Over at Edge of the American West they have a useful roundup of their posts on Sarah Palin’s “executive experience” and what people might want to know about it:

• Palin asks all the city’s top managers to resign as a test of loyalty to her, imposes gag order on city department heads
• Firings include elimination of position of city historian and sacking of museum staff.
• Can tell how loyal someone is by looking in her heart
• Executive experience might vary in quality and relevance depending on the size of the electorate for whom you’re providing executive service
• These are more important things to know and say about her than her past as beauty queen

Sounds good. Of course I’m also probably the last blogger on the planet to note that by the “Palin has more executive experience than Obama” logic the right is now using, Palin is actually more experienced than John McCain which I don’t think they want to adopt as their official position.

This was the substantive portion of the “Labor Salute to Republicans” event such as it was, with representatives from the NEA, the Firefighters, and some of the building trades talking about the importance of union-GOP ties:

One moral of the story is that interest group politics is more complicated than a simple caricature would offer. And then again, it’s even more complicated than “well, unions need to find a few Republicans to support.” Maybe unions participated in this event, but most didn’t. The more ideological and coalition-minded SEIU is organizing a Take Back Labor Day concert as a counterpoint to the Republican festivities.

I was just speaking to a couple of GOP activists from North Dakota about Sarah Palin. These were very much the fabled “base” people who are “excited” by the Palin pick. Much like left-wing ideologues, it turns out, conservative activists have a real disliking of “bad” Republicans. So these guys didn’t know very much about Palin’s record in office, but they knew she was a solid conservative who’d managed to take down an incumbent Republican and still hold the statehouse for the GOP. And this, basically, is Palin’s qualification for office — she’s less corrupt than your average Alaska Republican. As best one can tell this is true. But the extent of Palin’s distance from the Alaska Republican establishment can be easily overstated. Consider this reporting by Matthew Mosk:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state’s political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

Palin’s name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,” a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.

And:

Palin, an anti-corruption crusader in Alaska, had called on Stevens to be open about the issues behind the investigation. But she also held a joint news conference with him in July, before he was indicted, to make clear she had not abandoned him politically.

Meanwhile, John McCain officially thinks 527s should be abolished.

You might have thought that lavish conventions spreads were only for big business or that only Democrats would kowtow to public sector unions, but there was some rather nice stuff available at the “Labor Salutes the Republican Party” lunch event at the Dakota Jazz Club sponsored by the National Education Association in partnership with some other unions:

I should have some video up some of the strange spectacle of union leaders singing the praises of their GOP friends.

I hadn’t realized the right was even pretending that they’re taking a “sober” approach to the coincidence of their convention with Hurricane Gustav. But for the record: Politically problematic speech by unpopular incumbent president = canceled. Parties = not canceled. Indeed, your ThinkProgress team walked passed Minneapolis’ famed rock club 1st Avenue / 7th Street Entry and saw what I think was a fundraising event featuring Sammy Hagar. They told us we were in violation of the dress code and that getting in would cost $125 so we skipped it.

I think conservatism could use a better class of celebrity endorser.

“Did you guys install those oversized stalls in there to accommodate all the wide stances that’ll be coming in.”

– Customer at a Caribou Coffee off Nicollette Mall. The guy behind the counter didn’t get the joke, started explaining about the Americans with Disabilities Act.