From a “getting to know you” survey my son filled out this week:

I admire:  my dad

I feel embarrassed when:  my mom dabs at my face with a napkin

I’ve been trying to read Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, but it has to go back to the library before I’m even halfway through. I remember many of the events chronicled here, but the book provides some very necessary context and interpretation, as well as reminding me just how ugly things got in the late 60s-early 70s. One gem from page 213:

This was something Richard Nixon, with his gift for looking below social surfaces to see and exploit the subterranean truths that roiled underneath, understood: the future belonged to the politician who could tap the ambivalence — the nameless dread, the urge to make it all go away; to make the world placid again, not a cacophonous mess.

If there’s a better description of the basic Republican political strategy, I’ve never read it.

Too many evangelicals and religious conservatives are too preoccupied with values and faith and pay no attention to competence. We don’t apply this approach to anything else in life, including choosing a pastor.

Mark DeMoss, former chief of staff to Jerry Falwell and now a leading Christian public relations executive, as quoted in Steven Waldman’s article on Beliefnet, Sarah Palin: A Big Gamble for Religious Conservatives.

Via digby on hullabaloo.

[NOTE: Photo removed as it was discovered to be Photoshopped. I should be more suspicious!]

dday at Hullabaloo reprints Greg Sargent’s summary at TPM Election Central. [edited to correct error in attribution]

… and the place goes to H-E-double-toothpicks!

Lots of fun political commentary to catch up on, but tomorrow is the first day of school, so we must away and get clothes and lunchbags ready.

Off for a couple of days.  Happy Labor Day!

PS.  If time weighs heavy on your hands, you can always visit Beedogs.com, the “premier online repository for pictures of dogs in bee costumes.”  OK then!  (Via Suzie at Echidne of the Snakes)

Football widow season has begun. Sigh!

Many, many moons ago, I acquired a pair of knee-high fringed moccasins. Though I wore them very rarely, I held onto them for some reason. Perhaps they were expensive? Perhaps I just can’t get rid of anything?

In any case, you cannot imagine my deep satisfaction when I discovered that (a) knee-high fringed moccasins are fashionable again, and (b) my old ones fit my daughter. Once in awhile, pack-rattery pays off!

Dennis Perrin makes me feel a bit better about not being at the DNC with all the kewl kidz:

Demver [sic] is dullsville so far. I had hoped to write more yesterday, but there wasn’t anything hefty to grab onto. Just infomercial lighting, empty journo-chatter, Pepsi Center delegates going through the robotic motions.

The fucking Pepsi Center. Is there a better frame for the corporate stranglehold on the Dems and the nation? And after the Dem faithful have had their fill of Pepsi, they’ll be herded over to INVESCO Field for Obama’s outdoor coronation, with AT&T hopefully tracking their cell and BlackBerry usage, just to keep everything in check. You think Obama can save the country without corporate sponsorship? [...] And that’s the god-awful convention reality: diversion, euphemism, cheap patriotism, and ceaseless bullshit.

I’m not sure I believe it, but it’s funny anyway. Read all the way to the end.

Edited to add: Crud, shoulda known it was a spoof. I hadn’t realized that the Church Sign Generator had expanded its selection of signs.

As we approach the autumn equinox, I’m aware of signs that summer is ending. The days shorten, the nights get cooler, and I have even seen a few flocks of Canada geese heading south. (And I have still only gotten a handful of tomatoes!)

I await the beginning of school next week with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I think it’s time that Pooch’s One Dog Pre-Teen Entertainment and Transportation Provision Co. take an extended break. On the other, I can foresee the beginning of a long string of volunteer requirements and holiday preparations that can leave me exhausted well into February. Dad Pooch might say that I’m “borrowing trouble,” and perhaps I am. Maybe I’ll just concentrate on hoping for good teachers all ’round!

An elderly relative, who is a lifelong Democrat, was very disappointed at Hillary Clinton’s failure to win the nomination and had said firmly that there was no way that they were going to vote for Obama. But after watching some of the DNC coverage, my relative may actually come around! Whattaya know!

EDITED TO ADD: Said relative has even confessed to liking Michelle Obama, who was previously viewed with great suspicion. Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!

More often than “separate”? It is to laugh.

Via CuteOverload, a NYTimes story on tattooed biker guys who rescue animals.
I’m not even a Huey Lewis fan, but this song keeps running through my head:

The power of love is a curious thing
Make one man weep, make another man sing

And makes another man rescue animals. Thanks, God.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was all the rage when I worked in Silicon Valley in the 90s, and it was amusing to discover that not only were I (INFJ) and my spouse (INTJ) strongly introverted, but so was virtually everyone else who worked on the technical side. Other than being aware of my non-negotiable need for quiet/down time, I hadn’t given the matter much thought until recently.

A friend was telling me about a week her family spent camping with several other families in a group campsite. When I asked how the kids did, she reported that two of them (who are quite clearly extraverted) had a fantastic time, but the other one needed frequent breaks from all the activity. “Classic introvert,” I remarked, not thinking much about it. To my surprise she was quite offended. “He’s not really an INTROvert, he just needs quiet time!”

I let it go, but it set me to wondering: do extraverts think it’s a bad thing to be introverted? And who do they think would listen to them if everyone were extraverted?

According to Charlie Pierce on Altercation:

This one’s going to leave a mark. It should kick off a big fight in Denver, but it won’t.

I’ve gotten a bit disenchanted with Jim Wallis myself, but hadn’t noticed the patriarchalism until PD pointed it out:

I don’t want to hear any more crap about how “we’re all on the same team.” Until Jim Wallis can start his discussion of abortion with the recognition that women are moral agents in their own right and don’t need him to guide their decision-making, we’re not on the same team at all.

Righteously said, sir!

Fascinating interview on Talk of the Nation today with Robert Cialdini about his new book Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive.

My interest in this is not so much in improving my own personal persuasiveness (which is pretty much a no-hoper anyway) but rather in defending myself against these techniques used by others. Rather timely for an election year, wouldn’t you say?

Despite his early observation that voters prefer “respectful” campaigning, it’s abundantly obvious that McCain has shed all restraint and is fighting ugly. Dave Neiwert has the story, and links to this word cloud graphic in the Boston Globe:

Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler reviews how Republicans have used ugly rumors to damage and defeat Democratic candidates in the past (Gore and Kerry being prime examples), and suggests that Democrats get on the stick to prevent this happening to Obama.

Of course, there’s no way to keep every damn-fool voter from believing every damn-fool story he hears. But the Democratic Party has been massively harmed in the past two White House elections by false accusations against its candidates. Our question: Have you seen the party make any effort to bring this general problem to the attention of regular voters? Have you seen the party develop messaging urging voters to doubt the things they get told? Have you seen the party discuss Jerome Corsi—who is back, of course, with a new, nasty book? Have you seen the party make any effort to discuss the false claims about Gore?

I wish I could better emulate excentricbahhumbug’s genius in the garden, but all I can usually manage is a few tomato plants. Sadly, summer has been late and fitful around here, so to date I have harvested only one (1) tomato. And my plum tree has powdery mildew and didn’t even set fruit. Foo!