Former L.A. Mayor Riordan vs. John McCain

As former LA Mayor Richard Riordan entered Tuesday night’s Barack Obama fundraiser in Beverly Hills he told CBS2, “When I was mayor I had dealings with McCain where I didn’t respect him.”

Riordan, a Republican, is now endorsing Obama for President, saying, “I think he’s a much more open person. He’s young, he has more energy, more electricity.” [watch here]

And Riordan knows something about age in politics – he was 72 in 2002 when he was beat in the race to be California Governor to the much younger Gray Davis, a factor that Politico’s Gary South, who worked on Gray’s campaign attributes to Riordan’s loss.

…the overwhelming majority of [voter focus group] participants thought Riordan was younger than he was, most guessing in his 60s. When informed of his actual age, it was an instant disqualifier for 25-30 percent of the participants in nearly every focus group (and this, of course, was for governor, not president). As of today, it will be quite evident to every voter that McCain is, in fact, 72 years old.

The focus group then, on their own, began making connections between Riordan’s age and former President Ronald Reagan’s alzheimers, “surmising that the onset of the latter’s Alzheimer’s had actually occurred while he was still in office.” The Riordan campaign attempted to deflect the age issue by distributing photos of Riordan riding a bike with Lance Armstrong and pumping iron in his basement gym.

A message to anti-McCain/Palin musicians

Oh, liberal musicians and bloggers, how you fail to find an opportunity when its staring at you from behind rimless glasses.

Last week, the McCain camp came under fire for using “Barracuda” as VP candidate Sarah Palin’s theme song without seeking Heart, the song’s artists, without permission first. As noted by a commenter on LAist, the campaign only needs to obtain the rights and/or pay a royalty, not seek the permission of the musicians.

Nancy Wilson, who with sister Ann make the band “Heart”, told Entertainment Weekly: “I feel completely fucked over,” by the Republican’s use of the song. Their label, Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG, “have sent a cease-and-desist notice ordering the McCain-Palin campaign to discontinue use of the song.” [via PopCrunch]

What groups like Heart should do is encourage the McCain-Palin campaign to play the song as much as possible, and then promise to donate a portion of royalties to Planned Parenthood.

Heart should also team up with other artists equally distressed about the McCain campaign and supporters use of their songs are release an entire benefit album in support of gay marriage, the Obama campaign or some other liberal cause.

Here’s what side A of the LP would look like:

• “Barracuda,” Heart
• “Our Country,” John Mellencamp
• “Running on Empty,” Jackson Brown
• “Right Now,” Van Halen

Album cover art by Shepard Fairey, of course.

More sourcing and details at Political Punch.

McCain + Palin = offshore drilling

LAist’s Jeremy Oberstein believes that VP candidate Sarah Palin’s support of drilling in Alaska “could represent a massive change in federal off-shore drilling policy that could have a decades long affect here.”

If McCain chooses to capitalize on her domestic energy policy strengths, surfers and boaters on the Pacific won’t just be able to enjoy that famous California sunshine on the horizon.

Worth repeating: cheap oil promised by backers of offshore drilling, even if we begin the process now, won’t come until 2030.

Sarah Palin: Governor of San Francisco?

John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate, Alaska’s Sarah Palin, went from mayor of a town of 8,500 to governor of a state with 670,000.

Dallas Morning News blogger Colleen McCain Nelson tries to put this into perspective:

Her entire state has about as many people as Memphis, Tennessee, the country’s 17th-largest city.

So, 16 U.S. mayors — including Dallas’ very own Republican, Tom Leppert — have more constituents than Sarah Palin. Of course, she has her own mayoral pedigree, in Wasilla, Alaska, population 8,500.

To put it in California’s perspective, Alaska’s population of 670,000 is:

• About the population of Bakersfield and Anaheim combined.
• 1/6th the size of the City of Los Angeles (4,045,000), 1/2 the size of San Diego (1,336,000), and smaller than the cities of San Jose (989,000) or San Francisco (824,000).
• Less than Los Angeles City Council Districts 4, 5, and 13 combined.
• Approximately 1/3rd less than the number of Los Angeles residents who marched in the 2006 “Great American Boycott.”

Alas, maybe Eric Garcetti could have been on Obama’s shortlist along with Hillary…

McCain’s VP pick to be announced within hour… eBay’s Meg Whitman still a possibility

There’s still some buzz surrounding the chance McCain will pick California resident Meg Whitman as his Vice Presidential pick. I don’t buy it, but here’s a few off hand reasons why or not she’d make for a decent pick:

Why he might:

• Her business background is stellar as she grew eBay into the monolith it is today with the help of millions of small businesses or individuals who profited along with them. Counter balances McCain’s poor economic acumen.
• Still bitter Hillary supporters may jump on board because Whitman is a woman.
• Whitman has never held a public office – talk about a change agent!
• She’s a Californian. We rock.

