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August 31, 2008
Oh, and by the way—
—baby polar bear.
If they tasted just a bit more like caribou, Sarah Palin would eat 'em like sushi.
August 30, 2008
Smooth move, John McCain.
McCain made his VP choice only yesterday, and it looks like the hangover may be starting even before the party's over:
John McCain was aiming to make history with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and historians say he succeeded.Presidential scholars say she appears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join a major-party ticket in the modern era.
So unconventional was McCain’s choice that it left students of the presidency literally “stunned,” in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. “Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who’s of presidential caliber,” said Goldstein.
“I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history,” said presidential historian Matthew Dallek.
That includes Spiro T. Agnew, Richard Nixon’s first vice president, who was governor of a medium-sized state, Maryland, for two years, and before that, executive of suburban Baltimore County, the expansive jurisdiction that borders and exceeds in population the city of Baltimore.
It also includes George H.W. Bush’s vice president, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, who had served in the House and Senate for 12 years before taking office. And it also includes New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, who served three terms in the House before Walter Mondale chose her in 1984 as the first woman candidate on a major party ticket.
Scholars question Palin credentials (Politico.com)
But let's not forget about all the support and good wishes she'll get from her home state, the 47th largest in the country (its total population is about one-fourth that of Brooklyn).
A reporter for the Anchorage daily, Gregg Erickson, even did an online chat with the Washington Post, in which he revealed that Palin's approval rating in the state was not the much-touted 80%, but 65% and sinking -- and that among journalists who followed her it might be in the "teens." He added: "I have a hard time seeing how her qualifications stack up against the duties and responsibilities of being president.... I expect her to stick with simple truths. When asked about continued American troop presence in Iraq, she said she knows only one thing about that (I paraphrase): no one has attacked the American homeland since George Bush took the war to Iraq."His paper found a number of leading Republican officeholders in the state who mocked Palin's qualifications. "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" said Lyda Green, the president of the State Senate, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"
Another top Republican, John Harris, the speaker of the House, when asked about her qualifications for Veep, replied with this: "She's old enough. She's a U.S. citizen."
2 Top Alaska Newspapers Question Palin's Fitness (Huffington Post)
And one more, just to give you a preview of her poise and good judgement: here's Sarah's appearance on an Alaskan right-wing radio show, giggling along as the hosts refer to a political opponent of hers as "a cancer" and "a bitch":
"We'd be honored to have you guys."
Nice. Get ready for some real jaw-droppers on the campaign trail.
Wait, wait—one more still. Stewart & Colbert are in top form about this.
August 29, 2008
Worth watching again.
Barack Obama gets it rolling.
Who?
Meet the Republican V.P. pick, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska: a right-wing neophyte chosen to placate social conservatives who seems likely to resemble a deer in the headlights when she faces the full force of national media scrutiny.
By late September, of course, no one's going to be talking much about the vice-presidential candidates. This will be an Obama-vs.-McCain fight, just like any presidential contest. But since our breathless, short-attention-span media culture is all excited about this, here's an early blogger reaction that caught my eye:
In addition to further associating McCain with the Republican culture of corruption, the Palin pick undermines one of his main anti-Obama narratives. It's going to be laughable to hear McCain assail Obama's supposed lack of experience after naming the first-term governor -- only one-and-a-half years into her term -- of the 47th largest state to be his running mate. Palin lacks any foreign policy experience, and is bereft of even the two core areas of policy expertise that governors are supposed to bring to a ticket -- ag policy (Alaska doesn't have much in the way of traditional agriculture) and urban affairs (Anchorage is the 65th largest city in the US, behind giants such as Corpus Christi). She's easily the least experienced running mate in recent memory, which is pretty scary, given McCain's age and his history of cancer."Worse Than Quayle", Trapper John on Daily Kos
I'm watching her coming-out speech right now—and as if the public needed any more reminders of the George W. Bush administration the McCain campaign already resembles, Palin's pronunciations include "Eye-rack" and "nookular".
Impressive.
August 22, 2008
Cuteness, rendered vicious.
Zombie panda? Bamboo-deprived panda? Tweaker panda?
