Casino Royale Pays Out Big

I saw the latest Bond film, Casino Royale, on opening night Friday. I must say I was very impressed with the movie. Daniel Craig did an excellent job. In fact, by the end of the movie I was thinking he might have a shot at being one of the best Bond's if the movies continue at this level and if he gives it more than the three films he's signed up for. Otherwise he's likely to fall into the Timothy Daulton realm, though I can't imagine the quality of the films falling off that badly from where it is now.

Let me start by saying that Roger Moore has always been my favorite Bond. I'm 42 so I pretty much only saw Sean Connery as Bond in re-runs. My first live Bond was Live and Let Die at a drive-in and it had a major impact on me and searing Moore into my memory as the quintessential Bond image.

As far as Casino Royale goes, there was very little to complain about and that's saying a lot given the Bond movies going back to about Moonraker forward.

On the plus side:

Craig works as Bond. I'll cover concerns later. He's got a persona that just wins you over. I was definitely someone who felt he'd make a better villian than Bond so I apologize for underestimating the actor.

I saw a few reviews that suggested that the film lacked the classic Bond humor and I couldn't disagree more. What it lacked was the over-the-top, campy, silly humor that had gotten old 25 years ago. The humor in this one was spot on and I sincerely hope it maintains this level moving forward.

The edginess of the script and the look was a welcome change. Older Bonds were extremely superficial. This one was dark, foreboding and deeper than most Bond films.

The villian was excellent. My biggest gripe with Bond films, with few exceptions, is that the villian is usually a ridiculously cartoonish character that's entirely unbelievable. One of the things that made Goldfinger so good is that he was just evil. He didn't need a prosthetic device or some goofy hobby. He was just a whack-nut who looked live everyone else. Except for a bleeding eye, this villian was quite balanced, normal and just plain evil. If the guy walked around on a wooden leg it would have been unnecessary and distracting. "M" doesn't need anything outlandish to be the head of MI6 so please, don't keep giving the villians idiotic handicaps and personalities.

The music was pretty good, though I was surprised that the classic theme was pretty absent until the credits. The new song is extremely catchy and I find myself looking for it on the radio.

Also, the opening credits were simply fantastic. Whoever did them deserves recognition. It looked 3D and just really pulled you in.

On the bad side:

The movie was a bit long. I don't mind that at all when the flow stays up but this one had about 20 minutes of story that just drug out things more than needed.

There were several plot elements that were blatantly obvious. If Bond conveniently found anymore cellphones with critical info on them, I was going to lose it. It wasn't just cellphones either. People simply don't leave their most important belongings lying around for everyone to check out.

Please refrain from having Daniel Craig run so much in the next Bond films. First, Craig doesn't look right running. It's not as bad as Steven Seagal but it's not much better either. Some people just don't look right running all out and Daniel Craig is one of them. What made it worse was that the guy seemed to want to run at the drop of a hat. Villian loose? Get running. Girl in trouble? Get running? In need of a snack? Get running. Every time I turned around the guy was off on another sprint.

I did find Craig's ears to be a bit big, and slightly distracting initially but that went away by then end. My most concerning criticism of the person with respect to playing Bond is that I think his voice isn't right for it. Virtually every other actor playing the part had a very suave, romantic, commanding voice. Craig's voice just doesn't have any of those characteristics. Perhaps it's something I'll adjust to next time out.

All in all, that's not much in the way of complaints given the past and I suspect things might just improve dramatically as Craig makes the role his own.

Bush Just Lacks Common Sense

Let's face it, President Bush just isn't exactly overflowing with common sense. He may be a leader but a leader doesn't have to be the brightest guy in the room. He usually has to have some common sense however.

It seems that at just about every turn Bush gives us yet another reason to doubt his skills in this regard. Many have already forgotten about his seriously lacking attempt to put forth his own attorney, Harriet Miers, as a Supreme Court nominee. Anyone with common sense would have realized that was a pipe dream from the outset. Only those who see no wrong in what Bush does would have seen that as anything other than the short-sighted fiasco it became.

The examples of this continue all through his tenure. Who else would think that saying, "Bring 'em on" was a good idea? Who else would say, "You're doing a hell of a job Brownie" to his FEMA guy while people were starving on rooftops and dying in the Superdome?

The latest example of his complete lack of common sense is with his handling of the whole Donald Rumsfeld situation. The moment he walked out for that press conference and started turning the discussion towards Rumsfeld I just knew this would be another of those moments.

First, he failed to realize that this was another example of why people shouldn't listen to a word this man says. A week before he'd brazenly informed, in fact insisted, that Rumsfeld (and Dick Cheney) would be with him in their roles until the end of his term. This was a flat-out lie. He attempted to defend it by suggesting that he couldn't say anything for two reasons. First, he hadn't talked to his replacement yet and second, he didn't want to give the Dems anything to help their cause so close to the election.

On the one hand we have the issue of the lie itself. It doesn't matter how he justified it. In the end he believes that lies are fine as long as you have a "good reason" much the same way Rush Limbaugh admitted to being full of crap for his perceived good reason. This pretty much guarantees that the line about his having lacking intelligence before going into Iraq was a complete sham. He felt he had a good reason to go into Iraq and therefore it was perfectly okay to lie about it to get us to go along. Please explain how any right-thinking person isn't supposed to connect those dots?

The fact that none of his reasons makes any common sense is the point I was getting at. While the lie is bad enough on its own, it's the lack of common sense that shines through yet again. So what if Bush hadn't talked to Rumsfeld's successor yet. That doesn't mean it made sense to go out and lie, aggressively, to the world about your thinking. Bush knew he wasn't sticking around so it made no sense to go out and declare his support. He had to know, one hopes, that this would come up later after a move was made.

Second, and most telling, is Bush's complete lack of understanding of the impact of the timing of this resignation. Bush had three options with respect to parting ways with Rumsfeld:

1. Let him go before the elections.
2. Let him go just after the elections as he did.
3. Let him go well after the elections.

Of the three options, the one he chose was clearly the least beneficial to his own cause. By letting him go immediately after the landslide victory by the Democrats there's absolutely no way to avoid having it appear as if you did this because of the loss, especially when you admitted you lied just the week before about the situation.

Had he let Rumsfeld go before the elections I have absolutely no doubt (as do several ousted Congress members) that the Republicans would have at least held control of the Senate. So many of the races were decided by razor-thin margins. For many, Bush's seemingly blind support for Rumsfeld came off as intransigence. The public was just worn-out with his inflexibility on everything and this statement was just another fine example of it, or so it seemed. Thus, a number of Republicans went to the polls believing one thing when, actually, their leader was about to be more responsive. Surely a number of those voters would have seen that as a positive step and would have voted to give him a sign of support, at least enough of him to sway any one of the close elections.

Had Bush decided to wait and let Rumsfeld go in another month he could have easily had it spun that the move was necessary, in the light of the elections, to garner future support from the Democrats. He could have looked to fight the good fight only to give in later in the face of overwhelming opposition. His party would have respected that.

Instead, lacking common sense, President Bush once again chose the worst possible option. It helped absolutely no one from his side of the aisle and only served to set many of the remaining supporters against him. That goes a long way towards explaining why his polling is now down to 33% approval. One has to wonder about that 33% but heck, in every poll there's also that one surprising minority that just defies any explanation. They too lack common sense so it's actually pretty fitting that the two come together for this issue.

The Radio Shift

Well, it's clear that the right-wing radio shows figured out that the world is a very different place for them post-election than it was before the election.

Each of the shows I've listened to had a dramatically different tone to them than they did before. The one that really amazes me is Rush Limbaugh. He essentially came out and told his listeners that he's been full of crap during the run of the entire administration by saying that he feels liberated to not have to carry the water for people who don't deserve having their water carried for them.

In other words, he's been giving people perspectives on the issues that he doesn't even believe in. He said, among other things, ""some of this legislation coming out of there that I have just cringed at, and it has been difficult coming in here, trying to make the case for it..." Here's the top punditry show in the country admitting that the legislation was so bad that its star had to cringe over it. Yet that didn't stop him from selling his listeners on the "wisdom" behind it.

He came out and essentially said that it was okay to lie to his audience because "the stakes are high". He believes that lying is fine because, he claims, that the Right could solve their own problems but only from a position of strength. Of course that suggests that if they did win that they'd have the viewpoint of needing to correct anything, but hey, that's part of Kool-Aid dilemma. He said that he did it simply because he didn't want to take part in any Democratic victory.

It's much the same story on the other shows. Sean Hannity is still crying and making up all sorts of nefarious plots that, like almost all of his predictions, have no chance in hell of coming true.

Local pundit Dom Giordano was an exception. He seemed genuinely perplexed by the chain of events. He kept asking how it makes sense that soon-to-be-ex-Senator Rick Santorum could be so soundly beaten by "novice" (and that's the best word used to describe him) Bill Casey Jr.

