Ana Marie Cox

Expenses Update

Cab fare from Toledo airport to Toledo hotel: $56.

Not a limo. In fact, driver encouraged me to join him in the front.

For which I assume one of us would get a discount.

Pledge Drive Update

It looks as though I will be heading out on the trail shortly to start putting a dent in the $7,000 or so that total strangers have provided. Words cannot properly convey my gratitude and amazement in the faith you people seem to have in a little Midwestern girl and her fondness for foul language, politics, and hard-luck stories -- not in that order.

Due to the astronomical costs of traveling with a campaign, I am pretty sure that amount will run short of covering the trail through election day. (The cost of access to the McCain press center on election night alone is almost $700, not including the hotel room, or cost of getting there -- a single day of plane travel can be as much as $2,000, though it can also be less.) But I'll be keeping track, and posting a rough running total -- and continuing to offer new and exciting ways to participate in this grand experiment in citizen journalism. But don't worry, I'll pay for my own drinks. Or at least will make sure you don't have to.

My seat on the McCain plane has been temporarily hijacked -- I get it back Friday -- so tonight I'll be joining Palin for a few days, starting in Toledo tonight for a 9:30AM rally tomorrow. If you don't hear from me by 10, send help. Seriously: Not money, but help.

EXPENSES:

Northwest flight from DCA to TOL (connecting in Detriot): $296.00

New Pledge Drive Option: NAME THAT SEAT

First of all: Thank you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. I am humbled and amazed by the generosity of those out there in the tubes. You have made it difficult for me to maintain my air of jaded bitterness, but since I assume that is one of things you are paying for (in addition to my email address, the opportunity to ask a McCain staffer a question, etc.) I shall continue to struggle to keep it. Perhaps I will watch some more "Rock of Love" re-runs. Or Sarah Palin rallies.

At the moment, donations come to about $2500 -- a thousand past my goal of simply seeing the McCain campaign off into the gentle night come Nov. 4 (literally! sort of!), and just about enough to cover spending election eve out on the trail as well. My original plan for the Radar piece was to go out with the campaign for the last five days, and my favorite McCain staffer (hi there, Kristin!) has assured me that I am "manifested" on the campaign charter for those five days. It is a position -- being "manifested" on the plane -- for which other journalists' egos have fought and died for and I am loath to give it -- my "manifestation" -- up, so I'm going to keep this little bake sale going in hopes of not simply being "manifested" but rather actually inhabiting the corporeal space on the McCain plane as well. Also, I may never get to use the word manifest as a verb again.

And now that Radar no longer exists: anyone who ponies up over $1500 to cover the price of that seat will have the privilege of naming it. That is, when the McCain aide who sends out the daily seating assignments, she (Kimmie Liscomb, everyone, girl genius!) will need to put something down where "Radar" used to be. BEFORE (click to enlarge):

AFTER!

Sure, I could use my own name, like Sophie, the French documentarian, but, I would find that sad and also I do not want the kind of brand recognition Sophie has.

And, by the way, this is just for fun. There's no official list, there's not really a way to preserve the genius that might be, say, "Ana Marie Cox, representing Joe: The Magazine," or "Ana Marie Cox, of ACORN! The MUSICAL!" or "Ana Marie Cox, brought to you by Stanley Kurtz." But I will take pictures of said seat, send you the seating chart and, you know, it will live on the memories of us all.

Please no language that I cannot safely repeat on national television. And please avoid the use of the names of any actual candidates. Or staffers. We depend on the good will of Kimmie for this to work -- in general I depend on the good will of Kimmie for a lot. For everything else, I depend on you.

Rate Card

Hi. Welcome to my world. A world in which Radar Magazine does not exist.

It will cost about $1500 to cover just the last day of the campaign, and over $1000 a day for each day leading up to it. While I still blog for TIME's "Swampland" * -- and I will for as long as they let me! -- I am without a source for travel funds.

So, you know, anyone interested in sponsoring a foul-mouthed blogger, slightly used? I have come up with the following pledge drive bonuses! Rewards are cumulative.

• Anything: Good karma, knowledge that sometimes merit is rewarded. If not in this particular case.
• Over $10: A personal thank-you email (please include your email in "instructions for seller")
• Over $50: A personal thank-you phone call (please include your phone number in "instructions for seller")
• Over $100: My instant message screen name, regular personal updates via email and/or instant messages on election night
• Over $250: I will ask a senior McCain adviser the question of your choosing and send you the MP3 audio of the exchange
• Over $500: Phone call from McCain headquarters on election night, detailing hilarious antics sure to ensue
• Over $1000: One-on-one post-election dinner debrief

I also have for sale a half-finished article on "The Last Days of the McCain Campaign," full of chewy, insidery goodness. Word rate negotiable!

Click below, hit the tip jar, whatever seems like justice to you.

*Now up and working again!

UPDATE: Rachel and I discuss my plight. And the ultimately much more tragic plight of John McCain:

Drinks on Him

Spent two hours "bloggingheads" with Glenn Greenwald. God, that sounds like it would be so much more fun than it actually it is.

