Politics

Weblogger, Love Thyself

The New York Times asked several webloggers today to identify the most important moment in the 2004 presidential campaign. I love the answer given by attorneys John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson, publishers of Power Line: The most important event of the campaign was the exposure of documents cited by 60 Minutes in its report on President Bush's Air National Guard service as fraudulent. We participated in this exposure by asking our readers for information relevant to the documents' authenticity, ... (read more)

2004/11/02

At Least the Opposition is Still Loyal

Because this is primarily a technical weblog, I know there are right-wing readers who could leap to the defense of the Bush/Cheney campaign. Pretend for a moment I'm not a hopeless yellow-dog Democrat. Help me understand the logic of demanding loyalty oaths to attend Bush rallies, even to the point of driving away and alienating supporters. In Pennsylvania, a GOP backer was refused tickets to a rally and harassed by campaign staffers. Her offense: Getting a ride from a coworker with a ... (read more)

2004/10/29

Newsday columnist Ellis Hedican asks a good question: If we can trust banks to get millions of ATM transactions correct with a paper receipt every single time, why can't we trust the process of counting our votes? A big computer somewhere in the bowels of Citibank recorded my every twitch. I am sure of it. One hundred dollars is gone from my checking account. The date, time and place of my transaction are recorded for eternity. And when the monthly statement is mailed to my apartment, every ... (read more)

2004/10/29

Dirty, Scurrilous Lesbians

MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell had a Howard Beale moment on Scarborough Country Friday, calling Swift Boat Veterans for Slander founder John O'Neill a lying liar who lies around a hundred times. O'Donnell was just getting warmed up, though. Here's the transcript, picked up after O'Neill was punted and the show turned to the subject of Mary Cheney's publicly debated lesbianism: GUEST HOST PAT BUCHANAN: ... would it not have been wise for Kerry himself, when the controversy came up ... (read more)

2004/10/27

GOP's Get-Out-the-Vote Drive

The New York Times describes a plan by the Ohio Republican Party to pay thousands of people to stalk polling places and turn away as many prospective voters as possible: The Ohio Republicans also plan to have people in more than 3,600 polling places, mostly in heavily Democratic urban areas, to challenge the right of people to vote on Election Day itself. Leaving aside the fact that this is obscene, I can't imagine that it will succeed at doing anything but angering voters who witness people ... (read more)

2004/10/27

God Bless Ronan Tynan

The only thing I miss about the Yankees' absence from the playoffs is the performance of "God Bless America" by Ronan Tynan. Having him perform so often and so well at Yankee Stadium reminds me of the Philadelphia Flyers bringing out Kate Smith to sing it as a good-luck charm. The U.S. could significantly reduce noise pollution by making "God Bless America" the national anthem. I endure 500 excruciating renditions of the "Star-Spangled Banner" a year on streaming baseball games. Only in the ... (read more)

2004/10/25

Weapons of Mass Hilarity

In March, President Bush participated in the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, a traditional event in Washington where the president provides laughs at the expense of himself and members of the administration. His choice of comedic material was deeply offensive: a Lettermanesque slide show depicting his futile personal hunt for weapons of mass destruction under tables and desks in the White House. I couldn't believe that he was laughing off a mistake while it was killing or maiming ... (read more)

2004/10/21

There's Something About Mary Cheney

After last night's presidential debate, some Bush partisans are characterizing Sen. Kerry's mention of Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Cheney, as an attempt to smear her.Mary Cheney has been open about her sexuality for years. She was employed as the lesbian and gay community liaison for Coors Brewing, a board member of the pro-gay Republican Unity Coalition, and works today as a senior member of her father's campaign, drawing a $100,000 salary. Some activist groups have ... (read more)

2004/10/14

Karl Rove Advertises Liberally

As a Florida resident, I can't go a half hour without seeing an ad in which "John Kerry and the liberals in Congress" are plotting some form of progressive deviltry, such as raising taxes on assault rifles to protect the abortion rights of gay whales.The ads are especially pervasive during major sports events:Last night while Niki and I were trying to watch the baseball playoffs, every other commercial was a political attack ad. ... One ad they played over and over again all night on every ... (read more)

2004/10/13

My normal loathing of thimble-deep New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has been temporarily suspended. She agrees with me about how Kerry rattled President Bush in the first debate:Senator Kerry evoked the voice of Bush 41 to get under 43's thin skin. The more Mr. Kerry played the square, proper, moderate, internationalist war hero, the more the president was reduced to childish scowling and fidgeting, acting like a naughty little boy who refuses to sit in his seat and eat his spinach and do ... (read more)

2004/10/07

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