Joe Biden: "Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain."

Uncle Joe grows a pair even though he's still saying "ladies and gentlemen."

 9/15/2008; 6:08:16 PM  

They didn't believe me when I said the Palin choice wouldn't age well, but I stand by the prediction. It might have worked had she had the depth, intelligence and curiosity of a Christie Todd Whitman or the experience and presence of Kay Bailey Hutchinson, or any number of male Republicans who would add to McCain's depth and would be genuinely good choices when viewed through the Country First lens. (Which is a very good way to look at things but not the way the Republicans are doing it.)

Imho, Palin is an empty suit. The kind of person who flunked out of pre-med at a party school in the Deep South (yes, I went to one). A person without curiosity, who doesn't read the Washington Post or the NY Times or Politico or watch Nightline or occasionally read a history book, or listen to a political podcast every once in a while. Could she name the other candidates of her own party in the Presidential race? How about in the Democratic race? Has she visited post-Katrina New Orleans?

They asked if she had ever been overseas but did they ask how many museums or monuments in Washington she had visited? Ever been to an opera or how about a baseball game? Which of the 50 states has she visited? My guess the answers to those questions would reveal that there are a lot of holes in her experience even for someone who has rarely left the United States. By age 44, if you want to lead our country, it seems there are some pretty basic things you should know and have done.

I think in their hearts Americans know that electing a President who was like the rest of us was a mistake. We need someone who is an over-achiever, not just curious, but a sponge for ideas, information, perspectives. Someone who can't stop reading and asking other people what they think. I think in the end we're going to do the right thing, and I stick by my belief that the Palin choice will start to smell really soon, not just to us elites with health insurance and education, but to the people in our country who desperately need those things for themselves and their families.

 9/15/2008; 6:21:16 PM  

1. I totally don't trust Rove when he says that McC has gone too far. I wouldn't take the bait and pass this on as the Obama folk are doing. There's got to be a virus in there somewhere. Some devious trap that springs later in this process. Rove is like the original wingnut idiot blogger, he's been practicing so long, he's the #1 troll in the USA, something I'm sure he's proud of. I've been fending off trolls almost as long as he's been one.

2. I don't trust McC when he says, again, that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. The first time he said it he didn't have coaches, we were seeing the original confused Mind Of McCain, raised in politics before Gotchas were such an artform. This new McC is always on message, so when he said this, it was part of, probably the beginning of, a campaign that's about to launch. Then almost immediately you can see what it is.

3. It's all part of the Obama is Elitist thing. He says the economy sucks because he doesn't respect the American working man and woman. That's what Pailin was in Denver getting briefed on yesterday. Okay that's not what Obama said, and now he's going to have to say that's not what he said, and he's going to look stupid saying that. Over and over and over and over. The reporters are going to spin, examining the "issue" in great detail. Did Obama actually mean to dis the American worker when he said the economy sucks? And why won't he let us drill? He said that mean shit in San Francisco. He's an elitist, like Oprah, unlike John McCain who stands up for us, just like he stands up for the soldiers in Iraq. Country First!!

4. So if you see this coming what do you do? Good question. I'm thinking about it. I bet there's not much time to think. Maybe you ask the press not to fall into the trap too? Good luck with that.

4a. I would probably start running the 100 years in Iraq ad again. It was good. It also annoys the hell out of them. And it changes the subject before they get a chance to make elitism the subject. Let the press debate whether McC meant 100 years of war or 100 years of whatever has been going on for the last 5 years (which is a hell of a lot like a war).



5. We need an independent non-corporate media to stand above these messes. Never has that been more clear.

6. Whatever you do Obama don't talk about these guys unless you're forced to and then think twice, three times, before taking the bait. This is not 1992, they're not running the same plays they were running then.

7. When I typed Mind Of McCain above I kept seeing Mind Of CoCaine. Who is CoCaine? Why that's Ms. Sarah of course.

 9/15/2008; 12:28:31 PM  

Click here to send this as an eCard.

 9/15/2008; 11:46:43 AM  

Everyone knows what Obama should do to win, me too.

Steve Gillmor says he should throw caution to the wind and do some nutty things. After all, if it worked for McCain it might work for him. Sing a few bars of Me and Bobby McGee to get in the mood.

Use more women surrogates and listen to how they do and if they do well, use them more. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Claire McCaskill were great yesterday on CBS and ABC respectively.

Get some Republicans to defect. I bet now a bunch of them are privately very pissed. I bet you even know who they are. Send them a pointer to this blog post. Let's have fun making our country great again. Republicans are welcome too.

More celebrities! Matt Damon did a great passionate bit. Hey come to think of it, actors are good at this sort of thing. Get more actors. Wasn't SNL great! Who said celebrities were bad? Oh that's right, he's your enemy. Fuck him. Celebrities are good!! Take some of the most popular celebrities with you on the road. Surprise people about who you show up with. Heh. That might be the best idea on this page.

Update: Celebrities, like Chevy Chase.

If you do something that McCain doesn't like, do more of it.

I would say try to ignore McCain if possible or as much as possible. Let the surrogates trash him. Let bloggers like me trash him. See the next bit for an idea why you should not be down in the mud yourself on this.

It's okay to say McCain might die in office. It's not ageism, it's an issue. But let surrogates do it like McCaskill did it on This Week.

When something happens like Lehman going under, pretend it's a year from now and you won. Say what President Obama would say. You're good at that. Explain it in simple terms, but respectfully, and let us know what really happened. If the Republicans fucked up, it's okay to say that, but say it the way a President would. But most important think of ways you can help us. Voters appreciate shit like that.

Put a FAQ on your site that explains how to keep your money safe. Don't ask me to give you money on that page.

While we're on the topic of money, can you make it a game where our side wins! I want to help you break the $100 million barrier this month. But please please tell me how we're doing. How can you be a fan if you don't know the score? Keeping us in the dark on this doesn't build confidence that President Obama will clue us in when there's a problem. Remember, you're the guy who says you want us to do stuff that's good for the country. Right now you're it buddy. Trust us, we're really on your side (and the enemy can't raise money this way so this is one bit of info you can safely share with us, we won't let you down).

BTW, once we break $100 million, let's go for 1/4 of a billion!

And how about some cool new uses of all that money. Advertising isn't the only way to spread the love, you know. How about using a teeny bit of that money to build and staff a school in New Orleans?

I need Obama clip art for my blog.

Also by the way, I'd like to listen in on your conference calls. I've been asking for months, politely. Come on get a clue, we can help you communicate if you'd just listen a bit. Reserve a few spots for bloggers on your press plane. Not the kind of bloggers that work for corporate media, guys who do it for free because they believe in something.

For Joe Biden, John McCain is NOT YOUR FRIEND and stop saying he is and stop calling him JOHN. We're really tired of all you guys playing inside baseball with each other. John McCain is not a friend of mine. If he called me up to go cross the country I'd tell him to fuck off.

And Joe, you're a really nice guy, I get it, but drop the Ladies and Gentlemen thing. It's very old fashioned. Take a deep breath instead, cause I think that's what's really going on.

Barack you need more running mates. See the bit about celebrities above. It's important though to get them on the record first on the web so you know which ones are hits with the voters.

For all Democrats, it's time to stop saying John McCain is a hero who loves his country. I didn't like it when you said it repeatedly at the convention. You can say that after you win the election if it makes you feel better, but I don't think you're going to want to.

Get this guy to do an ad for you.

Get everyone on your campaign to watch Al Pacino's speech to his team in Any Given Sunday. Right now. Before doing anything else.

I want BarackTV, a site I can go to with live video of a campaign event going on right now. It's what I'm going to switch to when McCain comes on CNN. (Already 3 times this morning, to 0 for my team.)

More later...

 9/15/2008; 8:10:15 AM  

Forget it!

None of you are Mets fans, I know that for sure.

This "home stretch" of the election season is like the World Series.

If you're an Obama fan, it's great -- your team made it into the World Series. Same if you're a McCain fan.

I'd say we're in the 2nd inning of the 2nd game. We lost the first one, they played the Suicide Squeeze and we were caught daydreaming. Shit happens. You can be sure that play won't work again. And I'm sure the other guys know it.

They have a old team a bit of young talent and a great manager.

We have an untested team which against all odds made it to the World Series.

We've got Tom Seaver on the mound and Duke Snider in right field. Somewhere out there is Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda. Ed Charles and Bud Harrelson.

Okay enough of that shit.



It's not baseball, it's politics, but there's still a lot of ball to play. Think about that in early November and try to come back then and read this blog and make a list of all the stuff that happened. It's kind of scary when you think of it that way.

 9/15/2008; 8:32:00 AM  

 9/15/2008; 1:08:58 AM  

Things have been heating up politically and Jay Rosen has been steadily posting interesting stuff to Twitter, so I couldn't think of anyone I wanted to share my thoughts with more this morning so here goes.

First, I read Frank Rich's column in the NY Times, everyone should. There's a lot of meaning in the choice Sarah Palin's invisible speech writer made in using Truman as the model for her unusual path to the Republican nomination for VP. It would be chilling for John McCain if he read it the way Rich did; we know how Truman's path to the Presidency was completed. (That they put this out there so openly is pretty amazing.)

Also be sure to read this Politico piece which explains why the Republicans feel justified in shutting out the press, and openly lying. Can't say I support it but I understand it. Their reasons are the same ones I have for rarely doing interviews with reporters, they're always looking for a gotcha and have no interest in reporting what's actually going on. Why bother? What's in it for me? That's the calculus the Republicans offer and it's compelling.

That led me to the idea that perhaps it's not Obama that the Repubs are really running against, perhaps it's the press. What clued me into that was the way Carly Fiorina conflated three NY Times columnists as "The Democrats" on This Week earlier today. Huh? They may be Democrats, but they are not The Democrats. If the Repubs are running against the press, then why do the press care what the Repubs think (the mistake Obama makes too). And how does Obama get back in the game if the conversation is to between the Repubs and the press (and the press like Obama are always three steps behind, confused as hell and not going to take it anymore).

Which finally led me to the conclusion for the Obamas and I really hope they get the message, you need to grow your own press, quickly. Use the Internet. It's all you've got. Don't count on the press caring, they're busy fighting a war with the Republicans.

This really is the battle for Democracy with a capital D. If the Republicans win this election, kiss what's left of what we think of as the United States goodbye. Imho.

Here's the podcast.

http://mp3.morningcoffeenotes.com/cn08sep14.mp3

Dave

 9/14/2008; 10:55:55 AM  

I bought Will Wright's new simulation, Spore, before I knew anything about the DRM. I haven't installed it yet, not sure if I will. I got fairly addicted to The Sims, but ended up buying it several times because the DRM kept failing.

I wonder if Electronic Arts is aware of how many idiots like me end up buying the product more than once because they want to use the software on another computer, or a disk crashes, or a key disk stops working or you switch from Windows to Mac or some other system.



Just read a TorrentFreak piece saying it's being widely pirated because of the DRM. I have doubts, but I haven't decided yet whether I will actually install my legally purchased copy. I wonder how Will Wright feels about that -- he went to all the trouble to make this product, and people who pay for it won't use it.

 9/13/2008; 12:12:12 PM  

I wouldn't invest in or develop an iPhone app because Apple could decide not to approve it, and if they don't approve it you can't sell it. You can't even give it away. You don't find out if you've been approved until the last step, after you've fully invested, so you could lose, totally, if Apple says no.

At first this might have seemed ridiculous if you didn't know Apple, you might assume they'd only keep out apps that somehow damaged the iPhone, but it hasn't turned out that way.

Yesterday it came out that they rejected an app called Podcaster because it competed with iTunes, an Apple product. Maybe it was better than iTunes in some way, or simpler, more focused, had features iTunes didn't have? It doesn't matter, it illustrates exactly why Apple shouldn't assume this power, or if they insisit on it, you'd have to be crazy to develop iPhone apps.

Consider this possibility. Next year Apple announces an app that does what your previously authorized iPhone app does. You have competition, so another competitor, even if it is the platform vendor, isn't that big a deal, right? Well what if they de-authorize your app because it duplicates functionality of theirs? Think you could live with that?

The same thing came up less clearly at BearHugCamp yesterday when the Twitter guys stood up and let us try to pin them down on when they were going to re-open the XMPP gateway. If features come and go from platforms, if policies change in unpredictable ways, there's no way you can invest. If someone had built on the XMPP capability previously and it had been turned off (this is a hypothetical, it didn't happen that way) what recourse would they have had? Because Twitter has been such a moving target this last year, many of the apps have fallen off, because they depend on features in Twitter that have become unreliable or have disappeared altogether.

