Turns out both the Dems & Republicans failed to file their papers listing both the president & vice presidential candidates by Aug 26 and thus legally cannot be included on the ballot (never mind that this was the day before Obama was officially nominated at the convention and Palin was still Snow White at that time). The Liberal candidate seems set on doing all he can to keep it that way… http://www.bobbarr2008.com/press/press-releases/122/obama-mccain-fail-to-qualify-for-texas-ballot/ & see his letter http://www.bobbarr2008.com/files/lettertosos.pdf and the certification papers http://www.bobbarr2008.com/files/dqcertification.pdf

This NY Times blog has some ideas about what the upshot might be… http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/disenfranchise-texas/. In the unlikely event that the law is upheld, it would be a postive for Obama.

Incidentially, the certification papers list Obama & Biden’s full home addresses… interesting to see they haven’t been blurred out on Google Maps! (haven’t checked Earth)

The difference between America and here is that the Republican Party platform is still vastly distinct from the Democrat one. There is almost no difference between National and Labour here.

What has worked in the USA, and William F. Buckley is credited with achieving a lot to this end, is that the various non-Socialist groups realised that if they did not find the common ground on which they could agree, none of them were going to get ANY of their preferred principles of government enacted or upheld. I suggest that, for example, the libertarians need to give up their emphasis on “gay rights” and free love and the like if they want to have a cooee of a chance to get ECONOMIC freedoms and the rollback of Nanny State interference, with the co-operation of the Christian fundamentalists. The patriotic nationalists need to give up their emphasis on bashing immigrants and imports, and instead concentrate on defending our culture and institutions at the root, where they are under attack, and fighting privilege on whatever basis the socialists might be advancing it, class or race or “victimhood”. The Christian fundamentalists and patriotic nationalists will have to swallow their distaste for free-market liberalism if they want to have a cooee of a chance of defending our traditional culture in the education institutions and getting to bring up their own kids.

And the “Labour Lite” types are going to have to either get a spine, or just join Labour – there will be less difference between them and Labour than them and an invigorated “Right” in NZ. The kind of thing I mean would involve ACT and the Libertarianz and the Family Party and the Kiwi Party and the base of the Nats. Look, if you think this is unworkable, we will get nowhere. Look at all the stuff Labour has pushed through that is far from the mainstream, because their traditional “worker” base stuck with them regardless of the fact that Labour had been hijacked by narrow interests – just because they perceive that there will be even worse undermining of their more basic interests if the other side got into power. But on the fragmented “Right”, we have a whole lot of different groups who want everything, and each of them ends up not only not getting much, but not getting the thing that matters the most to them.

First up from Radar

Radar – It is sad to see the lying and smearing continue, especially from an extremist like……

Irony?
What?
Irony????

Then Russell Brown:

That was the nastiest line of a surprisingly mean-spirited speech.

Russell’s message – Right-wingers are nasty, mean,….and, and….., mean, nasty…
Gee, never heard that before. Must remember to reinforce that every chance I get. Must forget what Cullen and Clark have said about various groups over the years –like Clark’s comments on Shipley’s raising of her kids – because I worship at their alter.

By the way – I love the use of the word “surprisingly” – very Chomskian in it’s implication that the critic rises somewhat above blatant partisanship and ideologically with a balanced and fair-minded view.

……. insulting them wasn’t a very dignified thing to do.

Russell’s message – I only vote for dignified candidates, and I critique my own side about this sort of thing all the time when they talk about “chinless scarf wearers”, “feral inbreds” and mean-spirited people in our society – like, you know, right-wingers.

……. her comparison of herself with Harry Truman — who spent 10 distinguished years in the Senate before becoming VP………

WHAT? The guy who dropped the A-Bomb on all those kids and did all those things against Communists that the New Left have spent decades decrying. Hmmmm!
Of course if Truman were running for anything nowadays I would think his connections with “Boss Tom” Prendergast’s political machine would be of great interest to the media. Actually you would think that such things would still be of interest – but apparently only for small town mayors and out-of-the-way states like Alaska – and if you’re a Republican.

……So let’s look at Obama’s offering. He has a thoughtful and nuanced strategy building on existing projects – As is the case in a range of policy areas, they’ve really put the work in.

Ah, again with the policy.
Lovely, huge chunks of juicy policy. The dream is alive. Larger programmes, with larger government departments fed by ever larger tax-funded budgets – all carefully thought out by sound, rational and nuanced planners. Think big government and you think nuance. What have you righties got to offer against that? Huh? Huh?

This phenomena was pointed out years ago by Mike Royko in his biography of another Chicago machine politician, mayor William Dalley. Dalley would produce an endless stream of “policy ideas” that involved all of the above, as well as enriching capitalist cronies and entrenching his political power. When called on it his response was invariably to ask the critics what plans they had. The idea that actually doing nothing in those areas would have better all round was not considered.

Funnily enough the title of that book was Boss. Seems appropriate in the now.

