Keith Olbermann is very good at soundbite polemic; the rise in popularity of Countdown has as least as much to do with his inarguably charming personality as with Olbermann's ability to transform complex issues of modern political science into televised Reader's Digest versions both palatable and comprehensible to today's harried and confused American citizen.

Olbermann's genuinely outraged Special Comments -- the ones he aimed at Bush when he first started offering them on Countdown -- were things of beauty.

Lately, however, they've lost their impact. It started with the one he aimed at Hillary Clinton. They have become, successively, less effective with each attempt.

If he wishes to preserve the power of this particular element in his arsenal, if indeed it remains salvageable, Keith Olbermann ought to retire the "Special Comment." He must reserve its use for the truly heinous, the truly momentous, the truly "Special" -- or risk its becoming yet another Countdown number, no more nor less notable or effective a propaganda tool than the "Worst Persons" or "Bushed."

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

During a brief, albeit seismic argument with my husband this afternoon about l'affaire Edwards, some ideas crystallised; I realised just how cataclysmic the effect on Obama will be -- in very short order -- if John Edwards does not step up to the proverbial plate and take full responsibility for the entire goddamned mess. Right fucking now.

And that means take the damned DNA test and let the genes fall where they may.

I watched One Day in September a few weeks ago on HBO, despite my almost pathological aversion to films about painful historical events.

(Which is not to say I don't eventually get around to watching them; I just procrastinate. It took me two years to watch "Hotel Rwanda", a year to see "Blood Diamond." I did manage to see "Schindler's List" while it was still in the theatre, but only because my friend dragged me. And I've still never seen "The Sorrow and the Pity," but please, it's sixteen years longer than the war.)

Yes, I've buried the lede.

Okay, I just caught up on all the "Hilary's going to try to get to get nominated!" nonsense news, and here's my take: It's bullshit.

She's not a fucking idiot. I saw the so-called "smoking gun" undercover video, and the only thing it "proves" is that she has absolutely no such plans whatsoever. In fact, she disowns the damned "plans." UPDATE

Man, seems some of you dig the drama more than I do lately...

Look, I am not a literalist. Read it carefully: I DID NOT SAY THERE WAS NO GENDER BIAS. I said she did not LOSE because of gender bias. I never said there is no such thing as sexism in American politics or the media, for chrissakes. I never said sexism didn't play a role in the primary or even in the Obama campaign. Hell, for all I know the Obama campaign played it up -- I don't happen to believe so, but I'll defer to your claims on it and give you the benefit of the doubt on that argument.

But I stand by my original statement: Hillary Clinton did not lost the primary because of gender bias.

So stick that in your indignant pipes and smoke it.

And if you're so outraged that this somehow got on MyDD's Recommended List...

Unrecommend it, for heaven's sake. I expected it to sink into oblivion overnight.

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

My friend PHIL. I. STINE, one of the few Republicans I actually respect and admire, seems to think the liberal and not-so-liberal left (I being one of the former, the majority of the Netroots Nation being the latter) are naive with respect to Obama and the Democratic Party...

Phil, responding to Tim Gatto's Laissez Faire to Netroots Nation:

"Some of the people that I've seen interviewed at "Netroots" seem to be completely convinced that the Democratic Party is only leaning right to capture the presidency."

Makes it easier and much more enjoyable experience to bullshit yourself.  

Over here on the Right we have the exact opposite problem.  McCain has moved to the right and nobody on the right believes him.  They think he's still a quasi-liberal.  I know he's a moderate because I've been watching him most of my life. So, I'll be voting for him but many on the right won't.  That's your problem with Obama, you don't have a clue what he really is. One thing he definately (sic) is (is) a pol.  I can promise you he won't allow the "netroots" to define him for Americans.  Why?  He's after the bitter/clitter and hispanic vote, not you guys.

by: PHIL. I. STINE @ Sun Jul 20, 2008

No, I think I know what Obama is.

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

Make no mistake: Heath Ledger is the star of The Dark Knight.

Everything you've heard about his performance is true, and then some; no amount of hype could possibly prepare an audience for the singular genius and perfection that is Ledger's swan song -- rightly characterised by many as on a par with James Dean's and, I would argue, far more deserving of its elevation to one of the finest performances in film history.

And forget about adding any caveats about his death upping the Ledger-Love Quotient; if he'd lived, the man would be receiving just as much attention and just as much adulation for this Herculean acting accomplishment. The tragedy of his untimely death adds only melancholic pain to the experience. That someone with such a gift, presaged by his performance in Brokeback Mountain and reaching a premature apotheosis in The Dark Knight, so obviously capable of so much, should have been wrenched away at such a moment is almost too much to bear.

News of Ledger's death upset me when it came; on seeing his name in the final credits (which elicited a deserved standing ovation from the Sunday afternoon crowd), I burst into sobs. As is so often the case, I wept not for him, but for myself -- what a desolation, what a horrifying loss. For anyone who treasures and reveres the art of acting, the closing credits of The Dark Knight will inevitably provide the background to at least a few minutes of sincere sadness.

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

As a passionate (arguably extremist) left-wing ideologist, I have an admittedly reflexive tendency to regard askance anything that right-wing ideologists have to say about anything. If I open a newspaper or magazine to an editorial and see the byline of a well-known right-winger, the chances that writer will receive even a shred of benefit of the doubt from me are slim indeed. It is for that reason that I try very hard not to see the author's name when perusing editorial articles or essays.

(I've often mused that society as a whole might benefit from a measure of source anonymity when it comes to editorial writing. Imagine how much more would be demanded of our intellectual resources and imagination if we were denied the opportunity to judge first and consider second -- if at all.)

Now, for the most part, it's fairly easy to discern in the first few paragraphs the political bent of any given editorialist; easier still if one's own political beliefs and opinions contrast or coincide strongly with those of the author. Occasionally -- often enough to make it unremarkable -- I disagree with a writer whose political attitudes I share. Far less often, and thus more jarringly, every once in a while I find myself in agreement with someone whose opinions usually drive me to enraged distraction.

Such was the case on June 17th, 2008...

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

I hope I live to see the day when the exclusions of gays from the federal, state and societal benefits and responsibilities of marriage will seem as foreign, repugnant and indefensible as did the anti-miscegenation laws of the first half of the 20th century;

I hope I live to see the day when society scorns loudly and frequently anyone who even thinks about carrying a placard proclaiming his god's loathing of people who are different from himself;

I hope I live to see the day when the insidious cover of religion no longer suffices to validate bigotry and ignorance;

I hope I live to see the day when an openly transsexual woman can walk into any shit-kicking bar in Texas and flirt with the man of her choice witH NO fear of being dragged to her death on a back road;

I hope I live to see the day when all human beings on this earth receive respect and acceptance from their fellow humans, irrespective of race, nationality, religion, sexuality, gender or appearance.