Matt Marks Music

Such a ballsy pick. And so political. Even I would rather blog about Palin than about Obama’s speech last night.

Let’s get this out of the way though:

She’s hot.

Sorry.

Like serious hot librarian MILF hot.

I can’t think of a woman in politics since, well um, ever who has given me near-impure thoughts. She also has a good deal of charisma and vitality, which McCain sorely lacks.

Now to the cynicism (oh the sweet cynicism…). It is so obviously a ploy to grab the Hillary-devoted idiots who have been threatening to vote for McCain. Many of them are women who were so insanely devoted to the idea of a woman president that they would spite-vote for McCain just to punish Obama for, ya know, having the audacity to beat Hillary fair-and-square. McCain is running from the Rove playbook 100% now. He’s hitting Obama at his strengths, promising a historic ticket of his own. The messed-up thing is that this now will be a historic race no matter the outcome. The first senator president since Nixon. The first administration with either an African-American or a woman in the top office. It’s hard not to be excited about that, even if it is such a blatant ploy.

Palin is also very young and inexperienced – she was not picked for her achievements – so if the Obama camp is smart they now have a golden defense for the Obama inexperience argument. They should be producing an ad right now that brings this to light.

Such a ballsy pick. And so political. Even I would rather blog about Palin than about Obama’s speech last night.

Let’s get this out of the way though:

She’s hot.

Sorry.

Like serious hot librarian MILF hot.

I can’t think of a woman in politics since, well um, ever who has given me near-impure thoughts. She also has a good deal of charisma and vitality, which McCain sorely lacks.

Now to the cynicism (oh the sweet cynicism…). It is so obviously a ploy to grab the Hillary-devoted idiots who have been threatening to vote for McCain. Many of them are women who were so insanely devoted to the idea of a woman president that they would spite-vote for McCain just to punish Obama for, ya know, having the audacity to beat Hillary fair-and-square. McCain is running from the Rove playbook 100% now. He’s hitting Obama at his strengths, promising a historic ticket of his own. The messed-up thing is that this now will be a historic race no matter the outcome. The first senator president since Nixon. The first administration with either an African-American or a woman in the top office. It’s hard not to be excited about that, even if it is such a blatant ploy.

Palin is also very young and inexperienced – she was not picked for her achievements – so if the Obama camp is smart they now have a golden defense for the Obama inexperience argument. They should be producing an ad right now that brings this to light.

Tracks by Silver Jews, Sam Cooke, Dolly Parton, Billy Holliday, Loudon Wainwright, and um… Ted Nugent.

Get ’em while they’re hot!

-via Bargainist

Awwwww shit.

I’ll get into the speech a bit more tomorrow, but I’ve been browsing the comments of CNN.com and Foxnews.com and there are a surprising amount of self-described conservatives and Republicans who were moved by the speech, many enough to promise Obama their vote.

One of my favorite “Obamacons”, Andrew Sullivan, puts it well:

I’d like to support a conservative not beholden to the religious right, not indifferent to fiscal degeneracy, respectful of the constitution, hostile to torture, tough with foreign enemies but eager for new and old allies, and intent on making government smaller and leaner and more effective. Such a conservative is not available, and unless the GOP is reformed root and branch by a new generation, there won’t be one available for a long while.

I got home last night just in time to catch the speech. Watched by more than 38 million people, it was definitely a speech to remember. It wasn’t as intimate and honest as his race speech, it wasn’t as optimistic and inspiring as his 2004 speech, but it got the job done. Peeps needed specifics, he gave them plenty – although some of it sounded a bit, shall we say, lofty (oil independence in 10 years? C’mon). He responded to McCain’s bashing pretty well; I liked his line about the lives celebrities lead vs. his own, a classy response. But this is not to say that he didn’t get his hands dirty. He gave the press several soundbites to work with.

Here are a few of the most effective in my opinion:

John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

Snayap!

We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”

Aw damn!

Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn’t know.

You go girl! I uh, mean, boy.

He did a good job of equating McCain with Phil Gramm’s “nation of whiners” quote, only briefly mentioning that an adviser said it, and then proceeding as if the words had come directly from McCain’s mouth. A Republican tactic but hey, they started it.

My favorite line of the night was this Clintonesque quip:

In this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us – that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.

This wasn’t an inherently risky speech – which is why it won’t exactly go down in history as one of his best – but you don’t save your surprises for the convention. The speech had to be smooth, confident, and tasteful for the swing-voters who suddenly found Obama on all of their TV channels one night. It was a good closing to a convention that started out mediocre and ended with a bang (literally, you see those fireworks? damn.). I’m pretty sure Obama is going to win the election. Obama/Biden is a smart, charismatic ticket. They are confident and rather clear on where they stand. These are all things that the Gore/Lieberman (!) and Kerry/Edwards tickets sorely lacked.

Let’s hope they win anyway, or this is one stupid fucking country.

Ummmm… is he being sarcastic? Is he being sincere?? I mean, I consider myself a master of irony and sarcasm, but McCain is fucking with my brain right now.

Seriously dude, what the fuck?

Federal authorities say they have arrested a blogger suspected of streaming songs from Guns N’ Roses unreleased album, “Chinese Democracy,” on his Web site.
FBI agents arrested 27-year-old Kevin Cogill on Wednesday morning on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws. Federal authorities say Cogill posted nine unreleased Guns N’ Roses songs on his Web site in June.

Nice to see we’re using our federal power where we most need it, to stop reckless bloggers from uploading new music from dated 90s metal bands. Good job guys.

A helpful illustration:

There. All clear now?