In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Senator and Obama running mate Joe Biden threw down the gauntlet for GOP veep nominee Sarah Palin to come out and, um, meet the press: (from Politico)

"She's a smart, tough politician," Biden told Tom Brokaw in a "Meet the Press" interview live from Wilmington, Del. "So I think she's going to be formidable. Eventually, she's going to have to sit in front of you like I'm doing and have done. Eventually, she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered. Eventually, she's going to have to answer on the record."

The McCain campaign says Palin will eventually do interviews, but none are scheduled.

Biden, too, took a weekend off from the Sunday shows after he was named as running mate for Barack Obama, although Biden appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes."

It was a strong appearance by Biden, as he also tagged as "demeaning" the assumption that Hillary Clinton supporters would vote for her polar opposite simply because she's a woman.

This follows closely on the heels of Barack Obama's first direct swipe at Palin yesterday, on the subject of Palin's rhetoric on pork and pockets full of bacon.

The McCain campaign's response to these challenges will be a real test of their ability to eschew the cheese with their whine, and tackle the substance of the contrasts the Democrats are drawing.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" on BlogTalkRadio, every Tues and Thurs at 9pm, Wed, Fri, and Sat at 11pm. (Eastern) Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.

I always like it when Fox News' Chris Wallace remembers that he's a journalist (h/t Paddy).

Interviewing McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, Wallace asks why VP pick Sarah Palin will not sit for interviews. Well, since last Thursday it appears the media has not been respectful or deferential enough.

It looks as though she won't appear for questioning until the media are properly respectful and fawning like Fox News' own Greta Van Susteren was in her puff piece that aired yesterday - Gov. Sarah Palin: An American Woman.

Here's Davis on Fox News Sunday today:

Major hat tip to Jenny over at YestoDemocracy.com for hipping me to the subject of my next 16-part series, and to Sarah Haskins, my new favorite person. She does a segment called "Target: Women" ( I guess "Kmart: Ladies" was taken ) on Current TV's Infomania.

P.U.M.A.s are for Hillary, Cougars bang young dudes but a P.A.N.T.H.E.R is for Palin. Get your P.A.N.T.H.E.R. pride right here.

Target Women is a recurring segment on Current TV's weekly television show, infoMania. In each episode of Target Women, Sarah Haskins takes a look at the often-ridiculous way the media reaches out to women.

You can even get cool PANTHER swag here. Enjoy, while I go and watch the rest of Sarah's videos.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" on BlogTalkRadio, every Tues and Thurs at 9pm, Wed, Fri, and Sat at 11pm. (Eastern) Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.

On the campaign trail in Indiana today, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama took aim at John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, on the subject of earmarks. From AOL:

"I know the governor of Alaska has been saying she's change, and that's great," Obama said. "She's a skillful politician. But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up."

Palin, the article continues, has set a record pace for per capita earmark dollars, exceeding some states by a factor of 10.

It will be interesting to see how Palin and McCain react to Obama's first direct salvo at the GOP's newly minted Veep candidate. Actually, it will be interesting to see Palin react to anything with the press, as she has yet to field questions from reporters.

My guess is that Brian Rogers will issue a statement condemning Obama's highly personal attack on tax dollars that benefitted Alaskans that included Palin's family.

UPDATE: I guess private jets are not so bad after all. Palin has taken possession of an Embraer 190 Regional jet complete with campaign logo.

Remember the folksy, charming tale of selling the Alaska Governor's jet on eBay? Palin said Wednesday night, "While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay."

John McCain took the story even further. "You know what i enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay - made a profit."

This fish story is partly true - the jet was on eBay. Briefly. But it didn't sell and was later sold at a loss. The former governor bought it for $2.7 million and according to the NY Daily News "When no offers came in, Palin hired a jet broker - Turbo North Aviation in Anchorage - which sold the jet for $2.1 million to an Alaska businessman".

Look, all politicians exaggerate, and yes, even lie. But this one was too easy to check - why do it?

TMZ is reporting that a large number of "Us Weekly" readers have canceled their subscriptions in protest of the magazine's treatment of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin:

There were reports as many as 10,000 subscribers bailed, but US told Page Six the number was closer to 1,000. Apparently the mag -- and to be fair just about everyone else in the media -- misjudged Palin's impact once she opened her mouth.

Strangely, there has not been a concurrent spike in subscriptions to The New Yorker.

I'm not really sure how to feel about this. Less "Us" readership seems like good news at first blush, but I fer the end result will be a move from "low information voter" to "lower information voter," and finally to "Fox News Viewer."

"Us" brought this on themselves, to some degree. If they had gone with a headline like "Keep the Product of Your Rapist's Loins and Like it!" or "I Can See The Kremlin From Here, So I'm a Foreign Policy Pro," they might still have lost some readers, but gained my respect.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" on BlogTalkRadio, every Tues and Thurs at 9pm, Wed, Fri, and Sat at 11pm. (Eastern) Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.

It's been only a week and I've already earned a degree in Palintology. I know way too much about this woman: her education, her eyewear, the origin of her children's names, her religion, her ex-brother-in-law, the number of broken bones she's sustained. Did you know that Sarah plays the flute? And that her husband Todd braids 7-year old Piper's hair?

I just watched Greta Van Susteren's hour-long special on Sarah and am waiting for CNN's. Does anyone know which digital cable package includes the Sarah Palin Channel?

Obviously I'm not alone. The web is burning up with amateur Palintologists searching for artifacts that will shed light on this woman -- authentic pieces of information that will flesh out this authentic iconoclast. (Whoever she is, she's unlike anyone else we've seen in American politics.)

There are two true originals in this race: Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. It's been two years since the Obamarama began, so we've been able to pace ourselves with the Illinois senator. But Palin has just burst onto the scene. And there are barely enough days left before the election to satisy our curiosity.

