Joe Klein: Worst Writer EVER

Tacoma, WA -

Along with about fifty million other people, I've had enough of that shitbag. Although all of the Elite Media is predictably piling on Huckabee because he is poor and from the country, Joe Klein does it with more baseless elitism than ANY ONE, this time citing his podunk-ness by way of an unfamiliarity with monstrous press gatherings.

"a gazillion cameras, nearly a hundred reporters, certainly more than Huckabee has ever seen in one place in his life."

Fuck him. I am actually going to take that as a compliment for my man of the people, Mike Huckabee.

Of course, he goes on to predict a downfall.

"That sound you hear rumbling out of Des Moines appears to be a monumental implosion."

I can't wait until Huckabee proves Klein wrong. Did I mention that he used that same article to mention that he was near the guy who filmed the ad? Ohh, you're so important. Shut up. As much as I miss New Hampshire, I sure as hell don't miss the damned elite media.

Unprecedented

Tacoma, WA -

I am taking arguably my first ever published swipe at my boy Frank Rich today. Frankie, how are you gonna take off your last column before the Iowa Caucuses? We need your bullshit fury now more than ever. I'm calling you out.

While I'm at it, as establishment fear-mongering candidates like Clinton and McCain rack up the Granite state newspaper endorsements like so many butterflies in a scared voter's stomach, I implore my readers yet again to ignore the power plays of the quasi-elite media. Here is a clip from the above linked piece from yesterday's Post at in even in Nashua.

Addressing more than 100 supporters at a VFW hall here Saturday, Clinton used the strongest language he has so far in the campaign to describe the threats facing the nation, making an oblique reference to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and saying that the "most important thing of all" in selecting a nominee is the question of who could best manage unforeseen catastrophes.

"You have to have a leader who is strong and commanding and convincing enough . . . to deal with the unexpected," he said. "There is a better than 50 percent chance that sometime in the first year or 18 months of the next presidency, something will happen that is not being discussed in this campaign."

50 per cent, huh? You gonna cite that, Bill? Or are those facts in Clinton's undisclosed First Lady papers. I guess, as Ben Smith points out, Nader's right after all. They're pretty much all the same.

My condolences to all those non-playoff NFL cities out there.

Week 17 NFL Picks

Week 17, the Swan Song

New England over NY GIANTS (I was indisposed all day and couldn't make this pick on time, my apologies)
CHICAGO over New Orleans
Seattle over ATLANTA
Detroit over GREEN BAY
CLEVELAND over San Francisco
Cincinnati over MIAMI
PHILADELPHIA over Buffalo
Jacksonville over HOUSTON
TAMPA BAY over Carolina
NY JETS over Kansas City
San Diego over OAKLAND
Minnesota over DENVER
Pittsburgh over BALTIMORE
WASHINGTON over Dallas
INDIANAPOLIS over Tennessee

Resting starters could foil my picks, but fuck it. By my estimation, we're looking at the 'Skins and the Browns in the playoffs. Go football!

Vote for Bill Richardson

The Ocean

Lincoln City, OR -

My second Lincoln of the trip. I parted ways with Brother Vince a few hours ago, and now I'm finally on the last leg of the trip up the Oregon Coast, over to I-5 and into Tacoma. The skies are a rare coastal blue, the seas a ruggedly cloud-like white. I can feel the mild, wet air filling my insides. Its a beautiful thing. I left the camera in the car when I came into the coffee shop here to scope out travel routes, but look forward to some coastal beer photos, and, in a few more days, an entire chronicle of the trip. While I'm at it, look forward to a review of Neil Young's Mirrorball album.

Life on the Road,
BTB

------------

**Update**

Tacoma, WA -

Here are some fly pics from the O-Coast, circa Newport.

First Stop: The Rogue Brewery on Yaquina Bay

Next Up: Enjoying a brew on the beach.

What a beautiful day. What a beautiful place.

The Open Road

Twin Falls, ID -

The Open Road sometimes also means the Closed Road. By that logic, it wound up that we got stuck yet again in Wyoming after about a hundred miles west out of Laramie this morning. We pulled off at Rawlins for gas, and they never let us back on to I-80 because of blowing snow and gusting winds. Out around Utah, Colorado and Wyoming the snow tends to be incredibly light and powdery. Douchebag skiers call it "champagne snow" but Vince and I figured it was more like Middle East sand. This also means that it has a nasty tendency to blow across the high plains in blinding fits with the 60mph gusts. Once it calmed down a bit, about fifty miles past Rawlins once they re-opened the freeway, Vince shot a few pics from the passenger side. Here is a toned down version of the conditions that required us to stay in Southeastern Wyoming for twenty-six hours.

Interstate 80, just West of Rawlins, WY

Luckily, weather is cyclical, and a few hours later we saw a pretty kick-ass sunset in Western Wyoming. Note the train in the center of the photo. That guy was shadowing us for a long time, and later disappeared into an amazing crevasse in the mountains.

A Cowboy Sunset

And finally, we hit Ogden, UT for some local beer.

BTB with a growler from Ogden's Roosters Brewpub. Yes, I am drunk with joy for how awesome Ogden was. (Note to readers, I was sober as the morning sun in this photo. I have no idea how I managed to make that face.)

Laramie?

Laramie, WY -

Fuck me! Vince and I decided that we were best off staying here in the great city of Laramie, Wyoming instead of taking our chances waiting for I-80 to re-open and taking our chances with some crap town a couple hundred miles east.

That leaves us here at the TravelInn on 3rd Ave. with wifi and cable tv. Today's Hardball is a tour de force, and the last ten minutes of Matthews v. Madden had me alternately in stitches and in cringes.

I should also mention that it was a good omen that when I stepped into the hotel room and jacked open the mini-fridge I found five cans of Budweiser. Couple that with our growler of Altitude Amber, the ear-burning cold, and the surplus of cowboy bars here in town and I think we are in for a good night.

Wyoming is Cowboy Country*.

*I should mention that Vince and I have made a deal. When he hit the bars tonight, I don't wear my cowboy hat and he doesn't wear his scarf. This is, after all, the regrettable site of the Matthew Shepard hate crime.

Snowed in NFL Picks Week 16

Laramie, WY -

Greetings from the Altitude Bar in Laramie, WY, home of the University of Wyoming Cowboys. Interstate 80 is closed from here to Rawlins due to high winds, low visibility and blowing snow, so our plan to get to Eastern Nevada tonight has been put on hold. Cowgirls, you have been warned!

With that, my NFL picks.

Pittsburgh over ST. LOUIS (late, I know, but I would have picked them, and I have had shoddy internet the last few days)
CAROLINA over Dallas
BUFFALO over NY Giants
Green Bay over CHICAGO
CLEVELAND over Cincy
DETROIT over Kansas City
INDIANAPOLIS over Houston
Philadelphia over NEW ORLEANS
JACKSONVILLE over Oakland
ARIZONA over Atlanta
TENNESSEE over NY Jets
Tampa Bay over SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE over Baltimore
NEW ENGLAND over Miami
MINNESOTA over Washington

I don't know what my record was last week, but it sucked. I'll update once I'm back in Tacoma.

P.S. There are little kids caroling right now...at a bar. Joy to the World. Joy to Wyoming.

Rocky Mountain High

Denver, CO -

Greetings from the Mile High City. I only have a minute or two to toss some junk up on the web, but just wanted to give a quick shout out to Denver. What a great city.

Ahoy,
BTB

Greetings from the Road

Kearney, NE -


3Q Nation, welcome back to the Big Show, which right now is better described as the Road Show.

First of all, a few important points.

1) I am no longer in New Hampshire. I am in the process of driving back to Tacoma, WA.

2) Because of a possibility that I might go back to NH for a week before the primary, I am withholding my endorsement until further notice. Within a week or so I should know whether or not I will keep it close, or drop it on the blog. Sorry for the confusion.

3)Another apology is due. I haven't posted much lately due to shoddy internet access. Right now I'm rollicking on Motel 6 Wireless, but the road has constantly beckoned, so coffee shop stops have been few and far between.

4) I will be writing less about politics in the next two weeks, but I have a great blog piece coming up about a state-by-state beer journey from NH to WA. So far I am ten deep: NH, VT, MA, NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, IA, NE. At least six more states to come. Keep checking back, you'll see what I mean.

Now that I have finished with that piece, I have to say that Kearney (pronounced Carney) is a pretty tight place. I definitely recommend a stop by the Palm Garden Lounge on 22nd St. of of 1st Ave. Friendly bartender, interesting clientèle, awesome football decor.

With that, I will leave you with a few teaser photos.

Indiana, where High School Basketball is King.

BTB with a Three Floyd's Alpha King Pale Ale in Elkhart, IN

In the Deed the Glory

Vince and BTB in front of University of Nebraska's Memorial Stadium with a very shitty Empyrean LunaSea ESB

Love Song of B. Thomas Bissell

Snow Pond, NH -

So here it is, my final entry from Snow Pond for the season. Keep checking back to 3Q for more stories from the trail, more closing sentiments, and a travel log for the ages as we bring this caravan from the Granite State to the Evergreen State. Details to come.


'Til then I end with a poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T. S. Eliot -

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats 5
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question … 10
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, 15
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, 20
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes; 25
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate; 30
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go 35
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair— 40
[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”]
Do I dare 45
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 50
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all— 55
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways? 60
And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
It is perfume from a dress 65
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
. . . . .
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets 70
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?…

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
. . . . .
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully! 75
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep … tired … or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? 80
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, 85
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while, 90
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”— 95
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.”

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while, 100
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen: 105
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.”
. . . . . 110
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use, 115
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old … I grow old … 120
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me. 125

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown 130
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Week 15 NFL Picks

Week 15 Picks

HOUSTON over Denver
Cincinnati over SAN FRANCISCO
Tennessee over KANSAS CITY
Baltimore over MIAMI
ST. LOUIS over Green Bay
Arizona over NEW ORLEANS
NEW ENGLAND over NY Jets
PITTSBURGH over Jacksonville
TAMPA BAY over Atlanta
Seattle over CAROLINA
Indianapolis over OAKLAND
DALLAS over Philadelphia
Detroit over SAN DIEGO
Washington over NY GIANTS
MINNESOTA over Chicago

Going a little controversial this week.

Last Week: 13-3
Season: 98-48

Running Down Campaign Trail with BTB

This video courtesy http://primaryword.org

Christmas with Gravel

Obama Press Conference on Negative Campaigning

Concord, NH –

The Obama campaign held a press conference this morning at their Concord office to talk about the recent charges of negative attacks by the Clinton campaign, more specifically stemming from the incident yesterday involving Clinton’s NH co-chair Bill Shaheen’s remarks about Obama’s past drug use and the implication that Obama may have also distributed drugs at the time.

Two of Obama’s own state co-chairs, Ned Helms and state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, were on hand to deliver remarks about the issue and take questions from the handful of reporters crammed into the Eagle Square office.

“Now is not the time to return to old politics,” Helms asserted, as he charged the Clinton campaign with resorting to character attacks instead of real policy disagreements congruent with Obama’s recent rise in the polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

“They have moved from looking at his kindergarten record,” Helms continued, “to reading his book” to glean information from Obama’s teenage years. “There is no place in the process for smearing character.”

Senator Clark reiterated Helms’ remarks that Obama’s campaign was successful because of his positive message. The voters, she suggested, “are looking for a President who can bring people together.”

Asked by a reporter what more the Clinton campaign could do beyond condemning the statement. Were they pushing for Shaheen to resign?

“That’s a conversation that needs to happen within the Clinton campaign,” Helms replied, before adding that they are not in the business of giving advice to rival campaigns.

Pressed further by another reporter about whether or not that meant that the Obama team believed that the Clinton campaign actually did, if not authorize, at least allow for such comments to be made.

Helms did not confirm that statement, but said “When you see a pattern,” citing the two nefarious e-mails in Iowa and now Shaheen’s remarks, “it doesn’t take a genius to see that there is a thread going on here.” He then added that at some point you just need to say enough is enough.

With that, there were to be no further comments.

Happy Birthday!

Snow Pond, NH -

Happy Birthday to 3Q! Belated, that is. I totally dropped the ball and failed to give a shout out this past Sunday, December 9, which was the One Year Anniversary of the Beginning of the Quabbin Qountry Queries. Fuckin' A, man. Fuckin' A.

It's been a long ride.

By all means check out the first and second posts from that magical first weekend!

Oprah Obama Setlist, 12/9/07

Manchester, NH -

Intro
It’s Not Unusual - Tom Jones
Get Ready - The Temptations
Celebrate - Kool and the Gang
Only in America - Brooks and Dunn
Hold On, I’m Coming - Sam and Dave
Think - Aretha Franklin (entry for Oprah)
City of Blinding Lights - U2 (entry for Barack)

Outro
Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder
Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson
I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers

Minuteman Makes Split-Second Decision

Concord, NH -

Come on, Jim Gilchrist, grow a set! The founder of the Minuteman Project has endorsed Mike Huckabee over Tom Tancredo just a day after Huckabee released his immigration policy, which Gilchrist said "was a plan I myself could have written." Minus, of course, having people patrol the Canadian border with guns.

I know Tom Tancredo doesn't care because he isn't going to win, but seriously, if you are going to encourage vigilantism, at least vote your conscience!

McCain is Angry?

Oprah Obama Photo Journal

Manchester, NH -

The following is a photo journal from the Oprah-Obama rally at Manchester's Verizon Wireless Arena. It was kind of a big deal.

At first I thought they were trying to get rid of me when they told me to walk around the side of the building and go in the door marked "press", like I was going to knock three times and be greeted by hired goons. Instead, it was the gateway to the bowels.

Inside the arena, a look at the stage, the podium, and the two chairs for Oprah and Michelle. Oh yeah, and the big banner behind them, in case you missed that.

Worried about getting crappy seats to the event? At least you weren't stuck in the press pen. The gentleman in the blue sweater in the center of the screen is Tim Foley, the Obama New Media Coordinator. The guy on the left is Reid Cherlin, the state Press Secretary, and the guy in the awesome Russian hat was just a volunteer. But still, it is an awesome fuckin' hat.

This is the view of the crowd on the right half of the stage.

This, then, would be the left side.

The crowd doing the wave while they waited for Oprah. The wave made it around about three times. I have to admit, it was pretty cool. Those women holding the signs were also dancing feverishly throughout the course of the pre-event music selection.

JUMBOTRON!!!!

On the jumbotron during the pregame they played a bunch of videos with volunteers and footage from some of the earlier mass rallies.

JUMBOTRON!!!!

Gov. John Lynch introduces the event. The guy in the foreground is Chris from Candidate Photos. He has been a mainstay on the trail this fall, and is a great guy. He is clearly rushing off to get a much better picture than I am getting.

Michelle Obama addresses the crowd in a funky, yet wickedly stylish, black number with incredibly wide sleeves.

Oprah's on!

More Oprah! (I am only using exclamation points to describe her photos!)

Last but not least, Senator Barack Obama sizes up the crowd.

Oprah Obama Attendence

Snow Pond, NH -

For some reason, I have a disproportionately large pet peeve about campaign-produced attendance estimates. The Obama camp is claiming 8500 at tonight's show in Manchester.

I'll probably get in trouble for saying this (just like the last time I was at an Obama event in Laconia, or the time before when I was at a Clinton event in Nashua when I spoke truth to power) but I can't honestly believe there were more than 5500 people there. 5600 if you count press. Maybe even 5700.

Still the biggest NH event in history, I'm sure, but the rectangular sections were 20 wide and 14 tall (280) and there were ten of those full. The triangular sections held about 100, and there were maybe ten of those. Then you had the luxury boxes, the ground floor, and the nosebleeds that were sporadically merely dabbled with people.

I used to teach math to 6th graders so I have spent a lot of time with area and perimeter. I also know how to count and estimate pretty well (once again, key components of the curriculum). Please, campaigns, stop overestimating!

According to the VZW Arena website "end stage concerts hold about 10,050." I would liken this to an end stage concert, and the place was somewhere between one half and two thirds full. Not 85%.

I want to reiterate that this has nothing to do with the Obama camp in particular. Clinton does it. They all do it. My word to the wise, whenever you hear a campaign estimate, take two thirds of it and call it Gold.

I'll have a diary up ASAP. The goal is to pull an all-nighter to coordinate with the news cycle. Concord High's 7:45 start time may be the only thing standing in my way. I've got bourbon. I've got water. I've got some Cabot cheese. I've got the hope of snow making its way north from Manchester toward my bedroom window.

Universal Hell Care

Concord, NH -

In my humble opinion, if you're not rolling with single payer then Universal Health Care is nothing but demagoguery, if not social jingoism. Today's Monitor summed up these feelings pretty well. Check it out. You better not fine my poor, healthy ass!

Is Dumond a Woman Problem for Huckabee?

Concord, NH -

While most of the reporting on the Dumond parole issue may be, at worst, little more than sensationalism and sour grapes for Huckabee, at best it has the potential to reveal some awful character flaws. The story, first broken by the Huffington Post's Murray Waas, reveals in detail the process by which then-Governor Mike Huckabee oversaw the early parole release of a convicted rapist. According to the way Huckabee frames it, the decision was hardly his, and if anything he was looking forward to giving someone a chance at a better life. In some circumstances that kind of compassion should be lauded, and in most cases of rehabilitation probably works for the best. This time it didn't.

Yet, especially given the way Huckabee dodged the question of whether or not women should be involved in a church's leadership, this Dumond case begs the question: is Huckabee a misogynist? Did he weigh the Dumond's prison behavior more than the impassioned pleas of his victims - all females - because he trusts a man's potential over a woman's warning? Much as I love the Huckabee charm and have an gut feeling that he cares about people, I fear that the answer to those last two questions may be "yes".

If that is the case, and more dirt comes out to expose such a view, Huckabee could be headed down a country road to ruin.

Distasteful Non-Answers

Concord, NH -

Today's U-L has an AP piece that simply asks a handful of the candidates which foods they hate. Typically, a handful of them (Clinton, obviously included) couldn't answer.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: "I like nearly everything. "I don't like, you
know, things that are still alive."
Former Sen. John Edwards: "I can't stand
mushrooms. I don't want them on anything that I eat. And I have had to eat them
because you get food served and it's sitting there and you're starving, so you
eat."
Sen. Barack Obama: "Beets, and I always avoid eating them."
Gov.
Bill Richardson: Mushrooms, specifically. "I'm not a big vegetable eater."
Recalling the first President Bush's distaste for broccoli, he said: "I
sympathize with that fully."
Republicans:
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani:
Liver.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee: "Carrots. I just don't like carrots. I
banned them from the governor's mansion when I was governor of Arkansas because
I could."
Sen. John McCain: "I eat almost everything. Sometimes I don't do
too well with vegetables."
Former Gov. Mitt Romney: "Eggplant, in any shape
or form. And I've always been able to avoid it."
Former Sen. Fred Thompson:
"Not much. I've tried to do better about that. I jokingly say that we kind of
have a diet around our house that if it tastes good, you don't eat it. I haven't
quite got there yet. There's not much that I turn down. That's a good thing on
the campaign trail because you get quite a variety."

Seriously, answer the question.

"Things that are still alive?" I understand that rich people eat exotic things, but that doesn't make any sense at all.

Fred Thompson, are you talking? What a waste of time.

My answer? Black licorice.

NFL Picks Week 14

Snow Pond, NH -

Here are the Week 14 Pix

WASHINGTON over Chicago
Dallas over DETROIT
JACKSONVILLE over Carolina
TENNESSEE over San Diego
GREEN BAY over Oakland
PHILADELPHIA over NY Giants
BUFFALO over Miami
St. Louis over CINCINNATI
HOUSTON over Tampa Bay
Minnesota over SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE over Arizona
DENVER over Kansas City
Cleveland over NY JETS
NEW ENGLAND over Pittsburgh
Indianapolis over BALTIMORE
New Orleans over ATLANTA


Last Week: 11-5
Year to Date: 85-45

Another Slow Day

Snow Pond, NH -

It has been a quiet night here at Three Q. I tried listening to the Democratic NPR debate but I got bored halfway through. I mean, in spite of their efforts to keep it to relevant issues, I nevertheless found the thing to be boring and not terribly insightful. I still like the YouTube one best.

Better yet, I began work on my endorsement metric. I have finally pegged down a date for my official endorsement of a candidate here at 3Q: Sunday, December 16. That should give you all enough time to realize that my choice is an intelligent one, and then get on your horse and caucus for him (or her, I guess). My endorsement will come out based on a series of qualitative judgments on quantitative measures, if that makes sense. In other words, my judgment on a series of issues will be taken into account on a weighted scale. I have no idea who will get my endorsement! I am hoping this takes away the bias of whose jokes I found funniest or whose suits I like best.

Stay tuned!

BTB

Come See Your Favorite Blogger!

Manchester, NH -

This Thursday, December 6 at 7:00PM the New England News Forum is hosting a town hall titled: The UnPress: New Gatekeepers of the New Hampshire Primary with a bunch of bigwigs like myself. Sounds like there will be bloggers and professors and civic activists discussing the role of the internet and new media in the NH Primary horse race. You can see a list of participants here.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be located at SNHU's Robert Frost Hall. Directions here.

Oh yeah, the most important part. I'm one of the featured participants. If you live in New England, by gum you should come on over! At the very least you can come and see how good I look, or better yet watch me make a fool of myself.

See you on the trail,
BTB

NH On Cask

North Woodstock, NH -

While a watering hole review of the Woodstock Station here in North Woodstock, NH is long overdue, I will put it off yet again, but not without a quick cask plug.

Right now at the Station, in the downstairs bar they are featuring a caskfull of last year's Wassail, which has been aging in a barrel with 6 oz. of bourbon infused in cedar chips. I just had one, and I can't imagine there is much left in the cask, so hurry up to NoWo and get some of that sweet, malty goodness.

That's right folks, ON CASK!

Media Tries to Blow Down Straw Poll Paul

Plymouth, NH -

Ron Paul puts his pants on just like the rest of the GOP candidates - one leg at a time. Except, once his pants are on, he wins straw polls. This time he dominated in Virginia. I think this is something like the 12th straw poll he has won now. I know they don't mean much, but at some point they have to mean something.

Paul - 38%
Thompson - 23% (whose surrogate was VA GOP's favorite son George Allen)
Huckabee - 11%
Giuliani - 9%

Which bring me to my other point, why was the MSM afraid to give Ron Paul any propers for his debate performance Wednesday?

Although his speaking time, 7:11, put him in the middle of the pack and very near Mike Huckabee (9:47) and the drawling Fred Thompson (10:25), Paul was widely ignored in most debate reviews.

The New York Times' sole mention of Paul had to do with his quip about fundraising.

And Representative Ron Paul of Texas, whose libertarian, anti-war candidacy has made him a surprise fund-raising sensation on the Internet, allowed that he was “struggling to figure out how to spend the money.”

In The Fix, Chris Cilizza gave Paul only passing mention as the object of a motion by John McCain.

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) challenged Rep. Ron Paul over the idea of whether American troops should be removed from Iraq immediately. "That kind of isolationism, sir, is what caused World War II," McCain said to a mixture of cheering and booing from the crowd. "We allowed Hitler to come to power with that kind of attitude and appeasement." Paul responded that he had more campaign donations from active military men and women than any other Republican candidate.

Yet he completely failed to include a key component of that back-and-forth, when Paul told McCain he didn't understand the difference between isolationism and non-interventionism, and furthermore that the crowd wildly cheered Paul as he gave his anti-war answer that led McCain to go after him.

Furthermore, there was absolutely no mention of the exchange that drew McCain's real ire in the first place. The Arizona Senator is fond of repeating a line, which he has been saying for years, about the Republicans going to Washington to change it, but how Washington changed them. Well, Ron Paul went out of his way with his first chance to say "I don't think that applies to me. Washington didn't change me." You could see McCain bristle while Paul exposed McCain's establishment credentials.

There was another tete-a-tete between the two white hairs later on when McCain interrupted once again to point out that America never lost a battle in Vietnam. Paul instantly hit back with the point that the Vietnamese Colonel Tu said in a meeting with the American Colonoel Summers, who made the same point, "yes, but that is irrelevant." Again, the crowd cheered on Ron Paul's sentiment.

Over at First Read, the editorial crew gave Paul some credit for sounding rational in the face of irrationality.

Paul does a pretty good job of sounding rational when posed with somewhat irrational questions. His trilateral commission answer didn't sound conspiratorial even though the whole premise of the question is just that: conspiratorial.

In other words, a backhanded compliment. They're saying he is an articulate coot. It is oddly reminiscent of the Kucinich UFO question.

My initial reaction to the debate was the Huckabee put in a great performance, Romney was all over the place mostly due to his overtly visceral pandering instinct, and Giuliani stunk up the joint. The MSM picked up on this loud and clear. But the thing they didn't notice is that Ron Paul bitch slapped John McCain left and right with sound reasoning in the face of patriotistic jingoism. Its not about the troops winning. Its about life and death, human dignity and Iraqi freedom, and the honor of American values. Ron Paul understands this, and if you watch the video again, so did the voters in the crowd. MSM - don't be afraid.

Wrong Turns on the Track of the Clinton Hostage Taker

**This piece was originally produced for Huffington Post's Off the Bus Project**

Somersworth, NH -

I caught wind of the Clinton office hostage situation in Rochester just after 2PM today, while the US History class I was substitute teaching half-heartedly watched a video about the Roaring 20's. My gmail inbox turned white at the top with a new item from Off the Bus asking if it were possible to get out to the scene of the crime to do a little bit of citizen journalism. I told OTB that I could be in Rochester by 4:30, and they told me to run with it.

So I picked up my laptop and my digital camera and burned rubber toward the seacoast. My editor, Neil Nagraj, was giving me updates on the story over the phone as I drove an hour due east to Rochester without a map. I was going purely on instincts, road signs and telephone directions. It was one of those afternoons.

By the time I veered off of Rte. 4 and onto US 202, it was beginning to be widely reported that a man named Troy Alan Stanley was the alleged hostage taker based on the report of a family friend given to FOX News's Carl Cameron. Whereas the original purpose of my trip was to bear witness to the growing media circus revolving the hostage situation, my new assignment was to find background on Mr. Stanley.

Just as Neil was giving me directions to turn right onto US 202A through the center of Rochester to find Stanley’s house, I hit the first of many roadblocks. Much of the town center of Rochester was cordoned off by local and state police, and sitting directly across the lane I was slated to turn on to was a police car parked perpendicularly with an office standing alongside and directing traffic away from 202A.

I hung up the phone, pulled the car over, and ran over to the officer for guidance. She directed me all the way around the city to Rochester Hill Road, where ten minutes later I would find the apartment complex where Mr. Stanley lived. I climbed the stairs to the second floor to where I was told his apartment would be, turned to my left and walked to the end of the hallway. When I finally shifted my gaze to the appropriate door, my heart dropped in my stomach. There were clear indications around Stanley’s apartment of unusual behavior. Was this the residence of America’s Most Wanted man?

I stumbled down the hallway a little ways and knocked on a door to ask some neighbors about him. Three of them were sitting together eating fish and chips and happily obliged my request for background on Mr. Stanley. Just like the media in downtown Rochester, they instantly and excitedly jumped on the Stanley guilt bandwagon. Although the neighbors asked to remain anonymous, they nevertheless bombarded me with dozens of stories about the man that I won't report here because of his innocence, but that were telltale signs of schizophrenia and potentially clear windows into the mind of the hostage taker.

As a result, everything seemed to fall into place. A tormented man with a history of lashing out at neighbors and habitually engaging in generally twisted activities fit the profile of what we were all looking for incredibly well. So well, in fact, that it seemed almost too good to be true.

"You won't believe it," I told my editor over the phone after I left the apartment building. "This guy has quite a story."

I recounted all the things that the neighbors had told me. Neil suggested I talk to the apartment managers to find out a little bit more about their tenant, possibly a photograph or a personal reference. I walked across a field, the grass just beginning to crisp with the cold evening air, and rang a doorbell. A woman answered the door.

"It's not him," she told me. "My husband was just inside the building. Stanley walked into his apartment not two minutes ago."

Not sure what to think, I returned to my car, called my editor and told him the news. "Go ask again," he told me. "Find out for sure."

Just to make sure, I went back. This time the apartment manager himself arrived at the door. He reiterated that Stanley was in his apartment as we speak, and pointed to the light on the second floor window facing the driveway. He suggested I go talk to him myself if I didn't believe him.

I thanked them for their time and walked away from the house. After all the hoopla, it turned out that the most wanted man in New Hampshire was sitting in his apartment, victim of false media reporting and fear at the hands of his friends and family. It was like an episode of Scooby Doo, and I had just spent an hour chasing a Red Herring. The most obvious answer, fueled by a mixture of storytellers from around town, isn't always the best.

With this in mind, and spurred on by a request from the HuffPo to talk to Mr. Stanley about his feelings on the widely reported accusations, I summoned the courage to walk back into the apartment building and up the stairs to Stanley's room. I thought for sure he would be angry, and potentially volatile given the nature of they hysteria from earlier in the day and the description I had been given less than a half hour earlier. How could he not be?

On the contrary, Stanley was quite calm and far from menacing. He told me had no comment on the incident, and then launched into a five minute sermon about his past. Our discussion was short only by my insistence on giving him his peace. His mental illness shone through the entire story.

On the bright side, I felt relieved that the terrible misunderstanding didn't seem to affect him, he still had the same worries on his mind that his neighbors and relatives had described. But on the other hand I was incredibly saddened at the idea that his illness was so severe that such would be the case in the first place.

Down the stairs, along the driveway and into my car, I drove back to downtown Rochester, or at least as close as I could get before the police blockade. By this time, the identity of the actual perpetrator had become news. It was a man named Leeland Eisenberg. The hostages had all been released and I could hear the police radio announcing his capture as I stood in the crosswalk next to the State Trooper who was directing traffic near the blockade.

My editor called me just then, and we discussed the next course of action. The research team back at headquarters was looking into Eisenberg's background and awaiting further news from the authorities and the other media outlets. I was resigned to walk the streets asking if anyone knew the guy, and thinking about the things that had happened so far.

At the pizzeria, in the comic book shop and on the sidewalk nobody knew anything about Eisenberg. Maybe he was from out of town. But the more I walked around, the more I gathered that most of the people in sleepy Rochester this cold winter night were media types.

Packs of television reporters scurried around doing the same thing I was doing, only more aggressively and with a bigger camera and a better dressed inquisitor at the helm. It was then that I fully realized that I was part of the media circus myself. I turned around and headed back toward my car.

On the way back there was a candlelight vigil for World AIDS Day at a church next to the police blockade. I stopped and helped them fill their white paper bags with cat litter as a counterbalance for the wind while they lit votives and placed them inside. Their event was drastically reduced in guests and stature by the hostage tragedy, but they were joyfully moving on as planned. All things go on.

Sure enough, I got a call moments later with the location of Leeland Eisenberg's home. I had a second chance to find a back story on the troubled man who had caused such an uproar in the media, and so much stress and heartache in the friends and families of the hostages.

I left Rochester driving south toward Somersworth, coincidentally right past Mr. Stanley's apartment. Mr. Eisenberg lived alongside the same exact road, a mere two and a half miles south toward Dover. By the time I arrived, after inquiring at a Dunkin Donuts and a gas station to find out exactly where Eisenberg's trailer park was located, the place was a zoo.

The scene near Eisenberg's residence just after his arrest.

The park consisted of one elbow-shaped street hardly wide enough for two cars, and yet it was stuffed with three police cruisers, two television satellite vans, four sets of camera crews, and a handful of cars parked here and there along the street. I thought it best, and most respectful, to keep the area as clear as possible so I switched the clutch over to reverse and wheeled my car around a corner to the parking lot beside an Indonesian restaurant and entered on foot.

Now at my second suspects house of the night, the locals were equally as forthcoming about their neighbor as the earlier bunch, but had no qualms about going on the record. Much to my surprise, and the television reporters beside me, their words were mostly positive. While George Isaacson, Lucie Sunkduag and Erik Carlsen all acknowledged the domestic disputes between Eisenberg and his wife, they were also quick to point out his usually sunny demeanor.

"He was a very pleasant man. It is a complete shock to me," Isaacson said.

"He was never down," noted Carlsen. "He always seemed lively and up."

Sunkduag's take was that "he always said hi. He was always well dressed when he went to the store."

When I asked about his walks to the store, I found out that they were quite frequent. Every day, in fact. And what did he get when he was there? Beer.

"I knew it wasn't the hard stuff," said Sunkduag, "because the grocery store down there only sells beer and wine. He goes there every day, nowhere else."

Carlsen observed that Leeland "was drunk 24/7."

Having picked up on this pattern of Eisenberg's lifestyle, I immediately became interested in a small detail. The mainstream media were disseminating these instant reactions to millions of people all over the world, so I figured I was best served asking around elsewhere to find out the question that all the sudden consumed me. What kind of beer did Eisenberg drink to escape his problems and fuel his domestic violence?

I asked the neighbors, but they could only testify to having seen brown paper bags. I wondered to myself, was it Bud bottles or maybe tall cans of Keystone Ice? I thanked the neighbors for their time, left them to do their live television interviews with the local and cable news reporters on the scene, and decided to head down to the local convenience store to investigate.

Under a clear, cold sky, I followed Eisenberg's nightly path. It was about a three minute walk along a busy country highway and through a car dealership over to the Maxi Mart convenience store and gas station, home to a Domino's Pizza, a standard assortment of candy and chips, and of course a cooler full of beer and a tall rack of cigarettes behind the counter.

The Maxi Mart, near Eisenberg's house

There were four people behind the counter when I arrived, the two co-owners, one of their wives, and a friend. They were taking turns dealing with customers and jovially bantering with one another. Perfect, I thought. It was just the kind of welcoming family business where the habits of the regulars might be recalled with some degree of clarity, and a little bit of conversation was part of the deal every time you bellied up to the counter for a sale.

After a brief and confusing struggle to describe Mr. Eisenberg to the shop's owner, Pierre Salfini, we finally agreed that Leeland, a short, thin, mustachioed man of about fifty was both the regular customer who came by around 6PM every day as well as the man who entered the Clinton campaign office some seven hours earlier claiming to have a bomb strapped around his chest.

"I think he was in here this morning," said Ali Ghaddar, the store's co-owner, with a bemused look.

"This may sound strange," I said to Silfani. "But I want to know what kind of beer this man bought when he came in here every day."

"He always bought uh, Natural, natural…" he trailed off.

"Natty Light?" I chimed in.

"Yeah, Natural Light," Silfani recalled. "Six packs. And he smoked either Basic Menthol or Pall Mall menthols."

Ghaddar spoke up from behind. "It was Pall Mall."

"Yeah," Silfani agreed. "Pall Mall. But definitely menthols."

The store owners gave almost identical testimonies on their perception of Mr. Eisenberg as his neighbors. "He was very nice and polite. Always well dressed."

While they chatted about the odd circumstance that they habitually sold legal doses of stimulants and depressants to a man who it turns out was quite disturbed I snuck off to the back of the clean, brightly lit store. I wanted to get a look at the beer cooler. Natural Light, coincidentally, was the first beer that ever got me drunk seven years ago. I knew of its allure. Sure enough, in the lefthand corner of the bottom shelf was the tell-tale soft gray and baby blue sheen of Natural Light.

Walking back to the counter, I asked how much the Natty Light six packs went for.

"$2.99," Ghaddar told me.

"And the smokes? The Pall Malls?"

He looked back and turned to me with an ironic smile on his face. "Same price."

Eisenberg may have been one of the better dressed customers at the Maxi Mart, but he bought the cheapest beer and the cheapest cigarettes they had to offer.

As I walked out of the convenience store I found myself whistling along with the song playing on the radio, The Police's "Message in a Bottle". Just a castaway, and island lost at sea. Another lonely day, no one here but me. I can only imagine that is how it felt a lot of the time for the two men who were involved, one wrongfully and the other correctly, in today's hostage fiasco in Rochester.

Hostage

Snow Pond, NH -

I just returned from Rochester, Somersworth and Dover after a night of chasing around stories about the Clinton Campaign Office Hostage situation. What a night. I am working on a longish piece about my trials and travails for the HuffPo, and I'll post it shortly. I have a lot of work left to do, and not a lot of sleep in the bank, so it likely means I won't be able to make it down to Manchester for Paul and Huckabee Saturday, but I should have my first Gravel piece up from the conference by Sunday nevertheless along with a little media criticism about the GOP debate. Can Ron Paul get a little love? A little more amore?

After the scene I saw tonight all I can say is that I hope that you, fair reader, are free to roam wherever you wish, and if you're drinking or doing drugs I hope you are doing so for happiness and not to silence the demons. There is a lot of sad shit going on out in the world, and a whole lot of sad people. Keep in mind that I got nothing but love for you, whoever you are, and keep doing your thang (especially if that thang is reading my blog).

Pourin' Some Out for Another November Gone by,
BTB

Ben Cohen Sweetens Up Budget Discussions at College Conference

Manchester, NH -

There is no better time than lunch time to hear a speech from an ice cream magnate, especially when it is accompanied by free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream bars. But what is the deal with hearing that speech at a college political conference bookended by Presidential candidates? The deal is that Ben Cohen is no ordinary dessert baron.

Cohen leads a group called Business Leaders for Sensible Budget Priorities, whose chief goal is to “change US budget priorities to reflect a national commitment to education, healthcare, energy independence, job training and deficit reduction -- at no additional taxpayer expense -- by eliminating funding for unneeded Cold War era weapons systems.”

It also happens that members of this group have been among the most visible interest groups on the campaign trail this year here in New Hampshire. At nearly every candidate’s stop you are likely to run into someone from the priorities gang handing out fliers, pens and cookies illustrating the US budget in a pie graph and driving around vans with the same pied logo painted on the side. So for Cohen, who sold Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever in 1999, this convention was the ideal venue for him to sell his latest venture, prioritizing our national budget.

