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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Huck Ready to End It? (Update: Dropping Out Tonight)

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 8:56 PM

Our long national annoyance is over.

Ha, I'm being too hard on Huck. I don't care one bit for his economic populism, but he's been an admirably strong candidate and an uncannily strong communicator. Now, if we can just turn him into an economic conservative and get him communicating for us....

Huck wants to arrange the concession with McCain, but between accepting the Republican nomination, fighting with the Democratic nominee, and taking hold of the RNC, he may be busy.

Now, what kind of deliberative body might be in danger of tipping overwhelmingly toward the Dems this year and could use a GOP candidate in Arkansas, who would enjoy a job that involves mostly chatting with reporters and giving speeches?

Hmmm, Mike, I think you'd look all right with green hair.

Update: Fox reports that Huck says there will be no particular announcement tomorrow.

Update: Fox is reporting Huck will take the stage tonight to bow out.

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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Election-Night Fun!

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 8:16 PM

Torturing phone-bank volunteers: a time-honored tradition of American democracy.

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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

General Election Cheer

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 7:40 PM

Michelle Obama: Just. Keep. Talking.

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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

It Always Feels Like Somebody's Linking Me

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 1:16 PM

That cold breath on your neck, Barack? That lurking, dark presence tailing your campaign? It's our gal, Hill! Yeah, I'm hoping against hope, here, but I think she'll surprise in at least Ohio.

Bring on the "moral claim" to the candidacy, which would be a great strategy except that the Clintons aren't really entitled to claim anything preceded by the word "moral."

The Rush Plan backfires when Republican cross-over voters feel suddenly disenfranchised (though this story is so silly, I'm inclined to think it's a liberal reader exaggerating the story on the ground at the expense of Republican voters and to the great benefit of stereotypes of Republican voters).

Rep. Todd Platts of Pennsylvania has sworn off earmarks. Spread his name far and wide, as men like him are the foundation of our Republic. As this unsourced and possibly historically misattributed, but appropriate, quote from Andrew Jackson expresses: "One man with courage makes a majority."

"It is pretty pathetic."

Is Obama an empty rhetoritician and a liar on NAFTA?

Press finally asks Obama more than his favorite flavor of ice cream. And, as a faithful right-winger, I note yet again that Neopolitan is exactly the effete, European choice we expect from the most liberal member of the Senate. Any man who courts foreign favor in his choice of postprandial indulgences certainly doesn't have the stones to stand up to our enemies.

Apparently John McCain wrote a book? Must have been while the Straight Talk Express was parked at the Flying J last summer with no money to fuel it. Chili dogs, Doritos, and fresh-made waffles are brain food, don'tcha know?

No wonder Hillary's press coverage is in the pisser!

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Monday, March 03, 2008

The Idiot Anti-Smoking Brigades Become Increasingly Offensive

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 5:00 PM

Urging people not to smoke is fine. The people who populate TheTruth.com and its tactical brethren in other countries are likely driving more people to smoke than they save.

New Zealand's "Action on Smoking and Health" (Get it? ASH?) thought this might be a good way to encourage folks to get on board with a healthier lifestyle. At least the Truth kids aren't this bad:

Staying classier still, the copy reads: "Terrorism-related deaths since 2001: 11,337 Tobacco-related deaths since 2001: 30,000,000"

Here's where you can contact ASH to complain. Keep it as respectful as possible, even though they didn't afford 9/11 victims the same courtesy.

H/t Mollygood.

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Monday, March 03, 2008

Political Wisdom in Unexpected Places

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 4:40 PM

All right, fine, I read celebrity blogs. Let's get that out of the way. I am no different from the Cheeto-eating masses that clog their keyboards with snack-food dust while they comment voraciously on Britney's Cheeto-tinged antics.

Well, that's not quite true, but I do read them every now and then. I should have given it up for Lent, but they sometimes yield cool stories, like Angelina giving the neocon political movement that plump-lipped glamour it's been conspicuously missing.

This week, I found a couple of telling tidbits on celebrity blogs. Telling, mostly because if a political meme has filtered to celebrity news coverage, it's likely cemented in the minds of many an American. Thus, I present the celebrity blog take on Obama and his musical celebrity support videos:

I'm really glad I saw this video. I was struggling to find the right candidate for me, but thanks to the encouragement of a bunch of overpaid high-school dropouts and talking mannequins, I've learned that if you chant Obama's name over and over, something magical will happen! He's just like Candyman, only lighter!

Ha, my thoughts exactly! There's at least some aversion to the overblown change-worship of the Great Leader Obama out there, even among young people.

And, Hillary's uphill battle, from a great blog about celebrity hypocrisy, Deceiver.com:

How much money has Hillary spent on her campaign? Can’t she hire somebody who’ll do more than take whatever Obama’s saying and snottily reverse it? Have they tried “No He Can’t” yet? That’d wow ‘em. How about, “You can’t spell ‘Mama’s boy’ without ‘Obama’”? Nah, that one would probably get her in more trouble than she’s in already.
She could be right and he’s a big hypocrite, but I’m not sure I could stay awake long enough to look into it. He’s prettier and newer than she is, and doesn’t have a voice that makes you want to poke out your own eardrums with knitting needles, and it looks like that’s enough. Plus he’s better at the “How Dare You” game than she is. Oh, and also, she’s Hillary Clinton.

She's got a messaging problem (Have they tried “No He Can’t” yet?), a magpie problem (He’s prettier and newer than she is), and a Lady Macbeth problem (Oh, and also, she’s Hillary Clinton.)

The combination has brought us here.

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Monday, March 03, 2008

Link Another Manic Monday

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 9:43 AM

A little girl-band anthem for our gal Hill while she's teetering on the brink of failure, likely about to topple into the Gorge of Eternal Irrelevance.

Optimistic conservatives and Hillary supporters alike, though, can take heart in the reasoning that Tuesday is Obama's third try for a knock-out, and if he can't deliver, folks may have doubts about his ability to close. Maybe nice guys do finish last, after all.

Meanwhile, Obama praised one of his newest disciples, Jay Rockefeller, for having the incredible foresight to vote against Iraq War authorization. Which, would be a decent talking point, if you know, Jay Rockefeller hadn't voted for the Iraq War authorization.

Is Charlie Crist on Team Hillary, now? Between him and Bill Cunningham and Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, her endorsement list is more conservative than McCain's.

Anyone else miss Rudy? I do. Good to see him again.

Hey, just imagine how much influence SNL would have had on the race if there had been no writers' strike. God bless those unions, huh?

Hillary's getting mostly a bad rap for this "as far as I know" comment, as it comes on the heels of a long denial of the Obama Muslim rumors, but she could have been more robust in her denunciation of the rumor-mongers. Denounce and reject, Hillary. Denounce and reject.

McCain barely warrants a mention today in the press, but I'll try to come up with a story somewhere, just to see what he's up to.

Oh, and there's war brewing in Gaza and in South America, but such is the nature of an election year that you'll hear even less about that today than you will about McCain.

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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Barack Takes it Easy in Ohio?

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 7:22 PM

Such is the beauty of phenomenally low expectations, that pretty much any spark of life from the Clinton campaign Tuesday can be played as a "resurgence." Looks like the "resurgence" is expected by none other than Obama himself in Ohio:

Unlike Clinton, who has been barnstorming Ohio, Obama had only two events in the state on Sunday and was spending the night in hometown Chicago. He heads to Texas on Monday for a final day of campaigning before awaiting returns on Tuesday in San Antonio.
His aides said privately that they felt they had a good shot at a win in Texas, but were less certain about Ohio, where they braced for a possible loss.

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Friday, February 29, 2008

Obama's Campaign Manager Getting Cocky

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 12:51 PM

Well, this is a change from Obama's "Remember New Hampshire" line of yesterday.

Today, his campaign manager is addressing their opponent's chances with considerably less grace:

"They said that they would have huge gains on March 4," Plouffe said. "They’re going to fail and fail miserably. "

Really, now? That doesn't sound like the politics of positive thinking. David Plouffe should remember New Hampsire, too, lest the campaign find itself with nothing but a lost opportunity and a pair of britches several sizes too big. As we've seen all year, voters don't take kindly to too much arrogance from the front-runner.

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Friday, February 29, 2008

Red Phone Redux and Daisy Done-to-Death

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 11:58 AM

Here's hoping she wins the primary (ha) and conducts her general election in the mold of Mondale as well. Here's Mondale's red phone ad, created in '84 by Clinton ad guy Roy Spence. Clinton gets credit for using children for tugging extra heartstrings, but I wonder (with good reason, since McCain will levy a similar argument) if these ads just get old and lose their impact.

We've seen a thousand attempts over the years, but nothing quite matches the impact of the "Daisy" ad or the "Bear in the Woods" ad, partly because we've seen a thousand attempts. Most recently, Bush 2004 used "Wolves," which was haunting and well done, but not super, as the wolves looked lanky and dog-like instead of terribly menacing. Then, there was the 2006 "The Stakes," featuring Zawahiri and a ticking clock. More menacing than "Wolves," but we see how much good it did in a midterm election.

I think the message of these commercials is a fair one, even if the imagery and narrations are a mostly emotional appeal. Picking a president is an important decision with weighty consequences, and American voters are susceptible to such emotional appeals. Thus, we have the retooled "Daisy" ad every couple of years.

In this election cycle, American voters are clearly just as susceptible to emotional messaging as ever before, as Obama's message consists of very little more than feelings. The very real danger for Hillary, and the GOP in the general, is that voters only wish to be warm and fuzzy this year instead of warned of danger.

The problem with arguing against a "vacation from history" is of course, the risk that the electorate wants one.

But who am I kidding? Negative advertising always works, right?

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Friday, February 29, 2008

Subtlety in Advertising

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 11:30 AM

I'm in NYC for the day, where I caught sight of this billboard for the new Fox Business Channel. What is it, pray tell, that the advertisers are communicating that I might have been "missing" thus far in my business news consumption?

I just can't quite get my head around the message.

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Friday, February 29, 2008

Obama Responds to Hillary's Phone Ad

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 10:37 AM

By re-releasing this one, "Gulf":

Eh. Combat vet: Check. Criticism of Hillary's Iraq War vote: Check. Lauding of Obama's supreme foreign policy judgment based on that one speech he gave in 2002: Check. But there's no gut feeling like the "Phone" ad.

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Friday, February 29, 2008

Devil's in the Details

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 9:53 AM

I meant to post this yesterday...You're telling me this photographer couldn't frame a shot so that the horns appeared to be on her head? Amateur.

Reuters is giving Hillary the Bush treatment, here, and it's unfair, but Team Hillary should have known better than to stage this event with a giant devil on her shoulder. As we speak, Obama's likely planning an event at the home of the Central Akron High School Angels.

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Internet Not Evil: Teen Uses MySpace to Catch Mugger

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 11:45 AM

Nicely done. When Victor Hernandez mugged 16-year-old Yudelka Polanco, taking her cell phone, he thought he was in the clear:

But the thief underestimated a tiny piece of modern-day technology found in many cell phones today: the SIM card, which contains data unique to only the individual who owns the phone, including phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc.

After the robbery, the mugger checked his own email using Polanco's SIM card. So when Polanco, a junior at Norman Thomas High School, had her old information transferred to her new phone, the mugger's e-mail address showed up.

That's when Polanco decided to do some investigating of her own, and looked up the mugger's e-mail on MySpace. Sure enough, a profile popped up that showed a picture of the culprit, but she wanted even more evidence.

So Polanco asked a girlfriend of hers to start an online friendship with him through the social networking giant.

"I told her to request him because his page was private information so I could get a better picture of him," she said.

Turned out the mugger, identified then as 16-year-old Victor Hernandez, thought he was a ladies' man too and bought into the ploy. Hernandez sent several photos and other identifying information to Polanco's friend, and the pair finally presented the evidence to police.

Looks like he might also be tied to a couple of other crimes. And, Polanco also gives good quote:

"You're stupid because you thought you were slick to steal a phone, and he actually signed on. That was a stupid thing to do," she said.

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

O'Reilly Last Night

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 11:28 AM

I was on, talking about the Internets as usual, when Bill went and compared vile commenters at HuffPo, and by extension Arianna Huffington herself, to the Klan and Nazis.

I said, "uh, what?" and made it clear that I disagreed with him on that one. As much as I dislike Huffington's politics and some of the site's practices, the idea that she and her commenters are morally equivalent to Klansmen or Nazis is just ludicrous. And, if we claim they are, we're as bad as the Bush Derangement suffers constantly calling the president a Nazi.

Is there a disproportionate and unfortunate amount of death-wishing for conservatives on Left blogs? Yes. Every time a conservative gets hurt or dies, there's inevitably a celebration comment thread at a prominent Left blog. It happened when Tony Snow's cancer came back and when William F. Buckley died yesterday (the Democratic Underground thread was a gem). These threads often feature a few brave souls who discourage the trash-talk, but they're usually greatly outnumbered by haters. Does Arianna Huffington need to take personal responsibility for the comments in those threads when they get out of hand on a site with her name on it? Yes, and she has to some extent, already. There is a moderation policy in place, and threads are often shut down when the they're likely to get dicey. The thread about William F. Buckley's death, for instance, was never open for comments yesterday as far as I could tell.

As always, I'm on the free-speech side of this issue. Each site's proprietor has a responsibility to not allow his comment sections to become racist, sexist, violent cesspools, and some sites are better at fostering a decent comment culture than others. But just because some sites become nasty is not a reason to demand regulation of the Internet, as Bill sometimes suggests, or to suggest that because some people in a comment section are juvenile jerks, that a site is Nazi-like in any way. The best way to deal with coarse commentary on the Internet is to point it out, shine a little sunlight, and push site proprietors to foster cultures of decency on their own sites.

Comments sections can be nasty places, and there are very few sites that can claim theirs are totally and completely clean (including this one), no matter what moderation policies are in place. Things will always get through, but the important thing is to make sure the nasty comments are the exception, not the rule. The Left blogs could do a much better job of curbing the culture of conserva-hatred in their comments sometimes, but I'll stay on the right side of Godwin's Law on this one, thanks.

Here's a Left blog's take on the segment last night.