Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

This will shock some of my friends, but there was a time when I had little use for Edward Kennedy. His flaws were many and it seemed readily apparent that initially he rode on the coattails of his older brothers. Mike Royko, the Chicago columnist (known generally as a liberal), regularly heaped abuse on Teddy, and (like some others) sneeringly suggested if his name had been Edward Slabotnik instead of Kennedy, he'd never been elected. There's no doubt the Chappaquiddick incident guaranteed that he'd never be president. His abortive run against the floundering Jimmy Carter in 1980 was the proof of that. Perhaps the knowledge eventually lifted a burden from him, because he ultimately became the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. History. His career had its ups and downs (some of these fueled by Kennedy's drinking habits). His marriage to his second wife is credited by many with turning his messy personal life around. He was not the smartest of the Kennedy brot...

Republican pinup Sarah Palin has decided to hang it up and has announced she'll be resigning as Alaska governor. Time will tell what fueled this latest bit of Wasilla wackiness. Given her competitive nature, perhaps she felt overshadowed by fellow Republican governor Mark Sanford's hi-jinks. "We've seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," said John Weaver, friend and confidant of John McCain. Even now McCain must be kicking himself again for choosing her as running mate in 2008. Given the suddeness of her decision and the fact she's leaving without serving even a full term, inquiring minds will be wondering if she's trying to outrun some soon-to-be breaking scandal. God willing, this will be the last time I write about this woman. But I doubt it.

Goodbye.. Three of the sweetest words I know: "Former President Bush." Still, in the interest of saying something nice about the man, I was pleasantly surprised to see he didn't issue a last minute pardon to Scooter Libby, or much of anyone else, for that matter. Boo-yah, Scooter. ...and Hello Meanwhile, all of Washington and a large percentage of the rest of the world came to see Obama inaugurated. Popular Science magazine has an amazing satellite photo of the crowds. Chief Justice John Roberts manage to flub his lines during the oath of office. Obama paused, then repeated the flub back to Roberts. This gave Chris Wallace , smirking simulacra of a journalist, the chance to opine sonorously on Fox News as to whether the 44th President was indeed the 44th President. Memo to Chris -- he retook the oath later, so fuck you . Wednesday, Hillary Clinton was confirmed by a 94-2 vote of the Senate as Obama's secretary of state, despite John Cornyn's insistance he was n...

I'm a little late in linking to this, but here is Dave Barry's plan for national unity. Martinis . I did my bit: after the networks called the election for Obama, I made a round of martinis and brought them to my down-hearted Republican neighbors next door. "Celebrate or anesthesize: your choice," I said. We all relaxed as Obama gave his acceptance speech, sipping the sweet waters of forgetfulness and munching on olives. The future seemed to brighten even as our eyes lost the ability to focus. Postscript: going home afterwards, I entered the kitchen and tripped over the cat, launching the empty glasses into the air where they shattered in the darkness.

It's after 1:oo AM and the election coverage is dying down. Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. A little while ago, John McCain gave his concession speech. It was generous and classy -- the kind of speech the "old" McCain used to give. Ironically, it may have been the best speech he gave this campaign. The man's no fool -- in his heart of hearts he must have seen the writing on the wall weeks ago. Surely he's glad it's over. Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago's Grant Park reminded us of why so many were inspired by his campaign. Rather than being triumphant, it was inclusive. It never avoided the fact that there are daunting issues to confront, and indeed he made the point we will all need to work together as a nation to solve them. At times, he evoked Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech but now the dream was for all Americans: black, white, brown, old, young, gay or straight. (---After a good ni...

I was going to write one of my whining, witless screeds and happened to read the following by Andrew Sullivan: Obama for President . It is one of the most rational and chilling indictments of the criminal administration about to pass that I have run across. Sullivan leads by recounting the horror of the 9-11 attacks seven years ago and then makes the case that a far more insidious, damaging attack on our nation has taken place at the hands of George W. Bush and his cronies: their cynical disregard of the rule of law and contempt for the constitution. The biggest task Obama faces (should he win) will be to restore the unequalled damage to our nation and institutions done by the hands of the Bush, Cheney, et. al. It's recognition of this Katrina scale devastation that has caused so many thoughtful Republicans and conservatives to come out for Obama. Read the article -- then go vote if you have not already.

