McCain Aides: Sarah Palin Did Not Know Africa Was a Continent, Not a Country
The election is over and the blaming has started in full force in the McCain camp. Newsweek unveiled new revelations about Sarah Palin's shopping spree. The story quotes two high-ranking McCain aides who said Palin spent much more than $150,000 on clothing, that she answered the door to McCain staffers wearing only a towel and that she made low ranked staffers charge things on their credit cards for her. An angry aide summed up the incidents as follows: "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."
But it gets worse. Fox News Channel political correspondent Carl Cameron today said there will be an "avalanche" of unflattering stories about Palin coming in the near future. Aides to McCain said Palin did not know that Africa was a continent, not a country and did not know what countries are in NAFTA (U.S., Mexico and Canada). And she threw temper tantrums, the aides said. Take a look:
Another aide told Bill O'Reilly that Palin did not know which countries made up North America. And this is who McCain chose as a running mate at the urgings of Bill Kristol? It's mind-boggling.
The two mavericks John McCain and Sarah Palin appeared together in Pennsylvania in an attempt to battle ongoing accusations that there is a rift between the McCain and Palin camps. McCain focused on taking shots at Obama's tax plan and Obama's comments that he would redistribute wealth. The goal of the McCain campaign now is to win Pennsylvania. The consesus is they have given up on states like Colorado and Michigan. The one big problem with a Pennsylvania strategy is that most recent Pennsylvania polls show Obama with a 10-point lead. The McCain camp believes they can close this big gap before Election Day next week.
Here is some footage released by the French national audiovisual archive which shows young POW John McCain being interrogated in 1968, while he is bedridden. It was first broadcast on French television program Panorama in January 1968. How very young -- and how verybrave -- he seems.
All eyes will be on the first presidential debate tonight in Mississippi. No one was really sure whether there was even going to be debate after McCain's political stunt. Suspending his campaign to focus on the bailout deal that no one in Washington wanted him involved in was a mistake.
It really wasn't a bad idea to have a meeting between the current president and the next president (McCain and Obama had a meeting with President to discuss the situation), but the timing was off. Polls showed that the public wanted the debate to go on and so McCain had to suspend his suspension and head for Mississippi.
The topic tonight ostensibly is foreign affairs, but the economy is sure to play a large role in the questioning given current events. McCain has to make sure not to lose his temper and his sarcasm will not be welcome tonight. The mood of the public is ugly -- they don't like the bailout and sniping between the candidates won't go over well. As for Obama, his challenge is to seem calm, in control of the facts and ready to lead. McCain's best argument is that he has faced many big crises such as the current one and that he's captain our ship of state through the stormy waters ahead. Both candidates must show a full command of the economic facts at hand. If either candidate makes a major gaffe that makes him look as if he doesn't understand the economy, he's toast.
The debate is on most major channels at 9:00 p.m Eastern/8:00 p.m. Central time.
Republicans and Democrats alike are still reeling from John McCain's shocking announcement Friday that he was choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate. So what do we know about Sarah Palin?
--She's only been in office for one year and eight months.
--When asked about the Surge in Iraq, she responded "surge? What surge?" She has no stated foreign policy positions, other than a video of her speaking to her Church about the Iraq War being a mission from God.
--She supported the Bridge to Nowhere until it became a national joke, then she quietly allocated the funds elsewhere.
--Billed as a tax cutter, she actually raised the sales tax and instituted a windfall profits tax on oil companies when she was governor.
--She loves to hunt and has photos of her next to a bloody caribou she shot and of a bearskin of a bear she shot. She loves to eat moose stew and caribou burgers.
--She used to smoke pot (it is legal in Alaska, although not under federal law) but said she has stopped smoking. Her comment in an interview was "I can't say, like Bill Clinton, that I didn't inhale."
--Her husband had a DUI at 22, and is a champion snowmobiler. He works for an oil company in the winter and is a fisherman in the summer.
--She has five children, including a four month old infant who has Down's Syndrome.
--She is rabidly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in cases of incest or rape.
--She opposes all sex education and birth control for teens.
--She has an unwed 17 year old daughter who is four months' pregnant.
--She said in an interview that she doesn't know what a Vice President does.
--John McCain had talked to her on the phone once before he invited her to Sedona, chatted with her and then offered her the job.
--She was raised in the Pentecostal Assembly of God church. She is an evangelical Christian.
--Reporters are still investigating whether it's true she first received a U.S. passport in 2007.
-- Her mother-in-law commented to a reporter "I don't see what she brings to the ticket."
Well, there you go. What else could we possibly need to know about a woman who is a heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world? Heckuva job, McCain.
Obama's 3 AM Phone Text Message: A Last Swipe at Hillary
Barack Obama's campaign sent out a text message at 3:00 a.m. this morning announcing that Joe Biden is his VP pick. John McCain's blog immediately pounced on the news and had this devastating ad out by 6:00 a.m., in which Biden says how Obama is too inexperienced to be president. As for that 3:00 a.m. text message: that was clearly one last swipe at Hillary Clinton for her 3:00 a.m. phone call ad. It was a juvenile move that could have repercussions. Hillary supporters are not amused, to say the least.
Rusty Ward heads to Comic-Con in San Diego to find out who who the comics, science fiction and fantasy fans are voting for in the upcoming presidential election. There are surprisingly diverse political opinions among the superhero and monster demographics. Take a look:
Polls Show McCain Gaining Ground With Likely Voters
The presidential polling is showing some odd results. In the Gallup tracking poll of registered voters, Obama is up by eight. But in another, more recent USA Today/Gallup poll of likely voters, McCain is up by four. What does it all mean?
The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.
Among registered voters, McCain still trails Obama, but by less. He is behind by 3 percentage points in the new poll (47%-44%) vs. a 6-point disadvantage (48%-42%) in late June.
Results based on the survey of 791 likely voters have margins of error of +/- 4 percentage points -- so McCain's lead is not outside that range. Results based on the survey of 900 registered voters also have margins of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
Gallup editor Frank Newport tells Jill that "registered voters are much more important at the moment," because Election Day is still 100 days away, but that the likely-voter result suggests that it may be possible for McCain to energize Republicans and turn them out this fall.
Who is a likely voter? In this poll, Frank says, that was determined by how much thought people have given to the election, how often they say they vote and whether they plan to vote in the election in November.
He says the number of likely GOP voters is up for now, probably in part because of Obama's trip and the "laudatory" media coverage of it. "At least in the short term it may have had the side effect of energizing Republicans," he says. Also, he says that McCain's sharp words about Obama and the media last week may have energized his faithful.
What it means is that polls aren't going to be much help in this election, which has too many unknowns to predict.
Here's a new ad from the McCain campaign which takes a look at the media's infatuation with Barack Obama. New polls show that Americans overwhelmingly believe that the media is helping Obama against McCain. But will the media's love translate into a win in November?
Vanity Fair decided to create a cover in response to the infamous New Yorker Obama cover. It depicts John and Cindy McCain doing the fist bump in the oval office. The constitution burns in the fire place, George Bush's portrait is on the wall and McCain is using a walker. Cindy is holding a bunch of prescription pill bottles. It sounds shocking, but somehow the execution is kind of boring.
Barack Obama is
not happy
with the new cover of The New Yorker. The cover shows Obama in some kind of African garb. He's doing the fist bump with his wife Michelle, who's portrayed with an afro and an AK-47. The American flag is burning in the fireplace and Osama bin Laden's portrait is on the wall. The New Yorker says it's a satirical portrayal of the misinformation about Obama and his wife.
The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds quickly e-mailed: "We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it's tasteless and offensive."
Howard Kurtz said: "I talked to the editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, who tells me this is a satire, that they are making fun of all the rumors." The New Yorker's audience will certainly get that the cover is satire over the wild rumors, even if they think the cover is in poor taste. But will the rest of America see it that way? I'm thinking... not. And kudos to the McCain campaign for being on the ball and condemning the cover immediately. Now if they could just put some duct tape over Phil Gramm's mouth....
McCain Rejects Phil Gramm's "Americans are Whiny" Speech
John McCain had to quickly distance himself from his economic adviser former Senator Phil Gramm. Gramm said that we're a nation of whiners and that we're in an "mental recession." Democrats pounced on the comments as being out of touch and heartless. McCain does a good job with the recovery, but what in the world was Gramm thinking? It's true that we technically had two quarters of negative GDP, but the economy is in trouble and people are suffering. The comments were politically tone deaf, to say the least.
John McCain's campaign has been dogged by reports of disorganization and lackluster fundraising. McCain is now taking steps to right what some see as a faltering campaign. He's promoted Steve Schmidt, who will now be in charge of the overall operation.
Schmidt, who ran California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign and was a top communications aide in President Bush's re-election effort four years ago, is taking over day-to-day operations from campaign manager Rick Davis. Schmidt will shape the campaign's message, run its political operation and oversee most every facet of the organization, including the candidate's schedule, policy statements, deployment of surrogates and coalitions.
"He'll be the maestro who conducts the symphony," said McCain adviser Charlie Black.
A McCain insider said the change gives Schmidt "near total control of the campaign."
The shift was announced Wednesday morning at a staff meeting in the campaign’s headquarters in Arlington, Va., with Davis making the announcement that he would focus on long-range issues such as the Republican convention, selection of a vice-president and debates.
Schmidt, who had just recently returned full-time to the headquarters after spending most of his time with McCain on the road or with his family in California, responded by exhorting campaign aides with a speech that one staffer likened to a locker room pep talk out of the football movie, "Rudy."
He also, according to another McCain official in the room, made a joke about the move being made official on the anniversary of the McCain's last shake-up.
McCain will be elected president, Schmidt said, intoning the declaration by election night television news anchors 135 days from now, if campaign aides execute.
It's a word that his friends and fellow political operatives frequently turn to in describing the forward-leaning, 37-year-old New Jersey native.
"The one thing that Steve prides himself on is very good execution," said Terry Nelson, McCain's campaign manager until last summer's shake-up and a friend and colleague of Schmidt's for over a decade. "He has a sense of how to hold people accountable so they’ll perform for him."
McCain needs all the help he can get. The Obama campaign was hardened in battle because of the long Democratic primary. Obama has a great ground game. This is a good move for McCain. But questions linger. Can McCain sway those Bush donors who have been withholding their checkbooks? And can he hone his campaign message to something that really resonates with voters?
John McCain has released his first general election ad. It's a great ad which focuses on McCain's character and his love for America. It does mention tax relief, however as a headline that reads "McCain Promises Middle Class Tax Relief". McCain is also shown as a clearly scared but very brave young prisoner of war, being asked to give his rank and serial number. It's a gut punch to voters, reminding them of what he has been through in his life.
The tagline is a doozy: "John McCain: the American president that Americans have been waiting for." It's a riff on Obama's "we're the ones we've been waiting for." It also takes a subtle swipe at Obama and his wife on patriotism. The problem here is that no one doubts John McCain's patriotism. Voters aren't sure that he knows what he's doing on the economy, which is why his choice of running mate will be very important.
Overall, it's a very effective ad.
The Associated Press reports (see video below) that Mitt Romney is endorsing John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. The AP says Romney will be asking his 280 delegates to support McCain. At a news conference Mitt Romney said now was a good time for Republicans to come together while the Democrats were still battling for the Democratic nomination.
Romney said, "Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent. Right now, the Democrats are fighting; let us come together and make progress while they are fighting."
John McCain's rivals Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul do not appear ready to concede. Mike Huckabee intends to continue his campaign and could make a Texas win very difficult for John McCain. Ron Paul recently released a video called Going the Distance where he says he plans to continue until someone gets enough delegates to win. In the video Ron Paul also mentions plans for a big march to Washington D.C.
John McCain barely fought off Mike Huckabee to win Virgina in a surprisingly close race. He also picked Maryland and D.C. On the Democratic side, Barack Obama has picked up Virginia, D.C. and Maryland.
Neither Barack or Hillary stayed in the Northeast; both flew out and are already having rallies in other states. Hillary is speaking to a very large crowd in El Paso; Barack is in Wisconsin at a big rally. After tonight, Barack will hold a slight lead over Hillary in Delegates. Wisconsin is expected to go to Barack. Hillary is focusing her attention on the mega states of Texas and Ohio.
Mike Huckabee's strong showing gives him hope for a Texas win. But mathematically it's not possible for him to beat McCain.
