The Stuff I Didn't Get To -- 1/14/08

Many babies are afraid of clowns

-Headline of the day-
"Reporter: Giuliani tossed my crying baby 'like a football'."

Darren Garnick, a writer for Slate, and his wife Stacy set out to have their 5 month old daughter Dahlia photographed with all of the presidential candidates. It may seem like a gimmicky "proud parents" thing, but they've actually gained some insight from the experience.

According to the report, "Barack Obama held little Dahlia like someone who knows his way around babies, cradling her securely and looking into her eyes. 'I would vote for him just for that,' was Stacy's comment on the photo." Hillary Clinton also scored well. "Hillary's a natural," Garnick said. "She was very warm."

Rudy, not so much. When Dahlia started crying, Giuliani couldn't get rid of her fast enough. "Rudy wasn't happy," said Garnick. "Dahlia smiled for the first two seconds and then she started crying and Rudy was panicky... He didn't want to be photographed with a screaming baby... He tossed her right back to me like a football."

He contrasted Rudy's reaction to John McCain's. Dahlia also started crying when McCain held her, but noted "McCain is laughing about it in the photo."

"I do think it's significant to compare the personalities of McCain and Giuliani," said Garnick. "When the baby started to cry with Giuliani, Giuliani basically shoved the baby back in my face. When the baby cried with McCain, McCain was like, 'Okay, I got a crying baby.' And he made a joke that 'there goes another vote.'"

It's interesting that Giuliani is basically running as everybody's daddy, when he sucks with babies. Then again, baby Dahlia seems to be picking up on that "this guy's bad news" vibe that babies and dogs are so good at catching. "...I don't think you can say whether they're going to be a good president whether she cries or not," Garnick says. "But she did tend to cry more with the Republicans than with the Democrats."

Wow, pretty much like the rest of the nation. In about twenty-five or thirty years, look for Dahlia Garnick to be an insightful political analyst.

Garnick's photos are at Slate. (Raw Story)

-Bonus HotD-
"Bill O'Reilly Wants Criticizing Fox News to Be Deemed a Hate Crime."

Kind of gives you an idea what the country would look like if Bill was granted his wish to sit on the Supreme Court. First Amendment be damned. I guess it's only "judicial activism" if lefties do it... (The All Spin Zone, via reddit)

-Starting off on the wrong foot-
Newly appointed Colorado state rep. Douglas Bruce seems to be a worldclass prick. Bruce had demanded that he be sworn in before the entire Colorado House for reasons that aren't immediately apparent -- I guess he's the most important man on Earth or something. Colorado's legislature usually swears in midterm replacements when not in session, so as not to interfere with the people's business.

"I'm not willing to delay the business of the House to indulge anyone's vanity," said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. Bruce had previously refused to be sworn in during recess and, according to the report, "Fellow Republicans threatened to give the open seat to someone else if Bruce didn't take the oath by the end of the day Monday." In Colorado, apparently, the parties decide on midterm replacements, not voters in special elections.

He got himself sworn in, but he clearly wasn't happy. And he took it out on a news photographer covering the event. "Bruce got upset when a photographer, Javier Manzano, from the Rocky Mountain News took his picture during the traditional prayer to open Monday's brief session," the report reads. So Bruce kicked Manzano.

"Don't do that again," Bruce told him and "then brought down the sole of his shoe hard on the photographer's bent knee. Bruce offered no explanation or apology as the photographer left."

"The House floor is a place where journalists are allowed to operate. It's outrageous for Mr. Bruce in a public place to assault a photographer," says RMN editor John Temple.

Something tells me that Bruce can't count on getting good press in the future. (CBS4Denver.com)