The NYT hit piece on McCain I discuss in my last post is embarrassing. But are bad things being written about Obama as well? Oh, you'd better believe it. One of the most impressive so far: this bit at the National Review by Lisa Schiffren, which suggests that the fact that Obama's parents were an interracial couple suggests that they were communists. It's breathtakingly, incandescently nutty — so bad that it's good. Schiffren riffs off of another post that, while it makes a good effort, is not as nutty as hers — this bit over at Accuracy In Media speculating that a black poet named "Frank" who mentored Obama in high school must be Frank Davis, a (gasp!) member of the Communist Party. AIM quotes Davis' dastardly agenda:

Takara says that Davis "espoused freedom, radicalism, solidarity, labor unions, due process, peace, affirmative action, civil rights, Negro History week, and true Democracy to fight imperialism, colonialism, and white supremacy. He urged coalition politics."

In America? Horrors!

So the news of the late afternoon is that the New York Times is running a story tomorrow on McCain and ethics that opens with a discussion of his relationship with an attractive lobbyist. The article offers no actual evidence that they had an affair, and has denials from McCain and the lobbyist that their relationship was anything but proper (well, proper in the context of politics). But the article seems calculated to leave the impression that there is some there there. Though ostensibly the article discusses how McCain's aggressive personality has gotten him near or into ethics hot water, it leads with what should be a non-story — that in 2000 his aides were terrified about his relationship with this lobbyist:

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There's been a minor buzz in some segments of the tubes regarding a blog called Stuff White People Like. The blog is a list — up to #71 as of this writing — of things that white people like and others, we are led to understand, do not. Sushi and bicycles, for instance. Or being the only white person around.

Some of the stuff is banal stand-up-comedy white-folks-do-this-black-folks-do-that. There are occasional flashes of wit, as in this entry on white people liking difficult breakups:

Once breakup proceedings have been initiated, a white person is immediately thrust into the center of attention in their circle of friends. During this time, they are permitted to talk at great lengths about themselves, listen to The Smiths, and get free dinners from friends who think “they shouldn’t be alone right now.”

It is imperative that you do not attempt to kick them out of their misery by saying things like “get over it,” “there are other people out there,” or “I don’t want to read your poem.”

But mostly I'm not terribly impressed. First, as is pointed out in the comments to nearly every entry, this appears to be less a list of things that white people like and more a list of things that twenty-to-thirtysomething urban hipsters like. To the extent it is intended as trenchant commentary on race, it fails on that basis alone. Also, the observational humor about such hipsters is occasionally funny, but not funny enough to explain the odd noises of rapture it inspires in some corners.

That's not to say it's a waste of time. I'm enjoying not so much the smug content, but the comments. There you'll see America's profound ambivalence about race and the discussion of racial issues — the accusations that the blog's central notion is inherently racist, questions about whether ethnic observational comedy is healthy or damaging, and racial generalizations (some no doubt pretend, some no doubt sincere) on the same theme, overt and covert racial hostility. All the neuroses come out to play.

Is it possible that this was the point all along — that the blog is not designed for its rather slight ostensible purpose, but to showcase how people would react? Your guess is as good as mine. But that seems like the sort of thing that twenty-to-thirtysomething urban hipsters would like to do.

Here's what some dude called Tom Buffenbarger had to say about Obama and Obama supporters when he warmed up the crowd for Clinton last night:

Buffenbarger called Obama a “thespian,” and he sarcastically referred to the junior senator from Illinois as a “wunderkind.” He compared Obama to “Janus, the two-faced Roman god of ancient times.” And he pleaded with the crowd to boo Obama’s labor record.

Early in his speech, Buffenbarger asked, “So now we have a decision to make. Will we rely on the Harvard Law Review editor? The silver-tongued orator from Kansas, Hawaii and Illinois? The man in love with the microphone?”

Taking off the gloves, he said, “Barack Obama is no Muhammad Ali. He took a walk every time there was a tough vote in the Illinois State Senate. He took a walk more than a 130 times. That's what a shadow boxer does. All the right moves. All the right combinations. All the right footwork. But he never steps into the ring.”

