4000

This post is mostly a theft of Hilzoy's post at Obsidian Wings. Ordinarily, I wouldn't steal an entire post, particularly not one as eloquent as hers, but...I have. Because it's like that.

When you think about the election in November, whoever you support, think about this. Think about the fact that each iteration of the word below represents a piece of a family, part of a circle of friends, torn off like a limb from a body. And it's happened over and over and over and over...

Here's the stolen post:

"Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead."

In the interest of keeping my eye on the defeating McCain ball, even as Senator Clinton flails impotently toward her inevitable primary loss, I commend this video post from Talking Points Memo to your attention:

Money quote:

Now, it's not easy to draw lessons from history, but one of the clearest lessons that there is is that military power is almost always based on economic might and the one-military power-seldom long outlives a country's economic power. And what that tells us is that fiscal soundness-whether a country's budget is in order, whether it has chronic current accounts deficits and stuff like that is a much bigger deal than any one weapons system, even any one small conflict like we have in Iraq

Marshall goes on to explain that McCain is almost pathologically incapable of dealing with foreign policy in any way beyond as a question of short-term military strategy, and certainly not as part of the integrated whole of governing which includes maintaining the nation's fiscal health as part and parcel of its geopolitical strength.

As I was listening to this, I kept recalling McCain's repeated line that he was a "foot soldier in the Reagan revolution." As Dick Cheney apparently told Paul O'Neill, Reagan's lesson was that deficits don't matter. It seems as if McCain has internalized that message completely: Fiscal recklessness is no vice if it is perpetrated in pursuit of a noble foreign policy goal. And the emergency in the middle east is such a noble goal-as was victory in the Cold War.

The problem with the analogy is that the two conflicts are wildly different. Every dollar spent on bigger, louder, more destructive, more frightening weapons in the cold war could logically be justified as forcing the other side, which was economically less sound, to spend an equal amount on their own super destructo machines to keep pace. You can argue about whether that was what worked, but as a strategy, it at least made sense.

However, the current war is asymmetrical. We could spend every last cent we have on weaponry that'd make Darth Vader weep with envy and the other side would still be busily stocking up on small explosives to build IEDs and hatching plans to kill us with our own airplanes. In other words, whether we drain the treasury to build a doomsday device or space nukes or invisible fighter planes, the enemy will still be doing what it is currently doing.

The way to maintain military superiority is to wield that power judiciously and to carefully tend our economic resources. It is not to pour money into foolish, destructive quagmires in the middle eastern desert. George Bush's, Dick Cheney's, and John McCain's bellicose tunnel vision has the equation precisely reversed. And in reverse, the equation seems to be devastating our military, our standing in the world, and after five years, the economy itself.

Whatever McCain's differences with Bush, the fact that he has internalized this brutally wrongheaded lesson from the Reagan era tells me that he will be every bit the disaster Bush has been. I hope anyone thinking "I could never vote for (Obama/Clinton)-if (he/she) wins the nomination, I'm just gonna (stay home/vote for McCain/vote for Nader/vote for McKinney)" thinks long and hard and honestly about just how much another four years like the last eight would suck.

Novick for Senate

I'm seriously thinking about endorsing Steve Novick for Senate. All I know about the man is that he's a Democrat and he made the following ad:

Anyone know anything about the guy? I'm asking all 3.2 of my readers. Not that my endorsement means anything (particularly not in Oregon), but I'd hate to wind up endorsing some horrible candidate just because I'd like to have a beer with him.
But just so there's no second guessing, I really would like to have a beer with a man who's not afraid to open that beer with his hook in his ad.

Obama's Race Speech

I'm not being original when I say this speech was nearly perfect. I'm particularly amazed at the way Obama used his bi-racial-ness as a hook upon which to hang the message that he gets resentments on all sides and that he is uniquely situated to deal with those resentments en route to working toward the common good. I've known enough bi-racial and multi-racial people to know that it can be an identity that causes problems and pains that are as difficult to face and address as those faced by any minority, but without the language and support structures built up over time to take on that task. The fact that most bi-racial people don't have bi-racial parents who know the particular strains they face doesn't help.

But Obama used his bi-racial identity as an asset. In this speech he used it as a way to tell everyone that he gets their dirty little secret, that it's OK, and that the problem that secret represents can be dealt with if it's faced head-on. Brilliant.

Probably the best and simplest take on it was John Stewart's when he referred to the speech as Obama talking to Americans about race as though they were grown ups.

I also have to wonder (on a slightly more frivolous note) about his mention at the beginning of the speech of the issue of slavery nearly hamstringing the convention that led to the Declaration of Independence. It may be just a coincidence, but that very historical episode was dramatized (wonderfully, I thought) the night before in HBO's miniseries, John Adams. If that isn't one of the luckiest coincidences ever, it's a pretty masterful bit of scheduling.

SNL

Tracy Morgan providing "balance" to Tina Fey's pro-Clintonism on weekend update:



Am I crazy to think this was just depressing? If "balance" involves trafficking in crude racial stereotypes and sexism, I think I'd prefer things to remain unbalanced.

When Tina Fey said "bitch is the new black," "bitch" wasn't being used as an epithet, but when Tracy Morgan said "black is the new president, bitch," it was.

I think too much has been made of SNL's impact and relevance. It's probably only relevant to beltway journalists, who are always behind the curve on everything. But if they're going to try to strike some sort of balance, they could do a MUCH better job by actually making both sides close to equivalent.

Once a Buchanan...

I've been watching the Rachel Maddow/Pat Buchanan back-and-forth on MSNBC this whole prolonged primary season, and I've been enjoying the hell out of it. They are both very smart, witty, and charismatic. But I have to admit that I've been wondering when Buchanan would revert to that old Nixon-crony, unhinged, ultra right wing, Opus Dei loon we've come to know and love.
The answer is March 12th, as it turns out:


And Rachel Maddow (AKA the best thing about MSNBC, if not TV altogether these days) kicks his ass in a perfectly "I'm more disappointed than angry" way.

H/T Skippy.

Ferraro to Obama: Don't Antagonize Me

Not such a good recovery. A few thoughts:

1) I haven't seen her speak much, so I have to ask if this tendency not to finish words a recent thing or was she always like that?

