Friday, August 29, 2008
I can't do any better
Than to point you to Instapundit and Contentions for more reactions to Palin (the Corner is great, as always, but seems a little slow this morning). My favorite reaction is from Noah Pollak on Contentions: "Message to Obama: This is how you do a VP announcement, rookie."
Palin!
This is... well, cool. Sarah Palin, McCain's newly minted running mate, has been one of my favorite conservatives for quite a while. There are a couple of downsides, inexperience being the major one. How can we nail Obama for that when Palin's been in office for about a year, and was the mayor of Wasilla before that? Although the governor of Alaska does have to worry about terrorism issues-- Alaskans take the security of the Pipeline very seriously, and it would be a significant target. But as far as foreign policy goes... well, she probably has about as much experience as Obama, minus his Rainbow Tour.
But the upsides of this choice are potentially enormous. Describing how relieved conservatives should be is a tall order. Not only did McCain not pick Lieberman, Hillary, or a pro-choicer Republican, he picked a solid conservative, one who has a track record of standing up to corruption (see Alaska's congressional delegation) and pork (she helped kill the Bridge to Nowhere). She supports drilling in ANWR. In choosing her, McCain has shown that even if he doesn't agree with conservatives on a lot of things, he has been listening, and is willing to work with us. Or at least I think so-- with McCain, one is never sure.
Not to mention she's just likeable, in a way McCain can never hope to be. I caught the last five minutes or so of her speech this morning-- she's genuine. She's a former professional fisherman, for heaven's sake. She is part of what America is supposed to look like-- not broken and impoverished and victimized, the way the DNC painted us this week, but independent, unafraid, and enterprising.
I've withheld full-throated support for McCain, waiting to see whom he would choose for veep. I still don't like him, but with this choice, I can willingly get behind him instead of dragging my feet. Now that the choice is made-- Go McCain-Palin '08!
But the upsides of this choice are potentially enormous. Describing how relieved conservatives should be is a tall order. Not only did McCain not pick Lieberman, Hillary, or a pro-choicer Republican, he picked a solid conservative, one who has a track record of standing up to corruption (see Alaska's congressional delegation) and pork (she helped kill the Bridge to Nowhere). She supports drilling in ANWR. In choosing her, McCain has shown that even if he doesn't agree with conservatives on a lot of things, he has been listening, and is willing to work with us. Or at least I think so-- with McCain, one is never sure.
Not to mention she's just likeable, in a way McCain can never hope to be. I caught the last five minutes or so of her speech this morning-- she's genuine. She's a former professional fisherman, for heaven's sake. She is part of what America is supposed to look like-- not broken and impoverished and victimized, the way the DNC painted us this week, but independent, unafraid, and enterprising.
I've withheld full-throated support for McCain, waiting to see whom he would choose for veep. I still don't like him, but with this choice, I can willingly get behind him instead of dragging my feet. Now that the choice is made-- Go McCain-Palin '08!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
McCain's VP
is supposed to be announced tomorrow, but as the Secret Service will go to guard the prospective VP tonight, keep an eye out for breaking news tonight. Other than Obama-Zeus's speech (see below).
Chicago politics in action
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Someone at the Obama campaign needs to grow up
Presidential politics are not high school class president elections, folks. The Obama campaign had its fake presidential seal:
And now, Obama has evidently decided that giving his acceptance speech from a football stadium is not enough. He's giving his speech in the football stadium, but the stage is-- I am not joking-- designed to look suspiciously like an ancient Greek temple. It also includes a podium that rises up from beneath the platform. One wonders if it will rise so high that Obama will float in the air over his temple.
Pictures to come. And thanks to the Chicago Tribune for the pic of Obama's "seal".
Hat tip: LGF, where they're occasionally annoying, often prescient, and usually funny.
And now, Obama has evidently decided that giving his acceptance speech from a football stadium is not enough. He's giving his speech in the football stadium, but the stage is-- I am not joking-- designed to look suspiciously like an ancient Greek temple. It also includes a podium that rises up from beneath the platform. One wonders if it will rise so high that Obama will float in the air over his temple.
Pictures to come. And thanks to the Chicago Tribune for the pic of Obama's "seal".
Hat tip: LGF, where they're occasionally annoying, often prescient, and usually funny.
Senator Tubes to Nowhere survived
the Alaskan primary. This guy, in addition to being under investigation (if memory serves he's been indicted) on corruption charges, pitches fits on the Senate floor, gets pork like nobody's business, and is convinced that the internet is a series of tubes. Come on Alaskans.
On the plus side, Don Young is neck and neck with his challenger, so the news from the Great White North is not unmitigated badness.
On the plus side, Don Young is neck and neck with his challenger, so the news from the Great White North is not unmitigated badness.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
?!
Elizabeth Edwards slammed for keeping husband's affair secret
If I hadn't seen it on CNN I'd think it was from The Onion.
It's an interesting window on the culture of liberal politics. Many people have been sympathetic, and then there are those who call her "complicit" and "self-serving", who say that she owes them an apology (Those comments are from a Democratic strategist and commenters at Daily Kos. If anyone can find the link to the diary and comments at DK, I'd be obliged). Because she chose to preserve any shred of privacy and dignity she could salvage? Please. The woman has kids, an incurable and spreading form of cancer, and a heel for a husband. Yet they're upset with her for, in their view, messing up what they wanted.
This is the party that's supposed to be so "empathetic".
Leave the lady alone.
If I hadn't seen it on CNN I'd think it was from The Onion.
It's an interesting window on the culture of liberal politics. Many people have been sympathetic, and then there are those who call her "complicit" and "self-serving", who say that she owes them an apology (Those comments are from a Democratic strategist and commenters at Daily Kos. If anyone can find the link to the diary and comments at DK, I'd be obliged). Because she chose to preserve any shred of privacy and dignity she could salvage? Please. The woman has kids, an incurable and spreading form of cancer, and a heel for a husband. Yet they're upset with her for, in their view, messing up what they wanted.
This is the party that's supposed to be so "empathetic".
Leave the lady alone.
Friday, August 22, 2008
McCain and College Football
I saw a McCain ad running here talking about McCain doing battle with the big three: Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Business. This is insane. Since when is it the American way to attack people for doing well in life? If they did it dishonestly, then they deserve the penalty, but if not, then they deserve congratulations. Companies are not people; they're, well, companies. Companies that employ thousands of people who make a good living off these entities that John McCain wants to fight. Come on, Senator, you're supposed to be different from Obama. Remember Michelle Obama saying:
McCain's rhetoric in regards to "Big Business" is strikingly similar to that of the Obamas. Whose votes are you really trying to win, Senator?
Honestly, this reminds me of BYU's football team (I haven't followed college football in years, but I remember this story). BYU is a private school run by the Mormon Church, and the school has a strict, church teachings-based honor code that all students, including the football players, are expected to abide by. Several years ago, the then-head coach Gary Crowton decided to stop aggressively recruiting Mormons, figuring they'd come and play for him anyway. What happened next surprised no one except, perhaps, Crowton. The talented Mormon high schoolers went off to other schools, and Crowton lost players that he had recruited because of their unwillingness to abide the religion-based honor code.
There is a direct corollary to the McCain campaign here. McCain seems to think that he's got the Republican/conservative vote in the bag, as Crowton thought he had all the Mormons. So McCain is off courting all the independent/Democratic voters he thinks he may be able to sway. What he's accomplishing, however, is the alienation of what should be his voter base (see fighting private enterprise, being willing to put in a pro-choice veep, and countless other things) in the attempt to get people who probably won't stick with him anyway. In the end, he's likely to go down in flames, just as Crowton did.
Peachy.
"We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do. Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that."
McCain's rhetoric in regards to "Big Business" is strikingly similar to that of the Obamas. Whose votes are you really trying to win, Senator?
