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Okay, so Sarah Palin agreed to an interview with Charlie Gibson at ABC News, but we all know (right?) that it's going to be softball questions that can be answered with glib one-liners. Not going to get answers to the questions real citizens (i.e. taxpayers, voters) have.
But it turns out if you happen to run into Sarah Palin in a restaurant, she'll answer questions, and say things that her handlers almost certainly don't want her to say.
AmericaBlog: "I don't think this question will be answered until after Senator Stevens' trial in September and perhaps never. After all, Ted Stevens is still running for the Senate this year and a Republican vote, corrupt or not, is still a Republican...
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Click here for a more detailed view.
When I pulled off the road in Grand Junction, CO to watch the McCain press conference introducing his VP pic, all I did was find an EVDO connection (worked the first time) and fired up the SlingPlayer, which connected to my TV at home, in Berkeley, and tuned to MSNBC, and it all just worked.
The only thing I'd like to see improved is that the EVDO modem be built into the computer, the thing dangling off the side is pretty ugly, don't ya think?
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 Remember the BearHugCamp idea? Well... it seems like it's happening! Next Friday, Sept 12, in San Francisco. Steve Gillmor is the master of ceremonies, agent provacateur and visionary. Me, I bring a few used analogies and metaphors and experience with various gadgets and utilities that build on Twitter and FriendFeed and Identi.ca, et al.
Where? I think it'll be at CNET's offices in SF on 2nd St. I'll leave the logistics up to Steve. I've blocked out the whole day.
Who? Well, that's where it gets interesting. Here's my take on it. If you've been spending a lot of your free time puzzling over where this stuff is going, and...
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Simple question...
If they won't sit down for an interview, to answer questions, maybe the TV networks should stop covering their speeches and campaign rallies?
The Republicans want to talk direct, so let them do it, without the help of the corporate media.
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 Consensus is developing, I know because I'm endorsing the point of view of someone whose political philosophy is almost exactly opposite mine.
Frum: "I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It's an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That's all."
Amen. I know I'm not going to support her, unless it...
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 Jay is one of those guys, like George Lakoff and Steve Gillmor, who figure things out before anyone else does. When I'm stuck looking at individual trees, Jay often shows me the forest.
Here it is Saturday after the Republican Convention and I'm just starting to figure out what mischief the Republicans are up to, but Jay had a hypothesis on Wednesday, and blogged it, and it's much more complete than what I have today.
Jay Rosen: "John McCain's convention gambit calls for culture war around the Sarah Palin pick."
He must have been a Republican in a former life. 
Read the whole piece, and...
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 David Frum, a Republican, thinks the McCain campaign shouldn't put Palin in a box and hide her from the press. Good, he's right about that, and his piece is a must-read. But like most Republicans his disdain for "elites" is itself the height of elite arrogance. Only Kings and Queens, royalty, are entitled to that kind of arrogance, and we overthrew our King in the Revolution, 232 years ago. We don't believe in that in the United States. That's how far off course we've gotten, we've put up with this nonsense long enough.
To paraphrase Obama, Frum doesn't Get It. The reason you discuss your ideas publicly is that...
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 Okay, we know that Sarah Palin can read speeches written by Karl Rove's speech writers. But if she's really ready to be Commander in Chief, why won't her handlers let her answer questions? Is she a made-to-order candidate, kind of a Stepford Vice-President? What are the Republicans hiding? Maybe they're still debugging her program? Can she think for herself? Does she have her own new maverick-like ideas? Why did she lie about selling the plane on eBay? Did she really run the PAC for indicted-for-corruption Senator Ted Stevens? If so, is she really a reformer? And why did she hire a Washington lobbyist...
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If you want to understand more about John McCain esp his views of war, I highly recommend this FreshAir interview with David Kirkpatrick of the NY Times, who has been researching McCain's life, esp starting around minute 23, where he talks about lessons McCain learned from Vietnam. It does a lot to explain how he views the war in Iraq, and how he's likely to proceed if he wins the election.
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I was going to write a piece today, after watching the Republican National Convention on TV, that said pretty much what the NY Times said in this editorial.
NY Times: "Mr. Obama, in reality, wants to give basic human rights to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, only a handful of whom are Qaeda members, and shield them from torture. So, once upon a time, did Mr. McCain, but there was no mention of that in St. Paul, or of the bill he wrote protecting those prisoners."
