plum19-mart

Found this on ABC news and checked it out and it seems to be real. Thought I'd give you republicans something to get mad at me for posting about people that agree with you on McCain. Maybe its a reason to vote mcCain, cause if obama wins, the country might get better and Al-Qaeda might feel they have to attack us again because we would be a better nation again. Other democrats on here might get a good laugh like I did. Here ya go.

Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market’s downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America’s economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents.

And at least some of its supporters think Sen. John McCain is the presidential candidate best suited to continue that trend.

“Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election,” said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the “failing march of his predecessor,” President Bush.

I was in Leesburg yesterday and saw 2.21, in Sanford its 2.42, and in Deltona, It's 2.59! That was the lowest I saw yesterday in the northern counties! Why is Volusia county so much more then Lake county? Volusia county adds a 5% tax of the overall price. All three cities I mentioned are less then 40 miles apart  I think there is something going on there. Maybe something FOX35 should look into.

Found this article and thought it made a great point. keep an open mind.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Two weeks before an election that could install the first black U.S. president, scattered ugly incidents have reflected a deep residue of racism among some segments of white America.

A cardboard likeness of Barack Obama was found strung from fishing wire at a university, the Democratic presidential nominee's face was depicted on mock food stamps, the body of a black bear was left at another university with Obama posters attached to it.

Though the incidents are sporadic and apparently isolated, they stirred up memories of the violent racial past of a country where segregation and lynchings only ended within the last 50 years.

And some feared that Obama could be a target for people who reject him on racial grounds alone. The Illinois senator leads Republican rival John McCain in polls ahead of the November 4 election and has a big following in many sections of Americans, from liberals to conservatives, black and white, poor and wealthy.

"Many whites feel they are losing their country right before their eyes," said Mark Potok, who directs the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors hate groups. "What we are seeing at this moment is the beginning of a real backlash."

Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said the incidents were disappointing but he said there were fewer than some had predicted.

"We've always acknowledged that race is not something that's been eradicated from our politics," said Axelrod. "But we've never felt that it would be an insuperable barrier and I don't think that it will be."

The latest incident occurred on Monday when the body of bear cub was found on the campus of Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Obama campaign signs were placed around the dead animal's head. School officials said it was a prank.

Earlier a cardboard likeness of Obama was strung up with fishing wire from a tree at a university in Oregon and an Ohio man hung a figure bearing an Obama sign from a tree in his yard. The man told local media he didn't want to see an African-American running the country.

ANGRY INDIVIDUALS

Potok said the displays of racism did not appear orchestrated as part of a campaign of racial intimidation, but were rather the acts of angry individuals. Their voices are often heard in radio call-back shows or letters to editors.

Many Americans "see the rise of minority rights, gay rights, women's rights as a threat to the world they grew up in and that their parents grew up in. They see huge demographic changes," he said.

"They see jobs disappearing to other countries, and now they see a man who is African American and who will very likely become president of the United States. For some of those people that symbolizes the end of the world as they know it."

He estimated there were as many as 800 white supremacy or nationalist groups in the United States, with at least 100,000 as "an inner core" of membership and many more on the fringes.

One such group, the League of American Patriots, last month distributed literature about why a "black ruler" would destroy the country.

Michigan State University professor Ronald Hall, writing in his new book "Racism in the 21st Century," said racism remains one of the most pressing U.S. social problems, though it now takes forms that are more subtle than the lynchings and mob violence seen decades ago in some parts of the country.

Some groups tagged with racist acts deny the charge.

In California, a Republican group said it intended no racial overtone when its October newsletter depicted a fake food stamp bearing a likeness of Obama's head on a donkey's body surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and other images evoking insulting stereotypes about African-Americans.

Some acts have targeted not Obama's black heritage -- his father was Kenyan and his white mother was from Kansas -- but the false notion that he is a Muslim.

A derogatory billboard in West Plains, Mo., went up last month showing a caricature of Obama wearing a turban.

"There are a lot of Republicans and McCain supporters who find it hard to believe that a black guy whose middle name is Hussein is going to be the next president of the United States," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

David Wolff, a 52-year-old white Pennsylvania voter who plans to cast his ballot for Obama, said he commonly hears racist comments and thinks such sentiments are deeply rooted across America.

