The Thermostat Question

Jack Shafer has lost patience with the media:

"Candidates and the reporters who cover them share a problem from the time the campaigns begin until the voters cast their final ballots: how to keep the story alive. Why do reporters abet the orchestration of this media event every four years, fighting like wolverines to claim a 'scoop' that's so meaningless that nobody can remember a month (a week?) after the fact who scored it? Is it evidence of their cynicism or of their credulity?"

Some folks can't resist predictions. Red State's Erick Erickson bets his reputation on Tim Kaine:

"Kaine is a governor so Obama gets the perception of experience.

"Kaine is from a potential swing state, which helps Obama potentially on that front.

"Kaine also won't show up Obama. With Biden or Bayh, Obama would stand in their shadow. Not so with Kaine. Kaine makes Obama look like a pro."

The governor also has zero foreign policy experience.

At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey joins the conservative chorus against Lieberman:

"The addition of Joe Lieberman will not convince independents that McCain is a maverick; it will convince an already-skeptical GOP base that McCain is a RINO. Patrick knows better than most how essential enthusiasm is to the GOTV efforts and fundraising. McCain appears to have finally generated some of that enthusiasm, and picking Lieberman would snuff it out for good. Republicans respect Lieberman, but they don't want a liberal Democrat as the person who would succeed to the presidency if something happened to McCain -- which is the entire point of the vice presidency."

At CBN, David Brody wants you to know that he's been trying to get an interview with McCain for six months:

"There is no doubt that the McCain camp realizes that religious conservatives are crucial to winning in November. The McCain staff is working hard to get out the vote. But the thinking inside the McCain camp also centers on how they need to appeal to Independents and moderates who may get turned off to some degree with excess talk about faith and social issues. There may be a reluctance to appear in part for this reason. After all, Brody File interviews end up on The 700 Club. But what's important to remember about our audience (and I get reminded everyday in the emails I receive) is that we are read and viewed by voters from all faiths. It's a wide spectrum with various political views.

"So when you see Barack Obama sitting down with me and appearing on CBN, don't think for a minute that we aren't affording the same opportunity to John McCain. We are."