Some assorted thoughts/questions (synapses firing too quickly to write more cogently):

Miss Oprah Regrets

Honesty and plain talk have always been the coins of Oprah's realm. (She's a rich lady; she gets more than one coin in her realm.) Her excuse for not having Palin on her show is specious and disappointing: she says she's not using her show to promote any candidates. Now that's parsing.

Oprah should have Palin on the show and, if she wants, debate the lady. It's will satisfy Oprah's Republican and Independent fans, showcase a woman who's become a national obsession, and blow the roof off ratings-wise. A win-win-win.

McCain-Palin = Eisenhower-Nixon?

Is this the best comparison? Eisenhower was a war hero whose party affiliation was in question up until he threw his hat in the ring for the 1952 election. (Eisenhower, by the way, was the last president to wear a hat.) Likewise McCain has never been a doctrinaire Republican. In fact rumors persist that he considered running as John Kerry's veep in 2004.

Eisenhower chose Senator Richard Nixon, a red meat conservative and member of the House Un-American Activities Committee, to shore up the party's base -- much like McCain has done with Palin.

McCain-Palin = Charles-Diana?

Have you heard all the chatter about Palin overshadowing McCain at the RNC? Well it's true. So will McCain become consumed with jealousy, just as Charles grew to hate Diana because she was so loved?

Sarah Palin's Triple Crown

She's on the cover of three of America's most important magazines this week. No, I'm not referring to the fading Time, Newsweek or U.S. News. Palin graces the covers of People, Us Weekly and OK!. As I mentioned last week (before the covers were published), she has the makings of a tabloid superstar: looks, power and problems. This will only help the GOP ticket. Tabloid superstars are rarely disliked and usually objects of sympathy or empathy. (See: Kathie Lee Gifford, Naomi Judd, Elizabeth Taylor.) Most Americans don't care about politics - certainly not on a day-to-day basis - so tabloid superstar status is a boon. (Bill Clinton was never more popular than when he became a tabloid A-lister during the Lewinsky scandal.

Of course it's ironic that McCain and Palin are running as anti-celebrities when Palin's the one who's displaced Britney from the covers of all these magazines!

The Reagan Connection

No, I'm not going to be the 4,000th person to compare her speech-making talent to Reagan's. There's another way in which she's similar to the Gipper - and it's why she's so formidable:

She's a happy person. And happy people are likable. They're magnets.

Whatever problems Palin may have, she's comfortable in her skin. It was evident in her performance and when the family assembled on stage. You can't fake that. And when 7 year old Piper licked her hand and stroked baby Trig's head? i suddenly felt a contraction. (And her heroic decision to birth a child with Down's syndrome is impossible not to praise.)

Friends of mine keep calling Palin "scary." If Democrats want to defeat McCain-Palin, they better embargo the word "scary." It's a lazy, meaningless swipe and didn't work against Reagan. Plus the person deploying the swipe usually comes off as unhappy. Better to take a cue from Obama and dispassionately pick apart her ideas and record. Because if it's a personality contest, Happy Warrior Palin will trounce the competition.

With the news that Barack Obama is relying on Hillary Clinton to let some of the air out of Sarah Palin's tires on the campaign trail, I have only this to say: I hate to say I told you so, but...

I really do hate to say that. I would much rather be living in a world where the first female Vice POTUS had a chance of being someone who deserves it.

I suppose I understand all of the reasons why it didn't happen, and a lot of it can be chalked up to Hillary herself, but I haven't talked to anyone who doesn't agree that Vice President Hillary Clinton equals a guaranteed victory.

Sure, Hillary can do you some good on the campaign trail, but Hillary's word is only a cheap consolation prize to her most passionate and blinkered followers. They see Sarah Palin as a rebuke of what they think is a snub at Hillary. They don't see Palin as the rebuke of all that Hilary stands for and has accomplished. Not yet.

It's not too late, though. There are 2 alternatives. First, you could send Joe Biden out in a blaze of glory. Have him go into a Howard Beal, Network-style tirade on the evening news, letting it all hang out in a withering attack on McCain-Palin. He then resigns, and Hillary replaces him.

The other, less entertaining scenario is to announce, now, a major cabinet position for Hillary Clinton. Attorney General has a nice ring to it. You could even make New Agenda's day, and announce a passel of female appointments now.

Of course, you can still win without doing either, but I, for one, could do without the agita.

Just remember, you heard it here first.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" on BlogTalkRadio, tonight at 11pm. Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.

I read on CNN that the McCain campaign is being asked, yet again, by another musical group to stop using their music.

This time it's the 70's women rocker band Heart. Since Sarah Palin has been known in some parts as "Sarah Barracuda," the Johnny Mac attack decided to use the 1977 Heart hit "Barracuda" after his speech Thursday when Palin joined him on stage. The campaign had already been asked NOT to use the song earlier that day after it had been used in conjunction with Palin's appearance Wednesday.

Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson said no way. Via Entertainment Weekly:

Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there.

Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG have sent a cease and desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota -- It is finished. The satellite trucks and diabetic delegates and thousands of seething federal cops have gone back home, deep beneath the earth. I'm already home, too, but there aren't too many opportunities to use the "ST. PAUL" dateline, so I will once again violate every basic AP rule of journamalism.

That's all the Main Stream Media does, after all: lie, lie, lie. Check the comments at the bottom of this page for proof!

The Republican convention was a neat, quaint operation. Nobody expected anything flashy or fun or interesting, and nobody expected any answer to America's economic and military collapse beyond an oft-told 40-year-old shaggy dog tale of an old man who crashed a plane into the village he was bombing, back when he was young, and his brave story of personal redemption as his father continued mercilessly killing the Vietnamese children for another five-and-a-half years.