Categorical Aperitif

Well, after a monthlong sojourn in a rehab center/nursing home that my friend jules has already heard me refer to only half-jokingly as Disconsolate Health Care, my uncle is finally back in his own place. I took him home on Friday—a day I largely spent (a) waiting to hear back from his "doctor" and (b) picking him up, filling out paperwork, and getting him reestablished in his apartment, which is why I never got around to DRFBing or anything on Friday. And my dang IE crashed yesterday in the middle of a post, so I just said "scr*w it" 'til Sunday. So here we are.

My thoughts go out to anyone in the path of Gustav. We're feeling his winds this weekend even on the east central coast of Florida—and we're nervously eyeing Hanna, though she looks to be a walk in the park compared to Gustav. This third anniversary of Katrina is turning out to be particularly unpleasant, huh?

The blogosphere (and particularly C&L) is all over McCain's perplexing choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, but so far, my favorite comment is from The General:

I honestly can't see how this pick helps McCain at all. Are they really hoping they'll pick off a substantial number of disgruntled Hillary voters just by adding a woman to the ticket—even a woman whose views are, for the most part, diametrically opposed to Hillary's? Do they think they'll pick up more support from disgruntled Hillary voters than they'll lose from pragmatic voters who are turned off by Palin's meagre experience in government (about which see this post that's been making the rounds)? I mean, by picking Palin to be "a heartbeat away" from the presidency, McCain just surrendered one of the few respectable arguments he has against Obama: lack of experience. Polling Report has up an 8/29/08 USA Today/Gallup poll that shows that a respectable 46% think the choice of Palin was "excellent" or "pretty good" and has 18% saying that the choice will make them "more likely" to vote for McCain; however, the same poll shows 11% saying "less likely" and 67% saying it will have "not much effect" on their choice—and clearly, this poll was taken before most people knew much of anything about Palin's negatives (such as Troopergate and this painful radio performance). The same poll also has 51% of respondents saying they have "never heard of" her. I cannot believe that the McCain/Palin favorability numbers are going to go up as more information about her comes out. The choice really is baffling.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. A little bafflement is a small price to pay for hastening the end of The ChimpCo Years.

I'll be back in a bit with some DRFBing. Happy Labor Day Weekend!

// posted by nash @ 11:19 AM