McCain's Campaign Suspension Gimmick: Ripe for Parody

And Steven Colbert is the One to Do It




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I Can See Russia from My House

In case you missed it:
Watch the brilliant Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and the incomparable Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton in the now-classic Saturday Night Live / SNL video of this past weekend, September 13, 2008

And Now the Press Begins Picking Apart Obama: No longer the shiny new object

Contains updated material:

As the iconic California pol, Willie Brown, wrote a couple of days ago: "The democrats are in trouble. Period."

His column was entitled "Palin floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee."

"Whenever you start having to explain things, you're on defense." He added that dems don't win elections while on the defensive. Since the brilliant pick of Palin, the dems have been on the defensive. Completely and totally. And totally screwing it up.

The media is bored with Obama.

Here's another reason why Obama is failing to connect as an online reader posted on the washington post politics chat with Dan Balz this week with regard to the race for the White House:

"New York: Dan, as someone who intends to vote for Obama, I'm constantly puzzled at how he seems flummoxed when answering questions he should clearly expect to be asked: about NAFTA, when life begins, and most recently the surge. He seems to be thinking out loud, as though he hasn't thought it through ahead of time. Maybe the campaigns folks just don't consider these burning issues? But it seems to me it goes to character and trust, which may matter more than issues. What's going on here?

Dan Balz: That's an interesting point. ...... Does his style of answering questions make him look less decisive than he really is?"

Duh. Yeah. Looks and sounds unsure, defensive, whiny, complaining (or as Cohen wrote today -- detached, disconnected, dispassionate, disinterested and thus reinforces the NOT READY meme.)

Mostly I keep hearing " those mean republicans aren't playing fair!!! boo hoo hoo! wah wah wah."

Every clip I have seen of Obama recently he sounds like a defensive distant clueless ineffectual John Kerry in 04 -- (sighing Gore in 2000, Dudley Dukakis in 88, Carter in 80) -- he's taken to whining and complaining about the unfair mean old republikkkans. Boo Hoo Hoo some more.

Total losing / loser tactics.

Plus Obama looks like he is sleep walking through this. As if all he needed to do was win the primary and the anointment would be complete. give me a break.

Tom Friedman puts it this way:

...[H]ere’s what I’ve been feeling for a while: Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama’s coffee needs to be found and arrested by the Democrats because Obama has gone from cool to cold.  ...

I don’t know how long or high the “Sarah Palin bounce” will go, but I would take her very seriously as a politician. She may not know nuclear deterrence theory, but she can deliver a line. 

Sarah Palin is ... is connecting at a gut level. So does McCain — and, therefore, they don’t need to give their constituents many details.

This race has a long way to go. It is still Obama’s election to lose. But Obama got where he is today by defining himself as the agent of change and by defining change as the issue in this election. McCain, with Palin’s help, has once again not only made Obama’s experience an issue, but has now moved in on Obama’s strength and tried to define the G.O.P. ticket as the party of “change.”

How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as the party that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the agents of “change?” That’s politics. There’s no shame. But what this has done is to make the word “change” as a campaign slogan meaningless. Obama will need to find another way to connect his ideas — clearly, crisply and passionately.

Because, while the pollsters tell us it is still really close, my own totally unscientific, seat of the pants poll tells me this: When you say Obama’s name today and ask people for their first impression — a quick, flash, gut, first impression — no single word or phrase or policy comes to mind. His opponents will fill that vacuum if he doesn’t. They already are.

Surprise. It's Not Over! Obama only won the primary, not the election (barely) and The democraps are not winning the national election anymore —again. If Obama does lose, there are some party heads that should roll: start with Dean, Pelosi, Reid.

Sarah Palin didn't have to prove she was "of the people."
She really is the people.

P.S. It's not Hillary Clinton's responsibility to win independents, other Hillary supporters, and white working class voters for Obama. That's his responsibility. And he's blowing it.

Hillary is doing the smart thing by NOT joining the hysterical hatefest against the talented and energetic Palin. After all, she knows exactly what being on the target end of that hatefest is like.

The media is bored with Obama. They need their "newness" fix. Obama's no longer the shiny new object that captured the A.D.H.D. stenographers' pool 20 months ago (yes, that's sarcasm, not intended for most of the print-only press). The "shiney new object" honor, especially as regards the cable news tweeties and their ilk, now goes to Sarah Palin (once they get past their snobbish boorish behavior; they'll likely never get over their sexism, however).

Here's more keen insight from Willie Brown (and bad news for the dems/Obama):

As for Palin herself, she is going to be very, very effective on the campaign trail, especially if McCain's people can figure out how to gently keep her from getting into confrontations with the press.

If she can answer questions like she handled herself at the convention, Palin will turn out to be the most interesting person in all of politics, and the press will treat her like they treated Obama when he was first discovered.

And remember, the Palin bandwagon needs to roll for only two months.

And as was easily predictable, Obama's adoring media is now turning the corner, turning on him, and will join together to throw him under the bus soon. Then wash their hands with a "Tsk tsk." Totally predictable.

Once again: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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Updates: several columns on this very topic beginning to pop up:
And another blogger, Leah McElrath Renna, at the Huffington Post is in full-blown panic mode:

Most of us are out here watching, listening to and reading media that shows a campaign continually in responsive mode and not in charge of the message..."

Actually, I'd use the word "reactive" instead of "responsive."

Chris Cillizza's The Fix on WashingtonPost.com: Obama on Losing End of Personality Contest

WP's right-leaning Richard Cohen: Too Cool to Fight? Obama's moral commitment is being tested, and he doesn't seem to care.

Tom Friedman's NYT column is here.

Be sure to read those columns!

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Upon re-reading it, I think the full text of Willie Brown's thoughts are worth posting en toto:

The Democrats are in trouble. Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign.

Period.

Palin's speech to the GOP National Convention on Wednesday has set it up so that the Republicans are now on offense and Democrats are on defense. And we don't do well on defense.

Suddenly, Palin and John McCain are the mavericks and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the status quo, in a year when you don't want to be seen as defending the status quo.

From taxes to oil drilling, Democrats are now going to have to start explaining their positions.

Whenever you start having to explain things, you're on defense.

I actually went back and watched Palin's speech a second time. I didn't go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. I had to make sure I got the lines right.

Her timing was exquisite. She didn't linger with applause, but instead launched into line after line of attack, slipping the knives in with every smile and joke.

And she delivered it like she was just BS-ing on the street with the meter maid.

She didn't have to prove she was "of the people." She really is the people.

There is one thing she should have done: announced when her 17-year-old daughter and the teenage father of the girl's unborn child are getting married and invited all of us to the wedding. It should be like Sunday at church.

As for Palin herself, she is going to be very, very effective on the campaign trail, especially if McCain's people can figure out how to gently keep her from getting into confrontations with the press.

If she can answer questions like she handled herself at the convention, Palin will turn out to be the most interesting person in all of politics, and the press will treat her like they treated Obama when he was first discovered.

And remember, the Palin bandwagon needs to roll for only two months.

Here's the transcript from the Washington Post Dan Balz chat. Here's the complete Willie Brown column in the San Francisco Chronicle; it includes a few thoughts on John and Cindy McCain, too.

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Fortuitous: Colbert Interviews the "Uppity" Congressman from Atlanta

Update on earlier entry: "How Far We Haven't Come: Racism & Sexism Partners in Bigotry" about the Republican Georgia Congressman, Lynn Westmoreland who recently called Michelle and Barack Obama "uppity." 

In the good ole Old South the term was "uppity negroes" or "uppity N-word".  Westmoreland later claimed [lied] that he had no idea that was a racially tinged /charged term. Bullsh*t.

Too bad Colbert didn't know about that quote before this interview. However, the redneck bigot comes through loud and clear anyway. And this is Colbert at his best:

Desperately Seeking ... intellectual honesty and internal consistency?

Samantha Bee and Comedy Central visit the Republican Convention

What's that word I'm Looking for?
Bristol Palin has made the decision to have her baby, but Samantha Bee tries to remember another word for it.

More republican right-wing hypocrisy on choice, privacy, personal decisions: do as I say, not as I do. It's my choice but I'll take away your right to make your own decisions.

How to create an Angry American

Past time to Ditch the Denial & Sense of Powerlessness

Time to Translate Anger into Action.

Footnote: As of this date, Imperial Republican President Bush has yet to attend one funeral of any soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan (where Osama Bin Laden still hides).

Technorati Tags:
press, press failures, Failure of the Media, Jon Stewart, Particpatory Democracy, voter responsibility, Citizen Action

Southern Christians Don't Believe in Evolution but they Do Enthusiastically Practice Sadistic Cruelty to Animals, Especially Bunnies

Civilized Yet? Jacksonville Florida Baptist Christians Gleefully Once More Prove Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO) and the (obnoxious-but-valid-about-this) Christopher Hitchens' Point that "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"

I realize this does not represent ALL Christians (just too many of them). This particularly vile brand of 'Teaching while Promoting Evangelical Fundamentalist Christianity' Vomits Forth Yet Again Its Unhideable Despicable Inherent Nature of Corruption, Violence, Brutality, Immorality, Sadism, Cruelty, Lack of Empathy, Psychopathy and Sociopathy in the name of - cough - Science, Biology, Nature ... (but mind you, NOT evolution)
A Jacksonville Florida Baptist Christian teacher, school (Trinity Christian Academy, "Where Values are a Must", part of Trinity Baptist Church), administration, community and students enjoyed displaying (and apparently videotaping) their sadistic cruelty and violent savagery toward a helpless bunny rabbit when a Christian Science/Biology teacher at the fundamentalist evangelical religious Baptist school scheduled a group-watch to teach students that hungry captive pythons will eat captive, trapped, domesticated rabbits in front of barbaric human onlookers.

From News4Jax.com
POSTED: 4:22 pm EDT May 24, 2007
UPDATED: 10:14 pm EDT May 24, 2007

Students Watch Python Eat Bunny In [Jacksonville, FL] Westside Classroom

Parents Voice Concern After Watching Video Of After-School Demonstration
Some parents have been voicing their concern after a group of students stayed after school to watch a python devour a rabbit.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Whether an after-school activity was an educational lesson or a disturbing demonstration is being debated at a Westside school where a group of students watched as a python devoured a bunny.

Cameras rolled inside a Trinity Christian Academy as a python struck, killed and ate a rabbit in a classroom crowded with students.

The video was posted on YouTube.com, showing the supervised demonstration at the school with students wearing miniature, fake snakes around their necks.

After placing a large python on floor, a man removes a rabbit from a cage and baits it for the snake, moving it from side to side and then releasing it seconds before the snake strikes out at the smaller animal.

"This was the biology teacher, and he asked the kids if they wanted to see it. Everyone said yes, the kid brought in the snake and they did it. There was nothing wrong with it," said student Brittney Brown [in a stunning display of Faith-based blissfully cruel and sadistic ignorance.]. Some Trinity parents said they were disgusted after viewing the footage, and they let the administration know. [again, proof that they're not all stupid empathy-deprived barbarians.]

According to the school's administrator, several angry e-mails came into the school about the video.
However, some argue that what the students witnessed in the school's classroom was just nature at work. [with a huge dose of human manipulation and intervention.]

"It might be something uncomfortable for people to watch, particularly animal lovers. However this is a natural phenomenon. The way the animal ate is completely normal," said Kristen Key of Jacksonville Animal Care and Control. [More evolved, civilized insights from a 'Really enlightened person' in a key public position (sarcasm intended).]

Key said there is abolutely nothing criminal going on in the video and that Animal Care and Control would not be pressing charges. [But let's not quibble over the oxymoron of Christian Morality.]

"There is nothing illegal we can tell from what we've seen. It's not illegal to own a python in Florida," Key said. [And apparently it's not immoral, violent, sadistic, cruel, barbaric or serious indication of a disturbing, deep psycopathic tendency or mental illness or soul sickness if it's not illegal. Aren't you relieved?]

Legalities aside, some are questioning why students would watch the graphic demonstration.

"This is something that we are just beginning to become aware of," said Trinity Christian administrator Clayton Lindstam.

The administrator said he has not yet seen the video [now unavailable on YouTube].

He said he knows some details about the classroom demonstration but because graduation was coming up, he would wait until Friday to begin an investigation.

