American Madness

There’s some more interesting analysis of the minutiae of the 2008 Presidential Election, with the NYTimes Campaign Stops blog calling on branding expert* Brian Collins to analyze the effectiveness of Gotham as Barack Obama’s preferred font.

With that said, though, there’s an oxymoronic quality to Gotham, which is why I think it’s become so popular. It has a blunt, geometric simplicity, which usually makes words feel cold and analytical (like Univers), but it also feels warm. It’s substantial yet friendly. Up-to-date yet familiar. That’s a tough hat trick.

Reminds me of our previous analysis of candidate branding, Vote Coca Cola In ‘08.

There’s some good logo analysis at 37 Signals and at Presidental Brands 2008.

* I don’t know when it became acceptable to stop giving criteria when calling someone an expert. Clearly, this guy knows his design, but why not introduce his background to us? Instead, the NYTimes includes a link to Wikipedia. The NYTimes is supposed to be the paper of record. Even if I’m just reading a NYTimes blog, I’d like to know that they bothered to find out whom they were talking to. A wiki link makes me think that this expert’s bona fides were not necessarily independently established by the Times as they should be.

[ This opinion piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal on February 20. It is reprinted here with the permission of author Betsy McCaughey Ross, a former lieutenant governor of New York, currently serving as an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute (the original "think tank"). ]

On March 4, voters in the Texas Democratic primary will choose between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The battle is shaping up to be a health-care Alamo. Twenty five percent of people living in the Lone Star state are uninsured, according to the U.S. Census. That’s the highest rate of any state.

Sen. Clinton has issued the challenge, telling Sen. Obama “I’ll see you in Texas.” She promises to provide health coverage for “every single one of the nation’s 47 million uninsured,” and she accuses Sen. Obama of offering a “band aid” solution that would leave about a third of those 47 million uncovered.

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In her column in today’s New York Times, 2/23/08, “A Bad Year to be a Mallard,” Gail Collins quotes several of the current and former candidates regarding their liking for hunting:

“I’m pretty sure there will be duck hunting in heaven, and I can’t wait.”
— Mike Huckabee

“I’ve been a hunter pretty much all my life.”
— Mitt Romney

“I’ve always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints if you will.”
— Mitt Romney, amending the record once it was pointed out that he had never had a hunting license.

“Maybe he can get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his yard.”
— John McCain

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When your previous job used to be running around all day in a pair of spandex, getting sweaty with other men and then jumping on top of them, maybe you aren’t the right person to be coming out with a strong stance against gay rights.

Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker turn reverend, Ken Hutcherson of the Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, WA is claiming to be a modern day David against Goliath mega-corporations. Hutcherson is preaching that companies like Microsoft, who he says is attempting to become a political player in Washington state and push its policies on the entire state, can have their policies of toleration changed by the power of the shareholder.

Hutcherson is telling members of his 3,500 congregation to buy up shares of the company and reaching out to other religions, like Orthodox Jews, to do the same. The theory being that once they have amassed a controlling share of the company the can ‘correct’ the diversity policies currently in place , one of which includes an internal “affinity employee group” called the Gay and Lesbian Employees At Microsoft (GLEAM).

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All I can say is, don’t shoot the messenger:

But how can any responsible journalist not be disgusted by the Wall Street Journal’s apology today?

Senator Carl Levin’s office called yesterday to say we gave him far too much credit, or blame as we had it, for his role in the misbegotten 1993 law that limited the tax deductibility of executive salaries to $1 million. His long-time aide on the issue, Elise Bean, says the Senator wasn’t a promoter of the idea, and we’ll take her word for it. It seems we confused his general agitation at the time against large executive pay packages for support for the salary limit.

Ms. Bean couldn’t recall if Mr. Levin had nonetheless voted for the limit, saying it had popped up in a conference report sometime during that year and she wasn’t sure which one. In any event, our bad.

“In any event, our bad.” Is this a high school newspaper? The “misbegoten law” they refer to was, I believe, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. It took about 2 minutes to figure that out. I’ll admit, it took another 5 minutes of searching, but I discovered that — wouldn’t ya know? — people keep records of senate votes. Actually, the U.S. Senate web site keeps track of these things. And if one takes a minute, one can find that Carl Levin did vote in favor of the measure.

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A lot of companies are hesitant to take a stand on what they consider social or political issues. They feel the best bet is to keep their mouths shut and, by doing so, no one can have too big an issue with them. Not Manhattan Mini Storage!

The New York Sun reports that a new(-ish) billboard by the West Side Highway in Manhattan has the typical Manhattan Mini Storage look and branding. On the left side an image of a hanger in the background with the text “Your Closet Space Is Shrinking As Fast As Her Right To Choose.” An earlier ad of theirs read “Your Closet is Scarier Then Bush’s Agenda.” Wow! Way to take a stand.

Of course folks from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights are saying the sign is highly offensive and insulting (though I am not quite sure how since the New York Sun doesn’t have any details on that), Planned Parenthood loves it. The article claims that “Passers-by had mixed reactions” (of the two they mention one said they thought it to be a little tasteless and the other had no problem with it: not exactly a spectrum of folks with solid opinions).

The comments I found to be most interesting was from the editor of the conservative journal First Things, Joseph Bottum. He said: “Manhattan Mini Storage must have had a pretty good idea that the sign was not going to hurt it. ‘One of the things that has helped American democracy survive is the fact that commercial enterprises have not generally entered the political arena.’

Also it is interesting to note that the building that the advertisement is on is a Manhattan Mini-Storage. No surprise there.

