"Bring Back the Real McCain"

Having been without an Economist for several weeks, I just finally saw their cover story about McCain. Amazingly, it was written before Sarah Palin was chosen as his running mate, which only makes the argument that McCain has sold out even stronger.

I would have liked to respond to John's post by arguing that McCain hasn't changed, that he's still immune from the far right's influence. I even started a post to that effect. I'm not sure I can. I feel like every day that goes by brings me closer and closer to voting against the man I've so long admired. It's hard to think about.

Perhaps it is not coincidental that McCain is surging in the polls. I have never voted for a winning presidential candidate, which means that Obama should be doing all he can to lose the Me demographic...

More from the South

ChimneyFlowerBees3, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

I've been derelict in my photoblogging of late, as usual, but this is one of my favorites from this summer's North Carolina trip! Today, while it's rainy as all get-out up here in the CT I thought it would be nice to toss a little color up on the ole blog.

I snapped this photo as we were preparing to climb up Chimney Rock. There were a slew of bees flying around in a patch of flowers. The purple you see in the background is cabbage, planted in the same flower bed.

Damn Statistics

Apparently Obama had a nice chat with Bill O'Reilly last week and Keith Olbermann as well... the two loud talkers went head-to-head last night airing their interview action, and among other things O'Reilly was particularly catty on the subject of taxes. He went after Obama, using some squirrely math to try and paint a picture that economic growth has been stellar under the Bush administration and was relatively limp in the Clinton years.

Obama didn't have the math on hand so couldn't respond in kind, but did react by offering a quote that there are, "lies, damn lies and then there there are statistics." What he didn't have in front of him were the analysis of O'Reilly's numbers that would have demonstrated how his stats weren't adjusted for inflation which would have put growth numbers from 2001 until now at around 5% compared with about a 30% growth rate from the start to the end of Bill Clinton's time in office. Oops. Salon's War Room did the math I'm quoting and you can check their work via the post here.

Still, I'm just as interested in some other math Salon did today to fact check Sarah Palin on the trail and on the attack over earmarks. See, the McCain camp still wants to paint Palin as a maverick fighter against the evil that is earmarks in spite of her extensive work with Ted Stevens and other indited hooligans to secure just as much earmark cash as possible for Alaska's pet projects. Palin claimed that Obama has spent his days in Washington greedily chasing pork $$ to the tune of about $1 million for every working day, a piece of math Salon checked over and said, "Ok, looks good." However, they also went on to compare apples to apples and found that if you use Palin's measuring standards on her own pork tally, you find she actually has chased slightly more earmark cash for Alaska on a $ per work day basis. Hmm... nicely done, Salon. I like your calculations.

Check it all out here: Post on O'Reilly and Statistics, Post on Palin and Pork Shadiness. Here we go folks... looks like we can expect a fall full of fun with more crap like this flying! YAY!

From Upside-Down World: The Presidential Ticket That Fights Republicans...

There's a new ad out this week from the McCain campaign, still pushing for John McCain to be seen as Mr. McMaverick, new and improved, now with extra Palin Power! My question and problem is this: do people who care about his once independent streak, and care about change really believe McCain is still the same change agent he once was?

If you knew nothing of context here and simply watched the ad below, what party would you believe these two are part of? Probably not the Republicans, right? Still, if you listened to the speeches at the GOP convention last week there wasn't exactly a lot of policy laid out that sounded all that new or different from the same ideas Bushie & Co. have been rolling around for years. So wazzup?

I'll give them this, it sure is a jazzy little ad, tantalizing like, say, a fancy speech might be to some. But what is it worth, if the Maverick storyline is either entirely in the past or largely trumped-up?



Weigh in, let me know what you think of the Original Mavericks!!!

"Words Mean Something!" - Obama

YES! This has been a rallying cry of mine for quite some time, and I was very extremely wonderfully pleased to read today on HuffPo that Barack Obama used a line I think everyone who gives a crap about the future, truth, and reality should adopt. The article linked in the last sentence reports on Obama taking his first direct attack on Sarah Palin, criticizing her for billing herself as an earmark fighter while she successfully chased over $4,000 a person worth of earmarks (that's over $27 million total) for the small city of Wasilla, AK while she was mayor.

In his remarks on the subject, Obama said:

"She's a skillful politician. But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up."

Lazy Blogging

You know, I could post and pretend that I've got lots of original thoughts and interesting things to say about John McCain's speech at the GOP Convention, or I could just post the video from the start of yesterday's Daily Show. Brilliant!

Haven't heard about Walter Reed Middle School, Sarah Palin's love of Wasilla Earmarks, the giant gravestone image, or the phallic... er middle finger stage? Check it out.

Toby Says His Piece

Who doesn't love West Wing? I will admit that it is a community collective pass-time among people in my age bracket who live or have lived in Washington DC to imagine what the world would be like if only President Bartlett had reached power in 2000, rather than Dubya. Still, all make-believe aside, the cast of the show are a remarkable bunch, now turning out stellar performances, like Allison Janney's turn in Juno. Today I read a remarkable piece of writing by Toby (Richard Schiff) over at Huffington Post, and I simply had to post a bit of an excerpt.

The whole thing isn't too long, and I strongly encourage anyone troubled by the tight state of the current presidential race to read it quickly. His piece focuses on the fact that his wife, a strong Hillary supporter, appears likely to be voting for McCain this fall. Here's a stretch that I was especially struck by:

"... The bottom line is that this is where we are: a still fractious and divided nation, split right down the middle, as represented by my very own household. I am moved to think that we, along with the Obama/Biden team, will begin to change the very culture of the way we do business with each other and the world at large. That we should use 'Example as power rather than power as example'; that 'America's promise [is] of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.'

