Rudy Giuliani

Hat tip: The Daily Dish:

Calling it “the foundation of Anglo-American law,” he said the principle “says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, ‘Why was I grabbed?’ And say, ‘Maybe you’ve got the wrong person.’”

The safeguard is essential, Obama continued, “because we don’t always have the right person.”
“We don’t always catch the right person,” he said. “We may think it’s Mohammed the terrorist, but it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You might think it’s Barack the bomb-thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president.”

Obama turned back to Palin’s comment, although he said he was not sure whether Palin or Rudy Giuliani said it.

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It don't make a difference how many billboards the paper tiger National Black Republican Association puts up saying MLK was a Republican. Black Republicans are getting very little respect from black folks or white folks. There are many reasons why.  Including the Republican National Party acting like the White Citizens Council towards black participation, even at the lastest 2008 Republican convention. Here are just 10 of the most current ways black Republicans don't get respect from blacks or whites.

1. Among the party's 2,380 delegates gathered in St. Paul in 2008 only 36 were African Americans and very few other visible minorities were to be found on the convention floor. We see how the Republicans treat you.

2. That number marks a 78 percent decline from 2004, the lowest representation in 40 years and a huge deficit when compared to the 1,079 delegates at last week's Democratic National Convention. You get no respect.

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I’ve given many reasons for my support of Barack Obama, but the most meaningful and consistent has been his understanding of, respect for and use of community organizing. He has promised and demonstrated increased access, transparency and tools for the average citizen to do more than just donate money to his campaign. On his website, those tools were even used to oppose his FISA vote, forcing him to engage with and explain himself to his supporters in a way previously unheard of.

For me, that is the crucial difference in this election. America may have its first president who knows grassroots organizing actually is. This, and not Obama’s race or age, is the real potential for revolution. Last week, many of us watched in horror as Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin ridiculed the very idea of pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps community organizing that Republicans have long upheld as the key to social progress.

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Why do repugs insist on making elections about launching one ridiculous, obviously false personal attack after another against Democratic candidates?

Because if they made elections about issues, they'd lose every time, of course.  But also because of this:

It Works.

Josh Marshall explains.

About four years ago I described what I called the Republicans' 'bitch slap' theory of electoral politics. Stuff like the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry and McCain's Celeb/P Diddy assault on Obama aren't really about the attacks themselves. In themselves, they're often too cartoonish to be believed in any literal sense. What they're about is smacking the other guy around and making him take it. There's no better way to demonstrate someone's lack of toughness or strength than to attack them and show they are either unwilling or unable to defend themselves -- thus the rough slang I used above. That not only makes the other guy look weak. It also transforms him into an object of contempt, which together are politically fatal. It's this meta-message of weakness that resonates far beyond the literal claims.

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Ohh, this was a night.

I made it into the Bowl tonight - the nosebleed row at the top of the Xcel in the press section. I had press credentials through the radio station.

About halfway into it, I started writing this post. Here's what I scribbled in my little 'reporters have to have notebooks' notebook. It's very stream of consciousness, kinda disjointed and weird, but that's how tonight felt.

There is a scary vibe in this convention...

I've seen Imperial Troopers in their ninja turtle armor, I've seen teargas, and the Bean Bag Buggy.

The cadaverous face of Ramsey County Sheriff Fletcher, the glints on the dark pebbles that are Senator McCain's eyes...

In between the security gate and the TSA magnetron, at about 8 PM, I saw them.

Two, three, four men who were not the ones you saw at podiums, behind Fox News desks. The man who's pure evil. Hard men. Men who say 'flip the switch' or 'push the button' or 'pull that lever.' When they were younger, they might have done it themselves.

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