Friday miscellany (open thread)

Posted at 9:01 AM on May 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

Rep. Mark Kennedy is out with a challenge to Amy Klobuchar today. Kennedy is promising not to accept pay for any day he's not able to vote in Washington. The challenge to Klobuchar is for her not to accept pay whenever she's not at the courthouse because of the campaign.

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OK, you have to admit, this is pretty funny. DFL Senate noted this picture adorning the front of the Kennedy for Senate campaign.

Look closer...

What the heck is that? An extra arm (DFL Senate suggests)? It appears to be holding the fish properly. Whose arm is that? What's weird is the skin tone on the, umm... top arm... matches the guy's left arm and face. The ...err... "lower arm" is a darker tone, almost as if it were in the shadows. But if you look at the fish casting a shadow on the shirt, it's obvious the arm couldn't be in the shadows.
One arm is casting a shadow on the shirt, but the other one isn't.

Also, check out the shadow of the fix on the shirt and compare it to the position of the actual fish. The head is lower, indicate the sun high enough on the horizon to cast a downward shadow. The shadow of the tail, however, is even with the tail of the actual fish.

My theory: this is a legitimate picture of a fish that had just eaten a human. Only the poor victim's arm was left.

This is why I don't fish. Too dangerous.

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By the way, if you want to see some terrific pictures, check out Minnesota Democrats Exposed. You have to love the guy. He's on vacation, but still blogging. That's dedication. Nice pix.

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National Journal has a phrase I hadn't heard before: "Republican fatigue." It's uttered in this week's cover story, "How Republicans can get their groove back."

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The stadium conference committee began its work this morning. As far as commentary, Morning Edition had one this morning on "chronic stadium fatigue syndrome." Yesterday, by the way, Wurz talked with former House Speaker Dee Long about the conference committee process.

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Laura McCallum is pulling a piece together for All Things Considered tonight on the various plays politicians are drawing up regarding high gas prices. On the one hand, this is apparently a big political issue to folks. On the other hand, I once again got blown off the road by just about everyone as I drove home at 55 mph last night. Are people really interested in lower gas prices? Slowing down and using less of it is widely considered the best way to accomplish it, and yet clearly nobody is doing that. How that fact does or doesn't lead to a charged-up electorate, I obviously don't know; nothing about the gas price debate makes sense to me.

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The Fix at the Washington Post has the latest update of tight races. Guess which one is in there?

6. Minnesota -- OPEN Rep. Mark Kennedy continues to represent Republicans' best chance at a pick-up this cycle, but his road is not an easy one. Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar (D) cleared the primary field with remarkable ease over the past six months and has performed admirably on the fundraising front -- raising more than $3.7 million by the end of March. Klobuchar campaign pollster Anna Greenberg released a survey this week that showed her candidate with a 50 percent to 42 percent lead over Kennedy. More interesting than the head-to-head number, however, was that 66 percent of the sample said the state was on the wrong track and 58 percent voiced disapproval of the job President Bush is doing. Since the numbers were provided by Klobuchar's pollster, we take them with a grain of salt. But if Greenberg's numbers are anywhere close to where public sentiment actually lies, it will be extremely difficult for Kennedy to win. (Previous ranking: 5)

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People have looked at me funny over the last two years when I mentioned a civil war in this country isn't far-fetched. I view it as a bipartisan affair. A Weekly Standard article recently took apart a Harvard professor who seemed to lay it all at the feet of Republicans, something the Weekly Standard rightly criticized. So think about it: what makes the United State immune to civil war?

The Standard offers an intriguing answer:

Most Americans maintain an attitude towards politics that is best described as benign indifference. Even when the Bush-Gore battle hung in the balance, concerned partisans did not take to the streets in significant numbers. When the Supreme Court put an end to that struggle, there were some delirious Republicans and some despondent Democrats. But most of America shrugged its shoulders and began looking forward to the second season of Survivor.

Comments (7)

Seriously, how many times has he been in Florida and California doing fundraisers?

http://www.dflsenate.com/?p=337
http://www.dflsenate.com/?p=255
http://www.dflsenate.com/?p=254

Posted by rew | May 12, 2006 9:26 AM

ps - Mark Kennedy has three arms. Nice photoshop.

http://www.markkennedy06.com/

Posted by rew | May 12, 2006 9:29 AM

Ok, Congress is only in session three days a week and you only have to be on the floor to cast a vote. And let's not forget the long vacations Congress gets, aka August recess.

This campaign stunt is lame.

Posted by darn | May 12, 2006 9:53 AM

I second darn's comment. What does Kennedy's challenge really mean?

(1) That Kennedy will give up paychecks on days he actually misses votes, or
(2) That Kennedy will only ACCEPT paychecks on days that he DOES vote?

Given that this Congress is on pace to set a record for fewest days convening during a session, the difference to Kennedy's pocketbook between option (1) and option (2) will be considerable. The House will probably only convene another 60 days between now and November, if that.

Posted by David Bailey | May 12, 2006 10:13 AM

bob asks:
// what makes the United State immune to civil war?

Not much. How close were we to a civil war in the 50s? How close were Civil Rights riots to being a Civil War in the 60s? On the one hand, its hard to imagine enough people getting angry enough about the red/blue divide to reach for a gun, on the other, the gap between the rich and not rich continues to widen. If you ask me, the jury's out on this one. Though I see people reevaluating the two party system before an honest-to-goodness civil war breaks out.

Posted by bsimon | May 12, 2006 12:07 PM

What more Kennedy media manipulation? Can't forget when he was editing out info negative about him in news stories to post on his site.

http://www.mngopwatch.com/archives/2005/08/157/

Posted by Demrock6 | May 12, 2006 12:43 PM

I looked at it some more, and he just put in the big fish and accidently left in the extra arm. The one on the bottom is real, and makes shadow on his shirt. Using a direct ratio of arm versus shadow, you can figure out the smaller size and lower placement of the real fish.

or, in math terms:

Shadow arm/shadow fish = (arm/fish)X

Or something like that. My mom was a math teacher.

Posted by rew | May 12, 2006 1:14 PM

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