Al Gore in the Oval Office again.

What a photo:


Gore visited the White House this week as a Nobel Prize winner.

Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Does this make up for getting robbed of the Presidency?
I wish he could run, but he won't and it's probably the right thing for him but . . .

Justice Thomas full of contradictions

Clarence Thomas logic makes my head spin. Frank Rich gets it right in his op-ed piece.

Can Democrats win without White Male votes? (yes!)

From this week's Salon.com:

So long, white boy

Could 2008 be the year that Democrats finally admit an old sweetheart is never coming back, and stop pandering to the white male voter?

By Thomas F. Schaller

Sept. 17, 2007 | Those who have been closely following the politics of the Democratic primaries may have noticed that someone is missing -- and I'm not referring to Bob Shrum, the Rev. Al Sharpton or an as-yet-undiscovered "Gravel Girl."

I'm talking about the white male voter, or at least a certain long-coveted variety thereof. He is variously known as "NASCAR dad" -- that shirt-sleeved, straight-talkin', these-colors-don't-run fella who votes his cultural values above all else -- or "Bubba," as Steve Jarding and Dave "Mudcat" Saunders affectionately call him in their book, "Foxes in the Henhouse." Start looking on milk cartons for Bubba because he has vanished, and not a moment too soon: The Democratic obsession with the down-home, blue-collar, white male voter, that heartbreaker who crossed the aisle to the Republicans many decades ago, may finally be coming to a merciful end.

Read more

A note on Liberals

I found this passage from a Slate article by Charles Taylor to ring true:

"Liberals have an unfortunate tendency to confuse compromise with corruption, to mistake the ballot box for the confessional and assume the choice made therein should leave our souls clean. (That's why so many of us have gone off the deep end and voted for Nader.) The challenge the Clintons have always posed to liberals is the challenge of growing up and realizing how things get done. "

Rudy calls Dems "Party of Losers"; Biden Responds.

So, I thought Rudy was trying to make the case that he is most electable and will draw Democratic and Independent votes. Well, calling Democrats "losers" is probably not the best way to do that. Senator Joe Biden, who I think has been the most aggressively vocal critic among the legitimate contenders in this campaign, responded forcefully. Well done, Senator, Bravo.

Here is the original story in the USA Today.

Salon covered Rudy's comments on their War Room page.

I certainly like the way Senator Biden has been on the attack, and his voice has been strong in the debates, especially on Foreign Policy. Has he come on too strong? What do people think? It's tough to cut through the crowd on that stage, so at least it gets him noticed and demostrates the power of his convictions. I think the real challenge for Biden is to break through the perception that he is really just the top candidate for Secretary of State in the next Democratic administration.

The GOP and its struggles with the English Language

You know, the fact that many Rebublicans say "Democrat Party" instead of "Democratic Party" is a pet peeve of mine. My friend Rob chimes in in his usual amusing and insightful way on his blog, Captain Oblivious.

So, it's come to this. Anyone surprised?

Last Friday, the Washington Post published a story discussing Senator Clinton's cleavage.

Keeping tabs on how the MSM (mainstream media) treats the first woman to be a major party frontrunner could be a full time job, and would probably drive me nuts.

During Monday night's CNN YouTube Debate, Anderson Cooper let a 'regular American' do the dirty work for him and ask how the leaders of Muslim nations, where "women are second class citizens", are going to take a woman president seriously during things like diplomacy and negotiations (Ask Madaleine Albright about that, who as Secretary of State actually did the job. And yes, I did not mention Condoleeza Rice).

And, if you like to read about candidate wardrobe (remember the stuff about Al Gore's earthtones in 2000?), the NY Times weighs in.

Interesting interview with Elizabeth Edwards.

I really admire her for speaking up and confronting Ann Coulter recently on MSNBC's Hardball.

She also speaks up in favor of marriage equality.


Here's her appearance on the Today Show a few weeks ago.

Georgia on the verge of executing an innocent man

The state of Georgia is about to execute an innocent man:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1643384,00.html

Thankfully, a 90-day stay has been issued:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/07/16/davis_0716.html

Will "Bloomberg's Folly" elect another GOP President?

Having observed Mike Bloomberg from just across the river for his entire political career, I have a hard time believing he will run for President just for the ego trip and his need to get rid of large sums of money.
He will have to beleive he can win.
Well, the Times recently profiled the guy who is working on that.
The article mentions that this guy, Kevin Skeekey (who has done a great job for Bloomberg so far, really) has an associate, Korrine Kubena, who just became a top aide to Karl Rove.
Now it starts to come together! Here comes Rove again, with a way to insure another GOP victory: get a liberal to run a third party campaign (preferably someone with billions to spend), siphon off a large chunk of votes from the Democratic nominee (20%?) and presto: President President Fred Thomson!
Rove must be chortling and rubbing his hands together in finest evil guy fashion. Bloomberg's possible ambitions present a much more promising scenario than getting Ralph Nader to run again in the hopes of a Florida-redux.
I can only hope that Mayor Bloomberg comes to his senses. Does he have any relationship with the Clintons? Perhaps Bill needs to pay him a visit and urge him to spare the nation another idiot President ala Bush.

Olbermann Calls for Resignations

In the wake of"Scooter-gate", Keith Olbermann of MSNBC delivered a strongly worded call for Bush and Cheney to resign:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588942/

Nixon must be rolling over in his grave over what bush can get away with (or will he?)

Hillary Spoofs the Sopranos

In announcing her new campaign song today, Hillary Clinton unveiled a 'Sopranos'-spoof video. See it for yourself on her site:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/.

I wonder if my friends at the Sons of Italy are going to take her to task for "offending Italian Americans." As one, I certainly am not; smart way to leverage a cultural phenomenon.

Back in 2004 I asked friends to share with me favorite campaign songs, or ones that should be, for a mix/itunes playlist I sent around. I will have to post that here and talk about Hillary's new song too. This might seem like a trivial thing, but as a former advance person, I know how important it is to set a theme at an event with music. One of my fondest campaign memories took place on election eve, 1992 at the Meadowlands arena, listening to a live performance of Sam Cooke's classic "A Change is Gonna Come."

Back to Hillary: I was lucky to be able to attend a Hillary event here in NJ on Monday night. (The song they used was "Suddenly I see", not the Celine song that won the contest and was announced the next morning.) I wanted to see if I could absorb some enthusiasm for the Hillary campaign. (I haven't decided who I am supporting yet.) There were lots of young people there working as volunteers (all women, how great!), and many of the folks I talked to were quite passionate in their support. One up and coming NJ operative who was there, however, referred to the Clintons as old and tired and relying on calling in favors for support.

I need to post an entry here about Susan Estrich's book, "The Case for Hillary". I just finished it and I am near-convinced.

Another interesting topic for discussion in a future post: What role should President Clinton have in this campaign? What role will he have?

What Happened to Camille Paglia??

Camille Paglia has lost it.
Have you been reading Camille Paglia's columns on Salon? Seriously, I ignored the early critics of these columns as rants from haters, but now I see for myself . . . can Ms. Paglia still consider herself a feminist? Where does all this hate come from? I think we on the left need to stop paying attention to people like this (she is on her way to becoming Christopher Hitchens!) Can you imagine how the world would change if we elected a woman president? Yet, here she is foaming with hatred for Hillary. Al Gore has done so much to advance the issue of global warming, but here she is, not only insisting he ought not run for president, but accusing Gore of HARMING the environmental movement?!?!? Yeah, because it was going so well before his book and movie. Did Exxon and Halliburton send flowers, gifts or cash in thanks? "Basta", enough, as my nonna would say.



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Fred Thomson's 'Red Truck' a sham!

