Unfortunately, you can’t vote for Sarah Palin without also voting for John McCain.  I still have a hard time getting past  the Keating Five, the free speech restrictions and the unreliability of his positions.  He makes promises, but like most politicians, you don’t really believe them.

At least his was a better speaker than Tom Ridge.  When he was being proposed as a VP candidate, I could see the Democratic campaign ads – video of old ladies having to take off their shoes at the airport. Slow motion, boring video.

Since I don’t have cable or satellite, I’ve had the very interesting experience of watching on PBS.  Jim Leher, David Brooks and Mark Shields do the main hosting.  They certainly live in a different world than I do.  On Wednesday night, Meg Whitman spoke.  Afterwards, Leher and Shields entered into a conversation about whether each knew what eBay was. Leher pointed out that you could buy collectables there – including old PBS totebags.  Shields asked if eBay had something to do with a computer.

On Thursday, they had on some historians whose names I did not catch. They talked about various issues, but one was very telling.  One of the historians was astounded to find that at the Republican convention, people actually believed we were at war, while at the Democratic convention. people did not believe it.

That’s something that’s been discussed in the blogosphere for years. Where have these people been? Just learning how to send email?

The Democrats’ email continues to pour in

The Democratic Party
Juan —

Why would the Republicans spend a whole night of their convention attacking ordinary people?

With the nation watching, the Republicans mocked, dismissed, and actually laughed out loud at Americans who engage in community service and organizing.

Our convention was different. We gave the stage to everyday Americans who hunger for change and stepped up to make phone calls, knock on doors, and raise money in small amounts in their communities.

You may have missed it, but we also showed the country a video with the faces and voices of those organizers, volunteers, and donors from every corner of the country.

Watch the video and make a donation of $5 or more now to show that in this election, ordinary people will make their voices heard.

Watch the video now
https://donate.barackobama.com/changevideo
What you didn’t hear from the Republicans at their convention is a single new idea about how to make the healthcare system work, get our economy moving for the middle class, or improve education.

Just attacks — on me, and on you.

But what the McCain attack squad doesn’t understand is that people like you — who devote part of their busy lives to organizing and building their communities — have the power to change this country.

With your help, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Thank you,

Barack

Why, thank you Barack.  Perhaps humor and derision are the proper response to your message of emptiness and surrender.

Perhaps ordinary Americans, such as us here in Jacksonville, remember how your fellow community organizers attempetd to throw the election in 2004 by registering clearly ineligible people to vote, registered people solely in a very segregated areea, and got themselves investigated by the Justice Department on suspiciion of encouraging double voting.  Maybe that’s why community organizers are derisively thought of.

Update – Don Surber posts the job qualifications of a community organizer.

Or, maybe when one hears the words community organizer, one thinks of a corrupt Chicago ward heeler.  Or maybe just thinks of Al Sharpton.

As you may know, I somehow got on a Democratic Party mailing list.  Here’s what awaited me this morning.The Democratic Party

I wasn’t planning on sending you something tonight. But if you saw what I saw from
the Republican convention, you know that it demands a response.

I saw John McCain’s attack squad of negative, cynical politicians. They lied about
Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and they attacked you for being a part of this campaign.
But worst of all — and this deserves to be noted — they insulted the very idea
that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, everyday people
have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together. Make a
donation of $5 or more right now to remind them:

https://donate.barackobama.com/fightback20

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack’s experience as a
community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he
worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel
plants closed.

Let’s clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and
their failed policies.

And it’s no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have
found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course
of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America’s promise by
organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of
the civil rights movement, the women’s suffrage movement, labor rights, and the
40-hour workweek. And it’s happening today in church basements and community centers
and living rooms across America.

Meanwhile, we still haven’t gotten a single idea during the entire Republican
convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the
Bush-McCain policies.

It’s now clear that John McCain’s campaign has decided that desperate lies and
personal attacks — on Barack Obama and on you — are the only way they can earn a
third term for the Bush policies that McCain has supported more than 90 percent of
the time.

But you can send a crystal clear message.

Enough is enough. Make your voice heard loud and clear by making a $5 donation right
now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/fightback20

Thank you for joining more than 2 million ordinary Americans who refuse to be silenced.

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

It seems to me to be a simple fund-raising letter probably written before the speech was given.  After all, the letter fails to specify even one of what the writer considers a lie.

Barack Obama says his message is one of change. Here’s another Democratic Illinois Senator who ran for president way back in 1956. Adlai Stephenson sounds not much different than Obama.

Not much change over the past 52-years.