hilzoy

Executive Experience

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by hilzoy On the McCain Report, Michael Goldfarb writes that Sarah Palin “has more executive experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden put together”, a point that, by some strange coincidence, has popped up all over the conservative blogs. I think that the idea that Palin has an advantage over Obama in this area is … Read more

Reckless

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by hilzoy Now that I’m back from the convention, and have transferred all my backed up stuff onto my new computer (sigh), I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and consider McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. I was in an airplane during her speech yesterday, but I saw her speak … Read more

Mile High

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by hilzoy

As I understand it, the reason the Obama campaign wanted to have the last night at Invesco Stadium was because it allowed all sorts of organizing opportunities. But it also had some other real benefits:

(a) Waves! I don’t know whether this came through on any of the coverage, but we had a huge and very enthusiastic wave that went all the way around the stadium five times, and only stopped when the next speaker came on and we had to be quiet.

(b) Fireworks! Can’t do that indoors.

(c) A sense of excitement and enthusiasm like you wouldn’t believe.

Reasons not to have the last night in a stadium:

(a) At times, the crowd absolutely drowned out the speakers. 75,000 very enthusiastic people are a force to be reckoned with.

(b) Getting out. There’s a reason I’m only posting now. I tried to post from the field, but it didn’t work.

More below the fold.

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May I Just Say …

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That having my computer stolen is seriously annoying. If anyone canthink of anything I should do to minimize the risks of identity theft, do let me know. It was my own fault, naturally. I put my bag down …

Convention

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by hilzoy Sorry to have been absent: I’ve been having internet problems. I did manage to catch a little CNN coverage after I got in last night, and it was absolutely surreal: the convention they are covering bears no relation whatsoever to the one I had been walking around observing all yesterday. I’ve been wandering … Read more

Never Say Never …

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by hilzoy Politico: “But Biden watchers also know that there is much to like and admire about the man. Biden is a fighter who is joining a campaign some Democrats believe should scrap a little more. He is a serious adult on the serious, adult issues of the day. And no one will liken Joey … Read more

It’s Biden

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by hilzoy I got my email (I’m not technologically advanced enough to want a text message) while I was sleeping. I’m getting ready to go to the convention tomorrow, so I don’t have much in the way of thoughts. But for what it’s worth: I think this is a decent choice, especially given the alternatives … Read more

Gaining Ground By Standing Still

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by hilzoy Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released new long-term Social Security projections (pdf): “CBO projects that outlays will first exceed revenues in 2019 and that the Social Security trust funds will be exhausted in 2049. If the law remains unchanged, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will then no longer have the legal authority to … Read more

McCain Flip-Flops On Women’s Lives

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by hilzoy From ABC News: “ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson Report: John McCain’s campaign signaled on Wednesday that the Arizona senator is backing away from his previously stated goal of changing the GOP’s platform on abortion. (…) McCain’s plan to take a hands-off approach with the abortion platform stands in stark contrast with … Read more

Why The Houses Matter, Take 2

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by hilzoy In my ideal world, the fact that John McCain cannot remember how many houses he has would not be a very big deal. It does make it clear just how wealthy he and his wife are, and it raises the question how well he understands life outside the cocoon of privilege. But in … Read more

You Knew This Was Coming …

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by hilzoy It didn’t take more than a few hours for McCain’s people to cite his experience as a POW in response to his gaffe about his houses: “”The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It’s not as if he lives in ten houses. That’s just not the case,” Rogers said. “The … Read more

McCain: Obama Is Rich Middle Class Too!

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by hilzoy The McCain campaign responds: “Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?” I thought that people who … Read more

Details, Details

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by hilzoy I certainly hope that no one will give John McCain a hard time over this: “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. “I think – I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain told us in Las Cruces, … Read more

Close Your Eyes

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by hilzoy Is there any corner of the Bush administration — any at all — that isn’t hopelessly corrupt? Actually, don’t answer that… “Medicare’s top officials said in 2006 that they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency, keeping billions of dollars out of the hands of people trying … Read more

Cakes In Trouble

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by hilzoy Andrew Sullivan linked to a blog devoted to cakes gone wrong. It’s hysterical. There are more horribly misfiring cakes than I could have imagined. Some are the result of an inadequate grasp of the use/mention distinction: Some from an apparently total lack of aesthetics: Some are just plain inexplicable: And some just make … Read more

Stephanie Tubbs-Jones

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by hilzoy From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones’ family and officials at Huron Hospital have announced that the five-term congresswoman has died. She was 58.” My thoughts are with her family and friends.

Pwned!

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by hilzoy A couple of days ago, Michael Goldfarb wrote on the John McCain blog: “It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from the comfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories … Read more

Supporting The Troops

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by hilzoy A very interesting discussion about what it means to support the troops broke out in the comments of this thread, prompted by a comment by LTNixon. For those of us who know people who serve in the armed forces, it’s not hard to find ways to support them. For those of us who … Read more

Heads Up!

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by hilzoy Starting on Friday, I’ll be blogging both here and at the Washington Monthly. (Generally, cross-posting things, though I can imagine the odd open thread that won’t appear there.) I’m really honored to have been asked by the Monthly, and excited to be working with Steve Benen, not least because I might finally be … Read more

Advisors Claim McCain Lacks Free Will

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by hilzoy That’s what David Brooks says, at any rate: “McCain and his advisers have been compelled to adjust to the hostile environment around them. They have been compelled, at least in their telling, to abandon the campaign they had hoped to run. Now they are running a much more conventional race, the kind McCain … Read more

Patriotism And The Surge

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by hilzoy Yesterday, John McCain said: “With just three months to go before the election, a lot of folks are still trying to square Senator Obama’s varying positions on the surge in Iraq. First, he opposed the surge. Then he confidently predicted that it would fail. Then he tried to prevent funding for the troops … Read more

More Digging

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by hilzoy My last post, about McCain’s story of a prison guard scratching a cross in the dirt, generated a fair amount of discussion. To be clear about what I meant to say and what I did not: as I said last night, if I were a reporter, I would be asking questions about this. … Read more

Drawing In The Dirt

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by hilzoy There’s an op-ed in today’s Washington Post by Jumah al Dossari, who was imprisoned at Guantanamo. It’s horrible to read, but worth it. At one point, he writes: “Physical brutality was not uncommon during those first years at Guantanamo. In Camp X-Ray, several soldiers once beat me so badly that I spent three … Read more

The Amazing Michael Phelps: Open Thread

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by hilzoy Check out this photo, from this morning/last night’s 100 meter butterfly finals: That’s Michael Phelps on the left, a split second before he and Cavic reached the wall. Look where his hands are. Look where Cavic’s hands are. And he won. I am in awe. Open thread. *** UPDATE: This, via Gary, is … Read more

Church And State

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by hilzoy There are some difficult questions about how to draw the line separating church from state. This (h/t Carpetbagger), however, is not one of them: “A judge who made headlines four years ago by wearing the Ten Commandments embroidered on his judicial robe is facing a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union … Read more

Foreign Policy ADD

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by hilzoy This post from Undiplomatic provides a quick illustration of why Foreign Policy ADD is a Very Bad Thing. It’s called “Russia – Georgia: The Big Winner”: “Iran. 1. The neocons are so distracted by the new meme of Russia as Nazi Germany, they’ve forgotten all about their old meme of Iran as Nazi … Read more

Dangerous

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by hilzoy John McCain “My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War.” Steve Benen: “Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has fought (or is fighting) two wars in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, and two conflicts in the Balkans. There … Read more

Reluctance

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by hilzoy We must never, ever forget that John McCain is reluctant to speak about his military service and his heroic war record. As he himself has said, “I apologize for maybe being a little reluctant because I really believed that I served in the company of heroes.” He only discusses it when he has … Read more

Tech Policy Bleg

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by hilzoy Reed Hundt notes that John McCain released his tech policy today. Hundt is baffled by it. I’ll just steal his points: “a. McCain asserts that there should be a tax credit of 10 percent of wages for each r and d employee, but this proposal means that there would be a hand-out of … Read more

Crude Oil From Trees. Really.

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by hilzoy ThinkProgress: “Rep. Bill Sali (R-ID), who is participating in the GOP’s ongoing “Drill Now” energy stunt, has a unique idea about how to bring down gas prices: extracting oil from trees. In a meeting in his Capitol Hill office, Sali reportedly told a candidate for Idaho’s House of Representatives, Byron Yankey, that there … Read more

Possible Good News

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by hilzoy From the Center for Constitutional Rights (h/t Anderson): “The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an extremely rare order that the case of Canadian rendition victim Maher Arar would be heard en banc by all of the active judges on the Second Circuit on December 9, 2008. For the court to issue the … Read more

Baffled

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by hilzoy Sometimes I think I will never understand today’s conservative movement. Case in point: “IN A WIDE-RANGING INTERVIEW aboard his campaign plane this morning, John McCain said that he is open to choosing a pro-choice running mate and named former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as someone who merits serious consideration despite his support for … Read more

Musharraf Will Resign

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by hilzoy NYT: “Faced with desertions by his political supporters and the neutrality of the Pakistani military, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, an important ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather than face impeachment charges, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said Thursday. His departure from office is … Read more

Now That’s Surprising

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by hilzoy Julia Child was a spy. Seriously. From the AP: “Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an … Read more

Losing His Base

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by hilzoy Today, two major mainstream pundit-types called out John McCain in ways I can’t recall seeing for quite some time. Possibly ever. And neither of them are flaming liberal types, either. First, Tom Friedman: “It was only five days earlier, on July 30, that the Senate was voting for the eighth time in the … Read more