Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. By the thundering silence inspired by The Common Man's absence, he assumes you were all struck mute (or the typing equivalent) by his refusal to show up on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. Cowboy up, readers.
The Common Man was conspicuously absent because, frankly, he didn't feel very well for a few days there. He was not sick, mind you, for The Common Man does not get sick. But he had the stuffy nose, cough, and general achiness that mere mortals would associate with the flu or a cold, but which, in him were not signs of any kind of illness. Just so you're clear.
In the meantime, here's what's happened while The Common Man has convalesced:
If you think the U.S. has problems with it's border security, you should check out the border between Egypt and Israel, where upwards of 50,000 Palestinians poured through a hole they had just blown through the security wall to go shopping in Egypt. The Common Man cannot imagine what kind of sale must have been going on at the Egyptian malls for this kind of Exodus. It's not even the day after Thanksgiving.
Presidential candidates thankfully keep bowing out, meaning that debates become less crowded and candidates have the chance to talk more. Dennis Kucinich bowed out just today, far earlier than he did in 2004. He joins Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter, and Tom Tancredo among candidates The Common Man knows about. Thompson, of course, withdrew two days ago after taking forever to decide to get in the race, skipping fundraisers, and speaking very, very slowly for several months. The Common Man wonders if Thompson didn't really drop out after Iowa, but that it took a month, between his reluctance to hold events and his slow talking, for him to get around to telling everyone. Anyway, fear not, you can still have a Ron Paul/Mike Gravel November crazy-off to look forward to.
Heath Ledger's death is sad, of course, because he was young and he leaves behind a daughter. The most profound impact this will have on The Common Man, however, will be making The Dark Knight even creepier.
Finally, in news that should have happened a long time ago, truly messed up singer Amy Winehouse has decided to go back to rehab. Winehouse was filmed smoking a glass pipe commonly associated with smoking crack, the other day, perhaps signalling that she is in some kind of distress. As for The Boy, when asked if he wanted to go to rehab, he still shook his head "no, no, no." (bonus points if you get that joke. by the way, will Winehouse ever be able to sing her one hit again, now that she actually has gone back to rehab? Is it now invalid? Thoughts?)
Showing posts with label Election '08. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Election '08. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Hats in the Ring
Well, today's the day, isn't it? The day the primary season officially begins, and voters begin paring down their lists of viable candidates until just two remain standing. The Common Man will offer no predictions at this point, though he will remind you that he foresaw a strong finish for John Edwards back in July. As for today's vote, if the polls are any indication, Iowa is completely up for grabs in both parties. Not that it truly matters, mind you. As long as a candidate finishes strong, he (or she!) will demonstrate viability to carry over into New Hampshire next week. Unless, of course, that candidate is Mitt Romney or Hilary Clinton, for whom a defeat in Iowa would demonstrate considerable weakness (especially for Romney, who figures to get little support in South Carolina in a couple of weeks).
So who is The Common Man supporting? On one hand, it doesn't really matter. By the time that Pennsylvania votes, everyone will know who the nominee will be. But one must choose, musn't one? So The Common Man did. Up until recently, The Common Man had faced a dilemma. He was torn between two extremes, Barak Obama and Mike Huckabee. Surprised? So was The Common Man.
Obama's case was fairly clearcut. In a time when relatively few Americans trust their government or the politicians who inhabit it, Obama represents change and hope for a better future. Change because, of course, Obama is a relative newcomer to Washington politics and would be the first African-American president in this country's history (unless you count 24's David Palmer, a possibility The Common Man is not ready to discount just yet). Hope because, of all the candidates running for the Oval Office, Obama's words seem to inspire others in a way reminiscent of Democratic giants of the past, Kennedy, Roosevelt, Clinton. And, of course, as a Democrat, Obama believes in the various social programs that The Common Man believes the Federal government needs to have a hand in, social security, basic health care for children and the infirm, and increased funding for schools. And among his Democratic rivals, Obama's exit strategy for Iraq seems to be one of the more sane approaches (a staged pullout of most of the troops, an advisory force left behind for training, and the option to reinsert troops should the situation become untenable).
Huckabee, however, won The Common Man over with his truly compassionate sounding Conservatism and Christianity. On his website, he explains that "when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good steward of the earth." Likewise, when discussing his pro-life views, he points out that "Life doesn't begin at conception and end at birth. Every child deserves a quality education, first-rate health care, decent housing in a safe neighborhood, and clean air and drinking water. Every child deserves the opportunity to discover and use his God-given gifts and talents." Perhaps most importantly, Huckabee has argued for remaining in Iraq as a moral issue. As The Common Man wrote in May, the issue in Iraq should boil down to the old "if you break it you buy it," store policy: "Any effort to leave the country, at this point, may be emotionally satisfying, but is immoral and will damage America's already shaky credibility with the people of the next country it invades (The Common Man is looking at you Iran!). Indeed, how can citizens of the countries that we "liberate" have any enthusiasm for our presence if our appearance is the harbinger of disaster, chaos, and destruction? The Common Man believes that the U.S. is obligated to stay.
Ultimately, however, I was frustrated by Huckabee's stance on gay rights. He writes, "I support and have always supported passage of a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My personal belief is that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life." It's one thing for Huckabee to believe that marriage, particularly religious marriage is a heterosexual construct, it's another for him to push for the Federal government to sanction just whom its citizens can have relationships with, and what nature those relationships should take. Such a stance is directly in opposition to core conservative values. Indeed, while anti-homosexual groups like to argue that government's recognition of same sex unions would lead to a slippery slope of legalized perversion until you could marry your pet llama in a Catholic cathedral, a far more likely scenario, in The Common Man's humble opinion, is that the government could use this precedent to continue to limit the relationships Americans can form with each other. Christians and Jews wouldn't be allowed to do business together. Children from black neighborhoods wouldn't be allowed in white ones. And nobody better talk to the Arabs. Coupled with Huckabee's either unforgivably ignorant or cynically pandering call for the quarantining of AIDS patients in 1991, it's clear that Huckabee's views on homosexuality bend slightly sinister. The Common Man simply was not comfortable supporting a man who would violate his supposed core moral and political beliefs because of his apparent bigotry.
So in the end, The Common Man was left with Obama. Less of a fairweather candidate than Hilary. More viable than Biden (also, this country has had enough of Presidents sticking their foots in their mouths). Less crazy than Bill Richardson (who wants an immediate troop withdraw, Iraq and American interests be damned). And, well, The Common Man is stuck to find a tangible reason to pick him over Edwards, except that he just seems to be a step below in all respects.
Of course, The Common Man reserves the right to change his mind at any point over the next 11 months. Now get out and vote, Iowa.
So who is The Common Man supporting? On one hand, it doesn't really matter. By the time that Pennsylvania votes, everyone will know who the nominee will be. But one must choose, musn't one? So The Common Man did. Up until recently, The Common Man had faced a dilemma. He was torn between two extremes, Barak Obama and Mike Huckabee. Surprised? So was The Common Man.
Obama's case was fairly clearcut. In a time when relatively few Americans trust their government or the politicians who inhabit it, Obama represents change and hope for a better future. Change because, of course, Obama is a relative newcomer to Washington politics and would be the first African-American president in this country's history (unless you count 24's David Palmer, a possibility The Common Man is not ready to discount just yet). Hope because, of all the candidates running for the Oval Office, Obama's words seem to inspire others in a way reminiscent of Democratic giants of the past, Kennedy, Roosevelt, Clinton. And, of course, as a Democrat, Obama believes in the various social programs that The Common Man believes the Federal government needs to have a hand in, social security, basic health care for children and the infirm, and increased funding for schools. And among his Democratic rivals, Obama's exit strategy for Iraq seems to be one of the more sane approaches (a staged pullout of most of the troops, an advisory force left behind for training, and the option to reinsert troops should the situation become untenable).
Huckabee, however, won The Common Man over with his truly compassionate sounding Conservatism and Christianity. On his website, he explains that "when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good steward of the earth." Likewise, when discussing his pro-life views, he points out that "Life doesn't begin at conception and end at birth. Every child deserves a quality education, first-rate health care, decent housing in a safe neighborhood, and clean air and drinking water. Every child deserves the opportunity to discover and use his God-given gifts and talents." Perhaps most importantly, Huckabee has argued for remaining in Iraq as a moral issue. As The Common Man wrote in May, the issue in Iraq should boil down to the old "if you break it you buy it," store policy: "Any effort to leave the country, at this point, may be emotionally satisfying, but is immoral and will damage America's already shaky credibility with the people of the next country it invades (The Common Man is looking at you Iran!). Indeed, how can citizens of the countries that we "liberate" have any enthusiasm for our presence if our appearance is the harbinger of disaster, chaos, and destruction? The Common Man believes that the U.S. is obligated to stay.
Ultimately, however, I was frustrated by Huckabee's stance on gay rights. He writes, "I support and have always supported passage of a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My personal belief is that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life." It's one thing for Huckabee to believe that marriage, particularly religious marriage is a heterosexual construct, it's another for him to push for the Federal government to sanction just whom its citizens can have relationships with, and what nature those relationships should take. Such a stance is directly in opposition to core conservative values. Indeed, while anti-homosexual groups like to argue that government's recognition of same sex unions would lead to a slippery slope of legalized perversion until you could marry your pet llama in a Catholic cathedral, a far more likely scenario, in The Common Man's humble opinion, is that the government could use this precedent to continue to limit the relationships Americans can form with each other. Christians and Jews wouldn't be allowed to do business together. Children from black neighborhoods wouldn't be allowed in white ones. And nobody better talk to the Arabs. Coupled with Huckabee's either unforgivably ignorant or cynically pandering call for the quarantining of AIDS patients in 1991, it's clear that Huckabee's views on homosexuality bend slightly sinister. The Common Man simply was not comfortable supporting a man who would violate his supposed core moral and political beliefs because of his apparent bigotry.
So in the end, The Common Man was left with Obama. Less of a fairweather candidate than Hilary. More viable than Biden (also, this country has had enough of Presidents sticking their foots in their mouths). Less crazy than Bill Richardson (who wants an immediate troop withdraw, Iraq and American interests be damned). And, well, The Common Man is stuck to find a tangible reason to pick him over Edwards, except that he just seems to be a step below in all respects.
Of course, The Common Man reserves the right to change his mind at any point over the next 11 months. Now get out and vote, Iowa.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The Squeaky Third Wheel
The Common Man hopes that you had a wonderful 4th of July holiday. He did, going to see Transformers (review forthcoming), taking The Boy down to the creek and dipping his feet in, eating and drinking with The Deacon, and curling up with The Boy on The Deacon's front lawn to watch fireworks/pretend to be awake. It was a good day.
Something else that The Common Man has been using to put an extra spring in his step for the last couple of days has been this video of Elizabeth Edwards calmly and politely dismantling Ann Coulter. Careful readers will remember Ms. Coulter as the Queen of the Harpies that quasi-called John Edwards a "faggot" back in March. Of course, if you don't read this blog regularly, you've probably heard of her as well. She kind of enjoys attention. The Common Man wants to know what's hiding behind Coulter's sunglasses in this clip, as she's forced to listen to Edwards kindly and politely asking her to not be such a horrible person (not asking her to stop writing or speaking, just asking her to stop being such a horrible person while she's doing it).
Anyway, all of this is a long introduction to say that The Common Man thinks John Edwards is currently in the catbird seat in the Democratic nomination fight. Sure, he is fighting with the non-running film-maker Al Gore (who just got embroiled in his own controversy; The Common Man didn't even know that a Prius could go 100 MPH) for third place in the most recent Gallup poll (at approximately 10% of Democratic voters, as of mid-June), roughly 10% behind Obama and 20% behind Clinton, but Edwards has significant advantages over the two front-runners.
He already has solid name-recognition, but his continued feud with Coulter (one of Democrats' least favorite people ever) will only increase his visibility in the news and make him easily the hero in a very one-sided battle for public sympathy. In addition, from the #3 spot, he can run quietly against the top two candidates while they fight between themselves. As the Obama/Clinton race becomes more heated and (presumably) less civil, Edwards can clean up whatever voters are turned off by their squabbles. And as Bill Clinton demonstrated in 1992, Edwards does not have to win in Iowa and New Hampshire, he simply has to present himself as a viable candidate and finish "in the money".
With the shorter nomination season this time around, it will be more difficult for Edwards to build on any momentum he gets from Iowa and New Hampshire, but if smart campaigning between now and February can cut into the Clinton/Obama lead (particularly by exploiting the additional media coverage he seems to be generating to create more opportunities for free advertising), he certainly can slide into the nomination after Super Tuesday. With Clinton's lack of personality and Obama's lack of specific proposals, The Common Man believes that it's far too early to write off the Democratic nomination as a two-horse race.
Something else that The Common Man has been using to put an extra spring in his step for the last couple of days has been this video of Elizabeth Edwards calmly and politely dismantling Ann Coulter. Careful readers will remember Ms. Coulter as the Queen of the Harpies that quasi-called John Edwards a "faggot" back in March. Of course, if you don't read this blog regularly, you've probably heard of her as well. She kind of enjoys attention. The Common Man wants to know what's hiding behind Coulter's sunglasses in this clip, as she's forced to listen to Edwards kindly and politely asking her to not be such a horrible person (not asking her to stop writing or speaking, just asking her to stop being such a horrible person while she's doing it).
Anyway, all of this is a long introduction to say that The Common Man thinks John Edwards is currently in the catbird seat in the Democratic nomination fight. Sure, he is fighting with the non-running film-maker Al Gore (who just got embroiled in his own controversy; The Common Man didn't even know that a Prius could go 100 MPH) for third place in the most recent Gallup poll (at approximately 10% of Democratic voters, as of mid-June), roughly 10% behind Obama and 20% behind Clinton, but Edwards has significant advantages over the two front-runners.
He already has solid name-recognition, but his continued feud with Coulter (one of Democrats' least favorite people ever) will only increase his visibility in the news and make him easily the hero in a very one-sided battle for public sympathy. In addition, from the #3 spot, he can run quietly against the top two candidates while they fight between themselves. As the Obama/Clinton race becomes more heated and (presumably) less civil, Edwards can clean up whatever voters are turned off by their squabbles. And as Bill Clinton demonstrated in 1992, Edwards does not have to win in Iowa and New Hampshire, he simply has to present himself as a viable candidate and finish "in the money".
With the shorter nomination season this time around, it will be more difficult for Edwards to build on any momentum he gets from Iowa and New Hampshire, but if smart campaigning between now and February can cut into the Clinton/Obama lead (particularly by exploiting the additional media coverage he seems to be generating to create more opportunities for free advertising), he certainly can slide into the nomination after Super Tuesday. With Clinton's lack of personality and Obama's lack of specific proposals, The Common Man believes that it's far too early to write off the Democratic nomination as a two-horse race.
Friday, May 11, 2007
A Change of Plans
The Common Man planned to talk today about how he had officially exceeded the number of blog posts from April already this month. But scrapped that when the President decided that someone needed to blink in this whole Iraq funding issue and graciously did so, relenting to Congress's demand of benchmarks (a concept The Common Man is still not comfortable with when they are tied into continued funding). Then he scrapped that after read a headline in the New York Post and was going to talk about The Atkins Conspiracy (which he a) made up and b) will undoubtedly get to on Monday). Then, he returned home and found this article on Rob Neyer's blog at ESPN.com that linked to this article in the Village Voice.
The Village Voice article documents a perceived string of inappropriate gifts and perks given to Rudy Giuliani by the New York Yankees while he was Mayor of New York City. Between 1996 and 2001, the article alleges that Giuliani received four World Series rings from the team, as well as front-row box seats, memorabilia, and apparel. The article alleges that the gifts given by the Yankees to Giuliani add up to more than $300,000 (though their math can be disputed). Adding to the sordid picture of Giuliani's relationship with the Yankees are the mayor's final hours in office, in which he green lit a $400 million dollar, tax-payer financed ballpark plan for the team, an effort that was almost immediately canceled by Mayor Bloomberg. If true, Giuliani's actions are particularly egregious in light of his enthusiastic campaign against city corruption, in which several prominent city employees were forced to resign after accepting gifts from city vendors. Giuliani himself was highly critical of these employees.
The article is problematic, in that it is clearly written from a biased perspective and seems to revel in the muck it is raking up. Also, the author's decision to value the rings at $200,000 is based on what the rings would be worth on the open market, not what they cost to make or that the team paid for them (in a closed market). But Caesar's wife must be above reproach, and so should Caesar. So it seems as though an investigation into these gifts is warranted, an investigation that will undoubtedly hurt Giuliani's campaign, whether it uncovers any wrongdoing or not.
The Village Voice article documents a perceived string of inappropriate gifts and perks given to Rudy Giuliani by the New York Yankees while he was Mayor of New York City. Between 1996 and 2001, the article alleges that Giuliani received four World Series rings from the team, as well as front-row box seats, memorabilia, and apparel. The article alleges that the gifts given by the Yankees to Giuliani add up to more than $300,000 (though their math can be disputed). Adding to the sordid picture of Giuliani's relationship with the Yankees are the mayor's final hours in office, in which he green lit a $400 million dollar, tax-payer financed ballpark plan for the team, an effort that was almost immediately canceled by Mayor Bloomberg. If true, Giuliani's actions are particularly egregious in light of his enthusiastic campaign against city corruption, in which several prominent city employees were forced to resign after accepting gifts from city vendors. Giuliani himself was highly critical of these employees.
The article is problematic, in that it is clearly written from a biased perspective and seems to revel in the muck it is raking up. Also, the author's decision to value the rings at $200,000 is based on what the rings would be worth on the open market, not what they cost to make or that the team paid for them (in a closed market). But Caesar's wife must be above reproach, and so should Caesar. So it seems as though an investigation into these gifts is warranted, an investigation that will undoubtedly hurt Giuliani's campaign, whether it uncovers any wrongdoing or not.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Fox Out of the Henhouse
A short post today from The Common Man, who is under the gun to produce a massive amount of work in a short amount of time (largely because he forgot he had a movie he had to watch by this evening):
The Onion's A.V. Club provides a daily ranking of the most popular online videos on the net. Sometimes these are amusing. Sometimes they suck (never underestimate the stupidity of 13 year olds with DSL). And sometimes they are just interesting. For instance, take this video about Fox's coverage of Barak Obama. Fox has worked itself into a frenzy as it has picked apart Obama's parentage (mixed-race, his dad was Muslim), his middle name (Hussein), his schooling (four years at a Indonesian day school that has been gleefully misrepresented as a madrasa), and his apparent smoking habit. Meanwhile, I don't think they've talked much about whether they can vote for a man who admits to cheating on his wife and who publicly ridiculed a man with Parkinson's Disease (though, in all honesty, he couldn't have known that the man had Parkinson's unless he let him actuall get a sentence out) on live radio (Giuliani). Anyway, as a result of Fox's irresponsible and malicious "journalism", the Obama campaign has "frozen out Fox News", refusing to grant access and interviews.
All of this has gotten The Common Man thinking about why Fox spends so much time on its attack journalism, and why they focus on who they focus on (I never hear a bad word from them about Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich (who Sean Hannity describes as "a nice guy."), or Tom Vilsack. However, Hilary and Obama get raked over the coals on a regular basis (to the point where, three times an hour, Hannity bills his radio program as the "Stop Hillary Express"). And I've decided that it comes down to this issue of access.
Over the past 6 years, Fox has gotten access to the President and his administration that no other network has gotten. Interviews, behind-the-scenes pieces, etc. This has helped allow Fox to become a leader in cable news, despite its snearing, pandering, and sycophantic approach to the news. Fox has created a niche for itself, and it is a profitable one. It is likely that, with another Republican win in 2008, this unfettered access and preferential treatment will continue. Without it, the station could be in danger of being (at least partially) frozen out. Indeed, even if a Democratic President refused to play favorites, Fox's lucrative access would slip.
As such, The Common Man expects Fox to go out of its way between now and November of '08 to tarnish the reps of both Hillary and Obama (as if you couldn't figure that out), who they think are the only Dems who have a chance to unseat a Republican nominee. And it will not so much about political ideology as it will be about economics and maintaining a tenuous position in a competitive market. After all, exclusive interviews with former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert just don't have the same marketability as hour-long exclusive interviews of Chris Wallace blowing Vice-President Cheney.
3 notes on this entry:
1) The Common Man is not, in any way, endorsing either Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton.
2) This does not mean, however, that CNN and CNBC do not do their share of crappy journalism. Thank God for NPR.
3) The Obama video does suffer from selective editing. Fox obviously had some of these talking heads on with someone "defending" Obama, and those parts have been conveniently removed to tell a better story. That said, c'mon, is Obama's middle name and smoking habit really news? Has he ever sued a tobacco company? No? OK, shut up then.
The Onion's A.V. Club provides a daily ranking of the most popular online videos on the net. Sometimes these are amusing. Sometimes they suck (never underestimate the stupidity of 13 year olds with DSL). And sometimes they are just interesting. For instance, take this video about Fox's coverage of Barak Obama. Fox has worked itself into a frenzy as it has picked apart Obama's parentage (mixed-race, his dad was Muslim), his middle name (Hussein), his schooling (four years at a Indonesian day school that has been gleefully misrepresented as a madrasa), and his apparent smoking habit. Meanwhile, I don't think they've talked much about whether they can vote for a man who admits to cheating on his wife and who publicly ridiculed a man with Parkinson's Disease (though, in all honesty, he couldn't have known that the man had Parkinson's unless he let him actuall get a sentence out) on live radio (Giuliani). Anyway, as a result of Fox's irresponsible and malicious "journalism", the Obama campaign has "frozen out Fox News", refusing to grant access and interviews.
All of this has gotten The Common Man thinking about why Fox spends so much time on its attack journalism, and why they focus on who they focus on (I never hear a bad word from them about Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich (who Sean Hannity describes as "a nice guy."), or Tom Vilsack. However, Hilary and Obama get raked over the coals on a regular basis (to the point where, three times an hour, Hannity bills his radio program as the "Stop Hillary Express"). And I've decided that it comes down to this issue of access.
Over the past 6 years, Fox has gotten access to the President and his administration that no other network has gotten. Interviews, behind-the-scenes pieces, etc. This has helped allow Fox to become a leader in cable news, despite its snearing, pandering, and sycophantic approach to the news. Fox has created a niche for itself, and it is a profitable one. It is likely that, with another Republican win in 2008, this unfettered access and preferential treatment will continue. Without it, the station could be in danger of being (at least partially) frozen out. Indeed, even if a Democratic President refused to play favorites, Fox's lucrative access would slip.
As such, The Common Man expects Fox to go out of its way between now and November of '08 to tarnish the reps of both Hillary and Obama (as if you couldn't figure that out), who they think are the only Dems who have a chance to unseat a Republican nominee. And it will not so much about political ideology as it will be about economics and maintaining a tenuous position in a competitive market. After all, exclusive interviews with former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert just don't have the same marketability as hour-long exclusive interviews of Chris Wallace blowing Vice-President Cheney.
3 notes on this entry:
1) The Common Man is not, in any way, endorsing either Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton.
2) This does not mean, however, that CNN and CNBC do not do their share of crappy journalism. Thank God for NPR.
3) The Obama video does suffer from selective editing. Fox obviously had some of these talking heads on with someone "defending" Obama, and those parts have been conveniently removed to tell a better story. That said, c'mon, is Obama's middle name and smoking habit really news? Has he ever sued a tobacco company? No? OK, shut up then.
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