Sundry Glossolalia

OMG…Cutest. Lion. Cub. Ever. Click here to watch him wrestle a puppy. No, seriously.

“ Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, dismissed [Gov. Sarah] Palin’s critics [within the Republican Party] as “cocktail party conservatives” who “give aid and comfort to the enemy”. He told The Sunday Telegraph: “There’s going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin? Win or lose, there is a ready made conservative candidate waiting in the wings. Sarah Palin is not the new Iain Duncan Smith, she is the new Ronald Reagan.

The Sunday Telegraph, UK

Al (“Al the Shoesalesman”) Bundy for Obama.

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The biggest shadow of course is that of President Bush. Our 43rd president’s goal in life was to surpass his father, 41, whom he admired but felt was weak.

Guided by his political guru, Karl Rove, it was Bush II’s ambition to make the Republican Party the majority party for decades to come…a political realignment that would marginalize Democrats for at least a generation and maybe more…his neo-con advisers, led by Dick Cheney, wanted to use American military might to spread democracy to places that had been led only by tribal councils and ruthless dictators.

If Bush had accomplished these goals, he truly would have been a historic president much like his newfound hero Harry Truman. But his failures were unimaginable. W will go down in history, all right.

He will leave office with the lowest approval ratings of any president in modern times and will be judged as a catastrophic failure who destroyed his party, left his successor with two unpopular, unfinished wars and left the country in the worst economic condition in nearly eight decades. That’s not even counting…Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

By comparison, his father’s failed presidency looks pretty good.

Ed Rollins, GOP strategist

“ This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it’s worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there’s still a potential cure. With this, there’s no cure. The result is final. Like death.

Larry David, on waiting for the election

“ I think President Obama will be just such a shift, an extraordinary marker, a type and flavor of history that we as preternaturally jaded humans rarely get to experience anymore. Pule all you like about how this election is really just business-as-usual politicking and all candidates are ghastly empty-suited shills and nothing ever changes, as you somehow ignore the massive firestorm of electric possibility passing right over your sad and jaded little head.

Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle

“ Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Apple, Inc website

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Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old white volunteer for John McCain’s presidential campaign, says she was mugged at an ATM machine in Pittsburgh (my hometown) by a big black man. She further says he threw her down, then disfigured her by carving the letter “B” into her face with a sharp implement when he saw that she supported McCain, not Barack Obama.

If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.

If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.

John Moody, EVP FoxNews (Ashley Todd recanted today)

“ Iraq was supposed to be the issue of the campaign. We assumed it was our biggest challenge. Funny how things work.

Mark Salter, aide to John McCain

Powell endorses Obama. Larry Lessig called it “the most important, most profoundly stated seven minutes of this campaign.”

Tru Blood ads (from “True Blood”)

Turns out the massive, fabled salt mine under Detroit is very much a real thing. Except it’s under Allen Park, Lincoln Park, and Melvindale - not Detroit. I-94 sits on top of it for a stretch too.

Dramatic McCain

“ Ninety minutes of John McCain making faces was more than enough for a lifetime. He smirked. He grimaced. He sneered. He fake-smiled. It’s hard to imagine anyone willingly inviting that antic lemon-sucking grinfest into their homes for the next four years.

Marty Kaplan - Huffington Post

“ The fall of the financial system has been so fast and far-reaching that there’s been no time to fully consider its implications for the reigning economic theology of the past 30 years. But with the most right-wing administration in modern American history scurrying to nationalize the banks, the question cannot be eluded indefinitely. What exactly do economic conservatives believe now that their god is dead? What’s become of the glories of privatized Social Security? Of the merits of 401(k)s vs. defined-benefit pensions? No wonder we’ve seen a disoriented John McCain wandering the moors howling about Bill Ayers. What’s he supposed to do?

Harold Meyerson, Washington Post