October 2008
14 posts
“I don’t know that I ever directed him; I cast him. And then I kept my mouth...”
– Director Robert Benton on Paul Newman.
September 2008
44 posts
You know those iPods that come pre-loaded with the... →
Paging Dr. Turing. Dr. Turing, call your office.
Q: What is your foreign policy experience?
A: I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not just let one party try to destroy not only their country, also. They understand the dangers of terrorists having a stronghold in regions of their country, but the world, of violent...
Hey, who's in charge all up in here?
I admire Rachel Maddow for her wit and humor and also her limitless selection of stylish jackets, but most of all for the rigor and clarity of her thinking. Here she asks what may be the essential question raised by the bailout fiasco: Who’s running the show in the GOP, anyway?
There! That settles it, dontcha know!
Couric: Gov. Palin, since our last interview, you’ve gotten a lot of flak. Some Republicans have said you’re not prepared; you’re not ready for prime-time. People have questioned your readiness since that interview. And I’m curious…
Palin: Yeah.
Couric: …to hear your reaction.
Palin: Well, not only am I ready but willing and able to serve as Vice President...
Posts may be thin for a while.
The wifi is spotty here in the safe room, and the enormous stocks of bullets and gold bars I’ve laid in really interfere with the signal.
McCain's unwillingness to look at Obama: Ain't... →
“The candidate who wants to quash any suspicion that he is not quick enough, not...”
– James Fallows, The Atlantic, 9/25/08
This is a link to the latest update of Joshua... →
“I want to be done playing this lady November 5th. So if anybody can help me be...”
– Tina Fey on Sarah Palin, 9/21/08
Kodachrome may be going the way of Polaroid.
…according to this AP story. If you want to know why that would be a shame: This is what Kodachrome looks like.
If you want to see the difference between a... →
Maureen Down figures out how to publish a decent... →
“The Republicans have discovered that McCain can’t draw a crowd without Palin,...”
– Gail Collins, The New York Times, 9/20/08
#14: "All I know is, as long as I led the...
The fifty greatest things the great Charles Barkley ever said. (39 days to NBA basketball, baby!)
The Great Schlep. →
The Jewish Council for Education & Research tries to get Bubbie and Zadie to vote Democratic by having their ungrateful no-good grandchildren sign pledges to pick up a phone and call already during an Obama administration. (Via TAPPED.) And darling, I’m sorry what I said before about you being no good. You know I love you. Come visit soon, I made cake.
I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it... →
The American Prospect's Adam Serwer on how the... →
Fiorina to "disappear" from visible campaign role. →
“She went into a room with McCain,” a campaign insider told CNN, “and then there was some screaming and what sounded like chicken bones snapping. And then McCain came out kind of massaging his right hand with his left, and he was all red and I think there was blood on his shirt. I thought I heard him snarl something like ‘Get somebody to clean that mess up.’ And then...
Diageo/Hotline poll: Palin's favorable/unfavorable...
Note: To be fair, it did take three whole days.
You want to talk electoral math? Here's some...
Dollar value of earmarks John McCain claims Sarah Palin has requested as governor of Alaska: $0.00
Dollar value of earmarks actually requested by the Palin administration this year: $197,000,000.00
Difference: $197,000,000.00
Isn’t it time to start saying that this guy is a great big giant liar?
What should happen tonight at Columbia University.
SCENE: A backstage green room. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain wait to appear at a forum commemorating the 9/11 attacks.
STAGE MANAGER: Gentlemen, I’ll be back to get you in about ten minutes. Please remember that, by agreement of the campaigns, tonight’s event is non-political.
McCAIN: Of course.
OBAMA: Gotcha.
The Stage Manager exits. An awkward silence settles over the...
Do me a favor, John: Don't be on my side.
There are a number of good reasons why Barack Obama should “release his righteous rage,” as Arianna Huffington puts it, and one compelling tactical argument to be made against it: White Americans tend to have a low tolerance for angry black men. On this last score, though, Arianna has a counter-argument. Unfortunately, it’s made by John Cusack.*
Don’t get me wrong: Cusack...
Wiretap Follies. →
By Joshua Green Allen, who is so funny he actually makes the back of my neck perspire a little.
Kinko's: RIP.
FedEx Kinko’s has rebranded itself FedEx Office, completing the eradication of the Kinko’s name. And yet so many memories remain. From the Blather archives, here’s my salute to the special hell that was a visit to Kinko’s. Originally published May 2 & 4, 2001.
There are days when I think Kinko’s is the worst company on the planet. Then there are other days, days...
I don't know what's more depressing: The fact that...
Instead of letting Palin talk directly and frequently to the press, the McCain campaign will dress her in bunting and rush her from one controlled setting the next—small towns, firebases in Iraq and Afghanistan, “town halls,” important funerals, church conventions, and American Legion halls (essentially George W. Bush’s current itinerary). There she’ll play the role of...
Oh, for Pete's sake... It's a FAKE. →
“What did you guys expect? I anticipated this last Thursday in my acceptance...”
– Barack Obama, asked if he’s been surprised by Republican attacks: 9/4/08, York, PA
The Biden trap.
Just a thought: Jim Fallows, among others, suggests that the tone of Palin’s RNC speech invites — in effect, liberates — Joe Biden to go on the attack. The implied rationale is, more or less: Okay, you want to throw heat? We’ll throw heat. Welcome to the show, rookie. The problem is, if Biden’s going to go after her he has to do it in a way that doesn’t allow...
On Sarah Palin's likability.
If you work at home and are distractable like me and you tend to listen to cable news at a low volume throughout the day, pausing only occasionally to scream WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT or OH FOR GOD’S SAKE GET HEATHER WILSON OFF MY TV or YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY GOT TO BE KIDDING ME (unless it’s Rachel Maddow talking, in which case there’s nothing to be done except swat away the...
“There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we...”
– Joe Klein, TIME.com (via peterwknox)
AP fact-checks the Palin speech. →
Fred Thompson's RNC speech was the most stinging,...
Recycled from Twitter. All rights reserved. Have a nice day.
"I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use...
(Joe Vogler; founder, Alaskan Independence Party)
This would be the advocacy group of which Sarah Palin was a member for two years in the 1990s, according to The New York Times.
Country first! Woo-hoo!
UPDATE, 10:20 PM: The New York Times now reports that it initially received erroneous information from the chairwoman of the AIP, Lynette Clark. Clark now says there is no documentation Palin...