He went over the numbers last night and couldn't understand how, across the board, Santorum was rebuffed. I genuinely felt sorry for the guy. He clearly just doesn't have the pulse of the people. Rick Santorum epitomized everything that we dislike about George W. Bush. He was the poster boy for being in lock-step with the President and, as a result, was soundly defeated. How is that a mystery? Giordano kept asking, "How can the wealthiest voters have voted so heavily for Bob Casey?"

Dom, it's simple; Everyone is simply that fed up with just about everything this administration and Congress has done (or not done) that we'd vote for just about anyone else. I have grave reservations about New Jersey Senator Robert Mendendez. I just have this feeling that the guy isn't on the up-and-up. However, nothing official has been tied to him yet so my currently unfounded concerns weren't enough to vote for Tom Kean, Jr. for fear that he'd win and give the impression that I, in any way, support the current state of the Republican agenda. I would rather risk a single embarrassment of a Senator than to risk giving the party currently in control any hint of support.

I voted Republican in some local state-level races but that hasn't seemed to help much either. New Jersey is the most heavily taxed state in the country and that's after having had Tom Kean and Christie Todd Whitman in charge for 16 years collectively (both Republicans of whom I supported). Only now, with a Democrat I don't really trust in office (and didn't vote for), Jon Corzine, is the state legislature making serious overtures towards major property tax reform. I suspect it has nothing to do with Corzine but I have to wonder why the conservatives couldn't get this on the table.

In Giordano's case I think the problem is even more disturbing. Time and again he kept asking how the rich could vote for Casey, how the Jews could vote for Casey, how the soccer mom's could vote for Casey. It didn't make any sense to him. I hate to say this but I think the reality of the situation is clear. People like this guy want to believe that the only reason they lost is because, in their minds, stupid blacks came out and voted because they're so easily misled and stole the election from the smart white people. I know that's harsh but Giordano coupled his comments with commentary on how rain affects voting and that it's a proven fact that, if it rains, blacks don't show up to vote. He went on to say that, given this, he was praying for rain.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the listeners to these shows need to wake up and realize they've been lied to and deceived. These shows were all part of a coordinated effort to consolidate power for the purpose of those at the top of the food chain. It never had anything to do with the listeners and their concerns. You were just used for everything you were worth and now that the punditry has been so soundly rebuffed as false, these charlatans are doing whatever they can to convince you to keep listening so that they can keep their paychecks coming in. Sean Hannity is greater American than any other. He's just a shrewder one.

Oops

Went to bed pretty late and woke up to find virtually nothing changed. The Democrats appear to have swept the board in a mandate that makes 1994 look like a small victory.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the Senate going to the Democrats as well. I was looking forward to a nice period of immobility. I'm hoping that if the situation stays this way (Montana and Virginia stay in the hands of the Dems) that it doesn't go to the Dems head to the point that they start talking like they own the place.

By the way, someone should tell the President that this is what it looks like to earn political capital unlike his view of it.

The one thing I can't wait to hear is the crying that's going to come out over at the Sean Hannity show. It was already well under way during yesterday's show. Today should be a real treat. In fact, thinking about it, this is the guy that said keeping Nancy Pelosi from becoming Speaker of the House is worth dying for. Since he's so willing to volunteer others to die for his causes and now that there's a chance that arch enemy Hillary Clinton could become Majority Speaker of the Senate, I'm wondering if Sean would do us all a favor and just volunteer himself for a quick, pointless (but ultimately beneficial) demise.

I also have to wonder just how many more of you out there still insist that this administration is on the right path. I can't imagine being handed a bigger sign of opposition than what happened last night. Face it, George W. Bush is now fully a lame duck President. It's over. He's not getting anything else done that he wants. Those left on the Right will now be aligning with people they think have a chance in 2008 to be President. The guy was never anything more than a pumped up stand-in for a President and this sign-off will go a long way towards solidifying his term as being a complete loss.

What's your argument today? This isn't some poll that you can try to talk away. This isn't the so-called liberal media spinning events. This is millions upon millions of Americans sounding off loud and clear that they do not agree with the path or choices this lot has brought us.

It's time to get on the same bandwagon with the rest of us and start moving forward together.

Somber Fox News

I'm switching between the three major news networks during the election coverage and it's quite entertaining. On CNN everyone is a bit upbeat and they're covering the story as you'd expect. I was a bit shocked to see them call Maryland for the Dems before any votes were counted but they've got their sources so we'll see how that goes for them.

