Month: September 2008

Yes, the campaign is in its vile phase: Jon Cohn gets a push-poll phone call spreading hysteria about Obama among Jewish voters.

Tina Fey is sexist? It is not sexist to point out that the Palin candidacy is a farce. A man with her non-qualifications, long, long record of demonstrable, outright lies and utter lack of interest in foreign policy would never have been considered for the role.

Ezra Klein has an idea:

I’ve always thought that the next frontier in vanity industries should be commissioned biographies. Someone should set up a company employing out-of-work, or in-school, writers, and charge $30-$40,000 for beautifully bound, broadly positive, built-to-order biographies. They can even include some pictures. That way, you not only live forever, but get to control your story after you’re gone. It’s the perfect gift for the man who has everything but literal immortality.

And it can be full of lies! Just make it all up. That’s what our national politicians do, isn’t it?

Bill Wasik on "the origin of specious."

Ross Douthat tells us he is very comfortable with outright lies in politics. In fact, it is so faux to care about truth in politics (but never faux to display outrage at journalists asking factual questions about Palin’s stories about her own family). He couldn’t get worked up about Clinton’s lies either, he tells us. Why? Because the ends always justify the means. If you’re going to ban all abortion, you just have to tell a few whoppers and demonize a few opponents along the way:

The point of being in national politics is to win elections and govern the country in accordance with whatever goals led you into the arena in the first place, not to please columnists who disagree with you on ideological grounds but appreciate a finely-tuned sense of political principle.

It’s really come to this? Notice the avoidance of what is at stake here: the basic question of truth: empirical, checkable, verifiable truth. How naive to care about that.

Judis sends Obama a memo.

McCain tees up Biden. Biden is showing he was a very good pick to make this kind of argument:

This parody ad is pretty hilarious. At least, I think it’s a parody.

When you’re plugged into the blogosphere, there is no real getting away any more. But as we leave the Cape at dawn today (and yes, that picture above is dawn from my window, not dusk), I’ll have my usual spell of melancholy. Thoreau understood what this place means, and it’s wonderful to feel that Atlantic founder keeping us Cape-lovers in good company across the centuries. My head is too full of politics to write anything fitting for our annual trek back home to DC. So I’ll just link to a post I wrote last year about Provincetown, the first place the Pilgrims encountered America. It’s called "Always."

It expresses my passion and awe for this God-drenched coil of sand in the ocean.

Marc makes a good point about the Wall Street meltdown:

Both McCain and Obama have to strike a balance between acknowledging the crisis and using their authority to convince Americans not to run on their banks and head for the hills. That’s what McCain was doing this morning when he said the "fundamentals" of the economy are strong; Obama will strike a different balance.

Given McCain’s record of appearing aloof to most people’s economic problems, he’d better tread carefully. Call me crazy (and they do) but it strikes me that the incumbent party is not likely to do that well when it is presiding over a financial collapse. Unless people are voting entirely on cultural identity. In which case: death to elitists who know something about economics!