Er, not really. But it’s nice to see a Washington Democrat as if he’s mad about something.

In case you missed it:

Speaking before the Knesset, Bush said that “some people” believe the United States “should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”

“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Biden’s response?

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”

Why can’t more Democrats just say what’s on their minds?

There was a piece in the Washington Post in February by Susan Jacoby that brought up a concept I have discussed before as “agressive ignorance” among some American voters, but had never seen described as “anti-rationalism:“

The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it’s the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism — a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism. The toxic brew of anti-rationalism and ignorance hurts discussions of U.S. public policy on topics from health care to taxation.

There is no quick cure for this epidemic of arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism; rote efforts to raise standardized test scores by stuffing students with specific answers to specific questions on specific tests will not do the job. Moreover, the people who exemplify the problem are usually oblivious to it. (”Hardly anyone believes himself to be against thought and culture,” Hofstadter noted.) It is past time for a serious national discussion about whether, as a nation, we truly value intellect and rationality. If this indeed turns out to be a “change election,” the low level of discourse in a country with a mind taught to aim at low objects ought to be the first item on the change agenda.

The entire article is worth a read, given the state of our political discourse.

Remember when the rap against Kerry was the he spoke French? Or when people voted for Bush because they would like to have a beer with him?

Hat tip to Cheeky Monkey for this video:

Too damn funny. And too eerily real.

Modern Moist Towelette Collecting

Many individuals have asked me in past years, “Why moist towelette collecting?” “Why not stamp collecting or numismatics?”

Snip.

I must say my true motivation are the towels themselves. Each Moist Towelette is like a work of art. Though working in defined parameters, the designers manage to make each towelette applicable to their customer. A Moist Towelette collection can show restaurants, casinos (and a surprising variety of other locations) from across a continent (or nay, the entire world) in a single, small space.

Despite whatever differences we have as humans, we can all satisfy the natural urge to clean ourselves with lemon-scented, moist-filled napkins.

World peace through moist towelettes?

From Slate:

By endorsing Obama now, Edwards isn’t handing him the nomination. He’s minimizing the damage wrought upon the all-but-inevitable nominee. Clinton insists a drawn-out election isn’t hurting the party. But it is clearly exposing huge holes in each candidate’s armor. By weighing in now, Edwards is reassuring Democrats—and perhaps telegraphing to Kentucky voters—that Obama is a safe choice.

I’m not sure that Edwards has is viewed by most working-class Democrats as some kind of an oracle, but it can’t hurt.

What most struck me about the endorsement was the timing. I think Edwards recently decided to endorse Obama (rather than deciding on the endorsement months ago and waiting for the perfect moment), but I like that it came on the day after the WV primary to minimize Clinton’s bump.

UGH!

Luis Salgado will forever see Hillary Clinton on his thigh.

Salgado, 28, owner of the Ill Skillz (4948 N. 5th) tattoo parlor just got a portrait of Clinton inked on his leg at a tattoo convention in Baltimore.

Artist Buffalo Billl, of Sunbury, offered a free Hillary tattoo to any takers because his daughter Sarah Taby is a big Clinton supporter and thought the tattoo would give Clinton good exposure.

Salgago, 28, who is also a Clinton fan, jumped at the chance. Salgado’s new ink is featured in Tattoo Review. The mag’s publisher Carey Exton says he thinks many tattooed people are for Clinton because she “tells it like it is.”

I don’t know what disturbs me more: whether Salgado tattooed himself with Hillary’s visage, or that he thinks that she “tells it like it is.”

He’s still an asshole:

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.

“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

Bush said he made that decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq and the organization’s high commissioner for human rights.

“I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man’s life,” he said. “I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, ‘It’s just not worth it anymore to do.’”

George, the problem isn’t that you like to play golf. Play all the golf you want. But just make sure that when veterans return from your war, they are well taken care of and have every opportunity available to them.

Wanda Gibson fears Obama’s blackness:

It’s because he’s another race. I’m sorta scared of the other race because we have so much conflict with them.

In the same clip, Shelby Sugg tells us:

Not even in my mind, I don’t. I don’t like the Hussein thing. I’ve had ENOUGH of Hussein.

I find it amusing that in a state where the African American population makes up 3.2 percent, Wanda worries about “so much conflict with them.” I’m guessing that most African Americans who live in WV go WELL out of their way to avoid ANY kind of conflict with the likes of Wanda Gibson. Hell, I’m white and would try to avoid her with all my soul.

And Shelby, the name Hussein bothers you? Are you equally offended by people named Joe or Joseph? Afterall, those Joes share a name with Josef Stalin.

It’s sad. They live in an economically depressed state and they seem to be ruled by fear of people who are not like them.  So the 2008 GOP strategy will probably to hit on the main themes of “God, gays, and guns,” but with “scary black people” added to their list of meaningless wedge issues. Oh, and anyone who has ever known a Muslim seems to be suspect in their minds.

Barack, please don’t campaign in WV, after you are nominated.

From US News:

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and defeated contender for the GOP presidential nomination, is currently at the top of John McCain’s short list for a running mate. At least that’s the word from a top McCain fundraiser and longtime Republican moneyman who has spoken to McCain’s inner circle. The fundraiser is less than thrilled with the idea of Huckabee as the vice presidential nominee, and many economic conservatives—turned off by the populist tone of Huckabee’s campaign and his tax record as governor—are likely to share that marked lack of enthusiasm.

My first thought was that Huckabee as McCain’s VP would be good for Obama, but on second thought, I’m not so sure. He’d be good at drawing in the religiously insane people who don’t trust McCain because he’s not churchy enough for them.

Or Janice, as interviewed on Good Morning America, who thinks Obama is a Muslim. She knows he says he’s a Christian, but doesn’t believe him.

I don’t know how to fight this kind of BS.