Heh.

…the next morning, Nagourney awoke to an e-mail from Talking Points Memo writer Greg Sargent asking him to comment on an eight-point rebuttal trashing his piece that the Obama campaign had released to reporters and bloggers like The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder and Politico’s Ben Smith. Nagourney had not heard the complaints from the Obama camp and had no idea they were so steamed. “I’m looking at this thing, and I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’ ” Nagourney recently recalled. “I really flipped out.”

Later that afternoon, Nagourney got permission from Times editors to e-mail Sargent a response to the Obama memo. But the episode still grates. “I’ve never had an experience like this, with this campaign or others,” Nagourney tells me. “I thought they crossed the line. If you have a problem with a story I write, call me first. I’m a big boy. I can handle it. But they never called. They attacked me like I’m a political opponent.”

No! That’s so unfair! Why would they treat you like an opponent?

Last year, when Hillary Clinton campaigned as a front-runner, Obama provided access to the press corps and won over the media. One night, during a campaign stop in Iowa, he met reporters for off-the-record drinks. He cooperated for magazine profiles and appeared on the cover of GQ. And Clinton’s relationship with the press wasn’t half as easy. “The difference is the Clinton people were hostile for no reason,” a reporter who has covered both Democrats tells me.

I can think of a reason! My hand’s raised! Pick me! Pick me!

It’s because you, the press corps, spent 8 years savaging the Clintons by playing stenographer to the ratfuckingest Republicans to come along since Nixon, continued to do so during Hillary Clinton’s senate career, and then outdid yourselves during her run at the Democratic nomination! You said things like:

…the reason she’s a US Senator, the reason she’s a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front runner, is that her husband messed around.

And:

I have often said, when she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs

And let’s not forget:

But doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?

Those are just a few gems off the top of a 16-year stack of vicious, bullshit coverage. Look, I wasn’t a Clinton supporter in the primaries per se, in fact for much of the primaries I was prohibited from publicly expressing a preference. I thought she’d be a right fine candidate, I thought the same thing about Obama. But there’s really no denying that going all the way back to 1992, there’s been plenty of reasons for the Clintons to treat you assholes like… assholes. It amazes me constantly, given the celebrity-journalism quality of political and campaign coverage, that they’re able to treat you as well as they do.

So, given the fact that this ain’t Obama’s first rodeo, and that he’s evidently really, really good at this, he’s going to work you fuckers to his advantage, and work to keep you from fucking him the way you’ve been fucking Democrats since Gingrich, Delay and Rove have had their hands up your puppet asses. It’s not new, LBJ was a master at this, and it’s not personal, any more than it is when you play video clips of Rev. Wright saying, “God Damn America!” several thousand times in a couple of weeks.

Hope this clears things up, and you’re welcome!

(h/t Atrios)

Talking on a phone while driving is as dangerous as driving drunk, whether you use a headset or not.

Here he comes, here comes Bob Novak
He is Satan on wheels!

Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak was cited by police after he hit a pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning.

He is Satan and he’s gonna be
Runnin’ over someone!

The pedestrian, a 66-year-old man who was not further identified by authorities, was treated at George Washington University Hospital for minor injuries, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.

He’s disappointed that he hasn’t killed you yet
He’s busy revvin’ up his powerful CORVETTE!

“I didn’t know I hit him. … I feel terrible,” a shaken Novak told reporters from Politico and WJLA as he was returning to his car. “He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.”

And when the odds are against him and there’s
Righteous cyclists…

Bono said that the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a “Walk” signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and that Novak then made a right into the service lane of K Street. “This car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” Bono said.

He said he chased Novak half a block down K Street, finally caught up with him and then put his bike in front of the car to block it and called 911. Traffic immediately backed up, horns blaring, until commuters behind Novak backed up so he could pull over.

Bono said that throughout, Novak “keeps trying to get away. He keeps trying to go.”

You bet your life Bob Novak
Won’t go to jail

I saw on television earlier this morning that for breaking traffic laws and seriously injuring a man through conduct that could easily have killed him, Novak is going to get . . . a $50 fine.

Go Bob Novak!
Go Bob Novak!
Go Bob Novak GOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Mark Benjamin has a feature in Salon this week about life with an Xtracycle, complete with trips to the grocery store, transporting munchkins, bringing home a big-ass Weber grill, and mixing up margaritas with the B3 Blender. Bonus, Rebbie and I make cameo appearances for the “date night” chapter of the accompanying video.

How will we handle the fame?

Eric Alterman says, about The Dark Knight:

I saw The Dark Knight yesterday afternoon, and I think it pulled off the neat trick of being both libertarian and fascistic, which is to say it is damn confused

Atrios, “trying to get a handle on the odd politics”, thinks that nails it. His commenters then proceed to burn it, and then Frank Miller, to the ground. (And here I thought that this was just a game for the right-wing fringe of Blawgworld.)

