A few thoughts on Tucson

After learning more about the gun laws in Arizona, or the lack there of, I don’t think I will even visit the state and I would advise those I care about to steer clear as well.

I was expecting a non-apology apology from Sarah Palin for the crosshair imagery she used in her ads “targeting” Rep. Gifford’s district, but even that was too much to expect. Her response was that she never intended the image to represent a gun sight, and that it was just the normal thing you would see on a map. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a map with anything resembling crosshairs on it.

Several members of Congress are now talking about introducing legislation that would forbid carrying guns near members of Congress. So in addition to having health care that none of the rest of us has, Congress would then have protection from guns none unavailable to the rest of us. Of course the NRA will never allow such legislation to pass so it’s a moot point.

Sarah says...

"This is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we're all sitting around asking 'Oh no, what are we gonna do,' and we're not having a lot of faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea's gonna do."
— Sarah Palin

I deserve a major tax cut

I deserve a major tax cut for watching another one of those faux debates last night; another infomercial masquerading as a “town hall” meeting. The rules were set by the candidates, designed to protect them from themselves, and then they couldn’t stick with them.

What they should do is put the two of them on a stage with two chairs hooked up to electric wires (nothing lethal) leading to hand controls operated by a live studio audience of uncommitted voters who would crank up the amps when they hear an answer they don’t like. Booing, catcalls, and loud laughing would be encouraged.

In all seriousness I found both candidate’s understanding and sense of urgency about economic issues very much wanting. I hope they are just too timid to speak up and not actually that shallow.

That said, Senator Obama looks increasingly Presidential, while Senator McCain looks increasingly desperate. At least he didn’t go rhetorically postal last night, which might have ended the whole party.
---------------------------------------
The Sarah Palin poll closed last night (look to the right). The turn out was modest but the results were pretty conclusive.

Why they love Sarah

Forgive me from the outset as I am going to lump all of you reading this into the “you” that doesn’t love Sarah, and tell you why I think “they” do. What is interesting about the topic is you are both focusing on the same things, but like the blind men describing an elephant, you see very different creatures.

You see a person you consider to be undistinguished. She doesn’t talk like you. She didn’t go to the right schools. She runs a bumpkin state and before that a mini-bumpkin town. She’s got a pregnant teenage daughter, and a husband who seems more interested in racing snowmobiles and hunting, than having an actual job.

You say, “This is a big country,” and then ask, “Can’t we do better? What’s wrong with electing the elite?”

“They” see someone like them. Someone who understands their lives, and say, “Elect the elite? Those are the people who got us into this mess in the first place. Maybe it’s time for one of our own.”

They think that way because the major financial institutions are run by the best and brightest with advanced degrees from the best business schools. They hired the top mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists money could buy to create ultra-sophisticated algorithms “guaranteed” to keep credit swaps in balance. We all know where that led.

All of this was overseen by the political elite. Again, there’s no real need to replay how well that worked out.

Our pharmaceutical and health insurance industries are run by the same business elites, with the help of certain doctors (still the ultimate elite title to many Americans) who sell their opinions and support for drugs and procedures of questionable value and safety.

Lawyers are the fight promoters of the America economic system. They pit one group against another and make the rules so complicated they are often the only winners.

Middle class Americans want their children to have better lives, and understand that education is the key. But the education system is run by another group of elites, and in their system the cost of higher education has risen by more than double the cost of living for more than 20 years, until the cost of a year at an elite college exceeds the annual income of the average American household.

So they ask, “Could someone who is one of us possibly make things worse?”

I can almost hear your shouts of “ABSOLUTELY!” And I agree, they could, so allow me to suggest you refrain from the strategy of belittling and demeaning the Governor. Aside from being uncharitable and unattractive, it is hugely counter-productive; because when you belittle her, you belittle those who are supporting her – and more importantly, those who are on the fence. When you say she isn’t good enough or smart enough you are saying the same about her supporters, and not surprisingly, it angers them and reinforces their sense of having been disenfranchised and marginalized by the country’s elites.

Sarah Palin has given you all the ammunition you need in the form of the policies she supports and the political goals she proposes. Argue against them with vigor and passion if you want to win. Make fun of her accent and her family if you want to spend another eight years on the sidelines.

Sarah Barracuda

Well, anyone out there who is writing Sarah Palin off as a light-weight and wants to see Sen. Obama in the White House better buckle their chin strap and put on a cup, because whatever you think of her politics, she is no worse than the second best communicator out of the four people running, and she’s going to be number one for a lot of people.

Obama is all cool, Palin is all passion. Barack is Harvard and Columbia; Sarah is home town folk. The Senator holds himself a little above the fray – the Governor body checks. She certainly played no defense last night. Plus, she can tell a joke. (The difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom? Lipstick.)

You want to know how to make her a genuine America hero? Keep calling her and her family “white trash.” Keep denigrating her experience as a Governor and Mayor. Keep sniggering about how Alaska is really North Alabama. Keep patronizing her as just a PTA president on steroids. Keep comparing her to Dan Quayle. Continue to withhold any props for her successes in a man’s world because her views aren’t consistent with feminist dogma.

Keep doing all those things and she’ll be the most popular woman in America by November 4th and the difference in the election.

Here are some of the better barracudaisms from last night’s speech. You can watch the speech here.

=========
“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.”

=========
“We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers. And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign.”

=========
“A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.
He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.”

=========
"And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain."