Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Short Attention Span Musing

A mixed bag tonight...

...Presidential candidate and Man of the World, or at least of Utah and Massachusetts, Mitt Romney has criticized the top Democratic candidates for president for their lack of foreign affairs experience.

From AP via Yahoo! News -

WASHINGTON - Republican Mitt Romney, a former one-term governor with a thin foreign-policy resume, argued Wednesday that the Senate tenures of his top Democratic presidential rivals don't automatically make them qualified to address world affairs.

"Sitting on committees in Washington does not guarantee that someone has the skills to solve the problems on the international stage," Romney told The Associated Press in a telephone interview while campaigning in Midland, Texas.

In his interview, he targeted Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.

Presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Sam Brownback and former Sen. Fred Thompson, Republicans all, escaped his criticisms.

Romney likes to cast himself as a latter-day version of Ronald Reagan, another Republican who used a stint as a state governor as the launching pad for ascension into the White House.

Yet Romney's own experience - one full term as a state governor (MA), one failed campaign for federal office (1994 Senate), and time spent in the business world (even to the Harvard MBA!) - is tracks closer to that of the current occupant of the White House (TX, 1978 House, Harken Energy).

And we all know how well Bush has done in the foreign affairs arena...


...At least Romney was smart enough to avoid criticizing Bill Richardson, as in "former Congressman, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, U. S. Secretary of Energy, Chair of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association, and staffer for the State Department and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and recently re-elected Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson."


...Let me be the first to thank the Republican presidential candidates for ceding the Hispanic vote to the Democrats.

From Time Magazine -

The Republicans Flunk Spanish

To many casual political observers, it may have seemed remarkable that seven of the eight Democratic presidential candidates showed up in Miami on Sunday for the nation's first Spanish-language debate. But the more extraordinary thing is that only one GOP candidate is apparently willing to take part in a Republican follow-up.

The Univision debate showed the growing power of Latino voters; it also showed how that group — which has the potential to swing electorally crucial states like Florida, Nevada and New Mexico — is trending increasingly Democratic. Univision invited all of the GOP candidates to the same forum next week. But only one, Senator John McCain of Arizona, accepted the invitation and the debate has been indefinitely postponed.

I'll grant Karl Rove one little bit of credit - he was smart enough to court Hispanic voters; by focusing their efforts on appeasing the nativist bloc of their party, the Republican candidates are helping to consign the Republican Party to a generation (or two!) of electoral irrelevance.


...If David Ortiz were to ever run for mayor of Boston, he'd win in a walkover.

From the Hartford Courant -

Big Papi Does It Again

BOSTON - He did it again. And just in time.

Two outs away from seeing their division lead cut to four games over the Yankees with a weekend series looming, David Ortiz delivered his first walk-off of 2007, taking Al Reyes into the seats in right field for a two-run homer and a 5-4 victory before a delirious crowd of 36,931 at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox have a 5 game lead over the Yankees as they prepare for this weekend's huge series against those Yankees at Fenway.

I don't bite my nails, but if I did.... :))


...Now George Bush and his echo chamber is citing a possible drawdown of Iraq troop levels *next year* to pre-surge levels as an improvement.

Yeah. And a store raising its prices by 25% on a product that no one is buying, then offering an 18% discount on that same product, 18 months later? That's a bargain, right??

If the Republicans want to "run government like a business", they should at least pick an honest business to be pattern themselves after.


...Has the Taliban taken over the Board of Directors at Southwest Airlines?

From the AZ Republic -

DALLAS - A second young woman has come forward to claim that Southwest Airlines employees made her cover up on a recent flight, leading jet-setters to ask: Will my outfit fly?

Setara Qassim said a flight attendant confronted her during the trip from Tucson, Ariz., to Burbank, Calif., and asked whether she had a sweater to go over her green halter-style dress.

Qassim, 21, told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles she was forced to wrap a blanket around herself for the rest of the flight. She complained that if Southwest wants passengers to dress a certain way, it should publish a dress code.

Last week, 23-year-old Kyla Ebbert said a Southwest employee pulled her aside as she was preparing to board a plane departing San Diego for Tucson in July and told her she was dressed too provocatively to fly.

While I couldn't find a pic of Ms. Qassim, a pic of Ms. Ebbert can be found here. While her outfit isn't exactly demure, it's hardly inappropriate.


...Wal-Mart is changing its slogan. Gone will be the insipid smiley face and "Always Low Prices" in favor of "Save Money. Live Better."

Guess my suggestions of "Cheap S**t Cheap" or "We're Smiling Because We Never Saw A Labor Law That We Wouldn't Break" didn't test well with focus groups or something. :))

The linked article cites study commissioned by Wal-Mart that shows that "The world's largest retailer also released a study that said it saves American families $2,500 each year..."

The study was conducted by an organization called Global Insight and apparently ignored the economic effects of depressed wages and increased taxpayer burdens on those same American families.

It's nice to see that some of the *scientists* from the Tobacco Institute have found a place to carry on their mission to mislead and deceive Americans in the name of profit.


Later!!

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