Rachel Maddow will be getting her own MSNBC show. This doesn't come as much of a surprise. It was bound to happen at some point. That point appears to be September 8th!! Whooo Whooo!!
....Meanwhile, the legions of journalists who thought the defeated Hillary was going to skulk away brightly smiling like Pollyanna should have their press credentials revoked. It was obvious for months, even before the primaries were over, that she has no intention of leaving the field, now or ever. Those 18 million votes she's claiming (really 17) contain significant numbers of Republicans who voted satirically for her during Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos, designed to prolong the Democratic primary and damage the candidates. Furthermore, only a fraction of the legitimately Democratic votes that she won belonged to Hillary die-hards anyhow. Many voters preferred other candidates who had dropped out, or they were temporarily unsure about Obama. It's utter nonsense for Hillary to imply that the alleged 18 million form a solid, lardlike block sworn to her, as in some fascist regime, and that if they aren't "heard" at the convention, they will swarm like lemmings to the edge of a cliff and fling themselves off.
The Clintons and their surrogates have clearly been encouraging and fomenting resentment and rebellion, even while angelically maintaining deniability. Conventions aren't the place for "catharsis" -- how absurd. Let all those dizzy dames go off on a spa week for a bout of Arthur Janov's primal scream therapy. (Remember that? John Lennon bawling for mom on the "Plastic Ono Band" album.) Hillary is setting feminism back -- defining women as petulant brats driven by emotion rather than logic and fair play. This entire election wasn't about gender and sexism -- until the profligate, mismanaging Hillary began losing and grasping at straws. For Minerva's sake, let's move on to a fresh new generation of female leadership!
She has some choice words for Obama, too, but I thought her Hillary remarks were right on the money.
Currently
watching
:
Recount Release date: 2008-08-19
If there's any more evidence needed that John McCain has a horrible, horrible campaign staff, one need look no further than their use of the Jackson Browne classic "Runnin' on Empty" as a kind of theme song.
Jackson Browne is suing the McCain camp for using the song without permission.
I mean, why in the world would someone pick that song for a political campaign anyway?
I can kind of understand the first Bush and many other Republicans wanting to use Springsteen's "Born in the USA" - since they very likely never bothered to read the song's actual anti-war lyrics, and just went with the ironically jingoistic chorus. Probably assumed it was perfect for their rightwing causes.
But "Running on Empty"??
Why not just pick, "Born to Lose"?
This reminds me, too, of one of the funniest things I ever saw on C-Span. Back in 1996, at what might have been a Kansas Sen. Bob Dole victory party .... C-Span had their cameras and microphones on in a ballroom where many of Dole's supporters had already gone home for the night. Clinton had beat him so ... time to head home. The deejay was still there playing to pretty much no one. And she or he, in a stroke of absolute brilliance, played Kansas' "Dust in the Wind".
Hey I'm sorry to have been right about this one. I was hoping I'd be able to print an apology or something. But no. And he keeps digging himself deeper now by claiming that the affair started later than it did. The problem now with Mr. Edwards is anything he says seems like a lie - because he's so convincing whenever he speaks, but so many things that he's said have been proven to be untrue. Does he really care about the poor? Does he care about Veterans' rights? Does he care about Unions? Does he care about ending the war in Iraq? I hope so. But when he talks with the same demeanor about these issues as he does when denying the affair - well, everything is put into doubt.
I feel like we dodged a bullet. If he'd been the party's nominee, as I'd hoped, we'd be eyeball deep in scandal right now, likely guaranteeing a McCain victory.
Hindsight is 20/20, of course - but, unless he was actually in love with this other woman (and that may, indeed, be the case), is this one of the most extreme cases of self sabotage since Gary Hart in 1988?
Still, I'll take a sex scandal over an unjustified, trumped up "war" any day. I'm the last person to judge Edwards for his indiscretions. If this were another time and place, I'm sure I'd have a scarlet red A tatoo'd permanently on my forehead myself. I'm not mad at him about that, really. I don't know the Edwards family. For all I know, he may have had permission to find a new lover. It's none of my damn business.
I do care that he came sort of close to winning the Dem nomination - well, closer than Kucinich or Biden or Dodd or Richardson - and, had he won it, this affair would have put the Dem's chances of winning in November in serious jeopardy.
I've decided to blame Global Warming on "The Secret". If "The Secret" is to be believed, people get more of what they want in life because they visualize it or wish for it intently. You people in the world need to stop it. Right now. Stop wishing you lived in a warmer climate. Stop fantasizing about tropical paradises. Put it all out of your mind! Start, right now, visualing cooler weather. Fantasize about Greenland instead of The Caribbean or Hawaii. Think deep thoughts about Siberia. Or Santa Clause land. Somewhere frigid.
