Voting

With the primary Tuesday and the general election just a few weeks away, Rick Shenkman and Bryan Caplan give us pause when considering the educated, rational voter we all hope we are.

Northen Exposure

Listening to the rain and surfing the internets brings me to the Mudflats and a introduction to some Alaskan politics.
And you thought Amherst is interesting?

Olver gets ripped off

Tom Johnson, the chair of the NJ Repub delegation, just made the remark that what people want is a "work horse not a show horse" in promoting McSame's candidacy. Seem's they've cribbed from John Olver's past campaigns.

Cognitive Dissonance

538 experiences dissonance.

"I think some of you are underestimating the percentage of voters for whom Sarah Palin lacks the standing to make this critique of Barack Obama. To many voters, she is either entirely unknown, or is known as an US Weekly caricature of a woman who eats mooseburgers and has a pregnant daughter. To change someone's opinion, you have to do one of two things. Either, you have to be a trusted voice of authority, or you have to persuade them. Palin is not a trusted voice of authority -- she's much too new. But neither was this a persuasive speech. It was staccato, insistent, a little corny. It preached to the proverbial choir. It was also, as one of my commentors astutely noted, a speech written by a man and for a man, but delivered by a woman, which produces a certain amount of cognitive dissonance."

At least she didn't froth at the mouth like Rudy. The lighting and his facial expressions made him look like he could have a starring role in Nosferatu.

McSame opposes Palin -- the confusion continues

According to the LA Times:

"For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.

Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.

Now, McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her as a reformer just like him...."

Now wait for it: A McSame spokesperson says Palin was "disgusted" that small towns like hers were dependent on earmarks. That will come as a major surprise to mayors and town managers across Massachusetts. Nor does it explain why she hired a lobbyist to pick up more funds.

Brad Delong is confused...

Grasping Reality with Both Hands:

John McCain wants to nominate his friend Joe Lieberman for vice president, is told that he cannot, and so he backs down and instead nominates somebody who takes their children to a church where they teach that suicide bombers in Tel Aviv are righteously executing God's vengeance on Israel for rejecting Jesus Christ.

Do I have it right?

I must say I am confused.

Its a movement

Dylan endorses Obama. He's also painted his masterpiece(s).

Rip and Read News

Turkey's activist supreme court causes problems: “Turkish Leaders Face Tense Summer” (the Beeb)

“MSW” finds a new use: “Blue Fire Ethanol Bets on Household Trash” (CNET)

Policy differences: “A radical new strategy: kill fewer Muslims” (Economist)

Boundless pessimism: “Little Mideast press optimism for Israel-Syria talks” (BBC Monitor)

Not just the MCAST: “Chinese students implore Confucius for exam luck” (Reuters)

D'oh: “Did Iranian agents dupe Pentagon officials?” (McClatchy)

Thanks, Hillary: “Obama's Clinton problem surfaces — in GOP ads” (McClatchy)

From the Arts and Culture Desk:
“Ozzy Osbourne wins damages over "freak show" slur” (Reuters)

So it goes

I guess I didn't want to believe what I was hearing on the radio the other day. Not Rushbo but NPR played the musings of a New York woman, ironically named Christian, fuming that an "inadequate black man" had "stolen" the nomination only because Clinton is a "white woman."

Ugly and ignorant, in more ways than one.

There's a couple of cliches that apply to the political contests. The first is the old saw that there are only two ways to run for office: scared and unopposed. Hillary and her staff ignored that, big time. Nemesis follows hubris. (See also Giuliani, Rudy.)

The second is attributable to Mario Cuomo: you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose. Listening to all three speeches last night (McSame, Clinton, Obama) it's pretty clear who the poet is.

Just Sayin'

A note to Doug Rubin...the following was attributed to Mayor Daley:
Don't write it if you can say it and don't say it if you can point.