Fox released a new season 7 trailer that includes bits from Redemption as well as the rest of the season. Looking pretty sweet:

Also, it doesn’t look like Michelle Dessler will rise to be Tony Almeida’s zombie bride. She’s joining the cast of Lost for this season. Still, it’s nice to see her get some work (and on something that’s a little better than AVP2).

-MPAW

I know this is a sad and disappointing day to many people (myself included), but let’s remember one thing above all: as Conservatives we believe in this country and the principles it was founded on no matter who is in power. We are not liberals who go on a temper tantrum saying how “stupid” the country is because the majority voted the other way. Right off the bat, here are some actual positives of the results from last night:

• I got to watch The Shield last night! The early call of Ohio meant I could go on with my regular routine.
• More seriously, the election of Barack Obama is actually a repudiation of a long held Liberal contention that America is a racist country. I desperately wish that this historic event could have involved someone who is not an empty suit, but it’s hard not to acknowledge that the crossing of this barrier is a good thing for America. The more commonplace events like this are, the less traction race baiters like Jesse Jackson will get in their attempts to divide us (although The Onion tries. Heh).
• Branching off from the “liberals think all Americans are idiots when they’re out of power” notion, it will be nice to have the other half of the country like America again, even though they’re trying to radically alter it. Perhaps now that they share some responsibility, they will have the luxury of taking the War on Terror seriously instead of just squatting on the carpet repeatedly and fingering George W. Bush as the culprit. On a personal note, I’m looking forward to not seeing those “1/20/09: Bush’s Last Day In Office” bumper stickers anymore.
• While it may appear that the country wants to move to the left, remember that there’s a sizeable portion of the electorate that still doesn’t know anything about Obama other than “HOPE!”, “CHANGE!” and that he comes from outside of George W. Bush’s party. Obama’s liberal voting history runs counter with the centrist campaign that he ran. This presents two scenarios, and both of which (I hope) would end up positive for us: 1) If Obama’s smart enough to know he has to campaign as a moderate to get elected, then he’s smart enough to know he’ll have to govern as a moderate to stay in office. Given the voting results he has the right to govern the way he wishes and if he can hold off the Pelosi radicals in his own party and live up to the message of compromise in his victory speech then he should be applauded. 2) The more likely scenario I see is that there’s going to be tremendous pressure from Congress to bite off more than they can chew immediately and Obama will go along with it. Let’s also not forget that the Democratic Congressional leadership is completely inept and Obama’s first major accomplishment as President will be the first accomplishment of any magnitude of his political career (aside from winning the offices he holds of course). Hopefully this will result in some major missteps (see the first couple of years in the Clinton administration) and the damage will be limited. However, even if a large portion of their agenda is enacted, I still believe this is a center-right country and we’re not ready to accept socialism. Hopefully this will result in a major backlash in two years (see 1994). In 2012 Obama will not have the benefit of having his entire career shrouded in a cloudy haze. If he is truly a wolf in sheep’s clothes then it will be easier to hold him accountable in four years.

For this to happen though, we have work to do. It may just be relief that the eternal election is finally over, but I feel invigorated somehow, especially in comparison to 2006. While `06 was bad, it never felt like rock bottom. This does. This is the Dems’ biggest victory since LBJ over Goldwater, but let’s remember that four years after 1964, LBJ was so unpopular he couldn’t even run for re-election. In 2012 we won’t have perceptions of the Republicans running the country (even though the Democrats have controlled the Congress the past two years) and we won’t be weighed down by having to defend an unpopular president who doesn’t even defend himself (a situation that would have doubtlessly been prolonged had McCain won).

I haven’t figured out exactly what action items need to be taken to restart the Conservative movement, but here is a short reading list in the meantime that I recommend to everyone.

1. The Constitution of the United States and the Federalist Papers – Let’s start with basics. We all think we know the Constitution, but it’s been a long time since high school. Let’s look at it with fresh eyes to keep ourselves centered. While the Constitution has been endlessly distorted by liberals, one only has to read the Federalist Papers, written primarily by Alexander Hamilton, to see how off base they are. If the 18th century linguistics don’t wear you out, check out the Anti-Federalist Papers as well to see what the arguments against the Constitution were. It’s interesting to see which concerns were valid and which ones didn’t pan out.
2. Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg – I read this book earlier this year and it is one of the most educationally shocking books I’ve ever read, even while being much more reasonable than the title would indicate. There is history in here that is so out there that your instant reaction will be that it can’t be true. However, in every instance that I researched, Goldberg was vindicated. This is an absolutely essential read for a Conservative not only to understand what’s wrong with Liberal thought, but also to weed out your own Conservative fascist leanings. Honestly, if you only read one thing on this list (other than the Constitution of course) make it this one.
3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – I believe it was meant as a satire of progressives to show what will happen when we punish the achievers, but the extremes described in this book that desperately needed a better editor are quickly coming to pass.
4. An Inconvenient Book by Glenn Beck – Look! Pretty pictures! You could use a break from all this heavy stuff anyway.