2) "Threats" coming from the Obama campaign? She should put up or shut up with that accusation.

3) The veiled threat at the end? Classy.

Obama on Hardball

He's good. This performance was much better than he usually is in unscripted settings with small audiences.
Maybe the smashing win tonight in Mississippi was buoying his spirits. Or maybe he's just generally getting better at this.

A random Spitzer thought:

The way I hear it, you pay hookers not so much for the sex as for the discretion. After a certain point, that's all there is, right? I mean, you may have some beauty standards and/or some kinks that make your ideal hooker one in a million, but even one in a million isn't gonna cost you $55oo an hour.

But strangely, once you reach that super high end threshold, the greater expense actually diminishes the potential for discretion. You have to wire the money or pull it out of your account in cash-and those kinds of wires or cash sums are going to get noticed. Bankers and IRS investigators have their antennae tuned to detect such moves.

It's a bizarre conundrum. Does it mean that in the end, all effective prostitution will be somewhat cheap and sleazy? If that's the case, I think it unlikely that a large portion of the market will be effected.

VP nom derangement syndrome?

What the hell is it about failed Democratic Vice Presidential nominees?
After 2000, Joe Lieberman straight-up lost his mind in the ways that are by now familiar (Joementum!). I always chalked it up to the fact that he was borderline at best to begin with.

But via Andrew Sullivan (via DailyKos, in turn), I just read this charming quote from 1984's party-elite-backed VP nominee, Geraldine Ferraro:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept,"

The best part? She spoke this insanity on John Gibson's radio show! John "Fox News," "Let's Mock Some Dead Homos," "White People Need to Have More Babies to Prevent the Dusky Hordes' Demographic Onslaught" Gibson. Why anybody situated to the political left of Mussolini would go on Gibson's show is beyond me. But to do it to take a racist crap all over one of her party's presidential candidates is mind bogglingly stupid.

This is not out of context. Listen yourself:


Will Clinton ask Ferraro to step down? Will any member of the press even mention it to her? I wouldn't bet anything of value on it.

Update: Apparently the quote above is not from the John Gibson show, but from an interview with the Daily Breeze, a Los Angeles area newspaper. But the Gibson Show cut is also legit and very, very close. Which means that this line of BS is part of Ferraro's standard slate of talking points. I'm actually quite amazed, though I suppose I shouldn't be.

Spitzer-damn.

A few thoughts on my governor's prostitution-ring shenanigans:
1) Way to go, idiot!
2) Prostitution should not be illegal.
3) Even if it was legal-way to go jerk!
4) If he resigns, does it affect his superdelegate status? Here's hoping it does.

Can you say...

..."coattails?" I knew you could.

Spread the word

This is news that deserves to be spread widely. It looks like the delegate count in California was certified on Tuesday, and it included 4 more delegates than had been reported for Obama. At this stage, that's pretty damned significant. But I didn't hear anything about it on the news or on big websites like Slate, Huffington Post, Drudge Report, or the like. It may have been there somewhere, but I didn't see it.

So in the interest of full dissemination of relevant information, I'm posting the news and a link to a full accounting. Enjoy.

PS: This comment from Kid Oakland on the Daily Kos diary linked above gets at a very important part of why I support Obama:

And that's why we fought everywhere we could in CA knowing that the early voting was a steep mountain to climb and we likely could not win the stateHere in CD-9 we won Obama 4 of the 6 delegates for a 4-2 advantage. We did that by winning the last 2 or 3 out of every 100 voters to get to 62.6%. You read that right. Had we left off and not won over the last 2 or 3 out of every 100 voters, CD-9 would have been a delegate tie. That's why Barack Obama is staying close in every state, because of boots on the ground persuading people and getting out the vote. Note to Super Delegates: that's the kind of energy you want on our side in November.

"CD-9" refers to the 9th Congressional District in the East Bay. I used to live there and I'm happy as hell to see it went 4-2 for Obama. Nice work, Kid Oakland and friends!

Macbeth

The wife and I went to a staging of Macbeth at BAM last night. It starred Patrick Stewart as Macbeth and it was simply amazing.
The staging was beautiful and inventive (or it seemed to be-certainly it wasn't what I was expecting). The acting was just perfect (Michael Feast as Macduff stole the show in my ignorant opinion).
I've actually never seen a staging of Shakespeare before (I know-give me a break). I was impressed and delighted. I hope it won't be long before I see some more. Shakespeare is vastly better in the flesh than as cold text (and he's pretty great as cold text).
If I start making strained allusions to Macbeth, please call me on it-we are in some weyrd times, and some may be appropriate-but stop me if I go overboard.

Why do I miss living in the Bay Area?

This kind of stuff. Ballsy. Clever. Kinda old-school. Awesome.

h/t crooks and liars.

The price of compensation

Not cheap, as it turns out.

Some thoughts on the [please let it be] final debate

I think Obama basically won (surprise!). Not a knockout, but he offered nothing cringeworthy, either. Obama would have basically had to completely botch the mission for Clinton to have won, and he didn't. Clinton offered a few "ouch" moments. For example, the "you always ask me the first question" response. What the hell was that? I don't even know what point she was trying to make, so at best it was a non sequitur.
Russert didn't look good, but does he ever? As Josh Marshall notes, his insistence on reading Farrakhan's noxious quotes into the record was just bizarre.

Also, in the post-game on MSNBC, Chris Matthews is coming off as (surprise) a fool. Watching Matthews force Jesse Jackson to admit that Barack Obama is a better speaker than him was kind of painful. That question accomplished nothing, and made me kind of sad (and I'm no huge Jackson-backer, either).

And Stephanie Tubbs Jones does not come off well as a Clinton spokesperson. She looked adequate when she was opposite Captain Knucklehead, but when she has no moron as a foil, she looks ineffectual and a little spastic.

The Hives

It appears as though Skippy the Bush Kangaroo has posted a video by The Hives as his Monday Night Music Club. In which case-Yay!
The Hives are the bee's knees. Or should that be "the bees' knees"?
It's all so confusing. let's just call them the cat's pajamas and let it go at that.

