Bobby Jindal. No surprise. Apparently, votors in Louisiana don't blame the Bush Administration for the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina after all.

Over at Ace's digs, Drew calls this a "nice little pickup for the GOP, heading into '08." Yup: I think the Democrats who are banking on Bush's low poll numbers haven't been looking at the Congressional polling data. They could be in for a bit of a surprise.

Notice I didn't use the word Reconstruction in this blog entry. Oops.

Are Indians really "nonwhite"? I mean, by people other than those who call Arabs, "Hispanics," and Jews "nonwhite"? Just curious. I mean, I was raised on the 1962 edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, which posited three actual races (in the larger sense, not the Yeatsian "the Irish are a race" sense). That always led me to believe that anyone without classical Asian or African features was some variation on the Caucasian theme.

Not that it matters to me: I'm the ultimate mongrol, and Asia is the only continent that I don't think is reflected in my racial makeup (unless one buys the land-bridge theory, and regards Native Americans as Asian: I do have a spot of Osage in me—and, I have always romantically hoped, a bit of Nez-Perce).

The whole race idea is soooo 18th/19th/20th Century.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:28 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 227 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . to play "2008 Arithmetic," but there's a certain fascination in it, nonetheless.

I don't think either the MSM or any of the GOP contenders have played all their cards yet. Nor has Hillary, for that matter.

We still have twelve more months for an October surprise.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:23 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . at the top GOP candidates' websites (those of Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney) convinces me that one of the most important things a politician's site can do is to have an "issues" tab that leads to a clear, coherent set of thoughts on how that candidate will address the leading questions of the day.

Preferably without any scrolling or further clicking before one gets into the substance of the candidates' positions; the basic data should be available to non-wonks who are in a hurry.

So far, only Rudy and Fred really pass that test. (Rudy, however, gets mixed marks: it's nice to have an audio-visual presentation that accompanies his positions text, but it's unfortunate that the video plays automatically. Web pages should always ask permission before turning the sound on. Also, the Rudy "issues speech" presents information in a different order than that of the actual text. This is almost worse than not having it at all.)

On the other hand, Ann Romney has her own website, which is kind of cool. It would be even cooler if her site had equal billing with those of Mitt's sons (that is, in the site's actual navigation bar; one hopes his web team is planning on putting it there soon). And it would be excellent if she passed the "no surprise sound" test. (Sounds on a website should exercise the basic courtesy that vampires extend to their prey: they shouldn't get into one's home uninvited.)

I'm trying to think of a kind of hell that would be worse than being a close family member—or a spouse—of someone who is running for a high public office. It escapes me. I'm sure that the ordeal is made worse by having to pretend that one doesn't hate every minute of it.

Of course, the Ann site doesn't seem to contain any actual, you know—blog entries. So it's still a bit anemic, despite the distinction of being first. Sometimes, being first doesn't matter . . .

Memo to the John McCain people: get the biographical info onto its own page! Stuff like that doesn't belong on the home page; it smacks of John "I Served in Vietnam" Kerry. We know McCain's record, and we respect it. But enough is enough.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 387 words, total size 3 kb.