The Purple State

2010-07-27T14:13:00.002-04:00

When Krugmans Attack:

There are a number of such climate cowards, but let me single out one in particular: Senator John McCain.

There was a time when Mr. McCain was considered a friend of the environment. Back in 2003 he burnished his maverick image by co-sponsoring legislation that would have created a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. He reaffirmed support for such a system during his presidential campaign, and things might look very different now if he had continued to back climate action once his opponent was in the White House. But he didn’t — and it’s hard to see his switch as anything other than the act of a man willing to sacrifice his principles, and humanity’s future, for the sake of a few years added to his political career.

(Italics mine, to highlight the act that Krugman will probably not be invited to the barbecue this year.)

2010-06-04T23:41:00.004-04:00

I can't figure out how to embed it here, but check out the video (here) attached to this article, describing the catch-22 confronting innocent prisoners facing the parole board: only by admitting guilt do they have any realistic chance of gaining parole, but that same admission of guilt will destroy any possibility of future exoneration (in that prosecutors can and will use the prisoner's parole testimony against them). Wild -- and devastating -- stuff.

2010-05-19T16:19:00.003-04:00

I've been saying this for a while, but in the wake of my brilliantly correct predictions in the two of yesterday's races that I cared enough about to predict (Sestak beating Specter and the Dems holding PA-12), I figured I should write this down and publish it, so that I may claim credit for it come November 3: the economy will continue to rebound (albeit slowly), the Tea Partiers will fade, and the Dems will maintain control of both chambers.

House

Currently (including Critz): 255-177 Dems
November 3: 235-200 Dems

Senate

Currently: 59-41 Dems
November 3: 55-45 Dems

Republicans will pick up seats across the board, but they won't come anywhere close to retaking either the House or the Senate. Mark my words.

2010-05-12T14:24:00.002-04:00

Sometimes bad people do good things. Kudos, Wal-Mart.

(It's also a pretty amusing example of corporate oneupsmanship. Yesterday, Target announced "a $2.3 million program to create pantries in schools that can be used to teach children about good nutrition at the same time they are fed." That's an admirable idea, and they deserve some [relatively smaller] kudos of their own, but could they have picked a worse time to announce it than the day before their biggest competitor announces a plan to spend $2 billion? I don't think they could have.)

2010-04-09T09:38:00.000-04:00

This is phenomenal.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Michael Steele Plays the Race Card
www.thedailyshow.com

2010-04-07T03:32:00.002-04:00

This is uncomfortable to think about (on any number of levels):

The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.

(Let's just hope they don't try to do it on U.S. soil...)

2010-03-31T18:26:00.002-04:00

My top five recommendations from borders.com right now:

American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells Us by Jesse Ventura
Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History by Andrew Napolitano
Courage and Consequences: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight by Karl Rove
No Apology: The Case for American Greatness by Mitt Romney
Defining Conservatism: The Principles That Will Bring Our Country Back by Jonathan Krohn (this kid)

They know me so well! (Seriously, Borders: what the fuck?)

2010-03-29T17:42:00.003-04:00

Dark times for cap and trade:

Today, the concept is in wide disrepute, with opponents effectively branding it “cap and tax,” and Tea Party followers using it as a symbol of much of what they say is wrong with Washington.

Two thoughts:

1. Dear Tea Party followers: I know irony is not your strong suit, but I really wish you could stop decrying ~~earmarks~~ ~~the stimulus~~ ~~the bailouts~~ ~~health care reform~~ cap and trade as "a symbol of what's wrong with Washington" long enough to appreciate how blatantly you are being used.
2. Want to make something that's not scary sound scary? Add the word "tax" to it! Doesn't matter how nonsensical it is; it always works! Watch:
Not scary: "Cap and trade"
Scary: Cap and tax

Not scary: "Medicare"
Scary: Meditax

Not scary: "Magazine"
Scary: Taxazine

Not scary: "Bird"
Scary: Taxbird

2010-03-22T06:28:00.004-04:00

I'm willing to accept that these folks are not a representative sample of the opposition to the healthcare bill, but I think it's also pretty clear that there are more of them out there than intelligent Republicans would like to admit.

2010-03-21T15:42:00.002-04:00

God, these people.

As the House engaged in initial parliamentary maneuvering, hundreds of anti-reform protesters gathered on the south side of the Capitol between the building and the House office buildings across Independence Avenue, chanting and jeering Democrats and applauding House Republicans who egged them on.

“Nancy Pelosi you will burn in hell for this,” one woman intoned repeatedly through a bullhorn as members of the crowd rang bells, blew a bugle, waved a varied assortment of flags and chanted “Kill the bill.”

After racial slurs and other derogatory terms were hurled at Democrats by protesters on Saturday, numerous Democrats walked en masse from the House office buildings to the Capitol, running a gantlet of jeering and booing demonstrators. One was heard calling Representative Barney Frank, the openly gay Democrat from Massachusetts, a slur generally uttered against gays.

Emphasis mine. Do you think they go home at night and congratulate themselves for having contributed to public policy? How are Republicans not humiliated by these people?

“It is almost like the Salem witch trials,” Mr. Frank said. “The health bill has become their witch. It is a supernatural force and you get hysteria. There is an anger obviously that goes beyond anything connected to the bill.” Mr. Frank said he thinks the name-calling will backfire.

“I don’t think this is the way you win over the American people,” he said. “I think the average American says ‘No, I don’t like this anger, this bigotry.'"

Barney is so wise.

2010-03-21T15:31:00.003-04:00

Do Republicans realize how ridiculous they sound when they rail against the healthcare bill on the floor of the House by using the phrases "Cornhusker Kickback," "Louisiana Purchase," "Gator Aid," and so forth, as if those were actual things? I don't think they do.

(Also, Chris Smith just helpfully explained that abortion is about "the exploitation of women." Good to know!)

2010-03-08T00:15:00.001-05:00

Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann on reconciliation:

Neither party has been shy about using this process to avoid dilatory tactics in the Senate; Republicans have in fact been more willing to do so than Democrats.

The history is clear: While the use of reconciliation in this case — amending a bill that has already passed the Senate via cloture — is new, it is compatible with the law, Senate rules and the framers’ intent.

Boom, bitches.

2010-02-24T21:59:00.005-05:00

I'm not generally a big Keith Olbermann fan (he veers into polemicism a bit too often for my taste), but I happened to see a fair-sized chunk of Countdown today (in between periods of the Canada/Russia game, for the most part), and the man was on fire.* There are two things in particular for which I must laud him:

Thing One
For showing, in its entirety, this absolutely magnificent Anthony Weiner meltdown ("Every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry!") on the floor of the House:

Thing Two
For this genuinely moving essay about his father's failing health:

Kudos, Keith.

* - Unlike some people.

2010-02-23T02:51:00.002-05:00

Nick Kristof goes satire-mode to imagine what life might be like if the news industry were more like the healthcare industry:

By the way, columns such as this one about health care reform are out-of-network. Your insurance plan fully covers columns about many important topics, such as nephrology and Gregorian chant. But politics, health care, international affairs and anything that I might actually write about are all out-of-network.

Quite well done, overall (and significantly more entertaining than the last time I thought Nick Kristof was going satire-mode).

2010-02-21T15:21:00.001-05:00

I was recently struggling to remember the wording of Nick Thune's awesome "two birds with one stone" bit, and found the Internet to be utterly unhelpful. Accordingly, in the theme of my Daily Show post from a few weeks ago, I've tracked down the video and transcribed it here, in order to help The Googles. Grateful kudos to Comedy Central, for posting it online, and to Nick Thune, for performing it.

Nick Thune - Two Birds
comedians.comedycentral.com

Thune:

Do you guys think birds ever say, "Hey, I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out. Tomorrow, I'm going to try and kill two people with one stone."

Like, the guy who actually wrote that saying, "killing two birds with one stone."

When in history was there an abundance of birds and a shortage of stones? Like, when was some guy just like, "Oh, you know what, guys? Can you just use one from now on? No, no... well, actually, we're trying to conserve rocks, but thanks for questioning the authority. You know what, though? Try and get two with that one. Yeah, there's a shitload of birds. I appreciate it. You know what? Remember that, and tell everyone, forever."

2010-02-20T22:58:00.003-05:00

Unemployment: it's the new "employment"!

Every downturn pushes some people out of the middle class before the economy resumes expanding. Most recover. Many prosper. But some economists worry that this time could be different. An unusual constellation of forces — some embedded in the modern-day economy, others unique to this wrenching recession — might make it especially difficult for those out of work to find their way back to their middle-class lives.

Labor experts say the economy needs 100,000 new jobs a month just to absorb entrants to the labor force. With more than 15 million people officially jobless, even a vigorous recovery is likely to leave an enormous number out of work for years.

Why won't Barack Obama apologize for personally ruining the economy?

(It could be worse, though: I could have linked to this article, instead.)

2010-01-26T21:43:00.003-05:00

I'm no expert, but I did take a few comparative religion classes in college, and I'm pretty sure that people who believe in karma have a word for this:

Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.

Or, as Wonkette put it:

The same pasty biotch who did Andrew Breitbart’s bidding to entrap ACORN in some minor prank that would get Congress to immediately revoke its entire funding… which was completely successful… has been arrested by the FBI for TRYING TO WIRETAP A SENATOR’S OFFICE. Cannot wait to hear the conservative spin on this one. (Perhaps he is really a liberal? Let’s just call him a “liberal” from now on...)

2010-01-26T12:13:00.000-05:00

I've seen this commercial several times, and it never fails to make me want to donate money. Way to be, Feeding America.

The song is Never Let Go, by Tom Waits.

2010-01-26T12:04:00.001-05:00

The fire-breathing response to Citizens United from the authors of the bill that it decimated:

Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, called it "a terrible mistake." Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, said in a television interview on CNN that he was "disappointed."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Senator McCain! You're "disappointed"? Cool your jets, man! Back away from the ledge!

Okay, perhaps that's a little bit unfair. It's just a throwaway quote at the tail-end of a newspaper article; I'm sure it doesn't accurately reflect the full dismay with which he read the decision. Let's just head over to his website and check the language in the press release he issued (given his famous temper, I'm sure it's spectacular).

Let's see here... well, that's odd. It seems to be missing. It should be right here between "Senators encourage state attorney generals [sic] to expand investigation of Senate health care bill" and "Statement by John McCain regarding the sanctity of marriage." Surely a man like John McCain -- a man of legendary temper; a man on record with his disdain for "activist judges"; a man whom the venerable New York Times has described [incorrectly] as "a champion of public financing of campaign [sic] throughout his career"* -- surely such a man would at least issue a press release addressing the biggest Supreme Court decision on his "signature" issue in almost two decades. Hell, he made the time to issue a release reassuring his mouth-breathing constituents that he still hates The Gays! But nothing on Citizens United?

Color me shocked.

* - Except when he just ignores campaign finance law completely.

2010-01-26T11:46:00.000-05:00

This is pretty wild:

[Inventor] Jim McCormick promised his ADE-651 wand could identify anything, including bombs, simply by waving it around with the right RFID card inside. Yeah, totally fake, and now he's in prison. Too bad Iraq already spent $85 million on them.

Worth a quick read. (Kind of blows our little "Jesus-themed gunsight" scandal right out of the water, doesn't it?)

2010-01-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

The closing line of Justice Stevens's 90-page meisterwerk of a dissent in Citizens United (warning: very large PDF at that link; dissent starts at page 88):

While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

Boom, majority! Consider yo' asses bons motted!

2010-01-26T02:08:00.006-05:00

My kingdom for some marginal-cost-benefit analysis!

President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that, an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, administration officials said Monday.

The freeze would cover the agencies and programs for which Congress allocates specific budgets each year, including air traffic control, farm subsidies, education, nutrition and national parks.

But it would exempt security-related budgets for the Pentagon, foreign aid, the Veterans Administration and homeland security, as well as the entitlement programs that make up the biggest and fastest-growing part of the federal budget: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

I completely understand the deficit-reduction focus. But reducing the deficit by freezing spending on education, Head Start, the food stamp program, the EPA, renewable energy research, and whatever else falls under the very broad ambit of "the agencies and programs for which Congress allocates specific budgets each year" is absolutely insane.

Check out TrueMajority's federal-budget pie chart:

Which of those things could most afford to give up a few billion dollars per year?

And which of those things are being frozen?

Altogether, the freezes Obama's talking about will result in a ten-year savings to the deficit of about $250 billion. Nothing to sneeze at, surely, but keep in mind that the overall deficit for that same ten-year period is projected at around $9 trillion, meaning that we're talking about a savings of just about three percent. And at what cost?

We're going to freeze spending on the programs that can actually make the most out of a moderate budget increase (imagine what Head Start could do with an extra few billion dollars), but not freeze spending on the programs that can afford to be frozen (programs that can literally afford to spend half a billion dollars on Jesus-themed gunsights).

That's going a full step beyond the ol' "treating a gaping head wound by putting a Band-Aid on your forehead" analogy; we're treating a gaping head wound by putting a Band-Aid on our elbow.

Update: I love it when Nobel laureates say the same thing that I said, only with better words and more righteous indignation ("It’s appalling on every level").

2010-01-26T01:53:00.002-05:00

Who'd have thunk that a bunch of alarmingly unintelligent people whose factions "vary by relative embrace of anarchy" would be unable to pull off the coordination required to organize a nationwide convention?

The convention’s difficulties highlight the fractiousness of the Tea Party groups, and the considerable suspicions among their members of anything that suggests the establishment.

The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.

Wherefore art thou, Joe the Plumber?

2010-01-24T01:49:00.004-05:00

There's a good piece from Ruth Marcus in today's Post about the internal inconsistencies of the Citizens United opinion.

[T]he majority flung about dark warnings of "censorship" and "banned" speech as if upholding the existing rules would leave corporations and labor unions with no voice in the political process. Untrue. Under federal election law before the Supreme Court demolished it, corporations and labor unions were free to say whatever they wanted about political candidates whenever they wanted to say it. They simply were not permitted to use unlimited general treasury funds to do so. Instead, they were required to use money raised by their political action committees from employees and members. This is hardly banning speech.

I remember consoling myself when Roberts was confirmed that "at least he's intellectually honest." Marcus makes a pretty compelling case that I was wrong about that.

2010-01-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

Sad news from the Paper of Record:

After trying a paid access service for several years, the [New York Times] moved to free access to its content. But it's apparently time to go back to the future for the NYT, as the company announced it will develop a system that will charge frequent readers of its online content.

I actually don't really begrudge them that decision, and I'll happily pay whatever they end up charging (within reason, I suppose) -- as I paid for TimesSelect several years ago. Still, it's sad to see: in the long run, I don't think the paywall model works out best for anyone.

(Relatedly: there was a good Bloggingheads a few months ago about the future of online journalism, with Reason's Matt Welch and the Kennedy School's Alex Jones. Worth a watch.)

2010-01-23T19:16:00.004-05:00

"Hey, Mike. Don't you have a ton of work to do?"
"I do indeed."
"So why'd you just spend 20 minutes Photoshopping an Obama-Signal?"
"Well because of this article, obviously."
"Ah."
"Also because I have very poor time-management skills."
"Right. And why is it projected over San Diego?"
"That was the nicest cloudy picture I could find."
"Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?"
"Well it's an Obama-Signal. I'm not sure what you expected."
"Fair point. This conceit is fun, this 'imaginary-conversation-as-a-blog-post.'"
"I know, right?"
"We should try this again sometime."
"No doubt."

