Palin "shock"

*
Will Thomas wrote a brief post on TPM remarking on two under-reported aspects of McCain's selection of Palin for his VP running mate. The second one is of high interest to this blog:

"Shock. The pick caught everyone by surprise, including the Obama camp...."

Just imagine how "shocked" the "Obama camp" would be if, in a week or two, they found that Barack was running against Dave Petraeus. That has been my point all along for repeatedly writing about the unlikely Petraeus/Lieberman '08 Republican strategy: if you're going to shake things up with a so-called "hail Mary pass", it needs to be one that really could change the game. As opposed to pulling the stupidest political stunt ever executed since my brain was first fully developed.

And don't rule out Lieberman yet, either. Josh Marshall makes my point with this one word post: "Eagleton"? If Palin bails or is forced to withdraw, doesn't it seem likely that the petulant McCain would return to his first choice?

Rudy sez....

*
Regarding his primary care physician:

"She's over 6 feet tall. The prettiest black woman you ever saw. I don't know what she's doin' as a doctor: she coulda been a supermodel!"

Maverick tactics

*
Brilliant: trying to upstage one of the finest nights in the history of American political theater by doing something astonishingly stupid. Nice job of vetting the running mate, Maverick.

I believe McCain did this in an unscripted petulant frenzy because his advisors bullied him out of listening to StuporMundi.

My friends, I don't think we've heard the last of this daring strategic plan yet.

Final GOP VP comment before selection [updated]

*
Here's one last reason I think McCain is more likely to choose Lieberman as his running mate: Joe's physique and appearance will not upstage the allegedly petty and petulant McCain.

Next to Romney, McCain would look exceptionally short, cadaverous, and "a little thin up there." Wouldn't it be deluxe if McCain, standing next to Romney in the sun, suddenly melted down forever: "At least I don't slather on the mousse like a trollop, you cunt!"

Update: Upon McCain's choice of the foxy Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, several thoughts occur to me. First, McCain will still look exceptionally cadaverous and "a little thin up there" next to Governor Palin. (He may look short next to her also, but I don't know how tall she is out of spikes.) Second, McCain's selection of a governor with only 2 years of state-level administrative experience indicates how desperately and deeply he had to reach into the Republican bench to find a running mate who doesn't threaten his ego and has no established PR negatives on the "national stage." Third, Governor Palin hails from what is probably the most politically corrupt state, per capita, in the nation ("google" Senator Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young, for example, then google any other name mentioned as indicted or a person of interest in an investigation). So not surprisingly, she already has her own share of baggage to talk about. Fourth, and finally: what Atrios says: Palin's name has barely surfaced in the corporate media over the past month as a prospective McCain VP choice. Although her selection has apparently doomed my Petraeus/Lieberman '08 nightmare ticket, and with it my future as even a second-tier national blogger, I was closer to being right than the bona fide pundits and lefty bloggers were: McCain selected a longshot with at least some history of making social policy in contravention to the right-wing company line (as seen on TPM).

As an aside, I see that there are lots of references on the web to Governor Palin being a "GILF". I wonder what that means.

Free political advice for The Maverick

*
Dear Senator McCain,

After Senator Obama's DNC acceptance speech on the evening of 28 August 2008, I think your best tactic for winning the November election will be to drive home the message that Michael Moore is fat.

Your friend,

---StuporMundi

"They call me MISTER Obama"

*
I doubt that my favorite line of Obama's speech will draw any notice from the corporate media or bona fide bloggers, but it was this:

"So I've got news for you, John McCain."

The rhetoric of it is brilliant and simple, and (I believe) deliberately intended to provoke McCain's irrational anger. No black man tells a white man that "I've got news for you". And nobody except nobody ever says that to a Maverick. I also think the nuance will be understood by unhinged bigots in the audience.

I'm thinking of it as the 21st century version of "They call me Mister Tibbs."

Killer O

*
Not a grand slam. Not even a home run.

Obama's acceptance speech was an in-the-park homer with four men on base, after running which he snatched the ball from the catcher's mitt and jumped 30 yards into the air to hit a three-pointer on a basketball hoop 2 miles away. Really.

I'm at a disadvantage with sports metaphors, obviously. But Obama just gave the best political speech I've ever heard, and I've been listening to them since 1964 --- long before my brain was even fully developed.

If Obama wins the general election, his acceptance speech will be studied for decades. If he doesn't, it still may be studied for decades. Everything about it, in my opinion, rang genuine and uncontrived. His oratory style was perfect --- almost nobody I've ever heard could hit the sweet spot between the personal and the grandiose. If you missed it live, I'm sorry you did --- it is no exaggeration to say it was historic. Gracious, but with plenty of fighting words. Spiritual, but inclusive of everybody. Hard-headed liberalism. About fuckin' time!

I'll try one more sports metaphor. First the setup: remember that Obama is running not only against McCain and all the shadowy interests that want to prevent both a Democrat and a black man from living in the White House, but he's also running against the corporate interests that dominate the mass news media. He's running against all the corporate handmaidens who have been assigned to trivialize Obama, to misdirect our attention to meaningless foibles or words taken out of context, to expound or pass on the dog-whistle racism that right-wing bigots have already been spewing for months on end.

So (sports metaphor coming): if Obama can pull this out and get elected with a mandate, it would at least equal the 1970 no-hitter Dock Ellis pitched while tripping on acid. And that, my friends, would really be something.

Update: I'll try to explain these thoughts more coherently in a future post. Was up too late Thursday night dancing to "The Theme from Shaft" and drinking malt liquor straight from the bag.

Hillary's convention speech

*
I caught a few minutes near the end of it. Seemed to be well written, and I liked the allusion to Harriet Tubman --- good work, whoever thought of that twofer for this specific setting.

Clinton looked relaxed and very well rehearsed. I thought her delivery was much less wooden than it was during the primary season, but it still had a small whiff of Classic American Revival Tent Political Oratory, which very few pols really ever transcend. Her presence reminded me of Ted Kennedy at the convention in 1980, when I developed the hypothesis that marquee politicians who run for president give their best speeches as also-rans, after they have anything to gain personally from the oratory. At that time, Kennedy gave a true, sincere barn-burner that greatly elevated my opinion of him. I think Clinton approached that league tonight.

Now, if she would just kick that peckerwood husband of hers to the curb and then return to the Senate as a strong liberal voice until Obama nominates her to the Supreme Court.

Update: As an afterthought, I must note that I am perplexed by her selection of a Gitmo-drag orange jumpsuit from her senatorial wardrobe. Maybe it's time that she get rid of her present wardrobe.

Late update: "Ah, so you want to get rid of President Ward Robey!?!"

Work in progress

*
In order to skew this blog back toward Fifty50, and away from Seventy30, today I start inserting more nonpolitical content. Contrary to appearances, I do not hate fun: I like stories, songs, toys, and pictures as much as you all do. Work in progress is where I'll share a photographic study that someone other than me might be interested in seeing.

Here's my first one, shot with my Sony F717, an interesting, versatile point/shoot with a blue-chip Zeiss lens. Does not shoot in RAW format, but I discovered that Adobe Bridge CS3 can open JPEGs and TIFFs for processing with the Camera RAW plugin. Many of the controls in Camera RAW are obscure to a novice, but even the simplest ones are quite powerful.

The image depicts some local color (local grayscale, actually): the Chester Street (Champaign) viaduct under the Illinois Central RR tracks, looking approximately northeast. The original file was captured as an RGB fine-quality JPEG. I opened it in Camera RAW, desaturated all the pixels to gray, used the Fill Light slider to emulate the effect of having a huge soft box to even out the exposure to my liking. I may have sharpened a bit. Finally, I used the Skew tool in Photoshop to make the verticals vertical, then messed with the contrast curve a bit. Good learning exercise; halfway decent, if somewhat standard, view. Need to develop a better eye for dynamic range --- deeper darks and a few near-whites might help. Also need to understanding the differences between rendering for screen view versus hardopy print.

Wise sayings

*
There are two kinds of things in the world: (1) any given particular kind of thing and (2) all things that do not fall into the first category.

Eternal truths

*
Effective immediately, the "Eternal truths" department of Fifty50 is hereby renamed "Wise sayings" (for reasons that are best known to Big Otis, Stan Freberg, and Ben Franklin.

Pwn3d by Obama!!!

*
I stayed up past midnight waiting for my email and it never came! Now I read on TPM that Obama has announced his selection of Biden via the email I never got!!! I yam disgustipated!

I'm also not that thrilled by the selection of Bankruptcy Joe, favorite son of the Credit Card State. As VP he would be too close to the presidential side of the legislative sausage factory for my liking, what with all his fancy banker lobbyist friends. But I suppose I'll come to the acceptance stage soon as Big Otis and all the pundits convince me that Biden is the sharpest knife in the block.

Note to Barack: I don't need your email message any more, so please conserve my electrons and put them to good use in defeating your opponents... you juicebag! I WANTED TO BE PART OF HISTORYYYYYY!

PS: I'm voting for McCain now, or better yet, staying home. Take that!

PPS: The "Credit Card State" was invented by Uncle Charlie.

Suggestion for John McCain

*
Dear Senator McCain,

May I suggest that you select a new campaign theme song? I know Running On Empty is descriptive of your character and the extent of your supply of good ideas, but there are better choices considering that Jackson Browne wants to sue you for damages related to misusing his copyrighted material. Instead, how about using Home Home Home Home Home Home Home On The Ranges?

Your friend,

---StuporMundi

Not a prediction, just an observation

*
From the "who cares?" department, here is my one and only post about the Democratic VP nomination.

I think Kathleen Sebelius would be Obama's best choice for a running mate. First, I think Obama could benefit from having an executive (i.e., governor) on the ticket. Second, her presence would serve to "heal" the feelings of '70s-era identity-politics feminists who think it was unfair of Obama to win the Democratic primary cycle, no matter what they now say; Sebelius also would appeal to many other women of all ages, and the Democrats need them to come out strong in November. Third, Sebelius looks lively and energetic while sporting white hair; selecting her for the ticket would give "moderate, undecided voters" (you know: morons) a subliminal point of reference along the lines of "only one party has a person with white hair on the ticket who isn't a morally, psychiatrically compromised former war hero blinded by opportunism and a voracious sense of self-entitlement, and it ain't the Republicans."

But then, I'm just a simple country editor....

PS: I'd actually like Sebelius to be Obama's pick because it would be so much fun to see Hillary, her peckerwood husband, and the horses they rode in on completely "pwn3d" by reality --- just desserts for the Clintons' filthy, racially driven negative campaigning.

Oh, I just can't help it tonight

*
Here are three more reasons why I think John McCain will not be President of the United States even if the Republicans win the November general election. From everything I've seen and read about his personality, McCain is certain to transcend a critical behavioral event horizon if the meme takes hold that his tenure as a war hero has officially expired. I believe McCain's candidacy will become untenable, and Machiavellian Republicans will throw him off the train; ultimately, a coup like that would carry less risk than sticking with him through November.

Eternal truths

*
[Now with it's very own external link:]

One's tenure as a war hero expires immediately when one endorses U.S. government torture of its military adversaries.

VP Joe Lieberman: where have I heard that idea before?

*
Oh dear. Is it possible that Joe Lieberman might have a place on the Republican ticket this fall? Can't be, because neither Tim Russert nor Tony Snow told us it could happen before they each went off to wait at the Gates of Hell for John McCain's torturers to show up.

But wait a minute: there was one observer who suggested way, way back in December 2007 that everybody be on the lookout for this development. Who could it have been? Oh, now I remember.

I'll cop to modifying The Most Awesome Political Prediction Ever later, as more recent events have prudent. My original premise still holds, though: that no one who has been considered Republican presidential timber by the serous media would be strong enough or even untainted enough to win the general election against a strong Democrat. At that time I felt Lieberman might jump his party early to settle in as a Republican, but he didn't. Instead, he spent his time laying groundwork for jumping the party in September. Furthermore, back in December I felt that Petraeus might effectively play the strongman role as Lieberman's VP, in a reprise of the Imperial Vice Presidency. For the past few weeks, though, I've suggested that there is no need for such a role reversal, and that Petraeus/Lieberman '08 would be a stronger ticket for the Republicans. I still believe that.

The only objection I've gotten to my P/L '08 scenario that even begins to hold water, in my view, was from a blogger named Dan Solomon. He raised a technical issue related to the legalities and tradition of military retirements relating to whether Petraeus would be eligible to run for President in September. My original reply to Solomon was that an Executive Branch that gets away with launching wars that are illegal in the view of many unbiased experts, breaking U.S. treaties (impeachable offense, by the way), etc., can certainly find a way to finesse the legalities of a general's retirement... when the Justice Department and the Supreme Court have been thoroughly politicized. My secondary reply, offered now, is that McCain could still make it into the general election cycle in September and not be there in October. Abracadabra.

Again, for any slow learners out there, I'm not suggesting this scenario as something that any sentient citizen of a democracy would like to see. I'm suggesting it because it's as plausible as what we're looking at right now --- a morally and mentally bankrupt former war hero with no real constituency running the high ground against an up-by-the-bootstraps, relatively conservative young black family man. My overall point is that Obama would be prudent to have a coupla people in his boiler room working on a plan for shifting strategic gears if he found himself running against a freshly retired Four-Star General. I may be wrong, though, because Steve Benen, Josh Marshall, and Bob Cesca all have failed to reply to my email on the topic. I'm not bona fide, you see.

Anointing his successor

*
Oh, looky who's right at the top of John McCain's list of wise people: why, it's Gen. Dave Petraeus! At least that's what he tells the rich, fancy Orange County preacher man. (Search on "Petraeus" after you click through to the page.)

Please let me know if you think McCain has said or done anything in the past week to make Petraeus/Lieberman '08 seem more farfetched than you already think it is.

Eternal truths

*
Chicken can taste pretty good even if it smells funky before you grill it.

Most constructive invention of 1877

*
I can't believe I did not know this, but barely a century before disco swept the nation, the word "hello" was apparently a rarity in the American vernacular. According to Wired online, Thomas Edison is credited with suggesting that people answer the telephone using this salutation instead of Alexander Graham Bell's preferred greeting, "ahoy, ahoy." Wired writer Tony Long tells us, in fact, that initially people did answer their telephones with "ahoy," but Edison's suggestion quickly superseded it. Hello, he says, did not enter the dictionary until 1883 even though earlier uses are documented.

Montgomery Burns, who I believe was born about 12 years after Bell applied for his patent, still answers the horn the correct way to this very day. I can't explain, though, why our parents (or I) answer with "nnnyellllo."

Photo credit: from itspaulkelly's photostream on Flickr. Uploaded it to prevent link rot.