The Moose Bull Party of St. Paul
So Sarah Palin can wrestle a moose and since Alaska is so close to Russia she has foreign policy gravitas -- that qualifies as "experience" according to McCain surrogates and, notably, Fred Thompson who went on to camouflage the GOP's record of domestic and global failure by wrapping his remarks around a riveting portrayal of John McCain's courageous and painful years as a POW. And so the red (elk) meat was tossed from the podium into the laps of voracious delegates with reckless abandon to satiate their hunger for deliverance from the drag that the Bush-Cheney record is having on their party's political prospects.
The more I listened to Tuesday's speeches, the more it sounded as if long-suffering Republicans were drinking their own Kool-Aid by the barrel. With reckless abandon, both Thompson and Lieberman (aided and abetted by Bush and the First Lady) made every rhetorical effort to shake down the audience both in and out of Xcel Stadium -- tossing reality and facts to the four winds. "We will balance the budget!" "We will restore integrity in Washington!" "We have brought freedom to 50 million Iraqis and Afghanis!" If there ever was a Moose Bull Party -- welcome to St. Paul and thank you John McCain and Sarah Palin for turning Teddy Roosevelt over in his resting place.
Fortunately, no matter how much they tried to steal the moniker of "change" it is extraordinarily hard to sell four more years of the same ol Bush policies. And yet the word "change" kept falling from the lips of speaker after speaker in a concerted effort to hide the unbalanced experience of the presumptive Republican ticket.
And try as he might to sound like some revered bi-partisan statesman in unfamiliar territory, Joe Lieberman sunk with a thud as he went out of his way to annoy any self-respecting Independent or Democrat watching by extolling the qualifications of a callow vice presidential candidate whom he has never met and who has a record diametrically opposite to anything Lieberman believes in. Lieberman unappealingly then went on to castigate Obama via a demeaning rhetorical pat on the head by asserting that maybe in the future Obama would amount to something.
But the issue is not really Lieberman or Thompson, or even the questionable record of Sarah Palin. The issue is and must remain McCain, and a laser-like focus on McCain's weaknesses is essential. The danger Democrats face is enabling McCain in Houdini-like dexterity to unshackle himself from his support of Bush's record, and not consistently challenging McCain's efforts to steal the message of "trust" and "change," which is what tonight's convention narrative was intended to accomplish.
Denver was a huge success for Democrats. Sen. Obama's speech secured the political beachhead that the campaign needed to establish among hesitant Democrats and Independents. The post convention polls suggest that positive movement. Now, as any good commander knows, it is essential to consolidate that political beachhead. That will require a singular focus by Senators Obama and Biden on the core economic and social messages that were so eloquently extolled in a down to earth, matter of fact manner last Thursday at Invesco Field, accompanied by a well-mustered division of surrogates who will continue to cement McCain to Bush-Cheney. Here is where Hillary Clinton will prove to be so helpful to the ticket -- taking on Gov. Palin, lock, stock and (automatic weapon) barrel.
Despite the Tuesday bluster of the Moose Bull Party, McCain's campaign is clearly on the defensive. His failure to fully vet Sarah Palin is less a reflection on the Alaskan governor, and more a reflection on his carelessness as a quick judge of character. Sounds like McCain stared into her eyes and saw her soul. McCain clearly shares more in common with Bush than just Bush's record.
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Though the last 8 years have been a horrible nightmare, ever since Bush/Cheney stole the election from Gore, I think I've finally found a Silver Lining in this blackest of clouds... At least Lieberman isn't Vice-President!
Xcel Center, not Stadium, for the record. The NHL's Minnesota Wild play there.
The "Moose Bull" Party -- brilliant! Gawds, I wish I'd thought of that.
Bravo for the rest of the essay, too.
On National Security issues, I guess they could have chosen someone from Hawaii?
After all it is the closest State to China.
You are absolutely right, and your message is the central one. It is all about John McCain, however deficient Gov. Palin appears to be. Sen. McCain's failure to treat the selection of a running mate as a matter of extreme importance to the nation, rather than an exercise in gimmicky political gamesmanship, and his disingenuous arguments ever since, undermine an essential trust in our democracy. Candidates and voters alike need to behave responsibly and in the country's best interest. Sadly, John McCain has shown that he is willing to subvert that trust -- and embrace policies he once understood to be failed and dangerous -- for the sake of realizing personal ambition. Many Americans expected more from him.
Republicans don't need anyone standing at a podium demeaning them , if the public doesn't
see or understand what they have done in the last 8 years, by now, they never will.
