A Note On the Debate

It's actually been really substantive and I keep getting a good feeling that Hillary is ready.

But here's a funny part. The visual on my digital cable feed froze and the audio kept on. I must have watched for like 2 minutes, kind of thinking something was wrong but not figuring it out... talk about striking poses.

So there's the joke.

Here's the good news -- no offense to my favorite candidate, John Edwards, but it is nice that we'll be making a historic nomination. Better than that, these two are good. I'm for Hillary at this point. But whether she wins or loses, I don't think I'll have to "hold my nose and vote" in the general election this time.

Arnold's McCain Endorsement, A Haiku

Solar energy,
bipartisanship is good*,
and he was tortured

*Thanks to cubiclewarrior at Swampland for adding two syllables!

Ugh

The above is the new US men's national team soccer jersey. Because sponsors (in this case Nike) can push us and all the other lesser soccer nations around, every two years they come out with a new jersey in order to boost sales. That's bad for establishing a tradition, and it's worse because about half the jerseys are lame. This one isn't the worst, but it doesn't say "soccer." It says, "Biff, do tell tell the boy to trim the sail, won't you?"

For about half an hour, I put my amateurish art skills to work and came up with a better option (mostly by stealing features of the previous jersey):



Nike, try harder.

(We now return to politics 'n' stuff.)

The Republican Front Runner's Platform

Less jobs and more wars.

It's very amusing how much the Republican press and punditry hate McCain.

And deeply disturbing that they're right about his platform and that the mainstream media continues to love him anyway.

Huckabee to Romney

Start Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.

How the media will cover the general election...

Want to get on record with this prediction:

If Hillary wins the nomination, the media will spend the entire general election wondering if young and black Democrats feel disenfranchised and how that will help McCain, Romney or a third party candidate.

If Obama wins, the media will fret over whether or not Boomer aged women feel disenfranchised and how that will help the Republicans or a third party.

These arguments will be made most enthusiastically if the Republicans nominate McCain or if Bloomberg runs.

The media is setting up a "group x was left out" narrative that will benefit the Republicans and it will work to make the general election a lot closer than you think it's going to be. If the media insists on this story it is likely to become self-fulfilling.

Gitmo (Yes, Still)

I'm sorry not to have posted for a while and also sorry to return to a familiar theme (Gitmo) even though there is, in theory, so much news to discuss.

However, I'm having a hard time giving a rat's ass about the primaries. The ratio of coverage to information is so punitive as to make tuning in feel like a very unsexy form of masochism. And let's not even talk about the lack of real conversation and debate. (From here on out, I propose that we replace the debates with Talking-Point Doll Theater. Each candidate would be represented by five dolls, each of which speaks a recorded talking point when you tickle its belly.)

One thing I am interested in but not in a position to have an opinion about: are things getting better in Iraq? The reports don't seem nearly so dire of late. Or is it just that we're no longer getting 24/7 IED porn because the American news outlets got distracted by Clinton's moist eyes?

Anyway, here's my gesture at a post, which actually more of a poll for anybody who happens to still be reading the blog.

The Declaration of Independence says that people shouldn't change their governments capriciously but that when a government becomes destructive to basic liberties, people can and should change the government.

To prove that King George had to go, Jefferson wrote this:

The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent, FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury, [and] * FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences.

Jefferson goes on to complain that the King had "plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People." I don't think we're there yet (tho' Iraqis may feel differently), but the other complaints do remind me of Gitmo.

So, on a scale of 1-10, how close are they? (1 = "radically dissimilar," 10 = "identical")

Primaries...

Sorry, I got bored with blogging. So did Jon. Now there are primaries. We both might get back into it.

But I don't know.

Does this primary season really have a day called "Super Duper Tuesday?"

Is this an election or an episode of Romper Room?