Sad News ... Legendary Composer, Arranger Neal Hefti Passes Away

Shortly before last evening's debate, I descried various news articles and posts that gave me a heavy heart.

No, not that I would have to endure, yet, another debate (and, the angry Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain), but that one of my Jazz heroes died.

Neal Hefti, long associated with the Count Basie Band, Woody Herman's Thundering Herd, and a bevy of other greats.

From the NYT Obit;

Over the years, Hefti, first known as a jazz trumpeter in the 1940s and 1950s, was much admired and much in demand as an arranger, conductor and occasional record producer; he worked with Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Mel Tormé and Tony Bennett, among others. He also led his own bands, and he was active as a player until 1960.

But his greatest sphere of influence was as an arranger and composer for other jazz artists. His early travels with jazz bands took him to New York, where he was mesmerized by the bebop playing of Dizzy Gillespie, and joined the Herman band — known as First Herd — in 1944. He was influential in moving that band from its swing roots in the direction of bebop.

"If it wasn't for Neal Hefti, the Basie band wouldn't sound as good as it does," Miles Davis said in 1955. "But Neal's band can't play those same arrangements nearly as well."

From The Times On-Line UK;

Away from the world of Hollywood Hefti will be remembered as the man who shaped the sound of the postwar Count Basie Orchestra, and who also produced dozens of skilful, well-crafted arrangements for Woody Herman and Harry James.

When Basie eventually re-formed his full orchestra, Hefti became one of his principal writers. The album The Atomic Basie remains the best work that the group did in the 1950s, playing entirely Hefti’s arrangements.

He had started writing for Harry James in the late 1940s, but in the 1950s Hefti furnished James with numerous compositions, designed to feature the leader’s trumpet and the band’s star drummer Buddy Rich.

Nevertheless, Hefti was by this time writing in a similar style to that which he used for Basie, giving rise to the apocryphal story that when the two bands met on a television show, Basie drily asked James: “Are you going to play our arrangements first, or are we?”

From The Independent (UK);

It is grotesque that Neal Hefti, one of jazz's greatest orchestrators, should be best remembered for a 12"x12" picture of an atomic bomb exploding. The album The Atomic Mr Basie (1957), for which Hefti wrote all the music, was an embarrassment for him and Count Basie, both in its title and the cover picture, but it made a fortune for them and for the record company and remains one of the most memorable big band albums of all time. Hefti's beautiful ballad "Li'l Darlin' " from that set stuck in the public's memory and the Basie band played it regularly in concert ever after.

It's also sad that too many newspapers and websites will present this news, highlighting that Hefti wrote the theme songs for televisions' "Batman" and "The Odd Couple", then presenting his illustrious Jazz career as a side note.

NPR: Neal Hefti, Big Band Trumpeter, TV Theme Composer, Dies

Washington Post: Composer Neal Hefti; Jazz Master Penned Theme for 'Batman'

Los Angeles Times: Neal Hefti dies at 85; former big band trumpeter, arranger and composer

Neal Hefti on Wikipedia

Since it is mentioned above, and also, one of my all-time favorites ...

Lil' Darling - Count Basie

This Date ... On The Garlic

16 October 2007... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overhead While The Nobel Peace Prize Committee Reviewed Rush Limbaugh's Nomination


16 October 2006... On The Garlic

Breaking News! Back To The Drawing Board For Security Council; New Problem As Jong Il Issues “Korean-Style” Signing Statement To Invalidate U.N. Sanctions; U.S. Irate But Must Abstain Due To Conflict of Interest; North Korea Also To Start Page Program For Potential Scandal

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At “Liberty Sunday” Last Night


16 October 2005... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

Debate Results: Flintstones vs. Jetsons Pt. III

Here's a hint of how things went.

Obama consistently framed answers with a little sprinkling of pixie dust, a whiff of history, citing, that we're in the greatest economic crisis since The Great Depression, and then laid out this program, or that, in detail.

Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain (who went from "Grumpy McKKKain", to "Angry McKKKain", almost right out of the gate) brought up, and kept going back to, and going back to, and going back to Joe the Plumber.

Joe the Plumber, who had an exchange with Obama on the campaign trail (You can watch the video of it HERE; As, or after watching it, imagine the debunked Maverick talking to him about the same thing - Snoozer!).

They could use clips of McKKKain and his new best buddy, Joe the Plumber, on one of those breezy, dancing eHarmony commercials.

