By the time Sen. John McCain gets on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" tonight, it's gonna look like it's way past the veteran senator's bedtime.
The show was, of course, taped this afternoon, a little bit late due to a very surprising event: air traffic congestion above and around Newark's airport. Imagine that! And on a Friday, too.
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But it's amazing what can happen when you have the Secret Service on your side: the Lincoln Tunnel was closed and McCain's motorcade sped through midtown Manhattan to the NBC studios.
(Oh well, he wasn't gonna win New York's voters over anyway.)
There, the Republican nominee-to-be was well-received, even when Conan begged the 71-year-old war vet and POW to give late-night comedians something other than his age to joke about.
There was a pause. And McCain fell over asleep.
The late-night host acknowledged his colleagues had been unable to find anything to make fun aboutBarack Obama. (One idea: How about those Prince Charles-like jug ears?)
"I say we're tired of this take on you," O'Brien complained. "We....
The other day here we noted that Republican nominee-to-be John McCainkeeps referring to the country of Czechoslovakia, which hasn't existed since 1993.
Now, Sam Nunn, a veteran retired senator and an oft-mentioned Democratic vice presidential running mate with Barack Obama, is doing the same thing.
His reference to the former country, which split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was the third mention of Czechoslovakia during campaigning this week. A former chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee who could know better, Nunn was on the campaign trail in Indiana with Obama.
"We in this country are about to, under this government, under the Bush administration, deploy [a] missile defense system in Poland and Czechoslovakia," Nunn said. For more details and a pretty funny video, check out our colleague Katie Fretland's item over on the Swamp.
A couple of seemingly unrelated political developments struck the Ticket early this morning.
First of all, it was unusually thoughtful of Sen. Barack Obama to give his big foreign policy speech before his big foreign policy trip and announce the results of his findings in advance of the actual fact-finding junket to the Middle East and Europe.
There are a lot of things for average Americans to be doing in mid-summer in the United States. And worrying over exactly what the freshman senator heard from U.S., military commanders in Iraq about the actual situation on the ground should not be high on the list.
So now that we know he's going to stick to his 16-month end-the-war-no-matter-what pullout, not just the MoveOn.org crowd but all of us can put on our own flip-flops and start focusing on the upcoming NFL roster cuts.
No, he's never been to Afghanistan, but Obama already knows it is the true central front in the war on al-Qaeda. Which is equally good.
And because the results of Obama's trip are already known and because Obama's staff has been practically begging them, all three network anchors are going to traipse along and seek three non-exclusive exclusive interviews along the route, as will top reporters for print media.
A whole planeload apparently. In marked contrast to the limited press coverage afforded the three foreign trips of Republican Sen. John McCain this year. But that probably has to do with something.
Without worrying over content, Obama's five-nation, 12,000-mile "tour" can be the rock star event Chicago HQ wants. Of course, if he does another one of those "Thank you, Sioux City" things and it gets reported, that might be another thing.
Speaking of change to believe in, ABC's Jake Tapper is reporting that Hillary Clinton has changed her hair and is now parting it on the right, which as believers in the actual little-known hair-part theory understand, is the more feminine side.
We'll leave it to Jake to explain all the details, but right hair parts are believed to connote strength, leadership and masculinity, which explains Jimmy Carter's troubled presidency and Margaret Thatcher's success but not Ronald Reagan's.
The other good news is that -- finally -- after nearly six weeks of not campaigning for a presidency somewhere Clinton has launched her fund-raising for the 2012 election. She says the money drive is for a New York senate reelection effort that year.
But someone just pointed out that 2012 also happens to be the same year as the next U.S. presidential election. What a coincidence, eh?
This space is supposed to be reserved for serious political material like foot-tapping senators, planted public forum questions, broken candidates' buses -- or make that candidates' broken buses -- satirical magazine covers that most people don't get and Rep. Ron Paul's chances of stealing the Republican nomination from John McCain.
We're going to make an exception under popular demand and publish late the latest JibJab cartoon video. It's just great. Wonderful. Don't miss it if you can.
The best part is what Hillary does toBill when he says a certain word.
We hope you die laughing. If you need more information on this stuff, our colleague Mark Milian over at Web Scout has more than you need. Go there. But do come back; they don't know anything about the electoral college over there.
Presidential campaigns are much like a complex traveling circus, with teams assigned to develop messages to voters, teams designed to scout appropriate sites for candidate visits, teams assigned to prepare them and teams assigned to accompany the candidate and ensure a smooth appearance, most notably with the traveling and local media whose experience is reflected in the tone and detail of the coverage they provide to millions.
Sometimes the campaign venues are too small to accommodate the large press packs traveling on the campaign plane, whose numbers jockeying for position would spoil the desired "getting-to-know-you-feel" the campaign wants for the TV cameras.
So pool reporters are chosen by turn to represent print and broadcast media, assembled elsewhere, and share what they see and hear with their absent colleagues in detailed Pool Reports, sometimes several a day and sometimes with professional asides to their colleagues.
From time to time through November, The Ticket is going to publish these pool reports in their entirety to give readers an inside feel for the kinds of detail they may not always see in the formal news coverage and to peer inside the raw material that journalists use to compile their coverage. Sometimes, as last night, the pool reports include details of an unexpected encounter.
This morning's Pool Report is No. 4 from Tuesday evening with Sen. John McCain in St. Louis. It includes a humorous addition at the end:
McCain Pool Report #4 7/15/08
ST. LOUIS—Showing his intimate knowledge of the Show Me State’s culture, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a pilgrimage to one of its vaunted institutions Tuesday night: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
The local dessert stand, which was founded in 1929, made its reputation on its 'concretes' cups of frozen custard that are so thick the servers flip them upside down before they....
He's been a quick learner. But it's too late this time for the Democrat who wants to move into the White House next January. And then get his kids a dog.
As our Swamp colleagues report,Barack Obama finally commented last night on the highly controversial cover of this week's New Yorker magazine. And he said all the right things. But he was about 54 hours tardy.
Sunday, as soon as the elitist magazine released its provocative cartoon cover, Obama declined to comment, not wanting to elevate it to something important enough for a candidate to speak about. Fine. But, as The Ticket promptly reported here, advisors still sent out his communications director, Bill Burton, to denounce it:
"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."
The McCain campaign immediately (and ultimately self-servingly) issued a similar statement quoting Tucker Bounds as saying: "We completely agree with the Obama campaign. It's tasteless and offensive."
The cover of this week's New Yorker magazine depicts Obama in one-piece Muslim garb and headdress fist-bumping his booted, Afro-wearing wife Michelle in camo clothes with an AK-47 and ammo-belt slung over her shoulder beneath a portrait of Osama bin Laden while the American flag burns in the fireplace -- in the presidential Oval Office. Other than that, nothing particularly ...
This week's provocative New Yorker magazine cover featuring Barack and Michelle Obama as armed and Muslim calls attention to a variety of myths floating around the country these days, mainly online, but also openly voiced.
To check on what you hear, the website snopes.com is valuable. It tracks and debunks urban legends of the e-mail variety. It could be the first place you go when that unexpected message pings into your inbox from another e-mail chain.
You can also search Snopes for more myths or alleged truths about others such as Sens. John McCain (he did tell a story once about a fellow POW in Hanoi who got beaten for sewing a U.S. flag on his prison shirt) or John Kerry (his photo does hang in a Vietnamese Peace Museum for being a war protester).
According to the site, here are the top myths about Barack Obama:
He is a "radical Muslim" who will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
He was sworn into office on the Koran.
Obama's church has a "nonnegotiable commitment to Africa" that is covertly Muslim and excludes non-blacks.
Obama has been endorsed for president of the U.S. by the Ku Klux Klan.
Obama's presidential campaign is being funded by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez.
For the rest of the mythical Obama list, check out our colleague James Oliphant's intriguing story over at the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Credit: Associated Press
Necks craned at a town hall meeting in Albuquerque on Tuesday morning when in the middle of talking to voters, Sen. John McCain said he'd take a question from a reporter.
“When do you plan to announce the selection of your running mate?" asked the scribe, Jacob Schroeder.
McCain played it cool. “As soon as we can,” he replied.
Schroeder persisted: “What qualities are you looking for in a vice presidential running mate?”
“Someone exactly like you: vigorous, talented,” said McCain in a shocking display of pandering to the press.
“That person has to share not only my principles and my values, but also my priorities… Could I also remind you, and I am sure you know this because you study hard, the vice president of the United States has only two duties. One is to cast a tie vote in the Senate. The other duty is to inquire daily as to the health of the president, and I am sure that is a big job for whoever the vice president will be.”
Schroeder seemed satisfied. He works for Scholastic Kids News service, and his web page says he is 8 years old.
The last time a Scholastic reporter made news was back in December, when Chelsea Clinton, campaigning for her mother Hillary, took a different approach to a young questioner. She snubbed the Iowa fourth-grader, Sydney Rieckhoff, who wanted to ask her about her dad.
