David Broder of the Washington Post wanders around Upper Dublin, not far from where I grew up (their high school played mine in sports) and interviews suburban Philadelphia folk about their feelings regarding the election.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Obama Jam
Just a little Columbus Day ditty for y'all. Kim's Uncle Lou is a musician, storyteller and performer whose work is primarily aimed at kids. He's actually appeared a number of times over the years on Kid's Corner, a Philadelphia-based kids radio hour that airs on NPR, and a show that my brother and i grew up listening to.
Lou recently put together a song that reflects his excitement about Obama and what his candidacy represents and what our future may hold. Check it out, and if you like Lou, learn more about his work here.
Lou recently put together a song that reflects his excitement about Obama and what his candidacy represents and what our future may hold. Check it out, and if you like Lou, learn more about his work here.
More about Ayers
To some extent, I think questioning Obama about Ayers is legitimate. If the leading candidate for President has been "paling around with terrorists" than that is surely the nation's business right? It certainly deserves more of an inquiry than whether Trig is really Palin's son, the matter which still--amazingly-- seems to be so important to Andrew Sullivan.
So it's not the inquiry itself that makes the current Ayers attacks so deeply shameful; rather it's the fact that, at this point, there appears to be nothing more than the most tenuous connection between the two men. CQ politics has an excellent run down of the claim that Obama and Ayers served on the board of a "radical" educational reform organization. It doesn't cover the other commonly asserted concern that Obama launched his campaign at Ayer's house, but it's worth reading, if only because it will let you assuage any concerns that friends or family may have.
So it's not the inquiry itself that makes the current Ayers attacks so deeply shameful; rather it's the fact that, at this point, there appears to be nothing more than the most tenuous connection between the two men. CQ politics has an excellent run down of the claim that Obama and Ayers served on the board of a "radical" educational reform organization. It doesn't cover the other commonly asserted concern that Obama launched his campaign at Ayer's house, but it's worth reading, if only because it will let you assuage any concerns that friends or family may have.
Friday, October 10, 2008
NEW All Time Favorite Election-Related Video
Ok, so the video below is amazing. You should watch it, then you should send it to your grandparents, your siblings, your rabbi, your 3rd grade teacher, the guy who works at your local gas station, anybody you care about. Betty White is beloved to so many Americans and the only downside of her is that she makes me sad thinking of Bea Arthur, god bless her soul. Anyway, Betty White has some choice words about her friend John McCain and his friends.
Many thanks to Tyler for posting this on Facebook. You rock.
Many thanks to Tyler for posting this on Facebook. You rock.
J Mac Attack
From the title, you might think this is just the latest The Best Way post about recent attacks in the campaign for the presidency... and maybe to a certain degree you would be right. But this attack didn't come from McCain, Palin, Cindy, Obama, Biden or any of their surrogates. It came from Vanity Fair. VF punched out a clever little fake news bit this week, publishing a mock-up cover for Out-of-Touch Weekly. Check it out:
Hat Tip: HuffPo, check out full story here.
Don't Just Stand There, Let's Get To It
Thomas Friedman wrote an op ed for the NYT recently that a friend, Deb, posted on Facebook. I'm glad she posted it, because it's a good read. In an even-handed piece advocating for a return to America making things, mixed with some independence from foreign influence ideas, but not the over simplistic ones you're used to hearing on the campaign trail, Friedman makes the case that we should push our economy green with a buildup to accompany the bailout:
Our No. 1 resource is our people. Let’s put people back to work — retrofitting and repowering America. ... You can’t base a national economy on credit cards. But you can base it on solar panels, wind turbines, smart biofuels and a massive program to weatherize every building and home in America.
Slip? No big deal? or um... something worth talking about?
How many slips make this kind of stuff worth asking questions about? How does having a running mate who most Americans think is unqualified for the Presidency (and also I think more than 50% of Americans even agree that she's not qualified for the VP slot) impact whether or not this is a question we should all be talking about.
What went wrong, when and how?
What went wrong(s?) along the way? I'd love to hear peoples' thoughts, but i think this video does a good job of capturing the phenomena that swirls around John McCain's clear disdain for Barack Obama. Perhaps I'm wrong, but let me know what you think.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
My Other Favorite Race
I haven't blogged about it much, and I hope this comes across the way I mean it to, but my favorite political race to casually watch right now is Al Franken's race for Norm Coleman's seat out in Minnesota. I like Franken, and I like the sort of daring choices involved in him getting this far. I also feel like somehow I link him with fellow Midwest comedian poet Garrison Keillor. Regardless of the why behind my finding this race so compelling, frankly it just is.
Background for anyone unfamiliar is that Coleman took over for Paul Wellstone, a wildly popular progressive two-term Senator from Minnesota who died tragically and unexpectedly in a plane crash. When Wellstone passed away his seat in the Senate was somehow passed along ot Coleman, someone who has been labled by some as a moderate Republican.
Coleman is, however, a man who has acted in many ways as a yes man for the Bush administration, and someone who rode to a second term based on his links to an administration that was popular 5+ years ago. Now Coleman is locked in a tight race with Al Franken for his seat, and Franken has overcome quite a few obstacles to get this far, and the race is tight and getting tighter. A recent development involves recent discovery of Coleman stretching ethics rules around gifts. Here's a clip from a press conference today where Coleman's press guy makes um... an ass of himself (I think that's the technical term for what you'll see below).
Background for anyone unfamiliar is that Coleman took over for Paul Wellstone, a wildly popular progressive two-term Senator from Minnesota who died tragically and unexpectedly in a plane crash. When Wellstone passed away his seat in the Senate was somehow passed along ot Coleman, someone who has been labled by some as a moderate Republican.
Coleman is, however, a man who has acted in many ways as a yes man for the Bush administration, and someone who rode to a second term based on his links to an administration that was popular 5+ years ago. Now Coleman is locked in a tight race with Al Franken for his seat, and Franken has overcome quite a few obstacles to get this far, and the race is tight and getting tighter. A recent development involves recent discovery of Coleman stretching ethics rules around gifts. Here's a clip from a press conference today where Coleman's press guy makes um... an ass of himself (I think that's the technical term for what you'll see below).
West Virginia in play?
We've all gotten used to the idea that Virginia is a swing state this election, but there is an even greater surprise regarding the group of states ending with "-irginia." A new poll out today shows Obama comfortably ahead in WEST Virginia. This is probably just a fluke, but if the poll is even remotely accurate this is awfully chilling news for the McCain camp.
Rabinowitz on Obama and the Media
Although I am a now a bonafide Obama supporter, I remain somewhat troubled by the treatment Obama receives in many journalistic circles. I think this has less to do with ideology than with narrative appeal. Obama is a fascinating subject: supremely charismatic, fresh, multiracial. His running for president is almost something out of a movie. My guess is magazine covers with his face sell much better than those featuring an old grumpy-gus like McCain. Whatever the cause, however, I do feel that many journalists and news outlets have made it clear that they have a horse in the race: essentially, they have become to Obama a classier version of what Fox News was to Bush.
In this light, I enjoyed reading Ms. Rabinowitz's editorial in the Wall Street Journal, a publication which is not exactly known for a politically neutral agenda. The key point:
The single constant in the eternal election remains the media, whose activist role no one will seriously dispute. To point out the prevailing (with honorable exceptions) double standard of reporting so favorable to Mr. Obama by now feels superfluous -- much like talking about the weather. The same holds true for all those reports pointing to Mr. Obama's heroic status outside the United States -- not to mention the cascade of press analyses warning that if he fails to win election, the cause will surely be racism.
I think the editorial is worth reading, although it is at times somewhat meandering and unfair. Rabbinowitz seems convinced that "liberals" spend all their time chatting with Europeans about the moral failings of the United States, while "conservatives" unfailingly love their country. However, a self-styled right-winger who can maintain a lucid thought for more than two paragraphs is a rarity, and so we should judge the article by the standards of its peers.
In this light, I enjoyed reading Ms. Rabinowitz's editorial in the Wall Street Journal, a publication which is not exactly known for a politically neutral agenda. The key point:
The single constant in the eternal election remains the media, whose activist role no one will seriously dispute. To point out the prevailing (with honorable exceptions) double standard of reporting so favorable to Mr. Obama by now feels superfluous -- much like talking about the weather. The same holds true for all those reports pointing to Mr. Obama's heroic status outside the United States -- not to mention the cascade of press analyses warning that if he fails to win election, the cause will surely be racism.
I think the editorial is worth reading, although it is at times somewhat meandering and unfair. Rabbinowitz seems convinced that "liberals" spend all their time chatting with Europeans about the moral failings of the United States, while "conservatives" unfailingly love their country. However, a self-styled right-winger who can maintain a lucid thought for more than two paragraphs is a rarity, and so we should judge the article by the standards of its peers.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
The Hockey Mother of All Bad Ideas
Perhaps Wonkette doesn't quite imagine this future event correctly, but I do think that somebody in the McCain campaign miscalculated badly when they signed Palin up to drop the puck for the Flyers opener. She'll be lucky if my fellow Philadelphians simply boo her off of the ice but the prospect of what will really happen made me giggle out loud as I read the story. Who wants to start a list of things most likely to end up thrown on the ice?
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