On Friday, Governor Sarah Palin was the selection of Senator John McCain to be his running mate as the presumptive Republican Vice Presidential Nominee. Already we have problems.
1) TrooperGate, where Gov Palin is accused of using her position to fire a state trouper, who's still on the job as of this writing.
2) The news that Palin was part of a group that wanted Alaska to leave the Union.
3) Palin was fundraising director for Senator Ted Stevens' 527 committee.
4) Palin was almost recalled as Mayor of Wasalia, Alaska.
5) She says the Iraq War, costing over 80,000 iraqi lives and several thousand American lives is a war for oil -- she's right, but Republican, so she should not say that.
6) She took earmarks totalling over $197 million, while saying she did not.
Why Palin? Senator McCain could have picked from five Republican female senators, but failed to do so. Why?
More questions than answers. It's my prediction that Palin will be forced to resign as this steady stream of negative information continues to come in.
After checking out Twitter "tweets" from New Orleans a day ago, I decided to go back and see what New Orleans' Twitter users were writing after Hurricane Gustav hit land in Louisiana.
Here's what I found...
dubtea
Name Will
Location New Orleans
Recently At molly's on decatur. Quarter has no power, mollys has partial due to generator. 21 minutes ago
Molly's is a bar in the French Quarter. That means he was at least able to make it down there for a cocktail. It also means that conditions aren't as bad as feared as of this writing.
tracam
Name tracam
Location New Orleans
Recently We made it to Vero Beach. Got groceries, internet and CNN. Oh, and a few bottles of wine, chips and salsa. Let the future unfold. about 16 hours ago
Vero Beach is Florida. About a five hour drive from New Orleans.
wavyhairgirl
Name wavyhairgirl
Location New Orleans, LA
Recently Tornado threat over apparently 19 minutes ago
aliciammyers
Name aliciammyers
Location New Orleans
Recently So the worst is over? When can we come back? when will power be on? about 1 hour ago
eswanny
Name eswanny
Location New Orleans
Recently And rather than provide information, the weather channel would prefer to show pictures of flying debris. Fail, weather channel... about 4 hours ago
amberdodd
Name amberdodd
Location New Orleans, LA
Recently Just walked around. Windy! Lots of trees/branches down. Ready for electricity now, thx. 6 minutes ago
Wow. Amderdodd walked around. So that confirms it's not as bad as three years ago.
GraceWilson
Name GraceWilson
Location New Orleans Web http://www.NewOrleansOnline.com
Recently The worst of the wind is over... the rain is light and misty.... I see where they say the levees are overtopping in the Upper 9... VIVA NOLA about 3 hours ago
LaJuneBaby
Name LaJuneBaby
Location New Orleans, LA
Bio Sleepless in New Orleans
Recently Cooking out with friends....and playing the music LOUD!! No neighbors around so LET'S ROCK!!!! about 20 hours ago
I have a simple standing rule that I will write about what the candidate does, but not what the elected officials family does. What the family says is different, but even then the only words that matter are what the person says about the candidate's performance or actions. John Edwards is a great example.
I wrote about his actions of infidelity and how it was unfair to his wife. But the focus was John Edwards, and no one else to start.
Thus, I take issue with the look at what Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's family does. They're not running for office; she is. I do hope this frenetic pace of attention her family's getting passes quickly so we can go back to looking at Sarah Palin herself.
If you keep looking at her family, you will not know Palin's not ready for her 3 AM phone call.
Ok. Now, I've seen everything, and I mean everything. Here's the jedreport with the video to end all videos in this political season -- at least so far -- and shows Senator John McCain taking glances as the butt of Governor Sarah Palin as he's listening to her speak. If you think I'm kidding, look at this photo:
Are you kidding me? The video shows this over and over again, and not the same one. But several times. It looks like Senator McCain's about to burst with excitement. At some points in the video, McCain's fingering his wedding finger as if to remind himself he's married.
And so we see the real reason he picked Governor Palin: sex. He's only met her once and from all of the Internet buzz about her problems and beyond the Trouper-Gate Scandal, it seems McCain's staff either did their homework and McCain ignored them or they did little home work at all.
So I've had a few days to consider my overall impression of the Democratic National Convention. While it was certainly a fantastic experience (excellent networking, exceptional star gazing, fantastic speeches, interesting panels and round tables), I think, for me, it boils down to an almost catastrophic waste of resources.
