Go Mary!

I was glad to see these poll results for Mary.

So far, she has run a very strong campaign. I've gotten to know her operation and it is staffed by dedicated and competent people. This may be my biased opinion, but of all the government officials who got it wrong after the storm, Mary is the one who has consistently gotten it right for Lousiana. And people seem to be aware of this. I've spoken to several conservatives from across the state who have told me that they may disagree with her on some social issues, but she has delivered and they'll vote for her.

This is all compared with the Kennedy campaign. Granted, it's hard for the most competent state treasurer to run on his record, because so few people know what their state treasurer does. Kennedy has been a hapless candidate all summer long. He did a terrible job of explaining away his candidacy against Vitter four years ago and his endorsement of John Kerry. His announcement tour was a joke. I think about a half a dozen people showed up for his announcement in Kenner- 6 people in the state's largest metropolitan area!

And here is what his campaign had to say about the latest poll results:

"Its political silly season. Polls will go up and down all the way until Election Day"

It's funny because they acknowledge that the poll is accurate and that they are losing. Given Kennedy's lackluster campaign, Mary's poll numbers are not likely to go down any time soon.

CDR

Obama's speech to the VFW

The Speech
Obama gave a good speech yesterday. News reports said that he had spent a lot of time revising it on the plane from New Mexico, and it showed. The speech forcefully countered McCain’s attacks from the day before, which came as a relief to democrats every where

The Crowd
The national media outlets have provided more insightful commentary than I can, so I want to focus on the crowd’s reaction. Four years ago, the crowd was less then gracious in receiving John Kerry. I was told that some stood up and turned their backs while others left the hall in protest. While I was working on Kerry’s campaign at the time and fully supported him, I also understood the deep wounds that still existed over Vietnam. Someone told me that most people simply chose not to go to see Obama’s speech as opposed to putting on a demonstration like they had four years ago.

The introduction that the VFW commander gave was short and to the point- nothing like the intro he gave McCain on Monday and Bush today. When Obama took the stage, many stood up and applauded, but not the whole room. I was seated next to some African American Veterans from Alexandria, La who are big Obama supporters. I made sure to note when Obama received the most applause and they were at the following lines:
“But understand what the essential argument was about. Before the surge, I argued that the long-term solution in Iraq is political – the Iraqi government must reconcile its differences and take responsibility for its future.”

“We should not keep sending our troops to fight tour after tour of duty while our military is overstretched. We should not keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while Americans struggle in a sluggish economy.”

To my surprise, the part of the speech that got the most applause was the following:
“These are the judgments I’ve made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election. But one of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America’s national interest. Now, it’s time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.”

To me, this was the most important part of the speech and it was the most covered. I am glad to see that it was also the part of the speech that the crowd most approved of. Does this indicate some unwillingness to put up with the old Bush/Cheney playbook? I’m not sure. I had a conversation with a Vietnam Veteran from New Iberia on Monday night where I asked him what he thought of the presidential election. He told me that he was going to base his vote on the person “who loves America the most” and told me that he thought McCain was that man. I told him that both John McCain and Barack Obama had gotten a lot from this country and how could you really measure one man’s love of country over another? How could he say that Obama didn’t love America after all he had gotten from it? For a moment I thought I had at least gotten him to think about it and then he said “but he doesn’t wear an American flag on his lapel or say the pledge of allegiance.” Just because Obama is willing to fight back the republican charges doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop their whisper campaign. How does the expression go – patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel?

In talking to veterans after the speech, many sad that they were glad that Obama came. Many said that the speech showed a command of national security issues and that they didn't necessarily disagree with this policy (which was confirmed by the reception some of the key points of his Iraq policy received). In a room where there were probably few undecided voters, I think he at least succeeded in showing that he is neither the hapless neophyte or Islamic jihadist that the repubs make him out to be, which is a victory in itself. When his speech was over, the whole room did rise to applaud him. But the 3,000 people in the room were not necessarily the intended audience. I think the greater purpose was to show Americans that hew won't shy from McCain's attacks and I think that he accomplished that goal.

On a last note, I got to go back stage and briefly meet with Obama. I went back there with two Afghanistan vets, one of whom had been badly injured. Obama spent most of his time talking to the injured vet who is a McCain supporter, which was the right thing to do. I got a picture and I've posted it above (I don't think I'll make it my profile picture on facebook). I kind of wished I had smiled and buttoned my jacket, but it all happened so fast. I'll have to admit, I kind of froze up when I shook his hand, and could only tell him that he was doing a great job. I'm sure he's used to that by now. I think I would have the same reaction to Brittany or Paris.

CDR

John McCain's Speech to the VFW

It is day two for me in Orlando and John McCain spoke to the convention today (after a lovely meal at the Olive Garden last night).

The VFW is about as good a crowd as McCain can get, and I happened to be sitting next to the Arizona delegation. The speech he gave was well written and McCain did a pretty good job delivering it. It was a formal setting before a large audience and he did well with he teleprompter. Despite all of these things, I fundamentally disagreed with a few points that he made:

Iraq
McCain ended the speech with a lot of eloquent sound bites and the one that stuck out to me was :
"It is every veteran's hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. But that is not their responsibility. It belongs to the government that called them."
It stuck out because it contradicted a lot of things he had said in the beginning of the speech about Iraq. Clearly, the battlefield in Iraq was chosen by us, but most Americans agree that it was a poor decision. And as for the war being necessary, our stated goals were accomplished before the first boot went north- Saddam had no WMD and he wasn't aiding Al Quaeda. Regardless, McCain used the speech to go on the offensive against Obama, saying that he had tried to "legislate defeat" and that Obama's "political self interest and the national self interest had parted ways."

