This is irony at it's best.
On a Focus on the Family video, Stewart Shepard asked "would it be wrong to pray for rain?" He then asked people to pray for torrential rain on Obama's acceptance speech.
As it turns out, God answers prayers because Hurricane Gustav is tracking to wash ashore — during the Republican Convention. Seems God has a sense of humor, too.
Oh yeah... Focus on the Family had to remove the video because its members thought he was serious and actually began praying for rain. They must have forgotten to specify where they wanted the rain.
You can't make this stuff up, Folks. Here is Stewart's prayer request.
Thank you, Jesus.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Any woman will do
I'm not sure if he was trying to piss off Hillary Clinton, but I'm sure she must be spitting mad right now.
After spending the last two years trying to break the "last glass ceiling" for women, John McCain selected a relatively unkown governor from Alaska to be his vice presidential nominee. John McCain's selection effectively ends any pathway for Hillary to run as the first potential woman for president in 2012. That's gotta smart.
What's probably even more insulting to Clinton is that Palin was mayor of a city of 9,000 people and, for two years, governor of a state with the same population as the city of Austin.
After bashing Barack Obama for not having experience, John McCain chose someone who has never held a national office, never had to think about national security or the country's fiscal issues in a serious way. She has never had to withstand the rigors of a national election or have her every word scrutinized by the entire nation.
Just for a bit of perspective, when George W. Bush was elected president of the United States, Gov. Palin was running a city with fewer people than the number who saw John McCain introduce her as his running mate. Sen. Obama had eight times as many people present for his acceptance speech as she did constituents. This is the executive experience she will tout.
Why would John McCain pick such a person to succeed him if, God forbid, something should happen to him? The answer seems pretty obvious to most — because she is a woman. McCain must have calculated that there are still a fair number of unhappy residents of Hillaryland. If He can pick off even a few percentage points of them, he can make a pretty good run at the presidency.
Nobody quite knows if that gamble will pay off, but I've heard many women who felt that pick was insulting to women. In her recent Vanity Fair article, Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary for President Clinton, said "too often women are promoted for the wrong reasons, and then blamed when things don’t go right."
I can understand their frustration. After Justice Thurgood Marshall retired from the bench, President George H.W. Bush reached past a slew of qualified judges of all colors and persuasions and nominated Clarence Thomas. At the time, Thomas had a meager record that could charitably characterized as mediocre. Since being on the bench, Justice Thomas has carved out a record as an incurious justice who blindly follows the right wing agenda. And he is there just because he is Black. The 'any Black person will do' selection annoyed me as it did many people of color.
I've never been a fan of Hillary, but I can imagine this 'any woman will do' selection must annoy her. I feel her pain.
After spending the last two years trying to break the "last glass ceiling" for women, John McCain selected a relatively unkown governor from Alaska to be his vice presidential nominee. John McCain's selection effectively ends any pathway for Hillary to run as the first potential woman for president in 2012. That's gotta smart.
What's probably even more insulting to Clinton is that Palin was mayor of a city of 9,000 people and, for two years, governor of a state with the same population as the city of Austin.
After bashing Barack Obama for not having experience, John McCain chose someone who has never held a national office, never had to think about national security or the country's fiscal issues in a serious way. She has never had to withstand the rigors of a national election or have her every word scrutinized by the entire nation.
Just for a bit of perspective, when George W. Bush was elected president of the United States, Gov. Palin was running a city with fewer people than the number who saw John McCain introduce her as his running mate. Sen. Obama had eight times as many people present for his acceptance speech as she did constituents. This is the executive experience she will tout.
Why would John McCain pick such a person to succeed him if, God forbid, something should happen to him? The answer seems pretty obvious to most — because she is a woman. McCain must have calculated that there are still a fair number of unhappy residents of Hillaryland. If He can pick off even a few percentage points of them, he can make a pretty good run at the presidency.
Nobody quite knows if that gamble will pay off, but I've heard many women who felt that pick was insulting to women. In her recent Vanity Fair article, Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary for President Clinton, said "too often women are promoted for the wrong reasons, and then blamed when things don’t go right."
I can understand their frustration. After Justice Thurgood Marshall retired from the bench, President George H.W. Bush reached past a slew of qualified judges of all colors and persuasions and nominated Clarence Thomas. At the time, Thomas had a meager record that could charitably characterized as mediocre. Since being on the bench, Justice Thomas has carved out a record as an incurious justice who blindly follows the right wing agenda. And he is there just because he is Black. The 'any Black person will do' selection annoyed me as it did many people of color.
I've never been a fan of Hillary, but I can imagine this 'any woman will do' selection must annoy her. I feel her pain.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Paris for America
Surely by now John McCain must be rethinking his decision to put Paris Hilton on his advertisement deriding Barack Obama.
