It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Does anybody know if it’s too late to register to vote?
Do I have a couple more weeks? I’m actually considering it now because this Bonnie Bedelia chick is annoying to me and her accent is irritating.
Plus tonight I was watching FOX, and someone (Van Sustren I think, I was looking at porn online so only heard it in the background), and the POTENTIAL FIRST HUSBAND WAS ON, and this dude HAS A GOATEE and a CORNPONE ACCENT and was talking about his MUNDANE DAY JOB.
I know the Repubs love the SALT OF THE EARTH factor of these hayseeds, and I’m not hating on a solid guy earning an honest living, but is this really THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST? Do even CONSERVATIVES think this BABY MACHINE and her Podunk family is TRULY the BEST WE HAVE TO OFFER to LEAD THE FREE WORLD? I get that they’re enraptured with this cornpone sense of blue collar America, and are hellbent on painting a thoughtful, measured candidate as some Socialist wimp, but is putting PEG FUCKING BUNDY IN OFFICE the best way to go about it? Yeah, you might get the victory, but to paraphrase THE CANDIDATE….
NOW WHAT???????
And I am saying this as a NON-VOTER who skews right and otherwise would prefer McCain.
You know what would OWN? If I ran for office with like CHRISTINA RICCI AS MY VICE WHATEVER.
THAT WOULD RULE.
My slogan would be: “LexG/Ricci in ’12. The only thing I’d want to tax is her ass.”
OWNED.
I also want to mention something MOVIE RELATED and hooooooooooope someone knows what I’m talking about but this show is probably too obscure:
Anyone have “THE REELZ CHANNEL” (whatever THAT is) and see some show called MOVIE MOB? GOD is this show fucking annoying; Basically they show trailers of upcoming movies to THE MOST ANNOYING PEOPLE IN AMERICA, who all seem to have iPod ear buds in and watch the trailers with their crew, then make faux-funny/catty comments and hold extremely stupid opinions about everyone and everything they see. For bonus points, everyone involved seems to be extra-greasy and extra-pleased with their snarky ‘tude.
THIS SHOW BLOWS almost worse than that Mankeiwicz/Lyons debacle that not one person, even D-PO, has commented on. Seriously, that shit goes beyond being a disgrace and into a rarified territory of infinitely watchable because just when you think it can’t get worse, HOLY SHIT it gets worse. Is it wrong to this Mankiewicz is an even BIGGER DOUCHE than Lyons? Like Lyons seems kind of earnest and eager in his frat/spoiled rich kid doucheness and probably is the kinda dude it’d be fun to party with. Mankiewicz just looks DEPRESSING AS FUCK. THIS is the “youthful” replacement for Roeper and Phillips? Guy seems 10 years older than them.
But do any of you PROFESSIONAL CRITICS know about this TORY SCHULMAN CHICK? Wonder if she’s on Myspace or posts here, because she is fucking HOT and seems to OWN. Hit me up if you post on the Cold Blog, Hotness.
Am I the only one wondering what DP thought of Che?
So, I got the PS3 for Blu-ray hooked up.
I was reading online that 1080p doesn’t really exist. It’s more the ideal than an actual thing. Is this true?
Also, my Sony LCD wodescreen monitor from ’05 doesn’t seem to want to set on 1080i. Am I missing something? Can the monitor be set at 720p and still convert to 1080p?
Any thoughts?
Lex, you can find out at this link
SCARLET JOHOTNESS ENDORSES OBAMA WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU?
VOTE WITH THE HOTNESS OR BE LEFT OUT.
OR VOTE FOR ME, WRITE IT IN SON.
(Sorry, DPO, that was too exhuberant but I’ve been good and I just can’t get over this Palin thing, like I’m seriously stunned by it and I’m 100% apolitical most of the time.)
I am horny tonight. SUCKS. Do you guys trust escorts and shit? Like, the kind a loser could afford? I have a boner.
Just think of PALIN giving you a handjob, Lex, and you’ll shrivel right up and save a couple hundred bucks.
Imagine that Marge Gunderson accent as she says “Soooo, ‘dja come yet? ’cause I gotta go skin the MOOSE fer supper. Trog? Twigg? You behave now, or I’ll make ya go pray out in the snow! “
Just take all that pent-up pop cultural boy-child rage and register to vote Lex. Then if Obama wins we’ll all chip in and find somebody to give you a happy ending to go with ours.
Ah, Bonnie Bedelia…
I see on the IMdB that she still works a lot but I’ve never seen any of the shows she’s on these days.
I loved HEART LIKE A WHEEL and thought she brought poise to DIE HARD. Even VIOLETS ARE BLUE remains a guilty pleasure (mostly because it was set in Ocean City, MA and Assateague Island).
Thanks, Lex.
I got called in for Movie Mob, not specifically knowing what it was. I had a short conversation in which I was told that ‘stuffy old’ critics like Roger Ebert didn’t matter, and that I should try to explain why I like the movies in quick sound bites that ‘regular people’ can relate to. It’s obvious that they had found my site but hadn’t really read it (‘750 words? That’s long!’) and they really wanted the equivalent of ‘Jay Walking’ for the movie world. Needless to say I didn’t get a callback and I wasn’t the least bit sad.
Palin’s hubby has all the aforementioned negatives Lex, but he also has a DWI!
Oh those of high moral fiber…
“Am I the only one wondering what DP thought of Che?”
No, you are not.
“Palin’s hubby has all the aforementioned negatives Lex, but he also has a DWI!
Oh those of high moral fiber…”
It matters that the husband of the GOP VP pick had a DWI 20 years ago, but it doesn’t matter that the top of the Dem ticket abused cocaine 20 years ago?
Or is it that the GOP espouses morals, while anything goes on the Dem side? I’m asking. I don’t think either blemish matters. You’re making hay about it.
To me it matters much more that Palin, after welcoming an investigation to hold her accountable and pledging cooperation, now will not cooperate with the Troopergate investigation. If she truly has nothing to hide, I would think she’d want to clear her name.
In addition to Rove objecting to McCain’s ads, other conservatives are voicing their concerns about McCain/Palin, including David Brooks and Ross Douthat.
The NY Times piece about Palin’s leadership in Alaska is also a great read. Sounds like she’d fit right in with the Bush administration.
What I get tired of…what is so irrelevant…is this tit-for-tatting that we do here in political talks.
Truth is, here and on web-boards, none of us are out on the hustings trying to convince or decieve moderates.
Here, we all vote for ideological reasons. It has very little to do with one candidate having a DUI or another having little to no experience.
One person says Palin has no experience, the other says Obama has no experience and so on. To the supporters of each, neither argument has any sway and both can spin the others experience or lack of however they please.
Hypocrisy to some degree is on both sides.
McCain trying to appeal to more conservative voters when he really is not, is a form of hypocrisy.
Obama trying to court Christian and Catholic voters (love those bumper stickers and buttons) when he really is not is also hypocrisy.
Truth is we can tit-for tat here for days and both sides have enough amunition to fill a truck.
Why can’t we all just admit that we vote for ideological reasons and that for most of us here (on this board) even the best qualified, most pure candidate on either side will never be met with approval.
What I do find fascinating with many of these boards however is how the left will – never – admit to Obama doing anything wrong at all forever and ever amen.
Being critical of McCain is something that has fueled the right for a long time. Even now, Limbaugh will always critique him. I have yet to read a post on any of these boards that see Obama as anything other than a vessel of perfection. That “messiah-complex” that perhaps his supporters do not even see, is what frightens so many people.
C’mon, mystery…you really are just being a doofus about these things. I don’t know why I’m bothering as you not only know what the answer to your rhetorical question is (because everyone here has told you) but…
If you are going to espouse family values and high morals as your platform, you should do better at giving the appearance of being morally grounded and family oriented.
Further, if your frigging WIFE is mayor or in politics and you can’t get out of a DWI…what’s the point of marrying a politician??
Don,
“…you should do better at giving the appearance of being morally grounded and family oriented.”
Then she would be called a hypocrite. Don, people are flawed and make mistakes. Nobody ever said conservatives or Republicans do not screw up or have perfect familes and kids. Quite the opposite. Their families are probably as flawed as anyone’s. The question becomes what does one aspire to.
Do you see the failure and try to keep striving for more, or do you see the moral shortcoming and just shrug your shoulders and keep going lower.
That is the difference. Not what you are…what you aspire to.
Nicol I don’t think anyone here believes Obama is perfect or a “messiah.” I think that’s become a talking point for Obama critics, but here the reality is that most people are not fans of Bush or McCain. When they post something political, most likely they are criticizing one or the other. That does not mean they think Obama is some flawless saint.
Also, while you make some good points above, are you sure that Obama is not a Christian? Doesn’t he attend church on a regular basis? Isn’t he very comfortable talking about his faith, and doesn’t he do so often? He may not subscribe to a conservative theology, but that does not mean he isn’t a Christian. The right does not have a monopoly on being religious/spiritual.
Bonnie Bedilia was really hot in Judicial Consent. Anyone remember that one? It would get late night showings on HBO back in the mid-90s. I loved it when HBO would show B thrillers that would have a seemingly random hot sex scene. Quick was another good one. It was also around that time both Red Rock West and The Last Seduction were being advertised as Friday Night Thrillers.
Yeah but conservatives and Republicans have been presenting themselves as the family values crowd in America, basically asserting that those who do not share their beliefs have poor values or no values at all.
I remember Judicial Consent. Brief Bonnie Bedilia nudity.
Exactly Stella…
And Nicol, EVERYONE makes mistakes. My point (and again, you f-ing know this as does mystery…you guys are just being coy and lame) the Dems aren’t out there trying to tell people how to lead their lives as in being pro-life, etc. The Repubs are. When you set yourself up to be the party of values, you simply must exhibit VALUES. This Republican ticket has not done that.
HAH! Right on cue, I got this email:
BARACK OBAMA VS SARAH PALIN AND JOHN McCAIN
I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.
* If you teach teach children about sexual predators, you are irresponsible and eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you’re very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t
represent America ‘s.
* If your husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that hates America and advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
Stella,
“Nicol I don’t think anyone here believes Obama is perfect or a “messiah.”
Sincerely, can you point to one serious article by a liberal supporter of Obama that points out serious flaws in him in any way shape or form? A sketch on SNL or any late night comedian that seriously takes the piss out of him?
“…are you sure that Obama is not a Christian? Doesn’t he attend church on a regular basis?”
If someone came to you and tried to engage you on the subject of film and wanted you to take them seriously but inside of 3 comments said Ingmar Bergman was only a minor filmmaker, did not know who Steven Spielberg was and couldn’t tell you what a 35mm print was, would you say that they just had different views or that they really just didn’t know what they were talking about?
To people who have studied religion, Obama has made errors that or so flaky…that he automatically outs himself as an opportunist. That is why he is struggling to get the Christian and Catholic vote. The thing is, the MSM does not cover/understand these gaffes that are so numerous that I will not waste my time recounting them here. They just think he is struggling because of issues of race. It is more complex than that but they cannot see and do not report it.
It will/is hurting him in the polls. Hey, I would love to have a left-wing candidate I could rally around (in Canada too), but until these candidates quit talking down to religious groups, they will always struggle.
No, the right does not have a monopoly on being religious or spiritual, that much is true. But being religious or spiritual is more than just uttering the words. It’s showing you know the culture, the philosophers and books that motivate the movement.
“…the Dems aren’t out there trying to tell people how to lead their lives as in being pro-life, etc.”
Do you really believe leftists do not tell people how to live their lives?
Tell that to the artist/photographer who was called up on human rights charges in New Mexico (I believe) for not wanting to photograph a same sex marriage?
Sorry but I don’t watch late night comedians, so I have no idea who they support for president or who they criticize with regularity.
What are Obama’s errors (according to “people who have studied religion”)? I could be wrong, but my understanding is that he has been a churchgoer for two decades now. He’s only been doing that for show? He’s not a serious Christian? How do you figure? I also did not know that you are an expert on religious studies Nicol.
Nciol-
What POLITICAL OFFICE was this “photographer” running for? Jesus you’re dense sometimes.
“I could be wrong, but my understanding is that he has been a churchgoer for two decades now.”
Since when is being a church goer proof that someone is a good Christian?
I do not believe that and I certainly – know – the majority of ideological progressives don’t.
Fact is, the Dems used to call Catholics and basic Christians their base…now they do not know what to do with them. How does the left reconcile the Bill Maher-types who are now the base of the party with a working class Catholic family?
Really, how do they do that?
I think the Dems have some very good candidates (as do the Liberals in Canada) but they have cowed too much to the secular left who have disdain and contempt for such beliefs.
Just like it will take a long time for the Republicans to get back the African American vote, it will take the Democrats a long time to get back the serious Christian/Catholic vote. And they are many. At least Obama knows this. It is a start.
I mean did you hear the whole Nancy Pelosi/abortion flap. That is not the voice of a woman who knows what she is talking about.
And that wouldn’t matter, but it is costing the left elections.
“these gaffes that are so numerous that I will not waste my time recounting them here.”
How about just one?
Nicol, I don’t think you realize that you’ve developed a reputation for making claims and then never backing them up with reliable information. It’s a character trait, like several other strange ones that I could mention but won’t bother recounting here.
Also, I like how in your 11:10 post you start out taking the high road with a lot of no-nonsense, post-partisan stuff I agree with and believe in, yet still turn it around into a partisan attack. Well done.
Don,
“What POLITICAL OFFICE was this “photographer” running for? Jesus you’re dense sometimes.”
No Don, you need to think through what you read and not get flustered before you write.
You said leftists do not try to tell people how to live thier lives. I referred to a Christian artist/photographer who did not want to photograph a same-sex ceremony and was fined and charged by – left wing lawyers and activists- under New Mexico’s hate laws.
By not leaving her alone, the left wing politicos indeed – did – try to tell her how to live her life.
See how that works, friend?
I never said that being a regular churchgoer automatically makes one a good Christian. I am asking you for proof that Obama is a pseudo-Christian. So far you have yet to provide any proof. The man talks often about his faith, he has written about it, he has attended church for decades, he says he is a Christian. I think that combines to make a solid case for him being a true Christian. So prove me wrong. How is he not a true Christian?
There are fringe elements in both parties Nicol.
Stella,
I am not going to write a tome to explain to you how people know Obama is not a serious Christian. I am quite confident that I could not convince you.
The problem with the fringe in the Democrats though Stella is that that has become the ideological base.
“Since when is being a church goer proof that someone is a good Christian?
I do not believe that and I certainly – know – the majority of ideological progressives don’t.”
What are you defining as a ‘good Christian’? What are you defining as an ‘ideological progressive’ and where are you getting your understanding as ‘what ideological progressives believe’?
”
“How does the left reconcile the Bill Maher-types who are now the base of the party with a working class Catholic family?”
What are you defining as ‘Bill Maher-types’ and how many of them are there? I don’t think there are enough talk show hosts to make up the voting base of a party.
These vague generalities are not productive.
Church is boring. Nicol, why do politicians have to be “spiritual” anyway?
Also, BILL MAHER is the KING WHO COMMANDS YOU, he is the world’s 2nd most brilliant man after Tom Leykis and just ahead of Fred Durst.
(We’re back to politics now but thanks, Scott, for that anecdote about Movie Mob… explains a LOT.)
Any more than the extremely conservative Christians have become the ideological base of the Republican party Nicol?
It’s not about convincing me Nicol. It’s not an argument about the Iraq war or abortion. This is different. All the evidence I have come across points to Obama being a true Christian. You claim to know that this is not true, and you claim to have proof. Show me the proof. Back up your accusation. I would like to hear about it. It interests me.
Also, Nicol, I looked up that New Mexico case you referred to. I can see that there are good arguments on each side that are worthy of discussion…if anyone wants to go that route.
So the republican base is hard working families and the democratic base is rich cable talk show hosts? I know a lot of hard working catholic families that are solidly dem (they are called Union members, Nicol). And if you think that the left’s strong African American base are not attending church every sunday than you are suffering from the misconception the right always tries to float about the godless socialist left.
Kerry attended Church more often than Bush but felt uncomfortable having to tout his religious beliefs on the stump (granted, he looked uncomfortable about almost everything but that is another matter).
But I do not believe there is a significant difference in the number of churchgoers of either base, would love to see if anyone has statistics to prove me wrong, but since dems do not feel comfortable legislating as if they were a condiut to God, the repubs feel they have an edge by wearing their religion on their sleeves.
Maher has said for years that he’s a Libertarian.
That is overlooked/ignored Cadavra because too many people automatically equate hatred of McCain and/or Bush with unconditional love of Obama.
“he is the world’s 2nd most brilliant man after Tom Leykis and just ahead of Fred Durst.”
This explains too much about you Lex.
Leykis is a fat toad. Blow him up!
I did find a Gallup poll from June saying that, for Americans who consider religion ‘an important part of your daily life’ that McCain beats Obama 47% to 42%.
On a movie note:
Saw Son of Rambow last night. It was a fun little movie and its a shame with the size of the kids market there aren’t more films that actually get childhood right.
Baby Mamma wasn’t much. Fey was fine but Poehler was much to old for the role, this is the one that Farris would have knocked out of the park. The pacing stumbled quite a bit so while it was funny, nothing really built up. Overall, there are more laughs in an episode of 30 Rock than in the 90 minutes of movie.
Who the hell is Tom Leykis?
I wasn’t flustered when I wrote that…I was eating a really, REALLY good bowl of chili I picked up over the weekend from “Chili My Soul” in L.A. It’s hard to type and chow at the same time.
And I also didn’t say anything about liberals and conservatives. I said REPUBLICANS (as in, that party) strive to tell people (like say…women) what to do with their lives (like say, stay abstinent)but if that’s their platform and base, they too should try sticking to it.
Obama is delivering some amazing specific policy attacks on McCain and the GOP. I pray America is listening. McCain/Palin have NOTHING to offer the nation.
“the Dems aren’t out there trying to tell people how to lead their lives”
Sure they are. Look at any number of pieces of global warming legislation (i.e. the attempt in California to issue radio-controlled thermostats in homes, etc), the resistance to school vouchers, draconian anti-smoking laws, the reductions in choice that come with universal health care, etc.
Nicol is right. The GOP courts religious people, not perfect people. Pointing to a moral failure by a Republican as evidence of hypocricy is invalid (unless they try to justify the behavior).
Also, Nicol, great post about “tit-for-tat” discussions.
Everytime I feel like stabbing someone, and then I see a cop on the corner shaking his head, I say to myself “Damn government, telling me how to live my life!”
The hypocrisy argument holds up when you are a politician that votes one way (against laws prohibiting, say, anti-gay discrimination) and behave in another way (trolling for gay sex in public). Or, to use Palin’s case, when you are in favor of one policy (abstinence-only education) and then your family becomes a living example of how it fails.
Nicol’s post was great until the last three paragraphs. Then it was cynical, inaccurate, and one-sided.
Nicol – You say Obama is not a Christian over and over, and refuse repeatedly to provide so much as a single example?
Coward.
Mark-
We’re still waiting for countless examples of countless things Nicol has brought up….
frankbooth, re: your sarah palin impersonation waaaay back there, thanks for the laugh, i could hear her in my head
according to usatoday (my mum, a staunch obama supporter, emailed me the link below a while back), a non-partisan survey from earlier in the year suggests 10 percent of americans think obama is actually a muslim…maybe they accidentally surveyed too far north and a certain canadian got mixed up in there
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-04-01-obama-muslim_N.htm
This is a perfect example of the wingers’ extraordinary ability to hold two completely contradictory thoughts in their heads at the same time. We got Rev. Wright jammed down our throats 24/7 for weeks, yet somehow Obama’s a Muslim… who just happens to have a Christian pastor?
Of course, if you want real stupidity, one of those polls said 3% of the respondents thought Obama was Jewish! That’s far too many to have said it as a lark.
The Draconian tire-burning laws here are also insane.
I like to carry around little slivers of old tires in an Altoids tin. They’re pre-doused in kerosene, and I relax by lighting them up and inhaling the oily black smoke. You really ought to try it.
But every time I do it in a movie theater, or an an elevator or even on a park bench, some holier-than-thou asshole makes a big deal about it.
Regular Americans have no rights at all anymore.
And here’s Rush Limbaugh’s morbid insight into why Sarah Palin has been undder investigation for some time:
“…sexism in Alaska on the part of these old boys trying to get rid of Sarah Palin. She didn’t put up with it, and she didn’t bend over and let them have their way.”
What a revolting pig is this scion of the right.
What the above conversation on “Is Obama Christian” really boils down to, in subtext, is that even if he claims to be Christian, he isn’t Christian enough.
Which raises the question, how does one qualify to be suitably Christian? Which I believe has been debated on-and-off for a little over nineteen centuries, with some casualties.
“The hypocrisy argument holds up when you are a politician that votes one way (against laws prohibiting, say, anti-gay discrimination) and behave in another way (trolling for gay sex in public). Or, to use Palin’s case, when you are in favor of one policy (abstinence-only education) and then your family becomes a living example of how it fails.”
Your first example doesn’t hold up, imo. Hypocrisy, to me, is saying “What isn’t OK for you is OK for me,” as opposed to simply failing to live up to a standard one aspires to. This example would only hold if the politician either tried to justify his behavior, or changed his position after being exposed.
The second example is just terrible, not even approaching hypocrisy. Palin can remain completely consistent on her sex ed position, regardless of her daughter’s autonomous decisions. She needn’t publicly throw her daughter under the bus to show she disapproves of her daughter’s actions. You don’t even know if her daughter participated in an abstinence-only sex ed, or if participating in a sex ed class teaching about contraceptives would have changed her daughter’s circumstances.
Well maybe Palin could share what she’s learned since according to the right she is a paragon of family values.
“Which raises the question, how does one qualify to be suitably Christian?”
And what’s most awesome is the the Constitution bars there being any kind of religious test for potential leaders. But that was back when people had faith in logic and the ability of reason to work things out. Fortunately we’ve evolved to a stage where we have to parse candidate’s beliefs in things that can’t be seen at the expense of finding out what they will do with what we see right in front of us.
Religion is irrelevant to the job at hand. We’ve had all manner of presidents with all manner of beliefs and they’ve had all manner of success and failure at their jobs. And the first person who can show me that only the “real Christians” did the best jobs gets a six-pack and a gift certificate to the Olive Garden.
That sounds like an appeal to logic, L.B. Good luck with that.
Mysteryperfecta: You’re right that I don’t actually know what sex education Bristol Palin has had, or what goes on inside her family discussions on the subject (if any). Fair enough.
But on the subject of Larry Craig, a United States Senator who has voted against including homosexuality in hate crime legislation or job discrimination legislation, and against gay marriage or civil unions – while being, at the very least, a sexually active bisexual man – I have no compunction labeling that as hypocrisy. Especially since he still refuses to admit what happened and is trying to overturn his confession and conviction.
I guess, to be fair, that Larry Craig’s position might just be that he’s still opposed to gay marriage and that he’s never had to vote on a resolution concerning public fellatio, so he remains consistent.
Thanks for the luck, frank. But I’m well aware all appeals to logic get you is a bashed-in forehead and a dent in the wall. But, hey, worth a shot.
Hcat asked WHO IS TOM LEYKIS?
Tom Leykis is the most brilliant man IN THE WORLD, a radio deejay who tells dudes how to get laid. How to not pay too much on a date, how to hit it and quit it, and how NEVER TO DATE A SINGLE MOM unless you’re ready to commit to raising her kid.
It fucking OWNS. He has this segment called Leykis 101 which rules and he lays down the ground rules for getting laid then getting out the door with minimal financial or emotion investment. He’s extra great because he advises men not to get married young if at all, which would be my fucking MAIN PLATFORM if I ran for office, at least until people are well into their 30s.
He also has this segment called ASK THE ATHEIST where he owns all these Nicol D types on the subject of religion.
One of the most awesome aspects is Tom is a heavy-set, balding middle aged man who’s been married MULTIPLE TIMES, so it adds this whole awesome layer of whether or not he actually believes all this shit, or if he’s just condescending to his audience; He used to be a serious talk guy and is completely honest about proudly selling out to the lowest common denominator. Fucking OWNS.
“We’re still waiting for countless examples of countless things Nicol has brought up….”
Oh, I know (I may not post often, but I read all the threads). But it still feels good to say, and as a bonus – it shut him up.
In reality, Tom Leykis is a woman-hating cow who’s filled with so much self-loathing he can only assume that the only reason a woman dates any man is to eventually rob him of his essence (a guy married as much as him might know — or he’s just a miserable partner). He’s proud of his callow self-interest and what’s funnier is the sad tiny-dicked men who call in to praise him. As if these guys have anything to offer the female species but a future of spousal abuse.
That’s Leykis 101. Fail.
“I will not waste my time recounting them here.”
“I am not going to write a tome to explain to you how people know Obama is not a serious Christian.”
He’s just sayin’…
Ah, Bonnie Bedelia. You know, I knew I was getting old when I started seeing movies in which the hero’s mother looked hot to me. And one of the first movies to drive this point home for me: The Prince of Pennsylvania, in which Bedelia played Keanu Reeves’ mom. I watched this flick, and all I could think was: “Oh, mama!!”
So what happens when you find yourself saying “Oh, Grandma”?
Can’t get behind the Bedelia love, though she’s certainly a fine actress. Way back in 1988 I was wondering why pumped-up 32-year-old badass Willis would be married to a matronly 48-year-old in Working Girl Hair and unflattering boxy shoulder SUITS. And that was BEFORE the same actor was publicly dating 20-something women… nearly 20 years later.
She was pretty awesome in PRESUMED INNOCENT, though Ford should have OWNED her at the end; Scacchi was much hotter anyway.
aww, i always think of bonnie as the desperate pregnant girl with bruce dern in ‘they shoot horses, don’t they?’, she was great in that (great movie, too, fonda kills)
Poland And if you want to know why Karl Rove slapped McCain yesterday, it was the same exact strategy as the Hillary Clinton campaign… attack relentlessly until the crowd starts to resent it, then confess that BOTH sides are doing it and try to make your attacks seem just the same as the other sides when they are not really even close.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091703581.html
I notice, however, that they aren’t differentiating between ads that are ‘negative’ and ads that are ‘bald-faced lies’ which is what both Rove and David Poland were talking about.
‘Negative’ ads are okay if they’re honest. It’s lamentable, but they work.
Addendum to WaPo link above…
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5803765&page=1
Obama rejected suggestions that his campaign ad was a low blow.
“If we’re going to ask questions about, you know, who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily,” Obama said.
What Obama apparently meant was that McCain, not Obama, has put out more negative ads.
Apparently not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freudian_slip
Biden says the Palin questions were sexist, Obama says they are running negative. At least when McCain or Palin have proved me wrong, I admit it. Which brings us back to…
Nicol – What I do find fascinating with many of these boards however is how the left will – never – admit to Obama doing anything wrong at all forever and ever amen.
You also left out this passage:
“the pattern was a reversal from earlier months, in which McCain’s advertising was consistently more negative than Obama’s.”
And I think I should also point out that the McCain sex-ed ad is one of the filthiest that I’ve ever seen.
Jeff – you mean like this?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/from-the-fact-1.html
What is your question? Until you find an Obama ad claiming McCain is a pedophile, they aren’t in the same league.
Jeff – Since Palin’s arrival, Poland has been trying to make the case that McCain has gone beyond the pale. The article shows in the same timeframe it’s been otherwise. And the quote you pulled nulls your earlier point of differentiating ads. McCain may have been negative earlier, but it wasn’t working. He caught up because of the convention. Since then, Obama decided to go hard negative by calling in the 527’s he originally said he wasn’t going to use. I’m not saying McCain hasn’t been negative, he certainly has and I don’t think it was smart. What I’m pointing out is the irony of Nicol’s comment being in a thread that bears it true just a few days later.
re: the sex ed ad. Yeah, it was badly done. It’s still a loser for Obama because he was wedging sexual crimes into an science-based education platform, as his own bill states. It redefines the concept of sex ed, which is not what Obama wants to talk about.
Martin, one point at a time.
I’m perfectly happy to believe that Obama has gotten ‘more negative’ in the last few weeks. It neither surprises me nor bothers me much as an inevitable feature of the late stages of a national campaign. Is that Rush Limbaugh ad misleading? I can’t say it isn’t.
However, I think it also can’t be denied that the number of ads that McCain has been putting out that are sheer lies – which aren’t all necessarily negative ads – “I said no thanks to that Bridge to Nowhere” is a positive ad and a lie at the same time. The point being, the point that Poland is making and the point that I made earlier re: ‘differentiating’ is a separate point that the point made in that Washington Post article.
Re: the sex ed ad, I don’t see why a sex education class for children shouldn’t also include materials on how to recognize a bad touch and tell other adults about it. Politically it’s bad for Obama because of the perception, but it sounds like you’re still on the wrong side of the actual issue.
Oh, and aligning yourself with Nicol is like me aligning myself with several of the liberal idiots on this site. Nicol speaks well but has zero credibility and is generally a paranoid kook.
Wow, I just reread sentence #7 up there from the 7:33 post and man, that is one incomprehensible puddle of words. Sorry about that.
Jeff – my point? That Nicol is right. Obama’s ad was a massive lie, but because it was your guy, it’s justified by lowering or raising the bar when it fits. You say being inferred to as a pedophile is not as bad as being inferred to as a racist. I don’t need a barometer to know when distortion is distortion. They were both wrong. I can admit it.
Martin, don’t insult my intelligence.
Nicol is not right because he made an absurd blanket claim designed to feed into his own paranoia and superiority complex. Nicol considers me to be a massive Leftist ideologue and I just agreed that Obama’s Rush Limbaugh ad is a distortion, ergo, I just proved Nicol wrong.
Meanwhile, I stand by my position that the sex ed ad is substantially more misleading and dishonorable than the Limbaugh ad. I’m comfortable with that position.
