fountains of angst: March 2008

28 March 2008

I suppose this is another sign that she has momentum.

Fight all you want Hillary, but don't pretend that you're doing it for anyone but yourself.

You lost according to the rules of the game. Everyone knew the rules at the beginning.

Deal with it.

27 March 2008

Transparency

Again, who's unvetted?

Still no tax returns from Hillary or St. McCain.

Obama put his on the frickin' internets.

[via Andrew Sullivan]

Friends of Hillary

Extortionists.

The Democratic Party needs to be rid of the Clintons and their sleazy big money friends. You can see it now. They don't care if they ruin the party's chances in November. All the better for Hillary to wound Obama since SHE CANNOT WIN so he loses and she can run in 2012.

More delegates.
More states.
More primaries.
More caucuses.
More votes.

Fuck them.

Do something party elders, before the Clintons destroy your last best chance for a generational shift.

Sufjan!

To Be Alone With You

via clusterflock

muxtape

This is awesome.

Simple. Beautiful. Elegant.

Here's a muxtape from one of the clusterflockers.

You might notice a track from one of my personal favorites.

Yeah, I have to create a muxtape.

[via clusterflock]

4,000

Matt:

Still, the approach of a round number is a striking reminder that the costs of invading Iraq have been far higher than the costs of 9/11. Phrased provocatively, George W. Bush has gotten many more Americans killed in the last seven years than has Osama bin Laden. Or perhaps more aptly, bin Laden did his worst damage indirectly, by pushing the country into a panicky mood in which it was prepared to make major errors. It's a mistake one hopes the country won't make again, through as of yet there's been precious little accountability for those in the political system or the media who helped send 4,000 young Americans and counting to their deaths in Iraq.

Steve Nash

He directed this himself.

Pretty cool.

[via clusterflock via kottke]

Three of My Favorites

The Cubs, Kerry Wood, and Pearl Jam.

"I don't know. Fans are so loud at Wrigley Field in the ninth inning that I don't think you'd be able to hear any noise on that sound system anyways. I've never really thought about what song I'd use."

Wood was informed of some of the reader's suggestions but said he had no favorite.

"I could probably find one or two Pearl Jam songs," he said. "And I like AC/DC. I think 'Thunderstruck' would probably be a good one. But it probably won't happen."

Wood probably doesn't know it, but "Thunderstruck" is played at Sox games at the Cell, as some readers pointed out. The Cubs could never steal a Sox song and get away with it, right?

"There's probably a few Pearl Jams songs we could do," Wood said. "But I'm worried about getting hitters out, not what song is playing."

Do the Evolution. Rearviewmirror. Corduroy.

25 March 2008

Free Ride McCain

Not exactly a maverick, but you wouldn't know that from our media and Chris "We're his base" Matthews.

When he has gone against the party line -- such as on campaign finance reform, global warming, or tobacco regulations -- McCain has taken a position that was overwhelmingly popular with the public, meaning that when he takes a "maverick" stance, he's gaining support with the public -- and hardly taking a political risk.

[...]

Just as important, McCain's acts of independence aren't so much on high-profile issues as they are on issues that the press makes high-profile, precisely because of McCain's involvement. In all these cases, something important happens in the media when McCain opposes his party. When an ordinary senator crosses party lines, he or she will join members of the other party and perhaps have occasional opportunities to be quoted or interviewed on the issue in question. When McCain crosses party lines, on the other hand, the story the news media write undergoes a shift: It then becomes a story not about a conflict between Democrats and Republicans, but a story about John McCain and his rebellion. This is why McCain is perceived to be much more of a maverick than Republicans such as Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, who actually break with the GOP far more often.

via Atrios

Why We Can't Elect John McCain President

Start paying attention Democrats.

He's a walking economic disaster.

Mr. Deficit Hawk?

Not exactly.

