My GOP readers have spoken. They are tired of Sarah/Bristol Palin all the time. And they're right. There are actually serious issues out there that need to be discussed. For the first time, I even missed discussing the plight of workers during Labor Day. Talk about distraction. So, for your viewing pleasure, here's the newest ad supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. It's from Americans' Rights at Work
Enjoy!
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
How Does Sarah Palin Hurt Keith Fimians Campaign?
You know that Keith Fimian has got to be sweating about Sarah Palin as the vice presidential candidate. The last thing Fimian needs is to run down ticket to a campaign that is raising questions about social issues and religious ties.
Fimian has been running a stealth campaign, attempting to mute concern over his own ties to cult-like religious groups such as Tom Moneghan's Ave Maria, which has poured funds into Fimian's campaign. The last thing he needs is for social conservatives and their policies to be front and center during his campaign season.
Fimian was counting on John McCain’s maverick image from 2000, when McCain brought in lots of moderates and independents, to carry his campaign. And Fimian probably was hoping that McCain would pick an uncontroversial running mate like Mitt Romney for the ticket. Somebody who would satisfy the socially conservative base by being pro life but for whom it wouldn’t be a major issue that would grab the spotlight. But the choice of Sarah Palin has raised questions once again about the role of religion in the public square. And it's focusing women on their concern over the accessibility of contraception and safe abortions.
That just isn’t going to play well in the always moderate 11th Congressional District which is trending ever more blue. Tom Davis might have been able to finesse this ticket, but I don’t think Fimian will.
What the ticket does is put issues like the right to an abortion and contraception front and center at a time when Fimian’s whole campaign strategy is to hope that voters in his district don't focus on those issues. Given the Bush administrations recent executive order which would allow health care providers to deny women birth control and abortion options if it violates health care worker’s individual conscience, and this choice of a VP candidate, it’s obvious that in a presidential election year, the GOP thinks it must pander to its evangelical base. It’s them, not Gerry Connolly, who are driving these issues, front and center and complicating Keith Fimian’s stealth campaign for Congress.
Fimian has been running a stealth campaign, attempting to mute concern over his own ties to cult-like religious groups such as Tom Moneghan's Ave Maria, which has poured funds into Fimian's campaign. The last thing he needs is for social conservatives and their policies to be front and center during his campaign season.
Fimian was counting on John McCain’s maverick image from 2000, when McCain brought in lots of moderates and independents, to carry his campaign. And Fimian probably was hoping that McCain would pick an uncontroversial running mate like Mitt Romney for the ticket. Somebody who would satisfy the socially conservative base by being pro life but for whom it wouldn’t be a major issue that would grab the spotlight. But the choice of Sarah Palin has raised questions once again about the role of religion in the public square. And it's focusing women on their concern over the accessibility of contraception and safe abortions.
That just isn’t going to play well in the always moderate 11th Congressional District which is trending ever more blue. Tom Davis might have been able to finesse this ticket, but I don’t think Fimian will.
What the ticket does is put issues like the right to an abortion and contraception front and center at a time when Fimian’s whole campaign strategy is to hope that voters in his district don't focus on those issues. Given the Bush administrations recent executive order which would allow health care providers to deny women birth control and abortion options if it violates health care worker’s individual conscience, and this choice of a VP candidate, it’s obvious that in a presidential election year, the GOP thinks it must pander to its evangelical base. It’s them, not Gerry Connolly, who are driving these issues, front and center and complicating Keith Fimian’s stealth campaign for Congress.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Vindicated by the Right
I've been accused by some of my commenters on the right of engaging in sexism for my treatment of Sarah Palin, what with calling her a trophy candidate for McCain, a pin up girl for the right wing, and mentioning that her main attribute seemed to be her gender.
Well it turns out that the quirkily conservative blogger, Andrew Sullivan, pretty much came to the same conclusions I have, and in much the same langugage.
Well it turns out that the quirkily conservative blogger, Andrew Sullivan, pretty much came to the same conclusions I have, and in much the same langugage.
Some patent piffle from Ross. He's trying to argue that because I haven't swooned over the chance of a female vice-president who didn't get there by marriage, like Clinton, I'm somehow being inconsistent. Please. I do admire someone who's risen the way Palin has, and I've said lots of nice things about her. But let's be honest: Palin is now where she is - not as Alaska governor but as vice-presidential nominee - because an old white guy decided to play some identity politics, and felt he had to shake up his campaign, not because she has fought her way to the top of the national greasy pole. It's great that by a combination of a decrepit and degenerate political establishment in Alaska, and her own personality and tenacity, she has just become governor of Alaska. But McCain's choice of her - as is impossible to miss - is a cynical ploy to exploit Democratic divisions over gender. I mean: how many Republican vice-presidential picks have lauded Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro in their acceptance speech? It wasn't even subtle. I find this kind of attitude to be about condescension, not feminism, about tokenism, not post-gender meritocracy.
And, please, there is nothing sexist in being amused by the names of someone's kids; I found the Romney gaggle hilarious. She was a beauty queen, for Pete's sake. She has been presented to the nation like a trophy candidate. And some women do indeed find her running for vice-president with a four-month-old disabled child somewhat incongruous. These are the big leagues. These issues are worth airing.
My sense is that this pick is insulting to voters, especially women voters, and terribly condescending to Palin. It's as much about countering sexism as picking Clarence Thomas was about countering racism.
Bristol Palin's Pregancy
Sarah Palin has announced that her 17 year old, unmarried daughter, Bristol Palin, is pregnant and will marry the father of her child. I suppose congratulations are in order. I also suppose that not having a baby at such a young age would have been better for the young couple. And no, it's not a criticism of Bristol's choice to carry her child to term. That is a personal decision.
But I'm pretty sure the pregnancy was accidental. And I am going to leap out on a limb and guess that everything in Bristol Palin's culture made her reject birth control methods to prevent an unplanned pregnancy by a young high school girl. It may not have been lack of knowledge; that would be hard to guess. But, then again, it might have been both such a lack and also lack of access to contraception. But it could also be lack of desire to use birth control. Within conservative Christian culture, young people would be very reluctant to protect themselves from an unplanned pregnancy for one simple reason.
It's one thing to get swept away by passion and love and to fall into the temptation of sin. It's quite another to go out and secure the contraception that would prevent pregnancy because that's an admission that you planned to engage in "sinful" behavior. Christians are not as unforgiving as the popular parody of them would suggest. In fact, they frequently understand and forgive lapses of even the worst behavior, something that is to their credit. But what is much less forgivable to them is anything that would smack of premeditation. Go out and buy a condom before a date and suddenly it changes the whole nature of the sin from venial to grave (to put it in Catholic terms - the difference being whether it's premeditated or impulsive).
Unfortunately, that leaves young people very vulnerable. Also, those who don't share the conservative Christian world view would see it as irresponsible. I'm not going to sit in judgment on Bristol and her boyfriend. But there are other viewpoints than the conservative Christian one, and there are some adults who would like to teach their children about responsible sexual behavior.
Abstinence may be the best and safest course. But failing that maybe admitting human frailty and being prepared might be better for a young person's future. The real issue isn't what the Palin family chooses - its' that others have the right to make different choices. And that's what worries me about Sarah Palin's anti-choice position. It's not what she and her daughter decide; it's protecting everybody else's right to make a different decision for their family.
Here's the thing, abstinence may be the best and safest course. It's what I personally would teach any young person, male or female. But I'm pretty sure it's what Bristol Palin was taught by parents who left no doubt that that was the preferred behavior. Abstinence only education and morality didn't work for Bristol Palin because she was a young woman in love. And young people have passions and raging hormones that sometimes override their most sincere intentions. Young people often don't make good decisions; they make mistakes (I'm talking about the acts that led up to the pregnancy - not what she decided to do afterwards).
I'm not going to second guess Bristol Palin's decision to marry and have the child. I wish her all the success in the world. Young women can raise children, complete school and go on to successful lives. It's just much more difficult. And it robs her of part of the carefree adolescence and young adulthood she - and her future husband - could have had.
The take home point, over and above this individual story, is that any parent could have a teenager who gets pregnant. It's not an indictment of that mother's or father's parenting skills. But every family deserves the right to make the decision of how a pregnancy is handled. And with Sarah Palin's and John McCain's anti-abortion position, that decision would be taken away from families and their sons and daughters and given to the government.
But I'm pretty sure the pregnancy was accidental. And I am going to leap out on a limb and guess that everything in Bristol Palin's culture made her reject birth control methods to prevent an unplanned pregnancy by a young high school girl. It may not have been lack of knowledge; that would be hard to guess. But, then again, it might have been both such a lack and also lack of access to contraception. But it could also be lack of desire to use birth control. Within conservative Christian culture, young people would be very reluctant to protect themselves from an unplanned pregnancy for one simple reason.
It's one thing to get swept away by passion and love and to fall into the temptation of sin. It's quite another to go out and secure the contraception that would prevent pregnancy because that's an admission that you planned to engage in "sinful" behavior. Christians are not as unforgiving as the popular parody of them would suggest. In fact, they frequently understand and forgive lapses of even the worst behavior, something that is to their credit. But what is much less forgivable to them is anything that would smack of premeditation. Go out and buy a condom before a date and suddenly it changes the whole nature of the sin from venial to grave (to put it in Catholic terms - the difference being whether it's premeditated or impulsive).
Unfortunately, that leaves young people very vulnerable. Also, those who don't share the conservative Christian world view would see it as irresponsible. I'm not going to sit in judgment on Bristol and her boyfriend. But there are other viewpoints than the conservative Christian one, and there are some adults who would like to teach their children about responsible sexual behavior.
Abstinence may be the best and safest course. But failing that maybe admitting human frailty and being prepared might be better for a young person's future. The real issue isn't what the Palin family chooses - its' that others have the right to make different choices. And that's what worries me about Sarah Palin's anti-choice position. It's not what she and her daughter decide; it's protecting everybody else's right to make a different decision for their family.
Here's the thing, abstinence may be the best and safest course. It's what I personally would teach any young person, male or female. But I'm pretty sure it's what Bristol Palin was taught by parents who left no doubt that that was the preferred behavior. Abstinence only education and morality didn't work for Bristol Palin because she was a young woman in love. And young people have passions and raging hormones that sometimes override their most sincere intentions. Young people often don't make good decisions; they make mistakes (I'm talking about the acts that led up to the pregnancy - not what she decided to do afterwards).
I'm not going to second guess Bristol Palin's decision to marry and have the child. I wish her all the success in the world. Young women can raise children, complete school and go on to successful lives. It's just much more difficult. And it robs her of part of the carefree adolescence and young adulthood she - and her future husband - could have had.
The take home point, over and above this individual story, is that any parent could have a teenager who gets pregnant. It's not an indictment of that mother's or father's parenting skills. But every family deserves the right to make the decision of how a pregnancy is handled. And with Sarah Palin's and John McCain's anti-abortion position, that decision would be taken away from families and their sons and daughters and given to the government.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Sarah Palin: McCain's Brilliant Failure
UPDATE: Daily Kos has up a diary that alleges Sarah Palin may have links to the Dominionist theocratic movement. Something I'll investigate more thoroughly in the coming weeks.
I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere. If John McCain thinks that picking Sarah Palin as his running mate will seal the deal with disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters, it's patronizing and insulting. The reason is that Palin is anti-abortion, even in the case of rape and incest, a view that most women don't support. And supporters of Hillary tend to be the most pro-choice. We also still don't know what Sarah Palin thinks of universal health care but if she agrees with John McCain and the rest of the GOP, then it's the antithesis of what Hillary Clinton spent a lifetime fighting for. Where does Ms. Palin stand on the Fair Pay Act, also known as the Lilly Ledbetter Act, after the Gadsen, Alabama woman who sued Goodyear for paying her less than her male colleagues over a lifetime on the job and lost her case in the Roberts Supreme Court? I'm pretty sure that Hillary Clinton is for the principle of equal pay for equal work.
Just as troubling as McCain's and possibly Palin's lack of support for the issues that really matter to women and directly affect the quality of their lives is the fact that McCain had a bench of experienced, qualified women in the Republican Party that he could have picked. They would have been equally historic, would have shaken up the election, and stolen Obama's thunder going out of a hugely successful convention just as well as Palin did. The mere fact of choosing a woman would have accomplished that. Here's a list of some of the choices he bypassed. They include Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Texas), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine), Governors Linda Lingle (Hawaii), and Jodi Rell (Connecticut). There's also Christy Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, and Condi Rice.
GOP pundits and bloggers will argue that most of those women, though worthy Republicans, are pro choice. And they are right.
I suspect that McCain's camp actually knows they are not going to get that many women who supported Clinton. Ok, maybe a few of the most deranged of the PUMAs. But not enough to turn even a close election. Just as they know they are not really going to get a whole lot of union members and rank and file working people just because McCain shows up at an auto factory and says that he's concerned about their jobs. More and more working people know that Republican policies don't really help them much and that the factory appearances and pitches to them are really pro forma.
Part of the reason McCain picked Palin was precisely to prevent the Democrats from getting too big a post-election bump coming out of their convention by dominating the next day's news cycle. That was a brilliant tactic. Gotta give his advisors credit for that. But the other reason was to shore up the Evangelical base. After all, there had been talk that a few younger, hipper evangelicals from the Emerging Church movement were flirting with the Obama camp. For McCain to lose some of them would be disastrous, as would having social conservatives simply sit out the election. Picking Palin was a pitch to them not to progressive and moderate women.
It was also a brilliant move.
Now, though, McCain and Palin will still have to run in the rest of the country on their issues, the same failed policies that have brought this nation to the brink of economic disaster and harmed ordinary working people for the past eight years. In addition, McCain, who yesterday officially became the oldest American to run for president, will have to explain why he picked somebody with so little experience in foreign policy and national security to be just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Unlike Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, whom Palin paid gracious tribute to, Palin doesn't have the accomplishment, knowledge and experience to be in the position McCain has put her in. That's not an unfair attack on her. She may well be an intelligent, competent woman. But she's not ready to be a prime time player just yet. Any of the GOP women I mentioned above would have been.
People will argue that the choice of a vice presidential running mate doesn't matter that much. And usually they'd be right. But this time, with a 72 year old cancer survivor it does. And as the first test of McCain's judgment it's a brilliant failure.
I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere. If John McCain thinks that picking Sarah Palin as his running mate will seal the deal with disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters, it's patronizing and insulting. The reason is that Palin is anti-abortion, even in the case of rape and incest, a view that most women don't support. And supporters of Hillary tend to be the most pro-choice. We also still don't know what Sarah Palin thinks of universal health care but if she agrees with John McCain and the rest of the GOP, then it's the antithesis of what Hillary Clinton spent a lifetime fighting for. Where does Ms. Palin stand on the Fair Pay Act, also known as the Lilly Ledbetter Act, after the Gadsen, Alabama woman who sued Goodyear for paying her less than her male colleagues over a lifetime on the job and lost her case in the Roberts Supreme Court? I'm pretty sure that Hillary Clinton is for the principle of equal pay for equal work.
Just as troubling as McCain's and possibly Palin's lack of support for the issues that really matter to women and directly affect the quality of their lives is the fact that McCain had a bench of experienced, qualified women in the Republican Party that he could have picked. They would have been equally historic, would have shaken up the election, and stolen Obama's thunder going out of a hugely successful convention just as well as Palin did. The mere fact of choosing a woman would have accomplished that. Here's a list of some of the choices he bypassed. They include Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Texas), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine), Governors Linda Lingle (Hawaii), and Jodi Rell (Connecticut). There's also Christy Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, and Condi Rice.
GOP pundits and bloggers will argue that most of those women, though worthy Republicans, are pro choice. And they are right.
I suspect that McCain's camp actually knows they are not going to get that many women who supported Clinton. Ok, maybe a few of the most deranged of the PUMAs. But not enough to turn even a close election. Just as they know they are not really going to get a whole lot of union members and rank and file working people just because McCain shows up at an auto factory and says that he's concerned about their jobs. More and more working people know that Republican policies don't really help them much and that the factory appearances and pitches to them are really pro forma.
Part of the reason McCain picked Palin was precisely to prevent the Democrats from getting too big a post-election bump coming out of their convention by dominating the next day's news cycle. That was a brilliant tactic. Gotta give his advisors credit for that. But the other reason was to shore up the Evangelical base. After all, there had been talk that a few younger, hipper evangelicals from the Emerging Church movement were flirting with the Obama camp. For McCain to lose some of them would be disastrous, as would having social conservatives simply sit out the election. Picking Palin was a pitch to them not to progressive and moderate women.
It was also a brilliant move.
Now, though, McCain and Palin will still have to run in the rest of the country on their issues, the same failed policies that have brought this nation to the brink of economic disaster and harmed ordinary working people for the past eight years. In addition, McCain, who yesterday officially became the oldest American to run for president, will have to explain why he picked somebody with so little experience in foreign policy and national security to be just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Unlike Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, whom Palin paid gracious tribute to, Palin doesn't have the accomplishment, knowledge and experience to be in the position McCain has put her in. That's not an unfair attack on her. She may well be an intelligent, competent woman. But she's not ready to be a prime time player just yet. Any of the GOP women I mentioned above would have been.
People will argue that the choice of a vice presidential running mate doesn't matter that much. And usually they'd be right. But this time, with a 72 year old cancer survivor it does. And as the first test of McCain's judgment it's a brilliant failure.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Pinup Girl for the Right Wing
Oh what fun. The liberal blogosphere gets to vet John McCain's vice presidential choice, Governor Sarah Palin, because his campaign failed to do so. According to RK, she's a creationist. She has two years experience as govenor of a remote state, no foreign policy experience whatsoever and McCain thinks she's qualified to be a heartbeat away from his presidency but Barack Obama is too inexperienced to govern.
And here for your listening pleasure:
You know, it's entertaining to make fun of such a light weight. But the truth is I'm damned mad about this pick. No matter how much I disagree with the Republican philosophy I'll admit there are some strong, smart and capable GOP women out there who would be more than qualified to serve as vice president. Instead, McCain picked the pin up girl for his party's right wing.
And here for your listening pleasure:
You know, it's entertaining to make fun of such a light weight. But the truth is I'm damned mad about this pick. No matter how much I disagree with the Republican philosophy I'll admit there are some strong, smart and capable GOP women out there who would be more than qualified to serve as vice president. Instead, McCain picked the pin up girl for his party's right wing.
A Trophy Vice President
Update: Lowell has up an excellent summation of everything wrong and dumb about choosing Palin.
And even funnier is this from Mason Conservative yesterday:
Sarah Palin is such a poor choice for vice president that I'm sitting here stunned. If this election is a referendum on experience and judgment, McCain's campaign now fails at both. He's handed the election to the Democrats and it's theirs to lose.
First, if John McCain wanted to make Barack Obama's supposed inexperience the centerpiece of his campaign, picking Palin undercuts his message.
There are many reasons why a candidate picks a particular individual to be his ticket mate. Balancing the ticket and attracting votes are obviously the most important reasons. But at least in theory, a candidate picks somebody to be vice president because he believes that particular person can step into the office at a moment's notice should the unthinkable happen. Indeed, the very reason we have a vice presidency is to have somebody ready at the helm should the president become incapacitated.
So, McCain thinks Sarah Palin would be ready to step into the office and fill the shoes of the president should a terrible tragedy occur? What does that actually say about his judgment?
It says that his campaign advisors are still deluding themselves that they can get Hillary's PUMAs. The truth is those few holdouts could be had without this bad choice.
Many of Hillary Clinton's supporters are middle aged and older women who have spent a lifetime being passed over for the younger and less qualified for jobs and promotions and they've witnessed their friends dumped for trophy wives. Indeed, this pick will reinforce their suspicions that McCain has a propensity for trophy cuties - Cindy, Vicky Iseman, etc. Further, they will feel patronized that the McCain campaign thinks that an ultra conservative who is staunchly anti-abortion will appeal to them when they are mostly pro choice. What the choice of Sarah Palin shows is that they think a woman candidate - any woman candidate - is supposed to appeal to the Woman Vote because we really are dumb and don't understand substance and policy. That makes this a patronizing decision vis a vis the Woman Vote.
Sarah Palin is the female Dan Quayle. George H.W. Bush chose him to appeal to a younger generation and because Quayle was handsome. Bush still managed to win the election, of course, but not because of Quayle - probably in spite of him and because Bush was still riding the coattails of the enormously popular Ronald Reagan. And Michael Dukakis in an army tank and helmet was no match for Lee Atwater and Willie Horton.
McCain and Palin probably won't have such good luck. I think they both can put their heads between their knees and kiss their candidacies good bye.
And even funnier is this from Mason Conservative yesterday:
The most important part of it is that John McCain has resisted using Democrat-style identity politics in his choice. In Tim Pawlenty, it appears he has put ability and comfort ahead of pandering to a carved out group of people.Poor Chris. Of course, he'll get on board and be the most enthusiastic cheerleader possible for Palin. But the truth is McCain played identity politics writ large and pandered to the Christian Right. Some maverick he is
Sarah Palin is such a poor choice for vice president that I'm sitting here stunned. If this election is a referendum on experience and judgment, McCain's campaign now fails at both. He's handed the election to the Democrats and it's theirs to lose.
First, if John McCain wanted to make Barack Obama's supposed inexperience the centerpiece of his campaign, picking Palin undercuts his message.
There are many reasons why a candidate picks a particular individual to be his ticket mate. Balancing the ticket and attracting votes are obviously the most important reasons. But at least in theory, a candidate picks somebody to be vice president because he believes that particular person can step into the office at a moment's notice should the unthinkable happen. Indeed, the very reason we have a vice presidency is to have somebody ready at the helm should the president become incapacitated.
So, McCain thinks Sarah Palin would be ready to step into the office and fill the shoes of the president should a terrible tragedy occur? What does that actually say about his judgment?
It says that his campaign advisors are still deluding themselves that they can get Hillary's PUMAs. The truth is those few holdouts could be had without this bad choice.
Many of Hillary Clinton's supporters are middle aged and older women who have spent a lifetime being passed over for the younger and less qualified for jobs and promotions and they've witnessed their friends dumped for trophy wives. Indeed, this pick will reinforce their suspicions that McCain has a propensity for trophy cuties - Cindy, Vicky Iseman, etc. Further, they will feel patronized that the McCain campaign thinks that an ultra conservative who is staunchly anti-abortion will appeal to them when they are mostly pro choice. What the choice of Sarah Palin shows is that they think a woman candidate - any woman candidate - is supposed to appeal to the Woman Vote because we really are dumb and don't understand substance and policy. That makes this a patronizing decision vis a vis the Woman Vote.
Sarah Palin is the female Dan Quayle. George H.W. Bush chose him to appeal to a younger generation and because Quayle was handsome. Bush still managed to win the election, of course, but not because of Quayle - probably in spite of him and because Bush was still riding the coattails of the enormously popular Ronald Reagan. And Michael Dukakis in an army tank and helmet was no match for Lee Atwater and Willie Horton.
McCain and Palin probably won't have such good luck. I think they both can put their heads between their knees and kiss their candidacies good bye.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Michael Gerson's Advice To Obama - Don't Squander the Moment!
I mostly distrust the mainstream media when they offer Barack Obama advice on how he should conduct himself at the convention. Their idea of a winning formula for Obama’s speech tomorrow night is heavily influenced by John McCain’s attack ads and Republican talking points, all of which have assailed Obama for his very strengths, his eloquence and charisma. Foolishly, the pundits’ advice has been to tone down the charisma, damp down the eloquence, and whatever else he does, Obama should duck so he doesn’t get hit again.
Wrong!
In the absence of eloquence and charisma of their own and even lacking in good ideas, it’s exactly what the GOP would love to see Obama do. In fact, it’s the whole point of their attacks, to scare Obama into running from his strengths rather than playing to them. It’s a clever strategy that has served them well in the past.
But there’s one pundit – and a conservative at that – who gets it right and tells it honestly. It’s Michael Gerson. His advice to Obama is to exceed all expectations and not squander the moment. Here’s his suggestion:
Wrong!
In the absence of eloquence and charisma of their own and even lacking in good ideas, it’s exactly what the GOP would love to see Obama do. In fact, it’s the whole point of their attacks, to scare Obama into running from his strengths rather than playing to them. It’s a clever strategy that has served them well in the past.
But there’s one pundit – and a conservative at that – who gets it right and tells it honestly. It’s Michael Gerson. His advice to Obama is to exceed all expectations and not squander the moment. Here’s his suggestion:
Obama seems to have embraced the conventional wisdom: "I'm not aiming for a lot of high rhetoric," he said Monday. "I'm much more concerned with communicating how I intend to help middle-class families live their lives. . . . This is going to be a more workmanlike speech."And more:
That would be a blunder of historic proportions, precisely because Obama has been given a unique historical moment. He will fill it with significance or eventually be filled with regret.
