An Interesting Occurance in Washington State

Call it political strategy in largely Democratic state, but two of the most contentious battlegrounds for the Republicans (the Governorship and the Bellevue house of Representatives Seat) are running candidates that are not just trying to distance themselves from the Bush Administration - they are trying to distance themselves from McCain.

Dino Rossi and Dave Reichert - both Republicans running for office, the latter for reelection - are not only not mentioning McCain in their speeches, but they are not going to attend the RNC and are talking about Obama as though he were their best friend.

Over and over in Rossi's speeches he talks about Obama and the change he is trying to bring to the United States, saying that change needs to happen in other areas besides just DC. Reichert is skipping the RNC and does not mention McCain once, ever, in any of his speeches.

Both of these are likely a response to poll numbers, as Reichert was more than happy to embrace the Bush Administration when he reached office and Rossi is simply a bad choice for the left leaning state - but what they do indicate, which I enjoy, is that McCain is linked to Bush so much that Republicans are afraid to mention his name.

Hopefully this is a sign of more to come, as the Palin pick will hopefully backfire in the old man's face.

Most Offensive 9/11 Commercial Ever

LEGAL LIBERIAN LEGAL TENDER??? WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!?!

Excuse me, can you please do me a favor and get your lips off my balls?

Most offensive line of the 9/11 twenty commerical:
a) "A Silvery Tribute to all that were lost on that tragic day"
b) "But on the other side, it's the first time ever that the two separate numbers have been used to add up to the 20 dollar value!"
c) "On the front, the frosted twin towers stand out against a mirror like background, just as they did in the gleaming sunlight of that fateful morning."

Also, you get this certificate of authenticity signifying that it has no value. Whoopee.

Palin? Really?

Pick Strengths:

Sarah Palin is blatantly pandering to women. But it is not pandering to liberal women, it is pandering to undecided women. Unfortunately - and I say this with no ill will towards the undecideds - undecided voters tend to not critically think about propaganda. The better the propaganda, the more likely the undecided voter will go towards the less blasted candidate. I cannot tell you how many individuals I happened upon that were undecided that believed the John Kerry Swiftboat attacks. But it was all of them. That's a significant number.

It also almost guarantees a mistake by Biden that allows Republicans to paint the Democrats as sexist. And it's going to work, and he's going to make a mistake.

Pick Weaknesses:

She's not a good candidate. She's too good looking. She has no experience but, unlike Obama, does not even appear as though she is going to have experience. It would be like choosing my downstairs neighbor, if my downstairs neighbor was a hot mom. Also, the "VPILF" jokes (Vice President I'd Like to F-) Are going to be out in full force. She's really just... not good. If Bush was the president one would like to have a beer with, Palin is the Vice President that people want to buy a drink for.

Overall Thoughts On How This Will Effect the Election:

The effect of picks like this are measured by the amount of voters it convinces to go make a decision on who to vote for. How many will it convince? Not many. For every woman it gains it will lose a man, and for every woman proud to see a woman on the ticket, another will see it for what it is: the idea that picking a woman - any woman - is enough to convince women to vote for McCain, which is sexist, condescending and bullshit.

So the net gain will be roughly 0. However, what it won't measure but what will likely happen is that more Republican conservative women are guaranteed to go to the voting booths. And that sucks for the Democrats. You won't hear about it much, but Republicans always show up in force, and now that more Republican women have a reason to go vote, this pick looks bad for the Democrats.

Barack Obama/Joe Biden, 2008

If you do not understand why Barack Obama is the best option for the next president after his DNC speech today, then I am revoking your voting card.

Bill Richardson's:

"John McCain May Pay a Thousands of Dollars for His Shoes, But We're The Ones That Will Pay for his Flip Flops."

...I see what you did there. Well played.

Tim Kaine is a bad speaker.

Seems like a smart, nice guy. But... nah, he did not do a great speech. "Move Mountain" is no "Yes We Can." But he's not exactly the main speaker, so I'll give him a break.

Bill Clinton's Speech

It started out shaky, a little awkward, a bit disingenuous. But after the first few minutes he went all out against McCain and the Republicans, and he made his point about Obama 10 fold. Great job. There is a reason the Clintons are such a force in politics.

Good Job Hillary. Good Job.

“With eyes firmly fixed on the future in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and country, let’s declare together in one voice, right here and right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president. I move that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”
- Hillary Clinton

And with that, Barack Obama is officially the democratic nominee for the president of the United States of America. I'd like to say "It's about time" but I am far happier saying "Good Job Hillary - You did well."

Time to Demolish McCain.

PUMAs - A Swift Boat?

The PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) Hillary Clinton supporters are trying to disrupt the convention, making such ridiculous claims as that Barack Obama is a "registered Muslim" from a "Secret report" that they "won't tell the news" about.

Hillary Clinton herself has told her supporters to vote for Obama, yet these self proclaimed PUMAs refuse to, and claim that all of the propaganda they are distributing they are doing for Hillary Clinton, despite Hillary Clinton herself telling them not to. Clearly that is not support, so what's up?

