Friday, October 17, 2008

Good news, bad (but not surprising) news

The good news is that the rumors of a Colin Powell endorsement of Obama have come down to a specific time and place - Meet the Press, this Sunday. (Source CNN Political Ticker).

The bad news is the incredibly tasteless (and, yes, racist) link made by Faux News between that rumor and Powell's hip-hop dancing at the Africa Rising event at Royal Albert Hall in London. The Washington Independent reports this latest faux pas by Faux news (sorry, I could not resist, though it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue) and provides the link to FN (which I will not). The good news out of the bad news that is that if Fox is already ahead of the story, the rumors of the endorsement may well be true.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, you have to like (and appreciate more than us East-Coasters-all-our-lives types) this

klady said...

Yes, I heard about that but hadn't read it until now. Well put, including:

"He has risen with his honor, grace and civility intact. He has the intelligence to understand the grave economic and national security risks that face us, to listen to good advice and make careful decisions.

When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren't a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did."

I'm very glad that they did it, but the Tribune has always been kind of mixed bag despite the history. You have to recall the Chicago machine, so the bastion of Republican power and influence within the city meant (or at least used to) a tough group of reporters determined to dig up the truth (and/or dirt) on the Democrats. And I was raised on Tribune as the one truly fine newspaper (back in the days when there were several - The Sun-Times, the Daily News, and the Chicago American, all the mainstream dailies, not to mention the various alternative news sources, like eventually the Reader). OK, OK, I'm getting homesick. It's just that the Republicans used to be the good guys in Illinois politics, with people like Chuck Percy and Jim Thompson, and great judges like John Paul Stevens and William J. Bauer. And then, of course, there was that Abe Lincoln guy. It all changed about the time I left -- finally got a Republican governor sent to federal prison for a change.

Anyway, good for the Trib.

[BTW -- what is this "East Coast" stuff? I'm still green behind the ears, I guess, but it seems to me that if you can't feel and smell the ocean breeze, or at least are within an hour's drive, one is no more near a coast than in Chicago - which at least has a rather large lake next to it. *sigh* I miss large bodies of water.]

klady said...

Here's another good one, from the LA Times. It begins:

"It is inherent in the American character to aspire to greatness, so it can be disorienting when the nation stumbles or loses confidence in bedrock principles or institutions. That's where the United States is as it prepares to select a new president: We have seen the government take a stake in venerable private financial houses; we have witnessed eight years of executive branch power grabs and erosion of civil liberties; we are still recovering from a murderous attack by terrorists on our own soil and still struggling with how best to prevent a recurrence.

We need a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and grace under pressure, one not prone to volatile gesture or capricious pronouncement. We need a leader well-grounded in the intellectual and legal foundations of American freedom. Yet we ask that the same person also possess the spark and passion to inspire the best within us: creativity, generosity and a fierce defense of justice and liberty.

The Times without hesitation endorses Barack Obama for president."

Unknown said...

East Coast? I guess having lived my whole life, with some minor exceptions where I was such a little pup that I remember nothing (except the story of being covered with ants in Alabama), I have to pick some sort of identification... I grew up with the New Yorker and the Times in our home, went to schools in NY and MA, lived in NY and MA all of my grown dog life. So am I to identify with some sort of muddled middle nothing of the US (you know - one of those places where real Americans live), or the East Coast? While claiming Pittsburgh as home now while serving as Bishop, I still consider myself an East Coast kind of dog. You're confusing a sea-going dog like a Newfie with a Clumber, who does not surf well and hates jellyfish.

klady said...

Well, I'll leave you with your East Coast identification. Me, I guess I'll stick with being the perennial outsider.

The New Yorker! Wow! Us, too, but I thought it was for all those in the muddled middle who yearned for the big city (not that hog butcher's place) and sophisticated taste in arts and letters (not to mention the great cartoons!).

I haven't checked lately, but the first couple years we lived here, we couldn't get the NY Times delivered here in NY -- even though we could get it in suburban Chicago (and years ago by mail to Wisconsin -- though rather expensive back then). Yes, one usually can pick it up every day at Byrne Dairy (the 5 copies or so they order generally do not go quickly, even here in the Village, except on Sundays).

All in all, though, this is a great place to live (not to mention full of great people, dogs, cats, and rabbits and squirrel to confound the domestic canines here).

Unknown said...

As a smallish pup, I have fond memories of visiting my favorite great aunt and her husband in the VA facility in your fair burg, and remember being fascinated by the black squirrels running around the grounds, which were not present in my humble home town. I was too young to chase them, but watching them was a good time.

I dare say there are East Coaters living in California as well as the coast of Connecticut.

o-mom said...

The east coast view is interesting. Here in the midwest, I have to tell you, the Tribune endorsement may be considered one of the secret signs of the apocalypse. We are impressed. Weirdly, we have black squirrels too. They live happily with the gray ones. Though apparently our black squirrels and yours are different, but I digress. If you are not on the campaign's mailing list and have not already done so, I urge you to donate now! A small donation to insure our future will get you a great deal of information (and daily e-mail), not to mention your very own Obama mama tee. :)

klady said...

My email boxes are so full of campaign stuff it's not funny. I am a bit ticked off that my (for me) substantial donation to Obama has not yet produced the promised yard sign. I finally got two from the local campaign -- one promised to a friend who will be out of the country for the remainder of the campaign, but wanted a sign in her yard; the other went to the parents of a friend of my daughter's. And get this: someone set their yard sign on fire so they don't have one anymore (fortunately no persons or other property was harmed).

Still not THAT impressed with the Tribune. I won't talk about my long-ago brief connection with a writer there. But I did work for a judge who was not only the Asst. A.G. for the U.S. Dept. of Justice but was in charge of going after folks like the Weathermen, and he's been down on the "new" Republicans for many, many years. It's not that far off to expect the Tribune to finally stand up to the Rovian thugs who have taken over the Republican party.

Nevertheless, each and every thoughtful endorsement for Obama is more than welcome. The Trib's is symbolic, in some ways more so than Powell. But, as a practical matter, whose vote will be the least bit influenced nowadays by what newspaper editorial boards say? It's just nice to have them saying out loud what so many are thinking anyway.

klady said...

who's - a Palinesque moment

o-mom said...

You are doubtless correct about the level of influence that a Tribune endorsement will have. Yet, in its entire history, they have never endorsed a Democrat before. Whether you want to interpret that as Obama being just that wonderful or McCain being just that awful, I don't think it matters. It is symbolic. Hopefully, it is symbolic of where a vast number of thinking conservatives are, as well as the rest of us. Sorry to hear about the sign.