Republican Roundup: It's All Dumb!

Let's get to it, we've got a lot to cover.

~Bill O'Reilly recently talked with Vogue contributing editor Rebecca Johnson, who wrote a profile of Michelle Obama for the magazine.

O'REILLY: How did you find her in person? Was she engaging?
JOHNSON: I found her lovely, actually, very bright, very thoughtful and, you know, an impressive person, intelligent. She was great. I was impressed.
O'REILLY: Now, I have a lot of people who call me on the radio and say she looks angry. And I have to say there's some validity to that. She looks like an angry woman. Did you ask her about that?
JOHNSON: Don't they say that about you, too?

It goes without saying that Bill is a moron for pushing the old "angry black woman" stereotype here. As the segment went on he continued to push the issue of whether Michelle might be angry. But our favorite part has to be "did you ask her about that?" Johnson had just finished saying that after spending half a day with Michelle Obama, she found her to be "lovely", "great", and "impressive". So why would she have asked about Michelle's alleged "anger" when she clearly didn't perceive Michelle as angry? And even if she had perceived Michelle that way, she wouldn't necessarily have asked her about it, both because that might be kinda rude and also...well, does every person who interviews Bill O'Reilly inquire about his pompous douchebaggery? Sometimes these things just don't come up.


~The McCain campaign has already received complaints from several musicians, including Heart, who have requested that the Republicans not use their music at campaign events. But this week the campaign received a cease and desist letter from an unlikely source: Fox News. A recent McCain web ad contained an audio clip of a comment made by correspondent Major Garrett and Fox News wants Garrett's voice removed: "We demand that you immediately remove Mr. Garrett's voice from this ad. As Mr. Garrett is a nonpartisan news correspondent covering the Obama campaign for Fox News, it is highly inappropriate, among other things, of your campaign to use him in your ad." The McCain campaign replied that they will not honor the request, but Fox News had the last laugh when they were able to get the video removed from YouTube with a copyright claim. Fun!


~Fox News host Sean Hannity has forgotten one of the most important rules of this campaign, which is that family is off-limits! During his interview with Sarah Palin, one of the first things he asked was how her family felt about her being chosen by McCain and whether they all had a "hockey team meeting" to discuss it. Okay, I guess we can give him a pass for that one - it's a fairly standard and generic question and it's not like she'd have to go into a lot of personal details to answer it. But later, Hannity starts talking about Palin's son Track, who is in the army and is about to be deployed to Iraq.

Hannity: "You just said goodbye to your son, who is off, he's going to serve in Iraq. First, on the personal side, what did you say to him as he was leaving for Iraq, and what did he say to you?

Uh, Sean, isn't the "personal side" also the "private side" which is also supposed to be the "off-limits" side? Isn't the answer to a question like this supposed to be "none of your business, Sean"?

Palin: Well, as a mom, you know, he's heading to Iraq taking a fifth of my heart with him, you know? And I'm just so extremely proud of him - he's independent and he's strong and he's serving for the right reasons. I'm just as proud of every man and woman in uniform serving our country and trying to usher in democratic values to the rest of the world, protecting our freedoms. Very, very proud of these guys and these gals. They are America's finest and I think that, you know, the Army is lucky to have my son.
What my son said to me, though, was — it was an awakening for me to realize that he knows what he is doing in this and he knows that he has chosen the right reason to serve. I was just being mom to him just a few weeks ago — no V.P. talk even then — but just as mom I was probably getting on his nerves, asking him a whole lot of question about the deployment and about he and his Stryker brigade, what his job will be and he's like, Mom, I belong to the Army now. I belong to America.

She keeps saying that her son is serving "for the right reasons". We'd love hear more of her thoughts on what the "right" and "wrong" reasons are to serve in the military.

Palin: He did. And he was telling me, Mom, it's going to be OK and I've chosen to do this. And you know, I'm like, man, thank God for this voluntary military that we have with America's finest. These young men and women, they just — they just make me so proud.
Hannity: He said that to you?

We're a little confused by all of this. Why does Bristol Palin have an absolute right to total privacy, to have no questions asked and no judgments raised about her, but her brother Track doesn't have that same right? It certainly can't possibly be because Track's military service is "noble" and a plus for the campaign, while Bristol's teenage pregnancy is "shameful" and a potential minus, right?


~Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole is running for re-election in North Carolina this year against Democrat (and Emily's List candidate) Kay Hagan. One of the criticisms of Dole is that doesn't actually spend much time in North Carolina and is out of touch with the people of her state and what they want and need. She attempted to dispel that criticism by talking about her deep ties to the state, including the business that she owns there, which she could barely remember the name of.

Dole (while laughing): I think (Hagan) has indicated many times that I'm from Kansas. But my roots are very deep in North Carolina. Very deep. Here, I grew up in Salisbury, went to the public schools, spent 11 years on the Duke board after I graduated from Duke, own a home there. I own a business in North Carolina, for goodness sake. My family roots go way, way back.
Reporters: What business do you own?
Dole: We had a family farm, which was turned into a real estate development. And it's just outside of Salisbury. It's just a beautiful development.
Reporters: What's the name of the development?
Dole: [10-second Pause followed by nervous laughter] Well...
[Another pause]
Reporters: It's fine if you ...
Dole: I have to stop and think for a moment. [Brief pause]
Reporters: If you can't think of it, it's fine.
Dole: I'll get it for you. I will.
Reporters: Well, I also wanted to ask you about the tone of the race and your opponent's ...
Dole: It's Forest Glen. That's right. Because it's right in the forest where my dad had a little cabin and built a little pool for us as children. That's right. Forest Glen.

Another Dole fun fact - she was the only woman senator of either party to vote against a nonbinding resolution affirming Roe v. Wade.



~During an appearance on a radio show, McCain campaign advisor and former CEO of HP Carly Fiorina said that Sarah Palin would not be capable of doing her old job.

"Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?" asked the host.
"No, I don't," responded Fiorina. "But you know what? That's not what she's running for."

During an appearance later in the day on MSNBC, Fiorina added, "Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation. I don't think Barack Obama could run a major corporation. I don't think Joe Biden could run a major corporation."

Well, if anyone's an expert on being incapable of doing this particular job well, I guess it would be Fiorina. But it does beg the question - if Fiorina doesn't judge McPalin capable of running a large corporation, why is she confident in their abilites when it comes to running the country? Especially since, as the events of the past week have shown, it's a job that requires quite a bit of knowledge about how corporations work and what their relationship with the government should be. Guess Carly will have time to ponder all of these issues during her McCain campaign mandated media time out.


~More fun from the Hannity/Palin interview!

Hannity: Let's talk about Senator Biden, your counterpart. He's spent over 30 years in the Senate. He's been on the Foreign Relations Committee. One might even wonder if Barack Obama would want to debate him. That is going to be your task. How big of a challenge do you view the upcoming debate with Senator Biden?
Palin: Senator Biden has tremendous amounts of experience. I think he was first elected when I was like in second grade. He's been in there a long, long, long time. So he's got the experience. He probably has the sound bites. He has the rhetoric. He knows what's expected of him. He is a great debater, also. So yes, it's going to be quite a task in front of me.

Ah, the backhanded compliment. That Joe Biden, he sure is old and he's been in the Senate forever and he's probably in a bunch of old boy's clubs and stuff, right Sarah? (For the record, Palin is 44 and Biden is 65. He's been a Senator for 35 years, having started his Senate career at the minimum required age of 30.) We know that Palin only met John McCain once before he picked her, but she has hung out with him quite a bit since then, so surely she's noticed that McCain is old (72, which is seven years older than Biden!) and has been in the Senate forever (21 years, plus a couple of terms in the House before that). She is right about one thing - the debate is going to be "quite a task" for her. We'll definitely be watching.