RNC Chair Michael Steel at a fundraiser in Connecticut, rewriting the history of the war in Afghanistan in front of a bunch of white people eating chips, white people who seem way overdressed for a picnic. It's hard to hear what he's saying what with the sound of people eating chips, but Talking Points Memo has a transcription:
"The McChrystal incident, to me, was very comical. And I think it's a reflection of the frustration that a lot of our military leaders have with this Administration and their prosecution of the war in Afghanistan," said Steele. "Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in."
UPDATE: The Huffington Post reports that Liz Cheney has joined Bill Kristol's call for Michael Steel's resignation. From Kristol:
"RNC Chairman Michael Steele's comments about the war in Afghanistan were deeply disappointing and wrong," Cheney's statement read. "The chairman of the Republican party must be unwavering in his support for American victory in the war on terror -- a victory that cannot be accomplished if we do not prevail in Afghanistan. I endorse fully Bill Kristol's letter to Chairman Steele. It is time for Chairman Steele to step down."
Hailed as a sign of renewed government transparency when they began airing last year, President Barack Obama's weekly video addresses have grown increasingly experimental in recent weeks, raising eyebrows nationwide.
Videos like the one that aired Tuesday morning, which begins with Obama outlining his new plan to provide healthier school lunches to the nation's children, but soon devolves into frantic editing, unsettling imagery, and dissonant audio effects, have left many wondering about the president's ultimate message.
From the guardian.co.uk: In the wake of the BP and their Tate sponsorship, Britain's leading cultural figures talk about corporate sponsorship of the arts.
Great art has always been involved with great fortunes: it was only a temporary distortion of history, a hangover from the Romantic idea that artists need be poor and tormented, that insisted art must be uncontaminated by trade. Patronage may well be a non-negotiable part of artistic activity. For a while, this principle was blurred when the interventionist economist J M Keynes helped found the Arts Council after the Second World War. Keynes simply made the state a patron. Do the oily protesters advocate refusal of the Arts Council's "government" money supporting the Tate because the same government money funded an illegal war in Iraq and a tragic war in Afghanistan? Of course they don't.
Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune on corporate arts support through public voting:
If you are a supporter of the arts in Chicago, you’ve doubtless been deluged of late with a request for votes. But there is no imminent major election in Illinois. Your swamped e-mail box is a consequence of a new trend in corporate philanthropy — giving money to the non-profit organization that racks up the most “votes.”
There have been several of these popularity competitions in recent weeks — it’s as if corporate giving has suddenly taken its cue from American Idol. And it’s beginning to get out of hand.