And it won't surprise me if Joe the Plumber comes out on top of some of the post-debate polls.

And, after all the hype, the endless hours of the Cable TV heads pontificating about it, the cries for blood from the Right Wing Freak Show, John McKKKain IS A PUSSY!

It was like a pillow fight, with foam, rather then feathers.

McKKKain did bring up William Ayers (and ACORN), in virtually the same exact manner he has brought him up over the past two-weeks-plus.

He dredged it up with his standard stump speech, not anything new, no new, or direct, questions ... No grilling ... Standard Stump all the way.

Obama did hit him, though, calling him out over the rabid Palin mobs, saying, to McKKKain's face, the calls at those rallies of "terrorist" and "Kill him".

McKKKain, being the straighter shooter he consistently refers to himself as, defended, angrily, of course, the crowds at his rally, without saying a word about the ugliness of those type of chants and threats.

Maverick, my ass!

There was a question about the qualifications of their opponents running mates as President, and, my first reaction to seeing Obama say nothing but nice things was he blew it (McKKKain, in his answer, tossed a bone at Biden and then nit-picked some issue that was a yawner), however, in hindsight, if he dissed the Wasilla Whiz Kid, it would be days of more grief, blaring headlines; It was almost an 'Eddie Haskell' compliment, so better to let Mommy Moose sink her own boat.

While starting off like he was pumped full of "electrolytes", however, quickly, the anger seeped in, and continued to grow the rest of the night.

There were a few times, I half expected for his head to explode.

And it showed, over and over (at one point, McKKKain called Obama “Senator Government,” in an angry rush to hit back at him, but did correct himself).

After dissing Obama about something, and as Obama responded to it, McKKKain would be stuttering, interrupting, making faces and noise, as Obama spoke (at one point, having to be scolded by Moderator Bob Schieffer).

Obama, cool, calm and collected, driving home the need for a new direction.

McKKKain, all but foaming-at-the-mouth, blabbing out standard Republican speak (including the "Abortion/Roe v. Wade" segment, in which he will be creamed and skewered for his answer).

Post-debate, it appears, Obama sweeping all the snap polls, some by extremely large margins (by 2-1, in numerous cases).

Right Wing Freak Show will, undoubtedly, spin how Angry John McKKKain kicked ass and "the race is on".

Trouble is McKKKain and Palin is their ticket, so it only gets them to the next gaffe or fuck-up.

No game-changer here, and we can all exhale, as the debate season is, finally, over.

More tomorrow ...


Bonus Debate Links

Bob Cesca

The Jed Report

Think Progress Live Blogging

FiveThirtyEight Live Blogging

The Reaction: Ambitions of empire: Live-blogging the third Obama-McCain debate

Crooks and Liars Live-Blogging

Debate Results ... The Flintstones vs. The Jetsons

Debate Results ... The Flintstones vs. The Jetsons Part II

VP Debate Results: Kick The Can




Hat Tip to Bob Cesca for the pitch perfect photo

Everything He Learned?

If there are any Chief Petty Officers in the debate audience this evening, word-to-the-wise, keep a low profile.

As you may recall, at the last Presidential Debate, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain got a lucky roll-of-the-dice, when one of the audience questioners happened to be a serviceman, a Navy man, a Chief Petty Officer.

Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate

Well, thank you, Terry (ph). And thank you for your service to the country.

I want to say, everything I ever learned about leadership I learned from a chief petty officer. And I thank you, and I thank you, my friend. Thanks for serving.

Perhaps Chief Petty Officer Terry hadn't see the newspaper, the Los Angeles Times that day, or likely he would have had a rebuttal for for the debunked Maverick, maybe a different question, for I don't think he want to own that for the legion of Chief Petty Officers out there, past and present.

Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator; Three crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment

As a presidential candidate, McCain has cited his military service -- particularly his 5 1/2 years as a POW. But he has been less forthcoming about his mistakes in the cockpit.

In today's military, a lapse in judgment that causes a crash can end a pilot's career. Though standards were looser and crashes more frequent in the 1960s, McCain's record stands out.

Naval aviation experts say the three accidents before McCain's deployment to Vietnam probably triggered a review to determine whether he should be allowed to continue flying. The results of the review would have been confidential.

The Times asked McCain's campaign to release any military personnel records in the candidate's possession showing how the Navy handled the three incidents. The campaign said it would have no comment.

If may be safe to say, that if it were not for Fly Boy having a Dad and Grandfather that were big muckity-mucks in the Navy, perhaps McKKKain may have had a career in KP duty, if not drubbed out of the service completely.

You look at this article, the record of crashes, and you can see that things haven't changed much.

It's now his campaign that he's driving into the ground.


Bonus Clyde Crashcup Riffs

Quincy Adams: McCain's judment and veracity as an aviator

Melissa McEwan: Crash Bandicoot

Libby Spencer: Things I learned from Atriots

Ted Rall: Puffing up John McCain, POW

Lowell: George McGovern takes a "dig" at John McCain

That One!

Well, we have another debate this evening, the last of this long presidential primary and campaign season (I believe it is around 41 debates, total, that we have had to endure).

Being that Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain is in this one, speaking publically, we remind you to clean, oil and test out your "My Friends" counter.

He's down, and free-falling in the polls, so it could be a blizzard of "My Friends" tonight.

Also, there will be held breath and anxious nerves, awaiting to see, as the minutes click off, if the debunked Maverick
employs "That One" again.

It still has gone unexplained by the Dead Campaign Express what caused The Donut Man to refer to Barack Obama as "That One".

Had he, earlier in the day, perhaps attempting to take a nap, have the television on and "That Girl" came on?

Maybe the movie "That Touch of Mink", or "That Darned Cat".

Or, he was thinking about the old, Brasilian lover, "That Naughty Girl", remembering the steamy times and complimenting her on "That Thing You Do".

There is the chance that he was just trying to bring back "That Old Feeling".

Or, he wanted to be hip, a bit of a smart-ass, and meant to say "That Darn Punk".

If he wants to keep the vibe of his campaign for the last week, or so, he can tag Obama with things like "That Awful Brother", "That City Feller", "That Soul Thing", and really toss one out to the base, with "That Minstrel Man".

He can follow-up on Jeffrey M Frederick, the Virginia GOP chief, and ask Obama "That Burning Question" about "That Mysterious Fez".

Perhaps he'll throw a shot out at Obama's campaign staff with a "That Gang of Hoodlums".

But, most likely, the debate will end with "That Sinking Feeling" and McKKKain, Mommy Moose and the Dead Campaign Express won't escape the label of just continuing ""That Yin Yang Thing".

In that case, we can expect some new stunt, and you can employ the nifty chart Nate Silver made up for just THAT happening.

This Date ... On The Garlic

16 October 2006... On The Garlic

Condi! Whose Cup Are You Drinking From Lately?

Faster Than A Speeding, Lead Bullet ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Something Rudy

When A Michelle Malkin Quits The O'Reilly Factor, And No One is Around To Hear it, Does It Make A Sound?


16 October 2006... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

41 and 43 Equals ??? ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Alaskan Lie

With all that's going on the past few days, the whirlwind of the campaigns, McKKKain's in particular, the Wall Street Meltdown and Hank's Heist (following the Bush Doctrine, Hank Paulson went shopping during a crisis - He went out and bought banks today!), we can't help bringing our thoughts back around to Rich Lowry.

Poor Little Richie.

All those mean bullies picking on his Sarah Palin... His Ms. Winking Excitement ...His personal dream cloud of starbursts.

We (along with a bevy of others, including a devastating take by Keith Olbermann) wrote about how Little Richie got all straight and excited when Mommy Moose winked - at him - during the VP debate.

Little Richie was beside himself, barely able to keep his pounding heart inside his chest.

But it's been a rough sled since then.

The Wasilla Whiz Kid got whacked in that Troopergate Report a few days later (though, she stuck her Cheneyesque chin out and deemed herself cleared, earning her a tag of being "Orwellian" from the locals up there).

C'mon Rich, even you have to look beyond the starburst dust to see that is really quite a stretch.

Then, there was Christopher Hitchens, clubbing her like a baby seal;

And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience.

The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.

With McCain, the "experience" is subject to sharply diminishing returns, as is the rest of him, and with Palin the very word itself is a sick joke.

Ouch!

Those starburst are really starting to fade, aren't they Richie?

And, I'm sure you weren't too pleased (and having to deal with Christopher Buckley, on top of it), seeing John Cleese mock and disparage your Ya'Betch'ya Gal.

Then, the anvil dropped on your head today - Matthew Dowd.