Speaking of Mr. Beck, his must-read list following the election included Liberal Fascism as well as The 5,000 Year Leap and The Forgotten Man. I have not read the latter two, but I intend to. That is all for now class, book reports are due at the end of the month!

Remember even when elections don’t go our way – even ones as seemingly devastating as this – that the pendulum swings back quickly. Four years ago the hot phrase was “permanent Republican majority.” There’s always hope for America because it’s populated by Americans. Let’s act like it by first shoring up what we believe in and then fighting for it.

-MPAW

And while I’d like to credit Sarah for these, most of the credit goes to GOB’s wife here:

Palin Rap

I crack up at 2:16 every time.

-MPAW

Eh, I’m excited to see what they have up their sleeve for season seven, but this whole Africa thing looks remarkably like all those unremarkable movies Kiefer always makes in between seasons. And somehow all these recognizable faces only make it seem less like 24. Another thing that’s interesting is the whole female President aspect seemed lame and contrived after Hillary Clinton lost the primaries, but all of a sudden seems relevant again now that Sarah Palin has hit the scene. Also good to see President Noah and Tom Lennox again. One last random thought: does the title of this movie refer to Jack Bauer or the show itself after last season? Heh. I should probably break out a DVD set soon to start getting myself in the mood!

-MPAW

I offer to you a quick time line:

1988:


1992:

1996:

2000:
Did it ever really end???

2004:

2008?:

I gotta be honest, I’m actually more offended by the fake southern accent than the lipstick thing, but if Obama loses this may very well be the “Dukakis in a tank” moment that people will attribute his loss to. Whether it was meant for Palin or not (I personally don’t see how you interpret it any other way), it certainly displays a total lack of political judgment from Mr. Greatest Orator of our Generation. Can’t say I’m not enjoying it either.

Also, it’s a stretch to say that it doomed his campaign, but I just love this picture too much not to post it again:

I’m sure one of these days we’ll have Democratic nominee for president who isn’t a douchebag, right?

-MPAW

I found another negative to Sarah’s speech on Wednesday: it set the bar too high for the actual nominee. I’m not gonna do a full analysis because the speech can pretty much be taken at face value. It was pretty straight forward in a State of the Union kind of way. I’m gonna have to disagree with the Conservative punditry consensus because I think McCain bombed (mostly because of his delivery). Of course, the idiots interrupting the speech at the beginning didn’t help. I’m talking about both the protesters and the general nonsense of convention chanting. Side note: At a sporting event when someone interrupts play, the broadcasters specifically try to avoid showing the intruders lest others be inspired to do the same. I’m wondering why the same isn’t done at conventions. I’d claim it was party bias except I don’t think anyone on our side has ever tried to shut up a Democratic speaker. Ahem.

Back to the speech, you would think that when he was practicing his handlers would instruct him not to suddenly smile at the end of a line. Just terrible, terrible delivery. McCain’s audience beat out Obama’s (to which he owes Mrs. Palin), it’s just a shame the speech itself didn’t rise up to that occasion.

While the speech wasn’t great, there were three parts that I thought were gold. 1) His recounting of his time in captivity was great. Particularly the “they broke me” part. I frankly got tired of hearing about it throughout the week, much as I got tired of hearing it from John Kerry, but hearing it again from his mouth was moving in it’s honesty. 2) His admitting the GOP lost their soul and the public’s trust may have not gone over well with the crowd, but it’s the truth and I would think it played well with the American public. I wish more speakers acknowledged the fact that the Republican Party screwed up and deserved to get booted from power (even if the default benefactors of that have no business running the show either). 3) The “fight with me!” climax was great and a much-needed boost of energy to end things.

Also notice that there was suddenly no mention of “executive experience”? Oh yeah. That’s because John McCain doesn’t have any either! That phrase burned my skull every time it was used for that very reason. I think McCain’s legislative and military leadership more than makes up for that, but I just don’t know why they insisted on that phrase.

Finally, I want to say that the organization of the convention in general was terrible. Whoever decided it was a good idea to have giant jumbo-tron behind the speakers should never be allowed near the planning of such an even again. Particularly if that person also came up with the idea to start out McCain’s speech with a picture of a random building as the backdrop. Terrible stuff. It would look more at home on a landscaping website.

Yes, I know this post had very little to do with the title and picture. I like Sarah Palin and Anchorman. Sue me. If it ends up being a not-so-close race and I end up voting for McCain, it will more likely be because I want to further her career than because I have a great love for the Senator from Arizona.

-MPAW

I’ve sometimes wondered if viewers in 1964 of Ronald Reagan’s “Time For Choosing” speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater had a clue as to the history they were witnessing. They couldn’t possibly imagine that the b-movie actor on the screen would one day lead a political revolution that would transform American politics for a quarter century, but they had to recognize the potential in the man who three years later would become the governor of California.

It is still far, far too early to say Sarah Palin is Reagan’s successor (a week ago, only us politics geeks even knew the name . . . and that was pretty much all we knew) but man, what a way to introduce yourself to the American public! When watching the speech one couldn’t help but think we were witnessing something special and possibly the birth of the next generation of Conservative leadership. If you didn’t see the speech, do yourself a favor:

Before I get carried away with the hyperbole, let’s also remember that it was still just a speech (albeit the best one in recent memory). It would be ridiculous for people who have been calling out Obama for months as being an empty suit who gives nice speeches to then say, “Well here’s our Messiah!” after just a single night. Palin still has to prove herself, but to her credit she has, you know, done something in her time in office as opposed to a certain leftist false Christ. The weeks (and hopefully years) ahead will be the judge to whether she is the right person for the job.

As for the speech itself, there was one aspect that didn’t hit me right and that was the mockery of Obama’s work as a “community organizer.” There’s nothing necessarily wrong with being a community organizer (assuming of course we ever find out exactly what that entails), and it would’ve been nice to acknowledge that fact. That being said, the Obama campaign fired the first shot by mocking Palin’s experience as a small town mayor (as if that’s prepared her less for the presidency than Obama’s work). Of course, if anyone deserves the right to strike back, it’s Palin after the week she just went through. Not to mention it was a really funny line.

Bottom line is Palin did everything she needed to do. She introduced herself to a country that prior to this only knew her from the shameless slander coming from the media for the past week (seriously, it was outright war). She introduced her family (who couldn’t possibly be more likeable), and handled the controversy surrounding her daughter in a roundabout, but classy, way. She built up McCain and enumerated her accomplishments in office. She savaged Obama and totally tore apart his record (or lack thereof). Most importantly, she showed poise and guts given the circus that surrounded the proceedings. She may not be the most experienced candidate for the job, but she showed she wouldn’t be a deer in the headlights if something were to happen to a President McCain.

A PBS announcer last night said, “It’s been a while since Republicans have had reason for pure, unbridled joy.” How true that statement is (it’s been about 4 years by my count). You know the hype is well deserved when the best the left can do is say, “Yeah, but it was written by one of George W. Bush’s writers!” Sarah Palin still has a lot to prove, but for the moment Conservatives have the right to believe in the hype and be optimistic about the future of the movement.

If anyone deserves the longest blog title ever, it’s Sarah Palin. Maybe I’m just being like an Obama zombie, but I think her speech tonight was a grand slam. Maybe the finest GOP convention speech I can remember (although Zell Miller’s in `04 was pretty great too!) It’s too late for me to do an in-depth analysis, but man, I’m pumped! Until I have time to process and write about what I just saw, enjoy these Sarah Palin facts:

• Sarah Palin prepped for this speech with a ritual sacrifice of Susan Estrich.
• Sarah Palin has actually traveled backwards in time from after the roll call to accept the nomination retroactively.
• Sarah Palin doesn’t actually have an accent, it’s distortion from her telepathic broadcast directly into your brain.
• Glasses sales up 150 percent since Sarah palin became nominee.
• The diamonds in Sarah Palin’s earrings were crushed with her very hands.
• Sarah Palin’s use of the word “Haberdashery” will bring it back in style.
• Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.

I have to leave for Penn State soon for football weekend #1 (woo!), but all the media outlets are saying McCain picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his VP running mate. I don’t have time to do much research on this at the moment, but I’m going out on a limb and say if this rumor is true that she would be the hottest Vice-President in American history. Evidence:

She can break my Senatorial ties any day! Umm, I’m not sure what that was supposed to mean.

-MPAW

Wow. As McCain released the classy Congratulations message earlier today, he also brought the YouTube pwnage:

Hard to refute your own words. Here’s hoping this can be cut effectively for a TV-length ad ASAP.

-MPAW

I’m so glad I only decided to watch two nights of this DNC nonsense because I feel drained after just one. Here’s hoping I have enough in me to get through the ascension of “The One.”

PREGAME: Spotlights? Really? Are the Democrats really that oblivious to the “rock star” criticisms or am I overly optimistic about how much traction that criticism has gotten?

9:54 – This crowd looks like it’s about to splooge already. I hope they can hold it until the Obamessiah actually takes the stage.

9:56 – Oh, how I wish it would have rained in Denver tonight.

9:57 – Ordinarily, I wouldn’t see the big deal with the whole White House/Greek temple stage design (I vaguely remember GWB having a similar stage in 04), but after the pattern that has already been set with the faux Presidential seal and the messianic speeches in general, I think the man either has an unparalleled ego, or has no problem playing along with the delusions of those that see him as their savior. Either way, it’s disconcerting at best and disgusting at worst.

10:02 – “His childhood was like any other.” . . . 10 seconds later. . . “I met my father only once when I was 10.” Yeah, not so much.

10:04 – All this focus on Obama’s mother, and yet that is not the parent he spent an entire book talking about. That would be the radical leftist father.

10:05 – Michelle and Barack’s first date was with a basement of “hopeless” people? Who wouldn’t be attracted to that?

10:06 – Joking aside, the Obamas are such an American success story that it’s amazing that they can only see suffering and misery in this country.

10:07 – “And when he was elected for the Senate, he remembered what he was fighting for.” Gee, how could he possibly keep that up for the whole three years???

10:10 – Obama is seriously unrecognizable in these pics of him as a chubby kid.

10:11 – He just shook hands with an Ohio State fan! He just lost Michigan and central PA.

10:12 – Aaaaaaaand the speech finally starts. Let’s see if he can deliver on all this hype.

10:13 – I don’t know how this sounds on other networks, but on PBS it sounds like he keeps saying “Thank you” to a not-so-loud crowd. I’m sure that’s misleading though.

10:14 – I had my doubts about how this set up would go over, but it’s hard not to be impressed by this crowd. It would be more impressive if it looked like this though.

10:16 – “Change” count = 1

10:16 – I swear if I hear about Joe Biden’s damn train ride one more time…

10:17 – I guess a flag pin is no longer a symbol of “fake patriotism.”

10:19 – “Not everything that’s going on is the fault of Washington.” Of course, I haven’t heard a problem yet that Obama doesn’t claim to be able to fix from his temple in that same city.

10:21 – Ha! These clowns will chant anything.

10:22 – “I’m not ready to take a 10% chance on change.” Some of us think the problems in this country are caused because we’ve changed too much already Mr. Junior Senator from Illinois.

10:23 – It’s not even a “mental recession.” The economy is still growing (don’t be fooled by the misleading AP headline in that link by the way). Maybe you shouldn’t make such statements on the same day the last quarter’s figures were announced.

10:25 – “Discredited Republican philosophy”???? It’s led to nearly 25 years of practically uninterrupted growth since the Reagan policies took effect.

10:27 – Well, the gloves are off. Let’s hope this pisses John McCain enough to do the same.

10:28 – So far zero specifics, but a lot of “yeswecanyeswecan.”

10:29 – That’s nice that you admire your grandmother, but what have you done that shows you’re capable of running anything, let alone a country? A: Nothing.

10:31 – “Government cannot solve all of our problems” . . . but it should still throw money at all of them apparently.

10:31 – “I am my brother’s keeper.” Absolutely. Except that is a personal mandate, not one that should be coerced by the government.

10:32 – Haha. All these teary-eyed women are going to have more of the same on Election Day.

10:33 – “I will cut taxes on 95% of Americans.” And then raise them so high on the people that actually pay the salaries of those 95% that no one will have any money!

10:35 – He’s actually giving some specifics on energy, but I don’t see how it’s anything different from McCain’s “all the above” policy (except McCain acknowledges that drilling now will help things until a more permanent solution is found).

10:36 – You are here because you worked hard and made your own opportunity Senator Obama, not because anyone handed it to you.

10:37 – FREE HEALTHCARE!! FREE EDUCATION!! I’d have to be craaaaazy to give these away so vote for Crazy Barry today!

10:38 – “I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as our sons.” How are you going to guarantee equal wages when they get “punished with a baby” I wonder.

10:40 – Personal responsibility. This I actually like a lot.