Over on MSNBC you've got Chris Matthews looking about as comfortable as Rosa Parks on a bus. He's talking but every other paragraph is another slam at a Democrat. He still seems to be pissed that the Left is doing so well without having stated a firm plan for Iraq should they prevail. What's ironic about that is that the Right had no plan and yet that didn't seem to stop them from taking us into the war that caused this evening to be so contentious. The strange thing is that something odd is going on between Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough. Joe went off for about two minutes demanding that Chris and the gang vindicate him from positions that Matthews apparently tried to paste on him over the last couple of years. It was an extremely uncomfortable two minutes to watch.

The really funny thing is to switch over to Fox News. Brett Hume looks like he died around 6pm and no one's informed his body. The tone is entirely down. Everyone is speaking slowly, quietly and struggling to find anything positive to comment on. I've actually tuned away from Fox simply because it's too boring to watch with that sort of atmosphere.

As I write this it seems pretty obvious that the house is going for the Left with the Senate looks to stay with the Right. The Dems need, basically, three out of four races currently held by Republicans who also are all slightly ahead at this point. Frankly it won't matter much how this goes. The end result will be that the Senate will be so close that almost nothing will be able to get done there.

Dems Could Surprise Us But It Would Be A Surprise.

If the Democrats take control of Congress this week, I have to wonder what the odds are that they'll look back at 1994 and think, "Let's do something to assure that doesn't happen again in our generation".

What would do that?

First, the Dems should do everything in their power to curb the spending. They talked a lot about how spending is out of control with the current administration and Congress. Fine. Show us how you can provide social programs but also balance the budget.

Second, do everything humanly possible not to raise taxes for anyone from the middle class down. Rolling back the gifts Bush provided to the wealthy I have no issue with even though I personally benefit there. The wealthy will play that as increasing taxes but make sure they can only point to wealthy people paying what they paid before.

The Dems have a chance here to throw every single accusation right back at the Republicans by simply not giving them the ammunition. The big question is, can they keep their hands out of the ammo box? I have serious doubts about that but it would certainly be great to see them give it a shot for a change.

It's Just Not Sustainable

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in Pennsylvania yesterday stumping for Senator Rick Santorum, who appears to be on his way out in the race there. What was interesting was his trying to sell the concept that if people like Santorum are voted out of Congress (in other words, Republicans) then the country will go back on the defense in the war on terrorism, "rather than being on offense the way we are now."

My simple question is, how the hell do people like Giuliani think that we can sustain being on offense the way we are now???

We've got troops mired in a mess in Iraq. Our military leaders are now starting to abandon the ship and admit this isn't working out and yet stuffed-shirts like Giuliani think we should keep people like Santorum around simple to keep the status quo?

Just how long do these people think we're going to be willing to allow our kids to be killed in a foreign country for some ethereal concept like a "war on terror"? Just how long do they think we're going to want to be toothless in the face of other more serious threats like Iran and North Korea?

Rick Santorum represented some of the absolute worst of what this administration did to this country. Let's not forget that this is one of the ringleaders of the shameful Terry Schiavo escapade. He should be gone for that alone but that's another topic. The bottom line is that people like Giuliani continue to act as if staying on the current path is somehow a real option. It isn't.

I expect some amazingly dramatic changes after the elections on Tuesday regardless of who wins or what party controls each house. The reality is that the course ran out some time ago. It's all just politics right now.

Now the Military is the Enemy

Tonight, on the way home from seeing the movie "The Prestige" (a surprisingly good movie utterly destroyed by the last 15 minutes), I was listening to the local conservative radio station as usual when Dom Giordano (a local conservative talker) asked if the military press had any credibility.

I thought, "What a strange question for a conservative to be asking." I was in the military and the military press hasn't had credibility going back quite a long way. They've been heavily conservative for as long as I can remember and, for pretty obviously heavy-handed reasons. It's not exactly a major surprise that the military press would actually limit what our soldiers can hear. Just ask liberal talk show host Ed Schultz about his experience with trying to get on Armed Forces Radio.

Anyway, I was then shocked to realize that Giordano was actually asking if the military press had any credibility because of their liberal bias! It turns out that this weekend each of the military papers will be featuring a story demanding the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. So now, even the military must be put down. Generals who spoke out vanished from view and now the military press is a haven of liberal, terror-loving traitors to our country.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, the pile of people supporting this fiasco of an administration is getting smaller with every passing day. Their latest whiff of hope was in trying to suggest that volunteer, decorated veteran John Kerry meant to bash our troops. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a big Kerry supporter and I don't plan to support him in 2008, but I also am bright enough to realize exactly what and whom he was criticizing with his comments. Suggesting he was insulting the troops is like suggesting that Ronald McDonald has come out against McDonaldland Cookies.

The bottom line is that those left screaming about the rest of us who don't get it, don't get it. It's time to pack up your shrinking tent and go home.