From Steve Benen;

"Matthew Dowd was the chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, so it came as something of a surprise to see him eviscerate John McCain today a panel at the TimeWarner summit."

"They didn't let John McCain pick the person he wanted to pick as VP," Dowd declared during the Time Warner Summit panel. "When Sarah Palin got picked instead of Joe Lieberman, which I fundamentally believed would have given John McCain the best opportunity in this race... as soon as he picked Palin, that whole ready versus not ready argument was not credible."

Saying that Palin was a "net negative" on the ticket, he went on: "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that."

Oh man, go ahead cry, if you want ... We know, it's gotta hurt.

We know, with McKKKain sinking in the polls like the Titanic, you're probably too distraught to write another gushing post, to gather your thoughts, to express yourself properly, to come to grips with the wink-less life you have to face.

So, we're giving you some help.

You can sing this, over-and-over, to help cleanse your heart, and sweep all those starbursts out the door.

In fact, everybody .. C'mon, everybody pitch in and help Little Richie sing this tune ... It's classic and you all know, so let it rip ...

Alaskan Lie

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that wink used to make me smile.
And I knew if she had her chance
That she could make the GOP base dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But October made her shiver
With every paper that was delivered
Bad news on the doorstep;
She couldn’t make one more wink hep.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about her Ethics slide
But something touched me deep inside
The day the Winkin' died.

So bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

Did you write the book of Ethics,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in Shock and Awe,
Can Rev. Murthee save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to wink real slow?

Well, I know that you wanted to fire him
`cause I saw you winkin' in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig that Rovian ruse.

I was a lonely Corner broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the Winkin' died.

I started singin’,
bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

Now for ten weeks we’ve been on our own
And ice grows fat on a frozen stone,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When the McCain sang for the rabid mob,
And you jumped in cause it was your job
And a voice that came from you and me,

Oh, and while the Maverick was looking down,
You stole his ugly racist crown.
The Legislature was adjourned;
The Ethics verdict was returned.
And while Obama rang up good marks,
The Right Wing Freak Show practiced in the park,
And they sang dirges in the dark
The day the Winkin' died.

We were singing,
bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

Helter skelter in an economic swelter.
Investors flew off to an island tax shelter,
Eight hundred Points down and falling fast.
Mac's crowd was foul, even crass
As he tried to make forward pass,
Before racist crowds that had amassed

Now the half-time air smelled of flop and doom
While the cable anchors sang Mac's marshall tune.
We all got up to wink,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the issues tried to take the field;
The talking heads refused to yield.
And only nonsense was revealed
The day the winkin' died.

We started singing,
bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A electorate lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: Sarah be nimble, Sarah be quick!
Sarah spin that Ethics trick
Cause lying is the devil’s only friend.

Oh, and as I watched her on the stage
Her fans were seized in fits of rage.
No spin doctor born in hell
could quell her awful smell
And as the rhetoric climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw Rove laughing with delight
The day the winkin' died

He was singing,
bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

I met a girl from a state that is now blue
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and said it had just turned that way.
I went down to the McCain store
Where I’d heard the smears years before,
But is was still the only music they would play.

And in the streets the Mob did scream,
The critics cried, and the pollster creamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three pols I admire most:
Dubster, Dickie and Reagan's ghost
They caught the last hearse for the coast
The day the winkin' died.

And they were singing,
bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

They were singing,
bye-bye, Miss Alaskan Lie.
Buzzed my 'copter 'bove the tundra
But the wolves, they did hide
And that good ol' maverick was drinkin’ Kool Aid and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day the winkin' died.
"this’ll be the day the winkin' died."

Buck up Rich, Buck Up!

Barry Crimmins Alert: Strap Nancy Pelosi To A Table and Ship Her Out! ... Vote Cindy Sheehan!

It's been one of our most fervent wishes the past two-years, that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is plagued by nightmares.

A Tim-Burton-on-acid-meets-Disney-type nightmare, of being trapped in a store.

A table store.

Big, thick butcher block's man the exits, forcing the Bush Grindhouse enabler to travel the maze-like aisles, small end-tables nipping at her ankles, all the other tables stamping their legs, chanting "No Nancy, put it on the table ... No, Nancy, put it on the table ... No Nancy, put it on the table ..."

Well, the good folks of "Baghdad by the Bay" (a favorite moniker often used by the late, San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen, long before the invasion and occupation), San Francisco, has that opportunity next month, to bring that closer to a reality.