2010-01-21T15:45:00.002-05:00

This is just plain depressing:

Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

The Times' Jeff Zeleny points out (in a what might be called "a heroic understatement") that, "At first blush, Republican candidates would seem to benefit from this change in how political campaigns are conducted in America." Well observed.

2010-01-20T19:24:00.003-05:00

The United States government has a $660 million contract with a company that manufactures gunsights engraved with shorthand references to the Bible. I can see nothing creepy or unconstitutional about that at all.

Update: Someone at the Washington Post listens to Marketplace, too!

2010-01-19T00:25:00.006-05:00

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever endorsed a musical artist on this blog, but I've been loving this guy recently. His first album, "Soon It Will Be Cold Enough," is terrific. Phenomenal. Stupendous, even. (The whole thing can be streamed for free here; the song "Anthem" is my favorite, but really the whole thing is great). His new album, "Safe in the Steep Cliffs," came out today. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but I'm hoping that a few of my several million readers will like him enough to buy his album, and I can therefore feel good about supporting a 22-year-old (!) with a mighty gift for FruityLoops.

2010-01-16T14:07:00.007-05:00

Not a terribly interesting story, but this picture is awesome:

Caption: An A. P. Moeller-Maersk vessel in the port of Algeciras, Spain. A tenth of the world's container ships are estimated to be idle.
Completely Unexplained: Where is that dude going?

2010-01-16T14:05:00.002-05:00

So excited about this:

(CNN) – Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum confirmed to his supporters Friday what pundits have been speculating for months - the conservative Republican is actively considering a run for president in 2012. In an e-mail and letter to supporters of his Political Action Committee, America’s Foundation, Santorum writes, "After talking it over with my wife Karen and our kids – I am considering putting my name in for the 2012 presidential race."

Palin/Santorum 2012: the thinking-Republican's ticket. They may as well go ahead and start planning their transition now. (I cannot wait until Glenn Beck is our Secretary of State.)

2010-01-15T02:59:00.004-05:00

I seriously cannot understand how this video only has 100,000 views.

Makes a fellow want to go see In the Heights. (Here's another bit of Lin-Manuel Miranda, if you're not convinced.)

2010-01-14T15:16:00.004-05:00

Here's an idea worth applauding:

The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the main umbrella group for the nation’s labor unions, announced on Thursday that it was joining with the National Labor College and the Princeton Review to create an online college for the federation’s 11.5 million members and their families.

The tentatively-named "College for Working Families" will charge community college rates -- $100-$150 per credit, versus $500-$600 per credit at most brick-and-mortar[-board] [ha!] schools -- in an effort to "expand job opportunities for [AFL-CIO] members by providing education and retraining in a way that’s affordable and accessible." Way to be, AFL-CIO.

Fun fact: the college will be partly run by a subsidiary of the Princeton Review called Penn Foster, which first provided correspondence courses to coal miners in 1890 (!).

2010-01-12T13:07:00.000-05:00

"Now, watch this Jenga."

That's one of my favorite Daily Show lines of all time, and one that I've quoted with a fair amount of regularity. But I was discussing it with my brother the other day and realized that couldn't remember who had said it. My first instinct was Ed Helms, but then I thought maybe it was Steve Carell (and my brother was pretty sure I'd told him in the past that it was Stephen Colbert). So I did a quick Google search for "Now watch this Jenga," and was startled -- nay, shocked -- to discover that there was a grand total of one reference to that line on the entire Internet. And it's in some bizarre comic strip from 2004; unless you remembered that specific Daily Show episode, you wouldn't even know it was a quote. So now I'm flummoxed. Was I inventing the whole thing? I'd been quoting it for years; perhaps it'd morphed in my head? Thank God for the folks at Comedy Central.

I tracked down the classic Bush quote on which the Daily Show quip was based.

His business out of the way, Bush barely paused for breath before saying, "Thank you. Now watch this drive."

Date of the quote: August 4, 2002.*

So I clicked over to the Daily Show archives, and skipped to the show from August 5, 2002 (which, by some mercy, exists online). Lo and behold: the line does exist, it was Ed Helms, and it's just as hilarious as I remember it.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Talk Tough, Privileged Fun

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

So anyway, there you go. I am providing this post as a public service. The next time someone Googles, "Now watch this Jenga," they won't have to start doubting their memory. You're welcome, world.

* - I even found an article about the Daily Show from the Toronto Globe & Mail that mentions the Daily Show's use of that particular Bush quote, and quotes Jon Stewart, "That was the best clip we've ever gotten of [Bush]." And even that article didn't contain a reference to "Now watch this Jenga."

2010-01-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

I had cause to revisit the Pomegranate Phone this afternoon, and appreciated anew just how awesome it is. As I've said before: that is web design at its very finest.

(Be sure to click "Release Date" in the upper-right-hand corner once you've finished playing with the rest of the phone's features. Very nicely done, Nova Scotia.)

2010-01-11T16:05:00.001-05:00

Two thoughts that I saved-as-drafts a year or so ago but never got around to posting:

I'm currently watching (and enjoying) Ken Burns's "Civil War," but I thought I should stop long enough to point out that it should actually have been called "[How George McClellan Tried to Lose the] Civil War." That would have been a more accurate title. Because that dude was spectacularly bad at being a general.
"Playing politics" is almost always a tediously stupid thing to accuse a professional politician of, but its tedious stupidity rises to new heights in the case of people who accuse Arlen Specter of "playing politics" because he chose to switch parties. Of course he's playing politics. That's like cheering for Michael Phelps as he swims the length of the pool in one direction, but then immediately beginning to boo him once he makes the turn and heads back the way he came.

2010-01-11T10:56:00.001-05:00

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann are really, really fond of the Edwardseses:

Edwards aides, Mr. Heilemann and Mr. Halperin write, felt that their boss had become increasingly megalomaniacal and narcissistic over the years, and that while the aides had sympathy for Mrs. Edwards’s struggle with cancer, they regarded her as a badgering, often irrational presence on the campaign. "The nearly universal assessment among them," Mr. Halperin and Mr. Heilemann write of the Edwards aides, "was that there was no one on the national stage for whom the disparity between public image and private reality was vaster or more disturbing. What the world saw in Elizabeth: a valiant, determined, heroic everywoman. What the Edwards insiders saw: an abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending crazywoman."

Emphasis added, because, I mean... good heavens.

2010-01-09T17:40:00.001-05:00

Wonkette makes me laugh:

"Osama bin Laden’s whole goddamn strategy has always been to draw the United States into a direct confrontation with Al Qaeda on as many fronts as possible. Our crack team of analysts have determined that he has been successful in this pursuit over the past decade. Because it’s been so easy. And it’s just getting easier! At this point a Mexican or Filipino can throw an orange through a storefront screen anywhere in the United States and it will be labeled muslin terror because some other Mexican in “Yemen” maybe e-mailed him at some point and was probably in Al Qaeda and we will have to bomb Jordan and Syria and Lebanon and Turkey, to save airplanes."

2010-01-09T17:22:00.003-05:00

Jesus H. Christ:

Senate Majority Leader Reid apologized today for a comment during the presidential campaign in which he praised then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as politically attractive because he was a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” The comment was reported in “Game Change,” a new book about the 2008 campaign by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. In a statement, the Nevada senator said, “I deeply regret such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.” After Reid's statement, Obama said he accepted Reid's apology and praised his “passionate leadership" on issues of social justice.