Bummer

Well, dammit. Professor Lawrence Lessig has decided not to run for Congress, despite my support for his potential campaign.
Apparently the polling showed that he simply couldn't beat Jackie Speier. And couldn't even avoid a crushing blowout.
Nonetheless, I would have loved to have seen him in Congress. I still would. But I support his change congress movement more, and I encourage you to do whatever you can to help him with it. He really is a very very smart man, with creative approaches to difficult problems. Moreover, he is an incredibly classy man, as evidenced by his frequent iteration of the fact that Speier has been such a capable public servant over the years (and he's right about that).
Professor Lessig's videos are extraordinarily calm, cogent, downright grown-up explanations of where he's coming from and I find them refreshing as hell.
But the change congress organization is the action now, and that's simply a group of ideas whose time has come, regardless of the man spearheading it, or his electoral fortunes.
Give the site a gander.

I wonder

Just thinking aloud here, but...
I wonder if Gore has refused to endorse (or if Gore has been asked not to endorse by someone like...say...Howard Dean) so he can be one of the final coffin nails should Clinton try to stay in post-March 4.
Of course, post March 4 would be post-post-firewall, so my hypothesis may assume too much prognostication.
BUT-Al Giordano at the Field was predicting a Gore endorsement for Obama as far back as late January. It may be that he was asked to hold off so he could put the Clinton campaign out of its and our misery before it becomes a superdelegate showdown (or a member of the team sent on that mission-remember, Pelosi and Edwards have yet to endorse as well). That role seems to suit his elder-statesman image pretty well.
But what do I know-I'm just thinking here...

Outta my mouth!

So I was all set to put up a post about this embarrassing exchange between Chris Matthews and Texas state senator Kirk Watson.
The upshot of it was going to be that contrary to various comments I've seen here and there (and there), the real story of Watson's inability to name any of Obama's legislative accomplishments is about Watson, not Obama.

This guy belly-flopping on the question (and make no mistake: it was a real, flat-out, from the 10 meter platform, doesn't penetrate more than an inch below the water, rib-cracking, skin-breaking belly-flop) doesn't mean Obama doesn't have legislative accomplishments. It doesn't even really mean this guy doesn't know Obama's legislative accomplishments. All it means is that he was the wrong guy, in the wrong frame of mind, on the wrong show, at the wrong time. That's the charitable interpretation. The less charitable interpretation is that the man is a buffoon.

Either way, it says nothing about whether Obama actually accomplished anything in the US Senate or in the Illinois State Senate. And that works both ways-it doesn't point out a lack of accomplishment or the presence of accomplishment. At worst, it points out a poor choice of surrogate by the Obama campaign.

I'm sure the post I had in mind would have been sharp enough and that you would have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed thinking it up. But now I don't have to write that post at all, because Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings wrote it for me. With polished prose and everything! The major difference between my embryonic post and her full-term one is that hers is well researched and actually has links to bills Obama sponsored in the US Senate. Not even from his website either, but legitimate links to government databases!

Go read the whole thing.

David Frum: irony proof.

Crooks and Liars » Larry King: David Frum Is Told His Kettle Is Black

Wow. Not only is a speechwriter attacking a politician for using someone else's words, but he's claiming Obama is a completely insignificant person who has never accomplished anything. David Frum is/was a supporter and employee of George W. Bush.
Yes, that George W. Bush. The one who, the panelists on the video ably point out, did nothing but fail spectacularly in business prior to being propped up by his daddy's pals in the GOP establishment.

But he keeps a straight face and that's gotta count for something. Go check it out for yourself.

What's momentum?

Momentum in a political campaign is such an ephemeral and difficult to rationalize thing. It seems to actually exist, but why does it happen?
There are obviously the practical advantages of racking up endorsements-influential email lists, superdelegates, etc.
But this post by Ann Althouse hints at something that's been in the back of my mind over the last month or so. Is it possible that momentum is partly the result of people feeling that they have permission to vote against the front-runner only after (s)he is wounded? Obviously that makes some sense with politicians' endorsements-they simply can't risk being on the losing team because they need the access to the winner their support can buy.
But with ordinary voters, is it possible that once the "inevitable," powerful front-runner is shown to be vulnerable, people feel like they are then allowed to vote some someone else? I'm not sure I like the idea, but it does make some sense from an evolutionary psychology perspective.
I should also note that I ordinarily don't agree with a lot of what Professor Althouse posts about politics, but this particular post got me thinking.

Get in there!

Sometimes you just get an itch on your brain. What are you gonna do but scratch it?
If you've ever wondered how much it would suck to have someone shooting photos of you all day long, check this collection out.

If it's all about executive management...

...this should concern primary voters:

Rather than punish Solis Doyle or raise questions about her fitness to lead, Clinton chose her to manage the presidential campaign for reasons that should now be obvious: above all, Clinton prizes loyalty and discipline, and Solis Doyle demonstrated both traits, if little else. This suggests to me that for all the emphasis Clinton has placed on executive leadership in this campaign, her own approach is a lot closer to the current president’s than her supporters might like to admit.

Rumsfeld was a bad defense secretary because he had bad ideas. Rumsfeld became a horrific disaster of a defense secretary because the president, prizing loyalty above competence, failed (for years) to send him packing when it became clear how bad those ideas were.

I'm sweating!

You will be too after watching this funky jam.

Hil. A. Ree. For. You. And. Me.

Most worthless?

I'm trying hard to imagine a less worthy use of Congress's time and resources than a hearing into whether some baseball players took steroids. I'm having a hard time coming up with one.

Yeah, maybe it's not so cool that pro baseball players are doping up and maybe it sends a bad message to the kids. But congressional hearings? Really?

Romney Out

I'm watching Romney's withdrawal speech on MSNBC right now. What a delightful sight-from Laura Ingraham pissing all over John McCain while introducing Romney, to the ignorant hordes howling in horror as he says he's out, to Romney's refusal to endorse. The Republican Party is self-immolating.

By the way, it's interesting that Romney called anything lessening the chance that McCain would win in the general aiding in surrender to the enemy (way to keep it classy, Mitts!) immediately after Ingraham did everything she could to diminish McCain. Circular firing squad much?

Matthews: Still an idiot.

"'We are the ones we've been waiting for,' I LOVED that line!"
---And so did the Hopis who coined the phrase. And so did Maria Shriver, who used it on Sunday. Jeeeezus, Chris-if your job is to be on top of political news, how the hell can you expect people to take you seriously when you clearly missed a HUGE story two days ago?
Hell, I like the line, too, but it isn't like Obama just invented the airplane.

Zogby-set to "ignore."

Pollster John Zogby: “In California, we have Obama polling into a 13-point lead. Monday was another big single day of polling for him there. What has happened here is that in addition to building leads among almost every part of his base of support, he has dramatically cut into Clinton’s lead among Hispanic voters.

Can we start ignoring Zogby polls now? Please?

And Alaska!

Woo hoo!
I just gave Obama a little money (a little's all I got, really).
You?

Show me!

Looks like Missouri is Obama's. No small feat, that.
Also: Is there a bigger douche on earth than Jay Carson? Yes, but there aren't many.

Dammit

This sucks.
It'll be interesting to see the delegate split, though. Not so dramatic, I'd imagine. We'll see tomorrow.

More Obama

"...because this time the campaign for the presidency is different."
Ain't it though?
This race is ridiculous. I shall never again complain about a boring primary season or campaign of any sort. I am losing years from my life...

Skills like it's going out of style!

Obama's condolences to the victims of the storms in the south? Pitch perfect. Substantive or not, he's very very very good.

And the fact that his speech came right after McCain's shows that an Obama/McCain race in November would be a perfect delight. Obama wouldn't win-he'd destroy. It would be like Muhammad Ali circa 1969 fighting Matlock.

McCain: Captain Excitement

I'm watching his speech and he has about as much pizzazz as a boiled turnip.

I. CAN. NOT. HANDLE. THE. STRESS.

Good god, y'all. This super super tsunami tsuesday business is going to kill me.
All I know for sure is that The Field is just knocking it out of the park. Al Giordano's predictions (of which there were many) have been startlingly accurate-and not because they were just reiterations of conventional wisdom (to the extent there can be said to have been actual conventional wisdom). He said Connecticut would be Lamont v. Lieberman redux (with Hillary in the Lieberman role-ouch!). And lo and behold, it appears to have followed that script very closely.

Synchronicity

Sometimes things seem just too coincidental to be coincidental and you have to wonder if there really is some magic mojo at work. For example, I was perusing Sisyphus Shrugged this evening, where I was alerted to the existence of this little gem of an article from the July 9, 1998 edition of the Washington Post. Up top:

John McCain has more pressing worries than eligibility on the road to the Republican presidential nomination in 2000....But is he constitutionally qualified to become president? McCain was indeed born in the Canal Zone, and Article II of the Constitution plainly states that "no person except a natural born Citizen... shall be eligible to the Office of President."

And so on...
Now down below:

The citizenship question has come up in past presidential campaigns. George Romney, the late Michigan governor and a leading aspirant for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. His support nose-dived following his September 1967 statement that he was "brainwashed" by the U.S. military during a visit to Vietnam.

All in one freakishly coincidental, decade old blurb in the what the hell section of the Post. Weird. Not weird enough, at the end of the day, for me to get any ideas about prescience or destiny. The amount of ink and pixels spilled in any given decade is so mind-bogglingly huge that anyone of a mind to find coincidences or apparently successful soothsaying* can manage without much trouble.
'Cept it doesn't look like anyone was trying to find any such, and ain't that neat?



*Yes, there are cleaner phrases than "successful soothsaying." It has a ring. Back off.

Yes We Can

Watch this. Seriously. Do it. It's an Obama-supporting video, but if you aren't down with Obama, watch it just as a little pick-me-up of inspiration. It can be viewed without partisanship.
Here are my observations:
1) When your speeches can be put to music and not sound totally crazy-you are good.
2) This was recorded on January 30th and 31st, based on a speech given two and a half weeks ago and I am watching it, all slickly produced and professional, on February third. Sometimes I love living in the future.

Update: Liza at culturekitchen had the following take on the song/video: "I believe the measure of a leader is in their ability to inspire their supporters creatively."
Ding ding ding. Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!

Holy crap!

MAPA's no joke. That's good news-if for nothing else than as a chunk of the identity politics wall taken down.

Serious Pundits Discuss the Issues

Serious Pundits Discuss the Issues

Tom Tomorrow takes the TV pundits to task in this cartoon for reporting on dumb, non-substantive, horserace kind of news at the expense of actual analysis of policy positions. I wonder if this is what you get when you insist on an unbiased media? If the pundits on TV are afraid of being called biased, they will necessarily shy away from reporting about issues-remember the claims of bias come from all sides. I think we'd be better off with the various outlets being upfront about their biases and letting them approach the issues from a known perspective. Hell, Fox news has no problem talking (through their hats) about issues-and I know exactly how much credence to give the opinions they share.

Some rambling thoughts

At what point does a candidate's past mistakes accumulate to the point that he or she is no longer worth consideration? I don't know the answer. Obama's got his Rezko ties and signing Donnie McClurkin up to help the campaign. I'm sure there are other missteps as well.

Clinton's got the vote for the war, voting for Kyl-Lieberman, and this troubling stuff from her time on the Wal-Mart board of directors. In her defense, it doesn't look like she was actually out busting unions herself, but she could have refused to be a Democratic fig leaf for the company's virulent anti-labor policies. She has repudiated their behavior, though. But she hasn't repudiated her Iraq war vote, nor her Kyl-Lieberman vote. That's troubling.

We can't expect perfection-mistakes will be made. Errors in judgment are unavoidable for even the wisest people. But at a minimum, I think we are right to expect an acknowledgment of the errors. It looks like Obama's campaign is working to shed the Rezko donations, and while he didn't kick McClurkin off the stage of his event, Obama did clarify that he doesn't agree with McClurkin's views about gays. And more importantly, Obama went to one of the most visible black churches on one of the most important days of the year and upbraided (albeit gently) the congregants for their anti-gay bigotry. That's at least something.