Let me say at the outset that I recognize the need to rile up the base for the election season. I understand that without an energized, hardcore set of volunteers, the party would be sunk. I'm not sure, however, that the party needs to spend the millions of dollars it did to achieve that effect. I sat in the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night watching the multi video screens scrolling text and flashing stars wondering if we really needed all of that? The party spends four years raising money from major donors just so they can spend a chunk of that money to throw lavish parties for said donors at the Convention. It seems a little nuts.
Yes, it all looks great on TV and that certainly is another goal. Yes, more people watched Barack Obama's acceptance speech than the Olympics. What those people don't see is all the wasted money behind the scenes: the piles of speech copies left at the end of each night (even though they had also been emailed to all press members); the concerts and parties thrown for donors; the lavish (yeah, I'll admit it) party thrown for the media. Certainly, much of the money to fund this was donated by major corporations, but doesn't that introduce another issue with which we should be uncomfortable?
Hats off to the Dems for throwing the "greenest" Convention ever. Heck, the beer cups at the media party, which appeared to be generic plastic and were emblazoned with the Coors logo, were actually made of corn and compostable. But in light of the interview I had with the taxi driver from the Sudan, maybe all that money would be best spent somewhere else.
I just happened to check out the Twitter "tweets" -- messages -- left by New Orleans residents, or at least those who listed as living in that city which seems to be the target of yet another Hurricane, this one called Gustof. How I did it was by simply typing "New Orleans" in a search on Twitter.
Some of the messages are from people who have already departed, like aliciammyers, who reports that she's "Driving towards Nashville. Want eggs so badly. Traffic is non-". Then sarahmparks writes that she's "keeping an eye on Gustav". Emmaleigh3 reports that she's "Watching pirates of the carribean and waiting for the storm".
She'd better get out of there!!
Twitter's a good way to determine the mood and place of people in a region during a disaster like Gustav. I'm going to follow the New Orleans people via Twitter in the days to come.
Cementing the perception that Alaska Governor and now Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin is a hottie, we have this photo of her in a mini-skirt. It's not real; as it turns out, it's photoshopped.
UPDATE: Sarah Palin in a swimsuit shows legs.
But with this, comes another perception: as one who's not ready to be Vice President, let alone President of the United States.
For example I present this article that was posted on the "Writers for Obama" web listserv. I don't know who the person is, no one does, but it's worth reading:
From a Classmate...the word on the GOP VP Candidate.
[I'd feel better publishing this if I knew the author's name, and could
verify it, but assuming this is not ghostwritten, it is very telling and
very insightful....This came from the most interesting Yahoo! group, Secular
Humanist, from the Moderator, Greg Dempsey]
Dear classmates -
As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on Sarah
Palin, Senator McCain's choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I know more than
most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her.
The most accurate description of her is red neck. Her husband works in the
oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and races snow mobiles. She is a life time member
of the NRA and has worked tirelessly to allow indiscriminatehunting of
wildlife in Alaska, particularly wolves and bears. She has spent millions of
Alaska state dollars on aerial hunting of these predators from helicopters
and airplanes, dollars that should have been spent, for example, on Alaska's
failing school system.
We have the lowest rate of high school graduation in the country. Not all of
you may think
aerial predator hu nting is so bad, but how anyone (other than Alaska wolf-
haters, of which there are many, most without teeth), could think this use
of funds is appropriate is beyond me. If you want to know moreabout the
aerial hunting travesty, let me know and I will send somelinks to
informative web sites.
She has been a strong supporter of increased use of fossil fuels, yet the
McCain campaign has the nerve to say she has "green" policies. The only
thing green about Sarah Palin is her lack of experience. She hasconsistently
supported drilling in ANWR, use of coal-burning power plants (as I write
this, a new coal plant is being built in her home town of Wasilla), strip
mining, and almost anything else that will unnecessarily exploit the
diminishing resources of Alaska and destroy
its environment.
Prior to her one year as governor of Alaska, she was mayor of Wasilla, a
small red neck town outside Anchorage.The average maximum education level of
parents of junior high school kids in Wasilla is 10th grade.
Unfortunately, I have to go to Wasilla every week to get groceries and other
supplies, so I have continual contact with the people who put Palin in
office in the first place. I know what I'm talking about. These people don't
have a concept of the world around them or of the serious issues facing the
US. Furthermore, they don't care. So long as they can go out and hunt their
moose every fall, kill wolves and bears and drive their snow mobiles and
ATVs through every corner of the wilderness,
they're happy. I wish I were exaggerating.
Sarah Palin is currently involved in a political corruption scandal. She
fired an individual in law enforcement here because she didn't like how he
treated one of her relatives during a divorce. The man's performanceand
ability weren't considered; it was a totally personal firing and is
currently under investigation. While the issue isn't close to the scandal of
Ted Steven's corruption, it shows that Palin isn't "squeaky clean" and
causes me to think there may be more issues that could come
to light. Clearly McCain doesn't care.
