Apparently he’s the new go-to guy in this daft Presidential election. Of course, it shows how out of touch I am that when I saw Tito was the headline act I found myself wondering quite how Yugoslav politics had become an issue. Then I realised that it was the lovely Sarah Palin who’d been talking
I’m indebted to Nathan Origer for drawing my attention to a fascinating event at the University of Maryland: Subject : Provost’s Conversation: “Re-presenting Disability: Million Dollar Baby, Tropic Thunder and Anti-National Sexual Positions” When : Monday, October 06, 2008 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Where : Stamp Student Union : Charles Carroll Room Event Type(s)
Airport security? A complete joke. This has been apparent for some time, of course, but all the “security theatre” nonsense at least makes it seem as though something is being done. And that is the important thing, isn’t it? The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has a good piece demonstrating just how pointless the mania for “security”
Yes, I would vote for Barack Obama rather than John McCain. But that doesn’t mean that one expects too much from an Obama administration. Consider this startling passage from a speech the candidate gave in Toledo last week: I also believe that Treasury should not limit itself to purchasing mortgage-backed securities – it should help
Now I may have actually heard it all. Ralph Peters offers an unintentionally hilarious tour round the globe predicting famine and pestilence and death should Americans be mad enough to elect Barack Obama next month. Apparently America will be fatally weakened and the world will fall apart. I mean, you do realise that Obama will
Blimey: Obama’s September fundraising explains why he’s been able to outspend John McCain so widely: He raised over $150 million in September alone, adding 632,000 new donors. At some point it becomes difficult to actually spend all this cash. Hence reports of Obama advertising on country music stations in Miami or on video games. Anything
OK, this is from the Sunday Times so the usual weekend caveats apply. But a) this story does seem to be confirmed by official sources and b) it turns out it isn’t actually April 1st: Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans
The government wants to crack down on smoking – “denormalise” it is a favoured term – so it hands out cash to anti-smoking organisation such as ASH who use this money to fund a project called “Capitalising on Smokefree: the Way Forward” which in turn, it seems, is a response to a government consultation on
Turbulent times in the Dreher household: Ramesh Ponnuru, seeing parents in his neighborhood encouraging their kids to be Obamatons, rightly says he doesn’t get people who delight in politicizing their children. Completely agree. For some reason, though, my two boys — ages nine and four — are crazy for Barack Obama, and have been for
It’s too late now, of course, but there’s at least one head of state Sarah Palin has something in common with. King Carl Gustaf XVI of Sweden who has just come out in favour of shooting wolves. Bonus: Sweden’s moose-hunting season opened last week, and moose – or elk – hunting is increasingly popular amongst
So here we go again, campers. In just a few hours our long international nightmare will be over. Yup, there’ll be no more Presidential debates to entertain us. John McCain and Barack Obama are even now limbering up for their final tussle. By way of a prelude, I’d recommend reading this pre-debate symposium at Culture
Tee hee: The journalistic industry is perilously close to collapse after running out of days in the week to dub ‘black’ in the event of dire economic news. Financial journalism has virtually frozen up after last week’s so-called ‘Black Friday’, which exhausted the stock of slightly varied clichés. Reporters were close to panic last night
Who won? Well the lads and lasses at Election Debates have a decisive, if split, decision: 5-2 to Obama. You can check out their adjudications here.
Though publishing it does feel a bit like piling on, this picture – an actual, real, Reuters photograph – does sort of sum-up the campaign. Your suggestions for a caption please! UPDATE: Commenters point out that this was McCain pulling a deliberate “Doh!” type of face having initially tried to wander off the set in
I’d been meaning to blog about the Canadian elections but then realised that, dash it, despite Canada actually being an interesting place stocked with charming, affable people I really didn’t have very much to say beyond, “hmm, Canada is having another election”. The BBC evidently thought so too since the elections didn’t make the 10
Michael Gerson today: Obama’s current success is not enjoyable for conservatives. But this does not make McCain an incompetent. Maybe he is a great man running at the most difficult of times. Gerson’s thesis is that McCain was doing well until the financial crisis intervened. Perhaps. Certainly there is polling evidence that can be cited
Meanwhile, there is good news from Latin America. Cato’s Juan Carlos Hidalgo reports that the President of Honduras is the latest Latin American leader to call for an end to the “War on Drugs”. Argentina and Mexico have made similar noises in the past. Some of this, for sure, is because the continent is turning
And so, weary campers, the end is in view. Tonight’s debate is the third and final tussle between Messrs McCain and Obama. A victory on points won’t help Mr McCain; it’s far from certain that even a knockout defeat can really hurt Mr Obama. Anyway, I dare say I’ll try and live-blog the thing again.
In 2004, George W Bush “won” the Ground Game. This time? Well, every indication is that Barack Obama has built a vastly more formidable organisation than John McCain. To help give readers a sense of what’s happening out there in the field, I’m delighted to say that super-smart Democratic operative “Josh Lyman” is going to
A classic theme from Ronald Reagan in 1984. And, of course, an ad designed to drive trades union members into an apopleptic fit.