And yet despite the $3 trillion+ hole he's blowing in the deficit, the media regularly reports that McCain is a deficit hawk. Why? Because he doesn't like earmarks ($18 billion per year). Quite an age we live in, where fiscal responsibility is paying for about 1/20th of your spending. This guy is the Republican nominee for president. It's time the media began asking him how he's going to pay for all his spending. If he's going to cut Medicare and Social Security -- the only expenditures large enough to support this plan -- let him say so. That, supposedly, is the virtue of McCain, that he says stuff like that. But it's a bit dumb for the media to be all excited about a guy who answers your questions and then not actually ask him the hard questions.

Remember, it's not the government's money!

It's rich people's money!

More Whining

I can't stand the people around her, especially this guy.

Exactly how stupid do they think we are?

Some of us are actually paying attention.

Exaggerated Notions

From Hillary?

Shocking!

Why Obama?

All the cool bands support him.

Volvo Driving Latte-Sippers for Obama

Why does the Clinton campaign insist on insulting Democratic voters, whose votes, assuming they compete in the general (impossible, I know, but let's live in their fantasy world for a moment)?

Presumably if magic delegates arrive out of heaven and give Hillary Clinton the nomination, she'll be expecting African-Americans and "the Starbucks-supping, Volvo-driving liberal elite" to vote for her, etc. Why would you refer to core Democratic voters in terms literally lifted from a Club for Growth ad?

Just for the record, I'm a Volkswagen driving latte-sipper. My wife is the Volvo driving mocha-sipper.

So there!

Funny

McSweeney's Ideas for Tired Teachers.

24 March 2008

The Obama Doctrine

Dignity promotion.

They envision a doctrine that first ends the politics of fear and then moves beyond a hollow, sloganeering "democracy promotion" agenda in favor of "dignity promotion," to fix the conditions of misery that breed anti-Americanism and prevent liberty, justice, and prosperity from taking root. An inextricable part of that doctrine is a relentless and thorough destruction of al-Qaeda. Is this hawkish? Is this dovish? It's both and neither -- an overhaul not just of our foreign policy but of how we think about foreign policy. And it might just be the future of American global leadership.

[...]

This ability to see the world from different perspectives informs what the Obama team hopes will replace the Iraq War mind-set: something they call dignity promotion. "I don't think anyone in the foreign-policy community has as much an appreciation of the value of dignity as Obama does," says Samantha Power, a former key aide and author of the groundbreaking study of U.S. foreign policy and genocide, A Problem From Hell. "Dignity is a way to unite a lot of different strands [of foreign-policy thinking]," she says. "If you start with that, it explains why it's not enough to spend $3 billion on refugee camps in Darfur, because the way those people are living is not the way they want to live. It's not a human way to live. It's graceless -- an affront to your sense of dignity."

Sounds good to me.

Better than Hillary "I voted for the Iraq War" Clinton or John "Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran" McCain.

End The Charade

Please.

Now you know why they call it the silly season.

But fundamentally, who cares? The system is based on pledged delegates and super-delegates. Period. There's a set of rules everyone agreed on. The wisdom of those rules is irrelevant at this point. The Clinton campaign is entitled to do whatever it wants to get superdelegates to come over to her side to even out the pledged delegate deficit. My take is that whatever the arguments, the superdelegates aren't going to go against a clear pledged delegate leader. And I think they'd be extremely ill-advised to do so. But the superdelegates do have this power under the rules. But these constant efforts to say the rules aren't fair are just silly, and truth be told I think they're more undermining of the Clinton campaign than they realize.

Or, we could do as Matt suggests.

Attention Superdelegates!

Do something!

I think if voters better-understood the situation, they'd be much more inclined to vote for their second-favorite Democrat in the race, much less eager to do volunteer work for Clinton, much less inclined to donate money to her campaign, etc. But people won't understand the dynamic unless it's explained to them by credible party leaders.

Lollapalooza 2008

Lineup rumors here and here.

Tickets on sale tomorrow here.

