“Why, you crazy … the fall will probably kill ya!” The big jump from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Paul Newman passed away Friday night.
** ENCOMIUMS FOR PAUL NEWMAN. The encomiums for Paul Newman continue to pour in. My recollection of the man is that he would welcome them, but with a big shaker of salt. The current hagiographies would have caused him to gag.
Warren Beatty, who knew Newman well and considered playing the Sundance Kid (ultimately played in his breakout performance by a fellow named Robert Redford) — which would have meant he’d have to wear a cowboy hat, one of his least favorite things to do — told me this weekend that Newman was “a sweet, unpretentious guy.” And the gold standard for younger actors like Beatty coming up in the seminal 1960s.
We never got the chance to appreciate Newman’s great contemporary and (mostly) friendly rival, Steve McQueen, in the fullness of his life. McQueen, who lived for a time down the hall from Beatty on the penthouse floor of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel — what an interesting elevator that was — died a most untimely death at the age of 50, way back in 1980. Also from cancer.
Newman earned five Academy Award nominations after that, including his Oscar win as best actor in The Color of Money. I was pleased to have met both Newman and McQueen back when they were vying for the crown of top box office star in the world. They both starred, and nobody is mentioning this movie, merely one of the biggest hits of the era, in a movie set in my home town called The Towering Inferno. Newman played the architect of the world’s tallest building (in San Francisco!) and McQueen played the fire chief out to save it.
A thoroughly silly film, which also starred the great Faye Dunaway, a Beatty discovery. Which megastar had the top billing, Newman or McQueen? Well, it depends on how you look at it. Literally. One had his name on the left, mindful that in English, you read left to right. One had his name slightly above the other’s. Which was which? Bygones.
Let’s hear it for Paul Newman, one of the most enduring stars in history, well into this era of disposable celebrity. A gentleman with a deep sense of humor, who turned in some of the most indelible performances in some of the most classic films of the post-war era.
** IS THIS WEEK THE DECISIVE WEEK? This coming week may be the the decisive week in the presidential race. Barack Obama has taken the lead in the race, even before his debate performance Friday night, which polls and focus groups — if not the ponderings of pundits — show was won by him over John McCain. Even though this was the debate in which John McCain was supposed to shine.
There seems to be a deal in place in the Wall Street bailout, with both candidates in various forms of support, notwithstanding the anger of most of the country toward the rocket scientists of Manhattan.
But the deal, if it is passed in short order, will not mean that the economy is out of the woods. The obvious mismanagement of the US economy by the Bush/Cheney Administration, coupled with its obvious mismanagement of two wars, will continue to be a dominant issue in the campaign. Can the McCain campaign distance itself? It certainly hasn’t so far.
** SUNDAY — WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Barack Obama is in Detroit, Michigan.
Joe Biden is in Detroit, Michigan.
John McCain is in Washington, DC.
Sarah Palin is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, off the campaign trail cramming for her vice presidential Thursday night against Biden.
** ANOTHER POLL SAYS OBAMA WON THE DEBATE. The new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows Barack Obama defeating John McCain in Friday night’s debate, 46% to 24%. Obama did even better on the question of who has the best proposals to solve America’s problems, out-pointing McCain, 52% to 35%.
** TINA FEY TEES OFF ON SARAH PALIN AGAIN. Tina Fey, fresh off her Emmy wins last weekend as a comedy actress and writer, did her dead-on impersonation of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin again on Saturday Night Live. Most of Fey’s dialogue is actually lifted from the real Palin interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric. With a few further amusing tweaks.
** FAR RIGHT GROUP BACKS OFF SCHWARZENEGGER RECALL. The far right California Republican Assembly (CRA) voted yesterday to “investigate” the recall of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened by the state’s prison guards union. The union, which once ran roughshod over state politics, has been working without a contract for two years. CRA president Mike Spence, who came onto NWN last year to defend his characterization of then Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez as “a Communist fellow traveler,” backs the recall on account of Schwarzenegger’s insufficient conservatism.
Paul Newman, seen in this classic scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, has passed away.
