Right Wing Response: A Weekly Roundup

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Was the Palin pic too realistic? Newsweek is catching flak for not retouching a cover photo of the Alaska governor and Republican V.P. candidate because they have supposedly gone out of their way to make Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama look good. Apparently (and you have to see the magazine in person to notice) Palin’s showing too many wrinkles, pores and facial hairs.

McCain got mixed reviews from right-wing bloggers after last night’s debate. Conservative blogger John Hawkins surveyed the responses and came up with three general categories: those who thought McCain barely won, those who thought the debate was dull and did nothing to help McCain, and those who were mortified by McCain’s housing bailout.

Community organizers with ties to Obama may sound more like racketeers to some. Following the raid upon the Las Vegas headquarters of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) on suspicion of voter fraud (allegedly registering the Dallas Cowboys’ starting lineup), Modern Conservative blogger Brad O’Leary wrote a piece digging into the organization’s shady history and its ties to presidential candidate Barack Obama. Here’s an organization, he writes, “that was beyond knee-deep in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failures which have riveted our economy.” Socialism is still the great evil.

But don’t overreact! A guy in England claims he was shot simply for wearing an Obama T-shirt. I had to include this. It’s a reminder that politics are just the rules we create to ensure our disputes get settled peacefully (if loudly). Ignore the law and violence becomes legislator.

Nobel Prize Committee Members Not Always Noble

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

October marks the advent of autumn* and the approach of Halloween. But since 1901, it’s also heralded the annual announcement of Nobel Prize winners.

The five categories under the prize umbrella are those of peace, chemistry, physics, physiology and medicine and literature.

This year, Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, the Nobel committee awarded the prize for physiology and medicine to French researchers Luc Montagnier, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and German scientist Harold zur Hausen.

The former are credited with discovering the human strain of the AIDS virus, the latter with proving the “papilloma virus causes cervical cancer.”

Controversy has often surrounded the Nobel Prize and its originator, Swedish dynamite creator Alfred Nobel, and this year’s share centers around two of the aforementioned physiology and medicine winners.

(more…)

Daily News Round-Up: Eat the Rich* Edition

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Wednesday's Markets, New York Times

WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on down, folks! Take a ride on the awesome-super-cool-fun MARKET MADNESS ROLLER COASTER!! Go around the world! From Iceland to Italy to Russia to Brazil to Japan, I can guarantee this will be the ride of your life!

(FYI, Russia halted trading again today. Evil Empire? How about floundering joke?)

The Fed cut rates this morning, to keep up with the ‘Peans. Funny how in times of crisis, it’s every man (or, land, I should say) for itself.

So, what do we do in times of crisis? Strike up the violins, my friends! It’s almost Halloween!

MarketWatch, bastion of economic news that it is,  has this helpful guide to wearing the right Halloween costume for your shape.

They are also taking the time to tell you that chocolate milk is the “official” drink of Halloween. Hm. They must be talking about children, because this is usually the official drink of my Halloween parties.

The Kansas City Star has a step-by-step guide to creating a Joker costume, so I’m going to go ahead and recommend that you find something a little more original (hee, hee! Cute!).

Oh, yeah, right, news: there was a debate. It was kind of a let-down. But *ahem* it looks like we might have a winner

Better news: Crackberry addicts, there is a cure for your iJealousy! Research in Motion will be birthing its own touchscreen bundle of joy, available by the end of the year. Will a newborn crackbaby save RIM in time for Christmas?

By the way… just gotta say: all the Reps out there (and a bunch o’ Dems!) who have been giving Bush a pass for eight years? If you were quietly thinking to yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Well. I hope you’re happy.

*before they’re all gone

Debate Analysis: Off The Deep End

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

A few notes about the debate last night:

1) McCain needed a win, and he didn’t get it. Most  post-debate polls pointed to a clear Obama win, and on CNN — still using those absurd blue and red circular scorecards — even the Republican strategists handed it to Obama.

2) McCain still hates earmarks. Tagged at about $18 billion of the nearly $3 trillion total federal budget, they are — to risk understatement — inconsequential. Sure, $18 billion is a lot, but at a time when the government just anted up $700 billion in bailout money to maybe halt the country’s economic meltdown, the federal deficit has doubled to $10 trillion in the last eight years, and the war in Iraq alone is eating up $10 billion a month – earmarks barely even register. That, of course, didn’t stop McCain from attacking Obama twice for voting for a $3 million overhead projector for a Chicago planetarium. Wow.

3) McCain: “I’ll get Osama Bin Laden, my friends. I know how to get him. I know how to do it.” Well, I’m sure that’s news to George Bush. And Bin Laden. One wonders why he hasn’t suspended his campaign to do that yet.

4) My favorite part of the debate: Shortly after criticizing Obama for announcing that he’d be willing to launch unilateral attacks into Pakistan if Pakistan refuses to take out al-Qaeda camps or Bin Laden (advising that America needs to carry a big stick and walk softly), Obama points out that McCain was the one who — among other notable gaffes — sang ‘Bomb Iran’. Watch how quickly McCain’s body language changes — hilaaaarious (c) Dave Chappelle/Nick Cannon.

Afterward, McCain tried to explain himself by pointing out that it was a joke shared with an old veteran buddy of his. Wrong wrong wrong, wrong wrong again (I know…) — check out the video below:

5) Oh, and the New York Times released a remarkably blunt editorial taking the McCain-Palin campaign to ask for descending “into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia.” All in all, not the best time to be a McCain supporter.

This piece was originally posted on Matt’s blog.