Is it just me or does the idea of Obama, Gates, and Crowley sitting down for a beer today seem queer (in the broad queer theory sense of being outside socially constructed 'norms'). I am white and female, and my image of guys having a cold beer after work involves some kind of (safe, third space?) social setting (a bar) with some (safe?) reason/excuse for sitting down together (a game) so that you don't have to really go too deeply emotionally or solve problems any bigger than the Red Sox and steroid use. I like going for a drink after work to wind down and shoot the sh*t as they say. But if it means having drinks with people I don't know in the most power-drenched setting in the world, and then taking on some weighty, politically fraught subject like the Gates arrest I'm going straight home. As an opener I suggest 'How 'bout them Sox?' Lots of luck guys but you can count me out.

Lately, most of my posts don't show up at all--not on my blog or in the recent reader posts section.  Anyone else having this problem?  I tried today to do a short post on Palin's Assemblies of God (ag.org) church's prohibition against gambling wondering how she can justify pushing a president on folks who has a little craps addiction (to say nothing of living off the proceeds of alcohol sales (another AG no-no), plus all his promotion on behalf of casinos but the post never showed up.  There could be one or two TPMers that find that little bit of religious hypocrisy interesting. Are we going to have a craps table and a tanning bed in the White House?  

ARRRR!! There's an ex-parrot on my shoulder! No, it is the McPalin parrot pining for the desert fjords. "E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisiblee!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!"

I'm a social worker and a child of divorce.  Divorce is hard enough on kids but too many parents make the children suffer terribly by doing everything they can to make the child hate the other parent, including enlisting his/her parents and siblings. This is parental alienation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_alienationIt's a continuum but anyone who has been subjected to this as a kid knows how life-scarring it is. When other members of the family get into the fight, the child has no safe harbor and is forced to take sides and "lose" the other parent.  Child abuse?  It can be.

I just checked the Walter Reed Hospital web site, and it is truly an awful example of your government dollars at work on the "internets" when it doesn't care about its citizens or its "warriors" and their loved ones.  http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Visitors/visitservice/visitwramc/Pages/postmap.aspx
Not one of the buildings would serve as a welcome backdrop to a political performance.  The featured building on the site is brutalist architecture.  The original building reminds one of a mental institution from the early part of the last century.  Maybe the techie did them a favor.

Ruth Rosen's post provides the ground zero argument for concern about McCain's fitness for office. In spite of her title she makes a reasoned case that it is not McCain's age but his ability to do the job that we should worry about. It is not about age but about overall problems of mental, emotional and physical vitality. McCain's growing diminishment of capacities is obvious. From what I understand of the new research on frailty, it is a risk factor for cognitive impairment, and he is becoming physically frail looking and does not seem to have any regimen for staying fit or mentally sharp. His repertoire of responses to challenging situations has become much narrower, and his pampered life style puts few hurdles or barriers in his way. His recent contributions to legislation have been paltry at best.

Some behavioral aspects to consider. He repeats phrases and words over and over in an attempt to drive home a point but has considerable difficulty expanding on an idea or of extemporizing when needed. I watched him closely at Saddleback and whether he had the questions in advance or not, he had obviously been drilled (!) to a fare-thee-well and could hardly wait to spit out his stump speech bullets lest he forget them.

One of the trickiest things about cognitive decline is that sociability and long standing jokey tics become more predominant, and the person is heavily reliant on these to hide the impairment. This can be seductive to those who aren't around the person all the time and it tends to evoke sympathy. I see this happening with McCain--he has shtick but no longer a sharp wit. I'd be on the lookout for more signs, including increased lack of inhibition--perhaps making inappropriate sexual advances or jokes. I don't think his present level of crudity can be explained away by his POW and Navy background.

With the recent discussion reminding us that the electorate has a stark choice between Obama/Biden and McPOW/Kissup. Come January one man will be president.  I can't go so far that McCain is evil, except in the banal sense of lacking any moral compass, but we should all be asking ourselves, which man wants to "do president" and not just "be president."

Now that we have the hints, my best guesses are Gore or Clark, with Bloomberg a very long shot.  I invite others to weigh in with the following criteria in mind. Overall I think the choice will clearly send the message that this will not be a politics as usual and that he intends for his VP to have a very substantive executive role--not the bucket of warm spit but an overtly executive function (this can't be confused with Cheney as brains and puppeteer). Obama says, "independent" and someone who will challenge his thinking. To me that is someone who is not currently holding office (Bloomberg can be excepted here because he is under term limits).  Independent can also mean hyper wealthy but also self-made, again Bloomberg can do that. At the same time it has to be someone who is very well-known and widely respected, especially by the MSM.  I think Obama is someone who does not need the spotlight all the time and will pick someone who can challenge him, and also tease him and make him laugh at himself. That's what "independent"means. (Sorry Hillary lovers, as a pair Obama and Clinton are not wired for that kind of chemistry.)  Imagine Obama getting ribbed by his veep.  I think that would make everyone relax a bit.  And McCain seems completely unable to laugh at himself--his humor is of the flyboy, wink, wink, nudge, nudge variety. 
I realize Clark doesn't meet all the qualifications but dammit he was spot on about McCain's riding his non-executive level military experience as a qualification for the presidency and he has been relentless in his work on behalf of the Dems and of Hillary.
I think Al would do it--he is senior statesman and great fun to be around these days.

You've got to take Michele into account--she has got to like the guy/gal and spouse a lot. And just to to remind folks, Tipper and Gertrude are both terrifically smart and personable. Bloomberg doesn't believe in marriage so I guess you can leave him out on that one.  Let's hear what you think.

If we are waiting for the announcement of a name--big deal. But what if we get more--like some of his planned key appointments, e.g., Sec'y of State?

The following is from the transcript.  Up to that point McCain had not been asked anything about the Supreme Court.  Get back to that??

MCCAIN: A union — a union between man and woman, between one man and one woman. That’s my definition of marriage.

Could I — are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court Justices or should I mention –

WARREN: We will get to that.

MCCAIN:

WARREN: You’re jumping ahead (inaudible).

Up to that point Warren had not asked McCain that question

Here is how Warren spelled out the rules for the Civil Forum.  He never defined the cone of silence but stated that McCain was safely placed there.  The questions he presented were introduced and stated differently and asked in different order and in a different one.  Lot's of social chatter in between with a different tone for each candidate.  BTW even if McCain did not "hear" the Obama piece, he could easily have been giving the questions--at least in general terms.  And if you decide ahead of time to pander and filibuster at something like this, how hard would it be to do figure out what the questions were likely to be? And if someone can find Warren telling McCain that he should not give his stump speech as he was trying to form his answer please let me know.  So please don't tell me that Warren is a good interviewer--the man was in a flop sweat and could hardly breathe.Now, what I decided is to allow for proper comparison, I’m going to ask identical questions to each of these candidates. So you can compare apples to apples. Now, Senator Obama is going to go first. We flipped a coin, and we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence. Now, each of the interviews will be segmented into four different sections. We’re going to look at four different things, and the number of questions answered in each segment will depend on how succinct the senator is.

If you heard John McCain yesterday, speaking from Berlin, Ohio that he would like to give a speech in Germany but not as a candidate, he'd wait until he was president. He sounded just like a nine year old boy pouting because he's spent his allowance and couldn't ride the rollercoaster.

Bush is not just clueless about structural racism, he is personally racist.  He managed to insult the President of the Phillipines this week by unforgivable off hand comments about the Phillipine-Americans cooks in the White House kitchen.  President Gloria Macapagal Arroya was there on a sad and serious mission to seek US aid for help with the terrible tragedies that the country had suffered recently.

Then there is this photo of him this week with some kids who have been forced out of their homes by flooding in Iowa in which he is rubbing the head of a young black boy (bushkids.jpg) that you have to see to fully appreciate.  Who does not know that this is considered a racial insult and is deeply offensive to black people, especially for a white person to do it to a child.  Just imagine Po' ol' Massah Bush trying to do that to Obama at the Inaugural.  At least Obama is tall, but I recommend that he wear a hat.

Hillary was never my choice but she now has a chance to show what a feminist does after such an huge effort and a devastating loss (and we've all had them).  I'd start by washing away all the bitterness in my mind and heart.  I'd never, ever cry sexism because that claim of victimization coming from a hugely successful elite trivializes the experiences of women (and their men and children) whose opportunities were cruelly limited by gender bias.  I'd make a point in my concession speech that showed I had empathy for Michele and the girls.  And I'd see my future not in terms of personal ambition but a chance to take up the cause of women.  Reintroducing the ERA would be a good start.  Now that's using your power!

Let's have a bit of fun with the use that Clinton and Obama have made of the kitchen (not that I can picture HRC puttering about in an actual kitchen, and I’m sure neither McCain or Cindy know their way around one). First Clinton treated to us to that old taunt, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” After the two primaries yesterday, I don’t expect that to come up again. For those of you who may not know what Clinton meant, it was basically, you’re not “man” enough for this fight. Going back an election or two, it is pretty much the same as calling someone a wimp.

Then in February it was well known that Clinton was going to pursue a kitchen sink strategy to defeat Obama. The idea there was that she would throw everything she could get her hands on to attack him with. This is the first time I recall that particular usage. The saying I’m more familiar with is “Everything but the kitchen sink.” For you entymology fans the phrase is based on the idea that if you brought many things to someone, a kitchen sink is one of the last things you would bring because it is difficult to move. Hmmm—makes me wonder if Clinton plans to throw the sink too.

For the last two weeks, as both candidates courted the voters who are in financial distress, we began to hear about the “kitchen table” issues, e.g., gas prices, and Obama met with voters around a small kitchen table.

The image that the kitchen table is supposed to conjure up is a family going over their budgets and bills at a chrome and formica table in the kitchen—a Norman Rockwell scene. A lot of us don’t have a kitchen large enough (“eat-in” in real estate lingo) for a table and even if we did we’d be using it for eating not for sorting bills.

Now for some serious fun. if you google "McCain and kitchen" you will find nothing about John McCain and that particular domestic space but there is a singer named Edwin McCain who sings the Kitchen Song, one of the choruses is as follows:

Oh pretty baby, don't know what to say

I just want you to ... go away

Well I'd love to sit and reflect on this

But I haven't got the time

Just tell me why you chose

to be so cruel, mean, brutal

so unkind