All the news unfit to print for Thursday, August 28, 2008
OBAMA'S PROFOUND ROAR: "ENOUGH!"
"Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough.""
"It is that promise that has always set this country apart – that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.
That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women – students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives – on health care and education and the economy – Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors – the man who wrote his economic plan – was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.
We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise – the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.
Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.
Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.
America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
The words that will be said .. the rest will be history..
GUSTAV'S FIRST STRIKE: BUSH MAY NOT SPEAK AT GOP CONVENTION!
The irony of ironies.. Gustav is poised to strike the Gulf Coast, somewhere, maybe even New Orleans, early next week..
Conversations are underway tonight behind closed doors.. FEMA director already down in the South, and the President may not speak at the GOP convention..
Katrina hit New Orleans three years ago this week.. Gustav poised to take a strikingly similar pattern and path.. It's also expected to intensify to a Cat 3, if not stronger, storm by next Monday or Tuesday when it hits land..
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren As Barack Obama gets ready to speak to the nation, and world, a quote is making its way across the net, Digg, and Stumble.. Joe Biden from 2001, one day before 9/11:
"We will have diverted all that money to address the least likely threat while the real threats come into this country in the hold of a ship, or the belly of a plane, or are smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack"
Republican candidate John McCain doing his best to try to take the spotlight away from the Obama acceptance speech tonight at Invesco field, Denver..
Rumors have circulated all day of who may be his choice for Vice President.. But the news may not be nearly as exciting as Obama's speech before 80,000 screaming fans..
Palenty's stock has been rising within the McCain camp this week.. McCain himself, reports claim, has narrowed his search down to Leiberman, the unlikely, Romney, the conversatives' creepy friend, and Tim Pawlenty, who seems to be angering no one but also exciting anyone..
The McCain camp has also planned an ad blitz tonight--during Obama's speech.. In the ad, the McCain team said, the Republican will 'speak directly' to Obama..
However, Accuweather goes on to say that no one can rule out Gustav gaining strength..
A few forecasters in weather circles have been watching Gustav for days.. The meandering cone of impact has slendered in recent hours.. The point of impact appears to be Louisiana.. near New Orleans..
ALREADY: MANY MOCKING OBAMA'S SET CHOICE FOR TONIGHT'S SPEECH
It was bound to happen.. I asked yesterday what was the Obama team thinking?
Rumors circulated Wednesday that the stage set for the Obama acceptance speech tonight at Invesco Field gave the impression of an ancient Greek temple.. The Parthenon.. Mt Olympus..
One story in the Rocky Mountain News said the "stars were aligned" for the speech tonight..
The McCain camp was quick to mock the choice, New York tabloids piled on.. Murdoch's NY POST began their story this morning, "Democrats will kneel before the "Temple of Obama" tonight. As if a Rocky Mountain coronation were not lofty enough, Barack Obama will aim for Mount Olympus when he accepts his party's nomination atop an enormous, Greek-columned stage - built by the same cheesy set team that put together Britney Spears' last tour. "
And predictably, according to the Politico, senior Democrats are nervous about the Obama approach to his acceptance speech. Nervous about 80,000 cheering fans, the weather, the stage design, and about the chance that the McCain campaign could use images of the rock star appearance to slam Obama as.. a rock star (like they did a few weeks back)..
While the world may be watching tonight, each part of that world will form their own opinion .. And it's not going to be a toga party for everyone..
John McCain is set to notify his pick for vice president today-- a pick that will surely leak out before the big Obama speech at the temple set design before 75,000 people tonight..
Even more, team McCdin plans an ad in which McCain will speak "directly to" Obama right at the time the Democratic nominee talks from the Obama-thenon in Denver
Will McCain go with the safe but creepy Romney.. Or an unconventional pick?(or... Woman?)
Republican candidate John McCain doing his best to try to take the spotlight away from the Obama acceptance speech tonight at Invesco field, Denver..