I differ with Nicol when he goes into religion and certain subjective grounds – but he was right. Just like when Chucky made the point about AT&T owning a good piece of the Dems. It’s an obscure reference and reads crazy, but he’s correct. Hell, I’ll even admit that it’s really beginning to look like IO might be right regarding Poland’s snob streak. I totally disagreed with IO on that a few months ago, but I can’t say I don’t see his point now.
Re – Palin and the bridge as a lie. Perfect example. She says that at the RNC, it gets traction, and everyone goes batshit. Meanwhile Biden lied his ass off at the DNC when he compared McCain’s foreign policy record to Obama’s, and no one blinked. It’s not conjecture. Biden ignored the truth and no one cared. The difference is that Palin matters.
re – sex ed. I don’t have a problem with the education, or the choices such as opting out. That’s fine. The problem is that pedophilia is a crime and the course is k-12 sex ed. Is there self-defense courses? Date-rape awareness? Abuse counseling? Not from what I read. It’s pedophilia, then HIV and condoms. Obama should have created a separate k-12 bill for sexual abuse awareness and the delineation would have been clear. One is biological, one is criminal. Instead, he lumps the two together and allows for a massive gray are that one of the sponsors referred to as school discretion. Like his abortion stance, it’s based on theoreticals and not reality.
Jeff – I apologize if my comment felt aimed at you, specifically. It wasn’t by a longshot. We try and find common ground which is why I don’t mind slogging through this.
I appreciate that and even though we disagree – including in the 8:17 post – I feel that you are more authentic and honest in your postings, Martin.
That should continue ‘…than many others.’
No doubt both have gone negative, and the reality is it was inevitable. It was foolish to believe that this time was going to be different. We can complain about attack ads and personal attacks all we want, but the fact is they work and they are not going away anytime soon. Who started it and who is worse doesn’t matter at this point. They’re both partaking in it despite past claims. So what’s a voter to do? Try and look past the 30 second substance-free commercials (while also ignoring what the surrogates say on MSNBC/CNN/Fox News) and find the meat.
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/mccain_plays_the_race_card.html
Do they work? I don’t know. I can’t conceive of people not knowing who they’re going to vote for at this point. I do know some hardcore Repubs shifting to Obama after the Palin pick, so I’m hopeful this week.
“Nicol speaks well but has zero credibility and is generally a paranoid kook.”
I have to disagree with that remark.
His grammar is often sloppy, and he runs on and on. I would not say that he speaks well at all.
The nice thing about him is that I can smell one of his posts a sentence or two in, which makes it that much easier to skip past them, just as I usually do with D.Z.*
“I do know some hardcore Repubs shifting to Obama after the Palin pick, so I’m hopeful this week.”
Just last week you said the exact opposite — that you had friends who were flip-flopping for Palin — and you were ready to leave the country.
Obama gives a fantastic convention speech. He’s up! MCCain announces Palin. He’s down! The novelty wears off and the financial shit hits the fan. He’s up!
It ain’t over ’til it’s over. Don’t give up just yet. What would Harlan do?
*You keep hinting that he’s even nuttier than what we see here. What exactly do you know?
http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race
Frank: DZ or Nicol? If you mean Nicol, just google his blog via Nicol DuMoulin (not his real name because he’s too paranoid to identify himself in public).
After reading Nicol D’s blog, jeffmcm’s assessment of Travis Bickle-like lunacy was spot-on.
Why did you post a link to Rorschach’s blog, Jeff?
“Just last week you said the exact opposite — that you had friends who were flip-flopping for Palin — and you were ready to leave the country.”
Yes, I have lots of friends. And it’s interesting this week the hardcore Repubs I know have told me they’re going to vote for Obama. The luster is off Palin and the tide is shifting as I thought it would. So I’m hopeful. And watching Obama this week I felt like I was seeing the next president. Finis.
That doesn’t mean Obama is going to win. And my plane ticket is awaitin’…courtesy of Martin S.
My comment above doesn’t make much sense, does it? Because he didn’t actually post a link. But you knew what I meant, right? If you’ve read Watchmen you do.
Ah, forget it. In any case, I think it’s time to stop making fun of him. Because A) I feel bad for the guy and B) He’s kinda scary.
Meanwhile, back on the surface world — President Obama works for me. And you know, I have absolutely no idea if he can pull us out of this mess, or even make things much better. If you believe people like Jim Kunstler, we’re pretty well fucked by this point.
But I have no doubt at all that other gang will not only fail to dig us out of the hole — they’ll pull the dirt down over our heads.