I know most New Yorkers (and the vast majority of the press) believe that Eliot Spitzer will win the primary and general election hands down.

They question why Tom Suozzi is campaigning, in what appears to be a futile Sisyphusian ordeal.

I do not know why he is running, but I know that asking “why” is the wrong question. The right question, the moral responsible and pertinent question is who SHOULD win the primary and who would make a better governor. The far more compelling answer is Tom Suozzi.

I met Tom once, at a back-yard fundraiser for a local Long Island judge. The crowd was thin and Suozzi’s time was wasted at the event. He was then in need of a bigger audience as he was running for chief executive of Nassau County, a deeply troubled area that had for decades been run by an entrenched Republican leadership.

But Suozzi made an effort for smaller reformers and they repaid him. He took over Nassau and you can read about the results, which are astoundingly positive. If this doesn’t seem like much of a resume, consider that Nassau’s $2.4 billion budget is greater than that of 16 states. That is a key Suozzi statistic, and justifiably so, as he has turned the County around.

Suozzi could do much to fix NY State, which is (as I need not remind anyone) in bad need of political reform.

Spitzer, on the other hand, despite all his sound and fury, has achieve only headlines. Anyone on Wall Street or in the insurance world familiar with his research settlement or his other corporate “reforms” could tell you how counterproductive they have been both to commerce and, ironically, to individual investors. The Wall Street Journal editorial page, with which most people have a conflicted relationship, has been correct on Spitzer for some time now. Go back and read their opinions: they are well articulated. (Here’s a good one, in which the Journal notes that Spitzer tends to accuse with proof that falls down upon scrutiny: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006805.)

(Here’s another: The Passion of Eliot Spitzer: Is he telling the truth as he tries to “take people out”?)

I have seen Spitzer up close, as well, and I am continually amazed that news reports fail to report the smell of sulfur that lingers in his wake.

One man has a tangible record of reforms. The other has a tangible record of publicly attacking large corporations and pushing them to newsworthy (but dubiously effective) settlements.

I urge registered Democrats to look closely at the records of both men, and make a decision based on that, and not on Spitzer’s image as a reformer. Alas, unlike the more populist-minded states, registered Republicans or Independents in New York State may not at this point (that is, within eyeshot of a primary) change party affiliations to vote, so please push your Democratic friends and relations to consider this issue!

Suozzi and Spitzer will debate tonight on NY1 at 7pm.

You can watch on TV or via the web site below:

http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=3&aid=61268

The Republicans are flipping out that they and their SUV driving constituency are being bled to death at the pump. And, they are proposing a tax on oil profits!

“The Republican plan includes a provision that could levy a significant tax on oil company profits, a provision that President Bush promised to veto when a version appeared in a Senate bill last year. The proposal came on a day when Exxon Mobil reported a 7 percent gain in its first-quarter earnings.” -NY Times

Here’s an idea for you. The oil companies deal in a scarce commodity that is becoming harder and harder to obtain. As oil becomes scarce its value increases and oil companies make tons of money. It is simple economics 101. However, human beings have an incredible ability for self deception and nobody is willing to admit that the oil supply will run out as world demand increases much faster than was ever predicted.

There are already tons of government subsidies that mask the true cost of oil and the ridiculous price of maintaining the American highway system. The owners of gas guzzling cars are driving our economy right off a cliff. I think a tax on these gas guzzlers would be a much better idea.

Bush no know about port sale.

Does it really matter whether this deal means Dubai will control security for our ports? If they control the ports, their personnel have access, and who is monitoring their hiring?

Does our security apparatus have the power to veto their hires if we believe unsavory elements attempt to infiltrate their presumably well-intentioned company? That’s the key issue here.

Obviously, foreign ownership of a port is not in and of itself a national security issue, else we wouldn’t allow the British to currently control the ports in question.

But this issue is further evidence that the Bush whitehouse has a tin ear on these matters.

Straight Shooter

A visibly embarrassed Dick Cheney Monday apologized to his close friend for shooting him in a bizarre hunting-related accident.

“I’m really sorry. I thought he was carrying a weapon of mass destruction,” said Cheney. “Contrary to what some of you all are saying out there, I didn’t shoot him because he was a lawyer.”

Cheney peppered his friend, Austin attorney Harry Whittington, with buckshot as the two attempted to flush out a covey of quails, or perhaps a bevy, said one source who wasn’t sure what to call “a bunch of stupid birds hopping around in a thicket.” The 78-year-old was in stable condition at an area hospital.

“I always was a pain in Dick’s butt,” said Whittington. “Now he’s a pain in mine.”

Whittington was lucky, White House personnel said. Cheney, also called “Heart Attack” and “Stent Boy” by his Secret Service guards is constantly surrounded by some of the world’s best medical personnel. And Democrats noted the Vice President shoots about as well as he conducts foreign policy.

Cheney agreed his buddy of many years got off lightly and then told reporters to leave him alone.

“Heck, it’s not like I stripped him of his citizenship and shipped him off to the land of his ancestors to be tortured. Would you lighten up and go write about Mohammed cartoons for Chrissakes,” he barked at reporters.

****

Mobile’s Burning
Oh, arsonists. Yoo hoo!!!

Yes, you boys in Alabama. The ones with matches and extra gas cans in the back of your rickety pickup truck.

The Feds want to talk to you. Yes. Just talk. It’s safe to come out now or give them a call, maybe meet over a double latte at Starbucks in Mobile. They’re not at all interested in maybe, well, arresting your keesters for having burned down 10 churches.

One other thing, you stupid sickos. They really seem empathetic to you and appreciate the fact that you haven’t killed anyone.

Want their phone number?