I Think We Got it

ABC News covers McCain's appearance with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show:

For his part, McCain joked that he had picked his running mate. With fanfare he pulled out a piece of paper upon which the name of Dwight Schrute, the power-hungry but bumbling character from the NBC sitcom "The Office," was written. Stewart’s audience seemed to approve.

"That is pandering," Stewart joked when McCain received applause.

McCain’s press secretary Brooke Buchanan explained that McCain is a fan of "The Office" and was trying to make a joke.

Thank heaven they checked with the press secretary. 

More coverage (with video link) at USA Today; the WaPo Trail is long and sympathetic.

So let me segue to a point articulated by Michael Scherer of TIME back when the Republicans still had a contest:

Here's one thing you need to know about John McCain. He's always been the coolest kid in school. He was the brat who racked up demerits at the Naval Academy. He was the hot dog pilot who went back to the skies weeks after almost dying in a fire on the U.S.S. Forrestal. His first wife was a model. His second wife was a rich girl, 17 years his junior. He kept himself together during years of North Vietnamese torture and solitary confinement. When he sits in the back of his campaign bus, we reporters gather like kids in the cafeteria huddling around the star quarterback. We ask him tough questions, and we try to make him slip up, but almost inevitably we come around to admiring him. He wants the challenge. He likes the give and take. He is, to put it simply, cooler than us.

Mr. Scherer goes on to contrast McCain with Romney, but a contrast with Barack Obama is also in play.  Barry/Barack was just not the cool kid in school.  He went along, he got along, he wanted to fit in, and I presume he was liked and respected (except as a kid in Indonesia where he was bullied regularly), but he was never one of the cool kids.  And even now he is afraid to go back and talk to the press.

Whatever - Barack has aged gracefully, and, as he might say himself, he is certainly cool enough.  But is is not natural with him, and he knows his secret, as do I (it is a Brotherhood of Nerds thing...).

Now, McCain is 113 years old, so it is not immediately apparent that he will have youth appeal.  However, he will do better on that front than people expect (as Reagan did).  My secret high school spy met McCain at a barbecue in New Hampshire with about forty people in attendance, and came away very impressed; I think she went with the idea that it would be like going to meet grandpa and listening politely while he rambles on about whatever, and she was surprised by how engaging McCain was.

We'll see.  Expect the unexpected.

MORE:  I don't want to cast Barack as Commodus.  But Russell Crowe as John McCain as the Gladiator is a lay-up:

Commodus: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
Maximus: You would fight me?
Commodus: Why not? Do you think I am afraid?
Maximus: I think you've been afraid all your life.

The scene continued:

Maximus: I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
Commodus: I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?
Maximus: You must know. He was your father.
Commodus: You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother.
[stabs him]

Hmm, Hillary could be Commodus... This is tricky - she has the endless ambition, but I don't think she has a fearful inner core, which Obama, the life-long conciliator, might.  Developing...

COURAGE!  Here are two articles contrasting John Kerry's apparent physical courage in Vietnam with his utter lack of political courage thereafter.  We won't be seeing similar articles about McCain, but what will people say of Barack Obama?  What bold stand has he ever taken? 

To be fair, he crossed the aisle with a number of Democrats in favor of tort reform early in his Senate career, and seems to have been reined back in since then.  In any case, this analysis of the tort reform effort does not depict Obama's vote as meriting a Profile in Courage.

And please don't mention his Oct 2002 anti-war speech; 90% of the Congressional Black Caucus opposed the war, so Barack was taking the utterly conventional position for his district.  He also hoped to enter the 2004 Senate race if Carol Mosely Braun declined to run, and she was staunchly anti-war, again, unsurprisingly.  His decision to oppose the war earns him a Profile in Obviousness.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

From "The Nightingale's Song," by Robert Timberg (an absolutely fascinating book):

"He proved to be a natural leader, his magnetic personality making him the unofficial trail boss for a lusty band of carousers and partygoers known as the Bad Bunch. 'People kind of gravitated to him,' said Chuck Larson. 'They would respond to his lead. They pretty much cared about his approval and they cared about what he thought.' Larson, an ex-officio member of the Bad Bunch, was McCain's closest friend at the Academy and for some years after. They were known as the Odd Couple, McCain short, scrappy, the consummate screwup, Larson the model midshipman, tall, handsome, smooth, bright. They shared a sense of the absurd and an eye for the ladies. Larson, though, was cautious. Of course, he had more to be cautious about. McCain didn't know what the word meant. As one classmate put it, being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck."

Larson was the Brigade Commander and went on to become a four-star admiral.

[PrestoPundit]

"He went along, he got along, he wanted to fit in"

Obama made some telling choices about where he felt most comfortable "fitting in".

Here's a middle class kid from a white family in a multicultural elite environment -- but at college he chose to "fit in" with the hard left, seeking out far left professors and radical friends, almost all of them black or from the 3rd world (facts from Obama's memoir).

At Columbia he sought to "fit in" with hard left socialists at socialist conferences and at a Ralph Nader public interest group.

Then this private school nerd went to South Chicago where we sought to fit in with nti-American Black Nationalists, both from Farrakhan's Nation of Islam and from Wright's Black Liberation Church (facts from Obama's memoir).

He moved on from that to an attempt to "fit in" with corrupt Chicago Democrats and radical anti-American Maoists. He did a pretty good job, collecting cash and property , promising political career -- and political power.

Obama is a sort of "Zelig" -- he seems to change like a chameleon and makes himself "fit in" in the most unlikely environments. I'd suggest that's what he's doing right now -- he's changed his colors in order to "fit in" as the next President of the United States.

[Danube of Thought]

I sure do agree with PPundit's analysis. The problem is, this guy is as smooth as they come and has a lot of people fooled; a further problem is that McCain won't go for the jugular.

[BumperStickerist]

Gravitas.

That magic word from the presidential campaign eight years ago.

Obama, for all his Hope-itude and Changeyness, lacks Gravitas

-

[LindaK]

Obama is an actor, which is why he plays so well when he has a script and muddles his answers with professorial gobble-d-gook when he's forced to venture off script. Contrast with McCain, who generally knows what he is talking about and can speak extemporaneously. On McCain's campaigns he is open to all questions; nothing is off the record. In contrast, on the Obama bus to hopey-dopeyland, everything is OFF the record. He is afraid to sit down with the press. Ahh and yet they adore him so.

[michaelt]

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made - Jean Giraudoux, French diplomat, dramatist, & novelist (1882-1944)

[MayBee]

Now, McCain is 113 years old

I have a call in to McCain's press people to verify this fact.

[PrestoPundit]

Maybe we should look at this in terms of the ego game of life -- the alpha male game.

In these terms folks measure themselves again peers -- and family.

It's evident that McCain is driven by a need to match or exceed the attainments of his high ranking war hero father and grandfather. For a long time he wasn't coming close in his military career -- and was falling behind his professional peers. You had an ego in crisis and I think you still do.

Now lets look at Obama -- Obama has nothing but condescension for the man who raised him, his white grandfather. It's in his memoir and its in nearly every article in which Obama speaks of the matter. (One reason Obama's prepared remarks about his grandfather's war service ring so empty.)

Obama's best friend in high school became a drug addict and spent time in prison.

Obama has outdone his mother by securing a stable family -- and an advanced degree from Harvard.

Obama has outdone everyone he worked with in South Chicago and everyone he sat in the pews with at Trinity Church (something that seems to get under Rev. Wright's craw.)

So in the ego game of life success, Obama has run the table beyond his wildest dreams, while McCain -- like a sort of Citizen Kane -- covers the long hallways of his home with pictures of achievements which in his own eyes will never match those of his heroic forefathers.

[Greg Ransom]

I left out Obama's father. Obama idealized hisfather as a great thinker and statesman bringing the light of socialism to Kenya. Then he discovered his father was an "impractical" politician and a drunk -- a man who chose his ideals and convictions over his family and "practical" political considerations. He was a radical who had never read Saul Alinsky's _Rules for Radicals_, as Obama himself had closely studied. He was a radical who had internalized Western norms of ethics and truth telling, rather than the norms Obama learned well in Indonesia. Obama began to look at his father the way he already looked at his grandfather, as a drunk and a failure -- things which were not for Obama.

The one thing that Obama held on to was his father's great confidence and public speaking ability. Here Obama emulated his father -- and is no doubt very happy and proud about besting.

[Jane]

Okay, I have an off-topic, conspiracy theory thingy that's been bouncing in my brain since Jeremiah Wright went missing.

What exactly did Obama promise him in return for his silence going forward? We know they were in negotiations. What was the outcome?

[Porchlight]

Back in November when no one rated McCain's chances very high, I saw a high school friend of mine who had been traveling with MTV's "town hall" election tour. He reported that in that environment, talking to young people, McCain was totally at home and clearly enjoying himself. To everyone's surprise - kids and older staff alike - he was evidently a big hit.

Obviously Obama is the rock star in this equation, and the audience in question is far more likely to lean Dem, but it would be a mistake to totally discount McCain's ability to charm the under 35 crowd.

[MayBee]

My kids do not talk about McCain's age. They also never speak of Obama's youth.

[MayBee]

Oh wait, that isn't entirely true. They follow politics a lot, but last night at dinner when I told them how old Obama is, they were surprised he's so young.

[Don]

There's one piece of logic you cool kids could answer for me. One of these statements must be true:

A. McCain is a better man and potential president than Bush?

B. McCain is a worse or equal man and potential president than Bush?

If it's A, then Republicans were stupid to pick Bush over McCain in 2000, right?

If its B, why the hell do you think America wants worse than Bush?

[michaelt]

Because he's better than Obama or Hillary.

Duh......

[Rick Ballard]

Bush isn't on offer.

The alternatives are McCain or a u-pickem commie. It won't be that tough a choice in November.

[TexasToast]

Interesting post, Tom.

I would guess that McCain would love to make this a contest of personalities, or experience, or "coolness", or any number of things other than the economy and the war. This year? Good luck with that.

Still, it might have been the best plan against Hillary, even though her most loyal supporters (women over 50) really arn't that impressed with "teh cool".

Obama, on the other hand, is a bit more than "cool enough". His campaign is the ultimate in cool. Internet fundraising? - off the charts. Youth participation? - off the charts. His campaing seems to create cool - Obama girl, anyone? Somehow (depending on the target audience, of course), I doubt that Obama's lack of bowling prowess will brand him as "uncool."

[Person A]

Don,

The person below me is lying.

[Person B]

Don,

Person A is telling the truth.

[Jane]

His campaing seems to create cool

Yup. Exactly like George McGovern's in '72.

[Person A]

Shut up.

[Person B]

No. You shut up.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

I was thinking of Dean in '04. Or maybe Senator Lamont's in '06.

Once you've got the "youth" fired up and excited like never before, it's a clear run to the political graveyard. Do you remember both Dean and Kerry trumpeting their "internet fundraising" skills? I remember Joe Trippi being extolled as the marvel of the age.

[Person C]

Hey, guys -

This is a respectable blog, not a moron-blog. Don't make Tom pull us over to the side of the road.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Remember when 'charisma' was cool?

[Jane]

Do you remember both Dean and Kerry trumpeting their "internet fundraising" skills?

I do indeed. I also remember all the hopey changy stuff in '72 when I was in college. McGovern was cool man.

[MayBee]

Is talking about coolness a distraction from the real issues?
Does talking about Obama girl help Michelle Obama's children?

When Obama says "I love you back" at campaign rallies, does he really truly mean it?

[Rick Ballard]

"does he really truly mean it?"

I'm shocked, MayBee. Of course he means it. He means it just like he means 99.6% of everything else he says. Look at his record. It'll only take a nanosecond.

[Danube of Thought]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe McCain was falling behind his peers as a naval officer--that just can't be said of a carrier attack pilot. When he was shot down he was a Lieutenant Commander, nine years out of the Naval Academy, having been promoted right along with his classmates.

[TexasToast]

Sorry to break this to you folks, but fundraising is rather - um - important. HRC is at least 20m in debt and McCain is getting Bush to "retire" the member of the FEC who questioned his "in/out/in/maybe/its just a security agreement" flip flops with respect to public financing. Obama has millions in the bank and his donors are not even the type to "max out".

Bush even agreed to a compromise seperation of Hans Von Votesupression to get an FEC that can vote McCain into public financing. Without public financing this year, McCain is toast. Bush really wants that third term.

[boris]

McCain is toast

Yeah, that rings so true. Born yesterday?

[MayBee]

TexasToast- is Obama going to keep his pledge to switch to public financing during the General?

[Jane]

TT,

I'm really impressed with your insider info about what goes on in the WH. And I'm impressed that the President is willing to talk directly to you, tell you what he is thinking and why he takes certain actions even tho you are a democrat. Did you lie to him and tell him you are a supporter?

[boris]

McCain won't go for the jugular

McCain doesn't have to go for the jugular. He just waits for the jugular to go for him.

He wins the fight by punching the opponent's fist with his mouth.

[PrestoPundit]

Danube, concerning McCain & his peers. I'm going on press accounts of McCain's career status in the 1970s, after spending more than half a decade in the Hanoi Hilton.

I'd welcome being corrected on this if my source was incorrect.

[Appalled]

TT:

Obama girl -- cool?

I thought she was kinda hot, myself.

[boris]

impressed with your insider info about what goes on in the WH

TT is a master delusionist.

[MayBee]

Oh yeah, Obama Girl is cool (or hot), but the girl saying "call me!" to Harold Ford? RACIST!!

[Jane]

Presto,

You left out Deval Patrick, Governor of MA - one of Obama's buddies and the guy whose speeches he steals...

Here's how things are going on that front:

There may not be two politicians on the national stage more alike than Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Both went to Harvard Law, are African-American politicians with mass appeal, and use soaring rhetoric to promise a bold new postpartisan politics.

But the two men differ in one critical area: Mr. Patrick has an executive record. And, unfortunately for the senator from Illinois, it reveals that the Patrick-Obama brand of politics isn't really new. It is, in fact, something akin to the failed liberalism of old, in a new vessel.

Mr. Patrick, 52, was swept into office in a landslide in 2006. He won because Democrats were energized to capture the governor's mansion and because he presented himself as an historic candidate. Having never held elective office before – though he was assistant attorney general for the civil rights division in the Clinton administration – it was easy for him to claim that he wouldn't be beholden to special interests or outmoded orthodoxies. Baby boomers, eager to make a permanent mark on the political landscape, also found the idea of electing the state's first black governor appealing.

What the Bay State got, however, is a pedestrian liberal governor who is remarkably quick to retreat in the face of pressure from the status quo.

LUN (Scroll down)

[TexasToast]

"Yesterday, the White House withdrew the nomination of "holdover" FEC Commissioner David Mason to continue to serve as a Commissioner on the FEC.

The White House got rid of Mason after President Bush twice had found him to be an acceptable Republican appointee to the Commission.

In December 2005, President Bush made a recess appointment of Mason to serve on the FEC. In January 2007, after the recess appointment ran out, President Bush nominated Mason for Senate confirmation to fill a Republican seat on the Commission."

From Democracy 21 - a McCain ally on campaign finance for many years

Jane

Google is my friend - why not make it yours?

David Mason FEC

[Danube of Thought]

PPundit, I think McCain was severely enough compromised by his war injuries that resuming a career as an aviator was out of the question. That being the case, it would have been impossible for him to make flag rank, so he sought out some unusual jobs (like the congressional liaison stuff) that were of interest to him, but would not put him on track for flag. The navy is very particular about the succession of jobs that you simply must have if you are going to be selected for Rear Admiral down the road.

[Rick Ballard]

So, TT, how much would BHO have to spend to carry TX? Does he have enough yet?

[MayBee]

Barack Obama, however, is against politicking in regards to the FEC:

Obama Raises Concerns Over FEC Nominee's Record of Partisanship
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Printable Format

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben LaBolt

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today sent the following letter to Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Ranking Member Robert Bennett (R-UT), raising concerns about the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Elections Commission. In the letter, Obama says that nominees to the Commission should demonstrate a consistent ability to uphold the law and overcome partisan biases, but von Spakovsky’s tenure at the Justice Department and as a Georgia election official do not reflect a record of nonpartisanship, fairness, and judgment necessary to enforce election laws. Obama previously sent a letter to President Bush in December 2005 expressing concerns about von Spakovsky’s potential nomination to the FEC.