In full disclosure, I supported the war in '02 and '03. When I was in Iraq, I convinced myself that even though there was no WMD, we had still lifted the "yoke of repression" from the shoulders of the Iraqi people. Then the insurgency came, and Saddam's reign of terror was replaced by the terror of sunni and shiite extremist who wasted thousands of lives fighting the US and themselves. It was sometime in early 2004 that I came to believe that the war was a terrible decision and that the president's handling of it was text book incompetence. Despite the fact that I came to oppose the war, I also opposed a withdrawal, thinking that it would lead to even greater insability. I have now come around on that point too- I firmly believe that so long as the Iraqi government can call in US troops, they Will never fully get their shit together.

All of that being said, I can't fault Barack Obama and the democrats of the 110th Congress for trying to end the war. I can't fault them for trying to implement the will of the majority of Americans who want this war to be over. While McCain rightly points out that Obama won't admit that the surge has had some impact, he is just as stubborn in not admitting that the war should never have been fought in the first place. Indeed, the war was far from necessary, and the field was not well chosen.

I will give McCain a lot of credit for one thing. His own son, a Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps was sent to implement the very policy that McCain so strongly advocated for. While I think the McCain is wrong on Iraq, he certainly is sincere in his beliefs.

GI Bill
McCain said that he sought a "better GI bill" and that's the one that passed. Of course that isn't what happened- McCain was opposed to the new GI Bill from the day it was introduced to the day it was passed. He never sought a better bill, he just introduced one that was watered down. Though the VFW has lost a lot of influence over the years, I give them a lot of credit on the GI Bill. The VFW stood up to the president and McCain on this one, and their efforts really paid off.

Odds and Ends
McCain's speech was preceded by a very lengthy speech given by a representative of a Russian veterans group who spoke through an interpreter. McCain spent a good bit of his speech talking about how terrible the Russians were while the Russian sat on stage. While I didn't disagree with what McCain said, the scene was less than diplomatic.
One of the ladies sitting behind me was from Arizona and when Cindy McCain went on stage, she said "Oh, there's McCain's wife, the one with all the beer. Why hasn't she joined the auxiliary?"

CDR

My Dinner with John McCain

The title of this post is a little misleading. To clarify things, I did not have dinner with John McCain tonight. But I did have the pleasure of eating at an Olive Garden in Orlando at the very same time that John McCain was eating at the same Olive Garden. For the record, this was my first meal at an Olive Garden.

Basically, the restaurant is across from my hotel, so I decided to head over there for dinner. I was greeted at the door by Secrete Service agents who told me that someone "under their protection" was eating there and would I submit to a "pat down."

I had a lovely dinner at the bar and towards the end of my meal, Sen McCain and his entourage of Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham,and Mel Martinez walked out. McCain went into the kitchen and thanked all of the cooks and he went out of his way to shake hands with all of the waiters. He even went behind the bar to take a picture with the bartenders. I told the bartender "I certainly won't vote for him, but he was classy to say hello to everyone." I have to say, he probably had more body guards than Brittany. Then again, he is a celebrity.

So why am I in Orlando? I am attending the 109th Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention. McCain speaks tomorrow morning, Sen Obama speaks on tuesday and W. speaks on wed. I intend to post my thoughts on each speech.

CDR

Someone who is helping our recovery

I hope that everyone in New Orleans reads this article in today's NY Times. I read it early this morning and thought that the perfect title for a post would be "Gadbois the Gadfly" --- but Oyster beat me to the punch.

When confronted with his administration's incompetence, Nagin had the audacity to tell Karen Gadbois, Sarah Lewis, and Lee Zurick that they were "hurting our recovery." I won't be the first to point out that C.Ray is an ongoing man-made disaster, who has done about as much to hold back our recovery as the Bush Administration and the Repubs in Congress.

CDR

An early election recommendation

I recently had the chance to hear from all of the school board candidates in New Orleans. Some argue that the school board is irrelevent today and will have no role in the future of education in New Orleans. I disagree- the school board isn't going anywhere and the future governing structure of our schools is far from clear. That being said, I would like to reccomend Davin Boldissar for the 3rd District School Board seat.
This will be the first of many election reccomendations, so I urge all five of my readers to stay tuned.

CDR

Anything but swift....

Why wasn't this released two weeks ago?

Fine Taxidermy

I was at Le Club the other night (or as the kids call it, Ms. Mae's) and I noticed that my favorite taxidermed squirell had been removed from its perch above the bar. I hadn't been to Le Club for about a year, and I asked the bartender about the squirrel. He said that it didn't make it in the fire they had last year (the one where the patrons refused to make way for NOFD because there was a Saints game on).

A few days later, I happened to read an article on this Paris establishment. I often fantasize about what I'd do if I hit powerball, and I definitely think I would buy some fine Parisian taxidermy. Unfortunately, Deyrolle had a devastating fire of its own last year (VF doesn't have a link to the article on their website)but I understand that it is well on the road to recovery. Incidently, I don't read French, but I still spent a few minutes gazing at the pretty pictures ysterday.

CDR

McNasty

I agree fully agree with this article from Politico on McCain.

Isn't it ironic that the party of Ronald Reagan, our first movie star president, is trying to tear Obama down by calling him a celebrity? It was no big deal to the repubs in 1980 that RR had spent more time acting in westerns and monkey flicks than he had spent in government. Then again, it's pretty clear from the last four years that flip-flopping is no longer a cardinal sin, so I should just give McCain a pass on this one.

And I love how John Stewart pointed out that Paris Hilton's parents gave the maximum amount to his campaign. I guess their children might be bad for America, but their money is certainly good enough for McCain.

Addendum:
I think it would be appropriate to post Kathy Hilton's response here.


CDR