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August 29, 2008
I'm heading east on I-10 to make it to New Orleans in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav. The most current computer models I've seen have the hurricane making landfall west of the Big Easy, but given the memories of Katrina, the timing of the storm, and the potential impact of high winds and shaky levees, I think there are stories in NOLA.
Until then, I'm on the road. Arriving tonight. If I see anything worth writing when I get there, I'll do it. I'll tweet on the road, even about politics.
And no, I'm not driving.
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McCain's Veep & great television
Sen. John McCain will pick his vice-president this morning. All of the likely names for McCain's vice president are scattered around the country, according to reporting on live television this morning. The usual suspects, as well as some unusual names, were vetted in public, on live television, as reporters checked their Blackberrys and made phone calls to sources on the air.
UPDATE: Word is firming up that Palin, in fact, will be the choice.
Iowa college president fired
Robert Paxton is now the former president of Iowa Central Community College after he was photographed pouring beer down a younger woman's throat. The scene was a boat, on a lake, on a sunny day. The school's board of trustees canned him yesterday.
I think they should've given Paxton a raise. The guy is trying to connect with students.Most college administrators are distant and stand-offish. They sit in imperial offices. They dine at the faculty club. They don't interact with students except during photo ops. Given all of that, Paxton is da man.
Obama accepts
The Speech arrived last night at Mile High Stadium. Pundits say it was Sen. Barack Obama's best — less on poetry, more on kicks to McCain's junk. After the snoozing campaigns of Michael* Dukakis, John Kerry and Al Gore, Democrats appear to be ready to fight.
The speech we all want to hear
Political satire has a new definition. Wall Street Journal columnist and former Bush presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan, on MSNBC this morning, responded to Pat Buchanan's assessment that Obama gave a "manly" speech, and talked about the typical tear-jerker anecdotes used by Democratic candidates:
"My way of saying it would be it's not a sissy speech. It's not that kind of usual '(moans) Oh, the poor child born with two heads, and no medical insurance, and they're using him as a bowling ball.' I'm sorry. But you know the terrible things they say (in those speeches). Everybody is sick in their world. I'm sorry. Everybody's an unwed, single mother whose feet are exploding. And they don't exactly feel like they're part of America, guys."
His Royal Presidency Has Something to Say
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sounded off — three weeks late, I might add — on the Russian invasion of Georgia. Russia, he said, should've gone farther. And Russia showed restraint. And the U.S. was behind it all. Way to go, Ilhaim.
Perez Hilton homage of the day
The goofball blogger marks up photos with Liquid Paper. He gets 8 million page views a month. I want 8 million page views, too. So I grabbed this map off the Web in honor of the president of Azerbaijan....
Dead presidents
Oil prices are rising as Gustav approaches the Gulf Coast.
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*edited
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August 28, 2008
Russia's former president and current Chief Loon is making some wacky statements. If he's crazy enough, I suspect Faux News and MSNBSeething will get into a bidding war over his lunacy. May the worst basic cable mouthpiece win!
Shipley's Do-Nuts president guilty of immigration violations
Company President Lawrence Shipley III and three top managers pleaded guilty today in federal court on charges the company employed undocumented workers.
That's true. The next two paragraphs are absolutely bogus.
The federal case had holes in it. My first thought was that the workers he hired were Danish. The feds offered him a sweet deal, but there was a twist, so he declined. There's no way to sugar coat this. That dude's butt is in a deep fryer. If I could come up with a "tort" joke, I would, even though it would be crueller than he deserves.
They wanted to nail him on interstate commerce charges for smuggling bottles of chocolate milk, but they dropped the charges because you can't make a case out of 11 bottles.
The Excellence In Russian Broadcasting System
Vladimir Putin, in the words of Bill Murray in "Ghostbusters," has gone bye-bye. The Russian strongman alleges the U.S. government orchestrated the Georgian conflict because it benefited an American presidential candidate. Putin, the former KGB spook, didn't provide details. He didn't do it because he hasn't finished making them up yet.
He needs his own AM Radio talk show.
McCain still needs a No. 2
Same names, still no answer. Until Nov. 4, this is the last drama left in the election.
Chinese Democracy update
The FBI yesterday raided the home of a 27-year-old blogger for posting nine songs from the mysterious, decade-in-the-making Guns N' Roses CD to the Intertubes earlier this year.
Can you imagine what would've happened to Kevin Cogill if the songs were actually good?
Perez Hilton homage of the day
The goofball blogger marks up photos with Liquid Paper. He gets 8 million page views a month. I want 8 million page views, too. So I grabbed this photo off the Web in honor of Sen. Barack Obama's speech tonight...
I blog every weekday about the Web, the world and culture.
• Check back throughout the day for updates.
• Catch up with what you've missed by clicking the links on the left.
• Share your opinion in the comments section.
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• You can also follow me throughout the day on Twitter and Facebook
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About three years ago, Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and leveled the city. The storm, the subsequent levee breech and the ineptitude at all levels — state, federal and local government, as well as the decision-making of thousands of residents &mdash left hundreds dead and billions in damages.
More importantly, that storm and the federal government's perceived indifference to it began the tanking of the Bush Administration. The president's approval ratings sank to historic lows and his Administration began a freefall that could change the face of power in this nation for decades. Democrats took control of Congress and are finishing their convention with momentum to spare.
This was the script
Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, was hoping to steal the thunder with his vice presidential announcement, a successful convention, and news that the economy appears to be inching out of decline.
Rumor has it that McCain will make his announcement for running mate Friday morning. Candidates for the No. 2 gig include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.
And today, the Commerce Department reported the economy rebounded in the second quarter. Granted, things are still bad, but that's improvement. And if have coached youth sports, you know that improvement is the first step in getting good.
Just when things appeared to be looking up...
Plot twists!
A storm named Gustav is heading toward the Big Easy. It will hit at about the same time that the Republican National Convention kicks off its prime time proceedings.
Given Katrina's devastation and television's institutional blood lust, Gustav — expected to be a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall — will get more attention than the GOP proceedings in St. Paul.
More ominous, however, are the long term consequences. As the GOP tries to repair its image, wipe the slate clean and forget the most unpopular president ever, there will be a climatological recreation of the event that began his plummet in popularity.
This isn't the end of the road for McCain by any means, but it can't help.
Obama to speak at stadium. Won't play Skynyrd
The Democratic National Convention ends tonight with Sen. Barack Obama giving his acceptance speech, in a football stadium, before a backdrop that resembles the Roman Senate.
The last time a president did this, it was John F. Kennedy in 1960. Remember how Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy have been actively campaigning for Obama and openly comparing him to Kennedy. Also, this is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
Alright, already. We get it. Historic campaign. Kennedy-esque figure. Black guy.
Hope. Change. Togas. Let's move on.
Enough with the "red meat" already
Wait. I've got more curmudgeon in me.
Every event has a buzzword, which is sometimes more than a single word. For the InterWebs, the buzzword is "social media." For basketball, the buzzword is "defensive rotation." And for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the buzzword has been "red meat." Every announcer, every pundit, and every politician used that term ad nauseum. In this context, this week, it meant "negative political rhetoric aimed at Republicans." Hopefully, it returns to its original meaning next week, which is "raw animal flesh" or "stuff that Sen. John McCain can't chew."
Carnivores end gathering
The traditional aspect of the Democratic National Convention ended last night:
•Sen. Hillary Clinton did her part and gave her votes to Obama. She gets a lot of grief for being a strong woman and for wearing pants suits all of the time. For me, however, her eyes freak me out. When she was asking for the vote-by-acclamation, I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. I know that's a cheap dig, and I know that I'm no Denzel Washington, but I had to get that off my chest.
•Old Man Clinton did his "President Bill Clinton" magic and gave a stirring speech endorsing Obama. The guy is smooth. Halfway through the speech, I put on one of my wife's blue dresses. Not really.
• Sen. Joe Biden accepted the vice-presidential nomination and delivered 8 1/2 minutes of body work to McCain's gut. It was not a great speech and it was not well-delivered. Biden doesn't work well with prepared work. Obama's campaign needs to get Biden liquored up and let him loose on talk shows. That would be funny.
• Even Sen. John Kerry got into the act, showing fire that he couldn't muster four years ago, and kicked McCain in the teeth. It was brutal. It was painfully honest. It was red meat.
Chris Matthews is the new Jim Cramer
MSNBC has chosen to mirror Faux News' conservative bent and become the basic cable mouthpiece for the liberal side of the political spectrum. And the once semi-decent network is turning into "Peyton, The Place for Politics" in the process.
On successive nights, Chris Matthews has wigged out.
Two nights ago, he screamed at off-screen producers on air. He then sniped at co-anchor Keith "Medusa" Olbermann over a dismissive hand gesture made by the former ESPN rock star. This comes after two other MSNBC hairdos — Joe Scarborough and David Schuster — went after each other that morning.
And last night, Matthews got mad at GOP strategist Mike Murphy for joking that the Clintons, after publicly supporting Obama, would vote for McCain. Matthews blew a gasket and tried to embarrass Murphy on the air.
The "MS" in MSNBC once stood for "Microsoft," a co-investor in the network. Maybe it has morphed into "Madness Simplified."
More news about politicians
Not really, but it's about snakes. A Japanese guy nearly died from a poisonous snake bite, and police found out why — he was keeping 51 poisonous snakes in his tiny apartment. As I 've said before, this guy would be considered a dangerous loon if he was living in the U.S or Europe. But since he's in Japan, the media approach will be that he's "eccentric." I don't know why.
I blog every weekday about the Web, the world and culture.
• Check back throughout the day for updates.
• Catch up with what you've missed by clicking the links on the left.
• Share your opinion in the comments section.
• To reach me about items unrelated to blog content, send an email
• You can also follow me throughout the day on Twitter and Facebook
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