Fantasyland!

Yes, let's have the people who helped create the problem tell us how to fix the problem.

With all of that "experience and judgment" and this is all she can come up with?

Huh?

Sounds like meet the new boss same as the old boss, to me.

But what do I know? I'm just a delusional cultish Obama supporter.

Judas!

I know it's Jeremiah Wright month but does anyone question the judgment of having James Carville speak for you?

He's classy!

20 March 2008

What Experience?

Passing the FMLA?

Not so fast.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Mike Huckabee, explaining to the outraged conservative idiots that African-Americans have legitimate reasons to be angry at how this country has treated them.

Good for you, Mike.

More from Ezra:

Decency is an underrated virtue in American politics. Not just ethically, but politically, too. If Hillary Clinton had walked in front of the press and forcefully denounced their constant coverage of Wright, noting that all of them had heard Obama lay out his political opinions in exquisite detail for a year now, and they knew better, how much stronger a political position she'd be in right now. The good cop doesn't only play good cop because he's a nice guy. It also helps elicit a confession.

Hillary, good cop? Not a chance, even when it would benefit her politically. That's called being short-sighted.

Ethically? I'll let you decide whether that would be a consideration of Hillary's, considering some of the crap spewed from her allies and surrogates during this campaign.

19 March 2008

5 Years On

"Violence is still at an appalling level."

On the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, President Bush today attempted to recast it as a great success for the United States and a major blow to Osama bin Laden. But for the American people to go along with his construction will require a pretty severe case of amnesia.

The security situation in Iraq is undeniably somewhat better than it was a year ago, before Bush increased the number of American troops there to more than 160,000. But the violence nevertheless continues at an appalling level. And the political reconciliation the "surge" was intended to bring about remains a distant fantasy.

And, as Atrios said, it's not just Bush.

It's Democrats like Chuck Schumer, too.

The Media Hearts John McCain

As if you didn't know.

Example 1 from serious beard man.

Example 2 from Reuters and serious Brit the hacktastic twit.

St. McCain makes a mistake and the media tries to minimize it. A democrat makes a mistake like that and it runs on an endless loop. John McCain has an end times freak and Catholic-hater as an endorser whose support he refused to renounce (and actually sought out) and it maybe lasted 1 news cycle, while Obama has had to deal with the contextless tapes of his pastor's speeches playing over and over on the "news" networks.

These people are sick. They really haven't learned anything in the last 8 years.

A Question

When you hear the description "genuinely clueless", who or what comes to mind?

a) John McCain
b) Media Idiot
c) Cynical, but surprisingly truthful Media Idiot
d) None of the Above
e) All of the Above

I know my readers are smart enough to figure out the correct answer.

Why Our Media Sucks

They just love St. John McCain.

He can do no wrong.

The Torture Administration

War criminals, all of them.

The Gestapo and Stalin techniques - excruciating stress positions, imposed and brutal hypothermia, extended sleep deprivation of the kind Menachem Begin once decrobed as the worst of all torments, sexual abuse, beatings - all these were enforced not just at Abu Ghraib but at Camp Cropper, Bagram, Gitmo and many other informal detention centers, and authorized and overseen by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. and as so often they never are held accountable. That's what low-level grunts are for, isn't it?

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld.

I would avoid international travel if I were them.

The Hague may be interested.

I hope so.

I'd just love to see Cheney say "So" in a courtrooom at The Hague.

So

[Let me apologize in advance for the language in this post. It is about Dick Cheney.]

The title of this post is Dick Cheney's response to the fact that the over two-thirds of the American people say the war in Iraq is not worth fighting.

Video here.

He is one smug motherfucker.

Mr. Cheney was smiling as he was telling the American people to go fuck themselves.

I'm shocked, but I'm not speechless.

So, Mr. Last Throes. Go fuck yourself.

God, people like him make me really hope there's a real full-on biblical style hell.

Who We Are

It's about us.

I don't know if it will "work" against the likes of O'Reilly and Hannity and cable news, which seems unable to show any other of Wright's speeches except the now-almost mind-numbingly familiar clips. What I do know is that it was the right speech, with the right nuance and brave. If America cannot embrace such complexity, then that says more about our current polity than it does about Obama.

I'm not sure that our country is up to the complexity, but I'm ok with that. What choice is there? I wouldn't have Obama alter his speech one bit to accommodate a cynical, simple-minded media incapable of communicating nuance and the uninformed public that they have nurtured. Obama appeals to our better nature, and he trusts that the American people will make the right choice. Let's just hope we're smart enough as a country to have earned his trust, and choose our better nature.

Hell, I'd be happy if the Democrats were smart enough to see Obama for the transformational leader that I already believe he is.

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the Democratic Party to figure that out.

The Reaction to The Reaction

LGM on the Wingnuts:

What a colossal failure. I just don't think there's any way for Obama to recover from the fact that Victor Davis Hanson, Paul Mirengoff, Michelle Malkin, Kathryn Lopez, John Derbyshire, some dude living in his mother's basement, and Atlas Shrugs remain unpersuaded of Obama's worthiness to lead America.

Matthew Yglesias on the Cornerites:

There's some kind of reading comprehension problem here if Hays can't see that Obama's not saying it was correct of Wright to say that. Roger Clegg sees the speech as "politics as usual" which makes me think he must have been watching a very different usual politics from me up until now. K-Lo says "Any hopes anyone had that Barack Obama would be a gift to civil rights in America — that he would shake hands with Ward Connerly and really be a change died today, I think." In the speech John Derbyshire heard, "blame whitey, and raise high the red flag of socialism" was the essence of Obama's message.

Andrew Sullivan:

To read the Corner today was to be reminded that some are immune to the grace and hope and civility that Reagan summoned at his best; the anger and bitterness is so palpably fueled by fear and racism it really does mark a moment of revelation to me.

While it is no revelation to me that the right wing media in this country is fueled by fear and racism, I am grateful that these intelligent people read what those idiots on the Corner write, so I don't have to.

The Reaction

Andrew Sullivan:

I have never felt more convinced that this man's candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian.

Bill Clinton once said that everything bad in America can be rectified by what is good in America. He was right - and Obama takes that to a new level. And does it with the deepest darkest wound in this country's history.

I love this country. I don't remember loving it or hoping more from it than today.

Marc Ambinder:

I do think that Obama's speech was a marvel of contemporary political rhetoric. Politically, analytically and emotively, it hit many high notes. His acknowledgment of white working class resentments (busing) and about the perception that there's been no racial progress, his willingness to stick by his friends, his grasp of history, his sense that our views of race are cramped and caricatured... all of that is something that even those who disagree with the substance of his speech, can, I think, appreciate.

Ezra Klein:

But this speech was something I didn't expect: Honest. It was honest about Obama's affection for Wright, even as it repudiated Wright's comments. It was honest about the tragic history of race in America, even as it expressed faith in a redemptive future. It was honest about the resentment peddlers and racial charlatans who try and recast the increasing rarity of the American Dream as the consequence of ethnic competition rather than gross power imbalances. It was honest in its recognition that racial memory influences contemporary thought, honest in admitting that there's anger in this country, and it's justified, and that there's fear in this country, and it's real.

Charles Murray [via Matthew Yglesias]:

I read the various posts here on "The Corner," mostly pretty ho-hum or critical about Obama's speech. Then I figured I'd better read the text (I tried to find a video of it, but couldn't). I've just finished. Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant—rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols.... But you know me. Starry-eyed Obama groupie.

Oliver Willis:

One of my personal maxims has been that politicians will disappoint you. The ones you like will have personal failings, while the ones you detest will fail time and time again. With Senator Obama, for the first time in my life, I have watched a political leader who I don’t worry if he’ll be up to the task.

