The Political Whore

Dubya reportedly has no plans to watch W., but after seeing this trailer for the new Oliver Stone film, you gotta wonder if anybody will have plans to watch this flick:

• Obama drops veep hints to Time; the conclusion? He will pick somebody.
• Missing White House e-mails still … missing.
• Click-through Journalism.
• Nader wants into the debates; no, that is not an 8-year-old headline.
• Orlando GOP evangelical rethinks accepting DNC invocation invitation.
• Pumpkins show was great; Pumpkins show was annoying.
• South Florida candidate drops out: “”I can’t do the backstabbing shit they do.”
• Florida goes (more) whacko: record number of perfect scores for legislators on Christian Coalition report card.
• Partying with Rachel Burgin.
• Worth the click just for the shot of the latex-clad nun.

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 Remember the good old days, when the presidential campaign used to be nothing but shits and giggles? Way back in Nov. 2007?

• From the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Dep’t.: Targeted Congressman Feeney, a Republican, secretly supports the weaker Democrat in the primary. Sneaky.
•  The surest sign yet of the coming of the apocalypse: Uber-annoyer Billy Mays is getting his own reality show.
• Semi-reliable robo-poll puts McCain barely ahead in FLA.
• 13 days in August.
• From the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Dep’t., Part 2: Jennings and Buchanan both face FEC complaints, but Jennings’ comes from someone formerly in her own party.
• Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite loses her husband to cancer.
• From the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Dep’t., Part 3: The Democrat running in the seat suddenly being vacated by Trey Traviesa isn’t actually a Democrat.
• It’s official (again): e-voting sucked.

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A fitting video of the arrival of Fay, a storm we in the CL Weathercenter 4000 find highly suspect. Stay dry, folks.

• A weakened Fay lands at Cape Romano as a minimal hurricane (at worst).
• The NOAA storm track predicts a hard left turn near the FL/GA border.
• Large swath of Florida under tornado a tornado warning (but not the Bay area).
• Hillsborough and Pinellas counties call off evacuations.

And in non-storm news:

• The choice is made.
  
• Tampa Bay’s water supply sure is leaky.
• College presidents rethink the drinking age.
• The Rays win again.

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Today’s feature presentation: Baracky II. (Which somehow uses Rocky III as its inspiration, skipping Rocky II entirely.)

• The latest on Fay.
• Down goes Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
• Who’s it gonna be for V.P.?
• The candidates give their opinion on how much income makes you “rich”? Obama: $250,000. McCain: $5 million.
• Obama rakes in $51 million in July.
• Did McCain rip off one of his prison camp anecdotes?
• R.I.P. Jerry Wexler.
• The Bucs beat down the Patties.

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Let’s check in with our friends at Fox News. The first 2:30 of this clip are maddening, but then Alan Colmes (yeah, Colmes, really) flips the script on his conservative cohorts, leading to much stammering, yelling and Sean Hannity’s contention that McCain’s time as a POW gives him a free pass on marital infidelity.

• Only the French could negotiate a cease fire that allows one side to continue attacking.
• Who will the U.S. be backing, Russia or Georgia? The Russians would like to know.
• More Fox News: Bill Kristol says Colin Powell is going to endorse Barack Obama and speak at the convention. Powell immediately denies everything. It’s a real shame you can’t believe anything broadcast on Fox News, as this one is juicy.
• Bring on the books about the presidential candidates — and by “candidates” we mean Obama.
• Folks, please be careful when shaking hands with Cindy McCain. She’s fragile.
• The”Colbert Bump” gets the research paper treatment.
• Tarantino’s latest has critics up in arms, and he hasn’t even started shooting yet.
• Julia Child was a frickin’ spy!

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With 83 days until the election, NBC’s great Chuck Todd breaks down the electoral math.

• War over. Or is it?
  
• Shouldn’t somebody be paying attention to John McCain?
• And can we stop paying attention to Joe Lieberman already?
• Corporate income tax? What corporate income tax?
• St. Pete cop cleared in the shooting of Javon Dawson.
• Michael Phelps keeps on winning gold.
• Best Buy inks deal to start hawking iPhones starting on Sept. 7.
• One pissed off waiter sounds off.

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When is martial law permissible in the U.S.? For one Arkansas town, the answer is “right now!”

• McCain figures out the Interwebs enough to crib some talking points from Wikipedia.
• Russia rampages across Georgia as the West ponders how to stop the fighting.
• This week’s reason to hate Bush’s guts: The administration’s proposed rule changes gutting the Endangered Species Act.
• Oil goes down, stocks go up. See a pattern?
• There must be something in the water, other than the swimmers that is.
• The Boss to play the Super Bowl in Tampa.
• Hillsborough electric rates set to spike 40%.
• Spain’s basketball teams (male and female) need some sensitivity training.
• The Rays start dropping like flies.

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Olympic fever and the dull days of August have slowed real news to a trickle. Sports Illustrated has a list of the 25 best sports videos (that contain no actual sports) on YouTube. Here is #1. (Warning: Not for the kids.)

• While the world watched the Olympics, war broke out in Eastern Europe.
• Incidentally, if you missed Friday night’s incredible Opening Ceremonies, they can be seen here.
• Lieberman on McCain’s short list, proving past performance is not a vetting factor.
• Who the hell is Robert McGovern, and what the hell does he have to do with the Edwards mess?
• Be the first to know Obama’s V.P. choice.
• The U.S. poised for an economic recovery?
• R.I.P. Issac Hayes, R.I.P. Bernie Mac, R.I.P. Whaley’s Market.
• The Rays break the team record for wins in a season.

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Obama clarifies and defends his energy policy proposals in this contentious interview in Nevada with Jon Ralston.

• Bruce Ivins e-mail indicates he was maybe kind of a loon, so it’s certain he perpetrated a solo biological weapons attack on liberal members of our government and the media (though the e-mails never mention anything close to that). Case closed.
• Bush slams China’s human rights record — in the most gentle way possible, of course.
• “Sure I’ll plead guilty to murder, But I gotta have the Colonel and Papa John as witnesses.”
• Hillsborough to spend $50 million on park maintainence and a scaled down version of Jim Norman’s field of dreams.
• How to: stockpile cheap(er) gas.
• Headline of the week: “I’m a breastfeeding fiend.”
• Favre goes to the Jets. Get your Jeff Garcia jerseys here.
• Case closed in the death of Heath Ledger.

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