Bogus Gold http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/ Conservative politics and eclectic miscelleny from the Minnesota 'burb lands. en-us 2008-08-24T20:08+00:00 Review: Modern Love - The Modern Cafe http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1219608855.shtml Whenever I want to shake myself clear of my suburban existence, I head south from my Fridley home and drive down University or Central Avenue. In a few quick blocks I'm... Doug Williams 2008-08-24T20:08+00:00 Modern Cafe.

The Modern Cafe isn't exactly a hole in the wall, though it seems to draw its inspiration from such places. The decor recalls any American diner you might remember, in the cozy rather than seedy sense. When you walk in a sign beckons you to sit where you like and like where you sit. Plenty of intimate booths decorate the back wall, as well as a host of tables and seating at the bar/counter in front. Chalk boards advertising the wines offered by the glass line one of the walls, while a big fake blue marlin catches the eye on the wall behind the bar. It's a little quirky, and very comfortable as a casual dining setting.

We arrived early for a Saturday dinner, and had the place almost to ourselves at first, though it was packed by the time we finished. Our service, incidentally, was sharp and attentive in both cases.

Watching the diners arrive was a bit of entertainment of its own. They were as eclectic but also as "everyday" as the Nordeast itself; with diners ranging from parents with their (older) kids, to well coiffed couples dressed for a night on the town, to older "bridge club" looking collections of friends, to what looked to be a birthday celebration for someone's grandma. In short, people were drawn here for something other than "the scene." What was it that drew them?

The answer was quickly and affirmatively answered as soon as our first course arrived.

The menu is small, but regularly updated as the restaurant subscribes to the "fresh, local, and seasonal" philosophy. However the descriptions of the dishes are rather sparse, leaving you not entirely sure what to expect upon ordering (though our waiter was easily capable of answering any inquiries we made).

I started with a curious offering among the appetizer selections called "tomato bread." What arrived was a generous portion easily large enough to have been called an entree. Two toasted slabs of crusty bread were topped with thin slices of locally produced cheese (something like a mild swiss), and a generous portion of deliciously spiced pulled pork along with some spicy greens and a number of sliced heirloom cherry tomatoes. The flavors were all so fresh and vibrant I was instantly smitten. The bread had a nice crunch to the crust, and served as a terrific platform to let the other ingredients sing. The pork was salty and smoky and spiced with a nice peppery warmth. The greens were fresh and crisp, and the tomatoes surprisingly flavorful (and I am very particular about tomatoes). It was probably the best open faced sandwich I've ever had, and this was just the warm-up course.

My companion was similarly effusive in the praise she offered for the bean soup she started with, going so far as to insist I had to try a bite but greedily slurping it all up before I had the chance. Once again she offered much praise for the freshness of the seasoning, making comfort food into something new and exciting.

For our main courses I ordered the off-menu special of the night - a venison ragout served with gnocchi. My companion decided to go with the very basically described breast of chicken. As much as the starters impressed us, this was the main event that explained to me better than any review ever could why people flock to The Modern.

The venison ragout was a sensation. It had an almost Moroccan sensibility when it came to the seasoning - cumin, coriander, fennel, allspice, and so much more - but all the spices were so fresh and vibrant it somehow screamed "local" all the same. The gnocchi wasn't the usual soft buttery fare one might expect, but rather it was baked into a texture resembling a delicious cross between a pillowy biscuit and a dumpling. This was a spicy, hearty, comforting dish that left me wanting more. It was vibrant summer heading into the crispness of autumn on a plate. Had it not been so filling I might have ordered a second course of the stuff. It was that good.

The chicken breast enjoyed by my dining companion was sensational in its own way (this one I actually got a chance to try before it was devoured). It's in courses like this where a restaurant dedicated to serving the best quality locally sourced seasonal ingredients has a chance to shine. And shine they did. Everything about this basic course was a win. The chicken itself was cooked perfectly; the skin crispy and delicious, the meat tender and juicy. But the flavor told you this bird wasn't plucked from the shelf of your local supermarket. It had that intensely delicious flavor we only faintly remember from the days when chickens came from family farms rather than mass production. It was accompanied by similarly fresh tasting fingerling potatoes and white and green beans in a simple but perfectly executed buttery broth.

For desert we were already so full we were forced to share for fear of exploding. But the coffee panna cotta in chocolate sauce begged to be eaten and we had to oblige. Once again a simple dish perfectly executed. A fitting ending to a glorious meal.