Obama is advised to emphasize middle-class economic themes, as all recent Democrats have done. But to make a speech that will outlive the moment, he should also address America's deeper divisions based on wealth and opportunity, rooted in slavery and segregation, hidden behind highway sound barriers, revealed in crises such as Katrina, forgotten in a politics where only the middle class seems to count. Inequality is inseparable from liberty in a society that rewards striving -- but inequality becomes morally unjustifiable in the absence of economic mobility. America cannot accept the existence of a permanent underclass without altering its defining ideals. If Obama doesn't confront this reality -- given his background and aspirations of unity and justice -- it is hard to imagine that it will ever be confronted.So, why should Obama listen to Gerson and not those others? Mostly because Michael Gerson is one of the most talented speech writers of his generation. He had the unenviable job of making George W. Bush look articulate and he did it splendidly. Also, now that he’s a columnist, he’s giving honest advice. I don’t always agree with Mr. Gerson on issues but I respect his integrity. And he’s telling the truth now.
Obama can make all these points with added power because he is part of a great moral story involving aspiration, faith and the struggle for racial equality. It is the story of lives and wages stolen by fraud and violence, of families broken at the auction block, of millions who died with their hopes unfulfilled, of millions who never abandoned hope. The story of self-evident truths greater than the flawed men who put them to paper and of courageous men and women who claimed those promises in fact and in law.
Hillary: No Way, No How, No McCain!
Josh has a report on the reaction to Hillary Clinton's speech up on RK. She was truly amazing last night. As others have already pointed out, she totally destroyed the mainstream media's narrative that she could only lose - either endorse Obama and end the "Clinton era" of politics or withold her enthusiasm and end up the hated party spoiler. She chose a third way: Blow one out of the ballpark, unite the party, ignite energy and enthusiasm, and deliver her supporters to Obama. And end up much beloved by the entire party.
She asked her supporters the pointed question, did you do this for me or for what we believe? And she reminded them of all the things we all who supported her truly stand for, equal pay for equal work, better and safer working conditions, equal opportunity for all and the abiding faith that each child can develop his or her God given talents and achieve his/her dream. The American Dream!
She asked her supporters the pointed question, did you do this for me or for what we believe? And she reminded them of all the things we all who supported her truly stand for, equal pay for equal work, better and safer working conditions, equal opportunity for all and the abiding faith that each child can develop his or her God given talents and achieve his/her dream. The American Dream!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
That John McCain Can Sure Play A Mean Game of Pinball
The classic, comedic definition of chutzpah is the guy who murders both his parents, goes to trial, and throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan. A new, political definition would be John McCain going after the Hillary Clinton vote.
There are actually two different Clinton votes. One is the blue collar vote that Hillary got in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio. To reach them McCain is stumping at factories and trying to convince working stiffs who are fighting foreclosure that he’s just like them and can understand their pain in this economy. Right – when he finishes figuring out how many houses his heiress wife owns maybe somebody will believe him.
But the more ridiculous height he’s soaring to is attempting to convince the middle-aged, white feminists that he is their logical alternative to Hillary Clinton. He’s even got a commercial out with supposed Hillary supporters who’ve never voted Republican before but who will proudly vote for him. That must be because he and Hillary are so close in what they stand for.
Except for the part where he has a lifelong anti-abortion voting record, is on record that he would appoint more judges like Alito and Roberts, who would overturn Roe v Wade, and doesn’t support universal health care reform. And it must also be for his strong opposition to legislation that would give women equal pay for equal work (see here for his real legislative record on women's issues). Yeah, he’s everything a supporter of Hillary Clinton would want in a presidential candidate.
In fact, when I look at the so-called Hillary supporters in his commercial all I can think is, honey if you’re proud of this, you don’t know what the hell Hillary Clinton really devoted her life to fighting for. Oh, and John McCain is playing you and the other PUMAs harder than a pinball machine in a juke joint.
There are actually two different Clinton votes. One is the blue collar vote that Hillary got in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio. To reach them McCain is stumping at factories and trying to convince working stiffs who are fighting foreclosure that he’s just like them and can understand their pain in this economy. Right – when he finishes figuring out how many houses his heiress wife owns maybe somebody will believe him.
But the more ridiculous height he’s soaring to is attempting to convince the middle-aged, white feminists that he is their logical alternative to Hillary Clinton. He’s even got a commercial out with supposed Hillary supporters who’ve never voted Republican before but who will proudly vote for him. That must be because he and Hillary are so close in what they stand for.
Except for the part where he has a lifelong anti-abortion voting record, is on record that he would appoint more judges like Alito and Roberts, who would overturn Roe v Wade, and doesn’t support universal health care reform. And it must also be for his strong opposition to legislation that would give women equal pay for equal work (see here for his real legislative record on women's issues). Yeah, he’s everything a supporter of Hillary Clinton would want in a presidential candidate.
In fact, when I look at the so-called Hillary supporters in his commercial all I can think is, honey if you’re proud of this, you don’t know what the hell Hillary Clinton really devoted her life to fighting for. Oh, and John McCain is playing you and the other PUMAs harder than a pinball machine in a juke joint.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Bush Administration Enacts Rule That Could Endanger Women's Access to Birth Control
Well the Bush administration is doing it - condemning millions of women to unwanted pregnancies, allowing health care workers to deny a variety of services to them, just as was promised back on July 31. The Washington Post is now reporting
We're not talking about a late term abortion here. We're talking about anybody being able to deprive a woman of birth control pills or Plan B after being raped. What about her right to prevent a pregnancy? We're talking about de facto outlawing of, not abortion, but BIRTH CONTROL! And that would include birth control for married people.
The truth is 51 to 53 percent of Americans favor a woman's right to have an abortion, especially if her health or life is threatened or if she's raped. Larger percentages favor a woman's right to prevent a pregnancy with the most effective contraceptives available, birth control pills. But every doctor in every small town across America, every pharmacist, can now become his own legislator, taking away from a couple a fundamental right that is guaranteed them by law.
The truth is the conservative Republicans have been unable to outlaw abortion and birth control for years. Every attempt they've made has backfired because the public just doesn't support it. This is their last shot at imposing their fanatical theocratic will on those who don't agree with them theologically. This is nothing more than an attempt to impose their very sectarian religious views on others. Don't be fooled by it.
The Bush administration today announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.Here's the thing that makes this so despicable. It doesn't just protect a health care worker from personally having to deliver services he opposes on so-called moral grounds, it says that he can refuse to even discuss it or offer an alternative doctor or pharmacist who will perform those services. So, in a small town with only a couple of drugstores, a clerk behind the counter can refuse to sell a woman - or even a man - a contraceptive and refuse to tell that person where else he or she can go to buy it.
The rule empowers federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors' offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds.....
The proposed regulation, which could go into effect after a 30-day comment period, was welcomed by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others as necessary to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways. Women's health advocates, family planning advocates, abortion rights activists and others, however, condemned the regulation, saying it could create sweeping obstacles to a variety of health services, including abortion, family planning, end-of-life care and possibly a wide range of scientific research.
"It's breathtaking," said Robyn S. Shapiro, a bioethicist and lawyer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "The impact could be enormous."
The regulation drops the most controversial language in a draft version that would have explicitly defined an abortion for the first time in a federal law or regulation as anything that interfered with a fertilized egg after conception. But both supporters and critics said the regulation remained broad enough to protect pharmacists, doctors, nurses and others from providing birth control pills, Plan B emergency contraception and other forms of contraception, and explicitly allows workers to withhold information about such services and refuse to refer patients elsewhere.
We're not talking about a late term abortion here. We're talking about anybody being able to deprive a woman of birth control pills or Plan B after being raped. What about her right to prevent a pregnancy? We're talking about de facto outlawing of, not abortion, but BIRTH CONTROL! And that would include birth control for married people.
The truth is 51 to 53 percent of Americans favor a woman's right to have an abortion, especially if her health or life is threatened or if she's raped. Larger percentages favor a woman's right to prevent a pregnancy with the most effective contraceptives available, birth control pills. But every doctor in every small town across America, every pharmacist, can now become his own legislator, taking away from a couple a fundamental right that is guaranteed them by law.
The truth is the conservative Republicans have been unable to outlaw abortion and birth control for years. Every attempt they've made has backfired because the public just doesn't support it. This is their last shot at imposing their fanatical theocratic will on those who don't agree with them theologically. This is nothing more than an attempt to impose their very sectarian religious views on others. Don't be fooled by it.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Do You KNow How Many Homes You Own? John McCain Doesn't
It must be nice to be so rich you lose count of the number of homes you own, while accusing others of being elitist. But look who's in the ivory tower. No, make that a Gilded tower.
Netroots Rising Discusion Last Night at Busboys and Poets
When Lowell Feld asked me, I said I wasn’t going to blog his gig at Busboys and Poets. “Nah, I’m off duty and I’m not taking notes,” I told him and Nate Wilcox. But I changed my mind.
First of all, it’s worth noting that Adams Morgan is a great neighborhood. Jaybird’s Jottings called it “a hipster haven” and has a good write up of the entire event. Busboys and Poets also live blogged it on their site.
As for Adams Morgan, the narrow streets are always crowded with young, and not so young, people gliding in and out of shops and bistros. It has the type of energy you find in New York neighborhoods like Williamsburg and lower Manhattan.
Most NoVa bloggers would probably feel comfortable in Busboys and Poets simply because it’s computer friendly. When you walk in, there are several rows of long tables, set up almost like countertops, with people busy at their laptops, totally oblivious to the crowded nightlife around them. You know, our kind of people :).
Lowell and Nate were in a separate room with a small stage, two stools, and two mikes. It was an intimate “clubby” setting with lots of tables, some booths, etc. Think open mike night at Folk City. Only instead of breaking out the guitars and singing, they and the audience were there to discuss Lowell and Nate's new book, Netroots Rising. After the discussion, they held a book signing.
As others have pointed out, Nate Wilcox was excellent on the techie trends in sophisticated, modern political campaigns. Lowell connected with the audience and spoke about the human factor. He discussed the now well-known Webb-Allan campaign and the Maccacca affair. As he pointed out, that incident didn’t cause the meltdown so widely reported. It was really the slow accretion of stories and details about Allen that followed in the wake of the YouTube video that did in the campaign and candidate. That video merely opened the floodgate.
As Lowell explained, the actual video was serendipity. Nobody could have foreseen Allen’s gaffe in Breaks, VA. But many people had long suspected that Allen’s folksy, cowboy, Southern gentleman image was a façade. It was an open secret that under the genial veneer there was a dark side. Both those in the media and Richmond insiders knew about the Confederate flags, the potted tree with the noose hanging from it in his office, and his tendency to use the “N” word. Nobody would report it. But after Allen was caught on tape, “people came out of the woodwork,” as Lowell put it, with stories dating back to Allen’s college days. Old roommates and pals came forward with incidents they had witnessed. Then, there was Allen’s response to TV newscaster Peggy Fox’s question about his Jewish background, which generated sympathy at the live debate but played out badly in the press and on the blogs. However, as Lowell also mentioned, bloggers laid the groundwork for these revelations early in the campaign. So did the Webb campaign. And even the felicitous videotape would not have been possible had the campaign not had S.R. Siddarth out there tracking Allen.
After speaking briefly, Nate and Lowell opened it up as a general discussion, taking questions from the audience and introducing colleagues such as Annabel Park, who spoke about some of her experiences with the Webb campaign, especially her work with the Asian community.
The discussion part of the evening ended on a tentative note as the two authors discussed the future of the blogosphere. Absent a crystal ball, it’s difficult to predict where we go from here. But as they pointed out, newspapers and mainstream media are increasingly putting up their own blogs. Sites such as Huffington Post, while politically progressive, are basically corporate in structure and mainly have many very well known writers and journalists clamoring to write for them.
The place where the citizen activists and amateurs are still most strong is at the state and local level. Software like Soapblox has allowed people to start true community forums where anybody can post a diary. They’ve become the new public square where political activists can congregate.
First of all, it’s worth noting that Adams Morgan is a great neighborhood. Jaybird’s Jottings called it “a hipster haven” and has a good write up of the entire event. Busboys and Poets also live blogged it on their site.
As for Adams Morgan, the narrow streets are always crowded with young, and not so young, people gliding in and out of shops and bistros. It has the type of energy you find in New York neighborhoods like Williamsburg and lower Manhattan.
Most NoVa bloggers would probably feel comfortable in Busboys and Poets simply because it’s computer friendly. When you walk in, there are several rows of long tables, set up almost like countertops, with people busy at their laptops, totally oblivious to the crowded nightlife around them. You know, our kind of people :).
