Pawlenty's "red hot smoking wife" a calculated tittilation

A topless First Lady?

While it’s arguably inappropriate, sexist objectification of his spouse to bolster his career when lame-duck MN Governor Pawlenty describes her as his “red-hot smoking wife,” I disagree with Wonkette’s characterization that it’s “two years early.” If Obama hadn’t started early he might not be President, and remember Pawlenty isn't exactly breaking new ground: Senator McCain tried to woo votes from Harley riders by suggesting his wife enter the topless Miss Buffalo Chip contest in Sturgis in 2008.

If voters made their choices rationally the political calculus of candidates and campaigns would be very different. Pawlenty used his wife to further his personal goals. Voters often rationalize when interviewed, but research proves the decisions are more often based on emotion than intellectual evaluation.

Campaigns get longer and more costly all the time because mainstream media producers see candidate spending as helping their own bottom lines. In other words, it’s also arguably a conflict of interest to base so much of the determination of a campaign’s viability on successful fund-raising. True, in many cases advertising is a crucial factor, and we all accept that one of the keys to advertising success is repetition across a wide range of media to generate the maximum number of impressions. Yet wouldn’t it be refreshing for a network or newspaper to cap the dollar amount on political ads they’d take at some reasonable level?

Voters report they’re actually annoyed by the saturation of TV as elections approach; in some cases the result seems to be tuning out altogether. Meanwhile where are the balancing stories about what the candidates have actually accomplished, how a candidate runs an efficient and fiscally restrained campaign focused on issues instead of fund-raising, or which ads are to distract from facts or obscure their votes while echoing slogans and talking points in much the same way Budweiser hammers away with their “King of Beer” message.

Pawlenty knows “earned” media coverage is less costly than buying ads, and he’s got the recent examples of Palin and Bachmann proving the press loves provocative statements more than substantive discussion. Any “news” outlet is reliant on ad revenues, which are in turn driven by ratings.

Look how quickly most mainstream media companies jumped on the Shirley Sherrod story – a hint of controversy and the race for viewers/readers was on without what we used to think of as journalistic integrity, all in pursuit of the mighty dollar. Pawlenty certainly doesn’t want the national press talking to disgruntled Minnesotans or economists about how his “no new taxes” mythology has driven down quality of life and scuttled the state budget.

Look for conflicts of interest in coverage, and follow the money if you want to understand Pawlenty — but don’t underestimate either his political savvy or the impact his “red-hot smoking wife” may have on voters and donors.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, Democratic Campaign Manager, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Bobby Jindal Enrages Volcano Monitoring People By Mocking Volcano Monitoring People

More at Wonkette: “Bobby Jindal’s speechwriters, they are Gods. Check out this little one-two he pulled on the Democrats. See, he sets it up all good-like by saying that the stimulus package included “$140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring,’” like wtf is that right, and then KA-CHING: “Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.” Get this guy a Washington Post column! He’d fit right in, because everyone already despises him.”

-- That is totally funny by Wonkette!

Wonkette : We Went To A Robert Gibbs Party, And Then A Reason Party!

Wonkette : We Went To A Robert Gibbs Party, And Then A Reason Party! And Wonkette reported some rather silly exchanges. Here's some of their takes from the blog:

1) "The party for Robert Gibbs, famous for being the Obama campaign’s communications director and spokesman, was an unusual occurrence. Not because it was prominent political journalists partying with their future chief White House source — that awful conflict of interest is what makes Washington so “great,” after all! It was strange because we were under the assumption that all reporters HATED ROBERT GIBBS’ FILTHY LYING GUTS. Anyway, it was open bar and we chugged a lot of gin in Solo cups, probably on the dime of “Obama for America.” Hmm!"

2) "Among the attendees was a “who’s who” of Conventional Wisdom: George Stephanopoulos, Karen Tumulty, Chris Cillizza, Marc Ambinder (maybe?). Some other people who were not recognizable from Internet stalking."

3) "We talked with America’s favorite Bob Saget doppelganger, Jake Tapper of ABC News, whose blog was a frequent source for mean-spirited and useless Wonkette posts during the campaign. We said to Tapper something stupid like, “We write about your stuff a lot, on Wonkette,” and he responded in a STAGGERINGLY evil manner, “Oh, I KNOW.” (You must understand that every conversation Wonkette has at an event includes a moment when we try to explain away the various times we’ve called that person a “cocksmoker” or a “dickfuck” or something terrible.) Tapper was a delightful fellow anyhow; we told him that we’ve called him lovely things in the past (it’s true!) and blamed the mean stuff on you filthy commenters; we discussed the short-lived early ’90s sitcom The Powers That Be; and then Jake Tapper was gone, forever."

Well it goes on. I wonder if the Wonkette folks will be able to crash more parties in the future?

Clinton Cackle Annoying This Four Year Old Kid - No Kidding

I saw this over at the blog Wonkette :

BY SEANIBUS AT 10/01/07 07:30 PM
I just played Slate's recording of the laugh and my four year old came tearing over to my desk and said "Please don't play that Ha Ha Ha thing again, daddy. It is annoying me."
I am not making this up.

Wonkette's Elizabeth (Liz) Glover Crashes Ken Mehlman's Roof Party - Video

Elizabeth Glover's a lot like me. She likes to bring her camcorder to big parties. She did so at this bash held for Republican Party head Ken Mehlman , who's stepping down after an interesting career. But what was more interesting was the camera and Elizabeth behind it. Take a look at the video:


Ken Mehlman Reception FINAL from elizabeth glover on Vimeo

Ken Mehlman Reception FINAL from elizabeth glover and Vimeo.

Hillary Clinton Song Of Choice? "Jack - U - Off" - Wonkette

Oh boy. This is a hoot. I saw this on Wonkette and had to post it in full.

Hill's Campaign Song Revealed!



Good choice, Hill! The American people are tired of the masturbator! Sing along with Hillary!

If your man ain’t no good Come on over 2 my neighborhood
We can jump in the sack and I’ll jack U off
Our Campaign Song [HillaryClinton.com]