Below are a few blogspheric snippets I found amusing or enlightening. Inappropriate Response leads with breaking news from the Big Apple:
"The city on Thursday unveiled its first automatic pay toilet. City big-wigs seem to think it's a great idea. 'This is a truly historic occasion,' one said."
Humorist Joel Achenbach comments on the New Hampshire upset:
"I guess it was premature to write those forward-looking analyses of President Obama's re-election strategy in 2012...."
"I don't want to suggest that the pundits look stupid this morning. More like complete freakin' imbeciles. Count me among those who thought Obama was a runaway train, that he'd (it's early and I didn't get enough sleep, so we're just going to mix the metaphor) blow Clinton out of the water."
Applause for Joel for doing what all pundits with cloudy crystal balls should now do: acknowledge their errors, move on, and LEARN (i.e., stop being so quick to make predictions).
After Iowa but before New Hampshire, Pat Buchanan shocked listeners by criticizing what he called a media "pile on" against Hillary Clinton. Buchanan said that one day the media is "at your feet," the next day it's "at your throat."
Yesterday, Taylor Marsh was on a well-linked tear about clashes between Barack Obama's campaign statements and his record. Among other things, Marsh focused on:
1) Obama's political tactics back in Illinois (Not my Idea of Hope, citing Chicago Tribune).
2) Obama's verbal distancing of himself from special interests, though his campaign co-chair lobbies for a drug company. Though it's true, Obama denied this when Hillary Clinton mentioned it at the New Hampshire Debate. (About Obama's Lobbyist Co-Chair, with YouTube video).
3) Obama's billing himself as the anti-war candidate among Dems, though his and Clinton's Iraq-war votes are nearly identical and he said in 2004 that his stance on Iraq is like George Bush's. (Let the Vetting Begin)
It seems that the vetting has begun. A few days earlier, Satirist Jon Swift commented on each candidate in the Iowa Caucus. Here's a sample:
"The biggest loser of all was Hillary Clinton. If she can't win in Iowa, where can she win? In every contested race since 1972 (Bill Clinton ran unopposed in 1996), the winner of the Iowa caucuses for the Democrats has gone on to be elected President, except for 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2004 when the winner did not go on to be elected President. Iowans have an uncanny ability to predict which Democrat can win in the general election, which means Hillary's campaign may be doomed."
Other BN-Politics Posts:
* Dueling Videos Emerge from U.S.-Iran Boat Incident * Blackwater Gassed Iraqis, Taxpayers Fund Lobbying Efforts? * Why We Need Campaign-Finance Reform: Complaint Against Senator * It's not Just New Hampshire: Some Polls Favored Wrong Candidates Before Iowa
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