A Spork in the Drawer

What I Learned From Today's WaPo

2008-09-07T10:21:40-04:00

David Broder, Jim Hoagland, and David Ignatius all agree: This election campaign is going to be so much fun it doesn't matter who wins!

This is what passes for incisive commentary from our Village (idiots).

Here We Go Again

2008-09-07T09:26:35-04:00

[From Weather Underground.]

Uh-Oh

2008-09-07T08:45:25-04:00

This won't go down well:

Several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers will take part in joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year, exercises likely to increase diplomatic tensions with Washington, a pro-government newspaper reported on Saturday.
[...]

Chavez, who buys billions of dollars of weapons from Russia, has criticized this year's reactivation of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, which will patrol Latin America for the first time in over 50 years.

The only explanation I was able to come up with when the Fourth Fleet was reactivated was that it was meant to threaten Venezuela, so this response would be a natural progression.

To the neocons and the Cold War nostalgists the creation of new enemies and the heightening of strategic tensions is a feature, not a bug.

Imagine At Least Four Years Of This

2008-09-07T08:23:05-04:00

Theocracy rising:

Gov. Sarah Palin used state funds in June when she traveled from Juneau to Wasilla to speak to graduating evangelical students and urge them to fan out through Alaska "to make sure God’s will be done here."
State records show that Palin submitted a travel authorization for a quick round-trip visit to attend the June 8 graduation of the Master's Commission program at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the church where she was baptized at age 12. The only other item on the agenda for that trip was a "One Lord Sunday" service involving a network of Mat-Su Christian churches earlier that morning at the Wasilla sports complex.

[...]

"What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys as you go out throughout Alaska — I can do my part in doing things like working really, really hard to get a natural gas pipeline." Palin said. "Pray about that also. I think God's will has to be done, in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that. But I can do my job there, in developing our natural resources, and doing things like getting the roads paved, making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded.

"But really, all of that stuff doesn’t do any good if the people of Alaska's hearts isn't right with God. And that's going to be your job," she said. "As I'm doing my job, let's strike this deal. Your job is going to be: to be out there, reaching the people, (the) hurting people throughout Alaska, and we can work together to make sure God's will be done here."

A spokesdrone for Palin says that this copacetic because "I know for a fact she gave remarks at the Wasilla Assembly of God as governor of Alaska to the graduates of this particular program[.]"

In other words, evangelizing of the taxpayer's dime is A-OK because...well, just because.

I'm trying to read the tea leaves like everyone else and what I can't figure out is will the McCain/Palin team represent the last gasp of the fundies or the completion of the Christianizing of America (and, ironically, all the material corruption that brings)?

Will the jet known as Air Force Two be renamed the "Spreading the Gospel Express"? Will the vice president's home, the US Naval Observatory, be torn down because it represents science? Or just consecrated in the name of the Lord?

Those questions aren't entirely unserious.

Saturday Palate Cleanser

2008-09-06T13:44:05-04:00

Disperse!

And More

2008-09-06T11:24:56-04:00

Rep. Chris Smith (R-East Jesus):

Our schools need to become oases of goodness, sound moral teaching and, they must become agents of change in the culture. Our students must find the God of the Bible and Biblical values in the classroom, on the campus. I believe we need to do more to find effective ways to educate and inform policy makers and hold them to account. To live this life is hard. I’ve been a congressman for twenty eight years. Even men and women, like Sam Brownback, who’s a great man, and others in this room, we need to be encouraged and prayed for, that we can advance the kingdom of heaven.

The United States of Gilead.

(Video at link.)

Who Gave The Order?

2008-09-06T09:58:51-04:00

The got lost in the shuffle of the past week: You might remember the story of the "meth-heads" who appeared to have intended to assassinate Barack Obama but were only charged with gun and drug violations. A few days ago Dave Neiwert had an interesting update. It turns out the FBI very much wanted to charge the three men with conspiracy to kill Obama but the US Attorney on the case, Troy Eid, a Loyal Bushie, refused to do so.

Given that others have had the full weight of the law brought down on them for less it's interesting that these three are getting a pass.