Added Obama, "Plus, I like him because he doesn't sound too Mormony."

(Quoting CongressDaily, which is behind a paywall.)

2010-01-08T02:47:00.001-05:00

Interesting point:

And given that nearly a quarter of mortgages are underwater, and that 10 percent of mortgages are delinquent, White, of the University of Arizona, is surprised that more people haven’t walked. He thinks the desire to avoid shame is a factor, as are overblown fears of harm to credit ratings. Probably, mortgagees also labor under a delusion that their homes will quickly return to value. White has argued that the government should stop perpetuating default “scare stories” and, indeed, should encourage borrowers to default when it’s in their economic interest. This would correct a prevailing imbalance: homeowners operate under a “powerful moral constraint” while lenders are busily trying to maximize profits.

Oh, yeah: I'm back, baby!

2009-06-05T16:44:00.002-04:00

Some guy at The Corner whines about how hard it is to pronounce Sotomayor's name, and Wonkette rightfully and humorously makes fun of him. Circle of life.

2009-06-05T14:14:00.002-04:00

I love it when op-ed writers write things that I've been saying for years.

The Obama administration is spending $2.4 billion from the stimulus package on carbon capture and storage projects -- a mere down payment. Imagine what that money could do if it were spent on solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. Imagine if we actually tried to solve the problem rather than bury it.

2009-05-05T16:52:00.003-04:00

I've mentioned my disdain for the phrase "judicial activism" once or twice in passing, but even within the universe where that's a legitimate objection to a judicial nominee [and it is not], objecting to judicial empathy is spectacularly stupid.

(Clips from the Daily Show segment linked above.)
Ed Gillespie: I may have empathy for the little guy in a fight with the big corporation, but the law may not be on his side.
Sen. Orrin Hatch: "Empathy." What does that mean? Usually that's a code-word for an activist judge.
Laura Ingraham: That is a singularly loopy idea for a qualification for a justice.

They're like caricatures of themselves, these people.

(I'd like to try to put myself in their shoes, but I'm worried that would disqualify me from ever holding judicial office.)

2009-04-25T00:15:00.002-04:00

So, seriously, have these people never even heard of the tobacco industry?

For more than a decade the Global Climate Coalition, a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels, led an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign against the idea that emissions of heat-trapping gases could lead to global warming.

But a document filed in a federal lawsuit demonstrates that even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted.

"The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied," the experts wrote in an internal report compiled for the coalition in 1995.

"Oh, and, uh... doubt is our product," the experts added.

2009-04-23T13:41:00.003-04:00

This is too great.

In case it gets taken down (which it surely will once Barton figures out why it's gotten a couple of hundred times more views than any of his other videos), here's a helpful transcript:

Rep. Barton: You’re our scientist. I have one simple question for you in the last six seconds. How did all the oil and gas get to Alaska and under the Arctic Ocean?
Sec. Chu: (laughs) This is a complicated story, but oil and gas is the result of hundreds of millions of years of geology, and in that time also the plates have moved around, and so, um, it’s the combination of where the sources of the oil and gas are–
Rep. Barton: But, but wouldn’t it obvious that at one time it was a lot warmer in Alaska and on the North Pole. It wasn’t a big pipeline that we created in Texas and shipped it up there and then put it under ground so that we can now pump it out and ship it back.
Sec. Chu: No. There are–there’s continental plates that have been drifting around throughout the geological ages–
Rep. Barton: So it just drifted up there?
Sec. Chu: That’s certainly what happened. And so it’s a result of things like that.

(Note: if you're just reading the transcript, you don't really get the full benefit of the sarcasm dripping off of Barton's words when he asks, "So it just drifted up there?")

Anyone can lack a basic understanding of geology. To be so out of it that you think you've stumped the Nobel Prize-winning Energy Secretary with a question from 8th-grade science class -- a question that you yourself clearly cannot answer? Well, that takes a Republican from Texas.

(First seen at Wonkette. Helpful transcript via Twitter Room.)

2009-03-20T22:56:00.005-04:00

Joe Nocera argues a point on the A.I.G. bonuses that I've been trying to articulate for a couple of days. Worth a read.

There are times when anger is cathartic. There are other times when anger makes a bad situation worse. "We need to stop committing economic arson," Bert Ely, a banking consultant, said to me this week. That is what Congress committed: economic arson.

I wouldn't go quite as far as "fiddling while Rome burns" (Nocera would, and does), but I think we're definitely well into the realm of "focusing on a tiny, contained fire while a much larger, scarier one is taking over the rest of the town." (Which, unbeknownst to most people, is something that Nero also did.)

2009-02-15T14:28:00.003-05:00

Great Moments in Congressional Debate, from Friday (courtesy of TPM's Day in 100 Seconds):

(The amusing bit starts at about the 1:00 mark.)

2009-02-11T19:20:00.005-05:00

From a few weeks ago: a neat op-ed by linguist Steven Pinker on the oath of office mix-up.

How could a famous stickler for grammar have bungled that 35-word passage, among the best-known words in the Constitution? Conspiracy theorists and connoisseurs of Freudian slips have surmised that it was unconscious retaliation for Senator Obama’s vote against the chief justice’s confirmation in 2005. But a simpler explanation is that the wayward adverb in the passage is blowback from Chief Justice Roberts’s habit of grammatical niggling. ...

In his legal opinions, Chief Justice Roberts has altered quotations to conform to his notions of grammaticality, as when he excised the “ain’t” from Bob Dylan’s line “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” On Tuesday his inner copy editor overrode any instincts toward strict constructionism and unilaterally amended the Constitution by moving the adverb "faithfully" away from the verb.

The essay is headlined "Oaf of Office," so I was hoping it'd hew a bit more closely to my own read on the situation (that Roberts simply forgot his lines, and scrambled) than it actually did. But it's an interesting read all the same.

2009-02-11T17:47:00.002-05:00

Ars Technica has a neat piece on the current pseudo-controversy in the field of global ~~warming~~ ~~cooling~~ warming.

The facts are that 2008 was cooler than the last few years, but warmer than most in recent history, which lends itself to spin based on the predilections of the person talking about it. But some of that spin specifically plays upon the widespread innumeracy of the public, which isn't well prepared to separate trends from short-term variability, or recognize when certain figures are selectively chosen. We'll try to separate out some of these in a way that will hopefully help readers make a bit of sense out of the conflicting noise.

2009-02-09T11:54:00.001-05:00

From The Onion:

Area Girlfriend Was Voting For Cardinals

SAN FRANCISCO—When asked which team she wanted to win the NFL's most coveted prize, local girlfriend and Super Bowl party attendee Christy Lester, 25, told those in attendance that she was voting for the Arizona Cardinals. "I'm voting for them because I like their quarterback Matt Lineman [sic]. He's hot," said Lester, who, though she has never filled out a ballot of any kind for a Super Bowl, added that in 2008 she voted for the New England Patriots, that she forgot who she voted for in 2007, and that in 2006 she voted for the team Jerome Bettis was on because that's the team her dad likes. "That Cash4Gold.com commercial was so hilarious." Historically, NFL championships have been decided by tallying the number of points scored during four quarters of football and not by ballots cast by a public electorate.

2009-02-09T09:09:00.002-05:00

Two other recent Wonkette highlights:

Their discovery of these clips from the audiobook of Dreams from My Father.
And this bizarre commercial from an upstate-New York leather store:

2009-02-09T08:51:00.003-05:00

Wonkette (which is pretty consistently hilarious these days, incidentally) tallies Hill Republicans' stimulus objections.