The text of the letter is below:

Dear Chairwoman Feinstein and Ranking Member Bennett:

I am writing to express my serious concerns about the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The FEC is an independent regulatory agency tasked with the enforcement and administration of the Federal Election Commission Act. Individuals named to the Commission should have a demonstrated record of fair administration of the law and an ability to overcome partisan biases. Unfortunately, Mr. von Spakovsky’s experience both as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Department of Justice and as a Republican appointee to the Fulton County Registration and Election Board in Atlanta, Georgia, do not demonstrate the evenhandedness required of an FEC Commissioner.

[MayBee]

And then Obama blocked the vote on him:

en. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Wednesday derailed a plan blessed by Senate leaders to vote on controversial Federal Election Commission White House nominee Hans von Spakovsky, a move giving Democrats time to breathe in the ongoing Senate stalemate on FEC nominees.

According to Democratic Senate aides, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struck a deal mid-week to hotline four FEC slots that must be confirmed by the Senate before next year. As part of the proposed deal, a voice vote on fellow commission nominees only would take place if no Senators objected to von Spakovsky’s nomination.

But a vote on the deal, which was expected to come to the floor as early as today, appeared to be off by mid-day Wednesday after Obama — and unconfirmed others — voiced concerns that von Spakovsky’s nomination was too controversial not to go through regular floor proceedings.

A Democratic aide said Senate offices continue to explore “concerns with Mr. von Spakovsky, if they rise to the level of other objections, as well as where the caucus lies.”

Ha!

[PeterUK]

"Obama, on the other hand, is a bit more than "cool enough". His campaign is the ultimate in cool. Internet fundraising? - off the charts. Youth participation? - off the charts."

Substitute KOS for Obama and recalculate.

[glasater]

This is a little off-topic and may have posted the link before--but I got a little verklempt when I read this article a few months back whose subject was Jack McCain son of John McCain.

Young voters of this caliber will be voting for McCain I truly believe.

[TexasToast]

MB

We are hijacking, but -

Hans von Votesupression has been blocked for quite a while. The Rs have insisted (until now) that all FEC commissioners be approved in one vote while the Ds have insisted on separate votes – because the votes to confirm Hans are not there. Thus the "compromise".

GWB rarely withdraws nominees (heard of Stephen Bradbury?) so he has taken to recess appointments on uncomfirmable appointees. Why do you think that Mason was a recess appointment?

On your other point – Obama would be stupid to take public financing – and he is not stupid.

[Rick Ballard]

Mr Uk,

Your grasp of American electoral demographics is substantially more profound than that found among the "progressively deranged" element who comprise BHO's rotten core of support. If I may be so bold, revelations of such nature should be interspersed with the occasional "but he is a new face" interjection to help keep the funds flowing BHO's way. After all, a dollar burned on BHO's trash heap will never fill the coffers of a viable candidate for a lower office.

Go BHO! So young, so fresh, so full of...

[vnjagvet]

Don't forget the geezer rockers out there. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are but several years younger than McCain and still performing for the kids.

Why be old when you don't feel old?

[Neo]

... the administration allowed its critics to frame the issue around the fact that stockpiles of weapons weren't found. Here we see at work the liberal fallacy, apparent in debates on gun control, that weapons are the problem, rather than the people with the capability and will to use them to kill others. ... the fact that Saddam Hussein had the capability to produce WMDs and the will to use them against us was.

[Tina]

I just watched Woffie Blitzer give a verbal BJ to Obama in a so-called "exclusive interview" since winning NC. It was beyond pathetic. He asked Obama about what McCain is saying regarding how Hamas supports Obama and wants him to win. He let Obama claim that McCain is playing dirty politics, is offensive, and is typical of the republican political machine. Wolf never once mentioned that Hamas keaders did in fact endorse Obama.

Utterly pathetic.

Breaking news on CNN is that the leader of AQ in Iraq has been captured. Should we tell Obama that AQ is in Iraq, he doesn't seem to think so.

[MayBee]

Why do you think that Mason was a recess appointment?

On your other point – Obama would be stupid to take public financing – and he is not stupid.

Imagine! Politics showing up smack dab in the middle of politics.

[Danube of Thought]

What happened to the dunce "Don" who posed his two questions about Bush, McCain and the GOP?

One of the great delights of JOM is seeing the occasional moron weigh in, only to be instantly and severely bitch-slapped, bringing home the stark realization that this is the big time. Buffoons need not apply.

[Bill in AZ]

Things that make you go hmmmm...

From Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit...

I GET AN EMAIL NEWSLETTER from an oil trader and today it includes this tidbit: "In an interesting twist of OPEC news – in the folder titled 'Adequate Supply' – Iran has chartered an armada of supertankers to act as floating storage for as many as 28 million barrels of crude oil that is backing up on them. Analysts are blaming worldwide refineries yet to recover from maintenance programs. It’s not the first time that Iran has had trouble finding buyers; they temporarily floated 20 million barrels in 2006. No, I can’t explain this in light of record oil prices and continual cries for more release of OPEC crude oil. "

I suspect the 2006 event was in reasonable proximity to the 2006 election - just coincidence, I'm sure.

[PeterUK]

Mr Ballard,
I admit that the young man has a nice smile and a personable manner,reminds me of the chap who tried to sell me double glazing.

[vnjagvet]

We could start a 527 group:

SwiftGeezers for Truth, or maybe FastGeezers for Truth

[PeterUK]

"What happened to the dunce "Don" who posed his two questions about Bush, McCain and the GOP?"

He would be part of the youth demographic TT pointed out. Attention span of a mollusc.On the other hand he might have dropped a lighted joint down his shorts and is, as I write, being treated for brain injuries.

[clarice]

PUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Elliott]

So young, so fresh, so full of...

Shaving cream.
Be nice and clean.
Shave every day and you'll always look keen.

[Rick Ballard]

Bill,

Considering that VLCC rates just popped up over $170K per day, that's pretty expensive storage. The Iranian infrastructure within their fields is so screwed up that they may not be able to shut down wells with any kind of efficiency.

Interesting news.

[Jane]

Google is my friend - why not make it yours?

TT, Even google can't tell you what "McCain is getting Bush" to do. But hey, run with it.

[RichatUF]

To go with Iran floating 28 million bbls, seems that of all places, Venezuela, is in the process of increasing their proven reserves. Doesn't say whether it is from tar sands but does give it in the Orinoco River region so it might be the heavy crude that has to go to US refineries in the Carribean.

Saudi Arabia 264 billion barrels
Canada 174 billion (mostly tarsands)
Iran 136 billion
Iraq 115 billion
Venezuela 235 billion (to be cert.)

924 billion barrels

Yep-looks like we are running out of oil.

[Danube of Thought]

Hell, Richard, you didn't mention ANWR or any of the US offshore reserves on both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

We're running out of oil at about the same rate that the global temperature is increasing.

Don't just do something - stand there. And be quick about it.

If PT Barnum were here today he would be the richest man in the world. So many suckers, so little time.

[Barry]

"America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant"

Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x

[RichatUF]

DoT-

Hell, Richard, you didn't mention ANWR or any of the US offshore reserves on both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Those were the only numbers in the article. Iraq is probably going to increase their proven reserves as well (substantially) and they have expansion plans for 6 million/bbl a day by 2012. Someone is going to get burned badly by $120+ oil, it seems to me to be a sword of damocles hanging over the various oil tyrannys.

Barry-

The USGS came out with a 4.2 billion proven barrels number a few weeks back, but the remainder of the formation is promising and the costs on tar sand production are dropping (meaning more of the formation will move to the proven reserve column in the future).

[HoosierHoops]

Jane:
TT, Even google can't tell you what "McCain is getting Bush" to do.

That line really cracked me up..funny..
then i had pause..
in 10 years what WILL google be able to do?
mmmmmm...
No wonder Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo..
They could have bought both GM and Ford lock stock and barrel and had 14 BILLION dollars left over to throw a party with..
at least that's what the WSJ said today.

[Danube of Thought]

One thing to keep in mind about "reserves": a good working definition is the amount of a commodity that can be economically produced. With every mineral, be it copper, gold, urnaium, oil, you name it, what is and is not a "reserve" varies from one day to the next as the world market price fluctuates. There is one hell of a lot of oil that it would make sense to extract and refine when the price is $120 per barrel, and that same oil would be a waste of time if the price were $60.