"I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press," said Clinton. "Even though I think you're cute."
(Chealsea's mother finished third in the Iowa Democratic caucus the next month.)
If you have to explain a joke, it’s usually a pretty good sign that it’s a dud. But when it comes to satirizing the inanities of national politics, maybe a little elaboration is in order.
In that spirit, David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, spelled out to CNN what the cover of his magazine’s latest issue was all about. In case your New Yorker still is in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service, that’s the one with Barack Obama in Muslim garb fist-bumping his gun-toting wife Michelle.
"The idea is to attack lies and misconceptions and distortions about the Obamas, and their background and their politics. We've heard all of this nonsense about how they're supposedly insufficiently patriotic, or soft on terrorism," Remnick told CNN.
"That somehow the fist bump is something that it's not. And we try to put all of these images in one cover, and to satirize and shine a really harsh light on something that could be incredibly damaging."
As CNN points out on its political ticker, the cover has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike. On Sunday evening Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton called it "tasteless and offensive," and John McCain labeled it "totally inappropriate."
Even Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks, now running for L.A. County supervisor and an Obama backer, got in on the action, as the Times’ James Rainey noted in this morning’s On the Media column.
But Remnick still thinks the intelligence of the American people is being underestimated. “Yes, there will be some people who will misunderstand it, not get it at first," he said on CNN. "But here we are on television, discussing something that's been a kind of subterranean theme in American politics, which is disgusting — these lies about Barack Obama, about Michelle Obama. And so in fact we're not even satirizing the Obamas, we're satirizing these rumors, the lies that have fed into the politics of fear."
Remnick also put his magazine’s satire in the same category with TV funnymen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. "If there's no possibility for satire, if you always have to look for the joke that every — absolutely everyone will get, you won't have Jon Stewart, you won't have Stephen Colbert," he said. "Stephen Colbert goes on and mocks right-wing commentary by pretending to be a right-wing commentary. In a way this is Colbert in print."
Former pro wrestler and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse 'Come Over Here and Say That' Ventura has decided not to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Norm 'I Used to Be Mayor, You Know' Coleman and now desired by Democrat Al 'Big Fat Comedian With a Work Comp Payment Problem' Franken.
Unless he changes his mind before the filing deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
That woulda been a wonderful "Smackdown 08." Picture the televised debates, Jesse ranting and pointing his finger at the camera after smashing a chair over the moderator's head. Franken trying to be funny again. And Norm, the former St. Paul mayor, consulting his notes on fiscal numbers.
Jesse was made for the media. Huge guy. Deep voice. Outrageous opinions. Sounds good. Who would you want with on your side in a bar fight, even if he started it?
So, naturally the big guy chose to end the speculation that he started himself a week or so ago by going on the staid traditional forum of "Larry King Live" to make his non-announcement because that show didn't have any missing blonde high school cheerleaders to interview the parents of tonight.
Jeese's speaking fees must be fading for him to gin up this 10-day publicity dust devil.
Jesse said he was sick and tired of both parties. All they do is spend other people's money, he said. He also said he might not even vote, there's so little difference between them. He said they denounce each other and then make backroom buddy-buddy deals with each other, just like pro wrestling. And he's angry about it.
And in a move that could have created Minnesota residency problems if he'd run, Jesse let slip that he's moved southwest and now lives at least half the year in Mexico. Which is understandable given Minnesota's surfing conditions and the summertime bug supply in the Land of 10,000,000 Lakes or however many they claim up there.
Come to think of it, the Lakers did the same thing.
Our friends over or up or wherever they are on the Entertainment section of LATimes.com took one look at today's new New Yorker magazine cover and plunged into researching nine other outrageous magazine covers that are rather eye-popping.
Thousands have read The Ticket's report from yesterday on the either incendiary or satirical cover of the Obamas -- Barack and Michelle-- in Muslim/freedom fighter gear, armed to the teeth, in the Oval office beneath an Osama bin Laden portrait while they burn the American flag. Other than that, what's to get excited about? That Ticket item is right here.
The new cover story photo gallery is also a hoot -- many political, some not. Remember the Yoko Ono/naked John Lennon cover that made you want to take a shower? Is peace political? Or the Time magazine cover story about Bill Clinton's extra-curricular troubles that perhaps accidentally had a pair of devil's horns coming out of his head?
There's Entertainment Weekly's nude Dixie Chicks cover after they said those naughty things overseas about President Bush and lost so much of their music sales in Tennessee and Texas.
Our personal favorite is the cover story in Vanity Fair titled "Is Barbara Bush as Tough as They Say?" that had a nicely-dressed photo of Demi Moore on the cover instead of the former first lady. Demi, Barbara, hey, it probably made sense at the design meeting. Except when you look closely at the photo, that's really not much of a suit on the Demster.
We actually recommend two places to check out. One is our blogging colleague Elizabeth Snead, over at Dish Rag, who's a lovely lady unless you're a celebrity and since we're not, she's good and has an alternative New Yorker cover some might like better.
And the other spot is the aforementioned, semi-political photo gallery, which you can access by clicking on the also aforementioned New Yorker cover below.
Well, one sure way to get "NASCAR Dads" to pay attention to your political campaign is get your name on one of the cars.
The Swamp tipped us to an item that Sports Illustrated is reporting:Barack Obama is on the verge of sponsoring a car at a race in August. The metaphor potential is huge -- everything from leading pole-to-pole to hitting a wall and not finishing.
Obama earlier was flirting with campaigning at a NASCAR event, but this takes it one step better. Though there are pitfalls. The car, BAM 39, reportedly is a Toyota, which likely won't sit well with the United Auto Workers.
An announcement is expected within a couple of weeks, SI reports, though in keeping with a practiced political observer's skepticism, believe it when it happens.
(UPDATE: The announcement came sooner than two weeks and SI was wrong. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Friday evening the campaign won't be sponsoring a NASCAR entry. "The Obama campaign will not be sponsoring a car in the Sprint Cup series," Burton said, "though we will continue to look for ways to reach out to voters and convey Senator Obama’s message of change.” And he didn't mean tires.)
The John McCain "Straight Talk Express" rolled into Hudson, Wis., this morning for a town hall session on women in business. But the conversation wasn't all business, as the attendees also got a prescription from Cindy McCain on weight loss, our colleague Maeve Reston reports.
These kinds of events usually feature two or three introductory speakers, and first up this morning was J&L Steel Erectors Chief Executive LouAnne Reger. She told the crowd of more than 500 people -- mostly women -- about her two divorces, losing weight and a recent Nordstrom shopping trip. Cindy McCain then followed with her own weight-loss experience.
The best way to lose 30 pounds, she said, was to get out on the campaign trail. As proof: The white pants she was wearing were two sizes too big, she said. This, as Reston points out, comes from a woman who told Vogue that she wears size 0 Lucky Jeans. Not the kind of detail that's likely to strike a chord of empathy. Or, for that matter, the kind of experience the women in the crowd -- any crowd -- could replicate. How many will have a chance to hit the presidential campaign trail, as spouses or candidates?
Before the session began, the attendees were sung to by a barbershop quintet wearing American flag ties. The song list? "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "A Bicycle Built for Two" and "You Raise Me Up" (dedicated to the women in the crowd who have been "touched by cancer").
By the time it was candidate McCain's turn, Reston reports, he looked very relieved to get the mic.
Here's something fresh -- a politician rendered speechless, at least momentarily. Of course, few campaign conversations that involve Viagra and birth control can go anywhere good for a candidate.
In this video below, the questioner is our own Maeve Reston. The questionee -- John McCain, whom Reston asked for a reaction to a comment by McCain supporter-advisor Carly Fiorina about insurance companies that cover Viagra but not birth control. (And, yes, the image of a deer in the headlights comes to mind.)
This will be way past most of our bedtimes, but John McCain plans to test out the wee hours of campaigning next week with an appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." The Swamp points out that McCain was the first sitting U.S. senator to appear on "Saturday Night Live," whose producer Lorne Michaels also is the executive producer of the O'Brien show.
McCain has been on O'Brien's show before, but this apparently is the first appearance since he became the presumptive Republican nominee (we don't know if that means the band has to kick up a trumpet fanfare when he walks out or what).
And what better time to revisit some of O'Brien's previous barbs about McCain? With a rim shot on the snare drum to About.Com (to get the true spirit, click here after each joke):
Now that Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, Americans are going to have to choose between the 46-year-old Obama and the 71-year-old John McCain. That's the choice. In other words, it's a choice between the Hillary-defeater or the Wal-Mart greeter.
Barack Obama said today that he is going to fight for votes in all 50 states. Yeah. That's what he said. Meanwhile, John McCain said he's going to fight for votes in all 13 colonies.
This week, Barack Obama, true story, campaigned on an Indian reservation and the tribal chief adopted him. Yeah, the Indians actually prefer Obama to John McCain, because they still remember when McCain took their land.
Earlier today, John McCain released 1,200 pages of his medical records. Or, as his doctor calls it, Chapter One.
Barack Obama's staff and John McCain's staff are busy now negotiating when the presidential debates will take place. That's good, yeah. Yeah, Obama wants them to be in September, and McCain wants them to be after his nap, but before "Wheel of Fortune."
Below is a video of one of McCain's earlier appearances.
And, yes, we know Rep. Ron Paul isn't going to be anybody's nominee. But he could be.
We are sincerely indebted to loyal Ticket reader Travis for this morning's week-ending chuckle.
He found a website that lets you nominate anyone for president (insert name here) and incorporates their name in a most realistic TV news video report.
You can see how ridiculous the site is by watching this version -- before you start pranking family and friends. (It might take a minute or so to load if busy.)
And thanks again to Travis. If anybody else comes across good/fun/unusual political sites, just send them to The Ticket please. We might highlight yours.
The woman who made pantsuits a staple of the late-night joke sessions and nearly became the first female presidential candidate of a major American political party has revealed a secret about her new life as presidential loser.
Lost in the thousands of words Hillary Clinton uttered in praise of Barack Obama, her party's nominee, and its political agenda during a speech earlier today to 2,000 women supporters in New York City, were a few little-noticed paragraphs that caught The Ticket's eye.
The 60-year-old senator tossed them out to the receptive audience almost in passing. But The Times' Louise Roug was transcribing the speech (which you can find in its entirety in one of our occasional In Her Own Words items here).
And here's what Clinton said in a kind of girlish admission:
"There are some differences (between Obama and myself).
"For example, Barack said (to me), 'you look kind of rested.' I said, 'well, kind of is the right descriptor.'
"But I'm actually -– don't tell anybody –- trying to exercise a little bit, which I'm told does wonders for a person.
"Because during the campaign," Clinton continued in a confessional tone, "I'm sure you've read, Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. And I would get up, and get my hair done.
"It's one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives."
Yes, sure, she was dating herself by referencing movies from the '30s and '40s (the nineteen-thirties and forties, when Democrats owned the White House), when the often-paired duo of Rogers and Astaire would glide across studio floors as if their feet weren't moving.
And maybe some of the 30-somethings in the audience were puzzled enough to hustle back to their office and try Googling these Asthair and Rodgers people. And they would learn that she was originally Virginia McMath and died in 1995 and he was originally Frederick Austerlitz and passed away in 1987.
But that's history. Clinton's coiffured confession and romantic reminiscence by someone who looked anything but romantic going after politics' Big Prize these last 18 months was rather refreshing. We wish her luck on the treadmill and the elliptical.
Now, how long do you suppose before someone re-starts pairing up Obama-Clinton as an ideal political couple dancing their way together to Nov. 4?
-- Andrew Malcolm
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dance the Oscar-winning number "The Continental" in the 1934 classic "The Gay Divorcee." File photo
Turns out Jesse Jackson's whispered crudity on Fox News about what he'd like to do to Barack Obama's privates almost made it through without notice.
Jackson, who has eagerly worn microphones over the years almost as much as Al Sharpton, obviously knew he could be heard. Why else whisper? Which he did, criticizing Obama to a fellow black guest on "Fox & Friends" before the show went live.
But as The Times' diligent Matea Gold reports here today, no one in the Fox control room caught the exchange at the time.
It was only during the night that a Fox staffer who was transcribing the program caught the whisper and then noticed Jackson's hand-cutting motion beneath the desk.
The catch worked its way up the in-house news chain and, finally, onto the air Wednesday. But Jackson was tipped about the imminent embarrassment when Fox News fairly asked him for comment before its broadcast, and Jackson immediately arranged to go on CNN to attempt a preemptive broadcast apology.
Judging by online reaction, that didn't work too well. And people ....
The unity thing is proving something of a stubborn problem for the no longer officially dueling camps of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. There've been reports in recent days of some die-hard Clinton supporters being less than supportive of the fellow who crunched her.
But confirmed Clintonite Terry McAuliffe says it's only one or two people. So that can't mean much. And there's probably hardly any Obama folks saying, "Remind me again why I should help pay the bills for the travel and events when she was always attacking Obama?"
But what happened Wednesday night was a little embarrassing.
After the two Democrats voted differently on the Senate's FISA retroactive surveillance O.K. bill, Obama flew Clinton from Washington to New York City on his plane for two fundraisers where they'd both appear together and she'd graciously introduce him and there'd be that cheek peck.
And Obama would repeat his eloquent thing about change and how George W. Bush is really the first two terms of John McCain or something and ask the folks for money and kinda push them toward retiring Clinton's campaign debt. Depending on the numbers you hear, her debts could be as large as $23 million or maybe "only" $10 million, which is like -- what? -- 20 speeches or something for her husband.
So The Times' Louise Roug was at the Hyatt in the crowd of 1,000 who'd each paid $1,000 (what a coincidence!) so they could also pay cash at the bar. She dutifully listened to his familiar, 30-minute talk about promise. The crowd applauded. "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" blasted out of the sound system and Obama bounced off the stage to work the rope line and shake hands, not looking nearly as weary as The Times story says he is.
But about two minutes later Obama bounces back onto the stage. (See the video below.) Waves his hands. Had he forgotten to mention about the jobs program?
The music stopped. Or maybe he neglected to praise his distant cousin Dick Cheney?
"Hold on a second," he shouted. "I got one more thing." Oops! It seems Obama had forgotten to mention the part about giving money to Hillary Clinton in the spirit of unity, the whole reason they were gathered there in the first place.
"Sen. Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt -- if I hadn't won -- so I know the drill. There are many supporters of mine here who have not yet given something to help her retire that debt. I would be very grateful if you looked under your chair. I think there should be an envelope or a pledge sheet or something.
"If people would take the time not only to pick it up but put something in it and mail it back...that is part of the process of making sure that we're unified...Allright, turn on the music again. Let's keep on partying."
The funny folks over at Comedy Central have apparently become loyal Ticket readers too. Especially the ones on that website's wonderfully insightful Indecision 2008 News Desk -- "Something Approximating Election News with Something Approximating Honesty."
Last night the website's blogger took one of our recent items -- "Barack Obama may campaign at a NASCAR event" -- and had a little more fun with it. (See the headline on this morning's Ticket item.)
The Ticket had reported Thursday that Obama was considering attending a NASCAR event in coming months because, well, that's where white working-class votes are.
And the Democrat can use some. A whole bunch, in fact. We noted that Bill Clinton went to a NASCAR event in 1992 and got booed and boycotted, while George W. Bush received a friendlier reception in more recent years.
Comedy Central's CubbyChaser linked to our item about Obama's plans with the comment: "Why does this not surprise me in the least?"
And he provides a doctored photo of the Democratic nominee that should become a poster. We're not going to ruin his sight gag. You can click here to see it for yourself.
You have done that, haven't you? Because every concerned voter says they want more information on the candidates, at least until they get it. And then maybe it's a little too deep for summer reading.
This is July, after all. A perfect time for lighter fare when the two major candidates, under the direction of their professionally plotting campaign staffs, try to slip in some more easily digestible personal info on themselves and their families. And if voters come to Labor Day finding a candidate a tad more likable, well, the campaigns will just have to live with that.
It's a very interesting competition this time, the likability contest. Because each candidate has the mirror problem of the....
When Barack Obama's campaign set up its Fight the Smears website a few weeks back to refute baseless -- yet persistent -- rumors about the candidate and his wife, it sparked a spate of commentary about the concept (see here, here and here).
Our favorite take on it, which we ran across while catching up on our reading over the holiday weekend, came from Christopher Beam in an article on Slate. Beam's brainstorm: Obama and his aides should focus on perpetuating rumors they don't want to correct.
Such as:
"Barack Obama wears a FLAG PIN at all times. Even in the shower."
"Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He has one HAND over his HEART at all times. He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG."
"Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It's upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups."
"Barack Obama's new airplane includes a conference room, a kitchen, and a MEGACHURCH."
These are just some of the gems from Beam; the others are well worth checking out.
On the subject of flag pins, a new poll confirms what Obama learned -- presidential candidates eschew them at their own political peril.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 41% of Americans believe contenders for the White House should always have a flag pin on a suit lapel, and 13% think the accessory should be worn frequently. The rest of the results: sometimes, 16%; only occasionally, 19%; never, 9%.
Opinions on proper display while showering were not sought.
Political -- and Batman -- junkies probably already know about Sen. Patrick Leahy's little infatuation with Bruce Wayne's alter ego, Batman. He loves the character, and all those colorful evil incarnates,
at the cover of his magazine’s latest issue was all about. In case your New Yorker still is in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service, that’s the one with Barack Obama in Muslim garb 
