Jobus has her first. Also, hospitals are exceptionally boring places. The waiting room here is 10x10, maybe. The TV has been ripped out of the wall. I tried reading, but with everyone talking, its so hard to concentrate. I'm glad that we won't be here all night long. Way to hustle up, Little Buddy.
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Lucky enough to get hand-me down seats 3 rows back.
LeBron is a freak...different cast, same story for the Cavs.
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Josh Marshall nailed it: Russert epitomizes "militant simpletonism". Was he hoping for a George W. "Musharraf moment" when he asked Hillary if she knew the name of Putin's successor? (Of course, to continue the silly SNL line of attack – why didn't Russert ask Obama this question, since he is the one whose foreign policy credentials are more open to question?)
I missed the middle half hour of the debate (had to have my nightly "In Treatment" fix), so (based on press reports today that the debate was fairly even) my view may be skewed, but while I was watching, I though Hillary rocked (except for the lame SNL joke – she just does not do well with scripted humor). Two images/moments remain fresh:
1. Obama looking like a little school boy, raising his hand to be heard.
2. When Obama answered Russert initially on the Farrakhan question (which, given all the internet chatter, was I think fair game until Tim went way overboard on follow up), I thought Obama's answer was a bit too careful in its wording but I was prepared to accept it because I don't accept the whole guilt by association charge in this particular instance. I was also thinking that even though this was not a question that called for a response from Hillary, it would be a perfect opportunity for her to score some grace points by stating she knows Barack Obama and the type of person he is and she knows something about innuendo and these internet reports are ridiculous. Instead, she chimed in with a personal incident about her first Senate campaign which managed to draw attention to how he had danced around his answer, and while he tried to make a joke about whether there is a difference between "denounce" and "reject" – and maybe he was right on the merits – I think he looked bad in the moment. Whether Hillary would have been better served by personal grace than hardball remains to be seen.
I had been thinking that if Hillary lost either Texas or Ohio, she was done. Now I'm thinking that if she wins Ohio convincingly (which last night may help her do), loses Texas narrowly and picks up either Vermont or Rhode Island, she will live to get to Pennsylvania. Can't wait for March 4.
So, my friend David Modigliani has made a terrific documentary about the residents of a small town in Texas by the name of Crawford. Crawford, TX is not the town that many people assumed (ie, it's not just the bike-riding, brush-clearing, summit-hosting vacation home of our soon-to-be-former President).
Crawford has been accepted into the South by Southwest Film Festival (SxSW) and it needs a little help. Because the film features footage from television newsreels, they must raise some money to keep this original (and essential) footage in the film. In truth, I feel like my introduction is sort of a ramble, when I am posting with a real purpose. I will leave the details to Modig:
It's been great news for CRAWFORD -- first we got into SxSW, then we were given 3 screenings, all at the Paramount -- the 1300-seat Theater downtown.So please give if you can. It's really important to support independent filmmakers, particularly a filmmaker like David who has really captured an amazing story. Give if you can!
Check out the trailer:
Exciting stuff. Been working 18 hrs. a day to knock out the final cut -- bringing the project from standard def. back into HD (which we shot it in) for the big screen, mixing audio at a professional studio for the 5-1 speakers in theaters, and - this has been the hardest - licensing about 7 minutes of archival news footage at $80/sec. The networks nail you on that.
I'm really proud of the movie and this is the final push -- we give SxSW the master on March 1. We need to raise $50K and we've raised $38K. Getting close. A contribution (tax-deductible) would be a huge boost. You can contribute online -- here or you can write a check to Refraction Arts with "Crawford" on the memo line and send it to me at:
Crawford Movie
1312 Willow St.
Austin, TX 78702
It looks like we'll have a chance to screen the film in NYC this summer.
Pumpkinhead accidentally makes good? The question about Dmitri Medvevev in Russia was asked in a stupid gotcha manner (christ, he even went into detail afterwards and followed up with a stupid hypothetical), but it brought up an important point. We've been so focused on Iraq and "The Forgotten War" in Afghanistan that our government (President and all Presidential nominees (D and R)) has completely forgotten about the former Iron Curtain.
Both candidates on stage disappointed me with a lack of up-to-date knowledge of the situation (good try HRC, but it wasn't that you couldn't pronounce his name). How could neither mention HOW Putin plans to stay in power or all of the gas line shenanigans? Meddling in Iran? Nothing compared to the meddling in Ukraine, where they have actual candidates for office. Come on kids, you're better than that!
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What is the point of having Tim Russert co-host these debates? Is he some kind of pumpkin-headed robot, programmed to pull random quotes from 30 years ago and ask yes-or-no "gotcha" questions? And what's with the constantly interrupting the candidates?
I've heard some speculate this could be the last debate of the primary cycle. I guess this assumes the potential Obama victory in TX will close the door on HRC. I'm not sure this is the case. I know I've said it previously, but I'm starting to think Mark Penn's "States that Don't Count" strategy is winning inside the Clinton campaign. If this were the case, feel pretty strongly that my earlier opinion of HRC will be my final opinion of her: I like the person and Senator a lot, but the campaigner has surrounded herself with the worst of strategists. Too bad, too. While I agree with Josh Marshall that we evaluate all of these outcomes with the benefit of hindsight, I've been saying from the first moment I heard/saw Mark Penn that I believed him to be a horrendous person/advisor and that I liked HRC despite her continuing to rely on his advice.
In fact, I was undecided until right before Super Duper Tuesday, when I was forced to make a decision and cast a vote. And while grummish accuses me of being a Hillary hater, "just like every other Obama lover," I really do believe Clinton would have made a fine President. Unfortunately, on the road there, she was convinced to run a campaign as the inevitable front-runner, then seemed unprepared for a long contest. Some say that a campaign is a reflection of managerial experience; ie since Obama ran a tight, efficient, targeted campaign, he has a related potential as a chief executive. I don't necessarily buy this logic. I do, however, believe the inverse to hold (at least a little) true. If you surround yourself with inept advisors who continually shoot you, and themselves, in the foot and you stick with them because of personally loyalty, that bodes ill well for the type of executive you'll be.
Every CEO has to cut the fat to save the business at some point. Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson (who I blame in some way for toning down Ned Lamont's aggressive insurgent campaign in CT) should have gone a long time ago.
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Well, after posting the Sarah Silverman - Matt Damon clip a while back, I was wondering how long it would take before Jimmy Kimmel put up something similar. Worth the wait I think:
I would normally never post anything during work hours, but this made me laugh out loud...a lot:
Much respect to Matt Damon for not taking himself too seriously.
I don't know if it was because the writers' stike didn't allow enough time to come up with funny stuff or not, but I found tonight's Academy Awards to be pretty boring. I enjoyed when Jon Stewart brought Marketa Ingvar out to let her say thank you, but it seemed pretty un-memorable otherwise. Too bad, pefect night for some major upsets or surprises. Where's the streaker or the freaking out actor (paging Cuba Gooding Jr.) to liven things up a bit? I did think Stewart did a good job, though.
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I have to say that as bad as SNL has been over the last few years, I've always found their political coverage has stayed pretty sharp. Now back from the writers' strike, they had a couple of segments on the current state of the Presidential race. I think it was pretty sharp all around:
