Here and There

This blog has been critiqued as nothing but a non-Twitter Twitter feed. I only barely know enough about Twitter to know what that means.

But whatever. Maybe I’ll cave and get an account. Maybe not.

In either case, I’m “blogging” from Reno, Nevada, this weekend, where I and three Bay Area friends have come to lend a hand to the Obama campaign here.

What’s been almost as amazing as the response from voters here is the energy and organization of the Obama volunteers. It sounds generic, and maybe expected. But this state, and this area, aren’t exaclty Democratic givens.

People love their guns. They’re not entirely trusting of the government.

But there’s a palpable desire for change. Again, sounds like a typical response from someone already signed on to support Barack Obama. But I live in a bubble out in the Bay Area.

Out there, we like Obama and the direction he wants to take this country. Here, the issues that upset us are real to these people’s lives. That’s what I mean by desire for change. The polcies of the Bush era have messed up lives here.

We may be back in October. I’ll at least be doing phone calls here, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Enough!

Here and There is in Reno this weekend for some campaigning. Trust me, folks, this is the first time I’ve done this. And that’s because it’s the first time I’ve felt compelled to. And Nevada needs it.

Still waiting for Sarah Palin to pull the mask off and reveal the Mitt underneath.

Hillary Clinton, I hereby demand you to put your money where your speechwriter’s words were, of supporting Barack Obama, and doing everything you can to get him elected president.

You must share with the world your true thoughts on John McCain’s having picked Sarah Palin.

Please?

In what should’ve capped his two terms in office, Al Gore spoke last night on how the three biggest issues facing us (economy, climate change, national security) are connected, and how it will take a new way of thinking to solve all three.

He made a passioned, reasonable pitch for why Barack Obama is uniquely suited to solving these problems.

I can’t find any video with embed links, so go to the DNC 2008 site to watch the video.

The motives for McCain’s picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin are obvious, but I suppose I should go on record real quick:

• Hungry like a PUMA
• Hoping to dull the sword of novelty
• Aiming to show how “progressive” the GOP is
• Power-playing for … Alaska*

Now, because I believe everyone gets a fair shake, I decided to look in Ms. Palin, since I knew next-to-nothing about her. Sure, I’d heard of her, but mostly in the context of her having been the first governor born after Alaska achieved statehood.

Sounds to me like she’s got a lot of good qualities. She went to journalism school, served on a city council, elbowed her way through the Republican ranks in the state, filing ethics charges like she was chasing a bandit on horseback. She lost a race for lieutenant governor, then unseated a sitting governor in a primary challenge, and beat a former governor in the general election to become governor, less than two years ago.

I don’t see what, besides symbolism, she brings that can stand up to Biden. In a way, this is the payout, justifying the wisdom of Obama’s choice.

Palin may be a rising star, but her trajectory was in no way ready for the national stage. Maybe she (and voters) will prove me wrong, but I just don’t see how this choice is anything other than raw political calculation.

Let the games begin …

* A total of three Electoral College votes, and although McCain did effectively just win the state, it might not be by as much as he hopes.

This was one of my favorite McCainisms from yesterday. One of his policy crafters, John Goodman (but not the John Goodman), says there’s no such thing as uninsured Americans because anyone can go to the emergency room and get care.

Yes, I’m serious.

This is really fucked, and I hope it’s isolated.

The story is that an Obama supporter with a permit was on in a busy section of downtown San Francisco (Fifth and Market) yesterday when a man approached him shouting slurs. The Obama guy was polite, not provocative, and then asked the other guy to leave. He did, but came back with a knife and slashed Obama in the face.

Ugh. This, in San Francisco?

Jaxon Van Derbeken reports for The Chronicle.

I’m probably setting myself for even more disappointment here, but I find this exercise pretty fun, and may be doing more of it in the coming months.

Presumptuous? Hell yes. But also entertaining. At least for me.

(Oh, and side note: John Edwards was my top pick for AG, until the obvious. I don’t think his affair disqaulifies him at all. I just think he has negative political capital these days.)

Secretary of Defense: Colin Powell
Secretary of State: John Kerry
Attorney General: Bill Richardson
Secretary of Homeland Security: Richard Clarke
First Superme Court Pick*: Hillary Clinton
Second Supreme Court Pick*: Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Elizabeth Edwards
Secretary of the Interior: Brian Schweitzer
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Michael Bloomberg

* The first will probably come in early 2009; the second, midyear.

It was a great speech, yes. And it was well delivered. I’ve got to hand it to him — he electrified the crowd.

And I have to get over how pissed I was at him during the primaries. This despite a few lines in this speech, directed at McCain and Republicans, could’ve been applied to him and his wife and her campaign team and supporters months ago.

Alas.

I am ready for the next president’s speech, coming up tonight.

He recycled many lines from Saturday. You could even say he “plagiarized” himself. Heh.

All in all, not a bad speech. I still love the guy, and want him to be my VP. But his speech at the convention lacked the chutzpah we need. Thank god Bill Clinton and John Kerry were there tonight to carry the torch.

Here t’is:

“Talk about being for it, before you’re against it.”

Srsly, Kerry’s candor reminds me a lot of the esteemed orator, the late, great George Carlin, RIP.

This is freakin’ awesome:

Jesus, we are soooooo lucky to have this guy on *our* side:

Okay, I have to admit, I went in with as few preconceived notions as was humanly possible. And I liked her speech. Feisty, going for the GOP jugular. Nice work, senator.

My favorite line, which came around 18:39: “With an agenda like that, it makes perfect sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because, these days, they’re awfully hard to tell apart.