A couple of A-list Republican talking heads, Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy got caught with their pants down, er... um... microphones still turned on while they were chatting about the Sarah Palin pick.
And you thought it wasn't really just a game, now didn't you?
I don’t know why anyone is surprised by this given how easy it is to edit Wikipedia and how politicians (and others) love to shape and reshape their images. The New York Times has picked up on a story that has been floating around during the Labor Day Weekend that Republican VP choice Sarah Palin’s Wikipedia entry was edited at the end of last week leading up to the announcement.
Apparently the individual doing the editing, named YoungTrigg, (her youngest son is named Trigg) started polishing up Palin’s entry. Others did as well. The Times details some of the edits, and it basically looks like a PR polish job from what I’m reading.. It also looks like another user or users did some re-working of the re-working. Apparently another user edited the entry on Thursday night to say Palin was the VP choice.
But given that Wikipedia does make it reasonably easy to edit, and that quick editing has been credited with some breaking (or should I say premature) news of late, it raises some interesting questions that have been raised before about objectivity and Wikipedia’s role in the information game. Some are calling it typical dirty tricks. Heh. I say it is just taking advantage of the opportunities that exist.
Shakespeare’s Prospero couldn’t conjure up a more wicked and twisted storm scenario. Hurricane Gustav is picking up speed and now looks like a Monday morning landfall on the Gulf Coast. Evacuations are moving forward ahead of what looks and sounds like a horrible event. Prayers and good thoughts continue for all those in danger’s path.
Both political campaigns are also reacting with storm like intensity to the event, as the storm and its aftermath will become, in one way or another, a crucial event in the life of the presidential race. Face it. Neither campaign has a choice and they have to operate with intensity on this one.
McCain and Co. headed to Mississippi today to check on preparations and the Republicans are getting set to announce changes in their convention schedule this week. Word is that the Republicans are planning on using part of their convention as a fund-raising tool to help victims.
Obama’s campaign is revving up as well. While not heading to the area ahead of the storm, his campaign is talking about using its email list to help raise money and volunteers after the extent of the storm’s wrath is known. Wonder if they’ll use their social media tools as well? The Obama campaign has one hefty database of names, so it will be interesting to see how this pays off. It could herald the change that many who have been following Obama’s use of the Internet say is coming. This will certainly prove to be a big test, and on many, many levels.
While it will look like the campaigns are trying to out Samaritan each other this week, I’m guessing that the focus on aid will probably be a great service to those who it increasingly looks like will need it.
Some Sunday morning reading to share.
It looks like the Gulf Coast is going to be hit extraordinarily hard by not just one, but possibly two hurricanes, although the path of the second is still much in doubt. The language being used to encourage and force evacuations sounds terrifying. Thoughts and prayers to all who are in harms way.
Ernie the Attorney is going to hang on in New Orleans and is blogging about his experiences.
Gustav is forcing the Republicans to consider changing their plans for the Republican convention and rightly so after the Katrina debacle. It will be interesting to see how the Republicans can pull off basically a no-win situation.
McCain has certainly shaken up things with his choice of Sarah Palin for his VP. I think the jury is way, way, out on what impact this will have, but it is taken an already fascinating and historic election and added to it.
Comcast this week said it would begin capping broadband at 250GB per month for home users. Stacey Higginbotham lists 10 Things To Know About Metered Broadband.
As some, like me, feel very shaky and dissatisfied with Comcast’s cap plan, Steve Gillmor sees it as possibly the dawn of the Streaming Era.
Andy Borowitz on the GOP Campaign as an Unproduced Goldie Hawn film.
So, I guess the Silly Season is really officially underway now with what looks like a classic case of feeding frenzy beginning to build. Blogs and websites have been running speculation all day that John McCain’s VP pick from out of nowhere, Sarah Palin is actually the grandmother of the child she says his her number 5. The very liberal leaning Daily Kos has picked it up and his trumpeting it across the Internets, (or a series of tubes as Alaska’s Ted Stevens would say) and I’m sure it will soon quickly roll out into the mainstream media.
