Framed

Teachers Get Mail

I've gotten letters kind of  like this, but never quite as baroque as this one.  Like they say, read the whole thing . . . but here are the highlights:

My Teacher,

I appreciate you taking your inconvenience to instruct us but I really had some problems in your class and I would like to explain them to you now. Every day I wanted to discuss with you about the way you grade my papers and the way you teach the class, but I could not because the things you say in class and your words disturb me so much I can not. You make me completely uncomfortable with the little things you say in the class like how you talk about television or how you talk about when you are grading our papers and trying to be fair.  You do not seem to care about our grades only that they are up to your too high standards and I can not talk to you because you make me completely uncomfortable.  For example, you say you will talk to us about our grades but you really will not because of how uncomfortable you make me feel with your words and what you say.

Welcome

Give me your tired, your poor . . . but not your lovelorn Italian law students:

He was a carefree Italian with a recent law degree from a Roman university. She was “a totally Virginia girl,” as she puts it, raised across the road from George Washington’s home. Their romance, sparked by a 2006 meeting in a supermarket in Rome, soon brought the Italian, Domenico Salerno, on frequent visits to Alexandria, Va., where he was welcomed like a favorite son by the parents and neighbors of his girlfriend, Caitlin Cooper.

But on April 29, when Mr. Salerno, 35, presented his passport at Washington Dulles International Airport, a Customs and Border Protection agent refused to let him into the United States. And after hours of questioning, agents would not let him travel back to Rome, either; over his protests in fractured English, he said, they insisted that he had expressed a fear of returning to Italy and had asked for asylum.

Ms. Cooper, 23, who had promised to show her boyfriend another side of her country on this visit — meaning Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon — eventually learned that he had been sent in shackles to a rural Virginia jail. And there he remained for more than 10 days, locked up without charges or legal recourse while Ms. Cooper, her parents and their well-connected neighbors tried everything to get him out.

Oh well, it could have been worse for Mr. Salerno--he could have been involuntarily drugged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.

It's amazing anyone even wants to come to Bush's America anymore.  And more worrisome to people like me who like to travel abroad is the question of at what point other countries will start treating Americans like we treat their citizens.

Wash U

I have two sons who will be entering college in just about 479 days, a fact that has imposed a considerable burden on Sue, our most excellent letter carrier.  Six days a week she staggers to our door and shoves a forest acre's worth of college catalogues, brochures, letters and postcards into our letter slot.   

Over the last year, Sue has delivered more mailings from Washington University in St. Louis than mailings from any other institution.  They send more almost every week, despite the fact that as far as I know, neither of my kids have ever expressed any interest in the school.  This long ago ceased to be flattering; it soon struck us as desperate, and eventually as pathetic.

Apparently the school's frantic efforts to be noticed are not confined to the admissions office there.  They've now decided to give an honorary degree to a famous person.  Yeah, that'll get them on more high school students' radar!  So who did Wash U choose to bestow with that honor?  A woman who has said things like this:

“The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.”

“Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women, except in the rarest cases.”

“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.”

“Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions”

“The snowflakes that grace us at Christmastime typify the artistic beauty that bestows joy on all ages but, like an acid, evolution corrodes this inborn appreciation of beauty and falsely trains children to view themselves as mere animals no more worthy than dogs or cats.”

"It is long overdue for parents to realize they have the right and duty to protect our children against the intolerant evolutionists.”

“ERA means abortion funding, means homosexual privileges, means whatever else.”

"We are starting a movement in the state legislatures...to forbid the installation of clinics that dispense contraceptives."

"It's very healthy for a young girl to be deterred from promiscuity by fear of contracting a painful, incurable disease, or cervical cancer, or sterility, or the likelihood of giving birth to a dead, blind, or brain-damage [sic] baby even ten years later when she may be happily married. "

The woman is Phyllis Schlafly.

