Vox Popoli

Fresh from their unsuccessful attempt to enforce a radio speech doctrine, a spokesman from Obama campaign manages to insert his foot in his mouth so deep that he bloodied his nose with his knee:

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

“The Obama campaign, on the other hand, offers the opportunity to put a man with no experience of any kind outside of law school and the legislative branch even closer!”

I find it hard to imagine that Sarah Palin will hesitate to remind people that Alaska borders Russia either. I don’t know what sort of border issues they’ve had there lately, but I’d be very surprised if there hadn’t been a few. And I cannot believe that this marketroid was dumb enough to openly diss small Alaskan towns in the name of the guy who is still trying to recover from doing the same thing to rural Pennsylvanians and West Virginians.

I expect the Obama campaign will drop this theme very quickly indeed.

Or so it appears:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a self-styled “hockey mom” who has only been governor for a little over a year, is GOP Presidential candidate John McCain’s choice for Vice President, CNBC has learned. According to a Republican strategist, Palin is the nominee, though McCain’s campaign has not comfirmed this.

It looks like McCain thinks he can win this now, as Palin is the choice of someone who is actually trying to win. It will help nicely in defanging the “historic” nature of the Obama campaign; among other things, she’s actually 100 percent woman. And just to show how bad political bloggers are at predicting these things, I was one of just four of the 65 bloggers surveyed by Right Wing News who correctly anticipated the Palin selection… and this is the first thing I’ve gotten right this presidential election cycle. (I had Hillary as the Dem nominee and George Pataki as the Republican… however, I did make my picks long before the cycle got rolling.)

UPDATE – it’s quite humorous to read the innocently optimistic reactions of devoted Democrats, such as those that inhabit Whatever. They apparently believe that John McCain has no experience outside of the Senate – what is this Vietnam of which you speak so strangely? – they assert that the totality of Hillary’s electoral appeal lies in her stance on the issues, and they genuinely think that Palin’s selection will somehow prevent McCain from hammering Obama on his near-complete lack of experience.

Worst of all, they fail to realize that attempting to belittle Palin by pointing out that Alaska is not a large state and Wasilla is not a big city is not exactly the most tenable position for a candidate who is already perceived as a too-effete elitist by the residents of many small states and cities across America.

UPDATE II – This is why Palin was a brilliant choice for McCain and why Biden was such a stupid choice for Obama: “Ah so, it’s going to be a woman. I’m hearing this for the first time at 8:37 Central Time. I will reveal that, instantly, a chill ran through my body when I heard that, and I have broken a sob or two as I write this.”

Yes, Virginia, a significant percentage of the female electorate really is so shallow and stupid that they will vote for a woman simply because she is a woman. It’s the same reason that more than 90 percent of the black electorate is going to vote for Obama. This isn’t rocket science.

Derb at his conservative and gloriously pessimisstic best:

American optimism has got completely out of hand. A corrective is needed. The corrective must come from conservatives, the people who understand that “human nature has no history.” We must revive the fine tradition of conservative pessimism. In this age, optimism is for children and fools. And liberals.

Some children will be left behind. You cannot “remake the Middle East” or “defeat evil.” The poor will always be with us. Black and white will never mingle together in unselfconscious harmony. Corporations will not research and explore without hope of profit. Russia will not become Sweden. Forty million immigrants speaking a single language will not assimilate.

Conservatives used to know all this. Some — the infallibly sapient Roger Kimball, for example — still do. The smiley-faces are leading us to perdition. They must be shouted down.

“Yes, we can!”

No, you can’t, you bloody fools.

His campaign behaves almost exactly like the Council on American Islamic Relations:

Rosenberg’s producer called the Obama campaign to see if they wanted to have someone on to reply (for the full 2 hours) and the spokesman (Ben Labolt) simply asked for the station manager’s name and then hung up on them. An emergency action email went out with specific talking points and thousands of calls and emails flooded the stations demanded that Kurtz be silenced. A number of callers have called literally reading these bullet points.

HopeChange: it’s all about silencing your opponents because you’ve got nothing to say yourself. The amazing thing is that the Magic Negro has somehow managed to make the crazy old Republican coot look downright sane, sober, and safe by comparison… and during the Democratic Party’s convention, no less!

As one commenter noted: “They scare me, and I’ve voted Democrat all my life.”

Stefanie Marsh commits the crime of puncturing the Myth of the Happy Single:

That’s the truth about being single; it can be horrendous, only I’m not allowed to admit it. For a few months I have been leading what most anthropologists would describe as a highly unusual existence in my one-person flat, and yet prevailing 21st-century thought – the publishing industry, marketing bods keen to get their grubby paws on what’s left of my disposable income – are trying to convince me that being single is the best thing in the world that can happen to a person… [T]here’s a myth being perpetuated that being single is great!

You’re not bored, you just think you’re bored because being single is fabulous! There are more than 3 million single people living in Britain today – everyone’s at it, why not join in the fun? You can drink cocktails like they did in Sex and the City! You can play Nintendo into the dead of night! Absolutely nobody in the world gives a toss about you, but, never mind, you’ve won the lottery of life.

There’s always something very brittle about the thirty-something single woman. She’s often attractive and well-dressed with a smile that’s just a little too broad, and she’s just a little bit to ready to inform you that she’s really, really great and things are going really, really well and her life has never been better. Okay, perhaps more than just a little bit ready… I’m always taken aback when a pretty thirty-something single woman launches into a flawless, apparently well-rehearsed monologue about how fabulous her life is, and how happy she is to be single, and how she’s finally gotten over the need to feel that she needs to be dating someone in order to feel complete, and how she’s really okay with it if the right man doesn’t happen to come along after all because she’s got so many really great friends that care so much about her. Meanwhile, I am creating the errrant impression that I am an excellent listener, mostly because I am occupied with thinking: “who is this person and am I actually supposed to know her name or not?” Most of the time, she turns out to be yet another PR rep, marketeer or headhunter. Desperate, but harmless, and you can safely exchange cards without having to do any more than decline the Linked In invitation that will inevitably show up in your email two weeks later.

Now, obviously some people are happiest alone. There’s nothing wrong with that, and if it weren’t for Spacebunny, who requires an unusual amount of solitude for a woman, then I’d almost surely prefer being alone too. But they’re the statistical outliers, as few people can handle even a single year of working from home without it having a negative effect on them.

The thing is, we’re all on a timer. Not just for marriage and children, but for everything that we hope to accomplish or experience in this lifetime. This is true whether one is cognizant of it or not, and the sooner one realizes the truth, the better. It’s unfortunate, though, that so many women have bought into the Happy Single myth they were sold; it’s even more unfortunate that they have been rendered more or less unmarriageable by the equalitarian propaganda factory and the public-private partnership that is the divorce industry.

Here are the new managers, randomly determined by die roll:

sswoods – Winston Reverends
buddahjeb – Cranberry Bogs
MikeLaRoche – East Mesa White Trash
TheMadItalia – WC Silver Spooners
Zephyron – Village Valkyries
p-dawg – Black Mouth Curs

Each team can keep three of its current players on the roster and must keep at least two, the keeper decision will be made by the new owner. The player can change the team name but is encouraged to keep some consistency from the previous year. Remember, the draft is Saturday, so email me for access and let me know your 2-3 keepers ASAP. Last year’s rosters, from which you may select your keepers, are as follows:

WINSTON REVERENDS (9-5-0)
——————
Derek Anderson (Cle – QB)
Earnest Graham (TB – RB)
T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Cin – WR)
Greg Jennings (GB – WR)
Bryant Johnson (SF – WR)
Larry Johnson (KC – RB)
Clinton Portis (Was – RB)
Ben Roethlisberger (Pit – QB)
Tony Scheffler (Den – TE)
Fred Taylor (Jac – RB)
Hines Ward (Pit – WR)
Reggie Wayne (Ind – WR)
Roydell Williams (Ten – WR)
Josh Scobee (Jac-K)
Indianapolis (Ind-DEF)

CRANBERRY BOGS (8-6-0)
—————–
Arnaz Battle (SF – WR)
Drew Brees (NO – QB)
Jabar Gaffney (NE – WR)
Tony Gonzalez (KC – TE)
Frank Gore (SF – RB)
Torry Holt (StL – WR)
Calvin Johnson (Det – WR)
Kevin Jones (Chi – RB)
Randy Moss (NE – WR)
Kolby Smith (KC – RB)
Donte’ Stallworth (Cle – WR)
Aaron Stecker (NO – RB)
Selvin Young (Den – RB)
Neil Rackers (Ari-K)
Pittsburgh (Pit-DEF)

EAST MESA WHITE TRASH (6-7-1)
——————————
Joseph Addai (Ind – RB)
Plaxico Burress (NYG – WR)
Larry Fitzgerald (Ari – WR)
Mike Furrey (Det – WR)
Andre Johnson (Hou – WR)
Donald Lee (GB – TE)
Donovan McNabb (Phi – QB)
Antwaan Randle El (Was – WR)
LaDainian Tomlinson (SD – RB)
Kurt Warner (Ari – QB)
Benjamin Watson (NE – TE)
Matt Stover (Bal – K)
Adam Vinatieri (Ind – K)
Chicago (Chi-DEF)
Tennnessee (Ten-DEF)

WC Silver Spooners (6-7-1)
—————————-
Marion Barber (Dal – RB)
Anquan Boldin (Ari – WR)
Chris Brown (Hou – RB)
Donald Driver (GB – WR)
Lee Evans (Buf – WR)
Brett Favre (NYJ – QB)
Devery Henderson (NO – WR)
Steven Jackson (StL – RB)
Jerious Norwood (Atl – RB)
Sidney Rice (Min – WR)
Chester Taylor (Min – RB)
Kellen Winslow (Cle – TE)
Vince Young (Ten – QB)
Stephen Gostkowski (K – NE)
Green Bay (GB – DEF)

Village Valkyries (7-7-0)
——————–
Dallas Clark (Ind – TE)
Patrick Crayton (Dal – WR)
Jeff Garcia (TB – QB)
Chad Johnson (Cin – WR)
Julius Jones (Sea – RB)
Kenton Keith (Ind – RB)
Marshawn Lynch (Buf – RB)
Shaun McDonald (Det – WR)
Terrell Owens (Dal – WR)
Adrian Peterson (Min – RB)
Philip Rivers (SD – QB)
Jason Hanson (Det – K)
Jason Witten (Dal – TE)
Minnesota (Min – DEF)
San Diego (SD – DEF)

BLACK MOUTH CURS (6-8-0)

Cedric Benson (Chi – RB)
Dwayne Bowe (KC – WR)
DeShaun Foster (SF – RB)
Ahman Green (Hou – RB)
Devin Hester (Chi – WR)
Edgerrin James (Ari – RB)
J.P. Losman (Buf – QB)
Eli Manning (NYG – QB)
Greg Olsen (Chi – TE)
Tony Romo (Dal – QB)
Brandon Stokley (Den – WR)
Roy Williams (Det – WR)
Jeff Reed (Pit – K)
Arizona (Ari – DEF)
Denver (Den – DEF)

Right Wing News takes a poll:

Out of the following VP candidates rumored to be on McCain’s short list, which one DO YOU THINK HE WILL TAKE?

Mitt Romney (Former Governor, Massachusetts): 37 (58%)
Sarah Palin (Governor, Alaska): VD

Out of the following VP candidates rumored to be on McCain’s short list, which one WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HIM TAKE?

Sarah Palin (Governor, Alaska): 20 (31%)
Mitt Romney (Former Governor, Massachusetts): 20 (31%)
Rudy Giuliani (Former Mayor of New York): VD

Out of the following VP candidates rumored to be on McCain’s short list, which one WOULD YOU LEAST LIKE TO SEE HIM TAKE?

Joe Lieberman (Senator, Connecticut): 27 (46%)
Carly Fiorina (Former Hewlett-Packard CEO): VD

I’d like to see McCain pick Giuliani, but of course, I don’t want him to win. I’d just enjoy witnessing the suicidal despair that would run rampant throughout the Republican Party as it watched its the old tormentor pluck defeat from the jaws of victory. An Obama presidency would be more than conventionally disastrous, it would be an amusing spectacle for the ages and might be the only thing capable of shaking a complacent America out of its torpor.

On the practical side, it’s clear that McCain has to pick a woman if he’s going to drive home the spike that Hillary has so delicately teed up for him. Carly Fiorina is the poster child for the evils of corporate affirmative action; the mind boggles to think what she would come up with under the guise of reinventing the USA. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is not only a popular governor, but would be of significant appeal to the moderate mommies who swing back and forth between the two parties depending upon which one has more successfully scared them about the fate of their children.

SW points out a rather salient fact regarding those who pursue post-graduate degrees:

Just started your book. Fun read. Thought I should pass this on. That statistic about persons with masters degrees more likely to vote Democrat has nothing to do with intelligence. Far and away the most commonly awarded graduate degree in the US is the masters in – think about it – teaching. This skews the number. Teachers vote Democrat because the party gives them money and power. If that weren’t enough, teaching majors, as a group, average much lower SAT scores and GPA than college students at large.

Strip away that factor, and there is a strong and consistent correlation with increasing education, and probably intelligence, and voting conservative.

An excellent observation and one I’m kicking myself for failing to highlight, especially since while I was writing the book I happened to post about a 2005 column entitled Idiots at the Chalkboard, in which I calculated the average teacher’s IQ to be around 91. A calculation, I note, which probably errs on the high side.

Therefore the usual correlation between post-graduate degrees and intelligence doesn’t apply as in this particular case due to the confirmable intellectual deficiencies of those who go into teaching; the fact that master’s degrees offered by the teachers’ colleges are considerably dumbed-down in comparison with other master’s degrees is further support for this observation. A good catch by SW.

Not so much the Oprah Winfrey woman, as Miss Lucas points out:

I recently stood by as a clothing designer, a mother in her 40s, announced to a group of women that she was divorcing her husband. The women’s faces flickered with curiosity, support, recognition, and — could it be? — yearning. Not a one of us suggested that she try harder to make it work. No voice murmured, “What a shame.”

Because it isn’t a shame…

Needless to say, if that same mother in her 40s announced that her husband had left her due to a new hobby that involved having regular sex with a twenty-something aerobics instructor harboring a passionate interest in ancient Indian literature, they would have all been speechless with rage and immediately launched into a Two-Minute Hate that would last decades.

If this women thinks men are all moderately bad, that’s only because she’s never seen the sort who put any effort into it, although she does strike one as having it within her to inspire her husband to aspire to proverbial badness of the stacked-skull, Genghis Khan variety. Rachel’s commenter JT cogently sums it all up:

“I’d be willing to bet real money that if that moron trips over her husband’s shoes, breaks her neck and dies, he won’t be walking home from the morgue grief-stricken. He’ll be dancing and singing “Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead.”

Politician-style:

At the Tuesday-morning meeting with committee staffers, Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: “I’m groping here.” Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we’re not bent on its destruction. “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran,” Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face.

The staffers sit in silence. Finally somebody ventures a response: “I think they’d send it back.” Then another aide speaks up delicately: “The thing I would worry about is that it would almost look like a publicity stunt.” Still another reminds Biden that an Iranian delegation is in Moscow that very day to discuss a $300 million arms deal with Vladimir Putin that the United States has strongly condemned. But Joe Biden is barely listening anymore. He’s already moved on to something else.

The parable about the possession of a hammer and its possessor’s perspective on problem-solving would seem to be applicable here. It appears that in Sen. Biden’s eyes, there is no problem that a little jaw-jaw and check-writing cannot solve. Yikes indeed.

And yet, precisely how this damning character portrait distinguishes him from the Republican politicians who have managed to spend their way into record-setting budget deficits is not explained by National Review.