"One thing that could speed up the eradication of racism would be to have a charismatic, inspirational, transformational, generational black president," he said.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Matthew Bigg; Editing by David Storey)

I went to the Obama rally in Orlando on Monday and when we got there, it looked like we were at the end of a very long line. that was 2:30pm. But a half hour later, when the line was moving, I saw that the line went around the marriott and over to the next street and back down Paramore . The line was over a mile long. When we were let in, there was hardly any room to stand and they had to block off the line after a while. it was packed. Sen. Bill Nelson gave a good opening speach and the the two leading canadates for the democtatic ticket (and maybe even the two leading canadates for the white house) showed up and the crowd went wild. It was awesome to see so many people there to show thier support for Obama. He is always a great speaker. Hillary got the crowd going as well. She knows how to talk to the American people. The cops told the media that they think there were 75,000 people there, but it looked like another 50,000 were turned away. Came close to Obama's past weekend at St. Louis where he drew over 100,000 people. It was like there were people for miles from the stage. I don't know the street names very well in downtown Orlando, but the cop i spoke to said this was more then anything he had seen in his 21 years in Orlando. Oh, for you McCain fan(s) there was ONE person there to protest. He held a sign that said "Obama is bad for Isreal"

So John McCain needs to get to Washington to help fix the economy. I caught myself watching Letterman tonight and McCain was spose to be on. McCain canceled because he had to get back to Washington ASAP. He told Letterman, himself, that he was getting on a plane as they spoke. Well David Letterman made fun of him a little bit early into the show, typical for any late night talk show host, and goes on the say how much he respects the man for being a hero. Then, half way through the show, a live feed comes in that mcCain didn't blow off Katie Curick to get back to Washington. This made Dave very mad, of course. I want to know why not send Sarah Palin in to Letterman while McCain went back to Washington? Put in your back up QB when the first stringer has been taken out. Isn;t that what she is for? She has to know what to do if it comes time to replace McCain if, god forbid, anything should happen to him. This would have been great practice for her. A no show is worse then a replacement.

I found this to be interesting and this also shows how much more likely the republicans will say anything to get elected. I know there will be some that refuse to see this as true, honest, or beliveable, but I have to break their hearts saying that it is. The McCain't camp is making up attacks. Attacks that they even think are true. Sorry to burst their little bubble, but they are not true rumors or attacks. Most smart Americans will see these are just rumors. I'm surprised how many lies have come out of the McCain't Camp. Isn't a lie what caused McCain to lose the 2000 republican't nomination to Bush? I guess saying Obama has fathered two black children is true, but I don't think that will work for Karl Rove lies this time!

Ben Smith Mon Sep 22, 4:58 PM ET

Sen. John McCain’s top campaign aides convened a conference call today to complain of being called “liars.” They pressed the media to scrutinize specific elements of Sen. Barack Obama’s record.

But the call was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may have had the opposite effect: to deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy.

The errors in McCain strategist Steve Schmidt’s charges against Obama and Sen. Joe Biden were particularly notable because they seemed unnecessary. Schmidt repeatedly gilded the lily: He exaggerated the Biden family's already problematic ties to the credit card industry; Obama’s embarrassing relationship with a 1960s radical; and an Obama supporter’s over-the-top attack on Sarah Palin when — in each case — the truth would have been damaging enough.

“Any time the Obama campaign is criticized at any level, the critics are immediately derided as liars,” Schmidt told reporters.

But as he went on to list a series of stories he thought reporters should be writing about Obama and Biden, in almost every instance he got the details wrong.

Schmidt criticized the press for the relatively sparse coverage of the fact that one of Biden’s sons, Hunter, is a registered federal lobbyist.

“His son is a lobbyist for the credit card and banking industry,” Schmidt said.

But Hunter Biden’s lobbying clients don’t include any banks or credit card companies. He did work, as a vice president and then as a consultant, for MBNA, a Delaware-based bank and credit card giant to which Biden had close ties. But he does not appear to have lobbied for the firm.

“Steve Schmidt lied — or just got it flat wrong," said Biden spokesman David Wade. "Hunter Biden has never — never — been a lobbyist for the credit card or banking industry."

Schmidt attacked Obama for his ties to William Ayers, who has spoken of his role in 1960s anti-war bombings committed by the Weather Underground.

"What we know for sure, and is beyond debate and argumentation is this: Senator Obama said that William Ayers is a guy that lives in his neighborhood. We know that that is a disingenuous and untruthful answer,” Schmidt said.

“Senator Obama began his political career in its early stages raising money at Ayers’ house,” he said.

Obama did hold a 1995 campaign event at Ayers’ house. It was not, however, a fundraiser, and Ayers did not contribute money to Obama’s first campaign, according to Illinois records.

Schmidt also complained of Obama backers’ attacks on McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

“As soon as Gov. Palin was nominated, one of … Obama’s chief campaign surrogates, [Florida Rep.] Robert Wexler, went out and accused her of being a Nazi sympathizer,” Schmidt said. “Where is the outrage to that aspersion on the part of some of the biggest newspapers in the country?”

But Wexler didn’t call Palin a Nazi sympathizer. He called former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan a Nazi sympathizer, and attacked Palin for allegedly having endorsed him.

“John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel,” Wexler said.

(Wexler was apparently wrong: Though Buchanan claimed that Palin had supported him, she said she backed Steve Forbes in 1996 and 2000, and no evidence has emerged to the contrary.)

Asked about the series of errors, McCain aides could not provide evidence to back up Schmidt’s assertions.

One McCain aide, Michael Goldfarb, said Politico was “quibbling with ridiculously small details when the basic things are completely right.”

Another, Brian Rogers, responded more directly:

“You are in the tank,” he e-mailed.

Last night's Yankees/Orioles game brought the closing of Yankee Stadium, one of the most hallowed temples in American sports. Here are ten incredible moments from the stadium's 85-year history:

1. 1927 - Babe Ruth devours ham sandwich between 2nd and 3rd base run of World Series winning game. 

2. 1928- In visitor's locker room, Ty Cobb delivers longest racist rant in stadium's history.

3. 1939- After winning $35 on lotto scratcher, Lou Gehrig addresses fans, calling himself "the luckiest man in the world."

4. 1956- 8-year-old Billy Crystal attends first game at Yankee Stadium. Decades later, the experience serves as inspiration for two dozen one-man shows and 600 hours of stand-up material.

5. 1977- In between 4th and 5th innings of World Series Game 6, clutch hitter Reggie Jackson captures Son of Sam killer, David Berkowitz, bringing him to justice.

6. 1979- Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass at the ballpark. After Communion wafers fail to ship from Vatican, quick-thinking Pope substitutes footlong hotdogs as body of Christ.

7. 1992- U2's Zoo TV tour plays two shows at the Cathedral, marking the most colossally lame event in the stadium's history.

8.. 1996- During a Yankees/Orioles game, 12-year-old fan Jeffrey Maier reaches over his seat and fumbles a deep hit from Derek Jeter into the stands, helping the Yankees win Game 1 of the series. Maier is beaten to death by rabid Orioles fans in the parking lot.

9. 2001- Weeks after September 11th, President George W. Bush throws out first pitch in Yankees game. Bush's perfect strike marks the greatest achievement of his administration.

10. 2007- While making out in stadium's nosebleed seats, 19-year-old Bronx resident, Nate Matrisco, gets to second base with 18-year-old Angela Vilanova in record time.

 

 

funnyordie.com

I found this on yahoo. Its from the AP. It is mainstream. It is a good story. I'm sure it will be laughed at by the republicans even though it is true. I just thought it was interesting. I hate the attack ads and I am getting realy tired of them. I saw a person this week in my neighborhood thats been a lifetime republican put an Obama sticker on his F-150. Thats something we smiled about resently.

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 12, 12:43 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The "Straight Talk Express" has detoured into doublespeak.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a self-proclaimed tell-it-like-it-is maverick, keeps saying his running mate, Sarah Palin, killed the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere when, in fact, she pulled her support only after the project became a political embarrassment. He said Friday that Palin never asked for money for lawmakers' pet projects as Alaska governor, even though she has sought nearly $200 million in earmarks this year. He says Obama would raise nearly everyone's taxes, when independent groups say 80 percent of families would get tax cuts instead.

Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week. It has infuriated and flustered Obama's campaign, and campaign pros are watching to see how much voters disregard news reports noting factual holes in the claims.

McCain's persistence in pushing dubious claims is all the more notable because many political insiders consider him one of the greatest living victims of underhanded campaigning. Locked in a tight race with George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, McCain was rocked in South Carolina by a whisper campaign claiming he had fathered an illegitimate black child and was mentally unstable.