10:40 – “That’s a debate I’m ready to have.” Except you declined all of McCain’s offers to debate throughout the summer, guy.

10:41 – So you’re advocating invading Pakistan now, Senator? Just shows how little he knows about foreign policy or how little he thinks Americans know about it.

10:42 – “We’re the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy.” More recently, you’re also the party of pussies like Carter and Clinton so don’t call on the legacy of great Democrats from 40+ years ago.

10:45 – That white speck on his mouth is really bugging me.

10:46 – “I look forward to debating with John McCain.” And I can’t wait to get you away from a teleprompter.

10:46 – Who has questioned your patriotism Senator? (other than crackpot chain emailers). Methinks thou dost protest too much.

10:48 – Never thought I’d see the day that I’d hear the phrase “maintain the 2nd amendment” at the DNC.

10:50 – I can’t tell if this is just my own biases at play, but the bulk of these attacks come off like those from a cocky child actor.

10:51 – “It’s not about me, it’s about you” Bee Effing Ess. After giving a token sentence on personal responsibly every bit of “change” suggested here comes from Washington.

10:53 – I’ve heard of a lot more Hillary Democrats voting GOP, than Republican voters going Obama.

10:54 – You can tell Obama grew up in the Reagan era. His speech is saturated with Reaganesque talk that mask big government solutions that go completely contrary to what Reagan believed.

10:56 – I’m wondering if this speech is coming off as overly ambitious to the layperson as it does to me.

10:56 – And we’re done. My gut is telling me that this will be far more effective for those that don’t have a Conservative BS detector. I hope I’m wrong, but I can see that Obama bounce (that finally showed up today according to Gallup) hitting the 10 point mark over the weekend. Incidentally, if it doesn’t then I think Obama’s campaign is probably boned.

10:59 – As fireworks are going off and some random country song is playing, you know what song is in my head right now? Megalomaniac by Incubus.

10:59 – Haha, keep pumping out the images of the weepy women. This Beatle Mania crap can’t play well in blue collar Pennsylvania. (I’m giving a pass to black members of the audience on this one by the way).

11:00 – It is, of course a big deal that a black man has received the nomination for President of this country. It’s something for us to be proud of (even if I think that candidate could barely be less qualified to hold that office), and I look forward to the day when it is not a big deal.

11:05 – It might help if some of these tears were apparent on Obama himself instead of his disciples. You know, if he showed some indication of actually being humbled by what he had accomplished as opposed to just saying he was.

11:06 – Well, I’ve had enough. I have a feeling this will be a bit like a big budget summer movie that wows you while you watch it, but will be forgotten within a couple of days. It’s now up to John McCain and the Republicans to counter this spectacle. Incidentally Juan Williams (as left leaning as they come on Fox News) is right now saying the speech was inadequate, so maybe I’m being overly pessimistic in how this effective this will be on people who don’t really pay too much attention. And now Bill Kristol (as consistently wrong of a pundit as they come) is praising it, so that may be even more assurance that I’m wrong after all. I’ll see you next week at the RNC to find out.

I am so sorry. After such a long wait since my last political blog you deserve a better bad pun than that. I’ll chalk it up to rustiness. This is a non-live liveblog of Senator Biden’s acceptance speech. I thought of doing a liveblog, but what’s the point since I never announced it and no one would read live.

The overall consensus on the Biden VP pick from our side seems to be positive (in that, it’ll probably help us). My first reaction was, “You really want someone with hair like that on your ticket?” I guess if it didn’t matter for Dick Cheney than it may not matter for Biden. There are certainly some downsides for Obama with this pick. Selecting someone who has been in the senate for around 35 years certainly contradicts the “Change!” message that got him this far. It also neutralizes any possible avenues for attacking McCain’s age (not that anyone outside of the media has gone that route yet). Oh yeah, and there’s that pesky vote in favor of the War in Iraq.

PREGAME: One of the perils of having HD TV is that there’s always a chance Bill Clinton could be on it. Yikes.

9:35 – Hannity is interviewing the Democratic governor of Montana who is the latest in a long line of people unable to answer the question “What specific accomplishment qualifies Barack Obama to be president?” That’s because there isn’t one. His answer was “He’s smart and he’s a United States Senator.” Assuming it’s possible that those two things can go together, the same could be said of John McCain or any presidential candidate from the Senate who made it this far.

9:38 – Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen Mike Dukakis since this incident. Hopefully his aura will rub off on this year’s proceedings.

9:59 – I know I’m biased, but Democrats seem to tell about 10 times the amount of sob stories that Republicans do. It goes without saying that every loss in war is tragic, but how disrespectful is it to constantly focus on the loss while never talking about what was gained as a result of that sacrifice?

