Sound policy choices

Clinton:

"I’m not going to put my lot in with economists."

(sound of my head slamming against a wall, repeatedly)

Canada Becomes Campaign Issue, My Life Becomes Complete

I read that John McCain said this and I almost pissed myself:

"One of our greatest assets we have in Afghanistan today, frankly, are our Canadian friends," he said. "It's very controversial in Canada, their commitment and the suffering and the losses they have faced. And we need, we need our Canadian friends and we need their continued support in Afghanistan.

"So what do we do? The two Democrat candidates for president say that they're going to unilaterally, they're going to unilaterally abrogate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Our biggest trading partner, they're going -- who we made a solemn agreement with -- they're gonna unilaterally abrogate that. Now, how do you think the Canadian people are going to react to that –- who we are having now their enormous and invaluable assistance in Afghanistan and we're going to abrogate a free trade agreement?"

1. I find it rather amusing that John "Tears Of Blood" McCain, who has promised he would follow Osama bin Laden "to the gates of hell", is afraid of annoying these people:

Above: "Eh?"

2. Someone should inform John McCain that Canadians hate NAFTA. We see it as yet another bit of Canadian sovereignty being eaten away by our big annoying neighbor -- the Conservative Party was nearly annihilated in the 1993 election after they enacted it. It's like Ohio up there.

3. Senator McCain, our decision of whether to continue fighting and dying in Afghanistan is not predicated on our feelings toward American politicians, you ass.

and 4. Given the choice, Canadians would prefer a Democratic president in 2008 to a Republican one by 34% to 5%. (And I bet most of the Republican 5% is comedians who enjoy humiliating them.)

In sum, I have no idea what McCain was thinking there, but he really ought to check his facts the next time he appeals to Canada as a rationale for his presidential bid. It makes me worry for the man's mental health. This has been your Canadian Update; we now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Oh, my head

Three months ago I got angry at Barack Obama, as I often do, for talking shit about the 1960s. At the time, I wrote:

[D]oes he just mean that Senator Clinton hasn't been forceful enough in denouncing the Port Huron Statement? Is John Edwards too soft on the Weathermen? What the hell is he talking about?

Ha ha! Funny anachronistic references to defunct 1960s radicals, which illustrate the silliness of the issue because they could never ever crop up in a present-day... what the hell?

The Hillary Clinton campaign pushed to reporters today stories about Barack Obama and his ties to former members of a radical domestic terrorist group... "Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue," mused Clinton spokesman Phil Singer in one e-mail to the media, containing a New York Sun article reporting a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founding member of the Weather Underground, to Obama in 2001. (Obama's ties to the radical group first surfaced last week in a Bloomberg News article.)

In a separate e-mail, Singer forwarded an article from Politico.com reporting on a 1995 event at a private home that brought Obama together with Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, another former member of the radical group.

[...] "If the Clinton campaign is truly concerned about the exploitation of the Weather Underground issue by the Republican attack machine, perhaps they should focus on the pardon of some of its members in the waning days of the Clinton administration," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

"The Weather Underground issue." OH MY GOD JUST FUCKING KILL ME. They know there's a WAR going on right now, don't they? Like, not a culture war, a war war? WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS??!!?!?

...The Clinton campaign is simply beyond repair, if this is the level they're sinking to. (Not that Burton's doing himself any favors by jumping right down into their frame -- "Yeah, well, your guy is also a dirty hippie!") I understand such garbage scores points with the pathological media, who of course are obsessed with the 1960s, but for everybody else... this is rapidly becoming the stupidest primary ever. I need a drink...