I've already told my Facebook and Twitter followers this, but effective immediately, I'm going to be suspending my work on my Ph.D. in order to focus on the economy. The American economy is calling for a true leader to try to make things worse when people are trying to actually get something accomplished, and by Jove, I'm just the guy to do it.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing papers, doing readings, going to class, working with colleagues, meeting with my faculty adviser, or accepting my GA salary - but I might try to use my "suspension" to get out of an exam I haven't studied for.

But I'm really, seriously suspending my Ph.D. work. Seriously. You should take my picture while my Ph.D. is in suspension. Do it. Now.

Labels: John McCain, Politics, Republicans

If they shot this scene, I would buy the DVD. Why can't Aaron Sorkin just write television shows about Presidents for the rest of his natural life?

Labels: Aaron Sorkin, Barack Obama, Fun, Jed Bartlet

My dissertation research is focused on the Christian Right in the mid- to late 20th century... and a major figure in that movement - the one who in many ways put the abortion issue on the map for Christian conservatives - is Francis Schaeffer. He and his son, filmmaker Frank Schaeffer, made a series of film/books outlining what they saw as a grave threat to civilization - secular humanism. (This theme was later picked up by hacks and charlatans like the LaHayes; while I disagree strongly with Schaeffer pere, I have to respect that he had a first-class mind and I would have loved sparring with him.)

However, sometime during the early '90s, young Frank started to see the fruits of his and his father's work: a Christianity whose touchstones were fear, distrust, and resentment rather than faith, hope, and love. He converted to the Greek Orthodox church and, while remaining pro-life, has become a strong Obama supporter in this election.

Given his credibility as a major figure in the Christian Right, then, his most recent column about the Republican Convention is all the more worth reading:1

Dear Republicans: This election all Republicans who love America must vote for Obama. A vote for business-as-usual and a continuation of the Neoconservative/Religious Right/ party of corporate American alienation is a vote against America. As a former Republican activist, I appeal to your patriotism and honor.

This paragraph is particularly scathing - and, when you think about it, particularly true:

Take a hard look at yourselves. Play back this year's Republican convention and you'll see an all-white crowd of people screaming for offshore oil drilling -- fat lot of good that will do! more carbon! more polution! -- and essentially reacting like starved hyenas when presented with a piece of juicy carrion. At the convention Sarah Palin and others produced nothing more than a snide list of smart ass put downs aimed at the really dumb, with so little substance that former conservatives such the late William F. Buckley, for instance (let alone my late father) would simply have been ashamed to be in your company. You have become a hate-filled rabble proud of your ignorance and resentful of the rest of your own country, resentment that's exceeded only by your maudlin (and false) sense of victimhood.

There's more - including an excellent rundown of the current power base of the Republican Party - but I'll leave you to read it on your own. Enjoy.

1I must disagree with him on the origins of the Christian Right; from my research, I think it was based not in the nascent pro-life movement (which was originally mostly Roman Catholic) but in opposition to women's rights across the board, racial integration, and religiously-neutral public education in general. But that's a minor quibble of opinion in an otherwise all-too-truthful column.

Labels: Christian Right, Frank Schaeffer, Politics, Religion, Republicans

Tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Labels: Fun

Carly Fiorina, McCain campaign spokeswoman, ran Hewlett-Packard into the ground before receiving a nice, plush $21 million dollar golden parachute - the kind of golden parachute John McCain supposedly opposes. (I wish I could get 2.5 times my annual salary to suck at my job. And somehow corporate America runs better than government?) She thinks none of the presidential candidates, including her very own John McCain, could run a business.

Warren Buffett, not affiliated with any campaign (though he is notably pro-Democrat out of a basic sense of fairness and decency), is the world's richest man and perhaps one of the most successful businesspeople in American history. If anyone knows how to run a business, it's Warren Buffett - and he said in March that he'd happily put Obama or Clinton in charge of a business.

So who do you trust - the woman who took a successful computer company and crashed it, or perhaps the most successful businessman ever?

For me, the choice is easy.

Labels: Barack Obama, Carly Fiorina, Democrats, John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Warren Buffett

Apparently John McCain invented the Blackberry.

...which is funny, because his current cellphone is still one of these...

Labels: John McCain, Republicans

...the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator.

Mine is Jeep Pike Palin.

Post yours in the comments.

Labels: Fun, Sarah Palin

...and it becomes truth.

At least, that seems to be the Bush-McCain-Palin campaign's attitude toward truth-telling.

And she claims to be a Christian. What kind of Christian (a) tells what she knows to be a lie in the first place (unless her memory is really faulty, in which case we've got some other issues to talk about), and then (b) continues to tell that lie long after it's been demonstrated to be a lie? Should Christians be liars?