Why? The media doesn’t like it when they aren’t a part of the process, and McCain pulled a fast one by picking Palin. She was basically an unknown, and the media will most likely be anxious to jump on this as if to say, “you should have let us help vet her.”
The Daily Kos,and other reports,base their evidence on several things”
While the evidence as is being presented might smack of a family coverup of a family problem, no one really knows anything at this point. That said, assume there is substance to the speculation, here’s the “history repeats itself” rub.
Given Sarah Palin’s ardent pro-life stance, she would have gathered far more sympathy and support had she come clean about the situation instead of trying to pretend she could hide from the facts. No one would have batted an eye, except the most voracious of partisans. Yes, you can say she was trying to protect her daughter. But while that is noble, like everything else in a coverup, if true, it will backfire big time.
Well here we are. Labor Day weekend in the US traditionally kicks off the Silly Season of the presidential campaign. It only gets sillier and wackier from here. For those who thought the primaries were silly, the next 66 days will probably make you turn off of politics all together (which in some quarters is both the design and the intent.)
Hypocrisy, hyperbole, and hyena-like howls of hooliganism will abound through the media and the blogosphere. When you hear or see what looks like righteous indignation over some slur/slander/slime, just know it is because those who are being indignant are only ticked off that they didn’t come up with the idea first. Anything goes and will go, and I’m guessing this fall will be uglier and funnier than most, even with, or because the stakes are so high.
So, now that Obama has the nod for the Dems, and the Repubs are debating whether to hold their convention this week or postpone it due to a hurricane, here is some of the funniest Silly Season craziness I’ve seen just this morning.
From HolyJuan via The J-Walk Blog
From Faux Fox News.
And from Andrew Sullivan (who has been tearing it up lately.)
I think we should get ready for lots more.
Go fish.
I heard about McCain’s pick right before I had to leave for rehearsal today. Listened to her speech in the car. I wasn’t impressed. I was less so after cueing up and watching the speech and reading more.
McCain standing next to her on the platform looked like he was very nervous and, in a very patronizing way, looked like he was ready to step in if she faltered. He looked like he was reading over her shoulder. Watch the video. The imagery is amazing and undercuts the symbolism.
McCain has abandoned the experience argument. She says she doesn’t know much about Iraq or McCain’s ideas there. Briefing time coming up for Ms. Palin.
McCain has essentially made a bonehead choice as his first executive decision. I think he sensed that he had an opening when Obama didn’t pick Hillary and followed his gut and not his head. In essence he made a style choice and not one of substance. I don’t think you can sell Palin as being ready on day one, or able to step in as the Commander in Chief at a moment’s notice. Speculation is that he threw the long ball out of desperation. I think the head cheerleader caught it as it was tossed to the sidelines not down the field.
My guess is, and I could be completely wrong here as no one knows Palin in the lower 48, she will end up being another Dan Quayle-like joke shortly enough. McCain probably ruined her career.
While I hope the don’t get cocky, the Obama campaign has got to feel good about McCain’s blunder.
I find the timing of some of tonight’s political events really, really intriguing. With hurricane Gustav possibly bearing down on the Gulf Coast and possibly New Orleans, the Republicans are saying they may postpone their convention next week. That sounds noble enough and I’d like to think the motives are pure. But….
First let me say, Heaven forbid that we have another natural disaster on the Gulf Coast. No one needs that.
But this possibility began to be raised shortly after, and I mean shortly after, excerpts from Obama’s speech begin circulating to the press and on the web.
Now, at this late hour, while I am still wired, I’m hearing talk of saying that they Republicans may be thinking of a smaller scale, more town meeting-like convention if they have to postpone.
The cynical old bastard that I am can’t help but think that the McCain campaign read the speech and are praying for an excuse to go small. Especially after Obama’s brilliant challenges that he issued tonight.
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