Saturday, October 25, 2008

25 Oct 2008 09:21 pm

Me And Paris Hilton

Ambers and I debate the McCain campaign's tactics once more:

25 Oct 2008 09:13 pm

Focus On Fear

James Dobson's election hysteria.

25 Oct 2008 08:22 pm

Face Of The Day

Above is one of photojournalist Christoph Bangert's pictures from Iraq. The rest of the series is worth checking out and were collected in a book. Here's the description:

The overtly hostile environment in Iraq for foreigners, without regard of the individual’s intention or affiliation, restricts the freedom of journalists, particularly photographers, who (unlike writers) must be physically present in order to get the story. Despite these conditions Bangert remained in Iraq as one of the few Western photographers committed to cover the war throughout 2006 and early 2007. He has worked largely independently from the military, using Iraqi guards, drivers, and translators, but was also occasionally embedded with American, British, and Iraqi forces. Iraq: The Space Between records the distance he traveled as a civilian between worlds committed to destruction in the name of freedom.

25 Oct 2008 07:19 pm

Pearl Cream Correction

A reader writes:

I remember this Pearl Cream ad, and it's not so quaint or "classic" as you think.

Continue reading "Pearl Cream Correction" »

25 Oct 2008 07:02 pm

Those Poor Straight Single Guys

Yglesias points me to some new manipulatable maps on gender disparity among singles. Among the young, there are more single men. Ezra Klein explains why:

On the young end of the spectrum, single men outnumber single women just about everywhere. If you hold the ages to 20-34, DC, for instance, has 27 extra single men for every 1,000 people. Shift the slider so it tracks folks from age 45 to 60, and DC has 48 more single women for every 1,000 folks. The reason for this, basically, is that women marry younger. About 1/3rd of women are married by age 24. Only 1/5th of men are. That creates some imbalance.

These maps still don't account for gays. The map-maker blames the government:

Continue reading "Those Poor Straight Single Guys" »

25 Oct 2008 06:10 pm

Why He Endorsed

Ken Adelman further explains why he is voting for Obama:

I've considered myself less of a partisan than an ideologue. I cared about conservative principles, and still do, instead of caring about the GOP.

Granted, McCain's views are closer to mine than Obama's. But I've learned over this Bush era to value competence along with ideology. Otherwise, our ideology gets discredited, as it has so disastrously over the past eight years.

Continue reading "Why He Endorsed" »

25 Oct 2008 05:30 pm

Absolute Immunity

A Iraqi journalist recoils from the idea of immunity for American troops.

25 Oct 2008 05:18 pm

The Village Pet Store

A video of Bansky's animatronic food installation in New York. I already ran a photo of the nuggets:

Here's the the artist's explanation:

New Yorkers don't care about art, they care about pets. So I'm exhibiting them instead. I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If its art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art.

25 Oct 2008 04:42 pm

Best Flickr Group Ever?

Robocop on a Unicorn.

25 Oct 2008 04:39 pm

Senators First

David Frum argues that the Republican party should give up on McCain and focus on the Congress. Fast.

25 Oct 2008 04:20 pm

Mental Health Break

A '70s TV classic ad, with the stereotypes of the era. Kinda gay, I know:

25 Oct 2008 04:04 pm

Kristol Meth

The latest bile:

Still, we hope for a McCain-Palin victory, for the sake of the country. And also for the pleasure of seeing the dejection of the mainstream media, the incredulity of the leftwing triumphalists, and the humiliation of the pathetically opportunistic "conservatives" who've been desperately clambering on board the Obama juggernaut. We're proud to stay off that juggernaut.

Don't miss this exhausted limp over the rhetorical finish line:

Neville Chamberlain also had a fine temperament and a good intellect.

Jeez. We're back to Neville again?

25 Oct 2008 03:59 pm

"Diva!": The McCain-Palin Split Widens

This is staggering in the last week of a campaign:

A second McCain source tells CNN she appears to now be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

“She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” said this McCain adviser, “she does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: divas trust only unto themselves as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.”

I repeat: "she does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else." If McCain doesn't trust her, why should anyone else?

(Photo: Jewel Samad/Getty.)

25 Oct 2008 03:57 pm

Quote For The Day

"In the final days of the campaign we are not going to indulge bloggers," - Tracey Schmitt, Palin spokesperson. Or reporters like Ben Smith.

One question: why is Palin in Iowa today, currently with a deep blue color on all the electoral maps, if not to start her campaign for 2012?

25 Oct 2008 03:45 pm

Gallup On Early Voting

It doesn't seem to be skewed toward either candidate, but that means that Obama is probably ahead, according to Gallup's latest:

Obama has been ahead in Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted while these data were being gathered. Thus, while equal percentages of Obama and McCain voters have voted early, there are more of the former than of the latter, meaning that early voting generally reflects the same Obama lead evident in the overall sample. Thus, if McCain gains rapidly in the days left, Obama benefits, since Obama can't lose votes he has already received. If McCain loses support rapidly, Obama will not have the chance to pick up even more support from those who have already voted.

25 Oct 2008 03:44 pm

The "Reformer"

More of Palin's alleged record of reform disintegrates upon inspection:

In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:

- Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, Palin slanted the terms away from an important group — the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.

- Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.

- The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary.

Continue reading "The "Reformer"" »

25 Oct 2008 03:11 pm

Wiki-Truth

Simson Garfinkel on Wikipedia and truth:

Unlike the laws of mathematics or science, wikitruth isn’t based on principles such as consistency or observability. It’s not even based on common sense or firsthand experience. Wikipedia has evolved a radically different set of epistemological standards–standards that aren’t especially surprising given that the site is rooted in a Web-based community, but that should concern those of us who are interested in traditional notions of truth and accuracy. On Wikipedia, objective truth isn’t all that important, actually. What makes a fact or statement fit for inclusion is that it appeared in some other publication–ideally, one that is in English and is available free online. “The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth,” states Wikipedia’s official policy on the subject.

Marshall Poe tackled this subject in 2006.

25 Oct 2008 02:44 pm

A Blanker Slate

Nick Carr summarizes a new study:

Slowly but surely, scientists are getting closer to developing a drug that will allow people to eliminate unpleasant memories. The new issue of Neuron features a report from a group of Chinese scientists who were able to use a chemical - the protein alpha-CaM kinase II - to successfully erase memories from the minds of mice. The memory losses, report the authors, are "not caused by disrupting the retrieval access to the stored information but are, rather, due to the active erasure of the stored memories." The erasure, moreover, "is highly restricted to the memory being retrieved while leaving other memories intact. Therefore, our study reveals a molecular genetic paradigm through which a given memory, such as new or old fear memory, can be rapidly and specifically erased in a controlled and inducible manner in the brain."

Palin won't haunt me for ever?

25 Oct 2008 02:42 pm

The McCain Camp Denies

There is now a dispute as to whether a McCain campaign operative in Pennsylvania was responsible for contacting the media - before the police did - about the race-baiting mugging hoax perpetrated by the McCain campaign volunteer in Pittsburgh. I cannot know myself, but TPM's rebuttals are here and here. I can see why Brian Rogers would deny it. If true, it proves the McCain campaign has a race-baiter hysteric on its state staff.

25 Oct 2008 02:33 pm

Extreme Christianism

The NYT has a very helpful piece today on Sarah Palin's theology. Money quote:

Critics say the goal of the spiritual warfare movement is to create a theocracy. Bruce Wilson, a researcher for Talk2Action, a Web site that tracks religious groups, said: “One of the imperatives of the movement is to achieve worldly power, including political control. Then you can more effectively drive out the demons. The ultimate goal is to purify the earth.”

This is now a conservative notion: purifying the earth? It's striking to me, after all the legitimate interest in Trinity United and Obama, that Palin's deep and long relationship withe the movement known as "spiritual warfare" has not been more discussed. Jeremiah Wright has had exponentially more air time than Pastor Muthee, and yet Wright is a milque-toast establishmentarian compared to the witchcraft-believing theocrat who has personally blessed Palin and now dominates her home-town church:

Ms. Palin has had long associations with religious leaders who practice a particularly assertive and urgent brand of Pentecostalism known as “spiritual warfare.” Its adherents believe that demonic forces can colonize specific geographic areas and individuals, and that “spiritual warriors” must “battle” them to assert God’s control, using prayer and evangelism. The movement’s fixation on demons, its aggressiveness and its leaders’ claims to exalted spiritual authority have troubled even some Pentecostal Christians...

Continue reading "Extreme Christianism" »

25 Oct 2008 01:55 pm

Hewitt Award Nominee

"There are, alas, many in the west for whom all this is music to their ears. Whether through wickedness, ideology, stupidity or derangement, they firmly believe that the ultimate source of conflict in the world derives at root from America and Israel, whose societies, culture and values they want to see emasculated or destroyed altogether. They are drooling at the prospect that an Obama presidency will bring that about. The rest of us can't sleep at night," - Melanie Phillips, Spectator.

25 Oct 2008 01:37 pm

The Network

Wilkinson argues equally talented individuals will never get equal opportunities.

25 Oct 2008 12:53 pm

Storm Ahead

The only problem with this RNC ad is it reminds me of Palin.

25 Oct 2008 12:52 pm

The View From Your Window

Las Vegas, Nevada, 6.50 am.

25 Oct 2008 12:42 pm

The Source Of Palin Hate

Just when I thought that NR couldn't sink any lower, they print this:

Seeing the Palin family, in a very visible public forum, with an uncompromising and public pro life philosophy arouses deeply repressed feelings in post abortive parents, as well as media members, counselors, health care professionals, politicians and others who promote abortion rights, especially the abortion of children with challenges such as Down Syndrome. These powerful repressed feelings of grief, guilt and shame can be deflected from the source of the wound (i.e., abortion) and projected onto an often uncharitable focus upon the trigger of these painful emotions ... the Palin family.

Can I just say that I have always been extremely supportive of anyone who decides not to abort a child, especially those with special needs. That's been my position for my entire life. The reason for opposition to Palin is that she is utterly unqualified, her record is flimsy at best and her incessant, bizarre lies suggest she is unable to deal with reality.

As for the rest of the Palin family, the tabloid stuff about her son and her marriage has been widely ignored. The strange twists and turns of her last pregnancy - as explained in public - simply defy credulity. It isn't an attack to ask her to account for such a bizarre story. It's called democracy and accountability.

25 Oct 2008 10:19 am

John Lewis Was Right

More video of supporters at a Palin rally.

25 Oct 2008 09:53 am

Quote For The Day

"Do I like Obama, personally? I do. Do I think he's got good policies? Look, I'm like everyone else, I hope so. They sound good. They sound like something I believe in, so I think based on his performance and the way that he has run his campaign, I feel that it is reasonable to feel confident that he is going to take the same discipline and smarts and lack of drama and apply them to the very serious issues today and I think that makes him a good choice for President. Do I think that his candidacy is historic? Sure, that's exciting too, but what I think it's really amazing that he exists in the same world that I also inhabit and no other political candidate lives in that world right now. They live in a made-up world that is not reality. I think that that's why you see Obama surging right now. It's that the people like the fact that Obama lives in the world that they live in," - John Hodgman.

25 Oct 2008 08:56 am

The Other McCains

25 Oct 2008 08:46 am

McCain's Biden Ad

It's not bad, but it's not enough:

25 Oct 2008 08:03 am

McCain-Palin '08

Bush's endorsement:

25 Oct 2008 07:40 am

Mapping Endorsements

A cool interactive graphic showing newspaper endorsements by geographic location.

Friday, October 24, 2008

24 Oct 2008 10:01 pm

Prop 8 Round-Up

Andy Towle has a pretty comprehensive take on last week's sudden burst of energy to protect marriage rights in California. Among the highlights: Itzhak Perlman defending his daughter:

24 Oct 2008 08:03 pm

The Party Of Rove And The Collapse Of McCain

Ross is disturbed by McCain's dearth of policy proposals:

One of the many fascinating things about Robert Draper's Times Magazine story on the McCain campaign is what isn't included in its account of the attempts to brand (and rebrand, and rebrand) John McCain's candidacy: Namely, any real discussion of policy. From Draper's account, the McCain campaign staff has gone around and around trying to figure out how to sell their candidate - as a fighter! as an experienced leader! as a maverick! etc. - but hardly ever seemed to have spent much time thinking about how these narratives would mesh with or be reinforced by the actual policy agenda the campaign was advancing.

But this is, sadly, the core of what has happened to Republicanism under Rove. We've been told over and over again that the Bush administration always put politics before policy - and then made Karl Rove its policy czar! This is how they approached something as grave as war.

We will see a serious conservatism again when Bill Kristol and Karl Rove are banished from the Republican party and from the conservative media. The Republican implosion is primarily their doing, their achievement, their legacy. It was when McCain ceded his campaign to Schmidt and Palin (creatures of Rove and Kristol respectively) that he threw it all away. As long as they are given any credence, Republicanism will not recover.

(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty.)

24 Oct 2008 07:10 pm

Taking Back The Campaign Nominee

Neck and neck with this animation, this may be one of the most brilliant Youtubes of the campaign:

24 Oct 2008 07:03 pm

The Party Of Dixie Alone?

Marc on what a Democratic blowout would do to the GOP:

To the extent that geography correlates with ideology among congressional Republicans, a major sweep by the Democrats could really be in a position to completely break the gluons that bind the broader party together. The GOP will lose a disportionate number of seats in the Northeast, Midwest and West and keep a disprortionate number of seats in the South. So the remnant of the party, as it were, will be right-wing Southern conservatives.... even more so that it is now.

This is what happened to the British Tories after the Blair landslide in 1997. The rump was even more toxic after the defeat than before it. A decade later, and they still aren't back in power, but they have managed the very difficult task of getting back to the center. It isn't easy.

24 Oct 2008 06:34 pm

"I'm No On Prop 8"

Some clever new marriage equality ads:

Another couple ads from the same campaign after the jump:

Continue reading ""I'm No On Prop 8"" »

24 Oct 2008 06:17 pm

Obama's White Support

Currently surpassing Clinton's:

If Obama's [44 percent] share holds, it would top the 43 percent of white voters who backed Bill Clinton in 1996, when the Democrat won a plurality among white females and 38 percent of white men, the best performance by a Democrat in all those categories since 1976.

It's a good thing for racial integration, whatever your politics and party.

24 Oct 2008 06:14 pm

Palin's Numbers Keep Tanking

The newest poll reinforces the view that the selection of Palin was the worst campaign decision of modern times:

The percentage of white women viewing her favorably dropped 21 points since early September, among independent women it fell 24 points. More broadly, the intensity of negative feelings about Palin are also notable: 40 percent of voters have "strongly unfavorable" views, more than double the post-convention number. Nearly half of independent women now see her in a very negative light, a nearly three-fold increase.

Continue reading "Palin's Numbers Keep Tanking" »

24 Oct 2008 06:12 pm

Kathleen Parker Is Onto Something

A reader writes:

On his show today, Kojo Nnamdi asked Rep. Tom Davis, a moderate Northern Virginia Republican, if he had met Sarah Palin and what he thought of her.  This is the best he could come up with:

"I think she is an attractive candidate."

OK, I thought to myself, poor choice of words for his first response, maybe he'll offer more.  But then, he repeats:

"I think she has a future in the party.  And I think she is an attractive candidate."