Just more of the same from Myth Alaska.

Labels: Republicans, Sarah Palin

See, here's the thing about vetting, Sen. McCain: When you don't do it, you can get fooled into thinking that your running mate is a person of integrity, when in fact she isn't.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

Okay, from here on out, I declare my rent to be "state business." And the beers I drank last night. And my iPhone. And my MacBook. And the yacht I just put a down payment on. You'll get this, right, Maryland? We cool?

Sure, what she did might be technically legal, but shouldn't Christians in public life have a higher standard than simply the letter of the law? Doesn't this violate the spirit of the law in every way imaginable?

Moreover, isn't this the same woman who claimed (falsely) to have sold the state's private jet on eBay? Sure, she's cutting back in government... except when it benefits her.

She's no reformer. She's no maverick. She's just another typical Bush Republican. Given that there isn't a single measure by which this country isn't in the crapper right now, can we really afford four more years of that?

Labels: Corruption, Republicans, Sarah Palin

...of John McCain's uncontrolled temper. Do we really want a guy who does this...

As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

Yep. You read that right. He pushed away the wheelchair-bound sister of a MIA. John McCain - who of all people should have the greatest sympathy for POW-MIA families - not only didn't have the time to listen to these families (who, according to the article, have found him less than supportive) but pushed away a woman in a wheelchair who was inquiring about her missing brother.

And this is a man who is asking to be put in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. If he's unhinged enough to physically threaten and assault a wheelchair-bound woman, what happens if he loses it in the Situation Room?

There are no checks on the President's power to launch nuclear strikes; if he gives the order, the chain of command is bound to carry it out. Do we really want someone this out-of-control to be the one person in the world with his finger on the red button?

Labels: John McCain, Republicans

Geez, can you get any more pathetic than this?

Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself to any tough questions from reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."

Davis assailed the way the media had discussed Palin and her family in the last week and said the campaign would wait until a less hostile media environment.

So when will she subject herself to questions?

"When we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it," Davis said, praising a Fox News Channel profile of Palin that ran last night.

It's utterly ridiculous. If Palin is so faint-hearted that she can't take questions from the press until they're nicer to her, how the hell do they think she's going to be ready to stare down the likes of Vladimir Putin come January 21, 2009? That's the job she's supposed to be capable of doing - stepping in for the President on day one should something happen.

If she's so afraid of those mean, mean people with cameras and notepads, how the hell won't she be afraid of people who can rouse armies or hurt our economy? The other nations of the world aren't going to wait until she's "comfortable" or until the environment is "less hostile" to challenge her should she be forced to take office; if she can't take heat from the press until the environment is more "comfortable," how can she be expected to take heat from the other leaders of the world?

This is just more evidence that John McCain has made a November 4 choice, rather than a January 21 choice. That alone makes him completely unfit for the position of President of the United States. Obama can't say it, but I will: It has become clear to any thinking person that John McCain cares more about becoming President of the United States than he does about the United States.

Labels: John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin

Democrats lose because we're too honorable. Instead of assailing our opponents' patriotism, we hold to the good-faith principle that the two parties both love America but have different visions for its success. We have a fundamental respect for the other side, and a fundamental respect for the truth - respect that the Republican Party doesn't seem to be interested in displaying.

And so, we take the high road and behave honorably, and they take the low road and continue to act without integrity. And they win - not because Americans believe in their agenda (they don't), or because they have better ideas (they have no ideas), or because they are better at governing (the last eight years should have disabused any thinking person of that notion), but because they cultivate attitudes of hatred and fear. They are demagogues, plain and simple - and while I would not have our party lower ourselves to their scumbag level, I do think that those who claim to be people of conscience need to be aware of which side is willing to engage in honorable politics, and which party is willing to ditch any notions of honor, decency, or integrity in order to win elections.

Now, I know I'm going to get some comments about how "Democrats do it too" - at which point I defy anyone to show me a prominent Democratic figure, to say nothing of the party's nominee, questioning the patriotism of the Republicans with the approval of the Democratic Party. Just one. I'd like to see it.

Let's disabuse ourselves of the principle of false equivalency and be honest: It is the Republican Party, and the Republican Party alone, who are willing to stoop to the level of questioning their opponents' love of their country. It is the Republican Party, and the Republican Party alone, who are responsible for the lack of civility in politics today. It is the Republican Party, and the Republican Party alone, who have violated the fundamental agreement of American politics, that one's opponents are patriotic and well-meaning individuals.

And anyone who claims to be a person of conscience who supports the Republican Party needs to take a deep look into his or her heart and ask, honestly, if he or she can continue to support a party without a positive vision, whose entire strategy this year is to foment hatred, mistrust, and fear of their political opponents.

