The "Disrespectful" Trilogy

A Sharp Attack on Obama - The NY Times harshly criticizes the McCain campaign ad Disrespectful- The phrase "pack of racially charged lies" comes to mind in the effort by As Good As News to summarizes the Time's view. Other print and broadcast outlets have taken a similar position. An official from Foxhole Productions, producer of Disrespectful, spoke on condition that his identity be withheld:

"Not accurate, not fair, barely coded racism - blah, blah, blah - read some of the ads from the Adams v. Jefferson campaign if you want to see what American politics is all about. The more the media whines the more they run our ad, for free. If they keep squawking maybe we can pick up another five points in the polls. If you think Disrespectful is a hot issue, wait until you see our two follow-up spots.

Audacious is already in the can. It's a hard look at Obama's secret past as youthful Muslim terror gang member, high school drug addict and Black Panther sympathizer. Don't you just love the way we co opted the title from his own bio?

The third spot is a lulu. Three days before the election, when Obama has no time to respond effectively, we come out with the clincher. We're still shooting, but the story line is set. We trace Obama's long history of affairs with white women, from junior high right up to today. We already have three hotties on tape claiming Obama fathered their children. You should see these babes, the ad will go viral faster than Obama Girl even without any media help. One of them was a little confused, seemed to think Obama looked exactly like Jesse Jackson, but hey, that's why they invented editing. I'm getting a little flack from the campaign staff, but I think we'll be using my working title when we go public with the spot in November, watch for Uppity."

Dear John - Enough with the tutoring - Sarah

Dear John,

I know that "thank you notes" are nearing extinction, but that is not the way I was raised. So, thank you again for selecting me as your running mate.

I will do my best for you and I promise I can add a lot to our campaign and administration. I know I can do better than Dick Cheney. No way am I going to shoot my own friend while hunting. I've been shooting since I was a little girl and that is one mistake I will never make. Now maybe if I happened to come up behind my ex-brother in law unexpectedly...sorry, John, I was getting a little off message there.

I also want to thank you for all the help I'm getting from your people, learning about the economy, foreign affairs, constitutional rights. It's really pretty demanding. I mean Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae were private companies that added liquidity to the mortgage market without spending government money - until their unsupervised mismanagement throughout the Bush administration led them to package so many bad loans they were about to go belly-up, crippling the real estate and financial markets. Who knew. It's almost as confusing as that Shiite - Sunni stuff, oops - didn't mean to bring that up.

John, even though I really appreciate all the time your people are spending on me, I'm getting kind of tired of all this. I'm all about leadership, not issues. A good leader can make decisions instinctively and then get things done. When I saw Daddy's Rommate, Catcher in the Rye and Ulysses in the Wasilla library I didn't need a big fat resume or a panel of experts to tell me there was a problem, I just knew. When that old bat librarian had the nerve to suggest I read the books before banning them and then started to babble about classics and censorship and maybe setting up an adults only section, I knew just how to handle her. "Get with the program or step off honey", that's what I told her, "I know what's best for Wasilla and I don't need any more haters getting in my way. I've got plenty of friends at church who know smut when they see it and they could do a damn sight better job than you". Sorry John, started to slip off message again there.

But John, really, can't I please stop this seminar from hell now. I'm more ready for that silly interview with Charlie Gibson than I was for the finals of the Miss Alaska Pageant. I'll have him wrapped around my little finger in five minutes flat, just like when I met you - oops - but you get the point. I can handle myself around old guys without any more help from these annoying eggheads. This cram session is turning into the kind of nightmare scenario we should be using in Gitmo. Sorry again John - I know you don't believe in torture, but really, how else can you deal with those Moslems, I mean Arabs, I mean terrorists. Really, your people are making things way too complicated. It's time to put me on TV and let me show America what I'm all about. When I'm President, I mean Vice President, I'm sure I'll look back on all this and laugh, but if that twit expert on Latin America asks me one more question on the difference between Caesar Chavez and Hugo Chavez, I'm going to gut him like a rabid moose. That guy is really getting on my nerves. He looks like he should have been the model for the roommate in Daddy Has a Freaking Roomate.

Anyway, keep the faith, can't wait to see you again. No more lectures needed. Just call your people and tell them I'm ready and I'll show up at the Charlie Gibson interview loaded for bear. I just need to make a quick stop at home to make sure my future son in law isn't taking this "hockey hunk" publicity too seriously. Already made one mistake, got to watch that boy very carefully.

Love,

Sarah

Prime Minister Obama? Oh No Canada

Prime Minister Chances Early Election in Canada - The cagey Canucks have already shipped their constantly pooping Canada Geese to New Jersey and cornered the market on all the really valuable real estate in post-global warming North America. Will they steal Barak Obama? As Goood As News says it's no accident that the pols are suddenly talking about hockey moms instead of soccer moms.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, no relation to Valerie, sees the popularity of his conservative party fading fast. The conservative's normal strategy would be to hold an election while still in the majority. The Liberal leader is a French speaking political science professor who sounds like he's giving a lecture when he orders coffee with cream. So what's the problem? It takes a little reading between the lines, but PM Harper is worried that a no-charisma showdown with liberal Stephane Dion (rumors that he is one of the quintuplets could not be substantiated by today's publication deadline) will produce a shocking result - the majority of Canadians are prepared to vote Democratic and name Barak Obama as PM. The astute Canadians don't want any part of the US, but they're willing to make dual citizenship work for Obama in order to get some change.

The Chicago 10

A documentary on the Chicago 7 (7 plus severed defendant Bobby Seals plus Bill Kunstler and another lawyer who drew prison sentences for contempt = 10). Most interesting are animated scenes created using the trial transcript, but live footage from the environs of the 1968 Democratic Convention was also used effectively. Captures 1) the dementia of Judge Julius Hoffman, 2) the media savvy, humor and ego of Abby Hoffman - in retrospect his cause seemed to be, well - pretty much Abby Hoffman, 3) the earnest David Dellinger who was willing to accept a violent confrontation in which many students would be hurt - so long as the police started it; and 4) the constantly enraged Mayor Daley - who was only too happy to oblige Dellinger. Watch for it on PBS.

unReds - separated at .....

From the Cuban Underground, a Punk Rocker's Protest Reverberates - No, unReds is not about books gathering dust. Cuban punk rocker Gorki and his band are brazenly (and, punklike, profanely) anti-Castro despite the separated at birth relationship to Reds director and star Warren Beatty.

Foe Unchained

Finally - Mr. Foe is released and reviewed in the NY Times. Jaime Bell played a troubled adolescent, at this point he's ready to take on the role of aging superhero. Here's the As Good As News review from May 5.

Speaking of foes, Sen. McCain would like to be the heir to Barry Goldwater, but he keeps getting tangled up in the religious right. Would-be VP Palin has the Goldwater image, a rugged outdoorswoman from the frontier, but her view of good government includes censoring the local library and teaching creationism in public school, not exactly Goldwateresque. So, is McCain his own worst Foe?

Political Corpse? - GOP Says Thanks for Perfect Storm

Russia's President Dismisses Georgia Leader as "Political Corpse" - This headline will no doubt shock all As Good As News Readers, just as it shocked me. First, naturally, I was confused to find that Jimmy Carter was still alive and some Russian named Medvedev, a retired tennis player I think, was very mad at him. Then I realized it must be just a small mistake on Medvedev's part. Texas, Georgia - to a Russian they must seem pretty much the same. The only political corpse around here seems to be The Decider. The Republican party cheered warmly for Gustav as W came on the screen. Gustav was in fact the perfect storm. It rained just hard enough to give W a plausible excuse to stay away - allowing McCain to minimize his exposure to W's radioactive fallout. In the United States, Gustav was just mild enough to avoid massive, widespread death and destruction and trigger grim memories of Katrina.

In the same article, note Putin's announcement about a new natural gas pipeline from the central Asian republics to Russia. Despite the minor confusion over US geography, the Russians are doing a great job of controlling natural gas from most of the stans, with pipeline deals that bring the gas to Russia, not the EU, India or China. Unlike it's neighbors, Turkmenistan's gas is not all Russia bound for the long term. By working on pipeline deals with India and China, two of the worlds largest, fastest growing economies, Doc Gurby is only going to get a better deal for his country. This former dentist is crazy like a fox.