The Owners’ Always Think They’re Cute!

Karl Rove has penned his expectations for the eventual legacy of George W. Bush.

But rather than quote Rove, I’ll simplify it all for you by substituting this quote from the owner of Elwood (pictured above):

Elwood, a two-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, has been crowned the world's ugliest dog, a distinction that delighted the mutt's owners.

"I think he's the cutest thing that ever lived," said Elwood's owner, Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey.

Nothing more from Rove is necessary!

Craig Watch - Day 2

Senator Craig is STILL NOT GAY........................................YET!

Great Moments in Blog Advertising

One of the funny things about blogging is the fact that the medium allows placement of ads based on automated searches of content – usually specific text or links in the blog posts or comments. I’m not sure exactly how all of this works, but apparently these searches are not very good at judging the context of the links or phrases used to place the ads.

I’ve written a series of posts ripping Mitt Romney, including one where I mocked him for placing campaign ads on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, where the audience most likely thinks him to be a complete phony, flip-flopping, idiot! Shortly thereafter, ads started popping up on Left-Over for the pro-Romney book, A Mormon in the White House: Ten Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney. I’m sure our readers have those books flying off the shelves!

But here’s my favorite so far, captured in a screen grab from The Huffington Post, with headline coverage of the Larry Craig scandal, which has dominated the site for a couple of days. Take a look at the banner ad on top of the screen, and the alternating version which I’ve pasted on the bottom. Apparently, the high frequency of references to “leg moving and foot tapping” have gotten the attention of the Pharmaceutical Industry!


(click to enlarge)

Craig Watch - Day 1

Breaking!!! This just in - Senator Larry Craig is still not Gay.

Yesterday at his now infamous press conference Senator Larry Craig stated unequivocally that "he is not Gay - nor has he ever been gay". What he didn't rule out however, is becoming gay in the future.

So I have decided to count the days until Senator Craig becomes gay. How long do you think it will take?

The Party of Old White Guys

The generational shift away from the Dinosaur Party keeps building:

The anti-GOP shift for this generation - which is expected to reach 50 million voters, or 17 percent of the electorate, in 2008 - represents a marked contrast from their predecessors, the Gen Xers born in the mid-'60s to mid-'70s whose demographic represented the strongest Republican voters in the nation, pollster Anna Greenberg said.

Today, "on every single issue, Democrats are doing better with young people - no matter what the issue is," said Greenberg.

Catherine Brinkman, 28, of Foster City, who heads the California Young Republicans, said she hears from many of her Republican friends who say, " 'Look at our (presidential) candidates compared to the Democrats: They have Hillary, everyone knows her ... and you have this phenomenal (senator) out of Chicago, who is African American and energized.' "

The perception is that "we're still selling the same old white guys," Brinkman said.

I guess the “M.C. Rove” strategy for winning back young voters to the GOP wasn’t quite as brilliant as Karl thought it was!

Punxsutawney Alberto!

During a brief press conference this morning announcing his resignation, Alberto Gonzales emerged from his hole, saw the shadows of reporters wanting to ask him questions, and, like Punxsutawney Phil, immediately returned to his hole. Guess that means we get six more weeks of Summer!

(I realize that I'm mixing my small furry mammal metaphors here, but watching Gonzales literally sprint away from the press after his prepared statement made me want to honor the occasion with one more posting of the "Gonzo-weasel!")

What does “Legitimate Debate” Mean to You, Mr. Bush?

In your recent speech to the VFW, you chose to include this reference to Vietnam (with my emphasis):

Finally, there's Vietnam. This is a complex and painful subject for many Americans. The tragedy of Vietnam is too large to be contained in one speech.

(snip)

Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left.

While you’ve received plenty of criticism over this comparison, including the validity of your assertion of “legitimate debate” about the value of American military presence in Vietnam, I’m willing to accept your premise for the time being, and agree that there is legitimate debate.

My question to you, Mr. Bush, is the following: Knowing what you know now - that there is legitimate debate – and if you were in a position to be the decider, would you immediately send troops to Vietnam, or would you have that legitimate debate first?

I ask this because after recently watching the 1994 video of your own Vice President describing, in great detail, the argument against invading Iraq, it is obvious that there was “legitimate debate” then too!

To refresh your memory, here’s Dick Cheney presenting the other side of a clearly very legitimate debate that could have taken place before you decided to invade Iraq!



In the presence of legitimate debate about the Vietnam War, you are asking us to keep an open mind about the ultimate value of our presence there. However, when it came to the rush to start calling yourself a “War President” by invading Iraq, “legitimate debate” was not only ignored, but labeled unpatriotic, by you and your minions!

So what, exactly, does legitimate debate mean to you, Mr. Bush? Your legacy is going to be that you ignored legitimate debate, and bumbled into the worst foreign policy disaster in the history of our country!

About that, there will be no legitimate debate!

Beauty is Only a Book Jacket Deep!

They say you can’t tell a book by its cover, but can you tell a candidate by his or her book’s cover?

That’s the question I had when I was reminded by The Huffington Post that just about every Democratic and Republican presidential candidate has released at least one, and often several, books in the last couple of years.

It was fresh in my mind after seeing John McCain on The Daily Show hawking his newest, Hard Call, and wondering how a guy, during a nearly decade-long presidential campaign, and having a supposedly full-time job in the U.S. Senate, finds time to write five books!



I got my answer when Jon Stewart held up the book so I could see the name of “co-author,” Mark Salter. Turns out Salter has “co-written” all of McCain’s books. Curious about what else Salter has written during his career, I checked on Amazon, where it appears that he may have made a career as a full-time McCain co-author, since there were no other titles to his credit (unless he’s also the Mark Salter who contributed to The Rough Guide to Poland!)

I then checked the covers of all of the other candidates’ books, and determined that, with the exception of Chris Dodd’s Letters From Nuremburg (co-written with Lary Bloom), and John Edwards’ Four Trials (co-written with John Auchard), none of the others lists a co-author (although John Edwards’ latest two books are anthologies that he either edited, or co-edited.) Overall, I was impressed. That’s quite a lot of literary achievement (at least by page volume, since I haven’t read them all) among the candidate pool.



And then I dug a little deeper into my good friend Mitt Romney’s book, Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games. Despite listing Mitt as the sole author on a cover featuring his manly mug covered by a dusting of snow (or perhaps dandruff), Turnaround was actually co-written by a Timothy Robinson, who according to this article, turns out to be Mitt’s nephew. Feeling a little sorry for Mr. Robinson at the lack of proper credit for his contribution to Romney’s vanity memoir, I looked him up on Amazon, hoping he had a substantial body of work in which his name actually appears on the cover.

Sure enough, in addition to co-writing the book for Romney, Timothy Robinson has penned a large number of children’s books on the Mormon faith, including The Nauvoo Temple Stone, which he described in a 2002 interview as an effort to help children grasp the significance of a reconstructed temple known as the “Mormon Mecca,” and about which he had this great comment which actually foreshadowed his later work on Romney’s book:

Well, I guess it’s kind of odd to have a stone be the central character in a book!

And another, whose title is in line to be recycled when Robinson eventually helps recount the story of Romney’s presidential campaign:



Of course, unlike his book about personal glory where he takes all the credit, when it comes to a book about failure, you can bet Mitt Romney will be quick to try to find a way to let someone else take his lickin’ for him!

The Petraeus Betray-Us Report.

For months, the President has been using General David Petraeus as a shield against criticism for his Iraq debacle. In this excellent column, Dan Froomkin cites the many times when Bush deferred to Petraeus as the one who would provide “an objective assessment” of progress on the ground, as Congress evaluates the surge in September.

Then, we found out that the tensly awaited “Petraeus Report” would be written by White House aides; and that the White House, despite its denials, had been pushing to limit Petraeus’ report to Congress to a “private briefing.”

Now, today, we learned that Petraeus will address Congress to answer questions about the report he won’t be allowed to write, on September 11, 2007 (no small irony there!)

Frankly, I won’t be surprised if, come September 11th, what Congress gets is nothing but a cardboard cutout of General Petraeus, with the flapping lips of a White House flunky, answering questions through a hole where his mouth should be!



Artist's Approximation

Some Suggestions for a “Retooled” Fox News Comedy!

Can’t say I didn’t predict this was going to happen:

In a memo to senior producers this afternoon, FNC's SVP of programming, Bill Shine announced the network "will not continue the Half Hour News Hour beyond its current 15 episode run." Shine did leave the door open, however: "we are considering ways to retool the show for future scheduling needs."

I’ve given some thought to what they might do with their retooled comedy. Here are just a couple of suggestions:

How about:



Or perhaps:

Polarization Politics

This is a really fascinating exchange:

Barack Obama points out the obvious: that he is a less polarizing candidate than Hillary Clinton, and her campaign responds by accusing him of getting talking points from Karl Rove - essentially betraying a willingness to polarize even the Democrats!

My take-away here is this: Even if you think Obama lacks the experience to be President right now, as long as you think he would make a great Vice President and possible future President, don’t vote for Hillary - because she’s willing to push Obama off a cliff in order to get hers now, the future of the Democratic Party be damned!

And it also occurs to me that, when it comes to a general election in our two-party system, where you have to pick one candidate or the other in order to have your vote matter, the only alternative to being “polarizing” is to be so bland as to inspire people not to vote!

The key to success is to be “polarizing” from a place that encourages more voters to choose you than your opponent! That’s why I find it so interesting that Obama finished third to Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani in a poll among Iowa Republicans, while Hillary is willing to alienate other Democrats by comparing them to Karl Rove!

Rove in the Rear View Mirror

With all of the speculation on Karl Rove’s abrupt resignation, there seem to be three schools of thought developing as to why it happened now, and none of them have to do with his need to spend more time with his “off-to-college” son!

The mainstream media version has Bush realizing that, in the long run, Rovian politics were a mistake, and deciding to cut him loose by sending him back to Texas to write a book. I’ll call this version, “Bush Realizes Mistake.”

The other two “blogosphere” versions are 1) that one or more of the corruption investigations are very close to nailing him with either an indictment or some particularly damaging revelations for the Bush administration, or 2) he is leaving to focus on (fixing) the 2008 elections, because he can be more effective at his brand of dirty tricks from outside the White House. I’ll call these versions, “Nailed by Corruption,” and “Fixing 2008 Elections.”

There is plenty of evidence to support either of the last two versions (and very little to support the first version), so I’m not going to pick a side right now. Instead, I’m going to simply reflect on the point that Left-Over brought up earlier – the calling of an emotional press conference announcing Rove’s departure.

If there is one thing we know for sure about Rove, it’s that everything he does is political.

So why would he participate in a teary-eyed press conference if not because he wants people to think he is sad to leave the White House? He certainly wouldn’t do it to give his detractors something to laugh about as they mock his tears! As secretive as he has been, there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t have chosen to simply slink away in the dead of night if that were the best political strategy for the Republicans.

So how does this fit with the three leading theories about his resignation?

First of all, I can see no political reason for Rove to want people to see him sad about leaving under “Bush Realizes Mistake.” Even if it were psychologically possible for Bush to realize a mistake, the political choice would be to downplay the sadness angle. Rove could cry all he wanted behind closed doors, but there would be no political reason to put it on display!

Under “Nailed by Corruption,” there could be a political benefit to Rove of starting to cultivate sympathy among the base on whom he has relied for so long. Crying could be a part of that effort. If he is indicted, one would expect a defense similar to that of Scooter Libby, with an intense effort to build sympathy among a core group of supporters who could then be trusted to bolster his character and loudly cheer a Bush pardon or commuted sentence, if necessary. (Of course, under this version, I am quite curious to know how the neighborhood soccer moms and Little League dads feel about Karl, and whether James Carville’s kids looked forward to seeing Mr. Turdblossom as much as they looked forward to seeing “Mr. Scooter!”)

Under “Fixing 2008 Elections,” there is also a political benefit to Rove of having people think he’s too sad about leaving the White House to be thinking about the next stage of his political career. It would be a smokescreen that might dissuade critics from following his every move after he leaves DC, when he would suddenly be able to use his private Blackberry without risk of subpoena.

So which is it? If I were a betting man, I’d go with “Fixing 2008 Elections” - under the guise of writing a book about how sad he was to leave the White House!

Then again, I might take a flyer on the possibility that he really does want to spend time with his college-aged son – in the hope of getting into some good College Republican parties with guys like this!

[Update] Carville has now chimed in with his views on Rove. I don't think he will be co-signing a glowing letter of support, based on the closing line of his piece:

If the trends hold, the one thing that we can be sure of is that Mr Rove’s political grave will receive no lack of irrigation from future Republicans!

Rove Cuts and Runs

I'm sure we will have much to say about this development in the near future here at Left-Over, but here is my initial reaction.

"MC Rove" has been the most secretive - non public figure in this administration. He refuses to speak to Congress, arguing that because he was an appointed advisor he has no duty to appear. He does not speak to the press - unless it is to leak classified information. He does no public interviews. So what the hell is Rove doing having a press conference to announce his resignation. Just go away as secretly as everything else you've done. Spare us the tearful goodbyes. The fallen soldiers didn't get that chance - nor did they get to spend more time with their families.

Dinosaurs vs the Party of Young People

I usually don’t read David Brooks, but decided to scan his column, The Straw Poll Man, because I was curious about his views on Mitt Romney. Although written as a critique of Romney’s seemingly superficial, ideologically-driven campaign, it’s really Brooks’ way of touting Romney’s competence (even though Romney has shown little of it during his campaign so far!)

What got my attention, however, was this section:

This electorate has changed, even in the past 10 years. As a study by Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates demonstrates, Republicans are more conservative than even a decade ago. Seventy-one percent are self-declared conservatives, compared to 55 percent in 1997. Republicans are much older. Forty-one percent of Republicans are over 55, compared to 28 percent a decade ago.

This reminded me that I promised to expand on the theme of Howard Dean’s keynote speech at Yearly Kos, where he forcefully asserted that “Every election is about young people!”

You can watch the highlights of his speech above, but I’ll add one more thing that was a highlight for me: Dean’s contention that if young people vote Democratic in their first two or three election cycles, it is highly likely that they will vote Democratic for the rest of their lives.

This is why the Democrats need to make it crystal clear that they are the party that promotes policies intended to benefit future generations as well as the current generation in power.

The Republicans are, increasingly, becoming the party of old people who are willing to sacrifice future generations in order to hang on to their own wealth.

Instead of being the party of fiscal restraint, the Republicans are now the party of cutting taxes while running up huge deficits and ignoring infrastructure.

Instead of being the party of building a better future for young Americans, the Republicans are now the party of using fear of terrorists, immigrants, and gays to justify a reduction of civil rights, and the looting of the public coffers by other Republicans.

This is why the Republican party is slowly dying off like a dinosaur (albeit a very wealthy, corrupt dinosaur!), as young people are moving predominantly in a Democratic direction.

With the exception, I guess, of the only young demographic apparently still finding a home in the Republican party - rapists and closeted homosexual sex offenders!

The Stealth Celebrity Candidate?

For a short time, Republicans where drooling over the idea of having a candidate with TV Star charisma in Fred Thompson. But now that the Thompson buzz seems to be fading, it looks like Mitt Romney is the only one left to fill the charisma void created by the somber and marble-mouthed John McCain, and the brutish, lisping Rudy Giuliani!

And Romney seems to be taking control as the only one with real positive momentum. He’s gotten good marks for his debate performances, mostly for his “charm” and “presidential” bearing (although his statements, like “doubling Gitmo,” have been as ridiculous as any from the current crop of candidates!) And now, there are these results from the Iowa straw poll:

The poll also asked how electable respondents believed each candidate to be in the general election. Romney again rose significantly to 79.4 percent, up almost 17 percent since March. Giuliani dropped from 82.4 percent to 73.9 percent, while McCain plummeted from 61.5 percent to 31.5 percent. Fred Thompson came in at 57.7 percent.

The GOP is taking a liking to Mitt Romney. Perhaps they see something that satisfies their desire for TV Star charisma!

There’s no question Romney looks the part. He’s tall, handsome, has a nice smile and a great head of hair. He’s confident – no, certain – that he’s the best man for the job! And he’s got all those good looking sons out wooing the country to support his campaign (for much more on this, see T-Bogg.) He also seems to have a pretty good team of strategists developing tricks he can use to cleanse himself from past positions that differ from his current ones.

In short, he should be a shoo-in for the Republican nomination, which is fine by me -because every time he opens his mouth, there’s a good chance his foot will end up inside it!

His latest, when asked why none of his sons are enlisting to fight the war he likes so much:

One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president.