Thirteen years ago I wrote a piece entitled What is a Platform? Perhaps it should be amended to say that if you need the approval of the platform vendor to ship an app, then it isn't a platform. It's an integrity thing. The idea that it's a platform should mean no individual or company has the power to turn you off.

In the same timeframe I marveled at how the Internet is the platform without a platform vendor. That's the most powerful kind of platform there is because it is the least regulated.

 9/13/2008; 11:03:53 AM  

Yesterday Obama ran an ad that said that McCain is so out of touch that he doesn't even use a computer. Immediately the right wing idiots came back with the charge, as if they care, that Obama is being ageist, but that's ridiculous, I know plenty of people McCain's age who use the Internet. My father, who is 79 says he wished the Internet had been around when his father was his age, he thinks he would have liked it. I knew my grandfather and I'm sure he's right (here's a picture of me as a child having a laugh with him).

So to say old people don't use computers is to not only ageist but ignorant -- as ignorant as a person who would be our President who doesn't in 2008 know how to use the Internet for crying out loud! It would be like reaching the age of 44 having only been outside the US twice, and one of those trips being to Canada. You know people outside the US say they like Americans it's just our government they hate. I keep telling them they don't know Americans, only 12 percent of us have passports. Ladies and gentlemen of the world, I present you our most embarassing choice for vice-president in my lifetime (and that's saying a lot!), a person who doesn't know shit about the world she lives in. One can only hope the Republicans step in soon and put a stop to this idiocracy.

Anyway...

Now the idiot right-wing bloggers have a new paranoid theory to cling to -- maybe McCain can't use a computer because of his war injuries. I have a different theory. He doesn't use the Internet for the same reason he doesn't understand economics and the same reason he thinks we could stay in Iraq for 100 years -- because he's a dumb, lazy and ignorant rich kid and has the curiosity of a bowl of oatmeal. And if it were true we would have heard from them on this already, and the only voices on this one would not be the pajama-wearing nutcases of the right. We'd be hearing from the lying suit-wearing lobbyist bastards running McCain's campaign, or the lying bastard John McCain himself.

Look, there's a limit to how much mileage you can get from this war hero crap. Yadda yadda the Democrats honor his service, and blah blah blah he's a good man who loves his country. I say bullshit. He's a creepy bastard liar coward who, if he becomes President, we're really in for a ride. And if he gets elected let's get him some great doctors so he doesn't die in office and leave us with the hockey mom pit bull with lipstick who doesn't blink or travel or know any heads of state, as President.

I'm Dave Winer and I approved this message. (And I'm not running for anything so don't vote for me.)

PS: Try searching for quadriplegic and computers. It's a hint. Amazing progress has been made in making computers accessible to people with disabilities. Seriously.

 9/13/2008; 9:19:29 AM  

 9/12/2008; 7:46:12 AM  

Lots of must-read editorial following the release of the first part the ABC News interview with Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin.

It's so totally appropriate that this interview took place on Sept 11. Because of that, and the fact that we're all re-living that day 7 years ago, we should be aware of how incredibly important it is that our political leadership be involved in the world we live in. Everything is so interconnected these days, it's dangerously naive to think that you can assume leadership of this country with no knowledge or preparation for that complex job.

Listening to Bob Woodward about his interviews with President Bush in his last year of an eight-year Presidency, you can clearly see that he is still unprepared to be the leader of this country. He has deligated essential Commander In Chief responsibilities to unelected aides, people who we don't know anything about and he glosses over important parts of his decision-making process with the same unconfident imprecision that Sarah Palin does in her ABC News interview.

Joan Walsh writing in Salon this evening says "The fact that Sarah Palin sat for her humiliating interview with ABC's Charles Gibson on 9/11 is one of those strange serendipitous events that makes one believe there's order in the universe. Remember how 9/11 changed everything, especially our new seriousness about the larger world and foreign policy? Never again would we risk a president, maybe not even a senate candidate, without global experience and sophistication."

Howard Kurtz, in the Washington Post, says the press is angry.

As they should be, because they, like everyone else, are being used by the Republicans, to try to slip another fast one by us, circumventing our democratic process, and taking advantage of a few voters who aren't paying attention. As the title of this piece says, if the reporters do their job, we'll be fine. They don't have to be referees, they just have to be finders of fact and tell everyone what they found. There's nothing hard about that job.

