The Real World

This is cute: hearing Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan on a hot mike, right after the announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain's V.P.: Noonan says what was assumed to be a declaration that McCain was writing a "bullshit" narrative for the journalists, and (with that idea in mind) she decided the race was "over." Murphy claimed McCain's choice was "cynical." Well, well, well.

Their comments say a lot about the difference - and the wrongheadedness - in the thinking inside vs. outside the Beltway, and how these online video clips can lead us astray.

Still, away from all that, it's refreshing to hear a "toxic" word from the high-minded Noonan's mouth - proving even she's down with The Macho Response behind-the-scenes - which, to me, opens up a whole new "authentic" theme for Republicans to run on:

The Grand Old Party of the Tough Old Broads.

And I've definitely got to find me one of those,...

Barack's More Mixed Than We Knew

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

Sharks In The Water: Walk The Lady In

"The mainstream media, which has been holding endless symposia here on the future of media in the 21st century, is in danger of missing a central fact of that future: If they appear, once again, as they have in the past, to be people not reporting the battle but engaged in the battle, if they allow themselves to be tagged by that old tag, which so tarnished them in the past, they will do more to imperil their own future than the Internet has.

This is true: fact is king. Information is king. Great reporting is what every honest person wants now, it's the one ironic thing we have less of in journalism than we need. But reporting that carries an agenda, that carries Bubblehead assumptions and puts them forth as obvious truths? Well, some people want that. But if I were doing a business model for broadsheets and broadcast networks I'd say: Fact and data are our product, we're putting everything into reporting, that's what we're selling, interpretation is the reader's job, and think pieces are for the edit page where we put the hardy, blabby hacks.

That was a long way of saying: Dig deep into Sarah Palin, get all you can, talk to everybody, get every vote, every quote, tell us of her career and life, she may be the next vice president. But don't play games. And leave her kid alone, bitch.

***

Final point. Palin's friends should be less immediately worried about what the Obama campaign will do to her than what the McCain campaign will do. This is a woman who's tough enough to work her way up and through, and to say yes to a historic opportunity, but she will know little of, or rather have little experience in, the mischief inherent in national Republican politics. She will be mobbed up in the McCain campaign by people who care first about McCain and second about themselves. (Or, let's be honest, often themselves first and then McCain.) Palin will never be higher than number three in their daily considerations. They won't have enough interest in protecting her, advancing her, helping her play to her strengths, helping her kick away from danger. And – there is no nice way to say this, even though at this point I shouldn't worry about nice – some of them are that worst sort of aide, dim and insensitive past or present lobbyists with high self-confidence. She'll be a thing to them; they'll see the smile and the chignon and the glasses and think she's Truvi from Steel Magnolias. They'll run right over her, not because they're strong but because they're stupid. The McCain campaign better get straight on this. He should step in, knock heads, scare his own people and get Palin the help and high-level staff all but the most seasoned vice presidential candidates require."

--Peggy Noonan, zeroing in on two important topics - one that's obvious and one that's not so obvious - in the Wall Street Journal.

Crazy Gay Man Alert: Newspapers Are Dying (And You, Sir, Are Part Of The Reason Why)

"Yes, the rumors are true. The cosmic votes have all been tallied, and I do believe we can now say, with some measure of happy certainty, that God appears to be just as sick-to-death of the Republican Party as the rest of us."

Mark Morford, just reading God's mind and spotting rising lightworkers, for the excellence in journalism known as the SFGate.

Here's more of Mark's wisdom bullshit patter, gleaned from the cultish Yoga Tree website:

"Yoga hasn't been around for thousands of years for nothing. It's a little-known fact that Jesus practiced yoga–he just didn't tell anyone. How do you think he was able to walk on water?"

Yep, Morford - he's got it all figured out,...

Calm Down: Everybody Gets A Trophy

"Why does this happen? In part, it’s about validation. Christians in America feel that national leaders and mainstream media hold them in contempt, so having a real evangelical in power tells the world, 'we must not be as crazy as people think we are,' [Mark DeMoss, former chief of staff to Jerry Falwell] explains."

Steven Waldman, watching nasty religious elbows being thrown for a bright-and-shiny from a "metaphysical plane" - and still calling it "politics" - at the Wall Street Journal

Lying On A Mass Scale Has Turned Out To Be A Really Big Problem (But It Would Only Take A Few Really Good Journalists To Fix It) Really.

"He,...needs to tell us why he gullibly (or not?) let false information travel around the world unanswered for what will probably end up being almost 48 hours — false information that will remain planted in the minds of those who won’t see any retraction or correction."

-- Tom Blumer, discussing Sam Stein's claim on the Huffington Post (among others) that John McCain's vice-presidential selection, Sarah Palin, wasn't properly vetted, except in Pajamas Media.

"Almost 48 hours"? Try almost 48 years like Sexy Sadie! You journalists should investigate Deepak Chopra. Low-hanging fruit and all that. Lying is like his bread and butter, and he learned at the foot of the master. Get your mojo back on Deepfat Okra.

That is, if lying bothers journalists. Does lying bother journalists? It's kind of hard to tell.

"Almost 48 hours,...." That's a good one.

Down The Rabbit Hole

"Obama will,...get the nomination but his inexperience and, especially, his party will bring him (and them) down.

The last 8 years of dissing America will blow up in the Dems faces and those in the middle of the country will reject them.

Obama would be smart to stay cool, quietly abandon the Oprah/Rhonda Byrne New Age, and other crazy spritual types, and prepare to get real in 4 more years."

-- The Macho Response, January 8th, 2008

"I’m sitting here right now with my jaw on the floor. I cannot believe what I am reading on the forums of the far-left.

I’m not going to link to them - you know where to find them - or even bother quoting their incredible, insane prattle.

They’re in trouble over there. They’re in serious trouble of the mind, and trouble of the heart and trouble of the soul. They are so paranoid, and so full of hate, at this point, that they are clinging to an insane idea - one that betrays a sort of soul-sickness that leaves me feeling both incredulous and chilled.

How much do you have to love your hate in order to surrender your reason, and your humanity, to it?

It’s not just the thrill of creating a stupid conjecture for these people - that’s just normal campaign garbage. But now that it has clearly been debunked these folks have a need - and in some of these people it seems to be a truly deep need - to cling to the fantasy so that they can keep hating, so that they can continue to believe the absolute worst thing they can; because that’s what they want to believe…the absolute very worst.

How sick is this? It is meant, I guess, to shield them from any possibility that their worldview might be altered, or penetrated.

It is not sane. It is disturbingly unnatural. It is almost supernatural."

-- The Anchoress, catching on to why this blog exists.

Spit And Polish

"A revolutionary, but he was an accidental one, the product of a glorious coincidence of casting, talent and timing. Yet, I realise, for this street urchin surviving would have been victory enough. The rest may not even be a bonus."

-- Andrew Billen, figuring out Johnny Rotten, for the Times Online.

That's En-Ter-Tain-Ment!

"Despite putting on an energetic show, the singer's performance left some doubt as to the state of her mental well-being."

-- The Daily Mail, on Grace Jones's latest show, where she displayed the traditional assortment of strange outfits, but also sported some equally-bizarre facial expressions.

He's Really Thought This Through,...

"The aliens come down to meet you. They say, 'Take Me to Your Leader.' Who do you take them to?"

-- Justin Struat, taking the NewAge route to proving there's no "Cult of Obama," for Skull/Bones

Yea, I know I'm being extreme here, but I think it's funny.

Resolved: God Don't Like Nobody

"So about 50,000 artsy-lefty, sexed-up, chanting, New Aged nutsos got together in Nevada's Black Rock Desert to do all sorts non-traditional spiritual stuff, and the Lord took notice. He (She? It?) smote 'em Old School with a massive sandstorm yesterday that sent many of the occultists running for shelter before they could close the festivities with the traditional burning of some man.

Roger Farschon, incident commander for the federal Bureau of Land Management, said the dust storm on the Black Rock Desert about 110 miles north of Reno began early Saturday afternoon and continued into the evening.

'We are in (a) total whiteout,' he wrote by e-mail.'"

-- Ian Spiegelman, getting into the spirit of blaming God for everything, except Wonkette

Message To The Youf: Diddy's Getting Focused

"There's not even no crackheads in Alaska,.."

Hat Tip: Hot Air

Andrew Sullivan Is Too Weird For Words

"A reader plumbs the weirdness:

'Willow' was Buffy the Vampire Slayer's best friend and 'Piper' was the eldest sister on the series Charmed played by Shannen Doherty. The governor obviously has a penchant for television shows of paranormal female empowerment. (I know, it's too gay that I know this). 'Trig?' Don't have clue."

Bristol! A town in near Wales! And another correction:

Piper was the second sister, she was played by Holly Marie Combs. Shannon Doherty played Prue (Prudence) Halliwell. Willow and Piper are both witches. Good witches."

-- Andrew Sullivan and two readers, bizarrely pondering the possible origin of names given to Sarah Palin's children, on Sullivan's Daily Dish.