Next week will bring DC’s primary for the DC City Council. Washcycle, impressively enough, was able to get most candidate to respond to his question on cycling issues. Check it out. For a perspective beyond cycling, check out (my increasingly regular read) Greater Greater Washington.
(And to my former classmates that occasionally drop by here, yes, that’s the same Cary Silverman.)
Republican Lynn Westmoreland described Obama thusly, today:
“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.
Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,†Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.â€
Just an innocent word that us mean old liberals are using to unfairly paint the Republicans as the home racists, right? Ha.
Lynn Westmoreland hails from Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District, which starts in Atlanta’s southwestern suburbs and heads over to the Alabama border. There is no ambiguous use of the word “uppity” there. It’s the sort of word that starts something that can often end in violence. And when he was given a chance to retract it, good ol’ racist Lynn Westmoreland pressed it home. He can add this accomplishment to his resume, right there with opposing renewal of the Voting Rights Act and being one of two House members to vote against H.R. 923, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007 (a bill that would have reopened hate crimes cases from before 1970).
And we wonder why people think the South is full of racists.
Former (finally!) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has wasted an enormous amount of Detroit’s time and money, gets four months in jail and a million dollar fine. Not sure if that’s enough, really, but I’m glad to see him finally swept away.
Apologies to anyone who tried to post comments and had them either held in moderation or rejected entirely. I had to turn on the heavy moderation earlier this week after getting a deluge of comment spam, and 1) I’ve never really paid attention to comment moderation functions before, so I was a little sloppy (locking someone people out entirely), and 2) I’d completely forgotten I’d done that until I was just reminded.
So, umm, fixed now. And thanks for the conversation.
Obviously the speech wasn’t aimed at me, and it isn’t exactly something an undecided would listen to and say “You know, what? That there’s a smart woman who’s really going to get things done.” Nor was it really aimed at any (of those few, those proud, those lonely) principled Republicans who are concerned about government spending, foreign policy, etc (If you have two brain cells to rub together, you already know she’s lying about her earmark opposition – certainly you’re not dumb enough to believe that she’ll be any more honest once in office). So what was that all about, then? I’ve been exchanging notes with a smart friend about this morning, and she boiled it down:
The culture wars are back.
Nothing much to say about that, really, other than that I believe she’s dead on.
Other takes worth perusing include James Fallows’ deconstruction of the speech. I think Andrew Sullivan’s observation that:
the GOP reflects some of the most ADD elements in the culture. There is no sense of accountability, no real pretense that anything is for much more than the present, and reality is constantly shaped to fit the demands of the micro-news-cycle.
is really quite important. If that’s what wins political races, we’re really screwed. Personally, I just can’t go down that path. But we have a major political party that seems to exist for little more than paving it. Sullivan also tips us off to this example of it:
So you have Mitt Romney — one of the wealthiest men ever to run for office — critiquing east-coast elitism, and Mike Huckabee — who is an economic populist in disguise — critiquing big government, and Sarah Palin — who voters don’t know one iota about — critiquing Barack Obama’s biography.
We can point and yell about hypocrisy and intellectual bankruptcy all we want – but it doesn’t matter to them. You can’t win people over with concepts that are meaningless to them. There are vast swaths of Virginia, right now, where people went nuts over this speech. Finally, someone just like us! Yup. Just *like* you.
A day late, and low hanging fruit, I know. And they’re not even covers! But I just can’t help myself.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMBTUYZeHPk[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn4-2qMErgM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt7W6a_gQSM[/youtube]
Certainly are a bitter and defensively angry bunch, aren’t they?
(Mostly, it’s just amusing as a show. But Mitt’s call for holy war, and the ensuing roar was a little disturbing, I have to say.)
(Did Rudy just say that “This is no time for on-the-job training”? Really?)
To review: kids aren’t props, until they are.
(Ack. Did not plan to make this a live blog. Otherwise you’d be hearing all about how creepy it is that Todd Palin can’t seem to hold his own kid.)
Palin, angling for the beanie baby vote.
Mom’s up on stage, the 6/7 year old is plucking the baby’s eyes out. Where you at, dad?
It’s easy to manage a state swimming in cash (makes you wonder why they had to keep coming to DC to ask for money, though).
Does that “energy independence” come with honesty? No? Drill here, sell here? Does that work for you? No? Huh.
(is this really the convention that was mocking someone for being tacky? have we seen these crowd shots?)
Speaking of the death tax – something interesting about Sarah Palin will be the fact that she almost certainly isn’t as rich as the circles she’s just been thrust into.
In Minnesota? It’s called the DFL. You’d know that – if, you know – you got out more.
I watch this, and I try to contemplate what it must be like inside the head of the folks yelling and cheering here. I think it’s a pretty fearful place.
A journey of personal discovery? You’re about to discover just how far out of your depth you are.
The do get points for getting under my skin with this mocking of “community organizer” thing. Community organizers exist, you self serving fucks, because people like you can’t be bothered to do anything for anyone but yourselves.
Vote Tracy Flick ’08!!!!!!111one111!!!!
Final (stolen) observation: Palin said that the difference between a hockey mom and pitbull is lipstick. I say that applying lipstick to a pig still leaves you with a pig.
Next.
(Okay, one more. Don’t know who, but someone on MSNBC just observed (without irony) that Palin didn’t talk about reproductive rights, because the men took care of it already.
At 8:50pm EDT, the Associated Press has already reported on the delivery of the as-yet undelivered speech by Sarah Palin. Not a preview, but a report:
Palin mocks Obama; McCain claiming nomination
By DAVID ESPO – 42 minutes ago
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Claiming her historic place on the Republican ticket, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin mocked Barack Obama’s experience and promise of change Wednesday night and pledged to help John McCain upend the Washington establishment.
You’d think they’d put skills like that to better use, no?
Nope, musn’t talk about Palin’s daughter at all. Not at all, I say!
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