Shaken by the experience, McCain denounced less-than-truthful campaigning. Vowing to live up to his "straight talk" motto, he apologized for his reluctance to criticize the flying of the Confederate flag at South Carolina's state Capitol in a bid for votes. When the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked the military record of Democrat and fellow Navy officer John Kerry in 2004, McCain called the ads "dishonest and dishonorable."

Now, top aides to McCain include Steve Schmidt, who has close ties to Karl Rove, Bush's premier political adviser in 2000.

Politicians usually modify or drop claims when a string of newspaper and TV news accounts concludes they are untrue or greatly exaggerated. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for example, conceded she had not come under sniper fire in Bosnia after a batch of debunking articles subjected her to scorn during her primary contest against Obama.

But McCain and his running mate Palin, the Alaska governor, were defiant this week in the face of similar reports. Day after day she said she had told Congress "no thanks" to the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, a rural Alaska project that was abandoned when critics challenged its costs and usefulness. For nearly a week, major news outlets had documented that Palin supported the bridge when running for governor in 2006, noting that she turned against it only after it became an object of ridicule in Alaska and a symbol of Congress's out-of-control earmarking.

The McCain-Palin campaign made at least three other aggressive claims this week that omitted key details or made dubious assumptions to criticize Obama. It equated lawmakers' requests for money for special projects with corruption, even though Palin has sought millions of dollars in such "earmarks" this year.

It produced an Internet ad implying that Obama had called Palin a pig when he used a familiar phrase, which McCain also has used, about putting "lipstick on a pig" to try to make a bad situation look better. McCain supporters said Obama was slyly alluding to Palin's description of herself as a pit bull in lipstick, but there was nothing in his remarks to support the claim. Obama accused the GOP campaign of "lies and phony outrage."

The lipstick wars were fully engaged when the McCain campaign produced another ad saying Obama favored "comprehensive sex education" for kindergartners. The charge triggered the sort of headlines becoming increasingly common in major newspapers and wire services monitoring the factual content of political ads and speeches.

"Ad on Sex Education Distorts Obama Policy," was the headline on a New York Times article Thursday. "McCain's 'Education' Spot is Dishonest, Deceptive," The Washington Post's "Fact Checker" article said.

Major news outlets have written such fact-checking articles for years. "But in the last two election cycles, the very notion that the facts matter seems to be under assault," said Michael X. Delli Carpini, an authority on political ads at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. "Candidates and their consultants seem to have learned that as long as you don't back down from your charges or claims, they will stick in the minds of voters regardless of their accuracy or at a minimum, what the truth is will remain murky, a matter of opinion rather than fact."

With Palin giving McCain's campaign a boost in the polls, Obama supporters are nervously watching to see what impact the latest claims will have. Surveys already show that most people believe Obama would raise their taxes — a regular McCain claim — even though independent groups such as the Tax Policy Center concluded that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under his proposals.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds defended the campaign's statements. "We include factual backup in every one of our TV spots," he said Thursday.

Obama, of course, has made exaggerated or questionable assertions as well. Earlier this year, for instance, he repeated a claim that more black men are in prison than in college, after news accounts refuted it. He also used a McCain remark about having troops in Iraq for "100 years" to exaggerate McCain's proposals for being fully engaged militarily in that country.

In general, however, Obama has been quicker to react to news accounts challenging his accuracy. Faced with skeptical reports this year, for instance, he stopped saying he "worked his way" through college, and instead credited hard work and scholarships.

Dan Schnur, a former McCain aide who now teaches politics at the University of Southern California, said McCain and Obama learned they must stretch the truth "when staying on the high road didn't work out to their benefit."

McCain, he said, "tried it his way. He had a poverty tour and nobody covered it. He had a national service tour, and everybody made fun of it. He proposed these joint town halls" with Obama, "and nothing come of it. Through the spring and early summer, that approach didn't work. You can't blame him for taking a step back and reassessing."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Charles Babington covers national politics for The Associated Press.

Well I asked about the actors so I cannot leave out the leading ladies! Who are your favorites? Are you the Angilina type? what about Keria Knightly or Nichole Kidmen? The list is endless! Do you look to Julia Roberts?

 

When it comes to the women, I like to see Diane Kroger, Nicole Kidmen, Elizabeth Banks, and as of late I've really started to like Anna Faris. She is very funny.

