In what is now a perfect reflection of the GOP establishment’s support for Clinton, K-Lo writes:
I have this weird, intense urge to be a Hillary voter in Pennsylvania today.
Think of the ironies: Scaife And Rove and Buchanan and Novak and Limbaugh now all want the Clintons back. What, you have to ask yourself, are they really afraid of?
Fashion designer Paul Smith poses during a portrait session at his London store before the Gian Paolo Barbieri private view on April 22, 2008 in London, England. Paul Smith will be hosting the first London exhibition of work by photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri at their store on Albemarle Street W1 from April 23rd-3rd May. By Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images.
Richard Cohen focuses on the real damage:
The Financial Times last week billboarded an opinion column "Bush’s worst legacy" and wondered whether it was Iraq or fiscal policy. The menu of choices in this case is so vast as to induce vertigo, but let me suggest that Bush’s "worst legacy" is what he has done to whatever trust Americans still had in their government. This administration’s incessant lying, its secrecy — its creepy Cheneyism with its petty justifications for torture and violation of privacy — is its worst legacy, one that will endure long after Wal-Mart opens a branch in Sadr City. Only an idiot would trust this government.
It’s heavy, apparently, including Western Pennsylvania, which must encourage the Clintons. What will matter of course is the geographical and demographic aspects of the turnout. And that we don’t yet know.
I guess he’s off his game. But he comes off as, well, er, you know, bitter.
Saletan reacts to PETA’s announcement of a million-dollar prize for commercially viable lab-grown meat:
If this idea repels you as a carnivore, imagine how it feels to a vegetarian. PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk tells the New York Times that the prize offer caused "a near civil war in our office" and that "we will have members leave us over this." Newkirk observes: "In any social cause community, there are people who strive for purity."
She’s right. I’ve seen civil wars like this one in other communities. In the case of the abortion-rights movement, I wrote a book about it. Pragmatists thought they could broaden the movement’s appeal by changing its language and arguments. Purists worried that these changes would narrow the movement’s agenda. Both sides were right. This is an important lesson in politics: Message, constituency, and agenda are related. The broader your message, the broader your constituency, and the narrower your agenda. You have to choose your tradeoffs.
I’m with PETA on this one.
Roger Simon listens to Republicans acknowledging that white racism will help them this fall. I hadn’t seen this anecdote from Scranton:
Barack Obama’s campaign opened a downtown office here on March 15, just in time for the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was not a glorious day for Team Obama. Some of the green signs the campaign had trucked in by the thousands were burned during the parade, and campaign volunteers — white volunteers — were greeted with racial slurs.
Wolcott reviews the latest slew of books on the decline of manliness. Money quote:
Before we mourn the prospect of an army of sad sacks slouching to the exits as Empress Oprah reigns over the new kingdom of empathy, keep in mind that the odds still favor the penis-bearer. The passport privileges of being a man have hardly been revoked. If anything, they’ve been super-ratified for roof entry to the helicopter pad. In his informative, provocative guide to the “global power elite,” Superclass, David Rothkopf spells out the eight key rules for admission into the atrium of the Davos gods, among them “Attend an elite university” and “Get rich.” Topping the advisory list: “Be born a man.” “There is no group as disproportionately under-represented among the members of the superclass as women. On a planet where 51 percent of the inhabitants are women, the global power structure is still locked in the dark ages on this issue. Only 6.3 percent of the superclass are women.” Corporate boardrooms are still predominantly boys’ clubs—“As of 2007, there were only thirteen women chief executives among Fortune’s top five hundred, twenty six among the top one thousand”—and the numbers in elected office are not much better: “Around the world, women held on average only 17 percent of parliamentary positions in 2007. The U.S. Congress fell below the global average, with 16 percent female members in the House and Senate.
A faux $12,000 dollar dish:
Osetra, Sevruga and Beluga caviars, white alba truffles, 24k edible gold leaf, lobster, Kobe tartar, a Kobe burger, a Kobe hot dog, an ostrich egg, two kinds of foie gras – duck and goose, and a moose snout and drizzled with 100 yr old balsamic vinegar and doused with with Louis XIII Cognac and flambéed.
I’d rather have the dollar meal myself.
