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In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger proposed taking a cat and putting it into a box. Also into the box he would put a small bit of radioactive substance, not in itself harmful to the cat. Over the course of one hour, the radioactive substance might, or might not, set off a Geiger counter also inside the box that would trigger the release of a poison gas. This would be quite harmful to the cat. Fatal, in fact. But there was an equal chance that nothing would happen and the cat would be fine. What Schrodinger hoped to demonstrate, besides his dislike of cats, is that in conjunction with his theory of quantum mechanics, until the box was opened and the cat’s well-being determined, the cat actually existed in two states - alive and dead - simultaneously, depending on whether or not the radioactive lump set off the poison trap. Once one observed the cat inside the box, one of the quantum possibilities collapses and you are left with either a perfectly healthy, if somewhat confused kitty, or a short digging job in the backyard.
In 1982, longtime Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of California. Given the Golden State’s reliable Democratic leanings and Bradley’s significant poll lead going into the election, he was expected to win. Even the San Francisco Chronicle ran the post-election day paper with the headline “Bradley Win Projected.” But Tom Bradley was a black man, and it seemed that when a non-trivial number of white voters who had previously averred their support for him got into the security of the voting booth, they pulled the lever for Bradley’s white Republican opponent. They’d tell their friends they were color-blind and Bradley’s race didn’t matter and they just wanted to elect the most qualified person for the job, but when push came to shove, they just couldn’t do it ‘cause, well, he’s black. Ever since, when a black politician runs for office against a white man, this scenario, dubbed “the Bradley Effect,” gets endlessly chatted about as pundits try to determine just how much a factor race plays in an election and how long can they maintain a sense of artificial drama by discussing it.
In 2008, America is set to embark on its own variation on the Schrodinger’s Cat experiment. Barack Obama enjoys a lead over John McCain outside the margin of poll error both nationally and in a number of swing states. Obama has more white support than any Democrat in over thirty years [www.politico.com]. But what if it’s all a mirage? What if decades of seeing blacks as nothing but pimps, drug-dealers and foul-mouthed rappers on TV causes enough white Democrats and independents to get cold feet in the voting booth? The McCain campaign is counting on its months-long efforts to highlight Obama’s “otherness” to cause enough nominal Obama supporters to balk at voting for him next Tuesday. Will it happen? No one knows. We’re in uncharted territory with the nation’s first black presidential candidate with a real shot of winning the White House. Some are cynical about how far this country has progressed in terms of racial equality and are all too aware of Democrats’ ability to disappoint on Election Day. Others argue the Bradley Effect has already sorted itself out and the white people who say they’ll vote for Obama will actually vote for him. Still others say the Bradley Effect won’t matter, that expected historic turnouts of African-American and young, first-time voters will more than make up for it.
Right now, this very second, Barack Obama is simultaneously winning the election and losing it. Both quantum possibilities exist for the next five days. On Tuesday, America will open the box and see if the poison of racial distrust was released or if an Obama presidency is alive and well and looking for a nice bowl of milk and a scratching post.
-- Michael Turner
It was 34 years ago today that Muhammad Ali met World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman in the classic “Rumble in the Jungle.” In the suffocating Zaire heat, Ali had a plan for his bigger, harder-punching opponent – get hit. Repeatedly. While not generally considered a sound strategy in boxing, Ali lay against the ropes, covered his face and let Foreman pound away. Ali would taunt Foreman during energy-sapping clinches, telling him to punch harder, and Foreman obliged. Fans of the challenger in the audience would be forgiven for getting anxious watching him absorb all those blows, but Ali had a plan. By the sixth round, Foreman was sucking hot wind and his shots were getting wild. In between occasional quick jabs, Ali continued to lean back until, finally, in the eighth round he sprang from the ropes and landed an explosive combination that sent an exhausted Foreman into a slow pirouette to the mat. Knock-Out.
Ali dubbed it the “rope-a-dope” strategy, and it’s what Barack Obama has been doing to John McCain.
Since abandoning his “happy warrior” strategy almost immediately in favor of going after Obama with the heavy lumber of cultural attacks and guilt-by-association, McCain has spent his campaign flailing away at Obama, making him the main focus rather than what a McCain presidency would do for America. And with each shot to the gut – Wright, “bitter,” Ayers, “Socialist,” Khalidi – many Democrats were chewing on their fingers, fretting about when Obama would punch back, frustrated that he didn’t seem aggressive enough ("Ali Boma Ye!") [www.salon.com] But Obama remained calm. He had a plan. You can’t run on a campaign of offering a different kind of politics if you don’t, y’know, practice a different kind of politics. McCain’s non-stop mud-throwing drove up his own negatives and caused moderates and independents to flee in droves while Obama remained relatively unscathed, if not stronger. Now, in the eighth round, McCain’s credibility is exhausted. His campaign has been flailing for some time, having thrown everything in Steve Schmidt’s Rovian bag of tricks without success. Off-message and distracted by internal strife, they are ripe for the picking.
And here comes Obama off the ropes. His “closing argument” speech [www.demconwatchblog.com] delivered Monday in Ohio was as tight and succinct a summation of his message - and of the big-D Democratic ideal – as I’ve ever heard. The importance of helping the middle class, boosting the economy through alternative energy, common sense foreign policy and, of course, tying the Bush albatross around John McCain’s neck – it was all there. His latest campaign ad – “His Choice” [www.youtube.com] – uses McCain’s own words admitting he doesn’t know much ‘bout the economy and might have to rely on his vice-president to provide economic “expertise.” The ad’s title is revealed to be the image of a winking Sarah Palin; a heavy roundhouse right in the kisser. Then there was last night’s 30-minute infomercial, a prime time address laying out a host of specific proposals to seal the deal with as many viewers as possible. And finally, the next five days of the results of Obama’s unprecedented ground game, working mad scientist Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy for all its worth, with GOTV plans in red states McCain can’t afford to defend.
Muhammad Ali was strong and fast and had the gift of the gab, but what made him the Greatest of All Time was he was a master tactician. Like Ali, Obama has been a patient fighter, focused not on winning an individual round or news cycle, but on winning the fight. Obama has timed his most powerful shots for maximum effect on a punched-out opponent. McCain may yet drag himself off the canvas, but the ref is counting to ten. And it’s hot.
-- Michael Turner
……Uh, hel.....ahem, excuse me.........Hello. My name is Michael, and I’m an elitist.
I want to thank you all for welcoming me here to EA. I’m not sure how long I’ve been an elitist. I was born and raised in small town, so certainly not my whole life. But I’ve lived in New York City for 12 years, and John McCain says that’s where you find elitists, and he would know. I lived for a while in Philadelphia before that, not sure if that counts. Probably. They’re pretty elitist too…I guess.
See, I spent a lot of my life thinking that, because I worked hard – white collar, blue collar, no collar – jobs and I had to worry about bills and healthcare and retirement and being a good parent just like millions of normal people, that I wasn’t elitist. I had friends who looked different, spoke different, worshipped different. I thought because I treated everyone the same regardless of their background, even if we disagreed, that I wasn't an elitist. But I was just in denial. I even entertained the thought that maybe the people who looked down their noses at city folk, sure in their hearts that their small town middle America roots gave them different, better values, were the real elitists. That’s how bad it was.
But then I saw Sarah Palin and John McCain [www.boston.com] talking to NBC’s Brian Williams, who’s elitist as all hell. Palin said that elitists were people who thought they were better than other people. And that’s when it hit me; I’m an elitist. I think I’m better than people [littlegreenfootballs.com] who judge character based on skin color, creed or heritage [atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com]. I think I’m better than those who seek to take rights away from fellow citizens [michellemalkin.com]. I think I’m better than those who advocate war without care for consequences [www.weeklystandard.com], or worse, to profit from it. I think I’m better than people who see hatred and violent rhetoric in our public discourse in the same way [www.anncoulter.com]. How could I not have known all along? These people are clearly my social and moral equals, if not betters. Because I’m an elitist.
I want to stop. I want to love America the right way, like Joe the Plumber does, and like those, um, nice people at the Palin/McCain rallies do. I want to learn to be tolerant of intolerance. I want to address complex issues in an overly simplistic and partially informed manner. It won’t be easy, but with all your help, I think I can beat this.
One day at a time.
-- Michael Turner
Posted November 10, 2008 12:15PM
We thought about adding John McCain to the Winners list, as his loss on Tuesday assured that he won't have the unenviable task of fixing the colossal clusterf@&% left behind by the Bush administration. But then we'd have to add Barack Obama to the Losers list (congratulations bub, it's your problem now), and that just doesn't seem right, because if anyone deserves to be at the top of the Winners list, it's......:
Barack Obama
MT: Whatever Barack Obama has for breakfast, that’s what you should be ordering. Because whatever it is, it tastes like WIN. Who got the right position on Iraq – don’t go –from the very start, without which there is no room for a Democrat to run and beat Hillary Clinton? WIN. Who intuitively knew what message Americans were looking for and had the intellectual and charismatic talents to deliver it? WIN. Who showed his critics what community organizer can do with a few million passionate campaign workers? WIN. Who made a series of one smart decision after another in a campaign that will be studied for years to come? WIN. Who overcame racial and ideological barriers to chart a career that almost looks like a 90* angle? Barack Hussein Obama, that’s who. And what did he do when his opponents said “Obama cannot win?” WIN.
JW: Few people, if any, in the world have ever made so many billions of people happy. It's that simple. This is the kind of feat that has traditionally been reserved for people like the Dali Lama, Pele or Oprah. But now the person who should have the popular support of the world will: the president of the United States. Obama has also appeared to have weathered one of the most brutal campaign cycles of all time. His family is still intact, his daughters aren't knocked up and he still talks to Joe Biden. Barack Obama may have been the best presidential candidate in my lifetime, but the McCain camp certainly did set a low bar.
MT: Adding:
The World
JW: This is what the world looked like upon hearing that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States of America, the streets of the world looked something like a combination of The World Cup (in which every country has won) and New Years Eve (if it occurred only once in a lifetime), except that it actually mattered. Barack Obama's personal background is the most international of any president of the United States. His ability to break down racial, cultural and political barriers make him not only a citizen of the United States, but also of the world.
MT: Relax, world. Like the man said, he’s got this. "Americans can always be relied upon to do the right thing", said Winston Churchill, "but only after they have exhausted every other alternative." Maybe so, but just when the global community thinks we’ve lost our mojo, when our critics and friends alike think we’re incapable of achieving the seemingly impossible, when the limit of our potential appears to have been reached, we find something more. Yes we can.
Democrats
MT: By the mid-90’s, complacency and a lost sense of purpose had relegated the once dominant Democratic Party to a congressional minority. Why should voters go for Republican Lite when they could have the real thing? Democrats responded to Republican bait, and talked about issues in Republican frames. They worried more that Republicans would call them names than how best to serve the country. More than anything, they forgot they were Democrats. And while it took the unmitigated failure of the Bush administration to remind them, they found their voice and realized a clear contrast with Republicans based on big-D Democratic principles was a winner with voters. The call for “more and better Democrats” was answered. And people responded. Allow me to demonstrate:
With the exception of Appalachia, Arkansas, Oklahoma and some scattered areas of the deep South, America is voting more Democratic. So congratulations, Donks. Don’t forget how you got here.
JW: Well, Dems, you finally pulled it together. You got technology, many Republicans the world on your side, and harnessed these special ingredients for a well-deserved win. While the Republican Primary stand-off became a choice between the lesser of the evils, your lot of choices—at least two of them—were top-notch. While the Republican National Convention looked and sounded like a hood-less KKK board meeting inside a small-town bank, your convention made the light show at Disneyland look anti-climactic. You won over people from the Republic Party the Independent Party and the Green Party. If you were on a high school football team, you would get the award for the "Most Improved Player."
Howard Dean
MT: When Gov. Howard Dean was in the middle of the 2004 campaign rant that would forever be known as the “Dean Scream,” he was describing what would later be termed the “50-state strategy.” Just prior to the “Yeeeeaaarrrrghhh!!!”, he was running down a list of traditionally red states that he thought Democrats should be competitive in, and that would be the key to putting a Dem in the White House. People laughed, “Oh, that nutty Howard Dean! Spreading out money in resources where Republicans are stronger and more likely to say mean things to us. Hahahahaha! That’ll never work!” Dean didn’t secure the 2004 nomination, but his 50-state strategy and mastery of new online fundraising and organizing tools was the blueprint that Barack Obama followed, and it paid off big time. He who screams first, laughs last.
JW: If any single person paved the way for Obama's win on Tuesday, it was Howard Dean. His grassroots organizing, appeal to the youth and ability to energize the base was unprecedented in the early days of the DNC primary campaign season. Obama ceased on this unfulfilled potential, which had grown after nearly four more years of Bush. Dean also has demonstrated strong leadership as the DNC Chair and has helped lead the party to where it is today.
Obama Supporters
MT: Speaking of what Obama has for breakfast, these people were hungry. From the phone banking to the fundraising, from spreading the message on message boards and blogs to knocking on doors in an unprecedented ground game, those people who got out and hustled to make Tuesday happen deserve a clap on the back. The last few years have been bleak, with America’s moral and financial credibility on the brink of the abyss. It’s easy in this culture to be uninvolved, distracted, and before you know it, we’re over the edge. More than just those who voted, the people who put Barack Obama on their collective backs and dragged him to the dance in the first place did us all a great favor. Cheers, mates.
JW: Never before had I personally known so many people who were so active in this campaign. To support the presidential candidate in the case of Obama had gone from something passive to an active way of life. "Supporting" went from meaning "voting for" or "putting a yard sign in front of my house" to "phone banking, driving to swing states, canvassing, donating my much-needed and hard-earned dollars to the campaign," "throwing fundraisers,' "Facebooking," and "declaring far and wide that Obama was the best choice." As a reward, not only do Obama supporters get to see their choice in the White House come January, but they have the satisfaction of knowing they personally and directly help put him there.
America
MT: Aside from the relief of having an adult in charge that doesn’t look at actual governing like the continuation of one long political campaign, America can now start to heal itself from eight years of mis-rule. The importance of having an actual Constitutional scholar in charge of defending the Constitution cannot be understated. The effect of Obama’s election will have a profound impact on the American psyche, all of it good. America can take pride in showing to the world, once again, what it’s like to truly lead. It’s cool to be an American again.
JW: The American people have finally taken steps to reclaiming their country with the election of Obama. Of course there were several set-backs in this election, including the ban of gay marriage in three states, but overall, America has come out of the 2008 as a champion. With a high voter turnout, more people now have their say in the policies and people who lead this country, and more people can sleep better at night knowing that the president-to-be represent more of them.
Dogs
JW: As if the Obama girls' choice of a puppy over a kitten didn't generate enough publicity for dogs after Obama's speech, the media worldwide has been going nuts with turning Obama's puppy statement into a story [news.google.com].
MT: I always had a soft spot for Barney, ever since President Klutz dropped him on the tarmac after getting off Air Force One once, but biting a Reuters reporter covering his daily walk for a fluff story? [wonkette.com] That’s just awesome. I’ll bet Bush wishes he could do that.
Nate Silver
JW: This guy. His projections were more accurate than any single pollster's in the election. His path to successful political forecasting began as a baseball statistician working for a think tank in Chicago. He began applying the same strategies to the political polls on his website, fivethirtyeight.com [fivethirtyeight.com] and ended up predicting the final breakdown of electoral and popular votes one-tenth of a point off from what actually occurred.
MT: Seriously, this guy is scary accurate. What he did was the polling equivalent of hitting a three point shot from a passing airplane. John Zogby is eating his dust right now. 538 is now going to be the go-to source for the next few election cycles. Congrats.
Katie Couric
JW: Despite Sarah Palin's $150,000 plus clothing budget, CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Couric showed the world that the empress, indeed, has no clothes. In her series of interviews [www.cbsnews.com] she let Palin speak for herself and expose her true ineptness and ignorance in a way that no strategist, aid or national presidential campaign could cover up. Even when it came time for the variety shows to parody these interviews, they drew directly from the Couric/Palin script [www.huffingtonpost.com].
MT: If there’s a “Showed Most Improvement” award for the national media, Katie Couric won it hands down. I’ve never been much of a fan of Katie’s brand of Journalism Lite, but, perhaps awareness of her reputation as a media lightweight and sense that she wasn’t going to out-perk Sarah Palin, Katie stepped up her game and actually took it to the Thrilla from Wasilla. Watching her press Palin to name McCain’s reform accomplishments until she essentially cried “uncle!” was a classic campaign moment and a feather in Couric’s cap.
Hawaii
JW: The union's 50th state will never again be thought of merely for its exotic vacation destinations and production of sugar. We now will think of it as home to many, including white people from Kansas! Hawaii also showed us where its heart is by giving the highest share of its votes [www.cqpolitics.com] to Obama. Just don't expect Obama to exploit grass skirts and leis the way Connecticut native George W. Bush popularized cowboy boots and belt buckles, Obama is the real deal.
MT: Hawaii. Not just for elitists anymore [www.huffingtonpost.com] Shaka bra.
Jamie Wong and Michael Turner
To our readers and those who have followed BACK TALK this last month or so, the pleasure was all ours. Thanks for your comments, thank you for voting and thanks for being so damned good-looking. You know you are. And thanks to the Sundance Channel for giving us the opportunity to riff on this special moment in American history. It was fun. Be sure to check out the fine programming on the Sundance Channel now that you're not glued to the nightly news for campaign updates. And if you don't have the Sundance Channel, call your local cable carrier. You'll be glad you did. [/shameless plug]
Peace out.
-- Jamie Wong & Michael Turner
Barack Obama
MT: Whatever Barack Obama has for breakfast, that’s what you should be ordering. Because whatever it is, it tastes like WIN. Who got the right position on Iraq – don’t go –from the very start, without which there is no room for a Democrat to run and beat Hillary Clinton? WIN. Who intuitively knew what message Americans were looking for and had the intellectual and charismatic talents to deliver it? WIN. Who showed his critics what community organizer can do with a few million passionate campaign workers? WIN. Who made a series of one smart decision after another in a campaign that will be studied for years to come? WIN. Who overcame racial and ideological barriers to chart a career that almost looks like a 90* angle? Barack Hussein Obama, that’s who. And what did he do when his opponents said “Obama cannot win?” WIN.
JW: Few people, if any, in the world have ever made so many billions of people happy. It's that simple. This is the kind of feat that has traditionally been reserved for people like the Dali Lama, Pele or Oprah. But now the person who should have the popular support of the world will: the president of the United States. Obama has also appeared to have weathered one of the most brutal campaign cycles of all time. His family is still intact, his daughters aren't knocked up and he still talks to Joe Biden. Barack Obama may have been the best presidential candidate in my lifetime, but the McCain camp certainly did set a low bar.
MT: Adding:
The World
JW: This is what the world looked like upon hearing that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States of America, the streets of the world looked something like a combination of The World Cup (in which every country has won) and New Years Eve (if it occurred only once in a lifetime), except that it actually mattered. Barack Obama's personal background is the most international of any president of the United States. His ability to break down racial, cultural and political barriers make him not only a citizen of the United States, but also of the world.
MT: Relax, world. Like the man said, he’s got this. "Americans can always be relied upon to do the right thing", said Winston Churchill, "but only after they have exhausted every other alternative." Maybe so, but just when the global community thinks we’ve lost our mojo, when our critics and friends alike think we’re incapable of achieving the seemingly impossible, when the limit of our potential appears to have been reached, we find something more. Yes we can.
Democrats
MT: By the mid-90’s, complacency and a lost sense of purpose had relegated the once dominant Democratic Party to a congressional minority. Why should voters go for Republican Lite when they could have the real thing? Democrats responded to Republican bait, and talked about issues in Republican frames. They worried more that Republicans would call them names than how best to serve the country. More than anything, they forgot they were Democrats. And while it took the unmitigated failure of the Bush administration to remind them, they found their voice and realized a clear contrast with Republicans based on big-D Democratic principles was a winner with voters. The call for “more and better Democrats” was answered. And people responded. Allow me to demonstrate:
With the exception of Appalachia, Arkansas, Oklahoma and some scattered areas of the deep South, America is voting more Democratic. So congratulations, Donks. Don’t forget how you got here.
JW: Well, Dems, you finally pulled it together. You got technology, many Republicans the world on your side, and harnessed these special ingredients for a well-deserved win. While the Republican Primary stand-off became a choice between the lesser of the evils, your lot of choices—at least two of them—were top-notch. While the Republican National Convention looked and sounded like a hood-less KKK board meeting inside a small-town bank, your convention made the light show at Disneyland look anti-climactic. You won over people from the Republic Party the Independent Party and the Green Party. If you were on a high school football team, you would get the award for the "Most Improved Player."
Howard Dean
MT: When Gov. Howard Dean was in the middle of the 2004 campaign rant that would forever be known as the “Dean Scream,” he was describing what would later be termed the “50-state strategy.” Just prior to the “Yeeeeaaarrrrghhh!!!”, he was running down a list of traditionally red states that he thought Democrats should be competitive in, and that would be the key to putting a Dem in the White House. People laughed, “Oh, that nutty Howard Dean! Spreading out money in resources where Republicans are stronger and more likely to say mean things to us. Hahahahaha! That’ll never work!” Dean didn’t secure the 2004 nomination, but his 50-state strategy and mastery of new online fundraising and organizing tools was the blueprint that Barack Obama followed, and it paid off big time. He who screams first, laughs last.
JW: If any single person paved the way for Obama's win on Tuesday, it was Howard Dean. His grassroots organizing, appeal to the youth and ability to energize the base was unprecedented in the early days of the DNC primary campaign season. Obama ceased on this unfulfilled potential, which had grown after nearly four more years of Bush. Dean also has demonstrated strong leadership as the DNC Chair and has helped lead the party to where it is today.
Obama Supporters
MT: Speaking of what Obama has for breakfast, these people were hungry. From the phone banking to the fundraising, from spreading the message on message boards and blogs to knocking on doors in an unprecedented ground game, those people who got out and hustled to make Tuesday happen deserve a clap on the back. The last few years have been bleak, with America’s moral and financial credibility on the brink of the abyss. It’s easy in this culture to be uninvolved, distracted, and before you know it, we’re over the edge. More than just those who voted, the people who put Barack Obama on their collective backs and dragged him to the dance in the first place did us all a great favor. Cheers, mates.
JW: Never before had I personally known so many people who were so active in this campaign. To support the presidential candidate in the case of Obama had gone from something passive to an active way of life. "Supporting" went from meaning "voting for" or "putting a yard sign in front of my house" to "phone banking, driving to swing states, canvassing, donating my much-needed and hard-earned dollars to the campaign," "throwing fundraisers,' "Facebooking," and "declaring far and wide that Obama was the best choice." As a reward, not only do Obama supporters get to see their choice in the White House come January, but they have the satisfaction of knowing they personally and directly help put him there.
America
MT: Aside from the relief of having an adult in charge that doesn’t look at actual governing like the continuation of one long political campaign, America can now start to heal itself from eight years of mis-rule. The importance of having an actual Constitutional scholar in charge of defending the Constitution cannot be understated. The effect of Obama’s election will have a profound impact on the American psyche, all of it good. America can take pride in showing to the world, once again, what it’s like to truly lead. It’s cool to be an American again.
JW: The American people have finally taken steps to reclaiming their country with the election of Obama. Of course there were several set-backs in this election, including the ban of gay marriage in three states, but overall, America has come out of the 2008 as a champion. With a high voter turnout, more people now have their say in the policies and people who lead this country, and more people can sleep better at night knowing that the president-to-be represent more of them.
Dogs
JW: As if the Obama girls' choice of a puppy over a kitten didn't generate enough publicity for dogs after Obama's speech, the media worldwide has been going nuts with turning Obama's puppy statement into a story [news.google.com].
MT: I always had a soft spot for Barney, ever since President Klutz dropped him on the tarmac after getting off Air Force One once, but biting a Reuters reporter covering his daily walk for a fluff story? [wonkette.com] That’s just awesome. I’ll bet Bush wishes he could do that.
Nate Silver
JW: This guy. His projections were more accurate than any single pollster's in the election. His path to successful political forecasting began as a baseball statistician working for a think tank in Chicago. He began applying the same strategies to the political polls on his website, fivethirtyeight.com [fivethirtyeight.com] and ended up predicting the final breakdown of electoral and popular votes one-tenth of a point off from what actually occurred.
MT: Seriously, this guy is scary accurate. What he did was the polling equivalent of hitting a three point shot from a passing airplane. John Zogby is eating his dust right now. 538 is now going to be the go-to source for the next few election cycles. Congrats.
Katie Couric
JW: Despite Sarah Palin's $150,000 plus clothing budget, CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Couric showed the world that the empress, indeed, has no clothes. In her series of interviews [www.cbsnews.com] she let Palin speak for herself and expose her true ineptness and ignorance in a way that no strategist, aid or national presidential campaign could cover up. Even when it came time for the variety shows to parody these interviews, they drew directly from the Couric/Palin script [www.huffingtonpost.com].
MT: If there’s a “Showed Most Improvement” award for the national media, Katie Couric won it hands down. I’ve never been much of a fan of Katie’s brand of Journalism Lite, but, perhaps awareness of her reputation as a media lightweight and sense that she wasn’t going to out-perk Sarah Palin, Katie stepped up her game and actually took it to the Thrilla from Wasilla. Watching her press Palin to name McCain’s reform accomplishments until she essentially cried “uncle!” was a classic campaign moment and a feather in Couric’s cap.
Hawaii
JW: The union's 50th state will never again be thought of merely for its exotic vacation destinations and production of sugar. We now will think of it as home to many, including white people from Kansas! Hawaii also showed us where its heart is by giving the highest share of its votes [www.cqpolitics.com] to Obama. Just don't expect Obama to exploit grass skirts and leis the way Connecticut native George W. Bush popularized cowboy boots and belt buckles, Obama is the real deal.
MT: Hawaii. Not just for elitists anymore [www.huffingtonpost.com] Shaka bra.
Jamie Wong and Michael Turner
To our readers and those who have followed BACK TALK this last month or so, the pleasure was all ours. Thanks for your comments, thank you for voting and thanks for being so damned good-looking. You know you are. And thanks to the Sundance Channel for giving us the opportunity to riff on this special moment in American history. It was fun. Be sure to check out the fine programming on the Sundance Channel now that you're not glued to the nightly news for campaign updates. And if you don't have the Sundance Channel, call your local cable carrier. You'll be glad you did. [/shameless plug]
Peace out.
-- Jamie Wong & Michael Turner
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Posted November 10, 2008 12:15PM
As the political season comes to a close and we turn our attentions back to our neglected jobs, friends, spouses and significant others, we thought we'd take the time to look back at some of the winners and losers of the 2008 election. So without further ado, and because we don't want to keep them from their pressing appointments with the dustbin of history, here are the Losers:
John McCain
JW: Senator John McCain may appear the most obvious loser in the 2008 Election, but don't expect this guy to stay at home crying! According to campaign manager Rick Davis, "He didn't even spend 24 hours lamenting the loss." [latimesblogs.latimes.com] Instead he plans to cook up some ribs [www.swamppolitics.com] for the family.
MT: And don’t forget the press. McCain will be inviting them back as well, hoping some mouthwatering BBQ will make them overlook how he flip-flopped on everything that made him an appealing politician eight years ago because he thought it would win him a political contest. Maybe the sweet aroma of tangy sauce will cause them to forget he ran the most erratic, rudderless and negative campaigns of the 20 years. Enjoy the ribs, John. Hope they don’t taste bitter.
Sarah Palin
MT: Sarah Palin is not on this list because she is breathtakingly unqualified for the office of Vice President, lacking any apparent understanding of national and global issues or even how our government works. She’s not a loser because she was a horribly dangerous choice, the ACME Rocket Sled to McCain’s Wile E. Coyote. Sarah Palin gets the big L because she lied. She knew she was lying, it was proved she was lying, and she continued to lie. She lied about her record, she lied about her investigations and she lied about her own qualifications – no one’s that un-self aware. She lied about Obama, and in doing so she approached the careful fire of cultural division the GOP had been nursing like a pyromaniac with a gas can. All in the name of a shot at the White House and a really nice wardrobe. Lo. Ser.
JW: Not only did Sarah Palin lose the vice presidency, she has also become the scapegoat [www.politico.com] for many republicans, particularly many of those on McCain's campaign staff. Staff confessed (under the condition of anonymity) that she did not know that Africa was a country, that she refused briefing before her interview with Katie Couric, and that she greeted staffers in her hotel room wearing only a bathrobe. Not only is she a loser, but her reputation is very tainted, and it will be an uphill battle to 2012.
FOX / Sean Hannity
JW: If these guys had any credibility going into the election, they certainly don't have any now. Sean Hannity has repeatedly proven himself not only stupid, but also wrong [www.youtube.com]. Don't be surprised to find Fox News soon downgradig themselves from a twenty-four-hour presidential infomercial to the newest publicist for Sarah Palin (2012!).
MT: I give Fox about 2 months before, without a hint of irony, they start talking about how Barack Obama is abusing his power and shredding the Constitution. I remember two years ago, on the eve of the 2006 mid-terms, Sean Hannity actually went on the air and urged Democratic voters to stay home, for the good of the country. Eat. Me.
Republicans
MT: They had it all. The White House, senate, congress, an edge on SCOTUS; Republicans had the bully pulpit and the complicity of the national media. They set the agenda, took the wheel and told everyone else to shut up, they were driving. Right off a cliff, as it turned out. On foreign and domestic policy, from the economy to the Middle East, Americans have rejected the Republican Party and conservatism. The “Party of Ideas” hasn’t had many for a while now, and the ones they have are bad. Or, to quote Karl Rove, “That doesn't make them unpatriotic, not at all. But it does make them wrong - deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.” [www.realclearpolitics.com] Welcome to the wilderness. They set their course for the fringe of the party and got lost along the way, and as long as they let the lunatics run the asylum, they’ll stay lost.
JW: They're broken. The GOP, as Gore Vidal famously put it [www.youtube.com], "The Republican party is not a party like your parties in England. It is a mind set. They love war. They love money. They want to hang on to all the connections they have."
Alaska
JW: Sorry, Alaska, the 2008 Presidential Election provided you with a huge opportunity to prove to the lower 48 that you are made up of more than small-town hockey players and snow-machine drivers who are insulated from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the message never really made its way to us. In fact, it was only reinforced by the nomination, and subsequent loss of your state's poster girl, former Miss Wasilla [wonkette.com] and current Governor, Sarah Palin.
MT: Seriously, Alaska, WTF? You just re-elected a convicted felon, Ted Stevens, and possibly another in Don Young. Despite Sarah Palin’s own self-appointed board clearing her of all misdeeds in the Troopergate scandal, she still broke your own ethics laws, and now there’s talk of sending her to the U.S. Senate (y’know, to replace that convicted felon you just re-elected)? What do you have to do to get rejected by Alaskan voters? Boil kittens on live TV? What?
Joe Lieberman
MT: Man, talk about betting on the wrong horse. It had already been a messy divorce between the Democratic Party and Sen. Joe Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) since the 2006 mid-term election, but Joe agreed to caucus with the Democrats so they could claim the majority, and Joe could keep his plum committee chairmanships. But when he announced his endorsement for John McCain, Lieberman laid down the gauntlet; he saw his future in the senate on shaky ground and put all his chips on a Republican in the White House. Putting on his best “this hurts me more than it hurts you” Droopy Dog face, Lieberman accused Obama of not putting “country first,” thought it was a good question if Obama was a Marxist, and suggested he didn’t support American troops. In other words, Joe was being Joe. For the last dozen years or so, that sharp pain Democrats have felt in their right side has been a shiv in the ribs with Joe Lieberman’s name on it. Now he’s all, “Let’s not bicker about who said what and endorsed whom. Let’s forget all that and move on.” Fat chance, Joe. Say goodbye to your chairmanships. Good luck with your new friends.
JW: Joe Lieberman is one of many Joe's who have lost out this election. Everyone is looking at him like a fair-weather idiot. In 2000 he ran as vice president for the Democratic Party, and lost. In 2008 he didn't make the cut for the coveted vice-presidential spot on the GOP ticket. And not only did he not get the post, but he lost it to Sarah Palin.
George W. Bush
MT: W would be on this list no matter who won the election. His EPIC FAIL administration is not going to be judged kindly by history under any circumstances. But Bush’s one chance to salvage some plausible denial that he was not, in fact, the Worst President Ever hinged on McCain winning the election. Now, instead of the continued cover-up and mitigation of all the bad stuff we don’t even know about yet (and you know it’s there), the White House will get a proper fumigation and Bush’s legacy will get its trousers yanked down and bent over the fence by history and given the proper rogering it deserves. Have I mentioned EPIC FAIL? That’s important.
JW: For anyone angry that a the president-elect has been working in Washington for only two years, or is black or did not grow up in the continental United States or served on the board with William Ayers, or is loved internationally, you have George W. Bush to thank. We need only look at history to know that the political and cultural pendulum of the country swings constantly. But in Bush's case, it ripped off from its axis and destroyed itself.
Gay Marriage
JW: Just six months after the California State Supreme Court decided that banning gay marriage was unconstitutional, California voters passed Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution to make gay marriage illegal [www.sfgate.com].
MT: This is just sad. In an election where one major barrier was torn down, another is erected. Hopefully the California courts will decide again, rightfully, that you cannot legislate taking rights away from a minority. In the meantime, keep up the fight [www.nbclosangeles.com].
Joe the Plumber
MT: To be fair, Joe really shouldn’t be on here all by his lonesome. Joe Wurzelbacher should share this prestigious space with all the yahoos at the Palin rallies; all the rightwing bloggers who parroted every insane conspiracy theory that came down the pike, even ones that contradicted other ones. Joe the Plumber should share this dishonor with the listeners of Rush Limbaugh and the readers of National Review Online. But since they declared “We are all Joe the Plumber!”, then Joe it is. And really, Joe is the perfect embodiment of all those people; totally misinformed , under the delusion they are society’s real victims, and shamelessly self-interested. They are all Joe the Plumber, and if any last one of them could parlay a set-up “gotcha” moment with wingnut talking points into an agent, a book deal, recording contract and possible political career, they would in heartbeat. Of course, with the historic whuppin’ McCain just received, some of those deals may sort of dry up. Loser(s).
JW: The only thing that plumbers gained from this election was a new vault of plumber jokes and puns. Other than that, if people didn't already make a joke of their, albeit very important, job, they do now. Joe the Plumber became a national symbol fabricated by the McCain campaign, making his campaign rally no-shows and disastrous media appearances [www.youtube.com] even more devastating for McCain.
Cats
JW: Face it felines, you're sooo last term! Move over with Ernie and India Bush, the country has spoken and dogs are the news cats come 2009. In Barack Obama's victory speech [edition.cnn.com] in Grant Park, Chicago on Tuesday, he said that his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, have "earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House."
MT: While I have nothing personal against feline-Americans, they really shouldn’t have let the ostensibly pro-Hillary/anti-Obama/pro-McCain nutjobs who called themselves PUMAs (for Party Unity My Ass) [pumaparty.com] sully their species like that. Isn’t there a Feline Anti-Defamation League or something?
-- Jamie Wong & Michael Turner
John McCain
JW: Senator John McCain may appear the most obvious loser in the 2008 Election, but don't expect this guy to stay at home crying! According to campaign manager Rick Davis, "He didn't even spend 24 hours lamenting the loss." [latimesblogs.latimes.com] Instead he plans to cook up some ribs [www.swamppolitics.com] for the family.
MT: And don’t forget the press. McCain will be inviting them back as well, hoping some mouthwatering BBQ will make them overlook how he flip-flopped on everything that made him an appealing politician eight years ago because he thought it would win him a political contest. Maybe the sweet aroma of tangy sauce will cause them to forget he ran the most erratic, rudderless and negative campaigns of the 20 years. Enjoy the ribs, John. Hope they don’t taste bitter.
Sarah Palin
MT: Sarah Palin is not on this list because she is breathtakingly unqualified for the office of Vice President, lacking any apparent understanding of national and global issues or even how our government works. She’s not a loser because she was a horribly dangerous choice, the ACME Rocket Sled to McCain’s Wile E. Coyote. Sarah Palin gets the big L because she lied. She knew she was lying, it was proved she was lying, and she continued to lie. She lied about her record, she lied about her investigations and she lied about her own qualifications – no one’s that un-self aware. She lied about Obama, and in doing so she approached the careful fire of cultural division the GOP had been nursing like a pyromaniac with a gas can. All in the name of a shot at the White House and a really nice wardrobe. Lo. Ser.
JW: Not only did Sarah Palin lose the vice presidency, she has also become the scapegoat [www.politico.com] for many republicans, particularly many of those on McCain's campaign staff. Staff confessed (under the condition of anonymity) that she did not know that Africa was a country, that she refused briefing before her interview with Katie Couric, and that she greeted staffers in her hotel room wearing only a bathrobe. Not only is she a loser, but her reputation is very tainted, and it will be an uphill battle to 2012.
FOX / Sean Hannity
JW: If these guys had any credibility going into the election, they certainly don't have any now. Sean Hannity has repeatedly proven himself not only stupid, but also wrong [www.youtube.com]. Don't be surprised to find Fox News soon downgradig themselves from a twenty-four-hour presidential infomercial to the newest publicist for Sarah Palin (2012!).
MT: I give Fox about 2 months before, without a hint of irony, they start talking about how Barack Obama is abusing his power and shredding the Constitution. I remember two years ago, on the eve of the 2006 mid-terms, Sean Hannity actually went on the air and urged Democratic voters to stay home, for the good of the country. Eat. Me.
Republicans
MT: They had it all. The White House, senate, congress, an edge on SCOTUS; Republicans had the bully pulpit and the complicity of the national media. They set the agenda, took the wheel and told everyone else to shut up, they were driving. Right off a cliff, as it turned out. On foreign and domestic policy, from the economy to the Middle East, Americans have rejected the Republican Party and conservatism. The “Party of Ideas” hasn’t had many for a while now, and the ones they have are bad. Or, to quote Karl Rove, “That doesn't make them unpatriotic, not at all. But it does make them wrong - deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.” [www.realclearpolitics.com] Welcome to the wilderness. They set their course for the fringe of the party and got lost along the way, and as long as they let the lunatics run the asylum, they’ll stay lost.
JW: They're broken. The GOP, as Gore Vidal famously put it [www.youtube.com], "The Republican party is not a party like your parties in England. It is a mind set. They love war. They love money. They want to hang on to all the connections they have."
Alaska
JW: Sorry, Alaska, the 2008 Presidential Election provided you with a huge opportunity to prove to the lower 48 that you are made up of more than small-town hockey players and snow-machine drivers who are insulated from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the message never really made its way to us. In fact, it was only reinforced by the nomination, and subsequent loss of your state's poster girl, former Miss Wasilla [wonkette.com] and current Governor, Sarah Palin.
MT: Seriously, Alaska, WTF? You just re-elected a convicted felon, Ted Stevens, and possibly another in Don Young. Despite Sarah Palin’s own self-appointed board clearing her of all misdeeds in the Troopergate scandal, she still broke your own ethics laws, and now there’s talk of sending her to the U.S. Senate (y’know, to replace that convicted felon you just re-elected)? What do you have to do to get rejected by Alaskan voters? Boil kittens on live TV? What?
Joe Lieberman
MT: Man, talk about betting on the wrong horse. It had already been a messy divorce between the Democratic Party and Sen. Joe Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) since the 2006 mid-term election, but Joe agreed to caucus with the Democrats so they could claim the majority, and Joe could keep his plum committee chairmanships. But when he announced his endorsement for John McCain, Lieberman laid down the gauntlet; he saw his future in the senate on shaky ground and put all his chips on a Republican in the White House. Putting on his best “this hurts me more than it hurts you” Droopy Dog face, Lieberman accused Obama of not putting “country first,” thought it was a good question if Obama was a Marxist, and suggested he didn’t support American troops. In other words, Joe was being Joe. For the last dozen years or so, that sharp pain Democrats have felt in their right side has been a shiv in the ribs with Joe Lieberman’s name on it. Now he’s all, “Let’s not bicker about who said what and endorsed whom. Let’s forget all that and move on.” Fat chance, Joe. Say goodbye to your chairmanships. Good luck with your new friends.
JW: Joe Lieberman is one of many Joe's who have lost out this election. Everyone is looking at him like a fair-weather idiot. In 2000 he ran as vice president for the Democratic Party, and lost. In 2008 he didn't make the cut for the coveted vice-presidential spot on the GOP ticket. And not only did he not get the post, but he lost it to Sarah Palin.
George W. Bush
MT: W would be on this list no matter who won the election. His EPIC FAIL administration is not going to be judged kindly by history under any circumstances. But Bush’s one chance to salvage some plausible denial that he was not, in fact, the Worst President Ever hinged on McCain winning the election. Now, instead of the continued cover-up and mitigation of all the bad stuff we don’t even know about yet (and you know it’s there), the White House will get a proper fumigation and Bush’s legacy will get its trousers yanked down and bent over the fence by history and given the proper rogering it deserves. Have I mentioned EPIC FAIL? That’s important.
JW: For anyone angry that a the president-elect has been working in Washington for only two years, or is black or did not grow up in the continental United States or served on the board with William Ayers, or is loved internationally, you have George W. Bush to thank. We need only look at history to know that the political and cultural pendulum of the country swings constantly. But in Bush's case, it ripped off from its axis and destroyed itself.
Gay Marriage
JW: Just six months after the California State Supreme Court decided that banning gay marriage was unconstitutional, California voters passed Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution to make gay marriage illegal [www.sfgate.com].
MT: This is just sad. In an election where one major barrier was torn down, another is erected. Hopefully the California courts will decide again, rightfully, that you cannot legislate taking rights away from a minority. In the meantime, keep up the fight [www.nbclosangeles.com].
Joe the Plumber
MT: To be fair, Joe really shouldn’t be on here all by his lonesome. Joe Wurzelbacher should share this prestigious space with all the yahoos at the Palin rallies; all the rightwing bloggers who parroted every insane conspiracy theory that came down the pike, even ones that contradicted other ones. Joe the Plumber should share this dishonor with the listeners of Rush Limbaugh and the readers of National Review Online. But since they declared “We are all Joe the Plumber!”, then Joe it is. And really, Joe is the perfect embodiment of all those people; totally misinformed , under the delusion they are society’s real victims, and shamelessly self-interested. They are all Joe the Plumber, and if any last one of them could parlay a set-up “gotcha” moment with wingnut talking points into an agent, a book deal, recording contract and possible political career, they would in heartbeat. Of course, with the historic whuppin’ McCain just received, some of those deals may sort of dry up. Loser(s).
JW: The only thing that plumbers gained from this election was a new vault of plumber jokes and puns. Other than that, if people didn't already make a joke of their, albeit very important, job, they do now. Joe the Plumber became a national symbol fabricated by the McCain campaign, making his campaign rally no-shows and disastrous media appearances [www.youtube.com] even more devastating for McCain.
Cats
JW: Face it felines, you're sooo last term! Move over with Ernie and India Bush, the country has spoken and dogs are the news cats come 2009. In Barack Obama's victory speech [edition.cnn.com] in Grant Park, Chicago on Tuesday, he said that his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, have "earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House."
MT: While I have nothing personal against feline-Americans, they really shouldn’t have let the ostensibly pro-Hillary/anti-Obama/pro-McCain nutjobs who called themselves PUMAs (for Party Unity My Ass) [pumaparty.com] sully their species like that. Isn’t there a Feline Anti-Defamation League or something?
-- Jamie Wong & Michael Turner
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Posted November 06, 2008 06:30PM
Q: When Is a Mandate Not a Mandate?
A: When it belongs to a Democrat.
As I was watching the returns come in Tuesday night, I saw the 270-electoral vote threshold fall. I looked at the map and what states were left to call. As more results slowly started trickling in, the word that dare not speak its name bubbled up in my mind. I pushed it back. The evening was historic enough without trying to dress it up in flashy clothes.
290……300……320……349……I couldn’t deny it any more. I quietly whispered the word to myself: ”mandate.” The next day, I looked at the popular vote totals. Obama had a cushion of almost 7 million people. Just now, the AP has called North Carolina for Obama [www.wbt.com]. This symbolic win not only gives NC to a Democrat for the first time since Carter, it means a black man has just won the state that elected the racist Jesse Helms to the U.S. Senate for 30 years, as recently as 1996. It also brings Obama’s electoral vote count up to a muscular 364. That’s an ass-kicking you can believe in, my friends. That’s what you call a mandate.
Unless, of course, you’re a noted GOP media hack like Bob “Prince of Darkness” Novak [thinkprogress.org]:
“[Obama] may have opened the door to enactment of the long-deferred liberal agenda, but he neither received a broad mandate from the public nor the needed large congressional majorities.”
Got that? Between this election and the 2006 mid-terms, Democrats have a larger majority in the senate than any party has had since the late 70’s. Obama’s 364 electoral votes are more than any candidate has won since Clinton in ’96. But more importantly, Obama’s electoral and popular vote totals positively dwarf President Bush’s totals in 2004. That was the year Bush claimed he’d earned “political capital” in his re-election, and bragged how he was going to spend it and there wasn’t anything people that didn’t vote for him could do about it. Or, as Bob Novak himself put it at the time:
Q: Bob Novak, is 51 percent of the vote really a mandate?
NOVAK: Of course it is. It’s a 3.5 million vote margin. But the people who are saying that it isn’t a mandate are the same people who were predicting that John Kerry would win. … So the people who say there’s not a mandate want the president, now that he’s won, to say, Oh, we’re going to accept the liberalism that the — that the voters rejected. But Mark, this is a conservative country, and it showed it on last Tuesday. [11/06/04]
To sum up:
Bush 2004: 286 EV, 3.5 million popular vote margin = Mandate
Obama 2008: 364 EV, 7.4 million popular vote margin = Not a Mandate
And why is it not a mandate? Because people like Bob Novak, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, Republican strategists and most of the DC media establishment believe – incorrectly – that America is inherently a “center-right” country [thinkprogress.org].
It’s not.
In four of the last five national elections, a progressive Democrat has won more votes than the conservative Republican. We have a Democratic president, a Democratic congress and a Democratic senate. There are Democratic governors in 29 states. Republicans control only 14 state legislatures to Democrats’ 27. On social issues, health care, Iraq, etc., etc., America has for some time been moving increasingly leftward in terms of tolerance and progress policies. Red states are getting less red, blue states are getting bluer. This country is not “center-right,” only its national media.
America is “center-left,” has been for some time, and its liberal President-Elect just won a mandate from its people.
Why is that so hard to understand?
-- Michael Turner
A: When it belongs to a Democrat.
As I was watching the returns come in Tuesday night, I saw the 270-electoral vote threshold fall. I looked at the map and what states were left to call. As more results slowly started trickling in, the word that dare not speak its name bubbled up in my mind. I pushed it back. The evening was historic enough without trying to dress it up in flashy clothes.
290……300……320……349……I couldn’t deny it any more. I quietly whispered the word to myself: ”mandate.” The next day, I looked at the popular vote totals. Obama had a cushion of almost 7 million people. Just now, the AP has called North Carolina for Obama [www.wbt.com]. This symbolic win not only gives NC to a Democrat for the first time since Carter, it means a black man has just won the state that elected the racist Jesse Helms to the U.S. Senate for 30 years, as recently as 1996. It also brings Obama’s electoral vote count up to a muscular 364. That’s an ass-kicking you can believe in, my friends. That’s what you call a mandate.
Unless, of course, you’re a noted GOP media hack like Bob “Prince of Darkness” Novak [thinkprogress.org]:
“[Obama] may have opened the door to enactment of the long-deferred liberal agenda, but he neither received a broad mandate from the public nor the needed large congressional majorities.”
Got that? Between this election and the 2006 mid-terms, Democrats have a larger majority in the senate than any party has had since the late 70’s. Obama’s 364 electoral votes are more than any candidate has won since Clinton in ’96. But more importantly, Obama’s electoral and popular vote totals positively dwarf President Bush’s totals in 2004. That was the year Bush claimed he’d earned “political capital” in his re-election, and bragged how he was going to spend it and there wasn’t anything people that didn’t vote for him could do about it. Or, as Bob Novak himself put it at the time:
Q: Bob Novak, is 51 percent of the vote really a mandate?
NOVAK: Of course it is. It’s a 3.5 million vote margin. But the people who are saying that it isn’t a mandate are the same people who were predicting that John Kerry would win. … So the people who say there’s not a mandate want the president, now that he’s won, to say, Oh, we’re going to accept the liberalism that the — that the voters rejected. But Mark, this is a conservative country, and it showed it on last Tuesday. [11/06/04]
To sum up:
Bush 2004: 286 EV, 3.5 million popular vote margin = Mandate
Obama 2008: 364 EV, 7.4 million popular vote margin = Not a Mandate
And why is it not a mandate? Because people like Bob Novak, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, Republican strategists and most of the DC media establishment believe – incorrectly – that America is inherently a “center-right” country [thinkprogress.org].
It’s not.
In four of the last five national elections, a progressive Democrat has won more votes than the conservative Republican. We have a Democratic president, a Democratic congress and a Democratic senate. There are Democratic governors in 29 states. Republicans control only 14 state legislatures to Democrats’ 27. On social issues, health care, Iraq, etc., etc., America has for some time been moving increasingly leftward in terms of tolerance and progress policies. Red states are getting less red, blue states are getting bluer. This country is not “center-right,” only its national media.
America is “center-left,” has been for some time, and its liberal President-Elect just won a mandate from its people.
Why is that so hard to understand?
-- Michael Turner
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Posted November 05, 2008 06:15PM
The problem with historic moments such as this is that they are so awe-inspiring, so humbling, that it’s easy to be confused by the jubilation that should come with such events. Any outburst of elation or feelings of personal satisfaction that the contest went your side’s way feel almost out of place. Showboating in the end zone or hanging on the rim after a gorilla slam dunk is fine for pro sports, but choosing our leaders, whose decisions will touch all of our lives, should be a more solemn process. Shouldn’t it? In his concession speech last night, John McCain was gracious in defeat, finally displaying a sense of honor and unity that would have served his campaign well. In Chicago’s Grant Park, a sober-faced President-elect Obama was magnanimous in victory and sought to downplay the divisions between Democrats and Republicans. He acknowledged that we need each other and called for all Americans to abandon the petty partisanship that keeps us from unifying behind a common purpose.
He’s right, of course. Now is not the time to gloat over exit polls and popular vote numbers. Focusing on Republican losses in down-ticket contests would be unseemly. Pointing out how badly some people got this election wrong and itotally bet on the wrong horse? Right out. It would be immature to let out a Ric Flair “WOOOOOOOOO!!!!” while moonwalking over a room-sized electoral map.
And yet………
……oh, #@&% it, who am I kidding?
Barack Obama smoked John McCain like a Marlboro Red. Speaking of which; Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada all went from red to blue, and we may see North Carolina go as well. As good as Obama ran his campaign, McCain ran his into the ground. Sarah Palin, while far from the only thing that cost McCain the election, was the clincher for many people. Independents and moderates, for example, favored Obama over McCain. Obama won among men, women, and people under 65. He won Hispanic voters, Asian voters, African-American voters (in record numbers) and did better with white voters than any Democrat in 30 years. More people voted for Obama than any candidate in history, beating out George W. Bush’s 2004 performance by a million or so. Was there voter suppression? Probably, but here’s the thing about getting record turnout in an election – if it’s not close, they can’t steal it. And it wasn’t close. Democrats increased their margins in both houses of congress. Kicking Liddy Dole out of the Senate and making Joe Lieberman completely irrelevant was just icing on the cake.
Hey Karl, how’s that “permanent Republican majority” workin’ out for ya’? Maybe not so good? Maybe you got that one wrong? Maybe you and W and Cheney and McCain and Palin and the rest of your self-marginalized party should’ve thought about the long term effects of not just your election tactics, but your governing policies too. Maybe 50%+1 isn’t such a good idea after all. Welcome to irrelevancy, population: You.
There. I feel better now that I’ve gotten that out of my system. Now we can move on towards unifying this country and…..
….hang on, one more...
……bring an end to this partisan bickering. For the good of America.
-- Michael Turner
He’s right, of course. Now is not the time to gloat over exit polls and popular vote numbers. Focusing on Republican losses in down-ticket contests would be unseemly. Pointing out how badly some people got this election wrong and itotally bet on the wrong horse? Right out. It would be immature to let out a Ric Flair “WOOOOOOOOO!!!!” while moonwalking over a room-sized electoral map.
And yet………
……oh, #@&% it, who am I kidding?
Barack Obama smoked John McCain like a Marlboro Red. Speaking of which; Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada all went from red to blue, and we may see North Carolina go as well. As good as Obama ran his campaign, McCain ran his into the ground. Sarah Palin, while far from the only thing that cost McCain the election, was the clincher for many people. Independents and moderates, for example, favored Obama over McCain. Obama won among men, women, and people under 65. He won Hispanic voters, Asian voters, African-American voters (in record numbers) and did better with white voters than any Democrat in 30 years. More people voted for Obama than any candidate in history, beating out George W. Bush’s 2004 performance by a million or so. Was there voter suppression? Probably, but here’s the thing about getting record turnout in an election – if it’s not close, they can’t steal it. And it wasn’t close. Democrats increased their margins in both houses of congress. Kicking Liddy Dole out of the Senate and making Joe Lieberman completely irrelevant was just icing on the cake.
Hey Karl, how’s that “permanent Republican majority” workin’ out for ya’? Maybe not so good? Maybe you got that one wrong? Maybe you and W and Cheney and McCain and Palin and the rest of your self-marginalized party should’ve thought about the long term effects of not just your election tactics, but your governing policies too. Maybe 50%+1 isn’t such a good idea after all. Welcome to irrelevancy, population: You.
There. I feel better now that I’ve gotten that out of my system. Now we can move on towards unifying this country and…..
….hang on, one more...
……bring an end to this partisan bickering. For the good of America.
-- Michael Turner
eAyskbA5arxfVMITOSJ_fvUcNfXOb4lUVHEYX&ts=1225933210&partner=ymail&sig=u1LkckTzYDzUueaY7P6cxA--
Posted October 30, 2008 08:15PM
In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger proposed taking a cat and putting it into a box. Also into the box he would put a small bit of radioactive substance, not in itself harmful to the cat. Over the course of one hour, the radioactive substance might, or might not, set off a Geiger counter also inside the box that would trigger the release of a poison gas. This would be quite harmful to the cat. Fatal, in fact. But there was an equal chance that nothing would happen and the cat would be fine. What Schrodinger hoped to demonstrate, besides his dislike of cats, is that in conjunction with his theory of quantum mechanics, until the box was opened and the cat’s well-being determined, the cat actually existed in two states - alive and dead - simultaneously, depending on whether or not the radioactive lump set off the poison trap. Once one observed the cat inside the box, one of the quantum possibilities collapses and you are left with either a perfectly healthy, if somewhat confused kitty, or a short digging job in the backyard.In 1982, longtime Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of California. Given the Golden State’s reliable Democratic leanings and Bradley’s significant poll lead going into the election, he was expected to win. Even the San Francisco Chronicle ran the post-election day paper with the headline “Bradley Win Projected.” But Tom Bradley was a black man, and it seemed that when a non-trivial number of white voters who had previously averred their support for him got into the security of the voting booth, they pulled the lever for Bradley’s white Republican opponent. They’d tell their friends they were color-blind and Bradley’s race didn’t matter and they just wanted to elect the most qualified person for the job, but when push came to shove, they just couldn’t do it ‘cause, well, he’s black. Ever since, when a black politician runs for office against a white man, this scenario, dubbed “the Bradley Effect,” gets endlessly chatted about as pundits try to determine just how much a factor race plays in an election and how long can they maintain a sense of artificial drama by discussing it.
In 2008, America is set to embark on its own variation on the Schrodinger’s Cat experiment. Barack Obama enjoys a lead over John McCain outside the margin of poll error both nationally and in a number of swing states. Obama has more white support than any Democrat in over thirty years [www.politico.com]. But what if it’s all a mirage? What if decades of seeing blacks as nothing but pimps, drug-dealers and foul-mouthed rappers on TV causes enough white Democrats and independents to get cold feet in the voting booth? The McCain campaign is counting on its months-long efforts to highlight Obama’s “otherness” to cause enough nominal Obama supporters to balk at voting for him next Tuesday. Will it happen? No one knows. We’re in uncharted territory with the nation’s first black presidential candidate with a real shot of winning the White House. Some are cynical about how far this country has progressed in terms of racial equality and are all too aware of Democrats’ ability to disappoint on Election Day. Others argue the Bradley Effect has already sorted itself out and the white people who say they’ll vote for Obama will actually vote for him. Still others say the Bradley Effect won’t matter, that expected historic turnouts of African-American and young, first-time voters will more than make up for it.
Right now, this very second, Barack Obama is simultaneously winning the election and losing it. Both quantum possibilities exist for the next five days. On Tuesday, America will open the box and see if the poison of racial distrust was released or if an Obama presidency is alive and well and looking for a nice bowl of milk and a scratching post.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 30, 2008 03:00PM
It was 34 years ago today that Muhammad Ali met World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman in the classic “Rumble in the Jungle.” In the suffocating Zaire heat, Ali had a plan for his bigger, harder-punching opponent – get hit. Repeatedly. While not generally considered a sound strategy in boxing, Ali lay against the ropes, covered his face and let Foreman pound away. Ali would taunt Foreman during energy-sapping clinches, telling him to punch harder, and Foreman obliged. Fans of the challenger in the audience would be forgiven for getting anxious watching him absorb all those blows, but Ali had a plan. By the sixth round, Foreman was sucking hot wind and his shots were getting wild. In between occasional quick jabs, Ali continued to lean back until, finally, in the eighth round he sprang from the ropes and landed an explosive combination that sent an exhausted Foreman into a slow pirouette to the mat. Knock-Out.
Ali dubbed it the “rope-a-dope” strategy, and it’s what Barack Obama has been doing to John McCain.
Since abandoning his “happy warrior” strategy almost immediately in favor of going after Obama with the heavy lumber of cultural attacks and guilt-by-association, McCain has spent his campaign flailing away at Obama, making him the main focus rather than what a McCain presidency would do for America. And with each shot to the gut – Wright, “bitter,” Ayers, “Socialist,” Khalidi – many Democrats were chewing on their fingers, fretting about when Obama would punch back, frustrated that he didn’t seem aggressive enough ("Ali Boma Ye!") [www.salon.com] But Obama remained calm. He had a plan. You can’t run on a campaign of offering a different kind of politics if you don’t, y’know, practice a different kind of politics. McCain’s non-stop mud-throwing drove up his own negatives and caused moderates and independents to flee in droves while Obama remained relatively unscathed, if not stronger. Now, in the eighth round, McCain’s credibility is exhausted. His campaign has been flailing for some time, having thrown everything in Steve Schmidt’s Rovian bag of tricks without success. Off-message and distracted by internal strife, they are ripe for the picking.
And here comes Obama off the ropes. His “closing argument” speech [www.demconwatchblog.com] delivered Monday in Ohio was as tight and succinct a summation of his message - and of the big-D Democratic ideal – as I’ve ever heard. The importance of helping the middle class, boosting the economy through alternative energy, common sense foreign policy and, of course, tying the Bush albatross around John McCain’s neck – it was all there. His latest campaign ad – “His Choice” [www.youtube.com] – uses McCain’s own words admitting he doesn’t know much ‘bout the economy and might have to rely on his vice-president to provide economic “expertise.” The ad’s title is revealed to be the image of a winking Sarah Palin; a heavy roundhouse right in the kisser. Then there was last night’s 30-minute infomercial, a prime time address laying out a host of specific proposals to seal the deal with as many viewers as possible. And finally, the next five days of the results of Obama’s unprecedented ground game, working mad scientist Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy for all its worth, with GOTV plans in red states McCain can’t afford to defend. Muhammad Ali was strong and fast and had the gift of the gab, but what made him the Greatest of All Time was he was a master tactician. Like Ali, Obama has been a patient fighter, focused not on winning an individual round or news cycle, but on winning the fight. Obama has timed his most powerful shots for maximum effect on a punched-out opponent. McCain may yet drag himself off the canvas, but the ref is counting to ten. And it’s hot.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 29, 2008 02:00PM
After Nov. 4, whether John McCain wins or loses, the Republican party is going to go into the next room, close the door and give itself a good talking to [www.politico.com]. Party apparatchiks, conservative leaders, activists and think-tank know-it-alls alike will gather and determine “whither conservatism?” and “who gets to drive?” George W. Bush slinks off into ignominy having left the Republican brand a shambles, with no obvious heir to the reins of the party save McCain, who the base is determined to keep on a leash. Moderate Republicans will attempt to argue for sanity and a broader outreach to new voters instead of scaring them, but if the Rush Limbaugh wing of the party has anything to say about it, moderation will get drowned in a bucket and they will choose the next leader of the Republican National Committee [www.latimes.com]. The lesson learned by many conservative leaders in the Democrats’ 2006 mid-term rout was that the GOP wasn’t rightwing enough, that if only Republicans had run on more staunchly social and fiscal conservative platforms – despite the unpopularity of one and the utter failure of the other – Americans would see the light and jump on board. Conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed by politicians being insufficiently conservative [www.salon.com].
Into this breach in the Grand Ol’ Party steps Sarah Palin, Conservative Dream Girl. Should McCain win, expect Palin to be an active behind-the-scenes advocate for the megaphone minority on immigration, abortion, torture, teh gays and Islamofascism; a wingnut Lady MacBeth to McCain’s manipulated, power-blind ruler. More than whispers are saying Palin’s excessive maverickiness on the campaign trail and the friction between her supporters and McCain’s are a sign she’s anticipating a loss next Tuesday and paving the way for a 2012 presidential run [www.nytimes.com]. She has undoubtedly captured the ardor of the base, her understanding of the issues and concepts of government notwithstanding. Palin’s complaint that the McCain campaign hasn’t gone negative enough on Obama is just what they want to hear. A Palin ’12 campaign would enjoy a good deal of financial support from both grassroots groups and established players, and she’d have three whole years to become more familiar with things like foreign policy, the constitution and basic math [www.factcheck.org].
There are, however, a few speed bumps on the road to installing a tanning bed in the Oval Office. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani come to mind. Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson too, if someone wakes him up from his nap. Mitt in particular wants a return on his initial investment and won’t lie down quietly for Sarah Six-Pack to waltz off with his nomination. A full Republican primary schedule after a period of Democratic rule at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue would be a brutal gauntlet for Palin, as her opposition would have three whole years to dig up every hidden scandal, comb through every questionable association and capitalize on every breathtakingly stupid thing she’s ever said. The last two months would be a good place to start.
But that won’t stop Sarah Palin, Conservative Dream Girl. She doesn’t need to acknowledge difficulty, or even be aware of it. She has her adoring fans; she understands them, and they understand her. And to prove that, when Sarah Palin rides that ultra-conservative war pony all the way to the Republican nomination in 2012, she’ll choose as her Vice President someone who literally is one of them. Someone whose lack of qualifications and even less knowledge of the issues than Palin has is seen as an advantage. Someone the base can relate to.
Palin & the Plumber 2012
You gotta believe.
-- Michael Turner
Into this breach in the Grand Ol’ Party steps Sarah Palin, Conservative Dream Girl. Should McCain win, expect Palin to be an active behind-the-scenes advocate for the megaphone minority on immigration, abortion, torture, teh gays and Islamofascism; a wingnut Lady MacBeth to McCain’s manipulated, power-blind ruler. More than whispers are saying Palin’s excessive maverickiness on the campaign trail and the friction between her supporters and McCain’s are a sign she’s anticipating a loss next Tuesday and paving the way for a 2012 presidential run [www.nytimes.com]. She has undoubtedly captured the ardor of the base, her understanding of the issues and concepts of government notwithstanding. Palin’s complaint that the McCain campaign hasn’t gone negative enough on Obama is just what they want to hear. A Palin ’12 campaign would enjoy a good deal of financial support from both grassroots groups and established players, and she’d have three whole years to become more familiar with things like foreign policy, the constitution and basic math [www.factcheck.org].
There are, however, a few speed bumps on the road to installing a tanning bed in the Oval Office. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani come to mind. Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson too, if someone wakes him up from his nap. Mitt in particular wants a return on his initial investment and won’t lie down quietly for Sarah Six-Pack to waltz off with his nomination. A full Republican primary schedule after a period of Democratic rule at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue would be a brutal gauntlet for Palin, as her opposition would have three whole years to dig up every hidden scandal, comb through every questionable association and capitalize on every breathtakingly stupid thing she’s ever said. The last two months would be a good place to start.
But that won’t stop Sarah Palin, Conservative Dream Girl. She doesn’t need to acknowledge difficulty, or even be aware of it. She has her adoring fans; she understands them, and they understand her. And to prove that, when Sarah Palin rides that ultra-conservative war pony all the way to the Republican nomination in 2012, she’ll choose as her Vice President someone who literally is one of them. Someone whose lack of qualifications and even less knowledge of the issues than Palin has is seen as an advantage. Someone the base can relate to.
Palin & the Plumber 2012
You gotta believe.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 29, 2008 04:00PM
Walking my son to daycare this morning, I passed a corner store to see the New York Daily News on the rack with Sarah Palin’s perky face above the blaring headline “The Great Palin Debate: Is she a modern role model or just a hick From the sticks?” No, no, no, I thought, This just isn’t right. Arriving home, I go online to their website to find the somewhat better “Darling or Ditz?” tagline for their point/counterpoint articles, but there on the homepage, in the summary text, it appears again:
Is Palin a victim of sexism? [www.nydailynews.com]
The Daily News asks the question: Is Sarah Palin a modern role model for women, or just a hick from the sticks?
In order: Yes, you answered that with “Ditz” in the headline; No; and totally irrelevant.
I understand the NYDN is a tabloid rag, but here they underscore a common misapprehension that one of the reasons Sarah Palin is unqualified to be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency is because of where she’s from. It’s the converse of Palin’s equally false argument that certain parts of the country are more “pro-America” than others, and the implication that she understands this because she’s from one of them. There are many, many reasons to consider Palin unqualified. Where she’s from, or even her folksy demeanor, isn’t one of them.
You can hail from Hardscrabble, Ohio or talk like Foghorn Leghorn and it doesn’t preclude you from being smart, just as living in a major metropolis doesn’t mean you don’t have sense, common or otherwise. You can enjoy NASCAR, UFC fighting or pig wrestling and still have a grasp on the issues that face our country. While exposing oneself to the kind of information a vice president would require usually involves a formal education. During the course of that learning experience, some of the more rural affectations may be worn off and a possible broadening of interests acquired, but this is not always the case, and it doesn’t matter one way or the other.
Having a perspective from small-town America doesn’t make you a bad choice for the role of vice president; being dangerously stupid does. Being and/or relating to Joe Six-Pack doesn’t make you an unreliable authority on important issues; substituting the acknowledgement of reality for crackpot theories straight out of the John Birch Society does. Joe the Plumber can talk to FOX News and campaign for John McCain, perhaps casting an opportunistic eye on his own political future, and it doesn’t mean nobody should listen to him because he’s Joe the Plumber. Agreeing that “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel” [thinkprogress.org] - that means that nobody should listen to Joe the Seriously Misinformed Plumber. Or as Joe himself put it:
Listen, you don’t want my opinion on foreign policy. I know just enough probably to be dangerous.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, and it applies to Palin as well. They’re both giving hicks a bad name.
-- Michael Turner
Is Palin a victim of sexism? [www.nydailynews.com]
The Daily News asks the question: Is Sarah Palin a modern role model for women, or just a hick from the sticks?
In order: Yes, you answered that with “Ditz” in the headline; No; and totally irrelevant.
I understand the NYDN is a tabloid rag, but here they underscore a common misapprehension that one of the reasons Sarah Palin is unqualified to be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency is because of where she’s from. It’s the converse of Palin’s equally false argument that certain parts of the country are more “pro-America” than others, and the implication that she understands this because she’s from one of them. There are many, many reasons to consider Palin unqualified. Where she’s from, or even her folksy demeanor, isn’t one of them.
You can hail from Hardscrabble, Ohio or talk like Foghorn Leghorn and it doesn’t preclude you from being smart, just as living in a major metropolis doesn’t mean you don’t have sense, common or otherwise. You can enjoy NASCAR, UFC fighting or pig wrestling and still have a grasp on the issues that face our country. While exposing oneself to the kind of information a vice president would require usually involves a formal education. During the course of that learning experience, some of the more rural affectations may be worn off and a possible broadening of interests acquired, but this is not always the case, and it doesn’t matter one way or the other.
Having a perspective from small-town America doesn’t make you a bad choice for the role of vice president; being dangerously stupid does. Being and/or relating to Joe Six-Pack doesn’t make you an unreliable authority on important issues; substituting the acknowledgement of reality for crackpot theories straight out of the John Birch Society does. Joe the Plumber can talk to FOX News and campaign for John McCain, perhaps casting an opportunistic eye on his own political future, and it doesn’t mean nobody should listen to him because he’s Joe the Plumber. Agreeing that “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel” [thinkprogress.org] - that means that nobody should listen to Joe the Seriously Misinformed Plumber. Or as Joe himself put it:
Listen, you don’t want my opinion on foreign policy. I know just enough probably to be dangerous.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, and it applies to Palin as well. They’re both giving hicks a bad name.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 28, 2008 06:00PM
When trying to predict what a presidential candidate’s administration would look like, it’s instructive to look to the campaign. The people the candidate hires and the strength of the campaign’s message are vital clues to how they would perform in the Oval Office. An effective campaign staff and clear, consistent messaging can often indicate a competent presidency. Spokespersons who are clearly in over their head and policy messaging that looks like it was written by a schizophrenic are less encouraging. With that in mind, let us look at the candidate of “experience,” John McCain, and some of the leading lights of his presidential campaign:
Douglas Holtz-Eakin (economic advisor): Admits John McCain will, contrary to the candidate, have to raise taxes, and that Obama’s tax plan will reduce taxes for most Americans [swampland.blogs.time.com]; claims John McCain “helped create” the Blackberry [thinkprogress.org]; let’s slip that McCain’s healthcare plan isn’t as good as the current employer-based system, which McCain would raise taxes on. [www.huffingtonpost.com]
Phil Gramm (economic advisor): Gramm’s deregulation policies of the 90’s, which McCain supported, led directly to the Wall Street meltdown [www.salon.com]; said economic recession is a “mental” state and that America has become a “nation of whiners” [www.huffingtonpost.com].
Carly Fiorina (spokesperson): Failed Hewlitt-Packard CEO said neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin are qualified to run a Fortune 500 company [www.huffingtonpost.com].
Tucker Bounds (spokesman): Gets beaten up by reporters on a regular basis. Even on FOX. [tbogg.firedoglake.com]
Nancy Pfotenhauer (spokesperson): McCain-supporting Southern Virginia = “Real Virginia”, Northern Virginia = France. [thinkprogress.org]
Steve Schmidt, Jeff Larson, Tucker Eskew, etc., etc: McCain hires proteges of Karl Rove and other Bush/Cheney campaign staffers, despite these same people being responsible for smearing McCain and costing him the nomination in the 2000 Republican primary [crooksandliars.com].
Sarah Palin (running mate): ……Does anything more need to be said? Worst. VP choice. Ever.
Watching a McCain administration for four years would be like having season tickets for the ’96 NY Jets [en.wikipedia.org]. Only not as entertaining.
-- Michael Turner
Douglas Holtz-Eakin (economic advisor): Admits John McCain will, contrary to the candidate, have to raise taxes, and that Obama’s tax plan will reduce taxes for most Americans [swampland.blogs.time.com]; claims John McCain “helped create” the Blackberry [thinkprogress.org]; let’s slip that McCain’s healthcare plan isn’t as good as the current employer-based system, which McCain would raise taxes on. [www.huffingtonpost.com]
Phil Gramm (economic advisor): Gramm’s deregulation policies of the 90’s, which McCain supported, led directly to the Wall Street meltdown [www.salon.com]; said economic recession is a “mental” state and that America has become a “nation of whiners” [www.huffingtonpost.com].
Carly Fiorina (spokesperson): Failed Hewlitt-Packard CEO said neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin are qualified to run a Fortune 500 company [www.huffingtonpost.com].
Tucker Bounds (spokesman): Gets beaten up by reporters on a regular basis. Even on FOX. [tbogg.firedoglake.com]
Nancy Pfotenhauer (spokesperson): McCain-supporting Southern Virginia = “Real Virginia”, Northern Virginia = France. [thinkprogress.org]
Steve Schmidt, Jeff Larson, Tucker Eskew, etc., etc: McCain hires proteges of Karl Rove and other Bush/Cheney campaign staffers, despite these same people being responsible for smearing McCain and costing him the nomination in the 2000 Republican primary [crooksandliars.com].
Sarah Palin (running mate): ……Does anything more need to be said? Worst. VP choice. Ever.
Watching a McCain administration for four years would be like having season tickets for the ’96 NY Jets [en.wikipedia.org]. Only not as entertaining.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 27, 2008 09:00PM
A popular right-wing complaint about Barack Obama is that the Democratic frontrunner is in a protective bubble, insulated from the press. This bit of Bushian - or Palinesque, if you prefer - projection is demonstrably false; Obama has given dozens of high-profile interviews and hundreds of local ones, as has Joe Biden. But that’s not what the complaint is about. By seducing the press with a silver tongue, a shimmy in his hips and a twinkle in his eye, the presumptuous “celebrity” politician avoids the “hard questions” that people suffering from repeated exposure to FOX News and talk-radio find relevant. Or coherent. Even Bill O’Reilly fell under the spell of the Anointed One, failing to probe him with the kind of searing questions that would reveal, once and for all, the deviousness of this Black Muslim Communist Atheist Fascist, etc, etc.
And so it was a blessing unto the True Believers that one of their own was finally able to confront……well, not Obama himself, but Joe Biden. But Orlando’s own Barbara West of WFTV wasn’t going to let that stop her from asking the “hard questions” that other “journalists” were to too “scared” or “sane” to ask. Tricked into thinking he’ll be interviewed by someone from this planet, Biden is unsuspecting prey to West’s journamalism. Let’s watch [www.wftv.com]:
WEST: You may recognize this famous quote. From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs. That’s from Karl Marx. How is Sen. Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?
BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke?
WEST: No.
BIDEN: Is that a real question?
WEST: It’s a real question.
West is correct. It is a question. It’s an interrogative sentence with a clear subject and verb. Technically, it is a real question. It’s not a smart question, or one that anyone who knew anything about Marxism or Obama’s economic policy would ask, but a question nonetheless. West then hit Biden with a favorite wingnut tactic - the false assumption straw man with the non sequitur dismount:
WEST: Now you recently said “Mark my words. It won’t be six months before the world tests Barack Obama.” But what worries many people is your caveat asking them to stand with him because it won’t be apparent that he got it right. Are you forewarning the American people that something might not get done and that America’s days as the world’s leader might be over?
BIDEN: No, I’m not at all. I don’t know who’s writing your questions but let me make it clear to you. The fact of the matter is that everyone with knowledge, from Colin Powell on down, the next president, whether it’s John McCain or Barack Obama. The reason is our weakened position in the world. We’re stretched thin throughout the world. Our economy is in freefall right now. And they’re gonna be tested. And the point I was making is that Barack Obama is better prepared to handle any crisis than John McCain…
The reason that the national media hasn’t picked up West’s unique line of questioning is because they’re stupid questions and they want to keep their jobs. Having your peers laugh openly at you for a display of idiocy that makes Jonah Goldberg look witty is no recipe for professional longevity, much less respect. And it’s not like she hadn’t already heard the answers she was looking for, having asked John McCain pretty much the same things [www.wftv.com].
But West’s biggest crime is a wasted opportunity. If she had the chance to corner Joe Biden in a verbal gaffe, which is like shooting large, sleepy fish in a very, very small barrel, there were so many other “hard questions” she could have asked that would get him spluttering in disbelief and get a bigger rise out of the base at the same time. For example:
-- “Random people on the internet are not satisfied with Obama producing his Certificate of Live Birth. So which is he, Kenyan or Indonesian?”
-- “When Obama legalizes abortion in the 6th trimester, will he be performing the baby-murders himself, or will he use a surrogate?”
-- “Obama claims he was only eight years old when Bill Ayers blew up Washington, DC, but reliable accounts put a small black child in the DC area at the time of the bombings. How does Obama account for this huge discrepancy in his alibi?”
-- “If Obama could go back in time and kill one person, either Adolph Hitler or Osama bin Laden, which one would he choose? If it’s bin Laden, why does Obama hate Jews? And if it’s Hitler, why does he hate America?”
There are all things Barbara West could have asked, if only she had put her country first and asked the really hard questions, instead of playing pat-a-cake with Biden like a media lapdog, ceding her responsibility as a journalist to parrot the Obamessiah’s propaganda.
Why does Barbara West hate America?
-- Michael Turner
And so it was a blessing unto the True Believers that one of their own was finally able to confront……well, not Obama himself, but Joe Biden. But Orlando’s own Barbara West of WFTV wasn’t going to let that stop her from asking the “hard questions” that other “journalists” were to too “scared” or “sane” to ask. Tricked into thinking he’ll be interviewed by someone from this planet, Biden is unsuspecting prey to West’s journamalism. Let’s watch [www.wftv.com]:
WEST: You may recognize this famous quote. From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs. That’s from Karl Marx. How is Sen. Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?
BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke?
WEST: No.
BIDEN: Is that a real question?
WEST: It’s a real question.
West is correct. It is a question. It’s an interrogative sentence with a clear subject and verb. Technically, it is a real question. It’s not a smart question, or one that anyone who knew anything about Marxism or Obama’s economic policy would ask, but a question nonetheless. West then hit Biden with a favorite wingnut tactic - the false assumption straw man with the non sequitur dismount:
WEST: Now you recently said “Mark my words. It won’t be six months before the world tests Barack Obama.” But what worries many people is your caveat asking them to stand with him because it won’t be apparent that he got it right. Are you forewarning the American people that something might not get done and that America’s days as the world’s leader might be over?
BIDEN: No, I’m not at all. I don’t know who’s writing your questions but let me make it clear to you. The fact of the matter is that everyone with knowledge, from Colin Powell on down, the next president, whether it’s John McCain or Barack Obama. The reason is our weakened position in the world. We’re stretched thin throughout the world. Our economy is in freefall right now. And they’re gonna be tested. And the point I was making is that Barack Obama is better prepared to handle any crisis than John McCain…
The reason that the national media hasn’t picked up West’s unique line of questioning is because they’re stupid questions and they want to keep their jobs. Having your peers laugh openly at you for a display of idiocy that makes Jonah Goldberg look witty is no recipe for professional longevity, much less respect. And it’s not like she hadn’t already heard the answers she was looking for, having asked John McCain pretty much the same things [www.wftv.com].
But West’s biggest crime is a wasted opportunity. If she had the chance to corner Joe Biden in a verbal gaffe, which is like shooting large, sleepy fish in a very, very small barrel, there were so many other “hard questions” she could have asked that would get him spluttering in disbelief and get a bigger rise out of the base at the same time. For example:
-- “Random people on the internet are not satisfied with Obama producing his Certificate of Live Birth. So which is he, Kenyan or Indonesian?”
-- “When Obama legalizes abortion in the 6th trimester, will he be performing the baby-murders himself, or will he use a surrogate?”
-- “Obama claims he was only eight years old when Bill Ayers blew up Washington, DC, but reliable accounts put a small black child in the DC area at the time of the bombings. How does Obama account for this huge discrepancy in his alibi?”
-- “If Obama could go back in time and kill one person, either Adolph Hitler or Osama bin Laden, which one would he choose? If it’s bin Laden, why does Obama hate Jews? And if it’s Hitler, why does he hate America?”
There are all things Barbara West could have asked, if only she had put her country first and asked the really hard questions, instead of playing pat-a-cake with Biden like a media lapdog, ceding her responsibility as a journalist to parrot the Obamessiah’s propaganda.
Why does Barbara West hate America?
-- Michael Turner
Thanks for making me laugh at such a maudlin moment. Actually, I loved that Biden was so shocked. He is to be commended for not saying "what the $*&% are you talking about?!"
Posted October 27, 2008 12:00PM
The campaign of John McCain, in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, has issued an All Points Bulletin for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Republicans nationwide are alerted to be on the lookout for this rogue politician who is suspected of brutally assaulting John McCain’s presidential aspirations [dyn.politico.com]. Should those aspirations die within the next 8 days, the charges may be upgraded to murder. Suspect is to be considered very heavily armed and dangerous to moose, snow-bound timber wolves and moderate Republicans.
Palin was last seen leaving the Tampa area after blaming the RNC for her recent $150,000 clothing imbroglio [www.nypost.com]. In recent weeks the suspect has repeatedly contradicted her running mate’s stated positions and ignored the advice of the campaign’s handlers by speaking to the press and pushing increasingly absurd attacks on the Democratic candidate that have been more damaging to John McCain than to Barack Obama. While not adverse to bomb-throwing and character assassination, the suspect’s preferred method appears to be poisoning. Several McCain advisers are currently working on the theory that Palin’s interview with Katie Couric injected the campaign with a fatal dose, one the campaign tried to forestall by rolling out the clips over the course of a week, to Palin’s annoyance. But the damage appears to have been done; workers report a toxic atmosphere filled with blame, finger-pointing and pre-criminations that hastened the deteriorating campaign’s condition. Traces of responsibility being accepted were negligible.
The suspect, whose behavior has been compared to that of a “diva” convinced of her own superior wisdom [www.cnn.com], is most likely to be found stumping in historically Republican, or “red”, states. Strenuous campaigning in these areas will have little to no positive effect for John McCain but seems designed to bolster the suspect’s credentials within the GOP base in order to facilitate her own presidential candidacy in 2012. Republican politicians are cautioned that, despite her cute and folksy demeanor, the suspect is perhaps as unprepared for a national campaign as any candidate in history, and close association may result in fatal damage to their own political fortunes. As such, the suspect is to be considered mentally unstable and should not be approached by citizens under any circumstances.
The McCain campaign says they hope to take down the rogue Alaskan by shooting her with tranquilizers fired from a low-flying airplane or, barring the success of that, slipping a mickey into her Jell-O shots.
-- Michael Turner
Palin was last seen leaving the Tampa area after blaming the RNC for her recent $150,000 clothing imbroglio [www.nypost.com]. In recent weeks the suspect has repeatedly contradicted her running mate’s stated positions and ignored the advice of the campaign’s handlers by speaking to the press and pushing increasingly absurd attacks on the Democratic candidate that have been more damaging to John McCain than to Barack Obama. While not adverse to bomb-throwing and character assassination, the suspect’s preferred method appears to be poisoning. Several McCain advisers are currently working on the theory that Palin’s interview with Katie Couric injected the campaign with a fatal dose, one the campaign tried to forestall by rolling out the clips over the course of a week, to Palin’s annoyance. But the damage appears to have been done; workers report a toxic atmosphere filled with blame, finger-pointing and pre-criminations that hastened the deteriorating campaign’s condition. Traces of responsibility being accepted were negligible.
The suspect, whose behavior has been compared to that of a “diva” convinced of her own superior wisdom [www.cnn.com], is most likely to be found stumping in historically Republican, or “red”, states. Strenuous campaigning in these areas will have little to no positive effect for John McCain but seems designed to bolster the suspect’s credentials within the GOP base in order to facilitate her own presidential candidacy in 2012. Republican politicians are cautioned that, despite her cute and folksy demeanor, the suspect is perhaps as unprepared for a national campaign as any candidate in history, and close association may result in fatal damage to their own political fortunes. As such, the suspect is to be considered mentally unstable and should not be approached by citizens under any circumstances.
The McCain campaign says they hope to take down the rogue Alaskan by shooting her with tranquilizers fired from a low-flying airplane or, barring the success of that, slipping a mickey into her Jell-O shots.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 24, 2008 07:00PM
[The Scene: A rainy evening outside of Barack Obama’s national campaign headquarters. A hand pounds furiously on the door.]
BARACK OBAMA: [ from inside ] Coming!....Who is it?
SCOTT MCCLELLAN: Open up! It’s me! Scott McClellan! [politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com]
OBAMA: [ opens door ] Oh, hey. Hi Scott. What, um, what can I do for you?
MCCLELLAN: You gotta let me in, man. Can I come in?
OBAMA: Well, I suppo…Who’s that with you?
MCCLELLAN: Oh, him? That’s Bill Weld. Used to be Governor of Massachusetts [www.boston.com].
OBAMA: He's a Republican too?
MCCLELLAN: Yeah, but, we heard you were giving shelter to…can we just come in?
OBAMA: Well, yeah, of course. It’s getting a little crowded in here, but, sure. Come on in.
[ INTERIOR: Large room filled with campaign staff, notable for their rumpled clothes and busy demeanors. Scattered around the room and distinct from the staffers are a large number of older men and women in suits, standing idle and talking amongst themselves. ]
VOICES [my.barackobama.com]: Hey, it’s Scotty! Scotty, what’s up! Bill! Long time, no see! Hey look! Scott and Bill are here!
OBAMA: So, yeah, what’s up, guys?
MCCLELLAN: Barack, I mean…Mr. Obama, I…I mean we…We’d like to announce our endorsement of you for president of the United States.
OBAMA: Really……Well, guys, that’s just great. I appreciate that, I really do. We’ve been getting quite a few of offers like that recently. I’d be honored to have your endorsement. Here, let me take your coats. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what changed your mind?
MCCLELLAN: Are you kidding? Have you seen it out there, man? It’s brutal. Just brutal. Any Republican who hasn’t sold their soul to the base is scared spitless right now.
OBAMA: I hear you, I hear you.
WILLIAM WELD: I’ll be honest with you, dear boy. It’s not like we really have anything to lose. Scott, for example, his book slamming Bush already came out. His name was already mud in most GOP circles. Myself, Bill Milliken over there, oh and there’s Lincoln Chafee and Arne Carlson, we’re not running for re-election. We’ve got no base to appease, so we’re free to break with the madness that’s infected our party.
OBAMA: Yeahhh…But, see, here’s the thing. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here, but…Most of you don’t really support any of my positions on the issues.
MCCLELLAN: Issues? Who’s talkin’ about issues, man? We’re talking about survival! If McCain wins, he’s going to have that Alaskan fruitcake running roughshod over him before the inauguration! Have you listened to her? She shouldn’t be allowed within 400 yards of the Oval Office, not even on a White House tour!
WELD: Calm down, Scott.
MCCLELLAN: No! I Can’t “calm down,” Bill! It’s the end of the freaking Republican Party! The lunatics have taken over the asylum! I’m talking years, years in the wilderness before voters let anyone with an R next to their name anywhere near the reigns of power! I was just a Press Secretary for Bush, for crissakes, and people still laugh at me! It’s a tectonic shift, man! We’ve got to go underground, change our identities…Will I have to register as a Democrat, Barack? I will if I have to! I’m telling you, it’ll be chaos if McCain and Palin are elected! Like Mad Max kind of apocalyptic whatsit…Thunderdome! Or Palindome! [ Starts laughing hysterically ]Every partisan for himself! We’ll have to eat dog food, or worse! I don’t wanna eat dog food, Bill! I can’t….!
[ KEN ADELMAN [www.newyorker.com] approaches, slaps MCCLELLAN across the face, returns talking to CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY [www.thedailybeast.com]. ]
OBAMA: Whoa! Hey, hey, calm down Scotty, calm down. Listen…In fact, everyone listen up! Now, I want all of you Republicans to know that, once I’m president, you can all just chill out, I got this. I know coming here wasn’t easy for some of you because of my so-called “most liberal record” in the senate. But the truth is, I’m not as beholden to the progressive ideology as a lot of you may think. I supported the changes to FISA, I’m OK with government-funded faith-based initiatives, I’m certainly not against solving problems through the military, and once we get our fiscal house in order, you’ll start to see some of the goodies for the upper class come back. Trust me on this. It’s not the end of the world, or your world, with an Obama presidency.
BUCKLEY: Pip, pip, old boy!
OBAMA: I know what it took for all of you to endorse me. And once I’m elected, I’m going to count on your support to help me lead. Together, we can make this country great again, beyond the wildest dreams of liberals or old-school Republicans. We’ll find a new way, a new partnership, and….[ Republicans in the room burst into simultaneous laughter ]…What…what’s so funny?
WELD: Dear boy, you don’t think this “partnership” that you speak of will last, do you?
OBAMA: Well, I…
BUCKLEY: Oh dear, this is too, too rich. My dear Obama, once you’re elected, every person in this room (not including your hard-working campaign staff, of course), but every Republican in this room will, as of, oh, November 5th, will go back to doing what it was we were doing before we were forced by circumstances – survival instincts, as Scott here suggested – to support you. That is, making it as hard as humanly possible for Democrats to get anything done, much less lead America into a new dawn, or what have you.
OBAMA: B-but…your endorsements…You’re telling me they’re all meaningless?
LINCOLN CHAFEE: Oh no. No, no. They’re quite meaningful. But only to us. You see, those of us who have been, um, hamstrung, shall we say, by the increasingly rabid Republican base, need to purge these people from the party, to marginalize them. Then we can go back to being an effective minority party. Obstructionists. It’s what we’re best at.
WELD: It’s nothing personal, my good man. Just business. The business of saving the Republican party.
OBAMA: …by endorsing me.
WELD: Exactly!
OBAMA: Uh-huh….(sigh)…Alright. Whatever. But if you’re gonna hang out here for another week or so, get a script from Betty over there and start working the phones. Put your self-serving behinds to work is what’s gonna happen here…
….and Joe! Stop slow-dancing with Colin Powell, dammit! The last time you two did that, we wound up invading Iraq!
….(sigh)….Obamacans.
-- Michael Turner
BARACK OBAMA: [ from inside ] Coming!....Who is it?
SCOTT MCCLELLAN: Open up! It’s me! Scott McClellan! [politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com]
OBAMA: [ opens door ] Oh, hey. Hi Scott. What, um, what can I do for you?
MCCLELLAN: You gotta let me in, man. Can I come in?
OBAMA: Well, I suppo…Who’s that with you?
MCCLELLAN: Oh, him? That’s Bill Weld. Used to be Governor of Massachusetts [www.boston.com].
OBAMA: He's a Republican too?
MCCLELLAN: Yeah, but, we heard you were giving shelter to…can we just come in?
OBAMA: Well, yeah, of course. It’s getting a little crowded in here, but, sure. Come on in.
[ INTERIOR: Large room filled with campaign staff, notable for their rumpled clothes and busy demeanors. Scattered around the room and distinct from the staffers are a large number of older men and women in suits, standing idle and talking amongst themselves. ]
VOICES [my.barackobama.com]: Hey, it’s Scotty! Scotty, what’s up! Bill! Long time, no see! Hey look! Scott and Bill are here!
OBAMA: So, yeah, what’s up, guys?
MCCLELLAN: Barack, I mean…Mr. Obama, I…I mean we…We’d like to announce our endorsement of you for president of the United States.
OBAMA: Really……Well, guys, that’s just great. I appreciate that, I really do. We’ve been getting quite a few of offers like that recently. I’d be honored to have your endorsement. Here, let me take your coats. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what changed your mind?
MCCLELLAN: Are you kidding? Have you seen it out there, man? It’s brutal. Just brutal. Any Republican who hasn’t sold their soul to the base is scared spitless right now.
OBAMA: I hear you, I hear you.
WILLIAM WELD: I’ll be honest with you, dear boy. It’s not like we really have anything to lose. Scott, for example, his book slamming Bush already came out. His name was already mud in most GOP circles. Myself, Bill Milliken over there, oh and there’s Lincoln Chafee and Arne Carlson, we’re not running for re-election. We’ve got no base to appease, so we’re free to break with the madness that’s infected our party.
OBAMA: Yeahhh…But, see, here’s the thing. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here, but…Most of you don’t really support any of my positions on the issues.
MCCLELLAN: Issues? Who’s talkin’ about issues, man? We’re talking about survival! If McCain wins, he’s going to have that Alaskan fruitcake running roughshod over him before the inauguration! Have you listened to her? She shouldn’t be allowed within 400 yards of the Oval Office, not even on a White House tour!
WELD: Calm down, Scott.
MCCLELLAN: No! I Can’t “calm down,” Bill! It’s the end of the freaking Republican Party! The lunatics have taken over the asylum! I’m talking years, years in the wilderness before voters let anyone with an R next to their name anywhere near the reigns of power! I was just a Press Secretary for Bush, for crissakes, and people still laugh at me! It’s a tectonic shift, man! We’ve got to go underground, change our identities…Will I have to register as a Democrat, Barack? I will if I have to! I’m telling you, it’ll be chaos if McCain and Palin are elected! Like Mad Max kind of apocalyptic whatsit…Thunderdome! Or Palindome! [ Starts laughing hysterically ]Every partisan for himself! We’ll have to eat dog food, or worse! I don’t wanna eat dog food, Bill! I can’t….!
[ KEN ADELMAN [www.newyorker.com] approaches, slaps MCCLELLAN across the face, returns talking to CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY [www.thedailybeast.com]. ]
OBAMA: Whoa! Hey, hey, calm down Scotty, calm down. Listen…In fact, everyone listen up! Now, I want all of you Republicans to know that, once I’m president, you can all just chill out, I got this. I know coming here wasn’t easy for some of you because of my so-called “most liberal record” in the senate. But the truth is, I’m not as beholden to the progressive ideology as a lot of you may think. I supported the changes to FISA, I’m OK with government-funded faith-based initiatives, I’m certainly not against solving problems through the military, and once we get our fiscal house in order, you’ll start to see some of the goodies for the upper class come back. Trust me on this. It’s not the end of the world, or your world, with an Obama presidency.
BUCKLEY: Pip, pip, old boy!
OBAMA: I know what it took for all of you to endorse me. And once I’m elected, I’m going to count on your support to help me lead. Together, we can make this country great again, beyond the wildest dreams of liberals or old-school Republicans. We’ll find a new way, a new partnership, and….[ Republicans in the room burst into simultaneous laughter ]…What…what’s so funny?
WELD: Dear boy, you don’t think this “partnership” that you speak of will last, do you?
OBAMA: Well, I…
BUCKLEY: Oh dear, this is too, too rich. My dear Obama, once you’re elected, every person in this room (not including your hard-working campaign staff, of course), but every Republican in this room will, as of, oh, November 5th, will go back to doing what it was we were doing before we were forced by circumstances – survival instincts, as Scott here suggested – to support you. That is, making it as hard as humanly possible for Democrats to get anything done, much less lead America into a new dawn, or what have you.
OBAMA: B-but…your endorsements…You’re telling me they’re all meaningless?
LINCOLN CHAFEE: Oh no. No, no. They’re quite meaningful. But only to us. You see, those of us who have been, um, hamstrung, shall we say, by the increasingly rabid Republican base, need to purge these people from the party, to marginalize them. Then we can go back to being an effective minority party. Obstructionists. It’s what we’re best at.
WELD: It’s nothing personal, my good man. Just business. The business of saving the Republican party.
OBAMA: …by endorsing me.
WELD: Exactly!
OBAMA: Uh-huh….(sigh)…Alright. Whatever. But if you’re gonna hang out here for another week or so, get a script from Betty over there and start working the phones. Put your self-serving behinds to work is what’s gonna happen here…
….and Joe! Stop slow-dancing with Colin Powell, dammit! The last time you two did that, we wound up invading Iraq!
….(sigh)….Obamacans.
-- Michael Turner
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Posted October 24, 2008 10:00AM
……Uh, hel.....ahem, excuse me.........Hello. My name is Michael, and I’m an elitist.I want to thank you all for welcoming me here to EA. I’m not sure how long I’ve been an elitist. I was born and raised in small town, so certainly not my whole life. But I’ve lived in New York City for 12 years, and John McCain says that’s where you find elitists, and he would know. I lived for a while in Philadelphia before that, not sure if that counts. Probably. They’re pretty elitist too…I guess.
See, I spent a lot of my life thinking that, because I worked hard – white collar, blue collar, no collar – jobs and I had to worry about bills and healthcare and retirement and being a good parent just like millions of normal people, that I wasn’t elitist. I had friends who looked different, spoke different, worshipped different. I thought because I treated everyone the same regardless of their background, even if we disagreed, that I wasn't an elitist. But I was just in denial. I even entertained the thought that maybe the people who looked down their noses at city folk, sure in their hearts that their small town middle America roots gave them different, better values, were the real elitists. That’s how bad it was.
But then I saw Sarah Palin and John McCain [www.boston.com] talking to NBC’s Brian Williams, who’s elitist as all hell. Palin said that elitists were people who thought they were better than other people. And that’s when it hit me; I’m an elitist. I think I’m better than people [littlegreenfootballs.com] who judge character based on skin color, creed or heritage [atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com]. I think I’m better than those who seek to take rights away from fellow citizens [michellemalkin.com]. I think I’m better than those who advocate war without care for consequences [www.weeklystandard.com], or worse, to profit from it. I think I’m better than people who see hatred and violent rhetoric in our public discourse in the same way [www.anncoulter.com]. How could I not have known all along? These people are clearly my social and moral equals, if not betters. Because I’m an elitist.
I want to stop. I want to love America the right way, like Joe the Plumber does, and like those, um, nice people at the Palin/McCain rallies do. I want to learn to be tolerant of intolerance. I want to address complex issues in an overly simplistic and partially informed manner. It won’t be easy, but with all your help, I think I can beat this.
One day at a time.
-- Michael Turner
Hi Michael my wife mary plays mahjongg with your mom, she nor I are elitests. I am a retired union guy who served in the Army during the Viet Nam conflict we raised three kids and have six grand kids. My wifes family is from the coal fields of West Virginia and my mom is a retire Community college Professor who worked in the ship yards during world war two. Dad retired as a Waiter and a former Marine. We are not into regional labels. The only label that we want attached to our family is that we are citizens. Keep up the good work!
Here are my sexist criticisms:
Cannot...say...nuk..yular...aarrgh!
Grasshopper: What is the sound of one skull exploding in the intellectual vacuum?
Condi's gonna be President, too...of the 'niners!
And Ann Coulter should be eaten by the jobless...once her flesh is drained of poison.
And here are my worse responses to my sexist criticisms:
a) None--it's a VACUUM, stupid!
b)That's the 49ers, not that other team. But she does get to pick the cheerleaders.
c)Rush Limbaugh's corpse would feed more.
Posted October 23, 2008 09:00AM
McCain’s latest effort to separate itself from the arugula-eating, latte-sipping culture au Obama, indicates yet another factor that’s leading the campaign to collapse: it’s inability to brand itself. Rather than relying on his own message, he’s using Microsoft’s.
McCain’s latest ad is a montage of (mostly white) people saying “I’m Joe the Plumber.” [www.youtube.com].
Which is very similar to Microsoft’s latest ad. [www.youtube.com]
Branding himself off of Microsoft is a strategic move here. Microsoft has far more users than Macintosh, which is associated with the arugula crowd. But from an advertising, branding standpoint, Microsoft has been the biggest loser in comparison to Apple. similar to McCain’s campaign, Microsoft has been struggling to get out a unique advertising message. After losing millions of dollars on original celebrity ads [valleywag.com] that just didn’t seem to resonate with people, they finally resorted to a “response” ad based on Apple’s advertisements. And even then, Apple’s original “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads were more popular.
What the McCain campaign seems to be missing is that the premise of Microsoft’s spoof of Mac commercials is the opening line “I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” If McCain’s camp really lacks that much vision that they are have to base their ads off of a commercial for consumer electronics, than at least it should do a better doing it.
To really parlay the PC message into a campaign message, McCain should have used Obama’s (now play-our and antiquated) quote that “stereotyped” the working class as gun-clinger-on-ers and bible lovers. Then show a variety of working class people from all walks of life who say that they are Joe the Plumber or whatever. Sure, it would still be a pretty cheap shot and I’d still be critiquing it, but at least it would show that the campaign is innovative and in touch with the public and pop culture. Right now it’s as if grandpa tried to make a youth reference and got it all wrong.
--Jamie Wong
McCain’s latest ad is a montage of (mostly white) people saying “I’m Joe the Plumber.” [www.youtube.com].
Which is very similar to Microsoft’s latest ad. [www.youtube.com]
Branding himself off of Microsoft is a strategic move here. Microsoft has far more users than Macintosh, which is associated with the arugula crowd. But from an advertising, branding standpoint, Microsoft has been the biggest loser in comparison to Apple. similar to McCain’s campaign, Microsoft has been struggling to get out a unique advertising message. After losing millions of dollars on original celebrity ads [valleywag.com] that just didn’t seem to resonate with people, they finally resorted to a “response” ad based on Apple’s advertisements. And even then, Apple’s original “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads were more popular.
What the McCain campaign seems to be missing is that the premise of Microsoft’s spoof of Mac commercials is the opening line “I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” If McCain’s camp really lacks that much vision that they are have to base their ads off of a commercial for consumer electronics, than at least it should do a better doing it.
To really parlay the PC message into a campaign message, McCain should have used Obama’s (now play-our and antiquated) quote that “stereotyped” the working class as gun-clinger-on-ers and bible lovers. Then show a variety of working class people from all walks of life who say that they are Joe the Plumber or whatever. Sure, it would still be a pretty cheap shot and I’d still be critiquing it, but at least it would show that the campaign is innovative and in touch with the public and pop culture. Right now it’s as if grandpa tried to make a youth reference and got it all wrong.
--Jamie Wong