Sunday, February 01, 2004

Back to politics. Taegan Goddard rounds up the latest polls that show that Kerry is gaining momentum. Not much of a surprise there. I'd like to see Dean hold on for a while because it's a guarantee of continued discourse. The other candidates haven't been so intelligent or straightforward, imho. Should Kerry wind it up on Tuesday, I'm concerned that's the end of the liveliest campaign in memory.  

The Patriots won. It was an excellent game. There's fireworks outside. Amazing. Lots more issue ads. Congrats to Patriots fans! 

Halftime. Three commercials worth noting. One borderline issue ad about kids downloading music for free and getting caught and prosecuted. Maybe they avoid issueness by promoting Pepsi and Apple's iTunes. An anti-smoking ad from Phillip Morris was totally an issue ad. I guess everyone agrees smoking is bad, I sure do, but it's still an issue ad. Would they have allowed someone else to buy an ad saying cigarette smoking makes you more masculine or feminine or sexy or makes people like you better. It wasn't so long ago that people believed that, or said they did. Anyway, the most fun ad so far is the "romantic" Budweiser ad on the sleigh. It's a territorial thing. The Super Bowl is a guy thing. The women can watch if they want. Do they think it's funny? I kinda doubt it. Hehe.  

Okay the Fedex commercial wins so far. Yes, Jenkins is an alien.  

John Nichols: "What if we lived in a parallel universe where Howard Dean was actually treated fairly by the media?" 

MoveOn couldn't broadcast a commercial about the Bush deficit, but Bush himself got a freebie on CBS, followed by an H&R Block commercial that asks how much of Bush's tax cut you want. An issue ad? Hmmm. I guess it's okay because he didn't have to pay for it?? 

Discussion of excerpted RSS feeds on the RSS-User list. 

Chris Heilman: "The only two words I can think of scarier than President Kerry are President Cheney." 

Telegraph: Blair and Bush nominated for peace prize. 

Howard Dean was masterful on Meet The Press. What's remarkable is the tension the interviewer creates inside me, a member of the audience, who he's supposed to be serving. I just want to hear what Dean has to say, I'm not all that interested in the trivial contradictions you think you've spotted. Then immediately after, switching to Reliable Sources, where they debated whether or not the networks were too hard on Dean, then switched to whether they were accountable for letting Bush and Powell lie about WMD's, without any challenges, before the US went to war in Iraq. They roast Dean for trivia, brainwash anyone who's stupid enough to watch, and give the Republicans a pass as they lie on their way to war. We seriously need someone who's not in the press to ask the questions. And I'd like to see some approval-rating polls about Russert and Blitzer. Why are these guys so untouchable? 

AP: "Dean spent more than $6.5 million on staff salaries and related expenses, and more than $2 million on consultants." 

1/19/04: "Asked about last year's drug policy advertisement that linked drug sales to international terrorism, Mr. Franks said, 'Is it an absolutely perfect system? Absolutely not. On the other hand, the MoveOn.org ad wasn't even close. I didn't need to rewind that one in the VCR.'" 

I came home mid-week to a house with some minor offensive odors. Sniff sniff. It's the garbage. Okay, get a trash bag, load it up. Seal it. Another day. Come home. Sniff sniff. Still smells. Take the bag, throw it on the outdoor porch where it's 12 degrees. Another day. Sniff sniff. Smells nice. Winter in the northeast. Outside it's colder than the inside of a freezer.