On That Clothing Issue

The ungodly amount of money spent on grooming Palin for the campaign is a big deal, but I wasn’t surprised. The article at Politico, as well as HuffPo’s follow-up, were entertaining, though. However, it is this quote from campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt that I hovered over for a moment:

“With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses,” said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. “It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign.”

Let’s think about this for a bit. Schmitt says that they’re going to donate Palin’s clothing to charity. Noble. (And I’m sure those for whom eating is a daily challenge will appreciate the duds from such places as Barney’s, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue)

The second sentence, which reads a tad defensively, implies that Palin’s team will lose. Even more, it implies that Palin’s team knows it’s going to lose and is thereby primed to strip Palin of her clothing. The alternative, which they’re not thinking about thus confirming my last point, is that they plan on making Sarah wear her regular ol’ not-fit-for-campaigning clothes whlie in office.

Schmitt’s slip is a pretty big one that represents a complete lack of confidence as we hurtle (not quickly enough in my opinion) toward Nov. 4. Just a thought.

I Get to Cast My Vote Twice

According to the directions of the live-outside-of-the-country-absentee-ballot process, if you don’t receive your ballot in the mail within a reasonable amount of time before the election, then you can do the write-in thing.

Eager for my New York vote to be counted even though it won’t matter given the dark blueness of the state, and due to a lack of faith in the mail systems of Australia and the U.S., I filled out and mailed posted my write-in ballot the day before yesterday. And yesterday? I received my absentee ballot. So I get to vote again.

The rules also require that you do this, and assure you that only the actual ballot will be counted. So not only did I get to physically write Obama’s name, now I get to fill a bubble and do it again. Not such a hassle.

Palin’s Video Diaries

Well not really. But please watch this and the rest of the series. Then tell everyone you know.

The Two Sides of MSNBC

It’s frustrating to hear that MSNBC has removed Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from its upcoming election coverage. Actually, frustrating isn’t the word. I’m pissed.

I know the two will still be on the screen giving their analysis. And I know they’ll both still have their shows. But really? Really, David “Race for the White House” Gregory will be talking instead? The guy who interrupts people just as they’re gearing up to say something important. The guy who doesn’t pursue significant lines of questioning but would rather steer the conversation back his way because he’s the host?

The move makes me want to hate MSNBC, but I can’t because it still has Keith. So perhaps there’s another, brighter, way to look at this. Had they not been removed, they would have been under a sharper scope come Election Day. Their hands might have been slapped. Their mouths might have been washed out with soap. They might have been strongly encouraged to offer a softer hand to the poor conservative guests with weak constitutions. And, sadly, they might have even become a bigger story closer to Election Day, thus diverting attention from the shocking patheticness that is McCalin.

Made-up scenario:

Reporter: Senator McCain, we have yet to hear any specifics on your health care, tax, education, or environment plans. Yet, you claim Senator Obama will do nothing to help the nation recover from the current financial hardship.

McCain: Well, what about Keith Olbermann. Didya hear what he said? How can he be allowed to continue doing such things and saying such scathing things about me, my wife, and my running mate? And besides, I was a POW.

Reporter: So sorry. So sorry.

Instead, Keith and Chris will be able to more freely, I’m assuming, provide the commentary that’s been drawing viewers, such as myself. And it’s the commentary page that’s always more exciting anyway, right?

There’s another reason I can’t hate MSNBC: Rachel Maddow. Her new show starts tonight at 9 EST.

If you want to be smarter, you have to watch Rachel. And keep paying attention to Keith. I’ll have to watch it online, so here’s hoping MSNBC won’t decide to do away with its video player to avoid hurting McCalin’s feelings.

And here’s hoping MSNBC won’t be too hurt when its election-night ratings drop. Really. David Gregory.

The Last Word on Music

This is just getting out of hand. An item at Huffington Post points out that Van Halen, Orleans and Frankie Vallie have all told the former POW and aging presidential candidate and his party to stop using their music.

They join the likes of Heart, who just yesterday expressed their intense unhappiness with John John via a cease-and-desist order, and Jackson Browne, who also told him to lay off via a little thing called a lawsuit. I’m thinking that because we’ve got two months to go in this wild ride of a campaign, and because the Repubs might want to use more music, this won’t be the last we hear of litigation.

I know I’m 35 and kind of mature sometimes and stuff, but, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Why Won’t They Leave Lincoln Out of It?

I wish so very much that the Republicans would stop — STOP — using Abraham Lincoln’s name, claiming him to be the loving forebear to right-wing ideology.

If you watched the RNC, you might have caught the tribute video to Lincoln the other night. Nauseating. The subject wasn’t nauseating, of course. It was the fact that the Repubs used his name, his values, his politics and his respect for the U.S. (hanging on as it was by a thread) and its Constitution as though they actually shared them. They don’t.