So, here are some specific things the GOP will not condone, in this bill they’re not going to vote for, anyway:
A billion dollars extra for the 2010 U.S. Census, which is going to pay good money to many jobless people in every American town — and shore up Lockheed-Martin, which is getting $500 million to build the data systems and run the machinery.
$75 million for FBI employee salaries, because why would you want to pay America’s top cops to do law enforcement and investigations, in America?
...
$200 million for computer centers at community colleges, because if poor unskilled workers want to "learn the computer," they should just go to Stanford instead of complaining.

Say what you will about Republicans, but they do love Stanford.

2009-02-09T08:48:00.002-05:00

Cleaning out the Google Reader backlog, and came across this. Relive our country's proudest moment!

Charles Gibson: No, no. Mr. Kenney. I didn't ask for the spelling. I asked if you agree with the Bush Doctrine?

John Kenney: Do I agree with what part of it, exactly? I assume, if it is a doctrine, as you say it is, that it has multiple -- what's the word I'm looking for? -- grommets.

C.G.: I don't think that's the word.

J.K.: No? How about parts?

C.G.: Possibly. Let me ask you this. Do you know what it is, sir?

J.K.: Me? Totally. Absolutely, Charlie. No, I was just thinking about your, um, your little microphone. On your tie there. I thought it was an ant.

2009-01-13T03:32:00.004-05:00

Deep Thoughts:

As transcribed by Daily Kos's brownsox:

I'll be honest with you. I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I... I think it's asinine. You know, I like back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for 'em. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to down our... and down soldiers. You know, our American soldiers or our Israeli soldiers. I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, "Well look at this atrocity," well you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

Joe the Intellectual Giant.

2008-12-16T03:14:00.002-05:00

I've been kind of wondering this, too:

Questions That I Have for the Secret Service

1. Shouldn't you have jumped in front of that shoe?
2. Shouldn't you have jumped in front of that second shoe?
3. Second shoe = the one thrown after being removed from foot after first shoe was thrown.
4. Let's say people had three feet. Would you have allowed a third shoe to fly unimpeded?
5. While the shoe was in the air, were you like, "Oh, its just a shoe."

2008-11-15T06:20:00.004-05:00

Nice column from Nick Kristof.

We can’t solve our educational challenges when, according to polls, Americans are approximately as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution, and when one-fifth of Americans believe that the sun orbits the Earth.

...

Perhaps John Kennedy was the last president who was unapologetic about his intellect and about luring the best minds to his cabinet. More recently, we’ve had some smart and well-educated presidents who scrambled to hide it. Richard Nixon was a self-loathing intellectual, and Bill Clinton camouflaged a fulgent brain behind folksy Arkansas aphorisms about hogs.

2008-11-14T09:35:00.007-05:00

I watched Boogie Man the other night, and I'd highly recommend it, but I think my favorite part was this delightfully insane -- and 100% serious -- quote from Mary Matalin, explaining the ~~unholy alliance~~ friendship that sprang up between Lee Atwater and George W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign:

Both [Atwater and Bush] were deeply intellectual, and incredibly well-read.

Lee Atwater. George W. Bush. "Deeply intellectual." "Incredibly well-read." True, true.

2008-11-14T00:19:00.003-05:00

Now that's some fine editing.

(Via Wonkette.)

2008-11-13T01:55:00.002-05:00

Man, and I thought the VBBE's Character and Fitness Questionnaire was tough.

Update: 23/6 has discovered an eighth page, with eight new questions that the New York Times apparently missed. For example:

If you maintain a "blog," please provide hard copies of all entries ever posted, along with personal recommendations from at least three commenters who are not relatives of yours. If your blog title contains the phrase "daily musings," thank you for your interest, but the Obama administration will not require your services.

2008-11-12T18:55:00.000-05:00

Paul Reiser, on Obama's first press conference.

So, when someone in the room snickered at "You know, I mean, the living ones," President Elect Obama, the comic-who-was-doing-fine-but-thought-he-was-losing-them had to now explain that one too. "You know, I didn't want to get all Nancy Reagan-y séance on you." ("Oh, no - now they're going to jump on that! 'Wet-Behind-The Ears Democrat Ridicules Republican Icon! Pictures at Eleven!')

Then it just keeps snowballing. Like the comic who accidentally swears on stage and then can't stop. ("Oh fuck, I just said shit.")

Somewhere in his brilliant performer mind, Obama must've known it was time to go to a new bit. ("C'mon, someone give me another question. Something easy. Oh good... something about the dog.")

Of course, two seconds later, the mind was back in red alert. ("Oh, shit... I just called myself a 'mutt.' Oh, fuck, I just said shit again!")

He was trying to put out a fire that wasn't really there, and in the process, made a silly joke. Clearly, there's some sort of transition time needed between campaigning (" I really want to convince you why I'd be good at this job.") and having won. ("Wow - I actually have the job?") I'm not sure how long it takes to make that adjustment, but knowing what we know of Barack Obama, I'm pretty sure he's already made it. Let's cut the guy some slack. And don't forget folks: please - tip your waitress.

2008-11-12T18:36:00.006-05:00

So you know the whole "Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent" thing? Turns out that was just completely made up. By this guy (albeit in one of his other characters):

And reported as news. Too awesome.

(So sayeth the New York Times.)

Update: I missed this somewhat crucial paragraph:

The pranksters behind Eisenstadt acknowledge that he was not, through them, the anonymous source of the Palin leak. He just claimed falsely that he was the leaker--and they say they have no reason to cast doubt on the original story. For its part, Fox News Channel continues to stand behind its story.

So Carl Cameron's original source is still out there. But as much as I continue to think it would be hilarious if this were actually true, Josh Marshall makes a valid point:

I quite agree from a partisan perspective. The more Palin the better. But I think we also need to think about this from the broader perspective of national dignity. And simple human decency. You're at a party and someone's drinking too much and starting to do embarrassing things. Even if you don't like them, and even if the unlovely part of you thinks it's kind of funny, still someone should step in. On the other hand, if Rush and Sean, are up for it, maybe we just tap another keg?

2008-11-12T07:02:00.000-05:00

A great nugget from Al Gore:

In an earlier transformative era in American history, President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon within 10 years. Eight years and two months later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. The average age of the systems engineers cheering on Apollo 11 from the Houston control room that day was 26, which means that their average age when President Kennedy announced the challenge was 18.

Their average age was 26. How depressing is that?

2008-11-09T08:17:00.003-05:00

From the Onion: Dom DeLillo (or "Dom DeLillo") on the election. Uncanny.

2008-11-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

This is pretty wild:

Among the more unusual measures on this year’s ballots was one in Florida that would repeal an old clause in the state constitution that allows legislators to bar Asian immigrants from owning land. The repeal would be symbolic, as equal protection laws would prevent lawmakers from applying the ban. With 78 percent of precincts reporting just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, the vote was close, with 52 percent voting to preserve the clause.

Italics mine, to illustrate the fact that Floridians are out of their damn minds.

2008-11-06T07:38:00.003-05:00

I thought it might be interesting to keep track of FiveThirtyEight.com's projections during the last week of the campaign, in order to compare the progression to the eventual result. I'm sure that kind of historical data is available somewhere on the site, but I wasn't able to find it, so I'll make a note of it here. To be updated ~~daily~~ if I actually remember this between now and the election.

	Popular Vote		Electoral College
	Obama	McCain	Obama	McCain
October 28, 2008	52.1	46.5	348.2	189.8
October 29, 2008	52.0	46.6	344.1	193.9
October 30, 2008	52.0	46.4	346.5	191.5
October 31, 2008	52.2	46.4	349.7	188.3
November 1, 2008	52.2	46.6	344.0	194.0
November 2, 2008	51.9	47.2	332.9	205.1
November 3, 2008	52.0	46.1	346.5	191.5
November 4, 2008	52.3	46.2	348.6	189.4
Actual	52.9	45.7	365	173

Update: They say races traditionally tighten up in the last week or so. I'm chalking up the November 2 numbers to that phenomenon.

