"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibility" -- Sarah Palin, speech given at the Republican National Convention, September 3rd

On Propeller.com there have been many reactions to this statement. Member k312121 writes: "I am a community organizer in a large city in San Antonio. To discredit me only made me laugh. I can do this job in my sleep and that is why I have a real job -- at a private university. Obama's use of this title is abusive and irrelevant."

A post "Community Organizers Demand Apology After Sarah Palin's Attack" from thinkprogress.org contains a number of quotes from community organizations unhappy with the nominee's statement. FTA: "The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we're trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. (Community Organizers of America)" In the Propeller discussion, member miklkit reminds us: "Please remember, Jesus was a Community Organizer and Pontius Pilate was a Governor".

The AP picked up the story and titled it "GOP criticism angers some community organizers". Says John Baumann, executive director of PICO National Network, "If people in office were doing their jobs, perhaps we wouldn't need community organizers".

The website "Stop. Think. Vote." has an article (located here on Propeller) that informs us that Candidate McCain, after Palin's remarks on 9/3, canceled a scheduled appearance at the Twin Cities Habitat For Humanity build site. Coincidence? You Tell Us!

The Nation has an article (located here), "Community Organizers Fight Back", which quotes Jacqueline del Valle, a community organizer in the Bronx, "If Mayor Giuliani and President Bush cared more about working people instead of just people who can hire high-powered lobbyists, maybe I wouldn't have so much responsibility. Maybe working people would have an easier time in America today. But that's not our reality, and they don't have to mock us while we're trying to clean up their mess."

Taking us away is "The Republican Hater's Ball", courtesy of YouTube. Kudos to The Nation for finding this and linking to it.

STRAIGHT OUTTA WASILLA

This will be the second of our convention-themed Week In Review features. And with the RNC in full swing, the hottest topic by far was vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. "Why McCain's 'America's Hottest Governor' Palin VP Pick Is Brilliant" racked up the most comments of any post this week: 612. One member, pastorwadec, voted nay on McCain's selection: "A much stronger choice would have been Colin Powell or Condi Rice. Then the race card could not have been played by either side. This governor adds nothing to an already weak (at best) ticket." But avygonzalez came to Palin's defense: "She has more executive experience then both Obama and Biden combined! It is a great choice. And Obama's judgement again should be questioned!" So did slate, who enumerated some of the key gubernatorial chores: "They have to make and meet budgets, something she has proven to be good at. She's stood up to the oil companies... and decided to keep her child, when advised three times to abort him." But hefaa1 wasn't buying: "Barbie is quite literally a heartbeat away from the highest office in the land. Will Barbie's dream house be the White House? Stay tuned." A related story, "Palin Myths Dispelled," rang up an impressive 503 comments and 79 props. The thread included a detour about Palin's impending match-up with Joe Biden during the vice-presidential debate. "Biden's going to rip off her Barbie head in the debate," predicted nowtellthetruth. But coppercreekranch took issue with that: "I will be watching. And you are talking about a woman who already ripped of some Good Ol' Boy heads in the process of cleaning up corruption in Alaska." Other Palin-related stories with lively conversations included "Sarah Palin Pregnancy" (366 comments, 55 props), "To rebut rumors, Palin says daughter, 17, pregnant" (398 comment, 99 props), and the more pugnacious "McCain/Palin Continue To Kick The Hell Out Of Obama" (355 comments, 62 props). In the latter case, the headline was vigorously endorsed by cgn49: "Watch the polls after the RNC convention. McCain/Palin landslide. America is a conservative country with a few pimples on the East and Left coast."

ELSEWHERE AT THE RNC

While Sarah Palin grabbed the lion's share of the community's attention, there were several other RNC-realted stories in the Top Twenty. "Obama Copycats McCain In Effort To Keep Himself From Looking Like An Ass" racked up 223 comments and 50 props. Said cloud1: "This is a non-story. The statements are pretty general statements and I'm sure [they] have been used by thousands of people." Replied bill2936: "Maybe Obama was reading the wrong teleprompter again." There was also "Amy Goodman and Two Producers of 'Democracy Now!' Arrested While Covering Protests at RNC," with 117 comments and 111 props. "As I have said before, it's become a crime to peacefully demonstrate in this country," said jovial. "You can be arrested or detained just for being in the area of these protests." Klarissa wondered whether the reporter hadn't been pushing the envelope: "Amy was told she had to use the sidewalk, but when she persisted in going across the promenade (or whatever), the cop asked her again to go to the sidewalk.... Today wasn't a day to test the police resolve." Replied Natureboy: "The right of the people to peaceably assemble and demand redress of their grievances is one of the most fundamental constitutional rights. The cops who are beating down protesters are enemies of the people. Nothing that happens to those porkers could be bad enough." And finally, there was "Cindy McCain's Half Sister: 'I'm Voting for Barack Obama,'" with 131 comments and 120 props. For not2needy, this erosion of familial loyalty was a bad sign indeed: "Old Cindy and John would have done well to try to reconcile and make amends to Kathleen before they made this major booboo. When your own family doesn't want to see you in the WH, you must be pretty bad." Several members began piling on Cindy McCain, belittling not only her personality but her physical appearance. At that point, PsychoHosebeast disciplined the peanut gallery: "Gee, name calling is really mature. Let's see a picture of you, then we'll all pass judgment and... laugh at how pathetic you are. Grow up. Idiots like you make perfect targets for [neocons], and with good reason." This got a hearty response from slate: "Thanks Psycho, I'm glad someone that is on the other side of the political debate gets it." That's Propeller for you, folks--first we fight, then we share the nonpartisan thrills and chills.

(Photos: Jennifer Midberry, AOL)

You could feel the electricity when she walked out onto the stage. This crowd had been waiting desperately for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and when she finally emerged on the third night of the Republican National Convention here in St. Paul, MN, the hall went nuts.


After almost two full days of nonstop scrutiny and questions about her family dynamic, Governor Palin greeted the convention with an unforced confidence, and, with her speech, seemed to reinvigorate the ticket and the party.

Last night Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, the two founders of activist group "Code Pink, Women for Peace," were forcibly removed from the Xcel Center as Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin gave her acceptance speech.

In a sparsely attended press conference at the RNC, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and a band of his congressional colleagues resolved to stamp out the furtive and often fraudulent appropriations known as earmarks. As Eric Cantor (R-VA) made clear, they spoke as reformed sinners: "We are all recovering earmarkers." Tom Price (R-GA) recalled that when he first arrived in Congress, he assumed that just a drop of transparency would be the best antiseptic--that the worst offenders would be too ashamed to continue, once their taste for pork-flavored appropriations was exposed. Wrong. "Shame in Washington is different from shame everywhere else in this nation," Price noted. "That didn't work."

All of the participants in this twelve-step process assured the audience that John McCain and Sarah Palin would be the best antidote for earmarking. This raises at least one awkward question, since the Alaskan governor had her own romance with earmarks during her tenure as mayor of Wasilla. According to the Washington Post, she hired a lobbyist to bring in approximately $27 million in federal funds to her town of 6,500. Was she too in recovery? In the video below, you can see DeMint's opening remarks, and his response to a question about Sarah Palin's earlier use of earmarks.

Actor Jon Voight was mobbed by the media when he appeared at the Xcel Center for the Republican National Convention's third day. During an afternoon otherwise filled with chatter and speculation about what Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, will say in her speech tonight, the Academy Award winner's presence came as a welcome respite.

Despite being squashed into a crowded hallway, Voight looked very much in his element as he took the opportunity to hold court on Senator Obama, Russia, and Georgia...

As predicted earlier, the RNC got back on track yesterday afternoon. Just as I hit the floor, the delegates were standing still for a panoramic convention photo. "Please, don't move," the moderator pleaded with them. This massive game of Red Light, Green Light went on for a minute or so, while the 360 camera did its stuff. Then the delegates were allowed to drop back into their seats and relax. An interlude of New Age music came blasting out of the speakers, followed by Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." Back and forth swayed the placards: "Country First" (in blue) and "Service" (in brown). Even more touching was the profusion of handmade signs up in the bleachers. "Raising McCain," read one. "McCain Is Purpose Driven," declared another, alluding to the candidate's suave performance at the Saddleback Forum. Then came a short video presentation, with rapid nods to the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, Barbara Bush (thunderous applause), and Ronald Reagan (even more thunderous applause). "America is a love story," intoned the narrator, who turned out to be none other than Robert Duvall.

It's a question of the homogenizing intrusiveness of regulation -- of laws that lump us all together when we are clearly, magnificently different -- and it's about the skirting of the Constitution.

That's the Ron Paul argument, anyway.


On the second day of the Republican National Convention here in the Twin Cities, instead of spending time at the Xcel Center in St. Paul to watch the resurrected GOP reclaim their convention schedule from Hurricane Gustav, I went into downtown Minneapolis to the Target Center to observe the Ron Paul "Rally for the Republic."

For those of you who, like me before yesterday, don't know much about Congressman (R-TX) Paul's "Campaign for Liberty's" message, here are the bullet points:

#1, "Stick to the Constitution." It was written carefully for a reason, and we need to go back to it. In fact, we need to follow it to the letter, and that means...

#2, "Leave me alone." If something isn't specified in the Constitution the federal government can't swoop in and make you do it anyway. This is spelled out very clearly in the 10th Amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

So, if you want your thing to become law you have to try at the state level or go ahead and attempt to get the Constitution amended. This leads us to...

