February 3, 2013

His motives may or may not be pure

but at least Hollande got a little respect for what seems like the first time since he got rained on without an umbrella at his inauguration last May:

Then:


Now:

January 27, 2013

Cheese-free remix, très elegant:

no backup dancers in denim, je suis desolé. . .

January 27, 2013

The ultimate Serge Gainsbourg video:

"Sea, Sex, and Sun," no translation needed , except maybe for the fluorescent subtitles, what's up with that??

January 27, 2013

She's right of course, but there's also something to be said

for making politics a respectable profession again, and encouraging promising students to consider it. Otherwise we'll keep getting Tea Party congresses or worse. I think the contempt directed to our current Congress is probably well aimed, although somebody's voting in the clowns so it's by no means unanimous.

But there are lots of good, hard working pols like the ones discussed here including President Obama, Joe Biden, both Clintons, Kerry and many others, als some good governors (Jerry Brown comes to mind), senators, and reps. They get a lot of disrespect though so at some point we need to figure out how to make politics respectable again. How, I don't know exactly, but sites like this where virtue is rewarded, if only digitally, might be part of the solution.

January 26, 2013

Senator Feinstein is 79.

Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi are both 72, as is perennial whiz kid Jerry Brown, at least according to Google-wikipedia. John Kerry is 69 and Hillary Clinton is 65. Neither of my parents, who are also getting up there, are in half as good shape, and neither could hold down a serious job let alone run for President. But maybe we're not all created equal in that respect? I wouldn't have thought it possible either but with a little face work and hair dye plus the exercise and health care they're already getting who knows. If one of these durable oldsters makes it through the primaries I'll be mildly surprised, but I won't be disappointed, as long as they make a good veep pick.

January 25, 2013

I wasn't originally a big Edwards partisan

and was I delighted when Kerry got the nom, and I was kind of underwhelmed by Edwards' convention speech, which I expected to be more impressive, based on his reputation as a dynamite speaker. I think by that time he'd given the ol' two Americas war horse a million times and didn't sound particularly excited but then I heard it on a car radio.

The debate I watched (looks like there was just one) as I was worried he'd get slaughtered like Lieberman had. But apart from the line about not seeing Edwards in the Senate I didn't think Cheney scored any real hits, and Edwards was well prepared and easily made his points against the Iraq war while Cheney glowered & squirmed. Here's a video of the whole shootin' match:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/183584-2

January 25, 2013

About the Edwards-Cheney VP Debate:

You might be thinking of the Cheney-Lieberman debate which did have a negative impact on Gore's polling. Edwards however did just fine and the consensus seems to have been that if anything Kerry-Edwards got a slight boost:

Edwards, Cheney Split Debate Polls - Posted by staff on October 6, 2004

Senator John Edwards beat Vice President Dick Cheney 41-28 percent of "uncommitted voters" who viewed the debate, with 31 percent saying it was a tie, in a CBS News Poll conducted by Knowledge Networks immediately following the debate. The poll concluded that "Edwards also greatly improved his standing among the uncommitted voters. Cheney made more limited gains."

Cheney beat Edwards 43-35 among RV viewers, with 19 percent saying it was a tie in an ABC News Poll conducted by TNS after the debate. One cautionary note in the ABC News report on the poll: "One factor is that more Republicans tuned in 38 percent of viewers were Republicans, 31 percent Democrats, the rest independents." Nonetheless, the poll showed a 1 point gain for Kerry-Edwards in the WH horse race among the poll's respondents following the debate.

http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/donkeyrising/2004/10/edwards_cheney_split_debate_po.html

That accords with my own perceptions. Cheney had a good line about never seeing Edwards in the Senate, but Edwards held his own and worked in a mention of Cheney's gay daughter which may have been a low blow but nevertheless scored a hit.