Jim Webb's State of the Union Response

Remember how I was saying how proud I was of my vote for Jim Webb?

I'm even more proud after the speech he gave last night.

Raising Kaine has all kinds of Webby-goodness today, so I'll just link to the front page.

Here's the video.

Wisconsin State Representative "Krye Tuff"

I've mentioned him twice before....

And now the video is on Youtube. I present to you, my friend, 54th District Wisconsin State Representative and 2003 West Coast Air Guitar Champion...

Gordon "Krye Tuff" Hintz.

I went to Jim Webb's swearing-in party.

Webb swears in tomorrow, and I was at his swearing-in party at the Clarendon Ballroom tonight. The place was packed (overflowing out the door in fact, as several couldn't get in because of the fire code). Webb gave a great speech, and I came very close to meeting him, as I was in a large crowd trying to shake his hand.

Instead, I happened to meet Rodney Crowell, who was on hand to sing a couple songs for Jim. I'll admit that, while I recognized the name, I didn't really know who he was until I looked him up on Wikipedia. At some point I think I knew he was married to Rosanne Cash, Johnny's daughter. And anyone who wrote songs for Emmylou Harris is alright by me.

Apparently, Lowell from Raising Kaine was there too and posted a Youtube video, so you're spared from me posting my two crappy cell phone pictures from the event. Right now, Youtube is giving me trouble and I can't post the video on my blog, so you can see it here.

Also, someone posted pictures on Daily Kos.

New poll

So I guess my new years resolution should be not to let polls sit on my sidebar for months at a time.

Here are the results of the last poll.

With Mark Warner out of the race for president in 2008, which of these Democratic candidates would you be most likely to support?

Al Gore 22.5%
Russ Feingold 20.6%
Barack Obama 17.6%
John Edwards 17.6%
Wesley Clark 11.8%
Bill Richardson 3.9%
Hillary Clinton 2.0%
Tom Villsack 2.0%
John Kerry 1.0%
Joe Biden 1.0%


I have to say, I'm surprised by the strong showing for Al. I think he's a proven loser. Yeah, yeah, everyone's saying he's found the way and that if he was only as charismatic on the campaign trail as he is in "An Incovenient Truth" he would have won!

Listen, people.... speaking passionately about, of all things, global warming isn't going to win the Democrats anything. And the only people watching "An Inconvenient Truth" are the choir (full disclosure, I haven't seen it). I betcha the rest of the country still thinks he's stiff, pompous, and condescending.

I think Al Gore would have the potential to be a fantastic president, but he'll always be a piss poor candidate.

Feingold is irrelevant because he's decided not to run (he would have been a terrible candidate too, but no need to go into it).

So who do I support? Obama. All the way. I was a big Clark guy in 2004, and he'd still be my second choice probably, but I really do think Obama is lightning in a bottle for the Democrats.

I'm not surprised by Hillary's poor showing in my poll seeing as most of the people who voted in my poll found it through Kos and other lefty sites. I'm with them.... I think she'd get the right wingers to the poll like nobody's business, so I wouldn't vote for her in a primary.

New poll about New Years resolutions on the right.

Ten Pop Culture Things I Liked This Year

Rather than pretending that I've seen enough movies, listened to enough new music, watched enough tv, etc, to prepare any definitive "top ten" lists.... Here's a random selection of ten things I liked this year.

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Heroes



Definitely my favorite new show of the year, quite possibly my favorite show period right now. Or maybe it's tied with.....

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The Office



'cause that show just keeps getting better.

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Thank You For Smoking



Overall, I'd say this is the best movie I saw this year. Maybe it's kind of a lightweight choice, it's obviously not going to win an Oscar or anything, but I can't think of a movie I more thoroughly enjoyed.

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Forest Whitaker



I already put actors who aren't Forest Whitaker on notice, because he gave hands-down the best performance of the year in "Last King of Scotland." Heck. Maybe best performance of the decade thus far. And the little bits I saw of him on ER were good too.

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S.R. Sidarth



Ok, so maybe it's a stretch to put him on a "pop culture" list, but if Time can completely wimp out on the "Person of the Year" thing, just try and stop me from putting "Macaca" on my list.

If you want to pinpoint one event that both showed the power of Youtube AND put the Democrats in control of Congress, it's Sidarth going to a George Allen rally with a camera, videotaping George being a douche bag and uploading it on the internet for the world to see. For this, I salute him and name him The Nose Knows's "Person of the Year."

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The Dixie Chicks



Speaking of politics in pop culture, The Chicks make my list for not backing down from the politics, even if their record sales and tour wasn't as successful as it could have been, and, incidentally, making one of the best albums of the year.

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Tom Petty - Highway Companion



So I never really got around to all my promised Tom Petty posting, but this album pretty much rules.

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Sacha Baron Cohen



This is as much for his performance in "Talladega Nights" as for "Borat."

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Samuel L. Jackson "Snakes on a Plane" phone calls



I never got around to seeing the movie, nor do I really care to, but having Samuel L. Jackson call my friends was definitely a highlight of the year.

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The World Series



Yeah, I kind of liked it this year.