Ezra Klein analyzes Obama’s speechmaking. It includes this:
Obama’s finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don’t even really inspire. They elevate. They enmesh you in a grander moment, as if history has stopped flowing passively by, and, just for an instant, contracted around you, made you aware of its presence, and your role in it.
Nearly twice as many Democrats turned out in Iowa tonight as compared to four years ago — 239,000 compared to 125,000.
Only 108,000 Republicans attended Thursday’s caucuses. And this is a state that went for Bush in 2004 (though by a relatively small margin).
And there’s these interesting statistics from Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone:
- Obama beat Hillary among women voters 35 to 30 percent.
- Amid record Democratic turnout, as many people under 30 showed up to caucus as those over 65.
- Sixty percent of the GOP electorate in Iowa were born-again Christians.
- Rudy Giuliani finished with a mere 4,013 votes, in sixth place, with less than half of the support of Ron Paul.
Tristero at Hullaballo reacts to Willard Mitt Romney. First Romney’s remark, then Tristero.
“We’ll try and represent ourselves and our nation well also to our kids because I think, I think kids watch the White House and there have been failures in the past in the White House — if you go back to the Clinton years and recognize that — that I think had an enormous impact on the culture of our country”Oh, where to start? Well, for starters, I suppose Romney’s saying that the “enormous impact” of Monica’s blowjob “on the culture our country” was responsible for Trent Lott’s racist defense of Strom Thurmond, the substance abuse problems of Jeb Bush’s daughter, the meth-fueled extramarital sex sessions of the former Reverend Ted Haggard, Larry Craig’s widening stance, Bush/Iraq war supporter Brittney Spears’ shaved head, and maybe even Cheney’s inebriated behavior around loaded shotguns. Or maybe Romney has in mind serial adulterers in his own party like Scaife, Gingrich, Hyde, and Giuliani. Who knew a little fellatio was so insidious that it could cause David Addington and Alberto Gonzalez to countenance torture, or Tom Delay to use the Office of Homeland Security to help subvert the legislature of Texas? Or perhaps Romney had in mind the slimy christianist activists who Judge Jones accused of lying to a court of law during Kitzmiller v. Dover. Yes, this is all the Clintons’ fault.
You’d think that a post-campaign Rudy could just go back to cutting more sweetheart business deals with various tycoons, crooks and bad actors as well as chasing more skirts. But failure doesn’t score pricey consulting contracts or babes.
So there’s a decent chance a post-presidential campaign flop Rudy would have to settle for actual monogamy from here on out.
“Ralph Wiggum will announce his intent to run for the presidency of the United States on the January 6th episode of ‘The Simpsons.’ Speech expected to make more sense than anything Ron Paul’s said in months.”
“Giuliani’s doctor reports the findings from his latest health screening. Height: 9’11.” Weight: 911 pounds. Blood pressure: 9/11, Cholesterol level: 911. 9/11″
“Who is your favorite author?” Aleya Deatsch, 7, of West Des Moines asked Mr. Huckabee in one of those posing-like-a-shopping-mall-Santa moments.
Mr. Huckabee paused, then said his favorite author was Dr. Seuss.
In an interview afterward with the news media, Aleya said she was somewhat surprised. She thought the candidate would be reading at a higher level.
“My favorite author is C. S. Lewis,” she said.
Note: According to the ole scorecard there on the right this is post 12,000. I am one sick puppy.
Admitting that he didn’t see the march with his own eyes, he said, “I ‘saw’ him in the figurative sense.”
“The reference of seeing my father lead in civil rights,” he said, “and seeing my father march with Martin Luther King is in the sense of this figurative awareness of and recognition of his leadership.”
“I’ve tried to be as accurate as I can be,” he continued, smiling firmly. “If you look at the literature or look at the dictionary, the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of — in the sense I’ve described.”
The questioning did not relent. “I’m an English literature major,” he insisted at one point. “When we say I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn’t necessarily mean you were there.”
Indeed, I missed that particular World Series.
The background to this is that what Mitt says he “saw” — his father George Romney marching with Martin Luther King — has been shown to have never happened.
I’ll include more ads if I find them (no more than one per candidate).
And if any more Democrats get into the Christmas spirit, I’ll add them to the poll.
(One of two similar ads for Giuliani.)
[poll=1]
Here are the Christmas ads that the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire are seeing. Take a look (30 seconds each) and then select your favorite. You’re voting for the ad, not the candidate (if you can make the distinction).
Bill Richardson is either a Grinch or thinks the war is serious. He gets NewMexiKen’s vote either way.
It is very striking how little Edwards’ substantive critique of our political system has penetrated into the national discourse. That’s because the centerpiece of his campaign is a critique that is a full frontal assault on our political establishment. His argument is not merely that the political system needs reform, but that it is corrupt at its core — “rigged” in favor of large corporate interests and their lobbyists, who literally write our laws and control the Congress. Anyone paying even casual attention to the extraordinary bipartisan effort on behalf of telecom immunity, and so many other issues driven almost exclusively by lobbyists, cannot reasonably dispute this critique.
Yet because that argument indicts the same Beltway culture of which our political journalists are an integral part, and further attacks the system’s power brokers who are the friends, sources, and peers of those journalists, they instinctively react with confusion, scorn and hostility towards Edwards’ campaign. They condescendingly dismiss it as manipulative populist swill, or cynically assume that it’s just a ploy to distinguish himself by “moving left.” In the eyes of our Beltawy press, the idea that our political system is “rigged” or corrupt must be anything other than true or sincerely held.
… is that this guy not get elected.
Actually it seems to me that most of the television commercials I’ve been seeing aren’t about politics. They’re about erectile dysfunction.
Obama: The system sucks, but I’m so awesome that it’ll melt away before me.
Edwards: The system sucks, and we’re gonna have to fight like hell to destroy it.
Clinton: The system sucks, and I know how to work within it more than anyone.
The Boston Globe endorses Obama and makes its case.
For Republicans the Globe endorses McCain.
In the post before last I wrote about the oath of office for our Congress critters.
Cheers and Jeers suggests new oaths for each party.
“Huckabee Proposes to Replace Social Security With ‘Loaves and Fish’ Program”
“Clinton Campaign Accuses Obama of Sniffing Mimeograph Paper in Kindergarten”
“Mitchell Report Concludes Bush Should’ve Used Performance-Enhancing Drugs”
The Satirical Political Report – An Offbeat Look at the Hot-Button Issues of the Day
Indeed, Obama’s campaign has begun to make my skin crawl a little bit. The we-are-the-world optimism that not only blinds him to the fundamental corruption of the regime he hopes to replace, but also makes you wonder if he’s the guy to come in and throw daylight into all the dark corners of the past seven years. The willingness to employ Republican storylines on Senator Clinton and, far more seriously, on Social Security in an apparent attempt to win the vital Green Room Primary in Washington and to appeal to mythical “moderates” who don’t exist and won’t vote for him anyway.
… we give you the other side.
The answers from the candidates are actually rather interesting. Whom do you think gives the best answer? Worst?
Of course, their concerns about the environment are meaningless compared to how the presidential candidates take their coffee, when they do.
For those few NewMexiKen readers outside New Mexico who may have been following the saga of Albuquerque Mayor Marty in the U.S. senate race, this is just to let you know he quit the race last Friday.
A poll had him behind Rep. Tom Udall for the Democratic primary by 30 points.
Cartoonist Tom Toles lampoons his own newspaper. Don’t miss it.
Meanwhile Jesus’ General calls for cleansing America of The Lutefisk Menace.
NewMexiKen has been taking a closer look at Barack Obama this past week or so and generally being impressed. I have to say, however, that if Paul Krugman is right, I’m back to where I was on the Senator — that he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
“Which brings us to Mitt Romney. He appeared to need GPS to find his core beliefs.”
Romney has about as much chance of finding any core beliefs as Bush did finding those weapons of mass destruction.