No one cares what your dreams are because they’re your dreams and only you can actually make sense of them. And let’s face it: listening to someone retell a dream they’ve had is a bit like someone taking their cell phone into the bathroom stall with them. I’m not sure what exactly that analogy may mean, but it sprang to mind, so I put it in. In any event, I had this dream last night and think it more than befitting to tell as it certainly caused some reflection on our times:
So, picture, if you will, a small outdoor McCain pep rally complete with a stage. The back of the stage is lined by many suits filled with assorted pasties (and no, that was not meant to be "pastries"... though that would’ve presented far better buns than those in this dream. Read on to see what I mean...)
How does one man manage to pander to two groups at the same time? Is he in both places at once? No, he meets one group one day and another group on another day. It's actually becoming a familiar strategy for Senator McCain. Some of you may remember how McCain promised judges in the mold of Roberts/Scalia/Thomas/Alito to a conservative audience, and then he reassured former Clinton supporters by pointing out that he voted for Ginsberg and Breyer when President Clinton nominated them. Then there was another ridiculous pair of panders to pro and anti immigration groups. Well, there's now a third double-blind pander!
This recalls to my mind the presidential debate of 2000, when Al Gore took the position that, "he believes the evidence shows that the death penalty deters crime." Beyond doubt, someone as intelligent and well-informed as Al Gore was well aware that there's not a shred of evidence that the death penalty deters crime. While one would think that a one-time constitutional lawyer would be well-familiar with the contours of basic eighth amendment law, apparently such knowledge does not extend to the campaign trail.
(See update at the end...keep the pressure up on McCain) it is working...)
John McCain has proven himself the master of pandering. I wonder sometimes if he even knows he is doing it. We saw as recently as 2006 the "statesman" John McCain in Davos Switzerland speaking on video tape about the need for dealing with Hamas now that they were in power in the Palestinian Territories. Of course he would take that position, he was surrounded by the movers and shakers of the world financial, diplomatic and intellectual communities. He wouldn't want to seem "provincial" would he?
Bill Clinton is making a barnstorming tour through WV. Stoking resentment in an effort to undermine Barack Obama as our presumptive nominee.
Jack Tapper notes:
He's using the kind of language Democrats typically use against Republicans -- as in, stuff you say when you don't want voters to vote for the other guy under any circumstance.
The only remaining question is whether the understanding that voters are being pandered to hurts or helps the politician doing the pandering.
It seems that now, the day after the primary, we have our answer: pandering hurt Clinton. Is this old style political tactic over? Before winning the nomination (let alone the Presidency) has Obama already brought change to our politics (like he already has to our foreign policy)?
WARNING TO VISITORS OF THE POLITICAL ZOO ("VOTERS"):
Do not, under any circumstances, confuse the McCain specimen for a member of the rare species of political animal known as Maverickus moderatus (common name: Broderbear). What may appear safe to handle and feed is in fact highly dangerous, and a known carrier of a virulent strain of ideological rabies, a type of Pandervirus.
I'm reasonably sure there are few older political traditions than pandering, but from up here in my ivory tower I just cannot understand it. This gas tax holiday is what got me thinking about it recently, but back in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas, things were just as bad. Remember Clinton's shot of whiskey? Or Obama bowling? Gasp! They're just like me!
"Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom."
- Toni Morrison
Shouldn't Dr. Maya Angelou be part of Hillary's dialog on race?
Some have wondered why there are blacks who consider Dr. Maya Angelou a 'traitor' to her black race. I don't know if I put her there just yet. But her past words create questions as to why she has not spoken up about her friend Hillary Clinton's need to inject racism and Reverend Jeremiah Wright into this campaign in the many ways Hillary has.
Here, she is speaking to the American Academy of Achievement in January, 1997. She covers many topics still relevant to today, so as you read through this interview, remember it's eleven years old.
The McCain-Clinton proposal for a summer-long gas tax holiday (never mind that the White House’s current occupant – remember him? – would never sign-off on such a plan) is yet another example of how during political campaigns issues of great national urgency are overlooked in favor of political theatrics and expedient nonsense.
On this issue, thank heavens for Barack Obama’s principled stand.
Nevertheless, that my fellow citizens might be so embarrassingly gullible as to have their votes bought for the equivalent of at most a half a tank of gas has got me to thinking: what other obvious panders might buy my vote?
"We believe the presidency requires leadership," said Wolfson. "There are times that a president will take a position that a broad support of quote-unquote experts agree with. And there are times they will take a position that quote-unquote experts do not agree with."
Nicholas Kristof may be the most maddening of all the New York Times columnists. His last two columns illustrate this perfectly. Last Thursday, he wrote a great column on the torture and incarceration of Sami al-Hajj. It was a rare traditional media expose and attack on this underreported story. I wrote a comment to the piece suggesting that he do a follow-up column noting that Congress had just passed an anti-torture bill, but candidate McCain had voted no.
Today, his column is an inexplicable Valentine to McCain that excuses all of his pandering on numerous issues, and mentions merely in passing that he just voted for torture!
Chess. an opening in which a player seeks to obtain some advantage by sacrificing a pawn or piece.
a calculated move by which one seeks to gain an advantage.
In 2005 I was sure, like a lot of people, that Hillary Clinton would run for president in 2008. And I was almost as sure that she would win. I knew that it would make the Republican wingnuts absolutely crazy so I was sure I would be glad to vote for her. It was soon after that I started to change my mind about her.
Clinton Now Against Licenses for Illegal Immigrants
...Her campaign issued a statement saying that she supported Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s decision today to drop his plan for such licenses.
“I support Governor Spitzer’s decision today to withdraw his proposal,” she said in the statement. “As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration, including border security and fixing our broken system.”
