I'm a Liberal, Hear me Roar!

You should definately give this Nation column by Eric Alterman a read. The fact is, as Alterman points out, that the positions most Americans hold on the major issues are often on the liberal side of the coin. While I don't have a huge problem with the word "progressive", in fact I like it, and its meaning very much, the word that describes the politics of a center-left Democrat is "liberal". In other words, I agree with Matt Yglesias when he says that "liberalism" is a political philosophy, whereas, "progressive" is a word for a coalition that puts liberalism into action. That being said, it's comforting that in this election Democrats are comfortable calling themselves progressives, as opposed to 2004 when Kerry and Edwards were going out their way to explain how conservative they are.

"We've got to give them some stimulus. We've got to give them some tax relief."

That's St. McCain on the campaign trail recently, lending his thoughts on the economy. Well St. McCain of Arizona was the only flipping Senator that neglected to show up to vote for the "green" stimulus package last night. He had recently pointed out that a stimulus bill was needed desperately. John McCain should be hammered for this. He has been proclaiming himself the frontrunner since Supercalifragilistic Totalitarian Tuesday, wouldn't that enable him to free up some time to get on a fucking plance and vote for the package. My understanding is that the stimulus package failed by a single vote. This bill would've increased the amount of people getting tax rebates (actually lifting the cieling, therefore more rich people would get rebates, shouldn't the GOP like that), provided incentives for renewable energy, and increased unemployment benefits. Once again, it failed by a single vote. Brad Plumer has got a great post over at the The Plank detailing some of the other votes that St. McCain, son of God, heir to the throne of the Lord, has missed. The real tragedy is that the media will most likely let this slip by. The Chris Matthews', Anne Kornblut's, and David Gregory's of the world (not to mention countless others) will ignore this completely in order to continue their fawning coverage of the heroic and manly St. McCain.

Enough has been said. God help us all...

Shaquille O'Neal: World's Greatest Irishman

Marion and Banks for Shaq? Um...what? This seems like pure lunacy to me. A team that had previously prided itself on its fearless and adrenaline charged style of play has ditched Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for a 325 pound, injury prone, old man. I don't understand this one bit. Over at ESPN J.A. Adande has this gem, where he attempts to understand Phoenix's intentions with this trade. When theorizing that Suns are trying to buy a ring he laments:

I'd rather see them go out like Tom Hanks in "Saving Private Ryan," pulling out his pistol and firing away at the German tank in a last desperate effort to save the bridge. Or show some of that same defiance as Denzel Washington in "American Gangster," making one last trip to Asia to import more heroin even though everybody's telling him the game is over.

Bravo! The Suns were the team in the West that I always really liked. I always felt that despite having a number of extraordinary players: Nash, Stoudamire, Marion, etc.; that what really drove them was there chemistry. Shaq has an ego the size of Rhode Island and that's exactly what Phoenix doesn't need. Plus, this trade is going to create a plethora of annoying headlines about Shaq and Kobe duking it out for the crown in the West. This is a tragedy folks, a down-right crying shame!

OK, so maybe Webb shouldn't be VP

Perhaps I spoke too soon when advocating for Jim Webb as the VP nom. Ezra has a great post detailing how the Senate plays to Webb's strengths. His military knowledge and passion for ordinary soldiers is unmatched in the Senate. Anyways, check out the post.