Rabu, 07 Februari 2007

Current Events...

Dang, but it took me a looong time to “make the rounds” today. The blog rounds, that is. Three hours of doing nothing but…and I’ve yet to begin with “Current Events,” which, apropos of nothing, was one of my favorite subjects in grade school. Perhaps I’ll be able to make something of that last thought, but probably not.

Lex must have had a slow day at work yesterday, because he certainly was prolific where the blog is concerned. As were his commenters. I probably spent at least an hour and a half of the aforementioned three hours at his place. That said, Lileks has added a new item to his “Institute of Official Cheer” sub-site: Funny Books, Dubious Moments in Comic History.” The first installment is hilarious, as one might expect.

A tempest in a teapot…Edwards’s Bloggers Cross the Line, Critic Says. It is definitely a slow news day when this is the lead item at memeorandum (the 1500 hrs 2/07/2007 page; it changes hourly), and when there are 39 links to folks blogging about it, both right and left. And that doesn’t include the six related items and their links under the lead NYT article. I’m not going to count ‘em all, but geez!… there must be over 100 Big Dog bloggers writing on this subject today. Anyway. If you care, here’s what the flap is about:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — Two bloggers hired by John Edwards to reach out to liberals in the online world have landed his presidential campaign in hot water for doing what bloggers do — expressing their opinions in provocative and often crude language.

[…]

The two women brought to the Edwards campaign long cyber trails in the incendiary language of the blogosphere. Other campaigns are likely to face similar controversies as they try to court voters using the latest techniques of online communication.

[…]

She (ed: Marcotte) has also written sarcastically about the news media coverage of the three Duke lacrosse players accused of sexual assault, saying: “Can’t a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair.”

“Often crude language” is being kind. Very kind. Amanda Marcotte, and many more than a few of her sisters on the Left, is a veritable potty mouth. I don’t find that trait attractive at all, in either women or men, but especially in women. Perhaps I’m living in the 19th century, I dunno. But it is what it is…

Oh, and as for Edwards and his campaign? This is just one more incident of bad judgment and half-baked ideas. Caveat emptor.

Other than that, I couldn’t frickin’ care less.

On the other hand, Confederate Yankee has some pretty danged good observations on this brouhaha. Excerpts:

The Edwards campaign should have been cognizant of the liabilities of hiring these two particular bloggers, as they are indeed perfect examples of a very popular subset of liberal bloggers that have produced a body of work that will offend many of those potential voters who have not made up their minds, have an open mind, or can be persuaded to change their minds to vote for Edwards in the Democratic primaries. That the "wingnut Christofascist base"—liberal code for Republican conservatives—are not going to be voting in the Democratic primaries is completely irrelevant.

Democrats, many of whom are conservatives, and a majority of which are Christians and "breeders", are going to be choosing the Democratic Presidential candidates. Most of them don't read blogs, but many do read the newspapers, and they are likely to be offended that Edwards hired a pair of bloggers that mock their core values with the strongest possible language.

The kind of derisive language Marcotte, McEwan and her fellow travelers is widely accepted in their reality-based online community, but it is shocking enough to the supermajority of Americans that have never read a liberal blog, that even an ABC News blog questioned whether or not Marcotte's comments qualify as hate speech, and whether or not hiring Marcotte and McEwan means Edwards condones such speech.

What he said. Malkin has more, including a rumor that the Edwards campaign has fired Marcotte and McEwan. Too late, Johnny. The cat’s out of the bag. Firing them just makes you look as stupid (or dumber, actually) as you really are. Just sayin’.

Just how stupid can politicians get? This stupid. QED.

Further on Pelosi’s Air Force…from the Washington Times:

Mrs. Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her home district of San Francisco nonstop. She also wants to be able to ferry other members of the congressional delegation, family members and her staff.

The speaker's request is being handled by her chief counsel, Bernard Raimo, a veteran Democratic lawyer on Capitol Hill.

"Who she can take is being worked out, outside the Air Force," said Ed Gulick, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon.

He said the Air Force is studying what types of planes are available for long, cross-country flights. Currently, three planes assigned to the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base can make such nonstop flights year-round -- the C-32, C-40B and C-37.

Such VIP planes are in high demand.

"She's effectively taking a bird out of the fleet," said a defense source. "It will most directly impact the House, because they're the heavy users of the large aircraft. Congress looks at that Andrews fleet as their Hertz rent-a-car."

Larger than what?, you may ask… Well, larger than “an Air Force commuter-type jet” Denny Hastert used to fly back and forth to Illinois. Personally, I don’t think she wants a C-37. Too small for the family, ya know.

Further, further… Oh, those wild and crazy Lefties!! This is funny.

There’s a lot more in the current events space, but it’s waaay past time for me to get off the frickin’ computer and get out and enjoy another really nice day…

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