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Veepstakes

by blue stockings | Kathy Kolbert still thinks Obama is a progressive and hopes he'll pick a progressive veep.  I am going to vote for him, but he ain't no progressive.  I'm expecting to be let down on this as well as FISA, reproductive rights, NAFTA, etc., etc.

Deb Cupples is disappointed that he didn't choose Clark.  Clark's one of the smartest Dems I know of and I agree with Deb.  Kind of a letdown in more than one way, particularly if Clark was dissed the way it seems. 

Colbert Twofer: John McCain Steals from Wikipedia /Blame Monica Goodling

Did John McCain plagiarize?

Christian PAC Comes Out in Support of Obama, Infuriating the Right-eous

by Teh Nutroots | As Damozel posted earlier at BN-Politics, McCain's attempt to present his wife as a biker chick hasn't panned out too well for him. A man who goes a-wooing the far right evangelicals can't really be too buttoned-down or zipped up.  This is one sort of mistake I don't remember ever seeing George Bush make.  As we've all seen, far right Christians are fine with violence, but they hate any whiff of sex. 

And now there's a Christian PAC that's come out in support of Obama. (Washington Wire)  It's true.  This must be that "Christian left" that Damozel is always going on about---which I kind of thought was a myth---or maybe  it's the Christian center or not-so-far-right.  I don't know.  I don't know jack about God.

A recently launched Christian-based political action committee, the Matthew 25 Network, will air a television ad in support of Barack Obama touting his family values that will coincide with a faith-based forum on Saturday hosted by Pastor Rick Warren at the Saddleback Church  in Lake Forest, Calif.

Hope for a New Species or Giant Hoax? Men Claim to Have Recovered the Body of Sasquatch

by Cockney Robin | cross-posted at BN-Politics | Apparently two men from Georgia (USA) have recovered the frozen 7'7, 500 pound body of a creature they believe is Sasquatch---or rather a sasquatch (NYT; click to see photo), since they claim they saw other similar creatures in the same area. (CNN)  One of the finders is a former police officer and another is an ex-corrections officer. (CNN) They won't say where they found it so as to protect those other creatures.  I call that very wise of them---and no, I'm not being sarky here.

CNN Inquires: "[IS] OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?"

Posted by Damozel | cross posted at BN-Politics |  Hey, what do you know?  McCain's ad, "The One,"  portraying Obama as Antichrist (see the ad here) seems to have worked!  In "debunking" the "rumor," CNN actually treated this as a serious question. (cf. The Raw Story)

That such a subject is even speculated about in any but the most backwards, unreconstructed segments of American society -- let alone on a 24-hour cable network -- is a testament (no pun intended) to the depths to which political debate has fallen. But there was the caption on CNN Friday in big bold letters: "OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?"

Apparently a not-insignificant number of Americans, after viewing John McCain's Web ad The One, with its Messianic overtones -- come away thinking that Barack Obama has been sent from Hell to Earth to turn its citizens against God. For inspiration, some of these people seem to be drawing from the fictional Left Behind series, which posits a dystopian future where the Anti-Christ comes to Earth as a charismatic politician. (The Raw Story)

Chalk one up for McCain!  He did exactly what he wasn't---he assures us---setting out to do. 

McCain Yanks Off Bush's Crown; Tries It on For Size

by Teh Nutroots | Riddle me this:  Wasn't it only 2-3 weeks ago that the Republicans were moaning about the presumptuousness of Barack Obama?  If so, how do they explain McCain's sudden accession to an authoritative role in Georgia---so much of one that he is sending his own "envoys" to deal with the situation?

Was it not presumptuous after all?  Or...are they applying the hoary old "it's different when Republicans do it" rule?

All Barack did was make a speech.  John McCain is speaking every day to Georgia's loose cannon-in-chief, his friend "Misha," despite "Misha's" calling him out the other day ('very cheering...Words, not deeds."  Doesn't Bush mind?  F*** me.  I'd mind.  For once I kind of admire Bush's restraint.

I'd be like, "Dude?  Excuse me; I believe I am still president here?"

Consider this:

Two Ads: "Maverick No More" and "The Original"

by Damozel | These should have gone up before now.  It was a response to one in which various Dems praise him for his "maverick" views.  In my opinion, this nails the reason that I've turned against McCain (who I used to think made a decent sort of Republican, for a Republican). 

The Faulty Reasoning Almanack: Shuster Is Polite To PUMAs....but....

Taylor Marsh, formerly one of Hillary's most stalwart  advocates, has the intelligent and tactful take on this:

Colmes Being Awesome

Posted by Blue Stockings |

I wrote this up last night.  Here's the You Tube.

Wonkette:

John Derbyshire is Alarmed! And Other Things Beginning with 'A'!

by Cockney Robin | You've got to hand it to him for always being able to come up with new ways of being a pillock.  Here is exhibit A (for 'arsehole'), from his comments about the cowardliness of the students who got slaughtered at Virginia Tech, with some reactions from across the spectrum.

First he quotes a discussion of a recent study concerning the disappearance of America's white majority.

"If we don't invest in educating and training African-American kids, immigrants and Latino kids, we won't have a middle class," said Mark Sawyer, the director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics at the University of California at Los Angeles. "We'll have a very, very poor disposable class that's largely black or brown."[link]

 

Troops Give It Up for Obama and, um, Ron Paul?

by Damozel | This piece by Luke Rosiak at Open Secrets is fraught with interest.

Hillary: What, She's Not the Evil Scheming Genius MoDo Would Have Had You Believe?

Posted by Teh Nutroots | At our sister blog, Buck Naked Politics,  Deb Cupples saw off Maureen Dowd's Hillary-based fiction about the Democratic convention in fine style yesterday. (Maureen Dowd Talks out of her ... Ear Again ).   Dowd, as we all know, is wicked envious of just about everyone, so her stock-in-trade is undifferentiated mockery from the sidelines   If she told us the sun was shining, we'd assume she meant, er, out of her "ear."

Here at IDLYE, our credo is:  "Maureen Dowd is always wrong."

Joe Gandelman does a reality check today at The Moderate Voice:

Andrew Sullivan on McCain

by Teh Nutroots | As he mulls over his former support for the war in Iraq, provides a summary of McCain's militarism  in a nutshell .

For him, it is always 1938 somewhere; America's duty is to control, occupy or intervene wherever any rival seeks influence and any group does not share our alleged values. And so American power must be brought to bear in Georgia and Iraq and Iran and Burma and Darfur and Bosnia and anyplace else where American interests are threatened or democratic allies seek help. And for militarist American exceptionalists, this all makes sense. This is the higher purpose McCain lives for: the glory of liberation, the thrill of conquest, the adoration of the soldier, the defeat of evil.

I've never understood in the first place why this attitude was ever meant to be "conservative."   The only thing they're conserving is American arrogance at the expense of everything else.

Pelosi on Joe Lieberman

Posted by Teh Nutroots | What do you know.  In an interview with a Bay area talk show host, she actually said something worthy of not of a raspberry, but a tip of the hat.  The sting's in the tail.

Joe Lieberman has said things that are totally irresponsible when it comes to Barack Obama. Here we have a leader for the future, really a great leader for the future and one that comes along only every now and then, and they know it so they have to undermine him. And one of their best weapons, of course, is someone who is considered by some to be a Democrat." (emphasis added)

Huzzah! 

She explains here why Democrats have dealt warily with Lieberman and what Senate Democrats might do about it if he carries on the way he's been doing.

Colmes Fights Back Against Hannity's Double Standard for McCain

Posted by Teh Nutroots | Good for Colmes.  Didn't think he had it in him.  We generally type his name in the manner suggested by Al Franken:  Colmes.   But today he gets him some full-sized letters for talking back (reported by Crooks and Liars).

John Amato says: "The wingnut mentality is a wonder to behold, no?"  Yep.  For example, there's this.

Arkansas Chair Bill Gwatney is Shot in His Office; Collateral Damage: Malkin's Feelings Get Wounded

Posted by Blue Stockings | Deb Cupples deals with this tragedy at our sister blog, Buck Naked Politics, here.

To add to the anguish, poor little Malkin received a mean email accusing her and her wingnut cronies of complicity.  In a post entitled "I Shot the Arkansas Democrat Party Chairman," she was so upset by a mean email arguing that her gospel of hatefulness might have something to do with this that she "forgot" to remove the emailer's address.  Well, that emailer will know better next time. 

It's way premature to be talking about complicity since nobody even knows the gunman's motive.

Irony Alert: McCain: "In the 21st Century, Nations Don't Invade Other Nations"

Damozel & Teh Nutroots | Would that he were right. You can see the video (via Think Progress) below.

Not only does John McCain not know any Russian history, he also apparently doesn't remember as far back as 2003 or know what's going on now.

This quote is so free from any sense it's actually a little bit awesome.

McCain on the Conflict Between Georgia and Russia

“I think it’s very clear that Russian ambitions are to restore the old Russian Empire. Not the Soviet Union, but the Russian Empire.”

And people think this man is "ready to lead"?  He's not even living in the same century as the rest of us.

And Maureen Dowd Knows Narcissism

By Blue Stockings |   We already know there isn't enough shut up in all the world for Maureen Dowd.  But John Edwards should probably be grateful to her.  If there's one writer who can probably bring everyone together on his side, it's her.  Certainly Dowd is one person everyone writing at this blog agrees on, even if we can't agree on anything else.

Every time I swear I'll never read her self-referential musings again, I find myself pulled in by curiosity to see whether she can outrage me further.  So far, the answer always turns out to be "yes."

You know, I'm annoyed with John Edwards.  I said so.  He stands accused of hypocrisy at the very least.  I draw the line at presuming to read his mind or to judge him based on this one act.  Maybe he was carried away with himself.  I easily believe that.  But is there really no understanding anywhere for the pathos of the situation and its aftermath?

But it has occurred to me since then that men whose wives are seriously ill sometimes do very shocking and unbecoming things....out of fear.  Men who fear losing their wives often seem to try to put some distance between themselves and the beloved.  Who's to say that isn't what was going on with Edwards?   It might be true and he might not even be consciously aware of it.  And if he were, it's not really something he could ever say.

But yes, yes, yes:  by all means.  Let's all go ahead and sit in judgment on John Edwards.  He's been a hypocrite---we would never do that.  He's been disloyal to a spouse---we are all paragons of faithfulness and loyalty.  He's betrayed his own standards---none of us have ever done that.

Admiral Fallon Discusses US foreign policy on BBC's Newsnight

by Damozel | Highly recommended.

Fallon is the CENTCOM Chief who resigned last year. 

Fallon opposed the “surge” in Iraq and...consistently battled the Bush administration to avoid a confrontation with Iran, calling officials’ warmongering rhetoric “not helpful.”  (Think Progress)

Whatever he may have thought before, he says that the situation in Iraq generally is greatly improved. He also discusses troop withdrawals, Iran, and his own role in US foreign policy.   At any rate, it's an interesting interview by a serious interviewer; and Fallon makes an excellent showing.

How A Bill Becomes Law (Revised)

Posted by Damozel | Gen. J.C. Christian of Jesus' General writes:

While watching John McCain work the offshore oil drilling issue, it occurred to me that the old "How a Bill Becomes Law" chart we used in school is now out of date. 

Click here to see revised version.

The Edwards "Controversy" & The Media Double Standard

by Teh Nutroots | Okay, we've dissed Edwards.  We've said what there is to say, i.e. [accompanied by the sound of a newspaper whapping him on the nose]:

BAD BAD BAD! [::whap::] How could you do it to Elizabeth? [::whap::] How could you do it to your supporters? [::WHAP WHAP::] How could you encourage us to vote for you, thereby encouraging us to vote for a candidate who could scuttle the whole election? (here)  [::whappity whap whap::]  How could you be such a hypocrite? (here)  [whappity whappity WHAP WHAP WHAP]

Since he didn't win the nomination, he didn't inflict the harm---though it wasn't for the want of trying.  So it's an issue, though not a major issue.

The New York Times raises the question of the media's "reticence" toward the no-longer-campaigning former Senator and his incurably ill wife.  As noted below, the no-longer-campaigning Edwards isn't the only beneficiary of such reticence. 

Joe Klein---working hard to redeem himself, but as usual failing to see the trees for the forest---says:

If Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle, What are John McCain & Ron Paul?

by Damozel | I commented the other day on a MoJo interview with Matthew Honan, the creator of Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle.com (and how the site came about).  To see all the ways he cares, click on any link and keep on refreshing. 

• Barack Obama made up your bed

• Barack Obama paid your speeding ticket

• Barack Obama carries a picture of you in his wallet

• Barack Obama saved his dessert for you

• Barack Obama spent the afternoon setting up your router

• Barack Obama thinks you are cute

But what about other candidates?  Honan's site has spawned plenty of imitators.

Ride the Wayback Pony: Edwards' Hypocrisy Gets A Democrat Down

by Blue Stockings | Sometimes The Huffington Post really gets on my last nerve.  I know, I know, THEY TOLD US SO and we told them to shut up till they had proof.  Still:  it's a tragedy for Dems and they shouldn't be quite so full of piss and judgment.  Read the smuggery here (Say It Ain't So, Elizabeth -- You Knew But Supported His Run For President?) and here (What is Wrong With Men?)

The first bothers me more than the second.  It's not Elizabeth's fault.  And Stranahan is as wrong as he can be when he implies that there would ever be a time when it wouldn't matter to Edwards' presidential bid.  His rebuke to Clinton would have come back to haunt him no matter what. 

As for what's wrong with men:  same old same old.  You could say it's a refreshing change from Republican-style sex scandals such as this one (involving a 14 year old girl and a Missouri state rep).

But I am not letting Edwards off the hook.  Far from it.  From The Raleigh News and Observer:

Ride the Wayback Pony: Michael Moore's Advice to Obama in Today's Guardian & His Open Letter to Al Gore in 2000

Blue Stockings | I like Michael Moore, and some of what he says in this piece in The Guardian is dead on, but the following annoys me.  It's flat out hypocritical.

[Y]ou would think, with more than 200 million eligible voters, the Dems would be cleaning up, election after election. Obviously not. The Democrats appear to be professional losers. They are so pathetic in their ability to win elections, they even lose when they win! Al Gore won the 2000 election, but for some strange reason he didn't become the president of the United States. (Guardian)

Some of us think that Ralph Nader spoiled the election for Al Gore in 2000, bequeathing to us our present ills.  And do you know who was standing right out there on a soapbox in the middle of the ring, banging his knee cymbals, and yelling through a  megaphone about the uselessness of Al Gore and the importance of voting for Nader?  Guess.  Go on.  Guess. 

Um, Michael?  Remember this?

Harry Shearer: "Addicted to Oil"

Posted by Damozel | "Addiction always seems to wind up with a foreigner and a gun." 

A Right-Wing Christian Asks: If Obama Really is the Antichrist, Shouldn't We Vote for Him?

by (Mrs.) Anna Hosanna | I know that the "crazy liberals" who also post here are not going to like this post and will roll their Eyes, even Damozel who owns this site and is a Quaker (which I thought was only on Oatmeal Boxes)  is a "Liberal".  She took me to Her church once and they don't even Sing Hymns or have a Sermon, they just sit there and supposably Pray silently unless "the Spirit" moves them to speak (the spirit Must of been as Bored as I was when I was There because nobody said a Thing and I nearly Fell Asleep.)