#3, "Smaller government" -- although this argument would be a lot easier to understand if it were described as "Smaller FEDERAL Government," cuz the business of law-making can still become a Jarndyce & Jarndyce-like trainwreck at the state level.

But those are just the bullet points. In order to get a deeper understanding of these issues let's hear from two of the campaign's top insiders: former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, and Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.

Although the action inside the Xcel Energy Center was fairly calm yesterday, there was considerably more turbulence outside. Crowds as large as 10,000 hit the streets, to be met with smoke bombs, pepper spray, and concussive grenades from the police. Earlier today, it seemed that the violence had tapered off. Still, one procession did march from Lowertown to the Capitol, their numbers growing to more than 2,000 as attendees from the "Ripple Effect" festival joined the party. When the rumor spread that Rage Against the Machine front man Zack de la Rocha had been arrested, sporadic rioting broke out. In the video below, Minneapolis riot police quickly suit up and prepare to head across town.

America has been learning about Sarah Palin through the press over Labor Day weekend, and here on Propeller, we've also been watching and discussing. Lots of Palin news has been debunked as myth or rumor, so please keep that in mind as you proceed.

On Friday we saw a blog posting from Valleywag submitted about Palin's Wikipedia page. Wikipedia itself, being a source where an increasing amount of Americans research figures of public interest, kept a number of Propeller members busy, some defending, some attacking (well, mostly attacking).

Also on Friday, an Anchorage area blogger spoke on Palin in order to dismiss some popular myths about the Alaskan governor. The story scored a 10.0 on Propeller and garnered just shy of 500 comments.

An Atlantic.com article from Sunday talked about What McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin. Comparing the preparation done by McCain's compaign to vet VP possibilities to the 2004 Kerry campaign, a number of dubious facts arise, among them Palin's position on the "Bridge to Nowhere," her cutting taxes as the mayor of Wassila, and positions on taxing oil companies and global warming. In the end, the similarities discussed between her personality and that of McCain could prove to be the biggest reason she joined the ticket. Want to throw your hat into the discussion? Add to the 110 comments already posted here!

From the Huffington Post was Palin Almost Recalled As Mayor, written Sunday and posted to Propeller yesterday. A solid 8.9 rating and dozens of commenters reacted to a story from 1996 where, as Mayor of Wasilla, Palin was nearly recalled as mayor for firing the Police Chief and Library Director for not supporting her in her mayoral campaign. Proof of this is an entry in the Anchorage Daily News Archives.

From Reuters by way of Yahoo! News, we see that Sarah Palin rebuts the rumors that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child. It topped the charts on Propeller with a 10.0 rating and over 300 comments ranging from support for the VP nominee and her family, support for Obama's stance on keeping families out of the politics of the election, and some back and forth on party policy towards abortion.

Amidst all this, maybe the strangest entry into the Sarah Palin sweepstakes is the video message by hip hop producer and entrepreneur Diddy, on the McCain campaign's VP pick. The video was found and posted on babble.com, and you can join the discussion on it here (warning: the YouTube video linked to on babble.com is NSFW, contains explicit language).

So, Propeller readers, do you think you know enough about Sarah Palin to cast an informed vote? Let us know by casting a vote in the latest Hot Seat poll here:

Just a few hours ago, the Republican convention was gaveled to order. It has been tough sledding for the G.O.P. these last few days, as the catastrophic arrival of Hurricane Gustavo overshadowed John McCain's moment in the sun. It's possible, of course, that the spectacle of the nominee behaving in a presidential manner--and urging his followers to put their partisan grudges aside--will do him more good than a moderately jubilant convention. Still, this was his chance to return fire after Obama's messianic turn in Denver, and to introduce VP pick Sarah Palin to the nation at large. Now natural disaster had snatched it away. With two million citizens already evacuated from the Louisiana coast, and flood waters spilling over the top of the Ninth Ward's Industrial Canal, it simply didn't appear the right moment to drop those 100,000 red, white, and blue balloons from the ceiling.


It was, then, a low-key affair as RNC Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan called the convention to order. True to McCain's earlier insistence that convention attendees must "take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats," Duncan immediately urged delegates to donate money to relief efforts. (The Republicans take a certain amount of ribbing for being less technically savvy, but this time they got it right, replacing the virtual stars and stripes on the JumboTron with a convenient SMS address.) Then the official business began, which suggested nothing so much as the biggest P.T.A. meeting I've ever attended. Nobody expects a carnival ride at such a moment, of course. These are parliamentary niceties, which no political party can truly juice up. But perhaps the somber mood induced by Gustavo made them even more cut-and-dried than usual. And the crowd remained pretty sedate, even as the chairman reminded them that the sergeant-at-arms had "been directed to maintain order and decorum throughout the proceedings."

Not a problem. The audience was polite, mildly demonstrative. There were periodic whoops and eruptions from individual delegations--Arizona and Massachusetts were particularly responsive--but most of them, including the Texans in their cream-colored Stetsons, seemed content to listen. A few feet away, two guys in red McCain baseball hats were talking quietly into what looked like the handset from an old Princess Phone. There were a fair number of "Stop the Obama Express" buttons. Pursuant to Rule No. 41 of the Temporary RNC Rules, four committees were duly created. The gavel made its amplified thumping sound. As the convention powered down for a one-hour recess, the committee chairpersons were asked to regroup in the Elephant Club. (Was there a Donkey Dugout at the DNC?) Tune in tomorrow for what promises to be a more dramatic installment--especially since Gustavo has now hit the Louisiana coast with less ferocity than originally expected.

Thomas Frank created a splash during the last election cycle with What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. In this witty polemic, he argued that hot-button issues such as abortion or gay marriage had seduced blue-collar Democrats and Republicans alike into voting against their own economic interests. Now, just in time for our next trip through the electoral wringer, he has published The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. It should be clear from the subtitle that he still has a bone to pick with what he calls "the leviathan of waste and misgovernment that is the glory of conservative Washington." Yet he also has some ideological aces up his sleeve--in the video below, he anoints Bill Clinton as an honorary conservative and celebrates John McCain as the Republican with the cleanest hands. He also shares his views about the recent Democratic convention and the current, somewhat muted Republican affair.

As the Republican National Convention neared the end of its first day, even amid great efforts made to support hurricane-affected Gulf states, there was still plenty of talk about vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

The biggest story was one driven by an article that appeared a couple of days ago on the blog The Daily Kos that suggested that Palin's fifth child, Trig, was actually her grandson--the child of her daughter, Bristol. The story went 'round and 'round all day, eventually forcing the Palins to make a statement intended to halt the rumors about Trig's parentage. Ironically, the statement said nothing about Trig, but instead revealed that Bristol was currently pregnant--5 months along, in fact, and that the father's name is Levi.

Leaving aside, for a moment, the potential can of worms that an illegitimate pregnancy in the immediate family could (and should) be for a conservative, abstinence-only-supportive candidate, there was still plenty of discussion about Palin's potential role as Veep of the nation.

To get into some specifics about her selection, I first spoke to Barbara Ciara, President of the National Association of Black Journalists--a watchdog group that monitors media coverage for diversity, as well as makes sure that people of color are represented in newsrooms--and then to Patti Johnson, a member of the Texas delegation, and a huge fan of Palin's.

At a press conference this morning, John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, gave an update of the stripped-down schedule for the 2008 Republican National Convention's first day. In the face of the difficulties in the Gulf region due to Hurricane Gustav, convention events were pared-down to just the legal essentials.

"In order for the Republican Party to officially exist and for Senator McCain to qualify for the ballot, we are - by law - required to conduct specific official business. At this point, our program on Monday has been scaled back and will only include what party rules governing the nomination of our candidates for president and vice president require. We will perform the official business as required. In addition, we have set aside time to make delegates and Americans watching our proceedings at home aware of what they can do to assist in relief efforts designed to help those who will be affected by Hurricane Gustav."

Additionally, the McCain camp and the RNC have established the "Affected States Working Group" and the "Affected States Information Center" for delegates to visit inside the convention center to keep up with news and information about Hurricane Gustav and it's effect on the Gulf.


Right now the room isn't much more than a wide, abbreviated space with a few computers in the bowels of the Xcel Energy Center, but it is there. And so were the buses and the planes that took Gulf state delegates as close to home as they could get on Saturday to be with loved ones when the storm hit.

All those things and partnerships in place with Target and Fed Ex to package and ship 80,000 "comfort packages" to the devastated areas on Wednesday, suggest that the RNC's quick thinking stands to have a significant psychological impact in the Gulf as well as nationwide. And while that sounds like a blueprint for a political angle, it's as possible that it's not. What the McCain campaign and the RNC have done is just doggone good. Politics aside, they made the right decisions.

I first interviewed New Orleans resident and musician, Margie Perez, in February 2007 in her new home in the Upper Ninth Ward. Margie had won a coveted spot in Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis' "Musicians' Village," a post-Katrina development co-sponsored by Habitat for Humanity that was intended to help bring musicians back to the Crescent City.

The following interview took place over the phone on August 27, 2008. I called Margie from the Democratic National Convention, where she had spoken from the podium only two days earlier. As there was a lot of ambient noise where I was, I've included in the video a transcription of Margie's responses...