In some ways, Obama has the tastes of a 72 year old man; McCain has the tastes of a 47 year old whippersnapper. Who knew?

Sure, he doesn't come out and say it directly, but you and I know that John McCain represents the veterans of America - and that, by default of his service, McCain is hailed as an American hero, and therefore, by some faulty logic, also a foreigncy policy wonk. I am here to tell you that neither does McCain represent veterans, nor is he a foreign policy wonk.

 Without endorsing any candidate, I'd like to point out that whoever is pitted against McCain will be painted as one without military service or experience, and that someone, McCain looks like a better choice for America, at a time of war, than the other two. Not true.

While we are thankful for McCain's service, the fact of the matter is that bad foreign policy is bad foreign policy, whether proposed by a hero like McCain, or someone who thought too highly of himself to go to Iraq, like our current president.

This isn't a matter of politics. It's a matter of ideologies, and whether McCain - for all his claims of loving America and the military - is actually going to make a good commander in chief. From his actions and the way he approaches many military issues, McCain most certainly is not.

Think of the veterans benefit package past by Congress this week and ask yourself whether McCain supported it? He did not. The package, much like many other packages aimed at helping veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, was proposed by a freshman senator from Virginia, not a seasoned military veteran who claimed he is good America. Much like the Bush Administration, McCain's claims of a "thankful nation" and "support the troops" are merely lip service. While he'll readily send young Americans to foreign nations based on failed foreign policy assesments, he is not ready to help those young Americans when they get home and become veterans.

 So, on this Memorial Day, if you do see McCain make a speech - just remember that actions speak louder than words. Actions mean learning from our mistakes of past wars, and continiuing to support the military women and men who come home from the war injured and displaced. McCain, much like Bush, is not doing that.

McCain supporters have painted his opponents as inexperienced and fresh and bound to make mistakes. But honestly, after eight years of the Bush Administration, I am ready to make new mistakes. With McCain, it'll be simply making the old mistakes over and over again. Aside from their military service, there isn't a damn thing different between McCain and Bush.

 Tomorrow - we talk the college culture of data rape and construction of masculinity as well as feminism. The day after that we talk young voters and the issues they're concerned about in this election.

 Marc

There are a lot of reasons to object to this Boston Globe endorsement of John McCain (e.g. running two endorsements—one per party, as the Globe did—lamely affirms a mushy “nonideological,” character-based vision of politics), but this passage really irks (emphasis added):

The antidote to such a toxic political approach is John McCain. The iconoclastic senator from Arizona has earned his reputation for straight talk by actually leveling with voters, even at significant political expense.

The piece goes on to cite the senator’s “willingness to acknowledge unpleasant realities,” the fact that he has “never been an uncritical booster of President Bush's policies,” his record as a reformer, his ability to “transcend partisanship and promote an honest discussion of the problems facing the United States.” What unites these disparate qualities? Not one has a damn thing to do with being an “iconoclast”:

1. One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions.
2. One who destroys sacred religious images.

With only six months before the first Caucus in Iowa, the race for the Democratic and Republican nomination is in full swing, but there could be one more name added to the list of potential candidates, a third party candidate.   Could a third party Independent candidate really sweep in and bring an end to the two-party domination of politics as we know it?

I wanted to revive the debate concerning Jon Stewart and the McCain interview, both because the last post ironically devolved into the very kind of uncivil bickering I originally held Stewart accountable for ("I've read more books than you" instead of "I know the troops better"), and because of this brilliant Bill Moyers interview with Stewart, in which he mentions and kind of defends kind of doesn't how he acted with McCain.

Here' my take: It's definitely a great interview, and Stewart's eloquence and intelligence only makes me love him more, but you
notice that he ultimately compares the McCain interview to the kind of counterproductive "dialogue" that Congress and the White House are having over the spending bill. Also, his assertion that all he was
trying to do was simply contemplate "is this really the trading of
talking points we're going to have over Iraq?" is just a rouse,
because in imitating that debate you by default imitate a side on the talking points battle. He may try to convince us that that was the
rhetorical meta-subtext of the interview, but what we end up seeing is Stewart and McCain trade off talking points. People seem to love the interview because they feel like they haven't seen someone cut through the war support bullshit like Stewart does, but to me he's offering the same counterpoint that you'd find in a debate about the war between Carville and Novak on CNN....except it's coming from Jon Stewart. This is the problem with only getting your news from the
Daily Show--you end up losing scope of where Jon is innovative and
intelligent and unique in his perspective... and the rare moment where he's just like everyone else on TV. Maybe, ironically, that's why his interview has been so apparently newsworthy.

Also, he can't simultaneously try to convince me that he's not a
social critic and then end the interview with Moyers by saying that he
believes his program offers a view of current events, in "a certain
context." Placing anything relevant to today's society or political
landscape in a certain context, especially when framed with humor (the punchline of which always has a point), IS the DEFINITION of
social/political criticism. That said, I understand the game he's
playing by not defining himself that way. But come on, if you go on
"Crossfire" and tell Begala and Carlson that they're "hurting
America," you're definitely some sort of socio-political critic.

Don't get me wrong, i love jon stewart and this interview only
reinforces that love. But i think he's a populist preacher posing as a
jester--a disguise that's been most effective for him. And when he
ditches that to pose as a pundit, the disguise wears a little too
thin.

This is just about the funniest prank so far in the 2008 presidential campaign.  Mad props to Mike D. from <i>Newsvine</i>:

John McCain's people commandeered my world-renowned MySpace design template and did a few things wrong:

 

1. They did not credit me for the template, even though the template explicitly requested credit.
2. They used my own unmodified imagery, specifically for the "Contacting John McCain" table.
3. As if #2 wasn't bad enough, the McCain crew is actually pulling their image directly from my server on each page load. So every time someone visits the McCain MySpace page, my bandwidth is being used to deliver part of the page! Bad McCain!

So...

Numerous people have written me over the last few weeks to tell me that McCain has been using my code, but up until I realized he was pulling images from my server, I didn't really care. A lot of celebrities including Ryan "Van Wilder" Reynolds and the beautiful Nelly Furtado use my code and I'm totally cool with it.

But then I read the article in today's Newsweek about how politicians are all setting up MySpace pages in order to "connect" with younger audiences. McCain's MySpace page is listed, as are the pages from several other candidates. I think the idea of politicians setting up MySpace pages and pretending to actually use them is a bit disingenuous, so I figured it was time to play a little prank on Johnny Mac.

...

So, the only thing necessary to effectively commandeer McCain's page with my own messaging was to simply replace my own sample image on my server with a newly created sample on my server. No server but my own was touched and no laws were broken. The immaculate hack.

Abortion? The Iraq War? Probably too heavy to joke about. Gay marriage seemed like a more of a non-lethal subject to center the prank around.

So with a few minutes in Photoshop and a quick FTP, a new John McCain was born...

...and The Straight-Talk Express isn't just for straight people anymore.

Bravo, sir.  I salute you.