Jeff, I'm now done with my Hamlet impersonations. When Fox "News" put "Baby Mama" under Michelle Obama's name it was time for me to get back on this grind. As Adam Green wrote on the Huffington Post a while back, Fox is not a news network, the only difference between them and The Daily Show is that most people, or rather most people that I know, don't find their sense of humor funny. It's one thing to poke fun at racism and xenophobia like Colbert and Stewart sometimes do, but it's completely something else to perpetually peddle racist and xenophobic viewpoints. What has been striking about Fox's rise is not only their ability to win ratings battles against CNN and MSNBC, a trend that is shifting this year, but they have an uncanny ability to dominate the news cycle. People talk about Fox more than any other network, and until that changes, it's very unlikely that they will change their ways. After all, what do they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

In other news, Jonathan Chait has a piece on Joe Lieberman over at The New Republic. I agree with Chait's take on Lieberman, but still think that he's being too kind with Lieberman. If you compare what has become of Al Gore since 2000 and Joe Lieberman it's an astonishing difference. I'm sure that there are some who'd even have a hard time believing that they were even on the same ticket. Lieberman has become a media-seeking, revisionist history, foreign policy racketeering hack in the last eight years. Not only is Lieberman wrong in his assessment of how the democratic party has evolved over the last 50 years, but he's wrong, morally so about the arc of American politics in the last 50 years. I think even Karl Rove thinks that Lieberman is a little far right. Yet, just like he continued cozying up with Lobbyists long after it was no longer politically viable for any politician to do so, John McCain keeps on rolling with Lieberman as if Lieberman has anything to offer. Seriously, does Joe Lieberman have a constituency? McCain hanging around with Lieberman is like an someone kicking it with Andre Harrell thinking that they're going to get put on.

Also, in what will not be the last of such articles, The Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Kaufman has a piece exploring whether it's time to end Affirmative Action. As with most of these articles, Kaufman tries pitting working class blacks and whites against each other in a debate over who has the edge for getting that elusive slice of the american pie. As expected the article fails to address issues such as legacies and athletics in college admission. Sure, we all know that Becky's parents hate the idea of losing her place at Chapel Hill to Jamaal, but how do they feel about her losing that coveted spot to Tyler Hansbrough?

Finally, did anyone catch Obama's speech in Michigan? He's really on his game when talking about education. The Democrats are on the right side of most of the issues these days because Bush has tilted things so much in their favor, still I have a lingering suspicion that the Republicans will win this election. Not John McCain mind you, but the Republican party. If Obama is to be as bi-partisan as he suggests, he will have to make a concession to the republicans. We all know it won't be on either healthcare, education or the economy. The only thing left for the republicans is the war and the military. Withdrawing from Iraq will take years to expedite and military spending is not likely to be severely cut because Obama will want a second term, and the military does play a role in spurring innovation and developing technology. That said, what will an Obama presidency look like if the republicans get a chance to tool around with their favorite toy?

F-Dot