Month: August 2008

Ezra Klein frets:

The first two days of the convention were wasted, or seemed so from my vantage point. Tonight, Joe Biden will rip into McCain. And tomorrow, Obama will do whatever he does. Then on Friday, at noon, John McCain will announce his vice presidential nominee, strangling any convention bounce in the crib. Then the Republican Convention will begin, and you can be assured that they will remember Barack Obama’s name. They will remember how to make fun of him, how to mock his celebrity and inexperience. And the media will not cover Ron Paul’s protesters with the vigor or attention they gave to Hillary Clinton’s diehards. Instead, they will cover four days of straight attacks on Barack Obama, culminating with a grave address about sacrifice and service from John McCain. And unless Obama’s convention makes a sharp turn tonight and tomorrow, they will have done nothing to soften the impact of these attacks and themes or create a counternarrative for the media to cover.

I’m afraid I concur. With the sole exception of Michelle Obama’s superb speech, this convention has been McCain’s dream. Yes, there’s Biden and the chance that someone – who knows? – might actually attack the worst national security record of any administration in modern times. And then there’s Obama on Thursday. But the way they have set up the speech all but ensures that Obama cannot defeat expectations. Maybe Obama can overcome the obstacles this setting will create. He will have to be one hell of a politician to pull this one off.

Artist Liu Bolin paints Chinese citizens so they blend into the background:

More images from his Camouflage series here.

(Hat tip: Notcot)

Gustav! Could God be a Democrat? (That was a joke).

A reader writes:

Yeah, I get the allusions to Greek architecture as a link to the birthplace of Democracy. I get the reference to the Greek revival architecture used in our nation’s capitol. But even as a diehard Obama supporter, I beg of them to please rip those fucking things out and put up a line of flags. They are setting the stage for another celebrity/Messiah commercial, but one that could really connect because Obama approved the theatrics himself. The crowd in Berlin? Now, that was just cool and McCain was simply jealous. But erecting the stage for an Art in the Park production of Julius Caesar? Not cool. Not at all.

Mr. Obama, tear down that wall!

Ambers debriefs the Obama campaign guru:

** If McCain doesn’t win Colorado, "he has a 5% chance to win the election." ** He believes that they have "a slight edge" in Virginia.

** He said Obama is underperforming only among working class whites over 70 and pointed to a poll showing that Obama is over performing John Kerry with working class white voters under 50.

** Said that the campaign’s target in Georgia is about 47% of the vote, owing to Ex-Rep. Bob Barr’s ability to siphon votes away from John McCain.

** Said HIllary Clinton’s speech "could not have gone better."

** Said the campaign "is really pleased" with where they are in Montana.

   

I think they’ve lost every one of the last four weeks, and risk losing this one as well.

Cornel West thinks the Latin word "humanitas" (invented by Cicero) comes from the notion of burying. It’s a beautiful idea, but untrue.

Ok, this counts: dollar bill wrapping paper (with real dollars).

Weigel, who has been stellar this week, addresses the fooferaw over Obama accepting the nomination in front of Greek columns:

I have to wonder which campaign Obama is watching: the one where he’s as popular as he was in early 2008, or the one where Republicans are taunting him like a caged animal for stuff-just-like-this, and where his lead isn’t just gone in the (mostly meaningless) national polls but fading in the (meaningful as all hell) state polls.

Or as Dave more accurately puts it: Jesus Tapdancing Christ. I know the Democrats enjoy just handing elections to Republicans on a platter. But please, could you be a little less obvious about it?

"Look, I owe the American people an apology. If I had beaten the old man you’d’ve never heard of the kid and you wouldn’t be in this mess. So it’s all my fault and I feel that very, very strongly," – Michael Dukakis.

Nige wonders:

Does it matter how much we remember of books? Does it matter even if no memory at all is available to our conscious mind? I know I must have read large numbers of books that I don’t even remember reading – occasionally I find myself reading one, and realise I’m actually rereading… What I like to think is that the better ones (of the books I do at least remember reading) have left some beneficial trace at a level somewhere just below the conscious, retrievable memory – an afterglow, an aura, a faint fragrance… Or maybe I’m deluding myself?