10:07 – Tom Hanks, why???? Stay out of politics so you can remain one of the few actors that isn’t tainted by it!

10:09 – A retrospective thought on the Spielberg video: There was an extraordinary amount of attention spent on the diversity of the military. It’s not something that I generally think of because I don’t consider it a big deal. To me that more greatly signifies that we are closer to a racism-free society than the guilt the Democrats are constantly pushing on us.

10:10 – Some “Veterans for Obama” are on PBS right now saying how important it is that we trust the “judgment of the Commander-in-chief.” Given their service to their country they are entitled to whatever political opinion they want, but if you want to talk about Obama’s judgment you are talking about someone who opposed the initial invasion as well as the surge. Whether or not going into Iraq was a bad idea is debatable (ask me in 10 years when I see the complete result), but whether or not the surge was a bad idea is not. It is a success on every level, and following Obama’s judgment we would have left Iraq in shambles.

10:20 – I’m just noticing the striking resemblance of Joe Biden to LBJ. Weird.

10:23 – Biden just equivocated the decision to go to war with child abuse. Nice. Coughyouvotedforitjoecough.

10:25 – “The middle class in this country have never had a more uncertain future”? Didn’t realize this non-recession (thus far anyway) was worse than the Great Depression.

10:26 – I vote against any man who names his son “Beau.” On this principle I have not, and will not bend.

10:28 – Wow, Little Boy Beau really has Michelle’s waterworks flowing.

10:30 – Hmmm, an enumeration of the candidate’s accomplishments. I wonder if we’ll get the same tomorrow night?

10:32 – Joking aside, this was a very good introduction by the younger Biden.

10:33 – Bah! Beau isn’t his real name. I guess I’m free to vote Democratic after all.

10:37 – I wonder how people in Delaware feel about the constant references to Scranton just because PA is more of a “purple state.”

10:38 – Blah, blah, blah more sob stories. How many people look around in this country and see the suffering that so many Dems seem to.

10:40 – “Barack Obama is the great American story.” And John McCain’s story is…what?

10:44 – How’s this logic: gas is more expensive, so let’s…increase taxes on gas companies? Guess who ends up footing that bill.

10:45 – Wow, the crowd has coordinated signs to go with the speech. Impressive. Biden is clearly trying to create a link between McCain and an unpopular president. But you know who’s even less popular than George W. Bush? The Democratic Congress. Like 10% unpopular.

10:47 – Now Obama’s going to force equal pay for women. Details, please.

10:50 – I’m not sure the talking with Iran thing is the argument they should be making.

10:53 – Differences of opinion aside, I thought this was a pretty effective speech. He’s clearly the most tolerable member of the Democratic ticket since Joe Lieberman for me, and I now understand a little better why he was selected. I think I like him even though I don’t like him! However, I still think the listed issues above will negate any positives once everything is out of the framing of the Democratic Party.

10:54 – I didn’t know Obama did appearances for crowds of less than 70,000.

10:57 – It’s not Mile High Stadium anymore, Barack. George W. Bush would be given hell if he said that.

11:00 – I need sleep. Should be fun doing this again tomorrow.

Have you ever had a good idea and then someone else completely separate from you actually does something with it? To my dying day, I’ll believe that I invented Brush-Ups and thought of the Armageddon Chrysler Building shot before either went public. Even though in reality, I would never take any action on either of these ideas, it still kind of bothers me that someone else did.

Well, this phenomenon has struck again because I totally called the Batman = George W. Bush thing the week The Dark Knight came out (I have witnesses!), but for reasons personal and technical I didn’t write anything about it until now and Glenn Beck beat me to the punch.

“Mike, you only see what you want to see,” is what you’re saying and sometimes that may be true, but the pro-war slant of The Dark Knight is the last thing I expected. In fact this was a concern of mine at the end of Batman Begins. When Commissioner Gordon started on his “escalation” speech something went off in my brain, and translated it said, “Oh no, they’re doing a war analogy.” We all know how these things usually end up: poorly for both conservatives and box office receipts.

