Completely Unnecessary

I’m still mystified by the Palin choice.

But at least it’s clear what the Republican line is going to be.

Both Kristol and Dean Barnett out of the Standard have columns about how the left is going to try to ‘diminish’ Palin. They’re trying to get out in front of what are the obvious criticisms of Palin so they can say, “See? We knew the Left would do this!”

They’re also setting expectations low - both have comments about how she’s bound to screw up on the campaign trail - in the hopes that all she’ll have to do is turn up and bring in the Clintonistas.

Kind of reaffirms my point about her just being ‘another vagina’ when die-hard Republicans are promising stuff ups on day one.

It’d be nice to think that the Clinton holdouts are too smart for that. But given the fact that some pro-Clinton women appear set to cut off their abortion rights to spite Obama (otherwise known as cutting off your fallopian tubes to spite your face), I’m not so sure about that.

John McCain will screw you nearly as fast as you’re screwing yourselves, ladies…

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about some vice-presidential history.

Dan Savage pointed out last week that the choice of Biden vaguely resembles the selection of Lloyd Bentson for Michael Dukakis’s 1988 run against G.H.W. Bush. Bentson was a witty, Washtgton insider - a choice designed to prop up the young, dashing man at the top of the ticket.

And, wow, what a depressing electoral map that produced. (Eclipsed only by 1984’s abysmal results…)

Here’s hoping Obama doesn’t get into any tanks in the next two months.

I think Biden’s a bit better than that - again, I can’t wait to see that debate. (Bentson’s opponent in the veep debate was, of course, Dan Quayle, to whom Palin is already being compared.)

Biden is ridiculously charismatic in a way that I think Bentson was not. (Truth be told, I’m not based that on much aside from my complete lack of knowledge about Lloyd Bentson. I looked up that election because I couldn’t remember who was on the ticket with Dukakis.)

Biden also lives in the YouTube era, where videos like these exist:

And I have to back up Ezra Klein’s support for Biden for this gem alone (this is Klein’s quote followed by the clip video he posted):

Giuliani, of course, took umbrage, and said Biden lacked foreign policy experience. This led to my favorite YouTube of the campaign, in which Biden dismantles Giuliani, live on television, while walking to his car. [emphasis original]

I laugh out loud every time I see Biden’s face at the end of that.

I’m coming around on the Biden choice, especially versus Palin.

Anyway, this is mostly a post to get rid of some of the links I’ve had hanging around in my browser. [Going to finish the clean up job with some hysteria/sexing up over at The Age tomorrow morning - and then I can close Firefox!]

Vaguely Related

• Palin as VP on Republican Ticket
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Okay, I’m just as shocked as you are.

More actually - because my internet’s been down all day, so I texted a friend this morning to see who it was. Her response of ‘He chose that woman. It came out of left field’ left me thinking it was obviously Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

I had predicted last night that it’d be Hutchinson if McCain couldn’t stomach Mittens. Hutchinson makes sense - she’s a strong conservative, rallies the south, etc. So I didn’t rush into uni to get up on the papers. I watched some West Wing; I cleaned the bathroom. I had more or less prepared my blog post on the topic.

So, sorry if this is stream of consciousness but… SARAH PALIN? The scandal-ridden, first-term governor from a state with three electoral votes?

That state is ALASKA, which is currently in the middle of the craziest election season ever seen. Stevens just got indicted, almost assuring a Democratic win of his Senate seat. Don Young is currently in the fight of his life in a primary against Palin’s Lt. Governor, Sean Parnell. (It’s unclear to me who will actually be running the state at this point.)

As for Palin, she’s embroiled in a scandal (currently being investigated by a legislative panel) regarding the her state trooper ex-brother-in-law. Namely, that she wanted him fired, but settled for the public safety commissioner when he refused the task.

My blog post about Hutchinson was going to question whether Clinton supporters would view the selection of a middle-aged, experienced woman as a craven bid for their votes. But, man, I don’t know what they’re going to think now.

Seriously, the thing that sticks out most in my mind about Palin is Wonkette’s continual reference to her as a GILF. (That’s been updated to VPILF by a website that, as Chris points out, created ‘an abbreviation we definitely weren’t missing’.)