When you line Palin up with Biden, the comparison would be laughable ifit
weren't so serious. Sarah Palin knows nothing of economics (admittedly a
weak area for McCain), or of international affairs, knows nothing of
national government, Social Security, unemployment, health care systems -
you name it. The idea of her meeting with heads of foreign governments
around the world truly frightens me.
In an increasingly dangerous world, with the economy in shambles in the US,
Sarah Palin is uniquely UNqualified to be vice president. John McCain is not
a young man.
Should something happen to him such that the vice president had to step in,
it would destroy our country and possibly the world to have someone as
inexperienced and inappropriate as Sarah Palin.
The choice of Palin is a cheap shot by McCain to try to get Hillary
supporters to vote for him. When McCain introduced her today, Palin had the
nerve to compare herself with Hillary and Geraldine
Ferraro. Sarah Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton.
To those of you who, like me, supported Hillary and were upset that she did
not get the nomination, please don't think that Sarah Palin is a worthy
substitute.
If you supported Hillary, regardless of what you think the media and the
democratic party may have done to undermine her campaign, the person to
support now is Obama, not Sarah Palin.
To those of you who are independent or undecided, don't let the choice of
Palin sway you in favor of McCain. Choosing her shows how unqualified McCain
is to be president. To those of you who are conservative, I guess you have
no choice for president.
But please try to see how the poor choice of Palin tells us a great deal
about McCain's judgment.
While the political posturing inherent in the choice of Palin is obvious,
the more serious issue is the fact that the VP is, literally, a heartbeat
away.
I have to disagree with the perception of Governor Palin as "redneck" as she's said nothing but good things about Senator Obama and his Energy Policy Proposal.
On the show "Kudlow and Company" Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, during an interview with Larry Kudlow, asked what the VP did on a daily basis. That was a terrible question to ask for someone who eventually placed herself in the position of being Senator John McCain's VP running mate. It points to a kind of "on the campaign trail" job that the McCain people are undoubtedly doing at this point in time.
That's not what the ideal VP candidate should entail. It makes me wonder if McCain's people, or McCain himself, ever saw this video or even looked at her from a standpoint of the possibility that she would come off as a real neophyte.
This was one of the most amazing speeches Senator Obama has given. But it is the best speech, because it was done before 38 million people.
In this Invesco Field.
On this August Thursday.
Senator Obama made the case for Liberalism and did so better than anyone of our generation.
Here's the text from an email by PR Newswire :
Democratic Convention
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Denver, Colorado
As Prepared for Delivery
To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;
With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.
Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest -- a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.
To the love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia -- I love you so much, and I'm so proud of all of you.
Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story - of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.
It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.
That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive.
We meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.
Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach.
These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.
America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.
This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.
This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.
We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.
Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."
Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.
But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.
Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?
It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.
For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.
Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.
You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.
We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.
We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.
The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.
Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.
In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.
When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.
And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.
I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States.
What is that promise?
It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.
It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.
Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.
Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.
That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.
That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.
Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.
Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.
And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.
Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.
As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.
America, now is not the time for small plans.
Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American - if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.
Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.
Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.
And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.
Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.
And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.
Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise.
And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.
For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.
And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.
That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.
You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.
As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.
I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.
But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.
The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America.
So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.
America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn- out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore.
We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang- violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.
I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what - it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.
I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.
But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.
For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments.
I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work. I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.
And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.
This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.
And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.
The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.
But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.
"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."
America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.
On the floor of Invesco Field, I asked Actor Matthew Modine, former California Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, and a Clinton-now-Obama-delegate for their impressions of the event to that time. Modine said that "this is the place to be. Right here. Right now." Brown remarked that he had "never seen anything like this, and I'm 74 years old."
Sarah Palin - McCain's VP Pick Accused of Corruption, Enemy Of Open Government
Today, in a weird attempt to steal thunder from Senator Barack Obama's rousing nomination event at Invesco Field in Denver, Senator John McCain will announce that he's selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP pick.
(The matter of the fur around her neck will be discussed later.)
But it's a risk. She's painted as "squeeky clean" but there's not just the commonly mentioned investigation of abuse of power, but allegations from "palininvestigated.blogspot.com" that she's opposed to open goverment and "leads by Blackberry" working to hide records of communications by using that device.
On top of that, there's her interesting college background as a beauty queen, which causes one to want to look in that direction.
But the main question is can she be President of The United States? Can she deal with the complexities of foreign policy? The simple fact one has to ask that question is a problem.
