Turn on a TV at any point in the day and you'll probably see either John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin or Joe Biden--or someone talking about them. Usually, it's a pundit who likely wrote something on a blog about the campaign.
But not everything that's written on blogs gets picked up by mainstream news outlets. So, we decided to take a look at what the blogs are saying about McCain and Obama--the things you otherwise might not have read about or seen on the air.
The McCain Blogs
Perhaps the most intriguing blog post we found about McCain and his campaign came from the site AmericaBlog.com. The poster, Joe Sudbay of Washington, D.C., points to a television interview the Republican nominee did with WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine. When the reporter asked McCain what specific national security experience Palin had, McCain's answer was simple: energy.
"Watch McCain about a minute and a half into the tape, when he's asked what national security credentials Sarah Palin has," Sudbay writes. "He replies: 'energy.' The reporter goes, no, I asked you about national security. McCain then says that Alaska is close to Russia. They're amazing. Watch this interview of John McCain on WCSH in Portland, Maine. McCain is clueless. Clueless about his VP. No wonder the McCain campaign doesn't want McCain answering questions. He can't."
Meanwhile, former Democratic senator turned blogger Robert Toricelli took time this week to berate the Republican National Convention. And despite the fact that the convention's been over for a week, Toricelli didn't let time bridle his tongue (or pen).
Toricelli's big question: Did the GOP gang keep straight faces on after they delivered their speeches?
"There's something missing from the Republican Convention," Toricelli wrote. "There is a need for a camera behind the curtain where speakers greet friends and family after they speak. Then we could discover if some of the Republican speakers can actually keep a straight face after their remarks."
Meanwhile, Chuck Todd, NBC's political director, wrote recently of the factuality of campaign ads. Some of the ads McCain is running have come under fire--particularly by FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan group that heavily researches political ads to verify--or refute--the veracity of the statements made in them.
Todd quotes: "'With its latest ad, released Sept. 10, the McCain-Palin campaign has altered our message in a fashion we consider less than honest,' FactCheck.org writes. 'The ad strives to convey the message that FactCheck.org said "completely false" attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin had come from Sen. Barack Obama. We said no such thing. We have yet to dispute any claim from the Obama campaign about Palin.'
"And it was a busy day for FactCheck.org, as it also debunked the McCain campaign's ad on Obama and 'sex ed' for kindergartners. '[T]he claim is simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes' failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004. Obama, contrary to the ad's insinuation, does not support explicit sex education for kindergarteners. And the bill, which would have allowed only "age-appropriate" material and a no-questions-asked, opt-out policy for parents, was not his accomplishment to claim in any case, since he was not even a cosponsor--and the bill never left the state Senate.
"'In addition, the ad quotes unflattering assessments of the Illinois senator's record on education but leaves out sometimes equally harsh criticism directed at McCain in the same forums.'"
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, The Huffington Post reports about a recent McCain appearance at a diner in Philadelphia in which he tried to speak to a group of his supporters. But the gathering--which included a throng of media members--had a tough time hearing the Arizona senator, not because the microphones weren't working but because a handful of Obama supporters were vociferously disruptive.
"A large contingent of Obama supporters showed up, mixed with some who had bumper stickers reading 'Democrats for McCain,'" writes Jason Szep, of The Huffington Post. "'It's time to leave the talk behind and start shaking up Washington and fixing our economy, taking care of the problems facing our families. We're going to give a tax cut to every family with a child,'" he quotes McCain as saying. "His words were barely audible.
"McCain's supporters shouted 'John McCain, John McCain, John McCain.' The duelling chants nearly drowned out the presidential hopeful's voice.
"'Pennsylvania is a battleground state as we can tell,' McCain said."
Finally, the blogosphere was raging with commentaries after the first night of Sarah Palin's interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson. The anchor of ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson" flew to Alaska to spend time with the governor in her territory. Gibson asked several questions Palin wasn't able to answer without clarification--including what she thought of the Bush Doctrine.
The Huffington Post wrote of this exchange between the two:
"GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?
PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?
GIBSON: The Bush--well, what do you--what do you interpret it to be?
PALIN: His world view.
GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.
PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell-bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that's the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better.
GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?
PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend."
The Obama Blogs
Sen. Barack Obama received his fair share of media attention this week--both good and bad. The Democratic presidential nominee volleyed everything from being called a sexist by his opponent for his talk of pigs and lipstick to the uncovering of a family secret: his Rabbi cousin!
According to The New York Times, Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., of the Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, is Michelle Obama's second cousin.
But the Democratic nominee spent the majority of the week trying to recapture the favoritism of the American voters. National polls show the senator, who once claimed as much as a 6 percent lead over his opponent, is now nearly tied with McCain.
ABC political pundit and senior Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos chimed in with words of wisdom about the recent numbers, saying: "It's a close race. It's likely to go down to the wire."
Duh!
But Obama continued to campaign, appearing on "The Late Show With David Letterman" in an attempt to quiet critics for his recent lipstick-and-pigs comment and to also outline some major talking points:
"Ultimately what we've seen over the last week is a concession on the part of the McCain campaign that this election is going to be about change. You'll recall, you know, for the last two years, we've been talking about needing to change how Washington works, how the country is managed and people were saying, 'No, it's about experience, experience, experience,' and over the last week and a half, I think they recognized that, no, the American people want something fundamentally different and for a good reason.
"Because when you travel, it doesn't matter whether you're here in New York City or a tiny hamlet somewhere in the Midwest, what you find is people are just having a tough time right now. The economy is not working for middle-class families, incomes have gone down, people don't have healthcare, you've got foreclosures all across the country, and so people want something different, and whoever makes the better case that we have had enough of the last eight years, we need something fundamentally new, whoever makes that case to the American people will be the next President."
Obama also turned to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute for support, speaking at their annual dinner Wednesday. During his 18-minute speech, the senator assured attendees that he would not take "a single Hispanic vote for granted" between now and November.
"If you have any doubt about whether you can make a difference, just remember how back in 2004, [some] 40,000 registered Latino voters in New Mexico didn't turn out on election day," Obama told the crowd. "Sen. [John F.] Kerry lost that state by fewer than 6,000 votes."
The senator also reminded the crowd of the estimated 170,000 Latinos living in New Mexico who are not registered to vote, and the "12 million people living in the shadows, taking immigration enforcement into their own hands," referring to undocumented immigrants.
