Green Options » republican national convention

New-Clear? Palin Speechwriter Still ‘Hooked on Phonics’

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:21:07 +0000

If you think about it, “manure” is really not that bad a word. I mean, it’s “newer,” which is good, and a “ma” in front of it, which is also good- “ma-newer.” - George Costanza (1990)

In what is either another sign that the McCain camp is angling for more distance from George W. Bush or that strategists are trying to reframe the nuclear issue in a more positive light, speechwriters for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin inserted the phonetically modified neologism, “new-clear,” in place of the word “nuclear,” at the vice-presidential nominee’s acceptance speech on Wednesday night. I should also mention that Ms. Palin’s speech was written by one of President George W. Bush’s speechwriters, Matthew Scully. Perhaps Mr. Scully was so accustomed to writing for the President - whose pronunciation of the word “nuke-u-lar” has become stuff of legend - that he forgot to ’smarten it back up’ for a person who can pronounce such tricky words.

>>More on the Republican National Convention at RG&B

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“Drill, Baby, Drill!?” Republicans Try Out Stupid New Catchphrase

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:06:36 +0000

On Wednesday night, there were basically two messages coming from Republicans in St. Paul: 1. CEOs and mayors make great presidents; 2. Increasing domestic oil drilling will immediately lower gas prices and somehow be the magical cure to both our national security interests and our economic stagnation.

>>More coverage of the Republican National Convention at RG&B

“So, do you want to put your country first?,” asked former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. “Then let’s reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil and promote oil and gas production at home. In other words: Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!,” he said. Steele is one of the Republican Party’s few prominent African-American politicians in a year where a very low 1.5% of Republican Party delegates are African American.

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Republicans Work to Reconcile their (Oil) Platform with McCain’s Climate Change Thingy

Timothy B. Hurst — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:40:17 +0000

While most of the big events at the Republican National Convention were shelved Monday in deference to hurricane Gustav, there was still plenty of work to be done putting the final touches on the party’s platform, which they did. While there were few bold new propositions in the platform, the Platform Committee did attempt to narrow some of the gaps between traditional Republican positions and some of John McCain’s positions. One of the most notable differences is McCain’s position on climate change viz. the Republican Party’s traditional position (McCain is in the minority amongst his peers in terms of even believing in anthropogenic causes of climate change). What struck me as I was reading through the platform (pdf), was when issues of climate change and renewable energy were approached, they were done so with great trepidation; you could almost hear the Platform Committee gritting their collective teeth as they formulated these paragraphs.

>>More convention coverage at RG&B>>

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3 University of Kentucky Journalists Jailed at RNC

Taylor Shelton — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:53:06 +0000

Who will protect us from the protectors?

Sometimes things get out of hand. And, usually, there is a group of people whose occupation it is to protect us from those situations. But as was the case on Monday night in Minnesota, the people who are supposed to protect us got a little bit out of hand themselves.

On Monday night, three colleagues of mine from the Kentucky Kernel were arrested while documenting the protests outside the Republican National Convention. Photographers Ed Matthews and Britney McIntosh, along with photo advisor Jim Winn were all arrested and charged with rioting. Matthews and McIntosh were both charged with felonies, while Winn was charged with a misdemeanor.

>>More convention coverage at RG&B>>

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