No, this one isn't a spoof, though there is an element of comedy in it.

There are three things I took away from this, only one of which was intended.

1) Obama's coalition is "diverse," including, even, older white guys. So you bitter clingers can vote for him.

2) The campaign theme announced here is "Gauzy, Insipid Good-Feelings About Hope and Change, Part 2." There are no concrete rationales offered for re-electing Obama. Nowhere here is mentioned health care -- obliquely, by implication, sure, we can assume that "change" means ObamaCare and a few other things, like a disastrously spastic foreign policy. But nowhere in this ad does Obama crow, as Reagan could in 1984, that things are better -- because they're not, of course. So the ad studiously avoids noting tangible, real "changes" -- few, if any, of them are good -- and once again resorts to Obama's preferred campaign mode of talking about foggy abstractions and vapid tribal enthusiasm.

This pretty much sums up Obama's Administration, doesn't it? One interesting change from 2008 was that, before, he could mix in his empty, airy promises of abstract, undefinable "change" with grandiose, messianic specific promises -- This was the moment when the oceans began to fall.

But he can't do that last part now. The world has not become more peaceful, the budget has not become balanced (a central promise he made in 2008 again and again), and the oceans have not fallen.

So now it's just all the first thing, the leftover nostalgia for the shattered expectations of 2008.

3) One point hit hard is that Obama can't do it all, that he's got a real job (for the first time), and he can't spend a lot of time campaigning because he's so busy playing golf and singing with Sir Paul McCartney, so it's up to his remnant of hardcore hope-and-changers to drag his sorry ass over the finish line.

Of course we know this is all nonsense; Obama is the Least Hardest Workin' Man in Showbiz, and the one thing he does do well, and does put actual effort in, is campaigning. So really, in a perfect world, Obama would be doing the job he asks of his volunteers (community organizin') and his volunteers would be doing the job he was elected to do (actually run the country, which is hard, as it turns out).

Good ad? Even given the facts-on-the-ground difficulties Obama faces, in as much as the economy is awful and Obama has, if anything, exacerbated that, no, the ad is still cloying, empty, and flat. And you do notice the dog that didn't bark -- the man's had coming on three years; where are all these Magic Beans we were promised?

Oh, right. He can only actually perform as promised in his second term; his first one was a mulligan. Odd that he never told us that in 2008.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 06:51 AM | Comments (190)
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“Our American institutions have been friendly to her, and at this moment, I esteem it a chief felicity of this country, that it excels in women.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cathy over at Innocent Bystanders recently met Allen West and put up a report about her experience. Please go on over and visit. There are pictures.

One thing to know about this lady; she is ON FIRE to save this country from our ruinous path. She is committed, she is passionate, and she is delightful and lovely too. I have personally seen her confront strangers with the Tea Party message. She is direct and firm and persuasively pleasant, never bitter or enraged.

If you look at the ranks of the Tea Party, you will see that it is chock-a-block with ladies in leadership roles. It has often been noted that it takes an awful lot to rile conservatives to massive political action. But a sleeping giant has been awakened. And his wife is PISSED.

Video below the fold. more...

Posted by: LauraW at 05:28 AM | Comments (76)
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This space is for comments on headlines and other stuff in the Top Headlines sidebar. It's also a place to suggest what you think are top headlines. A link to these comments is stickied at the top of the Top Headlines sidebar on the main page.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:53 AM | Comments (232)
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Bona vespere omnes. Et semper ubi sub ubi memento.

Forget Mandarin - Latin is the Key to Success^*

Mandarin is great if you just want to talk with Chinese people, but you'll get broader and longer-term benefits from studying Latin:

Hard as it may be to believe, one of the things that gives privately-educated children the edge is their knowledge of Latin. I don’t just mean in the obvious senses – their grasp of basic grammar and syntax, their understanding of the ways in which our world is underpinned by the classical world, their ability to read Latin inscriptions. I mean there is actually a substantial body of evidence that children who study Latin outperform their peers when it comes to reading, reading comprehension and vocabulary, as well as higher order thinking such as computation, concepts and problem solving.

So why is Latin so useful? Well among Indo-European languages (which are pretty much all languages in Europe) Latin is a very generic language that has most of the features common to the family. So its grammar and vocabulary are going to be fairly similar to any modern Indo-European language giving you a head start in learning it.

Plus it turns out that among all human languages the Indo-European family is fairly typical with grammar and grammatical distinctions common to a lot of other languages. So despite being dead for over a 1000 years a lot of Latin's usefulness comes from its utter genericness as a language.

^*But if you're just looking to pick up chicks, go with Spanish or French.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:41 PM | Comments (765)
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He's kind of situationally against it.

As ace pointed out the other day, this whole "kindness about Koran burning" has become a luxury. I really don't give a rip about this self-aggrandizing "minister" who keeps pimping himself in the media with his stupid "lookitme!lookitme!" crap.

I do care, very much about our men and women in harm's way. But here's the thing about that. They know it. They aren't idiots.

So Reid and Gramnesty making silly noises about how the Congress must insert itself into the debate is just insulting. They don't have any special insight. They rather have a keen interest in latching on to a particular debate that makes them look "re-electable".

South Carolina. Hello, I'm talking to you.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:31 PM | Comments (314)
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Hot Air linked an article in the Washington Post that points out the west has robots designed to deal with nuclear accidents awaiting duty as Japan asks, "Where are ours?" Japan is not without robots. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 01:22 PM | Comments (109)
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This is called "pretending not to understand what you absolutely know."

The goofy-lookin talking head #1 I think gives a bit too much credit to the blogosphere for people challenging what their fed by the media. Woodward almost puts me to sleep with it, but he does make a point about getting the interview by telling the person up front what you want to talk to them about.

Of course Chrissy wants it to be all about "they're afraid of us because we're so hard-hittin and all", instead of the more practical "look, I know you're in the tank for the left so I'm a bit choosey when it comes to letting you beat on me".

Via Rosetta over at the H2, who is recovering from a pretty awful rash right now. Get well soon buddy.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 11:00 AM | Comments (224)
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The only new book I picked up this week was a neat little sci-fi novel by Michael Flynn called The Wreck of the River of Stars (Kindle Edition). It's basically another "shipwreck in outer space" adventure novel, but an unusually well-written one. It was a much better book, I thought, than Greg Bear's recent Hull Zero Three.

What's everyone else reading?

Posted by: Monty at 05:31 AM | Comments (240)
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For all the stuff not fit to say in the ONT. Rejoice, for your thread is now open!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:09 AM | Comments (149)
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Yes I know it's Caturday but I decided to change things up. You will still see cat related items, but not your typical cat-cat stuff.

Batting leadoff tonight, is the US Navy's F-14 Tomcat. A fine fighter in its heyday. Click play and enjoy.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:12 PM | Comments (712)
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