nobody’s opinions

Over at (shudder) the Daily Kos, this gem from a poster with the handle “Jsn”:

Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle.

The Dems are nastier to each other than a couple of mongrels snarling at each other over a week-old bratwurst!

In this case political wisdom, from the oddest of sources: David Mamet in The Village Voice. Mamet has a fine essay, colorfully titled “Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal’”, recounting how he rethought his personal political geography while writing a play about politics (November, currently at the Barrymore Theater, Broadway).

Sample from his essay:

What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it was a rather good thing, but tallying up the ledger in those things which affect me and in those things I observe, I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow.

Thanks to Mark Steyn at NRO’s Corner for leading me somewhere I wouldn’t normally go.

Hillary praises McCain while slamming Obama:

I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Sen. John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he’d bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

More at Los Angeles Times “Top of the Ticket” Blog.

Like many others, I have been waiting for a “man behind the curtain” moment to descend on Barack Obama. It may have come in a literal sense.

Dana Milbank reports in The Washington Post that when Obama was pressed by reporters on NAFTAgate and Rezkogate at a news conference in San Antonio Monday (the day before the Texas primary):

Obama responded with the classic phrases of a politician in trouble. “That was the information that I had at the time. . . . Those charges are completely unrelated to me. . . . I have said that that was a mistake. . . . The fact pattern remains unchanged.”

When those failed, Obama tried another approach. “We’re running late,” the candidate said, and then he disappeared behind a curtain.

Read the whole story. I particularly enjoyed this turn of phrase:

[T]he grin was quickly replaced by the surprised look of a man bitten by his own dog.

And what, may I ask, is a “fact pattern,” and how does it differ from “the facts”?

Henry Waxman, very liberal California congressman whose district includes Beverly Hills, appears alongside the very conservative John Shadegg (who, thankfully, recently reversed his decision to retire from the House) and House Minority Leader John Boehner, on this list of congressmen who have “sworn off pork.”

Although politics does indeed make strange bedfellows, perhaps Waxman, well-known for taking pride in his strong Jewish identity, took the word “pork” too literally.

Disclaimer: The above post may contain satirical ethnic and/or religious references which could be misconstrued as prejudice, bigotry or anti-Semitism by those readers doomed to a life of blinkered, philistine pig-ignorance. If you experience episodes of prejudice, bigotry or anti-Semitism after using this post, you may have a serious psychiatric condition called “moonbat syndrome,” which can require sedation, a long course of expensive therapy sessions, involuntary commitment to a psychiatric facility, or even euthanization.

Disclaimer to the above disclaimer: The above disclaimer makes reference to “euthanization” for the purpose of underscoring the satirical nature of the original post. This site does not advocate or condone euthanization of its readers except in the most extreme circumstances.

I don’t know what she was thinking, but (despite the Clinton campaign’s tepid disavowal) I sure know what she said, including: 

“Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years. [The media would ask], ‘What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?’” Steinem said, to laughter from the audience.

The New York Observer, which had a reporter at the Austin TX rally where Steinem appeared,  broke the story. Clinton’s campaign sent The Observer this tepid disavowal:

The Clinton campaign sends over the following statement from Howard Wolfson: “Senator Clinton has repeatedly praised Senator McCain’s courage and service to our country. These comments certainly do not represent her thinking in any way. Senator Clinton intends to have a respectful debate with Senator McCain on the issues.”

Apparently even some at The New York Times think Steinem went too far, although my own opinion is that she has been ’round the bend for some time now.

TIME Magazine has a surprisingly good article by Bob Geldof, called “Geldof and Bush: Diary From the Road.”

On assignment for TIME, the musician and humanitarian escorts the President on a farewell tour of the troubled continent

Pictures too.