Honestly, this reminds me of BYU's football team (I haven't followed college football in years, but I remember this story). BYU is a private school run by the Mormon Church, and the school has a strict, church teachings-based honor code that all students, including the football players, are expected to abide by. Several years ago, the then-head coach Gary Crowton decided to stop aggressively recruiting Mormons, figuring they'd come and play for him anyway. What happened next surprised no one except, perhaps, Crowton. The talented Mormon high schoolers went off to other schools, and Crowton lost players that he had recruited because of their unwillingness to abide the religion-based honor code.
There is a direct corollary to the McCain campaign here. McCain seems to think that he's got the Republican/conservative vote in the bag, as Crowton thought he had all the Mormons. So McCain is off courting all the independent/Democratic voters he thinks he may be able to sway. What he's accomplishing, however, is the alienation of what should be his voter base (see fighting private enterprise, being willing to put in a pro-choice veep, and countless other things) in the attempt to get people who probably won't stick with him anyway. In the end, he's likely to go down in flames, just as Crowton did.
Peachy.
I'm back!
With an increasingly interesting race on, to boot.
Obama says, concerning veep selection, "I won't comment on anything else until I introduce our running mate to the world."
1. Our running mate? For a guy who's trying to ditch his elitist image, he sure uses the "royal plural" a lot.
2. Um, shouldn't he be more concerned about introducing his running mate to the American public before he introduces him/her to the world? Maybe the veep pick will visit Germany?
I know they're nit-picky little things... but seriously, even John Kerry didn't talk about introducing John Edwards to the world (to my knowledge). That sounds more like childbirth than politics.
Obama says, concerning veep selection, "I won't comment on anything else until I introduce our running mate to the world."
1. Our running mate? For a guy who's trying to ditch his elitist image, he sure uses the "royal plural" a lot.
2. Um, shouldn't he be more concerned about introducing his running mate to the American public before he introduces him/her to the world? Maybe the veep pick will visit Germany?
I know they're nit-picky little things... but seriously, even John Kerry didn't talk about introducing John Edwards to the world (to my knowledge). That sounds more like childbirth than politics.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Holes in the wall
Sometimes it starts to feel as if-- in the words of Mark Steyn-- America truly is alone, and the rest of the world has built a wall to protect themselves (and their little opinions) from what are pleased to call American corruption and influence. And then some brave soul does something like this: a London-based group has started a website called America in the World. Their purpose is to combat anti-Americanism.
My introduction to the website was a video they've produced describing what the world would be like without the American soldier.
From an American military brat: Thanks, guys.
My introduction to the website was a video they've produced describing what the world would be like without the American soldier.
From an American military brat: Thanks, guys.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Internet: I has it
But only after a fashion. Internet access will be spotty at best until the ISP gets its act together on Thursday.
But ye gods and little fishes! Be away from the internet for one week and what happens? John Edwards 'fesses up to the Rielle Hunter affair. Russia invades Georgia and forcibly redraws her borders. The ChiCom Olympics start (I love to watch the Olympics-- but I have to plug my nose while watching these), and China promptly cheats by playing little girls in the gymnastics competition.
Anyway, there'll be more (a lot more) commentary on all of this when I've had a chance to read up on everything, but in the meantime, here are two street signs from this neck of the woods:
Report [HOV lane] Violators: 111-111-HERO
Litter and it will hurt
Ah, the Pacific Northwest. Home of the threatening street sign.
But ye gods and little fishes! Be away from the internet for one week and what happens? John Edwards 'fesses up to the Rielle Hunter affair. Russia invades Georgia and forcibly redraws her borders. The ChiCom Olympics start (I love to watch the Olympics-- but I have to plug my nose while watching these), and China promptly cheats by playing little girls in the gymnastics competition.
Anyway, there'll be more (a lot more) commentary on all of this when I've had a chance to read up on everything, but in the meantime, here are two street signs from this neck of the woods:
Report [HOV lane] Violators: 111-111-HERO
Litter and it will hurt
Ah, the Pacific Northwest. Home of the threatening street sign.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Radio Silence
My internet has issues at the moment-- as in, it's non-existent. Expect posting to resume next week, when I will have things to say about DHS, TSA, and editors of university newspapers.
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