Just what we need – another moron

by | Apr 1, 2008 | North America

A few weeks back, John McCain was asked whether taxpayers should fund contraception to combat AIDS. Here’s the response:

Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”

The reporter asks the obvious follow-up: “Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”:

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”

Fortunately, bloggers have now persuaded themselves that McCain, at 5′ 7″ is too short to be elected. Don’t be too sure, though. Maybe he’ll follow the example of the even-shorter Nicholas Sarkozy, who sick of being compared to his taller wife, is said (ahem) to be planning surgery that will stretch him by 5 inches over the next year.

McCain stretched

There should be plenty of time for McCain to add a couple of inches, while Hilary continues her kamikaze destruction of Obama…

Propaganda 2.0

by | Apr 1, 2008 | Conflict and security

The US military wonders whether it makes sense to co-opt bloggers:

Since the start of the Iraq war, there’s been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs — and the servicemembers who want to keep them. One faction sees blogs as security risks, and a collective waste of troops’ time. The other (which includes top officers, like Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. William Caldwell) considers blogs to be a valuable source of information, and a way for ordinary troops to shape opinions, both at home and abroad.

This 2006 report for the Joint Special Operations University, “Blogs and Military Information Strategy,” offers a third approach — co-opting bloggers, or even putting them on the payroll. “Hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering,” write the report’s co-authors, James Kinniburgh and Dororthy Denning.