A quick word about the wine - though not advertising itself as a wine bar, the Modern might as well be. This is a very wine-friendly restaurant. The wines by the glass had a definite direction toward different than the norm, yet excellent and food friendly. I started with a delicious citrusy Vino Verde and then enjoyed a spicy Garnacha. The prices for wine by the glass are fairly standard, running about seven dollars per glass on average. But the bottle prices here were incredibly good. This is not the typical "100% above retail price" restaurant markup. And what's more, they sell bottles of wine for half price (!!!) every Tuesday (yes, my calendar is now blocked out every Tuesday for the foreseeable future).

To sum up this review, I've been looking for a favorite restaurant in Nordeast ever since Bobino regrettably closed its doors. I can now say with confidence that I have found it. The Modern Cafe is the kind of restaurant you can visit repeatedly. It's familiar enough to offer comfort, but seasonal and innovative enough not to be boring. It's the kind of place you can take your "scared of haute cuisine" friends, as well as your Iron Chef junkies and all will have a great experience. When compared to the heights of fine dining, The Modern may not be the very best restaurant in town. But it might be the best neighborhood restaurant you'll ever find. ]]> First Ringer... You Are On Notice http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1219385497.shtml Lord how I miss the always insightful blog "The First Ring," run by the still occasionally posting First Ringer (his posting turf is TvM now, though posting far less... Doug Williams 2008-08-22T06:08+00:00 The First Ring," run by the still occasionally posting First Ringer (his posting turf is TvM now, though posting far less often... it should already be in your bookmarks unless you're not cool). Why do I miss it most?

Oh I could say I missed the deep insight and original analysis that always characterized the blog. I could say that, because it's true, but I'd only be telling a partial truth.

What I really miss is the steady stream of obscure puns that comprised many of First Ringer's post titles. Just browsing the last several posts before he shut down the blog I see gems like: "Going, Goering, Gone", "Dubai DuSell", "Good Night and Mixed Luck", "Fission Trip", and "The Dowd-ing Street Memo." God, I miss those. They really stood out amidst the average political blog post titles, comprised of lots of capital letters, excited punctuation, and talking point bullets (no offense to Brodkorb... You keep doing your thing, man!).

Anyway, perhaps I now have my bloggy methadone to cure my First Ringer habit. As today Mitch offered up this beauty of a post title / obscure pun...

Watching The Defectives

God, that's beautiful. Can I possibly have found a new First Ring for my blog title-pun fix? Or is Mitch just suckering me in so he can throw yet another "It was twenty years ago today" post my way? Stay tuned!]]> Lefties Charge McCain With Wanting to Reinstate Draft; Remain Mum About What's Taking So Long For Their Previously Promised Bush Mandated Draft http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1219294251.shtml *YAWN* Isn't this meme getting a bit tired?... Doug Williams 2008-08-21T04:08+00:00 this meme getting a bit tired?

I mean, if you're young enough not to have heard the exact same charge made (and subsequently proven wrong by, you know, actual events for what those are worth) from the last election cycle, how likely are you to vote anyway?

The fact is a goodly proportion of America's political left needs to perpetuate these themes of impending persecution because otherwise their raving about the loss of their freedoms rings increasingly hollow by the fact of their own continued uninhibited freedom. Republicans are supposed to be setting up concentration camps for them and such. And yet... even when Republicans win, those camps never seem to appear. Well then maybe they're about to draft them all and send them to die in foreign wars! That's the ticket! And if you haven't drafted them yet, it's obviously because you're waiting for the NEXT Republican to do the dirty deed.

The question is how long normal people keep listening to the people who keep predicting the same thing no matter how long it doesn't come true. I have a feeling this one will be a wee bit less effective this election, and after that it will start to drive votes in the opposite direction. How many people want to vote for the "End of the World" Party, after their second predicted end date fails? And how many more don't want to be associated with those kind of loons?]]> Prez Election 2008: Reading the Tea Leaves - McCain Looking Stronger Than Expected http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1219113124.shtml Some of you might recall I posted back before the Iowa Caucuses that John McCain was going to be the next president. I wasn't calling him my personal choice among... Doug Williams 2008-08-19T02:08+00:00 John McCain was going to be the next president. I wasn't calling him my personal choice among the Republican field. I was just assessing the race, and it looked to me at the time that he had positioned himself perfectly compared to the other candidates to pull it out, even though he wasn't leading in the polling anywhere at the time.

