Category Archives: Current Events

Charles Barkley, who's an Obama supporter, is making the rounds of the political talk shows. I keep seeing him making statements like this one…

Well, I think, you know, people keep saying, well, he doesn't have enough experience on national security and things like that. First of all, whoever the president is, he's going to have tons of advisers. It ain't like the president gets to make every decision on his own. You have great advisers around you.

That's all true but I think it's a lame thing to say about your guy. If Obama is the Democratic nominee — which is looking a bit more likely these days — I'll vote for him, probably with more enthusiasm than I generally have in the voting booth. But I don't buy this idea that it's not a negative for an elected official to not have experience in so vital an area since he can surround himself with people who do. Hey, I don't know how to perform an angioplasty but I could probably hire someone who does to advise me. Want to let me work on your arteries?

I thought that was a dumb argument eight years ago when Bush supporters were telling us how it was okay that he had no experience in foreign affairs…or even much knowledge about what was going on in other countries. It's still a dumb argument. Given the choice of two people, we might weigh all the pros and cons and decide that the candidate lacking in some area was still the better choice. But let's not pretend it doesn't matter.

It seems to me that in every presidential election, every candidate picks a "theme song" — some popular tune with a lyric that conveys hope and better days ahead — to be played at rallies and when the candidate is approaching or leaving the podium…

…and no one at the campaign ever bothers to check with the song's composer to see if that's okay with them. You'd think they'd do that just to avoid the awkwardness that comes when the composer makes a statement like this one. Which happens all the time.

Anyone who's interested in how the Writers Guild strike ended when it did and succeeded to the extent it succeeded should read the post by Howard Gould over on the Artful Writer website.

Marc Norman with a "how the Writers Guild triumphed" article.

Congress should not pass a bill granting the telephone companies retroactive immunity for FISA-related surveillance on Americans. In fact, we should never forgive the phone companies for anything. I'm especially against granting them retroactive immunity for their repair guys not showing up when they're supposed to.

I'm watching Barack Obama give a speech in Madison thanking his supporters for whatever delegates he won tonight. This follows a speech by Hillary Clinton thanking her supporters for the delegates she's just added to her column.

I'm honestly torn as to the question of which of them would make the better president. But jeez, he is so much better at giving a speech than she is.

That's right. It's another Fred Kaplan article. This one's about the failure of NATO in Afghanistan.

I have a special e-mail address that I use to register on political websites where you have to register. Since I read a lot of them and over a diverse range of views, that address gets thousands of e-mails urging me to vote this way or that way or to not vote…and of course, almost every message includes a pitch to give money. A lot of them don't say much more than…

Don't you just hate and loathe [name of candidate]? Aren't you terrified that if [name of candidate] gets elected, your family will be [pick one: attacked, bankrupted, destroyed, etc.]? Well, we have the way to stop [name of candidate] and you can make it happen if you only send us money.

Stuff like that. If I were more cynical and mercenary, I think I'd just set up a batch of websites — one for every candidate out there with a disapproval rating of over 15% or so — and push the idea that I'm close to unearthing the scandal that will destroy them, once and for all…if only people will give me enough cash to complete my mission. Because of sheer competition, I don't think I'd get a huge amount of money but I bet I'd get enough to make it worth my while.

This morning, I took a peek in the mailbox of my special e-mail address. There were 12,000 messages in there, which I think is the maximum the inbox can hold. In perfect symmetry, the first five were pleas to donate to destroy Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, John McCain and Mitt Romney. I have a hunch the Romney Destroyers aren't going to be getting many donations after this morning.

The anti-Hillary and anti-Obama messages were from different addresses but obviously from the same author. They were both pushing John McCain with the following odd (to me) pitch…

There are seven undeniable reasons why we must elect John McCain. One is the War in Iraq and the other six are six Supreme Court justices who are over the age of 68.

I don't think the first of those reasons is going to do it for Senator McCain. Not with every single poll saying that Americans now oppose the War in Iraq by around a two-to-one consensus. They may be personally fond of the man — I am or at least was when he wasn't out pandering for the Limbaugh voters — but when it comes down to voting for four more years of Stay the Course? I don't think so.

And as for the other six reasons: If you're presuming that being over 68 means the person is likely to die in the next four years, is that a good reason to vote for a guy who's 71?

Every year, Fred Kaplan is the only person in the country who actually reads the U.S. Military Budget. The folks in Washington who vote to approve it certainly don't, nor do they even read the kind of handy summary Fred provides. It usually turns out that we're spending way more than we have to, much of it on things we don't need and which won't make us one bit safer. But no one wants to oppose any of it because they don't want to be accused of being "soft on defense."

Earl Butz, the one-time Secretary of Agriculture, died recently at the age of 98. Timothy Noah recalls the one thing he was noted for: Having to resign after he was quoted telling a couple of racist jokes.

I don't think telling a couple of racist jokes means you're a racist but Mr. Butz's other, non-joking statements and actions sure made him look like one, and his response when his jokes elicited outrage sure made him look foolish. At the time of the brief controversy, I was contributing to an underground-style newspaper and I wrote a piece that said, in effect, "I don't think he should have had to resign over the jokes. I think he should have had to resign because people that foolish should not be in public office." Looking back, I still feel the same way.

Fred Kaplan, who is my favorite columnist when it comes to writing about American foreign affairs (Iraq, especially) has a new book out, which the Amazon people have yet to deliver to my doorstep. However, Slate has posted two excerpts here and here, which make me eager to read Daydream Believers, which is subtitled "How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power." If you read them and decide you want a copy of the entire book, click here to order one.

Puzzled about what a "superdelegate" is? Sam Boyd explains how the delegate process works for the Democratic Convention.

Not that it's going to decide the election or anything but I've decided that on Tuesday, I'm going to vote for Barack Obama. I won't be upset if Hillary Clinton is the nominee but I think he'd be the better candidate and — of greater importance — the better president. This is a slight preference but a couple of things I've read lately, especially that essay by Chris Durang, got me there.

A more significant decision, perhaps: I'm going to sign up to vote by mail from now on. I've been thinking of it as long as I've been helping out my mother, who can't get out easily to get to the polls, but I've resisted. I always had the feeling that I'd vote for Jones over Smith and then, after I'd mailed my ballot but before Election Day, it would come out that Jones was an escaped Nazi War Criminal who was in the employ of Reverend Moon, plus he was Michael Vick's partner in the dogfight business, along with being the guy at Southwest Airlines who keeps losing my luggage. And I couldn't do anything about it because I'd already voted.

But this time, my polling place is in a location that's too far away for me to walk to it, and it may be difficult to park in that area. That's all on top of the fact that my Tuesday is booked solid with meetings and errands, plus I want to picket (assuming we're still picketing) and I don't know when I'll be able to get over to vote. From what I read, an increasing number of people are making this decision and it may even affect the results. A lot of ballots were filled out and returned when John Edwards was still in the race and before some recent debate performances and developments which, if we believe the polls, are swaying some voters. Only two days ago, Rasmussen had Clinton at 43% and Obama at 37%. Today, it's 49% and 38%.

Which is not to say I believe the polls all that much. At the same time, the ABC/Washington Post poll has Clinton at 47% and Obama at 43%, Pew has Clinton at 46% and Obama at 38% and Gallup has two separate polls out done by different methodology. One has Clinton at 46% and Obama at 44%, while the other has Clinton at 45% and Obama at 44%. In the meantime, Zogby — who hasn't had the greatest track record lately so maybe he's due — has Obama in the lead in California, which has a pretty large chunk of the delegates who'll be awarded on Tuesday.

So is it an eleven point spread like Rasmussen says? Or a one-pointer like one of the Gallup surveys insists? Who knows? I only know that if I vote earlier, it'll be easier for me to not pay attention to this kind of thing. So from now on, I vote by mail.

Richard Clarke on what's going on with this FISA extension. Bottom line: The Bush Administration is using scare tactics to get its way on an issue for political purposes. Why does this not surprise us?

Michael Kinsley with another article about how Ronald Reagan was not the man his current worshippers say he was.