Barackiavelli

From The Prince:

...to gain [the people] entirely to himself, he wished to show that if any cruelty had been committed, this had come from him but from the harsh nature of his minister.

So. While his ministers belittle Sarah Palin as a mayor from a small town (and to those who argue they meant she's inexperienced --not that there's anything wrong with that-- I answer that's worse --she is the Governor of Alaska and by that interpretation they're ignoring her current title), Niccolobama was rising above it all, calling Palin to wish her

luck...but not too much luck,

and backing away from that official statement (you know how staff can get).

At the unity convention, while praising Hillary, her delegates were being roughed up on the floor --which may explain why so many of them are still balking at uniting behind a candidate who surely shares their gal's policy positions right across the board. Here's just one complaint from many I've seen. Scroll to the comment from "JK" on this Chris Cilizza column.

My female Hillary delegate friends who attended the DNC convention were physically and verbally intimidated by the Chicago thugs of Obama and Farakaan [sic] bodyguards. It was repulsive.

This is hearsay, of course, but I find it believable given that this is precisely the way the Clinton people treated pro-life Gov. Casey at their convention. Dem operatives are frequently just not nice. The One was supposed to be different, but he has shown himself to have a nasty streak of late. Savaging Clarence Thomas as underqualified? It would have been enough to say I don't share his judicial philosophy, just as he said about Scalia. And then he accepted the Democratic nomination for President with a speech, in Mike Gerson's words,

small, partisan, often defensive and occasionally snide. "I've got news for you John McCain," he exclaimed. "We all put our country first." It was a pattern for the night: I'm not weak -- you are the one who hasn't killed bin Laden with your bare hands. I'm not inexperienced -- you are the one who is old and out of touch. None of this assault was made with grace or wit.

And some of the attacks were simply unfair. Is it really credible to blame McCain for a tripling of oil imports during his time as senator? What does it mean that McCain "won't even follow (bin Laden) to the cave where he lives"? That McCain is cowardly? That he knows where bin Laden hides, and won't tell the rest of us? That he doesn't believe in fighting al-Qaeda?

That was the least of it in some ways. The single most vicious thing said was that the country is better than

a government ..... that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Unforgivable to my mind, since it was the Dem Gov. of Louisiana who didn't act -- President Bush had to beg Blanco to call for an evacuation of New Orleans. It was Dem. Mayor Ray Nagin who left those buses to flood rather than mobilizing them to rescue people.

All of which comports with what Prof. K. has been telling us all along. Obama smiles big and then extends the knife. Or rudely insults you, then concludes with a call for unity and respect so no one remembers. Except maybe Cindy McCain.