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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Most Obvious News of the Day

Posted on: February 3, 2010 9:37 AM, by Ed Brayton

RNC Chairman Michael Steele told ABC News that he has no intention of running for president in 2012. In related news, I've decided not to date Shannon Elizabeth, not to win next year's Nobel Prize for Literature and not to become emperor of Togo.

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Comments

You could totally be emperor of Togo!

Posted by: Valhar2000 | February 3, 2010 9:57 AM

So...if you're not going to date Shannon, you're okay with me calling her?

And you'd make a *great* Emperor of Togo!

Posted by: DesertHedgehog | February 3, 2010 10:07 AM

I still have hopes for the next Nobel peace prize. I sent a note to the nominating committee informing them that I am not George W. Bush, which I hear is sufficient qualification.

Posted by: Herod the Freemason | February 3, 2010 10:10 AM

Togo doesn't have an emperor.

Yet.

Posted by: Squiddhartha | February 3, 2010 10:12 AM

Maybe Sultan of Togo. Emperor sounds like there's work involved. Sultan is all fun.

Posted by: MikeMa | February 3, 2010 10:12 AM

I hereby announce that I will also not be running for US president in 2012.

OK, I'm not a US citizen and certainly not a natural born American, which might rule me out anyway. But since I'm white, I don't think anybody would object.

Posted by: hinschelwood | February 3, 2010 10:35 AM

OK, I'm not a US citizen and certainly not a natural born American...

Didn't stop the last guy.

Thanks! I'll be here all week!

Posted by: Savagemutt | February 3, 2010 10:44 AM

Dangit, that was supposed to have "orly" HTML tags around it. Preview said they'd show up. Damn you, preview!

Posted by: Savagemutt | February 3, 2010 10:46 AM

Wikipedia says that Togo has a president and prime minister, but doesn't mention anything at all about an emperor. To take that in the most positive light, that means there shouldn't be much competition for the emperorship.

Posted by: Herod the Freemason | February 3, 2010 11:25 AM

Steele is asked about running for President.

"Come on, don't ask me that,"

"In all honest-to-good seriousness, that is such silly Washington talk. It's just not even on my mind," Steele said about a possible presidential run.
"Let me tell you where my head and heart are," Steele added. "I'm a guy who thought it important to say, 'Put me in coach.' And when I help the party return to a governing majority, a stronger GOP, a party that really understands what it's about and what it believes in and is willing every day to go out there and fight for it."

Why not rule it out completely and keep those Washington tongues from wagging?

"I just did. I don't know how many different ways I can do that," Steele said. "How many different ways can you spell 'no'?"

Bullshit!! This is typical political sidestepping. He doesn't actually say "I will not run." He answers the question in such a way that is supposed to make the listener feel they missed something, or they are ignorant if they feel his answer wasn't definitive. This, to me, is just slimy.

Then there is this...

It is clear that one of the central challenges nationwide for Steele and his party this year will be to harness the significant enthusiasm and activism seen in the tea party movement -- home to much of the anti-incumbent, anti-establishment anger and frustration fueling American politics today.
It will be a very delicate dance for Republican leaders to seek to bring these newly politicized activists into their fold since they resist affiliation with both major political parties.

"It is clear..." Clear to who?! And where does this assertion originate that the enthusiasm and activism is significant? It isn't clear to me. This 'movement' is only significant among the talking heads, or in the general media when there is nothing else to talk abut. Something like this, this "Tea party movement" is kept alive by the need to fill the 24 hour news cycle.

The author then says they resist political affiliation. Who is he fuckin trying to kid?! Am I biased if I think conservative Republican when I encounter the 'tea party' phrase? I don't think so. I do have to admit that the term that comes to mind even more is 'dumb-fuck'.

And Steele also has the balls to equate himself with Obama, and in the same breath plays the martyr.

Right, this isn't news, it's propaganda trash with a news and information facade.

Posted by: Steve | February 3, 2010 11:37 AM

I was gonna say you'd make a great emperor of Togo, but everyone beat me to it.

Posted by: Tamarron | February 3, 2010 11:52 AM

That's a lot of goals for one person, are you sure you'll be able to achieve them all?

Mike.

Posted by: NoAstronomer | February 3, 2010 12:04 PM

I just wanted it on the record that I will never, ever decide to not date Shannon Elizabeth. (it's just that the stupid reciprocity thing always gets in the way. And then the lawyers. Always with the lawyers. Geez.) : )

Posted by: Lance P | February 3, 2010 12:11 PM

Michael Steele was hired to add a little high profile color to the lily white GOP power structure. That power isn't going to let him go any further. Palin hurt the party by letting the insane rabble feel like an integral part of the process. Steele as candidate would be worse for the GOP.

Posted by: MikeMa | February 3, 2010 12:16 PM

I'd like one order of Emperor Brayton's Chicken, To Go.

Really, that's the first thing that came to mind. Hypoxia is probably the best explanation.

Posted by: xebecs | February 3, 2010 12:35 PM

bah, Ed, you know you can't decide not to get an award, right? So I imagine you'll be mighty embarrassed when the Nobel committee declares you next year's winner.

Posted by: Patrick | February 3, 2010 12:46 PM

Patrick-

Okay, fine. But I'm still not going to sleep with Shannon Elizabeth, no matter how much she begs me.

Yeah, right.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | February 3, 2010 12:47 PM

"How many different ways can you spell 'no'?"

Three: No, Know and Neau, but that last spelling was outlawed during the Bush administration.

Posted by: Equisetum | February 3, 2010 1:21 PM

USURPER!

Posted by: His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Togo | February 3, 2010 1:39 PM

We hereby declare that Ed Brayton has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, for his work "Bob Goes To The Circus", a novel of exceptional artistic and cultural merit. We were especially impressed with his exploration of the existential crisis of identity within a capitalist post-liberal hegemonist paradigm, and, in particular, with the incisive social commentary conveyed through powerful imagery in the protagonist's encounter with "Bozo the Clown". It is no exaggeration to say that this is an epoch-shifting text, and possibly the most important literary work of the decade.

Posted by: The Nobel Committee | February 3, 2010 1:44 PM

Normally, when I think about a crazy person running for President, I get a little bit worried. I never used to, but the past few elections have convinced me that a game of chicken with the American voter is not a winning proposition. We're willing to put the darnedest people in power.

But Michael Steele? He's not crazy, just inept. And inept in a really funny way. In fact, let's make up a metric to evaluate this. Divide the crazy/inept person's funniness on the campaign trail by the likelihood that they'll accidentally end up in power, and you get a rough metric for how great it would be to have them oppose your candidate. For example, Palin's numerator is a real gas, but her denominator frightens me enough to make it not worth taking the chance.

I can't imagine anybody with better numbers than Michael Steele. He's a total riot, and I don't think that there's a single person in the country who would vote for him for any office.

I just need to figure out the units. Suggestions?

Posted by: Troublesome Frog | February 3, 2010 1:51 PM

Troublesome Frog
numerator units: fauxs
denominator units: errors per hour

Posted by: MikeMa | February 3, 2010 2:03 PM

There would be a certain sad logic to Steele running for President. He seems to hold his current position mainly as a way for Republicans to say "Hey, we've got a black guy, too!". It's the same reason they ran Alan Keyes (!) against Obama in his Senate race.

But Republicans courting minority voters is as pointless as Democrats pandering to the Religious Right.

Posted by: Nemo | February 3, 2010 2:15 PM

MikeMa, that woud be faux hours/errors. I think you just want to measure fauxs / hour.

now the rate of disintegration would be measured in Fuaxs/hour squared.

Posted by: Chilidog | February 3, 2010 3:02 PM

The only problem here is that the GOP is missing out on the expressive potential of the: "Steele / Palin" ticket.

Posted by: Chilidog | February 3, 2010 3:05 PM

"Maybe Sultan of Togo"

or one of the Sultans of Swing - that would be way cool.

Posted by: dean | February 3, 2010 3:34 PM

And in other news, water is wet...

Posted by: WMDKitty | February 3, 2010 5:53 PM

Herod the Freemason,

I still have hopes for the next Nobel peace prize. I sent a note to the nominating committee informing them that I am not George W. Bush, which I hear is sufficient qualification.

Not quite. You also need to order a surge in Afghanistan.

Posted by: heddle | February 3, 2010 6:38 PM

Emperor Brayton's Chicken, otherwise know as the Pullet Surprise.

Posted by: wrpd | February 3, 2010 6:38 PM

@Chilidog:
That would make the denominator the number of hours the candidate spends speaking about him/her self - which would roughly be a measure of the likelihood of being voted for.

My pasttime: abusing dimensional analysis. Thanks to Randall Munroe for suggesting I take up that hobby. I knew it would be useful some day!

Posted by: Ryan Egesdahl | February 3, 2010 6:44 PM

Ryan Egesdahl ,