So far, the weakness most touted as the way for the Democrats to beat an opponent like Mitt Romney is to brand him a flip-flopper for his shifting positions on the issues. I’m not so sure!

I think the best strategy for beating Romney is to ask the American people if they are prepared to go from a George W. Bush Presidency to that of a good looking but loutish, self-absorbed, airhead with TV Star charisma?

Are the American people ready for President Sam Malone?



Note: I started pushing this comparison some time ago and I might have let it go, but Mitt just keeps reminding me!

Colbert's Yearly Kos Recap

Dust Up at Yearly Kos

I alluded earlier to an occurrence at Yearly Kos, which has been widely circulated throughout the web, particularly the right wing blogosphere, where they seemed to hope they had found their own “macaca” moment for the left. Detailed first-hand accounts of the incident are found here and here. The video is here.

Interestingly, I ended up talking to the guy – twice! The first time was on the night of the opening keynote speech by Howard Dean, when he entered the food line right behind me dressed in full military uniform. The second was on the last morning, shortly after I had read about the incident and guessed he was the person involved, as he happened to be sitting at the table next to me. The following are my impressions from those conversations:

When he walked up behind me on the opening night, he certainly stood out from the rest of the crowd. Wondering about his affiliations, I introduced myself and asked him how he ended up coming to the convention. He said he was there because he wanted to see what it was all about. He said he supported the war in Iraq because he had been there and he “was really concerned about the Iraqi people.” He said that he wanted “to be available to answer questions” about his side of the issue. I wondered how he intended to do that, but merely wished him luck and began to fill my plate.

At the time of that brief conversation, I got the sense from his speech and demeanor that he was sincere and earnest about his attendance at the convention, but also a bit brainwashed and cultish, as if he were seriously expecting to win converts to his view simply by repeating talking points, kind of like a Hari Krishna chant. I’m no psychologist, so these are just my impressions, but he seemed like a likeable nut to me. [Note: This impression was solidified when I finally got to see the video and heard his conviction backed up by repeated offers to give anyone who could refute him “all the money in his pocket!”]

On the last morning, during the Bloggers’ Brunch, I was scanning the tubes while lines of bloggers took turns making little speeches or asking questions of the panel that, with only a few exceptions, merely served as excuses to say their screen name and hopefully get a little applause from the crowd.

I read about the incident during the military panel between Jon Soltz and a young sergeant in uniform who confronted the panel. I did not have a chance to see the video of the incident, so I didn’t know who the guy might me, but I noticed the fellow I had met the first night sitting at the table next to mine. He was in a suit and tie at that point, but I recalled my first meeting and assumed that it must have been the guy. As I later learned, he was Sgt. David Aguina, currently a student at Western Illinois University.

At the end of the brunch, as people were starting to leave, I walked over just as another guy was approaching him. As it turned out, this other guy was also ex-military and the three of us proceeded to talk about what had happened. Aguina, apparently now active in the reserves, was repeating many of the same talking points that I had heard before, but he also said that he agreed with 90% what was presented at the convention, and that all he really cared about was that the Iraqi people were provided with “a safe haven” from further war.

Aguina was still really steamed at Soltz, however, as he insisted that he knew Soltz had broken numerous sections of the Code of Military Justice, just as he had! Aguina said we was going to offer reconciliation, but that he was willing to sacrifice himself and his career “to take Soltz down” if his offer was rebuked. [Note: He later gave this interview, further explaining his views]

The other ex-military gentleman was clearly not in alignment with Aguina’s political views (judging from his “Cheney, Satan ‘08” T-shirt, and numerous antiwar buttons), but he seemed sympathetic to Aguina’s predicament. He thought Aguina would be in some jeopardy with the military for his actions, and he offered some supportive suggestions on how he might defend himself.

At this point, I offered him good luck with the reconciliation effort, and I left feeling that Aguina was basically a good guy, but consistent with my initial impression, something of a likable nut.

My only regret was that I didn’t see the video before I talked to him, so I could ask the burning question: How much money did you have in your pocket?

Pardon Our Dust

It is time here at Left-Over that we spend some much needed time working on our "infrastructure". Over the next few days Seenos and I will be trying our best to refurbish the site in order to avoid a potential catastrophic collapse from the sheer weight of our words.

OK we are just shifting to the new blogger. Something that we should have done month's ago but there just hasn't been a break in this administration's scandals. And frankly, it doesn't look like there ever will be. So please bear with us.

A Scene at Yearly Kos

I wasn't there for the scene between this guy and Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org. I'll add the video when I get the chance. As a teaser, I'll say that my flight home will be spent writing up my conversations with him, both before and after the incident.

My Favorite Yearly Kos Moment - So Far

One of the most intriguing panels at Yearly Kos was: Blogs and the MSM: From Clash to Civilization.

It featured Mike Allen, formerly of the Washington Post and Time, currently of Politico.com, (a corporate pseudo blog), and the author of some of the dumber things ever written about the Bush Administration. It also featured blogger, Glenn Greenwald, of Salon.com. (sorry for the lousy picture, but the lighting was difficult to deal with)

The purpose of the session was to discuss how the MSM and the blogosphere can coexist to the benefit of both. Although the exchanges were quite civilized, the respective interpretations of the role of the media still contained a whole lot of clash!

Before going any further, I have to say is that Glenn Greenwald is truly a force of nature, able to cut through the most obtuse bullshit with such razor sharp precision that he basically ends the debate every time he gets his chance to speak.

However, my favorite moment of the panel came when Mike Allen tried to explain why the MSM were initially uncomfortable with bloggers.

To his credit, although I have little respect for Allen's reporting skills, he is a likable guy who deserves praise for being willing to face a potentially hostile crowd.

But talk about shooting yourself in the foot! During the course of one of his rambling, somewhat evasive answers to an audience question, he unwittingly proceeded to sum up the whole dynamic with an analogy for why the MSM has had a hard time accepting bloggers such as Greenwald.

It was, he described, like when a new kid moves to a school in mid-year. At first, the other kids are skeptical because the new kid seems to dress a little differently, seems to talk a little differently, and “seems a little smarter!”

And then, Allen, without even noticing the irony of what he had just said, moved right into the next question. And that, I am certain, is why we rely on Glenn Greenwald before the mainstream press. He seems a little smarter to us too!

Blogger or MSM?

Sometimes it's hard to tell! This is a shot of Chris Cillizza of the WAPO (and frequent Olberman guest) in a pose more common to hundreds of bloggers at any point in time at Yearly Kos.

Every Election is About Young People

This was a key theme of Howard Dean's keynote speech tonight. I asked this kid who was next to me, cheering loudly, if I could take his picture. He was a perfect image to capture what Dean was trying to convey. I will have more to say later on this.

Left-Over - Survivor Edition

As I sit here this morning longing to be in Chicago at the YearlyKos Convention - I have been trying to figure a way to temper my disappointment in a "half glass full" sort of way.

At this moment I should be sitting in my seat at Rigley Field marveling at the ivy covered outfield wall - in person for the first time - sipping a brew and eating peanuts. I should be hours away from hob nobbing with the likes of Hunter, Swopa, Emptywheel and JANE HAMSHER!!

Saying that I am disappointed would be a monumental understatement. And as Seenos eluded to in his earlier post - the reason I am not there is directly due to California's "obstructionist" Senate Republicans. Talk about pouring salt in the wound!

But there has to be some reason that this has worked out this way - some important duty that I have been chosen to fulfill.

Then all at once it hit me! As every progressive blogger in the country assembles in one place at one time - in the windy city - just like when the entire legislature and cabinet gather in the House of Representatives for a State of the Union Address -there must be one "Designated Survivor". The person chosen in case of a catestrophic event to take charge and lead the country.

That's it! my "special purpose" is to be the one "Progressive Blogger" left to repopulate the "internets". Now it all makes sense - and rest assured that I will take this charge seriously. Those are some mighty big "tubes" to fill and if I am called upon I'll do my best to fill them.

So - Seenos and the rest of you bloggers at Yearlykos - enjoy yourselves - your "Tubes" will be in good hands ................................so to speak.

Well at least better than the country would have been if something had happened during the last State of the Union - when the designated survivor was Alberto Gonzales.

ICE COLD BEER HERE!

I won't be giving inning by inning updates, but it's Phillies 1, Cubs 0 in the bottom of the first. Clearly live blogging doesn't add much to mainstream coverage of baseball, but as I heard this morning, it added a lot to coverage of the Libby trial!