This makes me really ashamed that I once bought stuff off of eBay...

Even better: in this video, Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan don't realize their mics are on. We get to eavesdrop on what they really think of McCain's choices.

Does Noonan have the ovaries to just say, Fuck it, I'll keep writing the same in my next column?

Where's Ms. Clinton thru all this. Not a peep I see.

Funny that......

Ah, the classic political blunder: accidentally telling the truth.

Whitman is a vaginal-American. She can't really see how sexist anyone who isn't a Republican is!

"Here's hoping the rest of the McCain campaign takes what Whitman has to say seriously."

I would hope so... she's one of the three wisest people John McCain knows.

Did I hear Noonan actually say "its over" on the video clip???

WOW!

Will someone transcribe the video for us who can't see it ?

This stuff is hotter than hot. Palin and the Republican Party are side lining the law. This daughter fills the legal felony law in Alaska.

Alaska statutory rape laws declare that anyone who is 18 years old or older who has sex with a person who is 16 or 17, or who is at least three years younger than the offender, can be charged with sexual abuse in the third degree. This is also a felony.

Alaska statutory rape laws carry punishments that include imprisonment and fines.

Here is the kicker

And remember, it does not matter if you did not force or threaten the other person into performing this sexual act with you. It is still a crime under Alaska statutory rape laws.

If any citizen comes forward to address this law the Republicans are toast.

If America votes for this kind of stuff we are truely headed with the help of the evangilist to the Sodom and Gomorrah of the new world order.

Here's hoping the rest of the McCain campaign takes what Whitman has to say seriously.

Karl will be sending the Ideology Enforcement Squad to her condo sometime after midnight. She'll be singing a different tune in time for the next interview.

Did I actually hear Murphy say "the greatness of John McCain"?

Whitman is going to be thrown under the proverbial bus, well maybe not the proverbial bus, maybe just the bus. How has the McCain campaign come to this. A total loss of message control.

Ditto what Scott W (4:32)says. I've been surfing for the last few minutes looking for a description. Is there anything more than just, "it's over."? Please, please.

Sarah Palin -- McCain-Tough!

We know that Governor Palin is tough and smart enough to take on Vladimir Putin, Osama Bin-Laden, and the Chinese and the Europeans...after the McCain campaign reassures us that their prime criterion for choosing a Vice Presidential candidate was that she's ready to take up the presidency from Day 1.

Just don't make her deal with US Democrats or with the US Media...they're MEAN!

Demeaned?
*check!
Belittled?
*check!
Demonized?
*check!

You deserve it you elitist, intelligent Americans!

Here's a good transcript of what's said in the Chuck Todd/Mike Murphy (one of McCain's top guys in 2000)/Peggy Noonan hot mike incident:

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/9/3/161925/2509/114#c114

PN: "I wanna see uh..."
MM: "You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush... I mean, and these guys, this is all like how you win a Texas race, just run it up. It's not gonna work!"
PN: "It's over."
MM: "Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good."
CT?: "Don't you think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchison?"
PN: "...Saw Kay this morning..."
CT?: "She's NEVER been comfortable..."
MM: "...All bummed out."
CT?: "Is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?"
PN: "The most qualified? No! I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about 'narratives.'"
MM: "They went to narrative!"
PN: "...the big picture. Every time Republicans do that, because it's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it."
MM: "You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is 'no cynicism,' and this is cynical."
CT: "It's cynical. And as you called it, 'gimmick.' Yeah. Thanks guys."
MM: "See ya later."

Seems like a brand new word:

http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=vetting+definition

Wow, Whitman says something honest on camera, and Noonan says something honest off camera. That's twice more than we've heard all week from the convention.

We now return you to our usual broadcast, Hugging on the Tarmac.

I would want to point out that Whitman is one of the three wisest persons McCain knows.

He really should be listening more to what she says.

Ben, you rock.
Can we please plaster that everywhere....
The fricken greatness of McCain ? Holy hell, these people are seriously nutz.

FYI Peggy, the blow everything. Even the prostitutes as the park.

With the small army of enforcers, message carriers, spin artistes and unnameable sources that blanket the candidates from direct media enquiry, allowing the candidate plausible deniability if any statement doesn't float, I think it's about time the reporters reported the facts.

"The candidate was unavailable for comment on questions concerning . . . . "

Impossible for them to have that selfcontrol, I know, but it would remove all the smoke. If a candidate wanted to be heard he/she would have to speak and answer questions.

That's how it used to be done until media got so stupid.

Ben - Thanks. The funniest part of this is that yesterday on one of the CSPAN channels, Peggy Noonan was in a panel discussion telling journalist wannabees that the most important thing about writing is to dig deep into your heart and tell the truth. She's more plastic than a barbie doll.

I didn't write it, I just copypasted it :).

A few extra notes- Murphy was clearly inferring that the McCain camp is trying the Texas strategy, where you motivate the base and run up those numbers while ignoring the middle. And that's not going to work in states that are more moderate than Texas. I think he's right.

Todd actually says "they're all bummed out", not just Hutchison. I'm not sure who "they" is.

And what's best about listening is to hear the vehemence in what they say. In text it looks flat, but in words Noonan sounds unequivocally certain that "it's over", and is full of disdain when saying "The most qualified? No!", and Murphy is clearly mortified at the poor judgment involved.

Btw, here is Noonan's latest column, which strikes a much more neutral tone- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122044753790594947.html?mod=todays_columnists I liked the honest, hot mike version much more. It's a lot easier to see the fakeness in the article after you've heard what she REALLY thinks.

America is ready for Republican Jokes as in 'How many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?'

That's how it used to be done until media got so stupid.
Posted by: notthere on September 3, 2008 at 5:00 PM

they media is not 'stupid.'
Left alone, to do its job, the media has done very good work in the past.
However, now it is wholly owned by the political paymasters of the willing criminals in Congress and the ShiteHouse.
In the Corporate State, Corporate media are State media...

Somewhat OT, but time is short.

I just got an email from the Obama campaign pointing out that McCain must spend all his primary money by tomorrow night.

Question: can he use it to buy ads that will run after tomorrow?

Can you use it to prepay expenses, or is the accounting on the accrual method?

Hope so.

'How many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?' -slanted tom

None. Republicans screw in airport men's rooms.

My theory is:

They were really gearing up for Hillary. No one would have motivated the base more. Not even John McCain. He's a maverick alright, if maverick is defined as a Republican nominee who's unable to raise money. And what conservative in their right mind want to run with Lieberman. Palin made a great impression on them early on as a solid conservative, but no doubt they didnt think she was qualified. They figured they play the disunity in the Dem party up until the convention, try all their dirty tricks, and pray to get Hillary nominated. If Hillary were in fact nominated, they'd be fine with McCain/Pawlenty.

But, we didnt give them Hillary to run through their meticulously prepared script to finally beat a Clinton, so they scrambled to find a vp that would really inspire the base, like Hillary would have. They're experience/celebrity campaign against Obama kept the race even. Biden didnt get a bounce. So they figure a) experience is not driving this race, and b) if they are even with an unmotivated base, they could make this a blowout with a motivated one.

Re-enter Sarah Palin. Perfect! A "solid" fiscal and social conservative AND really popular (thats rare these days) AND pro-drilling. That reenergizes the religious right AND satisfies are largest client, Exxon, as long as we can get her to get rid of that loopy idea about a windfall profits tax.

They figure this out on the weekend when Biden is announced. Lucky for Obama, he announced on Saturday. They string along Pawlenty and have 4-5 days to fast-track Palin. No focus groups, no local interviews with people that know her, no media rollout.

I think the focus group alone would have told them that the so-called sexism is coming from women with young and special needs children.

I wonder if the McCain camp knows the difference between a vetting and a job interview. They were out in force today, talking about their rigorous vetting process. But all they could manage to describe was an interview with Palin, and a 70 point questionaire. They made no mention of checking her answers against any other data or other people's memories. The short of it? Whatever she said was good enough for them.
Pathetic.

Is Meg Whitman disappointed that she wasn't the vp pick?

What's becoming more evident is that the only people bringing up babies and pregnant teenagers is the McCain Campaign and it's Surrogates. As soon as the subject of pork, bridge to nowhere, AIP, Troopergate, or her church comes up. the blowback is along the lines of "How dare you talk about her family like that", blah, blah, blah. Yes they may be on the cover on US Magazine, however, everybody else wants her and McCain to answer the more substantive questions - relating to assuming the presidency in the event of you know what.