Just hear me out here. In The Dark Knight we have our protagonist Batman fighting the Joker (who is clearly defined as a “terrorist,” a word that the media doesn’t even like to use when reporting on the subject). Batman is breaking “international law” by going onto foreign soil to do what is necessary to stop the Gotham mob. He is tempted to appease the demands of the terrorist when people start dying, but the wise people in his life all council him to endure. Rachel even says at one point, “Do you really think that’s going to keep the Joker from killing people?” Later on, when the body count begins to mount, the only way for Batman to find the Joker is to basically wiretap the entire city, to which Lucius Fox raises ethical concerns (which appear somewhat ridiculous given the context of what is happening in the city), but he still does what is necessary in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

That’s not to say that this is a slam-dunk, right-wing movie. I think there’s enough in there to keep both sides happy (I won’t go into the possible liberal messages because I’ve already typed too much), but I was frankly taken aback at how far to the right it appears to lean. Yet, as Glenn Beck mentioned in his monologue, no one is talking about this! After I saw the film I looked at all my usual conservative sites expecting someone to take notice and yet no one seems to be mentioning that the biggest movie in over a decade appears to be pro-war. I don’t know Christopher Nolan’s political leanings, and maybe it was all a mistake (after all, they can’t truly make Batman the bad guy), but the message seems to be that we need to keep fighting terror even though it’s going to make us look like the bad guy. Maybe I missed something, but this aspect certainly added an extra layer of enjoyment to what is my favorite movie to come out in years. The question is, are our liberal friends the ones not picking up on this (it was well reviewed after all), or am I just reinforcing the stupid conservative stereotype by not picking up on the “real” meaning behind the film. Either way, I seriously need to see it again and do my part to end Titanic’s reign.

-MPAW

Drama
“This is Woodward. I want to talk about Watergate.”

It will probably surprise you to know that this is the first time I have seen this movie. It probably wasn’t the best movie to watch on Independence Day Eve, but this is the penalty I pay for going almost a month without watching anything on the list and the list order must not be mocked. This, of course, is the story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein tracking down the truth of the Watergate break-in leading all the way up to President Nixon. This film lost the best picture award in 1976 to Rocky (which is #57 on the list), and while I have obvious loyalties to the Italian Stallion it’s easy to see how some people were upset that this lost out. ATPM is surprisingly riveting considering that we already know the outcome and about 85% of the film is men with big 70’s hair typing on enormous typewriters in drab offices. The downside is that this is basically two and a half hours of Democratic gloating about taking down a corrupt Republican president. The upside is a) Nixon deserved it and b) our protagonists seem to hate the New York Times as much as I do.

Release: April 9, 1976
Watched: July 3, 2008
Length: 138 Minutes
Recommended: Yes
Rating: *** 1/2 / ****

Next: #76 – Forrest Gump

Comedy
“Hey you! Get back to work!”

I know it’s not fair to judge older movies like this by today’s standards, but this was just a flat-out waste of time. While that time was only 87 minutes, it was still too long. A fifteen-minute short would’ve been about right. Even then I wouldn’t have found it particularly funny and the class warfare message still would have bored me. This is an unsilent silent film where some people can talk but for some reason our protagonist and other select characters can’t. At the end you actually do hear Charlie Chaplin talk for apparently the only time on film. It didn’t seem worth it after suffering through a ten-minute scene where he’s trying to get a roast duck across the room.

Release: February 5, 1936
Watched: June 10, 2008
Length: 87 Minutes
Recommended: No
Rating: * / ****

Next: #77 – All The President’s Men

Western
“It’s covered, ya two-bit, redneck peckerwood!”

Maybe it was the bacon popcorn I was eating, but I really liked this one. The Wild Bunch is about a group of aging bandits in the dying days of the Old West. After being set up on what was supposed to be their last score, they look for another opportunity to set them up for retirement while trying to outrun a gang run by one of the “bunch’s” former partners and dealing with infighting amongst themselves. The action is gorily delicious and William Holden flat out kicks ass. Even Ernest Borgnine, who is maybe the most consistently terrible actors I’ve seen, gives a convincing performance for the first time in history. My only criticisms are that it did seem a bit too long (I was, however, watching the extended edition), and there are way too many random fits of laughter from our protagonists.

Release: August 7, 1969
Watched: June 9, 2008
Length: 145 Minutes
Recommended: Yes
Rating: **** / ****

Next: #78 – Modern Times

Comedy
“That’s the way it crumbles . . . cookie-wise.”

Most of the movies on this list are so famous that even if I haven’t seen them before, I at least have some idea what they are about, but I really enjoy the rare movie where I have no idea what to expect going in. In an age of downloadable movie trailers and TV commercials how often does that really happen? The Apartment is one such movie and unlike Easy Rider (another movie I hadn’t an inkling of beforehand), I really enjoyed it. Jack Lemmon stars as Baxter, who is an accountant who lends out his apartment to executives in his company for their, um, extracurricular activities. The conflict arises when the CEO (Fred McMurray) finds out about Baxter’s arrangement right as he’s about to promote him. The CEO wants to use the apartment, but he wants to use it with the girl that Baxter has fallen for (Shirley McLaine). Not only is the plot engaging, but it’s also very funny. This, unexpectedly, has become one of my favorite new discoveries I’ve made from this list.

