Exams finish up today – then I’ll be (relatively) free for a couple weeks. Woohoo!
Of course, there is always the downer when it starts up again. I clearly need to just retire right now.

Of America tonight.

Get out and VOTE!

I don’t know if this is happening right now, and if it is, to what extent… but Mark Warner should spend every waking moment running around the Commonwealth of Virginia campaigning for Obama.  He’s already assured of winning the seat.  He can take a half-hour appearance and spend 5 minutes mentioning his plans.  And then take the rest of the time talking about why he and Obama are similar.

Link the two.  Get some upward coattail effect.  Jim Gilmore certainly isn’t going to bring the base out to vote – but Mark Warner might encourage enough Dems to head to the polls and, even if they aren’t sure about Obama, will vote the “ticket.”

The choice of Gov. Sarah Palin to be John McCain’s running mate initially sent chills up this progressive blogger’s spine.  What if the Republicans are the first party to have a woman VP (or President!)?  What does that say for the torch the Democrats have born for the last 50 years as the forward-looking party, the diverse party, the party at the forefront of calls for social reform and equality?

But upon reflection, the editors at Bachmannalia believe that McCain has missed the mark with Gov. Palin, at least insofar as she appears to be an “election” choice, rather than a “governing” choice.  Few would argue that Tom Ridge, or Mitt Romney, or Kay Bailey Hutchinson each have more experience and would be better suited to step into the role of President should McCain’s heart give out.  Moreover, Palin definitely brings the “red meat” to the base – gun-rights supporter, hailing from the true-red (and oil-rich) state of Alaska, strongly (some might say virulently) pro-life… she brings the goods to the elements of the party dissatisfied with McCain (though, if any of these people bothered to look at McCain’s resume, they might see that he is far more conservative than he is given credit for being).  All of these factors suggest that Palin is meant to help McCain get elected, not to be an advisor/senior statesperson (how could she with John around!) figure.

But let’s be honest.  There is one more element to Palin’s appeal as an election-selection… her gender.  McCain’s camp saw Obama “pass over” Clinton (the phrase is very loaded) and immediately saw an opportunity.  Palin’s status as a mother of 5, her admirable mixing of government service with family life, etc.  Such characteristics MUST appeal to those disaffected Hillaryites, right?

Wrong.  That is McCain’s misunderstanding, and it will prove in the coming months why this pick was poor for him.  If McCain chose Palin, in significant part, for her gender, then he fundamentally misconceives this race.  While the McCain camp is sure to extol all the virtues of Palin as the real reasons behind her selection, McCain’s current treatment of another figure – Barack Obama – makes his true rationale clear.

See, McCain is convinced that Obama is a celebrity figure – all puff and no substance.  He is convinced that the American people are rallying behind Barack because he is some sort of messiah, or even just a fad.  He is convinced, moreover, that African-Americans are flocking to Obama because he is black.  He is convinced that young voters are enamored of Obama’s relative youth.

What does all of that mean?  It means that McCain views the race as one about identity.  He thinks that people don’t believe in Barack’s message or his policies, but rather just in HIM.  And he thinks that Hillary supporters just wanted HER.  And when you extrapolate out, he really sees it being a case of a black man and a white woman.

So he’s latched onto this identity-theme, and picked Palin because she is a woman.  McCain is sure that female voters will simply flock to Palin because of her gender.

What a misunderstanding, and a shockingly bald one (pun not really that intended) at that.  McCain thinks that he needs to match the figure of Obama and put someone on the ticket who will also “bring in” her “natural constituency.”  But such a mistaken belief is not only demeaning to women across the country, but also just plain wrong.  Women will no more vote for Palin than old men will vote for McCain.

McCain is, clearly, mistaken.

I cannot get over how funny–and deviantly brilliant–the relatively new Botox ads are.

Have you seen them?  The ones that say, “Express Yourself!”

How clever!  Take a fad pharmaceutical–one which, of course, is derived from the deadly botulism toxin–that’s goal is to paralyze the muscles in ones face (and thus, in fact, limit expression) and urge people to use it to express themselves.

Genius!

… Joe Biden.

Just saying.

Don’t get us wrong.  The editors at Bachmannalia fully endorse and support ex-Gov. Mark Warner’s bid for the U.S. Senate in Virginia.  And considering that Mr. Warner was one of the most popular governors in recent memory, worked across the aisle to turn a deficit into a budget surplus by getting Republicans to agree on sensible taxes, and that several prominent Republicans have endorsed him already, Mr. Warner doesn’t really need our (illustrious) endorsement.

Oh, and did we mention that he’s running against former Gov. Jim Gilmore?  Warner will win in a cake walk.  We have even bet some of our colleagues that Warner wins by more than 17%, and the polls are sustaining us right now.

Anyway, why all this?  Because it was recently announced that Mark Warner will give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in a few weeks.

All well and good, and strategically smart.  Obama has made a big push to win Virginia and honestly thinks that he will.  (If he does, it will be a squeaker).  So putting an incredibly popular Virginian on the stage makes sense.  Warner would, in fact, have been a superb VP choice, as his appeal would almost certainly have brought VA into the Democratic fold for the first time since 1964, and he has executive experience to boot.  But taking a Senate seat from the Republican tally is pretty good too.  But we digress.

Where were we?  Oh yes, Virginia.  Anyway, Mark Warner also symbolizes that underlying message of Obama’s about transcending partisanship.  Warner is a pro-business and very wealthy Democrat who has appealed to Republicans over the years while being moderately left-wing on social issues.  He’s pro-gun, but in a sensible and non-NRA “trigger locks?  but then they won’t fire immediately!” kind of way.  So, in the end, he brings a lot of valuable qualities to set the mood for the convention.

But, there is something to be concerned about…

For all his good political qualities, Mark Warner is NOT an exciting speaker.  Folks, this will not be Obama 2004 by any stretch.  We just hope that Mr. Warner has improved since one of his early speaking engagements, which we here at Bachmannalia had the displeasure of attending.  UVa commencement, 2002, and Warner was the newly elected governor, just in office a few months at that point.  Rather than talking about something exciting and interesting (see UVa commencement the year before, with the doctor who sequenced the human genome giving a seemingly-impromptu-yet-wholly-planned-but-nevertheless-hilarious guitar solo) or even generic like “follow your dreams,” Mr. Warner went into a policy talk about an education bill he wanted the Assembly to pass.

Blah.  Super blah.  And delivered in a monotone.

Ugh.

Mr. Warner, you are a gifted politician, and an asset to the Democratic party.  But please be sure to practice your speech, and make it GOOD!

EDIT:  Oh yeah, the title.  Basically it means I might not have to watch, and now I can go see baseball.

How is a man to decide?

August 25-28 is the Democratic National Convention, and there will certainly be some incredible speeches and moments to witness.

On the other hand, August 25-28 is a 4-game series between the Winston-Salem Warthogs and the Kinston Indians.  Kinston features several young future stars of the Cleveland Indians (we hope).

The 28th will have both Obama’s speech and the final Warthogs game ever at Ernie Shore Field.

What a conflict!

Next time you apply for a job, be sure that you don’t address the cover letter to a different (and rival) firm.

Yeah, that might help.