Welcome, if you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to our email newsletter. Thanks for visiting!

DAY 2:

Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona: 5. It is often the job of the officeholder from the other party’s nominee’s home state to play attack dog, because presumably you know the opponent more intimately than the rest of the country because he’s from your state. Gov. N. failed miserably in this task. Her worst line was “Arizona has seen lots of native sons run for president. Barry Goldwater. Mo Udall. Bruce Babbitt, and now John McCain. Goldwater Lost. Udall Lost. Babbitt lost. Now that’s one Arizona tradition I’d like to keep going this year.” AWFUL! Who claims as a virtue that your state has a poor track record for presidential candidates?

America’s Town Hall: 6. I just can’t keep a straight face listening to Jennifer Granholm of Michigan talk about creating jobs. It’s clearly a subject she knows NOTHING about.

Federico Peña: 7.5. Why wasn’t this guy leaked as on a VP list? He’s Hispanic, from a swing state (Colorado), and a former Clinton Admin. sec’y of energy and transportation, which means he can talk about nuclear non-proliferation, high gas prices, and crumbling infrastructure.

Bob Casey: 6. Abortion gets one-sentence. So much for outreach to pro-life Catholics uneasy about the war and the economy.

Lilly Ledbetter: 7. I felt like I was watching the Democratic version of Suzette Kelo. Sure she’s got a compelling story. But I don’t see that just because a legislator opposes a particular bill, say the Fair Pay Restoration Act, they are automatically anti-woman.

Mark Warner: 7. He looked good, but the speech rambled a bit. At this point, I’d like to offer a brief discourse on Democrats’ vision for energy, the economy, and global warming. Warner said “[W]ith the right policies, within 24 months, we’ll be building 100 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid vehicles right here — with American technology and with American workers.” Now to me, that seems slightly pie-in-the-sky. The Congress need merely wave a wand, and within 2 years all our energy troubles will go away. Biden hit on similar themes on Wednesday - promising these 5 million “green collar jobs.” Again, it just seems implausible to me that Congress can simply pass a bill, and from the ground will miraculously sprout forth 5 million new family-supporting jobs that can be held by 45-year old unemployed assembly-line workers in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Unless they’re planning for straight-up FDR-style CCC type jobs.

Hillary Clinton: 9. She gave a GREAT speech (here I second Larry Kudlow’s assessment). First off, I liked the orange outfit a lot - wasn’t red or blue like everyone else, looked good against the background. Her “sisterhood of the traveling pantssuit” and “twin cities” lines were both great. It was mostly about her, not much about Barack, but I think she said the right things - particularly the “Were you in this for me or for the mom on minimum wage?” set of lines.

We are excited to announce that two of our bloggers here at Gop3.com will be attending the Republican National Convention in St.Paul, MN. Sarah Kirby and I have obtained special press passes and we will both be blogging and taking pictures at the main event as well as a number of peripheral events. I will be covering September 1-3 and Sarah will be covering some of September 1st and all of the 4th.

For a full schedule of events, see the Republican National Convention blog.  If you see something you would really like to have us attend or you just have suggestions for us while we are there, please make a comment on the post.

I’m starting a new feature here on GOP3, which will continue for the next two weeks. It’s a scorecard of the primetime convention performances, Olympic judge style.

Jesse Jackson Jr. gets an 8.5 overall - his delivery was good, message was decent.
Mike and Cheryl Fisher get a 7. Clearly they’re nice people, real people, but one lunch with Barack Obama does not give you a definitive judgment of his character and personality.

Caroline Kennedy gets a 5. The speech was really stilted and scripted - it was like a 4 for performance and a 6 for writing. She may be a very smart attorney and author and veep vetter, but not much of a stage presence.

The Ted Kennedy video gets a 6. It was well done, clearly well-produced. But it was also off message - John Kerry got beat in 2004, and nothing says “out of touch” like a movie about sailing their beautiful huge sailboat from Nantucket to Hyannis Port.

Ted Kennedy himself gets a 9. His presence was electric - the crowd went wild. The clear missing patch of hair was a powerful visual reminder of his illness. He gets a 9 for speech delivery - he stepped on a few lines, and when he leaned into the mike at big moments it was muffled rather than amplified. The speech gets an 8.5 for writing - one of the commentators said it was a Bob Shrum speech. There were parts that were really disjointed, but I assume that was Kennedy failing to read the lines right, not Shrum’s writing. But he gets a 10 for visuals - the place was rocking.

Claire McCaskill’s kids did a decent job - that’s a lot of pressure to be under for that young age. Sen. McCaskill herself only get a 7. For performance, a 7 - she tried hard to balance being on the attack and being positive, and it didn’t work that well. For writing, a 6.5 - the “that’s my American story. That’s my husband’s American story. That’s Michelle Obama’s American story” got old and wasn’t very interesting. And a 7.5 for appearance - I thought the blue dress clashed too much with the red of the background - I wish the backdrop was a little softer red. And the V cut on her dress could have been up an inch or two, more rounded.

The Michelle Obama video was nice … the focus on her father caught me a little off guard. The brother gets an 8 - he did his job just fine. Michelle gets a 9 - I liked her outfit, I liked her speech, I liked her podium presence. She needed to deliver a good speech that humanized her and her husband, and most pundits agree she did just that.

Greg Borowski of the Milw. Journal Sentinel reports:

Credentials: Every day, once all the credentials for that evening have been distributed, there is a drawing for any extra passes to get on the floor and sit with the delegation. They are distributed each morning, with this sign meeting delegates: “Photo ID required.”

Of course, photos IDs should only be required for voting on the next president at the convention, they should NOT be required for voting for the next president in the primary or general elections. Puh-lease.

Emergent Church pastor Brian McClaren is under fire for appearing in an election commercial supporting Barack Obama. He should also be under fire for saying silly things, like he did recently:

“Christians, Muslims and Jews are, in some ways, the most dangerous people on the planet, and probably Christians being the most dangerous because their fingers are closer to the most nuclear weapons,” he told an audience here at Baker Book House. “If (Muslims, Christians and Jews) can find points of contact, maybe it will help us avoid pressing these buttons,” he said.

This is a silly thing to say when “the Muslim bomb,” i.e. the nukes in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, are under command-and-control transition as Musharraf leaves office.

Georgetown has hired the first director of its LGBTQ Resource Center. She is the former associate director of the University of Maryland’s Office of LGBT Equity. According to the report,

Harrison said GU Pride [the LGBTQ student group] is looking to launch efforts this year to make the campus more “trans-friendly” by working to provide bathrooms and better housing options for transgender individuals. In addition, he said he believes it is important to bring more diversity to the organization, particularly in bringing a greater variety of political views to the group. Harrison said Subbaraman’s work as the first director of the center will help to catalyze these efforts. “Having a person who can advocate for our issues is a big achievement,” he said.

Don’t think for a minute that this could not happen at Marquette - the GSA has already brought it up at a forum with Fr. Wild… While he feels the Counseling Center is currently sufficient, if pressure from the politically correct crowd mounts …

Darling/Wasserman Debate

On Upfront with Mike Gousha on WISN Alberta Darling debated Sheldon Wasserman, in their first public appearance. I have to say that I think Gousha did an excellent job and I wish that he could be a debate moderator in the future when there is less of a time limit. Also, my apologies for not being able to embed the video.

In the first block of the debate, both of them highlighted their initiatives and success with education.
Wasserman tried to use his experience as a doctor as a reason why he knows about healthcare, but Alberta is the candidate that has put together a full proposal, whereas Sheldon has done little.

Following the commercial break, Wasserman came out lying. And apparently he’s gone through eight pairs of shoes which is more important to him than the $3 million that will be spent in the race. Gousha asked about the tone of the campaign and Alberta’s health was again a topic. Of course he lied about the spreading rumors about Alberta’s health to lobbiests and then lied about a press realease that he sent out on July 23rd.

Here is the press release that came from Wasserman’s own campaign.

“Solid financial planning, prudent campaign spending and the support of over 1000 donors give me a strong overall advantage,” said Rep. Wasserman. “As the long time incumbent and member of the committee that writes the state budget, it is no surprise that Senator Darling out raised me in big money and special interest donations. She talks about being a fiscal conservative but has squandered her campaign resources. The only thing I can be accused of overspending on is shoe leather. I’ve worn through eight pairs since I first began going door to door and meeting with people in the 8th Senate District over a year ago.”

Wasserman, who knocked on 735 doors last week, has visited over 18,500 homes. “My opponent likes to tell people she is ‘out knocking on doors.’ But the voters know the difference between riding in a car watching staff drop off taxpayer-funded road maps that people did not even ask for and actually knocking on doors and talking to people,” added Wasserman. “I run my campaign like I run my Assembly office, with a strong focus on personal service and fiscal responsibility.”

Man, if you’re going to lie about your own press releases and challenge Alberta to find some text about it, you have to hide stuff better. Like always, Wasserman has taken a cheap shot at Alberta that he’ll go on to blatantly deny. I bolded the appropriate section which he claims he never said. And since we’ve found said text, we’ll all be waiting for Sheldon’s response. It’s the political chameleon up to the usual stuff again but as he opens his mouth more and more you can start to see that he can’t even keep his colors straight.

This past week the six candidates for the 24th Assembly (Menomonee Falls/Germantown) got together for a question and answer session at the Menomonee Falls Community Center. Though I only got to be there for a short time, my dad actually took notes about the candidates as he is trying to make a foray into the blogging world and wanted to see what he’d have to do for these events.

Prior to the candidates for the 24th coming together, Jim Burkee talked for about 20 minutes about why he is running against Jim Sensenbrenner. He attacked Sensenbrenner’s stance on immigration because his plan would deport the children and spouses of illegal immigrants as well as the illegal aliens themselves. (I’ll stick with The Sensenbrenner) He claimed that Sensenbrenner is the worst at taking special interest money and that Burkee would never take any money. I am fine with this too; Sensenbrenner wants to get money from conservative PACs that’s fine. Burkee’s claim is really just ceremonial, because he wouldn’t have gotten any special interest money anyways. Burkee also attacked Sensenbrenner for not wanting to drill in ANWAR . Burkee finished by saying that there is no democrat running in the district this year (because Burkee’s buddy dropped out) and Burkee is your only vote for change. And Sensenbrenner has never worked, lived or raised kids in the district so you should vote for someone who has.

–The 24th Debate—

In the 24th debate, there were two democrats Torrey Lauer and Charlene Brady and four republicans. Dan Knodl (Pronounce the K), Randy Melchert, Jason LaSage and Mike Moscikie.

Brady started off the opening statements by making it known that she is the “Verbal Candidate.” Instead of people to donating to her campaign she would rather have them donate to the food pantry. She says she won’t be putting out lit and campaign signs because she thinks that will annoy too many people. She has experience and has been a Germantown Resident for 20 years. Oldest candidate. Though I find this a noble way to go by not spending money, I don’t think it will work out that well in such a local race.

Knodl has lived in the district most of his life. He’s a father, parent and business owner of Menomonee Falls for 23 years and currently on the Washington County Board.

Jason LaSage is running for the 24th assembly because he is concerned about taxes, pork spending and the bad businee economy. He spend six years on the Germantown school board. He has worked at Strong Funds and understands money management. Working on the school board and in the Menomonee Falls school district as a substitute teacher, he has a working knowledge of education system

Randy Melchert is promoting himself as the conservative Republican. He owns a radio station and his goal is to make the state affordable, eliminate the mark up law and help energy costs. He has also attended the blatantly anti-Catholic Bob Jones University. He sounded like he was giving a speech to a room full of supporters, not a debate.

Mike Moscicke- He works for the department of Administration so he’s worked with people on both sides of the isle and does not want to socialize Medicine. His family has been in the Menomonee Falls since 1938.

The first question was about Revenue Caps in municipalities. Most said they were good at the time but not now.

The second question was about the universal health plan and how it should be implemented. Mosecki said it should be subsidized by the employees. Melchert, LaSage, Knodel and Lauer all said that it was not a good idea

The next question debated the future of the 220 program. Melchert, LaSage, Knodl all said that the parents should be allowed to make more decisions on where the child goes to school. Brady seemed to be the only one to favor the program based of improving the diversity of students.

Then came the debate on the smoking ban. LaSage said local control could vary and create government problems. Knodl said the government should stay out. Brady was emphatically against the smoking ban. Moscicke said that the issue can’t be legislated easily. Melchert favored the idea of avoiding the smoking areas and said other issues like drunk driving were of greater concern.

Concerning minimum mark up laws none seemed to favor the antiquated law. Melchert claimed it was unconstitutional, LaSage said he favored the free market.

All of the candidates seem to be against unfunded mandates and promoted state wide economical development through lowering taxes.

I’d talked to one of the candidates a day or so prior to the debate and that person seemed fairly correct. It really was six people agreeing with each other. All of Republicans seemed to have very similar beliefs and even the democrats seemed fiscally responsible. However based off my dad’s grading he said none of the candidates blew him away. He said LaSage spoke the best, but was surprised by Melchert who spoke rather well, but was too grim and over dramatic about taxes . My dad’s thoughts are that it’s not taxes that should be immediately cut, it’s the out of control spending that should be done away with, and then the taxes would naturally come down, not the Melchert way. My dad remarked that the other candidates were too soft spoken and said that if they had to debate on the floor someone like Lena Taylor (he said that woman that ran against Walker) he thinks they would get shouted down.

After talking to my dad (a resident of Menomonee Falls since the 50s) he told me his thoughts on the candidates as a whole. Out of ones that have contacted us, he thinks LaSage has the best lit piece and a quality yard sign. He thinks Melchert has the best yard signs (very ‘American’) but his lit is utterly confusing. Knodl’s yard signs are inconsistent (he has large orange signs that say his whole name and what he’s running for on major streets, while personal yard signs are maroon and white and just say his last name) and his lit is too much to fit on one piece.

On a related note, the Journal Sentinel recently endorsed Jason LaSage for the GOP primary in the district.