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We have a remarkable week coming up - The GOP convention, and the challenge of handling a major Gulf hurricane.  The key:  How John McCain and Sarah Palin accept their party's nominations while showing leadership in Hurricane Gustav.  We'll be blogging all week. 

Thought you'd be interested...

The United States Military Academy Concert Band in performance
last night at West Point.

MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER 1,  2008

BENNETT REBUKES CNN

Posted at 11:24 p.m. ET

Republican stalwart, former secretary of education, and CNN contributor Bill Bennett has issued a stunning on-the-air rebuke to CNN for its handling of the Bristol Palin story.  CNN, like other mainstream outlets, has sent reporters to Alaska to dig up anything they can about Sarah Palin.  One CNN reporter went way over the top, and Bennett made his views know.  You can see the video here at NewsBusters.

CNN ran a "headline" under its picture today, announcing Bristol Palin's pregnancy.  It ran, literally, for hours.  I am appalled.

The in-the-tank-for-Obama media risks a real backlash if this continues.  May it come.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 8:11 P.M. ET:  I just watched a CNN discussion on Sarah Palin, and was utterly sickened.  CNN is completely in the tank for Barack Obama, but you'd think they'd have at least some sense of shame.  Campbell Brown practically laughed at the comments made by a McCain spokesman.  We were informed that Palin's speech this Wednesday isn't really important, compared with the "vetting" the press would do. Palin's alleged lack of qualifications was hammered and hammered. 

COMMENT:  I recall no similar questions asked by CNN about Barack Obama.  Indeed, it took talk radio to force the mainstream media even to acknowledge that the man isn't God.  Reporters are rushing to Alaska to look for anything they can find on Palin, but it took months, in some cases years, for major news organizations to go to Chicago and ask anything about Obama.  It is absolutely disgraceful, an embarrassment to journalism. 

UPDATE AT 8:06 P.M. ET:  A new CBS poll just published shows Barack Obama up eight points.  This is the largest lead shown in any poll today.  It was a relatively small sample, taken among registered, not likely voters.  But it was taken entirely after John McCain named Sarah Palin.  No way to know how accurate this is.  It seems to be an outlier.

HIM VS. HER

Posted at 6:25 p.m. ET

Gerard Baker of The Times of London is one of the most astute British observers of our political scene.  Here he examines, with some glee, the contrast between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.  Obamans be warned:  He is not kind to your guy.

Democrats, between sniggers of derision and snorts of disgust, contend that Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential pick is ridiculously unqualified to be president.

It's a reasonable objection on its face except for this small objection: it surely needs to be weighed against the Democrats' claim that their own candidate for president is self-evidently ready to assume the role of most powerful person on the planet.

And it begins:

Obama: Worked his way to the top by cultivating, pandering to and stroking the most powerful interest groups in the all-pervasive Chicago political machine, ensuring his views were aligned with the power brokers there.

Palin: Worked her way to the top by challenging, attacking and actively undermining the Republican party establishment in her native Alaska.

Ah, but their history, his angst, his profound mind:

Obama: A classic, if unusually talented, greasy-pole climber. Held a succession of jobs that constitute the standard route to the top in his party's internal politics: "community organizer", law professor, state senator.

Palin:A woman with a wide range of interests in a well-variegated life. Held a succession of jobs - sports journalist, commercial fisherwoman, state oil and gas commissioner, before entering local politics. A resume that suggests something other than burning political ambition from the cradle but rather the sort of experience that enables her to understand the concerns of most Americans.

Not fair, not fair.  There are other things, like political jobs.  Why, he's been...

Obama: Elected to statewide office only after a disastrous first run for a congressional seat and after his Republican opponent was exposed in a sexual scandal. Won seat eventually in contest against a candidate who didn't even live in the state.

Palin: Elected to statewide office by challenging a long-serving Republican incumbent governor despite intense opposition from the party.

And there's more.  Read the whole thing and save it.  Compared to Sarah Palin, Barack Obama is...Barack Obama.  Minor senator, mediocre record, adoring media.