And Barry Crimmins, today, gives it a push, with a resounding, call-to-arms endorsement of her challenger - Cindy Sheehan.

A snip for you;

Icing the Republican Casket

Wouldn't it be fantastic if the Dem who gets handed walking papers was the one who, speaking from a position of high authority, promised that any chance of impeaching the criminally barbarous Bush was "off the table" immediately after 2006 Congressional elections that were all about public disdain for Bush? From there that person went on stand down as our liberties were being assailed at home and as our addiction to foreign wars continued apace abroad. Then this millionaire helped spearhead a gargantuan bailout of people already awash in more cash than any of us could ever imagine. No question about it, it would be tremendous if she found herself out on a street full of Republicans on the morning of Nov 5.

Not only should Cindy Sheehan win but she really could if an influx of progressive support infuses her campaign right now. So get off your diverse buts San Francisco and get to work for Cindy Sheehan. And lefties around the country, it's time to cough up whatever you can for Cindy Sheehan. Imagine if on election night (voter suppression and ballot-rigging permitting) the Republicans get trounced from coast to coast and then the last big story of the evening is Cindy Sheehan's upset win over Nancy Pelosi.

Imagine how great November 4 will be (voter suppression and ballot-rigging permitting) if we seriously repudiate the R's and then knock off the Vichy Dem who so compromised the electoral gains of 2006 by replacing her with the legendary woman who wiped the smirk off W's face?

Strongly recommend you jump over to Barry's site and read "Icing the Republican Casket"

Then, jump of over to Cindy Sheehan's site, and do whatever you can to help her dump Pelosi


Bonus "Vichy Dem" Pelosi Riffs

Garlictorial - We’ll Need That Table

Hey, Hoyer (and Pelosi) ... Politico ... Suck On This!

Damn You, Nancy OffTheTable and Stagnant Hoyer!

Garlictorial: The Blank Check Club

The Night of the Jackal ... And A New Garlic Song - The Congress Sleeps Tonight

This Date ... On The Garlic

14 October 2007... On The Garlic

Cheney and Rumsfeld ... You Get Two ... Two ... Two Disasters In One!

Top Ten Cloves: Things About If John McCain and Sarah Palin Discovered America

News Item: Columbus Day Holiday

10. Selection of unknown, and inexperienced, First Mate Sarah Palin would have rippled through Spain

9. Name of Ships - Straight Ship Express, Country First and Maverick (And, he had, at least four other ships)

8. McCain would have been criticized by other navigators and explorers as too old to be making expedition

7. First bit of a little rough seas, McCain would "suspend" the voyage (but not really)

6. McCain's special advisor for voyage, Phil Gramm, causes a stir, calling ship's crew a bunch of whiners

5. Weeks lost at sea due to following coordinates for legendary "The Bridge To Nowhere"

4. Cindy McCain (her family money funded McCain's voyages) irritating ship's cook, stealing his recipes and claiming them as her own

3. Hanoi Hilton didn't exist yet, so, no POW-POW-POW stories for McCain

2. Palin, and husband Todd, cause controversy the entire voyage, incessantly trying to get ship's Master-at-Arms fired

1. Native Americans would be known as today, Native MyFriends

Day Three of McKKKain Respecting Obama

Gesh ... What does he do if he was really going heartlessly, deep-in-the-gutter, mean-spirited, nasty?

Karen Timulty, of Time Magazine, reporting;

In Battleground Virginia, a Tale of Two Ground Games

With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.

The "Frederick" she references is the head of the GOP in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia state GOP chairman Jeffrey M Frederick.

Nice pep talk, heh?

But wait, there's more!

Given the opportunity to show how he respects Obama, as he indicated the other day, however, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain played dumb, when appearing on a local television program there, in Virginia;

McCain Declines To Condemn Virginia Republican's Comparison Of Obama And Osama

QUESTION: The chair of the Republican Party in Virginia has said, quote, in Time magazine, "both Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden have friends that have bombed the Pentagon. That is scary." Is that appropriate for a state party chair to be saying?

MCCAIN: "I have to look at the context of his remarks. I have always repudiated any comments that have been made that were inappropriate about Senator Obama. The fact is that William Ayers was a terrorist and bomber and unrepentant. I don't care about that. But Senator Obama ought be the candid and truthful about his relationship with Mr. Ayers in whose living room Senator Obama launched his campaign and Senator Obama said he was just a guy in the neighborhood."

Gee, he really needs to "look at the context" to make an evaluation if that was a blatantly ugly smear?

Just some, good ol McKKKain-type straight talk, my friends...

That's some respect you can believe in, I guess.


Bonus McKKain See-Hear-and-Speak-A-Lot-of-Evil Riffs

John Aravosis (DC): McCain refuses to repudiate, and appears to defend, comments linking Obama to Osama bin Laden

Teddy Partridge: Virginia GOP Chair Draws Explicit Obama Terror Links for McCain Volunteers

John Cole: And the Loch Ness Monster Is a Liberal Plot

Steve Benen: OCCASIONAL NUTS...

Lowell at Raising Kane: McCain says he needs more "context" on Jeff Frederick's vicious smears and lies

"No Ma'am ... No ... I Can't Give You A Racist Pamphlet Right Now"

Well, At Least They Didn't Use His Middle Name Today

Three Cheers For Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman!

I am not an economist, nor do I play one on television (or anywhere else, for that matter).

However, I have, and continue to, enjoy reading Paul Krugman's writings (be it his column in the NYT, or his blog), particularly the past few years, with his banging away at the Bush Grindhouse.

As to his economic writings, he always seems to be able to deliver cumbersome, arcane financial-economic speak in a very understandable (even entertaining) manner.

His recent offerings, on the Wall Street Meltdown and Paulson's Heist have been on-the-money.

So, it was, when firing up the computer today, beaming with a hearty smile upon seeing that Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics today.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008 Press Release

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008 to

Paul Krugman
Princeton University, NJ, USA

From the NYT;

Mr. Krugman received the award for his work on international trade and economic geography. In particular, the prize committee lauded his work for “having shown the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity.” He has developed models that explain observed patterns of trade between countries, as well as what goods are produced where and why. Traditional trade theory assumes that countries are different and will exchange different kinds of goods with each other; Mr. Krugman’s theories have explained why worldwide trade is dominated by a few countries that are similar to each other, and why some countries might import the same kinds of goods that it exports.

Erza Klein;

Nobel prize winner. And Krugman won it his way: He never retreated into the academy, never jealously insulated his expertise and insight from controversy because that would be safest for his reputation. Lots of folks seem to think that engagement with the public sphere puts a ceiling on academic achievement, and some had even said to me that Krugman had made himself too controversial to ever win a Nobel prize. They were wrong, and I hope more economists and assorted academics now follow Krugman's model of deploying their expertise for the benefit of an interested public.

Tyler Cowan, a colleague of Krugman;

I have to say I did not expect him to win until Bush left office, as I thought the Swedes wanted the resulting discussion to focus on Paul's academic work rather than on issues of politics. So I am surprised by the timing but not by the choice.

Cowan also links to a very amusing paper Krugman wrote, "Supply, Demand, and English Food", that you should go read.

Congratulations Paul Krugman!

Keep up the good work ... And the good fight!

This Date ... On The Garlic

13 October 2006... On The Garlic

Developing Story! Rove Has Gone From “Bush’s Brain” To “Bush’s Drain”; White House In Crises, As Rove Takes Credit For North Korean Nuke Test; Sources Say ‘Bush’s Brain” Weary From Sinking Polls, Fundraising; Too Tired To Come Up With New October Surprise

Top Ten Cloves: Signs That Tell How The Friday The 13th Jinx Is On You


13 October 2005... On The Garlic

Special Announcement - Political Satire in America; Barry Crimmins, with Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Krassner, Art Buchwald, Lewis Lapham, Sarah Jones

Double-Barreled

And all aimed at Mommy Moose.

Between the Wasilla Whiz Kid being found to have abused the powers of her office, and, to the larger extent, her campaigning leading to Fly Boy being equated with lynch mobs, the KKK, foaming masses, and George Wallace, I think it's dawning on the Dead Campaign Express that "Jesus, we should have vetted her!"

If Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnnie wants to make "Judgment" a key campaign theme, than the Obama people should encourage it and welcome it with all arms.

To use the phrase of McCain's pal, "Bring it on!"

Now, granted, losing campaigns, invariably, ended up in upheaval, with shit flying in all directions, crap-encrusted fingers pointing in all directions.

Sarah Baxter, from the Times-OnLine, in the UK, has a fascinating piece out, depicting that it's the Hockey Mom with Lipstick who wants the donuts brought to her.

McCain tussles with Palin over whipping up a mob mentality

Mark Salter, McCain’s long-serving chief of staff, is understood to have told campaign insiders that he would prefer his boss, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, to suffer an “honourable defeat” rather than conduct a campaign that would be out of character – and likely to lose him the election.

Palin, 44, has led the character attacks on Obama in the belief that McCain may be throwing away the election and her chance of becoming vice-president. Her supporters think that if the Republican ticket loses on November 4, she should run for president in 2012.

A leading Republican consultant said: “A lot of conservatives are grumbling about what a poor job McCain is doing. They are rolling their eyes and saying, ‘Yes, a miracle could happen, but at this rate it is all over’.

“Sarah Palin is no fool. She sees the same thing and wants to salvage what she can. She is positioning herself for the future. Her best days could be in front of her. She wants to look as though she was the fighter, the person with the spunk who was out there taking it to the Democrats.”

Wonderful!

What a treat it is going to be to watch Mommy Moose burn down the village, just to lay a foundation for her to emerge out the ashes four-years from now.

And, about that vetting (well, no vetting) issue, Frank Rich today, in calling out McCain and Palin to end their "String'em Up" campaign ("But we’re not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise."), offers we should have seen this coming;

No less disconcerting was a still-unexplained passage of Palin’s convention speech: Her use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago’s mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was “regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man.” In the ’60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: “Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls.”

This is the writer who found his way into a speech by a potential vice president at a national political convention. It’s astonishing there’s been no demand for a public accounting from the McCain campaign. Imagine if Obama had quoted a Black Panther or Louis Farrakhan — or William Ayers — in Denver.

Yes, still unexplained.

Judging by her limited public interviews, her lack-of-reading-materials, her flubs and general ignorance, odds are it didn't come from her (maybe First-Busy-Body Todd inserted it in, perhaps lifting it from his AIP material?).

A Rove Rat staffer?

Rove, himself?

This came at the convention, so you know that wanted to send out a signal, a strong signal to the base, that wait, it's coming .. Palin will deliver the bombs, you can count on it.

It may come to the Wasilla Whiz Kid, that is this bullet-train whirlwind of ugliness she's helping to create, to, essentially earn her chops, she may want to glance down from the pedestal she's put herself on.

Odds are, again with the losing campaign vibe, the Fly Boy loyalists, the donut eaters, are already building the case to level the disaster at her Hockey-Mom-with-Lipstick feet.

Gosh-Darn-it, that wouldn't be playing fair, would it ...

Ya Betch'ya!


Bonus Links

Glenn Greenwald: TNR’s Michael Crowley: McCain lynch mobs are no different than Bush critics

Ron Beasley: Looking Out For Number One

John Cole: The Bride to Nowhere

M.J. Rosenberg: Frank Rich: On McCain's Ugly Campaign of Incitement

We Told You He Was Just Like Bob Dole

"No Ma'am ... No ... I Can't Give You A Racist Pamphlet Right Now"

Remember the other day, when Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain rose up to push back at the angry mobs of his rallies?

The elderly woman, he interrupted, to refute her statement that Barack Obama was an "Arab"?

Well, despite Johnnie Boy's admonition, she ain't buyin' it!

In Lakeville, McCain tamps down hostility

Late in the town hall meeting, Gayle Quinnell of Shakopee called Obama "an Arab." Taken aback, McCain shook his head and, taking the microphone from her, said, "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

After the rally, Quinnell was unrepentant. "You can't trust Barack Hussein Obama because he is a Muslim and a terrorist," she said.

Oooooo-Kaaaaay ...

Well, fast forwarding here, some media met up with Ms. Quinnell, after the rally, and interviewed her.

It gets worse, much worse, then what showed in that video.

McCain Volunteer Sends Out "Obama is an Arab" Letters

This is an interview with her done by a live streaming cell phone. Interviewers include Noah Kunin, Senior Political Correspondent from The UpTake, Adam Aigner of NBC News and Dana Bash of CNN.

Quinnell I still do. Yeah. I’m not alone. I go to Burnsville, the main Republican headquarters and I do a lot of work over there. A lot of sending out mail and talking to people. And all the people agree with what I’m saying to you about Obama.

Quinnell Yeah I sent out 400 letters. I went to Kinkos and I got them all printed out. And I sent about 400 letters. I went in the telephone book and sent them out to people. So they can decide if they would want Obama.

Noah: You called him an Arab terrorist? Is that correct? Why do you think he is an Arab?

Quinnell Because his dad is. If you… I’ll send you the paper.

Female reporter: His dad is Muslim His dad was Muslim. Barack Obama has never been a Muslim.

Quinnell No but he’s….

Dana Bash of CNN :he’s a Christian.

Quinnell He’s not an Arab either, he’s a

Bush: His father was Muslim, and he’s a Christian.

Quinnell Yeah , but he’s still got Muslim in him. So that’s still part of him. I got all the stuff from the library and I could send you all kinds of stuff on him. In fact….

Bush: What did you think about McCain said. He said he’s a decent person.

Quinnell Well he did have didn’t have (unintelligible) I think McCain wanted to (unintelligible) I don’t think he wanted to say anything against him. You know he didn’t want to cut him down. That was my way of thinking. I don’t think he wanted to cut him down. So he just kind of brushed me off.

This is sad, very sad ...

Blogger Interrupted concurred, saying, in reference to McCain correcting Quinnell at the rally, on the video;

Broke my heart. It’s almost as if she was just told her coupon is expired at the supermarket. It’s that mundane, that sad.

Bonus McKKKain Links

Andrew Malcolm: What John Lewis' attack on John McCain was really about, and Obama's response

Josh Marshall: Darker and Darker

Nelson M.: We Actually Haven't Come That Far

Well, At Least They Didn't Use His Middle Name Today

This Has To Frost The Dead Campaign Express! ... Plus Breaking Updates!

Good Post Alert: Russ Douthart's " Not So Wonderful Now"

Undoubtedly, over the past few weeks (perhaps longer), scores-of-thousands unknowingly invoked a line from "It's A Wonderful Life", by rubbing a lucky charm and saying "Wish I had a million dollars", only to be foiled by fate.

Maybe, a lucky one, or two, happened to have a friend ("Hee-Haw") named Sam Wainwright, and said friend was of the means to cable them $25,000.

Otherwise ...



Pottersville for them.

And, with the cratering economy, it's doubtful that cash registers' bells are going off as frequently, thereby, less angels are earning their wings.

In today's WAPO, Russ Douthart cranks it up a notch.

In his "Not So Wonderful Now - Looking for someone to blame in the worsening crisis? Let's go back to Bedford Falls", he takes our current economic woes and puts the movie's fictional, idyllic town's template over it.

Yes, that George Bailey -- the hero of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," the most popular man in Bedford Falls, the man so indispensable that he earned a private visitation from a guardian angel just to show him how dreadful a world without him would have been. It's easy to forget, so potent is the supernaturally charged final act of Capra's classic, that before he was visiting looking-glass worlds where he'd never been born or scampering through the snow and shouting "Merry Christmas!" till his lungs burst, Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey was actually a pretty savvy businessman. And it's even easier to forget the precise nature of his business: putting the downscale families of Bedford Falls into homes they couldn't quite afford to buy.

This is the substance of the great war between Bailey and Lionel Barrymore's Mr. Potter, the richest, meanest man in Bedford Falls. Potter is against easy credit and the suburban dream, against the rabble moving out of his tenements and buying homes, while the Bailey Building and Loan exists to make suburbia possible.

I could quote more, but it would be better if you go out to it and read for yourselves.

It's a very entertaining, and enlightening, piece.

And, Douthart ends it with perfect pitch.

Go read "Not So Wonderful Now - Looking for someone to blame in the worsening crisis? Let's go back to Bedford Falls"

Hee-Haw!


Bonus Clarence Oddbody Riffs

The Anonymous Liberal: The Bush Boom: Revisited

INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY: 'The United States Has Essentially a One-Party System'

David Goldstein and Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers: Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis

This Date ... On The Garlic

12 October 2005... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons For Nobel Peace Prize Winner Al Gore Not To Run For President


12 October 2005... On The Garlic

Apple Announcement Today May Unveil Miers iPod; Two Colors Offered and Pre-Programmed With Unknown Songs; Possible Video iSqueal Also Talked About

Google Launches Lobbyist; As Usual, In Beta-Mode and By-Invite Only; May Signal Move To Broaden Google Wallet and Googlets With Expanding Empire

Top Ten Cloves: Bush Picking Miers Is Disappointing To The Conservatives like ...