Speaking to a group of college students, themselves presumably worried about their current grades in Urban Sociology and Stats 451, Cohen began his speech with a tone of great humility. Ahh, college, he fondly remembered. “I Went to Colgate, dropped out. Then went to Skidmore, dropped out. Went to NYU, dropped out. Went to the New School, dropped out.”

Meanwhile, his boyhood friend and now famous partner in crime, Jerry, had applied to thirty medical schools and was rejected across the board.

“We were, kind of, two failures,” said Cohen. “The only thing we really liked doing was eating so we decided on having a food business and ended up picking ice cream.”

He then told the story of taking a correspondence course through Penn State to learn how to make ice cream, and struggling to sell frozen desserts in a less-than-tropical Vermont winter. Slowly but surely, Ben and Jerry’s became an important brand in ice cream culture, and when Ben began to worry about the negative social effects of business on culture and the environment, a local mentor gave him the advice that would shape the rest of his life.

“If there’s something you don’t like about business just do it differently.”

Cohen has lived by those words ever since. Now that he is out of business, he has transferred them over to the world of citizenry. He doesn’t like the way that government is doing business, so he is trying to get them to do it differently. Today, he hoped that the gathering of college students would see it the same way.

Referring to social problems like hunger and disease Cohen said, “I was brought up to believe that those problems have always existed. They will always exist. I’m here to tell you that’s a myth. That’s a bunch of BS.”

So went the call of action from an old, sweet-toothed hippie. But Cohen wasn’t content with a mere warning. Ever a fan of visuals, as evidenced by his colorful pint containers, Ben then turned the presentation into a veritable free-for-all of props not seen since the days of Gallagher.

Anyone can tell you that the United States’ military budget is immense, but Cohen felt it more appropriate to show it with a bar graph made from replicas of oreo cookies. Each cookie represented ten billion dollars, and he stacked them up to compare our military budget (more than thirty) to that of education (4 oreos), world hunger (1.5 oreos), children’s health care (5 oreos), energy independence (.25 oreos), job training (.75 oreos), and reducing the deficit (0 oreos).

This really had the crowd going, as Cohen climbed up on a ladder, much like Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth, to illustrate the height of the military budget.

“I think he was very entertaining and he made some very good points,” said Danielle Brazil, a junior at Salve Regina University. “I loved that he had visuals. I think that’s so important, andI loved the oreo idea. I think that’s funny.”

Cohen continued with his oreo model to suggest how we might cut the military budget by at least six oreos (sixty billion dollars) and transfer funds into more needy projects. After all, Russia, China, Iran, Libya and North Korea combine for a mere 200 billion in military spending.

“I liked how he compared the US Defense spending to Russia and China,” was Salve Regina junior Emila Shosho’s reaction. “I think its important he emphasizes that our defense spending is still higher after we cut it.”

Still not finished with the crowd-pleasing demonstrations, Cohen implored the students to close their eyes for his finale. He dropped one bb into a tin can as the crowd sat hushed while he explained that it represented the nuclear power of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The single bb made a loud ping.

“Now listen,” he said, “to what our current nuclear arsenal sounds like.”

Ben then poured an entire container of lead pellets into the empty tin can, causing a riotous noise into the microphone that resonated through the large, otherwise silent room. After ten seconds of rattling, the bbs finally stopped, and the crowd stood up in a spontaneous standing ovation.

“In business,” Cohen said, “if you don’t shift directions fast enough you go out of business. In government, its not exactly that way. Our country, the last remaining super power on earth needs to measure its strength not on how many people we can kill, but on how many people we can feed, clothe, and care for.”

In Cohen’s mind, with the vast difference in guns and butter, providing delicious ice cream flavors like Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Phish Food and Cherry Garcia just isn’t enough. The students in the room seemed to agree.

Week 13 NFL Picks

Manchester, NH -

Here are the picks for Week 13

DALLAS over Green Bay
TENNESSEE over Houston
INDIANAPOLIS over Jacksonville
San Diego over KANSAS CITY
ST. LOUIS over Atlanta
MIAMI over NY Jets
MINNESOTA over Detroit
Seattle over PHILADELPHIA
WASHINGTON over Buffalo
OAKLAND over Denver
CAROLINA over San Francisco
CHICAGO over NY Giants
Cleveland over ARIZONA
NEW ORLEANS over Tampa Bay
PITTSBURGH over Cincinnati
New England over BALTIMORE


Week 12: 12-4
Season to Date 74-40

College Convention 2k8

Manchester, NH -

We will be blogging from the New England College Convention 2008 all day today. I'm listening to Ben Cohen from Ben and Jerry's right now, and Sen. Mike Gravel is up next, followed by Steve Marchand. I hope to put up three or four small entries throughout the afternoon, and a longer one about Mike Gravel later on. Right now the Senator is at the table behind me drinking a glass of milk and listening to Ben tell his story.

GOP YouTube Love Blog Part 4

Manchester, NH -

Candidates are getting called out for Don't Ask Don't Tell policy by a retired Brig. General.

McCain continually dodges questions about policy by saying we have brave troops and the best army ever. Just a note.

Huckabee just suggested Hillary be on the first space trip to Mars. Wild applause.

Tancredo points out that we can't be spending money going to Mars when our deficit is so big.

Anyone else see the irony in Rudy talking about how to attract African-American voters? isn't he the most hated politician by minorities in America?

A question about the confederate flag? Anderson misspeaks, calls it stars and bars

Looks like that last question has Romney pandering anew, but at least he rails against the Confed. flag.

Paul's video is awesome. Footage of rallies and supporters and freeway overpass signs.

Giuliani just whined when he got challenged.

"This country is in a revolution. They're sick and tired of what they're getting. And I happen to be lucky enough to be part of it"- Paul

Classic, they end with a stupid baseball question. Gimme a break.

Also, I should mention that I am at a college conference and there are only ten people watching the debate. I'm off to find an after party. See you later.

BTB

GOP YouTube Love Blog 3

Manchester, NH -

Question about repairing relations with Muslim world
Rudy: let's stay on offense!
McCain: Let's win the war in Iraq. No Surrender.
Hunter: I will never apologize for the United States of America.
(translation: we can beat them into submission!)


Romney doesn't think it is wise for candidates to say what techniques they would specifically use.

"Well, governor, I'm astonished that you haven't found out what waterboarding is." - McCain.

Ooh, some guy just whipped out a chart. He wants permanent bases in Iraq. United World of America! Woo!

I think Ron Paul just pointed at the crowd while they were cheering down McCain. Maybe I'm wrong. McCain and Paul are fighting again. This is awesome. "Wolfowitz even admitted that one of the major reasons al-Qaeda was organized because of our bases in Saudi Arabia." Paul, the ideologue, is unflappable.

Thompson just jokes about a cartoon Cheney, "I thought that was me." Not exactly a comparison you want to be making, Fred.

Hunter's commercial starring Chuck Yeager! Does anyone even know who he is anymore?

commercial

GOP YouTube Love Blog part 2

Manch

Giuliani just got loudly booed on a gun question. Man, he's getting trounced tonight.

...
Just left for ten minutes to go hear Joe Biden speak. He's earnest as hell today.
...

What should the punishment be for abortion for women and doctors?
What a stupid question. Old West. Dodge City.

Another abortion question. Giuliani just said he wouldn't sign a federal abortion ban, he's send it to the states.

"I would welcome a circumstance" where that happened. "I'd be delighted to sign it" - Romney
What a pander.

Death Penalty: What would Jesus Do?
"It was the toughest decision I've ever made" - Huckabee, yet goes on to stand up for the penalty. Tries to explain how that works with pro-life stance. "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office."

Do you believe every word of the bible?
Giuliani, no.
Romney: "absolutely." He is trying as hard as he can to be the anti-Rudy.

commercial break.

