Prepare yourself: Ari Fleicher's quarter-billion dollar hate machine is spinning up. And yet McCain wants to portray himself as the honest candidate, calling on Barack Obama to join him in the public funding programme (or: McCain is broke, Obama isn't). Of course, seeing as how the Straight-Talking-Maverick managed to somehow bend public finances to underwrite his primary campaign, let's just say this offer is less benign that it seems. Anyway, it looks like Obama isn't taking the bait unless 527 groups are included, which will probably be enough to scuttle further talks.
Poor Hillary. She looked like the inevitable winner just over two months ago. Heck, even one month ago, it seemed unlikely it would be anybody but her. Last night she was beat like a whipped cur by Obama in Wisconsin, a state that she she was winning comfortably in November. A seven point lead turned into a twenty-point crushing blow. At this point, it's almost impossible for her to catch up to Obama in pledged delegates, and even her firewall states of Texas and Ohio are looking susceptible to the powers of Obamarama. After ten straight defeats, the Clinton team must really begin to think about conceding.
Because if she doesn't, there's going to be trouble. In one of "look back in a month and laugh at Ian!" predictions, I'm going to suggest that if she doesn't pull out after Ohio/Texas, and she loses or ties Texas, Gore will announce that he's supporting Obama; giving a clear sign to the superdelegates that it's time to bring this contest to a close.
And then we have eight months of mud-slinging to look forward to! Hurrah!
Or probably, more like fifteen. I’ve been searching for this film ever since I saw it on Stay Tuned a long long time ago, and today, I finally found it. Moral drama ahoy!
I finally got around to watching Control tonight, and I must say that I’m conflicted. It’s a well-made film, certainly, but I don’t think it was half the film that 24 Hour Party People was. I guess, perhaps partly what’s going through my head right now, partly because I think New Order are the better band overall, but I’ve never really bought into the Curtis Myth fully. And the film does nothing to help me, either; instead, it’s an hour and a half of Curtis treating his wife like dirt, feeling a little remorse, and the killing himself. Obviously, it’s a gross oversimplification, and the drugs cocktail he was on was probably a big contributing factor to some of his behaviour, but still.
(I also was a teensy bit peeved at the constant mocking of Bernard Sumner, especially when Martin Hannett snaps at him in the studio while the genius Curtis was recording. Seeing as how Sumner turned out to be Factory's unsung production hero, it seems a little harsh here. Also, Hannett is never actually mentioned by name, which is a shame considering how important he was to the Joy Division sound)
It did look wonderful, though. There's a scene just after Debbie has the baby, where Ian stands outside a hospital corridor that struck me as quietly beautiful. And I did like the scene at the end; Sumner, Hook, and Gretton are sitting in the pub, desolate, where they're joined by the other two, Morris and a girl who's supposed to be Gillian. A new order just waiting to be formed...