Thoughtful Dems

The common wisdom of this electoral cycle is that Michigan is going to be a key swing state in November. The presidential candidates, for their part, are fueling this speculation by showering our fair state with attention, in the form of both campaign visits and paid advertisements. The ads, in particular, are hard to miss [...]

Along with the rest of the world, I’ve been glued to the TV for Olympic coverage over the past week, and I love all of the different sports, competitions and stories about the athletes uniting their countries. One of the best aspects of these Olympics, I think, are the commercials. Stupid, right? But I love [...]

I guess this was an off-day for blogging, so I’ll just take a minute to share an amusing story. During the summer, I work as a camp counselor for kids entering third through fifth grade (ages 7-10). Today during some down-time, I happened to be reading an article about the election. One of my campers was [...]

Unlike John McCain tasteless Paris Hilton ad, this counterstrike by the Obama campaign does a good job at redefining what “celebrity” means in this campaign…

Cuter than most of the puppy pictures we’ve posted here, but just as gratuitous. Obama with his daughters on vacation in Hawaii. More after the jump. From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/13/obamas-hawaiian-vacation_n_118677.html.

This is to make sure everyone knows where Georgia is (there’s no excuse now for an “Iraq shares a border with Afghanistan” type of comment) Throughout the fighting between Russian and Georgian forces, just about all of the discussion has centered around who is at fault and how to get the conflict to stop. Here in [...]

I think Senator Obama dances almost as badly as me.

Like their state, Ohio’s seal shows a bleak field stretching into the distance with the hope of something interesting on the horizon. Also, I am pretty sure OSU students use that arrow bundle in their rioting. We all dislike Ohio. The state to our south smells, we consider it’s citizens hicks, it screwed up the [...]

Ok so someone has to finally touch on the John Edwards affiar… Over the last couple of days the media have been opining on what a disaster it would have been if John Edwards were nominated given his recent affair. Why?  The Republican candidate is an admitted adulterer and divorcee.  After a car accident left his first [...]

I know that it is almost too easy to pick on James Dobson, but I can’t help it.  His group has a video on the web encouraging people to pray for rain during Obama’s acceptance speech at INVESCO Field in Denver.  Not only do they ask, but they ask in a light, joking matter: “Would [...]

You have to wonder if this man is auditioning  for a segment on DemTV… although these editing skills remind me of my 11th grade spanish video wherein we made guacamole and made a TV advertisement for it… in bad spanish. Makes you wonder if they rented their camera from the Library of Congress. I really like how [...]

Neither party has this for its voter registration policy. Should they? This article from the Wall Street Journal provides a good overview of how Democrats and Republicans see voter registration. In short, Democrats largely see it as a priority to get as many people registered as possible to maximize turnout. Republicans have a focus on preventing [...]

Russian Troops All Up In Georgia’s Business War has broken out between the small country of Georgia and the reemerging power of Russia in a conflict that may define international relations for years to come. For a synopsis of the players… President Bush has taken a back seat to managing this crisis much like his presidency, while [...]

From the Political Insider… A Wikipedia editor notices some similarities between Sen. John McCain’s speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. They appear similar enough that most people would consider parts of McCain’s speech to be derived directly from Wikipedia. First instance: one of the first countries in the world [...]

If you are a small country wedged underneath your former Russian Overlords… Don’t make the decision to tango with this man. He will detroy you. “One World; One Dream” is the slogan of the Beijing Olympics… apparently Russia, Georgia, John Edwards, and Kwame Kilpatrick did not get the message that this is supposed to be [...]

Paul Krugman, a Princeton economist and New York Times columnist, wrote a brilliant analysis of the strategy of the modern Republican party entitled “Know-Nothing Politics.”  Until 2000 or so the Republican party was a party of bold, if stupid, ideas.  The Contract with America, Reaganomics etc: these were bold ideas that challenged conventional wisdom and [...]

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili Today, Georgia declared that it is at war. It has been fighting Russia over a separatist region called South Ossetia. Additionally, separatist forces in Abkhazia have launched air and artillery strikes to drive Georgian troops out. Georgia is accusing Russia of backing the Abkhazians. This conflict has already reportedly claimed 2000 lives and would [...]

In February, Patchwork Nation created e-mail accounts for pseudovoters for 11 different locations and signed up at the McCain and Obama websites. One of them happened to be Ann Arbor. According to this CSM article, the McCain camp is virtually ignoring Ann Arbor. One of the biggest surprises in the mailboxes of McCain supporters in Philadelphia; Sioux [...]

I always wondered whether sometime a political protester would hit me with a pie in the face. I never thought a friendly birthday cake would attack me from the rear ~Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), quoted by the St. Petersburg Times, on the fallout from the crash of the Straight Talk Express. Great pictures here.

KWAME LOSES BOND APPEAL From the Detroit Free Press: Wayne County Circuit Judge Thomas Jackson ruled this morning that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick must pay $50,000 cash bond and wear a tether before he can be released from the Wayne County Jail. He also is forbidden to travel, meaning the mayor must cancel his trip to the [...]

Today, this article in the Washington Post cites a study (scheduled for release today) from the Institute for Science and International Security that states that “Iran’s uranium facilities are too widely dispersed and protected — and, in some cases, concealed too well — to be effectively destroyed by warplanes. And any damage to the country’s nuclear [...]

Today with the explosion of the Kwame scandal onto the national scene, various leaders in metro-Detroit and Michigan have finally spoken up against the mayor. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, U.S. Rep Candice Miller, Macomb County Board of Commissioners Chairman William Crouchman, and Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence have all made comments stating that the [...]

A Disgrace. There was one thing that CNN, Fox News, most blogs, and most major newspapers all had somewhere on the front pages of their websites today… The imprisonment of Kwame Kilpatrick. This most recent blatant disregard for the law is not even the last straw; that moment occurred long ago. At this point it is purely [...]

Nancy Pelosi will be at Borders on E. Liberty tonight. The event is at 7. Get a wristband at the store ASAP to be able to get in. Proof that I didn’t make this up. Go.  Then blog about it.

From the Detroit News: A judge on Thursday ordered Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to jail, shocking the city and plunging the leadership of the nation’s 11th-largest city into uncertainty. Despite a plea from Kilpatrick that invoked his sons, his respect for the judicial process and his love of the city, 36th District Judge Ronald Giles was unmoved. He [...]

Singer/songwriter Randy Newman released his new album Harps and Angels (2008) this past Tuesday. One of my favorite songs on the album is “A Few Words in Defense of My Country” about America’s changing reputation among our allies. In typical Newman fashion he spins it around on them, dragging up references to horrible European leaders [...]

Obama’s speech at the Lansing Center in Lansing, MI on Monday brought out all of the big names. Among them, Kelly Bernero, former Students for Hillary Chair and now world-wide celebrity. As Scott Launius told me, this photo was Anderson Cooper’s “pic of the day,” meaning Levin, Bernero, and that creepy dude over her shoulder got [...]

I like Gilbert Arenas. He is a great player for the Wizards and is highly entertaining when he talks to the media and on his own personal blog. But then he did this today: I’m not into politics, but I see what’s going on in the presidential race and I’m seeing rappers make songs [...]

Barack Obama came out and said this during a townhall today: Obama speech I thought that it was a rather succinct way to sum up a lot of what we see in modern political discourse. Why did Republicans ridicule Obama for this? Why are the Republicans so hung up on drilling? Why do [...]

This is far too glorious to be real. Check out Paris Hilton’s new campaign spot from Funny or Die. Take that, “white haired dude.”

Obama in Lansing “He’s pandering to San Francisco liberals and environmentalists who would just as soon we not have cars.” ~ Saul Anuzis - Michigan Republican Party Chair - I seem to remember this part of the speech where Obama called for the abolition of cars… It came right after the call to give up Ben and [...]

Recently, Barack Obama stated that he is now willing to agree to some offshore drilling if it is part of a broader bipartisan energy compromise. This was outlined in a speech he gave today in Lansing, where he outlined an energy plan to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and bring down gas prices. It is a [...]

I don’t get it. Whenever I watch the news (which in my house is admittedly heavier on Keith Olberman than Sean Hannity) or read the newspaper, I see a recurring theme. Either McCain is forgetting facts that are central to basic high-school history (like blaming those Shi’ites in al-Qaeda for violence on the [...]

^ I can blog because I am not here ^ People are losing their heads this week as McCain fires the ultimate political weapon - Paris Hilton - and Indiana may become the most important state ever in the next 72 hours… From Talking Points Memo: A Must Read… Remember when John McCain did a major flip-flop [...]

In a world of high oil prices and Mike Rogers - this gleeful graphic was created to explain why we need foreign oil independence… The full plan can be found here… This constitutes Mike Rogers Enemies List - 1) Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - I assume that since Lenin has been dead since 1924 Mike Rogers is targeting [...]

Turns out Kathy Hilton (the woman who spawned Paris Hilton) does not find McCain’s recent attack ad particularly “hot.” In an article for Huffington Post she said: I’ve been asked again and again for my response to the now infamous McCain celebrity ad. I actually have three responses. It is a complete waste of the money [...]

With all the talk about cute and cuddly animals, I figured now would be a good time to talk about the meat industry’s effect on the environment. Its a common misconception that the majority of greenhouse gases are emmited by planes, trains, or automobiles. But in truth, cattle account for 18% of emmissions world wide; [...]

Do you remember Tim Walberg? He represents half of Washtenaw County in the United States House of Representatives and he is currently being challenged my Mark Schauer (who is kicking Wahlberg’s badonkadonk in fundraising). Mr. Walberg has been making nation headlines recently over his vote against authorizing funding for the Head Start education program… the vote [...]

These two were taught by Tom Duvall in political warfare. “Machiavelli and Sun Tzu working in tandem couldn’t have put together a week for John McCain that would have rivaled the favorable coverage that Obama’s getting from his foreign tour.” ~ Republican media strategist Dan Schnur

I hate Hasbro right now. A substantial portion of my summer and my winter semester was spent playing Scrabulous. Scrabulous is a Facebook application that lets you play Scrabble online against your friends and random Scrabble enthusiasts across the internet. However, Hasbro, the makers of Scrabble complained and filed a copyright infringement [...]

I fear by posting this, Kicking Ass Ann Arbor is slowly devolving into KanYe West Blog… Ya’ll can’t stop me from postin’ cute animals!  

If we don’t make the leap (like this polar bear), the earth will melt! Yesterday, the Senate failed to invoke cloture to consider bill S. 3335, a bill that would extend tax incentives for wind and solar energy. The vote was 51 to 43, with 6 senators not voting. It was the 12th time Congress tried [...]

This is for Dana. Here’s my picture: The subject of my post is John McCain’s motto. I have heard that specific phrase coming from Senator McCain himself as well as from many of his spokesman. I began to think about it, helped out by a posting from Andrew Sullivan’s blog here. On [...]

Exciting news from our local Obama campaign! The campaign has set up a text message system specifically for UM and Michigan news!  You can text “UM” to “OBAMA” (62262) for text message updates on the activity of the campaign in MI and on campus. This tool has been used across the nation during the primaries [...]

I’m watching the Daily Show right now. Jon Stewart is talking about this latest scandal to come from the Bush Justice Department. This one’s a bit of a doozey. Monica Goodling was in charge of hiring at the Bush Justice Department. She made the effort to pre-screen candidates based on their political leanings. [...]

A McCain Ad…. Shameless

It’s been pretty apparent to me that the media have been giving John McCain a free pass for the better part of a decade now.  Though McCain, and the right-wing talkers trod out tired old lines about the “liberal media,” a study shows the media are systematically harder on Barack Obama than they are on [...]