1. For all the talk that Obama capitulated quickly, I noticed the same from Speaker Boehner. I can imagine that he thought that his deal that to be voted on Thursday was a pretty good one, but he couldn’t get enough votes from the Tea Party wing, so in went the balanced budget amendment. Seems there was an opportunity to get something done then and that Boehner could have done more to reign in the Tea Partiers and present a unified front. But perhaps I’m dreaming and the GOP is more fractious than I believe.
2. All the talk on Twitter is about the Dems capitulating. Look, there’s a lot of compromising that goes on in politics, that’s just the way it is. I reckon it all evens out; someday a Democratic minority will be able to dictate the terms of the debate and there will be GOPers gnashing their teeth over the party’s eagerness to concede.
3. I’ll admit that I had my doubts about reaching a deal before August 2nd (and there’s still plenty that could go on between now and then), but even this political cynic had enough faith that reason would prevail and something would get hammered out. I don’t think raising the debt ceiling has been pleasant for any administration since I’ve been alive, why should this be so different?

– George Lakey, address to the Friends General Conference Gathering, 7/5/10. Reprinted at The Threshing Session.

This is one of three Crispin Porter + Bogusky-produced ads for Groupon, a site that delivers one huge deal each day for a particular city. This is the only ad I’ve seen and I’ll tell you, when I first saw it, I was plenty pissed. I thought it was tasteless and made light of an issue affecting millions of people, only some of which are Tibetan.

Now I’m not so sure.

What some folks may not know, and what the commercials don’t tell you, is that you can point your browser at savethemoney.groupon.com where you can actually donate to the causes “portrayed” in each of the three commercials and Groupon will match it, dollar for dollar (of course, you’ll need to be a Groupon member). Groupon was born from a site called The Point, which brings people together to support causes with time and money, so they’ve been around the philanthropy block, and they’ve got a twisted sense of humor, one that doesn’t come across well without knowing beforehand. Add those up and the ads, believe or not, poke fun at their own origins. Knowing that, though, it’s hard to believe that someone up in Groupon HQ didn’t express any concerns about how the message would play (interestingly, Groupon released the ads on their blog shortly before The Big Game and some of the comments foreshadowed this debacle).

I’ve never had any desire to join Groupon and this commercial hasn’t changed my mind. But I’ve decided to do something. I’ve given a sum of money to the International Center for Tibet. Don’t just voice outrage at Groupon; do something positive. If not Tibet, then Greenpeace or The Rainforest Action Network.

The latest is that the Tibet ad is being pulled from the airwaves and the other two will likely be tweaked. Hope so. It would be a shame if the causes Groupon chose to match donations for get the shaft unfairly.

But we indeed have much soul-searching ahead of us, left and right. So far though, it seems it’s business as usual.

Update: The clock just turned to Tuesday. It took all of Monday for both sides to start pointing fingers at each other. Lord have mercy.

Update The Second: A well-reasoned article from David Brooks of the New York Times.

But the story doesn’t end there.

A decade later, he winds up in Damascus as a bloody massacre is underway. This man, who once devoted his life to repelling Christians in his homeland, now stood in defense of them. He faced down bloodythirsty mobs of Kurds, Druze and Arabs,  and, ultimately, delivered roughly 10,000 Syrian Christians to safety. It was an effort so bold, that the French awarded him the Legion of Honor, among other accolades from nations around the globe.

Check it out here, and stay tuned for the surprise ending.

@jdowdell Suppose Olympics Committee disqualified Russian athletes while their country is invading another? What would happen then? Might they do it?

You can find that here. Fucking Textile.

Well, you shouldn’t worry, Mark. I don’t smell what The Barack is cookin’. Full disclosure, though, I did vote for him in the Texas primary, but that’s because because I’d rather see him as the Democratic nominee.

That said, I don’t think I was incorrect either. There is something very typical, old-school, run-of-the-mill, whichever about Hillary’s tactics in this campaign. The “3am Phone Call” commercial, desperately trying to seat Michigan and Florida delegates, the picture of Obama in traditional Kenyan dress, those sort of things strike me as, like I said in the comment, “politics as usual.”

On the other side, you do have “politics based on hopeful change.” Say what you will about its lack of substance, it has nevertheless energized a whole cadre of Obamaniacs to canvas, to blog, to get out there and push their candidate to victory. Are they buying into a promise that Obama can’t possibly hope to fulfill? I’d say that’s very much likely. And in some ways, the constant talk of hope and change is actually disempowering when you think about it. Who’s going to be the catalyst for change in your family or your city? Obama? If elected, he’s going to park his butt in the Oval Office. Maybe make some legislative suggestions, sign some laws, write some signing statements, all those things you’d expect from a chief executive.

I think one of the things folks have to realize is that regardless of who’s president, change starts locally, so long as you’re willing to make the effort.

Would I like to see Obama as the Democratic nominee? Sure. But at this point, I’m likely voting McCain.