I keep telling myself to start thinking about other things but......

From the Washington Post

By Shailagh Murray (Thank you Shailagh Murray for making my day a little happier)

YORK, Penn. -- Sen. Barack Obama addressed reporters just now and had feisty words for Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain, and all the other Republicans who have been railing against him in St. Paul this week. Some highlights follow below:

Summing up the Republican National Convention so far: "I understand they don't have much of an agenda to run on. But I think the American people deserve better than to get the same old vitriol and slash-and-burn politics that we've been seeing over the last couple of days. We are going to tell the American people exactly what I and Joe Biden and an Obama administration intend to do to make their lives better. And I hope at some point the Republicans decide to engage in that debate."

On being ridiculed during primetime by Palin and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his work as a community organizer: "They're talking about the three years of work that I did right out of college, as if I'm making the leap from two or three years out of college into the presidency. I would argue that doing work in the community, to try to create jobs, to bring people together, to rejuvenate communities that have fallen on hard times, to set up job training programs in areas that have been hard hit when the steel plants closed, that that's relevant only in understanding where I'm coming from. Who I believe in. Who I'm fighting for. And why I'm in this race. And the question I have for them is, why would that kind of work be ridiculous? Who are they fighting for? What are they advocating for? They think the lives of those folks who are struggling each and every day, that working with them to try to improve their lives, is somehow not relevant to the presidency? Maybe that's the problem."

On whether the Palin coverage has been sexist: "If they want to work the refs they are free to do so. And I think the public can make their judgments about this. The notion that any questions about her work in Alaska is somehow not relevant to her potentially being vice president of the United States, doesn't make too much sense to me. I think she's got a compelling story. But I assume she wants to be treated the same way that guys want to be treated, which means that their records are under scrutiny. I've been through this for nineteen months. She's been through it what, four days so far?"

Why not criticize Palin more directly, in light of the shots she's fired at him? "John McCain's running for president. I'm running against John McCain....That speech that she delivered was on behalf of John McCain. The central question in this campaign is, who's got a better plan, a better agenda, to move this country forward and fundamentally change it from the economic and foreign policy failures that we've seen over the last eight year? I believe that the American people need change, they want change, and I'm in the best position to bring it."

Is he surprised by Republican attacks? "What did you guys expect? I anticipated this last Thursday in my acceptance speech. This is what they do. They don't have an agenda to run on. They haven't offered a single concrete idea so far in two nights. They spent the entire two nights attacking me and extolling John McCain's biography, which is fine -- they can use their convention time any way they want. But you can't expect that I'd be surprised by attacks from Republicans. And by the way, I've been called worse on the basketball court."




Also, here are my favorite anti-Palin videos from the week...