Legislator-In-Chief

2008-09-06T09:08:57-04:00

Gail Collins picks up something I've been thinking about for a few days:

John McCain is not actually running for president. He’s running for Senate majority leader. All his passion is directed at defects in the legislative process. He’s been a military man or a senator for virtually all of his adult life, and listening to him talk, you get the definite impression that the two great threats of the 21st century are Islamic extremism and the appropriations committee.

McCain goes on and on about how when he's president he will reform Congress. But there's one small problem with this: The Bully Pulpit aside, the president has zero, and I mean zero, power to tell Congress how to conduct its business. It's called "Separation of Powers."

Then again, maybe we're back to the whole "Unitary Executive" thing.

Perhaps somebody in the "news" media should ask him about this, yes?

One Last Chance

2008-09-06T08:58:45-04:00

God save us:

Interviews with the two pastors [Palin] has been most closely associated with here in her hometown — she now attends the Wasilla Bible Church, though she keeps in touch with Mr. Riley and recently spoke at an event at his former church — and with friends and acquaintances who have worshipped with her point to a firm conclusion: her foundation and source of guidance is the Bible, and with it has come a conviction to be God’s servant.

How about following the Constitution, Sarah? The actual Constitution, I mean, not the fantasy one that establishes the United States as a Christian Nation.

Haven't we had enough of this shit?

Fannie And Freddie

2008-09-06T08:12:18-04:00

None dare call it "nationalization:"

The plan, which would place the companies into a conservatorship, was outlined in separate meetings with the chief executives at the office of the companies’ new regulator. The executives were told that, under the plan, they and their boards would be replaced and shareholders would be virtually wiped out, but that the companies would be able to continue functioning with the government generally standing behind their debt, people briefed on the discussions said.
[...]

Under a conservatorship, the common and preferred shares of Fannie and Freddie would be reduced to little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee could be paid by taxpayers. Shareholders have already lost billions of dollars as the stocks have plunged more than 80 percent this year.

Fun times.

Stonewalling

2008-09-06T08:04:44-04:00

Troopergate:

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called "October surprise" that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.
In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska's bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called "troopergate" investigation.

[...]

But a top McCain campaign official acknowledged that the GOP lawyer had given the campaign a "heads up" about his letter and that the McCain campaign approved of the effort to remove French.

Reed Hundt asks the right questions:

So isn't there anyone with investigatory power, or even just lawyerly or reportorial skills, who could inquire into exactly how all these witnesses to "troopergate" happened to obtain lawyers and then all follow the exact same tactic in the same 72 hours? Who are their lawyers; who is paying their lawyers? And many other questions that follow.

After eight years of this crap do we want four or eight more? Whatever the hell is going on here it's crystal clear that McCain and Palin intend to follow the model built by BushCheney - no accountability because we are Supreme. Unless the next president puts a stop to it the Unitary Executive theory will become an undisputed fact. And the United States will be a dictatorship in all but name.

Lick Me And Stick Me...

2008-09-05T15:56:03-04:00

...on an envelope:

People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct.
The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so instead of listing 1-800-782-6724, it lists 1-800-872-6724. The first number spells out 1-800-STAMP24, while the second number spells out 1-800-TRAMP24.

People calling that second number are welcomed by "Intimate Connections" and enticed by a husky female voice to "talk only to the girls that turn you on," for $1.99 a minute.

Adds adhesivy goodness to the "naughty letter carrier" fantasy, if you ask me.

[Via Hit & Run.]

A Brief Banksy Break

2008-09-05T15:28:38-04:00

The mysterious British graffiti artist Banksy has invaded New Orleans:

Street artist Banksy has taken his trade to the streets of New Orleans, as the city remembers those whose lives were destroyed by hurricane Katrina three years ago – and the country braves itself for another storm in hurricane Gustav, which hit the US Gulf coast this morning.
[...]

A statement released by Banksy reveals that they were created in response to Fred Radtke aka the "Grey Ghost", an anti-graffiti campaigner who uses grey paint to cover up street art. The statement also said: "Three years after Katrina I wanted to make a statement about the state of the cleanup operation."

The full gallery can be seen here.

And if any NOLA peeps run across any of his work and happen to have a camera send me some pics! I'll publish them here.