Nice enough guy though he claims he can never be my friend, lest he second-guess his decision to find me an utter fraud.

Also, he told me how to behave. I'm sure the audience reading this can appreciate the degree to which I appreciated that.

Anyway:

John Kerry on "This Week"

"The important thing is to focus on fighting John McCain." Or make him our running mate. One of the two. He's very handsome, you know...

Ed Rendell also just referred to the "Kerry campaign," then apologized, over Kerry's protestation: "That's okay, Ed! That's okay!"

More Words I Never Thought I'd See in the Same Sentence

"[McCain] repeats the more temperate phrases used by his aide, Mark Salter."

This Is a Call

Dave Grohl (WA-Punk Fucking Rock), on his family values platform:

You know what it takes? It takes a barbecue. I think that what the country needs now is a good, smoky barbecue—family style, at least once a week, winter months included. Every Sunday.

The Lazy Way to Post About Obama's Speech

10:59:47 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: so, wait

10:59:50 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: obama's BLACK?

10:59:55 AM AnaMarie Cox: i know!?!?

11:00:18 AM AnaMarie Cox: "purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap" is a nice line, but it makes me think of Sam's Club

11:02:29 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: thank god the plagiarism stuff is over, though, or phil singer would be sending out an e-mail all outraged about obama quoting his own book

11:02:53 AM AnaMarie Cox: did he attribute jefferson? I don't think so.... he's ALMOST going to the place i sort of want him to: Wright says these things because so many people still feel so betrayed.

11:03:04 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: he won't

11:03:06 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: ever

11:03:13 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: because then he's just another black liberal

11:03:15 AM AnaMarie Cox: i feel like i should be able to have a martini every time a political candidate says "youtube"

11:03:44 AM AnaMarie Cox: but he can condemn and still point to the hurt/anger the makes the remarks possible, no?

11:04:00 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: well, yeah

11:04:07 AM AnaMarie Cox: of c, that would require the american people to hold two ideas in their heads at once

11:04:08 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: but he's trying to do a few complicated things here

11:04:38 AM AnaMarie Cox: totally quoting himself still. i bet he first wrote this speech in kindegarten

11:04:49 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: ha

11:05:17 AM AnaMarie Cox: i sort of want a record of all the chyrons

11:05:30 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: the american people are hungry for my message of unity"

11:05:44 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: i am the change you've been waiting for

11:05:58 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: i am black"

11:06:13 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: "obama: black people like to dance"

11:06:21 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: would you like some watermelon?"

11:06:33 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: "obama: yessir, massa hillary"

11:06:36 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: ok

11:06:41 AM AnaMarie Cox: we'll stop

11:06:48 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: i think i've just crossed some lines that i should have recognized were best to stay on the other side of

11:07:01 AM AnaMarie Cox: you're one step ahead of rev wright!

11:07:04 AM AnaMarie Cox: as it were

11:07:25 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: this part of the speech is going to backfire

11:07:28 AM AnaMarie Cox: "i can no more disown him than i can disown the black community"... very interesting.

11:07:39 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: i don't actually understand what he's hoping to accomplish here

11:07:40 AM AnaMarie Cox: that's almost "going there"

11:07:41 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: by defending him

11:08:52 AM AnaMarie Cox: oh that's harsh: "we'd be doing the same thing that reverend wright did"?

11:09:01 AM AnaMarie Cox: if we condemned his remarks?

11:09:22 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: rev wright has been like family to me. a crazy uncle, to be specific."

11:09:51 AM AnaMarie Cox: he does have a point about facing the reality of the situation as opposed to just condemning... if that makes sense.

11:43 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: yeah

11:45 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: but still

11:56 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: who is his audience for this speech?

11:58 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: the people like you and me

11:12:02 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: who kind of see where he's going

11:12:04 AM AnaMarie Cox: building code enforcement helps create a cycle of violence?

11:12:04 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: ALREADY VOTED FOR HIM

11:12:16 AM AnaMarie Cox: yep

11:12:27 AM AnaMarie Cox: and i didn't even know about this building code issue

11:12:30 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: heh

11:12:35 AM AnaMarie Cox: i'll be interested to talk to salter about this

11:12:37 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: actually

11:12:40 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: the building code stuff

11:12:46 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: makes sense

11:13:02 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: especially for someone who can't take the 42 bus to work because mt. pleasant street is still closed from that fire

11:13:06 AM AnaMarie Cox: yes, it's just a strange note to hit in such a high-flying speech

11:13:58 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: some people are still racist"

11:14:19 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: "obama: specifically, hillary voters"

11:14:23 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: er no

11:14:29 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: that's more "[me]: specifically, hillary voters"

11:14:48 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: specifically, hillary staffers."

11:14:55 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: and bill. did i mention bill?"

