The Brookings Institution is publishing a series of charts on the candidates' positions on a wide range of topics. They are all worth a read.
Winning Back Dems
As was said earlier in this forum, the primary mission of the convention was for Obama to win back the support of his Democratic base. Though it's still very soon after the primary, the latest poll from Gallop suggests a strong change in his support amongst conservative Democrats.
Palin and Creationism
"The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor's race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms.Source.
'Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.'"
Things Younger Than McCain
An incomplete list:
Alaska
The Golden Gate Bridge
The Chocolate Chip
FM Radio
Minimum Wage
Automatic Car Transmission
The PB & J Sandwich
McDonald's
Polyester
Velcro
Television Commercials
Mount Rushmore
Barack Obama's Mother
Duct Tape
The Zip Code
The Slinky
The Area Code
The Polio Vaccine
What Does The VP Do?
Fast forward to 2:50 and then watch as Palin admits to not knowing what the Vice President does, or watch the entire clip if you care about such things as 'context', which I really just think is some liberal elite bullshit for 'talking out of both sides of you mouth'.
My Cynical Palin Thoughts
After looking at a few photographs of her I think there’s a glaring issue: She’s young and attractive. I wonder how much this will come across as a ‘newer, better’ version of that other female statesman whose named was batted around for the Vice Presidency. Palin clearly doesn’t have Hillary’s record on substantive issues. With that hollow core she might smack many voters as a pretty face, which could be a huge backfire when you’re clearly targeting Hillary voters.
Speaking of a pretty face, this isn't the first time that McCain has gone for a young, beautiful woman, although I would not suggest that he married Cindy McCain for purely political motives. That said, there will certainly be a trophy wife aspect to the GOP ticket.
McCain turns 72 today. He was a prisoner of war. He cannot be in the best of health. But he just chose a woman who's been governor for three minutes to be his successor should tragedy strike. That damages his 'lack of experience' attack on Obama.
Joe Biden is a huge talker, often to the point of blunder. So does anyone expect that he'll be deft enough in a debate not to come across as mean? Yes, this is a gender issue. If he piles on too much there will certainly be political fallout.
This pick signals that McCain thinks he cannot win without courting disenfranchised Hillary Democrats. So in that light it's a reactionary pick that makes him look weak. However, nothing from the die hard HRC supports inspires confidence in me that they wouldn't vote GOP just to spite the DNC.
Straight Talk Express Off Rails...Again, Again, Again
McCain is solidly pro-life. He does not have a pro-choice record of which to speak, so do not be confused by what you are about to read.
"I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary," McCain told the Chronicle in 1999. "But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."
Er, what did you say? Let me clean my ears out. Come again?
“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” McCain said during the South Carolina primaries.
That sounds better.
Fat Tax
Alabama is considering a "Fat Tax" of $25 per month. They say it's to pay for the extra health insurance.
Obama's Tax Cuts: Would You Save?
A great website that I hope will make the rounds. Tells you how much you'd save under Obama's plan compared to McCain's.
College Football TV Schedule
Because there must be at least one other person in the office who cares. Link.
McCain Lies
No, it's not just purposefully misleading. It's blatant lying. On matters this huge we ought not allow for there to be wiggle room between the two. If it's designed to mislead it's on par with lying. To what am I referring? McCain's latest attack ad.
Watch it here.
Read about it here.
Think about it here.
Laugh about it here.
And then enjoy this:
McCain, POW part 145
A long article in The New Republic about how John McCain became John McCain (answer: Cindy McCain) contains this little ditty from his inaugural run for Congress in the 70s: McCain's first television advertisement ended with him saying the following, "I can tell you, if you go for six years without being able to see the sunset or the sunrise, like I did, you can truly appreciate the beauty of what we have [in Arizona]."
Wind Power
The lead story on the homepage of the New York Times is about wind energy, specifically how the limits of our antiquated power grid are bumped up against by the necessity to transfer the energy created by turbines across distances. The technology for a massive increase in wind power is there, we just lack the infrastructure to deliver it.
The article cites $60 billion as the cost to overhaul the power grid to accommodate wind power. Sounds like a lot of money until you consider that we spend $60 billion in Iraq every six months. Wouldn't you rather see that money go back into our economy via the jobs rebuilding our power grid would require (can't outsource those), not to mention the long-term gains of having a modernize power grid?
Biden > McCain Re: FP
The former ambassador to Romania offers the following on Biden's foreign policy knowledge:
I got a chance to see his approach up close one day in early September 1999, when I was U.S. ambassador to Romania. In the aftermath of NATO’s success in stopping ethnic cleaning in Kosovo, Cabinet members and Members of Congress stopped in Bucharest to thank the Romanians for their support of NATO and get a feel for where the Balkan region was going in its aftermath.
Unlike some of the other visitors whose approach was helpful but remarkably relaxed, Biden was a whirlwind of inquiry, analysis and commentary from the time he landed at Otopeni airport.
On the 20-minute drive into the city, he quizzed me on Romanian attitudes, the status of various government leaders and the inside story on Romania’s foreign policy toward Slobodan Milosevic, who was still in power next door in Yugoslavia. Because Biden has known all the major Romanian leaders since the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the questions were Ph.D. level, not Romania 101. That was remarkable in itself since he is no specialist on Romania; he could do the same, landing in dozens of nations around the world.
Did I mention that John McCain, who was once a prisoner of war, confuses the geography of the Middle East and cannot remember the difference among the various sectarian tribes in Iraq? Because he does and he can't.
(H/T: Sullivan)
From The Man Who Knows
David Plouffe offers up some interesting tidbits. Highlights:
** If McCain doesn't win Colorado, "he has a 5% chance to win the election."
** He believes that they have "a slight edge" in Virginia.
** He said Obama is underperforming only among working class whites over 70 and pointed to a poll showing that Obama is over performing John Kerry with working class white voters under 50.
** Said that the campaign's target in Georgia is about 47% of the vote, owing to Ex-Rep. Bob Barr's ability to siphon votes away from John McCain.
** Said HIllary Clinton's speech "could not have gone better."
** Said the campaign "is really pleased" with where they are in Montana.
Smart Take on McCain's FP
The whole column is worth a read but here's a good quote:
Mr. McCain, a tempestuous Russophobe to the marrow, demanded that the U.S. accelerate efforts to bring Georgia into NATO, thus extending a trip wire for war with Russia to Moscow's southern border. Because, you know, having conquered Iraq and Afghanistan while barely breaking a sweat, we're rested and ready to let an adventurous Caucasus nation led by a nut shown on TV chewing on his cravat drag us into World War III.I'm not sure why McCain is considered the candidate with the foreign policy credibility -- oh wait, did someone mention he lived in captivity for five years? -- but it's increasingly clear that a vote for McCain is a vote for a third Bush term when it comes to a knee-jerk foreign policy based on an increasingly diminished in military force THAT IS ALWAYS STRONG BECAUSE WE ARE AMERICA.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
When Reality Cannot Be Topped
Allow me to quote the news story:
When 48-year-old Frankie Lewis couldn’t get any butter on Sunday from the buffet line, police say he took out a knife and threatened to slice parishioners.
Lewis eventually went to put the knife away, but that’s when a church member hit him with a wooden board, according to authorities.
Lewis then rode away on a bicycle, but police quickly caught him.
Perfect Match
Mitt Romney and John McCain, POW, would make a great pair
Trying to hit Barack Obama for not standing up to Russia as aggressively as McCain after the invasion of Georgia, Romney twice referred to "the Soviets," prompting a reporter to point out his mistake. "I'm sorry," Romney said. "Excuse me for the slip; if I said Soviets, I meant the Russians." But then he went on. "Poland is in NATO," he said. "And if the Soviets were to invade Poland, we might be in armed conflict. But the Soviets are not going to invade Poland, because Poland is in NATO."Source.
Anti-Christ, Schmanti-Christ
I'm sure we've all heard the ridiculous comments that Obama is akin to the anti-christ, so I thought you all might like to read what Snopes.com had to say...
Swift Boating John McCain
The same folks who swift boated John Kerry are now targeting John McCain, who was once a prisoner of war. This is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
Interesting Re: Health Insurance
Link.
More people have health insurance now than a few years ago and the state with the biggest increase is Massachusetts, which has adopted an aggressive health care reform agenda for public insurance offerings. A template for a national reform perhaps?
Keeping the VP Secret
Behind the scenes with the aides who were entrusted with keeping the VP selection a secret.
Evangelical Liberalism
The benediction for the DNC on Monday night.
Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen.
Have Some Respect For Gravity!
Love the new ad campaign from Jack Daniels, from which this image is taken. That said, in what freaking universe would the liquid in the glasses be at the same angle as the glasses themselves (assuming the liquid is not frozen)?!?! Shit should be parallel to the ground. Hello, gravity.
Nuance
Sullivan with a smart take on the difference between McCain and Obama w/r/t the Middle East and Iraq war.
McCain, POW
It never stops:
LENO: Welcome back, Sen. McCain, for one million dollars, how many houses do you have?
MCCAIN: You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, without—I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a kitchen table, I didn’t have a table, I didn’t have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years, because—not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.
