WordPress’ Surrealist Poetry Generator

So WordPress has this feature when you hover over a link it gives you related searches suggestions.

I went to my blog this morning to get a link to email to my friend. The related searches WordPress offered read like a surrealist poem. Here it is in a couple different versions. A prize goes to the person with the best theory about why a link about John McCain and evangelical politics was related to these items:

Rental car,
Foucault,
Sadomasochism,
Medicaid,
Wheat allergy.

Explaining McCain’s Success Among Evangelicals

This complete story appears at Huffington Post.

As South Carolina Republicans headed to the polls Saturday, an all too-simple storyline emerged in the press. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who won the Iowa caucus, would have the evangelical vote, while Arizona Senator John McCain, a Vietnam War hero, would win defense conservatives. “It’s the Christian soldiers vs. the retired soldiers,” one observer summed up for the Wall Street Journal.

But McCain captured a quarter of evangelical voters when he won yesterday’s GOP primary according to exit polls, while Huckabee won only 40%. A recent conversation with Rich Cizik, who heads up governmental affairs for the 30-million member National Association of Evangelicals, reveals that Christian voters are a more complicated voting block than the media seems to realize. Cizik speaks unhappily about the GOP under the Bush administration. “This has been an unholy alliance in which the evangelicals have given everything and gotten nothing in return.” But, he says, “It’s quite obvious that the next Republican in the White House will likely be someone with a very different attitude… John McCain or Mike Huckabee, at least in the case of those two, would be much more sympathetic.” (Cizik was speaking for himself, not for the NAE, which does not endorse candidates.)

The rest of this post can be read at Huffington Post.

Republicans Buy Global Warming

Ok, that might be an overstatement. But at least GOP voters aren’t punishing candidates who have supported legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions. Interestingly, the only two Republican presidential candidates who have endorsed cap-and-trade legislation to control global warming—Mike Huckabee and John McCain—are the victors in the two most important early nominating contests, Iowa and New Hampshire.

It’s unlikely that they won much support for these positions—the environment is not high on the list of conservative voters. But they were not penalized for their positions, which suggests building consensus for global warming legislation will be easier than ever before no matter who wins the White House in November.

Cry Cry Cry

Spinning is sometimes surreal. As Hillary Clinton eeked out a narrow victory over Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary last night, her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, told a TV reporter that her watery-eyed profession of love-of-country explained her revived campaign.

A moment of supposed emotional authenticity had officially become a talking point. It became part of Clinton’s arsenal in the fight for voters waged in a media battleground.

Heaven and Hell in Orlando

I spent this morning in an Orlando megachurch listening to a preacher talk about heaven on earth.  As if someone felt I should be shown the alternative, I am spending the evening in the Orlando airport. If there is a place more like hell on earth, I’m having a hard time imagining it.

The terminal where I am waiting is like an overcrowded bus station. Since Orlando is home to Disneyland, it seems roughly half the people waiting for their delayed flights are under the age of 12. I usually don’t mind traveling with children, but being stuck in a waiting area with what amounts to 18 elementary school field trips so close to a child’s bed time is next to unbearable. There are children wrestling, dancing, jumping on and off the rows of torn  vinyl chairs, and, above all, whining in about 20 different languages. It is a small world, after all.

Iowa Votes for Politics of Authenticity

Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama have a lot in common. Of course, the winners of the respective Republican and Democratic Iowa caucuses Thursday couldn’t be more different on matters of policy. Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is a hard-core social conservative who is supportive of the war effort and has embraced a hard line on illegal immigration. Illinois Senator Barack Obama is pro-choice, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, and supports a federal role in providing health insurance anathema to a conservative like Huckabee.

Yet the both represent the same brand of politics—the politics of authenticity. To their supporters, each is viewed as speaking from the heart about the things they truly care about. Though both talk of seeking common ground and overcoming division, both speak about upholding values and causes with a high-minded idealism seldom heard in today’s debate. They promise a vision that will win converts rather than strategies that will thwart opponents.

Iowa Predictions

Since I have a blog, here’s the obligatory prognostication of what’s going to happen after the Iowegians make their way to various churches, schools, and living rooms to caucus for the presidential nominees:

Democratic:

1. John Edwards, winning by at least 3 points above #2.
2. Barack Obama, winning by less than 2 points above #3.
3. Hillary Clinton, winning by at least 10 points above #4, if anyone gets enough votes to be fourth.
4. Bill Richardson.

Republican:

1. Mitt Romney, winning by at least 4 points above #2.
2. Mike Huckabee, winning by at least 7 points ahead of #3.
3. Essentially a three way tie between McCain, Thompson, and Giuliani.
4. Ron Paul will bring up the rear.

Here’s the reasoning: