North To Alaska!

Sarah Palin was a good choice. Why?

The voters have made it clear that they do not care about experience this year. If they did, then the election would be between Richardson (governor, former cabinet secretary) and Romney (former governor, businessman and olympic organizer). Nor do they care about ideology, if they cared about that, the campaign would be between Fred Thompson (remember him), the closest follower of Reagan running in 2008, and Clinton, who basically (along with Bill) defined the modern Democratic party.

Instead it's a contest of tribes.

The Republicans quickly split off into the evangelicals (with Huckabee as their champion) vs Everybody Else (featuring St John of Arizona).

The Democrats presented a more interesting conflict. They split off into the Black vote, the white working class vote, the over 35 woman vote, the progressive (aka elitist) vote, with a little "Return to Normalcy" tribe (sort of like the Druse or Mormons) sprinkled in.

The Black and Progressive tribes roped in the Return to Normalcy tribe and triumphed over the over 35 woman and white working class tribes, and annointed their chosen one. (On a side note, isn't tribal warfare in America better than in other countries?)

McCain accurately saw the rules of the game as they are currently defined and saw a chance to pick off the dead enders in the WWC and over 35 woman tribes, and took it. I still think Obama is going to win in November, but it's going to be much closer than it would be if he nominated, say, Romney or Ridge.

A good Obama post from David Friedman

David Friedman makes this well put observation about Obama, to wit:

His supporters interpret his decision to go into community organizing instead of joining a law firm as evidence of his good moral character. In fact, it is nothing of the sort. For a young man aiming at a career in politics, especially a black man in an urban setting, community organizing is an investment, a way of building up contacts and other resources that will be useful at the next stage of that career.

To be fair, I should also say that considering Obama's behavior as that of an aspiring politician weakens the argument being made by some on the right about his past association with people on the left, in particular William Ayers, an unrepentant ex-Weatherman. The Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, which is where I grew up, is the sort of place where an ex-Weatherman can easily enough be a prominent figure. You don't start a career in politics by going out of your way to refuse to shake the hands of people who lots of your constituents respect, or even refusing to sit with them on a board of directors or share a platform with them--not, at least, unless you are aiming at a deliberate political gesture. And making a point of how hostile you are to left wing radicals, while it might be useful for a Democrat running for President, would not be prudent for a Democrat seeking political support in Hyde Park.

I've often thought the Rev. Wright thing was overblown too. Is it imaginable that an up and coming politician would pick a fight with a popular minister in his district? I've never heard of it happening anywhere else. Local politics is simply not a principle game, and Obama is a politician.

And the Democratic convention can be summed up with "I think the stripper really likes me!"

Palin!

Via the Agitator - I bring you VPILF.com!

And I now coin the term "McCain's other trophy wife" which the Dems will start using in approximately fifteen minutes.

Obama, Ayers and history

An interesting article about Bill Ayers and the WeatherMen. I would expect to hear lots more about this as the election nears. The obvious parallel is McCain being associated with abortion clinic bombers.

Col. Lang on the VeepStakes

On Joe Biden

His argumentation is logical, passionate and usually (unlike the occasion mentioned,) delivered behind a screen of civility spread across a vast hostility.

On David Petraeus

Petraeus is youthful, well spoken, handsome, intelligent, successful in the war in Iraq, youthful, and youthful. Petraeus has reached the top in his profession. There is no "up" in the Army from full general and theater commander. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Yawn... The professional politicians would probably not like to have Petraeus on the ticket, but his presence there would make victory inevitable.

My money's still on Meg Whitman as the veep choice.

Bob Barr invades the pop culture

For my hipster readers, Bob Barr will be appearing on the Colbert Report on Tuesday.

More Youtube

This is a real commercial on CNN.

When white people talk for a long time

The author of "Stuff White People Like"


And http://stuffaspergerpeoplelike.com/ like is eerily similar to my life.

The agitator brings the Biden pain

From this post

Biden’s record on other criminal justice and civil liberties issues is just as bad. Opponents of the federalization of crime might note that the 1994 crime bill he sponsored created several new federal capital offenses. Biden also wants to expand federal penalties for hate crimes. He supports a federal smoking ban. His position on the federal drinking age is, and I quote, “absolutely do not” lower it to 18. He believes “most violent crime is related to drugs” (if he had said “drug prohibition,” he’d be closer to the truth). Biden also has an almost perfect anti-gun voting record. He said last year he favors “universal national service,” either in the Peace Corps or the military. Sounds like conscription to me. He says he’s opposed to the PATRIOT Act, but he voted for both the original bill and its re-authorization in 2005.

Foreign policy? Biden voted for the war on Iraq. Yes, he’s opposed to it now (and I like the partition plan he pushed in the primaries). But he didn’t vote correctly when it counted most. Biden also voted to send troops into Darfur. He wants to enlarge NATO. He voted in favor of the air strikes in Kosovo. He voted to strengthen the trade embargo against Cuba. His seems to be a meddling, interventionist, Clinton-esque foreign policy. His first instinct seems to be that the U.S. military’s objective include some vague notion of “doing good in the world.” Never mind the disastrous consequences that notion has reaped over the years.

I obviously disagree with Biden on a host of economic and regulatory issues, too (though he does seem to be fairly decent on free trade). But that’s to be expected. My problem with Biden is that he’s not even good on the issues the left is supposed to be good on. He’s an overly ambitious, elitist, tunnel-visioned, Potomac-fevered Beltway dinosaur, with all the trappings. He may well have been the worst possible pick among congressional Democrats when it comes to the drug war and criminal justice.

Meg Whitman seems like a more obvious choice now.

My new favorite Mencken

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

From here

A day of mixed baggae

Music city = fun
Server problems when you don't have direct access to the internet = periods of anxious horror.

The surprisingly witty Bob Barr

Not as funny as McCain can be, but close, surprising close

Your Monday reading

• Visual Thesaurous
• SchellingPoint.com
• Reporter gets shot, keeps reporting
• An alternative to business requirements
• The Pop vs Soda map
• David Friedman on Bob Barr
• An interview with Bob Barr
• An Asian rant about Europe, which had the memorable quote

  Heaven is a place where the police are English; the chefs are Italian; the car mechanics are German; the lovers are French and it's all organized by the Swiss. Hell is a place where the police are German; the chefs are English; the car mechanics are French; the lovers are Swiss and it's all organized by the Italians

Saturday link clearing roundup

• Visual thinking from the 1960s
• Schelling and the Nuclear Taboo
• Mexican cartels running pot farms in U.S. national forest - who says no one makes things in America anymore!
• The Pill makes women pick bad mates
• 'Peter Pan', 'Snow White' busted at Disneyland - People and their free time...
  

My new favorite title for any long story

"A funny thing happened on the way to the grave..."
Tommy Womack

Google and the Russia-Georgia War

Georgia does not appear on Google Maps, whereas Russia does. How odd.

Update: They do have Georgia, just not at a very good level of detail.

Early tech support

Via PurpleSlog, here is the first tech support call.

Link of the day

Old-Picture.com - very cool.

Quote of the moment

Michael Scheur -

When you don't do the hard things, you end up doing the extreme things.

and

Foreign Policy is not what defines what America is, it defends what it is.

Here is the interview

Least surprising headline ever

Report: Crack users with HIV engage in unprotected sex

My one Edwards adultery post

And why adultery matters.

Marriage, among other things, is a legal contract between two people. A contract that can be terminated by either party at any time. Adultery is a breach of that contract. It matters politically since it is (again, among other things) a breach of contract, arguably the most important contract anyone ever into into. Marriage is, by design, not a private matter.

If someone breaks a contract with someone he or she knows quite well, and at least at one point cared deeply about, shouldn't that factor into one's decision on who to elect president? Especially in our current age when presidents have enormous discretionary power and can make people disappear unilaterally?

The analogy I use in these situations is: suppose someone defaults on a car loan, does that affect the likelihood that they will default on a mortgage?

And yes, McCain's adultery was equally horrible, and an equal sign of low character and trustworthiness.

An ethnic map of the Sough Caucasus

Pretty cool. There's a surprising number of different ethnicities there.

The War Nerd speaks!

In this interview.

Thursday link roundup

• Bill Buckley and Hugh Hefner
• Town buys strip club to shut it down -

  The town of Lavonia shelled out nearly $1 million Tuesday to buy and shut down the strip club along I-85. Then, the city quickly burned the interstate signs advertising the club, which was popular with truckers.

  For those curious, that's $1,287 per household. Such a wise use of taxpayer dollars.
• Toby Keith opposed the Iraq War
• Quote of the moment (by Ben Franklin) "A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle."
• Check out this Despair.com post, and the government reply - quite funny, and scary too.
  

Decent Bob Barr interview