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.

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.

Harriet Tubman at the DNC

I was a tad nervous when Hillary Clinton started talking tonight.

Would she stand up there on a stage during a moment that is highly anticipated and throw her previously underwhelming support Obama’s way? Would she stand there, still bitter from her tough loss, and speak her words with no energy, wishing it were Thursday night and she were the one accepting the party’s nomination?

It turns out that she wouldn’t. It turns out that she blew it up.

There were some not-great things about her speech.When she said “I ran for president, because…” I imagined the 18 million Hillary voters got all pissed off again, reminded that Clinton had run for president and had lost. And “to my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits” was a bit gag-inducing, but the people — Bill included — quite enjoyed it.

Gag reflex aside, there was quite a lot that was great about it. This sound bite for sure: “No way. No how. No McCain.” And the image of the Supreme Court being caught in a “right-wing headlock”
was also good. And this zinger had some rhythm: “With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.”

These were good for sure. But I’ve saved the best for last.

It was when she mentioned Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave who contributed to the success of the Underground Railroad. The crowd’s applause grew louder and became more raucous at the end of each line. No doubt they, like I, responded to the imagery the following words produced (text from AP):

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up. How do we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad. And on that path to freedom, Harriett [sic] Tubman had one piece of advice. If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they’re shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going. Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

Harriet Tubman

From VP Candidate to ‘Prick’

The The Associated Press posted a story this morning on Barack Obama’s upcoming vice presidential pick. There’s no news here, actually, because, well, of course he’s gonna pick one soon given that the convention starts next week.

So the rest of the story goes on and on about this pick and that, the benefits of that pick and this. And it covers McCain’s options. Whatever will he do? In discussing Joe Lieberman, the AP had this to say:

Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

Thanks to Progressive Puppy for pointing out the AP’s apparent error. Oops.

Make This Ad

From TPM:

It’s an amateur/independent pro-Obama, anti-McCain ad. There are a few elements — tonal stuff — that would have to be changed for a campaign to run something like this. But it’s very good. The makings of a killer ad …

McCain Sued Du Jour

Singer Jackson Browne is pissed at John McCain for using a bit of the song “Running on Empty” in one of his ads. Mike Myers is also a bit miffed at the so-called straight-talking maverick for using the words “we’re not worthy” in another ad.

McCain’s campaign of course says it’s all a “big to-do about nothing.” Really? It seems more like nobody wants your man’s stubby little fingers over their creations. Incidentally, for a maverick that straight talks, he sure seems to be relying a bit too much on others.

McGaffes A Lot

Why John McCain is even in contention is beyond me. From TPMtv via Veracifer: