The Swamp: McCain paints Obama’s portrait

Wed 05/14/08 at 9:16 am

peace, mjh

The Swamp: McCain paints Obama’s portrait

Defining one’s opponent is a key task of any campaign, and simply put, McCain has had a long head start. As early as Feb. 12–the day McCain and Obama each won primaries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. — McCain suggested Obama was guilty of hollow promises and a messianic self-image.

“To encourage a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people, is not a promise of hope,” McCain said, alluding to Obama’s speaking skills and campaign theme. And in another jab he added, “I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need.”

Unlike McCain, Obama has been fighting a two-front war, trying to beat back an onslaught from Clinton while taking opening shots at McCain. Recently Obama has started focusing more squarely on the presumptive Republican nominee, attacking his positions on the war and the economy.

But because of the long, bruising Democratic campaign, McCain has gotten an early jump. Day by day, week by week, McCain has been portraying Obama as inexperienced, self-entitled and effete, a candidate coddled by a loving press corps and lacking the judgment necessary for the highest office in the land.

It’s a line of attack likely to last through the fall election.

“We’ll make the case that Barack Obama is a wonderful new voice selling old, discredited ideas, including the most massive tax increase since Walter Mondale ran for president,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior McCain adviser. “It’s a combination of weakness, not being ready to be president and not being able to deliver on the things he says he will deliver on.”

The Swamp: McCain paints Obama’s portrait


The Ordeal

Sun 05/11/08 at 2:29 pm

It has been a long 10 days of ordeal.

On the last day of April, I drove to Chaco. I hoped that the predictions of terrible wind would keep the crowds away. It is always windy in Chaco. On one occasion 10 years ago, the wind ripped out all the screws that held one of the canva sides of our popup camper. Years before that, I had to set a tent up as a storm approached. I didn’t have time to stake it out, so I threw everything plus myself into the tent just before the storm hit. The tent blew so much I expect to wake up in another campsite. With the experience of more than two dozen trips over 20 years, I believe I have never experienced wind as bad as this latest trip. Damn! The drive in was a vision of the Dust Bowl, as the dust quickly moved from a lovely pattern swirling  a foot above the road, like vapor over ice, to a complete brown-out with no visibility beyond my windshield. In the campground and everywhere else, the wind scoured every surface like sandpaper. It was fierce. And it got cold. Two weeks after the last frost date, it got down below freezing one night.

Of course, it’s not a pilgrimage without some adversity. Even with almost no hiking, no wildflowers (no rain this year) and long hours in the camper or driving around, Chaco is still my Mecca.

Not twenty-four hours after my return from Chaco, I came down with a cold. The timing was terrible in that I wasn’t sick enough to realize I should cancel dinner plans with friends, so they also got sick a few days later. Merri, too, was sick during this time. Rarely are we both sick at once. While this was in many respects a minor cold, it lingered more than a week and it ruined sleep for both of us.

With nothing better to do, I decided to wipe out one of my computers and install the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. Thus began a nightmare that lasted 6 days and ended just an hour ago when I rolled everything back to the way it was on Cinco de Marko.

The unexpected crisis that ensued from my worse-than-useless desktop peaked late Thursday. Merri and I were both at our limits from the combo of sickness and sick computers when we went out to the Cooperage to see the Asylum Street Spankers of Austin. In spite of the service and the shockingly mediocre but expensive food, and, in spite of the recurring sound system problem, the show was truly delightful. The Spankers are political, acerbic, and great musicians and entertainers.

That was the turning point for me. Not only were music and laughter great tonics, I was actually reassured by the problems I saw around me with the service, the kitchen, the sound system. These were not *my* problems and the show goes on, regardless.

Yesterday, I taught my last class of the semester at UNM Continuing Education. I dreaded teaching all day long on Saturday, especially after this week. But the subject was Advanced (X)HTML and the students were enthusiastic. The first hour or so of the class was the best classroom hour I can remember. It is fitting that I just completed my 20th year teaching at UNMCE (an event unmarked by them).

Now, eight days later than expected, I can begin to post some pictures and my Chaco journal and an account of my battle with Vista-64. Soon. peace, mjh


Republicans Aren’t Learning

Sun 05/11/08 at 2:22 pm

Have you seen the commercial in which Steve Pearce puts Heather Wilson with Tom Udall as — gasp! — a liberal? Heather a liberal? That just fucking nuts, Steve. Still, it may be having some effect among Republicans because Heather has responded with a commercial identifying herself as an effective conservative. Of course, the hardcore sees “effective” as synonymous with compromising which equals weak and impure, so any suggestion that she isn’t willing to burn this village to save it may cost her votes.

It’s great to see two Republicans slash and tar each other — it’s a blood sport we don’t often see and further evidence that the Republican party is *doomed* this year. Still, it’s heartening to see them cling to old and no longer effective tactics.

Meanwhile, dim Darren White says he doesn’t want to see health care being managed by the same bureaucrats who screwed up after Katrina. LOL! Those Bush appointees will be gone soon, Sheriff, back to their old jobs at Madison Avenue and the Oil Industry, pockets stuffed with whatever they can loot before then. peace, mjh


Watch Out for Symbols and Analogies

Mon 05/05/08 at 1:32 pm

This reminds me of the piece on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, in which Seth Meyers reported that Hillary compared herself to Rocky Balboa, who was “a washed up fighter ultimately beaten by the charismatic black guy. “peace, mjh

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP

Hillary Clinton enthusiastically picked a filly named Eight Belles to win the Kentucky Derby and compared herself to the horse. Eight Belles finished second. The winner was the favorite, Big Brown.

Eight Belles collapsed immediately after crossing the finish line, and was euthanized shortly thereafter.

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

PS: The slaughter of Eight Belles was tragic, especially so soon after Barbaro. This is a vicious “sport” akin to boxing or ultimate cage fighting. Sickening.


Well Put

Sun 05/04/08 at 11:27 am

It’s too bad Huckabee is *dangerously* religious. peace, mjh

Huckabee says Obama’s former pastor needs him to lose - International Herald Tribune

“His (Obama’s) campaign is not being derailed by his race, it’s being derailed by a person who doesn’t want him to prove that we have made great advances in this country,” Huckabee told reporters.

Wright has claimed AIDS was created by the U.S. government to kill “people of color” and that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were spurred by the United State’s “terrorism” against minorities at home and abroad.

“Jeremiah Wright needs for Obama to lose so he can justify his anger, his hostile bitterness against the United States of America,” Huckabee said. [mjh: Therefore, Vote for Obama!]

Huckabee on Obama, Wright: ‘Cut some slack to people who grew up on the back of the bus’ | Political Insider

“As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say ‘That’s a terrible statement’ — I grew up in a very segregated South.

“And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you — we’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie, you have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant, you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.

“And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment, and you have to just say, ‘I probably would, too.’”


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