They're Shooting Blanks

After the masterful performance by Sarah Palin last night, I found an e-mail in my inbox this morning from the Obama campaign (remember, I signed up to receive word of the Obamessiah's VP pick before the press, which didn't happen...another lie, or just a mistake?). I wanted to dissect it a bit for you.

I wasn't planning on sending you something tonight. But if you saw what I saw from the Republican convention, you know that it demands a response.

I saw John McCain's attack squad of negative, cynical politicians. They lied about Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and they attacked you for being a part of this campaign.

Really? What did they lie about? Name one lie.

But worst of all -- and this deserves to be noted -- they insulted the very idea that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

Actually, Sarah Palin is the epitome of 'ordinary' people achieving great success! That's why she resonates with so many 'ordinary' Americans!

You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, everyday people have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together. Make a donation of $5 or more right now to remind them.

This is typical...they don't say how they're building something extraordinary, or even what extraordinary thing it is they're building, but they want you to send money because they said some warm fuzzies.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

So what do they do to help those people? We still don't know what a community organizer is or does! Would someone please define this? It's clearly one of the biggest chunks of the Obamessiah's experience, so we really should understand what's involved! Please, Obama people, tell us more.

And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

You've gone on constantly about change, but the question people need to ask themselves is what change you will bring. Not all change is good change. And, once again, those with a proven track record of change in this election do not have a "D" behind their names on the ballots!

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

Circular reasoning: community organizers work for change so that change occurs in communities through proper organization. Community organizing isn't the foundation of the civil rights, women's suffrage, or anything else. Those things were brought about by millions of people coming to understand wrongs were being perpetrated, and demanding our national leaders do something to fix it.

Meanwhile, we still haven't gotten a single idea during the entire Republican convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the Bush-McCain policies.

You mean that lowering taxes to stimulate the economy isn't an idea that might help the middle class? You mean that expanding energy production to lower prices isn't an idea that might help the middle class? You mean that working to destroy the entrenched establishment of corruption in Washington isn't an idea that might help the middle class? You mean that returning taxpayer money to taxpayers isn't an idea that might help the middle class? You mean that protecting American citizens and interests from threats abroad isn't an idea that might help the middle class? I heard all of this...how did you miss it?

It's now clear that John McCain's campaign has decided that desperate lies and personal attacks -- on Barack Obama and on you -- are the only way they can earn a third term for the Bush policies that McCain has supported more than 90 percent of the time.

No, it's clear that Palin has rocked you, and that you've got nothing with which to counter her. If this is the best they've got to offer as a response, they're in serious trouble.

Now, let's be real. I'm sure there will be other things that will come up to shake the momentum the GOP has right now. But, one thing is clear: this is a whole new ball game now.

I'll post later with some speech reactions from the pundits, but I thought this initial reaction from the Obamessiah campaign was very telling.

There's my two cents.