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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



McCain: He's made up his mind

Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:30 AM by Mark Murray

The New York Times reports that McCain “has decided on his running mate, two Republican strategists in contact with Mr. McCain’s campaign said Wednesday. He is expected to reveal his choice at 11 a.m. Friday at a rally at a basketball arena in Dayton, Ohio… Republicans close to the campaign said that the top contenders remained the same three men who have been the source of speculation for weeks: former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and, possibly, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut.”

Speaking of Lieberman, Politico’s Martin writes that Karl Rove called the Connecticut senator to urge him to withdraw his name from VP consideration. “Lieberman dismissed the request… Lieberman ‘laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details. ‘Rove called Lieberman,’ recounted a second source. ‘Lieberman told him he would NOT make that call.’”

NBC/NJ’s Matthew E. Berger yesterday wondered if McCain’s three-day VP swing (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) actually rules out Lieberman since he famously doesn’t campaign on the Sabbath. Yet Berger notes that the McCain schedule has the campaign leaving Dayton en route to Pittsburgh by bus on Friday beginning at 2:00 p.m. It is a four-and-a-half hour drive, so they would be able to arrive in Pittsburgh before Shabbat begins at 7:38 p.m., according to chabad.org, if they leave close to on time.
 
And while McCain and Lieberman are scheduled to be down most of the day Saturday, the rally in Washington, PA is scheduled for 6:00 pm. The Sabbath does not end Saturday until 8:37 p.m. It would be a long time to keep a crowd waiting, but not completely out of the realm of possibilities.

The McCain campaign released a Web video hit against Obama that’s reminiscent of one he unveiled against Romney before the New Hampshire primary. It contains images of violence and terrorism and questions Obama’s ability to lead.

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MCCAIN: HE'S MADE UP HIS MIND


"SO"

Let's just pray it's Mitt Romney.  I could use a good laugh, and "Grandpa and the Pander Bear" sounds like a classic comedy team waiting to happen.  Just make sure not to let the dogs out, Mittsy, and leave the bling-bling at home.
The New York Times reports that McCain “has decided on his running mate...
*******************************************************

Good.  Let the games begin!  (Biden will tear apart whomever McCain picks)

http://thepajamapundit.com/

McSilly will have to pay these 10,000 people some of Cindy's money to show up !!!

Mccain = More Pain
Pick Mittens! LOL
Countering the big Democratic Celebrity-In-Waiting Las Vegas type show (Will they have Tigers jumping through hoops tonight? - Tune in to find out!) the Democrats will be very easy. McCain just needs to give his acceptance speech while surrounded by the People. John just needs to get out from behind the podium and walk into the crowd, sit there, and give his speech. It will blow the doors off the Obama Celebrity Revue.
He's made up his mind?

Now that he's made up his mind will he remember who he picked or forget and end up then picking someone else?
All three have big negatives, and two of the three will piss off the evangelicals.  Huck would be his best choice, but Huck can talk and think, which is a hardship for McOld.
He won't pick Lieberman because that would be too good a gift to the Dems. I suspect it's Romney because Pawlenty was on nearly unwatchable Morning Shmoe and no secret service in sight and Romney is not in sight....that's good too though, the ads we can run about Romney attacking McCain will be fabulous.

Just a couple notes on the convention: I love you MSNBC people but I had to watch on Cspan for the speeches and then on PBS for reaction--I was actually shocked at how good the speakers were--having not heard them before above the blah blah of the pundits. Anyone who says there's not enough red meat aren't listening! I was proud of Bill, much better than Hill, as we know he is (that's the ONLY reason she came so close--nothing she actually did!)

Repubs are scared though--I notice that Mike Murphy, who used to be so honest, now has the Repub talking points and is just another talking head, too bad, he used to be so good. We have to depend on Rachel for the only objective reporting until this thing is over.

We'd better see just as many dems on during the convention next week as we have repubs this week! what a bunch of blow hards they are!!





First Read: "Speaking of Lieberman, Politico’s Martin writes that Karl Rove called the Connecticut senator to urge him to withdraw his name from VP consideration."

Wow, that's an interesting approach. Why not just offer your advice to McCain, rather than back-door it via Lieberman? It seems like everyone tip-toes around McCain, seemingly afraid of his infamous explosions of anger.

How well known? They may have cost McCain the 2000 nomination.

