At the moment, the nation of Venezuela, governed [or ruled] by Bush’s arch-enemy Hugo Chavez, is one of America’s top suppliers of crude oil. So what do Venezuelans think an Obama presidency would be like?
“Obama will look for a way to liberate his economy from the tyranny of oil, even at the cost of his own automotive and energy industries. He will entrust supply only to time-tested friends like Canada and Mexico, which will be detrimental to only one Latin American country [Venezuela]. As for foreign trade: It was Clinton [a Democrat] who won final approval of NAFTA, so Columbia still has many possibilities. [Colombia is waiting for Washington to approve a similar agreement with them].”
‘THE RETURN OF FAITH’
[Het Parool, The Netherlands]
With finger-pointing over the global financial crisis rapidly spreading, William Waack of Brazil’s O Globo warns that developing countries are in no way shielded from the effects - and that blaming others won’t do a thing to help Brazil or the world emerge from the hole they are in.
“‘Contagion’ suggests that it might be possible to prevent the “disease,” as long as the potential victim remains isolated from the source of infection (in this case, the American economy). That’s pure nonsense, and it’s dangerous, because it overshadows what must be done and delays the adoption of protective measures. … We can dispense with the notion of ‘decoupling.’”
“The more advanced and competitive a national economic system is, the more it will be affected by the crisis. Therefore, it’s Brazil the exporter and innovator which is connected with the global economy that will face the worst consequences. And it is that modern country - industry, agro-business, services and competitive exporters of mineral commodities - that have ensured our prosperity so far. … Schadenfreude, a German word that has been adopted by the Anglo-Saxon press, means to take pleasure in the misfortune of others. The New York Times this Thursday pointed out the fact that many Latin American leaders, among them Chávez [Venezuela], Morales[Bolivia], Correa [Ecuador], Kirchner [Argentina] and Lula [Brazil], allowed themselves be get carried away with schadenfreude in regard to the crisis in the United States. And now, they’re getting carried away with fear. ”
October 6th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
Wired interviews Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, and comic writer Mark Waid, on Stephen Colbert running for president in the Marvel Universe:
Wired.com: Do you wish he’d run for president in our more boring universe?
Waid: Dear God, yes, if only because it would rock to have Jon Stewart as the veep.
Quesada: Stephen tried to run for president in our boring universe, but unfortunately his campaign was stymied by the powers that be. Not so in the Marvel Universe, where his campaign is in full swing and gaining momentum, once again proving that we would all rather be living in the Marvel Universe than the real one.
The Colbert issue of Amazing Spider-Man hits streets Oct. 15.
Colbert was at The New Yorker Festival over the weekend. Rachel Sklar was there and summarizes his comments on his character:
The financial crisis and the huge bailout being pursued by the federal government beg the question: When the deal is done, will it tie the hands of the next president so much that he won’t be able to fulfill his campaign promises, ie.: cut taxes, revamp health care, rebuild the American military, etc.?
Continuing with our Brazilian escapade of recent days, O Globo’s chief international columnist William Waack ponders the apparent impotence of the two contenders for the White House in the face of the most dire financial crisis in decades.
“Even if the details of this government salvation end up being approved by consensus (and the markets, at this moment [Monday], showed that they didn’t believe it would be), it is impossible to run away from the essential point: the next American president will have to save a lot and spend little (forget the promise of tax cuts that were even made - even by Obama himself).
“Neither of the two seem willing to admit that he’ll be obliged to demand sacrifices from the people - and after a very hard period - will have to ask for even more sacrifices. … it will be up to them to display the kind of political leadership that has been so rare historically. The classic example of this comes from their own country. After the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt went down in history as the president who managed to combine long-term vision with short-term political expediency. Obama and McCain are confronting exactly the same challenge. ”
September 15th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
In just about a half an hour, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report return from a week long hiatus after their hilarious Indecision 2008 convention coverage. While they were on break, I took the opportunity to speak about that coverage with Dr. Robert J. Thompson, Professor of Television and Popular Culture and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University:
How do you think they did with the convention coverage?