After the nomination was sewn up, I admit I started to buckle. The media swoon for the Obamessiah had yet to reach full force, and was already pervasive. Obama's money edge was (and remains) daunting. All the leading indicators were pointing to a Democratic landslide.

But lately that feeling I got before the Iowa caucuses is sneaking back. Reading the media reaction to the Saddleback quasi-debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, I notice elements that were becoming increasingly apparent last fall amongst Republicans. Other candidates could edge him in funding, looks, polling, high-powered staffs... but something about McCain's gritty realism in the end sliced like a knife through all the rest. McCain's "base", if you could even say he has one in the Republican Party, was tiny compared to the others, yet somehow that became a kind of strength. Suddenly he was the guy all the unconvinced could settle upon as "not like those other bastards."

Enter Barack Obama. He with the gigantic base with sometimes overtly religious fervor. He of the huge money advantage. And yes, with the celebrity (sorry Dems, you may not like the ads but the label is undeniable).

McCain isn't going to peel away Obama voters. He doesn't need to. He needs to compete for the same kind of undecideds who chose him over candidates like Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani in the Republican Primaries. In a race where McCain's long record of disrespecting party orthodoxies should have doomed him from the start, somehow he won. And I don't think you can chalk that up to any particular policy shift. McCain won on one factor alone: character.

Oh, there are still those in the Republican party who will question McCain's character based on his support for campaign finance reform, or his support for a lenient immigration policy, or even his divorce. Those cards were all played in the Republican primary and came up wanting. McCain has character of a kind that can't be simply argued away. Voters - especially undecided voters - seem to sense it even when they can't entirely articulate it. But, as at the Saddleback event, it's not a show. He has a very full and rich life story to back it up. And the more you get him away from the teleprompter the more people pick up on it.

There is also humility to John McCain for all the reported ill-temper. I wouldn't think anyone could go through his experiences as a POW in Vietnam without having to confront their own weaknesses and frailties. It's the kind of experience that could either break or ennoble a man. And McCain, no matter what you think of his ideas regarding the policy matter du jour convinces one that his life experiences brought him great strength of character as well as real humility about himself.

For all the rock star treatment Barack Obama receives it would be easy to snark that he only pretends to have the kind of character of someone like McCain. But I don't sense a lot of pretense in Obama regarding his character. I sense naivete. He has never had to confront anything like the adversity McCain faced as a POW ... not that most of us have, but most of us aren't running against John McCain for the presidency. But for the record Obama has never had to confront the adversity McCain faced trying to push his staggeringly unpopular comprehensive immigration reform bill through Congress last fall either, if we require a more direct and contemporary comparison between the two. The McCain campaign's resurrection in the wake of that is, to me, far more impressive than anything Obama has accomplished in his campaigning by a wide margin.

Barack Obama has an interesting life story, based on his unique cultural background and upbringing. But the most powerful narrative of his campaign is, and always has been, "Is America ready to elect a black president?" Check the number of stories regarding that question in the U. S. and the rest of the world media over the past year if you doubt that.

However, as competing narratives go, by the time election day is upon us both campaigns will have forced the voters to look seriously at both of these candidates not as lofty ideas or enchanting meta narratives but as men. In that kind of battle John McCain is, once again, positioned to win. ]]> Word to the Dems Regarding McCain: Better Go With Evil http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1219030977.shtml It's well known (at least among right leaning political wonks) that America's mainstream political left has two basic playbooks they deploy in trying to defeat a Republican presidential nominee - "He's... Doug Williams 2008-08-18T03:08+00:00
Nixon was evil. He was driven from office.

Ford was stupid. He lost to Jimmy Carter.

Reagan was stupid... no, wait evil! No... stupid! No... In short, Reagan won a couple of landslides.

Bush the Elder was supposed to be a wimp (?!!), neither stupid, nor evil in '88. He trounced Dukakis in that one. By '92 Clinton (with an assist from Ross Perot) pegged him as Monty Burns style evil and he lost.

Bob Dole was stupid, albeit in that lovable old codger way, so it didn't sound too harsh when they said so. But he lost all the same.

Bush the Younger was (and remains) stupid... no, wait... evil! No... umm... stupid!... This may be Bush's most Reagan-like quality, and allowed him to win twice despite the odds.