A Businessweek article titled "Searching for the Real McCain" from 1999: It's just after dawn in Hampton, N.H., and John McCain is coming off a bruising week. His fast rise in the polls has hit a speed bump: With McCain's hometown paper questioning whether ''Senator Hothead'' has the right stuff to be President, the temper that has been legendary in Washington suddenly is headline news.
Well, well, well the loser is picking another loser to help him lose.  Friday should be a great day.  But then McLazy doesn't work weekends or holidays so the announcement had to be Friday.
It's way cool how Hillary Clinton sounds like Barack and Obama sounds like Hllary...They are truly for each other for the better part of the Democratic Party..

The Republicans will have a lot of ground to make up on this one...
McCain picks anybody on his short list it won't even come close to echo how unified the Dem's are...
Romney..to left wing and wrong religion for GOP
Pawlenty..to unknown and bottom blender
Lieberman..to mother hen-ish...
anyone else, a dark horse, a women...
it looks like pandering and flops on the unity issue...to much ground to make up...
who dresses Mike Murphy on MSNBC???  somebody needs to get him a stylist
McCain really has nobody.

Anybody he picks at this point is going to alienate either his base or the country at large.

Lieberman, Giuliani, and Hutchison are all pro-choice.

Romney was, now isn't, but only because, admittedly, he couldn't get nominated by being pro-choice, and he's a completely unlikable multi-millionaire that will turn middle America off.

His response to "How many houses do you own?" was "4, one less than John Kerry."

Well, Mitt, John Kerry lost and if you're paying attention that's twice as many as Obama and Biden have put together.

I can't wait for Biden to rip this guy a new one.

http://www.rodneyhopper.com
The McCain camp is doing anything they can to generate anything but yawns on the 'anticipation' of his running mate, it is obvious to many that what Rove wants, Rove gets.  No credible source believes Lieberman is a serious contender.  I am certain he would be tapped in a McCain administration; but NO WAY McCain is dumb enough to seal his fate and pick him.  I would LOVE it if he did, but it isn't going to happen.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
from yesterday:

“…The U.S. Census bureau released the newest median income data:  for the third year in a row, real, (inflation adjusted) median income ROSE.  Nationally, it is UP 1.3 percent; moreover, this, added to the previous eight years, represents a seventeen per cent RISE in inflation adjusted income…”  Donna, Lincroft, NJ (Sent Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:52 PM)

Come on, ‘EconDonnaJuan’, inflation adjusted income is not the true indicator here.  You should know that with your Econ degree.  That is one of many statistics.  You remember what they say about statistics, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."  The NET impact of the past 6 years (scope of available reporting) is economic hardship.  Plus, the stats you quote don’t even measure the jobs LOST.  It is such a pain to have to point out the obvious to a degreed ‘professional’.  I would further be remiss if I didn’t remind you that under this Bush administration many published reports from a variety of departments have been ‘bolstered’ or even falsified to ‘tell’ a picture other than what we poor, dumb folks know to be true.

I find it interesting that you average your numbers over eight years.  You do realize, of course, two of those years in your ‘average’ were Clinton years?  And it still didn’t put the MEDIAN income where it was when Bush took over.  http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/wm2035.cfm
(full disclosure - this is ONE interpretation of the report) Donna, please stop cherry picking your data.

PS.  I, like many other Americans this year, strongly argue that the 2007 Census bureau stats aren’t really relevant TODAY - 2008 has been a banner year for GOP governing outcomes.  PSS.  And to the almost 1,000,000 people ‘new’ to poverty – I don’t think they believe they are ‘statistically insignificant’.

What I do feel to be true regarding your ‘superior’ mastery of economic theory is that you seem to be as good a student as John McCain.  Sorry to break it to you; but I am simply not impressed with your interpretation.
Why McCain should be President:

McCain said invading Iraq would be a good idea.
McCain said we'd be greeted as liberators.
McCain said it would be an easy victory with few casualties.
McCain said "mission accomplished".
McCain said we didn't need to focus on Afghanistan.
McCain said we should not set a timetable for withdrawal.

Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain is NO quitter!!! McCain has the courage to be WRONG again and again and again. And as president, he will continue to make poor judgments and short-sighted decisions because that's the type of ignorant, warmongering president that we need in this country.

Why vote for Barack? Just because everything he said about Iraq/Afghanistan/Iran was correct? Just because he commands the respect of other world leaders? Just because his tax plan does more for the middle class than does McCain's? Sorry, but I'm not buying it. For me, it's all about experience, and McCain has proven that he is FAR more experienced than Barack Obama when it comes to being completely WRONG.

I'm a retarded McCain supporter, and I approve this message.
It scares me---but doesn't surprise me at all---that Rove is still in the game, still pulling the strings of power, even though he's ostensibly out of the White House, just doing color for Bush's propaganda arm, Fox News. But he still feels entitled to call someone and change their decision. Fortunately, Repigliicans aren't that good at sacrifing for the good of the whole, so Lie-berman just laughed and said "are you nuts?!? This is a chance to play with the Big Boys!" Maybe Rove is learning he doesn't have as much clout anymore as he would like to think. I hope so, anyway, for the good of the country...
But then its not just his hometown newspapers that have reservations about McCain's temperment.

This, from a 2000 Newsweek article:

Why can't McCain win the votes of his own colleagues? To explain, a Republican senator tells this story: at a GOP meeting last fall, McCain erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman, Pete Domenici, saying, "Only an a--hole would put together a budget like this." Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: "I wouldn't call you an a--hole unless you really were an a--hole." The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. "I decided," the senator told NEWSWEEK, "I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger."
Keep pumping out your slander McCain.

honorable you are not.  
good judgement you don't have.
the "maverick" of 2000 has turned into the puppet of 2008.

release your war records, and quit hiding behind your POW status.  your straw man arguments and red herrings will not fool the american people this time around.

you sold your soul to ambition, and i hope you get what you deserve.
It took him 7 months.
From a Previous Thread:  Service Not Enough

Thanks To Some Bloggers

Thanks for some of your comments about the qualifications comment posted yesterday.  I thought many of you had been asking the same question in your minds so I thought I would ask here for the group.  I would do the same regarding some questions I may have about Obama for those supporting McCain if they would express a little more than just generic and over-generalized attacks against Obama (as I  admit some Obama supporters do with McCain).  Because few are really looking deeper into both of these men and what it takes to be a leader while hovering above the surface along with the pundits with their over-generalized and superficial descriptions of the same. But I am an Obama supporter so I really don’t want to give them any legitimate ammunition, smile.  

What it all comes down to is judgment. We all know that. And if we don’t we should. Believe me, Presidents had better hope they appoint people who know more than they do in the areas of Defense, Treasury,  State, EPA, HUD, Attorney General, OMB, etc., And they better appoint people whose priority is honesty. Why do you think that Bush (and McCain) state they will rely on what Patreaus tells them regarding withdrawing troops from Iraq. In effect what they are doing is basing their decisions on the expertise of Patreaus because he is the expert. He has the knowledge whether you agree with Patreaus or not. McCain can't claim he will be a better Commander & Chief then Obama when he himself states he will depend on the generals on the ground, as has Bush and as would Obama. The job of the  President is to be sure and appoint Generals, Ambassadors, Foreign Policy Advisors and Department Heads who are better and brighter than they are on the issues at hand, whether in foreign policy or domestic policy . And then manage these people well by letting them do their jobs without threatening to fire them if they disagree with you or go against some self-serving intent or misguided direction of your Administration.  The President’s job is also to be in touch with, and cognizant of, the feelings of the American people, and to let their Generals, Ambassadors, Advisors and Department Heads know the mood of the American people and to take into account the direction their employers (the American people) want to go.  And their first job requirement should be honesty for that is the priority that the  American  people want in each and every one of these positions whether it is felt  they can handle the truth or not.      

Any person who thinks that a President should have more knowledge and experience than the experts they appoint to handle these specific policies and issues are fooling themselves.  There is no such person. We are all still learning, even Obama and McCain. We never stop learning.  “And we are what our experiences make us”. McCain does have more "life" experiences then Obama. If his supporters would qualify his greater experience as just that I would agree. And if they would qualify their concerns about Obama as being young with fewer life experiences I would understand that concern as well. But then they would need to understand that our life experiences do not necessarily imbed within us good judgment. Often times our life experiences hurt our judgment or engrain within us certain boundaries or mistaken beliefs that damage our judgment.  And as we grow older (I am not holding this against McCain but it is true) our judgment tends to narrow, to become more rigid and black & white. The free flowing and out-of-the box type of thinking that is a benefit of our youth becomes inhabited by the years of our life experiences that shape who and what we are. It leads us to more blank yes’s and no’s and fewer maybes.    

I am just tired of the generic ill-labeled experience argument in McCain's favor. It is not valid except to say that McCain does have more "life" experiences then Obama. But that does not mean that his experiences have allowed him to develop the best of judgments.
It's either getting to know you or
Oh..we know him...why did he pick him?

Either way McWar will have a lot of explaining to why he does the things he does...

No he can just say he was a POW again and again and again..yuck..imagine four years of that answer to everything...
It won't matter who "Bush Hugger" McCain chooses because he'll choose a loser like himself.  No way the repugnant ones can match the Obama/Biden ticket on honesty and integrity.  No way they can match Obama/Biden on national security or the economy.

No way, No how, No McCain!

Go Obama/Biden 08/12!
It's way cool how Hillary Clinton sounds like Barack and Obama sounds like Hillary...They are truly for each other for the better part of the Democratic Party..

The Republicans will have a lot of ground to make up on this one...
McCain picks anybody on his short list it won't even come close to echo how unified the Dem's are...
Romney..to left wing and wrong religion for GOP
Pawlenty..to unknown and bottom blender
Lieberman..to mother hen-ish...
anyone else, a dark horse, a women...
it looks like pandering and flops on the unity issue...to much ground to make up...
Who cares. It does not matter i almost forgot he was running for president.
i almost feel sorry for the rep.
sike
so if he picks Romney...maybe they can boorow the theme song from "Silver Spoons"


"Here we are face to face...a couple of silver spoons"

c'mon sing along...


"Together" by Bob Wirth and Rik Howard

Here we are, face to face
A couple of Silver Spoons.
Hopin’ to find, we’re two of a kind
Making a go, making it grow.

Together, we’re going to find our way.
Together, taking the time each day.
To learn all about those things you just can’t buy.

Two Silver spoons together.
You and I together (We’re going to find our way)
You and I together (We’re going to find our way)
You and I together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5dPwegqgDU&feature=related

McCain is not the man he claims to be. The POW’s and military despise this man for all his lies and manipulation. Watch the video and see the real John McCain and I guarantee nobody will vote for this lying skunk.

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/
Oh Mr McCain GO FLY A KITE!
So!
that is an incredible Karl anecdote. what a maniac.
What about Huckabee?? Am I the only one who thinks that this would go a long way with the conservatives & evangelicals?
Who cares?
Just goes to show who is running the show over at repub headquaters,non other then the slime king himself Karl Rove.The man that has held McBushs hand while in office,kind of like Joe Lieberman and Jonny Bomber.The bomber has most of the Rove team now working for his campaign.I don't think that the repubs want to put a unknowen like Pawlenty in the ring with a heavyweight like Biden,Pawlenty has had a hard enough time trying to run his own state let alone handle the V.P.job.Remember the bridge fell on his watch,many belive that the cuts to the states transportation(not enough inspectors)dept was a factor,we all saw the results.
After last night, with bill's and bidens speeches!!
who really give a S--t!!! i mean do we!!!!
Now for the top prize of Republican VP we have our contestants

first we have Tim Pawlenty, Nice guy no experince with mccains age do you repuublican really want him in charge?
second we have Lieberman,turn coat, x-dem, and can't trust him not to just bomb iran and gaza?
third we have Romney, mormon, rich, john mccain hates this guy, he almost went after him at the regean library?

now contestants make you pick!!!!!
or you can default to just pick chenny!!!!!

with these chooses i'm glad i'm not a republican, i'm sure goldwater, nixion, ford, are sitting up in there graves just waiting to see how bad the republican are going to screw this one up!!!
Does it really matter? They will all be Bush/Cheney part 2. And we don't want that anymore.
McCain may have made up his mind, but will he remember who it is?  Will it be someone that will unite all of the Republican groups?  Some of the social conservatives don't like Romney.  Some of the fiscal conservatives don't like Huckabee.  The pro-birth...  I mean pro-life Republicans don't like Ridge or Lieberman because they are pro-choice.  I don't think that there is a real good choice for McCain except Ronald Reagan, but he's dead.  Maybe McCain's campaign will be soon as well if the negative ads stop.
Well, he had better tell us who it is before he forget's and has to start all over.
You mean he's just going to announce his V.P. choice on Friday?  No 3 a.m. text messages?  No long, drawn out tease?  No breathless fans begging for just a hint?  Just announce it like, well, like a grown-up?
Due to Mccains style of campaigning, his total
lack of integrity, his anti-middle class policies,
I cannot imagine any credible, respectable
politician wanting to be his VP.
I would think anyone saying they are supporting
him and his lack of qualities would be
commiting political suicide.
Karl Rove is running the McCain campaign.  KARL ROVE!  Do we really want this man to keep doing what he's been doing for the past 8 years?  McCain isn't strong enough- or "mavericky" enough- to tell Karl to get lost.  He's along for the whole ride- the single worst example of "More of the same".  That is reason enough to say "No thanks, Republicans!"  
Who cares what McCain does?


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