I ask myself why these tenets are so rejected by the opposition, by my wife. Is it racism? Is it the propaganda of family values and God and the manifest destiny of American domination of the world as a righteous cause? Is it that John McCain is still perceived as a maverick and revered for his heroic war service? Is it the singular issue for some women that Hillary Clinton was castigated in certain media and an object of old-school misogyny that is unacceptable and cause enough to abandon the very politics that she supports?

I can't answer these questions, as I don't understand the thinking and emotional investment that defends them.

My opinion of John McCain is different. Here is a man who had his moment in history already pass him by. After being eviscerated and politically castrated in the 2000 Republican primaries by the Bush PR machine; accused falsely of fathering an illegitimate and racially mixed child, he was given a chance at redemption and a chance to save the world from a man he considered at the time to be dangerous and untrustworthy. He could have run as a third party candidate and taken enough votes away from George W. to seal the election for Al Gore. He passed.

Four years later, John Kerry had talks with McCain about running as his Vice-President; a dream ticket that would surely bring down the Bush regime. Again he passed. When I ask Washington insiders why, they can only conclude that the reason was simple, unadulterated ambition to be President. But what a price to pay. This is a man who could have saved the world from the last eight years of disaster and instead is content to inherit the aftermath. But the other half of the divide chooses to imagine the younger McCain, the independent, free thinking, iconoclast he may very well have been once, long ago.

And now McCain has picked Sarah Palin of Alaska for the office of Vice-President. I'm sure she is capable of governing the frozen tundra of her state (couldn't help myself) and is surely a force to be reckoned with on some level. But no one can convince me thatMcCain has chosen a running mate who is capable of stepping into the Oval Office in the event of the death of the President. And let's face it, that scenario isn't beyond the realm of possibility. And even with this, I hear in real and electronic voices 'we like her,' 'she's warm and personable,' 'she's a soccer mom who has become accomplished and powerful.' What?

And so we stay divided: My country, my wife and I. I am stumped. But I am stubborn in my hope that Americans across the great divide, including one who sleeps in my bed, will wake up to more lofty dreams.

I imagine an America that can actually change. That we become a nation that prospers again but without pillaging the resources of nations that make their people hate us. That we become a nation that, as the constitution says in its preamble, its very first paragraph, 'promotes the general welfare' of its people.

When new ideas and belief-altering evidence confronts us, many of us still shout that the world is flat, or global climate change is cyclical, or women belong in the home. I can only remember when great agents of change come to us, it seems as many reject their presence as rejoice in it. Kennedy won office by the slimmest margin in our history to that point. Martin Luther King made as many or more enemies than there were marchers by his side."

I know that's a ridiculously long excerpt, but I recommend reading the whole thing, I found it an interesting meditation on the state of the nation/election.

Fun and Games: HORSE

Thanks to Larry for pointing this out... what fun stuff. The video below shows the match up between factory worker David Kalb and LeBron James in a game (actually two games) of HORSE. Kalb won an online contest for the best trick shot, and as his prize got to take on James in a game of HORSE, going head-to-head with one of the most talented men int he NBA, Kalb showed remarkable creativity and athleticism, and generally it's just fun to watch the wacky shots he hit. James really couldn't keep up with the strange stylings of Mr. Kalb, and honestly who could? I'm not really a basketball fan, but this is worth a watch.

UPDATE: I took out the video itself because I couldn't switch off auto play, but you can still watch it on the LA Times website by visiting the link above.

Taking Issues Off the Table

Many have said that John McCain took the experience issue off the table in this year's election by choosing Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Was he on a bit of a spree with taking issues off the table this week? Perhaps! HuffPo documented the fact that on his big night, at his big speech, in front of his big ole lime green screen Mr. McCain was not fulfilling on of his sacred duties as a God-fearing, red meat-loving, apple pie-eating 'Country First' son of freedom, liberty, and democracy. No Idea what I'm talking about? Well, it turns out, John McCain wore no flag pin to his speech last night. Oops! Why does he hate America so much? Sorry, this is really a pretty goofy post, but I couldn't resist. Cheers everyone to the death of non-issues (or my wish for them to fade away)!!!

Did anybody catch this?

Apparently the RNC showed some pretty graphic footage of 9/11 last night before McCain's speech. I had a softball double-header so I missed it, but apparently Keith Olbermann found the whole thing so off-color that he made the apology you see below. Now, while I like Olbermann a bunch, and I enjoy his show I will be the first to admit he makes quite a bit of his outrage on a regular basis, but was anybody out there watching? Did you see the video in question, and was it as nasty and extreme as they suggest? If so, I guess I really wouldn't be surprise. From the Boston Globe's coverage of it all, you would think they seriously crossed a line. Interesting. I found this all on AmericaBlog but haven't seen it picked up too many other places... at least not yet.

Magical Disappearing Reappearing Veep!

Interesting tidbit from MSNBC below, apparently after her impressive speech the other night (that's a negative thing, right?) Sarah Palin is headed back to Alaska to tend to personal business before joining the campaign. This is explained in the video as being a front for her going off to "begin the education of Sarah Palin," which is a somewhat incredible statement to me. Is there any possible world in which this doesn't constitute an implicit acknowledgment that she is not ready for prime time? Thoughts?

Talking Out Both Sides of Their Mouths

The Daily show does some really nice work wrangling clips to show some fun... changes in opinions on the fair and balanced side of the news, from Karl Rove's thoughts on what experience would make for a good VP candidate to various right wing pundits spouting off about gender and sexism. This is worth a watch... and if you missed the GOP Vetting Emporium and Taco Stand... do yourself a favor and track back to that one. It's "vetter than nothing!"