Are you the Nicholas Cage type of person? Do you like the hunt for treasure and a drama situation? Are you the Ben Stiller type? Loves to laugh in a dry comedy? What about George Cloony's type of person? Slick, shinny, everything goes your way and then one thing doesn't, but its cool cause you can make a plan work. Who are your favorite actors?

 

I'm a big fan of Nichols Cage. Almost every movie he does is good, besides Next, which sucked. I love the work that Steve Carell does in his movies, Get Smart was hilarious as was 40-year-old Virgin and Evan Almighty. And I also like William H. Macy. Wild Hogs, The COoler, Sahara...Just the list can keep going on with him. He isn't the most popular actor, but he does a good job in his rolls. I also like Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, and when it comes to comedy, I am really begining to like Justin Long and Seth Rogan. Justin Long you might know from "Live Free or Die Hard" but he is very funny. Seth Rogan you will know from "Knocked up" and "40-year-old Virgin"

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Tommy Lee Jones is suing the makers of "No Country for Old Men" for more than $10 million that the Oscar-winning actor claims he is owed for starring in the 2007 hit crime thriller.

The lawsuit against Paramount Pictures claims that Jones was promised "significant box-office bonuses" and other compensation depending on the success of the film, which went on to make more than $160 million.

The movie, which is set in Texas and based on a critically acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel, garnered four Academy Awards, including "Best Picture."

A message left for Paramount Pictures on Saturday was not immediately returned. Jones declined to comment through his publicist, Jennifer Allen, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

"The paperwork stands for itself," Allen said.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Bexar County in San Antonio. N.M. Classics, Inc., a Paramount subsidiary, is also named in the lawsuit.

Jones, who played Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in the film, claims he was not paid promised bonuses and had expenses wrongly deducted. The suit says Jones was paid a reduced upfront fee in joining the film, and that his contract had known errors not corrected before the movie was made.

Jones, 61, is asking that an auditor be named to review financial records to determine how much he should be paid.

 

Did you see the movie? I did and it was very good. Do you think that Tommy Lee Jones will get his payment? What did you think of Tommy Lee Jones before this and what do you think of him now? I doubt anyone will say it hurt their views of him.

Found this story on Yahoo. Its not really for either side, I just found it interesting. Enjoy!

Alexander Burns Wed Sep 3, 1:11 PM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Democrats could reap electoral rewards from several years of political organizing, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said, a sentiment echoed by several other prominent conservatives.

On the eve of John McCain’s formal nomination Thursday at the Republican National Convention, top Republicans acknowledged that Democrats will hold a significant organizational advantage in the fall campaign. Before the 2006 congressional elections, “the left and the Democrats had spent seven years putting together one of the most powerful political coalitions that had ever been built,” DeLay said Wednesday.

“The left has been incredible. They went and decided to put resources to work,” said Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the third-ranking House Republican. “When you’re talking about the tactics, when you’re talking about the organization, ... that’s where we’re at a disadvantage.”

Cantor cited as an example the e-mail and text message database Barack Obama’s campaign used to announce the name of his running mate.

“That e-mail list or text list now just inures to the benefit of the Obama campaign,” he said. “It really gives them an organizational advantage.”

DeLay and Cantor described their party’s tactical shortcomings at a breakfast panel hosted by Politico, Yahoo News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Joining them on the panel were former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review.

Santorum, who lost his Senate seat in the 2006 elections, agreed that Democrats had been successful at building their party’s political infrastructure.

“Liberals invest their money in government,” Santorum said, arguing that third-party advertising, “driven, unfortunately ... by our campaign finance laws,” helped Democrats erase Republicans’ historic advantage in fundraising.

He also claimed that liberals’ influence in Hollywood and other cultural arenas helped Democrats take power in Washington.

“The left controls ... those mechanisms of power in our country,” Santorum said. “All we have is the family. All we have is the churches.”

It wasn’t just in organization and fundraising, however, where panelists said the Republican Party was at a disadvantage. Some suggested the GOP had to make up ground among the middle- and working-class voters that the Obama-Biden ticket is expected to pursue.

“I think John McCain needs to make a real, substantive case about how he’s going to help average voters with their cost of living, on energy, on health care and on taxes,” Lowry said. “Barack Obama is offering more middle-class tax relief than John McCain.”

“I think the middle class, the working class is where we need to go,” he added. “Sarah Palin can help him make that connection.”

