Bob Graham has died

[Open Source Intelligence]

It feels so weird reading this Salon piece about Graham's habit of writing extremely meticulous diaries and how that was somehow an issue for his 2004 Presidential campaign. Meanwhile these days we have an major party nominee going on nightly barely comprehensible rants and that's just...normal.

""They're going to prove to be problematic for him," says a top advisor to one of Graham's Democratic primary rivals. This isn't necessarily because the contents of the notebooks will reveal any "huge revelations." Rather, the advisor says, "most voters will find them strange and sort of bewildering. They're a weird quirk." Were Graham to emerge as a top-tier contender in the field of nine, "I imagine those notebooks will become part of the debate."

Two of Graham's diary entries:

"recorded on the September 1994 day when his daughter Cissy gave birth. Graham recorded, from 12:20 p.m. to 1:20 p.m.: "Eat lunch (tuna salad). Watch Ace Ventura. 12:50: Cissy thinks she's going into labor. 1:15: Cissy preparing to leave for Baptist Hospital ... 1:30-1:45: Rewind Ace Ventura. 2:00: Adele [Graham's wife] ready to go. Drive to Baptist Hospital. 2:15: Stop at Blockbuster to return Ace Ventura.""

"The log for Sept. 17, 2002, begins by noting his 6:50 a.m. wake-up call, followed by a weigh-in (181 pounds) and hair care: "6:50-7:00 Apply scalp medication." That's followed by more granular detail: "7:00-7:40 Kitchen -- brew coffee -- prepare and drink breakfast (soy, skim milk, OJ, peach, banana, blueberries), read Post, dress in gray suit."

Other matters of import quickly rear their heads, like an 8 a.m. conversation indicating that Graham staffers "have not received CIA answers to Iraq Qs" and a 12:20-12:35 review with his environmental staffers of the status of "Apalachicola River + Forest" and other issues. He has a busy day of briefings and meetings on Capitol Hill, including discussions with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., CIA director George Tenet, House Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Dick Shelby, R-Ala., CIA congressional liaison Stan Moskowitz, and the like. Then it's back home by 8:40 p.m., where it was time to "change to blue shorts," "apply scalp medication," and, of course, "update notebook.""

I followed the '04 Democratic primaries pretty well. As far as support and seriousness his campaign was treated by the media and Democrats he was at Carol Moseley-Braun/Dennis Kucinich level (read: the very low end), although to be fair it's not like he was far off of Kerry when comparing the competencies of the two men or their public personas. The '04 campaign was the Democrats' version of Republicans 2012.

[Lechasseur]

RIP FF

[Ragnaroni]

RIP FF

He really should have been Al Gore's running mate in 2000. Most likely we would be living in a totally different reality today.

Consider yourself lucky it was Bush who won. The Iraq war was a mistake that the US was gonna do anyway and the 2008 recession would've made 2008 way way way worse. That's if you survive the 2004 election.
 Also RIP Bob Graham

[Fuzzy Bear Loves Christian Missionaries]

RIP FF

He really should have been Al Gore's running mate in 2000. Most likely we would be living in a totally different reality today.

Consider yourself lucky it was Bush who won. The Iraq war was a mistake that the US was gonna do anyway and the 2008 recession would've made 2008 way way way worse. That's if you survive the 2004 election.
 Also RIP Bob Graham

An interesting take about the inevitability of war with Iraq and the economic meltdown of the level at which it happened.