Legend says that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

It seems there is a desperate attempt to frame Governor Palin before she speaks at  the convention and America sees that she doesn't have two horns and a tail.

Just like watching MSNBC was pointless as a Hillary supporter.

Once these talking heads are in the tank for a candidate, forget getting any fair balance.

Now, it's Palin-Palin-Palin all day. This morning, I had to double-check to see if this site had been hijacked and the URL had been rerouted to the Daily Kos or Huffington Post. TL has really become an extension, albeit tamer, of DK and HP.

Would it then be fair to say that Barack Obama believes, among other things, that the government created AIDS to kill black people?  After all, that is what Rev. Wright believes, and Barack Obama was a member of that church for twenty years.

It always seems so convenient to cater to corporate interests in the cases of lands lived in by brown people.  We have officially apologized to Hawaiians.  We have not apologized to Alaskans.

John McCain has tethered himself to the religious right now.

Also not that I'm endorsing the AIP position but strong feelings against the "gubmint" vs. hating America.

Really, it's basically an enumeration of anti-Palin talking points.

She urged students to pray "that our leaders -- that our national leaders -- are sending [soldiers] out on a task that is from God."

She added, "That's what we have to make sure that we are praying for: that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

"I can do my part in working really, really hard to get a natural gas pipeline, about a $30 billion project that's going to create a lot of jobs for Alaska. ... [but] I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said. "I can do my job there in developing our natural resources, in doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded. But really that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's hearts aren't right with God."

Also, Obama was hounded until he renounced the politics of Reverened Wright.  Will Palin do the same for the AIP? Whose founder cursed the United States and was buried in Canada so he wouldnt be buried under a flag he hated?

Her husband, with 7 years of membership, will certainly get questions about it.   Obviously she can claim that her support of the group was as a loyal spouse, not as a participant.  The AIP seemed to be under the impression that she had been a member so any damage could come down to interviews regarding their behavior and statements from years earlier.

The Obama situation was absolutely discussed, and he made a fairly impressive speech on the situation to help diffuse it.

And this probably isn't the place to be all Anti-Wright. Personally, he said a lot of things about how rich white men run the country and have unfairly treated women for decades that I thought was pretty spot on.

with regards to gov. palin, i'm far more intrigued by her claims of fiscal conservatism. that she supposedly (before she was even gov!) turned down the 450 mill. for the vaunted "bridge to nowhere". that's a flat out lie. further, the wp reports that, as mayor of wasilla, she, and a lobbying firm hired by the town, were responsible for getting 27 mill in fed. earmarks.

so much for being against earmarks.

as well, she claims to have used the increased tax revenues, from the oil & gas companies, due to their increased revenues, to give each alaskan a $1,200 rebate. what she failed to mention is that the increased tax revenues were primarily the consequence of her bill, increasing taxes on those same companies, not solely due to their increased revenues.

sounds like socialism to me. :)

When the spokeshack was clearly unprepared to cite even a single instance in which Palin had to make any executive decision regarding the Guard the interviewer was uncharacteristically stubborn about repeating the question.

It's hard to see how he can score points with this; in view of Abu Ghraib and McCain's flip-flop on torture legislation.

This sociopathic hypocrisy could go into an Obama/Biden attack ad, but it won't.

Thompson said that McCain: "knows about hope, because as a POW, hope was all he had". Ouch.

The pundits will talk about how mean the lefties have been, and how Obama supporter's attacks have made common Americans rally to defend her...  SCREECH, wait a minute, what about the economy?  Have they talked about the economy at the Repub convention yet?  Did I miss it in Bush's speech?  No, he didn't even mention it.  And they have no intention of going there.  The GOP is the master of politics of distraction.

The Repubs were dying a slow death, bored silly with McSame and realizing he'll give us more of the BuchCo's policies that are killing the country.  Now they've got the culture war back in play.  Those liberal elites and their exotic candidate vs. common folk who are willing to deal with the problems many Americans face, who'll stand by their daughter who got pregnant but made the right choice...  SCREECH, wait a minute, how the heck did they co-opt the word choice from our side?!  They don't believe in choice!  They're all about taking away choice!  

Here we go, the Repubs get to define the conversation again.  They were losing the personality/culture war.  But Americans don't really want to have to vote on the issues.  They want to feel good about their side and their candidate.  Palin gives them that opportunity.  

What can we do to take back control of the discussion and focus on the issues?  

1)Don't watch their convention on TV, and suggest the same to others via any lists you're on.  It just gives them higher ratings and it'll all be on the Internet anyway.  Everything Palin is being prepped to say in her speech is already in their playbook.  So don't watch it on TV.