Palin, who emerged as a leading voice in the Republican Party after Arizona Sen. John McCain picked her as his running mate in the contest against Obama, is thought to be considering a run for president in 2012. Auburn residents welcomed her to the podium at City Hall with a chant of “Run, Sarah, run!”…
Palin rode the mile-long parade route in a red convertible, getting out to walk about 100 yards while carrying small U.S. and Alaska state flags in each hand. Spectators yelled out “Welcome, Sarah” and “Thanks for coming” as Palin waved back.
Local resident Chris Stone, with his wife and three children, said he didn’t care for Palin’s politics but didn’t want to miss the chance to see her in person.
“You can see by the turnout, she’s become a personality and a historical figure,” said Stone, who voted for Obama. “I know all these people aren’t Republicans. This is a chance to see someone who has had a big impact on history.”
Michelle Malkin took umbrage at President Obama’s use of the word “we” in Obama’s weekly radio and Internet address (as though America needed to be reminded who her heroes and defenders were in a world gone mad and with wa President turned would-be prosecutor.) Malkin says:
On this Memorial Day Weekend, Malkin makes the point:
More to the point: Does Obama know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?
Reader RJD e-mails: “I do believe that Obama means well, but Memorial Day is a day to remember our fallen. We have Veterans Day and Armed Services day to thank the currently and past service members. Memorial Day is specific to thank and remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Why then does Obama ask us to thank service members on the street? While I think this is a good thing to do anyway, I am not sure he understands what the whole day is about!”
Dour though his Darth Cheney persona may be, he projects gravitas and speaks with understated eloquence. He’s bound to persuade at least a few fencesitters.
The Pundit points to Toby Harnden in Telegraph.co.uk who notes Cheney’s 10 punches:
1. “I’ve heard occasional speculation that I’m a different man after 9/11. I wouldn’t say that, but I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.”
Anyone who was in New York or Washington on 9/11 (I was here in DC) was profoundly affected and most Americans understand this. Obama was, as far as I can tell, in Chicago. His response – he was then a mere state senator for liberal Hyde Park – was startlingly hand-wringing and out of step with how most Americans were feeling. This statement by Cheney reminds people of the tough decisions he and Bush had to make – ones that Obama has not yet faced.
2. “The first attack on the World Trade Center was treated as a law- enforcement problem, with everything handled after the fact: arrests, indictments, convictions, prison sentences, case closed.”
This was the pre-9/11 mindset, much criticised after the attacks. Many sense that this is the approach Obama is increasingly taking.
3. “By presidential decision last month, we saw the selective release of documents relating to enhanced interrogations. This is held up as a bold exercise in open government, honoring the public’s right to know. We’re informed as well that there was much agonizing over this decision. Yet somehow, when the soul searching was done and the veil was lifted on the policies of the Bush administration, the public was given less than half the truth.”
The release of the documents was a nakedly political move by Obama and Cheney called him on it. This passage from Obama’s speech today came across as completely disingenuous:“I did not do this because I disagreed with the enhanced interrogation techniques that those memos authorized, and I didn’t release the documents because I rejected their legal rationales — although I do on both counts. I released the memos because the existence of that approach to interrogation was already widely known, the Bush Administration had acknowledged its existence, and I had already banned those methods.”
Update: In hindsight, wasn’t it awfully stupid of The One to rush out a national security speech to try to preempt Cheney? If he’d kept quiet, this still would have been a hit on righty blogs and Fox News but nowhere else. By jumping in, he created the sensational “terror duel” storyline that’s forcing the media to magnify this. At the very least, he should have waited a week or so and then given his speech as a rebuttal to Cheney’s. For someone so message-savvy, he crapped the bed this time.
President Obama knows the power of the faux. The President has trouble with the U.S.Constitution most days of the week and today was one of those days. A reasonable facsimile will do as White House correspondent Jake Tappe found out. “No, that was not an actual copy of the Constitution behind President Obama as he spoke today.”
So the facsimiles were brought out for this event.. The impact of President Obama speaking in the echo-filled chamber with the words “THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERCA” etched in marble behind him were not accidental.
Update: And I was right. Says Brett Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, “He wraps himself in the Constitution, talks about American values and then proceeds to violate them.” Preventive detention seems to be a sticking point, don’tcha know.
Be Holy! 