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After beginning the day at 4:45 a.m. reading 50 bored assessments of GOP debate, I’m ready for a nap. Some unconsumed items of news:
* My favorite soon-to-lose U.S. Senate candidate, Texas’ Craig James, blasts rival for marching in gay pride parade, sez gays “will have to answer to the Lord for their actions.” So will you, Craig, so will you.
* At NRO, Tom Switzer effectively debunks only-Nixon-could-have-gone-to-China myth.
* Campaign ad saturation in Michigan more intense than in Iowa, but not as crazy as in Florida.
* House Democrats hold informal hearing for Georgetown student Sandra Fluke, who was excluded by Rep. Darrell Issa’s from House Oversight Committee session on contraception coverage mandate.
* Karl Rove says brokered convention less likely than discovery of life on Pluto.
* Leadership battle in Australian Labor Party heats to boiling point.
And, in somewhat creepy non-political news:
* Advocacy-group billboard in London uses facial-recognition technology to determine gender of viewer with 90% accuracy. But point of ad is to highlight gender discrimination, so it makes some sense.
No big plans for the night unless Rick Santorum spots Satan on march in Detroit. See you all tomorrow.
Selah.
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Peter C on February 23, 2012 5:46 PM:
I'd risk a brokered convention to send Karl Rove to Pluto.
Peter C on February 23, 2012 5:48 PM:
But Ed, Santorum sees Satan on the march EVERYWHERE!
JS on February 23, 2012 6:15 PM:
Santorum is saving the discovery of Satan as an October surprise, "Devil's Night" in Detroit.
sjs1959 on February 23, 2012 6:27 PM:
Ed, I agree, it's just a shame that rumor won't go away that CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS WHILE AT SMU, I don't know why it doesn't.
gummitch on February 23, 2012 6:47 PM:
That facial-recognition technology is closer to you than you might think. I had a conversation with someone from Intel who had a pilot project in conjunction with the Gap (seriously, he did not understand why I started laughing -- never seen Minority Report). They already had facial-recognition in place in one of their large in-house ad displays that could adjust the content of the display based on gender/age determinations made on the spot -- and determine who lingered to look at a given ad. Apparently, the area of your face immediately around the eyes is critical.
bobreply@gmail.com on February 23, 2012 6:57 PM:
"Karl Rove says brokered convention less likely than discovery of life on Pluto."
Sure, but is it less likely than scientists finding a conscience in Karl Rove? Now that's unlikely.
burro on February 23, 2012 7:01 PM:
Leadership Battle link = Brokered convention
Steve P on February 23, 2012 7:57 PM:
From Michigan:
Got to admit that the Santorum mud/paintball ad stays funny after weeks--mainly because they found someone to play Romney with the same android, almost-but-not-quite-human body language, and the same fraudulent grin.
RedRaiderFan on February 23, 2012 8:16 PM:
Craig James will have to answer for getting Mike Leach fired.
Kevin (not the famous one) on February 23, 2012 8:51 PM:
Leadership battle in Australian link is broke (identical to the Rove article)
Care netotab
pj in jesusland on February 23, 2012 9:47 PM:
Did anyone play the "fundamental" drinking game last night during the Arizona debate? You know, the one where you do a shot of tequila every time a Republican candidate says the word "fundamental?" Here's what I caught:
1. Rick: "So here we have, as Newt said, the real fundamental issue here is government coercion and government coercion when you give governments the right to be able to take your responsibility to provide for your own health and -- and -- and care, and give it to the government." (Hahahaha, Rick, tell that to Gov. Bob "Trans-Vag" McDonnell. And note that Rick attributes the use of the word "fundamental" to Newt!)
2. Newt: "Was it also intolerable for President Obama to go to El Paso and make a totally demagogic speech in which he fundamentally -- no. The great failure here -- I voted in 1986 for the bill which was supposed to solve all this, which Ronald Reagan solved -- signed."
3. Mitt: "For that to happen, we're going to have to have dramatic fundamental change in Washington, D.C., we're going to have to create more jobs, have less debt, and shrink the size of the government."
4. Mitt again: "What we really need, in my opinion, is to say who can lead the country through the kind of fundamental change we have in front of us? And we have people here who all different backgrounds.
5. Newt again: "...and the third thing we bought, which Rick eluded to, which is really important. We bought this notion that you could have Carnegie units and you could have state standards and you could have a curriculum everybody -- every child is unique. Every teach is unique. Teaching is a missionary vocation. When you bureaucratize it, you kill it. We need a fundamental re-thinking from the ground up."
6. Mitt yet again: "We've got to restore America's promise in this country where people know that with hard work and education, that they're going to be secure and prosperous and that their kids will have a brighter future than they've had. For that to happen, we're going to have to have dramatic fundamental change in Washington, D.C., we're going to have to create more jobs, have less debt, and shrink the size of the government."
Final score: Romney-3, Newt-2.5 and Rick-.5 The .5 is on account of Rick attributing his use of "fundamental" to Newt. But look at the Mittster. No doubt he's been studying Newt's oratory back at the hotel. Congratulations, Mitt!
God, these debates are awful -- it's no longer oratory, it's "boratory." The tequila only helps a little.
Anonymous on February 24, 2012 8:40 AM:
* Campaign ad saturation in Michigan more intense than in Iowa, but not as crazy as in Florida.
Florida is a special case. Exhibit A is they elected Rick Scott, infamous Medicare crook for defrocked CEO of Cloumbuia/HCA (not HCA). You can say anythuing in Florida and someone will believe it. Not as true in Michigan.
rea on February 24, 2012 8:42 AM:
Tom Switzer effectively debunks nothing. He has no evidence or analysis--just a bare assertion. He's an Australian born in 1971--in other words, he was a baby in another country at the time Nixon went to China. Those of us old enough to reember that time know that McCarthy-style anti-communism was from from dead then--hell, it's far from dead now, as every time Obama is accused of "socialism" demonstrates.
bh on February 24, 2012 11:29 AM:
I am the only one who figures Craig James permanently ruined himself politically in Texas by getting Mike Leach fired?