You know what’s really great about the Meltdown on Wall Street? It gives Grandpa McAngrypants something else to clean up. Having another mess, one with global consequences and triggers we really can’t predict, since the people of the Earth (which is what I think I’ll start calling the reality based community) have never been able to communicate so quickly*, is a lucky break for him. The idea that he was going to clean up Washington was becoming, well, laughable.
So, in quick succession, here are a few clips that my favorite sites posted this morning. I’m beginning to see my role as a collage artist. Obviously, there are different types of blogs out there. There are the great journalistic ones such as Talking Points Memo. Then there’s the hardest working man in the blogosphere–Andrew Sullivan–my new bff. Who knew that a gay conservative British Catholic who actually chooses to live in Washington and I would have so much in common? And then there’s my hero John Coles. Another lapsed Republican. Wait a minute! Is there a theme here? Is this all just me working through my Republican heritage?
Back to Mr. Clean (who would be a terrific sponsor for All My (Grand)Children).
Clip Number Five: In Which Our Heroine’s Aging Guardian Tells Us What Needs Cleaning
Thanks to Talking Points Memo for posting this. I can’t watch CNN; thanks for saving me the trouble.
But wait, there’s more.
Clip Number Six: In Which God Speaks
Speaking from down here 150 miles outside Aftermath Ike (but in its actual command center), I can tell you that there’s a difference between a job for Mr. Clean and a once in a century event.
*I’ve been reading What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe this summer. I’m still in the first third of the book (John Quincy Adams’ presidency), but it’s already made me think a great deal to how communication technology transforms the political process. Too much to go into now, but I’ll add that this is the first presidential election with a robust Internet. Meaning, the Internet is the primary driver for political communication in 2008. It hadn’t reached this level in 2004 or 2006 (but the George Allen macaca remark was the harbinger). The other communication medium that’s dominating 2008 is the cell phone, obviously. Basically, between the two, new information is ubiquitous. You can’t escape it. Hence, Palinmania.