I'm just wondering where the point is at which the errors in judgment pile up enough to not trust a person to be president (or mayor, or school board member). I've essentially reached that point with Hillary Clinton (though again, I'll gladly vote for her in the general if it comes to that-Supreme Court Supreme Court Supreme Court), but not through any mathematical formula. This isn't precise, it's very subjective, and I have cast my lot with Barack Obama.

Looking around the liberal blogs, I find that people are so passionate one way or the other (or the other-to be fair, most people I've been reading preferred Edwards), and they largely talk past one another. I don't know what goes into this peculiar alchemy of making a decision, or convincing someone (if I did I guess I'd be some candidate's right hand man). It's endlessly fascinating, though, to read and hear people whose values I share coming to such different conclusions.

One way or another, I hope that the hard-fought nature of this primary doesn't kill the record turnout we've seen, or embitter newly engaged voters. Politics can be nasty, but engaging it is also the only way we can exert a measure of control over things that really do have a measurable impact on our lives. I hope that whatever happens, people who have not been engaged up until now carry that lesson with them and stay aware.

Habeas Lawyers for Obama

Talk about your impressive endorsements.
Next September I'll be going to work at a law firm that represents several Guantanamo detainees. (it's a big firm and that's just one of its many pro bono matters). I couldn't be more proud that the firm I'll be working for is doing that. Seeing the partner running those cases on this list makes me even happier.

The Family Dinner

Hilarious. I'd forgotten how much I loved Mystery Science Theater 3000. Thanksgiving used to involve hours-long stretches of this show punctuated by gluttony.

And this bit is just fantastic. It's like a dispatch from a time before irony.

H/T Driftglass.

Uh oh...

When Mickey Kaus sounds like he agrees with me it may be a good time to step back and take stock...

Calm and sensible

This post over at Balloon Juice is a very calm and sensible explanation of why Obama is a better choice in the Democratic primary. It mirrors my thinking in a lot of ways (though more eloquently).
It's actually not because there is much of a real problem with Hillary Clinton. I've said it before- my reasons for supporting Obama over Clinton are not entirely fair. They involve the fact that this election carries so much weight and I fear putting up a candidate with such high out-of-the-gate negatives. There is a significant portion of the electorate who simply will not ever vote for Hillary Clinton (yes, because they are ignorant troglodytes, but this country is home to many ignorant, voting, troglodytes). I've said it before, I'll say it again: If Clinton wins the primary, I will vote for her in the general. The most important factor for me is the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. The next president is likely to get more than Bush's two nominees to the Supreme Court, and they are not likely to be because of retirements on the right. And the federal district courts and courts of appeal always give a president a big opportunity for a lasting impact. So regardless of who the Democratic Party nominates, I'll vote for that candidate. But for many unfair reasons, I hope it's not Clinton.
Moreover, the further we go on, some quite fair reasons not to prefer Clinton become more glaring. The move by the Clinton campaign to try to get the Florida and Michigan delegates seated is shady as hell. And for all of the people mouthing some variation on the theme of "Obama supporters should just shut up about the Clintons being too rough-it's not as if he's going to get a free pass from the Republicans in the general," ? Shut up. Seriously. Just shut up. A team practices hard so it's ready for the other team on game day, but they don't hit their own teammates with everything they have.* Reagan's eleventh commandment couldn't work for the Democrats and isn't something I'm comfortable with as a rule, tending to think sunlight really is a good disinfectant (and in a party that put up Joe Lieberman for vice president, speaking ill of Democrats-excuse me- "Democrats" is sometimes downright required). But basic "don't change the rules in the middle of the game," civility is something I expect in the primary.
The best bit from the Balloon Juice post is this:

But that’s small beans next to the constitutional mess that the Bush legacy will leave for President 44. It’s baggage, a giant bellhop-slaying pile of it, with David Addington’s initials stenciled on the side. The next president should burn it, scatter the ashes and choose judges based on how emphatically they will overturn every aspect of Addington’s totalitarian agenda. Or she could pick up the bags on her way in. It’s a lot of power. If she felt like it the next President could record the phone and email of every critic, Republican and potential Islamic terrorist without the NSA breaking a sweat. I don’t like living in a country where a spineless boy king with machiavellian advisors has that freedom and I don’t look forward to a Democrat having it either.

And that's just it. I have real problems with what the Presidency has become over the last seven years. The problem I have stems not just from the fact that it has been warped and twisted and enlarged in the hands of a malevolent clown troop, but also from the fact that this version of the presidency is simply bad for our country. The executive being as powerful and as unsupervised as is has over the last two terms is simply a bad idea-that's why it's taken such a brazen re-imagining of constitutional principles to achieve.
I have a native suspicion that Obama would be less likely than Clinton to grasp and abuse this new set of executive superpowers, but the bare-knuckled, expedience-is-king nature of the Clinton campaign over the last few weeks makes me fear her abuse of that new power more than I ever did before. Maybe Obama would abuse it the same way, but at least he's shown some restraint in the primary, so I'm left with the impression that the odds of him wielding the unitary executive as a Democratic Bush are low.

Fair? Unfair? A mix? I don' t know. But the bottom line is that the Clinton campaign makes me very nervous. Do with that what you will.



*Can you tell sports metaphors are not my strong suit?

Bill Clinton needs to shut his cake-hole!

Or not. Hell, he can go all over the country poisoning the well of Clinton support for all I care.
Josh Marshall has the goods on Clinton's "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice" comments.
I just wish someone had asked him to finish the thought. "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice so ... what Mr. President? Is there a 'which shows that...' end to that sentence?"

It's all downhill from here

This is not only the funniest thing I've ever seen, but I'm not sure it's possible for anything funnier to exist.

Are we, as a nation, this stupid?

"This whole thing about being muslim, they're really tapping into, I think, a national fear of terrorists. So...muslim-terrorist, I think they've put the two together."

There are times when I can almost physically feel the ignorance of my fellow Americans. While we're playing the debunking game, though, let me just point out that the photo of the guy atop the World Trade Center just before the plane hit is a hoax.
So is the one of the shark leaping at the guy on the helicopter.

The first which what?

Ahem!

That about says it.

Yeah. I have reconciled myself to the fact that I'm a partisan. I am not objective.
But it's a good looking pic, and really, there's meaning in it for everyone.



h/t crooks and liars.

Crooks and Liars » Countdown: John Edwards Was Right On The Economy

Crooks and Liars » Countdown: John Edwards Was Right On The Economy

Investing in infrastructure to battle an economic downturn? Brilliant! It's almost like Ms. Maddow has an advanced degree in some discipline requiring knowledge of history and economics or something. What? Oh...

On a less Rachel Maddow fanboy-ish note: it truly is amazing how much like Herbert Hoover W is trying to be. Tax cuts, huh? Whaddaya know...?

Smoother than I could have been

In which Lanny Davis, having hopped aboard HMS Tucktanic, managed one of the smoothest "you're an idiot son" interactions ever.
Crooks and Liars » Tucker: Hillary Is Too Rich & White To Have Experienced Discrimination

This is why I support Obama

Yeah, it's long. Yeah, it's *just* a speech.
Call me a sucker, but it moved me.

Demoralizing

Congrats to Hillary Clinton and John Edwards for being transparently disingenuous. When they attack Barack Obama for voting "present" while in the Illinois legislature, they are shoveling crap. Nice.
I'm so tired of this BS out of Clinton[s], especially. Yes. I'll vote for her if she wins-but it'll be a vote against the republican, not for her.

This is impressive:

Ordinarily, endorsements don't make much difference to me, but Senator Leahy endorsing Barack Obama is a little different. As the Chairman of the judiciary committee, he has been heroic about returning the oversight role back to congress. If Obama could just sew up Henry Waxman's endorsement, he could plausibly claim to be the choice of the congressional White House-smackdown caucus.

There is so much wrong here.

Uh...roger that, Spaceman.

"I take it it goes without saying that all of this is unfair..."

This post by Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings is perhaps the best distillation of the reasoning behind my support of Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton that I've seen. It gets to a lot of what I was trying to get across to the commenter* on my earlier post about Chris Matthews. I feel a little sad that a well-written, practical, dispassionate defense of a position I hold is extraordinary, but that's where we find ourselves. Things have gotten a little rough and calm, rational discourse is not usually in abundance when things get rough.
I should point out that the reason things have gotten so rough for Democrats (and this comes through in Hilzoy's post-seriously, go read it) is that we are in an "embarrassment of riches" situation. This year we have fielded one of the strongest presidential candidate lists in recent memory. I'd have happily voted for any of them against anyone in the Republican field (OK maybe not so happily for Gravel, but I'd have held my nose, thought of the Supreme Court, and pulled the lever for him-thank god it won't come to that). The unprecedented strength of the Democratic position this year is something to be very happy about, come what may-which I hope is an Obama victory. And I hope that victory is decided as quickly as possible, because I really should be putting more effort into my studies.
Go read the Hilzoy piece.

*That's right! I had a non-spam commenter! *Sniff* That means at least one person not related to me has read this blog!
Seriously-I'm WAY stoked about the commenter (do it again!). The odds of this becoming a place where any remotely significant number of people exchange ideas are longer than the line at hell's ice cream parlor, but I'd love to hear from anyone who happens stop by-use an alias if you're shy. Hell, I do.

Chris Matthews needs to shut his cake hole.

As an Obama supporter and a person who is truly baffled that anyone can muster genuine enthusiasm for Clinton on her own terms (though if she's the nominee I'll be plenty enthused to see her beat whatever paleolithic hairball the Republicans cough up), I wish Matthews would shut the hell up already.
Good gravy, the man's a train wreck! The only rational explanation for his continued mouth-diarrhea about Clinton is that he actually wants her to win the primary and is doing his best to make her opponents seem like misogynist knuckle-draggers. A move like Romney's anti-Mormon push polling.
The only problem with that analysis is that such jiu-jitsu requires a metric ton more intelligence than Matthews ordinarily manifests. So I'm left to the conclusion that there simply is no rational explanation for his continued dipshittery, just some deep-seated loathing for Hillary Clinton that probably comes from his own unrecognized humiliation at having been a part of the two year journalistic search party down Bill Clinton's pants that put us directly in the hell we've enjoyed for the last seven.

My advice below still stands, though-he should simply be ignored. Changing your vote because a pundit pisses you off is totally irrational.

(Note: This post appeared in an early form as a comment to this post over at the group news blog-I was so taken with my prose I reposted it here)

Update: Kos put all of this into a tidy package that pretty well sums up my thoughts.

I don't get it

I've been zipping hither and thither through the blogosphere today and as I have, I've run into variations on the theme of "I'm an Obama (or Edwards) supporter, but I might have voted for Clinton today after seeing how shabbily the media treated her in the last few days" (there are several iterations here).
This sentiment makes no sense to me at all. I don't quibble with the idea that the media has been pretty lame-downright misogynist even-in it's coverage of the Democratic race in the last week. But to alter your vote on that basis is insane. After you cast your "f-you" vote, Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough still have a job. All you've done is confirm their influence, albeit negatively.
Don't be a fool-the only way to chip away at the influence of annoying commentators is to ignore them and do what thou wilt.

I hope not...

Andrew Sullivan is wondering if the surprising NH results can be attributed to the Bradley Effect. God I hope not. Moreover, I hope that the mention of it doesn't cause African American voters in South Carolina and elsewhere to pull back from Obama. Yikes, this is a race...

Wait a minute...?

Didn't Edwards talk about Nataline Sarkisian in his last (not really a) concession speech? I like Edwards-he'd likely be my second choice in the primary-but he really shouldn't so obviously recycle material in such high-profile settings.

Is it just me?

Is it just me or is there a palpable animosity between Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews? Their interactions are just loaded with barely concealed hostility. I love it. When Rachel replaces Tucker Carlson on MSNBC, I hope she and Matthews have to work in the same building.

Gang up?

I keep hearing pundits refer to the idea that the debate this weekend tipped the vote toward Clinton. Andrea Mitchell just said that she thinks a lot of voters thought Edwards and Obama "ganging up" on Clinton was unfair. That's just stupid. Sorry. Maybe Mitchell is right, maybe she's just grasping for anything to fill airtime, but if she's right, she's describing the reaction of foolish people. When there are two people who disagree with a third and they are on a stage talking about their disagreements, it's not "ganging up," it's debating. I hope like hell nobody actually made a decision on that ridiculous basis.

Some advice for MSNBC

When debugging your coverage for the next go-round, you would do well to figure out what that interminable beeping in the background behind the anchors is and make it stop!

NH Primary Night

I'm watching the coverage of the NH primary on MSNBC-actually, I'm watching the goings on prior to Olbermann, Matthews, et al having anything to report-and I'll be commenting when I see things that require comment. Here are a couple off the bat:
#1: Matthews was talking to Tom Delay (I have no idea why they would have him on, but they did) and Delay was discussing McCain's appeal to moderates. When Matthews asked him about his apparent denigration of moderates, he asked how Delay defined "moderate" and Delay actually said "someone who thinks too much." Seriously. He really said that. He laughed afterward, but...wow. Not having to represent anyone but himself anymore has apparently unleashed Delay to be just as ignernt as he dang well pleases.

#2: Dee Dee Myers, Bill Clinton's former press secretary actually had the gumption to say that Hillary Clinton was not the frontrunner until last fall. Wha...?! Chris Matthews about fell off his chair, and Myers got a little pissy about it. Clinton has been the front runner in the democratic race starting about the second Wednesday in November of 2004. What does that spin achieve even if anyone's dumb enough to buy it? The wheels are falling off the Clinton bus and apparently whacking the supporters on the side of the road square in the head...

Update: Olbermann is continuing to clown Myers mercilessly. Yeah, he's kind of mean, but Myers is a big girl and she deserves all of the clowning they can pile on.

Not Just on Planes

It would seem that people are assholes everywhere.
You pieces of feces standing to the left on the escalator out of the subway station, causing those of us with a damned pulse to wait behind your slow ass-I'm looking at you!

The Golden Rule

I recently flew a certain airline for five hours at a time twice in a two week period. Sure, so did everyone else-it's called "the holiday season." Here's what I noticed, that everyone else may have missed (and yes, I do notice this every day-I live in New York City but I like to pretend that I write for a national audience-your actual experience may vary): People are assholes.
That's it. People are assholes.
How else to explain the fact that on my five hour flight from JFK to LGB (AKA Long Beach Airport), the "gentleman" behind me decided to chow down on a giant pile of corn nuts (is that one word? "cornnuts"? "cornuts"? I don't know because I'm not rotten enough to eat the filthy devil snacks!). If you are unfamiliar with corn-nuts, allow me to explain: They are corn kernels processed in such a way as to make sure that when a person crunches them open, thereby releasing their internal nasty-gas and allowing it to mix with human saliva and lung vapor, the resulting stank is heinous in the extreme. Like, heinous to the extent that your mild-manored narrator, ordinarily a charming and peaceful man, seriously considered perpetratin' like he was gonna get up and pee only to walk a row back a break a man's nose.
Overreaction?
No.
This was a man confined on a plane eating corn-nuts!!!
Has he never smelled corn-nuts???!
How the f&$k about "do unto others"?
Seriously.
I don't give a good god-damn if you love the smell of corn-nuts-breath, if you have a corn-nuts-breath scented tree hanging from your car's mirror-
How the hell about a little goddamned common mother-fu^%ing sense?
Howzabout exhibiting the sense that says "hey, I like corn-nuts, and I LOVE stinky-ass tuna sandwiches, but maybe I should hold off on indulging my passion for smelly crap until I'm in a place where that indulgence won't force innocent bystanders to be my stank-ass co-conspirators?"
And while I'm on a rant:
NOBODY likes the smell of your perfume and/or cologne enough for you to jam it up their ass on an elevator!!!
If I can smell you on an elevator, you either should have taken a shower and eschewed the artificial stank, or you just can't smell and need to hire a competent smeller to clear you for public consumption before you walk out the door.
I know it seems like I'm nuts and that I'm simply mining a single incident for an overblown blog post, but I swear to whatever deity you can dream up, a week after the initial corn-nuts incident, on my flight back to JFK, there was ANOTHER corn-nuts eating piece of crap on the plane!!! (Yes, it may have been Fritos-just as bad! Keep them both in the privacy of your own homes please!)
The corn-nuts/Fritos scourge is clearly an epidemic. It may indicate that the offendors don't give a damn if they cause others to suffer. More likely, I think, is that we have reached a point where it simply doesn't occur to most people to think whether or not others will suffer. "Corn-nuts? Tuna? Limburgher and onion sandwich? Poop and peppers casserole? Whatever, dude-I paid and I'm eatin-suck it!"
The golden rule? I don't (and can't) ask that it be followed in all circumstances-but when you're in a metal box, breathing recycled air for five to five and a half hours...?

That about sums it up...

Josh Marshall, proprietor of the TPM media empire, handicaps the primary races in today's installment of TPM tv. This quote captures the sunny state of play on the Republican side.

Who is the most likely person to still be the Republican nominee? Mitt Romney. So Mitt Romney, obviously he's in a lot of danger in Iowa, he's a terrible phony, a repeated flip flopper, but the bottom line is because he didn't have a mistress slush fund, he doesn't hang around with mafiosos, and he didn't get a serial rapist out of jail because a bunch of anti-Clinton whack-jobs convinced him that the guy was a victim of the system, you have to assume Mitt Romney is still the one to beat in the Republican nomination battle...

Even if Clinton, certainly not my preference, wins the Democratic nomination, I'll cast my vote gleefully for her. Being so happy to vote against [insert eventual Republican nominee here] makes being happy to vote for someone almost superfluous.

Translation: Eff you.

Classic. The look on Clinton's face after Obama's quip is priceless. That was one of the smoothest verbal knifings ever.

This is stupid. And the song's my new fave.

The East Bay is a weird place.

You gotta be kidding me...

Imagine, if you will, the following scene:
A cop responds to a call from a distraught mother who has just fished the limp body of her son from the family pool. While on scene, said cop slips in a puddle and breaks her knee. She subsequently sues the family for having "negligently" left a puddle on the floor...of the house where they took the child who had just been pulled, lifeless, from the pool.
The child is profoundly brain-damaged from the ordeal and the cop was out on paid disability leave for a spell. Has anyone checked to see if she broke her head along with her knee? How does anyone this cop runs her plan by say anything but "if you sue those people, I will never have anything to do with you again"? Including her mother, her husband, her best friend, and her children. Sure, she should have the right to bring any kind of jack-assed, frivolous suit she wants, and have it tossed out of court fair and square. That's a civil right she enjoys, godblessamerica! And those of us with some sense of common decency have the right to shun her like a whore-loving puritan.
Good lord...


PS: Obligatory law-school-guy comment: I'm pretty sure her case is crap. It's called assuming the risk. And yes, this story will be turned into a thousand torts exam fact patterns come finals season. Guaranteed.

Per-octer?

Can I be the only one who looks at the new(ish) White House Press Secretary, Dana Perino, and thinks "Ainsley Hayes?" Ainsley Hayes, you'll remember, was the sharp, conservative young woman tapped to be assistant white house counsel for a couple of seasons on the West Wing. Played by Emily Procter, she was a mighty cute young lady and witty as all get-out to boot. And her sense of civic duty was just enchanting. I've done only a perfunctory google search to find out if anyone else has made the Perino-Hayes connection, but so far, nothin'. Really? It seems so obvious...or maybe I'm just a lecherous old liberal with a soft spot for pretty blond conservatives.

Steve Gilliard

Steve Gilliard has passed away after a months-long illness.
This is an incalculable shame. I can't add much to the outpouring of grief and tribute that has met the news, but I would be an ingrate if I didn't try.
I found Steve's blog via James Walcott of all things. It was around 2004, I think. I was immediately drawn in by his utter non-weaselly-ness. Steve never couched his opinions in the language of "it seems" or "there might" or "I think." What Steve thought is what was as far as he was concerned. I was instantaneously hooked, and before long (like within a day or two), the News Blog was the first site I went to each morning after checking my email. And throughout the day it was "check the email, then check the News Blog," without fail. And I check my email about 82,000 times each day, so I was really on top of Steve's action.
I started the Bush years as a pretty middle of the road "give-him-a-chance" sort of fella. I like to think of myself as a pretty reasonable guy, and by the time I found Steve's blog, I was still quite a bit more willing to listen to the bullshit coming from the right-o-sphere than a lot of liberals. As time and events passed, though, Steve's passionate, articulate stand against everything that Bush and his coterie represented never waned. He simply acquired more targets to fire his erudite criticisms at. And he was erudite. My god. Steve Gilliard was able to stomp a dumbass argument or idea down using analogies to history that simply blew my mind. His knowledge of military history was his great asset. More importantly, I have to say I don't recall anyone seriously questioning the conclusions he drew when he was on his military history jags. On a blog, that's profoundly weird. I don't think it's because he lacked for haters. There were trolls aplently over at the News Blog. But he was authoritative, and that's hard to argue with-even for a troll. Before long, I found that experience and common damned sense forced me to catch up with Steve in a lot of ways. When I started reading, he was a very articulate expositor of a position that I often didn't share, but could see the logic of. After Katrina, thousands more dead in Iraq, Plame-gate, ad-bloody-nauseum, I found myself naturally reading Steve's posts as a reflection of what I was thinking. Just phrased better.
He hadn't moved. I had. Not because he convinced me, either. I moved because he was right and smart and it just took me longer to get where he'd been sitting for years. Though his commentary certainly didn't slow the process.
One thing I got from Steve Gilliard, which I don't get from some other bloggers I read regularly, was the fact that he was a real guy with a real life, and not just some news consumption machine. His food posts, (with recipes included, thank you very much) were as sharp and as useful as what he wrote on politics. My experience as a newly minted soccer fan was immeasurably enhanced by his posts during the world cup. I had something meaningful to say about sports for the first time in my life, and that was all Steve.
I moved to Brooklyn in 2005, and I was able to slip into being a resident of New York City far more easily than I ever would have been able to manage without his help (I suspect that's a legacy he'd be at least a little proud of). Notice I didn't say "New Yorker." I'm not, and I won't be for some time, but when I am (in several decades, probably), I'll have Steve to thank for laying the groundwork.
Steve's blog was the first and only one I posted comments to with any regularity (under the moniker "Mr. Stoopid"). When I thought my posts were awesome, I was quickly reminded of how not-so they were when I read the brilliant (seriously, not kidding, BRILLIANT) musings of Lower Manhattanite or Driftglass, among the many other very sharp commenters over there. The News Blog was a community un-self-conscious about itself as a community and it drew some very talented people into its orbit. This was shown most clearly when Steve went into the hospital and Jen and Jim from LA were able to keep the joint cracking with guest posts from the locals. I came to know many of the commenters' situations (Hubris Sonic is a vet, Jesse Wendell is a doctor, etc...), and so did Steve. Before long, it became apparent that Steve wrote the way he did because he respected his readers, and he respected his readers because he knew them.
I've been reading the many tributes to Steve all over the blogosphere today (by Pachacutec, Jane Hamsher, Digby, and tons more, and have only now found out what a gentle, loving guy he was. But I should have known. It was there between the tough-as-nails lines.
Bottom line: I'll miss the hell out of Steve Gilliard. I didn't know him, but I knew the value he added to my life and to my mind.
Thanks Steve.

And now that I'm back...

I realize that I have come back almost two years to the day that I last posted. I assure you that this was not planned. Also, if you are looking for a worthless online degree, in the years that I've been gone, some helpful spamming soul has loaded the comments with solicitations for just such a thing. Have at it.

Back

So I'm back.
I haven't posted on this blog in several thousand years or so, but here I am.
In the mean time, I got rid of the crappy job and went to lawschool.
I'm embarrassed about some of my previous posts, now that I've had a couple of years of legal-learnin' under my belt, because i now recognize their essential ignorance.

Or that could just be the kool aid talking. They say you go to law school and what happens is not so much that you learn to be a lawyer (you learn that when you get a job and start working as a lawyer), but that you start thinking like a lawyer. Or they teach you to think legally, or whatever. So maybe I'm just looking at my old, very sensible posts and re-examining them with the eyes of a new convert. Or maybe I was slightly dumber then. Or maybe I'm slightly dumber now.

Either way, I'm back-for the moment at any rate. Beyond that, I dunno.