What Do You Talk About When You Can't Explain?

"THE SILENCE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS DEAFENING. IT WAS DEAFENING. ON JOBS, ON HEALTH CARE, ON ENVIRONMENT, ON ALL THE THINGS THAT MATTER TO THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS I GREW UP IN. ..What do you talk about when you CANNOT EXPLAIN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS OF FAILURE?" Joe Biden in PA today.

Obama Response

"You're hearing a lot about me, most of which isn't true. What you're not hearing is a lot about you."

Smug Lies

A Short Catalog of Big Lies

Here's a short catalog of big lies candidate for Vice-President Palin and other speakers at the Republican convention have told about themselves and Barack Obama, plus several more that the McCain campaign is otherwise promoting, compiled by the Associated Press.

Perhaps the biggest distortion are on taxes. Palin and others insisted that Obama will raise taxes on most Americans. It's not true, according to non-partisan observers such as the Tax Policy Center, which found that Obama's middle class TAX CUTS "would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually."

And if you heard the speeches last night, you know that misstating the facts wasn't the worst of it. This is the party of resentment, bitterness, spite and barely concealed hate. It's time for a change.

Which President Do You Believe?

President Bush: "The man we need is John McCain. "
















President Clinton: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States."

Obama in Milwaukee

"Because if there’s a poor child out there, that’s my child. If there’s a senior that’s having trouble, that’s my grandparent. If there’s a guy who’s lost his job, that’s my brother. If there’s a woman out there without healthcare, that’s my sister. Those are the values that built this country. Those are the values we are fighting for. "

Obama in Milwaukee: the Video

This is the whole 12 minute speech. The quoted lines begin about 7 minutes in, but it's a great short speech as a whole.

Obama: Quiet Storms

On Monday, Barack Obama kept his schedule of appearances but cut back on the partisan content of his remarks in Michigan and Wisconsin. But addressing a Labor Day audience in Milwaukee, after noting how unions have improved life for working people, and how people united can do more than each of us alone, he spoke of the values at the core of his campaign. I saw some video--and I plan to post it when it becomes available--and he was not speaking from a text or notes, but from the heart. Here is the last part of what he said, as quoted by Jay Newton-Small of Time, who said "he was as good as I've ever heard him."

"That spirit of looking out for one another, that core value that says I am my brothers’ keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, that spirit is most evident during times of great tragedy, it’s most evident during times of great hardship, it’s most evident when natural disasters strike because we understand that only God has control and so it takes it out of the realm of politics. We all understand that we have to come together.

But that spirit can’t just be restricted to moments of great catastrophe. Because as I stand here today and look out at the thousands of folks who have gathered here today, I know that there’s some folks that are going through their own quiet storms.
[…]
There’re people out there who’ve seen their jobs shipped overseas. There’re people out there who don’t have healthcare, maybe they’ve been trying to pay it on a credit card but mostly they’ve just been putting off trying to see a doctor. There’re seniors out there that don’t know how they’re going to pay their home heating bill this winter. There are folks out there that don’t know how they’re going to fill up the gas tank. There are young people in this audience right now that have graduated from high school, have the grades and want to go to college, but don’t have the money. There are young people being born in the inner cities, right here in Milwaukee, that don’t see any prospects for the future that think the only path available to them is a casket or a jail cell.

All across America there are quiet storms taking place. There are lives of quiet desperation. People who need just a little bit of help. Now, Americans are a self-reliant people, we’re an independent people. We don’t like asking somebody else to do what we can do ourselves but you know what we understand is that every once in a while somebody’s going to get knocked down.

Every once in a while somebody’s going to go through some hard times. When we least expect it tragedy may strike. And what has always made this country great is the understanding that we rise and fall as one nation, that values and family, community and neighborhood, they have to express themselves in our government. Those are national values. Those are values that we all subscribe to. And so that the spirit that we extend today and in the days to come as we monitor what happens on the Gulf that’s the spirit that we’ve got to carry with us each and every day. That’s the spirit that we need in our own homes and it’s the spirit that we need in the White House. And that’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America.

Because if there’s a poor child out there, that’s my child. If there’s a senior that’s having trouble, that’s my grandparent. If there’s a guy who’s lost his job, that’s my brother. If there’s a woman out there without healthcare, that’s my sister. Those are the values that built this country. Those are the values we are fighting for. "

--Barack Obama Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sept. 1, 2008

The Obama Bounce

While Barack Obama and Joe Biden campaigned in Pennsylvania and Ohio after the Dem convention (they're with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in the second photo down, and that's John Glenn with them in the third) Americans were talking to pollsters. Today's Gallup poll--the traditional measure of a convention bounce--shows that Obama increased his lead, and is at the magic 50% mark, with McCain at 43. A CBS poll today shows a slightly larger 8 point lead.

Here's how the USA Today story about the Gallup poll begins:The Democratic National Convention significantly boosted Americans' views of Barack Obama as a strong leader who "shares your values" and can manage the economy and Iraq, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Saturday and Sunday finds. Republican John McCain's advantage in handling terrorism was dramatically reduced and his "unfavorable" rating ticked up to its highest level this year."

The story also notes: On personal characteristics, Obama has eliminated McCain's advantage over him as "a strong and decisive leader." By 46%-44%, those surveyed say that characteristic applies more to Obama than McCain. Before the convention, McCain held an eight-point advantage. Obama has a 13-point advantage as someone who "shares your values," double the edge he held before the convention. He has an eight-point advantage as someone who is "honest and trustworthy; before the convention, they were ranked equally on that quality."

Hurricane Update

Gustav is still a hurricane, and has cut off power in Baton Rouge. New Orleans lucked out--the levees survived the initial storm surge and it didn't get the quantity of rain so far that it could have. But at this hour at least one levee is threatened, so flooding in part of the city is still possible, perhaps likely.

Meanwhile, hurricane Hanna is likely to make landfall on the East Coast this week, and another hurricane is building, perhaps two more.

Landfall Monday

Gustav is expected to arrive sooner but maybe

not as strong as predicted earlier, but the timing

is tricky. It may make landfall as a category 3 between noon and

2pm, and may catch high tide, which will increase

the storm surge. So far it is tracking west of New

Orleans, and the predicted storm surge will test

the levees. It's a big storm with lots of rain and

potential for tornadoes. Texas is apt to get quite

a bit of rain from it over the next few days.

On Track for New Orleans

Gustav continues on track towards New Orleans.
Mandatory evacuation of that city is Sunday,
although perhaps a million people have already
moved out of the storm's path. That path may be
further complicated by tropical storm Hanna behind
it, so Gustav may make landfall in the U.S. more than
once. Sunday afternoon Republicans announce how
this will affect their convention schedule. Click image
to enlarge. Gustav is a large storm is size as well as
power--it left Cuba a strong category 4 and is likely
to be a category 5 soon.
Update 5pm Pacific: The good news is that Gustav
unexpectedly weakened and is no longer expected to
be more than a category 3 hurricane when it hits U.S.
mainland. But that's still very dangerous, and storm surges could
still flood New Orleans. Over 2 million people have evacuated along
the Gulf coast. The GOP convention is curtailing all
but necessary business on Monday.