Thoughts on the latest fad

The ALS ice bucket challenge makes me long for the days when I'd get chain emails stating that, oh, something like "your favorite grandparent will fall down 3 flights of stairs if you don't forward this to 7 people immediately RIGHT NOW!!" It was so easy to delete the email and lie about it. And not just because all my grandparents had passed on by that point.

I was talking to some young doctors I know—a married couple—and I stated this (after 2 beers, mind): "I think ALS sucks, I know someone who died from it, but I'm not going to dump ice on my head." They laughed. The wife pointed out that she was working in a trauma unit and she was thinking, "Gee, ALS affects so few people. Why don't we do something for these folks?"

I noted that if you say anything like this publicly then you're Hitler. They both agreed.

I did see a piece of useful advice on a friend's Facebook page: "Remember guys, don't donate to ALSA unless you support embryonic stem cell research. Donate to something like Mayo Clinic or MSCTC." He posted this along with a great video of himself pouring a whole teaspoon of cold water onto his head. It looked grueling. Well, hey, he's a Catholic, not a Baptist! So if I do it I'm going to use a whole tablespoon just to show how serious I am about wiping out a horrific disease.

They know Obama effed up with "you didn't build that"

Context, schmontext. "You didn't build that" continues to haunt the Preezee of the United Steezee. Yes, we noticed this too.

Nevertheless, there are signs that they see a vulnerability. Obama has not repeated the words that sparked the controversy, and he has toned down the broader argument — that government help is essential to business success — in the six weeks since he ad-libbed the line near the end of a long campaign swing. His speeches have been shorter, with fewer references to wealthy Americans. He is more cautious about portraying the choice that he quite forcefully described that night between Romney’s worldview and his own.

Shorter Obama speeches is an immediate positive effect.

It doesn't matter what Plouffe and Axelrod say in the attempt to spin this mistake. It was a major one, it slipped out when Obama was tired and unguarded at the end of a long day, as the article points out. The "We built this" response is short, pithy, and it resonates with likely voters. We're not stupid.