Jeremiah Wright, meet your competition.
Music teacher Kathy Sawada and her army of doe-eyed grade schoolers are so fucking earnest that they automatically top anything that the good reverend could dish out. While the idea of a 9 year old singing a song she wrote for Obama is kinda cute, the Leni Riefenstahl style production value just puts it WAY over the top.
Seriously. This is just creepy.
Ha ha that’s my favorite nickname for Sarah Palin and I thought it might get your attention. Anyway If you need a good listen at work this week I produce a radio show, RadioNation with Laura Flanders, and I think this is a strong week. We have two reporters who just got back from Alaska (John Nichols and Michelle Goldberg) talking about how completely batshit crazy Sarah Palin is and why. Also we had a very thoughtful discussion about the bailout. And did you know that CODE PINK for Peace met with Ahmandinejad? WTF?
But is another stock market crash, followed by civic unrest and an October of looting or rioting etc. the 2008 Republican version of an “October Surprise?” It’s a terrorist attack or a bin Laden video times 20. I don’t even understand the bailout vote well enough to know which party torpedoed the thing, but it occurs to me that the only way for a party so unpopular to stay in power is for something massive to happen akin to another war.
[Update: Everything is the Jews fault. And Nancy Pelosi. Who I always thought was Jewish, but she's not.]
[Update #2: Then again, organizations I respect and people I think are sharp on policy think the bailout was a dud. Can this thing be pulled left?]
… and that’s what we traffic in, rumors as of 1:45 that the bailout isn’t going to pass congress which is crazy? Or GOOD? Or bad maybe that’s bad? If you know please explain to me the entire economy in the comments. I think the bailout not passing is bad, even though it’s a bad bailout, if that makes sense.
PINKO DAILY BRIEFS: It was a slow Sunday for us. Pinko drank too much at that BAM event took the day off. The news and the election did not. The quick rundown: Congressional leaders reached a deal on the bailout but now it may not have enough Democratic votes to pass. Here’s a compelling piece on the top 5 reasons why it shouldn’t. The election is in prep mode for Thursday’s Vice-Presidential debate; this is the wildest advice I’ve heard for how Joe Biden should deal with Sarah Palin. And the Republicans are now trying to gain traction out of that “bracelet moment” from the debate, with the dead soldiers father saying Obama wasn’t supposed to reveal his name, but his ex-wife and mother saying she was ecstatic and honored, meaning that the McCain campaign is now exploiting the family of a dead soldier. Mission accomplished!
Also this is the point in the election where we should all be figuring out the best weekend to make phone calls, knock on doors, go to Ohio, etc. PinkoJenn will have a dispatch for us later about where she at, and why it’s the coolest thing ever to canvass and not gay. Here’s a quick way to make some phone calls this week.
Lastly, Sarah Palin is headed to Sedona, Arizona for debate prep. That’s all the excuse I need to send you on down for the best tex mex at an affordable price: Stevie Nicks Fajita Roundup. (Scroll down that page for the video. It’s un-embeddable what old school internet!)
They’re wrinkly, adorable, wise, and just a little bit racist. They’re old people. They tell the world’s greatest bedtime stories. They know how to cook everything from memory. They know how to fix any car built before 1975. They all lived in this crazy hometown that only had uphill hills. But they don’t know how to change their minds.
Can you blame them? They’ve lived through wars, depressions, hostage situations, Winger. The elderly have weathered it all, and if they see the world in absolutes, who are we to stop them?
Except when they want to be President. Then we all should have something to say. If you have a Grandpa, you know what I’m talking about. Think back to the last time you tried to explain something to him. Yeeeeaaah. Now picture that back and forth in the Oval Office. Or worse, on the international stage.
Rumsfeld became Defense Secretary in 2001 when he was 69. Look how good THAT turned out. McCain is already 72. That’s prime senator age for sure, since the senate doesn’t do anything, but President? If there’s anything that President Bush HAS been able to prove, it’s that the President’s decisions actually do impact pretty much everything.
So embrace ageism. If you don’t believe me, just try to explain to your Grandpa that you read this ageist “posting” on a “blog” “online”.
go phillies! shhh.
When I lived in Philadelphia I lived at 20th and Spruce, two blocks from the worst bar in the world, an Irish Pub called, creatively, Irish Pub. It was as close to a suburban experience as you could get in a major urban area; the sort of place you would go if you had to be in a city but weren’t comfortable actually experiencing it. So I was tickled to see that Sarah Palin watched the debate there last night, with the best friend of every Republican, cocksucking Comcast chairman Ed Snider. (Comcast is known this decade for intentionally underscheduling many of their employees just below the 32-hour a week requirement to get benefits. Nice.)
Back at the debate though it was a bittersweet night. It seems in the final analysis that a calm, cool, collected Barack Obama crossed the bar of showing he was mature and could be Commander in Chief. The sighing snarking condascending John McCain came off as mean. Obama didn’t turn into an angry black man. “We won.” (Read this James Fallows piece for the best assessment/wrap-up I’ve seen.)
Still as a dedicated progressive it has been hard to watch the last week; naively perhaps I dream of a new New Deal, and if there was ever a week to propose it this was it. If there was ever a time where you could get away with boldness, it was the last seven days. And Obama was more technocrat last night, doing what he needed to do to win but still leaving me wanting a broader vision for the economy and the country.
There were some good moments. At times I thought I was watching a Miami Beach City Council hearing, as McCain threw up every reference to Jews (second holocaust anyone? coming right up!) he could festoon the debate stage with. Also I liked that bracelet craziness. (I HAVE A BRACELET TOO, BITCH)
With this, away we go. God I still hope the guy wins, new new deal or not. Next up: Palin debating Thursday!
Also a quick note: I work for The Nation and Paul Newman was one of our longtime friends and benefactors and a brave and bold activist. This is a nice tribute to him I hope you’ll read.
PINKO DAILY BRIEFS. I played Kate’s fabulous debate drinking game last night and there was a clear winner: Makers Mark, which defeated me somewhere near 10:05. At this point I’ve given up guessing who wins these debates; last night I groaned when McCain said P.O.W. and was just certain that he’d won the debate hands down. Some thought he’d won but barely. But the consensus this morning: Obama won, but barely, whatever “winning” means in this context. My boss, Katrina vanden Heuvel, has an interesting take: If winning means out-hawking McCain on war and Afghanistan do we really want that? Also I liked Tom Shales this morning, who argued that McCain was too nasty and Obama was too nice. What did you think? More reaction later.
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