Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Annette Taddeo Wins

Posted on September 7, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

No, not the election — not yet anyway.

But, Annette Taddeo won the contest at Act Blue by getting the most online donors. So thank you to all readers who sent something in.

Here's the letter from Taddeo announcing the victory,

We won the Blue America online contest with 557 votes, 161 more than any other candidate!

Thanks to you – we banked $15,813 and became the #1 candidate across all of ActBlue.

Thank you to all who voted by contributing $1 or more – and thank you to those who had friends and family vote.

Your small contributions and your relentless grassroots outreach made a big difference!

Thank you so much for your support,

Annette Taddeo

Now, if Debbie Wasserman-Schultz would just get with the program and open her checkbook before it's too late…

Posted in Politics: FL-18 | Comments Off

Like You Need This

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

For all those parents who think their kids don't play with their food enough: HOWTO Make Tetris brownies.

I don't think so.

Posted in Food and Drink | Comments Off

Much Ado About … What?

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

The item to which Andrew Sullivan links in Here We Go is slashdotted, so I don't know what this is all about, but other people seem to be seriously tantalized. Here's all Sullivan said,

Todd Palin's former business partner files an emergency motion to have his divorce papers sealed. Oh God.

Myself, I'd rather people were talking about how the more war, less jobs candidate has tried to become Richard Nixon, and run as a candidate of peace and prosperity. Or maybe how weird it is for McCain to try to run away from the same George Bush he (literally) embraced and voted with 90-95% of the time for each of the past four years.

Update: Thanks to the helpful Coralize function, I've got what seems to be the docket to which Sullivan linked, reproduced in full below. What's all the fuss about? In any case, the motion seems to have been denied, so I guess we'll know…

Update2 (9/6): Thanks to reader mcg, whose comment points us to The Smoking Gun, in which the motion to seal seems to be about protecting phone numbers and addresses from the prying eyes of a hoard of reporters.

It seems to me that while the court was surely right in denying the full sealer request, there ought to be a mechanism that would allow a party to request redaction of phone numbers, and perhaps even addresses, in these sorts of circumstances.

Continue reading →

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 14 Comments

Friday McCain-McSame Bashing

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

I would write something here about McCain's acceptance speech except that — I swear this is true — I literally fell asleep part way through it.

(Note also this week's special Wednesday edition of Wednesday Mostly Palin Bashing.)

Jeffrey Feldman, Frameshop: McCain Video 'Tribute' Links Iran to 9/11
Kos, Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up — lots of people thought the McCain speech fell flat. Videos and more at JustMoreOfTheSame.com
Crooks & Liars, Clock is Ticking as McCain Campaign Hides Palin from the Press
Political Animal,
- Thumbs down
- A swing and a miss
- Watch What They Do, Not What They Say
NYT Editorial, Editorial: The Real John McCain
E. J. Dionne Jr., WashPo, Elegy for a Maverick
TMZ, Republicans Lack Heart! (GOP rips off artists yet again…)
TMP, Mystery Solved! — why was McCain posing in front of a photo of Walter Reed Middle School (located in North Hollywood, California)? (Earlier post: Surprised.)
Kos, Flee the Press
Rick Perlstein, Sarah's Trigonetry. Brilliant.
TPM on Team McCain's Editing Goof
Matt Bodie, Prawfsblawg, Bob Dole, John McCain & Michael Lewis
Juan Cole, Informed Comment, Rambo and the Mean Girl
DeLong,
- John McCain's Bad Judgment, Part CIII
- John McCain's Awful Judgment, Part LXIII
- I Am Not Making This Up: John McCain's Bad Judgment, Part XLII
- John McCain's Bad Judgment—and Ross Douthat's Too
- John McCain's Awful Judgment, Chapter CCCIII: ABC News Wakes Up!
Weak effort from worsethanbush.org, Real McCain of Genius: Houses
TMP, If You Can't Stand Up to the RNC …
Political Animal, A perfectly functioning teleprompter
Douglas Rushkoff, Hate Party
Political Animal, Let's define 'primary responsibilities'
Crooks & Liars, Delusional John McCain peddles “Alaska is close to Russia” nonsense
HuffPo, Palin Also Supported The “Road To Nowhere” (And May Still)
Eye on Miami, McCain and Palin: volatile and unpredictable meets smug and sarcastic … by gimleteye
Georgia10, Kos, Real Vetting Roundup
Sarah Palin: Earmark Queen Of The Earmark State
Kate Klonick and Zachary Roth, TPM Muckraker, Palin As Reformer? Not Quite…
Bobo2020, Kos, PALIN-tology – Speech rebuttal – 150 issues in 1 week: “I have identified nearly 150 issues, problems, falsehoods, and embarrassing comparisons for McCain's unbelievably reckless VP choice.”
Vanity Fair estimates the cost of Cindy McCain's convention Outfit at $300,000 — which would make it more expensive than the average home in the USA, valued at $217,800. (According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the McCains have received $313,413 thanks to George Bush's tax cut.)

Community organizers — Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony — might have some differences with Palin's attack on community organizers.
Daily Show does Palin
BooMan, On Pitbulls and Lipstick
Political Animal, The Truman Show

Posted in Politics: McCain | 3 Comments

Five Local GOP Officeholders Support Democratic Congressional Candidate

Posted on September 4, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

FL-21: Republicans for Raul —Elected Republicans backing Democrat in South Florida Congressional race. (That’s Raul Martinez.)

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | Comments Off

I Don’t Like Ike

Posted on September 4, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Hurricane IKE — heading straight for us?

Forecaster Blake says, “One should not focus on the exact 4 and 5 day forecast positions because large uncertainties exist at those times.”

I still don't like Ike.

Posted in Miami | 2 Comments