Second update: Exact numbers aren't in yet, but we're getting close, and things are looking awfully good for Nate Silver (if anything, he may have been on the low end). The jury's still out on Missouri (McCain up by about 6,000), North Carolina (Obama up by about 14,000), and Omaha, Nebraska (which has one electoral vote that could go either way). Once those are in, I'll update this table to reflect the actual election results.

Post-election update: Not too shabby.

2008-11-04T02:58:00.002-05:00

It's Excellular!

2008-11-02T17:46:00.002-05:00

This number-cruncher fellow says the networks will call the election for Obama at around 11pm on Tuesday (which is not-coincidentally also when he predicts they'll call Virginia and Pennsylvania). His methodology seems a little light, but it's a fun thing to think about all the same (and in his defense, he sounds a bit like Dr. Ashen, so that's fun).

My game-plan for Tuesday is to spend the evening flipping back and forth between PBS, MSNBC, and Comedy Central (with the occasional stop at CNN or FOX). On the web, I'll be keeping an eye on the nifty Daily Kos map, Hotline's blog, and the New York Times. Any other suggestions?

Update: Nate Silver says he'll be updating and live-blogging throughout the evening, so that plus the three sites above should cover about 98% of my web surfing Tuesday night.

2008-11-02T02:19:00.002-05:00

Four things that have made me laugh in recent days:

The Onion: Lieberman's Overlords Most Displeased
The Onion: A Vote for My Husband Is a Vote for Me Not Breaking Your Fucking Neck (by Cindy McCain)
Why you ought to vote (from a bunch of concerned North Carolinians ["It's the only legal way to cancel out your neighbors"]):
And why you ought to vote (from the "Whassup" Guys, from days of yore):

2008-10-30T03:29:00.002-04:00

Funny quote.

The Palin fires, however, show signs of banking. Over at Sheffield Lanes, mention of her name summons no glint from older bowlers, or from Jeremy and Joe Long, in their 20s, tipping Buds. They liked Mrs. Clinton but pass on Ms. Palin.

"She’s always talking about the ‘Average Joe,’" Jeremy Long said. "Average me! I don’t want myself in the Oval Office. I want someone smarter."

Elitist!

2008-10-30T03:26:00.002-04:00

Balls of steel, the man has.

Two days after he was convicted on seven felony counts in Washington, Senator Ted Stevens returned to Alaska on Wednesday night to begin a six-day campaign sprint, telling several hundred supporters at a rally here that he would be vindicated on appeal and asking them to elect him to a seventh term.

Actively campaigning, two days after a felony conviction. That is phenomenal.

2008-10-08T17:31:00.004-04:00

This is from a while ago, but it's amusing enough that it's worth posting anyway. The Lexis search string that the Justice Department used to weed out those pernicious potential Democrats:

[First name of a candidate]! and pre/2 [last name of a candidate] w/7 bush or gore or republican! or democrat! or charg! or accus! or criticiz! or blam! or defend! or iran contra or clinton or spotted owl or florida recount or sex! or controvers! or racis! or fraud! or investigat! or bankrupt! or layoff! or downsiz! or PNTR or NAFTA or outsourc! or indict! or enron or kerry or iraq or wmd! or arrest! or intox! or fired or sex! or racis! or intox! or slur! or arrest! or fired or controvers! or abortion! or gay! or homosexual! or gun! or firearm!

Thank God you don't pay by the keyword.

(Via Slashdot, which points out that "sex" appears twice, so it must have been very important to them.)

2008-10-08T17:27:00.001-04:00

Letterman's Palin debate recap

(Via Wonkette.)

2008-10-08T17:24:00.001-04:00

"Lowest common denominator" is actually inapt, because none of these fucking people has any idea what a "denominator" is.

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

2008-10-07T19:05:00.002-04:00

There's a word for this kind of thing, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

Mr. McCain said of Mr. Obama on Monday: "My opponent’s touchiness every time he is questioned about his record should make us only more concerned."

Hypo... hypo... "hypothetical"? "Hyperbaric"? "Hippocratic"? I know it's something like that.

2008-10-07T02:25:00.003-04:00

So that's why Obama hasn't mentioned the Keating Five much.

2008-10-07T02:01:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of a site called ph33r and loathing (a site about which I know nothing whatsoever), the Sarah Palin debate flow chart:

2008-10-05T03:01:00.002-04:00

Economists and their liberal elitisms hate ~~America~~ John McCain.

2008-10-03T16:53:00.004-04:00

This made me chuckle:

Asked what would happen if the markets or the government did not come through, Mr. Schwarzenegger replied, "This is no such thing in my vocabulary as ‘what if not.’ We will."

Hard to blame him for a vocabulary lapse like that; the subjunctive is tough in any language.

2008-10-02T23:40:00.005-04:00

Semi-live-blogging the vice presidential debate!
Because such is my civic duty

8:47: Gwen Ifill limps onto stage, and the audience cheers like she's an injured football player leaving the field under her own power. Nice, I guess, but a little weird.

8:50: The C-SPAN voiceover woman explains the debate format, and notes that each candidate will get a two-minute closing statement. Completely scripted, completely planned ahead of time. What are the odds Palin screws it up?

8:55: This audience is exceptionally good at practicing being quiet. So is Ifill. (And the C-SPAN voiceover woman, for that matter.)

8:57: God, remember when Dan Quayle's ticket actually won, despite his inability to spell? That's a sobering thought.

9:01: Ifill's a-talkin'! (With an echo, too!)

9:02: No "untoward outbursts," you unruly jerks.

9:03: Palin: "Hey, can I call you 'Joe'?" Oughtn't he to have said no, just to fluster her?

9:04: Less than a minute into his first answer, Biden is explaining Obama's plan for the economy. Well done, "Joe."

9:06: Palin's first answer contained no gaffes. This makes me sad.

9:08: The "fundamental" of our economy. Palin's first goof, and it was an utterly boring one.

9:08: They're a team of mavericks!

9:10: She really is quite good at this, which is depressing.

9:11: Biden's coming off as a little too calm, I think. Say something interesting, Joe!

9:12: Let's all laugh at Joey Danko for being poor!

9:13: "Government's gonna have to learn to be more efficient." Perhaps we can fire the employees of the National Gallery of Art?

9:14: Biden was in the Senate during the whole Keating Five business, right? Maybe that'll get a mention tonight (since Obama's been strangely reticent about it so far).

9:15: "I may not answer the questions in the way either [Biden] or the moderator want to hear." Everyone else heard that, right?

9:16: Remember that scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when the Bulgarian veela morphed from beautiful women into scary, mean-faced fire-throwers?

9:17: In the middle class, paying higher taxes is not patriotic.

9:18: And yes, "healthcare being taken over by the Feds" is my worst nightmare.

9:19: "You know how Barack Oba- excuse me, you know how John McCain..." – Nice, Joe.

9:20: Ha, "the ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."

9:22: What the hell was that? "Characterized. Characteris...? Characterized."

9:2: Palin just bragged about how McCain wouldn't say one thing to one group and then turn around and say something else to another group. John McCain. True story.

9:24: Palin's area of expertise is energy.

9:25: Joe's lookin' awfully strong on the windfall profits tax.

9:27: "We have John McCain to thank for bringing people to the table." John McCain. True story.

9:29: We have domestic supplies of energy all over this great land! Damn you, you East-Coast politicians! Why won't you let us tap into them?

9:30: Ha! Biden was all set to respond to something when Ifill rather abruptly moved onto to next topic, and I swear it looked like she'd just shot his dog.

