Doublethink Edition

"His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully-constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them; to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy; to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved using doublethink."

--George Orwell, 1984

I think I'm overthinking...

"Media War" Roundup

In an LA Times oped, Gloria Steinem compares Palin to Phyllis Schlafly-- wow, blast from the past. But she also reminds us "the culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine." Oh, wait, they're pro-choice....

Andrew Sullivan has a nice piece about what this says about McCain' integrity: "McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things about him. In the end, his final concern is not national security. No one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist base."

If you asked him why, McCain would probably tell you his war hero POW story again. You know, kinda the way grandpa is always telling the same damn story, no matter that it's irrelevant to the conversation at hand. (link to FunnyorDie's hilarious video imagining the frustration of McCain's roommates.)

Meanwhile, Barack fires back about the Piggy Lipstick nonsense. "See it would be funny, it would be funny except, of course the news media decided that was the lead story yesterday. The McCain campaign would much rather have the story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future." Watch the video on MSN.

And he also makes an appearance on Letterman, looking much calmer and more relaxed than the rest of us feel! (Transcript here)
Dave: "Yeah, they got together and they said, 'You know what? He called our vice presidential candidate a pig.'" (audience laughs) "Well, that seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?"
Obama: "It does. But keep in mind that, technically, had I meant it that way, she would have been the lipstick, you see? The failed policies of John McCain would be the pig."

Lest you think Obama is the only one spending time on TV, McCain made a stop on the couch at the View this morning. I suppose he wasn't expecting the grilling he got... "On the topic of abortion, Mr. McCain said that Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in 1973, was "a very bad decision." He said he would not impose a litmus test on any of his nominations to the Supreme Court "because that's not fair to the American people." But, he said, he would nominate justices who would interpret the constitution as it was written and not legislate from the bench. This prompted Whoopi Goldberg to worry that if he wanted to return to the constitution as it was written, and not as it was amended, she would be returned to slavery." Watch footage here.

And speaking of the Palinista--SHE SPEAKS! Palin finally answers questions from what McCain was really, really, really hoping would be a sympathetic and softball Charlie Gibson on ABC. Says Joan Walsh on Salon:" The fact that Sarah Palin sat for her humiliating interview with ABC's Charles Gibson on 9/11 is one of those strange serendipitous events that makes one believe there's order in the universe."

I know, Most of you don't even want to watch-- you can read the excerpts. Was Charlie tough enough? Ehn, coulda been more. Did Sarah stumble? She made Charlie a little testy, it's true, but she also had her lines pretty well memorized. Still there were some obvious bumps in the road. She kinda declared war on Russia (calling the Georgian invasion unprovoked--um, those Georgians are nice and all, but....even I wouldn't say "unprovoked"), couldn't figure out what Bush's doctrine was, and yes, she STILL says "nukular." Oh yeah, SOOO different from Bush. And does anyone else consider this statement rich? Palin: "You know there is a very small percentage of Islamic believers who are extreme and they are violent and they do not believe in American ideals." Says the right-wing religious candidate who declares a few minutes later that America should be allowed to make cross-border attacks (i.e invading other countries) in order to secure our own interests.

More interviewing tonight on ABC, this time from Wasilla. Will Palin be putting that on her per diem schedule too?

What I did this Summer

Here's where the candidates have been spending their time. It's easy to pick out battleground states of course. I think it's also interesting (looking at Ohio) to sort of cross-reference this with which counties in Ohio went for Bush vs. Kerry in 2004. Obama's spent more time in Ohio recently than McCain, but also made an effort to get to some of those red counties.

And winning in the "Slimiest Tactics" category: Lose your house, lose your vote."The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP's effort to challenge some voters on Election Day."

This week, Obama's getting some more nationwide exposure-- if you think that anyone actually watches Saturday Night Live anymore!--on SNL this weekend.

Paul Krugman weighs in on the McCain campaign's tactics. "They're probably also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting, so that instead of the story being 'McCain campaign lies,' it becomes 'Obama on defensive in face of attacks.'"

If you're fretting over the polls, I have two words for you:

Don't Panic

YOU MUST CHILL.

Gail Collins has some calming words for all those Democrats freaking out over the polls and Palin: "Cheer up, Obama-ites. You're overreacting. I'll answer all your questions as long as you promise to take deep breaths into this nice paper bag."

Remember, whenever you start feeling down and weary, you can try the Helene solution and donate $5 to Obama's campaign.

Fair warning: I'm going to be away this weekend in Sacramento (no, I will unfortunately not be solving California's budget woes) so there may be no rants for a few days unless my wifi access is particularly slow. Gosh, I HOPE nothing ridiculous happens over the weekend.... Next week, we delve into foreign policy. As always, though, I exhort my friends in the swing states get out there and REGISTER TO VOTE NOW!