What’s more difficult than reading Heloise? Try reading John McCain's message or the lips of highly conservative Republicans.
The primaries are over and Barack Obama has won and accepted his party’s nomination. But you wouldn’t know that by the months of canned advice from the right. The McLaughlin Group’s right lineup included the ubiquitous Pat Buchanan, the smart blonde Monica Crowley, and on the left, Eleanor Clift and Derek McGinty. Among the topics: The Bradley effect, presidential polling and NASA. Kennedy got credit for creating NASA from nada; Bush and Barack also spoke about NASA's future this week.…
Article comments
26 - Lisa Solod Warren
The conservative Christians and their bizarre agenda which puts religion into politics has got to GO. I am all for a multi party system like Europe, actually, and have been for some long time.
27 - Lisa Solod Warren
ooops, HAVE got to go:)
28 - Dave Nalle
True, the Neocons are nothing if not opportunists. The question remains - who will actually sit in the cat bird seat in the Republican party after this election - regardless of who wins? It's hard to say just what factions of the Party a McCain presidency would cater to. In the campaign, McCain is trying to be all things to all people, but that's not necessarily how he will run his administration.
The dominant theory on a McCain presidency is that he has alienated so many people that if he won he would need to reach out to all sorts of groups to fill his appointments, including libertarian-oriented Republicans and probably some democrats. It might be interesting.
The fundies appear to be in a weakened position at present, but to count them out could well be premature. They are doggedly determined to gain control of government.
I'd really rather see the GOP broken and destroyed than see it come fully under their sway and become a platform for giving them more power than they already have.
The structure and prominance provided by the Republican Party give them a tested and sturdy launching pad. They may flex their collective muscles and refuse to leave forcing your old line fiscal conservatives to set up new digs. That may take some time for any kind of majority to wrap their heads around the viability of any third party. The Republican/Democrat "brands" are all most people know. Substantive change often comes hard and slow.
I can imagine the tussle over the name 'republican' in such a circumstance. We might end up with two republican parties, perhaps a Federal Republican Party and a Christian Republican Party.
Dave
29 - Dr Dreadful
I'm a supporter of the third party in British politics, the Liberal Democrats.
I began leaning towards them because while I felt that both the largest parties had some good ideas, I didn't like what the Conservatives had become in the later Thatcher years and under Major, and wasn't about to support Labour, who despite some desperate regrouping and moderation after being pounded into near-oblivion in three successive elections, still harbored worrying socialist tendencies*.
The existence of the Lib Dems, in the center, meant I didn't have to compromise my political beliefs. Under our first-past-the-post system the party has no chance of ever forming a government, but it has a large enough presence in Parliament and in the country as a whole to act as an effective check on the worst excesses of Labour and the Tories.
It also allows me to say, no matter who the government of the day is, "Don't blame me - I didn't vote for the idiots!"
* Not the least of which was its leader, Neil Kinnock. I still remember listening to his acceptance speech on the radio after he was elected Labour leader, and his jubilant insistence that socialism was "the only way".
30 - Christopher Rose
Doc, it wasn't that long ago that the Libs were in power and Labour was nothing. Never is a long time in politics! What we need in the UK to further weaken the two party system is proportional representation and maybe that is something the USA should consider too.
There was never any chance of Kinnock having the top job - and maybe he wasn't meant too. Despite all the dry policy wonking of some, politics is also an emotional affair and Kinnock was more of a healer than a dealer, unlike, say, Blair.
31 - Dr Dreadful
Chris, the last Liberal prime minister, David Lloyd George, left office in 1922. That's a pretty damn long time ago - and before World War Two changed the political climate in Britain forever.
Furthermore, Labour held 57 seats in that parliament and, because of the grand coalition which Lloyd George formed, they were the official Opposition. Hardly 'nothing'.
I agree with you about PR but it'll probably never happen, either at home or here in the U of S of A. In the meantime, the present system (in the UK, at any rate) at least guarantees stable government most of the time.
You forget that Kinnock almost did become prime minister, in 1992. Labour was leading in most of the polls right up until election day, when Major and the Tories pulled off that implausible victory.
(BTW, Chris, take a gander at the photo of Lloyd George on his Wikipedia entry. Don't you think he looks like Mr Mackay from Porridge?)
32 - Baronius
Oh, good. Another article about race. Wasn't Obama supposed to transcend race? Then why does race come up in every conversation these days?
33 - Lee Richards
Palin is speaking in 30 minutes about three blocks from my house. I just drove by the area and the parking lots are crammed with cars, tour buses, shuttle buses, and people walking from nearby neighborhoods.
She'll probably get 12,000-15,000 people, about what Obama got a couple of weeks ago in this area.
The GOP ridiculed Obama for months for being a celebrity "rock star", and then McCain decided he needed one, too, on his ticket.
Why does she draw such enthusiastic crowds? It can't be the depth of her knowledge or the brilliance and eloquence of her arguments. I think it's because she's so good at pouring more salt in the imagined wounds of far-right conservatives who are agonized over the likelihood of losing and being governed by those liberals from hell they despise and fear.
The more pain she can get them to feel about it, the more they love her.
She tells them they're the real Americans and if they believe in God, the troops, and low taxes everything will be OK someday. She simplifies, attacks and divides and that's what her base wants to hear.
She's the one who burns all the fields and blows up all the bridges for them, leading the guerillas and giving hope for the future against the hated winners.
BTW, being a battleground state(VA)for a change has been interesting. We've had Obama, Biden, Bill Clinton and now Palin here locally, and a senatorial candidate held a small rally at the end of my street.
34 - Lisa Solod Warren
You must live close. I was supposed to cover that rally for HuffPo but had to bow out as I am being trained and sworn in shortly to work the polls here. I was interested to go for curiosity's sake. I covered Obama and Webb for the site when they were in Roanoke. It was a gas to be that close... The event was the most spectacularly well organized thing I have ever been to and despite the crowds moved beautifully and with no incident. I was very interested in seeing how this event went--especially with tickets.
My daughter and a bunch of friends are cutting school (with my blessing) to see Obama at JMU in Harrisonburg tomorrow afternoon. They are totally juiced.
35 - Heloise
Obama’s “One Week” closing-argument speech
I early voted today at a local university. Another teacher told me that she early voted on Sunday here in Texas. I didn't even think one could vote on Sunday. I voted early but still plan to go by my regular place to vote again on the 4th--just kidding. But want to see if they have big crowds.
H
36 - Baritone
My wife and I went to the Obama rally here in Indy last Thursday before he flew to Hawaii. It was a comfortably cool day. An estimated 35000 people crowded into Indy's American Legion Mall (the same place he appeared last June.) As we have canvassed for McCain, and I am going to work the entire day at the polls, we got a couple of those little blue tickets which allowed us to get pretty close.
He gave us his tried and true stump speech, not much that was new or different, but it was still an enjoyable morning. I got a bunch of good pics and had some good conversation with a couple of others in the crowd.
We encountered a family that had driven down from Chicago with their two kids to attend the rally. One place Obama feels pretty comfortable with is his ability to carry Illinois - or Chicago at least.
Pretty much everyone we encountered was pleasant and excited to be there except for one woman who walked by us after the speech was over, scowled at me and spat out "Obama Bin Laden!" as she passed. I had her shot. Otherwise, a good time was had by all.
BTW - It takes anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes for a preview to come up and at least as long to publish. Could that be a problem with my computer, or is it a problem at BC? Anyone know?
B
37 - Christopher Rose
Baritone, the lag is just a temporary thing, something to do with servers and databases and stuff. All should be back to normal in a day or four.
38 - Lee Richards
#34:
Lisa, the last I heard Palin was going to be 2 hours late.
Obama gets some credit for going to Harrisonburg, where there are virtually no Democrats except at JMU.
39 - Heloise
Hmm, Sarah Palin is bringing out the redneck revival: a woman yelled out "He's [Obama] a nigger!" Palin heard it (Des Moines, Iowa) and kept right on talking about how Obama and black people will tear down the work ethic fabric of our country.
I think this is something for whites to deal with and not blacks. Whites on daily kos are rightly upset with Palin's reaction. Black people expect this sort of thing to happen.
I learned a long time ago while sitting in an airport in Germany when all the white people moved away when I sat down to await my flight. They moved to one side and the Indians came and sat around me and we talked for hours and laughed.
It dawned on me, total epiphany...let em have their hate if it makes them feel good!
Heloise
40 - Mooja
Heloise, I just listened to Gov Palin's Des Moines speech on Youtube. Could you point me to the part where she "kept right on talking about how Obama and black people will tear down the work ethic fabric of our country"? I didn't hear her mention anything about black people. Was it a different part of the speech? Could you point me to a reference to what she said regarding black people?
41 - Baritone
I can't imagine living with that kind of hate. We now have the spectre of the genius Tennessee skin heads who planned to kill 88 blacks including Obama. I hardly think they had the brains, the wherewithal or even the balls to pull it off, but that such plots are being hatched at all, while no big surprise, is still disturbing.
Back in the 1930s and 40s people couldn't believe that the holacaust was taking place. We still find it difficult to get our minds around the 10 or so million people killed on orders from Stalin, or the perhaps 30 to 40 million people killed under Chairman Mao's benevolent rule. By comparison, Pol Pot was a piker.
I'm not suggesting that what is now brewing in the U.S. is a first step to mass murder or genocide. However, most of us want to believe that if not as a species, then at least perhaps as a nation, we have grown beyond such ignorance and hatred. Unfortunately, in our heart of hearts we know all too well that we haven't.
When someone can stand up in public and say for all to hear that Obama is a nigger, obviously feeling that such a pronouncement will be accepted by at least a small number of people around her, that is a clear sign we have a ways to go.
The U.S. is far different now with respect to racial issues than it was even a few years ago. It is a world away from what it was 50 to 60 years ago. Yet, old hatreds, prejudices and fear die hard. The emnity that exists between blacks and whites in this hemisphere started shortly after 1492 with good ole Chris Columbus as the first slave trader. The conflicts between Sunnis and Shiites, between Christians and Muslims in the former Balkin countries, even that between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland go back many hundreds, perhaps a thousand years or more. Yet they have not run their course. The Irish Catholics and Protestants may have put aside their bitter squabbles for the time being, but it is difficult to say whether they have actually buried the hatchet. Only time will tell.
Certainly, life is better for many blacks in the U.S. than at any time in the past. But there is still a lot of hatred out there. It should be noted that a number of blacks still retain their own brand of racial hatred as well, justly or not as the case may be.
It almost goes without saying that if Obama does in fact win next Tuesday, there will be, for the next 4 to 8 years an underlying unease concerning his and his family's safety. That unease is always present for any president. It just may be more palpable, more intense for Obama. And it will not end with his term in office. He will always be a target. Should Obama eventually pass on when he's 92 of a stroke or heart attack, it might be considered a minor miracle.
B
42 - Dave Nalle
Hmm, Sarah Palin is bringing out the redneck revival: a woman yelled out "He's [Obama] a nigger!" Palin heard it (Des Moines, Iowa) and kept right on talking about how Obama and black people will tear down the work ethic fabric of our country.
First off, what the person in the crowd shouted doesn't sound anything like what you claim, and second she said not one work about 'black people' - though you're right that Obama's programs will destroy the work ethic.
Dave
43 - Christopher Rose
That's right Dave; one guy's 4 to 8 years in the top admin job in the USA is going to absolutely destroy the work ethic of hundreds of millions of people...
44 - Lisa Solod Warren
Well, Lee, they are flocking in from everywhere else to see him! He will get a crowd for sure even in the still red-ish Valley:)
I am glad I didn't go cover Palin (had to be trained to work the polls so had to pass) as I would have been pissed as hell to wait two hours for her....)
45 - Mark Saleski
though you're right that Obama's programs will destroy the work ethic.
i'm particularly looking forward to the government-sponsored legal defense fund for gay welfare cheats.
woo!
46 - Lisa Solod Warren
black, gay, wheelchair-bound, welfare cheats with five kids whose parents and grandparents were also on welfare and all of whom are former felons. It would help, too, if they were artists of some kind.
47 - Baritone
Yes Lisa, that's important. And remember every welfare check written and cashed is that much less left to pay Halliburton for doing their great work, or to pay a Sunni insurgent not to kill Shiites.
B
48 - Lee Richards
Dave says, "...Obama's programs WILL destroy the work ethic"(emphasis added.)
He doesn't understand--or doesn't care--that an absolute such as "will", "always", "never", etc. when expressed as an opinion, makes the opinion unsupportable without some modification, since few if any human value judgments are absolutely true or false in all ways.
Or maybe it's different for prophets who can absolutely foretell the future, as he believes he can.
49 - Baritone
Dave echos the right wing mantra that any and all government assistance: ie - welfare, social security, medicare, and other social programs, are the scourge that is destroying the country. The fact is that the right cares little or not at all for those struggling to survive. To them it's all about survival of the fittest. (I would call it Darwinist, except that Darwin didn't coin that phrase.) It is an age old position that is convenient for the "haves" and not so much for the "have nots."
B
50 - Dr Dreadful
It is an age old position that is convenient for the "haves" and not so much for the "have nots."
Another frequent mantra of the "haves", which is useful for salving any throbbings of conscience they may have, is "if I can do it, so can you".
Right. And Usain Bolt can run 100 metres in about a millisecond. I could train for 20 years and never emulate that.
The fact that some people through talent or given advantage are able to cause large quantities of wonga to move in their direction does not mean everyone has that ability.
51 - Dr Dreadful
I just noticed that book, The Real McCain, which is the Amazon link at the top of the article. In that picture it looks as if McCain is crying on Bush's shoulder. Perhaps he was visited by an angel one night and was granted a vision of the election results. Bush, meanwhile, seems to be frantically waving for help. Maybe he's wondering if he really has to stay in the White House until January or can he just go home now.
52 - Cindy D
LOL @ Dr.D,
That is a hilarious interpretation of that book cover.
By the way RE# 50, some people say talent is mostly inherited.
53 - bliffle
It's the trickle down theory all over again. The Banana Republicans started by granting so much money and privilege to The Top People that after they were fully corrupted the remains of the corruption trickle down and kill the work ethic of the lowest people. If there's any corruption left, that is. But one might suspect the the Top People will have used it all up, just like everything else.
54 - El Bicho
"a fresh face who presents political satire sans snark."
Maddow has been snarky plenty of times.
55 - Dave Nalle
Dave echos the right wing mantra that any and all government assistance: ie - welfare, social security, medicare, and other social programs, are the scourge that is destroying the country. The fact is that the right cares little or not at all for those struggling to survive.
I don't think you can find anything I've written of any substance which supports this position. I don't oppose programs to help out those who genuinely need it. Hell, we're all struggling to survive to some extent. But I do think that we should try to help them support themselves rather than just hand out money. Welfare should be a path to self-sufficiency, not a lifestyle.
Dave
56 - Condor
“Why hasn’t Obama closed the deal?” I wondered aloud why Pat hadn't closed his mouth. Buchanan is no Neocon. He’s an old con with a long record of fear mongering"
Taking all sources of information (keyword all) to get a full picture of any subject is probably a good idea. I always thought of Bucky as a sort of snarling watch dog. Sure, he gets a little wacky at times, but to dismiss his pointed analysis as fear mongering may be a bit over the top. We need watchdogs. Right or wrong, at least they stimulate conversation and thought processes.
57 - Lee Richards
Please see my #33 for background.
***
Palin spoke to an estimated 15,000-16,000 admirers. The most interesting thing was the number of signs they held up saying, "Palin 2012".
They either know they ain't gonna win in '08, don't want McCain to win, or think he won't make it past one term.
58 - Heloise
Shout out to Satsangis in Fayetteville, North Carolina. You know what to do--vote Obama--vote early.
Also army folks and families and naturally to my folks...vote like your life depends on it...VOTE Obama.
Everybody's talking about McCain's loose hold on his own state of Arizona. It's in the water. I mention NC because McClone and Pain were there today on the stump.
And did you hear Obama today reading his script? He was so cute. His writers have taken a shine to Heloispeak. They used my recent "drive" metaphor as in Bush drove the states into the United Shambles of America but they combined it with the metaphor I used when I wanted him to pick Hillary: riding shotgun as VP and loving it!
Nice touch. My karma. I had speech writers once upon a time. I would pitch the idea and they would put the flesh on it. That's why I ramble sometimes, not used to having to tidy stuff up. I had the "best and the brightest" to do it.
More Later
Heloise
59 - Heloise
I actually like Pat B. We see eye to eye on immigration and promoted his POV at the time. You forget I am a true centrist and conservative. I don't agree with the extreme fringes--why bother I'm extreme enough.
Read my older articles, you'll see. I voted for Bush, helped create some of the confusion on the inner planes to get his W. butt elected. That's may be too estoeric for you, but now will use just as much spiritual capital to get Obama elected. Now, that's fair.
Heloise
60 - Heloise
We are all economic parasites and welfare queens:
Read my take:
As for Palin intimating or rather doing deep subterfuge-speak that minorities will undermine the Anglo-Saxon work ethic in this country...yes they did. They went there. But what am I saying Palin ain't that smart. Some Marxist wrote her speech. Some expert on Socialism-speak and welfare-willies.
While Socialism is no code for black folks or minorities...welfare queen and willie hortonesque words sure the fuck are code for blacks and minorities.
Yes, yes, I know welfare was originally created for white widows. Well so were projects created for white folks. But blacks took over both systems and used it until after 40 years were booted out of places like the heart of Chicago to the hinterlands of southern illinois! Where there are no fuckin jobs! But WTF we don't work anyway.
Welfare, welfare, we love welfare. We all love welfare, we all get welfare. Only those who manufacture shit and own a business that manufactures stuff from stuff are the only producers on the planet. Everyone else, everything else is a parasite or a secondary consumer to use biology metaphors.
This economy has totally tanked into the service economy. Doctors, lawyers, indian chiefs, teachers, and bertha the blogger (they forgot to mention bloggers) joe the plumbers are all freakin service wonks.
Get over your Republican GRIM selves.
Heloise
61 - Heloise
It's not liveblogging the infomercial but Joe Biden just said "whoa, that's guy's good." He made that comment to another senator when BHO first went to the senate. He's probably didn't say whoa but just couldn't help himself for TV! He's comical too.
It's not so much that we gotta have Barack, but that we no wanna McCain and we just betta stick it to 'em both.
Heloise
62 - Heloise
oops, should be "whoa, that guy's good."
63 - Expressions
[Entire comment deleted. Ms. Know, are you a slow learner or were you hoping that my attention span only lasts 24 hours?
Your other comments this evening under the name 'Expressions' have been deleted. If I see you commenting under different screen names again, I will have to block your IP address.
Dr Dreadful
Assistant Comments Editor]