Ever since the ad compared both as big celebrities, he's faced a ridicule of his own. Republicans have called the ad childish. Obama laughed it off as silly. Conspiracists saw it as racists. And Paris Hilton's parents saw it as unacceptable. (By the way, the Hilton's had maxed out on donations to McCain. There go his Hilton Honors points.)
But the ultimate is Paris Hilton's comeback. She's released her own ad where she dispenses the advice of her own energy policy and calls McCain wrinkly, white-haired guy. The last thing McCain wants is a sweet young thing calling him old and wrinkly. But, alas, he brought it on himself.
Paris Hilton for President, Y'all. Only in America.
Ever since the ad compared both as big celebrities, he's faced a ridicule of his own. Republicans have called the ad childish. Obama laughed it off as silly. Conspiracists saw it as racists. And Paris Hilton's parents saw it as unacceptable. (By the way, the Hilton's had maxed out on donations to McCain. There go his Hilton Honors points.)
But the ultimate is Paris Hilton's comeback. She's released her own ad where she dispenses the advice of her own energy policy and calls McCain wrinkly, white-haired guy. The last thing McCain wants is a sweet young thing calling him old and wrinkly. But, alas, he brought it on himself.
Paris Hilton for President, Y'all. Only in America.
See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die
Monday, August 4, 2008
He doesn't understand
They toss it out so casually, most observers seem to miss it.
While bloggers and the press ballyhoo about Obama being called arrogant and uppity, I see a more serious slight being tossed around: He doesn't understand. McCain led with this offensive when Barack Obama returned from his week long trip throughout Europe and the Middle East.
"He doesn't understand what's at stake in Iraq," McCain said repeatedly. McCain and now Republican operatives repeatedly tell us what Obama doesn't understand on Iraq, the economy, on energy. On every issue, Barack Obama doesn't understand. Is it me or is this a not-so-subtle belittlement of Obama's intelligence?
Here is a man who went to Columbia and Harvard University, two of the country's best schools. He excels...becoming the first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review. He goes on to practice civil rights law and teach Constitutional law. He rises through the ranks quickly at both the state and federal senate levels. He displays a command of the issues and articulates his positions clearly. And McCain wants to tell us that Obama doesn't understand.
That's insidious.
If McCain disagrees, he should say so. If he has a difference in opinion, so be it. But to say his opponent doesn't understand? This is from a man who has never proven to be an intellectual heavyweight. He graduated third from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. This is with the privilege of two generations of four-star Navy Admirals in his lineage. Everyone knows that should get you every benefit of the doubt. And yet he was less than stellar.
This is also from a man who claims he didn't really understand the economy after 26 years in congress. This from a man who mistakes the border of Iraq and Sunni from Shia.
This man has the gall to say that Barack Obama doesn't understand, and no one challenges him. Is it that it seems plausible that the older, more experienced senator should logically be wiser than his younger counterpart? Is it that when people look at them together it seems like a plausible scenario?
How in the world can he continue to get away with that? I don't understand.
While bloggers and the press ballyhoo about Obama being called arrogant and uppity, I see a more serious slight being tossed around: He doesn't understand. McCain led with this offensive when Barack Obama returned from his week long trip throughout Europe and the Middle East.
"He doesn't understand what's at stake in Iraq," McCain said repeatedly. McCain and now Republican operatives repeatedly tell us what Obama doesn't understand on Iraq, the economy, on energy. On every issue, Barack Obama doesn't understand. Is it me or is this a not-so-subtle belittlement of Obama's intelligence?
Here is a man who went to Columbia and Harvard University, two of the country's best schools. He excels...becoming the first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review. He goes on to practice civil rights law and teach Constitutional law. He rises through the ranks quickly at both the state and federal senate levels. He displays a command of the issues and articulates his positions clearly. And McCain wants to tell us that Obama doesn't understand.
That's insidious.
If McCain disagrees, he should say so. If he has a difference in opinion, so be it. But to say his opponent doesn't understand? This is from a man who has never proven to be an intellectual heavyweight. He graduated third from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. This is with the privilege of two generations of four-star Navy Admirals in his lineage. Everyone knows that should get you every benefit of the doubt. And yet he was less than stellar.
This is also from a man who claims he didn't really understand the economy after 26 years in congress. This from a man who mistakes the border of Iraq and Sunni from Shia.
This man has the gall to say that Barack Obama doesn't understand, and no one challenges him. Is it that it seems plausible that the older, more experienced senator should logically be wiser than his younger counterpart? Is it that when people look at them together it seems like a plausible scenario?
How in the world can he continue to get away with that? I don't understand.
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