Media Matters has the truth behind the 'folksy' Fred Thomson and the 'Red Truck' he 'drove' around TN for his Senate campaign.
It was a rental, and he didn't even drive it!
Read more: http://mediamatters.org/items/200706020001

What does a girl have to do to get excommunicated? | Salon.com

Good piece from Frances Kessling



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compact fluorescent light bulbs

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL's). you know what those are right? The energy saving bulbs that look like this (photo on the right),


and we are all urged to start using them to help save the planet. Basically, they use much less electricity and will reduce carbon emissions significantly. If you saw An Inconvenient Truth, it was on the list of things you can do to help slow global climate change. Now, I always hated the quality of the light from these things, having seen them in hotel rooms in the early 90's, and my dad bought one for his house a while back when they were huge and expensive. However, I was game to give them another shot. We signed up for 'Green' power last year, my wife bought a hybrid Civic, and I thought replacing the incandescent bulbs in our apartment would be a good next step. (Incidentally, when my wife suggested we replace our bulbs right after we saw the movie, I insisted that the light was horrible, and 'vetoed' it.)
I had already replaced the bulbs in our hallway with CFL's. Light quality out there was not so much a concern, and I was tired of having to replace them all the time anyway. I did lots of searching for some bulbs I might like. Maybe if they didn't have that serpentine tubular shape, they would look more 'normal'? I found these at Lowes:

(The one on the left.) It's shaped like a normal bulb, and the package claimed it had a more 'natural' light. Installed them into the ceiling fixtures in our office/workout room, and then in the kitchen. Sadly, a colder, more bluish light than the previous bulbs. Also, they do take a few minutes to warm up and come on at full power. But, I was willing to live with it, to help assuage my guilt about power usage. Interestingly, my wife finds them annoying now.

OK, so I read this goofy article in the Washington Post about the gender issues with CFLs. I tended to agree with the Broadsheet article on Salon that mocked the Post for the fluff piece that threw around lots of gender stereotypes. Interestingly, the Brian Lehrer Show on Thursday had some info that had me second-guessing. Apparently, according to Gary Gordon, biologically, women usually have greater color perception than men, and that may be why we see stories about women allegedly objecting to these light bulbs more than me do.

So, I guess this is further evidence of the fact that I am a sensitive, Alan Alda-type man. I certainly noticed the difference in the quality of the light. I always hated looking at myself in the bathroom mirror where there was only an old fashioned fluorescent lamp above the sink. EVERYone looks bad in those mirrors. Those lamps lack those nice red tones from the warm part of the spectrum that make us look human.

Bottom line, though: Using these new CFL's, which aren't nearly as harsh as those old lamps I remember, is worth it. It cuts way back on the electricity needed to light the room, and that just makes sense environmentally and economically. Perhaps the companies developing these bulbs will come up will bulbs that produce a 'warmer' light eventually. That, I believe, will get more people to use them.
If anyone has come across a brand of CFL's that does that effectively, please let me know.

Here's a helpful guide from environmental defense.org

This guy reviews a bunch of bulbs: http://members.misty.com/don/cfapp.html

What about LEDs? They may be the future: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/05/11/ap/strange/d8p1ud183.txt

Funny campaign ad for Bill Richardson

Take a look at this new ad from the Bill Richardson campaign. It uses humor to try and drive home his campaign theme that he has the White House-bound resume.

What do you think? I've always be a proponent of ads that cut through the typical campaign ad clutter to get noticed. Back in the '97 NJ Gubernatorial campaign, Michael Murphy got lots of notice for his outside-the-box ads where he zipped around the state in a mini-van with kids asking questions.

Clerics for Justice in South America

Great story this morning on NPR about Catholics in Brazil fighting to save the rainforest from exploitation and agitating for Justice.

"The opposite of poverty is not wealth – it is justice. And the objective of liberation theology is to create a more just society, not necessarily a wealthier one. And the great question is, how do we do this?" - liberation theologian, Leonardo Boff.

"Morality is not just about sex. Morality in Jesus' mind means social morality, solidarity, responsibility, ethics – that is morality. And you cannot go to communion on Sunday, and on Monday destroy the forest. It is against the law of God." -Father Edilberto Sena

What's in a logo?

A discussion on the design of Presidential campaign logos.




I remember an op ed in the Times in 2004 that destroyed the Kerry-Edwards logo and 'predicted' victory based on logo designs in Presidential elections. I took issue with the author's conclusions at the time, but then again, he did predict the "outcome" correctly.

It may seem petty, but I DO think that there is something to be said for good design in politics. Every opportunity to convey a message needs to be utilized, and with two full years to 'brand' a candidate, maybe effective logo design does have impact.

Frivolous? What say you?