There's No Reason For This To Work

 
Yet it does.

Sharp Contrast

 
UPDATE

In a sense, it’s good that McCain went negative so early, and that his campaign has been as scattershot as it has been. Otherwise, I’m not sure how much coverage the Ashley Todd story would’ve received beyond the initial breaking of the story.

Upon reading the story initially, I was overwhelmed by a sense of being revisited by Susan Smith. Recognizing that as a rather cynical reaction, and because I’m not a fellow Republican, it seemed prudent to wait and see what happened with this story.

A good thing, too. Had the incident been proven true, there would be some massive crow eating going on, instead of the righteous gloating about to take place; because it’s false. Oh good lord, it is as false as anything else in the McCain campaign.

Thank you, Ms. Todd, for going to a place not even Karl Rove would consider. Thank you for using the old “Fake Black Male Suspect” fallacy as a means of exploiting political fears; why I’m sure those other ignorant forces who spread the fear that Blacks would get even should Obama be elected would not use this event as a means to buttress their arguments. Thanks for proving that there is no tactic too low for the Right’s minions to exploit.

Ms. Todd is going to face charges for this, and I, for one, am hoping they are not lenient with her.

UPDATE - As B.E. Earl pointed out in the comment field, Ms. Todd has exhibited behavior that suggests some concerns over her psychological well-being. Those should be addressed by the system before any kind of judgment is placed on her. Needless to say, that same consideration should not be applied by those who sought to exploit the more dangerous aspects of her story.
---

Thank you, Ben Smith, for providing the proper tonic to wash that previous story out of my mouth.

(tip of the hat to PNWFilmGeek, who also deserves a nod for the Pity Pander tip)
---

Which brings us to Cordula Meyers’ interview with Michael Eric Dyson for Der Spiegel (translated and hosted on Salon), for a much needed reality check. Dyson touches on what we could realistically expect from an Obama presidency, the very fine line he must toe within the African American community, and the forces that have created the schism to be found therein. Fascinating reading.
---

Seeing as we’re dealing with contrasts in this entry, here’s a refreshing fantasy break. (tip of the hat to lyamhound, who found it via The Slog)

The Right's Treasonous Ways #834: HAVA

 
"Say what you will about Nixon," the argument goes, "you could talk about Watergate and Kissinger and any number of other things; but you can't deny he did some positive things while in office. Vietnam ended during his run; he created the EPA, which is pretty progressive when you think about it; and he was the president that opened the diplomatic doors to China."

You could argue any number of things about that claim, but the essence of it is true. Of all the corrupt, paranoid and conservative presidents the US has elected since JFK was assassinated, Tricky Dick Nixon was probably the least harmful. He did enact a number of policies that could be called beneficial. With the exception of sending financial aid to Africa, the same cannot be said of W, by any means of the imagination. It may take generations before we're able to figure out the full deleterious depths of his administration.

It is fitting, then, that another Kennedy has taken to shining the spotlight on the darker corners of the Bush White House. This time it is RFK, Jr. who, during this election cycle, is taking on some of the crusader mantle his family is fabled for.

"Block the Vote," a piece written by RFK, Jr. and Greg Palast for Rolling Stone.com's Politics page, exposes the various details of yet another Bush administration policy with a misnomer: HAVA, or The Help America Vote Act.

Initially drafted as a means to avoid the chaos and confusion of the 2000 election, Republicans are finding ways to exploit its rules and regulations in order to scare defraud, and disenfranchise the voting public.

...[F]rom the start, HAVA was corrupted by the involvement of Republican superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, who worked to cram the bill with favors for his clients. (Both Abramoff and a primary author of HAVA, former Rep. Bob Ney, were imprisoned for their role in the conspiracy.) In practice, many of the "reforms" created by HAVA have actually made it harder for citizens to cast a ballot and have their vote counted. In case after case, Republican election officials at the local and state level have used the rules to give GOP candidates an edge on Election Day by creating new barriers to registration, purging legitimate names from voter rolls, challenging voters at the polls and discarding valid ballots.

From here, the piece connect the dots between HAVA to the DOJ scandal that led to AG Alberto Gonzales' resignation, and then lists some of the more successful tactics enacted by the right.

Considering that there are rising reports of faulty voting machines already, and that signs are pointing to another election night fracas in Florida this year; the more people are aware of these maneuvers the better.

Spread the word.

(tip of the hat to Stef)

The Bottom Of The Political Barrel

 
- "Who cares about how much she spent at Bloomingdale's? What Americans are really concerned with is the fact that Barack Obama is using the campaign 767 to visit his ailing, deathly grandmother, who raised him since he was a wee sprat. Am I right? Hello?"

- I have seen a lot of things in my time, but this one is new. For now, I will call it The Pity Pander.

