Worst case scenario — and faith
Bookworm on Nov 06 2008 at 12:32 pm | Filed under: Conservative ideology
Conservatives are regrouping and trying to come up with approaches to remarket themselves to Americans. Quin Hillyer thinks it’s too late. He may well be right, but I’m not taking a defeatist attitude. The problem is that, once we give up, he’ll definitely be right.
As it is, we have an election in two years, which gives us a chance to shift Congressional power before Ailinsky-ism becomes too deeply entrenched. That’s why we can’t stop to lick our wounds. We have to energize RIGHT NOW. We need to figure out important principles and find a marketable message. If we spin our wheels too endlessly bemoaning our failures and weaknesses, and their strengths and successes, we will have missed the window of opportunity to harness the tremendous political energy still radiating from this election.
Right off the bat, one of the Republicans I was fortunate enough to meet here in Marin while working for the McCain campaign said something really wise:
It is all about marketing these days. Obama had focuses groups help him decide on the “Change and Hope” mantra. We need to seriously think about changing the word “conservative”. It is tired and colorless and has too many meanings. Just like anti-abortion went to Pro-Life which was brilliant…we have got to change that word “conservative”…with the help of focus groups!
I think she’s right. “Conservative” does sound stodgy and, to the extent the past is castigated instead of studied and understood, liberals have effectively made conservatives sound as if they’re guilty of and want to repeat every error in the past, including slavery and Jim Crow (each of which lived in the Democratic party).
Think too of the way liberals positioned themselves as “Progressives,” which is so forward sounding. It allowed them to keep from the public the truth, which is that their operative facts have always been rooted in the past (Vietnam, pre-Roe back alley abortions, rampant anti-black racism, etc), while their solutions were last fresh when Marx and Engels first articulated them.
Please don’t give up now. Use your beliefs, principles, intelligence, knowledge and creativity constructively, because I think we’ve got a one or two year window of time to make a difference.
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When the Buddha was nearing the end of his life and commanded his disciples to go out and teach his principles, they asked him how they should describe him.
He said, “Tell them that I am awake.”
Maybe we should call ourselves The Awakened.
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It’s right, It’s free.
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D’oh’,
Link: http://patriotpost.us/
Book,
I appreciate the clarion call of alarm.
I too read the article by Quin Hillyer about an hour ago, and it was deeply alarming.
I am more than willing to stop using the words “conservative” and “conservatism”, should a better term emerge. I’m absolutely willing!
But I’d like you to reflect on the bailout bill for a moment, and how a clarion call of “Emergency! Emergency!” caused conservatives to rush off the cliff edge. You have no choice! You have no choice! It’s an Emergency! went the clarion call.
In retrospect, a week of deliberate debate would not have caused a problem at all. The Bush Administration took their deliberate time in distributing the funds that were needed.
Similarly, I think we have plenty of time – months, and possibly a year, even – to figure this thing out, for 2010. Are the liberal Alinsky-based forces that daunting, that chilling, that devastating, that we are doomed? I just don’t think so.
And even if they hand us our hat in 2010, what does that mean for 2012?
I’m also concerned that we don’t get a chance to engage in the needed debate over where we head from here. I’d like to focus on Tiresias for a moment, in suppport of this idea. Tiresias is really disgusted right now, and he’s letting us all know it! I for one appreciate that! I think if any of us is at that point, and they’ve been with you for a while, Book, I think it’s useful and important to let them vent their honest opinion, and not ask them to be “more constructive”. That might be a soft way of simply telling them to stop saying what they’re saying?
Why not take at least a week or two to express honestly how you feel about things? Then start pulling things together into constructiveness. And then take some more time to figure out where to go from here?
I appreciate what Tiresias is going through. If he ends up abandoning the Republicans completely, I’d like to see his journey there. I don’t want him to feel as though he should quiet down. I’d be extremely sad to have lost that insight.
I don’t think we need to be in VAST hurry here. I’m not daunted by what the Democrats are up to. Not in the least.
The focus-group approach can be overdone, and result in missing the opportunity to actually make coherent arguments for a point of view. See my post too much political dog language.
We can’t give up. Every day, more and more people discover they have been lied to by the media and more and more will find that the Obama’s real goals don’t match their imagined expectations, at all. There will be things we need to fight– the fairness doctrine, the government taking control of our 401K savings, and likely all kinds of naive and dangerous plans coming through Congress.
It won’t be just a battle for our party, it will be a battle for freedom and liberty in our America.
I started calling people classical liberals and fake liberals a long time ago, Book. It seemed the clearest distinction between those for Iraq and those against Iraq back then.
>Better we let voters see the vast distinctions between the progressive ideology, with its totalitarian undergirding, and the ideology of classical liberalism, with its focus on individualism, freedom, a less obtrusive government, self-reliance, and equality of opportunity forged in a free market system.<
From protein wisdom….I like that too…classical liberals…
I don’t think we need to be in VAST hurry here. I’m not daunted by what the Democrats are up to. Not in the least.
How’s the firearms training going?
One of the reasons why I liked the idea of Book doing some self-defense training (I call TFT Training in how to kill people but that’s not particularly politically correct now a days) and firearms training is that small petite women need as many advantages as they can get. THey can’t count on strength, size, or speed. What they can count on is the same thing I can count on: my body weight and gravity.
A 100 pound woman can still take me to the ground by doing nothing more than striking me and injuring me in one of the numerous parts of the human body susceptible to gross bodily failure and then just putting all her weight on my leg or hips and sitting down. THis is ridiculously easy to do compared to learning how to properly mimic martial arts throwing techniques.
A lot of martial arts throws are designed not to harm the guy being thrown. However, throws when used as strikes can easily break people’s heads and impact their spinal cord. Imagine throwing someone over your shoulder like you have probably seen in many martial arts vids and instead of the guy rotating over and landing on his back or something imagine you gripping his head and while he is in the air you drop your body weight, with your arm locked around his neck, and throw both him and yourself to the concrete.
The head will stay in one spot, locked in your arm, and will crater upon impact with concrete and then the neck will snap cause his own body weight will come down (+ yours) and break his neck and upper vertebrae. He’ll be paralyzed if not dead.
One reason why they don’t practice throws with that object in mind. It’s kind of hard to spar or compete in martial arts if the first time you get thrown you also get paralysis from the neck down. Against criminals, I don’t really have to worry about things like that.
The military likes the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) because it works. The more stuff you have to think about in a life or death scenario, the more likely you are going to die because of hesitation. Keeping it simple keeps your mind free to focus on the important stuff and not on the extra little steps or things you are trying to recall. TFT breaks it down into the simple components of violent conflict.
“classical liberals and fake liberals”…I call them “progressives” (always with the quotation marks), which is what they mostly call themselves.
From a marketing standpoint, it is really, really dumb to be repeatedly harping on how LIBERAL Obama (or any other opponent) is. The objective should be to show rational liberals that the opponent’s position is very different from that of the target voter. Demonizing the word “liberal” undercuts that goal. If you’re selling Toyotas and trying to long-time attract Ford customers (not that that would be hard these days), you don’t want to imply that all Ford customers are morons. You’d do much better to suggest that the current generation of Ford cars is not worthy of the trust that long-time customers have developed from the brand. (THis is just an example, not a slam at Ford–don’t kick a man when he’s down.)
I like “libertarian” but that won’t go.
instead of new name for the party why not just be better at markettng our core belief?
personal responsibility
economic opportunity
strong national defense
less government in our life
family value
fiscal responsibility
“if most of these ideas appeal to you, consider joining our team”
Huan:
Your list is a good one, but I can show you how a person who has been bamboozled by “progressive” thinking could interpret it. (Think of how “liberal” Christians distort the Gospel. Same thing at work here.)
Personal responsibility — Making sure to use contraceptives and signing up for all the government entitlement programs you’re eligible for.
Economic opportunity — Guaranteeing that affirmative action wll continue to level the playing field for our brothers and sisters of color.
Strong national defense — A huge “army” of do gooders mending the world with American goodwill and technology is the best “defense.”
Less government in our life — No laws whatsoever against abnormal sex, unlimited abortion and the right to unfettered orgasms.
Family values — Insuring that all families are accorded equal respect and treatment: Families with two dads or two moms; families where the siblings are especially “close;” families that have compassionately invited lonely or neglected animals into their inner lives.
Fiscal responsibility — Making sure that Congress guarantees my access to Medicare and Social Security, as well as making my mortgage payments if I unsuccessfully try to game the system.
Sign me up!
I understand that charles. but we have to sell the party ideals, not the politicians. once the ideas intrigue, and we can get people to start thinking, then we can talk details of why liberal interpretation is wrong. or better yet why we have a better plan on these ideas.
we cannot be perceived as a party of fundamentalist rich whities. and if we do not take control of our own branding, the MSM will be happy to do it.
both GM & Toyota sell cars. Yet people do not confuse the two. we need to clarify our product line. and as a party of principles and ideas we have to market them rather than have politicians as our products.
What about a massive act of civil disobedience directed at the MSM? Say on a designated day in a coordinated effort people buy up or filch copies of major newspapers (NY Times, WaPo, San Fran Chronicle, etc) and dump them into overflowing trash receptacles or pile them into a stack on city street corners. A sort of Boston Tea Party effort.
I find it actually frightening the way the word progressive was turned into a good thing in this election season. When I was young and first voting, progressive was the euphemism for communist. To me it still is. But the youngsters just don’t understand the truth of where they are being led by the “progressives.” Henry Wallace must be laughing in his afterlife. We have truly been conquered by the progressive educational establishment. I was told by my liberal daughter in law the reason older folks are conservative is due to paranoia. “In many cases,” she amended when she realized what she had said. I consider anyone under 60 a youngster, btw.
Huan, I agree with your take on things. I was just having fun with the liberal mindset.
One thing that we might focus on is the eternal desire among young people to have a severe challenge they must meet.
When I was growing up in Los Angeles years ago and huge summer fires were always a threat, the U.S. Forest Service would routinely advertise for young men to join its fire-fighting crews.
The ads were clear: This was dangerous work for low pay, and it was possible to die while fighting a fire.
Of course it got thousands of replies from young men who wanted to do hard, dangerous work.
Sometimes, when wildfires got really big, my buddies and I would drive near them, hoping to be stopped by firemen who had the power to deputize people on the spot to carry shovels and dig firebreaks. (We came close a couple of times, but we were under 18 and the fire guys, desperate as they were, couldn’t use us.)
So maybe we put out the word for smart young people who can carry an argument and who don’t mind being shunned (at the start) because they’re not politically correct or willing to say “progressive” things just to be popular or get laid.
We might be surprised ath the response.
Zhombre, I see two problems:
1. It reduces us to the level of the left. I’m angry, but I won’t descend to their level.
2. It provides the left with more excuses to point fingers (via the legacy mass media that it dominates) to say, “See? Conservatives are intolerant haters quack quack quack!”
The bright side is that the NYT, LAT and Chron are hemorrhaging money. Another year and we’ll probably see the Chron go completely online or try to compete with the S.F. Examiner as a freebie.
Good riddance!
To play Devil’s advocate, CM, if you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, you may as well do. One of McCain’s mistakes was in thinking that he could do something that would make the media love him. It would never love him. He should always have been singing his song to the American people, and shouldn’t have wasted his time trying to serenade a media that was always going to be hostile.
I like the cheerful silliness of Z’s idea, but it’s not as if anyone is going to do it.
The conservatives’ job this time is to ignore the media entirely — who the heck cares what they think? We need to figure out how to get our message out either without the media, or through the media but without the need for its approval.
>>1. It reduces us to the level of the left. I’m angry, but I won’t descend to their level.>>
Thinking about this…
White hat vs. Black hats. The good guy sheriff can’t do bad stuff to catch the bad guy because then _he’d_ be a bad guy. Three outcomes: Fate intervenes, and bad guy gets his just deserts, sheriff retains his honor. Sheriff does bad stuff and succeeds in catching bad guy. Sheriff behaves honorably and correctly and bad guy takes over the town. Bad guy then exercises his will on the townspeople until either a bigger army or a bigger badder bad guy shows up on the scene.
Quakers are non-violent. What happens if they remain true to their beliefs and don’t resist the indians? In the cowboy movies, John Wayne always shows up and defeats the indians, and the Quakers live happily ever after. What happens if there is no John Wayne? Ghandi preached non-violence when the Brits occupied India…what would have been the outcome if the Nazis had occupied India instead of the Brits?
In other words, I understand the basic concept, but if extermination is the alternative to doing what we consider wrong…is it totally unacceptable? Can we ever make exceptions? Is death of the idea preferable to contamination by wrong actions – even if those actions are limited and never really justified?
“I could not love thee well, my dear, loved I not honor more”…
Which am I more willing to sacrifice – my “dear” or my honor? The question may come to that. I suspect that we might have to sacrifice honor to win the battle – while still teaching that the sacrifice is wrong.
We need to figure out how to get our message out either without the media, or through the media but without the need for its approval.
If I was in charge of Palin’s campaign appearances, I would not have sent her to Gibson or Kouric. I would have sent both her and her husband to Greta of Fox News as well as Brit Humes. O’Reilly may get some too depending on reviews.
In case people hadn’t noticed, O’Reilly is rather susceptible to propaganda on the things he has background on. THings like military affairs and what not.
suek
You are speaking of a conflict of loyalties. Such things have been covered quite well in science fiction books (military science fiction) by David Weber + Steve White in Insurrection for example.
Sm Stirling’s The Prince (Falkenberg Legions) also covers the topic of the town sheriff as well.
THere is an answer to the dilemma you raised, suek, but it is neither easy nor simple. Most often it depends. It depends on many things but the one thing that is critical is time. A nation or an individual can make a lot of mistakes if he has time to correct them. A lack of time, however, or a time table will reduce the opportunity for folks to learn from their mistakes and it will prevent people from going for the big risks that pay out in big solutions.
In third world nations they don’t have the luxury to wait 4 years for a new election. They have to get the first one right cause the next one they may be dead if they lost the first one. That’s a time limit.
So long as America can recycle parties into and out of power, we will have time to figure out solutions that doesn’t require either extremes in your small town example. However, eventually time will run out and people will have to make a decision: like the decision the AL ANbar Awakening made.
things he has background on
Correction: no background on.
Book,
Aftermath
Final Zo ?
D’oh again!
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-JTd-8vUdw&eurl=http://jameshudnall.com/blog.php?
Should we in fact abandon the words “conservative” and “conservatism”?
Here’s some info I’ve seen several times over the last few days. This version of it from Karl Rove.
It is a tribute to his skills that Mr. Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, won in a country that remains center-right. Most pre-election polls and the wiggly exits indicate America remains ideologically stable, with 34% of voters saying they are conservative — unchanged from 2004. Moderates went to 44% from 45% of the electorate, while liberals went to 22% from 21%.
We may be misinterpreting the results of this election. This may not be about “progressivism” vs “conservatism” as well. It may have been an entirely non-ideological election. This may have been the smooth candidate and campaign against the bad one; it may have been purely based on the state of the economy.
Certainly, it looks like nothing has changed concerning impressions of the word “conservative” and “conservatism” between 2004 and 2008. But the results of the vote are quite different.
>>You are speaking of a conflict of loyalties.>>
Not loyalties, I think. Ethics maybe. Morals more likely.
Martyrs are sometimes an example – traditional martyrs, at least. Those who chose to die rather than accede to that which they considered morally unacceptable. They won converts to their cause because their willingness to die for it was inspiring. Today’s martyrs seem to expect to win converts through terror. Very effective in the short run, but requiring constant renewal. Even sheep return to graze after a period when one of the flock has been taken down. Sometimes we aren’t much smarter!
If you can’t get the message across, though, whatever cause you’re promoting will soon be a lost cause. In that case, it’s not a cause, it’s a personal belief.
Worst case scenario,
School teacher browbeats student over being a McCain supporter
http://tinyurl.com/5tnx55
http://tinyurl.com/5h9gum
More worst case scenario,
New national anthem: “My president is black”
Includes t-shirt
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/11/06/new-national-anthem-my-president-is-black/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/thank-you-sarah-palin
Gosh, guys, it’s rolls of toilet paper we’re talking about!
All I meant was that I leave trashing newspapers to the dimwits on the left. (Which isn’t to say that I haven’t been tempted hundreds of times to spill the contents of my Happy Meal ketchup packets on the NYT or Chronicle. Believe me, I understand Zhombre’s urge.)
suek, by “descending to the left’s level” I meant its intellectual level. We’ve seen enough of what passes for sophisticated reasoning on this blogsite by leftists, and it scares me. These are the people who are now going to be running the country. I meant that we don’t have to resort to pathetic tantrums like leftists do because we have better minds and ideas.
Yes, Book, we have to quit caring what the legacy media think or say about us. I only meant to say that since the media make it up as they go along, examples of actual naughty behavior on our part should be funny and pointed. We’re the Macs now and the left is the PCs. If we decide to pour kitty litter on the NYT and Chron, let’s make sure it hits YouTube immediately.
Do I think we should be good little boys and girls like John McCain? Well, that got us real far, didn’t it? I waited in vain for McCain to turn to Obama and say, “How is it that when it comes to making friends you haven’t been able in your entire adulthood to find one who wasn’t either a commie, an America hater, a racist or a hood? Can you name one close friend of yours who wouldn’t feel at home in a cell meeting or jail?”
I’m not looking to trash a few piles of pathetic printed lies. My sights are on the jugular.
I agree with you Book on that aspect. If you are going to be damned for killing civilians or not killing them, you might as well kill them so that the civilians that live know that you can actually enforce your promises of security to them. If you just stay in your base cause if you fear killing civilians, well, AQ will kill em for you.
If we are to be damned for the only two choices we have, we might as well pick the one truer to our principles and character, Book.
When the passengers of Flight 93 were given two choices, fight or sit down and die, they made their choice. THey were damned either way, in the end, but the difference their actions have made on the character of America, Book.
It is simple. Do the right thing. It is all we ever needed to do.
Mike…you might want to read this. Especially some of the comments. This is the wrong thread, but I’m tired of waiting for my computer to pull up the old thread.
http://www.americasright.com/2008/11/and-so-it-begins.html
“we have got to change that word “conservative”…with the help of focus groups!”
We could always call ourselves the “Pro-Choice” group…choosing Freedom and Ownership….
That would burn their little tootsies…!
An appropriate term is “moderns”. Go with that, then the nihilists will have to explain what pomo means (as though anything pomo can “mean” anything.)
I think some young republicans need to dig deep into the Alinsky playbook. “”Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” he said. “If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity’s very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.) ”
This is how they have torn down religion (”religious people are hypocrites– they don’t even follow their own bible!”), patriotism, and democracy itself. Time to take that back to ‘em and see how their ideals stack up.
“SM Stirling’s The Prince (Falkenberg Legions”
Don’t you mean Jerry Pournelle?
Interesting discussion, everyone!
And Y, your point about United Flight 93 is well-taken.