24 Oct 2008 05:57 pm

Goldfarb, Salter ... Now Scheuneman

Venting at the press. Here's Scheuneman to Ambers:

Just read your post.  This is on the record. This is cleared by HQ.  It is a fact that Barack Obama was palling around with terrorists.  It was a fact before Governor Palin  said it in a fully vetted speech and it is fact today.   It is bullshit to claim or write anything else.

The meltdown deepens ...

24 Oct 2008 05:51 pm

McCain Spokesman Implicated In Mugger Hoax

And Palin called Todd:

John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain's Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson."

Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the "B" stood for Barack.

McCain also called the hoax-merchant. Is this the kind of judgment you want in a president?

24 Oct 2008 05:47 pm

Malkin Award Nominee

"I'm not doubting she is ill. But believe me, if you think this guy would leave the campaign trail for an hour if he felt he were running from behind, he wouldn't do it. Not unless he thought it helped him to do so...Man. I hope his numbers don't start to drop. He might have to hold a pillow against her face and maybe later break into tears the way Hillary did. Only I suspect hers were genuine," - Dan Riehl, on Obama visiting his sick grandmother in Hawaii.

Hold a pillow against his own grandmother's face? Yes, this is what the right has become.

24 Oct 2008 05:30 pm

Reality Check

Indiana:

24 Oct 2008 05:15 pm

The Mormon Onslaught

A Mormon reader writes:

I just wanted to follow up on the post you made regarding Mormons not being united in the Church's stance on the Yes on 8 campaign.  Personally, as a church-attending Mormon, the unbelievable, over-the-top support from the Church (at all levels) on this is a never-ending source of shame that digs up some of the worst skeletons in our collective closet (e.g., denying African-Americans full rights in the church until 1978, opposition to the ERA, etc.). 

In my lifetime, it really is unprecedented.  I have never had a similar letter one way or another read from the pulpit before or been told to donate my time and money to a political cause.

Continue reading "The Mormon Onslaught" »

24 Oct 2008 05:02 pm

Apple Takes A Stand

On their start-page today:

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

24 Oct 2008 04:51 pm

Boot Murtha?

Publius wants Murtha gone:

The main reason I oppose Murtha is that he’s corrupt. CREW, for instance, includes him as one of the few Democrats on the “20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress” (and they have further details there). It’s not just that he loves him some pork though — lots of people love pork, and I frankly don’t care all that much about earmarks anyway.

The problem with Murtha is the type of pork he pushes for — namely, massive bloated defense spending.

Looks like Publius may get his wish.

24 Oct 2008 04:27 pm

Ron Paul's Ghost

Is Ron Paul undercutting McCain in Montana?

24 Oct 2008 04:13 pm

127 To 49

Obama continues to dominate with newspaper endorsements:

At least 28 papers have now switched to Obama from Bush in 2004, with just four flipping to McCain.

24 Oct 2008 03:58 pm

The Assisted Suicide Of The American Right

Could any paranoid far leftist have invented the story of the mugging hoax? Just read AllahPundit who was one of the saner ones. Yes: Michelle Malkin is now the voice of calm reason on the right. Glenn Reynolds' first post yesterday:

This is so serious that I predict it will get almost one-tenth as much national coverage as something some guy may have yelled at a Palin rally once.

McCarthy:

I'm not apologizing, because the story is news and it would have been discussed whether I'd posted on it or not.

Steyn:

I regret that I was among those (while being interviewed on the radio yesterday, and having not seen the dubious pictures) who took the story at, so to speak, face value.

Jonah:

I have a debilitating cold and am now going to bed for a while.

24 Oct 2008 03:49 pm

Family Feud

Barry Goldwater, Jr. doesn't appreciate his niece endorsing Obama:

CC does not help the Republican Party nor the cause by minimizing John McCain. McCain may not be everything she wants in a President or hold her exact values, but she should work within the party to promote the ideals Barry Goldwater stood for. Endorsing one of the most liberal Senators in Congress is certainly not the way to help fix any problem she sees; instead it is a betrayal of everything my father advocated government should be. My father would never endorse a candidate or a party that wanted to grow government, raise taxes or in any way step on our freedoms.