More interesting though was the moment that happened immediately afterward, when VP Biden was asked to administer the oath to the senior staff members who were assembled.  Biden wasn’t expecting to give the oath, and so in a moment of cover and panic, made a crack that “he didn’t have as good a memory as Justice Roberts” and would need a copy of the oath to read.

When Biden made that comment, Obama visibly bristled and frowned.  This is the exact kind of classless politics he has renounced for the past 2 years on the campaign trail – and now he has a poster child of such politics on his right hand.

Lucky guy, huh.

I’m thrilled about Obama’s reaction though.  It shows me he actually believes what he was saying, and is actually committed to a more civil dialogue in Washington. Then again, it just might be a sign that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, and even the highest levels have yet to buy into his vision.

Update: Washington Times Wire

Update: Here’s the video… it’s about 1/2 way through.

Her ‘attack dog’ act knocked my socks off at the convention, but now I am highly doubtful of her readiness for this meaningless campaign and this meaningless office. The “hockey mom”/”lipstick on a pig” thing is really cute, and a refreshing change of pace for our political scene.  She might still have a bright future in the Republican party (if she doesn’t mess this bid up too much).  I just think she was thrust into this a little too soon.

Her debate performance against Biden was just OK.  She got her butt handed to her in the foreign policy section.  It wasn’t because she didn’t know names, dates, or have personal anecdotes to share – it was her lack of a cohesive response on the way forward in the war on terror.  Her entire answer to the question of the way forward focused on the past, while Biden talked about some realistic, concrete plans for the future.

Palin sounded desperate in her constant attempts to change the discussion from what Gwen Ifill wanted to talk about to what she wanted to talk about: Alaska, taxes, and energy.  Good for her for sticking to her strengths, but I have news for her and McCain… there is a lot more to running this country than Alaska, taxes, and energy.

Plus… she said “nucUlar” twice… And as I always say… twice is no mistake.  This formally puts her in the dog house with me.  (And not the good Randy Jackson “dawg” house, either…)

Sorry Sarah… Can we just be friends instead?

Joe Biden was the right choice for Obama.  I liked him in the Democrat’s primary race.  He lends experience and gravitas to the Obama ticket, while not overshadowing the top of the ticket (like Hillary would have done).  Now that this is done and the hand wringing is over, it is clearly the right decision.

The question still remains, though: Can two waste-of-skin Democrat senators actually succeed at the top two executive positions of the biggest enterprise in the world?  I’m still not convinced.

The Many Houses of McCain

You couldn’t turn on the news or radio this weekend without hearing the sound clip of McCain telling a reporter that he’d “Uhhh… have his staff get back to him” when the reporter asked how many houses McCain currently owns.  The headline was quickly generated: “McCain Doesn’t Know How Many Houses He Owns!”

Truthfully, though, that’s not the case at all.  It seems to me that a more likely scenario is that McCain didn’t want to say how many houses he owned.  Clearly, a republican candidate for president bragging to a reporter about his investments in a time of economic downturn is a bad political move, and McCain could see that coming.  It was in the way he stammered before dodging the question that he created a whole new problem for himself.  I’m afraid such lapses and stammering might become standard fare for a 70+ year old candidate for president.  So much for straight talk.

The truth is, knowing how many houses McCain owns doesn’t hurt him at all in this race.  Why?  Because that is the great American Dream (read: Myth), that everyone can be rich and own multiple residences!  Why do you think raising taxes on the rich is so hard to do?  Because everyone worries about the day when they too will become RICH!  In this country, it is certainly no crime to be wealthy, and McCain is.

Nancy Pelosi is a Communist

Yesterday on Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw pressed Nancy Pelosi on the issue of energy, and how she now supports offshore drilling, which she had adamantly opposed weeks ago.  Her justification? If we put offshore drilling on the table, we get to put a whole lot of other issues on the table, like tax breaks for oil companies, and even levying new taxes on oil companies for using the oil that “belongs to the American people.”  She went on and on for 5 minutes talking about how these oil companies profit off of oil that “is the American people’s.”

Well, in case Nancy forgot, this country is based on ~240 years of PROPERTY OWNERSHIP, including mineral rights.  In fact, property ownership is one of the most distinctly American things anyone can do in their life.  There is no question that the framers were highly concerned with protecting the rights of private property owners – and oil and mineral rights are no exception.  They don’t belong to the “American people” (read: government), they belong to individual Americans and companies who have made the investment in their future.

And for the record, your super-fake smile really bothers me…