Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.), while endorsing Senator Obama for President:

I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards -- Purple Heart, Bronze Star -- showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross; it didn't have the Star of David; it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.

The main-stream media tolerance of anti-Arab/Muslim racism has been gnawing at me for a few weeks now.  Regardless of any politics or endorsements, I'm glad that General Powell chose to point out this egregious double-standard. 

YouTube: Donna Brazile, not going to the back of the bus.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Interesting stuff...

Major party convention podiums:
   

   

1st image: Days 1-3, Democratic National Convention. (source: 129 images)
2nd image: Days 1-3, Republican National Convention. (source: 146 images)
3rd image: Day 4, DNC, Obama's acceptance speech. (source: 92 images)
4th image: Day 4, RNC, McCain's acceptance speech. (source: 70 images)

These images are composite-photo studies of the podiums used during the Democratic and Republican national conventions.  They were created by aligning and then averaging found-photos of the objects in question.  Given the acute awareness of image exercised by both major parties, I thought their respective podiums might be interesting points to examine.

Podiums.  Props for propping-up prospective presidents or perhaps puppets...

Uhg... sorry about that last line, I really need to get some sleep.

YouTube

John McCain's former campaign chief Mike Murphy and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan were caught today, on tape, sharing their thoughts on Sarah Palin after an NBC interview.  Doh, open mic!


TRANSCRIPT:

Mike Murphy (former McCain advisor): You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all like how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.

Peggy Noonan (former Reagan speechwriter): It's over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

Chuck Todd (NBC): Don't you think the Palin pick was insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too (inaudible)

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.

Murphy: They're all bummed out.

Todd: I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bull-shit about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: I totally agree.

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Todd: And as you called it, gimmicky.