GOP Presidential candidate John McCain, fresh off his triumphant speech at the Sausage Haus has been forced to cancel a planned rally at a Scranton, PA Waffle House due to a syrup spill.
The McCain campaign scrambled to replace the event, claiming it was only rumored to begin with. Instead, perhaps as a counter to opponent Barrack Obama's European tour, they have chosen to have McCain speak over the loudspeaker at a Zanesville, OH International House of Pancakes. "It says it right there in the name," a McCain spokesperson said, "International".
McCain plans to be at the IHOP between 2pm and 4pm, so as to allow campaign staff to catch the early bird special.
Oil companies want these new oil leases offshore because they claim it will drive down the price of gas. Great.
Offer them oil leases, but bar them from selling oil for the duration of the lease at more than the price of oil when the lease begins.
Now I don't believe any oil company would go for it. And I don't believe the environmental damage is worth it. But its a gamble to get the TRUTH out of the oil companies.
If the price of gas and oil will go down because you are given these leases, as you claim, why wouldn't you want them? Please testify.
Seems Obama's thrown 'em a curveball by accepting at Mile High, and they're whining.
...all options are open as they look for savings to balance out the anticipated costs surrounding the stadium event. The acceptance event is an unexpected departure from the traditional convention hall format for which they have spent months planning.
Whine. Our news division doesn't really do actual news coverage anymore. We're so used to relying on photo-ops and press releases, and sitting in our comfy seats on the straight talk express, that if we have to actually cover something that's, well, unexpected, you know, real news, we'll have to cut back elsewhere.
Oh... and we'll punish the Democrats for it...in extended...
Not once in my lifetime have I ever said this about a Democratic nominee or even primary candidate, but I will say it about Obama:
Obama is a better politician and understands the situation much better than any of us, and I trust what he's trying to do with FISA.
Bottom line:
He has effectively removed the issue from Presidential politics.
He has outed the idiocy of the Republicans position by saying that national security is neither enhanced nor derailed by telecom immunity. Wait! Before you get you knickers in a twist...
This frees up Dodd, Feingold, etc. to filibuster/delay this issue as needed, because if he were taking a position on it and making it a campaign issue, they would demand action. He has removed this impetus.
I have a feeling this fight is being, at this point, orchestrated by or in concert with the Obama campaign, and it is going to play out in a way that benefits Obama in the end.
With all this great polling, and continuing to see McCain's slide, I have an interesting point to ponder:
Remember that no one is officially nominated until the convention. What if they drop McCain?
We all had concerns in 2004 that all it would take as an "excuse" for Cheney is him saying his heart can't take it, and Bush would get to replace him with a ringer (Powell, Rice, etc.) What about McCain? Fake some medical scare, he drops out before the convention, and re-opens the convention to essentially nominate anyone they want.
According to Boyda, Benjamin Eric Berlin, 16, will become the first person with autism to serve in the page program, which began 181 years ago in 1827.
So it occurs to me, while Michelle Malkin is worrying about whether Rachael Ray is some sort of muslim manchurian chef, it's quite likely there is, as we speak, an army of robot controlling monkeys about to seize power.
Concerning the voter ID legislation, Sebelius said "HB 2019 seeks to solve a problem of voter fraud which does not exist in our state due to the tireless efforts of our local elected officials."
She said the voter ID proposal wasn’t needed and "will only work to disenfranchise many of the electorate and serve as a barrier to their participation in the democratic process."
BREAKING NEWS: John McCain announcing his chocie for Veep:
Seriously... Lots of diaries about Obama's choice, but McCain's matters even more. McCain's choice is probably going to make or break the election for him, which WILL directly impact Obama's choice. More on the flip.
NOTE: Please reinforce JOHN MCCAIN = MONTGOMERY BURNS!
Also: Yes, I know Dems convention is first. I think we'll know McCain's veep well before then.
I can't believe I haven't seen this written anywhere else.
Obama's appearance on FOX was a Quid Pro Quo. It is a perfect example of Axelrod's and Obama's style in this campaign: take a neutral negative and turn it to their advantage.
Had Obama continued boycotting Faux, they would be left with a Presidential Election in which one of the major parties refuses to appear on their network. This essentially reduces them to BET for Rich White Republicans (WET?) While we can all be excited about the longstanding blow this would have to Faux's credibility (i.e. perhaps they shouldn't get to be in the pool for running camera's at debates?) Obama and Axelrod saw an opportunity:
If they continued their Faux Boycott, Faux would be out there able to do significant damage to the campaign by reporting/inventing/distorting stories about Obama, which would inevitably make their way into the discourse (witness ABCs debate). Axelrod/Obama said:
We'll appear on your network if you agree to knock it off. Subsequent appearances will be determined by how well you follow this plegde.
Why this is brilliant/classic Obama... in extended...
The Secretaries of State have released a plan to reform the primary system. Its not bad, and better than our current system, but I have a better, more dynamic one.
It's simple:
The 8 states with the closest popular vote totals in the last Presidential election go sometime in February. After that, hold the regional lottery system- from March 1 to March 15, Region X states must hold primaries, from March 16-March 31 the next region, etc.
This allows states the flexibility to decide how they want to impact the system (a big group of states the first Tuesday, a lone state the Sat. before the next bunch).
Redo the lottery every cycle since we don't want people running for office just because their region goes first. Hold the drawing 1 year prior to election day, so there is absolutely no incentive to campaign before November a year before.
In a shocking late-in-the-game move, Hillary Clinton has named long lost cousin Oliver to head up her campaign. "Oliver is a lot nicer than that Mark Penn guy," said one campaign operative. "I think he's adorable, I could just pinch those cheeks," said another. This move came the day after Hillary was reported to have been upset over the amount of press Obama had been getting and was heard screaming "Obama! Obama! Obama!"
Cousin Oliver's first order of business, he said, would be to throw the kind of event that would "gain massive amounts of attention for the campign, something like a guy on waterskis jumping, oh, I don't know, a shark."
The Space Alien, an unelected superdelegate, has endorsed Barack Obama for President. The endorsement by the Alien, who had previously back Clinton in his earlier White House run, is seen as a betrayal by the Clinton campaign.
"He's Gaius Baltar," said James Carville. "That's the only explanation. I mean, how do we know Obama's not a Cylon?"
A humble proposal to solve the Michigan and Florida issue once and for all, save face for the general election in these two states and likely assist Obama in finalizing the nomination earlier.
The short version:
Both delegations will be seated at 50% as punishment for breaking DNC rules. This is how the Republicans are doing it, thus any electoral fallout should be minimal.
Go ahead and seat Florida as-is. Its doubtful Obama would gain more than a handful of delegates in a revote, so why not take this off the table?
