Sarah Palin did OK in the first part of her first major interview — with Charlie Gibson of ABC News — although she spent a lot of time repeating talking points instead of exhibiting nuance or a firm grasp of topics. In the interview segments that aired Thursday, John McCain’s running mate came off as well-rehearsed but at times out of her depth. She obviously didn’t know what the Bush doctrine was and tried to bluff her way through. Gibson helped her out by defining it as pre-emptive war. She declared herself ready to be president, if need be, but her C-student answers and deer-in-the-headlights look on some questions weren’t reassuring. More of the interview airs today.
Clearly, there are consequences for those who leave their former party and then address the other party’s convention: Former Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., will no longer attend Democrats’ weekly caucus lunches or biweekly lunches of committee chairmen. Stay tuned for whether he’ll keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Of course, if John McCain wins in November, Lieberman might end up being secretary of state or defense — not a bad trade-off.
It’s probably good to be wary of generalizations about people and places. But there’s some truth to a new study that identifies personality traits of U.S. states.
Kansas was No. 5 in “conscientiousness,” according to the listing. And we scored high in values of discipline, duty and faith.
OK, maybe we’re not the life of the party. But Kansas deserves credit for being a place of hardworking, down-to-earth, dependable folks who will do what they say they’re going to do.
Still, we might want to loosen up a bit: Kansas is No. 38 in “openness” — traits such as intellectual curiosity and artistic creativity.
Barack Obama this week pushed back hard on Sarah Palin’s attack line at the GOP convention that “al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”
It was an easy, cynical applause line. But Obama called out Palin on substance, telling a rally that the rights of captured suspects were “the foundation of Anglo-American law,” and arguing that the principle “says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, ‘Why was I grabbed?’ And say, ‘Maybe you’ve got the wrong person.’”
He went on: “The reason that you have this principle is not to be soft on terrorism. It’s because that’s who we are. That’s what we’re protecting. Don’t mock the Constitution. Don’t make fun of it. Don’t suggest that it’s not American to abide by what the Founding Fathers set up. It’s worked pretty well for over 200 years.”
Kathleen Sebelius was elected Kansas governor by playing down partisanship and capturing more than Democrats’ votes. But she has been boldly partisan ever since she endorsed Barack Obama in January, and recently on the attack against John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. If Obama wins, Sebelius might get a Cabinet job. But if he loses, Sebelius’ logical next move would be a run for Congress. “Will moderate and independent voters — whose support she’d need to get to Washington — forgive and forget the partisanship Sebelius has been displaying since before the primary?” asks the Topeka Capital-Journal’s Ric Anderson. We could add that Sebelius now has another problem with some voters — her efforts to keep western Kansas from getting new coal-fired power plants.
Polls give every indication that Kansas will go for John McCain in November, just as it has for every Republican presidential nominee since 1964. But Barack Obama’s campaign will try hard to shake up the electoral map, as evidenced by its weekend opening of offices in Wichita, Lawrence and Mission. “We’re building this movement in Kansas from bottom up, not the top down,” said Samantha Finke McCain, state director of Obama for America. Meanwhile, McCain doesn’t yet have a Kansas office; his campaign Web site refers Kansans to a regional headquarters in Centennial, Colo.
And beyond Kansas, Associated Press reports that rather than continue with its “50-state strategy,” the Obama campaign “is quietly eyeing a states’ map similar to the one used in past elections, with some exceptions.” He is advertising in about 16 states.
Sarah Palin did OK in the first part of her first major interview — with Charlie Gibson of ABC News — although she spent a lot of time repeating talking points instead of exhibiting nuance or a firm grasp of topics. In the interview segments that aired Thursday, John McCain’s running mate came off as well-rehearsed but at times out of her depth. She obviously didn’t know what the Bush doctrine was and tried to bluff her way through. Gibson helped her out by defining it as pre-emptive war. She declared herself ready to be president, if need be, but her C-student answers and deer-in-the-headlights look on some questions weren’t reassuring. More of the interview airs today.