That's a name I hadn't heard in a couple decades at least.  Perhaps Wash U figures that age has detoxified her more noxious actions and pronouncements--but I think not.  It's a disgrace for an institution of higher education to honor someone so resolutely anti-intellectual, so committed to perpetuating inequality, so hypocritical, and so downright wacky as Phyllis Schlafy.

Kathy G. over at Crooked Timber sums up some of the highlights of Schlafly's career:

Early on Schlafly was a member in good standing of the John Birch Society. You know them—they were an organization of redhunters so freakishly obsessed and paranoid that they famously believed President Eisenhower was a “conscious agent” of the international communist conspiracy. Schlafly first became well-known for her slim 1964 volume—a pamphlet, really—supporting the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater, A Choice Not An Echo. The book has been described as

a conspiracist theory in which the Republican Party was secretly controlled by elitist intellectuals dominated by members of the Bilderberger banking conference, whose policies were allegedly designed to usher in global communist conquest.

And yes, to be sure, in that book she didn’t explicitly identify those communist international bankers as Jews—but then again she didn’t have to, did she?

Later on, Schlafly’s conspiracy theories took more of a black helicopters, anti-UN, anti-”one-world government” flavor. In recent years, she has been identified as one of the leading proponents of conspiracy theories about the National American Union—the belief that “behind closed doors, the Bush administration has collaborated with the governments of Mexico and Canada to merge the three nations into one Socialist mega-state.”

Given her anti-intellectual conspiracy-mongering, it’s not surprising to learn that Schlafly rejects the theory of evolution and believes that creationism (or “intelligent design”) should be taught in schools. It must be said, though, that it is startling to read that she blames the Virginia Tech shootings on that school’s English department.

*  *  *

I can hardly believe that someone whose entire public career as a writer and speaker is littered with lies, smears, conspiracy theories, and shrill, ugly rhetoric would ever be rewarded with so high an honor as an honorary doctorate from a great university. But there are yet more reasons why every decent person should consider Phyllis Schlafly beyond the pale.

There is, for example, not just her style of argument, but the content of her political views. Which is very disturbing indeed.

Schlafly has always been an energetic proponent of the view that in America, nonwhites should not enjoy equal rights under the law. Here, for example, is what Wolfe has to say about the relationship between Schafly, the Goldwater-for-president boom, and the civil rights movement:

The origins of the Goldwater boom could be traced to a meeting between Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon in 1960 when, in return for Rockefeller’s support, Nixon agreed to endorse a civil rights plank calling for “aggressive action to remove the remaining vestiges of segregation or discrimination in all areas of national life.” This was too much for the right-wing activists from the South and Southwest, who were intent on taking over Abraham Lincoln’s party for their own bigoted ends. Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and conservatives such as Schlafly loved him for it. Conservatives maintained that their opposition to the Civil Rights Act was based on a preference for state’s rights over federal power, but no one, least of all their enthusiastic followers, was fooled. Conservatism was in large part a revolt by whites against the aspirations of blacks, and whatever success it enjoyed was a by-product of the backlash that it generated.

Her views on race remain unchanged, lo these many years later. Unsurprisingly, Schlafly (again quoting Wolfe here) “strongly” endorsed “Lee Atwater’s use of Willie Horton to scare voters away from Michael Dukakis.” She continues to be (Wolfe’s words) “anti-immigrant and hostile to minorities.” She has fairly recently, for example, described Mexican immigrants as “invaders” seeking to take control of America.

*  *  *

Schlafly has had a powerful, and entirely negative, influence on the political direction of this country, and on the tone of our political discourse. But there is no question that the thing she has been most famous for is being an antifeminist. Throughout her career, she has been given to such outrageous statements as “Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women, except in the rarest cases” and “By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” But she is best known for almost single-handedly stopping the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Ah, yes.  I remember back in the day how Schafly claimed that passage of the ERA would lead to the abolition of gender-specific bathrooms--an utterly loopy pronouncement that still probably did more to galvanize opposition to the amendment than anything else.  I also remember her going around the country giving speeches to the effect that women should stay home and be homemakers.

I think it's good for universities to expose their students to liberal and conservative thought.  I abhor the PC conformity of many of our institutions of higher learning.  If Wash U wanted to honor a conservative, there are many people out there with whom I disagree about nearly everything but who are not kooks and bigots. 

Maybe this is all part and parcel off Wash U's aggressive direct mail campaign: both are designed to get the school noticed.  OK--I noticed.  Now stop recruiting my kids to come to an institution that honors no-nothingism, conspiracy theorists and hypocrites.

"Hang That Darky From a Tree!"

I don't know about you, but I am shocked--SHOCKED!--to discover that racism exists in the United States of America:

In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."

For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.

Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."

*  *  *

On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.

Theoden: What can men do against such reckless hate?

Aragorn: Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them.

Unleashed

It's so much better seeing Obama go after John McCain than seeing him go after Hillary Clinton:

(h/t to Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog)

Even this mild rebuke by Obama--mild in comparison to McCain's suggestion that Obama is militant Islam's candidate for President--drew feigned outrage from the GOP:

To: Interested Parties

From: Mark Salter, Senior Advisor

Date: May 8, 2008

Re: Senator Obama’s Attack Today

First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama’s attack today: He used the words ‘losing his bearings’ intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.

Let me say this about that: huh?  Age?  Since when is losing one's bearings code for geriatric senility?  Methinks McCain is being a little touchy.  Maybe he forgot to take his Geritol this morning.

Evil

Natural disasters are no one's fault (except insofar as they may be exacerbated by global climate change).  Some governments don't do a very good job of preparing for them or providing relief afterwards.  Hurricane Katrina, anyone?  But even the Bush administration's incompetence and callousness pales in comparison with the out-and-out evil of the Burmese junta:

The United Nations' top World Food Program official says he is "furious" over the Myanmar's government's refusal to allow the organization to distribute aid that was flown in for cyclone disaster victims.

Future flights have been suspended.

Two planes that landed Friday morning in Rangon carrying 38 tons of high-energy biscuits, medical kits and other items were seized by officials at Yangon International Airport, said Tony Banbury.

The cargo is enough to feed 95,000 people, he said.

"We off-loaded the food, and then the authorities refused us permission to take that food away.

"We were told we needed a special letter from the Minister of Social Welfare. We hand-delivered a request to him. The answer back was 'No, you can't have the food.'

"That food is now sitting on the tarmac doing no good."

*  *  *

Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program, told CNN the agency has never encountered such resistance to offers of help in such a mushrooming humanitarian crisis.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the military junta in Myanmar has behaved "appallingly" by declining to grant more visas to relief workers.

"This has never happened before," he said Friday.

To complicate matters, Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok, Thailand -- where aid groups have been waiting for days for entry permission -- was closed Friday for a holiday.

How nice that the junta respects holidays while hundreds of thousands of people are dying.  With some observers speculating that the death toll could rise to 500,000 if relief efforts are not successful, the actions of the Burmese government constitute a crime against humanity.  The military there is declaring war on its own people.  Perhaps they figure that a decimated populace will be easier to control.

It's Friday . . .

. . . and the streets are ours.  Regarding the Democrats, as Jesse Jackson could have said, we need reconciliation, not silly recreation.

And since it's almost Mother's Day and we're playing Tom Leher, this is essential.

The Family Guy

Yet another Republican Congressman bites the dust:

Representative Vita J. Fossella, a Staten Island Republican who was arrested on May 1 in Alexandria, Va., and charged with drunken driving, issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Laura Fay, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, and that the two of them have a 3-year-old daughter together.

*  *  *

In Mr. Fossella’s four-sentence statement on Thursday, he declined to address his political future or specify whether he would seek re-election this fall to a sixth full term.

My guess is that he will shortly decide to retire from politics to spend more time with his families.

Kaptur

Marcy Kaptur is the Congresswoman who represents Ohio's Ninth District, where I happen to live.  As a member of Congress, she is a superdelegate to the Democratic convention and so far has been uncommitted.

