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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 Political Researcher



DNC prepares reporters for St. Paul

Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2008 5:33 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:

From NBC's Mark Murray
DENVER -- There is no rest for the weary. Tomorrow -- probably just as McCain announces his VP pick -- much of the political press corps will depart here to Minneapolis-St. Paul for next week's GOP convention.

And to get reporters ready for Minnesota, the Democratic National Committee yesterday passed around a travel kit containing a few gags targeted at McCain and the GOP. For starters, there's a button that reads, "Ask Me How Many Houses I Own." There's also a press credential featuring McCain's now-famous embrace of Bush ("More of the same," it says). And there are two candy bars -- 100 Grand and Pay Day -- obviously reminders of the folks who will be attending the GOP convention.

This is the latest gag that the political parties have sent reporters. A few weeks ago, the Republican National Committee mailed tire gauges to the press corps to poke fun at Obama. The DNC also sent "Exxon-McCain '08" paraphernalia to reporters. 

*** UPDATE *** A Republican strategist, referring to the Tums and Tylenol also included in the DNC kit, responds: "We’re hearing the Tums and Tylenol in the package were meant for Dem delegates and party members suffering from migraines and nausea." 

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Hi,
I am an avid viewer of MSNBC but I was somewhat disappointed by your coverage of the Convention in Denver.  I don't expect you to cover every speech, but I cannot believe that you have no one to research some of the great speeches that cannot be shown in full.  I was particularly shocked to listen to pundit after pundit saying that McCain has not been hit hard enough.  


Has no one listened to Senator's Kerry's speech when he attacked McCain hard and defended Obam's patriotism and judgment?  He also introduced Obama's grand uncle who fought in the 2nd World War and liberated a German concentration camp.  He was sitting next to Michelle Obama who displayed so many emotions. That was a wonderful moment! If you had no time to cover his wonderful speech, at least, you should have shown some sound-bites and shown his uncle.  This could have cemented Obama and Michelle in the American picture that many people still question.  You keep asking how come people don't know Barak Obama well?  It's your job to show moments like these instead of repeating over and over the same clips.  

Please rectify this before the end of the day.  Recommend at least to your viewers to watch Kerry's Speech that was one of the best to anchor Obama, but you never even mentioned it.
It's important for the Dems to hit McCain as hard as he hit Obama in Denver. They need a comprehensive media backlash strategy for next week.

http://www.political-buzz.com/
We are mopping up and completing the war on terror in Iraq where there was no war on terror in the first place until we invaded and created an environment that encouraged terrorism. And now that we have reduced the level of terrorists acts we can claim victory even though terrorists acts in Iraq were non-existent before we invaded. How's that?
C A, Tuscalossa, AL
**************************

The truth is we don't know if there was or was not any terrorist activities in Iraq before 2003, and bacause of the invasion we may never know. Iraq has always been an open country to Arab neighbors (except Iran). People come and go as they please. In 2003 The US invaded causeing more and more millitant types to engage US forces. Truth is we don't know how many terrorists are dwelling in our own country. 9-11 took years to plan. terrorists both in the US and abroad were planning this out for years for the right moment to strike, and to those who say say it won't happen again are just fooling themselves  To say that tighning security here has kept us safe from terrorists underestimate how clever people can be. However if there is anything positive to say about the situation in Iraq is that since the invasion there has been a record drop in terrorist activities outside the country in Iraq. As bad as it sounds to here about US casulties in Iraq and Afghanistan, it still is alot better to hear than casulties in New York, Chicago, or LA.
UP NEXT - THE MINNESOTA TWINS

Obama/Biden 08
Poor babies ... As Pete Townsend would say ... Typewriter bangers on, you're all just hangers on, everyone's human cept MSNBC
How about a Kerry/McCain 2004 bumper sticker too?
Hillarious.

Obama 297, McCain 241
http://voteforamerica.net/electoral.aspx
What?  No leg irons in the grab bag??
All this stuff is only of interest to viewers watching an episode of Antiques Roadshow in 2108.
Maybe the DNC could mention THIS ....


From MyDD via Huff Post:


'...Reid on McCain: "he doesn't have the temperament to be president"

by Josh Orton, Thu Aug 28, 2008 at 01:49:59 PM EST

Joe at AMERICAblog catches an interview Harry Reid did with the Nevada-based pundit Jon Ralston:


"I just think he doesn't have the temperament to be president," Reid told Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston during the taping of "Face to Face," in Denver on Wednesday. The show airs on a Las Vegas, Nev., cable channel.

"I've served with the man 26 years," Reid said. "Do I have the ability to speak with experience about someone who has abused everyone he's dealt with? Someone who does not have the temperament to be president, who's wrong on the war, wrong on the economy, wrong on nuclear waste. What am I supposed to do? Walk around talking about what a great guy he is? I don't believe that. .... "

"There isn't a Republican serving in the Senate that's happy he's the nominee. Now, they're all supporting him, but I'll tell you they have told me. I've had Republican senators tell me they don't think they'll vote for him," Reid said.

When Ralston asked if Reid thought it would be "dangerous" to let McCain be president, Reid answered: "Well, if you said it, I wouldn't correct you."

"Is that right?" Ralston asked. "You really think that?"

"That's right," said Reid, who predicted that Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama would carry the battleground state of Nevada by 5 percentage points.


And there's no chance the "temperament" charge from Reid was an accident: he just repeated the point in a meeting with bloggers this morning.

You hear "John McCain is my good friend, but..." line from many Dem Senators as a pretext to criticism the Republican candidate. But no such qualification from the Majority Leader: Reid told Lieberman he "can't stand John McCain." But more than that, I think now is precisely the time to begin introducing this aspect of McCain's personality - right when the traditional media is discovering the same thing:..'


Read it and weep, Canaanites
The TRUTH is out
(Even to the sleepy-eyed MSM)

Thad Cochran (R-Miss):  '    "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran said about McCain by phone. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."...'

John McCain, Temperamentally UNFIT for the Presidency

I don't know why the press would be weary. They've certainly avoided the heavy lifting associated with illuminating and comparing the candidates' positions on substantive issues except in the most superficial fashion.
About the congrats ad by McCain:




Job well done...... by a traitor who would lose a war in order to win an election?

Ever notice how the worst actors speak their lines in a high pitched voice?

John, the soprano.
Well I guess it's good news that the reporters are listening to the ones they support.
How desperately Pandarus...
Oh warrior of the Lycians...there it is, the dramatic line in the sand....or foot in mouth.. I don't know which..?
Is John McCain their nominee already?
YES! the Dems are getting funny also, but both practical and intelligent!

Great job Dems
That's right! John McCain left his first wife after a car accident to marry rich Cindy...gold diggers et, al...
How come the media keeps ignoring Sen Larry Craig when you talk about McCain's VP selection ???

He's the best of the bunch

He's more steadfast than Romney
He doesn't need a exorcism like Jindal
He doesn't have as many wives as Giuliani
He's better known than Pawlenty
He's not just 'going steady' like Crist
(If Crist doesn't get the VP, watch that wedding date fade away)

McCain/Craig '08
The HEART of Republicanism

If he says no, pick Pee Wee Herman, Mac
(or Ted Stevens)


John McCain, just a mean, angry old man
Commenting on the previous article 'MCain Congrats Obama in new ad' - It's distrubing, but the liberals just can't take (or give) a compliment from the other side. The Obama supporters still hate Hillary, they hate McCain, and they'll hate anyone that disagrees with them. This behavior seems to be fostered by Obama and his campaign, so they're just an extension of it. Liberalism is certainly a disease.


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