Five Before Chaos

Yes, as you first watch this and have to put up with the really bad theme song, you’ll probably be thinking WTF? But it’s freakin’ hilarious. Enjoy.

As it finally winds down, a word to the die-hard Clinton supporters. Your candidate did not lose because she was a woman. She lost because she ran a shitty campaign, took a lot of bad advice, and to many of us, she represents exactly what has kept the Dems in the political wilderness for the last 25 or so years. So think about that for a minute instead of blaming it on sexism, as you do a great disservice to the cause. That’s not to say that there was not sexist things being said (or racist things on the other hand). She WAS the frontrunner for a long time, remember, and the media bought into and pushed that line for a long time, too. Some of us don’t support Hillary because she’s a pandering corporatist DLC hack, gender is not even a factor. Whining about how it was “stolen” from here when it was never hers to “steal” in the first place is dumb and dishonest.

The Toronto Globe and Mail has an excellent rundown on what I’m talking about.

I try my best not to watch the pontificating DC punditry for many reasons, mostly because they’re completely full of shit, and I hold them largely responsible for the dumbing down of our politics. But David Gergen actually said something brilliant (and sadly, naïve) the other day regarding what Hillary should be doing about those racist hicks in Appalachia:

“She should say, “If you want to vote against him because he’s black, I don’t want your vote… She’s never had redneck votes before in her life, there’s no reason she can’t take the high road.”

Sorry, Dave. There is a reason. She’s Hillary Clinton. “Taking the high road” doesn’t factor into anything she does. Video here.

It’s funny how nobody wants to just come out and say there’s a lot of racist hicks there. This idea that “working class whites” won’t vote for Obama doesn’t jibe with the facts on the ground. Thank Godless for Jon Stewart. You gotta see this:

Just to let you know, it’ll probably be a bit light here at FBC over the next week or two. Lots of construction projects to finish, firewood to be harvested, and I started grad school this week. So bear with me and keep stopping by. In the meantime, have a look at this great Olbermann piece on Clinton’s continual moving of the goalposts. Here’s to hoping that today puts the nail in her coffin, although I’m not too optimistic on that account.

Fridays at FBC usually mean laziness, in that a lotta YouTube action ends up happening. Just couldn’t pass up this silly video that all three candidates played on the WWE wrestling show. Hiilary called herself “Hillrod”, possibly an allusion to the fact that she’s screwing/giving the rod to the Democratic Party. Obama said something about a smell… But McCain’s is undoubtedly the funniest, in that he sounds like such a crotchety old man that I was expecting him to wave a cane and yell, “Get off my lawn, you gawdamn kids!”, and then immediately fall out of his rocking chair.

Friday Nite Funk… with Muppets! coming up later tonight. Alan Keyes is stopping by tomorrow.

Just doing my part and sharing the love….

It’s so comforting to know that one of the most important issues facing the country isn’t Iraq, or the economy, or global warming, it’s whether Obama thinks his minister loves America. Oh, and flag pins. We will just feed poor American kids lots of flag pins and everything will be okay after that. Send some to the dead Iraqi kids too, while yer at it. I will indeed sleep well tonight.

Overheard in one of the many blogs taking about the substance-free “debate” tonight:

“How much does it cost for engineer brain?”

“Three dollars an ounce.”

“How much does it cost for programmer brain?”

“Four dollars an ounce.”

“How much for journalist brain?”

“$1,000 an ounce.”

“Why is journalist brain so much more?”

“Do you know how many journalists we had to kill to get one ounce of brain?”

These extraordinarily chaotic times we live in make whomever’s going to be the next president’s job a difficult one, not to be envied; global warming, Iraq, the imploding economy and cleaning up the endless pile of all the other shit Bushco’s done. So of course there’s no shortage of issues for them to be talking about (which, ultimately, even though Obama’s got it all but wrapped up, makes a lot more sense than constantly trying to attack each other).

The latest outrage, about Cheney an other top-level people micromanaging torture in the White House basement (chronicled here by Froomkin at the WaPo) is yet another biggie that will probably go unpunished, when we really should be putting together a good old-fashioned firing squad at this point (note to Secret Service – I’m not going to be on the firing squad or put it together, so move along).

It is so apparent that so much has been going on and this hard-on for torture permeates the administration so deeply, that what I want to hear from the Dem candidates is some reassurance that they’re going to not only purge the cloud of torture from the White House/CIA/DOJ, but they’re going to hold those people accountable, even if it means charging them with crimes and putting them on trial. And it should be one of the first things they do, too. This issue is just as important as the economy or any of the other big ticket items out there, it’s just that the WH and the more-than-obliging MSM have somehow managed to numb the country from any sort of outrage. It’s time for someone to fill that leadership vacuum ASAP, but I’m not holding my breath.

The camera doesn’t lie, does it?