But as a  born-again "True Believer"as well as a Christian, "I am worried" about this ad.  While "I don't usually pay any attention" to ads, as a Fan of "The Book of Revelations" and also "The Left Behind" Series, "I was shocked" when I saw this ad and then Read a Piece in Time that demonstrated that Obama might be "the Antichrist."  (I know some Conservatives call Him the "Obamamessiah" but "I do not" since that is sacrilegious.)   

This McCain ad made me think about Him (Obama) Differently:

Then:  I read this article in TIME Magazine:

Jon Stewart: Who Banned Offshore Drilling? "His Presidency Seems So Cute Now"

One of Stewart's best.

[When did McCain start saying "nucular"?]

Obama Not Hopeful Enough for the Jolly, Upbeat, Glass-Half-Full Lads of the Right

by Teh Nutroots | The right wing megaphones are rushing to broadcast to their audience of gulls that Barack Obama isn't delivering the message of hope that America is longing for.  Voters, they holler, want someone who will give them a positive upbeat message, no matter how dire the situation Bush has willed on us. 

Funny how their previous scorn for Obama's message of Hope and Change goes out the window when he focuses for a few seconds on the current stark reality (or as I put it, The Judgment on the Bush Regime that is About to Come). 

"Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle" Explained

I loved that site.   MoJo discusses the genesis of the site with its creator, Mathew Honan (who now has a book deal).

My wife Harper and I are both avid cyclists. Harper is absolutely consumed with cycling; it's what she talks about all the time. Just before Super Tuesday she just went full-bore Obama. It was all she could focus on. She was canvassing, making phone calls, spent all Super Tuesday standing outside with Obama signs around town. So I said to her, "Barack Obama is your new bicycle." She thought it was funny; I thought it was funny. And then on February 13, I was going home from the library on the bus and I started thinking how Barack Obama is kind of like the whole country's new bicycle. I had the idea for the site around 5 p.m., and it was live by around 9 p.m....

I think to some extent it is kind of an empty vessel. I've had people convinced it's an anti-Obama site. I've had people convinced it's a pro-Obama site. And I didn't intend it as either of those things. I was just trying to comment on the fervor there is for Obama and the excitement that he has generated in his supporters. I think it was popular because people who didn't necessarily support Obama found it funny.  (Mother Jones)

The Daily Show: George W. Bush's Real Contribution to Language

A Right Wing Man's Plea: Right Wing Women, Please Stop Blogging

by John Q. Public  I've been thinking about this topic for weeks, but have hesitated to publish my views.  It is a controversial subject.  Even my powerful brothers of the far right dare not address it (though they certainly secretly think it).

These days, it is difficult to find a woman who understands what it means to be a lady.  Even Republican women, I am sorry to say---my ex-wife Judith is a tragic example--- seem to believe that they should be able to compete with men in the workplace, to hold political offices, and even to set up blog sites to offer political opinions.  It is time for women of the right to think about the example they are setting to the next generation of Republican women.  It is not a good one.

What finally pushed me over the edge was  Michelle Malkin's post about the military tribunal at Gitmo.  Michelle, please.  That is not a suitable topic for a button-cute  Republican lady and yet she has already received responses from several male right-wing bloggers that endorse her views without even a gentle hint to her that it would perhaps be best if she would stick to cheerleading and leave the heavy lifting for the men.  (Why don't more right wing blogging ladies dress up as cheerleaders, I wonder?  Or French maids? But I digress). 

[Republican] Women, Know Your Limits!

Posted by Mr. John Q. Public [So Right It's Wrong] | Instructional videos from our British cousins, specifically the great Harry Enfield:

VIDEO A: WOMEN, KNOW YOUR LIMITS! [cf. Mr. Robert Stacy McCain, "Equality is for Ugly Losers"]

VIDEO B: WOMEN, KEEP YOUR VIRTUE!

"It's Like These Guys Take Pride in Being Ignorant"

by Blue Stockings | It's much more like they think the public is really ignorant---or rather the part constituting their base.

Obama was talking about the tire gauge kerfuffle, but he could be describing the entire far right wing of the GOP.  As skippy puts it,
"they not only take pride in being ignorant, they take pride in preaching ignorance."

As usual they're picking on one miniscule point and basing a whole attack on it.  They know their base better than I do, of course.  Maybe that sort of thing works with Republicans.  It worked with Michelle Malkin.  These are people who don't have any tools but blunt ones to work with.  Or rather, they don't need any tools but blunt ones to work with.   You don't have to be subtle when you're dispensing ignorance.

From The Stump:

Cindy McCain, Biker Chick?

by Teh Nutroots |  Ben Smith:

Meanwhile, at a biker rally in Sturgis, S.D., John McCain appears to have volunteered his wife for a topless beauty pageant:

McCain felt so comfortable at the event that he even volunteered his wife for the rally’s traditional beauty pageant, an infamously debauched event that’s been known to feature topless women.

“I encouraged Cindy to compete,” McCain said to cheers. “I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman ever to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.”

I hear defiant redstate-necked Republicans asking: "Why shouldn't John McCain offer her up his wife for the "Bikini Contest" at the Biker event he's attending in Dakota?" 

Why indeed?  Why indeed.  .

Well, there is this (from ESPN via TPM):

Jon Stewart & Bob Herbert's "Phallic Symbols"

by Damozel | I'm not fond of Bob Herbert after what he helped do to Hillary and Bill Clinton.  But I thought we Obama supporters---I am one of those now---won a point or two on the "dog whistle" argument re: the celebrity ad till we got to Bob Herbert and his "phallic symbols." 

Plus he sort of proved Big Tent Democrat's point about not knowing when to stop or how something that sounds good at the moment can swerve back around to cut your arguments off at the knees.. 

Jon Stewart responds pretty much the way everyone I know did.  Then he tries to put the race genie back in the bottle. 

Jon Swift Schools The Blogosphere on Satire

by Teh Nutroots & Damozel  | We had an uncomfortable day or two last week when A-List blogger Andrew Sullivan read one of Z-List bloggers John Q's pieces which quoted from one of Sullivan's postings (getting it all wrong) and tactfully called him out for the stupidity of his misinterpretation at The Daily Dish.  [Afterwards Mr Sullivan was good enough to post a second note noting that our resident neoconman's piece was rather amusing.]  Naturally we're grateful. 

Whilst we were all feeling low about having inadvertently taken in Andrew Sullivan, Jon Swift---one of the blogosphere's most distinguished (and sensible) political bloggers--- kindly dropped by and suggested that another time we listen to his advice on satire (which he set out in a piece from which we've excerpted below).   We were really grateful for this as his is the balanced vision to which we and Fox News aspire but can never attain.

Swift's advice on satire is included on the piece he wrote on the New Yorker cover.  We hope that other aspiring satirists will read and learn. 

Ride the Wayback Pony: The Daily Show Bashes the Bush Administration's Pre-Katrina Attempts to Create Its Own Media Filter

by Teh Nutroots | A Twofer from The Daily Show, March 2003. Needless to say, it was really Clinton's fault.

Now More than Ever: Everything has Something to Do with the Templars

by Cockney Robin | The best novel--bar none--about the Knights Templar is Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.  [Damozel reviewed it here.  She also made me read it---as in 'nagged me all the hours there were till it was easier to read it than to listen to her nag me to read it'.  The characters in the novel feed the fundamental axiom 'The Templars have something to do with everything' into a computer program they are building that is designed to tie up every loose end and all esoteric knowledge in history, and answer every question...   As Damozel says:

In addition to everything else, it's a book about The Da Vinci Code, or its theoretical underpinnings, even though it was written long before it.

It is a mine of information you probably did not know.  But it is also a novel.[Just Eat the Damn Peach'

Ride the Wayback Pony: Tweety Luuurved George Bush in His Flight Suit

by Teh Nutroots | Because I don't think we can be reminded too often (courtesy of Media Matters, 4-27-06), which named Chris Matthews its 2005 "Misinformer of the Year" and number 1 softball player.