Aug
30
2008
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sue for her absolutely prescient call for a Sarah Palin VP nomination… back on MARCH 5th! Move over Jean Dixon, we have our own psychic on staff.
And look at all the positive reaction to the Palin pick from Conservatives, Libertarians and even disenfranchised Democrats. Sue’s insight shows that you don’t need to appear on Meet The Press or Fox News Sunday to have a clue as to what conservative will like and what is needed to bring this party together.
Kudos!
Now let’s all get busy and help make history, not just by making her the first female VP candidate nominated by the GOP, but the first elected female VP.
Aug
29
2008
I can relate, Michelle. For the first time in almost two years, I’m proud to be a Republican.
And for the first time in my life, I’m considering actively supporting John McCain.
UPDATE: I have a receipt, so there’ll be no denying it now, thanks to the FEC. In the future I plan to hedge by saying I was really only giving money to Gov. Palin.
Aug
28
2008
A detour on the road to the Dream
Filed Under Race and Prejudice | 1 Comment
A detour on the road to the Dream
Filed Under Race and Prejudice | 1 Comment
I’m not talking about the American Dream this time, but the King variety.
I’ve continued staying away from the floor speeches and most of the other political pablum on TV, but during dinner tonight my elderly mother had the convention coverage on. They were doing the nomination counting, and just as we finished, Hillary came out and called for an end to the real counting and a voice proclamation “for Unity”. Yah, whatever. History had been made: a major party nominated someone generally regarded as “black”.
For a few minutes I felt a pit in my stomach, and at one point a strange thought passed through my head: “Stupid Democrats really did it – nominated a black man.” Immediately, I wanted to take it back, and I’m sure I blushed as I realized what I’d said. Because it certainly felt like a racist thought.
After some time to reflect however, I’m pretty sure my subconscious was making a far different point from the obvious one you might (and I did) assume. I’m not complaining – I’m mourning.
“Only Nixon could go to China” the old saying goes. We all know the reasons why: Nixon was so virulently anti-Communist, you could trust that whatever he was up to, he wasn’t intentionally setting out to give away the store. You could debate the merits either way, but it was above regular politics. But what if a Democrat had tried it? Republicans would have assumed on its face that it was either liberal naïveté or outright treason, then proclaimed it was a Communist plot at every microphone in America. And I, for one, would have grown up with never a thought that it could have been otherwise.
On a similar level, I have advocated (and indeed – “Dreamed”) that only the Republicans could nominate a black man to the Presidency. The Democrats are now traveling a road counter to their own best interest.
As I type, there are Democrats laying the groundwork for a liberal response to an Obama defeat. And though I’m not one to buy the illogical arguments of the likes of Jacob Weisberg, I happen to feel in my gut that he’s right on one level: there are just enough prejudiced people in America to prevent Barack Obama from being our next president. So they’re racists? Not necessarily, because the slide from opposing Obama’s ideology to opposing his skin color is such a short trip.
Were the Republicans to nominate a black man – let’s say Michael Steele for argument’s sake – as our next nominee, it would be just as obvious as the Nixon trip to be a gambit beyond the boundaries of normal politics. People would assume by his party affiliation that he’s “safe” to listen to and give him a chance. Some Americans – too many, I believe – would say, “He’s a Republican, so I’ll listen to him despite the fact that he’s a black man…” That’s not unfair enough to be called “racism”, but it’s surely prejudice.
So what will those people say about Barack Obama? I’ve heard many people I respect, like Laura Ingraham, say that it’s foolish to underestimate Obama. Intellectually, I agree. The political winds are at his back, and he has managed to dethrone the Queen of the Democratic Party – no small political feat. But I’m having a real hard time believing that those same people I thought would give Michael Steele the benefit of the doubt won’t act reflexively toward Obama: he’s black and he’s a Democrat, ergo he’s the epitome of liberalism and I won’t listen.
Just as Taranto would point out, this is “an invalid argument can lead to a conclusion that is either true or false.” Within the word “ergo” is just as much prejudice as the Steele example, even if Obama really is the most liberal Senator in Washington.
My gut is telling me that the Democrats have not put racial politics behind us – they’ve set us behind in the race to the Dream. A man like Michael Steele running as president would force America to look past its own prejudice. But a man like Barack Obama will give prejudiced Americans plenty of cover to wallow in it for years to come. And that’s enough to put a pit in anyone’s stomach.
Aug
27
2008
So who is killing the American Dream?
Filed Under Economics | Leave a Comment
So who is killing the American Dream?
Filed Under Economics | Leave a Comment
I swore to myself that I wouldn’t watch anything from the Doom and Gloom 2008 Festival, and I haven’t. Thankfully, James Taranto watched for me.
In today’s Best of the Web Today, the sage of the WSJ analyzes the Democratic Convention speeches of Mark Warner and Ted Strickland, who are complaining about the global economy moving jobs around the country and around the world.
Even more weird, the theme of Warner’s speech was “the race for the future,” and Strickland complained that Republicans are “stuck in the past.” Yet they’re aghast at young people leaving their hometowns to find better opportunities?I think Taranto makes a good point with a good jab at the Democrats, but he doesn’t go far enough. Aren’t these the same people complaining that George Bush, John McCain and the rest of the Republican party have killed the American Dream? Doesn’t that ideal scenario occur when the kids leave home and get a better job and better lifestyle than Mom and Dad had? Since when is the American Dream epitomized by children getting stuck in the same town their parents raised them in? If the Democrats are looking forward to the day when they can impose the latter on our kids instead of encouraging the former, just who is killing the American Dream anyway?Labor mobility is what America is all about. Almost all Americans are descendants of people who left their countries of birth to seek better opportunities here.
One of the two major political parties is about to nominate a man who was born in Hawaii, grew up in Indonesia, went to college in Los Angeles and New York, did a stint as a “community organizer” in Chicago and went to law school in Cambridge, Mass., before finally settling back in Chicago. He beat out a woman who was born in Chicago and ended up in the suburbs of New York by way of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Arkansas and Washington, D.C.
At a Creative Coalition party last night, we expressed our puzzlement over this to a woman from Albany, N.Y. She explained that a lot of parents in economically declining areas are unhappy with the prospect of seeing their children move away. And rereading Strickland’s speech, we see that those parents were indeed his focus.
If the Democrats win, maybe they can prevent your children from moving to the big city. Alas, it’s too late for the Obamas and the Rodhams.
Aug
6
2008
…who needs enemas?
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Viewing the following will cause any one or any combination of the following: Headaches, blindness, confusion, incontinence, hair loss, sudden blindness, projectile vomiting, explosive diarrhea, cerebral hemorrhaging, kidney failure, erectile dysfunction, testicular atrophy or paranoia.
Aug
1
2008
Obama Uber Alles
Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments
Obama Uber Alles
Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments
Well this pretty much settles the argument, doesn’t it?
Many thanks to Sue for the Photoshop.