Oops.

My idea (scroll down) that Sarah Palin appoint herself to fill the Senate seat that Ted Stevens hasn't yet been re-elected to or resigned from, while fun, won't work, alas. According to Diane Rehm (who needs source documents? I have a radio, for God's sake) Alaska law requires a special election to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. And yes, each state really does get to decide how to fill vacancies in Federal elected posts, and there's no uniformity.

Liddy Dole has been attacked on all sides for her "Godless Hagan" ad (scroll down again) but says she's hearing anecdotes on her bus tour of North Carolina(the "Eliza-BUS Tour!" and no I'm not making that up, link here) from people who like it and are appalled at Hagan, so she's keeping it on the air. Her campaign is sticking with the story that it's completely accurate.

From the News & Obeserver (link here) long time GOP strategist Carter Wrenn says "the next sound you may hear will be the roof falling in on Liddy Dole."

I think that, like so much else in North Carolina this year, the Dole-Hagan race is too close to call.

So over the top it's almost funny

Before you watch, you should know that Kay Hagan is a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher and has been for many years.

Who shall blog the bloggers themselves?

From my favorite conservative blog, Best of the Web Today, the following paragraph, the last sentence of which is a most profound understatement:

"This is beginning to look like a bad year for Republicans. The GOP's latest misfortune is yesterday's conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska on seven felony corruption accounts. Stevens, 84, who has been in the Senate just under 40 years, is up for re-election this year, and decided to stick it out and run despite his age and legal problems. He has been narrowly trailing Democrat Mark Begich, but that was before the conviction. It's hard to see how this can help him."

The article goes on to suggest that Ted Stevens might keep the seat in Republican hands by promising to resign immediately following the election so that the governor could appoint someone else to the position. It might work. Alaskans are a pretty red group of folks, and wouldn't like having a Democrat representing them in the Senate.

Taranto doesn't close the loop on this, but it would be great good fun if Governor Palin would appoint herself to Steven's seat, so that she'd be in Washington on inauguration day and could snark about John McCain not being conservative enough from the floor of the Senate.

Actually, I've already voted.

What Tina Fey could do next

I once worked for a large insurance company that was losing money. Management introduced sweeping new changes to restrict the outflow of cash. They severely reduced the autonomy of their adjusters, making it much harder for them to settle claims. The plan didn't work the first year, so they clamped down harder and became more even restrictive, introducing new, extremely specific procedures manuals from which deviation was highly discouraged. It still didn't work and the company continued to lose money, so management became ever more deliberate, requiring all adjusters to follow ever-more rigid procedures and manuals from which no deviation was allowed. It never worked, and all the good adjusters quit. I've noticed other corporations do the same thing--if the new Six Sigma program isn't working, it can only be because it wasn't applied strictly enough. Increasingly inflexible strict adherence to the company line is the only way to go, at least until it fails completely. In any kind of judgment job, the only way to manage employees, is to hire good people, train them well, and leave them alone to do their jobs. For the last two weeks any Republican standing in front of a microphone has said the same thing: you should be afraid of Obama because he hangs around with terrorists. No matter what the question is, that's the answer. It may be disciplined, it may be rigidly on-message, but it isn't working. If every Republican on TV had something personal and different to say about why he or she supports McCain, they might actually reach a swing voter or two. Clamping down harder and harder on a negative message is accomplishing nothing.

It's too early to start talking like this, of course.

From a mordant piece by the thoughtful Paul Begala and the sarcastic James Carville, who say from their position waaay across the aisle that the Republican party needs to decide what it is:

"The neocons may want to blame the theocons. The economic conservatives will likely blame the big spenders. The conflagration will be so multi-dimensional we'll need a program to sort out the players. They will need to answer fundamental questions: What does it mean to be a Republican? Do Republicans support laissez-faire or nationalized banking? Do Republicans support a balanced budget or half-trillion-dollar deficits? Do Republicans want a "humble foreign policy" like George W. Bush, or preventive war against countries that pose no threat, like, umm, George W. Bush? Are Republicans the party of limited government or a vast Medicare prescription drug benefit? Are they wary of Big Brother or eager to expand warrantless wiretaps? Do they support Christian values or torture? Are they the party that believes that cutting-edge technology can shoot a missile out of the sky or the party that believes humans and dinosaurs walked the earth simultaneously?"

Click here to see the whole article.

American Nobelists from the New York Times

I mentioned James Taranto's blog "Best of the Web Today" yesterday (link here). One of his favorite topics of commentary over the last few years has been a New York Times columnist whom he consistently refers to as "former Enron adviser Paul Krugman." I'm not sure what the Enron connection is, but Taranto is reliably accurate on his facts, so it's there somewhere. Taranto strongly disagrees with Krugman's opinions as expressed in the Times and has said so often.

I heard on the way in to work today that Krugman, a strong Obama supporter, has received the Nobel prize for economics, just as the world financial system took a few tentative steps back from the edge of the abyss. I looked with anticipation to Taranto's blog today for comment on this, but alas, he has nothing to say on the matter.

Perhaps tomorrow.

BBC story about Krugman here.

Maybe the Right is righting itself

My favorite political blog is "The Best of the Web Today" by James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal. Taranto is way conservative and has been a stalwart Bush supporter while my politics are thoroughly left-leaning and I don't think Bush could pour rainwater out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel. Still, Taranto has a sharp eye and clever writing style and rightfully points out many of the Democrats' foibles and illogicalities, generally in a pretty funny way.

He's been fond of mocking what he calls "the angry left" over the last few years, and I have to say I've often agreed with him when describing the activities of fellow lefties whose zeal and enthusiasm seemed to ferment into an illogical rage. If there's an unhinged tree-hugger who's been living in a sequoia for six months who spouts an angry screed about global warming and its relation to Sasquatch, he's always got a link.

As the stories have been accumulating over the last week of audience comments at McCain/Palin rallies with a hostile, angry tone, I wondered what he would think. Republicans who want to think that Sen. Obama is a Muslim Arab terrorist are clearly as nutty as any tree-hugger deeply in love with spotted owls. And I must say, to his immense credit, Taranto addressed the issue squarely in his column from yesterday. (Link here.) I also agree with his conclusion that that kind of inchoate anger is more likely an attribute of a party out of power than a party in power, that it is unattractive and diminishes the message of the opposition, and that the rage is counterproductive and politically unwise: it is certainly alienating to undecided voters who are not themselves angry.

I also found it heartening that Sen. McCain himself told several campaign gatherings, that they should not be afraid of an Obama presidency and that he was a decent human being and a good family man. He quieted a supporter who referred to Sen. Obama as an Arab.

Perhaps decency is making a comeback. Of course, it would be a more convincing comeback if the rhetoric of the ads and of Sen. McCain's and Gov. Palin's speeches were to tone down and return to the issues, but half a loaf is better than no bread at all.

And thanks, as always, to Mr. Taranto for his insightful, if conservative, views.

Things that might derail the train

1. They find Osama bin Laden and bring him to the U.S.

2. Obama announces plans to divorce Michelle to marry Larry Craig.

3. Turns out he really is Muslim and has ties to the Taliban.

4. Cindy promises to pay off all our credit cards with her personal money.

That's about it, so far as I can tell.

What a difference two weeks makes.

Theme from Maverick

Who is the short, old stranger there?
Maverick is the name.
Riding the bus to who knows where
The press is his companion,
Politics his game.

Supporting your right to own machine guns,
Maverick is the name.
Brushed off by congress's Republicans,
Send out Sarah Palin
Once she has been trained.

Strait Talk Express fare thee well!
Honesty's shot to hell!
Pandering's easier than you ever thought.
Living on bites and shots,
The leopard has changed his spots,
Maverick is the story of selling out.

The veep debate, simplified

Sarah Palin did a good job only when answering the questions she asked herself but she didn't look unhinged so the Repubs are happy with her, even if she didn't win over any undecideds. Joe Biden's answers were filled with history and procedural arcaniana from the Senate but he looked ready to be president if need be. Since neither candidate exploded it will have no impact on the direction the race is headed.

You're darned right.

I was so hoping Gwen Ifill would ask both of them whether they believed that there were dinosaurs roaming the earth 4,000 years ago.

How to buy or sell something when you don't understand what it is

Click here for Marketplace's explanation for how brokers who didn't know what they were selling managed to peddle mortgage-based securities to institutional investors who didn't know what they were buying. It appears unicorns were involved.

Click on the orange button that says "Listen to this story."