So next time you hear the hackery roll out this line, remember this (CNBC) ::

Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, considers Palin “extremely responsive and smart” and says she is in charge when it comes to in-state services, such as emergencies and natural disasters where the National Guard is the first responder.

But, in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, he said he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

The McCain team is unable to give a single example of Palin responding to a in-state crisis that may convey her readiness for office. Huh.

via.

The Sun is running a self-promoting “military awards”, which has been met with much disdain by those actually serving.

Maybe the squadies are finally seeing through the Murdoch bullshit?

Watching this apparatchik squirm is about as good as it gets. :o)

Almost certainly, Bush had to cancel his planned speech while Gustav loomed. But the sources say he didn’t like the idea and felt pushed. Bush is described by sources as “furious” at McCain for being deprived of his last appearance before his party, which nominated him twice, as a sitting president. He believes he is being treated disrespectfully.

[...]

Even though McCain himself would not be onstage, Bush and Cheney would have dominated the opening and underlined continuity between their administration and McCain. The cancellation of the first night of the convention is a small price to pay for their absence.

Apparently Bush is still to appear via satellite. Boo-Hoo!

By the time Sarah Palin was entering state politics, the hottest issue in Alaska wasn’t gay marriage or even abortion. It was corruption and cronyism. Andrew Halcro, a noted Palin critic who ran against her as an independent in the governor’s race, says she knew instinctively that the issues were changing. Plus, he says, her opponents, such as incumbent governor Frank Murkowski, whom she defeated in the primary, were just as hard-right on abortion and guns as she was.

She needed a new political identity to make it to the next level, so ethics reform became her calling card. “She’s a very savvy politician,” says Halcro. “So wedge issues were not part of the portfolio.”

She’s a wily politician. Many are predicting Biden will tear her apart. I think she’ll play every card she has, and play them well. Biden beware.

(via the always-excellent Oliver Willis, who’s concerned about Palin’s attempt to ban books in a public library.)

But none of that changes the fact that if the Palins and others in the Republican Party had their way, the decision to abort an unwanted teenage pregnancy even at the earliest stage and for almost any reason — immaturity, mental health, whatever — would be firmly denied and made a crime. The very private — that word again — decision of how to proceed with an unwanted or catastrophic pregnancy would governed by the law. And even the tiniest suggestion that the Bristol seemed to consider an alternative — “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby, said the official statement — would be out of the question if the GOP had its way. What “decision?” There would be none to make.

If McCain is elected, he will face conditions tailor-made to foster disorder. He will be leading a divided and philosophically exhausted party. There simply aren’t enough Republican experts left to staff an administration, so he will have to throw together a hodgepodge with independents and Democrats. He will confront Democratic majorities that will be enraged and recriminatory.

David Brooks, The NYT

(Emphasis my own.)

The GOP, which should be having a good ol’ knees up in St. Paul, is in crisis-mode, as a series of disclosures and rumours threaten to destabilise McCain’s Veep-choice.

Is this really evidence of the sort of competency a McCain administration promises?

Oh the anticipation…

The sheer, unadulterated joy.