9:31: Palin doesn't want to argue about the causes of climate change. Which is good, because neither do climate scientists.

9:33: "Investing in clean coal technology"? What the hell, Biden? If you're forced to respond to a question about it, fine, but don't bring it up yourself.

9:34: People are so hungry for those miniscule oil reserves to be tapped into!

9:35: Hey-oh! "Nucular," sayeth the energy expert.

9:36: Ifill just cut off Biden for the second time in the last five minutes.

9:38: Sarah Palin would be "tolerant" of adults "choosing their own relationships." [Ahem.] How admirable!

9:39: The little sigh that Biden gave when Ifill brought up the fact that both candidates have children in Iraq was possibly the most real thing I've ever seen from him.

9:40: What's the deal with "eye-rack"? Do you think she really doesn't understand how to pronounce it, or is it more of a folksy, "I'm not gonna learn their terrorist language" kind of thing?

9:44: Palin just all but called Barack Obama a coward.

9:45: "Ih-rack," for the record, doesn't bother me nearly as much as "eye-rack." But why not go all the way and pronounce it correctly?

9:47: "Nucular Eye-ran!" Jesus H. Christ. (And yet she can pronounce Ahmadinejad. Go figure.)

9:48: Henry Kissinger shared with Palin "his passion for diplomacy." I think I read that on the Onion.

9:50: Biden seems to have made a definite decision to refer to John McCain as "John," rather than "Senator McCain." Interesting.

9:51: "John" recently said that he "wouldn't even sit down with the government of Spain." Awesome inflection.

9:52: "Building our embassy in Jerusalem"? What the hell?

9:53: "No one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel than Joe ~~Lieberman~~ Biden," says Joe ~~Lieberman~~ Biden.

9:59: Three weeks in Iraq :: seven years in Afghanistan. That's a nice comparison, and I hope we see more of it.

10:00: Holy crap, she knew the name of your fancy "top general in Afghanistan"! Didn't see that coming, did you, "Joe"? Now, granted, his name is actually McKiernan, and she thinks his name is McClelland. But she's pretty impressed with herself for coming so close!

10:03: Palin "doesn't understand" the concept of changing one's mind. This is hardly surprising.

10:06: John McCain "knows how to win a war." Er... right.

10:07: "How would a Biden administration be different from an Obama administration?" That's a pretty nifty question, Gwen.

10:09: And as smarmy as she is, Palin did a really good job with that one. (Despite the fact that "Wasilla Main Street" is probably an unfathomably depressing place.)

10:10: Ha, Biden spends a lot of time in Home Depot. (In his defense: those big aisles can be confusing.)

10:11: Doggone it!

10:11: Jill Biden's "reward is in heaven"? Is that, like, a threat?

10:12: We need to ramp up how much money those schools are deserving.

10:12: I hate to admit it, but the "extra credit" line was genuinely funny.

10:13: Christ, another funny, right in a row. She's closing awfully strong.

10:17: Wait, did Biden really just say that Article I defines the role of the vice president? [Update: No, I misunderstood his point. Biden got it right.]

10:18: As governor of a "huge state"?

10:20: Biden thinks his Achilles' heel is his "excessive passion"?

10:21: Biden, getting choked up about his son: assuming that was sincere (and I think it was), I'd say that's the second most real thing I've ever seen from him.

10:22: Lieberman, Giuliani, Romney, and Lingle? A) Who the heck is Lingle? And B) who cares what those other three losers think?

10:23: Yeah, Joe! Way to save the "he's not a maverick" attack for the late innings. That was clutch.

10:25: I liked Biden's answer on judicial philosophy, but I'm interested to see if he takes heat for being a bit too in-the-weeds there.

10:27: Jesse Helms: a raging racist, and a terrible person, but he adopted a child with a disability, so you have to feel like a jerk for disliking him.

10:29: Palin hates the "filter" of the mainstream media. Like when Katie Couric asks a question, and then uses CBS's patented Dimmer™ filter to make Palin's answers appear to be semi-literate.

10:32: Nice close from Biden.

10:33: Does Palin just shout all the time? Or did they leave her microphone on? Because you could kind of hear Biden during the Meet-the-Parentses, but she was clear as a bell.

So, if we're starting from Square One, I think Biden won the thing pretty solidly. But we're very much not starting from Square One, and Palin –- after the interview debacles of the last several weeks -– really didn't have to do much beyond not drool on herself. And drool she did not. So I don't really know what to say. Please, American people: see through the embarrassingly low standards.

[Update: the immediate reaction that I've seen (on ABC and MSNBC), even from the right, has been surprisingly pro-Biden. I am reminded of the fact that I worried Obama had lost last week's debate, too -- and look how that one turned out. So let's hope I'm wrong about this one, too.]

2008-10-02T19:44:00.005-04:00

The So-Ready-To-Be-President Chronicles, Vol. MMCXII:

Transcripteration:

Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?
Palin: Mmm. Well, let's see. There's... of course, in the great history of America, there have been rulings that... there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and... there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there, so, you know. Going through the history of America, there would be others, but...
Couric: Can you think of any?
Palin: Well, I would think of any again that could best be dealt with on a more local level, maybe I would take issue with, but you know, as a mayor and then as a governor, and even as a vice president, if I am so privileged to serve, we'd be in a position of changing those things, but in supporting the law of the land, as it reads today.

Ah, remember the good ol' days, when Sarah Palin just wanted to know "what it is that the V.P. does"? Well someone apparently explained it to her, and did so in such a way as to make the poor woman think that overruling the Supreme Court is one of the perks of the vice presidency. That wasn't very nice.

2008-10-02T15:25:00.004-04:00

It's funny because it's true. (And let's face it: if someone could greenlight Beverly Hills Chihuahua...)

Tell it, Diddy!

(Both links courtesy of my sister.)

2008-09-30T00:20:00.003-04:00

Sarah Palin is so ready to be president.

I will transcribe my favorite bit, because it is truly priceless:

Couric: We began, though, with reports that the lobbying firm of Senator McCain's campaign manager received payments as recently as last month from mortgage giant Freddie Mac, even as it was failing. I asked for [Palin's] reaction during our exclusive interview.
Palin: My understanding is Rick Davis... recused himself from the dealings in that firm, I don't know how long ago, a year or two ago, and that he's not benefiting from that, and you know, I would hope that that's the case.
Couric: But he still has a stake in the company, so isn't that a conflict of interest?
Palin: [4-second pause] Again, my understanding is that... he... he recused himself from the dealings with Freddie and Fannie, any lobbying efforts on his part there, and I would hope that that's the case, because as John McCain has been saying, and as I've been in a... on a much more local level, been also rallying against, is the undue influence of lobbyists in public policy decisions being made. [Sic, sic, a thousand times sic.]

Got that, Katie? Now move on. (CBS obviously cut the section in which Palin explained that she is also very concerned about maps and the Iraq.)

2008-09-29T11:12:00.000-04:00

Remember when Krugman used to be this great all the time?

Now, to a large extent the poor quality of Mr. McCain’s advisers reflects the tattered intellectual state of his party. Has there ever been a more pathetic economic proposal than the suggestion of House Republicans that we try to solve the financial crisis by eliminating capital gains taxes? (Troubled financial institutions, by definition, don’t have capital gains to tax.)

2008-09-22T15:47:00.002-04:00

God, I miss The West Wing.

OBAMA They pivoted off the argument that I was inexperienced to the criticism that I’m — wait for it — the Messiah, who, by the way, was a community organizer. When I speak I try to lead with inspiration and aptitude. How is that a liability?

BARTLET Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn’t extend to Americans being exceptional. If you excelled academically and are able to casually use 690 SAT words then you might as well have the press shoot video of you giving the finger to the Statue of Liberty while the Dixie Chicks sing the University of the Taliban fight song. The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.

