Kevin Gallagher, a Democratic candidate for Tennessee House District 89 and former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, has placed a rather unfortunate image at the top of his campaign blog. It’s a photo of what appears to be a well-worn pair of Converse All Stars placed on top of the Tennessee flag. It’s evidently intended to be a visual illustration of his blog’s title, tennissues (as in “tennis shoes”) — a blend of Tennessee and issues, but it’s a terrible way to get the point across.

In Arab countries, touching the bottoms of your shoes to something is a gesture of contempt, and stomping your shoes on something carries a similar meaning in this country. It should go without saying that it’s unwise for a politician to place his dirty shoes on the state flag, the handling of which is carefully and respectfully regimented. How this came to be Gallagher’s main banner image is a bit of a mystery and doesn’t speak well of his judgment.

But it forces one to wonder what kind of images his opponent in the Democratic primary, Jeanne Richardson, has included with her campaign materials. Perhaps she’s stripped apart a flag and has fashioned it into a mesh shopping bag. With the Tennessee seal, of course.

UPDATE: Heh: “That image should be a badge of honor.” - Freedonian.

What possible advantage can Rep. Steve Cohen obtain from asking his constituents to fill out this ridiculous issues poll?

The survey forces participants to choose between a series of biased options and false choices, nearly assuring that Cohen’s obviously pre-approved spin will come out ahead. What’s more, all eight questions are mandatory in order to participate, meaning that the few true choices available cannot be recorded without submitting several false ones, some of them obviously designed to identify and weed out conservative participants.

Of what real value is a survey that doesn’t offer true choices, nothing other than tricking voters into agreeing with your predetermined policies or making them look stupid?

For example, question one: “Which policy regarding U.S. involvement in Iraq do you support?”

• An immediate withdrawal.
• A one year time table for withdrawal with benchmarks.
• Stay the course until the President says the job is done.
• Not sure.

None of these come close to the mainstream conservative position on Iraq, and even the supposedly-neutral response “not sure” implies indecision or indifference rather than simple disagreement with the first three options.

Even a question on the 2nd Amendment, which Rep. Cohen apparently defends, is subtly weighted in favor of his position: “Do you support the right to bear arms?” How does he expect a gun control advocate to respond — No, I don’t support that right? Please.

Question four, on global warming, forces you into agreement with global alarmists who opt for immediate government action, agreement with global alarmists who think government action can wait a while, or total disagreement. Being concerned about climate change but preferring private solutions — that’s not an option.

If you have a reasonable, free market position on stem cells, forget it. Your only choices are increased government funding, current government funding or a ban on the research. Privately funded research — not an option.

Are you a pro-lifer? Unless you think abortion should be illegal in every circumstance, you’re out of options.

Cohen obviously has a position on all of these issues, but if he were genuinely seeking input, I would have expected something more comprehensive.

Freedonian calls Steve Steffens, a.k.a. Left Wing Cracker, “the dean of the Memphis liberal blogosphere.”

But what sort of dean is he on a day like this, which finds him celebrating (along with his fellow left-wing Memphis bloggers) the death of a controversial public figure, who passed just this morning?

Howard Dean, perhaps?

And though Mr. Cracker bristles at the suggestion that he is a “chorus,” a study of his recent activity suggests that, while he may not actually be a chorus, he certainly plays one on the small screen.

So, without further ado, we present the complete, unabridged comments of Left Wing Cracker that have been posted over the past week or so:

• Megadittoes!
• What Jeff said.
• Harris looks great on a horse.
• Should I start reciting the Lord’s Prayer backwards right about now?
• Well, who gave Mike Godwin the right to make laws?
• These kids and their music -it’s just NOISE! Hey! Get the hell off my lawn!

I feel smarter already.

THE PLEDGE

You may have followed the exchange playing out online between some other local bloggers and me recently.

I caught some heat after being the first to comment on a new blog post, where I left a terse little message. Though I didn’t say it directly, my criticism boiled down to this: the blogger had posted some disparaging remarks about somebody I respect without giving it adequate thought or due diligence.

As a result of my comment, some pretty terrible things were said about me, and several bloggers wrote in response, in comments and updates. One of the writers was quite vulgar in his response to me, but no moreso than he had been in the past.