It’s like you had Michael Jordan in his prime or Joe Montana with 2 minutes to go. It’s that feeling where you say to yourself: Ok, breathe, he’s got it.

Chill, Barack’s got it.

Matthew Yglesias:

The kind of white resentment Obama is talking about here has been a problem for the Democratic Party for decades now notwithstanding the fact that you rarely see the party nominating African-Americans to run in majority white constituencies. What Obama is showing us here is that precisely because he's black, he's able to acknowledge and validate these resentments in a way that would be very difficult for a white liberal politician.

At any rate, I'd say things are back on track. The Wright business had opened up a vague sliver of hope for Hillary Clinton's campaign -- if they could produce a result in Pennsylvania that looked like a Wright-induced collapse in Obama's white support, maybe they could convince superdelegates that he's unelectable. After this speech, I don't see it happening.

The Speech

I thought it was brilliant and brave, but as you know I'm slightly biased. However, I can't think of many other leaders who could have delivered it. I think it will be referred to as "The Speech" for a long time. I'll post some other reactions from left and right shortly.

What do you think?

Bear Stearns

Just to make it clear, I was only referring to the people who have 2 homes below. I realize there were many cube dwellers that were impacted as well. I just wish the NYTimes would comment on their plight, instead of the poor ex-billionaires.

18 March 2008

Poor Babies

They have to sell their weekend homes.

Please excuse me if I don't shed a tear.

17 March 2008

Civil War

Make no mistake.

She knows exactly what the score is.

She doesn't care.

Work That Matters

I think we can all benefit from this post.

In the end, isn't that how we all want to feel about our work?

Otherwise, why bother?

In the comments, there was a great last question.

Do I work for an organization that cares about any of the above?

Hmmmm.

15 March 2008

Bloody Sunday

I rented this tonight on iTunes.

It is a gripping re-creation of the events of this day in Derry, Northern Ireland, directed by Paul Greengrass, who also directed The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Supremacy, as well as Flight 93.

You will be stunned and speechless.

I highly recommend it.

How long?
How long must we sing this song?

14 March 2008

R.E.M.

GK sees them in Austin.

And, now, some "good night" music from them...and me.

Snap!

Obama campaign mocks latest Clinton campaign spin.

via Oliver Willis

Forget the Sunday Shows

Watch Josh from TPM.

Is Lou Dobbs a complete idiot or what? At least he has his own suckup lackey Casey whatshisface and everything though.

Belly

Saw Belly in 1993 at Mabel's in Champaign with my future wife.

I hope she realizes I still have a crush on Tanya Donnelly. I could listen to her sing all day long.

Chill Out

Deep breath, Obama supporters.

This, too, shall pass.

In fact, it already has.

Pastors and Reverends

Before Senator McCain mentions Obama's, he might want to have a look at his own. He has some real winners.

Well, now McCain is part of that discussion. And it's a dangerous place for him to be, what with Rev. John Hagee's anti-gay remarks (curiously unremarked upon by anyone in the McCain campaign -- is the McCain campaign afraid to repudiate anti-gay remarks?), his anti-Catholic remarks (once condemned by McCain, but now McCain wants to give Hagee the benefit of the doubt)?, his millennialism (which means, as some honest McCain adviser must have explained to the candidate by now, the death of millions of innocent Muslims)... also: Jerry Falwell, and his casual association of 9/11 with the sins of homosexuality, and Rod Parsley, a man who McCain has called a "spiritual guide," a man who has also called Islam a "false religion" and has advocated war against it and various other bad things.

Why are these folks entitled to these opinions and Wright isn't entitled to his?

Simple Algebra

x = y

where x = Bush and y = McCain

Politics of Personal Destruction

Courtesy of the Clintons.