September 1, 2008.       Permalink          

TRACKERS

Posted at 3:20 p.m. ET

Both trackers for the day are now out.  Neither show any change from yesterday.  The Obama convention bounce has been far below expectation, but McCain did not gain in the last few days either.

As reported earlier, Rasmussen has Obama up three.

Gallup continues to have Obama up six.

The GOP convention starts today.  Hurricane Gustav looks to be far less a threat than we'd assumed.  I suspect the convention will be back on track tomorrow.  The key event:  Sarah Palin's acceptance speech.  People are eager to see her.  If she hits a home run, it could have a clear impact.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

CURIOUS UPDATE AT 2:08 P.M. ET:  DETROIT (AP) - Barack Obama urged hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Gustav. The Democratic presidential nominee scaled back a Labor Day speech to unions in an effort to keep the focus on the Gulf Coast.  Obama planned to finish his campaign schedule Monday with stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, two battleground states the campaign views as possible wins, before heading home to Chicago to monitor the situation and decide his schedule for the rest of the week.

COMMENT:  You have to go to Chicago to monitor a storm in Louisiana?  Really?  McCain and Palin went to the South for briefings.  Obama might have considered doing the same.   Bad move.

PALIN DAUGHTER PREGNANT

Posted at 1:03 p.m. ET

Here, from Reuters, is the full story of the Palin daughter's pregnancy, as reported a few minutes ago in the bulletin just below.  We report this only because of any political implications:

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

And...

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple's privacy.

McCain knew.

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

Shows class on McCain's part, but the issue will rumble through the campaign.  Listen for the whispers.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" circulating on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in May to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

Finally...

"The despicable rumors that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama's name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their 'campaign of change,'" a senior aide said.

I'm glad someone said that.  In reporting this story, the media have a perfect right, indeed an obligation, to put it in context.  So they will have to discuss those despicable rumors.  (That's known in libel cases as compounding the libel.)  As I said below, public reaction will depend on how Sarah Palin handles the issue.  So far, she's handled it with great dignity.

The public tends to be sympathetic in cases like this.  Indeed, the greater danger may well be to the Obama campaign, if the liberal blogger-clowns make something of the issue.  Millions of families have had similar situations, or known friends or relatives with similar situations, and they won't like dragging the family crisis through the mud.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

BULLETIN AT 12:40 P.M. ET - HANDLE WITH CARE:  From AP:  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Sarah and Todd Palin say their 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant.  The couple said in a statement released by John McCain's presidential campaign that Bristol will keep her baby.  Sarah Palin is McCain's vice presidential running mate.  The Alaska governor says Bristol intends to marry the father of her child. 

COMMENT:  Talk about a strange twist.  Was McCain aware of this?  It is impossible to predict the impact.  The real danger isn't serious criticism, but the jokes, the whispers, the ridicule.  Reaction can cut either way.  There could be a public backlash along the lines of, "She ignored a troubled child to pursue a political career," or there could be huge public sympathy.  The Dems should have the sense to remain silent.  My own sense, at best an informed guess, is that public reaction will be dictated entirely by how Sarah Palin handles the situation, and I suspect she'll handle it well.   

UPDATE AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  Fist tracker is out.  Rasmussen reports Obama up three, the same as yesterday.

THE GAME CHANGER

Posted at 6:55 a.m. ET

I've never seen a vice-presidential choice change a race the way Sarah Palin has changed this one.  The polls, as we've reported here, just stopped in place.  The Obama bounce turned into the Obama disappointment.  He comes out of his convention with very little. It wasn't worth the price of the fireworks or the rental of the hall.

Of course, the usual suspects are on the attack.  I'd imagine by this time that reporters from the mainstream media are bumping into each other at Anchorage Airport.  They rushed aboard jetliners as soon as Senator McCain picked Governor Palin, the better to record every juicy rumor or grudge.

Some of the stuff is getting ugly, real ugly.  For example, a story is being spread that Sarah Palin's newest child, the one with Down's Syndrome, isn't hers, but in fact is her daughter's.  This is absolutely revolting.  Sharp-eyed reader Jim Meyer alerts us to a piece in PolarTrec, a publication of teachers and researchers, that puts that one away permanently:

While delayed in the New Orleans Airport, I reflect back to my airport surprise when leaving Fairbanks after the PolarTREC Orientation in March...

...There were several of us PolarTRECers waiting in the Fairbanks, AK airport to catch our planes home. We were chatting about all we had learned when Kristen Timm, ARCUS administrator said “ Look, there is the Hottest Governor in the United States” as she has been publicly deemed by media and fans.

Of course I had to check out the “Hottest Governor in the US” and quickly turned to see her pregnant (she has since had her baby) with bags and daughter in tote. Then it struck me as odd. Why is the Governor of Alaska in the airport and preparing to get onto my commercial flight?

I questioned PolarTRECer Craig Kasemodel an Alaskan resident. He let me know that Governor Palin sold the corporate jet after securing her official Governor position.

Enough said.

Then there was an awful hit piece in The Politico, whose biases are starting to show, claiming that "scholars" say that Palin is the least qualified candidate ever to be on a major-party national ticket.  Another eagle-eyed reader, Gregory Koster, refers us to the McCain camp response, which pretty much sends that story to the shredder.  To its credit, The Politico published the response:

After reading this article, the McCain campaign issued the following statement:

"The authors quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin's fitness for the office of vice president. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed-out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Gov. Palin's credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Sen. McCain."

Good.  Great.  The McCain team is increasingly on the ball.  This will be a tough fight, but our side seems ready to rumble.

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

THE QUEEN IS DISPLEASED

Posted at 6:52 a.m. ET

Hillary Rodham Clinton, of late the presumed Democratic nominee for president, is apparently displeased by the emergence of Sarah Palin.  Of course she is.  She might have to run against her someday.  The New York Times reports on the royal discomfort:

ST. PAUL — Advisers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday that Senator John McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate would lead to a greater role for Mrs. Clinton as she campaigned this fall on behalf of her former rival, Senator Barack Obama.

Mrs. Clinton’s friends said she was galled that Ms. Palin might try to capitalize on a movement that Mrs. Clinton, of New York, built among women in the primaries. And Democrats used strong words on Sunday to rebut the notion: Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said that women would not be “seduced” by the Republican ticket, and Guy Cecil, the former political director of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said it was “insulting” for Republicans to compare Ms. Palin to Mrs. Clinton.

Seduced?  Did Kerry say seduced?  And of course it's insulting to compare Sarah Palin to Hillary Clinton.  It's an insult to Sarah.

Ah, but there is nuance.  Let's face it.  Hillary wants Obama to lose.  So her supporters aren't entirely dissing Sarah Palin.  She might, in some ways, be useful to them:

Nevertheless, Clinton advisers said they expected that a bloc of her female supporters would give Mr. McCain a second look because of Ms. Palin, and that Mrs. Clinton was probably Mr. Obama’s best weapon in response. But asked if the Palin pick would lead to a new political marriage between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a senior Clinton adviser, Ann Lewis, said: “Not a political marriage. She is not on the ticket. Senator Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate. Hillary will do what she can to help.”

Did you feel the same knife I did? 

So Hillary is upset with Sarah, but her supporters are still upset with Barack.  You know, this could be a show on CBS at three in the afternoon.  Could run about ten years.  Procter & Gamble, are you listening?

Obama advisers said they had not settled on the number of days that Mrs. Clinton would campaign for the ticket. She has at least one event next week, they said, adding that all indications from the Clinton camp — with which, before the Democrats’ convention last week, post-primary relations were still bumpy — were helpful and positive.

Yeah, right.  Helpful and positive.  Like poison ivy. 

Spectacular election year, isn't it?

September 1, 2008.      Permalink          

SUNDAY,  AUGUST 31,  2008

STUNNER:  A NEW CNN POLL JUST OUT, AND TAKEN OVER THE LAST THREE DAYS, SHOWS OBAMA WITH ONLY A ONE-POINT LEAD.  THE BOUNCE HAS STOPPED AND THE BALL IS ROLLING DOWN THE HILL.

PALIN POWER

Posted at 11:42 p.m. ET

We're back now after visiting West Point for the season-closing concert of the U.S. Military Academy Concert Band, and the Jazz Knights.  You haven't lived until you've heard the Concert Band play the "1812 Overture" with live Army cannon providing the effects, and fireworks bursting overhead.    We've gone every year for years, and you never tire of the performance.

Earlier in the evening I was able to listen to part of the John Batchelor Show on ABC radio.  He interviewed Mona Charen and John Fund, who are covering the Republican convention.  Two points from those interviews:

- Sarah Palin has electrified the Republican Party, and money is pouring in.  Even conservative giant James Dobson, who has millions of listeners to his radio program, has now endorsed McCain, an endorsement he'd previously withheld.  Aside from money, the new enthusiasm for the McCain ticket should bring in voters who might have stayed home.  That could translate into important percentage points at the polls.

- Second point.  John Fund articulated what many of us feel when he said that Barack Obama is the most non-transparent and secretive candidate we've had since Richard M. Nixon.  Charles Krauthammer said something similar earlier in the week when he described Obama as "the stranger."  And Fund pointed out what we've been stressing here - that the mainstream media simply will not ask the questions of Obama that it asks others routinely.  He noted that John McCain has released thousands of pages of medical records, but that Barack Obama has released precisely one.

The major network anchors are now rushing to the Gulf Coast to cover the storm.  Not to worry.  Even if they try to avoid the GOP convention, they can't.  McCain is handling the situation with sensitivity and competence, and that may do him more goods than a lot of ribbons and balloons. 

August 31, 2008.      Permalink          

DUMMIES WE

Posted at 2:37 pm. ET

Dean Barnett has an excellent piece in The Weekly Standard, examining how the Democrats are likely to assault Sarah Palin.  Very perceptive, I think:

In 1981, former Harry Truman consigliere and LBJ Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford memorably labeled the new Republican sheriff in town an "amiable dunce." At the time, Clifford was the living embodiment of the Washington establishment, and his glib analysis showed that while you can find the occasional memorable phrase on the D.C. cocktail circuit, facile conclusions delight the crowd more than serious inquiry.

And...

However obtuse, Clifford's summation of Reagan sat on the cutting edge of a new school of political partisanship. Starting with Gerald Ford, the inside-the-beltway class and its amplifiers in the media have routinely decided that Republicans who seek national office are dullards. Literally every Republican candidate for president since 1980 has had his intellect belittled.

That is correct.  It's remarkable that many Democrats still refer to Reagan as "stupid," and regard the current president, who reads widely, as intellectually stunted.  He is not.  This really began, though, not with Ford, but with Eisenhower, one of the most thoughtful men ever to hold the presidency.  Democrats sneered at him as a simpleton and an "Army man." 

Of course, no such scrutiny greets Democratic candidates. Barack Obama can't make it through a 30 second extemporaneous statement on his campaign bus without a profusion of "ums" and "ahs." And yet Obama's stumbling diction has yet to interest his worshippers in the press the way that George H.W. Bush's periodic wrestling matches with the English language did.

But, dearies, our Barack is simply searching for the precise word, the way a true intellect would.  Don't you understand that?

Because it's difficult to argue that Barack Obama has more experience or has achieved greater accomplishments than Palin, the Democrats are left to fall back on their old Obama standby--Judgment. As Judgment is applied in the Obama context, it means Obama can serve as president because he's extremely intelligent.

And went to the right schools, too, not like that Alaska person.

So in order to bring down Palin, her malefactors on the left will have to argue a lack of "readiness," which with the thinly credentialed Obama on the other ticket can only serve as a shorthand for lack of intelligence. Chances are, ink-stained wretches are plumbing Palin's every past public utterance desperately seeking the evidence that proves she too is an amiable dunce. Of course, any misstatement on the campaign trail will serve as prima facie proof of her dim intellect.

And...

In spite of her many and notable self-made successes, an entire intellectual industry has already sprouted up with the sole intention of proving that she's a moron. The left wants to Quayle-ize her, and their efforts to do so won't be half-hearted.

I'm afraid that's correct.  But there's good news...

She controls how the American people will come to view her much more than they do. There's a reason her excellent speech on Friday set off such a firestorm of rage and irrational hissy-fits on the left. Speaking directly to the American people, Palin cut an attractive and intelligent figure. Regardless of the left's anger, the American people will believe their own eyes rather than a frustrated blogger's or haughty anchorman's blustery "analysis."

When Clark Clifford toured the D.C. cocktail party circuit with his "amiable dunce" assessment of Ronald Reagan, most of the assembled sippers agreed. History proved them wrong. But that's not what really has the left rattled as they set off in pursuit of Sarah Palin. The American people knew Ronald Reagan was no dunce long before the Clark Cliffords of Washington admitted as much.

Well said.  Read the piece.

August 31, 2008.       Permalink          

TRACKERS

Posted at 1:49 p.m. ET

Both trackers for Sunday are now out, and both show a slight erosion in support for Obama.

As reported earlier, Rasmussen has Obama up three points.  He had him up four yesterday.

Gallup has Obama up six.  He was up eight yesterday.

It's clear that whatever bounce Obama received from his convention has stopped bouncing. 

But let me point out that Obama is still ahead.  Although he received less-than-expected momentum from his convention, he didn't lose anything there either.  Those of us supporting McCain should be sobered by the fact that McCain has rarely been ahead in this race, and then only by a point or two.

It remains to be seen whether McCain will improve his standing at this week's GOP convention, which may be modified because of Hurricane Gustav.

It's also clear that the initial reaction to Sarah Palin has been very positive, especially among conservatives.  Look for Democrats, probably led by some leftist feminists, to mount a full-scale attack against her.  The press will help out, with enthusiasm.  It will get ugly.  Obama is not a "new" kind of politician.  In fact, he's standard issue, with a silver tongue.  The Chicago machine did not teach him how to wage a fair fight. 

The election is still more than two months away.  Everything can change.

August 31, 2008.      Permalink          

POLITICAL UPDATE AT 12:26 P.M. ET:  From The Politico:  Democrats have come up with a new line of attack line against John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, saying she's another Dick Cheney.  Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) described Palin as a member of the "flat-earth caucus," who McCain picked purely to please the conservative base.

COMMENT:  Real imaginative, especially having John Kerry carry the ball.  Is the Democratic death wish, previously demonstrated by Kerry's own nomination, coming back?  Apparently so.

BULLETIN, AT 9:37 A.M. ET:  First tracker is out.  Rasmussen has Obama up three.  Yesterday Ras had him up four.  The one-point difference is not critical.  The key point is that the Obama convention bounce has apparently been stopped, possibly by the naming of Sarah Palin.  Rasmussen notes that this is the same lead Obama had going into his convention.

And Rasmussen reports the following:  "There have been significant changes in perception of John McCain in the two days of polling since he named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Since then, 49% of Republicans voice a Very Favorable opinion of McCain. That’s up six percentage points from 43% just before the announcement. Also, 64% of unaffiliated voters now give positive reviews to McCain, up ten points since naming his running mate." 

STORM UPDATE, 8:54 A.M. ET:  Would you please read this, from the AP:  "NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- As dawn broke Sunday over a city under siege, bumper-to-bumper traffic was reported in nearly every direction as residents heeded orders to flee an only partially rebuilt New Orleans."

Really?  Every direction?  Don't you usually head out of the city when fleeing?  Does anyone read AP stories before they're put on the wire?

We'll check and tell you which way the traffic is going.  Shouldn't take much.

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Posted at 8:47 a.m. ET

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."  Wasn't that the line from "The Wizard of Oz?"

