I’m not supposed to blog on Saturday. However, breaking rules is what makes life interesting, so here we go. Some links on this lovely Saturday morning:
Megan and Tim Burke are bumming out about the level of political discourse in the blogosphere. I think that there is a grown-up blogosphere — 20 or 30 blogs that rise above partisanship and the easy sport of humiliating stupid people. If you just hang out with the grown ups, the Internet is less depressing.
It’s Biden! It’s the articulate and clean ticket. Sweet! Biden continually cracks me up. Any guy who talks that much is going to say something stupid.
Apt. 11d 
About the house counting–it’s actually not that straight-forward sometimes. For instance, my in-laws have some land on an island in BC. On their property, there’s the main house (kitchen, 1.5 baths, two bedrooms), a cabin (one bed, one bath), a small studio, and a number of outbuildings. How do you count that in a way that protects you from a journalistic gotcha? It’s a single property, but it’s either 1 or 2 “houses,” and maybe even 3 if you count the bathroomless studio (and somebody might). Also in McCain’s case, is a condo a house? And should we count rental property, or are we just counting personal residences? For all we know, Cindy McCain may own a number of apartment buildings, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect that even she knows the exact unit number.
McCain’s guilty as charged of being a rich guy, but not giving a one word answer to the house question is a sign of good sense, rather than senility.
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By the way, on the evil right-wing blog Ace of Spades, Palin is the person that a lot of people want to see as McCain’s VP. There is much rejoicing over the Biden pick.
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Here’s a further point: McCain may not be completely clear which homes are his wife’s property and which are community property, or may not want to discuss it. That’s another issue where a prudent person would send in a third party to give the facts, rather than getting trapped discussing the fine points of the prenuptial agreement.
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But in a weird twist, Megan is using Tim’s comments about the quality of political discourse online to bemoan why everyone couldn’t find a really asinine video about McCain’s houses totally hilarious.
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It was a really cute song in the video. The instant internet ads have been the best thing about this election year. My all-time favorite remains the “We are building a religion” Obama video. Whenever I play it, the kids rush over to watch. It’s like cats and can openers.
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Biden’s wife is a community college English professor!
I’m on board the Biden train (would that be Amtrak?) (I took Amtrak from Seattle to Portland on our vacation this month, coincidentally).
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Biden has remarkable foot-in-mouth moments. I still think Obama is likely to win this thing, but my guess is it will be despite Biden, not because of him.
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I’m with Laura on the foot-in-mouth moments. Campaigns are too long to be any more boring that they have to be. I can’t think of any Biden slips that reveal any sort of hidden evil. When somebody is too careful in their speaking, I assume they have to watch what they say so carefully because they have something really dark they fear might slip out.
On the other hand, I can’t see how Biden could help Obama that much. He’s been in the Senate for almost as long as I’ve been alive and I can’t really think of anything he’s done besides a funny SNL appearance, borrowing a speech from Margaret Thatcher’s punching bag, and losing in 1988.
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MH, you forgot overseeing the process that got Clarence Thomas onto the Supreme Court. 😛
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MH,
How about the RAVE act? You may remember it as the piece of legislation deeming bottles of water and glow sticks drug paraphernalia. I remember hearing about the legislation at the time, but until I saw a thing on instapundit.com just now, I didn’t remember that Biden was the proud father.
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Biden has been described as “scrappy”. That’s a good counterbalance to Obama, and may allow him to stay above the fray somewhat.
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I think most internet users generally like partisan blogs, meaning those that consistently support one party or political view. Additionally, it’s often entertaining to read the jibes aimed at the low hanging fruit, including people doing stupid stuff. Most blogs I read fit this description, and also include thought-provoking discussions about issues. This part of the blogosphere is not depressing at all.
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On the other hand, I can’t see how Biden could help Obama that much.
MH, have you been seeing all the talking heads claim that Biden will help Obama in PA specifically?!?! Talk about pure wishful thinking. Biden might be quite popular in Philly – I have no idea – but Obama already has that area of PA locked up. But the idea that Biden will help with SW PA and rural PA makes me giggle at its sheer lunacy.
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“I think most internet users generally like partisan blogs, meaning those that consistently support one party or political view. Additionally, it’s often entertaining to read the jibes aimed at the low hanging fruit, including people doing stupid stuff. Most blogs I read fit this description, and also include thought-provoking discussions about issues. This part of the blogosphere is not depressing at all.”
I agree. What’s depressing is when a tea party blog gets invaded by a visitor from a mud wrestling blog. Megan McArdle sometimes irritates me a lot (read more, please!), but her comment threads have historically been civil and fairly well-informed. Then, quite recently, Ross Douthat shut down his comments, and a notorious troll from his site migrated into MM’s comments. This person has single-handedly taken the average IQ of the threads he’s in down about 20 points, as well as destroying the relative civility which made MM’s comment threads such a pleasant place to visit. That’s depressing–it’s sad to see how fragile a blog eco-system is, and how easily an invasive species can change it for the worse.
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People couldn’t really be imagining Palin campaigning for VP right now, could they? with a <6 mo old child with Downs? Amazing woman, she is, though, an example of what humanity is capable of, even if most of us can't meet that standard. I disagree with her politics, and would never vote for her, but if I were a "right wing conservative" I'd be grooming her for the presidency in 2016. she'll be what — 53? and her youngest will be 8+. (And you guys could keep your fingers crossed that her husband is not an mccain-edwards-spitzer-vitter-gingrich-clinton-style jerk)
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Siobhan,
I agree. One of the surprising things about Pittsburgh is just how little attention people pay to Philly. From the local news coverage of Philly, you’d think it was a city marginally more important than Scranton, but nothing that could affect us. If it wasn’t for the gun control proposals that keep coming from Philly, you could read the local papers for a year without knowing that there is another large (much larger) city in the state.
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If MM has let that bad a troll infest her comments for very long, it’s her own fault.
The estimable Teresa Nielsen Hayden, “1. There can be no ongoing discourse without some degree of moderation, if only to kill off the hardcore trolls. It takes rather more moderation than that to create a complex, nuanced, civil discourse. If you want that to happen, you have to give of yourself. Providing the space but not tending the conversation is like expecting that your front yard will automatically turn itself into a garden. …
“10. Another important rule: You can let one jeering, unpleasant jerk hang around for a while, but the minute you get two or more of them egging each other on, they both have to go, and all their recent messages with them. There are others like them prowling the net, looking for just that kind of situation. More of them will turn up, and they’ll encourage each other to behave more and more outrageously. Kill them quickly and have no regrets.”
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Doug,
Ross Douthat was the one with the lingering infestation. That troll has just recently moved over to MM’s blog (just like cockroaches migrating to your apartment after the neighbors spray), and I’m interested what MM’s going to do about it. I’ve already dropped her a line, encouraging her to use the iron fist policing methods that you and TNH recommend.
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Siobhan and MH,
I take it that the old saying about PA being “Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in between” needs to be revised?
I lived 4 years in Pittsburgh, and it’s true I barely ever remember anyone mentioning Philadelphia. I suppose Philadelphia was a sort of derelict relative that Pittsburghers liked to pretend didn’t exist. (I’ve never been to Philadelphia. I’m sure it’s quite lovely.)
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Amy P, I’d describe it more like two adult siblings who never had a falling out, but are just very different people who drifted apart until they communicate exclusively via 2-minute phone calls at Christmas. No ill will, but you don’t really care who the other’s favorite senators are, and even if you did, you’re unlikely to share the sentiment.
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Here’s how to tell the differnce of where you live in PA:
Come hunting season you either get:
1. 1 day off of school to go and hunt
2. 2 days off of school to go and hunt with your dad, grandpa, and your brothers
3. What the F*ck is hunting season?!
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