OMG
Posted by: duckandgather on: August 29, 2008
Cheney may be evil; but at least there’s a certain diabolical intelligence there. Reagan may have had Alzheimer’s his second term. But Poppa Push had a brain. And true, Quayle was an idiot. Still, there was Poppa Bush.
Given all that, if Obama/Biden lose to this pair …
… then the Democratic party must die. There’s no other way.
7 Responses to "OMG"
August 30, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Wow. What a great comment. Way better than the blog post.
I agree that things definitely got more interesting. But I have a hard time believing that by November, Americans in a f**ked nation will vote for McCain/Palin. Intellectually, she’s cut from the same cloth as our dear current President, Quayle, Reagan in his second (dementia) term, and Gerald Ford.
When I get the time, I’m going to blog about the last 40 years of US elections, looking at which candidates were morons. Interestingly, all of them were Republicans. Yet the Republicans won 7 of the 10 presidential elections between 1968 and 2004.
I think the reason for this monopoly on morons is that the Democrats are the progressive party (i.e. their mission is to move American forward), while the Republicans are the reactionary party (i.e. they move American backwards — though not all the way — by way or pruning the excesses of the Democrats).
It takes high intelligence to move the nation forward into an unknown space. In contrast, it takes very little to move the nation backward to a previously known place. I think this nicely explains why the bar for intelligence is much higher for the Democrats.
I just think the 2008 election is the next epochal change for this nation which is facing collapse. I find it inconceivable that the nation in this condition would elect a guy who has a 50:50 chance or surviving his first term, leaving a 50:50 chance that a rank moron would be tasked with leading the nation out its darkest times since the Great Depression.
But hey, this is a really stupid and fat country. Freer than any other place in history, but dumb as a post. So that means — as you argue — that this game is going to be a really interesting one.
Thanks again for the great comment.
August 30, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Oh, by way Steve, re your comments on Obama, I agree with your general sense. But I must say that when I learned that McCain’s handlers chose Palin as VP, I felt much, much better about Obama.
Palin was chosen by people who were seeking to find someone that represented the average American. Sure, Palin isn’t fat and she’s sort of attractive in the conventional way. But in every other way, she is terrifyingly average.
Which brings me to Obama. Since mid June, his statements and actions have turned my stomach. His VP pick was just one of dozens of seemingly cynical and repudiating decisions of his. I had thought he might turn out to be a normal human, but June-July-August taught me different.
But with Palin aboard, I suddenly realized with clarity that since mid-June, Obama hasn’t been speaking to me or anyone like me. He’s been speaking to people who think that in any parallel universe, they might consider voting for somebody like Palin. When I realized that, I felt miles better about Obama.
September 3, 2008 at 11:08 am
Seems like an interesting blog – well written entries. It is nice
to see posts that are not wholly moronic (although those are
entertaining even while completely depressing).
The things you point out underlie McCain’s appeal – and I agree with
your comments but note one wrinkle. If all this were about was a
contest to see who could win the election, then you are right – the
drama and the strategy of McCain’s “maverick” move might be an
interesting plot and might make me root for the “underdog”. First, this
isn’t about the campaign only. We have to live with the winner and the
winner’s policies. Second, if you take a broader historical look, Obama
is clearly the underdog here, and his story is much more compelling
given the history of race relations in our nation. Rarely, in politics
is the old white rich dude the underdog.
Also, many propose that McCain really wanted Leiberman or Ridge as VP
and that if left to his own devices McCain/Leiberman would be the
ticket. The only reason Leiberman isn’t on the ticket is because McCain
caved to the religious right who is singularly focused on social issues
like gay-marriage and abortion and who insisted on Sarah Palin. The
social issues realistically effect very few people – but issues such as
healthcare, war, foreign relations impact the US economy dramatically.
I used to like McCain for the qualities you admire, and was absolutely
stunned when Bush beat him in the 2000 republican primary. While he
still fosters the maverick image -I am not so sure he actually is that
maverick anymore. Check out this article on McCain expressing the
libertarian point of view:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/128472.html
September 3, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Thanks Pam. Well reasoned thoughts.
I guess my take is that Palin is so far out of the ballpark that the choice of her for VP will truly finish off the Republicans not just for this year, but for many years to come. That pick really says something about the Republicans and about McCain.
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- Kathy Graham: Exactly. It's sad that most people in this world place money as a much higher priority than health. I realize this is a patriarchal analogy, but c
- duckandgather: If Obama didn't clearly stand up against the Right wing and the Health Corporations, as he did in his speech a couple of weeks ago, his staunch suppor
August 30, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Uhhhhh………not so fast
A month ago I was talking with my dad and we were debating whether or not McCain would win a single state, and if so, which one would it be (Utah maybe).
We both agreed it was possible he not take one single state. Which we both found kind of amusing and deserved.
The question I am asking now is, what are the odds he can win outright?
If you would have told me a week ago, or even 2 days ago, that I, my wife, and a large number of folks at my wife’s office would be listeing to McCains VP announcement on the radio at work, we all would have laughed out loud.
Guess what…..we would have been wrong. EVERYBODY was listening. In todays world, that alone is an achievement.
In any contest, you want to do 2 things. Neutralize your enemies strengths and exploit/atack your enemies weaknesses.
Obama’s Strengths (many): Charisma, “freshness”, style, authenticity, popularity (celebrity?), and certainly the fact that he is different (his race) than most candidates, which I think translates in many peoples minds to a break from the past, a new approach. Just to name a few.
Obama’s weaknesses (few): Inexperience (is this really a weakness?), “backlash” against his “celebrity” or popularity, The Hillary factor.
If I were Obama, I would have resisted Hillary as VP as well. However, he didn’t even pretend to consider her, didn’t vet her……..by choosing Biden as his VP (his first big decision as presumptive POTUS) he basically said two things:
1. I claim to be about change, and bringing change, but in reality, my preference is to choose more of the same old thing, regardless of what my constituents want.
2. I tend to play safe and go with conventional less risky options than take bold action. If ahead, I will run out the clock, go into a prevent defense, take no chances and try not to lose as opposed to trying to win.
A lot of news sites I read said that McCain was taking a “huge risk” with his VP pick.
I don’t think there was any risk at all.
McCain is way down in the fourth quarter, he has (had) NO chance of winning this thing, it was turning into a joke. When this happens it is NOT a risk to try unorthodox things, this is when you start throwing hail mary’s, shooting 3 pointers every time down the floor, throwing wild punches…….. no risk, your about to lose on points in a laugher.
In short, the game changes when you are way down and running out of time, because you can afford to shoot for the moon.
Typically, in these situations, the die hard hometown fans continue to root for their team, and hope/assume they can run out the clock before the other team gets too close in their comeback attempt.
But the less fanatical masses watching on TV start ever so silently rooting for the guy whose down, but not quite out. People look up from their beers, folks who were starting to leave the arena glance back over their shoulder, the announcers voices start to perk ever so slightly………………..nothing intrigues people so much as the guy whose been beaten six ways to Sunday who is still standing in there and landing a few against all the odds.
Now imagine if those people watching on TV, those people looking over their shoulders and taking one last glance at that impossible three pointer that just went in, those announcers hoping for a REAL contest to announce, just imagine that not only are they observers, but that they also have the ability to…………
INFLUENCE THE FNAL OUTCOME.
My Advice: Sit back down, order up another round, plan on staying awhile, things just got REALLY interesting.