Photo Shoot

I get it. Trump is a bastard. But The New York Times is a newspaper, not People Magazine. This image appeared on the front page, above the fold today.

The caption tells us that this Muslim girl is studying at her family's home in the Bronx.

What it doesn't tell us is why she chooses to have such a menacing image of Trump, the current front runner and leading Islamophobic on the screen while she studies.

Photoshop or photo staging, this is shoddy journalism. Total bullshit.  

Dale Peterson is Gonna Kick Some Ass

UPDATE: I would've lost that money I was going to place on Dale. Seems he got his ass kicked. Disregard this entire post.

I've been away for a week, so apologies if I'm posting something everyone else already has. (When I'm gone that long, I tend to mark all RSS items as "read" as I don't have the patience to sift through the thousands of things I missed.)

Via Dan Eck came this gem in my inbox for Alabama candidate for Agricultural Commissioner Dale Peterson. From the grand cinematic score to the veiled threats to calling his opponent a dummy, this guy should be a shoe-in for what he calls one of the most powerful positions in Alabama. Dog tags and Marine Corps insignia over the Constitution. Cowboy hat. Every cliche is covered. (Correction: He didn't include an American flag. Missed an opportunity there.) Every hot button hit. Via The Washington Post comes this quote: "Republican consultants are conspiring feverishly" to produce more such ads in order to "cross the Rachel Maddow Threshold and get mocked by liberals." I'm not mocking. What Rachel and the Screaming Left don't get is that this stuff works. This is advertising at its most effective. (Some guy who thinks he's funny has created a spoof of this. It's lame.) A commenter at that same WaPo link says, "It's ironic that some of the enlightened elite don't realize that Dale is in on the joke." The rifle is the perfect touch at the end. I'd put money on Peterson winning this primary on June 1.

Sarah Smells Blood

A large group of white people showed up in St. Paul, Minnesota last night to cheer on America’s Homecoming Queen and Junior Class President, and then dance awkwardly to some crazy song called “Raisin’ McCain” sung by some country music guy only country music fans are familiar with. I’m not sure if they understood the irony of the title of the song. While the happy family played Hot Potato with Snow White's Down syndrome baby, the cameras panned desperately for a face of color, occasionally finding one and then lingering on it for an awkwardly long moment. And poor Levi Johnston made his debut as the groom in America’s next reality TV show, Shotgun Wedding.

All Governor Palin had to do last night was not screw up, and she had plenty of time to practice her speech, sequestered in a hotel for five days lest she actually have to face questions about her questionable past from a curious press, now the enemy of the McCain camp for doing the job McCain failed to do.

The speech was textbook Sean Hannity (minus Sean's daily, coded allusions to the Antichrist), although delivered in the voice of the school secretary from Ferris Buehler’s Day Off. Ms. Palin proved herself worthy of a fight, and I hope Senators Biden and Obama come at her swinging wildly, caring not for her gender nor playing nice in deference to her neophyte status. She’s a pit bull in lipstick by her own account, and the only way I know to fight a rabid pit bull is to whack it in the head with a baseball bat.

Let the battle begin.

18-Year Old Male Vote Secured by McCain

I'm being shallow, as usual, but there has been a lot of chatter on-air and online to this effect.

Playing the POW Card - From the Bottom of the Deck

As the “How Many Houses Do The McCains Own” battle was heating up yesterday, McCain spokes-Doberman Brian Rogers had this to say, "The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It's not as if he lives in ten houses. That's just not the case," Rogers said. "The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use."

He also added: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

I’m pretty sick of the POW excuse that magically absolves McCain of everything. It’s one thing to be a POW, it’s quite another to remind people of it every day, in the most disconnected, disingenuous and dishonest ways. So let’s look ahead and prepare McCain’s answers for him on a host of issues.

• Milk prices are too high

“This is a guy who didn’t have the luxury of milk for five and a half years -- in prison.”

• We’re not doing enough to find alternative sources of energy

“This is a guy who lived in the dark for five and a half years -- in prison, with no light bulbs.”

• Healthcare is too expensive

“John McCain had little to no healthcare for five and a half years.”

• The inner cities are suffering

“John McCain knows a thing or two about suffering.”

• We aren’t well prepared for natural disasters

“Let me tell you a thing or two about disaster, my friends.”

• War on terror

“I’ve been in a war. I know how to win wars.”

• War on drugs

“I’ve been in a war. I know how to win wars.”

• Prisons are overcrowded

“My friends, let me give you some straight talk about prisons. I know what it is to be in prison.”

• Economy is in a recession

“If there’s one thing I learned as a prisoner of war, it’s that there is always hope. We can’t give up hope.”

Name the issue, and McCain will bring up his POW experience. I find it distasteful and unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman. My Dad served in Vietnam twice as an officer. He is also a graduate of West Point (Beat Navy!) — and he got there on his own, without help from well-connected relatives. And he doesn't talk much, if at all, about his medals, his injuries or the things he witnessed. Very few of the soldiers I've known would, unless you really press them, and even then they'll do it reluctantly. There's an unwritten code among soldiers who've seen war and death that says, "You weren't there and you can't know. To share it with you would be to invite you into my nightmares and I'm not going to do that to you." But McCain has no problem bringing it up every day. He gambles that you will see him as some sort of John Wayne/Rambo/Clint Eastwood type. Or that you will pity him his time in prison and regard him highly for his ability to endure. The sad fact is that John McCain was the favored scion of a high-ranking military family who should not have been admitted to Annapolis, much less Navy flight school. The fact that he got shot down and captured is tragic, but it in no way qualifies him for the Oval Office.

And sadly, this isn't the doing of Karl Rove or some other Republican spin-meister. McCain has been trading on this story for decades. That alone says more about the man than the story he keeps telling.

Image is Everything

As it seems to be a given that Senator Clinton (despite her image problems and extreme dislikability to half the country) is the de facto Democratic candidate for President next year, let's look at the image problems of her Republican competitors, who just finished a debate in Detroit.

(Disclaimer: I have no dog in this hunt. As an independent, I do not vote in primaries. I'm just a shallow marketer and advertiser trying to look at this from a "regular American" perspective.)

Senator Sam Brownback

Sam needs a haircut most of the time, and he needs to stop playing his religion card so heavily. It can be somewhat alienating to many Americans when every answer is framed in family, God and abortion. You're not in Kansas, anymore, Sam.






Congressman Tom Tancredo


If you invented a drinking game whereby you had to take a shot every time Tom said "illegal immigration," everyone would be wasted in about 10 minutes. Also, hire a voice coach and work to get your timbre more resonant. You sound like a nervous squirrel.





Senator Fred Thompson

All hat, no cattle. A good actor, they tell me, but in the role of President, Fred ain't cutting it. Hangdog homespun works at the diner or the bar, but not on the international stage. Develop some character depth.







Senator John McCain

The good Senator, hero of Vietnam and straight-talker of old, is appearing senile and on the ropes. Asking the moderator to repeat the question as you crane your neck in anguish to better hear her is not exactly confidence instilling.






Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Rudy needs more than "9/11" as an answer to every question. His tough talk tempered by affable smile works well on the stump, but "the terrorists hate you and wanna kill your babies" needs to be ratcheted down just a notch. Also, watch your back on the many marriages thing.






Governor Mitt Romney

Mitt has the whole package that shallow Americans need in a candidate. He's got the hair, the voice, the teeth, and a smooth way with words. But America simply isn't ready for a Mormon President. We're shallow. And we think we know Mormons thanks to HBO's "Big Love."






Governor Mike Huckabee

I like Mike. He's easygoing, practical, sensible and seems to be a warm-hearted guy. The fact that he lost a ton of weight is a nice plus in his favor as well. Mike's unfortunate problem is his last name. Mike, my man, I wish there was something you could do, but "Huckabee" isn't charting well in urban areas or the North and West.





Congressman Duncan Hunter

Friend of the military and longtime San Diego representative has the unfortunate habit of always talking about bombing Iran. If I could cast a hawkish President on Fox's "24," I'd model him after Duncan Hunter. Which I think was what they were going for with Powers Booth last season.





Congressman Ron Paul

If this was 1915 and isolationism was still an option for America, Ron Paul would be the man. He's got nutty but fun ideas like "abolish the IRS" and speaks in that Ross Perot way of a man who is about to come unhinged. Also, a little makeup consulting wouldn't hurt the old fella.