Bachelorettes in Alaska

I keep looking at the source of this story, trying to believe it's not The Onion. But it says it's the Sunday Times. Of London. And I have a hard time believing they'd publish something this batshit insane if it weren't well-sourced.

That said, OMFG I hope this is true:

In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.

Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”

[...]

McCain is expected to have a front-row seat at Bristol’s wedding and to benefit from the outpouring of goodwill that it could bring. “What’s the downside?” a source inside the McCain campaign said. “It would be wonderful. I don’t know that there has ever been a pre-election wedding before.” (via)

What's the downside?

What's the downside?!? The GOP candidate for POTUS getting a front-row seat at a nationally televised shotgun wedding is considered such PR gold that McCampaign can't see every mother in the country recoiling in horror at the thought of their daughter - who's still in high school - having her personal life politicized for the benefit of a creepy old man? Maybe?

Please make this happen. Please.

Your Daily Dose

Orrin Hatch is crossing the fine line between concerned and unhinged.

That's right, tonight Jane Fonda and all of her far-left Hollywood liberal friends are expected to raise $1 million for Democrat Senate candidates with one goal in mind -- to break our Senate firewall and seize total control of our government!

Yes, the message line read: Hanoi Jane.

Sometimes, nothing can be a pretty cool hand

RIP.

Post Debate Chit Chat

That was interesting. No?

Well look who decided to show up! debate open thread

He's done hiding, y'all! Let the free-fall commence in full public view!

Jack Smack

from Josh at TPM.

I can't wait for the VP debate....
I guess I will have to get my fix from tonight's tryst at ole miss.

See ya'll at the OG live blog.

Do It. Do It Now.

Organize some grievances and then throw Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on the platter.

Follow that up with some Heart, Quarterflash, The Motels, and Pat Bentar and you and I are having some fun.

Around the Horn, Despite all the Computations

1. As we've said before, BHO's assertions that the "real war" is in Afghanistan/Pakistan is a good frame, horrid foreign policy situation. Tariq Ali with more.
2. Vying for hegemony among the new Conservative intelligentsia, the American Scene's editors wonder if we're not on the verge of a new Liberal consensus.... check the comment thread, too.
3. Fascinating, hard-to-fuck-with analysis from Doug Henwood (what else is new?) and colleague Philippa Dunne over at the Liscio Report re: economic consequences of Republican vs. Democratic administrations. Naderites and Trots, beware! There is a difference.
   
4. Very nice editorial on events in Bolivia over at CounterPunch...good God! We've had relative silence for the last week or so...though it looks like Evo's out with a statement to the UN.
5. Venezuelan govt responds to Human Rights Watch on the topic of labor violations.
   
6. As hinted at - I think - by a certain scene in Good Night and Good Luck, it'd seem we're finally gonna get that Liberace biopic we've craved since whatever Wrestlemania it was he graced with his ivory-tickling.

What's in Your Wallet?

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third- biggest U.S. bank by assets, agreed to pay $1.9 billion for the deposits of Washington Mutual Inc. after the thrift was seized by regulators in the biggest bank failure in U.S. history.

The U.S. government closed Seattle-based Washington Mutual amid customer withdrawals of $16.7 billion since Sept. 15, the Office of Thrift Supervision said in a statement. WaMu had ``insufficient liquidity'' and was in an ``unsound'' condition, the OTS said.

(via Atrios:Eated and Pooped)

Seriously, WAMU was so reckless,... How reckless were they?

so reckless, they gave me a credit card....

I wonder if I still have to make my monthly payment? If they have been seized by the FED, don't I own a share?, and can't I work out some sort of payment plan???

I miss the Oregon Fourth

I suppose that I should feel lucky to receive all the largesse that comes from living in the home district of the House Majority Leader, but he's nothing compared to the man whose name's on the bike bridge:

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. [...] advocated a new government fee of .25 percent of every stock transaction to ensure that the government can recoup funds to pay for the aid that it provides to lenders. “If this is truly such a catastrophe, I don’t see how anybody can object to a one-quarter of one percent fee,” DeFazio said. Others who attended the session said that proposal seemed to be gaining little traction.

I'll be casting my ballot elsewhere this year, but my vote is with the Faz.

The Oregon Model

From the Eugene Weekly's I Saw You section:

Let's Chat More...

Saw you at the Spring GTFF GMM. We chatted about department politics. You: smart guy in jeans, cool t-shirt. Me: Blonde, vivacious, wanting to know more. See you at the keg on Oct. 3rd?

When: Thursday, April 10, 2008

Where: GTFF GMM

I saw a: Man

I am a: Woman

Date posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2008

McChicken might not be there, but we will

Remember the party conventions? Weren't they a hoot? And could you have even imagined how whacked out things would be only three weeks later? Our Dali-esque national reality show takes another turn for the weird when Barack Obama debates a chair, and, as an inanimate object can't really fuck anything up too badly, the pundits will declare it a win for McCain, expectations being as they are.