Palin’s an anti-choice, social conservative. That’s going to play well with the Republican base, but the people they’re trying to lure over aren’t going to be impressed with that. She’s got a record of being anti-corruption, but is now tainted by her own alleged impropriety.

Selecting a woman (this woman at least) is actually bad for the McCain campaign. With so little to recommend her except for being a woman, it just looks like the pander it is. Worse, it makes the McCain campaign look as though they think ‘any old vagina’ can act as a stand-in for Clinton.

It also allows the Democratic Party to directly contrast the two. The ’she’s no Hillary’ ads should be in production, if they’re not already on the airwaves.

Unless Palin has some political kryptonite I’m not aware of, this is the most bewildering (if not insane) choice I’ve ever seen.

My god, Biden’s going to eat her alive in the veep debate.

Unless McCain is counting on Biden to go easy on her because she’s a girl. If the Democrats are smart, he’ll go after her on all cylinders. She’s not Clinton, which means the press is more likely to view any weakness under attack as a sign that she’s unfit to lead.

I really wish I’d come in sooner or felt like drinking earlier in the day (most of the internet cafes near my house are actually internet bars).

Wow. Sarah Palin. To give McCain his due - I definitely did not see that coming.

Vaguely Related

• This Week’s Historical and Vice Presidental Detritus
• Navigating the Sarah Palin Daughter Pregnancy Scandal

Okay, look - I’m not one of those people screaming at the media at the moment. I don’t think Clinton lost because of sexist treatment - though it certainly didn’t help.

This blog, however, has been like a treasure trove of unflattering pictures of HRC. See yesterday’s post, por ejemplo.

So, why - why, is this run now?! (And you can click on the pic for a larger version)

“Now, in her diminishment…” she finally gets a good picture?

I don’t want to sound like a feminist conspiracy theorist, but there’s something odd about the lovely words and images poured forth upon a woman who’s finally stopped being too brassy.

I mean, I’ve seen The Philadelphia Story. Katherine Hepburn learns to be ‘yaw’ and then everyone loves her. It’s a great movie.

But there’s also a reason for that.

NY Magazine Table of Contents

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Here’s the lede to a NYT article run the other day about the media’s potentially sexist treatment of Senator Clinton during her presidental campaign:

Angered by what they consider sexist news coverage of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, many women and erstwhile Clinton supporters are proposing boycotts of the cable networks, putting up videos on a “Media Hall of Shame,” starting a national conversation about sexism and pushing Mrs. Clinton’s rival, Senator Barack Obama, to address the matter.

And here is the picture they ran (and, considering that I saw it on HuffPost today, continue to run):

That is a sloppy screen capture, I apologise. I feel I should also say…

For realz?!?!

Though, I guess what better way to give that extra bit of meta f-you to Clinton than to show a picture of her boobs in the story in which you pretty much of blow off those charges of sexism.

Nice work.

Then again, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann called Katie Couric the “Worst Person in the World” for backing up the Clinton campaign, so I guess there are worse things.

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I haven’t had a chance to watch Clinton’s concession speech yet, but I hear from all sides that it was wonderful.

With Clinton formally out of the race, at least the press will stop gender-tagging/bashing her:

With Clinton no longer in ‘08 waters, the race for women voters heats up as the McCain campaign senses an opportunity to convert Democratic women who might be upset with the way their gal was treated. In speeches, McCain has been making a play for the frustrated Clinton supporters.

Or not! Jesus, they’re frustrated because they’ve seen a sitting Senator described as a ‘gal’ for 16 months.

I’m sure you guys think I go looking for this stuff, but I really don’t. This was just a Google News story that I clicked on when my browser opened.

Meanwhile, ABC is also running an exteremely long quote from an article by Politico’s Jonathan Martin (I thought the journalistic convention was no more than 25 words). An excerpt reveals a hilarious, though unsourced, belief apparently running around the McCain campaign:

But in doing so, they’ve already raised the question of whether McCain can maintain his upbeat warrior image while running an uphill race covered by a press the campaign sees as biased, and against an opponent for whom the candidate can barely conceal his contempt.

Hey, there’s that underdog meme we’re going to be hearing until November. Passed on without comment by the press, who totally, totally hates John McCain and in no way swallows old thing he has to say.

And that’s just page 2, but I have 2500 more words to write today, so…

Obama Vs McCain: A New Electoral Map Emerges [ABC News]

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They consist of capers, Bacardi Gold (god love you, Shawn), Michael Clayton (maybe, haven’t watched it yet), and George Orwell. They are all I’m doing tonight, and for a good portion of tomorrow.

And sleep.

Everyone always jokes about the grad school lifestyle - we’re always so tired, ha ha ha. It’s funny because it’s not really true. Grad school isn’t that hard. Mostly we drink at the Corkman a lot.

But for the last two weeks, I have lived the dream. Violeta had a question while we were coding today, and I laid down on the floor while we rehashed whether or not ‘boat people’ counted as members of the public (or some such thing). I fell asleep and missed half the question. Then I fell asleep at the desk timing John Howard speaking, stopwatch in hand.

So then I did that for about six more hours and then worked on things that were due yesterday for another four. One drink at the bar pretty much sufficed.

This weekend = no study, no gender, and certainly no goddamn media theory. My students are suffering - they have essays due on Monday - but I am taking the weekend off on their behalf. My bear blanket has never looked so good.

I’m a history loser, so my free time will be spent rereading Homage to Catalonia (which, if you haven’t read, is amazing - George Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War), but I plan on doing nothing productive.

Nothing.

For those of you who read this blog for news - and I seriously question your judgment - here’s a remake of Clinton’s 3am ad at which my spiteful and mean sense of humor (or perhaps fatigue) had me crying with laughter today:

I still really like the ’something’s happening in the world,’ but also wonder who on Earth at MSNBC taped her for so long?

Video via Wonkette

Vaguely Related

• This Week’s Historical and Vice Presidental Detritus
• Russian TV Explains the Pennsylvania Primary

Well, one of the most tangible differences between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama appears to be flying out the Rotunda window:

Congressional Democrats are backing away from healthcare reform promises made by their two presidential candidates, saying that even if their party controls the White House and Congress, sweeping change will be difficult.

It is still seven months before Election Day, but already senior Democrats are maneuvering to lower public expectations on the key policy issue.

Well, I guess it’s back to deciding whether you’d like the white lady or the black man again. Good luck with that.

I think Wonkette put it best yesterday when they said:

A formerly “energized and optimistic” Democratic Party finds itself bored and frustrated with two candidates who can’t seem to win and can’t seem to lose.

Link:
Dems hedge on healthcare [The Hill via Wonkette]

Vaguely Related

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This clip has everything!

• American voters condescendingly explaining to a foreigner that both Democratic nominees can’t win the nomination! (0:11)
• The Russian reporter implying that our country might devolve into a second Civil War! (0:30)
• Voters calling Clinton a bitch and imitaing that horrible face the press is always publishing her making! (1:00)
• Voters having trouble negotiating the voting booth drapery! (1:20)
• A grumpy lady in a loud blazer who just. can’t. walk. away… (1:30)
• Political kitch collecting in your basement (just like my uncle)! (1:48)
• A white woman and a black man described as ‘unusual people!’ (2:10)
• The Bill Clinton memorabilia you’d hoped never to see (2:19)
• Clinton writhing going on and on and on (2:30)

Enjoy (except the last bit, which might make your eyes bleed…) :

Via GoogleNews

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• Just When You Thought It Was Over

Or, rather, one picture that’s been floating around the Internet for a long time now.
I really just hate this more than I can say (which is why it only gets a thumbnail). It’s racist and sexist at the same time… (and a friend of mine has it on his myspace profile. Boo.)

Who do I stab for this?

Vaguely Related

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From Mark Halperin at Time’s The Page:

• Michigan’s 156 delegates would be split 50-50 between Clinton and Obama.
• Florida’s existing delegates would be seated at the Denver convention—but with half a vote each. That would give Clinton a net gain of about 19 elected delegates.
• The two states’ superdelegates would then be able to vote in Denver, likely netting Clinton a few more delegates.

Everyone’s now looking to Obama, since this is about the best deal Clinton’s going to (should) get.

Last week I was saying that it was too soon for everyone to be clamouring about the end of this primary race. I may have changed my mind on that. It’s after March 9, right?

(Confidential to Barack Obama: please help everyone stop embarrassing themselves on a daily basis.)

[via Wonkette]

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• The Endorsement You’ve Been Waiting For*