Ameirca The Beautiful

2008-09-05T11:56:53-04:00

My friends, that's spelling you can believe in:

[Lifted from Steve Clemons.]

Human Shield

2008-09-05T09:18:53-04:00

Rick Perlstein, author of the outstanding Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, on McCain's and Palin's strategy:

Richard Nixon always pulled out stories of cute children and animals at crucial moments. Trig, passed from hand to hand between Palins and McCains with the rhythmic regularity of a Bob Fosse routine, is Sarah Palin's Checkers: attack me, and you're really attacking him.

Yep.

To use Perlstein's own term, McCain and Palin are the Orthogonians to Obama's Franklins:

Barack Obama is a lazy welfare cheat. Rudy Giuliani, speaking in front of a background of a Twin Towers-less Lower Manhattan skyline, warned voters not to buy in to the welfare cheat's affirmative action scam: "You've got to make this decision right. Who would you hire? On the one hand, you've got a man who has dedicated his life to the service of his country. He's been tested time and again by crisis. He's passed every test.... On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer, and immersed himself in Chicago machine politics.... This is not a personal attack....it's a statement of fact - Barack Obama has never led anything." Sarah kicks in on this theme later: "the author of two memoirs but not a single major law."

And "community organizer" is the new "uppity" which is the same old racism.

Read the whole thing.

[Via digby.]

John McCain Stands Before One Of His 7 6 11 Many Homes

2008-09-05T09:02:59-04:00

Oops, turns out that it's Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, CA.

Which begs the question: Did they intend Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC?

Either way, that's some bad scene design.

(Note: Nothing in this post is meant to disparage John McCain's heroic service in Vietnam or pass judgment on Bristol Palin being in a family way.)

Shocking!

2008-09-05T08:11:48-04:00

The cable "news" nets devoted significantly more time to the Republican convention than the Democratic one.

Presented Without Comment

2008-09-05T08:06:46-04:00

[Nicked from TBogg.]

DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN...

2008-09-04T21:22:51-04:00

...but Tom Ridge is dull.

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Huh. John McCain is a maverick. Who knew?

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Ugh...now it's the Cindy McCain hour.

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The Cindy video was basically an Anheuser-Busch ad.

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If someone mentions moose again I'm gonna shoot an old man in the face.

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Families are off limits? We'll see about that.

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Oh, uh, sorry...I drifted off. Is Cindy done speaking yet?

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Commenter at another place: Palindrome - Wasilla all I saw.

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You know, in the old days a Republican and a Democrat could stand in the well of the Senate and scream at each other all day then go share a whisky and play cars. It was just politics. Now, for the Repubs, it's *personal* - they really, really hate the Democrats as individuals.

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9/11 !!!

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GREEN SCREEN! The clueless bastards went with a green screen!

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Blue screen!

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Code Pink breaks out in protest...BAD IDEA

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Smarmy bastard.

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McCain sez he's gonna give everybody a job which "won't go away." WTF? Like what?

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This speech is like a word salad.

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McCain was a POW. Who knew? Good thing he doesn't like to talk about it.

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If you're not listening/didn't listen it goes like this: Imagine every every sound bite McCain has ever uttered, toss it into a blender, and voila! Speech!

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Finally, here's what I learned over the past three days: The Republicans have controlled Congress for 12 of the last 14 years and the White House for the last 8 everything bad is because of the Democrats.

There's logic for you.

At least it's over.

Closer. Ever Closer

2008-09-04T16:22:35-04:00

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland:

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama. "Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.
Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

You know what word is going to be uttered sooner or later.

[Via Oliver Willis.]

Quality Sarcasm

2008-09-04T14:24:18-04:00

Drudgico's Roger Simon:

On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.
On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Despite these words - and Joe Klein's - I fully expect the "news" media to assume their normal fetal positions at any time now.