How We're Different
Our old website just sort of died one day. The Republik, a North Carolina ad agency, has invited you to kill their website. Your options are a .44 Magnum, a shotgun, or a sniper rifle. Select your weapon and then fire bullet holes into the homepage of their old site. Once you kill it you're redirected to another page that I didn't really explore much, but whatever. I got to shoot holes into a website! Awesome!
This is all to generate buzz for their new user-customizable website, which they're launching soon.
I have to say, on all ends and from all angels this is infinitely cooler than what we did and have done.
My Biggest Worry About Obama
Assassination.
Four people suspected of attempting to assassinate Barack Obama are being held in a Denver jail right now.
He Only Got Through Half the List
Somewhat ironically, Dave Freeman, co-author of the famous book "100 Things to Do Before You Die", died recently. He was 47. His father is quoted in the article, saying that Dave got through about half the list.
Body Parts in Song Lyrics
This is kind of cool. Most genres mention eyes the most, hip hop something else. In fact, cycle through all the fleshmaps maps. They're interesting and educational. For instance, both men and women have regions they like being touched more than others. However, for both men and women those regions are touched by their lovers at a frequency higher than their desire to be touched.
In other words: Men like to have their penises touched more than any other part of their body. But their lovers like touching said penises even more. Same with women and breasts. Women like to have their breasts touched but their lovers really like to touch their breasts.
Get Tough
"If the character of a campaign reflects the character of its candidate, then John McCain’s character is not above criticism. In Denver this week, Obama and the Democrats had better hold McCain and the Republicans accountable, not only for the moral, strategic, and material disasters of the past eight years but also for the viciousness of their method of clinging to power."
Hendrik Hertzberg, who I have a crush on.
Monday, August 25, 2008
My Kennedy Crush
I've been slacking in the posting department, mainly because I'm swamped over here, but I couldn't resist spreading some RFK, Jr. love.
I saw him speak at NeoCon in June and had goosebumps the entire time. The guy's mind. It leaves me breathless. And this piece about Obama's "green gold rush" is pretty good, despite the fact that Kennedy, Jr. originally supported HRC.
We Could Do This
A gym in Oregon will power its facility in part with electricity generated by members peddling away on exercise bikes. We have an exercise bike in the gym downstairs. On occasion people must use it. Imagination could be riding the crest of the green revolution!
Just think: We could implement a system where power generated on the equipment downstairs was redistributed back into the employee's paycheck, thus reducing our carbon footprint while simultaneously encouraging employee fitness.
(And by 'we' I obviously mean 'people with more authority than Joel'.)
Then we could put some content on our website talking about how environmentally conscious we are and about our revolutionary employee fitness/energy program. Bing, bang, boom.
UPDATE: Information on the exercise bikes can be found here. They go on sale 9/1 @ $1450 and they are only building 50 initially.
What The Convention Means
Marc Ambinder has a smart post on what Obama needs to accomplish at the DNC Convention: get Democrats to vote for him. Those are the voters McCain is targeting right now and those are the voters Obama would like to solidfy as his supporters.
As has been pointed out to me by Rene countless times, during this voting cycle more people identify as Democrats than as Republicans. This is why Obama leads in the polls even though he is doing worse among Democrats than McCain is among Republicans (80% vs 85%). The cleanest path to the White House for Obama is to get them to vote against John McCain because he's a Republican and they are Democrats. So Obama and the DNC will be trumpeting Obama's Democratness during the convention and reminding voters at every turn that McCain is a Republican.
SmartBike Chicago?
Washington DC has just become home to an interesting new community bike sharing program called BikeShare DC. You register, pay a fee, and then have access to bikes you can use to get around the city. It's a pretty great idea. I wonder if it would work in Chicago. Rene would probably be better able to answer this, but my feeling is that Chicago is not biker friendly. Along the lake there are ample bike paths, but the farther you move in the less suited to biking Chicago becomes. Which is both unfortunate and odd. For a city with robust neighborhoods those neighborhoods are awfully cramped with cars and are laid out in one direction (north). Getting from many popular neighborhoods to downtown requires a litte ride.
Awesome, Hillary!
"I will be telling my delegates that I will vote for Barack Obama. How they vote is a more personal decision. They want to have their chance to vote for me. That is what traditionally happens ... some people are having to make up their minds because there are arguments pulling them both ways."
HRC, this morning.
She's planting the seeds for 2012. The woman knows no loyalty to anything but her obsessive sense of entitlement.
TNR: Best Coverage of Campaign
The New Republic lists what they think have been the highlights in campaign coverage thus far.
Pathetic New Obama Ad
Who is he targeting here? This ad stinks. Someone should be fired.
UPDATE: Koppelman likes the ad. I'm at a loss.
Something that would have been helpful Friday.
Could organic booze really quell a hangover? One NY Daily news writer attempts an experiment.