One of my wife's guilty junk TV pleasures is TLC's What Not To Wear , in which our hosts Stacy and Clinton pick some poor fashion loser (nominated by the loser's friends/family) and give them a makeover: new hairdo, makeup and $5,000 worth of clothes. It's reality television at its finest. A plucky individual remakes themselves in the image of What's Hot and along the way sheds a few tears, gains some insight, and ditches all their old crappy stuff on someone else's nickel. How can it miss? The McCain campaign has picked up on this heart-warming concept. The Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 on Sarah Palin's wardrobe in the last two months, outfitting the Hockey Mom You Can Trust in threads from Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue . Tell me -- are those stores in Real America or Fake America ? When ungenerous commentators questioned this campaign largess, McCain flacks were quick to say Sarah's outfits would be donated to charity at some...

I watched the final debate tonight, thankful it was the last. Tonight instead of PBS, I happened to watch it on CNN where they again had a group of "undecided" voters with the instant polling gizmos. The men seemed to prefer McCain, the ladies liked Obama. Gimmicky but moderately interesting to watch. McCain came out with a roar but sort of petered out. Perhaps it was past his bed time. Obama did his usual slow and measured performance -- no fireworks but he made no discernible mistakes. Alas, my friend the Whited Sepulchre had not the time or will to liveblog it, but he did record his impressions after the fact. After a while I found myself sick of hearing about Joe the Plumber. I'm not sure Senator McCain served his campaign well by marrying himself to the image of a plumber's crack, since after the third mention that's what came to my mind every time he pulled ol' Joe out of his rhetorical rucksack.

A photo that reveals more about the Republican Base than anything I could possibly say. Thanks to the Washington Post .

One of the interesting things to have happened as McCain slowly sheds supporters is that we have an opportunity to get a better look at the Republican Base, since everyone else is slowly creeping out of the tent. Thanks to the Embarracuda, the Base still flock to the rallies, where they scream "Terrorist!" and "Kill him" at the mention of Obama. The Base: Jesus lovin', God-fearin', flag-wavin', red-meat-eatin', gun-totin', cousin-marryin', anyone-different-than-them-hatin'. Oh they are something. Primarily intolerant and mean-spirited. John McCain has finally found his sense of shame, at least for the moment, and has tried to cool some of the more foaming-at-the mouth rhetoric of his supporters recently, and was booed by his own crowd . It remains to be seen how long the new civility lasts. The base doesn't really like McCain. Now Sarah Palin...that's another matter. Rumor has it the Powers That Be are already grooming her for 20...

This just in... To quote the New York Times : " A 236-page report released by lawmakers in Alaska on Friday, found that Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, had herself exerted pressure to get Trooper Michael Wooten dismissed, as well as allowed her husband and subordinates to press for his firing, as a result of a messy divorce between him and Ms. Palin’s sister. " Whoops! RealClearPolitics now has the Electoral College count at: Obama/Biden: 353 McCain/Palin: 185 I'm beginning to wonder just how much worst it can get for John McCain?

Watching McCain's descent into the cesspool in the dying days of his campaign, I am reminded of an old, tasteless joke: An old Scotsman drinking in a bar says to the young man sitting beside him, "Look out to the field. Do ya see that fence? I built it stone by stone with me own two hands. Piled it for months. But do they call me McGregor-the-Fence-Builder? Nooo.." He pats the bar. "See how smooth and just this bar is, laddy? I planed that wood with me own hard labour, for eight days. But do they call me McGregor-the-Bar-Builder? Nooo..." He points to the sea. "Do ya see that pier that stretches as far as the eye can see? I built that pier with the sweat off me back. I nailed it board by board. But do they call me McGregor-the-Pier-Builder? Nooo..." "But ya fuck one goat..." John McCain has had a long and honorable career, earning him a great deal of deserved respect. Now that his quest to be president is tanking, he's chosen to cast asid...

John -- Just a quick note. The stock market fell ( plummeted, shreeked, plunged earthward with nausea-inducing abandon ) another 678 points yesterday. It's now below 9000 points. The financial markets are in near collapse. My 401k is worth 40% of what it was in January . And what do I hear you and the Embarracuda talking about: Bill Ayers, and whether Barack Obama is trustworthy about their "relationship." WHAT THE FUCK? Do we really know Barack Obama, you ask. This is rich coming from a campaign that refuses to give the media access to their running mate and won't let her appear in public without adult supervision. The biggest economic crisis in my lifetime and you, Senator McCain, are busily flinging turds.

Joe Klein over at Time magazine has done us a great service -- he's coined the ultimate nickname: Embarracuda . See? I don't even need to tell you who he's referring to. You know . Thanks to Mr. Klein, I shall henceforth adopt this term in all my references to Sarah Palin. His article by the same name peels away the perky exterior and casts a flinty eye at what he refers to as McCain's insult to your intelligence. As to her recent crack about Obama "palling around with terrorists," he points out the irony, given the fact that she's married to a member of a political party that wants Alaska to secede from the lower 48. Huh? He also contrasts her statement about Obama's former paster, Jeremiah Wright ("I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said.") with the fact that she sat through (not getting up and leaving) a sermon by the founder of Jews for Jesus who, as Klein rep...

Here we are less than a month from the 2008 election. You thought things were nasty before? Get ready--the shit's really going to start flying now. Despite his pledges to the contrary, McCain signaled early on he was more than willing to wade into the cesspool. Remember the stink over the "Celeb" ad? That was the tip of the iceberg. There's plenty more. Obama, to his credit, responded quickly and vigorously to these, having learned the lesson from John Kerry that unanswered attacks only encourage more of the same. McCain thought he'd run this election using the Bush "National Security" playbook ("the Surge worked," etc.), but a funny thing happened on the way to the polls: Wall Street had a meltdown. And it is a truism in politics that the economy trumps almost everything. Senator McCain has admitted in the past that economic issues are not his long suit. With the US teetering on the brink of a recession, suddenly voters are noticing McCain...

I was in a meeting this afternoon and the chief source of conversation quickly degenerated into a discussion of the vertigo-inducing free fall of the financial markets which was in progress. The DJIA ended the day down 777 points. Our company stock fell 15% today . It's now lost 2/3rds of its value for the year. Lots of nervous jokes and pale faces in the meeting. Candidate McCain quickly blamed Obama for not pulling along enough votes to get the bailout recovery plan to pass. This was after he failed to drag along more than 40% of the Republicans. Bush now expects the Democrats to carry his water? Why in God's name would anyone expect that to happen? Despite the brainwarp this induces, 60% of the Democrats did vote to pass it. The fact that 60% of the GOP legislators decided to give both Bush and McCain the bird on this does not bode well for the Senator from Arizona. It probably doesn't bode well for the GOP up for election this year, either. Meanwhile my 401k looks a...

Of all the third party candidates in recent years, I have decided Bob Barr is my favorite. Third party candidates over the years have fulfilled many roles. Some have served to espouse unpopular ideas, some have provided an outlet for voter irritation or protest, some have provided much needed comic relief. Eugene Debs and Robert La Follette both pushed progressive agendas at the turn of the 19th century. Strom Thurmond ran as a "Dixiecrat" to protest the Civil Rights Act in 1948 and in 1968 former governor George Wallace, feeding off racial strife, polled 13.5% of the popular vote and won 45 electoral votes (primarily southern states). I confess I voted in 2000 for John Anderson, who ran against Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as an independent. Ross Perot was a screeching wacko who may have cost Bush the elder the 1992 election and Ralph Nader is a cranky egomaniac that may have cost Al Gore the 2000. Bob Barr , in the few times I've caught him on Stephen Colbert ha...

Apparently I'm not the only one who's picked up on the fact that John McCain is a lying bastard: even Republicans have noticed. Orrin Hatch has decried as "ridiculous" the McCain claim that Obama was referring to the Right's Favorite Hockey Mom when he used the phrase "lipstick on a pig." Says Don Sipple, a Republican advertising strategist, "I think the predominance of liberty taken with truth and the facts has been more McCain than Obama." Oh my. FactCheck.org has repeatedly called out the McCain campaign for playing fast and loose (or not at all) with the truth, including the bullshit " lipstick on a pig story ," their claim Obama proposed sex education to kindergarteners (the proposal was actually how to protect against predators), and Sarah Palin's run-ins with reality . To quote the New York Times : A McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers, said the campaign had evidence for all its claims. "We stand fully by everything that...

So now John McCain is full of righteous outrage over what he has announced were "offensive and disgraceful" remarks about Sarah "Pitbull" Palin by Barack Obama. The disgraceful quote? Said Obama, on McCain and Bush's policies: "You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years." Oh puh-leeze. The "lipstick on a pig" quip has been used by Republicans, including John McCain, referring to Hillary Clinton's health care proposals (see clip below). I don't seem to recall a great eruption of rage over perceived sexism then. In fact, Hillary was regularly excoriated by the GOP. Calling her a pig would have seemed mild. And so the Republicans and their designated slimemeisters carry on that twin tradition of the Big Lie and the Dirty Trick, The Big Lie: say something so brazenly untrue that people assume no one could make up something that un...

Well, I guess it's official: Sarah "the Barracuda" Palin, having been anointed last night as McCain's vice-presidential running mate, is now Red State America's sweetheart. Five minutes was about all I could take of her last night. The Daily Show had an amazing send up of her huffing and puffing supporters, proving once again they have what is arguably the best research team around anywhere. I can't improve on this -- watch it and ask why CNN and the networks have such piss-poor news teams in comparison.