blog

Name That Appeaser

2008-05-15T19:28:00.002-04:00

"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage ... and then sit down and talk with [Iran]. ... We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."

Listening to Bush today equate Obama's diplomatic posture towards Iran with Nazi appeasement (to which McCain agreed), you may assume those words are the Democratic nominee's. But they're not; Sec. of Defense Robert Gates said them yesterday. Will Bush call him a Nazi appeaser, too?

2008-05-12T20:08:00.001-04:00

Bill O'Reilly trying to lecture John McCain on torture:

2008-05-12T19:41:00.011-04:00

Of all the findings in the latest ABC/Post poll, this surprised me the most:

39% of Americans say they’d be uncomfortable with a president first taking office at age 72, 16% say they’d be uncomfortable with a woman, 12% say they’d be uncomfortable with an African-American.

Specifically, the age issue, which I never thought would be that big of a deal, given McCain's vigor and charm at 71.

(I guess it explains why the McCain camp so bizarrely jumped on
this comment.)

Speaking of vigor and charm:

Man Babies dotcom

2008-05-10T19:48:00.002-04:00

Audition for the presidency

2008-05-08T19:31:00.004-04:00

Hillary's hanging on to the contest dramatically proves to me that she is unfit to be our president. It is so Bush-like, is it not? It's her Iraq. She has obviously failed, yet she keeps on just to prove she's not a quitter. Where have we heard that lately? How can we depend on her? Like Bush, she cannot admit a mistake. She can't admit failure. She is not rational. She'll take us down with her.

We need a rational president so badly. One who makes decisions based on careful consideration of all the facts and understands the real risks and likelihood of success. Hillary is running her campaign into the ground financially. Is that what we want in a president? Someone who uses fear and divisiveness to appeal to people?

Her campaign alone is a reason to vote against her.

(Daily Dish reader)

I actually think Clinton should stay in the race until June 3rd -- the day of the last two primaries. By then, all the states will have had the chance to participate in this historic election, voter registration will have reached historic highs (helping Democrats in the fall), FL and MI will have resolved their delegate issues (but without determining on the final outcome of the primary), and all doubts will have been erased as to who the rightful nominee is.

Also, being this close to the last state, I think it is worthy and appropriate for Clinton to continue to the very end. It will solidify her new (albeit cynical) persona as a "hero of the downtrodden and fighter to the end," and it give her most loyal base (older white women) a well-deserved sense of pride.

The caveat, of course, is that she stop pulling shit like this.

(For more on Clinton's failed audition, read Hillaryland experts Josh Green and Michelle Cottle)

2008-05-07T21:41:00.000-04:00

woah

2008-04-08T23:34:00.007-04:00

So every morning for work I search through dozens of newspapers for political content. Today, much to my surprise, I came across this article in the Winston-Salem Journal, my college-town paper.

The first photo is from that article, which chronicles a car crash.

The second is from my first photo assignment in college, which involved throwing a dart at the map of the city, traveling to that spot, and then using up a black-and-white disposable camera from a single vantage point.

Nicht so gut

2008-04-02T20:25:00.004-04:00

One from a series of triptychs chronicling the contrast between German processed meals in packaged and real form.

2008-04-01T18:24:00.006-04:00

By far, the best places for single men are the large cities and metro areas of the East Coast and Midwest. The extreme is greater New York, where single women outnumber single men by more than 210,000. In the Philadelphia area and greater Washington, D.C., single women outnumber single men by 50,000.
...
One reason young women in the prime marriage years - the 25-44 age range - flock to big cities is to compete for the most eligible men. And smart women who gravitate to vibrant cities are more likely to stay single - for longer, at least - because they rightly refuse to settle for someone who can't keep up with them intellectually or otherwise.

(Richard Florida)

Doppelgänger?

2008-04-01T17:59:00.005-04:00

A piece of a banner ad I just came across:

2008-04-01T17:47:00.006-04:00

1994 A proposed law will ban online sex chat and inebriated Web surfing. "Congress apparently thinks being drunk on a highway is bad no matter what kind of highway it is," editorializes PC Computing. The bill's supposed sponsor, Senator Ted Kennedy, is not in on the joke. After an onslaught of complaints from drunken perverts, he issues a formal denial.

Another April Fools' gag:

I agree with this blogger:

A cute joke that drags on too long and ends up as a talking point, reflected by the dwindling laughter in the room.

It could've been golden! I was so ready to credit her with something likable!

(H/T Patrick -- who, I should note, became my fifth housemate last week)

Wonk humor

2008-04-01T17:18:00.004-04:00

Fake campaign headlines I contributed to our April Fools' edition:

Clinton surrogate accuses Obama of using performance-enhancing drugs.