Man's response to economic incentives is a wondrous thing. The beginning--the very beginning--of wisdom is to recognize that is immutable.

[windansea]

Why do you think that Mason was a recess appointment?

gee I don't know, why is 75% of media in the tank for Obama?

On your other point – Obama would be stupid to take public financing – and he is not stupid.

Posted by: TexasToast | May 08, 2008 at 04:47 PM

yeah, the new transcendent politics, I'm different except when expediency meets the road, don't worry TT...we understand

[Larry]

I obliterated the previous USAF Academy record for demerits, but was only third or fourth in my class. We had red name tags. Didn't take long before we were known as "red tag bastards". We proudly refer to each other by that moniker here 46 years later.

[windansea]

On the other hand he might have dropped a lighted joint down his shorts

classic...

[Danube of Thought]

Well, I ain't saying I endorse anything therein, but I do strongly recommend that you go to the link under my name and watch these two old boys chit-chat with each other.

[Ann]

I have been mad all day after reading Gatewaypundit earlier:
Drilling for Oil

Why can't Alaska just go ahead and drill and tell the goverment that it is a state's right and if they don't like it ...tooo bad.

This should be a winning issue for McCain, but no he is against it and it drives me crazy.
------------------------------
On another note, I have stood in blowing rain for two days while my seventh grade Lacrosse team ended the season UNDEFEATED!! WooHooo! The bravest girls I'll ever see. ALL HEART ! ( A couple of the teams had professional coaches)

[troy mcclure]

Larson ended up the Lt. Gov. candidate in Maryland,with Kathleen K. Townsend the year Ehrlich & Steele took the prize.

In other news,Commodus,was much less of an immature jerk than Joaquib Phoenix portrayed; he wouldn't have stayed in power
for a decade after his father's death. Better Roman parallels are Vespasian, who cleaned up a good deal of the mess made by the other three emperors; although he presided over an occupation. Marius,although
Petraeus may be a better fit, due to the similar role of third commander in the Jugurthan/Iraq parallel; we have yet to run into the Cimbri and Mithridates yet. Although the reported capture of Ayub al Masri, Zawahiri's Emir of Mesopotamia, leans that way.

[centralcal]

Cool Ann! Congrats on the LaCrosse team winning streak. I haven't had a chance to read the thread yet, and my dinner is ready, so time to dine. Will check in later to see if any of you saw or had reaction to McCain on O'Reilly (I missed the whole thing).

[Porchlight]

That's awesome, Ann, congratulations to your girls!

[HoosierHoops]

Congrads Ann on your girls undefeated season.
That will be something they will always warmly remember forever..
Something money nor professional coaches can't buy!!
You must be very proud.

[TexasToast]

Hmm, Hillary could be Commodus... This is tricky - she has the endless ambition, but I don't think she has a fearful inner core, which Obama, the life-long conciliator, might. Developing...

Tom
Rereading your post – I would posit that it takes much greater bravery to be “… a life-long conciliator” than a gunslinger like GWB. To walk into the fire – with eyes open – may be deemed foolish – but it damn sure is brave. Commodus was not, in the movie or in history, in any sense, “a conciliator”.

McCain is obviously a brave man. He wouldn’t ask men (and women) to go where he wouldn’t go himself. He (unlike the President or VP), served admirably and suffered for his service. But that doesn’t mean that he is correct in his stated intention to stay in Iraq for 100 years.

[Danube of Thought]

My understanding of Commodus derives almost entirely from Gibbon. I think that the movie, although ridiculous as all current Hollywood products are, was sensible in portraying him as corrupt, intept, and quite mad.

[JB]

"But that doesn’t mean that he is correct in his stated intention to stay in Iraq for 100 years."

Well, if he's still president in 100 years, you might have a point.

[Barry]

"I would posit that it takes much greater bravery to be “… a life-long conciliator” than a gunslinger like GWB. "

Proof of the messiah's "bravery" can be found in his refusal to talk with journalists in an unscripted setting.

[Ann]

Thanks guys. Yes, I am proud of them! Yet, I get my daughter to bed and turn on the T.V. to see Barbara Walters, Star Jones, HILLARY CLINTON, etc. and wonder what will happen to them?

