Bono: Upcoming Election Great Opportunity To “Relaunch Brand USA”

“The whole world has a stake in how things turn out,” the Ireland native told thousands of Starbucks Corp. employees in New Orleans for a leadership conference. The coffee company and Bono’s (RED) label, which helps raise money for AIDS awareness in Africa, also announced a partnership Wednesday.

The singer talked about brands and what they stand for. In Starbucks’ case, he said some might see it as a place to hang out and get coffee — but that brand can also signify social responsibility.

The way the U.S. is perceived — “Brand USA” — also means something, he said. And it’s never been so closely watched, said Bono, who didn’t endorse either candidate for president.

Regardless of who wins, “it’s a great chance to relaunch Brand USA,” he said.

I have been sitting here desperately trying to figure out something funny to say about St. Bono talking about Brand USA at a Starbucks leadership conference in New Orleans while piously avoiding anything so worldly as a political endorsement, but I confess I find myself at a loss.

The current raft of talking points being run against Obama by the McCain campaign indicate that McCain’s people had planned at some point on Israel being a major selling point. The belief that elderly Jewish voters formed a swing bloc in Florida was crusty when McCain’s running mate was up in the air (nobody who’s been in America long enough to see Arabs as implacable race-enemies to Israel would also automatically associate blacks with anti-Semitic radicalism), and as has been repeatedly documented, the choice of an evangelical kulturkampfist seems to be enough to push non-Democratic Jewish seniors away from McCain.

What we’re seeing now is the McCain campaign’s early September attack lines from an alternate universe in which the RNC opened with the selection of Joe Lieberman as a running-mate. Lieberman could and – disgustingly – probably would convincingly argue that Khalidi is a dangerous pro-Palestinian radical; the best Palin can do is shout – with increasing vehemence at an unhearing crowd – “The new President is a niggarab!” It’s one of a series of loud, shrill dog-whistles that was clearly planned for a different campaign; the Republicans are currently running McCain’s campaign with Schmidt’s tactics, a kind of nasty compromise that pleases nobody, makes the paternal autocrats look petty and the fascist parvenus look over-grasping.

I suspect the next attack line is probably going to be an effort by McCain to spin the disastrous campaign against Lebanon as a triumph of democracy, followed by most of Election Day spent shrieking about how Obama doesn’t care about Israel. Short of calling him a secret Chinaman, I can’t imagine what the fuck else the Republicans have left.

“Mister President, count back from a hundred for me,” said the fat woman. “One hundred,” said the fat man, “ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety.”

John McCain had a number of severe health problems, all aggravated by his experience as a prisoner of war for the bulk of the conflict in Vietnam. Downed after his twenty-third bombardment mission against North Vietnam, he could do little but cheer as Nixon, elected on the promise to end the war honorably, stepped up the bombardment of Vietnam, extending it quietly to Cambodia.

Some wiseass knew they could count on her when the old man went under, and it hadn’t been fifteen minutes before Belya Revolutsiya had sent out texts to all of its members. The leak, who would remain anonymous to history, honestly thought something good would come of this; that freedom would be spread and the Bear’s iron heel caught in a steel trap. Read more »