Clinton has no road to the nomination save for the literal destruction of Obama's candidacy. There's no affirmative argument for her campaign that's strong enough to overwhelm his lead in pledged delegates. Rather, she's basically got to cripple him so badly that he can't make it over the finish line. Mark Penn not only has to say that Obama is unelectable, he has to believe he can make it true. And what a shame. What a shame to see Hillary Clinton reduced to this, left insulting the intelligence of the voters and entirely reliant on the politics of personal destruction for her success. And the only possible reward here is a nomination that, if she captures it through this strategy, will probably be worthless anyway.

It's.

all.

about.

them.

If they can't have it, no one can.

D-Lee

Project 3000.

I'm sure you all remember, as I do, the tearful news conference Derrek Lee held in September 2006 when he first discovered that his daughter Jada had Leber's Congenital Amaurosis, a disease that will eventually blind her.

As D-Lee himself told those of us assembled for a fundraiser last night in Scottsdale, when he and his wife Christina saw Dr. Edwin Stone at the Carver Center at the University of Iowa to find out what sort of treatments were available for Jada, he also said, "What can we do to help?"

Of that question was born Project 3000, which aims to identify the 1-in-100,000 (of the USA's 300 million people, that would make 3000, thus the name) people who have this disease, then eventually find a cure. The project also aims to help find treatments for other eye diseases, including macular degeneration, which affects about one-third of all people over age 75, and retinitis pigmentosa.

I-L-L

I-N-I!

13 March 2008

One More Time

Keith Olbermann.

12 March 2008

Olbermann

This is for you Hillary.

By the way, you're not getting my vote if you somehow steal the nomination. This Archie Bunker strategy is beyond forgivable.

Good Riddance

The victim until the end.

I'm staying home if Hillary gets the nomination. She's sanctioning this crap.

These people are sick.

Dear Gerry

Can I call you Gerry?

Please shut up.

love,

st3veh

P.S. Tell the stupid young white version of you to shut up too. [via Atrios]

Simple Answers to Simple Questions

[Stealing an Atrios bit.]

Yes.

This has been another installment of simple answers to simple questions.

19 Days

Let's talk about baseball, the best of all games.

First: the rules of the game are in equilibrium: that is, from the start, the diamond was made just the right size, the pitcher’s mound just the right distance from home plate, etc., and this makes possible the marvelous plays, such as the double play. The physical layout of the game is perfectly adjusted to the human skills it is meant to display and to call into graceful exercise. Whereas, basketball, e.g., is constantly (or was then) adjusting its rules to get them in balance.

Second: the game does not give unusual preference or advantage to special physical types, e.g., to tall men as in basketball. All sorts of abilities can find a place somewhere, the tall and the short etc. can enjoy the game together in different positions.

Third: the game uses all parts of the body: the arms to throw, the legs to run, and to swing the bat, etc.; per contra soccer where you can’t touch the ball. It calls upon speed, accuracy of throw, gifts of sight for batting, shrewdness for pitchers and catchers, etc. And there are all kinds of strategies.

Fourth: all plays of the game are open to view: the spectators and the players can see what is going on. Per contra football where it is hard to know what is happening in the battlefront along the line. Even the umpires can’t see it all, so there is lots of cheating etc. And in basketball, it is hard to know when to call a foul. There are close calls in baseball too, but the umps do very well on the whole, and these close calls arise from the marvelous timing built into the game and not from trying to police cheaters etc.

Fifth: baseball is the only game where scoring is not done with the ball, and this has the remarkable effect of concentrating the excitement of plays at different points of the field at the same time. Will the runner cross the plate before the fielder gets to the ball and throws it to home plate, and so on.

via Crooked Timber

Keep Digging

Apparently, it wasn't enough for Geraldine Ferraro to say that Obama is only winning because he is a black man.

Now she is saying that she is being attacked because she is white.

Keep talking, Ms. Ferraro.

Keep talking.

Why does Gov. Rendell of Pennsylavania say that Obama won't win because he's black and white people aren't ready to vote for a black man?

You Clinton supporters are CRAZY!

11 March 2008

Mississippi

Just another state that doesn't count.

10 March 2008

What Foster's Win Means

Listen to Atrios and Ezra.

Hastert's seat goes to a Democrat.

Beautiful.

Your Republican Party

Steve King, spewing typical racist Republican bullshit.

They will be dancing in the streets if he's elected president and that has a chilling effect on how difficult it will be to ever win this global war on terror

Wow.

Who the hell votes for these mouth-breathers?

More coverage here.

He continued: "I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror."

Seriously frightening.

People with brains actually come to the opposite conclusion about what a President Obama would mean to the rest of the world.

Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.

The Question

If he hasn't passed your Commander-in-Chief threshold, how the hell can he be your running mate?

You need him.

He doesn't need you.

That's all it comes down to, doesn't it?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

About Hillary?

A few weeks ago, I started to feel sorry for her. Oh Christ, let her win already...Who cares...It's not worth it. There's not that much difference between them. She can have it. Anything to avoid watching her descend into madness. So I switched. I started rooting for her. It wasn't that hard. Compromise comes easy to me. I was on board.

And then I saw the ad.

I watched, transfixed, as she took the 3 a.m. call...and I was afraid...very afraid. Suddenly, I realized the last thing this country needs is that woman anywhere near a phone. I don't care if it's 3 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time. I don't want her talking to Putin, I don't want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don't want her talking to my nephew. She needs a long rest. She needs to put on a sarong and some sun block and get away from things for a while, a nice beach somewhere -- somewhere far away, where there are...no phones,

Never had much enthusiasm for her. At least I thought I could tolerate her winning the nomination, but that's over now.

Thanks, Larry.

My New Favorite T-shirt

Obama-Moz 2008

08 March 2008

Good Night

I hate you hangin round my blue jeans.

Dear Media

Follow up, please.

Clinton has next to no foreign policy experience. And no executive experience. She has less legislative experience than Obama. And she has not just exaggerated, but flat-out lied, about her non-achievements. I'm glad the Tribune has done this. Can the rest of media follow up?

Mr. Maverick

He's a moderate on torture.

Basically, Bush wants a ton of torture, McCain prefers a moderate level of torture. This is one of several reasons why I, unlike Hillary Clinton, don't think McCain passes the "commander in chief" threshold in a particularly impressive way. I'd like a commander-in-chief who's prepared to govern the country in a manner consistent with our laws and traditions, as well as sound interrogation practice, international law, and basic standards of human decency.

Sound interrogation practice. International law. Human decency.

How refreshing!

What Foreign Policy Experience

Thank you, Chicago Tribune.

Despite my previous post below, apparently some people in media take this seriously.

Why Our Media Sucks

CNN.

Late Update: Turns out Cronin is actually a member of McCain's Illinois leadership team. (Good catch by TPM Reader TK) At this point, this amounts to CNN being spoofed. Correction or some explanation is in order, guys.

Completely clueless.

Seriously.

It is frightening that people might be making decisions based on the information these people provide.

06 March 2008

Hillary the Hypocrite, continued

Seems all the buzz about NAFTA-gate was directed at the wrong campaign.

Only the first hint wasn't about stuff the Canadians had heard from the Obama camp. It was about reassurances the Canadians got from the Clinton campaign. According to a reporter who heard the original conversation, Brodie said "someone from (Hillary) Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. . . That someone called us and told us not to worry."

Only somehow this evolved into a story about the Obama campaign giving such reassurances.

Why We'll Miss Favre

He inspired us because he wasn't perfect.

One fan, noting that "a good man has left the game with a very big hole," points toward the larger significance of Favre's retirement: standing ready to take his place are his very opposite. Peyton Manning, the player most likely to surpass Favre's touchdown mark, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from college in three years and is known for his preternatural ability to memorize opponents' plays and formations. And Tom Brady, with his supermodel girlfriend, three Super Bowl rings, and manicured stubble -- rather than Favre-like scruff -- has improved upon Manning's marks. But while the next generation of fans will marvel at Brady's victories and Manning's touchdowns, they'll be missing out on something more important. With Favre's retirement, an era of inspiration -- imperfections included -- has closed, to be succeeded by an age of mere technique.

If you weren't a fan of Brett Favre, you weren't a football fan. I say this as a die-hard Bears fan.

Why Our Media is Dangerously Stupid

Jenny McCarthy, vaccine expert?

It’s troubling because of the fact that they’re sending a message to millions of parents who watch this claptrap. The message is that vaccines are dangerous, that it’s better not to vaccinate your kids. Vaccination is a cornerstone of public health, and if vaccination rates fall we could be struggling with diseases that have been wiped out in this country. That’s the reality. But scientists don’t make good TV. They have an uncomfortable habit of cautiously sticking to the facts. And with the Bush Administration cutting into federal science budgets and independence, they don’t have the clout or credibility to fight back. I, for one, find this depressing.

WTF?

Bush's Library

Bush and library, not exactly two words that go together.

See why.

Hillary the Hypocrite

Short memories.

05 March 2008

Ashes to Ashes

Last night we had Arcade Fire playing Bowie. How about a classic Bowie video tonight? Link via a fun new blog I recently stumbled upon.

Dear Tim Russert

Why are you and your media pals giving Senator McCain a free pass on this guy?

Seriously.

love,

st3veh

[link to YouTube via Andrew Sullivan]

Knives Out

Time to release the tax returns.

More to the point, I would think, given that the campaign has self-financed to the tune of $5 million it would seem to me that we want to scrutinize Bill's various business partners and other income streams in much the way you would any other campaign finance documents. Surely the vetted, tested candidate can stand a little sunshine on her multimillionaire lifestyle.

A little sunshine never hurt anyone, especially someone who's as tested and vetted, as ready on day 1, 3 am call answering, Senator Clinton.

Vapid Careerists

Is there a better definition of Clintonites?

Chuck Schumer and Even Bayh explain that people vote for Hillary when they realize things are "serious." Because, after all, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, George Miller, SEIU, and Samantha Power are all unserious. I guess kind of like how entire states don't count. Maybe it's just inherently unserious to be troubled by the idea of continuing hawk hegemony inside the Democratic Party. We need some more "serious" "national security Democrats" to run things. An administration staffed by vapid careerists. Sounds great.

Yes, we need more serious national security Democrats that love war just as much as Republicans. That's worked so well!

Do Not Despair

I know there are some who can't stand it anymore, but listen to Andrew, and you should feel better.

Obama supporters should not be dismayed.

Obama has a tougher, nastier opponent in the Clintons than he does in McCain. If he wins this by a long, grueling struggle, he will be more immune to the lazy, stupid criticism that he is some kind of flash in the pan, he has more opportunity to prove that there is a great deal of substance behind the oratory, he has more of a chance to meet and talk with the electorate he will need to win in the fall.

I think the argument for Obama is easily strong enough to withstand the egos of the Clintons. The more people see that her case is almost entirely a fear-based one and his is almost entirely a positive one, the more he will win the moral victory as well as the delegate count. In the cold light of day, the bruising news that the Clintons are not yet dead seems less onerous.

Know hope.

We knew this wouldn't be easy. Fear will not win the day. Not this time.

And whatever else you want to say about the guy, he didn't win by capitulating to hardcore xenophobes, like Romney attempted to do, or by running a campaign of blatant fear mongering, like Giuliani. He won by being solidly wrong on just about every issue facing the republic, and unaware of a couple others, but he wasn't venal about it. And in the Republican primary, that's something.

Silly Season

I'm not sure how many more primaries I can take.

Please let it be over soon.

02 March 2008

Happy Birthday Christopher

My number 1 guy is 6 today!