Good film, but it needed more zombies. (UPDATE: Ed Morrissey has a somewhat more insightful review, as usual. I tend to be forgiving of movies that give me zombies to be shotgunned.)
Yeah, we forgot to mention that we were here at the RNC, huh? Me, Erick, Ben, Adam C, absentee nee The Right-Wing Nut Job, Dan Spencer, Soren, Mark I, Jeff’s popping in tomorrow, and I haven’t tracked down Michelle yet. Should be a thing.
This is going to be a very short front-pager: theoretically, it should be a RedHot, but I’m: about to go on a plane; just a touch too contemptuous of the junior Senator from Illinois right now to do him the courtesy of a full writeup. So just read this little piece (via Instapundit) and marvel at a primary nomination process that made this guy look like the best possible choice for the Democratic Party.
Sheesh. No wonder they’re so ready to compare him to Palin. Comparing his judgment to McCain’s increasingly runs the risk for them of triggering a full-out belly laugh from the American people.
He thinks that this is a smart ad:
…because it doesn’t mention Governor Sarah Palin by name. I think that it doesn’t mention Governor Palin by name because the Obama campaign didn’t have the slightest idea that she was in the running, let alone that she was getting the nod. If you think that’s unlikely, let me remind you that the DNC didn’t even think that she was important enough to profile as “the next Cheney.” Heck, they still haven’t updated that site, the lazy so-and-sos. Which leads me to wonder just how much work’s been actually done by these people in preparing for the general election. Hopefully, it’ll be much of the same.
Moe Lane
PS: You know, for a campaign that trumpets “change” so much, Obama’s seems curiously inept at actually handling unexpected ones.
But really quickly: I’m juggling baby and last-minute travel stuff.
On the Right: McCain’s pick has energized and pleased Republicans, particularly conservative ones. Yes, yes, there’s all sorts of people trying to say otherwise, usually by reading off emails purporting to be from disgruntled members of the GOP. Alas for them, McCain’s people reported that they received $3 million dollars in six hours yesterday, with a total haul for the day of $4.49 million.
I think that we need to take the money more seriously than the emails.
On the Left: Did you think that the netroots were contemptibly nasty to Senator Clinton (believe me or not - I don’t care either way - but I do)? Just wait. They’re already starting in on Palin, and it will not get any better, and the media will merely be slightly more genteel about it. The netroots can’t help themselves, of course: they’ve been well-conditioned by now to automatically hate all who oppose them, and they are woefully unaccustomed to having to be accountable for it. But don’t get mad at them: they’re just… unwell, really. Instead, just point and say “Hey, look. An Obama supporter.”
Just make sure that you do it in as loud, as clear, and as public a fashion as possible.
I normally don’t favor dKos with links, but this one is too… typical, really.
This is what fear looks like, by the way. I mention it only because far too many people on the Left seem to be mistaking the sensation for a sense of triumph.
First off: bring it, Democrats. Contribute to McCain Victory 2008 (UPDATE: as I understand it, that link still works after Thursday: it’s the same sort of shared-fundraising system that the DNC is using to inflate its monthly totals.)
Second: It’s a fascinating thing, really. For the last few months, the overwhelming theme that we’ve heard from the Democrats is that we are lost: that we are not what we once were; and that our lives have somehow been bound to an almost inevitable downward spiral. And that all of this is due to… depends on who you ask. A civic and political philosophy subscribed to by millions of Americans. A political party. A secret cabal of faceless men. A few men. One of many “one man”s. And that the only way that we may all be saved is to vote for their candidate.
And yet: today is the day where, for the first time, an African-American has been nominated for President by one of the two major parties… and the other major party has nominated the second woman for Vice-President. I want all of you to think of how that news would have been received in 1808.
Or 1868.
Or 1928.
Or 1948.
Or 1968.
Or even 1988, really.
Be wary of those eager to grasp your arm and insist that you have lost your way. There’s always the possibility that they merely think that it will be profitable for them for you to travel along theirs.
Everyone, please enjoy your weekend.
Moe Lane
Not least because he obviously means…
Every.
Single.
Word.
…of it. Here is what’s going to get thrown right in the face of all those race-baiting, house-counting, age-baiting, trying-to-incite-rage, would-be Lee Atwaters:
Via Hot Air.
{Update: Just a reminder, Pfeiffer: parrot the agitprop. Don’t actually believe it. Via Constant Reader c17wife.}
48 - 42 (+6 Obama) on the Gallup Poll; Rasmussen’s currently tied at 47/47, but the explanatory text suggests that tomorrow’s numbers are going to be more Obama-friendly (they float the concept of a possible ‘modest lead,’ which means… I have no idea). While this technically represents Monday through Wednesday, today’s numbers probably are not taking into account the Wednesday lineup of speakers, which means that the full impact of Bill Clinton’s speech will not be reflected in the polls until tomorrow, and the full impact of Barack Obama’s until probably Saturday. The first is further better news for the Democrats; the second will be good or bad, in direct relation to Obama’s speech.
