An Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right

« News From the Israeli and Palestinian Front: July 16th

Sabato’s Crystal Ball: THE ELECTORAL BAROMETER VS. THE POLLS »

Random Campaign 2008 Political Thoughts

Posted by TONY CAMPBELL, Columnist in At TMV, Politics.
Jul 16th, 2008 | Comments

I am going to try to post this column every Wednesday and discuss ideas off the top (or bottom) of my cranium about all things political. Some of it will make sense, other things may be funny, but I hope that most of these will be enlightening.

1) Is it really important for John McCain to know the difference between the Packers and the Steelers? Favre is not coming back (or is he, I lose track) and the Steelers are from Pittsburgh, so who cares? I am a native of the ‘burgh’, only joking: Go Black and Gold!

2) Does the caricature of Michelle Obama (The New Yorker) look suspiciously like Angela Davis or is it just me? For those of you under 30, look the name up on Google.

3) Why is Dennis Kucinich still wasting our collective time? First, with his presidential campaign and now with this impeachment nonsense? Doesn’t he realize that President Bush will be out of office in exactly 188 days? If you figure in district work time for the House of Representatives, so they can win re-election, means the Democrats have a total of 32 working days (including today) to impeach the President. LOL!

4) Barack Obama addressed the NAACP convention to speak on the need of African-American men’s accountability to become better fathers. What groups should John McCain and Bob Barr give a similar message to? (McCain – AARP or The Vietnam Veterans of America) (Barr – ACLU or NRA)

On a lighter note, to settle this election I think we should have the first Presidential Olympics. There will be three events – one that each candidate would choose from – as well as a neutral third tie breaker. Obama will probably not choose bowling, we saw how well that went in Johnstown, PA., and so I say he will go with basketball. McCain will probably go with boxing; he knows the sport and has a temper so that should work out well for him.

The tie-breaker will be a game of Heads Up Texas Hold ‘EM Poker. Two men, a couple of beers, and some poker chips…sounds a lot more civilized than what we will have to endure over the next five months.

  • Marlowecan
    Re: point (2) . . . Yah, I noted in discussions at the time the Angela Davis resemblance. After all, I have never seen Michelle Obama with a fro.

    Curiously, I have not seen many people other people comment on this implication of the image. As you imply, there are probably few who would make the connection anyhow. The 70s were so yesterday.
  • StockBoySF
    "Two men, a couple of beers, and some poker chips…sounds a lot more civilized than what we will have to endure over the next five months."

    Five months? Ugh..... But you're probably right that it sounds more civilized than what we will have to endure.

    Anyway of moving up the presidential election? I mean we know that Bush will be out and Bush won't be doing anything of note with his remaining time (except perhaps attack Iran...)
  • DLS
    The chumps are still Outraged! [tm] about the cover.

    It's pretty bad when letter writers to the NEW YORK TIMES reflect on this Outrage! [tm] at the joke related to the Messiah.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/opinion/lweb1...
  • I thought "angela davis" immediately.

    I don't have a problem with the impeachment because that branch is supposed to keep an eye on the exec. branch. Supposedly. But yeah.
  • JSpencer
    The Angela Davis connection was pretty obvious to me, but youngsters won't make the connection - although they may know what an afro is.
  • DLS
    Some in St. Louis, where I used to live, are in shock. Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) has been sold to a foreign buyer for billions.

    Pete Abel, have you thought of starting a thread about this icon (even if many don't think it's real beer any more than Coors is; we just love looking at the "babes with cocaine grins" in the Bud billboards -- and my eyes will head for the"mountains").

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/business/worl...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/16beer.htm...
  • runasim
    Re 3) The impeachment is a hot topic among some conservatives of the Goldwater type (Mickey Edwards, etc.).
    Their argument is (and I agree with it) that it shouldn't be done to punish Bush. It should be done to deter future presidents from emulatng Bush's unitary executive power grab..

    Re-establishing the three EQUAL branches of governement is of crucial importance. Just imagine how Repubs would feel about it if a Dem were elected president.
    The only bad thing is the timing. Two wars, naybe a third plus the economy do not provide a good backdrop for the proceedings.

    I'm glad Kucinich read it into the record, though. Someting, at least, to refer to.
  • DLS
    "Two men, a couple of beers"

    Bud and Stella Artois? Advantage, McCain.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/07/14/mccain...
  • Rudi
    Bernardine Dohrn and Angela Davis are both currently university professors. Does Michele and the others share recipes for brownies at the Anarchist Cookbook?
  • DLS
    It's no surprise that Davis went on to academia (UC Santa Cruz the last time I checked) and was still a radical leftist and even a Marxist.

    * * *

    "Just imagine how Repubs would feel about it if a Dem were elected president."

    I'm GOP-leaning as a rule on a lesser-of-two-evils basis, and as I'm no fan of either dinosaur-welfare-state-and-regulation Dems or left-wing-flirting-with-radical-fads Dems, I can tell you that I don't worry so much about an Obama presidency as I do about a likely huge set of Democratic victories in races for Congressional seats that will put the Dems in charge of the House and in the Senate with likely a filibuster-proof majority. That will trigger arrogance and conceit we haven't seen since the Clintons' first two years in office and likely even more of it, along with huge ambitions to match. [Americans: *GULP*]
  • DLS
    "Is it really important for John McCain to know the difference between the Packers and the Steelers?"

    Yes. (Will he know where to send disaster relief if there was a disaster and he was told where it happened? Would he know where it is?)

    He doesn't have to know anything about television shows or characters (in fact, that's a demerit to those of us who don't stoop to watching garbage on TV), much less be disqualified as unfit if he doesn't know "cultural" [sic!] facts. But geographic facts (not merely sports facts), domestically, yes, it matters.

    Especially when a strategy this year by the Dems is to label him as another Bush.
blog comments powered by Disqus
© 2005-2009 The Moderate Voice | Site design by Elegant Themes | Site customization, hosting, and security by Enxit Group, LLC