Today, however, Barack Obama took to the House floor to say hello to several members, including Kaptur:

He spoke to uncommitted superdelegates as well as supporters of his rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) He was also seen speaking to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who is neutral in the race. And he talked at length to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), an uncommitted superdelegate.

While Dennis Kucinich was in the race, Kaptur said that so long as a fellow member of Ohio's congressional delegation was in the race, it would not be appropriate for her to make an endorsement.  Since Kucinich dropped out, her rationale for not endorsing anyone is that it maximizes her influence on the issues she cares about:

Kaptur said holding out on when it comes to her endorsement has had its advantages for lawmakers like herself who have an agenda to push and that the competitiveness of the Democratic nomination fight has given her the leverage to do so.“Had we not remained neutral, we would not have gotten a discussion,” Kaptur said. “I don’t think either one of them would meet with us if they were not that close.”

Kaptur is a thoughtful and dedicated congresswoman.  I suspect that she is torn now.  Her district narrowly went for Clinton in the primary, but Clinton's husband was the prime mover behind NAFTA, which Kaptur blames for gutting Toledo-area manufacturing.  She's a loyal Democrat who presumably wants the party to unite, but I wouldn't be surprised if she felt a certain gender and generational solidarity with Hillary Clinton, who is one year her junior.  The core of her support comes from union members who are more in synch with Clinton than Obama, but she abhors the effect of big money on politics and must have reservations about Clinton's reliance on PAC money.

Now that she has had conversations with Obama, it might be an appropriate time for her constituents to weigh in on the issue with her.  She can be reached through her webpage.

Presumptive

Our long national nightmare is over.

That's what Gerald Ford said upon being sworn in as Nixon's successor, but it's the way I'm starting to feel today.  Sure, I'm overstating things.  The Obama/Clinton contest has been anything but a nightmare for the GOP.  A contested primary is nowhere near as damaging to the Democrats as Nixonland was.  The point, though, is that after last night, all but paid partisans like Lanny Davis are starting to rally behind Barack Obama as the presumptive nominee.

I first noticed this by monitoring HinesSight last night.  Hines has been consistently, staunchly, and even militantly pro-Clinton.  He has headlined nearly every news story about the campaign with a Clinton spin.  Much as I've disagreed with him--and even been mildly irritated by him--I admire him for sticking to his guns and putting the best possible face on a weak hand.  But last night, Hines threw in the towel; the lede on his site called Obama the "presumptive nominee."  As I write this, headlines include:

Historic Nominee: Barack Obama, After a Long and Hard Campaign, Becomes the Presumptive Nominee of the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton Loaned Campaign $6.4 Million, Plans to Keep Going

Clinton Fails to Change the Game

How Obama Got His Momentum Back

Disappointing, Close Win for Clinton in Indiana

At Cliniton HQ, Defeat Hangs Heavy in the Air

Clinton Aides Doubtful About Future

At another pro-Clinton site, MyDD, the Blogfather himself, Jerome Armstrong, writes:

As for Clinton's chances going ahead, they are minimal. I gave about a 10% shot after she won TX & OH, and upped that to 15% after her PA win, and around 20% a week ago. Now, it's slimmer than ever before. There's little doubt that, considering any marker, Obama is on the path to the nomination, now more than ever. Congrats to all his supporters on a good night.

At the same site, Todd Beeton proclaims that "The Tie Has Been Broken":

The upshot is that there is no way to spin away what happened tonight: Senator Clinton had a really bad night and Senator Obama had a phenomenal one. It's impossible to overstate the significance of what he accomplished, not only considering what he's overcome over the past three weeks but also considering how decisively he denied Clinton what she needed to continue to have a credible path to the nomination. To put it plainly, tonight was her final shot and she needed to win Indiana by 8-10% and to lose NC by 1-3%; in other words she needed to do about 10% better in each state than she did in order to keep Michigan and Florida relevant and the popular vote in play for superdelegates. Unfortunately, she was unable to do either. Zogby was right this time and Survey USA...and I...were wrong.

Which leads me to the conclusion, sadly, that I no longer see a real path to victory for Hillary Clinton and I now believe Barack Obama will be the nominee of our party.

When people like Hines, Armstrong and Beeton who have loyally and strongly supported Clinton's candidacy effectively cede the race to Obama, something fundamental has changed.  The theme I see on these and other progressive sites is that the contest is over; now it's time to start the healing.

To that end, Andrew Sullivan makes the best case possible for an Obama/Clinton ticket.  I'm still not convinced--I think that putting a hack like Clinton on the ticket might demoralize many of the people who see Obama as a new kind of politician--but I'll admit that Sullivan's argument is pretty persuasive.  Tim Russert has even floated the idea that Obama could offer to take over Clinton's campaign debt in exchange for her accepting the Veep slot.  Various bloggers are suggesting that Obama and Clinton join forces and campaign together in the remaining states and Puerto Rico.

While Clinton's supporters are starting to bow to the inevitable, Obama supporter John Cole (who has just been on fire of late) comes closest to articulating my thoughts right now:

Now, can we get to the very serious business of dismantling the GOP? I have a very serious axe to grind, and it is deeply, deeply personal for me. There are a bunch of frauds, crooks, and phonies with whom I have a serious grudge that I want to settle. You see, I still have my “Peace Through Strength” button from when I campaigned for Reagan. I believed in limited government, I believed in a strong national defense, I believed in fiscal restraint and balanced budgets and I believed in personal integrity and individual liberty and personal freedom.

I am pissed. I want the frothing nutters, the fraudulent hucksters, the race-baiters, the anti-science frauds, the anti-intellectuals, the gay-bashers, the big-money cheats, the torture fetishists, the religious nuts, the tax and spenders, the xenophobes, and the phonies to pay. I want payback. I want the people who ruined my former party relegated to permanent minority status. I know I am a newly minted Democrat, and, as such, it is ballsy for me to start telling you what I want from the party, but this is my website and you are just going to have to deal with my opinion.

I am under no illusion I will buy into everything Barack Obama puts forward, but I am damned sure convinced he is a decent man who, at the very least, will restore a sense of competence to the national stage. I am willing to meet most Democrats half-way, and I am already doing everything I can to get this man elected. I think Obama will act in good faith for this nation, and I am responding in kind. His policies are not outlandish or crazy or uber-left- they reflect a rational, and I would argue, a decent and progressive way forward out of the mess I helped to create. I won’t like all of them, and I will not agree with all of them, but there is no chance that I will ever be President, so perfect agreement is never a possibility.

And don’t get me wrong- I am not for Obama because of what I am against. I am for Obama because he is a decent man, a break from the past, and really a once in a lifetime opportunity. He has treated us like adults throughout this primary, and it is time to act like adults. There will be times we feel he lets us all down, but we are not electing a diety. We are electing a leader, and Obama is that leader. It is time to get past the bullshit of the last 20 years, the battles I am really tired of fighting, and time to turn our attention to the really important issues of the day- the economy, the budget, our international presence, our crumbling infrastructure, our military, medicare and medicaid and social security, and on and on and on.

If Barack Obama was not your your preferred candidate, I am sorry that person did not win, but it is time to remember that the target is John McCain and the Bush/Cheney way of doing things.

In keeping with that notion, this will be my last post under the Primary 2008 category.  On to November.

Illiterates for English!

You bet.  Right after we make spelling a requirement for consuming oxygen.

(h/t to Melissa McEwan)

PATRIOT: Act VI

Religion Leads to Abstinence and Dog Tossing

I couldn't make up this kind of stuff if I tried:

Highly intoxicated and dissatisfied with her sex life, a 28-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday for stealing her husband's wallet and later assaulting the deputy who booked her into jail.

The meltdown, which deputies witnessed along with the couple's 3- and 4-year-old children, started when the husband, 24, had told his wife they had three hours to quit smoking, drinking, swearing and engaging in some sex acts because "they were going to be good Christians now," the woman said.

The man said she had woken him up to have relations, but then became disappointed and angry.

Kitsap County deputies were called to the apartment on the 11800 block of Majestic Lane NW at 2:38 a.m. after a neighbor overheard yelling, crying and slamming doors, the report said.

When deputies arrived, the woman denied any assault had taken place, and repeatedly, without sparing a vulgar euphemism, told the deputies about how unsatisfied she was with her sex life — some of the time carrying around a half-gallon of whiskey while doing so.

During an argument with one of the deputies, the woman picked up the family's 20-pound dog and threw it at the deputy, who caught it, the report said.

I mean, I can see being pretty disappointed if my wife came home one day and told me that since she'd found Jesus, she didn't need nookie anymore.  Would I be mad enough to toss my dog?  Only if I found out Jesus was our neighbor's gardener.  But Sophie's downed so many Ho-Ho's recently that I doubt I could do so without injuring myself.

(h/t to PZ Myers)

Bobby

The guy curled up on the floor of an airplane is Bobby Kennedy, and that bit of fluff under the seat near his head is his dog Freckles.  The year is 1968 and RFK was running for President.  This photo was taken by Bill Eppridge; more are posted in a slideshow at Vanity Fair.

The comment on this pic over at BAGnewsNotes is that

[n]obody symbolized the politics of hope more than RFK (if the term even bears credibility anymore).  And then, this photo is so syrupy innocent (sleeping on the airplane floor!  curled up with his dog! THE AMERICAN WAY!), it makes the vibe of the current Presidential race feel about as dank as that ashtray compartment.

Maybe.  My reaction, though, was different.  I don't believe this photo was published during the campaign.  Perhaps it wasn't considered newsworthy, or perhaps the journalistic sensibilities at the time precluded publication of such an intimate image.  If such a picture was to be printed of a Presidential candidate today, however, it would be a net negative for the man running.  I can just hear the chattering classes and the candidate's opponent now:

He  doesn't look very Presidential.

Look, he's all curled up the way babies sleep.

It's so dirty on his plane; look at the litter and the mess.  Is that how he'd run the Oval Office?

There's something pathetic about a grown man who sleeps with a toy dog.

It's undignified.  I mean, how can a guy who conducts himself like this ever hope to stand up to Putin?

Normal people don't sleep like bums on the floors of airplanes.

He looks like a guy who's finished off one too many Irish whiskeys.

Why is he sleeping on the floor?  Can't his campaign afford a plane with a reclining seat?  Maybe his campaign is in financial trouble.

And on and on.  It might even become the visual equivalent of the Dean Scream, an image broadcast over and over, dissected endlessly, nattered about in tones of mock disappointment and concern.

Robosleaze

Once more with the illegal robocalls in North Carolina:

A Durham voter got another odd robocall about voting.

Christina Headrick, a former reporter for the N&O, says she received a misleading call Sunday from a "woman with a professional sounding voice" about mail-in voting.

Here is what the woman said:

"Have you ever wondered how you can vote by mail? From the convenience of your own home? Your vote has never been more important than it is in this critical election year. And this is a great way to ensure your voice is heard. If you would like to vote by mail, please press 1. If not, hang up."

Absentee ballots must have been requested before last Tuesday and returned in the mail by 5 p.m. today. In short, there is no way that it would be helpful for anyone to receive information about mail-in voting yesterday.

She tried to look for a caller ID using *69, but the number was either out of the area or from a restricted caller. It is against state law for robocallers to not identify themselves.

Just like the calls that were made earlier in North Carolina telling people that they were going to receive a form in the mail to sign to register themselves to vote, this call aims at producing voter confusion and suppressing turnout:  Oh, you mean I don't have to bother going down to to the polls and waiting in line to vote tomorrow?  Great--I'll just mail it in.

I'll bet that if the people responsible for these calls are exposed, they will sheepishly claim it was all a mistake, that they were trying to increase, not decrease, voter participation, and that they'll never ever do it again.  And I won't be surprised if a little digging reveals Clintonian connections.