Quote du Jour: Sean McCormack

from today's State Department briefing

We've got seven months -- or six months left, 193 days, I think -- something like that. Not that I'm counting.

We're not counting, either, Sean.

On the Road to Nowhere

Poor Ted Stevens. He had it so good for so long.

My VP Pool

Guessing VPs and harassing contenders with pointless, repetitive questions and formulaic jokes on the subject has become the cable news talk shows' favorite pastime, so I may as well get in on the fun.
After my last two posts, I can't really claim to be blogging this election with any modicum of seriousness, so why not?

So, before McCain announces, in a vain attempt to steal Obama's overseas thunder:

McCain:
1) Jindal
Advantages: Young; energizes socially conservative base; not very tall; not white.
Disadvantages: Appeal with social conservatives may turn off independents.
2) Pawlenty
Advantages: Young; reinforces McCain's appeal to independents.
Disadvantages: Not from the South, where McCain needs the most help.
3) Romney
Advantages: Energizes Wall Street crowd; would pacify Rush Limbaugh.
Disadvantages: Too tall next to McCain; very white; not from the South.

Obama:
1) Bayh
Advantages: A peace offering to Clinton's people; experienced; centrist; wants it.
Disadvantages: No geographical advantage; just a bit too ambitious, perhaps.
2) Webb
Advantages: Military experience!; used to be a Republican; could deliver Virginia.
Disadvantages: Seems to prefer a Cabinet job that may be going to Reed or Hagel.
3) Richardson
Advantages: Hispanic vote; Western vote; amazing resume in all the right areas.
Disadvantages: May turn off some Clinton people; may drive racists to the polls.

Another one of those botched German-English translations?

Jelly doughnuts aside, it happened with Maliki, but then there was a third language involved there.
No, I'm guessing Angela knew exactly what she was saying ;)

Asked at a news conference on Wednesday what she thought of Obama, Merkel responded: "I would say that he is well-equipped -- physically, mentally and politically."

And apparently, Dubya's grand tradition of banal workplace sexual harassment of fellow world leaders may well continue into the next administration, if she has her way:

"That's not really up to me," she joked. "But I wouldn't resist."

However, she's retained enough sense of her gravitas as a chancellor to end on a coy note regarding Obama's Berlin speech:

"Maybe I'll turn on the television."

I bet she will.

But then, so will we all (OK, most of us, anyway.)

He's No Jelly Doughnut

Obama's speech in Berlin (the Big Three may as well admit this is why they came along, not for that "historic" Middle East leg of the itinerary.)
But I don't blame them. This is what we've all been looking forward to, a (would-be, soon-to-be, we hope) president we can be proud of, touching down on the Continent, where our old friends have been so disapproving of us lately. I can't imagine why.
And, no, Kennedy never really said that, either.

Test Your News IQ

from Pew Research Center:

Fun; just 12 questions. But, no, I didn't get a perfect score :(
Didn't do too bad, though.

She's done it her way.

Two very different kinds of performers, both in their 80s.
Tenacity doesn't begin to describe it.
As a woman no longer in the 25-34 yr. old marketing demographic, I am duly inspired.
Not that I can dance, or have a desire to professionally disrobe, but that's beside the point.
Death Valley Junction Dancer
Tempest Storm

The Lion Returns: Ted Kennedy's Medicare Vote

Genuinely moving, bipartisan moments like this are rare in the Senate.
And the vote was more than symbolic. It carried enough weight to convince eight Republicans to change their votes and pass the bill.

Christopher Hitchens Gets Waterboarded

from Vanity Fair:
Believe Me, It's Torture

I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

More from Zimbabwe's Sokwanele blog

Enough with the patronizing either/or, says this understandably highly annoyed blogger.

I love seeing dichotomies smashed.

Sy Hersh's Latest Scoop: Guess what, folks! We're goin' to Iran.

In fact, we're already there, says Sy. And our Congress let it happen, often without knowing what it was they were authorizing.
Reviled as they are, Cheney and company are still running the show, and they're making every last minute of their tenure count.

from The New Yorker: Preparing the Battlefield

Blogger Jane Hamsher & Libertarian Candidate Bob Barr Play Nice Over Shared Concerns

Thanks for the link, Mr. X, courtesy of The Economist.
The last two minutes made my day.

Mugabe's Calling Card

Rare, moving, and quite disturbing hidden-camera reporting from within Zimbabwe, with transcript, from Australia's SBS Dateline.

It's both inspiring and tragic what risks people will take just to place a vote. These are people who know the meaning of democracy, and want it desperately, and yet it is being brutally withheld from them.

Isn't there anything the international community can do to support these people?

Quote du Jour: George Carlin, RIP

from the Reuters story:

Carlin told Playboy in 2005 that he looked forward to an afterlife where he could watch the decline of civilization on a "heavenly CNN."

"The world is a big theater-in-the round as far as I'm concerned, and I'd love to watch it spin itself into oblivion," he said. "Tune in and watch the human adventure."

Iconoclasts everywhere are gonna miss this guy.

An Inside View from Zimbabwe...

... on the day democracy finally died there (if it wasn't dead already.)

from Sokwanele blog, which has been faithfully chronicling the whole catastrophic implosion of the country, including the gruesome violence of the past days.

Here's the AP story.

Quote du Jour: Semi-anonymous California Motorist

from Reuters:

U.S. motorists brave Mexico border violence for fuel

"It's worth taking the risk even with the violence," said a retired California engineer named Terry, who declined to give his surname, as he filled his red Ford pick-up truck in Tijuana, over the border from San Diego. "I know they could kill me or kidnap me, but the cost of filling my tank in the United States is just too much," he said.

WTF? I thought for a second I was reading The Onion. I've heard a lot of people bellyaching about the price of gas since it passed the $4 mark, and I've done some bellyaching about it myself, with good reason, especially knowing how little the oil companies are suffering in all of this, but saving $100 a month is worth the genuine risk (based on the recent travel advisory for border areas like Tijuana) of being kidnapped or murdered? Some people are just much, much braver than I am.

Tim Russert, RIP

As his colleague Tom Brokaw said, Russert's death came during a political campaign that he loved. He was recording voiceovers for Sunday's show when he collapsed.

He knew how to get a tough interview out of anybody. He will truly be missed.

NBC's Tim Russert dead at 58.

Susan Jhirad's open letter to fellow feminists...

... who were Hillary supporters and have been threatening mutiny.

from her op-ed in the Boston Globe

Quote du Jour: Bob Schieffer on Hillary's Swan Song

Well, since I never got around to that eulogy, I'll post Bob Schieffer's from his "Final Thought" on today's "Face the Nation." Bob always says it better than I can. I thought I wasn't going to cry, but the last paragraph made me a little sniffly.

Finally today, Hillary Clinton made the speech of her life yesterday. She showed a grace all too rare in modern politics. And she set the right example for the young people who have worked so hard for her.

The Clintons have not had much practice at losing. And, until yesterday, that showed, in a not altogether flattering way.

But yesterday, it all changed. She offered no excuses. Instead, she said the race was over; the time had come to unite behind her opponent, for whom she said she would work her heart out.

She told her followers that she had not run to be the first woman president but had been a woman running for president, and that, the next time a woman runs, it will no longer be so remarkable.

As the father of two daughters and three granddaughters, I believe she's right about that. She lost this race, but she has advanced the cause of women everywhere.

In life, we lose more than we win. Sometimes it is losing, not winning, that brings out our best. Yesterday Hillary Clinton showed us her best.

A little late, yeah, but...

... at least she finally did the right thing.
Now it's up to her supporters to do the same.
So much for a eulogy from me. Let's just move on.