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1. Base and independent voter enthusiasm from Palin pick and media bashing locks up most or all of the Red states – allowing McCain to focus on Michigan. 2. The negative frame on Obama –- not-ready elitist hippie –- was burned in –- or, at least, a significant foundation was laid down. 3. Donors and grassroots activists have permanently put aside their doubts about whether McCain can win –- at least through Election Day. 4. Questions about Palin’s vetting or qualifications for the job of vice president will be drowned out by the debates, etc. 5. The national press will...

Biggest star Obama McCain Palin Biden Biggest disappointment Obama McCain Palin Biden Grab a beer withObama McCain Palin Biden

Incredibly moving ad That I just saw today and wished to share.

Just across. BET and TV One apparently decided that with Barry O already pulling 90-95% of the black vote, they needn’t bother turning any precious airtime over to McCain. In fact, all four nights of the Democratic convention aired on both networks. The GOP convention didn’t air at all. Do note: Palin finished just shy of both candidates in total audience running on only six networks, two fewer than McCain and four fewer than Obama. Telemundo and Univision didn’t bother with night three coverage.

As the thousands of red, white and blue balloons, the tinsel and the tickertape descended from the rafters on the Republican convention moments after John McCain had finished addressing it, I at last worked out what had been the key difference between this event and the Democratic beano the week before. The Democrats have a world view based (as Dr Johnson might have put it) on the triumph of hope over experience. The Republicans’ is rooted firmly in reality. In Denver, speaker after speaker lauded and coddled one minority group after another and promised the largesse of the American taxpayer...

It is a long way to election day. But the start that both Sarah Palin and John McCain have given their campaign has given the GOP ticket a fighting chance in November — a possibility many pundits scoffed at just a month or so ago. It just goes to show that underestimating this man is the height of stupidity. Sarah Palin may be a “barracuda” — but John McCain is the young stallion, kicking up his heels and rearing up to challenge the establishment, the GOP leadership, and Barack Obama with all the strength and passion that’s left in that...

'There are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves: 'Who is this man?' and 'Can we trust this man with the presidency?'" - Fred Thompson on John McCain, Sept. 2. This was the most effective line of the entire Republican convention: a ringing affirmation of John McCain's authenticity and a not-so-subtle indictment of Barack Obama's insubstantiality. What's left of this line of argument, however, after John McCain picks Sarah Palin for vice president? Palin is an admirable and formidable woman. She has energized the Republican base and single-handedly unified the Republican convention behind McCain. She performed spectacularly in...

Grab a beer with... Biggest disappointment... Biggest star.... Freep it. Sarah is biggest star, Biden is biggest disappointment.

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today released the following statement on the networks' prime-time special event, "Stand Up to Cancer," which will air tonight. The campaign also released information on how John McCain will support the efforts to win the fight against cancer through a comprehensive, public-private strategy. John McCain will outline his plans in a video that will be shown during the prime-time special. Statement by Senator John McCain on "Stand Up to Cancer" Event "I applaud ABC, CBS and NBC coming together tonight to air an unprecedented one-hour program titled 'Stand Up to Cancer' which will...

After lackluster showings in viewership at the beginning of the week, the Republican National Convention bounced back on Wednesday and Thursday, making it the most-watched political convention in American history (or at least since Nielsen began recording convention viewership in 1960).

It would have taken quite a star to outshine Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention. Even John McCain may soon find out why actors hate working with children, cute animals and, now, female Alaskan governors. But the Hollywood politicos who turned out for the GOP gathering in the Twin Cities quickly became admirers of the vice presidential nominee. "She's a tremendous choice," said Pat Boone, the convention's ubiquitous celeb. MGM Chairman Harry Sloan, Hollywood's Republican statesman, said that he was impressed by Palin's speech Wednesday night and that he was hearing positive reaction Thursday from his Democratic friends back...

Folks, I hate to say this, but I value honesty above partisan credentials. I’ve reluctantly concluded that we’ve come to a point in time when a Presidential candidate is simply using the female gender to nakedly appeal to voters. It’s transparent and, I have to be honest, it’s pathetic. Maybe I’ll at least get an Yglesias Award. Read the ugly story of why I’ve come to this conclusion in the extended entry. The New York Times has the sordid details. Senator Barack Obama will increasingly lean on prominent Democratic women to undercut Gov. Sarah Palin and Senator John McCain, dispatching...

Dear Friend, When I formally accepted our Party's nomination at the Republican National Convention, I had you and every other American who has rallied to our cause in my heart and on my mind. I thank you, once again, for all you have done. As we move forward, we enter a new phase in the campaign -- the General Election.  It will be hard-fought and difficult.  The political tide is pulling against our Party and the media is practically giddy in their affectionate coverage of Barack Obama and the Democrats. The situation is serious but certainly not hopeless.  We...

As a candidate for governor, Sarah Palin called for teaching creationism alongside evolution in public schools. But after Alaska voters elected her, Palin, now Republican John McCain's presidential running mate, kept her campaign pledge to not push the idea in the schools. As for her personal views on evolution, Palin has said, "I believe we have a creator." But she has not made clear whether her belief also allowed her to accept the theory of evolution as fact. "I'm not going to pretend I know how all this came to be," she has been quoted as saying. McCain said during...

YOUTUBE SING-ALONG - Sarah Palin as Mary Tyler Moore

Just four in 10 say Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has enough experience to be president, while nearly two-thirds say so about Joe Biden, her Democratic counterpart, a poll showed Friday. Views of Palin largely reflect partisan loyalty and show she's having little initial impact on which presidential ticket people support, the ABC News survey showed. Eight in 10 Republicans and more than four in 10 independents say they have more confidence in Republican presidential nominee John McCain's decision-making for his selection of Palin. Six in 10 Democrats say it reduces theirs. More have a favorable than unfavorable view...

Folks--I was trying to put into words the chemistry I see between John McCain and Sarah Palin when they are together. And it just came to me. Sarah is John's wingman. She flies next to him and protects him. He fights for her, and she fights for him. She does what is necessary for him to successfully complete his mission. As a former Naval Aviator, McCain knows the importance of an excellent wingman. As a novice pilot, Palin has shown that she is a natural.

ST. PAUL - Hillary Clinton and her roommate, the former president, make a pit stop next month in Penn sylvania. An important state for a candidate to win, this was Hillary territory. She took Scranton like Grant took Richmond. Hillary heads there again the second week of October for the Methodist equivalent of a christening. The baby is Simon Rodham. The daddy, her brother Tony Rodham. The Clintons will houseguest with friends. Mr. and Mrs. Jamie Brazil. Former president of her brother's company, Jamie has a big smile, big house, big wristwatch, beautiful blond wife with big jewelry and biiiig...

In their first post-convention stump speech, John and Sarah draw enthusiastic support. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cu120-XQa4

Two masterstrokes were accomplished in the last two days of this year’s Republican National Convention. In her first appearance on the national stage — which can only be called a tectonic event — Sarah Palin secured the conservative base for maverick John McCain, while also reaching out to Democratic women. Then on Thursday night, John McCain struck again, making a play for the rest of the Democratic party. When John McCain was sewing up the nomination in the early spring, I spent a lot of time in many comment sections defending him in as many ways as I knew how....

A few months ago, Barack Obama was basically the only candidate on the Internet--In terms of Google trends, anyway--but all that is changing. Due to excitement around the Republican National Convention and the surprise announcement of dark horse vice presidential candidate Sarah Pallin, the web is paying a lot of attention to McCain. Traffic to McCain's site has sky-rocketed recently. Of course, neither Obama nor McCain is gaining as much internet attention as Sarah Palin, Republican Vice Presidential nominee. Check out the spike in this graph of google searches:

Six and a half minutes of her from today’s stop in Cedarburg, followed by Maverick asking around the seven-minute mark if she isn’t, er, “the most marvelous running mate in the history of this nation.” The shot at Obama comes up front, swinging at a softball tossed yesterday by The One when he stupidly insisted that nobody anticipated the success of the surge. Meanwhile, Gallup’s three-day tracking poll sees a three-point bump for Maverick — and only one of those three days came after Palin’s speech. How much has the CW shifted? Enough that the same two Politico reporters who...

The father of three, who was married four times, told CNN, "I'm trying to move on and be the best dad I can to my children. Be the best trooper that I can be. You know, I love my job. I love this state." He added that McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate was "absolutely wonderful for the state of Alaska."

The 24/7 Obama press was sent into frenzy last Friday when John McCain named the one VP running mate that they had not performed preemptive personal sludge searches upon in preparation for the announcement. They thought that they were ready to bury whomever McCain announced, but nobody had Sarah Palin on the war room radar… Lacking any sludge prep on Palin, the Obama press immediately turned to left-wingnut blogs like Daily Kos for anti-Palin material.

wow this got me excited! McCain looks and sounds great. Palin is dreamy.

At a packed street rally here this morning, Republican John McCain used his first post-convention stop to promise a war on special-interest influence and excessive partisanship in Washington, D.C. "We're going to start to work for the people of this country," McCain shouted. "It's over for the special interests. It's over!" The Arizona senator joined Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, his vice presidential pick, in front of an ice cream shop on a well-preserved main street the city says is virtually unchanged since 1900. Without mentioning specifics in a brief address downtown, McCain said the duo would visit small towns across...

LOS ANGELES, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A record 38.9 million U.S. TV viewers watched John McCain accept the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, beating the record set last week by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Nielsen Media Research reported. Obama had an average 38.4 million viewers watching his speech accepting the nomination for his party last week. McCain's tally also was higher than the 37.2 million Americans who tuned in to hear Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's speech on Wednesday.

Much or all of this has been said before and it may just be a matter of emphasis. Nevertherless... How McCain/Palin handle questions about abortion is critical in my view because for many women otherwise sympathetic to the McCain/Palin ticket the right to have an abortion is very important. I therefore believe that Palin needs to craft a response that, while adhering to their core beliefs, as much as possible frames the abortion issue not about whether abortion is right or wrong or whether abortion should be a fundamental right, but as an issue properly decided at the state level...

Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination - has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows. The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.

ABC News has exclusively learned that Alaska Senator Hollis French will announce today that he is moving up the release date of his investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired. The results of the investigation were originally scheduled for release Oct. 31 but will now come almost three weeks earlier, according to sources. The announcement is set for 9 a.m. AKDT time. The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin had accused the McCain campaign of using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final...

The View co-host and well-known Republican enthusiast Elisabeth Hasselbeck spent the day wowing delegates at the Republican National Convention Thursday. Hasselbeck, 31, served as the official emcee at a luncheon for Cindy McCain just hours before John McCain's big speech. Hasselbeck also showed off vintage-style "McCain '08" T-shirts she designed herself, and spent time on the floor of the convention taping a segment that will air on Monday, Sept. 8, onThe View. "She was a bit of a rock star," a source tells PEOPLE. "The Republicans were all over her, fawning over her, telling her she was the best, clapping...

Here is video from today's McCain - Palin rally in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, where GOP VP Nominee Sarah Palin hammered Barack Obama for being "profoundly wrong" on the Surge Strategy in Iraq. The video includes several minutes of Palin's remarks and also some of what John McCain had to say as well. Local reports say a crowd of 20,000-30,000 people turned out for the rally. . . .(see video at link)

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The wife of Republican presidential nominee John McCain doesn't agree with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's opposition to abortion in cases of rape and incest. ADVERTISEMENT Cindy McCain also parts ways with her husband's running mate on sex education. Palin opposes abortion and rejects the view that pregnancies caused by rape and incest should be exceptions. Cindy McCain tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that "I don't agree with that aspect, but I do respect her for her views." Palin has opposed funding sex-education programs in Alaska. Cindy McCain tells ABC that she advocated abstinence as a...

2 Corinthians 4:16-17 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

Here is a local news report on the rally held by John McCain and Sarah Palin in Cedarburg, Wisconsin today, September 5, 2008. The reporter says State Troopers estimate that a crowd of 20,000-30,0000 turned out to greet them, far more than the expected 5-10,000. . . . (see video at link)

IT'S SAFE TO SAY that Democrats awoke yesterday with a serious case of Post-Palin Depression. "Electrifying!" said U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Palin's poised and feisty speech that had Republican conventioneers swooning. "Reaganesque!" jubilant supporters said about Palin's rare ability to deliver a shiv to the jugular with folksy charm and perfectly timed humor. Never mind the lies, distortions and spin in her speech. Never mind the absence of substance. She pre-empted the Democrats' theme of change by presenting John McCain and herself as rebels and reformers. She neutralized her own vulnerability on inexperience by skewering Obama's admittedly thin background....

Watching the faces of Sarah Palin’s children as she thundered away at her critics while humbly introducing herself to the people of America I couldn’t help but feel that I knew what they were feeling; pride, security, patriotism, humility, inspiration. As governor Palin introduced her family to the world it became all too apparent that – just like my mother and father – she and her husband had taught their children to – come hell or high water – stand up for who they are and what they believe, that in understanding the difference between right and wrong, good and...

Howard Dean almost made history in 2004. While John Kerry just plain fumbled the opportunity handed to him, Dean's fund-raising and grassroots registration and turnout drives were spectacularly successful. Over 58 million Americans voted for Kerry-Edwards in the presidential election, an amazing success for the campaign's workers and planners. President Bush, however, claimed over 62 million votes, on the strength of a similarly epic turnout effort. The 2004 election turned on many points of decision, but in effective terms both parties knew they had to maximize their turnout.Fast forward to today. Rasmussen Reports (whom I distrust to some degree,...

Palin Has Transformed the Race Thursday, September 4, 2008 11:23 AM As if a light switch had been turned on, John McCain’s decision to add Sarah Palin to the ticket has transformed the race and energized conservatives. After the announcement that Palin would be the Republican vice presidential nominee, $7 million poured into the McCain campaign that same day. “That is the biggest day we have ever had,” Bob Heckman, the McCain campaign’s national conservative outreach director, tells Newsmax. “We’ve had an avalanche of phone calls and e-mails saying they want to volunteer and work with the campaign.” Palin’s acceptance...

After two nights of outstanding and highly motivating speeches at the RNC. I am feeling REALLY good about the McCain/Palin ticket. This morning I read that Queen Oprah has said an emphatic "NO" to having Sarah Palin on her show. Also, all the shrill MSM talking heads trying to put down the McCain/Palin ticket is getting out of control. They are scared....Obama is scared....and the rightley. McCain/Palin is going to beat "Obama(bin)Biden." Senator Obama needs to pen a new book about his soon-to-fail campaign and title it "The Hopelessness of Stupid Audacity." I wished I had the photoshop skills to...

Video at link

Obama is still kvetching about Mayor Giuliani's and Gov. Palin's jabs at community organizers. Ablaze with indignation, they demand a backlash from insulted community organizers coast to coast. How many can there be? This might be a news flash Dems, but 98.3 percent of Americans have no clue what a "community organizer" is, what they do or who pays them. Before Obama arrived on the scene, the only community organizers I had heard of were the Al Sharpton types who bus in aggrieved screamers to shake down governments and corporations. Of course, the new leftist definition of "community organizer" includes...

A protester holds a flower out to riot police outside the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota September 4, 2008. Police offered her a vase for her flower and then arrested her for possessing a Minnesota Yellow Gerbera Daisy, which is on the state endangered list. Illegal harvesting or sale of the flower carries a $30,000 fine and two years in prison. Semi-literate Code Pink Activist Janet Macaroni holds up a sign in support of "WAR" before collapsing from the weight of her handmade vinyl banner. Anti-war protester Jessica OrganicGrapeJuice is assisted by bicycle police after she puts...

It’s a shame there are so many stupid people in this country. What’s scary is that these people have the same number of votes as you and me. One. (Well, one legal vote any way.) Watching the political conventions these last two weeks, we’ve seen just how stupid these idiots are. While many political protesters were content to demonstrate their displeasure with America in an orderly fashion, still more of those in the hate-America crowd felt the need to go above and beyond the scope of simple political protest, escalating their actions to criminal acts against people and property. Granted,...

Last night, after McCain's speech, I heard Snuffy say that Gov. Plain has been a tremendous revenue generator for both campains. He said that after her speech on Wednesday, the McCain campaign raised $1 million in one day, and that the Obama campaign brought in $10 million in one day. Is there any truth to that statement? If so, it would appear that Gov. Palin has really scared the limousine liberals.

In late October 1987, Barack Obama and Jerry Kellman took a weekend off from their jobs as community organizers in Chicago and traveled to a conference on social justice and the black church at Harvard. During an evening break in the schedule, they strolled around campus in their shirtsleeves, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. Two-and-a-half years earlier, Kellman had hired Obama to organize residents of Chicago's South Side. Now, Obama had something to tell his friend and mentor.........

A bigwig democrat basically states that a woman can't be President, how sexist.

...He arrived on a platform which was not elevated above the assembled crowd but at the same level. He gave a speech in which he laid out nothing new. He has made the same positions clear throughout the course of the primary campaign. He underscored that he is committed to building a “culture of life”. By using the phrase he signaled to those listening what he clearly affirmed at the Civil Forum hosted weeks earlier by Rev. Rick Warren. John McCain is dedicated to respecting the first and most fundamental right, the right to life. He insists correctly that that...

McCain - Palin Rally in Cedarburg, Wisconsin11:00 AM CDTCLICK TO WATCH LIVE!(Best viewed with Internet Explorer)

The American Right has just died and gone to heaven. Last night's convention address by Sarah Palin here in St. Paul has confirmed the bold decision of John McCain to choose the Alaska governor as his co-pilot and united the Republican Party as it has not been since the second term of Ronald Reagan. A wild enthusiasm for Sarah Palin has brought conservatives home to John McCain, and GOP leaders of all hues — from Fred Thompson to Mitt Romney to Mike Huckabee to Rudy Giuliani — to the rostrum to lacerate the liberal media for their five days of...