Barack Obama isn't a sexual pervert, the law that he voted for when he was an Illinois state senator was designed to protect small children from sexual predators. The news should not report a controversy, they should report that McCain is telling a desipicable lie. Until that lie is acknowledged, retracted and apologized for, both to Obama and to the electorate, McCain should not receive any of the services of the press. The first question in any interview should be "Why are you lying and when will you admit that you are and stop." If he continues to lie, that's the end of the interview. The reporter wraps it up and leaves. You can't continue to interview someone who you know is lying. Reporters do it all the time, but this must stop now.

The Republicans can scream all they want, all that anyone will hear is that they are lying. I don't see how the press can avoid this. We can all see it openly, Republicans and Democrats and independents, and people all over the world who don't get a vote in our election, but whose respect for us they do control. America will be judged by how we handle this. We will not be able to hide behind the usual excuse "I didn't vote for him" because you are now called on to do more.

I think we made a lot of progress today, cleared a lot of things up. Republicans could help by holding another convention and nominating a new ticket. McCain is completely discredited, he could not serve as President with the support of anyone who has an education or who cares about the future of this country. Yes I understand that we who are educated and have health insurance and jobs are elitist and different from those who live in small cities and towns, but my family comes from small towns, and my ancestors were not educated. We have so much in common and so much at stake, we really can't afford to be split this way, again.

McCain's gamble was too big, and it didn't work. You can play a few more cards from the hand, but it's not going to change the outcome -- he can't be President. It won't work. The sooner the Republicans acknowledge that and respond, the better we all will be. Until that happens all the press has to do is report the news and stop being anything other than reporters.

 9/11/2008; 8:46:28 PM  

 9/11/2008; 12:30:37 PM  

One of his first post-Palin interviews, you gotta see this.



It's a pretty stunning interview. Let's hope Charlie Gibson is half as good as this local Maine guy.

 9/11/2008; 10:50:22 AM  

He almost picked her to be his running mate, but decided to go with someone with more experience.

 9/11/2008; 7:08:47 AM  

Right now all the action is on Twitter.

Please follow me there.

http://twitter.com/davewiner





Thanks!

 9/10/2008; 4:47:14 PM  

A fascinating interview by CNBC of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin.



Wow, there's a big difference betw Palin speaking on her own and when she read a professionally written speech that she rehearsed. She sounds kind of dumb and nervous and certainly not at all polished in this interview.

Hadn't heard this one before, and it hasn't been viewed many times on YouTube (only about 100K so far). It should get a wide airing, it's very relevant.

 9/8/2008; 8:43:32 PM  

I don't know very much about it, but I know a lot more about it today than I did yesterday.

First, here's where it would have gone.

In no way is that "nowhere."

Second, Dave Luebbert explains the geography of Ketchikan.

There may only be 50 people living on Gravina Island, but that's a real airport, and Ketchikan is the 5th largest city in Alaska, population 7368 in 2007.

The bridge isn't a wacky idea, it actually looks like it might be a good investment, spend a few bucks to allow a city to spread in a direction that makes sense. Hardly cut and dry.

A couple more comments...

I watched a CSPAN interview with Palin from February of this year, and it was unremarkable. She sounded like what you'd expect the governor of a small state to sound like, maybe a little more intelligent than most. Nothing at all like the rude and disrespectful person who mocked Obama at the RNC. I think the Republicans did her a disservice by presenting her that way, why couldn't she give a thoughtful or even inspiring speech first, and save the bashing for later. There's no doubt that she has the skill to do it. What's wrong with America, does everyone really want politics to be reduced to professional wrestling?

In the last few months I've lost all respect for McCain, and I didn't have much left, after he acquiesced to Bush after losing to him in 2000. You can see the before and after of the Republicans. They take someone with some kind of a future and some kind of dignity and turn her into a caricature. I lost all respect for Palin before I had a chance to learn anything about her. Going back before the RNC, I see that there is something there, even if our politics are completely opposed (her position on abortion alone is enough to make me opposed to her).

As I've said before, I'm neither a Republican or a Democrat. I've voted Republican as many times as I've voted Democrat. I shouldn't be a lost cause to them, but I am. I have no respect for who they are, they might as well tear up the party and start over. My only concern is that if they win this election the same may be true of the United States. I'm not joking about that, and if I were a Republican I'd feel the same way.

Obama is absolutely right that this is a big election but it could end up being about small things. It seems that's entirely in the hands of the Republicans. The Democrats have practically been begging them to have a respectful discourse. And the Republicans have slapped them down, in a very humiliating way. I'm going to do everything I can to fight back on behalf of my country, and I'm going to urge everyone to do the same. If you look closely you'll see that the Republicans have the ability to run a clean campaign. So it's their choice. But I don't want to lose the country because we weren't willing to fight. I am, and I hope you are too.

 9/8/2008; 3:35:48 PM  

Okay, let's cede a point, the Republicans were brilliant, if cynical, in nominating Sarah Palin for VP. It one-upped Obama in newness, in a year when newness matters, and it shines a different kind of light on McCain, he got his "maverick" back -- even though he never really was that much of a maverick. Obama can try to refute it, but it probably isn't worth it, it probably won't work.

So is Obama stuck on the sidelines, like McCain was when he took his European pre-victory tour? Is there any way Palin's sparkly newness could fade before Election Day? The answers seem, at first to be yes he is stuck and there's no way to make her seem less new before we vote. So, do we lose, as Adam McKay thinks we must in today's Huffpost?

His theory is pretty solid -- he says that four companies own broadcast media, and they're incentivized to only air the hottest images. That's why McCain looked so sour when Obama went to Europe. In a golf cart looking old, with an even older Bush I, while our hero, Young Obama was greeting heads of states and speeching to hundreds of thousands of rapt Germans. The visuals were so compelling, it didn't matter that he wasn't President, he looked like one, and he looked good as one.

They don't care if you're lying, as Obama basically was (without giving voice to the lie), as the McCains are, as long as it's hot, you get air.

Ed Rollins says that Obama should have chosen Hillary, and maybe he's right, the thought had crossed my mind. Although I didn't imagine I could vote for her if she won the primary back in the spring, I had the thought yesterday, listening to Biden on Meet the Press (he was great, btw), that I could actually vote for her. Who cares if Bill is a bastard, I love the speech he gave at the DNC, and I'm sure if Obama had lost the primary he would have given an equally stirring speech on behalf of Hillary. He would have said "We have to defeat the Republicans, at all costs, including our pride," and I would have agreed wholeheartedly. I can get my pride back in December, as long as we win in November. We can't let them win by Swiftboating us again, not this time. We have to play to win, and if that means playing dirty, so be it.

So here's the dirty little thing Obama can and should do, imho.

Are you ready?

Hehe.

Name your Cabinet!

In a major break with tradition, in a year when tradition counts for naught, he should show us the depth of the Democratic bench and show us the role that powerful women will play on his team. And for the racist vote, powerful white people too (and Hispanics).

He should show voters who may be thinking about voting for McCain because of Palin that they can be inspired, they will be inspired, without compromising on health care, jobs, keeping their homes, getting their kids good educations, rebuilding our infrastructure, and bringing our troops home. This is what change looks like, says Barack Obama -- and show them, visually. (That's what really counts, don't yah know? You betcha.)

Now when each of the nominated Cabinet members shows up at a campaign stop they're not just surrogates, they're The Government.

Now, you might say, McCain will just match this move, but you'd be wrong -- he can't. The Republicans don't have that kind of depth. They just don't have it. That's why McCain says there will be lots of Democrats in his Administration, he has no choice, there aren't enough qualified Republicans to fill the positions.

And by the way, here's a second chance to put Hillary on stage in more than a ceremonial role, with more than a sliver of hope for her and her followers. Offer her anything to get her on board. First choice of any Cabinet position she wants. Secretary of State or Defense or Treasury -- FBI or CIA director or Homeland Security. Baseball commissioner. Doesn't matter. And at the same time, really help her retire her campaign debt. Again, the visual is what matters. Hillary on stage, with power and pride. That should push the Republicans off the air.

I like Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey. Now he's got some executive experience, and he's one hell of a congenial guy, and smart to boot. Don't forget Bill Richardson! I still wouldn't count out Al Gore.

And Janet Napolitano from (eeks!) Arizona, and Kathleen Sebelius from Kansas, Claire McCaskill from Missouri, Evan Bayh from Indiana, Jim Webb from Virginia. Chris Dodd from Connecticut, someone from Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Want to have some fun? As much as I don't trust him, make an offer to Colin Powell.

