The Hollywood Liberal

Strategic Vision: New Jersey Looks Safe for Obama
A new Strategic Vision poll in New Jersey finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain 47% to 38% with 15% undecided.

Key factor for Republicans: The poll gave President Bush an overall approval rating of just 15% with 70% disapproving of his job performance.

The Downside of a Democratic Victory in ‘08
Perhaps the most exciting thing to look forward to about an Obama presidency is that it will make the career of the next Jonah Goldberg.

The Corner reports that people who act out of economic self-interest are bad for America.

Who knew?

In a perhaps not unrelated development, we also learn that while over the past eight years the National Review and Rush Limbaugh most surely did strive mightily to point out that the otherwise asskickingly awesome president George W. Bush was spending too much money, in retrospect they should have “screamed and caterwauled and hollered to high heaven” against such fiscal and ideological heresy.

There are two implicit premises in the foregoing: (a) the only reason the GOP is currently up a certain creek with a paddle rammed up its ass is that its leaders have failed to live up to goofball “big government” rhetoric; and (b) that this difficulty was compounded by a deficiency of right wing “caterwauling.”

Neither of these premises will perhaps stand up to objective scrutiny. But then again, everyone at The Corner seems to be doing quite well out of the old orthodoxies, so why toss them aside just because they’re nonsensical? It wasn’t like the last Democratic administration was a bad time for this crowd, after all. Hell, Bill Clinton set lots of these nitwits up for life. Best thing that ever happened to them was 1992.

Think about it. Perhaps the most exciting thing to look forward to about an Obama presidency is that it will launch the career of the next Jonah Goldberg.

Kind of makes you feel all happy inside, don’t it?

Saturday Night Open Thead: Rock Photos

You all missed a great rock and roll photo exhibit at a Denver gallery tonight. Renowned photographer and artist Lynn Goldsmith was in town for three nights exhibiting her incomparable rock and roll photos from her collections of the 70's to her new Looking Glass series, which is something you just have to experience in person.

I was there with my pal Anita, who's in Denver again this weekend, and who also is good friends with Lynn, who spends much of the year in the Aspen Valley.

Below are some photos:

Here's a photo of Cher that Lynn took in 1974.

And one of Bob Dylan (which isn’t too clear because of my camera shot, not Lynn’s photo)

Here's a photo of Anita and Lynn from tonight:

If you'd like to see more, and I highly recommend you do, check out Lynn's website, or her latest book, available at Amazon:

Hope your night was as much fun. This is an open thread.

Cautiously Optimistic
I think it would be quite a big deal if California’s Proposition 8, the one which would ban the newly legal gay marriage, is defeated. Do the right thing Californians.

We’re Number 5!
I live in the 4th most walkable neighborhood in the 5th most walkable city in the country.

Nine Reasons to Investigate War Crimes Now
Why we can’t let the Bush Administration get away with its crimes.

Maliki Goes Obama’s Way While NYT and WP Wait–For What?
As of 9 pm Saturday night, the nation’s major newspapers are weirdly reticent about Prime Minister al-Maliki’s striking (make that extremely striking and indeed extraordinary) statement to Germany’s Der Spiegel that a timetable for US withdrawal from Iraq makes sense:…

Pretty Weak
The McCain campaign has just come out with their response to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki’s endorsement of Obama’s withdrawal plan. I think the clotted, dodging-the-issue nature of the response communicates very clearly the box this has placed the…

Netroots Nation: Middle-Class and Populism

At Netroots Nation, long-time Texas populist Jim Hightower talked with me about how blogging is strengthening progressive populism in the Lone Star State, and the importance of populism to the Obama campaign.

And David Goldstein of HA Seattle discussed how bloggers can frame the economic issues that affect the middle-class.

Brazil police find stolen Picasso
Police in Brazil have recovered an engraving by Pablo Picasso that was stolen from a museum in Sao Paulo…

McCain adviser on Iraq PM’s Obama support: ‘We’re f**ked’
McCain adviser on Iraq PM’s Obama support: ‘We’re f**ked’

75 percent of Americans support gays serving openly in the military.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll released today shows 75 percent of Americans polled “said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military” — a dramatic rise from the 61 percent who supported the notion in 2001. Support has increased across party and ideological lines: […]

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll released today shows 75 percent of Americans polled “said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military” — a dramatic rise from the 61 percent who supported the notion in 2001. Support has increased across party and ideological lines:

Support from Republicans has doubled over the past 15 years, from 32 to 64 percent. More than eight in 10 Democrats and more than three-quarters of independents now support the idea, as did nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives.

Today is the 15th anniversary of the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy. At that time, a majority of all Americans — including 75 percent of conservatives — supported a ban on gays in the military.