RSS

30 August 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Circus Envy - R.E.M.
Sam Hall - Johnny Cash
Four Walled World - Temple of the Dog
Seeing Red - Killing Joke
End of Time - Danzig
If You Leave - Good Charlotte
Incarcerated Scarfaces - Raekwon
I Can Give You Anything - Soundgarden
Roxy (live) - Concrete Blonde
White Train (Showdown) - Tito & Tarantula

28 August 2008

Quote of the Day

"These times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader." -- Joe Biden

27 August 2008

Adventures in Liveblogging: Bubba Edition

Inaugural effort, here. (Wish I'd been able to do it for Hill's speech last night).

9:25 - That's all folks. Bill can still hold a crowd in the palm of his hand. He had fire, he had punch, he kept focus on Obama while teeing off on the Bush's Third Term theme. Pretty good stuff.

Obama name count: 12 13 14 15 16

9:23 - "Sixteen years ago they said I was too young and inexperienced." Great linkage, here.

"Thanks, but no thanks. The third time is not the charm." CANNOT hit that point enough.

Listing the disastrous results of the realization of extreme policies with the Bush presidency and connecting McCain to that doctrine. Extremist, not moderate. Damn right.

"Yes he can, but first we have to elect him!"

Obama name count: 11

9:18 - KATRINA! (Finally).

Bill turns to the GOP and breaks out the knives, first tying them to the state of the economy: layoffs, rising prices no health care. Now troop deployments, torture.

9:16 - "People abroad have always been more impressed by the power of our example, than the example of our power."

Obama name count: 7 8 9 10

9:13 - "He is ready to be president."

Obama name count: 4 5 6

And he hits that Obama is the "man for the job." Now giving a laundry list of why: background, judgment, trials of the campaign, foreign policy views, running mate, security.

Obama name count: 3

9:09 - Economy, economy, economy.

Obama name count: 2

9:06 - Nod to Hillary connecting right to her support of Obama. "That makes 18 million of us." Good reach out.

Obama name count: 1

An everlasting gobstopper of an ovation. They still love him.

9:02 - Here we go.

They might have to look up the last part

Now appearing outside the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport:

Daily Show RNC Billboard

One step forward, two steps back

Kind of undercuts whatever you might say tonight, eh, Bubba?
DENVER (CNN) – Hillary Clinton will be on hand for Barack Obama's acceptance speech, but according to a source close to former President Bill Clinton, he will not: the source tells CNN that Clinton will not join his wife at Invesco Field Thursday night.
If true, way to pick up the unity torch. Hope your legacy is worth acting like a spoiled child on the biggest stage possible.

26 August 2008

She knocked it out of the park

Hillary couldn't have been much more spot on, tonight. The "Twin Cities?" "No way, no how, no McCain?" And the REAL kicker:
"Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
Damn.

HRC DNC Pregame

Well, a few more hours and counting before Hillary takes the convention stage. Meanwhile, despite having a GOP opponent who promises little more than a continuation of the ruinous policies and positions of the last eight years, we're beset with headlines about her supporters who are "confused," "unsure," etc.

This is what happens when you turn the primary into a knife-fight.

Thanks to that brilliant, Mark Penn-led strategy, the White House is in jeopardy.

Is she does nothing else, Hillary needs to show her supporters the true cost of petulantly casting a McCain ballot, or even sitting home. And she needs to do it explicitly. Everyone who spends election day at their desks or on their couch is casting a vote

For indefinite detention

For "bomb, bomb, Iran"

For a Big Oil drilling Disneyland

For the Bush tax cuts

For a SCOTUS packed with Scalia clones

Against universal healthcare

Against oversight of government

(Most emphatically) Against choice

A Clinton election in 2012 cannot undue a McCain election in 2008.

23 August 2008

I'm the salt of the earth

...just ask my cook, housekeeper, and gardener.
"The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain's tax returns."
Kind of tough to play the out-of-touch elitist card when the "household employee" line in your budget exceeds the total income of 98.5% of the households in the United States.

Or at least it should be.

Saturday Shuffle

Charmed Life - Mike Ness
The Knock (Drums of Death Pt. 2) - U.N.K.L.E.
The Beautiful People (live) - Marilyn Manson
Rooster - Alice In Chains
The Downward Spiral (The Bottom) - Nine Inch Nails
Busy Child - The Crystal Method
Hell Is Around The Corner - Tricky
Dog Eat Dog - Ted Nugent
Destruction - Ministry
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely - Hüsker Dü

Biden: His Time

Not exactly a surprise:

WASHINGTON (AP)- Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign and defense issues.

Biden, who has twice sought the White House, is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation and Constitutional issues.

The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning.

Wasn't much to pre-empt after Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh said they were out.

Now that the double secret selection process is done, can we finally stop pretending that the VP selection is going be of some serious consequence, here?

J.B. does like him some pontification, though, and he's pretty good at it. Could make the Veep debate mildly entertaining, especially if Johnnie Mac does end up going with Mitt the used car salesman. Biden might be something of a windbag, but that means he lives to be at a podium; the Stormin' Mormon couldn't carry his jock in that department.

19 August 2008

Guess I wasn't hallucinating

So there I was at the pub, having a couple pints, when I check out the dueling flatscreens: pre-season Monday Night Football and Verdict with Dan Abrams. (Strange pub, I know...) Abrams had a bunch of talking heads on to discuss both parties' ongoing veepstakes. As they laid out the frontrunners, I catch the graphic, which used a playing card theme.

Was that...?

They cut back to the panel, so I wasn't positive, but, sure enough, a minute later, here it comes again:

Obama Ace

Obama as the king of spades.

Eesh.

I know it's not really in the racial epithet Top 40 anymore, but come on, a LITTLE observation, here, production staff...

After several weeks, I just might have to say something...

About damn time...

Obama hits back at McCain over Iraq war
 
ORLANDO - Democrat Barack Obama challenged his Republican opponent John McCain on Tuesday to stop questioning his "character and patriotism."
 
Addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Obama reaffirmed his early opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and said the so-called "surge" strategy of sending 30,000 additional troops to Iraq last year had not produced the political reconciliation necessary to achieve lasting peace in the country. McCain supported the Iraq invasion and was an early champion of the surge.

"These are the judgments I've made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election," Obama said. "One of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can't disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Sen. McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

"Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country," Obama said to applause.
 
More, please.
 
One can only wonder what's taken him so long to make a statement like this.  Every time Johnnie Mac or one of his odious surrogates floats this garbage, they need to be stomped on, and hard.  They're nasty little children and they need to be held up as such whenever they head down this road.  Obama clearly comes off like the grown-up, here, but he has to get tougher, repeating this "challenge" and calling McCain out, personally, for his failure to get out of the gutter.
 
And fail, he will, because this is all McCranky has left.

18 August 2008

Grow up.

"This construction, Senator, is extremely simple.

If your surge worked, the troops would be home from Iraq. Or most of them, would be. Or all of them who were surged, would be. Or at least we’d have the same number of troops in Iraq now, as we did then. Or maybe one or two guys would be out of harm’s way."

16 August 2008

Using a hornets' nest for a piñata

Take one sensitive international incident, add long-predicted, clumsily-timed antagonism and shake well:
A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force.

"Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent," Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

He added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them." Nogovitsyn that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, he said, according to Interfax.

Setting aside the dubious efficacy and rationale of this missile shield, exactly how tone-deaf does one have to be to think that this is an opportune time to seal this particular deal? The Russian position on this plan has been no secret, yet when they've already assumed an exceptionally aggressive posture, we respond with a thumb in the eye.

Guess Condi Rice is already phoning it in and looking forward to realizing her daydreams about being commissioner for the NFL, because, if not, it seems reports of her regional expertise have been greatly exaggerated.

Saturday Shuffle

Subway Song - The Cure
Kaiowas (Tribal Jam) - Sepultura
It's Coming Down - Cake
Helicopter Sicko Chopper - Robert Rodriguez
Them Bones (live) - Alice In Chains
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? - Morrissey
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths
About a Girl (unplugged) - Nirvana
Mama Kin - Guns N' Roses
My Little Needle - Alkaline Trio

13 August 2008

Wednesday McCaineurysm

Head...about to...implode:
"In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations." -- John McCain on the Russia/Georgia conflict, 8/13/2008
How some things can be said with a straight face, I'll never know.

Here's some other things he said with a straight face:
"It was a good idea. It was not worth the failures that happened, but it is worth it at the end of the day..." -- 1/24/08

"You know, in hindsight, if we had exploited the initial success, which was shock and awe, and we succeeded, and we had done the right things after that, all of us would be applauding what we did. ...If we'd have known we were going to experience the failures we experienced, obviously it would give us all pause. Yet the information & the knowledge & the situation at the time, I think that it was certainly justified." -- 5/13/07

"The mission was necessary, achievable and noble. For his determination to undertake it, and for his unflagging resolve to see it through to a just end, Bush deserves not only our support, but our admiration." -- 8/30/04

"...The cause was just, and I believe necessary." -- 1/1/04
Guess he just meant those OTHER people's invasions, huh?

12 August 2008

Quote of the Day

Indeedy.
Enthusiasm Gap Plagues GOP Convention

Republicans aren’t exactly planning to avoid the convention in droves. But compared to past conventions, lawmakers, lobbyists and candidates aren’t beating a path to St. Paul either.

Of the 12 Republicans running in competitive Senate races — five of whom are incumbents — only three have said they will be attending the convention. Six are definite no-shows, and three are on the fence.

“Nobody likes a funeral,” said a Senate Republican press secretary who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing “the overall climate of general malaise about the party” as the reason for hesitance on the part of Republicans.
During an election season, "the party" is its face, and that face is John McCain.

Malaise over a nasty, gutter level, smear-based campaign being run by a cranky, often confused, thoroughly uninspiring panderer whom they don't much care for in the first place?

Fancy that.

09 August 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Eulogy - Tool
Hard Sun - Indio
Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck - Prong
Rock Paper Scissors (live) - Ani DiFranco
How to Make a Monster - Rob Zombie
Can't Get Next to You - The Temptations
Wishbone - Clutch
Subbacultcha - The Pixies
Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
Baby - RZA
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...