» » Go Mitt! Romney gives excellent, excellent advice on the proposed big three bailout:
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
Ok, so maybe I should have supported Romney over McCain. (But the three-way race between Huckabee, McCain, Romney made things difficult and Romney dropped out before Huckabee...)
(1) » »
» » I'm thinking of Californians (especially the Witmer family in LA) during these wildfires (and thanking God that there are no trees to burn in KS). The Big Picture has some spectacular photos of the fires. (0) » »
» » Dorcas' latest Letter from Harrisburg column is up and it's a good'un! (4) » »
» » I am surrounded by Morans. This morning I picked up the Hutch News and did a double-take as I saw the headline: "Moran sets up bid for Senate". I continued to read, "WASHINGTON - With the 2008 election season over, Rep. J. Moran wasted little time taking the next step in his likely bid for higher office." I double-checked the name of the newspaper at the top: yup, Hutchinson News, not Washington Post. Having just lived in Virginia and having two Morans (one US Representative and one VA House of Delegates) always on the political scene, I thought my days of political news about Morans was over. Apparently not. I used to have Rep. J. Moran in VA and now I have Rep. J. Moran in Kansas. The difference between Virginia and Kansas becomes stark, however, when one notices the one detail that is different: Rep. J. Moran (D-VA) and Rep. J. Moran (R-KS). (2) » »
» » Anyone want to fly to San Pedro Sula, Honduras for $215 OW + tax? Contact Golden Rule Travel or email dad (marvin at goldrule dot net). (1) » »
» » As usual, the awesome The Big Picture blog over at the Boston Herald has some stunning pictures, this time of the coronation of Bhutan's new 28-year-old king. (0) » »
» » This is where I was hanging out on Tuesday (the day the story was written). Don't worry, Mom. (1) » »
» » I was playing basketball in Jerusalem this afternoon with a guy who works for the Financial Times and he said that the head of the Mossad was assassinated in Amman, Jordan several days ago. At this point it's only the domain of rumor. I wonder if it's true. Update: Apparently it's not. (0) » »
» » The British government is hushing up one of their own studies that show that using disposable diapers actually produces less CO2 than reusable diapers. The government is in a bit of bind having promoted using reusables as a way to save the planet. (0) » »
» » More and more scientists are defecting from the cult of global warming:
In early September, I began noticing a string of news stories about scientists rejecting the orthodoxy on global warming. Actually, it was more like a string of guest columns and long letters to the editor since it is hard for skeptical scientists to get published in the cabal of climate journals now controlled by the Great Sanhedrin of the environmental movement.
Still, the number of climate change skeptics is growing rapidly. Because a funny thing is happening to global temperatures -- they're going down, not up.
Like good ol' Y2K and all other myths, urban legends, and scams, global warming too will see its eventual downfall. Fortunately, the economic downturn is hastening it as people don't have spare change to indulge their fantasies. This is happening in Europe as a global warming accord is falling apart because of that.
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» » I'm having a great time teaching English in Ramallah, Palestine again. I have a terrific class, though I do miss my old class. (I moved from teaching level 1 to teaching level 4, because I enjoy grammar.) While preparing my lesson, I came across the best resource I have found yet of conversation starters for ESL/EFL classes. (1) » »
» » If you feel the urge to add your collective wisdom to this YouTube comment thread through comment ratings (thumbs up/thumbs down) or comments, I would be delighted. (4) » »
» » On top of ACORN's (the organization Obama worked for as a "community organizer") extensive vote fraud on Obama's behalf, now a new incident of vote fraud has emerged in which a mentally handicapped man was forced to vote for Obama even though he told the worker over and over that he wanted to vote for McCain. (0) » »
14 Responses
September 4th, 2008 at 9:47 am
“Some politicians change to promote their careers. others use their careers to promote change.”
Interesting speech at the least. I think both the vp pick and the speech may have the democrats reeling just a bit.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
She did a great job– she connected with the audience, made a case for herself and her family, and attacked the opposition. She also guaranteed that the race is going to get ugly. I strongly disliked her snarky sarcasm, though it obviously played well to the fans.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:49 am
She guaranteed the race was going to get ugly? Have you been following this election at all? She just came through being the recipient of some of the most vicious, irrelevant, and false smears I have ever seen in a political campaign and you are saying that she guaranteed the race was going (future tense?) to get ugly? Her performance was Mother Theresa by comparison. Furthermore, she made very good points that the media has been adamantly ignoring. She made those points with humor that brought those points home. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Somehow my last comment didn’t go through.
After I posted, I realized the future tense was incorrect. You’re right — it is ugly already. My apologies. I still dislike her sarcasm — it plays well to supporters, but rarely convinces others. I agree with Republican stance on many of the social issues and on smaller government and I was ready to give Palin a fair chance, but her sarcasm didn’t go down well.
You are right that the smears were ugly. I am surprised, though, that this was the ugliest you have ever seen. Are you serious? Was it that much worse than Bush’s campaign’s smears about McCain’s adopted daughter?