The OG, your favorite local "Irish-style" web log, is happy to host a Friday evening forum for what is already in the running as the Weirdest Moment in Modern Presidential Campaign history. And unlike those other "Irish-style" hangouts, we totally don't care if you smoke a doob here.

State of the Race; or, Why I Wanna Blog About Moosic!

1. Increasingly, the only meaningful "analysis" out there is right here. I'm not sure which OG constituents (besides Ash!) are even living in contested states at this point. In light of that fact, lemme say this: I cannot stop watching the punditry, and I won't stop laughing at and reviling in the obscene television advertisements, but it's clear that what's going to win this race has less to do with the airwaves and more to do with stumping, GOTV, and other "retail" tactics within selected precincts in selected places (OH, CO, FL, NV, MI).
   
2. That's exactly why Joe Biden remains a shrewd (I'm stopping short of saying "brilliant") pick for veep: all gaffes aside, he can stump avec gravitas and "like-ability" in some of the places mentioned above, and that's really all that matters barring major "events." HRC and WJC can and should join in - I'd love to see Bill in NC and VA, en particulier - and I suspect they will. As concerns our current poll, I think the worst thing for HRC's 2012 prospects would be to put a half-assed effort behind Barry. Chalk it up to "enlightened self-interest," but I think we're past the point where she can be blamed for whatever insane supporters of hers are running around making noise. Worse, I think we're adding to a GOP trope by harping on the issue. Not that any undecided voters are reading this, natch..
   
3. Somebody should hi-five Barry Obama for not following McCain into delaying the debates and further "politicizing" the Bail-Out (whatever the eff that's supposed to mean.) It seems like the obvious move in hindsight, but I for one was terrified as of yesterday that he'd cave. I think his calm/cool/collected persona and his willingness to let the Dem congressional leadership lead are as presidential (i.e., 'leaderly') as all get-out - as much as the "race speech," albeit in a different way.
4. McCain is more than on the ropes at this point. There was a really cool conversation with (my guilty pleasure) Chris Matthews on Rachel Maddow last nite that I'd gladly present in lieu of my point, but I cannot locate a youtube. In short, Matthews pointed out that McCain is reaching a point of diminishing returns when it comes to his "maverick" decisions. At a certain point, even the best-intentioned of these left-field, game-changing gestures (supporting the surge, nominating Palin, suspending his campaign) will start to seem less like "leadership" and more like the reckless last gasps of an unstable individual who will do anything to win. Obama need only provide a calm contrast and continue running his race against Reagan/Bush/"the Ownership Society:" if we continue to talk about the economy (and do the "retail" thing mentioned above), we will win. Step one, BHO, is getting the bail-out passed with a bunch of Keynesian strings (accountability, govt. equity, no CEO comp, a new stimulus bill). Let me repeat, as I know this sounds counter-intuitive coming from a left-leaner: the Dems should define the bill, pass it, and own it. This is the time to see if a Keynesian neoliberalism is a possibility, and to tie financial markets' sufficiency to public investment, job creation, etc...This way the Dems could claim the mantle of "fiscal responsibilty" without ceding their (alleged) identification with working America. (note - This should happen at a pace set by Chris "lexdexter's Dad" Dodd, not Hank Paulson et. al. ...why it needs to go down by this weekend is a question you'd have to ask those pigs.)
   
5. Obviously Sarah Palin is sinking fast. All that's left is for Joe Biden to do the yeomen's work of beating her in the debate without seeming like a condescending chauvinist pig. Can he do it? I dunno.
6. Kinda hoping for a macro-level discussion of the race at this point....anybody?
   

Oblique Bragging

Ginger and I once had a debate centering on the situation where I am, inexplicably, hanging with the urban rap artists that I listen to these days and I drop the word "hundo" to mean 100. She asserted that they would not deem this appropriate slang and alien to their culture, thus rendering me somehow different, outside and otherized from the group. I argued that, while "hundo" might not be a word that they would ever use or may not even have heard, it is recognizable as legitimate slang and therefore they would accept the usage without comment, perhaps even adopting the word into their everyday argot.

I do know that if I was hanging with Lil Wayne, Trick Daddy and/or Lil Jon, and they asked me how many membership cards the GTFF collected yesterday, we'd have occasion to settle this debate once and for all.

Moosic, 2008 and Yesterday

1. Frequent OG-comment(at)er GabbaGabbaHey continues his Hoover Genealogy Project with a highlight: vintage live WFMU sets from Hoover, Crownhate Ruin and Lincoln over at (xxx)HardcoreforNerds(xxx). Fans of the DC-Louisville-Chicago axis of 90s indie rock simply cannot afford to miss these sets, in particular the Hoover, which outshines even their amazing Lurid Transversal of Route 7. Despite many noble acolytes - like Athens' At the Price of the Union, par example - this "moment" in the punk/hardcore/indie/emo synthesis remains unmatched.
   
2. Over at a truer sound (ed - fixed link!) you can check out Son Volt's 1995-1996 acoustic radio sessions, a collection that's both a very worthy supplement to the original lineup's essential Straightaways and Trace albums. In particular, I'd call the versions of "Ten Second News," "Back Into Your World," and "She's More to Be Pitied" definitive. I'm loathe to dwell upon the greatness of early Volt because I feel like it goes without saying, and because I (for one) really identify with Jay Farrar's post-2000 efforts to destabilize the place of "traditional" American music in his ouevre. That said, there are plenty of his weird-er acoustic songs here - "No More Parades," "Creosote," "Last Minute Shakedown" - and people not suffering from my Farrar obsessions and esoteric biases would do well to start with this amazing collection. I'd humbly submit to you that this outshines both Tupelo's March and Gob Iron's Death Songs when it comes to the acoustic Jay.
   
3. Onwards to the DC-NYC-Chapel Hill axis. 'Member the Prisonship's epic "'member them 90s" thread? I do. And I'm pleased to announce that a kind soul in Spain has started a wonderful blog called Outdoor Miner that'd have to be called a primary resource, replete with all the Archers of Loaf, Sentridoh, Velocity Girl, Pavement et. al. that you could possibly need to jog your memory and revive that dialogue. Also, Mike Lupica's podcast and semi-torpid blog deserve mention alongside agony shorthand, usedbinforever and beyond failure, when it comes to 90s-ish, Benjamin-ish "archaeology of the future" vibes. Yes, that last bit is going too far.
   
4. Best albs of 2008, so far? I think I prefer the Walkmen, Make Believe, Ilyas Ahmed, Bob Mould, Prisonshake... I'm not sure what order yet. And god knows there's that new Cardinals coming...What do you players think? Let's have a conversation about records for a galldarn change!
   

Moms and Dads

Back in the primary season, and especially when the manly manliness of Fred Thompson was going to save us all from the likes of girly-man Rudy Giuliani, the Render unto Caesar Jeebus lover Mike Huckabee, and the immigrant loving Johnny McCain, there was a favorite theory amongst wingnuts that the Democrat party is the "Mommy" (or "Nanny") party and the Republican party is the "Daddy" party. (I invoke my Goldbergian privilege of not linking to anything because I am too busy to look it up).

You see the Democrats are the Mommy party because they want you to wear your bike helmet and think that things should have warning labels and that you should be able to sue companies. They care about things like health care and education and helping the little guy. They are concerned about things like sexism, racism, and (oh sweet jesus!) the gays. They think we can fix our energy problems through passive means like conservation and solar energy. Worst of all, they think you solve problems by talking about them. The Democrats are going to lick their hand, knock down your cowlick, and give you kiss on the cheek when they drop you off for school--right in front of the guys.

Daddies understand above all else that this is a dangerous dangerous world and Muslim terrorists must be killed before they kill us. Daddies will protect you when necessary. They will patrol the border of the lawn, keeping out unwanted strangers. They know that you must learn and grow on your own; sure you'll make mistakes, but you'll learn from them. Tough times will make you strong. Energy policy works best when it is also a half-veiled euphemism for sex. That's just nature right there. Common sense is more important than book learning. Dad may not give you a lot of hugs, but maybe if you win the big game, he'll loan you the down payment on a beat up Mustang and you can drive yourself to school, like a man.

That's the theory. If I can take the analogy a step further...

The Daddy party is calling us in the middle of the night. Drunk. He bet all the house money on a pony named Free Market and he needs us to come give his bookie large sums of cash or the whole family is fucked. Fortunately, he is pro-actively telling us we can go fuck ourselves if we think that this means that he has to stop betting the ponies. In fact, he's we need to give him the college savings because he needs to keep playing. The only way to win.

Ah Daddies, why do we love you so?

Your Daily Dose

From Orrin Hatch:

Far-left liberals like Al Gore and MoveOn.org are putting it all on the line in 2008 to elect Obama President and gain 60-seat filibuster-proof supermajority in the U.S. Senate. If they achieve their goal, they will seize total control of our government.

OMFG

If even Katie Couric is looking at you with undisguised contempt...



In other news, some rube from Alaska got mugged in New York today.

Now I'm a believer

I was skeptical the first time I was asked to make a contribution to DavePAC. Sure, "promoting Dave and all things Dave related" sounds like a good thing, and all you guys named Dave sure seem like decent folk, but what's in it for me, someone who's name is not-Dave?

Well now I know:



Contribute today.

Smoke them out of their caves - or corporate suites. Whatever

My favorite part of the "batshit insane political gimmick suspension of campaign to put Country First™" announcement, here in the last graf:

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

A not-so-subtle attempt to try and bottle some of his presumed national security gravitas to sprinkle on his woefully lacking economic chops, no?