How did we get here? Someone, recently said that if Hillary is elected it will set us back 200 years. I think it was Sue. She is correct.

How do we get Jane to have her own radio show and Clarice to publish a magazine for girls and/or women? I am serious!

[Mike]

All these comments, give and Take, and Not One:

"Yes We Can, Hope, Change, God Damn America, Bitter"

Butt, O-Bom-Ba is a "Clean, Articulate, Negro!"

He's got Dat goin forem!

Come on Peeps, Git wit it!

[clarice]

Wow! Great victory for the girls! Good for them.

[JM Hanes]

TT:

"But that doesn’t mean that he is correct in his stated intention to stay in Iraq for 100 years."

You really aren't posting in good faith here any more, are you?

[bgates]

He (unlike the President or VP), served admirably and suffered for his service.
We can count on you to keep howling that when Obama orders the invasion of Pakistan, right?

[JM Hanes]

A huge line of freaky storms just barreled through here. We lucked out with quarter sized hail. They were getting golf balls a mile north of us and a tornado ripped by a couple miles to the south. 3.5" of rain in 2 hours, 27,000 folks without electricity and somehow our lights are still burning! Here's hoping Hit & crew managed to dodge the worst of it too.

[Elliott]

Ann,

Great news on the lacrosse. Sorry you had to endure such nasty weather.

[ChilliWilli]

Weather.

You are hearing a plague.
You are seeing a plague.
Why is it wrong to kill the plague?

New Orleans was fun.
It's the economics everyone was supposed to get interested in and stop plaguing.

[kim]

Don, Bush has been better for America and the world than for the Republican Party and I suspect McCain will be the same. Had Bush the press backing that McCain may get, we'd all have the view of Bush that historians will eventually find i.e. that he has been a fine and honest President, mute rather than dumb.

Tejochar-JMHanes's taste is impeccable. Sometimes your precision bombs are aimed precisely in error. Someday, maybe, I'll tell you why I think Bush quit flying.
=============================

[kim]

Hi Tina. This place is fun. It's lacrosse.
========================

[Jane]

Good Morning! I declare today to be:

ANN'S DAUGHTER'S LACROSSE TEAM DAY!

[PeterUK]

There were only two types of person in Imperial Rome,the afraid and the dead.The nearer the top,the closer the grave.

[Obama student]

Don't mean to burst our bubble, but word has it that Obama was VERY popular in high school.

Word is he was popular in part because he was black, at a time and a place where it was COOL to be black.

So in the cool game, McCain is very 1950's cool -- Obama is very 1970s cool. Advantage? I'm not sure.

[hit and run]

JMH:
Here's hoping Hit & crew managed to dodge the worst of it too.

Heh! See, I'm so far behind on these threads that I don't even try and catch up on them. I only found JMH's post because "Obama student's" post showed up on the recent posts part of the main page...and away we go.

Yes, I made it through the storms ... by playing poker with the guys in the neighborhood clubhouse. The power went out and ...

well, wouldn't you like to know the rest of the story. I wonder where that would be?

Oh gosh, it's not terribly dramatic. But I was totally in the, er, dark about the approaching storms...

AND...

Beloved Ann ... congrats on the undefeatedness! And even moreso the heart of the team, to which you undoubtedly contributed mightily.

OK, how old is this thread? I have no idea and I have lost my bearings. Where am I again?

[BarbaraS]

I sure do agree with PPundit's analysis. The problem is, this guy is as smooth as they come and has a lot of people fooled; a further problem is that McCain won't go for the jugular.

It's too early to go for the jugular. Obama is not yet the nominee. McCain is a seasoned campaigner and knows what to do. He actually seems to be playing with Obama right now. I have thought all along that this Trinity church thing is too early and now the Ayers thing will be too early also. People get tired of samo samo and tune it out. The time for all this to blast would have been in September and October at the earliest. The republicans are holding their fire right now. Let's see if they can discard their Mr. Nice Guy image and actually try to win the GE.

[BarbaraS]

Don't mean to burst our bubble, but word has it that Obama was VERY popular in high school.

Word is he was popular in part because he was black, at a time and a place where it was COOL to be black.

He kept pretty much to himself and kept his beliefs to himself. Black meant nothing in Hawaii. It is the state of multiple races.