Cantor, who was often mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain, agreed.

“We need to do a better job of advocating for the middle class in this country,” he said, pointing to gas prices and offshore drilling as issues on which the GOP could connect with voters’ economic anxieties.

The Republicans were not entirely gloomy: Like most of their fellow conservatives at the convention this week, panelists were upbeat about McCain’s choice of Palin as his running mate.

“The jury’s out on whether she’ll be able to perform at this level, but so far, what we’ve seen from her, I’d be optimistic,” Lowry said. “I think the press is trying to knock her out before she even had a chance.”

DeLay agreed, predicting that critical media coverage of Palin — including coverage of the announcement that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant — would help energize conservative female voters.

“The media has done more for John McCain in the last two days than he’s done for himself in the last year and a half,” DeLay said. “Trashing her is waking up the sleeping giant, and the sleeping giant is Republican women.”

Still, even if the McCain-Palin ticket is successful in November, no one was willing to predict broader gains for the Republican Party.

Moderator Jim VandeHei, executive editor of Politico, asked: “Is there anybody on the panel who doesn’t think Republicans will lose House and Senate seats?”

For a long moment, the panel was silent, before Cantor and DeLay jumped in with the less-than-optimistic prediction that Republican congressional candidates would not fare as poorly as expected.

I found this story on yahoo. Did you know that Sarah Palin was in the news business in the late 80's and early 90's? She did sports.

from Yahoo:Tony Hopfinger and Ken Fireman Sun Aug 31, 1:39 PM ET

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain defended Sarah Palin, his vice presidential choice, as a ``soul mate'' who will take on corruption in Washington, even as a growing chorus in the Alaska governor's home state questioned her credentials.

``She's a reformer,'' McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said today on Fox News Sunday. ``I have watched her for many years; I've seen her take on her own party.'' Asked whether Palin is the best person for the job, he said, ``Oh yeah.''

McCain and Palin will accept the presidential and vice presidential nominations at the Republican National Convention, which begins tomorrow in St. Paul, Minnesota.

``This is a person that will help me reform Washington,'' McCain said, adding, ``What this brings is a spirit of reform and change that is vital.''

Still, some Alaskans -- including a supporter of Palin's 2006 run for governor and a former staff member -- expressed reservations about the choice.

``She's not qualified, she doesn't have the judgment, to be next in line to the president of the United States,'' Larry Persily, who until June worked in the governor's Washington office as a congressional liaison, said in a phone interview yesterday.

A supporter of Palin's campaign for governor, Jim Whitaker, the Republican mayor of Fairbanks, also questioned Palin's readiness to serve as vice president in a phone interview yesterday.

`Avid Supporter'

Whitaker said that while he is ``still an avid supporter'' of Palin as governor, he will continue to back Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Palin, 44, is less than halfway through her first term as governor. Before her election to that post, she served on a state commission that regulated the energy industry and was mayor of the town of Wasilla, which had an estimated population in 2007 of 9,780, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Persily, who worked for three different governors in the state's Washington office, said he left the job on good terms with Palin. He said he left out of frustration because the state was ``fighting the same old wars'' on trying to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.

`He Created Her'

Persily said Palin owed her election to the unpopularity of then-Governor Frank Murkowski, whom Palin defeated in the Republican primary by running on a platform of overhauling state government. ``He created her,'' Persily said. Murkowski declined to comment.

Two McCain backers who were mentioned as possible choices for the vice-presidential nomination expressed support for Palin today.

Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent, said on CBS's ``Face the Nation'' program that McCain made a ``bold choice'' in selecting Palin. ``This is about changing Washington so it works again,'' he said. ``John McCain has found a maverick who has done exactly the same thing at the state level that he's done at the federal level.''

McCain adviser Carly Fiorina said of Palin on CBS: ``This is a person of great accomplishment. I have heard from many women and they are truly excited about this pick.''

McCain contrasted what he said was Palin's willingness to take on senior Alaskan Republicans like Murkowski and Senator Ted Stevens with Obama's record.

A phone call to Palin spokesman Sharon Leighow requesting comment wasn't immediately returned.

`Executive by Nature'

Alaska Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell defended Palin's readiness to serve as vice president. ``Of course she is,'' he told reporters on an Aug. 29 conference call. ``She is an executive by nature.''