Quintessential?? Pfft, you half educated dipstick. That just proves how deranged and out of touch with reality leftists like you are doesn’t it? Because all you’ve ever got from me is words on a computer screen from one singular person, that you can read at your own discretion. Only a sad mentally disturbed leftist cretin could categorise this as “quinteessential screaming yelling” and especially “bullying” which has as its main identifying component the state of affairs where the victim is powerless or cannot escape his/ her tormentor and said tormentors are often a group or association of people. Guess what dipshit. Don’t like Redbaiter, DON”T READ MY MESSAGES.

The truth of course is not that you don’t want to read Redbaiter’s messages yourself, but that you don’t want other people to read them. Just like you don’t want them to hear Sarah Palin’s message. Anti freedom of expression totalitarian swine.

http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Story?id=5725793&page=3

VOTE IMPACT — As noted, predisposed partisans on each side are more apt to react favorably to Palin and Biden. On Palin, conservatives by a 34-point margin say her addition to the ticket makes them more likely rather than less likely to support McCain; among Republicans it’s a 37-point positive margin, and among white evangelicals, 32 points. These are all heavily pro-McCain groups in the first place, but these numbers may reflect an enthusiasm — somewhat lacking in his campaign — that could impact their turnout.

At the same time, the story in the ideological center is different: Among moderates, Biden registers as a net 15-point positive for Obama. In the same group, Palin shows no effect on support for McCain.

You sure as hell don’t sound like a Kiwi redbaiter. A far cry from the inclusive, thoughtful conservatism of the esteemed Mr Farrar.

Newsflash- Why Palin’s husband DUI is worse than Obama’s cocaine use

Newflash- Obama still more experienced than Sarah Palin’s preganant daughter.

Newsflash- Sarah Palin’s dog caught disturbing neigbour’s trash.

Newsflash- Obama and Media agree on “don’t ask don’t tell” policy

Newsflash- NY Times run more negative front page stories on Sarah Palin in one week than on Obama in two years.

Polling makes Sarah Palin more popular than Barack Obama, John McCain or Hillary Clinton. That’s why the left hate her. She breaks through the puffery and pomposity and arrogance that the left use as a shield, and exposes them for the obsessive and compulsive liars they always have been.

She exposes the mainstream left as having far too much influence over our lives in proportion to the number of people who really sympathize with their ideology. She’s not intimidated by their political correctness or their media propagandists, and she confronts them, and speaking clearly and using simple uncomplicated language, she beats them down.

Sarah Palin is brave and truthful. That’s why the left hate her, because they know, BRAVERY AND TRUTH ARE ALL IT TAKES TO DEFEAT THEM..!!!! Be like Sarah. Don’t be cowed by the screaming yelling bullying left. Be brave and speak the truth loudly and with conviction. The left have no effective defence to that simple strategy.

(or those starved of palin-oxygen by our mainstream media..)

and of course..for those tiring/tired of the obsessive copy/pasting of a local..

..and the regurgitated rightwing ‘talking points’ from kia..

..rebuttals/relief is at hand..

as of this moment i have forty palin stories/links..

..i have become a ‘palin-resource’..in my own right..

http://whoar.co.nz/?s=palin

phil(whoar.co.nz)

Palin has real pulling power – she’s getting huge crowds to rallies with McCain. It is difficult for NZers to fathom the feeling on the street in America – EVERYONE is talking about Palin – even people who I know who couldn’t give a toss about politics. I know quite a few McCain hating GOP activists who have just donated the max and are raving about the ticket. My liberla friends trot out the talking points but concede she is a big problem for Obama – they all say Obama is falling into a trap of comparing himself to her. Its a trap we’re all enjoying.

Stewart nails it as usual. What a joke these people are. Because there’s no way they can run on the Republican record they are reduced to reframing the race as the same old culture war. Listening to McCain and Palin you would think it was the Democrats who had occupied the White House for the last 8 years.

Arianna knows the score.

“Given that 82 percent of voters believe we are heading in the wrong direction, it’s a logical position to take. But for the American people to buy into the notion that McCain, who has raced to Bush’s side on tax cuts, on offshore drilling — even on torture — is this campaign’s agent of change, it’s going to require an incredible suspension of disbelief. Or a serious case of amnesia.

And this is clearly McCain’s campaign strategy: inducing amnesia about the past and confusion about the future, attempting to hoodwink the American people about what he has become. Which is where Sarah Palin comes in. As a major distraction. In the effort to divert attention from the matter at hand — McCain’s embrace of all things Bush — Palin is the perfect storm.

Americans love the outsider plucked from obscurity. And Palin provides bucketfuls of the new and exciting. As long as voters and the media are caught up in the latest installment of As Sarah Turns or the Alaska version of All My Children, they aren’t paying attention to the lack of solutions McCain is offering to the serious crises that face us.

Forget worrying about the economy or health care or the housing crisis — think about how many people live in Wasilla, whether Bristol and Levi will live happily ever after, and if Sarah and her “First Dude” really want Alaska to secede from the union.

This is why the McCain campaign wants Palin front and center — did you notice how much time McCain spent during the speech praising Palin and how quickly the celebratory post-speech music shifted from “Raisin’ McCain” to “Barracuda”?

And it’s why Democrats need to ignore Palin, and keep the focus on reminding voters about the stark contrast between an Obama and a McCain administration. It’s tempting to prime the Palin attack pump. But Obama and the Democrats do so at their own peril.

John McCain wants to distance himself from Bush, cloud the huge policy differences between him and Obama, and hope his compelling life story carries the day. Obama’s job is to make sure he doesn’t get away with it. Forgetting Sarah Palin is a good place to start.”

In the mean time he might like to chill with a nice bit of music and have a think about what is important in life:
Russell Brown gonna drop the pressure

Besides, he’ll be looking for a new paid job after November and that’s going to be difficult when the money taps from the state are turned off. Nice.

Lloydois
You make it sound like Obama is the only person who’se ever won a Primary. Bill Clinton fought long and hard as did Dukakis both against excellent quality competition (eg Mario Cuomo Gov of NY). Can you imagine had either of them gone to the people and stated that one of their MAIN qualifications for office was that they beat their opponents in the primary. Both had substantial records as governors to bring to the table. Beating Hillary was more about mastering the arcane rules of the Democrat Primary and so to the extent that Obama learned to finesse multiple caucus wins then that was an achievement. But to make that the centre stage of his prior experience is laughable. Even all the bills he sponsored in the IL Senate, almost all were handed to him on a platter by his mentor Alice Palmer and the Senate President Emil Jones after other more experienced legislators did the groundwork – there are still a number of able Senators in Springfield resentful of the way their boss used his power to take their bill from them and ‘give’ it to Obama to polish his resume. Name one piece of substantial federal legislation that Obama initiated and was the primary sponsor of – not that he just voted for. The ethics legislation he finally voted for was watered down by his party after he told John McCain he’d work across the isle with him. Obama reneged on that promise and went with the party line and the withering letter McCain sent to him after he broke his promised still stands as one of the most pointed public rebukes in that chamber.

What fun.

It’s true that these rabid lefties hate the US and live to be Anti-American. They don’t exactly have the best interests of the US at heart. Luck for the US they can’t vote and their opinions mean nothing to the eventual outcome of a John McCain victory in November. At least we’ll be able to rub that fact in their faces just before New Zealand goes to the polls and votes another John into power. Hels is going to literally meltdown on stage when she accepts defeat. The bitterness on display will be legend.

I wonder if these Lefties realise if Obama wins that Hillary’s aspirations go on hold for another eight years, too long for another serious attempt at the White House.

To sum up the two contenders:
McCain: Hero
Obama: Wannabe

The only experience a leader needs is experience in exercising good judgement and guts. If they can do it in a state capital, they can do it in the nation’s capital.

That good old ‘homosexual political agenda.’ I get a woody every time redbaiter starts frothing.

Careful, Llloyd, you know what they say about folks who are always frothing about the homosexual agenda. They’ve got one of their own — and Baiter might get the wrong idea about your response to his charms.

My my – a well worked up social liberal who happens to vote National. Give us your preferred ticket and then tell us how that ticket would beat Obama/Biden.

Well, KIA, I’ve said more than once if McCain really wanted a woman on the ticket who was acceptably right-wing, what was wrong with Kay Bailey Hutchinson? That is, apart from actually knowing her arse from her elbow about how Capitol Hill works, and (perhaps this was her real problem) being a little too independent and smart for her own good? I certainly think Hutchinson is savvy enough that she would tell the kind of blatant, easily busted lie like the one Palin told about not supporting the “Bridge to Nowhere”; claiming that she’s fiscally kosher, when she hired a Washington lobbyist to go chasing pork, and is currently facing (and stonewalling) an ethics investigation into serious and credible allegations that she abused her powers to prosecute a family vendetta – and fired people who wouldn’t play ball.

You folks have the luxury of closing your eyes, sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending inconvenient facts are just “leftist smears”. You can dismiss legitimate comparisons of Palin’s own statements about her own record in public office with reality as “sexist” and a “savage assault”. But, thank God, you’re not actually running for public office in the real world.

Palin is. And she’s not experienced enough, or competent, to be Vice President of the United States. And in my view, if this is the first taste of McCain’s leadership qualities, I don’t want him to win. Obama can’t possibly be any worse.

(Itty bitty gripe: how can a mom who gets a buzz out of gunning down fellow creatures in their prime call herself ‘pro-life’? But hey, I don’t want to be picky.)

Sarah Palin does appear to be a rare combination of substance and style. I sat transfixed through some of the rousing curtain-raiser speeches by Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani and others, but I thought Palin’s was just brilliant.

To bag her for not writing it herself is a pretty low blow. I assure you politicians don’t tend to read speeches that they haven’t invested in heavily, both emotionally and literally.

The trick as a speechwriter is to think like the candidate. It’s not to have the candidate talk like you.

Sure, some of their words start out as yours. But once the speech has gone through several stages of drafting, usually involving quite a bit of editing by the politician, the end result should come out of their mouth sounding true to character.

I’ve sometimes felt that George W. Bush’s words were too clever to have come out of that brain. But last night, Sarah Palin came across as entirely genuine, whether the words were all hers or not.

That indicates a scriptwriter and candidate working in harmony.