Leave Sarah Alone!

Delicious. The McCain camp wants to call "no fairzeez" if Gwen Ifill asks too many foreign policy questions.

Note to McCain camp: Your candidate is running on foreign policy! Nothing Else! His economic agenda is the GOP/Bush agenda but with cutting pork barrel spending (has anyone actually seen a barrel of pork, by the way? Just curious. Seems like an odd cliche is all.)

There is nothing else there. The chief argument for the GOP--and it is a serious one--is that McCain is more suited to lead the US through these turbulent times given the terrorist threat. The End. In fact, he is betting so heavily on it that he dismisses the economic side of things almost entirely. (Does anyone seriously believe that "Bush/GOP economic agenda, but a shade stingier," will actually be persuasive given the economic conditions we face presently)?

Given all that, how can the McCain camp--even for a second--try to protect their VP choice from being inexperienced and/or unknowledgeable about foreign policy? This would be a joke if it wasn't so serious. Instead, it's a sham. An utterly absurd, and insulting, sham.

Oh, John. Tell Me Again How Much You Love Me

Doh! Them pesky facts again!

"You were wrong"

I thought this was Obama's best moment. Calmly, cooly, taking what McCain had to dish out and then throwing it right back at him. It looked to make McCain absolutely squirm.

Daddy Issues

Irony just seems too puny a word for this one.

RIP Paul Newman

Clive has a good little story about him here.

Contrast

And plugging the CNN blog-line further, there is this blurb about Biden's tax returns and how he is comparatively poor amongst Senators. I don't really care about that, but I do like this nugget:

A McCain aide told CNN Friday the campaign would release Palin's documents, but on their "own timeframe."

Lovely. First, they keep her holed up in Alaska to avoid the press (saying that she will talk to the press when the campaign is ready), and now they are going to release tax documents "on their own timeframe." And Obama is the elitist? "Rest, ye peasants! The Court of McCain will hear your questions upon His Majesty's convenience." Charming.

What are they so afraid of? Oh, that's right, her apparently complete lack of knowledge regarding foreign policy--to include the Bush Doctrine. Do I think she is stupid? Of course not. But I don't think she has much interest or curiosity on the subject. Certainly not enough to know about the very doctrine that put us into Iraq, anyway--which is rather important, I should argue, since she is running to be, you know, the next in line for President of the United States and stuff.

And I wonder what else she might have no knowledge or opinion about like, say...the trade deficit, budget deficit, national debt, plummeting dollar, inflation on food and energy, Sino-Indian relations, nuclear arms in N Korea and Pakistan, Burmese unrest (call it "Mee-an-mar" and I'll kick you in the face), immigration, the political/security situation in Mexico, unfunded liabilities, anything. ANYTHING! Just give me an opinion. Show me that the thought at least crossed your mind. I don't have to agree, just know that you have an opinion. And please show me one before you were nominated, not the rehersed party line.

But, of course, I'm an elitist because I do things like...read, and have a small amount of knowledge about the world around me. And here is the scary part. The McCain campaign has taken a cynical--and potentially winning--bet. That Americans really are that dumb. That they expect, and react well to, patronage. That talking about pick-up trucks and football and Jesus is enough to win.

Maybe their calculation is correct, but their premise is wrong--I'm convinced. Sure, many don't give a hoot in hell about Burma, but I bet they would if they were told what the situation was. They may not really know the impacts of massive trade deficits, but they could know them in about 5-10 minutes and would certainly have an opinion about the subject thereafter. And many of them actually do read and keep up on things. And therein lies the challenge for Obama.

He's great about getting people filled with the religion of reform and change and happy days, but I should think his real challenge is to go to blue-collar America and tell them what the GOP's cynical bet really is. Tell them that the GOP thinks you are stupid. That if a candidate talks about something other than pickup trucks and God and 5-point bucks in the woods, he's an elitist. And then challenge them to ask questions from both sides that would expose just how versed they are on the subjects. Show them that they are not simpletons with no interest in anything 5 minutes past their noses. That they can, and do, care about a number of things. And, most importantly, that they want to have a leader that challenges them to do so vs. a Kindergarten teacher telling them how proud they are of us for being 'regular Americans' (whatever that means).

Biden is actually better suited for that. But Obama might be able to pull it off too. Guess we'll see.

Goddammit!

If McCain doesn't rescind/apologize for this add, we've had it. This is Rovian politics at it's purest, unfiltered level of bullshit. Actually, Rove is more clever--I take it back. This is just an outright lie. Yes, a lie. Obama and McCain voted identically on immigration reform (including a vote to stop a Republican-led filibuster) and yet the McCain campaign plans to air the ad anyway.

"Truth? Fuck it! So long as you win." That has been the last 8 years--where elections are the only moment of accountability, integrity is for chumps, and political success is measured by how well one can dupe the public. I just can't believe that McCain--champion of electoral reform!--is a part of it now.

Kim Jong is Ill

Looks like Lil' Kim might have suffered a stroke (get it? Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong is Ill....... nevermind). No idea what this might mean in that he might be back on his feet in a few weeks or he might be a puppet turnip for 10 years. Who knows? But his speedy death and pain is wished for heartily by your faithful blogger.

Even Sadder

So much has been said about the qualifications of Palin as the VP pick that the attempt to add further would be beyond unnecessary. Truth be told, I don't care about Palin. What I care about most is why McCain and his GOP advisers even considered her seriously. It was an idiotic, impulsive, cynical choice.

As such, it begs the question of just how seriously McCain and the GOP are about governing. Seriously. Are elections the only standard? However one views the election, frivolous or pedestrian are two adjectives not commonly thrown at it. Particularly given the last 8 years of 'winging it' with W, the GOP needed to show--above all else--that it was serious about governing again. This VP choice just re-enforces the argument that the GOP is, literally, not fit to govern.

A party that was once known for tolerance, fierce protection of privacy and civil liverties, and a dedication to laisse-faire markets and society is now the party of intolerance, torture, and a disgustingly self-righteous claim to proper society to mask their paucity of ideas to fit the world as we live in it now. And leading it is my Senator and one of my heros, John McCain.

His submission to the GOP as it is now is such a betrayal of Goldwater and the traditions of the GOP as to invoke nothing but heartbreak--truly. He knows better, but had to win an election and thought that this was the best way to do it.

So go ahead with Palin, Senator McCain. Appease the Christianists and betray Goldwater, agree that torture is ok if we do it, continue with the fantsay that there are quadrillions of barrels of oil off the US coastlines, continue with the fantsay that lower taxes always equals greater US prosperity. All you must give in return is my vote, my respect, and your soul.

I'm in

And I ask for your support. Join the ranks of this revolutionary campaign.

Interlude

Juan García Esquivel, King of Mexican Lounge Music, takes on Blue Danube with Kubrick as a visual background.



(Hat Tip: Clive Davis)