All in all, based on today’s Gallup number, I think that seeing a +10 bounce for Obama by Saturday in either it or Rasmussen is a good minimum criterion for being able to say that Obama had a successful convention. McCain’s people were suggesting +15/+16, of course, but that was just them having fun.
Tell you truthful, I was kind of joking when I wrote the bit about LARPing. But…
But…
But…
Words fail me.
Moe Lane
PS: Well, not quite. We’ve heard the pushback on Barackopolis 1.0, to the general gist that Bush’s speech was in an area that more or less had columns. To which I note two things:
1). President Bush did not attempt to recreate either the Parthenon - or, now, apparently, the White House.
2). Even if he had… George W. Bush is the President of the United States of America. Barack Obama is a first-term Senator who got the job because Jack Ryan couldn’t help but show off to a bunch of sex-club enthusiasts that he had Seven of Nine warming his bed. Put another way: the hypothetical Bush would have merely been arrogant. The actual Obama is being hubristic.
[UPDATE: Ken Salazar's office has indicated that the Senator has no intention of making a statement on the assault. I think that it's thus fair to assume that they aren't really concerned, then.]
Yesterday, several police officers (including one from Boulder - more anon) decided to arrest - and assault, frankly - a ABC News producer engaged in the heinous crime of taking pictures in public:
ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors
Asa Eslocker Was Investigating the Role of Lobbyists and Top Donors at the Convention
DENVER — Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.
Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.
A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker’s neck, then twisted the producer’s arm behind him to put on handcuffs.
Annnd here’s the video. Please note the push into the street/”Now you’re in traffic”, the choke hold placed on the producer, and the need for - how many? Five? Six? - cops to arrest the man.
Charming city, Denver. Remind me to visit it, sometime.
Don’t get me wrong, loved the first two seasons growing up, have all of Diane Duane’s ST books - but this isn’t really the mood that I presume that the Obama campaign wants to present. Particularly since McCain’s going with that entire BSG 2.0 vibe.
Anyway, first we had the Space Hippies:
…and now we have to ask, “Who Mourns for Adonis?“
…um, not me? Read up a little on organized classical/’Dark Age’ European polytheism and you start to understand why the various Abrahamic faiths went through them like a hot knife through butter.
Moe Lane
I’ve been to a lot of conventions, and there’s always something gratifyingly weird that happens.
{snip}
But this Democratic convention has a vibe so weird and jittery, so at odds with the early thrilling, fairy dust feel of the Obama revolution, that I had to consult Mike Murphy, the peppery Republican strategist and former McCain guru.
“What is that feeling in the air?” I asked him.
“Submerged hate,” he promptly replied.
We finally got a response from Hillary’s people to this McCain ad:
…and it’s certainly, um, well, a statement.
The following is a statement released today by Hillary Clinton’s Spokeswoman Kathleen Strand in response to the McCain campaign’s new ad “Passed Over.”
“Hillary Clinton’s support of Barack Obama is clear. She has said repeatedly that Barack Obama and she share a commitment to changing the direction of the country, getting us out of Iraq, and expanding access to health care. John McCain doesn’t. It’s interesting how those remarks didn’t make it into his ad.”
I believe that the word to use here would be “tepid.” Even after you subtract out my, McCain’s, and the entire VRWC’s natural inclinations to be gleeful troublemakers, the word to use here would still be “tepid.” We were expecting something with, you know, some bite to it. I mean, look at it: there isn’t even a direct attack on McCain! She just called the ad incomplete. Not even inaccurate: incomplete.
Disappointing, really.
Moe Lane
Leaving for the airport soon:
(pause)
Gimme a break, most of the Disney stuff had the embedding disabled.
…with regard to the Biden pick. Again: oh, the fun that we’ll have.
Via PJM, which has a nice round-up.
A little thing, but at best a gaffe, and at worst a tacit admission:
How Ben Porritt of the McCain campaign put it:
“Barack Obama sounded as though he turned over the top spot on the ticket today to his new mentor, when he introduced Joe Biden as the next president. The reality is that nothing has changed since Joe Biden first made his assessment that Barack Obama is not ready to lead. He wasn’t ready then and he isn’t ready now.”
My take:
“Joe’s the one who’s supposed to trip over his own tongue for our amusement, Barry. Although if you picked him to balance out the ticket in that regard, trust me: it was redundant.”
Oh, the fun that we will have with this pick for the next two months. See also The Other McCain for the inevitable Terry Eagleton comparison. Who? Trust me, kids: you’ll find out.
…but as always, he is THE MAN.
Yes, Obama supporters, this is precisely what you look like. Down to the bone.
He says [expletive deleted] like this all the time.
And that they plan to have Obama formally forgive Biden for this:
After a lengthy critique of Bush administration education policies, Biden attempted to explain why some schools perform better than others — in Iowa, for instance, compared with the District. “There’s less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4 or 5 percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you’re dealing with,” Biden said.
H/T to Constant Reader Tim_Schieferecke, who remembered the quote.
