November 23, 2012

James Carville in the new Rolling Stone is interviewed for insights into the presidential election, a sample:

How did the Republicans get so outclassed in terms of technology? In 2004, Rove dominated on that front.

The most amazing story of the whole election was how personally shellshocked Romney was that he lost. They completely thought he was going to win. How can a man with a reputation of being data-driven, who does spreadsheets better than anybody in the world, be shocked that he lost? I can't wait to read the book as to what happened to Romney. It's stunning.

Part of it is how inefficiently they spent all the money they had. Conservatives have a point here: You give somebody too many resources, and they don't allocate them very well. The top people in the Romney campaign were paid $134 million in this election. The top consultants in the Obama campaign were paid $6 million. Democrats just spent their money smarter, better and with less nepotism or favoritism. It's stunning that a community organizer would be so much more efficient than a head of one of the largest private equity funds. As the rabbis have been saying for 5,000 years, "Go figure."



Odd / Even License Plate Gas rationing ends tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Yeah !

October 3, 2010

The Oktoberfest tastings continue: Hofbrau Oktoberfest. A golden version, tasty and bitter.



Last year's taste test runner-up: Spaten Oktoberfest. Part of the Big Six Munich Breweries.



"Matt" Taibbi's new piece in Rolling Stone is entitled Tea & Crackers. It is funny and a bit scary. The new issue also has an interview with President Obama. Lots of interesting questions ,like:

What has surprised you the most about these first two years in office? What advice would you give your successor about the first two years?
Over the past two years, what I probably anticipated but you don't fully appreciate until you're in the job, is something I said earlier, which is if a problem is easy, it doesn't hit my desk. If there's an obvious solution, it never arrives here — somebody else has solved it a long time ago. The issues that cross my desk are hard and complicated, and oftentimes involve the clash not of right and wrong, but of two rights. And you're having to balance and reconcile against competing values that are equally legitimate.