one theme, and one alone--and a false one at that.

Big Tent Interview with Van Jones

David Dayen (dday) and I just did an interview/conversation with Van Jones. dday, who writes these up far better than I do, will be posting a synopsis at Calitics and over at Digby's place. I'll be updating with links when he posts it.

In the meantime, I've posted a diary on DailyKos with some pictures of the big tent and its happenings. You can check that out here.

At the Big Tent in Denver

Under a Far-Shooting Politics pass, no less, since I'm not part of the official Calitics delegation.

There's a panel on faith going on upstairs right now. I forgot to bring my camera, but I'll be posting some pictures starting tomorrow. Most of my Calitics fellows are at the actual Convention events, because they have passes. But I still think the Big Tent is the place to be.

mcjoan is standing right next to me, and seated on the other side is one of the bloggers from SquareState, Colorado's excellent soapblox-based blog.