Ever read one of those posts that just puzzles you? I do that all the time. Kinda like sitting in a chair that’s about to tilt over. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it hurts. I was reading a post by Andrew Pavelyev in The New Majority and got that feeling. He meanders until he reaches his point:
Basically, it relies on the stereotypes the media portrayed Republicans, not necessarily what a typical Republican felt. For instance, the stereotype that Republicans love war, so we tackle Soviet expansionism better. However, the reality of fighting Soviet expansionism throughout the period doesn’t really support that stereotype. Here’s a list of some key events of the Cold War Era:
| Event | Began | Ended | Initial President | Party |
| Berlin Blockade | 1948 | Truman | Democrat | |
| Korean War | 1950 | 1953 | Truman | Democrat |
| Vietnam War UN | 1959 | 1975 | Eisenhower | Republican |
| Vietnam War US | 1965 | 1975 | Johnson | Democrat |
| Berlin Crisis | 1961 | Kennedy | Democrat | |
| Bay of Pigs Invasions | 1961 | Kennedy | Democrat | |
| Cuba Missile | 1962 | Kennedy | Democrat | |
| Soviet Afghanistan | 1979 | 1989 | Carter | Democrat |
Now, as much as media has told us Republicans love to shoot up the planet, history just doesn’t support that theory. We can toss in a couple of other incidents as well. World War I, Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat. World War II, Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat. The only thing listed here that featured a Republican was Eisenhower sending advisors to assist the United Nations in Vietnam. We didn’t send any of our own troops for combat until a Democrat took office. So, the perception doesn’t particularly support the reality. The fact is Democrat Presidents have been much deadlier in our generations than Republicans. It’s not even close.
Now, I could tackle a lot of the other “conservative” stereotypes that seem to be weighting down the Republican Party, but it’s pointless. The issue that seperated the parties one hundred and fifty years ago was states’ rights. It wasn’t over getting us into or out of wars. It wasn’t about feeding the poor or bailing out banks, it was the size of the United States government.
Now, what happened was we had possibly the worst President of my lifetime, Jimmy Carter. The country’s economy fell apart. Gas became scarce, our military inept. All he could do was blame the general malaise that overwhelemed the country. In other words, by 1980, John Kerry could have won if he had run against Jimmy Carter. There was no groundswell of conservative values. It was a groundswell against what was obviously a completely inept president. The only option to get him out was to vote Republican. Now, after the fact, President Reagan pretty much sold out completely to the Religious Right and let them run amok. They stripped the traditional Republican values and inserted their own. No longer was it a states’ rights/limited federal government issue, it was a moral litmus test on whether you were religious enough to merit inclusion.
That is when things went wrong.
It had nothing to do with running out of ideas. It had everything to do with abandoning the ideas Abraham Lincoln advocated when the party was being created.
Now, in 2009, pundits are suggesting the country is no longer conservative enough to elect Republicans.
I disagree. The reason I disagree was when the Republicans established their moral values litmus test in lieu of something more concrete, ie federal government’s role, the Democrats reacted inkind. Nancy Pelosi has taken the moral values issue farther than any Republican ever dreamed of with her “Republican Culture of Corruption” that no Democrat is allowed to be mentioned. And, as with the Republicans, that standard is something very few Democrats can live up to. So, as I type this, it’s biting her in the butt just as it did the Republicans five years ago. Between Blago, Burris, Jefferson, Edwards, etc.., and the numerous Obama appointees, it’s become a ethical free-fall within the Democrat Party. This issue is undoing everything the Republicans did to undo themselves.
So, when the dust is settles, it will be hard to argue that moral values will mean much again, as they really didn’t during other political periods. The mantra “go with the devil you know” will again return, if it’s not here already. Now, what you are seeing is Obama practicing what he preached. He’s not “liberal” in the moral sense. He stresses family values, education, and social welfare for the common man. His morals are as pure as you’ll find in DC. However, his uber-liberal government philosophies are shedding all kinds of political hay to chew on. What you are seeing is the parties re-define themselves circa 1861. Big government vs small government. Democrat vs Republican.
In that arena, the Republicans can, and will, win. As government gets too big, people will revolt to the Republicans. As the government contracts too much, people will revolt to the Democrats.
So, my belief in the future is a lot more hopeful than, and I think pragmatic, than blaming on-air broadcasters for touting what it is that the parties abandoned. I just don’t think they’ve gotten a grip on what that one idealogical difference is yet. And, as long as pundits keep trying to attach the issues and problems to symptoms and not the illness, they never will figure it out.
22
Dec
A lot has been made of Barack Obama inviting Rick Warren to give an invocation at his inauguration. A lot of people are upset. I’m not. This really isn’t much of an issue that affects my day to day life. What I have enjoyed is watching people who advocate various political policies squirm. The left is pissy about it. The right, for the most part, seems to be chuckling. Then I stumbled upon the oddest defense of Barack yet:
That was written by B. Daniel Blatt, a gay REPUBLICAN. He doesn’t think Warren’s anti-gay rants and opposing Prop 8 in California is something people should be concerned with. After all, Warren says he has a hundred gay friends. ( I sorta doubt that. )
On the Democrat side, I guess my favorite gay Democrat would have to be Barney Frank. He gives me all kinds of stuff to write about. Here’s his opinion:
That is coming from a gay DEMOCRAT.
So, we got Republicans endorsing Obama and Democrats openly opposing Obama. Granted, it can be argued Frank is a little more of a spokesperson for the Democrats than Blatt is for the Republicans. However, the problem I have with making this any more equitable is any time a Republican is associated with being gay, the media treats it as a scandal and they either resign, retire, or get voted out. If not, they are just “disgraced” forever. If a Democrat does it, no one cares and they are treated as an icon on the issue.
So, the “scandal” to me is not so much that Obama picked Rick Warren, it’s how the media is dealing with the entire issue.
But if you want my own opinion, I think Rick Warren was a bad choice simply because he’s been divisive in his ministry and we just don’t any more polarization. I would have picked someone who displays unrelenting humbleness, which is what I look for in my preachers.
Thursday night John McCain gave a rousing speech, finishing it off with a call to fight. His urge was barely audible over the wildly cheering crowd:
Apparently excited that they finally had a candidate that felt their pain, several hundred anarchists promptly got arrested chanting “F**k the police!”.
OK, hands up here, how many people ever thought they’d see the day when anarchists would be openly displaying their support for a Republican?
I’m stunned.
3
Sep
In the past, and sometimes nowadays, I have pretty much tired of political parties. We’re in the 21st century. The tool necessary to get the word out in the 18th century just isn’t necessary anymore. Never has party unity and loyalty been any more muddled than this year.
- Last night, longtime Democrat, and one-tome Democrat VP candidate Joe LIeberman spoke to the Republican National Convention.
- Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin is reported to have been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party a long time ago. There is some debate whether she was or not. However, as Republican Governor, she taped a message for their convention this year.
- Democrat Senator and VP candidate Joe Biden has more Youtube clips of him endorsing the Republican candidate for President, John McCain, than he does supporting his running mate, Democrat Barack Obama. Now, that’ll change very quickly as they campaign together I’m sure.
- Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia, is running against McCain and Obama as an independent.
- Lastly, and leastly, Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat from Georiga, has found new life as a Green Party member from California.
- And, not to be left out, Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas, is running for something. He had a “competing” convention in The Twin Cities as well. I’m not quite sure what it was for.
Due to not really being terribly glued to the tv over this election, I gotta admit I have been fairly clueless to guessing VP picks. The media throws so many names out so fast, then criticizes the names they threw out themselves, and then writes off the names they threw out themselves. So, the whole thing is pretty much a waste of my time. However, the three top dogs that I expected to be in the mix, Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney, and Time Pawlenty, all stated they were not going to be the VP. My personal suggestion, Condi Rice, never seemed to get any traction. However, over the night, another name has exploded to the front. There are very valid reasons to expect this person is making some kind of move. You just don’t fly from Alaska to DC overnight for chucks and giggles. This is sorta what they look like:
That folks, could be our next Vice President.
Now, granted, that pic is a little dated.
Sarah Palin has some things definitely going for her that I like:
- She’s apparently tough as nails. She got her position by taking out well established heirarchy.
- She was a star athlete in high school. Played basketball. Without going into too much detail, I’ve had a thing with basketball players in the past. Let’s just say they know how to handle the ball and run a lot.
- She’s a hunter. Now, Obama claims he shot a gun once. Biden I trust with a gun a lot less than Cheney. Both would prefer to just outlaw them completely. Palin hunts moose. Nuff said?
- She’s pro-life. Now, this is an issue that I really don’t think belongs on the federal level at all, and, I’m pro-choice. But, it will re-assure conservative Republicans that McCain won’t sell them out on the issue. And, since neither ticket can actually do anything tangible about the issue, being pro-life just makes my guy more electible. I think he knows that.
- She’s pro-education. Her father has been a life-long educator.
- She’s apparently incredibly politically savvy. She took out a very popular governor, and it wasn’t all that close by the time she got through.
- She’s anti-oil in the right way. She doesn’t seem to see any logic in punishing an existing industry for supplying a product the US demands, and has helped them become more efficient. She however, has strongly pushed alternative energies and has forced existing oil policies to be more greenhouse efficient.
- She flies her own airplane. That’s just cool.
- She was a sportscaster. That’s just cool.
- She was the one who effectively scuttled “The Bridge To Nowhere”, I’m sure that should appeal to some. I like pork tho.
- She publicly demanded that Ted Stevens come clean well before he was indicted. That along with strong ethics reforms in Alaskan state government have earned her a ton of respect with ethics advocates.
- She led the effort to ban gay marriages in Alaska, then forced legislation to allow partner benefits.
The list is huge. And, amazing in a lot of aspects when you consider she’s only 42.
Now, the major upside to Sarah Palin is white-light bright obvious.
- She’s a babe with balls that would make any man nervous.
- This should appeal to the femi-nazi Hillary supporters who felt cheated and abandoned with the Joe Biden pick. ( as they should have )
- There will be a certain segment of the population that will ponder the prospect of seeing her face, and supporting package, for the next four to eight years versus the mugshot of Obama/Biden.
- She appeals to the NRA, who is already anti-Obama/Biden and only moreso with Biden on the ticket. A questionable endorsement of McCain now becomes a slam dunk with enthusiasm.
- All the bogus “hunter” groups supposedly not excited with McCain will need to just shut down. I am quite certain Sarah has taken down more game than all those guys combined.
- Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will have a real difficult time claiming they are the only people concerned with ethics as both McCain and Palin will have a history of attacking ethical issues while neither Obama or Biden will be able to make the same claim.
- Whereas Biden will struggle with his previous endorsements of McCain and stong criticisms of Obama, I seriously doubt you’ll find anywhere that Palin has ever endorsed Obama. And, from reading her history, criticized McCain.
- Her effort to ban same sex marriages will appeal to conservatives, but her forcing the state to provide benefits will moot the gay rights people, as neither Obama nor Biden have any history of supporting them at all.
- This will shatter the biased perception of the Republican Party.
I could go on a lot more but I think my opinion of Sarah Palin as Vice President are more than obvious. Some are saying it’s a done deal. I only hope so. This actually has gotten me pretty excited for the first time since it became obvious that Condi wouldn’t honor my wishes and run.
ONE HOUR UPDATE: IT IS PALIN!
Excellent! Slam Dunk! ( Had to get a basketball metaphor in there! )
He just sealed the deal.
Now, all McCain has to do is do what he does best, smile and let Obama and Biden keep digging their own holes.
Received this via email. It’s so true in so many ways:
A biker is riding his Harley by the zoo, when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion’s cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.
The biker jumps off his bike, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.
A New York Times reporter witnessed the entire event. The reporter addressing the biker says, ”Sir, that was the most gallant and brave thing I saw a man do in my whole life.”
The biker replies, “Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger, and I just did what I had to do.”
The reporter says, “Well, I’ll make sure this won’t go unnoticed. I’m a journalist from the New York Times, you know, and tomorrow’s paper will have this story on the front page. . . . So, what do you do for a living and what is your political affiliation?”
The biker replies, “I’m a U.S. Marine and a Republican.”
The journalist leaves. The following morning the biker buys The New York Times to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on front page:
U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH
Barack Obama’s having a rough week.
First, he did the very odd thing of stating very publicly he liked President Bush’s Faith Based Initiative so much he wanted to expand it. That drew the ire of the Reverend Jesse Jackson:
Now, I don’t think the reverend was terribly upset that Obama wanted to expand the opportunities for religious social programs to do good, I think it was because he did the unthinkable and supported a wildly conservative President’s idea. Luckily for Obama, people have focused more on his nuts and not on the fact that it was spoken by a wildly liberal, race baiting African American. This is the core of Obama’s support ( wildly liberal, not necessarily African American ).
Then to further antagonize the wildliy liberal Russ Feingold offered this piece of advice for Obama:
To which Obama’s immediate reaction to Feingold was:
| Akaka (D-HI), Nay Alexander (R-TN), Yea Allard (R-CO), Yea Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Baucus (D-MT), Yea Bayh (D-IN), Yea Bennett (R-UT), Yea Biden (D-DE), Nay Bingaman (D-NM), Nay Bond (R-MO), Yea Boxer (D-CA), Nay Brown (D-OH), Nay Brownback (R-KS), Yea Bunning (R-KY), Yea Burr (R-NC), Yea Byrd (D-WV), Nay Cantwell (D-WA), Nay Cardin (D-MD), Nay Carper (D-DE), Yea Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Yea Clinton (D-NY), Nay Coburn (R-OK), Yea Cochran (R-MS), Yea Coleman (R-MN), Yea Collins (R-ME), Yea Conrad (D-ND), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Craig (R-ID), Yea Crapo (R-ID), Yea DeMint (R-SC), Yea Dodd (D-CT), Nay Dole (R-NC), Yea |
Domenici (R-NM), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Nay Durbin (D-IL), Nay Ensign (R-NV), Yea Enzi (R-WY), Yea Feingold (D-WI), Nay Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Graham (R-SC), Yea Grassley (R-IA), Yea Gregg (R-NH), Yea Hagel (R-NE), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Yea Hutchison (R-TX), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Nay Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Yea Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay Leahy (D-VT), Nay Levin (D-MI), Nay Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea Martinez (R-FL), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting McCaskill (D-MO), Yea McConnell (R-KY), Yea |
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Murray (D-WA), Nay Nelson (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea Reed (D-RI), Nay Reid (D-NV), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Salazar (D-CO), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Nay Schumer (D-NY), Nay Sessions (R-AL), Not Voting Shelby (R-AL), Yea Smith (R-OR), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Nay Stevens (R-AK), Yea Sununu (R-NH), Yea Tester (D-MT), Nay Thune (R-SD), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea Warner (R-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Nay |
Now, even the ACLU condemned this piece of legislation. So, we’ve got Rev. Jesse Jackson, ACLU, And Russ Feingold condemning Obama in about a week. That’s pretty tough for any candidate. Now, all of them have said they’re still hot for Obama. But, it seems a little more shallow now than it did last week to me. Even the wildly liberal DailyKos couldn’t find it in their soul to look for an upside to this. He did however, remarkably find a way to blame it on Republicans and media. ( Clue here Kos guys, Obama did the deed because he’s scared to death about an issue. How often will he capitulate on other conservative issues like, oh, let’s say, Faith Based Initiatives? )
Bottom line, this has been a rather disastrous week for Obama. Is he dead in the water? No way. He’s fresh, he’s enthusiastic, and he’s got Hollywood and main stream media completely in his pocket. However, the more he panders to the issues he’s staked his career by opposing to this point, the less enthusiastic his core will become. And, if he thinks by pandering to the conservatives will make them forget his previous history, he’ll learn a very powerful message in politics: Convservative voters never forget. Liberal voters generally tend to be a lot more flexible. However, it was Bush’s pandering to the “center” early in his presidency that cost him his unfettered support of his core. And, for the next eight years, he’s had only tepid support since. It was only the incredibly inept candidacy of John Kerry that kept him in office. The problem for Obama in my opinion, is John McCain is no John Kerry.
According to Congressional Quarterly, the House is on its way to passing an Alternative Minimum Tax patch to keep things the way they are right now. Apparently the Republicans, who initially raised the limits, support it, the Democrats want those exemptions gone. That’s good news to me. According to the Democrats over the last few years, I’m one of the wealthy that needs to be taxed to death. However, that doesn’t make my debts and expenses go away. Fact is, I’m paycheck to paycheck right now, far removed from the excesses of wealth. But, that doesn’t phase Democrats like Peter Welch:
“Enacting an AMT patch today when we don’t pay for it would simply shift that $62 billion from the middle class onto their children and their grandchildren,” said Peter Welch , D-Vt. “What we fail to pay today, they will be forced to pay tomorrow, with interest.”
Now, this totally befuddles a true Republican such as myself for several reasons.
- He’s not “shifting” anything. He had X number of dollars to spend before, he has the same X number of dollars to spend tomorrow. Just because he made no effort to pass a budget within his means last year doesn’t mean his children are guaranteed to suffer. It simply mean:
- Instead of taking more money from the tax payors, how’s about he B&M about the government spending less? According Cititzens Against Waste in Government, 38 Representatives have agreed not to request any earmarks. Peter Welch is not one of those. In fact, only 4 of the 38 are Democrats. So, I suggest that before Congressman Welch go bitching at the Republicans for not taxing me more so he can spend more, he direct his whining at those 228 members of his own party who think it’s prudent to take more of my money so they can waste it. However, since Nancy Pelosi refuses to sign the petition either, I doubt he’ll get very far.
- If they spend less, our children will owe less.
Bottom line, I think Peter Welch is way out in left field on this. He’s not going to win this argument with anyone that’s not flaming liberal. When he starts spending less, and THEN can’t pay the bills, I think he’ll have a lot better footing to stand on.
23
Jun
I LOVE this!
As he points out, the current tax incentives and such are a confused mesh that don’t make much sense. In the case of the car buyer, they are somewhat useless since it’s rather difficult to buy a decent hybrid, especially one that’s practical in rural areas. McCain is proposing solving the problem in the most Republican concept I’ve heard in years. Make it purely capitalist driven. Dangling a $300 million carrot will get people’s attention real quick. Not only that, but if they win that $300 million, they should have the capital it takes to ramp up production immediately. 100% private sector, 100% smaller government, 100% perfect. And, where is that $300 million going to come from you say? Well, if it works, it’ll come from what we’re sending to OPEC in a couple of days. And, given that US automakers are already seeing the writing on the wall, seems to me they’re poised to go after that $300 million right now.
This rocks every way I look at it.
13
May
Republican leadership decided that since so many people are making fun of the over-abuse of the word “change” in this year’s elections, they’d go with a new slogan themselves. So, not to be outdone by the Dems, they rolled out “Change You Deserve!” The Dems were quick to point out that the makers of Effexor couldn’t be happier. Michelle Malkin immediately lamented how stupid the party is. Now, I gotta wonder how stupid this truly is. First of all, like it or not:
This symbolism carries a punch that the imagery of rebuilding American families just doesn’t quite pull off. Quick survey here, what age group does NOT take some kind of pill to make them feel better? The economy soured on Jimmy Carter, he whined that the country was in a general malaise. But, he didn’t do anything about it. So, that just left everyone feeling even worse about themselves than they did before. They voted Jimmy out as soon as they could. What the symbolism of “Change you Deserve” carries is two-fold. First of all, if you elect Obama, who’s run on the vaguest “change” ticket of all-time, and he wrecks the country, then, that was what you deserved for voting for “change”. I gotta agree with that one 100%. I hate “change” as a theme. Might as well vote for a turd in a toilet, it’s gonna change soon enough. Secondly, it implies that since politics has never, ever, once, made anyone feel good about themselves, the Republicans are going to change all that by giving all Americans over the age of eighteen and who did vote correctly in 2008 a prescription for anti-depressants.
That’ll work.
Now, since this whole issue is being seen as fubar by noted people such as Michelle, I think we need to update the platform image as well. Another quick survey here, who gets excited and motivated by elephants? ( If you do, that’s more than I need to know. ) They’re huge clumsy animals that don’t fit in the family bed at all. I suggest an image change to go along with the platform change:
OR,
AIN’T NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING!
All kidding aside, I do think this was a well thought out choice. One of the perceived side-effects of Effexor is the sudden urge to commit Rambo on unsuspecting peeps. I’ve been down that road before on that topic. Perfect imagery combatting the imagery Obama’s projecting of wimpy whiny folks who cling to guns and religion out of resentment. I know a few of those that combat that resentment with anti-depressants.
So, it all DOES make sense now don’t it?
( This is why I usually prefer to sit back and think about things real hard before posting a knee-jerk reaction. )