Apparently, the Obama campaign has learned it well.  Have you noticed that virtually everything the opposition brings up is called a "distraction" by the Obama camp?  Rev. Wright?  Distraction.  Bill Ayers?  Distraction.  Connection to a Chicago criminal?  Distraction.

Now we have the mother of all distractions.  Behold:

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Republican John McCain showed off his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in this key battleground state Saturday as Democratic rival Barack Obama's campaign aired a new TV ad urging voters not be distracted by McCain putting a woman on the GOP ticket.

Nothing to see, folks.  Nothing to see.  Move along, please.  Pay no attention to that woman on the ticket.

Obama and running mate Joe Biden, meanwhile, stumped in Ohio Saturday. At the same time, their campaign unveiled a 30-second national TV ad that says McCain's selection of Palin should not obscure the fact that McCain candidacy represents a continuation of President Bush's policies.

"So, while this may be his running mate," an announcer says with a photo of Palin on the screen, "America knows this is McCain's agenda." The visual then switches to a shot of McCain and Bush. "We can't afford four more years of the same."

Fellas, this is getting tiresome.  George Bush isn't on the ballot. 

What is remarkable about this ad, and other aspects of the Obama campaign, is the contempt that is shown for the American people.  Don't the Obamacans realize that people know that McCain is very much his own man?  Don't they realize that Americans know, especially after her Friday speech, that Sarah Palin isn't running to advance the Bush administration?

Simply calling Palin another distraction reveals a campaign that is tired and stale.  And why shouldn't it be?  The Obama campaign is remarkably lacking in substance or originality.  The Palin pick caught them off guard.  They responded with a patronizing cliché.  You know, they could lose this.

August 31, 2008.       Permalink          

THE AGONY OF THE MEDIA

Posted at 7:46 a.m. ET

Decisions, decisions.  What to do, what to do?

I feel the media's pain as it decides which is more important this week, the hurricane or the convention.  Just the anguish in their hearts moves me.  Do read the report of their suffering at The Politico:

On Saturday evening, CNN broadcast Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s campaign appearance on an Ohio football field, with the live feed taking up roughly three-quarters of viewers’ television screens.

But it was the more ominous, unfolding news story taking up the remaining sliver that’s more likely on the minds of media executives and top editors: the path of Hurricane Gustav.

When asked about the focus of his network’s coverage this week, David Bohrman, CNN’s senior vice president for programming, had more questions than answers: “Is it a hurricane? Is it the convention? Or is it a blend of the two?”

Either way, the storm is already having an impact on news organizations still moving sizeable teams from Denver to St. Paul, Minn.

Anderson Cooper, whose television breakthrough occurred while covering Hurricane Katrina three years ago, is CNN’s first big star to change flight plans from St. Paul to New Orleans. Bohrman said he’s coordinating CNN’s convention coverage with the expectation that Cooper will not be in the Twin Cities on Monday.

Believe me, this is complete dry rot.  Remember something called World War II?  There was a war in Europe, and there was a war in the Pacific.  And there was war at hundreds of spots in between.

And, amazing, the whole war got covered. 

News organizations have the resources, either individually or through pools, to cover both stories.  But I do suspect (why is this?) that some news outlets look forward to minimizing or even blotting out the Republican convention.  For them, this really is the perfect storm.  Okay, that's terribly harsh.  But we now know that a number of "journalists" stood and applauded Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Denver Thursday night.  That is outrageously unprofessional behavior.  So excuse me if I attribute less-than-professional motives to some other journalists.  They embarrass my profession.

The Republicans may modify or even put off their convention.  McCain is now surrounded by first-class strategists, and they have the ability to turn this sad disruption into an advantage.  Yes, that's political calculation in the face of tragedy, but that is what strategists are paid to do.   Even if the midst of major war, elections are held and strategists plan.

So watch what the candidates do this week if the hurricane hits hard.  And watch how the news media handle the balance between Republicans and weather.

August 31, 2008.      Permalink          

"What you see is news.  What you know is background.  What you feel is opinion."
    - Lester Markel, late Sunday editor
      of The New York Times.

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