** THE GUY IN MY REFRIGERATOR. The man whose picture has been in my refrigerator for 25 years has passed away. That would be Paul Newman, who said of his Newman’s Own salad dressing: “The sad thing is that the salad dressing out-grosses my films.” He was being amusing, as usual. The proceeds, incidentally, went to charity.
Paul Newman died of cancer last night at his home in Westport, Connecticut. His illness, which came on this year, had been kept private. He was 83.
Newman was one of the biggest stars in the history of movies, equally adept at playing the hero and the anti-hero. Like his mostly friendly rival, Steve McQueen, Newman set the standard in the ’60s for the action-oriented matinee idol. Like McQueen, he was also a top race car driver, finishing second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and running a US racing outfit for decades. Yet offscreen, he was a staunch political activist. He said he was prouder of making the Nixon enemies list than he was of his 10 Academy Award nominations.
Among his classic roles: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke (“What we got here is failure to communicate”), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (perhaps my boyhood favorite), The Sting, Absence of Malice (not an inducement to journalism), The Verdict (not an inducement to lawyering), The Color of Money (in which Newman won the Oscar he was nominated for in The Hustler by playing the older-but-wiser Fast Eddie Felson, who can teach that whipper-snapper Tom Cruise a thing or three), and Road To Perdition (his last Oscar-nominated role, in which he plays the current 007′s dad).
Newman was a great gentleman, a Hollywood oddity in that he was married to the same woman, Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward, for 50 years. “When you have steak at home,” Newman quipped, “why go out for hamburger?”
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put it this way: “Paul Newman was the ultimate cool guy, who men wanted to be like and women adored. He was an American icon, a brilliant actor, a Renaissance man and a generous but modest philanthropist. He entertained millions in some of Hollywood’s most memorable roles ever, and he brightened the lives of many more, especially seriously ill children, through his charitable works. Paul was one of a kind.”
The Fox News focus group in Las Vegas had Barack Obama as the winner of last night’s presidential debate over John McCain.
** FRIDAY NIGHT’S DEBATE: ADVANTAGE OBAMA. As I predicted yesterday, Barack Obama emerged from last night’s debate with the edge over John McCain. Neither candidate did what I thought they needed to do. McCain, I felt, needed to find a way to distance himself from his own deregulationist philosophy. I suppose he did, in a way, by going on and on about earmark reform. But, at $18 billion total, that’s Potomac-speak that most voters don’t relate to, and a drop in the bucket when it comes to the federal budget. Compared to his hundreds of billions in proposed tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. As Obama pointed out.
Obama didn’t really depart from his cool persona, which many find off-putting, but others find authoritative. He didn’t need to start waving his arms and shouting like Hubert Humphrey or Huey Long, but a more visceral identification with “they,” as he referred to the middle class, by which he means “we” before he became a best-selling author, is advisable.
But Obama did enough. He was very strong right out of the gate. At 18 minutes in, I texted a friend and told her Obama was owning the thing. Since the financial crisis portion of the supposed foreign policy debate went on for 40 of its 95 minutes, it was a real advantage for the freshman Illinois senator. Even though he stopped being aggressive by linking everything back to McCain’s support of the Bush/Cheney economic program and let McCain argue on Republican grounds, increasingly content to counter-punch. Nevertheless, Obama had the clear edge over McCain in the first roughly half of the debate.
And he was quite good in the geopolitics portion, showing in-depth knowledge and a cool command of the concepts. He was especially good when McCain tried to make the Iraq surge his winning issue, withering the Vietnam War hero with a barrage of reminders of how inaccurate his assessments of Iraq had been when it came time to invade in 2003.
Obama did struggle some with McCain’s effective attacks on Iran and Obama’s advocacy of talks “without preconditions” with its leader and those of other hostile nations. But McCain did himself no favors by getting the name of Pakistan’s new leader wrong and by repeatedly mispronouncing the name of Iranian boogeyman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He also committed a gaffe by claiming that Pakistan was a “failed state” when Musharaff became president. That’s a term of art that applied to Afghanistan, which is what I initially thought he said, but not Pakistan.
McCain looked frequently angry and was continually condescending. Obama was friendlier, on the surface, repeatedly agreeing with McCain on something and then slipping the knife in.
Having a sense of where the undecided independents and fringe Democrats are on these things, it was clear that McCain’s pique toward Obama — which I noticed and wrote about in May – was getting the better of his performance.
The two public polls, CNN and CBS, bore that out, with both showing Obama to be the winner.
Next Thursday night is the vice presidential debate, between Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joe Biden and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Biden, incidentally, was on all the news nets last night spinning for Obama in the debate’s aftermath. Palin, in contrast, after her unintentionally amusing interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric, was nowhere to be seen.
SATURDAY — WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Barack Obama is in Greensborough, North Carolina, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Washington, DC. He and Joe Biden have big rallies in battleground states North Carolina and Virginia.
Joe Biden is in Greensborough, North Carolina, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Washington, DC.
John McCain is in Washington, DC, working on the Wall Street bailout.
Sarah Palin is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with no public events. I presume she is studying up for her debate, but she’s doing so badly I hesitate to ask.
** SCHMIDT’S ARRIVED. The guests on Sunday’s Meet The Press are former President Bill Clinton, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod, and McCain campaign director Steve Schmidt, who ran Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006 re-election campaign.
** THAT FOREIGN POLICY DEBATE WE’RE NOT HAVING. Let’s face it. This has been a disappointing campaign. Two very interesting candidates. Some of the biggest issues going, both within and without the US, and they have to blow up in our faces to get much attention. Then there’s the ridiculous media coverage. Which brings us to tonight’s foreign policy debate, which is finally back on.
Part of the problem is what it’s called. Because foreign policy is not “foreign,” it’s geopolitics. The underlying essential dynamics of geopolitics deeply affect domestic politics. In the flows of energy and capital and products and people, in our military budget, and in flash-point electoral politics. When there is debate, we end up debating symptoms — illegal immigration from Mexico, a surge in Iraq — rather than systems. … From yesterday’s Huffington Post column.
** F1 SUNDAY. The globe-spanning Formula One racing circuit moves from Europe to Asia for the Singapore Grand Prix. England’s own Lewis Hamilton, the first black driver in F1, continues his duel for the world race driving championship with Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari. With four grand prix races to go — Singapore, Japan, China, and Brazil — Hamilton leads Massa by one point. The race starts at 5 AM Pacific on Speed TV.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns for the Los Angeles Times in debate with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included.
Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. After crashing over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, crude oil closed Friday at $106.89 per barrel. The global oil market is reacting to the proposed massive American move to stabilize Wall Street. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
The drop of over $41 per barrel since the record high two months ago comes on acknowledgement that the weak US economy will cut future demand and the easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Russian war with Georgia, confounding much speculation and reporting to the contrary, actually decreased the geopolitical risk premium in the oil market.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
Read 
| Comments (55) |
That is a great scene! Paul Newman was the man.
Newman definitely earned his angel wings. Great human being!
In honor of Mister Luke, I will be playing it cool and not make anyone spend the night in the box.
The Nevada undecided voters in Frank Luntz’s Fox focus group loved Obama.
I knew Barack won last night. This is exciting.
Bill,
Good stuff on Fast Eddie…the role I will always remember him for. World needs more people like Mr. Newman.
I love that scene from Butch Cassidy. That Redford guy is pretty good, too.
CB & Bill, you were right last night… (and i’m glad).
i posted some interesting links to polling last night on the end of yesterday’s blog b/f Bill posted this morning.
… now i’m going to have a hard boiled egg (but only one, ’cause i am a wuss).
Newman generated $250 million for charity with that dressing.
A film icon and by all accounts, a great human being.
Vio con Dios
Obama did everything he needed to last night — he was playing on McCain’s home turf.
I would expect Obama to take-off the kid gloves when they discuss the economy.
So — is the McCain campaign on or off right now?
Maybe Homeland Security could develop some color-coded status level so we can keep-up?
Mr. Brasky, I would like to see a color-coded status level of the economy. I suspect we would be at RED.
>Brasky:
Maybe Homeland Security could develop some color-coded status level so we can keep-up?
Paul Newman was before my time but he was the man. I thought Johnny Mac looked a little sick last night.
Is that a movie line? The second one, I mean.
“My advice to you is to begin drinking heavily.”
What movie is that from?
>Vladimir Bierko:
Mr. Brasky, I would like to see a color-coded status level of the economy. I suspect we would be at RED.
>Brasky:
Maybe Homeland Security could develop some color-coded status level so we can keep-up?
Sep 27, 2008 – 12:31 pm
Ah, once they agreed to debate, the campaign was back on.
Of course, it turns out that Team McCain actually did two debate prep sessions while the campaign was supposedly off …
>Brasky:
Obama did everything he needed to last night — he was playing on McCain’s home turf.
I would expect Obama to take-off the kid gloves when they discuss the economy.
So — is the McCain campaign on or off right now?
Maybe Homeland Security could develop some color-coded status level so we can keep-up?
Sep 27, 2008 – 12:03 pm
Ironically, my favorite of his salad dressings is the original, the olive oil and vinegar that he concocted with his neighbor. Two of them are in my fridge now.
>Brasky:
Newman generated $250 million for charity with that dressing.
A film icon and by all accounts, a great human being.
Vio con Dios
Sep 27, 2008 – 12:00 pm
What, not 50 eggs?!
>four waters:
CB & Bill, you were right last night… (and i’m glad).
i posted some interesting links to polling last night on the end of yesterday’s blog b/f Bill posted this morning.
… now i’m going to have a hard boiled egg (but only one, ’cause i am a wuss).
Sep 27, 2008 – 11:56 am
Redford. I think I’ve heard of that guy.
>Capitol Boy:
I love that scene from Butch Cassidy. That Redford guy is pretty good, too.
Sep 27, 2008 – 11:24 am
Thanks. A helluva guy. Of course, it’s not just anybody whose picture I keep in my refrigerator for 25 years.
>Sacramento Solon:
Bill,
Good stuff on Fast Eddie…the role I will always remember him for. World needs more people like Mr. Newman.
Sep 27, 2008 – 11:15 am
The irony is that Fox News ran that focus group in Las Vegas, one of John McCain’s favorite places.
>Jonas Blane:
The Nevada undecided voters in Frank Luntz’s Fox focus group loved Obama.
Sep 27, 2008 – 11:13 am
Maybe they get car wash detail, instead.
>Vladimir Bierko:
In honor of Mister Luke, I will be playing it cool and not make anyone spend the night in the box.
Sep 27, 2008 – 10:59 am
Yes, he was. I often wondered how hard it was to make it look that easy.
>carole w:
Newman definitely earned his angel wings. Great human being!
Sep 27, 2008 – 10:50 am
It was actually hard choosing one scene this morning.
>Jonas Blane:
That is a great scene! Paul Newman was the man.
Sep 27, 2008 – 10:49 am
I sure like those debate polls. I thought Obama was good if not great. McCain was angry and old.
Cal is way ahead of Colorado State. Their problem their last game is Coach Tedford had them fly East the day before for a game that started at 9 our time. Crazy.
Animal House btw – classic
Bill,
Absolutely nothing wrong with sounding like Huey Long, nothing at all. A little more populism might help Obama’s campaign.
Morning,
Away from politics and other important matters. Just read that a new marathon record has been established. Haile Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon in 2:03:59, thus becoming the first person to record a marathon time of less than 2:04.
My friends, that’s averaging 4:44 per mile for 26.2 miles. Unreal!!!!!
Enjoy your Sunday…
OMG this is priceless (sorry, Carole)
Tina Fey reprises her Gov. Palin persona in an interview with “Katie Couric”…
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/28/gov_palin_gets_the_snl_treatme.html
Thanks four waters, Tina Fey has Ms Palin’s random talking point free association answers down pat.
good analysis of ‘debate’.
here’s another fact check on McCain:
http://www.nirs.org/
MCCAIN JOB ESTIMATE ON NUCLEAR POWER NOT EVEN CLOSE TO REALITY
In tonight’s presidential debate, Senator John McCain repeated his claim that building 45 new nuclear power reactors by 2030 would somehow create 700,000 new jobs in the U.S. This is simply wishful thinking on Senator McCain’s part.