Heroic #35 at samuelsdesign.com, via The American Caliban.
In lieu of a cute animal this morning:
Via Kos.
August 21, 2008
"A whispering campaign might be better."
Over at HuffPost, Susan Isaacs calls out the credulous and fearful among a traditionally Democratic-leaning group where it comes to Barack Obama:
My eighty five-year-old cousin tried to deck a guy at his senior citizen center who announced "I'm never going to vote for a shvartzer," though unfortunately he was slowed by his emphysema and held back by his wife. Yesterday, at lunch, a friend confided how shaken she'd been at a recent wedding when she discovered everyone at her table -- all Jews who had voted for Clinton, Gore and Kerry -- felt compelled to explain they were going for McCain because he when push comes to shove, you just cannot trust a black to do right by us. Saddest of all, another pal -- successful, lively, chic, overtly Jewish three days a year -- announced, "I wish I could bring myself to vote for him, but I can't." Her brow would have furrowed in distress but for the Botox..."He really is a Muslim with a hidden agenda that will lead to the destruction of the State of Israel" has the same moral worth as Henry Ford's accusation in The International Jew of a secret conspiracy among Jews to achieve world dominance. (Ford quotes the "protocols," fictitious memoranda from purported Zionist conspiracy meetings: "To destroy Gentile industry, we shall... encourage among the Gentiles a strong demand for luxuries, all-enticing luxuries...," as if without Jews the ladies from Grosse Pointe would have chosen Sears Roebuck over Paul Poiret.)
"Shvartzer" = "kike." When challenged, the Jews who use the word say no, no, shvartz is the Yiddish word for black; so it's descriptive. But in its entire history of usage, I venture that no one has ever used "shvartzer" as an honorific.
And sadly, my super-hip pal's "I wish I could bring myself to vote for him, but I can't" is nothing more than a twenty-first century's version of the early twentieth's pusillanimous "I personally would not mind having Jewish lawyers in the firm, but they wouldn't feel comfortable here."
When that curtain is drawn in the voting booth, are some Jews going to abandon their remembrance of cruelties large and small and pull a lever because of the heady power rush of having permission to believe lies because they are Jewish lies ? Are we going to let our neshumas, our souls, shrivel in fear of the new ? Will we accept any dreck we read in an e-mail, any falsehood we hear, just because it comes from a fellow Jew?
November fourth is an important test for us. We will get to see if we are mensches or if have turned into the people we most despise.
"The Shmegege Vote: 2008" (Huffington Post)
More of anything? More of everything!
Can someone please pony up $2 million to run this during the Republican convention?
Watch it the second time with the sound off, by the way—you'll think David Lynch has crossed over to political advertising.
Going on the attack.
The turnaround time on attack ads this political season is quickly approaching zero.
Yesterday, asked by writers from Politico how many houses he owns, John McCain answered:
"I think — I'll have my staff get to you...It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."
Added to BarackObamadotcom on YouTube sometime very early this morning:
The harshest and most effective part of this ad is the slo-mo shot of McCain staring vacantly as mournful piano music plays and the narrator sadly explains, "McCain lost track. He couldn't remember."
Consider the age card played, and played well.
Sadly, this is the level to which we've descended, and it's only August. So much for a new kind of campaign. But McCain went there first, and it appears that attacks are still far more effective than ideals. So cheers to the Obama attack team for taking off the gloves when the time came.
Over at TPM, Theda Skocpol was prescient yesterday:
For weeks, Obama has ignored or wheedled when McCain and Lieberman attacked his patriotism and judgement. He has repeatedly begged them to stop because, supposedly, they are more honorable than that. He has asked them to discuss the issues dispassionately. What an insipid approach! McCain has NOT been honorable or honest, and Obama and his surrogates need to hammer on that incessantly. Use words like "lying" and "losing himself" or " (better) "forgetting what he is supposed to stand for." Stop focusing on decades ago in the POW camp. Talk about now, about the last years and months. Make the really obvious point that no candidate for President at this time can really be putting country first if he runs a dirty, lying campaign of false smears. That betrays the public trust. Tell it like it is, Obama!Politics is not just about issues, it is a metaphorical test of strength. If a man will not get immediately -- if quietly -- angry and fight back when his patriotism is attacked, why should we trust him to defend the country? And if he won't punch back by explaining clearly why his approach to foreign policy is actually tougher and smarter, why McCain's is thoughtless and reckless, why would we think he is better to be Commander in Chief?...