The Times nailed it. I recommend reading the whole thing.
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It's super-hot here in Calif today. Oy!
 If you read one political article today, read this explanation of community service by Time's Joe Klein. Yesterday two Republicans, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, mocked Obama for giving three years to community service betw college and law school. I wondered too what it meant, when I read this piece I couldn't believe how sloppy the Republicans were. This is exactly what McCain says people should do, and we all agree that giving to your country is a very American value. They should retract and apologize, and Republicans who applauded this should be ashamed. It's hugely hypocritical. The Republicans have been...
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Judy Estrin, the former CTO of Cisco nails it.
"She warns that we are living off of the innovation investments made in decades past and that is going to be a problem in the future."
Obviously.
I've been saying this for decades and feel somewhat qualified to have an opinion about this. The capitalists of the tech industry eat the seed corn, and never put anything back. When you ask them about it, they laugh as if it were a silly idea. Ms Estrin understands. You have to put something back, try out lots of new ideas and be patient and let them have a chance. But the only way it happens is through individual effort, with very few rewards...
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Live discussion of the speeches at the Republican National Convention.
irc://irc.freenode.net/#rnc
Let's have fun!
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There's a big change brewing in the MSM in the aftermath of the Palin nomination. Really impressive how the reporters are challenging politicians now, and it's good.
The first sign things were crumbling was an interview Monday on CNN with McCain aide Tucker Bounds and reporter Campbell Brown who asked Bounds what international experience Palin has. He kept trying to change the subject to Obama, which I've seen work with these reporters for years. It's a very typical Republican tactic.
As a result, McCain pulled out of Larry King that night, but CNN stood its ground.
 Then Wolf Blitzer of all people pressed Rudy Giuiani on the same subject and wouldn't...
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 As promised, here's a BitTorrent with all the big speeches from last week's Democratic National Convention including Bill and Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden, Al Gore, Bill Richardson, and of course Barack Obama's fantastic acceptance speech. BTW, I'm still pretty much a newbie at serving BitTorrents, so if you can help by seeding this archive, that would be much appreciated.
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Three pieces that caution Democrats to not quickly dismiss the candidacy of Sarah Palin.
1. New Republic. "Sarah Palin is a living reminder that the ultimate source of political power in this country is not the Kennedy School or the Davos Summit or an Ariana Huffington salon; even now, power emanates from the electorate itself. More precisely, power in 2008 emanates from the working class electorates of Pennsylvania and Ohio."
 2. George Lakoff. "Palin is the mom in the strict father family, upholding conservative values. Palin is tough: she shoots, skins, and eats caribou. She is disciplined: raising five kids with a major career. She lives her...
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 The radical right wing blogs are predictably complaining and slinging mud at people who pass on stories about McCain's choice for vice-president, but that shouldn't change a thing.
Latest: The Washington Post reports she led a 527 founded by indicted-for-corruption Senator Ted Stevens. So much for her being a reformer and maverick.
The current First Lady made some menacing remarks probably aimed at the press, indicating that she wants this VP candidate to be treated specially because she's a woman (that's how I interpret it) but the answer has to be no. If the press has any integrity, after such a challenge, they should go deeper and...
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I've been blogging a long long time. You can see my mistakes, things I got wrong, and the few I got right. I like to put my stake in the ground, and when I go back sometimes it makes me feel humble.
 There was a time, believe it or not, there was a time when I liked George W. Bush as President.
On March 27, 2001, I wrote: "There's something satisfying about the Bush Presidency, and for a time I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it is. Now I think I get it. If this guy could be president, anyone could. He bumbles along twisting around...
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Worth reading, Maureen Dowd's op-ed in today's Times.
Summary -- the McC choice of Palin is the plot of a low budget chick flick. Now, picking up the story where she left off...
 The wrinkly white haired dude and the VP-chick win the election and just after he's inaugurated, the old guy dies suddenly and she's sworn in, over the objections of all the white males on the old dude's staff and the leading members of Congress including the fat white male Speaker of the House played by John Goodman (ignoring for a moment that the actual Speaker is a spry foxy grandma type). Donald Sutherland plays the Chief Justice...
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