Winners – 2008 Liberal Burblings "Good Egg" Awards

Many thanks indeed to everyone who nominated blogs for the 2008 Liberal Burblings “Good Egg” Awards. These awards are for LibDem blog authors who have kept up frequent and regular high quality postings this year.

These awards are intended to complement, rather than detract from, the LibDem Blog awards and exclude LibDem blog awards shortlistees or ennobled judges.

The winners are entitled to display the winners’ badge above on their blog and are as follows, in alphabetical order of first name. I have added a few words of commendation after each winner.

Many thanks and well done to all the winners!

Alex Folkes – A Lanson Boy – A bright new blog with lots of great photos.

Alasdair Wood – A Radical View – A passionate and energetic young blogger.

Bridget Fox – Bridget’s Blog – A lively, local campaigning blog.

Caron Lindsay – Caron’s musings – An increasingly active and engaging blog.

Charlotte Gore – Charlotte Gore Blog – A highly original blog with attitude (in a good way).

Colin Ross – Colin Ross News Stories – Short and snappy, hardly a day goes by without a post from Colin.

Duncan Borrowman – Duncan Borrowman – Another short and snappy blogger who comes up with lots of original angles. Deserves special mention for using his blog very effectively in his campaign about Derek Conway.

Fraser Macpherson – Cllr Fraser Macpherson – A very lively campaigning blog which is particularly insightful on Scottish affairs.

Gavin Whenman – Gavin’s Gaily Gigest (previously The Whiskey Priest) – A wry and inventive take on politics, with an exciting layout.

Irfan Ahmed – Irfan Ahmed – This boy is on fire! Although a recent starter, Irfan has made up for this with prodigious output and the invention of the phrase “snobby Tories”.

James Schneider – Schneider Home – One of the most promising new bloggers of 2007/8. James has a remarkable depth of knowledge, particularly on American affairs. I just wish he’d finish that expresso!

Jo Anglezarke – Jo’s Jottings – Though this blog is now defunct, Jo deserves a big pat on the back for inventive and persistent posting.

Jo Christie Smith – Jo Christie-Smith – A very consistent and lively blogger, with a sidebar feed of LibDem Women bloggers, who deserves full marks for combining blogging with the “Who’s Who in the LibDems” directory and regular appearances on Sky News.

Linda Jack – Lindylooz Muze – Simply a legend. I am still looking forward to the promised photo of Linda in army uniform, but, in the meantime, the one of her wearing bright pink boots, within the ranks of uniformed retired Paratroopers, will suffice!

Meral Ece – Meral’s Musings – Meral writes very interestingly on a wide range of local, national and international subjects.

Nich Starling – Norfolk Blogger – Another legend. Nich has built up an enviably cross-party readership with frank, spontaneous and passionate blogging.

Paula Keaveney – Paula Keaveney -Lib Dem campaigner – A consistently active local blog from the European Capital of Culture.

Chris and Glynis Abbott – Chris & Glynnis Abbott – A remarkably lively local blog with lots of excellent photos. Deserves special mention for their prominent promotion of Yorkshire Day.

Stephen Glenn – Stephen’s Linlithgow Journal – A breezy and humourous take on local, national and international matters.

Suzanne Fletcher – Suzanne Fletcher’s Blog – A very regular and in-depth local blog.

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Post-convention polls – McCain loses ground in crucial Mid-West

Dave V on Daily Kos analyses the Gallup polls from before the conventions until afterwards. In summary:

The Palin bounce was largely contained to the South (+11) — states that Barack does not need to win the election. It was also fairly substantial in the East (+6), but the East is largely locked up for Obama. The bounce was smallest in the crucial Midwest (+4) and nil in the West.
Over both conventions, McCain lost ground in both the Midwest and West — areas that contain the crucial battleground states.

Votemaster on Electoral-vote.com produces a handy table to show this:

So, Obama’s lead has reduced by 4 points in the East, but he is hardly at risk.

In the South, McCain was yards ahead anyway, so now he is a bit moire ahead.

In the West, Obama has gone two points further ahead.

In the crucial Mid-West, McCain was one point ahead before the conventions but now Obama is six points ahead.

So, all together now, it’s still “squeaky bum time”.

"Distorted" quotes in latest McCain ad

Factcheck.org does a fairly effective demolition job on the latest McCain ad which accuses Obama/Biden of being “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin but uses what Factcheck.org calls “distorted quotes” to make its case:

The McCain-Palin campaign has released a new TV ad that distorts quotes from the Obama campaign. It takes words out of context to make it sound as though the Democratic ticket is belittling Palin:
The ad says “they said she was doing ‘what she was told.’ ” But the Obama adviser who’s being quoted didn’t accuse Palin of meekly following orders. What he actually said is that she made a false claim about Obama’s legislative record and added, “maybe that’s what she was told.”
It says “they lashed out at Sarah Palin; dismissed her as ‘good looking,’ ” But “they” didn’t lash out at all. Obama – who is the one pictured – didn’t say anything like that. The only one the McCain campaign quotes is Obama’s running mate, Biden, and he actually offered the remark as a compliment. Biden said the “obvious” difference between Palin and himself is “she’s good looking.”
The ad says Obama was “disrespectful” when he accused Palin of “lying” about her record. But the truth is Palin’s claim to have “said no” to the “bridge to nowhere” is indeed a dubious one, as we and many have pointed out.

McCain – Nothing’s changed

The Obama campaign goes onto the front foot:

Palin stumped on foreign affairs basic

Oh dear me. Sarah Palin stumbles at the first fence in her first interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson. See her squirm in the video below. Palin was asked about the Bush Doctrine… She doesn’t know:

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush — well, what do you — what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view.

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.

PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that’s the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better.

GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?

PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.

Comedy Central’s Dennis DiClaudio comments rather pithily:

I can totally sympathize with a small town mayor/hockey mom/pitbull with lipstick not knowing what The Bush Doctrine is.

But when the possible 45th President of the United States doesn’t know what it is, I start looking up instructions for building personal bomb shelters.

CNN report the interview here.