Author: jen-sorensen

Would’ve posted earlier, but Mr. Slowpoke insisted that I join him for "Cube Zero," the final installment of "The Cube" trilogy. The films are about, well, being stuck in a cube with no way out — a fairly apt metaphor for how I feel about American politics sometimes.

I’m getting the sense that the rest of the world is really starting to look at us funny. I mean, funnier than they did already. An Australian colleague I’ve been chatting with sees Sarah Palin as bizarre, fascinating, and scary. "Bloody hell!" she writes, imploring me to reassure her that the Republicans aren’t actually going to win again.

Then there’s this recent article from Canada’s Globe and Mail, written by a Canadian woman living in England. She finds it strange that some Americans were shocked by British comedian Russell Brand’s monologue at MTV’s Video Music Awards, where he referred to Bush as "that retarded cowboy fella" who, in England, "wouldn’t be trusted with a pair of scissors." She adds:

I can’t walk through the playground without someone hearing my accent, sidling up to me and saying, “The Republicans aren’t going to win, are they?” It pains me to explain that Canadians aren’t technically eligible to vote in American elections, and that I could no more explain the surge in the Republicans’ popularity than I could the workings of that giant particle-smasher in Switzerland.

Well, I have a few hunches myself. Let’s just say I don’t think a clear picture of McCain’s and Palin’s far-right agenda, or their dishonest campaign tactics, is trickling down to low-information swing voters. Some big media outlets have admirably tried to call the campaign on its ludicrous statements like the "lipstick on a pig" lie, the "Bridge to Nowhere" lie, and the "enemies in Iraq planned the 9-11 attacks" lie. But are people paying attention?

The Republicans have also inoculated themselves against such criticism by convincing many not to trust the media except for right-wing outlets. And so we get an impenetrable reality bubble.

What I’d like to know — and maybe you can help me, since I don’t watch a lot of TV: is any of this making its way to other venues, like late-night comedy shows? Places where it might become conventional wisdom? Or is Jay Leno just cracking jokes about McCain’s old age and Palin’s penchant for blasting moose?

We’re leaving together,
But still it’s farewell
And maybe we’ll come back,
To earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We’re leaving ground
Will things ever be the same again?

It’s the final countdown…

Ah, I can almost hear the synth horns right now. This is, in fact, the final countdown — to that date with destiny otherwise known as November 4. After eight years of right-wing insanity, around here we are indeed wondering whether we will ever come back to earth. And sadly, there are many to blame. In less than two short months, we’ll know whether Americans chose John McCain or Barack Obama to be their next president. It gives me the butterflies just thinking about  it.

Some of you may have followed my "Live From the Democratic National Convention" blog last month (and if not, you really should check out the posts prior to this one, if only to see the corn hat). Well, I just can’t stop blogging, so from now through that fateful week in November, I’ll be bringing you running commentary here on c-ville.com. I’ll be posting several times a week, in between work on my other job as a political cartoonist. In case you’re just tuning in, I draw the comic "Slowpoke," which appears in C-VILLE and other papers around the country. While the Bush administration has given me plenty of cartoon fodder over the past eight years, I would prefer to spend the next four mocking Republicans’ resistance to Obama’s ideas than their continuation of ones that are batshit crazy.

So join me for these final weeks of a long campaign season, and be sure to speak your mind in the comments section. On election night we will celebrate with — or cry in — a virtual beer together. Either way, I assure you there will be beer.

I leave you with the unofficial soundtrack to this blog: "The Final Countdown" by Europe, as performed by The Manualist. Some might question the use of hand flatulence in a such a high-flying blog, but I think it perfectly captures the state of our mainstream political discourse. Whatever you do, don’t miss the solo that starts at 2:20.

I wish I could have posted this this morning, but because Monday is Labor Day, I faced an early cartoon deadline and had to deal with that first. (We at Slowpoke, Inc. deeply respect Labor Day, of course.) From my jottings while at Invesco Field Mile High Product Placement Stadium:

I arrived not long before Sheryl Crow sang "A Change Will Do Us Good," a variation on her hit "A Change Will Do You Good." Speaking of song lyrics, I actually heard Lenny Kravitz’s "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" twice in Pepsi Center. Maybe an invitation to Hillary supporters?

Bill Richardson had a nice line: "John McCain may be paying hundreds for his shoes, but America will be paying for his flipflops."

I sat next to a reporter for a German-language Swiss weekly, Woz Die Wochenzeitung. Here’s something he wrote, if you can read German.

By the way, the French TV correspondent I talked to yesterday said the BBC sent, like, 92 people to Denver. I have no way of confirming that, but I would not be surprised.

One thing you couldn’t observe watching TV was the stadium-wide foot stomping that shook the whole place on several occasions.

Al Gore got a long standing ovation.

I loved the Long Island accent of the pet store owner from Florida echoing throughout the stadium: "We can’t affawd faw maw yeahs!"

An hour or so before Obama came on, the text of his speech was released to the press, as was the case with many major speakers at the convention. I didn’t read it, though. I waited to hear it delivered.

As you can imagine, the anticipation kept building and building, and you might say there was some electricity in the air by the time he walked onstage. For me the most spine-tingly moment was when he talked about MLK. But there were so many great memebusting lines — about how Repubs say to pull yourself up by your bootstraps even if you don’t have any boots, and how the ownership society means you’re on your own, and that "it’s time for them to own their failure." Smackdowns don’t get any better than that.

Okay, I’m back in the blogging saddle. How about that McCain veep pick? Gotta love how the GOP suddenly embraces women when politically expedient (see also their sudden concern for Muslim women). I’m hoping Hillary speaks out loud and clear that Palin is not an adequate "replacement." I think she will; it’s just a matter of when.

My understanding is that Palin’s positions are largely the inverse of Hillary’s. As others have said before me, it’s high time we started making a distinction between being a woman and being for women’s equality.

After Biden’s speech last night, I was not able to exit the way I came in. I had to make my way back to the Blogger Lounge because my laptop and backpack were still in there. Nightmarish visions of getting locked out of the lounge or trapped overnight in Pepsi Center filled my head. I passed through a series of tunnels where TV networks had set up shop — it felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there, but no one seemed to care. Somewhat disoriented, I made my way up flights of stairs against an unholy tide of people coming down to exit the building. The elevator I was used to taking down to the lounge wasn’t working, and I wound up walking the entire arc of the center before I found a nice employee of PBS News Hour who pointed me in the right direction. I will forever have warm feelings for the News Hour.