Blogging Blue

Deke Rivers is wondering if Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is Senator John McCain’s choice as a running mate, and I’m wondering the same thing. Pawlenty has canceled media interviews he had previously been scheduled to do, and Minnesota news outlets are speculating Pawlenty’s the choice. Personally, I think the selection of Pawlenty as Sen. McCain’s running mate would be a boon for the Democratic ticket, because Pawlenty strikes me as a slightly less intelligent 2008 Republican version of former Vice President Al Gore, only without Gore’s charisma.

If Pawlenty does end up as McCain’s running mate, I would have to seriously wonder what was going through John McCain’s head the moment he made the decision. Pawlenty brings little to the ticket other than a record as a solid conservative. He’s not likely to swing Minnesota into McCain’s column, nor is he likely to have a huge impact in surrounding states like Iowa and Wisconsin, so what exactly would he bring to the ticket? Then again, if Pawlenty is McCain’s choice, the VP debate between he and Joe Biden sure will be sight to see.

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My initial thought upon hearing of the selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s running mate was, “That’s a good choice.”

Sen. Biden brings a wealth of experience, both on foreign policy and domestic issues, but more than that, he’s personable. As much as I like Barack Obama, one of his shortcomings as a candidate seems to be his inability to connect with voters in more intimate settings like town hall meetings, and that personability is exactly what Joe Biden brings to the Democratic ticket. Additionally, I think Sen. Biden’s going to prove to be an effective “attack dog” for the Democratic ticket, something we didn’t see in the 2004 election with John “Mr. Nice Guy” Edwards. In fact, Biden took a few jabs at John McCain yesterday:

“Your kitchen table is like mine, you sit there at night after you put the kids to bed and you talk about what you need. That’s not a worry John McCain has to worry about. He’ll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at.”

Now sure, conservatives will no doubt attack the selection of Biden as Obama’s running mate; they’ll run footage of Biden criticizing Obama - indeed, they already have - but what Obama’s choice of Biden proves is that he doesn’t want to surround himself with “yes men.” And sure, conservatives will try and attack Obama for running a campaign of change while choosing a running mate who’s the consummate Washington insider, but they can’t have it both ways. This is the hypocrisy of so many on the right…on the one hand some conservatives attack Obama for being inexperienced, yet when he chooses a running mate to balance out his relative inexperience, he gets attacked for it.

It’s hypocrisy, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Mike Plaisted has more on Biden’s selection.

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Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne is suing Republican presidential nominee John McCain as well as the Ohio and national Republican committees in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit came about after the Ohio GOP ran an ad using Browne’s song “Running on Empty” without his permission. Browne’s lawsuit claims the use of “Running on Empty” in the ad is an infringement of Browne’s copyright and will lead people to conclude he endorses McCain, and the suit says Browne is a lifelong liberal who is as well-known for his music as for being “an advocate for social and environmental justice.” Browne has donated thousands of dollars to Sen. Barack Obama over the course of several years.

Here’s the ad in question:

Republicans were quick to spin the lawsuit, with Robert Bennett, chairman of the Ohio party, calling the lawsuit a “big to-do about nothing.” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers also disavowed the ad, saying it wasn’t a product of the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign.

Here’s the point I find most interesting:

The suit notes that other musicians, including ABBA and John Cougar Mellencamp, have asked McCain to stop using their work.

What, the McCain campaign can’t find any respectable musicians that are willing to let them use some music for an ad? The fact that there’s been a pattern of copyright infringement on the part of the McCain campaign when it comes to their ads speaks volumes about the lengths Sen. McCain and his staff are willing to go to in order to get the good Senator elected president.

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Just a few short weeks ago, I blogged a little about the Knoxville church shooting, in which liberals were specifically targeted and killed by a lone gunman. On Wednesday, the Arkansas Democratic Party chairman, Bill Gwatney, was shot and killed by a gunman at party headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. While it’s unknown why Gwatney was targeted, it’s worth noting the gunman walked into the Arkansas Democratic Party’s Little Rock headquarters and specifically asked to speak to Gwatney. When denied access by Gwatney’s assistant, the gunman barged into Gwatney’s office, shook hands with Gwatney, brandished a gun and shot him several times in the upper body.

Was Bill Gwatney targeted specifically because he was a liberal, or were there other factors at play? Could this gunman have been copycatting the Knoxville church shooting? Unfortunately, unless the gunman left a note or some other type of explanation, we may never know his motive.

krshorewood over at Folkbum’s has more on this story

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Yet more “good news” about the nation’s economy, as a report released today by the U.S. Labor Department showed a sharp jump in inflation:

U.S. inflation soared to a 17-year-high annual rate in July, a government report showed, led by gains in food, energy, airline fares and apparel.

The consumer price index rose 0.8% in July, the U.S. Labor Department said today. Excluding food and energy, the CPI advanced 0.3% for a second-straight month.

Wall Street economists had expected only a 0.4% rise in the headline and 0.2% core increase.

Consumer prices jumped 5.6% on a year-over-year basis, the highest rate since January 1991.

Now this jump in inflation comes on the heels of a projection by the U.S. Department of Energy that heating costs are projected to rise significantly this winter. The DoE’s projection calls for the typical Midwestern homeowner to pay more than $1,200 this winter, a jump of 21% from last year’s costs.

So let’s recap:

• Inflation rises to 17 year high? CHECK!
• Heating costs projected to rise 21%? CHECK!

So what I’d like to know is when our economy is going to stop circling the drain. When’s George W. Bush going to finally get something right when it comes to our economy, and when are his defenders going to wake up and realize things aren’t very rosy right now? Obviously it’s unlikely things will improve much if Sen. John McCain has a chance to continue more of the same economic policies we’ve had under President Bush, which is why it’s absolutely vital folks don’t give President Bush his third term.

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