Our little feud actually started about a year ago, when I wrote a post for the Main Street Journal blog. It was a look at the people behind a local radio program, which had been classified as a “hate group.” I opened that post with a caveat saying that I had debated whether or not I should even address the subject, meaning that I had mixed feelings about adding more oxygen to the fire, since they actually seemed to be enjoying the negative publicity. This caveat was wrongly interpreted as being a fear of political repercussions that might result if I were to tick off the “extremists.” And tick them off, I certainly did.

THE TURN

That blog debate I described above happened at… Blue Collar Republican, where I questioned blogger John Farmer’s use of the word “bigot” to describe a member of the Tennessee legislature.

Austin Farley, a BCR co-blogger and former host of the aforementioned radio program, is apparently still smarting from his overwhelming loss to Rep. Jim Coley and alleges that Coley and/or his associates spread some misinformation about Farley’s religion during the campaign.

Farmer made a mistake in advancing these allegations and defaming Coley without proof, or supporting material, or links, etc.

In response to my comment (”What exactly makes Jim Coley a bigot?”), Farmer questioned my memory and Farley started attacking me by questioning my manhood, calling me a “sackless little worm”:

Mick just what makes you a man? I think you would have to have a set of balls to qualify as a man and I don’t think you have them.

That would be an ad hominem attack. A stupid, vulgar, ridiculous, pointless ad hominem attack.

That’s ok. I can take it. Actually, I sort of wear it as a badge of honor, that someone so disreputable could dislike me so much for so little. And sometimes the abuse I receive is fairly entertaining.

THE PRESTIGE

The sad thing is how common this nonsense has become, how Farley’s vitriol is equally matched by another one of my sparring partners on (what most people consider to be) the opposite side of the political spectrum — “Peskyfly” Chris Davis, the Leftist blogger and Memphis Flyer contributor.

Since Farley and Davis share the same love for invective, I just might be well within my rights to start referring to them jointly as Chris Farley — the overweight joker with a few M&Ms shy of a fun size pack, if only it weren’t an insult to the original Chris Farley.

Of course, if you’ve been following along, a nearly identical situation occurred at Pesky’s The Flypaper Theory blog, with me questioning a post and receiving all kinds of hatred in return.

Ironically, my row with Davis has its roots in that very same post at the Main Street Journal blog. (more…)

Now Jackson Baker devotes an entire post to mocking me with his best Stephen Colbert impression. Sigh. I guess this means I’ll need to waste another 2 or 3 hours of my time cutting through the cobwebs. But since I don’t have that kind of time to spare at the moment, we’ll just leave this up as an open thread for your comments. As my mom says, “I shall return.”

This Obamashop reminded me of the metamorphosis of Che Guevara, whose image has become an ubiquitous icon, detached from reality.

The artist (iconographer) started with this photograph.

The first step was to crank up the contrast, making his expression stark and stripping away those feminine wisps of hair and the worry line on his forehead.

Now a little more brightness and contrast, leaving the image grainy and other-worldly, as human Che becomes comic superhero.

Next the image is cropped in tight, for three very important reasons:

1. Che is emphasized.

2. Che’s companion, the object of his attention, disappears, rendering the facial expression mysterious and charging it with meaning.

3. Che’s embarrassing Thriller costume is hidden from view.

Che’s eyes are then highlighted and altered, turning his gaze from immediate, hesitant and temporary to defiant, commanding and visionary.

The star on his beret is also reinforced and enlarged.

It’s subtle, but the image is rotated just a couple degrees, balancing his features and pointing his eyes upward, as if he were plotting to overthrow the heavens.

Finally, the image is painted blood red, that bold, communist color, which neutralizes his complexion and makes the icon complete.

It’s a pretty brilliant work of propaganda, you must say.

Here’s another one I did just for fun.

I figure Nancy Pelosi is as good a subject as any:

The earrings are my favorite part.

John Farmer alerts us that goreal warming causes both more and fewer hurricanes, just as it causes both extreme heat and extreme cold, both hair growth and male pattern baldness. So, since goreal warming is both the problem and the remedy, I say we should start doing more, and less, to solve it. BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!!

To think of all the felled trees and misappropriated tapioca pudding wrappers…

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