Tim Blair

Reptile-American. That probably explains why, in that series of photos, he pantomimes drinking his beer but never actually does.

Maybe he's a genetically-engineered mutant hamster-iguana.

Did anyone else see The Mad Monk on Lateline? After first saying that he could not remember that he recently had had an audience wirh his Emminence, Cardinal Pell, the unwed father finally admitted that his memory having been jogged by Tony Jones that he had in fact seen him.

But Abbott wasn't about to share with us the the purpose of the call at the Prince's saying that it might well have been for the benefit of his soul (no doubt censure of pre-marital sex figured prominently).

Jones was not courageous enough to ask if Abbott had shared a chicken and mayo salad with George, but did inquire if the real purpose of the meet was to fix up the recently released statement in support of non-Catholic elite educational institutions. Aboott somewhat obliquely denied this suggestion.

However, more telling was was the baleful look that Abbott gave Jones at the end of the interview. No doubt a place in hell is being prepared for Jones as I write.

You know, one of the biggest character issues I have with John Kerry is precisely this business of always finding excuses for his screwups. Has the man ever once said "What can I say, I blew it. I'll just have to try to do better." No, Secret Service agents knock him down, and sleep deprivation at noon makes him say stupid things, and most of all people are ALWAYS putting dumb things in his speeches and keeping him from saying what he would have said if he actually ran his own campaign.

It's how you handle the issue of your own human frailty that is maybe the most revealing moment about a candidate. Nixon melted down and attacked the press ("You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more")-- you could have predicted Watergate and resignation right there. Clinton tried to squeak by with not inhaling-- you certainly could have predicted that he'd later deny that Monica inhaling Little Bill was sex from that. On the other hand, Reagan (at least early on, I think he lost some of this later as he aged) loved to admit a mistake and then jolly his way out of it, the same principle by which Johnny Carson was never really funny except when trying to work his way out of a bad joke.

Hey TimTam

I see you are claiming 100k hits per week (according to The Age). Assuming that this is not a typo for "shits" (as in right wing), I have to tell you that "hits" is a meaningless term. How many "unique visitors" do you get or better still publish your logs.

I very much doubt you get nearly half a million visitors per month. Your lamo hosting on a server using an IP shared with 316 other web sites would burn out with that kind of traffic.

I was glad to see that the person with who provides you with space on spleenville.com is a shiela - at least you are apparently on talking terms with one.

I don't know why you don't get Andrea to get timblair.net up and running properly - at least it would give you slightly more cred - you badly need it.

I know plaigiarism is your thing but get Andrea to remove that copyright image off the spleenville.com default page - it could get you into trouble. And sites with images of underage juveniles are always a bit suss.

Albatross,

You're new here. My counter used to be public, but lately it's expired (I was on a 12-month pay deal) and I haven't bothered to renew it.

Traffic here routinely tops out at around 10,000 -- 15,000 hits per day, and often is above that. Not massive, but okay. During high-traffic events like Rathergate, Saddam's capture, election speeches, and US election debates, traffic will easily be above 100,000 per week.

My uniques run at about 60-70% of hit traffic, I think. I only bother mentioning these numbers when reporters ask; I wasn't checking the stats much myself, which I why I've let the counter lapse.

You should start your own blog.

Kerry's orange color is a no-brainer. He's a chameleon, remember? It's fall here in the States and we're gearing up for Halloween - Johnny probably just got too close to a pumpkin patch.

Kerry's tough-guy act might work on "Dog Eat Dog," but it's really looking silly out here in the real world. This is all gonna get a lot uglier before it's over.

It's not iguanas, chameleons changes color.

Iguana, chameleon, who cares?

Don't you see? It's that whole Skul n Bones, Illuminati, Fremason thing--it's the Reptillians.

The Kerry creature's inadvertant exhibition of his color changing abilities has probably come too late! The Reptillians will sweep the elections now as their soldiers openly stand guard at the polls, eagerly waiting to snap up a choice Republican morsel.

Albatross,
It is sad when people try to start fights with people without having any idea what they are talking about. You just make yourself look like an idiot.

Will kerry tough it out in orange at the debate, or will he slap on an inch thick pile of pale makeup to try and hide it?

Is the TAB taking bets on that?

The kerry campaign must now asking for lighting thats more sympathetic to those with a natural orange 'glow'. Along with the abolition of the flashign lights.

(A green background will not do.)

Still, it might detract from Kerry having to decided what his secret plans on all the issues actually are.

And Tim, do you read any of our replies?

Sen. John Kerry says the most widely lampooned gaffe of his campaign — when he said he voted for a bill funding the war in Iraq before he voted against it — was "one of those inarticulate moments" that occurred when he was "dead tired."

But the statement was made during a Huntington, W.Va., rally in the middle of the day, not "late in the evening" as the Democratic presidential candidate claimed during an interview aired yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The guy's a pathological liar. Why do people even ask him questions? You can't believe anything he says.

Bye Alby.

Aw, c'mon, Andrea -- what did he say! Give us a hint at least...

It's not what he said, it's the way he said it. ;)

John Kerry is the only catholic Orangeman in the world