Livin' Palin And The New GOP Icon: The Daddy Baby

In 2004 22.1 million viewers watched the coverage of the GOP convention. Last night it was 21.5 million who watched, not a terrible loss of audience share but considerably less than the 26 million who watched Hillary Clinton in St. Paul last week. (Around 40 million had watched Obama's speech on the final night of the Democratic convention. Maybe McCain will catch up.) And you can't even say it's because the Democrats have all the celebrities. The Palin family are the biggest celebrities in America... on the cover of every supermarket tabloid in the country.

In fact, fabulously trashy celebrity sister Jamie Lynn Spears from Red Neck Nation has reached out to what she immediately recognized as kindred souls in anguish, the Palin Klan. Britney's sister is also unwed (and had her baby in June) and Casey Aldridge (Spears' baby daddy) looks like at least as much of a handful as whichever Levi-- Johnston or Miller-- is the actual father of the unfortunate next Palin child. By the way-- it was 5 pink burp cloths ($60) from the celebrity baby shop in Beverly Hills, Petit Tresor.

Two other celebrities, senatorial rug shopper and closeted-but-swishy homosexual Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Lindsay Lohan, whose sister Ali-- endeared to Red Neck America by tragic reality show Living Lohan and who will soon be gracing the big screen in a film called Troll (unless they can manage to cast a Palin)-- have also sounded off on the Palins. Lindsey said that if Sarah hunts moose at 3am that's all the vettin' she needs as far as he's concerned-- and, indeed, after a thumbs up from the religionist right, that's all the vettin' she got. Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan-- a much bigger celeb than South Carolina's light in the loafers celebrity bargain hunter-- weighed in on the latest Palin pregnancy. Unlike Britney's sister, she's against it-- or, more to the point, against... something.

“I think the real problem comes from the fact that we are taking the focus off of getting to know Sarah Palin and her political views, and what she can do to make our country a less destructive place. It’s distracting from the real issues, the real everyday problems that this country experiences,” Lindsay blogged on her Facebook page yesterday. "...I would much prefer to hear more about what she can do for our country rather than how her daughter is going to have a child no matter what. I think that parents need to recognize how important it is to talk to their children about the things that can result from being sexually active if they aren’t protecting themselves (birth control, condoms, etc.)” I guess no one told her that the Palins oppose birth control, condoms, etc.

With Obama having made responsible fatherhood a hallmark of his campaign, the GOP seems to being tossing caution to the wind and embracing the glories and hedonism of daddy babyhood, something that isn't all that different from Republican economic and energy policies. Starting with McCain's embrace Daddy Yankee a few weeks ago, the entire Republican Party is getting behind rich celebrity baby daddies.

I think J-Lo would be a better VP and Palins should have more kids

At least Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris and other GOP shills stick up for Republican principles their celebrities:




UPDATE: DID WE FORGET TO MENTION THAT THE SPEECH FELL FLAT?

Of course it had the hard core extreme right kvelling and the media shills at Fox, etc lapped it up but normal Americans? Nope. Too much was patently false for anyone not already predisposed towards garbage-eating to buy that particular serving of rubbish. Most early polling shows Palin helped-- the Democrats.

Most U.S. women are unimpressed by Republican John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, and have thrown their weight behind the Democratic ticket in the race for the White House, a national poll showed today.

Six in 10 women voters see McCain's choice of a female running mate as a calculated political decision rather than one based on Palin's experience and qualities, the poll conducted by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group showed.

“Women voters see the choice of Governor Palin as being driven by politics rather than by any sense of conviction on Senator McCain's part that she has the experience and qualities to make a good vice-president,” the research group said in a statement.

A majority of the 800 women polled-- 56 per cent-- said they were put off by Palin's legislative record and her position on moral issues, such as abortion.

Several focus groups of independents in swing states conducted right after she finished speaking show that women who heard her are less likely to vote for McCain than they were before they heard her. No one likes someone that mean and vicious. No wonder the new Time/CNN poll is showing Obama increasing his lead in swing states like Iowa (55-40%), Minnesota (53-41%) and even Ohio (47-45%). And if you think that's something, consider the DFM Research poll that came out of North Dakota yesterday: Obama- 43%, McCain 40%... North Dakota... where George Bush took 63% of the vote in 2004!

McCain Decides To Compete In The Celebrity Arena-- Gets The Nod From Daddy Yankee And Half of Big & Rich (The Gay Bashing Half, Of Course)

"Can you sing 'Dancing Queen?'"

Today John McCain, apparently thinking he was about to get another $1,394,033 check from Big Oil and Gas, accepted the endorsement from "Gasolina" singer Ramon Ayala (p.k.a.- Daddy Yankee). McCain, an Abba fan, has also been endorsed by half of country duo, Big & Rich, John Rich, whose previous political foray was a vicious homophobic tirade coupled with an endorsement of McCain's then-rival, the hapless Fred Thompson. He's now recorded a catchy ditty called "Raisin' McCain," which tries helping McCain further exploit his POW experience in Hanoi-- one thing McCain doesn't need any help doing. In fact, right after accepting his endorsement from Daddy Yankee, McCain flew off to Hollywood for his 900th celebrity appearance on Jay Leno's show. There he again shamelessly played the "I was a prisoner of war" card to try to garner sympathy and take the spotlight off another in an embarrassing series of bumbling gaffes:

Leno: "For a million dollars, how many houses do you have?"

McCain: "Could I just mention to you, Jay, that, at a moment of seriousness. I spent five-and-a-half years in a prison cell. I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair."

He then went on the sing to praises of the millionaire mobster and jailbird, his father-in-law, who's bootlegging business and Mafia connections bought McCain every single one of the 13 houses he owns.

Now Daddy Yankee, who isn't eligible to vote in presidential elections, is no Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Nas, or John Legend, all outspoken Obama supporters. But the endorsement certainly got some of the crazier extremists in the crumbling GOP coalition hopping mad. God only knows what Dobson and Company think of Daddy Yankee's family-unfriendly, sexually suggestive act-- and "Gasolina" is not about "drill here now," (unless you mean drilling in a... colloquial sense). But extreme right, out-of-kilter GOP blogger Michelle Malkin was howling at the moon when she saw McCain and Daddy Yankee together.

Can someone, anyone, in the McCain camp stop him from self-immolation? Can the open-borders GOP establishment drive a bigger wedge between the conservative base and the GOP ticket?

Last week, it was the RNC ad touting McCain’s shamnesty superiority over Obama. Today, it’s McCain goofily, stupidly, standing with Puerto Rican singer Daddy Yankee for the all-important reggaeton vote while teenagers squealed. Celeb-u-pocrisy, anyone? The singer, whose real name is Ramon Ayala, singled out McCain’s sponsorship of the shamnesty bill as the reason for his endorsement:

“He’s been a fighter for the Hispanic community and I know that, me personally, I’m choosing the best candidate, because he’s been a fighter for the immigration issues,” Ayala said. “So, for me, he’s the best guy to lead this nation.”

Desperately seeking a coolness boost, McCain lapped it up: “I just wanna say thank you, Daddy Yankee,” McCain said.