In fact, nuclear power is the most capital-intensive, most expensive way
possible to create new jobs in the United States. … according to sworn testimony before the Maryland Public Service Commission, top officials of UniStar Nuclear, which seeks to build a new, 1600 Megawatt nuclear reactor on the Chesapeake Bay, testified that this proposed project would create a maximum of 4,000 short-lived construction jobs—most lasting one year orless–and 360 permanent jobs.
Multiply that by 45 new reactors and you get 180,000 temporary jobs and 16,200 permanent jobs. Temporary jobs would be less than 20% of what McCain claims, permanent jobs would be far fewer than 5% of McCain’s claims.
Rough cost of 45 new nuclear reactors: according to Moody’s Investor Service and other independent sources, about $10 Billion per reactor, or about $450 Billion. Cost per job: if temporary and permanent jobs are thrown together, almost $400,000 per job; if only permanent jobs are considered, an
astronomical $4 million+ per job.
more: http://www.nirs.org/
Lief…
thanks! yes, very well done!
Tina should send Palin a kickback for so much good material.
whooops… yet again.
September 28, 2008
McCain retracts Palin’s Pakistan comments
Posted: 01:15 PM ET
From CNN’s Emily Sherman
Watch: Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions at Tony Lukes in South Philadelphia.
WASHINGTON (CNN)— Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin’s stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama’s support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists
“She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we’re not going to do anything except in America’s national security interest,” McCain told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos of Palin. “In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that’s—that’s a person’s position… This is a free country, but I don’t think most Americans think that that’s a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin.”
…. from Political Ticker (CNN)
the blog is eating my posts…
It’s lunch time, what do you expect?
Barack rocketed into a big lead after the debate in the Gallup Daily, which has undercounted him for week.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110740/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Moves-50-42-Lead.aspx
McCain was a joke. Palin. Can we remove her femininity so she doesn’t embarrass every serious woman in the country?
Bill… i love HB eggs, but it took me quite a while to eat one again after i saw the movie the first time. i still can’t watch that scene.
“What, not 50 eggs?!”
>four waters:
… now i’m going to have a hard boiled egg (but only one, ’cause i am a wuss).
Ann,
i soooooooooo agree!!!
makes me wince.
“TINA FEY TEES OFF ON SARAH PALIN AGAIN.”
McCain beleives that, should he not be able to fullfill his term, Sarah Palin is the most qualified among 300 million Americans to be president.
Just thought I should point that out again.
Thanks. You’ve ensured that sleep won’t come easy this evening.
this is so sad… for the two kids, McCain as a career public servant, and as an indication of the hole into which America’s political dialogue has fallen… i wish i did not believe it was true.
[It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”]
From The Sunday Times
September 28, 2008
McCain camp prays for Palin wedding
The marriage of the vice-presidential candidate’s pregnant teenage daughter could lift a flagging campaign
Sarah Baxter in Washington
In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.
Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”
more…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4837644.ece
FW,
Too early to begin drinking?
I like these debate polls!
How do we know California voters will trend according to the polls? What influenced the last primary to go to Hillary Clinton , when the polls claimed Obama was winning the state? What is the historic accuracy of poll samples versus actual winning votes? Is that the calculated 3% error margin? What does Schmidt have up his sleeve next? Will either campaign spend anytime in California in the month of October? Is the undecided vote worth a high dollar Advertising campaign in California? When are we going to start talking about the Electoral College?
That is the wish list of questions for the next couple of weeks and yes I know it is Sunday night. My questions are geared towards the upcoming Huff Po and NWN columns.
Does Obama win California?
No question about it.
Now back to my Sunday night.
four waters – nice, a shotgun wedding. maybe the current vp could officiate…
of course, if the campaign puts the wedding out there as a public event, it does allow the media to take the gloves off as far as discussing Palin’s family. it also gives more traction to the Enquirer story, imo
the whole thing makes me sick! (not to Carole, Brasky…)
as to what Schmidt has up his sleeve… i do believe it may be a wedding.
he did bring Paris into the campaign once, you know. Politics via US magazine. lovely!
and Carole if the votes ARE really off, its in Obama’s favor, nor McCain’s.
BB — you wouldn’t be a 49′er fan would you?
What chance does McCain have to win California?
Is there a number lower than zero?