Awesome. Read the rest. You will enjoy it. There are times when condescension is called for, people!

2008-09-14T22:55:00.002-04:00

Heck of a job, Franci.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, [Palin] appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

2008-09-14T03:32:00.002-04:00

Yikes.

Palin says her time as mayor taught her how to be a leader and grounded her in the real needs of voters, and her tenure revealed some of the qualities she would later display as governor: a striving ambition, a willingness to cut loose those perceived as disloyal and a populist brand of social and pro-growth conservatism.

But a visit to this former mining supply post 40 miles north of Anchorage shows the extent to which Palin's mayoralty was also defined by what it did not include. The universe of the mayor of Wasilla is sharply circumscribed even by the standards of small towns, which limited Palin's exposure to issues such as health care, social services, the environment and education. ...

Palin limited her duties further by hiring a deputy administrator to handle much of the town's day-to-day management. Her top achievement as mayor was the construction of an ice rink, a project that landed in the courts and cost the city more than expected.

I think the sentence "her top achievement as mayor was the construction of an ice rink, a project that landed in the courts and cost the city more than expected" is about as close as the Washington Post can come to "she sucks."

Also:

Although the town had a $4 million surplus, Palin cut the museum budget by $32,000, and the three older women who worked there quit instead of deciding which would have to go. But Palin dipped into the budget to create the deputy administrator slot, which some council members complained was at odds with her small-government stance. She told city officials not to talk to reporters.

Charming.

2008-09-14T02:08:00.002-04:00

This is old (and possibly something I've posted before), but it's pretty awesome.

2008-09-13T02:37:00.002-04:00

I'm not a big fan of the "I can out-shout you" school of talking-headialism, but if that's what MSNBC is going to put on the air, I suppose it's nice to see the good guys winning.

(Via AMERICAblog.)

2008-09-13T02:25:00.003-04:00

"Perhaps" Sarah Palin will have to learn a bit more about NATO before declaring [preventive*] war on Russia:

There's a bit more on Georgia and Ukraine and NATO. What Obama and Biden favor is for NATO to offer these two countries accession to the "Membership Action Plan" (or MAP), a process set up in the late 1990s to help aspirant countries prepare for possible membership in the Alliance. MAP isn't a promise of membership, and the last members to join NATO were in MAP for nearly a decade. It would take at least as long for Ukraine and Georgia to become members of NATO, not least since one of the criterion for membership is that there are no territorial disputes involving the country that is requesting membership... A lot of mumbo jumbo on NATO accession procedures, this. But here's the kicker: What Palin said is that Ukraine and Georgia should become NATO members now. Not even Bush is arguing that. (He, too, favors MAP.) McCain was with Bush on this until recently and, I assume, if asked still is. Palin didn't know the distinction, and is suggesting that these countries get into NATO tomorrow. She may not realize that this is a decision that NATO members need to make collectively, all 27 of them, which won't happen, given that MAP was denied the countries just a few months ago.

* - Ahem.

2008-09-13T02:04:00.008-04:00

AMERICAblog points to this interview, containing the following fantastic exchange:

[Some local news anchor]: Well, you say you're sure [Palin] has the experience, but again, I'm just asking for an example. What experience does she have in the field of national security?

McCain: Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. She represents, is a governor of a state that 20% of America's energy supply comes from there. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue. We've got to stop sending $700 billion of American money to countries that don't like us very much. She's very well versed on that issue. And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that's right next to Russia. She understands Russia, and their newly aggressive behavior in the world which is also something we have to be very concerned about.

Hear that, you stupid liberals? She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America! So shut up already!

The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen objects:

I'm afraid this is just embarrassingly incoherent. First, the notion that Palin's proximity to Russia counts as national security experience continues to be unusually stupid, even for McCain.

Second, "Energy" is not a response to the question, "What experience does she have in the field of national security?"

And third, to insist, publicly and on the record, that Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America" is, quite literally, laughable. We are, after all, talking about a politician who isn't sure about the human impact on global warming, and hasn't demonstrated any real expertise on the issue. Ever.

2008-09-13T01:49:00.007-04:00

This is why it's fun to read blogs.

This was John McCain, late last year on why he was qualified to be the president:
I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time.
And here is Sarah Palin last night on why she is ready to be a 72-year old heartbeat away from the presidency:
Charlie, again, we've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody's big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state.
So there you have it. The ultimate he said, she said. John McCain explained why Sarah Palin isn't qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and Sarah Palin explained why John McCain doesn't represent change, just more of the same old politics as usual.

His is ironic and unintentionally funny; hers is ironic and unintentionally hilarious.

Update: That McCain quote is also amusing when contrasted with this McCain quote:

Listen, mayors have the toughest job, I think, in America. It's easy for me to go to Washington and, frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.

Which of those two quotes do you think he meant to apply to Sarah Palin?

2008-09-13T01:13:00.003-04:00

"In what respect, Charlie?"

Unreal.

The Atlantic's James Fallows:

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.

(Via Matthew DeLong at the Washington Independent.)

2008-09-13T01:10:00.001-04:00

Michael Palin for President.

(Via Kos.)

2008-09-13T01:01:00.006-04:00

An excellent Dugout-style chat between the Republican Vice Presidential runners-up, courtesy of 23/6 (via Kos). Excerpt:

MittyMittyBangBang: u believe this chick?
GoodNPawlenty: dont even start
MittyMittyBangBang: wut happened 2 the maverick we used 2 know?
GoodNPawlenty: time 2 put that guy in a home already
MittyMittyBangBang: hehe
MittyMittyBangBang: she is a worse VP pick than me and im a friggin mormon

2008-09-13T00:06:00.003-04:00

TAPPED's Adam Serwer on Palin's RNC-speech contempt for community organizers:

If I had spent my mayoralty subjecting people to loyalty tests and trying to ban books, a community organizer might make me nervous, too.

(Also amusing: the included photograph of MLK, captioned, "Another irresponsible 'community organizer.'")

Relatedly, Kos passes along an email (and Politico's Jonathan Martin does the same): "Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor."

2008-09-12T23:52:00.002-04:00

This made me laugh.

2008-09-12T23:04:00.000-04:00

Deep Thought (in the manner of Atrios)

If Sarah Palin is an expert on foreign affairs by dint of Alaska's proximity to Russia... does Barack Obama (who lives just across the lake from Canada!) pass that same ~~absurd~~ not-at-all-absurd test? Not to mention Joe Biden -- there's nothing but the Atlantic Ocean between him and half of Europe.

2008-09-12T18:05:00.004-04:00

There's something distinctly unsettling about the fact that The View asks tougher questions than the Associated Press.

Update: The whole rape-kit issue is pretty insane, and I hope it continues to gain traction, but in light of McCain's rough appearance on The View this afternoon, it's funny to note this TPM post from a few hours before the Gibson interview:

I get the sense that maybe the subject is so charged that people don't want to bring it up. But I'm wondering if Charlie Gibson might be able to raise the matter during the Barbara Walters style interview he's doing today with Gov. Palin up in Alaska.

I'd imagine Josh Marshall meant it sarcastically, but if The View has too many more episodes like this afternoon's, the phrase "Barbara-Walters-style interview" could end up acquiring a whole new meaning.

2008-09-10T02:24:00.001-04:00

This is pretty funny:

Apparently, the Republicans couldn't find very many African American supporters to show on the Big Screen Of Triumph, when introducing McCain (see 6:45, 7:02)... so they simply put up stock photos of black people. You know, riding bicycles and appreciating their moms and stuff.

2008-09-10T01:58:00.000-04:00

This is pretty gosh darn well done:

(Via Kos.)