If this latest “Rock the Vote” PSA doesn’t motivate young people to vote, I don’t know what will. View here. (I was basically directed to this clip after reading an entry at Kotte.org. Jason put out a “call for help” to gather election information in one place. The resources...
Continue ReadingUp until recently, Bush had been driving Kerry into the rocks with a replay of his father’s 1988 decimation of Mike Dukakis. Although not very imaginative, the feminization of Kerry, the swift characterization of him as the fool in a tank boat, and the association of his candidacy with...
Continue ReadingAs a rule, I don’t repost other commentary. However, the recent “Talk of the Town” piece in the September 27th New Yorker (“The Political War”) by George Packer not only splits wide the administration’s fictionalization of the Iraqi campaign, it does so in a way that also implicates the...
Continue Reading(Who/What/Where — Posted one year after 9/11) A friend of mine, who happens to be a Rabbi, introduced me — this Yom Kippur week — to a poet named A.M. Klein. Reading Klein, you would think that he was alive and well. Instead, the pieces I read — railing...
Continue ReadingWhen I laid out the NYTimes this morning, I was disappointed to find still another lead image (the second this week) clearly denigrating John Kerry. Frustrated, I started hunting around for stories that might reveal some new (conservative) editorial slant to the Times photo coverage. I can’t say my...
Continue ReadingI’m usually more judicious in picking out video clips, but I really couldn’t decide which of these I liked better. The first ad, ‘Fortunate Son’, from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is the first I’ve seen that (finally!) targets Bush’s military record exclusively from the standpoint of privilege. I...
Continue ReadingBush’s Version of Kerry Old Meme: Kerry the flip-flopper Latest Meme: Kerry the flip-flopper Latest Commercial: “Windsurfing” (link) Latest Quote: “You can’t lead the war on terror if you wilt or waver when times are tough.” Kerry’s Version of Bush Older Meme: Bush: Too Pessimistic Old Meme: Bush: Bad...
Continue ReadingSimon Woodside’s chart visually maps the irregularities and inconsistencies in George Bush’s National Guard service. View the full scale version here. (source: uggabugga)
Continue ReadingThese days, any news of a hurricane with the potential to strike Florida can cause my (typically non-superstitious) mind to consider prophetic implications. …That’s why, when I came across this graphic comparing this year’s hurricane paths with Florida’s 2000 county-by-county presidential voting results, I couldn’t help indulging in some...
Continue Readingsend this cartoon to a friend! New York Times Debate Update (here). —————- 9.26.04 Further Update: There is a report this morning that the first debate, scheduled for Thursday, might be cancelled because the election commission is hesitant to sign off the terms of the “side agreement” between the...
Continue ReadingYeah, I’m not sure how this clip got away from me. Let me first admit, I’m far from schooled in hip hop. That said, I think this piece by some young white New Yorkers protesting the coming of the Republican convention is unusually sophisticated. It’s not hard, in the...
Continue ReadingIn keeping up my “highly graphic” standard, I like to keep an eye on editorial trends at the visual level. Over the past few days, John Kerry has been hammering Bush on Iraq. Yesterday, the attacks assumed a new degree of ferocity. The impact was heightened because Kerry took...
Continue ReadingSocial justice activist Naomi Klein appeared on Democracy Now yesterday to elaborate on her recent article in Harpers Magazine (“Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in Pursuit of a Neocon Utopia.”). Describing the “economic front” of the war, she casts light on why so little of the $18.4 billion in...
Continue ReadingThe longer one’s in the world, the more vigilant one must be about attachment to historical relics. Just because television news used to represent the gold standard in journalism, who’s to say that it serves any serious or independent function at this point? With the rise of the net...
Continue Reading(Is the administration’s spin on the Iraq war starting to wilt? The Saddam – Osama switcharoo used to be so plump and colorful. Now, not only can’t Rummy keep it straight in public (” Friday’s mix up“), there’s new documentation showing he put the bulls eye on Saddam within...
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