Palin spokesman Bill McAllister said on the same call that Palin is older than John F. Kennedy was when he ran for president in 1960 and that ``of four people on two national tickets, she is the only one with executive experience.''

McCain, on Fox today, also sought to contrast Palin with his Democratic rival.

``Senator Obama has never taken on the leaders of his party,'' McCain said. ``She's been an independent spirit that has taken them on at every opportunity.''

Home-state newspapers have questioned McCain's choice. An Aug. 29 editorial in the Fairbanks News-Miner newspaper also raised questions about Palin's readiness for national office.

``Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job,'' the newspaper wrote. ``McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation's when he created the possibility that she might fill it.''

The Anchorage Daily News, the state's largest paper, noted in an editorial that Palin is enmeshed in a legislative investigation of her July 11 firing of the state's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan. He has since asserted that he received pressure from Palin's family and administration to fire a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce from Palin's sister.

Last Friday, I went to the Barn in Sanford, where Jim Van Fleet plays a lot, to see Country/Rap artist, Cowboy Troy. Because of Fay, only 150-200 people showed up. Cowboy Troy was the coolest country act I have ever seen. He showed up early and signed autographs, took pictures, and talked to everyone who came to the show. He was happy that we were there. As his set started, he said he would buy the next 100 beers for everyone and if anyone needed a ride home, he would pay for the cab. That was cool. His music was great and I am still recovering from it. His songs include the famous "I played Chicken With a Train", "Hick Chick", and "If you don't wanna love me" He brought his own band, named Coaltrain, who also was awesome, and Cowboy Troy spent two hours on stage singing his songs, getting the crowd going, and then singing some other hits from Areosmith to Justin Timberlake. It was good stuff. I first heard him on Big & Rich's first album and then at Daytona, Cowboy Troy was doing a thing with Chevy at the tent. He is what country music is about. Trust me, this guy is great. As we were leaving, He shook my brother-in-laws hand, who was at his first concert, then shook my hand and told us he hopes to see us again, then he hugged my fiancee told her that her man is very lucky to have someone as beautiful as her. Then he waved good-bye. Please everyone, buy one song on iTunes for this guy. He is what is needed in the music profession. Let him know you respect his mixture of country, rap, and rock. It's great. check it out with an open mind and listen to it a few times. You'll like it!

FROM JAYSKI.COM

 

The 2009 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona will have a new format that puts more emphasis on the series’ four manufacturers – and the same star-power appeal that has become a season-opening tradition for the Sprint Cup Series and its fans. The 31st annual season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway will be held on Saturday night, Feb. 7, with a field of 24 cars representing the top teams from Chevy, Dodge, Ford and Toyota that will showcase the close competition in NASCAR’s premier series. That lineup will consist of the top six teams from each manufacturer, based on the final 2008 car owner points [NOT driver points]. The race distance will be increased from 70 laps to 75 (187.5 miles) on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. The race will have two segments, of 25 and 50 laps. Both green- and yellow-flag laps will count. Between segments, there will be a 10-minute pit stop at which time teams will pit and may elect to change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments. Crews will be permitted to work on cars and will be allowed to perform functions they would do on a normal pit stop in a regular Sprint Cup event. All work must be performed on pit road or in the garage. Changing of springs, shock absorbers or rear-ends will not be permitted. Starting positions will again be determined by a blind draw, at the annual Budweiser Shootout Draw Party on Thursday night, Feb. 5, on the SPEED stage in the Midway, outside Turn 4. The Budweiser Shootout – a “non-points” event for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitors – was first held in 1979, and originally known as the Busch Clash. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won this year’s shootout.(NASCAR)
as things stand after Bristol, these are the 24 drivers
(based on current CAR OWNER points)
Chevy: #88-Earnhardt Jr, #48-Johnson, #31-Burton, #29-Harvick, #24-Gordon, #07-Mears
Dodge: #9-Kahne, #12-Penske Racing, #2-Busch, #19-Sadler, #42-Montoya, #43-Labonte
Ford: #99-Edwards, #16-Biffle, #17-Kenseth, #6-Ragan, #26-McMurray, #28-Kvapil
Toyota: #18-Busch, #20-Logano, #11-Hamlin, #83-Vickers, #44-Waltrip Racing, #55-Waltrip.
So no #14-Stewart, #39-Newman, #33-Bowyer