SlowpokeBlog

Dammit. My man Edwards is out, thus making my options in the Virginia primary in two weeks rather limited. I don't know who I'm going to vote for, but I do feel pretty strongly that Hillary can't beat McCain. On top of their wildly different treatment at the hands of the press which would rival 2000, in which Gore could do no right and Bush no wrong, I think enough Democratic-leaning independents would cross over to McCain because they dislike Hillary and because McCain made a big show of opposing torture. That is, before he voted for the habeas corpus-stripping Military Commissions Act of 2006. Clinton and Obama both voted against it.

That's not to say Obama wouldn't have a hard time of it against McCain, but he at least stands a chance. It's funny the way all these hardcore wingnuts like Limbaugh hate McCain when the "mav" has largely been a loyal foot soldier for his party. I shudder to think of the Supreme Court after another four to eight years of Republican rule.

In 2005, then-Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan played down the possibility of a nationwide housing bubble, instead opting to use the pleasant, cappuccino-evoking term “froth.” In late 2007, after the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, he exclaimed “no one expected it.” But many economists had. The main reason he figures so prominently in this cartoon, however, is that I really wanted to draw his Droopy Dog face.

While the Dems improved the stimulus package slightly over the Republican version, the food stamp and unemployment benefits they agreed to nix would have kicked in faster than the tax rebates that passed. Chalk up another victory for right-wing ideology over efficiency.

If you're feeling wonky, this Robert Kuttner testimony about the housing crisis before the House last October is perhaps the most poetic discussion of economics I've ever read.

My friend Jon informs me that I am clue 12 down in the current Time Out New York crossword puzzle. Cool!

In case you haven't heard about the Matthews controversy, Media Matters recently called Chris Matthews on his history of making off-color comments about women. Among other things, in addition to the castration comment addressed in the cartoon, he has questioned how women can give emphatic speeches without sounding like "fingernails on a chalkboard"; he has called Hillary "witchy," a "she-devil," "anti-male," and compared her to Nurse Ratched. He has also spoken of Nancy Pelosi castrating Rep. Steny Hoyer. I suggest you read this excellent summary by Jamison Foser. Now, I'm no great Hillary supporter, but Matthews is clearly a fossil in the gender department who needs some 21st-century schoolin'.

As I was writing this strip, Matthews actually issued an on-air apology for saying Hillary had only gotten as far as she had because her husband fooled around. But he mainly focused on that one statement (which was far from his worst, in my opinion). Also, he invoked the dreaded "political correctness" canard, saying he prefers to be blunt on his show. Funny, whenever I'm having a frank political discussion, I don't tend to slip up and refer to female leaders as a threat to male genitalia. But that's just me. I don't care if Matthews is harsh or mean -- that's not the point. It's the tapping into tired old stereotypes, stupid.

One reader objected to my portrayal of Wiccans in the third panel. The whole cartoon is intended as a farcical riff on ridiculous stereotypes, so none of it should be taken literally. But to be factually accurate, most Wiccans nature-worshipping pagans, not scowling ball-busters in pointy hats.

OK, this is good for a hoot. TPM blogger M.J. Rosenberg shares a story about a rabbi at his synagogue whose sermons became more anti-Muslim after being barked at by a well-known nutball:

In his defense, the rabbi may have been trying to appease Charles Krauthammer. The previous year, right after 9/11, the same rabbi gave a sermon urging that we make distinctions among Muslims, Arabs, etc. Krauthammer, sitting in his wheelchair in the aisle, started bellowing at the rabbi for not recognizing pure evil. It totally disrupted the service, although it was one of the few not boring moments I have experienced in a house of worship.

I love the image of Krauthammer sitting there like some sort of modern-day Dr. Strangelove, booming "THEY'RE ALL EVIL! PURE EEEEEEVIL!"

A couple observations: One, I am sick of seeing McCain's fat head every damn time I look up at the TV. Dude finished fourth in Iowa, at 13%, with fewer votes than Fred Thompson. Meanwhile, Edwards BEAT HILLARY, with 30% of the vote -- over twice what McCain received -- and can't get any play, as far as I can tell. It's enough to turn you into a conspiracy theorist. If McCain wins New Hampshire, as I predict he will, the media's boner for him will be positively unstoppable.

Also, I'm not sure Obama is quite the "change agent" (god, I already hate that phrase) that everyone seems to think he is. Now, I'll take Hillary, Obama, or Edwards in a second over the fossils on the GOP side. Any of them would be a welcome change from the flaming disaster of the previous eight years. But Obama's voting record is pretty Hillaryesque; he's played it cautious during his time in the Senate. I'm also worried that, especially to older people, he looks really, really young. In the end, I don't think age matters all that much -- Rumsfeld showed you can be old, experienced, and totally incompetent. And we're electing a team, not a person. But I suspect many voters don't see things this way.