Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2708

On Substance, Obama Still Leads

An encouraging survey for the president that deals with broad policies, not individual controversies. This leapt out at me. When asked to choose whose economic policies they would pick between Bush's and Obama's, here's the money number:

The number of independents who said neither administration's policies
would help was higher than the overall sample, 27 percent. Forty-three
percent of independents favored Obama's policies, while 20 percent
favored Bush's.

I have a simple suggestion...

When Lightning Strikes Slowly, Ctd

A reader writes:

Craig Shimala posts some of the most interesting videos I've found online. Here he set up his camera during a thunderstorm ... and managed to catch lightning strike the three tallest buildings in our city of Chicago. That the three buildings were struck simultaneously makes this worth sharing. Beautifully edited.

And the music is off Sufjan Stevens' Illinois.

Multimedia - Development Frameworks - Vimeo - Flash - Business

Email Of The Day

A reader writes:

Contra your reader's assertion, there is at least one parent who uses those words (and it was you who sent them to me just yesterday, via your post):

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.... It's an unfortunate thing, because war is hell and I hate war, and, Charlie, today is the day that I send my first...

The Slow Death Of Cap-And-Trade, Ctd

Dave Roberts doesn't think much could have been done differently. Bernstein penned a post-mortem last week:

It's worth noting that on a legislative time scale, cap-and-trade wasreally very, very, new, and most important laws tend to take a longtime, often spanning several Congresses, to pass.  Looking back...in1992, global warming was a two-sentence throwaway at the end of the Democratic Party platform.  If anything, it's even less prominent in 1996. In 2000, the Al Gore platform contained...

Joe The Plumber Lives!

And he's endorsing:

Web Design and Development - Protocols - HTTP - Multimedia - Color

The View From Your Recession

A reader writes:

I worked hard to build a career that led to becoming a vice president of an international design firm.  And I worked hard to build a successful business for the seven years after I left them.  My industry, the architectural design industry, and especially large design firms, have seen cumulative layoffs from anywhere between 40 to 70% during the last three years. 

I'm a single parent with primary custody and I don't receive child support.  Also, I don't get unemployment...

Mental Health Break

Every "Doctor Who" opening sequence ever made, starting in 1963:

For the record, I've probably watched more of this television show than any other (with the possible exception of the Simpsons). I love the creepy effectiveness of the very first sequence, but love the velocity of the Tennant era. As for the actors, I remain devoted to Tom Baker. But Matt Smith is really quite wonderfully dark. I remain an addict. It's such an intelligent sci-fi show - not least because of its love of history...

Why Israel Serves America's Interests, Ctd

Larison seconds Noah Millman. And further rebuts Frum:

What does need to happen is to re-balance the relationship withIsrael so that the political, diplomatic and financial costs of thealliance are matched by what the U.S. receives from it (which isn'tvery much these days). At present, even the smallest moves in thatdirection are considered unspeakable betrayals. That is one reason whyproponents of re-balancing the U.S.-Israel relationship are notinterested in arguing for ending the alliance...

Tab Candy

This program is still in development, but it looks incredible:

An Introduction to Firefox's Tab Candy from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Vimeo - Aza Raskin - Mozilla Firefox - Clients - WWW

The Ignored American

Roger Cohen wonders why the killing of American citizen Furkan Dogan by Israeli paratroopers has received so little attention and follow-up:

I have little doubt that if the American killed on those ships had been Hedy Epstein, a St. Louis-based Holocaust survivor, or Edward Peck, a former U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, we would have heard a lot more. We would have read the kind of tick-tock reconstructions that the deaths of Americans abroad in violent and disputed circumstances tend to...