Anyway, this is all comes down to the current election in which someone from the Obama campaign attempted to float a trial balloon past the media suggesting McCain only looked so much better than Obama at their mostly under-the-radar appearance at Pastor Rick Warren's Civil Forum because he cheated. Somehow he had heard Obama's answers to the questions, even though the forum setup wasn't supposed to allow it.

Word the the Obamessiah crowd. You're better off playing the "evil" card here. The deeper you get into the substance of the issues the less intelligent "hope we can believe in" is going to sound next to anything McCain has to say. If anyone is going to come across as the "stupid" one here, it's not going to be the grey-haired candidate.

I mean, really, this one should be obvious, but I suspect Kool-Aid is the favorite drink at Obama-central, so it probably needs to be mentioned. Obama is a political naif. He has very little life experience outside of being Barack Obama. I'll grant he's very good at that, having written extensively on the topic, writing two whole books about himself before accomplishing anything more significant than being elected. But as for character-challenging experiences like going from hot-shot fighter pilot to spending years being tortured as a POW... like John McCain has... Obama can only fire blanks. When it comes to the wonky details of actual legislation passed - or even failed - Obama has an undistingished, and very brief, career while his opponent is as deep and experienced as could be imagined. Really, on almost every issue, Obama brings little more than a comfortable pose. Not depth.

For goshsakes, lefties, if you wanted depth why did you blow all your senior statesmen running for the nomination (i.e. Biden, Richardson, and Dodd) out of the running by the time Iowa tallied their caucus votes? That's not just a rhetorical question, it's a genuine puzzle to me. Anyway...

Simple lesson for the Dems... If you're going to nominate a cheerful empty suit, you play the "evil" card. The "stupid" one is all too likely to snap back like an ill-timed rubber band shot on someone who's favorite phrase seems to be "umm... ahhh..." when caught off script. McCain being at his best off-script rather than on is why your candidate (smartly) declined the town-hall, rather than formal debate, format for their televised interactions, remember? You don't avoid "stupid" people going off-script. You welcome the opportunity. You only run from showing your guy against his opponent in off-script moments because you realize your guy can't keep up in those settings.

Anyway, we've seen plenty of "evil" trial balloons already, so it's not like no one on the other side is trying. I'd just be stunned if they don't get this message organized by the time their convention concludes. ]]> Fragile Tav http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1219026176.shtml Will Minnesota Viking backup QB Gus Frerotte get a chance to pull a come-from-backup dream season a la Randall Cunningham in '98?... Doug Williams 2008-08-18T02:08+00:00 Will Minnesota Viking backup QB Gus Frerotte get a chance to pull a come-from-backup dream season a la Randall Cunningham in '98? Well the dream season will be up to the team to bring about. But the chance for him to play a role in it seems pretty good, considering, Vikings starting QB Tarvaris Jackson is injured again. This time from bumping his knee in the pre-season game against the Ravens.

By all accounts Jackson looked good in his last pre-season outing. But a starting quarterback doesn't remain a starter by spending as many games out with an injury as Mr. Jackson seems to be making a habit of. And this is when he's young and at, presumably, his physical peak. Imagine how quickly he'll be crumbling when the big three-oh draws closer.

It's rather striking considering all the hoo-ha over Brett Favre the past month, when you consider he started every game for 16 years, and Fragile-Tav can't string more than a few games together in any season without becoming incapacitated somehow. Incidentally I hear Daunte Culpepper is still available. Think he and Chilly are in the mood to kiss and makeup either before or after Jackson goes into full traction this season? ]]> MOB-Smacked by a Return http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1218696070.shtml I think the record will show I've taken my forceful expulsion from the Minnesota Organization of Blogs rather gracefully, once I got a few shots at the the prime demon responsible... Doug Williams 2008-08-14T06:08+00:00
It would hurt less if I didn't suspect the other blogger's resemblance to a hobbit didn't bias the vote in his favor. I mean, how can I be expected to compete with "hobbit" as a niche? I'm 6'3" and my feet are distinctly hairless, for Chrissake!!

Anyhoo... Welcome back, David Baggins... er, Strom. And the same to the Missus (aka Margaret), who looks less like a hobbit herself but seems to have thing for them. Creepy. Umm... but creepy in a nice way. I'm sure. ]]> Truest Statement on the Russo-Georgian Crisis to Date http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1218607596.shtml Rich Lowery at NRO... Doug Williams 2008-08-13T06:08+00:00 NRO...

