I'm toggling between MSNBC, and CNN for the Republican National Convention, and I've noticed something interesting:

There is a singer at the RNC, (Rachael Lampa), who is a contemporary Christian rock/pop singer.  So far, she sung a couple of Christian pop ballads in front of the delegates.

MSNBC cut away, but CNN showed her, pretty much in her entirety.

This raises an interesting question for me:  

What if you're not a Christian, and you're attending the convention?  

Could there be such a thing at the RNC?

This diary is not about Sarah Palin.

It's about John McCain.

Well, it's pretty much out in the mainstream press now.  McCain did not bother to fully vet Sarah Palin.

From Elisabeth Bumiller at the New York Times:

A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain's choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.

Full Article Here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/pol itics/02vetting.html?_r=1&hp&ore f=slogin

About 2 months ago, there seemed to be a daily oversupply of poll diaries.  Now...not so much.  This shortage was even noted by the Jerome himself, just this morning.

I try to keep in mind that single polls are meaningless.  It's trends and rolling averages that are meaningful, not single data points.  But we all like polls.  They give us a feeling that we truly understand what is going on.

How do we know that looking at a single poll is mostly meaningless?  Mark Blumenthal of the National Journal has an excellent piece this morning that takes on this subject, specifically with respect to Instant Response Polls:

What do those "instant response" polls tells us about what voters think about John McCain 's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate? It may depend on which poll we look at.

The Gallup Organization called 898 registered voters Friday night and found that most voters had "never heard" of Palin (51 percent) or could not offer an opinion (20 percent). The few that had heard of Palin were mostly positive: 22 percent rated her favorably, 7 percent unfavorably.

On the same night, Rasmussen Reports called 1,000 "likely voters" using its automated methodology and obtained a very different result. Four of five voters were able to offer an opinion: 53 percent rated Palin favorably, 28 percent rated her unfavorably, only 18 percent said they were unfamiliar, and 2 percent were unsure.

So, as of Friday night, the percentage of Americans who knew Palin well enough to rate her was either 29 or 71 percent.

The link to the entire article is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26495571/

cross posted at [REDACTED]

Well, as most of us know now, McCain did not fully vet Sarah Palin before he announced her as his VP pick.  We know this, because eight McCain staffers just arrived in Alaska to perform that function.

Can McCain retroactively vet Palin?  

Well sure! He can pretty much do anything that he damn well pleases, (well, except pick Lieberman for VP).  It's pretty much like putting toothpaste back into the tube.  It's extremely difficult, messy, and you can never get all of it back in, (my buddy and I tried this in college, and proved that you could get quite a bit back in, if you were very patient...and very bored).

Dan Quayle, met Sarah Palin.  Sarah Palin, met 1988.

This pick is a disaster in many ways.  I find that it is my civil duty to list them, so here goes:

1.  McCain experience attack meme?  Dead.  She has 19 months experience as the Governor of Alaska.  Otherwise, she was mayor of a small town, and a Beauty Queen, (love those pics, BTW).  She is now a heartbeat away from running the country.  How comforting.

2. Bush/Cheney big oil?  She's so deeply immersed in big oil, it makes Cheney look like Al Gore.  No maverick environmentalist here.  Alternative energy?  No!  Let's fucking drill some more, and some more, and some more.

3. Obama the Celebrity?  Try "Palin the Beauty Queen."  The meme is now dead.  

"Obama's a celebrity? Really? have you seen these Beauty Queen shots?"

Now, some would think that this would be an easy diary to write...and to be honest..it is.

And some would think that this kind of diary would be pure "Red Meat," and an easy candidate for the rec list...and they would be right.

And as much as I like the limelight, this is a wholly negative diary...so, as a sideways tribute to Abby Hoffman:  

Please don't rec this diary!

This diary is a plaything, that should gracefully wilt to the bottom of the pile, carrying our negative thoughts about McTrolls with it.

So...on with the fun!

July 6, 1984

My first day in the Navy.  

I was 17 years old, and had to actually get a special note from my parents to be able to show up for Induction Day, (very long story).

The grounds of the Naval Academy were like nowhere else, in my experience.  I grew up in Arizona and Colorado, so the East Coast was a mystery to me.  Some of the buildings were very old, (including parts of Bancroft Hall, the dorm building that houses all ~4,500 midshipmen at once), and all the red brick paths were covered in a greenish mold/moss.  I'd never been to a place so humid in my life.

It was strange, exciting, and terrifying all at once.  

It also marked my entry into the beautiful world of "Sentence Enhancers," what some would call "Cussin'."