GOP YouTube Love Blog

Manch, NH -

I'm late! A scheduling error had me planning on a 9pm start time for the debate, but alas it was 8. I high tailed it down here for 8:30.

As soon as I walked in the door Mitt and Huck were really getting after each other about illegal immigrant children. Then it was talk about spending.

The styles of these candidates are markedly different.

Paul just clowned on McCain. "I came to Washington and Washington didn't change me." Just got a lot of applause for saying we should bring the troops home. It's a First! Yeah!

Huckabee just got a bunch of applause for fair tax. "More people in this country are afraid of an audit than they are a mugging and there's a reason why."

Oooh, McCain is on the attack! Ron Paul is just nodding like "bring it on."

"He doesn't even understand the difference between non-interventionism and isolationism" - Paul on McCain. Boo ya.

Grover Norquist just asked a question. If Chris Dodd is "too famous" to do so, why isn't Grover?

Rudy just got asked about the Politico scandal. He looked nervous.

Tancredo's video is hilarious. Entirely about Hillary, except when it cites that he took on Geraldo.

WOW, Fred Thompson's video was entirely an attack on Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

and commercial

Everything's On Sale!

Snow Pond, NH -

Attention Holiday Shoppers! Get your gear for less!



This is the second round of e-mails I have received from the Obama campaign advertising their line of Obama-related t-shirts, hats, and stickers. But this, obviously, is the first holiday-themed e-mail. Look at those cute snowflakes! Gets me all cuddly inside, makes me crave some hot cocoa and a nice Hope t-shirt!

Yeah, right. I want a bourbon hot toddie and my old wool sweater. But luckily for Team Obama, there are millions of people out there who are suckers for glossy ad campaigns. Why wait for the Sunday paper supplementals when your e-mail inbox delivers for you on a Wednesday morning?

This idea of a political campaign product advertising gives me mixed emotions. On the one hand, it disgusts me. It furthers the trend of over-consumption in our society, and plays us for patsies who can be swayed by pretty colors and minor discounts. Can you imagine someone who Barack's policies are ostensibly trying to help, a young women just out of college with very little income and high debts, putting a t-shirt purchase on her 25% interest credit card because she doesn't get paid for another week and a half? And what if someone has already maxed out on donations at $2,300 and then buys $200 worth of Obama beanies for all of his grandchildren at Xmas? Does that create a legal problem for the campaign?

On the other hand, I have to give it to them because it is a pretty brilliant idea. Where a lot of people would recoil at giving their hard-earned money to a political campaign, even one that they believe in, spending 20 bucks on a t-shirt is normal. Inserting colorfully logoed products helps to bridge the gap between today's consumer society and political activism which, these days, relies almost entirely on how much money you can give to the campaign coffers.

Most important of all, everything's on sale! So not only are you helping to change the political direction of our great nation, you're also getting more for your money. Now don't forget about that summer clearance! And don't get me started on the fact that they have seasonal clothing lines.

Final Prediction, circa 2016:
RNC and DNC Credit Cards. 1% of every purchase goes to the political party you support the most. Get cash back on all purchases from party-endorsed corporations! Save 5% on party donations when you use the card! Your choice of three great designs!

The RNC and DNC Credit Card: Purchase Power to the People

The Cookie Primary

Snow Pond, NH -

This morning, when I sat down at the table overlooking the pond, I got a little cra-zayyy with the maple syrup in my oatmeal dish, bringing it to a level of sweetness usually reserved for things like cake and ice cream and, well, cookies. So it was quite the coincidence when, moments later, it came to my attention that Dublin, NH's Yankee Magazine is holding a cookie primary, where all the candidates were invited to share their favorite cookie recipes for Yankee readers' approval in an online poll leading up to a taste test from a panel of experts on December 14. Candidates have until then to submit, but here is a sampling of what is on the docket so far.

DEMOCRATS

Joe Biden - Senator Joe Biden's Favorite Oatmeal Cookies
Certainly the most self referential of all the offerings. But of course.

Hillary Clinton - Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Props to Clinton for being the only one to offer some sort of chocolate chip cookie. Hedging bets with the quasi-health conscious community with the oatmeal, but I guess ol' Bill needs that stuff for his heart. Hillary also goes so far as to tell us how long to cool the cookies on the cookie sheets (2 min.) before removing them to wire racks. Thanks for that!

Chris Dodd - Dodd Family Christmas Cookies
Name is pretty anonymous, but they have a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of clove, a little bit of cinnamon, some lemon rind."This recipe makes a lot of cookies. They will keep a long time in a tight container." Sounds an awful lot like the "experience" cookie to me.

Mike Gravel - Great-Grandma Gravel's Biscuits a la Creme Sure
For all of us non-French speakers, that means Sour Cream Cookies straight out of the French Canuck New England roots. Worth noting that "According to the recipe they don't last long in the cookie jar." At first I was going to make fun of Gravel for not knowing that from experience, but then I remembered, Duh! What kind of idiot lets a batch of cookies last beyond the afternoon! Way to chow down, Mike!

Barack Obama - Michelle Obama's Apple Cobbler
Uhh, Barack, that is not a cookie. But major props to Michelle, who says "I've been making this cobbler for a long time, so I usually just eyeball how much needs to go in." As the girls I have consistently cooked for over the last four years can attest, this Dude doesn't abide by recipes. Going back to the cobbler thing, what else did you expect from Obama. We don't need somebody who can play the cookie game better, we need a new cookie game.

Bill Richardson - Bill and Barbara Richardson's Biscochitos
From the man whose fundraising goals are done in chili peppers comes the official state cookie of New Mexico. That's some good state pride. Tight, part 1: recipe calls for table wine. Tight, part 2: last clause of the mixture recipe says "add more wine, if necessary." Also, requires lard and includes anise seed. That is what we call trying to incorporate red states and blue states.


REPUBLICANS

Mike Huckabee - Mrs. Huckabee's Snickerdoodles
Fitting that Mike Chucklebee would serve up some snickerdoodles. Simple directions say to "mix dough and chill." First of three candidates (all Republicans) to refer to their wife, in the recipe title, as "Mrs." Also, if we are to believe Huckabee's diet, he doesn't eat these things. This is also probably why Dennis Kucinich, a vegan, chose not to submit a cookie recipe.

John McCain - Mrs. Cindy McCain's 3-Minute No-Bake Cookies
3-Minute No-Bake? Although you do win the hyphen award, I gotta say it - way to be lazy, Cindy! I'll return the favor on my review. Worth noting, Second of Three candidates (all Republicans) to refer to their wife, in the recipe title, as "Mrs."

Ron Paul - Carol Paul's Apricot-Coconut Balls
No comment on obvious fruitcake/nut joke. Good, simple and principled recipe just like the campaign. Apricots, coconut, condensed milk and pecans. Avoids flour in protest of high government wheat subsidies, avoids baking in protest of nuclear power subsidies. Worth noting that Paul's internet army of bots have dominated the online voting so far, with 95% of the early returns according to a source at Yankee.

Mitt Romney - Mrs. Romney's Welsh Skillet Cakes
Could there be a more boutique-y sounding cookie? My answer is no. From what I understand Wales is pretty rustic and rural, and it certainly doesn't have any Bourgeois cities like Paris, but I just can't get over the fact that anything Welsh just sounds really effete and arrogant. But I will say that this recipe is pretty complicated, and even includes exclamations about how to roll the dough. So about that Republicans-who-watch-Martha-Stewart-vote? Romney just nailed it! Worth noting, Romney is the third of three candidates (all Republicans) to refer, in the recipe title, to their wife as "Mrs."

Tom Tancredo - Jackie Tancredo's Frosted Chocolate Drops
To paraphrase the immortal words of South Park's Chef, "suck on my Frosted Chocolate Drops. (Put 'em in your mouth!)" It is how they do out in Colorado. But back to the cookies, we've got some butter, some chocolate, some nuts, plus the frosting, which Mrs. Tancredo doubles? I like it a lot. Coincidentally, the runner-up recipe in the Tancredo recipe choosing contest: mexican wedding cakes.

Fred Thompson - Jeri Thompson's Grandmother's Sugar Cookies
The nice thing about this recipe, although arguably the blandest offering, is that the directions are numbered in five easy steps. No need to actually read a paragraph. That's too much work when you're cookin'. But points are lost as the directions call for frosting, but there is no recipe for it. What, you want us to use store-bought? For shame. As an aside, I wonder if Fred Thompson went to high school with Jeri Thompson's grandmother.

Obama Set List, Laconia 11/20

Obama Set List
Laconia, NH
11/20/07

Steal My Kisses - Ben Harper
A Kiss to Build a Dream On - Louis Armstrong
Unintelligible Norah Jones song
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder

Obama: Voice of a New Generation?

Laconia, NH -

Tuesday night, just before Thanksgiving, was dark, cloudy and cold. The inch and a half of snow on the ground from that morning’s flurries, bright and reflective in my headlights, was all that kept the small state highways East of I-93 in North Central New Hampshire from being dangerously invisible. In other words, for all intents and purposes, winter had reared its ugly head here in the Granite State.

In the place that holds the first-in-the-nation primary, winter historically means crunch time. When you think of the iconic moments of the NH Primary, you don’t think of beautiful summer days on the stump in rural hill towns and seacoast lobster bakes. You think of candidates shaking hands in the snow on city streets and outside of factories, of Ed Muskie allegedly crying in the sleet. When you think of the history of the New Hampshire Primary, you think of winter.

So I found it a little ironic that my first snowy event of the year would coincide with the one candidate who, more than anyone else, establishes himself as the purveyor of the new style of politics. The crusty old snowy primary victories of Al Gore and Richard Nixon, if you’ll believe Obama, ought to come to an end. Washington’s game plan is passe, and a fresh start is long overdue.

If that was the case, then on Tuesday night new met old when the Barack Obama faithful, clad in parkas and wool hats, walked through the gauntlet of advocacy groups standing outside the main entrance to the local middle school and squished into a gymnasium made hot by the cluster of bodies in direct opposition to the cold night air.

The crowd’s chatter was already loud by the time I arrived at 7:45PM for the 8 o’clock event, and the seats were full with nothing but stragglers still walking through the door and looking for a place to tuck in among their friends and neighbors. I set up shop at a table in a roped off area designated for the media, where I would be spoiled with my own electrical outlet and campaign-provided wireless internet. New politics, indeed.

I sat and waited, snapped a few photos of the scene, and then at 8:08 the traveling press came in like the torrent of a dry creek newly flowing with spring rainfall, rushing toward me from the back of the gym looking for the most direct route to get prime position on the press riser.

Within seconds of my noticing their arrival, Paul Hodes, one of New Hampshire’s US Representatives and an early Obama endorser, bounded into the center of the room, took the mic and immediately sought to charge up the crowd. He quickly went through his remarks, handed off to another local politician to say a few more things, and then cue the music for the main event.

The crowd began to rhythmically clap to summon the Senator, and within moments Obama walked on the stage. With his slim figure and smooth voice, which the Red State Update folks recently called “loud”, Obama read from his list of local dignitaries to thank for their presence and, once he was through with that, did something fairly unusual out on the campaign trail. He thanked his field organizers, his interns, and the volunteers who were doing the grunt work to make his campaign successful. These are the people, after all, who make sure the gyms are full when the candidate comes to town.

Obama then ran through the things people in the audience can help. He implored them to fill out supporter cards, become precinct captains, and be a part of something bigger.

The candidate then recounted how when he moved to Chicago after law school “to help steelworkers that had been laid off, it was the best education I ever had because it taught me that people can get together to do great things.”

But before he passed the buck too heavily onto the audience, he gave us a prediction.

“I intend to be so dazzling tonight,” Obama boasted with a grin, “that all of you feel compelled to give all your organizing cards to the organizer.”

With that, he went into his stump speech where he says that people tell him they are taking an interest in his campaign because they want an end to the Bush admin, and are tired of the way things work in Washington.

“We don’t need someone who can play the game better,” he tells us. “we need someone who can end the game plan.”

In addition to a brief overview of his policies, and a touch on the relevant political issues of the day, Obama inferred that people don’t want government to solve their problems, but instead “with all the taxes you’re paying” to merely knock down some barriers.

He brings up the experience question in a negative frame. When people in Washington tell him he needs more time in office, Obama suggests it is because “they want to stew me and season me a little bit and boil all the hope out of me. No thanks.”

This invariably leads to his incredulously bringing up the slurs of “hope monger” and “hope peddler.” Such is the hard knock life for Barack Obama among the pundits he describes.

Ultimately, Obama says he has four attributes that qualify him for the Presidency.

1) Experience of bringing people together to get things done
2) Knowing how to stand up to the special interests
3) The ability to stand up for what they believe in even when its not popular
4) A sense of impatience

None of it, however, stands up to Obama’s main theme, that it is about something larger than himself, and he is just a medium through which the desires of the many are accomplished.

“I want to lead,” Barack said, “but I can’t do it myself. I will not be a perfect president but here is what I can guarantee: I will always tell you what I think. I will always tell you where I stand. I will listen to you even when we disagree. I will wake up in the White House every single morning thinking about how I can make your lives just a little bit better.”

He said that to a standing ovation, but only mixed smiles. It is an uplifting message, but tonight it wasn’t exactly earth shatteringly profound or powerful. People were still standing and applauding when Obama spoke into the microphone over the noise to announce that he would be sticking around to answer any questions people had.

But a funny thing happened while he answered questions about homeland security, nuclear disarmament, and the farm bill. People started slowly trickling out of the gym. Fifteen minutes into the Q&A session, the amount of empty chairs became embarrassingly noticeable. When a pack of fifteen all bolted at once, Obama called them out, and encouraged them to fill out the volunteer cards on their way out the door.

Sensing a lost audience Obama hurried to finish the night, saying that a staffer told him he had time to answer one more question. Obviously, he insisted on two. As is so often the case with political rallies, the questions weren’t short. While all of the journalists, some of the voters, and presumably the candidate himself hoped that the event would find its glad tidings for the evening it just didn’t happen.

To make matters worse, Obama went out of his way at the very end to touch on a few talking points for social security policy. Did he think that the voters cared so deeply about social security that he needed to go over it? Did his handlers work him over so much that he felt obligated to mention the issue at every event no matter what? Or is he just such a wonk that he couldn’t let the night slip by without what he felt was a crucial issue?

All of those things were floating through my mind as I looked down at my cell phone to see the display light showing 9:40PM. I also made a last ditch effort to count the empty chairs in the gym, and stopped at a hundred. A quick internet search showed that the 9 o’clock network offering on the boob tube included a new episode of House. Maybe that is why people left early.

Then again, as I pondered it over Thanksgiving break, maybe these days most people just don’t have more than an hour long attention span for politics. After all there must be a reason why the debates have been whittle down to 60-second sound bytes and campaign commercials have the ability to give a candidate a five to ten point bounce with every significant media buy. The more you talk, the more you risk.

But maybe that is the cynicism Obama is trying to slay. Those who stayed for the full hour and a half, about seventy five per cent of the original crowd, were still buzzing a little on the way out the door. A few dozen lingered on the bleachers to discuss the night’s events and give their impressions of their candidate.

As I walked back up the snowy street two blocks to my car, a group of high school kids drove by me with their heads shoved out the windows yelling “Ready to go! Fired up!” at me and whoever else would listen. Obama’s new politics may not be one-size fits all, but there is no doubt that those who pick up on the message hear it loud and clear.