With his first month as President in the bag, Barack Obama is receiving an unparalleled level of support from the American public in regards to his ability to handle, and in this case fix, the shattered economy. In fact President Obama has the largest lead over opposition party in overall trust to handle the economy as any U.S. President has had in over 20 years.

Even sky high approval ratings, President Barack Obama still has some undeniable challenges in front of him in regards to the post-partisanship government he spoke of so often throughout his long and hard fought presidential campaign. Nonetheless Obama clearly holds the upper hand, both in overall approval and on the dominant issue of the day. He leads the Republicans in Congress by 61-26 percent in trust to handle the economy, the biggest such lead for a president in ABC News/Washington Post polls since 1991.

Obama’s overall approval ratings are definitely strong, in both the literal and historical sense, currently hovering at 68 percent of Americans approving of the job he has done so far. However when you look closely at the polls internal findings you will find that the partisanship is as glaring as ever with 90 percent of Democrats approving of Obama’s performance thus far, and only 37 percent of Republicans happy with the newly elected President. This sharp party line divide among American’s is nearly identical to the numbers that accompanied George W. Bush in his first term which was hot off the heels of the controversial 2000 election and its subsequent outcome.

As mentioned above, the partisanship divide is as clear cut as ever before, but with that said it also becomes important to point out that many American’s are giving the President credit for his attempts at bringing the two sides together. More or less, a healthy majority of American’s recognize that while it may not be working yet, Barack Obama is undoubtedly attempting to forge a healthy middle ground between the Democrats and Republicans:

While President Barack Obama cannot be happy with the ultra-partisanship we are currently seeing, regardless if he is being recognized for trying to bring the two political factions together, it begs the question; how bad is this split for Republicans? According to the same ABC News/Washington Post poll — the hyper partisanship appears to be a bigger downfall for the Republicans, whose party remains on life support after what the majority of Americans fee was a disastrous Bush presidency. Below are the numbers – and it won’t take long until you see that if anyone is hurting from the inability to work together, it is the elected officials of the right:

• The Democratic Party leads the Republicans by 56-30 percent in trust to handle the country’s main problems. That has slightly improved from 56-23 percent in December, as congressional Republicans found a unified voice in opposition to the stimulus. But the December number was the Republicans’ worst in ABC/Post polls since 1982; they still have far to climb.
• Fifty percent of Americans approve of the way the Democrats in Congress are doing their jobs, while 44 percent disapprove – if hardly a barn-burner, still the Democrats’ best in two years, since April 2007, just after they regained control of Congress. And their Republican counterparts are a good deal weaker: 38 percent approve, 56 percent disapprove. (Democratic gains have come mainly in two groups: among Democrats themselves, and among liberals. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats now approve of their own party; just 55 percent of Republicans feel the same about theirs.)
• The Democrats are holding the edge in partisan affiliation they’ve built since 2004, when the public soured on the Iraq war and the Bush presidency in turn. Thirty-six percent in this poll identify themselves as Democrats, just 24 percent as Republicans. On average in 2003, by contrast, the parties were at parity, 31 percent apiece.

I have also attached a graph that pretty much reinforces the bumbers cited above — You will see just how much the public’s trust level in terms of the economy has dropped off for Republicans starting back in 2005 and plummeting at a fairly steady rate ever since:

Some constants have remained throughout this first month. For instance,young people still support Barack Obama at an unprecedented rate. Among young adults, or as they are being referred to nowadays, “Millennials” (those between the age of 18 and 30) his overall approval rating peaks at a startling 84 percent, compared with 59 percent in his weakest age group, seniors (this was a trend we saw throughout the primaries and general election as well.) There are income gaps here as well; among people with incomes less than $50,000, 66 percent approve of Obama’s handling of the economy; among those in $100,000+ households, this drops to half. Two possible reasons: Better-off Americans are more apt to be Republicans. And they’re in Obama’s cross hairs on taxes — and their awareness of it.

If you are interested in seeing the entire ABC/Washington Post poll regarding Obama’s first month in office you can do so by clicking here. It is really quite interesting and unfortunately, familiar to what we have seen throughout the past couple of years. The main difference  is that now it’s Republican’s who are in the doghouse, and many would say it’s rightfully so.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Breaking news, Breaking political news, Breaking Politics News, Democrats, george w. bush, GOP, latest Polls, Latest Presidential Polls, Obama

Senator Obama’s controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright, is set to make a last-minute resurgence in the US presidential campaign as the centrepiece of attack ads paid for by a political fund-raising group aligned with the Republican Party.

The advertisements are set to air nationally on all major networks and on cable channels Fox and CNN.

They are paid for by the National Republican Trust PAC (political action committee), run by the former journalist Scott Wheeler with about $US5 million to spend, allowing the McCain campaign to claim they are not authorised by them.

The ads are running in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, but are expected to get a much bigger exposure in the next five days.

The advertisement shows extracts from Mr Wright’s now infamous sermons and intones that Senator Obama “never complained” about Mr Wright “until he ran for president”, adding that Senator Obama is “too radical, too risky”.

A similar smear campaign run by a PAC, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, raised damaging and unfounded allegations about the Democrat John Kerry’s war record in the closing days of the 2004 campaign, with devastating results. This time, however, the attack ads are being run in the wake of an unprecedented half-hour infomercial from the Obama campaign, which told real-life stories of economic hardship and showed Senator Obama speaking from an Oval Office-esque setting – and drew more than 33.55 million viewers.
The ad, screened on Wednesday, proved more popular than even the final game of the World Series – and last season’s finale of American Idol. Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS TV network, one of three to screen the spot, told The New York Times yesterday: “I was shocked by the number Obama was able to draw. It’s just a stunning number.”

The McCain camp took Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher out on the campaign trail yesterday, as the Republicans desperately sought to reverse their fortunes in battleground states now being blitzed by advertising spending by Senator Obama’s campaign.

Senator McCain was in Ohio while his running mate, Sarah Palin, was in Pennsylvania on Thursday. Yesterday morning, Senator McCain was due to campaign with one of the most popular figures of the Republican Party, the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the Ohio capital, Columbus.

Senator Obama has begun another sweep through the Midwest red states, visiting Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa and Indiana. He has deployed high-profile Democratic surrogates to other battlegrounds, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al Gore.

However, Senator McCain is unable to rely on help from President George Bush, George Bush senior, or any senior members of Mr Bush’s Administration, because of the dangers of being associated with the Government.

On Thursday there were reports the Obama campaign had approached the Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel, a veteran of the Clinton White House, to become his chief of staff.

While the polls indicate a big lead for Senator Obama in the battleground states, the national polls show a more confusing picture. The Fox News poll shows that Senator Obama leads by only 3 points nationally, suggesting Senator McCain is still in contention if the undecided voters break strongly in his favour.

But The New York Times/CBS poll gives Senator Obama a virtually unbeatable 11-point lead. The poll found that a growing number of voters – 59 per cent, up 9 points in a month – have concluded that Mrs Palin is not qualified to be vice-president and that has weighed down the Republican ticket.

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election, barack obama, Jeremiah Wright, john mccain, politics

Democrat Barack Obama, propelled forward by mounting economic concerns among Americans, now leads his Republican rival John McCain 53 per cent to 43 per cent, a new opinion poll showed today.

Authors of the ABC News/Washington Post survey said historically, no presidential candidate has been able to come back from an October deficit this large in pre-election polls dating back to 1936.

Nearly nine in 10 registered voters said they were worried about the direction of the national economy, while about seven in 10 said they were worried about their own family finances.

Fifty-five per cent call the economy the single most important issue in this vote, according to the poll.

In the wake of the banking crisis, just 44 per cent of Americans were still confident they will have enough money to carry them through retirement, down from a high of 69 per cent three years ago, the survey showed.

It also indicated that voters trust Obama to guide them through these troubled times. Registered voters preferred him over McCain to handle the economy by a 53 per cent to 37 per cent margin.

A record 90 per cent of registered voters now say the country is seriously off on the wrong track, the most since this question first was asked in 1973, the survey indicated.

Meanwhile, US President George W Bush’s job approval rating has dropped to a record low of just 23 per cent, which is below the lowest of Richard Nixon, forced to resign in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.

Bush’s disapproval rating, meanwhile, has reached 73 per cent, according to the poll.

The poll of 1,101 adults, conducted by telephone October 8-11, 2008, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three per cent.

AFP

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election, barack obama, democrat, politics

A fresh spate of polls shows Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama pulling ahead of Republican rival John McCain, who has borne the political brunt of the US financial crisis and been hurt by a rise in unfavourable views of his running mate Sarah Palin.

With less than a month until the November 4 election, the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found 53 per cent of likely voters back Obama for president, compared with 45 per cent for McCain.

CNN noted the eight-point margin doubles Obama’s advantage from the four-point lead he held in the previous CNN/Opinion Research poll, conducted mid-September.

The poll suggests President George W Bush’s record low approval ratings, at 24 per cent, contribute to the Republican ticket’s woes.

“Bush has now tied Richard Nixon’s worst rating ever, taken in a poll just before he resigned in 1975, and is only two points higher than the worst presidential approval rating in history, Harry Truman’s 22 per cent mark in February 1952,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

The ongoing economic turmoil is also contributing to Obama’s lead.

Sixty-eight per cent of likely voters are “confident in the Democratic presidential nominee’s ability to handle the financial crisis, 18 points ahead of McCain, and 42 points ahead of President Bush”, reported CNN.

McCain’s running mate, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, who briefly rallied the Republican base in the weeks after she was plucked from obscurity little over a month ago, appears to be falling out of favour with American voters.

“A majority of Americans now believe that Sarah Palin would be unqualified to serve as president if it became necessary, and her unfavourable rating has doubled,” Holland said.

Palin has stepped up her attacks on Obama.

In a two-day Florida tour aimed at stalling Obama’s momentum in a pivotal state, Palin portrayed him as a left-wing zealot who got his start in politics with the help of a violent Vietnam War protester.

“Wait a minute, he didn’t know that he had launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist?” Palin asked at one meeting, referring to the Obama campaign’s claim that he did not know of William Ayers’ radical activities when he was a state senate candidate in 1995.

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election, barack obama, john mccain, politics

Based on presidential election polls, electoral votes are summed and grouped into “strong states”, “weak states, etc., to illustrate how much each candidate relies on “weak states votes”.

It also shows the development since March 2008, to identify if a candidate is getting to rely more or less “on weak states votes”

Technorati Tags: Latest Presidential Polls

Five days from their first presidential debate, Democrat Barack Obama has climbed in the polls as Republican John McCain fumbled his response to a looming US economic cataclysm – one that threatened to match the financial catastrophe of the 1930s Great Depression.

The US Congress and the administration of President George W Bush were grappling with a proposed $US700-billion ($870 billion) bail-out plan to save the US economy from full collapse, feeding anxiety among voters who already were far more concerned about their financial futures than any other issue in the 2008 presidential campaign – including the intractable US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson resisted a Democratic push to add additional help for households to the bailout measure, saying financial markets remain under severe stress with an urgent need for Congress to act quickly without adding other measures that could slow passage.

Obama was campaigning in North Carolina after declaring a day earlier McCain was in a panic, realising he and his Republican party were philosophically responsible for the near meltdown of the US financial system. The Arizona senator, a 26-year veteran of Congress, shot back that his first-term Illinois Senate colleague was resorting to scare tactics.

But McCain faces the daunting task of trying to square his long history of advocating corporate and financial deregulation – the sort of loose controls many blame for the turmoil on Wall Street.

Obama seized on that during a campaign appearance at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida.

“There’s only one candidate who’s called himself ‘fundamentally a deregulator’ when deregulation is part of the problem,” Obama said.

McCain now says more controls are needed to prevent a repeat of the turmoil that sent the stock market plunging, as he tries to recover from a series of gaffes this week, starting with his assessment on Monday that US economic fundamentals were strong.

