“Back off, Commie dude”

Maureen Dowd in the NYT on the hottie-veep...

Palinistas, as they are called, love Sarah’s spunky, relentlessly quirky “Northern Exposure” story from being a Miss Alaska runner-up, and winning Miss Congeniality, to being mayor and hockey mom in Wasilla, a rural Alaskan town of 6,715, to being governor for two years to being the first woman ever to run on a national Republican ticket.
[...]
As she once told Vogue, she’s learned the hard way to deal with press comments about her looks. “I wish they’d stick with the issues instead of discussing my black go-go boots,” she said. “A reporter once asked me about it during the campaign, and I assured him I was trying to be as frumpy as I could by wearing my hair on top of my head and these schoolmarm glasses.”
[...]
The movie ends with the former beauty queen shaking out her pinned-up hair, taking off her glasses, slipping on ruby red peep-toe platform heels that reveal a pink French-style pedicure, and facing down Vladimir Putin in an island in the Bering Strait. Putting away her breast pump, she points her rifle and informs him frostily that she has some expertise in Russia because it’s close to Alaska. “Back off, Commie dude,” she says. “I’m a much better shot than Cheney.”

Just Askin'

Question for Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin:

Who is the president of Russia?

Answer? Not Putin.

Oh. My. God.

It's pointless to comment on this; behold the stupid.

Here's yet another take on the "Alaska is right next door to Russia" so Palin must be an expert on Russia angle:

These people are idiots.

How Convenient...

The Republican National Committee has found a convenient reason to keep Mr. 25% and his partner in crime Mr. 18% away from the party's convention this week. How convenient not to have national embarrassments #1 and #2 on hand in Minnesota.

BELTSVILLE, Md. -- President Bush and Vice President Cheney will skip the Republican National Convention to focus on Hurricane Gustav, which is approaching the Gulf Coast, it was announced this morning.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters this morning that neither official would attend the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn. First Lady Laura Bush is still planning to go, Perino said.

Bush spoke this morning with New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin to let him know that he was "getting ready to go through this with him again." The mayor said the forecast didn't look good but that he was pleased with the coordination with top federal officials, Perino said.

Really? I wasn't aware that Bush had "gone through" anything with Nagin previously.

UPDATE: Portait of Bush "getting ready."
BUSH: "Hello, Commissioner Gordon?"

Van Hagar Not Down with McCain/Palin

Looks like Dubya McCain forgot to ask Van Halen if they were supporters before he used their song "Right Now" following the introduction of Sarah Palin...

After John McCain used a Van Halen song during his big speech earlier today, the band wants to make to make one thing clear -- they're not running with McCain.

Van Halen management tells us the band had no idea McCain was planning on using "Right Now" during his big entrance in Ohio telling us, "Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given."

Cool....

"Aw, Christ he's even combdizz hair."

It's Over; We Won

John McCain is seriously deluded. From an interview with Time magazine published 08.28.08...

Q: Some members of the [Iraqi] government have made it clear in the last month or two that they might want to withdraw before complete stability, before totally secure borders, before some of the completeness of victory as you described. Is there any change, do you think there is some wiggle room there because what you described with Petraeus was an end point that was rather complete — a peaceful, stable country.

MCCAIN: It's a peaceful and stable country now.

Audio -- and stark evidence to the contrary -- here.

What Some Are Saying Back Home

Sarah Palin's colleagues were as surprised as the rest of America...

The reaction wasn't so rosy elsewhere. State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to tell her the news.

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"
[...]
House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was also astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications.

"She's old enough," Harris said. "She's a U.S. citizen."

Announcement. Stop.

Barack Obama had a much ballyhooed text messaging system set up to announce his veep pick to his supporters on Thursday. John McCain had something similar going on yesterday:

Best Choice Evah!!!

That's what the wingnuts are saying about Sarah.
.

I'll Take You There

Did'ja ever have a good "bump into a guy in a bar story"? Here's one.

Dude's name is Perv!

Right Now!

You may recall that the "Right Now" video featured a series of declarative statements about the state of affairs in the world. Among them:

Right now, justice is being perverted in a court of law.
Right now, blacks and whites don't eat together very much.
Right now, you could be outside.
Right now, God is killing moms and dogs, because he has to.
Right now, guilt is turning someone inside out.
Right now, a bomb factory worker is hard at work.
Right now someone’s got the wrong idea.
Right now, oil companies and old men are in control.
Right now, nothing is more expensive than regret.
Right now, people who can't breathe are bumming.
Right now, is a space between the ice ages.
Right now, youth is king.
Right now, maybe we should pay attention to the lyrics.
Right now, is a good time to repent.
Right now, the truth is being obscured.
Right now, pigs are becoming lunch.
Right now, someone is working too hard for minimum wage.
Right now, a convenience store is open.
Right now, your parents miss you.
Right now, oysters are being robbed of their sole possession.
Right now, no-one is safe from loneliness.
Right now, time is having its way with you.
Right now, forces are aligning against you.
Write now.
Right now, our government is doing things that we think only other countries do.
Right now, you aren’t doing what you want to the most.
Right now is harder than it looks.
Right now, your memory is getting longer whilst your life is getting shorter.
Right now, we cannot blame the Japanese.
Right now, there is no cure.
Right now, keeps happening.

Hmmm...did they lift those lyrics from Barack's speech last night??

WWCD?

I'm watching the replay of McCain's VP announcement rally on C-SPAN and I'm left with one question: being a new model herself, what did it take to get Cindy McCain to sign off on the Sarah Palin pick?

He's dropping hints left and right and no one has any idea who he's talking about.

Megan McCain looks bored as hell -- she's probably jealous that the proposed veep is hotter than her.

Here she comes. Hmmmm....well she is super hot very attractive, I'll give her that much. She's younger than me, dammit. That sucks.

Is she running for student body vice president?

Husband's name is "Todd," of course. "He's a world champion snow machine racer!" Five kids, eldest son serving in Iraq.

"I was just your average hockey mom." PTA... City council... Mayor... State committee ethics commish... [McCain is nonplussed by all of this. (Look it up)] He's clearly wondering if this was all a mistake.

She is hot though. Should play well with all the Republicans who are not gay pedophiles.

She wants to serve to "challenge the status quo"? Uh, hello, your running mate has been a US senator for 26 years girl!

She just called him "John F. McCain." But his name is "John S. McCain." Nice preparation.

D'oh, she said "noo-kyoo-ler" weapons!

Oh, she thanks Geraldine Ferraro (big applause) and Hillary Clinton (muted applause and scattered boos). Classy.

67 days to go! (She reminds us all, thanks!)

Jesus, I'd give her a dollar to let down that hair!

Closing with Van Hagar, "Right Now."

Message from the Sheeple

At a bulletin board I frequent:

She has the most amazing resume I ever heard.

How do you even respond to this sort of willfully ignorant nonsense?

Wingnut Alert!

Topping off the Palin takedown.

The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor's race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms. Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of Wednesday night's televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information.

I have a feeling McCain is going to regret this decision.

Early Reviews Not Kind to Palin

So it's official - John McCain has thrown a Hail Mary and tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. The trad med types are ga-ga about what a game-changing choice Palin is. And they're right. It is a game-changer. The Palin pick takes a race already leaning toward Obama and pushes it further into his corner.

Why? Because Sarah Palin is the most unqualified VP nominee in modern history, with the possible exception of Admiral Stockdale.

She's worse than Quayle.

McCain Plays the MILF Card

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Obama Plays His Hand.

If this campaign were a game of cards, Obama laid four aces down on the table last night. Now the question is, what does McCain have up his (oddly short) sleeve?

Update: Looks like he's playing a queen.

Wait No Longer

Rave Reviews (Mostly) All Around

People can't say enough about The Speech.

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The most talked about event in the political universe in the past week has come to pass, and though it left some unsatisfied, many pundits - most notably Pat Buchanan - declared it to be one of the "greatest" convention speeches in history.

CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen called it "a political masterpiece" and a "symphony." "We saw tonight an Obama who is growing into a new, more mature leader - stronger, tougher, harder-hitting than he had appeared only a few weeks ago," he said.

Politico's Ben Smith declared, "The expectations were high for Obama's rhetorical talent, and he met them."
[...]
But it was the comments from Pat Buchanan that made many do a double-take. The 69-year-old ultraconservative political commentator said on MSNBC, "It was magnificent. It is the finest - and I saw [former New York Gov.] Cuomo's speech, I saw [Sen. Ted] Kennedy in '80, I even saw Douglas MacArthur, I saw Martin Luther King - this is the greatest convention speech, and probably the most important because unlike Cuomo and the others this is an acceptance speech. This came out of the heart of America and he went right at the heart of America..."

Of course, you can always count on the loathsome and infantile Jonah Goldberg to be the the turd in the pool:

I disagree with huge swaths of the speech, and we'll be discussing a lot of that for a while. Substantively, I don't think there was anything new to it. Indeed, I think it was a very old speech, going right back to Herbert Croly.

I think his shots at McCain were ill-advised. Who the hell is Obama to try to out-hawk McCain on Bin Laden? Please. Not plausible. What is Obama talking about when he tries to suggest there are more Republicans for Obama than there are Democrats for McCain? C'mon. The Clintonian false-choice b.s. was particularly grating (gay marriage: punt! Gay hospital visitation, hooray! AK-47S boo, 2nd amendment, wahoo!).

More Goldberg! And others who apparently composed their responses without watching The Speech include prostitute toe sucker Dick Morris, the National Review's Andy McCarthy and Kathryn Lopez and the NYT's David Brooks, who clearly phoned this one in.

Next!

They Got Nothin'

The McCain Camp responds:

"Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm's way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President."

What a sad little man. NBC's Chuck Todd on the above quote:

Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech

History in the making.

HBD John McCain

FYI, John McCain is 72 years old today.

And, lest we forget, here's how the old warhorse celebrated B-day #69.

Speaking in New Orleans about Hurricane Katrina today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to contrast himself with President Bush’s delayed response to Katrina, saying, “I would’ve landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally.” But as Newsweek notes, on Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina had just hit New Orleans, McCain was posing with President Bush for his 69th birthday.

Full House

Final crowd estimate tops 85,000.

Bump.

Frank Luntz on FOX predicts a 10-point lead for Obama 72 hours from now.
.

Wow. Just Wow.

How can he lose? Really.

Only in America

Obama's post-speech music is a recording of country superstars Brooks and Dunn performing "Only in America." Nice touch.

A tip of the hat to the Red-staters?

Update: David Gregory just reported on NBC that B&D's Only in America was the song George Dubya Bush used after all his speeches in 2004. He took back yer song Georgie.

It's About You.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what - it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.

Bawk!

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."

SNAP!

Gloves are Off

So much for the Good Cop. He's going right after McCain, and tying Bush to him to like the chains of Jacob Marley.
.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."

A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.

Obama Time 7:11pm

Like my old man always said: "It's better to be early than on time."
.

Dry Party

I like a good convention as much as the next guy, but as far as my TV coverage seems to show, I don't see anybody enoying cold adult malted beverages.
.

Barney Smith, ex-Republican from Indiana

"What America needs is a president who puts Barney Smith before Smith Barney. "

Zing!

Joe Biden Takes the Stage

Opens with a Floyd Little joke and crowd reaction is muted. "Don't you know who that is?" Biden asks. "He played for the Denver Broncos!" Old dude is showing his age a bit, I guess, although I got it.
.

Good Seats Available

For John McCain's Friday VP announcement. Invesco Field at Mile High might be packed to the rafters tonight with 80,000+ people, but they're still giving away tickets to McCain's address tomorrow at the 12,000 seat Dayton, Ohio, arena known as the...wait for it...Nutter Center.

Al Gore

I don't know about Stevie, but the crowd loves Big Al.

Flipped over to find that FOX News is not showing Gore's speech. I bet they'll find time to tear it down though. Fair and balanced.

Update: here's a clip from the speech.
Sometimes it just depresses me when I see and hear Al Gore make a big speech. Because I think about what might have been.

Stevie Wonder

Loves me. He just said so.
.

Richardson

"John McCain may pay hundreds of dollars for his shoes, but we're the ones who will pay for his flip-flops." Chuckle.

Babe Quotient

Put another checkmark in the Democrats' column. Spotted at the convention on the floor of Mile High: Morgan Fairchild.

Worried. Been Burned Before.

Sitting here watching the convention and cringing every time they show some 40-something delegate trying to dance to the Earth, Wind and Fire tunes being piped over the loudspeakers. Oh no! David Bowie?!? Come on people! I thought this was the new generation? Will.i.am and John Legend doing that "Yes We Can" song? Not so good live. Sheryl Crow is up next. Hoping Little Stevie Wonder will fire things up for Barry.

Two thoughts spring to mind: 1) Will John Dubya McCain be piping in Bill Haley and the Comets at his convention? Or Shanana? and 2) These Obama supporters are the same idealistic DFHs -- me among them -- who get punked every election.

Our delegates can't dance and no one takes us seriously, and they haven't for a long time. A change would do us good.

Why Does John McCain Hate American Workers?

McCAIN: "I'll offer anybody here fifty dollars an hour if you'll go pick lettuce in Yuma this season and pick for the whole season. So, okay, sign up! Okay, when you sign up, you sign up, and you'll be there for the whole season, the whole season, okay, not just one day. Because you can't do it, my friend."

Here's hoping this disrespectful and condescending little rant comes back to haunt our friend John Dubya McCain. The statement was actually made in defense of more liberal immigration policies such as the Bush administration's proposed guest worker program. But if that's the rationale for the program, I'm guessing it's not really politically viable.

Big Night; Much Anticipation

Photo courtesy of Atrios.

Conventional Irony

from TPM --

Katrina's Little Brother

MSNBC just noted that with Gustav likely to hit the Gulf Coast next week this could be a "split-screen convention" for the Republicans.

A Gulf Coast hurricane disrupting the GOP's messaging during convention week -- three years after Katrina hit (the anniversary is tomorrow) -- the irony would be enough to make my head explode.

"That's Not a Maverick, That's a Sidekick"

Pennsylvania's Bob Casey on Tuesday night:

John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush more than 90% of the time...that's not a maverick, that's a sidekick.

Pompous Ass

Somebody ought to inform George Will that there's a [yawning] difference between sprinkling your typical boring opinion piece with $5 words and offering up soaring oratory meant to inspire hope for all of America.

Tell me this pompous ass doesn't have a dog-eared copy of Roget's thesaurus on the desk right next to his tired old typewriter...

DENVER -- When Barack Obama feeds rhetorical fishes and loaves to the multitudes in the football stadium tonight, he should deliver a message of sufficient particularity that it seems particularly suited to Americans. One more inspirational oration, one general enough to please Berliners or even his fellow "citizens of the world," will confirm Pascal's point that "continuous eloquence wearies." That is so because it is not really eloquent. If it is continuous, it is necessarily formulaic and abstract, vague enough for any time and place, hence truly apposite for none.

If Socrates had engaged in an interminable presidential campaign in a media-drenched age, perhaps he, too, would have come to seem banal. But the fact that Obama lost nine of the final 14 primaries might have something to do with the fact that when he descends from the ether to practicalities, he reprises liberalism's most shopworn nostrums.

Good Lord, George Will has been writing this dreck for decades now. He once wrote a book about baseball that was virtually unreadable, mostly because every other word was beyond the linguistic capability of every baseball player (and fan, for that matter) in America. For the love of God, a sacrifice bunt does not need to be described using the Socratic method.

Message to George: Dude, no one cares what you think.

Hard Act to Follow

I used a little trick called "future post" to set up the MLK "Dream speech" anniversary clips a couple of weeks ago. It didn't even occur to me 'til I fired up the 'puter just now and saw the post that Obama's acceptance speech is coming on the same day.

Them's some big shoes to fill.

I Have a Dream, MLK, 08.28.63

"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Wouldn't Wanna Be a Republican Right About Now

Given the level of speechifyin' we've already witnessed, along with the fact that that we still have Barack Obama to come tomorrow night -- at Mile High, in front of 75-80,000 people -- something tells me the Republican convention next week (with McCain and Romney and Giuliani and Lieberman and Ron Paul all in attendance) is going to look like the freak show at a backwater two-ring circus.

Adding: Forgot to mention the #1 boob is going to be there as well. Not sure if George Dubya Bush is a clown, or a fool.

Joe Biden's Speech

Transcript here.

Jill and I are truly honored to join Barack and Michelle on this journey. When I look at their young children--and when I look at my grandchildren--I realize why I'm here. I'm here for their future.

And I am here for everyone I grew up with in Scranton and Wilmington. I am here for the cops and firefighters, the teachers and assembly line workers--the folks whose lives are the very measure of whether the American dream endures.

Our greatest presidents--from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy--they all challenged us to embrace change. Now, it's our responsibility to meet that challenge.

Millions of Americans have been knocked down. And this is the time as Americans, together, we get back up. Our people are too good, our debt to our parents and grandparents too great, our obligation to our children is too sacred.

These are extraordinary times. This is an extraordinary election. The American people are ready. I'm ready. Barack Obama is ready. This is his time. This is our time. This is America's time.

John Kerry's Speech

It was available only on C-SPAN, as cable and the networks all cut away to blow some hot air and dissect Bill Clinton's speech, but Senator John Kerry gave a whale of an address last night. Here it is in its entirety (a little more than 13 minutes).

Transcript here.

In 2004, we came so close to victory. We are even closer now, and let me tell you, this time we're going to win. Today, the call for change is more powerful than ever, and with more seats in Congress, with more people with more passion engaged in our politics, and with a President Obama, we stand on the brink of the greatest opportunity of our generation to move this country forward.

The stakes could not be higher, because we do know what a McCain administration would look like: just like the past, just like George Bush. And this country can't afford a third Bush term. Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Never in modern history has an administration squandered American power so recklessly. Never has strategy been so replaced by ideology. Never has extremism so crowded out common sense and fundamental American values. Never has short-term partisan politics so depleted the strength of America's bipartisan foreign policy.
[...]
I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding me folks!? Talk about being for it before you're against it.
Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.

Big Dog's Speech

Bill Clinton delivers.
Transcript here.

Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms, that she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama.

That makes two of us.

Actually, that makes 18 million of us.
[...]
Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I’ve done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.

He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park.

With Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama’s proven understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need.

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

Debating Tax Plans

Charles Barkley is one plain-spoken dude. In the clip above, CNN's Wolf Blizter tries to egg Charles into criticizing Barack Obama's tax plan, noting that under Dubya McCain's plan he (Barkley) will save $264,000 a year, while under Obama's he have to fork over an extra $702,000. The Round Mound's reply?

BARKLEY: Well, I think that if you’re rich — I thank God I’ve been very successful — if you’re rich, you’re always going to be rich. If we pay more in taxes, I got no problem with that. If you’re making that kind of money, a couple hundred thousand dollars here or there are not going to change your life.

Let’s be realistic. I’ve been very fortunate and blessed. I did a great job of saving my money. But I got no problem if I’m making that type of money, paying more in taxes to be honest with you.

Thank you, Charles, for saying that, and making a whole lot of rich Republicans look like greedy assholes.

Additionally, check out the chart CNN uses to illustrate the candidates' respective tax plans. The lowest income range indicated is "$161k - $227k," which only accentuates the tax increase end of the Obama plan. How many people do you know who make $161,000 a year and up?

Here's a much more comprehensive chart that gives the complete picture each man's tax policy proposal. Note that the majority of the tax benefits under the Obama plan are extended to the least wealthy Americans.

[click image for larger view]

Obama/Biden = Good Cop/Bad Cop

That's how I see this pairing. Look for Biden to go after Bush and McCain with both guns blazing in his convention speech, while Obama will stay on message with his positive rhetorical oratory.
.

Say My Name

If I hear that pompous bee-yotch Peggy Noonan call the Democratic nominee "Barrack" (like the army housing) one more time.... It's dismissive and disrespectful and clearly meant to belittle him, as if she doesn't respect him enough even to utter his name correctly.

You'd think someone behind the cameras (or in front, for that matter) would let her know.

Wingnut Certitude

We have some pretty spirited debates over at this appraiser forum I belong to. It actually really amazes me how many people in my chosen profession are Red meat whack-job wingnut FReeper conservatives. Maybe they just post on the bulletin board more often, but I could wear my fingertips down to the bone firing off rebuttals to their unhinged and angry diatribes. And after all that, we'll get a post like this:

I'm a three issue voter:

guns
taxes
abortion

The Joker, Appalachian, Ohio

You're never going to win someone like that over.

More Schweitzer

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's speech was really good. [video below; transcript here.] I hadn't ever seen the guy before, but there's not a more regular Joe politician out there. He is clearly enjoying himself and his was the only speech that made me laugh out loud. He had some choice quotes and really got the crowd going with repeated snarky applause lines linking John Dubya McCain to George Dubya Bush.

Perhaps his best line came when when he was discussing the energy crisis, noting that what America needs is more alternative energy development, not more domestic oil exploration...

At a time when America should be working harder than ever to develop new, clean sources, John McCain wants more of the same and has taken more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. Now he wants to give the oil companies another 4 billion dollars in tax breaks. Four billion in tax breaks for big oil?

That's a lot of change, but it's not the change we need.

In Montana, we're investing in wind farms and we're drilling in the Bakken formation, one of the most promising oil fields in America. We're pursuing coal gasification with carbon sequestration and we're promoting greater energy efficiency in homes and offices.

Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. We simply can't drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain's backyards, including the ones he can't even remember.

D'oh! SNAP!

Hillary's Speech

Here's Hillary Clinton's speech in it's entirety...

"No way, no how, no McCain."

Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana

This guy wasn't bad either.

Hillary Soundbites

Campaign 2008: View from Abroad

from Crooks and Liars -- Iain McWhirter of the Glasgow Herald on Campaign 2008

It seems incredible, but as the Democrats gather in Denver to anoint Barack Obama, America could be on course to re-elect a Republican as their President. Not just any Republican either, but a belligerent 71-year-old who can't remember how many houses he owns, would happily nuke Iran and whose answer to global warming is to drill for oil in environmentally sensitive areas off the coast of America which don't even have much oil. But according to the polls, John McCain is drawing level with Barack Obama, and even pulling ahead.

Really, America is a strange, strange country. After a disastrous and illegal war, in which 4000 American soldiers have died, in the middle of an economic crisis largely caused by the investment houses that finance the Republican party, you would have thought it almost inconceivable that the Republicans could be re-elected. Could any political brand be more toxic? Has any party in history deserved to be thrown out at an election more than the Republicans in 2008?
[...]
America's image in the world, so vibrant after 9/11, has been seriously tarnished by a series of epic foreign policy mistakes under the Republicans, the worst of which is, of course, Iraq. Yet enough American voters believe that John McCain might have the answers for him to become a serious contender. Which is scary. McCain is not an unknown quantity - he is a highly excitable politician with a notoriously short temper, who would bring his impetuous and confrontational style into American foreign policy. With the world entering a global economic slump, and old enmities raging in Europe, John McCain as President would be like a flamethrower in a fireworks factory.

McCain Goes Hollywood

Barack Obama may have Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway behind him, but no one can say John Dubya McCain doesn't have Hollywood supporters of his own, Pat Boone, Lorenzo Lamas, Wilford Brimley, Craig T. Nelson and a host of other D-list celebrities among them.

Michelle Moves People

When I first saw this story, I figured it was gonna be about Sean Hannity.

PASCO, FL -- The man stood outside his RV, yelling and shooting a gun into the air. When Pasco sheriff's deputies confronted him, he ran inside and wouldn't come out, according to Tampabay.com.

That started a six-hour standoff late Monday night between the man, whose name was not released, and authorities, Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll said.
[...]
Finally, about 5 a.m., he exited his RV and was taken into custody. The cause of his displeasure, according to Doll, was Michelle Obama's speech last night at the Democratic National Convention.

Usain Bolt is Changing the Metric

As astonishing as Usain Bolt's record-breaking 100-meter sprint was, his time of 9.69 seconds is nowhere near what biostatisticians predict is the natural limit for the human body.

But because he broke the mathematical model that had fit 100-meter record data for almost a century, Bolt's incredible performance could reset how fast researchers believe humans ultimately can run.
[...]
Weyand, who has conducted research on the body types of the top 45 100-meter sprinters in the last 15 years, said that almost all elite runners conform to the body norms for their race length, except for the most-recent Olympic champion.

"Bolt is an outlier. He's enormous," Weyand said. "Typically when you get someone that big, they can't start."

Bolt ... combines the mechanical advantages of taller men's bodies with the fast-twitch fibers of smaller men.

Translation, dude's a phreak.

Assassins No John Wilkes Booth Gang

Apparently there's not a whole lot to the alleged assassination plot against Barack Obama.

DENVER -- Federal authorities today downplayed threats made by a pair of men arrested here over the weekend with rifles, sniper scopes and an alleged desire to kill Barack Obama.

Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, and Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28, were being held on parole violations while an associate, Nathan Johnson, was in jail on methamphetamine charges. U.S. Atty. Troy Eid said the men, during a meth binge, had expressed strongly racist views and spoken about killing the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.

The talk, Eid said, does not meet the legal standard for filing charges for threatening a presidential candidate.

Funny thing is, you can find yourself tossed in the slammer for wearing the wrong t-shirt at a Bush rally or ticketed for having a bumper sticker the cop doesn't like. In fact, here's a guy who got arrested for daring to approach Dick Cheney's to ask a few pointed questions.

In fact, when the Bush administration collared a handful of knuckled-headed stoners for plotting to attack the Sears Tower -- a case that ultimately amounted to nothing -- Homeland Security was hailed with breaking up an international terrorist ring. Yet a trio of wannabe Timothy McVeighs are captured, armed to the teeth and in the city where their [Democratic] target will be speaking, and the threat is downplayed and debunked in hours. It's a thing that makes me say hmmmm.

More PUMA

To her credit, Hillary Clinton is trying -- or at least she's trying to appear to be trying -- to tamp down these rabble-rousers. Here's Jonathan Valania at Phawker to explain just what's up with the jilted harridans:

Let me first say I am reluctant to lend further credence to what I am certain is a small sliver of the spectrum of opinion among Democrats, but in a slow news week — and make no mistake, this will be a slow news week because if all goes according to plan, the Democratic Convention will be a show, not a news event — the PUMAS will surely be getting their share of face time from bored talking heads looking to stir the pot. What’s that you say? What is/who are the PUMAS, you ask? Well, for starters it’s an acronym for the indelicate rallying cry of Hillarycrat dead-enders: Party Unity My Ass. And their basic premise is this: Come November the only Democrat they will vote for is Hillary Clinton, and absent that they will pull the lever for John McCain. As a group they remind me of nothing so much as the Japanese soldiers stranded in caves on the far-flung micro-islands of the Pacific having never gotten the message that the World War II was in fact over and their side lost.Now, some faction of the DNC hierarchy has surely been tasked with bringing the PUMAS back into the party fold and is no doubt kissing their saggy middle-age lady asses as I write this. Not me. My message to you PUMAS — assuming you are real and not just some Freeper web-based astroturf mirage created by RNC chaos gurus — is this: Shame on you.

[h/t Joe]

PUMAs Take Their Lumps

The PUMAs are becoming the laughingstock of the Democratic convention.

I felt sorry for the PUMAs, to be perfectly honest. Their personal frustration and misery had now become a punchline in their own party, while the GOP gleefully exploited their frustrations as long as the news cycle would permit them.

I'd wanted to mock the PUMA party. Even I, an ardent Clinton supporter, had wanted to mock them.

But upon leaving, the only feelings I could muster were an odd blend of pity and discomfort. When you truly fall in love with a political candidate - a mistake in the first place, as many of us can attest - it can be the hardest thing in the world to let go of that feeling.

It doesn't give me any joy to see these people exploited by Republicans. It doesn't give me any joy to see the traditional media continually running stories about Clinton supporters (meaning all 12 of the PUMAs, I assume), standing in the way of party unity.

It gives me no joy to see the PUMAs presented as anything but what they are - the smallest of minorities, who have had their hearts broken to the point that they are no longer capable of seeing reason.

That said, I couldn't resist screwing with the actual Republicans a little bit. So when one of them (wearing a McCain shirt proudly) handed me a "Nobama" sticker, I pocketed it with alacrity. I then reached into my pocket and said, "I have something for you, too".

I withdrew a pink condom that Planned Parenthood had been giving out that morning, on which the back of the wrapper announced proudly, "Protect Yourself...From John McCain".

Much like their namesake, the PUMAs are going to take a "whole lotta lumps."

Objective Reporting

Sometimes it's all about tone. After a triumphant night of electrifying speechifyin', note the tone of this [allegedly] objective news story from the Associated Press. Pay particular attention to the first four words:

DENVER - Democrats bickered among themselves Tuesday about how hard to attack John McCain as the party's former dominant couple — Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton — took center stage at Barack Obama's political coronation.

Well, doesn't that just perpetuate the public perception of Democrats. "Bickering," and "among themselves" no less. The horrah! And what was it they were bickering about? Policy decisions? Nah. The party platform? Nope. How high the balloon drop? Nosiree. They were bickering about "how hard to attack John McCain."

I'm warning you, the media is going to do everything possible to make this a race. It's going to get ugly.

Michelle Obama's Speech

Everyone's Worst Nightmare

From the LA Times --

More details emerging from Denver as we write this in the predawn hours on the now suspected plot to assassinate Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with a high-powered rifle on national television during his outdoor acceptance speech at Invesco Field Thursday night.

Authorities have reported a fourth arrest in the unfolding plot that The Ticket first wrote about here a few hours ago at the end of Monday night's Democratic National Convention events at the Pepsi Center.

We knew then that authorities in suburban Aurora had stopped a pickup truck for swerving between lanes early Sunday morning in what they thought was a routine drunk driving incident.

But in the rented vehicle of Tharin Gartrell, a 28-year-old convicted felon (see photo), they found two high-powered scoped rifles, ammunition, sighting scopes, radios, a cellphone, a bulletproof vest, wigs, drugs and fake IDs.

According to Brian Masss of Denver's KCNC Channel 4, under questioning Gartrell implicated two other men -- Nathan Johnson, who is 32, and Shawn Adolph, who is 33 -- and Johnson's girlfriend, Natasha Gromack. Johnson also reportedly confirmed the plot to FBI and Secret Service interrogators. (See video below.)

One of the men, Adolph, reportedly wore a ring with the Nazi swastika. He was injured when he jumped out of a hotel window fleeing Secret Service agents. All are now in custody on drug and weapons charges.

The U.S. Atty. Troy Eid declined to elaborate on Monday but said there is no credible threat to the party's convention or to the freshman Illinois senator, who was campaigning in Kansas City Monday and traveling to Montana today.

But the television station reports that under questioning the men admitted there was indeed a plot to kill Obama during his speech before some 70,000 supporters and a nationwide television audience.

More details are expected to emerge later today when Eid holds a news conference at 4 p.m. Denver time.

Dude, What's the Problem?

Wingnut Hollywood

In case you thought the only "Obama's a Mulsim anti-christ terrorist" crazies were the wingnuts who write Letters to the Editor in your local newspaper, many thanks to the Philadelphia City Paper for sleuthing out this post on former unfunny Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson's blog.

I don't want a political label, but Obama bears traits that resemble the anti- Christ and I'm scared to death that un- educated people will ignorantly vote him into office. My mom likes him because his children are well dressed!

You see, what bothers me most, besides that he is a Communist, and a whitey- hater, (although he is half white), is that he is a LIAR. He pretends to be a Christian and he incriminates himself everytime he speaks about Christianity. To lie about being a believer in Christ is very dangerous. Lightning could strike him at any minute! But seriously, he doesn't have a clue what the Bible says and yet he pretends to be a church- going Christian to win votes. That is sooooo evil.

I know my stance might keep me from LA jobs, since (almost) the whole town is liberal but, some time in a man's life, or a bleach blonde 49 year old woman's life, one must stand for what they believe in, and put truth before popularity.

If she didn't have such a long history of being super-unfunny, I'd almost be inclined to think this was comedy.

McCain Veepstakes

Could it be? Wilford Brimley?

FOX News gets an earful

FOX reporter "Griff" Jenkins heads into the breach...

REPORTER: "Do you have an actual message without cursing?"
PROTESTER: "Stop the torture, stop the war."
REPORTER:[dismissively]" 'Stop the torture, stop the war.' Do you not believe in freedom?!?"
PROTESTERS: "FUCK FOX NEWS! FUCK FOX NEWS!"

Hah! Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

Take a Freaking Look Around

So, from what I've been able to discern, it seems that most Republican partisans are all-in with McCain, a man whose major policy positions are virtually indistinguishable from those of George W. Bush, a man many, if not most, Republican partisans say they've come to loathe over the past few years. "Bush is not conservative enough" is the general (albeit ridiculous) mantra. And McCain is?

To them I say, take a look around, for God's sake: foreign policy...a shambles; economy...a shambles; housing market...a shambles; education...a shambles; health care...a shambles; global reputation...a shambles; the presidency...a shambles.

If you really want four more years down the same godforsaken rabbit hole, then by all means vote for John Dubya McCain. If not, you really have but one choice. His name is Obama.

It's an unfortunate construct of our fractured political system that in the end we are left with only two viable options. Me? I'm choosing to come up for air, even if it means for the time being I'm only treading water.

Get Your War On: The Surge

Michael Phelps, The Early Years

Contempt!

Atrios has a good take on why newspapers are circling the drain...

Washington elites perceive the various aspects of politics as activities for insiders. The rest of us just get to watch some of it and, sadly, go to the polls every now and then. I think it's been a long time since Richard Cohen has seen his audience as the readers of the Washington Post. Instead he imagines he's participating in a conversation by and for elites.

All of that's fine, but it's the type of activity which is much better suited for, say, a blog than the limited real estate space of the Washington Post opinion pages. There are a lot of reasons for declining newspaper circulation, but one which doesn't get enough credit is the general contempt many newspapers seem to have for their readers.

My beloved Los Angeles Times, the paper with which I learned to read so many years ago, lost me when they pushed out that liberal lion of journalism Robert Scheer, and replaced him with the idiotic and juvenile Jonah Goldberg!

The Worm Turns

Funny, I believe this is the kind of thinking that got Gray Davis in so much trouble just a few years ago...

SACRAMENTO — It can't be done, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was insisting, staring at me over a table in his office. You can't have a responsible, honest state budget without a tax increase.

Not this year.

The governor wasn't trying to convince me. I've been singing that tune every budget since he took office. This was a new song for him.

I'd asked the governor how he could explain his new advocacy of a sales tax increase to Republican voters who had supported his reelection two years ago after he promised not to raise taxes. Many still believe the state can make ends meet merely by cutting spending.

"You can't cut the whole $15 billion," Schwarzenegger said, referring to the gaping hole in a $102-billion general fund.

Time to draw up those recall papers!

OBAMA!

So It Goes.

Good thing this didn't happen in Schenectady, or the war would be over.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a dinner banquet in western Baghdad's Sunni Arab Abu Ghraib district on Sunday, killing 25 people, police said.

The attack, the biggest in weeks, took place at the home of a local sheikh who was holding the feast to celebrate the release of his son from U.S. detention, police said.

Oy. Crickets.

Lost in the lead balloon reaction by the other guests to this idiot's comment is the fact that he already does pay for Joe Biden's brain aneurysms, because Joe Biden enjoys the best health care money can buy, at the taxpayers' expense. Same goes for Dick Cheney and John Dubya McCain. Would that we were all so lucky.

If you're a right wing tool, you can say anything on TV and still get invited back.

One Tin Soldier Rides Away

"Billy Jack" was my first R-rated movie.

Rhythmic Gymnastics. Not a Sport.

I've never been too sure about the sporting legitimacy of synchronized swimming, nor synchronized diving, nor trampoline, but when I caught a glimpse of the "rhythmic gymnastics" team competition well, now we know that the Olympics have officially jumped the shark.

It kind of gets me to wondering. Which of these is an Olympic caliber sport?

This? Or this?

This? Or this?

And what, for God's sake, is going on here?

Home, Is Where I Wanna Be

Talking Heads review the McCains' housing situation...


Regardless, this song has one nifty little melody.
You'll be humming it all day long.

The Beat[down] Goes On

The United States military, making friends and winning hearts and minds, one misguided bombing at a time.

American-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, the interior ministry said.

"Seventy-six civilians, most of them women and children, were martyred today in a coalition forces operation in Herat province," the statement said.

Coalition forces bombarded the Azizabad area of Shindand district in Herat province on Friday afternoon, the ministry said. Nineteen victims were women, seven were men, and the rest were children under 15, it said.

However, the coalition denied killing civilians. It said 30 militants had been killed in an air strike in Shindand district in the early hours of Friday and no further air strikes had been launched. Air strikes took place between 1am-2am after Afghan and coalition soldiers were ambushed by insurgents while on a patrol targeting a Taliban commander in Herat, the US military said in a statement.

Remembering that the Afghan government is our ally, who are you going to believe?

Regular Joe

Joe Biden has a pretty compelling personal history...

WASHINGTON — The personification of the white-haired Washington insider, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. has spent more than half his life in the Senate, seemingly so in love with his own voice that his colleagues must fight to be heard at his hearings.

A hundred miles away from Capitol Hill, however, is another Joe Biden -- more a character in Mister Rogers' neighborhood than a globe-trotting statesman or a pontificating fixture on the Sunday talk shows.

He is a putterer who plants bushes in his backyard and designed his own house, including space for his elderly parents. He's a man quick to find a doctor for someone's sick grandmother or hold a fundraiser for a local firefighter battling cancer.

This Joe Biden is the son of a car salesman who lost nearly all his money and moved his family from Scranton, Pa., to a hardscrabble neighborhood in Delaware. As a boy, Biden struggled to overcome a bad stutter and the nickname Joe Impedimenta.

As a 29-year-old freshman senator-elect, he lost his wife and infant daughter in a car crash that also severely injured his two young sons. The tragedy almost caused Biden to abandon his political career. And for years afterward, he took the train home almost every night from Washington to Delaware to be with the boys as they grew up.

"I tell people that you get to know Joe Biden the closer you get to Wilmington, Del. And when you see him with his family, then you know the man," said John Marttila, a longtime friend and advisor who worked on Biden's first Senate campaign in 1972.

The more I'm reading up on this guy today, the more I'm liking the choice.

He didn't waste any time going after John Dubya McCain, either.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. -- Sleeves rolled up, Joseph R. Biden Jr. bounded onto an outdoor stage here Saturday and kicked off his campaign as Barack Obama's running mate with an emotional appeal to blue-collar voters and a blistering attack on John McCain.

Moments after Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, introduced Biden to a roaring crowd of supporters, the six-term senator from Delaware ripped into their opponent, tying McCain again and again to the unpopular President Bush.

"You can't change America when you supported George Bush's policies 95% of the time," Biden declared, his suit jacket cast aside in the sweltering heat.

Even as he expressed admiration for Republican McCain, a longtime friend and Senate colleague from Arizona, Biden said, "I say with every fiber of my being, I believe we cannot as a nation stand for four more years of this."

Sunday Morning, Green Bay, Wisconsin

[h/t Baughb]

Rock On, Workers!

Where Up is Down

Michael Kinsley explains why it is such a pain in the ass to run for president against the Republican party.

The Republicans just play the game of presidential politics so much better. They play it with genius, courage, creativity and utter ruthlessness.

Most amazing among the principles of the Republican Way of War is: Don't waste much time and energy probing the enemy's weaknesses. Go directly to his biggest strength. Four years ago, it was easy to imagine any number of ways the GOP might go after John Kerry. You would not have guessed -- or at least I would not have guessed -- that they could successfully attack his service in Vietnam. Especially when the Republican candidate, George W. Bush, not only had avoided Vietnam by joining the National Guard but had avoided much of the National Guard by skipping the meetings and then had grown up to start an unpopular war that even four years ago seemed to have been going on forever.

A lesser party might have said, "You know what? Let's just leave the whole military-record thing alone." But not the Republicans. They conjured up the Swift boat campaign and managed to turn Kerry's military service into a negative. As is usually the case, the media helped.

Accuracy in Reporting

Jim Gray was on my teevee just now going on at great length about Cuban boxing champion and three time Olympic gold medalist "Teh-FEE-lee-oh" Stevenson.

Uh, Jim, it's "Teh-OH-fee-loh."

He must have said it six or seven times. You'd think he'd be able to get that right.

Teofilo Stevenson.

It's Biden. Quick Takes

So Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. I don't necessarily think this is a bad choice, although all of the points in his favor could also be found in General Wesley Clark, who became persona non grata thanks to the media's overblown coverage of his comments on John McCain.

Biden is strong on foreign policy, has opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, and has a strong tendency to call bullshit when bullshit needs to be called. He's also a bit coarse and has a strong tendency to shoot from the hip (remember the "Obama is bright and clean" comment?), which could get him in the very same trouble Clark found himself in.

If we can judge by one silly metric, I believe Joe Biden really is the kind of guy I could sit down and have a beer with. He's a Bud man, not some microbrew. He's black coffee, not a latte.

Correction: Biden voted for the AUMF, opening the door for Bush's bum rush into Iraq. He has since been a staunch critic of the whole sorry endeavor.

Fair and Balanced

FOX News does a documentary about Obama. [Note: Slightly edited.]

McCain's Housing Problems Continue to Mount

A dozen or so houses to maintain?
How much does he pay for all that help?

Mark Kleiman says “If you had made last year as much money as John McCain spent on household help alone -- $273,000 -- you’d be richer than 95% of American families.”

As I’ve said before, I’m not sure percentiles are the best way of expressing this kind of information. Rather, I think the main fact is that the median household income in the United States is $48,201 per year, meaning that McCain spent over five times as much on servants as the typical household earns in an entire year.

My friends, it's all about perspective.

By the Time I Get to Yuma

How's that for respecting American workers?

Get Your War On: The Race Card

Nugget

No Spin Zone

It's quite simple, really.

McCain, who has portrayed Obama as an elitist, is the son and grandson of admirals. The Associated Press estimates his wife, a beer heiress, is worth $100 million. Obama was raised by a single mother who relied at times on food stamps, and went to top schools on scholarships and loans. His income has increased from book sales since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention.

So Much for the Endless Summer

$5 for a Coke, $7 for a beer is one thing, but this is simply outrageous:

From the LAT -- Swelling airline fees are wiping out traveling surfers' hopes of catching the next big wave.

Some airlines are now charging surfers as much as $300 to take along a surfboard. That's significantly higher than the $15 fee that big carriers began charging for the first checked bag, a move that has riled passengers.

The fee, among the highest of airline charges, is grounding some surfers and has created an unusual uproar among an otherwise mellow surf community. Fees for bicycles, skis and other sports equipment have also been rising, but not as much as surfboard.

Surfers note that most airlines don't charge for golf bags, while surfers are paying as much as $300 a board for international flights. That's nearly as much as a new board can cost. Avid surfers take as many as four boards in a bag, which can mean a $1,200 bill, or $2,400 for a round trip.

Deep Thought

What ever happened to Eminem?
.

Our Gun Culture

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A student fatally shot a 16-year-old classmate during a dispute Thursday at a Knoxville high school, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor.

The shooting happened shortly after 8 a.m. at the Central High School cafeteria, Chief Deputy Bill Roehl said, and the suspected shooter was taken into custody minutes later on a nearby street. The suspect and victim knew each other, Knox County School System Superintendent Bill McIntyre said.

If only the teachers or some of the other students had been packing heat, this whole tragedy might have been averted.