Drop Out. Withdraw your name from consideration. Take your glasses and go home. We won’t be mad Sarah. I promise America won’t think any less of you, we won’t call you a quitter, I promise. The only caveat is you must drop out now, and it must be because you realize you are not qualified to be the Vice-President under John McCain, a man voted most-likely-to-die-in-office in a survey of 112 senators that I just made up.
You burst onto the scene over two weeks ago out of relative obscurity, and you’ve been cloaked in mystery since then. Your convention speech stirred up raw conservative emotions and let the base know that McCain had not forgotten about them. Journalists (I use that term loosely these days) scrambled to get the first interview with you, and you chose the hard hitting giant pussy Charlie Gibson. I can understand why you chose him of course. After watching Gibson and George Stephanopoulos moderate one of the worst debates in recent memory a few months ago, you figured you would have an easy interview, and for the most part, you did.
However, Governor Palin, you are not running for governor of Alaska, or mayor of Wasilla anymore. You are seeking this country’s second highest office and your knowledge of all things in this world seemed like you would barely qualify to sit on a local school board. When asked very calmly her opinion on the Bush Doctrine, Palin froze like the embryos used in stem-cell research. She asked Gibson “in what respect, Charlie?” When pressed again for an answer, Palin asked for clarification and said “his [Bush's] world view?”
While that may rank as your most embarrassing moment of the interview, it certainly was not the only thing that made me America question your credibility. When asked if you had ever met a foreign head of state, you defended the fact that you hadn’t by claiming many vice-presidents probably had not met a foreign head of state before taking office. Fail. Over the last 30 years, every single vice-presidential nominee on both sides of the aisle had met a foreign head of state before taking office.
Palin’s interview wasn’t all substance of course; there was some fun, light moments as well. Did you know, for instance, that from Alaskan land, you can look and see Russian land? In fact, I did know that, but I did not know that qualified you as an expert on Russian and U.S. relations.
So Governor Palin, I ask you, on behalf of a country that deserves better, on behalf of a country which can not afford for a person like you to ascend to such an office, on behalf of a country which has a self-destructive fascination with seeing ordinary folks reach extraordinary heights, on behalf of a country in desperate need of repair, please drop out now. Your family needs you more than my family does.
I was cruising the internets last night to keep my mind off of life in general, and I came across an article written for Time by Jay Newton-Small. He has covered Barack Obama for over a year and a half. He’s heard Obama give countless speeches, in front of various size crowds. On this day, Obama spoke of Americans in the path of Hurricane Gustav, and the excerpt that Newton-Small posted was so amazing, I had to share it. Keep in mind, this is the last 5 minutes of a 14 minute speech to a large crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“That spirit of looking out for one another, that core value that says I am my brothers’ keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, that spirit is most evident during times of great tragedy, it’s most evident during times of great hardship, it’s most evident when natural disasters strike because we understand that only God has control and so it takes it out of the realm of politics. We all understand that we have to come together.
But that spirit can’t just be restricted to moments of great catastrophe. Because as I stand here today and look out at the thousands of folks who have gathered here today, I know that there’s some folks that are going through their own quiet storms.
[…]
There’re people out there who’ve seen their jobs shipped overseas. There’re people out there who don’t have healthcare, maybe they’ve been trying to pay it on a credit card but mostly they’ve just been putting off trying to see a doctor. There’re seniors out there that don’t know how they’re going to pay their home heating bill this winter. There are folks out there that don’t know how they’re going to fill up the gas tank. There are young people in this audience right now that have graduated from high school, have the grades and want to go to college, but don’t have the money. There are young people being born in the inner cities, right here in Milwaukee, that don’t see any prospects for the future that think the only path available to them is a casket or a jail cell.
All across America there are quiet storms taking place. There are lives of quiet desperation. People who need just a little bit of help. Now, Americans are a self-reliant people, we’re an independent people. We don’t like asking somebody else to do what we can do ourselves but you know what we understand is that every once in a while somebody’s going to get knocked down. Every once in a while somebody’s going to go through some hard times. When we least expect it tragedy may strike. And what has always made this country great is the understanding that we rise and fall as one nation, that values and family, community and neighborhood, they have to express themselves in our government. Those are national values. Those are values that we all subscribe to. And so that the spirit that we extend today and in the days to come as we monitor what happens on the Gulf that’s the spirit that we’ve got to carry with us each and every day. That’s the spirit that we need in our own homes and it’s the spirit that we need in the White House. And that’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America.
Because if there’s a poor child out there, that’s my child. If there’s a senior that’s having trouble, that’s my grandparent. If there’s a guy who’s lost his job, that’s my brother. If there’s a woman out there without healthcare, that’s my sister. Those are the values that built this country. Those are the values we are fighting for.”
Everyone is talking about Hillary’s speech last night, and while I thought it was good it wasn’t my favorite of the night. That honor goes to Dennis Kucinich’s awesome speech that everyone probably missed unless they were watching PBS or C-Span.
It’s too bad they guy is a little crazy because if there’s one guy who embodies the progressive platform the democrats are moving towards its Dennis. He was against the Patriot Act and the Iraq War before it was cool.
The Governer of Montana, Brian Schweitzer also gave a great speech. Pro-gun rights and a civil rights libertarian, he has led the charge against the federally mandated Real ID act (Fun Fact: he speaks fluent Arabic!). Mountain state Democrats from states like Montana and Colorado really are the future of the party. There are a lot of people in the liberal blogosphere that are pushing him to run for President one day. Democrats have been most succesfull with Governers from southern states (Clinton, Carter) and people have been saying how Obama is redrawing the electoral map. While Obama is putting new states into play, the electoral map would be near unreconizable with Schweitzer. Especially with something like a Schweitzer/Sebelius ticket, pracically every state west of the Mississippi would be blue. I’d like to see republicans try to call this guy elitist.
So I started watching the democratic convention around 7:30 and was disappointed to see that only the cable news shows were airing it before 10:00. Desperate for some high def convention coverage I start flipping through the channels. To my surprise PBS is reporting live from the convention in high def! The coverage is good, with no interruptions during the speeches, great panelists including David Brooks, and best of all they don’t have huge tickers and infographics covering the screen. So if you have high def, do yourself a favor and tune into PBS tonight and enjoy how high def news should be covered.
BTW, everyone from Nancy Pelosi to Michelle Obama were excellent last night. I’m really looking forward to Hillary’s speech tonight - should be pretty interesting.
Oh yea, I just wanted to mention that I totally voted today and you should too.
Natty seems to be following McCain’s example (who is airing negative ads during the Olympics - wtf) and decided to write a whole blog post about how Obama’s energy plan would bring about the second great depression. Let me introduce some politics of hope into this discussion by actually talking about my guy’s proposal and contrast it with McCain’s. I don’t have any funny pictures to accompany my post but I do have facts.
Obama’s windfall profit tax would pay for a $1,000 dollar rebate for families struggling with higher energy and food costs. This pretty much amounts to a $1,000 dollar tax cut for middle class families but of course Republicans don’t like it because 1) it’s not targeted toward the rich and 2) it will actually be paid for. McCain’s plan is to eliminate the federal tax on gas which would save a couple of bucks each time at the pump. And that is only if the oil companies just don’t increase their prices to absorb the missing tax. Not only will the suspension of the gas tax not help, but it will hurt the American infrastructure we maintain with that revenue. When asked how the gas tax would work, McCain said that he would shame them into lowering prices. Seriously. The Republicans also are fervently pushing for offshore oil drilling. I’ll let my boy Bob Herbert tell you why this doesn’t make much sense either. Basically, offshore drilling will make sure gas at the pump will be a couple cents cheaper 20 years from now.
I’m still waiting on my text message. About a week ago, Barack Obama’s campaign decided to let supporters, or non-supporters for that matter, sign up to receive a text message when the messiah makes his decision on a running mate. Ever since his nomination became inevitable, names of potential running mates have been discussed, debated, and picked apart. Hillary Clinton is an all too polarizing figure, Evan Bayh is too unknown, too untested, Bill Richardson doesn’t have the “it” factor, Joe Biden is, well, perfect.
Biden, a 35 year veteran of the Senate may at first seem like an odd choice given Obama’s message of changing the “politics as usual” atmosphere in Washington, DC. However, Biden has never been an agent of the political machine that has defined the Beltway over the last few decades. If the one true measure of a vice-presidential candidates qualifications is whether he is fit and able to assume the Presidency in the event the President can not carry out his duties, then Biden passes with flying colors. But that litmus test is often just rhetoric. The question is, what does Biden bring to the ticket?
Biden is a senator from Delaware. Where is Delaware you ask? No one is really sure. But I’ve been told they could pwn Rhode Island in a war. While Delaware and their 1/4 of an electoral college vote are not in play, Biden does have his roots in Pennsylvania, one of the biggest prizes up for grabs in November. Obama is expected to have a tough time there after being trumped by Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, and also endured a lot of harsh words from popular democratic governor Ed Rendell. While Biden alone may not be able to deliver Pennsylvania, he may be enough to quell voter’s uneasiness over Obama’s perceived lack of foreign relations experience. Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is well respected by leaders around the world.
Biden is all of 65 years young, only 6 years younger than John McCain. Put the two together, and McCain’s age is put in perspective. While Biden is a tall, smooth, charismatic man that oozes more charm than Shaft, McCain is a short, lumbering, stammering man who would probably confuse his two wives if you caught him on a good day.
Biden’s folksy sense of humor, blue collar roots, and unfortunately, his lack of skin pigment could all help Obama appeal to the ignorant voter–sorry, racist voter–sorry, white working class voter. There is no doubt Biden would win almost any Vice Presidential debate, and may only face a serious challenge from a seasoned veteran such as Senator Chuck Hagel.
What could keep this dream match from happening? It’s just too perfect to come true.
Obama’s gas plan is quite a doozey. His plan is to raise taxes on the oil companies and “use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills.” Ignoring the deafening socialist overtones, this plan is absurd. I never earned a degree in obamanomics, but I did learn a few concepts whilst attending business school. When government raises taxes on companies then companies raise prices to cover the increased expense. This is not a new concept, or even a secret one. This is common sense that is taught in almost every business school. BHO’s plan will only raise prices for consumers.
Here is a diagram to help emphasize my point:
For all you South Park fans on the intarwebs, here is another diagram that is broken down even more:
One last note, Obama is proposing a lot of the same legislation and policies that Herbert Hoover used when he was elected in 1929. We all know what happened after that. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Obamavilles.
Some psycho bought three billboards in Orlando that have the words, “Please Don’t Vote for a Democrat” in front of a picture of the World Trade Center on fire. Beside his use of September 11th for political gain, and the logical fallacy behind his implied argument, the owner of the billboards has a link to his website therepublicansong.com. Anyway, the music video is good for a laugh:
hectorhector.com is a blog written by hectorhector and his college roomates. I go to the University of Central Florida in sunny Orlando. We each discuss a variety of subjects, but politics, tv, and zombies seem to be the most popular topics.