Deana
Maybe I’m an optimist but I think Obama won because he was a charismatic chameleon and being black, he fulfilled many dreams and abated guilt. Many many people I talk to are Conservatives. They just don’t know that the ideas they support are Conservative ideas. We agree on many things, except on self-identification. They are Conservatives who vote Democrat.
This is due to ignorance. A lot of people would be Conservatives if they were more informed, and Republicans somehow lost the stigma of being the rich white man party.
so, how to do it… If I, Lulu, were strategist I would encourage intelligent and outspoken Conservatives of various backgrounds- like Tito the Builder, Joe the Plumber, and the guy you show often on your blog from youtube, for starters, to be seen often to remind Americans that the Republicans are the party of the working person. meanwhile the Dems will constantly bring forth elite Hollywood types. A nice contrast.
We need to get more aggressive. We need to organize and have large numbers of Conservatives calling networks, tv and radio stations and DEMANDING that Conservatives be fairly represented as reporters and commentators. Every time NPR has a “panel’ analyzing a political theme and they all have the same point of view, massive calls from Conservatives should pour in, calls to Congress too- especially if they are thinking of another “Fairness Doctrine”. We need to DEMAND fairness too! Get the LA Times to send a reporter who likes Israel to report from there. Insist that The View replace Behar with a Ann Coulter (ha), put Medved opposite Olbermann, a la Hannity and Colmes. We need to get active just as they have been.
And, we must get our colleges more balanced. Why are we so resigned and complacent as Leftists take over our media and indoctrinate our kids in college? Why don’t parents paying tuition begin complaining of the lack of diversity of thought on campus, demanding speaker series presenting multiple viewpoints, and challenge the status quo. Lots of kids would eat this up- but they are not exposed to it, so a Liberal kid goes to college, reads Chomsky and begins a nut.
A name change is much less important than an attitude change. I do not need to be ashamed of my values. Like I said, people agree with me and my philosophy of personal responsibility all the time- then they vote against their professed beliefs. Dennis Prager says that when he speaks to college students they are hungry for what he teaches. Let’s do more of it- maybe a speakers bureau with charismatic speakers, and with follow up lectures, books, and so on.
I’m ready!
we definitely to appeal to the youth better. even if they do not turn out to vote in the current rounds, they will likely turn out to vote in future elections. thus after the party has finalize our core principles, we should turn to where to put our efforts. in my opinion,
1. Fund young Republican groups on all college campus. They will be the future of the party.
2. Fund election campaign. How much funding support should consider the candidate compatibility with party principles, appeal to party members, and electability.
3. Fund charity projects of the moment.
4. Fund research products to provide evidence that our principles are both actionable and our actions are effective
We should have national convention every year. In election year it should include the nomination process. Otherwise it should have speakers and debates over how current issues fit into the core principles.
And we definitely need to amend the primary process to be closed. States should be grouped regionally and one state from each would then hold its primary election. Allow a few weeks for the candidates to debate, retool and hold rally, and then repeat with a new state, again one state from each regional block. The states within each regional group can decide among themselves what order they shall hold their primary election.
these are my current thoughts as i contemplate how we should prepare for the future, not just 2010 or 2012.
I do not want our party to be a hateful anti-Dems. When they do something wrong, we don’t say i told you so, we say we can fix that. When they do something right, we don’t say that it was no good, we say we can do better.
we want our party principles to have broad appeals to all Americans.
we need to be more accepting of gays and minorities. we need to stop bashing immigrants ( i know we differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants but many do not understand this. perhaps we need a new term for illegal immigrants)
Lulu – “Many many people I talk to are Conservatives. They just don’t know that the ideas they support are Conservative ideas.”
Hear, hear! I’m working HARD on a black friend of mine. I know he is a conservative – we agree on so many principles! But he votes Democrat because it is what his family does. But before it is over, he’s going to be a conservative. Just you watch!
Deana
Hi Huan –
I really like some of the ideas you are putting forth.
In terms of getting young Republican and Conservative groups on college campuses, one source of instructors and college-age students who would have good insight on how to go about this would be Hillsdale College in Michigan. It was:
- the first American college to prohibit discrimination due to race, religion or sex. – an early support for the abolition of slavery
- the second college in the nation to grant degrees to women.
Every month, it publishes articles that promote conservative principles and strict constructionist interpretations of the Constitution. (They’re free.)
Here is their website: http://www.hillsdale.edu
I’m totally impressed by their work.
I also do not want to turn into hateful anti-Dems. I don’t want to behave how they behaved. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to point out when Obama and the Democrats do something wrong but I want to do more.
And this simply cannot be repeated enough: We have some strong advocates in the black and other minority communities. They are bullet-proof because they have had to be. Continuing to back them and working on growing their numbers must be one of our top priorities.
We have got to break the stranglehold that Democrats have on Jewish, Black, and Latino communities. I know we can do it.
Deana
Don’t you mean Jerry Pournelle?
They had a collaboration together. Jerry wrote Falkenberg’s Legion short stories but they did a collaboration on Sparta, I believe. The collection thus had both their names on it.
Hear, hear! I’m working HARD on a black friend of mine. I know he is a conservative – we agree on so many principles! But he votes Democrat because it is what his family does. But before it is over, he’s going to be a conservative. Just you watch!
Change the world one individual at a time.
It isn’t that we need a new name, it is that we need a compelling narrative. The name and brand equity will follow.
SueK (#33)
Yes, that link to the Palin stuff is sad. I question the manner in which Fox (and Cameron in particular) reported on it.
>> I wouldn’t be surprised, by the way, if Palin were to step down from her position as Alaskan governor and allow her Lieutenant Governor to appoint her to Ted Stevens’ senatorial position >>
I wonder if it might not be a terrible idea for Palin to angle for the Senate. The Senate is about collegiality and go-along, get-along. I don’t want her to become identified with THAT. And I still think governor-to-president is a far better career path…
Especially I believe, if a Senator is going to run on a campaign against Washington, against the corruption and bad-spending, bad-tax crowd in D.C., he or she has to resign their Senate seat when they launch their campaign. The collegiality of the Senate simply cannot be reconciled against that kind of campaign. Not if the campaign is to be taken seriously.
>>The Senate is about collegiality and go-along, get-along.>>
You know…you may have just put your finger on the reason why the jump from the Senate to the White House is such an infrequent one. There’s no doubt that there are some who are leaders, and in the Senate will be recognized as such, but a _true_ independent – especially one who is independent and outspoken, who is not willing to fall into the “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” mentality is _not_ going to garner much support in the Senate – either during a term there or in a run for the Presidency. In fact, I think it would be a terminal political act to be such a person.
I think many have seriously underestimated Palin. She may not have been ready, but I think she’s much more capable and intelligent than many give her credit for. Her “magic”, it seems to me, was also in her willingness to say “here is where I stand” – a breath of fresh air after all the mealy mouthed politicians we’ve become accustomed to. I have no doubt she’d have a lot to learn…but I also have no doubt she’d learn it quickly. That McCain hasn’t come out and quashed the rumors says nothing good about him.
Everyone –
If you have not yet seen the video of the teacher in North Carolina asking her young students who they supported, you need to. It now is on Drudge and it is making the rounds elsewhere.
Here is the link:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881106074
No matter who you voted for, this type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable coming from a teacher. No one with a shred of decency in them can defend her behavior and willingness to shame and humiliate children who are too young to have developed an understanding of war and politics. It is even more horrific that she did this to children of our military.
Bookworm, please let me know if you do not wish for this sort of information to be published on your site. If not, I understand. But I strongly encourage people to watch this video, read the newspaper article, and then contact the school system.
NOTE: It appears that this woman was teaching in Asheville at the time the video was shot. Apparently, she now teaches in Cumberland County, which is home to Fort Bragg and thousands upon thousands of military families who have children in this school system.
I have already written a lengthy letter to every member of the Cumberland County School Board. If you wish to do so as well, here is the school system’s website:
http://www.communications.ccs.k12.nc.us/Board/BOE.htm
If you contact them, please be polite. There are so many good people who are doing amazing work in our schools and they already have a tough job. But the school system needs to know that this is not acceptable.
Deana
Hello Bookworm,
If the Republicans are smart, they will keep the trap shut for at least 18 months. Don’t attack. Don’t undermine and obstruct.
If they were smart, they will positively look for bipartisan legislation and strike deals with President Obama and the Democrats. They should be as meek as a dove and as docile as a lamb and try to give President Obama what he wants… within reason.
Our country is facing countless challenges. The financial crisis, the housing crisis, an aggressive and increasingly militant Russia, Iran, terrorists… the list goes on and on. I, for one, am willing to give President-elect Obama the benefit of the doubt despite the enormity of my reservations about the man.
As an American and a patriot, I want him to succeed as an American President and see our country move forward, and I sincerely don’t wish to treat liberals as enemies, even though the sentiment is oftentimes not reciprocated.
Give Obama all the support you can muster within the scope of your conscience, and if/when things blow up, the Democrats will not have an excuse to stand on. They have the Presidency. Both Houses of Congress. The majority of the judge-ships.
Obama has promised everyone and everything, and if the Republicans are smart, they would give him the full credit for the meltdowns and disasters that he said he could fix. That would almost inevitably give the Republicans control of at least the House in the mid-term elections in 2010.
… but I don’t think the Republicans are going to do this play. Sniping at the heels might be too great a temptation for them.
>>…the school system needs to know that this is not acceptable. >>
Of course you’re correct in every way. Personally, I’d choose to fire her. On the other hand, if she were in the school I was a school board member for, we would not be able to fire her. She would have to be counseled. Then given a period to remediate her behavior. Then counseled again. It takes about 2-3 years to get a teacher _gone_ unless they choose to respond to the pressure by leaving. It’s usually pointed out to them that if they choose to resign, they are more likely to get hired elsewhere than if they get fired, and that often results in their making that choice. If they choose to stick it out and then sue the district for some sort of improper or unwarranted action, it can get expensive for the district, so we always made sure that the t’s were crossed and the i’s were dotted.
Thomas
While i believe you mean well, I will tell you that you are wrong. The republicans that remain in Congress are there because their constituents wanted them rather than Democrat. It is their civic duty to oppose plans that they believe are bad for their constituents, and bad for America.
I am not advocating being an obstructionsit. I am advocating that Rep continue to act based on certain political principles held by their base. If it coincide with what the Dems/Obama wants, then lets make it the best deal possible. If it conflict with what would be best for America, state our opposition and reason for opposition.
neither obstructionists or collaborators should we be
Not a catchy name, but something of a plan:
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2008/11/seven-pledges-for-america.html
SueK (#49)
I like the list! Let’s get it expanded. Don’t forget the Fairness Doctrine. That one is filibuster-worthy.
It could be called ‘The Declaration of Patriotic Resistance’
Thomas (#46)
Thomas, I think the loyal opposition has to have its own voice and should be loud and proud. But I do agree you pick and choose your battles. Those battles I hope to see fought loudly and with total determination to win. We’ve got some good guys in the House who are GIRDING THEIR LOINS for the good fight, and thank you Joe Biden. I hope in 2010 we see many more of them!
Give Obama all the support you can muster within the scope of your conscience, and if/when things blow up, the Democrats will not have an excuse to stand on. They have the Presidency. Both Houses of Congress. The majority of the judge-ships.
Democrats had slavery and sent men to die in a war to uphold slavery, and then they used the KKK to keep black votes down so that Republican governments could collapse in the South without freed black support. Yet even with such a history on civil rights, the Democrats are still seen as the part of black freedom while Republicans are seen as the party of discrimination and racism (See Helen for example).
Don’t hold your breath that the “Democrats will not have an excuse to stand on”.