Friday, August 1, 2008

Michelle Bernard is great

As I've watched the MSNBC campaign coverage since the primaries, I've become more impressed with Michelle Bernard. She gives the most honest voice to how hard it is for a black man to run for President that you could hear on air. I know she's a Republican, but she really gets it. I remember her reaction when Sen. Obama clenched the nomination, and you could tell she was almost crying she was so proud/happy.

Song of the Day



I can't get it out of my head!

NOLA Police are crazy

Seriously, y'all think you have problems with the cops, our recruiting standards are so low all they can do is hire crazy, unprofessional people. Another one was fired, because after receiving a 911 call about an office duty police-officer, Ashley Terry waving a gun around in a school carpool lane, he:
He spoke only with Terry [crazy woman] before finding the complaints about her conduct "unfounded."
That's cracker jack investigative skills right there.

About the primaries..

Wait, I thought that because Sen. Obama lost the "non-college" demographic in the primaries he would lose it in the general?

Oops.

Obama to Michigan

I normally judge how the campaigns are doing by talking to my somewhat informed, but non-political-junky co-workers. They cover the whole ideological spectrum, with varying levels of political information consumption, so by talking to them, I can get an accurate sense of "American public support". I like to think of them as my private focus group, actually.

This is why it's critically important for Sen. Obama to focus on state polling and visiting specific locales like Lansing, Michigan, rather than focusing on the back-and-forth John McCain prefers. While the back-and-forth is interesting for people like me and the traditional media, normal people don't follow it. They do follow the local news. Everyone knew that Sen. McCain cancelled his visit to New Orleans due to our huge oil spill/hurricane, they don't know that Sen. Obama went to Baskin Robins on his first date with Michelle.

Does John McCain have a single idea?

Because all I'm seeing a ton of lame attack ads. This is even worse than the last one:



Also, does anyone else get the sense that it sort of implies that Sen. Obama is going to be President? Has another campaign ever just mocked their opponent like this? It's not even attempting to discuss any issue.

What's wrong with this picture?

We all know that absolutely everything in this article is offensive, but I spot something wrong in this picture:


It appears that all the Republicans (plus James Madison) are wearing suits, whereas the two Democrats are in exercise clothes. I wonder if there is a subliminal message I should get out of this.

Hmm... not sure about this

While I'm happy to see Sen. Obama respond forcefully with the truth:
I was in union, Missouri which is 98 percent white - a rural, conservative. and what I said was what I think everybody knows, which is that I don't look like I came out of central casting when it comes to presidential candidates. But that I think that what people are really concerned about, what they're looking for is fundamental change on the economy, things that are going to help their families live out the American dream.
I'm not sure I would use the term "central casting." Just because it implies auditioning, acting, celebrity, etc. However, I can't think of a better term, and these people are much smarter at the spin game than I am!

Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson is my second favorite person on MSNBC (after Rachel Maddow!). There is always a gleam in his eye when he's talking and you can tell that he really loves this stuff. His new article "So Much for St. John" is fantastic.

Excerpt, but read the whole thing:
The McCain campaign's excursion into popular culture has been so aggressive that the Obama campaign felt obliged to promptly denounce a new song by Ludacris that criticizes both McCain and Hillary Clinton in crude terms. Never mind that the rapper has no association with Obama's candidacy, and never mind that McCain is probably not intimately familiar with the Ludacris oeuvre. All this gnashing and flailing would be laughable if it weren't so purposeful. The aim is to cast an aura of doubt around Obama -- to portray him as handsome and popular but insubstantial, as a "celebrity" who's not really up to the job. Oh, and not that we would ever mention such a thing, but did you notice that Obama had the audacity to mention that he's African American?

Speaking of the Race Card

Read this, if only to see the actual "Race Card" that gets played.

Hillary Clinton doesn't want it

Apparently, Sen. Clinton has decided not to ask to be nominated at the Convention (it's a procedural step). I wonder what Alegre has to say or No Quarter:

Silence. Because these people stopped caring about Sen. Clinton's wishes a long time ago.

So...

Sen. Obama doesn't look like anyone on a dollar bill. That's just fact. Only in this messed up political world would you be accused of playing the "race card" for speaking the truth.