Gone Fishing Again

Yeah, it's that time of year when I temporarily flee the country (on vacation, I mean, of course.) I'm a bit bummed that this year's trip coincides with the DNC, just because I'm a big enough geek that I'd actually enjoy some of the speeches. And this time I'm probably not the only one who will be following it with something approaching actual interest. Well, you know, it's the climax we've been building to since -- well, since Dubya was re-elected, basically.
But hopefully it will show up on the Canadian news now and then, too. It's kind of hard to ignore us Yanks and our crazy antics, for good or for ill.

3 AM...

... has really been a key player in this election so far. That's when Obama's text message finally rolled in, 12 hours before his speech with Biden in Springfield, Illinois.
An ironic take on the 3 AM phone call -- perhaps a message to supporters that we ourselves need to stay vigilant as well?
(As a hopeless night owl, I actually was still just turning in when I heard the phone, but I don't know how many other East Coasters caught it.)
Or was it just that reporters had discovered the Secret Service agents dispatched to Biden's house and the story was appearing online, so the Obama team had to send it out in a hurry so supporters couldn't complain that we weren't in fact "the first to know?"
I guess I was among the first to know when I read the A.P. story on Yahoo, but I wish I'd gotten the message first. But that's what happens when you get reporters worked up into a lather like that. I'd personally thought the message would go out Friday, but I guess they didn't want it hashed over too much before the speech.
Well, it was pretty close, anyway.

And just as I was posting that...

... AP updated their story to add that Bayh has been eliminated.

OK, so it's Biden, barring some huge surprise.

Well, good for him. It's going to be a fun eight years with him in the mix. And productive, too, I think. He wasn't in my original top 3, but then I hadn't realized he was still in contention, so my bad. Maybe I'll have better luck with the McCain pick. But games aside, I think he's a good choice. And as far as the verbosity issue, I guess the low-key profile he's been keeping lately was a sort of probation period to see if he could do it, and he passed the test.

Well, now I can sleep in a bit.

The Veep-Watch goes on... and on...

So he's going to make us wait until tomorrow morning.
I guess I'll have my phone by the bed.
I can't believe how incredibly clever this text-message strategy was. And I'm not even much of a texter, nor exactly a bonafide Obamamaniac until this point. It's just that lure of instant knowledge. Whatever staffer came up with that plan should get promoted.

And it looks like Kaine is out, so, unless there's a big surprise, we're looking at Biden and Bayh. And Biden seems to be everyone's bet. Well, I like the guy, notorious verbosity aside. In fact, his personality is more appealing than Bayh's, in that he has more of a personality. He's a bit of a "character." And his foreign policy creds are impeccable. He would be such an asset on that front, like Cheney was to Bush but without all the Sith lord/ f-ing stuff up parts.
However, Bayh seems more steady, less apt to steal the limelight, less apt to make a verbal blunder that the other side can pounce on. And, yeah, his support for Hillary did endear him to "us."

Although I must say, on the subject of "us," I feel a strong need to distance myself from supporters like the one who was interviewed on Neil Cavuto's show today, seeming wildly distracted and almost unhinged with suppressed rage. They're talking about causing a scene at the convention. I'm sure there's a reason why only Fox News is interviewing these people (yes, there are men as well, thank goodness.) But this is the last thing we need (women -- and Democrats -- and particularly women Democrats.) In the name of sanity, not to mention unity, Hillary needs to discourage this. Seriously.

But, yeah, moving on -- as we all must -- I guess I'll just wait for that wake-up call tomorrow.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, RIP

I can't believe I almost forgot to pay my respects.

This woman will truly be missed.

The Barbara Walters School of Sportscasting

I admit to having enjoyed the trend toward focusing on more "human interest" stories in Olympic coverage, back in the early '90s when it first began, but now, like all "human interest" journalism, it's getting out of hand.

Instead of waiting for the athletes who didn't fare so well in their events to calm down, take a shower, have some Gatorade and sit down for a few minutes to philosophize about how they'd done their best and were just excited to be competing in such great company, how they'd keep on doing their thing and may well be back in four years, losing athletes are now cornered immediately after their crushing defeat with a microphone shoved in their face, and are asked humiliating and almost soul-crushing questions, like "How does it feel to know that you've worked for this all your life, you came to the semi-finals as a gold-medal contender and then, having let your place in the finals slip away through some careless error, will not be able to compete, thus breaking your mother's heart and betraying your country, and now that you are old and washed up with no chance in 2012, you may as well go drown yourself in the Yangtze?"
OK, I'm paraphrasing. But not by much.

And then there's the close-up, waiting for the tears. In bygone days, the camera would politely turn away after the first tear fell, but, no, these days, it waits about a minute, until the poor 16-year-old diver has apologized about three times for breaking down on camera, while the correspondent makes sympathetic noises but does not remove the microphone from its position shoved in the poor girl's face.
For the third time, she's just -- sob -- happy to be here.
Isn't there an opening for these journalists in election coverage?

Text Me, Barry

I was starting to fear that working in a para-journalistic field was starting to take its toll on me in the form of a growing addiction to instantaneous information, but it's even worse than I thought. Just stick the news wire in my veins.
Because I have just sold out my cell phone # and will now be receiving who knows how many paid-for-by-me messages about the Obama campaign over the next couple months, just so I can be among the First to Know who his VP choice is.
All I can say is, it better not happen while I'm sleeping.

By the way, his announcing that he's made up his mind while campaigning in Virginia makes Kaine look likely, but on the other hand, it could simply imply that he's spent enough time with Kaine now to rule him out. I'm going to stick with my guy Bayh, but Kaine is looking strong right now. He has the economic chops; Virginia is a critical state; and Obama may try to go for the "two fresh, young outsiders" approach and just focus on highlighting some more experienced Cabinet picks.

But, OK, I'll stop speculating and try to get some sleep. Is that reindeer hooves I hear? Or just campaign surrogates? On Blitzer, on Cavuto, on Brzezinski and Mitchell... Oh, gosh, this is bad.

Veep-mania!

I don't think the pundits can wait much longer, guys!
Choose a VP already, one of you, at least. We're hearing words like "frenzy," "fever pitch." They're getting a little antsy.

So, according to this AP story, only one of my top 3 VP pool picks for Obama has survived to the final round, Evan Bayh (my #1 pick) and Pawlenty and Romney for McCain.

I'm going to stick with Bayh (formerly Hillary's man in Indiana) and Pawlenty (my #2 for McCain.) The funny thing is that the two kind of look like brothers, or at least first cousins from a distance, so in a way they cancel each other out. Both seem safe choices.

I like the idea of Johnny choosing a pro-choicer (even if we're talking the likes of Ridge and Lieberman) but I think in the end he won't have the courage to do it. I think Romney would be a mistake, although I could be surprised.

Back to the Dem side, I like both Biden and Kaine and would be happy with either. Kaine would give us "crab cake" region folks some attention and Biden, himself a DelMarVite, is kind of goofy but entertaining and way smart.

I admit, as a former Hillary gal, that Sebelius may not go down so well with "us." Not fair to her, perhaps -- perhaps a bit sour grapes of us, but, you know, so it goes. Actually, I'd prefer Claire McCaskill, but she's a bit too newbie still.

We shall see... for the pundits' sake, I hope soon.

The Troops...

... apparently feel they would be better supported by the Democratic candidate this time.

Now, that's journalistic dedication

Georgian TV reporter carries on with her report almost immediately after being shot by a sniper while discussing the arrival of humanitarian aid in Gori.

The sniper bullet grazes her; she goes down; and moments later is sitting in the van rather calmly discussing it.

More Promising Research

... for drug addiction -- futuristic and only slightly scary in its implications.

All in all, the future looks bright, although someone somewhere is writing a new dystopia as we speak. Cynics don't believe in dystopias, unless you count reality. (But maybe I need my coffee.)

Catharsis

Is that what we want?

Am I still part of "we?"

Well, in a small way, I suppose. So maybe.

But is there any point?

Furthermore, is it good for the party, the country, to go through such an exercise?

And has Hillary really been reading her Sophocles?

Faking It

This is so sad. Imagine what effect this poorly conceived idea on the part of China's powers-that-be will have on that little girl's self-esteem, the one with the beautiful voice who was told she just wasn't pretty enough to go on stage.
This, after the fireworks scandal and rumors about some of their gymnasts' ages, may not be the impression China is trying (a bit too hard) to project. In fact, it may just end up reinforcing some of the world's existing trepidation.

The Intricate Dance of Nature and Nurture

from Newsweek, on parenting and DNA

McCain's best hope with evangelicals...

... is, according to this Time article, apparently to try to convince that demographic, who have been less than enthused with his candidacy, that Barack Obama is the Antichrist. Literally.
It seems a little far-fetched, for an ad claimed by the McCain campaign to be simply "creative" and "humorous," like the Paris Hilton ad which has gotten much more attention so far, although this one has been aired more often.
But after reading the article, and remembering a little of the evangelical mindset/imagery, and then watching the ad for the first time, I think folks like Tony Campolo, the Democrats' highest-profile evangelical supporter, are right to be alarmed.

CIA Official Says Cheney Probably Behind Forged 9/11-Iraq Letter

And why exactly are there still only two or three renegade House Democrats calling for his impeachment?
We're talking about forging a document in order to start a war, in which thousands of American lives and thousands more Iraqi lives have been lost, as well as those of our allies.
Even if the proof isn't conclusive, isn't it compelling enough to investigate? Especially when it's only one in a list of other things that already have been proven (see post below.)

A Good Use of the Venn Diagram

from Slate:
Mapping the Bush administration scandals.

Good Comeback, Paris.

Who says she can't act/ read a TelePrompter?
Better than some people, anyway.

It would be funny if "her" energy plan became the new gold standard in this election.

An Unsolved Mystery

What they call "Amerithrax" (apparently -- I hadn't heard the term until I read this article) and the suicide of Bruce Ivins as the FBI closes in.

Those poor House Republicans: They held a filibuster in the dark...

... and nobody came.

Although we can't be completely sure of that, since C-SPAN was long gone, too.