National polls indicate McCain’s edge in the US presidential race has slipped since the market upheaval. The latest Gallup Poll daily tracking survey also showed Obama ahead, with 50 per cent to McCain’s 44 per cent. Last Sunday, a day before stocks took a dive on Wall Street, McCain and Obama were in a statistical dead heat, with McCain’s 47 per cent against Obama’s 45 per cent.

Both candidates are busy preparing for their first nationally televised debate on Friday at the University of Mississippi, which offers McCain a chance to reverse his recent slide in the polls.

Obama has put McCain on the defensive by targeting some states that have been easy wins for Republicans in recent presidential elections. McCain’s political director said yesterday the Republican nominee is increasing staff levels in North Carolina to defend a state that has not gone Democratic for more than three decades.

Obama’s rise coincided not only with the financial meltdown but with his own more aggressive campaign stance.

“His solution was to blame me for it,” Obama said, referring to the economic crisis. “I would say Senator McCain is a little panicked.”

The Democrat also criticised McCain’s ties to lobbyists and his support for partial privatisation of the Social Security pension system, and noted McCain wrote in a trade publication that opening the health insurance market to more vigorous competition nationwide, as was done with the banking industry, would provide more choices.

“So let me get this straight,” Obama said. “He wants to run health care like they’ve been running Wall Street. Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren’t going to think that’s a good idea.”

But Obama’s characterisation was a politically charged oversimplification of McCain’s article for the American Academy of Actuaries. In the article, McCain wrote that people should be allowed to buy health insurance across state lines.

Obama’s comments came as Bush defended a proposed multibillion-dollar financial bailout designed to rescue struggling markets. The bailout will allow the government to buy $US700 billion in toxic mortgages now held by financial institutions and would be the biggest government bailout since the Great Depression.

The White House had hoped for a deal with Congress by the time markets opened tomorrow, but Paulson’s remarks suggested it could take more time.

The market fell steeply last Monday in response to the bankruptcy of storied Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers, the decision of a second powerful investment house Merrill Lynch to sell itself at a fire-sale price, and the Federal Reserve’s intervention in insurance company American International Group Inc.

But Wall Street enjoyed a huge rally on Friday after the government said it was creating a plan to rescue troubled US banks from their souring debts. If such a plan is put in place, it could help alleviate the uncertainty that has been sending the markets into tumult over the past week.

McCain had a campaign stop slated in Baltimore, Maryland, today, while Alaska governor Sarah Palin, his vice-presidential running mate, was to hold a rally in Florida.

AP

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election, barack obama, john mccain, Obama ahead in polls, politics

Over the past 48 hours I have heard right wing commentator after right wing commentator, as well as just about every single news outlet in general wet their pants over the latest nationwide polling numbers which show John McCain ahead of Barack Obama. The glee in their voices, and contrived aloofness (“how can this be?”) promptly followed by over analyzing every aspect the shows time slot allows them to are both annoying and petty. Unfortunately for these so called “political experts” the polls they are clamoring over are flawed in more ways then just one.

So you may be asking yourself what is it that makes the latest polls, the ones showing McCain up by a handful of points invalid? And too that my answer is simple – the pollsters conducting these lopsided studies are simply sampling a larger republican population in a way that leaves the results numerically impossible to show anything less then a McCain lead.

Earlier today Seth Colter Walls published a piece over at the Huffington Post which sheds some light on the tampering going on in regards to the pollsters overall sampling sizes which of course hinges (in a macro sense) on ones Party Identification. The pollsters (for reasons unknown by myself) are flat out oversampling Republican voters, and in some cases, are doing so at an obnoxious rate. Walls explains this phenomenon in great detail, stating:

“In a year in which Democrats have a lead of 11 million registered voters over Republicans, and have been adding to that advantage through a robust field operation, are pollsters over-sampling Republicans?

Despite a raft of advantages in the electorate for Democrats, in September’s first Gallup tracking poll, an equal number of Republicans and Democrats were surveyed (including “leaners”) from Sept. 3-5, compared to a 10-point Democratic identification advantage two weeks ago. That partisan makeup of the polling pool resulted in a 5-point lead for McCain in Sept. 5 tracking poll. Meanwhile, the new CBS poll features a 6-point swing in partisan composition toward Republicans, which plays some role in the poll’s two-point lead for McCain. Finally, the latest USA Today poll, which claims a four-point edge for McCain, was arrived at after a 10-point swing in partisan makeup toward GOP respondents.”

This practice is not new to electoral politics, however it is arguably receiving more attention, or in this case scrutiny, due to the fact people can look into the raw data taken into account for whatever specific poll is in question. The reasons they do this are simple – to create a “close race” with the dramatic “ups and downs” which subsequently leads to a peaked interest in the weekly/daily numbers which then spikes the overall demand for their product – the polls:

Norman admitted that the GOP identification in the latest survey has spiked. “The party ID in our most recent poll does show a shift away from what Gallup has been getting in earlier polls, going all the way back to 2005,” Norman said. “But previous conventions — the Republican one in 1988, the Democratic one in 1992, the Democratic one in 2000 — have also shown shifts in party ID toward the party that had the convention, and those shifts seemed to last, to greater or lesser degrees, though the election. Further, I’ve been told by Gallup that their tracking poll has shown a similar shift in party ID since the Republican convention. … I guarantee you we will be watching closely in all of our polls between now and election day to see whether there are further shifts in party ID in either direction.”

Still not convinced? Well don’t just take my word on it, here is what Adam Abramowitz, a world renound political scientist who is currently a professor at Emory University has to say about the latest gaggle of polls we saw released over the past two days:

Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz is highly skeptical of the new Gallup, USA Today and CBS polls. About the latter, which showed a statistically insignificant two point lead for McCain, Abramowitz said: “One reason for the dramatic difference between the two recent CBS polls is that the two samples differed fairly dramatically in terms of partisan composition. The first sample was 35.2% Democratic, 26.2 percent Republicans, and 38.6 percent independent. The second sample was 34.9% Democratic, 31.1% Republican, and 34.0% independent. That’s a change from a 9 point Democratic advantage to a 3.8 point Democratic advantage. That alone would probably explain about half of the difference in candidate preferences between the two [CBS] polls.”

So with the argument laid out quite clearly, I think it is important that we look at a handful of other polls, which are being released by major publications. Granted they don’t offer the same “excitement” factor the other trumped up ones do, they seem nonetheless to be a tad more accurate – at least in the sense of their sampling ratios:

• American Research Group (ARG):

• Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll:

• NBC/Wall Street Journal:

It is clear that John McCain has made up some ground in the polls, I am in no way refuting that. I am however pointing out that the grossly negligent numbers that showed McCain leading by as many as 10 points were in fact doctored to appear how they did.

So before you (and by you I am talking to the Republicans who have had a nonstop orgasm the past 2 days) go on with your gloating please take into account the fact that the polls in which you are bragging about simply overloaded the sampling with GOP voters.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Battleground, Breaking news, Cbs Poll, doctoring the polls, ELECTION, Gallup Poll, joe biden, john mccain, John McCain ahead in polls, john mccain leads in the polls, new polls, new presidential polls, obama ahead in the polls, Politics News, Poll Madness Mccain Takes Lead, polls, President, Presidential Polls, Sarah Palin, unfair polls, USA Today Poll, Vote, ]

Sarah Palin just wrapped up her highly anticipated Vice Presidential acceptance speech at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Palin was the Convention’s second night’s main event, serving as the “cherry on top” in what turned out to be a rather ugly, substanceless and downright tacky parade of GOP maniquens. I must admit that I found it somewhat difficult to focus on what Sarah Palin was even saying, my attention kept being averted to her infant son Trig, who might I add has down syndrome, being passed around like a bowl of chips at a super bowl party.

Let’s get one thing straight – whether you are a Republican or a Democratic, if you have any sliver of common sense in your body, you would have to admit that tonight was one of the most desperate, far-fetched, and completely free of anything to do with actual policy and plans on implementing it.