President Bush’s assurance back in 2001 that he looked into Vladimir Putin’s soul and liked what he saw was the international equivalent of his “heckuva job” boosterism of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

True, dat. ]]> David Brooks Goes Wobbly Over China http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1218602456.shtml I've been more than a little discomforted, if not exactly shocked, by the glowing propaganda NBC is pumping toward the autocratic People's Republic of China in exchange for their exclusive Olympic... Doug Williams 2008-08-13T04:08+00:00
Enter New York Times pet conservative columnist David Brooks who, as far as I know, is not in the employ of NBC and, as far as I know, doesn't count on exclusive access to China in order to produce his columns. So what to make of this...

The opening ceremony in Beijing was a statement in [the collectivist versus individualist] conversation. It was part of China’s assertion that development doesn’t come only through Western, liberal means, but also through Eastern and collective ones.

The ceremony drew from China’s long history, but surely the most striking features were the images of thousands of Chinese moving as one — drumming as one, dancing as one, sprinting on precise formations without ever stumbling or colliding. We’ve seen displays of mass conformity before, but this was collectivism of the present — a high-tech vision of the harmonious society performed in the context of China’s miraculous growth.

If Asia’s success reopens the debate between individualism and collectivism (which seemed closed after the cold war), then it’s unlikely that the forces of individualism will sweep the field or even gain an edge.

For one thing, there are relatively few individualistic societies on earth. For another, the essence of a lot of the latest scientific research is that the Western idea of individual choice is an illusion and the Chinese are right to put first emphasis on social contexts.

...

The rise of China isn’t only an economic event. It’s a cultural one. The ideal of a harmonious collective may turn out to be as attractive as the ideal of the American Dream.

His vague fanboy allusions to modern science aside - and what political scientist of the Soviet era couldn't cite plenty of the same sort of science in defense of their ideology - what the heck is Brooks up to here? Is he seriously of the belief that the Chinese people themselves wouldn't prefer to be free if given the choice? You'll note that the lack of that choice by the people is always present in societies such as the PRC.

Look, Chinese history is deep and dazzling and the opening ceremony of the Olympics played that up enormously. But the fact is the current "collectivist" government in China once systematically tried to abolish that entire history under Mao. Thankfully it was not quite as successful as the Khmer Rouge was in Cambodia in accomplishing that task. Regrettably, it was pretty darn savage and destructive of history and human lives in its own right.

We in the West already fought this "collectivist versus individualist" battle during the Cold War. News flash to David Brooks: We won. China is currently trying to maintain the legacy of Marxist collectivism while gaining the advantages of Free Market growth. I don't care how dazzling the opening ceremony of the Olympics was... that's a tea kettle heading for a boil. It's not an alternative path to the American Way. It's an attempt to throw up a road block.

The Great Nation of the future in Asia is less likely to be China than India. India is casting its lot with democracy and free markets; haltingly, and with imperfections of course - but the trend is clear. China's demographics are now on the same unsustainable inverse pyramid as the welfare states of Europe. India's are healthy and growing. Doesn't sound like the "collective" of China thought that one through very carefully if it intends to succeed the free West in the coming decades.

In any case, it's beyond question that the significant problems of China deserve at least a wee bit of mention by Mr. Brooks before he goes on to portray them as a successful example of an alternative path to national success without all that messy personal freedom getting in the way. ]]> Tire Gauges, Obama, and The Strib Letters; Oh My http://bogusgold.powerblogs.com/posts/1218346464.shtml I'm going to piggy-back off the post of Mitch's new co-blogger Jroosh and pile on this almost too-target-rich to be true "Letter of the Day" from the Strib.... Doug Williams 2008-08-10T05:08+00:00 the post of Mitch's new co-blogger Jroosh and pile on this almost too-target-rich to be true "Letter of the Day" from the Strib.

Fair warning: I fisk meaner and weirder than Jroosh. We begin...

So John McCain is making money by mocking Barack Obama's suggestion to save fuel by making sure our tires are properly inflated and getting regular tuneups.

No. McCain isn't making money by this mockery. He's making Barack Obama look ridiculous and driving down his polling numbers. Obama is the one making money by schmoozing with donors shelling out thousands to dine with the chosen one (he's gone so far into fatcat territory to even catch the notice of Nick "hobo-lovin'" Coleman! Don't expect that to last too long, just enjoy the momentary irony.). Because that's change you can believe in... change from the expectations of Obama's checkbook history before he scored this cool gig as the Dem savior anyway.