I would suggest just filling a few positions at once, to get the press to start speculating anew about who else you might tap.

What do you think??

Update: Cross-posted at Huffington.

 9/8/2008; 11:33:33 AM  

I have another idea for Obama, though it could be equally useful to McCain (and any other candidate).

When you display an ad on your website, which is a great thing, thanks (I've been asking for this for a long time, there was believe it or not, a time when campaigns hid commercials from Internet users), put a Donate button on the ad. If I give you $100 you commit to using that money to run this ad.

I like the idea of putting dollars directly behind a message I feel strongly about.

PS: I really like this ad which says "bullshit" to McCain calling himself a maverick. Of all the things. He's a coward, and a liar and Bush guy, and a little creepy mama's boy, skirt hugger. He's not a maverick, not by a mile.

PPS: I've been asked what's a skirt hugger. Well, if you're a little child, you want to always be close to your mama's skirt, for protection. Here's a picture.

 9/8/2008; 2:48:42 PM  

Okay, so Sarah Palin agreed to an interview with Charlie Gibson at ABC News, but we all know (right?) that it's going to be softball questions that can be answered with glib one-liners. Not going to get answers to the questions real citizens (i.e. taxpayers, voters) have.

But it turns out if you happen to run into Sarah Palin in a restaurant, she'll answer questions, and say things that her handlers almost certainly don't want her to say.

AmericaBlog: "I don't think this question will be answered until after Senator Stevens' trial in September and perhaps never. After all, Ted Stevens is still running for the Senate this year and a Republican vote, corrupt or not, is still a Republican vote."

One of the tough questions for the Republican Governor is whether she will support Republican Senator Ted Stevens for re-election. There's really no good answer for her. 1. If she doesn't support him, a Democrat wins and the balance in the Senate tips by another vote. Not good for her party. 2. If she does support Stevens, she'll be supporting a Washington insider who is indicted for corruption. There goes her claim to be a maverick coming to Washington to clean house.

Well our heroic citizen blogger not only asked the question, but also got a really interesting answer.

The funny thing here is if she really is going to Washington to do the people's work, how does she escape answering the people's questions? Heh.

So when you see her, don't be shy, step up and ask her about Ted Stevens.

PS: With all the talk about the Bridge to Nowhere, I wanted to know where it would go. Not really "nowhere."

 9/7/2008; 5:31:06 PM  

Click here for a more detailed view.



When I pulled off the road in Grand Junction, CO to watch the McCain press conference introducing his VP pic, all I did was find an EVDO connection (worked the first time) and fired up the SlingPlayer, which connected to my TV at home, in Berkeley, and tuned to MSNBC, and it all just worked.

The only thing I'd like to see improved is that the EVDO modem be built into the computer, the thing dangling off the side is pretty ugly, don't ya think?

 9/7/2008; 11:25:13 AM  

Remember the BearHugCamp idea? Well... it seems like it's happening! Next Friday, Sept 12, in San Francisco. Steve Gillmor is the master of ceremonies, agent provacateur and visionary. Me, I bring a few used analogies and metaphors and experience with various gadgets and utilities that build on Twitter and FriendFeed and Identi.ca, et al.

Where? I think it'll be at CNET's offices in SF on 2nd St. I'll leave the logistics up to Steve. I've blocked out the whole day.

Who? Well, that's where it gets interesting. Here's my take on it. If you've been spending a lot of your free time puzzling over where this stuff is going, and how various systems should or shouldn't plug together, and where your data should be stored -- and if your thinking could benefit from other people's confusion (and certainty) on this topic, then come. However, it will be webcast (thanks to Leo Laporte and probably others) so if you're mainly interested in listening you don't have to reroute your life to get your body to SF on Friday.

Why? Well I'm coming to listen and fight for the coral reef. I want to build stuff on top of a great worldwide distributed notification system. It's got to be reliable, and permanently and irrevocably open, meaning no one can say who can build apps for it, as for example Apple controls who makes iPhone apps. That means that Twitter can't be my host because they don't pass the "irrevocably" test -- as they have been revoking functionality, and dealing the good stuff to very small numbers of people. I'm sure they think what they're doing is right, and I'm not here to argue right and wrong, but I want what I want, and that's why I'm coming.