• FACT: McCain/Palin reform is just … well, there’s nothing. It’s an overused phrase but it is all rhetoric. Not only has their party been in power for 8 years. But every policy pushed by John McCain is the one embraced by George Bush. Economic policy, tax policy, Iraq policy, social issues, Bush style politicking, everything.
• FACT: Sarah Palin continues to lie through her teeth about opposing the historically attrocious”Bridge to Nowhere”. Tonight, for the second time in a week, Palin stated:

“I told the Congress “thanks, but no thanks,” for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we’d build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged – directly to the people of Alaska.”

This is a lie. It’s really that simple – there is no truth whatso ever behind Palin’s claim. Making the lie worse is the fact that Palin worked hard to push the project through, doing whatever she could to sure up every last pork barrel cent for this callamity of a ear mark:

“Palin said Alaska’s congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge as part of a package deal and that she ‘would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge.”

How long until she gets called out for this? I mean there isn’t even a shred of truth behind her declaration of opposition – it is a bold faced lie. Yet she keeps on repeating it without any recourse or blowback. You gotta love the double standards here.

• FACT: ON Monday CNN’s Campbell Brown practically begged McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds to answer one simple question. Brown repeatedly plead with Bounds; “Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard?” Bounds didn’t answer the question, and he didn’t answer for good reason – she hasn’t:

“Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard?” CNN journalist Campbell Brown asked Monday while interviewing McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. “Just one?” Bounds couldn’t, because Palin has never personally ordered the state guard to do anything.

The governor has no command authority overseas or anywhere in the United States other than Alaska, said Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, the service commander of the Alaska National Guard.

“When members of the National Guard are federalized, they work for the president,” Campbell said Wednesday. “It’s not just overseas. They could be federalized to go to other states or they could even be federalized in the state.”

• FACT: Keeping with the theme of regurgitating lies in an attempt to pawn them off as reality, Sarah Palin stated:

“I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.”

Again, Palin completely disregards any figment of reality. The truth of the matter is that Palin, when Mayor of Wasilla, hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation.

• FACT: Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body for multiple instances of her abusing her power. Firing people at will, and letting family issues (her sister’s divorce) dictate decisions that affected the city she was supposed to be looking out for.

“The one moment that stays with me tonight, oddly enough, was not Palin’s speech. It was a line from Giuliani, a New York mayor with a young second third wife and gay friends, mocking a “cosmopolitan” who was brought up by a single mother. It was that Barack Obama’s rise could “only happen in America.” And it was designed to mock him, the first African-American candidate for the presidency of the United States. I won’t forget that.”

“Mitt Romney seems to use the word “liberal” in a randomly pejorative fashion. I half expect him to say “I was eating breakfast this morning, and my hash browns were all liberal. I sent them back and told the waitress to bring me some good, conservative hash browns.”

“Since her name was announced as John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin has generated more US-based internet search traffic than Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Michael Phelps and Barack Obama combined:”

Technorati Tags: Ap On Republican Convention, Associated Press On Republican Convention, Fact Check Gop Convention, Fact Check Republican Convention, Gop Convention Attacks, Gop Convention Palin, john mccain, Palin And Republican Convention, Palin Pick, Palin Vp, Piper Palin, Piper Palin Photos, Piper Palin Pictures, Politics News, Religious Right, Republican Convention, Republican Convention Attacks, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Convention Speech, Sarah Palin RNC Speech, Sarah Palin Speech Reactions, Slideshow

Fresh off what many are calling one of the better Democratic National Convention’s in recent memory, John McCain, his newly anointed Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the rest of the GOP kicked off their week long shin dig in one half of the twin cities, St. Paul, Minnesota. Well, kinda anyways. In what had to be one of the more bizarre Labor Days in quite some time, much of the RNC Convention was canceled due to Hurricane Gustav, all the while a firestorm seemingly spilled over regarding a laundry list of issues plaguing the 72 hour old VP candidate Sarah Palin. Serving as the “cherry on top”; anti-war protesters and law enforcement clashed numerous times throughout the day, subsequently ending in violence, arrests, tear gas and more bad press for the GOP.