Why he probably won’t:

• Whitman has never held a public office – talk about risk! McCain’s age is a small enough factor in this election that voters will probably at least someone who knows the ins and outs of Capitol Hill to take the reigns.
• Expanding on the above, if someone with little political experience is chose, the McCain camp will have a hard time repeating their mantra that Obama has no experience… which, frankly, is their most resonant talking point.
• Very little chance of benefitting from a boost in Californian electoral votes.
• Mere choice of a woman may backfire and look like its pandering to the Hillary crowd.
• She’ll be slaughtered by Lieberman in debates.

I have no idea who McCain will pick, but would also cross Mitt Romney off the list, along with Joe Lieberman. McCain will play it safe, choosing someone with experience and a Republican track record, and little about their religion or background to question.

McCain pulls POW card on Leno

As much of an Obama supporter as I am, for a number of years I was also big on McCain. While there are some serious issues I disagree with him on, I felt he was a no bullsh*t guy with lots of integrity, more a Republican by default than effort. Even when he announced he would be running for President I was rather excited, thinking that for once, if a Republican won I’d at least feel like it was someone trustworthy.

Unfortunately, McCain has repeatedly deepsixed his “straight talk” image, the most recent evidence of this being the cheap misuse of his experience as a Vietnam POW.

On the Tonight Show last night, Jay Leno brought up McCain’s recent failure to answer a reporter’s question of how many houses he owns. McCain’s response, in part:

“I spent 5 1/2 years in a prison cell without — I didn’t have a house. I didn’t have a kitchen table. I didn’t have a table. I didn’t have a chair,” he said.

“I spent those 5 1/2 years … not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.” [from Reuters]

This isn’t the first time McCain or his campaign have used his POW history to shallowly dodge an issue, and don’t expect it to be the last. There is also some indication that the use of this experience, which he used to rarely bring up, is actually on the direct advice of Karl Rove… indicating, again, that if McCain is elected the next four years will be a repeat of the last eight.

That McCain served his country deserves respect, and that his survival as a prisoner of war in Vietnam builds his character up greatly. However, using this experience to deflect issues and questions that have nothing to do with an issue of war is not only beneath him, but anyone who should serve to lead as a senator, governor, or President.

Did John McCain hint at his VP choice in Orange County?

At Saturday’s televised one on one session between Rick Warren and John McCain, Warren asked the Republican presidential candidate who were the three individuals he “would rely on most” if elected.

McCain named Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq; John Lewis, the Democratic congressman and civil rights leader; and his economic advisor, Meg Whitman, the ex-CEO of eBay. That allowed him to remind the audience of three campaign themes: his foreign policy credentials, serving a cause greater than one’s self-interest and his pledge to use the advice of people like Whitman to turn the economy around. [LA Times]

Sounds like a great opportunity to float out some names and try them on for size… possibly for people McCain would consider adding to his cabinet, or a running mate. However, each have obvious drawbacks: Petraeus as a military man brings nothing fresh to the table, Lewis has the Democrat thing going for him, and Whitman has never been elected to a political post (although it’s believed she’ll run for California governor in 2010).

Obama answered the same question with his mother and grandmother, proving the definition of reliance is up for interpretation.

Greetings from Tahoe-Truckee

Hey, kids. I managed to sneak out of Los Angeles literally one hour before the earthquake hit. This week I’m lounging up at the north end of Lake Tahoe in the town of Truckee, CA, probably best known as being where the Donner party gave fresh meaning to the term, “having your family or dinner.”

Of course, politics as usual applies up in these resort towns as well. Here’s what’s going on:

• John McCain swung by Lake Tahoe on Tuesday for a private fundraiser. ““He remarked that anytime a person from Arizona gets to be by a lake, it’s a very special event,” resident Maryanne Ingemanson, who attended the function, told the Sierra Sun.
• A monolithic timber company’s rezoning of a large portion of forest north of Truckee is being challenged by an environmental group. The High Sierra Rural Alliance fears further development could harm the habitats of several endangered species. The Sierra Pacific Industry claims the rezoning merely gives them “more land management flexibility” and has no current plans for further development.
• A Tahoe City sheriff shot and killed an unarmed intruder blamed for a string of home break ins. Yep, a bear.
• The town may get a leg up on California’s green initiatives and pass the “Truckee Climate Action Plan” that would focus on “energy efficiency, alternative energy like solar or geothermal, site design encouraging clustered development, and improving transit.” Truckee is already known for exceeding state standards on reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

JibJab takes aim at Obama and McCain.

Obama riding a unicorn across a rainbow. Brilliant.

E-card fanatics can also upload and add your face to the video.

more about “JibJab takes aim at Obama and McCain.“, posted with vodpod

College Republicans to ride the great white line across America

“Where Is The Red,” a carload of four university educated, white, and dare I say, “eloquent,” Republicans are driving cross country, out to prove it can be done without once crossing into a Democratic district, or a motel without access to Fox News.*

It’s really all a statement to prove that every young voter in America is rah-rah about Barack Obama, and, apparently, that not every McCain supporter is stuck using dialup with stacks of “free AOL” still waiting to be used.

They’ll be blogging and Twittering along the way, as they make pitstops to volunteer on local Congressional campaigns. Their final scheduled stop: Orange County, of course. [via Wired]

*Just a guess on the Fox News angle. I’m not suggesting this strategy reinforces the sheltered nature of Republican youth by any means.