(parenthetical remarks)

The Bush Legacy

2008-12-29T15:18:00.002-06:00

Back in January, President Bush predicted that by the end of his term, thanks to his Too Little Too Late^TM brand of foreign policy, the Israelis and Palestinians would have signed a peace treaty.

How's that working out?

Soul Survivor

2008-12-18T13:42:00.002-06:00

Headline on Drudge:

BUSH: 'I didn't compromise my soul to be a popular guy'...

I haven't actually read the article yet. Does it say why he did compromise his soul?

The War on Christmas

2008-12-12T11:14:00.002-06:00

My wife took our daughter to the mall yesterday to get a photo of her sitting on Santa's lap.

Packages start at $18.

No personal cameras allowed.

I guess that approximates the Christmas spirit for an industry that thinks trampled security guards is the price of doing business.

Bah humbug!

A Chicago Original

2008-12-09T12:56:00.002-06:00

After reading the complaint against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich—which includes staggering allegations that he brazenly tried to sell Obama's vacated senate seat to the highest bidder, threatened to scuttle the Tribune Company's plans to sell Wrigley Field if they didn't fire Chicago Tribune editorial board members who had been sharply critical of him, and contemplated appointing himself to Obama's old seat in preparation for, get this, a possible 2016 presidential run (not kidding)—I am convinced that he truly embodies the maxim of one of Chicago's favorite sons, architect Daniel Burnham: make no little plans.

Indeed.

Now Illinoisans need to see if they can elect a governor who won't make a direct trip from the Governor's Mansion to federal prison. They're 0 for 2 on that count in recent memory.

Hate to say it, but this makes Sarah Palin's Troopergate corruption scandal look like amateur hour.

Morning in America

2008-11-05T03:25:00.001-06:00

Yes we did!!

A Question for Sarah Palin

2008-10-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

What didn't she know and when didn't she know it?

Joe the Plumber

2008-10-16T07:42:00.002-05:00

I wonder how Bob the Builder feels about all this attention Joe the Plumber is getting.

Joe Sixpack was too drunk to notice.

Wall St. Hates McCain

2008-10-15T16:34:00.002-05:00

Or at least it sure looks that way.

Debate days have been particularly brutal ones for the Dow Jones, and, as we all know, bad economic news is especially bad for the McCain/Palin ticket. (Let's call it the Unstable/Unable ticket, or maybe Unsteady/Unready?)

No amount of McCain's "fear Obama" act or Palin's hockey shtick is likely to distract voters whose life savings are disappearing faster than the last remaining shreds of John McCain's honor and dignity.

The first debate date wasn't so bad. The Dow actually rose (remember when that used to happen?) 124 points on September 26.

It's been downhill from there:

October 2, V.P. Debate — Dow down 365 points
October 7, Obama/McCain II — Dow down 508 points
Today, October 15, Obama/McCain III — Dow down 733 points

What does this all mean?

For starters, please don't have any more debates!

Between September 26 and today, a span of just 15 trading days, the Dow is down a gut-wrenching 2,565 points, or 23%.

On the days of the last three debates alone, the Dow has tanked 1,606 points, accounting for 62.6% of that overall loss. Three days!

Do you think maybe Wall St. is trying to tell us something?

Other than "you will never retire", that is.

Anyway, look for any McCain attacks on Obama's character to go over like, well, the rest of his campaign.

B.S. Quote of the Year

2008-10-07T22:17:00.002-05:00

Sen. Barack Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history..." — Cindy McCain

As in politics as in, er, other things, he who smelt it dealt it.

Memo to John McCain

2008-10-06T17:54:00.002-05:00

The only people old enough to know who William Ayers is are the same people who just saw their retirement plans get sucked down the black hole of Wall St. The Culture Wars just might not be the first thing on their minds...

Quote of the Day

2008-09-04T12:16:00.001-05:00

The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we're trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn't need community organizers. But I work with people who are getting evicted from their only home. If John McCain and the Republicans understood that, maybe they wouldn't be so quick to make fun of community organizers like me.