Pretty sure the cost to participate will be $0. But I'm willing to pay some money to be there, even if everyone else doesn't. Maybe others want to make that offer as well?

I'm not organizing it myself because I reserve the right to be a vendor or join up with a vendor, and I don't want anyone to say at a future date that this was a vendor-sponsored event. And Steve doesn't make any promises either, but he's more neutral than me, so he's the host and benevolent dictator (a role that befits him), and I support him, and I hope you do too.

 9/7/2008; 10:13:16 AM  

Simple question...

If they won't sit down for an interview, to answer questions, maybe the TV networks should stop covering their speeches and campaign rallies?

The Republicans want to talk direct, so let them do it, without the help of the corporate media.

 9/7/2008; 7:52:46 AM  

Consensus is developing, I know because I'm endorsing the point of view of someone whose political philosophy is almost exactly opposite mine.

Frum: "I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It's an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That's all."

Amen. I know I'm not going to support her, unless it turns out that our beliefs about her positions are totally wrong. There's one reason to believe that they may be wrong.

LA Times: "I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues," she said during a debate in Juneau.

Geez, this makes her seem almost like a human being, not the Stepford monster she appeared to be when she spoke at the RNC last Wednesday.

The conservatives may want to check this out cause if I like something about Palin, you can be pretty sure they don't.

 9/6/2008; 11:51:30 AM  

Jay is one of those guys, like George Lakoff and Steve Gillmor, who figure things out before anyone else does. When I'm stuck looking at individual trees, Jay often shows me the forest.

Here it is Saturday after the Republican Convention and I'm just starting to figure out what mischief the Republicans are up to, but Jay had a hypothesis on Wednesday, and blogged it, and it's much more complete than what I have today.

Jay Rosen: "John McCain's convention gambit calls for culture war around the Sarah Palin pick."

He must have been a Republican in a former life.

Read the whole piece, and then come back here, please.

Oh it's devious. And cowardly, in contradiction to the hype about McCain the war hero, which leads me to believe that the best way to prosecute this is to firmly pin the coward label on McCain until he puts Palin on the same level as all the other candidates that passed through the electoral process in the 2008 election.

We need to see her in action, if she's going to be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the Presidency. If not, we should know upfront that we're thinking about elected a gutless coward as President and a man who does anything but put America First.

 9/6/2008; 10:21:28 AM  

David Frum, a Republican, thinks the McCain campaign shouldn't put Palin in a box and hide her from the press. Good, he's right about that, and his piece is a must-read. But like most Republicans his disdain for "elites" is itself the height of elite arrogance. Only Kings and Queens, royalty, are entitled to that kind of arrogance, and we overthrew our King in the Revolution, 232 years ago. We don't believe in that in the United States. That's how far off course we've gotten, we've put up with this nonsense long enough.

To paraphrase Obama, Frum doesn't Get It. The reason you discuss your ideas publicly is that your ideas will get better. He assumes, like royalty, that Republicans always know what's right, but he didn't learn anything from the last eight years and this is why the Republicans have to sit on the sidelines and mull it over until they figure it out. You don't have all the answers. Some days (like today) I don't think you have any.

Frum, it isn't about winning a debate -- it's about doing what's right and smart and competitive, for America. Remember your slogan -- Country First. It's a great idea. Now practice it.

PS: He's right, Quayle is smart. I found out by surprise. I was listening to an interview on NPR, and had no idea who it was but the guy was smart. Imagine my shock when I found out it was Dan Quayle. Same thing happened with Hillary Clinton.

PPS: What struck me about Palin was her cowardice. Before letting us know anything about her intelligence or knowledge, or the quality of her ideas, she was sarcastically trashing a man we've gotten to know and respect over the last X months, a man who had to keep his cool as the press went after his church, community and family, and kept his grace even humor at every step. Palin, in contrast, not only hasn't been even slightly vetted, has absolutely no basis for her arrogance, no foundation. Giuliani, sheez, we know him. He's an asshole, always has been, we don't expect much from him, and we're rarely surprised. But he's not running to be a 72-year-old heartbeat from the presidency. She needs to slow down and sober up, she's asking for a big job. It's serious. If she were a man I'd say she was a dickhead. And since she's running for the second most serious job in the country, let's stick with that, until further notice.

Update: Cross-posted at Huffington.

 9/5/2008; 4:02:37 PM