In what was a perfect storm of “bad press” for the GOP, one thing is for sure: They will be doing everything in their power to put yesterdays events out of sight, and out of mind – this however may be harder said then done.

With no real convention story to cover, and a fading storm out of the picture by midday the media found themselves following lead after lead regarding John McCain’s surprise VP selection, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

To say today was a “bad day” for Palin just may be an understatement. Here is a rundown of what TPM’s Greg Sargent appropriately titled “The Palin Melt Down”:

• Palin’s previous claim to have refused the “Bridge to Nowhere” is revealed to be a falsehood:

“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress” and opposed federal funding for a controversial bridge to a sparsely populated island. “I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere,” Palin said Friday in Ohio, using the critics’ dismissive name of the project. “‘If our state wanted a bridge,’ I said, ‘we’d build it ourselves.’”

While running for governor in 2006, though, Palin backed federal funding for the infamous bridge, which McCain helped make a symbol of pork barrel excess. And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents.”

• Continuing to tarnish her “reformer” image, it is learned that Palin was heavily reliant on a earmark system that she now claims to be staunchly in opposition of:

On Friday, when McCain introduced her as his running mate, she said she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending,” the legislative technique used to slip projects into appropriations bills without rigorous congressional review.

But under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year’s federal budget, according to the website of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

• It is learned that Palin had extensive ties to a “fringe” political outfit in Alaska whose main purpose was to push the idea of seceding from the United States:

“The Alaska Independence Party, which was formed with the goal of seceding from the union and establishing Alaska as an independent state, says that Palin addressed their 2008 convention. The AIP has posted video of what it claims is her address on its Web site.”

• We learn that Palin has just now decided to hire a lawyer in regards to her pending investigation surrounding multiple “abuse of power” cases that are currently underway in her home state of Alaska:

“MSNBC just reported that presumptive vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has hired a lawyer in relation to the Trooper-Gate scandal. Alaska State Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Hollis French told TPMmuckraker that Palin has hired Thomas Van Flein, an Anchorage attorney at the law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness. French said that Van Flein has already been in contact with him, regarding the ongoing investigation of Palin.”

All of this in one day – yes, just one day. A mere 72 hours into her VP candidacy and this is what has surfaced. Of course this has everyone scratching their heads, asking themselves “how in the heck didn’t the McCain camp find any of this prior to her selection?”

• Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! host unlawfully arrested at RNC:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBjcqwQgF7Q

• Police Blast a Protester with Pepper Spray:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJZNkJbTpjA

• Police firing rubber bullets at protesters at incredibly close range:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OnnUTK7QjI

Reports coming from various news outlets late into Monday night, and carrying over to the wee hours of this morning seem to portray that the situation on the ground, between police and protesters is continuing to spiral further and further out of control.

That said, I am going to interject my personal opinion on the situation. Now I know a lot of people won’t like it, and that’s perfectly alright, so be it. The way I see it is that the protesters more often then not (they play the victims very well) are doing something against the rules whenever you see police act in the manner seen above. They are quick to claim “police brutality” and whine it up for the cameras, but for all constructive purposes they were dealt with, or became caught up in, police action that was being directed at stopping something or someone breaking the rules.

That is not to say that law enforcement officials are never to blame. Hell, half the time they are at fault for using excessive and/or inappropriate force. But you have to remember that they are facing highly emotional crowds, often which will go as far as they are physically able too without being refrained. With this mentality comes a high risk for riots, which would then in turn only produce an increase, at a huge rate none the less, of violence. It is this which makes the job of the police force somewhat difficult, and very unrewarding.

I should also mention that even though I am a proud Democrat, always have been, always will be, I have never been one who cheers on the side show antics of fringe groups on the outer realms of the left. In my opinion they do much more harm then good, and the only thing they really accomplish is the diminishing legitmacey of any argument they are trying to make.

Take a look at the “protesters” on the far left, and their irrational, and emotionalist actions throughout the 70′s. What did it produce? A whole lot of Republican presidents.