Labels: John McCain, Politics, Republicans

If you watched the Democratic Convention last week, you saw a party that loves their country and the people in it, and wants to win an election by appealing to the people and calling for a new direction for the country. You saw a party that, while very clear about the differences between them and their opponents, has a positive vision for what America can become and a positive direction of leadership.

The Republicans, in contrast, have become a party of hate and contempt. They hate the Democratic Party and their standard-bearer, Barack Obama, and clearly think that the rest of the American people are too stupid to realize that the reason the country has been run into the ground is years of incompetent, morally-bankrupt, corrupt, and ideologically-unsound Republican "leadership." Their plan to win the election is to pour as much contempt on Barack Obama as possible and hope they can make enough people afraid of him that they'll stay home.

I sincerely hope that the American people will be smart enough to see through the Republicans' lies and amorality. I also sincerely hope that those who consider themselves Republicans will put country above party and call on their party to begin campaigning honestly on issues and ideas rather than on hate, contempt, and fearmongering. But mostly, I hope that those who have taken the Republican Party in this direction - including their presidential and vice-presidential candidates - go down to such ignominious defeat in November that their political philosophy is completely discredited and people of conscience retake the Republican Party.

Labels: Democrats, Politics, Republicans

...you're threatening to sue the National Enquirer.

What next? A suit against Mad Magazine for running a less-than-flattering caricature of Palin in this month's issue? Or will it be a suit against the Weekly World News for suggesting that Sarah Palin is also the mother of Bat Boy?

"Macabre" doesn't even begin to describe the circus this choice has become...

Labels: John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin

First, let me get something out of the way:

Things that are not any of our business:

• Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy

Thank you. Anyone who thinks otherwise can just bug off. No teenage girl deserves to have her problems broadcast on national TV, even if her mother is the Republican VP pick.

But there are some things that are our business regarding John McCain's irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin. For example, on the aforementioned story: Why did the McCain campaign claim that they knew about this pregnancy before they chose her, when Palin's own press secretary didn't know a thing about it two days ago? (If you think I'm undermining my first point, remember the words of the "Impeach Clinton" crowd: it wasn't the sex but the lying.) Another good question: Why did Sarah Palin belong to an Alaskan secessionist party back in the 1990s, and does she still sympathize with their "Alaska First" views (which would, of course, contrast with McCain's own "Country First" campaign)? Why did Palin have to lawyer up today in the Troopergate scandal in Alaska?

But those questions are all trivial and meaningless, really (except for perhaps the last one, which might indicate her willingness to abuse government power for personal vendettas... which isn't necessarily a dealbreaker in the Bush-McCain era). They're fodder for the bloggers and the talking heads for a few days, after which they fade into oblivion. The question we should be asking, the key to the whole thing, is this: why does all of this seem to be taking the McCain campaign by surprise?

If Sarah Palin were an applicant for just about any government job that's going to have access to the most classified information we have (as the VP has), she would have to go through an incredibly thorough, invasive, and stringent vetting process. She would have to list just about everyone she's ever known and anything that could even potentially be used against her. This isn't just to root out potential spies; this kind of background checking is done because people with access to that kind of classified information can be blackmailed or threatened if there are skeletons in their closets. It's for the protection of the country and the information, and I for one am glad that everyone with high clearance has been checked out by the appropriate government agency.

However, an applicant for the vice presidency cannot constitutionally be held to any standard other than that he/she be 35 years old and a natural-born citizen.

Thus, if the McCain campaign is putting "Country First" and not "Election First," as they claim, wouldn't they want to vet a person who would have access to the most classified information we have at least as much as an agency like the CIA, NSA, FBI, etc. would? Hell, even if they are putting "Election First," wouldn't they want to do that kind of vetting, as scandals like these could threaten to derail the candidacy?

What does it say about John McCain's decision-making ability that he would make this choice - which is, we should note, the first presidential choice a candidate makes, and perhaps the most important - without doing his homework? What does it say about his judgment that the decision appears to have been made before the candidate was vetted?

Most importantly - do we really want that kind of decision-making judgment out of the person with his finger on the flashing red button?

I sure as hell don't.

Labels: John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin

...really is a woman after John McCain's own heart:

"I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge.

But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." [...]

In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity.

Wow... she really is a maverick. To make the soundbite line of her speech a bald-faced lie, instead of the half-truths and bumbling "my friends" of John McCain, is truly mavericky and bold.

Is anyone over at Camp McCain doing their job? Come to think of it, is anyone in the national media - you know, the people who should be pointing out that Palin openly lied in her speech - doing their job?

Labels: John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin