neverending

1 - big ups and lolz and devil horns always and forever to the genius photo-editorial skills of Matt Drudge of drudgereport.com

2 - fuck the haters I freq enjoy reading Mickey Kaus's blog for his relentless and occasz annoying fixation on poking holes in liberal orthodoxy and needling careerist young bucks like Yglesias and Ezra whatsisface. one of the main reasons is his endearing awareness of the bullshittery of all punditry, including a healthy dose of self-criticism that recently produced this frankly stunningly good analogy that completely detonates the hypocrisy of the whole "bitter" controversy, which he had previously jumped all over in a fit of typically Kausian "elitism"-bashing. put a star next to this one dear readers and keep it close to the front of your brain, I'm sure it will be useful for future pointless arguments about this stuff

...The problem for me is that I'm a Vulgar Marxist too. I've always believed that people need to eat, and want to get ahead and prosper. If you give them an avenue that lets them do that, they aren't going to let their religion, their music, their sexual habits, their families or their educational system stand in their way for long. The two most obvious contemporary applications of this economic determinism are 1) China (when the Chinese have a capitalist economy they won't be able to have a Communist government, Vulgar Marxists would say) and 2) the Muslim world (if Islam needs a Reformation in order to prosper in a global market, then Islam will eventually get a Reformation). I agree with both of those propositions.

Does that mean I'm condescending too? It's hard to avoid the charge. If a Chinese Communist Party Official somehow came to me and declared that, no, China would out-compete the West while maintaining Mao-era control over free inquiry, I'd think 'You poor deluded fool. Just wait.' I support Western policies of bringing China into the global marketplace in large part because I think that means Chinese Communism will collapse even if the Chinese Communists don't realize it. Same with fundamentalist Muslims--e.g. Pakistan, when prosperous, will no longer be such a breeding ground of jihadist fanatics. They'll be too busy making money to blow up the world. My attitude toward Pakistan is roughly parallel to Obama's attitude toward rural Pennsylvanians: if the economy really delivered for them, they'd stop clinging to their God. And their guns.

A+, Mickey, for real

3 - a little late on this maybe but goddamn did you see Michelle Obama on Colbert last week? could she be any more of a total fucking babe? what a dress! fuck the haters can we get her in front of the cameras as much as possible? not only is she an obviously real counter to whatever "elitism" etc but there is no way today's America does not want to elect the hottest first couple evar, with all due respect to JFK and Jackie O etc, seriously, there's video, allow yourself to be completely enamored


4 - speaking of being totally Michelle-smitten, this "Hollywood-style" film treatment of a possible brokered convention, by one of the West Wing writers, is seriously fucking awesome! I got a little choked up at the ending tbh! go Wes! kind of a must-read for political junkies and who isn't these days?

full circle

hillary clinton bragged about not owning a TV

(sources: 1, 2)

bacharach

Pitchfork, typically ripping off my content without giving me credit much as they give rave reviews to bands that blatantly rip us off in various ways without giving us credit*, has also picked up on the McCainette playlist stuff and a), seems, charmingly, and multiply revealingly, maybe slightly confused that such solidly Pitchforkian taste could be held by a Republican, b) helpfully for sure adds a link to this weighty bit of McCainformation - he's got the endorsement of green lodge music icon BURT BACHARACH. huh! but didn't he put out some kind of schmaltzy anti-war 'what is this world coming to?' or something album recently?? what's his vibe on this? gonna have to wait until I hear what David and Warwick have to say, will try and do some more research on this

* I am just kidding I mean they don't read the blog obv we both just read slate whatever and I am not that salty about their goddamned reviews anymore I guess!

the offspring

of note - McCain's daughter Meghan's blog, correctly noted by slate etc as refreshingly 'normal', unpolished, and almost completely apolitical (other than a brief note of Johnny Ramone's Republicanism wrt "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down" aka "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg"...!). mostly check out her playlists, which a) seem to be the most prominent feature of the blog so far, b) include really, ah, accessible commentary like "What does it feel like to win the Florida primary? It feels like the Doors song "Break on Through"...", "I've also included some of my favorite songs from classic artists like Led Zeppelin and The Smiths; like my life, wardrobe and approach to this campaign, I love to mix it up,", "this song always makes me want to drink a martini," (whoa-uh!) etc and c) well actually a lot of these playlists are like pretty OK! like she could DJ a night at any random bar in the LES and no one would know the difference. lots of standard indie and hip-hop fare plus some mildly intriguing surprises (Pulp's 'Like A Friend'!, 'Mambo Sun'!, 'Search and Destroy'!) -

and - she's apparently a CC'07 art history major?? news to me. any yung CU readers know her, have vibes to share? I can only guess that she's a big vampire weekend fan

meanwhile, her dad doesn't use computers...?? wait, seriously??

super tooz

can we talk about how amazing she looks in this picture and is in general (been meaning to link to this vanity fair profile for a minute)?? man I wish there could be a first-mate debate, Michelle needs to get Bill-level airtime, glad to see the campaign's working on this. I don't think Obama was joking when he was said she could beat him if she got into politics - whatever JFK vibe he gives off is at least doubled by her intense Jackie O vibes, or like Jackie O if she went to Princeton and Harvard and met her husband cos she was his fucking adviser at his first law firm job, so fucking badass and glamorous

also, on a totally different vibe, man McCain is also great how can you not love this awesome picture from drudge yesterday, imagine him as prez! personality goes a long way even/esp when the personality is like lovable foul-mouthed irascible semi-deformed former POW maniac, hard for me to ever really root against the dude, even if he were running against Michelle or like David Tyree etc

also fwiw, this Mitt Romney GQ piece hints at a hilariously American Psycho-esque vibe of incredibly sincere and deep-seated blandness that I could also see growing kind of weirdly entertaining. I know I'm a cheap date, but am kind of proud of us America for finding four fucking reasonable, thoroughly centrist, generally qualified, and basically likable candidates this year. let's do dis!

o-mentum 2

man it's one thing to know in your head that 'whoever wins Iowa gets a big media boost' but seriously how fucking psyched in your heart for Obama are you after reading this Newsweek cover story? it really works! notice how his vaunted multiracial multicultural etc background and 'charisma' etc is barely touched on - the whole article is basically focused on telling you 1) how good of a leader and executive he is, with bold strategies executed competently with a keen eye towards fundamentals and 2) how his principles are good and genuinely held. in avoiding dwelling on the striking but by now stale 'this guy just IS change! he just IS!' intro and in seeming to address the two basic concerns most people kind of have about whether he'd be a good president (e.g. is he competent, and does he have personal integrity), this is pretty much everything the campaign could ask for in terms of being super positive and in advancing the media narrative right on schedule

they even manage to give him some humanizing but basically flattering flaws - sometimes he's just too presidential! - which in every case are made up for by how fucking awesome his wife is! and it seems like it's all working! like 'true love', you really can't buy press like this, it has to be given freely, and from the heart

your wonkish arms are too short to box with that god

as promised! earlier - please please take some time to read this essay by Swarthmore history prof Timothy Burke, "Competency as a Cultural Value," a dryly, almost coyly academic title for easily the most fucking essential thing I've read about politics and policy and the way in which we experience 'the political' and history and our life in as long as I can remember. via wayne! go read it now, I'm being really serious here

what are you waiting for? the post is specifically addressed to cosmopolitan liberal elite types, which I'm guessing includes 'literally' anybody that reads this blog except for maybe Gary Jones if he's still reading - but he's probably read the Burke piece already anyway - and my parents or at least my dad - but it is seriously mandatory for him too, and for anyone who spends any time thinking about or at least (especially?) making wasted dinner party small-talk about US politics this year or otherwise. like so many of Burke's posts, it uncannily seems to express only dimly understood, shadowy ideas I had about the way the world works in clear, incredibly articulate, and powerfully 'truthy' language, like seeing a high res photo of a moment you'd previously only hazily remembered - it's all there, it's just like I remembered, it's just perfect

O-mentum

so is this really happening or what?

KIDZ IN THE HALL - WORK TO DO