But it was Obama supporters for whom Buffenbarger saved his most vitriolic contempt, and he proved that the Democratic Party’s coalition is nothing if not fragile. Channeling Howard Beale from the movie "Network," he yelled into the microphone, “Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter.”

Ah, the sweet scent of panicked hacks. What a troll.

He's right about people on the Harvard Law Review, though.

StarspangledHaggis is upset — and justifiably so – about vague and sleazy anti-Obama emails targeted to Jews.

I've heard that there are a fair number of these circulating in various ethnic communities — I'll try to find links.

This probably won't be much of a shock to you, but I'm not a fan of the site Little Green Footballs. Enough said.

However, even political opponents can agree on some things — such as the absurd black humor presented by really primo propaganda.

In this case, the propaganda is the Hamas kids' show Pioneers of Tomorrow. In a series of clips posted at LGF, recurring character Nahoul, a giant bumblebee with human parents (I'm guessing they adopted him; otherwise it could not have been an easy delivery), dies of some unspecified disease when Israeli blockades prevent him from seeking medical assistance. The moment where Nahoul's grieving father pounds on his chest — well, his thorax — to try to restart his heart is one of those I'm-not-supposed-to-laugh-at-this moments. Nahoul is replaced by Assud, an apparent sibling, who is a giant pink Easter Bunny, albeit an Easter Bunny who admits to eating Jews. Assud is upset by Nahoul's absence and, with the shrewdness that rabits are known for, not persuaded by his parents that Nahoul has merely gone for a walk. Assud soon joins the phenomenonally creepy little-girl host of the show to discuss retaking the Al-Aksa mosque.

Suddenly, Barney no longer seems quite so grim.

Edit: I had forgotten that Nahoul the Bee replacedFarfour Mouse, whose most dangerous enemies were probably not Israeli soldiers but Disney Corporation lawyers. Farfour was martyred last season.

Needless to say, I am not endorsing LGF or its comments by this link.

Crooks and Liars celebrates the anniversary of the Vice President shooting a pal in the face. Jon Stewart's utter delight during the Daily Show clip is infectious.

One of the Clinton camp's primary themes — and one they've used skilfully and to great effect — is that Clinton is treated unfairly by opponents, commentators, and the media in general.  This, we are told, is because of misogyny.  The conventional wisdom (true or not) is that the perception of such unfairness has driven Clinton's healthy lead with female voters.

Is it so?  I'm not convinced.

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David Shuster gets suspended from MSNBC for saying on the air that Hillary is "pimping out" her daughter. That's probably good for a three or four-point sympathy bump in the polls. Certainly that's the conventional wisdom about Chris Matthews' bluster before New Hampshire.

Is there a secret society of pundits trying to get Hillary elected? Or just a lot of pundits with crippling mommy issues?

Slammed with finishing a 9th Circuit brief here. But I wanted to point out that Sadly, No has sent an observer to the Conservative Political Action Conference in the guise of"Leonard Pierce, lobbyist for the Texas-based American Milk Solids Council". As of this writing he's up to his fifth update from the belly of the beast.

How much you enjoy it will probably depend upon whether you enjoy Sadly, No (as I usually do, to Patrick's exasperation) and whether you like the central thematic conceit of this series ("The soda machine costs a buck and a quarter for a can, so I decide to just wait for the boy to bring my bottle of gin. Then, before the pills kick in, a moment of imperialist panic: What if there is no boy? What if there is no gin?") So far it's got some classic snark about CPAC participants and some enjoyable Borat-style hijinks:

“Hi! Are these seats taken?”

“Only by these free CPAC Special issues of Townhall magazine. Help yourself.”

“Oh, thanks, sir!” Sir. So much for getting laid. “I’m Namela Redactednoff from the University of Small Midwestern State’s Conservative Student Alliance.”

“Leonard Pierce, American Milk Solids Council.”

“I’m sorry? What is that?”

“It’s an industry group for milk solids manufacturers. We lobby Washington lawmakers to lessen regulations on the export of milk solids. The problem is that the government blames us for the incompetence of African mothers.”

“That is so unfair.”

“Tell me about it.”

Internment aficionado Michelle Malkin has recently developed a concise new style for the sidebar teasers to her past posts: incendiary title, graphic, then the couple-of-word punchy and mocking quip.

Where have I seen that style before?

Oh, yeah.

Now I'm trying to figure out which one is the parody.

I think that was the best Super Bowl I've watched. Other than my mother-in-law shrieking herself hoarse and frightening the children, it was great. Good food, good beer, good company, fun game down to the wire.

I liked a number of the commercials, particularly the Doritos mousetrap one and the Godfather tribute. But I've got to agree with Haggis on that fucking obnoxious Salesgenie commercial. Seriously, pandas with thick no-tickee-no-shirtee accents? Should we expect a black guy with a fried chicken shop next? What the fuck? I'm really tired of pandas being turned into the dog whistle for here-come-the-funny-"Orientals" schticks. And who the hell buys leads from an internet company anyway? Does anyone really think it won't end up like a deleted scene from Glegarry Glenn Ross?

Edited to add: Via the frequently entertaining and informative Angry Asian Man, I see that the obnoxiousness is probably deliberate. Salesgenie founder Vin Gupta talked about once again making the worst ads of the Super Bowl for the buzz it generates. Thanks, Vin, for reminding us that ethnic minorities are just as capable of being complete douches on racial issues.

I see that Senator Clinton has bought an hour on the Hallmark Channel to campaign. While innovative, I'm not sure it is optimal. Help me suggest other targeted TV channel buys to her campaign:

• Commission a movie on the Lifetime Channel. Either use the Lifetime Movie Title Generator (first result: "God, Don't Leave Me Ashamed") or have crack staff develop a title appropriate to her campaign theme ("Mother, Will You Save Me From The Scary Negro?").
• Cinemax movie. Body double: Elisha Cuthbert.
• CBS move-of-the-week in which Sen. Clinton's health-care scheme saves Matlock.
• HBO: Very special episode of Deadwood in which Sen. Clinton persuades Al Swearingen not to use phrase "dirt-worshiping cocksucker" during prime time hours.
• ABC: Sen. Clinton boldly starts an action team to develop a task force to put together an eight-point plan for a program under a new subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services, guided by a joint Congressional committee, to rescue the people on Lost. Entire cast starves to death.

The government of the City of Berkeley doesn't care what anyone thinks of it. Either that, or it cares desparately, and is so pathologically terrified of being made fun of that its entire modus operandi is preempting satire.

Case in point, courtesy of the Volokh Conspiracy:

• The Berkeley City Council has passed a resolution to demonstrate their distaste for the Marines, giving Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting center and announcing that the marines are "not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."
• The Berkeley City Council will likely consider a ballot measure proposed by Code Pink to treat military recruitment centers like adult businesses by forbidding their presence within a certain distance of a variety of facilities like homes, schools, and churches.

Occasionally Jonah Goldberg's views begin to sound sensible.

In order to not receive nasty messages from Ken anymore (and to ensure that I always have more entries than Jesse), I decided to think my thoughts here rather than other places. Well, I already thought them there. But other people feel more free to criticize them there. And here, I have the power to prevent non-conformist thought. So there it is then.

My tale is one of "WTF happened to me?", or to be more accurate – "How can I blame this on Smoove_B?". I would refer to him as Mike, but apparently his stupid worm chronicles didn't rate well enough to get him invited here. Chump.

Let's start with where I am now. Much to my surprise, I find myself positively giddy at the prospect of being able to vote for Sen. Barack Obama, even if my only opportunity is going to be next Tuesday when the awful State of New Jersey holds it's primary (which isn't really a primary, since they aren't choosing delegates until June or something retarded like that). To understand the gravity of this, you have to understand that just 8 short years ago, I was little more than a hack Sean Hannity clone. Conservative to the core, and one of those guys, that only cared about winning.

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