MemeMachineGo!

=v= I mentioned Joe Sixpack (and his, um, close friend Joe the Plumber) in my last entry. Sarah Palin suggested that hucky moms should hook up with Mr. Sixpack and tell those subprime lenders they won't get fooled again. Which, I'm sure, is exactly what Pete Townshend had in mind.

All this reminds me of the Bailey/Burns gubernatorial race of 1992, when name + occupational monikers were used as terms of derision. In those days things didn't get leaked onto YouTube -- but these days you can find old footage (though not on YouTube) of this derisive on-air gaffe:

By the time this paid political announcement is done, every Johnny Lunchpail in this whole stupid state will be eating out of my hands.

Team Burns referred to Joe Sixpack by name in their first strategy meeting, and Burns was heard muttering similar non-endearments: Joe Meatball, Sally Housecoat, and Eddie Punchclock. This sort of thing, arguably, cost Burns the election. Yet John McCain and Sarah Palin are somehow laboring under illusion that this will make them seem more in touch Joe/Jane the Common Voter.

The New Trough:

And the folks at Morgan Stanley? They’re planning to pay themselves $10.7 billion this year, much of it in bonuses — almost exactly the amount they are receiving in the first phase of the bailout. “You can imagine the devilish grins on the faces of Morgan Stanley employees,” writes Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil. “Not only did we, the taxpayers, save their company…we funded their 2008 bonus pool.”

I must say I find myself disappointed by this uncharacteristically naked theft by the kleptocracy. It just smacks of… unprofessionalism.