Not sure how it's supposed to work, but I'm wondering if the desired effect is to get the Obama camp to let down its guard and start feeling cocky. Get them to start feeling as if everything is going along fi--BOOM! In your face, Obama!

Or is the idea to get voters to get all mushy at the puppy dog eyed grandpa and pull the lever for him?

Yeah, either way, good luck with that.

My Not-So-Secret Love Of Michelle Obama

I am not the kind of person who normally looks at who a candidate is married to when deciding who to vote for. In fact, I never have. And it won't be a factor this time.

BUT....

I gotta tell ya, I think a great extra benefit of an Obama presidency would be having his wife as First Lady. I admire this woman immensely.

Someone born into a modest, working-class family who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment who worked hard in school and got admitted to the best and most competitive public school in Chicago. More hard work and a dedication to education led to a degree from Princeton, graduating cum laude, and another one from Harvard Law School.

Successful stint at a high-profile law firm before steering into a career of public service in city government, non-profits and community outreach for a prominent university.

All of this while being a black woman in America, where your abilities and credentials are questioned every step of the way if you are anything but a white male.

Then watch as she balances being a mother and the wife of the man who is trying to be the leader of the free world. Not just any candidate, the first minority to ever have a chance to win and the most viciously attacked candidate in the history of this country. Lots of those smears get aimed straight at her.

And she handles it all with a grace and dignity that is unmatched by anyone I've ever seen in the public eye.

It is rumored that I'm going to be the father of a little girl any day now (six days overdue and counting, I'm still not convinced). When I think about the idea that the most high-profile woman in America over the next four to eight years could be Michelle Obama...well, that's just a fantastic thought.

We certainly won't be hurting for smart, hard-working, successful female role models around our house with my wife being an accomplished physician, so we don't necessarily need a famous female role model.

But it'll be nice to add another to the list.

Holiday wishes from Republicans that failed Logic

 
This cartoon, forwarded by one of my neocon in-laws (they are at least pro-choice, but our political agreements end there), is a great example of the one of the pernicious untruths upon which conservative philosophy rests.



This is just one of many examples of this logical fallacy memed-up into jokes and cartoons. It wasn't too long ago I was sent the joke about a girl who returns from school a Socialist, at least until her father suggests she donate one GPA point to her hard-partying friend; when she balks, he says "Welcome to the Republican Party."

Let me try to break this down for the simpletons.

If someone is lazy, they will be poor. Fair enough. But from that, it does not logically follow that if someone is poor, it is because they are lazy.

If someone works hard enough, they will succeed. Again, fair enough. But from that, it does not logically follow that if someone has succeeded, they work hard. (ahem, cough, *BUSH*, cough-cough)

Need a simple proof? If a shape is square, it is also a rectangle. Absolutely true. If a shape is a rectangle, it is also a square. Not so much.

This is important, because it is the base of McCain's "that one wants to spread your wealth around" attacks. The idea that a person's success or failure in a free market system is a direct indication of their desire and ability to work hard and nothing else, that every asshole standing on third hit a triple and every strikeout caught 'em lookin', is a foundational belief of Republicans. And it willfully ignores the realities of our economic system.

Our system has for years skewed wealth upwards - the poor aren't poorer now, the middle class hasn't shrunk, because everyone but the top 5% has gotten lazier. We still fund schools locally, which is a fucking travesty, because it follows that the poorer you are born, the poorer your education and future prospects tend to be. Hard-working people lose their homes because of unforeseeable catastrophic illness, ferchrissakes. Far more than lazy people end up poor, and far more than self-made mean and women end up rich.

It's an insidious myth because it serves so many purposes. It allows the Republican masses to look down upon those "others" who are not living the American Dream as lazy. It allows the wealthy many self-congratulatory pats of their own back. And it keeps the Republican hoi palloi in line, as they think of themselves as hard workers, and so destined to get their just rewards.

And that last part is such a lie.

Can hard work pull someone from poverty to wealth? Sure. But it reminds me of the 10-1 ratio in sports. Roughly 10% of high school athletes believe they will play Division I with a scholarship, when less than 1% actually do, and roughly 10% of college athletes think they will go pro, when less that 1% do.

The Right, because they are shamelessly shallow, has become quite good at perpetuating narrative strands like this. And they are effective in that they manage to demonize and piss off Democrats in one fell swoop.

$150k On Clothes

 
One hundred and fifty thousand dollars on clothes.

$150,000.

In addition, [an anonymous McCain campaign donor] suggested, the bad press only means the GOP base will unite even further behind the McCain-Palin ticket.

You know, the donor is right. One wonders just how strong that base is feeling these days.

Q: What happens when you take a one-dollar bill and multiply it by 150,000*?

That's how much donated money their campaign spent on getting Governor Sarah Palin a new wardrobe.

* - A: $150,000. - tbo