Category: Politics

Political rants and information

Blogging The West Wing

The West Wing Live Debate Tonight – right now, as a matter of fact – is the live debate on The West Wing. It’s a clever grouping of all the famous moves we’ve seen in presidential debates, from a spin-off of Governor Ronald Reagan’s “I paid for this microphone” declaration, to a very clear representation of Senator Kerry walking over to shake President Bush’s hand at his podium last fall. There has even been a small homage to the large Democratic debates from the Clinton era when every candidate talked over everyone else and the audience got very involved to the point of disruption.

There is a degree of textbook debating being displayed tonight. Rep. Santos declared that it was time up for the listing of rules at the beginning of the debate, a technique that is straight from the rule books for winning the respect of the live audience. Sen. Vinick is taking the George H. W. Bush (41) approach of starting politically correct and then eventually getting honest and frank later in the debate when it comes to the need for tax cuts and world tax relief. The audience has been on cue and quite believable in their reactions and it’s made the show very fun to watch.

It’s amazing to see this type of writing on TV, never mind live TV, and how it captures the major memories from televised debates over the past twenty five years. As long as they stay out of the Calvin Coolidge drone-style oratory, I think this will be one of the best episodes ever aired.

—–

The episode is over (on the east coast), and some bloggers are concerned that the average American might think the debate was real. That’s just plan funny! The presidential election was last year, people.

It was a great episode and was very well executed, despite some stutters and dropped lines. Nicely done.

Bush on Vacation in New Orleans

I couldn’t resist posting these excellent abuses of Adobe Photoshop:

Bush on Vacation in New Orleans 1

Bush on Vacation in New Orleans 2

As a side note, this site is celebrating its ninth birthday today. That’s insane. Try and think back nine years and remember what you were doing. I was apparently being anti-social and designing a web site.

A Rather Embarrassing Response

Mary Mason reads a newspaper in a rescue shelter at Biloxi Junior High School in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 1, 2005. It has been hard to find any programming on the major networks this week other than coverage of New Orleans and Biloxi. Images of the destruction from Hurricane Katrina and the resulting chaos are being covered on every media outlet available, yet there seems to be a serious disconnect between the help our citizens need and the assistance the Federal government has been providing. Maybe it’s a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, but it’s hard to avoid criticizing the entire mess when there are pictures of people dying unnecessarily because they’re waiting for help. I know I’m not the first person to jump on my blog and wax poetic about the abysmal response from the Feds in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but I can’t help but feel absolutely saddened and embarrassed by how this is being handled.

For example, Anderson Cooper, host of Anderson 360 on CNN, interviewed Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu last night and got right to the heart of the issue. Cooper introduced Landrieu and immediately asked, “Does the federal government bear responsibility for what is happening now? Should they apologize for what is happening now?” Landrieu told him “there will be be plenty of time to discuss those issues,” and proceeded to begin thanking various government officials for their disaster relief support. Amidst the overflowing thank-yous, Cooper interrupted her:

Senator, I’m sorry… for the last four days, I have been seeing dead bodies here in the streets of Mississippi and to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other – I have to tell you, there are people here who are very upset and angry, and when they hear politicians thanking one another, it just, you know, it cuts them the wrong way right now, because there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman has been laying in the street for 48 hours, and there is not enough facilities to get her up.
(Transcript Credit: Think Progress)

Meanwhile, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been lashing out at officials, criticizing the slow response and complete lack of support for a country’s own citizens. A NY Times editorial published yesterday, adequately titled “Waiting for a Leader”, opened with the following:

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

I’m not really sure how to end this post, as I could continue writing for hours about this issue. Argh.

Drudge Report Italian Style

Did you know there is an Italian version of the Drudge Report? From About.com:

In Required Reading: Italy’s ‘Big Gossip’ the International Herald Tribune asks: “Where do Italian lawmakers, captains of industry and society ladies go when they want to check on the competition or see whether they have made the news themselves?”

Dagospia.com, a “blend of prurient gossip and fly-on-the-wall accounts of boardroom machinations and political shenanigans, [which] has become a daily must-read for many Italians. The site is the brainchild of the journalist and author Roberto D’Agostino, or Big Gossip, as he is known in Italian.”

Glad to see Matt Drudge is spreading his theme worldwide.