Senator John Sidney McCain III is still running for president.
Seriously, this is getting out of hand. I've ranted before about the insanity (inanity?) of these repeated announcements, but this is at least his third.
He has had his exploratory announcement, his Letterman announcement, and his bus tour. Now he is "officially" announcing.
This is certainly just an attempt to recapture some of that "lightning in a bottle" that he had in 2000. McCain's campaign is struggling - granted, this is at least partially due to overly-high expectations: he has been the perceived front-runner for a long time, so any stumble can hurt him. However, he has been outraised by both Giuliani (who was married to his second cousin for 14 years) and Mitt Romney (governor of that bastion of traditional conservatism, Massachusetts). Giuliani also leads in virtually every national poll.
Perhaps spending the last four years demonstrating just how blatantly opportunistic a politician can be has hurt him. Oh well. Announce all you want, but people still won't forget this.
Oh, and this just in:
Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
According to the BBC and CNN, McCain is in for 2008. In case the exploratory committee didn't generate enough press. Additionally, there will be a formal announcement in "early April."
Damn it, just tell us you're running and let's be on with it.
I hate this ludicrous, multiple-announcement bit. At least Sen. Obama seemed to actually be considering it while his exploratory committee was operational. McCain has a third "official" announcement coming up, apparently, in April.
If you can't get press for something other than an announcement, you aren't worth the time anyway.
Over at CBS News:
Thieves Break Into N.H. Dem Headquarters
No word if G. Gordon Liddy was involved yet, but in all likelihood, this was probably just some stupid kids. But who knows what tomorrow's news cycle will bring?
On the other hand, if this is somehow tied to major Republicans, I still have my doubts. if the Iraq War, WMDs, Abu Ghraib, Valerie Plame, Katrina, Gitmo, and a complete lack of accountability aren't enough to bring down this administration, I have a hard time believing that "breaking and entering" is going to ever get the job done.
As of today, February 20, 2007, we have less than 700 days until Bush/Cheney leave office.
January 20, 2009: The End of an Error.
Good luck on midterms!
This is a segment that has been shamelessly ripped off from Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC. I will document the week’s dirtiest, scummiest, creepiest – in short, worst – people in the news. Use the comment thread to post some nominations of your own.
On a side note, I'd like to apologize for the long break I've taken from posting. But I've got some extra tidbits today and I'm posting a day early to make up for it. There, not you can't get angry at me. And now, without further ado…
Worst Person in the World!
This week's runner up (aka, "Worse" person in the world), is William Roderick of Reedsport, Oregon. Roderick has been charged with assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana after shooting a snorkeler in the face. The snorkeler, John William Cheesman, is doing well after 8 hours of surgery. Why, you might ask, would somebody shoot a random snorkeler in the face? Good question. According to the AP: "Roderick told deputies he thought Cheesman was a nutria swimming in the Smith River near Reedsport, about 90 miles southwest of Eugene, and shot him with a .22-caliber rifle."
A nutria? Apparently, Roderick mistook the unfortunate snorkeler for one of these:
Okay, well, now we understand where those drug charges came from...
But moving now to international affairs,
This week’s winner is Australian Prime Minister John Howard! On Sunday, the conservative PM said in a television interview that he disagreed with Illinois Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan for Iraq. In typical conservative fashion, Howard was understated and reasonable:
"I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory...If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."
Classy.
Obama's campaign pulled no punches in their response, describing Howard's comments as a mischaracterization of Obama's Iraq plan. They added,
"If Prime Minister Howard truly believes what he says, perhaps his country should find its way to contribute more than just 1,400 troops so some American troops can come home. It's easy to talk tough when it's not your country or your troops making the sacrifices."
Nicely done, Obama camp.
Disclaimer: Although this post contains praise of Barack Obama, I am not currently in the employ of his campaign or any youth-based, Obama-focused organization. As many posters on this blog post about their "choice" (read: employer) for 2008, I felt that perhaps the unaffiliateds should instead be posting disclaimers. That way, at least someone is. :)
Well, that's it for now. See you next week, when we once again find the Worst Person in the World!
In the meantime, everybody, keep peaceful.
And whatever you do, take care of your shoes.
Quick post today, everybody, in light of finals. Also, I'm going to be a bit more serious than normal. This is an issue that has been touched on briefly, but this article really hit home for me:
"Despite being diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and rated 70 percent disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Damian Fernandez has been called back to duty and told to prepare for another deployment to Iraq.
Two weeks ago, Fernandez, who was discharged from active duty in the Army last year and was working to settle back into civilian life, abruptly received orders to report to Fort Benning, Ga., on Jan. 14.
When the FedEx letter from the Army arrived Nov. 28, he calmly told his mother and girlfriend, "I got my orders," staring hard at them with vacant eyes.
That night, he snapped. He told his girlfriend, Riella Darko, that he wanted to die and asked her to take him to the emergency room of St. Mary's Hospital, where he was placed on a suicide watch. He has since been transferred to a locked ward in the Northampton VA Medical Center in Massachusetts.
His callback orders have not yet been rescinded."
---
I don't know who, exactly, is to blame for this. Rumsfeld, probably, for insisting on using a light force (see: Plan of Attack or State of Denial). Bush, maybe, for starting this mess in the first place. I don't know, but whoever's fault this is:
That is the worst person in the world.
At least this week.
Here is a segment that has been shamelessly ripped off from Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC. I will document the week’s dirtiest, scummiest, creepiest – in short, worst – people in the news. Use the comment thread to post some nominations of your own.
And now, without further ado…
Worst Person in the World!
Our runner up this week is Bishop Bonifes Adoyo of Kenya. Thought the War on Science was only happening in the US? Not so. Bishop Adoyo is demanding that Kenya’s National Museum relegate Richard Leakey’s collection of early hominid fossils to a back room for religious reasons. Leakey, a former director of the museum, is a world famous archaeologist, conservationist, and paleontologist.
Said Adoyo, “The Christian community here is very uncomfortable that Leakey and his group want their theories presented as fact…Our doctrine is not that we evolved from apes, and we have grave concerns that the museum wants to enhance the prominence of something presented as fact which is just one theory.”
Charming stuff, isn't it? Just a matter of time until they start talking about Intelligent Design, I imagine.
But…
Our winner this week is a Democrat! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Senator Joseph Robinette Biden is this week’s Worst Person in the World for remarks he made at a campaign stop in South Carolina. Deciding to play to the “southerners” - or at least his stereotyped idea of them - Biden decided that some slavery jokes were in order:
“The senator…pounced on a member’s announcement that the club would hold its annual Christmas party at the state Department of Archives and History where members could view the original copy of the state’s Articles of Secession.
Biden asked, “Where else could I go to a Rotary Club where (for a) Christmas party the highlight is looking at the Articles?”
Biden was on a roll.
Delaware, he noted, was a “slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.”
The crowd loved it."
---
Hey Joe, tell Trent Lott we said hello.
Well, that’s all for this week. Join us next Monday for your weekly dose of mild outrage. In the meantime, everybody, keep peaceful, .
and whatever you do, take care of your shoes.
Here is a segment that has been shamelessly ripped off from Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC. I will document the week’s dirtiest, scummiest, creepiest – in short, worst – people in the news. Use the comment thread to post some nominations of your own.
And now, without further ado…
Worst Person in the World!
This week, our runner up is Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, who caused a diplomatic incident in Nigeria when he arrived in the airport with 200 heavily armed guards (diplomatic missions are allowed only eight pistols). When his guards were not allowed to enter, Gaddaffi stormed off and threatened to walk the 25 miles to the capital to complain. After a several hour stand-off, the Libyans agreed to leave their excess weapons on the plane and were allowed to proceed to the capital.
Oh, those silly dictators!
Our winner this week, in tribute to the man whose routine I have shamelessly stolen, is none other than Bill O'Reilly himself. O'Reilly recently said that Vermont should be forced out of the Union for electing Bernie Sanders to the Senate.
Media Matters has the video.
Bill, I think we'll be seeing more of you in the future. Somehow, I feel it's inevitable.
In the meantime, everybody, keep peaceful.
And whatever you do, take care of your shoes.
I know what you thought when you read that: “But I thought the children were our future!?”
True enough.
Youth turnout this November was the highest it has been in twenty years, and it favored Democrats by a whopping 22 percent margin (60% to 38%). This is more than twice as favorable as any other age group.
People associate with a political party in their youth, and it usually sticks. Those who came of age during FDR’s (prolonged) tenure became New Deal Democrats. Many voters from Reagan’s era – now in their 40s or 50s – are reliably Republican. Bush seems to be having a similar effect, except he is driving people away from his party. Our generation is becoming politically conscience in the era of 9/11, Katrina, and Iraq, and the Republican Party is suffering for it.