An Aug. 5 article said McCain's presidential campaign is offering supporters tire gauges labeled "Obama Energy Plan" in exchange for a $25 donation.

Really? Cool. The Strib only provided a picture. I'll provide the link so anyone who wants one can find it. Makes a great stocking stuffer, I'm told.

If that's the "making money" referred to above, consider it more than countered by a single donor to Obama's $28,500 per diner private feast in Minneapolis last week. It's also funnier.

As a drivers education instructor, ...

Oh, THAT improves your credibility a lot... assuming none of us have ever actually experienced some "instruction" from a drivers education instructor sometime in our lives. Sadly, looking at the state of our traffic, we mostly have. And most of us apparently remain shell-shocked by the experience. ( I keed... I keed.)

I used textbooks that teach important strategies on improving gas mileage in any vehicle. These strategies include properly inflating your tires, having regular tuneups and using your cruise control whenever possible.

Yes, and the instruction manual of every lawnmower I have ever purchased tells me I should never operate it without wearing heavy boots, gloves, and eye protection. Also that I should occasionally change the oil. Ha! Well... okay that last one probably has some merit... But do you begin to sense a bit of a disparity between "best practice" and "actual behavior of the general populace"? If not, make a note. We'll come back to this.

This tactic of making fun of tried and true research sounds eerily familiar.

Yes it does. It reminds me of the kind of jokes smart people I work with like to make about those who think a terrific design idea includes something like: "And everyone using our product will successfully change their behavior when we tell them to, despite everything our experience and the evidence tells us regarding their tendencies." That kind of "Deus ex Training-Materials" thinking is the hallmark of VERY junior and sucky solution designers. It's more frequent than you might think. But not so frequent that anyone who has to account for their work over a couple of years in the private sector can't be winnowed out from serious roles of solution design.

I'm sure that's where Mr. Letter-of-the-Day must be going with this. Right?

Remember how President Bush's cronies distorted and discredited research on global warming?

Umm... Well that came out of nowhere. No. I don't remember that. I remember how a bunch of people hostile to the norms of scientific skepticism didn't want a debate on the topic and took their case to the media and politicians rather than adopting the normal methods of scientific discovery. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

But what the heck does this have to do with Obama's ridiculous "tire gauges negate the need to increase oil supply" position?

Look where that has gotten us. It seems rather than come up with effective, researched plans of their own, the conservative Republicans would rather make trivial attacks to win over voters.

Woah. Didn't expect that audacious an idiocy to emanate from someone with the academic credentials of "a drivers education instructor."

John McCain's "effective, researched plan" is actually easily available. Handy tip for you there, oh master-of-drivers-instruction... the Internet. Look it up. It's not in the "automotive manuals" section of your local library. Ask for help.

Look, the basic idiocy of the Obama "tire-gauge-gaffe"... and it was very clearly a gaffe... is that it echoes Jimmy Carter's "put-on-a-sweater and turn down the thermostat" strategy to combat the oil crisis during his administration. Americans already know how they PERSONALLY have to deal with higher energy bills. And it goes way beyond energy specific activity. We don't need a president to tell us about it.

What are YOU as PRESIDENT going to do in the areas only the president can affect? That's the real question posed to those battling for the office. To the extent Barack Obama refutes the need to increase the domestic oil supply, deferring to tire gauges or anything alike, his answer is NOTHING. He intends to do nothing to alleviate the oil supply shortage. That is the message McCain's tire gauges convey. And they're most effective because they're conveying a truth and a significant distinction between the candidates.

John McCain, for all his (many) faults intends to do something within his power as president to increase the domestic production of oil. He's clear about that. Like Obama, he's also favoring the development of many alternatives. But that's not enough.

Today the economy runs on oil. Tomorrow the economy will run on oil. On the day after the inauguration the economy will run on oil. It doesn't matter how distasteful you find that idea. It's a fact. And Barack Obama runs from it at his peril.

We conclude...

Wake up, voters! Don't get duped again by Karl Rove and his surrogates' tactics.

Wake up, voters! Don't get duped again by thew Star Tribune and their "Letter of the Day" surrogates' tactics!

(And honestly, how did Karl Rove yet again insert himself into lefty paranoia here? Lefties seemingly do believe in a real bogeyman. And it's getting more than a bit creepy by now. Is there nothing left which lefties dislike that they don't earnestly believe is due to the machinations of Karl Rove?)]]>