“We are the party of Lincoln,” they say over and over and over again to crowds of stupid people who seem unaware that Republican 2008 is completely different from Republican 1860. I want to hear Doris Kearns Goodwin, awesome historian and author of the equally awesome Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, on the subject.

Anyway, a quick rant after seeing this on MSNBC.com today:

Mac Can’t Have Heart

First it was Mike Myers. Then it was Jackson Browne. And now it’s Heart.

The duo has told Mac to quit tainting their music. The use of the song “Barracuda” is now off limits, according to EW.com. Oops. This has to be a little embarrassing, though if everything else that these people have been doing hasn’t embarrassed them yet, then this is really just nothing.

But, it’s a song. And he got his hand slapped again. Little man.

Rebroadcasting Barack

You know when you’re walking down the street and a big gust of wind picks up the dirt from the street and one particularly sharp little rock pierces an unsuspecting eye? Or when you’re cutting onions and your eyes burn? Or when the subway careens through underground tunnels, screeching to halt after halt?

And you know when you feel you have to act fast to get the shit out of your eyes or cover your ears for fear you might, like, die or something?

I have that feeling now that the RNC has ended. Now that John McCain and Sarah Palin, and Joe Lieberman, and Cindy McCain and Rudy Guiliani have all stopped talking — for now. After listening to the lies and the laughter aimed at community organizers. After the stiff performances in front of teleprompters that flashed words with no meaning. After listening to the media gush.

After all that, I just felt like watching for the second time Barack speak to a crowd in Denver at the DNC so I could try and put things right in my mind.

Campaign Nausea

I’m watching John McCain and I’m trying to keep my salami sandwich in my stomach. Let’s begin, because I don’t want to regret staying out of it.

I wonder how many black faces they’ll find in the audience?

The green screen? Really? Again? Because it worked so well the night Obama won when McCain spoke to a small crowd straining to applaud.

Damn, Momma Mac stood up. So did Palin’s family. And everyone else when they were mentioned. I seem to remember not many Dems doing that.

Mac tells Obama that he’ll attack the shit out of him in the next two months, but for now, just know that I love you, man.

Protesters! Protesters! And Mac seems to be laughing at those who just engaged in their Democratic right of free speech.

He found just the right partner to shake up D.C., he says, and he just happened to have met her. She’s from the great state of Alaska, he says, seemingly unaware that she wanted to secede from the Union. Yes, that’s the party of Lincoln.

He’s proud he introduced Palin to the country. He can’t wait to intro her to Washington. How about, “I can’t wait to meet her myself?”

Change is coming. Really. He mocked Obama and his change. How come the repugs keep using the word then?

To the Latina daughter, he says. We’re all god’s children and we’re all Americans. Except, of course, for the Latinos who want to move to the States to improve their lives and make some money but who are systematically rounded up like animals in order to be herded back across the border.

Mac can’t talk to a crowd without looking like he’s going to fall over. I feel that the telemprompter uses italics or something like [put emphasis on the following line], and he fails every time.

He’ll help people find jobs that won’t go away, until he gives the tax credits to companies who send jobs overseas.

Shake up failed schools? How about paying teachers the money they deserve. And how about instead of increasing competition, improve the schools that already exist? Why is this so difficult? Why is he threatening teachers? Improve the schools that already exist, you idiot. Respect the teachers.

And he can’t read a telemprompter!

This “drill, baby, drill” line is astounding. Anyone paying attention to the people who know stuff, knows that drilling won’t do shit in the shortterm and by the time the longterm comes around, won’t yield much.

Another black person in the audience.

And about that background. It started as green and now it’s blue. I thought they were going to go through all the primary colors, but it’s stuck on blue. Like, technicolor blue.

Can I just say that I hate the pronunciation of Vietnam with a short “a”? Just saying.

This is painful. He turns from one teleprompter to another just like his wife did. Just like they’re mannequins in the display windows of middle America JC Penneys.

Again and again he’s worked with members of both parties. He will reach out to anyone who will get this country moving again. He did reach out to anyone. Palin. Didn’t even know her. And again and again he will flip and flop this way and that as long as enough people put him through in November. Say anything. Do anything.

In the next two months, Barack, it’ll be tough, Mac says. But I respect you. Well, the next two months just started.

He liked to pick fights. He’ll admit it. Hey, here comes the POW stuff he doesn’t want to talk about. He talks openly about it. Talks of two Americans who helped him. And I remembered an article I came across in Military.com by Phillip Butler entitled: “Why I Will Not Vote For John McCain.”

(I just got a little distracted because I couldn’t get to the article at first but I found a way.)

Okay, it’s all over. And they’re all just “Raising McCain.” Another country song. Jesus. If the media say this was a good speech, I am going to chew my lips off.

‘United States of Obama’

I’m just getting around to going through my post-Sydney-weekend stuff, and I wanted to get this gem on here. I know it’s a bit late (and many other things have hit the news since), but here is the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald the day after Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last week in Denver. And given the dearth of offline news at my disposal, this was nice to see: