Obama :Allegro Ma Non Troppo-Vivace - Tempo - Adagio Cantabile -…

drawing by marguerita

And then it’s over.

They shake hands. Mr. McCain says repeatedly to Mr. Obama: “Good job, good job, good job.” He then seems caught in not being able to decide which route to take to the stage from behind the desk, throwing up his hands and making a face.

Their wives now join them on stage, Mrs. McCain in Republican red, Mrs. Obama in Democratic blue.

First Impressions on the Last Debate - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.co

“Senator Obama, your argument for standing up to leaders of your party isn’t very convincing.”

I’m proud of the people who come to our rallies.”
He then noted that big rallies tended to attract “some fringe people.”

“The facts are facts and records are records."

“That, to me, was so hurtful,’’ Mr. McCain said. “

Obama versus McPain,oops McCain

drawing by marguerita

"They're in some pain but in very good spirits''

In tonight’s debate the two candidates will be seated next to each other at a table. The format is intended to promote conversation rather than the regurgitation of stump speeches. It sometimes encourages candidates to be more civil toward one another, but it can also have the opposite effectMr. McCain has already vowed to “whip” Mr. Obama’s “you-know-what” tonight. Of course, he has signaled such a get-tough approach before, only to flag..What to Watch for During the Final Debate - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

Sarah Palin:What Goes On Behind a Scene of The A MOOSEment Park

drawing by marguerita

The standard take has it that she’s either speaking utter ignorant gibberish (as to Couric) or reciting highly polished, campaign-written sound bites that she’s memorized (as at the convention and the debate). But there’s a steady unnerving undertone to Palin’s utterances, a consistent message of hubristic self-confidence and hyper-ambition. She wants to be president, she thinks she can be president, she thinks she will be president. And perhaps soon. She often sounds like someone who sees herself as half-a-heartbeat away from the presidency. Or who is seen that way by her own camp, the hard-right G.O.P. base that never liked McCain anyway and views him as, at best, a White House place holder.
Her criterion: she most admires vice presidents “who have gone on to the presidency.” Hours later, at the debate, she offered a discordant contrast to Biden when asked by Gwen Ifill how they would each govern “if the worst happened” and the president died in office. After Biden spoke of somber continuity, Palin was weirdly flip and chipper, eager to say that as a “maverick” she’d go her own way.Op-Ed Columnist - Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain - NYTimes.com

Note:
On Who You are Callin' a Maverick.....
There’s that word again: maverick. In Thursday’s vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him “the consummate maverick.”But to those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive. In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.
John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”

The Nation - Who You Callin' a Maverick? - NYTimes.com

McCain: Strategy is the Word

drawing by marguerita
“First you try to understand what people will like,” he tells him, “and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” That insight underlies Pelevin’s new novel; and though it may sound cynical, it’s not meant that way. He doesn’t under­stand “truth” and “lie” as a simpler thinker might, and by grounding his ideas in fantasy, putting them in the words of his demonic muse, he has removed the need to make the distinction. In her guileful storytelling, the supervixen enfolds the precepts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Sikhism, along with the theories of Wittgen­stein, William of Occam, Freud, Foucault and, especially, Berkeley. (A Hu-Li’s lover’s idea of pillow talk: “Everything only exists by virtue of perception.”) While writing her own Internet pornography ad for whores.ru, A Hu-Li teasingly draws from the fairy tales of Aksakov, the poetry of Blok, the writings of Nabokov. To spice up a casual encounter, she daydreams of Suetonius — who inspires one of her especially sadistic group sex sessions. Needless to say, she handles the allusions with an admirably deft touch “First you try to understand what people will like,” he tells him, “and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” That insight underlies Pelevin’s new novel; and though it may sound cynical, it’s not meant that way. He doesn’t under­stand “truth” and “lie” as a simpler thinker might, and by grounding his ideas in fantasy, putting them in the words of his demonic muse, he has removed the need to make the distinction. In her guileful storytelling, the supervixen enfolds the precepts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Sikhism, along with the theories of Wittgen­stein, William of Occam, Freud, Foucault and, especially, Berkeley. (A Hu-Li’s lover’s idea of pillow talk: “Everything only exists by virtue of perception.”) While writing her own Internet pornography ad for whores.ru, A Hu-Li teasingly draws from the fairy tales of Aksakov, the poetry of Blok, the writings of Nabokov. To spice up a casual encounter, she daydreams of Suetonius — who inspires one of her especially sadistic group sex sessions. Needless to say, she handles the allusions with an admirably deft touch “First you try to understand what people will like,” he tells him, “and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” That insight underlies Pelevin’s new novel; and though it may sound cynical, it’s not meant that way. He doesn’t under­stand “truth” and “lie” as a simpler thinker might, and by grounding his ideas in fantasy, putting them in the words of his demonic muse, he has removed the need to make the distinction. In her guileful storytelling, the supervixen enfolds the precepts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Sikhism, along with the theories of Wittgen­stein, William of Occam, Freud, Foucault and, especially, Berkeley. (A Hu-Li’s lover’s idea of pillow talk: “Everything only exists by virtue of perception.”) While writing her own Internet pornography ad for whores.ru, A Hu-Li teasingly draws from the fairy tales of Aksakov, the poetry of Blok, the writings of Nabokov. To spice up a casual encounter, she daydreams of Suetonius — who inspires one of her especially sadistic group sex sessions. Needless to say, she handles the allusions with an admirably deft touch.Book Review - 'The Sacred Book of the Werewolf,' by Victor Pelevin - Review - NYTimes.com

Morandi: Food for Thought vis a vis Fancy Pants

Fame and Fortune

Since his youth Giorgio Morandi had always been surrounded by culturally and intellectually positive people.

and now this to digest,from the Great Savior:The Sky is fallin'
“Fellow citizens, we must not let this happen,” the president said in a speech from the White House.