Obama is lucky he is not further behind already. And he is going to fade fast if he just runs a feel-good, bland convention about abstract "hope" and "change." In addition to getting gritty and colorfully clear about his recipe for making Americans' lives better -- AND about his approach to make this nation safer and stronger in the world -- Obama needs to signal all the major speakers at next week's convention to go after McCain in a key part of each speech. We need to hear why McCain is wrong and dangerous and no longer so honest and honorable. It needs repeating with force and humor and passion.
Otherwise, the Convention will be wasted, and this historic turning point for our country will be lost.
Someone got the message.
I think McCain will come to regret letting his team of Bush-era attack dogs go after Obama the way they have. There's so much about McCain that's old, unappealing and wrong—and easy to fire at him, to use an unfortunate metaphor—that this isn't even a fair fight.
Prepare to be entertained.
August 20, 2008
Charity, Unity, Fraternity, Bigotry.
The L.A. Times' L.A. Now blog reports that the Knights of Columbus have donated $1.25 million to support California's Proposition 8, which would revoke the right of gay couples to marry in the state.
Best comment on the blog so far:
Let's see, an all male organization that likes to march in parades dressed in feathery hats and gaudy uniforms wants to ban gay marriage?If that isn't denial, I don't know what is.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the anti-marriage crusaders had taken the lead in contributions.
If you're interested in validating your geographical stereotypes, you can see a graphical breakdown of contributions within the state (both for and against the initiative) broken down by county, or search a nationwide database of contributors.
Now, it's pretty unlikely that this loathsome initiative will pass (thanks partly to state attorney general Jerry Brown's decision to clarify the ballot language), but why not donate against it anyway?
Quiver full o' Jesus.
Today's NY Times has a story about Kisik Lee, coach of the U.S. Olympic archery team and super-devout Christian. How devout? Well...
Two weeks before leaving to compete in the Olympics, the archer Brady Ellison waded into a pool not far from the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and was baptized in the Christian faith.In the water with him was Kisik Lee, the head coach of the United States archery team and a Christian who has become a spiritual guide for Ellison, 19, and the larger group of athletes who train and live full time at the Olympic Training Center. He has also served as a sponsor in the baptism of three other resident archers.
“I give him six tasks a day, including reading the Bible and education,” Lee said. “And he’s doing it.”
Can you imagine the shitstorm of protest if Mr. Lee happened to be a similarly devout Muslim? Teaching archery?
Of course, were he a Muslim, he'd probably never have passed the job interview when the U.S. Olympic Committee went shopping for an archery coach:
Lee, 51, came to the United States two years ago as part of an effort to revamp the archery program after Americans failed to take home any medals in the 2004 Athens Games. His arrival was greeted with excitement because Lee served in the 1980s and ’90s as the national coach of his native South Korea, helping the team win eight gold medals. In 1997, he moved to Australia and was that team’s coach for the Sydney Games when Simon Fairweather won a gold medal.
Setting aside the issue of whether it's unseemly to recruit Olympic coaches from other countries, Mr. Lee's behavior is creepily reminiscent of the stories coming out of the U.S. Air Force Academy in the past few years. And just like at the Academy, the guy selling the religion also wields real power:
As the national coach, Lee helps distribute grants for high-level archers and select resident athletes, as well as those named to the junior development team. For athletes who live at the center, Lee evaluates their progress and helps decide whether they can continue in the program.
Is it really much of a mystery that his prayer group is so well-attended?
Unfortunately for anyone expecting supernatural results from Mr. Lee's hiring, the gods apparently want him to wander in the wilderness for a while:
None of the American archers won a medal in Beijing. Khatuna Lorig had the strongest finish, placing fifth in women’s individual.
