Typewriters, Baby!

I adore a good op-ed -perhaps because I don't think I'll ever pen one myself. With that in mind, I really enjoyed what Thomas Friedman had to say in the New York Times the other day about drilling for oil. Aside from agreeing with what he said, I think it's just a well crafted piece, complete with the immortal line "Typewriters, baby, Typewriters" in mockery of Rudy Giuliani. It's worth the two minutes it will take you to read it.

Amazing Bear Butt Itching

Wonkette, even in my busiest week of late you come through with incredible content to make me get back to blogging! YAY!!!

Somebody Check the Thermostat in Hell

This is a truly amazing editorial by Wick Allison, of National Review fame. What makes it worth reading, besides its thoughtful argument, is that it endorses Barack Obama for President. Of the United States.

No, really.

And it isn't one of those " vote for Obama so in four years we can get a real conservative" pieces either. It's the real deal. The central thesis is that Obama should be president because he is the real conservative in this race. Anyway, you've got to read it in its entirety, but in the meantime, consider this little tidbit:

It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.


Enjoy.

Why Republicans get to call Obama an "elitist"

We've all often wondered how Republicans manage to slap the Elitist label on Obama and other Democrats, given that said Republicans wear $300,000 outfits and live in 7 glass houses. I think the answer is that the kind of elitism that Republicans have in mind is, for lack of a better term, intellectual elitism. The idea is that Democrats are pointy-headed, smarty-pants professors, who look down their nose at the beliefs and tastes of regular folks. It's not universally true of course. you'd have a hard time convincing me that the union voters, who tend to vote Democratic, are the sort to laugh off NASCAR and country music. But the idea is not entirely untrue either. If you meet someone with a graduate degree at an art gallery or wine and cheese party, the chances are pretty good that he or she is voting blue.
Obama doesn't help the case with comments like these:

The one thing that I want to insist on is that, as I travel around the country, the American people are a decent people. Now they get confused sometimes. You know, they listen to the wrong talk radio shows or watch the wrong TV networks, um, but they’re, they’re basically decent, they’re basically sound.

How this will sound to voters in Indiana: Now, the American people may disargeee with we enlightened liberals, but that's not because they're bad. No, it's just because they're confused, see. They listen to talk radio instead of reading The Nation. But eventually they'll come around to the One True Way.

I expect these comments to get a lot more attention, because that sentiment, folks, is exactly why some conservatives see Obama as an elitist, regardless of the size of his bank account.