As much as I was against Hillary to be VP. As much as I like Biden as VP and would love to see him smash Palin at the VP debate.
I would pay cash money to watch Hillary have a go at Palin. Just decimate her all the while keeping that little smile on her face.
Kynn'
I think you are missing the point. Had Obama chosen Sen Clinton Sarah Palin would not be in the picture. The selection of Palin was McCain's cynical plan to divide the Democrats by enticing Hillary supporters to support him. I say cynical because, other than gender, Sen. Clinton has nothing else in common, with regard to issues, with Gov. Palin. Palin's selection is all about white women's votes and may be also about the votes of the right wing evangelical base. McCain, despite his deceptive slogan, chose Ms. Palin because he put winning the election first and the country last.
Why isn't Hillary "having a go" at Palin now. So what if she is not on the ticket. She believes in the right of a woman to choose; doesn't she. She believes in universal healthcare; doesn't she. She believes that we should not have more Alitos, Thomases, Scalias and Roberts on the Supreme Court; doesn't she. She believes that we need a President and Vice President who understand the problems of the working poor more than the problems facing caribous in the wild; doesn't she. She believes that a woman should be judged on the same playing field as a man; doesn't she.
I am extremely angry at john mccain for putting his political future above the safety and best interests of this nation. I am also extremely angry at Hillary for being silent in the face of this.
WHERE THE HELL IS HILLARY?
Marc-
Great article. I think the real issue is McCain appeasing the "Christian Right" with picking Palin. His other choices-- Leiberman and Ridge are pro-choice, so they were shot down. Romney might be pro-life but he's a Morman.
The most qualified woman, Kay Baily Hutchinson, is pro-choice.
So is McCain putting country first or "Christian Right" first?
Dems are doing a terrible job of highlighting the fanatasy world that RNC is painting.
This election should almost not even be about McCain and Obama.
It should be about the principle of accountability and meritocracy that differentiated US from the rest of the world for its history
The republicans have done a terrible job over 8 years
- corruption scandales
- nepotism
- missmanagement
- missinformation
- torture
etc. etc. etc.
Regardless of Republican candidate, or your political persuasion, this party should not be given the reigns to lead until it has an internal cleaning of house. END OF STORY.
As an aside, looking ahead , if the repubs loose, I predict the party will split into 2 factions.
Thank you Ambassador. I know that you and I disagreed on a few of your op. ed in this forum, but I could not put it any better than what I just read in your latest column . One of my best lines, the "Moose Bull Party". This Sir, is a home run.
Did you see the number of empty seats? Even their own faithful didn't care to hear what these old fossils had to say.
At one point, Anne Curry gestured in a 180-degree half circle to the empty seats and said, "They are expected to be filled tomorrow night when Gov. Palin speaks."
Seems a person may have an amenable soul ... but the devil's in the details, huh.
They (Bush & McCain, that is) err on the side of simplicity. An offshoot of hubris, perhaps. Blustering fools, both. If Palin becomes VP, she'll be headed in the same direction. Too early success, not wholly earned, not held fully accountable.
Was it just me, or did Fred Thompson's speech last night at the RNC sound like a report from Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? At the gathering, Thompson described in gory detail the injuries suffered by McCain during his capture and detention at Hoa Lo Prison in North Vietnam. He related the broken bones, beatings, round-the-clock light, solitary confinemen
Yet how is this so different from our own government's use of torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? We've had prisoners die from beatings and suicide, at the hands of U.S. military personnel, CIA operatives, and government contractors. We've used psychological violence and abuse alongside sexual assault and bodily brutality. Without getting into the useless game of whether one form of torture is worse than another (we leave that to Bush administration lawyers), it's interesting that while McCain was exposed to light 24 hours-a-day, the Vietnamese “torture tool” was a single lightbulb. That’s difficult to compare with the round-the-clock exposure to deafening music and strobe lights that the CIA has used against "enemy combatants" in the War on Terror.
Yes, it is a tragedy that John McCain was tortured. But the administration he has supported 90% of the time is as brutal as our worst enemies. And forgive me, but I can't help thinking-- God forbid that someday, a former torture victim from Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib becomes president of a major country. That almost frightens me as much as the words “President McCain”.
What floors me is the notion that have, that they didn't cause these problem!!! That they are so removed from what is wrong in Washington!!!
An actor followed by a traitor endorsing a pretender. Boring, predictable, and fictional, just like Thompson's previous work.
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