elfs | Monday's Brains: The Weekend's Haul (Reply)

Quote of the day!: I think this says more about Paul Waldman than it does about John McCain:
Though there was no particular evidence that the tire-gauge attack was having an effect, the McCain campaign's glee was evident. Just days before, they had alleged that Obama's criticisms of their tactics constituted "fussiness and hysteria," and now here they were brandishing small, phallic objects bearing their opponent's name. Meanwhile, McCain himself was sent out to pose in front of working oil rigs, to testify to his thirst for pulling more black gold from the earth. The message couldn't be plainer: See that itty-bitty, little tire gauge? If you vote for Obama, that's how big your penis is. If you vote for McCain, on the other hand, your penis is as big as this rig, thrusting its gigantic shaft in and out of the ground! Real men think keeping your tires inflated is for weenies.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
Team Obama Plays Hardball: John McCain's team has gleefully pre-released every ad they've run to the press, enjoying the free publicity that doing so gets them, no matter how negative or nasty the ad. (Aside: Why didn't the reporter at NPR laugh in John McCain's face when he said he had run "no negative ads" against Obama? Does he not know what's going on in his own team?) The Obama camp, in contrast, has released ads to the press that have mostly been positive and uplifting.

It turns out that the Obama team is putting out negative attack ads. But they're doing so in very limited markets, targeted to specific economic demographics, while maintaining a positive national campaign. As a bonus, the McCain team doesn't get to respond to the ads for three or four days, by which time the damage has been done.
The Misery Index: Highest Since Bush I Held Office: Economic mismanagement, the redistribution of wealth upwards (what the Hell do you think the Bush administration's policies were, if not "the redistribution of wealth"?), employment malaise and inflation all contribute to "misery," and right now the misery index is higher than it's been since 1991.
The consequences of Foreign Policy ADD: Undiplomatic points out that the distraction of the Russia-Georgia conflict has given Iran a great gift: McCain knows how to talk about war with Russia, seems to enjoy doing so (he actually seemed alive last week), can put aside any pesky questions about the 4000+ dead and billions bankrupted and corruptly distributed in Iraq, and can distract us from fretting about the much crazier and more worrisome Iran.
Cooking was a major evolutionary leap: The article argues that cooking, because it "pre-digests" fibrous material and making nutrition readily availble, gave us the caloric volume needed to exploit our brains efficiently, leading to an evolutionary arms race for intelligence. Oddly, the article doesn't mention cooking (and brewing) were also means of reducing mortality by cutting down the bacterial load we consumed.
Ernest Borgnine gives us his secret to longevity: And it explains John McCain's problem!