Popular Photography online has a fascinating article, The Candidates: How will they look in four years? They took photos of Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain and applied various aging (e.g., wrinkling, filling out, greying, sagging) to them to show how they might look in the future.
I've seen editors "unage" people before, and I've seen police sketches where they tried to show what a missing child or criminal might look like many years later. In any case, this is utterly fascinating. Go to the article and roll over the photos to see the effects of age. Of course, we do know that some of the tabloid photo editors do their best to emphasize the bad over the good, but in this case, of course, older is not worse. It's just older. Obviously in a race where one candidate is 20+ years older than the other, there will be some visible wear and tear!
This is really incredible work. You probably don't want to see your own pumpkin given the same treatment, do you?
In response to a reporter's question about running mates today at a press conference in Altoona. Pennsylvania, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain wondered aloud about bringing Ike out of retirement. "I wonder if, uh, uh, Ike, President Eisenhower, would consider joining the ticket?," the senator said in response to a question from Pablo Fanque. "Who better to take over if something--God forbid--were to happen to me than someone who has actually done the job. And done it admirably, I might add. We should talk to Ike's people...if we've ever needed the General, it's now. It may be tough to get Mamie on board 'though..."
As reporters chuckled, Senator McCain said "Who is better suited for the job? Any of you guys notice it's getting dark in here?" Two aides urged McCain offstage while a spokesman told the press corps that "The Senator is already behind schedule, and we'll catch up with the press after the rally in Bayonne, New Jersey."
According to our national affairs editor, Pablo Fanque, who attended the press "briefing" in Altoona,stunned reporters were quiet at first and then exploded in a frenzy of typing and cell-phone dialing.
"In New Jersey," Fanque wrote this morning, "after the press plane landed, yet another aide explained to the press corps that the Senator was "adjusting his schedule to spend some 'quiet time' before continuing his campaign swing."
Click to enlarge. Isn't it nice they didn't use the Mercator projection?
This is from the facebook application, "where I've been." This is by country and state. The city map, I am struggling with...anyhow, where I've been is dark, and where I haven't been (but mostly hope to go) is grey...
Despite what the Republicans may tell you about Smilin' Joe, this is a great pick by Obama, and it has to have them running scared. I can't tell you how happy I am that he is running, albeit just a little sad that he isn't at the top of the ticket. Joe is extremely bright, funny, articulate (yeah, and a little long-winded), has been great on the Judiciary Committee as well as the Foreign Relations committee, and is skilled politically, while still being able to get things accomplished. Joe Biden is a brawler in the best sense of the word. He knows how to play hardball. He brings depth, experience, knowledge, and humor to the ticket, and it will be a pleasure to see him debate, and act as the designated attack dog. Run Joe Run!
The Republicans will remind you that he plagiarized a couple of lines from Neil Kinnock speeches in the 80's. Yeah, he did. Once. The other times he used the lines in speeches, he attributed Kinnock. He didn't once, and it cost him his run for the Presidency. (You don't believe me?...here is the Wikipedia note on it: Then in September 1987, the campaign ran into serious trouble when he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, then-leader of the BritishLabour Party.[26] Though Biden had correctly credited the original author in all speeches but one, the one where he failed to make mention of the originator was caught on video; the New York Times reported "Senator Biden began his remarks by saying the ideas had come to him spontaneously on the way to the debate."]
Most people don't know it--but they will soon--that Joe is not the Washington insider you might have heard. Well, he is and he isn't. He has commuted to D.C. an hour a half each way since 1973! He was elected at the age of 29 and became the fifth youngest Senator ever. He was elected in November, but before he even took office, his wife and daughter were killed, and his two sons were seriously injured (but later recovered) in a car accident.
He was talked out of resigning office, and ended up taking the oath of office at his sons' bedsides in the hospital. And to stay close to his family in their own home, he began his lifelong habit of commuting. I suspect he will move to the Naval Observatory (the traditional VP residence) once they air the place out and get rid of the Cheney vampire stench.Finally, I think you'll find that Joe Biden only owns one house.
They didn't quite keep the the news of Obama's VP selection bottled up until the very end. The story had to spread beyond the tight inner cir4cle of the campaign, and by late Friday night, the story was being confirmed by various parties and news sources. Therefore, we got the text message at 1:56 AM...
From: Barack Obama [mailto:info@barackobama.com] Sent: Sat 8/23/2008 1:56 AM To: Jack Brummet Subject: The Next Vice President
jack --
I have some important news that I want to make official.
I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate.
Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois -- the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago.
I'm excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can't do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.
Please let Joe know that you're glad he's part of our team. Share your personal welcome note and we'll make sure he gets it:
http://my.barackobama.com/welcomejoe
Thanks for your support,
Barack
P.S. -- Make sure to turn on your TV at 2:00 p.m. Central Time to join us or watch online at http://www.BarackObama.com.
As All This Is That revealed early this week, in an article by our National Affairs Editor Pablo Fanque, Barack Obama has selected his fellow senator, Smilin' Joe Biden as his running mate.
The Associated Press broke the story Friday evening. The selection of Biden will be public unveiled tomorrow morning as Biden joins Obama at a rally in Illinois. Those of us who signed up with the Obama campaign will receive a text message announcing his choice early tomorrow morning. [ed's note: we received the text message from the Obama campaign this morning at 1:56 AM Pacific Time...just after the story was being confirmed by MSNBC and other news services. ]
All This Is That was right. Hats off to Pablo Fanque for his always excellent reporting!
The Associated Press story that ran Friday night said:
"Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues." "Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator."
"Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues. " "In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses. "
"The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning. " ---o0o---
This video is a compilation of scenes from the great (and not so great) political movies, including Primary Colors, Redford's The Candidate, Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Man of the year, Head of State, Dave, The American President, Bulworth and TV shows, like The West Wing...
A suburban Denver campaign office of presidential candidate John McCain was evacuated this afternoon, and several people went to a hospital (presumably as a cautionary measure) after receiving an envelope containing a threatening letter and an unidentified white powder.
Our All This Is That stringer in Denver, rooted out the actual story a little later. According to Mary Houlihan, our mid-west correspondent, there was no threatening letter at all. That was just a cover story after someone called police and Homeland Security when they found the powdery substance. The story was soon picked up by the press.
The reason you haven't seen a correction or retraction of the story--that seems to imply a terrorist angle--is that it was, in fact, the Senator's monthly supply of Polident that had broken open. . .which the campaign does not want to announce or admit, especially after the implied possible terrorist/anthrax angle. The McCain campaign has struggled in recent months to portray the Senator as a vigorous 70 year old, and any Polident talk will not bolster that image, according to a low-level staffer's conversation with All This Is That's stringer.