The race is really neck and neck for the Democrats. Hillary will be working hard to win Texas in the next few weeks. A win in Texas and Ohio would make her the "comeback kid" once again and push the nomination into the hands of the super delegates. Also brewing is the fight over whether to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan. If they are seated, Hillary benefits greatly.
Barack Obama had a good weekend. He won the caucuses in Washington, Virgina Islands and Maine. He also won the primary in Louisiana. All were expected wins for him. Tomorrow are the Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia contest, which he is also expected to sweep.
On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee was the winner, taking Louisiana and Kansas. Washington was called for McCain, but Huckabee refused to concede and the count continues.
The big contests with lots of delegate are coming up on March 4th: Texas and Ohio will be crucial contests on the Democratic side. You can see a roundup, with estimated delegate counts here. Most outlets have Hillary Clinton ahead in the delegate count by a small margin.
Bottom line: McCain will be the Republican nominee and the Democratic nomination is a toss up.
Super Tuesday is tomorrow and the polls are looking pretty strange, especially on the Democratic side. In fact, they're all over the place. Several polls show Obama closing in on Hillary Clinton in California with a virtual tie, although a new Survey USA poll has her up by 12 and a new Zogby has Obama up by four (see all the latest California polls here).
See all the most recent polls here.
Obama has definitely gotten a bounce in the past week, but the internals of most of the polls show an unusually high number of undecided voters, which has to be some kind of a first. Are there really that many Democrats who still haven't made up their minds between Clinton and Obama? Turnout will be key. If the women and Latino groups show up to vote in large numbers tomorrow, Clinton wins California. Her big state strategy will pay off and I think she will win the popular vote and the delegate count tomorrow. The question is by how much. It's not mathematically possible for either candidate to wrap up the nomination tomorrow, so we're in for a lot more campaigning.
On the Republican side, it seems clear that McCain is going to be pretty happy tomorrow night. Although according to the Secretary of State we may not know who won California until Wednesday, which is going to make for a pretty stressful evening for the campaigns (especially the Obama and Clinton campaigns). Mitt Romney was looking good in California in some polls, so the upset of the day would be a win for him there. That would be huge. Coming off his win in Maine, that would give him some sorely needed Mittmentum. But Huckabee is the real spoiler for Romney: he's racking up votes from Evangelicals and they like him in the South.
Without some surprises tomorrow, McCain will be heading towards a coronation. But, as the Patriots found out Sunday, it's not over till it's over.
John McCain made a statement in a stump speech that stumped most of the audience: he warned
them that "there will be other wars."
The presidential candidate who sang "Bomb bomb Iran" is already looking towards the war after the war in Iraq.
Sen. John McCain told a crowd of supporters on Sunday, "It's a tough war we're in. It's not going to be over right away. There's going to be other wars." Offering more of his increasingly bleak "straight talk," he repeated the claim: "I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender but there will be other wars."
McCain did not elaborate who the United States would be fighting. But he did warn the crowd to be ready for the ramifications of current and future battles.
"And right now -- we're gonna have a lot of PTSD [post traumatic stress disorder] to treat, my friends," he said. "We're gonna have a lot of combat wounds that have to do with these terrible explosive IEDs that inflict such severe wounds. And my friends, it's gonna be tough, we're gonna have a lot to do.
This is after he told us that we could easily be in Iraq for "the next 100 years." Has Senator McCain not been reading the polls? 60% of Americans think the Iraq war was not worth it and the midterm elections made it clear that the public wants out of Iraq as soon as possible. Instead, he's running on a platform of 100 years in Iraq -- plus some exciting new wars, full of post traumatic stress disorder and ghastly injuries? That's quite a campaign strategy.
All eyes will be on the first presidential debate tonight in Mississippi. No one was really sure whether there was even going to be debate after McCain's political stunt. Suspending his campaign to focus on the bailout deal that no one in Washington wanted him involved in was a mistake.
Barack Obama's campaign sent out a text message at 3:00 a.m. this morning announcing that Joe Biden is his VP pick. John McCain's blog immediately pounced on the news and had this devastating ad out by 6:00 a.m., in which Biden says how Obama is too inexperienced to be president. As for that 
