Look, Senator McCain, you made a mistake. You said the surge happened before the Anbar Awakening. You were wrong. And yet, you can't admit it:
Democrats jumped on his comments. They said McCain's remarks showed he was out of touch, because the rebellion of U.S.-backed Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq's Anbar province was under way well before Bush announced in January 2007 his decision to send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.
McCain asserted he knew that and didn't commit a gaffe. "A surge is really a counterinsurgency made up of a number of components. ... I'm not sure people understand that `surge' is part of a counterinsurgency."
Oh, for the love of God, the "surge" was the addition of new troops. That's what everybody meant during the debate about authorizing it, and what everybody has meant during the year and a half since.
Does John McCain think the American voters are really this stupid?
You know, I liked McCain in 2000. In 2004 as well. But this latest example "F straight talk" has gone beyond ridiculous to just plain pathetic.
Senator McCain, simply put, you are making a fool of yourself. Please stop while you're behind.
Greetings from the great city of Austin in the great state of Texas. Any city named after a bionic man is okay by me.
I'm down here for the Netroots Nation conference (nee, "Yearly Kos"), along with 3,000 or so of my closest friends from the progressive blogosphere. Had a great time yesterday, giving a presentation to the assembled masses (or at least, a portion thereof):
I won't go through the whole schabang (but feel free to email me if you want a copy), but the bottom line was... don't focus just on teaching people, focus on reaching people. Get creative. Get humorous. Have some fun. Do whatever you can to draw them in, so you get the chance to get them to listen.
Following my own medicine, and realizing there were at least a dozen competiting panels at the same time, I the only sensible thing I could -- I purchased a few hundred mini chocolate bars. And stood outside the entryway, enticing people to come in.
Net net? The place was packed. 5 cents worth of chocolate drew in folks for an hour-long speech. And you know what? We had a hell of a lot of fun in the process (and a hell of a lot of chocolate).
As I often like to say, human beings are basically well-dressed monkeys. Looking for a way to draw them in? Don't overthink it -- just come up with a "banana." Or in this case, chocolate.
(This is how the presidential election should be decided. That would rock - promoted by John Hlinko)
Okay, this is not a joke. Really, it is not a joke. According to Time Magazine:
"The matches work like this: competitors alternate between three-minute rounds of boxing and four-minute rounds of speed chess with one-minute breaks in between to get the gloves off and hunker down at the chess table. The winner is determined by knockout, checkmate, or referee decision."
What next? "Calculus-jousting?" "Iambic-pentameter judo?" Who knows, but... I like the trend. It's completely insane -- and yet, I can't help but wonder what took so long...
Am I crazy, or... is this a pretty big deal? 9 Republicans voting for impeachment hearings?
From Ralph Lopez, over at Daily Kos:
In a stunning development which fell with the silence of a feather yesterday, 9 Republicans broke with their iron-fisted party to put country first, and voted to send Rep. Dennis Kucinich's article of impeachment HR 1345 to the Judiciary, where Chairman John Conyers will hold a hearings on abuses of power by the Bush administration, according to the Congressional Quaterly's CQToday. Ten Republicans abstained in this critical moment, while only 5 Dems did. The vote was neck and neck at many moments, with "Nays" pulling ahead twice.
That being said, if you're an Obama supporter, don't mistake this to mean you can slack off. The above prediction is based on the assumption that Obama supporters will be much more motivated and hard working than McCain supporters.
Net net -- it looks good. Real good. But... only if you work your asses off.
Okay, so Borat was one of the most disturbingly funny movies ever, but... looks like Sacha Baron Cohen might be onto someting even funnier:
Lured by $1 beer and the prospect of "hot chicks" and "hardcore fights," thousands of Arkansans were duped last month into appearing as extras in comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's latest staged mayhem. Cohen and his confederates organized cage fighting programs on consecutive days in Texarkana and Fort Smith. Both cards ended with two male grapplers (one was identified as "Straight Dave" and wore camouflage) tearing each other's clothes off and, while in underwear, kissing down their opponent's chest. This man-on-man action triggered Fort Smith fans to throw chairs and beer at the ring, according to one cop present at the city's Convention Center.
You really do need to read the full story on this one, it's hysterical.
Okay, so I really do like SNL. Seriously, I think it's gotten a lot funnier the last few years, with the videos being one of the big reasons. Along with Fred Armisen, of course, who is a genius.*
So here I was, getting ready to insert one of those videos here ("Dick in a Box", specifically), when I realized it not only had been removed from YouTube, but that the version on the NBC site offered no embed code. That is, no easy way for schmo's like me to give them free publicity.
Now, I'm sure NBC is thinking that such embed codes would enable people to watch the videos elsewhere, rather than come to the SNL site. But... they need to stop thinking about it as content, and recognize it more for what it really is -- getting others to basically run your ads for you. I mean, after watching the video here, what would the average viewer do? You got it -- click over to the SNL site to see more.
And seriously, note to NBC -- YouTube offers embed code, and it's got a $15 billion market valuation. Call me crazy, but maybe the YouTubers actually know what they're doing when it comes to online video?
So, okay, I'll include the link here, because it's so damned funny, but... if they actually had an embed code, I'd post about a hundred more. Sigh...
Greetings from the great city of Austin in the great state of Texas. Any city named after a bionic man is okay by me.
Okay, so Borat was one of the most disturbingly funny movies ever, but... looks like Sacha Baron Cohen might be onto someting even funnier: