A Hug for McCain

The normally barely reliable Zogby International has a new poll with McCain/Palin up four points (49.7 percent to 45.9 for Obama/Biden). And there is this interesting tidbit:

McCain's favorability rating increased from 50% favorable last week to 57% favorable now, a significant jump that indicates the GOP convention was a success. Among independent voters, 61% now have a favorable impression of him, compared to just 49% who said the same a week ago.

If "favorablility" is 61 percent among independents it must be 47 percent among Republicans. But hey, they got to vote for him to vote for Gov. Palin. "To get to Palin, you'll have to go through me," says McCain.

It seems the Democrat machine's attacks on Gov. Palin was a double backfire: it drove a hug audience -- excuse me, a huge and sympathetic audience -- for her speech and a subsequent, and surprising, "hug" audience for McCain's. It was called "workmanlike" and "State of the Unionish." But the portions about his military service and his years as a prisoner must have really grabbed people (most of the folks watching the broadcast would have had little idea of what he went through). The entire Republican Party ended the week in a group hug. Hopefully they won't be complaining about each others garlic breath and BO by election day.

I have friend who is very much a Democrat base voter who was telling me a story from his navy days a few months back. He was an enlisted man on an aircraft carrier. I mentioned McCain was in the jet on the deck of the Forrestal that got hit by the rogue missile. He well knew the story of the raging fire and near loss of the ship but not McCain's involvement. He pretty much changed his voting intentions on the spot. Will it hold? Who knows.

It is still the Democrat's election to lose. I can only tell them, "keep up the good work."

The Huff's in a Puff

Labeling the choice of Gov. Palin as VP a distraction, Arianna Huffington writes:

And it's why Democrats need to ignore Palin, and keep the focus on reminding voters about the stark contrast between an Obama and a McCain administration. It's tempting to prime the Palin attack pump. But Obama and the Democrats do so at their own peril.

Now if they can only get Gov. Palin to likewise agree to ignore them, the Dem's might almost be out of Peril.

Ms. Jykell

The unemployment numbers came in at 6.1 percent. There was an “outreach program” at the Labor Department to let folks know they could get an additional 13 weeks of unemployment — that helps swell the numbers and that is swell for the Democrats in Congress. The offer of “money” will certainly help organizational efforts of the unemployed. If the Democrats lose this one you will have to put the entire party (and the MSM) on suicide watch.

With the choice of Palin and his speech last night, McCain has made a good start as “the outside reformer.” I thought Obama’s choice of Biden was a gift in that regard — and the gift might keep on giving.

Joe Biden talked of criminal investigations for the Bush administration the other day. Then he denied it on Fox — someone must have photoshoped that video tape! Of course the Vice President is the one who delivers the “over the top attacks.” The Presidential nominee must look more “Presidential.” So when Joe Biden talks of criminal investigations, he’s performing his political role — one that goes back to Eisenhower/Nixon if not before. This is “covering campaigns 101″ — and is well remembered in the case of Joe Biden.

But in the case Sarah Palin? Sarcastic Sarah? Mean Sarah? The Messiah Belittling Sarah? That behavior may be OK in male VPs, but woman should know better. This will come from the Left’s pet feminists — for whom there is only one standard and that is the “double” one.

WOW! POW!

On Wednesday the Democrats got hit by a truck. Knocked into the ditch, they looked up and saw Alaskan plates on the back (it also had a shotgun rack, an extended cab full of kids, and a moose carcass in the bed). The back plates said "Palin Comparison." And they thought, "Vanity plates! She's got Vanity Plates on her vehicle." And they picked themselves up, brushed themselves off and stepped back out on the road. And they thought, "OK, maybe she wowed 'em in HD, but here's how we'll pow her. It ain't the kids. It ain't the shotgun rack. It ain't the carcass of a state trooper in the back (that was murder but we'll let it go). We'll get her on the admitted use of lipstick! We'll get her on Vanity--"

Then they got hit by the next vehicle to come down the road and they spun around and flopped back down. It was suppose to be an old guy on a unicycle trying to juggle hostile constituencies while peddling through the muddied up Bushes but -- alas, he drove some sort of flex fueled vehicle that no one can quite identify. It weren't a flying saucer. It weren't a tank. It was some sort of hybrid of -- what and what?

Over at the Belmont Club, Richard Fernandez gives it a shot. Trying to identify the fin sticking out of the water that is causing the Democrats to hear deep, distant bass notes, Richard notes:

McCain’s speech was the declaration of someone with nothing left to prove. Any man who can admit that he was broken and afraid under interrogation is describing a kind of endurance, which while any intelligent person might understand, I think only men who have themselves been afraid can truly empathize with. There are places on that dark path which you know you could not have crossed through your strength alone. And whether you owe your emergence to luck or to God might be a matter for debate.

Well. OK. Enough seriousness. Let's get back to the Democrats, who look at the circling fin in the water, and what do they see? Or rather, what do they want you to see?

The Land Shark that is going to swim up the Mississippi River and eat you. Along with Social Security.

Now, if Rod Axle will just get busy, Sen. Obama will explain it all shortly. Let's see. Being a tortured POW has become Sen. McCain's political crutch. The presidency is not a rehab program for the mentally scarred. No. Ah. Here it is: He's going to destroy Social Security! And, and, school choice. If you are for it or against it, vote for us!

Good Night for Sarah.

My instant analysis of Gov. Palin's speech: wow. On PBS Mark Shields thought her line that the Presidency is not "a journey of discovery" was belittling of Sen. Obama. He seems to think it was a sin. To me it sounded like good old politics -- and a fair hit on the man "who has authored two memoirs but not a single law." (I doubt if Mark liked that line, either).*

A note: they said McCain had studied recordings of her speeches before selecting her. I thought he had not vetted her? Do they renounce their earlier reporting?

UPDATE: I quoted the above from memory. The full quote is: "But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate."

Crush Earth Right Now

Note: I notice Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit links to a Reason Magazine article about the coming end of the World. This is a subject that has always fascinated me. In fact, I covered the same ground in a June 27 post, re-posted here. The Reason piece is talking a 1 in 1,000 chance that that Eurotrash Contraption (discussed below) will destroy the World. Wish we had one in the USA. No. Wait. What am I saying? Just because the Europeans want to destroy the planet does not mean we should want to, too. We're better than that. Well, in any case, there you are and here it is.

Gaea has her high priests (and priestesses) at work building a mighty temple to her wondrous nature at a secret location somewhere in Europe! And there they will work their dark arts. And I mean really dark arts. Like in "no light or life escapes" dark arts.

You see, man has so poisoned and polluted the planet that Gaea has decided to send earth to the crusher and She is having here holy men (and women) build her temple at the power point of her creation, the place all call CERN. Here's some reassuring words from Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson:

There’s this worry that at CERN, they’re going to turn on the accelerator and create states of matter as never before – which is true – at higher energies than ever before – which is true – and possibly produce micro black holes. What happens if one does not evaporate, but just sort of hangs around? Whatever it touches, it eats, then it gets more massive. The more massive it gets, the less likely it will be to evaporate, because they evaporate quickly only when they’re small. This worry that it will create a runaway black hole that will eat the Earth is what some people have been concerned about.

Silly some people. What are the chances of the Earth gettin' ate, burp.

You see, CERN actually stands for Crush the Earth into a Round bit o' Nothing. The end state has all of the planet's heaviness and all of its gravity rolled into a single point. But all that don't matter because there will be no matter, so the point is kind of pointless -- you know, the way life can sometimes seem when you don't get that fellowship. This point is so small it would fit in the vest pocket of an hydrogen atom -- and eat the hydrogen atom.

Now, are we going to let a bunch of self-loathing European intellectuals make this call? For them, Earth has gone from Planet Hollywood to Planet Ennui. Talk about "Earth in the balance." On one side total planetary annihilation weighed against 2,000 tenured positions and a chance at a dozen Noble prizes -- the things that make life worth the bullshit. I'm telling you, folks, the "little blue marble" is just going to have to take it chances with the rest of us.

Plus, the Euro-smarmy set look at man as a total pest. And woman ain't much better. Remember, we are about to escape the gravity well of earth. So if something ain't done fast, the human rash will spread across the Universe. A rapid transubstantiation of the planet into a single pointless point may be the answer they are looking for. This will take care of the chimp problem, too. Let's face it, they ain't any better than humans and are, all and all, a disappointment. I mean, if mankind just destroys the human race, the chimps will take over and be even worse. Best just take out the whole planet.

It's interesting how uncontroversial this all is. Somewhere in the universe a planet is destroyed every day. But an oil well off the coast? That might dirty a duck and affect property values.

Where are all the people who want to save the Pandas? OK, maybe you don't care about China getting devoured by a black hole. But what about the Pandas? And when the oceans are sucked in, what about the whales? How are you going to Free Willie from a black hole?

And it doesn't have to be this way. We can build this thing in outer space. It will weigh five pounds and collide sun beams with moonbeams -- but in proper proportion. It can be done.

We sure need to do something. Start a movement. I'm willing to sell the T-shirts and bumper stickers if you are willing to buy them. This is an Orca. This is an Orca being devoured by a black hole. Here is a puppy. Here is a puppy being devoured by a black hole. Rid the Grid of CERN!

Confusion in the Media Meme

Over at the Belmont Club the other night, Richard Fernandez asked Who is Barack Obama? In the comment section he referenced the reporter in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, who said when truth vies with legend "print the legend." And then Richard Observed:

But there is another, less common meaning to the word “legend.” It refers to a cover story under which a real person travels. It doesn’t necessarily connote espionage, but rather to a collection of plausible or alleged biographical facts which conceal another story.

I offered my own take, reprinted (no doubt for the first time ever) here:

Part of the attraction of Gov. Palin is the counter narrative of her life to Sen. Obama’s legend (in Richard use of the term). Her story is extreme but extremely inside the American tradition and his is extreme but extremely on the margins — as a self exile. He is a man without a “Country” but with a “World” of his own.

What I find troubling about O is he don’t have “normal” friends to add ballast for all his past weird associations. In fact, he don’t even have weird associates who are weird in a different way, to sort of cancel each other out. They are all weird in the same stinking way. Even Dude in The Big Lebowski had associates who were weird in a variety of ways, not the same stinking way. OK, I’m referencing movies. Time to go to bed.

It was late. But it does seem to be working out that way. Her story (and her family story) is stepping all over Sen. Obama's story -- or self spun legend -- almost to the point that he is now running against her. Is she as qualified to be President as he is? Or, put another way, is he as qualified as she is? Or put the Drudge way, "I've got more experience than her." On Anderson Cooper 360 the Senator said:

“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wassilla, has I think 50 employees. We've got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month,” Obama responded.

So if the Presidential campaign were only three months longer, she'd be qualified by the end of it.

But then she did negotiate a multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline deal with Cananda and renegotiated the royalty deal with the Oil Companies on the North Slope. She cut the budget in Alaska. He helped it grow, big time, in DC.

I think the media needs to tear down her authentic legend and polish up the spun-up legend of Senator Obama. It is "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" time.