So in wrapping this thing up, I think it is fair to say Republican’s had a bad day, protesters had a bad day, and the media had a field day. That said, if Tuesday is anything like Labor Day, we are in for a ride, so buckle up, get some shut eye, and check back tomorrow – err, later today..

Technorati Tags: Amy Good, Bristol Palin, Bristol Palin Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin Pregnancy, Giuliani And Palin, GOP Convention, Levi Johnson, Levi Johnston, Levin Johnson Bristol Palin, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell Alaska National Guard, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell Palin, Mark Sanford Sarah Palin, Media News, Mike Wooten, Off The Bus News, Palin, Palin Brother In Law, Palin Family, Palin Giuliani Experience, Palin Trooper, Palin Troopergate, Police Republican Convention, Politics News, Protests GOP Convention, Protests Republican Convention, Republican Convention, rudy giuliani, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Daughter Pregnant, Sarah Palin John Mccain, Sarah Palin Scandal, Sarah Palin Trooper Scandal, Sarah Palin Vice President, Slideshow, St. Paul

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues. Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

Obama’s campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television convention venue.

Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard tubes, ready-made handles for signs bearing the names of the Democratic ticket – once the identity of Obama’s running mate was known.

While Obama decided against adding Clinton to his ticket, he has gone to great lengths to gain the confidence of her primary voters, agreeing to allow her name to be placed in nomination at the convention and permitting a roll call vote that threatens to expose lingering divisions within the party.

Biden slowly emerged as Obama’s choice across a long day and night of political suspense as other contenders gradually fell away.

First Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine let it be known that he had been ruled out. Then came word that Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana had also been passed over.

Several aides to Clinton said the Obama campaign had never requested financial or other records from her.

Other finalists in the veep sweepstakes were Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Texas Rep. Chet Edwards.

Among those on the short list, Biden brought the most experience in defense or foreign policy, areas in which Obama is rated relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain.

While the war in Iraq has been supplanted as the campaign’s top issues by the economy in recent months, the recent Russian invasion of Georgia has returned foreign policy to the forefront.

In addition to foreign policy experience, Biden, a native of Scranton, Pa., has working-class roots that could benefit Obama, who lost the blue-collar vote to Clinton during their competition for the presidential nomination.

Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29 in 1973.

No sooner had word spread of his selection than McCain’s campaign unleashed its first attack. Spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement that Biden had:

“denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing, that Barack Obama is not ready to be president.”

As evidence, Republicans cited an ABC interview from August 2007, in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.

Biden is seeking a new Senate term in the fall. there was no immediate word whether he intended to change plans as he reaches for national office. Biden dropped out of the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination after a poor finish in the Iowa caucuses, but not before he talked dismissively of joining someone else’s ticket.

“I am not running for vice president,” he said in a Fox interview. “I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I’d rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president.”

It was his second try for the White House. The first ended badly in 1988 when he was caught lifting lines from a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

In the decades since, he become a power in the Senate, presiding over confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominees as well as convening hearings to criticize President Bush’s handling of the Iraq War.

Biden voted to authorize the war, but long ago became one of the Senate’s surest critics of the conflict.

Obama worked to keep his choice secret, although he addressed the issue broadly during the day in an interview.

“Obviously, the most important question is: Is this person ready to be president?” Obama told “The Early Show” on CBS. Second, he said, was: “Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally?”

And, he added:

“I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a yes person when it comes to policymaking.

___

Associated Press writers David Espo in Denver, Angela K. Brown in Waco, Texas, Glen Johnson in Boston, Randall Chase in Greenville, Del., Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va., John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Scott Lindlaw in San Francisco and Jesse Holland in Washington contributed to this report. Pickler reported from Chicago.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Barack Obama Joe Biden, Barack Obama Vice President, Barack Obama VP, Barack Obama VP Pick, Biden For Vp, joe biden, Joe Biden Vp, Joe Biden Vp Pick, Obama Biden, Obama Biden 08, Obama Biden 2008, Obama Biden Ticket, Politics News