Other Stuff I Came Across Today

Al Giordano and Josh Marshall have different interpretations of the Democratic Race for the nomination. Shorter Marshall: It's Dean's to lose. Shorter Giordano: Don't count Kerry out--Clinton overcame similar circumstances in 1992.

But one thing to remember about Clinton in 1992 is that the Northeast wasn't his natural base. Even if Clinton had really lost badly in New Hampshire, he still had the fallback position of being far from his home turf. His strong second place showing made that kind of damage control unnecessary.

Kerry's campaign, on the other hand, will be mortally wounded if he does poorly in what is essentially his home base. Sure, there's still time to turn things around--but he'll have to be fucking awesome over the next few weeks, and Dean will have to do something stupid. Neither looks likely right now.

Note: BigLeftOutside provided the link to the Rolling Stone interview. His post regarding John Kerry, fuck, and the Democratic nomination is worth looking at:

Excerpt: Furthermore, what Kerry said was objectively true: When it comes to Gulf War II, George W. Bush did "fuck it up badly." He's not talking about sex, there.

Bad Attitudes has posts regarding sleazy campaigning tactics--Bob Beckel describes how anonymous email becomes a weapon in the hands of conservatives--and also provides a link to a Molly Ivins piece in Mother Jones, which deconstructs Dubya's West Texas roots myth. Good Sunday reading.

There is also a post at Bad Attitudes with a link to a TruthOut editorial by Doug Bandow, who Doolittle notes is a conservative associated with the Cato Institute. This could be interesting: if Bush manages to alienate the hard-core conservatives, he could be in real trouble. Trouble that you can't spend your way out of over the course of the campaign.

And, in unfortunate news, I couldn't find anyone with HBO to tape Angels in America, Millenium Approaches, for me. Oh well. Given the scope of the HBO project, it's reasonable to assume it will air again. Maybe by that time I'll have overcome my aversion to anything but the cheapest cable television package (lots of religious stations and the networks here in Baton Rouge--no public access, either). For the record, I was fortunate enough to be a high school student of Tony Kushner's. For a time in the late 1970's and early 1980's, he taught humanities and ran the theater program at a summer school I attended in Lake Charles, Louisiana. At the time, he clearly seemed to be a genius, in my mind, but I figured his politics would prevent him from hitting the big time. Fortunately, that was not a correct assessment.

As a teacher, Kushner encouraged his students to think critically, and to express their opinions without fear of negative consequences. As far as being in charge of the theater program--he did phenomenal work on a very limited budget. I considered myself fortunate to be cast in the final work he did for the summer school, a production of The Tempest--yeah, I was Caliban--and I really liked the role.

I last saw TK roughly ten years ago when I was up in Wisconsin. Tony delivered a lecture for the Distinguished Speakers series, which was followed by a reception--of the variety that ordinary folks like myself are routinely turned away from (as they did). Not only did Tony insist that I be allowed in, he likewise insisted that a large number of young theater students be admitted--and he proceeded to spend most of his time at the reception speaking to these folks, offering advice and observations. I think that speaks volumes as to his character, which is impeccable.

But, oh well, I won't see the HBO show tonight. No big deal. Saw the live performance of Millenium Approaches on a trip to NYC a while back, and, like I said, it should be back on the air some other time. Besides, I have some other stuff I have to get done tonight. Which is at least one reason why I should end this post here.