NJ superdelegate offers up her vote on Ebay.

Bush appoints himself “SuperDuperDelegate,” vows to settle primary during NCAA half-time show.

(If you didn't chuckle, then you probably have a life)

Bush America

2008-03-28T19:03:00.004-04:00

A cartogram of the 2004 election results by county.
(Explanation, and other maps, here)

A perfect storm of punditry

2008-03-27T13:15:00.002-04:00

What we are witnessing is a controlled experiment in modern campaigning: eliminate policy differences between two candidates; space out the primary schedule so that it remains empty for seven weeks, thereby creating a political-news vacuum in which the candidates and their supporters continue to give speeches, hold press conferences, or blog nonstop; and subject every word to the scrutiny and amplification of the twenty-four-hour news machine.

The predictable result is that two appealing politicians will quickly start to lose their lustre, until, by the time Pennsylvania gets to vote, on April 22nd, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will seem like the smallest, meanest, dirtiest, lowest, most dishonest candidates ever to run for office in the United States.

(George Packer)

2008-03-27T13:09:00.006-04:00

My favorite souvenir; just got it framed.

McCain, pragmatist

2008-03-26T15:59:00.007-04:00

Though I'm no expert on the housing crisis, on a philosophical level
I really like what McCain said yesterday:

I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.
...
Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy. ... Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners, not people who bought houses for speculative purposes, to rent or as second homes. Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren't.

I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits. In this crisis, as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense.

The Clintons team up with VRWC

2008-03-26T15:13:00.020-04:00

In the wake of the OH/TX primaries, when the Obama campaign pressed Hillary Clinton to release her tax returns for the sake of transparency, her campaign said he was "imitating Ken Starr" -- the chief investigator behind the Vince Foster, Whitewater, and Monica Lewinsky scandals.

Since then, the Clintons have collaborated with Matt Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, The American Spectator, and Richard Mellon Scaiffe to undermine Obama. As you may remember, all four actors were central to the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy," a term coined on Jan. 27, 1998:

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday firmly denied allegations that her husband had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Mrs. Clinton blamed the sex allegations on "a vast right-wing conspiracy" against President Bill Clinton.
...
An independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, has expanded his investigation to include charges that the president may have encouraged the ex-intern, Monica Lewinsky, now 24, to lie under oath about whether she and the president had an affair.
"That is not going to be proven true," Clinton said.

2008-03-21T13:13:00.001-04:00

Black Guy Asks Nation For Change

Rev. Huckabee:

2008-03-19T13:49:00.002-04:00

Bully Pulpit

2008-03-19T09:19:00.006-04:00

One other unintended consequence of Obama's speech: If he's elected president, does this mean Democrats can no longer accuse the religious right of being too political? One thing the American public is learning is that the black churches are just as political as the Christian conservatives.

(Chuck Todd)

Rev. Wright: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Rev. Falwell: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Rev. Robertson: "Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government."

Awareness Test

2008-03-18T22:00:00.002-04:00

My debut as a source

2008-03-15T22:32:00.004-04:00

A Washington-based presidential campaign writer says that he was “friended” — when one Facebook user asks another if he or she can link the two profiles — by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).

“I’ve never met Ms. Slaughter, so I was pretty baffled when she friended me,” the campaign writer says, adding that he’s not from Slaughter’s district. He decided it best to decline the request.

(Kris Kitto)

My (H)TV debut

2008-03-14T17:36:00.005-04:00

Lately, I've become the resident expert on Florigan. Today, my editors John and Amy asked me to fill in for them (they had to jet right after publishing) and talk about the controversy on Hotline TV, our office Internet show.

Long story short, Nora and I had to rush through the taping with little-to-no prep time, and this is what resulted:

Considering the circumstances and my nervous naivety when it comes to staged performance, I think it turned out fine. Hopefully comfort will come with practice.

Explaining my addiction

2008-03-12T17:14:00.006-04:00

When you find new information, you get an opioid hit, and we are junkies for those. You might call us 'infovores.' "
For most of human history, there was little chance of overdosing on information, because any one day in the Olduvai Gorge was a lot like any other. Today, though, we can find in the course of a few hours online more information than our ancient ancestors could in their whole lives.

Just like the laser and the cat, technology is playing a trick on us. We are programmed for scarcity and can't dial back when something is abundant.

The same happens with food: Because at one time we never knew when the next saber-toothed tiger might come along for food, it made sense to pack on the calories whenever we chanced upon them. That's not much help in today's world of snack aisles and super sizes.

(Lee Gomes)

Fail Dogs

2008-03-11T22:19:00.001-04:00

My new favorite website (which is a variant of this phenom)

I submitted this one (though I preferred this one)