But my favorite quote of the story (which the writer saved for the end, clearly loving it as well) has to do with the mental calm that Mr. Lee claims his athletes can find in the religion he sells so hard:
To be an effective archer, Lee said, athletes must learn to clear their heads and focus. “If you are Christian,” he said, “then people can have that kind of empty mind.”
August 18, 2008
Bullshit repellant.
Bereft of ideas, the McCain campaign is falling back on the tired old Republican scare tactic that the Democratic candidate Will Raise Your Taxes.
In Obama's case, if you make over $200,000 a year ($250,000 as a couple, if you're married), that's true.
And if that's you, congratulations: you're in the highest-earning 3% of the U.S. population.
Unfortunately, the McCain campaign needs to scare people in the remaining 97%. So they make shit up:
A snarky Web ad from Sen. John McCain calls Sen. Barack Obama "The One" and shows his supporters saying things like "Hot chicks dig Obama"...Text flashes by briefly, then spins around 360 degrees as it fades away, saying, "Obama voted to raise taxes on everyone making more than $42,000."
McCain has made similar statements before, saying Obama voted to raise taxes on people making more than $42,000 a year. We rated that statement Barely True...
That seems designed to make the average viewer think that Obama wants to raise taxes on people making that amount, which isn't true. Obama wants to increase taxes by rolling back the Bush tax cuts on people making more than $200,000 if single or $250,000 if married filing jointly...
But the new Web ad pushes the envelope too far when the narrator says "a tax increase for everyone earning more than $42,000 a year." It's a gross distortion of Obama's proposals to say they would raise taxes on "everyone" who earns that much, and we rate McCain's claim False.
Obama's tax plan hits $200,000 and up (PolitiFact.com)
August 14, 2008
Fear-mongering: still dumb, still effective.
Over at Swampland, Joe Klein slams John McCain for his abandonment of all principle in pursuit of this election—and his campaign's embrace of phony patriotism and moronic bravado:
there is no excuse for what the McCain campaign is doing on the "putting America first" front. There is no way to balance it, or explain it other than as evidence of a severe character defect on the part of the candidate who allows it to be used. There is a straight up argument to be had in this election: Mcain has a vastly different view from Obama about foreign policy, taxation, health care, government action...you name it. He has lots of experience; it is always shocking to remember that this time four years ago, Barack Obama was still in the Illinois State Legislature. Apparently, though, McCain isn't confident that conservative policies and personal experience can win, given the ruinous state of the nation after eight years of Bush. So he has made a fateful decision: he has personally impugned Obama's patriotism and allows his surrogates to continue to do that. By doing so, he has allied himself with those who smeared him, his wife, his daughter Bridget, in 2000. Those tactics won George Bush a primary--and a nomination. But they proved a form of slow-acting spiritual poison, rotting the core of the Bush presidency. We'll see if the public decides to acquiesce in sleaze in 2008, and what sort of presidency--what sort of country--that will produce.
And Andrew Sullivan sees ominous signs in McCain's exploitation of the Georgia vs. Russia shitshorm:
If the reaction to the last week is any indicator, Americans are still viscerally committed to the kind of Cold War dynamics we once had a chance to leave behind. The Republican party especially thrives on such conflict, enabling it to dominate domestic politics with appeals to bravado and patriotism and empire. Meanwhile, America's fiscal standing continues to slide down and down; its military consumes more and more resources; dependence on foreign oil does not prompt us to find alternative energy resources as an urgent national security matter, but to face off against Petro-powers, demonize oil companies, offer gas tax gimmicks, and occupy dysfunctional regions in far away countries because our addiction to a substance that is wrecking the planet is too great to resist.This is the way great powers fall. And this election presents us with a very rare chance to move in a different and more rational direction. Turning this around will be a monumental task because so many forces now conspire to push this country further and further along on this declinist, neo-imperial path. But it can be done over a generation.
Or to put it more bluntly: yes, we can. And yes, we must.
August 12, 2008
If only this sturdy fence wasn't here, I'd...
...hey, wait a minute—you're lunch.
From evilrobot6 on Flickr, via Slog.
August 11, 2008
Melodic sociopaths.
Meet Deiter and Gunter of The Chalets, appearing in one of the many treats you'll find at LP Cover Lover.
One more specimen:
