The invasion of Normandy, the invention of the evening news, the assassination of a President, a civil rights leader, the conquest of space, the fall in Vietnam, the tragedy of Watergate.

Walter was there. The best representative of my state, patron of my University and the most trusted man in America – you’ll be remembered.

http://www.examiner.com/x-12634-Texas-Statehouse-Examiner~y2009m6d10-5-people-who-ruined-the-Texas-legislature

It's not a cowboy hat, but it looks good, nonetheless.

Barry announced his pick of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court today. I’m willing to bet she makes it through – her experience will play well to Americans’ on-again-off-again love affair with meritocracy.

Good luck, señora.

Love them or hate them?

The TIME 100 came out today. This year “influential” people, next year “influenza” people. Except we’ll all be dead. From the Mexican Plague de los Puercos. ¡Ay!

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni in Strasbourg. Them’s some classy babes.

T-Pain, however, is crazy fly.

“Ray Lewis is a superstar linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. He was on the cover of Madden 2005. He’s also been indicted on murder charges. He will end you. Do you think Ray Lewis is going to come over to your apartment and sit on your couch and play Madden with you and offer you a high five and drink your Capri Sun in a spirit of friendly sportsmanship? No. You fear Ray Lewis, and that is why he’s an effective endorser.”

[Gawker]

Someone please call Jung to analyze today’s Quote of the Day, care of Nawaz Shareef:

“I have no vendetta,” he explained, seated in his opulent mansion near Lahore, guarded by two stuffed lions. “Though he handcuffed me, humiliated my family, tried to destroy my party, put me in a dungeon in a 500-year-old fort, put me in exile for seven years; that is all gone. I hold nothing against him personally.”

RAWR.

Besides both spending several years in a north Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp (which, I still contend is better than modern eco-tourism. Stupid yuppies), we both got owned this week.

You see, I wrote this little piece about how John McCain is running a foolishly misguided campaign for my column in tomorrow’s Daily Texan, but one of my colleagues beat me to the punch in today’s issue. Now, I’ve got nothing against his arguments (they’re, well, just like mine), but I like my article better. Biased? Well…

Here’s mine:

The more I see of it, the more the McCain campaign reminds me of Texas A&M. Locked in a seemingly endless rivalry, McCain and the Aggies both seem more concerned with taking down their enemy than raising themselves up. As the Presidential races drags on, the Republicans, like A&M, seem to be forgetting their own history, traditions and credentials, and instead working on a tiresome and largely ignored litany of complaints about their “elitist” competitor.

Last week, the McCain campaign produced two Web ads mocking all the Obama idol-worship. The first compared Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. The second compared him to Moses in a confusing and laughably foolish attempt at snark. Besides sending stupidly mixed signals (is the Obama craze phony, or is it religious?), it reveals the Republicans’ sure-fire losing strategy: make the campaign about Obama.

It is clear Karl Rove isn’t calling the shots any more, because few people, much less Rove, would be willing to spend McCain’s limited time and money focusing on his opponent and criticizing the once-beloved press corps. Allow me to go out on a limb and imply that getting positive media attention for yourself is a more successful strategy. Perhaps if Senator McCain wanted to take charge of the race, he might talk about the issues, even himself. In a stunning return to logic, reason, and his entire primary-race strategy, he could talk about issues people care about and his stances on them. His military service, his commitment to curbing global warming, his plan for social security and tax cuts. Wouldn’t that be something?

Instead, the brain trust over at JohnMcCain.com seem more interested in talking incessantly about the Democratic Golden Boy in a bizarrely positive light. And then doing it again. And again. The most recent ads seem like a pro-Obama pieces with a title card thrown on the end that reads something like “Sure, you love him and he represents an better America. But is he ready?” Then the gravely voice of a drowsy John McCain chimes in, approving the message. Bad move, John.

The McCainiacs themselves seem to be confused about the meaning of the ads. Are they gentle jibes at Obama, or a superficial ad that tacitly criticizes Obama for his superficial appeal? And for some unknown reason, the press seems to think it is about race, as they have with every trivial detail of the campaign thusfar. Vice presidential sycophant Mitt Romney, as a well as Joe Lieberman have noted that comparisons to Moses are hardly insulting. That would be true if the McCain camp were able to ignore the ad’s tirelessly constructed and tiresome sarcasm. Romney said it can hardly be considered a “negative attack”. What is it then? A positive attack? If the McCain campaign wanted to be positive, perhaps they would talk about their own candidate, and not Obama.

But they aren’t talking about John McCain. On the RNC website, I found Barack Obama’s name used in eight separate instances on the main page alone. John McCain? Once. And on both the John McCain and RNC sites, Obama is front and center. Meanwhile, there is not a single mention of Senator McCain on the BarackObama.com main page.

The whole affair smacks of jealousy. Senator McCain has careened off course like an out-of-control John Kerry, bouncing from topic to topic and bickering with the very reporters he chastises for covering the Obama feeding frenzy. It’s downright shocking to see such a seasoned, respected politician skid so far off the rails when it really counts. If history and logic isn’t enough to tell us a Democrat will win after eight years of an unpopular Republican in a troubled economy, then the crabby, juvenile mockery of the Republicans should be. They should hope McCain gets the message so he can change before November. Then again, hope and change have become partisan issues.

Roush is a government senior.

Sources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id1IKJGVkvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXYsw_ZDXg
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25968358#26009056
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080400431.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.rnc.org/
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
http://www.johnmccain.com/

And his:

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/08/04/Opinion/The-Second.Coming.Of.Obama-3396633.shtml