Metaphor of the Day

David Weigel | August 21, 2008

LAS VEGAS - I'm in Nevada reporting on the roiling libertarian movement in the state, and yeoman State Sen. Bob Beers was the first Republican I've spoken to in a while who's ultra-confident in a McCain victory. "It won't be as close as the mainstream media says it's going to be," Beers said.

You ever walked into a bakery and just been overwhelmed by the wonderful smells? If you stay there for two hours, you barely even notice the smell anymore. And god forbid you hope to sustain your body through those wonderful smells. You will not. You still have to eat. I think Obama is a bakery of wonderful smells. After two hours you can't even smell the smells anymore and you're still hungry.

It was a fun tangent in a long conversation, the takeaway being that Beers wants Ron Paul activists to stay in the GOP and give him some back-up.

Meanwhile, I don't put much credence in this:

A massive e-mail and Internet campaign is under way aimed at derailing the nomination of Barack Obama and making Hillary Clinton the Democratic Party's standard bearer next week at the national convention in Denver.

Why not? Because the last time Hillary dead-enders staged a "massive" campaign, they claimed to have raised $10 million to erase her debt in the first week of July. They lied.

Comments

BDB|8.21.08 @ 7:07PM|#

Dave, have you noticed on how the two campaigns have gone completely nuclear in the last twelve hours?

David Weigel|8.21.08 @ 7:09PM|#

BDB - I was on the road or in interviews until about 3 pm local time, so I just saw that. It seems like Obama found a new front (7 houses!) while McCain is attacking stuff that we already learned in the primary (Ayers! Rezko!), so it seems from afar like Obama is climbing off the ropes.

BDB|8.21.08 @ 7:17PM|#

Obama is finally leaving Dukakis-mode and getting down in the gutter with McCain. At long last.

JLM|8.21.08 @ 7:17PM|#

Vegas baby!

Screw the interviews. Go put a few bucks on a ballgame for me........

Dagny T.|8.21.08 @ 7:20PM|#

Don't forget: arugula! clinging bitterly!

David Weigel|8.21.08 @ 7:20PM|#

Obama is finally leaving Dukakis-mode and getting down in the gutter with McCain.

Yeah, it's a pretty marked difference between this and Kerry/Dukakis. There's a great Dukakis ad on The Living Room Candidate site where he stands in front of a TV, turns it off, and bitches about negative ads. Obama's response is... better.

BDB|8.21.08 @ 7:21PM|#

I think his newfound aggressiveness points towards a Biden or Hillary pick. I can't see Evan Bayh or Timmeh Kaine attacking. Especially Timmeh, the guy is a wimp.

SIV|8.21.08 @ 7:35PM|#

I'd love to see Obama pick Al Gore for Veep.He makes such a great loser.

|8.21.08 @ 7:40PM|#

I'd say his newfound aggressiveness is more from getting three weeks off (McCain had a LOT of downtime after his primary was over) and getting a feel for how stuff was going to be played.

Plus, hell, the house thing was pretty golden as far as these things go. John McCain's spokesman shooting back with "John McCain might be confused on his investment properties, but remember he spent five years in just one house -- prison!" is going to leave another self-inflicted wound on McCain.

He's not at Subject,Verb,POW yet -- but each time they completely irrelevently shoot back with his former POW status, that hits the "John McCain doesn't talk about his POW status" thing.

Col. Mustard|8.21.08 @ 7:41PM|#

The Obamatons are racheting up the attacks

BDB|8.21.08 @ 7:42PM|#

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed hes moving into Rudy 9iul1an1 territory with his POW stuff.

Travis|8.21.08 @ 7:52PM|#

Obama is making alot of bad political moves like talking about Single Payer Healthcare.

Jim Anderson|8.21.08 @ 8:13PM|#

A "bakery of wonderful smells?" Nice. This morning, a Minnesota GOPer called the Obama effect a "sugar high."

|8.21.08 @ 9:10PM|#

Please, Allah. After this year, I never want to hear about Hil-Dog, Edwards, Ruby Gigiliani, Dead Thompson, or Willard Romney again.

JB|8.21.08 @ 9:55PM|#

It is really sad that Reason has not picked up on Obama's half-brother in a shack. This is major news that shows Obama's hypocrisy.

Obama wants to force us to hand over more money to complete strangers. This while he lives in his million dollar house and his half-brother lives in a shack. We should take care of strangers at the point of a gun, but he can't even be bothered to take care of his own family.

As for the "he didn't know" excuse, are you really going to claim that Italian Vanity Fair is more competent than Obama and his campaign? If so, then this country is in for a bumpy ride during an Obama administration.

|8.21.08 @ 9:59PM|#

Please... just let it be over.

libertarian4321|8.21.08 @ 11:17PM|#

If Bob Beers thinks Ron Paul supporters are going to help him support McCain after the way Beers treated them, he's out of his mind.

Not only will we not support McCain (for what should be obvious reasons), we won't support Beers, either!

tim|8.21.08 @ 11:52PM|#

"It won't be as close as the mainstream media says it's going to be"

Yea whatever - instead of 20 points they will lose by 19. I've long ago stopped taking these "predictions" even remotely seriously.

tim|8.21.08 @ 11:53PM|#

"It is really sad that Reason has not picked up on Obama's half-brother in a shack. This is major news that shows Obama's hypocrisy."

Heh - some guy who claims he is candidate's brother lives below the poverty line - didn't Clinton ride that to the Whitehouse - twice?

|8.22.08 @ 4:14AM|#

Holy crap! Somebody adopted my term "Obamaton"!*

Also, good metaphor by Beers, unfortunately could the same be true of his candidate?**

*Did I really coin this term first or was it some wonderful dream?

**If I built my life around promises some politician made, I probably would have shot myself some time ago.

|8.22.08 @ 7:46AM|#

LOL, I think the growing "Police State" of the nation and the Bush Regime are little more pressing at the moment.

RD
http://www.ULtimate-Anonymity.com

Dog\'s New Clothes|8.22.08 @ 9:19AM|#

Ultimate-anonymity guy,

A couple weeks ago, I advised you to go to hell and die. You obviously have not taken my advice. I would like you to reconsider.

P.S. Fuck you and stop spamming every thread with your mindless twaddle.

|8.22.08 @ 11:12AM|#

Four years of President Warmongering P McCain, accompanied by a ceaseless chorus of "I Told You So"s by the Clintonistas.

I'm thinking I should just put my television and all my computers in a pile and burn them, concentrate on re-reading the collected works of Dashiell Hammett until the big flash in the sky comes.

|8.22.08 @ 1:04PM|#

Give the Obamanauts credit for jumping on McCain's gaffe, but don't forget that Obama got where he is by claiming to be a different kind of politician. Every time he goes bare-knuckle, he knocks off some of his own shine as well. The more ordinary he looks, the lower the turnout from young/new voters will be, so he needs to be real careful on this stuff.

No doubt, McCain missed a golden opportunity on the "how many houses" question. Hindsight, etc, but the best answer would have been "Probably not as many as John Kerry."