Takin' a breather from all this political stuff

We’re trying to sneak this one in here before kickoff….

Defending Super Bowl champs, New York Giants open up at home as 4 pt. favorites to the Washington Redskins. We not only like the Skins to cover, we like them to win outright. Despite their obvious success last year, the Giants are only 6-10 at home the past two seasons. The Giants will also need to find adequate replacements for 7 defensive starters, including retired Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora (injured, out for season) both of whom were critical in providing the upfield pass rush at defensive end that was key to the Giants’ success. This isn't going to happen overnight, let alone, the first game of the season.

‘Skins QB, Jason Campbell, is reunited with Offensive Coordinator, Al Borges. Campbell enjoyed his most productive season in college at Auburn when Borges came onboard as Auburn’s O-Con in Campbell’s senior year. Throw-in a steady diet of Clinton Portis at running back and we think the ‘Skins have a great opportunity to steal one from the Giants who may be admiring their Super Bowl rings a bit too much.

We hear Iran is lovely this time of the year.

Also, by next June the Defense Department will begin to reduce its inventory of cluster bombs that do not meet the new safety requirements.

Tongue-removed-from-cheek story, here.

H/T: The bulletin board at work which remains an inexplicable case of harboring exhibits (and endorsements?) of currently-defined drunkeness, debauchery, sexism, non state-approved wagering and all-around ill-tempered and bad-mannered behavior.

The Republicans nominated the wrong person

We kid, of course but Sarah Palin knocked the bottom out of her speech tonight. She provided an outstanding narrative of her life as a mother of five, a small-town mayor, a governor and now, on the biggest stage on planet, as part of the ticket for Executive leadership of the most powerful nation on Earth.

Amongst this narrative were some well-played shots at Obama: “I guess being a community organizer is sorta like being a mayor except that a mayor has actual responsibilities” This will not go unchallenged. Trust us, Suit does not like to be trifled with.

Even Poor ol’ Harry Reid takes one in the shorts: “Harry Reid said, “I can’t stand John McCain.” Perhaps no greater accolade can be paid to John McCain than that statement from that man”. “What he meant to say was that “I can’t stand up to John McCain”.

Props for going strong on "energy independence" and some foreign policy name and place-dropping.

Yes, it was a scripted speech (aren’t they all) but she delivered it in a calm, resolute and forceful manner without every sounding shrill or off-balance. This was precisely the speech she needed to give in the manner she gave it to calm frayed nerves and bring some more folks into camp.

As M.T. Suit suffered the misfortune of giving his acceptance speech on the same night college football opened, John McCain will suffer double that fate as he goes up against the opener of the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful NFL tomorrow night. No matter. His work is done. His running-mate performed brilliantly and it was obvious as he came to the podium after Palin’s speech that he was visibly relieved and had received via the crowd’s reaction to Palin, some much-needed affirmation as to this most amazing and perhaps, mercurial of choices for Vice President.

P.S. B-Daddy assesses the speech and an obvious Andrea Mitchell make-up malfunction, here.

From the rooftop of BwD Headquarters

Spectaculary massive thunder clouds out east over the desert this afternoon. Bottom pic is just a zoom-in of the top. Click to enlarge.

Suit: Eminently more qualified than the Mayor of Wasilla.

... just ask him.

B-Daddy has more over at our Brother site, here.

Quote of the Day

"For the past five years there has been ongoing negotiations (between our European allies) with Iran. And for the past five years, Iran has been able to further develop its nuclear weapon capabilities."

- Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton on Roger Hedgecock’s show at the RNCC

Of course, Suit has got a brilliant idea: I'll negotiate with Iran.

Take your best shots... Please.

A few thoughts on the whirlwind that has been the Sarah Palin Labor Day weekend experience.

B-Daddy commented that he was worried about McCain’s judgement with respect to what has appeared to be a rather lax vetting process and that his selection appears to be a living, breathing example of “Maverick’s” fighter pilot’s gut instinct taking precedent over a rational, contemplative proceedings that either score a direct hit or crash and burn. He’s right, but, also and along those same lines, the selection of Palin is just the perfect continuation of our theme for supporting McCain, in the first place.

For all the “baggage” Palin is supposedly carrying around and for all her alleged inexperience, just remember who’s 3rd in terms of succession, folks. And also remember that John Edwards was only a one-term Senator himself when he was Kerry’s running mate 4 years ago

And “Troopergate”…? Or did you mean “Troopergate?” Just what is it with these governors from rural states starting with the letter “A” and their law enforcement agencies?

The reason we’re bringing this up is because these two aforementioned issues are indeed legitimate issues. The “experience” charge can be legitimately leveled and legitimately countered. That’s how civil discourse and debate works. That’s how people make up their mind on who they will vote for in a democracy. “Troopergate” is a legitimate issue. We hope the facts come out and that Governor Palin accounts for herself in a truthful manner regarding what sort of influence she did exert.

But over the weekend what do lefty bloggers, instead, latch onto and what does the press dutifully lap-up but the controversy surrounding Sarah Palin, her son Trig who suffers from Down’s Syndrome and her oldest daughter Bristol. The Daily Kos, who has been at the forefront of this noble truthing effort was forced to take down a post claiming Sarah Palin was lying about her giving birth to Trig as she was covering for the fact that Trig was actually Bristol’s son. All this based upon a photo taken that showed Bristol with an alleged “baby-bump”. Go ahead and look at the photo. What Bristol possesses, however, is what we down here in the Lower 48 and which possess an I.Q. above room temperature and who do not have hearts seething with rage refer to as “baby-fat”. Nice work, Kos.

The Left has ample material on Palin by which to work but what do they focus on instead: the motherhood of a young boy with Down’s syndrome and the propriety of a mother of 5 taking on the duties of Vice President which is highly ironic, of course, as it betrays the liberal/Left mantra of “having your family and career, too”.

Didn’t seem to be an issue with John Kennedy… oh, he was the dad…the husband. Got sexism?

Anyway, we encourage those on the Left who wish to pursue these sordid and disgusting storylines as its apparent it makes them feel all tingly inside, sends a thrill up their leg to talk about teen sex and satisfies their desire to take down a self-made woman who is not perfect, whose family is not perfect and to our knowledge never made claims to the contrary. And we welcome them also for purely selfish reasons as, if they continue, may prove to turn this election into a walk.

Backlash is a bitch, y’all.

Nice read here from Rich Lowry on PDS

Checking-in from the RNCC

Beers with Demo is sparing no expense in stem to stern coverage of the Presidential election procedings. We've got our resident Donkey, Mongo, with his take on the Democratic National Convention, our man 'Dawg in the field in Fallon, Mo. taking-in a McCain/Palin campaign event and now our friend Mark from the NYC (and native of the great state of Minnesota) is reporting-out on the goings-on in the Twin Cities including a dinner recommendation and a chance encounter in a Minneapolis/St. Paul restroom (.... oh no, not again!)

"Being "on the ground" in the Twin Cities during the convention has been
fascinating thus far... and now that Gustav overkill has subsided, the
partying is beginning to gain steam. People-watching is amazing... with
downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis full of both delegates and
dignitaries walking around.

Monday night: by sheer luck, I happened to
find myself at "the" place to see and be seen: Pezzaluna Italian
restaurant in St. Paul, a few blocks from the Xcel Energy Center. Andrea
Mitchell walked in... alone I might add... and after shaking a few hands
walked back out to her limo... alone. Serves her right for spewing her
liberal venom amid a group of conservatives. She seemed much shorter
than I imagined... although she seemed to be slouched over and cowering
as she ran out... so maybe that's why.

Minnesota's Republican Senator Norm Coleman also came in, and spent several minutes working the room.
He seemed very relaxed... obviously not too concerned about beating
comedian Al Franken in November. But the highlight last night was
meeting Bill O'Reilly from Fox News! Although... I'm embarrassed to
say... our "meeting" took place in the men's room. No... not a urinal or
stall interaction. We actually both found ourselves washing our hands at
the same time... a perfect opening to strike up a conversation. I
welcomed him to St. Paul and asked if he was enjoying his stay. After a
few more awkward pleasantries, he recommended that I order the risotto
(which I did)... and left, only to be seated with his entourage only two
tables away from us.

I noticed that they all drank iced tea... and
ordered salads (was the risotto recommendation just small-talk??) I
also noticed (was I staring?) that nobody seemed to pay the tab before
they left... hmmm. All and all an interesting first night of the
convention in St. Paul!"



Thanks for that correspondence, Mark. Hey, if we're eating and drinking on someone else's tab, we're definetely firing-up shots. What's the matter with these people?

We look forward to hearing how the rest of the week plays-out.

Large city in Upper Midwest Province could benefit from a Surge strategy.

...Because nothing says “peace” like throwing bricks through windows, puncturing tires and assaulting delegates.

Anti-war anarchists putting on their performance art piece, "Irony" at the RNC Convention. More here.

H/T: Weasel Zippers

Wet Nurse-in-Chief

With over 5 million boxes and rolls of Kleenex and toilet paper at the ready, President Bush dodges a bullet from having to personally wipe everybody in the Gulf region’s nose and ass as it appears “Gustav” has not unleashed the destruction on New Orleans and surrounding areas as did “Katrina” some 3 years ago.

On the Campaign Trail (Updated!)

Road ‘Dawg, avid reader and frequent commenter is currently in the heartland and was able to attend a McCain/Palin rally in a small town east of St. Louis where he grappled his way to the front to observe and take some pictures. Here’s some of ‘Dawgs thoughts on the proceedings.

I was surprised, although I shouldn't have been, that Palin was the major
focus of the rally. It was after all the first major event subsequent to
the announcement. She had a very credible message of reform. Her message
of public service with a servant's heart rather than self interest was
very moving. You had this feeling that she was America's mom. That she
would take on this task with everything she had in the best interest of
her children with selflessness and fearlessness.

Meanwhile John McCain hung back and let her have her moment. It appeared
to have a natural feel to the partnership.

(Unfortunately, we are unable to post a picture of 'Dawg with a lady sporting a Democrats for McCain t-shirt) Jonah Goldberg doesn’t think Palin will be able to peel-off any disgruntled Hillary supporters because of Palin’s politics. Goldberg misses the point. This election and more precisely, the Democratic primaries were never about ideology and positions where there was virtually nothing to separate Suit and Hillary – it was all about identity politics and the “sisterhood”. Palin could be the biggest social conservative, pro-life Christian .... oh, never mind... and her mere presence on the ticket as a female is just one more reason for those Hillary supporter looking for any reason to bolt the Suit/Biden ticket.

And as for Goldberg's advise to attack the radical feminists.... whatever... Our advise: be yourself. Palin has a terrific story to tell the American public absent any political posturing and we're looking forward to hearing it.

UPDATE #1: It would appear that “America’s Mom” may very soon be “America’s Grandma”. Also, go over to our brother site at TILoBO for some more photos of the rally in Fallon, Missouri.