Cranky-D

I was reading a blog yesterday that said Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was going to be McCain’s VP pick. I immediately turned on the idiot box and caught McCain’s introduction and the full speech by Palin. I thought she did really well, coming off as both genuine and professional enough to be in that position.

I had heard her name thrown around before as an up and comer in the conservative Republican (these things are no longer synonymous, if they ever were) ranks. I figured that in four or eight years she, along with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, might be able to get out in front of the party and lead. However, McCain rolled the dice and picked her now. That turned out to be a great move, because the center-right blogs are all abuzz about her, and I haven’t heard anything negative except from the left, who are spinning outrageously at the moment over her lack of experience (unbelieveable that they would use this as a tactic, given Obama’s lack of experience) and the fact that she has children to take care of at home (especially the “sick” child, as some have referred to her youngest).

Note that this would not have worked if Obama had picked Hillary as his running mate. If he had, the Obama/Clinton ticket would be unstoppable. I know why he didn’t; he didn’t need to have Bill lurking around the whitehouse second-guessing him and plotting against him. So, by pushing Hillary aside, Obama opened the door for Palin.

I don’t know if it was luck or sheer calculation that made McCain pick Palin. I think it was both. He went for someone who had some overlap with him, and had no primary baggage (e.g. Romney) attached. He probably also wanted to try to lure some Hillary voters. What he got in addition was someone who appears to be bringing the base he has alienated back to the fold and convincing some of those who were not going to vote for a president at all to vote for him. Many are contributing to his campaign now that were not going to vote for him before. I have seen the testimonials in blog comments.

Count me among the latter. I hadn’t decided whether to vote for him or write in Fred Thompson. A few minutes ago I donated $25 to McCain/Palin. That is the first time I have ever donated to a political campaign. I understand that after the announcement people all over the place were donating to the campaign.

I think we know that McCain would really have wanted to pick Joe Lieberman, but that would have destroyed his campaign for good. Instead, he picked a young outsider (a real outsider), and it was probably one of the best single decisions he has ever made.

Too bad the ticket isn’t Palin/McCain, but we have to take what we can get. In eight years maybe we can have President Palin.

Update: Last night I was at a blues club, and the singer complained about the Bush response to Katrina (which I might recap in another post), and someone near me was complaining about McCain and Palin. I decided then to send another $25 to McCain/Palin, and I just did. Keep it up, progressives. You’re just annoying the center right with your stupidity, and you have never seen us organized like I think we’re going to be.

G-d help me, I’m actually watching race-walking. Because that is all that’s on right now olympics-wise.

I just finished watching the indoor volleyball game with the Americans and Russians. The Americans pulled it out in the end, and are going on to the match for the gold. They will at least get a silver at this point. Earlier this evening I saw the American men win the beach volleyball game. Both volleyball games were interesting because I wanted the U.S. to win. Otherwise, I really cannot see a reason to watch. I mean, it’s pretty exciting stuff and the scoring happens quickly so it’s good for people with short attention spans. Sort of. Because the games last a long time it seems.

Part of watching the olympics is deciding what it’s okay to watch. Now, women’s beach volleyball is always okay to watch because you have tall hard-bodied adult women running around with almost no clothes on. That is something I might watch even when it isn’t the olympics. In fact, I think I have. However, when watching “women’s” gymnastics, there is a problem. Because they are not women, they are girls. Usually attractive girls with nice bodies. The only way to survive that was to become temporarily gay and complain about the scoring (and I did complain, though in the end the individuals scoring came out right anyway) and bitch about how much of a catty nancy that one male gymnastics commenter is. Then, once they were over I was able to catch the beach volleyball stuff and return to my usual straight horndog mode. By that time, I was able to think that the sturdy little gymnastics girl named Shawn would make a nice daughter.

I watched the male gymnastics as well. Whatevs. They’re pretty impressive. However, they are also very small guys, so it isn’t a threat or anything. Not like wrestling; those guys could kill you.

Right now I know a few additional things. Jamaicans are really fast. Americans cannot pass a baton without dropping it. Race walking looks really really weird, and it also looks like you’d ruin your hips or something.

BTW, I also watch race-walking last night. I must be insane. Luckily, this is all over in a few days, and I can go back to watching other kinds of bad television. Yay for me.

Okay, I’m kind of at a loss here. I plan to start having regular content, but I really don’t do straight news analysis stuff and have no desire to do so at this time. I was going to start writing 100 word stories based on the topics suggested by the site, but it is apparently dead now. So, if you like, throw out some topic suggestions for that.

I figure on one 100 word story per day, an apropos of nothing post, and perhaps one other thing of some kind yet to be determined.

Probably should go to bed now, before Mr. Sun shows up. He’s due soon.

Update: 100-word story topics could be just a word that must be used, a situation that needs to be explored, stuff like that.

Jeff G. has decided (rightly IMO) to take back his site and allow no more guest posters. There was a lot of drama going on there, and it was taking away from time he needed to spend on other projects. While I will miss the opportunity to write for a large audience, ultimately it has to be about him, his site, and his brand.

One of my favorite movies is “Conagher,” with Sam Eliot as Conn Conagher and his real-life wife Katherine Ross as Evie Teale. Evie was widowed early on in the movie, and was so lonely she would write poems and tie them to tumbleweeds in the hope that she could somehow be communicating with someone out there.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m the writer of the poem or the tumbleweed that carries it.

Another of my father’s sayings, “Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your hummingbird ass.” Words to live by.

I found out about, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” at Ace’s blog. It’s a web-only musical written by Joss Whedon starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. It looks rediculous at first, but it kind of grows on you.

I recommend going here to watch it because you can watch it full-screen. I had to select the low-resolution mode to avoid stuttering issues at full-screen mode, but I have a 30in screen running at 2560×1600 resolution, so YMMV.

BTW, the screen? Awesome. If you sit in front of a computer all day, especially if you write a lot of code, it is a great investment, though it cost more than a really good big-screen television. In my case, however, my employer got it for me (I work out of my house), so you cannot beat that price. If he suddenly took it away, however, I think I would have to buy one anyway.