No, He Wasn't.

But would you have blamed him - really - if he had been?



Um, wait. My wife reads this. I meant to say, I'm so glad that he actually wasn't checking out the ass of a woman clearly not his wife. That would be irresponsible and rude and just flat out wrong.

If you want to see a perfect example of how Drudge, Fox News and other right-wing ninnies are trying to make hay out of nothing, watch the whole video (it's short) and see how obvious it is that Obama wasn't looking at this woman. In fact, it's a pretty easy argument to make that he didn't even SEE her, let alone gape at her. (The same can clearly NOT be said for Nicolas Sarcozy.)



But let them spin, spin, spin. It's what they do best.

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Mark Morford Can Bring It

A sample:

No one ever imagined you'd step up to the mike and deliver one of the most barely coherent, side-steppin', nonsensical, what-the-hell-is-she-talking-about resignation speeches of all time, leaving your role as the right wing's most unlikely taste sensation to ... well, no one knows exactly who. Michele Bachmann? Trust me, Sarah, that flat-out nutbucket can't hold a candle to your winkin', smirkin', carefully manicured caricature of a smart female. Her ignorance and homophobia are far too literal and obvious. You were so much more fun, largely because no one can really understand a single word you say.

...



And what of your rumored 2012 presidential ambitions? I know I, for one, was seriously looking forward to your debates with President Obama. I was looking forward to hearing you try to pronounce Ahmadinejad's name, or locate France on a map, or explain what you'd do to fix health care ("free rifles for all schoolchildren" doesn't really count). I was eager to watch Obama struggle not to roll his eyes or chuckle softly or quietly pine for the good old days of his debates with Hillary, a woman of such fiery political intelligence she makes you look like Miley Cyrus trying to read Shakespeare. So cute!

Um, ouch. As always, though, Morford is well worth reading. Check out the whole article.

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You Take The Good, You ... Well, You Know

I have to consider this a "good news, bad news" sort of story:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures is bringing in Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) to salvage Moneyball, the Brad Pitt baseball drama that was derailed last month when the studio balked at director Steven Soderbergh's direction for the movie. Sorkin is set to do a polish of the original Steve Zaillian script, based on the Michael Lewis book about the Oakland A's and their general manager, Billy Beane. A draft is expected shortly. Soderbergh is no longer involved in the movie in any capacity and the studio is looking for a new director.

The good news? Aaron Sorkin - despite the insanely disappointing Studio 60 is consistently one of the best writers on the small and the big screen. Love his stuff. The bad news, I suppose, is that director Steven Soderbergh, who I also like, is off the gig.

There's a lot of talent going into this film, which doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be any good. The book was fantastic, but I can't say I ever saw it as anything but ... a book. I'm not sure the portrait of sound baseball management really translates to a movie. Or that I see Billy Beane as someone who could be played by Brad Pitt. It could work. It could be pretty unwatchable.

But either way, I'm glad Sorkin is on the dime.

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Palin's Folly

As you've liked heard by now, Sarah Palin announced yesterday that she'll be resigning as Governor of Alaska before her (first) term is up. She stated several times that she'd given her reasons in the speech she gave yesterday, but so far, I can't find anyone on either side of the political spectrum who knows what it is.

I fully expect her to at least try and run for President in 2012, though her resume - thin already - can't be helped by quitting the only major political post she's ever had. "The Quitta From Wasilla" is a nickname I've already heard being used, for example. Of course, in Palin's brilliant combination of Orwellian and Kafkaesque dialogue, she has managed to say that actually finishing the job she was elected for would be the cheap, quitters way, but resigning? That's doing the hard work.

"Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow"

Yeah, I don't get it either.

My biggest gripe about all of this is that I had yet to make fun of the picture at the top of this post, since it just came out a few days ago. Seriously, what the fuck? Is she wearing stockings and a running outfit? I actually think the photo just below is worse - if you take it from the standpoint that she's supposed to be a serious politician, which even she seems to be admitting with her speech yesterday ain't the truth. What is up with this?

I sense that a scandal is on the fringe of being announced, criminal indictment, etc. (In fact, I saw a few tweets last night suggesting the same, but nothing this morning so it may be all someone's fantasies.) I also expect her to land a sweet gig on Fox News, and to never leave the television as a result. Sadly, this announcement may mean more Palin in all of our lives, not less.




In the interest of fairness, the below photo - from the same spread - is actually what I think she runs in, and this is a perfectly normal, flattering photo of an attractive woman who likes to run. Which makes the rest of the photos even more embarassing in that context.

For what it's worth, I just went to all the "news" channels to try and see what was going on here. They were focusing on home finance, what life is like as a dad, Michael Jackson, some more Michael Jackson, and - wait for it, it's actual news - North Korea launching some test missiles.

I'd call it a "newsflash" that our modern media absolutely sucks eggs, but I'm not sure what "news" is anymore.

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Regarding Michael

As everyone with a pulse knows, Michael Jackson died yesterday from what appears to be cardiac arrest. It's a strange thing - I've never once thought of Jackson as someone I'd call a favorite artist - in fact, not even close - but his impact is undeniable. As many, many folks have said, his passing is akin to Elvis or John Lennon dying.

That's a hard thing for some folks to digest, because in the last 20 years, he's been nothing but a joke, often a sick one. I have a hard time ignoring all the claims - many of which seem justified - of what newscasters seem to be calling "inappropriate" behavior with children. I can't just shelve that, and it's hard to also ignore the fact that he was trying to get away from himself - his race, his sex, his appearance - through crazy surgeries that not only made him look unlike himself, but weird and alien.

Still, there's no denying his talent, his impact on music and the world, and his presence and impact deserves all the respect it is getting. Like I said, if I made a list of my favorite musicians, it would have to be a LONG list before Jackson made an appearance, but I can probably sing along verbatim with 20 of his songs, and even enjoy it. "Thriller" remains the greatest video of all time, and even if someone tries to top it, the sheer impact of Thriller can't be topped; it defined, in many ways, a new medium.

Plus, what other artist could inspire this? Sure, I can't see it ever happening at San Quentin (this is in the Phillipines), but it's still pretty awesome.



Andrew Sullivan, normally writing exclusively about politics, wrote this yesterday and I think it's relatively spot on:

Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.

I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.

I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again.

When someone dies, they say Rest In Peace. Perhaps Michael Jackson will finally find that.

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GOP Sex Scandal Flow Chart

It's hard to keep track of them, so Talking Points Memo has done the hard work for you!




Note: This is only valid for sex scandals from 2006-2009.

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Google Continues World Domination.

In the book biz, things are definitely changing, and Google Books just announced that it will let you embed a preview of qualifying books (a lot don't apply, but more do than you'd think). It's a YouTube approach and if it's anywhere near as viral, it's got the potential to change the game. You be the judge if it's a good changer or a bad one.

Here, for instance, is a preview from an Edgar Allen Poe book of stories:




Certainly interesting, that's for sure.

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Second Quote of the Day

I really thought that the quote from President Obama below would take the cake, but Time writer Joe Klein deserves some kudos for this one:

"To put it as simply as possible, McCain--and his cohorts--are trying to score political points against the President in the midst of an international crisis. It is the sort of behavior that Republicans routinely call "unpatriotic" when Democrats are doing it.

I would never question John McCain's patriotism, no matter how misguided his sense of the country's best interests sometimes seems. His behavior has nothing to do with love of country; it has everything to do with love of self."

I mean, goddamn.

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The Right Response

This, courtesy of Kevin Drum (but I've seen it many times already elsewhere): When President Obama was asked why he won't spell out the consequences of further violence in Iran right now:

"I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not. OK?"

Good for him.

As noted before, this picture says it all:



FYI, this answers the hopefully rhetorical question of, "Would you react the same way if George Bush had responded similarly?" (Answering the rhetorical question anyway, the answer is, "Hell no. Cause no one once thought to make a photo of Bush like the above, for obvious reasons."

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