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Palin’s smokin’ arrival
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin arrived for her campaign rally near Wilmington in a big black Straight Talk Express bus, which drove right onto the convention center floor. With dry ice smoke shooting into the air, multi-colored lights flashing in the darkened Roberts Centre and pounding music blaring, the bus seemed to come out of the wall itself. It was something to see, and the crowd of 10,500 loved it.
Not long ago Sen. John McCain disdainfully dismissed his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, as a celebrity with rock star appeal. Now the McCain campaign has its own candidate making a rock star-style entrance, complete with smoke and, apparently, mirrors.
Just before the bus burst in, what the audience saw on a giant projection screen was the bus barreling up the road toward the convention center. Anticipation was high, particularly because U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, had promised Alaska Gov. Palin would have “a great big entrance.” On screen the long bus came closer, closer, closer and then BAM! there it was inside the hall, coming though a giant door to the side of the stage. Moments later, Palin emerged to take the stage and deliver a blistering speech attacking Obama and touting the McCain/Palin ticket.
But the video apparently was not exactly as it seemed. Long after the Palin people had cleared out, one of the workers in charge of tearing down the stage said the whole thing had been practiced in advance. Although it appeared to be live, he said the video was on a time delay so the bus could first stop and let all the national press people off and get them in place inside the convention center. Once that was done, the video could be played and the grand entrance made.
McCain/Palin spokesman Paul Lindsay did not respond to a request for comment.
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By mwm plus 100 other names
October 12, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this
The McCain campaign is disorganized. Palin is out there spreading hate and causing the crowds to yell out hate filled words. McCain is trying to appease his base and control the crowd. Then, the McCain campaign is throwing out lie based commercials without McCains’s knowledge. There doesn’t appear to be any unity within the McCain campaign. And, no central message or theme. They are even booing McCain.By jff mwm and others you won't stop me
October 12, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
The McCain campaign is disorganized. Palin is out there spreading hate and causing the crowds to yell out hate filled words. McCain is trying to appease his base and control the crowd. Then, the McCain campaign is throwing out lie based commercials without McCains’s knowledge. There doesn’t appear to be any unity within the McCain campaign. And, no central message or theme. They are even booing McCain.By jff
October 12, 2008 4:17 PM | Link to this
The McCain campaign is disorganized. Palin is out there spreading hate and causing the crowds to yell out hate filled words. McCain is trying to appease his base and control the crowd. Then, the McCain campaign is throwing out lie based commercials without McCains’s knowledge. There doesn’t appear to be any unity within the McCain campaign. And, no central message or theme. They are even booing McCain.By mwm
October 12, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
I changed my position after reviwing John McCain’s website. He is an exceptional candidiate, an American war hero who chose an exceptional governor to run with him. She is the most popular governor in America. I am supporting John McCain for President. Barry Obama smoked crack, did poorly at Occidental, and bombed on his ACT scores. He runs with terrorists and is a racist. How else can you explain 99% of his own race voting for him, except for race?By mwm
October 11, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
The McCain campaign is disorganized. Palin is out there spreading hate and causing the crowds to yell out hate filled words. McCain is trying to appease his base and control the crowd. Then, the McCain campaign is throwing out lie based commercials without McCains’s knowledge. There doesn’t appear to be any unity within the McCain campaign. And, no central message or theme. They are even booing McCain.By WWII Vet
October 11, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
I wonder if Obama owns a Cuban or Chavez photo with himself in it? I wonder if he has a drawer full of fraudulent voter registration forms so he can hand them out to his fraudulent ACORN supporters. I wonder if Michele has the guest list for the White House function for which Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright,and P. Diddy will be attending? You libs make me absolutely nauseated with your misplaced race and hypocrisy.By C Wetzel
October 11, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
I just wonder if Palin owns a white gown with a matching hood. She is inciting a hateful message born of lies and fear.By C Wetzel
October 11, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
I just wonder if Palin owns a white gown with a matching hood. She is inciting a hateful message born of lies and fear.By movin on up to the east side
October 11, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors,” Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. “I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” Actually, Obama supporters are doing a lot more than getting into people’s faces. They seem determined to shut people up. That’s what Obama supporters, alerted by campaign emails, did when conservative Stanley Kurtz appeared on Milt Rosenberg’s WGN radio program in Chicago. Kurtz had been researching Obama’s relationship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers in Chicago Annenberg Challenge papers in the Richard J. Daley Library in Chicago — papers that were closed off to him for some days, apparently at the behest of Obama supporters. Obama fans jammed WGN’s phone lines and sent in hundreds of protest emails. The message was clear to anyone who would follow Rosenberg’s example. We will make trouble for you if you let anyone make the case against The One. Other Obama supporters have threatened critics with criminal prosecution. In September, St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce warned citizens that they would bring criminal libel prosecutions against anyone who made statements against Obama that were “false.” I had been under the impression that the Alien and Sedition Acts had gone out of existence in 1801-02. Not so, apparently, in metropolitan St. Louis. Similarly, the Obama campaign called for a criminal investigation of the American Issues Project when it ran ads highlighting Obama’s ties to Ayers. These attempts to shut down political speech have become routine for liberals. Congressional Democrats sought to reimpose the “fairness doctrine” on broadcasters, which until it was repealed in the 1980s required equal time for different points of view. The motive was plain: to shut down the one conservative-leaning communications medium, talk radio. Liberal talk-show hosts have mostly failed to draw audiences, and many liberals can’t abide having citizens hear contrary views. To their credit, some liberal old-timers — like House Appropriations Chairman David Obey — voted against the “fairness doctrine,” in line with their longstanding support of free speech. But you can expect the “fairness doctrine” to get another vote if Barack Obama wins and Democrats increase their congressional majorities. Corporate liberals have done their share in shutting down anti-liberal speech, too. “Saturday Night Live” ran a spoof of the financial crisis that skewered Democrats like House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank and liberal contributors Herbert and Marion Sandler, who sold toxic-waste-filled Golden West to Wachovia Bank for $24 billion. Kind of surprising, but not for long. The tape of the broadcast disappeared from NBC’s Website and was replaced with another that omitted the references to Frank and the Sandlers. Evidently NBC and its parent, General Electric, don’t want people to hear speech that attacks liberals. Then there’s the Democrats’ “card check” legislation, which would abolish secret ballot elections in determining whether employees are represented by unions. The unions’ strategy is obvious: Send a few thugs over to employees’ homes — we know where you live — and get them to sign cards that will trigger a union victory without giving employers a chance to be heard. Once upon a time, liberals prided themselves, with considerable reason, as the staunchest defenders of free speech. Union organizers in the 1930s and 1940s made the case that they should have access to employees to speak freely to them, and union leaders like George Meany and Walter Reuther were ardent defenders of the First Amendment. Today’s liberals seem to be taking their marching orders from other quarters. Specifically, from the college and university campuses where administrators, armed with speech codes, have for years been disciplining and subjecting to sensitivity training any students who dare to utter thoughts that liberals find offensive. The campuses that used to pride themselves as zones of free expression are now the least free part of our society. Obama supporters who found the campuses congenial and Obama himself, who has chosen to live all his adult life in university communities, seem to find it entirely natural to suppress speech that they don’t like and seem utterly oblivious to claims that this violates the letter and spirit of the First Amendment. In this campaign, we have seen the coming of the Obama thugocracy, suppressing free speech, and we may see its flourishing in the four or eight years ahead.By Maria
October 10, 2008 9:30 PM | Link to this
I hope everyone saw the lastest news out on Palin was found guilty on firing her sister ex-husband she used her power to try to get him fired from the state as a trooper…This is going to STOP that straight talk bus from going anywhere, this is the bridge to NOWHERE!! Sarah is a liar and she needs to resign from her position as being Gov. of Alaska and give up this Racist campaign her and McCain has made. She is a joke and McCain used poor judgement to place her on the ticket…I am a republican, however, I am so upset with how they have handled this Republican ticket that I will and my friends will vote for the 1st African American candiate for President Sen. Barack Obama…because he is for all people he will bring USA back like it was…He is an American and shows that he is for our Country not Sen. John McCain…Wake up people and do the right thing Vote for REAL CHANGE!!!By Ethel S.
October 10, 2008 9:00 PM | Link to this
I wished I was there to see it in person. Sarah is the bomb! Vote McCain/Palin.By mwm
October 10, 2008 8:26 PM | Link to this
Since marijuana is somewhat legal in Alaska, Palin should keep smokin!!!