And much cooler. Even if I'm just telling myself that.

I'm fine with not talking about the details, but (to me) the whole thing is very relevant to how John McCain will lead and make decisions. Just as I said that I thought who (and how) Obama picked his VP was an important signal in who he might bring in to his administration.

Sure picking Palin is relevant. Palin's daughter's pregnancy is I think irrelevant. Even if you disagree, focusing on that is political suicide. Leave morality aside: Obama did the smart thing politically by saying the Palin family is off limits. Not Palin, but Palin's family and Palin's vjayjay. If the media wants to panty sniff, Obama can't stop them - but he can (and did)insist his staff not take part.

And doing otherwise would make him look like total shit to the public. Even the whole focus on the Clenis turned out to be immensely unpopular. How much more popular do you think being seen to take part in tormenting a pregnant 17 year old girl?

And I caught that dumb evil blond reporter from the Washington post on TV talking about how nothing is off limits. It was the circular reasoning that since the press would pay attention to this stuff that made it an issue and thus the press had an obligation to pay attention.

And I think that view is mainly due to laziness. Panty sniffing is less work than covering issue, and apparently for a lot of reporters more fun. If they can't focus candidates and candidates families genitals, the poor reporters would they'd don't have to write about energy and healthcare and energy and all the boring stuff the extreme right can't get elected on. Plus if they bash Palin's pregnant daughter enough (and especially if they can lure some prominent Democrats to do so) they might recover some of the that current average 7-8 point gap between Obama and McCain.

So this focus is win win for the press: it reinforces the precedent that keeps their jobs meaningless, and is probably the best shot for a Republican win.

::loves Teppy so much::

I'm exhausted. I may go to bed after I finish these ridiculously tasty garlic mashed potatoes.

shrift! How was your first day?

It was good! I have a desk and have met my team. I know where the bathroom is. The food is really great. I successfully submitted an expense report. I figured out the copy machine and printers.

Now I'm deciding which action figures I'm going to put in my workspace.

YAY.

Hooray for successful first days!

I'm watching Perkins - not sure about long term, but for now I can't turn it off.

I'm watching Perkins

I so didn't read this right at first.