Statecraft vs. Stagecraft
Monday, April 30, 2007

Last week in South Carolina the eight announced hopefuls (I'm still pullin' for you Ali G!) for the 2008 Democratic nomination met to "debate." This fat honkin' slice o'political theater has been re-run on MSNBC several times since, and has been edited and condensed in Daily Show soundbite-montage-style in various forms online (If history were written using only tidbits of viral marketing one might think former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel dominated the event).

I'm an election geek, so I was looking for the basics: Tie color, lighting, stage position, camera angles. Throughout the campaign process, top candidates from both parties are trained, poked, and prodded to take full advantage these near subliminal elements which in aggregate add to the publics estimation of that indefinable yet all important quality of appearing "Presidential." Take stage position for instance (supposedly random, by the way):

The Right Wing
Richardson (Gov-NM)
Dobbs (Sen-CT)

The Center/Mainstream
Edwards (Sen-NC)
Biden (Sen-DE)
Obama (Sen-IL)
Clinton (Sen-NY)

The Left Wing
Kucinich (Rep-OH)
Gravel (Sen-AK)

The mainstream media is once again attempting to short circuit our electoral process by choosing our front runners for us by emphasizing Obama and Clinton. Personally I didn't see anything in the debate that excited me about any of the candidates beyond the fact that none of them are the current Administration. In that light, my pick for the top two clear winners of the first debate are: John Kerry (Sen-MA) and Al Gore (former USVP)!

Both are smart enough to realize that it's ridiculously early to even announce candidacy, never mind hold a staged and manipulated debate. Both have also won Presidential elections in the past. These two facts alone put them head and shoulders above the rest of the field.

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Full Spectrum
Saturday, April 28, 2007

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It Don't Mean Thing...If It Ain't Got That Swing
Sunday, April 15, 2007

Do you smell something burning? Josh Marshall over at TPM does, and I agree. He's been all over the increasingly titillating story of US Attorney firing scandal. Things are about to get kicked into high gear this week with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales set to appear before the US Senate Tuesday. Josh points out this story from The Albuquerque Journal, and gives this ominous analysis:
No one disputes that Domenici's call to Iglesias was at best inappropriate. But there's been a lack of direct evidence that Iglesias's refusal to bow to political pressure led directly to his firing. Now we have that evidence. And it's not Kyle Sampson or even Alberto Gonzales whom Domenici went to to get sign off for Iglesias's ouster. It was right to the president. And the available evidence now points strongly to the conclusion that the final decision to fire David Iglesias came from the President of the United States.

Once more, with feeling!

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"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."

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