NP: Mike Keneally Band, Dog (CD)

Big, big shoutout to blogger Mr. Sun, who has articulated what I've been thinking about Bush v. Kerry almost perfectly. I even remember Bush being quoted at some point as saying one of his strengths is that he never changes his mind. That's got a certain "the broken clock is right twice a day" ring to it, because while the "moral clarity" argument can work on occasion, the intransigence, to me, can be much more of a liability than an asset over longer periods of time and wider ranges of subjects. Anyway, the idealogue versus the pragmatist is what it's going to come down to. Don't know if Edwards changes that. I doubt it.

On a similar note, Talking Points Memo interviewed Joe Biden, who recounts the POTUS telling him that "he doesn't do nuance." As Biden points out, this doesn't seem like something to brag about either, although it's a bit more complicated. The pervasive impression, perhaps stereotype, is that the vast majority of the voting public can't deal with nuance anyway. Or at least that complexity doesn't get ratings, book sales, or any other of the myriad metrics of capitalistic success that have been unfairly grafted onto the political process.

I got an e-mail from a friend today asking me to sign an online petition to get Jack Ryan back on the Illinois ballot. It's really, really tough to figure that one out. Did he ever even have a chance to win? Does he still have a better chance than the GOP alternatives? Are the "Young Republican Professionals" feeling the need to rally around one of their own, and/or show support for exhibitionism with hot actresses at sex clubs? Are the Dems really behind the effort? Does said friend really think I'm a Republican?

Finally, on the other side of the campain trail, somebody seems to know a thing or two about search engine marketing. No listing on Google, which doesn't surprise me, since it's questionable as to how "relevant" the Obama spot is to the actual search term, purely from a practical point of view -- if I'm searching the web for gas prices, it's because I want gas now, not campaign literature for an election four months away -- and relevancy is a crucial piece of all things Google. Still, it's a pretty clever move.