The real Mitt Romney

From the, "not that I would vote for him, but..." file:

Because of the invention of YouTube, Mitt Romney doesn't stand a chance. But I get the feeling that the real Mitt Romney, the one he's tried so hard to hide and the one we can all meet on YouTube, would be a very formidable candidate. 30% of Americans say they would not vote for a Mormon for President. I doubt that when it comes does to the best person for the job this number would be so high, but still. Mitt seems to be directing his campaign directly at those people for whom his Mormonism would be a deal-breaker. My hunch is that this why he is barely registering in the polls while raising more money than any other Republican candidate and performing reasonably well in the debate. He could be speaking to the center-right in the primary and the center for the general election and stand a decent chance of winning both times. He's trying to recreate the "Bush coalition", so uh, good luck with that.

Confederate Generals

On a recent trip to Philadelphia, I visted the new(ish) Constitution Center. It's located opposite Independence Hall and near the Liberty Bell. A nice museum really and worth the trip if you're in town. In the gift shop they sold small busts of some foudning fathers and Presidents of great repute. Mixed in this lot were some busts of Robert E. Lee. This offended me as an American, that the leader of the largest armed rebellion against the US would be honored in such a way. I placed a Ben Franklin head in front of one and turned the other around. It has always puzzled and upset me when Confederate heroes are treated as American heroes. Some Southerners may like what they did for this reason or that reason, but they did no favors for the United States.

So it was some satisfaction that I read this column by Michael Gene Sullivan.

Money quote:

Here's the thing about Confederate generals: They may be the heroes of a failed nation, but they are not now, nor ever were, heroes of the United States. In fact, they were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of loyal soldiers of the United States. Quoting one of these traitors in support of U.S. troops is not only ridiculous, it is an insult to the sacrifice of all our soldiers who died protecting this country.

On turning 30

I don't care about turing 30.

I know what you're thinking. Get over yourself.

Fun with politics

I love premature hype for the 2008 election. Maybe because it lets be better cope with the current state of affairs. This interactive map of where donations are coming from is great fun.

Of the major players, Edwards has the most balanced map and Hillary and Rudy have the least. McCain takes the most from PACs, while some candidates take virtually none, which seems odd given he advocacy for campaign finance reform. Mitt Romney's map reflects heavy Mormon support- huge in UT and CA.

Food ideas

I haven't been cooking much lately. This Sunday, we're hosting 19 people for a mid-afternoon Easter dinner. Menu as currently constructed:

Cheese and salumi I've had some good cheese recently and I love turning people on to Parmigiano Reggiano and good prosciutto.
Overnight salad My wife makes this, and everyone says she does it very well. I've never tried it and probably won't because I'm afraid of mayonnaise.
Bread Two boules of bread, one possibly being of the olive oil & rosemary variety. My sourdough culture accidentally met the trash last week, so it will be hard to bake without my best microbial friends, but the yeast in the freezer will do.
Boneless leg of lamb Spit roasted over hickory. The first of my problems. I've never made this before, which is fine, but it seems to be enough to only feed 8 or 9 people. It doesn't look like a second leg will fit on the spit.
French potato salad This is a great spring/summer thing to do. It's served warm with a mustard vinaigrette and fresh herbs
Grilled asparagus Or broiled or roasted. Plenty of it, salt & pepper, olive oil.

I need two suggestions. First is the aforementioned main course dilemma. I need something to serve the rest of the people. Of the 19, three are very picky, two are vegetarian and three are small children. What would work here? My oven is basically available once the bread is done (about three hours before dinner) and I have a gas grill free, plus a smoker, which takes a long time. Secondly, I need another side dish. Any ideas?

Gonzales in?

Guess I was wrong. Still not looking good, so I'll go double or nothing with a strike date of May 1. 5/3 odds, too. Takers?

Gonzales out?

Longtime readers will recall that I predicted the number of Democratic House seat picked up exactly and missed the Senate total by one in the 2006 midterm elections. I'm doubling down, putting my prediction rep on the line to predict that in two week's time, Alberto Gonzales will not be the Attorney General of the United States. I'm accepting individual wagers of up to $2.50.

Oscar thoughts

As if you care...

High point was Marty winning at last. Ever since I've been into movies, I've been upset about Scorsese getting snubbed for so many great works. He was due, and he's owed. I don't care if he got it for Kundun, but I just saw The Departed last week and it seemed worthy of its awards.

Low point would be Melissa Etheridge winning best song. My beef isn't with her per se, though I've always found her unlistenable, but a song that played over the credits beating out the Dreamgirls songs that were better written and were integral to the movie. My biggest beef with Dreamgirls is that the songs and arrangements sounded not at all like Motown, but at least these were songs.

That will be the last time I post about a musical, movie or otherwise.

Also to note- ellen=snooze.

Obama on Iraq, in 2002

The war in Iraq was supported, on one level or another, by nearly every serious candidate for President, on either party- with one notable exception. Watch this interview the Barack Obama gave in late 2002, before the invasion took place.

I recognize that there is a big distinction between being a Senator, in the case of McCain, Clinton or Edwards and deferring to the President and being the President who proactively sought to make war with Iraq. The #1 question as it pertains to Iraq and the 2008 election is whether a candidate would have made the same mistake as President. John McCain seems to intimate that he would have, but would have run the war more competently. John Edwards says sorry, and we're waiting for Hillary's definitive answer. I'm inclined to support Barack Obama next year for a number of reasons, but chief among those is that on the issue of the day, he was right from the beginning and understood the risks with such clarity, it sounds like a post-mortem.

What was it like back in 2006?

Does anyone agree that myspace is crystalizing into a snapshot of what the world was like in 2006?