Young voters believe that America is on the “wrong track” by a ratio of three-to-one.
In nine years, our generation will comprise a third of the total electorate.
The future looks bright. Pun intended.
I don't think so - Saddam's guilty verdict didn't shock anyone, did it? As the BBC assessed it:
"The news (of Saddam Hussein's death sentence) may persuade a few leaden-footed Republicans - crying into their beers over budget deficits, sex scandals and a mismanaged war - to shuffle to the polls. "
If that's all they have to go on, tomorrow should be a rout.
There are still hurdles in this election - nothing is in the bag yet. There is certainly cause for optimism - a new batch of polls out over the last few days show leads in VA-Sen, TN-Sen, MD-Sen, NJ-Sen, MT-Sen, and more House races, including CT-5 (of personal interest to me and seen by many as a bellweather).
However, we still face some very basic problems:
"...He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly registered the Republican, Charlie Crist."
Of course Florida is having election trouble. No surprise there. But the basic ability of our states to conduct elections is in doubt, and electronic voting machines have not helped.
Electronic voting machines have some serious flaws, and they have historically helped the GOP disproportionately, which shouldn't be surprising, given the manufacturers' financial ties to the Republicans.
Diebold, a major manufacturer of electronic voting machines, is particularly suspect, given their propensity for employing felons, including "a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records" (emphasis mine) in management positions.
Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold Inc., was an active supporter of President Bush in 2004, even as his machines were counting the votes in the crucial state of Ohio. One of his fundraising letters declared he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president."
In 2000, a Diebold error nearly caused Vice President Gore to concede Florida early, due to a "faulty memory card" that erased Gore's votes.
There is a lot more to this story. The trouble with electronic voting extends beyond Diebold and outright partisan "hacks" (bad tech pun) to other criticisms, including the basically poor quality of the software used. For more information, news, and some action items, check out blackboxvoting.org.
Until every machine has a verifiable paper trail, we will never be certain that our elections are honest.
I was watching the Lamont - Lieberman - Schlesinger debate today (they were, respectively, nervous, whiny, and theatrical) and I noticed that Lieberman referenced the "lame duck session." This piqued my interest. Sure enough, Congress has scheduled a session for after the November elections.
This isn't an uncommon practice, but it nevertheless concerns me. Congressional Quarterly, via CQPolitics.com, expects the Democrats to take the House and the Senate is clearly in play. What happens when the Republican Congress reconvenes after what, hopefully, will have been a Democratic landslide? They will plan ahead.
My prediction - watch for unrealistic, unsustainable "tax cuts" to be passed. The Democrats will be forced to repeal these or face a lack of revenue. The now-ousted Republicans would then be able to accuse Democrats of "raising your taxes," setting the stage for the 2008 congressional elections and a bogeyman for Republican presidential aspirants.
Any thoughts?
According to this article, American voters are more interested this year than they have been for more than a decade, exceding even the voter interest of the fabled 1994 tragedy. People feel more involved with the process, saying that they have been contacted by the candidates or campaigns and, as a result, have done more in response: petitions, donations, etc.
The good news is the article's sub-section headline:
"Interest driven mainly by Democratic anger"
The full article is a good read. It also includes some interesting statistics on voter confidence. Although nearly 60% of respondents say they believe their votes are counted accurately, only 45% of Democrats and 30% of blacks feel this way.
The Republicans were mentioned to have said: "Vote D for Diebold!"
This is something that hasn't gotten a lot of direct coverage but I feel is worth mentioning. I was browsing through some Democratic quotes tonight and I noticed this one:
"We need to go everywhere. There is not one county in this state...that doesn't have Democrats. We have to be proud of who we are." - Howard Dean
As head of the DNC, Howard Dean's "50 State Strategy" hasn't made him any friends in the DCCC or the DSCC. Rahm Emmanuel and Harry Reid, justifiably, want to put money into close races. They think it's a waste that Dean is spending time and money in places like Mississippi and Utah, in districts and states that aren't competitive.
But Florida's 16th wasn't competitive this time last week. Now? As an earlier post said, "One down." I would actually argue that it's the second one, after TX-22 and the Sekula-Gibbs write-in candidacy, but that's besides the point.
Howard Dean is building a national party infrastructure because national parties win elections. They recruit candidates for long-shot bids because you never know when the next sex scandal will strike. The "battleground" strategy is shortsighted in comparison.
So let me say to Howard Dean:
Thank you.