I have to say it again and I’ve said it a hundred times before that these shows are becoming an important part of our civic conversation. I TiVoed all these different approaches to these conventions and they’d have the speeches and then these long round table discussions afterwards and then I would watch what The Daily Show was doing and not only has it been really, really funny – I think some of the best American humor that’s being churned out in any medium right now – but at the same time it is spot on analysis. It’s rude sometimes as comedy is and not necessarily fair and balanced but the way they get these clips together and show us the primary sources, it may not be journalism but it certainly is good analysis.
Do you think Jon Stewart has any bias toward one side or the other?
Well I think the first bias of any comedian is the bias against anyone in authority because they’re the most fun to skewer. And, certainly, the comics loved going after Bill Clinton. He was every comedian’s dream come true. I’ve always said when comics die and goes to heaven Bill Clinton will still be president up there. And certainly one gets the sense listening to Jon Stewart over time that there’s certainly no love lost between him and the Bush administration. One gets the sense that people coming from the Right have done much better on talk shows on radio and people coming from Left of center have done better in the comedy realm. He’s surely got political opinions though if Obama wins I imagine that The Daily Show is going to have great fun making fun of him as well..
The problem with Barack Obama has been that he gives you so little to work with. He’s the reverse of Bill Clinton. He’s every comic’s worse nightmare. At least Jimmy Carter had a peanut farm. We could do something with that. Gerald Ford fell down a lot. But Barack Obama… some comics may have a bias against him because he’s harder to make fun of. But no president is in office very long before the comics find something to latch on to. Read the rest of this entry »
September 6th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
The Comedy Central gang had fodder for a terrific week. As a freshly-minted small town guy, I’ll start with their “best news team on the planet” finding out what small town values really mean at the RNC:
I’ve been watching for the fun mashups of the three speeches from the other night that are bound to come. If someone spots a good one, please point me to it.
“I’ve read the constitution forwards and backwards,” Colbert continued, “and I see nothing in there that protects gays.
“Why,” he asks Perkins, “do these judges keep seeing gay things in the Constitution?”
“They’re afforded the same rights and privileges as you and I are,” Perkins responded. “They don’t have a right to marry just as you and I don’t have the right to marry anybody we want to. We don’t have a right to marry our first cousin…” […]
“There is a reason,” Perkins continued, “that in public policy, that we work to strengthen and uphold the institution of marriage, because that is…really the building block for society.”
“Do you keep Kosher?” Colbert asks. “I think it would really be better for the anti-gay-marriage side if they obeyed everything in the Bible, not just the anti-gay-marriage part. Don’t you?”
“When did Jesus talk about gay people?” he presses further. “Because I keep on looking for that so I could win some arguments.”
Recently, Henry Farrell caused plenty of blogosophere buzz about research (pdf) demonstrating that The Colbert Bump — the phenomenon whereby those who appear on his show receive a bump up in their support — is realish. Thing is, it only works for Democrats!
Now Tony Perkins knows this. He knew what he was walking into and that we bloggers would be laying in wait. I’ve always believed one thing you’ve got to give to Tony Perkins and his crowd is that they totally and completely believe in their cause. I’ve always respected their willingness to go before a hostile audience and make their case:
PERKINS: We need to address all of the issues that concern people… If you ask your audience the issues that concern them I imagine that all of these issues somewhere would register, and as Christians…
COLBERT (to audience): Do any of these register with you?
AUDIENCE: No… Nah…No… No…
PERKINS: None of them?
AUDIENCE: No… (laughter)
COLBERT: Do you even know what they are?
AUDIENCE: No… (inaudible)
PERKINS: Why don’t you tell them?
COLBERT: It’s my show.
I don’t like Tony Perkins or his argument and I believe we will beat him fair and square in the public sphere. But I admire him for his willingness to put his arguments out there in every forum imaginable. I think he sees the writing on the wall, knows that the tide is turning and he’s going to lose and lose big
