The 11 a.m. update is out and it explains why the weather man looked so glum this morning. Tropical Storm Hanna looks like it will hug the coast much more than past predictions suggested. That means that, even though it’s still expected to make landfall in Charleston, it should be a much more diminished storm than the strong Cat. 2 we were expecting just hours ago.
While Ike looks to be taking a similar path, it’s trending much farther south in five-day projections. That means it could be heading for the Gulf.
The storm is trending a little farther north than last night’s projections.
It looks like it will be hurricane strength, though not by much (and these are long-term projections minds you). The key will be just how well it hugs the coast.
But it looks to be making landfall sometime Friday morning.
The McCain campaign has noted, lots, that Sarah Palin has led the Alaskan National Guard. I couldn’t quite see the importance … until Cindy McCain cleared it up! It’s because Alaska is so close to Russia! The state is like our only line of defense (well, them and the entire nation of Canada). Why veep? Why not defense secretary?!
But, why didn’t McCain pick Sanford. Does the candidate not realize that Sanford leads the national guard closest to Monkey Island?!
Tropical Storm Hanna (note: no second “h,” how metropolitan!) is expected to pull north in the next few days and could head for the Georgia (and Carolina) coast as a hurricane by next weekend. Waaaay too soon to get worried, but consider this the heads up.
Despite the many smears of his opponents, Obama does not support uncapping the full payroll tax of 12.4 percent rate. Instead, he is considering plans that would ask those making over $250,000 to pay in the range of 2 to 4 percent more in total (combined employer and employee). This change to Social Security would start a decade or more from now and is similar to the rate increases floated by John McCain’s close adviser Senator Lindsey Graham and that McCain has previously said he “could” support.
Gov. Mark Sanford will speak at the Republican National Convention Monday, filling in for Texas Gov. Rick Perry who will be watching the approach of Tropical Storm Gustav.
I’ll take odds he’s figured out a difference between McCain and Bush on economic policies.
Ok. I’m still trying to come to terms with this. I wonder about the following:
–Does the McCain campaign actually think that Hillary supporters will be lured to the ticket by a militant pro-lifer who also believes in the teaching of intelligent design?
–Palin exploded her state’s coffers by imposing a windfall profits tax on the oil companies…sort of–no, exactly–like the proposal Barack Obama has made and John McCain has attacked. Apparently, she also supported the Bridge to Nowhere, despite her disclaimer at today’s event. So how does McCain explain putting a tax-raising porker on his ticket?
–Palin was an active supporter of Pat Buchanan for president. Does that mean she’s against free trade? No friend of Israel? (If you really want to have some fun, go over to the Commentary blog and watch the neoconservatives squirm.)
–Most of all, I wonder what Republican foreign policy and national security experts think of this–people like Dick Lugar, Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, Colin Powell, Chuck Hagel, George H.W. Bush?
Other than that, she seemed a fresh, delightful presence at the announcement ceremony today.
I noticed that she seemed to be nothing more than an advocate for John McCain today. That’s one hat the veep wears, but there are a lot more questions about her readiness. Even if you believe her experience equals Obama’s (which I don’t), the Dem has addressed those concerns. Again, she’s got work to do.
Wasting a few minutes, I thought I’d check out Pollster.com and see what was going on. Imagine my shock (really, shock), when I looked at the opening map and found that South Carolina was in the light red category. For those of you who thought this country was divided and various shades of khaki, light red states are those who are leaning McCain, but not sure things.
Somebody pinch me. I’m going to throw a guess out there that the state is only leaning McCain because there have been so few statewide polls because we really don’t matter in the electoral math of things.
Greg Hambrick writes for the Charleston City Paper. He covers the 2008 elections, City Hall, and other Charleston news. He likes musicals and comic books. He's not surprised that people don't vote when you have lazy, half-invested fingers pointing toward the polling place.