"We have an incident after school, and I'm going to find out about it," Lindstam said [while barely suppressing a smirk and chuckle on camera].

He has called a school meeting to talk about what happened, but students who saw the python told Channel 4 they didn't have a problem with watching the feeding. [Kinda like the the repugneocons outmaneuvering each other to prove who is more in favor of torture.]

"No one felt threaten by it," said student Corey Stevenson. "It was pretty much, 'Hey, this is going to happen if you want to be there.' More people showed up than they thought would. Anyone who felt threatened by it left." [And like the Nazis and so many other sadistic murderers have taught us: if everyone else does it, if it's done in God's name and if the authority figures say it's A-Okay, well, it must be.]

Singer & Miller Insights from http://www.bravebirds.org/violence.html:

"As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all man were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right."

In this passage, Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer gets right to the heart of the connection between violence against animals and violence among people: the principle that might makes right. Even people who are pacifist in every other aspect of life will condone violence against animals with no better justification than "because we want to and we can."

Killing in self-defense is one thing; killing for pleasure is another. ...

A different, more subtle, form of child abuse occurs every time a child's natural empathy for animals is supressed by parents or care givers...Psychologist Alice Miller (who writes about and grew up from the depths of Nazi cruelty) has shown that children who have been taught not to feel empathy [can easily] grow up to be adults who can [behave as cruelly as and gladly] follow the orders of Nazis. Thus, in forcing children to participate in violence against animals, parents [and teachers and preachers] endanger not only their children but the world."

The 'school notes' from PrivateSchoolReview.com indicate that:

Trinity Christian Academy was founded in 1967 to meet the academic, spiritual, physical and social needs of our students. It is the goal of our dedicated faculty and staff to equip students enrolled in TCA with the academic skills and character training necessary for success beyond their school careers.

I guess they also greatly enjoy instigating, watching, justifying, rationalizing, taping and worshiping animal sacrifices; how very Old Testament of them.

If anything, this Baptist fundamentalist 'Christian' teacher and his adherents have actually proved once more that some humans are recently if barely descended from primates -- and that is a major insult to monkees, chimps, apes and other primates.

Of note: this cruelty is exposed in the news on the same day Mitt 'the fundamentalist flip-flopper' Romney received a warm churchly welcome in Jacksonville.

Footnote: Apparently youtube is chock-full of current and future sociopaths, serial killers and psychopaths who get their rocks off watching small animals being killed and/or ingested by all manner of other life forms; pythons eating bunnies seems to be a particularly popular subgenre with at least 48 entries.

Trinity Christian Academy & Trinity Baptist Church
800 Hammond Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32221
school phone: (904)596-2432
church phone: (904)596-2400
administration email: tcainfo@tbc.edu

The Big Question Remains: Where Did Cheney Find Out that Valerie Plame was a CIA Agent?

One of the Remaining Mysteries: Who Told Dick "Head-Guy, Oil-Can" Cheney that Valerie Plame Wilson was a Covert CIA Agent?

We know WHY Cheney wanted the info and how he intended to use it (via his right-hand loyalist, convicted felon Scooter Libby) — to smear Joe Wilson since Wilson had exposed that Bush-shrub, Cheney, Rummy & Co. were lying about WMD in Iraq. But we still don't know who the traitor was who gave up Plame in the first place to Cheney, who then set things in motion.

Sure Richard Armitage found out too — most likely also an intentional simultaneous leak instigated by the White House within the State Dept. by someone who knew of his famously derided penchant and inability to keep his gossipy mouth shut — (men are far worse than women according to research) — and forthwith Armitage started gossiping as was expected of him.

That was simultaneous and parallel to Cheney's intentional plan to out Plame and smear Wilson. Just because the two things happened simultaneously does not let Cheney, Libby, Rove, Bush et al off the hook for an intentional campaign designed to breach National Security and silence a critic who had exposed their lies — intentional lies designed to lead a reeling, cowered, scared nation into war against former allies who had nothing to do with September 11, 2001.

VALERIE PLAME TESTIMONY: Who Told Cheney, Rove She Was CIA?

We can't wait for that mystery to be solved once and for all to see and understand.