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I've always liked Joe Biden

I've even voted for him in previous primaries.  I think his tendency to put his foot in his mouth is a function of the fact that he actually speaks in something other than rehearsed sound bites.  I almost said it was a function of the fact that he actually thinks about his responses to questions, but, clearly, that's not the case at times.  Anyway, loved this ad. 

Salsa-riffic

Now, I'm not sure who I'm voting for on Tuesday.  I know I'm supposed to vote for Bloomberg because Mitch's firm works for him and, in a somewhat indirect way, a Bloomberg victory could mean more money in our pockets.  Although, I don't quite agree with Mitch on that front - win or lose - won't he already have spent his money?  Does he have loftier ambitions? 

Anyway, since it won't really matter anyway - I don't think I can bring myself to pull the lever for a republican.  I think this catchy little Ferrer TV spot just made my decision for me.  Anybody who has Sharpton dancing the Salsa for them is A-OK in my book. 

D'OH!

I think the Daily Mirror sums up my feelings pretty well.

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They Hate Us for Our Freedom

Low Culture compares the Yankees to American global dominance. Enormous wealth, both run by a guy named George... the list goes on.

Finally

So, Jon Stewart went on Crossfire last week (Friday) and he finally said what normal people are thinking when they watch these "news" shows.

Watch it here
Read the transcript here

Why is the smartest talking head on TV these days on Comedy Central?

UPDATE: For those of you who can't be bothered to watch the long clip or read the pages and pages of transcript - here's a highlight of the "Crossfire" between Tucker Carlson and Jon Stewart:

CARLSON: I do think you're more fun on your show. Just my opinion. OK, up next, Jon Stewart goes one on one with his fans...

STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

Sinclair

I don't want to rant here, but my head is in danger of exploding if I hear one more thing about this Sinclair broadcasting. They're a media company who owns 62 local stations and they're planning on pre-empting regular must-see TV to air a "documentary" about how awful John Kerry is.

So a couple of days ago, American Morning on CNN hosted Mark Hyman, vice president for corporate relations for the Sinclair Broadcasting Group. And he said the following:

The accusations coming from Terry McAuliffe and others, is it because they are some elements of this that may reflect poorly on John Kerry? That it's somehow an in-kind contribution of George Bush?

If you use that logic and reasoning, that means every car bomb in Iraq would be an in-kind contribution to John Kerry. Weak job performance ratings that came out last month would have been an in- kind contribution to John Kerry. And that's just nonsense.

So here's what's wrong with this statement - if he's suggesting that his "documentary" is news and not a contribution to the BC04 campaign (meaning they would have to offer the same amount of time to KE04) and to think that this is propaganda would be the same thing as suggesting that the real news is a boon to the Kerry campaign then why did his company decide not to air the "Nightline" that listed all of the soldiers who died in Iraq? They claimed, at the time, that "Nightline" (real news, by the way) was abusing it's reach into America's living rooms by suggesting (the horror!) that soldiers had died in Iraq. They felt it was too partisan. Yet a "news" program sponsored by the Swift Boat Vetrans for Truth isn't.

So there's my rant. Funny, writing it all out didn't really make me feel any better.

What He Meant to Say...

So, I can't really comment too much on the debates last night because I, literally, fell asleep. I meant to watch, but was just too tired. Anyway, I heard that Dick Cheney, while rebutting comments about his involvement with Halliburton, gave out the address of the Annenberg fact checking site which tries to shed light on false statements made by politicians during the course of the presidential campaign.

Now, the big story today is that he got the site name wrong. It's quite ironic, too, because he gave the address factcheck.com which is owned by George Soros and now points to his personal site (GeorgeSoros.com) that has the headline "Why we must not re-elect President Bush".

But the head scratcher for me is why he would mention the real Annenberg site in the first place. Factcheck.org is a great non-partisan site that does, in fact, have an article on it's front page about the myths of Cheney and Halliburton. But it also spends a lot of time dissecting how the BC04 campaign has mis-characterized Kerry and Edwards. From a quick scan, it seems to mention the BC04 "lies" more often than those of the KE04 campaign. Why would he, in his most widely viewed venue, direct people to a website that details several of his campaigns misrepresentations? His campaign can't take the time to set up their own "non-partisan" group with their own website? That seems more like their MO. Karl Rove must be losing his touch.

Staying Up-to-Date

If you're like me and completely obsessed with hearing breaking news and staying as current as possible, here's two links that I'm checking today.

Electorial Vote Update - seems to be updated daily. I'm amazed at how much this is fluctuating.

Mt. St. Helens Volcano Cam - The site says it updates every 5 minutes but I'm getting a picture that's 15 minutes old. Still, pretty cool.

Short of having one of those old fashioned ticker tape machines - the internet is the next best thing.

I Wonder if He's Got Pants on Under That Robe

Does it ever scare anyone else that Supreme Court Justices (perhaps the most powerful people in this country) are nutso? And more often than not - just a little deviant? We all know the most famous perv on the bench is Clarence Thomas - but he may be in danger of being unseated. Antonin Scalia was speaking at Harvard University and he answered a question about his puritan-like view of sex by saying:

"I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged."

You may think I'm just crazy and I made this up. Well, I didn't. He really said that. See here and here. No wonder he doesn't like for his apperances to be taped.

(Via Drudge - THE source for all politcal/sexual deviant news)

Does Jon Stewart Make you Smarter?

What does it say about the state of real news programs in this country when a key predictor of whether or not a person is knowledgeable about issues surrounding the presidental election is if they watch "The Daily Show".

Annenberg recently conducted a study testing "political knowledge" based on 6 questions about issues contested in the presidental election and compared answers among people who watched late night comedy and those who didn't.

I'm sure Comedy Central is very proud.

(Via Wonkette)