5 people who bug me

#5. Star Jones

Poor Star is just a big ol’ piece of work, and she continues to pick fights with her View ladies.  You might wonder why I used a picture of Star from her Aunt Jemima days.  Frankly, that’s just how this big boulder of love is going to remain in my mind, no matter how much she gets sucked out.

#4. Somalian Pirates

Since the only pirates I like are in the Caribbean, then there’s really nothing admirable about the asses who hijacked a U.S. ship a few weeks ago.  Give the boat back, boys, and go back to your own country and wait for VH1 to call you with a reality show deal.

#3. Gwen Ifill

As much as I love Obama and his supporters, I feel like Gwen Ifill should have just given up her spot as moderator of the VP debate a few weeks ago.  I would rather have seen her just gracefully relinquish this position so that the Republicans wouldn’t be able to put even an ounce of blame on her if Biden won the debate [which, frankly, he did, but he didn't do it with shine -- it was more like having a push-up contest against a double amputee (you choose the limbs)].  I’m happy that my Republican friends didn’t cite Ifill’s pro-Obamaness as bias towards Biden, but even so… shame on Gwen Ifill for even accepting the position in the first place.

#2. Lauren Conrad

YOUR SHOW IS FAKE.  That is all.

#1. Steve Jobs

Come ON, Steve Jobs!  Are you <a href=”http://www.apple.com/macbook/”>KIDDING</a> me??  I feel like the stupidest decision a person can make nowadays is buying an Apple product, because no matter when you purchase it, it will only be a matter of moments before the next big update of the product is released.  It’s been like this consistently for years, and quite frankly it just pisses me off.  Steve Jobs, you do not know the common American.  You do not understand our thought process and the way we like to live our lives.  You do not know who we are, what we want, or how pissed we get when you do something wrong.  Why, Steve Jobs, I believe you can be the next Republican presidential candidate!

matt damon saying something worth hearing

I’ve never disliked Matt Damon, but at the same time, I’ve always just pushed him to the back of my celebrity focus. I never saw the Bourne movies, so I thus don’t really care too much about him. But man, did this guy rise up on my list today. He was able to articulate basically every feeling I have about Sarah Palin without attacking, nitpicking, or giving snarky insults. Maybe I’ll go rent your movies now, Matty.

And yet it baffles me how people can continue to throw aside these concerns and actually believe that she’s the right choice to be President if McCain dies.

McBush!

This is one of my favorite things on the Internet right now.

Why the media should apologize to Sarah Palin

What a primo article by Roger Simon. McCain’s campaign asked the media to stop inquiring about Palin, as it was disruptive to the campaign. Ok. Sorry, McCain. Anyway, read Roger Simon’s great article below:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13143.html

Why the media should apologize
By Roger Simon

“On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Sarah Palin hit the nail on the head Wednesday night (and several in the audience wish she had hit some reporters on the head instead) when she said: “I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.”

See Also
John McCain’s idealistic dilemma
Palin wows GOP, puts Dems on notice
Clinton aides: Palin treatment sexist
Politico’s guide to the conventions
But where did we go wrong with Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways:

First, we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like how she likes mooseburgers and hit an important free throw at her high school basketball tournament even though she had a stress fracture.

Second, we should have stuck to the press release stuff like how she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (after she supported it).

Third, we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: “Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body. … Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.”

Why go there? What trees does that plant?

Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

Fifth, we should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.

Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.

Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried.

Sarah Palin thinks that one is good for her campaign and one is not, and that the media should report only on what is good for her campaign. That is our job, and that is our duty. If that is not actually in the Constitution, it should be. (And someday may be.)

The official theme of the convention’s third day was “prosperity,” but the unofficial theme was “the media are really, really awful.”

Even Mike Huckabee, who campaigned for president this year by saying “I am a conservative, but I am not mad at anybody,” discovered Wednesday night that he is mad at somebody.

“I’d like to thank the elite media for doing something,” Huckabee said, “that, quite frankly, I didn’t think could be done: unify the Republican Party and all of America in support of John McCain and Sarah Palin.”

And could that be the real point of the attacks on the media? To unify the Republican Party?

No, that is simply the cynical, media view.

Though as Lily Tomlin says, “No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough to keep up.”

I couldn’t resist that. For which I am sorry.”

McCain: suddenly religious and increasingly elderly

So what did I think of Old McDonald’s speech?

You know what? It wasn’t terrible. But it wasn’t great either. It was good. Just, good.

The problem I’m having with it was that he did little more than make very broad statements about change, and did nothing more than tell his POW story yet again. Yes, McCain, we all know you’re a great American, thanks. But now it’s the big leagues and you’ve gotten your nomination… this story is not why people should vote for you. McCain played his entire speech very, very safe. He had no shock, no wit, no insight into anything other than, for the most part, “I am America and so can you.” That’s basically a summary of his speech. Thanks, Colbert.

Lots of vague talk about change. Nothing really all that interesting. The last thing McCain needs is to give off the image of uninteresting.

A safe speech, a nice speech, a semi-charismatic speech with a few elderly slip-ups. But McCain definitely hasn’t stepped up yet. The end of his speech did make me smile, I’ll admit, and it was a great finish. And he did well to distance himself from Bush.

Good job, McCain. And nice try winning over the evangelicals with all the talk about being God’s children, but this isn’t the 700 Club. I applaud McCain for a good effort, but this election might end up being another JFK vs. Nixon act, with the young’n far outshining the old man. If it even gets to that. Hell, it’s going to end up being Obama vs. Palin, with Biden and McCain just going along for the ride.

Oh, and I can’t end without sharing this gem.

Yes sir, Old McDonald wants to distance himself from Bush, but I’m not going to let him!

a side note: rudy giuliani

On a side note, I wanted to make a point of how completely repulsive Giuliani’s speech was.

Here is a man who had my utmost respect following 9/11, and who I kept my eye on attentively during the primaries. I had great respect for who he was as a person and what he could do for this country, both on paper and in theory. But seeing Giuliani write a speech merely so that people would cheer at every mention of an Obama insult… it was truly a shame to see a great politician be reduced to nothing more than the flavor of the week roaster.

Giuliani reminded me of a film critic. Often times, they might love a movie, but if the title of a film lends itself to a pun that can be made, then they’ll take that road, and get people to read their review not for their true opinion of a film, but for the witty insults they can come up with. Giuliani didn’t do much better here.

Please. At least Obama trashes McCain while trying to seem polite. Rudy Giuliani, I just lost all respect I had for you during your incredibly inarticulate and, for the most part, cruel speech. Why don’t you stop bashing Obama and start celebrating McCain? That might be a good start.

Dike’s view

Seeing as I’m a moderate in the political arena, I can’t let snarc needlessly hate on Sarah Palin.  I was very impressed by her speech, she both showed she is her own person while supporting McCain very well.  That being said, I am still a bit wary considering she has minimal experience with almost everything involved in the presidential race.

I still don’t know who I am going to vote for. 

-dike