Of course, if I were running a campaign against McCain I'd be comparing him to Tim Conway's Dorf character, Elmer Fudd and possibly Uncle Fester. So I understand the temptation to mock your opponent through charicature. But let's look into this a little deeper.
The McCain campaign is insinuating that Obama is somehow bad for America because...? He's .... Popular? Gasp! Doesn't this make McCain look a little like Jan Brady - always jealous of "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"? Sure it does. Why point out that your opponent is more popular than you are? It's such an amateur move. McCain should fire his handlers right now. Instead, he says he's "proud" of the ads.
His campaign says they picked Paris and Britney because "they are famous for being famous." Which is not true at all, at least not in Britney's case. Britney's worked her ass off her whole life and people responded by buying a ton of her records and seeing her in concert. Her brand of music might not be to everyone's taste but you've got to admire her work ethic. Paris, I'd probably have to agree with. She's famous for being famous. She was, after all "discovered" as a socialite. But how does that compare to Obama? It's not like Obama is famous for throwing cool parties and nightclubbing.
As far as Moses goes, McCain's campaign is lifting from Hillary's campaign. They are merely mocking Obama for being a profoundly moving speaker, for inspiring people. We all remember how well that worked for Hillary Clinton. Oh and by the way, way to trivialize a beloved Judeo Christian religious icon. I'm sure that'll win over your skeptical "religious right" voters.
What Did We Learn This Week From the Rightwing Nuts
Category: News and Politics
Here's what we've learned this week from the crazy rightwingnuts - and from the military industrial entertainment complex we like to call "the news media".
From Ben Stein we learn that anyone speaking in front of a monumental crowd of Germans, no matter how much they love America, should remind people of Hitler.
And if that same politician plans to make a gargantuan acceptance speech outdoors in America, as they accept the nomination of the Democratic party - they really should remind us of Hitler. Thank you, Ben Stein. You used to be funny.
From CBS we learn that when a Republican candidate answers a question incorrectly, it's ok to edit the tape to make it seem like he answered it correctly.
From Fox News we learn that if a Republican candidate appears to be too old and cranky, it's ok to show footage of him from 8 years ago when he ran for the GOP nomination the first time, instead of the newer .. more accurate footage.
From CNN we learned this week that Kenya is Obama's "home country". Who knew?
From John McCain we learned this past week that if Obama does not visit the Middle East, Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan - he has no right to suggest he'd be an adequate world leader.
From John McCain also this week we learned that if Obama visits the Middle East, Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan - it's only a photo op and it hasn't taught Obama a thing.
From John McCain we learn that, when running a positive campaign, it's ok to insinuate that your opponent does not care about the troops. Even while showing footage in your own ads of your opponent playing basketball with the troops. Footage shot by men and women who are a part of "the troops". As they cheer him on.
From a member of Condi Rice's inner circle - we learn that invading Iraq was a F**cking huge mistake. Wow, really? Thanks, dude, for clueing us in.
From the Bush Justice Department we learned this week that the way to hire the very best people for the job is to make sure they are loyal to the President. That it's ok to ask applicants a series of questions designed to weed out anyone even remotely sympathetic to liberal and progressive ideas and ideals.
Questions like, "Do you love George W. Bush or do you REALLY REALLY love George W. Bush?" And, "How MUCH do you REALLY, REALLY love George W. Bush?" And, "Isn't George W. Bush the dreamiest?"
If you're like me you tend to avoid things that are hyped beyond all reason. And maybe see them or hear them later when the hype finally dies down. I have yet to see any of the Batman movies made after the Adam West 60's movie and before the recent Batman Begins. That's right, I missed Jack Nicholson's Joker, Jim Carrey's Riddler, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney's Batman, Danny DeVito's Pengin and all the rest.
But when Batman Begins came out a few years ago, I think they finally got it close to perfect. It wasn't a huge hit but it set the stage for the current Dark Knight.
Greatest comic book movie ever. Quite possibly one of the greatest action/adventure movies ever.
The hype on Heath Ledger's performance has NOTHING whatsoever to do with his sad, untimely death. Ledger's Joker is more than phenomenal. I couldn't take my eyes off him. The whole movie could have been about The Joker and I'd have been happy. [The Joker goes to Denny's for breakfast would have been a perfectly fine movie.)
In fact, my only problem with the new Batman is that Christian Bale's incarnation is pretty much stiff and humorless. Unlike the comics and the silly 60's Adam West version - Batman in the new movies is overshadowed by the bigger performances of the villains. Originally, Batman was just as spellbinding and exciting as the villains. Maybe they can lighten Batman up a little so he's not such a brooding drip - but it doesn't seem that's the direction they're going with the new series of movies.
Nevertheless, if you're avoiding Dark Knight cause everyone and their mother is seeing it and you'd rather be different and special - get over yourself and go see The Dark Knight. You'll still be special.