11:15:03 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: actually this next bit is interesting

11:15:21 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: this is where obama does something most black politicians wouldn't do

11:15:37 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: he validates the white backlash people as a way of getting them to buy into his message

11:15:40 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: or tries to

11:15:59 AM AnaMarie Cox: yeah... trying to think of an analog

11:16:26 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: some of my wife's extended family [in this town], might as well be the people he's describing here

11:16:36 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: so i find this part particularly fascinating

11:16:36 AM AnaMarie Cox: now he'd turning it into something more traditional

11:16:40 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: the problem is

11:16:42 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: it still won't work

11:17:00 AM AnaMarie Cox: "pundits have built entire careers on exploiting this anger."

11:17:00 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: geraldine ferraro, who is very emblematic of white ethnic working class people, will not be persuaded here

11:17:13 AM AnaMarie Cox: "i'm looking at you, pat buchanan."

11:17:19 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: and bill o'reilly

11:17:38 AM AnaMarie Cox: also in some ways he's condescending to them

11:17:52 AM AnaMarie Cox: those angry whites, they're so easily manipulated... sigh...

11:18:26 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: thats actually the official obama line

11:18:29 AM AnaMarie Cox: would he say that wright built his career by manipulating/exploiting anger? he didn't frame it quite the same way.

11:18:29 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: if samantha power is any indication

11:19:37 AM AnaMarie Cox: reading to children will fix racism. i'd make fun of that except i guess it's kinda true.

11:19:55 AM AnaMarie Cox: this is not a particularly enthusiastic crowd.

11:20:16 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: nope

11:20:51 AM AnaMarie Cox: he says "latino" in that way that white people do when they're trying to show they speak a little spanish

11:20:54 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: yeah

11:21:05 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: or in the way politicians do when they're trying to pretend latinos vote for them

11:21:43 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: "obama: black people have problems"

11:22:04 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: more precisely, "obama: hey whitey, we have real problems"

11:22:27 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: let's focus on me, not that wright guy."

11:22:39 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: if he doesn't win, no one will ever try to really get past these divisions again though

11:22:42 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: don't you think?

11:22:51 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: the lesson of an obama loss will be "cynicism works"

11:23:22 AM AnaMarie Cox: it is hard to imagine another politician as talented as obama coming along again in this generation

11:23:36 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: actually he's making that point right now

11:23:46 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: ... not your point

11:23:50 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: though salter woudl say he is

11:24:12 AM AnaMarie Cox: he's making it about "us"

11:24:26 AM AnaMarie Cox: that, uhm, he is the change we've been waiting for...

11:24:42 AM AnaMarie Cox: voting for obama repudiates america's history of racism

11:24:45 AM AnaMarie Cox: that's all you have to do!

11:24:49 AM AnaMarie Cox: vote for obama!

11:24:58 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: now you've got the full salter rant going

11:25:20 AM AnaMarie Cox: it's actually sort of brilliant, and not entirely his fault.

11:25:24 AM AnaMarie Cox: (obama not salter)

11:25:26 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: right

11:26:02 AM AnaMarie Cox: in the sense that, yeah, whitey made race an issue; so anyone who doesn't vote for obama has to answer for how that means they're not racist

11:26:13 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: except

11:26:25 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: implicitly accusing white working class people of racism is not the way to get them to vote for you

11:26:33 AM AnaMarie Cox: well they're comfortable with that

11:26:35 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: right

11:26:42 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: this angle only works on... white obama voters

11:26:57 AM AnaMarie Cox: ugh, yeah

11:27:08 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: though the whole thing is, like his campaign usually is, not about identity politics

11:27:13 AM AnaMarie Cox: or, at best, waivering dem primary voters

11:27:20 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: to me, that's the fundamental difference between obama and clinton

11:27:25 AM AnaMarie Cox: that's a great point

11:27:27 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: her campaign is about identity politics

11:27:34 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: whether it's, vote for me becasue i'm a woman

11:27:35 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: or

11:27:38 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: obama's the black guy

11:27:41 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: and his isn't

11:28:11 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: at least not when he talks to white people

11:29:07 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: "Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice."

11:29:08 AM AnaMarie Cox: but obama's trap/trick is that by making his campaign about ideas/hope, there's an implicit corallary that if you don't support him, you're not serious about ideas/hope.... and you may be racist.

11:29:14 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: right

11:29:21 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: this graf is the worst one in the speech

11:29:26 AM AnaMarie Cox: yeah.

11:29:35 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: "obama: die, straw men!"

11:30:16 AM AnaMarie Cox: ashley was one rush limbaugh show away of becoming a border fence activist.

11:30:24 AM fellow liberal reporter friend: haha

11:31:08 AM AnaMarie Cox: "obama: whew, glad that's over."

Well, It's Certainly a Sign of Something

Doing more with less, indeed:

"Although the audience for traditional news is maintaining itself, the staff for many of these news organizations tend to be shrinking," said Tom Rosenstiel, the project's director.

NBC News' recent decision to name make David Gregory host of a nightly program on MSNBC, while keep his job as White House correspondent is an example of how people are being asked to do much more, he said.