I’m no fan of Frank Miller’s political views, any more than I am of, say, Mark Helprin’s. But Helprin’s politics don’t change my opinion that he’s an amazing writer, or reduce my capacity to be amazed and delighted by A Winter’s Tale, or Soldier of the Great War. Likewise, Miller’s political views, misguided as I believe them to be, don’t undo his achievements as an artist and story teller (or change the fact that he wasn’t involved in making the film).

Of all the things The Dark Knight had me mulling over, none of them were anywhere close to “gosh, I’m confused by the politics of this movie… is it Libertarian or Fascist? How confusing and inconsistent.” Batman’s roots are in detective novels, and The Dark Knight is about the dance that Batman and The Joker have been doing since the 50’s. I came away from it thinking it was a superb manifestation of that story, an impressive work of film making, and a truly stunning performance by Heath Ledger. Pondering the film’s political ideology would have diminished the experience.

I understand that when politics and media are your life, as an academic, or a pundit, it’s natural to look at everything through those lenses. And I care about politics, no question. But it seems to me like going down this path with everything is a surefire way to suck all the life and joy out of art, be it fine or pop. Why do that?

[UPDATE]: Ezra points to what’s probably the best post on the politics of Nolan’s Batman I’ve read yet, in that reading it didn’t leave me with a clenched jaw wondering why-oh-why people have to do this to comic book movies.

Guess what I just picked up from Premier Powder Coating?

Not a great pic, I’ll post some higher quality images as the build proceeds. This thing’s gonna be gorgeous.

I’ll soon have more to post about biking in New York with the kids, pastries from Balthazar, toddlers gone wild at Tompkins Square park, picnicking with friends at 9th and C, and other delights. There are many pics that need pulling off the phone, but I thought I’d post one that had me thrilled.

Check out what they done gone and built in Chelsea, going south on 9th Avenue:

That’s a real honest-to-god bike lane. Note, going from right to left: three lanes of traffic, one lane that’s parking or a left turn lane (depending on which way the cross street goes), a physical barrier, and a full bike lane. You can’t see it very well in this shot, but the traffic light at the corner, to the left of the bike lane, is a stop light exclusively for regulating the bike lane (the red, yellow, and green lights are actually in the shape of a bicycle). The light just to the right of it regulates the left turn lane, allowing cars to safely cross the bike lane.

Riding down this section of 9th, with my daughter in her kid-seat, I felt like the city recognized us as legitimate traffic and took our safety seriously. I felt like I was on a road built with bikes at the core of the design, rather than one where the design half-heartedly acknowledges that bikes are vehicles and then throws us into a raging current of cabs, busses, and SUVs. It felt really, really good.

That is infrastructure you can believe in, my friends.

[UPDATE]: fixed the lane order, here’s a document that lays out what I’m trying to describe, around page 19 or so. There’s more benefits than I’d considered, like a shorter crossing distance for pedestrians and a barrier to turning the wrong way on a one-way street. Neat.

It should also be noted that food messengers don’t seem to understand that the awesome new bike lane only goes one way, and that the northbound bike lane is over on 8th Ave. Or, they get it and don’t care. I’d typically blow off that kind of anarchy because, ya know, it’s New York and they gotta make a living right? But this is a real, permanent, well-designed bike road we’re talkin’ about, it’s undeniably a one-way thing, and going the wrong way on it makes it unsafe the same way that driving a car the wrong way up a one-way street does. So fuck that, ticket the living shit out of ‘em. Growing up ain’t always easy, ya know?

[UPDATE AGAIN]: This really was just supposed to be a short post, but I ran into this StreetFilms short about efforts to create more separated bike lanes in New York, it seems appropriate to throw it on the stack. I wonder if Mayor Fenty’s seen any of this. It’s quite a vision of what a city can be.

I’m off to New York for a 3-day weekend, thanks to the wife’s awesome sister and hubby who’ve graciously lent us their apartment in Chelsea while they’re away. We’re visiting friends, the kids are partying at Tompkins Square Park’s playground, and I might get my hair corrected at Astor Cuts. Rumor has it that a friend of ours might wrangle our children for a night and let us get out on our own. When your life is mostly parenting, and you’re faced with a break and a massive array of activities to choose from, it’s easy to get paralyzed browsing the menu. We’ll have to set a time limit on pulling the trigger. Maybe we’ll just walk around holding hands, New York’s really nice for that.

Anyway, spend some time with folks you love this weekend, call at least one you haven’t talked to in far too long, and try to get outside a some if you can. Hopefully doing something besides chores. Hit the bottom, and escape.

See ya next week, cheers.