What about the idea that this is another form of Swift Boating. What if these "PUMAs" are financed by an outside source in order to bring down Obama without it appearing that the right is involved?

This is pure speculation - but the entire premise of the PUMA (to support Hillary Clinton) simply does not exist. They are not supporting her at all, yet claiming they are. Why? Is it possible that there are other motives, such as a more elaborate attack plan financed by an outside source? Or is this simply some strange phenomenon where these supporters have jumped off the deep end and don't understand that they are doing no one any good.

It would be interesting to see what they do after Clinton speaks during the convention. I would not be surprised if a story comes out with in the next two weeks about the PUMAs being financed by the same person that paid for the Swift Boating of Kerry, or something similar.

Watching the DNC Convention

MSNBC is my favorite news station. That said, this coverage has been absolutely awful. I'm cringing at the awkwardness.

Busy Day Yesterday

I had to collaborate with a friend of mine (who was busy playing the closed Beta version of Warhammer Online) and it ended up being a very difficult process so I didn't have a chance to write about the choice of Joe Biden as a running mate.

Overall, the thoughts are:

- Biden is a great person, a great speaker, and incredibly likeable
- Ironically, Biden is not that well liked
- The choice is good in that Biden will make a great vice president
- The choice is bad because Obama played it safe and chose someone that may not bring in other voters.
- Wesley Clark would have been better
- Biden is still a great guy

So who knows. It is simply too hard to know for sure what is effective these days. I wrote numerous posts about how stupid McCain's ads were, and somehow they convinced some losers somewhere that he must be a good candidate, because his rating surged dramatically. But whatever. It's a sad day when Warhammer Online has better characters than this country, but at least the Olympics brings back some of that patriotism.

OMG, Obama is Like, So Totally Elitist!

Hey loyal reader, let me bounce this question off you:

How many houses do you own?

I'll give you some time to think about it. Can't expect to have that information off the top of your head, right? Okay. Now, try to count them all out.

Somewhere between 5 and 9 right? Yeah, you and everybody else. No wonder super rich John McCain can't remember how many houses he owns, and thinks that you are only rich if you make more than 5,000,000 a year (but rest assured, the economy is strong!).

"Um... You know... Does that include condos? I'll have my staff get back to you."

I hate him so much.

Why Guns Are Stupid, Part XXIIVV231231132^∞

Some idiot decided it was legally okay for this dipshit to carry a gun:

A 22-year-old was arrested Tuesday after his break-in hit an unexpected snag: his mother.

The armed suspect, alongside a 15-year-old accomplice, who was also arrested, entered a house on South Holly Street in South Seattle Tuesday afternoon, police said. The house belongs to the 22-year-old's mother.

When she and other family members confronted the pair, both suspects fled, firing several gunshots in the air.

A police-dog unit reached the scene and captured the 15-year-old, who was bitten during the arrest. He was treated by paramedics at the scene and then transferred to Harborview Medical Center.

Minutes later, the 22-year-old was handcuffed without incident.

Both suspects were armed at the time of the break-in. Police believe the suspects ditched the weapons before their arrests; neither gun was found.

Police also suspect the pair in two nearby street robberies and another weapons incident earlier that morning.

This moron was about to accidentally rob his mother. Someone should stab him in the face.

Not to be Outdone, McCain May Choose Lieberman

Obama may be picking his running mate by Friday, and it is widely expected to be one of:

- Joe Biden
- Kathleen Sebelius (I, personally, think this would be a bad choice since it is too obvious why he chose her)
- Evan Bayh

There was also rumor that Obama may choose a Republican, though that appears to have slowly diminished.

So McCain's short list has been talked about often. And on his short list, the following names:

- Mitt Romney
- Joe Lieberman

Wait... What?

First off, no one likes Romney. Nobody. He lost for a reason, and that reason is that he's awful in every way. That is a bad, bad choice.

And Liebarman... is no different. No one likes him, he's a Democrat that won't bring in any Democrats, and Republicans only like that he was once a Democrat.

These choices make absolutely no sense. So... Um... Get on it, McCain! McCain/Lieberman or McCain/Romney '08! WOO!

Chuck Hagel and Joe Biden as VP?

From here.

This has me confused. My thoughts:

Biden - I love Biden. No one else likes Biden. Why would this be a good strategic decision? He's one of the most well known Democrats and very few non-outspoken Democrats feel very good about him. This would be a strategically bad move, though I would not be upset if Obama wins.

Hagel - This is interesting. A Republican that is almost a Democrat as the Vice President would be a brilliant choice. And as much as I don't like the idea of a Republican in a high ranking office in the White House, Chuck Hagel is by far the best possible Republican choice he could make. Though I would guess this may still be a bad idea, because it will be hard to sell some of the uber-liberal Hillary supporters (yes, there are some) that a Republican on the ticket would be a better choice than Clinton. Also, Obama would have to work hard to convince young people he's not letting them down.

None of these make much sense. Really, no choice besides Wesley Clark or one of the lesser known Democrats make any sense to me. But Obama strategists have done a good job so far, so let's see what happens.

Next Ad: Still Bad

My last post was about John McCain's stupid advertising strategy. This one is no different.

"Washington's Broken... John McCain knows it... We're worse off than we were 4 years ago..."

I'm confused how this makes John McCain the answer, when it is very clear that Washington being broken - something he was a part of for the past, oh, 20 years or so - may have something to do with him.

By the way, you know what Americans need to hear about? Tax cuts. We don't hear about that nearly as often from Republicans. Especially because they have worked so well before.

Also:


I really hate this guy.

John McCain: Buzzkill

Probable Conversation between John McCain and Political Adviser:
John McCain: Hey, I have a great idea for an advertising strategy.
Political Adviser: Great, let's hear it.
JM: It's huge.
PA: I like huge.
JM: It involves 6 million dollars.
PA: I like the way you think.
JM: Okay, we take those 6 million dollars.
PA: Yeah.
JM: We put all that money into Olympics ads.
PA: Yes, yes, I'm liking this. Go on.
JM: The world is focused on Patriotism and celebrity, and we show Obama as a celebrity, not a patriot.
PA: I like this, I think this could work, maybe get a few Olympians to throw their support behind you, maybe call you the gold medal winner, maybe...
JM: Yeah, yeah, or instead, we could get Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and compare him to them.
PA:
JM:
PA:
JM: What?
PA: You want to make an ad that compares Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears?
JM: Yeah!
PA: You don't want to highlight the Olympics, or patriotism, or anything like that.
JM: Nope, Paris and Britney.
PA: You want to interrupt the Olympics to compare Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
JM: Yeah! What do you think?
PA:
JM:
PA:
JM: So go for it, then?

The United States Wins the 4x100 Relay Against France

And here is a gif of Michael Phelps celebrating, created by R.J. Anderson of DRaysBay.

Enjoy

The Inside Dope

No, not Bush. It's the name of a website. I'd like to point out these two enjoyable posts from the past two days. There is this image, which I appreciate:

As well as these two images, that are also classic:


Zoomed

Good times. Good times.

John Edwards Out As Vice President

Not officially, of course, but he has admitted that he had an affair on his wife. Add that his wife is dying of cancer and that the Democrats are trying not to associate themselves with Clinton's scandal and you have an individual that is simply not going to be picked by Barack Obama.

One thing to note here is, however, that it is incredibly stupid for anyone (Republican or Democrat) to run for president when they have these kinds of skeletons in their closet. They are going to come out, and when they do, your political career could easily be shattered. Bill Clinton may not have had his political career shattered by his blow job, but the blemish put a big red mark on his otherwise spectacular presidency.

Democrats: If you had an affair, or are a closet homosexual, or touched children, or fathered an illegitimate child with an employee, or anything else that could come out then don't run for president. It's not that hard to understand. Look at what has happened to the Republicans in the last several years. All I need to say is "Mark Foley" and you should know that you lost your chance.

You may have dreams of becoming something higher up in the white house, but your past isn't erased just because you are exciting politically. If you killed a man, you are not going to be a police chief someday. If you did something that will damage your credibility with voters, then don't run. You're not doing us any favors.

Robert Novak Retiring

I do not wish a brain tumor on anyone. That said, Robert Novak is a horrible person, and I am beyond happy that he is retiring.

On July 23, while driving in Washington, D.C., Mr. Novak struck an elderly pedestrian, and later said he did not realize the accident had happened. It is not clear whether the incident was connected to his brain tumor.

The man he struck was riding on his hood for a while before being thrown off and it is absolutely impossible for Novak to have missed it without going through some sort of traumatic brain issue that would likely have gotten him into much more of an accident.

Feel better, Novak. But in the interim, shut the hell up.

The Logic of Tax Cuts

When Bush made his tax cuts for the wealthy, his logic was that with more money available, companies will hire more employees.

But there are so many steps missing in this logic that it is, as expected, not working:

“It’s not that unemployment is rising because a lot of people are coming into the labor force,” Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said. “It’s rising because employment is falling.”

Employment is falling? But how can that be?

Wealthy people get wealthy because they know how to make and keep money. This means two things:

1) When they have money, they save it.
2) When they can pay one person 40,000 to do X amount of work, they have no reason to hire another person to do X/2 amount of work. There is not always more work to do, or - at the very least - there is not necessarily a high profit that is going to come from hiring another individual.

These are simple logic steps. When I was overworked as a cashier at a busy grocery store during college, that store made millions and yet still had only a few cashiers working. Why? Because they could afford to get away with it. Yes, they could have hired another employee to take the load off of us, but why would they, when we were doing the job?

The jobless rate can't be saved by tax cutting, and until the government understands that, no changes are going to take place.