coffee grounds

Defining gaffes downward

It was, of course , the addition of Joe Biden that dealt an initial body-blow to Obamaland's disciplined corporate culture. Biden committed his first gaffe even before the end of his coming-out speech, referring to his new boss as "Barack America." In his early days on the trail, he publicly suggested Clinton would have made a better running-mate and mistakenly name-checked a future "Biden administration."

From Noam Schieber's New Republic piece on Obama's personnel management

This is ridiculous. Saying "Barack America" and referring to a future Biden administration are true examples of mis-speaking. String enough words together in the day, and chances are that parsed literally some of them will not make total sense. That chance rises when you're working long hours on an election campaign, dealing with people you don't know in many different places and talking about lots of different topics.

Perhaps, perhaps, you can say that Biden's statement Clinton would make a better running mate is a true gaffe, but even then it's so dependent on context. There are times when the right political answer is to be humble and promote someone else.

Unattended bags

Denver airport, 7 November 2008.

What is it they say about making sure you have possession of your bags at all times at airports?

Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?

Seriously, no message from Osama on the eve of the election? Is he waiting for election day? Is he dead?