Year: 2008

On today’s edition of “Meet the Press,” during which time Colin Powell dealt a body blow to the McCain campaign by endorsing Barack Obama, Powell made a brilliant observation that, frankly, I wish had occurred to me.

He commented on how people in the GOP party (he wasn’t talking about McCain per se, but the party in general) kept accusing Obama of being a Muslim. And he said the first and obvious answer is that Obama is a Christian and always has been. But the better and more appropriate answer should be–so what if he were? Why should some seven year old American kid who aspires to be president and happens to be Muslim be receiving the message that, because of his religion, he can forget about it? And Powell went on to describe a photograph he saw of a military grave with a mourning mother, and there wasn’t a cross or a star of David on the soldier’s tombstone, but instead the crescent of the Muslim. What does it say about this country, Powell wondered, that that kind of message is being sent out? That young Muslims can fight and die for this country but never be involved in running it.

It’s even more striking when one considers that back in 1960, JFK being Catholic was a HUGE deal because people contended that a Catholic shouldn’t be president because he’d be taking marching orders from the Vatican. One only hopes that forty years from now we’ll look back on the notion that a Muslim can never be president with the same “isn’t that a silly idea” attitude that we now look back on the thought that a Catholic–or for that matter, a black man–couldn’t ever be President.

PAD

And this classic rant from “Network” could be recited word for word today as well. I find myself wondering, if someone went on the air and actually did this, whether we’d hear shouting throughout the country:

I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job, the dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter, punks are running wild in the streets, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

Continue Reading “Eerily Prophetic, Volume 2” →

Kevin Brown brought this to my attention: The Onion article from the date of Bush’s first inauguration that is, in retrospect, so dead on that it’s frightening.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

PAD

Last night John McCain intimated on Dave Letterman’s show that he and Obama should both show up and debate on Letterman.

That was before Letterman nailed him to the wall with pointing out that McCain is pals with Gordon Liddy. I haven’t seen them cut to commercial so fast since Crispin Glover nearly kicked Dave in the face.

If Obama and McCain debated on Letterman, it would be an absolute fiasco for McCain. I don’t know that Obama would necessarily fare MUCH better, but his famed unflappability would probably serve him in much better stead. Letterman would say all the stuff that wiseguys like me snark about on my blog.

I’ll grant you, McCain obliquely likening his appearance on Dave to being interrogated by the Vietcong was the best use of his time as a POW he’s ever made, and perhaps even the most appropriate. But he really, really would NOT want an extended debate appearance on Letterman. It would not go well.

PAD

PS–And major props to Keith Olberman who was willing to let himself be nothing more than a prop for Letterman’s jokes, standing in the wings, scowling, arms folded, ready to go on should McCain cancel again, like a human fire extinguisher inside glass that is supposed to be shattered in case of emergency. That gives me more respect for Olberman than any five over-the-top rants.

Last night John McCain intimated on Dave Letterman’s show that he and Obama should both show up and debate on Letterman.

That was before Letterman nailed him to the wall with pointing out that McCain is pals with Gordon Liddy. I haven’t seen them cut to commercial so fast since Crispin Glover nearly kicked Dave in the face.

If Obama and McCain debated on Letterman, it would be an absolute fiasco for McCain. I don’t know that Obama would necessarily fare MUCH better, but his famed unflappability would probably serve him in much better stead. Letterman would say all the stuff that wiseguys like me snark about on my blog.

I’ll grant you, McCain obliquely likening his appearance on Dave to being interrogated by the Vietcong was the best use of his time as a POW he’s ever made, and perhaps even the most appropriate. But he really, really would NOT want an extended debate appearance on Letterman. It would not go well.

PAD

PS–And major props to Keith Olberman who was willing to let himself be nothing more than a prop for Letterman’s jokes, standing in the wings, scowling, arms folded, ready to go on should McCain cancel again, like a human fire extinguisher inside glass that is supposed to be shattered in case of emergency. That gives me more respect for Olberman than any five over-the-top rants.