Code Pink demonstrators disrupted John McCain's acceptance speech at the Xcel Center tonight right next to the Pajamas TV booth. PJTV has exclusive video of them being hustled out at the link.
It's a tough call for those who feel strongly about both national security and a woman's right to choose. (Also, Claudia Rosett on What Sarah Palin Won't Say.)
QUESTIONS ABOUT flu vaccine for older people: "A growing number of immunologists and epidemiologists say the vaccine probably does not work very well for people over 70, the group that accounts for three-fourths of all flu deaths." But studies are complicated by the fact that healthier older people are more likely to get vaccinated. Assuming this is true, I wonder if the vaccine could be reformulated to be more effective in older recipients, or if older immune systems just don't respond as well.
JOE BIDEN DEMOTES PALIN to Lieutenant Governor of Alaska? What's the matter, Joe, can't imagine that a woman could hold the top job?
ELECTIONS: GOOD FOR TRAFFIC! Over 432,000 pageviews yesterday, and over 9 million pageviews last month. Just a dollar per pageview, that's all I ask . . . . If only!
MICKEY KAUS: "I predicted McCain's would be a good speech. Wrong again. That makes two successful conventions ending with weak final acts." Yeah, McCain's speech, like Obama's, was too long and had the laundry-list/State of the Union aspect that Obama's had. Both were upstaged by others -- McCain by Sarah Palin, Obama by Bill Clinton.
PALIN RIVALED OBAMA IN TV VIEWERS: "Barack Obama apparently isn't the only 'rock star' in presidential politics this year. After days of intense media coverage about Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's qualifications, more than 40 million Americans tuned in Wednesday to see for themselves what they thought of her. . . . Nearly 2 million more women were watching Palin than men, Nielsen said. Viewers were far more interested in Palin than Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden's speech to Democrats last week was seen by an estimated 24 million people." All the media attacks mostly just built up the audience.
DAVID BERNSTEIN ON RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE IN AMERICA: "Even though studies consistently show that conservative evangelical Christians are no more likely to be anti-Semitic than others (the ADL, for example, notes based on years of study that neither religion nor political ideology drive anti-Semitism), many American Jews, especially liberal, secular American Jews, have a disturbing tendency to suspect all evangelical Christians of being hostile to Jews." I wonder why that is?
JIM TREACHER SPOTS SOME ASTROTURFING. Plus this: "Hey, you know who else was a community organizer? Don Corleone." Ouch.
EXCLUSIVE PJTV VIDEO of last night's Code Pink protester at the RNC being escorted out. It's free, but you may have to register. Though I understand that some lefty blogs were claiming she was mishandled, the video -- which tracks her for quite a while -- demonstrates otherwise. Plus, some comments by James Lileks on the lameness of the antiwar protests in St. Paul.
AN EMAIL FROM MICHAEL YON IN AFGHANISTAN: "Lots of fighting here. In some areas (for instance where I have been), there is about 80% chance of getting into combat when you step off the FOB. Morale among British soldiers is very high. Even higher, I would say, than I saw in Iraq."
MCCAIN'S SPEECH: Not bad. But, like Obama, he was overshadowed -- Obama by Bill Clinton, McCain by Sarah Palin.
HERE'S THE FULL TEXT OF MCCAIN'S SPEECH. And I didn't have to go to The Corner to get it this time! Click "read more" to read it.