September 6th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I am afraid you have shown up my youth and inexperience. I remember the Bush/McCain primary contest (shoot, I remember the Bush/Clinton general election night when I was all of 4), but I was young enough (apparently) that I don’t remember the attacks of Bush on McCain. Wasn’t that mostly in South Carolina ads, anyway?
September 6th, 2008 at 8:59 am
One other difference between Bush/McCain circa 2000 and Palin 2008 is that Bush/McCain was a candidate attacking. Palin 2008 is the media attacking; the media’s attacks are especially hypocritical in light of their deliberate hush-hush ignoring of the Edwards scandal of infidelity until he finally admitted it, even though the evidence was clear long before.
Also, I would agree with the NYT:
That’s much more how I viewed what she said about Obama. A sort of incredulity that Obama would do some of these things. Not a nastiness or a cruel sarcasm, but a sort of amazement at the absurdity exhibited; an amazement that is mirrored by many, many Americans.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:17 am
One example that I disliked initially (less so after I researched it more) was her quote: “Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?”
This sounds like the cavalier “Who cares about Geneva convention” attitude of the Bush administration. I, for one, am not willing to sacrifice the freedom of our country and the respect of other nations for a little more safety. Gitmo has been one of the great blots on our nation’s conscience.
After I researched more, I realized that perhaps she was talking narrowly about the Supreme Court decision which McCain opposed and she wasn’t referring broadly to an “anything goes” attitude in fighting radical Islam. In any case, I hope not too many foreigners read that quote. I’m currently living in a country where the law means nothing once you are in custody. I trust that America is better than that, no matter who is in custody.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Here’s an excellent summary of my perspective from a comment on CS Monitor. If I’m crazy, at least others had the same crazy reaction:
“I thought the speech was particularly partisan. Not sure if it will play well with independents. Last night was just a series of angry, mocking speeches by Romney (surreal), Rudy (nasty), and Palin (sarcastic). Bush mentioned “the angry left” but comparing the two conventions, it is the right who appears more angry.”
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/09/04/next-test-for-mccain-and-pallin-winning-undecideds/
September 6th, 2008 at 9:27 am
OK, I’m on a roll, but wasn’t Palin over the top when she said “What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?”
Obama is definitely a media star, but he doesn’t claim to be the Messiah. To suggest he does is disrespectful not only to him, but also to Palin’s (and my!) Savior. Since when do we drag Christ in here to bring a slur against our opponent? I am being over-sensitive to say that this quote evokes images of Christ? I see no humor here. Only poorly chosen disdain.
Obama does claim that he wants to bring hope, that he wants to mobilize people, and there may be times when he is too willing to play to the media’s portrayal, but this is completely inappropriate.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:19 am
According to Rasmussen, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of Americans (a jump from 52% pre-speech). Biden is at 48%. McCain and Obama are at 57%. 52% of unaffiliated voters said McCain made the right choice for running mate. 58% of voters said that Palin’s speech helped the McCain campaign. I guess my point is that there are a lot of people that agree with me that she wasn’t being nastily sarcastic.
Have you seen this clip of things Barack has said?
I don’t think it’s inappropriate (or disrespectful to Jesus) to ridicule someone that thinks of himself so highly, in such messianic (and maybe even borderline blasphemous) terms.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
“I guess my point is that there are a lot of people that agree with me that she wasn’t being nastily sarcastic.”
I agree, sarcastic yes, but in a campaign of this caliber don’t people automatically expect some of that? Rudy’s speech also contained quite a bit of it. I don’t really see it hurting the campaign. If nothing else she got a ton of publicity!
September 6th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Hans, you’re right. Some of those quotes from Obama were bad. However, I found McCain’s ad completely revolting. The quotes weren’t a tenth as blasphemous as the rest of the ad. If that ad was all I had to go on, I’d pretty quickly choose Obama.
Justin, of course sarcasm is part of politics. Politics is ugly. I expect ugliness from the left (at least from the secular left), but I’m still jolted every time I see ugliness from the Christian right. Do I set too high a standard? Does politics in the U.S. requires attacking and scorn and belittling? If so, are you willing to participate in that?
I can’t make a doctrinal case against voting, but the more I see of politics (both in the U.S. and in other countries where I’ve been), the more I fear the compromise that politics brings to the church. It’s an issue of giving honor and respect. We give respect to everyone whether they deserve it or not. Palin was not doing that. Obama wasn’t either when he spoke of bitterness, guns, and religion.
Am I all wet? Is sarcasm appropriate for believers? Do you use it when debating with others?
September 8th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. I think that this is the best kind of ad because it uses the candidate’s own words. I feel quite clearly that this is an expose of blasphemy, not an act of it. Is it wrong to quote someone’s blasphemous words in a book to call out their blasphemy?
I don’t see it as inherently wrong, though it certainly can be misused. Yes, I use it when debating with others.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Thanks for your feedback. I still disagree w/ you, but I’ll have to hand it too you — you are very well informed. I don’t (usually) use sarcasm in debate and dislike it in others. Perhaps this is an issue of differences in culture or personality.
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