Cindy McCain Wants To Kill Babies!*

2008-09-04T13:00:17-04:00

She said it herself:

Yesterday during an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, Cindy McCain said that she does not oppose a woman’s right to an abortion in the case of rape or incest — a position that differs from the Arizona senator’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). Couric then asked, “Do you believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned?” Cindy McCain replied, “No.” When Couric noted, “Your husband does,” Cindy McCain said, “No, I don’t think he does.” Couric had to explain Sen. McCain’s position on abortion and Cindy McCain then agreed:
COURIC: He believes that should be overturned. That’s what he told me, and that it should go to the states.
CINDY McCAIN: Well, in that respect, yes. Yeah, it is–that–I understand what you’re saying, that is a states issue. Absolutely. Definitely.

*I'm just using the language of the rightwing.

Meanwhile, by way of Greg Sargent, remember that mustard colored number the Queen of Beers was wearing Tuesday night? This one:

(Reuters)

Hold on to your hats because Vanity Fair does the math:

Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600

Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100

And that doesn't include the price of the android she brought with her!

Crazy Dolphin Lady

2008-09-04T09:05:15-04:00

Peggy Noonan attempts to explain that she really didn't mean to be so negative about St. John.

The funny thing is she's more apologetic about saying "bullshit" than the dis.

Such a potty-mouth, Nooners is!

Make No Mistake

2008-09-04T08:56:08-04:00

By way of Maria at 2PJ here's CNN's Roland Martin:

Martin doesn't come out and say it but every time a Republican sneers "community organizer" you're ears are to hear "nigger" and you're eyes are to see Huey Newton.

Mistake

2008-09-04T08:46:53-04:00

The first part of Palin's speech - introducing herself to America - was, I thought, quite good and she came off as appealing. Then, after a lull, came the red meat. And a mistake. The GOP needed her to be attractive to the vast middle but instead had Palin deliver the dogwhistles and sneering that Republicans so love - Spiro T. Palin. The Base knows she's one of them - she was chosen by Mullah Dobson & friends, after all - so there was simply no need for this and, indeed, might well have turned off that Vast Middle, especially considering it came right on the heels of Giuliani's vicious and insulting diatribe - think Pat Buchanan's 1992 convention speech, which is widely considered to have helped lose the election for George Bush the Elder and about which the late, great Molly Ivins quipped, "It probably sounded better in the original German."

As for the substance, the lies came fast and furious. From the Bridge to Nowhere to the Alaska National Guard and on to, well, just about everything Palin exhibited the hallmark of a true Republican: Say what you need to win and damn the facts. There will be a great deal of fact-checking today so the question is: Will it matter? Will the theatre of it all trump facts? That remains to be seen.

And lurking in the near-foreground are the scandals - especially "Troopergate", which entails a large amount of dishonesty and a brazen attempt to quash the investigation BushCheney-style.

Barring that story exploding Palin will stay on the ticket. Whether she helps or hurts remains to be seen.

I should note that I listened to the speech on the radio. Those who watched on teevee might have had a different experience - a la the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debate.

It's Officially Official

2008-09-03T23:34:47-04:00

Osmosis:

GIBSON: But as you know, the questions revolve really around foreign policy experience.
Can you honestly say you feel confident having someone who hasn't traveled outside the United States until last year, dealing with an insurgent Russia, with an Iran with nuclear ambitions, with an unstable Pakistan, not to mention the war on terror?

MCCAIN: Sure. And one of the key elements of America's national security requirements are energy. She understands the energy issues better than anybody I know in Washington, D.C., and she understands.

Alaska is right next to Russia. She understands that. Look, Sen. Obama's never visited south of our border. I mean, please.

Perhaps the stupidest talking point in the history of American politics - Alaska is next to Russia! - has been said by the candidate himself.

If America elects this addlepated jackass I'll simply stop caring.

[Via JMM.]

Mitt Romney...

2008-09-03T21:26:41-04:00

...is an asshole.

That is all.

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Huckabee says Obama will take away our liberty.

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When do they break out the torches and start goose-stepping?

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Rudy 91ul1ani is an asshole.

That is all.

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If anybody remembers the 1992 GOP convention this is turning into a carbon copy.

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If Obama showed up right now he's be lynched.

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To steal a line from the late, great Molly Ivins: I'm sure Giuliani's speech sounded better in the original German.

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I'll have to sleep on it but my first thought is that Palin pulled it off.

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One thing I learned tonight is that "community organizers" are worse than Nazis, Commies, and Islamofascists combined.

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Another thought: Rudy 9/11 was so nasty - think Pat Buchanan in 1992 - that it might have drained potential goodwill towards Palin.

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One final observation: John McCain was a POW. I had no idea.

Republicans: Do You Want To Play Culture War?

2008-09-03T19:05:24-04:00

Then let's play:

Barack Obama has launched a broadside against John McCain’s opposition to abortion rights and moved one of the most divisive issues in modern American politics to the airwaves on a large scale for the first time in this presidential campaign.
Obama’s new radio ad, airing widely in at least seven swing states, tells voters McCain “will make abortion illegal.” It’s airing as McCain courts female voters with the addition of the staunchly anti-abortion governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, to his ticket.

Democrats had, until now, sought to appeal to women primarily on economic issues such as health care and workplace discrimination; abortion rights were hardly mentioned at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week. But women’s rights groups have been urging Obama to attack McCain on the issue, pointing to polling showing that some women who support McCain think he supports abortion rights. In fact, the Arizona senator has long supported a ban on abortions, with exceptions for victims of rape and incest, and for pregnancies that threaten the life of the mother. Palin has an even firmer anti-abortion stance: She would require rape and incest victims to carry their pregnancies to term.

“Let me tell you: If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, the lives and health of women will be put at risk. That's why this election is so important,” says the nurse-practitioner who narrates Obama’s ad. “John McCain's out of touch with women today. McCain wants to take away our right to choose. That's what women need to understand. That's how high the stakes are.”

An announcer then claims that “as president, John McCain will make abortion illegal,” before playing an exchange on "Meet the Press" in which McCain told moderator Tim Russert that he favors “a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions.”

“We can't let John McCain take away our right to choose. We can't let him take us back,” says the ad.

It looks like Senator Barack Obama isn't going to run away and hide.

[Via digby.]

When Open Mics Attack!

2008-09-03T17:54:43-04:00

Chuck Todd, Mike Murphy and Peggy "Our Lady of the Dolphins" Noonan get caught telling the truth:

BooMan has the rough transcript:

Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state government work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.
Noonan: It's over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning

Murphy: They're all bummed out. I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: Yeah, but what's the narrative?

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Fun!

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ADDED: Golly, and Noonan's column today seems to have plenty of praise for Palin:

Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist; because she wears makeup and heels and eats mooseburgers and is Alaska Tough, as Time magazine put it; because she is conservative, and pro-2nd Amendment and pro-life; and because conservatives can smell this sort of thing -- who is really one of them and who is not -- and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to the Obama candidacy.
She could become a transformative political presence.

Gee, Peggers, which is it?

Remember Afghanistan?

2008-09-03T15:07:12-04:00

Taking a brief break from all election all the time, it's worth noting that the Afghan War has spilled over into Pakistan.

This strikes me as being a bad thing.

Vice President Sock Puppet

2008-09-03T14:55:31-04:00

Ignore the men behind the curtain:

There was a flutter of attention when McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told a group of Post reporters and editors yesterday that his team was having to rework the vice presidential acceptance speech because the original draft, prepared before Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen, was too "masculine." While we all wondered to ourselves what might make a speech masculine or feminine, no one batted an eye at the underlying revelation: that the campaign was writing the nominee's speech before knowing who the nominee would be.

Again, we live in the Age of Stupid.

[Via Atrios.]

Bump

2008-09-03T14:42:34-04:00

Slightly more than a baby one:

GOP Platform Denies Inflation Exists

2008-09-03T12:00:29-04:00

You simply can't make this stuff up.

Can You Say "Irony", Boys And Girls?

2008-09-03T08:39:57-04:00

I knew you could!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.

Don't worry: Young Bristol will be well taken care of.

The other young mothers of Alaska? They can go to Hell just as the Baby Jesus intended it.

Holy Joe...

2008-09-02T22:44:09-04:00

...just called himself a Democrat and compared himself to the Founding Fathers.

Jesus.

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ADDED: It's worth mentioning that keynoter Fred Thompson said Obama wants to kill newly born babies.

Really.

In A World Without Don LaFontaine

2008-09-02T19:59:46-04:00

Legendary voice-over artist dead at 68.