It looks like Mario Burgos is going to get his wish. In a post titled, “Obama, please take our governor,” my fellow New Mexican opines that we’d be better off without Mr. Richardson in the governor’s mansion. Maybe so, but will “Judas” Richardson be better off having to watch his back serving in […]
Moralia
Politics —
Category Archives: Politics
Nice Republicans finish last
Now I’ve seen it all. The New York Times (you know, that paper we right-wing morons are too stupid, closed-minded and bigoted to read) this morning featured an article by Jim Rutenberg entitled “Harsh Words About Obama? Never Mind Now.” His complaint? Those of us on the right who criticized candidate Obama […]
Congratulations, Mr. President
In your acceptance speech last night, Mr. Obama, you said, addressing those of us who did not vote for you, “I will be your president, too.” I was glad to hear you say it, as I had just been thinking to myself, I did not vote for you, but I congratulate you, wish you […]
Obamanos!
Obamanos, for those of you outside the Land of Enchantment, has been the battle cry of New Mexico’s Obamanistas. It’s clever, I’ll grant them that. It’s clever; it’s slick; it’s hip — just like Obama himself.
As passionately as I wanted John McCain to win the presidency, I’m feeling remarkably tranquil in the wake […]
Election Night, Part II
As of 8:27 p.m. Mountain Time, CNN.com has Obama and McCain neck and neck in the popular vote count: roughly 28.7 million (50%) for Obama and 27.6 million (49%) for McCain. The electoral count, however, isn’t close at all: 207 for Obama, 135 for McCain.
I well recall the fury of the left […]
Election Night, Part I
Tonight was a long time coming. Seems like this election has been going on forever. Sort of like pregnancy; I always feel like that lasts about a decade and a half too. Maybe now that it’s almost over, I can actually blog about something other than politics.
I remember sitting glued to […]
Redneck Republicans
On the assumption that the polls in 2008 will be more accurate than they were in 2004 or 2000, Paul Krugman writes in a New York Times op-ed piece:
What will defeat do to the Republicans?
You might think, perhaps hope, that Republicans will engage in some soul-searching, that they’ll ask themselves whether and how […]
Of plows and politics
A couple thousand years ago, give or take, the Romans turned to retired consul Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus when a war with their neighbors the Aequi turned particularly ugly. Cincinnatus, who was plowing his field when the senators found him, washed off the dirt, put on his toga, and returned to Rome. Once the […]
The Three Bears Go to Washington
Once upon a time there was a lovely young co-ed called Goldilocks. She almost never read the newspaper because she couldn’t even get all the reading for her classes done, so when was she supposed to read the paper? She never watched TV news because what kind of loser watched the news when […]
Swing on by
and check out my guest blog on Swing State of Mind, the campaign blog of the Santa Fe Reporter. For my out-of-town friends, SFR is about as left-leaning as a newspaper can be, but in the interest of diversity, they asked me to be their token representative of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy in their […]
Why can’t he explain it?
Why, oh why, can’t John McCain explain the economic facts of life in a way Joe the Voter can understand?
A woman with whom I’ve been on an e-mail list for years, a woman who describes herself as somewhere between Democrat and Republican, who has been non-political all the 8 years I’ve known her, […]
My favorite Democrat
Without a doubt, Jerome Block, Jr., is my favorite Democrat. Two years ago, Jeff Armijo held that title, but now it’s Block, hands down.
Of all the races for which the Republicans could neglect to nominate a candidate, they had to pick this one. On the other hand, if there was a Republican in […]
Comedian in Chief
Senators McCain and Obama took turns doing stand-up at the Al Smith dinner earlier this evening, and while Senator Obama turned in a perfectly adequate performance, I have to say that McCain positively shone. I thought he did pretty well in the debate last night, but nowhere near as well as he did at […]
Idiots enough to go around
Dave Maass of the Santa Fe Reporter was kind enough to e-mail me a link to his Swing State of Mind post a few days ago, since he knows I can get preoccupied with domestic disturbances (e.g., a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old in danger of killing each other) and forget to check the political blogs […]
Multi-tasking
Thanks to all who have checked the site looking in vain for new posts. This is the longest I’ve gone without posting since beginning. Multi-tasking is something I’m usually good at, but this week, not so much. Portia is sleeping through the night, God bless her, but I’m still unaccountably tired. It’s been a difficult […]
Senator Obama and John
All the talking heads on TV and online have analyzed the debate in all its myriad aspects by now, so what of earth-shttering importance can be added by a tired materfamilias who had to miss bits of the debate here and there because she wasn’t watching it through the DVR because the only way to […]
Barbie and the shrew
According to my blog’s stat program, the term “Caribou Barbie” is gaining on (but is still well behind) “I hate Kate Gosselin” and “Kate Gosselin shrew” in the keyword search sweepstakes, and poor old Jerome Block, Jr., is now a sad and distant third, eclipsed by two women other women love to hate. And […]
A woman or a lady?
Some of you may be tired of hearing about Sarah Palin by now. I meant to take a break from writing about her, but when I read something as provocative as Cintra Wilson’s latest piece of character assassination at Salon.com, I just have to respond.
Wilson opens her diatribe “Pissed about Palin” with […]
Free press
Julia Goldberg at Swing State of Mind reported yesterday that Ira Gordon, operations manager of the broadcasting group that includes “Radio Free Santa Fe” (KBAC 98.1 FM) is running editorials immediately after every McCain ad the station airs, editorials that basically tell listeners not to believe what they just heard:
His editorial begins by noting that […]
Cleaning house
In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook details the ways in which people today are materially so much better off than their grandparents were, and yet are no happier, and in many cases far more dissatisfied with their lives. We really are better off than our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents, and yet at the same […]
Explaining satire
An easily offended reader comments on my post linking to a video parody of the Obama campaign imploding over the Palin surge:
That you think comparing Obama to Hitler is funny, even in a bad joke, says all that needs to be said about modern conservatism.
Another reader, a blogger who doesn’t want me to quote her […]
How did you vote, Tom?
This is the tag line on the commercials Republican Steve Pearce is running in his race against Democrat Tom Udall for the U.S. Senate seat here in New Mexico. My favorite is the one on energy, where Pearce affirms that he is in favor of alternative energy sources (wind, solar, etc.) as well as […]
The smell of fear
When I read this morning’s editorial in the Santa Fe New Mexican, I was treated yet again to a tirade about the Axis of Evil currently occupying the White House. This morning’s dose of Bush-bashing concerned oil:
Bogus baying about “ending dependence on foreign oil” is about all the politically bankrupt party of the president […]
Caribou Barbie — the crazy, dangerous, castrating bitch
I still haven’t ascertained who coined the nickname Caribou Barbie for Sarah Palin, but it’s spreading through the cyberworld like wildfire. Already on Sept. 3 Wonkette was using the term as though it was nothing new, though I haven’t found any earlier occurrences. The name is actually quite clever. Sexist and demeaning, but clever. […]
Too sexy for the job
I’m used to having my intelligence insulted when reading the morning paper, but this morning’s assault was not of the garden variety. In the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s stunning convention speech, the opposition has gone nuclear.
Rosa Brooks, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, writes in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles […]
The baby or the diploma?
A friend e-mailed me with the following comment on one of my recent posts about Sarah Palin:
I don’t want to post a comment because I don’t want to appear that I’m against the McCain/Palin ticket, which I’m not. I think Sarah Palin is great, and I don’t think she’s a bad mother because her […]
The new Gipper’s a gal
When I wrote the other day that I wished we Republicans had someone who could pack a Reaganite rhetorical punch, who could charm a crowd the way Bill Clinton does for the other side, I didn’t realize my prayer was about to be answered.
When I advocated a McCain-Palin ticket back when people thought I was […]
Get back in the kitchen, Sarah!
This comment was posted to my most recent blog entry:
Reading the exchange you and Slackonomics author Lisa Chamberlain had about the challenges of parenting (and noting that you haven’t had much time to blog because of the needs of your own children), I’m curious what you think about Gov. Palin campaigning for - and possibly […]
The personal and the political
I’ve been dying to blog for days, but family matters have prevented it. As it is I’m supposed to be out the door with all my kids in half an hour, and I’m probably not going to make it — at least not with everybody’s hair fixed.
I try to keep a balance on this […]
Disappointed in Denver
Is it just me, or does it seem like Bill Clinton is the only one having a really good time at the Democratic National Convention? He was cheerful as all get-out before Hillary’s speech, leaning in close to the good-looking redhead sitting next to him, chatting her up and giving her both barrels […]
You and what army, Condi?
When I mentioned the other day that I wouldn’t want to see McCain choose Condoleeza Rice as as his running mate, it was because she says the kind of thing she’s been saying a lot since the Russians invaded Georgia. My initial reaction to all the the Secretary of State’s “Russia must withdraw from […]
When voter apathy is a good thing
It has become a commonplace in American political discourse to lament the number of people who do not vote, and to see increased voter participation as a panacea for our political problems. I beg to differ. There are already enough ignorant, ill-informed people voting as it is. We need more like we […]
Sarah Palin for Vice President
Google “Sarah Palin Vice President” and you’ll be amazed at the number of links the search generates. Those of you who are hard-core political blog junkies already know this, but those of my readers who visit Moralia for my non-political posts may not know much about this young (for a politician) woman who is […]
Green elephants on parade
Swing State of Mind (I love that name) linked to my post endorsing Rick Lass for PRC, with a cute green elephant graphic. Honestly, I am still reeling from the insufferable pomposity of Jerome Block’s refusal to debate Lass. I’ve commented on this before, but re-reading Block’s priggish, elitist response to Lass on […]
Post-partum politics and more
Not one post for over a week, then I finally resurface for a catty two-paragraph fluff piece about a sex scandal. Where is the substantive piece I wanted to write? Maybe something about the always entertaining Jerome Block, whose opponent Rick Lass I met last week. Lass seems like a nice fellow, […]
That’s the best John Edwards could do?
Normally, I moralize. I am filled with righteous indignation about this, that and everything. But today my shallow side has won out, and I find myself staring, aghast, at the skanky blonde who is pretty boy John Edwards’s undoing, and asking myself, “For heaven’s sake, couldn’t he do better than that?”
Yes, yes, I […]
Jerome Block represents the working man’s party?
Jerome Block, candidate for the Public Regulation Commision, is a Democrat, and Democrats generally claim that theirs is the party that represents the working man, the common man. They cast the GOP as the party of rich fat cats and spoiled second-generation politicians born with silver spoons in their mouths — like George W. […]
Santa Fe spin on senate race
With a new baby in the house, I haven’t been keeping up with the newspaper as well as I usually do, so I missed the Santa Fe New Mexican’s AP story last Wednesday, July 23, about Tom Udall’s call for debates in his U.S. Senate race against Steve Pearce. In the print version of […]
Jerome Block, Jr.: booze, bushes and a bad memory
Last month Jerome Block, Jr., won the Democratic primary election for a seat on the PRC (that’s Public Regulation Commission, not People’s Republic of China; I was a bit perplexed when I first moved to Santa Fe and started seeing PRC referred to without explanation in the newspaper). Since no Republicans even bothered to […]
Fourth of July miscellany
We’ve driven past the Glorieta, NM, battlefield memorial scores (if not hundreds) of times, but today we finally stopped. It’s a makeshift memorial, on private property and maintained by the owner, who has been kind enough to put in nice, flat trails and even to make little makeshift concrete seats and benches under some […]
A tale of two scholar-mothers
Bitch PhD is a blog I’ve just discovered. I’d seen the name on blogrolls before, but hadn’t gotten around to checking it out until recently. As in-your-face as the blog name itself is the photo on the home page, which shows a cute little girl making an angry face and giving the finger […]
Who’s afraid of the big black wolf?
“They’re going to try to make you afraid of me,” says Barack Obama. “He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”
Why is it that when someone on the left disapproves of something, or disagrees with something, it’s out of principle, while those of us on the right […]
We love you, Uncle Mahmoud
Remember all those dewey-eyed socialists who went to the Soviet Union in the 1930s and came back gushing about how swell Uncle Joe was? No, you probably don’t, because not that many people my age will even know whom I mean by “Uncle Joe” and the ones 10 or God forbid 20 years younger […]
We want cheap gas, and we want it NOW!
Like the beastly little girl in the Chocolate Factory movie, when Americans want something, they want it now.
An AP story in the Santa Fe New Mexican the other day complained that even if Republicans got their way and new drilling began, “motorists would feel little or no relief if they did.” Gosh, […]
Bush and the killer tomatoes
Lou Dobbs of CNN calls for President Bush to be impeached because several hundred people (out of several hundred million in the U.S.) have gotten salmonella from eating tomatoes. I’m not the least bit outraged by this demand. It’s really too ludicrous to produce outrage. It’s hilarious, really. My only reaction […]
Sage advice
Hugh Hewitt’s commentary is always worth reading, but in the case of his most recent column this is even more true than usual. I hope that John McCain and every Republican in Congress reads it, and thinks about it. For that matter, I hope every Democrat in Congress reads it too, and gets […]
G. K. Chesterton on the candidates
The Anchoress has found a wonderful quote from G. K. Chesterton that seems to describe the two major party candidates for president in a nutshell:
“There are two kinds of peacemakers in the modern world; and they are both, though in various ways, a nuisance. The first peacemaker is the man who goes about saying […]
Deliver us, Lord, from the swing voter
For the first time in my life, my vote for president may actually matter. Until two years ago, I lived in California, as true a blue state as can be. But now I’m a New Mexican, and my state appears as purple on all those red-state-blue-state maps. New Mexico’s electoral votes went […]
Who’s to blame for gas prices?
One nice thing about having a blog is that when your local paper opts not to print your letter to the editor, you can self-publish it. So here goes –
The Santa Fe New Mexican’s June 10 editorial opens with the sarcastic observation, “Four-dollar-a-gallon gas, the latest manifestation of Republican prosperity, struck Santa Fe […]
A family to remember
Don’t read this if you don’t want to be sickened by man’s inhumanity to man. And don’t watch the video if you don’t want to cry.