John Raskin, founder of Community Organizers of America

Traditional Values

2008-09-04T10:13:00.002-05:00

Here is some nice conservative Palin-wear for the Young Republican set.

They also have some options for Palin's daughter.

Palin Comparison

2008-09-04T09:56:00.001-05:00

We're in the Twilight Zone.

The media, expertly gamed by McCain's faux-outrage performance art over the past few days, are gushing about the "great" "speech" Sarah Palin gave last night. This morning, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough wanted to know if it was "the greatest political speech ever made, or just the second-greatest."

I guess that would make it better than the Gettysburg Address or Lincoln's Second Inaugural; more nuanced than JFK's "Ask Not.." speech; more inspiring than FDR's "We Have Nothing to Fear..." speech; more prescient than Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech. Reductio. Ad. Absurdum.

In fact, it was a petty, mean-spirited, cloying, manipulative, disingenuous, empty piece of garbage. In other words, standard Republican fare.

I was particularly struck by how Palin brutally mocked Obama for community organizing on the South Side of Chicago, as if helping poor people and laid off steel workers (remember, Palin's husband is not just an America-hating secessionist and snowmobile racing super-he-man, he's also a member of the steel workers union) is dilettante's work.

Certainly it's less respectable than being the mayor of a town of 4,500 that also happens to be the meth capital of Alaska. Right?

A question for the GOP: Wasn't it just yesterday that you were tearing down Barack Obama for being all oratory and no experience? And now you want to add Sarah Palin to the Holy Trinity (she will sitteth at the far-right hand of God) on the basis of an (un-pretty) speech she gave at the Republican Convention?

There's a word for that: "hypocrisy". Although you guys might just know it as "business as usual".

Up for the Count

2008-08-26T10:04:00.001-05:00

What is it with Republicans and counting?

Last week, John McCain couldn't count high enough to number all of his houses. This morning, on the fair and balanced Fox News, one of the Stepford Anchors made a reference to the 300,000 protesters creating havoc for police at the Democratic Convention.

Only they meant 300.

They were only off by an order of 1,000.

It does make me wonder how they'll celebrate John McCain's 73,000th birthday this week.

Jobama!

2008-08-23T17:55:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to get in on the Democratic Party 2008 ticket naming action.

Truth Is Stupider Than Fiction

2008-08-22T22:45:00.003-05:00

A friend sent me this photo the other day. In the foreground is The Onion. In the background it's the Chicago Sun-Times.

Words fail.

Saint McCain

2008-08-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

John "President Bush is 'a man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius'" Hinderaker puts his finger on the pulse of middle class America:

The latest campaign kerfuffle is Obama's effort to make hay out of John McCain's inability to tell a reporter how many houses he owns. McCain mumbled something about condos and said the reporter should talk to his wife. Predictably, Obama is trying to spin this exchange as showing that McCain is "out of touch."

I can relate, though. For example, if a reporter asked me how many ties I own, there's no way I could answer.

...

The truth is that McCain isn't out of touch with "ordinary people" because he's rich, he's out of touch with his own domestic arrangements because he cares little about material things, and for many years has devoted his extraordinary energies not to enjoying his wife's money, but to serving the American people. Given the number of nights he's spent in hotels or on military bases over the last few years, it's no wonder he hasn't seen much of his wife's condos.

Wow, nice try! And I guess he doesn't really step on those $550 Italian loafers because he walks on air?

Clintonian Democracy

2008-06-03T21:55:00.003-05:00

A horrendous and narcissistic non-concession concession speech, as if that's a surprise.

New odds: Hillary Clinton will concede when Guns 'n Roses releases Chinese Democracy.

Hillary Clinton: Feminist

2008-05-28T19:39:00.001-05:00

From Hillary Clinton's letter to superdelegates:

I am in this race for all the women in their nineties who've told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls – and little boys – whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be." As the first woman ever to be in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to them.

Yes, let me imagine having that conversation with my own daughter:

See, you can be anything you want to be. All you have to do is grow up to marry a very powerful man and then use his fame to win a seat in the U.S. Senate in a state where you've never lived and without ever having held any prior elected office. Then, when you finally run for president, you can unleash your ultra-famous ex-president husband as your attack dog and co-campaigner, all the while complaining about what a disadvantage you're at because (sniffle, sniffle) the boys are so mean.

Do that, and you could join a long line of female heads of state who got where they did for similar reasons: Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was the daughter of the first prime minister, Megawati Sukamoputri of Indonesia was also the daughter of a beloved former prime minister, Corazon Aquino in the Philippines was the widow of an assassinated senator and leader of the political opposition, and the current president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez, is the wife of the ex-president.

What's that? Yes, it would be quite an honor for the United States to join that illustrious group of nations. Quite an honor, indeed. And what a step forward for women, too!

Lieberman Jumps Shark - With Sharks!

2008-05-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

Andrew Sullivan says Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Asshole-Conn.) has "jumped the shark", thanks to his wise decision to headline Pastor/Screaming-Bigot John Hagee's 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit in July.

You may remember Hagee as the kind-hearted soul who referred to the Catholic Church as the "Great whore" and, perhaps hitting a little closer to home for Sen. Lieberman, blamed the Jews for their own history of persecution because they denied Christ and said that Hitler was doing God's work by "helping" to convince the Jews of Europe to establish the state of Israel. (Thanks, God!!)

So Lieberman isn't just jumping the shark. He's jumping a cage teeming with hungry tiger sharks while waterskiing astride two massive great white sharks that are being pulled by a dozen frenzied hammerhead sharks.

Just to be clear.

Image of the Day

2008-05-11T11:03:00.002-05:00

Up next? Campaign surge.

ABBA Drummer Found Dead

2008-03-17T18:21:00.002-05:00

I'm guessing it was a "bizarre gardening accident".

News for Kids

2008-03-17T00:24:00.001-05:00

Being a new parent can really change your perspective on things like family, values, priorities—and cable news anchors.

My 8-month-old daughter and I have been watching a lot of coverage of this protracted primary battle, and I've noticed something weird. She really perks up whenever Chris Matthews or Lou Dobbs comes on the air.

And I think I've figured out why: she thinks these moon-faced babblers are babies just like her. She may be right. Consider:

Mercifully, she hasn't started hating immigrants yet, but I'm getting worried that her first words are going to be "border fence".

Bonus observation: Tim Russert looks like a 4-year-old who's eaten Christopher Hitchens.

Or is that the other way around?

What's In a Name?

2008-03-16T22:40:00.002-05:00

A new rule for Wall St. investment firms: you really shouldn't put the word "Bear" in your name.

Why tempt fate?

According to the Wall St. Journal, J.P. Morgan Chase has agreed to buy venerable investment firm Bear Stearns for the low, low price of $236 million. That's million.

For the sake of context, BS (heh) was valued at $3.54 billion at the end of business Friday. It was worth in the neighborhood of $20 billion back in January 2007. That would be a one(ish)-year drop in value of over 98%.

Perhaps I'm just spitting into the wind, here, but maybe it's not a good sign for our economy when a respected 85-year-old Wall St. firm could conceivably be bought by a PowerBall winner.

The Obama Steamroller

2008-02-13T13:45:00.001-06:00

A huge day yesterday for Barack Obama, who swept primaries in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. In all three races Obama got more votes than all of the Republicans combined.

He beat Hillary Clinton by at least 23 points in each race and won 63.9% of all Democratic votes in all three races to Clinton's 36.1%

And there's good news for the Democratic Party as well. Double the number of voters turned out for the Democratic primary in Virginia as for the Republican primary, and that's in a state that went for Bush in 2004. There were 2.6 times more Democratic voters in Maryland, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, 19.8 times more Democratic voters in D.C.

That's good for the Democrats—and good for Obama in particular—since he's clearly responsible for the overwhelming turnout that has been seen in Democratic primaries all across the country.

In head-to-head polls with presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, Obama holds a 3.7% edge, while Clinton actually loses to the Arizona septuagenarian by 1%.

The writing is, as they say, on the wall. What with Obama's demonstrated ability to garner critical independent votes, it would be insane to nominate Hillary Clinton to run in the 2008 general election. So, is the Democratic Party insane?

Good question.