The Phony Feud Between Putin and McCain, and a Roundup of My McCain Writings Over the Years: Wrote a little blog post the other day over at Opinion L.A., for those of you who care about such things.

Meantime, I realized it would be useful -- for me! -- to collect my McCain-relating writings in one place, for later. Here's an incomplete list (I'm still missing two-plus years of archives), in reverse-chronological order; some are on point, others mention him in passing, many are banal, etc.

02/13/07 -- The Phony Feud Between Putin and McCain.
02/11/07 -- Some Interesting 9-Month-Old George Will California-Political Calculations Involving John McCain.
02/06/07 -- John McCain: You Cannot Support the Troops Unless You Agree With the Prosecution of the War.
01/23/07 -- Of Course We Can Stay. Of Course We Can Stay. Of Course We Can Stay.
01/16/07 -- How John McCain Found God.
01/16/07 -- Senator McCut-and-Run.
01/09/07 -- What Part About Quote Swear to Defend the Constitution End Quote Didn't He Get?
01/05/07 -- He's a Maverick, Not a Ford.
01/04/07 -- NeoCon Me Twice, Shame on....?
01/01/07 -- Maverick Authoritarian Redux.
12/04/06 -- Never Compromise! Unless it's Time to Compromise....
11/28/06 -- McCain's Theodore Rex Redux.
11/26/06 -- Do We Need Another T.R.?
11/16/06 -- Walnuts to You!
01/03/06 -- How it "May Become Necessary" to Shred the Fourth Amendment and Other New Year's Bedtime Stories.
11/04/05 -- Democrats: Not for Free Speech Anymore!
11/01/05 -- Bunning on Empty.
10/25/05 -- Cheney: At Least Let the CIA Keep Torturing, John!
10/20/05 -- Does That Make Dubya a Girly Man?
09/29/05 -- Transcendental Bloviation.
09/28/05 -- What Roberts Might Overturn First.
05/19/05 -- The Banners' Red Glare.
05/05/05 -- Stinky Bud.
05/02/05 -- Urine the Nurse State Now!
03/24/05 -- Doin' the McCain-Feingold Creep.
03/21/05 -- The Shame of the Steroid Hunt.
01/14/05 -- 'Roid Rage.
12/08/04 -- George Bush vs. Barry Bonds.
09/01/04 -- Hey Pat Buchanan, What Do You Think of the RNC?
08/30/04 -- Michael Moore Roped Off.
07/01/04 -- Only Money: Campaign Finance Reform Bites Supporters in the Rear.
06/02/04 -- Geneva Conventions, Pro and Con.
06/01/04 -- Fair-Weather Friends: When Journalists Depart From Free-Speech Battles.
05/13/04 -- McCain's Bane: Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith Explains Why He Voted Against Regulating 527s.

02/14/2007 10:11 PM  |  Comment (3)

Not That You'd Expect Anything Non-Horrible From the Grammy Awards, But....: Having Al Gore hand out the award for "Best Rock Album" should pretty much drive a stake through the heart of at least three genres at once.... Flea should have kicked him in the nuts and launched straight into the chorus of "Kill the Poor"....

You know the corpse is getting stiff when two of the biggest musical highlights of the evening are Christina Aguilera singing "This Is a Man's World," and some awful fat-boy nu country act doing three-fifths of the Eagles' 10th best song. At least they let Smokey Robinson sing a bit. Serves me more than right for having the TV on....

Finally, what is that new verb we decided on? The one, involving the word "Sting," that describes an artist who acts like such a jackhole for 20+ years that he makes you suspect that the early seven-year stretch you once thought was great must in fact be fraudulent? (See also Springsteen, Bruce.) I was certainly happy to watch Stewart Copeland play the drums, and that Gordon Whatshisface looks & sings better than anyone his age oughtta, but he has successfully ruined 95% of the enjoyment one might have at seeing a once-great group get it together.

02/11/2007 11:17 PM  |  Comment (5)

Some Interesting 9-Month-Old George Will California-Political Calculations Involving John McCain: Last April, basically, Will predicted McCain's media-alienating suck-up to the right may end up putting California on the map for the GOP should the Republicans get hammered in the 2006 by-elections. Which they did. Note, too, that this was before all the chatter about my home state moving up its primaries in order to be relevant at long last. Here's an excerpt:

[T]o those Republicans who turn out to pick presidential nominees, one electoral consideration could trump ideological aversions: California. Ken Khachigian, a veteran of Ronald Reagan's White House, is a California Republican strategist who in 2000 was a senior adviser to McCain's campaign. Khachigian says McCain could "put California in play." McCain might be the only conceivable Republican nominee who could.

To put California in play is not the same thing as carrying it. But carrying it is not necessary to significantly improve a Republican nominee's national chances. If the nomination of McCain could force the Democratic nominee to spend a number of days and, say, $30 million to secure California's 55 electoral votes, those days and dollars could not be spent in Ohio, Florida and other battleground states.

This November could produce what McCain could use -- grim election returns for Republicans. If on Nov. 8 Republicans are reeling and a re-elected Hillary Clinton is rampant, hitherto unenthralled Republicans might suddenly consider McCain as virtuous as he considers himself. For the politically nervous, "virtuous" is a synonym for "electable."

02/11/2007 06:44 PM  |  Comment (1)

Hi! What are you doing down here?