Release: June 15, 1960
Watched: May 26, 2008
Length: 125 Minutes
Recommended: Yes
Rating: *** 1/2 / ****

Next: #79 – The Wild Bunch

Drama
“I am Spartacus!”

I watched this for the first time last year when I had the Black Death. I enjoyed it a lot more the first time than this time, but then again I had the Black Death and had many, many drugs in me at the time. Like Ben Hur and Gladiator, this film is about an enslaved man who becomes a gladiator and tries to overthrow the powers that be in Rome. Unlike the other two movies, I really felt that this film could have easily be cut in half and no one would miss the axed footage. I really enjoyed some parts, but other parts are agonizingly slow, repetitious and just flat-out boring. Something that I’ve found to be pretty much universal with all the movies on this list is that they are all well made and well acted . . .until Spartacus. Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier are great, but John Dall could poke out an eye the way he’s flailing around his acting. This is a movie that everyone should see once for its many iconic moments, but I wouldn’t want to watch it yet again due to it’s unnecessary length (and in a Kubrick movie! Who would have thought?)

Release: October 7, 1960
Watched: May 24, 2008
Length: 184 Minutes
Recommended: Yes
Rating: ** 1/2 / ****

Next: #80 – The Apartment

Drama
“Don’t be afraid of me!”

This is the first silent film on the list and is the story of a man who falls for a wicked city woman and is convinced to try and drown his wife so he can move to the city with his new love interest. He reacts violently to the idea at first but is then convinced as quickly as Anakin Skywalker was talked into murdering children. This is the second silent film I’ve seen (the other, Nosferatu, also directed by F.W. Murnau) and I find their effect to be more like reading a book than watching a movie even when there are no title cards. During periods of silence you are at least partially filling in your own details of what’s going on. As for Sunrise, I enjoyed the unexpectedly dark subject matter (for the `20’s), but about an hour in it turns into an attempted comedy that I just found that portion to be a letdown after the great buildup at the beginning. However, the movie returns to form for a great ending and that, along with the stellar opening hour of this film, makes it worthwhile.

Release: September 23, 1927
Watched: May 19, 2008
Length: 95 Minutes
Recommended: Yes
Rating: *** /****

Next: #81 – Spartacus

Drama
“I’m the king of the world!”

It’s a scientific fact that anything that is beloved by 14-year-old girls en masse has a 97% chance of being an affront to the Lord God Himself. This, the unfortunate all-time box office champion (ignoring inflation), of course launched David Warner into super stardom and iconicized Bill Paxton as a sex symbol amongst the young ladies of the day. I should mention that any opinions shared here are slightly skewed by the fact that I actually had a 14-year-old sister when this movie was released.

Titanic is the story of a young harlot trapped in a loveless 24 hour relationship who disrobes on a couch before putting out in some stranger’s car for an androgynous boy-elf 2 days after she meets him. She then steals a diamond from the fiancée she cheated on, keeps it a secret for 80+ years, and instead of insuring a lifetime of financial security for an undoubtedly endless number of bastard offspring, she drops the priceless gem into the ocean. She’s also very easily tricked into believing that she’s flying and sleeps surrounded by pictures of herself. There. I just saved you three hours worth of crappy plot.

While I have a unique hatred of this movie (I clearly enjoy reviewing the movie more than watching it), there are a few redeeming qualities. James Cameron’s inadequacies in scripting a romance are offset by his fine directing and expert handling of the massive technical issues that were involved in making a film with this kind of complexity. The action in the final nine hours of the film is pretty spectacular as long as you’re not prone to epilepsy or irritated by people repeating the name “Rose” dozens of times. Also, the propeller guy shot is pretty cool. This movie harmed me as a child (I’m not even going to start what could very easily turn out to be a 1,000 word tirade on Celine Dion) and as such, I saw this horribly overrated film as my greatest challenge yet on the list. This movie is soooo ripe for a Rifftrax, the only problem is that when that eventually happens, I’m not so sure I’ll be up for watching this again.

Release: December 19, 1997
Watched: May 16, 2008
Length: A billion minutes
Recommended: No
Rating: * 1/2 / ****

Next: #82 – Sunrise