hope

while we breathe, we will hope

o man

An excellent summary of why Hillary is a dimwit here.

new music monday

Check out Pandora.com.
I love it - you tell it what song or artist you like, and it creates a radio station of songs that are similar. The scientific analysis behind different music is impressive. For example, I enjoy Elliott Smith because it features "Electric rock instrumentation, mild rhythmic syncopation, demanding instrumental part writing, minor key tonality and electric rhythm guitars."


For the best music of 2007. Just go read what Speckled Mind says. He knows music better than anyone I know. Seriously - where do you find the time to find all the good music?

new hampshire debate

I watched the debate last night. I'm just that much of a political wonk. And I followed along with the nytimes live blog.

My favorite comment:

I wish someone would say the following to Hillary:

Senator, I served with Bill Clinton; I knew Bill Clinton; Bill Clinton was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Bill Clinton.

As I watched the Republican debate, I was reminded that my favorite Republican candidate, John McCain, is much to hawkish for my tastes. Never fear - if Hilary wins the Democratic nomination I'll probably still vote for McCain, but reluctantly. I don't like the "Muslims are out to get us so we should fight wars to prove we are badasses" rhetoric.

As for the democratic debate: I see a Obama-Edwards ticket brewing. First, Hilary only hurt herself by getting red faced mad and claiming she has 35 years of experience making change. Here's the problem - when she talks of her "experience" she's implicitly asking people to vote for her because she's Bill's husband, not because of her own merits. Her "experience" is that of a President's wife, not as a president. And she tried to reform health care....i don't think it ended as succesfully as she'd like. If she's spent 35 years making change, why are things so shitty now? If this is "change," I'm not interested.

Back to the Obama-Edwards ticket. Obama is now the front runner. As such, he avoided direct criticisms of Hilary. He left the attacking for Mr. Edwards. Brilliant. John knows he's not going to be nominated, so why not start campaigning for Vice-President? I like it.

And he kept up the attacks today while campaigning, too! Check out this report from the New Hampshire campaign trail, where Edwards calls the Clinton campaign "without conscience."

new hampshire

As a Obama supporter, I'm a bit anxious about the outcome in New Hampshire. I'm especially interested to see how the independent vote falls on primary night. According to the Iowa entrance polls, Obama drew significant support from independents. But a New Hampshire favorite, John McCain, also draws well with independents. Will John and Barack compete for votes in New Hampshire? 

iowa

Obama won Iowa. David Brooks from the New York Times summarizes best here.

I listened to Obama's speech last night and was inspired. You can watch it here.

I listened to Huckabee's speech and I now understand why he's gaining momentum. He's just downright likable. You listen to him and understand that even if you don't agree with his policies, you agree with his personality. Of course, voting for someone who is likable is what started this mess: many of us (myself included) voted for Bush Jr. in 2000 because he was "likable."

if you build it they will come

The latest poll from Iowa has Obama leading Clinton and Edwards. Can't wait to see what happens on Thursday.
Link

I've heard all sorts of statistics about how winning the Iowa caucus doesn't mean much in terms of who eventually wins the nomination. Remember Howard Dean?

It's a bit unnerving to think that two small states (Iowa and New Hampshire) tremendously impact the outcome of our presidential election system. Or is it? Check out this article at the economist.