Lowell and Nate were in a separate room with a small stage, two stools, and two mikes. It was an intimate “clubby” setting with lots of tables, some booths, etc. Think open mike night at Folk City. Only instead of breaking out the guitars and singing, they and the audience were there to discuss Lowell and Nate's new book, Netroots Rising. After the discussion, they held a book signing.
As others have pointed out, Nate Wilcox was excellent on the techie trends in sophisticated, modern political campaigns. Lowell connected with the audience and spoke about the human factor. He discussed the now well-known Webb-Allan campaign and the Maccacca affair. As he pointed out, that incident didn’t cause the meltdown so widely reported. It was really the slow accretion of stories and details about Allen that followed in the wake of the YouTube video that did in the campaign and candidate. That video merely opened the floodgate.
As Lowell explained, the actual video was serendipity. Nobody could have foreseen Allen’s gaffe in Breaks, VA. But many people had long suspected that Allen’s folksy, cowboy, Southern gentleman image was a façade. It was an open secret that under the genial veneer there was a dark side. Both those in the media and Richmond insiders knew about the Confederate flags, the potted tree with the noose hanging from it in his office, and his tendency to use the “N” word. Nobody would report it. But after Allen was caught on tape, “people came out of the woodwork,” as Lowell put it, with stories dating back to Allen’s college days. Old roommates and pals came forward with incidents they had witnessed. Then, there was Allen’s response to TV newscaster Peggy Fox’s question about his Jewish background, which generated sympathy at the live debate but played out badly in the press and on the blogs. However, as Lowell also mentioned, bloggers laid the groundwork for these revelations early in the campaign. So did the Webb campaign. And even the felicitous videotape would not have been possible had the campaign not had S.R. Siddarth out there tracking Allen.
After speaking briefly, Nate and Lowell opened it up as a general discussion, taking questions from the audience and introducing colleagues such as Annabel Park, who spoke about some of her experiences with the Webb campaign, especially her work with the Asian community.
The discussion part of the evening ended on a tentative note as the two authors discussed the future of the blogosphere. Absent a crystal ball, it’s difficult to predict where we go from here. But as they pointed out, newspapers and mainstream media are increasingly putting up their own blogs. Sites such as Huffington Post, while politically progressive, are basically corporate in structure and mainly have many very well known writers and journalists clamoring to write for them.
The place where the citizen activists and amateurs are still most strong is at the state and local level. Software like Soapblox has allowed people to start true community forums where anybody can post a diary. They’ve become the new public square where political activists can congregate.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Jesus Litmus Test in Politcs
Writer Kathleen Parker certainly raised the right issue when she wrote in the Washington Post, "Enough With the Jesus Test." In writing about the respected pastor Rick Warren's recently televised interviews with both candidates at his Saddleback Church, she says:
I happen to agree with her points and I consider myself a person of faith. But I am growing more and more uncomfortable with a political conversation that is mostly directed at Christians while leaving out Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and just about everybody else. Christianity is the major religion in this country. But the United States is a more and more pluralistic nation with many faiths, and some people who have no faith. They too are citizens who serve in our military, work in our industries and offices, pay taxes, and contribute to society. Yet they are being shut out of an increasingly sectarian and denominational discussion.
We are choosing a president, not a saint and not a pastor. In fact, Parker ends with the interesting point that among our founding fathers, if Thomas Jefferson, a Deist heavily influenced by the Enlightenment, had to run for office in today's religio-political climate, he couldn't win.
Makes you think doesn't it?
This is about higher principles that are compromised every time we pretend we're not applying a religious test when we're really applying a religious test.None of this is meant to disparage Rev. Warren, whom Parker acknowledges is as decent a human being and minister as you'll find. He's more than walked the walk and lived the talk he gives in his books and sermons. And Parker also isn't trying to disparage religion.
It is true that no one was forced to participate in the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency and that both McCain and Obama are free agents. Warren has a right to invite whomever he wishes to his church and to ask them whatever they're willing to answer.
His format and questions were interesting and the answers more revealing than what the usual debate menu provides. But does it not seem just a little bit odd to have McCain and Obama chatting individually with a preacher in a public forum about their positions on evil and their relationship with Jesus Christ?
I happen to agree with her points and I consider myself a person of faith. But I am growing more and more uncomfortable with a political conversation that is mostly directed at Christians while leaving out Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and just about everybody else. Christianity is the major religion in this country. But the United States is a more and more pluralistic nation with many faiths, and some people who have no faith. They too are citizens who serve in our military, work in our industries and offices, pay taxes, and contribute to society. Yet they are being shut out of an increasingly sectarian and denominational discussion.
We are choosing a president, not a saint and not a pastor. In fact, Parker ends with the interesting point that among our founding fathers, if Thomas Jefferson, a Deist heavily influenced by the Enlightenment, had to run for office in today's religio-political climate, he couldn't win.
Makes you think doesn't it?
Toby Keith Support Barack Obama
I always assume that country music stars are Republicans. So many of them have been and I guess still are. And I think because of Toby Keith's post 9/11 song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue, I assumed he'd be for John McCain. I suspect a lot of his fans did too. But according to this piece on Huffington Post, he praised Obama and said he was a Democrat. Asked while promoting his new movie "Beer For My Horses" about the role of patriotism in the current presidential election, Keith replied: "There's a big part of America that really believes that there is a war on terrorism, and that we need to finish up.I wonder what, if any, effect that will have on country music fans, especially those in the South. I don't honestly expect that Obama will carry a solid South. In fact, I suspect we won't take Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia, or Arkansas. Probably not North or South Carolina either. Georgia would be in play if Sam Nunn were the Vice Presidential pick, but I don't think that's going to happen (famous last words).
"So I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things.
"So as far as leadership and patriotism goes, I think it's really important that those things have to take place. And I think he's the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton. And that's coming from a Democrat."
But Virginia is definitely in play. I think Tennessee might be and something like that could tip it. If Keith can organize some other country musicians to do a benefit at the Grand Ole Opry, the image and sound bytes on national television would be good for picking up a few votes in the rural Midwest, which could tip Ohio, as well as some border Southern states. And beside Tennessee, I still believe Florida is in play because it's such an atypical Southern state. And who knows which other state in Dixie may surprise us. After all, an upset, by definition, is the state you never in a million years thought would flip. It's the one that surprises us all. Just as Toby Keith's startling statement today surprised a lot of pundits.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Vice Presidential Fever In Virginia
We've all got it. RK now has two different posts devoted to the subject, here and here. Ben is in despair with this. I've done my fair share of speculation. And Bearing Drift weighs in with this and this.
One way or another, lots of Virginia bloggers on both sides of the aisle think Obama is going to pick Kaine because of the convergence of two facts. First, the Obama campaign has stated that the announcement will be no later than Friday but could come as early as tomorrow. Then, Obama is scheduled to be in Virginia tomorrow and Thursday. Also, Joe Biden today said that he's not the man. Hopefully, we'll know by tomorrow. But I think Lowell summed it up best (emphasis is mine):
One way or another, lots of Virginia bloggers on both sides of the aisle think Obama is going to pick Kaine because of the convergence of two facts. First, the Obama campaign has stated that the announcement will be no later than Friday but could come as early as tomorrow. Then, Obama is scheduled to be in Virginia tomorrow and Thursday. Also, Joe Biden today said that he's not the man. Hopefully, we'll know by tomorrow. But I think Lowell summed it up best (emphasis is mine):
UPDATE: According to Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic, Tim Kaine will speak on Thursday night of the convention. Given that the running mate speaks Wednesday night, is this a sign that it's NOT Tim Kaine? My god, I'm so confused! (:Yes, so are we all.
Dave Barry's Advice for Riding Out a Florida Hurricane
This is the season when I bite my nails and worry about hurricanes, especially The Big One. Everybody who lives in Florida lives under this cloud of doom that they are due for The Big One each year. And some years, they've gotten them. But even back in the 1980s, a decade when Florida never saw a major hurricane, every year we geared up for the Perfect Storm. In fact, as each uneventful year passed, we grew more fearful. Surely, next season we'd pay for all those balmy summers when we dodged the bullet. I left Florida because of hurricane season. Not the hurricanes mind you. The neurotic anxiety.
But my 93 year old dad is still down in Fort Lauderdale. So as Tropical Storm Fay comes ashore on the West Coast, but lashes the whole southern tip of Florida, I hold my breath and pray he's ok. He weathered Wilma a few years ago. But he's older now. If the power goes out, it will be much more difficult for him to climb the one flight of stairs to get to his condo. Especially if it's humid out.
Meanwhile, for a little levity about South Florida and the craziness known as hurricane season, here's an old column from Dave Barry. This excerpt about sums it up:
But my 93 year old dad is still down in Fort Lauderdale. So as Tropical Storm Fay comes ashore on the West Coast, but lashes the whole southern tip of Florida, I hold my breath and pray he's ok. He weathered Wilma a few years ago. But he's older now. If the power goes out, it will be much more difficult for him to climb the one flight of stairs to get to his condo. Especially if it's humid out.
Meanwhile, for a little levity about South Florida and the craziness known as hurricane season, here's an old column from Dave Barry. This excerpt about sums it up:
We're entering the heart of hurricane season. Any day now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weatherperson pointing to some radar blob out in the Atlantic and making two basic meteorological points:And here's one snippet more:
* There is no need to panic.
* We could all be killed.
Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in South Florida. If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one." The best way to get information on this topic is to ask people who were here during Hurricane Andrew (we're easy to recognize, because we still smell faintly of b.o. mixed with gasoline). Based on our experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan: STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days. STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car. STEP 3. Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween.
For Dave's expert advice for riding out a typical South Florida hurricane, you'll have to read the rest of his column. It made me laugh on a day when I needed it.We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:
HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE: If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements: (1) It is reasonably well-built, and (2) It is located in Nebraska.
Unfortunately, if your home is located in South Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss. Since Hurricane Andrew, I have had an estimated 27 different home-insurance companies. This week, I'm covered by the Bob and Big Stan Insurance Company, under a policy which states that, in addition to my premium, Bob and Big Stan are entitled, on demand, to my kidneys.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Obama Could Pick VP As Early As Weds. He's In Virginia Weds.
According to the New York Times, we all could know who Obama's vice presidential pick will be as early as Wednesday. Here's what they reported:
What do you think?
WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama has all but settled on his choice for a running mate and set an elaborate rollout plan for his decision, beginning with an early morning alert to supporters, perhaps as soon as Wednesday morning, aides said.So, it appears that Tim Kaine is still in the running. And if the timing is any indication of things to come, here's what Obama's schedule will be for the next few days, again, according to the NYT.
Mr. Obama’s deliberations remain remarkably closely held. Aides said perhaps a half-dozen advisers were involved in the final discussions in an effort to enforce a command that Mr. Obama issued to staff members: that his decision not leak out until supporters are notified.
Mr. Obama had not notified his choice — or any of those not selected — of his decision as of late Monday, advisers said. Going into the final days, Mr. Obama was said to be focused mainly on three candidates: Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware.
Mr. Obama’s schedule calls for him to awaken on Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., and by the end of the day be in Raleigh, N.C. By Wednesday, he is scheduled to be in Virginia. The Obama campaign has cautioned against reading anything into his schedule, saying it could be changed in an instant to accommodate the plan to introduce the running mate.So, the earliest the announcement could come is Wednesday. Obama has been opening headquarters all over Virginia and has a great field operation. Virginia is definitely in play. And Obama will be here on Wednesday. Hmmm...
Aides said the announcement would come at the earliest on Wednesday morning.
What do you think?
Friday, August 15, 2008
Give Fimian a Map of His District, Please!
Maybe one of 41 percent of Keith Fimian contributors who actually lives in his district could give him a map. The novice GOP candidate held a press conference today to announce his energy plan. Frankly, it’s a decent one. I’ll give credit where credit is due. He doesn’t just go for the cheap shot about drilling more. He acknowledges that we need to invest in renewable energy as well.
The problem is that he chose a gas station in the 8th CD. This frankly confuses me. As a resident of Burke, part of the 11th CD, I’d be happy to take him to a gas station charging exorbitant prices right in my neighborhood. Better still, have the New Providence Republican Women, who sponsored the press conference, provide him with a map of his own district.
The problem is that he chose a gas station in the 8th CD. This frankly confuses me. As a resident of Burke, part of the 11th CD, I’d be happy to take him to a gas station charging exorbitant prices right in my neighborhood. Better still, have the New Providence Republican Women, who sponsored the press conference, provide him with a map of his own district.
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