Republican Convention

Olbermann dinged the GOP and McCain on their sickening use of 9/11 in a special comment tonight:

Does Keith read this blog? I ask because he went into detail on a point I touched on back in July. John McCain is saying we need to elect him President because he has the plan to catch Osama. He has this plan and hasn't shared it with our military or current President. Obama should put out an ad showing McCain saying this and then saying "Sorry Mr. McCain - we don't negotiate with terrorists".

Last night McCain said this:

The—the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these

problems isn’t a cause. It’s a symptom. It’s what happens when people

go to Washington to work for themselves and not for you.

Again and again—again and again, I’ve worked with members of both

parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will

govern as president. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get

this country moving again.

After two weeks of convention watching, I say I have to agree. Of course between the two conventions the most partisan one was the Republican convention. The Democrats attacked the ideas of John McCain and the Republican Party. The Republicans attacked Barack Obama, even lying at some points. This is a typical Republican ploy, however. They say this needs to stop, yet they are the ones most actively engaged.

John Cole also sums this up rather nice.

Jeffery Toobin wasn't impressed last night:

The Republicans went into full exploitation mode last night, using a video showing September 11th over and over again. Keith Olbermann, as someone who lost friends in the attack, went on to talk about how inappropriate it was.

That's why the Republicans hate Olbermann - he exposes their lack of common sense.

It seems like the general consensus amongst the pundits regarding John's big moment is the same feeling I had watching it - yawn. He didn't lay out a single policy, and instead stayed on his "change" platform. Funny - it seems like every Republican has said that since I can remember.

As matter of fact I didn't hear any policy come out of this convention. Instead it was a bunch of promises, with no roads on how to complete them. Something else I noticed missing - immigration. I guess that problem has been solved, because the Republicans sure seem to be ignoring it now.

It was just another Republican convention. Palin was the big winner of it, but as the media reminded us so well when Biden was picked, you're not voting for the vice-President, you are voting for the President.

That's an outfit for a night out if you are Cindy McCain. The pricetag for the banana costume she wore Monday night at the convention was around $300,000.

Andrew Sullivan has been doing some digging and noticed something very interesting:

I've noted the bizarre locution Bush used last night to describe the torture endured by John McCain. I hope the press corps will follow up. But one piece of evidence that the omission of the t-word by Bush was deliberate comes in Fred Thompson's speech as well. He went on at length about the hideous treatment handed down to John McCain in Vietnam. It was the longest section of the speech. Wanna guess if the word "torture" came up at all?

Now that sounds like a really well scripted convention. McCain is supposed to be such an advocate against torture, yet they won't even mention the word in his convention? I hope the media raises this issue - it seems like it's worth some spotlight.

But that's exactly what the McCain campaign did. They canceled Sarah Palin's appearance at the Republican National Coalition for Life event. I wonder why the campaign is keeping her away from that walk in the park?

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, along with two producers, were arrested in St. Paul yesterday. Democracy Now sent out the following email update over night:

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar
Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC

Goodman Charged with Obstruction; Felony Riot Charges Pending Against
Kouddous and Salazar

Glenn Greenwald is following this story closely and gives a vivid description of the scene, which can only be described as a police state. I guess it's telling that we have a first hand look at what America has become under George W. Bush.

That's exactly what the GOP is planning to do. They are hoping everyone suffers a sudden case of amnesia over the deadly response to Katrina and this will make everything better. Of course we all know the real issue. George Bush allowed cronyism to take over inside the government and that poor judgment, a Republican trait, caused us to loose hundreds of citizens along with an American city.

And while on this, something popped into my head. Remember TWA flight 800? After that deadly explosion, Bill Clinton went to the scene and met with the families of survivors. He held a private meeting with them and even prayed with them. This was all done with no cameras present (at the demand of Clinton), yet many from the GOP accused Clinton of politicizing the tragedy. McCain is making sure the cameras are on while he is down there. He doesn't care about what really happens, so long as he gets some good PR.

It's official - Bush and Cheney are skipping the convention due to Gustav. Schwarzenegger is also canceling now due to a budget stand off in his state.

The Washington Post is reporting this morning that the Republicans are considering delaying the start of their convention because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is expected to become a hurricane before making landfall on Tuesday. The White House is also debating whether Bush should cancel his speech or not.

Gustav is not the only problem Mother Nature is throwing at our country. Tropical Storm Hannah is out there strengthening also, and expected to become a hurricane in the next couple of days and could hit the U.S. towards the end of next week.

As if that isn't enough, there are two more potential storms growing.

(image from the National Hurricane Center)

The yellow area is a tropical wave that has less than a 20% chance of becoming a storm. It has been pretty unstable over the past 24 hours, but has reached a higher potential at times as it does try to organize.

The orange area is a little more serious. That contains a 20-50% chance of becoming a tropical storm. It just developed last night and has become more organized over the past 12 hours.

So we are looking at a very bumpy ride over the next couple of weeks. If the Republicans do delay their convention, I don't know when they will have a clear shot to hold it.